34 DADA

"Let me tell you, Ive never been as creeped out as when James went all political," Sirius said. "Reminded me of Cissy."

Remus raised an eyebrow and Peter snickered.

"Then you kicked him on the bum? Told you your cousin has a nice arse, you were just lying to yourself," Peter said.

James laughed and felt Sirius smack his forehead into the back of James's.

"Only I can joke about my cousins arse," Sirius said.

"Black Family tradition?" Remus prodded.

"Of course. I got first dibs on her."

They all gagged at the thought, even Sirius.

After lunch Sirius had decided that both he and James had eaten way too much. So to ease Sirius's full stomach and for James to "lose some weight" Sirius hopped on James's back for a piggy back ride.

Of course James tried to throw him off, but the other boy clung to him like a monkey to a tree.

Thank Remus for a helpful Featherlight Charm when James couldn't take him up the stairs.

"But if you really talked to your parents about setting up an orphanage thats great. Its not just Malcolm… plenty of muggleborn's don't have the best home life due to muggle ideas on magic," Remus said.

"Ah Jamsie finally putting on his big boy Lord shoes," Peter said dramatically, pretending to fall.

Remus nearly fell himself trying to catch Peter, and glared at him when he realized it had been a ruse.

"It will probably be tough to put into action quickly though," Remus continued, eyes still narrowed at Peter who waved with his fingers. "I don't know the exact legal things they need to do to set it up in the Magical World, but the Ministry is always slow for new ideas."

James nodded, accidentally bumping his head against Sirius's again.

"Ow! Watch it mophead!"

James pretended to drop Sirius from his piggy back ride and Sirius tightened his grip almost crushing James's ribs.

"Yeah, but it'll go quicker if they don't ask for any Ministry money, that's what Impedementia's most things."

They entered the DADA room. Most of it was already filled with the Gryffindors and Slytherins. The Slythersins saw James carrying Sirius and sneered at them. Ew, friends being cuddly with one another, gross, let's all act like cold, dissociative gits instead, that's so much more fun. Meanwhile the Gryffindors looked at them with amusement. A pang of worry went through James's chest when he saw the usually filled seat of Lily Evans empty. Like with all their classes with Slytherin Lily sat next to Snape.

The greasy haired boy in question looked at James with his dark angry eyes. Snape was never fond of any nail that stuck out, and most of the time the Marauders were barely poking into the wood they stuck out so much.

James deposited Sirius onto his seat, who groaned dramatically as his back hit the top of the chair at an odd angle.

"AY! Damnit James, can't you treat a lad with some gentleness?"

"I can be gentle, remember Halloween third-year?"

"Yeah yeah, it was really big and pointy so you had to go slow."

Remus snorted loudly and whispers broke out. James saw Mary's eyes widen in what seemed to be glee and a blush covered her face. Dorcas who sat next to her pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Please stop saying things like that," James said to Sirius.

"No no, please, go ahead. Tell us about the big thing that made you take it slow," Peter announced loudly.

James glared at Peter as they all sat down. Sirius still rubbing his back looked up at the watching class with a shit eating grin.

"Well it was stuck in my arse so he had to hold me down to keep me from squirming. Embarrassing as hell when Remus walked in to see us."

James thought Mary was breathing heavily, and she wasn't the only one. Some of the Slytherin girls had deep blushes covering their faces and a dreamy expression plastered on.

"You do realize this is why the entire school thinks you two are together," Remus said, hiding his own embarrassed blush.

"Nothing wrong with two lads goofing off in their dorm together," Peter said. "We're entering a new age. Let them explore it together."

"He's right James, how deep down the hole do you want to go?" Sirius said, purposefully leaving out the "rabbit" in his simile.

"As eye opening as listening to you two regale the class about buggering each other on Halloween, we have class," a high pitched accented voice said.

"We didn't bugger each other Prof!" James exclaimed. "What happened was that Sirius found this-"

"No lurid details in class Potter."

"Professor Barbier!"

A small woman stood in the entrance to her office. She was Dorcas's height, as in she never heard of drinking milk as a child short, and she was thin, almost waifish.

