Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related. If I did I bet you I wouldn't be sitting here watching info-mercials. I would be flirting with Rupert Grint because I would be famous enough to know him and he would also be in a movie that has to do with a book I wrote…so much for daydreaming.

Chapter 3 - Slughorn, Snape and Irritating Boys - All In One Day

Lily sat at breakfast the next morning with Maren by her side.

"So…you don't reckon Potions will be too difficult?" Lily asked Maren anxiously for the umpteenth time.

Maren sighed and rolled her eyes. "For the - what are we on now? - twelfth time, no."

"Well, it's just you come from a wizarding family and I don't. You have a bigger knowledge of all this stuff than I do."

Maren shook her head. "No, I don't. Trust me, I don't. I may come from a family who knows all this stuff but I can assure you it's not the same. Hearing about all this," she waved a hand gesturing to everything in the surrounding area, "and then experiencing it…well, believe me when I say I'm no further ahead in anything than you yourself are."

Lily nodded but still looked slightly queasy. "So…you don't reckon Potions will be too difficult?"

Maren simply laughed and shook her head. "Oh, Lily, Lily, Lily…. I promise if it turns out to be, you can kick me."

"C'mon, James," Remus said in an effort to make his friend hurry. "We're going to miss breakfast."

Sirius looked up from where he had just been digging in his trunk for nothing in particular while waiting for James to hurry up and get dressed as well. "Yes, mate, do hurry. If you don't I might just have to start calling you 'Sir Takes-His-Merry-Time-Whilst-Making-His-Friends-Starve-To-Death.'

James rolled his eyes. "It's not like I said you had to wait for me."

"Well, it appears as though we've read your thoughts that said, 'I hope Sirius doesn't leave. My life simply can't go on without his presence.'" Sirius grinned at his three fellow roommates who looked blankly back at him.

"Sorry, to disappoint you, Sirius, mate, but if you plan to ever take Divination in Third year; you best think again," James said to Sirius and walked toward the door for which his companions were grateful that he was finally ready.

"Seers don't read minds, do they? Nope, only I have that amazing ability because…well…you know. I mean, I am the amazing Sirius Black."

"Oh, yes. All hail 'The Amazing Sirius Black'", Remus said dryly.

"That's a good Mr. Lupin," Sirius said grinning.

James laughed along with Sirius. Remus shook his head not knowing why he suddenly found it funny. Peter laughed as well, though it seemed forced. Like, he didn't know why he was laughing but figured if James or Sirius thought it was funny - whatever it was - it must be funny.

Upon reaching the Great Hall the four boys found a seat near where the five Gryffindor First year girls were sitting. As they drew closer they could hear Heather ranting on about how bacon was bad for your sodium intake.

"…bacon has way too much salt. It could make you go crazy or something. I'm serious!"

"Actually, I'm Sirius," Sirius commented lightly, taking a seat across next to Kelly who turned about five different shades of red.

"How nice," Lily said with an air of annoyance.

"It's very nice," James said smiling.

"Oh hey! You're James Potter!" Maren said excitedly and tugged on Lily's sleeve. "See, now you get to see the guy who likes you up close." Maren looked thoughtful.

Both Remus and Sirius were nearly dying from trying to hold in their laughter at the look that came about Lily's face. She was beet red and avoiding eye contact with everyone like the plague.

"I can't believe you said that!" Lily hissed at Maren who looked as though she too was doing her best to keep a straight face.

Maren rolled her eyes. "Ah, Lily, and deprive us all from that very humorous episode? Alright, alright!" Maren added hastily after seeing Lily's glare. "I'm sorry. Even if it was worth seeing all that, I'm sorry."

Lily rolled her eyes and picked at the eggs sitting on the plate in front of her. She looked up as if noticing for the first time that Remus and Peter were sitting beside her and James and Sirius sitting next to Kelly who sat across from her. She glared at Sirius as he gave her a look of pure innocence which, for some odd reason or another, only seemed to annoy her more.

Remus gave a wry smile. "Ready for Potions?"

James groaned. "We just got here!"

