Marauder

Chapter 2 First Classes

Sirius pushed his way through the crowd of the train station, as he followed Anna, Ryan, and Christine.

They walked through the barrier and soon found themselves on an entirely different platform. Mothers were hugging their children and giving them last minute reminders.

Sirius' parents had dropped them off, parting right after because they had to go to work. Sirius lugged his trunk into a compartment right after slipping into the Hogwarts Express, in order to find an empty space to himself and sat down beside the window, wondering who would come to sit with him.

Eventually, the door opened and a boy, who Sirius recognized as the boy from his neighbourhood, stuck his head in.

"Hi!" he said, a smile on his lips. "I'm James." Sirius grinned, wondering whether he should tell him he already knew. He thought better of it and decided not to.

"I'm Sirius," he answered as James sat down across from him.

"You're a first year too, right?" James asked. Sirius nodded. "What house do you want to be in?"

"I hope I'm in Gryffindor. All my family is in it."

"My brother's in Gryffindor," James added, "I really hope I'm in it too. I would hate to be in Slytherin."

"Yeah. That'd be awful."

Another door slide interrupted their friendly chatter. There was a boy in the doorway; he looked about James and Sirius' age. He had fair hair and sparkling blue eyes.

"Hi," he said timidly, "Can I sit with you guys?"

"Sure," James agreed happily. The more the merrier. "Are you a first year?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "Are you?"

"Yes. I'm James and he's Sirius."

"I'm Remus," the fair-haired boy introduced himself, taking a seat next to Sirius.

Just as he did do, the door slid open again and another boy came in revealing another boy, but this time, a friendly and welcomed face to James. James grinned at him.

"Hi Peter! Sit down. Guys, this is Peter. Peter, this is Sirius and Remus." Peter smiled at them and sat down next to James.

After about an hour or so of more chatter, Remus took out a magical Chess set and the rest of the ride was spent talking, teaching Peter Chess and, of course, eating (once the food cart arrived).

~*~

Before they knew it, they were stepping out of the Hogwarts Express. Peter was nervous; to say the least. He still wasn't used to wearing robes and was constantly tugging at them.

The four of them found a boat to themselves. The ride to the castle wasn't pleasant though, for the boat rocked violently during the journey. Soon enough, the silhouette of a castle was apparent in the distance. As the students got nearer to the castle, they were overawed by the beauty and grace of the ancient building.

As they got out of the boats, Peter's nerves grew. He wondered how they sorted students. Sirius had told him about the four Houses, but he hadn't said anything about how they actually got put in a house.

"James," Peter whispered nervously as they climbed up some stone steps, "how exactly do they sort us?"

"I don't know," James whispered back. "But it can't be too bad, Christopher survived it."

Peter wasn't reassured. He began to speculate how many people didn't survive the Sorting and his stomach churned. He hardly noticed the strict woman who led them inside, and, before he knew it, he was inside the Great Hall, thousands of students staring at them. Peter tried to avoid their gazes; it made him uncomfortable. He decided to focus on the ceiling instead.

His eyes grew wide; it was almost as if there was no ceiling at all. He glanced at his classmates. Most of them were staring at the ceiling as well. The woman who had brought them in was now carrying a stool to the middle of the hall. The attention of the first years, however, was not on the stool, but on the ragged old hat perched upon it. Peter looked puzzled as everyone stared at the hat. Peter stared too, wondering what was going on.

Suddenly, the brim of the hat opened and it began to sing. Peter stared at it in amazement. A hat that sang? The song explained what to do. It sounded simple enough, step up and try on the hat. Peter was still anxious. He held his breath as the Professor began to call them by their names.

"Adams, Mark!"

A skinny redhead walked nervously up to the hat as the Professor placed it on his head.

After a considerable pause, the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW". The Ravenclaws cheered and a grinning Mark went to join them. Another name passed, and then:

"Black, Sirius!"

Sirius walked up to the hat confidently.

"Very loyal, I see," said a voice in Sirius' ear. "You could do well in Hufflepuff. But there is courage too, a lot of courage, hmm, I think you would do well in GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius grinned and half almost ran to the cheering Gryffindor table, sitting next to Christine. She smiled at him. Sirius waited impatiently for one of his friends to get sorted. Remus was the first to join him at the Gryffindor table. The two of them quietly waited until the hat reached the "P's"

"Pettigrew, Peter!" McGonagall called. Peter, looking green, stepped up to the stool while the hat was placed upon his head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Peter sighed and sat next to Remus. Immediately after Peter, it was James's turn. The hat hardly took half a minute to sort James. He was a Gryffindor too. He joined his newfound friends at the Gryffindor table. He sat between Peter and a redheaded girl. The four of them had whispered conversations while the rest of their classmates got sorted. Luckily, they were almost at the end of the alphabet, so they didn't have to wait long.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, especially the new first years." Dumbledore said.

