Hi everyone! I know I said Monday or Tuesday, but my family is chronically late, so it's just a genetic thing. I am genetically predisposed to post this a day late! It's over twenty pages though, so please don't be mad at me! School's on Easter Break now, so I should be posting more than usual. I hope you all aren't mad at me and will still read this! Now I have a favor to ask you guys. Would anyone be wiling to check this over and leave a review on the grammatical stuff? My sister reads over most of my chapters before I post them, but she's twelve, and she doesn't always catch any grammatical mistakes that I make. So if anyone wanted to leave a review or PM me telling me about all the grammatical stuff I do wrong, I'd love you! But if you don't want to, I'd still love you! So please enjoy the story!


Monday morning came far too soon for James. All Sunday night he had been up itching, it was almost like someone had thrown itching powder on his bed or something similar. Sirius had gotten another howler that morning too, that wasn't helping any..

Then James' brain clicked into gear. Itching powder. Sirius. When you put them right together like that, it made perfect sense.

"Sirius!" James yelled as soon as the howler died down.

"What?" Sirius replied, with a look of almost genuine confusion on his face. Almost though, not completely.

"Why would you put itching powder in my bed?"

"Oh! That was itching powder? Oh good. I was worried that an ant hill had put up residence under my bed." Peter said, trying to right himself from his position on the floor. When the howler arrived, Peter had fallen and gotten tangled in the sheets, trapping his feet and ankles in them while the rest of him lay on the floor. James tried not to laugh at the sight, after all, he was supposed to be mad right then.

"An ant hill, Peter?" Sirius said.

"Yeah. Have you ever laid down for a picnic or anything, and been sitting all peaceful in the sun? And then an ant comes and bites you, and it starts to itch really badly?" Peter said. His feet were mostly untangled by that point.

"Picnic?" Sirius asked.

"Picnic. We'll explain later. Right now though, stop avoiding the subject! Why in Merlin's name would you decide to make us itch all night? I'm so tired now!" James interjected before Sirius could get started on another tangent.

"I can tell you're tired, you're acting rather cranky. However, to assume that I would have anything to do with it? Ridiculous! You do know what they say about assumers, don't you? But you know, blaming a poor innocent little boy like I, that simply is outrageous. I simply cannot believe that you, James Potter, would be so cruel as to do that to one such as I. You could ruin one's reputation with such serious accusations as you accuse. Please do take great care not to become another mindless accusing assumer." Sirius said, drawing into his pureblood voice more and more as his rambling went on.

"Assumers isn't a word. And it's just assume that the joke is about. Innocent? I'll believe it when I see it!" James said. He wished he could do the pureblood ranting as well as Sirius did, it'd be awfully nice to shove it all back in his cheerful rested face someday.

"I don't get it. What's the assume joke?" Peter said, a look of great confusion on his face. James grinned, Peter really was such a mama's boy at times. Teaching him to pull pranks and such? Perfect corruption.

"Assumers is too a word!" Sirius counteracted, ignoring Peter.

"No it's not! Who told you it was? Do you have a dictionary? Is it properly documented evidence? Sorry, therefore, it's not allowed in court." James said.

"We're not in court, dumbo."

James just rolled his eyes as he stepped out of bed. As he stepped out of bed into a large pile of...mush on the ground.

"Sirius!" He yelled for the second time that day. Honestly, he needed to get Sirius a baby-sitter or something. Maybe he could start teaching Sirius to sleep in. The hour or two that Sirius was up alone before everyone else got up was really quite awful for the remainder of the dorm.

Sirius was laughing too hard to say anything in response, and to James' horror, Peter started laughing as well.

"Oh, I see how it is! Let's all just gang up on James then, why don't we? I want Remus to come back! He's the nicest one in this dorm."

"Sorry...sorry James!" Peter huffed out, in between laughs. "Just...the look on...your face. It was just...so priceless!"

Sirius was still laughing too hard to respond to James' cries of horror, or Peter's halfway sincere apologizes.

With a grin, James thought that he knew the perfect way to get back at the tall boy. He bent over and scooped up a handful of the green mush at his feet (James really didn't want to know what it was), and threw it at Sirius' precious hair.

"Ahhh!" Sirius immediately stopped his laughter, and instead began running around the room, dodging handfuls of flying green mush. "My hair! You're going to dye it all green! I'll look like a snake for Merlin's sake! A snake!"

Dye it green? James looked at his hands, and then at his feet and ankles. Ah. Dye it green! Anything the green mush touched was dyed green it would appear. Green hands and feet and ankles? James had to admit that that was kind of cool. But Sirius with green hair, being in Gryffindor? That would be priceless. So James gave another wicked grin and continued to throw the green mush.

"Hey! Watch it!" Peter cried as a handful narrowly avoided hitting him.

