Amazingly, the rest of the summer passed without incident. It hadn't taken very long for Mum to allow us to finally just have fun like normal kids, so we spent most of the summer playing Quidditch and whatnot.

September 1st had come at last. Sirius and Regulus were both very eager to go to King's Cross; I had to admit that I was looking forward to people's reactions, as well. Since the most of the rest of the world thought Sirius was dead, his appearance would come as a huge surprise.

"Is everyone ready?" Mum called. "We've got to leave!"

"We're ready!" Regulus yelled.

"C'mon," Sirius grinned. "You're sure I can't pretend to be a ghost?"

"Positive," I replied, dragging my trunk towards the stairs. Inevitably, I tripped over the carpet, lost my grip on my trunk, and tumbled down the stairs, landing face-first at the bottom, groaning.

"Every time!" Sirius laughed, as he and Regulus thundered down the stairs after me. Regulus stopped to help me up. I smiled, walked back up the stairs, and grabbed my trunk, before walking back down, thankfully not tripping.

"Did you fall again, James?" Mum sighed.

Dad chuckled. "No surprise. He's only been doing it since he could walk."

I blushed scarlet as Sirius and Regulus dissolved into laughter. "Oh, shut it, you lot."

"Well, hurry up," said Dad. "We're going to miss the train."

"Aren't we Apparating?" I asked.

"These two have never been in a Muggle car before," Dad said, nodding towards the still laughing brothers. "So we're going by car."

"Dad, can you even drive?" I asked.

Dad shrugged and grinned. "Here's hoping."

As it turned out, Dad could drive, and we made it to King's Cross uninjured, albeit a bit disgruntled, since Dad, though he could drive, was a very, very bad driver.

"Wonder how long it'll take them all to notice me?" Sirius asked.

"If we get on the train now, perhaps they won't," Regulus said. "Then you can make your grand entrance at Hogwarts."

Sirius's eyes lit up. "Brilliant! Let's go, hurry!"

He grabbed both of our arms and dragged us onto the train, finding a compartment quickly, "Okay, so I will wait until everyone's in the Great Hall, and then burst in! Great, huh?"

"You're going to get detention," I replied in a sing-song voice, smiling cheekily.

Sirius shrugged. "So? You'll join me, right?"

"Oh, no!" Regulus said. "I'd rather not get detention on the first day of school."

I nodded in agreement. "It's not worth it."

Sirius pouted briefly, then shrugged. "Oh well. You'll be missing out."

"Nah," said Regulus. "I think we'll be fine."

Just then, the door opened and Sirius, probably wanting to preserve his prank by not giving himself away, dived under the seat. There was no need, as the people who entered were only Lily, Remus, Peter, and Snape. Lily smiled bemusedly at Sirius, who sighed.

"Oh, it's just you," he said, moving to sit between Regulus and I again. Severus's eyes widened, and he stumbled backwards and fell into the seat beside Remus, mouth open. Oh; we'd forgotten to tell him. Sirius laughed. "If that's everyone's reaction, this is gonna be awesome!"

"I think," Snape said slowly. "Someone owes me an explaination."

"Yeah, probably," I agreed. "To make a long story short, my dad found a spell that imitates the Killing Curse without killing the victim. He used it to get Voldie off our back for a while, of course that'll be shot all to pieces the moment Sirius reveals himself."

"Ah," said Snape. "Alright."

We spent the rest of the train ride chatting about nothing in particular. Sirius went on eccentrically about his plans for his prank, and the others all agreed with Regulus and I that there really was no point in getting detention so early. Time seemed to fly, and before I knew it, we were back at Hogwarts.

"I'll stay on the train," Sirius said. "You guys go on ahead."

"Okay," I said, feeling a bit uneasy about leaving Sirius alone, even if we were near Hogwarts. Wasn't the station in Hogsmeade? I already knew Hogsmeade wasn't safe..

"Stop worrying," Lily said softly as we climbed into a carriage. With a jolt, I realized I could see black horses pulling the carriages. "Sirius will be fine."

