Previously: Lily and Petunia argue, and their father finally has enough and tells them they must be civil towards one another. James is dragged to a Ministry dinner. He meets the new Head Auror, Millicent Bagnold. He gets angry when he overhears a couple of wizards being dismissive about Muggle-borns. Lily learns that Alice is ecstatic that Banks isn't teaching DADA anymore.
Chapter 20: Second Years
The scene was familiar to James as he made his way through Platform 9¾, flanked on both sides by his parents. The gleaming Hogwarts Express in all its magnificent glory, the bustle of students hurrying to find good seats, the goodbyes of parents to their children that they would not see again for several months… It was an identical sight to the one that had greeted James exactly one year ago when he had passed through the ticket barrier for the first time.
Except James was now a second year who had earned his place in Gryffindor and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
He smirked at the timid first years huddled around, playing with the handle of his wand. It would be so easy to show everybody just how much he had learned since the initial train ride, but with his formidable mother around, James placated himself with waiting until he was away from her sharp eyes. Several first years he did not know glanced up fearfully as he passed, and he straightened, trying to appear as intimidating as he could in their eyes.
A roar of enthusiasm met James's ears, and he stumbled backwards from the force of Sirius's bear hug. It took a little bit, but he finally let go, stepping back to face him with an incredibly wide grin on his face. They had kept in regular communication with hourly owls back and forth throughout the entire summer, but it could not compare to finally seeing his best friend in person, and James knew it felt even better for Sirius who had been stuck at his parents' house all summer with nobody good around for company.
"Wotcher, mate!" said Sirius happily. "I've been counting off the days all summer until we went back to Hogwarts. What's up, Mum and Dad?"
This was to James's parents, who Sirius had started calling "Mum and Dad" after the Christmas and Easter breaks he had spent at the Potter Manor. Given how horrible his real parents were, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Potter had minded the slightest when Sirius switched from Euphemia and Fleamont.
"Oh, Sirius, it's lovely to see you again," said Mrs. Potter in a motherly voice, and she gave him a warm hug. "Jaime has been bouncing off the walls all summer – I expect you can calm him down for once?"
James knew that she did not really expect Sirius to calm anybody down, but nevertheless, his best friend grinned and said with a mischievous glimmer in his grey eyes, "Of course I can, Mum. C'mon, James, let's go find a compartment before Remus and Peter show up."
James gave quick but meaningful goodbyes to each of his parents before seizing his trunk and Quaffles, his owl, to follow Sirius into the train. He gave a quick glance in the direction of where Sirius had come from and saw Mrs. Black and a man who shared many characteristics with Sirius kissing the cheek of a boy who, though slightly smaller and less handsome, was identical to how Sirius had looked on their first train ride to Hogwarts.
"Is that your brother?" asked James curiously, nodding to the group of three.
He had only seen the boy very briefly when the Potters picked up James and Sirius for Christmas break, but he had not paid much attention to him.
Sirius stopped and stared at his family, the grin disappearing from his lips in a flash.
"Yeah, that's Regulus," he finally said after several seconds of deliberation. "Let's go, James. I don't want to get stuck in a compartment with Evans and Snape this time."
They fought their way through the crowd of students much more noticeably than James had last year, deciding to push first years out of their way rather than wait for them to move. Several students looked rather annoyed, but as it was too be expected on the first of September, they said nothing. It took a while, but Sirius and James finally found an empty compartment halfway back from the head of the train, wasting no time in making it their own and splaying all kinds of junk across the seats.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1972 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
The train whistled loudly as Lily hurriedly kissed her parents goodbye before running to the door of the Hogwarts Express that was set to depart in exactly twenty seconds. After the usual fight with Petunia, her father had parked the car in the parking lot with only minutes to spare. She had not bothered fetching a cart, instead splitting the different items to carry among the three of them, and the Evans family burst through the ticket barrier, completely out of breath.