In the blink of an eye, the tables were full of food. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter helped themselves to as much as they could eat. Once they were stuffed to the bursting point, they looked around at the other Gryffindors. Sirius showed them his siblings and so did James.

They passed the rest of the meal talking and, when it arrived, eating dessert. Professor Dumbledore stood up and made some announcements sent them all to bed afterwards. All the first years followed the Prefects to the Gryffindor common room. James tried to remember his way from the Great Hall to the common room, but it was a long route with lots of twists and turns.

When they reached the common room, the Prefect led them to their dormitories and left. Their trunks were at the foot of their beds. Sirius lost no time and crawled immediately up to a bed, bouncing in it.

"Hey! Get off my bed!" Remus protested.

"Oh, fine." Sirius sighed and jumped off it. "What time is it anyway?"

"Nine thirty," Peter said, checking his watch.

"Let's go to bed," Remus suggested.

"But that's so boring!" Sirius complained. "Let's do something!"

"Going to bed is doing something," Remus defended himself.

"Yeah, but it's something boring," Sirius retorted. "And anyway, I'm not tired. Are you tired?" he asked James and Peter. Peter shrugged.

"Kind of," James said.

"Oh, fine we'll go to bed. But tomorrow we HAVE to do something interesting."

"Does going to classes count as interesting?" Peter asked puzzledly.

"Definitely not," Sirius replied. The four of them changed into their pyjamas and climbed into bed.

"Switch off the light Sirius," James requested.

"You switch it off," Sirius answered.

"But you're closer," Peter pointed out.

"Oh, fine. I'll switch off the light." Sirius got out of bed and switched the light off. "Everyone happy now?" He climbed back into bed. Remus mumbled something and they all fell silent. One by one, they settled into a deep slumber.

~*~

The next morning, Peter gave a huge yawn and rolled over in his bed. It was so warm. He glanced at the clock next to his bed on the nightstand; it was nearly eight.

Peter dragged himself out of bed and shook Remus awake. Remus looked around blearily and went to wake James up. Peter got Sirius up and went to help Remus. Obviously, James was a deep sleeper. Remus was shaking him as hard as he could, with no results. Sirius fetched a small water jug from their bathroom and tipped it over James.

James's eyes snapped open as he bolted up. Remus chuckled and went into the bathroom. James fell back on his bed and groaned.

"Did you have to wake me up?" he whined, looking at them sleepily. "I was having a nice dream."

"Tough," Peter said, his voice muffled from inside his robes as he pulled them down into his body. "I had to get up early too. We all have to."

"But you weren't tired!" James complained. "It's completely different."

"No it's not. We both went to sleep at the same time, we woke up at the same time. So we both had the same amount of time for us to stop being tired," Peter reflexed.

"Aw shut up," James mumbled, his eyes closing. After a few seconds of silence, he was asleep again.

"Just leave him," Sirius advised, watching James. "It's his own fault if he misses his first class. Now let's go to breakfast. I'm starving."

The three of them headed down to the Gryffindor common room and followed a third year to the Great Hall. Sirius, Peter, and Remus piled their plates with toast, eggs, and anything else they could get their hands on. Halfway through their meal, a Prefect handed out their timetables

"We've got Transfiguration first," Remus pointed out, scanning his schedule.

"I've got to get my books," said Sirius.

"You mean you haven't got them already?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?" Sirius stated. Peter just shrugged.

They trooped back up to their dormitory and grabbed their books. James was still sleeping, snoring lightly. Sirius grabbed his book and caught Peter opening his trunk in the process, getting his book out as well.

"But I thought you had your book Peter?" Remus said.

"I never said that," Peter answered while he finished stowing his books stowing his books in his bag.

"But-you... never mind." Remus said with an exasperated sigh

The trio went back down to the common room, where they found the rest of the Gryffindor first years. The boys walked over to them.

"Hi," Sirius greeted.

"Hi," a girl replied.

"I'm Sirius, and this is Remus and Peter," Sirius introduced.

