A/N: Wow! 50 reviews! I'm crying, thanks, guys. Anyway, I've been writing as much as I possibly can, but don't expect too many updates as I am on vacation.
I've been rereading my earlier chapters, and being my own reviewer, I can honestly say they suck. So I'm planning of rewriting or editing them... once I'm done with the whole story. I think. Yeah.
Harropotteravatarfan1: Thank you very much. This story is probably going to be a good 100 chapter, or maybe more, so of course I'm not stopping anytime soon.
SweetLikeALemon and Nimrodel Telcontar, you guys brighten my day. Thanks to all the readers and reviewers! Goodness I love you all.
October, 1972
Hogsmeade
"We are so incredibly late," James groaned as he and Sirius ran in the direction of the Transfiguration class.
"This still worries you?" Sirius panted. "We've been late so many times I've lost count!"
"Whatever," James said. He rounded the corner and ran into the classroom. Sirius was right behind him.
They sank into their usual seats as Professor McGonagall glared at them from her desk.
"Why are you late, Mr. Black and Mr. Potter?" she asked disapprovingly.
Sirius grinned cheekily at her. "We were studying in the library."
"Unlikely," Professor McGonagall said coldly. "Ten points from Gryffindor, and a week's worth of detention for both of you."
James and Sirius just smiled. They considered detention a routine part of their day.
"Where were you?" Remus asked out of the corner of his mouth.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "In the library. That's why we're always late."
Remus looked at him in exasperation and went back to taking notes.
James looked around the classroom and his eyes fell on Lily. She was looking at him with her eyes narrowed to a glare. James smiled charmingly at her and winked. Lily's eyes narrowed further and she turned around, fuming.
"They're so immature," she complained to Marcella while the class was trying to turn a cup to a rat.
Marcella sighed. "You've been saying that for over two years, Lily dear. I thought you'd be used to it by now."
"Never!" Lily exclaimed, sending her cup flying with a wave of her hand. It smashed, and Professor McGonagall looked at her disapprovingly.
"Reparo," Lily muttered. The cup mended itself. "Honestly, though. They don't care about losing points for Gryffindor, and they've recently taken to hexing people in the hallways! Emmeline won't even do anything about it, because everyone thinks they're funny."
Marcella laughed. "You have to admit, they kind of are funny."
Lily turned to Marcella, shocked.
"Lighten up, Lily," she said, smiling.
Fuming, Lily jabbed her cup so hard that it shattered once more. Once more Lily repaired it, and heard a cheer from another table. She turned to see James holding an ugly brown rat. She watched as he turned it back into a brown cup, and she watched McGonagall give James ten points for Gryffindor.
Marcella leaned towards Lily. "They just earn the points right back, you know."
Unable to think of a witty reply, Lily settled for sulking quietly while James demonstrated his skills.
At the end of the class, everyone except Peter had managed to turn a cup into a rat. He was the only one given extra homework.
"Just a minute," Professor McGonagall said to the class as they began to stand up and leave. "I have one more announcement. The first Hogsmeade trip is this weekend."
There were murmurs of excitement throughout the classroom.
McGonagall held out her hand to silence the class. "Those of you with permission forms please bring them and don't forget. Hogsmeade is a really great place, if I do say so myself." Professor McGonagall gave the class a small smile. "Have fun."
"Excellent!" James exclaimed as they walked out of McGonagall's room. "I've been waiting to go to Hogsmeade since I was a first year!"
Remus laughed. "I'm looking forward to it myself. I've heard that Zonko's is the best joke shop around!"
"Wonderful!" Peter gasped, smiling delightedly.
Sirius, however, frowned. James noticed this.
"What's wrong, mate?"
Sirius frowned deeper. "You parents signed your permission form, right?"
James nodded.
"I don't think I gave my permission form to my parents," Sirius said. "It came with my letter, and my letter was sent to your house."
Comprehension dawned on James's face. "But you have to be allowed to go!" he said frantically. "Go ask McGonagall to sign it or something!"
Sirius highly doubted it would work, but he turned back to the classroom anyway, his friends on his heel.
He entered the classroom and found her sitting at her desk. He walked up to her. "Professor?"
Professor McGonagall looked up in surprise. "Yes, Mr. Black?"
Sirius fidgeted with his hands. "Uh, I spent the summer at James Potter's house and had no contact with my parents whatsoever, so there was no way I could have, erm, gotten them to sign my permission form. I was, uh, wondering if you would, er, sign it for me?" he finished in a desperate voice.
Professor McGonagall just looked at him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Black," she finally said. "I am not your parent or your guardian, so me signing your form would do nothing."
"But – "
"You could have owled them the permission form."
Sirius opened his mouth, and then closed it, unable to think of any response.
"The answer is no, Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall said with a trace of pity in her eyes.
"Thanks anyway," Sirius muttered and walked out of the classroom. He saw the eager and worried faces of his friends and sighed.
"No luck," he said to the rest of them gloomily.
James looked crestfallen. "Send them the form now!"
"They won't sign it," Sirius said tonelessly. "They're already furious with me because the Potters refused to service Voldemort."
