#snivellussnape | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

The Marauders and the Hollow Hill: Snivellus Snape (6)

James led the way across the still-damp grass, flushed with excitement. Finally, finally, he was going to be able to ride a broom again. He could feel his eye twitching as he was forced to halt when a witch was short white hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Alright!" she barked at them. James could see two rows of brooms laid neatly on the ground behind her; he felt himself grin. Sirius elbowed him hard in the stomach. The witch glanced down at them with her yellow eyes. "I am Madam Hooch - what are you waiting for?" she yelled again, causing the first-years to jump. "Go on, go and stand next to a broom. Hurry up now!"

Quickly, the first-years scurried to find a place next to a broom. James selected the one farthest away from Madam Hooch, a rather sad-looking one with a cracked handle a clumps of twigs missing from the end of it. He stared down at it. "You'd think the school would be able to afford better brooms," he muttered under his breath, turning to look at Sirius. "It doesn't even look like they can get off the ground."

Sirius frowned down at his broom, which looked even more disappointing than James'. "I hope so, or else we'll all look barmy," he muttered.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," Madam Hooch was calling near the front of the line. "And say, 'Up!'"

"UP!" the first-years shouted. To James's delight, his leapt into his hand immediately, as did Sirius's. Peter's, however, didn't move at all, and Remus's wriggled pathetically on the ground. He didn't seem that perturbed; he just smiled rather tiredly."I think it knows I'm not that fond of flying," he explained.

Meanwhile, Madam Hooch showed them all how to mount the broom and grip it correctly - James knew he didn't need her help. He wanted to get to the part where they actually flew. He could feel his stomach writhing with excitement as he swung his leg over the side of his broom. Catching Sirius's eye, he grinned.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch sternly. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle!" James gripped the handle of his broom along with the rest of the first years and obeyed; he kicked off the wet grass and made sure to hover a bit longer and a bit higher than everyone else around him. Then they all sank back to the ground - James noticed that the red-haired girl, Evans, was wobbling a bit. He grinned.

"Excellent," barked Madam Hooch. "Now we'll try that again - a bit higher, this time-"

They tried again; James did as he was told. When it was time to descend, however, he rose another three feet in the air and stared down at them all, smirking."Alright, Evans?" he yelled down at the girl, who by now had swung off her broomstick and gone to stand by the pasty, greasy-haired boy James recognized once again as "Snivellus" Snape. Both were glaring up at him like he'd just killed their mum's cat.

"Potter!" Madam Hooch yelled at him. She grew smaller and smaller as James rose higher and higher. "Potter, you get down here this instant!"

James shook his head. Far below he saw Sirius, shielding his eyes from the sun and grinning. "See how high you can go!" he shouted.

"Mr. Black-" scolded Madam Hooch.

"James, maybe you should-" began Peter.

"Potter!" cried Evans angrily over all the hubbub. "You get down here right now, you'll get a detention!

"James snorted. "I'm too good for a detention."

"Mr. Potter!" Madam Hooch screeched. "If you don't get down here right now-"

"You'll get in trouble!" Evans yelled. "You'll get Gryffindor in trouble!"

"Bollocks," James said. He urged his broom higher towards the castle roof.

"Potter!" Madam Hooch and Evans screamed at the same time, but they faded in the wind as it rushed past James' ears, he hollered with triumph as he soared towards Ravenclaw Tower - perhaps he could glimpse a couple little Ravenclaws… or, if he was lucky, even Celia St. Claire…

He glanced through the window and he felt his heart soar. There she was, sitting on a pouf in the Ravenclaw Common Room, deeply immersed in her Herbology textbook. Lightly, he tapped on the glass. She looked up, stunned for a few moments, then (his heart jumped again) waved, blushing furiously. Returning her wave, he decided to impress her, doing a loop-de-loop beside the window. He could hear his fellow first-years gasping from the ground below, but he didn't care. He was safe. He'd done stuff like that a million times.Celia St. Claire was applauding behind the glass. Grinning, he bid her farewell with a jerk of his head and zoomed straight back down towards the ground - he could hear some Gryffindors shrieking - at the very last second, he pulled out of the dive-

Something leapt in front of him, a green and black blur brandishing a wand. "CONFUNDUS!" shouted a voice. Startled, James tried to steer his broom away, but he felt the handle vibrate underneath him - instead of slowing down, it sped up, but it was only inches away from the ground now, and jerking violently, like a bronco trying to buck off his rider.

