CHAPTER SEVEN
Meanwhile, the Gryffindors'd been taken to their North Tower common room. Girls were being shown the way to their dorms, and boys, the same on the opposite side.
Sirius, James, and Remus found they were sharing the dorm with Peter Pettigrew, the nervous-looking boy from the Sorting Ceremony, and Sturgis Podmore, who was the sandy-haired boy who'd been sorted into Gryffindor just before James. He showed no inclination of wanting to talk, and went straight to bed . . . the other boys exchanged looks of surprise, but Sirius grinned.
"Lovely chatting with you, mate," he called across the room at Sturgis, who grunted from behind his curtains. The others laughed, getting into their own nightclothes.
"Now this is a place I can call home," Sirius remarked, flopping onto his bed. "No family for a whole term . . ."
"I know the feeling," said Peter. "I've got two little sisters at home." He shuddered.
"Ah, you two shouldn't complain," Remus said fairly. "Wish I had siblings."
"Same here," from James.
"Feel free to help yourselves to mine," muttered Sirius. "My idiot little brother…then there's the relatives…."
"Yeah….but you know," said James, laughing a little, "your cousin was quite good-looking - " Sirius threw a pillow at him. Remus and Peter were laughing.
"Not as good-looking as that Lily Evans; yeah, mate, I saw you looking at her - " Sirius ducked as James lobbed the pillow back at Sirius, but missed, and hit Remus who ducked too late.
What about that Raven Sinistra?" James said brightly, provoking Remus. "You couldn't keep your eyes off her, Remus, could you?" James got another unexpected pillow in the face from Remus.
"wait…" said Sirius suddenly. "Where's Petey?"
"Keeping safe!" squeaked Peter from behind his bed.
"Wrong answer," said Sirius, grinning. He, James and Remus pelted Peter with their pillows.
Laughing, the four of them remade their beds and got into them.
"Hey - how's old Sturgis doing?" said Sirius, grinning again.
"Still….sleeping," James said, amazed. "Never known anyone to be able to sleep through noise like this." He pulled the covers up to his elbows. "But you must admit - Lily Evans is quite good-looking."
Sirius, Remus, and Peter burst into laughter.
"Think she'd go for you, mate?" asked Sirius after he'd settled down.
"Not a chance," said James swiftly. "I'm too good-looking for her."
"Yeah, right, James," Remus said. "Like you'd intimidate her with your eleven-year-old manliness."
He, Sirius, and Peter burst into laughter again.
"It could happen," said James with a smile.
::: :::
The next morning dawned very warm and very cloudy. The new term's schedules were being passed round the house tables, and first years would be starting their first wizarding classes that morning. Sirius growled at his schedule.
"We've got about half our classes with Slytherins…."
"But those aren't till afternoon," remarked Remus. "We've got Herbology with…Hufflepuffs first."
As he said this, hundreds of owls came pouring into the Great Hall, delivering the day's mail to students.
An old, tawny owl landed on James's shoulder and held out its leg for him to take the letter it was carrying. James read the letter and made a noise of exasperation.
"My god, mum, I'm eleven, not two!" he muttered furiously. His mother had written, fretting about how he was doing all by himself.
Remus and Peter, too, were scanning letters from parents . . . Sirius hadn't even looked up from his breakfast when the post owls came in. He didn't seem to be expecting anything.
Over at the Ravenclaw table, a sleek, black crow was hopping round Raven's shoulders excitedly as she poured over a good-sized roll of parchment. Once she'd finished reading, she rose from the bench and headed out of the Great Hall.
The days' classes passed without much incident. They had Herbology with Professor Sprout, History of Magic with the only ghost teacher, Professor Binns, and Defense Against the Dark Arts with professor Winthrop.
After lunch were the afternoon classes: Potions with Professor Clanton, Charms with Flitwick, and Transfiguration with McGonagall.