Lily had just lugged all her things onto the train and shut the door when the long locomotive started to move. She pressed her face against the glass, waving furiously to her parents who stood on the platform until the Hogwarts Express rounded the bend, her parents quickly replaced by a brief spans of brick wall before joyfully bursting out into London, the buildings and cars zipping by as the train zoomed through the city, completely invisible to the Muggles going about their day-to-day lives.
Lily turned around to search for her friends.
Most students were already in the compartments, but while Lily knew some of them by sight, such as Vallender, the Quidditch commentator, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, a fourth year Gryffindor, she could not say that she knew any of them well enough to intrude upon their groups of friends, so she continued onwards.
At last, she spotted Severus, who had gotten to Platform 9¾ much sooner than she had and was curled up in the corner of a compartment with several other Slytherins, many of whom Lily recognized, like Mulciber and Avery. She quickly ducked to the side, just visible enough to see Severus. While the other boys were too absorbed in their conversation to see her, Lily willed her friend to look up. He finally did, breaking out into a joyful smile, but while she beamed back, she did not dare put herself at the mercy of the other Slytherins. Severus quickly realized this, and he shrugged sadly, mouthing, Talk to you at Hogwarts.
Lily continued until she found another compartment, except this time there were only friendly faces that she was much keener to see, laughing and chatting without a care in the world, so she slowly opened the glass door and squeezed into the room.
"Lily!" squealed Alice, leaping up from her seat and nearly knocking Lily over from the force of her hug. "Oh, Lily, you can't imagine how much I've missed you. We were just wondering when you would finally find us all, and … I'm just so happy!"
She bounced on the balls of her feet, clapping with cheerfulness as she finally stepped back to allow Lily room to breathe and to get a good look at her: the corkscrew curls that had always reached the middle of Alice's back had been cut short, now reaching only to the bottom of her ears, somehow even springier than they had been as they jumped around in front of her face, but the bright blue eyes remained exactly the same as they had been when Lily last saw them. Behind her sat Marlene and Mary, both almost as excited as Alice. If possible, Marlene had grown even lovelier than when they had last parted, and Lily noted with a pang of jealousy that she also had a dark tan from the month in Italy with her family that she had told Lily about in their exchanged letters – there was something about Marlene that had always given her a more mature air to her, but Lily could not quite put a finger on it. Thankfully, Mary was the same as ever – plump and shy.
"Hi, Lily," said Marlene eagerly, standing up to hug her – she found herself envious of the several inches in height the girl had gained during the summer. "Mary was just telling us about the trip to France she took with her grandmother a couple of weeks ago."
"Oh, Lily, it was so amazing," said Mary dreamily with a slightly dazed smile as she flashed back to her French vacation. "We got to take a wizard's tour in the Louvre – you'll never believe the things twelfth century wizards were able to hide from Muggles! Did you know that Merlin's great-grandson hid there during Dante's Revolution? They have an entire underground system that only wizards know about and can tour. Oh, the fifth floor is where the Battle of the Patronus took place. Apparently, it was the largest Dementor gathering in the Middle Ages. Eventually Framanoran Gaunt's Dementors turned on him – he spent the rest of his life catatonic after that."
"That sounds … thoroughly disturbing," said Lily after a moment of thinking about it.
Marlene rolled her eyes and said, "That's what I told her, but she thinks it's the coolest thing ever."
"It is cool," opposed Mary.
"I agree: it is cool," interrupted a new person in a haughty tone, and Mary went pink.
At the sound of the compartment door sliding open and the arrival of the arrogant voice's owner, Lily felt a pang of anger and irritation towards the newest and most unwelcome addition of their little group. Why must she be tormented like this? It was like Merlin had picked her – and her alone – to suffer. She had barely been on the train five minutes and then …
"What do you want, Potter?" asked Lily coolly as she faced him.
Crackerjack had been sitting in her lap and hissed, but another person hissed right back as if daring Crackerjack to attack them.
