"James, Sirius Black is here!"

James Potter was a 15 year old boy, soon to attend his 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There was only one more week of the summer holidays, and he had not yet studied for his OWLs [ordinary wizarding levels].

Hearing this news, he jumped down from his broom, which he was hovering on around his room, and almost tumbled down the staircase he was going so fast. He turned a corner, into the living room. He laughed.

"Hey, Potter" his friend Sirius grinned, sprawled on the sofa on which it looked like his mother had been sitting, she had her arms folded and eyebrows raised, shaking her head in mock disappointment. Sirius seemed to have noticed, as he quickly switched to a more appropriate position. James' mother rolled her eyes in laughter and sat back down where she was sitting, the spot adjacent to hers taken by Sirius.

"Sirius will be spending the last week with us, he's been kicked out by his own mother" Mrs Potter explained, with a hint of disgust in her voice. She smiled kindly at Sirius, and then told the two boys to go up to James' room.

"Did your mum really kick you out?"

"Yeah. You wouldn't have wanted to be there, it got pretty ugly. Mum was screaming her head off, about how I don't pride my family, and Reg was crying, she threatened to hex us both if I didn't get lost at once. I would have hexed her straight back, mind you, but I didn't want my brother dragged into it. But, anyway, we have matters to discuss."

"We do?"

"We do. I got an owl from Remus yesterday, he said that our animagi potion will be ready soon. He's been keeping an eye on it all summer for us, and it's started to bubble. It should be ready by Christmas, probably."

James beamed at his friend. He, Sirius, and their friend Peter had been secretly taking the steps to becoming animagi, with the help of their friend Remus, who happened to be a werewolf. They were doing this so that Remus didn't feel alone when he was in his wolf form. Once a month, they were planning, when Remus went into his hiding place in the Shrieking Shack, his three friends would also be there to accompany him, without being in too much danger. It all depended on their animal. He was slightly unsettled by the thought that Remus sent a letter to Sirius but not him, but then again, he had always been a closer friend to Sirius than he was to him or Peter, so he shrugged it off.

After James and Sirius had caught up on each other's' summer, James was struck by a thought

"Hey, Sirius, did you bring your trunk and stuff?" James asked, hoping he had, as he did not want to have to share his underwear with his friend.

"Yeah, I left it all in the kitchen, go and get it will you?"

"No. It's your stuff!" James protested.

"It's your house" Sirius reasoned with a smirk.

James couldn't think of a come-back, so he grunted and slid down off the bed to bring up Sirius' belongings. He could hear him sniggering as he reached the stairs.

"Shut up!" he snapped at him. But this only made him laugh harder.

He dragged himself down the stairs huffily, stifling a snort with his jumper sleeve as he passed his mother doing complicated yoga on a flying carpet, and seized a barn owl in one arm, and a trunk handle and an overnight bag in the other. He slipped back upstairs as quickly as possible, trying desperately not to laugh at an upside down, one leg and one arm in the air mother.

"Here" said James, dumping the bag and trunk on the floor, and the owl next to his on the desk.

"Hey, Mouse, you have a friend here this week" he said kindly to his owl, sticking a finger through for her to nibble with her brown beak.

He threw a pair of socks at a still laughing Sirius, and hit him surprisingly hard, square on the nose. This didn't stop Sirius laughing; he merely threw them back harder, but only hit James on the arm.

"You're losing your touch, my friend." James said with a satisfied smirk, and collapsed down onto his bed, next to Sirius. "So, bringing anything new with you to Hogwarts this year?"

"As a matter of fact, yes" said Sirius, with a glint in his eye. He opened up his trunk, and pulled out a pocket sized book named "How to pass your OWLs without even trying" by Ronald Unlin.

James grinned at his friend "You'd better not let Remus see that, he would flip on you, maybe even Crucio you until you solemnly promise you'll burn it as soon as he lets go of the spell."

The two friends fell about laughing on the bed for 5 whole minutes, until James' mother came in and had them dangling from one leg with a curse until they stopped laughing, so she could take them down for dinner. The boys followed silently down into the dining room, carefully avoiding each other's gaze.

"Hello, Sirius!" said James' dad, who was taking off his coat. He'd obviously just got in from work.

"Hi Mr Potter" Replied Sirius cheerily. James' dad and Sirius had always got along well.

After 3 helpings of shepherd's pie each, the two boys raced back upstairs. It was now 8:30PM; they still had a while before they were sent to bed.

"So what should we do?" asked Sirius, prodding James' arm with his wand.

"Stop it Sirius that hurts!" he batted his wand away with his hand "I don't know, anything I guess. Hey, want to play chess?" he reached down under his bed and pulled out the magical moving chess set he owned. He and Sirius played until his mother came up and told them to get to bed. They didn't dare disobey, as they knew how quick she was to jinx, curse and hex.

"We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow" James said as Sirius settled into a magical guest bed, belonging to James' mum. Sirius just nodded, and turned over in his bed to face the wall.

"Night"