Author's Note: Thanks to the people who read this. I wasn't a huge fan of that, but you seemed to like it. I guess I did something right then? Right, here's the next chapter. It's quite long, but I wouldn't expect that for the next ones. But do review if you read. I love feedback.
The year was 1971. An eleven-year-old me was pushing a cart through King's Cross Station, trying to keep up with my brother, also an incoming first-year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He managed to slow my parents down so I would not be lost in the sea of muggles. Again, I looked down at my ticket for the Hogwarts Express, and up again at the platform numbers. There was no Platform 9 3/4 to be seen in the vicinity. I was bothered by this, and bit my lip anxiously. I expressed my concern to my mother and father, who both promised me that we would reach it soon enough. They had both attended Hogwarts, so I should not have been as worried as I was, but I had always been a bit of a "Nervous Nelly" as my brother so creatively put it.
Mother and Father stopped my brother and I when we reached the pillar between Platforms Nine and Ten. My new kitten, Samson, mewed quietly in his carrier, not pleased with the circumstances in which he had to travel while my brother's owl hooted in his cage. Passerbys stared strangely at my brother's odd choice of pet, but continued on their individual sojourns.
I stared at my parents apprehensively. "Mummy, where's th--"
"Joanne, darling, its right here," Mother pointed at the pillar.
"There?" my brother seemed as equally confused.
Our father nodded. "You two need to run straight at the wall, you'll go through it and find your platform there," he explained.
"That's bloody mad!" my brother squinted his eyes at our mother and father as if they had grown second heads.
"There's no need for foul language, James," Mother said sternly. A split second after, she was pulling us both into a loving embrace and crying. "I don't know what I'll do without you two around!" she wailed.
I looked at James, a bit distressed at our mother's swift mood-swing. I silently prayed that Father wouldn't have to deal with these mood-swings while we were gone. "Meredith, please. You're choking them!" Father exclaimed. "If you keep this up they will be staying around because they'll have missed the train!"
She finally let go, and smiled at us, mascara-stained tears falling down her cheeks. James and I smiled back and promised we would write to her the first chance we got. Father hugged us and warned James to stay out of trouble (my twin smirked at me when he heard this, we both knew he wouldn't be able to resist).
With one last smile, James and I said our final farewell to our parents. I looked hard at the pillar between the two platforms, looked at my twin and gave him a knowing grin. "See you on the other side, mate." And with that, I ran as fast as I could through the bricks. I closed my eyes, expecting impact accompanied by a bloody nose, but it never came. When my eyes opened, my mouth dropped. Before my and James', who had just passed through the wall, eyes was a a shining black and red train, tooting and blowing out steam, as if poised to shoot off at any moment. I glanced at my watch. It was half past ten, James and I were a half hour early. We boarded the train, still absorbing our new surroundings. Being as early as we were, it was easy to find an unoccupied compartment to put our trunks away and I took Samson out of his cage. I thought he needed to stretch, but instead he plopped down onto my lap and began purring loudly.
Within a few minutes, the train began to fill up with other students. People were walking by, some looked familiar from parties our parents had thrown when we were little. One face I recognised to be the fourteen-year-old Lucius Malfoy, a bitter Pureblood who believed that the world should be "cleansed" of all muggles, muggle-borns, half-bloods, and blood traitors. His father, Abraxas Malfoy, worked with my father, Joseph, in the Ministry of Magic. I did not understand how the two were friends, as my father was considered a "blood traitor" by the Pureblood community. Lucius was a miniature version of his pompous father, long platinum blond hair, icy blue eyes, his face permanently imprinted with the famous Malfoy Smirk, and his long yet elegant nose high in the air as he walked. He was already in his school robes, donning his Slytherin tie, showing the everlasting pride he had for his house. James and I shared a look of disgust as he sauntered by with his lackey, Rodolphus Lestrange, another egotistic Slytherin.