"Well, I'm Courtney, this is Lily," she pointed to a redhead with startlingly green eyes, "and that's Brittany," she pointed to a fair-haired girl with hazel eyes. Courtney had short dark brown hair with brown eyes.

"Aren't you meant to be in class?" Remus asked.

"Aren't you meant to be in class?" Brittany asked back. "And anyway, do you even know where class is?"

"Oh yeah," Sirius analysed. " I don't."

"Well we better go and try to find it," Lily suggested.

They left the common room and walked into an empty corridor.

"So, where do we start?" Courtney asked. "We should stay together, because otherwise if one of us finds the classroom, the rest of us won't."

They all nodded and muttered in agreement. They followed Courtney and Sirius, who both seemed to be natural leaders.

The school was bigger than they thought. The twisting and turning passages seemed endless, and the staircases moved just when you didn't want them to. They were already fifteen minutes late and they still couldn't find the Transfiguration classroom. They passed a few classroom doors, but they didn't go in. Eventually, Peter announced he was tired.

"Let's just head back to the common room until next class," Brittany suggested. "We can skip Transfiguration today."

"No way! We can't miss class! It's our first day!" Lily protested.

"Got a better idea?" Courtney asked her. "We'll get even more lost." Lily wanted to argue, but before she could, Remus took the word.

"Which way to the common room?" Remus asked. No one answered. "Anyone?"

"I think it's that way." Courtney pointed to the left.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's that way." Peter pointed right.

"Oh this is just great," Lily complained. "We're lost in the middle of a huge castle with no idea as to where to go."

"Someone will have to find us sooner or later," Remus replied calmly, "because they will realize we're missing, and if they don't, a student will walk past eventually to get to class."

Lily sank down into a sitting position, leaning against the cold wall. "So what are we going to do to pass the time while we wait?" she asked.

Brittany shrugged and dropped down next to her. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Courtney joined them on the floor.

"Wasn't there another Gryffindor first year with you?" Courtney asked the boys.

"Oh yeah!" Sirius grinned. "He's probably still sleeping."

"Sleeping...right. What's his name?" Lily asked.

"James," Remus told her.

"And why is he sleeping?" Brittany asked.

"He wanted to sleep in, so we let him," Sirius explained.

"You're so mean." Courtney yawned, "I wish I was in bed too."

"Mmm," Courtney agreed. "I'm tired. I hate waking up early."

"I hate sleeping in. I always wake up early," Peter intervened.

"Well you're weird," Sirius said, "Waking up early is torture. They should replace detention with waking up at 3 am or something."

"But then all the people who wake up early would have an advantage," Remus pointed out.

"Well they could force the early morning people to wake up late. Then it would be fair," Brittany stated logically.

"Yeah, but then they could just stay in bed and play games, or do something more valuable with their time. It wouldn't be fair at all!" Lily objected. "There should be a guard or something to make sure they don't move. Then it would be fair."

"So have we agreed, then? The people who sleep in get up at 3 am and the people who get up early stay in bed with a guard. Any more objections, Lily?" Sirius grinned at her.

"Well actually... how would you know whether they were an early bird or not? What if you lied?" Lily asked.

"You could put a spell on them or something," Sirius replied.

"I suppose..." Lily trailed off, "But..."

"But what?" Courtney asked exasperatedly. "What else is there?"

"What if the person who was casting it was being bribed by the person whom he was casting the spell to and did the spell wrong on purpose?" Lily stated.

"This is getting way too complicated!" Peter exclaimed. "Let's just forget about it!"

"Okay. I was running out of ideas anyway," Lily admitted.

Just then, a girl rounded the corner.

"Sirius? What are you doing here?" she asked, her forehead wrinkling.

"We're lost," Sirius explained.

"Who's we?" she asked.

"Remus, Peter, Courtney, Lily and Brittany," Sirius introduced them all in turn, "This is my sister Anna."

"Hi," Lily greeted. "Can you take us to Transfiguration?"

"Uh...OK," Anna agreed. "Follow me."

"I wonder whether James is in class?" Remus asked Sirius. "Wouldn't it be funny if he turned up and no one else was there?"

"Can you imagine his face?" Peter looked at them and burst out laughing.

They finally reached the Transfiguration classroom and walked inside. Professor McGonagall was sitting sternly at her desk. Yes, James already there, sitting on a desk, looking very confused.

"Honestly professor! I don't know where they are!" James was saying. Sirius couldn't hold in his laughter.

"I don't see what's so funny about the situation," Lily hissed. Professor McGonagall fixed a glare on them all.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"We got lost Professor," Courtney piped up.