"Oops! Sorry Peter!" James yelled, now chasing Sirius around the room with handfuls of it, rather than just throwing it.

"If you get anymore on my hair I swear I'll have to kill you!" Sirius said, turning his head around and holding his wand out threateningly. His expression was menacing, and if James believed that he actually knew any curses, he might actually be afraid.

"I'll believe it when I see it!" James declared, as he tackled Sirius to the ground. The two wrestled for a few more minutes, neither one gaining the upper hand, and both getting covered in green as the fell into spots where James had missed Sirius and covered the floor instead. Sirius was admittedly better at fighting, but he didn't weigh nearly enough to keep James pinned down. So they both continued fighting, throwing green as often as they were hit with it, and wrestling. Eventually, Peter cleared his throat.

"Yes?" James said, turning to look at Peter as he sat on Sirius' legs.

"Breakfast starts in five minutes. I'd rather not miss it." Peter said, looking slightly sheepish.

"Great." Sirius said, biting James' arm. "Let's go then."

And just like that, the fighting was over. Neither boy won, they both were absolutely covered in green. Sirius had a nice looking splotch on the side of his face, and several streaks in his hair. James entire left arm was green, as were his hands and feet. He also had green ears.

"So, Sirius. How does this come off?" James said, standing up to wash some of it off before they had breakfast and classes.

"Err..it doesn't."

"What?" James was sure he just had to have heard him incorrectly.

"It doesn't. Not that I know of anyways." Sirius said, picking at some green flecks on his arm.

"As in you tested it out on me this morning?" James said, suddenly understanding what was being unsaid.

"Absolutely!" Sirius said, flashing James a mischievous grin. James returned one of his own and laughed.

"I can't wait until your cousins see you! You are a little green snake after all!" James joked. Sirius suddenly got a look of horror on his face.

"Why would I do this?" Sirius wailed.

"I dunno. But we need to go and eat soon before Peter starves to death." James said, giving Peter a smile. James was awfully hungry now that he thought about it.

"Brilliant. I get to walk around the school looking like a Slytherin leprechaun. I don't think that I'm that hungry." Sirius said, trying desperately to scrub some off of his arm.

James suddenly had inspiration, and happily picked up another handful of mush.

"What are you doing with that?" Sirius said, sounding very worried.

"Here, Peter!" He threw some at Peter, catching him in surprise and hitting him in the face. "Now we all match!"


At breakfast, they quite predictably caused a ruckus. But any confusion was good, so James wasn't too upset with causing the mess. But as long as the three of them pretended that they had no clue what everyone was talking about, they could quite assuredly cause even more problems. So, of course that's what they were doing.

"Honestly Evans, I have no idea what you're talking about. Green?" James heard Sirius say to the pretty red-head on his right. Evans. Right, that was her name. Now James had a name for her, he wouldn't have to just call her the pretty red-head!

"But it's all over you! All over your friends too, Black." She replied, sounding quite distressed. James allowed himself a grin as he continued watching her fuss. She made the best hand movements when she was upset.

"Black. Yes, that's my name. Am I Sirius Green?"

"No?" Evans said, sounding very confused at this point.

"Then why in Merlin's name are you trying to convince me that I'm green then? I'm a Black! Admittedly not a very good one, but that's no reason to shed my family name and adopt a title of Green, right? Why are you trying to make me deny my heritage? Now, if you had tried to convince me of becoming Sirius Red, or Sirius Gold, perhaps this could have worked out, but I'm afraid that my loyalties just don't lie to the color green. Too snaky. Now, Evans, becoming Evans Red might work for you."

"Lily. Evans isn't my first name..." Lily said. She appeared to be in shock, and recalling her first name seemed to be the only thing she could say successfully.

"That's great! I'm glad to get to meet you Lily Evans Red. I'm Sirius Black. Not Green. Black. I'm really not green. I don't even have a green thumb. James has one though." He turned to James at this point, but James didn't even notice since he was still watching Evans. Lily. When she got flustered her face heated up, becoming almost as red as her hair.

"James, be a good boy and show Red-head your green thumbs." Evans made a sound of protest at being referred to as red-head, but Sirius waved it off. James obliged to Sirius' request, and held out his hands, palms up, to show Lily very green thumbs.

"Oh, for Pete's sake! Just forget I ever said anything!" Evans said, her face now completely red with anger.

"Pete? We just call him Peter. He doesn't like his name being shortened. I didn't know that you were on such good terms with him to call him by his first name!" James said, figuring he could add a bit to the fray of confusion.

"Are you serious?" Evans said, giving James a look of absolute disbelief. James mentally smacked himself for being such an idiot.

"Nope, ma'am. That would be me! Sirius Black, at your service! Not Green, mind you."

