Chapter Five: Back to school

Sirius and James sat in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express, watching all the students outside saying goodbye to the families, and waiting for Remus and Peter. They had arrived early for a change, given a lift by James' parents, after the usual procedure of frantic packing in the morning; they had never thought that maybe it would have been more convenient to start packing before the last minute.

"Oh, come on, I'm starving," Sirius moaned, checking his watch. It was five to eleven.

"Sorry, Padfoot, but I think the food cart come round in about two hours," James told him, prompting Sirius to pull an even glummer face.

"Why didn't you give Adriana a lift here?" he asked snappishly. "I thought it was very rude."

"She went with her own parents," James explained wearily for the tenth time. "Besides, our car was pretty full and I don't think you should be telling my parents who they hand out lifts to."

"I wasn't telling your parents, I was telling you. And the reason is: you don't like her."

"No, I don't like her," James said definitively. "Savvy?"

"Savvy?" Sirius repeated with a condescending frown, and fell silent, staring out the train window. "Where do you think she is?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Sirius, you're smothering me," James said, trying to keep his temper.

Sirius turned his gaze to the glass compartment door, and poked James, saying, "Look, there's Lily!"

James looked out eagerly, putting his hands to the glass. Sirius smiled, satisfied that he was not the only one preoccupied with a woman. "This year..." James said, his words loaded.

"Yeah, good luck, mate," Sirius said with a slight smirk. "Oh look, it's Moony and Wormtail," he told James as the two entered the compartment.

"Hey dudes!" James said as they sat down and shut the door again.

"Dudes?" Remus asked, looking mildly surprised.

"James has some new words in his vocabulary that he wants to introduce to Hogwarts," Sirius explained derisively.

"No need to get narky about it," James said cheerfully. Sirius scowled as the train slowly started to move out of the station, the students making a racket as they called goodbye to their families.

"We got here just in time, Wormtail," Remus commented.

The journey went smoothly as normal; the Marauders passed the time by playing Wizard games and making general chat. They also discussed their previous year, and the tricks they played on Snape and the other Slytherins. Everyone agreed, as Sirius had thought weeks ago, that the antler trick was by far the best. James and Peter spent a long time trying to think up some fresh ideas, while Sirius and Remus practised some of the Transfiguration they had learnt before the summer.

Halfway through the journey the friendly witch with the food cart knocked on their compartment door. Sirius looked up and, on seeing her, broke into the happiest smile.

"Finally!" he cried, lunging towards the door to open it. In his rush he dropped the Golden Snitch that he had been trying, rather ambitiously, even for his abilities, to Transfigure into a bird, and while he scrambled to catch it again, Remus calmly opened the door and told the witch politely, "We're okay in here, thanks, not very hungry at the moment." She smiled and continued down the train.

"Nooooooo!" Sirius yelled, forgetting the Snitch and throwing himself out into the corridor after the food. James, Peter and Remus were in fits of laughter when he returned, his arms laden with practically everything the witch had had to offer and a murderous look on his face.

"Moony, you bastard," he said, tipping the food onto a spare seat. "Keeping a starving man from his lunch. I hope you feel guilty.

"

"Oh, I do," Remus replied in mock seriousness, "so guilty."

The others continued chuckling as Sirius continued, "Luckily for you lot, I possess a small amount of decency, so I got enough for all of us. You can thank me later," he added dryly, as they all tucked in without a word.

"I'll pencil it in," Remus told him, grinning through a mouthful of Pumpkin Pasty.

Time passed more quickly after that, as they had eaten already. James confiscated the Snitch from Sirius before he could do too much damage to it.

Sirius was outraged. "Give it back, it's not even yours!"

"Yes it is, I stole it!" James replied letting the Snitch fly a few inches before catching it deftly, always keeping it out of Sirius' reach.

"I was using it to practise my work!" Sirius protested.

"It was a pointless spell," James told him. "What would you have done with the bird, even if you had got it right?"

Sirius sat back in his seat, glowering, as a sneering voice said, "Look at the two of you, arguing like an old married couple."

The Marauders looked round to see Severus Snape at the open compartment door, a smirk visible beneath his large, hooked nose.

Sirius looked back at James. "You see, I told you I think Snivellus may have a crush on Wormtail – see the way he finds any excuse to hang around us."

Peter went slightly pink, as James looked thoughtful. "I'd never thought of that, Padfoot, you may be onto something there." He turned to Snape, adopting a concerned expression. "I'm sorry, Snivellus, but Peter just doesn't think of you that way. I'm sure some of your Slytherin buddies will help you get over him." He smiled kindly.

