Year 1971, 1st Year:
James' Story:
Quote of the Day: 'You can pick your nose and pick your friends, but you can't wipe your friends on the couch.' - That's why it's advisable to choose the right friends in the first place, that way you needn't even try to wipe them on the couch, although cursing always works – especially if they're being particularly annoying…
The months at Hogwarts flew by extremely fast, one minute I was getting to know my new friends Sirius, Remus and Peter, and the next it was the start of the Quidditch season, then Hallowe'en, and finally Christmas had arrived already.
When McGonagall came around with a form to ask who would be staying over the Christmas holidays Sirius eagerly signed up for it in an instant. Seeing as Sirius was staying and Peter and Remus were going back home to spend Christmas with their families I decided to do the friend thing and stay at Hogwarts with Sirius over the Christmas holidays - seeing as he would have had no company if I didn't stay with him. And if he didn't have any company it would inevitably lead to him being bored, and a bored Sirius is definitely not a good thing as it inevitably led to:
a) Chaos
b) Us getting in trouble or
c) An annoying Sirius.
Or d) All of the above- which is the usual case
As Remus, Peter and I had learnt previously this year. Anyway, I figured that I could spend as much time as I wanted with my family when I went back home for the summer so staying away from them for a bit longer to spend time with my friend didn't seem like a big deal.
"So why don't you want to go home for Christmas Sirius?" Peter asked as McGonagall had left with the forms for who was staying for Christmas after Sirius and I had signed up.
"Don't feel like it," he replied casually, staring intently at Remus' homework and not looking at Peter.
He may have fooled Peter but I knew better - Sirius had told me all about his family and all about what his cousins Narcissa and Bellatrix had told him after Hallowe'en, and I got the general idea of what their morals were like when Sirius' mother, Cyrilla Black, sent that Howler to him on the first day of school.
His mother sent many Howlers to him after that, about him being in Gryffindor, about us; his 'filthy brat' friends, about our little pranks, about his detentions, and about anything else she could lay the blame on him for.
Sirius was so used to these regular Howlers by now, that every time he received one he simply opened it and resumed eating his breakfast as if he had never received a Howler, or he just sat there looking very bored with it waiting for his mother to finish yelling her head off.
In fact, the students had gotten so used to these regular Howlers that they didn't even give Sirius a second glance when they saw a smoking crimson envelope arrive in front of him. Several of the teachers, (Professor McGonagall for instance) got extremely irritated with these regular Howlers. It's even rumored that McGonagall sent Mrs. Black a Howler for sending Howlers to her student! Needless to say, everyone got a good laugh out of that, regardless if it was true or not.
I also noticed that every time a red envelope arrived in front of Sirius, Professor Crevan would curl his lip slightly and look at Sirius as if he wanted to smile but couldn't.
Though many of the Gryffindors had come to accept a Black in their midst, there were some that didn't, this was the blonde haired seventh year Quidditch captain Jared Abbott who was a Chaser. Jared's parents were good friends of my parents so Jared sometimes talked to me. His friend Dominic Woodsworth, who played Beater on the Gryffindor team, also didn't accept that Sirius was a Gryffindor (though I think that's because Jared didn't). Although I liked the two seventh years a lot, because they never managed to lose a match for Gryffindor, I didn't like the way I saw them treating Sirius sometimes.
They made it their job to tell him that he shouldn't be in Gryffindor and should be in Slytherin with the rest of his family- which is utter trite if you knew Sirius Black well enough.
Abbott and Woodsworth didn't bother Sirius as much as Crevan did (like every five minutes of the day) but occasionally they'd make a passing comment to him.
Sirius seemed to pass it off as no big deal though, so none of us worried much about it, but I knew deep down that Sirius longed for the seventh years to accept him as a Gryffindor, like they had Remus, Peter and me…
The day of the Christmas holidays had finally arrived and Sirius and I were seeing Remus and Peter off outside the castle. It was a very chilly day and snow was settling on our robes and in our hair.
"And don't open your presents until Christmas," Remus said after explaining when he was planning to come back, looking particularly at Sirius, because if he was right, then Sirius would open his presents as soon as Remus and Peter had boarded the Hogwarts Express. Sirius was seriously lacking in the morals and tradition of Christmas.
"Yeah, yeah, so you've said like five hundred times already Remus," Sirius said rolling his eyes.
"You know, he'll probably open them as soon as we get back to the castle," I said to Remus. Remus nodded in agreement.
"We need to exercise some discipline with him," Remus grinned.
"I am appalled that you two have so little faith in me," Sirius said, looking at Remus and I.
"Well you do remember what happened in Defense last week don't you?" Remus raised his eyebrows. Of course he was referring to when Professor Bones was about to show us a new dark creature, a cage was sitting on the floor in front of us was covered in a thick velvet cloth and growling could be heard coming from inside it. Professor Bones insisted on talking about Muggle electricity before he would reveal what was hidden behind the cloth, and Sirius, getting more impatient by the second, finally jumped out of the seat and pulled off the velvet cloth himself.
"Oh that," Sirius said, grinning at us, "well, you know I'm the impatient type."
"And the idiotic type," I murmured so only Remus and Peter could hear. Or so I thought. Peter and Remus laughed.
