Disclaimer: I own nothing at all. K?
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The next morning, Sirius was the first one up in his dorm. He dressed quickly, looking around at the people in his room. *Why couldn't I have been in the other dorm room?* Sirius asked himself. Grumbling lowly, he grabbed his wand and left the room. He entered the empty common room, realizing it was a bit earlier to go to breakfast. He sighed. Great. He suddenly remembered he had to write his mum, like she had ordered, to let him know he was safe. He sat at a table, and took out a scroll and quill. Dipping the quill in his ink well, he scribbled a quick note.
"Dear Mum,
I am at Hogwarts. I have just woken up, and today is the start of classes. There are six other first year boys. They split us up into two dorms, and I am with these three incredibly annoying boys. All in all, though, things aren't too bad. How is Regulas? Reeking havoc at Durmstrang, I suppose. Well, I'll keep in touch.
Sirius Black."
Sirius rolled up the letter just as people started filing down the stairs.
"Sirius!" A voice called. He turned at the voice. Justina was bounding down the stairs, a grin on her face. Sirius smiled for a moment, then turned back to sealing his letter. "What's that?"
"A letter to my mum."
"Oh? How are you to send it?"
"Owl post." Justina still looked a little lost. "Our owls deliver our mail. I taught mine to come to breakfast every morning to see if I have anything to send out, so I don't have to go to the Owlry."
"I see. Well, do you know how to get down to the great hall?" Justina asked softly. Just then, Remus, Peter, and James came up besides Sirius.
"I do," James said with a grin. Remus smirked and cast a glance over at Sirius. Sirius' face tensed up. "Would you like me to show you?" Justina smiled politely.
"Sure. Let me just wait for my friend, Lily, to come down. She's a muggle, too, and could use some help." James smiled.
"No problem." Sirius slipped away from the group and quickly exited through the portrait hole. Within a few minutes, Lily Evans skipped down the steps.
"Justina!" She called. "There you are! Sorry I took so long--" suddenly, she caught site of James, Remus, and Peter. "And who are these guys?" She asked with a dazzling smile. James was enthralled by her beauty.
"This is James. He's offered to help me--us-- down to the Great Hall."
"But what happened to--"
"--I don't know," Justina interrupted quickly. Lily just smiled knowingly, and turned to Remus and Peter.
"And you are...?"
"Remus Lupin," Remus said with a grin. Lily immediately liked him. He had an easy way about him. Always smiling, and always happy.
"Peter Pettigrew." Peter said softly.
"Well, boys, shall we go then?" Lily asked. James nodded.
"Follow me!" James led Lily out the portrait hole. Justina turned to Peter and Remus.
"Well... since he obviously forgot about me," she said nervously, suddenly feeling very self concious.
"Don't worry about him," Peter said. "We'll help you." Justina nodded gratefully, and left the common room with them.
At breakfast, Sirius sat by himself at the end of the table. He ate quickly, not talking to anyone. In his mind, however, he was cursing out James. Sirius snapped out of his thoughts when someone plopped onto the seat infront of him. Sirius looked up and saw Justina smiling. "Why'd you leave this morning?" she asked, piling food onto her plate.
"Didn't think I was needed," Sirius said gruffly. Justina just stood quiet, munching on her breakfast.
"Lily! Over here!" Justina said, flagging Lily down. Lily bounced over, followed by James, Remus, and Peter. James took a seat next to Sirius, and Remus and Peter next to James. Lily sat across from James. Sirius tensed up. Suddenly, before he could act upon anything, a swoosh was heard from overhead. Heads snapped in the direction of the ceiling. Lily and Justina gasped as dozens of owls came swooping down towards tables. One beautiful, sleek, black owl landed infront of Sirius. Sirius stroked the owl.
"Well, hello, Midnight," Sirius cooed. Justina and Lily watched in awe. A tawny owl swooped over to James, dropping a letter, and the Daily Prophet. James dropped a knut into the leathery pouch the owl held, and it sped away. James opened the letter, and read silently to himself. He turned back to the group. Remus was reading his copy of the Daily Prophet, and Peter was stuffing his face. Lily looked over to James.
"Interesting letter?" She smiled, watching Sirius tie his letter to Midnights leg, and sending him on his way.
