Resisting the urge to blush and run to the closest desk as the entire transfiguration class stared at her and Sirius and James, Hermione put on a calm face and stood in the doorway for a moment to look for a good seat.

There! Next to Alice, in the second row! Hermione forced a confident yet shaky smile onto her face and made her way through the classroom to sit next to her friend, very aware of people watching her. She caught herself in the act of reaching into her bag for a book to hide her face behind—no! I am not going to hide behind my books anymore! Instead, she watched as Sirius and James found empty desks in the class as well.

Sirius sauntered over to sit next to Remus, who sat two rows behind Hermione, punched him in the shoulder lightly, and immediately engaging into conversation. Hermione glanced at Remus, he appeared to be feeling much better than he had this morning. But her inspection of the werewolf was cut short by James' strange behavior. He looked like he was going to follow Sirius and claim the desk right behind the two of them, but changed his mind when he was halfway there and jogged over to slide into the seat next to Hermione, stumbling over the leg of his chair in his eagerness to get there and landing in his seat with a plop!

Hermione looked at Alice, a confused look on her face. Alice brought a hand up to cover her mouth, laughing, and pointed at the desk in front of James. Hermione turned around and laughed quietly, before exchanging a knowing look with Alice. James was leaning forward in his seat, enraptured with the red headed girl before him, who was completely oblivious to the admiring stare from the boy behind her.

Of course, Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled, James came to sit next to me because it was the seat directly behind the love of his life. She wondered if Harry knew how obsessed his father was with his mother. She wondered why she wondered that. She wondered if Harry was like this around girls and she had never noticed.

Professor McGonagall brought the attention of the students back to her and described the lesson for today. "We will have to skip the warm up for today, seeing as how there are ten minutes lost to today's lesson." She glared at James and Sirius, who bowed and congratulated himself before getting yanked back into his seat by Remus, "So we will get straight to the practical application of what we are learning today." She swished her wand and a bunch of buttons of every size and color flew to each student's desk, "I expect all of these to be handed in at the end of class today, each of them transfigured into something creative and pertaining to your grade level."

Hermione looked down at her blue button before Alice poked her in the shoulder. She looked up and gasped with laughter, Alice smiled at her childishly, her own yellow button stuck overtop of her eye like a pirate patch.

"I don't think that was quite what she meant, Alice. Nice look though!"

Alice giggled before twisting in her seat to show her other friends. Hermione found herself wondering if Neville had a silly side like that as she turned her attention back to the task before her. She wanted to do something really complicated and impressive, something that would mark her down as the best student in the class form the beginning.

She twisted her mouth, thinking hard before she was startled by an angry voice. "James Potter! I know you did not just throw your button at my head!" Lily turned around in her seat and scowled at James, who smiled, elated to have her attention on him.

"Really now?" He ran a hand through his hair, face scrunched up like he was trying to remember exactly what happened, "No, no. I'm pretty sure I did." James leaned forward; arms crossed against his stomach with his elbows on the desk, and grinned widely at her irritated expression.

Hermione watched, curiously, as Lily raised an eyebrow and flicked a red button at his face, hitting him on the nose, before swiftly turning back around in her seat. James didn't move for a few moments, his once beaming smile now strained, before he sighed and slouched against the back of his chair with an expression that could only be described as a childish pout.

She turned back to her own button and pointed her wand at it, turning it into a galleon while she thought about what had just happened. From what she had observed she gathered that James, wanting Lily to notice him, had done the only thing any insecure teenage boy would do. He threw something at her head. Obviously, Lily, like the rest of the female race, did not find this manner of flirtation appealing and did not return his affections.

Hermione transifigured her button into a small compass when she saw that the person in front of her had, had the same idea to turn their button into a coin. She looked at James out of the corner of her vision, noting how he idly twirled the red button on his desk like a top, looking down dejectedly. She made a few adjustments to her compass, making it look as realistic as possible before she was satisfied. Why didn't Harry's parents get along like Neville's? She had at least expected them to be friends, but this was an entirely different situation. How were these two going to get married when they couldn't even converse normally?

"Sirius! Spit that out!"

Hermione, as well as the rest of the class, twisted around to see a distraught looking Remus smack Sirius in the back, who; eyes narrowed in laughter, was covering his mouth with his hands. Sirius shook his head, glossy black hair swinging about his face saying something unintelligible through his hands in a somewhat defensive tone. Remus sat back down, exasperated, as Professor McGonagall stepped up behind the two.

"Is there a problem Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black?" She looked down at them sternly as Remus looked torn between telling on his friend and asking the teacher for help. Hermione felt a sudden urge to hug him; his nervous expression was so cute. Wait, what?

Luckily, he didn't have to do either because Sirius, swallowing loudly, spoke up for him. "I ate Remus' transfiguration project Professor McGongall." He looked up at her solemnly, all traces of silliness gone from his clear features.

Professor McGonagall stepped back from him in shock, as if she was afraid that the student nodding gravely before might eat her as well. "Mr. Black! Why would you do such a thing?!" Giggles and snickers filled the classroom.

Remus, his scowling face showing traces of exasperation, and Sirius, looking up at McGonagall with wide eyes as if it was obvious, both said at the same time, "It was a cookie."

Just then, the bell rang and the laughing students stood up and collected their things, eager to get to lunch. Hermione quickly gathered her books together and watched in amazement as James, who had not transfigured his button once, swiftly turned it into a beautiful golden ring. He dropped it carelessly next to Hermione's compass, almost bitterly she noted, before he shouldered his bag and walked over to Sirius, Remus, and Professor McGongall. Deciding to save this moment in her consciousness to mull over later, Hermione swung her bag onto her shoulder and followed James.

In an uncharacteristic display of emotion, McGonagall threw up her hands in exasperation as Sirius threw an arm around Remus' lean shoulders and grinned cheekily, totally oblivious to the agitated look on his friends face. "Fine, fine. I don't have the patience to deal with this. Mr. Lupin, you are exempted from today's lesson. You may all go to lunch." She wearily waved them away, pointedly ignoring James, who had opened his mouth as if to say something.