"I heard that James! And when Peter and Remus go you'll be regretting it," Sirius poked his tongue out at me, "anyway, I won't open them," Sirius said, referring back to his Christmas presents, "but you will forgive me if I open my parents present won't you?" Sirius said, somewhat bitterly.
"That," Remus said, "we can forgive."
"I'm so excited," Sirius said sarcastically.
I laughed. But I was the only one who did. Remus and Peter kept quiet, while Sirius suddenly seemed sullen.
"Well," Peter said finally, breaking the silence of an awkward situation, "here comes the carriages, see you two when we get back," Peter said. We said our goodbyes and once the horseless carriages were out of sight we walked back into the castle.
"So, what are we going to do for the next week or so?" I asked Sirius.
"Hmm, no idea, actually," Sirius replied.
"What do you want to do now then?" I asked Sirius, when he didn't reply after a couple of seconds I looked over at him, he was staring at someone in the Great Hall, I followed his gaze and saw what he was staring at; it was Snivellus, he was walking over to us with Lucius Malfoy- a snobby blonde seventh year who was Beater and the Slytherin Quidditch team captain and thought he was 'all that', Malfoy was a very dirty Quidditch player, he was constantly hitting his opposition with his bat just to win, he didn't have any talent at all except the talent to hit people as hard as he could with a stick. That was exactly why Dominic and Jared hated him with a passion. The feeling was mutual for Malfoy as well. Whenever Malfoy and Jared were on the same Quidditch pitch you could be almost guaranteed that the match was going to be dirty.
I was about to drag Sirius up the staircase to get away from an obvious confrontation with the Slytherins but before we had a chance to go anywhere however, the Slytherins were upon us.
"So Black, I hear that your family doesn't want you back for the holidays. How tragic," Lucius Malfoy said in a derogatory tone, "I don't really blame them though, who would want scum like you at the same dinner table? It's rather like dining with a house-elf really." Malfoy said with a sneer. Snivellus sniggered. Sirius made to jump Malfoy but I grabbed his robes and held him back.
"Shut your mouth Malfoy!" Sirius said, whilst trying to get free of my grip.
"Dear me, talking to a prefect like that, that'll be… let's see- five points from Gryffindor," Malfoy said with a vicious pleasure.
"Go jump in a pit and die Malfoy," I said to the tall blonde seventh year.
"Oh, I'm so scared Potter, I suppose your parents didn't want you at home either?" Malfoy said sneering.
"Yes they did actually, even though that's none of your business. And why aren't you home for the holidays Malfoy? I suppose your parents would have found you to be a disgrace at their snotty dinner parties with dark wizards," I said bravely. Malfoy instantly whipped his wand out from the insides of his robes, but a voice stopped him from doing anything else.
"What's going on here?" It was Professor Crevan. He had came from the Great Hall and stood now behind Lucius Malfoy. Crevan was wearing robes of a deep royal blue; he always seemed to be very well dressed. Sometimes he looked like he had just stepped out of the ye olde 18th Century. Needless to say, his clothes were a tad out of date.
He probably bought them at an antique store.
"Nothing, Professor Crevan," Malfoy said silkily, turning around to face Professor Crevan.
"Put that wand away Malfoy," Crevan said. Malfoy obeyed and put his wand back in his robe pocket.
"Now I suggest you all get back to your common rooms, unless you want points taken away," Crevan said. Sirius and I turned around and started walking for the staircase.
"Oh, Mr. Black," Crevan said. Sirius looked at me darkly, and then turned around.
"Yes Professor?" he said in a distinctly cold voice.
"I'd like a word, if you please," Crevan said.
"Yes Professor," Sirius said.
"You want me to wait?" I asked Sirius.
"No, it's okay, I'll see you in the dorms later," he replied, looking sullen.
"Okay then," I said and started up the staircase, leaving Sirius to his doom. I thought Crevan was an okay teacher, well, he was okay to me at least, but he tried to convince Sirius to go back to being a 'proper' pureblood every five minutes. (Slight exaggeration). Crevan was Sirius' dad's friend so that gave him automatic permission to badger Sirius for five minutes every day about the importance of pure bloods.
Once I got to the common room I sat down in our favourite spot in front of the fire and flicked through Quidditch Through the Ages. The common room was pretty much empty because a lot of people had gone home for Christmas; the only people that were in the common room were the two seventh years Jared Abbott and Dominic Woodsworth.
"Hi Potter," it was Jared; he had walked up to me with Dominic and sat down in the chair opposite me.
"Hi Jared, Dominic," I replied, putting my book down.
"Where are the rest of your friends? Did they go home for Christmas?" Dominic asked, his red hair shining in the firelight.
"Remus and Peter did, Sirius is downstairs," I replied, not mentioning the fact that he was talking to Crevan, as Dominic and Jared had already found enough excuses not to like Sirius.
"That Black kid?" Jared frowned. "Why do you hang around him James?" he asked.
"Because he's my friend, you really should give him a chance," I replied.
"The day an Abbott gives a Black a chance will be a dire day indeed," Jared said, "no, there's something about him… I don't like the way he thinks he's a Gryffindor when he's meant to be Slytherin with the rest of his lot. You know the Black's are dark wizards." Jared finished.
