EDIT: Thank you for letting me know of my little mistake in calling Professor James Professor Potter down there. It has been fixed. I've been busy with A Chance To Live lately, but I am currently writing the next chapter for this... I just figured I should correct my mistake first. And also the mistake in the final word of the chapter I just noticed. Whoopsy. Typos.
James Potter, also known as Prongs, was, like many others, staring at the doors to the Great Hall in bewilderment. Some random guy, seemingly in the middle of a duel, had just ten minutes ago popped up out of nowhere. Even weirder was that as soon as he saw the Headmaster, he assumed he'd died.
Was this the new DADA professor? If so, he would certainly prove to be a lot more interesting than his predecessors. Last year, they'd had a droning Ministry worker who seemed to know more about Dementors than Defence (in other words next to fuck all). The year before that, their teacher had known what she was doing, but every time she saw something that even slightly resembled a potato she would start screaming blood murder whilst hexing said potato look-alike. Hagrid, for instance. She'd been interesting, but people were too weary of her to enjoy her lessons. If only someone had shown her how evil bats can be, maybe she would have hexed Snape into oblivion, and then-
"James?" Sirius asked from next to him, waving a hand in front of his face. "Mate, you're staring into space. Earth to, Prongs!"
Blinking in surprise, James realised that Dumbledore had returned with the weird man in his wake. Both were practically skipping, and the black haired of the two seemed to be singing 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' under his breath. His eyes were distant, looking up as though seeing things no one else could see. Maybe he could.
"Who do you suppose he is, Moony?" he whispered, leaning across the table.
Remus Lupin shrugged. "No idea. He seems mad, though. Hopefully not dangerous mad, but-"
"Buuuuut?" Sirius leaned further across the table, eyes glancing hungrily between the newcomer and his friend.
"I can't smell him from here, Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes. "No, I was just going to say I don't get any hostile vibes off of him."
James chuckled as Sirius blushed slightly. Peter giggled once he saw James' amusement.
Remus' back straightened as Dumbledore's voice filled the hall. "I would like to introduce you to your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor… uh…" Dumbledore looked around sheepishly before leaning towards the long-haired professor. "Er, what's your surname again, Harry?"
'Harry' grinned. "Harry James Po-" he, too, looked around sheepishly. "Er, sorry Albus. Nearly called you Prof there. My surname's James."
Dumbledore grinned sheepishly at Harry James. "Ah yes, thank you," he straightened, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Yes, this his Professor James. He will be teaching you- well, you can all guess what he's teaching you. Anyway, yes, give him a round of applause!"
There was a moment of silence where Professor James grinned broadly at everyone in the Hall before everyone recovered from their shock and started clapping. He took this moment to perform some elaborate bows, saying "Thank you, thank you." This was all cut off, however, when Professor James looked towards the Marauders. For a moment, his grin seemed to broaden, until his eyes caught Peter cautiously clapping along with everyone else. The man's eyes were filled with rage. "TRAITOR!" he bellowed, drawing his wand as silence filled the Great Hall once more. "Andi lied! You're not dead at all! You ba-"
"Harry, calm down," Dumbledore said, resting a hand on the murderous looking teacher. He muttered something to him that none of the Marauders could hear before continuing at a normal volume. "I'm sure he just looks like him. Would you like some dinner?"
Professor James blinked before he looked blankly at the Headmaster. His gaze then moved to the empty space at the Head Table. His gaze moved back to Peter once more before he looked back at Dumbledore and nodded.
As dessert was served, the Marauders turned back to face each other. Grins slowly appeared on Sirius and James' faces and Remus merely appeared to be deep in thought while Peter was looking downright terrified. James was the first to speak up. "Merlin, we've got a Professor James! This is going to be fantastic!"