Classroom desks were actually pretty comfortable after awhile. You got used to it. At least that’s what James Potter thought when he was half asleep. Muggle Studies was a boring class: there was nothing to do but sleep.
The only reason he took it was because a certain Lily Evans took it as well. Normally, he would stare at Lily, drooling a little. Actually, make that a lot.
But today, Lily Evans was taking a sadistic pleasure in coming early to class and taking a seat right at the front. He of course had arrived five minutes late, as was his custom. He had also been forced to take a seat at the very back where a view of Lily was not possible.
And she had done it all on purpose. He knew when he had come into the classroom and seen her satisfied smirk. Didn’t she know she was depriving him? Without Lily-watching to occupy him, he would die of boredom!
So James passed the time with sleep. He was having a good dream…
He and Lily were in a random rainforesty place somewhere, and they were sitting very close together… suddenly, Lily looked up at him and said in a really sexy voice,
“James Potter! Will you pay attention?”
“Huh – wha–?” He woke with a start to see a greatly annoyed Professor Stilton standing over him.
“Thank you for coming back to earth, Mr. Potter. You might want to hear this. As I was saying before, the seventh year Muggle Studies class will be going on a camping trip.”
“Where are we going?” asked a girl from Hufflepuff, looking excited. “Hawaii? The weather there is lovely!”
The Professor looked irritated. “Miss Fletchley, if you would let me finish, I was about to tell you where we are going. We are going on a camping trip to Australia, where I have heard, the weather is quite nice this time of year.”
There were more than a few groans at the prospect of going to Australia.
Australia? thought James, somewhat disappointedly. A parched desert infested with deadly poisonous snakes and those bloody rangakoos or whatever jumping about the place? Why couldn’t we go someplace inhabitable like France or somewhere?
Only a few people looked happy, Lily and Remus amongst them. Well, James couldn’t see if Lily looked happy or not, but according to a note from Remus, she did.
After the initial shock, a few people asked questions about when they were going (“Coming Monday morning, so I advise you to pack on the weekend.”), how long they were going to go (“Four weeks, Mr. Longbottom, we’ll be coming back on a Friday.”) and if it would be as cold as it was in Scotland right now (“No, it’s almost summer there, Miss Heraud-Andrews, it’s in the Southern Hemisphere!”).
“This is a camp run by the WOEG, so you will need to pack according to a list I will give each of you a copy of at the end of the lesson.” Just then, the bell rang loudly. “Class dismissed!”
There was a flurry of movement and sound as everyone rushed to pack up their things and grab a list of the things they needed to bring on the camp.
James shoved it into his bag, thinking that he would look at it later.
*
Clothing
3 – 4thin jumpers (wool or fleece) (“What do you get when you cross a sheep and a rangakoo?” “Dunno, Padfoot, what do you get?” “Woolly jumpers, ha, sheep, wool, rangakoo, jump, woolly jumpers, get it?” “Not funny, Padfoot.”)
3 pair of long pants
4 pairs of shorts
3 shirts (long sleeves are good)
3 short-sleeved shirts
6 pairs of thick socks
7 pairs of underwear (“Seven??? I only need one pair for a week!” “Padfoot, there’s a thing called hygiene, you know?” “Huh? Who’s Jeanne?”)
2 towels
1 pair of shoes for water activities (“Oooh…what kind of water activities? Skinny-dipping? I’m IN!” “You have a sick, sick mind, Padfoot.” “Thank you, thank you very much.”)
1 pair of good walking shoes for hiking
Equipment
1 sleeping bag (with cover)
1 lightweight torch with batteries and spare globe (“What the heck is a torch?” “Dunno, Prongs, maybe it’s like a fork.” “Padfoot, why would a torch be like a fork?” “You know, because they sound similar. Torch, fork, fork, torch, see?” “That is the most twisted logic I’ve ever heard. I think I’ll just ask Moony instead.” “Hmph.”)