"There's a black sheep in every family though, and Sirius is a true Gryffindor. If you'd just talk to him I'm sure you'd see that," I said, sticking up for Sirius. I don't exactly know why I felt the need to stick up for Sirius, he could do it perfectly well himself, and it seemed a big thing for me to stick up for a Black against a person that I had known for ages, and whose parents were my parents good friends. But Jared had been right in a way, there was something about Sirius - something good, that is - I just couldn't place it yet.
"Whatever you say," Jared replied, but I knew he totally disagreed with me, his tone suggesting otherwise.
"So why didn't you go home for Christmas?" I asked.
"Well, I got the whole Gryffindor team to stay, we really need to practice for the next match," Jared explained. Of course, the next match was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and as I mentioned before, the Slytherins use particularly dirty techniques when playing against Gryffindor. If they couldn't win by skill they used violence instead, so that's why the Gryffindor's had to train extra hard to play against the Slytherins.
"You think you're going to win?" I asked excitedly.
"I don't think James, I know we'll win, that stupid git Malfoy doesn't stand a chance against us, we have a strong side this year," Jared said.
"Yeah, after that trick he played earlier this year, he's going to regret that he didn't play us sooner," Dominic said, referring to what had happened earlier this year. The first match of the season had meant to be Gryffindor versus Slytherin, but the Slytherin team, knowing fully that Gryffindor had prepared to play against them, pulled out of playing a couple of days before the match, leaving Gryffindor to play unprepared against Ravenclaw- luckily though, Gryffindor won thanks to the skill of our Seeker. So now Gryffindor was to play against Slytherin in January, and they had been preparing for it for a long time. There was no way this time that the Slytherin team could skive their way out of playing this time.
"I saw Malfoy earlier today, he's staying for the holidays as well," I told Jared and Dominic.
Dominic groaned, "I'll bet they're trying to cram all the last minute practice they can get, the stupid prats,"
"Just as long as they don't come to our Quidditch practice it doesn't bother me," Jared replied, "actually, speaking of practice, we should be going Dominic," Jared said, turning to Dominic, he turned to me and then said, "feel like watching us practice James?" Jared asked. I had been to watch the Gryffindor team practice for their next matches a couple of times because Jared invited me; he knew that I loved Quidditch. In fact, I picked up a lot of techniques just from watching them play.
"Nah, I can't, sorry," I replied, "I'm waiting for Sirius to get back," I explained.
"Suit yourself then," Jared said, standing up.
"We might come down later," I told them, deliberately including Sirius. Jared and Dominic nodded then disappeared into their dormitory to retrieve their brooms then they exited through the portrait hole.
About five minutes after Jared and Dominic left, I had just gotten back into Quidditch Through The Ages and had begun to read about the Wollongong Shimmy- a Chaser's technique, when Sirius came stomping through the portrait hole. He made his way over to me and threw himself (rather violently, I might add) into the nearest chair. I waited for him to say something, and almost instantaneously-
"Who does bloody Crevan think he is?!" Sirius said angrily. "You know what that stupid (insert many curse words here) told me?"
"No, what?" I asked, knowing that this was not really needed though, as Sirius would say it anyway.
"'Sirius,'" Sirius started to imitate Crevan's voice, "'you do know why your parents don't want you home for Christmas don't you? It's because you aren't upholding your pureblood status, being in Gryffindor makes it even harder, blah blah bloody blah.'" Sirius said violently banging his fist on the table, "Honestly, if I wanted a lecture on pureblood gripe I'd send a letter to my mother, or go visit Bellatrix and Narcissa! Stupid bloody prat doesn't know what he's talking about! What gives him the right to tell me rubbish like that?! I get enough from my stupid mother, and every other relative, I don't need it from a teacher as well!"
I didn't really know what to say to this, I never really knew what to say to Sirius when he was talking about his family.
"And you know what else he said to me?" Sirius asked, not waiting for me to reply, "He said I still had a chance to go there (Grimmauld Place) for Christmas if I just accepted that I'm a pure-blood! I'm so sick of people telling me what to do James! And Malfoy! You heard what he said!"
"He's just a prat, don't worry about it," I replied.
"Oh I'm not worried, I'm just pissed off, I mean, can't he just go jump into the fiery depths of hell and never return?"
"We can't hope for too much Sirius." I replied, my lip slightly curved with the hint of a grin.
Sirius looked over at me and his eyes met mine and suddenly his face split into a grin.
"No, I guess you're right," he said, as if thinking hard.
"Hey, do you want to go watch the Quidditch practice? The team are down on the pitch now," I told Sirius, hoping this might cheer him up a bit; Sirius loved Quidditch almost as much as I did.
"Hmm, all right then," Sirius replied.
"Let's go then," I said, standing up and making my way over to the portrait hole with Sirius close behind.
We made our way through the corridors and down out onto the grounds. It was a freezing day and small snowflakes were flying around helped by a chilly breeze. Bad weather did not stop the Gryffindor team from training though; they trained rain, hail or snow. Sirius was still rambling on about what Crevan had said to him when we were walking down to the pitch.
"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea," Sirius said, stopping his rambling momentarily and putting his hands in his pockets.
"We don't have to stay for long," I said as we walked onto the Quidditch pitch.
