Dislaimer: You all know the drill....J.K Rowling owns everything...three cheers for her...hip hip!....hip hip!...hip hip!....Yes, that's right. I steal all her characters and ideas and all she gets in return are a few hip hips!

A/N: Thanks again for reviewing, you guys. Makes me vury happyfull indeed. Raphael, you're very kind. Thank you very much for that review. :)!!!! And, Kurtcobain...(I know there's more to your name than that, but I just closed out of the window that said it and I'm too lazy to go back and check)...anyway....to answer your question...I love all sorts of bands. I mean, really...I'm obsessed with so many it's hard for me to single one out. :)...Right now, though, I'm really getting into Franz Ferdinand and at this EXACT moment, I'm listening to the Strokes, and I love them entirely. I plan on kidnapping Julian Cassablancas any day now.

But anyway, on to the story....We left off with Sirius and his mother staring daggers at each other...la de da....after re writing this part about twelve thousand times, I finnaly have come up with a suitable chapter, I think. It took me quick a while to proofread this because I kept changing around the fight with Sirius and his mum, but each time I wrote it it just turned into a huge shout fest where I used the word "shrieking" way too much...SOOOO, I decided to take a new approach to explain how their conversation turned out. Hope you like it. Please read and review!

Chapter Four..........The Boy Who Nods Entirely Too Much......

Sirius stormed into the transfiguration classroom, slamming the door so hard behind him, that it flung back open, hinges squeaking in protest.

He ignored the stares of his classmates, (mainly Lily Evans); he ignored Professor Morrow looking at him as though he had just killed a puppy in front of a group of small children, and he very pointedly ignored James, who was mouthing "shut the door" and gesturing to the entrance. He walked quickly to his professor and handed him the note Dumbledore had written for him, excusing him for being late to class.

The class remained silent and staring as he pulled a chair beside James and threw himself down, slamming his books onto the desk in front of him dramatically. A loud slapping noise filled the room from the books being thrown in so careless a manner, but Sirius didn't apologize. He couldn't think of anything but his mother's sneering, repulsive face.

"Right," Professor Morrow announced evenly after blinking a few times. "Five points from Gryffindor then, I think..."

He shook his head and turned to point towards the large chalkboard behind him. "As I was saying..."

"What happened?" James whispered to Sirius as Remus turned around in the chair in front of them to face him.

"Family reunion gone horribly wrong," Sirius mumbled, pulling out a stack of paper and a quill as though he was preparing to take notes. "Miserable old hag."

"What'd she say?" James pressed.

"I'm trying to listen, Potter," Sirius snapped in answer, quite louder than he intended. Professor Morrow, however did not appear to notice, as he went on with the lesson, back turned on the class.

"Come on, you never take notes," James countered crossly.

"Sirius," Remus said quietly, glancing quickly over his shoulder to make sure Morrow wasn't watching, "are you right?"

"Yes, just chipper," Sirius replied icily, "but unfortunately I've just come to realize that life in general apparently vomits on me."

"That's a bit bitter, don't you think?"

"Yes James, well you'd be bitter too; if your mother hated you and said you were the most disgusting thing on earth...worse than vermin might have been her exact words..."

"Well, what'd you do?" James asked him in a very hushed voice.

"I told her what I really thought of Slytherin..." Sirius grimaced, "needless to say, she didn't exactly care much for my opinion. And trust me, it wasn't a pretty sight."

Sirius took a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. Remus watched him silently, with unmistakable concern.

"You look like crap, Remus," Sirius finally whispered upon noticing that Remus had dark spots under his bloodshot eyes, and an exhausted-by-life kind of expression on his face. "You all right?"

"Fine," Remus replied very quickly and shrugged. "Just tired." And with that, he turned around swiftly and Sirius noted that he sank down slightly in his seat.

Sirius leaned forward in his chair.

"No offense, mate...I just mean...you look ill, that's all ...perhaps the hospital wing would do you some justice," Sirius suggested very quietly to Remus' back.

Remus however, did not reply.

..................................................................................................................................................................................

"Damn it, this is all I need," Sirius groaned as Lily made her way over to him in a huffy quick paced stride.

"Black!" she called out as she made her way to the tree that he, James, and Remus were leaning against in laziness. She was nearly at a run by the time she reached her destination.

"What is it now, Evans? Is my presence on earth still insulting you? Hmm? Still annoyed by the mere sight of me? Alright then, great, I can understand that. So could you at least do me the favor of getting on with it, then? In fact,you know what? Let's just skip to the part where you say that you hate me, slap me a few times for empahsis, and then storm off. No point on wasting time going through small talk. Is that all right by you Evans? Just make it quick, all right? I haven't exactly had the best day."

