The Marauders and the Triwizard Tournament

The Marauders and the Triwizard Tournament

By Naycit and Celena Lupin

Chapter Two: The New DADA Professor and his "lovely" assistant.

Sirius was woken up next morning by James, who threw a pillow to his head. He and Peter were busy, making a lot of noise as usual. He would certainly join, if it wasn't because he'd been feeling rather isolated from real world. It was like if he'd rather stay at that wonderful place, between being asleep and being awake; that place where the only living creature went by the name of Jewel. The most handsome of the Marauders remained with his eyes stubbornly closed, the mayhem notwithstanding.

"Wake up, Padfoot! We're late for breakfast!"

"Just five minutes, James," he mumbled, without opening his eyes.

"Get up your lazy ass!" James climbed on Sirius bed and, with no effort at all, he pushed him out of his bed. He fell heavily to the ground, clutching his pillow with all his might, still refusing to part his eyelids.

"C'mon, you lazy!" shouted James, just before he landed on Sirius body, closely followed by Peter.

"Hey! Guys!" said Sirius with constricted voice. "I can't breath!" He finally managed to wake up to reality. The light hurt his eyes, but nothing compared to his aching ribs.

James and Peter roared with laughter, still lying on top of Sirius. He would have laughed himself if it wasn't for his friends' weight. At that precise moment, a boy with light- brown hair and a kind face peered through the curtains of his four-poster bed. Remus Lupin stood up and directed his steps towards the lump of people that struggled to their feet.

"Would you stop that?" he snapped. The other three Marauders ceased the laughter at once and gaped at him. "You're always making noise! I just can't stand it anymore! When are you lot going to grow up?"

And with that, he left the dormitory without bothering to change into his school-robes. Sirius arched an eyebrow, and James snorted. Peter looked dumbfound as usual.

"What the hell was that about?" asked Sirius.

"Oh, you know, his furry-little problem, I expect. It's like a girl when THOSE days of the month approach. Our Moony becomes a bit jumpy. Wouldn't you agree?"

Both Peter and James laughed at the joke, but Sirius didn't. He gazed worriedly at the door through which Remus had gone out. Something wasn't right here. The full moon was two weeks away. He'd been acting weird, even for his usual standards.

The three of them changed into their school robes and went down to the common room, expecting to find Remus there. There was no sign of their friend there. They waited patiently for a couple of minutes and, finally, they gave up and went down to breakfast. He wasn't there either. They ate in silence, looking around anxiously.

"Where the hell did he go?" asked Sirius.

"I haven't got a clue, mate," said James, "but don't worry. I bet he'll be at class. Like if our favorite Prefect would skip."

Sirius sighed. They finished their breakfast silently, and ran out of the Great Hall towards their first class, which was Defense Against the Dark Arts. However, as soon as they reached the doors, they saw Remus coming down the stairs, fully-dressed and, apparently, still very upset.

"Why, Moony, are you feeling alright?" asked James.

"I'm fine," he said tonelessly, and with that, he turned on his heel and directed his feet towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The remaining Marauders looked at each other, completely nonplussed, then shrugged and followed suit. They trotted to the classroom, late as usual. To their surprise, they found that the Professor wasn't there yet.

They entered and sat in the last roll, far from the eyes of whoever the teacher was. Peter and James started a round of Exploding Snap, given Sirius refusal to join, and regardless of Remus' icy gaze. Sirius didn't even realize the mess his friends where doing. He was looking intently at a red-headed girl in the front row, who was chatting animatedly to her two best friends. Sirius knew that those were her dorm-mates, Yolanda York and Heather Hewitt, the annoying, chattering pair who would torment anyone who was daring enough to ask Lily out.

BANG!

Sirius spun around to find James and Peter lying on the ground after a particularly fierce explosion. Remus shook his head sternly and began to help Peter to his feet. Sirius roared with laughter.

"Why, James, don't tell me that Wormtail finally managed to get you," he said. James glared at him. "He did?" he asked, amazed. "Whoa, Wormtail! That is wonderful! You have made us proud, and we may even consider admitting that you are our friend. This calls for..."

"Detention perhaps?" said a cold voice from behind.

"Why, Moony, I meant celebration!" said Sirius, turning to face his friend. However, his wide grin vanished into nothingness upon realizing who was standing before him; it wasn't Remus, definitely. He gulped, and so did James.

