The Marauding Five - Year One

The Marauding Five : Year One

Chapter 6: Lessons

If only lessons were as interesting as how their morning had started, the first years wouldn't have minded it all that much. 'First lesson, Charms,' Lily muttered to her slip of timetable, as if scolding it for Charms being the first lesson. Sirius rolled his eyes at her. 'Lily, you can't change it by staring at it,' he pointed out to her. 'If I could, wouldn't I be doing it now? If I could, we wouldn't even have any lessons with the measly Slytherins, let alone Severus Snape. If I could, wouldn't I be heading off for-' Sirius cut, 'Okay, I get the message, no need to keep ranting! Now, come to think of it, I wouldn't want to be your Charms partner this year if you rant every morning of the year like today.'

'Well, I certainly didn't invite you to,' Lily scowled at her friend. James and Remus were getting their school bags packed - with Dungbombs, Filibusters Fireworks, no doubt - in their dorm. Lily simply tucked all her Gram had gave her (but the Wizard Chess) into her robes, feeling that she need to use them on the Slytherins. 'Not a morning person, are you? I think I'll better go with Remus or James for Charms. You can partner one of those nosey girls in your dorm if you want,' Sirius said as he raced off to the Charms classroom before Lily had a chance to hit him.

Lily scowled again. Pulling a face, she tried to find her way to the Charms classroom. Sirius knew the place, but had dashed off without her, leaving her completely helpless in the large castle. She looked at the time, only to find that she have only fifteen minutes left before the first class starts. She stepped into a dead end twice and had nearly got tricked by the paintings on the seventh floor when Nearly Headless Nick found her roaming near Divination Tower. He gladly led Lily to the Charms corridor before bidding her goodbye.

Lily thanked the Gryffindor house ghost and walked into the class, just as her name was called - or rather, squeaked out: 'Evans, Lily!'

'Present,' Lily grumbled as she plopped down on one of the empty seats. There were quite a lot of empty places, as half the house hadn't yet arrived. James and Remus burst in as soon as Lily sat in her chair, next to a grinning Sirius. They muttered a hurried apology to the short teacher (Lily suspects him to be an elf, being so short and squeaky) as they sat next to Lily and Sirius.

'Professor Flitwick sure is small!' Sirius whispered to James, who sat to his right. James nodded in response. Lily just glared at him. 'Someone's not a morning person. Anyone'd think that you'd missed the commotion during breakfast, Lily!' Remus patted at her. 'Well, we'll be learning some simple charms this year. Charms are one of the very interesting subjects, as they were mostly used in our lives,' Professor Flitwick squeaked from his place at the top of thick, dusty Charm books. Lily giggled at this, as Sirius sighed in relief. 'Look! Lily's back! She's back! She's giggling!' Sirius announced happily as he thumped the red head on her back. Lily hiccoughed and coughed.

'I'd appreciate it if you never do that, Sirius,' Lily said pointedly, a hurt look on her face and a sad voice.

'She's definitely back now! How about a celebration, James?'

'Yep!'

James and Remus dug into their bags, and just as Lily had suspected, they'd brought Dungbombs with them along with fifteen Filibuster's Fireworks. Ignoring Flitwick's squeaks about the excellence of Charms, they quickly plant a few Dungbombs around, lighted some fireworks and set them off as soon as Flitwick finished his speech.

Fireworks fired around the room and the Dungbombs helped in clouding them. Half the class cried out in amazement and most, in frustration as the fireworks whizzed past them and the dungbombs sent an odor scent into the classroom. Flitwick squealed out frighteningly at a bursting firework, sending beautiful shimmers of stars at them. 'What sort of fireworks did you use?' Lily asked, amused. 'We'd given Filibuster's Fireworks an enhancing touch. Beautiful, isn't it?' James said happily as he watched the commotion going on.

When it finally ended, Flitwick showed the class an interesting charm when he tapped his wand on Terry Putmorey's cat, Oogles, as she went zooming around the classroom, calling in terrified mews. The class watch in eagerness. All, but the four Marauders. Sirius simply yawned and Remus looked ready to doze off. Upset, Professor Flitwick turned his attention to them.

'May I know, Miss Evans, Misters Potter, Black and Lupin, did you see the charm used on the kitten just now?' Flitwick squeaked angrily. Lily simply turned at him and replied, 'Well, it's just too simple.'

He gasped as well as the rest of the class.

