Before the End

SIRIUS III

September 2^nd, 1971

Dinner was very good, once they managed to find the Great Hall again. They had thought they were taking the same path they had finally found that morning, but it turned out it was actually the same path that they had taken the first time that morning and got completely lost on - anyway, the point was that they got to the Great Hall about ten minutes after the rest of the school.

After that, they spent ten more minutes trying to get back to Gryffindor Tower. When they finally reached it, for some strange reason Remus actually started working on his History of Magic essay, which was due in a week.

Sirius leaned back in one of the large armchairs and looked at James. "So, what shall we start our astonishing career as Hogwarts pranksters with?"

"Corrupting people. Hey, Peter!"

"That's not what I meant," Sirius whispered as Peter looked up. "Did you bring it?"

"Of course I brought it, do you think I'm an idiot?" James whispered back.

"Yes."

"What?" asked Peter, coming over to them.

"You wanted to know where we got the frogs, right?"

Peter grinned. "I thought you just Transfigured your sisters' books into them."

Sirius and James exchanged grins. "Did you do that?"

"Well ... not on purpose ... not really on purpose ... sort of..."

James and Sirius grinned again.

"Having a conference?" came a voice. If it had been someone they didn't know, Sirius would have hexed him with something he wasn't supposed to know yet, but it was Remus.

"Why were you doing your homework?" he asked. "It's due next Tuesday."

Remus sat down. "I wanted to get it over with," he said, "especially as -"

He stopped suddenly. Everyone looked at him, and no one said anything.

"So," Peter finally asked, "where did you get the frogs?"

PETER III

September 2^nd, 1971, slightly after the previous

Peter and Annetta were playing chess.

Annetta was good, Peter learned quickly. Very good. Her chess set looked like it had been made two hundred years ago, and it obeyed her completely and helped her by suggesting possible moves before she played. Peter's set still occasionally yelled unwanted advice up at him. The problem with the advice of chess pieces was that they were on the board itself, so they couldn't see the entire game and they couldn't see how useful every move would be.

He glared at the board. "Bishop," he said finally. "Move here." he tapped a square, and the bishop moved to it and bowed.

"My lady," said Annetta to her queen, "capture that knight, will you?" The black queen moved and knocked the indicated knight unconscious.

"Knight, one step to the right and forward."

"Pawn, one step forward.

Peter looked carefully at the board. That would result in her capturing that probably, and if he did that his king would be in danger if she did that ... how could he change the way the game was going? Ah ... that would give him that and then...

"Knight," said Peter. "Capture that bishop."

Annetta looked at the board. "Torsha," she said.

"What?"

"Something in Gobbledegook. Knight, one step forward and to the left."

"Queen, capture that pawn. Check."

The game ended quickly.

"You're very good," said Annetta.

"You're very good. I was losing at one point."

"Well, you won, didn't you? What were you talking about with Sirius and James and Remus?"

"Could I play?" Lily asked.

LILY IX

September 2^nd, 2003

Around midnight, Lily found herself being blinded.

"...What ... Who ... What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty," came Annetta's voice. "Wake up. We have Astronomy."

Lily looked up. Annetta's wand was pointed at her, and there was a bright light at the tip of it. "Why do we have Astronomy at eleven thirty?"

"Because we're supposed to be able to see stars, not bright sunlight."

"Is she awake?" someone - Cassandra - asked. "Oh, good. Lily, it's on our schedules. Didn't you notice? Get out of bed, class starts at midnight and we have to find the Astronomy tower first, and we all know how long that'll take."

"Annetta," Lily asked, sitting up, "Why are you so awake?"

"I've been reading all evening. Come on."

"You've been up all evening?"

"Lily, would you just come on? You woke all of us up at seven thirty, you should be able to wake yourself up at eleven at night," said Jenny Whisp, sounding annoyed. Lily muttered something to herself and got up.

In ten minutes the girls were walking downstairs. Lily was yawning. The first year boys were also there, most of them looking annoyed. So was the red-haired Prefect who had shown them to Gryffindor Tower after the Feast. Anne Weasley scowled at the sight of him - apparently this was her older brother - she'd mentioned him earlier.

"Are you all here?" he asked. "Good. I'm Bilius Weasley, and I'm supposed to show you to Astronomy. You are not allowed to wander around the school at night, except if you have classes. If you do, you are expected to go directly to them and come directly back. No exceptions. Are you all right, Anne?"

"I'm fine."

"Good. Follow me, and please try to remember where the Astronomy Tower is so I won't have to keep leading you around on Wednesdays."

They followed the Prefect out of the portrait. The halls outside were dark and full of shadows. "Lumos," he said, and a light appeared at the end of his wand. They quickly began walking along the corridors.

Lily hadn't expected to go down to get to a tower, but the Prefect showed them down two sets of stairs, along a corridor, through several more which were all full of deep shadows, and past a suit of armour that moved and wheezed as they passed. Finally they reached another set of stairs going up in a spiral, and followed the prefect up that. If it hadn't been for the people in the paintings and tapestries moving around on the walls and whispering to each other, Lily would have fallen asleep on her feet by now.