Parents and siblings were waving on the platform as their family members returned their farewells as the train pulled away from the station. James and I were still the only two left in our compartment. We carried on light conversation, discussing what we expected from the school where we would be spending the majority of the next seven years of our lives. James was asleep after our conversation ended, and soon, I began to follow my twin's example. The constant rattle of the train was lulling me to--
BANG!
James and I were both shaken up by this sudden noise outside of the compartments and stuck our heads out of our door to see what the racket was.
To our surprise we saw two boys, both my age, fighting in the hallway. One boy, obviously the stronger of the two, had shaggy black hair, much like James', but more tame. He had a chubby blonde boy shoved against a wall, looking like he was going to punch him. As quickly as we could, James and I ran out of the compartment to help the small mousy boy. James slammed the black-haired boy against the opposite wall, while I rushed to the aid of the blond boy.
"Are you all right?" I asked gently.
He looked a bit shaken up, his watery eyes looked past me. i turned to see my twin wrestling the other boy, both of them grunting and shoving each other quite hard. James' glasses had fallen off in the mêlée and one of the lenses was broken.
"Bugger off!" shouted the boy as James pushed his face against the wall. "You don't know what you're getting into!"
But before any of us could react, a shout was heard from down the hall.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Both my brother and the black-haired boy froze and fell to the ground, stiff as a board, with a loud THUD! I looked down the corridor to see a small redhead (again she looked around my age) running to see if the small boy was in good condition as well.
She looked considered at both myself and the boy. "Are you two all right! I saw the entire thing! That one," she pointed to the nameless petrified boy, "sort of attacked you after you said something to him!"
The terrified blonde boy spoke for the first time, and really did sound like a mouse. "Y-yes," he stammered. "I was w-walking to the bathroom when he came out. Looked v-very angry, he did. I asked him what was the m-matter and then..." The started sobbing and put his face in his hands.
The redhead girl and I simply looked at each other in sympathy. I patted the crying boy on the shoulder. "Don't worry, mate. You can share a compartment with my brother and I. We'll make sure that bloke doesn't bother you, yeh?"
He looked at me as if I had saved him from a terrible and painful death, and hugged me. "Oh, th-thank you!" he wailed.
I was taken aback by his immense gratitude and patted his back. "What's your name?" I asked him as the redhead and I helped him to his feet.
"P-Peter. Peter Pettigrew," he stuttered.
I smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Peter. My name's Joanne Potter. But everyone calls me Joni."
Then the redhead piped up. "And I'm Lily Evans. Pleasure." She shook both mine and Peter's hands. She then gestured to my brother, still petrified. "Is that your brother then?" she asked me.
I nodded. "That's James. He pulled that bully off of Peter before he could do anything. He's my twin."
Lily smiled. "It was very nice of him to help Peter." She performed the countercurse and helped James to his feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't know who was who. I'm Lily Evans." She held out her hand.
James gave her his best crooked smile and shook her hand. "James Potter at your service, miss."
"And I'm Peter Pettigrew!" Peter cheeped.
"'Tis an honour, Mr. Pettigrew!" James shook Peter's hand.
We all went into mine and James' compartment, but not before pulling the black-haired boy in with us. He remained on the floor for a while, the four of us chatted about where we were from and casual information. Lily also repaired my twin's broken glasses, which he was forever grateful for.
"Right, what should we do with this one then?" I gestured to the still petrified attacker of Peter.
"Well, we could just leave him like that... after what he did to you," James suggested.
"Don't be ridiculous," Lily said smartly. "We should un-petrify him then tell a professor when we reach the school so they can give him the appropriate punishment!"
"I agree," I stated. "By the way, Lily, how did you learn such a fab spell like that? You're a first year aren't you?"
Lily face turned bright fushia. "Oh, it's nothing, really. Just something I found in The Standard Book of Spells, Year 1."
"Don't be modest!" James told her. "It was bloody brilliant!"
Lily smiled as she performed the countercurse and the boy shook as he was released. He jumped up and glared at us. "What'd you do that for!" he shouted.