At this, Peter winced.
"Oh come off it, Peter," Sirius snapped. "It's a bloody name."
Peter winced again.
"At least send it to them," Remus persisted. "The worst they can do is send it back blank."
"They won't sign it," Sirius said shortly.
"Try," Remus persuaded.
Sirius sighed resignedly. "Okay, Remus. I'll send it to them." With that, he set off for the owlery alone.
The next few days at breakfast, Sirius constantly glanced up when the mail came to look for the snowy owl he had sent with his permission form to his parents. Every day he was disappointed, and stabbed moodily at his breakfast while James, Remus and Peter tried to console him.
"You know, it's probably not that great anyway," Peter said in a completely unconvincing tone.
"Yeah," Sirius said, completely killing his bacon with a fork.
The day of the trip, Sirius rose earlier than Remus, a feat he accomplished for the first time. He went down to the breakfast table early to wait for the mail. Soon, Remus joined him, then Peter, then James. They ate breakfast together and when the mail came, they looked up with bated breaths.
A snowy owl made its way towards the Gryffindor table, but it's letter dropped in the lap of a boy in their year, who exclaimed to his friend that he was waiting for his Hogsmeade permission slip and it had finally come.
Sirius peered over at his slip, to make sure that it wasn't mixed up. It was indeed the boy's. Heart sinking, he returned to a sitting position, positively sulky by now.
"No luck?" James said softly.
Sirius shook his head.
"Are you sure you still want us to go?" Remus asked. "We could stay, you know."
Sirius forced a small smile. "I'm really not that stupidly selfish. Go on to Hogsmeade and have a good time."
"Are you sure?" Peter asked.
"Yeah," Sirius said sulkily.
James opened his mouth to say he would stay with Sirius, but Sirius, as if he could read James's mind, said, "shut it, Potter. If you don't go to Hogsmeade I myself will hex you there."
James closed his mouth. He opened it again. "We'll bring you back some stuff, mate. Chocolate and Zonko's products, eh?"
Sirius forced another small smile. "Sure."
The rest of breakfast was rather silent. The four friends usually trusted Sirius to be goofy and stupid. Obviously, he wasn't in the mood, so breakfast was rather subdued.
Sirius followed his friends outside to where Filch was collecting the permission slips. He watched warily as his friends handed the slips over and joined the rest of their chattering classmates. Shoulders slumped, he returned to the castle.
James looked back at his retreating friend and considered staying in Hogwarts, but shook his head. Sirius would keep himself entertained, and he trusted James to have a good time. With one last wave, James caught up to Remus and Peter.
Sirius waved back and retreated farther into the castle.
James looked at Remus and Peter, starting to smile in spite of Sirius. "Where to first, gentlemen?"
Sirius's mood did not improve as he walked aimlessly around the castle. He hexed a first year for getting in his way, and muttered curses at everything in sight. He almost hexed Professor McGonagall as she was passing.
"Mr. Black!" McGonagall said loudly as she realized a wand was in her face. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Her lips were as thin as ever.
Sirius quickly lowered his wand. "Sorry, Professor," he mumbled tonelessly. "I had nothing to do… all my friends are at Hogwarts."
Her expression softened. "Stop hexing people, Black, or I shall be forced to give you a month's worth of detentions." With that, she walked off.
Sirius gloomily stuffed his wand back in his pocket and wandered some more. He realized that he wasn't an expert on having fun when his friends weren't around. He angrily kicked the wall, imagining that it was his parents, and hopped around on one foot in pain. Stumbling, he walked down the corridor with his big toe full of pain.
"Stupis house of Black," he muttered to himself. "Why don't they just kick me out? It's better than making my life miserable..."
He walked around some more. He felt like he was walking in circles and going nowhere in particular. But he didn't want to go back up to the common room. Sirius sighed in frustration. This was his life.
"Stupid toujours pur," he muttered to himself.
Sirius walked up the stairs to the third floor and halfway through the corridor arrived at the statue of the one-eyed witch. He eyed it warily. He wanted to wait until his friends were there to test the passage out, but he was so desperate for something to do he shook it off.
Scrambling behind it, he took out his wand and tapped it.
"Dissendium!" he muttered and watched in satisfaction as the hump of the witch opened wide enough for his to squeeze through.
He climbed in carefully, and felt himself slide and land on his arm with a thump somewhere cold and hard. He rubbed his arm and stood up groggily. Unable to see in the darkness, his head hit a wall with a resounding bonk.
"Ow!" he muttered to himself.
Sirius whipped out his wand. "Lumos."
At once the passageway filled with light. Sirius saw that it was small and narrow. He breathed, feeling grateful that he wasn't enormously fat.
He stumbled on, tripping and cursing with his painful toe and the uneven dirt of the tunnel. Sweaty and red-faced, he finally made his way up the tunnel.
"Finally," he whispered, relieved, as he arrived at a trapdoor. Clambering up the stairs, he burst open the trapdoor and found himself in what seemed like the cellar of a store.
