The Marauders: The Legend Before Harry Potter

The Marauders: The Legend Before Harry Potter

The First Year

Chapter Four

The End of First Year

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Black! You're late for class again, do you realize that?" McGonagall peered over her spectacles sternly as James and Sirius stood side-by-side in front of the rest of the class, trying to look innocent without cracking smiles. McGonagall sighed; she had been through this routine nearly everyday since the start of class after the Christmas holidays. Each day James and Sirius arrived late for their Transfiguration class and they tried to give their strict teacher an excuse; McGonagall probably suspected that they were really just sneaking around trying to get on the bad side of Ogg. They had accomplished their goal very well so far, they had already been sworn at five times by the grumpy old groundskeeper.

"Well?" McGonagall snapped, her eyes baring into them. "What's your excuse for being late?"

"We...er...er..." Sirius stammered.

"We were talking with Professor Quirt about the thirteen uses of Dragon Blood!" James said, smartly and quickly. McGonagall looked away from them and turned back to the blackboard to scribble down the assignment. A few of the more intelligent students sniggered.

"That's quite interesting," McGonagall replied. "Because last time I checked, there were only twelve uses." James bit his lip and Sirius rolled his eyes. McGonagall turned back around, her glare lethal. "Well? Why are you still standing up? Take your seats before I decide to deduct house points! And if you two are ever late for my class again I won't be afraid to do so!" James and Sirius took their places at the back of the room. For the rest of the year, they decided, they would be more serious with their studies and stop scheming up ways to set off dung bombs without getting noticed. And if that wasn't possible, they would at least think of better excuses before stepping into McGonagall's classroom.

The sun began to shine once again on the Hogwarts grounds and it seemed that the worst winter of the 70s was over. As March slowly unraveled, the Gryffindor boy, Davey Gudgeon, who had been gloating that he was to be the first to touch the wild tree, could be found walking around the on the grounds, crouched low as if finding the best way to attack the trunk of the gigantic willow. Many other students including Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Slytherins would take breaks from their lunch and watch him. A few would even join in, challenging him.

"That Davey Gudgeon's never going to get near that tree; he's too much of a coward!" said someone in Davey's year. The blond-haired boy did get close to the trunk of the tree but McGonagall, when she spotted him, got furious and ordered everyone to return to the castle immediately.

Herbology began again and Professor Sprout, having missed a month's worth of lessons, spent the days talking extremely fast and covering twice as many plants as usual. Professor Quirt reviewed with them Sleeping Potions and Forgetfulness Potions as McGonagall still tried unsuccessfully to instruct Peter on how to transfigure small objects.

Dumbledore was an excellent teacher of Charms and had already finished teaching everything first years needed to know of so they spent the last classes talking.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Peter asked one day in his innocent voice.

"Yes, Peter?"

"Are you going to teach Transfiguration next year?" The headmaster chuckled.

"Oh, heavens, no. I've been teaching for long enough and I've grown terribly busy. Next year you'll have a new teacher. Well...not exactly new."

"Who?" they all asked simultaneously. "Only time will tell," he replied, his blue eyes twinkling.

History of Magic was a nightmare as usual, not because it was scary but because of the fact that you were liable to fall asleep and have a nightmare whilst doing so. Professor Binns wasn't much help, either.

As April sprouted so did Hagrid's gardens and he could be seen often picking tomatoes and planting bulbs while Ogg walked the grounds trimming weeds with a hedge clipper, shaking his finger at Hagrid over something.

"Can't wait till that old git retires next year," Sirius said looking out the window one afternoon in the Common Room.

"I think next year's going be perfect! No Ogg...Quidditch tryouts...more visits to The Three Broomsticks..." James said as if he were in a daze, leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah," Remus said. "This year was great and all, but next year'll be even better because we won't be the youngest anymore."

"We'll get to boss the little first years around!" Peter said, bouncing in his seat. The other three stared at him trying to imagine the pudgy little boy bossing anyone around. A first year would have no trouble pushing Peter around anytime. Minutes later Lily came dashing through the portrait hole and she ran over to where the four boys were sitting.

"Do any of you get the Daily Prophet?" she said, panting. "I need to check on something."

"I do," James said, reaching in his robe pocket and pulling out the latest copy of the Daily Prophet. Lily grabbed it quickly.

