Sirius Black entered the half-filled History classroom with a straight face, one he could barely hold the moment the students slowly started gaping at him. He could hear murmurs going around the classroom, the majority of which questioned whether he was the new history professor. With a small grin, he quickly had his name writ onto the board with a bit of magic. His eyes gazed over the classroom before realising that neither his godson and his friends or Rodrick were in. He did spy the girl that had shown up with the boy and what he assumed were the rest of the boy's group. His eyes did spot Draco among them, confirming the elder Malfoy's words of the two being friends.

"Great, now we have an ex-Azkaban prisoner teaching us, what next? a Werewolf?" Draco remarked disdainfully.

"Draco, don't be rude," Daphne spoke up with a frown, earning amused looks from the others. She was currently sat between Tracey and Blaise. Malfoy sat between Crabbe and Goyle, the two having finally been released from the hospital wing, The three were right behind Greengrass's table. Nott was behind Malfoy on his own.

Draco stared at the girl with a bemused expression marring his face but said nothing. 'Was she allowed to order him around?'

"Where is Grindelwald anyway?" Nott questioned from the back. He received several glares in return. "Do relax, no one can actually hear us," Nott added on. Blaise seemed to be lost in his own world staring at Black, silently wondering whether a different teacher would help him in his struggles or not.

Before anyone could reply, Rodrick strolled into the classroom.

Blaise scoffed, his attention finally restored. Rodrick had that same blasted potions book in front of his face.

The boy in question stared up as soon as he entered the classroom, wondering if the history lesson had been cancelled once again before his eyes widened in surprise.

"Black?" Rodrick questioned surprised. He immediately walked up to the teacher's desk, putting his book back into his bag. Somewhere in the back, he could've sworn he heard someone release a sigh of relief.

Sirius turned towards the source before a small grin seemed to etch itself onto his face. "How many times do I have to ask you to call me Sirius," he questioned amused.

Rodrick merely glanced at the board, "I don't think Professor Sirius makes all that much sense," he replied, the surprise slowly disappearing. The choice made sense with all things considered.

Sirius snorted, "So, who do I actually have to thank for this job?"

"I doubt you'll be thanking anyone for it," Rodrick replied, an amused smile on his face. "Although you can just blame Potter when you grow bored of it,"

Sirius' eyes seemed to flash with mirth at the words, 'James would be so proud,' he thought to himself. "I see," was all he said.

"I don't think Dementors affect one's eyesight," Rodrick voiced out without a hint of sarcasm.

Sirius rolled his eyes. He had been about to say something else before he watched as Ronald Weasley seemed to shove past the boy in front of him.

Rodrick's eyes narrowed quickly at the sudden action before catching himself, the moment he saw red hair, he set off a non-verbal silencing charm around the ginger. Slowly wondering how to play this. When he realised Ron was on his own, he had to hold the urge to grin. Quickly, he turned back to Black, the man had a frown on his face, he looked about to say something before he heard Rodrick's voice.

Nott's eyes widened the moment he noticed the small piece of magic, he found the others with similar expression... Besides the girls who were simply glaring at Weasley. They'd been around Rodrick long enough to notice his small acts of magic, no matter how subtle he was.

"It's fine, just ignore it," Rodrick shook his head.

The man's gaze turned back to Rodrick. "Tha-"

"He's one of your godsons closest friends," Rodrick added on, barely managing to keep a straight face.

The frown on Black's face seemed to increase, "Special Treatment isn't a good way to start as a Professor," he clarified.

"All the same, family comes first," Rodrick replied, inwardly cheering the moment Black sighed. "Besides, can't really blame him,"

"Why's that?" Sirius questioned, the frown slowly disappearing.

Rodrick raised an eyebrow before chuckling, "Nevermind..." There was a small moment of silence before Rodrick questioned whether Black had enjoyed his hour.

Sirius' eyes darkened for a second before he turned towards Weasley, 'Is he still upset about losing his rat?'

Ronald Weasley, having heard none of that simply smiled, assuming he'd gotten away with it. He was glad there was a professor on his side for once, well Harry's side, but he was one of his best friends so that included him as well.

Rodrick pointed over his shoulder towards Blaise. "He needs extra help," he remarked with a grin, the action seemed to light up Black's mood if the chuckle was anything to go by.

"So I've been warned," Was Black's good-natured reply, the small moment already at the back of his mind.

"Sirius?" Another voice spoke out.

The two turned towards the door, only to find a gobsmacked Potter and surprised Granger.

"Harry!" Sirius spoke up, a cheerful tone to his voice.

Rodrick took that as his cue to take his seat, he idly heard Harry Potter remark "Brilliant!" the moment Black explained his presence in the castle. Reaching his friends, he quickly took the free seat by Nott.

"So?" Nott started, "Is there a particular reason you decided to let Weasley push you around?"

Rodrick rolled his eyes, "If you really think I'd let anyone do that, then you clearly haven't been paying attention," He remarked with a grin. "Morning Daph," he added on when he noticed the girl staring at him.

"Noone else gets a special welcome?" Tracey remarked smiling.

