Chapter 28

"Normal…what would you consider normal, Sirius?" Ben asked and glanced at the boy sitting next to him.

"Well, I would consider normal to be in the eyes of the beholder," replied Sirius, a smile flashing across his face. He was enjoying teasing his two friends.

"That's beauty," said James, looking at Sirius as if he'd completely gone insane, which, for all he knew, he might have.

"That's true, but it's the same for being normal. What is normal? I mean can you honestly go up to a person and say, yo, you're just like everyone else?" Ben said, looking at James in a slightly accusing manner.

"No," stammered Remus, "Because no one looks or acts exactly like someone else. They may have similar traits or hobbies, but that doesn't make them exactly alike. Oh, I get it."

"There we go, one of them has seen the light!" exclaimed Ben, excited all of a sudden. On his picture, he drew a smile on the imitation of Remus, making him look intelligent and happy.

"What do you think, James?" Sirius asked his friend softly. James looked at his friend and sighed. He hated philosophy. It never made sense to him. In fact, it was his motto that philosophy made no sense unless you were the one who said it first. And even then it could be confusing.

"I don't know. Everyone's different, so what? But there's a difference between normal and weird."

"But what standards are you judging by," Sirius continued. Both Ben and Remus had decided to let Sirius handle it on his own. "Is black hair normal? Are blue eyes normal? Is a certain complexion or height or weight normal? What are you judging by?"

James sighed and stood up. "Behavior makes a person abnormal." James began pacing and making wild gestures. Suddenly Sirius was regretting bringing up anything even close to philosophy. It made him angry, frustrated, and hyper. "If someone dyed their hair pink while everyone else refused to, that would be different, hence, not normal."

"Yeah, but how many times does that happen?" questioned Sirius.

"And how does that apply to me?" asked Ben.

After a moment of silence, James answered, "I actually don't know."

At James's answer, they all laughed and sat down together. James was glad that he had managed to get through a philosophical debate, Remus was glad that nothing was blown up in the process of James's succeeding, Sirius was happy that James saw things from his point of view, and Ben was happy that he had some new friends.

"So where did you come from, Ben?" asked Remus as he picked up one of his textbooks to start reading it.

"Well, Danielle and I moved here from America. We don't actually intend to stay here long, but we're not sure how long long really is." He looked kind of sheepish at that statement, but didn't elaborate.

"Are you and Danielle related at all or am I just inferring that you are?" James asked, slightly confused as to why Ben constantly talk about her.

"Well, she's my twin. So, I s'pose that would make me related to her. No matter how much I may not want to be at times."

"You know what," Sirius said randomly, "I think we should go explore."

"Explore where?" asked Ben his green eyes showing confusion. He had not seen much of the castle yet. He had only been to the great hall, the way to the Gryffindor common room, and the potions classroom which he really wished he didn't know where to find it.

"Well…um, anywhere sounds right about fine right now," he answered standing up and looking at James and Remus for approval.

"Are you sure that's the best thing to do?" asked James. "I mean, you did just get out of the hospital wing. Are you sure that you want to be up and about so soon?"

"Do you really think that Madame Pomfery would have let me out of her sight without making sure that I was 100 fine?"

James shrugged, but he was still kind of nervous. He really didn't want his best friend to be put in the hospital wing immediately after getting out of it. Remus could tell something was wrong as he looked at James from over his book. He really didn't want to do much of anything, as it was the night before the full moon. He was really tired, and was also worried about Sirius.

"You know, I'd really rather not do much of anything today," said Remus, setting his book down on the bed. James smiled his appreciation and Sirius looked crestfallen, but just shrugged. Ben looked at the three and didn't say or do anything. He honestly didn't care what they did as long as he was included.

Ben had never had consistent friends, because his family had moved around a lot. His only companion was Danielle, which wasn't so bad, except for after a while you want to hang out with some guys. So any chance to have some guy friends made Ben happy and willing to do just about anything.

"Any preference on your part?" Sirius asked Ben. Ben simply shook his head and looked at the three boys again. They were certainly interesting. They seemed like they were jokers and had fun pulling pranks on people. Each of them seemed intelligent, funny, and slightly carefree, except Remus was tighter on studying and Sirius couldn't seem to care less. James was somewhat in the middle of that.

If there was one thing that being a gifted artist had given him, it was the ability to read people, to really see them. Most of the time people couldn't see past the physical features of another person. Ben, however, could see deeper than that and could see how the soul survived, how the personality worked, and how the heart ticked in that person. It was one of his talents, and it was times like those that he really appreciated it.

They were still arguing about it when Remus suddenly yelled, "We have a test tomorrow! I know that you don't know it Sirius, and you weren't paying attention during class worth crap, James, and you know it! So let's study so we'll pass the first test of the year. How about that?"

"That's a horrible idea," said Sirius, sounding very whiny. "But, I guess…if you want to."

Remus smiled. "I do want to. Now let's study."

"After I go find something to eat," responded Sirius, and with that, both he and James were running out the door, leaving Ben and Remus in the room, slightly confused and exasperated.

A.N. oh the philosophy. anyways, things will become very interesting soon. thanks for reviewing.