"Well, you were attacking James and Peter!" Lily glared at him. "What did Peter ever do to you? Who do you even think you are?"
"Well, I'm Sirius Orion Black, and I can do whatever I bloody well please, girl!" he retorted.
"Oi, don't talk to her like that, I don't care who you are, Black!" James joined the yelling. "Lily can jinx you again like that!" He snapped his fingers.
"Like this is worth my time!" Sirius shouted. "I'm leaving!"
He stormed out of the compartment and slammed the door hard in our faces. Lily was seething, and so was James.
"Forget telling a professor. We're well shot of him," James growled and sat back down.
After a long conversation, Lily and I soon found that we were quite similar. We both had dressed in black for a week when the beloved Jim Morrison died, detested the colour yellow, and wanted to move to Paris when we were finished with school. James was still being thanked and thanked and thanked by Peter, who seemed to have appreciated the help he received a little too much. He kept complimenting my twin about how brave he was, and James seemed to be soaking up the attention like a sponge in water.
We reached the school by nightfall and all of us were in our new school uniforms as we followed an almost colassal "Rubeus Hagrid" to boats that would take the first years to the school, while the older years piled into horseless carriages.
"Now it's six students ter a boa', you lot," Hagrid told us.
I spotted a small sandy-haired boy who had just been kicked out of a boat by a snotty looking girl with black hair. I called him over to be in the boat I was sharing with Lily, James, and Peter, which meant we only needed one more person in our boat.
"Thanks," the sandy-haired boy smiled shyly.
"Not a problem, mate," I grinned. "I'm Joni Potter, and that's my twin, James."
"How's it?" James patted him on the shoulder.
"Hi, my name's Remus Lupin," the boy seemed at ease when we were being friendly.
Lily shook his hand. "My name's Lily Evans. That's Peter Pettigrew." She gestured to Peter, who waved.
"Hi, Peter, Lily," Remus nodded.
Hagrid walked up to our with a boy just as James was going to engage a conversation. "Righ' then, Mister Black, ye'll be sharin' a boa' wif these kids then, eh?"
That Sirius boy from earlier looked just as "happy" to be sharing a boat as I did. "Great," he mumbled.
Remus began to introduce himself but James stopped him. "Don't bother with that prat, Remus. He's not worth your breath."
Sirius glared icily at James. "You looking for a beating?" he threatened.
"Oh, honestly, you lot!" I groaned. "This whole thing is probably just a misunderstanding. Not that I'm siding with you," I pointed at Sirius, "but this really has to stop. I think if we all apologised everything would just be better."
"I agree," Lily stated.
"But--" James started, looking at me.
"No but's!" I said, then turned to Sirius. "Everyone's going to apologise. Sirius you can start by saying sorry to Peter."
Sirius looked quite put off by me. It was as if he had never apologised to anyone before in his life. But noticing the look I was giving him (I had learnt it from Mother incase James started acting up), he grumbled an apology to Peter, who accepted and then apologised for upsetting him.
"James, your turn," I told my brother.
"You're kidding!" he barked. "I was only helping Peter!"
"If Sirius can do it, James, so can you," Lily sided with me.
James flushed a light pink at Lily's words. I was the only one who noticed. James had been acting funny every since he met Lily...
"Fine," he gritted his teeth. "Sorry for trying to duff you up, Sirius."
"Sorry for trying to duff you up, James," Sirius mumbled back.
"See, that wasn't so bad was it?" I gave a cheery smile to Sirius. He gave a small one in return. "Well, we haven't been properly introduced," I tried to change the topic as James continued to glare at Sirius. "I'm Joni Potter, that's my twin, James." I introduced Sirius to everyone, who muttered his hello's back. The tension on the boat wasn't as thick. But by the time we reached the castle, everyone seemed to have forgotten any ill feelings towards each other. James and Sirius acted as if they'd known each other all their lives.