Evans simply groaned, and left the table with a huff. One of the other Gryffindor girls, James couldn't recall her name, got up with her, and had to run to keep up with Evans' fast pace. James grinned and turned to Sirius, giving him a high five. Hopefully they could confuse even more people throughout the day.


"No Professor, I'm not sure what you mean. Green? I'm Potter, this is Pettigrew, and over there is Black. Could you be thinking of Black perhaps? Last names that are colors are awfully easy to confuse."

"Potter? If you and Black don't remove the green by dinnertime, you will be receiving another detention. Pettigrew, you always will need to find a way to remove yours. Now please stop disrupting my class." Professor McGonagall said as she walked back to the front of the room. James felt that it was rather unfair though, he and Sirius hadn't tried to disrupt the whole class. At breakfast, yeah, disruptions were good. But during McGonagall's class? James rather thought that he'd be mad before he stirred something up under her nose.

'No fair!' James wrote in a note to Peter, who had taken the desk beside him. 'How come you won't get detention?'

'I haven't already had one. Nor did I start a detention wall in the dorm room. Please find a way to get this off, I really don't want detention.' Peter wrote back.

'Yeah, I'll try. It's all Sirius' fault!'

'Yes, James. I know. It's all just his fault, none of it yours at all. Please stop writing me notes. I'm trying to listen to the lesson.'

'Where did you get it?' James wrote in a note he tossed to Sirius.

'My uncle. Too bad it's Slytherin's colors, or it might have made a better prank than one just for you. And me and Peter I guess.'

'Where does your uncle get these things? He's the best!'

'Yeah, I know. Best member of my family! Just like Remus has pointed out though, they're not always legal...'

'Where is the shrimp by the way? I'm worried about him.'

'The shrimp? James, he's taller than you. He only weighs less. You are the shortest after all. And you have awful handwriting.'

'Sorry I don't write perfect calligraphy like others do. I weigh more than him I bet.' 'And he could easily take you in a duel.' 'Let's not bring that up. Someday I'll be taller!'

"Mr. Potter? Mr. Black? Detention tomorrow night at seven. Do you wish to share anything with the class? No? Then kindly refrain from passing notes." Professor McGonagall said, her eyes harsh, her expression serious as she handed them detention slips.

As soon as her back was turned, Sirius and James flashed each other grins, holding up the slips like trophies.

~Cessare~

As the three boys left lunch, still very much green, two girls were walking up to them. And with a flash, Sirius realized that they were his cousins.

"Quick!" He hissed to the other boys. "Walk faster!" "Why?" James asked, but he quickened his pace. "My cousins. They're following us."

"You're cousins?" Peter squeaked. "I'll just be off. I thought of another place to find Remus! Bye fellas!" And like that, Peter was off, down a hallway that Sirius was sure he would get lost in. But Peter was no longer his problem, his cousins were far more important.

"I can't believe that you're this scared of a bunch of girls." James said, throwing Sirius a grin.

"Believe me, I'm not afraid of them. Just their older sister." James opened his mouth to reply, but then the shadows descended upon them.

"Hello, Sirius." Andy said, her voice cautious, guarded.

"Sirius." Narcissa said, giving Sirius a nod. As much of a disgrace as Sirius was, he was, after all, the heir to the entire Black fortune.

"Andy, Cissy." Sirius said back. He couldn't help but use the nicknames for the two as often as he could; it annoyed Narcissa so much.

"Why haven't you responded to any of Aunt's letters?" Narcissa said, getting right to the point. He was right, calling her Cissy had definitely annoyed her.

"You mean the howlers? Should I send one of myself screaming back to her?" He retorted, using a harsher voice than he had planned. He saw James take almost a step back, almost as though he had intimidated James with his tone.

"Temper, Sirius. No, please don't do that. Have you been listening to anything she's been saying?" Drommie said, her voice intentionally calm and relaxed.

"Yes." Sirius said. He bit his lip to keep from saying any more. Shorter answers were better, gave him less of a chance of blowing up.

"Well?" Narcissa said, before Andy could get a chance to respond.

"Sirius Black, you are such a disgrace to this family and anyone associated with us. You are dragging this family's name down into the mud, being friendly with Gryffindors. Mudbloods and blood traitors, all of them. Any word that reaches me informing me that you have been speaking to them and you will not be allowed to speak. Do not write to Regulus, any letter that reaches him from you will be immediately burned and he will be punished. Refrain from doing any more to endanger the family, Bellatrix is at risk of losing her engagement if you do. You will not be expected at Christmas, all you ever could be is a worthless son. I didn't even think you could cause the family as much shame as you've caused this time though. Worthless, utterly worthless." Sirius repeated that morning's howler, his voice hollow and detached, the words tumbling out faster than he could listen. But his eyes were burning furiously.

