Sapphire Star

Chapter Three: First Impressions

It was a rather disgruntled James Potter that set off to Defense Against the Dark Arts class, their last period for that day. He had always hated it when Sirius accused him of fancying Lily. To his left, James winced to hear Peter laughing shrilly at Sirius' Professor Binns impression. It always had been a classic. He simply called upon an unwavering, monotone voice and began to drawl on and on about various characters named Frazzler the Flatulent or Ugbert the Unedible, and show no emotion as he expounded on each of their gruesome deaths. Cassie and Lily rolled their eyes and then simultaneously groaned, "Boys!"

"They are so immature."

"Oi, look who's talking," Remus grumbled pointedly.

"Yeah, that's the pot calling the kettle black!" Everyone turned to Sirius, the source of this strange idiom, and gave him a bemused look. He just went bright red and muttered, "It's a phrase my Uncle Alphard always used to say..."

"Ooookay then... Whatever you say, Sirius, darling..."

"Of course, Lady Cassandra."

Remus and Lily both made a face, and Cassie simply pulled one of her 'I'm a perfect little angel' smiles. She had perfected them in their second year to counter-act the Marauders' 'Devilishly Handsome and Charming' smiles.

Considering that it was an actual class, they were all fairly enthusiastically anticipating their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. This was mainly because they were anxious to see what kind of teacher the outwardly small and calm Professor Green would turn out to be. Rumours were flying but her past jobs, and they ranged from a presenter on the Wizarding Wireless to a vampire hunter. Their previous teacher had come in their third year, after the original teacher had quit due to some vague and hushed-up accident about a rogue hippogriff. Considering the sticky ends the careers tended to meet, people were beginning to speculate the position was actually jinxed.

When they entered the classroom, up close, the woman only seemed even more petite, swimming in her plain, smart black robes. Although she certainly hadn't taken any pains to impress them with her appearance, she had the same smart, crisp look as Professor McGonagall. With her hands clasped behind her back, she surveyed the class with a look of mild interest, as though examining a herd of cattle. The six of them exchanged looks; she didn't like someone one would want to cross. Still, judging by the grim determination in the boys' faces, Marauder tradition was going to be upheld. Lily glanced over at the teacher's desk as she passed, and noted something sitting in the open desk drawer that might prevent their plot from running quite as smoothly as it usually did.

"Um, guys? It's just a suggestion, but you may want to consider-"

"Please take a seat everyone, wherever you please. I assume you're all mature enough at this point that I am not compelled to assign seats to you all." Lily wondered if she was imagining the trace of sarcasm the teacher had artfully threaded into that sentence. "I am to be your instructor for this school year, and my name is Professor Green. I intend to call roll first thing this class period. Please raise your hand when I call out your name."

Lily winced as she sat just in front of the boys beside Cassie. Oh well, she mused, it was about time that that lot met their match in teachers anyway. Maybe they would even appreciate the challenge.

"Black, Sirius," Professor Green called out sharply.

Remus Lupin thrust his hand into the air. Green raised her eyebrows, and made a small check mark next to his name, but continued. Remus swallowed nervously, and shot a look at the real Black, Sirius.

"Burbank, Cassandra"

Cassie raised her hand. "Cassie, ma'am."

The Professor narrowed her eyes slightly. "My name's Cassie, not Cassandra," she repeated.

"It says Cassandra on my register."

"Yes, but I haven't ever been called Cassandra. It gets too confusing."

"I see," the Professor made a neat strike through the second half of Cassie's name, but looked as though she didn't really think that something that simple ought to be confusing, then pressed on with, "Darlet, Amanda."

"Evans, Lily." Lily raised her hand.

"Lupin, Remus." Peter put his arm up. The professor nodded, and placed yet another precise check mark on her list.

The process continued as the Gryffindors were named; James was Peter and Sirius was James. Each time one of the four boys raised their hand, she would make another of the small check marks next to their name. Once she completed roll, Professor Green delved straight into the traditional first day of term lecture, pacing slightly as she talked, and looking straight ahead of her rather than at her pupils.

"As you have no doubt been told by each of your professors so far today, and I should hope knew from the start, you are about to begin your fifth year. With this year come certain pressures and obstacles you have not yet encountered, such as your OWL's. However, this late in your education, you are also being prepared for a whole different world. After Hogwarts, there will be no teachers for you to run crying to, no library to provide you with all of the answers, and no Hospital Wing to undo the hexes that have been placed upon you. It is necessary for you to become entirely self-sufficient. Are any of you able to tell me what is happening in the outside world even as we speak that will make this class in particular exceptionally important?" Remus raised his hand. "Yes, Lupin?"

Remus faltered for a moment, and then responded, "I'm Sirius, Sirius Black."

"Of course you are. Now if you would please answer the question, Mister Lupin..." Cassie stifled a snort, and Professor Green cocked an eyebrow at her.

