MWPP - The First Year

CHAPTER 4

Sirius glared across the Great Hall, and made a face in the direction of the Slytherin table. James followed his gaze, and then rolled his eyes. Bellatrix Black was making an even worse face back at Sirius. As he watched, she caught his eye, smiled sweetly (and poisonously), gave him a sarcastic little wave, and turned back to her bowl of cereal. James snorted and turned to Sirius.

"Your Slytherin cousins give me the creeps."

Sirius scowled. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm no relation of theirs."

"Hmm," James said thoughtfully. "There's some family resemblance, at least with Bellatrix..."

"Shut up!"

"Ain't kidding, mate, you look just like her." James grinned.

"Sod off." Sirius turned away.

"That isn't a bad thing, she's pretty, even if she is a Slytherin..."

Sirius turned furiously to James. "Are you saying I look pretty?!"

James knew he was pushing it. Sirius was not a morning person. He smirked, and was just thinking of something witty, and yet not too infuriating, to say, when something large splashed into his bowl of cornflakes, covering him with milk. Sirius grinned, watching him splutter and cough.

"Call that the consequence of mocking the great Sirius, last son of the noble and most ancient house of Black..."

"Noble my foot...you're a bloody bunch of Slytherins..." James muttered, fishing the parcel out of his bowl.

"Excuse me? Repeat that again, James, I must not have heard you correctly...GAH!" An even larger parcel had splashed into Sirius' bowl. He glared at James, his hair dripping milk "What is this, a bloody owlstorm of parcels for James Potter?" he held out the parcel to James.

"Um, James? I think this is for you..." Remus tapped him on the shoulder, and passed him a large, flat parcel, slightly smeared with egg yolk. There were some egg-covered third years a little further down the table, not looking very pleased. James suppressed a grin in their direction, and took the parcel. By this time there were five owls in front of his plate, each jostling the other, trying to get their envelopes to them first.

"What're you getting so much mail for, James?" Peter squeaked from across the table, looking at him curiously. James grinned.

"Nothing very important," he said nonchalantly. "It's just my birthday today."
"Your birthday? And you didn't tell us, you old chump!" Remus whacked him on the back.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMES!!" Sirius roared, making half the table stare. James grinned, gathered his parcels and letters together and got up. "I'm going upstairs to open this load...I think Grandma sent me that Itching Powder I asked her for last month..." he walked off. He was followed, ten minutes later, by Sirius, Remus and Peter, carrying the few parcels that had arrived after he left.

They found him sitting on his bed, surrounded by a mess of wrapping paper and crumpled letters, his face slightly red as he ripped the string off a large, red parcel.

"This is the third bloody wrapper this thing has got on...it has a different coloured layer of paper each time..."

Sirius laughed, and Remus grinned, as James ripped off the red paper, only to find a canary-yellow layer under it.

"Bugger this." James stood up, dropping the parcel onto his bed. "We're going to be late for Transfiguration."

He spent the rest of the day having whispered discussions with Sirius and Remus about the presents he had received. Sure enough, his grandmother had sent him a flat, bottle-green box containing Itching Powder, which he had concealed in his pocket. Everyone who sat in front of James Potter that day found themselves unaccountably scratching, rubbing, twisting and turning, until they were inevitably sent out of the class, while Sirius and James doubled up with silent mirth. Remus rolled his eyes at them as Professor Plutonium impatiently banished a twisting, squirming, red-faced Malfoy to the hospital wing, where an irritated and bewildered Madam Pomfrey could find nothing wrong with him.

"That's your ninth victim, don't push your luck," he whispered to James, as he and Peter dropped shredded spinach and lacewings into their cauldron. James nodded, but when he thought nobody was looking, he carefully rolled up a spoonful of Itching Powder in a cabbage leaf and, taking careful aim, tossed it neatly into Snape's cauldron.

Snape's mixture exploded. His potion splashed all over everyone within ten feet of him, making vivid turquoise patches wherever it landed. James and Sirius cracked up, covered with blue spots...Remus didn't look at all amused, as he tried to remove great turquoise stains from his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Professor Plutonium stalked down the aisle, not looking in the least bit amused either.

"Another unfortunately accident, I see, Mr. Snape?" His eyes wandered to James and Sirius, two cauldrons away, who gave him their most wide-eyed, innocent look. "Mr. Potter? What's that you are holding in your pocket?"

"Nothing, Professor..."

