It was Lily who found them the next morning, curled up on a couch in front of the fireplace. She gently shook them awake, and together they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily pestered them the whole time, asking why they hadn't slept in their dorms, but both Remus and Sirius only gave her vague answers in reply, not wanting to worry her. Still, she kept asking questions, and Remus and Sirius, by the time they had arrived at the Great Hall, had given her enough answers to figure out that Potter and Pettigrew was behind it.

Remus had to grab hold of both of her shoulders as the two boys mentioned walked past to stop her from lunging at them from where she sat at the Gryffindor table. Above them, owls swooped in, hundreds of them, delivering all sorts of letters and newspapers. A medium-sized Horned Owl came to a stop in front of Remus, carrying a letter, and Remus quietly read the enthusiastic approval of his mother and the calmer support of his father, smiling slightly at his mother's interest in the Wizarding world.

Sirius read the letter over Remus' shoulder, feeling himself starting to grow cold. Was this what a family was meant to be like? Making jokes and laughing, always supporting their children? Not just telling their son that they're proud of them – congratulating them on getting into a house even though it was different from theirs? Wishing them the best in school? And not saying anything about keeping away from the blood-traitors or the muggleborns?

Remus closed the letter, having finished reading it, and Sirius felt a dull ache at the glimpse of a world he was missing out on. For a wild moment, he was almost angry at Remus for having such a good family, but he soon shook it off – Remus was his friend, and he didn't want to lose him just because his family was nicer.

Sirius was about to ask Lily whether she was expecting to receive a letter from her family when another owl swooped down, landing in front of him, and Sirius recognised his mother's Eagle Owl, as well as the crest on the red envelope that was placed before him.

"Oh no…" he muttered as he realised what kind of letter it was.

The envelope began shaking, and Sirius grabbed the letter and sprinted outside the Great Hall without a word to Remus and Lily, trying to get away before the Howler burst open. He made it to the corridor, opening it just before it exploded, and suddenly there was his mother's voice, amplified a thousand times, shrieking at him.

It was worse than anything Sirius had been expecting. His mother's voice shrieked and shrieked as she harped on about him getting sorted into the wrong house, calling him a blood-traitor and worse. Sirius stopped listening after the first minute, numbness spreading through his mind as the shock settled in, but the envelope continued to scream.

Remus and Lily were suddenly at his side, Lily defiantly holding her wand out to the envelope despite not knowing any spells while Remus gently shook Sirius back into the present, somehow managing to look both angry and calm at the same time. When he was sure that Sirius was fine, he turned to face the envelope, yelling out an angry Silencio! at the envelope, prodding it with his wand, but the Howler didn't end.

The fair-haired boy growled in annoyance – a sound that startled Sirius out of his daze – before walking back over to Sirius, crossing his arms over his chest as he stood next to him. Lily joined them, looking livid.

They stood there, the three of them, two glaring at the envelope, one intent on ignoring the envelope, until finally it set itself on fire and turned into ashes, his mother's angry insults and threats finally ending.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. I tried to stop it…" Remus said quietly, sounding so sincere Sirius snapped back into reality.

"Thank you."

Together, they walked back to the Great Hall, Sirius flanked by Lily, who looked ready to kill someone, and Remus, who looked three times more threatening when he was angry. They took their seats again, not saying a word as they quietly chewed through their breakfast.

"Black?"

Sirius turned to face Potter, and found himself unable to hide a scowl that settled over his features.

"What, come to tell me I'm a crazy, evil Slytherin? Don't bother," Sirius snapped, starting to turn back to his breakfast.

"Actually, I came here to tell you you're a crazy, stupid Gryffindor, but sure, I'll just go if that's what you want."

Sirius found himself smiling despite himself.

"So your mum's a bit of a wacko then, huh?" Potter asked, slipping into the seat beside Sirius and pushing his glasses slightly higher on his nose.

"She's like the rest of my family," Sirius replied, shrugging, but it sounded weak even to him.

There was a lull in the conversation, and then suddenly Potter held out a timetable, tapping on one of the lessons with a knobbly finger, "we have Herbology with the Slytherins today. Peter and I were thinking of getting their plants to give them a bit of trouble. Want to join in? You too, Lupin. And Evans, I guess."

Lily quickly objected to the idea, clearly not liking the idea of doing something that could probably harm students, but Sirius agreed too quickly, hoping it would prove that he definitely wasn't a Slytherin, and Lupin eventually also agreed, resignedly, like he didn't have much of a say in the matter.

