A/N- New story alert! I've almost finished with my other story Sparking The Loose Canon, and I wanted to start off with something smaller and light hearted. Let's see how this goes!

Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter," said Slughorn, digging his hands into his waist coat pockets with a surprising amount of difficulty. "Late again. What are we going to do about the two of you?"

"So sorry, Professor. There was a first year wandering around in search of the Transfiguration classroom. We didn't want him to get detention on the first week back," said James, a grin lighting up his face and he ran a hand through his hair.

"We figured it was time to pull up our socks now that we're in sixth year and all," added Sirius, smirking at James.

A few 'oohs' were heard around the class and a distinct derisive snort coming from the direction of Lily Evans.

"Ah yes, very noble of you both. However," he added, giving them both a knowing look. "This cannot go on. I will, therefore, be assigning you new partners for this class. Mr. Potter, you will be with Ms. McKinnon and Mr. Black, you can work with Ms. Wilson."

James shrugged and moved over to where Marlene was sitting, grinning at her as she rolled her eyes in feigned annoyance. Sirius, on the other hand, frowned slightly, searching the class for where his new partner was sitting. She was near the left corner, tucked away from most of the class, her back leaning against the wall. Sighing to himself, he walked over to where she was sitting.

"Hey," he said, smiling politely. She smiled back but went back to her potions textbook almost immediately. Sirius cursed Slughorn internally. Even though he and Daniella were in the same house, they had barely ever interacted. She was quiet and kept to herself most of the times, sharing her dorm with the rest of the sixth year Gryffindor girls - Lily, Marlene, Dorcas and Mary.

Slughorn gave them instructions and sat back in his chair, indulging in a few glazed pineapples. Sirius felt unbelievably frustrated. He usually relied on James to get through Potions - his least favorite subject. But now, he might actually have to read the chapter and figure out how to not blow up his cauldron in the next hour.

Daniella felt uncomfortable. She had never expected school heartthrob and resident prankster, Sirius Black, to be assigned as her potions partner. She was very aware of her posture and the occasional glances being thrown in their direction. She hoped that she could avoid talking to him for the most part - he would hopefully be more preoccupied with trying to switch back to James as his partner.

Half an hour into the class, her eyes kept drifting towards his potion. He had been having a little trouble brewing the potion in general, never betrayed by the impeccable fall of his perfectly tousled hair. But now, he was about to accidentally add aconite which he had grabbed instead of alihotsy leaves, and she just couldn't stop herself from blurting out an exclamation.

"Stop!" she whispered. He looked at her in surprise, raising one of his eyebrows lightly. "That's aconite."

He looked at the bottle in his hands and recoiled slightly.

"Shite!" he hissed, quickly putting it away. She pushed some of her alihotsy leaves towards him and he took them with a nod. The rest of the lesson passed more or less uneventfully, barring the small incident where Snape's robes caught fire.

"Dear me, Severus, I really do not understand how this could have happened. You would think that you, of all people, would be least likely to be so extraordinarily clumsy around potions. I mean -"

"Yes, Professor," said Snape with gritted teeth, stopping Slughorn's embarrassing tirade. His eyes wandered towards where James, Sirius and Peter were snickering together. "It is rather unbelievable."

"That was bloody brilliant!" said Peter, guffawing as they exited the dungeons.

"Stellar work, Prongs. You absolutely, dare I say it, smoked him," said Sirius tossing his head back with a bark of laughter.

"Bad luck on the potions partners, though," said Peter, recovering himself slightly. "Especially you, Padfoot. You're stuck with Wilson."

"She's alright," said Sirius, with a shrug. "Decent, actually."

"And I lucked out with Marls," grinned James. "All Quidditch all day for me!"

"Oy! Move your arse, Potter!"

"Need a better view, Lupin?" said James, grinning at his sandy haired friend.

"McGonagall is going to lose her shit if we're late again," said Remus, looking slightly exasperated. Only slightly though.

"I don't want detention this week! That Ravenclaw fifth year agreed to study with me!' whined Peter.

"Our little boy's growing up," said Sirius, wiping a fake tear. "Pettigrew, the Player!"

"Wormtail the Womanizer!" said James, enthusiastically.

"Not the direction we were going in," said Sirius, scratching his chin. "What about…"

"Potter the Prepubescent?" said Lily, passing by swiftly and leaving James with a moony eyed look on his face.