"Bellatrix? Sirius! You can't do that Bella!" Narcissa screamed at him, her cool forgotten in a moment of panic.

"Yeah, because really the top concern on my mind would be that harpy. In fact, I can't think of anyone I'd rather be more concerned about!" Sirius shouted back, his world glowing red in a fit of temper.

"It's completely unfair to the family! Just because you have to be such a disgrace doesn't mean that the rest of us need to be dragged down as well!" Narcissa shrieked, her voice shrill, taut.

"Because all the family's ever done for me is so great, that all I want to do is be nice to the family. Make sure the family's well-being is good! Make sure that some dark artifact hasn't found it's way into the Gryffindor common room, or something that could cause the family more shame. Oh wait, that would be a great situation for the family! Maybe I should start smuggling dementors into the great hall, just to reassure everyone that we're as twisted as they all think! Or maybe I should just leave the school since I"m obviously such a disgrace I can't even get into the most hated house!" Sirius shouted, his rage building at every word.

"Sirius!" Drommie's voice broke through the haze he had built himself into. "Temper! Temper! Focus Sirius!" She grabbed his shoulders, tying Sirius to someone. Slowly, Sirius took deep breathes, closing his eyes. Focus.

Scent. He could smell Drommie's vanilla shampoo, Narcissa's apple scent. He caught a quick whiff of something from the kitchen. Focus.

Sound. He could hear the nervous squeak of James' shoes, Andy's steady breath, Narcissa's jagged breathing. Far off, the spattering of students. Focus.

Touch. Drommie's hand was on his shoulder. His wand was in one hand. His robes were bunched at his elbows. A stray piece of hair tickled his face. Focus.

Sight. Hardest to focus. Slowly, his eyes opened. He looked to the right. A few feet ahead James was standing, looking frightened. Narcissa to the left of Drommie, her eyes murderous, but she had also calmed. Finally, Sirius looked straight ahead into Andy's gaze. He met her eyes and nodded. Focused.

Andy gave him a soft smile in return. "Sirius, just think before you act. Focus. Ok?"

Sirius just nodded, he didn't trust himself to speak quite yet. Drommie gave him a knowing look, then turned to leave. As she left she grabbed Narcissa's arm, and the two sisters left as shadows, the same way they had arrived.

James gave Sirius a long searching look, raising one eyebrow curiosley. He would want a story later, but Sirius couldn't speak right now. Not now. His temper was already too high, he didn't want to explode at James. Focus. He returned James' gaze, silently promising to talk later. James nodded.

"Come on, we have potions. We don't want to get another detention already, Remus will kill us." James said. Sirius gave a soft chuckle, focusing on his Gryffindor friends instead of relatives. Focusing on someone else.

Sirius gave a nod, he would have to keep quiet for a little longer. But James was right, and was looking at him expectantly. The two stepped off together, James keeping an agreeable silence, Sirius trying to forget things he knew he never would.

~Cesser~

Remus didn't return all of Monday, but Peter was thrilled to see him return Tuesday at lunchtime, while Sirius and James had their heads buried together, discussing something secret. They all were waiting outside, trying to con older students into bringing them food, since they still were green. They had found the kitchens last night for dinner, and had just skipped breakfast, but they were quite hungry by lunch. But none of them were willing to risk another detention for something so stupid.

"Remus!" He cried, proud to have noticed Remus first.

"Hello, Peter." Remus said, sitting down on the floor beside Peter. Peter noticed that he winced slightly as he sat down, but he could tell that Remus didn't want anyone else to know. Peter wondered what Remus had been doing, after disappearing for two or so days.

"Remus!" James and Sirius cried together.

"Where were you?" Sirius asked accusingly.

"We checked all over for you!" James contributed.

"I even found the library." Peter said, not wanting all the credit to go to the others.

"Good job Peter. Where was all over, James?" Remus replied, his voice hoarse and diplomatic. Remus seemed to sense the slight tension that Peter was feeling.

"We checked the kitchens, the dorm, the library, all around the grounds, and the Quidditch pitch." James said.

"Did you try the infirmary?" Remus asked. There was a trace of something in his voice that Peter couldn't quite detect, was it embarrassment? Or was that fear driving his statement? Peter couldn't tell.

"Oh. No." Sirius said.

"Well, that's where I was, Sirius. Madame Pomfrey is quite nice."

"Why were you there?" James asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to go visit. I thought it'd be fun to lounge around on a bed all day, and not go to classes. That's obviously why I went." Remus deadpanned.

"Ok, ok. Are you feeling better now?" Sirius said, his voice a tad worried.

"Yes, I'm fine. How are you all?" Remus replied, his voice weak. Maybe it was a cold that affected his throat.

"We're good." James said, answering for them all.

"Are you sure?" Remus said.

