Prelude to a Love Story

Chapter Four: F-A-O, the Duster

A long, thin object lay, unmoving, on the carpeted floor. At a first glance, it appeared to be only a finely sanded stick, nothing more, yet when combined with a wizard, this "twig" could do amazing things. Unnoticed by the three boys and girl, who all wore long, flowing, black robes, the wand remained upon the plush rug. Angrily, it's owner stamped away. He had not noticed as it was loosened from his pocket. He had been otherwise occupied, as he tried to regain his balance after being jerked unexpectedly off his feet. Stomping away, he didn't even consider that the movement may have removed the magical implement from his person. No, Severus Snape didn't notice that his wand was missing until much later.

The three boys and girl; however...

"Hey," asked Peter Pettigrew, as he noticed the object on the floor at their feet, "Who's wand is that?" He looked up at the group standing around him. Remus Lupin hadn't turned to look - he was otherwise occupied with the girl who they'd just been rescuing. Sky Winkkin, however, was not really returning his adoration, and glanced over at the wand. As she stared, obviously concentrating, a small wrinkle appeared on her forehead. Remus, who was pretty much head over heals, thought it the cutest thing he'd seen. Sirius Black, who had been looking back and forth between his friend Remus and Sky, stopped laughing silently as he noticed the wand that Peter had pointed out. At last Remus tore his gaze from Sky, the object of his attraction, and let his eyebrows sink down into a frown as he considered the wand.

"I think," said Sky tremulously, "That the wand... That, that wand..." she stuttered. "That, that wand, belongs to Severus! He must have dropped it!"

The three Marauders' eyes opened wider as they considered the possibilities. Sirius looked as though he had already begun to formulate some scheme, as his lips started to mutter and his eyes became glazed. Remus' frown began to turn into a smile, and, seeing Sirius get the glazed look, he winked happily at Peter. Peter smiled broadly as he noticed the wink, and Sirius. Sky looked from one face to the other, a bemused expression on her face. It appeared that these new friends of hers would take some getting used to.

A growl from her stomach reminded her that she had skipped dinner, and with a sorrowful look towards her belly, she firmly told her abdomen that it would have to go without this time. She had gone without eating anything since breakfast, but that hadn't worried her too much. Stressed out about school, Sky Winkkin's appetite had dropped considerably. Perhaps it was due to this accumulation of hunger that her stomach responded with an even louder growl.

The Marauders couldn't help but notice the particularly loud noises coming from Sky, and Sirius, deciding to try conversing with it, bent down so as to be on a level with her belly and began growling right back at it.

Sky couldn't figure out what Sirius was doing when he bent down in front of her. She cracked up laughing (again) however when he emitted loud growls. Her stomach growled right back at him, and this time it was even louder! Standing up in mock seriousness, Sirius proclaimed:

"Sky, I do fear that your stomach is not impressed. It is threatening to leap from your body this instant if you do not feed it!" Sky gasped in melodramatic horror, bringing her hand to her mouth in a gesture of fear.

"Oh, no, Doctor!" she exclaimed, "What ever are we going to do?"

Remus also bent down to investigate her belly. After also having a short conversation with it, he rose and nodded at Sirius in a definite kind of way.

"I fear there is no option," said Remus, tragically. "We shall have to stuff you to the brim with all kinds of delicacies. It seems that a trip to the kitchens is in order." Sky had a questioning look on her face. She didn't know that there was a way to get into the school kitchens. Yet, besides that, she was actually wondering why the boys had come to the library in the first place.

Seeing the look on her face, Peter finally spoke up. "We dicovered the entrance to the kitchens in the second year, on a night when Sirius was exceptionally hungry." Sirius had a pained look on his face, and kept it there as he told her in a sad voice:

"Ahh... That was many nights ago. I fear that my stomach, as yours is now, was past consolation. I was forced to act, and that being that I did everything and anything I could to get food. On attempting to eat a painting, I actually managed to tickle the pear, and suddenly a door opened and I was in the kitchens!" Sky could just imagine Sirius eating paintings - he seemed the type. She shook her head with humour, the tears threatening to come down her face as her laughter went out of control. "You- you ACTUALLY tried to EAT a painting!?" asked Sky, "Man... You are crazier than I thought!"

