Chapter 2
They arrived at Hogwarts, late like usual. Sirius stood up as soon as the train came to a halt and stretched his cramped legs. Sitting still for that long did not agree with him. Usually he was bouncy and causing pranks and planning pranks and anything else that could get him into trouble. He was tired though, after getting no sleep the night before on account of unending excitement and hyperness. All of the nights that he had stayed up later were finally catching up with him.
James stood up and glanced at Remus, who appeared to be dozing off. It had been an unusually quiet ride, much to James's disappointment. He liked loudness and excitement at all times, no matter what time it was (unless it was early in the morning and all he wanted to do was sleep). "Come on Remus," James muttered, gently shaking his shoulder.
Remus opened his eyes slowly and gazed around. He winced he became aware of a headache. "Bloody full moon," he muttered almost inaudibly. Both James and Sirius grinned, though, apparently hearing him. They seldom heard their quiet friend complain, whereas they complained constantly. So when he did, they both were completely satisfied to find that their friend was human.
"Ready for another school year?" Sirius asked as he trailed after James, who was leading the way off the train.
"Sure, why not?" answered Remus from behind him, still sounding half asleep.
"Of course," an exuberant James replied, seeming to be containing too much energy. Sirius was almost surprised that he didn't explode from all of his enthusiasm.
"How 'bout you, Sirius?" questioned Remus, always the one to try to include everyone in a conversation.
Sirius shrugged and hopped out of the train, standing next to James. "I don't know. It's great to be back, but I really don't want to do more homework. I hate it. I always get behind with my homework-"
"Because you don't do it," mumbled Remus innocently. James smiled at this comment as he attempted to find an empty carriage. Neither Sirius nor he ever really did their work. They just got by because of their natural talent and mentality.
"Right, because I don't do it, and then my grade goes down a lot. But then I'll turn everything in and prove that I can do the material and then my grade goes back up. And then we'll start another section and the same thing will happen. It's a never-ending cycle, I tell you."
James chuckled slightly and climbed into the first mildly empty carriage he found. Inside was a pudgy boy with blond hair and squinty blue eyes. He looked up as James opened the door and got in, but didn't say anything. He just sat there, watching the three boys.
Behind James, Sirius was still complaining about the school cycle and didn't even notice the boy until he stepped on his foot.
"Ouch!" the boy exclaimed, throwing a nasty glare at Sirius. Sirius put up both hands, a gesture to say that he was sorry.
"Dude, I'm sorry, I was talking and wasn't watching where I was going," he explained, his voice begging for forgiveness. Sirius didn't like hurting people and genuinely was sorry whenever he did. Well…the Slytherins were an exception for this genuine feeling of remorse.
The boy shook his head slightly, his blond hair flopping slightly as he did so. Internally, Sirius couldn't help but think what a loser this was. "It's okay," the boy replied, his voice sounding nasally and unused.
Sirius grinned slightly and sat down next to James, not wanting to sit next to the odd boy. Remus sat next to the boy and threw James and Sirius a glance that told of his dissatisfaction with the seating arrangement. Both boys were able to ignore the glance without feeling any remorse and began a conversation about new pranks with a clear conscience.
Remus looked at the boy, tuning out his two friends. He had gone back to staring out the window, but he was listening intently to the conversation between James and Sirius. Remus decided that he must be new to the school, as he didn't appear to be a first year and Remus had never seen him before.
Just as Remus was about to open his mouth to ask the boy something, Sirius hit him gently on the shoulder and pointed at the school, which the carriage had just pulled up to. "Look at that!" exclaimed Sirius, pointing at Snape, who had apparently just fallen on the steps. People around him were laughing and pointing.
Remus rolled his eyes and turned back to the new kid, only to find that he had already gotten out and vanished. Raising his eyebrows, he glanced around quickly and, when he found that he wasn't anywhere in sight, got out of the carriage carefully. He did not want to fall and get laughed at as well. Although he didn't necessarily like the fact, Remus was incredibly sensitive to others' opinions and he would be the first to admit it.
Remus wasn't strong and tough like James and Sirius. Ever since he had been bitten, he was always terrified of rejection, since he faced so much of it. And considering the fact that he already faced so much ridicule for being a werewolf, he liked avoiding any other type of insulting and bullying.
"Hmm," sighed James, as they walked up the stairs and into the castle that was their home away from home, "welcome to another year, my companions."
"Yeah," laughed Sirius, "another year of pulling pranks, torturing Slytherins, and teasing Evans."
"Also for studying and learning," reminded Remus, looking around wildly.
"Fun-sucker," muttered James, glancing at Remus with mock disapproval in his eyes. When he saw Remus glancing all around the hall, he asked, "What's wrong? Expecting something to come and drop something on your head or throw something on your head?"
At that moment, Peeves, the school poltergeist, appeared through the walls and poured a bucket of water over James's head. James staggered back as the freezing water hit him.
Sirius stared at him, his blue eyes twinkling as he fought back his laughter. Remus smiled a knowing smile and shook his head briefly. "No, I was just thinking about our general wellbeing as a whole."
James shook the water out of his hair in a very doglike fashion. "Thanks for your concern, mate," he muttered, grabbing Sirius's sleeve and wiping off his dripping face. Sirius pulled away, apparently disgruntled and James threw up his hands in frustration. "Goodness, I have such helpful friends."
Professor McGonagall came into the Great Hall, took one glance at James, and sighed. "What did you do now, Potter?" she asked, looking at the wet, slippery floor.
James opened his mouth in disbelief, but Sirius intervened before he could say anything. "It actually wasn't his fault this time, Professor," he said, defending his best friend.
Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows at his comment. "Very well then, might as well get you dried up then." She waved her wand and James felt warmth on his wet skin. Within seconds, James's clothing was all dry, with no trace of them being wet in the first place.
With that task done, she gestured in an urgent fashion for them to enter the Great Hall and take their seats and then she left to go assist the first years. James watched as she walked away and then turned to go into the Great Hall. "I can't believe she thought that I had done something," he muttered.
"Well," began Remus, "you do kind of cause a lot of problems. And you do things rather randomly. And you do-"
"Remus!" exclaimed James, throwing him a dirty look.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
A.N. I'm so sorry that that chapter took so long. I actually forgot that I had started another story until I looked at my name thing. Either way, I've had no time until recently to do any homework. I'm trying to learn how to drive…oooh! Anyways, please review and forgive my lack of consistency.