"Yes?"

"Oh, you were all looking a bit green around the gills." Remus replied, a slight grin to his voice.

They all looked at each other in confusion before Sirius got the joke. He started laughing, and eventually Peter and James caught on.

"How did this happen?" Remus asked, gesturing around them.

"How did what happen?" James said.

"The green or the sitting in the hall?" Sirius finished.

"I'd like to hear both. And I'd like an explanation of the addition of detention slips to the wall." Remus said, his voice weak but his resolve firm.

"Well, we're sitting in the hall because we can't find the kitchens again, and McGonagall will give us detention if we're still dyed green. So we're avoiding her." Peter said, his stomach growling a little as he talked. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Detentions?" He said, turning to James for an explanation.

"Sirius and I were passing notes in her class and got caught. But it won't happen next time."

"The green?" Now Remus was looking at Sirius, as though he knew that Sirius was the cause for the mess.

"Ah yes, the green. Well, you see my good fellow, I had woken early in the day to a solitary dorm.."


"You missed history of magic and transfiguration!" Peter said accusingly as the four left the kitchens. Remus had known exactly where they were, and they were all happy to get something to eat. Remus hadn't eaten much though, but Peter supposed that he was still recovering from his bug.

"Yes. I did. But I'm here for flying and defense at least." Remus replied, his tone slightly regretful at missing house.

"Do you like flying?" Peter asked. James and Sirius were fairly running ahead, so eager to get on brooms.

"I've never been before, but I suppose it will be all right. Do you?"

"I like watching Quidditch, but I don't like flying as well. I'm a bit afraid of heights." Peter said. James was now making motions with his hands, detailing a match he had seen recently. Peter smiled, he remembered how James had done the same thing when he had first met him.

"I've never seen Quidditch before. What's it like?" Remus asked, his voice genuinly curious. Despite Remus' soft voice, James still managed to catch what he was saying, and turned around in shock.

"You've never seen a match before? That's awful! I met Peter at a match. I better explain the whole game to you! I would be shirking in my duty as your roommate if I didn't. First you have the chasers, they're the best, they have the quaffle..." James started. Peter mostly tuned out the rest of it, and instead turned to Sirius to talk.

"So you like Quidditch I assume?" Peter asked.

"You know what they say about assuming! Yeah, I like it. I've only ever been to one game though." Sirius said, ducking his head a bit. Peter supposed that Sirius was ashamed of the fact, as James rambled on and on about all the moves and games he had seen.

"I've only been to a few myself. What do they say about assuming?"

"I like flying though. But I don't often get a chance to fly. Do you fly?" Sirius said, ignoring Peter's repeated question.

"I'm a bit afraid of heights. So I'm not very good at it. And I only ever get a chance when my mum's not looking." Peter replied, ignoring Sirius' snicker when he stated he was afraid of heights.

"Why can't your mum look?" Sirius asked, clearly curious.

"She's afraid I'll fall and break my neck. So sometimes I'll nick my dad's old broom and fly it for a bit." Peter wasn't as afraid of conversing alone with Sirius now, but Sirius' harsh manner was still something he was wary of. He hoped he wouldn't upset Sirius at all in their brief conversation.

"You nick your dad's broom? Wicked! Does your dad fly?" Sirius was clearly impressed with this brave side of Peter.

"I-" Peter faltered. Luckily, he was saved by James having finished his explanation, and Remus asking Sirius a question about the green gunk.

The boys finally arrived outside for flying lessons, and the smiles on James' and Sirius' faces just got wider and wider.


"Up! Up! Up! Please? Up!" Peter said, pleading with his broom. Above him James and Sirius were already on brooms, zooming through the skies. To his right was Remus, and although Remus was still on the ground, he had already gotten his broom up. Remus was patiently waiting for Peter though, and Peter was very pleased about that.

"Up!" And finally, the broom zoomed into Peter's hand. He mounted it with no problem, and after getting a confirmation nod from the teacher, he and Remus took to the air.

"Ah!" Peter yelled, after he dared open his eyes once. "Too high!"

"Peter, we're only ten feet off of the ground!" He heard James yell from somewhere above him.

"Too high!" Peter repeated. Stupid James and Sirius and Remus and them not being afraid of heights.

"Remus! Have you ever flown before?" He heard Sirius' voice from rather far away. Peter still hadn't opened his eyes, but was trying to keep up with the group anyways. He rather hoped that if he was about to run into them they would say something.

"Speak up! I can't hear you Remus!" The wind was rather strong the further up they got, and one had to shout to be heard.

"No! Peter, stop!" Peter heard Remus shout. So, he immediately stopped.

"What's the matter?" Peter yelled, desperately hoping that he wouldn't need to open his eyes.