"Yeah, I've heard all sorts of things go on down in those dungeons," Remus put in seriously. "Those Slytherins are up for anything, or so the rumours go."

"Now would you mind stepping out of our compartment," Peter said, "because you're dripping grease all over the floor and we don't want to slip up or anything."

Snape looked from one to the other angrily and finally said, "You bloody Gryffindors need your heads deflating. You'd better watch out this year."

"Wonderful," James replied, as though finishing an interview. "We will, thank you. See you at the feast, bye-bye."



When the train was nearing its destination and had started to slow down, the Marauders were discussing the summer homework. Remus was worried when he discovered James and Sirius had done next to none of it.

"So you didn't do any of the work for Potions, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, Divination or History of Magic?" Sirius and James shook their heads at each one.

"Oh, no, we did Transfiguration," James said corrected himself.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, we were worried that McGonagall might string us up by our toenails otherwise," he added.

"What about the Defence Against the Dark Arts essay?" Remus asked anxiously, looking from one to the other as though desperate to hear that they had done something.

"Oh yeah, we did that, didn't we, Prongs?" Sirius said casually.

"Yeah, cause we like that lesson," James answered. "But we didn't do the boring stuff, because it was boring."

"Yeah, it was boring," Sirius agreed, smiling unconcernedly.

Not wishing to hear any more, Remus left the conversation there, but Peter continued, just as worried. "But what are you going to do?" he asked them, looking scared. "I'd be shitting myself - the teachers are gonna go mad."

James shrugged, looking indifferent. "You know what we say, Wormtail, at the end of the day, it's the luck of the draw."

"You win some, you lose some," Sirius said.

"Yar," James finished.

Peter continued to look nervous for them, while Remus said, "No matter how many times you say that, it never makes sense and it's neither relevant or helpful."

"Of course it is," Sirius assured him. "Moony, do you have no faith in us?"

"We can always catch up," James agreed, and looked out the window at the darkening landscape. "Ooh, look we're at Hogsmeade at last."

Half an hour later they were glad to be back at Hogwarts, sitting in the Great Hall greeting their friends and waiting for Dumbledore to start the feast. James had sought out Lily as soon as possible, to assure her of his continuing love, and to generally make sure she knew he would still be hanging around. She hadn't received this very positively, but James was not put off, and was in a celebratory mood at the Gryffindor table.

The last stragglers from the carriages sat down with their houses, and Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat at the centre of the staff table. He beamed around at the students for a few moments before speaking.

"Welcome back, everyone, I hope this is a suitably magical year for you all, full of fun, frivolity and maybe some studying thrown in for effect. Before our new first years are sorted, we have a new sixth-year student to greet and take into our midst. She has already been informed of her house by the Sorting Hat, so would you please give a warm welcome to Adriana Balavoine, our brand new addition to Gryffindor!"

He started the clapping as Adriana stepped into the hall from a room off the side. Sirius clapped and cheered feverishly, making the most noise along with Peter and all the other male students present. Adriana seemed to float along the Gryffindor table and sank down to sit with Lily and her friends, but not before blowing a kiss to a delighted Sirius.

The sorting process always seemed to last a lifetime for Sirius, because as usual he was impatient to get to the feast. He tapped his fingers on the tabletop and his feet underneath, and joined in the clapping of each new young Gryffindor as they sat down, and the hissing at the Slytherins.

Sirius gabbed his knife and fork and stared at the golden plates expectantly when the last one sat down, to applause from the Ravenclaw table, and when nothing happened he looked up again in confusion. To his annoyance, Dumbledore had stood again and raised his hands for quiet.

"Before we dig into our delicious feast," the headmaster began.

"Oh God!" Sirius groaned in frustration, banging his cutlery down again.

"My apologies, Mr Black," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling, "I promise I won't detain the meal for too long. I have another newcomer to introduce to you. Our new professor of Astronomy has just arrived, so may I now present, Professor Harlem."

With a wave of his arm he indicated the new teacher to the left of Professor McGonagall and once again started the clapping. The students politely joined in, as they tried to get a proper look at the newcomer. Harlem was a young man with a small, stocky frame, with brown shoulder- length hair, and right now he wore dark blue robes and an awkward smile as he accepted the introduction.

"And let the feast begin..." Dumbledore smiled when he caught sight of Sirius, whose knife and fork were once again poised ready for immediate use, "now."

"Yes!" Sirius shouted, to the amusement of the other Marauders and Gryffindors. "Oh, yes," he said again as the potatoes, meat, vegetables and everything else appeared in surplus amounts before him.

"Didn't you feed him at your place, Prongs?" Remus asked, gazing in wonder at the speed at which Sirius began to eat.

"Yep," James laughed. "Every hour, on the hour."