Here we go with chapter 2! Thanks so much to my reviewers, Indigo Lily, ZebraPotter18, and strukkfirst. Also a big thanks if you put this on Favorite stories/story alert!
Oh, and this is a list of all of the students in seventh year Muggle Studies- Gryffindor- James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadows, Alice Akerman, Frank Longbottom Ravenclaw- Benjy Fenwick, Ludo Bagman, Jonathan Johnson, Frieda Wilkins, Valerie Selwyn, Lori Wilson, Kylie Nora Hufflepuff- Hestia Jones, Maya Vicks, Charlie Watkins, Samuel Ekes, Jacob Henderson
Chapter 2: The Problem with Airplanes
The morning of December 5th came about sooner than expected. It was an icy cold day, as a bitter frost had swept over Hogwarts the night before. Lily awoke earlier than usual (she was a late riser), out of excitement for the trip. They were taking the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade Station at 7:00 so they could get to their flight from London on time. She pulled on her heavy winter cloak over her lightweight summer clothes, as it would be 75 degrees Fahrenheit in Orlando, Florida, according to Professor Sporx. As she was preparing her bag, Dorcas came out of the bathroom, showered and ready.
"Morning," Dorcas said happily. Lily groaned. Dorcas was a morning person, therefore unusually chipper.
"Are Marlene and Alice awake yet?" Dorcas asked.
"Alice is," Lily said. "She went down to the kitchen to get an early breakfast."
"I'll wake up Marlene," Dorcas sighed. If given the choice, Marlene would sleep until noon every day.
"I'm heading down to the common room," Lily said, zipping up her suitcase.
Lily wheeled the suitcase to the edge of the staircase before hitching it up to carry it down. She had packed lightly, as they were only spending two days in Orlando. As she reached the Common Room, she saw her friend Remus Lupin sitting by the fire.
"Morning, Remus," Lily said happily, settling down next to him.
"Good morning, Lily," Remus greeted her warmly.
"Are you excited for the trip?" Lily asked him.
"In a way," Remus answered after a second's hesitation. "It sounds like a great way for the students to find out about Muggle culture, and I'm sure all the rides will be fun."
"So what's the matter?" Lily asked a crease in her brow.
"I'm afraid Sirius and James are going to end up breaking the Statue of Secrecy," Remus said with a slight laugh. "I hope Sporx confiscates our wands."
"It would make it a lot easier to make sure we didn't let something slip," Lily giggled.
Remus looked down at his watch. "6:30," he said. "We'd better get downstairs and hope all of our friends wake up in time."
Lily laughed again. Despite Remus's unapproachable exterior, he was a great person and a lot of fun to be around. "Let's go," she said holding out her hand to help Remus up. The two of them wheeled their suitcases out the portrait hole and into the halls.
~Potter~
When all of the students finally gathered at Hogsmeade Station, it was ten to seven. Before they got on the train, however, Sporx did exactly what Remus and Lily had been discussing- she confiscated their wands.
Sirius handed his over reluctantly. His prank on the tourists needed wandwork! Maybe he'd steal them back when Sporx wasn't looking. He snagged James and Remus by the back of their robes and forced them into the back compartment where they all sat in their usual seats- Sirius and James on the right with Remus on the left.
"This will be grand," Sirius said, kicking his feet up on the seat next to Remus that was usually occupied by their fourth friend, Peter. "I can't wait to ride this what-cha-mac-call-its."
"Roller coasters," Remus supplied as he opened a book. Before he could read it, however, Sirius snagged it from him.
"No reading," Sirius waggled his finger at him.
"It's a seven hour journey to Kings Cross," Remus argued, trying to snatch his book back out of Sirius's grasp. "And then another nine hours on the airplane."
Sirius made a face. "Read on the airplane, then, when we'll have professors ad Muggles breathing down our necks. Now you need to have fun with us."
"Yes," James said, taking Remus's book out of Sirius's hands and putting it in his trunk. "And I shall tell you my wonderful plan to woo Lily on this trip."
Sirius and Remus both groaned simultaneously. "James, just be glad that you're friends of a sort right now, or at least casual acquaintances," Remus argued. "Try wooing her later in the year."
"Nope," James said confidently. "This is my time to show Lily what I'm made of. I'm going to…"
The rest of James's conversation was blissfully blocked out of Remus's ears as Sirius handed him a pair of what they called 'James-is-in-a-rant-about-Lily-earmuffs'. Now they couldn't hear a word of James's useless prattling.
~Potter~
Seven hours later, the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station. Sirius nearly jumped out the train in excitement. Remus slapped him upside the head when he attempted to do this.