"No need to yell. I'm right here. And you were about to fly into the castle. You're quite good at stopping quickly." Remus said. He had apparently flown to hover beside Peter's left ear, but he wasn't going to risk opening his eyes to see.

"Oh." Peter's tone was miserable, he was going to have to open his eyes to get turned around. Suddenly a thought came to him. "How high up am I?"

"You're level with the third floor I'd say. You're very close to charms room." Remus gave a slight chuckle. "It's apparently N.E.W.T.S. charms, Sirius' cousin is waving to us."

Peter raised a weak hand, hoping that it was close to a wave, and finalized his plan.

"I think I'll be going now." Peter said to Remus, and slowly, he began to lower himself to the ground.

"You're just going to drift down like that?"

"Yes. Once my feet hit the ground I will open my eyes. But not one moment before that. I've practiced flying with my eyes closed lots, don't worry."

Remus' tone was amused. "You fly with your eyes closed often?"

"Yes. I like flying. I don't like heights. It works out."

"I'm rather impressed I have to say." Remus was apparently following Peter to the ground.

"I'm so glad." Peter said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Finally, he felt his feet hit solid ground.

He opened his eyes then, looking straight ahead in case he wasn't really on the ground yet, and immediately screamed.

"What?" Remus said, landing beside Peter.

"I was this close to the castle and you let me fly with my eyes closed?" There was only about a hand's length between the castle and Peter, he was actually impressed with himself, but Remus didn't need to know that.

"Well, you seemed fine.." Remus started, but stopped at Peter's incredulous stare.

"Hey guys," Sirius said as he landed beside them, "Peter, did you really fly that whole time with your eyes closed?"

"Yes. I don't want to talk about it."

"Hey!" James shouted, as he landed between Peter and Remus. Peter jumped as he came down, let out an embarrassing squeak, and landed on Sirius' foot.

"Ow! Peter! What is it with you and landing on my foot?"

"Sorry.." Peter said, very afraid of Sirius' scowling face.

"No harm done. Let's fly more." James said, clapping a hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius blinked for a long moment, and gave James a look.

"Right. Let's fly." Sirius said. James smiled at that, and looked anxiously over to the group of girls.

Sighing, Peter rose into the air once more, closing his eyes as soon as he was higher than five feet.

~Cese~

"That was pretty nice flying, Remus." James said to Remus as they walked to defense against the dark arts.

"Thanks." Remus blushed. He hadn't forgotten the resolve he had made to stop being friends with them, it was just so much harder than he had thought. Even though he would only have known them for a week two days from now, he still felt as though they had known one another forever. If they knew him, really knew him though, he knew that they would never even vaguely be friends.

"You've really never flown before?" Sirius asked, incredulous at this development.

"No, I haven't. It was nice." Remus said, thinking back to the feel of the wind on his face.

"How have you never flown before? Your dad is a pureblood, right? And he doesn't have a broom laying around for you to try or anything? Does your mum not like flying or anything. Just, never flying just seems so awful." Sirius said in a rush, as if trying to express how distressed he was by this fact.

"Um.." Remus wasn't sure how to respond to that statement. Yes, his father had a broom, and his mum didn't mind it, but he wasn't allowed to fly. It was just one of those rules his dad had, like how he wasn't allowed to do wandless magic, or go to the village. Or go flying. Visit his grandparents. It was just one of those things.

Luckily he was saved by James pinching Sirius.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You don't say things like 'isn't your dad a pureblood?'. Your family points that out, not you." James said, trying to explain it to Sirius without hurting his feelings. Remus appreciated James telling Sirius that. He knew that Sirius had grown up not knowing these things and was glad that James was there to explain it to him.

"Oh. Ok. Sorry Remus." Remus was fairly surprised to hear Sirius apologize, that seemed like something the stubborn boy would never do.

"It's fine. We understand it, but other people really don't Sirius. You just need to remember who you're talking to." Remus said. He knew it was hard for Sirius, his whole family had ostracized him, he was struggling to fit in with ordinary children, and all the while other Slytherins would trip or hex Sirius in the hallways. When he had first seen them all painted green, he had actually assumed that it was the Slytherin's doing.

"Yeah. I'll work on it." Sirius said, as they rounded the corridor, coming up to the defense room.

"Now, who can tell me the charm lumos does?" Professor Mant said that day in defense.

Remus, Sirius, and Lily Evans raised their hands. "Mr Black?" He called. "It creates a ball of light at the tip of your wand, yellow or white in color, sir."

"Good, good. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, I know that this is most typically not a defense move, but I'll be teaching it to you anyways. This is perhaps the easiest and most useful spell you will ever use. Just like Mr Black said, it creates light at the tip of your wand. For those of you who are familiar with muggle objects, it is almost like having a flashlight with you. Now, repeat after me: lumos."