Damn...

"Would you care to take your seats, gentlemen?" said the new Professor, smiling widely. James and Peter went back to their places hastily. Sirius was about to sit when he heard his name being called again. "Not you, Mr. Black." He spun around, arching an eyebrow. "If you would kindly sit in the front row."

"What?" he said, aghast. It wasn't like if he had never been asked to change places, away from James (it actually happened every single class). It was the fact that a certain Gryffindor girl was sitting in the front row, and the only place available was next to her. "Why? Professor, I didn't do anything...honestly..."

"I will decide if you did something bad or not, Mr. Black," he cut him off, grinning widely. "Now, to the front row, if you please." His cold, deep-blue eyes left no chance of retort.

Sirius glanced at his friends in utter terror. James was doing a poor job stifling his laughter. Peter smiled, amused, but Remus simply wouldn't look at him. Finally, he had to give in. He took his bag and proceeded to the front row, next to Lily. She received him with a wide grin, the same that charmed men way better than her wand could. Sirius felt a jolt in his stomach.

The teacher returned to the front, giving Sirius a look that could make anyone's spine chill. He didn't think he was going to like that man very much. There was a knock on the door and a woman entered the classroom. Sirius gaped at her, astonished, but he wasn't the only one. Nobody had seen this woman around. She turned her face to Sirius, and he held her gaze for a second. Maybe it was because he'd been living with nasty girls all his life at Grimmauld Place, but he could tell from her icy gaze that this woman was not friendly.

"Good morning, dear fellows, let me introduce myself," said the new teacher. "My name is Doyle Dodson, and I will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She..." He beckoned the strange woman to approach."...is my assistant. Professor Dumbledore consented to have an assistant in this class, for my planned program will require a lot of practice. Her name is Medea Morton, and I expect you lot to treat her as a teacher as well. I will not tolerate any lack of respect towards her, understood?"

The group nodded. It was hard to disagree with Dodson when he eyed them with that menacing gaze of his, least of all if Medea was beside him, with her unfriendly expression to boot.

"Now, I'll call the roll. Kindly be quiet as I do so."

Sirius snorted. Like if James would ever be quiet. He turned to Lily and his heart sank. She was whispering with Yolanda and Heather, and...no, that couldn't be...eyeballing Professor Dodson!

"What are you staring at, girls?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"And why, should we tell you, Black?" asked Yolanda.

"Yes, why do you care?" added Heather.

"Why, ladies, maybe it was just my imagination, but I can tell that you lot were eyeballing Mr. Dodson." The three girls stared at him, and then Lily began to giggle.

"What?" asked Sirius indignant.

"Oh, please, Black. Don't tell me you're jealous," said Heather. Sirius' heart skipped a few beats. What did she mean?

"What do you mean by jealous, Heather?" he asked, mockingly. "I have never, nor will I ever, feel jealousy for a teacher. Leave that to James."

"Yeah, sure," said Yolanda smirking. "I bet you don't like it when girls look at other men. You think you're so handsome that all the girls will be devoted to you forevermore."

"You're as fat-headed as that annoying friend of yours."

Now, that was too much. "I'm not jealous! And I don't think I'm that handsome, but yes, I am really attractive," he said, winking at the three ladies. "If I had a mirror I would kiss my reflection."

"You see, that's precisely why James earned the nickname of fat-head," said Lily.

Sirius dropped the game at once. "Well, anyway. I don't see what's so nice of this bloke," he spat bitterly. But he had to acknowledge that Dodson wasn't ugly. He had handsome features, and his eyes were deep blue, a shade he'd never seen. His long, sleek, dark hair was tied in a neat ponytail that fell to his broad shoulders. To his resentment, even Lily was eyeing him intently, and so did the rest of the female members of the class. In the back, James was looking as bitter as Sirius. He didn't like to lose in any sense, and he'd lost twice in a single class; one to Peter and another to Dodson who took the girls' attention from him.

"Ackley, Fabian," called Dodson.

"Right here!" answered a blonde boy in the third row.

"Alcott, Louise."

"Here!"

Sirius groaned, watching annoyingly how Louise winked at Professor Dodson and he smiled widely at her in return.

"Black, Sirius."

