Standing There By You
Ch. 23- Challenges and Chirping
Disclaimer: Let it be known... I hereby declare that by legal binding matters, any recognizable material belongs to the infamous J.K.Rowling.
a.k.a- it's not mine.
A/N: Special thanks to Dulcis for helping elaborate Remus's tale ; )
Staying home for Christmas wasn't an absolute must, but most of the Third Years did so, as casually advised by Professor Fides.
Although they took the extra precaution and stayed at Hogwarts, the first challenge had yet to arrive.
"I'm beginning to think it's all a scam," Grace said one day at dinner. "We haven't even come in contact with one unusual object; maybe he just wants to sharpen out our senses. You know-"
"Expect the unexpected," Sirius quipped, sliding into a seat across from the girls. "You're all too narrow-minded."
"Shut up Sirius," said Grace, taking a sip of her soup.
"No really," Sirius continued, scooping large amounts of mashed potatoes onto his plate. "You have to notice the small details," he grabbed a spoon and dived into the food, "you have to keep your eyes open for any-"
"Sirius," said Lily, her eyes widening.
"-thing, you have to see what isn't there as well as what is there, you have to-"
"Sirius!" Lily tried again, her voice becoming more frantic.
"-open your eyes," Sirius continued, bringing the spoonful of potatoes up to his mouth. "That's all I'm saying, open your eyes girls, to the infinite poss-"
"Sirius!" Lily screamed, pointing at his mashed potatoes. "Would you open your eyes? Your mashed potatoes are acting quite odd, don't you think?!"
"Wha-?" Sirius looked down to the food that was very near to entering his mouth. "Oh, well, that's not that odd,"
"They are bubbling and blue!"
"Well, okay, it's a little,"
"Sirius, give me the potatoes so I can figure out what's wrong," Lily demanded, holding out her hand for the spoon.
"Oh, but I really wanted these mashed potatoes and you see, it's the last of the batch and-"
Lily whimpered slightly. "Sirius. Give. Me. The. Potatoes."
"But-"
"SIRIUS GIVE ME THE POTAT-"
"Okay, okay," Sirius cowered. Pouting, he handed her the spoon. "Ya big meanie."
"Erm, okay," said Lily, holding the spoon in one hand, stretching her arm out to its fullest extent. In the other hand she grabbed her Advanced Charms book and leafed through it. "Sirius, go get Kirk and Sarah," Lily directed, skimming through her book.
Sirius frowned. "But I don't want to miss any of the action," he whined. Lily shot him a glare. "Okay, okay. You don't have to be so harsh."
He grudgingly got up and retrieved Kirk Douglas and Sarah Findley.
"I've got my DADA notes," Sarah offered, pulling a pile of parchments out of her over-stuffed bag.
"And I've got my Advanced Defense book," Kirk said, opening up a large text.
Sirius watched the three studious students tearing through the books in amusement. "Ha ha," he whispered happily to James. "I've so got the smart group."
"Okay, I've found something," Kirk said, and they all leaned over his book to see. "It's called Holus, and it'll thrive when mixed with starchy substances.
"And I've found our notes on it," Sarah said, marking the spot with her finger. "Oh, all it needs is a simple Frugifer spell."
Lily nodded slowly. "Fruax sound good?" she asked Kirk and Sarah. They nodded and so she pointed her wand to the bubbling food. "Fruax!"
The pile of the infested mashed potatoes quivered and puffed up a bit, before sinking down into the spoon and disappearing into whisps of blue smoke.
"Pity," Sirius said sadly. "It was such a good scoop of potatoes."
"Congratulations," Professor Fides said, smiling as he walked over to them from the Staff Table. "The first challenge is a success."
The blue team beamed as the professor took out a lengthy parchment, and marked on it with his quill. "Top marks," he said. "For all of you."
Sirius grinned. "Good thing I'm here, eh Lilykins?"
"What?"
"Well if it weren't for my sharp senses and cunning-"
"Shut up, Sirius."
"I heard McGonagall talking to Dakota," James said, as he and Remus made their way down the corridor. The feast had just let out, and Sirius had stayed behind with his team to sort out some of the details.
"Oh," Remus said, turning to him. "What about?"
"He was interested in her Animagus form," said James. "Asked her how long it took." He sighed before continuing on. "Do you know it took her five years to fully transform?"
"Really?" Remus said, his eyes widening. "Well, you guys don't have to, I mean, that's a lot of-"
"Oh no, we're still doing it," said James. "Besides, I think we can do it in less time then that."
"Oh," Remus said lightly.
"Hey Remus," James said, as they turned a corner. "You never did tell me how you became a werewolf."
Remus paused slightly at this. "Well.. I don't really remember.."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," James said quickly. "If you don't want to talk about it."
"Oh, that's alright," Remus said, sighing. "I do remember it clearly, actually."
