Chapter Five: Of Early Mornings and Sleeping In

James walked down the stairs from his dorm dressed in his Quidditch Beater uniform. Leave it to Melissa to schedule a practice session at 7 o'clock in the morning. Danaë, his fellow beater, had told him to wait for her that morning and they'd walk down together. He stood in the common room, leaning against the door frame and almost falling asleep again. It was only a few minutes before someone was poking his face.

"James," Danaë said, poking James. He woke up and looked at Danaë's dark brown almond eyes out of one of his own chocolate ones.

"Five more minutes," James groaned. Danaë rolled her eyes and poked James again. "Danaë…" James whined.

"I swear you're five years old…" Danaë said, "Now wake up before I whack you over the head with my beater's bat." James, knowing that his friend would do just that, woke with a start and held his hands up.

"I'm awake," he said, making Danaë laugh.

"Come on Potter," Danaë rolled her eyes. They walked through the common room but when they passed the couch, they both paused and looked over the edge.

"James, why is Michael asleep on the couch?" Danaë asked. James shrugged. "How do you not know, he's your dorm mate!" Danaë's voice got higher and Michael turned, mumbling slightly.

"Oh, don't wake him Dan…" James said. "He doesn't have to be anywhere this morning." James checked his watch. "Course, we do… Mel's going to kill us, we're late again."

"Don't worry, we aren't the only ones," Danaë said. "Arnold is still fast asleep; you can hear him from here." They laughed and headed for the door.

"Yea, but will our Capitan be angry with him? No. Because he's the bloody Seeker!" James threw his hands up. Danaë laughed and threw her arm over James' shoulder.

"Come on James, you poor unappreciated human being…" she teased.

Later on in the morning, when it was a more agreeable time to wake up and start the day. Mikael made his way down the stairs and settled in the big comfy arm chair. In his hands was his History of Magic book. He'd read it through a dozen times, but Mikael liked to study, and you could always learn something from reading it again.

He looked up and noticed Al's brother's friend Michael sleeping on the couch. Mikael didn't bother him though, letting him sleep soundly as he himself opened his book.

"What are you doing Mickey?" Mikael looked up and saw Lizzy and Bek come down stairs. Bek was sporting a new color in her hair: Purple.

"Aw, guys don't call me Mickey…" Mikael shook his head at them. "Where are you two off to?" Mikael asked, hiding his book to the side so the girls wouldn't see.

"Heading to the hall for breakfast, than the library," Lizzy said. Bek held up her charms and defense books.

"I decided I should probably get started on those essays due tomorrow…" Bek shrugged. "Lizzy's been kind enough to offer to help me out." Bek grinned.

"Which is good, being that we had three weeks to write those essays," Mikael smirked at Bek, who rolled her eyes.

"Whatever smarty-pants," Bek said and the girls began to head out. "And don't think we didn't' see you hiding that History book Mr. Anderson." The girls giggled and walked through the common room. Mikael rolled his eyes and picked up his book again, and continued to read.

Scorpius, Gage, and Al were eating breakfast in the Great Hall. They had just waved goodbye to Lizzy and Bek, but boys being boys, they weren't close to being done yet. Across the room, Scorpius saw Ashley, Jessika, and Trevor hunched close together and talking about something. Well, Ashley and Jessika were; Trevor wasn't one to talk much. As they talked, an older boy who had the same dark tan skin as Jessika came over and sat across from them, blocking Scorpius' view.

"Who do you think he is?" Al asked, nodding his head toward the boy talking to the Slytherins. Gage looked and shrugged, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. Just then Victorie came walking in and Gage blushed and hid his head on the table.

"Way to go Gage," Scorpius snickered.

"Hey Vic," Al said, waving at his cousin.

"Hey Al, Scorpius…" She looked down at Gage who was hiding. "Don't worry sweetie, you'll get used to it," She teased, patting Gage on the head. "How're you doing?"

"Good," Al answered. "Hey, could you tell us who he is?" Al asked pointing over to the person in question. Vic looked over and frowned.

"Oh, that's Oskar, Oskar Oppious," Vic said. "He's a 5th year."

"So he's Jessika's brother then?" Scorpius asked. Victorie nodded.

