Journey To Hogwarts, old - thread closed Options

[evlpez]

Okay folks. I know many of you have no care to explore 'ships and alt universe stuff, but I wanted to get something else moving in our brains.
Here is a short installment of an AU story about James Potter, son to Harry and Ginny. This is all that is written so far.

Rather than chapter-long installments, let's try just a few paragraphs at a time and see how it develops.

The story begins with James' first ride on the Hogwarts Express. I see James as a bit of a loner, coping silently with being related to a celebrity and unsure about his own place in the world. He is more mature than his age and is intelligent, brave and has a darkness about him. (He isn't evil or bad, though.) I see a bit of a 'young Remus' in this James. I have written in one baby brother, but there may be up to 5 children in the Potter family, considering Ginny's experience with a large family and Harry's feelings about having a different, lonlier childhood.

JOURNEY TO HOGWARTS

James Potter sat in an otherwise empty compartment of the Hogwarts Express, looking out the window and eagerly waiting for it to pull away from the platform. He could barely sit still. He felt only a twinge of guilt at his hasty good-bye to his parents, having felt awkward as always standing there with one of the most famous wizards in history. He needed to get away and be by himself on this train before he was bombarded by cousins and other curious people. He loved his cousins, but he always felt a little different from all of them. Not better, but something about being who he was had made him… alone. He preferred being alone at important times like this; important to him, anyway. His first trip on the Hogwarts Express, this was the beginning of his journey to become someone. To make a name for himself that wasn't automatically followed by 'the son of Harry Potter'. He glanced at the cage he had set on the bench opposite only moments before. His new owl, a young brown Tawny, stared back at him. He still hadn't given him a name, despite his mother's prodding.

"Just pick something, James. He's just an owl, not your firstborn child," she had said that morning while juggling a breakfast pan with her wand hand and his baby brother with the other. His father intervened as he took baby Albert off her hands.

"Now, now… this isn't just any owl. It's his owl. James will name him when he needs to. It's important to some people, Gin. This little guy is going to be more than just his owl, he'll be a friend." James smiled at his dad then. He understood. He understood a lot of things about James that his mother just couldn't, not that she didn't try.

James' new owl hooted, reminding him of a penny whistle. It was such a different voice than Hedwig's. James smiled. His father had known that this owl should be as different as he could be from Hedwig.

Continue, introducing at least one new character, maybe a Weasley Cousin (one of the twins' kids?).

[agrippa]

He stared out the window as the country-side flew by, fingering the wand in his pocket.

“Mahogany, 10 1/2 inches, Dragon Heartstring core… very interesting,” Mr. Olivander had said. “This particular dragon was a Hungarian Horntail.”

“Why did he say, ‘Very interesting,’ Dad?” James had asked Harry when they’d left the store.

Harry grinned and ruffled James’ hair. “I think he says that to everybody.”

It’s a good wand, James thought. I like dragons.

The compartment door slid open. James looked up to see a red-haired, freckle-faced girl and a tall blond boy.

“Ha! Found you, didn’t I, cousin!” said the girl.

“Hello, Serena,” James said dully. Just what I need – little miss jabberjaw.

She turned to the blond boy. “This is my cousin, James Potter. His dad Harry – well, you know.”

“Wow!” said the boy. “Hi. I’m Philip. Philip McKenzie.”

“Philip’s a first year too,” said Serena, winding up for her spiel. “His parents are both muggles, and he lives in London. He was just telling me about the day his Hogwarts letter came – his parents were so surprised – but he’s really excited – and we were just talking about the Sorting – he doesn’t know what house he wants to be in – but I’m wanting Gryffindor, of course – and I’m sure you’ll be in Gryffindor too - ”

James interrupted. “Well, I don’t know. Ravenclaw wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

Serena looked appalled. “What do you mean? Uncle Harry and Aunt Gin were both in Gryffindor, and my mum and dad, and Uncle Ron…”

“I know. The whole family.” James sighed. “Would it be so bad for one of us to be a little different for a change?”

“Oh, James!” Serena grinned. “Always so independent. Next you’ll be saying you’re not going to play Quidditch!”

James tried to look serious, but he broke into a wide grin.

“My uncle is a wizard, so he’s been explaining things to me since my letter came.” Philip looked nervous. “Both of you’ve flown a broom before, I guess.”

“Oh, loads of times,” Serena said before James could open his mouth. “We play all the time with our cousins.”

Philip looked worried. “Oh. I’ve never - ”

“No worries,” said James. “It’s easy.” Try to change the topic, he pulled a velvet bag out of his knapsack. “Gobstones, anyone?”

(Take the next paragraph as you wish. I’ve left it intentionally vague as to who’s child Serena is – although she’s obviously not Ron’s.)

[bakbam]

Philip looked down at the bag. "No! I am too nervous to play anything." He glanced over at Serena. " I just wonder if the teachers are nice?"

"They are nice enough." exclaimed James as if everyone knew the teachers on a personal level. "Our headmistress McGonagall is a very strict women , but the Herbology teacher Professor Longbottom is very nice. "

Philip stood with his mouth open wide. "How do you know ?"

"My dad and mum know everyone. They have them to dinner often." James quietly replied.

"They are wonderful. Professor Lovegood is a bit of a wierdo , but they say she is a fine teacher. She teaches DADA." Serena added.

The compartment door slid open. A young boy and girl entered, wearing prefect badges. The boy reached over to James, put his hand on his head and messed his hair up.

"Hi, you two! How have you been?" He looked over to the unfamilar face. "Hi. I'm Freddrick Percival Weasley. This is my cousin, Lily Anne Potter. Please call me Freddy."

Philip peered at the two in utter confusion. "How much of your family is here?"

Lily held up her fingers and began to think. "Well James and I are brother and sister, Freddy is Uncle Ron's son. Serena is Uncle George's daughter, and then there are the older cousins, but I am sure you will meet more of them later. "

"How many Uncles do you have?"

Freddy chimed in. "There were seven in the family all together, but Uncle Percy died at the hands of Voldemort, and Uncle Fred died during the..."

"That is enough! You know we're not allowed to talk about that around others," yelled James, who was now very angry.

Philip's eyes got wide. "I'm sorry, I was just asking".

The compartment door opened again. This time it was the food trolley. Everyone in the room was very quiet. They got their sweets from the trolley, sat down quietly and began eating .

James opened his chocolate frog, looked at his card and quickly set it face down beside him.

Lily looked over at James. "Who did you get, little brother? "

This post has been edited by evlpez: Jan 8 2004, 03:53 PM

[evlpez]

James stuffed the frog in his mouth and didn't answer. He turned his gaze back to the passing countryside.

Serena ignored the tension in the compartment and snatched up James' card. Her face split into a wide grin and she turned to Lily with the card.

"Right, then." Lily beamed. "Thanks Serena. This will go into the collection for Dad," She said as she handed it to Freddy.

Philip shook his head. "Your Dad collects trading cards?"

Freddy smiled with a mischevious look at Lily.

"He used to when he was younger. Now he just gets our extras. He makes such a big deal out of it, even though we know he really doesn't care about them. Thing is, though…"

Freddy piped in, "We hide his cards."

Philip looked blankly at him.

"I mean, he's never seen his own wizard card! His mentor, Albus Dumbledore once said he didn't care what other wizards said about him professionally, so long as they didn't take him off the wizard cards. He was brilliant." Freddy's eyes glossed over.

"So when my father found out they had started making Harry Potter cards, he was very keen to get one," Lily chimed in, "But every time one of us kids gets one, we hide it. He thinks it must be the rarest wizard card in circulation. We've been collecting them for him for years and years. We've about… " Lily looked to Freddy.

"2, 784. It's the most common one. Someday, we're going to jinx them and give them to him all at once." Freddy straightened up, adjusted his badge and turned to Lily. "Shall we go? I think I saw some first year Slytherin wannabes in the last car. Let's go give some 'Charms lessons'."

Lily winked at Philip and they left the compartment.

Philip was horrified. "Those two are prefects? I thought prefects are supposed to be…"

James turned to him, bored. "They're not real prefects. If you'd read their badges, you'd have seen they said 'Perfect'."

Serena smiled proudly. "They're 'Marauders', Philip."

This post has been edited by evlpez: Dec 16 2003, 10:34 AM

[agrippa]

“Marauders?”

“Yeah,” said Serena, admiration sparkling in her eyes. James rolled his eyes, but Serena took no notice. “The original Marauders were James’ grand-dad and his friends – a gang of mischief-makers. My dad and my uncle Fred were kinda like Marauders when they were a Hogwarts, too – although they didn’t use that name. And so were Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron, sort of – well they had the map, anyway – but it wasn’t until Freddy and Lily started Hogwarts that they started using the name ‘Marauders’ again. Everyone thinks that they’re the best!”

“Don’t be fooled, Philip,” James said. “Some of their jokes are pretty funny – but they’re not all that great. Besides, if Freddy ever got in any real trouble, his mom would absolutely kill him. If Freddy doesn’t make his grades, he’s in hot water.”

“That’s certainly true. But Freddy also has his mum’s brains,” said Serena.

“Thank goodness for that,” James quipped. “If he had Uncle Ron’s -”

A loud bang echoed in the corridor, and Lily and Freddy slipped back into the compartment.

“If anyone asks,” said Freddy solemnly, “we’ve been in here the whole time.”

(You’ll notice I’m dropping hints that Ron’s married to Hermione. But do with it what you will.)

[bakbam]

The compartment door was thrown open. In the doorway stood two girls. They were wearing their school robes with Slytherin colors. The tallest girl, who looked as friendly as a swarm of killer bees, stared Lily down.

"I can guess it was you who threw the Whiz Bangs in the last compartment." The girl snarled at Lily.

Lily stood up with her wand held tight by her side. "What, did the giant lion firecracker scare all the slimey little snake wannabes into hiding?"

Freddy jumped up beside her and raised his wand. He begged for a reason to curse the girls. After peering around the compartment the girls turned their backs and left. James walked out the door as quickly as the girls had.

"Where is he going?" Freddy asked Lily.

Lily shrugged her shoulders then pulled out her Wizards Chess set. Philip went looking for James. After walking the length of the train twice over, Philip found James sitting alone in the front reading a book. He went and sat down beside him. He was looking out the window.

Philip finally spoke. "So is your family always that crazy?"

James put his book down then spoke. "What do you want? You want to hear about how the famous Harry Potter killed Voldemort and saved everyone from his evil powers? How about this one, you want to know about the time that one of the great Weasley twins sacrificed his life to save Harry and Ron, or there is the one when..."

Philip interupted. "I can't say I care to know anymore about all that than I have already been told or read about. I am muggle born, I have no friends, I don' t know anyone. I am simply trying to make a new friend here, but I can see that you are not up for making friends so I will leave. "

"I am sorry I just - I am so tired of people asking me about what happened 20 years ago." James was feeling guilty for the way he had yelled him.

Philip and James looked up at the sound of the opening door. There was a small group of first years standing in the doorway. They didn't look very happy to see someone sitting in their seats.

This post has been edited by McGonagall's Cat: Jan 18 2004, 02:25 PM

[evlpez]

- written by evlpez & agrippa

James looked at the four angry looking boys and smiled, prepared. He stood and stepped in front of Philip, who got to his feet.

"You two get an invitation to be in my compartment?" The smallest one said. James looked at him, his mouth falling open.

"Well, well, well," the boy continued. "If it isn't my long-lost cousin, James."

"Another cousin?" said Philip in amazement.

"Er - second cousin. How are you, Duke? I had no idea that you -"

"Oh? Suprised, are you? Thought that wizard blood only ran on your side of the family, did you? Dad wasn't too pleased when my letter came from Hogwarts, but he never could tell me 'no' when I really wanted something. I'm going to be twice the wizard you will ever be."

A knot was forming in James' stomach. He hadn't seen Duke except in pictures, and he was certainly suprised to find him on the Hogwarts Express. Duke's dad and James' dad were cousins, but the Dursleys had always hated everything about the wizarding world. Then again, Duke and James shared a set of great-grandparents, so it was possible.

Although Duke was thin - nothing like his dad - he had three hulking friends, who were now advancing menacingly on James and Philip. James quickly played out in his head the ways this confrontation could go and decided they would probably have to resort to fighting. No problem, he thought. He steadied himself when Philip stepped in between the two, towering over them all. He was the calmest James had seen him since meeting. Philip just looked into Duke's eyes and stepped forward, forcing Duke to step back. Not a word was said. He turned and looked at the three thugs in the doorway, whose faces went blank as they quietly moved to let James and Philip pass. James could feel something radiating from Philip, but couldn't guess what kind of charm he'd used.

When they closed the gate behind them in the next car, James put a hand on Philip's shoulder.

"What was that, Philip?"

"I'm not sure," Philip shrugged, "but it was clear we'd have to fight if we didn’t do something. I don't mind that so much, but I just thought we wouldn't want to get ourselves into trouble before we even get to school. Besides, I've learned that sometimes just a look is all it takes to stop someone from beating me to a pulp."

James shook his head, "No. You used a charm or something, didn't you?"

"I don't know any charms, James," Philip smiled. "But it was pretty cool, wasn't it? I've been using that trick to avoid trouble all my life."

James decided he wanted to know more about Philip McKenzie, and the new friends made their way back to their compartments to change into their robes.

Notes: Big thanks go to agrippa, who helped me with the foil character. I instinctively thought "Malfoy!" when bakbam gave us the boys at the compartment door, but decided (with a suggestion from agrippa) that we don't need another story about the Potter-Malfoy feud. I sent him my first draft and he gave me a DURSLEY! (Is he clever or what?)
We wondered how the young muggleborn Dursley would have wizard friends so quickly, and agrippa suggested that maybe Dudley sent him to some posh quidditch camp over the summer. It works for me!
Duke Dursley is named after one of Dudley's favorite childhood video games.
It's macho, and easy to spell.


A note from Agrippa, too: It's my assumption that, at the very least, Vernon Dursley is either dead, permanently incapacitated, or totally unaware of his grandson's actions. He'd be none too pleased.

[agrippa]

As the train slowed down, James found himself staring out the window with Philip as they pulled into Hogsmeade station. James had been here countless times before, of course. Even before Lily started Hogwarts, the family had made the trip countless times. He remembered being here for Dumbledore’s grand retirement party. He remembered being here for the most recent Tri-Wizard Tournament, in which his dad had been head judge. He remembered being here just last spring to pick up Lily after she finished her second year.

And yet James’ anxiety was growing. Was it just about Duke? James wondered. He decided that his feelings were bigger than that: no matter how often he’d been here, he’d never been here without his dad. Even with Lily here, happily chatting now with Freddy and their friend Marcus Wood, he felt the tension building.

He glanced at Philip, wondering what he must be feeling. Philip wore a broad grin as he took in the view that spread before them. Over the lake from the station, the high towers of Hogwarts glimmered in the twilight.

“Firs’ years, this way!” Hagrid’s familiar voice called over the din of students exiting the train. Philip looked up at the half-giant and then at James. James tried to reassure Philip with a small grin, but he found his face buried in moleskin.

“James!” laughed Hagrid. “Yer finally here! Good t’ see you. Get in t’ th’ boat, yeh scalawag!”

He ushered James and Philip into a boat where they were joined by several other new students. The nervous chatter faded into the background of James’ mind as the boats glided across the lake. He stared, solitary, at the castle – large, imposing, warm, mysterious. So this was Hogwarts. He felt as if he were seeing it for the first time.

Notes:
Obviously, the sorting is next. I’m going to work on a sorting hat song unless somebody’s already working on one – even if I have to insert it into somebody else’s story.

[agrippa]

The new first-years piled up the stone steps in a mob, straining to see inside the banquet hall. But at the top, a round-faced wizard held up his hand, and the group became silent.

"Er - welcome!" said Prof. Longbottom. "Now just calm down. The sorting's about to begin. This way, please. Oh - wait - I nearly forgot. Hagrid found somebody's pet toad."

He held up a large green toad with bulging eyes. "Does this belong to anyone?"

An excited boy near the back nearly knocked James over as he rushed to the front. "Rupert!" shouted the boy, hugging his toad to his chest. The rest of the students laughed. Blushing, he looked up at Prof. Longbottom. "Thanks, professor."

"Not at all. Something very similar happened to me on my first day at Hogwarts," he said with a smile. "All right, everyone? Let's go!"

