I'm really sorry it took longer than expected! I was away for a few days, but it's up now, and that's all that matters. Thanks again to Jessie for pushing me to finish this. Happy belated birthday! This one's for you!
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"It looks like Sirius was right," Chase said, as she, Lily, and Alice entered the dungeon leading to the Potions classroom.
"Right about what?" Lily asked curiously.
"About the professor," Chase said, pointing to a plump, sandy-haired man who appeared to be in his early forties. "It's Cornelius Fudge."
"Isn't he an author or something?" Alice asked.
Lily nodded. "He wrote a book on the Ministry of Magic. It was an instant hit, because every witch and wizard in the world purchased it, hoping it would reveal a few well kept secrets the Ministry's buried over the years."
"Secrets like?" Chase asked.
"Secrets such as what the Department of Mysteries really does," Lily answered. "But, of course, the book was pretty useless and gave away no secret information. Fudge is a really uptight wizard. He plays by the books at all times."
"Great," Alice replied, rolling her eyes. "He should make for a fun teacher."
"Let's just say I pity James and Sirius, because Fudge won't put up with their crap," Lily said instinctively. She paused. "I take that back. I pity Sirius. I'll very much enjoy watching James get in trouble."
Alice and Chase shot each other doubtful looks, but followed Lily towards the front of the classroom, passing Snape on their way forward. He muttered something as they passed, but the three were too caught up in their own conversation to even realize he said something.
"How are we going to sit?" Alice asked suddenly, noticing that the tables were only large enough to fit two at each.
"You two sit together," Lily suggested. "I'll find someone to sit with."
"Are you sure?" Alice asked slowly, not wanting to betray her best friend.
"Of course I am," Lily said brightly. She turned from them and found Remus at an empty desk in the very front of the classroom. "Do you mind?" she asked him.
"Be my guest," Remus said rather cheerfully. "It beats sitting with Peter and having him spill his potion on me every class."
Lily beamed. "Thanks," she said, pulling out her chair and sitting down. She put down her fifth year Potions book, Remedies, Poisons, and Counter-potions by Cidithee Clairmunch, and pulled out a fine-feathered quill, parchment, and an inkbottle.
Professor Cornelius Fudge sat in silence for the first five minutes of class, creating an uneasy atmosphere. Students were not sure whether to talk or ask him if he knew the period had started, so they all sat there in complete silence, exchanging baffled and worried looks.
"Er…Professor?" Lily spoke out at last, causing relief to spread amongst the classroom.
Cornelius Fudge turned towards Lily, looking her square in the eye for several seconds before answering. "Yes, Miss…?"
"Evans," Lily answered. "Lily Evans. Er…not to be rude Professor, but I was wondering if you knew that class had started already."
"Thank you Miss Evans for your concern," Fudge said quickly, but not brutally. He was rather polite when he spoke. "But," he continued, "I have already started class."
This comment sent the classroom buzzing, students turning towards one another, each with the same confused expression upon their face.
"Again," Lily began once more, "I wonder what you mean, Professor. You haven't given us any instructions, so how could class have started?"
"In order to master the art of Potions," Cornelius Fudge began, rising from his desk, "you need extreme concentration. The reason there was complete silence in the room, was because I assumed that every one of you, being the great Potions students that you are, were concentrating. Apparently, I was wrong and had overestimated the overall ability and talent in this classroom."
Lily stared at Fudge in awe. He had been mocking them! She couldn't believe how horrible this man could be! He had seemed so nice!
"How could you have overestimated our ability when you never even had the decency to tell us what we were supposed to be doing?" James called from the back of the room. Fudge's head whipped around to look at James.
"I assumed your prior Potions professors would have taught you a decent respect for the art of Potions," Fudge sneered.
"Then you're blaming our professors, aren't you?" Sirius asked lazily, not impressed by Fudge's display of arrogance.
"Not in the least," Fudge sneered.
"Then stop contradicting yourself," Remus surprised everyone by speaking out.
"I beg your pardon!" Fudge roared.
"Well, sir, no disrespect intended, but you just implied that you overestimated our professors, not us," Remus said softly but firmly.
"Which," Sirius continued. "Would imply that you blame our former professors and not us, so go yell at them," Sirius yawned loudly.
Fudge's face turned an ugly shade of purple; a shade Lily realized signified his anger. "Detentions to both of you!" Fudge shouted.
"What for?" Sirius asked, not flinching. He stretched his arms out above his head.
"For being right, of course," Remus spoke gracefully.
"Ah, but, of course," Sirius muttered sarcastically.
