Okay, well that was wildly entertaining. So here we go, in Remus' point of view for the second day of classes. Remus is even tempered, responsible, yet easily talked into irresponsible action and quick witted. And before you ask, no, I will not be doing every single day of the school year. Just the first week of classes, and the story fillers.
Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.
Part Eight – Day Two
"Detention." I rolled my eyes as Sirius started whining as we made our way down to the Great Hall Tuesday morning.
"I know!" This came from Riley, who was walking next to Sirius and threw her hands up into the air dramatically. "Already! And I didn't even blow anything up yesterday!" I, along with the rest of our group, excluding Melody, looked at her in shock.
"Blow anything up?" Asked Lily in apprehension as Melody explained with a smile.
"Riley has a fondness for explosions." God she was gorgeous. Every time she smiled, she sent butterflies racing to the pit of my stomach.
"Seriously?" Uh-oh. Sirius had a mad glint in his eyes. Clearly this was not a good sign.
"Oh yeah. Unfortunately I promised my father that I would try not to blow anything up this year." She sighed softly at this and hung her head dejectedly.
Lily laughed. "You sure made a lot of promises in order to come this year didn't you?"
"Oh yeah!" Riley grinned. "You wouldn't believe what my parents came up with! Do well this year." She said, mimicking what I presumed to be her mothers voice.
"Try not to blow anything up." This was from Melody in the same voice.
"Don't back mouth the teachers" Riley again.
"Don't turn anyones hair green" Melody.
"No Dungbombs." Riley.
"No sneaking out after hours" Melody.
"No starting any fights" Riley.
"No cursing younger students" Melody.
"Don't break any of your limbs." Riley.
"Try not to blow anything up" Melody obviously thought that this one was important.
"No Dancing on Tables." Riley laughed as she said this one.
"Try and actually eat your food, instead of throwing it at people." We all started laughing at that.
"Wow." James said pensively, "You sound like quite the trouble maker." At this, he grinned broadly at Sirius who was eying Riley with glee.
"Hardly!" Sirius' face dropped sullenly at that. It was quite comical to watch actually. "It's always Melody's fault and I just play the scapegoat for her tricks!" Melody had the good grace to look abashed as she grinned, and I felt my heart jump in my chest. She was a prankster? Could she be more perfect?
"Now I resent that Twitchy!" I would defiantly have to ask about those nicknames. "It's only usually my fault. Not always." She grinned. "You come up with your fair share of dumb jokes to play on people. Speaking of which," She raced a step or two in front of the group and held her arms out to stop us. "What are you all doing tonight?"
"Nothing!" I quickly threw in, starting to walk again. "We can't do anything, because we all have to serve our detentions." I definitely did not want any more detentions this early in the school year.
"She means after that, genius." Riley grinned and rolled her eyes at me as we all headed down the stairs towards the main floor.
"We're free! Need help with anything?" Sirius jumped in quickly. Obviously he felt that the new girls being prankster was pretty great as well.
"Yeah," Riley smiled up at him. Sweet Merlin he towered over the girl. Hell, even I towered over her, but Sirius was a good two feet taller then she was. "Meet us in the common room at midnight. We'll need help finding the staff room."
"I'm in!" James smiled as Sirius and Peter nodded. "You in Remus?"
Melody looked expectantly at me and I caved. "Yeah I'm in." She smiled that radiant smile and we all continued into the Great Hall. Before I had the chance to even sit down, Professor McGonagall had come up behind us and shoved our schedules for the day into our hands. And she immediately started to lecture us for the brawl we had in the common room last night.
I was pretty sure that none of us were actually listening other then Lily and Melody who were both looking rather abashed. I at least pretended to listen as I secretly was reading my schedule for the day.
Tuesday
8:00 – 9:00 - Breakfast
9:15 – 10:45 – Potions
11:00 – 12:30 – Potions
12:30 – 1:30 – Lunch
1:45 – 3:15 – Transfiguration
3:30 – 5:00 – Free Period
5:00 – 6:00 – Dinner
9:00 – Curfew
I smiled down at my schedule. Today had the makings of a wonderfully easy day, and since I already knew that Thursday was to bear the same classes as today, maybe my weeks would not be as hectic as I had thought. I already knew that James, Pete, Sirius and I all had our first three classes together, but since they all had elected to take History of Magic, I assumed that I would be the only one of us to have a free period today. This was fine by me, because it meant that I would at least have two periods to study uninterrupted this year.
"Sweet!" Riley whispered to me as we all sat down once McGonagall had left. "Professor Nice Lady gave me a free period! And I have Transfiguration today!"
"Professor Nice Lady?" I had to laugh as Sirius eyed Riley in shock at the use of the nickname.
"Well, I'm not great with names. And I think it suits her." Riley nodded affirmatively as Melody just rolled her eyes and sat down next to me at the table.
