Title: Glass Hearts
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The sixth years learn the Hair Swapping Spell in Transfiguration. They also go to the Ministry to take their Apparition tests.
--
In the back of the classroom, James and Sirius were huddled over a piece of parchment full of notes and scribbles. "Slytherin only needs one hundred points to get ahead of us," James said.
"No, no, no," Sirius said. "Ravenclaw needs one hundred to get ahead of us. Slytherin needs two hundred."
"Oh, right," James said. "Well, we know Slytherin's going to win this Saturday."
"That gives them at least a hundred fifty," Sirius said. "Their Chasers aren't that bad."
James shook his head. "If we win against Ravenclaw with - wait -"
Lily looked back to them. "Did you know class is going on?" she asked.
"Evans, we know everything there is to know about Human Transfiguration," Sirius said with a haughty nod of his head. Lily rolled her eyes, returning to her note-taking. "Honestly."
"Anyway, if Slytherin gets two hundred points –" began James.
"Potter! Black!"
The two boys straightened up in unison, and Sirius swept the piece of parchment under his books. Professor McGonagall, from the beginning of the classroom, was looking at them intently.
"Would you like to come give us an example? See if you can accomplish the spell?" she asked, her lips pursed.
"Er –"
"Of course!" Sirius jumped to his feet. He was halfway to the front of the class before James stood. He had no idea what spell they were doing. He joined Sirius at the front before searching the board for some sort of hint as to which spell all the dry notes were related to.
The boys took out their wands, and Remus was motioning to his hair, then Peter's hair, then his own again, and mouthing something.
Sirius waved his wand, said something to James's head, and then the class was laughing. James reached up unto the top of his head – well, it was still there. He pulled it down over his eyes, and saw that it was platinum blonde. "Why, you –" James flicked his wand and Sirius's hair grew down to his waist.
Before Sirius could shoot back, Professor McGonagall stepped in between the two of them. "Not quite," she said, half-smiling. "That would be Charms, Mr. Potter. But impressive, no doubt. Now, would anyone else like to try the hair swapping spell?"
"Oh, we can do that," James said.
"Sit down, boys, perhaps you should listen next time," McGonagall said.
James and Sirius walked back to their seats, fixing each other's hair.
"Everything there is to know?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows. Sirius made a face at her, and she held back a smile.
They sat down in the back, laughing. McGonagall pulled up two new students: Jewel and Candace. Candace's chest-length wavy dark blonde hair was falling over her shoulders, and Jewel's hair fell in a mess around her head, her brush seemed to be unforgotten. Candace gave Jewel a wary look as she took out her wand.
"This should be interesting," James said, smirking.
"Oh, come on, James," Sirius said, motioning to the piece of parchment with Quidditch notes.
"It's your girlfriend, you prat," James said.
Sirius looked up. "Oh," he said. "So it is." He smiled at her as she took out her wand. Jewel turned to the sixth year Gryffindor, looking over her hair.
"Now, I chose the two of you so that the color wouldn't be too hard to switch," Professor McGonagall explained. "As you can see, your colors are similar. But it's the form and length that's different." She extended her hand. "Remember to pronounce it correctly, girls. We'll learn it non-verbal in a week or two. Count to three together."
"1...2...3 – Cauponor!" Jewel and Candace said together.
Spells shot across the room. Jewel's hair grew longer rapidly fast and Candace's started to disappear from the bottom up. Jewel's stopped, with the exact look of Candace's previous hair. Candace, however, had gone completely bald within a few moments. She started screaming, covering her naked head, as most of the class tried to hold back their laughter. The Slytherins didn't bother.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward, waving her wand. As quickly as it was gone, so it was back. Jewel and Candace had identical hairstyles. The latter was crying, trying to get over her shock, and Jewel was feeling the long hair cautiously.
"Good job," McGonagall said, patting Candace's arm. "You went a bit too short. It happens often. But nothing happens for most people. Thank you, girls – why don't you take a seat?"
