The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

A Talent for Transfiguration

A Talent for Transfiguration

Sirius pulled off his sweater vest and was tugging loose his tie in the hallway between Charms and Transfiguration. Remus held the vest in his hands as he followed along. "What're you doing?" James asked, looking at Sirius with raised eyebrows, "Stripping in the corridors now? Is that the level of your depravity?"

"Getting a rise off McGonagall," Sirius answered, and he quickly tightened the tie up on his head like he'd done before so it trailed off down his shoulder.

Remus shook his head.

James laughed, and, imitating McGonagall's voice, said, "Mr. Black, how many times must I tell you to wear your bloody uniform to this class!?!"

Sirius snickered and took his sweater back from Remus, shoving it roughly into his bag and unbuttoning the top four or five buttons of his oxford shirt. His eyes glittered joyfully. "She'll be driven mad."

They entered the classroom to find it empty, though, and looked about in confusion - particularly when Dumbledore arrived a few moments later and closed the door behind him.

"Where's Lily?" James whispered to Sirius.

"Where's McGonagall?" whispered Sirius to James.

Sirius looked at James with wide eyes and sat forward, quickly shooting his hand into the air, worried. Dumbledore hadn't even made it to the front of the room yet, so when he turned around and found Sirius's hand up already, he said, "While it has been a very long time since I have taught a Transfiguration class myself, I can't help but be perplexed because, Mr. Black, as I remember it, questions come in reaction to a lesson."

"Where's Professor Min--McGonagall?" Sirius asked, "--sir?" he added.

"Ah yes," Dumbledore said, adjusting his glasses, "While I am sure you are all very thrilled to be privileged enough to be taught from the Headmaster of the school, it is not to be comparable to your beloved Professor Minney..." Dumbledore was looking directly at Sirius's tie with a bit of an amused expression playing the edges of his lips. "Minerva has been otherwise preoccupied this afternoon and will not be able to return until tomorrow."

"But she's okay, though, yeah?" Remus asked.

"Professor McGonagall is quite well, yes," Dumbledore replied. "No need to worry, my boy."

Dumbledore smiled, "Now. If we're quite ready, we can begin our lesson for today. I've a silver sickle for each of you here..." he pulled out a little purple coin purse from his robes.

"But we aren't all here yet," James pointed out. "Lily's missing."

Dumbledore looked about the classroom.

"She was in Charms," Remus said.

"I saw her in the corridor," Peter supplied, "She was with us until at least the stairs."

"Come to think of it, if she'd seen me taking off my uniform, she would've squawked about it," Sirius said, "She must've disappeared before we got to the transfiguration wing."

James had a sinking feeling that she'd met up with Severus Snape some place along the way and was probably snogging in some empty classroom. James turned to Dumbledore, "Can we go and find her?"

Dumbledore replied, "Miss. Evans will join us when she sees fit, I am sure." He jingled the coin purse and looked about at them. "For our lesson today -- we'll be transfiguring the sickles into hummingbirds... Now I do expect you to do a good job, seeing as this army of birds is costing me a good deal of money to see made." He walked along, handing each of them a coin.