The group moved quietly into the great hall, its enchanted ceiling sparkling with stars. A teacher James had never seen before brought out a small stool, put an old hat on it, and said, "Let the Sorting begin!"

And with that, a tear in the hat opened, drew a deep breath, and began to sing:

So many years have come and gone
since Hogwarts first was founded,
when four brave souls put up these walls
and did with charms surround it.

Then I was made for but one job:
to peek into the mind
of every student ent’ring here,
and houses to assign.

For each of those who built the school,
who made my point and brim,
prized diff’rent qualities in those
who came to learn from them.

Brave Gryffindor, the lion-heart,
sought those both loyal and bold;
for Ravenclaw, the brainy maid,
the mind must power hold.

Sly Slytherin, the wily kind,
loved those with great ambition;
and Hufflepuff, the kindly lass,
took all, in any condition.

So now, sit down and try me on,
you noggins full of dreams!
Inside your head I’ll see the truth –
not all is what it seems.

But badger, eagle, snake or lion
I want you each to hear
that Hogwarts School unites us all.
So let’s begin the year!

[evlpez]

This is a bit longer than I intended.. you know how it is when the creative juices start pumping. I only wish the Yule Duel was calling out to me like this story! Besides, in addition to all the sorting hat stuff, I wanted to spend a moment on the new Professor agrippa gave us. I hope someone has more ideas about who she could be.

James found himself at the very front of the crowd of nervous First Years, gazing at the Sorting Hat. Flanked on either side by Serena and Philip, he became very aware that he had a decision to make. The faces of all his family flashed in his mind. Gryffindor scarves and banners waved madly; a memory of the view round him in the stands at the Triwizard Cup's First Task. He glanced at Serena, her face beaming with the proud confidence of knowing where she belonged.
If only I could be so sure, he thought desperately. He closed his eyes and recalled the conversation with his father the morning after James' Hogwarts letter arrived.

James had hardly slept the previous night. His mind was racing with dreams of the Great Hall, his own wand and playing quidditch.

"What if I'm not in Gryffindor, Dad?" James had asked, quietly. Harry looked surprised.

"Well James, that wouldn’t be so bad. I mean, you wouldn't have your family around you so much, but you'd make plenty of very good friends to… " He paused. "Look, son. The Sorting isn't a random thing. The hat isn't going to make you be someone you're not. It wanted to put me in Slytherin, if you can believe that."

"But why would.."

"It doesn't matter now. It was my decision that put me in Gryffindor. I just kept thinking anything but Slytherin."

James was puzzled. "You mean it just sorts you however you want?"

Harry smiled, "Almost. James, you know how I feel about Gryffindor House; how our whole family feels about Gryffindor House. Your mother and I would be thrilled if that is where you end up, surrounded by people who love you and care for you. But son, part of being sorted is choosing where you feel you belong, and if you think you're better off in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, the hat will understand, and so will we."

James grinned.

"Slytherin is another matter," Harry looked deeply into James' eyes then, very serious. "No matter what anyone tells you James, no matter how many good wizards have come from Slytherin, just being who you are means you wouldn't be safe in that House. Even if you thought you'd be suited there…"

James shook his head, his eyes wide. Never, in a million years, he thought. He could never share a House with the likes of those who had hurt his family so much.

He was brought back to the present by an elbow from Philip, who then nodded towards the Hat. Duke Dursley sat proudly and smirked as the Hat's piercing voice shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" Duke removed the hat, plopping it back down on the stool as he joined his housemates. James' eyes followed, noticing a couple of Duke's friends from the train already sitting there. James wondered for a moment how a muggleborn would survive in Slytherin house. He had a brief daydream of Duke being ostracized and neglected when Philip's eyes met his.

"Wish me luck, James." He said, then turned and slowly walked up to the stool and sat. James suddenly noticed he had a very good view of the tall new Professor conducting the Sorting. A younger witch than most of the Professors he knew personally, she had very long, auburn hair. She wore it loose and as she turned to face him, the layers lay in bouncy curls around her face. She was unusually pretty. James caught himself staring when she locked her eyes on his and smiled, her eyes twinkling. He looked down to the floor nervously, when he realized people had begun whooping and cheering. Serena was among them, and clapping James on the back, hard.

"Gryffindor, James! I knew Philip would be with us!" Her voice hushed as she pushed out her ramble for James' ears only, "I-had-a-really-good-feeling-about-him-you-know-he's-really-clever-but-kind-of-nervous-most-of-the-time but-I-knew-he-would-probably-be-in-Gryffindor and-I'm-usually-right-about-these-kinds-of-things…" James tuned out, suddenly stricken with the realization that he might have lost his first and only unrelated friend at Hogwarts.

If I ask the hat for Ravenclaw… well I don't know anyone in there, do I? I'd meet people I could make friends with, but then how much time would I spend recounting the stories of my family again and again? On the other hand, I could ask the hat to put me in Gryffindor and I could be with Philip… but then I'd have to be around Serena all the time and her babbling… probably never get anything done, not to mention get lumped in with Lily's mischief and all the Weasleys.

James looked up to the Headmistress. Professor McGonagall was looking directly at him, her stern face lined with years of knowledge and experience. She was a strange witch, really. Brilliant mind, he'd heard, and strict. How on earth could she have been a Gryffindor?

"James Potter," the new Professor called, looking at him.

James stepped forward and paused, looking back out over the crowded Hall. It was silent. You could hear a pin drop. His stomach fluttered, and he couldn't let his eyes rest anywhere. He turned again and stepped up to the stool, sitting down and sighing as the hat fell over his eyes.

"Hmmm. Potter, why are you making this so difficult? You're more like your father than your sister was."

James' collar got warm. What do you mean? You're not going to try and put me in Slytherin. I'd die in that house.

The hat chuckled, then. "This isn't hard for me, boy. I can see clearly where you belong. It's you who are uncertain."

I know. I'm not like the rest of them though, am I? I've been so excited about maybe not being hounded by family if I was in Ravenclaw. But then I met someone I want to be around. And you've gone and put him in Gryffindor.

"Ravenclaw, eh? And beside this great intellectual potential I see, *snicker*, what makes you think you'd be in Ravenclaw?"

James was shocked. Well there's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff, either… I mean.. well, no offense but I just thought..

"You thought wrong. You do have a great mind, boy, no doubt about that. And you do have ambition. And yes, your loyalty and willingness to work hard stands out among these qualities. But boy, you've forgotten that you are yourself, no matter what I or anyone else thinks."

James sighed, and the hat fell silent.

You're right. I am. James smiled. So just say it then, will you? They're all staring.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

[bakbam]

James looked over at the Gryffindor table. He gave a slight chuckle as he walked to sit beside Philip.

"What are you laughing at? Philip asked rather curiously.

"It almost looks like dinner with the family." James pointed around the table at all the red headed children. "The Weasley genes are much stronger then most."

James pointed around the table at all the red headed children. "The Weasley genes are much stronger then most."

Philip eyed all the students while counting on his fingers. "Wow! There are what? Six, seven, no eight counting you."

James had a skeptical look on his face. "Well not exactly. The two next to Lily are Uncle Bill's kids. Twins! Finley and Fiona. They are prefects this year." James could tell by the look on Philip's face he was very confused. "They are part Veela. That is why they don't have the red hair."

Professor McGonagall gave her welcoming speech before the feast began. After everyone had their stomachs full they began talking, mostly of Quiddich. Philip was very interested in the subject. James changed the topic quickly. He began arguing with Lily about who was going to tell their father about Duke being at Hogwarts. Lily won the argument.

As soon as the feast was over Lily went straight to the owlery to send the message. James and Philip started up the stairs with all the other first years. Serena soon caught up with them. She pointed out a small area of swamp to Philip.

"This was done about 20 years ago by Uncle Fred and Dad. They quit school right after this prank. Thankfully they were allowed to take their N.E.W.T's anyway. The Headmaster pulled a few strings. Considering everything that went on that year the examiners felt a bit sorry for them. " Serena smiled to the boys and briskly walked away.

Finley began yelling from the top of the stairs. "Plenty of time for stories later. Come on, Come on, or you will get lost. "

James mumbled under his breath. "I know where I am going you git."

"Expecto Patronum! This is the password. If you don't remember it you will not be able to get in the common room." Fiona explained.

James headed straight for his room. He and Philip were unpacking when the door came open. Two boys stammered in. One of the boys was very tall with dark hair and dark eyes. The other boy looked as if he had fallen of the back of a truck. He was dressed very poorly. He carried a large toad tightly in his hands.

Philip extended his hand to the boys asking for their names.

The tall boy stood proud. "I'm Carson Bones."

"I'm Allan Smith." The toad jumped out of his hands and headed under the bed. "He is a bit nervous."

Carson questioned James. "You're the Potter boy aren't you? My Auntie thought I might be here with you."

James crawled in bed and closed his curtain. "Yes I am a Potter. Good Night!"

This post has been edited by evlpez: Jan 8 2004, 03:16 PM

[McGonagall's Cat]

He wasn't sure what time it was, though it was certainly still dark. With the strangeness of the new surroundings it took him a moment to orient himself, during which time he heard the noise again. A low moaning, or was it a shudder, a quiet cry? He couldn't quite tell where it came from either. James inched his bed curtain open just enough to peek out and saw that Phillip was looking out from his curtained bed also. Phillip nodded his head toward the bed in the corner

Moonlight streaked across the floor in a fluid undulation until abruptly being forced toward the ceiling by the red velvet surrounding the other boy's bed. A Dali window of light emphasized the lack of familiarity of this new place, which James found more interesting that alarming. Then he noticed Phillip walking on catfeet to the source of the noise, distorting the moonlight as he crossed the room and casting a gigantic modulating black silhouette of himself on the stone wall. He seemed to take a deep breath while staring at the curtain, holding his hands palms-toward-it, but not disturbing it in any manner. After a short while he climbed back into his own bed.

The moaning ceased before Phillip had left the other part of the room.

[bakbam]

Philip woke James up early the next morning. "Come on James hurry up! Lets go get some breakfast."

The two boys headed down to the common room. There was a crowd around the bulletin board.

"Our classes!" Philip exclaimed as he was dragging James across the room. " We have our first class after breakfast."

James stood tiptoed so he could see the schedule." Herbology at 8:00, Charms at 10:00, lunch, and then Double Potions. "

Serena came running over to the boys. "Do you realize that we have halfl of our classes today with the Slytherins? I really don't like the idea of spending my morning with those"I think I am better than all of you because I am a pureblood" gits. At least we have potions with Ravenclaw."

James quickly changed the subject. "So have you made any new friends yet Serena?"

Serena crunched her face together as if trying to think. "No! I can't say that I have, but you know it will take time. The other girls think I talk to much."

The two boys looked at each other, trying to hold back their laughter.

"Now why would they think a thing like that Serena?" questioned James.

"I will tell you on the way to breakfast, I'm hungry." Serena said while she opened the portrait hole. On the way through the corridor Serena kept going on about how the girls wanted to go to bed last night, but she was to excited to sleep . She had stayed up most of the night talking to them about everything she knew about the school. Apparently none of the others wanted to hear any of her stories. They had thrown pillows at her, and one of the girls even tried to put a silencing spell on her.

All through breakfast Serena jabbered. Lily and Freddy arrived to breakfast with two of their friends. They sat across the table from James and the others.

After ten minutes of Serena's talking Freddy quickly took action. "SILENCIO." Lily statrted cracking up. "We told you to hush, you would'nt listen." Serena got up angrily and stormed out of the room.

James had finished eating when he glanced over at Allan and remembered Philip's charm work the night before. "Philip do you remember waking up in the middle of the night?"

"No! Why? Did I sleep walk or something?" Philip asked quite curiously.

"Yes, you did actually. Allan was whining in his sleep. Do you not remember? Anyway you walked over to his bedside and moved you hands over him. He stopped whining and you went back to sleep." James looked at him for some sort of explaination.

"I have been known to sleepwalk, maybe I should have warned you all last night."
Philip stared at the floor.

Lily had been listening to the conversation between the boys. "Don't be ashamed. It sounds like you are powerful with charms. Our family is strong in transfiguration. Our father is a Metamorphagus and our grandfather was an animagus. "

A smile formed on Philips face."Thats cool! Can either of you do that?"

I want to be animagus, but James here wants too take after our grandmother. She was gifted in charms like you . I don't think there is any hope for him." Lily answered curtly.

James' face turned red. "Shut up Lily. Let's go to our first class Philip."

The boys made their way to the Herbology room. Professor Longbottom was up to his elbows in potting soil when they arrived.

"Hello, James. How do you like the castle so far?" the Professor asked.

"Sucking up to the Professors already Potter? You must think you are special because of your daddy." Duke said as he entered the room.

"NO I DON'T!" James exclaimed.

Professor Longbotton shook the dirt from his hands. "That is enough. I will not tolerate bullying in my room. Do you understand?

Both Duke and James quietly said "Yes sir." and found a place to sit.

This post has been edited by bakbam: Jan 12 2004, 06:49 AM

[McGonagall's Cat]

"Herbology is very a very important aspect of magic. In this class we will learn to nurture and understand the world of plants, to use their power for our bidding and well-being." Professor Longbottom said as he faced the new class for its first session. He then pointedly added, "At some point all of us have been where you are now. We are all here to learn, so be kind and patient with eachother."

A cough came from the direction of Duke's little group that sounded suspiciously like "Lame".

With little more than a raised-eyebrow glance at the Slytherins, he continued, "The plant kingdom has energy and powers which we can tap into. Every problem or condition has a solution or rememdy that plants can provide for us. Being in tune with this energy can be a powerful ally in your magical work. Do not think of plants as inanimate objects. They have feelings, and will absorb your attitudes whether you intend them to or not."

Again Duke's group fidgetted and shuffled, this time their coughs sounded like, "Boring" and "Snore".

"Mr. Dursley, will you..." he paused deciding on which other student would best suit the lesson he was about to teach, "... and Miss Weasley, please come up here to the potting table and assist me?" he calmly continued.

Guffaws and teasing aimed at Duke came from the Slytherins as he stood up and swaggered toward the potting table. Serena was already there by the time he had sauntered to the front.

Neville placed several pots, a pitchur of water, a pile of gravel, and a container of soil on the table. He then pulled two tall leafy plants from one of the rows in the greenhouse, and brought them to the table at the front of the room.

Serena looked trustingly at the Herbology teacher.

"These are Amazonius Reticulous. They are integral in several potions which cure sleeping curses and certain muscular problems." Neville said as he placed them in front of Serena and Duke. "Notice the beautiful shades of fuscia and apricot in the flowers."

Duke rolled his eyes and mocked Professor Longbottom's words while Serena closely examined the delicate flowers on the plant nearest to her.

"These are heavy feeders who need either an abundant supply of nutrients, as they get from their natural habitat, or frequent repotting. Place some of the stones in the bottom of the new pot and about a quart of soil." the Professor instructed.

Duke made a big show of noisily tossing rocks into the container, and spilled quite a bit of soil as he transfered it, smirking and acting as though this was all beneath him.

"Now, please gently grasp the stem near the base so we can transfer these plants to their new containers." Neville said with a small smile as he leaned back against the wall at the end of the table.

Serena gently picked her plant out of its old pot. She felt something like a soft caring contentment envelop her hands and arms as she moved the plant. Smiling, she glanced at the class. She was shocked to see that they were all staring open-mouthed at other end of the table.

Showing off, Duke had roughly grabbed his plant and jerked it from its pot. The plant had retailiated by spinning no less than a dozen thick tendrills around his upper torso, pinning his arms to his sides and blocking his ability to let any sound escape from his mouth. The plant seemed to have grown to three times its original size, and it somehow looked angry. Duke frantically squirmed, which only caused the plant to throw more tendrils about his body.

"This particular species is exceptionally receptive of the emotions with which we approach it." Professor Longbottom patiently stated. "It is particularly cogenizent of rude intentions.' he added dryly.

Half the class giggled. A very red blush could be seen spreading across the portions of Duke's face not covered with tendrils and leaves. Neville, asking Serena to assit, approached Duke's plant and began talking nicely to it. Serena followed suit, also admiring the delicate colours of the blooms and the gloss of its leaves. As the plant absorbed the appreciation and admiration it released its hold on young Dursley, and relaxed back to its original size.

"As I said, plants have feelings, and will absorb your attitudes whether you intend them to or not." Professor Longbottom reiterated as Duke glared daggers at him. "Please remember not to underestimate the other entities in this world we live in!"