"Er – what about my hair?" Jewel asked.
"Oh," McGonagall said. She waved her wand and Jewel's original hair returned. Sirius made a catcall. Jewel winked at him, sitting back down. "So, we can learn from Candace's mistake."
Twenty minutes later, McGonagall allowed them to match up with partners and try the spell. Candace hooked up with Debra, who had a length close to her own. Sirius and James accomplished the spell the second try, and made fun of one another for a while. After they noticed Peter couldn't do it with Remus, they switched partners and James tried to help Peter.
"James has such patience," Sirius said, feeling his own hair on his head. "He's so noble." He clapped James on the back, then looked at Remus. "Okay, you and I, let's go."
After ten or fifteen minutes, Sirius and Remus achieved the spell. "How do I look?" Sirius asked. He flipped his head and Remus laughed. "That bad, huh?" He ran his hands through the hair on Remus's head. "Black looks good on you."
"If you insist," Remus said with his eyebrows raised.
"I do," Sirius said, nodding. "Kind of sexy. You should dye it."
Remus laughed. "Yeah, right," he said.
"No, honestly," Sirius said. "Hey, Evans, MacDonald, doesn't Remus look good with black hair?"
The girls looked at Remus for a few moments. "Yeah," Mary said, nodding. She grinned at Sirius. "One thing's for sure, you don't look good in blond."
"I don't have blond hair," Remus said.
"No, you have black hair," Sirius said. "And it's bloody sexy. Tell him, Evans."
"It looks good, Remus," Lily said sincerely.
"You just have to remember to wash it, or you'll start looking like Snivellus," Sirius said, nodding.
"Do you really have to say comments like that every time you get the chance?" Lily asked.
"Yes, yes, I do," Sirius replied.
Lily rolled her eyes, turning back to Mary.
"Something you have to say about your boyfriend?" Sirius asked, glancing over at Snape, who had Avery's short brown hair. Avery looked a bit disgusted to have Snape's long hair.
Lily gave him a cool look and shook her head. "You're an idiot," Mary said. "They're not even friends anymore."
"Sorry, was I talking to you?" Sirius asked.
"Yes!" James yelled next to them. Sirius turned and looked. Peter had a mop of messy black hair on his head and James had an awkward-looking bowl cut. "Nice job, Peter!" He gave Peter a high-five, and grinned at Sirius and Remus.
"Never go blond," James advised Sirius.
"Same goes for you, pal," Sirius said, smirking.
James looked over at Mary and Lily, who were whispering now, their hair switched. He looked at Lily for a moment. "Whoa," he said. "She looks so different with brown hair, don't you think?"
Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, I guess," he said.
James looked at her unabashedly, his mouth slightly open. "No shame at all," Sirius said to Remus, shaking his head.
"It's Prongs," Remus said, shrugging.
Class let out, and, as she performed the counter-curse on students as they left, McGonagall said, "Next class, we'll work on the counter-curse, and then move on to different parts of the face, like eyes, ears, noses, skin. Work on this if you feel like you need to."
As the four boys went to the common room, James was quiet. Sirius punched him in the shoulder. "Why are you so quiet, Romeo?" he asked, draping his arm over his shoulders.
"No reason," James said. "Hey, we've got practice tonight!"
--
A week before Slytherin played against Hufflepuff, the sixth years took their Apparition tests. All those who were of age got to leave Hogwarts to go to the Ministry of Magic. "We'll see you children later!" Sirius called to Remus and Peter as they left the common room. Remus's birthday was only two weeks away, but Ministry rules were law.
Down at the Hogwarts train station, they boarded unto the Hogwarts Express. "Are Jewel and Juniper coming?" James asked Sirius.
Sirius shook his head. "They turn seventeen this summer," he said. He saw a few guys sitting in one compartment, but walked past it when he saw Kingsley Shacklebolt. He and Jewel were talking a lot lately. They joined Lily, Debra, Candace, and a Hufflepuff girl that looked sort of familiar.