"--and then we both fell into the mud!" James laughed. "Needless to say our mum was horrified when we came into the house, our brand-new dress clothes soaked with mud..."
Sirius howled at the story my twin told about our younger days, as we all climbed the stairs where a strict-looking witch awaited us. She proceeded to tell us about the Sorting Ceremony, including the four houses we would be sorted in. Lily had told me she read all about the school in Hogwarts, A History. Of course, James and I were expected to be placed in Gryffindor like our parents had been. But when Sirius told us his entire family had been put in Slytherin since the school opened, we all seemed a bit shocked.
"Isn't Malfoy in Slytherin?" James sounded a bit disgusted. We both hated Malfoy and his family with a passion, regardless of how many of our family's parties they attended.
"Lucius? Yeah, my mum wanted me to spend the summer with him so he could 'prepare' me for school here." Sirius shrugged and started to blush. He obviously wasn't to happy about being friends with the Malfoys.
"You didn't though, did you?" I asked.
Sirius cringed. "Merlin, no! I'd rather bathe in leeches, thanks!"
I giggled and Sirius grinned. James seemed a bit more at ease to know his new friend wasn't the way a "typical Slytherin" would act.
The witch who had spoken to us earlier, deputy headmistress Minerva McGonagall, escorted us into the Great Hall, where all the older years watches us come in. Some of the sixth and seventh years (particularly in Slytherin) were quite frightening. A fifth year Ravenclaw leaned to her friend and whispered, "They're getting smaller every year aren't they?"
McGonagall reached the front of the Great Hall, where a stool and a tattered old hat sat. Soon, the exciting hum in the room died down, and a seam on the front of the hat turned into a mouth. Then the hat began to sing. Lily told us that "The Sorting Hat" does this every year to welcome the new students, and so the students know why they are sorted into which house. When the song ended, the entire hall broke into applause. Then Professor McGonagall took the hat off the stool and a long sheet of parchment from her pocket and said, "When I call your name you will come forward and the hat will sort you into your respective houses."
"I hope we're all in the same house," Remus whispered to me. I nodded in agreement. Though I was eager to make more and more friends, I liked the group I had come across. It would be terrible for us all to split up into different houses.
"Abercrombie, Logan!" McGonagall shouted.
A pale blonde boy stumbled up to the stool. The hat went onto his head and in a few seconds it shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The Hufflepuff table cheered loudly as Logan made his way to the table to be greeted by his fellow classmates. But the Sorting Ceremony, we all soon found out, was tiring. There were many incoming first years, and waiting to have your name called took an eternity.
"Black, Sirius!" shook me out of my daze as my new friend made his way to the front of the dissolving crowd of first years. He didn't seem as afraid as the others had looked when they were being sorted, but his eyes, for me, gave away his scared face. He was looking over at Lucius Malfoy, who was sneering at him. The hat finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" And Sirius seemed immensely relieved when he went to sit at the Gryffindor table. Bellatrix, a girl who was just sorted into Slytherin, his cousin I supposed, glared daggers at him, but he didn't seem to notice.
Soon, Lily's name was called. She looked terrified as the hat was placed on her head. Her lips were moving, which gave me the impression that the hat was having a conversation with her before sorting her into Gryffindor. I cheered loudly as she beamed at me and took a seat next to Sirius. He gave her a high-five as they turned to the remainder of us and gave us a thumbs up.
Remus was sorted into Gryffindor as well, and surprisingly, so was Peter. It's not that I thought Peter wasn't brave, I just thought he was a bit to clingy to James to be Gryffindor material. Maybe he'd prove me wrong?
"Potter, James!"
James paled, but I pushed him, telling him to get a move on. He sat in the chair. When he glanced in the direction of our friends and seemed at ease. I looked where he was looking, and Lily was smiling at him. She looked pretty confident that he was going to be sorted into her house, and I could agree with her, especially after his courage on the train.
Lily was right. James went to Gryffindor.
"Potter, Joanne!"
