"Are you ok?"
I jumped slightly at the sound of James' voice. I looked up and saw that Lily was walking with James and that Remus was ahead of them with Peter. James had a smudge of dirt across one side of his face and I wondered if Lily had slapped him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sirius yelled to James.
James nodded and threw Sirius a thumbs up. My face went red. I thought he was asking how I was. I sped up away from Sirius and past James and Lily to walk with Kaitlin and Michelle.
"Hey," I mumbled to my fellow Gryffindors.
"Hey, Shelly!" Kaitlin was so friendly it amazed me. She was about as tall as I was, with long brown hair that hung down to her waist. She had freckles splashed across her nose and cheeks. Adorable.
Michelle linked arms with me and beamed at me. "Way to get us points!" I had to tilt my head up to her to smile back. She was long and lean, with black hair to the middle of her back. Her parents were from China, but she had lived in London all her life.
"No problem." We were walking quickly now that the ground beneath our feet was leveling out. I was glad to be getting away from James and thankful for the dirt covering the burning embarrassment on my cheeks.
We walked back to the castle and back to the common room to change and switch books for the afternoon classes. I was so glad that Kaitlin and Michelle knew their way around so much better than I did. I had lunch with them and Joseph Kirasich, another boy in our year, before following them to History.
I slid into a seat by a wall. Hunter had told me about the boring ghost, and I was prepared for the worst. I hated History, the only class that I didn't do as well in. I was already a head, but only because I had forced myself to read our textbook at night.
I was digging around in my bag for a quill when I heard someone plop down into the seat next to mine, dropping their bag next to mine. I jerked my head up to see who it was and collided with something very hard.
"Ow!" I cried out as white spots danced in front of my eyes. When I could focus my eyes on the person beside me I groaned. Sirius was rubbing his forehead and scowling at me.
"What do you want, Sirius?" I had to force myself not to call him by his last name. It was especially hard to do because I was irritated by his thick skull and his presence at my table.
"Have you noticed who we have class with? I'm not leaving you alone."
"What are you talking about? I can sit by myself, you don't have to be all noble or whatever you think it is that you're doing. Thanks for the bruise, you can leave now." I was grumbling while rubbing my sore head, but I did take a glance around the room. Slytherins. Terrific. And sure enough, our new pals Warner and Granato were sitting a row and a column away from me. Well, away from us.
Just as Sirius began to gather his things, he was irritated at me and my attitude toward his attempt to be nice, the oblivious Professor Binns floated through the front wall. I put a hand over his on his book bag strap and shook my head. He looked irritated still but settled into his seat.
Whoever thought to give poor students History of Magic after lunch is truly an evil being. It was only ten minutes into the most boring lecture when the first heads started dropping. Soon after that there was only one head up – Lily's. James was sitting behind her, staring at her hair. I wished that I could have chunked an ink bottle at his stupid head, but I didn't want to hit Lily.
I looked beside me and saw that Sirius was awake; his chin was on top of his hands and his face was blankly staring at Binns. Beyond him, at the desk next to us, Peter was asleep while Remus took notes with his face on the desk, turned to one side. Well, I thought, at least there's two Gryffindors with notes. I glanced around at the Slytherins but as far as I could tell they were all asleep.
Something nudged my arm and I gasped quietly. It was Sirius' quill. Great, I thought, what does he want now? I poked him back with my quill, maybe a little bit harder than necessary. He frowned and poked me back. I rolled my eyes and put my head down, facing away from him.
Poke, poke. I swatted at him over my head, closing my eyes. Poke, poke. Sighing, I closed my eyes tighter. Poke, poke.
"What?" I turned my head over on my desk and hissed at him.
Sirius used his quill point to pass a folded piece of parchment toward my face. When I just stared at it he nudged it again, this time until it was up against my nose. Slowly, I dragged my arm from my lap to take the note. I unfolded it as slowly as I could, ignoring Sirius' huffs of impatience, and read:
Tonight. 8 o'clock. Owlery.
I rolled my eyes after reading the bland note. Sirius had gone back to staring at Binns. I crumpled up the note and chunked it at James. It bounced off his shoulder and onto Peter's desk. Oh, God, no! I laid my head back down on my desk as quickly as I could without smashing my head through it.
Before I could panic about the note in Peter's hands the bell sounded, saving me from an approaching anxiety attack. I gathered my things and scooted out the door, keeping my eyes glued to the floor before my feet.