Chapter 39: Lessons
"Very well done, Miss Teng. Ten points to Ravenclaw." Professor Flitwick praised. "Ten points for Miss Ho, Miss Muye and Miss Xiao." They were supposed to be controlling a chalk to make it write their full names on the black board in front of the classroom. Marks would be awarded to anyone who can make legible writings of their own name.
"Twenty points to Miss Evans for such beautiful cursive writing of Lily Dorriane Evans." Professor Flitwick said after the yellow chalk returned to its original position on the rack after writing Lily's name.
Lily was the top student for Charms in the last three years. She was able to control the chalk without any problem at all.
"Ten points for Miss Black and Miss Figg too." Arabella and Stefanie had written their names on the board, with little difficulty.
The seven girls grinned at one another. Lily had always prepared her lessons before Charms on Monday morning. The seven girls had spent the night before hanging out together in an empty classroom where they can chat with privacy and yet not disturbing anyone else. Lily had taught all of them the charm that Professor Flitwick was going to teach the next day.
"Mr. Potter, you looked like you're having some difficulties. Do you need any help??" Professor Flitwick asked James when he stopped by his table. James was having difficulties to make the chalk write a 'J' even. He only managed to scribble some illegible writing on the board so far.
"Thank you. But I think I can manage." James said, trying to concentrate even harder. The seven girls were giggling in front of him. This time he managed to write an ugly looking 'J' finally. Why is my name so ridiculously long?? Maybe I can use the chalk for a different purpose.
"Mr. Black, I don't think you're scribbling your name, are you??" Professor Flitwick asked Sirius as the chalk proceeded rather slowly along the edges of the board writing 'The amazing one and only Sirius-the-great-and-gorgeous-Edward-the-handsome-and-hunky-' a little messily.
"I'm writing my name, Professor. Read between the words." Sirius said, grinning. He had occupied most of the board space for his 'name'. I'm going to do something more than just writing my name. What else can chalks be used for??
"Mr. Lupin, you're doing well. But the words are a little illegible. I can barely make out your name at all." Profesor Flitwick said kindly.
"I'll improve on that." Remus said. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie stifled a giggle. Remus had always looked like an angel in front of the professors since James and Sirius were like monsters in class. The fact is Remus is actually as naughty, if not, more naughty among them but he simply knew how he ought to behave in class.
"What's that parrot doing here??" Lily asked as she saw a parrot stood on Professor Flitwick's table. "I bet it's the Marauders."
"There's more than one parrot here." Arabella commented and turned over to the chalk-stand where there were seven different colored parrots standing there quietly.
"I can assure you it's the Marauders. Who's transfiguration is that good??" Stefanie said as she ignored the parrots and continued writing her name over again on the board when suddenly the chalk she was using turned into a parrot.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew, please transfigure the parrots back." Professor Flitwick squeaked.
"Professor, we were just following your instructions by writing our names on the board." James said and he waved the wand. The green parrot picked up a chalk and started to write his full name on the board neater than the way James had been writing.
"You told us to use the chalk to write, didn't you Professor??" Sirius added. He waved the wand and the blue-feathered parrot took a chalk on its beak and continued writing another line of his 'name' in a slightly neater manner.
"We're still using chalks to write." Remus added, having a pretended innocent look on his face.
"Well, you're using transfigured chalks." Professor Flitwick commented squeakily.
"They're still chalk to begin with and what's writing on the board is also normal chalk." James added.
"Oh, alright then." Professor Flitwick gave up arguing with the three boys and transfigured the parrots back himself. He was a kind little professor who usually would not deduct any house points unless absolutely necessary.
What the Marauders did had apparently impressed four particular Ravenclaw students from their use of advanced Transfiguration skills. But for Lily, Arabella and Stefanie, this was like a weekly sight which they stopped being bothered by them after the first year.
"Look at that four Huffies." James whispered to the rest of the Marauders. The four Hufflepuffs exchanged students appeared to be mutilating the twining plants on the table by poking it with their wands. Shannon had magically cut the plant into two and new ends had emerged. Xavier, Malcolm and Shannon continued magically cutting the plant until there was a pile of creepers covering their faces from Professor Sprout.
"Mr. Daoming, Mr. Huaze, Mr. Ximen and Mr, Meizuo, please stop propagating the plant. I realize that it's growing really well." Professor Sprout called the four guys.
"We just want to see the time taken for the plant to grow." Lewell replied as he poked his head from the thick pile of creepers. The other three had apparently been keeping quiet or had fallen sleep behind the twines.
"Oh, well. You can stop now. I can't see your faces behind those creepers."