Remus looked extremely edgy. He caught James' eye, who shrugged as though to say, 'Might as well go ahead...'

Remus took a deep breath and began reeling off information as though he was spitting back a clipping that he had memorized. "At the moment, a dark wizard who calls himself Lord Voldemort is working to gain both power and followers. He seems to feel that all muggles ought to be exterminated, and is murdering several for demonstrations. He leaves what he called the 'Dark Mark' hovering over their houses; it's a king of electric green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, or something like that. He's also killed eleven civilian wizards so far, as well as three Aurors who tried to work against him. It's believed that before he gained his notoriety, he also murdered two other Aurors and their wives. The ministry claims to be making efforts to stop him right now." Lily was the only one who noticed that Remus paused for a moment and glanced anxiously at Cassie, his face full of concern; she simply smiled back at him, although the smile seemed rather forced. Yet, it was over in a moment, and Lily just assumed that she must have imagined the entire thing. She had had no idea that Remus was that up to date with current affairs.

"Excellent, Lupin." Professor Green interrupted Lily's train of thought. "You have just managed to earn back the house points that the four of you lost for the little stunt you pulled in regards to your respective names." She resumed her pacing and stiff gesticulation. "You, the students sitting before me now, are the next generation. You will be the Aurors of tomorrow, and the politicians of tomorrow. The fate of the wizarding world is in you hands, and so I strongly advise that you handle it carefully. And I suggest you pay attention, POTTER." James, who had been writing a note to Sirius, jumped about a foot in the air. The class continued as they delved into their textbooks, and at the end they were assigned to write an essay about what they now about the downfall of the dark wizard Grindewald.

As they filed out, Peter whispered, "Boy, she's scary; she's like some freaky combination of Kraken and McGonagall!"

It was his turn to jump as a voice called out, "Thank you, Pettigrew." His eyes widened like a deer caught in the headlights and he ran out of the classroom. As the rest of the group rushed out after him, they didn't hear the Professor chuckling quietly to herself. This was partially due to the fact that James and Lily were embroiled in a heated argument.

"Lily, you knew? You could have told us she had a... a whatever it's called..."

"An Abscondoveris. It alerts the bearer to anyone lying in its presence. Honestly James, by now you should know most Professors are human lie detectors, anyway. It's just a stupid, over-used prank. Besides, I did try to tell you. And it was funny, even you have to admit."

"Funny! We almost lost house points! Evans, You are so unbelievably... I don't know, so arrogant sometimes."

"Arrogant? Excuse me, but compared to you, I don't even know the definition of the word arrogant! You don't see me charging around and messing up my hair, just so that I can look cool! I'm not the one who-"

"All right, break it up, ladies!" Sirius cut in, physically separating them as well. "I'd be much obliged if the two of you could both get to dinner in one piece."

When dinner finally ended, Lily had barely gotten a start on her homework when she and Remus had to rush off to their first prefect meeting. They left Peter and Cassie in the middle of a game of Wizard chess (Cassie was losing both the game and her temper), and Sirius and James working out the finer points of their next large-scale prank, which they planned to put into action sometime the next morning against the Slytherin house. As Sirius had put it, "We have to set the tone for the entire year!"

As they clambered out of the portrait hole, Lily said to Remus, "You've got to feel sorry for the Slytherins sometimes. They can't help having been put in that house. A few of them are really nice."

"I'm inclined to disagree. Name one decent one."

"Umm... Alice, Cassie's cousin."

"I suppose you're right, then. Still, ones like Snape give the whole lot a bad name, you've got to admit "

"I think the whole house just suffers from a lot of bad press. Besides, sometimes you all are absolute brutal to Severus, even when he's done nothing to deserve it."

At this point they had reached Professor McGonagall's office, where the meeting was taking place. Alyssa Burbank was perched casually on the Professor's desk, and beside her, Johnathan Boot, the Head Boy from Ravenclaw house, stood awkwardly. Although Alyssa was easy-going and charismatic, often times people felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer force of her personality. "Excellent!" Alyssa announced as Lily and James entered, cracking her knuckles and standing, then grinning easily at Johnathan. "That's everyone, right, John?"

"I think so," he confirmed, consulting his list.