Sirius pretended to sulk. "Well I was hungry..."

"Anyway," said Sky, finally managing to control her breathing, "What I was actually wondering is why you came to the library in the first place! I mean," she realised she sounded nosy, "It seems that you're pretty willing to leave again." Sky watched their faces for a response, but their expressions didn't change much from their current mirth.

"Oh, we were thinking of searching for some sort of special cheering charm." Remus grimaced, "James hasn't been too cheerful with us lately."

Sirius got a doleful expression, and tried to admit his mistake. "You see, I... err... I sort of... well... I knocked him out. Because he was about to get himself killed." Sky's expression didn't change at all. She didn't want to loose her new-found friends.

"You know what?" Sky said.

"What?" they all chorused.

"Let's forget about it!"

As if to finalise the matter, Sky's stomach gave a loud growl. Once again, everyone burst out laughing.

***//\//\***

It was only the next day, yet Sky Winkkin felt as though she had been best friends with the Marauders all her life. With them to help, it seemed that she was a fast learner - they were teaching her things that the teachers had considered her to never be capable of! Only her best friend, Lily Evans, had ever succeeded in teaching her so well. Her thoughts always turned sad when she pictured Lily. To Sky, Lily had always appeared so strong - so impossible to defeat. Yet now Lily was broken, and all for revenge.

Turning her mind towards happier thoughts, Sky considered what classes she had this day. She had never really thought about it before, but a lot of her classes were with the Gryffindors. For example, her first today, Transfiguration, was with the Marauders. They had already invited her to sit near them - she hadn't had too many close friends other than Lily. She was a bit too shy.

Waiting outside the classroom was amusing. Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher, was - for one of the first times in her career - late. In no way did this worry the students, for Sirius had a great time setting off the fireworks he had neatly positioned on James Potter's back. James was still a bit depressed, so their way of trying to improve his mood was by victimising him.

"Come on, Jamsie! Give us a smile, or we'll set off another one..." Sirius threatened. Meanwhile, Remus discreetly dropped a dungbomb right in front of the door, where everyone was standing. Sky was certain that the fumes must have infiltrated into the classroom, yet it couldn't have been too much, as it completely stank all through the hall. It didn't take long for the smell to diffuse throughout the air, though unfortunately it only seemed to increase in strength. Calling angrily, some of the students began to run up the hall, trying to get away from the stench.

It was a scene of complete pandemonium that Professor McGonagall walked in on. Have the students were running around, screaming, while James Potter, she noticed, was moodily staring at the wall. Deftly, Sirius and Peter appeared to be attaching something to his back. Minerva presumed that it was a filibuster firework, and not the first to be placed their, either, judging by the scorch marks running up the back of his robe. Other fifth years were simply watching, some wearing smiles of expectation, others with disapproving frowns. Sky Winkkin's, she noted, was a mixture of both amusement and concern, and Minerva wondered whether the girl had come to know the Marauders better, as she would normally have ignored them, or looked worried.

Professor McGonagall gave out a resigned sigh. "Black, Lupin, Pettigrew!" she called with little enthusiasm, "When will you stop doing this!"

"Never!" shouted a cheeky Sirius. Minerva was tempted to smile, though she knew these boys needed no encouragement from her. Discouragement would be more accurate.

"Complete chaos! I feel I must reward you..." the Remus, Peter and Sirius looked hopeful. "How about... a detention every single night until my classroom is COMPLTELY spotless!!" Comically, Sirius' face fell; Remus groaned loudly; while Peter began to whinge. James glanced over at them, his eyes cold. Although he didn't really have much reason to be mad at Remus, it seemed that he simply hadn't been able to pull himself out of this rut he'd been in lately.

Every night since he'd met that Lily girl, he'd been having this horrible recurring nightmare. He'd normally have discussed it, yet he was still in a bad mood with Sirius, and... well... he was afraid. The dream felt so real, that he was worried that it might not be a dream at all, but a premonition. James had heard that just speaking about those things could bring the dream about, and, frankly, James didn't want that happening.