"Nice one, Evans! Great alliteration!' shouted Sirius, after her.

"Fuck off, Black," she said, not turning around.

"I love her," said James with a sigh.

"So what's new? I'm more interested in Wormy's girl. When did it happen? What exactly happened?" said Sirius, leaning towards Peter eagerly.

"We are definitely getting detention," groaned Remus.

"Hey Dany," said Marlene, placing her books on the table. She tossed her golden curls over her shoulder and slipped off her pullover.

"Marly," said Daniella in acknowledgment. She hoped that McGonagall would be slightly late for class. She was still proofreading the assignment that was due that day.

"What did Sirius say?"

Dany had to admit that she had impeccable control over her limbs because Marlene's question almost made her jerk her hand out and spill the ink bottle all over her parchment. Instead, she continued reading, her eyes no longer registering what they were going over.

"Nothing."

"Oh…"

She sounded kind of disappointed. Why was she disappointed? It's not like Sirius hadn't said anything to her. In fact, if she remembered correctly, she was good friends with Sirius and James. Quidditch being their main topic of discussion. Hence, the surprise at her disappointed tone.

"But you ha-"

"Good morning class," said McGonagall, a very pronounced vein pulsing on her forehead. "I'm sorry to have been delayed. However, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew will not be joining us for class today. They are helping Mr. Filch put away a dozen suits of armor without the use of their wands." She placed four wands on her desk and proceeded to begin the lesson.

"Not Remus as well," groaned Lily from behind Marlene and Dany. "He's a Prefect for fuck's sake."

"Yeah, but aren't you curious about what they were doing with suits of armor?" whispered Marlene, excitedly.

"Probably duelling," muttered Dany, opening her textbook. Marlene snorted next to her, while Lily pursed her lips together to stop a giggle from escaping.

"What'd you guys do?" asked Marlene, jumping onto the sofa beside James. "Minnie looked utterly pissed."

"It was Padfoot's idea really," said James, beaming with pride. "We enchanted suits of armor to try and recreate a medieval muggle duel!"

"You're all too kind," said Sirius, with a mock bow.

"I hear no applause," said Lily, giving them a bored look.

"Evans, you're a real heartbreaker. You know that?" said Sirius with a grin.

"Yeah we all know that. Lils is badass. What's new? But! Dany hear actually predicted that you guys got into trouble for duelling! Incredible, right?" continued Marlene excitedly.

Dany felt herself sinking into her chair, hoping that her rather large Ancient Runes book would be enough to hide her face.

"Woah! Nice work, Wilson! Didn't think you had it in you," said James, his voice cheerful and eager. Apparently she needed to get a thicker book. Or seal her mouth during lessons so that she wouldn't comment on these utterly inconsequential matters.

"Wilson! Careful there. You're practically inside that book."

Dany moved the book slightly and saw Sirius looking down at her with a smirk on his face. She tried to manage a smile but it probably came out more as a grimace.

"Come over and sit with us," he continued, gesturing to the sixth year gathering around the fireplace.

"Yeah, Dany! You can read that later. Even Lils hasn't started on that yet," said Marlene from across the room.

"Hey!" said Lily indignantly.

"Lils?" Marlene raised her eyebrows at her redheaded friend.

"Yeah you're right. Dany, even I think it's too early for the midterm assignment," continued Lily, leaning into her seat and glaring at Marlene.

"Umm, sure."

Why did she have to open her mouth like that? Stupid, stupid Dany! This was exactly why she only spoke when spoken to. Initiating conversation always got you into more social interactions. Yuck.

"Dany? Are you okay?" asked Remus. "You look like you swallowed a bottle of Skele Gro."

"Ye-yeah, I'm fine," said Dany, with a smile which, thankfully, didn't become a grimace. Although she felt anything but fine as she watched Sirius Black throw back his head in laughter with one hand on James' shoulder. There was a brief moment of eye contact between them and he grinned at her again. Apparently, this was a new activity he had come across and decided to perform said activity to a saturation point.

Unfortunately, Sirius Black didn't have a very low saturation point. So there she sat, tight smile on her lips, nodding to jokes, avoiding conversation when possible, and starting slightly every time she inadvertently made eye contact with a grey eyed Marauder.

He smiled way too often. Jesus!

What did you think? I'm always an OC writer unfortunately. Check out my other story for more Sirius and Marauder happenings. Please leave a review for me!

Cheers xxx