"I know," I replied, eyeing the horses. "Lils... what are those?"

"What are whats?" Peter asked, twisting in his seat to look at the horses. "I don't see anything."

"The horses," I said. "The ones pulling the carriage."

"There are no horses," Snape said, raising an eyebrow dubiously.

Lily's eyes widened in understanding. "Thestrals. We learned about them in fifth year. You can only see them if you've seen..."

"If you've seen someone die," Remus completed, obviously having read about them before. "That's why James can see them. He was there when... yeah."

Lily wrapped her arms around me. "What do they look like?"

"They're black and really skeletal," I said. "Kind of weird looking, if you ask me."

"Awww, I wanna see," whined Regulus. I gave him a sceptical look.

"Do you really?" I asked. Regulus blinked, then paled and shook his head rapidly. "Thought so."

"McGonagall is going to be so mad at Sirius," Remus said, changing the subject. "No. First she'll be happy to see him, then she'll scream at him and give him detention for the rest of the year for scaring her."

"Yes, that sounds about right," I chuckled. "At least Dad told Dumbledore- I bet he told the other teachers."

"Nah," said Regulus. "Dumbledore enjoys a good prank, and he knows that's exactly what Sirius had planned."

"This is going to be chaos," Lily groaned. "I hope I make prefect again next year; then I can give you lot detentions. Severus, you'd better not join their pranking!"

Snape just smiled innocently, and I was struck by how much he'd changed. I mean, back in the original timeline, we never really became friends. The thought that Snape might join us in pranking was almost absurd- unti now, that is. I could sort of see it now.

"Hey..." Peter said suddenly. "Something's different about you, Snape... did you wash your hair?"

Severus gave Peter an irritated look as Remus and I started snickering. Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "Peter, that's rude."

"Sorry," Peter blushed.

"He's right," I sniggered. "But I think the difference was that you smiled and tried to look innocent."

"I'm confused," said Regulus.

"Never mind," I said. "Hey, you're a third year this year, right? What classes are you taking?"

"Divination and Care of Magical Creatures," replied Regulus. "Oh! And Muggle Studies."

Lily crinkled her nose. "I dropped that."

The rest of us gaped at her.

"What?" she asked. "Is it so astonishing that I dropped a class? The information was out of date."

"Oh," said Regulus. "Oh well."

"You could still change it," Remus said.

"Nah," Regulus shook his head. "I'll keep it."

"Did any of you read your course books over the summer?" asked Severus. Remus and Lily nodded, and Peter shifted uneasily. Regulus and I exchanged looks.

"No," I said.

"We were too busy worrying over Sirius," added Regulus.

"And playing Quidditch," I added. "And, you know, being kidnapped, rescued, and nearly killed."

"Baking cookies," Regulus said.

"Beating Death Eaters with frying pans," I continued.

"Turning Voldemort green."

"Trying to keep Sirius from escaping St. Mungo's."

"Breaking Sirius out of St. Mungo's."

"Playing-"

"We get it," Remus said dryly. Regulus and I turned red. "So you two didn't, and Peter didn't. You lot had better hope there are no pop quizzes."

Regulus and Peter paled, but I smiled. "I've already been through this once. I have the upper hand."

"Cheater," said Snape.

The mood in the Great Hall was strangely subdued, save for the most of the Slytherins, who were perfectly normal. Even the staff table (which I noticed was strangely missing a seat, probably the DADA teacher) was quiet and melancholy. I could understand; with Sirius's spot empty next to me, I was brutally reminded of how close I'd come to losing him. However, I knew he was coming.

Frank Longbottom sat down beside me with Alice. "Hullo, James. How are you?"

"Hello, James," Alice added. "Aren't the Thestrals pretty?"

"Er... pretty's one word," I said awkwardly. "Can you see them?"

"Oh, no," said Alice.

I stared at her until Frank cut in. "Listen, I heard about Sirius."

Remus coughed, which might have been hiding a laugh.

"Er, yeah," I said awkwardly, as Regulus buried his face in his arms and started giggling, which probably looked like he was sobbing, because a seventh year girl cooed sadly.