"Yea, he and James and their friends are basically enemies here at Hogwarts. I wouldn't bring Oskar up around James if I were you Albus." Al nodded.

"Okay, thanks Victorie," She nodded and began to walk off. "Hey, have you heard from Teddy?" Al called after her. Vic looked at Al with a raised eyebrow but she blushed.

"Yea, he says hi," Vic said, shaking her head and then continuing to the Ravenclaw table.

As Victorie left, so did Oskar Oppious, only in the opposite direction. Gage watched as Jessika reached to put something in her pocket. Then the three of them got up, laughing and heading out of the hall.

"What do you think…?" Gage started.

"Dunno," Al said. "But I'm having a feeling that I won't be getting along much with either of the Oppious siblings. What do you think Score?"

"Yea, me neither." Scorpius agreed.

Terra padded up the stairs, covered in mud. She had spent the morning with her brother Frankie, and both were helping their father in the greenhouses since dawn. She looked to her left where her 6th year Hufflepuff brother, who looked exactly like their father, was trying to get some of the mud out of his shaggy brown hair.

"It's a hopeless case Frank," Terra said. They passed by the library and she saw Bek and Lizzy studying inside. "I'll see you later," Terra said, waving to her brother before running into the library.

"Terra…what happened?" Lizzy asked, looking at her friend in shock.

"Nothing, I was just helping my dad is all," Terra said. "Finally getting that essay for Professor Macadam done?" Terra asked Bek, pointing toward her Defense Against the Dark Arts book.

"Don't give me a speech Terra, Rose was already here," Bek shook her head. "I hate homework…"

"I wasn't going to lecture you, I just asked." Terra said. Just then the girls saw their Slytherin "buddies" walk in and take a seat two tables over. They looked over and Terra, Lizzy, and Bek and laughed quietly. "What are they doing here; they don't even have their books with them." Terra asked. Lizzy was about to speak when Madam Pince came over to their table.

"WHAT IS ALL OVER YOU MISS LONGBOTTOM!" she yelled at Terra. Without waiting for an answer though, she shooed Terra out of the Library and up two flights of stairs before she returned to her precious books.

Nice and clean, Terra went to her dresser by her bed in the dormitory and pulled out a copy of The Quibbler. She walked downstairs and saw Mikael reading his History book. Rose was there as well, writing a letter. On the couch, James's friend Michael was still asleep. He had been lying there when Terra left at the crack of dawn this morning. "Hey guys," Terra said. She looked at Michael on the couch. "Has anyone checked to see if he's even alive?"

"He talks every once and a while," Rose said with a laugh. "Besides, it's only 10 in the morning; he should be waking up soon enough." The others nodded. Just then, Gage, Al, and Scorpius walked into the common room. "Hey boys," Rose said.

"Hey," They replied walking over to the others. James looked at Michael on the couch. "What's wrong with him?"

"Just sleeping," Terra said. "Where've you three been?"

"We watched the Quidditch practice for a little bit," Scorpius said. "They're on their way up." As if on cue, the portrait hole opened and the Gryffindor Quidditch team came in.

"Good practice today everybody," Melissa said cheerfully. She seemed to be the only one who was completely awake though. The rest of the team groaned and yawned and made their way to their perspective dorms. James and Danaë though, went to the couch.

"How is he still asleep?" James asked. "Lucky bastard…"

"Hey you guys," Danaë smiled, interrupting James' grumbling. "Having a good Saturday morning?" They mumbled answers.

"How was practice?" Rose asked. Danaë and James shrugged.

"We spent the first part trying to stay awake through Mel's pep talk," said Danaë.

"Then bloody Arnold, king of seekers finally showed so we could practice…" James said, and Danaë nudged him to lower his voice.

"And then it started to rain," Danaë continued, "All in all, not our worst practice." She added, making the first years laugh.

Then the portrait hold slammed open. "Lizzy, slow down!" They heard Bek call out.

Lizzy stormed into the common room and threw her books on the table in front of the couch. Behind her, Bek caught up, panting slightly. Mikael figured Bek had chased Lizzy all the way from the library.

"Lizzy, what's wrong?" Al asked. She looked at everyone and then gestured toward the books.