Sharp knife for cutting (“Ooh, careful, Prongs, no knowing what damage Lily could do with one of those!”)
Cleaning kit: 4 small sponges, 1 steel wool scourer (“So Scouring Charms are not fashionable now, Prongs?” “Padfoot, you idiot, it’s a Muggle camping trip! We don’t use magic!” “Oh.”)
6 large rubbish bags (“Do they want us to clean up Australia or something, Padfoot?” “Nah, just to pick up koala poop.” “Oh, great.”)
10 large snaplock or ziplock plastic bags (“Snap what?” “Ginger snap?” “Can’t you think of anything else but food?” “Um…”)
Whistle on cord (“What do we need one of those for, Prongs? I can whistle at girls fine without a whistle!”)
Plastic bowl, plate, mug, fork, spoon
1 tea towel
Trail mix (nuts, dried fruit, sweets, chocolate no wrapped food) (“What, no wraps? I like chicken wraps! Chicken wraps are good.” “Padfoot, I think they mean food with wrappers, you know, plastic wrappers?” “…”)
3L water bottles (“I have one of these, but I don’t really use it for water, if you catch my drift…” “Padfoot! I THOUGHT I KEPT THAT STASH OF FIREWHISKEY HIDDEN!”)
Health and Hygeine
Any personal medication: e.g. Asthma puffer, iron tablets, etc.
Feminine Hygeine products (“What. The. Hell??!!” “Oh no, Prongs, they found out about you – ow! Hey, what was that for??”)
2 packets of wet wipes (“Is that really what it sounds like?” “I hope not, Prongs, who knows how those wipes got wet and what they wiped.”)
4 toilet rolls (“Geez, don’t they even have toilet paper in Australia? We even have to bring our own toilet paper.”)
Sunscreen
Insect Repellent
Personal First-Aid Kit (bandaids, roller bandage, stripping tape, cotton gauze bandage) (“Stripping tape?” “Get your mind out of the gutter, Padfoot!”)
“So.”
“Right.”
“Yeah.”
“Camping trip.”
“Uh-huh.”
“D’you want to pack, Padfoot?”
“Yeah, just make sure you don’t forget your feminine hygiene prod – ouch, hey, that hurt!”
*
Lily Evans was excited.
Very excited.
Very, very excited.
Very, very, very excited.
Very, very, very, very excited.
Very, very – well, you get the point.
She was going to go on a camping trip again! The last time she had gone camping was in primary school on a few school camps.
She had always enjoyed herself immensely but hadn’t had a chance to go camping again until now. She had packed everything on the Friday that they had gotten the list and was happy and hyper the whole weekend.
On Sunday night, she had been in such a good mood with camp approaching so fast that when James Potter asked her out as per usual, she had actually said no politely and smiled and gave him a hug and gone back to her dormitory, hugging everyone on the way.
If Lily Evans could hug James Potter after he had asked her out for the umpteenth time, then it meant that she was very, very, very, very excited about camp.
Or on drugs. Or something.
*
LILY EVANS JUST HUGGED ME!!!
Well, not just. She had hugged him last night. James was over the moon about the hug he had received as well as the smile and the polite no. Though he would have preferred a yes, it was better than being yelled at.
At the present time, the entire seventh year Muggle Studies class was in the classroom with their bags. Everyone was dressed in Muggle clothing and some girls had taken the opportunity to wear extremely impractical halter tops and miniskirts.
Lily somewhat to James’ disappointment was wearing a pair of denim shorts and a blue polo shirt. She still looked adorable though. Her hair was in pigtails with a few shorter bits of vivid hair at the front pushed behind her ears. Somehow, the pigtails she was wearing seemed to accentuate her freckles more. She looked extremely cute.
James was wearing a pair of black cargo pants and a black shirt with a blue jumper over it. He was wearing a pair of Quidditch-worn sneakers but had also packed hiking boots in his bag.
