19
The Sixth First Day
" You look tired, " Remus said to Doe as they walked down to the Great Hall the next morning.
" I didn't sleep very well" she told him.
It was true, she kept waking up all night. And every time she fell asleep, she would wake up again.
" She was tossing and turning all night" Marlene said.
" Yeah she kept mumbling things in her sleep" Mary added.
" Funny, I didn't hear anything" Lily said.
" You are such a heavy sleeper that someone could have come in and murdered us all and you would have kept sleeping" Marlene told her.
Doe held Remus' hand tighter, " Well now that my friend shave informed you of what a sleep terror I am. Let's move on shall we?"
Marlene laughed.
" Hey Mckinnon" Sirius said catching up to her. He was followed closely by James, and Peter who was trailing behind them.
" Yeah, Black?" Marlene asked, her eyes fluttering slightly.
Marlene had informed Doe this morning that she was going back to plan B, she was going to play hard to get with Sirius until he asked her.
They walked into the Great Hall, and sat down in their usual spots.
" Your button is undone Mckinnon" Sirius said with a slight smile.
" I'm very aware of that" Marlene said and winked quickly.
Doe almost choked on her pumpkin juice. She wasn't the only one who found the situation funny. Mary and Lily were both avoiding Marlene's glance, as they were practically bursting with laughter.
" Hey Lily" Amos Diggory said as he walked by.
" Oh, Hi Amos" Lily said waving enthusiastically.
Doe saw James' expression sadden for a moment. Lily looked very pleased that Amos had said hello. Doe couldn't blame her. Amos Diggory was easily the most attractive boy in Hufflepuff and he was nice enough.
He seemed like a good choice for Lily, even though Doe secretly thought the best person for Lily was a certain messy haired, glasses wearing Gryffindor.
" Please review your schedules and make sure there is no problem" McGonagall said coming down the table and passing out parchment to everyone.
Doe sighed, she had a few free periods but her schedule was still quite full. In order to become an auror, she needed Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Charms.
The first class she had today was Defense Against the Dark Arts, with the Ravenclaws.
" At least we don't have to deal with the Slytherins" Sirius said observing their schedules.
They all finished up breakfast and headed up to the Defense classroom.
The door was locked so they all stood around waiting for Professor Weasley to unlock it.
" I'm quite excited for this, what about you?" Xeno Lovegood asked while they were waiting.
" I can't wait" Marlene said sarcastically.
" Well I'm excited" Doe said over her.
After a minute, Professor Weasley strode out into the hallway and unlocked the door, grunting a quick
" come in".
They all took our seats. Doe sat down with Lily at one of the double desks. They took out their books and sat waiting.
Professor Weasley took a deep breath and strode out in front of the class.
" I've never taught a class before" he said, " but I do however know what I'm talking about"
He began walking up and down the aisles, " This year you will be learning about the Dark Arts and their nature as well how to defend yourself against them. This class will prepare you for the real world and the dangers that reside within it, and in the current climate, that can only help you. So today we will not be bothering with books, we are going to be doing a practical lesson today"
Professor Weasley took out his wand and waved it. All of the desks flew to either side of the room clearing an open space in the classroom.
" Partner up, and wands out!" he ordered.
Lily and Doe stood next to each other, wands in hand. She watched as Marlene and Mary, Sirius and James, and Remus and Peter also partnered up.
" Now one a wizard's most rudimentary skills is the skill of non-verbal spells. It allows you an upper hand against your enemies, and frankly it saves a hell of a lot of time".
Professor Weasley strode around the room again, his arms behind his back.
" Now I want you and your partner to practice jinxing each other with nonverbal spells"
Lily and Doe faced each other.
Doe held her wand out and tried to focus, she was trying to do the body bind jinx on Lily, but non-verbal spells were very difficult to master.
She stared at her shouting 'Petrificus Totalus' in her head for five minutes, practically purple in the face.
" Breathe" Professor Weasley ordered walking by them.