[zymurgy]

When they emerged from the Herbology lesson, Duke was none too happy. In fact, he was downright angry. Of course, being a bully, he felt there had to be someone to blame other than himself. He felt that that someone would have to be Serena, not to mention Philip and James.

He waited by the entrance for Serena to leave the greenhouse, and followed her closely, along with his two rather bulky friends. As soon as they were sure there weren’t any teachers in sight, Duke abruptly pulled Serena round to face him.

“What did you have to do that for?” he growled.

Serena tried to pull away, “What?” she protested, “I didn’t do anything!”

Duke grinned nastily. “That plant, you made it get mad at me,” he said, and promptly knocked her off her feet.

She lay on the floor for a moment, stunned. Then she reached for her wand. “You crazy muggle-born!” she shrieked, “The plant was mad at YOU! YOU made it that way! It was your own fault!” Before she could curse Duke with whatever it was she had in mind, James leapt in between the two.

“Stop it,” he commanded, “Now.”

Duke backed up a pace, not knowing what to do when confronted with a wand, “What?” he sneared, “Is the great James Potter scared? Scared I’ll heart this baby?”

James turned and silently helped Serena to her feet. “It’s not worth it,” he said to her, “He’s not worth getting expelled for. Leave it be.”

Serena knocked James’ arm away from her, “So I’m supposed to just walk back on to the castle and pretend that nothings happened? Am I supposed to just let people knock me over when they feel like it!?” she yelled at James, still clutching her wand.

Philip decided to join the fray. “Serena,” he said, “look. Go back to the greenhouse, and tell Professor Longbottom. He’ll help.”

Duke sneared. “Baby,” he taunted, “Going back to the professor for help. Baby’s afraid.” James turned to face Duke.

“Leave her alone,” he said.

Duke grinned. This was going to be fun. “Make me,” he said.

James turned to Philip. Philip narrowed his eyebrows, and turned back to Serena.

“If you get mad and curse him,” he said, quietly, “Than your doing what he wants. He wants you to hurt him. He wants you do break the rules so that he can see you get punished for it. Don’t let him.”

Serena made an exasperated motion with her hand. “I won’t!” she yelled, at them all. “I won’t be pushed around.”

Duke smiled again, keen on the chase, “What are you going to do about it, baby?” he asked.

Before James or Philip could do a thing, Serena had hexed Duke. Duke fell to his knees, and seemed to be having some sort of allergic reaction. Dukes friends panicked, and ran back to the greenhouse, probably to get Professor Longbottom to help.

James looked at Serena, who was shaking with anger, and sighed. “Now you’ve done it. You should have let me.”

Serena put her wand away and snapped. “Why?” she said, acidly, “I noticed you weren’t so uppity about breaking the rules before. Silencing me at breakfast! You think you're better than I am. Admit it!”

James sighed. “No, I don’t,” he said, “and I’m sorry about what happened at breakfast. I just don’t want you to get into trouble that’s all. What did you do to him?” He motioned to the prone form of Duke which was shaking and sneezing. Serena raised an eyebrow and surveyed her handiwork.

“Allergy charm,” she said, simply.

Just then, they saw a rather harried Professor Longbottom immerge from the greenhouse followed by Duke'sfriends.

“You explain,” she said to Philip and James, as she picked up her scattered books and hurried off.

Philip and James looked at each other wondering what to do now. “Finite incantatem,” muttered James.

Duke recovered, slowly, still on the ground, looking around wildly. “You cursed me,” he said, staring at James.

Professor Longbottom hurried up to Duke. He frowned in distast. “Are you allright?” he asked.

Duke sat up and shuddered slightly. “I think so,” he said.

Longbottom frowned again. “Get back to the castle, you have classes. You two, go with him,” he ordered, “If you feel badly during the day, go the nurse.”

Duke and his friends shuffled off, talking excitedly in hushed voices. Longbottom turned and stared at James. “Why did you have to do that, James?” he asked.

“I didn’t,” protested James, but was cut off by his professor.

“Stop it,” he said, “I saw you sparring in my class. I even told you to quit. But no, you had to keep it up. I’m disappointed in you, James. I figured you’d be the kind that would stand up to people without resorting to physical violence. Twenty points from Gryffindore.”

James opened his mouth, changed his mind, and shut it again. Nobody ever bothered to listen to his explanations anyhow. He’d been blamed for many thins that his siblings had done, and everybody still believed their stories over his.

However, Philip wasn’t going to stand by and take it. “He didn’t hex him,” he said to Professor Longbottom, “Serena did. Duke hit her, and knocked her down, said she’d set the plant on him. She got mad, and hexed him. James was trying to make them stop!”

Longbottom’s eyes narrowed as he looked from one to the other. “My office,” he said, shortly, “Now.’

sorry for the length- and that it happens to have gone a good deal farther than I originally intended. I only wanted a bit on Duke, and it just grew.

[bakbam]

The two boys made their way to Professor Longbottom's office with their heads hung low. James whispered to Philip, "My father is going to kill me and I didn't even do anything."

Philip tried to keep from laughing when he said, "I thought it would help you, knowing everyone and all."

With a chuckle James replied, "Me too."

The office was fairly small, but only because of the many plants that filled up the room. James and Philip looked around very curiously at the strange plants that bubbled and spewed at them.

Professor Longbottom entered the room. He noticed the boys standing in front of a large plant which looked similar to a cactus. "That is a Mimbulus Mimbletonia" Professor Longbottom stated.

James curled his nose. "That is a disgusting-looking plant".

The Professor laughed, "Yes, I agree Mr. Potter. He's not as beautiful as he was years ago. I got this plant for my fifteenth birthday. It started out the size of this one here." He pointed to a small plant which was not as ugly.

"Wow! What is this boiling stuff?" Philip asked as he started to poke at the plant.

The professor quickly stopped Philip "I don't reccomend you touch those. They have a tendency to explode. Your father and I learned that the hard way, James.
Back to buisness now. Please have a seat".

James was not ready to hear any sort of lecture from the Professor so he quickly began telling him about the argument after class.

The Professor listened quietly as James told his side of the story. "I don't expect I will be seeing you two boys in my office again. Get on to your next class."

"I can't believe he didn't punish us." Said Philip excitedly as they were running to Charms class.

"I'm surprised myself, but I bet he will tell my parents about it anyway." James stated.

Class had already started when the two burst in the room. Everyone had heard what had happened after Herbology class. They all were whispering to each other about the fight. James apologized for being late before he took a seat in the front next to Serena. She lowered her head in shame when James looked at her. The teacher hushed the class and began the lesson.


**the next person can deside who our Charms teacher will be.**

This post has been edited by evlpez: Jan 8 2004, 03:26 PM

[pinkpanther]

Seeing Serena's guilt, James decided she had learned her lesson and turned his attention to the front of the room. Upon entering, he and Philip hadn't given much notice to the professor, except to stammer a quick apology. Now, though, James wondered how he could have missed the gaudily dressed old man. He was silently staring at the ceiling, a confused look on his face. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers and broke into a huge grin. "That's it!" He yelled triumphantly, "Yes, as I was saying, I am Professor Lockhart and I will be your new Charms professor. You'll have to forgive my memory, it tends to stop working every now and then . . . I don't really remember why."

Serena turned to James and whispered, "It's him, isn't it? He's the old bat that tried to teach DADA when our parents were here! I wonder if they just couldn't find anyone else for the job."

James stifled a laugh. "Do you really think they'd have hired him otherwise? I mean, he's not exactly the pick of the litter. I wonder if he even knows what he's doing." James soon discovered the answer to his own question. Lockhart was looking around the room confusedly.

"What are you all doing here?" he asked.

A girl on the other side of the room raised her hand, then answered without bothering to wait for Lockhart to notice her. "This is Charms class, Professor. We're here for our lesson." Lockhart's brow furrowed and the girl spoke again. "Er . . . will you be teaching us then?"

Once again, Lockhart grinned. "Ah, yes, Charms. This class will be most charming." He turned back to the girl. "What is your name, again?"

"Betsy," she replied.

"Ah, well, thankyou very much Brumhilda. I was just testing you and you have passed marvelously. Now, Charms is a very improtant area of your education here at Hoggseldorf . . ."

Nobody even bothered to correct him and most of the class, including James, tuned out his rambling lecture. James amused himself by imagining the jokes Freddy and Lily would play on this poor teacher. He looked at Serena, whose head had drooped onto the desk as she snored quietly. On the other side of him, Philip was still regarding Lockhart with utter disbelief. "Well," James thought, "this should be interesting."


*I decided to make Lockhart the Charms professor because he was one of my favoites and wouldn't be too old. He is apparently out of St. Mungo's, though I still don't know when, how, or who decided that Hogarts was that desperate. With an incompetent teacher, though, Philip could "help out" or something in order to show his talent.*

[evlpez]

Other students were beginning to chat amongst themselves, oblivious to their professor, who seemed to be having a quiet conversation with the yellow flowers on the sleeve of his fuschia robes. James opened his Charms textbook to the first chapter and nudged Philip.

"Hey, have you read any of this yet?" he whispered, breaking Philip out of his open-mouthed stare.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah - the first chapter is all history and stuff. The only charms it covers really are Lumos and Nox and a few others. Even I understood it… what's wrong with our professor? Is he for real?"

James chuckled. "Yeah, pretty bad, isn't he? He lost his mind when my dad was in his second year. He was already an inept teacher, but then he hit himself with a memory charm." James looked keenly at Philip. "So, you know this chapter really well, then? How far into the book have you read?"

Philip shrugged. "I don't know, the first four chapters or so. I pretty much memorized it the day I got my school supplies." He smiled. "I knew I'd have a lot to catch up on, being a muggle."

James smiled. "You're not a muggle Philip, you're a wizard. Your parents are muggles, but if you can do magic and got a Hogwarts letter, you're magical folk, just as much as any of us here." James' voice dropped even quieter. "I suspect you're going to be a very powerful wizard some day."

Philip blushed a bit. "Well none of us will be if we have to rely on this oaf."

"We'd do better if you taught the lesson," James hinted, grinning.
"Me?" Philip chuckled loudly, causing many of the students to look over. Serena awoke, sending her Charms textbook flying forward, narrowly missing Professor Lockhart. He paused from his thoughts to regard the book laying on the floor.

"Hmm." He stooped to pick it up, reading the cover. "A Charms textbook? You know," he flashed a dazzling smile at Serena, "I teach Charms at Hogsworth. I'm just brilliant at it too, I'd wager."

Philip spoke up, "Really, Professor? Why don't you give us all a demonstration of your teaching skills? I'm sure we'd all love it."

"Really?" Lockhart probed the class for encouragement. The rest of the Gryffindors, getting the idea, chimed in with choruses of 'lovely!', 'such a treat', 'ever so grateful' and the like. The other side of the classroom sat silent, the Slytherins rolling their eyes at one another.

"Very well, young man. Of course I will oblige for such a devoted fan! Would you be so kind as to stand up with me and demonstrate the first spell in Chapter One of your textbook?" Lockhart handed Philip Serena's book and then began clapping, indicating to the class that this was something worthy of applause. A few students applauded politely; James and Serena both clapped loudly and enthusiastically. Philip handed the book to Serena with a smirk and nudged James.

"I'll get you for this, Potter." Philip warned, chuckling as he got up from his seat and joined Lockhart in front of the class.


AN: We should learn that Philip can be a bit of a class clown when he wants to be. He may 'lead' Lockhart in the lesson and become very popular in Gryffindor house for his showmanship.

[McGonagall's Cat]

Duke jabbed his nearest cronie in the ribs.

“This otta be good. That annoying git will finally get his.” he hissed to the other two. He still sounded slightly thick and nasal from the after effects of Serena's curse.

With a dull confused look, like someone trying to do Calculus without the benefit of parchment and quill, the smaller of the two behemoths, Athol McMagnus, said, “What do you mean finally, Duke? This is the first day of classes.”

Duke rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, dumbfounded.

"I just wanna use my wand on him after class..." Claude Jugson sneered leaning over close to Duke's ear. "Nobody does to me or my friends what they did after that stupid greenhouse class."

[bakbam]

Philip glanced over the first spell in the book. He thought to himself Lumos. That is easy enough. Philip raised his wand. "Lumos!" The tip of his wand lit up brightly.

"This is a fairly easy spell. You simply hold your wand out and say the spell. While you are saying the words of the spell you have to think of what you want to happen". Philip looked around the room. "Do you get it?"

The class was focused on Philip. He was beginning to feel a bit unnerved. He gave a quirky smile then pointed his wand at the Professor. "Lumos! Lumos! Lumos! Why won't the lights come on?"

Everyone in the room burst out laughing. Professor Lockhart looked around, confused. "Why are you all laughing? The spell worked marvolously. Very good, Justin."

The Professor walked over to his desk. He peered at his self portrait for a good five minutes then walked back in front of the class. "So you have all come for my autograph. How wonderful." He signed a picture of himself then shoved it into Philips hands. "Who's next? You! You look very eager for an autograph." He signed another and passed it over to Duke.

The class started laughing at Duke, who got very defensive "What the bloody hell am I going to do with this? I don't need this half-witted fool of a teacher to learn how to light a wand. Magic runs deep in my blood." Duke got up and stormed out of the room. His friends followed him.

"What was he fussing about?" asked the Professor as if he was lost again.

The bell rang. Professor Lockhart ducked behind his desk. "Who's there? What do you want with me?"

A Slytherin girl stood up staring at him. "What is his deal anyway?" She asked Serena.

"It's a long story that I would be more than happy to tell you if you want me to." Serena answered happily.

"Sounds great. I'm Penelope by the way." She outstretched her hand to Serena.

"I'm Serena. Serena Weasely. Nice to meet you." The two girls walked out of the class together, talking away.



*next comes lunch then double potions*

This post has been edited by evlpez: Jan 8 2004, 03:30 PM

[agrippa]

After a quick lunch, James, Philip, and Serena headed to the dungeons for double potions with the Ravenclaws. The stone corridors were filled with chatter, but the dark atmosphere of the classroom dropped everyone's voices to a whisper. The three found their seats and took their cauldrons out of their bags.

"Wow!" said Philip. "Look at that big cauldron on the desk."

Indeed, at the front of the room, a gigantic iron cauldron bubbled, steamed, and sparked. Its turqoise smoke filled the air, and every student seemed to be breathing deeply. James felt calmer than he had in a long time.

"You know," he said to Philip, "Dad was never much for potions. But I think this might be pretty cool."

The door of the professor's office opened and a tall, thin, duck-footed man slouched towards the front of the room.

"Velcome to your first potions lesson," said the professor. "I am Professor Krum. It is very good to see you all here, and I think that I will be seeing many of you on the quidditch pitch, as vell."

He smiled at the class.

"So, I imagine you are all feeling very relaxed?"

"Yes, professor," sang the students.

"You've been breathing the fumes of a Stupor Daught. You." He pointed at Serena. "What is your name?"

"Sally Wilson," she said in a dreamy tone.

"Is that right?" he smiled. "And you?" He looked at a curly-headed boy in Ravenclaw robes.

"Walter Wilcox," the boy droned.

"I'd be willing to bet," Krum continued, "that neither of you gave me your correct name. Let's find out."

He pointed his wand at the cauldron. "Gelidus!" The cauldron stopped steaming. He waved his wand in the air, drawing a small circle, and the air in the dungeon classroom cleared. Suddenly, the room was alive with chatter.

"Calm down, everyone, calm down," shouted Krum. "Miss Wilson, I believe you said? Is that really your name?"

Serena went bright red. "No. I'm Serena Weasley."

"And you, Mr. - ah - Wilcox?"

The curly-headed boy stared at the floor. "I'm William Walters."

"Lesson one, then," said Krum as the words appeared magically on the blackboard behind him. "When you see a potion you aren't familiar with, don't breath it, don't touch it, don't taste it."

The students scribbled furiously on their parchment as Prof. Krum began to explain how to identify different types of potions and how to know which ones might be harmful. He lectured so long that James' hand was hurting, but he didn't mind. He was finding all of this facinating.

Finally the end of the double lesson drew near. "Any questions?" asked the professor.

James' hand went up.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Potter, isn't it?"

For once, James didn't even think to be embarrased that the professor knew his dad. "What should we have done, professor, when we first came into the room? I mean, we couldn't leave the lesson, and the cauldron was smoking."