I froze. 'Oh, Merlin, that's me!' I walked slowly to the stool, where Professor McGonagall waited with the hat. She placed it on my head, and instantly I heard a voice in my head.
"So, that boy's got a twin then?" I recognised the voice as the hat's.
"You talk?" I whispered.
"Is that bad, then, Miss Potter?" the hat seemed offended.
"Oh, no, it's not, I just didn't know..." I whimpered.
"Didn't know, eh?" the hat was sassing me. "Well we'll just put you in... GRYFFINDOR!"
I squeaked in happiness and ran to the table, almost tripping on my untied shoe as a sat in-between Lily and Remus, who were both ecstatic I had been sorted into their house.
"Looks like you go your wish then, Remus," I laughed.
"Joni, you really should be waking up," Lily stated.
I looked puzzled. "What?"
"Wake up, Joni!" Lily huffed. The words coming out of her mouth didn't match her lip movements, and her voice sounded exasperated while her face was full of glee. "Don't make me get Sirius to come up here! It's our first day back, you're going to be late for class!"
I sat up as quickly as I could, taking a moment to absorb my surroundings. I sighed when I realised I was in the dormitory I shared with Lily, and our two girlfriends, Jude and Nina. The sun was shining brightly into our window and I groaned.
"Why do classes need to start today, Lily?" I whined as I climbed out of bed. "Why not in a week? Why not never?"
Lily huffed and turned back to putting on her vest. She was nearly dressed, her long red hair pulled into a bun, and her green eyes looked at me in annoyance. "Y'know, Joni, sometimes, it's not hard to believe you and James are twins."
I laughed. "Aw, fanks. You know how to make me feel so loved!" I went to the loo, where Nina was taking a shower and Jude was brushing her hair. Jude had just moved to England from the United States at the start of her fourth year. We all welcomed her with open arms, and she adjusted very quickly into the English Way at Hogwarts. She was most recently dubbed the Gossip Queen, because if something happens on the social front, Jude is always one of the first to know.
I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste as I greeted the two a good morning.
"Sleep well?" Jude asked as she curled her hair.
"Well enough," I replied. "I dreamt about the day I met you lot. Except the daaarling Miss Evans," I raised my voice so Lily would hear, "woke me up before the little me had met you an' Nina."
"Shut up, Jo, you would've missed your morning classes if it hadn't been for me!" Lily retorted into the bathroom and I rolled my eyes. 'And I'm just so thankful for that,' I thought grimly.
"Right-o, see you two later, then!" I rinsed my mouth and left the bathroom.
"S'later," Nina called from the shower.
A few minutes later, Lily and I meandered downstairs to the common room, knowing how long Nina and Jude took to get dressed. It was a ritual to wait for my brother and "The Marauders", as they so creatively dubbed themselves in second year, before breakfast.
"What a way to start sixth year!" I sighed as I sat on the couch nearest the fire. "Waiting for a gaggle of mad hatters."
Lily giggled. "You know we could just as easily leave without them. It's just a habit we've acquired."
Before I could reply, a dungbomb came soaring down the stairs that led to the boys' dormitories and landed naught five feet away from me. Lily and a few third years that were sitting in the common room screamed. I, on the other hand, stomped up a few stairs and stopped. "SIRIUS BLOODY BLACK, GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE NOW!" I roared as Lily made her way over to the steps as well.
I heard snickering, and then a head full of messy black hair and glasses popped out from behind the wall. "You rang, ladies?"
I growled. "Not you, James. Get your bloody friends down here."
Three more grinning heads popped out over James', one with sandy blonde hair, another with unkempt black hair, and the last with short blonde hair.
The one with black hair spoke. "Just a bit of fun, babe," he winked at me.
I rolled my eyes and grinned. "Sirius, you need to learn that your terms of endearment will not get you anywhere with me."
"And when has that ever stopped Padfoot?" the sandy blonde boy spoke up as the four "mad hatters" made their way down the stairs to where Lily and I were.
