The charms classroom was filled with a strained silence as the Seventh Year Gryffindors concentrated very hard on making themselves float without words. It was one of the trickiest charms they had ever had to master, to not only make an inanimate object float but to make oneself defy gravity was a matter for great focus. Sirius had his eyes closed tightly and was chewing his lower lip as he put every inch of his willpower into his task of raising off of the ground. He had an air of defiance around his earthborn person which he usually reserved for times when he conversed with members of his family; but now stuck up purebloods were not the (immediate) enemy but rather the forces of muggle physics were what plagued him.

"Come on," He muttered, "Come on!" He could feel his knees shaking, all his joints began to tremor, a feeling of utter weightlessness began to spread from his toes upwards- he was doing it! He was so doing it!

BANG!

The classroom door burst open and Sirius felt his bodyweight slam into him again, he lost his inch above the floor and returned to earth with an unpleasant bump in his ego.

"Sorry I'm late!" Monroe Andrews hurried into the classroom smiling apologetically at Professor Flitwick and looking extremely flushed. Her waist-length hair was even bigger than usual, her mascara was smudged dreadfully and she seemed to have forgotten her tie, "I got my foot caught in the trick stair," By the looks of one twisted sock and the broken heel on her shoe her excuse seemed extremely plausible. Professor Flitwick eyed her with uncharacteristic scepticism.

"When did you get stuck?"

"On my way to class sir," She smiled hopefully at him and limped on her one good shoe over to her desk were she went about pulling tattered books from her ink stained bag.

"This is the third time you've been late to my class in a week Miss Andrews,"

Monroe looked appropriately abashed, "I just can't get my head around trick doors and hungry staircases," She even managed to blush a little, "Where I come from things are just as they seem…"

"Miss Andrew's you have had six years to learn to hop the third stair!" Professor Flitwick reprimanded and the class watched on in interested wondering what the usually calm and even jovial professor would do, "I'm afraid it's ten points from Gryffindor and if you are late again to any of my classes it shall be detention!"

Monroe flinched at the punishment but nodded bravely like a resigned prisoner of war, "Thank you for being so lenient… it won't happen again." Although her words rang vaguely of false promises.

"Come on everybody! Back to work!" Flitwick called out happily obviously taking Monroe and her word and as a consequence back to his usual self, "By jo! Mister Lupin has done it!" And sure enough Remus was rising slowly but surely into the air. Sirius eyed him somewhat jealously knowing that he had been so very close to getting it first. "Five points to Gryffindor! Congratulations Mister Lupin!"

Sirius, his concentration well and truly gone, spent the rest of the lesson muttering to James about various things that had raised his suspicions as of late. By the end of the class James was convinced that if he heard that Monroe Andrews was 'up to something' or that Snivellus was looking 'far too smug for a greasy haired git' one more time he would surely say something regrettable. Sirius could be the most laid back person James knew and the most paranoid. James figured it must have had something to do with his family, the House of Black by nature seemed to be quite a breeding ground for suspicion and mistrust.

"Ask Lily… She's friends with Andrews isn't she? Ask her what Andrew's is up to!" Sirius insisted and James sighed wearily hoping that Sirius would return to his more pleasant blasé persona soon.

As far as James knew Lily barely associated with Monroe Andrews beyond sharing a dorm with her but he nodded and agreed simply to shut Sirius up.

"Now about Snivellus…"

"You already tried to feed him to Remus," James muttered under his breath with a cautious glance at their classmates who were flooding around them to get to the exit, "Don't you think maybe you should let up for a while?"

Sirius looked quite affronted then in a stony, offended voice replied, "Sure. I'll let up." He stopped talking to James and rather seemed to find more pleasure in teasing Pete about a non-existent bald patch he was developing, "Sure you can't see it now, but it's definitely there. You'll be completely hairless by the time we're all thirty Pete, I'm telling you now. In fact if in thirteen years you still have a full head of hair I'll give you twenty galleons!"

Pete just stared at him unhappily and replied, "I am not balding."

"Twenty galleons!"

"Fine!" They shook on it.

"James! Record it! You are the witness to our bet. In thirteen years-," Sirius was grinning happily, obviously convinced that he had just came into a lot of gold.

"- If in thirteen years Peter Pettigrew has lost all his head hair Sirius Black shall receive twenty galleons of Peter Pettigrew's funds," James finished efficiently. Betting was something the marauders often partook in to pass the hours.

"Unless, of course, we have all been sent to St. Mungo's where we probably belong and then Pete can pay me when we have access to Gringrotts-,"

"Or unless you are in Azkaban where you probably belong," Remus added pointedly and his friends laughed.

"Not me Remus," Sirius shook his head, "I'm more of a Mungo's man myself. They have better food in hospitals than prisons I'm told."

"Then you better act really, really crazy at your trial."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lily caught up with them having stayed behind to talk to Professor Flitwick about their next essay, "Who's going to prison?"

"No one," James slipped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek, "Well not yet anyway," He added with a wicked grin.

"Good." Lily nudged his hip with hers, "I can't be dating a known convict James, my sister would love it too much."

