Life was going well until her next class when she had Advanced Potions.
"Oh, look, the little Ravenclaw has moved up to the big leagues. Think you're smart enough, do ya?" Lucius Malfoy sneered when she walked in.
"Poor child, she must be lost." Severus Snape agreed lounging on a desk towards the front of the room. "Do you need help, little girl?"
"Oh, shove off, Snape." Sirius said grabbing Harper's arm. "You can come sit with me over here." He led her to a table in the middle of the classroom.
"Thanks," Harper whispered sitting down next to him, "I hate it when they look at me. They're so…" she trailed off and shuddered.
"Awww...it was nothing…"Sirius said getting his cauldron set up. "You'll need to borrow my stuff for today, won't you?"
"Yeah, but I'll get you replacements for anything I use…" Harper said. "And anything I melt…" she whispered helping Sirius set up. The class went by with only one reprimand from the teacher. Sirius, it turns out, was quite good in Potions.
After class, they walked together to Lunch where Harper was invited to sit at the Gryffindor table. Harper sat down and glanced nervously at the rest of the table. It was a little weird to be sitting at a table that wasn't Ravenclaw. But, nobody really seemed to mind, so Harper loosened up a bit.
"Hey, we have Advanced Trans. next. Are you ready, Harper?" Lupin asked as he reached for another sandwich wedge.
"I don't know. I mean I know that McGonagall thinks I'm ready, but I'm not quite sure I am…" Harper said taking a drink.
"Oh, you'll do fine. You know you got put into Ravenclaw because of that immense intellect of yours." James laughed.
"Yeah," Peter half-heartedly agreed.
They finished eating and walked in a pack to Advanced Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall smiled at Harper as she sat down, but immediately began the lesson. It was tough to catch up, but by the end of the class, she had learned a bit more on turning inanimate objects into animals. That meant she was one step closer to becoming an Animagus. She noticed that James, Sirius, and Peter were all pretending to be really bad. Anyone who could change by their fifth year was obviously advanced. The only problem was they weren't registered. Harper knew this only because she had witnessed it while trying to find James during one of his and Lily's fights. From then on, she had been sworn to secrecy and had secretly admired each of the boys for doing all that just for Remus. She loved the nicknames they had for each other. Moony, Prongs, Wormtail and Padfoot. She only called them by name when out in public, so as not to let on about the Animagus situation.
After class, she said good-bye to the gang and went back for Advanced History of Magic/Muggle Studies. The class was very interesting as it combined the information on muggles with the history of magic. Harper, as a muggle herself, found it interesting that all the magical events had happened without everyone knowing about them. Thought provoking as the class was, she couldn't wait to get out of it.
It was finally dinner time. She ate quickly then ran to the library to finish her homework. Harper was almost finished when Sirius came bursting in.
"Ya wanna go for a walk with us?" he asked out of breath. Harper looked at her unfinished work then up at Sirius.
"Ummm…" She looked back at her papers, "Yeah, I'll come." Harper closed her books and stuffed them in her bag. Sirius grabbed her hand and drug her to the main doors, where the others were waiting. They walked the grounds together and enjoyed their friendship….