The Gryffindor team was flying around in the wind, passing the Quaffle around and practicing various techniques.
"Do you want to sit over in the stands?" I asked Sirius.
"No, we'll freeze our butts off, and besides, I couldn't be bothered climbing all the way up there," Sirius replied lazily.
We had been watching the team practice for about ten minutes when suddenly a group of Slytherins came marching onto the pitch.
It was the Slytherin Quidditch team, led by none other than Lucius Malfoy; all of them were holding broomsticks.
Malfoy took one look at Sirius and me and smirked, "Got nowhere else to go, have you Potter- Black?" he asked snidely. Sirius was glaring daggers at the blonde seventh year.
Clearly he hadn't forgotten what Malfoy had said to him earlier this morning.
Before either of us could reply to Malfoy's comment the Gryffindor team had come down to land and gotten off their broomsticks to confront the Slytherins.
"What do you think you're doing here Malfoy?" Jared asked brusquely.
"We've come to practice, what does it look like Abbott?" Malfoy said languidly.
"This is our practice time, we were here first, go find somewhere else," Dominic said, pushing his way forward to stand next to Jared.
"My, my… I don't see your name on it anywhere Woodsworth," Malfoy said smugly.
"The only people that are allowed on the pitch are us right now, so go back to your hole in the ground," Jared said, referring to the Slytherin common room.
"Funny that, isn't it? I seem to distinctly see two people," Malfoy looked at Sirius and me, "over there, who- last time I looked, weren't on your team."
"We were invited! You weren't!" I said. Malfoy turned to face us and stepped nearer towards us, a menacing look in his eyes.
"Still haven't learnt from this morning, have you Potter? Still haven't learnt to keep your foul little mouth shut. You're all the same, you Potters, never learnt to keep your mouths shut, always got to have your opinion, don't you?" Malfoy said.
"Don't talk to James like that! He's worth more than you'll ever be! You stupid prat!" Sirius said, his rage building up from the start of the day. Inevitably, I knew, he'd have to take it out on something, or someone. I think he had had enough of people pushing him around, but the other thing disliked maybe even more, was when people insulted his friends. Dominic and Jared exchanged looks of surprise.
Malfoy glared at Sirius, "I see you haven't learnt either Black, you're a disgrace to purebloods," Malfoy spat. I noticed Sirius' hand slip inside his robe pocket where he usually put his wand.
"And you're just an arrogant spoilt stuck up prat who thinks he's the ruler of Britain when the only thing you'll ever rule is a toothless house elf in that crypt you call a home!" Sirius said angrily. Instantly, I knew he had gone too far.
"You'll regret that Black," Malfoy said dangerously, putting his hand into his robes, "you're nothing but a filthy traitorous piece of scum that hangs around with filthy half-breeds, lowlifes, and blood traitors!"
All of a sudden, before Malfoy could get his wand out, Sirius had whipped his out and aimed it at Malfoy.
"Insectosedious!" Sirius roared and a blue light shot out of Sirius' wand and hit Malfoy square in the face, instantaneously Malfoy begun to sprout feelers, the Gryffindor's burst out laughing.
"I'd rather be a blood traitorous piece of scum than a filthy worthless overgrown pest!" Sirius yelled at Malfoy.
Malfoy tried to utter a curse at Sirius but couldn't, and then suddenly he bent down and started to scuttle along the ground. By now the Gryffindors were almost in tears with laughter, me included.
The Slytherin team, being a tad (did I just say a tad? I meant very) stupid, didn't put their heads together and come up with the obvious solution to curse Sirius back, instead they looked at Malfoy, (who was still scuttling along the ground, and by now was making his way off the pitch) and followed him off the pitch.
Sirius put his wand back into his robe pocket and glared at the retreating Slytherin team, headed by bug-Malfoy.
"Good one Sirius!" I said, laughing, and then slapped him on the back.
"I always knew Malfoy was an overgrown bug," Jared said, laughing, and then looked at Sirius.
Sirius shrugged, his rage dissipating. Though he still had a slightly grumpy look on his face.
"Um," Jared said, I could feel he wanted to say something to Sirius, maybe an apology, "I think we've underestimated you Bla-… Sirius."
I looked at Sirius, he didn't say anything, but I noticed a distinct smile in his eyes, though he didn't show it on his mouth.
"Seems that you're not like the rest of the Blacks after all, what you did just there for James, I wouldn't have expected. You are different…" Jared gazed at Sirius as if seeing him for the first time.
"Well took you long enough to realize didn't it?" Sirius snapped.
Jared stared at him. Dominic eyed Sirius. Then suddenly Sirius remembered who he was talking to. Who he had been secretly seeking the acceptance of all year. He looked at Jared, "I mean… uh, thanks…" Sirius said looking a bit sheepish. I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing anyone needed was Jared and Sirius having a duel with each other.
Jared nodded. The suspicion from the past few months had all but disappeared. Dominic looked at Sirius more warmly this time. If Jared could finally accept Sirius then so would Dominic.
"Well, let's get back in the air then," Caleb Mort, the 5th Year Gryffindor Chaser, said.
Jared nodded then mounted his broomstick and flew up into the air, followed by the rest of his team.
"You know," Sirius said, looking up in the air at the airborne Gryffindor team who were passing a Quaffle, "cursing people does wonders for anger-management," Sirius looked at me and grinned, "and you know what else?"
