She was to her seat and relaxing when she heard, "Miss Newport, you have missed something"
"What? The weight thing? I put something there"
"No, you didn't fully answer my question on pets. I asked, Have you any pets? And you just wrote, and I quote, 'Oh wow. I live on a freaking animal sanctuary'" The old gentleman coughed, giving her one of those looks that only teachers can do. Julie scoffed, "Well it's the truth! I do live on a freaking animal sanctuary"
A few kids snickered at this, and the teacher spoke again, "Then what creatures do you have in this sanctuary"
"Don't get her started! Please, professor, the one thing I beg of you all year, is that you don't get her started on her animals," Sirius Black managed to say this with both a pleading and joking tone.
"That's quite all right Mr. Black! Let's hear it then, Miss Newport!" the old man said this jovially.
Julie (along with a good deal of others who had heard this rant before) took a deep breath and then sighed, "Alright. I live on the Newport Sanctuary, my dad's great grand mum started this place, and there's a lot of land. Tons and tons of trees, lots of empty space, and then a pretty big and deep lake. Far from the muggles too. As for the things living there, there's my mum and dad and my siblings, Mandy, Abby, Jacob, Andy, Farren, and June. They're all younger than me. Then for the other things… We have, practically, forests of bramble that Augureys live in (they're like phoenix, only Irish), then there's the Bowtruckles, Centaurs (one of them is pretty nice, he's a dapple, but the others are territorial), one Crup named Jack (he doesn't like my mother much, she's a squib), three Diricawls (flightless birds), a flock of Fwoopers (that's where I get all my quills), and they're all kinds of colors," Julie took a breath, then continued, "We also have a ghoul living in the old guest rooms bathroom, and a Griffin who lives in the back of the sanctuary, he can be nasty but my dad has managed to befriend him (that's why he runs this place), there are also Grindylows like none other (I have the stings to show it), and I'd say around fourteen Hippogriffs," Julie paused again. She grinned and continued when she saw her Professor with a contorted face of disbelief. "Then we have the Jarveys, they don't shut up by the way, and the Jobberknolls are one of my favorites. One died last week, made the most awful noises, Y'know that's just like them though. Don't make a peep until they die. Now where am I…? Oh, yes. I go in alphabetical order, sir, so I don't get lost. We have a Kneazle named Jody; she lives in the house with us. Then there are a bunch of Mokes every which way, and sometimes on full moons a couple Mooncalves come out to dance, then we have a few Nifflers. Nifflers are a mess, never get one. They keep what they find to themselves sometimes too. Then we have my phoenix, yes mine, named Fawkes, he's beautiful. Then there are Plimpys and Puffskeins, the Puffskeins are my sisters' favorites. The Ramora are beautiful, and my dad got a license recently to get a bunch of Snigets, and James, that's why you aren't allowed at my house anymore. Sorry, mate," James grinned at this, "Then we have a herd of unicorns, and lastly, the winged horses. We have two Abraxan (giant palominos), many Aethonan (chestnut), many Granian (Grey and fast), and we have one Thestral." Julie leaned back in her chair with a grin. "That answer your question, Professor"
The old man stuttered a bit before finally muttering a quick 'yes'. He muttered to himself a few more seconds, and then finished with, "You may go now. All of you."
Once out of the classroom, Sirius caught up with Julie, alone for once from his friends, "Got us out fifteen minutes early. That's a new record, right?" Julie turned to face him, walking backwards down the changing staircases (a feat she was proud of), and reminded him, "No, remember in Slughorn first year? I had half those animals then, and he still freaked out and let us out ten minutes into a double class period"
Sirius flipped his hair out of his face in the way that was somehow not totally girly, and muttered, "Bloody awful professor, Slughorn. I remember when you tried it on Dumbledore. That was bloody amazing"
Julie grinned, "Yeah, even with you egging him on to make me stop, he still listened to almost every aspect of my wellbeing, and he wasn't even the slightest bit confused"
Sirius did one of his throaty laughs, and added, "He also asked the most random questions once you were done. Like, what is your mother's favorite type of jam"
"And what type of sock is your father's favorite"
"Argyle," Sirius and Julie turned to face James Potter, standing behind them.
"How long you been there, mate?" Sirius asked, pulling James to the side of him.
"The entire conversation. So that little speech you always make is planned, Jules"
"Like I said before, it's in alphabetical order." "I don't see why Sirius never told us about you until this summer," James said, knocking his arm into Sirius chest.
Julie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I've only eaten breakfast with him everyday at the Black Lake for the past five years, but that's ok. I'm surprised he told you before we graduated"
"Well, I kinda had to this summer. I wasn't going to for a while, really. But how else was she going to be trained for Quidditch this year? She needed help. Seriously"
Julie sighed, "Be nice. I'd never played before this summer"
"I'm just being honest! You sucked. Sucked. Like in the past tense. You're decent now. You're never going to be as good as me though," he added the last part with another flick of his hair and a joking grin. "You just wait and see, Black. I'll kick your butt"
"Oh, yeah right"
"I got a lot of practice this summer. I have moving targets. They're called siblings"
"I'll still be Jamsie's favorite beater"
James groaned at Jamsie. He spotted a burst of red hair crossing the students ahead and with a parting message of, "See you at tryouts this weekend then, Padfoot, Jules," he squeezed his way through the throng of students to meet the girl.
"I'm sorry, but that boy is hopeless," Julie said, shaking her head.
"I couldn't agree more, Jules"
"It's sort of sad, isn't it"
Sirius only muttered to himself, and turned away, into the library, "See you later, Newport"
"Bye, Black."
