Marauders Year 1: Rule the School

Chapter 6: Wormtail, Transfiguration Class

The second we stepped out of the common room, James, Sirius, Remus, and I are swept into the crowd of bustling students moving around each other to get to their next class. In fact, the four of us can just barely hold on to each other. 

Finally, James managed to haul us all out of the rapids and we come to a part of the student body that is less crowded and therefore easier to navigate around. 

          "There!" Sirius triumphantly announces. "The Transfiguration classroom! I heard from my cousin Bellatrix that Transfiguration has a super big, ornate door."

          "Um, Sirius? All of the doors here are super big and ornate," Remus says hesitantly. 

          "...You've got a point there, Remmy. Also, I think that door over there is even bigger and even more ornate, if I say so myself. It has a group of first-years around it already so....I think it's a safer bet," James points out.

Sirius pouts but we head over-and just in time for James to prove his valour. 

          "Do we open it?" asks an uncertain classmate. 

          "Well, what do you expect it to do? Open by itself? Although, come to think of it, that's not entirely impossible..." Sirius trails off. 

James, kicks Sirius's knee...

          "OI WHATCHA DO THAT FOR?!"

...and marches through to the door. He kicks it with vigour and the door flies open with a loud BANG. We-the Marauders stride through the now-open door with a sort of dignity and an overflowing cauldron of pride. Slowly but surely, the rest of the first-years in our class follow suit. 

Just as we finish settling ourselves, the door opens by itself with a regal nobility and through it strides an old woman. She is lean and yet the wrinkles on her face are not saggy. She is dressed in pristine emerald robes with a black, full-body long sleeved dress and a silver brooch. She has wire-framed glasses much like those James wears. Hers, though, are square-shaped, not round like James's. She briskly walks to the front of the class and, when she arrives on the slightly raised podium, she surveys her class with an unperturbed coolness that tells everyone that she is not a woman to be messed with. I recognize her from the Sorting Ceremony and then I realize, She must be Professor McGonagall. 

          "Is that Professor McGonagall?" I ask, awestruck to Sirius. 

          "Of course it's Professor McGonagall," Sirius responds. 

It's a little too loud and McGonagall turns, looking over her glasses down at Sirius. 

          "Mister Black. May I ask what you are doing talking so loudly in my class?" 

Her stern voice is quite intimidating. I'm really amazed when Sirius remains calm.

          "Well, Minnie...I was thinking about what what Pete here said to me-he said, 'Is that Professor McGonagall?' and I thought really, is it Professor McGonagall? And I assure you I really did think about it until I came to the conclusion that it must be. You see, Minnie, I-" 

He was cut off rather harshly by McGonagall who asked,

          "Mister Black, since when do you have permission to call me...Minnie?"

Sirius grinned as the way she said the nickname we'd given her. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk. 

          "Well, Minnie, I think that I shall prove myself on our first test of the year," he said with a crooked smile, so similar to that of James. 

          "Very well, then."

With that she turned and continued the lesson. Out of us four, only Remus was actually succeeding in paying attention. He was diligently taking notes. I was really trying but I just couldn't format my notes in a comprehensive way and anyways, my handwriting was horrible. James was staring at the back of someone's head. It was that of a girl with red hair and green eyes. She had a stunning complexion and seemed very studious. James appeared absolutely infatuated with the back of head. I had to stop myself from scoffing. Sirius, on the other hand, was so completely uninterested in McGonagall's lesson despite the fact that he had bet on getting full marks on the first test which would be in one week. He was idly drawing a lion in the air with red and gold sparkles. When class ended, I had to kick him under the table to get him to realize that class had, in fact, ended. 

          "That's the second time today I've been kicked there! Honestly!" He muttered as he stood up unhappily. 

I just grinned cheekily. 

When we exited the classroom, we headed directly to Herbology. 

          "So, Sirius, how do you plan on passing next week's test?" James asks as we walk down to the greenhouses. 

          "You know, James. I have some really good lock-picking skills and I was thinking..." he shared a knowing glance with James. 

God, they can already guess each other's next move like brothers and they've barely known each other for two days!