Chapter 1

It was almost 2 in the morning, and I was sitting in the Gryffindor common room by the fire, trying to finish my Transfiguration essay. I was the only one in the room, and I was becoming more and more tired and finding it incredibly hard to concentrate on what I was doing. I really need to stop procrastinating so much, I thought to myself as I added a few more sentences. I wish I was more like my best friend, Vesper, who was up in the dormitory sleeping right now because she had already finished her Transfiguration essay. My other best friend, Cynthia, wasn't even taking Transfiguration, because she had only received an A on her O.W.L., which hadn't been enough for her to continue on to N.E.W.T. level. Sighing as I wished I was also up in the dormitory sleeping, I finished up the paragraph I was writing, and moved on to the conclusion.

All of a sudden, the portrait hole swung open and I jumped, not expecting anyone to be coming in at this hour. Turning around to see who it was, I watched as two boys climbed through the portrait hole into the common room, but as soon as I saw who they were, I wasn't surprised at all. It was James Potter and Sirius Black, two of the most well-known students in the entire school. They were notorious for being troublemakers, but at the same time, for entertaining people and having many admirers. Although they were both sixth years, in the same year as I was, I had never talked much to either of them.

"We were lucky that time, Padfoot," said James to Sirius. "He was about a foot away from running into us, but thanks to yours truly, we got away."

"Yeah, that was a close one," Sirius agreed.

Losing interest in the conversation, I turned back to my Transfiguration essay, hoping I could finish the conclusion as quickly as possible, so maybe I'd be able to get at least four or five hours of sleep.

"Hey."

I jumped, realizing that Sirius was now standing next to the couch. I hadn't noticed him come over.

He laughed. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," I said, and turned back to my essay. I was faintly aware of the fact that I might have seemed rude, but I was too tired to care.

He came over and sat down on the couch next to me. "What are you doing?"

"Transfiguration essay."

"Need any help?"

"No thanks, I'm already on the conclusion," I said, surprised that he had offered.

"Oh, all right," he said.

Assuming the conversation was over, I turned again to my essay, writing what I hoped was a halfway decent conclusion, and gathered my stuff together to bring upstairs.

"You're Amy Sutton, right?" I turned around and realized Sirius was still sitting there.

"Yeah."

"I don't think we've ever really talked before. I'm Sirius Black, even though you probably already know that." He laughed.

"Yeah," I said again, feeling stupid for not being able to say anything else, and slightly annoyed that this conversation was taking place at a time when all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

"Well, I guess I'd better go up to bed. You probably should too, it's getting late," he said."

"Yeah," I answered. There I go with the "Yeahs" again.

"Goodnight," he said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah…" STOP SAYING YEAH! "Goodnight."

I walked up to the dormitory and put my things away, got ready for bed, and fell asleep almost instantly.