'How, may I know, Miss Evans, that it might be "too simple"? You shall learn it only in later classes. I shall not tolerate any of these nonsense, Miss Evans.'

'Well, professor, it's simple because we can do it, too.'

'Mr Black, I don't see how you could do it without learning even the basics first,' Flitwick said angrily to them.

'But professor, we could!'

'Mr Lupin, how can you prove that when I had hardly even start teaching yet?'

'Simple, professor.'

'Mr Potter, how is this "simple" meant to be put? Five points from Gryffindor, each.'

The Gryffindors in the class groaned as the Slytherins snickered; but the Marauders just looked amused at this.

'Sir, if we prove that we can do this, can you please not take any points?' Lily asked the tiny professor.

'Why, if you could do that, I'd not only not take any points, but I shall award you with them! I don't think you could do so, though, so twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor,' Flitwick said. No one in his class had managed to learn charms easily, as it's one of the hardest subjects. So, the little teacher is sure that no students will be able to do it; not until they'd learned the basics. 'Back to class!'

The Gryffindors glared at the Marauders, who grinned, as they pulled their wands out. Each tapped on their schoolbags before muttering 'Wingardium Leviosa', sending their bags hurling around the classroom eagerly. The bags came to a rest just in front of Flitwick, who stared at them in amazement.

The class began to cheer, Gryffindor the loudest, as the four stepped up modestly and bowed before returning to their seats in the front row.

'Well I never! Ten points to Gryffindor, each,' Flitwick squealed happily as Gryffindor erupted in cheers and the Slytherins, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs stared at the four in disbelief. The four friends grinned happily, glad to be able to earn points for Gryffindor.

'And we thought Charms are a bore! If I knew that we were to win 10 points each in here, I'd never even think of that,' Remus exclaimed happily to Lily. 'Thanks to Lily and James, the brains of the Marauders, who taught us all those,' Sirius said grinning as Lily and James looked pleased with themselves. 'Who'd ever thought that we'd be this smart here? So much smarter than in Muggle school,' Lily said happily. The four definitely had talents in magic, and had used one of them to win forty points to Gryffindor.

Snape scowled angrily at them from the corner of the room as Flitwick proceeded to teach the class the basics.

Charms passed peacefully and the bell rang, signifying the next lesson as Flitwick squeaked, '-and do an essay on the important uses of charms in our lives, five rolls of parchments!' The class groaned.

James pulled out his timetable. Their next lesson was History of Magic.

Sirius led them to the classroom, passing the Fat Friar who grinned at them, and stepping twice on the trick stair. At least, Sirius did. The others avoided it as soon as Sirius got caught. At last, they pulled open the door, labeled in peeling gray letters, History of Magic. Lily's first thought of the room was that it smelled like something had rot in it. Apparently, so did the other Marauders, because the four automatically draw their robes to their noses as they walked in.

They were taking out their books when the other houses stream in, taking their places. The Marauders had chosen the front seats once again. James had said, 'They said that the most dangerous place is the safest and the other way round. So when people thought that the front row is the most dangerous, as it's always "under a teacher's eye", they stayed away from there and joined the back row. The back row, however, is a teacher's target, as notes were usually passed and it gives the teachers opportunities to take house points away. Where else, us lucky things in the front row get half the attention, thus are more free to pass notes and play tricks.' The Marauders agreed to this.

A ghostly figure came through the walls. Professor Binns, a ghost teacher of Hogwarts, appeared to have troubles getting his hands in. He was, in fact, holding a solid tabloid containing the student's names. Forgetting that the tabloid is solid, he'd come through the walls, only to realize his mistake when he reached the class. Binns scowled at it as he went out again and in, this time through the door, holding a tabloid in his pearl white hands. He took their attendance without a murmur and had wasted no time in jumping straight to teaching them. The class, who expected fun and giggles just like in Charms, were disappointed at the fact that this teacher gave no chance in explaining his subject straight off.

James woke up from his snooze. This was his first time sleeping in class, and he looked rather shock at what might Binns say or how will the class react. Turning to his friends, he almost laughed at the sight that greeted him. Lily who sat next to him was trying to keep herself awake, but her nodding head kept falling sideways. Sirius, sitting next to Lily was already sleeping with a peaceful look on his face, mouth slightly ajar as Remus was leaning with his chins on the table, his eyelids feeling heavy. Lily had given up struggling and had dropped her head over his shoulders, her flaming red hair that were unclipped falling all over her face.