"That would be because, while I was reading your mind, you were taking forever to get dressed. That might also be because you wouldn't get up…" Sirius said airily, grinning innocently at James.

James glared. "You know - "

"Anyway," Remus interrupted loudly. "We've got about ten minutes until Potions starts, and it looks like the girls already left…so, let's go."

Simultaneously James and Sirius raised their hands in a mock salute and said, "Sir, yes, sir."

Remus rolled his eyes but smiled all the same.

"It's in the dungeons, right?" Peter asked nervously.

"Yeah."

"Oh." Peter looked positively horrified at the thought of having to go down into the darkness of the dungeons.

"It'll be fine," James said bracingly.

Peter nodded looking slightly ill.

"Don't worry, mate. We'll all be there," Sirius reassured him.

Peter nodded once again, the ill-look not leaving his face for a second.

They walked down to the dungeons and had only to wait for a minute or less before a rather short, plump, balding man opened the door from the inside.

"Hello," he greeted them cheerfully. "I'm Professor Slughorn. Now, if you'll just walk along inside there and take a seat..."

The class obediently walked inside. Naturally James, Sirius, and Remus sat together. Peter had got shoved over a bit while walking inside and ended up settling for a seat near a blonde Ravenclaw boy.

"Welcome!" Professor Slughorn continued to greet them. He looked around and spotted Sirius. "Ah, Mister Black!"

Sirius looked slightly confused at to how Slughorn possibly knew him. He looked even more confused on how to answer. Slughorn didn't ask a question, simply said his name. "Yes?"

Slughorn smiled warmly. "Don't worry, my dear boy! I was simply going to state that I knew your cousins; I believe they are to you, Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa. Narcissa still goes here, of course. She's in my house, Slytherin…Head Girl…"

Sirius scowled. "Yeah, I know."

"Well, if you're anything like them, I'm sure you'll be a dashing potions brewer. Shame you're not in Slytherin, though."

Sirius scowled, if possible, even deeper.

Slughorn's eyes shifted over to James. "Mister Potter! Yes, yes, I know your father. An Auror highly respected within the Ministry. Helped me out of a bit of a rough spot not too long ago."

"What rough spot was that, sir?" James had no idea why he had just blurted that out and was preparing himself for point deductions at the very least when he heard Professor Slughorn let out a chuckle.

"Some nerve you've got there, boy. However, I'm afraid to say, that is business between your father and I."

That was basically how the rest of the lesson went on. Slughorn finding students of parents or relatives he knew and talking about the connections he had with them.

James found it rather irritating after Slughorn had commented on his family for about the fifth time. When he looked over at Sirius, Sirius looked the way James felt. Slughorn just kept going on and on about how all the Blacks were in Slytherin and how Sirius should have been as well.

On occasion he went over to Marlene McKinnon, a Ravenclaw girl, and praised her on how well her family was connected within the Ministry. For the most part, Marlene rolled her eyes when Slughorn wasn't looking.

By the time class was over everyone looked highly relieved to leave. Apparently, there were only several people whom he seemed to know somehow, and everyone was quite bored of hearing about that person and the 'special connections', as Slughorn called them, he had with them.

"Finally!" Sirius exclaimed as they walked on their way to Charms. "I swear, if I had to sit in that class any longer, I would have walked straight out to the Lake to drown myself."

"Sirius, we'd absolutely hate to lose 'The Amazing Sirius Black', so please refrain from drowning yourself," Remus said mock seriously.

"Well, I know that everyone would have to put their life on hold to mourn over me, and I'm far too kind to have everyone do that…so have no fear!"

"You are way to full of yourself," James said, laughing.

"As are you, Jamsie boy," Sirius retorted, laughing as well.

"Not as much as you."

"Uh-huh, maybe even more."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh. What do you think, Remus? Who's more conceited?"

Remus looked thoughtful for a moment. "It depends on what you're talking about."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're no help."

James looked to Peter. "What do you think?"

Peter's eyes darted from James to Sirius and back to James. "Um…w-well…er. No one is conceited, r-really."

"I told you Potions wouldn't be hard. On the contrary, it was annoying."

