Disclaimer: I don't own any of JK's Characters (Sure, that's what they all say)
Classes began on Monday. Hermione, always the responsible one, had ordered school books and supplies for them all over the weekend. So, clutching their new books and quills, the trio strode into transfiguration. A younger version of Pro McGonagall stood in the front of the classroom, tapping her foot impatiently. Her black hair was tied in a tight knot and she looked just as stern as ever.
"Oh joy." Ron muttered as they hastily ducked under her view. "She's 20 years younger. You'd think she'd loosen up a bit!"
"McGonagall's a bit strict," Nina explained, "but she's fair. Just don't mention anything to do with purple rubber ducks."
"What?" Harry asked.
Sammi grinned. "Don't ask. Something to do with Sirius."
Hermione looked up. "Where is Sirius?"
Sirius and James were nowhere in sight.
Lily rolled her eyes as McGonagall stepped in front of the class." God, I don't think Potter or Black has been on time this whole year yet."
As if right on cue, the 2 in subject dashed in panting through the doors. Pro McGonagall eyed them over her spectacles. "Potter? Black?"
They looked around uncomfortably. "Nice day Professor!" Sirius said, smiling brightly and flashing his white teeth. "Very nice day!"
Next to Harry, Remus chuckled. "Hah, the old Black Charm."
Harry had to agree. Sirius could be competition with Lockheart, though come to think of it, he much preferred Sirius.
"Brilliant day!" Sirius' voice faded.
James, his arm in a sling, tried another tactic. "We're very sorry Professor but－." He paused, abruptly putting his wand behind his back with a look of concentration. Sirius hastily stood in front of him to block him from view.
"What's he doing?" Lily demanded in a whisper.
Harry craned his neck around a tall Ravenclaw and saw James move his wand, a box appearing in his hand. James held it out with a grin. "You see, the reason we were late was because we were getting you a-a gift! Yeah, a gift."
"Chocolate frogs." Sirius said nodding.
James looked at him in alarm as McGonagall picked up the box.
"Is she actually falling for it?" Peter asked breathlessly. His watery eyes were wide.
The Professor smiled a scary smile and tapped the box with her wand. "Chocolate frogs? They seem to be sugar quills to me. A nice bit of transfiguration Mr. Potter, but I suggest you don't try to fool a teacher in the future. Now take a seat. You too Mr. Black, 20 points from Gryffindor."
Sirius and James went to sit down next to Peter and Remus, laughing and nudging each other as they went. They didn't seem at all bothered by the loss of points.
"We will begin by turning our books into paintings and back again." McGonagall then said, facing the class. "This requires much mind control. You have to imagine your painting precisely, wave your wand like so, and say 'bianfuhua' "
"Bianfuhua." The class repeated.
"Good, get to work." The teacher said, clapping her hands.
"Oh god." Ron said to Harry as the room slowly filled with chatter. "Back to school. We just missed our entire summer vacation!"
"How am I supposed to do this?" Peter wailed, tugging dismally on Remus' sleeve. "I have horrible mind control!"
"Yeah, no kidding." Harry muttered darkly.
"It's easy Wormtail." Sirius said. He grinned at James. "Watch the master."
It would've been classic if he'd completely messed up, Hermione thought wryly, but Sirius was too smart for that. He'd turned into an anamagi, hadn't he?
"Bianfuhua." Sirius said, flourishing his wand. His book disappeared in a flash of light and was replaced with a colored painting...of a 16-year old Severus Snape wearing a pink frilly dress.
"Nice!" James exclaimed as the others burst out laughing. He shot a quick glance at Lily who, unfortunately, seemed most unamused.
"Why are you always picking on him?" She demanded, slamming her own perfect picture of the Swiss Alps onto her desk.
"Lily, he's a selfish, jealous git." Sirius said calmly.
"And he called you a mudblood the other day." James added. "You can't forget that."
"I didn't." Lily said coldly, flashing her green eyes.
There was an awkward silence in which Lily glared at James, who sat staring uncomfortably at his wand and Sirius tipped his chair back looking bored.
"Well then." Sammi finally said, glancing at her friend. "Then that's settled."
The other Gryffindors, after casting the redhead a worried look, got back to work, unsure exactly who, or what was settled.
