Transfiguration, Class 1

[Athena "V" Smith-Calloway]

Athena was very nervous as she walked into the classroom for the first time. She had never even taught before, and it felt strange that she was taking over Alastor's class during his illness. She would have preferred to be home with him and Coda, but they also needed the money.

So here she was, ready to teach her first class. She made a quick sweep of the room, making sure everything was in order, then sat down and waited for the students to arrive.

[James Potter]

James awoke before anyone in his room. He just couldn't sleep. He dreamed that he was older and married to Lily, although everything was fine with that, he saw something evil in that dream, something that seemed to haunt him and then there was a green light just before he woke up. James shook his head. It was just a dream he told himself over and over as he headed for a cold shower.

He made it to breakfast before Sirius or Remus did, so he just ate alone and headed off to Transfiguration. Entering the room, he noticed that he was the first one there. This was a first. James took a sit in a desk in the middle of the room, pulling out his book to occupy himself while he waited for the others to file in.

[Amy Icefire]

Amy walked in shortly after. She still looked half asleep. Mornings definitely weren't her thing. She smiled at the professor as she walked in and mustered a "Good Morning". She noticed that another student was already in the class, but she didn't want to interrupt his reading, so she just sat down in the row behind him.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius walked into the classroom, still nibbling on a breakfast scone he'd grabbed on the way out of the Great Hall. He hoped his professor wouldn't mind him eating in class. He had eaten quickly in hopes of finding James. As he passed, he nodded at the professor and tried to conceal his stolen scone from her. Then he noticed that there were two students in the room already. One was James, and the other was a pretty redhead that he didn't recognize. He put on a smile, then walked over and sat next to James.

"Hey, there you are," he said. "Missed you at breakfast this morning."

Then he turned to the redhead. "Hey there," he said. "There seems to be a mistake, because I don't know you, and I make it a point to know all the pretty girls." He stuck out his hand to her. "I'm Sirius Black. But you can just call me Sirius. What may I call you?" he asked with a wink.

[James Potter]

James didn't notice anyone else walk in after him, until Sirius entered. "Hey Sirius," said James with a grin. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I couldn't sleep, so I got there earlier than usual." He returned to his book, then heard Sirius start talking to someone. He turned his head to see a red-head sitting there. She couldn't compare to Lily, well, none of the girls could. James shook his head and started to laugh at Sirius' winking. He reached up and gave Sirius a pat on the shoulder before returning to his book.

[Lily Evans]

Lily walked into Transfiguration class and was surprised to see a new teacher sitting there. She was a woman, with curly red hair. Lily gave a smile to the professor, then went to sit down. She chose a seat next to another girl, who also had red hair. It was a little strange, seeing two others with red hair. Lily was used to being the only one.

She rolled her eyes as she realized that Sirius Black was flirting with the girl. She didn't think Kris would appreciate that...

[James Potter]

James caught a glance of another person to walk in front of him and he glanced up to see Lily. He returned his eyes to the book to hide the smile that was currently on his face. He wiped the smile away and turned around towards Lily, thinking of something to say to her. She looked so nice in the mornings, always fresh, but then again she always looked that way. "Hey Lily," James finally got out, not being able to think of anything else to say.

[Amy Icefire]

Amy was busy getting her stuff out for class when another boy came and sat in front of her. She expected the class to be interesting, but he had a cute profile so if it wasn't, at least the view was good. She had thought that he would remain engaged in conversation with other boy, with whom she assumed he was good friends and was surprised when he turned around and said something to her.

A little bit of color arose in her cheeks, but she coolly brushed the bangs out of her face and shook his hand. As to his comment she jokingly replied, "Why thank you, Mr. Black. Although, I'm sure the compliment would be much more meaningful if it weren't said to every girl who crossed your path."

She threw off the sarcasm and smiled, "Nice to meet you Sirius. My name's Amy...Amy Icefire."

Just then, another girl came in and sat down next to her. She sensed a bit of tension in the room as she rolled her eyes at their conversation. Nevertheless, Amy smiled and said hi.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius griined. "Icefire, huh? I see you live up to your name." He grinned at her again. "It's nice to meet you, Amy. I hope we canm get to know each other better in the future."

He leaned back casually and glanced at Lily. He noticed that she rolled her eyes at him, and the tentative way Amy tried to greet her. "Oh, don't mind Lily," he said reassuringly. "She's just mad I don't flirt with her. I would, but you know, some people might get jealous..." he gave James a teasing nudge.

