The first class they had at Hogwarts was Transfiguration, with the stern Professor McGonagall. Sirius and James of course sat together. Remus slid into a seat at the table behind them. Lily came into the classroom and looked for a spare seat. She walked past James and Sirius and stopped just in front of Remus.
“May I sit here?” Lily asked.
Remus smiled. “Sure.”
“Thanks.” Lily put her books down on the table in an orderly stack and put her bookbag on the floor before gently sitting down on the empty stool. Once she sat down, she smoothed out the creases in her robe. Obviously, this girl was organized. Lily placed her hands in her lap and looked up at McGonagall, the picture of attentiveness.
“You will transfigure a match into a needle for your first assignment.” McGonagall announced, as she began passing out the matches.
“What’s this do?” Sirius muttered.
“It starts fires.” Lily replied, having heard him.
Sirius whirled around on his stool. “Really? Now pray tell, how does it do that?”
“It’s striked.”
“James, did ya’ hear that?” Sirius turned to James, his eyes glittering.
Without waiting for an answer, Sirius struck the match on the wooden table. Instantly, a bright, orange flame burst from its end. Sirius was so surprised he dropped it…right in James’ lap. He shouted and jumped up, knocking his stool to the floor and the match on top of Sirius’ open bookbag. James’ robes were starting to burn however.
McGonagall, alerted by the shout, began to hurry over.
A flame burst forth from Sirius’ bookbag…then a spray of water hit it, putting it out. A spray of water also hit James’ ignited robes. McGonagall looked at the scene with a frown on her face.
James was standing up, shaking his barely smoldering robes. Lily was also standing, but she had her wand raised; she had cast the charm, which put out the fire. Remus looked startled, and Sirius looked vaguely surprised.
“Professor, our match ignited.” Sirius explained, giving her his most innocent look.
“I’m sure.” McGonagall replied. She looked the four over, knowing that wasn’t exactly what happened, but she had no proof on which to assign a detention. “Miss Evans, were you the one who cast the Hosing Charm?”
Lily nodded. “Yes, I did Professor. His robes and his bookbag were on fire so I cast it.”
McGonagall actually smiled at her. “Quick thinking. You have just earned Gryffindor ten points.”
Lily smiled as well and sat back onto her stool, once again smoothing out the creases in her robes.
McGonagall gave Sirius another match to use, and walked back to the front of the class. James sat back down, and Sirius turned around and gawked at her.
“What?” Lily asked.
“McGonagall smiled at you! I heard she never smiles!”
“That’s ridiculous. People smile all the time.”
“And she gave you ten house points!”
“House what?”
“House points! By doing good things and bringing pride to your house, Gryffindor in our case, you get points.”
“And by doing bad things and brining shame to your house, you lose points.” James added, grinning at Sirius. “Siri, you’ll be doing a lot of that, eh?”
“So will you, my dear compadre.” Sirius replied, grinning back.
“Touché.”
“So what happens to the house with the most points?” Lily interrupted.
“That house wins the house cup at the end of the year. It’s supposed to be really prestigious.” James answered.
“Oh.” There was so much about this school she needed to learn.
“Didn’t you hear McGonagall explain all that yesterday?” James questioned.
“No, uh, I think I was too nervous to really listen.” She blushed, and had a look in her eyes similar to guilt. “I won’t do that again.”
“What? Be nervous?” Sirius asked, giving her a lopsided grin.
“No. Not listen.” She didn’t seem to notice that Sirius was only teasing her. “I don’t usually not pay attention, it was just my faux pas.”
“Huh?”
“My mistake.” Lily explained.
“Oh. Well you don’t need to beat yourself up about it or anything. I didn’t hear a thing she said to us yesterday, either.”
“That’s because you, my dear friend,” James cut in. “Are a delinquent who never pays attention to anything a teacher says.”
“Oh I pay attention when they say something interesting. Which is never.”
Lily shook her head and turned her attention back to her match.
A few minutes later, there was a cry of triumph from James and Sirius’ table. James had successfully transfigured his match into a needle. He was the first person in the entire class to do it, and McGonagall awarded him with ten points for Gryffindor and a quick smile.
Sirius successfully transfigured his match about ten minutes after James, and Lily, letting out a cry of triumph herself, successfully transfigured her match five minutes after Sirius. A few minutes before the end of class, Remus successfully transfigured his match into a needle. McGonagall praised the class, saying she never had so many students successfully transfigure on the first day of class. She awarded Gryffindor house twenty more points, since all four students were from that house.
“Did you see the look on the Slytherins’ faces?” Sirius laughed as they left the room. “They were so pissed!”
“With good reason. I didn’t see any Slytherins transfigure their match!” James replied.
“And between the four of us, we got Gryffindor thirty points!”
“Now it’s time to make some mischief and lose the thirty points.”
“I like the way your mind works, Jamsie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Sirius just laughed and bounded down the hall.