“Now, a bezoar, as many of you know, can prevent any kind of poison. Even in crucial situations, a bezoar may be able to.... Ah, Miss Taylor. Mr. Conner. Mr. White. Care to join us?”
Every head turned to look at the three of them as they entered the room. Lily's pale face flushed. On the other hand, James and Sirius seemed quite used to the attention.
“I'm sorry, Professor,” she apologized. “We were meeting with the headmaster.”
Slughorn nodded accommodatingly. “That's quite alright, Miss Taylor, but I shall have a talk with the headmaster about calling you out at this time. Please take your seats.”
Lily looked around, and saw no seats empty for the three of them, save a table filled with two girls - the first with pimples, zits, and acne splattered all over her face. Lily had heard of splattergroit, and wondered if the girl had succumbed to it. The other girl looked extremely simple - she had plain brown hair and plain blue eyes. Their robes told Lily that they were both in Ravenclaw.
“Come on,” Lily whispered to James.
“I'm not sitting with that,” snapped Sirius. When Lily sent him a cold glare, he added, “What if she's contagious?”
Lily shook her head, although she had been worried herself. “Oh, don't be such a whale.”
Lily felt someone tap her shoulder. She whipped around. Hermione sat there, smiling. She stood up, enabling James and Sirius to sit next to Harry and Ron. After Hermione sat herself down, Lily found herself squeezed between James (Lily could note his sense of delight in being pressed up this close to her) and Hermione.
“Where's Ginny?” Lily asked Hermione quietly as Slughorn began rambling on about poison.
Hermione didn't turn her head. “She's in the year below,” she muttered out of the side of her mouth.
Lily nodded. “Oh, that's right.” She paused. “Hey, Hermione, what - ”
“Miss Taylor,” Slughorn said, interrupting Lily, “please assist me in showing the rest of the class exactly how to remove the juices of a flobberworm.”
Harry, Ron, Hermione, James, Lily, and Sirius stepped out of their classroom.
“What do you have next?” Hermione asked.
Lily looked at her schedule. “Double Charms,” she replied. “And you?”
“Double Herbology.”
“I'll catch you later, then,” Lily said, as Hermione and the others waved.
“Nice job, Erin,” said James as the three of them stepped up into a much brighter hallway. “That was the first time I've ever had a double Potions where I actually understood anything the teacher, er, student teacher, was trying to say.”
Lily stopped walking and looked at James strangely. “Well... thank you, Conner.” When she resumed walking, she didn't see Sirius send James a thumbs up.
“So how was Charms?” asked Harry as he, Ron, and Hermione sat down with James, Lily, and Sirius for lunch.
Lily shrugged. “It was fine.” She looked around and saw that there were only the six of them. “Where's Ginny?”
“She's sitting with her other friends. She eats with them at lunch,” Ron explained.
The rest of the day was pretty boring, James thought, until Defense Against the Dark Arts. The new teacher was Professor Terrance Auben, a squirelly old man, who was also Slughorn's second cousin. James and Sirius decided, had Auben been a teacher during their time, he would be an easy target for pranks.
“Please open your books to page one ninety-seven. Read the chapter, please.”
Those were all of the words he spoke during the entire lesson, save many shrieks and gasps. Many of the other students believed, like Sirius and James that he was an easy target, and so many explosives were set off during his class.
While looking through the room, he found a locked trunk in the back. With many students watching, he pulled out his wand and opened the trunk. A dark vulture stared at Professor Auben. He screamed and threw it back into the trunk, locking it back up
He sat back at his desk afterwards, and opened a drawer, wincing in case additional creatures flew out. Instead, he pulled out a simple grey handkerchief, and patted the wetness off his sweaty forehead. All of a sudden, the handkerchief became a pair of underpants and he looked about to burst.
“C-class dismissed,” he whimpered. Everyone filtered out, but Hermione stayed back. Lily, thinking of her task, stayed back, too.
James looked at her strangely, and she told him to wait outside for her.
“Excuse me, Professor?”
Auben looked up from his papers. He stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over. “Y-yes, how can I help you?”
“I was just wondering if we would have a lesson tomorrow?” Hermione asked calmly.
Auben spluttered. “What do you mean? We had a lesson today?”
Lily stepped in. “Yes, but I didn't learn anything except about Yakvinshe the Grindylow.”
Hermione nodded. “I was wondering if you were going to actually teach us?”
Auben looked appalled.
“I mean, honestly, are we ever really going to need to name the first Grindylow ever to view our world?” Lily asked.
“Well, I....”
“I'd really love to be learning something from one of my favorite subjects,” Hermione said. “I would be happy to help you plan something if you've lost your knack for teaching.”
Auben opened his mouth and then closed it. “Why do you want to help me?”
Honestly, Lily had no idea why they were doing this. She, hiding her confusion, smiled sweetly. “Because we like you!”
Auben said nothing Lily and Hermione exchanged glances. Finally: “What do you suggest I teach?”
Hermione shrugged. “Something N.E.W.T. level. For example, Veritaserum.”
Lily looked at Hermione strangely. Why did she want to learn about Veritaserum?