Removing himself from his thoughts, he noticed that almost everyone else had already filed into the classroom. Quickly stepping in, he went over to an empty bench and sat there, trying not to appear too glum about the seating arrangement. He would normally have sat with the other Marauders, yet today his spot was taken up by Sky Winkkin, the pretty girl who had told him where to find Lily Evans. That night seemed so long ago, yet it hadn't even been five days since the... accident. Sky had seemed worried then, yet now she appeared perfectly happy. James smiled as he noticed the adoring glances Remus was throwing at her, considering her shapely form, James decided that it wouldn't take much for him to adore her, either... but then he remembered that he was supposed to be grumpy, and wiped the smile from his face.

"Students, your attention, please," she glared at Sirius and Remus, who were having a rather animated and noisy discussion with Sky. In the end it was Peter's kicking at their shins that finally drew their attention.

"Oi, what was that for? It hurt!" came the complaints of Sirius and Remus, but their whine turned into an "Oh..." when they noticed the furious look on their Professor's face.

"If you are finished?" she asked them, sternly. "I was about to tell you that today, students, we are beginning a new topic!" This announcement was greeted with much interest from the class. Their last topic had been almost all theory, and they were glad it was at last over. "Yes, as you have already covered all the work necessary for the upcoming exams, I am today starting you on one of the next semesters topics. Up front on my desk, I have a box of very boring, slightly dusty, chalk dusters," she held one up to the class, just to show how unappealing they were. "The aim of today's lesson is to try and turn your duster into a bird of the same size. Later on, we shall move to different size changes, however I think that this task shouldn't be too difficult if you have all been studying hard for the upcoming mid-year exams." Sternly, she looked around the room, frowning at some of the sheepish faces.

Itching to get their dusters and give it a try, the entire class was extremely excited. Before, they had only ever been allowed to either very simple object to animal changes, such as a pin cushion to a porcupine, or nothing at all. Animal to animal changes would come much later. The Marauders would never let in on the knowledge that they were actually quite adept at animal to animal transfiguration, as their being Animagus (able to change their form into that of a particular animal, yet retain their own consciousness) wasn't actually in agreement with the law...

"After copying out these notes, you all can come up to collect your duster. One each! And don't let me catch you getting a duster and attempting this before you've a copy of the notes on the board!" the Professor finished. The entire class groaned at the mention of writing out notes, though Minerva thought it best not to comment. Thankfully for the students, the notes were few and it only took them a few seconds to scribble them out on a bit of parchment. Soon everyone had a hold of their demure duster and had begun practicing, with Professor McGonagall helping them out as necessary.

Sky looked to her duster. It was exceptionally dirty, with gacky pink and yellow chalk all smudged over its surface. Glaring at it, she tried to force it into a bird. Unfortunately, her anger didn't do anything to change the duster. She hissed at the stupid thing, telling herself that it didn't matter - she had never been any good at transfiguration.

"Ouch!" shouted Sky, angrily swatting at the little grey bird nibbling her ear. "What was that for?" she tried glaring fiercely at the bird, though gave up and fell into giggles as she saw it. Obviously whoever had transfigured it hadn't done the best job, as the bird was still duster-ish; and obviously someone had written a bad word on that duster, for it was now scrawled across the bird's back.

Retrieving his bird off her shoulder, Remus looked down at her duster and gave an intense frown. "I'm afraid that there's something seriously wrong with this bird of yours, Sky," he said gravely. She looked up at him, bemused. "I fear that this bird hasn't any wings," tenderly, he touched it's side, and gave a loud gasp. "It's dead! Your bird is DEAD!" he cried dramatically, grabbing onto her hand. "Is it just me?" he asked as he pushed her hand against the duster, "But I cannot find a pulse!"

Looking over curiously, Sirius decided to join in. "Did you say she killed it, Remus?" he asked, giving

Sky a mimic of McGonagall's stern frown.

"I'm afraid she did," replied Remus, with all the seriousness of a doctor giving his diagnosis. Sky was trying to stop herself from bursting out laughing."Well," spoke Sirius, looking bright, "perhaps I can help you there!" His smile was positively evil, as he pulled out his wand and, after some pretty fancy wand-waving, managed to change her duster into...