"Are you ready?" Candace asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Of course," he said.
"Weren't you the first one to get Splinched?" James asked the Hufflepuff girl.
"What a wonderful way to start a conversation," Lily said mildly.
"That was me," the girl said.
"What's your name?" Sirius asked.
"Alice Hodge," the girl replied.
"Oh, gods, you were the girl Mary kept complaining about during that one Hogsmeade trip," James said. He rolled his eyes and imitated Mary. "What does she have that I don't?"
The girls giggled, and Alice blushed. "Did she really take it like that?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah," Sirius said.
The train ride was about two hours long. The boys started talking about Quidditch, and the girls were soon talking about their upcoming tests. Halfway through, Lily took out The Daily Prophet. She turned to the obituaries, which received much more space than they had four years ago. She skimmed over the names; she didn't know any of them, but she didn't usually. She felt lucky being Muggleborn, since she was slightly disconnected from the war. Her family was, for the most part, safe.
"Can I see that?" Sirius asked.
Lily nodded, handing it over to him. Sirius started to flip through it. "I don't like this new Minister," he said.
Lily winced. "Um," she said. She looked at Debra, her eyes wide.
"Hey," Debra said.
"He's just a tool," James cut her off.
"What do you mean?" Candace asked.
"He's being used by You-Know-Who," James said.
"He's my uncle," Candace said, glaring at them.
Sirius looked up from the paper, his mouth falling open. He looked over at James. "Harver Ogden is your uncle?" he asked.
Candace nodded. There was a tense silence in the compartment. Sirius paused. "Your mum or dad's side?" he asked.
"Mum's," Candace said.
Sirius just nodded, returning to his paper. Candace looked at James, her arms crossed. Then she looked back at Sirius. "You think he's being used by You-Know-Who?" she asked, her voice quivering with anger.
"Well..." James trailed off, "he appointed Abraxas Malfoy as Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He's taken away Auror privileges. Since he's decided that they're not allowed to go places unless there's a direct request for them, there's been forty percent more deaths and attacks."
"Aurors were just showing up places," Candace said. "They weren't where they were supposed to be."
"Oh, right," James said sarcastically. "Maybe that's what your uncle told you -"
"I read it in the paper," Candace shot back.
"Well, the paper's on his side," James said. "It's biased, it's not reliable."
"They found at least five accounts where the Aurors were slacking on the job," Candace said.
"According to their standards of slacking," James said. "They were investigating deaths. One of them was the attack on Alice's family."
"What?" Alice asked.
James looked at her. "Yeah," he said. "Moody was interviewing people, but when Malfoy found him, he said he wasn't doing sufficient Auror work. He made him leave right then. I'm sure Moody's still looking, though."
"You are?" Alice said.
"Yeah, Moody will do find it," James said.
"You know him?" Lily asked, trying not to seem impressed.
Before James had a chance to brag, Sirius stepped in, "Whether your uncle's being used or not, he's not making the smartest decisions. Especially when Aurors are all we have."
"You mean there's no one else fighting?" Lily asked.
"There are Hit Wizards," Sirius said. "But they won't give anyone else the right to fight; only the right to defend. If I met a Death Eater on the street and killed him, I might get sent to Azkaban."
"Well, that does make sense," Debra said.
"You think so?" Sirius asked.
"Not just anyone can go around killing people," Lily said. "If they took that law away, how many people would use it as an excuse for murder? The Ministry is just trying to keep order."
"Well, it's failing," James said.
Lily crossed her arms. "I'm going to the bathroom," Candace announced. She stood up and left. Lily thought about going with her, but decided she probably needed some time to herself.
"Gods," James breathed. "A warning would have been nice."
"She talked nonstop about it when he was elected," Lily said. "Maybe you should listen to her more often instead of just snogging her."