"Oh, nothing special. Just my mum and dad telling me they're fine and all. They're going away on holiday in a two weeks, and will be gone for three weeks. They said they'd keep in touch. That's all." Lily just nodded.
"Schedules! Here are your Schedules!" Adam shouted, walking up and down the table, handing out schedules. He handed one to each of the first years, then went on down the table.
"What do we have first?" Peter asked, between bites of food.
"Double Potions with Slytherin. Professor Drumline," Remus supplied, grinning at Peter. "I heard he's tough. He's head of Slytherin house, and he favors Slytherins. Or so I've been told."
"Well, that's not fair!" Justina huffed. Remus shrugged.
"Well, we'd better hurry up to Gryffindor Tower to get our couldrens and scales and such," James said. "We'll see you later. Are you joining us, Sirius?" Sirius stood up.
"Guess so. See ya," he waved at Justina and Lily, and left the Great Hall with the other three.
"Why are you so hostile?" James asked, as they made there way up a flight of stairs. "Watch the second step to the top, Peter. Your foot sinks in. I'd hate to have to pull you out." Peter nodded, and hopped over it.
"I'm not."
"Now, now, don't deny it," Remus said merrily. "You've been pretty rude to us." Sirius was quiet for a moment.
"I shouldn't be in Gryffindor," he said, alas.
"And why not? Illuminate." The Fat Lady swung open, and they all stepped in. They made their way up to their dorms, Sirius still thinking about his answer. As they were getting their couldrens out, he answered.
"I should be in Slytherin. My mother will have a field day when she finds out I'm in Gryffindor. My mum... she's very picky about things. She believes that Hogwarts should only accept pure bloods." Sirius shrugged. "A big fan of Salazar Slytherin." Sirius paused, heaving his couldren, and following Remus down the stairs and out the common room. As they made their way to the dungeons, he continued. "My brother, Regulus, is a year younger. He got an early acceptance to Durmstrang. I guess because he's been studying the Dark Arts since he could read. And Durmstrang... they only accept purebloods. Very rarely do they accept half bloods. And they're very, very focused on the Dark Arts, as you probably know. I'm not like my brother... or my mum, either. I don't feel the same way on a lot of things."
"So then why do you care?" Peter questioned. Sirius shrugged.
"She's still my mum, whether shes a crackpot old fool or not. Besides, it's a lot easier to just do as she says." Sirius kicked open the door to the potions room. Professor Drumline nodded at them.
"Next time, boys, please try to come on time." He glanced at his watch. "Your approximately three minutes late." Sirius heard a few Slytherins snigger, and he shot menacing glares at him. One boy in particular, had an evil look to his eye. He had long, greasy black hair, and a hooked nose. His eyes were black. He glared right back at Sirius. Next to him was a boy with short, black hair that was similar to James'. It lie, like James', in every which direction. But the boys features were not friendly, as James' were. He had cold, black eyes. Sirius wondered if it was a trait for Slytherins to have black eyes. His nose flared as he stared Sirius down. His mouth curved into a sneer. "Excuse me, boy! Do you mind ending your staring contest with Mr. Riddle and Mr. Snape, and taking a seat, please?" Professor Drumline said irritably. Sirius didn't look away. "Ten points from Gryffindor. You two, with the brown hair. Sit here," he said, pointing to a station in the middle of the room. Remus and Peter went and sat down. "You two, with the black hair, sit behind them." James shot a dirty look at Snape and Riddle, but made his way to the station behind Remus and Peter. Sirius didn't move. He still refused to break eye contact first. "Boy! MOVE!" Professor Drumline roared. Sirius' mouth twitched.
"My name is Sirius Black, not boy," he spat. His eyes were still glued to Snape's.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor. Now, take your seat, Mr. Black." The way he said Black was like he was talking about filth. Sirius started walking down the aisle, but he still kept his eyes on Snape. When he took his seat, Snape broke the glare, facing forward. Sirius growled, mumbling under his breath. James looked at him and sighed. What was he going to do about him. "Now that you two troublemakers," Drumline said, staring menacingly at James and Sirius, "have been seated, we will begin." Drumline began to swoop down the aisle. "Potions is a precise subject. An extra newt eye, or frog leg, and the potion could go haywire." He stopped infront of James and Sirius, and sneered down on them. "I don't expect many of you to excell in this subject, obviously." Sirius growled. "What was that, Mr. Black?" he asked, tapping his finger on the desk.