Once everyone was on the platform, Sporx cleared her throat. "Once we go through the barrier, I want everyone to meet at the main entrance to the building. Do not stray from the group."
James and Sirius hurried through the platform first, closely followed by Remus and Frank Longbottom. AS they made their way through the station, Sirius was tempted to go put a dungbomb in an open suitcase, but eventually decided that Sporx might murder him and decided not to.
When everyone was gathered at the main door leading to the outer world of London, McGonagall, who was one of their two chaperones, (the other being Professor Slughorn, who would apparate to Orlando that night), clapped her hands to call for the students' attention.
"We are going to catch a bus to the airport," McGonagall called. "It will not be the Knight Bus, it's a Muggle bus, so there will be no speak of the M-word."
"Does she mean the filthy word for Muggle-borns or what?" Sirius sniggered to James, who stifled a laugh.
Professors Sporx and McGonagall had no trouble locating a bus willing to take a group of twenty students on a field trip to the airport. As they boarded, James looked around. It looked a lot like the Knight Bus, except it was red, not purple, and Ernie was not the driver. It also didn't have the plaque saying 'James Potter and Sirius Black are officially banned from ever riding the Knight Bus due to destruction of property and complete tomfoolery while aboard'. James laughed at the memory of that day.
The bus ride barely took any time at all, at least compared to the seven hour train ride. In actuality, it was twenty minutes, and Sirius still managed to get bored in that short span of time. Remus, however, managed to stop him before he wreaked havoc on any other riders, or for that matter, students.
The London Heathrow Airport looked nice enough, James decided. He wasn't exactly sure how airplanes worked- Sporx had explained it to them last week in class- but he still had no clue since the whole time he had been passing notes with Sirius.
Their flight was scheduled to leave at 3:30. Apparently, they had to arrive an hour before hand to go through security. James wasn't sure exactly what this entailed- Sporx had lectured about that, too, but he had been hitting the back of Bagman in Ravenclaw's head with balls made of paper during that time.
Lily, on the other hand, knew exactly what airline security was. Not only had she listened to Sporx's lecture about it, but she had gone through the process two summers ago for a family trip to Paris, France, to visit her cousins that lived there.
"How do we do this again?" Marlene McKinnon asked Lily, eying students ahead of them going through a metal barrier.
"You just take off your jacket and set your bag down so the airline workers can look through it to make sure you didn't bring anything dangerous, then you walk through the metal barrier," Lily told her reassuringly.
Marlene looked horrified. "They go through my bag?"
"Only so they can make sure you're not carrying a gun or anything like that," Lily reasoned.
"What's a gun?" Marlene asked curiously. Lily groaned. This was going to be a long trip.
When it was Lily's turn at security, she shed her woolen coat and set her bag on the table. With a reassuring smile at Marlene, who looked terrified, Lily walked through the metal barrier.
Nothing happened, as usual. Lily was able to take her things back and sit down. Before long, Marlene joined her, followed by Dorcas and then Alice. Finally, the only three people left to go were Remus, Sirius, and James.
Remus made it through without a problem. James almost slipped up- "Will you make me take Veritaserum?" he had asked the man going through his bag. Professor McGonagall glared at him and kindly explained to the man that James was a 'problem student' that enjoyed bugging figures of authority with stupid questions, and he did it in her class all the time. The man seemed to take this as an answer. The main problem, of course, lay with Sirius.
"Whoa," Sirius said as he walked through the barrier. "This is neat!" But before he could step out,the machine started beeping. The security man hurried over.
"Are you wearing anything with metal?" the man asked Sirius.
Sirius frowned. "I don't know."
"Well, are you wearing a belt?"
"Yeah, I guess, I am!" Sirius said after checking under his shirt.
"Well, let's take that off so you can walk through," the man said exasperatingly.
Sirius obliged, and after that, the metal barrier did not beep. Sirius was able to take his things and leave, but not after telling the McGonagall in a loud whisper- "Minnie! This guys' really uptight- maybe you should see if he's interested in you! I mean, you're exactly alike!"
McGonagall, as can be expected, didn't take Sirius's advice to heart. Instead, she glared at him and dragged him over to where the rest of the class was seated; some laughing at Sirius, such as James, and others, like Lily, with pursed lips and a scowl in Sirius's general direction.
Sporx lead them through the halls of the airport- James was fascinated by the light switches, and it took a good minute for McGonagall to drag him away from them, as he wanted to keep turning them off and on. This, of course, proved to be a problem for the other guests.
