The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

Care of Magical Creatures

Kettleburn smiled up at him, "Yes, yes, dragons are splendid!!!" he cried, "Very good, Hagrid!"

"You aren't planning on bringing a dragon here, are you, Professor?" asked a nervous looking Ravenclaw standing closer to the front.

Kettleburn shook his head, "Oh goodness, no. At least... not a hatched one."

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances.

"Which actually shall be my segway to a very special announcement. Class - later this year, we will be having a visit from a very good friend of mine, who works at the ministry in the ---" he stopped midsentence. "Hello, what can I do for you?"

They all turned, including Hagrid, to see Severus Snape had just arrived, having run all the way from the castle, clutching a small roll of parchment in his hands. He waved it as he dodged through the students milling about before Professor Kettleburn and handed it over when he arrived to the front of the class. "Here you are, Professor," he panted, "Just signed by Professor Slughorn. I'm to switch into this class."

Lily shifted uneasily next to Marlene and glanced at the four boys, who were elbowing each other and smirking already. She looked back at Severus.

Kettleburn had unrolled the little parchment and looked it over. "Very well, very well. What's your favorite magical creature, Severus?" he asked, tucking the parchment into his robes pocket.

"Thestrals, sir," Severus said.

Kettleburn looked up in surprise. "Thestrals? At your age?" He eyed Severus with a funny expression, "Have you seen one?"

"No, sir, but I like the idea of them."

Kettleburn seemed as though he were unsure how to react to this statement, and he patted Severus firmly on the shoulder and sent him off to stand with the other students in the class. Severus quickly picked his way back through the students to insert himself nearby to Lily. He thought about taking a hold on her hand, but he didn't quite have the nerve to do it, and plus she was busy whispering to Marlene.

"Alright, now, as I was saying - a very good friend of mine from the Ministry for Magic will be visiting us later this semester. I think you'll all be quite pleased to meet him - or at least you should be, as he's a very important wizard, especially in the area of magizoology. In fact, he has written the text for this class."

"No way," whispered James, his fingers tightening 'round the spine of his copy of Fantastic Beasts.

"He is none other than Newt Scamander," finished Professor Kettleburn.

A general murmur of excitement rippled through the group of students. Even Hagrid, who was still hovering there, stamped his feet excitedly, making the ground shake beneath them a bit. James looked at Sirius and the others with wide eyes, "Newt Scamander," he hissed, tapping the name on his textbook cover.

"I heard him," Sirius said, smirking at James's face. "Who knew you cared such a bloody lot about magizoology?"

"Well Newt is famous, isn't he? He's seen it all, been all over the world. Blimey! Think he'll sign my book?" James looked at the others questioningly. His eyes met the placid Remus. "Why aren't you more excited about this?" he demanded him, "I should think of everyone here you'd be the most excited about Newt coming to Hogwarts! Given -- you know -- your furry little problem."

Remus shrugged, "I've met Newt Scamander loads of times..."

"WHAT?" James exclaimed, "How? When? Why hasn't this been mentioned before? Blimey, if I knew Newt Scamander I'd be boasting of it when I introduced myself to folks. Like hello -" he held his hand out to Sirius as though introducing himself, and Sirius grabbed on, shaking vigorously, "My name is James and I'm acquainted with Newt Scamander."

"Jolly good, mate!" Sirius replied, laughing and letting go of James's hand.

Remus shrugged again, "He works with my father, it's not a big deal... and I mean, sure he knows my name and all, but I don't know him. I mean he's come 'round to dinner before, a long time ago, when my dad was closer with him... I mean, I was a kid..."

Hagrid leaned forward, as starry-eyed as James, "What's he like in real life?"

Remus looked uncomfortable, "He's... a bit hyper, actually."

"Hyper?" James looked confused.

"Yeah," Remus replied, "He has a bit of a trouble staying on topic... Speaking of which..." he waved his palms to the front of the class, where Professor Kettleburn had moved on from his greeting speech to begin the class, and they all reluctantly went back to paying attention and Hagrid walked off, glancing back in hesitation, as though he didn't really want to go. Kettleburn had withdrawn a bowtruckle from a small cage he'd had covered with a sheet a moment before and was pointing out the features of their bark-like skin. He had his palm extended and full of woodlice so that the students could go in turns to have a look at the creature as Kettleburn rambled on about the creature, covering far more than was even included in Fantastic Beasts, like a very interesting legend about the bowtruckles that guarded the first wand tree in history.

Severus spent the class careful not to get too close to the Gryffindor boys, but eager to stay near to Lily Evans. When it was over, they all walked back across the lawns to the castle, Severus hurried to keep up with Lily and Marlene, who were excitedly discussing how cool it was going to be when Kettleburn brought a unicorn to the class, hoping they'd get to pat the creature. "Lily, wait up," called Severus, nearly tripping over a rock in his haste to catch up to her.

Lily stopped walking and let him catch up, Marlene a couple steps ahead, looking on skeptically. Lily wasn't sure what to say to him when he'd caught up. "You switched classes," she said.

"Yeah I did," he replied, nodding as the three of them started walking toward the castle again.

"I thought you weren't much for Magical Creatures, you said?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

Severus shrugged, "I just - you know - I sort of talked myself into it I suppose when we were chatting about it before and I knew you'd be in the class so it was sort of a win-win, we have another class together now. We could study together in the library, if you like..." he looked eager, "I also got into your Divination class! Three classes together now, that's half! It's almost just like we used to say before first year, remember?"

Lily nodded. She could hear Marlene laughing under her breath beside her and her cheeks turned a bit pink. She wasn't sure how to respond, so she didn't say anything at all.

Behind them by a few feet were the Gryffindor boys, trudging along up the hill together. James murmured, "He better not be bothering her, I'll hex him myself."

Sirius smirked. "Bothering her the way you do, you mean?"

"I don't bother her," James replied.

Remus laughed, "You don't?"

"No," James answered.

"What about when you do things like tossing her in a lake, or calling her love, which she's told you multiple times she hates?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That?" James rolled his eyes, "She likes that; she just doesn't know it yet."

"Right," Remus doubted very much if James was right about that.

Severus was talking away to Lily and Marlene looked a bit put off by whatever it was he was saying. James took his wand out of his pocket, but Peter said, "Oh don't, you've only just gotten out of your first detention, don't be stupid."

"Yes, don't be stupid," Remus agreed, taking hold of James's arm.

"Just let me hex him a little," James pleaded. "I could use that one he taught Lily, with the flying bogeys..."

Sirius laughed, "I wouldn't mind seeing that."

Luckily, however, they'd already reached the castle and Severus was lost amongst the crowd with Lily and Marlene and James no longer had a fair shot at him. Remus sighed in relief.