Together, the four of them and Pettigrew stood up and started walking to their first class of the year – Charms. Sirius and Potter talked the whole way, having found a shared interest in Quidditch almost instantly. Sirius felt a casual air of familiarity when he talked to Potter, extremely different to the way he felt around Lily and Remus. Lily was full of fire, easily angered but extremely caring, and very unknowing of the Wizarding world. Sirius loved the attention she would give him, wanting to learn about the Wizarding world as much as she could, but it was tiring having to explain everything he said to the inquisitive girl. Remus was something different altogether, calm and patient and mild. Sometimes, Sirius wondered if he was even real, and talking to him sometimes felt like he was talking to a puzzle. Remus' facial expressions rarely changed from quiet acceptance, and every little twitch in his face needed to be analysed to even have an idea what he was thinking. With Potter, conversation just flowed normally, even if Sirius felt a little bad that Remus and Lily were being left out.

They walked into the class and took up the two middle rows, Remus and Lily sitting in the front row while Sirius, Potter and Peter took up the back row. Another girl from Ravenclaw sat next to Remus, and the three were suddenly lost in conversation, looking like they were having some sort of debate. It was only when the professor cleared his throat that their debate, growing increasingly heated between Lily and the Ravenclaw, ended, and Sirius felt odd being left out from their conversation, even as he and Potter discussed Quidditch tactics as if they had been friends for years.

He grew increasingly uncomfortable for leaving the two for Potter as the lesson went on. After all, both Lily and Remus had said they would defend him from his mother despite barely knowing him, and they were the ones who had chased after him and stood with him in front of the Howler. Remus had even tried to perform a spell to make the Howler stop yelling. And here he was, leaving them for a boy that had, just yesterday, told him that he was evil.

Sirius carefully ripped the bottom of his parchment off, scribbling a greeting and folding it into the shape of a bird, throwing it through the gap between Remus and Lily before leaning backwards, watching them carefully. Lily ignored it, looking like she was trying to focus on her work, but Remus slowly unfolded it, reading what Sirius had sent.

He looked up at the teacher, making sure Professor Flitwick wasn't paying any attention as he wrote a reply and held out his hand behind him. Sirius reached over and plucked the note from the fair-haired boy's thin fingers, smoothing it out on the table in front of him.

Hey. What do you think of the lesson?

Sirius didn't bother to check as he scribbled down an answer and passed it back to Remus.

I'd rather do the charm than listen to ?

He heard a quiet snort from Remus, and had to hide his smile behind one of his hands.

I think it's fascinating. You could do so much with levitating objects.

Sirius smiled at his enthusiasm, despite not thinking all that much of levitation in itself.

Like?

Well, you can make a book levitate while you do stuff, so you can read and do other things at the same time. You can carry things which would be too heavy to carry usually. Also, you can knock someone out by dropping something heavy on their heads.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter at the included image, a scrawled drawing of Sirius with a watermelon that had fallen on his head.

"Mr Black, I'm glad you're enjoying my class, but please do it quietly."

"Sorry, professor."

He turned to look at Remus, who was now sniggering into his hand, and crumpled up the note, throwing it at the back of Remus' head just as Professor Flitwick dismissed the class. Remus burst out laughing, earning himself a glare from both Lily and the Ravenclaw who had sat next to him. Sirius winked at him as they walked to the doorway, pretending to fall over unconscious as soon as they were in the hallway. Remus kept laughing as they walked together to their next class – History of Magic, and Sirius couldn't resist poking his side to tickle him, much to Lily's amusement.

They sat together in History of Magic, with Sirius sitting in between Lily and Remus. Both Lily and Remus seemed incredibly interested in what Professor Binns was saying, but Sirius didn't see what was so great about it, and kept getting told to stay quiet. Sirius made a mental note to sit with James in this class rather than with Remus and Lily.

As they left, with Remus and Lily discussing the finer points of Professor Binns' lecture, Sirius found himself drifting back to Potter's side. The boy was pretty much glowing with excitement, looking like Christmas had just come early.

"Next lesson is Herbology!" Potter greeted him, and Sirius returned his wicked grin.

They walked together to the Great Hall, Peter following after them, and took their seats around Remus and Lily, who had sat next to each other and were talking avidly about some sort of Muggle war that had happened thirty years ago. Sirius shrugged, not bothering to try to understand what the two were talking about and turned to Potter, who was watching their conversation with interest.

"Please tell me you have no idea what they're talking about," Potter said to no one in particular as he watched Remus and Lily talk.

"None at all," Sirius replied, laughter audible in his voice.

"I think they're talking about some muggle who thought he could create the perfect race and started a massive war. Some wizard quickly put him in his place," Pettigrew contributed, and Potter turned to look at him with a stunned look.

"You actually know something?"

"I just listened in on their conversation from the start," the rounder boy replied, seeming to sink into his chair submissively.

