Third Year, Lessons
Monday September 3rd 1973
It was early morning and the whole school sat in the Great Hall, fuelling themselves for the first day of term. Most students looked bleary eyed and were yawning loudly, shuffling their breakfast around listlessly on their plates, evidently not looking forward to have their summer be over with.
However, for Lily this couldn`t be less but the case. She didn`t remember being this excited for lessons since her first day of classes at the beginning of first year; when everything still had been completely new and unexplored. The beginning of a new school year always had something magical about it -in this case quite literally. All her notebooks had yet to be written in, her inkwell was still untouched, her quill fresh and unrumpled, and her books yet to be dogeared.
Not only would they start their newly picked elective courses, their mandatory subjects would also pick up their pace, getting harder as its students got older. It thrilled Lily to be challenged -though she did understand that that wasn`t necessarily the case for everybody. Mary had been moping about all morning and was now half asleep on the breakfast table, head rested on her hands as she stared at Sirius; the latter not looking any better than she did. Mary had a free period, despite that Lily had lugged her along to breakfast.
`I better go.` Lily said, getting up and gathering her belongings.
`But class doesn`t start for another…` Mary grabbed Lily`s wrist and looked at her watch. `Oh God… half an hour.`
`So?`
`You`d be waaaay to early.` Mary replied.
`I just don`t want to be late.` Lily shrugged, hoisting her incredibly heavy bookbag over her shoulder.
Mary frowned at her, `Alright, go. But you`ll be there on your own.`
`See you at lunch.`
`Aye, see you Lil.` Marlene waved after Lily as she already strode away.
Today would be her first lesson on Ancient Runes and Lily was buzzing with anticipation. She knew she`d be way too early at this rate - still having half an hour before it would start - she just didn`t want to risk being late. Besides, she wanted to have the best seat imaginable.
It was also the first class she would be taking without Mary and Marlene, though they also weren`t in Slug Club, but that was different. Fortuitously, Remus would also be taking Ancient Runes, that way they could study together again, like they had the previous year. It still irked Lily that Mary kept going on about how Lily supposedly fancied Remus. It was the whole Severus situation all over again.
The classroom was – unsurprisingly - still deserted when she entered it, even the Professor wasn`t there yet. Meticulously she started unloading her belongings, taking her seat at the front of the room. She pulled her books out and put them on the corner of her desk, her notebook on top - on which she`d already written the subject and her own name in neat cursive. Lily prided herself immensely on her handwriting; she`d gotten complements on it ever since she could remember.
Lily knew they would probably only introduce the subject today and not get into any of the actual course material until at least the next lesson. Still, it couldn`t harm to be prepared. It never hurt anybody to be prepared.
Taking another book out of her bag, she started reading to pass the time, it wouldn`t be too long before the other students would come. A few pages in the Professor entered the room; Lily sat up straighter, fully prepared to introduce herself. However, he only gave her nod of acknowledgement and started writing on the blackboard, putting an outline of the semester down.
After a while, other students started filing into the classroom. Immediately Lily spotted Remus and she waved at him; it was refreshing to see him without Potter and Black.
`Remus, come sit next to me!` she called over, gesturing at the empty seat beside her.
The boys sauntered over to her and folded his tall body into the desk. ``Lo, Lily.` Remus said.
They both grew silent, Lily nervously shuffling around with her Runes dictionary and notebook. Remus never said all that much and you really had to work to get him to talk.
`Oh, I can`t wait to get started.` Lily sighed, breaking the quiet between them. `I`ve been waiting for ages.`
`Been here long then?` Remus asked.
`Just a little while.` Lily replied, her cheeks flushing, she suddenly felt embarrassed for going into the classroom so early. `With waiting, I mean more in general. The summer and all.` she fumbled.
`Yeah?` Remus looked at her, his large brown eyes mischievous. `I saw you leave the Great Hall over half an hour ago.` he cocked an amused eyebrow.
Lily`s eyes widened and she felt her face grow hot. `Oh erm, well yeah, maybe I`ve been here a little longer than a while.` she stammered.
Remus didn`t say anything, but kept grinning at her, evidentially amused to see her squirm.
`I just didn`t want to be late, alright?` Lily said defensively, turning away from Remus, she wouldn`t let him make fun of her.
