The First Week

"Ooh, James look!" Peter was pointing at a large black owl, who was carrying a bright red envelope in it's mouth.

"Someone's been sent a howler!" James laughed. "Poor bloke." Sirius paled. The black, beady eyed owl was heading straight for him. James's eyes widened as the owl dropped the smoking envelope on Sirius's plate and swooped away. Sirius saw Narcissa smirk from across the hall.

"Just open it quick," James suggested, while filling his own plate with bacon. Sirius noddded, and tore open the envelope. Immediately, the hall was filled with the magnified voice of a shrieking Mrs. Black.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU"VE DISGRACED YOUR FAMILY BY BEING PLACED IN GRYFFINDOR! IF YOU KNOW WHAT"S GOOD FOR YOU, YOU"LL BEG DUMBLEDORE TO RE-SORT YOU INTO SLYTHERIN! IF YOU DON"T, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!" The howler burst into flames and shriveled up. The hall was silent. All eyes were on Sirius. He saw everyone looking at him and he merely scooped some eggs onto his plate and asked Remus to pass the salt.

Narcissa was glaring daggers at him. He apparently had not had the reaction she had hoped for.

"Sweet! My Mum promised she'd send me a good haul!" James grinned as a tawny owl gently placed a large box of chocolates next to his juice. All the boy's breakfasts lay forgotten as they dug into the golden box.

"Here, Remus, you take these dark chocolate ones, is that alright?" James asked, trying to be diplomatic. Remus smiled and nodded, biting down on a square of chocolate.

Sirius was just shoving candy in his mouth as fast as he could, and Peter seemed to be choking on a caramel.

"Someone! Give Peter the Heimlich!" James smirked, thumping Peter on the back a few times.

"Thanks!" Peter squealed, as he forced down some more sweets.

"Your time starts…now!" Professor Slughorn announced. He had assigned them the task of brewing a basic cure for the hiccups.

"Psst, Remus," Sirius whispered across the aisle. He was partners with Peter, and James was partners with Remus. "What do you think we should add?" Remus surveyed the ingredients in front of them

"Defintely some powdered beetle shell. That'll work." Remus whispered.

"Okay, on the count of three," James said. "1…2…3!" And the four boys dumped the powder into their cauldrons. Immediately the potion began bubbling. The contents of their cauldrons rocketed into the air and sprayed their classmates with thick orange liquid. The four boys couldn't contain their laughter.

"Ugh!" Lily screeched. She had been hit with a large amount of the potion, and so had her cauldron. She was pretty sure her cure had been perfect, too. Now it was ruined. She glared at the boys.

"Black, Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew! Detention! I request that you discuss what your punishment should be with your head of house!" The boys looked at each other, trying not to giggle. "Now!" Slughorn shouted. They grabbed their bags and jogged out of the potions classroom. It wasn't until they were safely in an empty corridor that they all burst out laughing. James was rolling on the ground and howling.

"Did you see Slughorn's face?" James gasped, collapsing into another round of giggles.

"What on earth where you thinking?" Professor Mcgonagall asked the boys. They were all sitting in her office, and she was thoroughly unpleased with their antics. "Professor Slughorn was right to assign you detention! Your first one shall be tonight at 8 o clock, and you will prepare the potion ingredients for Professor Slughorn's class tomorrow."

"Awww, come on Minnie, I'd much rather spend time with you than Slughorn," Sirius flirted, batting his eyelashes.

"Mr. Black! You will refer to me as Professor, and you will now be suffering an additional detention for your cheek!" She looked shocked at Sirius's gall, but also slightly amused. "Off with you now!" She commanded, shooing the boys from her office.

"How'd you do that?" Peter asked, once they had rounded the corner and there was quite a bit of distance between Mcgonagall and themselves. Peter was very impressed with Sirius's conversation with their Professor. Sirius shrugged.

"I dunno. Just rolled of the tongue I guess," he smirked. The boys burst into yet another fit of giggles. They all felt the detention that night was well worth the entertainment this prank had caused.

Several hours later, they weren't so sure. Their hands were covered in esoteric juices used for preserving potential potions ingredients, and their backs ached from constantly bending over.

"How long has it been?" Sirius groaned, as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Only an hour," James sighed. "30 more minutes to go." They could see Slughorn glaring at them through the window, and Peter kept twitching, afraid the Professor was looking at him.

"Oh, calm down, Peter," Remus grumbled. He was reconsidering his decision to help James, Sirius, and Peter with their potions prank. Peter jumped at Remus's voice, and nodded.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Slughorn dismissed them. Once they had returned to the common room, Sirius dropped onto the couch.