Sirius was almost stunned at how submissive this pureblood was – they were purebloods, after all, everyone else was meant to be submissive to them! – but he quickly stopped his thoughts, realising he was thinking like his mother. He decided then and there that if his mother hated him so much for something he couldn't even control, then there was no way he was going to listen to her anymore, let alone waste time of day thinking like her.

"So what are we doing in dear Herbology?" Sirius asked Potter with a mischievous smile, and the boy lit up like a Christmas tree.

"We are going to make a plant start growing uncontrollably right next to an unfortunate Slytherin."

Remus' conversation with Lily suddenly paused as Lily turned to look at them, his eyes wide.

"You're mad. These aren't your average muggle plants, they're magical plants. We don't know what a plant could do to someone. Tell them, Remus, they can't go through with this."

Remus didn't say a word, his head down and his hands in his lap. He looked so much like a kicked puppy that Sirius almost felt sorry for him.

Lily let out a huff of air, turning to focus intensely on lunch and eating rather rapidly in silence, while Potter and Pettigrew discussed their plans and Remus sunk even lower in his chair. Eventually, in a rustle of fabric, Lily got up and left, having finished her lunch.

"Lupin, you don't have to do anything. Just don't try to stop us, or tell a teacher."

"I won't," he said quietly, but didn't say another word for the rest of lunch other than to inform Potter that his name was Remus, not Lupin.

"And I'm James, not Potter, and this is Peter, not Pettigrew, and that fellow over there with the dark hair is Sirius, not Black. So, now that we all know each other's names, can we get back to planning?"

Remus said nothing, which James clearly took as a yes because he continued right on with whatever he had been saying. Sirius contributed as much as he could, the excitement that seemed to have James bouncing in his chair starting to make its way into his system.

Together, the four boys walked to Herbology, Remus soon joined by a much calmer Lily. Together, they walked into the greenhouse, found a spot to stand in, and stood there, talking to each other. Sirius noticed some students he hadn't seen yet in his other classes were arriving, and he smiled to himself at the thought of the chaos that was about to occur.

Lily suddenly began waving enthusiastically to a boy he didn't recognise, dragging Remus after her as she walked over to meet him.

The boy had jet black, greasy hair, a large, hooked nose, and the most unhealthy skin colour Sirius had ever seen on anyone before – and most definitely a Slytherin. As he watched, Lily introduced Remus to him enthusiastically, and Remus shook the Slytherin's hand with the same cautious politeness he seemed to show everyone. Sirius could almost feel how much the Slytherin wanted Remus to leave, and how torn Remus probably was between wanting to stay for Lily and leave out of discomfort.

Sirius instantly decided he hated him.

"Who's the guy Lily's talking to?" he asked James, who looked over and instantly looked like he had swallowed the most sour object to have ever existed.

"Severus Snape. I ran into him earlier accidentally and came away with a layer of grease from his hair. He's a nasty piece of work, Remus and Lily shouldn't be talking to someone like that."

Sirius found himself agreeing despite himself. There was something particularly dodgy about this particular Slytherin, and he didn't like it.

"Do we now have our target?"

"Oh yes, definitely."

Sirius and James exchanged a grin full of mischief. When they looked back at the scene in front of them, Remus was walking back to them, his face schooled to perfect calmness, while Lily stayed with Snape, talking to him as if they were childhood friends.

"I don't like him," Sirius muttered when Remus was close enough to hear.

"You don't even know him," Remus replied, tactfully avoiding giving his own opinion.

"But you don't like him either. I can tell."

Remus didn't reply. Sirius hid a smile at his success, instead turning to look at the professor, who had finally arrived and was now starting the lesson. He pretended to listen intently to what she was saying – which wasn't all that hard, if he were being honest with himself. Herbology may not be particularly interesting to him, but it was infinitely more interesting than History of Magic.

About halfway through the lesson, Lily was far enough from Snape to avoid getting caught in the repercussions, or so they hoped, and James tapped Sirius' shoulder, signalling that he should cast the spell. He muttered engorgio under his breath, pointing his wand at the plant closest to Snape while pretending to stretch.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then he blinked, and suddenly the plant had grown to massive proportions, taking Snape with it as it enlarged around him, engulfed him, and drew him into the plant itself, so he seemed like a part of the plant. Panicked shrieks sounded all around the greenhouse as everyone rushed away from the plants, and Sirius and James followed suit, screaming for dramatic effect as they leaped away from the plants nearest them.

Professor Sprout started yelling at them to calm down and stay put, but nothing worked, the class was just too panicked. Eventually, she managed to send everyone out the greenhouse while she coaxed the plant to go back to its normal size and let Snape go.

And standing in the center of it all was Remus, the perfect picture of calm, disappointment and resignation written across his face.