"Really?" James asked. "What happened?"
"Well, when I was little, we lived in this little town off the side of Manchester, in a wizarding village where everyone was close and," Remus smiled reminiscently, "intruding on everyone else's affairs.
"If someone got a new job, or even switched gardening tools, the whole neighborhood knew about it. One neighbor I was particularly fond of, was a very old man named Mr. Wilks. He was sick a lot, and remained mostly on his front porch, always peering over a book at the neighborhood events.
"Then one day when I was seven, my mum commented Mr. Wilks was looking awfully sick, even sicker than usual, and that she was going to bring him a plate of scones and maybe heat up some tea to cheer him up," Remus continued, as they walked slowly along the darkening hallway. "I offered to go instead, because I always liked spending the warm evenings talking to him on the front porch.
"The moonlight shone across the paved path as I made my way up to his small house, but I was a bit startled when I noticed he wasn't on his porch. He was always on his porch.
"So I knocked on the front door, and I heard the most awful scratching noise. I knocked again, and this time the noise of the scratching was mixed with the rattling of chains. Worried for Mr. Wilks, I opened the door to see what was the matter. I remember not even being scared when I saw the werewolf chained to the staircase, but just greatly concerned for Mr. Wilks' safety. It didn't even occur to me Mr. Wilks was the werewolf.
"What did you do?" James asked incredulously.
"Well, being young and stupid, I thought I could take the werewolf on with just the scone plate." He gave a dry laugh. "Turns out I couldn't."
James nodded slightly, taking it all in. "So, how did your family take it?"
"Well, my parents were extremely upset, of course, so we moved straight away. Not that it mattered; Mr. Wilks moved the day after, to a more.. vacant area. He felt awful about it, no doubt.
"My parents took me to an infinite amount of Healers, in hopes of curing me, but nobody knew of any way to help it. They finally gave up when I was about ten, and we settled in a heavily wooded area in France."
"Remus," James asked, turning toward him. "Why don't you go to Beauxbatons?"
"They wouldn't accept me," Remus said indifferently. "But, it's okay, I'm glad I came here."
James grinned. "Me too."
The next day the students gathered for their Divination class; one would think having attended several months worth of classes would have left them accustomed to its unusual styles, but.. it had not.
"May I call upon Mr. Potter," Professor Evoco's mystical voice rang throughout the stuffy class-room.
James sighed as Sirius snickered. Ever since his detention in second year, Professor Evoco was under the impression that he had 'seer like qualities' that just needed to be molded a bit.
"What?" James asked wearily. The professor signaled for him to stand up and he complied, albeit reluctantly.
"Please, tell me what you see," she said, ambling over to him and shoving a plated silver dish before him. "The chips will waver and disort the image, creating an even more spectacular one."
"I see..." James started slowly, squinting. Suddenly he grinned and lifted his chin. "Me. You're right. The image is spectacular."
From a nearby table Lily let out an audible groan. "You are such-"
"Hush child," Professor Evoco snapped. "Can't you see he's in the middle of a premonition?"
Lily narrowed her eyes but kept quiet nonetheless.
"And..." Professor Evoco edged him on.
"Huh? Oh, um.. I'm King. And surrounded by many worshipers and lots of money."
"Yes," the professor nodded slowly, setting the metal object down. "That would mean..." suddenly, she raised her voice to a near yell. "Power! Strength!" Whisps of gray hair fell out of her loosely wrapped bun as she roared on passionately. "Wealth! Leadership! Your future will be filled with Money and Honorable Pride!!"
Having finished her triumphant speech, she bowed her head dramatically, awaiting the students' amazed response.
Cricket Cricket
"Well..." Professor Evoco whispered, slowly lifting her head. "Aren't you all enthralled?"
Cricket Cricket
"I see," she started, straightening herself up indignantly. "Looks like you and I are the only ones who truly appreciate the gift, Mister Potter."
Cricket Crick-
"Black stop that chirping!" Professor Evoco snapped, irritated at the students responses and Sirius's repeated noise making.
"Sorry professor," Sirius mumbled, trying to hide his slowly evolving grin.
"Mister Potter, I want a word after class," she said, ignoring Sirius.
James gave Sirius a puzzled look and the boy just shrugged back.
The rest of class proceeded as normal (well, at least as normal as any Divination class could be) and Sirius, Remus, and Peter waited for their friend after the class had been dismissed.
"What did she want?" Sirius asked, as soon as James hopped off the ladder.
James rolled his eyes. "She told me I should apply for Britain's International School for Seers."
Sirius laughed. "Well you're going to, aren't you? I mean, not too many students get this opportunity, James."
"Oh definitely," James continued, placing on a mock serious face. "There's got to be loads of teachers to make fun of there."
A/N: Hello! Thanks bundles for the reviews, you know I really really appreciate them ; )
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