"I think I'm gonna die. All I can smell is preserved slugs," Sirius cried. James ignored him.

"We should play gobstones!" All the boys looked at each other wearily. "Come on! My Dad just got me a new set, it'll be fun!" One by one, they all grudgingly agreed.

Two hours later, this night had turned out to be one of the best of Remus's life. They were all laughing - Sirius was teasing James about being covered in green goo from the gobstones, Remus was eating more of James's chocolate from the morning, and Peter was giggling at a joke James had told. He rolled the dice once more, and grinned from ear to ear. He had friends, Remus thought. This was something that friends did with each other.

"What time is it?" Remus yawned. He sat up, and realized he was covered in sticky green goo. He was laying on top of James, who was rubbing his eyes. Sirius lay at James's feet, with Peter laying on top of Sirius.

"Ouch," Peter winced, sitting up and rubbing his back where Sirius's chest had been. Sirius noticed, and glared.

"You think that hurts? Try being used as a mattress all night," Sirus moaned. He began stroking his thighs.

"What are you doing?" Peter shrieked.

"You've got a big bum! My thighs are sore!" Sirius complained, trying to defend himself. Peter looked disgusted.

"7," James answered, ignoring Sirius and Peter.

"I guess we stayed up a little too late last night," Sirius said, standing up and stretching, still rubbing his thighs.

"Er, Remus, could you move? Your rear end is literally on my chest," James asked, chortling with laughter. Remus blushed. He quickly stood up and tried to wipe some of the goo off.

"You're going to have to shower for a good hour to get this stuff off," James said sagely, pointing towards the green goo covering both of them. Remus sighed. Last night was worth it, he thought, because he was sure he had friends now. He wasn't alone anymore.

"2 feet of parchment on the steps of transfiguring a needle into a button?" James groaned, as the four boys walked out of Transfiguration. "I can't believe it! That's going to take forever! It's only our second day back!" Sirius nodded glumly. They continued walking, Peter grumbling about the essay along with James.

"Never thought I'd see the day where a Black was walking with blood traiters and half bloods," they heard someone sneer. Sirius whirled around to find the voice. It was Mulciber, accompanied by Snape and Nott.

"How dare you…" Sirius whispered. He drew his wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" He cried, paralyzing Mulciber and Nott. Snape suddenly looked rather frightened, and James, Remus, and Peter watched in awe. They had no idea Sirius knew this many spells, or had had any practice dueling.

"Expelliarmus!" Snape yelled, as Sirius's wand flew through the air and landed at his feet. Now Snape was smirking, clearly thinking that he had won. Sirius snarled and ran at him, landing a punch squarely on Snape's overly large nose.

"Sirius!" James cried, grabbing his arms and dragging him back.

"Fighting in the corridors, Black, Snape, detention for both of you," Slughorn said, appearing from around the corner. Sirius nodded mutely.

"Let's go, mate," James said quietly, and accompanied by Peter and Remus, they brought Sirius back to the common room.

Sirius was quiet for the rest of the day, clearly still seething about the morning's incident. Privately, Sirius was worried about how his family would react the next time they saw him. He knew they would be angry, but he hadn't really thought about what they might do until now. His cousin Bellatrix was 21 now, and she was utterly terrifying. He wasn't really all that afraid of her, but Sirius knew she would pitch a fit when she heard where he had been sorted. He winced, and tried to ignore the anxiety that was disrupting his day. When he went to sleep that night, he dreamt of his family, and how everything might have been different if he had been sorted into Slytherin.

"Remus? Remus?" James asked, worriedly, putting down the piece of bacon he was munching on. "Are you alright? You're not answering my question." Remus shook himself out of his trance, and tried to turn his attention toward James. The truth was, the full moon was next week and he was terribly nervous that his new friends might find out his secret.

"Oh, sorry," Remus muttered. "What'd you ask?"

"I asked if you had started the transfiguration homework yet?" James asked again.

"Yeah, I finished it last night." Remus answered. James stared at him like he was crazy.

"You've already finished it? It's not even due until next Monday!" Remus shrugged, and turned his attention back to his toast, and his impending transformation.

"You know, Sirius," James said, "I've been thinking. Today has been far too boring for my liking. We need to do something interesting." Sirius grinned mischievously.

"I've got the perfect idea."

"You're kidding right?" Remus asked, a few hours later, once they had told him their plan. "I mean, it's very ironic, I suppose, and you can't get a detention for following the rules…. even if technically, that's not how the rule is meant to be interpreted…" Remus said thoughtfully.

"So you'll help us?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Why not?" Remus answered. He needed something to get his mind off the full moon anyway.

