Yay! I finished chapter two! Thank you to Melissarx1 who reviewed, and faster than I ever thought possible! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Oh, and I forgot the disclaimer last chapter so here it is.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books or any of the characters. I know it's sad but what can I do?
James opened his eyes and looked around. Where was he? This wasn't his room. With a happy whoop, he realized where he was. He was at Hogwarts!
Disregarding the disgruntled groans of the other boys, James jumped out of bed and dressed for his first real day of school. Strange boy he was, excited about school, but he didn't care. This wasn't any school, he was going to learn magic, and he was going to use it well. He moved around excitedly, not thinking about the racket he was making.
"Would you shut the hell up?" muttered Sirius, obviously irritated at being woken up so early in the morning. James ignored him and finished dressing as Peter and Remus got up too.
"Wait for me," Peter called as James was about to leave. James stopped at the door and waited impatiently for Peter to be ready and decided to wait for Remus too. The three boys walked together to the Great Hall for breakfast.
About twenty minutes later, Sirius came down to breakfast. He glanced at all the people sitting at the table before taking a seat by himself on the edge. James snorted in disgust.
"What?" asked Peter curiously, hearing James's snort.
"Sirius Black is such a stuck up prat," snarled James. Peter looked confused but he nodded his agreement anyways. Remus, however, just looked at James strangely before digging into his food as if he hadn't eaten a good meal in weeks. Judging by his gaunt appearance, he hadn't either.
The rest of the meal passed quietly and, in James's opinion, boringly. That is, until the mail arrived. Owls swooped into the Great Hall, causing several students to gasp at the unexpected sight.
James grinned as a barn owl dropped an envelope onto his plate. He tore it open and read the letter from his parents. It was nothing special, they mostly congratulated him on getting into Gryffindor, but it was nice to know they were thinking about him. But it also reminded his that he needed to write back, and he needed to add a little present to his letter.
Farther down the table, it seemed that someone else's parents were thinking about him too. Sirius was holding an envelope that was obviously a Howler. With a look of depressed resignation, he held it as far from his body as possible and ripped it open.
"Sirius Black!" screamed a harsh woman's voice, "You should be ashamed! How dare you get sorted into Gryffindor? You have dishonored the family name beyond anything I thought possible, even for a disgrace like you! I'll be coming to talk to Dumbledore personally to get you resorted into Slytherin! You'd better not be talking to any mudbloods or blood traitors or you'll be hearing from me again!"
With those parting words, the Howler burst into flame and disappeared. The entire hall was silent. The words mud blood and blood traitor were both highly insulting and they had just been screamed aloud for everyone to hear.
Sirius stood up and walked slowly out of the Great Hall, leaving his plate untouched. After a few seconds, everyone began talking again. James could hear some Slytherins snickering loudly while saying rude comments. At the Gryffindor table, people didn't seem to think much better of Sirius.
"How did he get sorted into Gryffindor?" asked a fifth year boy, "He belongs in Slytherin." Several people nodded their agreement, and James suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Sirius.
"We have transfiguration first," said Peter, oblivious to the conversations going on around him. "We should leave now if we want to get there on time." James nodded and stood up, still thinking about Sirius. He waited for Remus and then followed Peter.
"Umm, Peter, I think you led us the wrong way," said Remus, speaking for the first time that morning. James looked around and realized he had no idea where they were. Apparently Peter had led them the wrong way while James hadn't been paying attention.
"Oh no," groaned James, "We're going to be late to our first class. And of course it's with Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house and supposedly one of the strictest teachers around. We're doomed." Peter whimpered apologetically.
"Follow me," said Remus quietly, "I think I might be able to get us there on time." James, who was completely lost, happily put his life if Remus's hopefully capable hands.
As James followed Remus, he noticed a bunch of Slytherins talking in hushed voices in an adjacent hallway. Curiosity getting the better of him, James stopped and began to spy on them.
He was surprised to see Sirius standing with them, talking. Any sympathy James had felt toward Sirius disappeared. Sirius was betraying Gryffindor house! Everyone knew Gryffindors and Slytherins hated each other. And here Sirius was, a Gryffindor talking with Slytherins. James decided right there and then not to trust Sirius with anything, the rotten slug.
Sirius was going to be resorted into Slytherin if what his mom said was true. And anything he learned about Gryffindor would give Slytherin an advantage. At the moment, Sirius was the ideal spy for Slytherin since he was in the perfect position to get information and to sabotage Gryffindor house.
"James," squeaked Peter's voice, "are you coming? Remus found the transfiguration classroom down this corridor." James had seen enough of Sirius's traitorous behavior, so he nodded. He ran over to Peter and Remus and sat next to them in the classroom.
"Thank goodness we were with you," James said gratefully to Remus with a smile. "I would have been lost for quite a while without you. I was kind of spacey earlier." Remus's eyes lit up and for the first time, James saw a small smile on his face.