"That…that…" Lizzy searched for words. "Wretched excuse for a human being and her cronies! That's what's wrong!" She screamed, her pale face reddening to the point where it matched her hair. Everyone looked toward the books, where giant holes resided in the middle, burning out from the core. "She "spilled" potion all over them! Where am I going to get new ones in time?" Lizzy screamed. "I swear that girl is on my last nerve!" She was fuming; Mikael sat back in his chair and swore he could see steam coming out of her ears. He made a mental note to NEVER anger Elizabeth Torrance.

"Calm down Lizzy," Al said. "We'll just write home to your mum, she'll buy you new books and send them back…"

"That won't work, my mother's a muggle," Lizzy said. "My dad was the wizard, but he left when I was young." Her face that was once red with anger now flushed with embarrassment.

"Hold on," Danaë said, running upstairs. Two moments later, she came back down carrying a handful of books. "They were my first year books; keep 'em," she said, handing them to Lizzy. "Hope you don't mind second hand…"

"Oh thank you," Lizzy said, hugging Danaë. "The thing with the books isn't what made me so angry though," Lizzy admitted. "It's what they called Bek that bothered me."

"Really, Lizzy, get over it, I don't even know what it means." Bek sighed. She jumped to take a seat on the couch, but Scorpius and Al stopped her quickly. "Wow, he's still here…" she sidetracked.

"Exactly why it was even more wrong to say!" Lizzy defended.

"What did Oppious call her?" Al asked. Lizzy looked over at Bek, then Mikael, then Al with a sort of somber look on her face.

"A Mudblood," most people gasped. Bek didn't, neither did Scorpius.

"So is anyone going to tell me what this muddy butt is or what?" Bek asked impatiently.

"Mudblood," Scorpius corrected her.

"Whatever. Score you didn't gasp, so tell me." Scorpius' face flushed at the comment.

"It's not that it's not bad, I'm just used to hearing it is all," Scorpius said. "My grandfather likes to say it at least a hundred times when he's over for dinner."

"But what does it MEAN?" Bek asked, slipping to the couch.

"It means dirty-blood," someone said. "It's a foul, awful, horrible insult for anyone with muggle ancestry." Everyone looked down on the couch to see that Michael had finally woken up. "If you hear anyone call you that Bek, you should probably jinx their teeth out."

"Morning mate," James said, looking at Michael who was trying to sit up.

"Morning still?" Michael asked. "Then I'm going back to sleep, happy Saturday," and he rolled on his side, knocking Bek, who was sitting on his legs, to the floor. Suddenly Al turned on his heels and headed toward the entrance to the common room.

"Where do you think you're going Al?" James asked as his brother walked past him.

"To give Jessika Oppious hell for what she said to Bek," Al said.

"Um," James ran to catch up with Al. "I don't think so." He stirred Al back to his seat.

"What why?" Al asked. "Bek's my friend…"

"And she has no right to be treated that way, I know," James said. "But you can't just go 'give an Oppious hell' whenever you feel like it. One little red spark toward Jessika and her brother would ring you dry in a heartbeat." James said. Then he sighed. "Al, I need you to promise me you won't go after either the Oppious'."

"James…" Al complained. "I'm not a little kid…"

"You are to Oskar," Danaë said. "Al, James is right. It could go terribly wrong; Oskar and his friends wouldn't care if they hurt you."

"Albus," James said. He closed his eyes pensively and Al thought for a moment of how much his brother looked like his dad. "Promise me, please."

"I promise," Al huffed and crossed his arms.

"Thanks," James said, smiling and patting Al on the head. "That goes for all of you, you hear me?" the first years nodded. "Good, now, I'm going to shower," James said, remembering he had just gotten back from Quidditch.

"Me too," Danaë agreed.

"Together," Michael asked, still half asleep on the couch. James and Danaë looked at each other and blushed before turning back to Michael and yelling 'NO!'

After James and Danaë were gone, and Michael was back in dreamland, the eight first years looked at each other quietly.

"Well…" Terra said, clapping her hands together. "Some morning huh? Who's up for lunch?" They nodded and murmured in agreement and then all proceeded to head toward the Great hall, leaving Michael to finally sleep in the silence on the sofa.