James narrowed his eyes at her, and she gave him a smug smile.
The rest of the train ride was a bit tense, and they avoided the heavy topics that were now rolling about in their minds. To her surprise, Lily actually wanted to talk to Sirius and James later about the war and the Ministry. For idiots, they seemed to know a lot about the situation. She did her reading, too, and listened to all she could, and talked to the professors, but there was that disconnect that she had enjoyed earlier. She didn't understand all of the workings of the wizarding world, and she didn't have family who worked at the Ministry who could give her insight.
She didn't tell the others, but this would be her first time at the Ministry of Magic. The sixth years had been instructed to dress in Muggle clothes since they were going to walk through downtown London. Professor McGonagall looked very odd out of her usual robes; she wore a nice maroon dress, but the students were still getting used to it.
They got off at King's Cross, and a group of about fifteen students followed Professor McGonagall into the station in pairs of two. Lily walked next to Alice and Candace behind the rest of the group. She saw Severus walking next to Avery, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, both of them looking like he had sized them magically so he could wear them today. As they passed a telly, she saw an old football game. With so much Quidditch, it was hard to remember how much she loved football.
They exited King's Cross, and McGonagall stood there for a moment with a Muggle map. Lily walked forward. "We're walking to the...to where we're going?" she asked.
McGonagall nodded. She pointed to the spot on the map where they were going. Lily glanced around. "You know, professor, this isn't the safest place to walk around," she said.
"Don't worry," McGonagall said. "We've done this for a few years."
"All right," Lily said, shrugging. They walked for twenty minutes through the inner city area. The pureblooded children tried to hide their wonder at certain aspects of the Muggle world; such as cars, stoplights. Lily saw things they didn't; prostitutes, drug dealers. They got on a shabby street with a wall of graffiti.
Professor McGonagall looked around. She waved her wand, probably performing some sort of Charm in case Muggles were around. "All right, who's entered the Ministry of Magic through this phone booth before?" she asked.
About half of the students raised their hands. "Very well," she said. "You are going to enter this phone booth with in groups of three, push the numbers '62442' and tell the Welcome Witch that you are here for your Apparition tests. Understood?"
They waited while students started entering the phone booth. They would stand there for a few moments, receive pins, and then the telephone booth would go down into the ground like a lift. Once they were close to Professor McGonagall, who was keeping watch, Lily asked, "Why didn't we just come through Portkey?"
"Coming this way exposes everyone to Muggle ways," McGonagall replied. "And they can use this way in the future if they need to."
Lily nodded. She entered the booth with Candace and Alice. They were soon in the Ministry of Magic. They walked down a small hall. After being stopped by the security guard who used a Probity Probe and registered their wands, they entered the main part of The Atrium. The entire right-hand side contained fireplace after fireplace, where witches and wizards occasionally Flooed in and out. The floor was a polished dark wood while the ceiling was a peacock blue with golden symbols moving across it. There was a large fountain with five golden figures; a witch, a wizard, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.
"Wow," Lily said, looking around.
"You ever been here before?" Candace asked.
Lily shook her head.
"Wicked," Candace said with a smile.
Professor McGonagall told them to get onto to the lifts in the groups and get off at level six. There were interlevel memos flying above their heads in bright colors. "I wonder if we can visit dad," James said.
"Your dad works here?" Lily asked.
"He's a Hit Wizard," James said proudly.
"Maybe you should spend more time listening to him and less time yelling at him," Sirius said smugly.
Lily narrowed her eyes as they got off of the lift. She nearly ran into Severus. "Sorry," she said, blushing. He met her eyes for a moment, but quickly looked away.
The group of them was taken to a large room by a man in yellow robes. "Welcome," he said. "Today you will be tested on your ability to Apparate. To pass, you must successfully Apparate to a specified destination without splinching yourself."