"Ha! I knew it!" she said laughing.

"Knew what?" they asked her.

"That horrid Slytherin girl, Emily Surrut, thought she knew more about Quidditch than I did, just because I'm muggle born; so she asked me to name the three latest brooms on sale, and she got it wrong! She must really not know much if I could beat her, and I know practically nothing about Quidditch. Well, I'm off. She promised she'd give me one of her wizard cards if she got it wrong; I'm collecting!"

"You can have some of mine, I've got lots," James called after her, but Lily, who had just slid out of the portrait hole, hadn't heard him.

When James looked away from the back of the Fat Lady's portrait, and back to his books he saw Remus eyeing him strangely.

"That's awful nice of you to offer your cards to her," he said, hiding a grin.

"What do you mean by that?" James questioned.

"Oh, nothing." Remus shrugged, continuing with his work.

***

The final Quidditch match, Ravenclaw against Slytherin, was slowing creeping closer and anticipation of all the students was brewing. The Ravenclaws had made a brilliant blue banner in the Great Hall that said "Root for the Ravens" but the Slytherins had sprayed it with a magic graffiti, covering it with rude words and the Ravenclaws were told to take it down.

"Too bad we didn't make it to the final match," said a Gryffindor boy with a heavy heart the night before the match.

"We just need a better team!" groaned another. Everyone looked at the seven Gryffindor Quidditch players.

"Hey! I'm offended!" said the seeker, Greg, looking offended. "I'm perfect; we just need better beaters to keep me from getting injured every game."

"What we need..." whispered Mildred, the Keeper, "Is a better captain." She peered over at the boy sitting on the couch, Edmond Grey. He looked up.

"I would be a little more supportive if the team would show up to the practices," he said smugly and then continued to read.

"He always says that," said Mildred, rolling her eyes.

In the morning the Ravenclaw team members entered the Great Hall to a huge crowd of applauders; the team was followed by the Slytherins who received about five claps at the most. After breakfast everyone made their way to the Quidditch pitch and James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, and Ezmerelda Bottle and several other Gryffindor first and second years sat in one of the top boxes, each with a pair of charmed binoculars.

"So, what's the name of the Ravenclaw players?" Ezmerelda asked, looking around the pitch through her binoculars with excitement.

"The keeper is Margot Crain," Sirius said, reading a little slip of paper he had written upon to remember all the names of the players. "The chasers are Hinshaw, Porter, Churchill, the beaters are Henson--also the captain--and Ward, and the seeker's Sasha Frank." The commentator, Alfred Kingsley began:

"Good morning, and welcome to the last Quidditch game of the year, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw! And--here comes the Ravenclaw team: Crain, Hinshaw, Porter, Churchill, Henson, Ward, aaaaaaand Frank!" Nearly all of the students were applauding and whistling loudly; except the Slytherins, who were sulking in their reserved area of the stands. Kingsley continued.

"And the Slytherin team: Lincoln, McCarthy, Joel, Lestrange, Knopfler, Lassus, aaaaaaand Travers!" The Sytherins howled and whooped loudly while Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff crossed their arms, few clapping politely, but very quietly, while others only sneered or frowned, jeered or booed.

The game began in a rush and the Ravenclaws were working extremely fast to get a goal, the Chasers working together excellently. The Slytherins were scoffing, trying to distract them. The two seekers, Sasha Frank and Jakob Travers were on opposite sides of the fields, their eyes darting for any sign of the Snitch. The Slytherin beaters, both extremely thick-set boys with expressions like fruit bats, were knocking the bludgers in all direction with no skill at all and the huge black balls had come close to even hitting some of their own players. Churchill from Ravenclaw had scored, Slytherins were growing angry, and the bludgers were flying like mad. The Slytherin chasers were flying like mad, waving their arms to block the Gryffindor chasers but they couldn't succeed. The Ravenclaws scored again...and again.

"And the score is now fifty to zero and the Slytherins better get their act together if they ever want to touch the Quidditch cup this year...Wait! Travers seems to have seen the Snitch!"

"Look at him go! Blast! He's gaining on it," said Lily pointing at the seeker in green robes whizzing across the field.

