"James, look!" Sirius pointed at the first years who were now walking between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. "You see the small boy in the third row in the middle? That is my brother, Regulus." James stretched his neck a little to look at him. He found him quite quickly, because he looked like a younger Sirius. "Yes, I found him. You can see the two of you are brothers." Sirius looked a little bit irritated by that comment, but decided not to say anything. James continued, ignoring Sirius his facial expression. "Well, he is probably one of the first who will be sorted. Since his last name starts with a B."
And James was indeed right. Regulus was the second person to be sorted by Professor McGonagall. "Black, Regulus." And James saw him walk up, nervous but quite confident. He sat down and put on the Sorting Hat. After already two seconds it yelled: "SLYTHERIN!" The table all the way on the left applauded. Regulus gave one quick look to the Gryffindor table and found Sirius eyes. James saw that Sirius nodded with a stiff smile and Regulus nodded slightly back before heading to the other side of the Great Hall. "Well that was no surprise." Sirius said. And quickly he avoided talking about it. Instead he was now watching how Dirk Cresswell got sorted with great interest. James decided to let it go. Sometimes he had the feeling he would wanted to have siblings. And if he imagined having a little brother he would have liked it if you would end up in the same house as well. Sirius was probably secretly hoping that Regulus also ended up in Gryffindor. Or maybe even in another house than Slytherin. At that moment the Sorting Hat was done deciding about Dirk Cresswell. "GRYFFINDOR!" James and Sirius sprung up applauding and shouting. Peter cast them a quick look and did the same thing. Remus only applauded politely with a smile.
The Sorting Ceremony went on quite quickly. But by the time they were busy with Lucinda Talkalot James his stomach was starting to growl. "I wish they would hurry up, I am starving. I could eat like a werewolf." At that moment Remus' head shot up and they heard a bang. His face twisted with pain and he held his knee with his hands. "Damn!" He groaned with pain. "What happened there, Remus? Why did you hit your knee?" Sirius asked. "I wanted to change positions under the table but probably moved my leg too far up too fast. I will be fine." He said quickly while blushing. "But I think they heard you demand, James. They are finishing up now. This is the last person." James looked at Sirius and Peter. Both glared back but shrugged their shoulders. James nodded and focused on Professor McGonagall removing the Sorting Hat and the stool. After she was done Professor Dumbledore stood up for his welcome back to Hogwarts speech. And finally it was time to eat.
Everybody in the Great Hall were enjoying the food and catching up with each other. "Pass me the chicken please, Remus." Sirius said. Remus handed him a plate full with chicken legs. "I missed this food. No offense Jams, your mum is a superb cook, but nothing can beat the food here." James agreed silently. His mouth was stuffed with mashed potato. "I wish I was at your house as well, James. Your summer sounds amazing. I cannot believe that the two of you visited Diagon Alley without permission. How did they not catch you?" James looked at Sirius. They decided that did not want to tell Remus and Peter yet about the cloak. It was not that they did not want to share or that they would tell someone, but somehow they had the feeling this should be a secret for now. They would tell them soon they decided. "Well just luck you know. Timing was everything here and we got lucky." Peter looked impressed. "Do you guys reckon we will have a good schedule this year?" Remus asked. "Remus, Remus! No school talk yet, today it is still summer and school starts tomorrow. Tell us more about your summer. How is your mum doing?" Remus looked down at his plate. "Yeah, a bit better. Still not doing that well though. I might need to visit again soon, you never know." James nodded. "I do hope she gets better soon!" Remus smiled. "Thank you."
That evening they went to bed quite early. Exhausted by the long day and bursting with excitement the four of them fell asleep. The next morning they walked into the Great Hall. "Hmm, I smell omelet. Thank Merlin, I am starving." Sirius said. "Are you mental? You ate so much last night. How could you be hungry right now?" Remus looked surprised. "I digest fast when I am sleeping." Sirius defended himself. At that moment a few Slytherins walked out of the Great Hall and among them was Severus Snape. He was talking to his classmates. "Yeah you go ahead already. I just need to grab my bag from the common room." James gave Sirius a nudge. "Snivellus is also back. I did not miss him at all this summer. When did he decided to let his hair grow and stop washing it? It looks awful." Sirius laughed. "Well, why don't we ask him?"