Standing in the doorway were the two people that were perfect only for ruining Lily's day even more – Potter and Black (Black was the one who had hissed back at Crackerjack) in all their annoying glory, only looking faintly different from the end of first year. The most noticeable difference was that Potter now wore glasses, but his black hair was as messy as ever, and she also noticed, much to her displeasure, that he was now about half an inch taller – towards the end of Lily's first year, they had all been the exact same height, which was obviously no longer the case.
Potter only looked mildly insulted, but as there was still a hint of that devilish smile, Lily could not feel sorry in the slightest even if she had cared about how her rude shortness offended the prankster and his sidekick.
"That's all I get, Evans? 'What do you want, Potter?' – honestly, someone would think you didn't enjoy our company," he said.
"I don't enjoy your company," snapped Lily. "Now tell me what you want or get out – actually, you can just get out. Out! Out!"
She did not wait to hear Marlene's groans or the boys' protests as she jumped up, Crackerjack landing on floor and giving an annoyed twitch of his tail before he went to Mary instead, who stroked his soft fur obediently. Roughly shoving Potter backwards, who in turn stumbled into Black and pushed them both back far enough, she slammed the door shut. There was one second where she glowered at the pair of them before flipping the blinds so they could no longer be seen, heard, or touched – just the way Lily liked them.
Once the two Marauders were finally gone, she sat down with a huff. For a little while she had her arms crossed before glancing around at her friends and finding that all three of the other girls were looking at her: Marlene with fond exasperation, Alice with disbelieving frustration, and a still-blushing Mary with wincing embarrassment.
"What?" asked Lily, staring around at them with confusion. "What are you looking at?"
It took a few seconds before Marlene shook her head and returned to her glossy magazine, muttering, "Nothing, nothing …"
The rest of the train ride continued without much interruption as they all babbled about topics such as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher or the latest article in Marlene's subscription of Witch Weekly about Celestina Warbeck's most recent divorce. Lily soon found herself spacing out and napping in between heated discussions about how "cute" Mary found Professor Orion, their Astronomy teacher (Marlene had much to say on that particular topic.)
At last, after night had long since fallen, the Hogwarts Express pulled into the Hogsmeade station, and the lot of them, now changed into fresh Hogwarts robes, joined the mass of students heading towards the castle. Hagrid was calling forward the first years as usual, and Lily slowed, suddenly realizing that she was not sure of where she was supposed to go now that she was no longer among the unsorted first years. Thankfully, both Marlene and Alice seemed confident in where they were heading with the crowd, so Lily saw no reason not to follow them without appearing confused – she already felt like an outcast among her peers with a thoroughly Muggle-born status, it would do no good to also stand out as the one idiot in a crowd who did not know where to go.
The path slowly led the four of them through the town, and a feeling of familiarity crawled through Lily. When they approached their destination, she soon realized that they were taking the same horseless carriages that they had taken to and from the Hogsmeade station for Christmas and Easter break. There were many people already in carriages but people also stood behind the four of them, and the girls scurried to get their own so as not to share with any mean-looking Slytherin.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1972 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
"Remember, save us seats at the very end of the table," whispered James as he and Sirius swiftly pulled the Invisibility Cloak over themselves once they had exited the carriages.
They thankfully had been one of the first ones off the train and thus, one of the first ones in the carriages. One of the bags that Sirius had slung across his shoulder clanged unnaturally loudly for its size, but as none of them knew the proper incantation for the Silencing Charm yet, Sirius simply had to make do and keep his gait as smooth as he could to avoid any questions. Thankfully, they did not need to find somebody to perform the Undetectable Extension Charm on the bag since Mrs. Potter had done it herself years ago – though James doubted this had been what his mother had in mind when she gave the bag to him.
"I would worry more about yourself – don't let the house-elves catch you," warned Remus as he and Peter made their way to the Great Hall.
"I won't," promised James, already invisible and in motion as he and Sirius rushed to the opposite side of the Entrance Hall.