Thankfully, James kept his head. Forcing his sweaty hands to release the broom handle, he jumped away from it and rolled, coming up on his knees. The broom behind him promptly exploded.

Sirius, who was standing nearby, helped James to his feet. "That was wicked, mate!"

James grinned.Madam Hooch, meanwhile, was all in a dither. "Now, really!" she yelled. The effect of her voice sent all the first-years stumbling backwards. "The Confundus Charm was unnecessary! A detention, perhaps, might do the trick!" She stared at the first-years with her hawk-like eyes. "Come now! Which one of you did it?"

No one stirred."Bet one Sickle it's Snivellus," James muttered.

"I'm betting Evans - you're on," murmured Sirius, smirking.

Sighing, Madam Hooch whipped out her wand. "I guess there's only one way to solve this - Prior Incantato!" She yelled, waving her wand over the crowd of frightened first-years. Gasping and shrieking, they tried to evade the spell, but it appeared to do nothing; that is, until the wand of an unsuspecting Slytherin was yanked out of his pocket and zoomed into Madam Hooch's hand.

"Aha!" she shouted. "Mr. Snape, is it?"

Snape nodded, apparently emotionless."Well, this will be your first detention at Hogwarts won't it?" Snape nodded sullenly. James stifled a laugh - Madam Hooch's head snapped around to look at him. "The same goes for you, Mr. Potter!" Then she cast her eyes over the rest of her class, who looked nervous and surprisingly shrunken. "Well, what are you all looking at?" Madam Hooch barked. "Class dismissed!"

The first-years anxiously gathered up their things and made their way back up to the castle. Remus and Peter fell in pace with James and Sirius at the back of the group."I can't believe you've gone and landed yourself in detention," Peter groaned.

"Just like Lily said you would," Remus said, shaking his head.

James elbowed him in the ribs. "Already on a first name basis, eh? You in love, Remus?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I am not. You're telling me you're not upset you got a detention?"

James grinned. "Don't try to change the subject. Nah, I don't mind. But Sirius owes me a Sickle now, don't you, mate?"

"Can't believe it," Sirius said, pretending to look solemn.

Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Snape enter the castle, walking in a way that reminded James of a spider. Peter followed his gaze."Who do you reckon he is, then?" he asked, looking after Snape.

Sirius laughed humorlessly. "That's Snivellus. Snivellus Snape."

"He's odd," Remus muttered, frowning. "I reckon he's lonely. Doesn't have many friends, does he?"

"He hangs out with Evans," Peter pointed out."Lads, he nearly killed James," Sirius said loudly.

"He couldn't kill me if he tried," James said scornfully. And without another word, he rushed ahead of them and back into the castle.

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-"

James groaned loudly. "What? What about… ugh." He rolled his eyes. "I saw the Gryffindor Quidditch team practicing this morning."

"Yeah?" Sirius smirked at James. "And what do you reckon?"

James snorted. "I reckon they're rubbish."

Peter glanced up at them, eyes swiveling back and forth between James and Sirius. "Really? Are they that bad?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes," James said with an air of finality. "I even spoke to Ayres about it afterwards-"

"Ayres?" interrupted Sirius frowning. "He's the Captain of the Gryffindor Team, isn't he?"

"Yeah," nodded James. "I told him that his team wasn't aligning properly: there are a bunch of holes in their Advance Formation, the Chasers must be blind or something -"

Remus spoke up suddenly from his place on the floor. "Now, I don't know much about Quidditch," he said quietly, not bothering to take his eyes off of his book. "But I imagine Ayres wasn't too chuffed about that, was he?"

"No, he wasn't!" said James angrily. "He chucked me off the field, in fact!" Frustrated, he punched the chair, his tight fist sinking deep into the plush material. "I can't wait until I get into Quidditch… I'll outplay them all, the-"

"Shall we go to bed?" said Peter hastily. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Remus smile a little.