Rodrick raised an eyebrow at that. "Morning Draco,"

"Oh shove off," The blonde remarked. The group minus Draco chuckled at that.

"What's wrong?" Rodrick to his shock heard Crabbe question Malfoy.

"I've never heard them speak!" Rodrick let out accidentally, pointing towards Crabbe. The action seemed to send the group, minus the two goons into a fit of laughter. "I am serious," he added fuel to the fire. Even Draco was barely holding his laughter.

"That's hard to believe," He heard Nott beside him remark.

"Your sorting in Slytherin is hard to believe," Blaise fired off, two tables ahead. The boy had his chair turned around to face the Slytherins behind him.

Nott glared at the boy, "Are we just taking shots at me for no reason now?" He grumbled.

"To be fair," Daphne of all people spoke up. Slowly earning the glare from the boy, "They usually do it without one anyway,"

"I don't," Tracey remarked from beside the girl, slowly removing the hand away from her mouth.

"You call them cute," Daphne whispered to the girl.

"They are! They remind me of lost puppies," Tracey whispered back chuckling.

"Of course they do," Daphne shook her head wistfully at her best friend.

"You know, I feel like there's something wrong with those two," Rodrick uttered from his seat. His head laid on top of his hands on the table.

"You're dating one of them," scoffed Nott.

The students quickly turned their attention towards Black, Blaise turning his chair to face the board, the tall teen already had his parchment out for notes.

They all watched as the professor decided to write something on the board, this time without magic.

"Today we'll be learning a bit of Hogwarts History," Sirius started off, amused to see most of the student's attention perked up. He remembered the goblin wars, if he had his way, that subject would never come up again. He did feel slightly guilty regarding his Slytherin students... Well, Rodrick in any case. The girl he'd met as well, she seemed pleasant enough.

"Isn't that the idea?" Rodrick heard Malfoy mutter before sighing.

"The first lesson will centre around a Hogwarts student, one who went by the name Snivelus."

...

One very informative hour later, the class was over. Sirius watched as for the time in history, no pun intended, every student was still awake. He doubted any of them realised who Snivelus actually was... Not that it really mattered in the grand scheme of things, he fully intended to have that secret out by the end of the year.

"Harry and Rodrick stay behind, everyone else you're free to leave," Sirius finished. He was amused to hear Granger ask for homework before the girl was glared at by every other student around her.

"Not today Miss Granger," he remarked shaking his head. The less homework he gave out, the less work he had to do.

Rodrick merely raised an eyebrow at the request to stay behind before turning back to his friends. "I'll see all of you in the great hall," He shrugged.

The group gazed at him for a few moments before most simply nodded. Malfoy couldn't care less. Well, he did, he just knew it was pointless to bother. He got up first before making his way out, the others slowly followed him.

Rodrick turned to the only person left, Daphne.

"Going to order me there?" She questioned amused.

"No amount of influence is capable of that I am afraid," Rodrick replied chuckling.

"I could just wait outside," she replied, watching as he slowly took the seat by her.

"Look over there..." he whispered in her ear.

Daphne slowly turned her gaze before it landed on Potter's small group. Raising an eyebrow, she turned back to the boy. "What is it?"

"Just watch," Rodrick answered back, a small grin in place.

Sirius eyed the five students left, he was about to say something before he heard one of Harry's friends speak up.

"Can we stay as well?" Harry simply sighed, he'd tried to tell them to wait outside to no avail, well at least with Ron in any case.

"Oh for the love of- Sorry Professor," Granger remarked getting up from her seat.

Daphne held back a chuckle before getting up herself, "Later," she remarked before, to Rodrick's annoyance, she ruffled his hair.

He was grateful everyone's attention was on Weasley.

"It's quite alright..." Sirius answered back, "It's nothing private, feel free to stay."

Hermione frowned slightly before turning to Harry who simply shrugged. Slowly she sat back down.

"Goodbye Professor, it was a fun lesson," He heard Daphne Greengrass as she left through the door. Sirius turned back towards the four remaining students, three were sat in the middle, Rodrick was at the back.

"Right..." He was tempted to ask him to move forward but quickly realised it would make him uncomfortable, he didn't seem to be on good terms with Harry's friends... Or well the Weasley at any case. "How was the lesson?" he questioned. He had more answers to look forward to in any case.

"Bloody Hilarious," Ronald answered first, earning an amused smile out of Sirius.

Harry nodded along agreeing. "It was more interesting than usual," he chuckled.

"Not amused," Rodrick deadpanned from his seat.

"Course not, seeing as you're the only Slytherin here," Ron replied with a smirk.

'Oh please, dig that hole even further Weasley,' Rodrick thought, honestly, the boy made it too easy. He was surprised to see most of the problems with the family stemmed from his own classmate, he actually didn't have much of anything with the other members of the family. The twins he was, surprisingly, fond of. While they might've exorcised someone in his name, it turned out better then he'd expected. Ginny Weasley was... Well, he didn't exactly interact with the girl but he had no actual problem with her, if anything, he was on much better terms with her then her brother. The less said about the head-boy the better, god knows the boy didn't like him for some reason. Any other Weasley he didn't know enough about them to have an opinion.

