This is not how we thought it should have gone, because we think that the story is perfect in every way. But it is a "what if?" and we're just trying to make a background story for Sirius.

Lily stared at her desk, but it remained stubbornly a desk. She gathered all the strength she could muster and shouted the non-verbal spell in her head, but still nothing happened. She looked shiftily over her shoulder, trying to see if anyone had noticed her repeated failures; as she did so, she couldn't help noticing how many desks had transformed into pigs already.

"Having trouble?" said a crisp voice from her right. Lily started and turned around sheepishly to see Professor McGonagoll staring pointedly at her desk.

"…Yes."

"Black! Assist Evans!" Called Professor Mcgonagoll and Lily felt her cheeks burn with shame. Across the room, a boy heaved himself from his chair, and with a casual wave from his wand, transformed his squealing pig back to its original form. Then he slouched across the room towards her, the very picture of boredom. She recognised his face with mixed feelings as he sauntered over. It brought back memories of misery, Snape shouting "Mudblood!" and a person to talk to by the fire that night. Lily remembered that he had been so sensitive and nice to her, and yet they had never spoken after that night. Why was that? Lily tried to remember as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Show me what you've got."

Desperate to retain some of her pride, Lily again shouted the spell inside her head and attempted the wildly tricky wand movement. The desk reluctantly sprouted some ears and a tail that curled feebly. Crestfallen, Lily lowered her wand.

"Well, you're a charmer!" said Black, grinning arrogantly, sweeping his long dark hair out of his face; Lily tried not to notice that it happened to be casually handsome.

"Excuse me?" she said, rather more stiffly than she had intended.

"No-I just- I meant –"he said, obviously feeling stupid. "Your wand movement... it looks like you'd be much better at charms than this."

"Oh," said Lilly. "I am." There was an awkward silence while Lily regarded him suspiciously.

"You're flourishing your wand too much. That's why I knew you were good at charms," he explained. "You have to keep it pointed at the object, and make your movements sharper."

"Ok," shrugged Lily, and she raised her wand once more. This time, the desk turned a pale shade of pink and the edges smoothed, resembling the fat belly of a pig. The legs suddenly had trotters and there was something vaguely similar to a head.

"There you go!" said Black, looking pleased. Lily beamed at him, her gratitude overshadowing some of her less pleasant feelings. "Thank you so much!" she said, satisfied that Professor McGonagoll had happened to be been watching. "How come you're so good? You don't need a teacher."

Black hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then said, "James. He tutors me sometimes." He paused. "He's really good. He teaches me loads of advanced stuff." Lily didn't really want to hear about James Potter, but she felt the need to be polite and said "Oh, how nice of him."

"Yeah," he said, looking at her shrewdly now. "He could tutor you too sometime if you wanted."

"Oh..." Lily wanted nothing less than to be bossed about by Potter, but she felt rude to decline. "Well, maybe not... I have a lot on, and I don't really know him that well..."

Black was quiet for a moment, then said, "How about me? I could pass on what James teaches me. He is quite busy as well, but I have loads of free time." This idea was much more appealing to Lily. She did need some extra help with Transfiguration and her N.E. were drawing closer.

"That might be more convenient," she said, trying to sound as if the only reason that she had declined James was her schedule. "If you wanted, I could give you some help with Charms if you want. No offense-"

"I know. I'm terrible!" Black gave an odd, barking laugh.

"Not really," Lily lied, trying to spare his feelings. He raised his eyebrows but didn't comment.

Under the guidance of Black, the lesson became much easier and Lily found herself almost enjoying it. She felt as if her work burden had lightened, now that she didn't have to practise Transfiguration on top of all her other homework.

As they were packing away at the end of the lesson, Black turned to Lily and said, "So, on Thursday I have a free period after lunch. Are you free then?"

"Yes."

"See you in the dormitory then." Black smiled and then swaggered away. Lily left for Potions, joyous with her success, with a feeling that she had made an unexpected friend.

So what did you think? Please leave a review, this is my first fanfic so nothing too mean ;)