“Padfoot, do you-?” James looked around, but he was talking to a Padfoot-less space. Sirius was already busy chatting up some girls on the other side of the room. James noticed that Emma Heraud-Andrews was amongst them and shuddered slightly.
Emma wore the same slutty clothes as some of the girls there, but had also dyed her hair so that it had gone from dark brown to blonde. If that wasn’t bad enough, she had fake tan all over her, covering her legs, arms and even her face. She had neglected to put any on her neck and you could see un-fake-tanned bits of skin by her hairline. Think of a roadworking type of witches’ hat. One word. Orange.
At the moment, she was giggling and smiling at Sirius in a way that made James want to throw up. Then he heard a similar laugh from his left. He looked around.
Lily had charmed her skin a bright, fluorescent orange and was giggling in an imitation of Emma Heraud-Andrews. Her friend, Leah Colfer was pretending to be Sirius and not doing very well because she couldn’t control the giggles that kept coming.
Leah was saying in a deep voice that was meant to be Sirius, “Did it hurt? When you fell from heaven, I mean.”
Lily gave a shrill giggle and said in an unnaturally high voice (which, come to think of it, did sound like Emma’s voice), “Oh, Siri! That so totally is like the sweetest compliment I’ve ever, like, rec- revis- resieve- well, like, been given!”
James couldn’t help it, he laughed out loud. “Is he really that bad?” he asked, walking over to them.
Lily and Leah exchanged a look. Then burst out laughing.
“Ohhhkay, I’ll take that as a yes.”
Lily brushed a lock of dark red hair behind her ear, then said, “Honestly, that is what he’s like most of the time. But we weren’t making fun of him so much as the… um… tanned one.”
Leah grinned and muttered, “Coughorangecough.”
James smiled back. “Do we really have to act like Muggles through the whole trip? Because the only experience I have is scrubbing the dungeons in detention.”
It was Leah who answered, “Yeah, I think so. I heard something about them going to enchant our wands so that we can only use them in emergencies.”
James was about to reply when there was a stream of purple sparks from the front of the room. Professor Stilton was holding her wand up and waiting for silence.
When it eventually fell, she lowered her wand and said briskly, “Thank you. We are going to be taking a Muggle aeroplane there and before we start, I would like to tell you the groups you will be in for camp. You may or may not be with your friends, but there is no changing groups. If you are not with your friends, well, maybe you’ll make some new ones.”
There was a bit of worried whispering and everyone instinctively moved closer to their friends. James found the rest of the Marauders and stood with them. Leah gripped Lily’s arm.
“Now I shall read out your groups. Group A: Lucius Malfoy, Evan Rosier, Angus Crabbe, Ferdinand Goyle, Narcissa Black, Roldolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Black, Perman Juilten, Reginald Yotkler and Alferion Mahler. Please stand to the side.”
All of them looked relatively happy with their group, seeing as how they were all in Slytherin.
“Group B: Daniel Rotcliffe, Rupert Grot, Emma Rotson, Matthew Lewe, Bonnie Wrong, Charmine Dingbat, Bill Pearse, Viola Robinsdaughter, Stella Huggin and Ellen Keen.” A few whoops were heard from the Hufflepuff side of the classroom – all of the group was from Hufflepuff.
“Group C: Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snape, Amelia Bear-Smithy, Emma Heraud-Andrews-”
At this point, Lily was not very happy, to say the least.
“-Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Frank Longbottom-”
Well, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. At least she was friends with Remus and Frank.
“Jessica McDermott, Hannah Machete-”
“It’s Ma-ci-ot-TA,” Hannah corrected angrily. The other two oranges were also in the group. Great.
“-Whatever, Leah Colfer-”
Leah, looking faint with relief, went over to where Lily and the rest of the group was standing. Lily was so happy that she had her best friend in her group that she didn’t hear when Professor Stilton finished the list with, “…and James Potter.”
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