"What?" I asked.
"I think that this Christmas is going to be considerably better than last year…"
Christmas day came at last and found Sirius and me at the foot of our beds rummaging through the pile of presents that had appeared on the floor in front of our beds that morning.
"So, which one should I open first?" I asked Sirius, who was already in the process of hacking open his presents like a madman. I hoped that there would be no breakables in his pile, because by now they were sure to be in pieces.
"The biggest one of course!" Sirius replied, as if this was the most logical and obvious thing in the world.
"Okay." I took Sirius's advice and began unwrapping the biggest present, I didn't get far however.
"Look at this!" Sirius said, as he pulled wrapping paper vicariously off a black item, "It's a camera! A Muggle one!"
"Cool!" I said, as Sirius held up the camera, "Who'd you get it from?" I asked, looking at the wrappings on the floor.
"It's from Uncle Alphard, he's one of the rare relatives who's not a stupid git, he's secretly fascinated with Muggle stuff, although he'd never tell my aunt about it, she'd probably kick him out," Sirius replied.
"Oh, ok."
"I can take all the pictures I want with this now, Alphard showed me a camera like this when he was visiting once, he must have guessed I would like one," Sirius said happily.
"Hey James!" I looked at Sirius and all of a sudden a bright flash of light came from the camera. It nearly bloody blinded me. Being blinded with a bright camera flash early in the morning was not my idea of fun.
"Gah! Did you have to?! You could have warned me! I hate camera flashes!" I said, rubbing my eyes.
"Sorry!" Sirius said brightly, although he didn't sound sorry at all. "I forgot that you probably aren't used to them cause you're too ugly to take a picture of," Sirius chortled.
"Well I'm surprised you even know what a camera is, seeing as you've probably never had one pointed at you in your entire life," I retorted.
"Now now Jamie, I said I was sorry, no need to get narky," Sirius replied with a grin.
"Well, just don't point that bloody thing at me again," I said as I opened my eyes. Of course, I should have known by now that whenever you told Sirius not to do something he does the complete opposite and does it anyway, so I found myself being blinded again with Sirius' incessant camera flashes.
"Get that thing away from me will you! My eyes are bad enough as it is, I don't want to be blind because of your camera!" I said as Sirius clicked away continually with his camera.
"You're half blind anyway - that's why you wear glasses!" Sirius said.
Thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious.
"Get away or you're going to get it! I told you, I don't want to be blind!" I said, covering my eyes. Sirius stopped clicking. I opened my eyes warily.
Sirius grinned at me, "It doesn't blind you, you twit, it's just a light,"
"Yeah, a bloody annoying light."
"At least I have some good photo's now," Sirius said as he grinned, "I can't wait to get these developed!"
"You won't get them developed if you keep pointing that thing at me," I murmured.
"What was that James? Did you say you wanted another picture? Oh okay," Sirius grinned evilly.
Sometimes I wonder why I ever made friends with Sirius. I was wondering that at that precise moment when Sirius held the camera up and clicked it again, yet again blinding me temporarily with his stupid flash.
"Sirius! For Merlin's sake! Stop it!" I said, covering my eyes again.
"What was that? You want another picture? My, my James, haven't you had enough yet? Greedy today aren't we?" Sirius laughed as he clicked his camera again.
"You're wasting all your film you twit!" I said, flailing my arms around blindly trying to find a part of Sirius to hit.
Which didn't work very well as I couldn't see anything.
The clicking and flashing suddenly stopped, "You're right, I better not waste it, especially not with pictures of you," Sirius joked.
I opened my eyes and mock-glared at him.
"You're a complete idiot Sirius," I said, grinning, "you do know that don't you?"
"Yes, actually I do, I've been told several times," Sirius said with a mock-sigh, "Now stop complaining and open your bloody presents," Sirius said, "you haven't even opened one yet!"
Sometimes Sirius was unbelievable.
"I wonder whose fault that is," I grumbled in an effort to sound a bit peeved.
"Certainly not mine, if that's what you're implying. You're just slow Jamie," Sirius said with a grin. "Do you want any help?" he asked eagerly, looking at my presents.
"No, I think I can manage," I replied soberly.
"Are you quite sure?"
"Yes! You've still got to open some of your presents."
"Hmph," Sirius said, and then went back to opening his presents as if there was no tomorrow.
I finally got back to opening my present.
Suddenly I heard a growl coming from Sirius' direction, he usually emitted a growl whenever he was angry or something was bothering him, I looked over to Sirius, who was reading a letter.
"I don't believe it," he said, almost to himself whilst reading the letter.
"What?" I asked, having a feeling that the letter was from his family.
"Here," Sirius said as he finished reading and shoved the letter in front of me.
It read:
Sirius Black,
We have received word that you are still associating with those dirty half bloods and blood traitors. We must remind you that if this continues you will have to answer to your family, we don't want you associating with such scum as the Gryffindors; need we remind you that our reputation as well as yours is at stake here?
The Black name has always been held in extremely high regard in our society and anything you do to ruin this position will be dealt with accordingly.
