A Break from Monotony, or, How That Idiot Sirius Black Managed to Charm Me
Disclaimer: The fabulous Ms. Rowling is the owner of all characters from the Harry Potter series. Credit is given where credit is due.
Chapter 6
Dinner and a Show
Herbology was taught by a short woman named Professor Sprout who was perpetually covered in dirt. To their dismay, the first years soon found out they would not receive much hands-on practice with plants, and would spend most of the year being lectured instead. Much like in Slughorn's class, there were a multitude of plants about the greenhouse, and Professor Sprout asked the class if they could identify them.
Lily and Justin took it upon themselves to answer all of Professor Sprout's questions. With every right answer, they earned Gryffindor five points. It was soon obvious that Lily Evans was the smartest girl in the year. And that Justin was, as James said, a twat.
"Can anyone tell me what this last plant is?" Professor Sprout asked, referring to a plant with many tentacles that seemed to be cringing, in a way.
Lily's hand shot up, and before being called on, said, "That's Devil's Snare!"
"Correct, my dear, very correct! Take another five points, eh?"
Professor Sprout spent the rest of the class introducing the exciting subject of Herbology. Morgana, who was less than enthusiastic about magical plants, did not pay much attention. She busied herself by looking about the greenhouse at her fellow Gryffindors.
Lily, Judy, Remus, Peter and Justin were listening raptly to Professor Sprout, giving her their fullest attention. Sirius and James were sword fighting with their wands, the occasional green and red sparks shooting out from the tips of their wands. Geraldine and Susie were watching Sirius and James intently, sighing dreamily every time one of them brushed the hair out of their eyes.
Morgana shook her head, but could not keep herself from smiling. Watching Sirius and James was rather amusing.
Remus glanced over his shoulder and saw Morgana smiling at Sirius and James. Remus smirked at Morgana, who rolled her eyes and mouthed 'What?' to him. Remus smiled and shrugged his shoulders before returning his attention to Professor Sprout.
Either Professor Sprout did not notice or did not care, but Sirius and James were never reprimanded for their sword fight during Herbology.
"You know," Remus said as he and Morgana walked back into the castle after the bell rung. "If I was doing that in class, I would have been caught and severely punished."
"You're not dumb enough to have a sword fight with your wand in a highly flammable area," Morgana responded. "You have a little more common sense than that."
"How would you know what I'm like?" Remus asked, somewhat jokingly. "You've only just met me."
Morgana looked at Remus, cocked her head to one side, and gave him a disbelieving look. "I can tell when someone isn't an idiot, Remus."
X
All in all, Morgana's first day at Hogwarts was far more enjoyable than she could have ever imagined.
The Gryffindor first years had a small break between Herbology and dinner. Presumably, this was to get any homework done, but seeing as they did not have any, the Common Room was packed with chatty eleven year olds. The occasional sixth year would climb through the portrait hole, but would automatically leave once they caught wind of the loud group of first years.
Morgana, Judy, and Lily were sitting by the fire, quietly discussing their feelings about their first day. Lily, like Morgana, seemed quite enthused about the day's classes, and was very excited for the coming week. Judy, on the other hand, was rather bored with the classes and found something to complain about in every class.
"I can't believe Slughorn made us brew boil-cures. I could brew a boil-cure with my eyes closed!" Judy complained loudly.
"You complain a lot, don't you?" Morgana asked.
That seemed to shut Judy up.
A silence fell between the three girls. Morgana stared about the common room, soaking in everything, even the smallest details in the most miniscule painting. She could not wait to tell her father she was Sorted into Gryffindor; he would be so proud of her.
Though, admittedly, she did not know how her mother would react.
Her mother would probably think her even more useless now that her daughter couldn't even be in Ravenclaw like her perfect older brothers.
A few minutes later, someone tapped Morgana lightly on the shoulder. Morgana looked up to seeing Lily smiling down at her. "We're going down to dinner," She said kindly. "Care to join us?"
