:Chapter 5:

It was around eleven 'o' clock when Sirius woke up with a start, bathing in sweat. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was. And when he did, he also recalled the dream he just woke up from. Well, he would rather call it a nightmare.

He had been at home, in the living room. All the serpents on the door handles and the furniture had come to life and were all slithering and crawling around him. He was panting. When he had turned around he had seen two gigantic serpent the size of basilisks and a smaller one, about as large as an anaconda. They were hissing and spitting poison at him. He had felt it burning. Both of the larger serpents had suddenly wrapped themselves around him, squeezing the air from his lungs and almost crushing his ribs.

He had struggled but that had made their grip even firmer and more painful.

Suddenly a horrible sight appeared; most of the smaller serpents burst open, spilling their blood all over the floor. It formed a deep, sickening pool of blood right in the middle of the living room. The snakes, still holding him, had forced him into the pool of blood, clearly with the intention to drown him. The anaconda-sized serpent had entered the pool too, circling around him hissing: "I hate you!" over and over again. Sirius himself had desperately tried to free himself from the tightening grip of the two large serpents. It was useless. He had realized his lungs would soon be filled with the blood, choking him. Then all of a sudden one of the larger serpents advanced on him, still being submerged in the pool, biting him in his right shoulder. He had tried to scream. He had felt his mouth being filled with blood, choking and killing him…

Sirius stared at the ceiling digesting this unpleasant waking. James, however, seemed to have a much more peaceful morning, for he was still asleep, breathing calmly. Sirius didn't think himself able to fall asleep again, so he decided to get out of bed. He quietly put on some clothes and left the room, leaving James asleep.

After having walked down the stairs, he went to the kitchen to get something to eat. When he entered the kitchen he found Mrs. Potter's company.

"Good morning, Sirius." She said in a friendly manner.

"Not really." He said brushing his hair out of his face.

"Didn't you sleep well?"

Sirius shrugged.

"You look pale." Mrs. Potter said. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah fine, just had a bad dream 's all" He answered.

"Are you sure you alright?" She looked at him with a worried expression on her face.

"Yeah, I'm sure." To avoid a conversation, he asked: "Is there something to eat? I'm starving."

Mrs. Potter smiled. "Well, I was just about to put rolls in the oven, they'll be ready in ten minutes." She said, as she opened the door of the small oven.

"Is it okay if I take a shower, then?"

"Yes of course. Oh and drag James downstairs too, when you're ready, will you?"

He nodded and left the kitchen.

After fifteen minutes, James, Sirius, Mr. and Mrs. Potter sat at the table, eating breakfast.

Sirius always liked to hear stories about Mr. Potter's youth, for he hadn't been such a good boy either.

"There was this one time, I can't remember why we did it, but I guess we just wanted to do something… original." Mr. Potter started. "We started a game of Creaothceann, which was already illegal then. You know what it is right? Creaothceann I mean." Sirius nodded.

"Good, good… well, so we were playing, and there was this huge rock falling down. Dedric, who was directly beneath this rock, had already removed his cauldron. The nutter thought we'd already finished! So this huge rock was coming down, and Dedric didn't see it, so I flew right at him, knocked him of his broom, and caught the rock with my own cauldron."

"OUCH!" Sirius and James said together, screwing up their faces.

"Yeah, for the both of us, I threw him of his broom at the height of -what- 20 feet?" He laughed. "And I had a headache that lasted for a month!"

They all laughed.

When they had finished they cleared the table and James and Sirius went upstairs. Sirius waited for James to be finished in the bathroom, for they were about to go swimming in the lake nearby. The sun was shining again and it was very hot outside. Perfect weather for swimming.

Within half an hour, they were on their way to the lake, whilst talking and laughing.

When they arrived at the large lawn next to the lake, it became obvious that they weren't the only ones fancying a swim. Loads of Muggle families and groups of boys and girls were enjoying themselves by lying in the grass, swimming, or otherwise playing games. The two boys picked a spot underneath a large tree, and tossed their bags aside.

When they took of their clothes, already wearing their swimming pants, they received a lot of gasps and "look at those guys" from girls nearby.

James and Sirius, used to the female attention, walked over to the water. James waved at the girls, asking if they'd like to swim with them. Sirius, however, ignored them, looking at James with a pitiful look on his face.