"It was nothing," Remus said as Professor McGonagall started the class. Several minutes later, Sirius walked into the classroom. Professor McGonagall raised and eyebrow at him.
"You're late," she stated calmly. Sirius nodded and looked at the floor.
"I'm sorry, Professor," Sirius said, "I got lost." James glared at him. Right. He'd been lost alright, lost with a bunch of foul-smelling Slytherins.
"Five points from Gryffindor," McGonagall said, "be on time to my next class. Take a seat."
James wasn't the only one glaring now. All the Gryffindors were glaring, and the Slytherins, who they had the class with, were sneering. When he'd seen Sirius in the hall he'd been afraid of this. Sirius could lose them tons of points without caring. It wasn't fair!
Unfortunately for James, the only open seat was next to him. Sirius walked over and sat down, pointedly ignoring his glare. James was so busy either glaring at Sirius or giving him the cold shoulder that he didn't take in any of McGonagall's speech until it was too late.
"Mr. Potter," said Professor McGonagall, indicating a match on her desk, "would you like to demonstrate?"
James's head snapped up and he began to panic. He didn't even know what they were supposed to be doing. They could be making frogs do the hula for all he knew. He stood up and walked over to her desk gripping his wand tightly. He looked down at the match and then up at his teacher.
"Erm," he coughed nervously, "What exactly and I trying to do?" McGonagall sighed and James heard several sniggers.
"You're trying to change this match into a needle," McGonagall said, "next time try to pay attention to what I'm saying instead of glaring at your classmates." James turned slightly red, and several Slytherins laughed loudly at this until McGonagall silenced them with a glare of her own.
James clenched his hands in anger and suddenly remembered what Mr. Olivander had said when he bought his wand. He had said that James's wand was particularly good at transfiguration. James hoped he was right or he was going to become a laughingstock.
James took a deep breath and waved his wand over the match. To his delight, the match turned into a pointy, silver needle. He looked triumphantly up at Professor McGonagall's slightly shocked face. She obviously hadn't thought he would be successful on his first try.
"Excellent, five points to Gryffindor," McGonagall said with a rare smile, "I guess I have a natural at transfiguration this year." James grinned and went back to his seat as matches appeared on all of the desks. Everyone was now attempting to change their matches into needles.
James quickly changed his match into a needle for a second time and changed it back. Next to him, Remus was doing okay except that his needle still had a dull end that could light on fire. Peter was having no luck at all and his match was still a match.
"Professor," called out Sirius, "I've managed to change mine." Professor McGonagall strode over and checked Sirius's work. She nodded in satisfaction.
"It seems I might have two naturals," she said to both of them. Sirius seemed happy but James just glowered fiercely. He didn't want to be associated with Sirius in any way.
James soon found that, as much as he hated to admit it, he and Sirius were equally good at almost everything. In the next few weeks, the two boys soon proved themselves to be top of practically every class. Granted, James was better and transfiguration. But surprisingly, Sirius was better at Defense Against the Dark Arts, so it evened out.
Why, of all people in the class, did Sirius have to be the one who was also greatly talented? Why couldn't it have been Remus, who usually finished soon after them, or the red head girl named Lily Evans, who was really bright, or even Peter, who was sadly hopeless at every class?
The competition and animosity between the two boys escalated. It was only rivaled by the traditional, but bitter enmity between Gryffindor and Slytherin house. James was determined to beat Sirius, at anything and everything, and it didn't help that he kept seeing Sirius surrounded by groups of Slytherins in between classes.
Between classes and hating Sirius, James soon became antsy and needed an outlet for his energy. Much to the older Gryffindors' amusement, James energy was soon channeled into pranks on Slytherins. He was often the culprit behind the mishaps Slytherins seemed to attrat in class, or the reason they arrived for dinner covered in mud or bat spleens. And occasionally, he 'accidentally' hit Sirius in the process.
To James's surprise, there appeared to be someone else playing pranks on the Slytherins too. One day several were late to class because a knight had decided to chase them around the castle. The next day, the greasy haired boy's potion exploded and caused several kids to turn interesting shades of fuchsia.
People wondered if James had anything to do with it, but he was a clueless as they were. However, he was determined to add to the Slytherins misery.
After breakfast one morning, James dragged Remus and Peter over to the transfiguration room to set up a prank. Peter was extremely excited to be included in a prank, but Remus was clearly hesitant.
"We really, really shouldn't be doing this," Remus muttered under his breath. He kept looking furtively over his shoulder, sure that a teacher would come in at any moment.
"Oh, don't worry so much," James grinned, "lighten up and have some fun!" With out so much as looking up, James continued to work.
"Yes," Remus whispered, "but what if we're caught? What if this goes horribly wrong and we get expelled?"