"Why didn't you ask another student the way to the classroom?" the Professor asked once more.

"There wasn't anyone there," Brittany protested. McGonagall looked at them all.

"Very well. You will receive no punishmen,t but if this happens again, you will. Do you understand?"

"Yes, professor," they said in unison.

"Sit," McGonagall instructed. Sirius slid into a seat next to James and grinned at him.

"Where were you?" James whispered.

"Weren't you listening?" Sirius whispered back. "We were lost."

"Tell me later," James whispered hurriedly as McGonagall glanced at them. The rest of the lesson was uneventful and soon the bell rang and they filed out of the room.

"Which class do we have now?" Peter asked.

"Charms," Remus answered. "But this time we're asking someone where it is."

They found Nearly-Headless Nick and he led them to their classroom. On the way, they filled James in on where they were during Transfiguration. Sirius also introduced him to the girls. James smiled at them all.

They reached the classroom and Nick floated away. Their teacher turned out to be very small. He had his seat padded with cushions so he could see over the top and talked in a very squeaky voice.

Their lesson consisted of learning how to make things levitate. They were paired up in partners. Remus and Peter, Sirius and Courtney, James and Brittany. Lily was with a Hufflepuff that they didn't know.

Remus and Peter were doing fine, levitating the feathers they were given. Remus proved to be quite good at Charms. Peter was average; he couldn't get the hand movement right.

Meanwhile, James and Brittany weren't having much success. No matter how hard they tried, the feather didn't move.

"You're doing the hand movement wrong!" James protested. "Let me try!"

"Fine!" said a disgruntled Brittany. "Let's see you do it better!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!" James said, pointing his wand at the feather. It still didn't move.

"Ha!" said a smug Brittany.

"Well yours didn't work either!" James complained.

"But al least mine moved!" Brittany argued. James stared at the blackboard sullenly.

"Aw, come on James! I was only joking!" said Brittany. James ignored her and purposefully leaned over to talk to Sirius. Brittany rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever," she grumbled and went to join Lily.

"What's with James?" Lily asked as the Hufflepuff girl, Sarah, attempted the spell.

"He's mad because he was worse than me at the spell," Brittany explained.

"Right. Arrogant git," Lily whispered, attempting the spell. It didn't work, though the feather looked like it was straining to get off the table and lifted up a little bit.

"Very good Miss Evans," Professor Flitwick said as he passed. "Just flick your wrist a bit more."

Lily tried it again and it lazily floated upwards.

"Well done Miss Evans! You've done it!" Professor Flitwick applauded. Lily grinned happily and the class craned their necks to get a better look at the feather.

"Go Lily!" Courtney cheered from across the room. Lily smiled at her.

The rest of the lesson passed away, though no one else managed to get their quill off the table.

"How did you manage to get the spell done so quickly?" Brittany asked incredulously to Lily after the class was over.

"I don't know, but when I went to get my wand, Mr Ollivander said my wand was good at Charms," Lily explained.

"Ollivander said mine was good at Transfiguration," James added.

"He didn't say anything about mine," Courtney said sorrowfully.

"Or mine," Peter said. " Let's hurry and get to lunch, I'm starving."

"I'm going to the library. I'm not hungry," Lily announced.

"The library?" Sirius asked in disbelief. "It's our first day Lily! We don't have any homework!"

"Well I am a Muggle born and I would like to learn more about wizard culture, if that's OK with you." Lily glared at him.

"Peter's Muggle born," James intervened. "And he's not going to the library."

"But Peter doesn't want to learn about wizard culture," Lily argued.

"Who cares, Lily?" Brittany said. "Just go to the damn library."

"Yeah, I'll go now," Lily said, shooting another death glare at Sirius. He smiled innocently at her as the rest of them left for lunch. She asked a Prefect on his way to lunch the directions to the library.

****

"So. What do you think of Hogwarts?" Sirius asked,

"Eh. It's OK." James said, sitting down in front of a plate.

"Yeah. I don't like classes much though," Sirius said, looking up at the Head table.

"Did you really expect to?" James asked.

"Not really," Sirius shrugged.

"Well why are you surprised?" James asked.

"I never said I was surprised!" Sirius said.

"Yes you did!" James insisted.

"No I didn't! You must have hearing problem or something Jamesie,"

"Don't call me Jamesie!" James scowled.

"But I like to!"

"Do you live to annoy me?" James asked.

"Well I live to annoy all people. Not just you. Don't go getting a swollen ego."