"We already stopped, Professor."
"Ok, let's continue with our lesson." Professor Sprout continued sprouting facts and myths about magical creepers.
"I bet they're sleeping behind that bush." James told the three Marauders. They were sitting directly opposite to the four Hufflepuffs. The Marauders always take up the four seats furthest from Professor Sprout and every other professor. They enjoy sitting behind everyone in class because it makes pranking easier.
"Let's do something about it." Sirius suggested.
"Like what??" Remus asked.
"What can make those creepers creep away??" James asked.
"Heat." Peter spoke up. He had been listening attentively to both Professor Sprout and his three friends.
"No wonder the greenhouse is unusually cool today." James commented. He was usually perspiring during Herbology, but today it seems to be unusually cool.
"It's a little humid as well." Remus added taking quick glances at Professor Sprout as they talked.
"So it's all because of this plant." Sirius grinned cheekily.
"We can heat up the creepers in front of them. Maybe we might burn their fanciful hairstyle as well." James said and the four guys exchanged a mischievous grin. James checked to make sure Professor Sprout was busy explaining. He pointed his index finger at the creepers and muttered a heating charm.
"AaaHHhh!!"
"Ouch!!"
"Fire!!"
"My hair!!" There was a sudden commotion from the back of the classroom and the creepers started to move away from the four Hufflepuffs.
"What's happening??" Professor Sprout asked, annoyed at the disruption.
"Someone set fire on us!!" Shannon said, moving his fingers through his hair repeatedly to check for any damaged strands.
"I don't see any fire at all, Mr. Daoming. And I'll not tolerate such nonsense in my class. By the way, would the four of you please clean your drool around your mouths??" Professor Sprout said in an annoyed tone. The whole class chuckled at the four guys at their nonsensical outburst. The four guys settled down once again. The creepers had moved away from them now leaving them no choice but to keep awake.
The Marauders laughed in the class with the rest and exchanged a knowing look with one another. Lewell gave the Marauders a knowing look, as if he knew that they made the 'fire'.
"Class, silence. If there's any more disturbances from this class, I'm going to keep you here with me for another half hour." Professor Sprout told the class. They stopped laughing instantly but still stifled them chuckles, looking at the expression and the hair of the four guys.
"Look at the plaque up there." James said, looking upwards. For once, the Marauders were early for their lesson although they did not like Professor Trelawney or Divination. They just could not stand the four egoistic Hufflepuffs who treated themselves as the kings of the school. The four Hufflepuffs had walked into the Great Hall as if they were kings when most of the female population was admiring them from the side. The Marauders had found that scene particularly nauseating.
"What's with it?? I don't see any difference." Sirius commented his neck was getting aching from looking upwards.
"Look clearly at the last word." Remus said and started laughing.
"Lecher??" Sirius said and started laughing at the joke. The brass plaque now read 'Sybill Trelawney, Divination le cher' instead of 'Sybill Trelawney, Divination teacher'.
"We didn't do it. Who did??" Sirius asked.
"I can only think of someone else who could do it." James said.
"Don't tell me is that four Huffies??" James said.
"I don't doubt that. If Trelawney is that great, she should be able to foresee this." Sirius commented, waiting for the silvery ladder to descend down from the circular trapdoor.
The Marauders stepped into their strange-looking classroom and climbed into the armchairs. Then they waited impatiently for the rest of the class to come in the heavy, sickly sort of perfume from the large copper kettle at the crowded mantelpiece. The four of them keep quiet because if they talked, who knows what Professor Trelawney might do. She had already predicted the death of James on his first lesson last year, and there he was, sitting in the same classroom right now.
"Hey guys, so early today." Lily said as she, Arabella and Stefanie climbed into the classroom. Within five minutes, the rest of the class filled up the heavily scented room.
"Sit, my children, sit. It would be a short lesson today as my Inner Eye had been working rather hard lately." Professor Trelawney said. "I would be assigning homework for today. Each of you has to come up with a list of predictions for one of the students in the same year as you for the upcoming month. It could be someone from your house or from another. On page thirty-one, it'll tell you how you should choose this person. Refer to page twenty to fifty for this assignment. I expect no less than one prediction a day for one month."
The class flipped to the pages and started browsing through.
"What do you think had happened to her??" Lily asked, eyeing Professor Trelawney.
"Maybe someone had created a havoc here earlier??" Stefanie replied, noticing the slightly messed up room.
"Who had lesson before us??" Arabella asked.
"I think fourth-year Hufflepuffs." Lily said thoughtfully.