"James, lad, grow up, will ya! I mean…" He looked at the girls, ho went slightly pink and giggled, to Sirius' opinion, annoyingly.

"Look at them" He continued. "They're -what- thirteen?

"At least I don't fall for forty year old women…" James muttered.

Sirius snorted. "I am so not falling for forty-ers! At least I don't fall for third years."
"Oh no?" James said. "I'll bet you anything that you'll one day end up with a girl that's at least twenty years younger than you!" James laughed.

"Hey! Don't pick it out on me that you'll end up as a lonely pedophile, because shagging children is illegal!" Sirius laughed even harder.

"Oh go fuck yourself, you!" James said, as they had reached the water, pushing Sirius in.

Sirius soon appeared above the surface again, and pulled James in too.

"Come on, who gets to the other shore first."

And they both swam to the other shore as fast as they could. Before they got there (Sirius was ahead) James yelled: "who gets there last, is a dungbomb and has to eat Wormtail's socks!" Then he pulled on Sirius' leg, making him go slower, and he caught up with him, reaching to shore first.

"HA! WON!" He bellowed, doing a victory dance in the water.

"No you haven't! You disgusting little cheater!" Sirius said, playfully pushing James' head underwater.

They stayed at the lake all day, eating the lunch that they brought with them. James had invited some girls to have lunch with them.

"So." The blonde girl said. "Where are you from?"

"Oh, nearby. Little over a mile from here." James said.

"And you?" The girl turned to Sirius, going a bit red in the face.

"Hm? Oh, London." He answered, not showing much appreciation for her interest.

"London!" She blurted out! "Oh I've always wanted to go there! Can't I come and stay at your place?" She asked, not really meaning it.

Sirius smiled wearily. "I don't think you'd get along with my parents, gal."

"Oh I bet they're nice people." The girl said enthusiastically.

"Everything but…" He muttered darkly. Then he suddenly said: "Anyway, enough family rubbish, are there any chicken sandwiches left?"

They ate their lunch and chatted for a while. Sometimes the girls had conversations about typical Muggle things, which neither James nor Sirius had ever heard of. Like blow-dryers. Whenever the girls asked them something about things they knew nothing about, they just said 'yes', or, 'that's right, followed by snorts, which the girls in their turn didn't understand.

It was about four 'o' clock when one of the girls suggested to the other to play a game of football, before they would leave. When the girls had been playing for five minutes, (James and Sirius had been watching, trying to make sense out of it.) they asked if Sirius and James wanted to join them. Not knowing they were dealing with two boys that knew as much about football as about blow-dryers.

James and Sirius looked at each other. Their insatiable urge to experience new things made them both agree on giving it a try.

It took only five minutes for Sirius to burst out laughing as James had automatically caught the ball with his Quidditch reflexes, making the girls scream: "HANDS!"

So they placed James in the goal. It was now Sirius' turn, as the girls made him take a penalty. He kept kicking it the wrong way, and way too hard, as well.

"No no no!" One of the girls said, moving over to him. "Man, you two play so badly, it looks like you've never even seen it before.

Sirius smiled. "I guess I'm not into sports that much." He winked. The girl turned red in her face and stuttered: "Well -er- w-why don't you -er- try it a-again." Then, smiling broadly, she turned around and went back to her position. Sirius tried, and kicked it over and over again, but there wasn't any improvement in the process, so it was now James' turn to laugh. Then, out of frustration, Sirius gave the ball a very hard kick, making it fly into the bushes, out of sight.

"Oops." He said laconically.

The girls sighed hopelessly behind his back. James walked over to them.

"Sorry girls, I think my friend here is a bit too aggressive an impatient for this."

He gave Sirius an overly dramatic, encouraging tap on his shoulder.

"Oh never mind, we're leaving anyway." A brown-haired girl walked over to them, as the other girls went to get their stuff.

The blonde girl looked over her shoulder to Sirius. When she saw he was watching, she quickly averted her gaze.

"Oh don't mind her." The brown-haired girl said. "She falls for every guy…"

"Not that you're like any other guy!" She added quickly. "Neither are you!" She also added nervously, turning to James. But- well- I've gotta go. Bye!" And she ran of to meet the others. James and Sirius looked at each other and once again, burst out laughing.