3. Hogwarts Bound
James ran around his room, throwing stuff into his trunk at lightening speed. Books, cauldron, quills, parchment, robes, jeans, shirts, cloaks, owl-
"Sorry Aquila," James apologized to his owl, who he had just grabbed and thrown into his open trunk. She gave him an angry look and a short hoot and then refused to make eye contact with him.
James murmured under his breath and continued throwing things into his trunk, checking his watch as he did so.
"Dammit," He made a frustrated noise as he read 10:30 on the clock face. He gave his room a once over, not noticing anything that should be in his trunk. He closed it up and sighed, looking out his window at the backyard.
He cursed. His broom lay on the grass, along with a couple of old ones that his Dad had used. James smacked himself on the forehead and ran out of his room, through the hallway and to the stairs. He went down the first third of the staircase and then, holding onto the railing, jumped the remaining steps, landing neatly at the bottom. He stood up straight, and ran through the kitchen and into the backyard.
"Ah-ha!" James said triumphantly, holding the broom over his head. He started walking towards the door when he saw the window to his room was open. Smiling he hopped onto his broom and kicked off of the ground, zooming into the air, messing up his hair even more and sending his glasses askew.
James whooped and did a loop before bringing his body down onto the broom as he flew directly through the window. Once in his room he dismounted.
"There," He said to himself happily as he closed his mess of a trunk. He grabbed his wand off of his night table and pointed it at the trunk, swishing and flicking.
"Wingardium Leviosa,"
Leaving his room, this time walking and with his trunk floating in front of him James made his way down to the living room where he found Sirius, Remus, his mother and father, and two men in suits.
"Kingsley?" James asked one of the men, a tall black man in his twenties.
"Hello James," He answered in his surprisingly deep voice.
James turned to his father though his question was answered before it left his mouth.
"The Ministry sent us protection since we're targets," He explained. "Kingsley and Rufus are going to escort us to King's Cross."
James nodded. "So are we going?"
His father smiled. "I suppose so,"
"It's about time; I don't know why we didn't leave half an hour ago," And he took his trunk and dragged it with him out the door and to the Ministry car.
The ride was relatively short and the car was extremely comfortable, seven people able to sit in it with enough space to stretch. Not only that, the car seemed to squeeze through tight spaces and move much more quickly than all of the others around it. It raced across the street, dodging cars and buses and just making it before streetlights turned red, as if by magic.
Once at the station, Kingsley and Rufus walked With the Potters, Sirius, and Remus, Kingsley running through the barrier with James, Sirius and Remus going together, and Rufus with Mr. and Mrs. Potter.
James took in Platform 9 and ¾ as he always did. There was a layer of steam from the glistening, scarlet Hogwarts Express and hundreds of people, parents and children, some in Muggle clothing, some so eager they had already donned their robes. And the sound, the sound. Hundred of people talking at once, shoes clacking against the stone floor, owls hooting, toads calling, wheels rolling and sliding towards the train. James smiled wide.
Hogwarts here I come.
Despite the speed of their journey, there were but 10 minutes until the train began its journey.
"See you Dad," James said, wrapping his arms around his father. His father ruffled his hair.
"Don't get in too much trouble James,"
James smiled up at him, the sparkle of his eye answer enough.
"Bye Mum," James hugged his mother and felt her wrap her arms around him and pull him closer. He kissed her on the cheek.
"Love you," James then turned to his father. "You too of course,"
"Of course," His father returned the smile his son gave him.
"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Potter," Sirius said, pulling them both into a short hug and then pulling away.
"Thank you for letting me stay," Remus thanked the Potters.
"No trouble Remus, you know that," Mrs. Potter told him.
"Any time," Mr. Potter agreed.
Then, with another farewell, James, Sirius, and Remus got onto the train. They hauled their trunks over and found an empty compartment.
James sighed with pleasure as he jumped into a seat. "I'm looking forward to the Feast already,"
"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "Speaking of, where's the trolley lady? I'm starving."
"Sirius, the train hasn't even left; the trolley lady isn't coming by for at least another hour." Remus told him.
Sirius stuck his tongue out at his friend.
"I shouldn't bother asking but have either of you even started your summer work?"
"We had homework over holiday?" Sirius asked. James looked at him blankly.
"Of course," Remus said to himself. "Why would you?"
"Excellent question Moony. Why would we? Don't you know us at all?" James smirked at his friend.
"And I suppose you two expect me to let you copy mine?"
Sirius smiled. "That's a good lad. For a minute I was afraid you'd forgotten everything we taught you."
Remus looked irritated. "Sorry mate, you'll have to do your own."
Sirius looked like a wounded puppy. "But-but-but Remmy!" he whined.