A funny looking bird stood before her. It obviously hadn't been designed to fly, yet it's beak certainly looked vicious. It's black and white plumage didn't really stand out in the dull classroom, yet it certainly took up enough room. Professor McGonagall was striding over angrily, though the look on her face was closer to pride.

"An ostrich?" asked Sky, incredulous. She hadn't realised that they were that good. The ostrich gave a loud squawk, and began to flap it's wings noisily. Everyone that had been anywhere near the ostrich quickly backed away, as the birds long winds caused a small storm and its noisy calls tended to deafen.

"Do you like it?" shouted Sirius over noise of his creation. Professor McGonagall had been forced back, and was now attempting to shout something to the boys. Unfortunately, they weren't paying much attention.

"Aww, come on Sirius," shouted Remus over the tumult, "Even I can do better than that!" And thus he progressed to do so. Even without all Sirius' intricate wand-waving, Remus still succeeded at making something pretty spectacular. Where his little grey bird with the swear word had been now stood a giant...

Sky cracked up at this one, for it, too, was brilliant. This bird had bright pink plumage, though, oddly enough, the swear word still adorned its back. The Pink Flamingo was also capable of making a lot of ruckus, as it soon went to the effort to prove.

James couldn't stand it. He was always up to the challenge, and this bird-making competition simply shouted at him to join in. Rather in the way that Remus was, though James suspected that the hand movements weren't part of it.

Stepping up beside Sky, he managed to confer to her: "A pink flamingo and an ostrich?! Come now, as a challenge, I'm up to that!" His eyes sparkled with mischief as he through his duster up in front of him and changed it into...

Something huge. No, this was bigger than huge - this was gigantic! Sky wondered if it was the biggest bird in existence. The albatross soared on a wingspan of more than six metres. It appeared as magnificent, and inspired the whole class to "Oooh"s and "Ahhh"s. Unfortunately, the albatross also succeeded in shrinking the room considerably, as it took up a lot of space.

Professor McGonagall still hadn't managed to reach them, and with the Marauders looking at her, Sky knew that it was now her time to give the transfiguration a shot. She was tempted to give in to her pessimistic thoughts, though with Remus looking at her like that... it made her feel weak to think that such powerful wizards would welcome her as a friend. Her duster was currently eyeing her hungrily in the guise of an ostrich, so someone was kind enough to retrieve for her another duster. Placing the duster in front of her, she focussed... and concentrated... and focussed...

Sky didn't realise she'd shut her eyes until she opened them once more. The marauders were cheering her, their voices raising above the din. Before her, crouching on the bench, was the complete opposite to James' albatross. The little bird was tiny, and had yellow and brown plumage. Looking up at her, the hummingbird cocked its head. With a high pitched cheep, the teensy bird fluttered over to her, landing on her shoulder.

Sky face split into a huge smile. This was by far her greatest achievement... This tiny little creature. Giving its head a rub, she wondered if she'd be able to keep it. The sweety was the smallest bird she'd ever seen, why, it was shorter than her thumb! It's feathers tickled her ear, and she chuckled slightly. Peeking at the bird out of the corner of her eye, she mused allowed:

"Now what am I going to call you... hmmm... well, you were a duster, so I suppose I could call you Dusty?" The bird seemed to be actually cheeping something in her ear. Bending her head closer, though not so close that she crushed the fragile thing, she asked, "You want to be called Fao? For the Flamingo, Albatross and Ostrich?" Sky had an odd look on her face as she glanced around the room, seeing everyone's different reactions. Catching her eye, Sirius walked up.

Lifting Fao from Sky's shoulder, Sirius lightly perched him on the table. Sky looked at Sirius curiously, as too was Fao. On seeing his wand, Sky felt that she had to interrupt.

"Ummm... Excuse me, Sirius," Sky asked tentatively, "but what are you just about to do to my bird?"

Sirius looked back at Sky and gave her a smile that she suspected was meant to look reassuring. With Sirius, however, you could never tell. "Don't worry, Sky dearest," he replied, "I'll return your bird exactly as it is..." Despite his mischievous eyes, Sky decided to trust him. Allowing him to continue, she watched with interest as he proceeded towards Fao in a very regal manner.