It did not take them long to reach the kitchens. As was their plan, Sirius handed the bags to James and stepped out from under the Invisibility Cloak, tickling the pear that guarded the entrance to the kitchens. As it usually did, the portrait of the fruit bowl suddenly swung forward, revealing the kitchens where hundreds of little house-elves were running about to make sure everything was prepared for the start-of-term feast.
"Wow, I'd forgotten how much I've missed this place," said Sirius loudly, drawing all the house-elves' attention to himself.
"Mister Sirius! Vell's missed you, sir!" said one particularly chubby house-elf standing by the sink where a mountain of dishes stood waiting to be clean.
"How did Mister Sirius enjoy his summer, sir?" asked another house-elf, this one in the middle of preparing what looked like one of the desserts.
"The kitchen has been very quiet around here without you and Mister James."
"Frelay never thought she would miss a student so much!"
As all the house-elves cried out in greeting, James took that as his cue and swiftly headed for where the prepared tables stood while Sirius entertained the house-elves, accepting their hugs and free samples they offered him – James trusted that Sirius would have no problem keeping the house-elves occupied while he went to work on the start-of-term prank all the Marauders had been talking about all summer and had spent the entire train ride perfecting.
Both Sirius and James had put their Transfiguration skills to use under the protection of their parents' household to keep from getting in trouble for using underage magic. It had taken several weeks, but they had finally managed to transform several hundred of their teacups into goblets that were identical to the Hogwarts goblets. However, since they only had transfigured enough Nose-Biting Teacups for one table and none of them wanted to spend several more weeks disguising the teacups, the Marauders had all agreed to simply place all of the cups at the Slytherin table, so it was only at the table where the house-elves sent food and utensils that James quickly went to work in switching out all the normal goblets with the transfigured ones – thankfully he did not have to worry about accidently switching the wrong goblets since Remus had suggested they keep two of the bags Mrs. Potter charmed to keep the goblets straight.
When James was done, he hurried over to where Sirius was enjoying the house-elves' company, tasting various dishes and graciously collecting all the "free samples" the house-elves always gave them whenever they visited, and James tapped his shoulder, whispering, "It's all done, Sirius. Let's get to the feast before they notice we're missing."
Though Sirius did not openly acknowledge him, he said to the house-elves in a raised voice, "You all are as charming as ever, folks, but I'm afraid that I really must be going – start-of-term feast and all."
They left far from empty-handed. As the house-elves, still unaware that James was present as well, waved good-bye to Sirius and stuffed his arms full of enough goodies to last all four of the Marauders well until Christmas, they both maneuvered around the house-elves to reach the entrance – James much more skillfully than Sirius, considering that he could not let himself or the Cloak brush against a single house-elf lest they want their prank exposed before it had even begun – and with a final good-bye and a promise to visit soon from Sirius, they squeezed out of the kitchens and back into the empty corridor.
"Did you get all the goblets?" asked Sirius eagerly as James swept the cloak off him.
"No, I just stood there like an idiot while the house-elves gave you tons of food," muttered James, rolling his eyes. "What d'you think I was doing? Now, c'mon. Remus is saving us our seats."
When they finally reached the entrance to the Great Hall, James peeked into the Great Hall to judge whether or not it was safe enough for them to enter without drawing attention. As the last of the students coming from the carriages had only just entered the Great Hall and plenty of people were still standing, James quickly motioned for Sirius to follow him, and together, the two of them slipped into the crowd as inconspicuously as possible.
Just as planned, Remus had saved them a seat at the very end of the table, where he sat whispering with an anxious-looking Peter. Though James felt like they should have made a bit more of an entrance, the prank came first, meaning that it was imperative for other students to notice the two Marauders as little as possible, so James and Sirius quickly and quietly slid into the two open seats, pretending to be just as interested in the changes to their peers during the summer as everybody else was.
"We got it," muttered James, shoving the bags beneath table, and Remus nodded with relief.
He glanced along the Gryffindor table, assessing his fellow housemates. For the most part everybody looked unchanged. Some people had gotten haircuts and a couple of girls had added in highlights, but James could still recognize the people even though he still did not have a name to put with some of the faces he saw – of course, he was still getting used to the new hairdo Alice Prewett was sporting, but even that was not as bad as he had expected.
