McGonagall's assignment

Thursday, September 21, 1971.

"Damn it! At this rate, we won't get the ingredients we need!" cursed Sirius, slamming his History of Magic book shut and drawing the attention of James, Lupin, and Peter.

They were currently in the Gryffindor common room doing the homework given to them by the professor and ghost: Cuthbert Binns. They were to read two whole chapters by tomorrow and had left it to the last minute.

"We must create a distraction," said James, closing his book. He would rather talk about the joke than keep reading about the soap blizzard of 1378.

"How?" asked Lupin, also closing his history of the magic book. Even Peter closed it and started to pay attention to the conversation.

"Tomorrow will be my last day of punishment and the last chance we have. I have already seen the ingredients we need. As for the distraction, I have no idea... maybe..." said James with a thoughtful look.

Intense chatter began at the table. They were the only ones awake in the common room. James looked at the empty chair where Toby was supposed to be and felt a bit sick, but after Sirius suggested creating an explosion so that Slughorn would have to leave his office, he forgot about it and continued talking.

Finally, after an hour where they discussed many ideas, they drew up a plan to follow, "Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow everything has to be perfect. It's our last chance," said James, and they all went to the dormitories.

...

Friday, September 22, 1971.

The day began like any other. The group headed to breakfast while repeating the plan in hushed tones so they wouldn't forget anything and plotting out the final details.

"Are you sure, Lupin? Will be painful.." said James.

"It's fine. I have a high pain tolerance," said Lupin without giving it much thought, and the others looked at him strangely.

"I-I've been in street fights. A simple punch won't be a big deal," said Lupin quickly as he noticed the looks on his friends' faces.

"It won't be a simple punch, it'll be a Flipendo..." said Sirius.

The plan they came up with was simple. Sirius and Lupin will head to the Potions classroom located in the dungeon, at that time the classroom is empty and is a perfect training ground.

The excuse they will give to Professor Slughorn is that they were training the Flipendo, but Sirius did not control his magic well and sent Lupin flying too far away. When Lupin is unconscious Sirius will run straight to Slughorn's office, which is near the Potions classroom.

This will make the excuse believable, as the Potions classroom is big enough to train in and once the "accident" happens, the best possible help would be Slughorn, as his office is not too far away and Sirius had visited him before.

While Slughorn takes Lupin to the infirmary, James is left alone in the office, and at that moment Peter appears. James will quickly give him the ingredients, and Peter will return to the Gryffindor common room. And the mission will be completed.

On the other hand, it is feasible that Sirius and Lupin will practice the Flipendo since Slughorn saw how James used this enchantment with prowess, and it was logical for him to teach them to his friends, which in fact he did.

Sirius and Lupin these days managed to learn the Flipendo, showing great talent, both had a good level, but Lupin was not good at acting, so he played the part of the hurt one.

"Don't worry, Madame Poppy will heal me quickly," said Lupin without giving it much importance.

After breakfast, they had their first class, History of Magic. As they had been talking about the plan, they did not read the two chapters, so they could not follow the thread of the class.

After a break, the second class began, which was Herbology with Professor Pomona Sprout. A witch with short, gray, wavy hair. Her clothes are always covered in dirt, as are her fingernails. She is also the head of the Hufflepuff house.

They were still looking at magical plants and their properties. "Moly is a very potent plant that can be ingested to counteract the effects of charms. As you can see it has a black stem and white flowers, this makes it easy to distinguish," explained Sprout.

At the end of the class, they had 1 hour free where they went to lunch. Then they went to Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall, "Student Mary Macdonald must remember the transfiguration formula. Otherwise, you will never be able to turn the match to a needle," said McGonagall, standing in front of a desk.

The class had already had several lessons looking at the subject of transfiguring a match into a needle, and by now most of the students had mastered this spell. James managed it in the first lesson. Sirius and Lily managed it in the second lesson a feat that McGonagall praised highly.

"I-I don't remember, Professor..." said Macdonald, scratching her head in embarrassment.

"We started classes three weeks ago. You better go learn the formula or you will need a miracle to pass the exam," said McGonagall disapprovingly and returning to her desk. The formula was the first thing she taught and the simplest thing of all.

"Dumb Mary," a boy scoffed under his breath as his friend tried to hold back his laughter.

Mary managed to hear this comment and blushed hiding her face in the thick transfiguration book, 'Silly, silly, I have to study,' thought Mary.

"Stop teasing," said Lily, looking at the boy with a deep frown on her face.

"That's annoying," muttered the boy, stopping teasing Mary and looking straight ahead. Everyone knew Lily Evans, one of the best first-year students and with a bad temper.

James and Sirius were at the desks in the back, not paying attention to the class. They were playing a magical card game. They had lifted both books to hide the cards so McGonagall wouldn't discover them.

However, they were both very flashy and among the best students. In James' case the best, so McGonagall looked at him every so often and noticed that he was making strange movements.

"Accio!" said McGonagall pointing her wand at James' book which flew in a few seconds into her hands exposing the letters. Everyone was surprised by the teacher's sudden action and looked toward James and Sirius, who had ugly expressions.

"Was the game fun, Potter?" asked McGonagall with a scary smile. Sirius quickly put his cards away. He didn't want the professor to pull out his book and see that he was playing too.

"Eh... it's not what it looks like..." James didn't know what to say. He never thought he would have a hard time coming up with an excuse. Besides no excuse would work on McGonagall. If it had been another professor it might have worked.

'I shouldn't have had to listen to Sirius!' thought James indignantly, although he was having a lot of fun playing cards.

"Can you tell me. What does the transfiguration formula look like?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes, professor! The desired transfiguration is directly influenced by body weight (a), viciousness (v), wand power (w), concentration (c), and a fifth unknown variable (Z)," replied James respectfully to test if this would save him from possible punishment.

"Correct. Your task is the following. You are to get student Mary Macdonald to achieve the spell used to go from match to needle. You have until Monday," ordered McGonagall.

"What? But..."

"If you don't, you'll be punished for playing cards in the middle of class. Filch needs someone to polish the trophy room. What would you prefer?" interrupted McGonagall.

"Fine... I'll help her..." said James, who would rather teach for two days to a classmate, rather than be cleaning the trophy room for a week or more.

"Oh, that's right. Also, the student Toby Copper is behind in that subject. You'll help him too," added McGonagall. Toby was about to say something, but seeing the teacher's stern expression, he kept silent.

"Well..." said James.

"I have to make it clear that if you don't complete the task, the punishment will stand, and you will clean the trophy room for a week," hearing everyone look at James with pity. It was common knowledge that Mary Macdonald and Toby Copper were the worst students in Transfiguration.

"Are there any volunteers who would like to help? If you don't make it, you won't have to go through any punishment," asked McGonagall, looking around the class. A second later, she could see a hand go up.

"Good, Lily Evans along with James Potter, will help their classmates to achieve the spell. Let's get on with the class," nodded McGonagall, giving a look of satisfaction to Lily who was a very good student and unlike James didn't get into trouble.

"Why didn't you raise your hand?" whispered James, annoyed at Sirius.

Not only did he have to teach Mary Macdonald, but he also had to put up with Lily Evans. A girl he clashed with from the very first moment, and the two of them didn't get along at all well, to say the least.

"Did you see how fast she raised her hand? It was impossible to match," Sirius defended himself, although he didn't want to spend the weekend teaching two classmates about transfiguration.

James was going to say something else to him, but he noticed McGonagall's stern gaze on him, so he shut his mouth and listened to the class intently.

'Well, I'll be able to talk to Toby...' thought James, who so far Toby had ignored them and walked away from the group.