Lily smiled. "I wish he'd talked about something other than his life. Oh well, we can always hope for a better lesson next time."

Maren shook her head and smiled. She looked around for a moment before noticing that Jo, Kelly and Heather were nowhere within sight. "Where'd Jo, Kelly and Heather get to?"

Lily looked around. "Dunno. They couldn't have gone far, we all have Charms next."

Maren shrugged. "They'll turn up eventually. Oh look who it is…"

Lily looked behind her, where Maren was looking, and saw that James, along with his annoying little friends, was just behind them. "Great, just, great."

"Aww…come on, Lil. They weren't that bad. Just give 'em a chance, or second chance…whatever."

Lily nodded her head grudgingly. "I suppose you're right."

As Lily said this, the four boys walked up behind and, unfortunately, James was the one who spoke up first. "Hey, Evans. So I'm assuming that you like me then, eh?"

Sirius and Peter were wearing expressions of the up most amusement. Remus looked somewhere between amusement and deciding whether or not to clamp his hand over James' mouth.

Lily huffed. "No, I don't."

"Well, let's see, you turned red at the mention of me liking you. That, to me, means you, Lily Evans, like me."

"Well you're wrong!" Lily shouted indignantly.

"No, I'm not. And quite frankly, I can't blame you for liking me. I am rather cute."

"Sorry, but no."

"Whatever you say, Evans."

"Yeah, it is whatever I say, Potter." With that Lily stomped angrily down the rest of the corridor to the Charms classroom.

Maren sighed exasperatedly and had to jog a bit to catch up with Lily. "Er…third times the charm?"

"No way! Potter is just so…just so…" Lily broke off with a frustrated sigh.

"Arrogant?" Maren suggested.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Well, it's only the second day. He might drop it and forget about it."

"Somehow, I doubt that it's going to be that easy."

Maren shrugged. "He might."

The Charms door swung open and a tiny man that went up to the waist of the shorter students walked out. "Greetings, class! I'm Professor Flitwick. Just take a seat anywhere, please."

Lily saw that 'Potter' and his friends were heading towards the back so she grabbed Maren by the sleeve of her robe and dragged her to the front. Luckily, the three previously missing girls were already there and saving seats for them.

"Thanks," Maren whispered to Kelly as she and a seething Lily sat down side-by-side.

"No problem." Kelly glanced over at Lily. "What's wrong with her?"

"Oh, you know guy problems."

"So soon?" Jo asked leaning over Kelly to join in the conversation.

"Shh," Heather whispered as Professor Flitwick walked to the front of the classroom.

Maren nodded her head to Jo before looking to the front.

Jo made a squealing sound that caused the whole class, Flitwick included, to look at her.

"Is there something the matter, Miss Smallwood?" Professor Flitwick asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Oh no, Professor. Just excited about starting Charms."

That answer seemed to satisfy Flitwick who was now beaming at her.

Lily glared at her four friends. She knew the real reason Jo had squealed and was not pleased that they were talking about Potter and her in the same sentence. However mad she was though, Lily knew she had to tune back into what Professor Flitwick was saying.

"At least that was more interesting than Potions!" Jo exclaimed.

"It was a lot more interesting," Lily agreed. She was feeling happier now. "So far, this was my favourite class."

"Really?" Maren asked. "I'm just excited for Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"That would be fun, I suppose," Kelly said. "But I just want to head to Herbology, really."

"Me too!" Heather exclaimed. "Well, actually, I think my favourite subject is Charms. Herbology definitely looks like a close second, though."

Lily shrugged and grimaced. "I guess Herbology sounds okay. A bit boring, actually. But nothing could be more boring than History of Magic, really."

"History of Magic isn't boring," Maren said causing everyone to gape at her. "Well, it's not. I mean, my dreams are usually anything but boring."

The girls laughed.

"Maren, shut up," Lily said giggling.

Once everyone had calmed down Maren said, "I'm so happy it's lunch time."

"Me too," Lily agreed.

"Well, at least Potter isn't here!" Lily exclaimed happily as they took their seats at the Gryffindor table.