“You know I can't make that... Potions...”
Hermione shrugged. “What about... Animagi? Anyway, give it some thought, and I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something.”
“Well, thank you, Misses... ?”
Hermione said, “Granger. Hermione Granger. And this - ”
“I'm Erin Taylor,” Lily said, sticking out her hand. “Pleasure.” Auben looked confused but shook her hand anyway.
“Well, thank you,” he said graciously. “Now, you two should be off to your next class.”
Accidentally, Lily and Hermione had forgotten about James and Ron, who were waiting for them at the other entrance. The two boys looked around for them for a few minutes, and couldn't find them.
“Let's try the other entrance,” Ron suggested. Harry and Sirius had gone back to the dormitories to put their things away.
The hallway was crowded with fifth years.
“Coming through,” muttered James, weaving his way through the group of people.
“Sorry, you can't get through there,” one little girl said, with her nose stuck up so high you could see far into her nostrils. “You're cutting the line.”
“What line?” snapped Ron. “Looks like a herd of animals to me!”
The little girl scowled, and then growled. Ron and James exchanged humoured yet worried glances.
James caught sight of Lily and Hermione walking down the corridor. “ERIN!” James yelled over the loud crowd surrounding him.
A girl standing a little bit in front of him whipped around. She looked at James and gasped. “How did you know my name?” She gave a girl next to her a look and they began giggling.
“Not you, my friend - ” James explained.
The real Erin looked at James strangely. “So, you're not going to ask me to Hosmeade?”
“What?”
Erin frowned. “Well, I figured - ”
“Conner! Ron! Over here!”
James had never thought he'd be so relieved to hear Hermione's voice. Stuck Up Nose scowled as they pushed their way out of the crowd.
James panted. “That was awful,” he said.
“Scary's more like it,” Ron admitted. The two looked at each other in silence and then abruptly began laughing.
“What happened?” Lily asked, looking at James. As they walked, James told the two girls what had occurred.
“So basically some fifth years tried to get you to go out with them?” Lily asked, a little confused.
“Basically,” James said.
Hermione looked at James skeptically. She raised an eyebrow. “Odd” was all she said.
Ron picked up the pace so he was standing next to Hermione. He slipped his hand in hers. James looked at Lily, a nervous grin playing on his face. Lily didn't miss it.
Lily sat down at dinner, simply exhausted. She yawned as she reached for the plate of green beans.
“Lily, could you please pass the carrots?” James asked. Lily nodded impatiently and passed him the bowl.
Ginny looked at Lily curiously. “Is everything all right?”
Lily paused, ensuring that she would not give them away with her next comment. “Well, first of all, I'm extremely exhausted. And I have loads of homework already. Then there's the fact that there is no source of vegetarian protein, which just makes this all twenty times worse!”
“Are you a vegetarian?” Hermione asked.
Lily nodded. “Since I was ten.” In the sixties, she thought with a sigh.
Hermione smiled. “Here's some egg and potatoes. It's quite good.” She passed Lily a lemon-coloured bowl.
“Thanks,” Lily said.
The rest of the meal was in silence, except for James and Sirius and Ron speaking about broomsticks.
“Well, I'm off to the dormitories.”
Lily was surprised when Harry, who seemed to be the least fatigued, spoke these words.
Hermione set down her water abruptly. “I need to use the bathroom.” She set down her glass and walked out into the hall.
Lily, James, Sirius, Ron, and Ginny, got up too and walked to the dormitories. Lily and Ginny walked up to the girls' dormitories as the boys went to their own.
Lily and Ginny prepared themselves for bed and slipped under the covers.
Slowly, Lily turned off the light. As soon as it happened, her mind began to wander. Her thoughts usually kept her up, and her mind scrambled. But because of her extreme exhaustion, she was out by the time her head hit the soft, white pillow.
“Harry!”
Hermione ran up to Harry, who was walking down the corridor. He turned around.
“What's wrong?”
Hermione sighed. “You know what's wrong, Harry.” Harry looked down at his shoes.
He sighed. “Yes.”
“It's complicated,” Hermione said.
“Yes.”
“They're not who they say they are.”
“Yes.”
“And you know we shouldn't trust them,” she said anxiously.
“Dumbledore said we can.” His answer was simple.
Hermione shrugged. “I know, but...”
“You also know that Dumbledore said not to make it so obvious we know they aren't who they pretend to be.”
“Oh, Harry, I know, but - ”
“What can we do then?” Harry asked, looking up at Hermione.
Hermione sighed in relief. “That's what I need your help with.”
______________
A/N: So there you go!
Hermione will figure it out in Chapter 9-11... I’m not sure which one.
Oh, and Sirius WILL have a girlfriend. I have a whole subplot planned for... something special.... mwhahahahahahaha.
Many thanks to red haired mom for her lovely reviews!
So, again, the 5 W’s and 1 H - WHY you added this to your favorites, WHERE you want to see this going, WHAT you want to happen, WHO you want to meet, WHEN did you start really enjoying the story and HOW did you find out about MTC?
Updates will be here by the end of September!