"Did you not hear her just now?" James asked in consternation as he started to mimic Professor McGonagall's rant. "I personally don't want to have to deal with your shenanigans this year, and if you lot turn these nice girls into hooligans, I will throw you into detention for every night, the rest of the year!" Apparently someone had been listening.
"Well that's only because we pissed her off. Doesn't she look like a nice lady?" Even I had to disagree with her on this level, for what with the Professors thin lips and tight smiles, she did not look kind at all. "What does she teach anyway?" Riley asked thoughtfully.
"Transfiguration." Peter put in. He and Alyssa had both been looking over their schedules up until this point, and hadn't really been part of the conversation. Nobody had really thought that Alyssa and Peter would stay together long, especially not with how he muddled everything up after she confessed she liked him last year. But the two of them had been together so long now that it was just odd to not see them together anymore.
"Really?" Riley gasped as Melody started laughing. "I love transfiguration!" She exclaimed, catching James' attention.
"Me too. It's my best subject." He nodded proudly, obviously thinking about how he had managed to become a full animagus in our fourth year. I smiled fondly at the memory, as I noticed the rest of the Marauders doing the same. I barely noticed when Riley started speaking again, and quickly drew myself out of my reverie and tuned in.
"Mine too!" She exclaimed before calming down a slight bit as I, along with everyone else at the table I'm sure, sighed at how similar the two hooligans were. "I'm hoping to work in St. Mungos Transfiguration Maladies Ward one day. Of course this means that I need to work my way up from Healer first, and somehow land the internship, but I think I can do it."
"Wow," I commented in shock. "That is the hardest ward to get into. My uncle tried for three years to get the internship before he even got the chance." It was true. It was a well known fact that St. Mungos had the best Transfiguration Maladies Ward in the world, and only a few choice witches and wizards got a chance to take the internship.
"Which is why Riley needs a leg up." Melody grinned wickedly. "Tell them what you're doing Twitchy."
"Okay," She smiled evenly. "As long as it doesn't leave this table." We all nodded and leaned in to hear what the girl had to say. And I gotta tell you, it couldn't have come as more of a shock if she told us she was going to adopt a baby troll.
"I've been working since this summer, and I'm trying to become an Animagus." She sat back proudly as my jaw dropped in abject shock. I saw James' eyes bugging out of his face, and Sirius' jaw was hanging further open then mine. "Of course I don't exactly have the ministries permission yet, but if I register when I'm out of school, then I should get the internship no problem."
"Wow Riley." Amber took the news much better then we had. "That's amazing!"
"Yeah really." Alyssa threw in as I started to collect myself. The announcement had left me gob smacked. She wanted to become an Animagus. How could this be possible? Talk about odd circumstances, as she chose to announce this to the only three unregistered Animagi in Hogwarts. Well, that I knew of. Merlin, I hope they're the only unregistered Animagi.
"Professor McGonagall is an Animagus." Lily put in as James tried to stifle a laugh.
"Really? Wow. Told you she was great!" Riley put in, turning towards James. "What's wrong with you?" She turned to look at Sirius then, who was also trying desperately to smother his laughter. "Is this funny?"
I couldn't help it. As soon as I saw Pete's eyes watering, I let out a small snort of concealed laughter. This set all of us off. Sirius was laughing uproariously as James' head was down on the table and he was snorting into his arm. Peter had holding his side and I was ready to fall off my chair with mirth. Even though I couldn't stop laughing, I did feel pretty bad about this. The girl had no idea that my friends were Animagi, and here I was laughing at her for trying to succeed were many other witches and wizards had failed.
"Could you be more rude?" Melody stood up, slamming her books down on the table.
"Well I think it's great Riley." Alyssa nodded, shoving Peters arm off of her shoulders.
"Let's go ladies. No reason to stay around these imbeciles any longer." This came from Lily.
Riley was just looking around at us laughing at her. She definitely looked hurt by our laughter. "Whatever." she sighed before standing up and following the girls dejectedly as they stalked out of the Great Hall.
"Bloody hell." I sighed, after I finally managed to control myself.
"Wow...we definitely have a knack for pissing them off." Sirius nodded regrettably
"Yeah really." Sighed James still chuckling. "And now we gotta find a decent excuse as to why we laughed at her."
"That's crazy though. And pretty ambitious of her. I mean, yeah, we did it, but we had each other. She's gonna have to do this by herself." Peter mused. Now that I thought about it, it was pretty ambitious of the girl. As we all stood up and made our way towards the dungeons for double potions, we mused over a good excuse that might actually be believable.
We decided that telling the girls that Peter's uncle had tried to turn Animagus over the summer and had ended up losing an ear for good, would be the best excuse. As soon as we agreed on this, the bell for first period rang. We looked, startled, at each other and raced the rest of the way towards the dungeons. Luckily, there were four seats at the back of the room left available, and Professor Slughorn wasn't there yet.