"Who do you reckon the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be – Peter and I still are debating who it will be," said Remus, straining his neck to see over a couple of sixth years to get a good view of the High Table where all the teachers and support staff sat on a slightly elevated platform – the Marauders were positive the perpendicular table faced the students littered on the house tables for the sole reason of spotting any fights that were sometimes dangerously close to breaking out, particularly between the Gryffindors and Slytherins.
James looked up at his friend's comment to scan the staff table himself: Professor Flitwick, his top hat quivering, was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Sprout had told him while Professor Slughorn was engrossed in a deep conversation with Madam Pomfrey. With a jolt of delight, James saw that Hagrid was there as well drinking deeply from his goblet – he must have already led the first years across the Black Lake then – but then he finally spotted two new faces.
"Over there," said James, pointing his finger to each of them. "The lady next to Madam Pince and the bloke talking with McGonagall … hmm, there must be two new teachers this year."
"We were trying to figure out which one is our new DADA teacher," Peter tried to clarify.
Over the summer when they were not seeing each other much, it was easy for James to forget Peter's habit of chewing his fingernails whenever he was nervous – which was almost always – but now he remembered the stubs Peter could chew his nails into.
The woman was on the elderly side and dressed in all black, staring of into the air with an eerily blank expression similar to many phony fortune-tellers he had seen, and James immediately dismissed her as she barely looked able to lift her fork, let alone teach. The man, however, appeared more promising as he was inconspicuously dressed in tan robes and sat next to the other teachers with a posture that suggested he had been at Hogwarts for years rather than one night. If James had to guess, the man was about fifty.
Sirius moaned and his stomach gave a very noisy rumble from his spot at the table as he groaned, "I don't care. I just want food."
"You always want food, Sirius," said Remus, rolling his eyes just as the door to the Great Hall opened and the newest batch of first years stumbled after McGonagall, who strode up the aisle purposefully like it was simply just any old Transfiguration class.
"Don't worry, mate – I'm with you there," said James as he turned to watch the first years gather in front of the frayed Sorting Hat, which then burst into song.
Frayed and old am I
But never be slow or lie
I search your little minds
And read between the lines
Not a thing you can hide from me
So just slip me on and let it be
I Sort each and all
But they never are the same
Whether they be short or tall
Gryffindor shall be the bravest
But Hufflepuff is always true and honest
Those Ravenclaws are smart and clever
And those Slytherins – cunning 'til the end and going well past on forever
But wait!
Through the Houses four
Should be other's union plus yours
While we are diverse
We still unite against every curse
But don't mind me!
Just remember all my guidance
You never know what waits and lurks without a presence
Scattered but loud applause met the end of the song from both students and staff as Professor McGonagall unfurled the long scroll that by the looks of it contained a few more first years than the number of people in James's year.
"Arnold, Benedict."
A brown-haired youth walked forward on shaky legs and sat on the stool where McGonagall placed the hat on his head. It didn't take long for the hat to yell out Benedict Arnold's house: "SLYTHERIN!"
As the Slytherins clapped for their newest housemate, James soon found his attention wandering away from the Sorting. When it had been his turn, he had been very nervous and could not look away from each new student that came forward, but now that he was firmly in Gryffindor, James cared more about food to satisfy his howling stomach. He still cheered loudly along with the rest of the Marauders for any new Gryffindors such as "Lynsenmeier, Timothy" when they were Sorted.
The only time James really paid close attention was when McGonagall called Regulus Black forward. Beside him, Sirius sat very still, poised like a dog who had just caught the scent of danger while Regulus stumbled forward, looking quite nervous. It did not take long for the Sorting Hat to scream, "SLYTHERIN!" To any normal passerby, Sirius would have look unconcernedly silent with a blank expression, but James was too well tuned to his best friend: in the depths of his grey eyes, there were hints of both regret and anger as Sirius watched his brother take a seat at the Slytherin table.
