Okay, I hope people are very annoyed that I haven't updated recently... Bad PIAM, bad me, I know. But I've rewarded you with an extra long chapter! Whoop! So I had a review that said they wanted some more things about the war around us, so the concept it dedicated to you, loving reviewer.

See what reviewing gets you! Control over the story! So if you have an idea, review/PM me and I'll see what I can do!

- PIAM 3 xx

Chapter Three - First Lesson Back

In the morning, the girls all rolled out of bed, grumbling and moaning about lessons, homework, and boys. Lily was still complaining about James, but couldn't help giving Marlene a sly glance when she mentioned Sirius. It didn't look like Marlene even registered his name, let alone blush showing hidden crushes or such like. But Lily wasn't deterred.

After a quick breakfast the girls headed off to their first lesson, Defense Against the Dark Arts. It had almost become a joke trying to guess what kind of teacher they would have this year. Marlene was hoping they would have an Auror, so she could keep in contact with her parents, Hestia wanted a bloke she could flirt with, and Lily wanted someone smart, but nice. It was interesting how different the girls were, when it came down to it.

They entered the DADA classroom tentatively - they had absolutely no idea what kind of teacher they would get, despite the Marauders holding bets about the skill and looks of the professor. Lily wanted to sit near the front, like usual, but Marlene and Hestia convinced her to sit at the back.

"One, it's silly to sit at the front - you look like a nerd!" she said as Lily frowned however Marlene didn't stop, "Two, sitting at the front means enchanted paper aeroplanes from James pecking your head all lesson anyway."

Lily had to agree with that.

"And three, Black hates it when he can't sit in his 'special spot' at the back..." Marlene concluded.

Lily smirked to herself - why did Marlene keep bringing Black up if she claimed she didn't like him? It could be revenge for last year; but somehow the redhead didn't think so.

Then the Marauders came in. Swaggering like they owned the place, they flung the door open and sauntered in. Automatically walking towards the back, Black glanced behind him and didn't notice that the girls were already there.

"Padfoot! We have invaders!" James called before Sirius managed to sit on Mary's lap.

Sirius looked around then glared at Marlene and the girls, "Excuse me? That's our seat!"

But Marlene just frowned, and crossed her arms. She wasn't going to budge any time soon: she wanted to sit here, so sit here she would. She opened her mouth to reply to Sirius but they were saved by the new professor entering the room at that exact moment, with a slight smile on her face like she knew what had happened. Lily looked at her expectantly - this was different, they hadn't had a female DADA teacher before. Sirius just laughed at Lily's expression, and took the empty seat in front of Marlene, with James next to him and Remus and Peter opposite them across the aisle.

"Good morning sixth years, I am your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Sybero. This year we will be focussing on defensive spells as well as a few offensive hexes. The reason for this is something I'm sure most of you know about or have heard of. There is a danger lurking, a danger that goes by the name of Voldemort, and it is he above all else that should fear."

Sirius leaned over to James while Sybero was talking and whispered in his ear, "I'm not scared of any Death Eater. I can name them all anyway, seeing as they're on my family tree every time I go home..."

James laughed and leaned over to reply but stopped as Lily glared at him from behind, her emerald eyes flashing dangerously. He actually wanted to date Lily this year, and was going to take Marlene's advice about 'growing up and stopping being an almighty prick'. Her words.

Sybero continued, ignoring the boy's interruption, "So this lesson will be the start of a six week course of practical, useful DADA, things you will actually need to know in this war: today, we will be duelling, a skill that could save your life. After we've gone through the six week course, you will be revisiting anything you are struggling with, independently improving, got it?"

There was a collective gasp from around the classroom from the Hufflepuffs, and the Gryffindors just rolled their eyes at the panicked students, while the Marauders turned to each other and grinned with glee. Lily, being a Prefect, had some concerns. Lily always had concerns, Marlene thought to herself, none of them ever reasonable.

"What is someone hurts them self? What if someone uses a bad spell?" At that she glanced at James and Sirius who were currently prodding each other with enchanted sticks, Sirius yelling as one hit his eye. "What if some one DIES?!"

Marlene rolled her eyes and laughed, patting Lily's head, "Naahh, it'll be fine, Lils, just wait and see!"

Lily muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'Potter will muck it up' before sighing.

Professor Sybero gave instructions to move all the tables and chairs to the back of the classroom, and the students scraped their chairs back as they got on with the task. Remus, seeing the boys distracted; glanced sideways at Lily and motioned for her to join him by the door. She went over, curiosity winning over wanting to get on with the job.

"What do you want, Remus?"

"Following on from last night, I have a plan... About Marlene and Sirius..." he whispered, "I think we can get them to work together this lesson..."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "You do? How? They'd never choose to go together."

"Marlene would normally choose you and Sirius would normally go with with me in DADA, that's the way it's always been. If we, you and I, partner up, they'll be forced to go together instead!"