We sidled into our chairs and noticed Melody, Lily and Riley all sitting at the front of the class together, blatantly avoiding looking in our direction at all. Alyssa and Amber both had Divination and then a free period today, so all we had to do was tackle the three of them for right now.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I must say, that the number of you who have made it to N.E.W.T level is of no surprise to me, as I know full well that the level of talent for potions in this room far exceeds the 6th grade level." Professor Slughorn had always been a boisterous and dramatic fellow. Along with James and Lily, I had been invited into his "Slug Club' in my second year at Hogwarts. This was not really something that any of us actually enjoyed, and James had turned down the offer flat.
As I mused about how the Slug Club really annoyed the pants off of me, I noticed a piece of paper, in the shape of a bird, fly across the room when the professors back was turned. It had come from the girls direction and was heading towards the back left corner of the room. Towards the Slytherins.
"What is this?" Professor Slughorn had stopped the bird mid-flight, with his back turned, and walked over to it. Unfolding the paper, he read off of it - "Do you want to be my partner this year? - Riley" That was a shocker.
"Which one of you is this Riley girl?" Oh, man. So much for wanting to avoid detentions.
"I am." She stood up and looked at him, grinning slightly. "You see professor, I've heard that Slytherins and Gryffindors don't exactly get along here. So I figured, what better way to change that, then by being the one to extend the hand of friendship to a fellow student with whom I had gotten along with quite well until the sorting ceremony."
I blanched. She got along with a Slytherin? This was not good. I turned and saw both James and Sirius' jaws dropped in shock and even anger.
"Who might that student be, miss ...?" He was actually considering this!
"Collins." She supplied. "And it was Severus. I was just wanting to perhaps, be his potions partner for a bit." She smiled as my eyes nearly bulged out of my head. As I looked around the room, nearly everyones jaw had dropped.
"Hmm..." Professor Slughorn mussed with a small smile. "Yes. Yes, I believe that would be suitable. You and Mister Snape shall be partners for the rest of the year."
"WHAT?" James and Sirius yelled at the same time as a small smile appeared on both Riley and Snape's faces.
"Quiet! I will have order!" It took several minutes to calm the swearing and yelling Slytherins and Gryffindors. I sat in shocked silence through most of the uproar as Professor Slughorn handed out detention after detention. Even Lily received a detention for yelling at Lucius Malfoy, who had just called Riley a blood traitor.
"This is precisely why Miss Collins idea was so brilliant. You all need to learn to get along! Now, we will be working on Felix Felicis today. Can anyone tell me about this potion?" Professor Slughorn droned on as we all partnered up. Almost everyone in the room was sending glares at the mismatched pair at the front of the room as we started working on our potions, but they seemed oblivious to it all.
I was working with Peter who had just tried to cut up the shriveled fig before skinning it. Apparently, Riley had made the same blunder at the front of the room, for snippets of their conversation could be over heard by the rest of the almost silent class.
"What are you doing?" hissed Snape, grabbing her wrist as she tried to dice the fig.
"Cutting the mandrake root." She stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No, that's the shriveled fig. You have to skin it first."
"Oh...so...what did I skin then?"
"No! Riley! You skinned the Mandrake root!" I laughed slightly at this.
"Wasn't that one the fig?" She asked apprehensively.
"Does it look like a fig" he rolled his eyes with a grin. That was odd. I rarely saw him smile at all.
"Um...sort of." She said with an innocent smile.
"No. This" he shook the fig in front of her face, "looks like a fig. That looks like a root! Thank Merlin I have another."
"Well I thought it looked kind of figgy." She muttered with a small grin as she started to skin the shriveled fig he had thrust into her hand.
"You look kind of figgy." He muttered childishly as I heard Sirius growl a few paces to my left.
"Bloody Slytherin probably bewitched her." he muttered as his knife hand slipped and he cut open his finger. "Dammit!!"
"Probably more likely that she's just pissed at us. Again." James muttered as I healed the cut on Sirius' finger with the spell Riley had used the other day.
"Well, what can we do about it?" Peter, always the level headed one muttered darkly. "Either way, lets try and talk to her about it." he suggested.
The rest of the period went on this way, with the only two people actually talking being Snape and Riley, and Sirius, James, and myself all muttering about how she could possibly do something like that. I'll admit it, I hate the Slytherins, and what Riley had done had been pretty thoughtless.
Apparently Riley's mother was a chef of some restaurant and Melody had taken up cooking with her as a small child. She excelled in this, and that was where her ability at potions came from. It was also quite clear that Riley had not inherited her mothers cooking talents, for Snape had corrected her time and time again.