That was where the idea of helplessness and innocence stopped though.

Her hair was sandy blonde with streaks of gray, falling down to her neck. Her face was pretty, at least half of it was. Large brown eyes with crows feet and laugh lines, a pouty lipped smile on her small face. The other half was horribly scarred though. It was as if a burning claw had peeled off that side of her face. Bone and muscle were exposed by an extremely thin layer of skin stretched over her. Her other eye was a magical prosthetic, pure black and held in place by a rune covered leather strap.

The first day of class she had come in wearing a mask over that side, and had let them put it to a vote whether they were okay seeing it. She did the same with fourth and third-years, but first and second only saw her with the mask and her older students didn't get the chance to vote, her just starting with it off.

She was a French witch that was a veteran of Grindelwalds war, apparently the scar coming from the Dark Lord himself.

"Moving on, I was planning on starting Dueling-"

The door to the class burst open and Lily Evans stood there panting.

"Sorry I'm late," she said quickly before moving to her usual seat next to Snape.

"I thought you had the day off Miss Evans?" Professor Barbier said.

"Woke up, couldn't get back to sleep. Is that alright?" Lily asked, still breathing heavily from her exertions.

She still looked like shite. Better rested sure, but the bags under her eyes were still there and her face was paler than usual, her freckles standing out like a reverse starry sky.

The worst though was her eyes. The green orbs were dull with exhaustion and pain.

"She had a nightmare," Remus muttered, so quietly James barely heard him from a desk over.

"Yeah," Peter said back.

James bit his lip, holding back from calling out to her, but he gazed at her waiting for her to look at him. She didn't; she took out her things from her school bag, placing Hermione's purse protectively in her lap. She spoke with Snape, who leaned over worriedly, placing a hand on her forehead and doing some other things James guessed were to test to see if she was sick.

Or the git just wanted to touch his crush. James glared at Snape. Regardless of him trying to treat the other boy better, that didn't mean he was happy watching the boy get all touchy with Lily.

"Today we will be going over combat, namely Dueling against another wizard. I was going to wait until next week to begin, but with everything that happened now is a good a time as any. Now, can anyone tell me why we call magical combat dueling?"

Lily, despite looking half-dead, had her hand shot into the air. Remus, Dorcas and a few others did as well, but of the Slytherins only Snape raised his hand.

"Mister Snape?"

"Dueling has been around for thousands of years, the name implies a one on one confrontation between two witches or wizards. However back when magicals still fought in muggle wars it was also used to describe any conflict that was purely between witches and wizards. The reason for that is the difference in typical spells used between war and Dueling."

Professor Barbier nodded.

"Yes, since the Statute came into place Magicals have done less and less large scale wars. Gindelwald's war being the exception. The reason for that is in muggle wars it rarely came down to just magicals against magicals, and due to our lower population we were more prized alive rather than dead. If too many true wars break out within the magical community it could wipe our people away. When we were in muggle wars we used Army Killing Spells. Things like large scale Transfigurations, Curses that spread from soldier to soldier. In Dueling its easier to cast a simple Expelliarmus and take away their ability to cast. Its why Duelists in the circuit focus on Charms rather than Transfiguration, despite Transfiguration spells being harder to block and counter. Charms are faster and affect opponents directly. Alright, no books, everyone stand."

They all stood and Professor Barbier waved her wand, having the desks and chairs moved away.

"We have gone over the Shield Charm, and despite most of you being unable to cast it, some have surprised me. However today we will not be using it at all, in fact today we will only be using a single spell. The Stinging Jinx. Can anyone guess as to why?"

"Cause you're a sadist?" Sirius joked.

"Because you want us to learn to move around," Lily said, shooting the Marauders a glare.

"Yes to both," Professor Barbier said pleasantly.

The Marauders laughed, and Lily blushed in embarrassment.

James kicked Sirius in the foot.

"What was that for?" Sirius said, hopping up and down.

"Nothing."

"Wha-" Sirius began, then pulled his leg back.