"And we already talked to Peter, so I think we're good to go," James said happily. "Let's get started!"

Once they were safely in the boys dormitories, Remus was surprised how much thought had already gone into their plan. They had a library book explaining the spell they wanted to use, and apparently they had even approached Professor Flitwick about what the charm was called. Of course, they didn't tell him what they were planning to do with their new information.

"So, Sirius, you should charm the beds to levitate, seeing as you're good at charms," James told Sirius. Sirius agreed, and with a wave of his wand, made all four beds hover slightly off the ground.

"Okay, now for the compass spell, Remus, do you want to do that?" Remus shrugged.

"Alright," he answered. Nothing appeared to happen. "Did it work?"

"I think so," Peter answered, looking at the library book. "It says here that you won't be able to see the charm, but you'll be able to move by leaning or pointing."

"Wicked!" James grinned. "Alright, let's go!" He shouted, hopping onto his bed. The other three boys copied him. "Let's go to the Transfiguration classroom," James suggested. "I want Minnie to see this!" So off they went, their floating beds carrying them through the empty corridors until they had reached the Transfiguration classroom, and saw Mcgonagall inside her office.

"What are you doing? No students out of bed after 9, you know that! Ten points from Gryffindor," She said.

"But Professor," James said, grinning, "We aren't out of bed, come see!" She came out of her office and was amazed by the sight that greeted her. The four boys were each in their own four poster bed that was levitating slightly off the ground.

"We haven't technically broken any rules, Professor," Remus said slyly. Mcgonagall was shocked at shy little Remus Lupin's cheek. She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Peter laughed.

"Just, go back to your common room," She said weakly.

"As you wish, Professor," Sirius said, and they all commanded their beds to take them back to Gryffindor tower.

They laughed all the way back to the dormitory.

The four boys had all curled up in their beds, which were now back on the ground, and were trying to go to sleep when James announced,

"I'm going to ask Lily out tomorrow," James said slyly. Remus snorted. "What? She won't be able to resist my innate sexiness." Now Sirius snorted.

"There is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, innately sexy about you," Peter chortled. James looked hurt.

"I'll have you know the school trousers do amazing things for my bottom," James said, highly affronted. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Good night, James," Remus said, rolling over, his back now facing James.

"Good night, Remus," James said quietly, shutting his eyes.

"I think it's time," James whispered to Sirius. Sirius nodded.

"Go for it," Sirius said. James swallowed, and jumped onto the Gryffindor table. His foot landed in someone's bowl of cereal, and he somehow managed to also kick an entire platter of scrambled eggs on Peter's lap.

"AAHHHHHH!" Peter screamed. "The eggs are burning my crotch!" He was now rubbing the front of his pants with his hand, trying to soothe the burned area.

James had certainly gotten what he wanted. The entire hall's attention was now focused on him.

" Lily Evans," James said grandly. "Would you like to go on a date with me?" He winked at her. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"No, not until pigs fly, Potter. And certainly not until your disgusting mate stops pouring pumpkin juice on his crotch," Lily snapped. She grabbed her book bag and raced out of the hall. What she had said was true though, as James turned his attention towards Peter and realized he was, in fact, in the process of pouring a pitcher of juice on his crotch area, whilst still rubbing it with his hands.

James groaned. This had not gone at all as he had planned. Suddenly, he felt his shoulder being dragged downwards, and he found himself being pulled back onto the bench. Sirius was looking nervously behind James.

"Potter! What on earth was that? Detention, certainly. I expect to see you at 6 o clock in my office, no butts," Professor Mcgonagall told him severely. James put his face in his hands. A 6 o clock detention meant he wouldn't have time to eat dinner. This was turning out to be one of the most embarrassing days of his life.

"Damn it, Peter! Would you stop humping Remus?" James heard Sirius say. He glanced up, and found that Peter was now rubbing his crotch up against Remus's shoulder, in an attempt to get rid of the burning sensation that still lingered. Remus looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Oh boy," James said, and promptly buried his face in his arms for the rest of breakfast.

By the end of the week, Remus had realized several things about his new friends. First off, they were smart. They hardly needed to study, and they already knew about half the course material.

They were kind too, he had realized, as they always included him in their schemes and ideas. (Which there had been a scary amount of, having it only been the first week.) As loyal and understanding as they appeared to be, he was certain they would never accept him if they figured out his secret. He was becoming increasingly nervous about the next week's transformation.

He liked having friends though. He liked that he was liked, and was happy to be included, even when it meant breaking the rules. He was having a tremendously fun time at Hogwarts, and he could hardly wait for each morning to come.