"Silence!" Fudge shouted. "Or those detentions will become suspensions."
"You can't suspend us," Remus replied. "You don't have that power."
"Only Dumbledore does," Sirius added, "and he would never suspend either of us."
"Well, we'll just see about that," Fudge threatened.
"Yes," Sirius agreed. "You will see."
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"Oh, just you wait," Sirius's voice echoed through the hallway. "I'll show him. You don't mess with Sirius Black and get away with it! Oh, no! He's in deep now. My revenge will be sweet! The prank of all pranks! The gag of…"
Lily managed to tune Sirius out as she walked into the Great Hall for lunch. He as now telling everyone his own version about standing up to Cornelius Fudge, or as James had so cleverly dubbed him, Corny Fud-Dud. Sirius's account of what happened in Potions didn't match up at all to Lily's recollection, yet she noticed Remus didn't attempt to correct the story. In Sirius's version, he had completely left out the fact that Remus was the one who really stood up for him, but since Sirius loved to be the center of attention, and since rarely anyone would believe Remus had the guts to stand up to a teacher, the general public accepted Sirius's version as truth.
"Lil!" a voice called out brightly.
Lily spun around to see Jewlie Makerson, a red haired Ravenclaw, rushing over to her. Lily grinned widely and gave her a huge hug.
"Hey!" Lily remarked. "How have you been?" She and Jewlie had become really good friends last year in their Double Charms class. She was the only other person Lily knew who wasn't head over heels for James.
"Great," Jewlie said. "My summer was amazing. Dad and I went to Africa!"
Jewlie's father, Lassers Makerson, was a member of the Ministry of Magic in the foreign affairs unit. Each year he went on a trip to a foreign country over the summer, and Jewlie being his only remaining family, naturally went with him.
"That's great," Lily said smiling.
"Hey, we have Charms tomorrow," Jewlie said. "Do you want to sit with me?"
"Sure," Lily agreed. "I'll see you tomorrow then. And good luck in the quidditch tryouts. You are trying out, right?"
Jewlie nodded excitedly. "I hope I make it this year."
"I'm sure you will," Lily said politely. Although she knew how terrible Jewlie's quidditch skills were, she didn't want to bring her down.
"Bye!" Jewlie called.
"Bye!"
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The remainder of the day flew by for Lily. Now, for most students, classes breezing by would be an excellent treat, but Lily dreaded how quickly the time passed, knowing that each minute that went by brought her closer and closer to her detention with James. While she shuddered at the thought of spending three hours with that conceited jerk, others all around her kept reminding her of the detention, jealousy coating their voices when they told her how lucky she was. Lily glanced over at James during dinner, and he immediately raised his hand to his hair, fluffing it. Lily scowled. Some luck she had. If everyone else was so damn jealous, they could have him…she surely didn't want him.
"Lil," Alice said, tapping her on the shoulder. "Hello?"
"Yes?" Lily asked, as though she had been fully alert the entire time Alice was talking to her.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked. "It's like you're in another world."
"No, no, I'm fine," Lily said.
"Well, then come on!" Alice replied, impatiently.
"Come on?" Lily repeated, dumbfounded.
"You have detention in less than ten minutes."
Lily gazed around the Great Hall. Except for a few students chatting quietly, the room was deserted. Now she understood why Alice had looked at her like she was crazy.
"Right, I know," Lily covered. "I just am trying to delay it as much as possible. Plus, I didn't want to go back to the common room just to see James. Three hours is enough…well, too much actually."
Alice rolled her eyes only half believing her. "Well, Chase and I will probably be outside. She wants to get some quidditch practice in. We should be in before you return, but if not, you don't have to wait up for us."
"Okay, so I'll see you later," Lily said, gathering up her books. She walked slowly through the Great Hall, then once she was out of Alice's view, darted down the corridor and raced up the staircase. She flew into the Gryffindor common room, dropping her books on a table towards the back of the room.
She glanced at the clock out of the corner of her eye. She had three minutes to get to McGonagall's room! She raced back out of the common room, knowing that being late to one of McGonagall's detentions could be fatal.
"I'm…sorry…I'm…late…Professor…" Lily panted, running into the room. She leaned against the entranceway, allowing herself to catch her breath.
Professor McGonagall looked up from the papers she was grading and stared at Lily, amused.
"Miss Evans, you're two minutes early," McGonagall replied.
"I am?" Lily questioned, walking into the room. She noticed James wasn't there yet. "Sorry. I fell asleep," she lied. "And when I woke up and saw I only had five minutes to get here, I panicked."