"Lumos" the class repeated. Remus was rather happy to be learning a useful spell; he had learned several spells already, but none were very useful at all.

"Good, good. Now, try this spell on your own a few times, and read chapter two in your book. The questions at the end of the chapter will be due at the beginning of class tomorrow, so don't waste any time. The word to stop the charm is nox. Begin now please."

"Lumos." Remus said, happy to be gaining back his magical strength. It was rather irritating knowing the spells before, and not being able to perform any of them. The tip of his wand glowed a bright white, and he smiled contentedly.

"Nox." And just like that, the light was out. With a pleased grin, Remus turned to his book to complete the questions. -

Remus read the note that had just landed on his desk. 'Are you finished?' it said in Sirius' curling letters.

'Yes. Are you?' He replied, flicking the paper across James' desk to get to Sirius.

'Yes. I'm bored. Have you really read this book several times before?'

'Yes. Don't laugh, it's boring at my house.'

'I wasn't laughing. Yet. Why is it boring?'

'It's just my mum and I most days. My dad's at work a lot.'

'At my house I have my brother to bug. Is it lonely? Aren't you near a village or anything?'

'Regulus? Yes, it's lonely sometimes. But I'm rather used to it.'

'Do you have neighbors? Yeah, Reggie. I miss him I think.'

'It's ok to miss him. No, there are no neighbors, but a small village a bit away.'

'I want to come and visit you over holidays. I don't miss my mum.'

'Well, she does send you a letter of her lovely voice every day. No, you don't want to visit me.'

'I wish she would stop sending them. Why don't you explode one again?'

'I'd prefer you not to bring it up. I don't want to explode anything. I would like it if she would stop sending them as well.'

'Why not explode them?'

'I'm not allowed.' Remus threw the last note to Sirius just a second before class ended, and luckily could avoid the rest of that conversation.

"Mr Black? Mr Lupin? A word please?" The professor said as they were about to leave the room. Curiously, Sirius and Remus looked at each other and headed to the front of the room.

"So am I correct in assuming that you tossed notes all period?" He asked. Sirius started to giggle when he laughed, and Remus gave him a swift kick to the leg.

"Yes sir. Remus and I are getting quite proficient at throwing paper. If a test was given on throwing paper I do believe that Remus and I would win. Of course, it wouldn't be fair to the other students, so I do believe that you should allow other students practice time on throwing paper notes." Sirius said in such a way that almost convinced Remus that his suggestions were reliable.

Professor Mant just blinked, apparently too stunned to respond. Remus decided that he better intervene.

"Yes sir, Sirius and I were passing notes. We both finished our work early, and I didn't think it would cause anyone else any harm. We were both able to discuss ideas that we otherwise wouldn't have brought up." Remus said in a calm tone, letting the Professor think that they were academic thoughts.

"Er, right." Professor Mant cleared his throat. "Well, as long as you continue to excel and do not disturb other students, you may pass notes. But please sit next to each other, don't throw notes over other students."

"Yes sir. We'll be sure to be careful." Remus said, at the same time Sirius said "Absolutely, my dear professor. But I really do believe that the note throwing competition should be given some thought."

Remus kicked Sirius again, hoping that Sirius would stop talking the poor professor.

"Yes, well, um, you can go now. Thank you for this chat." Professor Mant said, a wrinkle of confusion between his eyebrows.

"Yes Professor. Thank you. Have a nice night." Remus said as they walked to the door.

Once outside the door, Sirius made sure to tease Remus about his responses.

"Yes Professor. Thank you. Have a nice night." Sirius mimicked, his voice high and pompous.

"Oh shut it. He was about ready to have permanent brain damage if you had continued talking for much longer. I merely got us out of trouble, and saved us from losing points. And we're now allowed to pass notes, so you can't poke fun at me."

"Remus, are you always respectful to adults?"

"Yes. Have you ever been?" Remus asked Sirius. For a minute or two Sirius stopped walking and stood with a thoughtful expression instead.

"Yes. A handful of times I have been." Sirius replied, his voice indignant.

"You really remember everything? For how long?" Remus said, realizing that Sirius had actually thought back far enough to know this, and not just guessed with his response.

"I remember everything from my fourth birthday and up pretty much. Drommie and I have done some experimenting, even obliviate doesn't get rid of my memories." Sirius said. Remus noticed that he shivered slightly as he mentioned the experiments. Remus wondered why they had done the experiments, and if his shiver was about them, or about the memories they tried to erase.

"You let your seventeen year old cousin do obliviate on you?" "No. She was fourteen at the time. Why wouldn't I let her? She's not going to hurt me."

"Aren't you not allowed to do magic outside of school?" Remus asked, frowning slightly.