"I'm really sorry," he said. "I know you guys were close and-"

Just then, the doors burst open, much to my relief, since the conversation was slowly getting very awkward. The hall went very silent. Sirius was standing there, grinning and covered in mud. Regulus looked up, and dissolved into giggles again.

"You'll never believe how long a walk it is to Hogwarts!" Sirius exclaimed, breaking the silence. Some students continued gaping, a few screamed, and several Slytherins I saw were muttering profanities.

"Zombie!" shouted one student and several purebloods (including Regulus and I) looked at her weirdly.

Lily leaned over to us. "It's the muggle equivalent of Inferi. Dead bodies that have come 'back to life'."

Regulus and I both dissolved into laughter again, gaining weird looks from the people around us. Sirius looked dumbfounded for a moment, before shrugging and walking over to sit next to us. Up at the staff table, Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling, and the rest of the staff's eyes were huge.

"Hullo," Sirius greeted.

"Sirius," I said slowly. "Why are you covered in mud?"

"Effects," replied Sirius. I gave him a sceptical look, and he turned red under the mud. "Okay, so I took a shortcut through the forest and I tripped. A few times."

"Idiot," I said. "Now you're a mess."

"Fits you," Regulus said cheekily. Sirius cuffed him over the head.

"When are you going to explain to everyone how you're not dead?" Remus asked, as the school continued to panic and stare.

"I'm not," Sirius grinned. "How do they know I'm not dead? I bet I look like I crawled out of a grave!"

"Explains the zombie comment," Lily said dryly.

"Alright, quiet down," Dumbledore called. "As you can see, Mr. Black is perfectly well."

"Or am I?" Sirius said loudly. I whacked him in the back of the head. "Ow! Prongs!"

"He's fine," I declared. "It's a long story how, but he's fine."

"And why," McGonagall frowned, "didn't you come in with the rest of the students?"

"A prank, dear Minnie!" Sirius beamed. The entire hall still seemed dumbfounded. "And the Headmaster was in on it, you know!"

"He was?" McGonagall gaped. Several students turned towards Dumbledore, who smiled serenely.

"Actually, I was not 'in on' this prank," he explained. "I simply knew that Mr. Black was alive and neglected to tell you."

McGonagall groaned, and muttered something I couldn't here, but it was probably something along the lines of: "You're just as bad as they are."

Later that night, we were all getting situated in our new dorm room. Regulus was rooming with us again this year. Last year had been so crazy, and I highly doubted that I had a chance of an easy year this year. Still...

"I hope this year will be quieter than last year," I muttered as I sat down on my bed.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno; all those near death experiences were kind of fun."

Regulus, Remus, and I stared at him incredulously. Peter shifted in his bed with a snore.

"It's exciting," he continued, oblivious to the three of us gaping at him. "I mean, I could do without getting hurt so often, but the feeling of adventure is great!"

"That roughly translates to: 'Keep an eye on me, I'm contemplating jumping off the Astronomy Tower just for fun,'" Remus said dryly. Sirius blushed, and I wondered if he really was contemplating that.

"Not the Astronomy Tower," Sirius said slowly. I groaned.

"Alright, we're moving your bed away from the window," I said. "Regulus, you and Padfoot switch."

"Kay," said Regulus, grabbing his stuff and dragging it over to the bed that would have been Sirius's if I wasn't so worried that he'd jump out the window. Sirius pouted and moved his things to the bed that had originally been Regulus's.

"We could go skydiving," Sirius suggested. I sighed, and flopped face-first onto my bed. "What?"

"If you get yourself killed," I said, my voice muffled by my pillow. "I'm bringing you back and murdering you myself."

A/N: And they're back at Hogwarts! Yay! Big thanks to my reviewers, Red Moon Lollipop, jeremiah123, N. E. Person, and sk8boards4ever! I hope everyone like this chapter. I haven't mentioned Thestrals before, have I? If I have, sorry about that! Oh, in case you're wondering about the DADA professor, you'll see next chapter! :D

I still, sadly, do not own Harry Potter.