"I could tell," McGonagall replied. "But, no use worrying about it now, you're here, you're early, and everything's fine."
Lily grinned. Professor McGonagall could be all right when she wanted to be, rather nice even.
"Er…Professor?" Lily asked, as she sat down at a desk directly in front of McGonagall.
Professor McGonagall cocked an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"What exactly do we have to do for three hours," Lily replied. "If you don't mind my asking."
Professor McGonagall studied Lily for a second before responding. "I have papers that need grading," she said. "James and yourself will be grading papers in here. I have a meeting with Albus Dumbledore, so I will return sometime within the three-hour time frame. You are not to leave until I return."
Lily nodded. She looked up at the large handcrafted clock upon the wall. She noted that James was now five minutes late. A small smile crept over Lily's face. He was going to be in deep trouble now.
"Hello Lily, Minerva," James said, strolling into the Transfiguration room, whistling a tune from a popular band called "Severed Souls".
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes and frowned at James. "You're late," she growled viciously.
"Actually," James began, holding his index finger up high in the air, "I'm right on time. You see, usually when I am late to class, I'm ten minutes late. However, now I am five minutes late, meaning that I'm technically on time."
"You're late," she repeated.
James wiped the smug look off of his face as he sat down next to Lily. "Sorry Professor. It won't happen again, I promise."
Professor McGonagall's lips thinned. "It better not," she warned. "I'll let you go this once." She stood up, tossing a pile of papers on Lily's desk and a pile on James's. "Lily can explain to you what is expected of you. Oh, and just for reference, I have a spell cast upon those rolls of parchment. Try changing a grade on a friend's paper and something most amusing will appear upon your face."
"Excuse me, Professor McGonagall," a loud voice boomed. McGonagall turned and saw Fudge standing just outside her door. It may have just been her imagination, but Lily swore that McGonagall's face twisted into one of immense disgust. Of course, Fudge was head of the Slytherin House, and Slytherins and Gryffindors were sworn enemies, but Lily thought it to be something more than that.
"Yes," McGonagall answered quickly.
"I have Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin here with me for their detentions. Since you're head of the Gryffindor House, I thought their punishment should be left up to you."
Professor McGonagall shot both Sirius and Remus murderous looks. "Very well," she said pointedly, hinting for Fudge to leave. Fudge remained, staring at McGonagall. "You may leave," she said finally, impatiently.
Fudge exited the room and Sirius and Remus ushered themselves inside. Sirius looked as carefree and unbothered as ever, but Remus seemed to be very upset with himself, for his head was hung down as he walked inside the room.
"Well?" Professor McGonagall barked, demanding an explanation.
"We didn't do anything," Sirius insisted. "He insulted us. He insulted our professors. We merely stood up for them and ourselves."
"Yes," Remus agreed meekly.
Professor McGonagall ceased to speak.
"He's telling the truth," Lily spoke up. "We were all there. Fudge never started class and so I asked him if he knew that class had started, and he scolded all of us, saying that we had no respect for his class and that our previous professors…"
"Lily," Professor McGonagall said at once. "There's no need to explain. I believe you."
"You do?" Lily asked, astonished. McGonagall must really despise Fudge to believe Lily without allowing her to finish explaining.
"However," she continued. "Since Professor Fudge will be expecting punishment, I fear I must give you two detentions."
"But…" Sirius yelled.
"Although," McGonagall continued, "I see no reason to deduct points from Gryffindor." Sirius and Remus grinned. "Now," she began, motioning for Sirius and Remus to be seated. "The four of you will be grading papers for me. I will not be in the room, because I have a private meeting to attend with Dumbledore. So, I'm trusting that the four of you will be on best behavior?"
The four nodded eagerly.
"All right then," she said opening the door. She then whipped her head over her shoulder. "Oh, Sirius and Remus," she added. "Do keep Lily from killing James, will you?"
Remus grinned as Sirius laughed heartily. Lily scowled, and James turned to Lily, in hope of her saying something to contradict McGonagall.
"Certainly," Sirius answered, as McGonagall left the room.
The four all remained silent until they were positive that McGonagall was gone.
"Catch!" Sirius remarked, chucking a Remembrall from McGonagall's desk at James. With excellent precision, James caught in effortlessly.
"Remus!" James shouted.
"No, no," Remus insisted, but was forced to clutch his hands upon the ball that was hurled at his face.
"Lil?" Sirius tempted, taking the ball from Remus.
Lily shot all three of them venomous looks. "Can we please just get to work? After we finish grading papers, the three of you can do whatever nonsense you wish. Agreed?"