Harry and Ron did not achieve anything quite as good a quality as most of the others. Harry's portraits were always rather blurry and bloated, giving the impression of something close to Aunt Marge underwater. Ron's, to his bewilderment, always turned into a picture of a speckled hen no matter what he did.
Hermione, who was talking to Nina, refused to help, so they took comfort in the fact that Peter's book wouldn't even change into anything remotely close to a portrait.
Sirius and James, after waving away the fumes of the firecracker that Peter had accidentally transfigured, were putting the final touches to their paintings: applying Snape with makeup.
"Nice Prongs, like the shading."
"Thanks Padfoot. Think he needs more lipstick?
"Hmmm...Yeah, I think so."
"Okay, how about a nice mulberry shade. Bianfuhua."
"Ha, a nice improvement, don't you think?"
"Definitely."
"Uhhh, Prongs? Look behind you."
Lily was coming over looking suspicious. Luckily, it was just at that moment that Pro. McGonagall stood up. "Sit down everyone. Let me see your work.
She walked around the room looking pretty intimidating. "Good Bradley. Very good, Ms Ramirez. Hmmm..."
She moved past the Ravenclaws and on to the Gryffindors. "Very nice, Mr. Lupin, Ms Evans." She said this in a way that sounded as if she were used to saying it often. "10 points for Gryffindor." Lily looked rather smug.
The teacher moved on to Harry and Ron's column. "Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, do you think this is supposed to be funny?
"Yes." Sirius muttered, stifling a laugh.
"Well we did the work, didn't we Professor." James said cheekily.
McGonagall's mouth thinned. "Yes." She said grudgingly. "5 points from Gryffindor for impudence."
Behind her back, Sirius and James slapped high five.
"Oh my Mr. Pettigrew, we may want to come after school for this. Hmmm...okay, okay, oh this is very good, Ms...Ms...?"
Harry looked up, and grabbed Ron's shoulder. Pro McGonagall was staring at Hermione. "I don't believe I've seen you before." She peered over her spectacles suspiciously.
Hermione gulped and smiled widely, looking flustered. "Oh, hello. I'm an exchange student."
"Really." Was it just Harry's imagination or was McGonagall's voice colder than usual? "I didn't know we had any exchange students this year."
"You didn't?" Hermione asked nervously. "Oh, well that's too bad." Lame! She berated herself. That was really lame! It was probably an excuse Harry would've used. Nearby, Sirius snorted.
Think. Hermione shouted at herself. Use your brains to get yourself out of this mess. But all that came out was "Umm..."
This was perhaps the first time Hermione's mind had failed her. Her wand slipped from her stiff fingers, clattering onto the floor. Thankful for an excuse to turn, she mouthed 'help' as she went down to retrieve it.
Only 4 people responded. Ron's jaw dropped even wider than it had been before. Peter scratched his head, obviously confused. Lily frowned slightly, looking worried. Sirius winked, and slowly pulled out his wand.
Hermione turned back to a stiff looking McGonagall, cringing inside. McGonagall opened her mouth. Suddenly there was a loud pop coming from the Ravenclaw side.
Pro McGonagall whirled around, turning on a boy with thick blonde hair. "Mr. Reilly!"
Hermione peered over Lira and saw a surprised looking Reilly clutching...a purple rubber duck. Nina's words came back to her and she whipped her head back around. Sirius was grinning widely as he muttered something to the rest of the Marauders.
Everyone was murmuring by now. Pro McGonagall strode in front of the unfortunate Ravenclaw and snatched the rubber duck from his hands, looking furious. "I have had it with these-these objects appearing in my class. They have been showing up all week...this is obviously the work of some prankster..." She glanced at the Marauders at this. "...so I will ask one last time. Who is doing this?"
No one answered. Hermione saw that Sirius was looking just as confused as the rest. It was him, wasn't it?
After 10 seconds of silence, the bell rang. Many people stood up, but quickly sat back down again as McGonagall's nostrils flared.
"2 essays." She said. "One on the properties of moon dust, the other on the attributes of an animagus. 24 inches each, class dismissed."
Moans and protests filled the classroom as the 6th years began to file out. Hermione fought her way around the desks and nudged Sirius.
He broke his conversation with Remus and turned, smiling at her. "It was you, wasn't it?" She demanded her hands on her hips. "With the rubber duck."
