Chapter 5: Our first day
The next morning I woke up very early. After lying there for a while, I began to think. This year would have to be fun. And if I had anything to do about it, it would be the best this school had ever seen. With a grin and an idea, I crawled out of bed. I remembered having seen several fireworks in James's trunk the night before, and so careful not to wake anyone, I slipped over. But I stepped on a creaky board.
"What?" James's sleepy voice came through the curtains. He pushed them back. "Siri? What is it?" he glanced at his clock. "It's too early."
"Not for me." I said, grinning. "Hey, do you mind if I borrow those fireworks?" Now he was awake.
"Why?"
"Oh nothing really. I was just going to put them under Dumbledore's chair." James laughed.
"Sirius, you idiot! You weren't planning something without me, now were you?" I laughed. Of course, he would want to join.
"Not in the least. So what do you say?"
"I say we wake Peter and Remus and make them join in the fun."
"Too late. I'm already up." Peter informed us. "You guys are gonna get in so much trouble."
We only laughed. "Of course, Peter. That's the fun."
"Now it's time for Remus." I pushed back his curtains. "Wake up!" he only groaned.
"Oh come on, get up Remy!" James grinned at me.
"Nice name." He muttered. I grinned back.
"I'm up, I'm up.' Remus said into the pillow, confirming what I suspected, that he was not up, nor would be anytime soon.
"Here, will this help?" Peter asked. I grinned to see a large pitcher of water in his hand.
"I'm up!" Remus shouted, scrambling for the floor. Then he glanced out the window. Seeing it was still dark, he frowned and scratched his head.
"Now refresh my memory. Why am I up?" we told him our plan and he shook his head.
"You're going to get in so much trouble."
"That's what I said." Peter told him.
"Oh, don't be such a prat, Pete." I told him.
"Besides, you can relax. We've got it taken care of." James told him.
"But there's still a chance." I rolled my eyes.
"Remus, in life you have to take a chance every once and a while. Otherwise you never have any fun! Now come on!" James and I pulled them down the stairs.
"And just how are we going got get down?" Remus asked. James reached into his robe and pulled out a long thin silvery piece of cloth. Remus and Peter gasped.
"Is that a?"
"Invisibility cloak? Yep? My dad gave it to me." He slipped the cloak over our shoulders and we climbed out the portrait hall and down the stairs. After actually finding the Great Hall, which was a task in itself, we tied the fireworks to the headmaster's chair and slipped back up to our dorm. We had little less than a few minutes before we heard others coming down to the common room. Then we dressed and followed them, eager to see the results of our fist prank.
Dumbledore came in, and stood ready to give his speech. But as he sat down, there was a huge explosion! He jumped then looked around. The whole hall was laughing. Professor Dumbledore looked like he wanted to be stern then he cracked a smile and soon was laughing right along with us.
" Alright, who did that?" he asked when things had died down. We didn't answer. But he looked right at us.
" Mr. Potter. Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin. Please stand up." We stood up. We looked at each other nervously. Did he know?
"Boys, Thank you for that," He paused, " explosive opening to our new year." The hall exploded in clapping and whistles. We laughed and bowed.
"Thank you. Thank you." James laughed. We sat down. That was the start of the legacy we would leave behind.
Professor McGonagall was our transfiguration teacher. She was really quite strict but she soon became our favorite teacher. Maybe because transfiguration was James and my best subject. She started term by showing us her animagi transformation, then giving us a lecture on rules.
Flying lessons were the best. We had them with the Slytherins.
Madam Hooch shouted to our class " Just yell up and if you've done it right the brooms should leap into your hands."
"UP!" Mine leaped right into my hand. I grinned at James whose broom had done the same. Remus's had rolled over and Peter's hadn't move. Neither did Snape's I am happy to say. When we were allowed to fly I found it came very naturally to me. I loved the feeling of soaring over the ground. Remus got a little sick when he looked down and after the lesson we had to pry Peter from the broom. But after class Madam Hooch took James and me aside.
"You boys ever been on a broom before?" She asked
"No."
"My dad let me try it once or twice."
"Well, you boys are naturals. I wouldn't be surprised if you are on the team next year."
We grinned and ran off to our next class, which unfortunately was Potions.
When we tried to get there, James, in a desperate attempt to impress Lily, got us very lost and very late. Finally, Lily found it and we walked in.
"You're late." The potions master said. He was tall and thin, with gray balding hair and a sunken wary face. His eyes moved a lot, always seeing everything, it seemed.
"Yeah, sorry. We got lost." James told him. He glared.
"Names?"
"Remus Lupin."
"James Potter."
"Peter Pettigrew."
"And I'm Sirius." I told him. I was about to add my last name when he glared at me.
"I asked for your name, not your honesty level."
"But I'm Sirius!" I told him. My friends were cracking up.
"I will not tolerate smart attitudes in my class. Now tell me your name now or I will report you to Professor Dumbledore."
I sighed. "My name is Sirius. Sirius Black. Check your roster." I told him. Grudgingly, he did so and took points off when he realized it was true.
After forty-five minutes of taking notes and listen to him blab on about the properties of armadillo bile, we were split into pairs and told to make a shrinking potion. Reaching blindly behind me for powdered slugs, I grabbed the first thing I could reach. Then I dumped it into the cauldron.
"Sirius, I don't think that was supposed to go in there." Remus whispered from his own cauldron, trying to keep his voice down and not attract attention I glanced at the container. It was most diffidently not something I wanted to repeat and I had to wonder how it got into the ingredients.
"Oh well, how about more?" I shrugged and took the next thing from James. He grinned and handed me a random bottle. I grinned back and dumped it into the cauldron. I heard Remus groan, but I only grinned more.
This kept up for a while, James handing me various bottled and vials and me dumping them into our potion, added with various comments from both me and James which sounded a little like, "How some of this, and a little of that, OH! I didn't know they could pickle that! That's diffidently going, and a lot of this,"
Then by chance or good luck, Snape happened by just as a large curtain of smoke exploded from the cauldron with a loud BANG!
I couldn't help laughing as Snape was howling in pain as the now acid potion touched him. It was worth the detention, even though we pretended to know nothing.
That night was the first night Remus disappeared.