`Don`t worry,` Remus nudged her with his elbow. `I`ve been impatient for this class all morning too.`
Lily turned back to Remus and smiled at him, when he returned her smile she felt a tug behind her navel and she swallowed, blinking and looking away.
Disappointingly enough, Lily had been right and their first lesson of Ancient Runes was mostly an introductory lesson and an opportunity to get to know their Professor. Still, Lily was feeling good about having picked the subject.
After lunch, they had Transfiguration. Though it had been nice getting to spent some time with Remus, Lily felt glad to be reunited once again with Mary and Marlene. Marlene had had her fist Muggles Studies class and was absolutely ecstatic about it. Mary had had the morning off and had spent it lounging in their room, listing to some of Lily`s records, despite the fact that she had planned to prepare for her other classes.
Lugging her heavy bookbag along, Lily headed towards the Transfiguration classroom, accompanied by her dormmates. Her shoulder ached and she tugged at the strap; she would really need to find a way to make her bag be less heavy, this way she would be giving herself a hernia.
`Ow.` Mary yelped suddenly, a hand shooting up to the back of her head.
They had passed Regulus Black and his creepy friend Barty Crouch in the hallway; the pair seemed just as inseparable as Potter and Black -the older one that was. Crouch had charmed a paper plane and directed it at Mary, hitting her hard with the sharp tip.
`Oi!` Marlene shouted at him.
`What you`re going to do about it, half-breed?` Crouch leered at her, squinting his eyes as he kept bumping the paper plane into Mary, who was covering her head with her arms. Regulus was staring at them, his face unsaying. He looked so much like Sirius, yet Lily thought the two couldn`t be more contradictory.
Lily saw Marlene grab for her wand underneath her robes, no doubt wanting to perform a bat-bogey hex -Marlene had a certain knack for those. But Mary put a hand on her arm, willing her to leave it.
Marlene raised her eyebrows urgently at Lily, but she shook her head imperatively, `You`ll only make it worse.`
`Yeah, Marls,` Mary whispered at her. `Leave it, let`s go.`
`Yeah, scurry away little mudbluds,` Crouch sneered after them. `Like the vermin you are.`
When they were out of bounds of the two Slytherin boys, Marlene rounded on Lily.
`Why wasn`t I allowed to stand up for Mary? That Crouch feller was hurting her.`
`We don`t know what they are capable of.` Lily said. `I`m serious. I don`t think some of the Slytherins have even an ounce of mercy in them.`
`Sometimes it`s better to just ignore them.` Mary added. `It`s fine. Honestly, I`ve had worse.`
`It`s not fine.` Marlene huffed. `It`s not fair.`
`No, it`s not.` Lily replied, sighing. `But what is there to do?`
Marlene looked at her shoes, biting her nails.
`Come on, we`re going to be late.` Lily said and the three of them continued on their way.
***
Wednesday September 5th 1973
While all other lessons were being held in normal sized classrooms with adequate lighting, Divination was held in a small candle lit room in the attic; far away from the rest of the castle. They all had to climb a ladder to get into the hazy room that looked like it was in a perpetual state of fog and smelled heavy and cloying, like incense. Mary coughed and her eyes started to prick as she entered the classroom, followed suit by Marlene and Lily. The floor of the room was littered with squashy colourful pillows and throw rugs, strings of beads hung from the ceiling and in every corner of the room stood large plants. The candles from the chandeliers and on the ground dappled eerie creature-like shadows on the sloping walls with their flickering pale flames. Mary scanned to room, but there wasn`t a professor in sight.
`Merlin! Who`s gran died here?` a voice behind her said.
Mary turned around to see Sirius emerging out of the floor opening, accompanied by Peter and James.
`Evans!` James beamed.
`Hi, Sirius.` Mary said, batting her eyelashes.
`Macdonald.` Sirius grinned at her and touched his head with two fingers as a way of greeting. `Ready to learn some fortune telling, ladies?`
Mary started giggling and Marlene joined in; Lily rolled her eyes at them, flipped her hair over her shoulder as she pulled them along to find a seat in the plethora of pillows.
While they settled themselves down, Lily unpacking her bag like she had prepared for a four week holiday, Mary kept shooting glances at Sirius, checking if he was looking at her. Mostly he was just mucking about with James and Peter, pushing eachother around and using each other’s heads as if it were crystal balls, pulling odd faces. Marlene also seemed to be staring at them, a pondering look on her face; Mary wondered what she was thinking.