"It shouldn't be too hard for you Siri dear, what is it you two always say… natural brilliance?"
James stared at his friend. "Well played good sir." He reached into his trunk and pulled out a piece of paper and a quill. "Could you at least tell us what it is?"
Remus nodded, reached into his own trunk, and pulled out his old homework pad. He tossed it to James.
James opened it and flipped through the pages until he reached the end of last year. There, in Remus's neat scrawl read:
Transfiguration: Two rolls of parchment on Switching Spells
Charms: One roll of parchment on Levitation charms and their uses
Potions: Twelve inches on the Shrinking Solution and its uses
Herbology: One roll on proper Greenhouse conduct
History of Magic: Two rolls on why Witch hunting was pointless
"Ugh," James groaned. "I wish we knew our schedules already, then I wouldn't have to do it all now."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sirius asked.
"Split the work and then switch papers?"
"Exactly!" They high-fived.
"I'll take Transfiguration and Herbology," James announced.
"I'll do History of Magic and Charms but I'm not doing more than you are." Sirius told him.
"We could work together on Potions," James suggested.
"Brilliant." Sirius started pulling out his books as did James.
"You guys will have to spend the whole train ride to finish all of this, even if you do split it," Remus told his two friends. "This wouldn't have happened if-"
"Relax Moony, it'll take a couple hours at most," Sirius said, waving off his friend's worries.
"How do you expect to do that?" Remus asked disbelievingly.
James tapped his head. "Natural brilliance,"
Remus rolled his eyes.
Just then the train started moving. James looked up from the parchment he had just titled Switching Spells and written his name on to watch Platform 9 and ¾ disappear as they sped out of London.
Within a couple of minutes of the train beginning its journey their compartment door opened to reveal Peter Pettigrew. He was still short, his blond hair lighter than ever and his blue eyes still watery. He was a little thicker than he had been at the end of second year and a lot more sunburned.
"Pete!" James said happily.
"Hey guys," Peter responded, waving and pulling his trunk in. He tried to put it up onto the rack but couldn't muster the strength. Remus waved his wand and it floated upward and landed nicely.
"Magic, right," Peter murmured. He sat down next to Remus.
"So how was Egypt?" Remus asked.
"Well, it was alright. There was some really cool stuff, the tombs were pretty freaky but still brilliant. Or at least it would've been if I hadn't activated one of the traps."
"How'd you manage that?" Sirius questioned.
"Oh, you know, I tripped and knocked over some few century old vase that happened to carry some curse. I got boils and I went blind and practically every bug in Egypt started attacking me the moment I left." He told them, scratching his head. "Some healers fixed me up and then we went to some of the Wizarding towns and stuff. I got you guys some souvenirs."
He went to his trunk and pulled out a bag.
"This," He said pulling out golden circle plate the size of his hand. "Is a Sun Disk." He pressed on it and the Sun Disk glowed brighter and brighter until it hurt to look at it. The light dimmed. "Pretty cool, right?"
"Really cool," James responded, moving closer to get a better look at it. It was flat and smooth and without a speck of dirt and James was able to see his reflection in it. It had no visible buttons, just a small eye like symbol in the center on both sides. Peter handed the one he was holding to James and then gave Sirius and Remus two identical Disks.
"Thanks Pete,"
"Yeah thanks,"
"You're the best Peter,"
Peter blushed a little, not that you could tell, his sunburn was so bad.
James and Sirius went back to doing their homework and Peter, who had finished all but his essay on Witch hunting, asked for Remus's help.
"No fair!" Sirius whined. "Why are you helping him but not us?"
"Because he actually tried to do it, you're just too lazy." Remus responded.
"But I did try, I just decided not to because I'm too lazy," Sirius retorted.
"I know, and that's why I'm not helping you."
"Must be your time of the month," Sirius muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Remus asked, even though he clearly heard it.
"Nothing, nothing," Sirius replied, backing off. James laughed at the exchange and finished up the Transfiguration essay.
"One down!" He said triumphantly, holding the parchment up and practically shoving it into Remus's face. "Two rolls of parchment in twenty minutes."
Remus took the essay from James and started reading it, obviously expecting for it to be atrocious. He was surprised to find it not just good, but great.
"But you barely opened your textbook!" Remus exclaimed.
James tapped his head again, not explaining any further as there was no explanation necessary.
Remus rolled his eyes.
James and Sirius finished their essays within the hour, then after spending no more than fifteen minutes working on the Potions assignment, switched essays, reworded them slightly, and finished their summer assignments.
"Told you so," Sirius said to Remus victoriously as he shoved his papers and books into his trunk.