"No," scoffed Sirius, flipping his long dark hair out of his eyes. "It's barely ten -"

"And it's our first Friday at Hogwarts!" James added, glancing at Sirius out of the corner of his eye. Sirius grinned.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Whatever you guys are planning, I'll not be involved."

Sirius pretended to look shocked. "Why, Remus! What would ever make you think something like that?"

Remus rolled his eyes and pulled his glasses off his face, neatly folding them up and putting them in his pocket. "Well, I agree with Peter - I'm turning in… I'm finished."

"Finished?" James felt his mouth fall open. "With all of it?"

"The summary on wormwood isn't that hard James, I don't know why you were complaining so much about it - all you have to do is take notes on the chapter and look up it's properties in the index-"

"Alright, alright!" shouted Sirius, clamping his hands over his ears. "We've heard enough, we'll do it tomorrow. Happy?"

Remus smirked at them as he got to his feet; James noticed that he was shaking a little. "Right." And he disappeared up to the staircase leading towards the boys' dormitories. Peter was quick to follow, still clutching James's Chocolate Frog Cards.

Sirius glanced over at James again. "What do you reckon?" he asked quietly.

His inquiry took James by surprise. "What?"

Sirius jerked his head towards the staircase that Remus and Peter had ascended. "What do you think of them? You reckon they're decent?"

James stared at Sirius. It was an odd question to ask, seeing as Sirius had already seemed to have grown fond of both Remus and Peter. "Um… sure. Why?"

"Just wondering if you thought the same as I did," said Sirius, grinning forcibly. "I reckon they're good. Wouldn't have stuck with me this far if they weren't, would they?"

James frowned at him. "What do you mean?" Then something clicked in his brain, and a fresh wave of frustration seemed to flow from his head down to his toes. "If this is about you being a Black-"

Sirius went red. "No, of course not-"

"Sirius, how long will it take for you to get it?" said James, gazing right at him. "I don't care if you're a Black - I don't think Remus or Peter cares either… you're decent, all right?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm decent. Now I feel special."

James threw a pillow at him, and it smacked Sirius right in the face, who fell over laughing.

The weekend seemed to flash by, and James was soon wishing that he had done all his homework on Friday evening with Remus. It wasn't long before he and Sirius were sprawled down on the floor of the Common Room, scribbling randomly about bezoars and asphodel on long pieces of parchment on a cool Sunday evening. Peter, who had managed to finish all of his homework the previous afternoon, was anxiously checking his essay against James and Sirius's. Remus stood over them all, already in his pajamas, helping them when he could.

Nonetheless, James woke up the next morning grumpy and irritated. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed to be more energetic and enthusiastic than ever. Finally, he had seemed to accept the fact that none of his new friends cared the slightest bit about his heritage whatsoever.

"Can't wait for this afternoon." Sirius had said at breakfast as he poured ketchup over his sausages.

Peter frowned at him. "Why?"

"We have Potions with the Slytherins," replied Sirius happily. "Those wazzocks, they'll fail at everything, the stupid -"

"Actually -" Remus murmured, looking paler than usual. "We have Transformation with them in the morning…" He frowned a little, staring vaguely with the ceiling. "At least, I think we do."

It turned out that Remus was right. In fact, they had Transfiguration right after breakfast, and they were very nearly late. Flushed and panting, they seated themselves in tables at the back of the room, heaving their thick leather-bound books onto the desks. James squinted at it; he hadn't really bothered to look in his textbooks yet.

"A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, by Emeric Switch," he read, opening the book excitedly. "Wow! Look at all this!..." He practically dove into the book. The whole thing seemed very simple to him, a thought and an incantation, and you could change anything into… anything. James flipped through the book hastily, scanning the text, examining the illustrations. One of his favourites depicted a fabulously multi-coloured bird changing into a silver goblet.

Sirius, meanwhile, was tipping his chair back on two legs. "Wonder where the teacher is," he mumbled. "Who's our professor anyways?"

Suddenly, there was a loud noise up near the front of the classroom; someone was clearing their throat. Startled, Sirius almost tumbled out of his chair, while James looked up so fast he cricked his neck. Standing behind the large oaken desk in the front of the room stood the same witch that had placed the Sorting Hat on their heads - McGonagall, James thought. She looked ever the same: rather severe-looking, with a black pointed hat and square spectacles perched on the end of her nose. She stared down at them without the slightest shadow of a smile.