"Nothing," Sirius responded defiantly.
"As I thought." Drumline turned and walked back up the aisle, stopping next to Snape and Riddle's station. "But others will excell wonderfully in this subject." Snape beamed proudly, and Riddle shot Snape a nasty look. It was obvious not many people got along well with Snape. Drumline smirked down at Riddle and Snape. It seemed he had reasons for pairing them together. "Now, let's see how much you know." Drumline swooshed to the front of the room. "Who, may I ask, knows what Wolfsbane is used for." Dharma Montgomery's hand flew up. Drumline ignored her. "Mr. Black?"
"I don't know, and I couldn't care less," he sneered.
"Five points from Gryffindor." James groaned. Already, thirtyfive points had been deducted from their house. "When someone drinks Unicorns Blood, what does it do to them? And why do they drink it?" Drumline looked over to James. "Mr. Potter?" James smirked. He knew this answer.
"Even if the person is an inch from death, the Unicorns blood will replenish them, but ar horrible costs." The grin on Drumline's face got smaller. He cleared his throat.
"Very well. Five points for Gryffindor," he said, rather reluctantly. "Now, everyone, take out your couldrens. We're going to start with a simple potion for today. Whoever fails to complete this potion in the correct way will lose their house fifteen points. Each." Drumline waved his wand, and directions on how to make the potion filled the board. "You have one hour. At the end of one hour, you will put your potions in a flask. For the last half hour, I will test it out. Begin."
Remus turned around to scowl at Sirius. "Nice job, you twit! Losing Gryffindor thirty points in only the first half hour of the day!" Sirius glowered back.
"Shut. It." Remus just shook his head and turned around. James turned to Sirius.
"Read the instructions carefully, Sirius. We don't want to lose any more points." James turned back to his couldren.
"It wasn't my fault," Sirius said after a moment.
"What?" James asked.
"Snape. I hate him."
"You know him?"
"Afraid I do." Sirius started to extract lacewigs from his potions kit. "We go back to being kids. Our parents used to be friends. Snape and I have hated each other for as long as I know. We've always got into duels. And him being here is no help. He deserves to be at Durmstrang, that Severus Snape." James bit his lip.
"Can you try to ignore him? Atleast in Potions? Drumline hates us... we all see it. And he'll favor his students before he'll favor us." Sirius shrugged.
"I could try." James nodded.
"Thanks." For the rest of the lesson, James and Sirius worked quietly on their potions. At the end of the lesson, they put their potions in the flasks, and brought them up to Drumline's desk. James' potion, much to Drumlines dislike, was correct. He gave a brief nodded, then told James he could leave. James lingered by the door, waiting for Sirius. Sirius, also much to Drumlines liking, did the potion correctly. As Sirius sauntered over, James gave a cautious grin.
"Atleast we did that all right."
"Yeah. What's next?" Sirius asked, dropping into stride with James. James checked his schedule.
"Transfiguration with Professor Nurmster. Thats from ten to eleven. Then we have Charms with Professor Filene. Then lunch," James responded. Sirius gave a small smile. James stared at him intently. "You know, Sirius...," he started. "You can take your wall down."
"Wall?" Sirius questioned, following James up a flight of stairs, hoping he knew where he was going.
"The wall you built around you. You're always so... I don't know... guarded. You never let loose and have fun. Remus, Peter, and I just want to be your friends," James added. Sirius stopped short.
"You don't have my life, James. Neither does Peter or Remus. They don't know what I go through. And I deal with it the way I deal with it." Sirius glared James down. James glared back.
"We just want to be your friends."
"Whatever. We're going to be late." Sirius pushed past James into the Transfiguration classroom. James followed right behind him.
"Why don't you want us to be your friend?"
"Shh! We'll talk about this later. We're going to get in trouble!" Sirius took a seat behind Peter and Remus. James sat next to him.
"You're bloody right that we'll talk about this later," James hissed as Professor Nurmster began to lecture them.
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Let me know what you think. More reviews = More chapters. :-).
