"SIRIUS!" James Potter shouted down the corridor.
Sirius turned around, grinning, at his best friend who was running towards him with a very joyful smile plastered on his face.
"Where you headed?" Sirius asked, curious.
"Just to the library," James replied rather quietly.
"The library?! What on earth are you going to do at the library?" Sirius asked incredulously.
"Just a bit of homework, y'know," he said, winking.
"Oh, oh." James had a bit of a romantic interest for someone. That someone was Lily Evans. James spent most of his time chasing after her, asking her out on dates, wooing her, stalking her almost. Sirius didn't mind, as long as it didn't mean that the two of them spent less time together. Hanging out with Remus and Peter was always great, but James and him had the strongest bond of all of them. Life without his best friend would be absolutely miserable, that was for sure. It would mean returning home during holidays, and home was the place he hated the most. Blood runs thicker than water, so they say, but Sirius was sure that the relationships you choose yourself are a lot stronger than those forged by birth.
The Black family didn't seem to mind when he didn't come home for holidays, for all they cared he could be dead. Not that they would care even then. They'd probably be happy. Sirius Black, the outcast of the family, unwilling to fit in with the ways of a pureblood wizarding family, to them, he was scum. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But the more time he spent at Hogwarts and with the Marauders, the happier he became. Avoiding his brother, Regulus, was easy, as he liked to forget that Sirius and him were related.
"Well I'll catch you a bit later on, eh?" James replied cheekily.
"For sure."
Sirius turned around and watched the disappearing figure of his best friend. He was the only one who would run down a crowded corridor full up with sixth and seventh years. The Marauders were all in second year now, which seemed so much grander and older than first year, but in reality it was just being a little bit older and taller than last year.
"Sirius, hello there!" the voice of Remus Lupin floated down to him.
He smiled and replied cheerily, "Hi there. James has gone to try again with Lily I think. Maybe he supposes he has more a chance this time."
Lupin chuckled, "What, one hundredth time lucky?"
"I don't know, he's very persistent. One day she'll just have to give in and say yes."
"Perhaps. Have you seen Peter?" Lupin asked.
"Nope. What about in the common room, do you want to go check?"
"Sure."
The two of them headed back up the corridor to the Gryffindor common room. The hundreds and hundreds of paintings that littered the walls of Hogwarts all moved like living people would, which made nighttime expeditions a little scary as the paintings would often move out of the corner of your eye, and frighten you to silence for a few minutes.