A/N: I hope you like the way this chapter goes!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Magical Education

The next morning, the Gryffindor first years arrived in the common room promptly at seven thirty. Adam and Minnie were waiting for them, both smiling.

"All here?" Adam asked, counting heads. "Perfect! Are you ready for your first day of classes?"

Minnie grinned as she looked at the nervous faces. "I'd say they're as ready as they're going to get, Adam. Shall we get going?"

"After you," Adam said, holding out his arm and giving Minnie a bow. She laughed, and led the way through the portrait hole.

"We're going to take you the same way we came last night," Minnie said, walking backwards so she could talk to the students. "That way you'll be able to remember it for next time."

The group of first years followed Minnie to the Great Hall. This time, James paid more attention to his surroundings, and waved cheerfully to the paintings who called greetings. Lily was startled the first time she saw this happen, and looked quickly to the closest painting.

"Hello!" its occupant said with a smile. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"

Lily gasped. "Hello," she said shakily.

Olivia laughed. "We have a lot to teach you, Lily."

Lily forced a smile that did nothing to hide her nervousness. Dana smiled and grabbed her arm.

"You'll learn quickly, Lily," she said. "You'll see."

The smile that Lily gave her was far more genuine.

They reached the Great Hall, and Minnie led them to the Gryffindor table. The first years settled themselves at one end of the table.

"Well, here we are," Adam said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Have a good day, everyone!"

"We'll see you around the castle," Minnie added.

The two prefects moved away to join their own group of friends, leaving the first years feeling rather alone. Sirius picked up his fork.

"Eat up," he encouraged the others. "It's going to be a long time until lunch."

The rest of the first years followed his advice, and began on their breakfast. While they were eating, Professor McGonagall made her way down the table.

"Here are your schedules," she said, giving each of them an identical piece of parchment. "I'll see you soon."

As she walked away, James looked down at his schedule. They would indeed see her soon - Transfiguration was their first class of the day. He felt his heart lift. He knew that it had been his mother's favorite class. Her repeated praise for it had made it one of his more anticipated subjects. Smiling, he turned to his friends.

"Transfiguration first, then?" he smiled.

"You're awfully excited about it," Sirius said. "Have you already taken it?" He laughed.

"No," James frowned. "It was my mum's favorite subject, and she said I'll like it."

Remus looked up from studying his schedule. "Defense Against the Dark Arts is second," he commented. He was rather looking forward to that class. Maybe he could learn to deal with his … problem.

"I'm excited for that one," Sirius said, his features lighting up.

A bell rang, reminding the students to go to their classes.

"Come on, let's go," James said eagerly, standing up.

The group walked together around the castle, trying to find the Transfiguration room. They managed to find it just before the bell rang, and slid into seats. James and Sirius sat at the same table, with Remus and Peter behind them. Lily and Dana were seated at the table next to James and Sirius'.

"Good morning," Professor McGonagall said as she walked to the front of the room. Even though she was merely greeting them, there was a sternness about her that told them that she would be a very strict teacher.

"Good morning, Professor," the class responded.

"Welcome to First Year Transfiguration."

James felt a thrill of excitement. He could hardly wait to begin.

"Transfiguration is a difficult, potentially dangerous branch of magic," Professor McGonagall said. "I will not tolerate misbehavior or inattention in my class. If you have a problem with that, I advise you to find another class to take."

James and Sirius exchanged an excited look. The "potentially dangerous" bit of her speech had just shot this class up to "favorite" status. Beside them, Lily looked alarmed. She had not anticipated that the kind woman who had brought her such exciting news could be so stern – or that she would teach them such a dangerous subject.

Professor McGonagall tapped the blackboard with her wand, and they began taking notes on the transfiguration process while listening to her lecture. Sirius gave James a look of utter boredom, and James looked away quickly to keep himself from laughing.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall said at last. "Wands out, please."

A murmur ran through the room as the students pushed their notes aside and took out their wands. Sirius grinned at James.

McGonagall pulled a box of matches from her desk, and gave one to each student. "We are going to turn our matches into needles. Watch closely." She waved her wand at the match, saying the incantation. The class began to murmur again as she held up her needle.

"All right, now I want to see you try."

She began to walk around the classroom, watching as the students attempted the spell.