"Kneel, Hummingbird Fao," Sirius commanded. "Err..." said Sirius, looking at the little figure that remained staring back at him, "Oh, that'll do." Bringing forth his wand, he gently placed it so that the tip rested on the top of one of the birds wings, or its shoulder, realised Sky.

"Arise, Sir Fao!" shouted Sirius, after doing a switch with his wand and moving it up and away from the bird. Everyone within hearing distance of Sirius cheered, though that, unfortunately, only caused to distress the birds once more. The flamingo, albatross and ostrich had actually begun to calm down, prior to the screaming and yelling of cheers that emitted from most of the class' mouth. The ostrich attempted to show off its amazing speed by running circles around the class room; while the flamingo prepared for lift off. The albatross, who had found a nice perch in the rafters, swooped down at the chaos, which was greatly increased by Remus.

Having gotten hold of the tub of dusters, Remus succeeded in turning twenty dusters into a flock of multicoloured birds that swarmed around the room, flying just low enough to brush everyone's heads.

"Enough!" shouted Professor McGonagall, trying to be heard over the din. Holding her wand to her throat she muttered "Sonorus," and this time when she shouted "ENOUGH!!" it was amplified enough to cause everything in the room to come to a halt. That is, except the albatross, who was in the middle of performing a miraculous dive. With a sickening crunch, the giant bird crashed into Peter, mushing him into the floor with the force of its fall. Seeing the gory mess, Professor McGonagall's face turned a ghostly white.

Conjuring some massive bird cages, Minerva quickly enclosed what was left of the albatross and the rest of the birds inside them. Also conjuring a stretcher, she quickly placed Peter onto it, while at the same time asking some of the other Gryffindor students to accompany him to the hospital. As she surveyed the classroom, noting with disapproval the masses of different coloured feathers, she opened her mouth to scold.

It was at that precise moment that the bell chose to interrupt, so she was left to glare a little longer. Quietly, she muttered "Class dismissed," and the students, happy to be gone from the suddenly hostile environment, left. Yet, as Sirius, James, Remus and Sky were about to exit the room she said: "Black, Lupin, Potter! You remain here. Sky Winkkin?" Sky turned fearfully to face the enraged professor - and was shocked to see a smile lit her face. "Congratulations on the hummingbird. You may collect him from his cage, if you wish. Your transfiguration was done very well, and I doubt that Fao will turn back into a duster at anytime in the future. Sky, you may leave now."

Proud, Sky left the professor's presence, though she wondered whether she ought to stay behind for the others. Listening through a crack in the door, she decided that she could wait, as McGonagall was allowing the boys to leave - for a little while.

***//\//\***

"I am amazed at your display of talent, boys," said Professor McGonagall, though for praise it did sound rather scathing. "Unfortunately, I do wish that you had the SENSE to NOT display that talent within MY classroom by stepping OUT of the BOUNDS of an experiment that I, the professor - not you boys, but I - have placed for the safety of the other students! Don't you see that what you did was stupid! Not to mention exceedingly DANGEROUS! You saw Peter, all mangled and bloody!" Professor McGonagall was furious with the boys. "Never, in all my years of Hogwarts! SUCH stupidity... I simply can NOT believe it! It's certainly a good thing that you've already offered yourselves to clean my room, as it appears that you'll be very necessary with all this! I want you here TONIGHT, at 9:30 p.m., precisely!"

James had been trying to get her attention for sometime now, though when Professor McGonagall turned her angry gaze onto him he became tongue-tied. "WHAT, Mr. Potter?!"

"Erm... Umm... I wasn't, well, actually, urg, down for detention," stuttered James, meek in the face of such fury.

"Well I don't care!" shouted Professor McGonagall. She was going red in the face, and all this noise had started the birds up again. James thought for their safety as the raging teacher appeared to get more annoyed by the second. "Get out of my SIGHT!" she yelled at the boys, "And don't forget: 9:30 p.m.!"

Scooting out of the irate teacher's presence was done as quickly as possible. They didn't bother trying to collect their birds, they just hurried out of there, grabbing their books and running. Crashing into Sky outside of the classroom caused a mess, though as soon as they'd cleared up concern for Peter's condition overrode their hunger, and they rushed up to the hospital wing.