"Come on, Frank, go catch up with him!" James yelled, biting his lip. The Ravenclaw seeker had seen Travers and turned her broom around with effort, suddenly speeding after the other seeker, who was very near victory.

"Come on Ravenclaw!" most everyone was saying with their fists clenched. Some students were on their feet. The Ravenclaws had seen that Travers was ahead of Frank and while they were growing angry. The Slytherins scored a goal as the Ravenclaws were distracted.

"Fifty to ten!" yelled Kingsley. Everything was mysteriously quiet as the school watch Travers and Frank speeding across the field, back and forth after the tiny snitch, but it was hopeless. Travers caught it.

"Slytherin wins the Quidditch cup..." Kingsley said, his voice very dull and drone now, the usual enthusiasm gone as though he had misplaced it. "One hundred and sixty to fifty. Thank you everyone for coming to the match have a nice day..."

The Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws watched with frowns as Dumbledore walked onto the field carrying the sparkling Quidditch Cup, the Slytherin supporters going wild.

"Bloody Slytherin!" sighed Sirius, eyeing the team evilly as they were passing the cup around, mirth upon their ugly faces.

The next few days passed tediously and the skies were filled with fog and the air moist and muggy. For unfathomable reason, the air became unbearably humid the last week of April and Dumbledore gave them a day of rest.

"Thank you, Dumbledore!" yelled everyone when they found out. "You're the greatest!" Dumbledore waved an embarrassed hand and left the Great Hall to his office, everyone else doing the same. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter made their way out to the lake and they all laid down below a shady tree, gazing up at the sky.

"Today, I'm not worrying about exams at all!" James said closing his eyes, enjoying the peaceful rustle of wind.

"I wish we had some ice cream," Peter said, leaning his cheek upon his pudgy little hand.

"You don't need ice cream Peter--at your weight," added Sirius matter-of-factly.

"I'm only one hundred and twenty pounds!" Peter said, flushing.

"My point exactly," Sirius said, shaking a finger at Peter. It was lucky for him Peter didn't take things seriously; the little boy simply laughed at it. They rested for the next few hours, their minds blank and worry-free, when suddenly Remus stood up.

"Where you going?" Peter asked him, opening his eyes.

"Er...I'm--I'm not feeling very well. I think I'll go down to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey take my temperature," Remus added. He held his hand up to his forehead.

"Well, okay. Sure you'll be all right?"

"Yeah. I'm sure." Remus walked away quickly, not looking back. It wasn't until he was out of sight of the other three boys that he broke out into a run.

"What do you suppose is wrong with him?" James wondered, sitting up, supporting himself with his elbows.

"He acts a little strange every once in a while..." Peter said.

"A little?" Sirius said, his eyes still closed.

"Well, it seemed like a few weeks ago he felt sick too. Said he had a stomach virus," Peter informed them.

"Hmmm...that's funny. He told me he had to visit his sick mother," James said. "What'd he tell you, Sirius?" But Sirius was suddenly snoring soundly.

The beginning of the final exams came. Professor Dumbledore made them transform a dead fish into a frog as he asked them a several simple questions. Professor Quint gave them each a different potion to brew and while they made them they had to write each procedure and every ingredient whilst brewing the concoctions.

Mrs. Yen gave them a long quiz to do which was definitely the most boring by far, until they got to History of Magic which found them writing a 500 word essay, and that made Yen's exam seem like a picnic.

Professor McGonagall's exam was surprisingly easy; they only had to perform three different charms and she graded them on their effort and neatness. Professor Sprout's exam was so easy it almost was comical.

"Finished!" James yelled after Herbology, skipping about like a giddy schoolboy once they were out on the grounds. "And they were frightfully easy."

"I fell asleep during that Herbology test," Sirius said

. "Actually, I thought they were rather hard," Peter said, flinching. "I didn't get any of the questions any of the teachers asked us. "I hope I didn't fail."

"Don't worry Peter," Sirius said, sarcastically. "With your excessive amount of brains I'm sure you'll ace all of them."

A few days later they got the results back and McGonagall called them each separately into her classroom to tell all the Gryffindors how they did. Lily came out grinning broadly.