Doe took a deep breath. Lily had the same concentrated look on her face.
" Not as easy as you'd think huh?" Professor Weasley asked, " well I suggest you try and master it early, because I suspect the other professor's will be expecting it in their classes"
They kept trying for another half hour, by the end of it she had managed to do it once and Mary had become quite good at it.
" Good work Gryffindors, take 10 points" Professor Weasley said.
Mary smiled brightly.
Doe concentrated again and watched as a few others in the class were managing to get it.
" I think you've all done enough today" Professor Weasley shouted to the class, " Next class we will be doing a lecture but another practical lesson following that"
They gathered their things and left the room. They were all talking at once.
" What a great lesson!"
" That's the best defense class I think we've ever had!"
" I really enjoyed that" Doe told Lily as they walked down the stairs.
" I did too" Lily said, " but I really want to master non-verbal spells. I suck at it"
" You don't suck" Doe assured her, " they're really hard".
They continued walking back towards the common room to enjoy their free period.
" OH LOOK OUT ICKLE STUDENTS PEEVSY HAS QUITE THE FUN FOR YOU" Peeves shouted flying through the air above their heads dropping water balloons all around them.
Some of the Ravenclaw girls behind them shrieked and held books above their heads. Doe and Lily darted down the staircase quickly, avoiding most of Peeves' air attack.
Slowly, they all got back into the routine of being at Hogwarts. The classes were getting even harder. It seemed as if after they had all passed their O.W.L's the teachers had decided they were capable of handling more work, and their coveted free periods were being used to catch up on the massive amounts of homework they were being assigned. ]
Non-verbal spells were also being asked of them in almost all of their classes. Last week, Professor Flitwick had taught them an entire lesson on summoning charms only to tell them that they would only be allowed to perform the incantation, non-verbally. Now, every night in the common room there was at least one student who was standing in the black, lips closed shut trying to move an object towards them.
But the massive amount of Homework wasn't deterring the Gryffindor quidditch team from beginning their search for their new players. Two of the chasers has graduated last year, leaving two spots to fill on the team.
" I think I'm going to try out" Marlene had announced one night in our dormitory.
" For the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" Doe asked in disbelief.
Marlene nodded quickly, " Yup."
" But you hate activities" Lily said.
" You don't even like going to the games" Mary added.
" That's because I get bored" Marlene told them, " I wouldn't be bored if I was playing"
" Are you good?" Lily asked.
Marlene raised an eyebrow, " I have six older brother's, it's practically genetic"
So now, early on the first saturday back, Lily, Mary and Doe trudged their way down to the quidditch pitch to support Marlene.
There was a collection of about twenty people, not counting the team, gathered on the field.
Marlene's golden head was easily distinguishable among everyone else.
They climbed up the spectator towers and sat down, pulling their sweaters around them to distract from the slight autumn breeze.
A few minutes before it began, Remus and Peter joined them on the tower.
" I didn't know Marlene was trying out" Peter said, noticing her on the field.
" Neither did we until yesterday" Lily added.
" Well I hope she gets it" Remus added.
They all sat and watched as Sirius, James, and the rest of the team began running drills, having the players fly around the stadium and catch the quaffle at random intervals.
Slowly, James began weeding them out cutting the number down to 10 in the first hour, and five in the second. Lily, Mary, and Doe sat still, their intention spans slowly dwindling.
" How long can this possibly go on?" Doe asked Remus.
Remus shrugged, " Knowing James he won't choose until he's sure"
She scooted closer to him on the bench and watched Marlene on the field. She looked quite happy to be one of the remaining five.
She still couldn't believe that she still looked decent after all of that. Her hair was still securely fastened on her head in its ponytail and instead of sweating she seemed to glisten. She looked like an ad for Quidditch.
After another half hour, it came down to three people. Marlene, Emmeline Vance, and a fourth year boy named Rupert. James and Sirius ran a practice round and eliminated Rupert, leaving Emmeline and Marlene as the new additions to the team.