Sirius sighed. "But…"
James cut him off. "Agreed," he said, smiling at Lily.
Without paying James the slightest bit of attention, Lily grabbed rolls of parchment from her stack and handed them to Remus, then gave some of James's to Sirius.
An hour and a half later, the four had finished grading all of the reports, and were going bored out of their minds. Sirius and James had given up their game of pretend quidditch, realizing it just was no fun without flying. ("How do Muggles do it?" James asked.) Lily and Remus had both lost interest in a conversation about their summer vacations. All four of them sat restlessly in their seats, fidgeting anxiously.
"I'll be right back," James said, standing up.
"Where are you going?" Sirius yawned, allowing more strands of black hair drop playfully in his eyes.
James grinned, which seemed to be an answer enough for Sirius. But not for Lily.
"Well?" Lily demanded.
"You know," Sirius said, peeking out from under his blanket of hair. "You sound like McGonagall when you say that."
Lily scowled. "Where are you going James?" she asked hurriedly.
"Bathroom," he lied.
"James!" she persisted.
"I said, bathroom," he continued, getting up and walking out the door.
"He's going to get us all in trouble," Lily frowned. "I just know he is!"
Sirius shook his head. "Lighten up Lil," he remarked. "Don't worry about things so much."
"The way you worry about James, you'd think you actually liked him," Remus teased.
Lily looked at Remus, betrayed. She thought that he was the one levelheaded one out of James's group of mindless followers. Obviously she had been very wrong.
"I do not like James," she insisted. "If I did, I'd be going out with him, wouldn't I?"
"She has a point," Remus said to Sirius.
"Ah," Sirius said, grinning madly. "But, I know women, Remus. And women just love to string men along, playing hard to get."
"Oh really?" Lily asked, angrily. "So that's what I'm doing?"
Sirius nodded. "Precisely."
"Well, Sirius, I hate to contradict your petty knowledge of women, but that is most definitely not what I am doing," Lily said. "I am doing nothing except showing no tolerance for a boy who needs to grow up."
Sirius laughed. "Is that so?"
"It is," Lily insisted.
"Then tell me, Lil," he began, toying with her. "Tell me why you kissed me to make James jealous."
Lily felt a slight blush rise in her cheeks and prayed that it wasn't noticeable. Seeing that the expressions on both Sirius's and Remus's faces hadn't wavered, she vouched that they hadn't noticed.
"I kissed you only to prove a point," she said.
"Which was?" Sirius asked.
"James said that I would be lucky to have a guy like him in my life and said I could do no better. So, I kissed you to prove that I could do better than him."
Sirius grinned. "So I'm better than James?"
"No…" Lily started.
"Aha!" Sirius pounced. "So you think James is better than me!"
Lily huffed. "I can't win, can I?"
"No," Sirius and Remus both laughed.
"Well, then, I'll attempt to explain myself. You see, in public opinion, Sirius is the most sought after fifth year, not James. Therefore, to the public, kissing you was better than kissing James."
"So this is about what other people think?" Remus asked.
"Yes, actually," she said."
"But I thought you didn't care what people thought of you," Sirius replied. "I mean sure, you're popular and everything, but what others thought about you never phased you before. Why now?"
"Because," Lily said, growing impatient, "James cares what the public thinks, so rejecting him in public was the most humiliating thing I could do to him. I thought that would give him the hint, but obviously he hasn't gotten it through his thick skull that…"
"Miss me?" James asked, popping back in.
"No," Lily remarked quickly.
"You were talking about me," James teased.
"I was not!" Lily insisted.
"Were too," James said.
"How would you know?" Lily challenged.
"Well, I heard you mention that someone had a thick skull, so naturally I assumed you were discussing me," James said, smiling knowingly.
"Well, don't get too excited, seeing as I was merely insulting you," Lily remarked.
"What did you get?" Remus asked, interrupting their little tiff.
James grinned widely. "We're going on a little revenge mission," he said. "Payback time for Fudge."
"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, baffled.
"We're going to wreck the Potions room," James grinned.
"Yeah, all right," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Would you like me to ask Professor Fudge's permission to destroy his classroom?" she asked sarcastically.
"Give me some credit Lil," James said, pulling a silver cloak out from under his own Hogwarts robe.
"Is that…?" Lily began, awestruck.
James grinned. "An invisibility cloak," he said proudly.
"Where's Fudge?" Sirius asked.
"Outside," James replied. "Watching the students prepare for quidditch try-outs."
Remus grinned. "Perfect."
"Perfect for what?" Lily asked, baffled. "I don't understand a word of what you guys are saying!"