"Here," he spat, not looking at Dodson. If he had, he would have noticed the malice in Dodson's eyes as he looked at him.

"Dawson, Eliot."

"Here!"

"Evans, Lily."

"Here!"

As Dodson eyed Lily approvingly, Sirius's insides squirmed with anger, mostly because she smiled at him as well. And on top of things, he heard the 'babbling pair' starting to whisper.

"I think he likes you, Lily!"

"Oh, girls, come on!"

"I mean it, Lily, you are too pretty for your own good. Leave something for us!"

"Shut up!"

She turned from her friends to Sirius and raised her perfectly penciled eyebrows upon watching his cold gaze. He looked away from her eyes, his insides squirming more painfully by the second. Dodson finished calling the row and stood up, eyeing the group. Medea took his seat.

"Today we will have a bit of a test," he announced. The group groaned. "I need to know how good, or how bad, you are. Your O.W.L. results and previous marks are of no importance to me. I need to see you do it!

At this, Remus paled, but not nearly as much as Peter. James smirked, catching Sirius' eye.

"Why don't we start? I'll put you into pairs. Medea, would you be so kind to help me?"

Medea Morton left her seat and proceeded to the back. She paired Remus with James and Peter with the boy called Eliot. Dodson, for his part, paired Yolanda and Heather, and to Sirius dismay, he paired him with Lily.

"Now. I want the guys in the left to jinx their partners. The ones on the right will perform the Shield Charm and then counterattack. And, of course, you lot will do all of this non-verbally."

There was a general outrage. James wasn't going to let Remus jinx him, and neither was Sirius going to jinx Lily. However, one cold look from both Medea and Dodson shushed the muttering.

"On the count of three. One, two..."

Sirius pointed his wand at Lily half-heartedly. She prepared for the attack, her face determined. Sirius felt as if she had hit him with Jelly-Legs jinx, and then remembered the exercise hadn't begun yet.

"Three!"

At once, several screams and jets of light burst all around the room. Sirius' feeble attempt of a Leg-Lock curse was easily repelled by Lily's superb Shield Charm. She then threw a Furnunculus Curse his way, and he had bare seconds to repel it, managing it in the last second with the best results. The Curse bounced back to Lily who managed to repel it again and neutralize it.

At the end of the round, only six people remained on their feet and untouched. Lily, Sirius, James, Remus, Severus Snape and Eliot, whom Peter had been unable to curse in the first place, having his wand pointing to himself instead of his opponent. Heather and Yolanda had collapsed on a fit of giggles after hitting each other, not having performed the Shield Charm on time, on either side.

"Well, well, well, Miss Evans," said Dodson. "That was a superb Shield Charm. And not to mention your Furnunculus Curse, which Mr. Black so amazingly repelled. I was almost certain that you would hit him."

"Thank you, Professor."

"Call me Doyle, my dear. Truly, you must have strong magic in those veins. I'm sure your parents would agree."

"I don't think so, Professor," said Lily with a grin.

"Why is that, Lily? How could they not notice the strong magic in you?"

"They are Muggles. I don't think they can tell, honestly."

At once, Dodson's smile fled his face. His deep blue eyes turned to ice as he eyed Lily.

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm a Muggle-born."

Dodson snorted and turned to Sirius, fixating a new grin.

"Now, you, Mr. Black, the eldest of the Noble and Ancient House of Black, the purest of our times. I have had the honor of meeting your lovely cousin, Bellatrix, a superb witch, very witty, just like yourself. I simply don't understand how come you ended up in Gryffindor. You must have been really disappointed."

"Not at all. I feel really proud of being where I am," replied Sirius coldly, his eyes shooting daggers at Dodson. The teacher grinned evilly and proceeded to the next pair, Remus and James.

"You two, gentleman. A passable performance. It could have been better, of course, but Mr. Lupin's limitations certainly have some weight here, whereas Mr. Potter had to deal with it." Remus' eyes were wide as plates, and James eyed Dodson warily. "He would have been superb, I'm sure, had he dueled with a worthier opponent... like say: Mr. Black. Don't you think so, Medea?"

"Of course, Doyle. Miss Evans is a poor opponent compared to Mr. Potter, no doubt."

At the same moment, a quiet giggle could be heard from the other side of the classroom. Severus Snape was grinning nastily.

"And you, young man. Your name's Snape, isn't it?" The boy nodded.