"OW!" James said, hopping up and down from Sirius's own kick.

"What the hell!"

"Oh it was nothing, don't worry about it," Sirius said snootily, looking down his nose at James.

"Okay enough playing around. Each of you pair off with someone and begin."

Lily raised her hand.

"Yes Miss Evans."

"Are we taking turns?"

Professor Barbier smiled, the taught skin of her scarred face pulling and warping into grotesque folds.

"No. You may only use Stinging Jinxes on your opponent, but you can move around as much as you need, even using others to block your attacks."

Lily definitely didn't look happy about that, and she wasn't the only one. The less talented DADA students shuffled in perturbed silence, looking around. Some of the Slytherins looked at the Gryffindors with glee, and James saw a few of the Gryffindors do the same to the Slytherins. Sirius and Dorcas chief amongst them.

"Go," the professor ordered.

—

It was chaos James rolled behind a desk someone had thrown over and felt the thuds as Sirius's as well as some others's Stinging Jinxes landed.

"Come out Jamsie!!! I have come to end the Potter- OW! Oi Franklin!."

"Sorry Sirius! I did- OW!"

James bent over the desk firing off five Stinging Jinxes back at Sirius. The wand-movement was a simple flick in the direction you wanted to send the jinx. Not that he needed the wand movement anymore. Still he used it to help increase the accuracy slightly.

"Aculo Aculo Aculo Aculo Aculo." James said.

Sirius got hit with three before he was able to get out of the way, using Marlene as cover.

"AAAH. Fuck James! Why-"

"Five points from Gryffindor Mister Black- Mulciber! This is your second warning one more time and I'll let the class use you as a training dummy!" Professor Barbier shouted out over the chaos.

A Slytherin dove behind cover next to James, it was one of the quiet ones James didn't know.

The girl was wide eyed, clutching her wand close to herself and breathing heavily. She looked at James in fear, as if he would starting jinxing her too. He probably had before.

"Nice weather," James grinned, then ducked a stray Stinging Jinx.

"Um, yeah- Ah!"

A barrage of Stinging Jinxes from Sirius battered the desk and the girl quivered in fear.

"I'll let you keep the cover," James said looking over the edge of the desk. "Merlin knows Sirius would just continue battering away. See ya."

James didn't wait for a response and dove around, using Mulciber as cover from Sirius's relentless attack.

"Ah, fuck off Potter!" Mulciber snarled, turning his wand on James before looking back at the teacher and running off, dodging Avery's jinxes.

"Five points from Slytherin Mister Mulciber," the teacher called.

James looked for Sirius but couldn't see him. He spotted Remus weaving through other students looking for Peter, who James had only seen once since the start of the chaos. He spotted Dorcas, a bored look on her face as she lazily attacked Marlene, who couldn't keep up.

Then he saw Lily and Snape. Lily looked like she was trying her best, the jinxes good, accurate, and damn strong, but Snape moved nimbly around them, a hesitant look on his face, half-heartedly sending some back at her.

That only seemed to piss of the tired red-head.

"Aculo!"

"Ah bugger!" James yelped, one hand on his rear as he turned to see a grinning Sirius dart behind a group of Slytherins.

Like that would stop James from firing at him.

James cleared a path through the Slytherins, them scurrying away with yelps and curses.

"Potter! You're cutting it close there!" Professor Barbier called.

"I'm looking for him! Not my fault they're in the way!" James said, jumping away from between two opponents.

He saw Sirius running and started to fire off rapidly. Sirius was quick, and was able to step out of the way of each until he found another human shield.

"Aculo Aculo Aculo A- ah shit."

Snape glared at him, rubbing his shoulder where James had hit him. Sirius poked his head out from behind Snape, a vicious grin on his face.

"Aculo!" Sirius called over Snapes shoulder.

James dodged and weaved Sirius's onslaught. Snape whipped his wand at Sirius casting his own Stinging Jinxes and causing the other boy to glare at Snape and fire back.

"Snape, Black! First warning!" the professor called.

Snape and Sirius glared at one another, and Sirius sent him another Jinx.

