First (brief) appearance of Lupin, woo

James wandered into the Gryffindor common room, his ears still ringing from the angry lecture he'd just gotten back in McGonagall's office, right before she'd made them redo the detention with her instead. Flopping down into an armchair by the fire, he rubbed his eyes and groaned, disturbing the sleeping boy in the chair opposite him. He sat up and stretched before clocking James. Grinning, Remus Lupin asked, "So detention with Dawkins went well then?"

"Hmm... that's not the exact word I'd use to describe it," James replied mournfully. "Dawkins is in the hospital wing with possible brain damage, and I got another month's detention with Black." He said the name as if it left a bad taste in his mouth, causing Lupin to grin.

"Wow... 'well' definitely isn't the word to describe it then."

"Yeah." James looked round the common room absent mindedly, noting the lack of people. "Where is everyone?"

Remus snorted. "Bed probably, it's past 10."

"Seriously? I've been away for 3 hours?" came the astonished reply. "Merlin... McGonagall can't half talk! What are you still doing down here then?"

"Fell asleep doing my Charms essay," Remus replied with a shrug. Anyone taking a closer look would be able to see the dark circles under the boy's eyes, his pale complexion and the other general signs of exhaustion hanging around Lupin, but James being James he only shrugged and stood up.

"I'm off to bed, you coming?"

"Yeah, gimme a sec." Remus gathered up his homework and followed his friend back up the stairs to their dorm.

Meanwhile, down in the dungeons, a similar exchange was taking place in the Slytherin common room as Sirius finally stumbled inside, attracting the attentions of Abigail, Avery and Snape.

"Heard about your incident in detention," Avery said with a snigger.

"It's not funny!" Abigail protested, looking at Sirius with a shocked expression. "I know Dawkins can be a pain, but trying to kill her? What were you thinking? Are you getting expelled?"

"I didn't 'try and kill her', I accidentally dropped a paint pot on her head," Sirius scoffed, remembering how news could get warped in the rumour mill. "And no I'm not getting expelled, just another month of detention."

"You got off lightly," Snape said throwing him a bitter look which Sirius ignored.

"I think we should get back to the dorms," Avery said looking at something over Snape's shoulder, a slight waver in his voice betraying his sudden nerves. Sirius followed his eyeline and his eyes hardened as Lucius Malfoy, flanked by two other thuggish seventh years, swaggered towards the group of first years. His cold eyes swept over them, settling on Abigail for a moment before his mouth twisted into a sneer.

"I see you chose not to listen to my advice, Black," Lucius said silkily, his eyes finally settling on Sirius. The prefect on his left, the one more resembling a troll as opposed to the gargoyle on the right, snarled at a scared Abigail, "Get out of here, mudblood!"

Snape visibly flinched, while tears sprang to Abigail's eyes. "I am not a mudblood! My father is-"

"Your father is a blood traitor," Malfoy sneered. "Now run along, little girl, before something unpleasant happens to you."

Abigail looked at Avery who nearly broke his neck trying not to meet her eye. A far cry from the boy talking his ear off on the supposed importance of blood purity earlier, Sirius thought sourly. Sensing she wasn't getting any help there, her bright blue eyes turned pleadingly to Sirius.

"She has as much right to be here as you, Malfoy," he said quietly, trying to hold in his temper. He didn't need to add any more to his month's supply of detention if it could be helped.

"A halfblood has the same rights as a pureblood?" Malfoy replied, his voice low and dangerous. He tutted. "Someone has been neglecting their history."

"And someone else has been neglecting their touch on reality," Sirius countered. "Piss off, Malfoy."

The next thing Sirius saw was the stars in front of his eyes as he was picked up and thrown onto the floor, smacking his head forcefully on the cold stone. Malfoy smirked down at him as 'Gargoyle' move back to his side. Turning to the three gobsmacked first years, Malfoy asked, "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

Avery scrambled to his feet immediately and made a dash for the dorm, followed by Snape who hesitated, waiting for Abigail who was moving towards the fallen Sirius. Grabbing her arm, Snape said urgently, "Abigail, let's go."

Sirius winced as he pulled himself to his feet, his temper well and truly lost. He lunged at Malfoy.

Lily stared at the empty seat beside her in the next day's Potions class, torn between wondering where he was and just being satisfied with not having to put up with his rudeness for another hour. Her curiousity won out.

"Sev," she whispered. Snape, sitting at the desk one across looked up questioningly and as she gestured to the empty chair next to her, his expression changed though she couldn't quite pinpoint it.

"Hospital wing," he hissed back as Slughorn strode into the room. "I'll tell you later."

"Well, Mr Black, you're making quite the impression so far."

Sirius resisted the temptation to roll his eyes at Madam Pomfrey as she fussed round him. If he had a sickle for every time he'd heard that... The pain he was in had been numbed for the most part by the potion she had given him when he'd been dragged in by Abigail and a reluctant Snape the night before, thankfully. He was not looking forward to dinner at the Slytherin table tonight... Not that he was scared of Malfoy, of course. Just the embarrassment of being beaten so badly in a fight (even if it was one eleven year old against three sixteen year olds).

"You have permission to skip the rest of your classes for the day, now go and get some rest. I expect your head of house will want to have a word at some point as well," she said sternly.

Sirius sighed and heaved himself off the bed, grimacing as his injured muscles complained. Perking up as he realised, "Does this mean I don't need to do my detention tonight?"

"Don't push your luck!" she replied shortly, sweeping away.

"Figures," he grumbled, sloping out.

Ahh Malfoy. I didn't write the actual fight scene because I don't think what I wrote was in character, so there will probably be references to what actually happened in future chapters. Thanks for reading :)

PS, there will be pairings in later chapters as well and I haven't fully decided on them yet (though I've got a pretty good idea) so if you have any suggestions feel free to tell me.