And here we have James' continuation of the story. Enjoy Ash's wonderful writing.

James

I'm nearly asleep when my phone starts playing some irritable jingling noise at an unbearable volume and I jerk my head up off the pillow. It can't be morning already. And it isn't. The numbers read 10:00, and really I should be asleep. But Sirius is calling, so I answer.

"What do you want?" I demand groggily.

"Jamie," he whispers. Why is he whispering? He usually stays up 'till all hours of the night, blaring loud music and such. Besides, Sirius never whispers. Everything was loud with Sirius: his music, his bike, just him.

"Yes, Sirius?" I roll over, my eyes sliding open and shut slowly. They truly only want to be sliding closed and then remaining that way, but alas.

"Mother's gone on a murderous rage." Because he's whispering, he sounds legitimately afraid, which is doubly humorous because Sirius is both loud and fearless.

I just sigh, knowing Sirius' mum. "What's she done now? Offed a puppy?"

"No, she pushed Reggie."

I pause. "She did what?" If I'm not going crazy and I heard Sirius correctly, I wouldn't be surprised if she were dead. His mother's always been a bit of a bitch, but pushing Regulus? That's taking things a little far. And the way Sirius protects Reg, I doubt he's pleased.

Sirius' hushed words grow louder now, just slightly, and much angrier. "He has a bruise on his side, James, a nasty one, and I swear to god I'll kill her myself."

I really feel like going back to bed, but I just ask, "Why?"

"My parents were fighting about some money my uncle left me and he asked them to stop yelling and she pushed him. What kind of parent pushes their child because he asks them to stop yelling?" Sirius' voice is shaking, he's so upset, his mood completely different from what it was when I saw him earlier. I yawn, try to push it back down, but he hears. "You're tired, I should let you sleep. Night."

"Sirius, no wait—" There's a click and he's hung up. Great.

Push the covers back, I tell myself once I've shut off my alarm. Now get out of bed.

"Fuck you," I respond to myself aloud, before traipsing across the hall to the bathroom.

All I can think about for the entire day are my plans for chemistry. So naturally, that's what Peter and I talk about rather than paying attention during pre-calc.

"Alright so it should be around 1:45 but I'll text you anyway, make sure you have your phone on."

"And then I just…" Peter stops talking abruptly as Sirius saunters over, a smug grin on his face.

"Hello gents. What are we talking about? Girl troubles, James?"

I almost say something about about him having men troubles, but I bite it back. That would be unnecessarily rude, and James Potter is only ever rude when absolutely necessary. Usually. "No, actually we were just talking about maths." The words are hard to get out. The last time I talked about math was years ago, and I have maintained a very respectable passing C in every maths class since then, thank you very much.

Sirius just nods, knowing the claim is as false as Kayla Hammer's tits. "Don't look now but we're doing a partner activity. And lucky for you, we get to choose our partners."

I'm out of my seat and halfway to Lily Evans' desk when Rem sweeps in and says something that makes Lily grin slightly, before turning to me with such an apologetic face that I know who's put him up to it.

"You dick," I snap at Sirius, who sits down at the desk next to mine with a satisfied smirk. I'd punch him but, while it keeps me away from Lily, it also keeps Remus away from Sirius. Fair trade, I suppose. I don't know what we're supposed to be doing, and of course neither does Sirius. But it's okay because Peter does and by staying with us he avoids getting stuck with Snape, who's left alone since Lily's been abducted by Rem.

When the bell rings we go to lunch, and then I'm off the chem. I strongly dislike chemistry. I hate the smell of chemicals, all the equations, and the homework that I never do anyway.

Speaking of homework, Remus emailed me his essay, which I changed the name at the top of and minimally edited some random paragraphs. So I'm good to go, and Slughorn most likely won't even notice a difference.

As soon as the bell rings I'm antsy. I keep glancing at the clock, and Lily must notice because she wordlessly shoves her watch in my face.

"Waiting for something?" There's a pale tint of pink in her cheeks, her eyes green as ever.

"No," I lie smoothly. "Just the end of the day, freedom from this hell, just what every other person here is thinking. Except you, I'm sure."

Lily narrows her eyes, the corners of her mouth jerking a little. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You just like school is all. I can't fathom why." I glance at her essay, a good three pages thicker even than Remus'. That in itself is impressive. Remus may not love school irrationally, but he takes it seriously.

"At least I try. You're just lucky you have Remus." She raises an eyebrow at the indignant noise I make. "Like I don't see you cross his name out on the homework every class. Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything to Professor Slughorn." Great. If she knew I never did my homework, what had she thought when I'd asked her for it after last class? I cringe inwardly.

It's 1:45 by now, and turn away with a grin to text Pete. As soon as it sends, the Slug himself steps up with a clipboard and announces our 'surprise' seat change. It doesn't surprise me. He starts at the opposite side of the room, and I can only hope Peter shows up before he gets to us. He does.

Slughorn, along with everyone in the class looks up when we hear deafening bangs from the hallway. Slughorn's face draws tight and he ignores it, assigning two more pairs to their table before finally he puts his clipboard on his desk and marches over to the door.

When he peers out the little window in the door, he jerks his head back almost as quickly, eyebrows knitting together in anger. He grumbles rather loudly then rips the door open, almost hits himself with it, and charges out of the room.

Students lean over their lab tables to look out the door after Slughorn, everyone considerably more curious than I am. While no one's paying attention to me, too busy trying to figure out what could possibly be causing the eardrum-shattering explosions, I meander over to the desk.

I need tissues, I say to myself, so that anyone in here who can read minds will be convinced. I half wonder what Sirius would say if he could see me now, not being the least bit stealthy, but then, he'd probably be too concerned over Rem in the first place. Maybe not. If Rem could distract Sirius from pranks, then he'd really be the one.

Slughorn's desk is a paper covered mess, open books stacked on top of each other, essays and tests crammed into an overstuffed drawer. The clipboard rests dangerously on top, little sticky notes with a student's name scrawled hastily on each marking where they will sit.

I simply switch mine with the one next to Lily's, throw an unused tissue into the trash just in case, and return to my seat. Simple enough, really. It took little to no effort from me. I just feel bad for Peter, who is undoubtedly going to get two week's detention, at least. Lily hasn't even noticed my absence, more bored than excited by the interruption.

The explosions stop abruptly, and I cringe when I hear, "Peter Pettigrew! What on earth are you doing?"

Most of the class laughs when we hear, "But I'm doing chemistry, professor!" Even Lily cracks a smile. Slughorn returns a few minutes later after dragging Pete to the office, and I feel only the slightest twinge of guilt. I'm a horrible person.

"James Potter and Lily Evans," he says tiredly, tapping a table a few rows to the left of ours. Slug squints at the seating chart for a moment, but of course he can't question himself, so he moves on to the next table.

As Lily and I take our new seats, she grins. "Long time no see, James. Odd that Professor Slughorn keeps putting us next to each other. Maybe he thinks I'll make you smarter."

"Or maybe it's fate," I suggest.

Lily just smiles. "Yeah. Maybe."

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