"You can both just grab a seat anywhere. Okay then, let's get started. All of you got a basic briefing and an information packet on the train, so I'm not even going to bother giving you the overall lecture. I'm just going to remind you that all of you need to be careful how you use it, because don't think that it can't be taken away. With great power comes great responsibility." There was a scatter of laughter as a few of the Muggle-born students recognized the reference to the Spiderman comics. Alyssa smiled encouragingly. "On to the news. I'm sure some of you remember that late in the last school year, a petition began to circulate. Apparently, some people decided that we don't have enough amorous opportunities at Hogwarts, considering how infrequent the Hogsmeade trips are. These students therefore requested that there be some kind of faculty-sanctioned event on Valentine's Day this February. The students pointed out that this would help to curb the alarmingly large number of students who have elected the Astronomy Tower as the site for the rendezvous, and that if we don't actually provide them with an alternate form of entertainment," Alyssa picked up a sheet of paper and pushed her glasses higher up her nose, and then quoted from the paper she held, "God alone knows what kind of damage the parties we plan to have in our common room will do.' Needless to say, the administration has considered these points carefully, and has agreed to hold a dance on February the fourteenth. They have also seen fit to dump all of the responsibility for organizing it on us. I know that since it's only September, I'm telling you about this way in advance, but I just figured you'd all like to know. Each house will be delegated various tasks, and the prefects will be responsible for recruiting any help you might need from within their house. Hufflepuffs, you'll be responsible for arranging music. Ravenclaws, you're figuring out the food; you'll no doubt want to talk to the kitchen staff. Slytherins, you'll decorate the dance area, and Gryffindors, you'll decorate the dining area. In the mean time, you may want to look into finding out what preparations will be needed for your aspect of the event, as well as asking around to see what kinds of things people would like to have included. All of you will be required to submit an estimated budget, which the teachers can either approve or hack. You may want to go ahead and discuss whatever you want to plan now, and then you're free to return to your common rooms."

Lily and Remus turned to the sixth year Gryffindor prefects, Tara Scarlet and Max McMahon. Max and Remus both looked rather bored, simply nodding absently at the vague sketches and lists of price estimates that Lily and Tara mapped out. They decided that they didn't want to over-do it all, cramming it with pink hearts and streamers, but that something of a theme ought to be preserved, in the spirit of the festivities. Eventually they all agreed they'd meet up closer to the time, and post a notice on the Gryffindor common room board looking for volunteers to help; no doubt, if need be, they could gather a relative army of giggling young girls.

Lily and Remus ambled back to the common room after the sixth year prefects. When they arrived, they found the place nearly empty, and a note from the other Marauders and Cassie saying that they'd gone for supplies for the next prank, and had taken the Marauder's Map. Remus glared at his textbooks for a minute, then said goodnight and went up to the Boy's dormitory. Lily sat down at a table and began to plow through her Transfiguration homework. When she turned and glanced over toward the crackling fire, she saw Andy Burbank curled up in a big armchair by the fire, totally entranced by a massive book titled The Once and Future King, by T. H. White. She looked like a kitten, all snuggled up and content.

Since she hadn't seen her all summer, Lily figured she had better say hello. "Hi Andy, how've you been?"

Andy looked up suddenly, her eyes wide and bright. She was always like that. It reminded Lily of a startled deer, and the overall effect seemed even odder due to the fact that she, too, had mis-matched eyes. Once was hazel and the other grey. Andy always gave the impression of someone who didn't live in this world. It was as though whenever someone spoke to her, she was abruptly yanked back down to Earth. "Oh, hello, Lily. I'm fine thank you. How are you?"

Lily grinned inwardly. In sharp contrast to Andy, Andy always seemed to be very formal. "I'm great, thanks. Where's Lizzy gone?" Lily inquired, referring to Andy's best friend, another Gryffindor fourth year, known for mad stunts and strange rants.

"Oh, she decided to go to sleep. She finished The Hobbit, and since Mum hasn't sent me the next batch of books yet, she decided to go ahead and go to sleep. Have you read it? At first it can seem a little bit slow, but it picks up reasonably quickly, and is quite excellent.

"I haven't, actually. I'll have to give it a try during one of the holidays," Lily lied politely. Although she hadn't by any means forsaken muggle books, even before she found she was a witch, fantasy hadn't been her favourite genre. Now that she knew how wrong virtually all of those books were, she stayed with realistic or historical fiction.

Now Andy smiled, in a slow, unpracticed kind of way. As though she had read Lily's mind, she continued, "I suppose you think I'm mad for reading fantasy anyway. No one really understands it. I mean, magic was a dream come true for me; I live a fantasy every day. I simply get bored, though, and I know that I'm meant for something bigger. I'll find my adventure eventually, or else I'll die trying. This world, this reality, is like a prison for me, and I will escape it somehow, someday." There was a strange kind of steely resolve on her face, and she looked a bit like she belonged on one of the covers of the novels she immersed herself in so whole-heartedly.

Lily was more than a little startled by this apparently random declaration, and she bit her lip, highly uncomfortable. "You're right, I guess. I don't understand, but I do trust you, and I know that you're not crazy... Good luck." Lily smiled and seized upon her escape route. "Well, I guess I'll head up to bed, I'm exhausted. Don't stay up too late, you've still got school tomorrow."

Andy laughed quietly and nodded. "Of course, Mum." She then turned back to her book.

Lily snatched up her books and climbed the spiral staircase to the fifth year girls' dormitory, but she couldn't get the nagging feeling out of the back of her mind that something big was going to happen; it was a singularly eerie sensation. She finished her homework in her room, and fell asleep to the sound of Andy's words echoing around her brain, replaying constantly.