"An excellent question. But rather than me telling you, I have another idea. Fifty points to the house of the first student to find a way that you could have remained in the room and not suffered the effects of this potion. Just write your answer on a slip of parchment and send it to me. That's all for today. Please have read chapter two in Primary Potions for next lesson."

[evlpez]

James and Philip packed up their books and stood up to leave. James' head was teeming with all the information from the lecture. He felt giddy and looked forward to reading Primary Potions later.

"That class was great, wasn't it?" James asked Philip on their way through the portrait hole.

Philip yawned. "It was all right. I hope someone from Gryffindor knows the answer to his question."

The boys stepped into the common room and were greeted immediately by Lily and Freddy.

"We heard about Charms, Philip!" started Freddy.

"Well done!" Lily chimed in, "I can't wait to play with Lockhart's head when we have him tomorrow."

Freddy agreed. "It'll be the only good thing about Charms, this year."

"He was brilliant," James beamed, "Philip should teach this class. He's the only reason we learned anything!"

Philip blushed and changed the subject. "Do either of you two know how to protect yourself from potions vapors? I mean, other than not breathing?"

Lily and Freddy looked at one another and shook their heads.

A very tall red head looked up from the table beside them. "A Bubble Head Charm would work. There are plenty of others too, but I'm surprised you didn't think of that, James. Remember Cedric Diggory in the Triwizard tournament with your dad?"

James blushed. Of course. He should have thought of that - he'd only heard the story a thousand times.

Philip was no longer surprised at meeting another red head in Gryffindor Tower. He held his hand out, "Thanks! Hi. I’m Philip. Philip McKenzie.”

"Charlie Weasley. Good to meet you, Philip." The boy shook Philip's hand and went back to his work at the table.

Lily and Freddy excused themselves and went out the portrait hole as James and Philip turned to put their bags in their room.

"Wow. Charlie doesn't usually say that much in one go, Philip. He's really quiet, outside of the Quidditch pitch. Charlie's the captain for Gryffindor House and this is his last year at Hogwarts. Dad told me he's been scouted for professional quidditch!"

Philip was impressed. "That's something I can't wait to see. I've never even flown a broom, much less seen anyone play quidditch."

James tore a piece of parchment off a roll in his bag and scribbled on it, saying "We should go see if Professor Krum is in his office. I want to get the answer to him before Ravenclaw does."

***
AN: I'd like to see the boys run into (or overhear something about) the mysterious new professor that conducted the sorting on their way to see Krum. It's time for something exciting or mysterious to happen.

[McGonagall's Cat]

The aroma of cooking onions wafted through the hallways as they headed back toward the Potions classroom. It made their stomachs grumble.

"How long has it been since lunch?!" James asked. "I wonder if I'm so hungry as a side effect of that potion."

"Nah, its been too long since we ate is all," Phillip answered a little sleepily. "So, what other ways are there to protect against those vapors? If we come up with more than one maybe we can get even more points."

"But, I don't know any more ways. The other contestants in that contest that didn't use the Bubblehead Charm resorted to gills, including Dad. I can't think of any time I've even seen any breathing protections charms. No sheilding for that ones either. Not even at Uncle George's parties. He still pulls tricks on all of us." James chattered away again feeling as though he was somehow responsible to know since he was the son off the great Harry Potter. "We better just make sure we get at least this one answer to Profes...." James voice trailed off as Phillip suddenly stood still. He turned to Phillip with a puzzled expression. "What?"

Phillip grabbed James' cloak and dragged him through the closest doorway. He carefully almost closed the door, leaving just enough of a crack to be able to hear through.

One of the voices rapidly coming toward them had a very hard edge to it. "We have to do it this way." It was a man's voice, but didn't sound like any of the Professors the boys had met so far. It definitely wasn't anyone who'd ever been to dinner at the Potter house. "We have no choice."

The other voice, that of a woman also not familar to either of the boys, responded with concern as they passed the slightly ajar door that students might discover the two of them were behind "this".

"That's what Memory Charms are for," the man groused. The two figures swiftly strode away, their voices receeding down the stairway as they went.

"But, I really don't want to be linked..." the woman's voice faded out.

"What made you pull me into that classroom? With what we just heard, I'm glad you did, but why?" James said suddenly pulled out of his concentric feelings.

"I don't know." Phillip stated flatly.

[bakbam]

"Who could that have been?" Philip asked James as if he should have known by their voices.

"I am not sure who the man was, but I think the women may have been the new Astronomy teacher," James said flatly.

"You mean the teacher who did the sorting? I got a bad feeling when she was putting the hat on my head. I just thought it was nerves, but maybe it was her," Phillip confided reluctantly.

"What do you mean bad feeling? Do seers run in you family? They say that is the first sign of a true seer." James stared questioningly at Phillip.

"Vhat tar you two doing down here in de dungeonz?" The boys jumped as Professor Krum came into the classroom.

"We were just, just," James could not seem to find the words to finish the sentence.

"We were on our way to your office, Sir, but we saw a Ravenclaw and we didn't want them to know we had the awnser to your question," Philip spit out in one long breath.

Krum looked from one to the other a bit skeptical of their story, "Verry vell then, Vat is de answer you hav com up vith?"

James was still a bit nervous, "It is the Bubblehead Charm Professor Krum, Sir."

"Dat is Korrect, Miztor Potter, but I hav already re-seef'd de answer. I must say I vas su-prized you didn't haf de answer in class," Krum said with obvious disappointment in his voice.

Yes sir, I should have remembered that charm. Who did get it right?" James asked.

"At least somvun in your family has heard de stories of yer father. It vas yor kussin Miz Veeslee. Vou two better get back to yor Kommon Room befor curfew." With a stern look Krum left the classroom.

"At least Gryffindor got the fifty points," Philip muttered when he saw the glum look on James' face.


***With lots of help from McGonagalls Cat

[McGonagall's Cat]

Heading back toward the Great Hall Phillip was unusually quiet. James kept mulling over in his mind what they'd overheard. Deep in thought, the two walked automatically, entirely unaware of their surroundings.

"What were YOU doing down near our OUR Common Room?" Duke's voice startled both boys. Ringed by his three huge companions the group made a formidable obstacle to get past.

"Is there some sort of regulation that only Slytherins are allowed in that part of the castle now?" James retorted without thinking of possible consiquences. He planted his feet and glared at McMagnus.

"In your case, there most definitely is," Athol replied. Claude and Pollux each flexed their fists down near their sides, making crackly noises in the process.

Phillip stepped up beside James, but before either could say anything in response to the challenge, a loud bang came from the hall behind them. Several Sixth-Years ran past toward the noise, along with a Professor and Filch. The hallway started to swarm with concerned students and staff, separating Duke and his buddies. They sullenly mixed in with the crowd, glaring at James and Phillip as they were drawn away in the crush.

"What is it with them?" Phillip asked James as soon as they had put a bit of distance between themselves and the confusion.

"Got me. I barely know the guy." James shrugged.

Just then Freddy raced into step beside the two of them, trying to look nonchalant and control his too-fast breathing.

[agrippa]

"So, James," Lily said as she scooped a lump of fluffy mashed potatoes out of the serving dish and on to her plate. "You named your little owl yet?"

"He's not little," snapped James.

"No need to get snippy," she said.

James scowled at her.

"Well," Lily continued, "you've got to name your huge owl sooner or later. Mum and Dad will be expecting a letter from you. My first year, I forgot to write them the first week. Don't think I've ever gotten a worse howler."

She paused. "You really haven't given the thing a name yet?"

"No."

"What about Frieda?" said Serena.

"Or Tulip?" suggested Lily.

"He's a boy!" gowled James.

"What about Jack?" suggested Philip. "I had a terrier named Jack."

"I'm going to the owlry," said James, standing up suddenly. He grabbed his bad and stormed out of the hall.

***

Dear mum and dad,

Everything's fine here. We had our first classes today. Herbology, Charms, and Double Potions. Herbology and Potions are both good, but I think our charms teacher - well, it's Lockhart, so you know.

I've made at least one good friend. His name's Philip McKenzie, and he's from London.

James thought about telling his parents about Philip's unusual abilities, but he decided it was better if he didn't.

Philip, Serena, and I are all in Gryffindor together. So I share my dormitory with Philip and three others: Allen Smith, Sean Wiles, and Carson Bones.

You probably heard from Lily that Duke Dursley's here. Did you have any idea he was a wizard? He's in Slytherin, of course, and always giving me a hard time. Any advice on dealing with him? Not that it's been terrible. He's not much of a wizard, from what I can tell.

Anyway, send a reply back with

His quill hesitated over the parchment. You've got to choose, he thought to himself.

... Prometheus. See, mum? I finally named him.

Love always,
James

He found his tawney owl and tied the note to his leg. "To mum and dad, all right, Prometheus?"

Prometheus nipped his finger affectionately and took off into the night.

[evlpez]

James entered the Gryffindor common room and found Philip reading in front of the fire. The common room was full of students studying and doing their first homework assignments of the year. Philip looked up at James and closed his Charms textbook.

"I found something out," Philip said. James sat down on the couch beside him and Philip continued in a whisper, "You were right. That woman is the new Astronomy teacher. Get this though - she's related to Albus Dumbledore somehow."

James felt a little panic. "What, like his granddaughter or something? I didn't think he had a family."

"No, she's a niece of some kind." Philip said. "At least, that's what Charlie told me. He saw her come in at the end of last year to see McGonagall about a job."

"Okay," James' thoughts skipped a bit. "We should find out who that wizard she was talking to is. He seemed to be the one making the decisions. Remember, she said she didn't want to be linked to… something."

James didn't want to believe that a relation of his father's mentor had any dark intentions. He wondered if he should ask his dad about Dumbledore's family, but decided he wanted to solve this mystery on his own. Besides, he thought, there's no sense involving dad and getting him worried or upset about Dumbledore. He's already a bit tender on the subject - dad hasn't heard from him since his retirement party.

"Right," Philip agreed, "We'll meet her Wednesday night anyway, we have Astronomy class at sundown. Do you think that man was a teacher?"

"What else would he be? I mean - what other adults would be wandering around Hogwarts than the staff?" James asked. Could this man be from outside - someone wanting to hurt a student or a teacher?

"Well," Philip whispered, "Could he have been a student?"

James looked at Philip and nodded slowly, pondering this question. They should be prepared for any possibility.

The other first year boys sat down at a table behind the couch and started playing chess and Exploding Snap, distracting James and Philip from their mystery. Grateful for a chance to learn wizard games, Philip jumped up and joined them. James spent little time thinking about what they'd heard, and instead the five boys played games all evening. Philip learned about Bertie Botts beans the hard way and James finally found someone other than Uncle Ron who could beat him at wizards' chess.

AN: Let's explore their dorm-mates and see who Carson's related to. Could he or the others know some seemingly irrelevant information that helps James & Philip?
When I first wrote about the new professor, I described her with some attributes linking her to Dumbledore. Even with the mystery conversation, I think we can still use that idea and see what happens.

This post has been edited by evlpez: Feb 13 2004, 03:28 PM

[agrippa]

“Check and mate,” said Philip. James’ black king bowed low, and the red bishop decapitated him with his crosier.

“Too bad,” said Carson. “Well played, though, both of you.”

“Thanks.” James smiled and then frowned. “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming.”

The fire in the hearth was getting low, and James was feeling drowsy. The common room was so cozy, and he was having so much fun with his new mates. Suddenly, an empty feeling in his stomach reminded him of something he needed to do.

“Carson,” he said, “I’m sorry about going off on you last night, about my dad an all. I didn’t mean…”

“Not at all,” Carson replied. “I mean, my family’s not quite as famous as yours, but we’ve had our share.”

James remembered what he must mean. “So Susan Bones was your….” He let the question hang in the air.

“My aunt.” Carson looked at the table.

Philip looked up from the box where he had been putting away the chessmen. “Susan Bones?”

James gave Philip a look that meant, “I’ll tell you later.”

“It’s all right,” said Carson. “My aunt Susan was killed in the last battle against the Death Eaters. She fought very bravely, they say. And my great-uncle Edgar and his family were killed in the first Dark Days.”

He drew a deep breath and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Can I tell you – I’m absolutely petrified that I won’t be any good at Defense Against the Dark Arts. We have it tomorrow first thing, don’t we? My whole family’s been involved in fighting the dark arts for generations.”

The boys were silent until Allen spoke up. “Come on, Carson. You’ll be great.”

“Yeah,” said James. “Professor Lovegood’s supposed to be fantastic.”

“I know,” said Carson glumly. “She was a friend of my aunt’s. I hope she doesn’t expect me…”

“And what if she does?” asked Philip. “We’re in this together, aren’t we? Gryffindors all?”

Sean, James, and Allen nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, mates.” Carson looked at the clock on the mantle. “Merlin’s beard! Look how late it is. We’d better get to bed.”

As James’ pulled his curtains around his four-poster, he smiled. He was beginning to understand why his dad was always going on about this place. This was going to be a great year.

[McGonagall's Cat]

The first year Gryffindors ate breakfast not at all sure what to expect from their first class of the day. Defense Agaist The Dark Arts had a reputation at Hogwarts.

Taking a deep breath, Phillip pushed open the door to the classroom.

Though James and two other students had been in the room before, it’s imposing array of tanks and cages of strange creatures captured everyone’s attention when they entered. They walked along the shelves of cages, studying the odd assortment of inhabitants. Several near accidents were narrowly averted, as when James jerked Allen’s arm away from a cage front just before a Doxy slashed at his hand with its sharp teeth.

“It’s not a good idea to get too close; you never can tell which of these things might do some real damage.” James said as he looked into the next cage.

Duke shouldered some students out of the way of his entourage to get nearer to James, Phillip, Carson and Sean. “Well, well. My illustrious cousin seems to be afraid of a little black furry thing.”

“Actually, Duke, I’ll let you touch it first,” James challenged, glancing at the four bullies. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid of a little tiny Doxy?”

Duke was looking back at him hard, obviously doing some fast thinking as to how to save face, when a teacher’s voice interrupted the situation.

“We’ll just move the tables out of the way” she said pointing her wand starting the process. Several students we knocked off balance as the tables bumped past them, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“How many of you have had experience with magical creatures?” she continued. “A show of hands…” The somewhat taken aback students mumbled and milled around, a few tentatively raising hands.

“And were any of those Yetis?” she earnestly asked the closest student with raised hand, her direct eye contact making the hapless boy very uncomfortable. Her face was only about a half meter from the student’s as she leaned forward expectantly awaiting an answer. After a prolonged silence, during which she continued to stare intently at the boy, she shook her head disappointedly, “Ahhh, more’s the pity.”

A funny-shaped chunk of gold dangling from one earlobe banged back and forth against her cheek and neck when she shook her head. James knew this was a tiny piece of the statue that had gotten blown apart during the Battle at the Department of Mysteries before he was born. The family talked about it several times when she’d come over for dinner. He also knew she’d gotten badly hurt there, and wondered if she was this goofy from the injury or if this is how she had always been.

Stashing her wand behind her other ear she turned her back on the class and bent over, providing their first less-than-dignified view of their Professor. “We are going to start today with an easy creature. Many wizard children keep these as pets,” she said pulling a crate from behind her desk. Inside was a pile of creamy-yellowish furballs. Flipping the top open she lifted one of them out and shoved it into the arms of the first available person, who happened to also be holding an armload of books which went every which way and almost dropped. The little critter purred and before long each of the class had come forward for one.

“Not many creatures are as nice as these puffskeins,” she said walking over to a large enclosed tank with an orange-ish snake curled in the corner. As she tapped the side of the tank the snake uncoiled, lifting its three heads as if to strike at the glass. Had they not been holding the calming puffskeins most of the class would have jumped due to the snake’s intimidating appearance.

“Which is exactly why these were favourite choices for pets by some Dark Wizards.” She carried on without missing a beat, walking around the room as she spoke. “A potion made of its eggs will enhance mental abilities. … But, you won’t learn that potion until 5th year, so you still must take notes in class to pass exams at the end of the year. Maybe this is a good place to start taking notes.”

Duke had already put his puffskein back into the crate and was approaching the snake tank. “What are these called?” he tossed over his shoulder without bothering to look at the teacher, expecting an answer. Duke’s buddies were all near the tank now, too. The rest of the class had found desks and were pulling out parchments and quills.