You must understand that we only have your best interests in mind, associating with Gryffindor's won't get you anywhere. Although the Potter's are a somewhat respected (I use the term here very lightly) pureblood family they are seen in the eyes of our community to be blood traitors, they are a disgrace to purebloods and don't take pride in their lineage. Remember this next time you cavort with that Potter boy. The Lupins and Pettigrews aren't even purebloods; you must not associate with them any further. They have nothing to their name and are disgraced families within our circle.
We have also heard about your escapades into the Forbidden Forest with these 'friends' on Hallowe'en, let us remind you that if this continues you will be answering not only to us but also to Professor Crevan who has graciously offered to keep an eye out for you and we have instructed him to act accordingly on our behalf.
Don't forget that you are the Black heir and next in line for the Black family fortune, mend your ways lest you may mar your fortune.
Merry Christmas
Your parents,
Cyrilla and Amias Black.
I handed the letter back to Sirius, who was looking at me darkly.
"Sorry about what he said about your family," he said apologetically.
"Sirius, I don't care what he said about my family, he can say whatever he wants about us, sticks and stones you know," I said, looking at Sirius, who, just five minutes ago was happily annoying the crap out of me taking pictures, "are you all right?" I asked.
"Spose so," he wasn't angry this time, I think he was just too sick of things to be angry, "'mend your ways lest you may mar your fortune,'" Sirius read out from the letter, "like I even care about the Black fortune," he added, leaning against his trunk, the happy mood he had just been in had all but disintegrated. His family did have that effect on him.
"Why don't you move out or something," I suggested.
"Because they're my only family, I've got nowhere else to go, one day I'll move, but I can't now, I dunno why, I just can't," Sirius said.
"You could come and stay at my house," I offered. Sirius instantly looked at me with a glimmer of hope on his face. For his expression it looked like I had just offered him a lifetime supply of chocolate frogs.
"Really?" He asked weakly.
"Of course."
"You really mean that James?"
"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it you idiot."
Sirius' face split into a wide grin.
"One day," he said, "One day I might just take you up on that offer." Sirius said, "but your family won't know what hit them," he added with a lopsided grin.
"They'll have plenty of warning," I replied, "believe me."
Sirius grinned and reflected upon things for a while before going back to another present and opening it, "Look what Andromeda gave me," he said, holding up a digital watch.
"Cool," I replied. Andromeda was Sirius' cousin, and, according to Sirius, the only decent cousin he had, and one of the very few Black's that he actually liked. They had a close relationship and I had a feeling that Andromeda sort of looked after Sirius in a way. Andromeda was Bellatrix and Narcissa's older sister, she used to go to Hogwarts but left, she had been in Ravenclaw, one of the few Blacks to be in a different house than Slytherin.
The rest of the morning went by quickly, Sirius and I passed the morning opening the rest of our presents, eating sweets, joking and laughing. All in all, even though I wasn't with my family it was one of the best Christmases that I've ever had. And when I look back on it, I realize that I was with my family, or part of my extended family at least, because Sirius, Remus and Peter were my brothers and we were, in a way, family.
Later that day Sirius and I joined the other Gryffindors at the Gryffindor table for the Christmas feast. And let me tell you, I have never seen so much food on one table in my whole life; they had every food there imaginable, chipolatas, roast turkey, potatoes, gravy, chicken, everything that was edible was on the table. The decorations were great as well, there were twelve Christmas trees each positioned randomly around the Great Hall and decorated lavishly. There were streamers, sparkling snow and other decorations everywhere around the Great Hall.
The house tables were set up and when we entered with the Gryffindor team the Slytherins all glared at us, clearly not forgetting Sirius' curse on Malfoy. Malfoy looked absolutely furious, and was looking at Sirius with an utter look of loathing that rivaled Snivellus'. Of course, when McGonagall had found out that Sirius had cursed Malfoy she went off her nut and gave Sirius a month's detention
Sirius didn't mind too much about the detention though. You see, Sirius and I were setting a record here at Hogwarts, we were in competition with each other on who could get the most detentions, right now Sirius was clearly winning, but that could change. On our first detention we made this deal, I remember it clearly.
"Psst! James!" Sirius whispered, we were writing lines in the Transfiguration classroom and McGonagall had left for a minute.
"What?" I asked, looking over at him.
"Bet you that I'll get more detentions than you in the seven year's that we're here," Sirius said, grinning.
"You? Get more detentions than the famous James Potter? I highly doubt it my friend!" I replied.
"I bet you I will," Sirius said.
"Name your stakes,"
"Hmm, the loser, at the end of seven years, has to run through the Great Hall starkers," Sirius said with a grin, "At breakfast, in front of the whole school," he finished.
"Deal," I replied, offering my hand so Sirius could shake it.
"Good, but you can't try and get detentions just to win, like you can't go up to McGonagall and tell her she's a barmy old bat," he said as he shook my hand. I nodded and opened my mouth more to talk about the bet but McGonagall had entered the room again so we had no choice but to get back to our lines. So that was our bet and I was sure that I would win it.
Sirius and I, with the other Gryffindors sat down at the Gryffindor table and waited for Dumbledore to say something. Eventually he stood up.
"Welcome to the Christmas feast, do enjoy your food but don't eat too much lest you burst. Now dig in!" Dumbledore said, and sat down again and began to eat.