"Well, I don't know anything about your father. Your mother is always evasive on the matter. Eileen Prince, correct? She was an old classmate of my own mother. A witty witch. She would have done better than playing Gobstones on her day. Just look at you. That was a superb Stunning spell, although you weren't supposed to knock out cold Mr. Ackley. Very well done, Mr. Snape."

He patted Severus on the shoulder and proceeded to Eliot and Peter.

"Well, well, well, Mr. Pettigrew. That was a serious mistake, wasn't it? Shooting your own spell at yourself at this state must be really embarrassing. It was a nice bit of work though. If you point in the right direction next time, you might surprise us all. I knew your father, Patrick Pettigrew. He was talented but absentminded. Surely his son will overcome that family trait."

Dodson finished his lecture and went back to the front. Medea remained at the back, smiling her nasty smile.

"Well, most of you apparently forgot the bit about 'non-verbally', but I would have been surprised if all of you all had been able to do it. So, now I will pass you a written test." He flicked his wand and, at once, pieces of parchment appeared in-front of each student. "You have the rest of the period to do it. Begin now."

The remaining time of class went on silently. James and Sirius, as usual, where the first to finish, followed closely by Lily and Severus. Remus finished at the middle of the period, and Peter gave up shortly afterwards.

"Until next class, then," said Dodson, and he left the classroom with Medea on his heels. At once, muttering began. The Marauders for their part were more than outraged.

"Who does that IDIOT think he is?" bellowed Sirius.

"Calm down, Padfoot. It's not that bad. It's just that he obviously favors the pure-bloods. Git...." James shook his head and eyed Remus, who was dead-pale. "You don't think he knows about Moony, do you?"

"And how on earth does he know about everybody's family?" asked Sirius.

"I wondered about that too," mumbled Remus.

"I don't know. But did you see the git? Drooling over Snivellus?" added James. "And what was that shit about Lily being an unworthy opponent? I thought he liked her...."

"She's a Muggle-born. I don't think he liked to learn that," said Remus.

"I think I'll skip the rest of the DADA classes," said Sirius.

"Me too," added James.

"Shut up, guys. We can't do that."

"See if we can!" bellowed both James and Sirius. Lupin recoiled.

"I'm sorry, Moony. We don't mean to abandon you, of course. It's just that he's an insufferable git," said James.

"Oh, and did you notice his 'lovely assistant'?" said Sirius.

"She was dead ugly," said Peter.

"Kind of reminds me of my mother."

"Sirius!"

"Sorry, Moony. I couldn't help but to notice a resemblance."

Remus shook his head. "We'd better go. We've got Potions next, and Slughorn doesn't like us to be late."

"Padfoot?"

But Sirius didn't reply. The remaining Marauders looked in the direction he was looking. There was a lovely red-headed girl with the loveliest eyes, crying into her friend's shoulder. James shook his head.

"I swear I'll kill that git," said Sirius, clenching his fists.

"Sirius?" called James. His friend turned to him with a sober expression. James hardly ever called him by his real name, unless it was to say something big.

"Yes, James?"

"Are you serious about this thing? I mean... about Evans and all?"

Sirius arched an eyebrow. That was the last thing he expected... or maybe not.

"Why?" he asked. James shrugged. "James, are you still in love with her?"

"What makes you think that? I told you I gave it up last year."

"James, you know you're my best mate, and you know you can tell me. I don't want this to interfere with our friendship. You know you're like a brother to me."

James smiled at Sirius sincerity. "Don't worry about that, Padfoot. Evans will never date a Marauder. All Hogwarts knows that."

And with that, he left the classroom, heading for the Potions class.

"Do you really think he got over her?" asked Sirius to nobody in particular, but it was Remus who answered.

"He's a bit resentful, Sirius. You, of all people, should know that."

"It's just that... I don't want to hurt him."

"But he's right. Evans is a tough girl, and she wouldn't date any of us," added Peter. "She hates us."

The three of them left the classroom in silence. Remus began to discuss something about Potions, but Sirius was musing to himself. It was common knowledge that Evans did hate the Marauders, but he couldn't forget the glint in her eyes, as shiny as emeralds. He had seen it when they talked by the Snack Trolley, and he hoped his hunch was accurate. The only problem, of course, wasn't Lily. It was James.