“These are called Runespoors. They’re from Burkina Faso.” As an afterthought she added, “I’m Professor Lovegood, by the way. We will be exploring Defense Against The Dark Arts this year, and I will do my best to enlighten you. Please feel free to come to me with any questions, my door is always open.”

“Now this, “ she drew her wand again (several of the students exchanged nervous glances) and transported a different tank to the middle of the area where they were all sitting, “...is a nest of Occamy eggs. Come up and look at them closely.”

The class was soon comfortably discussing the various serpents Luna brought before them, taking notes as to their Wizarding uses, things to be cautious of around each, where they originated, and so on.

Time flew so quickly that all of them were startled to hear the bell ring.

[bakbam]

"That was a great class," Philip said as he left the room.

"She is kind of strange though." Allen looked back in the room at the Professor, "Just look at her."

"Dad says she has always been strange, but very helpful in the many battles against Voldemort," James pulled Allen away from the doorway.

Carson's eyes bugged out of his head, "You say his name, even after all these years people don't say his name. "

James shrugged his shoulders, and the boys continued down the hall.

"Stop you guys," Serena was yelling as she and Penelope were running toward them.

James held out his arm to stop everyone, "What do you need Serena?"

"I thought you might ought to know that Duke and his friends are going to try and get you guys in trouble, Penelope overheard them talking in the common room last night, they are not to happy about you not getting in trouble yesterday, "Serena looked over at Penelope and shook her head at her , "Right Penelope that is what you heard wasn't it?"

"Slow down Serena. What are earth are you talking about? I missed everything after Duke. Do you think you can tell us a little slower this time, " Philip seemed a bit annoyed .

"What is he planning on doing to us?" James asked having been able to understand everything Serena just muttered.

"I didn't hear the plans , but I would watch your back if I were you. I don't know Duke, but Claude is my cousin. He is very mean. He has even wrote his mother to tell her I befriended a Gryffindor." Penelope dropped her head. " I just know I will get a howler for this one."

Serena and Penelope walked away leaving the boys standing there almost as dumbfounded as Professor Lovegood.

"I can't get in trouble. My folks will kill me." Allen was now worried.

"Let's get to our next class we can figure this out later." James looked behind him at Duke and his friends who were all whispering and laughing.

"I hope the History of Magic class is as good as that one," Carson said trying to change the subject.

[agrippa]

Unfortunately, History of Magic class was nothing of the sort.

“How can they allow a ghost to keep teaching this course?” said Serena as the left the classroom. “If it’s possible, I think he’s actually more boring than death itself!”

“Well,” said Philip. “I don’t suppose they have to pay him, do they? Probably doesn’t even need his own rooms.”

“Or eat much,” sighed James. “I’m starving, though.”

They entered the great hall and tucked in to the Gryffindor table. James helped himself to a leg of roast chicken. They ate in silence for a few minutes, recovering the energy drained from them by the lecture on ancient Greek wizards.

James was looking down the table to see where the rolls had gotten to when he saw a tawny owl winging his direction.

“Prometheus!” he shouted.

Serena looked up. “You named him, then? And he’s got a letter – and a package. But why didn’t it come with the morning post?”

Prometheus landed in front of James, who took the letter from his leg.

Dear James,

Your mum and I are thrilled, naturally, that you’re in Gryffindor. It sounds like you’re doing well and have great housemates in your year. We are very fond of the Boneses, although we don’t see them as much as we’d like. Please make sure to say “hello” to Neville, Luna, and Viktor for us – although, I guess that’s Profs. Longbottom, Lovegood, and Krum to you!

Of course, we had no idea about Duke. As you know, I’ve rarely spoken to Dudley or any of the Dursleys since I came of age. But your mum and I both agree that pretty much all bullies are the same. Don’t go out of your way to avoid Duke; but don’t go looking for him, either. If he gets way out of line – anything beyond your basic jinxes and whatnot – you should talk to your head of house or to the Headmistress. We have absolute trust in both of them.

Sorry if you were waiting for this letter a long time. It took Prometheus a little bit longer than most to find us, but he’ll get better the more you use him. Mum says she really likes the name you chose for him. Study hard and keep your chin up!

Love,
Dad
PS – if you’re reading this in the Great Hall, don’t open the package. Wait until you’re in your dorm.

James was terribly curious about what was in the package. He untied it from the leg of his owl, who was now happily nibbling a bit of chicken off James’ plate. Putting it to his ear, he shook it a bit; but it made no noise.

“Well? Open it!” said Serena, as Philip nodded vigorously.

“Can’t,” whispered James. “Dad says to open it later in the dorm. Besides, we’re going to be late for Transfiguration.”

***

The Transfiguration classroom was simple but stately. James, Philip, and Serena found a table in the middle row, and in a few minutes, Sean, Allan, and Carson took the table in front of them.

“Haven’t started yet, have we?” asked Carson. “We were afraid we were going to be-”

The front door of the classroom opened with a bang and a tall wizard in deep purple robes strode out. He took his place behind the front table.

“Accio chalkboard.”

A portable chalkboard rolled up next to him.

“Good afternoon, and welcome to Transfiguration. In this class, you will learn the secrets of transformation, one of the most important branches of magical study.”

The word Transfiguration and most important branch of magical study appeared on the board.

“Well?” said the professor. “Don’t you see what’s on the chalkboard? Write it down.”

The students scrambled furiously for their quills and parchment.

“I,” continued the professor, “am Professor Jacobson, and I will be guiding you on this adventure through Transfiguration. This is my first year at Hogwarts. I spent the last five years working in the Ministry of Magic’s research division. You will no doubt meet my wife when you meet for Astronomy Wednesday night.”

Philip and James exchanged glances. James raised his hand.

“Yes?” Prof. Jacobson looked down at the parchment on his desk. “Mr. Potter, is it?”

James was taken aback by the fact that Prof. Jacobson seemed not to know him. “So you know Prof. Dumbledore, then?”

The professor’s coal-black eyes widened with surprise. “What makes you say that?”

“I heard that your wife was Dumbledore’s niece.”

Prof. Jacobson laughed. “Oh, dear, no. That’s very funny! I wonder how that rumor got started? Well, my dear Mr. Potter, rest assured that very few of us have had the good fortune to see Albus Dumbledore as often as you.”

James blushed furiously.

“Now,” said Prof. Jacobson, “back to the lesson.”

[bakbam]

Class was over and the gang quietly left the room. When they were out of hearing distance Philip expressed his feelings to the gang. "I don't like him. There is something about him that can not be trusted."

"What is it?" James asked curiously.

"I don't know. It is just a feeling I have." Philip now had a look of concern on his face.

"You are crazy. He is strange, but not nearly as strange as Professor Lovegood," Allen was laughing.

"Oh! I will catch up with you guys. I forgot my bag." James ran down the hall.

"Look who we got here. It is my dear cousin Potter . Where are all your friends James?" Duke and his friends came up behind James blocking him in the room.

"Don't worry about it Duke . I don't need a babysitter unlike you ." James said nervously as he put his hand in his pocket to get hold of his wand.

Duke's face turned red. "You are going to need a bodybag when I get done. My father taught me how to fight. He was champ in his school."

"So I have heard. I'm not impressed." James was not too worried about insults. He was trying to remember the spell Uncle George taught him before school started.

Duke pushed James. He stumbled a little then quickly pulled his wand from his robes. "It is the second day of school you git. You don't know any spells." Duke looked from his friends to the wand.

"Your father may have taught you how to fight with your hands, but mine taught me a few good tricks with a wand." James was getting angry.

James' hand was shacking, "Expelliarmus!" The spell hit the picture behind the Professor's desk. It fell to the floor with a crash. Duke and his friends ran out of the room giggling.

"What have you done?" Philip peeked in the doorway, "I thought I would see what was taking you so long." Philip began to snicker, "I leave you alone for five minutes and this is the trouble you get in."

"Both of you in my office," Professor Jacobson said with a look of fury. "You have been here for two days and you are already getting into trouble. I will not tolerate this sort of behavior in my class. You both will have detention."

"But Sir, I was the one who made the mess. Philip just ..." James was cut off.

"Enough In my office directly after dinner," The Professor demanded.

The boys got up to leave when there was a knock on the door. The astronomy teacher walked in.

"I need to talk to you. It is about...Oh you are busy," She said as she noticed the two boys standing there.

"They were just leaving," He showed James and Philip to the door.

As soon as he shut the door James pressed his ear against it.

"You should not come to my office to talk about this," The Professor whispered.

The women sounded scared, "But we need to go over the plans. I am not sure if I remember them all. I know I am suppose to act like I ....

"That is enough. We will talk about this later." It sounded as if he slammed his fist on the desk.

James and Philip ran down the hall until they were out of site of the classroom.

[McGonagall's Cat]

The Great Hall was quickly filling with hungry students as the five dorm-mates claimed places mid-table.

“You really have detention for THAT!?” Carson said to Phillip, shaking his head.

“I tried to explain, but the old bugger just wouldn’t hear it…” James answered dismally before Phillip had a chance to respond.

“It’s so unfair!” Serena said, squeezing into a seat between the two. “He didn’t even do anything! We should go to McGonagall or one of the other professors about it! “ her voice trailed off, as the others gave her looks clearly expressing their opinions of the effectiveness of her suggestion. Just as she was going to say something else Headmistress McGonagall rose to her feet.

The inhabitants of the Hall quieted with the very notice of her standing to address them. She cleared her throat.

“Before we begin our dinner this evening I wish to announce a great honour which has been bestowed upon our fair School. At various times throughout Wizarding history, a gathering of the Council of Magic has been convened. It has been nearly fifty years since its last gathering. The need for a new Council has been recently declared, which we have been given the honour of hosting. Wizards from all over the World will meet here, on the Hogwarts grounds, this March. We have many, many preparations to make, of course. These will begin immediately (which she pronounced im-meed-jetly). I cannot stress the magnitude of this honour for our School.” She paused and smiled widely. “Now go ahead and enjoy your dinners.”

Suddenly the tables were laden with food, and the Great Hall buzzed with excitement about the coming Council of Magic meeting.

[pinkpanther]

With all of the excitment of Professor McGonagall's announcement, James and Philip temporarily forgot about their detention. But as they finished off the last crumbs from their plates, James heaved a sigh.

"Well, we'd better get this over with. I really am sorry you're being punished too."

"Don't worry about it, mate," Philip replied, grinning, "Besides, if I'm not there, you'd probably get into even more trouble. Seriously, though, I wonder what kind of torture that old codger has planned for us."

Slowly, they made their way to Professor Jacobson's office. James paused at the door, cherishing a brief moment of freedom, when Philip reached past him and pulled a piece of parchment from the door.

"What's that?" James asked, secretely hoping Jacobson had had a change of heart.

"Don't get excited or anything," Philip replied, "It says, 'Boys: Report to the Owlery immediately after supper for your detention. --Prof. Jacobson' That's just great. He's probably going to chuck us out one the tower windows."

James smiled, sarcastically, "Well, what are we waiting for? That sounds absolutely ducky."

When the boys reached the Owlery, they saw Jacobson standing in the doorway, impatiently tapping his foot. "Hurry up, you two," he snapped, "I haven't got all night to play nanny. The shovels are just inside the door."

"Shovels?" James asked in confusion.

"For shovelling, Mr. Potter," Jacobson smirked, "My goodness, I had hoped you were somewhat brighter than that. You will remove the soiled straw from the Owlery floor, and then replace it with the fresh straw in the corner. I will return later to monitor your progress." With that, he hastily brushed past them and hurried down the corridor.

"Well, he was certainly in a good mood," Philip muttered, "Honestly, if he's not careful, they're going to sack him for excessive giddyness."

James and Philip entered the drafty room and began to shovel the rancid, poo-infested straw into wheelbarrows. It was hard work and soon they were both sweating, silently cursing the transfiguration professor. Prometeus perched near them, hooting soft commiserations while they slaved away. Suddenly, James looked up at the bird in excitement.

"What's wrong?" Philip asked.

"I nearly forgot!" James answered, "Prometheus brought me a secret package from Dad today and I still haven't had a chance to open it!"
* * * * * * * * *

AN: The next writer can decide the contents of the mysterious package and whether or not James opens it in the Owlery, or if he saves it until they are in the dormitory.

[agrippa]

As soon as the boys finished cleaning the owlery and had both taken hot showers (“Eeeeeww!” Serena had exclaimed when they entered the Gryffindor common room), James and Philip went up to their dormitory. James took the package from his dad out of his book bag and examined it.

“What d’you suppose?” asked Philip.

“Dunno,” said James. The package felt a little heavy – a small book, maybe? But what kind of book shouldn’t be seen in the Great Hall? Dad wouldn’t be sending me dark magic!

He ripped open the package to find that it was indeed a book, entitled A Brief History of the Councils of Magic. There was also a brown envelope containing a letter. Handing the book to Philip, James read aloud:

James –

The book is from your Aunt Hermione. I’m sure she’s sent it to all your cousins, too. She’s very excited to have been asked to serve on the upcoming Council, and she was “absolutely positive” that you’d all want to read up on the Council before this “historic event” happened at your very own school.

The part I didn’t want you to open in the Hall is in this envelope. I thought maybe you and your dorm-mates might want to go, but I thought I’d let you choose whom you’d like to come along. At any rate, there’s five of them. Let me know who’s coming, and I’ll talk to McGonagall about getting you away for the weekend.

Love,
Dad

He fished in the envelope and pulled out five purple tickets. He scanned them quickly and nearly knocked Philip over when he raised his fist and yelled, “Wicked!”

“What are they?” asked Philip.

“Five tickets to the Quidditch World Cup qualifier match between England and Italy!” James suddenly dropped his voice to a whisper, not wanting anyone who might be nearby to hear.

“Wow!” said Philip, trying to sound enthusiastic. It was clear that Philip had no idea how lucky they were to have these tickets. “Who’re you going to take?”

“Well, I think Dad’s right, don’t you? You, Carson, Allen, and Sean – and me. It’s the Saturday before Halloween. It’ll be great!”

“Wow,” said Philip again, in the same less-than-adequately enthusiastic tone.

James’ eyes danced with delight. “You should probably brush up on Quidditch before we go, Philip. Let’s go down to the library and see if we can find some books. We’ll tell the others later when they’ve come up from the common room. I don’t want too many people to know.”

[McGonagall's Cat]

James fell into bed exhausted. He’d found a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages, and a book about the Chudley Cannons for Phillip. They’d talked the entire way back from the library, but Phillip still seemed to only moderately understand. James felt like he was trying to explain it to a girl who didn’t care for sports. He’d gone to bed hoping they could make some headway tomorrow, and completely forgetting to talk with Sean, Alan, and Carson about the upcoming match.

James awoke seized by panic. The room was very dark and someone had their hand over his mouth. Out of reflex he came up swinging, only to have his wrist caught by the offender’s other hand. His eyes focused on the moonlit silhouette and he quit struggling, realizing the person holding him was Phillip. Phillip placed a finger to his lips indicating the necessity for silence, then motioned for James to follow him. Throwing robes over their pajamas they quietly left the room. The two crept to the top of the Common Room steps, where Phillip sat down silently and pointed toward the dimly lit room below.

It had to be at least 1 a.m. Lily and Freddy were seated at a table talking so quietly that James missed a few of their words here and there. Freddy looked glum. Before him on the table lay a copy of the book James had received. Freddy stared at it as though it was the bearer of ill tidings, knowing he was sentenced to reading the thing, knowing his mother would quiz him on obscure bits of information from it, but mostly knowing how much trouble he’d be in if he missed correctly answering her. Lily on the other hand had opened her copy and pointing her wand, whimsically was flying it around the room. The book flexed at the spine, looking much like a bird flapping its wings as it circled.

“You don’t understand…” Freddy said in a tone similar to that of a condemned prisoner. “Your mother…”

“Will be here, too. Just like yours” Lily interupted.

“But it’s not the same.”

Lily looked him straight in the face (the distraction caused her book to stop flapping its pages and plummet, though she easily caught it with her wand and settled it onto the table near her, all the while continuing to look steadily at him), “OK, so your Mum IS the book police… You really are doomed,” she said matter-of-factly. She let out a sigh that was the loudest noise since the boys had sat down. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement on that, let’s get on with things!”

The condemned man shot her a look that made James shiver.

“Right, then,” Lily went on chipperly. “You up for a small foray, or do you want to sit here until The Magic Council meets in, what, 5 months?”

He glared.

“OK fine,“ she jumped up and headed for the portrait hole.