There was a tiny window in the classroom that barely let any light through, the glass muddled and somehow with the same foggy quality as the rest of the room. It took their Professor a long time to arrive and Mary got sleepy in the warm environment, dozing and feeling her thoughts drift off back to London. It would be her sister`s fist week going to school for her A-levels. Gabi had been incredibly nervous the days leading up to Mary`s departure to Hogwarts; Mary didn`t blame her. There weren`t much children of Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom that continued to do their A-levels after sixteen; not that there weren`t plenty who wanted to do so. It was hard to pass the bar as a minority, the standards somehow higher for them than for everybody else. Mary knew Gabi must feel pressured to prove herself; to prove that she`d rightfully earned her spot.
For Tarone, this week would also be the start of something new. In the end their parents had pushed though with pulling him out of school as a way to prevent him being sent off to an ESN school. They had enrolled her little brother in the supplementary school that was run by parents at their local church, along with some other children from their neighbourhood. There were too little children to divide them by age or ability, so everyone was thrown together in one big class.
It was in moments like these that Mary realised how fortunate she was to be able to go to Hogwarts. When she really thought about it, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. She had seven years of education mapped out for her. It baffled her how she`d somehow already managed to get two whole years of it behind her. It scared her to think about what would happen if she`d leave Hogwarts, it wasn`t like the skills she was learning here would aide her in the normal world. And somehow, she had the feeling that would be where she would end up in the end. She couldn`t be away from her family; not permanently at least. Her family would need her once she was of age. She would need her family.
There was a sudden rustling and the feint tinkling of bells as a woman emerged from behind a couple of curtains; Mary supposed she must be their Professor. Though, she couldn`t look any much different from their other teachers. For starters, she was a lot younger than every other teacher they had, mid-twenties at most. She wasn`t wearing the normal neat robes that most of their Professors wore, but a long flowy skirt and a top with bell sleaves that swayed as she walked, a colourful scarf draped around her shoulders. A low whisper went up between the students; Mary saw the Gryffindor boys snicker and she momentarily caught Sirius` eye who shot her a truly butterfly inducing grin.
Mary expected the woman to at least introduce herself, but instead she jumped straight in. No leadup whatsoever. As she spoke she moved her fingers, clinking her rings together as she did so. Her eyes were wide as if she was in a constant state of surprise.
`In this class you will learn the art of seeing the future. We will play with the bounds of fate.` the Professor spoke, her voice above a mere whisper as she looked around the room, peering through the fog. `We will try to answer those questions that cannot be addressed.`
Mary didn`t really understand what the woman was saying, yet she felt inexplicably drawn in by her mannerisms. Quickly, Mary shot a look to Marlene and Lily, the latter was already jotting down notes and Marlene was staring wide eyed at the women, enthralled.
`While most of you probably picked this course to get the easy way out-` she raised her eyebrows and a couple of students laughed. `Oh yes, I am well aware that Divination is everyone’s favourite doss subject -I remind you that I was a student myself here not that long ago.` Now more people were laughing.
`-Divination is certainly not something to be trifled with lightly. When used correctly, it can be incredibly powerful. Dangerous even.` The Professor`s brow furrowed at this and her tone of voice was no longer floaty, but pressing and serious.
Mary swallowed and exchanged a look with Lily, who had momentarily put her quill down. The boys were also no longer laughing and messing about, evidently it dawning on them that they weren`t just here for an hour of leisure.
`Divination calls to look in on yourself.` she continued. `You need skill, study and intuition to truly succeed at this. While some of you might have a natural gift for fortune telling -some might call this the Inner Eye-` she looked meaningfully around the room.
A coupled of students smiled and sat up straighter; Mary did so too, though she was fairly certain she didn`t have this natural gift.
`-with the right kind of nurture, this gift can also be cultivated and trained. It takes a lot of time and effort to become a skilled reader of the future.` the woman clasped her hands together. `And in the end that is what we are here for. To learn.`
After the Divinations Professor had gone over the general outline of the year and explained the syllabus to them, they were meant to take out a fresh notebook and label it as a dream diary. For the following weeks they were all meant to record their dreams, after that they would try to interpret these dreams. The Professor also added that the longer they would write down their dreams, the more they would probably remember of them.
`The mind is like muscle to be trained.` the Professor said; with that the class was dismissed and sent on their way.