"I need to speak with you," she said flatly.

Sirius didn't move.

"Ugh," Lily huffed, "come on..."

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him a good distance away from the tree, where, Sirius noted; his friends were sitting and watching him with great attention, James grinning like an idiot, as usual.

"Okay...," she started, pulling her shoulder length auburn hair back in a very lose pony tail, "I hate you...and you hate me..."

Sirius gave a very short, bitter laugh in agreement.

"And we'll always hate each other..."

"Stop sugar coating it, Evans, and get to your point..."

She easily ignored this comment and went on, "...and I've dedicated my life to avoiding you..."

"And I you..."

"...and your disgusting family...," she added with great dislike in her voice.

"...as have I." Sirius replied unenthusiastically to himself.

"...as have you....what?" she asked quickly in frustration, wrinkling her forehead in misunderstanding, clearly annoyed at his inturuption.

"Avoided my family," he answered mildly.

She started at him for a few seconds in hesitation.

"But never mind, continue your ranting...," he gestured her on.

She shook her head and continued, "Okay, so despite all this hatred...and avoidance...all these years of longing to get away from each other...and....well, here we are," she gestured vaguely towards the castle.

Sirius stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"And?" he asked when she didn't speak.

"And....well," she bit her lip as though fighting off some great pain, "It's not like I....Well, I mean...I don't expect us to have tea every morning and frolic through the fields together or anything...but I was just thinking..."

Lily sighed loudly when Sirius didn't interrupt. "Well, what I was thinking....Is that well...I was thinking you and I could work at...you know...Getting along a bit better while we're here."

Sirius laughed shortly and shook his head, "Right. Get along a bit better. That would be great Evans, really it would....absolutely spiffing terrific...not to mention humanly impossible and extremely unlikely."

"Well if you at least made an effort...," she spat at him angrily at once, "but of course you won't...You never do anything unless you see a benefit in it for yourself. Typical, Black. Very typical."

"Oh and I can see that your brilliant effort lasted an extraordinarily long time," he countered sarcastically, "that's typical, Evans. Very typical," he added mockingly.

"Okay, okay...," Lily said as she rolled her eyes, "you're right."

Sirius blinked.

"So...," Lily started slowly, filling in a very long silence. "You er...You tipped a boat on your first day, huh? You and that Potter boy."

It was hard to read her tone, as Sirius guessed she was disguising the disapproval in her voice to sound friendly, but it wasn't very convincing.

"And Remus, yes," Sirius answered impassively, "it was an accident."

"Oh, of course you get that poor boy involved...," she rolled her eyes and glanced very quickly to the tree Remus and James were still sitting at.

"That poor boy?" Sirius laughed, "Who, Remus?"

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.

"Well, I have to go," Lily snapped suddenly, with the faintest hint of pink surfacing to her cheeks, "I'll see you around maybe."

And with that, she turned on her heal and quickly darted back to the castle.

Sirius strolled slowly back to the tree, momentarily glancing over his shoulder after her.

"Always in such a bloody hurry," Sirius muttered as he plopped himself down on the grass in front of his friends. He took a deep breath and streched out his arms widely. "Well that was certainly weird."

"What'd she want?" James asked automatically.

"I don't know...For us to be friends, I think." Sirius shrugged, picking up a rock and chucking it at the lake.

"Friends?"

Sirius nodded, but continued to stare at the lake with a very confused expression etched on his face.

"Oh, and I regret to say this, dear Remus, mate," he added gravely, turning to his friend, "...but I fear Lily Evans may actually be growing fond of you."

Remus showed no reaction to this, but simply stared back at Sirius calmly as though waiting for more.

"You know, now that you mention it, she does seem to look at you a lot, Remus...," James broke the silence, grinning at him. "She's a lot like you really...You know, what with the whole book reading, teacher worshiping thing you two both seem to love."

"James I don't -" Remus began irritably, but was cut off by James.

"I mean, she seems really smart and all that..."

"Yeah, but she's also completely sodding mad..." Sirius reminded him, "Let's not forget that."

"Mmm, point taken....Plus she obviously isn't very cheerful...," James added in agreement.

"Or in the right state of mind, for that matter..."

"And she goes to bed really bloody early...bit boring, I think...."

"Probably to plot my death in her dormitory...."

"But I say you have an excellent chance, nonetheless, Remus."

"Crazy woman...," Sirius was still mumbling.