I hit James roughly on the head and demanded, "Control your moronic friends."
"Oi, now is that the best way to ask, sis?" he rubbed the back of his head sharply.
"C'mon, you lot, we're gonna be late for breakfast!" Peter reminded us.
"And we won't get our schedules!" Lily said excitedly.
"Is that all you care about?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Learning?" he shuddered.
We all received schedules in time, much to James, Peter, and Sirius' disappointment. All of us were continuing onto N.E.W.T level Transfiguration, History of Magic, Herbology, Potions, Charms, and Defence Against The Dark Arts. Sirius and I had almost every class together, except I, however, was still loyal to my Divination class, while he was sticking with Care of Magical Creatures. The two of us had our own way of staying on top of our studies: one of us always took notes while the other slept, or did whatever they pleased. This always worked, seeing as I was better in Potions than Sirius, and he was brilliant in Defence Against the Dark Arts. However, History of Magic was the only class all of us (including Remus!) slept in. Lily was the only one who was able to pay attention during Professor Binns' droning lecture of wars and giants and goblins, so she was our heroine when it came to studying for tests in that class. Lily and I, being the overachievers that we are, decided to take a few extra classes, including Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. We wouldn't have free period like the other sixth years, but I really enjoyed Ancient Runes, so to me it wasn't a huge loss.
"Joni, you know you're absolutely mad for taking those extra courses," Sirius scolded me as we walked, arms around each other, to Transfiguration, the first class of the day.
I smiled at him. "Well, sorry if my brain's got a bit more space than yours, " I teased. "Besides, if I'm mad, how come you and the Mad Hatters haven't inducted me into your little gang?"
"You're hilarious," he rolled his eyes.
I had taken to calling the Marauders the Mad Hatters, mostly because, well, they are quite mad. They've even got odd "nicknames." Of course, being James, er, Prongs' sister I know how they all acquired their names, but all the same, there's really no need to call each other them unless they're plotting. But I really did love those blokes.
James is my twin, so that's given. He's also quite hilarious when he's on the Quidditch field as Chaser. He's a fantastic player, but it's funny to see him get worked up over matches. He's Captain of the team now, so of course, things can only get worse. And the fact that he's an oggling whatsit over Lily, my most wonderful pally, makes life a bit more complicated. Lily used to find my twin past unbearable from first to fifth year, but after an incident involving Severus Snape, and a Levicorpus, James straightened himself up, and his head became a bit less swelled. Lily's tolerating him now, maybe even enjoys his company, but she won't admit it even to me. If James keeps up his good behaviour, there's a chance that he could be dating Lily by the end of term.
Then there's Remus, darling darling Remus. He's the sweetest person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Being a prefect, you'd expect him to be busting the Marauders for all their magnificent pranks, but Remus was always "conveniently" somewhere else when James and Sirius caused mischief. Remus is a sensitive one, which makes him easier to talk to when the other Mad Hatters are pratting up the hallways. The fact that he's a werewolf also seems to play a crucial part in how well he acts around people. The lot of us are always extra specially nice to him around the full moon, which seems to help him feel more loved. After being bitten, his parents were at a huge loss of what to do with him, so for him it was lovely to have people that wanted to help him through that hard time every month. Though he didn't play Quidditch, his "condition", keeps him looking quite fit. And don't think I'm the only one to notice. Jude Nicolson, my roommate and second bestest girly pal, recently discovered this as well, and can't keep her eyes off him. What's better is that Remus seems to fancy her as well. It's quite cute seeing their shy flirting and such, but if they don't make a move and get in that taxi to Datesville, I might just have to drive them there myself.