"How did you find it?" Sirius turned towards Rodrick, keeping a smile on his face. He frowned slightly when he realised he likely would've made the same comment himself... Of course, he didn't exactly remember any Slytherins with any redeeming qualities... Or perhaps that was simply due to his attitude back then.

"Hmm... Well, I certainly hope the lessons won't focus on only one subject anymore, namely goblin wars... Other than that it was fine," Rodrick replied, a passive expression on his face.

Sirius blinked at the words before merely nodding, the other professors had spoken to him regarding the boy's grades, frankly, he'd expected such a response. Honestly though? He wasn't sure how one could be such a troublemaker and still make enough time for studying and judging by those grades... He definitely had to have spent enough time studying. He had to hold back a sigh as he heard the familiar voice speak up.

"Sounds like Hermione," Ron chuckled.

The girl in question quickly snapped her attention towards her friend, before she could say anything, however, Rodrick spoke first.

"I'll take that as a compliment,"

"Compliment?" Ron repeated the word frowning.

'Oh crap,' Harry thought, mildly irritated, he was slowly starting to think Rodrick was doing it on purpose.

"Yes," Rodrick replied passively, "Thank you for calling me a genius,"

Hermione beamed at the words before relaxing back into her seat. Her mood souring the moment Ron decided to clarify that it wasn't what he had meant. Harry Promptly facepalmed himself.

"What. Did. You. Mean?" Hermione spoke through grit teeth as she glared at Ron.

"That he's boring," Ron answered quickly. It took him a moment to realise why that was a stupid thing to say. Well it wasn't exactly wrong, she'd spent most of her time in the library, she hadn't even bothered to help them out with the so-called war going on and whenever anything happened between him and Rodrick, she always seemed to take his bloody side.

Hermione stared at him for a few seconds before getting up in a huff, "Whatever," she remarked completely fed up. She didn't wait for anyone's words before making her way out of the classroom.

"Wait to go Ron..." Harry sighed from his seat.

Ron stared at the girl walking away, "Honestly that girl is confusing," he shook his head before turning back to Black. "Sirius-"

"Professor Black," Sirius corrected him.

Rodrick inwardly grinned before getting up, earning everyone's attention. "Are seriously none of you going after her?" He questioned incredulously.

"I would but I can't risk leaving you two alone..." Harry answered back shaking his head. 'I'll speak to her later, if I left, Ron follows and frankly, I doubt he's going to apologize...'

"Sirius is here," Rodrick remarked indicating the professor, the man was simply watching things unfold, it reminded him of his own Hogwarts years.

Ron frowned, "It-" he was about to say before he felt Harry elbowing him lightly. "What?" he turned back to Harry confused.

Harry just shook his head. How Ron functioned was beyond him, he was well aware the boy had been about to correct Rodrick about his godfather's name.

Rodrick stared at the boy-who-lived before turning to Weasley. "Fine, if neither of you is going, allow me," he sighed. "Not the first time anyway," he finished with a smirk as he turned to leave the door. "Another day Sirius, -" he mock-bowed earning an amused smile out of the man.

When Ron took on a smile at having 'driven' Rodrick away, Harry sighed, completely tired. His friend really was an idiot.

...

"Granger," Rodrick called out having spotted the girl up ahead, she'd been walking slowly.

Hermione stopped on her feet before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She turned and found Rodrick standing there, a passive expression on his face.

"What do you want Rodrick?" She questioned, aggravated.

Rodrick winced slightly at the tone before he took out a piece of parchment. "Sorry about Weasley," he spoke up scratching the back of his head with his other hand.

Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly, "It wasn't your fault," she found herself saying. She was somewhat wary of the boy rubbing it in her face...

Rodrick merely gave her the piece of parchment, "Relax, just thought this might cheer you up."

Hermione stared at the parchment before looking back up at the boy, "It's not charmed is it?" She questioned.

Rodrick shook his head.

Hermione decided to take it after a few seconds. Reading it over, her eyes widened slightly.

"It's instructions for a Disillusionment charm, well my own to be more accurate," he remarked winking at the girl.

Hermione stared down at the paper, rather surprised before sighing and turning back to the boy. "Thanks..."

"What are friends for?" he shrugged before turning around to walk away.

"Enjoy," she heard him say before she shook her head, a small smile on her face as she slowly read through the instructions. She heard another pair of feet walking up towards her, turning around towards the source of noise, she found Harry Standing there with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Feels like the first year all over again huh," he joked.

"Yes, only this time, it seems the troll replaced Ron," Hermione scoffed.

Harry immediately relaxed when he noticed the girl trying to hide her smile. "Think Rodrick's put him under an Imperius?" he joked.

"There's no need to go that far, a Confundus would've been enough," Hermione huffed before turning around, "Thanks for coming out though," she added on as she walked away. At least one of them wasn't completely insensitive to other people's feelings. Honestly, a teaspoon had more of an emotional range compared to Ron.

Harry Potter merely sighed. Having friends was difficult. Being friends with Rodrick made that so much harder. He quickly made his way back to Sirius, hopeful Ron hadn't pissed off his godfather.