The Heart of Black - A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 7 - The Magic Begins

The two boys emerged from the dungeons talking animatedly. They never stopped talking about the brilliant plan they had had two years ago. They had worked hard 24/7 to make sure everything worked. Obviously their friends had helped a lot too.

A girl now emerged, her brown hair cascading down her back. She was talking to a tired looking boy who's face was scratched and scarred. Another small, plump boy was trotting along behind them.

The Marauders came to a halt at the top of the stairs. James and Sirius turned to face Skylar, Remus and Peter as they finished their ascent.

"I'm starving," declared Peter, "let's get lunch." and he marched into the Great Hall, the others following, laughing at Peter's unsurprising information.

"Slughorn really knows how to teach." said James in awe. The friends had just had Potions with one of their favoutite teacher, Professor Horace Slughorn. They were all in his Slug Club except for Peter but they always managed to persaude Horace to let Peter join the dinners.

"Yeah, he does." agreed Sirius, who was piling his plate with food. Sky rolled her eyes, the boys never stopped eating! The group fell silent as they began to eat. Then Sirius piped up again.

"So we'll meet in the Forbidden Forest at seven next Monday. There will be plenty of shelter for us to undertake our first transformations.". Of course, thought Sky, he was talking about becoming Animagus again. She knew James and Sirius were both keen on the idea, and she must admit she was excited, but neither of them stopped talking about it. Sky galnced at Remus. He was gazing up the ceiling, which was reflecting a cloudy November afternoon. His eyes were glazed over and Sky knew he was thinking about the plan too. Remus had needed a lot of persausion to get him to finally agree to the idea, and even now he still wasn't sure.

"We'll choose our nicknames when we find out what animals we transform into." James was saying, with enthusiastic nods from Sirius. "Of course Remus is already Moony.". They had decided on this nickname based on Remus's condition.

This conversation continued for a good half an hour before a commotion in the Entrance Hall disrupted it. Sirius who had been giving gruesome descriptions of Animagi transformations fell silent and his head turned towards the door. They could here a familiar voice screaming in protest about something.

Skylar had lept to her feet and was already on her way out of the Great Hall before her friends had realised where she was going. James, Sirius and Remus dashed to keep up with her, while Peter stuffed as much food in his mouth as possible before running after his friends.

The scene in the Entrance Hall was shocking. When Sky had decided to come to the aid of Lily Evans she had not expected it to be Severus Snape who was roaring back at the clearly distressed girl. Sky camed to came to a halt, as did her friends.

"IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUISNESS WHO I AM FRIENDS WITH," roared Snape. His normally pale face was flaming red. Lily seemed to be shrinking under the influence of his rage.

"I know Sev, I know," she stammered, "I was just sharing my opin-" she was cut off by a loud THWACK. Snape had just lost control. He had raised his hand and brought it down hard on Lily's face. There was collective intake of breath. Severus rose his hand again but before he do anything a soft but strong voice that shook with anger spoke.

"Leave her alone." said Sky. She made to move forward but felt a strong grip on her arm. She turned and saw that Remus was the one preventing her from defending the girl who had hurt her so much. She threw him off and stood between Lily and Snape, her chest rising and falling rapidly in her anger.

"What did you just say?" asked Severus, his voice a menacing whisper.

"I said leave her alone." replied Sky, not at all fazed by Snape's anger.