They quickly walked after Severus. He had just turned into a hallway. "Hey Snivellus. Watch out!" Severus turned around and looked at them. "What do you two want and why should I watch out?" He asked annoyed. "Well you were walking so fast. Can you imagine what would happen if your hair would drip some grease on the floor and you would slip? You would could get hurt. We are only warning you. Maybe you should try and wash your hair for once." James said. "Yes, Snivie. We are only looking out for you. There is a big chance you would not see the grease fall because your nose would be in the way." Sirius added. Severus became red and started shaking a little. He made a movement towards his wand but James and Sirius were quicker. Wands drawn they both pointed it at Severus. "You better watch out now, Snivellus. You would want to do something you might regret, right?" Severus stammered a bit, but tried to sound confident. "You both got some guts, huh? You wait until I am alone and then you say stuff. You would never do this when I am with my friends." James laughed. "Did you just say that you have friends? Did you hear that Sirius?" Sirius nodded. "I sure did. Well, maybe we should let him walk and hope for the best. He might seriously slip on that grease that he leaves everywhere." He put his wand away and turned around. James was just about to put his wand away when he saw that Severus made a quick move and drew his wand. "Sir-…!" James tried to warn Sirius, but it was already too late.
Snape hit him with a spell and Sirius fell flat on the floor, face down. "I cannot move, James!" Sirius said. "You need to get him for the both of us. Show him no mercy!" James listened to his friend, gladly he was just unable to move. "Snivellus, you should not have done that." Snape smiled now. "You sure Potter? It seems like I have you now alone and I don't hear any snarky comments. Scared, Potter?" James whipped his hair of his face. "You wish." And he shot a spell at Severus. It hit him square in the chest. His robes just turned pink and he looked down at his clothes, flustered. James started laughing. "That color looks amazing on you." Severus raised his wand but they were disturbed by a teacher. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape, what on earth are the two of you doing? And why are your robes pink, Mr. Snape?" It was Professor Slughorn.
"They taunted me, professor. They followed me, Potter and Black and started commenting on my appearance." Slughorn turned towards James. "Oh my, is that Mr. Black on the ground? What happened?" James smiled politely. "A full body binding curse, sir. Snape hit Sirius when he had his back turned at him." Slughorn hastily walked over to Sirius. He mumbled something and Sirius could move again. "Thank you sir." Slughorn turned to Snape and pointed his wand at him. Snape hastily walked back, looking scared. "Take it easy, boy! I will just turn your robes back to their true color." Snape looked down at his black uniform. "Thank you sir." He mumbled.
"And for the three of you! What is this for kind of behavior? It is the first day of the year and you already want to be in detention don't you? Well, that can be arranged! The three of you. This whole Saturday. I want to see you after breakfast in my room. And each one of you just lost your house each ten points for dueling each other. Now go eat breakfast or go to class." Slughorn turned around and marched to the Great Hall. "You got lucky he saved you, Snivellus. Until next time." James said. He and Sirius walked away to the Great Hall. They found Remus and Peter. "Thank you for joining us guys. Where did you go?" Remus sighed. "I went to get breakfast and I convinced Peter to join me. This would never end well and the year just started." James helped himself to some food, while getting a bit grumpy. "Well, he attacked Sirius when he got his back turned to him. But I got him a bit. Before he could get me, Slughorn came. Now we have to spend a full day in detention with him this Saturday." Remus shook his head. "I would help you guys, but I do not want to get in too much trouble. And you should eat fast by the way. We have Herbology in 10 minutes and we still need to get to the green houses." James quickly ate and they walked to their class. "Great, some fresh air." Sirius said once they were outside. "You say that now. Wait until it is mid-December." Remus said. "Yes, we will freeze our bits off!" Peter agreed.