"Mr. Potter!!"

James reluctantly brought forth his box of Itching Powder. The Professor examined it closely. "So..." he muttered. "This explains the unaccountable epidemic of scratching I heard about today..." several students turned and glared at James. "I'm confiscating this, Potter. Be grateful you will not get a detention...this is highly potent, you might have really injured Mr. Snape. However, I can never bear to punish someone severely on their birthday..." he gave James the smallest of smiles. "But you will have to apologise to Mr. Snape."

James' mouth opened, and then closed again. He stared at the Professor with horror. He would have infinitely preferred a detention to this...apologising...to Snape!! He closed his eyes for a second, and then gave the Professor his most innocent look. He caught sight of Snape, smirking in the background.

"Please, Professor, couldn't I just...?"

"No, Potter. Apologise. No one is leaving this class until you apologise to Snape." Far away, they could hear the bell, signalling tea.

"Just do it, mate," Sirius muttered. "Go on..."

James sighed, and then scowled at Snape, who was still smirking in a very self-satisfied manner.

"All right, Snivellus. I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. You may all leave."

James stormed into the Great Hall, Remus and Sirius in tow.

"Apologising to Snape! On my birthday!" he snorted, dropping into a chair.

"You should be apologising to me," Remus remarked, prodding the turquoise stains on his book with his wand. "This is a new copy. You know, the one I got after the time you and Sirius were practising Disarming Charms and burnt a hole right through my earlier copy...which I got after the time you sneaked one of Hagrids' salamanders into the dormitory and were trying to make it sing...on my dressing table..."

"I'm sorry, Moony," James said, repentantly. "Here...let me..." He prodded the stains with the tip of his wand, making them vanish one by one. "Well, there's my Itching Powder gone, but I still have that Wartcap mixture Andromeda gave me..."

"You should really be paying a little more attention in class, you know..." Remus said impatiently. "Our exams start next week...or hadn't you heard about that yet?"

"Moooony...I don't need to study that rubbish, I already know it all. Besides, it's June...the sun is shining...it's perfect flying weather..." he snorted... "although flying on those old bunches of twigs Madam Hooch calls brooms isn't much better than walking. I can't wait till next year, when we can bring our own brooms..."

Remus sighed, and buried himself in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

"Besides, we needn't worry, you and Peter are worrying enough for the both of us," Sirius grinned. Peter was sitting just opposite him, franctically turning the pages of A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration and muttering to himself. Sirius twirled his wand languidly. "Accio!"

Peter squeaked as the book flew out of his hands and soared across the table into Sirius' lap.

"Sirius...give that back! I need to finish this by this evening..."

"No you don't, Pete...c'mon, come down to the Quidditch pitch with us..."

Remus grabbed the book back from Sirius and tossed it to Peter. "I'm going upstairs to finish this...coming, Peter?"

James and Sirius snorted, and walked out into the gathering dusk.

"They're just a bunch of stupid tests," James said impatiently. "I could do them now, and ace them."

"Well, it's lonely at the top," Sirius drawled lazily. "Let's go see if Hagrids' picked up anything new..." they made their way across the grounds. Suddenly, Sirius froze, grabbing hold of James. "Look..." Malfoy and Snape were approaching, talking animatedly. They didn't notice them until Sirius stepped smoothly out from behind a tree.

"Well, well, lookie who, James. Little Lucy Malfoy and his pet snake, Snivellus." James stepped out behind him, also smirking.

"All right, Snivelly? Had a bath yet? You need one, especially after your tragic screwup in Potions today..."

Malfoy had gone pale, and stepped back, but Snape hissed, "You watch yourself, Potter. I could make potions you'd never even dream of..."

James raised an eyebrow. "Damned right I don't dream of you making potions, Snivellus, all I've ever seen you make so far is fast dye." Sirius let out a snort of laughter.

"That's right, Snivellus, I heard it took Madam Pomfrey ages to change your hair back..."

"Although it might have been better if she'd left it as it was," James added. "The colour rather detracted from the grease..."

Snapes' pale face flushed slightly, and he turned without a word. He and Malfoy hurried off across the grounds. James and Sirius followed them more slowly, back to the castle, grinning. They found Remus and Peter scribbling franctically at their table in the common room.

"There," Remus said with a flourish of his quill. "All done." He rolled up his parchment and put it into his bag. "McGonagall might let up a bit on us, I'm simply swamped with work..."