We all began to eat then, anything that was within Sirius' and my arms lengths we ate. Which was basically every kind of dish anyway.
"'Fis," Sirius said while wolfing down food like there was no tomorrow, "Spis roddy 'oog spood," he said with his mouth full. I gathered that he was trying to say something like 'this is bloody/ruddy good food'.
I nodded in agreement. "Youf con spay fat 'gain," I said, my mouth full of potato.
It sure was bloody good; it even rivaled my mother's traditional Christmas dinner. And that's saying something.
"Well that is what I call a Christmas dinner," Dominic said after the food had all but disappeared, from across the table. The Gryffindors all nodded in agreement.
"They get better every year," Caleb Mort said, leaning back in his chair. Of course, he was referring to the house elves that did all the cooking.
"Check out the Slytherins you two," Jared said, talking to Sirius and I, "they're out to get you now," he chuckled. We looked over at the Slytherins, who, despite the lavish feast they had just eaten, did not look any happier, and were glaring at us.
"Pfft, I'd like to see them try," Sirius said.
"If a first-year can turn Malfoy into a bug then imagine what you guys could do to them," I said, talking to Dominic, Jared and Caleb.
"You know, you'd be surprised James, that bug curse was pretty advanced for a first-year," Jared said, "where'd you learn it Sirius?" Jared asked.
Sirius, who still found it weird that Jared could be friendly, didn't answer straight away, "My cousin Andromeda taught me, in case I wanted to curse Bellatrix," he replied. Jared, Caleb and Dominic laughed.
"I see," Jared replied, "I remember Andromeda actually."
"You do?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, she was in sixth year when I was in fifth year," Jared replied, "She was the pretty brunette?"
Sirius nodded. "Did you talk to her?"
"Not much actually. She was going out with that Ted Tonks, wasn't she Dom?" Jared looked at Dominic, who nodded.
Sirius frowned, "Ted Tonks?"
"Yeah, he was that Muggle-born, he was in Ravenclaw as well," Dominic said.
Sirius nodded.
"I'm going back to the Common room, coming anyone?" Caleb said, standing up. Dominic and Jared stood up as well, and they left. Soon it was just Sirius and I left at the Gryffindor table.
"What do you want to do now?" I asked Sirius as we both leant back in our chairs.
"I dunno," Sirius replied dismissively. He clearly still had his mind on something else.
"What's up?" I asked.
"It's nothing," he replied, I gave him a look, "well, it's just, Andromeda… I mean, she never told me she was going out with that Ted Tonks," he said.
"She probably didn't think it was important," I replied.
"Yeah, probably," he replied, "I wonder who he is," he pondered.
"Well if he was in Ravenclaw he must have been all right," I said.
"Yeah," Sirius replied.
When we were ready we walked back up to the common room and finished the afternoon lazily playing chess and exploding snap. Sirius also spent his time taking pictures of random objects.
"Hey, let's take a picture," Sirius held up his camera and looked at me after he had taken a picture of his hand.
"Um, isn't that what you've been doing for the past fifteen minutes?" I asked Sirius who had sparkly red tinsel tied around his head, as Jared moved his knight to E5 and eliminated my last pawn.
"No, you twit, I meant let's take a picture of us two," Sirius replied, sitting next to me and surveying the chess game. "You're losing," he said instantly.
Thanks again, Captain Obvious.
"I might still win, you never know," I replied.
Sirius watched as Jared eliminated my queen, "No, you're definitely going to lose."
"Thanks for having so much faith in me Sirius." I said as I moved one of my chess pieces, but I knew in the next move that Jared would check mate me anyway.
"Anytime," he grinned, "Now stand up and let's have a picture," Sirius said.
I groaned, "Fine then," I said as Jared moved one of his pieces and had me in check mate.
"You've lost," Sirius pointed out perceptibly. I rolled my eyes and then Sirius pulled me out of my seat.
"Jared would you mind taking a picture for us?" Sirius asked Jared, who stood up.
"Sure," he replied, taking Sirius' camera.
We stood in front of the tinselled fireplace and put our arms around each other's shoulders.
Jared held the camera up to his eye and was about to take it when,
"Wait a minute!" Sirius said suddenly, as if struck by a sudden idea, "Something's missing," he said, and then he turned around and ripped some sparkly yellow tinsel off the mantelpiece and then proceeded to wrap it around my head.
"Sirius! I don't want to wear this stupid tinsel!" I said, tugging at his hand as he fastened the tinsel around my head.
"Oh shut up Jim, get into the Christmas spirit!" Sirius replied happily.
"It looks good on you," Jared grinned at me.
I groaned and then we put our arms around each other's shoulders again to pose for the picture. I gave Sirius a quick sideways glance, he was smiling broadly and it was one of those moments when he was truly happy.
I grinned as Jared finally took the picture of us, the Christmas spirit finally settled in as I realised I was where I was needed most at Christmas.
With my best friend – Sirius Black.
Author's Notes: Meh. Well, there you go. Yay for James & Sirius. As for the quote of the day- don't even ask, haha, I just thought it funny and stuck it in there, and it would be something James & Sirius would laugh at as well. So there. ;o). Plus I'm sick of finding quotes that fit every chapter.