Lily didn't really think that that would work - Marlene would just partner Emmeline or Mary, and Sirius would choose Potter or Pettigrew - but it was worth a try, so she nodded in agreement. "What if you told the others to go together, so it leaves no one else," Lily suggested. Remus grinned mischievously, reminding Lily that he was a Marauder as well, and went back to moving tables.

Transfiguring the floor into a padded mat, Professor Sybero called out, "Right, gather round a minute, please!"

Everyone shuffled over, a little unsteady on the foamy floor, and stood in a semi circle facing the new teacher. The girls stood to one side, with James trying to stand next to Lily, and failing as she pushed him over. Marlene snorted and looked away as James clambered up. She loved it when her friend got angry at James, because it gave her more stories to tell his parents when she visited. The best one was Lily freezing him, and actually attempting to feed him to the Giant Squid one day.

"So, please partner up - in a minute Potter - and your parter and yourself will find an area to work in. Please, only mild spells, none that draw blood, and definitely no Dark Magic. Defensive spells are allowed, and once you have been disarmed - yes Black, only disarming allowed - you will sit out for the lesson. Your homework will be to practise the spells that you opponent uses successfully against you."

"But Professor, that means some people won't get homework... If they win, no spells have successfully been used against them..." Lily said aghast, that wasn't fair!

"Correct, Miss Evans. If you are smart enough not to get hit, you are smart enough not to need the homework," Sybero said with a glance at Lily, then returned to addressing the whole class.

"Partners then, if you would."

Remus gave Lily a sly glance and she smiled back. She had, while they were finishing moving the tables, informed the others of their plan, and Emmy and Mary couldn't stop giggling. They looked at each other and said, "Partners!" before breaking down into giggles again. Marlene looked confused and shook her head, "Some one's slipped something into your pumpkin juice," she joked then turned to Lily.

"Partners like usual?"

Then the plan went into action, "I'm sorry, Marls, I said I'd go with Remus. We thought, seeing as we do Prefect rounds together, that it might be a good idea if we got to know each other's duelling styles, sorry..." Lily said, trying to sound apologetic.

She nodded despondently, then turned to James, as a last resort, "Jamessss," she began, fluttering her long eyelashes, "Will you go with me?"

James smirked, then turned it quickly into a sad smile, "I'm already going with Wormy, Marls, sorry."

Marlene glared at James.

"There's always Sirius, he's stuck without anyone too, partner him," Remus put in.

Marlene glared at Sirius but knew she kind of had to listen to Remus, "Fine!"

Sirius hid a smile, and acted as if this was the worst outcome possible. They arranged themselves around the room and drew their wands ready for Sybero to tell them to begin.

Lily and Remus were looking forward to this; they were both at a similar level in DADA, and the duel would be really interesting. Lily was determined to show the new Professor that although she was a Muggle born, she could still be a good witch, Remus wanted to prove to himself that the wolf wouldn't stop him from helping in the war, and both of them just wanted to win. Lily's fiery temper and her competitiveness meant the girls knew to just let her win. Marlene was the only one who didn't let Lily win for the sake of peace. Her parents, being Aurors, had made sure her and her brothers could defend themselves from an early age - even her little brother Josh could use Protego, and he wasn't meant to know that yet, he was just starting his fifth year. So when Sirius smirked at her, she almost growled at him.

Sybero looked around, and opened her mouth to start the duels, "Remember, no dangerous spells please. You may begin!"

Sirius turned to Marlene and smirked. Even if he went down on one knee and declared true love to her like James had tried with Lily he still wouldn't let her win. Fancying the girl you were fighting, for Sirius didn't equate to letting her humiliate him. Even though he was the polar opposite of the rest of his family, Sirius was still extremely proud; he was not about to be beaten by Marlene McKinnon. She rolled her eyes and raised her wand. Over the summer, her and her brother had been practising non-verbal spells, which had the advantage in a duel. The only problem was, everyone knew that the Marauders were intelligent, and probably could do non-verbal magic too. James certainly could, Marlene reflected. So she couldn't slack off in this: she wanted to win, to take Black down a peg or two, because Merlin knows he was too arrogant for his own good. Sirius let Marlene start with a nod of his head, and she grinned. Exactly what she wanted. She flicked her wand and thought the spell 'Rictumsempra' and a flash of gold light came from her wand. For a split second, Sirius was stumped, then remembered that he was a wizard. Casting a quick protego, he reflected the spell back to Marlene and she had to doge out of the way. Sirius now knew she could use non-verbal magic, so responded in kind.

'Expelliarmus!' he tried and it whooshed past Marlene's ear and she could see the green light flash past.

Meanwhile, Lily and Remus were duelling ferociously, already out of breath at the speed of the battle. Remus was suffering from a near direct hit of the Jelly Legs Jinx while Lily's hair was now black and her skin was very tanned, due to a miscast Colour Change Hex. But neither was about to give up, and their wands flew and danced with the endless torrent of offensive and defensive spells being cast.