After many stops, one to the bathroom, one to the garbage can, (Sirius had found an unopened candy bar that Sporx told him was unsanitary to eat- he ignored her and ate it anyway), and one to stop Ludo Bagman from talking to an older Muggle lady about what school they were from, the group of students finally reached their destination.
"Sit," Sporx told them. "I'm going to go speak with the people at the desk to see if we can get on prior to the other passengers."
The students didn't dare leave their seats, for Professor McGonagall was watching them like a hawk. Remus leaned across James to whisper to Sirius, "You just love making a scene, don't you?"
"Yes," Sirius grinned cheekily back. "Yes I do."
After about five minutes, Sporx returned. "Come," she said, gesturing to the door on their right. "The flight attendants say we can board ten minutes prior to the rest of the passengers to sort out seating."
The group walked down the hallway and through a narrow compartment on to the plane.
"Whoa," Sirius gasped "This is so weird!"
"Yes, Black, now be quiet," McGonagall said, putting a finger to her lips.
As they boarded, Sirius decided he like the first row of seats. "I call this seat!" he cried, sitting down.
"No, Black, we have assigned seats," McGonagall shushed him yet again. "And this is first class; we have to go back further."
Much to Sirius's disappointment, they continued on until they reached a wall. Sporx led them just beyond that before she came to a halt.
"In the first row," Sporx said, squinting down at her paper, "We have Benjy Fenwick and Hestia Jones on this side, with Maya Vicks and Lori Wilson on the other." The allotted students took their seats.
Sporx moved onto the next row. "Samuel Ekes on Jonathan Johnson on this side, with Charlie Watkins and Frieda Wilkins here."
The next rows were announced…Valerie Selwyn and Jacob Henderson…Marlene McKinnon and Alice Akerman… Remus Lupin and Kylie Nora….Dorcas Meadows and Frank Longbottom… …Finally, the last row came.
"Sirius Black and Ludo Bagman," Sporx gestured to the left. Sirius held back a groan. Bagman was the most pompous idiot he had ever come across. Spend nine hours sitting next to him? Torture. At least Remus was in front of him.
"Lily Evans and James Potter," Sporx said, and then rolling up her paper as James silently cheered in his head while Lily sighed. Potter wasn't the best person to be seated next to, but they were on much better terms now, better than they'd ever been before.
"You want window seat, Potter?" Lil gestured. "I've ridden a plane before, so you can take it if you want."
"No, that's okay, Lily," James said with a grin bigger than Lily thought she'd ever seen on his face. "You take it."
"Thanks…" Lily graced him with a small smile as she scooted past him to sit down. "Are you excited for the trip?" she asked as she put her bag under the seat in front of her.
"Very," James grinned. "I've never been on a roller coaster before." He stumbled slightly over the pronunciation of roller coaster, but it was better than the time he called a telephone a fellytone.
"They're a lot of fun," Lily said. "I've researched Universal Studios, and they have some great shows, too, not just rides."
"Like what?" James asked. Lily wasn't yelling at him, insulting him, or hexing him! She was having a civil conversation with him! This was the happiest day of his life! …Is that pathetic?
"There's Twister, which shows you a stimulation of a tornado," Lily said.
"Did we watch the movie Twister?" James asked, confused.
"Yes, we did," Lily said. "Were you paying attention?"
"Erm..." James smiled sheepishly. "I think I was playing hangman with Sirius during that movie?"
"Someone say my name?" came a voice from across the aisle. It was Sirius, obviously. The look on his face was as if he was being tortured by the Cruciatus curse. Lily stifled a giggle.
"Hey, mate," James grinned at his friend. "Yeah, I was just telling Lily about our escapades during the movies in class."
"Which would be what exactly?" A voice said from behind him. James nearly jumped out of his skin- Sporx was sitting right behind him.
"Um…nothing, yeah, nothing at all," James stammered. Sporx turned away, but her eyes kept returning to James as if he would begin to make mischief at any moment.
Lily laughed out loud at the expression on James's face. "That," she declared. "Was hilarious."
"Was not!" James protested.
"Yes it was," she giggled, patting his arm.
James felt as if his arm was in a pot of acid- Lily had just touched his arm! And not to slap it!
Before James could come up with a retort, other passengers began to board the plane. Some looked curiously at the group of teenagers, others stopped to ask students or the professors if this was a class trip.
Before long, the plane started rolling. Sirius nearly yelped in surprise. But soon he forgot about his being startled and began to watch out the window. When the plane lifted off the ground, Sirius's eyes widened in apprehension. But this felt so cool, almost like he was floating!
"Whee!" Sirius cried, laughing in amusement.
