First Year – James
"-Greasy, slimy git that he is," James finished with a puff of anger. He was lounging sideways in one of the chairs by the fire in the common room – the most comfortable chair, actually. The upper years were all on the last Hogsmeade trip of the year, so the first and second years had the common room to themselves, which meant, of course, that James got his favourite chair.
"Hear hear!" responded Sirius enthusiastically. He was lying spread eagled on the ground, his slightly long black hair flopping behind him and sticking up at odd angles. Similarly to James, it often didn't lie flat (although, James suspected Sirius caused it to stand up intentionally).
"Can we please talk about something other than your budding obsessions with Snivellus?" groaned Remus. He was curled up on one end of the couch by the fire. Peter, on the other end, nodded feverishly in agreement.
"Fine then," sighed Sirius. "What about why you disappear every month?"
Remus rolled his eyes but James and Peter both perked up instantly. This had begun the boys' favourite new game, to spring the question on Remus whenever he was least expecting it. After all, a bloke's best mates were going to notice if a bloke disappeared once a month all year.
"I told you," he said in exasperation, "my mum was sick this month. Dumbledore let me go home and see her."
"Yes, yes," responded Sirius with a wave of his hand. "And the month before that it was your dad, and before that your grandmother. We're not daft you know."
"It's true, they-"
"Would you three stop bugging him?" came a lofty voice from the portrait hole. James twisted his head so he could see behind the back of the chair, and saw none other than a very amused Marlene McKinnon and a very frustrated Lily Evans standing behind him. He also didn't miss the grateful look Remus shot Lily when she had spoken up.
"Oi!" exclaimed James, suddenly angry. "How come she knows, but we," he gestured wildly to himself, Sirius, and Peter, "your best mates, don't?"
"She doesn't know anything," said Remus quietly. James watched closely the look that passed between Remus and Lily.
"You're lying," he said. "She knows."
"I don't," she responded in the same lofty voice. She had rounded the common room as James was talking so she was standing behind Remus instead of behind James. "I just happen to think that people are entitled to their privacy, Potter. Clearly it's not something you would understand."
With that, Lily spun on her heel and walked with Marlene up the staircase towards the girls dormitory, leaving James spluttering in disbelief.
"Can't believe – entitled to privacy…best mates, bah."
"So you don't think I'm entitled to my privacy?" asked Remus mildly.
"He has a point, you know," put in Peter. "Remus, I mean."
Sirius, James noticed was staying decidedly silent, and only shrugged in response to James' questioning look. Remus, though, seemed to have caught on.
"I think I'm going to go study," he finally said. "Exams coming up and all. Want to join me, Pete?"
"Sure, can we go over defence? Only, you're really good at it and I can never make the spells work."
"Course, Pete," James heard Remus say as they walked away. "We'll do disarming first, yeah?"
When they had left for the library, James kicked Sirius in the side. "Let's go for a walk, yeah?"
They left the common room in silence and wandered through the halls, meandering their way towards the Entrance Hall so they could take their well-used path around the lake to their favourite tree. James glanced over at Sirius, who seemed to be deep in thought.
Once they got outside, though, he perked up. Nudging James at the shoulder, he said, "Bet I can beat you to the willow," and tore off in the direction of the lake. James followed, running as fast as he could to catch up to Sirius and soon outstripped him, though just barely. They both collapsed in a heap at the base of the tree by the lake.
"I don't want to go home," Sirius said once he had sat up and caught his breath.
"I know, mate," James responded, regarding his best friend with concern. Sirius had hardly been home in their first year. He spent the majority of his time during the Christmas and Easter breaks at James' house, although he had appeared at home occasionally. "Regulus is still there, though. You shouldn't leave him alone. You might make a Gryffindor of him yet," said James with a small smile.
"I won't, you know I wont. He's already mum's favourite. He'll be a Slytherin, through and through, just to make her proud. Imagine – my little brother hanging around Snivellus next year. Good thing Bella was gone before we even got here, and Cissa's not evil enough to be dangerous. Too bad Dromeda's graduating this year."
Sirius often said that Andromeda Black was his favourite cousin. James also particularly liked Andromeda, from the few occasions he had met her. She was a Slytherin, just like the rest of the Black family, but wasn't particularly mean. She had no inclination towards the Dark Arts, either. Although, if James though about it, this must be true of at least a couple of the other Slytherins. Andromeda had friends, after all. But Slytherins like her didn't just pop up everywhere. Snivellus and his already forming gang were proof of that.
"I'm going to come to yours sometime this summer," James finally said. To his surprise, Sirius outright cringed in response.
"You can't do that," he said.
"You can't stop me," retorted James. "Plus, I want to meet Regulus. See if he's as hopeless as you say he is." Sirius didn't look convicned that this was a good idea at all. "I learned how to do a Permanent-Sticking Charm earlier this year," James said finally. "I'll come over and we can stick anything that'll annoy your parents to your room. They won't be able to get it down." James grinned at Sirius, and Sirius' face morphed from a frown to a small, sly grin back.
What he didn't tell Sirius, however, was that he hadn't learned the spell by himself. After Easter, he had approached McGonagall to ask. He supposed that Professor Flitwick would have been the better option, but going to his Head of House had seemed like a better idea at the time. She was reluctant to teach him how it worked, until he, somewhat begrudgingly, explained what he wanted to do for Sirius (or, rather, Sirius' room). To his surprise, once he had explained, McGonagall had helped him learn the charm to perfection, all the while with the ghost of a smile on her normally stern face.
Sirius' face fell again, though. "Won't we get caught? We can't do magic-"
"Are you daft?" asked James incredulously. "They can't trace the magic to the user, just the place. If you're in a house full of wizards, no one will know who cast the spell. They won't suspect two twelve year olds of being able to cast a charm like that anyway."
"Wicked," said Sirius, grinning again. "I didn't realize we could – I mean, you never do at your house."
"That's because my parents would probably report me to the ministry if I ever did," said James, with a noise somewhere between a groan and a chuckle. He knew enough to tell his parents generally spoiled him, but magic outside of school was one of the few things they didn't tolerate at all.
"You know," he said after a long moment's silence, "if things ever get too bad, just floo to my house, yeah? The fireplace in my room. Mum and Dad won't mind."
At that, Sirius' face broke into a real, genuine smile. They sat for a few more minutes, before James broke the silence once again.
"What do you say we go find the others? I think we have an end of year prank to plan." James stood up and reached out his hand to pull Sirius, who was wearing a devilish smile, to his feet.
"I have a great idea for this one, trust me," Sirius said. "Everyone will remember it all summer."
And with that, they took off in a sprint back towards the castle. After a quick stop at the kitchen to grab some food (they had discovered the entrance within their first couple weeks) they took off toward their dormitory, where Peter and Remus were already waiting. The four talked far into the night, James and Sirius sitting on Sirius' bed, Remus on his own bed, and Peter on the floor. Eventually, they all fell asleep where they were sitting, James and Sirius almost on top of one another in their bed, each secretly wishing that the other had been born his brother, not just his best mate.