As Mary, Marlene and Lily mounted down the ladder towards the rest of the castle, the sudden amount of light pricking in their eyes, Mary hoped desperately that they wouldn`t need to exchange dream journals with other students. She`d die of embarrassment if someone would find out that Sirius was a rather frequent visitor in her dreams. Though, it would be pretty funny she supposed; having to examine her dreams for a deep underlying meaning and the conclusion being that she massively fancied Sirius Black.
`What are you giggling about?` Marlene asked.
`Nothing.` Mary shook her head. `Just really like Divination.`
***
Friday September 7th 1973
The cue in front of the classroom was long, apparently a lot of students had signed up to do Care of Magical Creatures this year, mostly girls. Marlene didn`t blame them; it was certainly the most interesting subject of her electives. Though, Muggle Studies earlier that week had been really interesting as well. The class had mostly consisted of students from magical families who wanted to gauge a better understanding of the muggle world, or muggle-born students who already had a prospect of working in the Muggle Liaisons office. James, Sirius, as well as Peter, were all taking the course with her.
`What are you most excited for?` Mary asked, leaning against the wall as they waited to be let into the classroom.
`I hope we do unicorns,` Marlene sighed, also leaning against the wall, close to Mary. `Something really nice like that.` She most of all hoped they would cover Mer-people, but she wasn`t going to tell Mary that when Remus was around; he`d think it was girlish.
`I`d rather do dragons. Something a bit exciting.` Mary said in response.
Marlene had to agree with her on that one. `I`m just glad we don`t have Kettleburn.` she replied, feeling relieved. She`d heard all sorts of horror stories from Danny about the Professor. Apparently he was a really harsh.
`Don`t we?` Remus asked, suddenly paying attention to her and Mary. `Who`ve we got, then?`
`Weren`t you paying attention to Dumbledore at the feast?` Marlene asked disapprovingly, disappointed at Remus` apparent disinterest in the subject he had picked. `Kettleburn`s off in Romania or Bulgaria or something, doing some work for the ministry. Don`t know how useful he is, though, he`s not exactly in one piece…` Professor Kettleburn was known for his many scars and missing limbs.
`So who`ve we got.` Remus asked, brow furrowed. Remus had a lot of scars himself. It wasn`t usually something Marlene paid a lot of attention to, but it was rather noticeable.
`Whoever it is wasn`t at the feast.` she responded, shrugging and pulled out a piece of parchment, looking up Care of Magical Creatures. `But my timetable says `Professor L. Ferox.`
While she said this, the previous class was dismissed and the classroom started to empty. Slowly the third years started to file into the room; Marlene and Mary picked a seat close by the window, Remus sat next to Marlene.
Marlene felt nervous as they waited for their Professor to emerge from his office. Though she was able to perfectly impersonate most of them, she often felt rather intimidated by her Professors. When he finally came out, Marlene felt Mary sit up a little straighter and she couldn`t help but do the same. An almost audible hum went through the classroom.
The man coming stepping out of the little backroom was most likely in his early thirties. He didn`t wear robes, but thick cargo pants and chunky brown leather boots. His dirty blond hair was long and thick and hung almost down to his lower back. His bright blue eyes had a roguish glint to them and he had a warm friendly grin that he flashed as he looked out over his new pupils.
Mary met Marlene`s eyes and raised her eyebrows as she gave her leg a squeeze underneath the table; a thrill went up Marlene`s spine and she sat up even straighter. There was no denying that Professor Ferox was an extremely attractive man.
`Good afternoon!` the man boomed as he clapped his large hands loudly together. He had a husky Liverpudlian accent. `Welcome to your first year of Care of Magical Creatures. I`m Professor Ferox. You`ve all got the Scamander text I hope?`
Marlene instantly opened up her textbook. She`d ravaged through her copy of Fantastical Beasts over the summer, being utterly captivated by it.
`Excellent!` Ferox beamed gruffly. `A cracking read, as I`m sure some of you have already discovered. It gives you a nice, comprehensive guide to identifying and encountering most of the well-known magical creatures -but what it can`t give you- and what you`ll need to excel in this class- is quick thinking, cool-headedness, and nerves of steel.`
A tittering went up in the class and Marlene felt her stomach sink. If there was one thing she didn`t have, it were nerves of steel. Although, she supposed she was rather fearless when it came to a lot of things, just not things people could judge her own, like school performance.
