" !" Professor McGonagall called out during Transfiguration, "Come into my office, please, while the rest of you resume the lesson!"
Sirius and I exchanged looks as we snickered; poor Peter looked frightened as James stumbled towards McGonagall's office.
"Hey, Sir? I wonder what he got called in for?" I chuckled, sharing my sarcasm with Padfoot while Peter continued fretting over James and why he's in trouble.
"W-what happened l-last night? Is J-James going to b-be okay?" Peter stuttered, trembling slightly.
Professor McGonagall followed James shortly after, after making sure we all knew what we were doing. We were trying to transform our matches into needles. Peter had managed to light his match several times before McGonagall gave him a match she had charmed to not be able to light. Sirius was also having a difficult time with his match, and after a while he got frustrated and snapped his match in two and tossed the pieces away one-by-one. One half to the back of Severus' head, the other to the back of Lily Evans' neck. She whipped around for the offender and looked straight at me, glaring. I shook my head and held up my pointed match as Sirius trudged to the front of the classroom to fetch another match.
...
As I walked past McGonagall's office, I heard speaking and decided to pause for a while, pretending to be picky with which match to use as I listened in.
"James, why is it you needed your wand back so bad enough you sneaked into Madam Pince's office, in the Library, and awaken her? What was going through your head? What was so important late last night to cause you to do such a thing?" Poor Prongs, being caught by Madam Pince herself. Such an idiot James can be at times, and rather clumsy too. Though not as dashing, nor charming, as I.
I grinned and continued to listen.
"Now, I want your word that this incident will not occur again, is that clear? There will be more severe consequences if this continues, am I understood?" he must have nodded, because all I heard was more McGonagall speech, "Very well. Here is your wand, and do be more careful, I beg you. Go turn your match into a needle, now."
I immediately swooped up a match and hurried back to my seat by Moony as I heard the door begin to open. Prongs came out cradling his wand and picked up a match at random before heading back to his seat between Pettigrew and Moony.
...
"Now, what was the spell again, Remus?" James turned to me as he set his match onto his desk and looked at me hopefully.
"I thought you would have remembered it by now, James." I smirked while he continued his hopeful stare. Why would he remember the spell I had continued to remind him about over and over?
"The spell is Aequere Acus, remember? Or is Lily all you can think about these days?"
"Shut up, Moony. Aequare Ecus!" James' match instantly went insane. It spun about in circles, and shot out flames wherever it would point, causing screams of hysteria about the classroom. Everyone ran off, including Sirius, Peter, James, and me.
"Aguamenti!" Professor McGonagall aimed her wand at the spinning match, causing the flame to go out for a short while, "Very well then. Finite Incantatem!" the match instantly stopped spinning and shooting fire and Professor McGonagall picked up the match and made it disappear.
" , 'Aequere Acus'. You'd do well to learn how to pronounce your Transfiguration spells." Professor McGonagall smiled slightly in amusement as I caught Lily glaring at James.
Lily looked about ready to hex James as she began marching over while he went to sit back at our table, her hair sizzling slightly, as the bell chimed; dismissing us from Transfiguration. Lily quickly turned on her heel and headed back to Severus as he was beginning to pack her things. Severus looked up at her with a slight smile of sympathy and she shook her red-haired head at him with a smile, reassuring him she was fine. She packed the rest of her things and basically ran out of the classroom with Severus trailing after her.
...
"You know, that wasn't the best way to catch her attention." I grinned, earning a glare from him as he continued slowly putting his things in his bag as McGonagall came up to the both of us.
" , a word if you will. , go along with and back to your Common Room to clean yourselves up before your next class." I turned my head slightly to see Moony and Wormtail finishing packing their things and looking up at me, Wormtail definitely concerned now.
I gave them a wave and shot Prongs an apologetic look as he shrugged.
"Yes, Professor. I'll leave right after I-"
"No need to worry about the mess, . You three go to your Common Room and get ready for your next class. I can clean the mess made. Common Room, gentlemen." she nodded curtly to make it known our conversation was over as I finished packing, slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out of Transfiguration to join Moony and Wormtail.
...
"She doesn't look too happy, hey Moony?" Sirius chuckled as he swung his arms over both our shoulders. I barely heard him, lost in thought and gazing ahead towards Lily and Severus in front of us, talking.
"Moony! You know you've made Prongs mad enough at you! Don't go after his girl! That's suicide, you know that!" he basically blasted into my ear, attempting a whisper which clearly wasn't working and causing a scene. Lily and Severus looked back. Lily shook her head and continued walking.
"Sirius, quit causing a scene. I'm not 'going after' anyone. I'm simply wondering why she talks to him..."
"To who? That greasy-haired sleazeball? I been wondering the same exact thing myself. He's in Slytherin! And do you know who I've seen him with in his spare time? When he's not with Lily?"
"Hm? He's always with Lily. He's never not with Lily. He'd never-"
"I saw him with Riddle, Malfoy, that Lestrange Slytherin girl and some kid named Avery. Know what they call themselves? 'Knights of Walpurgis'! I thought we had a group name first, but apparently not. Selfish gits, who do they think they are? Stupid Slytherins that's what.."
I had zoned out at this point to give the password to our secret portrait that lead to the Seventh Floor and didn't care if Sirius or Wormtail followed, I just wanted some room to think.
I turned my head back once the portrait closed behind me to be glad to see neither one had followed me as I made my way to the Common Room, fix myself up, and run into Lily heading out the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Can you believe him, Remus? What a git! He used the wrong spell! He nearly set the classroom on fire, and... I have a slight bald spot, don't I?" she babbled, looking in distress. I looked about her hair and sure enough found a bald patch.
"Yeah, you got a bald patch there. Let me fix that up for you, shall I? I mean, if you want me to..." I put my hand on my wand as I spoke, secretly hoping she would say no and decline my offer.
"Could you? I can't go to class like this! Please, Remus?" she gazed up at me and I truly found myself lost in her eyes for a brief moment. Such bright green eyes...
"Er, yeah, I can do that. No problem at all!" I drew out my wand and did the quick spell my mum had taught me and was pleased with my results as she gave it a quick brush through with her fingers.
"Thank you so much, Remus! I couldn't do a spell like that... Could you walk me to class? Sev said he had to get to his class immediately. He sure likes his Potions!" she beamed up at me and I couldn't refuse her.
We walked to Charms, me silently listening and talking when need be while she babbled on about who knows what. I smiled as we walked to Charms. For the first time in my life, a girl other than my mother liked me.