Now extremely excited, he poked around the cellar some more and found writing on the crates. He gasped in amazement. He was in the cellar of Honeydukes.
Heart pounding, he walked silently up the stairs leading to the main store. Bursting with excitement, he reached for the handle. Before he could touch it, the door wrenched open, and he found himself face-to-face with an incredibly freckly boy of about twenty.
He stared at Sirius.
Sirius stared back. He glanced at the boy's shirt. It had a badge that said, Hi! I'm Ambrosius Flume! on it. Sirius fought back a snicker and stared Ambrosius right back.
"What are you doing here?" Ambrosius said, his eyes narrowed.
Sirius smiled charmingly. "I was hired a day ago."
"Out!" Ambrosius roared, spit flying.
Laughing lightly, Sirius ran out of the cellar and out of Honeydukes. He looked around, taking in the whole of the village for the first time. The cottages and shops were so cozy against the biting wind. He decided to head to Zonko's, the joke shop. He smiled with satisfaction.
"No, definitely not," Sirius heard Remus's voice say loudly. "Sirius will not want a rotten fish for a present."
"Why not?" James laughed. "Give it to him and watch his face as it starts giving off highly smelly fumes. It's hilarious."
Sirius turned in the direction of their voice and saw Peter shake his head with amusement.
"No," Remus said, now laughing as well. "We can't exactly take this up to Sirius and ask him if he wants it."
"Why not?" Sirius spoke up from behind the group.
Remus whipped around and stared in surprise. James turned and beamed. Peter jumped about a mile.
"What are you doing here?" Remus asked frantically.
"I've come to haunt you from my death," Sirius said in a bored voice.
"How did you get here?" Peter squeaked.
"One-eyed witch," Sirius said simply.
"That leads to Hogsmeade?" Remus asked hoarsely.
"Well, to the cellar of Honeydukes, to be exact."
James beamed with pride. "Perfect!"
"Not perfect," Remus said sternly. "Sirius, you don't have a permission form, how in the world are you supposed to stay out of sight and not get caught?"
Sirius shrugged. "There are so many people here that the chances of me even being caught without a permission slip is laughable."
Remus looked worried.
Sirius laughed. "Come on, Remus, lighten up, will you? Are you going to report me?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Like I'd be that stupid. I'm just worried you'll get into trouble."
"What's the fun without the risk?" Sirius walked over to a display of Screaming Smilies. "These are great!"
Remus sighed, giving in. "Okay, I think we've shopped out Zonko's. Where to next?"
They walked out of the store, clutching their purchases. The biting wind made them shiver. Leaves swirled serenely past them, occasionally smacking an unsuspecting student full in the face. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter looked around the little cobbled street and saw the Three Broomsticks with its warm glow and cheery windows.
"Let's go there," James and Peter said at the same time.
"I was about to suggest the same thing!" Remus and Sirius exclaimed as one.
They all looked and each other and laughed. Walking inside the Three Broomsticks, they saw an empty table big enough for all of them. They ran over to it, and sat down.
A curvy and attractive barmaid came over to take their order. "What'll it be, gentlemen?"
Sirius looked up and grinned cheekily. "What, no hello?"
"I'm sorry," she said, grinning. "I'm Madam Rosmerta."
"I'm Sirius Black and those are my best friends, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." Sirius stuck out his hand.
Madam Rosmerta shook it. "First time in Hogsmeade?"
James laughed. "Is it that obvious?"
Madam Rosmerta laughed. "I don't recognize you. But be sure, gentlemen, I shall remember you from now on, and you'll get the best service possible. Now, what'll it be?"
"Four butterbeers, please," Remus ordered for the four of them.
"Coming right up," she said, and walked away.
Sirius let out a sigh. James laughed at him.
Once they finished their butterbeers, they waved goodbye to Madam Rosmerta and headed farther down the cobbled streets.
"Now what?" Peter asked.
James looked at his watch. "I'd love to go up to the shrieking shack, but it's rather far, and we don't have time today. How's about we go another day and save the rest of the trip for Honeydukes?"
"Sounds good," Remus said.
Sirius laughed. "I hope that Ambrosius guy doesn't recognize me."
They all laughed.
Once inside the crowded Honeydukes, the four friends split up. Remus gaggled at the various sugar quills. James thought the levitating sherbert candies were incredibly amusing. Sirius tested a Pepper Imp, and scorched almost all of Peter's eyebrows off.
Remus headed over to the unusual tastes section. His eyes wandered over to the blood lollipops. He gulped, knowing that in a couple of days, he would probably be craving those.
They paid for their purchases. Remus offered James some Ice Mice.
"It's okay," James said, laughing. "I'm cold enough as it is, thank you."
"It's time to head back," Peter said in disappointment. He gingerly touched his scorched eyebrow.
"Sorry about that, mate," Sirius said. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later, then."
He walked back in the direction of Honeydukes.
"See you back at the castle," James called as Sirius headed back into Honeydukes.
"We'll save the Shrieking Shack for another day," Remus shouted.
Sirius smiled as he walked back into Honeydukes. He could not wait for their next visit to Hogsmeade.