A/N: It's been forever, I know. But I still love you all! And I really, really, really love reviews! (hint, hint)

And since no one tried to guess the Mystery of the Chapter, I'll just tell you the answers: Remus was, well, let's just say it was a full moon; and the Marauders' instruments are... told in this chapter!

To my reviewer:

centaursrockmysox-- glad you like it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all. Except the stuff that is mine.

The Ordinary and the Unordinary

Chapter 3: The Start of it All

It was Saturday. Many Gryffindors were woken up quite early by a year-mate who had seen the sign. Shouts of, "Hey, wake up! We've got band!" could be heard throughout the dormitories. And that was just the start of it...

"Li!"

"What?" Rachael was just a little bit frazzled since it was their first rehearsal, which was held outside in the stands around the quidditch pitch in the cold morning air. Not to mention Sirius Black had just interrupted her from giving the first beat to their first song.

He said, ever so boldly, "How do you expect us to play this when we don't even know how to play these?" Sirius held up a flute.

It just then occurred to Rachael that she had left out that minor detail. Of course they wouldn't know how to play them! "Um..."

"Back in a flash, Li," a seventh-year boy said. He raced off in the direction of the castle.

"Well, while he tries to solve this problem, I guess you all can just do whatever... maybe get to know some people... I dunno... Then we'll start."

Lily sat back in stands and sighed. She'd gone to the library the previous night after getting her clarinet and had checked out a book on how to play it. And she had learned the fingerings.

Swooooosh.

Someone had just thrown a wad of paper past her head. Either that or a stray pigmy owl had been racing off in that direction. Looking behind her she noticed the same black-haired boy from her Defense class. He was holding an alto saxophone in his lap.

"Hi."

Lily just stared at him, although it could be argued as more of a glare.

"... or not..."

Who is this boy? Lily wondered. "You really shouldn't go around throwing paper at people. It isn't polite."

"I wasn't... it's just... me 'n... well..." He stuttered on, blushing like mad.

Lucky for the saxophone player, the seventh year boy, whose name Lily found out soon was named Trent, returned just then with beginning books for everyone. He sat down next to the black-haired boy.

"So... where did you get those books?"

"Settle down, everyone," Rachael said, trying to get her Housemates' attention. "I guess this hasn't been the best rehearsal since none of you really know how to play..." She ignored the snickers are certain flute player was directing at her. "But at least it's been a friendly welcome and hopefully get-to-know-you time."

It had been roughly an hour trying to get everyone situated with the right book, making sure everyone had a copy. "So I guess our next rehearsal will be... next week? Just try to know your notes and stuff by then." Rachael finished with a sigh and dismissed everyone. Trent began to whisk away all the music stands with his wand as the rest of the students rushed off. Lily and Morgan waited for Rachael to grab her stuff.

"Well, that was fun," Morgan said conversationally.

The look Rachael gave her was one of pleading. "How am I going to manage this?" she whispered to her two friends.

"No worries, Li." Trent had walked up behind them. "I'm dubbing myself the official one who shall yell at all those not paying attention. Not to mention I'm going to hang around afterwards to help clean up."

Rachael blushed. "Thanks... I guess... but I can do it."

"Sure." He walked away twirling his wand, his black dreadlocks bouncing with each step.

Rachael continued to mutter to herself that she could do it. Lily couldn't help thinking to herself how interesting of a year it promised to be.

"Charms. The kind of magic most Muggles associate with us wizards and witches. But it's more than just fancy words and a touch of a wand..."

... touch of a wand... Lily was intently writing down every word Professor Flitwick said. Ever since she'd begun understanding what magic truly was, Charms had intrigued her. She sat in the very first row, directly in front of the Professor. Morgan and Rachael sat to her left, more because of their friendship than their interest, or at least in Rachael's case.

"Mr. Potter, please use your quill for taking notes as opposed to writing them," Flitwick said, causing two boys, Sirius and his scruffy-haired companion, to look up.

... Mr... Lily caught herself just in time and quickly scratched out her mistake. She turned around in her seat to see the boy who'd nearly chucked a wad of paper into her face on Saturday. Potter, she thought to herself. Well, now I know who he is... but is that a good thing?