James groaned and flopped down opposite him. "Did you finish that stupid Animagus essay? Can I copy it?"

Remus frowned slightly. "Yes and No. It'll do you good to do your own research...where were you two, anyway?"

"We were having a word with Snivelly," Sirius smirked.

"Yeah...always nice to catch up with old Snivellus..."

Remus frowned again, but didn't say anything. He opened a black, dusty library book and sighed. "Now for that werewolf essay... the Professor hinted it might come up in the exam..."

"It would be awful if it did and you weren't ready for it, Moony," James said seriously.

"Yeah, I mean, 'list the signs that identify the werewolf?' I always have a problem with that one," Sirius said, even more seriously.

Peter frowned at them, but Remus smiled again and bent over his work. Sirius and James sighed and settled down to tackle their homework. It wasn't until they went up to their dormitory, past midnight, that James remembered his birthday presents. He stuffed all the wrappers, letters, cards and presents into his trunk, and grabbed the unopened parcel of his bed.

"Bah," he growled, ripping off yet another layer of wrapping-paper. "Bet whoever sent this thinks they're funny...wonder who it is." He ripped of another two layers, both together, revealing several thicknesses of old newspaper underneath.

"Bloody newspapers!!"

"I think they're wrapped around something," Remus said, above Sirius' roars of laughter. "Here..." Soon there were newspapers flying all over the room, and James was ripping off another, single layer of red wrapping-paper. At last, a flat, square box lay on his bed, half the size of the package that had contained it...James pulled the card off it, and snorted.

"Great-uncle Donovan...he always was a cracked old bugger..." He passed the card to the others.

"Dear James,

I have always tried to give you unusual...and slightly startling...presents on your birthday so far, and this will be the most unusual and startling of all. If you'll take my advice, you'll keep it a secret, and not use it more than necessary...things of this sort can be very useful around a place like Hogwarts (especially if you get hungry.) I always intended you to inherit this, and your parents wanted me to wait until you had completed your education at Hogwarts, but as I do not need it any more...I rather thought that you'd fine it useful.

Uncle Donnie."

"Uncle Donnie?" Sirius said in disbelief.

"Open it, James!" Peter squeaked in excitement.

"Sounds mysterious," Remus mused. James snorted.

"The last birthday present he calculated would be 'useful if I got hungry' was a boxfull of Puffskein Pies..." He lifted the cover off the box, and pulled out something wrapped in purple velvet. As he lifted it, something slid out from the velvet and fell in shiny folds at his feet.

"What in the name of...?" James picked it up. It was grayish, as smooth as silk, and somehow felt like water made solid. "I think it's a cloak..."

"Not just any old cloak," Sirius said, his eyes narrowing. "I think I've seen one like it before. Put it on..."

James threw the cloak around his shoulders, and Remus and Peter gasped. Sirius gave a satisfied sigh. "Thought so...it's an Invisibility Cloak. Awesome. Take it off, James. You have one hell of an uncle."

James pulled off, and tossed it to Sirius. "You try...I want to see..." Sirius ducked under the cloak and vanished. Moments later, Peters' hat went sailing through the air and floated up to rest on the washstand cabinet.

"Ha, ha, ha..." came Sirius' voice. "Can't catch me..."

"Quit it, Sirius..." James grabbed at the place Sirius' voice came from, and pulled the cloak off him. He regarded it thoughtfully.

"You'd better be careful of that thing, James," Remus remarked. "They're really valuable...and rare. It might be better if no one knows you were sent one...I'm sure it would be confiscated as soon as the teachers heard of it..."

"We can't have that, can we now," James murmured, winking at Sirius. "I'm going to have some fun with this Cloak..."

"Can I borrow it, James?" Sirius said eagerly. "I'm going to scare the bloody serpent out of Bellatrix...ha..."

"James," Remus said seriously. "You really had better be careful with that thing. Don't use it for anything stupid..."

"Moony..." James wrapped the Cloak around his head, making Peter gasp and step back. "Can you think of any more worthy purpose than making Snivellus squirm?"

"And Bellatrix," Sirius added eagerly.

"And a load of other people." James smirked. "Oh, I can see some fun coming out of this...but not a word to anyone, you three."