The first week went by pretty fast. They shared Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins, Herbology and Astronomy with the Hufflepuffs, History of Magic and Charms with the Ravenclaws. Transfiguration was just the Gryffindors alone with Professor McGonagall. And before they knew it James and Sirius were walking to the dungeons after breakfast at Saturday. "I cannot believe this! I could have gone to the Quidditch field and practice today. I think the try-outs will be soon." Sirius sighed. "Please, stop whining about that. Yes, I get it. You love Quidditch. Let's focus now on surviving this day. I bet that Slughorn wants us to scrub the cauldrons in a non-magic way." Severus was already waiting in front of the door. He scowled when he saw James and Sirius. "Please Severus, you already look awful enough without such an expression on your face." Sirius said. At that moment the door opened. "Ah, I thought I heard voices. Do come in, you are quite on time." The three of them walked into his office. "Okay, so I want the three of you to clean out and re-arrange my provision room. I have a document with the things that can be thrown away and some stuff that needs to be labeling. I give the list to you James. Once you did everything you can go and enjoy your day off. Oh and before you go, no magic! No summoning of products, no organizing spells or something else. Off you go now." And he waved them goodbye. They walked towards the classroom and entered the closet.
Sirius cursed. "This is not a closet. This is a classroom. Well, we better get to it. We start with throwing stuff away I guess." James said the first few things on the list and the three of them tried to find it. "I swear to Dumbledore, you cannot find a single thing. If only we could summon the stuff we need. How would he know we did it?" James opened his mouth to answer but Severus was quicker. "Do you want to get another day of detention? He specifically said no magic. Let's just move everything outside and then move it back in if it is not on the throwing-away list." James wanted to say something snarky, but this was probably the best way to this. "Fine, we will do it your way. But if it does not work out, you will be doing most of the carrying." James grunted. Severus rolled his eyes.
It took them almost 7 hours to complete everything. When they were done they went back to Slughorn's office and knocked on the door. "Enter!" And they walked into the room. "We are done, professor." Snape said. "Very well. May I see your wands please?" The three of them gave their wands, but with a little hesitation. "Let's see what the last spell is you used." He gave Sirius wand a swirl and saw the spell that they had to perform during Transfiguration. The same went for James his wand. Severus his showed a different spell. Something dark came out, with green fog. "Well, Mr. Snape. May I ask why you did this spell?" Snape blushed. "It was just a spell I found in a book. I tried it." Slughorn looked at him. "And you succeeded. But this quite advanced. At least third year, maybe even four." Severus shrugged. "Well okay then. You can go now. Enjoy your Saturday."
"Sev, what can I do? I am sorry that it happened to you, but I barely speak to them. What do you expect me to do?" Lily was getting a little bit fed up with Severus. He told her about the tormenting comments and his robes turning pink. "Did they tease you when you had detention?" He shook his head. "No, but only because they wanted to get out of there. They knew it would be faster to work together. But they could not resist commenting on everything. But you are right. You are not friends with them. Sorry for bothering you with this. I just thought because you are the same house." Lily nodded. "I understand, but I barely speak to them. I find them annoying and arrogant. I do not want to be friends with them. But if I see you when they pick on you I will do something about it, I promise." Severus nodded. "Thank you, I can take care of myself of course. But somehow they always get me when I am on my own and they are always with the two of them. I just need some back up sometimes." Lily put her hand on Severus upper arm. "And I will be there for you." She re-assured. He blushed and looked down at her hand at his arm.