"Sorry, Professor..." He adjusted his glasses and tried to hide a growing grin on his face. Remus rolled his eyes at the pair of them. He at least looked like he'd been paying attention.

"Now, where was I?" Flitwick asked himself aloud. "Ah, yes. Today we shall be learning the basics of wand movement. If everyone will kindly take out their wands, we shall begin with..."

Lily was just as excited as the rest of the class to actually start something other than reading.

School had officially been in session for two months. Lily had been excelling in all of her classes, Morgan not far behind her; Rachael had become a social butterfly among the first years and her leadership position in the band did nothing but help it; Professors continued assigning homework, and students continued doing it, or at least for the most part. As far as Lily was concerned, life was pretty normal, for wizarding standards.

"So, Lily, Morgan, I was wondering about practice tonight..." Rachael said one Tuesday morning at breakfast. "Trent said there wasn't any quidditch, so everyone would be there."

It was a little too early for Morgan, who just groggily nodded as she ate her pancakes. Lily on the other hand, was listening to Rachael as well as studying her Potions textbook and eating some toast.

"I was thinking maybe we'd work on something new," she continued, paying no attention to the fact that her friends were only half listening. "I found a good song in the library last night."

"Oh, yeah, I need to stop by the library after classes today," Lily mumbled.

"Lily. We're talking about band, not studying," Rachael said. "Besides, you're already at the top of every class!"

"Not Defense." Sirius Black sat down next to Rachael. "So, what's the plan for tonight?"

Rachael greeted him and told him to wait and see; she'd have something up in the Common Room later that day.

"Who's ahead of me?" Lily tried to enter into the conversation to no avail.

"Aww, c'mon, Li. Why won't you tell me?" As Sirius started whining, his three closest friends sat down next to him.

"Sirius Black!" Lily interjected. "Tell me."

"Tell you what, Evans?"

"You said I wasn't the top in Defense. So who is?" she asked.

"Me," James Potter said blandly from Sirius's side. Lily didn't know the black-haired boy very well. He was the one who sat behind her in band and got into trouble with Sirius in class, but that was about the extent of her knowledge. Apparently he was a fairly good student as well.

Lily tried to act as if she didn't care that he was ahead of her, although she actually did. "Oh." She'd never been second in a class at her Muggle school.

Rachael's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Ready for class, Lily? Morgan and I are leaving."

Seeing as she would be stuck with Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter if she stayed in the Great Hall, she followed them to Professor Shannow's class.

"Hi, Lily," Andrea Nelson, a fourth year clarinetist, said to Lily as she sat down. "How're you? I hear we're getting new music; I'm so excited!"

"I'm alright," Lily answered. "Yeah, the past few weeks have been slightly boring. I hope Rachael picked out a some better music than scales..."

The two girls had started talking to each other quite frequently at rehearsals, never when they weren't supposed to, of course. Andrea was the one Lily knew best among the clarinets because the others were mostly fifth years and older.

Rachael walked up to her stand in front of everyone and called for silence. The Gryffindor's seemed eager to start as they all stopped talking and played concert B flat as their conductor asked them to.

"Okay, sounds good," she began. "We've got some new music today--" she was interrupted by cheers, but went on in a louder voice, hoping they would listen. "So if someone from each section would come down and get the music, we can probably try to play through it."

Andrea volunteered from the clarinets and passed out their parts, all of which were the same. It took a good half-hour to get everything distributed, especially among the low brass. Peter was having an especially hard time passing out the percussion music, not to mention some of the saxophone's music kept being blown away in the breeze.

"Does everyone have music?" Rachael asked. "Good. Wait, who sits there?" She pointed to an empty seat in the trumpet section.

"Remus," someone answered.

"I think his grandma's sick..."

"Well, someone save a copy for him," Rachael said, finalizing the matter. "So, from the top?"

Lily thought that it sounded pretty good, or as good as Lightly Row could sound. It had to be just about as boring as what they had previously been playing, but at least it wasn't another concert B flat major scale in whole notes!

A/N: Well, that was fun. Review, review, review! Please, please, please!

Mystery of the Chapter: Where did Trent get the books from? What's Trent's last name? A little tougher than last time's, I hope.