After that, there was nobody else to hold his attention, though several of the names he recognized, such as "McKinnon, Marina" who was Sorted into Gryffindor. Marlene McKinnon looked absolutely delighted as Marina took a seat at the front of the Gryffindor table. Towards the end of the Ravenclaw table, Marius, the oldest McKinnon and a seventh year prefect, and Marvell, a fourth year, wore downcast expressions.
Evans leaned over the table to whisper something in her friend's ear as the Sorting continued like nothing had happened, and James found himself staring at her. There was something different about his rival, but he could not figure out what had struck him odd as Evans gave McKinnon a knowing smile. Her hair was longer, yes, but other than that she looked the same as she had when he had seen at the end of the first year. Her style was the same, the absence of make-up from her face was to be expected, and she still fiddled with the little blue rock that hung on a chain around her neck.
After the enormous group of new first years had been Sorted into the new houses and both James and Sirius's stomach were positively yelling for food, Professor Dumbledore stood up, beaming as he looked around at all of them, his arms spread wide in a welcoming gesture, and said, "Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts! At long last, we all can eat a delicious feast."
The food magically appeared in front of them, and after getting several bites in his mouth, James quickly glanced over to the Slytherin table, waiting for the first Slytherin to take a sip of pumpkin juice while James relaxed and stuffed his own face full of chicken wings and mashed potatoes.
Their spells had worked like a charm: not a single one of their transfigured goblets looked like anything but the normal Hogwarts goblets, and it was clear that the Slytherins were none the wiser as they piled their plates high with the same delicious food that all the other tables were currently enjoying – at least until Mulciber was the one unlucky enough to take the first sip out of the transfigured goblets.
"Ow!" shrieked Mulciber as his goblet chomped at his nose.
The people in Mulciber's immediate vicinity jumped with surprise, and other students curiously glanced over to where Mulciber was rubbing his nose, clearly not sure of what was going on at first. Most seemed to be torn between laughter and worry. The Marauders were the only people in the Great Hall that did not face the same dilemma – they simply laughed at Mulciber's misfortune, and James happily noticed that a couple other students also seemed to be fighting amused smiles.
Another Slytherin girl – Lucinda Talkalot, currently the youngest player on the Slytherin Quidditch team – squealed with pain as another goblet bit her nose and cried out, "It bit me!"
The rest of the Slytherins now looked positively alarmed, and Avery cautiously poked his finger at his own goblet, which promptly snapped at him. He yelped, jerking his finger back just in time, and shouted for everybody to hear, "They bite – just like those Nose-Biting Teacups! Don't touch them. They must've been transfigured somehow."
Other goblets started at the noise and, as one, turned on their Slytherin owners and started to leap towards their faces, metal teeth flashing. Slytherins screamed and ducked for cover, batting at the goblets and fending off the advances in whatever way they could, whether it be with poorly aimed jinxes or clenched fists. Laughter erupted from some students at the other tables while many were still getting over their initial shock and leaning away from their own goblets, as if they too would suddenly leap up and attack them.
Professor McGonagall was already up out of her seat, surprised but not fazed, and striding towards the Slytherin table, wand in hand. With one flick, the spells that the four boys had worked so hard on over the summer vanished and the teacups once again resumed their typical form. McGonagall gave another wave, and the Nose-Biting Teacups disappeared, replaced by the normal Hogwarts goblets.
Their head of house did not even pause long enough to notice the Slytherins' reactions. Instead, she was glaring right at the four grinning Marauders. Pointing her finger at their little circle so as to leave no room for doubt as to who exactly she was talking to, McGonagall mouthed, "Detention."
"Well, now that we have received that little wake-up call," said Dumbledore, crinkling his eyes towards the rather sour-looking Slytherin table. He himself had paused in the middle of cutting some meat on his plate. "I suggest we continue enjoying this excellent feast."