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The next morning, Sirius was the first one up in his dorm. He dressed quickly, looking around at the people in his room. *Why couldn't I have been in the other dorm room?* Sirius asked himself. Grumbling lowly, he grabbed his wand and left the room. He entered the empty common room, realizing it was a bit earlier to go to breakfast. He sighed. Great. He suddenly remembered he had to write his mum, like she had ordered, to let him know he was safe. He sat at a table, and took out a scroll and quill. Dipping the quill in his ink well, he scribbled a quick note.
"Dear Mum,
I am at Hogwarts. I have just woken up, and today is the start of classes. There are six other first year boys. They split us up into two dorms, and I am with these three incredibly annoying boys. All in all, though, things aren't too bad. How is Regulas? Reeking havoc at Durmstrang, I suppose. Well, I'll keep in touch.
Sirius Black."
Sirius rolled up the letter just as people started filing down the stairs.
"Sirius!" A voice called. He turned at the voice. Justina was bounding down the stairs, a grin on her face. Sirius smiled for a moment, then turned back to sealing his letter. "What's that?"
"A letter to my mum."
"Oh? How are you to send it?"
"Owl post." Justina still looked a little lost. "Our owls deliver our mail. I taught mine to come to breakfast every morning to see if I have anything to send out, so I don't have to go to the Owlry."
"I see. Well, do you know how to get down to the great hall?" Justina asked softly. Just then, Remus, Peter, and James came up besides Sirius.
"I do," James said with a grin. Remus smirked and cast a glance over at Sirius. Sirius' face tensed up. "Would you like me to show you?" Justina smiled politely.
"Sure. Let me just wait for my friend, Lily, to come down. She's a muggle, too, and could use some help." James smiled.
"No problem." Sirius slipped away from the group and quickly exited through the portrait hole. Within a few minutes, Lily Evans skipped down the steps.
"Justina!" She called. "There you are! Sorry I took so long--" suddenly, she caught site of James, Remus, and Peter. "And who are these guys?" She asked with a dazzling smile. James was enthralled by her beauty.
"This is James. He's offered to help me--us-- down to the Great Hall."
"But what happened to--"
"--I don't know," Justina interrupted quickly. Lily just smiled knowingly, and turned to Remus and Peter.
"And you are...?"
"Remus Lupin," Remus said with a grin. Lily immediately liked him. He had an easy way about him. Always smiling, and always happy.
"Peter Pettigrew." Peter said softly.
"Well, boys, shall we go then?" Lily asked. James nodded.
"Follow me!" James led Lily out the portrait hole. Justina turned to Peter and Remus.
"Well... since he obviously forgot about me," she said nervously, suddenly feeling very self concious.
"Don't worry about him," Peter said. "We'll help you." Justina nodded gratefully, and left the common room with them.
At breakfast, Sirius sat by himself at the end of the table. He ate quickly, not talking to anyone. In his mind, however, he was cursing out James. Sirius snapped out of his thoughts when someone plopped onto the seat infront of him. Sirius looked up and saw Justina smiling. "Why'd you leave this morning?" she asked, piling food onto her plate.
"Didn't think I was needed," Sirius said gruffly. Justina just stood quiet, munching on her breakfast.
"Lily! Over here!" Justina said, flagging Lily down. Lily bounced over, followed by James, Remus, and Peter. James took a seat next to Sirius, and Remus and Peter next to James. Lily sat across from James. Sirius tensed up. Suddenly, before he could act upon anything, a swoosh was heard from overhead. Heads snapped in the direction of the ceiling. Lily and Justina gasped as dozens of owls came swooping down towards tables. One beautiful, sleek, black owl landed infront of Sirius. Sirius stroked the owl.
"Well, hello, Midnight," Sirius cooed. Justina and Lily watched in awe. A tawny owl swooped over to James, dropping a letter, and the Daily Prophet. James dropped a knut into the leathery pouch the owl held, and it sped away. James opened the letter, and read silently to himself. He turned back to the group. Remus was reading his copy of the Daily Prophet, and Peter was stuffing his face. Lily looked over to James.
"Interesting letter?" She smiled, watching Sirius tie his letter to Midnights leg, and sending him on his way.