James picked up his wand, took a deep breath, and tried to turn his match into a needle. And he tried. And tried. Finally, on his fourth attempt, his match changed into a needle. James gasped.

"Look!" he cried, pointing.

"Nice," Sirius said with a grin.

"Potter!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed. She crossed the room quickly, and seized his needle. "Look, everyone, Potter has done it!" She held up his needle for the class to see. "Do you see how its properties have changed?" She placed the needle back on the desk, and changed it back into a match. "Right, let's see you do it again."

James produced another needle on his first attempt. He looked up at Professor McGonagall, beaming. Peter, who was standing to see over James's and Sirius's heads, burst into applause.

"Well done, Potter," Professor McGonagall said, giving him a smile. "Well done indeed."

Still grinning, James turned to Sirius, who now had a determined look on his face.

"I'm going to do it, too," he said.

"Let's see, then," said James.

After two more tries, Sirius managed to turn his match into a needle.

"I've done it!" he exclaimed.

Professor McGonagall swooped down on their table again, and transfigured Sirius' needle back into a match. Like James, he was able to quickly transfigure it again.

"Well done, Black," Professor McGonagall said. "I can see you two will do quite well in my class."

James grinned.

Lily stared across the aisle in shock. James and Sirius – the two boys who had been so rude to Severus on the train – were actually quite intelligent. How could they do this so easily? If two people who were like them could do it … surely, she could, too.

"Professor!"

James snapped his head back to Lily, while Sirius turned to look at Remus. Both of them were jubilantly holding needles, and calling Professor McGonagall. The professor looked rather pleased as she surveyed the two of them. Peter started applauding again.

"Looks like we've got a bit of competition," Sirius said, grinning.

James grinned back. "I think we can handle it."

When the bell rang to signal the end of Transfiguration, the students filed out of the room, all a bit shocked by the amount of homework they had received.

"I don't understand!" James said as they wound their way through the halls, trying to find the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. "Why would she give us that much homework? Four of us got the matches into needles!"

"That doesn't mean we've learned everything," Remus said fairly.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a geek, Remus. There are plenty of better things to do tonight than homework – especially since we've already got the spell down." He looked around with a frown. "Where are we? Are we even close to the right part of the castle?"

"I think it's this way," Olivia said, turning left down another corridor.

Sirius sighed. "There has got to be an easier way to get there."

"Probably," James said. "We just haven't found it yet."

"Well, we'll have to start looking – as soon as we finish that mountain of homework for McGonagall."

"Hey, geniuses," Olivia called. "You missed the last turn!"

James and Sirius looked around and realized that they were, indeed, alone. Grinning unabashedly, they returned to where Olivia and the others were waiting.

"It's right here," Olivia said. "You must have missed it while you were complaining about how long it was taking to find it."

"Ouch," Sirius said, grinning at her. "Are you always this mean?"

"I'm just being honest."

They followed her into the classroom, and sat down next to Remus.

"She's cool," Sirius said.

James laughed. "Because she was mean to us?"

"Yes."

Remus rolled his eyes. "A crush already?"

"Nope," Sirius said. "I just think she's cool. We should be friends with the girls, too, right? I mean, they're Gryffindors, too."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," James said. "We're already all friends with each other. We should have some House solidarity with the girls, too."

"House solidarity?" Sirius repeated, laughing. "Where did you come up with that one?"

Remus was sure that James answered Sirius' question, but he had no idea what he said. He was too busy replaying their short conversation about friendship. The idea of having friends at all, let alone so quickly and easily, made him feel like he would burst with happiness. He could hardly wait to get back to the dormitory to write to his parents. He could hardly wait for them to know that he had friends.

"Good morning."

All conversations ceased as Professor Bruno walked to the front of the classroom. He looked every bit as stern as Professor McGonagall as he fixed them all with an intense stare.

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts," he said. "I am Professor Bruno, and it is my job to teach you how to defense yourselves against the evil forces within our world."

Sirius sat up straighter. Andromeda had told him that this would be his most important class, and he was eager to learn all that he could.

"We will begin by studying the origins of the Dark Arts," he said. "Then, we will look at various Dark uprisings throughout history."

James wanted to yawn. This was beginning to sound dreadfully boring.

Professor Bruno's stern glare dropped into a cheerful grin. "For today, however, we will begin by getting to know one another," he said. "If you could introduce yourselves, one by one, I can have a better idea of who you all are."

