As Harry put his head into the Pensieve, he felt the dormitory dissolving around him, as he became engulfed in a swirling motion. In just a moment, though, the world materialised again and he found himself in the Transfiguration corridor.
If he didn’t know for himself that this was twenty-seven years earlier, he would have thought he hadn’t left his time. The hall looked the same, and the gargoyle was still guarding the entrance.
Harry was just trying to figure out the significance of the Transfiguration corridor when two voices carried down the hall, and he turned to see two black-haired boys, one with glasses, coming down the corridor.
He leapt to the side, even though he was invisible to them. In truth, the idea of his father walking through him would have been slightly unnerving.
“Puddlemere United? I don’t think I can be friends with you anymore, Sirius,” joked James, as they hurried down the corridor, carrying their book bags. Evidently, they were late for class, as Harry couldn’t see another student.
“Come on, then. What’s your team? Wait! Don’t tell me… the Appleby Arrows, right?”
When James didn’t say anything, Sirius’ expression turned to a one of glee. “You’re joking? The Appleby Arrows? Merlin, that’s funny!”
“Shut up,” James said, but he was also grinning. “Come on “ we’re already late for class, and it is only the first day.”
The boys hurried down the corridor, and Harry had to run to keep up with them. When they entered the classroom, he squeezed through the open door and saw Professor McGonagall sitting at her desk, same as always.
When she saw the boys, though, she peered over her glasses, and the look she gave them was one that Harry recognised as the one reserved for making people quiver.
“Boys, you’re late.” She said each word separately, and even though she barely opened her mouth, the words could be heard ringing through the classroom.
“Yes, Professor. We know. You see, Sirius and I couldn’t find our way here, but one of the ghosts pointed us this way, and here we are,” said James, flashing a smile that Harry could see had been practiced and was used to get out of trouble.
“Well, that is surprising. Have you had a memory charm placed on you recently?”
“No, Professor. Why do you ask?” Sirius grinned.
“Because it seems strange that you could forget your way here so quickly. Why, only yesterday, Mr Filch told me that he found you here hiding Dungbombs when you were supposed to be in the Great Hall for the welcoming feast.” McGonagall gave them a knowing look, and the boys’ smiles dropped.
“Next time, points will be docked. Take your seats, please,” said the professor as she pointed them to two seats near the back of the class.
The boys made their way to the assigned seats, and McGonagall cleared her throat. “Now, as we are all finally here, I will begin this class. Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.” Her gaze rested on Sirius and James as she said this, and Harry couldn’t help but notice that the speech felt familiar, before he realised that the professor had given him that very same one during his first class eight years ago.
McGonagall went on to explain certain elements of Transfiguration, receiving an impressed applause when she transfigured her desk into a pig.
Throughout this whole lecture, though, James and Sirius sat at the back of the class and doodled rude pictures on each other’s books, careful not to laugh too loudly, and shoved their books away whenever the professor looked at them.
For their lack of attention, Harry would have thought that they would have difficulty when they were given matchsticks to transfigure, but by the end of the class, only the two of them had a silvery needle to show the professor.
“Remarkable. Why, I’ve never had a student transfigure that on their first day,” said McGonagall, clearly impressed. “I’m glad to see you were able to pay attention, at least for part of the class.” She gave them approving nods.
Hermione would love to see that, thought Harry, as he remembered how Hermione had only gotten traces of silver out of her needle on the first day.
He followed the boys to the next class, which happened to be History of Magic.
When Professor Binns began to speak, Sirius nudged James. “No wonder he’s dead. Listening to this lecture everyday would kill anyone.”
James laughed and then said to Sirius, “Maybe we could liven things up a bit, eh?”
Harry watched as the boys rifled through their textbooks, looking for a spell, and five minutes later, James nudged Sirius, pointing to a page in his book.
“Umm, excuse me, Professor Binns?” called James, and the professor looked up, clearly annoyed that anyone would dare interrupt his lecture.
“Yes, what is it, Pickle, or whatever your name is?”
“Well, you know how you were describing how Uric the Oddball was changing his hair colour every day? Well, I was wondering what’s so odd about that. I mean, my father told me that Muggles colour their hair all the time. Don’t you think something like this “” he flicked his wand, ““ would freshen things up?”
A girl below screamed as she grabbed her hair, and despite the fact that it was now vivid pink, the shocked green eyes gave Lily Evans away. Many of the girls were now glaring daggers at James, while the boys laughed loudly, and Sirius was practically doubled over in his seat.
Lily made her way up to James, and in a voice of forced calm, said, “Fix it… please.”
“I don’t think so, Evans. I think pink actually looks quite nice on you. It brings out your eyes, you know what I mean?” He gave her a wink.
The class was now roaring with laughter. Professor Binns was looking at the scene, utterly bewildered, and choosing not to say anything.
“What did you say your name was?” asked Lily, who was now looking positively murderous. If James could have heard him, Harry would have told his father to run, but as it was, James just grinned at her cheekily.
“I didn’t, but seeing as you are so desperate to know me, my name is Potter, but you can call me James.”
“No. Potter will work just fine, and we’ll see what Professor McGonagall has to say about this.”
She turned to leave.
“No, wait, Evans. I was just teasing; your hair looks better in red. Let me fix it for you.”
Lily turned back slowly. “On second thought, I think I’ll keep it pink.” She turned and flounced her hair over her shoulders as she made her way back to her seat.
Binns, who looked as if he hadn’t seen anything like this before, must have decided to pretend nothing had happened and carried on with his lesson, while James’ eyes followed Lily, curiously.
Sirius was still laughing. In fact, Harry could see tears streaming down his face as he turned to James. “That was brilliant. Did you see her face? And Binns looked as if he had been petrified.”
James laughed. “Yeah, it was good. I wonder why she wouldn’t let me change it back, though.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Because she thinks you’re a total moron.”
“Oh.”
They started talking again, but as Harry leaned in to try and hear them, he felt the room begin to move, and he saw that the world was now spinning. He felt dizzy, but just like before, it was gone before he realised it, and he was standing back in the boys’ dormitory.
He stood there for a moment, taking in all he had seen, when Ron’s voice carried from outside and Harry hastily packed up the Pensieve and memories. He had only just shoved them under his bed when Ron entered.
“What was that?” asked Ron, trying to look at what Harry had just kicked under the bed.
“What was what?”
Ron looked at Harry curiously, but then shook his head. “Never mind. You know what? I just walked past Hermione and Ginny, and guess what they were doing?”
When Harry looked at him and didn’t say anything, he continued, “They were writing another letter to Fleur about how to raise her daughter, and when I asked what would happen if it was a boy, they glared at me and didn’t say anything. Aren’t girls so weird?”
Harry just laughed. “Whatever you say, Ron.”
Harry Potter: The Following Year by ginnygirl16
Chapter Notes: Okay, so here it is lads! The moment you've all been waiting for (yes, I know it has been for some time now). I've been busy with other stories, but I can't tell you how good it is to click on this story under my 'manage stories'. With school approaching shortly, I'm hoping I'll have more time to sit down and write some more for you, so I expect the updates to be much quicker from now on. A big thanks to Azhure for beta-ing and Equinox Chick for being my brilliant brit-picker.
A/N: I will be going in and editing some chapters to add more scenes in the next while so keep checking those!
~ginnygirl16~
Chapter Endnotes: Alright, so I"ve taken entirely too long to update this, but if you would all be so kind as to leave a review, I would love you forever!
~ginnyrgirl16~