They had just finished stuffing their faces at the Welcoming Feast, and the Marauders entered their new fifth-year dormitory, Peter flopping facedown on his four-poster bed.
"It's so good to be home," Sirius said, casually lounging on his own bed.
Remus exhaled what seemed to be a mixture of exhaustion and relief. He went over towards the window and looked out in the direction of the Whomping Willow. "It is."
James remained standing, leaning against one of the posts of his bed with his hands in his pockets. "Remus, how soon is the next full moon?"
Remus turned around and looked at him curiously. "This Friday. Why?"
"I've figured it out, lads." James said.
"Figured what out?" Peter asked, his voice muffled by his pillow.
"Why we've never been able to transform before."
All three heads whipped around to look at him.
"You mean, you've found out what we've been doing wrong for three years?" Remus asked slowly.
"Yeah." James answered nonchalantly.
"Well, come on, what are we waiting for? Spit it out and let's do this right now." Sirius said, hopping off his bed excitedly.
"No, we have to go somewhere bigger, you don't know what you'll transform into." Remus said wisely, already heading towards the door.
"Remus is right. Considering your temper, Sirius, you could transform into a Norwegian Ridgeback." James said, smirking teasingly at one of his best friends.
"Oh, that's rich coming from you, Potter." He responded, punching him on the arm.
The three fifteen-year olds were already out the threshold when James called "Oi, Peter! You coming?"
Peter who had lazily remained upside down on his bed twisted his face to look at his friends. "But…it's already afterhours."
"And when has that ever stopped us?" Sirius asked and continued walking down the stairs.
Eventually, Peter sighed and hurried after his three best friends through the Gryffindor common room and into Hogwarts endless and unknown corridors.
"Filch, did you do some redecorating over the summer?" James asked, looking around the small office in mock amazement.
"I truly love what you've done to the place." Remus asserted.
"It's much more refreshing and…homey. Don't you think so, Pete?" Sirius commented.
"Has Mrs. Norris been gaining weight?" was Peter's answer.
The Hogwarts caretaker glared at the four Gryffindor boys with great resentment, caressing his hideous cat on his lap. "I thought you hooligans would at least give me one week before I had you here again."
"Filchy, we just love you so much." Sirius declared.
"We needed to see you as soon as we'd come back." James said.
"True story." Remus said, while Peter simply nodded mechanically.
Filch rolled his eyes and made a guttural sound he probably thought resembled scoffing. "You better be watch out, you lot, things are starting to change here at Hogwarts." He said menacingly.
"Oh really? Like the way they have been changing for the last four years?" James asked with feigned innocence.
"You better watch your mouth, Potter." Filch retorted. His beady eyes shifted onto Remus who sat next to James, and traced the large scar on his neck. "You better watch out too, Lupin. Don't go losing that prefect badge, eh."
"I wasn't planning to." Remus said curtly, only a faint trace of humour in his smirk.
"Get out of my office. All of you! I catch you again and I will relish the rest of the year when I can hang you by your toes in the Forbidden Forest!"
"Looking forward to it, Filchy!" Sirius called over his shoulder. Once he fell into step with his friends, he asked, "So, where are we going so he won't find us?"
"I don't know, he'll be checking our usual hideouts tonight to see if we've gone back." James said.
"We really need new hideouts." Peter grumbled.
"What we need is a way around Filch at night." James said.
Remus suddenly stopped in his tracks, crashing into Sirius who was walking a little way behind him. He had a 'Eureka!' look on his face, while Sirius grumbled and rubbed his arm. "I've got it! We need a map!"
Emmeline waited at the foot of the stairs the led up to the girls' dormitory in the airy Ravenclaw common room. She exhaled, exasperated, and glanced up the stairs again. "Alice," she called. "Hurry up! We're going to be late!"
On cue, her petit friend emerged, her shoulder length black hair bobbing behind her shoulders as she skipped down the stairs. "I'm here, no need to get all bossy." She said teasingly.
The two girls emerged from the common room and Emmeline heard a male voice cry "Finally!"
She turned around to see Frank Longbottom, sixth-year Gryffindor, smiling at Alice as she bounded into his arms. Emmeline turned away as they gave each other a passionate kiss. Normally, she would not have tolerated such public displays of affection, but since Frank and Alice had spent the entire summer without seeing each other, she let it pass. With Alice still clinging to his neck, Frank smiled and asked "All right, Emmeline?"
"Never better." She responded with a smile.
"Emmy, you don't mind if I walk on over to breakfast with Frank don't you?"
"Sure, not at all." She said. Once again, she let Alice and Frank have their moment considering they had spent two months, their only contact being by owl. The couple smiled at her and started walking, while Emmeline wandered off in another direction, completely alone. She walked past the portrait of the Fat Lady, hoping to run into Lily, Mary or Marlene on their way to breakfast. But she didn't; instead she ran into someone else.
"Well, well. If it isn't Little Miss Ravenclaw Prefect, Emmeline Vance." Said a smooth male voice behind her.
Emmeline didn't even have to turn her head to know who it was and groaned inwardly. "Black." She said as her form of greeting.
The boy with elegant black hair and mysterious grey eyes fell into step with her, even as she tried to quicken her pace to avoid him. Damned long legs, she thought.
"How was your summer, Vance? I reckon you missed me?" Sirius asked charmingly.
"Oh, Black, I had a wonderful summer! My morning would have been just as good had I not run into you, though." Emmeline answered dryly.
"Oh, Vance, I just love your sense of humour."
"Sadly, I can't say the same about yours."
"Come on, don't lie. I think that cheeky prank I played on old Flitwick last year was pretty hilarious."
"Well, that makes one of us." Emmeline said under her breath.
Finally, they were descending the Grand Staircase onto the Entrance Hall, the majestic doors of the Great Hall already visible. Just a few more steps and I'm rid of him. Emmeline thought.
"So, Vance, I have a proposition to make." Sirius said, surprisingly achieving a serious face.
"Don't waste your breath, I'll say no anyways." Emmeline replied bluntly.
Sirius ignored this and continued talking. "So, you see how Ravenclaws and Gryffindors normally take Potions together?"
Emmeline knew this was true, since she had been taking Potions with the Gryffindors since second year. Still, she shook her head. Either Sirius did not see this or chose to ignore it, saying "So I was thinking, since we're in OWL year and we get along so well together, maybe we can be work partners for the year?"
They had reached the Great Hall by now, but the idea of working alongside Sirius Black for an entire year was so absurd to Emmeline that she actually started choking on her own saliva and shook her head fervently, causing a few heads to turn.
Sirius, whose serious expression melted away, was looking at her with amused eyes. "So, I take that as a yes?"
Emmeline shook her head harder and tried to croak out a "NO!"
"Done, I'll talk to Slughorn as soon as I see him." Sirius said cheerily. "Here's to an entire year of working together, Vance!"
Emmeline shifted her glaring eyes from the retreating figure of Sirius Black and onto her Gryffindor friends who stared at her with a mixture of confusion and horror, obviously having heard this last part. Emmeline gave her friends a miserable look and, for the first time in five years, really wished she didn't have Potions with the Gryffindors.
Author's Note: There you have it, chapter two! Kind of short (sorry!) but right now, I'm caught in the middle of exams, but as soon as I get on vacation, I'll try to update weekly and hopefully with more length. So tell me what you thought in the reviews: questions, comments, suggestions, anything! I'm all ears .xx