James turned to the ghost, who went on ranting, unbeknownst to the sight of the sleeping class. James again, felt the urge of falling back to sleep and this time, let it take over his tired mind. His head fell over Lily's as he slumped over.

Sirius woke up moments after, staring groggily at the professor. Good, that old ghost still hadn't noticed that the class was sleeping. Time for another sleep in-, Sirius' thoughts were cut off as he turned to lie back down. Lily had her head on James' shoulder, a content look on her face as James was leaning over her head, asleep with a peaceful look. Sirius grinned at the sight, rummaged his bag for a camera he usually kept and took it with a silent snap. As he heard the film rolling to the next one, he grinned happily. A good picture for them to remember when they're older, he said to himself.

The class sat up as the shrill ring of the bell told them that the lesson is over. Everyone pulled themselves back into positions as Binns said, 'I'd like essays on the Gereweld Goblins, at least two parchments long.' The class shifted uncomfortably, for no one had listened to anything Binns had said but a Ravenclaw girl, Anna Hopkinns.

The students stuttered towards their common room in their respective houses as the Marauders stumbled into the library to do their essays. Grumbling, Lily pulled out her parchment, quill, inkbottle and her History of Magic books before walking towards the subject's section in the library to grab more books. Hopkinns was there, looking at the books with an earnest expression as she pulled out copies after copies of different books.

Lily looked at her in amazement before starting to pull out appropriate copies. Unlike the Ravenclaw, who had a pile of high-stacked books, Lily only took a handful before settling down to write her essay.

'Right. Gereweld Goblins said "Gereweld" every time they start a sentence,' James said as Lily took in the points.

'Not to forget they speak in limericks,' Remus pointed out.

'They are always dressed in green,' Sirius mumbled.

'And they are short, ugly, goblins.'

'Got them. We need more, though,' Lily said as she added another point: They lived in the north part of Scotland.

'The were first seen in 1468-'

'August the fifteen-'

'At five in the evening-'

'In front of muggles-'

'At the quiet village of Gereweld.'

'And they're goblins,' James finished triumphantly.

'Of course they are! They're called Gereweld Goblins, aren't they?'

'Well, I thought Binns mightn't know that bit.'

'They have high voices.'

'Like Flitwick.'

'They have beady eyes.'

'Like Peeves.'

'They have yellow, snarling teeth.'

'Like Snape.'

'They had unruly black hair,' Lily put in.

'Like me - HEY!' James hissed at her as the others fell down laughing.

'Tricked, aren't you?'

'Whatever.'

'We'd better just write down what we have. We just need to write the essays with a big handwriting, and we'd have reached two pages even by the first two words!' Lily exclaimed happily as she pulled out her parchment, writing 'GEREWELD' in the first parchment, and 'GOBLINS' in the other.

'There! Just that easy,' Lily grinned, holding up her work to admire.

'I vote we write a full essay as backups and send these words to Binns. If he didn't realize it, we're in luck. If he does, we'll just hand in the backups,' Sirius said eagerly as they agreed to it. They wrote two words on the first two parchments - Gereweld Goblins - as they wrote a long essay on the next two. Pleased, they went on with their charms.

They had no problem in charms as Lily had turned out to be a recording video, reciting everything that Flitwick had said in his class.

'Why didn't you do so in the history of magic?'

'Because that ghost is just too boring to listen to. I need to listen to that person to be able to parrot everything off,' Lily said with a wave of her hand.

They sat for a short rest, until the bell went off again, signifying their classes of Transfiguration. The Marauders scrambled off quickly and ran towards the Transfiguration class, almost clashing with McGonagall on their way.

Transfiguration proved to be one of the most interesting classes they'd attended, besides charms. They were given simple things to transfigure into after McGonagall's long and boring lecture. No one really paid her any attention, but Lily had her parroted as soon as she's done. The Marauders were really glad about that, as McGonagall soon assigned them homework and Lily had memorized exactly everything she'd said.

Near the end of the lessons, they were given each a match to transfigure into a needle. James, Sirius and Lily breezed past easily as Remus had trouble making his needle pointier. Thomas DeAnne of Hufflepuff managed to transfigure his match, but it had a very blunt end and a part of it is still in the color of the brown match. McGonagall awarded 4 points to those who are able to transfigure their match into needle.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Remus proved himself the best of all with his vast knowledge of dark arts and ways to counter them. Professor Corn was very happy about having a very intelligent student (it seems like he hadn't one in years) in his class that he awarded Gryffindor five points.

