Four in a Million

Chapter 2

The Gates of Learning

Sirius woke up to hear a knocking at the door. "Go away!" he screamed.

"Are you up?" Came the response.

Sirius thought about why this voice sounded so familiar. He finally figured out that it was Ian Finnigan, Merope's boyfriend. Merope had probably sent him to wake up Sirius. "Yeah, Ian, I'm up," Sirius said. "Now go away!"

Sirius heard Ian leaving. He looked at his watch and realized that it was indeed time to get up. He took his pillow and threw it at James, trying to wake him up. James didn't seem too thrilled. "Wha'd you do that for?" He said.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Sirius responded. "It's almost time for breakfast."

James got out of bed. He and Sirius proceeded to wake up the rest of their roommates in a similar fashion. They all got dressed and went down to the common room, where they met up with Lily and the girls, who looked sleepier that Sirius, who looked like he'd been up half the night (which, incidentally, he was. He'd been planning tricks to play on the Slytherins as early as possible).

The first-years all attempted to walk down to breakfast together. However, that was not an easy task. There were over a hundred staircases, and they ran into about half of them trying to reach the great hall. Finally, they ran into Merope and Ian, who showed them where to go.

They finally reached the great hall, sat down, and looked at their schedules. They had Potions first, with the Slytherins.

"Ooh, double potions with the Slytherins first thing in the morning is not exactly the best morning starter."

James and Sirius turned around to see who had spoken. It was an older student they did not recognize. "Frank Longbottom," he said. "Fourth year. You're a Black, and you I don't know."

"James Potter," was James's response. "And he's Sirius."

"Serious about what?" Longbottom replied.

"It's my name," Sirius said. "And it's not funny."

Longbottom walked away to find some other first-years to torment. A few minutes later, Merope came to join them.

"First year schedules," she said, looking over their schedule. "Ooh, double potions with the Slytherins. Prof. Gogui always favors Slytherins, because he's the Head of Slytherin House. And Sir, beware, Prof. Gogui hates me, so he might hate you by association."

"Or he might like you 'cause he likes me," James added.

The Gryffindor first-years finished breakfast and headed to Potions. They took seats near the front of the room, and waited for Prof. Gogui to show.

Prof. Gogui entered the classroom and began to call the roll.

"Jones Avery."

"Present."

"Sirius Black."

"Present."

"Good. Your sister gave me the impression that you did not plan on showing up to class. I'm glad to see she was wrong. As usual. Blair Catchman."

"Present."

"Briana Douglas."

"Present."

"Lily Evans."

"Present."

"Eliza Lockman."

"Present."

"Remus Lupin."

"Present."

"Ah, Mr. Lupin, welcome to Hogwarts. Please try not to miss too many classes due to illness. Josh Mosely."

James sat for a minute trying to figure out what that meant. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the Professor. "Potter? James Potter, I know you're here, but are you responding?"

"Present."

"Arianna Rickman."

"Present."

"Mollie Schmutt."

"Present."

"Severus Snape."

"Present."

"Ariella White."

"Present."

"Jacob Zinman."

"Present."

"Good," Professor Gogui said. "All present and accounted for. Today we will make a simple potion to cure boils. I will partner you up. Ms. Douglas and Ms. White, Ms. Evans and Ms. Rickman, Ms. Lockman and Ms. Norman, Ms. Ringley and Ms. Martley, Ms. Schmutt and Ms. Catchman, Mr. Black and Mr. Snape, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Zinman, Mr. Mosely and Mr. Oper, Mr. Pettigrew and Mr. Nott, and finally Mr. Potter and Mr. Avery. Get to work!"

James and Avery set up camp next to Sirius and Snape. Class managed to be somewhat normal, unless you count the large argument Snape and Sirius had about when to add the porcupine quills. Snape was right.

Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, and Lily left class together. As soon as they were far enough away that the Slytherins couldn't hear them, Sirius said, "I can't believe that--" Sirius called Snape something that made Lily scream, "Sirius, where did you learn that word?" To which Sirius responded, "Merope's boyfriend," and smiled.