Beaming, Marlene ran over to her friends on the stands.
" I told you guys I could do it" she said proudly, broom in hand.
" I'm proud Marley" Doe told her.
She smiled again, " I'm going to go let Sirius congratulate me, see you in the common room", and she ran off back towards the direction of the pitch.
" She is too much" Mary said shaking her head.
" She and Sirius are so obviously into each other but they are both too prideful to admit it" Lily observed.
" Well they should" Peter said, " It would make all of our lives easier"
They looked down to the Pitch where Sirius and Marlene were talking enthusiastically.
" They're both so stubborn" Doe noticed.
" Like someone else we know" Remus said putting his arm around her.
It wasn't long before the first quidditch match approached them. James and Sirius had been making the team practice three nights a week and Marlene kept coming up to the dormitory very late and very exhausted.
" We'd better win" Marlene said plopping herself on her bed late Friday night.
The first match was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, and the Slytherin team was very good this year.
James and Sirius looked very nervous the morning of the first match, though they kept insisting that Gryffindor was beyond prepared.
Everyone headed to the Pitch early, anxious to get good seats. Remus had gotten sick the night before so it was just Doe, Mary, and Lily sitting together today.
" Do you think Marlene's nervous?" Lily asked Doe.
" I would be," Doe told her, " but Marlene has always been very confident"
" She'll probably be the best player out there" Mary said.
" or at least insist she was" Lily said with a laugh.
They watched as the stand began filling up quickly. All of Hogwarts had turned up for the first game of the season, even the teachers stand was packed full. She watched as McGonagall took a seat next to Professor Slughorn, looking slightly displeased but brandishing a Gryffindor scarf in support.
Doe clutched one side of the poster we had made for Marlene. They had used an old set of sheets and written 'McKinnon for the Winnin' in scarlet lettering across the front.
They all sat very still, anxiously waiting for the game to begin. After a few more minutes of waiting both teams flew out onto the field. Doe and Mary stood shouting, holding up the sign. They saw Marlene catch a glimpse of it and laugh loudly.
The game began, and it was a very fast-paced game. The quaffle kept moving in and out of different players hands and it seemed as if every time one of the teams scored, the opposite team did as well. The scores kept changing but both teams were never more than 10 points apart. Doe watched as Marlene scored her third point of the game, she was actually doing quite well.
The Slytherin beater had just launched a bludger at Ludo Bagman and almost knocked him off his broom. James was sitting on his broom high above the other players, obviously keeping a watchful eye out for the snitch.
Sirius sent a bludger at the beater who had knocked Ludo, and watched as he spun off in the opposite direction.
Marlene was looking very irritated at this point. The game kept ending up tied. Doe watched closely as Marlene got the quaffle and dove past the Slytherin to score another goal, putting them in the lead.
" Yes, go Mckinnon!" James shouted. He stopped instantly when he saw something gold flash by his face.
The snitch blew past James and headed towards the other side of the field, where the Slytherin seeker Yaxley was waiting.
It was like Doe was watching it in slow motion. Yaxley dove forward and held up his hand. Clasped in between his bony fingers was the twitching golden snitch.
The Slytherin's burst into loud cheer, and the Gryffindors all let out a collective sigh. Losing a quidditch match was bad enough, but losing to Slytherins was the worst because they never let you forget it.
" Poor Marlene" Mary said.
" It's really rotten luck" Lily agreed.
Doe folded up the sign they had made, figuring they could use it again for the next match.
" I'm sure she'll be okay," Doe told them, " she played really well"
They all headed back to the to the common room. It was awhile before the team arrived. They all came in looking very tired and extremely defeated.
" Well, that was bloody awful" Marlene said dropping herself into a chair.
" You were good!" Doe told her.
Marlene made a face at her and brought her legs to her chest, " They never lose, they're going to think it's my fault"
" I doubt it, Marls" Lily said, " You did awesome"
Marlene sighed, " Sirius is never going to like me now".
Mary, Lily and Doe all shared a collective eye roll.