`Now,` Ferox clapped his hands together again, he seemed to do that a lot. `Look what I`ve got for you…`
The Professor now produced a large wicker basket that he put down on top of his own desk. Upon opening it, a large, hairy creature emerged, swaying its unkempt tail. It had bushy silver fur, dappled with spots of a dark brown, pointy ears and it meowed grumpily. The catlike creature glared down at the students, flicking its tail while Ferox petted it.
`Can anyone tell me what sort of creatures Achilles here is?`
Though Marlene knew the answer, she was too scared to raise her hand; she almost never raised her hand in class.
`It`s a cat.` Mary spat out without being called on. Marlene looked at her sideways.
The Professor laughed heartily at this, `A common mistake, Miss…?`
`Macdonald. Mary Macdonald.` Marlene replied, her voice higher than normal. Immediately Marlene felt annoyed with her.
`Miss Macdonald. No. Achilles is not a cat – though they are often interbred.`
`Ooh!` someone at the back of the class cooed.
`Yes, Mr…?`
`Stan Brooks, sir. Is it a kneazle, sir?` the Ravenclaw boy asked.
`Five point to Ravenclaw!` Ferox boomed, nodding in approval. `Achilles is a kneazle.`
`You can always identify the kneazle by its cat-like appearance, high level of intelligence, speckled fur and tail.` Ferox said, pointing with his thick finger over the creature`s body. `They are classified XXX by the ministry of magic – can anyone tell me what that means?`
Next to her, Remus thrust up his hand, but Marlene was determined to beat him in it and get a chance to show off her knowledge. Her stomach did a summersault when he picked her.
`Marlene McKinnon.` she smiled, hands clammy. `Sir. XXX classified creatures are not recommended for domestication, but should not prove difficult for a qualified wizard to handle.`
Her answer earned her five point for Gryffindor and she felt her cheeks flush as she shot Mary a satisfied smirk.
`We will be focussing on XXX classified creatures for the rest of this year. Now, while it`s true that kneazles are not recommended as pets – this is not because they are dangerous. In fact, anyone who tells you they`re dangerous has likely found themselves on the wrong side of one, and should not be trusted. Can anyone tell me why?`
Marlene didn`t put her hand up again; once was enough. Remus` hand did shoot up.
`Because they can detect suspicious people.` another Ravenclaw piped up.
`Absolutely. Kneazles are excellent judges of characters, and will react fiercely to anyone untrustworthy. As such, the ministry requires kneazle owners to hold the proper licence and have undergone certain proficiency tests. But as you can see,` Ferox started stroking Achilles again. `They do make wonderful pets, as long as they are shown proper respect and care.`
`Is he yours then, professor?` Mary piped up again, she was batting her eyelashes, the way she did with Sirius; Marlene felt a pang in her stomach. `He`s lovely.`
`He is indeed. If you are all careful and don`t crowd him, Achilles will probably let you stroke him. Line up, class.`
Everyone began shuffling with their chairs and getting up from their desks. Marlene immediately sprang up, eager to get in line. They were instructed to approach the kneazle slowly, keep alert and to not look it directly in its eyes; that wouldn`t be too hard, Marlene thought.
Mary scooted in front of her, cutting the line, which annoyed Marlene; she wanted to be the first of them to pet Achilles. It was so typical of Mary to take all the attention. Remus was all the way at the back of the cue.
The line slowly moved forward and eventually it was up to Marlene to pet the kneazle. Mary kept lingering next to her as she had her turn, shooting flirtatious glances at Ferox; Marlene whished she would stop doing that. Achille`s fur was remarkably soft and he felt sturdy beneath her hand; nice, grounding.
`That was good, wasn`t it?` Marlene asked as they left the classroom a little later on. `I hope he always brings things in for us to look at.`
`Not going to be very practical when we get to the XXXXX creatures.` Remus responded, joining her and Mary.
`Maybe he`ll bring Achilles in again, though.` Marlene answered wistfully; already missing the big bodied cat.
`Who cares about his cat?` Mary started giggling, and nudged Marlene in her side with her elbow. `He`s bloody gorgeous.`
`Yeah.` Marlene joined in. `I wonder if he`s single?`
It was a remark Mary would make in this situation, so it felt appropriate.
///