Sirius grinned, putting both hands behind his back. "Who, me?" He asked innocently.
"It was him." Remus confirmed.
"Moony!" Sirius looked pained. "A Marauder never gives another Marauder away."
"I just did." Remus said, smiling. "Anyway, what did you do to poor Peter last week, dumping the blame on him when anyone could tell it was you and James?"
"So it was you." Hermione said frowning, as Sirius put on a mock pout. The classroom was almost empty now.
"Yeah." Sirius shrugged, abandoning his pretense of denial. "Wasn't hard."
"And McGonagall hasn't caught you at all? She was looking straight at you!"
"He's a good actor." Remus put an arm over Sirius' shoulder. "Don't be fooled."
Sirius grin didn't falter, but his eyes weren't so warm. "With my family, you have to be." Hermione thought of the portrait of Sirius' mum at Grimmauld's Place, and suppressed a shudder.
Suddenly both Marauders stopped smiling and looked at something behind her shoulder. Hermione spun around and almost fell onto Pro McGonagall.
"You." She said, nodding at Hermione. "What's your name?"
"My-my name?" Hermione felt cold. Pro McGonagall had never used this tone with her before. She opened her mouth and her mind blanked again.
"She's my cousin, Professor."
Hermione turned to see Sirius who was looking completely innocent. He was good at acting!
"She's an exchange student, like she said. From Canada."
"Really, Mr. Black." Pro McGonagall's voice showed much skepticism. "And your mother would let a Black go astray to Canada?"
Sirius shrugged. "One of Andromeda's." That seemed to sum up everything.
"Oh! Nymphadora Tonks!" McGonagall looked interested now. "I never knew she was this old. It seemed only last year Andromeda sent me a picture of her daughter. She seemed much younger."
"People grow fast in the foreign countries." Sirius said nodding seriously. "It must be the food."
McGonagall opened her mouth, but the bell was already ringing and the next class was trooping in. "Oh, you're going to be late. Hurry up you three. Nice to meet you Nymphadora."
Hermione smiled, Remus waved, and they dashed out the door.
"I am the Master." Sirius said once they were out of earshot.
"Nymphadora!" Hermione exclaimed, shaking her head.
"I know, horrid name. Don't know what possessed Andromeda." Sirius smiled wickedly. "But you've got to admit, I'm good."
"You pretended I was a four-year old!" Hermione cried, as Remus nudged Sirius' shoulder. "Tonks is 12 years younger than you, genius."
The two boys stopped, and stared at her.
"How do you know that?" Remus asked cautiously.
Hermione swallowed. She was blowing their cover. She was so blowing their cover. Though, maybe they'd already suspected something because McGonagall hadn't believed her stories.
Sirius seemed to read her mind. "Whatever. The point is that you're here...even if you aren't supposed to be." He added. "And we Marauders honor troublemakers."
Hermione took a slow breath, not knowing whether to be relieved or mad. "I'm not at troublemaker."
"Of course not." Sirius said nudging her.
"Troublemakers or not, we're going to be late for Charms." Remus said, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Hermione jumped up, her old habits getting the better of her. "We'd better hurry!"
"A punctual Troublemaker." Sirius said, shaking his head as he and Remus hurried after her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Look at this!" Ron exclaimed, pointing a quivering finger at his stack of homework. "3 inches! I swear, I measured it. 3 inches!"
"Calm down Ron." Hermione said, waving her hand somewhere towards his vicinity as she was nose deep in a textbook."
"She's already half way done!" Ron said, shaking his head. "That's not normal, I tell you."
The others chuckled. The Marauders, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting near the lake in their "free" time struggling through the homework.
"Hey!" Peter exclaimed happily. "I actually managed a summoning charm today! Isn't that awesome?"
"That was required in 4th year." Sirius said, yawning.
Peter glared at him and turned to James for his approval.
"Mm hmm." James muttered distractedly.
Sirius looked up in surprise, then relaxed into a grin. "Ha, dreaming about her again, Prongs?"
Harry glanced up to see that James was staring across the water at the other group of Gryffindor girls. Particularly the one nearest the trees with her red hair glinting in the sunlight.
"Well at least she doesn't hate your guts anymore." Remus offered.
"She did not hate my guts." James said indignantly.
