"Sitting down, sitting down," Professor McGonagall's voice was clear over the hubbub of students, "Quietly, if you please, Mr Black, Mr Potter." Her gaze swept across the seated students, "I hope you have finished the Essay I set for you on Animagus Transformations." A number of alarmed gasps told her that not every body had.
"Well you should have," she snapped, "your NEWTs will be coming up soon, and you need that information behind you to successfully pass the test."
"NEWTs aren't for ages, Professor. Why do we have to learn all this now?" it was a thin, whiny voice from two seats behind Sirius.
Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared, "They are close enough." She retorted, "Even if you had years to prepare you, Mr Pettigrew, you would hardly pass your NEWTs with flying colours. If you passed at all, the way you are going at the moment, it would be a miracle."
Peter blushed and looked down. Sirius, who had twisted in his seat, grinned at him encouragingly.
"Mr. Black, will you kindly stop leaning on your chair like that!" Professor McGonagall's voice whipped across the classroom.
Sirius grinned at her, "Of course Professor," he said calmly, putting all four feet of his chair back on the ground.
The Professor's mouth was a thin line, "You will hand in the Essay now please, Mr Black."
Sirius nodded solemnly, and fetched his parchment out of his bag with a flourish, handing it triumphantly to the Professor. He noted with some satisfaction that it was almost a foot longer than it needed to be. McGonagall accepted it reluctantly, then moved on to collect the essays from the rest of the class.
James was sitting next to Sirius so, naturally, his was collected next. Remus's must have been the extra long parchment with the elegant script. Sirius noted with just a little bit of contempt that Peter's Essay had messy scrawls and hastily written answers.
Silly git should have done his Essay while we were, he thought, the 'we' he was referring to being, of course, himself, James, and Remus.
"Thank you to the people who did hand the Essay in. to the other, less proficient people; you have three days. Each additional day that the Essay is late, I will take of a third of the marks, until you have no marks left to take. Thank you." She looked around the room, noticing with satisfaction that she seemed to have everyone's attention. Well, almost everyone's, "Mr. Black, Mr Potter. Please pay attention!" she snapped, as they straightened up, grinning at each other; not in the least apologetic.
"We are now going to be doing some practical work. Not," she added as Sirius sniggered, "that writing is not practical in itself. Wands out and at the ready please."
A shuffling greeted this order, as the students got their wands out of their pockets.
"Today, you will revise changing colour and style of inanimate objects," Professor McGonagall started; she gestured with her wand at a litter of poodle puppies in a pen next to her desk. It was obvious that their fur hadn't been cut for quite a while; their fur was long and curly. "The incantation Adfecto commutatus with the wand flicking like so." She demonstrated with a flick of the wand towards one of the poodles, which immediately turned an emerald green colour.
Sirius grinned, remembering the lesson several years before where he and James had managed to turn Snape's hair a brilliant pink. Feeling the long locks on his head, he decided it was time for a change, perhaps when he had the hang of it again.
For the whole lesson, the poor poodles had to stand with having blue, pink, purple, or even multicoloured hair. James, grinning, turned the poodle's hair a deep read colour, making its fur grow long. Sirius noticed and turned to see Lily's reaction. She blushed and tried to transfigure her poodle's hair. She missed and the spell hit Peter, who was reprimanded directly by Professor McGonagall. She blushed, and opened her mouth to tell the professor her mistake.
"Not to worry," James interjected quietly, sashaying to her side, "I'll fix it." With a wave of his wand, Peter's hair was back to normal, leaving the Professor in mid scold.
Lily opened and shut her mouth. Quickly, with a hair ruffle and a grin, James moved back to his place.
Sirius smirked and opened his mouth. James stopped him, "Looks like Snivelous over there is going pretty well."
Sirius's expression changed quickly as he looked over at Severous Snape. He growled, "I can't make his hair any more greasy than it already is, Prongs. Look at it, it's dripping onto everything."
James grinned, pleased with himself for distracting Sirius from teasing him, "We could do a repeat of what happened last time we tried this spell."
Sirius smirked evilly. He nodded at James, "I'll take care of the hairstyle," he told his friend, raising his wand. In a few short seconds Snape had a new groove! His hair was now a stunning hot pink, and in a couple of plaited braids.
The two trouble makers watched innocently as Snape stood there, very still for a couple of seconds, unaware of what had changed. Then laughter rippled out from him, as more people turned to look. Remus turned around to see what was happening as Snape grabbed a pink braid and looked at it in disbelief. He shook his head, knowing who was behind it, "Twits." He muttered to himself.
The bell rang as Snape Transfigured his hair back to its normal, greasy locks. The students tittered with laughter as they filed out, James and Sirius hiding among them.
Sirius slowed, deciding now was the time for a change of hairstyle. He waved his wand at himself, murmuring the incantation. Lily stopped to look at him. She thought she had the wand flick right now. If she could just try it,"Adfecto commutatus" she whispered, then jumped as she saw Sirius's new hair: a spiked Mohawk now trailed across his head, bright blue and astonishing. It broke her concentration on what she wanted her hair to be. "Damn!" she whispered. Then she felt her hair change, spiking up into the style she had just seen. She closed her eyes in horror as she saw James look around for her again. She waited for Sirius's loud laugh to bring attention to her predicament; she was greeted instead by long hair falling down around her ears again. Startled, she opened her eyes. James lowered his wand and winked before turning and continuing on his way back to the Great Hall, and Lunch.