"As you all know, I am Professor McGonagall," she stated obviously. "And I will be your Transfiguration teacher during your time at Hogwarts."

James's hand shot up before he even realized it; McGonagall turned towards him, eyebrows raised. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

So she had a good memory. "What kind of stuff will we be transfiguring?" he asked eagerly.

"All kinds of 'stuff,' as you put it, Mr. Potter," replied McGonagall. James thought he saw her smirk a little. He watched her flick her wand - instantly, a lot of long, complicated notes appeared on the blackboard in front of the classroom. "Now, if you would… please copy these down…"

To James's extreme disappointment, the class wasn't nearly as fun as he had anticipated. After slowly copying all the notes from the board onto parchment, McGonagall handed them each a match and told them to try to turn it into a needle. James, to his immense surprise, managed to transform his match on the first try. McGonagall actually smiled and held up his needle for everyone to see - he saw the pale, greasy-haired boy he had met on the train scowl at him and wave his wand over his match; it promptly flew six feet into the air and exploded.

"I think McGonagall's taken a shine to you, James!" chuckled Peter as they left the Transfiguration classroom. Indeed she had seemed to, as she had gone on a ten-minute rant about how particularly talented and lucky James was, how a natural ability to transfigure was very uncommon, and how she looked forward to seeing him more in her class.

"Have you always been able to transfigure things easily, James?" Remus asked, leading the way down the moving staircase.

James frowned. "Well… not always. I turned my mum's wand into a giant slug once - it's not that funny," he added when Sirius sniggered. "I'm pretty sure my wand has something to do with it too… at least, that's what Ollivander said… he said mahogany's real good for Transfiguration…" He glanced down at it as he spoke, clutched tightly in his fist. "Anyways… what do we have next?"

"Potions," said Sirius immediately. "With the Slytherins, we're with them all afternoon."

"Joy," muttered Remus unenthusiastically.

Soon, they arrived at the Potions classroom, which was located in the lowest part of the castle - the dungeons. It was much colder there than the other rooms in Hogwarts, and seemed much more foul. It was dank and dark and multicolored blobs floated in jars on shelves. Thankfully, having had Potions five times the previous week, they were practically used to it. Their professor was already standing there - Horace Slughorn, red-cheeked, big-bellied, and beaming - despite the temperature.

"I can't wait to see this place in winter," murmured Sirius as he set up his cauldron.

"Welcome back!" Slughorn announced, grinning at them. "We'll be continuing to brew the Forgetfulness Potion today - your samples from last week are here on my desk, they'll need to stew for another ten minutes, and they still need sprigs of lavender and some dragon blood… well." His smile widened. "You'll find all the instructions in your books. Let the brewing commence!"

James rolled his eyes. "Who do you reckon will be his favourite today, Sirius?"

Sirius pretended to be concentrating and counted off people on his fingers. "Evans, Maddox… Lancaster," he added, making a face. "They don't really change, do they?"

"No," agreed James, retrieving his sample from Slughorn's desk and dumping it into his cauldron. Furtively, he lit a fire underneath it and glanced anxiously into his cauldron. "Remus?"

"Mmm?" said Remus vaguely, staring down into his Potions book.

"Is it supposed to be red?"

James grinned as Remus whipped around, and enjoyed watching his face turn the same shade of bright scarlet that the potion had turned, although he wished it had been shooting sparks and emitting a high-pitched whistling noise like the potion was.

Slughorn, to James's disappointment, hurried over. "Evanesco!" he yelled, and the potion vanished. "My dear boy, what happened?" Slughorn puffed, straightening his hat on his balding head. "Did you add the Tentacula Leaves? Because you are supposed to wait at least five minutes before-"

"Professor!" someone called from the other end of the classroom. Standing behind a simmering cauldron was the red-haired girl - Evans, James thought - and the bat-like, greasy-haired boy James had seen in Transformation. Snivellus, remembered James, smirking. From the train. "Professor!" Evans called again, waving her hand in the air. "I think we've got it; can you come take a look?"