"Mary, could you please stop tapping your foot? You are making me nervous!" Alice said anxiously. "Oops, sorry! Of course!" Mary held her leg still. "Somehow that relaxes me, but my parents say the same thing." Lily, Marlene, Mary and Alice were working on their homework and it was a quite tricky assignment. "How can I avoid a Grindylow? How can I avoid a Grindylow?" Mary said several times out loud. "The answer will not come to you if you say it several times out loud, you know?" Marlene said annoyed. Mary replied with a snarky comment that made Marlene stand up mad and move her things to another table. Lily sighed. "Did you have to say that?" Mary snapped. "It is not my fault that she gets edgy when she under stress." Lily wanted to keep the peace in their group. This assignment was one of the hardest yet and they could use each other's help. "Everybody is under a lot of pressure now, this is due tomorrow and the information we can find is little." Mary snorted. "Well, not everyone is under pressure you know?" She nodded to the other side of the common room. Lily looked and saw James, Peter, Sirius and Remus huddled up and whispering loudly while pointing at the Daily Prophet. "They seem relaxed. Maybe they already got their essay done." Now it was Lily who snorted. "Please, already done? Okay, Remus I would believe maybe but the rest of them?" Mary nodded. "You are blindsided Lily. James and Sirius are very, very smart. Did you know that they ended up seventh and eight last year with their grades? The top 10 students from our first year and almost 50% of them were Gryffindor. And you know that they do not even try, right? They like pranks and mischief more than homework and paying attention. So I think they could maybe even beat you when they try their hardest." Mary said that last sentence a little bit bitchier than meant, because after that she looked guilty to Lily. "Sorry, that was quite harsh." Lily stood up straight. "It is fine. I know you did not meant it that way. But you can be really, really mean sometimes and I think Marlene has had enough for now. Maybe you should try to apologize?" Mary shook her head. "I want to, because the moment she left I felt guilty. But I know she needs her space right now. Or at least, she does not want to see me." Lily sighed and looked at Alice. "Maybe we can try and talk to her?" Alice looked at her essay. "Yeah, I have no idea how to continue. I wonder how James, Sirius, Peter and Remus are doing it. Do you really think they might already be done?" Mary was smiling now.
"There is only one way to find, isn't it? Why don't you two go talk to Marlene and I will ask those four what they are up to?" Lily did not want to admit it, but she was quite curious what their game was right now. How could they be so relaxed? "Hmm, I think you need another person with you, Mary. When James and Sirius are together you need all the help you can get. Alice, would you mind if you spoke to her?" Alice nodded. "No, that is fine." Mary shrugged. "I think I can handle it on my own, but okay. Let's go and ask them. If they are really done we could maybe ask to take a quick look. We might find something we could use so we can finish that stupid essay." At that moment they arrived at the table where James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were sitting. "Hi guys, do you mind if we join?" Mary asked sweetly. "Of course not ladies, please sit down." Sirius kicked the chair next to James to make room for them to sit down. Lily sat down next James and Mary was on her other side.
"For what do we owe this pleasure?" James asked. Lily rolled her eyes, but Mary answered in a higher voice that was not like her own voice at all. "Well, we could not help to notice that the four of you are like super relaxed. And everybody else is slaving over this stupid Grindylow essay. Did you already finish it?" Sirius laughed. "Oi, Mary McDonald, you are one curious girl aren't you? And let me guess, if we indeed finished it, you would like a look?" Mary heaved her head up high and pushed her chin forwards. "Maybe, would you let us?" Lily looked at her friend. What was she doing? Was she flirting with Black? Sirius looked at Mary with his eyes narrowed, almost if he was weighing all of his options. "Well, let it be the case that we already finished it last night." At that moment Remus scraped his throat. "Hi Lily, Mary. I think first of all what Sirius is trying to say is: Would Remus give you his essay to take a look at? And second of all, I am the one who actually did the assignment and they made some sloppy versions of it for themselves." Lily laughed. "Well that sounds more like believable. Good job, Remus. I have quite a hard time to write so many words on such a small subject." Remus smiled at Lily. "Well, I have the luck that my dad works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He encountered several Grindylows during his career and he could tell me all of his experience."
