Lions Inside¹ | James Potter

six

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(Ophelia//The Lumineers)

"And that's all the time we have today. Finish reading the second chapter and check off all the true or false statements ready for our next lesson on Wednesday," the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher said in a dull, dry voice.

The students packed their things together quickly and got out of the classroom.

DADA had been Andrea's favourite subject during her first and second years, but this teacher was going to make them suffer through each lesson.

"Is he always like that?" Andrea asked with a yawn. "No idea. This was our first lesson with him too," Sirius shrugged, leading the way down to the greenhouses for their double lesson of Herbology.

"He's not the same teacher you had last year?"

Peter shook his head fervently. "Since the early sixties, no one has held the position for more than, at most, one year. They say the job's cursed," Peter almost whispered. "Cursed? A teaching job, cursed? That's mad! Who would waste a good curse on something so mundane?!" she laughed. Sirius turned around with a serious expression.

"Laugh all you want, New York. But it's true. Terrible things happen to the teachers, so they need to leave. Our last Professor slipped on the stairs of the Astronomy Tower and fell down the entire spiral staircase."

James looked at Andrea and saw her eyes wide in horror and her naturally golden skin was almost becoming paler. "Stop scaring her, Sirius," he reprimanded his friend, wrapping a protective arm around Andrea's shoulders. "He's alright, though!" Remus said a little too loudly, trying to reassure her. "He's fine. He just didn't want to return."

"Understandable," Andrea snorted, letting James guide her down the grassy slope, heading for the Greenhouses Peter and Remus had shown her yesterday.

They had a break now but decided to stay out in the sun before heading to class. They all stopped together on the last slope before the Greenhouses and dropped their bookbags, before sitting down on the warm grass.

Today had been a surprisingly sunny day, despite what Andrea had expected after her father told her she was going to school in Scotland. New York winters were just as brutal though, so she couldn't really complain.

"What about Herbology? Any curses I need to know about?" Andrea half-joked, half nervous about what the answer was going to be. "Nope," Sirius said proudly, popping the P dramatically. "No curses here. Sprout is a sweetheart. The class is dull but she's pretty cool."

"Herbology isn't dull!" Peter protested. "Just because Peter's better than you in it, doesn't make it dull," James mocked Sirius.

The curly-haired boy stopped in his tracks and glared at James. "No one is better than me," he said pompously making Remus snort loudly. Sirius turned his glare to his scar-faced friend.

"Traitor," he grumbled. Remus reached out a hand and messed up Sirius's perfectly styled hair. Sirius glared as Remus ruffled his curls and as soon as he released him, tried to flatten down the stray hairs.

"As I was saying - no one better than me. Because you can't beat perfection." James just huffed at his friend and put an arm over his face to shield his eyes from the sun as he lay on his back, not in the mood to have this discussion again. "Whatever you say, Black," he muttered.

Sirius took offence at his dismissive tone and was quick to jump on top of James. As if he had anticipated Sirius' move, James was quick to turn it around, so he was on top of Sirius, stuffing grass in his face.