Slughorn rushed over there so fast he might've be magicked by a Summoning Charm. But as he peered into their cauldron, James saw his face light up with delight. "My, my! This is absolutely perfect - the fumes are strong… I can feel myself forgetting what I had for breakfast this very morning!" He chuckled at his own joke. "Everyone! Come here! Look, Miss Evans and Mr. Snape have done it!"

The effect was almost immediate. In an instant, the whole of the class had gathered around Evans and Snape's cauldron, staring down at the potion. Professor Slughorn was still congratulating them, finally declaring that they had gained a well-earned ten points for both their Houses. James felt something hot like jealousy flare up in the bottom of his stomach. Thankfully, Sirius had stayed by his side. "They shouldn't have gotten points for that," he groaned. "I can't wait to see their smug little faces this next class."

James was a little alarmed. "Why?"

Sirius grinned over at him. "Quidditch."

Promptly, the stinging jealous feeling in his stomach disappeared, and he felt himself grin along with Sirius. He had been playing Quidditch practically all his life, riding a broom was almost second nature to James. Of course, being a first year, he'd been forced to leave his broomstick back in his trunk at home, but James felt like he would give anything to feel that wonderful, thrilling feeling he always got in his chest whenever he rode a broomstick.

He couldn't wait for the next class. Even if it was with the Slytherins.

James led the way across the still-damp grass, flushed with excitement. Finally, finally, he was going to be able to ride a broom again. He could feel his eye twitching as he was forced to halt when a witch was short white hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Alright!" she barked at them. James could see two rows of brooms laid neatly on the ground behind her; he felt himself grin. Sirius elbowed him hard in the stomach. The witch glanced down at them with her yellow eyes. "I am Madam Hooch - what are you waiting for?" she yelled again, causing the first-years to jump. "Go on, go and stand next to a broom. Hurry up now!"

Quickly, the first-years scurried to find a place next to a broom. James selected the one farthest away from Madam Hooch, a rather sad-looking one with a cracked handle a clumps of twigs missing from the end of it. He stared down at it. "You'd think the school would be able to afford better brooms," he muttered under his breath, turning to look at Sirius. "It doesn't even look like they can get off the ground."

Sirius frowned down at his broom, which looked even more disappointing than James'. "I hope so, or else we'll all look barmy," he muttered.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," Madam Hooch was calling near the front of the line. "And say, 'Up!'"

"UP!" the first-years shouted. To James's delight, his leapt into his hand immediately, as did Sirius's. Peter's, however, didn't move at all, and Remus's wriggled pathetically on the ground. He didn't seem that perturbed; he just smiled rather tiredly.

"I think it knows I'm not that fond of flying," he explained.

Meanwhile, Madam Hooch showed them all how to mount the broom and grip it correctly - James knew he didn't need her help. He wanted to get to the part where they actually flew. He could feel his stomach writhing with excitement as he swung his leg over the side of his broom. Catching Sirius's eye, he grinned.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch sternly. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle!" James gripped the handle of his broom along with the rest of the first years and obeyed; he kicked off the wet grass and made sure to hover a bit longer and a bit higher than everyone else around him. Then they all sank back to the ground - James noticed that the red-haired girl, Evans, was wobbling a bit. He grinned.

"Excellent," barked Madam Hooch. "Now we'll try that again - a bit higher, this time-"

They tried again; James did as he was told. When it was time to descend, however, he rose another three feet in the air and stared down at them all, smirking.

"Alright, Evans?" he yelled down at the girl, who by now had swung off her broomstick and gone to stand by the pasty, greasy-haired boy James recognized once again as "Snivellus" Snape. Both were glaring up at him like he'd just killed their mum's cat.

"Potter!" Madam Hooch yelled at him. She grew smaller and smaller as James rose higher and higher. "Potter, you get down here this instant!"

James shook his head. Far below he saw Sirius, shielding his eyes from the sun and grinning. "See how high you can go!" he shouted.

"Mr. Black-" scolded Madam Hooch.

"James, maybe you should-" began Peter.

"Potter!" cried Evans angrily over all the hubbub. "You get down here right now, you'll get a detention!"

James snorted. "I'm too good for a detention."