They reached the top of the tower and Bilius Weasley opened a door. "The first years, Professor Delaney," he said.

Professor Delaney was a young woman with light brown hair, glasses, and a rather dreamy expression. She looked as though she was about five miles away.

"Hello," she said uncertainly. "First years ... Gryffindor ... aren't you?"

"Yes," said several people, and she began to call attendance.

"Good," she said, when she saw everyone was there. "Now ... Astronomy ... I hope all of you have your telescopes ... please set them out and take out parchment and quills. We will be drawing star charts ... the moon is nearly full, so we will not be able to see that area of the sky very well..."

Lily found Astronomy very boring, which didn't help, as she was already half asleep. When the Prefect finally came up for them again, she was yawning again, and on the way back to Gryffindor Tower she was pinched several times by Cassandra Ollopa and Jenny Whisp to keep her awake.

REMUS III

September 3^rd, 2003

I am running through a dark forest, running wild through the trees. No one stops me, no one even dares to look at me. I am free, and wild, and dangerous...

The moon is overhead, through the leaves. I am here because of it...

No one challenges me. The animals in the forest do not dare, and there are no humans here. If there were, they would not dare either. No one challenges a werewolf...

I stop suddenly and sit back and howl up at the full moon above me, bright through the leaves of the trees...

On Thursday Remus woke up feeling even worse than he had the previous morning. He knew why, of course. The full moon was on Saturday, in just two days. And now the dreams had started. He always had those dreams before the full moon.

On Saturday he would have to go to the "small building" near Hogsmeade through a tunnel under the Whomping Willow that Dumbledore had warned them about during the Feast. Of course, it would probably be better there than in the basement with the doors locked and with soundproofing charms, but until the full moon he would continue to feel tired and ill.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up. Even his thoughts weren't making much sense now.

Sirius and James were apparently still asleep; at least, the curtains around their beds were drawn. He dressed and walked down to the common room.

No one was there. He weighed his choices, and went back up to the dormitory to get a book.

Around eight, several people came down the two staircases. Among them were most of the rest of the first years. Peter had apparently disappeared, but James and Sirius were there, looking tired and annoyed, and Lily had apparently forced the girls to get up. The Gryffindors went to the Great Hall.

It took them about five minutes to get there, but that was an improvement on the last time. Peter was already sitting there. The boys went over to the seats near him.

"How long have you been here?" James asked him.

"Less than an hour," said Peter. "We've got Defence Against the Dark Arts first, all morning, then History of Magic and Transfiguration."

"Great," said Sirius. "Defence Against the Dark Arts is all theory, and History of Magic is boring -"

"Soporific," said Remus.

"- and we've got no idea what Transfiguration's like, but Andromeda says that McGonagall teaches it and she's really strict, which is not a good thing."

James rolled his eyes. "No Sirius, we'll enjoy having a really strict teacher who -"

"Shut it, you," said Sirius.

The mail came. He could hear Lily gasping at the owls a few seats down. Wasn't she used to this yet?

"We'd better see if we can remember the way to Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Peter.

"Can't be that hard," said James.

The four of them ended up in front of a large portrait of an Elizabethan lady who looked strangely familiar.

"An it please you, where go you four?" she asked.

"You're that painting that gave us all those misleading directions, aren't you?" James demanded.

"Not I," she said. "I do not believe I know of whom you speak."

"Where's the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom?" asked Peter.

"Along this corridor, to your left, then turn right and continue to a staircase, after which go down to the third floor, then turn to the right -"

"Where?" asked Sirius.

"I will show thee, then. Follow, an you will."

She curtseyed, and walked quickly out of the portrait.

They looked at each other. "Might as well," said James, and they followed in the direction she had gone.

They saw glimpses of her as she walked through the portraits lining the walls. Finally she stopped.

"'Tis through that door," she said, "to the left. I can take thee no longer. An you wish, ask me again if you find you need help." She curtseyed again, then walked out of the portrait and back up the hall.

"She's mad," said Sirius. "What century does she think it is?"

"Well," said Peter, "she was probably painted in the sixteenth century, so it makes sense that she'd still go on like that."

"Mad," said Sirius. "Let's go."

Remus didn't find Defence Against the Dark arts particularly boring, but he supposed that was just because he spent the entire lesson listening and waiting for someone to mention werewolves. He knew that it wasn't good idea to do that, but he couldn't help it. They didn't mention them.

By about halfway through the lesson, Sirius was apparently sleeping with his eyes open, James was absent-mindedly sketching a (very bad) picture of a lion, and Peter and Remus were taking notes. Lily, in the row ahead of them, was answering a question, and Annetta was rather obviously reading a book under her own desk. This continued until lunch. Professor Egg, despite his comments at the beginning of their first class, didn't seem to notice.

"That was boring," said Sirius as they walked out.

"Were you even awake, Sirius?" James asked, rather enviously. Remus couldn't blame him - he'd like to learn to sleep with his eyes open.

"I had my eyes open."

"You were asleep."

"How do we get to the Great Hall?"

Remus turned. Lily had asked that. The girls had apparently been following them. Annetta, he noticed, was still reading.