"I passed!" she said. "And with higher grades than I thought, especially in Charms." Remus came out content too and said he did best in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Phew, just barely made it!" Peter said coming out of the classroom, wiping sweat from his brow. McGonagall called Sirius and James last, and she requested they enter together. Curious they entered. The Head of Gryffindor looked at them seriously, peering at them over the top of her glasses.

"Er...did we do something wrong Professor?" James asked after a long silence. McGonagall stopped staring at them and began to organize papers hurriedly. James might have been imagining it but it seemed the tips of McGonagall's lips were curling upwards ever so slowly.

"Quite the contrary Mr. Potter. How do you two feel that you did on the exams?" the stern Professor asked them both. "Well, yours was pretty easy--for me, at least--but I rushed through that History of Magic exam," Sirius said.

"And the Defense Against the Dark Arts was hardest for me," James added, wondering if this little question-and-answer ritual was always the way McGonagall began when telling students how they did on final exams. He wasn't sure if he should be nervous, or eager...

"I suppose you two don't realize just how well you did," McGonagall said, still stacking papers on her desk. Surprisingly, she succumbed and smiled. Somewhat. When James and Sirius remained silent, the Professor continued. "In fact you both received almost perfect marks, the best we've seen from first years at Hogwarts since the beginning of the century and we've concluded that you two are above your other classmates intellectual level and we're going to make you an offer: keep this up next year and you will be able to jump from second year to third year within the first few months."

"Meaning..." Sirius said. "That we'd graduate at sixteen."

"Correct. You don't have to of course..." McGonagall rolled her eyes, as though anyone you turned down the offer was surely an idiot. "But Dumbledore and I think it would be best. Holding yourselves back would only bore you and be a disadvantage."

"We'll...think about it Professor," James said and with that they left quickly.

"So," Peter said. "How'd you do?" The other Gryffindor first-years watched them intently in the common room.

"We did okay I s'pose," Sirius said shrugging. "Nothing to brag about." Later that night, though, Sirius and James stayed up later than everyone in the common room, talking.

"What do you think?" Sirius asked slowly.

"I dunno. What do you think?" James replied.

"I dunno. What do you think?"

"Well, maybe we should just think about it some more."

"Yeah, I think that would be best..." Sirius said.

***

It was the last week of the first year and with heavy hearts, everyone packed their bags. Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs especially had glum faces after the Slytherins had won the house cup as well after their victorious come-back in Quidditch, for which they had been awarded many points. The Slytherins made sure they gloated about for as long as possible.

Everyone made their way to the Hogwarts Express on the last day. The weather that June afternoon couldn't have been nicer, but that didn't keep the students from looking forward to the ride back. On the journey back to King's Cross, Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, and later joined by Lily all sat in one compartment having a few last laughs for the year.

"I can't believe we only found one secret passageway! Andromeda's never going to let me hear the end of this!" Sirius said.

"You found a secret passageway?" asked Lily, awe-struck. "Where..?"

"Nowhere!" the boys said quickly, laughing. Lily looked at them suspiciously but didn't press the question.

"Fine, don't tell me!" she said haughtily. "I don't even want to know." James had an urge to tell her, knowing she'd never tell another soul, but decided against it, as Sirius and Remus would probably never let him hear the end of it.

The trip ended too soon and before they knew it they were grabbing their trunks and disembarking from the train. Remus was first to spot his mother and he bade his friends a good-bye and walked over to a sandy haired woman, her arms outstretched as her son approached.

Peter left soon after with a cheery "See you later!" when Sirius saw his parents and Andromeda waving at him nearby.

"Well," Sirius said, slapping James on the back. "See you in a few months."

"Yeah," James said, spotting his parents in the crowd as well. Both of them were extremely tall and waving furiously at him. "Bye then." And they exchanged a wave and a smile and set out in opposite directions. He had almost dodged everyone and was near his parents when he heard a voice calling out his name.

"James!" came the voice of Lily. James turned around and saw the red-head running at him, her bright eyes glowing. "You didn't think you were going to leave me without saying goodbye, did you?" And she gave him a tight hug and ran off. James, smiling, turned around and walked to him parents.

"So son--how was it?" his father asked, taking his pipe from his mouth. He was dressed in his usual business suit and his hair was neatly combed.

"Great," James said.

"Of course it was!" his mother said cheerfully, ruffling his hair before pulling him into an embrace. And with that, they made their way out of King's Cross and back home.