Sirius just laughed at that. "No Remus, the Blacks are pretty much assured that they can do magic whenever and wherever they want. I got my wand when I was nine. No matter how old us Black cousins are, we're allowed to do magic."

"That's very illegal. And obliviate is a harder spell to master. I would have been worried about letting my underage cousin do that to me."

"As far as illegal stuff goes, underage magic really isn't that bad. And sometimes the risks are worth it to know the results.." Sirius said, his voice trailing off, his forehead scrunched up in something akin to pain.

"Sirius?" Remus said, after Sirius had been quiet for quite some time.

"Yeah? Do you want to discuss wandless magic next?" Sirius said, his tone harsh and his words obviously intended to hurt. Remus was surprised for a moment, but he supposed that Sirius had grown up, being taught to make words hurt. So Sirius wasn't really to blame for it. Remus realized that Sirius must have been reliving whatever he had wanted to obliviate. And since Remus had a few ghosts of his own he'd wish to obliviate, he decided to switch topics. Quickly.

"Don't you have detention with McGonagall tonight?"

"Yes. Oh Merlin. She'll see that we're still green and give us detention or start looking into the green or something!" Sirius said, panicked all of a sudden.

"Yes. That's why I brought it up."

"To make me panic?"

"No. I think I know a spell that will help. But I'm not sure."

"Do it then!" Sirius begged, holding up two green palms in surrender.

"Well, I've never tried the spell on a person before. Do you want me to try it on you? Even if it's bad?"

"Remus, you've just heard about how I let my inbred fourteen year old cousin try obliviate on me. Do you really think I'll object you trying something that could potentially save my life and detention record?"

"Your inbred cousin? And I thought you were trying to get as many detentions as possible?" Remus asked, momentarily distracted.

"Yes. Pretty much every pureblooded family is inbred, but the Blacks more than most. You escaped a pureblood fate with your mum quite luckily!"

"I'm sure I have. The detentions though?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to get detentions, but only for the right reasons. Having illegal green dye mush on my person is not exactly what I want to get detention for. Pranking every Slytherin in existence? That's a much better plan." Sirius finished, looking quite pleased with the ideas of pranking the Slytherins.

"Ok. I'll try it on you then." Remus cut in, deciding that he would never get a chance to try the spell if Sirius was allowed to keep talking. "Ready?"

"Ready as ever! Do I need to do anything other than stand here?"

"No, just standing is fine. Tingere certa." Remus said, waving his wandless hand in Sirius' direction. For a second it seemed as though it hadn't worked, and Sirius got a worried expression. But then the green all of a sudden seemed to melt off of Sirius, disappearing as it hit the floor. Remus and Sirius both let out their breath, giving each other a bright smile.

"That was brilliant! Where did you find the spell? Now we can eat with everyone else again!" Sirius exclaimed, relishing in his lack of green state. Remus was grateful that he didn't mention the fact that Remus had done wandless magic once more. He didn't think he could avoid the subject much longer. He would have to really start to learn how to use his wand properly.

"I look forward to eating like a normal pers-student once more." Remus almost said person, but then, was he really to be counted as a person? He didn't think that he really was one. Student though, yes. Student was a title he could claim. "I'm not sure where I found the spell though. It was just one of those things that sort of came to me. I guess I've read it somewhere before?"

"You know more spells than anyone I know. Really though, it's like you always knew that you would need to help us out of messes, and you memorized spells perfect for our situations!" Sirius said, appearing not to have noticed Remus' slip-up.

Remus gave a nervous laugh, he had memorized a lot of spells to help his dorm mates, but he had always memorized them with the moon and wolf in mind. He hoped his friends would never make the connection of his missing dates and all of the healing spells he knew.

"Let's go and get James and Peter! Then we can go eat like normal people!" Sirius yelled, grabbing Remus' arm. The two ran off to find James and Peter then, Sirius too hungry to wait another moment.

~Cesso~

On Wednesday morning, one of the boys awoke to quite a nasty shock. It appeared that somehow during the night, his bed had miraculously moved into the bathrooms.

In the dorm room, two boys were sitting on one bed, laughing at the shriek of surprise they had just heard. The one boy had moved the bed with wandless magic, the other boy agreeing not to say fourth boy slept on, completely unaware of what had happened. Until, of course, his bed was used as a shield from several flying shampoo bottles and toothbrushes. Remarkably well aimed toothbrushes and bottles. Then, as the fourth boy was hit squarely in the face with a red brush he recognized as his own, he awoke.

The remainder of the morning was spent in a mess of chaos, as the four boys chased one another around the dorm room. The dorm was much easier to run in with one less bed, they all remarked to each other. The shortest boy scowled at this comment, but had to admit that the rest of his dorm was correct.

By the time they arrived at breakfast, they were bruised in odd shapes on odd places, and had an even odder mint smell about them. But at least they were no longer green.