So all in all, the Marauders had an eventful day.

The next day, however, was classes with another individual house and the Gryffindor's first lesson was no other than Potions with the Slytherins. The Gryffindor first years groaned inwardly at that. Everyone knows that Gryffindor and Slytherin had been enemies for centuries long, each trying to win the other. When it was heard that Professor Halley, the head of Slytherin, was the potions master, even more groans were heard.

Just our luck to have a class with SLYTHERIN and the potions master turned out to be a SLYTHERIN, Remus thought grumpily to himself. He really didn't want to think what will happen if he blew up his potions. But then again, Sirius is a good potion brewer and had offered to be his partner, so he's in safe hands; unless Sirius had decided to add extra ingredients.

The Marauders finished their breakfast early as they went in search for the Potions room.

Nearly Headless Nick pointed them to a dark dungeon. Lily screwed her nose at the smell in there as they walked into the dungeons. Sirius threw the door open and the Marauders sat themselves in the front row again. The Slytherins were already there and they threw nasty glances at the Gryffindors. Remus paled slightly.

More Gryffindors walked in as Severus Snape greeted them in his oily voice. He threw hateful glances at the Marauders as James said loudly, not bothering to lower his voice, 'See, I told you he'd be our enemy! So I was right at the train!'

The Marauders laughed in agreement as Lily proceeded.

'Gram says that she used to fight with a Snape, too, in her days in Hogwarts. So did mother. Looks like I'm just carrying the fight on,' Lily said in her childish voice as she pretended to tut sadly.

Gryffindor laughed at Lily's childish voice of an innocent's and they turned to stare daggers at Snape.

'Also, Gram sent me a few things that she said I might need in facing some people,' Lily continued, pulling out a book. Snape stared at it as he'd stared at the Howler yesterday at breakfast.

'What's that book?' Severus asked in a quivering voice.

'Can't you see? It's just a book to throw on you,' Lily replied casually as she arranged her cauldrons on the table.

'Is it a biting book?' Severus asked, clearly shaking already.

James, Sirius and Remus rolled their eyes.

'Yeah, it is. Interested in being our tester? We were currently looking for someone to test with you know,' James said, just as a blonde haired witch, in her twenties and in purple black robes swept in.

'Test what on, Potter?' Professor Halley asked with a cheeky smile. Lily noticed that she didn't look at all like a Slytherin. In fact, she look more like a witch in another house; any house but Slytherin.

'Professor, Evans has a biting book! It's in her hands,' Severus said, panicking as the rest of the Slytherins joined him at the wall at the mention of the biting book.

'Is that true, Evans?'

'Sorry Prof, but it seems like Severus had gone bonkers in his mind. Missing the top deck, see what I mean? Look! The book's only my potions textbook!' Lily said as she showed the book to Halley, who tutted in disapproval. Meanwhile, the class had burst into peals of laughter.

'Snape, you should've known better than to frame a student. Five points from Slytherin,' Halley said as she raised to tap her wand.

Snape flushed red as he glared at the smirking Marauders with absolute loathing.

'Class, I will teach you the --' Professor Halley started as the class began to take notes as they start brewing a simple potion of the Shrinking Solution.

Sirius had thrown a firecracker and Lily had poured in some of the powder from one of the many of them that her Gram had gave her the previous day into Snape's cauldron when he wasn't looking. Snape was flirting with another Slytherin student when she screamed at him. Snape turned, only to find his potion, which is supposed to be acid green, had turned into a horrid color of a sick Cornish pixie.

He let out a small yelp as the firecracker chose that very moment to explode, showering the potions' contents on everyone. Some of its contents hit a few students, who turned to look older than eleven. The Slytherins near Snape had taken fully of the potion's effect and had started to look older than Professor Dumbledore when Halley cried out in dismay.

'Severus Snape! Just what had you added into your potion? Fifteen points off Slytherin!'

Lily and Sirius did a secret high-five at each other as everyone burst out laughing at Severus. He had gotten a full blow of the Aging Potion, and had looked like he was about to tumble any moment now. A great, white beard had grown on his pointed chin and wrinkles had appeared on his skin. His pale skin had turned into a color of sour milk and his knees were shaking.

Halley called out to those who'd been hitten by the potion and cure them as the Marauders howled in the background. Snape looked like a thousand-year-old man and could barely even stand. Halley had to walked over to him and poured a whole cauldron full of the Youth Potion on him before he can revert back to his nasty self.