"Can you hear anything?" James whispered to Sirius. They were crouching under the Cloak, laden with pies and cakes from the Kitchens. "It better not be Prof. McG, it's well after hours..." they squatted as still as they could, behind a statue, as Professor Dumbledore passed by. For a moment it seemed as if his twinkling blue eyes focused right on them...but after all, they were invisible, weren't they? They ran as quietly as they could, back up to Gryffindor tower, and pulled the Cloak off in their dormitory. Remus and Peter were sitting there, waiting for them.

"Now this is more like what I was thinking of using the Cloak for," Remus grinned, helping himself to a mince pie. He rolled over and slammed his book shut. "Rotten luck, having full moon night right in the middle of our exams..." he sighed. "I still have Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, I'll be missing all the fun..." The other first-years had finished their last exam that evening.

"Come on, Moony...we won't be having much fun...just sitting around, relaxing, outside, with nothing to do..." Sirius winked at Remus, who made a face and grabbed a cream puff.

They had used the Invisibility Cloak for a few other things besides nicking food, in the last few weeks. Severus Snape had been pursued several times down lonely corridors by invisible ghosts and disembodied voices, and Bellatrix Black found her plate emptying itself into her lap at every meal one day. Several people had unaccountably tripped over nothing in the corridors, and strange things had been happening in the Gryffindor common room. Sirius and James had a hard time not to give themselves away by snorting with laughter, and Remus had watched their antics with amused disapproval, and Peter with awed admiration. Snape eyed James suspiciously in the corridors when he passed, and so did Lily Evans, whose long red hair had mysteriously twisted and untwisted itself several times in the common room.

The results came out at last...James and Sirius came out at the top of the year, with Remus not far behind. Peter appeared somewhere in the bottom half, with near failed marks in Transfiguration. Holiday homework was given out, instructions were given, trunks packed and repacked...addresses and promises of visits exchanged...and finally the students found themselves aboard the Hogwarts Express, speeding back towards Platform Nine and Three-quarters.

"I intend to be spending most of the holidays at your place, James," Sirius informed him, flipping fragments of parchment out of the window and watching them whip away. "You aren't going anywhere, are you?"

"No...you can come any time you want...are you coming too, Moony?"

"Not unless your parents have quarters that could safely contain a ravaging monster, and are two of those strange people that actually like and admire werewolves," Remus said, smiling wryly.

"I bet my parents could manage it if Dumbledore could," James said confidently. "How in Merlin did Madam Pomfrey manage to keep you in the hospital wing, though?"

"I wasn't even in the hospital wing," Remus laughed. "You know, the day you saw me when the Whomping Willow was planted?"

They all nodded.

"They planted it for me. There's a hole in the ground, at its' roots, which leads to a passage which comes out into that Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. Madam Pomfrey took me there in the evenings to transform. No one comes near that place any more...they say it's haunted...but all the screaming and smashing they heard was just me." He smiled again. "Dumbledore's encouraging the haunted rumour, to keep them away. The shack's all boarded up so I can't get out, and Madam Pomfrey comes back in the morning and takes me back, and fixes me up. Unfortunately, I spend most of the next couple of days asleep." He made a face. "I'm missing way too many classes."

"Doesn't the Willow attack you?" Peter asked curiously.

"No...Madam Pomfrey does something to freeze it...I haven't noticed what, it's dark and I'm usually too nervous about the transformation to check..." Remus produced a pack of cards, and the four of them spent the rest of the journey playing Exploding Snap and discussing what they wanted to do during the holidays.

"I can't wait till next year." James winked at Sirius. "Invisibility Cloak...torturing Snivellus...annoying Evans..." he looked out of the window, his expression dreamy. Sirius smirked.

"You know, James, I do believe the girl dislikes you."

"Nonsense. How could she? Agh...actually, you're probably right...she does. But I can easily fix that."

"And how would you do that?" Remus asked.

"Turn on my natural charm...how else?"

"That's it." Sirius grinned. "The girl's going to hate him forever." He dodged the Two of Diamonds James flipped at him, and it exploded above Peters' head, singing his hair, just as they pulled into the station. They dragged their trunks off the train, and pushed through the crowd, looking for their respective parents.

Sirius waved glumly to James, sitting in the back seat of his family's black limousine, with Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa. James waved back, and winked, as the limousine pulled away. Peter had disappeared, and Remus was making his way towards the Muggle Underground with his pretty (and perfectly healthy-looking) mother.

James caught Lily Evans' eye, and grinned. She shot him a death look, before turning away. James rolled his eyes as he got into the Muggle taxi with his parents. He really would have to do something about Evans next year.