Sirius clapped a hand over James' shoulder and said in a sad, somber tone, "Yes Prongs, she did."
"Get off me Padfoot." James said, shrugging off Sirius' arm with a reluctant grin. He cast an anxious look at Hermione, but she didn't even look up from her writing. He sighed and gazed back out across the river at the setting sun.
"Just ask her." Remus said gently.
"I can't." James moaned, flopping down on the grass. "I'm...I'm afraid...she'll uh, misunderstand, and uh, not agree-"
"You're afraid she'll say no." Hermione said, still writing her essay.
James jumped and glared at her. "She won't say no! How could she say no?"
Sirius snorted, but quickly hid it in a cough.
"You're really popular." Peter said, nodding.
But was James popular for the right person?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So you guys got dates yet?" Nina said that night in the common room.
"No." Ron stabbed his transfiguration essay viciously with his quill.
Lira sighed, tossing back her thick hair. "I wish I could go with-."
At that moment, a tall muscular boy with shining blonde hair and celery green eyes walked past. All of the girls immediately burst into giggles.
"With him." Lira finished before collapsing into a fit of laughter.
Sirius scowled and James dropped his head into his hands.
"Who was that?" Harry asked curiously as the boy set another group of Hufflepuff girls into hysterics.
"That was Pretty-boy Derek." Sirius muttered. "The most stupid, clueless-"
"Sirius!" Lira said, glaring at him. She turned to Harry. "That was Derek (I'm tempted to say Jeter, but I won't)Damon(XD)from Ravenclaw." She looked slightly flushed.
"Derek Damon." Ron repeated. "What's up with him?"
"He's only the cutest boy in 6th year." Lily sighed, sinking onto the pillows. "Not to mention that he's really smart-."
""I'm smart." James interrupted, looking slightly alarmed. "And athletic. Besides, he won't go with you. He only goes after blonds."
"What do you mean, go after?" Lily demanded, her dreamy expression instantly replaced by one of annoyance that she seemed to reserve especially for James.
"You know," James shrugged. "It's obvious he's chasing after those girls."
"And you don't?" Sammi muttered.
"How do you know he only goes after blonds?" Nina asked.
"Allie Byrnes." Sirius said, counting on his fingers. "Kelly Papa. Tory Hunter. Jass McCauley. Geez, he's got a whole horde of blond girls behind him."
"Lira there has a chance." James said, nodding at Lira who twirled a finger self-consciously through her corn silk hair. "But I'm sorry Lily. It looks like you'll just have to find someone else."
"Shut up Potter." Lily snarled, getting up to sit behind the couch, away from James.
"Just some advice." James said, looking satisfied.
Lira looked around, being the only blond among them. (Okay, Petey doesn't count.) "Well, Nina's hair is pretty light. And Sammi...yeah."
Sammi tugged at her own black hair, scowling. "This is a really stupid conversation."
"James started it." Lily's voice came from behind the couch.
"And I'm finishing it." James stood up and stretching. "Good night. Think on my advice, Lily."
"Stupid bighead," Lily muttered as he went up the stairs.
"I'm going to bed too." Sammi said, standing up with Nina. Four more days until the dance." She gave a little skip and headed up to the girl's dormitories.
Four days. Harry thought with a sinking feeling. Oh boy.
Finally! Whew, that took a long time to finish, but hey! 8 projects and 5 tests and 3 performances in 3 weeks? Ugh, I hate end of terms. But Chapter...6 is finally done. I did add a new character whowillbe part of the plot. Mua ha ha. Thank you for bearing with me for the (is it an entire month?) that I didn't update. And gracias for all the reviews!
sirius black and remy: Oh, maybe he is. But he's going to have a hard time with it. I'm so mean...
Serendipity-England-1922 Happy new years to you too, but it's a little too late now...Happy Chinese New Years!
Lady Avari: Here's Chapter 6. Sorry it took so long.
Never Odd Or eveN: Thank You. I can't wait either.
SH: I hope you continue liking it.
hermionegranger2007: Phew, I'm glad you think so.
Flame of Night: Yes, you're probably right about the pairings, but like I said, the point of an evil author is to make things hard for the characters. cue evil laugh Nice name.
And the one and only Alikat: Confusing, yes, but understandable. I do too have a cat. He, uh, lives...in my sock drawer. Yeah.