However, seeing Lily so different to her usual fiery self had distracted him immensely, allowing Peter to grin and disarm him quickly. Peter rarely beat the other boys in anything, and his pride blocked out the fact that if James had been focusing he would never have won. James turned to Peter and pouted, "Unfair! I was gazing at my true love and you attacked me!"

Peter smirked and replied, "I technically didn't attack you, I just disarmed you."

He walked off happily to sit on a table to watch the others battle. James followed him good naturedly. He never complained if someone beat him; it was Sirius who was a sore loser. His eyes drifted back to Lily who looked so very different with raven black hair. It didn't suit her, he thought, her eyes look cruel now, like a cat's eyes not the emeralds they normally were. Then he shook his head and turned his gaze to where Marlene and Sirius were duelling, also furiously attacking, neither took being beaten very well, and James allowed himself to imagine what might happen if they stopped hating each other and started working together. And on the Quidditch pitch, he thought with glee, if they combined and worked as a team rather than sneering and making comments about each other the team would improve instantly. But Sirius always would make sleazy suggestions to Marlene, and Marlene always would retort with some nasty comment about Sirius' latest girl. That was the way it worked.

But seeing the pair duel was scary: they had always tolerated each other for James' sake, but now there was nothing to stop them literally attacking eachother. And James knew Sirius - he would'nt stop at something forbidden to win, he could and probably would hurt someone to get what he wanted. However as James looked over Sirius, his hair tousled, a longer version of James' own wind tossed hairstyle, his face stretched into an arrogant smirk as he almost hit Marlene with a hex, something caught his attention. While Marlene's eyes were hard and cold, Sirius was regarding the tall blonde with happiness, even enjoyment, as if there was nothing better than being right there with her. James was confused; Sirius never wanted to be around Marlene as a person, he just liked being around fit girls. Marlene was tiring fast now, and her spells were slower and less accurate. Lily and Remus were still duelling and she swore that they were inventing spells now. Sybero was certainly impressed with them. But no matter how tired she was she was not going to lose to Black of all people. She growled at him and raised her wand to send a stunning spell right at him but she stumbled on the padded floor and fell spread-eagled on the floor and her wand flew away as Sirius cried "Expelliarmus," taking advantage of her fall. Marlene hissed at him and scrambled to her feet only to be hit by reducto seconds later.

"Sirius Black you PRICK!" Marlene growled and he sauntered over to her and picked up her discarded wand, drumming with them on her head.

"What was that, McKinnon? I didn't quite catch that..."

"I said, fuck off!"

He sucked in a quick breath, "Now that's not very nice, McKinnon dearie, a sore loser are we?"

She glared up at him and stuck her tongue out. Sirius chuckled and sat down next to her, half crossing his legs and stretching out. Marlene glared at him again, then smirked. She bet he didn't know she could fist fight too... And the professor had only said no dangerous magic, she reasoned.

"Stand up," she commanded.

Sirius turned his head and blinked at her, "Why?"

"Just do it, Black, before I bite your arrogant, slaggy head off," she threatened.

He looked bemused and stood up, his hands at his sides, "Now what? Seems like a perfect time to kiss if you ask me..."

Marlene snorted and kneed him between the legs, making him crumple down again in pain. "Ow McKinnon, what the HELL?"

"That's what you get for beating me," she said smugly, enjoying seeing the normally flawless Sirius Black wheezing on the floor in pain. Then he recovered and grabbed her ankles with a dog like growl, dragging her down with him.

Sybero was oblivious to this, praising and pointing things out to Remus and Lily who were STILL duelling, and was shouting improvements all the time. However, James and Peter were watching what was happening with Marlene and Sirius with trepidation.

"I'm scared he'll turn into Padfoot and give it all away," Peter said paling as they continued trying to hit each other.

James laughed - Marlene already suspected what was going on and had quizzed him over the holidays, "Sirius wouldn't. The repercussions are not worth it," he said to reassure his friend.

"Do you think he'll hurt Marlene?" Peter whimpered as she hit him round the head and laughed as he muttered 'ouch'.

James shook his head, "Nah, he's got this thing about not hitting girls, the stupid fool."

Peter breathed a sigh of relief, "Good!"

Eventually, Sirius gave up. Marlene was incredible at hand to hand combat, and Sirius despite being ridiculously stupid and reckless couldn't bring himself to hit her back, so he let Marlene punch his arm. To be fair what he had done to win was low, Remus would've just helped her up but Sirius disarmed her instead. But Marlene was done now, and just hung there above him, her hair dangling into his face, "Okay I'm done now, Black, you can stop crying," she joked licking her lip. That was when Sirius realised just how close she was to him, and just how this must look to anyone else. He smirked.

Lily and Remus had finished, calling a draw, before looking over at Marlene and Sirius, looking back at each other and nodding triumphantly. Lily turned her hair and skin back to normal but not before calling over with a grin, "OI LOVEBIRDS! Lesson's over!"

Marlene scrambled up and blushed, grabbing bag from the back of the classroom and racing out of the classroom, "WE ARE NOT LOVEBIRDS!"