"Come on," James called, signaling everyone closer to him. "We have to get under the cloak and remain close together if we don't want anyone to see us."
"James, I won't…" Lily began in protest.
"Lily, we have more than an hour before McGonagall will be back," Sirius began. "She'll never know."
"But…" Lily started.
"You know you despise Fudge," James added.
"Well, yes, but…"
"Lil, if you don't come with us and we are caught, McGonagall's going to blame you as well for not stopping us," Remus added. "Might as well be guilty if you're going to be punished.
Lily was quite taken aback. She never broke school rules and never dreamed Remus would. Yet, he talked as if he did it all the time, and perhaps he did. However, seeing as she was with three of the cleverest wizards in Hogwarts and she did not want to be left alone, Lily reluctantly joined the three underneath of the cloak."
"Now no talking," James instructed as he pulled out a finely designed map of Hogwarts. Lily was amazed to see tiny dots moving all around!
"What…" she started.
"Shh!" the other three ordered, hushing her.
The four left the room, tiptoeing across the long, winding corridor, then carefully stepping down four sets of stairs. At last, they reached the dark corridor that led to the dungeon-room in which their Potions class took place.
"Alohomora," one of the boys whispered and the dungeon door blew open.
Once the four were safely inside, James tore the cloak off of them, setting it onto a desk in the corner of the room.
"What are you going to do?" Lily asked curiously.
"Destroy the room," James grinned.
"With what spell?" Lily asked.
Sirius shook his head. "The old-fashioned way," he smiled.
"Oh, but you'll leave fingerprints!" she exclaimed, converting back to her Muggle-ways without realizing it.
Remus laughed. "Lil, wizards do not dust for fingerprints. They dust for magic. When no magical source is found as the cause, they proclaim it to be the cause of a very powerful dark wizard."
"Well, that's rather stupid," Lily remarked.
"That's the beauty of it," Sirius grinned, knocking over a row of books. "Oops!" he exclaimed, mockingly.
Grinning Remus and James followed Sirius's lead, dumping books off of bookshelves, ripping parchments and tossing them onto the floor, and destroying small odds and ends all around.
"We should go," Lily said, frightened that someone might become alarmed by all the noise the others were making. "We have twenty more minutes, but McGonagall may come back early."
James, Sirius, and Remus stopped dead in their tracks, as if debating the logic in Lily's statement.
"She's right," Sirius said at last. "Let's go."
Sighing, James grabbed the cloak, wrapping it over himself, Sirius, and Remus. "Coming Lil?" he asked.
"Wait," Lily said, grinning slightly. She was eyeing a gremlin-like miniature statue on Fudge's desk. (The only item on his desk that remained untouched.) Without thinking, Lily quickly pushed the statue, causing it to fall to the floor, cracking into a million miniscule pieces.
She laughed quietly as she ran over to the other three.
"Nice," Sirius complimented her.
"Didn't know you had it in you," Remus agreed.
"Why'd you do it?" James asked.
Lily paused. "Well, Fudge had it coming. I just…well, he made me so angry and…well, I figured I'm here anyway, so if I get caught, I might as well have done something," she explained, rephrasing Remus's words that convinced her to go with them in the first place.
The four then cheerfully rushed up the four staircases, running back through the long hallway to McGonagall's room. Once safely inside, James stuffed the cloak and map inside of his robes, and the four all took their previous seats.
No sooner had they sat down than McGonagall had returned.
"Back so soon Minerva, sweetie?" Sirius teased.
Professor McGonagall scowled at him. "I'm now glad I gave you this detention," she remarked. "And, for your information, I am back early, because Dumbledore and I just discovered Fudge's classroom in shambles."
"Did he go crazy?" James asked seriously.
McGonagall eyed him. "No, James, he was outside the entire time. And, if I didn't know that Lily would never consent to it, I would have suspected you four."
"Please," Sirius remarked. "We have much more style than that. We would have thought of something sneaky and underhanded. But ruining a classroom? What good does that do? With a flick of a wand the mess is gone."
McGonagall seemed to believe Sirius. "True," she agreed. "Very well," she sighed. "You may all leave. However, Sirius, James, and Remus, it would be in your best interests not to mess with Professor Fudge. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Professor," the three answered simultaneously. The four then slipped out of the room quickly.
"We're going to get caught," Lily said, worried. "McGonagall knows."
"No we're not," James assured her. "And even if McGonagall knows, she won't rat us out. We're fine."
"Are you certain?" Lily asked.
"Absolutely."
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TBC…the next chapter will get really good! Keep the reviews coming guys!