The Marauders and the Hollow Hill

Snivellus Snape

The next few days passed without incident. Lessons were almost always the same as the ones previous them; James found himself getting extremely bored and glancing up at the clock every five seconds. The only class he really liked that that had was Charms - he was absolutely rubbish at Potions and despised History of Magic, Astronomy was okay (Sirius was surprisingly enthusiastic about it), and he didn't even try in Herbology. Defense Against the Dark Arts was an entirely different story. He absolutely loathed it... perhaps he hated the teacher even more. Professor Lancaster was (if possible) even worse than his son. He was round-faced and thick-necked, like Martin, but he was surprisingly thin-mouthed, and had a hoarse, croaky voice that sounded somewhat like a frog that had a head cold. Most of the time, Lancaster paced the front of the room, lecturing them about curses and hexes while they took notes, tense and alert, like they were expecting someone to creep up behind them and whack them. Sometimes they divided into pairs and attempted simple charms and jinxes on each other, but not often. But Professor Lancaster docked Gryffindor points every class, and blamed Sirius for every point taken. He also seemed to insult Sirius every chance he got, and constantly mentioned the Blacks and their "honourable pure-blood heritage." Then he would glance at Sirius, obviously disgusted, and would continue with the lesson as if nothing had happened.

Thankfully, the rest of Gryffindor House had the same view of Professor Lancaster, with the exception of Martin and his cronies. To James's great surprise, Martin had more people on his side than James had thought he would. Not only had he swayed his roommates, but the whole of Slytherin House, though Sirius claimed they had always thought that way in the same place.

"But not all Slytherins can be bad," James remembered Peter muttering during one uneventful Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Remus actually stopped taking notes and turned to look at them, which was a great achievement, seeing as Remus was the only one of them who would pay attention during lessons. "He's right, isn't he?" he mused. "You can't just create a stereotype based off a few people you know, can you?"

"You don't know them," Sirius had murmured darkly.

"Mr. Black!" Professor Lancaster had snarled. "Is there something you'd like to share with all of us?" Sirius had raised his head and opened his mouth, but Lancaster continued before Sirius even had time to speak. "That's another five points from Gryffindor."

Sirius had sunk even lower in his seat. "You see?" he had whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

Despite all of this, James found himself enjoying Hogwarts. He found the classes easy, even without paying attention, and he found learning the magic easier. He liked his dormitory, the meals they served in the Great Hall... he even grew fond of the moving staircases, which lurched every time they moved and had a tendency to make James fall over. Everything was almost perfect.

"When'd you think they'll let us try out for Quidditch?" said James as he swung his legs over the arm of a chair in the Gryffindor common room. It was late on a Friday; their first week finished at Hogwarts. But somehow they had managed to acquire a heavy load of homework to finish over the weekend - Remus had decided to get a head start on it. He was lying on his stomach in front of the fireplace, adjusting his reading glasses on his nose as he leaned further and further in towards his book. Sirius sat in the chair opposite James, shirt untucked and arm draped over the back of the chair. Peter, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor in between them, going through James's extensive collection of Chocolate Frogs, bleary-eyed.

"You know, I don't think first-years get to play Quidditch," said Peter, yawning. He shuffled through a few more cards. "How many Agrippa cards do you have? I swear I've counted at least fifty so far-"