"Oh, nothing special. Just my mum and dad telling me they're fine and all. They're going away on holiday in a two weeks, and will be gone for three weeks. They said they'd keep in touch. That's all." Lily just nodded.
"Schedules! Here are your Schedules!" Adam shouted, walking up and down the table, handing out schedules. He handed one to each of the first years, then went on down the table.
"What do we have first?" Peter asked, between bites of food.
"Double Potions with Slytherin. Professor Drumline," Remus supplied, grinning at Peter. "I heard he's tough. He's head of Slytherin house, and he favors Slytherins. Or so I've been told."
"Well, that's not fair!" Justina huffed. Remus shrugged.
"Well, we'd better hurry up to Gryffindor Tower to get our couldrens and scales and such," James said. "We'll see you later. Are you joining us, Sirius?" Sirius stood up.
"Guess so. See ya," he waved at Justina and Lily, and left the Great Hall with the other three.
"Why are you so hostile?" James asked, as they made there way up a flight of stairs. "Watch the second step to the top, Peter. Your foot sinks in. I'd hate to have to pull you out." Peter nodded, and hopped over it.
"I'm not."
"Now, now, don't deny it," Remus said merrily. "You've been pretty rude to us." Sirius was quiet for a moment.
"I shouldn't be in Gryffindor," he said, alas.
"And why not? Illuminate." The Fat Lady swung open, and they all stepped in. They made their way up to their dorms, Sirius still thinking about his answer. As they were getting their couldrens out, he answered.
"I should be in Slytherin. My mother will have a field day when she finds out I'm in Gryffindor. My mum... she's very picky about things. She believes that Hogwarts should only accept pure bloods." Sirius shrugged. "A big fan of Salazar Slytherin." Sirius paused, heaving his couldren, and following Remus down the stairs and out the common room. As they made their way to the dungeons, he continued. "My brother, Regulus, is a year younger. He got an early acceptance to Durmstrang. I guess because he's been studying the Dark Arts since he could read. And Durmstrang... they only accept purebloods. Very rarely do they accept half bloods. And they're very, very focused on the Dark Arts, as you probably know. I'm not like my brother... or my mum, either. I don't feel the same way on a lot of things."
"So then why do you care?" Peter questioned. Sirius shrugged.
"She's still my mum, whether shes a crackpot old fool or not. Besides, it's a lot easier to just do as she says." Sirius kicked open the door to the potions room. Professor Drumline nodded at them.
"Next time, boys, please try to come on time." He glanced at his watch. "Your approximately three minutes late." Sirius heard a few Slytherins snigger, and he shot menacing glares at him. One boy in particular, had an evil look to his eye. He had long, greasy black hair, and a hooked nose. His eyes were black. He glared right back at Sirius. Next to him was a boy with short, black hair that was similar to James'. It lie, like James', in every which direction. But the boys features were not friendly, as James' were. He had cold, black eyes. Sirius wondered if it was a trait for Slytherins to have black eyes. His nose flared as he stared Sirius down. His mouth curved into a sneer. "Excuse me, boy! Do you mind ending your staring contest with Mr. Riddle and Mr. Snape, and taking a seat, please?" Professor Drumline said irritably. Sirius didn't look away. "Ten points from Gryffindor. You two, with the brown hair. Sit here," he said, pointing to a station in the middle of the room. Remus and Peter went and sat down. "You two, with the black hair, sit behind them." James shot a dirty look at Snape and Riddle, but made his way to the station behind Remus and Peter. Sirius didn't move. He still refused to break eye contact first. "Boy! MOVE!" Professor Drumline roared. Sirius' mouth twitched.
"My name is Sirius Black, not boy," he spat. His eyes were still glued to Snape's.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor. Now, take your seat, Mr. Black." The way he said Black was like he was talking about filth. Sirius started walking down the aisle, but he still kept his eyes on Snape. When he took his seat, Snape broke the glare, facing forward. Sirius growled, mumbling under his breath. James looked at him and sighed. What was he going to do about him. "Now that you two troublemakers," Drumline said, staring menacingly at James and Sirius, "have been seated, we will begin." Drumline began to swoop down the aisle. "Potions is a precise subject. An extra newt eye, or frog leg, and the potion could go haywire." He stopped infront of James and Sirius, and sneered down on them. "I don't expect many of you to excell in this subject, obviously." Sirius growled. "What was that, Mr. Black?" he asked, tapping his finger on the desk.