Potions had been a very interesting lesson on that day.

The other subjects went by easily for the rest of them. Herbology with Professor Sprout (Lily commented that her name was taken from a bean sprout) and Astronomy with Professor Sinistra. However, the most interesting lesson of all was Flying Lessons.

The Gryffindors had Flying Lessons with Ravenclaws and the Marauders were looking forward for this lesson ever since yesterday. They waited eagerly at the Quidditch pitch as broomsticks were strewn all over. Careful not to step on them, (Billy had told them that the broomsticks would go ballistic) they slowly made their way to Madam Hooch.

Dan accidentally trod on one's tail and the broomstick had taken it as an insult of disrespect for broomsticks as it hit Dan hard on his back until Madam Hooch called it off. The broomstick did a sort of huff and 'looked' angrily at Dan before laying back stiffly onto the ground.

'Now, class, stick out your right hand and call "UP!"' Hooch instructed.

'UP!'

All the broomsticks had jumped from the grounds and flew to each person's hands.

Dan's didn't come. It was still lying stiffly on the ground.

Sita's had rolled off halfway in midair, and she is now trying to convince it to get up.

Lily, James, Sirius and Remus' flew straight into their hands.

'Now, mount on it.'

'No, you're doing it wrong, Perttingham! Your right hand over- yes. McMillan, mount on it, not step on it! You'll be-'

'Ah! Very good, Potter, Evans, Black, Lupin! Perfect positioning, too.'

'Hopkinns! It's the other way round!'

Hooch's clear voice cut and went on until she was really satisfied with everyone's positioning. When she blew her whistles, everyone kicked out and flew to the air. Dan's broom was trying to dismount him midair, sending the boy in frights.

Lily rushed up into the air with a wondrous feeling. She had managed to control her broom easily, unlike many others. She watched as James and Sirius did the loop-the-loops in the air happily and tried doing so, after biting a huge amount of nail and gasping deep breaths. Soon, she was happily looping-the-loops with James and Sirius in the air. Remus had decided that it'd made him sick just by leaving the ground and had landed as soon as possible, despite Hooch's praises saying that he's a good flyer.

**

The days went by as the Marauders excelled in their studies, played tricks on Severus, insult Filch and Mrs Norris, played more tricks and insults Severus. They'd taken it as a usual routine to send as many Howlers as they can to Severus, changing into a different owl every now and then so that he wouldn't suspect who sent them.

They'd always sent him Howlers with hexes (courtesy of James and Lily's brilliance), shampoos (Sirius supplied them) and interesting words (chosen well by Remus). Every now and then, a song would come bursting by at any moment from the howler and Lily made sure that it had always had something to do with Snape; from his family line, all the way to his unscrubbed ears.

Peeves had helped them a great deal, by taking the six annoying first years from them. Now, the six had no interest in dealing with any of the Marauders, afraid that Peeves would be after them once again and hated the Marauders for their arrogance and intelligence. They kept to themselves and wouldn't stay in the same room with them if they could help it. If Peeves weren't after them, the Marauders were. Countless of nose-biting teacups had bite their noses and they were always bashed by the Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The Marauders had made their name by the attention they drew by playing tricks on Snape, Filch and Mrs Norris, the few most hated people of Hogwarts. Their fame grew as they excel in their studies, earning them the top marks for everything.

Lily Evans, the red head with a flaming temper to match it, a pair of stunning emerald green eyes, ranked highly as the prettiest girl in Hogwarts, one of the smartest witches ever seen in her age, witty and cheeky. A genius in almost everything and second in her form.

James Potter, famous for his good looks, cheeky grin, bright and a quick-thinking boy. He was easily top of the form, the last time the teachers set an exam on them with Lily coming after him, complaining about his no need to study, yet able to obtain top.

Sirius Black, the mischievious of the lot, running in after Lily Evans. He was always a quick-tongue, always ready to reply and speak his thoughts. Often, his friends would joke about him going to Azkaban because of his daring wits.

Remus Lupin, the most thoughtful of the lot. He's usually the most sensible one of all four and had planned most tactics in their pranks.

The four were always ready to make anyone laugh at any time and was always ready for everything ('and anything. We'd always be up for dares,' Lily said grinning) and they very soon mixed with those of higher years, mostly with the head boy and girl. Everyday in Hogwarts is always a new day as no same things happened at all.