"Black," came a voice from behind him. He turned to see McGonagall glaring daggers at him. "Behave," she said threateningly.
"Will do, Minnie," Sirius saluted her.
Meanwhile, Remus was having a fine conversation with Kylie Nora from Ravenclaw, whom he had been paired up with in potions class last year. The two were casual acquaintances, and Remus found it refreshing to talk to someone with a half a brain- other than Lily, of course. Sadly, the same could not be said for his friends.
"I agree," Kylie was saying to Remus. "With You-Know-Who gaining in power, Professor Thatch really ought to be teaching us about how to use complex curses nonverbally. So far we've just been working with simple nonverbal charms. If we want to stand in a fight against the Death Eaters, we'll need that advantage."
"Definitely," Remus said. "Thatch is a pretty incompetent teacher, I really think that Professor Dumbledore should have hired…" Remus was cut off by a loud thump and his seat jerked forward. He turned around to see Sirius grinning cheekily at him.
"Don't hit the back of my seat, Sirius," Remus told him. He returned to his conversation with Kylie.
"Anyway, I really think Dumbledore should have hired…" Thump.
"Sirius," Remus growled. Sirius's head peaked up from behind the seat behind him.
"You called?" he said with a grin.
"Go away," Remus managed through gritted teeth.
"What I was saying," he said, his attention back on Kylie. "Is that I think Dumbledore…" Thump.
"Sirius…"
"Here," Kylie gave him a small smile. "Switch seats with me. Maybe he'll be polite enough not to hit a girl!" she glared at Sirius, who gave a small snort of laughter.
Remus sighed, edging over to the window seat. "Thanks," he said, with a grateful smile. "And I'm sorry that Sirius can be a pain sometimes…" Thump.
Remus turned- it seemed Sirius had switched seats with Bagman. If looks could kill, Sirius would be dead ten times over.
Remus turned to Kylie. "I can just ignore it," he said with a smile. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"And I'll murder him when the plane lands," Remus groaned.
~Potter~
A few hours passed by on the airplane. James and Lily kept their civil conversation going for about an hour before Lily decided to read her book and James decided to pretend he was sleeping but in all actuality was staring at her in a slightly stalker-ish way.
Remus and Kylie were still discussing high and low points of all their classes- Dorcas Meadows in the seat across the aisle from them joined in while her seat partner, Frank Longbottom, stared at the back of his long-time crush, Alice's, head as she discussed Quidditch with Marlene.
The rest of the students aboard were sleeping, reading, or having normal conversations as if on the Hogwarts grounds instead of on a Muggle airplane. Valerie Selwyn was actually quite terrified of the airplane, and kept her eyes closed tight, gripping onto the seat while her seatmate Jacob laughed at her.
Professors McGonagall and Sporx were discussing how unlucky it was the Slughorn got to apparate and they were stuck supervising the students on the plane. McGonagall was especially bitter about this, as she had loathed airplanes ever since she had ridden one when she was sixteen with her Muggle-born friend. It had not been the most pleasant experience for her.
It had been about six hours when Remus glanced out the window. There was still only ocean, no land. Although looking at the ocean from above was beautiful, the plane hadn't seen ground in quite a while.
As they entered into the night, more and more students dropped off. It was still quite light out, in all actuality, but only because they were going through different time zones. After about eight hours and forty-five minutes, the intercom came over the plane. This forced many students along with some adults, to wake up and listen.
"We will be landing in Orlando, Florida, in approximately twenty minutes. The current temperature there is 78 degrees Fahrenheit and the current time is 7:34 p.m. We hope you had a pleasant flight."
"7:34?" James asked. He had been one of the people jolted awake. "How? It has to be at least midnight."
"There's a time difference between London and Orlando," Lily explained to him, setting her book down in her lap. We're five hours ahead of Florida at Hogwarts."
"So…it'd be 12:34 at Hogwarts right now?" James said, attempting to comprehend this new information.
"Yes," Lily said, laughing. "Was it so hard to figure that out?"
"No, I just…it's just… "James stumbled over the right words to say. "Gah."
"Intelligent answer," Lily stifled another bout of laughter. James grinned at her.
Twenty minutes later, the plane touched down upon the ground. Sirius was just about to jump out of his seat to run out the door and get away from the ever-annoying Bagman when the pilot's voice came over the intercom again.
"Please remain seated with your seatbelts on while we approach our gate," the voice said.
Sirius groaned mentally. Get me away from Bagman; get me away from Bagman…
It seemed as if some God somewhere in the universe listened to Sirius's command, for a few moments later, they had reached the gate.
