Remus Lupin sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. Professor Binns, still solid, droned on about bloody goblin wars and strange wizards believing themselves to be dead, though still making the lesson seem about as interesting as a sack of flour. In the seat ahead of him, James Potter had given up listening and was tossing a crumpled page of his Divination homework back and forth with Sirius Black. Peter Pettigrew was feverishly taking notes, pausing every so often to look crestfallen upon Remus’ neat, slanting handwriting compared to his own jumbled, illegible mess.
Sirius caught the small wad of parchment, but then as Professor Binns glanced up from his book, smoothed it upon his desk. He smirked at James as he pointed to a small decorated “L. E.” in the corner. James snatched it back, turning a flattering shade of pink. He scribbled out the initials and began instead on a cartoon of a greasy-haired boy with a large dripping nose. Sirius laughed quietly and added above the drawing, “Snivellus at his best.” James turned in his seat and showed the paper to Remus, who merely rolled his eyes at his friends’ childishness and forced a small smile. He was not excited at the prospect of the night to come.
“Don’t you have to turn that in, Prongs?” he whispered.
James’ eyes widened. He turned back forward and began to siphon the ink off with his wand, smoothing the wrinkles with his other hand. Satisfied that Professor Zorak would be happy with the result, he stuffed it into his bag. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, for the springtime’s unusual heat was turning the classroom into a furnace.
The bell rang shrilly outside the classroom door, jerking the class out of their daze. Professor Binns blinked as the group of pupils surged past him toward the door. He mumbled, “Class dismissed,” but to an already empty room.
~*~
A gaggle of girls passed them in the corridor, stealing covert glances Sirius’ way. Sirius looked supremely unaware of their attention, but Peter returned their glance and waved his pudgy hand, twinkling his stubby fingers. A tall, slender girl with a long blonde braid reaching to her waist clutched her books to her chest and looked revolted. James snorted and punched Peter in the arm. “Bad luck, Wormy.”
Peter, dejected, hid behind James for the remainder of the walk to Charms with the Slytherins, avoiding glimpses of girls by becoming suddenly interested in portraits of witches and wizards riding hippogriffs through a summer sky.
Arriving at Charms, Sirius, Peter and Remus took a seat by the window. James made to take the next one, but suddenly saw Lily Evans at a desk near the front of the room. James hesitated a moment, but finally strode swiftly to her desk and took the chair next to her. Someone got on her other side, and James looked up to see none other than Severus Snape, the greasy-haired fifth year who was often the object of his and Sirius’ ridicule. James’ lip curled, but Snape made no notice of him except perhaps a slightly harder grip upon his quill than necessary. Tiny Professor Flitwick squeaked from the front of the room, “Good day, class! Today, we shall be learning the Cushioning Charm! As you may know, this charm is used to produce an invisible pillowlike surface. Many of you here love the game Quidditch, but your enjoyment would be greatly diminished if not for the Cushioning Charm upon your broomsticks! The incantation for this spell is”repeat after me”Madidus!”
The class chanted after him. “Good! Now, the movement of the wand should be a gently floating curve,” Professor Flitwick said, demonstrating a wavy S through the air. “The movement is very important, as doing it incorrectly can cause the surface to become very bouncy. Just in case, I will perform the same incantation upon the ceiling.” He waved his wand and said clearly, “Madidus. Practice upon your chairs, please!”
James got up uncertainly and looked about furtively to see if everyone else was staring at his or her own chair. He heard a shriek and turned to see Peter toppling over onto Remus, who was roaring with laughter. The chair had shot him into a standing position, overbalancing him. James turned back to his own seat and uncertainly waved his wand. “Madus!”
Not wanting a scene like Peter’s or the number of other students now floating around the room, James picked up his quill and dropped it onto the seat. It erupted with force, blasting the quill all the way to the ceiling. As it dropped, it brushed Lily’s shoulder. Lily glanced over her shoulder questioningly at James. “What?”
A different voice than James’ answered, soft and silky. “I’m sure, Lily, that he is showing off his obvious talent for this lesson. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.” Snape looked around Lily at James with pure detestation written upon his face. “Why are you sitting here?”
Instead of answering, James addressed Lily. “Why do you hang around with Snotball Snivellus anyway? The guy’s up to his ears in Dark Magic, and his ‘friends’ are no different.”
Lily’s eyes grew hard and dangerous. “And you think you’re better? Let me tell you something, James Potter. You think you’re cool and that no girl in this school lives until she lives for you. Well, I think you’re nothing more than a bigheaded, glorified prankster who has nothing better to do than lounge around and play with a stolen Snitch. And let me tell you something else,” and here she pointed an accusing finger into his face. “I wouldn’t go out with you if you were the last boy left in the school! Hmph! I’d rather go with Professor Binns!”
She flounced into her seat, which, of course, James thought sourly, did not propel her upwards. A silence fell, penetrated only by a single person clapping. James spun to see Sirius with a gleeful expression on his face, bringing his hands together energetically. Professor Flitwick said cheerfully, “Well, boys and girls, back to work!”
~*~
James was assigned homework at the end of class. Scowling, he joined his friends, who were engaged in a spirited debate.
Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend’s stubbornness. “Now, Moony, y’know that the Harpies would beat the snot out of the Falcons.”
“Give me a break! The only team that hires witches, against the team that breaks heads? Falcons would destroy them and wipe them across the field.”
Peter was between them, enjoying the company, humming “Beat Back Those Bludgers, Boys, and Chuck That Quaffle Here”. They walked through a door pretending to be a wall and found themselves on the seventh floor. The Fat Lady looked at their unkempt appearances with disdain and asked, “Password?”
“Beedle the Bard,” the four recited, and the portrait swung open to admit them.
They sat in armchairs by the fire. James stared blankly into the flickering flames, but soon Remus nudged him.
“You’ve got a Potions essay from Sluggy to finish, and those Cushioning Charms to practice.” James glared at him. Remus held up his hands. “Hey, just a suggestion. I don’t want you getting into trouble. You remember that hex on Bertram Aubrey? I somehow doubt that you want to do double detention again, especially scrubbing out bedpans.” James shuddered, but the threat of bedpans was not enough to get him up and working.
“Ha! Tonight is full moon!” Sirius exulted, but quietly, glancing at the people nearest them, who paid him no attention. He nudged James. “C’mon, that’s got to cheer you up.” James got up, mumbled something about Quidditch practice, and clambered through the portrait hole.
“Hmph. It doesn’t cheer him up either,” Remus said darkly. He reached for his bag, pulled out a thick Transfiguration textbook, and began to study, his lips moving slightly.
~*~
James pulled on a jacket stormily. What right did that gorgeous girl have to talk to him that way? He looked at his watch and groaned. He was already late, and still on the seventh floor. King was going to kill him. Sighing, he walked through a bookcase into a secret passageway that came out on the third floor. He dashed down a flight of stairs, turned a corner and ran right into Snape, coming up from Advanced Potions. Sneering, Snape inclined his head and motioned for James to go by him. James stood and said, “Where are you going? The Slytherin common room is in the dungeons.”
“What I do is no concern of yours, Potter,” Snape said smoothly, and swept by James and up the stairs.
James had no time to bother with what Snape was up to. Cursing, he sprinted the rest of the way to the ground floor and out the doors.
King grumpily looked up as James entered the locker room. The Quidditch captain tossed him his broom and said, “Where have you been? Honestly, Potter, for once I thought you might show up on time. You just don’t care!”
“Maybe not, but you just can’t get rid of me, eh?” James flashed a grin. “Aw, come on, admit it.”
“Fine. You’re wonderful. Now get your butt out there.”
James mounted his broom and kicked off, feeling the cool air of the spring evening coursing past his face. He closed his eyes in ecstasy. Suddenly, he felt something else whoosh past his face, certainly not as welcome as the spring breeze. He opened his eyes to see a Bludger aimed right for him, forcing him to roll over in midair.
“Oi! Potter! Pay attention!” King shouted. “Now practice that Porskoff Ploy with Christina, and remember to compensate for the hard defense of Ravenclaw. We play them next week!”
~*~
The common room emptied as the night went on. Finally, only Remus, Sirius, and Peter were left. Peter and Sirius were involved in a game of Exploding Snap. Peter had a look of great concentration as he laid down a card, which began to shake. Sirius shoved back his chair just in time as the deck exploded, showering Peter with ashes and blackening his face. “Oh, lovely, Wormtail,” Sirius chuckled. “Maybe Hanna Rogers will find that attractive, since this--”--he waggled his fingers”“”obviously isn’t working.” Peter rubbed his nose, stared at the black powder, and got up to go to the boys’ washroom.
“Speaking of girls,” Remus said, looking up from his book, “James had a terrific blow to his ego today, eh? I’m sure he expected her to get on her knees and thank her lucky stars above that he was deigning to come off his high horse and talk to her.”
Sirius thought a moment, and a wicked grin spread across his face. “Something tells me that James may get a tad higher,” he said, reaching inside his robes and pulling out a vial and tossed it to Remus. The pearly-white liquid inside swirled of its own accord.
Remus was unsurprised. “You must have swiped it from Sluggy’s room,” he said, examining the potion inside. “What is it, love potion?”
“Yep,” Sirius said unconcernedly. “Did it while he was exclaiming over Evans’ perfectly simmering antidote or whatever.”
“Out of curiosity, why in the world would you steal”borrow”this? You having trouble with your fourteen relationships or something?” Remus asked, grinning, narrowly dodging the pillow thrown at his head.
“Hey, you never know when something like this may come in handy,” Sirius declared, with another pillow poised to throw. Peter came trudging down the stairs, face newly scrubbed pink and Sirius chose to wing the pillow in his direction instead. “Maybe Peter could use it on his crush. Oh wait; it has to be human, doesn’t it?”
Peter grinned good-naturedly and said, “Oh, don’t worry, Padfoot, you can save it for your doggy friends.”
A windswept James scrambled through the portrait hole, along with the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He waited until they were out of earshot before saying, “Hey, Moony, isn’t it time to go? It’s getting late.”
Remus sighed and packed his books into his bag. “Yeah, I’ll go down with Professor McGonagall. Come down at midnight; the moon’ll be out by then.”