"Second warning Black! Another one and you'll be hanging by the rafters!"

Sirius smirked at Snape then sent a Stinging Jinx at James who had just been standing there awkwardly.

Thankful for the reprieve James fired back, that was until Sirius found his next hidey person. Lily.

"Oi Siri!" James yelled.

"The professor said we can use any cover!" Sirius sang back. "And I just snagged the best one!"

James looked at Lily, who was still obviously exhausted from her lack of sleep.

He was reminded of his conversation with Frank, the one he had hidden from the snooping Lily. If his idea worked it could be the key, or at least a factor, in him gaining enough political power to help in the fight against Voldemort. He just hoped Lily would agree.

If James was being honest with himself, he was still miffed with Lily from the Astronomy Tower, and for the first time since he started to day-dream about Lily, hesitant in the idea of a relationship with her.

Was that what their marriage had been in the future? Lily constantly telling off James for having fun? Would James have been so enamored with the girl he had a crush on for years that he would just roll over and do whatever she asked? Even if it meant he was miserable most of the time?

He was jolted away from his spiraling thoughts when Sirius smacked him with a few more Stinging Jinxes.

"Oi!" James hollered, raising his wand, but Sirius was still behind Lily, who had a very annoyed expression on her face as her eyes flickered from Sirius to James.

"Come on Jamie, hit her with something!" Sirius called jovially.

Lily locked eyes with James, her tired green eyes conveying her message, helped along by a sly smirk.

Merlin those eyes and that smirk should be illegal. Actually no it shouldn't, then he'd see it less.

"Aculo," Lily said, pointing her wand behind her, the wooden stick hidden in the crook of her elbow.

"Ah!" Sirius yelped, jumping on one foot because Lily hit the other one.

Lily dove to the side and James lit Sirius up with jinxes, using his summers practice to aim them perfectly.

"Evans! Well, its the end of class anyways. Stop stop stop!" Professor Barbier yelled, a bang shooting off of her wand to get everyone's attention. "Good job, everyone I- Merlin Potter, did you have to make him look like a troll?"

James had hit both of Sirius's lips, making them swell to comically large sizes followed by his ears that now looked like two warped fleshy balls each the size of a grapefruit.

"Well at least he still has nice hair," Lily said.

Professor Barbier smirked. "True enough, a troll with shampoo then."

"Amb domioer," Sirius said, swollen lips moving awkwardly.

"What?" The professor asked.

"He said and conditioner," James supplied.

"I'm surprised to knew what he was saying. I guess you two do know eachother intimately well," the professor joked.

"I did not bugger Sirius!" James exclaimed to the professor, and the listening class.

"What?" Lily said, a blush and look of confusion on her face.

Snape smirked and leaned down to whisper in her ear, and a moment later she burst out in giggles, smacking Snape lightly on the arm.

James blushed himself, Merlin, who knew how Snape had twisted their earlier conversation to sound- actually their earlier conversation sounded bad enough on its own. But James didn't bugger Sirius! It had been-

"Okay, who didn't get his during class?"

For a moment no one spoke, then a familiar high pitched voice squeeked out.

"I-I didn't Professor," Peter said, walking from around a desk he had been hiding behind, half-raised, as if he didn't want people to see it.

The professor nodded.

"Yup, congratulations Mister Pettigrew, you are the only survivor."

Peter, whose expression had lit up at the first part, began to sweat at the second.

"If this had been some grand melee, where instead of Stinging Jinxes it was Killing Curses and the like all of you would be dead."

"Maybe that's because his "opponent" wasn't actually trying to hit him," Mulciber snarked.

"He was, and even if he wasn't, he still didn't get hit by any stray jinxes. That's more than I can say for the rest of you. Group battles are chaotic affairs, when there are more than half a dozen fighters you're just as likely to get hit by an ally than an enemy if you aren't careful. Now, come line up and I can help you all with that swelling, Black you first, and I thought I was hard to look at."

The three Marauders burst out laughing, and Sirius stomped over to the professor, practically demanding to be fixed.

-

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