Sirius then continued his complaining. " 'Of course you add the porcupine quills after taking the cauldron off the fire' " Sirius said, imitating Snape. "How was I supposed to know?"

The next morning, after breakfast, the Gryffindor first-years went to History of Magic. Sirius and James seemed mildly amused by the fact that their teacher, Prof. Binns, the only ghost teacher in the school, came into the room by floating through the blackboard. They quickly learned that Binns's class was an opportunity to catch up on lost sleep. Lily seemed to be the only one taking notes. "Someone needs to teach you guys what you miss when you're sleeping," she said.

Next they went to Charms, with Prof. Flitwick. Prof. Flitwick was so short that he had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. James, Sirius, Lily and Peter were anxious to start making things fly around the room, but Remus explained to them that they probably were going to start learning information first. "You can't just fly things around the room without knowing how to move your wrist and exactly what words to say and the technique," he said. Sirius stuck out his tongue.

After lunch, they headed to Transfiguration. The teacher, Prof. McGonagall, was the Head of Gryffindor House, but students who had her last year (this was only her second year teaching) said she didn't favor students from her own house at all.

Prof. McGonagall started class by warning the students that misbehavior in her class would not be tolerated. She then changed her desk into a pig and back. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized that they wouldn't be changing furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of notes, they were each given a match and told to try and turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only James had changed his match into a needle; Prof. McGonagall gave him a rare smile.

Next they went to the class that people were most excited about-- Defense Against the Dark Arts. They walked into class and sat down, waiting for the teacher to show up.

A man walked into the room. "My name," he said, "is Prof. Nerah. Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I would like to start class by warning you that I will not tolerate misbehavior in my class. If you wish, you can choose to ignore what you learn in this class, but I warn you that in the future it may harm you.

"We are facing dark times. A dark Wizard named Voldemort is slowly gaining supporters and power. Now, more than ever, it is important to learn how to identify dark wizards, and how defend yourselves against the forces of evil.

"This year, I will teach you about Dark Wizards of the past and present. By the end of the year, I expect you to be able to identify the rise of a dark wizard and to be able to relate what you've learned to modern times. I hope that you will use what you learn in this classroom well. Now let's proceed with the lesson."

They spent the rest of class taking notes on early dark wizards. Class ended and James, Sirius, and Peter met up in the hall.

"So wha'd you guys think?" Sirius asked.

"It was okay," James responded. "I wanted to do something other than take notes, but if this is what we have to learn, we have to learn it."

"I thought it was a load of junk," Peter said. "Who cares if we identify dark wizards? He already told us there's one gaining power, so why do we have to know how to identify it? Our teachers can just tell us!"

"But what about when we become the teachers?" Sirius said. "If we don't learn this, who'll know then?"

Peter didn't answer this question. Sirius saw this and dropped the topic.

The rest of the week was very uneventful. Unless you count Snape and Sirius having another argument in Potions. Sirius walked out of class very upset that Snape had proven him wrong, again.

"Give me ten seconds in a room with him and I can get that stick out of his--"

"Sirius!" Lily screamed. "That word is totally inappropriate!"

"What word?" Sirius said, looking innocent. "Stick?"

"Black, you know exactly what word she means." Sirius looked behind him to see who had spoken. It was Snape. He looked very satisfied. "Did you think I didn't hear you?"

"Did you think I cared if you heard me?"

The marauders walked away. They went to the Gryffindor common room, where they saw a note pinned up on the house bulletin board. It said that Thursday afternoon the Gryffindor first-years would have flying lessons.

"Awesome!" Sirius said. "Flying lessons!"

"Did you read the end?" James asked.

"No," Sirius answered. He read the end of the notice and frowned. "Slytherins again? Don't they get the fact that we don't like them?"

"Nope," came a voice from behind. They looked to see who it was.

"George Patil. Third-year. And you take classes with the Slytherins every year. It's horrible."

"Thanks for the heads-up," James said. The marauders went up to their dorm, both excited and scared about flying lessons.