As their teacher marched back up to her spot on the high table, James simply grinned at Sirius and gave him a high-five before turning to dig into his food. While a couple of people shot them either entertained smiles or displeased frowns, most people were still staring at the Slytherins who, after Professor McGonagall had fixed their little biting problem, were still very cautious with their utensils as they continued to eat their food. Slowly, the weariness gave way to the usual chatter, though a couple of Slytherins still shot the Marauders dirty looks every now and then.
Soon enough, the food and desserts had all disappeared, and James, much more satisfied now that he had some food in his previously empty stomach, turned to watch as Professor Dumbledore stood up, arms held wide and a kind smile on his face.
"I hope you all can keep your ears awake because before we all head off to bed; I have a few things that need to be addressed. Firstly, we have a few staff changes that you should be aware of. As some of you already know, Professor Banks resigned during the summer so that she may travel abroad and research her interests more, so please help me welcome our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Stoughton, who I believe will prove to be a very good teacher for you all. He served for a time as a very accomplished Auror, and he has kindly agreed to spend a year teaching young minds like yours. Jack, will you stand up so we can all congratulate you?"
James was right in assuming that the man talking to McGonagall was their teacher for that class. He stood up at Dumbledore's request, giving a nod towards the students who clapped politely. He smiled, but it was a no-nonsense smile, much like the one Banks would have given – though for that matter, James had never actually seen Banks smile. After a moment of accepting the usual Hogwarts welcome, he sat back down in his seat.
"Unfortunately for us, Professor Kinston has decided to retire after nearly sixty years of service, so also new to our staff this year is Professor Gammon, who will be taking on the post of a Divination teacher – not that you first and second years need to think about her class yet."
At the sound of her name, the elderly woman who James had seen earlier looking off into space withdrew for her little world enough to stand up and give a nervous bow and a small wave of her frail-looking arm. She was a stark contrast to the rigid and stern Stoughton as she twisted her hands in front of her, eyes twitching from one side of the hall to the next. The applause that followed Stoughton's announcement was a little less for Professor Gammon, though certainly not enough to be considered disrespectful.
After Gammon sat back down, Dumbledore returned to his usual start-of-term speech.
"Students, please be aware that you are not allowed within thirty yards of the Whomping Willow. This, as always, is for your own safety. Also, Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has added some new items to the list of banned items, and any student can check by his office to look at the complete list of things you are not allowed."
James glanced to the back of the hall where Filch stood. He and the Marauders had started Hogwarts at the same time, them as students and Filch as caretaker, and though the Marauders had yet to get caught under the Invisibility Cloak, Filch seemed to know that they were the ones behind the pranks he was forced to clean up after. Needless to say, they were not the best of friends.
"What's that cat doing in Filch's arms?" asked Sirius, pointing to a dust-colored feline in Filch's arms. "Evans's cat is bad enough."
Crackerjack, who was indeed Evans's cat, though James suspected it might be part-kneazle, had the same attitude as his owner towards the Marauders (though for some unknown reason it was Peter he hissed at the most). Whenever the cat noticed them sneaking out at night, he would always give them a disapproving look identical to Evans herself, but as their fellow Gryffindor had not sent Crackerjack to follow them yet, James had usually ignored the black cat, and for the most part the cat ignored them. But unlike Evans's cat, James would not put it past Filch to use his pet as an extra set of eyes in the castle to hunt down any rule breakers – perhaps it was time he got a dog like Fang.
"… but that's enough chitchat for now," concluded Dumbledore, dragging back James's attention from thoughts of cats and dogs. "I suggest you all get a good night's sleep. Off you go!"
I know that cats usually don't live for twenty-seven years, but I took some liberty and figured that just like wizards and witches who can live much longer than Muggles, the animals who live in that world also live longer because the truth is simply that I really, really want to write Sirius and Mrs. Norris interactions, particularly after he becomes an Animagus.
Just an interesting side note. So some of you might recognize the name Benedict Arnold, and if you do recognize the name, then you might see why I put him in Slytherin – totally spur-of-the-moment thing that I felt like adding. Just a little nod to history.