"We hope you had a pleasant flight," the intercom said. "You may now exit the aircraft."
Sirius jumped up out of his seat, but McGonagall placed a hand on his shoulder. "Get your bag and wait for the people ahead of you to exit first," she explained, but it sounded much more like a warning to Sirius. Nevertheless, he hitched his bag up on his shoulder and waited for the others to exit the plane.
When everyone made it out into the Orlando International Airport, Professor Sporx led the way through the crowds of people with the class following in her wake. McGonagall stood at the very back, watching the students with narrowed eyes, making sure they didn't slip off.
"This is going to be fun," Marlene said to Lily as they made their way out the airport doors into the warm Florida air. Even in December, Florida was a hotspot- literally.
"It is," Lily agreed with a smile. "I can't wait to get on those roller coasters."
"Me, too," Marlene agreed. "I was talking to Alice, and she thought they sounded scary."
"Some of them are," Lily agreed. "But that's what makes them so much fun!"
The pair laughed as they wheeled their suitcases along.
"Where are we even going?" Sirius complained to James and Remus. "How are we getting to wherever we're staying?"
"I'm sure the teachers have a plan," Remus said crossly. He was still mad at Sirius for kicking his seat for a whole forty-five minutes of the flight.
"Yeah, they do," James said, coming to a halt. "Because we're stopping."
Everyone glanced around, wondering why they had stopped in this particular place. They had stopped along the main road leading into and out of the airport. It became clear in a moment- there was a bright blue bus coming up the road. It came to a halt right in front of them. The doors swung open to reveal Professor Slughorn in the driver's seat.
"Oho!" Slughorn cried as he saw the students. "Get in, students, get in!"
The young witches and wizards had no arguments to that- they all piled into the bus happily.
"Where to, Professor Sporx?" Slughorn said jovially. Remus and James exchanged an eye-roll. Slughorn was an annoying teacher that always played favorites. His most treasured student was none other than Lily Evans- Slughorn practically worshipped her.
"Country Inn and Suites on International Drive next to the theme parks," Sporx said, holding back a yawn. She went to bed early on a regular basis, and her body was accustomed to this being after midnight.
"Off we go then!" Slughorn cried, and the bus zoomed away from the airport.
"How does Slughorn even know how to drive?" Sirius asked his friends in a hushed tone.
Remus and James both shrugged. They had no clue. Slughorn wasn't the type to take up driving- he was more likely to take up eating crystalized pineapple and napping.
It only took about ten minutes to reach their hotel. Professor Sporx went to check them in, with firm commands that no one left the bus. A few minutes later, she appeared at the door, beckoning them to come inside.
Everyone piled out of the bus, eager to get inside and get to sleep.
Sporx led them through the hotel's lobby, nodding at the man behind the desk as she did. They stopped at a staircase, and after Sporx checked to make sure that all of the students were there, she headed up, her class following her lead.
They stopped on the second floor. Sporx began to speak as they passed the rooms.
"Room 212, Frieda Wilkins and Valerie Selwyn," she said, handing each of the girls a room key.
The next room- "213, Hestia Jones and Maya Vicks."
"Room 214, Lori Wilson and Kylie Nora."
"Room 215, Marlene McKinnon and Lily Evans."
"Room 216, Dorcas Meadows and Alice Akerman."
"Room 217, Charlie Watkins and Jacob Henderson."
"Room 218, Samuel Ekes and Jonathan Johnson."
"Room 219, Benjy Fenwick and Ludo Bagman."
"Room 220, Frank Longbottom and Sirius Black."
"Room 221, Remus Lupin and James Potter."
Sporx turned to face them. "These are your room assignments. There is no switching. Professor McGonagall and I shall be in this room," she said, gesturing to room 222, "and Professor Slughorn across from us. Good night. I suggest you go right to sleep- we'll have an early day tomorrow."
All of the students disappeared into their new rooms. Lily slipped in the room key to her and Marlene's room, and opened the door. It was nice enough, with two beds and a small bathroom. The view out the window overlooked a small garden. Lily pulled out her suitcase and got out her pajamas to put on.
"G'night, Mar," Lily yawned as she pulled herself into bed.
"Night, Lils," Marlene murmured back. "Can't wait for the coasters tomorrow."
"Me, too," Lily said, drifting into dreamland with a small smile still on her face.
Harry Freaking Potter! This is the longest chapter I've ever written in my entire life. Congratulate me for 11 pages of work! This took forever, but it was definitely worth it.
Review, perhaps, and show appreciation for my tireless efforts to bring you this chapter?