The testing took quite long. They each had to take pictures for their Apparition licenses. There were four different spots around level six, but Apparition wards kept them from leaving the Ministry. They were randomly given one of the four spots. After filling out paperwork for Apparition files, they Apparated and then waited for everyone else while eating sandwiches provided by the aides in the test center.
Lily stood and breathed deeply while the witch who was in charge of testing wrote on her clipboard.
"Let me repeat this back to you," she said. "Lily Aegina Evans. Born January 30th 1970. Muggleborn. Gryffindor expected to graduate 1978 with Arithmancy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration NEWTs."
"Yes," Lily said.
"All right," the witch said. "Take a few moments, and feel free to Apparate whenever you're ready."
Lily nodded. Determination, deliberation, and destination. She took out her wand, took a deep breath, and spun on the spot. After the horrible feeling of Apparition, she arrived at her destination twenty feet away. She looked at the wizard who was also grading her. She felt her body up and down. "I'm alive," she said.
He stood up, examining her. "It doesn't seem like you left anything behind, either," he said.
There was a voice that came from a red box on the table by the chair in which he had been sitting. "Nothing Splinched," the witch's voice said approvingly.
"Congratulations," the wizard said. "We'll have your license at the end of the day."
Lily waited with Alice. Candace had gotten permission to go see her uncle. After Sirius and James had passed, they also left to see James's dad. There were only a few who didn't pass; Jonathon Smith and Holly Nice. Holly was so nervous she left her ponytail, and Jonathon was so excited he forgot a shoe. "Luckily it wasn't anything too much," the wizard said kindly as Holly held back tears. "You can try again later, but you have to wait at least a week."
--
Upstairs, James and Sirius were leaving Mr. Potter's office, pumped that they had passed. "We can Apparate anywhere now," Sirius said.
They got on the lift to go back to level six, talking about all the places they could go that summer without having to worry about Floo or asking Mrs. Potter for a Portkey. The lift opened on the next floor. Sirius's blood froze as Sirius's cousin Narcissa Malfoy and her husband Lucius Malfoy greeted them. Narcissa met his eyes, then regarded him coolly. Lucius smirked at the two of them, getting unto the lift. Narcissa followed hesitantly.
"Apparition tests?" Lucius asked.
"Yeah," Sirius said.
"Did you pass?" Lucius asked.
"Mmhmm," Sirius nodded.
"Congratulations," Lucius said, raising his eyebrows. He looked at James, a look of disgust coming unto his face.
"What about you?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, I was just visiting my father," Lucius said. "You know he's been promoted to Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"I heard," Sirius said curtly.
The lift door opened again, and two more people got on. Narcissa stepped closer to her husband, holding unto his arm. Sirius rolled his eyes. She looked beautiful still, her blonde locks falling down her back, but she looked years older. Whatever was going on in her life, it wasn't very good for her health.
When they came to level six, James and Sirius stepped off. "Good day," Sirius told them, not looking at either of them. They had gotten back just in time, the rest of the students getting ready to leave.
The train ride back was uneventful. At first, everyone who had passed the test was excited. They exchanged licenses and talked about the things they would do. After twenty minutes or so, the excitement died down. James fell asleep up against the window. Candace remained silent, staring out the window. Sirius was reading the paper, and rest of the girls had books they were reading. Occasionally James would snore, and then Sirius would kick him in the knee.
"Git," James said, finally kicking him back.
"Stop snoring," Sirius said.
"I'm not snoring," James said sleepily.
Sirius saw a small article on the Malfoys, about all the good things they're doing for society. Lucius, only in his twenties, was already giving to St. Mungo's and the Ministry. He sighed, tossing the paper aside. He looked at Candace. Even though she was in denial, at least he wasn't the only one with crazy family members.
--
Thanks for the reviews! You guys rock :]
Next chapter, things get exciting......the end of the year Quidditch game, a student goes home after a family meber is attacked, and there's a brawl on the lawn of the Hogwarts! Any guesses on who's involved?