"No idea," said Peter. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Hogwarts!" said Sirius brightly.

"Very funny, Sirius," said James. Remus was beginning to wonder why exactly those two were such good friends.

They found the Great Hall about five minutes after everyone else. It took them about as long to find History of Magic again.

Annetta took out another book the moment they entered the classroom. Lily set out parchment on her desk, apparently to take notes. James and Sirius began playing Hangman.

"T."

"Nope."

Remus leaned over. "N."

"One N."

Peter joined, and they continued quietly playing until the bell rang.

"Leprechaun," Sirius muttered as they walked out. "Leprechaun. And Acromantula. I ask you."

James rolled his eyes.

They found Transfiguration much more quickly than any of their other classes, probably because it was on the same floor as History of Magic. Professor McGonagall was waiting for them.

"Sit down, please," she said as they entered the room. "Now. I am Professor McGonagall, and I am to teach the art of Transfiguration. Transfiguration is extremely complicated and dangerous, and if I find anyone causing a disturbance in this classroom, you will leave and not come back. You have all been warned."

Then she turned Lily's desk into a potted plant and back. Lily jumped.

"Excuse me, Miss. Evans," Professor McGonagall said, and she swept Lily's papers back onto her desk. "You are to start by attempting to turn matches into needles. Here they are."

James was the only one in the class who managed to do anything to his match. (Actually, Sirius had set his desk on fire, but it had been extinguished quickly and he'd been given a detention.) James' match had turned into a perfect model of a needle, but made of wood. McGonagall seemed happy, however, and James got back most of the points that Sirius had lost.

ANNETTA II

September 3rd, 1971

Annetta walked down the row of bookshelves. She liked libraries. She liked history, too, which was a good thing, as she was looking for a book to help her work on her History of Magic essay.

Annetta really hadn't paid attention in History of Magic. She'd been reading. And she really had had no idea what their homework was until Lily had told her, either. But she wasn't going to let that stop her from getting good grades. The Hogwarts library had books on nearly every subject she could think of, and many she couldn't, and she hadn't even seen half of it yet.

She reached for a book on magic in ancient Egypt.

Three other people reached for it at the same time.

She jumped back, and so did the other three. "Sorry!" they all said at once, and then, all at once, they began laughing. For a second Annetta was afraid she'd stepped into an Arbitratus Portal. But then all of them should have been different...

She hadn't. The three other girls were obviously first years, but otherwise they didn't look much like her. One of them was Asian, another blonde, and the last black-haired and pale. "Hello," said the blonde.

"Hello," said the Asian girl, and Annetta realised who it might be.

"Jiang Qing?" she asked, remembering the name of the girl she had met on the boat.

"Annetta More?"

"Well, as you two know each other, introductions aren't exactly necessary, are they? Good. I hate formalities," said the dark-haired girl. "I'm Geneva Trent."

"Janice Sommes," said the blonde. "What Houses are you in?"

"Gryffindor," said Annetta.

"Ravenclaw," said Jiang.

"Hufflepuff," said Janice.

"Slytherin," said Geneva.

There was a pause, and they laughed again.

"Old blood?" asked Annetta, recognising the names.

"Yes."

"Binns' assignment?" asked Janice. "Magic in ancient Egypt?"

"Of course," said Geneva. "Does he have everyone doing the same assignments?"

"Well," said Annetta, "if he's been teaching for as long as they say he has, it makes sense."

"Do you think he really has?" asked Janice.

"How long?" Jiang asked. "I do not know - I've just come from China, two years ago."

"They say Godric Gryffindor hired him, when he - Binns - was still alive," said Annetta.

"I thought it was Helga Hufflepuff," said Janice.

"I heard it was Salazar Slytherin," said Geneva.

"I do remember something about Rowena Ravenclaw," said Jiang.

They laughed again.

"More proof that the House system is not the crowning achievement of civilisation?" Annetta asked.

"Why are there Houses anyway?" Jiang asked. "It seems to only create prejudices."

"It was supposed to be more convenient for the students to be separated," said Geneva before Annetta could speak. "The Founders each took certain students they wanted to teach themselves, and they kept the students in the same dormitories and rooms so they could help them in the common room. The passwords were created so other students wouldn't interrupt. And then Slytherin left, and now everyone's fighting over Houses and things and there are all these stupid rivalries. I mean, if some of the people in my House knew I was talking to a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, they'd faint."

"I can think of a few people who wouldn't be extremely happy that I was talking to you, either," said Annetta.

"And you're a More, so everyone expected you to be in Ravenclaw, didn't they?" asked Janice. "And I was supposed to be a Ravenclaw too."

"So was I," said Geneva. "I expect to receive a Howler soon."

"My parents don't know much about the Houses at Hogwarts," said Jiang. "In China the schools are different. But they seemed to like the idea of Ravenclaw."

"All of us supposed to be Ravenclaws," said Annetta. "The Hat nearly put me there, but it suddenly changed its mind."

"Yes," said Geneva.

Janice pulled the book on ancient Egypt off the shelf. "We might as well work on our History of Magic essays, right?" she asked.