"He will be, though. I mean, seriously, did you see how much he and Sirius were eating at dinner last night and then breakfast this morning?" Maren asked Lily incredulously.

"That's true," Kelly agreed.

"Lovely," Lily said sarcastically.

Maren looked at Lily as though waiting for her to explode. Jo, Kelly, and Heather however looked to Lily in hopes of her telling them what happened.

"I can't believe him! He had the nerve to say that he was cute. I mean, come on, who says that about themselves? And then in Potions when he asked Professor Slughorn personal questions….Ugh!"

Maren shook her head slightly. "He didn't ask a really personal question considering that it was kind of about his family."

Lily sighed frustrated. "You know what I mean." Lily sat there glowering for a moment before bursting out at Maren, "You know, this is entirely fault. If you hadn't said that this morning!"

"Er…no. I mean yeah I said it, but you blushed. I can't see how what I said was that embarrassing."

Lily sighed defeatedly. "Okay, so you have a point - "

"- a good point." Jo interrupted smiling. "I was there for that."

"- but now Potter is going to annoy me no end. I know it." Lily continued ignoring Jo's comment completely.

"He might not," Kelly said.

"He will," Lily said miserably. "I can just feel it."

Maren patted Lily's arm. "You can blame it all on me if he bugs you. I'm sure that'll make you feel slightly better about it."

Lily lapsed into mock thoughtful silence. "Yeah, I'll do that." She laughed at the hurt look on Maren's face. "I'm just kidding. As soon as I learn good enough hexes, I'll just hex him when he bugs me."

"If he bugs you, you mean." Kelly smiled at Lily.

Lily shook her head figuring it was pointless to say that she had a gut feeling she hadn't heard the last of James.

"Jamsie, I was thinking," Sirius said.

"What about, Siree?" James asked.

"First of all, don't mock me. It's not polite. Second, you really ticked Lily off back there."

"Wow, Siree, nothing gets by you does it?"

"Don't call me 'Siree'! And, no, nothing gets by me."

"Is that so?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, that's so."

"I'll remember that, Siree."

"Stop calling me 'Siree' you two!" Sirius looked to Peter quickly. "Don't even think about calling me that." He looked up to the other two boys. "I'll hex the next person who calls me 'Siree.'"

"Is that so, Black?" asked a dangerously low voice.

The four boys whipped around to see a very a lanky boy with a pallid face and very greasy-looking hair. Almost as if he hadn't washed it in…well, forever. His nose was also rather large and had hook-like shape to it.

"What do you want, Severus?" Apparently, Remus was the only able to remember who this guy was.

"Nothing, nothing. I was merely suggesting that any Black who wasn't, ah, good enough to be in Slytherin shouldn't be - "

What Sirius shouldn't be doing was left a complete mystery as James, and Sirius had quickly pulled out their wands, leaving Peter to fumble within his robes for a moment before pulling his out as well. Remus hadn't pulled out his wand but decided to stare from his friends to Snape.

Snape had pulled his wand out just as James and Sirius pulled theirs out. He saw that he was out numbered by three but that didn't stop him from looking any less confident.

James flicked his eyes to Sirius's and noticed that Sirius, like himself, had only pulled out his wand in hopes of making Snape go away, but quickly saw that Snape looked far too confident.

They stood there glaring at each other before Professor Dumbledore walked up, eyes twinkling. "No problems here I trust, boys?"

"None, sir," James answered as he stowed his wand back in his pocket, gesturing Sirius and Peter to do the same. Snape did the same.

"Very well. You boys should be on your way, then."

Snape walked off in one direction while James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked in the opposite.

"What a git," Sirius said.

A/N: Whoo-hoo! I love saying that. Okay, so what did you think? REVIEW, please? I'll give you a cupcake with sprinkles on top.

Hazel Maraa - Aww thanks. You were my first reviewer ever and you reviewed again. Yay! Sorry, I get a bit too excited.

a thousand pieces - No need to get your friend Joe on me. :cowers in corner looking paranoid: Hehe, see I'm keeping up with writing.