By the end of the period, the only people who actually got the potion correct were Riley and Snape, Barty Crouch - a sixth year Ravenclaw and his partner Rudlofus Lestrange, and Melody and Lily. Meanwhile, my potion was a dull golden brown, and Sirius and James' was a dark yellow. We had almost made it. The bell rang and we headed to lunch, running to catch up with the girls.
"Riley! Hey Riley!" James was yelling at her back as she blatantly ignored us.
"Look," Peter sighed as he grabbed her arms and stopped her from walking. "We're sorry. We shouldn't have laughed, but you gotta understand! This summer, Remus was staying at my place, and James and Sirius came to visit. My uncle is an Animagus and he came bursting into my room, drunk as all hell, yelling that he could turn into a rabbit. He then stole my wand and pointed it at himself."
By now, everyone was listening and I had to commend Peter for his adaptations to the story. He had always been good at worming his way out of trouble.
"Any way, there was this huge puff of blue smoke and an ear less rabbit was stumbling around my room. He transformed wrong, and to this day, he has no ears as either a rabbit or human." Riley was grinning by this point. "We weren't laughing at you." Peter smiled. "We were laughing at the memory of a drunk ear less rabbit bouncing down the stairs of my house."
"Okay." Riley laughed. "I knew there had to be a good reason." She laughed and started heading towards the great hall again.
"We do think it's a wonderful attempt." Sirius grinned apologetically as Riley smiled.
"I know you guys aren't dumb enough to piss Riley off twice in 48 hours. Well, not on purpose at least." Melody smiled widely as Lily chortled.
After lunch we walked into Transfiguration, where Peter, Lily, Riley and I took the last four spots together - which forced Sirius and James apart. Padfoot and Prongs looked heartbroken and started going into dramatic hysterics at the thought of being separated from each other.
"My darling James! I shall be longing for you every moment we're apart. But never fear! Our love is undeniable, and distance cannot wear down my devotion!" Sirius cried, going down on one knee and playing the part of the love-sick Romeo.
"Oh, Sirius!"James wailed as he threw the back of his had to his forehead. "I simply can not leave you! My heart will ache for your love every moment that we are forced apart!" The girls started giggling as James swooned and batted his eyelashes at Sirius, clearly taking on the role of Juliet.
I rolled my eyes and laughed at the antics of my two best friends. Just then, Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom, right as Sirius was declaring his undying love for James, and raised an eyebrow at them.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Stop these shenanigans at once. If you are so concerned about being separated, may I recommend that you take the two seats behind Miss Collins and Miss Evans?" McGonagall pursed her lips as Sirius and James started singing in joy and sat down right behind Lily and Riley
"Now then. I hope all of our emotional issues are taken care of?" McGonagall surveyed the class with her sharp eye, as we all turned to face her.
As it turns out, Riley was just as good at Transfiguration as she had claimed, and received ten points for Gryffindor when she was the first to turn her desk into a cauldron. Professor McGonagall even smiled softly at the use of Riley's new nickname and did not bother to correct her.
By the end of class, the only people that had managed to do so were Riley, James, and Amos Diggory – a sixth year Hufflepuff. Lily had created a very tall cauldron, and Sirius had somehow managed to keep his cauldron wooden, while I had fully created a functioning cauldron, that somehow split down the middle like a piece of wood.
"Now class." McGonagall address the students just before the bell rang. "This year, on top of your regular classes, you are all to hand in a comprehensive report at the end of each semester about the various changes a magical beings body can under take. Each report can be of one of the following topics – Werewolves, (I groaned) Animagus, (We all groaned) Vampires, or the effects of a Basilisk's stare."
"Everyone will be working in pairs with the person I assign you. Before you ask, yes, everyone will be paired with someone in their own house, to the best of my ability, so as to ensure more study time." I grinned, hoping that I would be working with one of the Marauders. Hopefully then we could ace the project in no time flat.
"I will be handing out a paper with the details of the report, and your partners name on top." As the bell rang, she started passing out papers to students as they left the room. I looked up as James started yelling and bouncing up and down with glee. Riley snatched away his paper and smiled before smacking Prongs upside the back of the head.
"Calm down you oaf!" She giggled as he rubbed the back of his head. With a reaction like that, coupled with Lily staring at her paper as though it told her that the end of the world was her fault, I knew that they must be partnered. Sirius was rolling his eyes as Peter stared up at him with an unabashed grin and asked when they would start studying.
This left me with Riley. This could work out in my favour, as long as I could sway her from doing the werewolf topic, other wise some things might get too noticeable.
"Not bad!" Riley stated as we headed to the Gryffindor Common room as everyone else headed to History of Magic. It turned out we were the only two to have this spare period at the same time. "So what topic do you want? I mean, you know I want to cover Animagi, so you can chose the other topic."
"Um...How about the Basilisk topic then?" I sighed as we entered the common room and flopped down on the sofa. She had sure made that easy.
Okay. Review my lovely readers! Things are gonna start to pick up now, so enjoy.