"Girls, if you're wondering if what had happened here this morning, you've guessed it correctly." Professor Trelawney said with her back facing the class. Everyone turned to Lily, Arabella and Stefanie who stopped their whisperings immediately.
"Ten marks off and a detention for each of you for being late for class." Professor told the four students who just rushed into the room, panting slightly.
"Stupid Huffies." James muttered under his breath as he walked towards the last seat in the class.
"Another five marks off and a detention for Mr. Potter for scolding vulgarities in class." Professor Porky said. All the Gryffindors had learnt not to argue with Professor Porky unless absolutely necessary because he could negate the house points of Gryffindor in one lesson if he really wanted to do it.
"Today we would be learning to prepare this new potion." Professor Porky said and he droned on and going through the potion procedures and ingredients used. Finally after fifteen minutes, everyone was allowed to start preparing his or her potion.
"Why are you so late today?? I thought we reminded you during lunch??" Lily asked James who was sitting behind her.
"It's all because of Shannon and his gang." James muttered angrily.
"What did he do??" Stefanie asked.
"The four of them had delayed us along our way. They knew we were having Potions, and they held us up on purpose."
"Why would they??"
"Revenge from Herbology class last week."
"You mean that 'fire'??"
"Yeah. How did they know??"
"Lewell caught us."
"Since when do you address them in their first name??"
"Since their last name were so difficult to pronounce."
"What did they do??"
"They tried to hex us, but obviously they can't."
"Because of your chain??"
"That's right."
"Then what did they do??"
"Broke into a fight."
"I don't see you guys being injured."
"We weren't."
"Then??"
"They taunted us and started the fight. They hit us on our stomach and limbs and not our face."
"No wonder."
"Our reaction was to punch them on their faces, obviously."
"That's why they had bruises on their faces. And somehow McGonagall and Sprout came as we were punching them."
"We're sent for two weeks of detentions for beating up fellow students."
"Two hundred house points off for that."
"Now we are the last!! Even Slytherin beat us."
"That's the big problem."
"What happened to them??"
"Pretended to be suffer from serious injuries and excused from lessons for two weeks."
"McGonagall and Sprout said so."
"This is so unfair."
"What worst is that the reason they're not happy with us because they don't like us being the Marauders."
"How stupid does that sounds??"
"They're such a bunch of stupid himbos."
"We'll definitely have our revenge."
"We've to beat the Hufflepuff this year."
"They're invited to played for the team in the first match."
"We can beat them definitely."
"Don't be too sure."
"Why??"
"Yvette told me that they represented their house and school Quidditch team. They were approached by the National team to be trained and represent them internationally."
"Wow!!"
"What?!?"
"I think they're really good!!"
"We can't let them win!!"
"We got to-"
"Ten points off each for Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew and Evans, Black, Figg for their little discussion in the middle of the lesson." Professor Porky shouted at the seven of them. The Slytherins snickered. They had lost about three hundred points for Gryffindor in a day.
"Talk later." Lily muttered and continued the finishing of her potion.
"Easy as a, b, c." James said as he transfigured a pin to a beautiful bouquet of lily flawlessly.
"Why did you transfigure a lily??" Sirius asked cheekily.
"You don't like?? I can transfigure to something else." James said as he transfigured the white lilies to roses to tulips to daisies to orchids.
"We're just wondering why did you transfigure the pin to lilies??" Remus asked, grinning.
"No particular reason. Lily is our friend, so naturally I transfigure it to a bouquet of lilies." James answered as a matter of fact.
"Well, our friend Lily is having some problem with her lilies." Remus told James. Lily had only managed to transfigure the pin into a lily with sharp petals. She tried again and transfigured it into a lily with a flower head but stem of a needle.
"I hate transfiguration. This is so tough." Lily muttered under her breath. Arabella and Stefanie had a little difficulty at the transfiguration as well, but they managed to transfigure a stalk of decent looking flower each but with defects in the leaves and petals.
"Shall we transfigure the pin for them??" James whispered to Sirius and Remus. The three guys shared a nod and waited for the girls to mutter the spell.
"Ahh.. I got it finally!!" Lily shouted excitedly as a perfect white lily popped up. She held up the lily and sniffed.
"Me too!!" Stefanie said as she picked up the perfect stalk of blue rose from the table and sniffed the scent.
"Look at my purple orchid!!" Arabella said eagerly as a purple orchid popped up. "It looked better than I imagined it to be." She picked up the stalk of flower and admired its beauty.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin, I believe the girls would need to have their own practice in Transfiguration." Professor McGonagall said in front of the class. The three girls turned and stared at the guys, partially grateful and yet annoyed at the same time.