Remus Lupin was anxious.
It was their first breakfast in Hogwarts. He was sat with Sirius, James, and Peter at the Gryffindor table and stabbing at his food to try and escape the anxiety the Slytherins and their glares were giving them.
James was deep in conversation with Sirius about the line between pranking and cruelty, and they both seemed oblivious. Peter was letting out the occasional squeak.
"Stop looking behind you, Peter." Remus hissed. The other boy was visibly sweating under the cold eyes of their rival house, and yet he couldn't seem to stop himself turning round every five seconds to check if they were still looking. For the third time since they'd met him, he looked close to crying.
Remus rolled his eyes, and out of his peripheral vision, he saw an onyx-coloured owl gracefully swooping towards them.
He cleared his throat, and Sirius looked up.
"Um, Sirius?" Remus asked, chewing his lip and glancing towards the owl.
Sirius followed his line of vision, and a sigh escaped his mouth.
"Brace yourselves, lads." he murmured.
James frowned, and the owl landed on the table, dropping a fiery red envelope on the table.
Quiet engulfed the hall. The Gryffindors were staring at the boy in confusion, whilst the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were shooting him sympathetic looks. The Slytherins were openly laughing, but everyone had braced themselves.
Sirius picked up the trembling letter and boredly tore it open, throwing it into the air.
"Sirius Orion Black!"
The entirety of the first-years were once again partially deafened by the hellish screech emitting from the envelope. Sirius yawned.
"You have disgraced everything that the Black family stands for!"
Sirius held his hand up and gestured for James to high-five it, which he did. The grin was back.
"How dare you get yourself into Gryffindor! Shame of my blood, rebellious little brat! The pure audacity you have, consorting yourself with half-bloods and Mudbloods!"
The hall was filled with gasps of shock and outrage from three of the four houses. People were angrily staring at Sirius, who picked up his knife with a pissed expression and slammed it through the letter, pinning it to the table with such force it made the plates clatter.
The anger had somewhat faded into awestruck silence as the students watched the furious letter try to rip itself free. Sirius was glaring down at the Howler with such fury in his eyes that they visibly darkened. And for the first time since he'd met the other boy, Remus felt a tinge of fear in his bones, and shivered.
He'd never seen anyone that angry in his entire life.
The Howler wriggled free and took into the air again. It had time to scream "besmirched the Black family" before the pure strength of Sirius' rage made it explode into flames.
Sirius looked up, and met Remus' eyes.
Remus saw the anger there melt away into a satisfied twinkle, and to Remus' shock, he then proceeded to climb up on the table.
"On behalf of all the half-blood and Muggle-born students here today, I'd like to apologise for my mother and her ridiculous views on society. I for one, believe everyone is worth a lot more than their heritage." Sirius yelled pleasantly, and dropped back into his seat.
The hall was silent for a few seconds longer before it exploded into a huge round of applause. A huge riot had started up at the Slytherin table as people were whacking into each other in their hurry to 'wring his neck'.
Headmaster Dumbledore rose, and clapped his hands together, silencing the shell-shocked students.
"Thank you for that, Mr. Black. I shall be seeing you in my office later for the first detention of the year, as you appear to have left quite a substantial scorch mark on the table." he boomed, and Sirius gave him a cheeky thumbs-up.
"Now if everyone would be kind enough to return to their food, that would indeed be lovely."
Dumbledore then sat down, not even trying to mask the beam on his face.
People were fawning around Sirius all day, and Remus could tell that he loved it. He was revelling in the attention, and especially the girls.
James, thankfully, had given them an alternative to skulking around, waiting for Sirius to be done snogging any girl that threw themselves at him, in the form of planning a prank on the Slytherins for their treatment of Sirius this morning.
They were in the corridor when a third-year Slytherin turned Sirius' hair into green and silver. Sirius had walked off after that, and returned halfway through Transfiguration with the colours changed into gold and red, adorned with an adorable grin.
Professor McGonogall didn't even reprimand him for it, once the class began to shout protests when they saw her lips purse. She even allowed him to walk around with it all day, with firm instructions to return to her before dinner so she could turn it back. Sirius was delighted, and spent the rest of the lesson joining in with their planning.
Sirius was late to dinner, but returned with his normal hair. He slumped down with a sigh.
"Wha's u'" asked James, with his mouth full.
"My hair. It's just so...boring." Sirius murmured, but his eyes were sparkling.
Remus grinned at him, tucking into his mashed potatoes.
After that, though, a girl approached their table, and when Sirius glanced up boredly and got the same look on his face that he'd had this morning with the Howler, Remus knew there would be trouble.
Her hair looked a lot like Sirius' mother's, except it was hanging loose in knotty curls. There was a cruel smirk on her face as she grabbed Sirius' arm. Sirius struggled to get free, but the girl maintained a vice-like grip on his arm and dragged him away.
The three of them were quiet.
Remus was back to chewing his lip. Judging by the ease with which he'd been able to lift Peter last night, Sirius wasn't a weak person. So that girl was apparently stronger than Sirius, and that in itself, was quite worrying. Also, the likeness between Mrs. Black and the girl was unnerving, and Remus found his stomach clenching into knots, so much so that he pushed his plate away, favouring his lip.
Sirius returned in quite a state.
To start with, he burst through the doors at a sprint, the dark haired girl yelling after him.
His usually perfect hair was rumpled, and his clothes were in disarray, crumpled in two places like someone had grabbed him pretty hard. He had a red slap mark on his left cheek and finger marks around his neck. Remus almost exploded with worry, but the ever-present gleam was still lit in Sirius' silvery eyes.
He squeezed in between Remus and Peter, lying his head on Remus' shoulder, trying to catch his breath back. Remus shifted, slightly uncomfortable.
"Uh, Sirius? You okay there?" he asked awkwardly, and Sirius moaned, gazing up into Remus' eyes.
"You smell like chocolate, which is what I normally eat after Bella tries to kill me." Sirius grinned up at him, a rough edge to his voice.
Just then, the food transformed into a vast array of deserts, but Sirius missed it, his eyes closed.
Remus pulled over a dish of chocolate cake and put a little bit on the spoon, wafting it under Sirius' nose.
His eyes immediately snapped open, and he seized the spoon, hungrily digging it into the cake. He'd devoured the entire thing a few minutes later, the other boys watching in horrified fascination.