"Plus, it'd be an excellent way to put an end to your friendship with Sirius here," James continued happily to Remus, nudging him slightly. "Which let's face it, we all know that wou-"

"I um...," Remus began, cutting James off, "I should let you two know...I have to...I have to go home this week."

"Really?" James stared at him, immediately wiping the grin from his face and slowly recovering from the shock that Remus had just inturrupted him so abruptly. "You're going home? For what?"

"My uncle...," Remus replied quickly, "he's...sick."

"He's sick?" James asked in concern, "With what?"

"Er...well that I'm not sure...I just know that um...that it was some kind of mandrake accident gone horribly wrong."

"Oh...well, that's," James paused, "that's...odd, Remus. I hope uh...I hope he's going to be alright."

"Right, well, I'm sure he will be," Remus nodded franticly, "but I should um...er...I should...you know...leave now. Mandrake accident. So I er...I better get...packing."

He got up to his feet abruptly and brushed off his robes, "I'll see you...in a week," he nodded again. "After I visit my uncle. At home. Mandrakes, you know? Yep, just stupid...mandrake accident. My uncle; he's always been a bit careless. So, anyway... I'll be back next week, then." He attempted a very weak smile and turned away from his friends.

"Right," said Sirius, "see you then."

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"He's been blinking a lot lately?" James laughed, "What does that have to do with anything at all whatsoever, Sirius?"

"I've told you, you can't trust blinkers, James, trust me...," Sirius insisted solemnly.

James laughed yet again, "So let me get this straight...you see Remus blinking a lot lately, and because of this extraordinary evidence you think he's hiding some huge and highly dangerous secret?"

"Because of this... and because he mysteriously left all the sudden last week," Sirius added knowledgably, "so yes, I think he's hiding something."

"Excellent Auror work, Sirius. But he's already explained. His uncle was in some freak accident with a mandrake. Now don't you think you're-"

"That I'm overreacting, James? No, I absolutely know that I am not," he insisted confidently, "trust me, I'm good at this."

"Good at what? Monitoring how much your friends blink?"

"Not just friends," Sirius persisted defensively, "I had this dentist, James, this blinking dentist...and as it turns out he had a fake apparating license...And then there was this old woman who came into the store every day...Ugliest old women I have ever seen...And so then this one day she comes in, blinking like there's no tomorrow-"

"Blinking like there's no tomorrow? " James laughed and shook his head. "Where do you come up with stuff, Sirius?"

Sirius disregarded his interruption and went on. "So anyway, she comes in one day blinking like mad, and a set of her ugly fake eyelashes falls out and lands on the counter... So come to find out...This ugly old lady was never really a lady at all....Just a really ugly old man getting his 'ugly old lady Tuesday discount' every week."

"You have an 'ugly old lady Tuesday discount'?"

"Mr. Perchette's idea," Sirius waved his hand in the air idly, dismissing James' comment. "...Anyway, there were loads more blinkers I've met...Lily Evans for one, she's obviously hiding something...the girl blinks more than Remus even...oh, and you know that bloke from the Cudley Cannons that was arrested last year for the murder of the Tornado's Keeper? Blinker, James. The man was a blinker."

"Alright, Sirius. Point proven." James agreed throwing up his arms in surrender, still stifling a laugh.

"And now Remus...," Sirius carried on thoughtfully, "I just wonder what it is..."

"He's probably just been blinking because he's tired or something." James replied reasonably.

"He's tired?" Sirius asked incredulously, "he goes to bed the same time we do every night."

James rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.

"Oh, and don't forget...get this...after he visits his uncle...he comes back with all those scratches on his arms...," Sirius added excitedly, pointing at James.

"...that he got from his mother's whipping picker bushes, Sirius, remember?"

"Pah," Sirius spat bitterly, "so he says. Likely story."

"Okay, okay...shut up now, he's coming."

Sure enough, Remus had just entered the common room carrying a very old, ragged looking book. It had only been a few days since he returned from his week off and he had spent most of his time doing homework in the library and avoiding Sirius' constant questioning.

"Where were you?" Sirius inquired suspiciously the moment Remus was in hearing distance.

Remus sighed heavily, plopping down next to Sirius and running his fingers through his light hair, "I've been talking to Professor Wilks...I've missed so much this week..."

He sighed again and pawed through his rucksack for a while before pulling out a quill and ink.

"You know...Lily Evans has been asking about you, Remus," James leaned forward to whisper humorously. "Non stop, all week long, saying things like 'Oh woe, where is my love...my soul mate...my dear, sweet Remus Lupin?' or 'Oh how I miss that handsome devil, Remus Lupin...wherever could he be?'...bla, bla, bla...Honestly, it's all I hear from the girl....She's got it bad....Clearly hopelessly in love...obsessed, you could say."