Freddy raised his hand to smack the table in frustration, but stopped mid-swing. He sprang to his feet and followed her out. James looked at Phillip, Phillip looked at James. As one they headed down the steps and through the exit, too.

The hallway was so quiet James thought even his breath echoed. The two found it tricky trying to stay out of sight of Lily and Freddy while sticking close enough not to get lost. There were several times when Phillip and James had absolutely no idea where they were, once when all four barely escaped being caught by the Bloody Baron as he crossed through the walls between the two groups, and another place where James sneezed. He muffled it into a wad of his robe, but Lily still looked back suspiciously. They finally ended up outside the Potions Office. Lily and Freddy were already inside by the time the boys reached the door. Since James and Phillip couldn’t figure a good way to open the door unnoticed, they leaned their ears against it and tried to listen. The door was too thick to hear anything.

They could hear footsteps coming from the other direction though. Frantically the two boys looked for a place to hide. A bit farther down the hallway was another room. They made a mad dash for it.

“That was close,” James whispered.

“Shhhh..” was Phillip’s only audible response. He motioned they should find places to hide. James ducked under a table; he lost track of where Phillip went.

As the footsteps stopped by the doorway James realized there was more than one person.

A gruff male voice said, “Lumos.” The room lit up somewhat, though not as much as it would have for a class. James shrunk back as far as he could, keeping out of sight, though he could still see feet a few meters from his hiding place. The feet rotated as though the man might be surveying the room. “This looks empty. Now what was it you wanted?”

“I don’t like this! It’s not safe to bring it in now. With the Council Meeting coming up… they’ll be going over this place with a fine-toothed comb!” the woman’s voice said emphatically. It sounded like the same woman the boys had heard before.

“It’s now or never,” the man replied with annoyance. The voice belonged to Jacobsen. James knew his voice beyond any doubt. “You knew the risks before we came here. Just do your part and keep quiet!” He growled.

“But…” she said obviously stressed, “… what if someone finds it? How do we cover ourselves?”

“We DON”T let it be found!” he said so strongly that if just the resolve in his voice could make it so, it would have been accomplished at that moment.

Suddenly a door could be heard closing down the hall. Both people went silent. James’ insides froze. It had to be Lily and Freddy leaving the Potions Office. Both sets of feet went over to the door of this room and edged it open as Jacobsen said, “Nox.” Through the semi-darkness James could see the man’s feet step cautiously into the doorway, twisting as though peering toward the Potions Office. He shouted, “You there!” Then Jacobsen left, hastily telling the woman to go the other way and not be seen. She rushed away as told.

“That was close!” Phillip whispered, causing James to just about jump out of his skin.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” was all James could get out. When his heart quit pounding he added worriedly, “What do we do now?!?”

Phillip shrugged. “Do you think he got a good look at them?” I mean, Lily’s yellow hair and Freddy’s red, if he saw enough of ‘em to catch that, they’ll be watching the Gryffindor entrance.”

“Freddy and Lily don’t get caught very often…” James paused quite a while. “Umm, I only know how to get back one way… the way we go from classes.” he said looking even more concerned than when Jacobsen gave Phillip the unwarranted detention.

“Well, we can’t stay here. Maybe we can get to our dorms before they do…” Phillip said weakly, knowing that was hopeless.

Approaching voices interrupted the boys’ discussion. “Sorry to have startled you like that.” Jacobsen said as they passed the door.

“Tink not-tink of it.” Krum replied. “I don’t usually be in dis part of castle dis late. I hat to check on potion before going to sleep.”

The voices retreated down the hall.

With a nod both boys hustled as stealthily as possible back to their beds, a silent agreement between them to discuss everything, in private, as soon as they could.

[McGonagall's Cat]

The whole dorm awoke at almost the same time, barring James and Phillip from discussing any part of the previous night’s excursion. As the five of them headed toward the Great Hall however, they hung back, finally slipping away from the throng going to breakfast.

“We have to tell somebody about Professor Jacobsen and that woman!” was the first thing out of Phillip’s mouth once they found a secluded nook.

James just looked at him. “Who’s going to believe two First Years? He’s a teacher! And we don’t even know who the lady is…” He stopped for a moment. Taking a big gulp of air, he continued, “Besides, if we tell anybody, we would have to tell HOW we heard them. We could get detention,” his eyes grew wider, “or kicked out of school,” his voice rose with each thought, “or worse!” By this point his voice was tight with fear, “We can’t tell anybody!”

“I don’t care!” Phillip interrupted. “Last night was scary!”

“Yeah, and your Dad isn’t like the most famous guy in the world, so your family won’t kill you if you get kicked out,” James mumbled dismally.

“Wow! I never thought of that, mate,”

They both mulled over options in silence.

“OK, we can’t tell anyone,” Phillip nodded in agreement. “But, we do need to ask someones (He dragged out the “s’) some things,” he said as he gave James a determined look. “We need to corner The Marauders and find out what they saw last night… and I still want to know what they were up to in the first place.”

James perked up a little, “If we get a good chance to talk with them, you distract Lily. Take her away if you can. Neither one of them will say a word if the other one is there. I KNOW I can get Freddy to tell me just about anything so long as my dear sister isn’t around.” He finally grinned at Phillip.

“Right, then! I’m starving!”

“Me, too!”

[bakbam]

After lunch the five of them made their way to the library to work on the two new reports they had from their morning classes. The boys had book strolled out on the table. They were all working hard.

The Library doors swung open. Serena and Penelope ran up to the table where the boys were sitting.

"James, I have got to tell you something," Serena had yelled a little louder than she should have.

The Librarian hustled to the table with a very angry look spread across her face, "I suggest that you either keep quiet or I will have to give everyone of you detention. My detentions are not enjoyable. There are some very dangerous books in this library and I will make sure you have to dust everyone of them."

Serena bent down close to the table and whispered, "Geez she is friendly. I will tell you later," She looked over her shoulder at the table with Duke and his smug friends, "I don't want to get her detention." The girls left the library.

"What was that all about?" Carson asked

"My guess is it had something to do with Duke." Philip shook his head and started to read again.

"I am not going to worry about Duke. I want to go to that Quidditch match and I suspect McGonagall won't let us go if any of us get into trouble," James had forgot he hadn't told the others about the match yet.

"Quidditch! What do you mean us?" Sean had finally lifted his nose out of the book to join in the conversation.

"I forgot I have not told you," James felt a bit foolish for forgetting. "Dad sent me five tickets to the Quidditch World Cup qualifier match between England and Italy. He said I could take whoever I wanted."

"How are we going to get out of school?" Carson said excitedly.

"You forget that dad is close to McGonagall. He is going to talk to her about letting us leave for the weekend. I just hope your parents will let you all come," James looked from face to face to see what everyone thought.

Philip was the first to say something, "well my folks won't care. They don't even know what Quidditch is."

"All of you need to send a owl and ask if you can come. I will send one to dad and tell him I would like all of you to go with me. We will have to stay out of trouble. If Duke found out about us going he may try something to ruin it for us." James pulled out a blank parchment and started the letter to Harry.

Dad
I have asked my roommates to come to the game with us. They are going to write home to see if it is going to be ok with their parents. They are Philip McKenzie ,
Carson Bones, Allen Smith, and Sean Wiles. Who all is going besides us.

Tell mum I miss her.
James

"Do the rest of you have your letters wrote yet?" James was ready to go, "Good lets get them sent and get to our next class."

On the way from the Owlery James noticed Professor Jacobson in an empty classroom. James grabbed Philip and pointed in the room. The Professor was in the far corner. He was pulling items out of a wardrobe. He apparently got as much as he needed out of the way. He climbed in and shut the door behind him.

"Did you see that?" Allan was in shock.

"It must be some sort of secret passage or something. Aunt Susan told me to be careful about things like that. She said one year a boy got lost for weeks. When they found him he had almost lost his mind." Carson seemed worried.

James let out a small laugh, "That sounds like the boy that my uncles pushed in the vanishing cabinet when my dad was in his fifth year." James could tell that Carson was nervous, "I don' think it is that sort of thing. I think it is a good hiding place for something."

"Hiding place! What would he want to hide?" Allan asked.

Philip took one last glance at the room number before they continued down the hall, " That we don't know... Yet."

The boys stopped and stared in silence at Philip.

[evlpez]

In the owlry, James called and searched the perches for Prometheus while the other boys chose their owls. Carson gave a sharp whistle and an oversized barn owl swooped down from above to land comfortably on his shoulder.

"To Mum, McGuffin. I'm expecting a reply, too." Carson took a small bag out of his robes and gave a treat to McGuffin, who hooted appreciatively and munched while Carson tied the note to his leg. He gave the owl a quick pat and a smile and McGuffin stretched his great wings and took off through a window.

"James, I've never sent an owl before. Will it know where my parents are? I mean, they're muggles…" Philip said uncertainly as he held his note out to a sleek screech owl wearing a Hogwarts Crested leather ring around one foot.

James came over and showed him how to use the ties on the ring and said, "Well, a school owl found you, right?" He looked the owl in the eyes. "This goes to Philip's parents - the McKenzies. Can you find them?" The owl seemed to roll its eyes before checking its leg and taking off into the late afternoon sun.

Allen and Sean sent their notes off and James looked up, wondering where Prometheus was. He was about to worry when he remembered that he didn't really know his owl that well yet. Maybe he forgot his name. Maybe he's not too bright. Maybe he's lazy. James frowned.

"Prometheus? Wake up, boy!" James shouted, causing a stir and a chorus of admonishing hoots and screeches from the napping birds up in the gallery. Not one flew down to greet him. He chose a school owl and tied his note to her leg, vowing to make some time for Prometheus on the weekend. Maybe we just need to get to know each other a bit more, he thought.

Carson waited at the door with Philip, and turned to him. "Philip, what did you mean, yet? You said you don't know what he's hiding yet. Is something going on?"

Philip peeked outside the door as the other boys gathered round. He and James told the boys in quiet whispers what they knew so far, and that they suspected Jacobson and his wife were up to no good. Carson's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Allen and Sean exchanged nervous looks. When James and Philip were finished, Sean cleared his throat nervously. The others turned to him.

"What's wrong, Sean?" Carson asked.

"Well, I don't think we should jump to conclusions," Sean said. "I mean, Will Jacobson's not very nice but it doesn't mean they're up to something."

"Tell them, Sean." Allen said.

Philip looked at James and raised an eyebrow.

"Will Jacobson? You know his first name?" James probed.

Sean nodded. "His wife is Allison Wiles. She's my father's cousin. I don't know them really well, but I'd be surprised if they were Dark."

James felt deflated. He was sure they'd stumbled onto some dark plot.

"Are you sure you heard what you think you heard?" Allen asked. "I mean, you could have misunderstood, right?" Allen ran a hand through his hair.

Philip straightened. "Sean, I trust you. If you know they're okay, then I have to believe you. But I have a really strong feeling about this."

"Me too," James added. "We have to find out more, just in case."

Sean nodded as the owlry door swung open, nearly knocking the boys off their feet.

"Goodness, I'm sorry - I didn't know someone was there." Professor Allison Wiles apologized nervously. She pushed her curls out of her face and smiled charmingly. "Shouldn't stand lurking in front of closed doors, boys. Off you go."

Philip and James stood a moment and looked at her while the others raced through the door. She made her way into the room and called down an owl, talking affectionately to it. James pulled Philip through the door as Allen hissed for them to hurry up.

"We're coming back here tonight to check out that closet," Philip whispered.

James nodded, then looked up sharply at Philip. "Let's talk to Freddy and Lily, first."

[McGonagall's Cat]

Lily and Freddy were already seated at the Gryffindor table when James and Phillip entered the Great Hall. “After dinner, do something to keep Lily busy, OK?” James said to his dorm mates. Phillip and Sean nodded, probably the other two did, too, but James was too busy thinking about the best next move to notice. Not wanting to be too obvious, the five of them sat near enough to hear conversation, but not too close to the Marauders. James noticed his sister appeared a bit flushed and Freddy was looking a bit too innocent, neither was as animated as one would expect.

Suddenly a commotion began near the main doors that had everyone turning to look that direction. Professor Jacobsen was grumbling as he stormed toward the teachers’ table at the far end of the room. He continually swatted at what appeared to be a string of rainbow gnats. Multi-coloured bits followed his waving hand in a long undulating trail. The twinkling swoosh swirled and flowed like eddies in a glorious stream, that was unfortunately attached to Jacobsen’s wrist. This served only to infuriate the austere gentleman.

Stifled snickers broke out at all the tables, though silence and straight faces rippled through the student body wherever the Professor’s glare fell.

When Jacobsen finally arrived at the staff table Professor Lovegood jumped up and attempted to remedy the problem, only to find a duplicate chain of rainbow bits attached to her own left arm with her initial effort. She sharply jerked her arm high and dropped it as quickly as possible. The little swirling specs mimicked her movement in an exact graceful arc. Again she attempted to shake the trail of multi-coloured dots, but soon became distracted watching the beauty of their dance. She seemed to enjoy playing with the string of colour, and forgot about Jacobsen who found neither beauty nor humour in the situation.

Gilderoy Lockhart leapt to both of their assistances, “Ah, Yes! I shall handle this. Please step aside,” he said brashly drawing and pointing his wand. He shouted, “Pixilated Astrellagus!” There was a slight explosive noise, a poof of purple fog, and slightly larger star shapes joined the multi-coloured bits, which were now following Lockhart, too.

James glanced sideways at Phillip; in the background he could see his sister and cousin watching the spectacle with a level of barely disguised satisfaction. He elbowed McKenzie and nodded slightly toward them. Phillip shot him a knowing “ah-ha!” grin.

Professor McGonagall had had enough, and stood up, more than a little annoyed at the disruption. “Finite Incantatum” she chanted, aiming her wand in the general direction of that end of the table. All the twinkling colourful specs rained down from their points of suspension like fairy dust.

A round of applause rolled through the room. It actually had been quite pretty.

[evlpez]

Once the commotion had died down and Professor Jacobson had eaten his dinner with forced composure, he sat back and let his eyes roam around the room. James had kept a discreet eye on the professor while waiting for Lily and Freddie to finish their meals. James was suddenly caught as Jacobson locked gazes with him and smirked. Philip nudged him.

"Lily, you're good at Charms, right?" Philip asked as she and Freddie got up from the table.

Lily smiled. "Planning on taking over from Lockhart, are you?"

Philip smiled back, "Something like that, yeah. Can you give me hand? We're not likely to learn anything unless one of us jumps in and does something. I guess it might as well be me, for now."

"Sure. Freddie, we'll be in the library," she said, then quietly, "You should work on that other project."

Freddie nodded and followed them out of the Great Hall. The First Year boys got up and followed as well, and James told his roommates that he had to talk with Freddie. The other boys headed to the common room as James caught up with him.

"That was brilliant, Freddie. Is that why you two were sneaking in to the Potion Master's office last night?" James said.

Freddie stopped and looked around. "I don't know what you're talking about."

James stared sternly into his eyes until they both started grinning.

[McGonagall's Cat]

"Right," James smirked. "Might as well come clean, Freddy."

Freddy looked increasingly uncomfortable, finally clearing his throat he said, "Oh that... Well, Lily left a part of her assignment and we went to get it so she could finish it propperly. So, after dinner we..."

James rolled his eyes. "My sister hasn't forgotten anything since she was three years old. And I do guess six hours after dinner counts as after dinner."

Freddy looked even more uncomfortable, though unwilling to give away any advantage he might still hold unless there was no other choice.

"This can be easy, or this can be hard," James earnestly looked at his cousin. "I followed you last night. I already know when AND where you two went."

"Lily and I are Marauders! Marauders never give up one another," Freddy grinned, as though that was all there was to it.

"Fine. I'm sure your Mum will be delighted to hear that you are so dedicated to your studies that you go to the room at all hours of the day and NIGHT..." James let the last word hang over the head of his poor fidgeting cousin like a sword of Damocles. He waited.

"NO! You wouldn't!" Freddy looked around furtively. Then a realization dawned. "If you tell my mother, you'll be getting your own self into just as much trouble!" he shot back.

James tried to keep his demeanor convincing, though he was certain that his face betrayed him. He was fairly sure that any passing first year Hufflepuff could glance at him and know he was bluffing, but he continued to look at Freddy unflinchingly. "Hmmm, let's see... My Dad, Your Mum... my dad, YOUR mum... my dad, Your MUM.. oh yeah, and Lily would get into trouble too, bet she'll love you for that one..."