"Shut up! That is amazing!" Mary said. "Could you tell us please more? This essay is killing us! And you are practically a professional." Remus blushed a little bit. "Okay, just come here with your essays and tell me what you got. I can tell some stories and then you can add it to your essay in your own words." Mary jumped. "Yes, we will! O Merlin, thank you so much Remus. We will be right back." Remus cast one last look at Lily who smiled at him.
That afternoon they listened to the stories Remus told about his dad's work. Marlene and Mary made up after Mary apologized. Lily however cared more about Remus stories right now. She had never met someone who worked at the Ministry of Magic and she was intrigued. "So, does your dad see the Minister of Magic often?" She asked. Lily had seen her picture in the Daily Prophet and was impressed with a female Minister of Magic. "No, Mrs. Jenkins is quite busy and only socializes with the head of the departments. But sometimes he sees her walking through the Ministry." At that moment Peter said: "My dad says it is a shame that we have a female Minister. He thinks that with everything going on now outside we need a man." Lily was surprised. "Why would anybody think that a woman could accomplish less than a man?" She asked. She heard James laugh. She turned her head so fast she could feel a bone crack. "You think that is funny, Potter? I mean it." James now held up his hands high. "Wait a minute, Evans. I agree okay, do not attack me. I think she is a great Minister and a woman could do just as much as a man." Lily's cheeked flushed red. "Oh, sorry. I thought you agreed with Peter." Now Peter was the one who was on the defense. "Hey, that is my dad's opinion. I do not agree at all. Woman can do great stuff as well. You are the best of our year. You even outsmart all the Ravenclaws." Lily now felt a bit embarrassed. All those compliments after assuming the worst of them. Maybe they were not as bad as Severus told her they were.
"Okay, sorry. I am happy you guys think like this." Lily quickly looked down at her watch to avoid looking anyone in the eye. But when she saw the time she jumped up. "For Merlin's sake! If we still want to sleep tonight we need to finish that stupid essay. Sorry guys, we got to go." James nodded. "No problem, but are you girls planning on eating something?" Lily looked at her friends. "I don't think we have time." Marlene said. "We still have 1.500 words left to write. We will eat again at breakfast tomorrow." James nodded. "Well good luck then." They thanked the guys and grabbed their quills. "Okay girls, let's finish this stupid essay. We should be able to do it after those stories about Remus' dad." Alice said.
After 45 minutes the boys came back and each of them had a plate and a glass in their hands. They were walking to the girls. "How is it going?" Remus asked. Marlene sighed. "Pretty well, I think we need another two hours or so and we might be done." Mary had some spots of ink on her face from all the pressure she put on her quill. "Well, we thought you might like something to eat." Alice was still looking at her paper. "We do, but you know that we do not have time to go down." Peter put the plate and glass in front of her. "That is why we brought it to you." Sirius gave his to Mary, Remus to Marlene and James put the plate he was holding in front of Lily. Lily looked up. "You brought food up for us? How did you manage to get that out of the Great Hall?" James grinned at her. "We did not get at from the Great Hall. We know where the kitchens are and they just gave us some food there when we asked for it." Lily felt her mouth fall open. "Oh, well… Yes, eh… Thank you!" She stammered. "No problem!" Said James. He winked at her and then the four of them walked off.
"Oh goodness! Turkey!" Mary squealed. The food smelled amazing. Lily lifted the napkin from the plate and saw turkey, mashed potatoes and some vegetables. In the glass was pumpkin juice. The four of them quickly ate. "I did not realize how hungry I was!" Marlene almost moaned while biting in her turkey. Mary was stuffing the mashed potatoes in her face. "Indeed! This is so nice of them!" Lily nodded. She thought by herself: this is indeed really nice. I cannot imagine that they would bully Sev so much. They are very sweet today, not the usual arrogant douchebags they are most of the time. Maybe she had assumed the worst of someone again, without getting to know them first. She smiled and looked at James. Maybe he was not that bad at all.