Brenngt14- Hehe, yes go Remus! He can fight it! You've found a new respect for him? Wowsie. Woohoo- someone else who has Sirius as their fave! A lot of people have Remus as fave, but Sirius is mine, although Remus comes a very close second. Glad you liked the chapter!
Writer of Fantasy- Heh, thanks glad you liked it! Another Remus lover, I see! J You checked for updates almost everyday?! Wow.! Do you have a account? Cause then you can put me on author alert and it'll tell you when I update. I'm glad you like the story, and the transformation, and the part with James. It's always Sirius & James or Sirius & Remus so I thought it was about time to show James & Remus.
Beansie- That's okay- its always great to write a Remus chapter! Oh that is good about what JK said, so he plays a big role eh? Where'd you read that? Maybe he could be the HBP! That would be a big role. I would love to see more of Remus. Yes, the dreams are a bit strange- but think about it, in real life when aren't dreams strange? Hehe. Thanks for your tips. The only thing is is that I can't think of someone like Peter- I'll have to look into that! Yes the ownership clauses do make sense, thanks very much for pointing that out for me, I looked further into it, I looked in OotP to see what J.K uses, and it is, as you said Sirius's, and here's what Fiction Alley had to say about the matter:
Finally, the eternally puzzling question: is it Sirius' or Sirius's?
Here's what the Chicago Manual of Style has to say:quote:
For names ending in silent, s, z or x the possessive, unlike the plural, can generally be formed in the usual way without suggesting an incorrect pronunciation:
Josquin De Prez's motets
Vaulcouleurs's theorems
Margaux's bouquet
Traditional exceptions to the general rule for forming possessive are the names of Jesus and Moses:
in Jesus' name
Moses' leadership
Names of more than one syllable with an unaccented ending pronounced -eez form another category of exceptions. Many Greek and Hellenized names fit this pattern. For reasons of euphony the possessive s is seldom added to such names:
Euripedes' plays
Ramses' tomb
Xerxes' army
Charles Yerkes' benefactors
So that suggests that Remus and Sirius really do not need a final "s" for the possessive, but James might. However, a bit later on the Chicago Manual of Style goes on to say:
The University of Chicago Press prefers its own rule as enunciated above... The Press is willing to accept other ways of handling these situations, however--if they are consistently followed throughout a manuscript. Often a logical consistency is easier to attain than the appearance of consistency, and the latter is important in good writing.
Translation: Pick a convention and stick with it! Whether you form the possessive as Sirius' or Sirius's, be consistent.
So I think I will just keep with Sirius', I hope you don't mind, because it will be more consistent and I will probably forget to add the extra 's' even if I did change it! Thanks very much for pointing that out though! J Although now Sirius' looks wrong! Eeep!I'm glad you liked the chapter, and the title- I couldn't think of a title, and then that came to me because I guess it's the whole message of the chapter really. Glad you enjoyed the DADA class. There will be another prank pretty soon- don't you worry! It's a surprise but! Hehe.
Thehpgang- Thank you! And thanks very much for reviewing every chapter, yay, loyal reviewers- gotta love 'em! Hehe. Well don't get your hopes up about when WPP find out about Remus, its nothing too flash, I've written it, but it is liable to change! ;) So, well you can look forward to it if you want! Thanks for your comments! Although there is still a lot of clichés to come, to say, as in the notorious Whomping willow prank, I can't seem to find a way to write that without being cliché! And the whole Lily/James thing.
Elvengirl9- Hehe, its nothing to worry about! Glad you liked the pumpkin nose thing! Maybe one day Remus will have his entertainment! Hehe. Maybe I should write that in somewhere, that could be wickedly amusing! evil grin Remus is corrupting me!! Hahahaha. It would be more believable if I said Sirius was corrupting me though! Ahem. Anywaaaayy. Glad you like the friendship development, I feel I have to show everyones friendship with each other because, well, they have to put up with one another for 7 years so they all had to get along and be great friends on some level. Although I am biased to Remus' & Sirius' friendship! Thanks again!
Sun-Obsessed- Thanks very much! I'm glad you like it! I always thought James was a seeker until I became aware of the interview where J.K said he was chaser.
Erica- Hehe. Woohoo! Yes I updated! I'm sorry for making you wait that long! I'll try not to do it again. Yay! Someone admitted that they love Peter as well! squees. Hehe. Well, I don't exactly love Peter, but I think he's neat as a student.
Vivianpottergirl- Thanks! Glad you like the transformations 'It's very unsettling, yet breathtakingly beautiful at the same time', well thanks very much, that is a really awesome way to describe it. Yes, I definitely have read 'Forever Alive' by Mordred, it's my absolute favourite MWPP story ever. It's just the most awesome story I've ever read in fanfiction. Anyway, thanks very much!
Janet Lily- Hehe. Yes, I finally updated! Glad you liked the whole Remus/James thing, I felt it was about time those two had a talk, instead of just Sirius & Remus all the time! Hehe. I think they all, even Sirius & Peter (as hard as it is to imagine) had a unique kind of friendship that showed them through their seven years at Hogwarts, I mean, something would have to develop out of seven years of living with someone! Glad I could enlighten you! Thanks very much!
Gevaudan- Thanks very much! Aww, that's too bad. Well, I hope you have a good time wherever you go! Take care!