"Mr. Potter!" Madam Hooch screeched. "If you don't get down here right now-"

"You'll get in trouble!" Evans yelled. "You'll get Gryffindor in trouble!"

"Bollocks," James said. He urged his broom higher towards the castle roof.

"Potter!" Madam Hooch and Evans screamed at the same time, but they faded in the wind as it rushed past James' ears, he hollered with triumph as he soared towards Ravenclaw Tower - perhaps he could glimpse a couple little Ravenclaws… or, if he was lucky, even Celia St. Claire…

He glanced through the window and he felt his heart soar. There she was, sitting on a pouf in the Ravenclaw Common Room, deeply immersed in her Herbology textbook. Lightly, he tapped on the glass. She looked up, stunned for a few moments, then (his heart jumped again) waved, blushing furiously. Returning her wave, he decided to impress her, doing a loop-de-loop beside the window. He could hear his fellow first-years gasping from the ground below, but he didn't care. He was safe. He'd done stuff like that a million times.

Celia St. Claire was applauding behind the glass. Grinning, he bid her farewell with a jerk of his head and zoomed straight back down towards the ground - he could hear some Gryffindors shrieking - at the very last second, he pulled out of the dive-

Something leapt in front of him, a green and black blur brandishing a wand. "CONFUNDUS!" shouted a voice. Startled, James tried to steer his broom away, but he felt the handle vibrate underneath him - instead of slowing down, it sped up, but it was only inches away from the ground now, and jerking violently, like a bronco trying to buck off his rider.

Thankfully, James kept his head. Forcing his sweaty hands to release the broom handle, he jumped away from it and rolled, coming up on his knees. The broom behind him promptly exploded.

Sirius, who was standing nearby, helped James to his feet. "That was wicked, mate!"

James grinned.

Madam Hooch, meanwhile, was all in a dither. "Now, really!" she yelled. The effect of her voice sent all the first-years stumbling backwards. "The Confundus Charm was unnecessary! A detention, perhaps, might do the trick!" She stared at the first-years with her hawk-like eyes. "Come now! Which one of you did it?"

No one stirred.

"Bet one Sickle it's Snivellus," James muttered.

"I'm betting Evans - you're on," murmured Sirius, smirking.

Sighing, Madam Hooch whipped out her wand. "I guess there's only one way to solve this - Prior Incantato!" She yelled, waving her wand over the crowd of frightened first-years. Gasping and shrieking, they tried to evade the spell, but it appeared to do nothing; that is, until the wand of an unsuspecting Slytherin was yanked out of his pocket and zoomed into Madam Hooch's hand.

"Aha!" she shouted. "Mr. Snape, is it?"

Snape nodded, apparently emotionless.

"Well, this will be your first detention at Hogwarts won't it?" Snape nodded sullenly. James stifled a laugh - Madam Hooch's head snapped around to look at him. "The same goes for you, Mr. Potter!" Then she cast her eyes over the rest of her class, who looked nervous and surprisingly shrunken. "Well, what are you all looking at?" Madam Hooch barked. "Class dismissed!"

The first-years anxiously gathered up their things and made their way back up to the castle. Remus and Peter fell in pace with James and Sirius at the back of the group.

"I can't believe you've gone and landed yourself in detention," Peter groaned.

"Just like Lily said you would," Remus said, shaking his head.

James elbowed him in the ribs. "Already on a first name basis, eh? You in love, Remus?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I am not. You're telling me you're not upset you got a detention?"

James grinned. "Don't try to change the subject. Nah, I don't mind. But Sirius owes me a Sickle now, don't you, mate?"

"Can't believe it," Sirius said, pretending to look solemn.

Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Snape enter the castle, walking in a way that reminded James of a spider. Peter followed his gaze.

"Who do you reckon he is, then?" he asked, looking after Snape.

Sirius laughed humorlessly. "That's Snivellus. Snivellus Snape."

"He's odd," Remus muttered, frowning. "I reckon he's lonely. Doesn't have many friends, does he?"

"He hangs out with Evans," Peter pointed out.

"Lads, he nearly killed James," Sirius said loudly.

"He couldn't kill me if he tried," James said scornfully. And without another word, he rushed ahead of them and back into the castle.