"Nothing," Sirius responded defiantly.
"As I thought." Drumline turned and walked back up the aisle, stopping next to Snape and Riddle's station. "But others will excell wonderfully in this subject." Snape beamed proudly, and Riddle shot Snape a nasty look. It was obvious not many people got along well with Snape. Drumline smirked down at Riddle and Snape. It seemed he had reasons for pairing them together. "Now, let's see how much you know." Drumline swooshed to the front of the room. "Who, may I ask, knows what Wolfsbane is used for." Dharma Montgomery's hand flew up. Drumline ignored her. "Mr. Black?"
"I don't know, and I couldn't care less," he sneered.
"Five points from Gryffindor." James groaned. Already, thirtyfive points had been deducted from their house. "When someone drinks Unicorns Blood, what does it do to them? And why do they drink it?" Drumline looked over to James. "Mr. Potter?" James smirked. He knew this answer.
"Even if the person is an inch from death, the Unicorns blood will replenish them, but ar horrible costs." The grin on Drumline's face got smaller. He cleared his throat.
"Very well. Five points for Gryffindor," he said, rather reluctantly. "Now, everyone, take out your couldrens. We're going to start with a simple potion for today. Whoever fails to complete this potion in the correct way will lose their house fifteen points. Each." Drumline waved his wand, and directions on how to make the potion filled the board. "You have one hour. At the end of one hour, you will put your potions in a flask. For the last half hour, I will test it out. Begin."
Remus turned around to scowl at Sirius. "Nice job, you twit! Losing Gryffindor thirty points in only the first half hour of the day!" Sirius glowered back.
"Shut. It." Remus just shook his head and turned around. James turned to Sirius.
"Read the instructions carefully, Sirius. We don't want to lose any more points." James turned back to his couldren.
"It wasn't my fault," Sirius said after a moment.
"What?" James asked.
"Snape. I hate him."
"You know him?"
"Afraid I do." Sirius started to extract lacewigs from his potions kit. "We go back to being kids. Our parents used to be friends. Snape and I have hated each other for as long as I know. We've always got into duels. And him being here is no help. He deserves to be at Durmstrang, that Severus Snape." James bit his lip.
"Can you try to ignore him? Atleast in Potions? Drumline hates us... we all see it. And he'll favor his students before he'll favor us." Sirius shrugged.
"I could try." James nodded.
"Thanks." For the rest of the lesson, James and Sirius worked quietly on their potions. At the end of the lesson, they put their potions in the flasks, and brought them up to Drumline's desk. James' potion, much to Drumlines dislike, was correct. He gave a brief nodded, then told James he could leave. James lingered by the door, waiting for Sirius. Sirius, also much to Drumlines liking, did the potion correctly. As Sirius sauntered over, James gave a cautious grin.
"Atleast we did that all right."
"Yeah. What's next?" Sirius asked, dropping into stride with James. James checked his schedule.
"Transfiguration with Professor Nurmster. Thats from ten to eleven. Then we have Charms with Professor Filene. Then lunch," James responded. Sirius gave a small smile. James stared at him intently. "You know, Sirius...," he started. "You can take your wall down."
"Wall?" Sirius questioned, following James up a flight of stairs, hoping he knew where he was going.
"The wall you built around you. You're always so... I don't know... guarded. You never let loose and have fun. Remus, Peter, and I just want to be your friends," James added. Sirius stopped short.
"You don't have my life, James. Neither does Peter or Remus. They don't know what I go through. And I deal with it the way I deal with it." Sirius glared James down. James glared back.
"We just want to be your friends."
"Whatever. We're going to be late." Sirius pushed past James into the Transfiguration classroom. James followed right behind him.
"Why don't you want us to be your friend?"
"Shh! We'll talk about this later. We're going to get in trouble!" Sirius took a seat behind Peter and Remus. James sat next to him.
"You're bloody right that we'll talk about this later," James hissed as Professor Nurmster began to lecture them.
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Let me know what you think. More reviews = More chapters. :-).