"Lily… love is about accepting people for who they are, all of who they are!" Sirius admonished and Lily and James both turned scarlet. Sirius' face became a mask of wicked glee, "Ooo look Peter, Remus! Watch what happens to their faces if you say love!… Love!" He let out a bark of laughter just before James kicked him in the shins.

"You're such an ass Padfoot."

"Ow!" Sirius scrunched his face up in pain and glared at his friend accusingly, "There was no need for that."

"What does Padfoot mean anyway?" Lily asked as her skin tone began to recover, "Do you have really squishy feet or something?"

"Naw, it's just a nickname James gave me when he developed his foot fetish-,"

"What about Prongs?" Lily asked turning to James who was staring at Sirius in horror, "Why do they call you Prongs?"

"Well," Sirius cut in before James could reply, "That's because when he was five James got a set of prongs wedged in his… well a very unpleasant area and didn't tell anyone for a whole day-,"

"That's not true!" James gasped but Lily was giggling so he let it go.

"And Moony?"

"Because he gets a sick pleasure out of flashing his rear end at workmen…"

"Wormtail?"

"It's a name in dedication to his teeny, weenie little-,"

"Lily!" Monroe Andrews was suddenly in their midst with her shoes in her hand and a pleading expression on her face, "Could you do that thing you did when I broke my Pucci mules?" She waved her broken shoes despairingly, "It's just I still can't figure out how to do it and these are my favourite school shoes,"

Lily rolled her eyes and slipped out from under James' arms taking Monroe's broken heel and waving her wand in a complicated little twist. The heel which was hanging by a mere thread from the shoe rose up and re-knitted itself perfectly, "Oh wow," Monroe grinned at her, "You're such a star," She continued walking with them, hopping along as she slid her heels back on.

"Why do you wear high heels about the castle anyway?" James asked as he dragged Lily back into his embrace as though he had been starved from her presence for an excruciatingly long time, "It's no wonder you get stuck in the trick step,"

Monroe just smiled dreamily at him, "They're so pretty and they give my legs a great length." She broke into a little clicking jog until she was in front of them all then she spun dramatically like a miniature catwalk model, "See?" The spin had caused her pleated school skirt to spin out and up flashing a lot of upper thigh and Pete looked momentarily stunned.

"Earth to Pete," Sirius snickered punching his friend teasingly on the shoulder, "No wonder you're a virgin." Pete turned scarlet but from Sirius' next words it became apparently that Pete had not been the only one affected by Monroe's innocent peepshow, "So Monroe do you have a lot of shoes?"

"Oh yes." Monroe nodded apparently completely oblivious to what had just happened. She'd been distracted by a the portrait of some drunk monks who had taken to hitting each other with their gauntlets. She reached out long, slender fingers towards the portrait and cocked her head to one side curiously, the Monks backed up pleading with her in panicked voices not to smudge them, "I like shoes, they make me taller." She removed her hand from the portrait and skipped along beside her housemates again.

Unperturbed by this strange comment Sirius persisted and the other marauders and Lily fought to keep down grins, "Maybe you could show me them sometime?"

"Why?" She did another little spin although this one was less catwalk and more prima ballerina. She giggled disconcertedly.

"I like shoes…" She obviously wasn't the best at reading between the lines.

"Oh I'm only a four Sirius mine wouldn't fit you," She sounded genuinely upset then for a reason apparent to only herself she stopped still, "Oh wow!" She gasped with a newfound smile, "I'm late!"

"For what?" Sirius asked mirroring everyone else's confused expressions and Lily was unable to contain her giggles.

"Oh… Quiddich practise," Monroe replied absently then she wandered off, swaying slightly in her too high shoes.

"… She's not on the team," James told Sirius who was looking downright bewildered, "I would know if she was... Being captain and that… she must be-,"

"She's high." Lily explained still laughing slightly, "She's mostly always high. She's either high or she's a real bitch. I would report her but I have to live with her and she's definitely more companionable when she's off her face."

The Marauders all gaped at her with identical stunned expressions, "How does she get away with that?" James asked finally and Lily shrugged.

"She's just one of those people who gets away with everything. She can't even do magic half the time and yet she's here."

"Well where is she going now then?" Sirius still look vaguely intrigued and Lily shrugged.

"Who knows? She's always disappearing off places. She's probably gone to some hidey hole she's discovered where she can do pot without anyone finding her." Lily was rubbing her head girl badge and looking troubled, "I've tried talking to her but she doesn't listen and she's nice enough, I really don't want to be the reasons she's expelled."

"There's no point telling," Sirius agreed, "You think she could get us some?"

"Don't me stupid." Lily snapped, "If I ever get a whiff of drugs from you Black I will tell!"

"But-!"

"No buts. I will not sit back and let you melt your brain away until you can't even fix a shoe."

"She's right," Remus nodded, "There's no point."

"Fine." Sirius rolled his eyes, "I never pictured myself budding about with such a bunch of goodie-goodies!"

"Well excuse me if I'm not cool enough to rot my brain." Lily sniffed haughtily and Sirius smiled at her apologetically.

"It's Ok Evans," He insisted pleasantly, "I don't care if you're a loser as long as you keep my little love-struck Jimmy happy- See look at their faces! This is so good!"