Remus didn't respond as he was reading at the moment. Peter snored quietly, his head lolled to one side and drool dripping from his mouth. James looked out the window, seeing the country pass them by, stretches of open grassland and occasional patches of trees that they flew by in less than a minute.
Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature motorbike. It was his favorite of the Matchbox cars he and James had bought in Muggle London. Making realistic noises he drove it down the seat, up onto the wall and everywhere within his arm span.
"Anything from the trolley?" The kind lady asked. James and Sirius jumped up and practically cleared cart, dumping gold, silver, and copper coins in the stead of the sweets.
Dumping the candy into an empty seat, James looked to his friends and said, "Dig in,"
The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmede station and students poured out of the scarlet steam engine. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter climbed off in their Hogwarts robes and climbed into one of the horse-less carriages.
It was drizzling, making James glad to be in the covered carriages rather than the boats the First years would be riding to the school in. The moon shone through the clouds, a little past half full and the white light making every drop of rain visible as it fell to earth and blanketed the school and grounds. The water also made the path slightly muddier leaving slight hove tracks in the mud along with the lines that marked the wheels' path.
They arrived at the front doors of the school and ran in, James feeling the rain land in his hair, maneuver onto his skull and then dribble down his back. He shivered. As the school made its way into the Great Hall the sound of squeaking shoes was almost unbearable, people like Sirius making it worse than it needed to be.
Squeak, squeak, squeak. The noise rang in James's ear and he was thankful when the last student sat down at the bench. The warmth of the floating candles started to dry the slightly damp students as they waited for the First years to be sorted.
Within the five minutes the oak doors were pushed open and McGonagall lead the line of First years up to the front of the hall. She placed the stool on the ground and the beaten Sorting Hat on top of it.
The Hat opened its mouth and began to sing:
Many, many years ago,
Sirius leaned closer to James and whispered in his ear. "Have you seen Evans yet?"
James turned his attention away from the Sorting Hat and began scanning the Gryffindor table for the redhead, finding her only a few people down to his left. Her flaming hair cascaded around her pale, freckled face, and even from the distance, James could see the sparkle of her emerald eyes as they stared intently at the Sorting Hat and the scrunch of her nose as she concentrated. She was breathing softly and James watched her for a moment until she seemed to get the feeling she was being watched and turned to look at him.
James turned away quickly, shooting his head towards the Sorting Hat and running his hand through his hair as a blush crept up to his cheeks. Out of the corner of his eye he could've sworn he saw her smile before returning her attention to the singing hat.
James was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice that the Sorting Hat had stopped singing and that First years were being Sorted. He hardly noticed that he clapped along with the rest of his table when a student came to the Gryffindor table.
When he came back to himself he noticed that Sirius had been laughing.
"What's so funny?" James asked, having an inkling already.
"You Romeo," Sirius responded with a smirk
James punched him. "Shut up,"
Professor Dumbledore stood and raised his hands for silence.
"Welcome," He started. "To another year at Hogwarts. I have a list of things I'm supposed to tell you about, but those can wait until after we feast. However, I would like for us to give a warm Hogwarts welcome to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Welch!"
The Hall clapped and the man for whom they were clapping stood up to receive his applause. He was a tall man, probably in his late twenties. He had short, brown hair and facial hair surrounding his mouth, a mustache and short beard combo, also brown. He had long muscular arms yet gave off the general feel of a lanky man. His smile was warm and his blue eyes sparkled in the candle light.
James turned away from their new Professor, who had sat down, as the food appeared on the previously empty golden plates. James piled his high with assorted foods and began stuffing his face. He had forgotten just how good the food at Hogwarts was and relished in its taste, eating far more than he should have but still having room for dessert when the dinner food turned to sweets.
He had eaten so much that his pants felt tight, and he didn't listen to a word of what the Headmaster said, even though he was sure that half the stuff that had been added to the already long list of "Things not permitted at Hogwarts" was probably due to the activities of he and his friends in their previous year at the school. When the rest of the school stood he did as well, and, already half asleep, he stumbled up to the Gryffindor Common room, made his way to the same dorm, now with a sign reading "Third Years" and jumped onto his bed. He changed into his pajamas and fell asleep the moment his head touched his pillow.
A/N: Chapter 3! I hope you liked it and thank you to all of you that reviewed. In response to one of those reviews, which was anonymous, regarding James's use of Transfiguration on chopsticks in Muggle London, the only reason I can come up with for the Ministry not tracking him down (because I had actually completely forgotten) is because it was the middle of a city, they were constantly moving around, and/or any witch or wizard could have been in London. Sorry for that. Anyway please leave a review for this chapter, I would really appreciate it.