Sirius rolled his eyes and glared at James. "She asked once, Potter. Don't go scaring the poor guy. We don't want him to do anything rash...Like kill himself. Evans can certainly have that effect on people."

Remus smiled at his book that he had been dusting absentmindedly and glanced up at Sirius. "No hat today?" he asked mildly, in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

"Nah, not today, mate...casual Friday, you see."

"Ah," James nodded wisely, "so that explains it..."

"Explains what?" Sirius retorted defensively.

"Well you know...the hair, the smell, the clothes..."

"What's wrong with my clothes? These things have been in the family for years!" Sirius claimed proudly, tugging on the sleeves of his sagging green jumper.

"Apparently," Remus smirked.

James snorted and grinned at Remus.

"Oh, speaking of family," Sirius began brightly, "I've been trying to fancy myself a new last name...since you know...I can no longer consider myself a Black and all."

"How 'bout dolt?" James suggested good-naturedly right away.

"Sirius Dolt...," Remus repeated fondly, "you know...it kind of has a ring to it..."

"Mmm. How ridiculously Funny. Anyway...I was thinking more along the lines of, oh I don't know," Sirius looked away thoughtfully, "something that would catch my personality...like Dashing, Valiant, Brilliant or maybe even Genius."

James and Remus laughed heartily at this.

"Right. Tell us when you've decided, Sirius." James told him off handedly, pulling a stack of Exploding Snap out of the pockets of his robes.

"That's Mr. Righteous to you, Potter."

James laughed again. "Right then. My apologizes Mr. Righteous, Sir."

"Apology accepted, thank you James."

Remus opened his mouth slightly and looked up to say something, but was suddenly interrupted when a large mass of black robes collided with great force into their small, circular table.

"Sorry, sorry!" a boy's voice called out cheerfully from the floor. "Trying to catch my ruddy owl..."

He got to his feet very quickly, with such speed that it startled all three of the boys momentarily as he stood directly in front of them at once as though he had just Apparated. In his hand he was stuggling to hold a tiny dark owl that was attempting to claw and peck it's way through his clutches. He stuffed his small pet into his robes quickly as though it were nothing more than an old rolled up ball of parchment. The owl hooted in protest, but quieted down in a matter of seconds.

Sirius recognized the boy immediatly. He'd seen him come up to the dormitories without saying a word every night and Sirius often wondered why the mysterious boy always came up to bed so late. He doubted this boy was even aware that he shared a room with three other people, as he was always the last to bed and the last to wake. Sirius also remembered seeing him hang around with Hufflepuffs quite often, and he was good friends with some Fletcher boy.

"Not a problem," Remus collected himself and smilied kindly. "What's your name?"

"Oh, right, sorry," the cheerful boy smiled back, thrusting out his hand forcefully to Sirius first. "Peter Pettigrew. It's nice to meet you, oh and you...," he added, now shaking James hand quickly before advancing to Remus and saying the same thing.

"That's uh...Sirius...Sirius Righteous, I'm James Potter, and this is Remus Lupin...," James indicated nodding to each of his friends as he introduced them.

"Great, great...," Peter beamed, "excellent to meet you all, excellent."

"Right, excellent," Sirius muttered sarcastically in a mocking tone, quickly followed by Remus kicking him hard in the shins and shaking his head quickly in disapproval.

"Wait a minute...," the Peter boy spat out excitedly and quite suddenly, yet again startling Sirius, "I think I remember you....," the boy went on, snapping his fingers a couple of times as he thought. "It's you three...you're the one's who flipped the bloody boat first day, eh?"

He stared respectfully at them and nodded his head as though agreeing with himself, still smiling happily. "You should have heard Mundungus Fletcher...Nearly wet himself when he saw the three of you, said it nearly brought tears to his eyes to see some worthy potential come into this school."

James continued smiling as he pulled out a chair to his right. "Why don't you sit down, Peter," he offered

"Oh...well alright then, thanks James."

Sirius watched as Peter blinked and listened to James ramble on about Quiddich and flipping the boat. The boy nodded so much it seemed his head might be in danger of falling off if he didn't stop. He scratched his ear, causing his light brown hair to stick up as he did so and never come back down. He asked James something, but Sirius didn't catch what exactly; he was too intent on watching Peter's eyes dart quickly back and forth while he talked to James and Remus, all the while smiling cheekily and nodding franticly.

'Damn, that boy nods more than Remus blinks' Sirius thought to himself crossly, waiting for the boy to stop gaping at James as though he were some kind of god.