The Gryffindors got to flying lessons only to see the Slytherins waiting for them. They stood in two separate little groups until their instructor, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, people, hurry up."

The class followed her instructions. Looking down at their brooms, the marauders noticed that many of the school brooms were old and had twigs sticking out at odd angles. James was fortunate enough to get a brand new Nimbus 1001. "Just like the one I have at home," he said, smiling.

"Some folks get all the luck," Sirius mumbled under his breath.

"If you could all please stop talking," Madam Hooch said, "We could start the lesson. Everyone all talked out? Good.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom, and say 'up'"

"UP!" everyone shouted.

James and Sirius's brooms jumped into their hands at once, but they were in the vast minority. Remus's broom came into his hands after a few tries, Lily's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Peter's hadn't moved at all.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. James smiled and Sirius laughed when she told Snape he'd been holding it wrong. James mouthed "Told you so" at Snape, who scowled.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet-- only a few, anyone flying over seven feet above the ground will get detention-- and then come straight back down. On my--"

"Um, how do we get back down again? I seemed to have missed that part." Lily's tone of voice implied that she wanted to get down as soon as she could.

"You just have to lean forward slightly," Madam Hooch answered. "Not too much, because then you'll nosedive straight into the ground. On my whistle-- three-- two-- one. Go."

Twenty brooms flew into the air. From he ground, it was easy to see who had been on a broom before and who hadn't. The ones who had were calm and looked like they were enjoying themselves. Those who hadn't were yelling, screaming, and generally freaking out. James even risked getting detention by flying over a tree. Luckily, Madam Hooch didn't see him.

A few minutes later, everyone was back on the ground. A few students had cuts or bruises, but nobody had sustained any major injuries. Madam Hooch then divided them into groups and they played catch in the air.

At the end of the lesson, Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Lily walked back to Gryffindor tower together (James had disappeared to who-knows-where). The whole conversation was about flying.

"I, personally, don't see a purpose in flying," Lily said. Lily's face was slightly green. The flying didn't seem to have agreed with her. "Why would someone want to fly on a broomstick when you could keep two feet on the ground?"

"Why would somebody want to keep his feet on the ground if he could be flying on a broomstick?" Sirius said in response. "A broomstick is fun, adventurous, and, best of all, flying gives you an easier way to play pranks on the people below you."

"Seriously, do you always only think about pranks, or is it just that I always happen to catch you at one of those times?" Lily asked, rhetorically.

"Always," Sirius said. "Now back to flying," he said, turning to Remus and Peter. "Wha'd you guys think of it?"

"I agree with Lily," Peter said. "I'd much rather keep my feet on solid ground."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at Peter. Then, turning to Remus, he said: "What about you?"

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "It was a little less exciting than I thought it would be, but flying definitely has potential."

"Potential?!" said a voice from behind them. "It only has POTENTIAL?!@

Sirius turned around and saw James running to catch up with them. "Where were you, buddy? No, wait forget that, wha'd you think of the lesson?"

"It was flying; what could be bad about it?" James said rhetorically. "And I was getting some money off Slytherins."

"Which ones?"

"Snape and his slimy former-friends."

"What do you mean 'former friends'?" Remus asked.

"The guys he hung out with before Hogwarts. You know, Avery and Nott. Now he only hangs out with the second-years."

"So why did they owe you money?" Sirius asked.

"They bet I'd fall off my broom in flying lessons. They were wrong. I had to collect my money," James said.

"Why did they do that?" Lily asked.

"Because they're jerks," James responded.

"That's a very mean thing to say about someone," Lily said reproachingly.

"Not if it's true," James answered, clearly upset at Lily criticizing him., "So, any of you want to go out for Quidditch?" he said, changing the subject.

"Definitely," Sirius said.

"I would try," Remus said, "But first-years never make it. There hasn't been a first year on a house Quidditch team for almost a hundred years. Especially since we're not allowed to have brooms."

"Well it doesn't hurt to try," James said. "Maybe they'll see how good I am and make me a reserve so they can be sure I'm on the team next year."

"Maybe," Remus answered.

"We'll see next week after tryouts," James said.