Exchanging looks that clearly said they thought that he was insane, they each took a turn to stand and give a brief self-introduction. By the time they had finished introducing themselves and answering all Professor Bruno's questions about their previous education, it was nearly time for class to end. He only had time to assign their homework before the bell rang.

"I think he timed that out!" Sirius exclaimed as they made their way down the hall. "I can't believe we have homework! He didn't even teach us anything!"

"It's all reading, too," Peter moaned. "That is going to be so boring!"

Remus sighed. He didn't mind the homework, and he didn't mind that it was reading, but he did mind that, as Sirius had said, they hadn't learned anything in the class. He had been so excited about this class. He had thought that it would be a place where he could learn to deal with his transformations. As they walked down the hall, he felt as though he was walking away from all his crashing hopes.

"Where are we going next?" Kathleen asked, already burying her nose in her schedule.

"History of Magic," Remus said, trying to focus on his new friends and forget about the disappointment that was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"I think that's where we just were," James said. "Are we going to actually learn how to defend ourselves in our Defense class?"

"I like history," Lily said. "I don't mind."

James looked at her, and saw the defiant look in her eyes as she looked back at him. "You like it because you really like it, or because I said I don't?" he asked.

Lily gave a huff, and walked across to stand by Dana. James shook his head.

"She's a little odd, isn't she?" he asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I think she's mad because we don't like her friend."

"What friend? I like Dana okay."

"No, Snivellus. Remember him from the train?"

"Oh, yeah! The Slytherin." James laughed. "Well, if she's hanging out with Slytherins, she's definitely odd."

"What happened to making friends with the girls?" Remus asked.

James grinned. "Some make take longer than others."

After the most exhausting morning any of them could remember, the students were rewarded with lunch. Lily sat down between Dana and Kathleen, but could barely keep her mind on their conversation. Her attention was constantly diverted to the Slytherin table, where she was hoping to find Severus. He didn't appear until she had already finished eating. Disappointed, she knew she wouldn't have time to talk to him and still make it to her next class. Sighing, she got up to leave with her classmates.

Lily didn't have a chance to talk to Severus until afternoon break. She was crossing the courtyard with Olivia when she heard him calling her name. She waved to him and slowed so that he could catch up with them.

"Who's that?" Olivia asked.

"Severus Snape," Lily said. "He lives near me. He's the one who told me that I can do magic."

"Really?" Olivia asked with interest. "Can I meet him?"

"Sure," Lily said.

Severus joined them, grinning at Lily. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," she replied. "This is Olivia. She's in my dormitory."

"Hi," Olivia said. "Nice to meet you."

"You, too," he said. "How's your day so far?"

"It's really different," Lily said. "My old school wasn't like this."

"No, probably not," he said. "I don't think Muggles learn magic."

Lily shook her head. "How's your day?"

"Good. I just had Potions."

"We don't have that until tomorrow," Lily said. "How was it?"

"Good," he said again. "Slughorn's tough, though. It's going to take a lot of work."

"I think that's how all of them are," Lily said. "We have so much homework!"

"What's your favorite class?"

"So far, I like Charms best," Lily said. "We just came from there. What about you?"

"Potions," he said. He glanced at Olivia almost as though reluctant to remember that she was there. "What did you like, Olivia?"

"I suppose Transfiguration," she said. "I was all excited for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be."

"I don't have that until tomorrow."

"Did you have History of Magic yet?"

"Yes."

"Then you've sort of already had it."

Severus looked bewildered. Olivia laughed.

"Exactly."

The bell rang to signal the end of their break. Lily smiled at her friend.

"I'll see you around, I guess. Enjoy the rest of your day!"

"You, too," he said.

Severus went the opposite way from the girls. They had only gone a few steps when Olivia grabbed Lily's arm.

"He likes you!"

"I already told you, he's my friend."

"No, Lily, I mean he likes you."

Lily looked at her as though she had lost her mind. "Severus? Likes me? No way, Olivia. We're just friends!"

"If you say so," Olivia said. "But, I really think he likes you."

Lily turned back to where Severus had been standing to talk to them, then looked at Olivia again. Olivia raised her eyebrows.

"No," Lily said firmly. "We're just friends. That's all."