Morgana nodded her head and stood. She attempted to rid her head of thoughts of her mother's haughty face, and followed Judy and Lily out of the portrait hole and down to the Great Hall.
Judy had clearly not forgotten Morgana's comment and remained quite stiff throughout dinner. So stiff, in fact, that she did not even move when Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus decided to join them.
As the four boys sat down across from Lily, Judy, and Morgana, Remus smiled apologetically at Morgana, as if he was saying, "Sorry, but he insisted". Morgana smiled and shrugged back.
"So, how was the first day, ladies?" Sirius asked coolly as he loaded his plate with potatoes and pieces of chicken.
He was pouring gravy on his mashed potatoes when a fourth year knocked into him on accident. Sirius slopped gravy down the front of his robes. "Damn!" He shouted, jumping back from the bench and standing. "Napkin! Someone give me a bloody napkin!"
Peter was quick to hand Sirius his napkin, while James, Remus, Morgana, and Lily laughed uncontrollably. Judy did not seem to be amused. That, or she was determined not to show any form of emotion for the rest of the night.
Sirius was plainly making the mess bigger by blotting at the gravy. His face was growing red as a tomato as he murmured obscenities and broken phrases. "Sirius!" Remus called loudly, for Sirius was making a fair bit of noise. "Sirius, hold still. I can clean this up."
James and Remus grabbed Sirius' arms in order to make him stand still. Remus pulled out his wand, pointed it at the mess of gravy, cleared his throat, and said, "Tergeo!"
Sirius pulled his robes away from his body to see the spot that was previously covered in gravy. It was as if the gravy had never spilled in the first place. Sirius returned to his suave and calm state. "Thanks, Remy,"
"You're welcome," Remus said, stowing his wand back in his robes.
"So, as I was asking, how did-"
Before Sirius could finish, Professor McGonagall rushed down the aisle toward them. "Mr. Lupin!" She called harshly. "Tell me I did not just witness you doing magic outside of the classroom."
Remus blushed bright pink. "Uh…you did not just see me doing magic outside of the classroom?" He tried. The second the words came out of his mouth, he knew he had just landed himself in greater trouble.
"Mr. Lupin, we do not permit students to do magic outside of the classroom at Hogwarts. Surely you knew that," McGonagall said, disappointment ringing in her voice. "Five points from Gryffindor."
Remus hung his head in shame. Sirius and James looked absolutely appalled and opened their mouths to object. McGonagall cut them off before they could retort.
"However, I will award you ten points for effectively using the Tergeo charm, which is third year magic. Carry on," She smiled at Remus, whose face had lit up, and walked back to the teachers' table at front of the Hall.
"Cool, mate!" James said, clapping Remus on the back.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Peter asked, in complete awe.
"My parents taught me a bit of magic before I came here," He said. "They thought I would have to be homeschooled because of my-"
Remus abruptly stopped talking and instead decided to focus on his dinner. Lily and Morgana exchanged significant looks with James, Sirius, and Peter, but shrugged it off and also decided to focus on their dinners.
Morgana was really curious as to what Remus would have said if he had not stopped talking but did not pry because, as Remus so rightly stated after Herbology, they had only just met. She did not feel it was her place to force him to finish his statement.
The rest of dinner went smoothly, seeing as Sirius managed to keep all of his food either on his plate or in his mouth, and not on his robes and no one else did magic that was against the rules.
Morgana was pleasantly full when Lily and Judy decided it was time to go back to Gryffindor tower. The three were passing the Slytherin table when Lily suddenly stopped. "Hey, um, I'll catch up with you guys," She said before turning around and taking a seat next to Severus at the Slytherin table, who was sitting alone.
Morgana and Judy headed off, and, to their relief, were not joined by Sirius and James.
Note from the Author: Hey, hi. So I totally know that this is going pretty slowly, and I apologize for that. I have a ton of ideas for this story, so please bare with me through the slow chapters! I promise it will be worth it. :)