Peter Pettigrew was the first Marauder I met, excluding James. He really looks up to my brother, and it's nice to see that he really likes James, but sometimes it gets a bit obsessive, where James is just showing off, knowing Peter's going to be watching. Peter's very sweet, nonetheless. He's quite shy around the females of our school, I still don't think he's ever had a proper girlfriend, which is a bit depressing when you see who his company is. But they may have something to do with his hopelessness with girls. See, James, Sirius, and Remus are, as a large population of females (and males) in the school says, are Hogwarts Finest Male Specimens. All three of them are quite fit, popular, they have something they're known for in school- James is a Quidditch Junkie, Remus is prefect and top choice for Head Boy next year, and Sirius is the Lady Killer of Hogwarts. So it's hard to compete when you're friends with those three. I still think Peter has his eyes on a Hufflepuff, Maggie Sharpe, but I don't think he'll make his move soon enough.
Let's see... who am I forgetting? Oh dear, right then...
Sirius Black is, well... quite the character to say the least. He's a Chaser with James, and though he's not the most brilliant player on the team, he's most popular for his reputation with girls. See, he's quite the ladies' man here at Hogwarts. I mean, it's dead obvious that he's a marvellous looking bloke, but I never said his reputation was a good one. Actually, it goes both ways. It depends on who you're talking to. Some say he's God's gift to all women (which he won't argue with), and others aren't as courteous. They say he's a conceited git who thinks more with "little Sirius" than his brain. I can't say I agree with either parties, but I will say that he's quite cool when he's not attempting to impress, or torture people (i.e., Severus Snape). And Sirius is beyond fit. He's a bloody Sex God if you ask me. His smile makes him look quite dog-ish, and his eyes are the most brilliant blue I've ever seen, and... oo-er. Sirius Black is just breathtaking. Of course, he would be to me, seeing as I've fancied him since third year when he made the Quidditch team with James and scored the first goal of the season for Gryffindor against Slytherin (Lucius Malfoy wasn't too pleased, being Keeper and everything). But I just think he's a fabulous person. He's really fun, tells great jokes, and despite what you may think of him, he's rather smart. But above all, I can just talk to him without those weird silences people have with everyone, y'know? Even Lily and I have those, and she's my best friend. But Sirius and I seem to connect on a really deep level. He trusts me with his really important secrets, like the fact that he wants to be an Auror when he grows up, and help take down Voldemort and his Death Eaters. His family, being the "holier-than-thou", Slytherin-sorted family they are, already refuses to admit the fact that Sirius exists. So hearing that he wants to take down all of their friends and family, they would jump at the chance to disown him.
I mean, this summer, he ran away to me and James' house, right after his sixteenth birthday. His mother and him got into a row, and he couldn't have taken it anymore. So, he just left. He was lucky to have had the motorcycle we (James, Lily, Remus, Peter, Jude, Nina, and I) all chipped in to buy for his birthday, or else he'd have had to wait to owl us so we could find a way to get him out. He'd been a bloody wreck when he finally got to our house; freezing after riding in the cold night air, dark circles under his eyes from his lack of sleep that night, not to mention his eyes were still red, as if he had cried all the way to my house. Of course Mum and Dad took him in and let him stay for the rest of the summer. James had Apparated over to Lily's where I was staying and cut my visit short, but Sirius was my best friend and I had to see him. It was a really hard couple of days for Sirius, but having me, James, Remus, and Lily (who came rushing over after I owled) there really helped him get back to his old self. Now, our friendship's stronger than it ever was. I don't think I could see my life without Sirius Black, and I don't think he could see his without me.
"Babe, I feeling we're not going to be learning at all today," he groaned. Professor McGonagall continued to stress the importance of our N.E.W.T.s and kept referring back to the conferences we had with her last term regarding our future career and the courses we would take.
I yawned and nodded. "Think we can both afford to take a nap this class?" I whispered back.
Lily, who was sitting in front of us with Nina, turned around when she heard me say "nap." She didn't look pleased. "No, you could not afford to take a nap in this class or any other!" she whispered viciously. "All of this is very important information and it's necessary to stay awake during ALL of it!" She huffed and then turned back to McGonagall.
Sirius and I rolled our eyes at each other, then put our heads down on our desks. It was going to be a very long year.