Freddy let out a sigh of defeat. "Ok, ok... Some of it was for our little starry experiment today. But we have some other things planned and, trust me, the less you know the better." He kept a watchful eye and ear out for others that might overhear as they walked along.

"Did you get caught when Professor Krum went into the room?"

"How do you know about that?!" Freddy seemed startled, he had assumed James had only seen them return to the Common Room and guessed the rest.

"I followed you last night... and... almost got caught, too..." James confessed.

Freddy looked at his younger cousin with a bit of pride. "Almost?"

"Yes. I heard footsteps and ducked into the classroom nextdoor and hid under a table," he said shrugging as though it was the only logical possible course of action.

"Jamesy, I had no idea you could be so creative! Lily thinks of you as her annoying kid brother.. welll, one of them anyhow. We heard the footsteps, too, and hid in the shadows behind his desk. It was pretty close. If it hadn't been so dark in there we probably would have gotten caught." Freddy paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you see the other one?"

"Well, yeah. We have to talk about that, Freddy. I think something wrong is going on. And I think Professor Jacobsen is in it up to his eyeballs. Last night was the second time Phillip and I overheard..."

Freddy cut him off, "Phillip!"

James hesitated. "Ummm... both of us followed you. I didn't want to get him in trouble, but since you and I are being totally honest, yes, Phillip and I followed you and Lily last night." James felt embarassed at letting that slip, but it was going to be a lot easier to discuss what he and Phillip had stumbled across concerning Jacobsen with all the details out in the open.

"Lily's not going to be happy about this, but I think all of us should sit down together and figure this out. We've come across some suspicious things in the last little while, too," Freddy said, a very serious look crossing his face. "Let's go up to the library and get those two, then see if we can find a quiet place to talk."

[agrippa]

Freddy, Lily, James and Philip settled into a dark corner of the library behind several piles of books they had pulled off the shelves to ensure a little privacy.

“Well?” James looked expectantly at Freddy.

“Well, you already know what we saw last night. Jacobson and his wife were in Prof. Krum’s private store.”

James and Philip nodded.

“But that’s not the first time we’ve seen them doing suspicious stuff. A couple of weeks back we were, er” – he glanced at Lily – “well, we were out and about, and the two of them were looking through books in the restricted section.”

“Well, they’re teachers,” said Philip. “They could have just been doing some research, right?”

“In the middle of the night?” shot back Lily.

“We overheard them talking about something, too,” said James. “But don’t have any idea what they’re planning.”

“We think it has something to do with the Council meeting,” said Freddy.

“Of course,” said James. “What else could be so important?” He thought for a moment. “Did you see what they took from the potions cupboard?”

“It’d have to be something that you can’t get just anywhere,” said Lily. “Otherwise, they’d just pop down to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley on a weekend and pick some up.”

“I wonder how we-” but Freddy was interrupted by the booming voice of Madam Pince, the librarian, announcing that it was time to go back to their common rooms. They returned the piles of books to their shelves and headed for Gryffindor tower.

“Oh, yeah!” said James, slapping his forehead. “I forgot to tell you something else. Sean Wiles says that Jacobson’s wife – Prof. Wiles, you know – is his mum’s cousin.”

Freddy’s brow knit in confusion. “But Charlie said that she was related to Dumbledore.”

“I know. I even asked Prof. Jacobson about that, but he said he didn’t know how that rumor got started.”

“That’s really weird,” said Lily. “Let’s see if we can find Charlie and ask him what he knows.”

[McGonagall's Cat]

Finding Charlie wasn't difficult. Talking with Charlie was an entirely different matter.

In the Common Room he was deep into an assignment, with several other of his classmates sitting at the same table. When Lily asked him to come talk for a moment he merely waved her away, obviously too busy with his studies to pause. As bedtime neared, he managed to slip out of the room unnoticed. The next morning he dashed into the Great Hall, grabbed some toast and dashed out. James passed him in the halls a few times, but Charlie seemed increasingly elusive for the better part of the week.

It was just as well.
As it turned out, Charlie's heavy assignment load was being paralleled in all the classes at all levels.


The next morning the five dormmates had arrived in Hebology to discover Professor Longbottom had placed an array of odd-looking red-leafed plants before each of their places at the tables. As the boys walked to where each usually stood, the plants enthusiastically leaned toward them and stretched thin tendrils even closer. Looking at eachother warily, they took a step backward, and the tendrils strained to reach them.

"You might not want to let those touch you. Get out your Dragon hide gloves, first," Professor Longbottom said as he walked into the room noticing a few students teasing the tendrils.

Duke shrunk back, then realizing his cronies were watching him, bent to retrieve his hastily (and intentionally) dropped glove.

"These are," Neville began, but was interrupted by a screech from the Slytherin table. In Dursley's circle, Pollux had continued to tease his plant. The plant grabbed his hand and began gnawing on his index finger. Before a second scream could escape the hapless student's lips, Professor Longbottom flashed his wand at it and shouted an imobilization curse. He strode over shaking his head. "You really must be a bit more cautious. There are things in the world that it is best to understand prior to touching, or eating, or in some cases, even looking at." He carefully unwound the tendrils from the Slytherin's wrist and pried the plant's teeth from the student's finger. "I would have imagined you had been around plants like these before you came to Hogwarts, Mr. Travers," he paused looking sternly into Pollux's eyes. "Can you find the hospital wing? Then go."

Sean and Allen surreptitiously poked eachother in the ribs as the scowling Slytherin left the greenhouse. Duke, Athol, and Claude, however, glared diggers at the Gryffindor table as though somehow this had been their doing. James doubted this bode well for future herbology classes, as almost the same situation had occured in the previous class. He also hoped their after-class departure would have different results today. Suddenly his attention was pulled from his concerns by the teacher's voice.

"As I was saying, these are Venomous Tentacula. While they are teething, as these are, they can be crabby and tend to bite a bit," he smiled fondly at the plant on his table. "The leaves from the adult plant, when dried and crushed to a fine powder, are used in a draught important for healing burns, amongst other things. You will find quite a bit on it in your Herbology text. Today we will transplant these, using a good quality soil, mooncalf dung and a pinch of magnesium phosphate. While we get busy on this phase, please note that I want two feet of parchment on the care and uses of this plant for our next class. Here's a hint, the root is very useful also."

[bakbam]

Charms class that day wasn't any better. The only contribution Professor Lockhart made was assigning a 1000 word essay on wand care and maintenance and why it is important.

James and Philip were sitting at the far end of the library. They had decided that James would take notes for the Herbology paper and Philip the Charms paper then use each others notes to write their paper. Philip came to the conclusion that the entire class could turn in the same Charms paper and The Professor would never know the difference. This idea was starting to sound very good to James.

Lily and Freddy dropped their equally full load of work on the table in front of James and Philip.

"I finally caught up with Charlie !" Fred exclaimed.

James and Philip dropped their quills to better listen to Fred.

"I did ask him about Professor Dumbledore relationship to our mysterious teachers." Looks around the library then bends in closer to the others and whispers. " Professor Wiles is Dumbledore's niece. Apparently Professor Jacobson had some dealings with the uncle Harry's arch rival Voldemort. In fact Jacobson was on his side until he met Wiles. Dumbledore and his family never trusted him and pretty much disowned him as part of their family. "

"That's why he said that when I asked him about being related." James said with a clear understanding. "That clears that up, but where is Dumbledore now?"

"It looks as if you four are up to no good. I suggest you get your quills moving and your mouths hushed. " Professor Wiles gave the group a stern evil look then walked into the restricted section.

Lily watched her walk away. "How long was has she been in here?"

"Don't know. The real question is whether or not she over heard us?" Philip gave her one last look then started on his work.

Later that evening before bed James couldn't help but wonder why Headmistress McGonagall would hire someone that Dumbledore himself didn't trust.

[agrippa]

But James and Philip had little time to investigate Profs. Jacobson and Wiles in the following weeks. As if they knew that the students were on to them, the homework for both Transfiguration and Astronomy seemed to increase exponentially. James would have been more suspicious if it weren’t for the fact that their homework in Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology was become equally daunting. Charms continued to be a bit of a joke, September flew by, leaving a blustering October in its wake.

But even if they had the time to ask Charlie more about Alison Wiles, he was difficult to catch. The first Quidditch match of the season – Gryffindor against Ravenclaw – was schedule for the second Saturday of October.

On the Sunday before that first match, the whole first year of Gryffindor could be found at breakfast with their noses buried in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Prof. Longbottom had set their first major exam for the next day, which required them to know the names and properties of over two hundred plants. That afternoon, Prof. Longbottom had promised to open the Greenhouse One so that the students could make sure they were able to recognize all the different plants at sight. Hardly anyone looked up when the owls swept in with the mail.

Elisa Fontaine managed to tear herself away from her book to glance up at the owls. Serena, who was sitting next to her, looked up, too.

“Are you expecting a package?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Elisa. “Mum’s promised to send a batch of her butterscotch fudge. Hey! Look at that beautiful old snowy!”

“James.” Serena elbowed him in the ribs, breaking his concentration. “It’s Hedwig.”

“Wha – oh.” The majestic owl landed in front of James, holding out his right leg. James untied the letter and pushed some bacon and toast to the side of his plate for Hedwig to eat.

Dear James –

Hope you’re well. I hear through the family grapevine that you and the rest of the first years are ploughed with homework. I know it’s rough going, but hang in there.

I’m writing to tell you that I’ve been asked to be the commentator for the first Quidditch match at Hogwarts this year. So I’ll be dropping in next weekend with Mum and Albie. We’ll come in Friday night. Your mum wanted to stay in the castle, but I convinced her to stay at a nice little bed and breakfast in Hogsmeade. I thought you’d probably want your space.

I’m really looking forward to taking you and your friends to the Cup qualifier at the end of the month. We’ll take the Knight Bus, so you might want to prepare your friend Philip for the bumpy ride. Anyway, I’ll see you next weekend!

Love,
Dad

James smiled to himself as he pocketed the note. Hedwig was looking at him as if she expected a quick reply. “You can go up to the owlry, Heddy. I’ll send a reply after our greenhouse session tonight. But if you need to go back home, I can send my reply with Prometheus.”

Hedwig blinked her understanding and flew out the doors of the Great Hall. James returned his attention to the entry on belladonna he had been reading in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

[McGonagall's Cat]

James barely noticed Phillip lean back and stretch his arms until one of his hands gently tapped James' arm. Without more than a slight head nod, Phillip indicated "Look at Sean", who was studying across the table from them. Or rather he was sitting with his face pointing at One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, with eyes as big as galleons, surreptitiously watching Allen.

Allen's eating habits had become legend in the Gryffindor tower. Shy skinny Allen ate like three starving lumberjacks, though he never seemed to put on weight. He also tended to combine foods uniquely; cherry tarts with mustard, ham and salmon sandwiches. Sometime during their second week at Hogwarts, Carson had mentioned seeing Allen eat Jammy Dodgers with catsup. He regularly ate pancakes with corn relish and applesauce piled on them.

Studying, as all the others were today, Allen had his book propped agenst a pitcher of juice on the far side of his plate. He almost inhailed a dozen small sausages, first dipping each into something disgustingly green and drippy, while he quietly recited the properties and uses of various plants. Alternately, he would take bites of a chocolate eclair that he was dipping into a bright red vinegary sauce.

Sean began to go pale. "I think I'll go study in the Common Room for a while," he said standing up.

Sean's departure left a gap across the table that allowed a clear view of the Slytherin table.

"Look at them," James mumbled to Phillip. "They don't seem to be studying anywhere near as hard as the rest of us."

"I have enough to worry about passing this myself, if they want to be idiots, let 'em, " Phillip mumbled back. "Hey, does wormwood have oval or reticulated leaves?"

[agrippa]

The herbology exam was every bit as difficult as the first-year Gryffindors had been expecting. There were 200 different plants, herbs, and fungi that had to be identified as the students milled around greenhouse from pot to pot, scribbling down the names of the plants, describing how to care for them and listing their properties. They had only an hour to complete the exam, and students were nearly elbowing each other out of the way to get to the pots they needed to see.

James was looking at what he desperately hoped was some kind of shrivelfig bush – what kind exactly, he wasn’t so sure – when Professor Longbottom yelled, “Accio parchment!” James nearly jumped out of his shoes, and the parchment flew by his ear on the way to the teacher’s desk.

The whole class was staring at the professor. “Mr. Dursley!”

Duke did not look up. He appeared to be concentrating very hard on a bag of potting soil.

“What,” asked the professor, “is this?”

“Just a spare bit of parchment,” replied Duke.

“Mr. Dursley, this parchment is not exactly scrap. I’m going to have to ask you to leave the greenhouse now.”

“But I’m not finished with my exam!” Duke’s voice was now at least two steps higher than it had been a moment ago.

“On the contrary, Mr. Dursley, you are finished. We’ll take this up with your head of house.”

“But…”

“Now, Mr. Dusley. Leave the green house now. We will discuss this later.”

Duke slouched out the greenhouse door, casting a dirty look in Professor Longbottom’s direction as he left.

“Does in one else want to confess that they, too, have some scraps of parchment they shouldn’t have brought to the exam today?”

No one spoke.

“This is your last chance. If you bring up these sheets to me now, your punishment will be much less severe.”

Again, the room was silent.

Professor Longbottom pointed his want at Duke’s parchment. “Duplices ardentes!”

James heard screams from the back of the room. He turned around to see Claude, Pollux, Castor, and Athol – along with several other Slytherins he did not know – waving their hands in the air or sticking them into pitchers of water. On the floor, flames were swiftly eating up pieces of parchment that James assumed must have been the copies of Duke’s cheat sheet.

“If you have a bit of a hot hand right now,” said Professor Longbottom, “you also need to leave the greenhouse now.”

He watched sternly as the Slytherins filed out, hands in their pockets.

“Sorry about that interruption. I will give an extra five minutes to compensate you honest students for the disruption.”

******

At lunch that day, the incident in the herbology exam was the only topic of conversation. The Duke and the rest of the Slytherins who had been thrown out of class were conspicuously absent.

“So what do you think will happen to them?” James asked Lily.

“I don’t know,” said Lily thoughtfully. I don’t know that anyone’s ever been caught cheating like that before.”

“I do,” said Finley from across the table. “In my first year, a Darcy Hooper had the answers to a potions exam written on the side of her wand. Or at least we think she did. Her wand burned up in a flash of purple flame. As everyone knows, if you put ink on your wand, the results can be catastrophic.”

“But I’ve never heard of anyone cheating on this scale,” declared Fiona. “I mean, there were – how many of them with the same parchment?”

“Seven,” said Philip.

“Wow,” said Fiona. “I mean, why do that? You’ve got to know all this stuff. Otherwise, you’ll never be a proper wizard or witch. And in the first year! If you can’t hand first year herbology – well, I can’t imagine how difficult N.E.W.T.-level potions is.”

“And to put dear Professor Longbottom in such a bad position,” said Lily. “And Professor Jacobson-”

“What does Professor Jacobson have to do with this?” Philip said sharply.

“Well, he’s the new head of Slytherin house, isn’t he,” replied Lily. She shook her head. “And just his first year here, too.”

“I just had a horrible thought,” Serena said, suddenly looking up from her roast beef. “What if the Slytherins have been cheating for ages, but nobody was stupid enough to get caught until this crew?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Philip said thoughtfully. “And if they’re cheating and not getting caught, and the rest of us are surviving only on our wits – well, it’s not a level playing field, is it?”

“If that’s true,” declared Freddy solemnly, “then it is our absolute duty to defend the honor of Gryffindor by cheating ourselves!”

Fiona and Findley shot him such a dirty look that James, sitting next to him, could almost feel the heat of their stares.

“I’m just kidding,” said Freddy. “I bet the professors catch nearly all the cheaters.”

“And besides,” said Fiona, looking less menacing now, “on the only exams that matter – the O.W.Ls and the N.E.W.Ts – there are so many anti-cheating charms that no one could possibly…”

She trailed off, apparently lost in a world of her own. The Gryffindors had just enough time to finish their lunch before the tower bell announced the beginning of afternoon classes.

[McGonagall's Cat]

Lily and Freddy had returned to the Great Hall just before the bell sounded.

"Why didn't you tell me you'd already owled Dad about Duke?" Lily grumbled as she stood behind her brother, annoyed beyond reason.

James swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, then turned toward her looking confused, and asked, "What?"

"I just went up to the Owlery to send a note about what our dear cousin did in Herbology this morning, but it appears you already have..." her voice carried a tone that, when perfected, would send chills down the backs of her future children. Lily, as oldest, was used to being the star, the first to share the juiciest tidbits of news with her parents. The thought that James had beaten her to the punch had obviously slammed her sibling-rivalry gene into overdrive.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Lily. Ask Phillip or Sean or any of us... We had Charms right after Herbology, and since Professor Longbottom gave us extra time to finish the test, we had to run to get to Charms on time."

Phillip, while nodding, quietly added, "As though he'd even notice if we were late... or there at all."

"And then we were all starving, on account of cramming through breakfast for the test, and came straight here after class," Allen confirmed as he dipped a final bite of chicken into the little bowl of tapioca pudding beside his plate.

Still looking miffed, she challenged, "Then where's Prometius?"

"Huh?"

"You know, your owl... the one it took you forever to bother naming," she snapped. "He usually sits beside Cassandra. She was perched where I always keep her, but he was nowhere to be seen."

The boys echanged concerned looks.

"He's not there again?" James asked, obviously worried.

She glared, "Right, like you don't know."

"No really," James retored. "He wasn't there the last time I tried to send something."

Freddy snorted under his breath, "Ten minutes ago..."

James glared at Freddy, but continued undaunted. "When he wasn't there then, I promised I'd spend more time with him. But this test has kept me busy. I thought he was feeling neglected, or didn't really know me well enough, or something."

Carson looked puzzled. "That was a couple days ago...."

[AnimeEyeshime]

But Prometheus was forgotten again as the tower bell declared the end of lunch, and everyone hurried to class. Potions passed by without incident, although towards the end of class Professor Krum did make a comment on the morning?s events.

"I vish to make very clear to all my students that cheating iz simply unacceptable. I assure you that all ze professors vill be closely monitoring the situation to make sure diz duz not occur again."

"I thought Freddy said the professors catch nearly all the cheaters," Philip said to James as they left the classroom.

"It's probably just so they can say they lectured everybody. If they just lectured one House, it wouldn't look as fair, would it?" James replied.

They had nearly reached the common room when Lily intercepted them. "You two aren't busy, right?" As James and Philip shook their heads, she smiled. 'Good. Freddy and I just got new information on Jacobsen. Come meet us by the statue of Uric the Oddball on the fourth floor," she whispered conspiratorially, then disappeared into a passing crowd of Hufflepuffs.

"That was...strange," James said. "Normally she stays mad at me for at least a few more hours." And, come to think of it, does something to get even...

"Maybe the rules change when it comes to Jacobsen," Philip said, shrugging.

James and Philip found Lily, Freddy, and another girl leaning against the statue, talking in quiet voices. When Freddy spotted the first years, he waved them over.

"James, Philip, this is Seliani. She's a third year, Ravenclaw," Freddy said, gesturing to the girl. Her gray eyes surveyed the them coolly, but she smiled.

"It's nice to meet you," she said pleasantly. "You must be the ones who keep finding such interesting things."

James nodded, and assumed that Freddy and Lily must have told her most of the major discoveries they'd found out so far. After all, if she had new information... "We don't know what Jacobsen and his wife up to. Do you?"

Seliani sighed. "Unfortunately, no. I've had the somewhat questionable good fortune to overhear some suspicious comments and behavior, but not enough that an adult would agree there?s something wrong."

"Jacobsen and Wiles seem to be good at covering their tracks," Philip offered.

"Yeah, but there?s no such thing as a 'perfect crime,'" Freddy put in. Lily gave him a look, and Freddy added, "Unless it's the Marauders doing it, of course..."

"Of course," Seliani agreed, still smiling.

"Lily, you said something about new information..." James said when the silence had gone on too long.

"That would be mine," Seliani said, raising her hand lightly. "I think Jacobsen is up to something Dark, though I doubt it has to do anything with the former Dark Lord. Wiles I don't know too well, but Jacobsen's visited my family a few times, and that in itself is suspicious."

"Huh?" Philip said perplexedly, voicing James' thoughts. His confusion must have showed on his face, for Lily sighed deeply.

"Honestly, James, you do have eyes. She's a Malfoy, of course!"

James stared with wide eyes at Seliani. She did have the face, though it was less sharp than the pictures he'd seen of the infamous Lucius Malfoy. And the white-blond hair was hard to mistake...

"The only child and the last of the line," Seliani said smiling. "I do so enjoy the irony."

"But why-"

"James, she's in Ravenclaw. She wants to be an Auror and fight Dark wizards," Freddy volunteered, answering the unspoken question.

"Put gits like my father in Azkaban," Seliani said, eyes twinkling happily. "Mother nearly disowned me when I was Sorted into Ravenclaw, but I suppose she thought the Malfoy influence would win out in the end. Father thinks I?m in Slytherin; Mother never told him the truth."

James blinked. After hearing some of Dad's stories about Draco Malfoy, it was hard to think of anyone in that family as having decency...but she did seem sincere, and there was no doubt that having a Malfoy to help investigate Jacobsen might prove useful.

"So he's visited your family?" Philip began. James noticed he didn?t seem to have a problem with Seliani. Of course, he probably had never heard of the notorious Malfoy family.

"Yes, as recently as about two weeks before the term started," Seliani said. "I couldn't hear much--Mother closeted him away in one of the back rooms, the ones with the heavy shielding--but, hearing what you all have discovered, he might have gotten something from the Manor." Seliani shrugged. "Even I'm not sure what all we have laying around, but it's probably Dark, ancient, and powerful. If we could just figure out more about it, then I could probably write and ask Father...He's quite keen for me to carry on the family tradition, you know."

"You could tell him you?re using whatever it is on the Potter and Weasley kids," Lily suggested with a barely straight face.

"But then he'd have a heart attack of euphoria, and I want him to live long enough for me to disown him..." Seliani said with an angelic voice.

"I just realized," James said slowly, "that we saw a place Jacobsen might be hiding this thing, if it is a thing. Remember the wardrobe? We never went back and looked at it."

Philip nodded. "That ought to be our first priority."

"Anyone doing anything tonight?" Lily asked grinning mischievously.


***************************************************
((When reading through, I noticed nobody ever followed up on the room...^^ And how do you all like Draco's daughter? It's tradition in the pureblood fanatic families...Sirius was the last of his (practically) and look how he turned out, the little rebel I suppose Draco married Pansy, though it is open to interpretation. The wife's obviously a Slytherin. And many thanks to Cat for the beta!))

[agrippa]

James glanced at his watch. It was midnight. Where was she? He shot a nervous look at his sister.

"Are you sure she –"

"Don't be a git, James," snapped Lily. "Seliani will be here any minute."

"I'm here," said a voice behind him, as Seliani stepped out of the shadows. "So which way to this mysterious wardrobe?"

"It's on the way to the owlery," whispered Philip. "So we just need to –"

Philip froze as loud footsteps sounded below. Several people were coming up the stairs. The group scrambled into a nearby closet and pulled the door shut.

"Really, Mr. Dursley!" Prof. McGonagall's voice cut through the silence. "You can't just barge in here demanding a midnight meeting!"

"Hrumph!" said a voice that could only have belonged to Dudley Dursley. He was panting a little from climbing so many flights of stairs. "Well. I was intending – to be here – in time for dinner – but you – people – don't make it so easy – to find this place – do you?"

"If you had simply sent us an owl," responded the headmistress, "we would have been glad to accommodate you."

"An owl?" Dudley howled. "As if I even owned – as if I would want – ridiculous!"

"Step in here, Mr. Dursley," sighed Prof. McGonagall. "The heads of house have already been summoned."

Hearing the heavy clink of a door-bolt, Freddy cautiously opened the closet door. He peered around the door. "All clear," he whispered.

They stepped out of the closet. Down the hall, a shaft of light crept out from below a heavy door.

"What do you think Dad's cousin is doing here?" James whispered to Lily.

"Dunno," Lily said. "But we're going to find out."

She pulled what looked like a pink wad of bubble-gum out of he robe pocket. With a well-practiced flick of the wrist, she unrolled the mass into long strands.

"Extendable ears," James whispered to Philip, noticing his look of curiosity.

"New and improved extendable ears," said Freddy proudly. "Just one listener, but multiple ear-pieces."

"So," said Seliani, "back in the closet?"

Lily nodded and rolled out one fleshy pink strand towards the room where the meeting was taking place. It slipped itself under the small crack at the bottom of the door. She handed an ear-piece to each one of them as the stuffed themselves back into the closet.

The first voice they heard was Dudley's. "So, as you can clearly see, my son had nothing to do with this whole thing, and so I'm sure you'll want to take him off – er – disciplinary probation immediately."

"Mr. Dursley," said Prof. McGonagall in her kindest tone, "your son had a copy of the cheat-sheet in his hand during the test. I would think that you'd be glad the consequences were not much more severe."

"If he had been in my house," said a voice that James recognized right away as Prof. Jacobson's, "he would have been expelled immediately."

"What house is he head of?" whispered James.

"Hufflepuff, if you can believe it," muttered Seliani.

"As it iz," said Prof. Krum, "Young Mr. Dursley iz in Slytherin, and therefore iz my responsibility. I, too, was inclined to expel him. But Prof. Longbottom –"

"I thought he deserved a second chance," said Prof. Longbottom. "It's clear to me that Dudley cheated mostly because he's finding the coursework here at Hogwarts very difficult, as he came from a mug – ah – as he doesn't come from a wizarding family."

"Not from a wizarding family!" thundered Dudley. "He's related to the biggest blasted freaksh – er – wizard in the whole world. You do know who my cousin is, don't you?"

James stifled a laugh, and he could tell from the shaking beside him that Lily was doing the same.

"Be that as it may," said Prof. McGonagall icily, "young Mr. Dursley's marks thus far are quite low. We're very concerned –"

"MY SON IS NOT AN IDIOT!" yelled Dudley. Everyone in the closet moved their extendables a few inches from their ears to avoid permanent hearing loss.

"We're not saying that, Mr. Dursley," said Prof. Longbottom. "We're just saying that we're concerned. We'd like him to get a little extra help. We would set him up with an older student to tutor him."

"Tutor him? One of your kind?" Dudley's voice was low and menacing. "Over my dead body."

"I see," said Prof. McGonagall. "Then you leave us no choice. I'll just send Prof. Krum to fetch your son from the Slytherin dormitory and you two can return home together."

A long silence followed. When Dudley spoke again, he was much more conciliatory. "Th-there's no need for that. Being here really means a lot to Duke. He'd be absolutely furious with me if he had to leave."

"Very well," said Prof. McGonagall briskly. "Prof. Krum will find a suitable tutor for your son, and he will be allowed to stay, provided that there is no further academic dishonesty on his part. Would it be all right, Mr. Dursley, if we all returned to our beds? I'll be happy to have a guest room made up for you."

"Th-thank you," stuttered Dudley.

Lily slipped briefly out of the closet and retracted the extendable ears. She closed the door until all the footsteps had died away.

"Well!" she giggled. "Our little cousin's in deep, isn't he?"

"Who do you suppose Krum will get to tutor him?" chortled James.

"Dunno," said Seliani, "but they'll have their work cut out for them."

[StarWalker]

“Let’s check that wardrobe,” Seliani urged, “before someone finds us.”

Those in the closet were quiet for a few seconds. “Maybe we better forget it for tonight,” Philip cautioned. “Too many teachers are up now.”

No one required much urging; caught out of bed and out of bounds, because Dudley arrived in the middle of the night, was not in their plans. The thought of the punishment they would receive was enough to send them scurrying back to their dormitories, though when Philip and James entered the Gryffindor common room, no one was behind them.

James looked around, puzzled, and then poked his head back into the hallway to see if the others were coming. “Where’d they go?” he muttered, shaking his head.

“I don’t know,” Philip got out around a yawn, “but they can take care of themselves, and I’m sure we’ll hear what they did in the morning.”

Stumbling up the stairs, James stifled his own yawn. “Suppose you’re right,” he mumbled as the two tumbled into their beds. The even breathing and soft snoring of the others drowned his next question, even as it trailed off. “You don’t – yawn – think they’re doing something to Dudley do…”

Sean, Carson, and Allan were already gone when Philip woke James. After hurriedly dressing, they headed down for breakfast, anxious to see where Lily, Freddy, and Seliani had gone last night. Even though it was after 7:30, the passages seemed strangely empty to the two, as they rushed to the Great Hall. As they drew closer, however, a boisterous murmur ebbed and swelled, becoming deafeningly loud as they opened the doors and entered.

“I’ve never seen this many people here for breakfast, this late,” James said to Philip, frowning, as they slipped into two empty spots at the Gryffindor table, and filled their plates.

“James! Look!” Lily yelled from a dozen seats away, though her voice was almost lost in the background clamor of the room.

Philip elbowed him in the ribs, and pointed to the head table. “Who’s that up there next to Professor McGonagall?”

After stuffing a sausage in his mouth, James turned to look at his schoolmates, and saw that they, too, were all staring at the head table. Indeed, whatever was there appeared to be keeping everyone here, talking. Excited now, James turned to the front, anxious to see for himself the source of entertainment.

His initial glance revealed that the professors all looked as if they had swallowed something bitter, though a closer look showed many twinkling eyes, despite the set of their face. Professor Jacobson looked furious, staring intently at his plate, and eating as though each bite was arguing with him. James stifled a giggle as that thought struck him. Professor Wiles, on the other hand, was studiously ignoring her husband, and was calmly clearing her plate, a half smile on her lips. Hagrid was as large as always, laughing as he emptied his plate and reached for more. When he picked up a platter of ham, he drew attention to the man sitting next to him.

“Oh! No!” James shrank within himself, as he saw Professor McGonagall, sitting stiffly and drinking a mug of pumpkin juice, while between her and Hagrid sat a man who could only be Dudley Dursley. Though his father had spoken of Dudley many times, and described him as he had looked twenty years ago, the reality was something else entirely. “That’s Duke’s father, my Dad’s cousin Dudley,” he told Philip.

While he might have trimmed his weight and boxed during his time at Smeltings, the intervening years had left their toll. Dudley had succeeded in eclipsing his father in both weight and girth, and had grown a great, drooping, walrus mustache that bested Harry’s descriptions of his Uncle Vernon’s. Balding, he was vain enough to attempt to conceal it by letting his hair grow longer, and brushing it over to try to cover the vast, shiny expanse of skin.

Dudley looked as though he had slept in his clothes, if, indeed, he had slept at all. Disheveled, he sat on the edge of his seat, and between mouthfuls, he looked around wild-eyed. A caricature of gluttony, his plate piled with food, he was eating as if he were starving. Clearly, sitting next to the man who had given him a pig’s tail so many years before did not affect his appetite.

James glanced at Lily, who surreptitiously pointed back to the head table, then pointed up, grinning hugely. Freddy sat next to her, trying to look nonchalant, but failing miserably. High above Dudley, James could see what everyone was staying to watch. Visible only to the students, because of where they sat in relation to Dudley, were letters 6 feet tall, flashing silver and green, proclaiming to all:

DUDLEY DURSLEY
DUKE’S DAD
SO SAD

Philip nudged him and pointed to the Slytherin table. “Look at Duke!”

James turned to see Duke, surrounded by McMagnus, Jugson, and Travers, staring at the sight of his father sitting beneath the scintillating sign, stuffing his face in front of the entire school. His face was flushed, his cheeks damp, as he turned to leave with his friends. Turning back to Philip, James motioned to the door, and headed for class.

Serena caught up with them as they approached the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom. “Guess what - Lily had to go see Professor McGonagall – Professor Longbottom told her – did you see that sign above – hey, was that was your cousin – he went with her to see – no not your cousin, Professor Longbottom –“

James tuned out her chatter. Intent on watching the Slytherin crowd ahead, he didn’t see Professor Krum approaching until he had already stopped Duke. Unable to slow, and listen, he only caught a fragment as he and Philip entered the classroom. “…see the Head Mistress with…”

The door closed behind James. As he, Philip, and Serena sat, and waited for Professor Lovegood to arrive, he watched Duke’s friends enter; Duke, however, was conspicuously absent as class began, and Serena finally quieted. James thoughtfully considered the look on Duke’s face as Professor Krum stopped him, and he wondered why Lily had to go to see Professor McGonagall. James sighed, and he reached for parchment and quill.