The walk to History of Magic was interesting, to say the least. Harry couldn't help but smirk as people began whispering about how a mass murderer was going to be teaching the class. From the other end of the corridor, Harry could hear Weasley telling a couple of the thicker Gryffindors that he would torture them everytime they got answers wrong. Harry wasn't sure what was worse; the fact that Ron was spreading this or that those idiots actually seemed to believe it.

But sure enough, Seamus and Dean were taking in Every word Ron was saying as though it was coming straight from a professor's mouth. It was almost as though they thought Ron's words were going to be on a test of some kind. Harry couldn't understand how Ron could stand there and talk so freely from the top of his head without knowing whether what he said was true or not. Did Ron not realise how dumb he was making himself look.

"You know it's not true and so do they," Draco said to Harry, carefully shooting a look back to Ron with that last part. Ron seemed to pale slightly at the glance but quickly covered the expression with the weakest smirk Harry had ever seen. If Ron was trying to look intimidated, he was failing miserably.

"They're idiots, Harry. Ron spent most of last night whining about how you've been corrupted by darkness and how you were supposed to have been his friend," Neville Longbottom said, quickening his pace so he could catch up to Harry and Draco. Harry couldn't help but notice just how tired of Ron Neville already sounded. "He's such a prat. He was teasing me about how bad my potion was when his potion was worse. I'm dyslexic, what's his excuse?"

Draco suddenly gave Neville a look and gave a brief nod. Before Harry could say anything, Draco had taken a bit of parchment and a quill from his bag and began to quickly scribble something down. He handed the bit of parchment to Neville who stared at it and gave Draco a strange look.

"Give that to the professors at the start of class; they can modify the texts and instructions on the board so you can read easier. I'm dyslexic too and it makes all the difference in the world," Draco told Neville who could not believe what he was hearing. But Harry couldn't believe Draco Malfoy had dyslexia; the blond boy gave no indication of having any trouble reading or participating in class.

When they walking into the History of Magic classroom, the students all fell quiet as they spotted Sirius Black sitting at the front of the classroom. Harry felt a stir of familiarity when his eyes fell on the man. He wasn't sure how he knew him but the man was undeniably familiar to him.

Harry, Draco and Neville took a seat at the front of the room and set up their parchment and their quills. Sirius' face lit up when his he spotted Harry sitting at the front of the classroom. The man looked like he wanted to speak but he was interrupted when Ron stomped up to the front of the classroom and gave Neville an angry look.

"What are you doing with the snakes, Longbottom? We are sitting over there," Ron said to Neville who flushed and looked back and forth between Harry and Ron.

"I'm sitting here with Harry and Draco," Neville told Ron nervously.

"Why would you want to sit with junior Death Eaters? Or have you already forgotten what Death Eaters did to your parents?"

"You're out of line, Weasley," Draco said, standing up but before Draco could make his way over to Ron, Sirius cleared his throat and gave Ron a look that obviously told him it was time to take a seat.

Sirius made his way to the front of the classroom and wrote the word history on the chalkboard. Once everyone was seated, Sirius took a deep breath and his expression became cheerful and energetic. The effect was contagious because Harry felt himself become energised and ready to learn. Harry also noticed his classmates were leaning forward eagerly and Sirius had not even begun the lecture yet.

"Can someone tell me why it is important to learn history? What we can gain by learning the past?" Sirius stared around the room and nodded in Harry's direction when the young boy began to slowly raise his hand.

"So we can learn from the mistakes we made in the past and hopefully not repeat them," Harry answered slowly. Sirius smiled and wrote Harry's answer on the board. Harry felt relief fill his stomach as he realised he had gotten the answer right.

"That is exactly why we learn history, Mr Snape! Ten points to Slytherin! When we learn the mistakes out ancestors have made, it becomes easier to prevent them from happening again. It is also important to learn from their successes. I won't lie, there are elements that aren't always fun to learn but they are still important to learn. I will do my best to deliver these lessons in a way to keep you interested. Who knows the significance of magical laws?"

Sirius kept the class involved by bringing in student opinions and starting lively conversations and debates. Sirius didn't just tell you what happened in history but did his best to word his lessons in a way that made you feel like you were personally present for these historic events. By the end of class, their assignment for next class was to study the past of one of the ghosts at Hogwarts.

Harry and Draco remained after class so they could speak with Sirius. They had invited Neville to stay but he had a meeting with Professor Dumbledore about arranging his weekend visits with his parents.

Harry and Draco made their way to the front of the room where Sirius was waiting. Harry was excited to finally be able to talk to his godfather so he could make plans for the weekend. If you had have told Harry a few months ago that he was going to meet his Godfather, Harry wouldn't have believed something so good could have happened to him. But now, Harry was just excited to meet the man who had known Harry as a baby and had seen Harry take his first steps. He knew Harry's mum and he could tell Harry about the things in his childhood that the Dursleys had lied about that Severus just wouldn't be able to know.

"Hello Harry and you must be Draco Malfoy," Sirius said shaking the hands of both boys. Harry excitedly shook Sirius' hand and smiled at the man. But Harry wasn't sure what to say to him. As a kid, Harry had spent many hours visioning meeting family members or friends and what he would say to them but they were all childish and stupid things to say now. The last thing Harry wanted to do was make Sirius think he was thick.

"Hello sir," Harry said, causing Sirius to grin.

"Call me Sirius or Padfoot."

"Padfoot sounds familiar," Harry said, trying to figure out where he had heard such an interesting nickname.

"It should; it was your first word! Made your mum furious when you said 'Padfoot' before you even said 'mama'. She was just jealous that she wasn't as awesome as me, though," Sirius said, causing Harry and Draco to laugh.

When Harry and Draco left the room, they had made plans to meet Sirius on Sunday afternoon for lunch. Draco made it clear that he was going and Harry knew his father would want to go as well; if anything to make sure Harry and Draco got to the cafe safely without getting lost.

But Harry figured the Blackberry cheesecake the cafe was famous for had something to do with his father desire to attend the lunch. If the cheesecake was as good as it sounded; Harry would happily sit at a table with Dudley, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Ron Weasley for a piece.

As Harry and Draco made their way to the Slytherin common room, they spotted Professor Quirrel staring at them from a distance. Something in the way the man was staring at Harry made him uncomfortable. It was almost like the professor was glaring at him. Harry fought to keep himself from visually responding to the stare but Harry couldn't stop himself from shuddering as chills went up and down his spine.

Harry shook his head and decided to ignore the feeling... For now. The last thing Harry wanted to do was start the term with too much drama.

Why is Professor Quirrel staring at Harry like that?...

Next chapter will be Harry's lunch with Sirius...