[James Potter]

James broke out of his jumbled thoughts and glanced towards Sirius, giving his head a shake as he flirted with Amy. His eyes returned to Lily, awaiting some kind of response, but was nudged by Sirius. James turned his head towards him and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, some people just might," replied James, not really referring to himself at the moment. He looked back to Lily. "What you're not going to talk to me," he questioned in a calm manner.

[Amy Icefire]

Amy's smile disappeared for a moment, but she quickly recovered and replied, "Of course. Always here to give you a run for your money." She curiously looked at Sirius for a moment. How did he know who she was? She hardly knew who she was. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised. Beryl had hinted once that their family had once had great importance in the wizarding community. But still...

She emerged from her train of thought when Sirius made another comment. She glanced from James to Lily and then once more at Sirius. James's comment had held a hint of sarcasm in it, and Amy suddenly felt she didn't know something about Sirius that she probably should.

Not wanting to interrupt Lily's reply, Amy softly laughed and replied, "I'm sure we will." Then, she slowly picked up a quill and began to draw in the corner of her parchment, thus, diverting her attention to the desk.

[Lily Evans]

Lily turned her attention to James reluctantly. "Hello, James," she said in a cool tone. Looking back at Sirius, she added, "And Sirius, you really should stop flirting with random girls. When Kris finds out, she's going to be very upset."

With a sigh, she turned back to James. "So did you want something?"

[James Potter]

"I just wanted to talk to you without you being, what's the word, smart," said James. "You know, like a normal conversation between people." He gave Lily a smile. "So," he said trying to think of something to talk about with her, "I'm sorry about the other day in potions. I didn't mean to make you hate me even more. Why is it that you despise me so much? What ever have I done to you?"

[Lily Evans]

Lily sighed. "I don't hate you, James," she said. He was acting so pathetic and so unlike his usual self that she felt herself softening just a little. "You never did anything to me, but I've seen the way you act to some other people, like that poor Slytherin kid, Severus Snape. And your friend here is even worse." She nodded towards Sirius, but didn't look at him. "I think you just act like you're full of yourself a lot of the time, and I don't like that. If you could try being nice to other people once in a while, maybe you wouldn't be so bad."

[James Potter]

James felt him smiling mentally as Lily said that she didn't hate him. Maybe there was still some hope that she would like him. "I'm sorry Lily. I'll attempt to do better than what I have been. I can't say anything for Sirius though. I'll try to be nicer to people. OK," replied James. He would attempt to be better than what he was. He couldn't and wouldn't make any promises, however. All James wanted was for Lily to treat him better, like she did any other person, rather than her just looking at him like he was something horrid. He couldn't hide the smile that he was hiding, and allowed it to spread across his face.

[Severus Snape]

Severus approached the classroom with the sense of impending doom. Transfiguration! blast it! the confidence he showed in any other class quickly eroded and left him exposed. The dark cloud that had been building began to drip icy droplets of misery on him. Before he stepped inside he straighted up his back and placed a mask of indifference on his face. Not bloody likely would these ignorant whelps even see a hint of ill ease.

[Lily Evans]

"Well, don't get too excited," Lily said quickly. "I didn't say I wanted to start picking out china patterns or anything." She softened slightly and gave him a smile. "But I'm glad to hear you're going to try to be a better person. Who knows, if you keep it up, maybe you won't even need to try."

[James Potter]

James laughed. Sure, being nice to people, especially Severus, was going to be a hard task. However, his reward would be that Lily would actually be nice to him and talk to him like she did everyone else. A thought crossed his mind. Lily never said that he couldn't help plan pranks, etc., he just had to be nice to people, which meant, he could plan out pranks, but he couldn't pull them off, Sirius could. Maybe this whole 'trying to be nice to people' wouldn't be that difficult. "Thanks Lily," he said, giving her a genuine smile. "I can start now. How's that?"

[Lily Evans]

Lily smiled at him. "Well, good. Maybe, if you can continue to be nice to other people and not act like an arrogant bully, then we can be friends. But that's all I can promise you right now." She looked at him, feeling somewhat doubtful of his ability to be a nice guy for any length of time. Sirius was a bad influence.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius watched James with a smirk on his face. Was James really going to manage to be "nice" for a while? And for how long would he last? He began to think of ideas on how he could get James to break his promise...