James ignored his warnings and Remus eventually gave up. With Remus finally helping, the prank was quickly ready despite Peter's several blunders.
James stood back to admire their work. Buckets were strung along the ceiling the whole length of the hall. After class, James would stand in an out of the way nook to start the prank. He would say a spell he'd recently learned and the bucket he pointed to would tip over and dump its contents on the unwary victim.
Smirking, James scurried away to warn his fellow Gryffindors to stay away from the hall after class.
Transfiguration passed excruciatingly slowly to James. He was out the door as soon as the bell rang. Hiding in his hidden nook, he waited impatiently for his first victims.
His fun started when several Slytherins, including the greasy haired kid with a big nose, walked out of his class. They walked unsuspectingly under the first bucket. With a few whispered words, they were covered in mushed egg with chunks of sausage James had saved from breakfast.
James laughed hysterically from his hiding spot and got ready for the next batch of students. Soon, people were screaming and running around the hallway, trying to dodge buckets of leftover food and falling on their faces in squished egg for their efforts.
There were only a few buckets left when Sirius stepped out of the transfiguration room. James started tipping over buckets at random, and unfortunately, Sirius happened to be underneath one.
James laughed at Sirius's surprised face. But to his dismay, Sirius scanned the crowd and stalked straight over to James's spot. He grabbed James and angrily pulled him into the chaotic hallway.
"What the hell was that for?" Sirius snarled, still holding onto James's cloak.
"I don't know what you mean," James said haughtily, shaking off Sirius's hands.
"I'm not stupid," Sirius growled, "I know you're behind this." James was glaring just as furiously as Sirius now.
"So what if I am?" James snapped.
"You didn't have to hit me with this stuff!" yelled Sirius throwing a handful of the mashed potatoes on his robes at James's face. James dodged the potatoes but was furious with Sirius for throwing them at him.
"Well maybe I mistook you for a Slytherin," James taunted, "I mean you're going to be one anyways."
"No," Sirius said, "I'm not."
"But I thought that's what you wanted," James sneered. "Or did your mother give you up for a lost cause?"
At this last statement, Sirius launched himself at James and punched him in the eye. James quickly recovered and threw a punch at Sirius that connected with his nose. The two boys grappled with each other on the floor, each trying to get the upper hand.
"Enough!" Professor McGonagall's voice rang across the hall. Everyone froze except for the two boys of the floor, who continued to fight. McGonagall shot green sparks at them and they finally jumped apart and scrambled to their feet.
They were quite a sight. James had a black eye and his lip was bleeding. Sirius's nose was bleeding freely and he had several scratches on his cheek. Both were covered in what looked like regurgitated breakfast. Neither boy cowered under the withering glare McGonagall placed on them.
"Everyone to your next class, now," McGonagall's voice was deadly soft. "There's no time to clean yourselves up right now. Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, follow me."
Both boys walked sulkily into her office, glaring at the sneering, greasy haired Slytherin, who had ketchup dripping slowly off his nose and a chunk of sausage stuck in his ear.
"Mr. Snape informed me that this mayhem was caused by you two," McGonagall stated. Sirius began to protest but she cut him off.
"However, even if you had nothing to do with the prank," she looked as if she highly doubted it, "you will both receive detention for fighting. You are both Gryffindors and I expected better of two of my best students." She paused to glare at them. "Meet me here at six every night for a week starting tomorrow."
Outside her office, Sirius gave James one last glare before stalking off. James stared at Sirius's retreating back and then went to class.
That night in the common room, James told Peter and Remus everything that had happened. James was ranting about how he was going to get back at Sirius and that greasy haired git named Snape when Remus hesitantly spoke up.
"You really shouldn't have hit Sirius with one of the buckets," he said reprovingly. James looked at him incredulously.
"I didn't do it on purpose," James said.
"But you didn't warn him either," Remus reminded him. James seemed slightly abashed.
"So?" he said defensively, "It's not like he's going to be a Gryffindor much longer so what does it matter?"
"Didn't you say Sirius said he wasn't going to be in Slytherin?" Remus asked curiously. James nodded as he remembered Sirius's words. "So he'll probably be a Gryffindor whether you like it or not. You might as well be kinder to him."
"Why do you care about him?" James asked exasperatedly. Remus eyed him oddly before speaking.
"I know how it feels to be shunned by everyone," he said quietly. Then he turned around and walked up to the dormitory.
James was taken aback. Great. Now he had detention with Sirius and his friend was mad at him for no apparent reason. With a snort, James remembered the sausage in the greasy-haired git's ear. At least he'd had the enjoyment of seeing Slytherins covered in leftover food for all his trouble.
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Please review and tell me what you think! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter soon, but reviews will help me write faster (wink wink, nudge nudge ;D).