Sirius sat in Potions, listening to Professor Slughorn tell them what potion they were brewing that day. Slughorn informed them that they would be partnering up for this potion. Sirius was about to move over to Alice to work with her, but before he could, Slughorn held up a hand.
"Before you partner up, I would like to add something else," he stated. "The headmaster has informed us teachers that we are to start pairing students up from different houses, in order to encourage house unity. Therefore, I will be picking your partners for today." He started pairing students up. Sirius got paired with a Slytherin boy named Jeremiah Roberts. Sirius had seen him around, but had never talked to him. Jeremiah sat next to Sirius.
Jeremiah had dark brown skin and brown eyes, with black hair. Sirius could tell he was short.
"Hello," Jeremiah greeted Sirius. "I'm Jeremiah Roberts." He held out his hand. Sirius shook his hand.
"I'm Sirius Black," Sirius introduced himself.
"I will go get the ingredients we'll need," Jeremiah decided, standing to go to the ingredients cupboard.
"I'll come help," Sirius offered. "There are a lot of ingredients. I could help you carry some, if you'd like."
"I can do it, but thank you," Jeremiah declined politely. He walked over to the ingredients cupboard, and grabbed all of the ingredients they would need. Sirius was prepared to help at a moment's notice if he needed it, but Jeremiah managed to get them back to their table without a problem. Sirius could already notice that Jeremiah was very determined and independent.
As they worked on their potion, Sirius noted other things about Jeremiah. Jeremiah preferred for them to have assigned tasks, instead of working on the same task together. Sirius assumed it was because Jeremiah felt that doing the same thing together would feel like Sirius helping him and decreasing his independence. Sirius prepared the ingredients while Jeremiah put the ingredients into the cauldron and stirred.
Another thing Sirius noticed was that when James was loudly telling his partner about his family, much louder than necessary, Jeremiah clenched his fists, and while he didn't say anything, Sirius could tell he did not like how loud James was being. He decided to distract him.
"Jeremiah, if you do not mind me asking, are you by chance related to the House of Roberts?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," Jeremiah confirmed. "My father is pure-blood, and from the Roberts family. My mother is Muggle-born. Why do you ask, Heir Black?"
Sirius smiled. "You may call me Sirius," he offered. "I was only curious. I know about all of the pure-blood families, and I was only wondering if you were related to that family, that's all. Are you the Heir?"
Jeremiah shook his head. "No. My father's brother is the patriarch, so one of my cousins is the Heir. However, despite living as a half-blood, I do know the pure-blood customs."
"That makes sense," Sirius replied. They worked in silence for a while before Jeremiah broke the silence this time.
"I am glad that some of the staff are trying to unite the houses, though I wonder how long it'll last," he commented. "I've heard that for the past ten years, teachers have tried to unite the students, but then they seem to give up, especially when Dumbledore was in charge. He didn't seem to want the houses to be united."
"Well, I think this time will be different," Sirius informed him. "After all, the rule about sitting at your house table has been thrown out. That's a good step in the right direction."
"Yes, that is true," Jeremiah agreed. "I agree that sitting with other people from other houses during meals is good, but that's not enough. Nearly half the school still sits with their own table during meals. It seems that the only people who actually sit with others from different houses are your group of friends and my group of friends."
"Glad to know we're not the only group in the school," Sirius joked.
"My group of friends are from all different houses, and this group has been around for years, for at least eight years now. Maybe nine. The group was created with the intention of uniting the houses. However, throughout the years, Dumbledore tried telling us that a group of students weren't going to be able to unite the whole school. So, our group has had minimal success thus far."
"What has your group done to try to unite the houses?" Sirius asked curiously.
"We used to organize events like game nights, study sessions, etc. However, no one except us ever showed up, and Dumbledore finally told us that we couldn't do those events anymore."
"Have you talked to the current headmaster or the deputy headmistress about this?" Sirius asked. "They'll allow your group to bring these events back, and the Marauders will help too, if you would like."
"I have not talked to them yet, but if you think they will take us seriously, then I will," Jeremiah responded.
Sirius grinned. "I know for a fact that they will take you seriously. How many people are in your group?"
"A lot of people," Jeremiah replied. "Some are still here, and some have already left Hogwarts. Some have not come yet. We have over fifteen people in our group."
"Well, I will talk to the other Marauders, and perhaps you could introduce us to some of the other members," Sirius proposed.
"I will talk to my friends, and we will go from there," Jeremiah agreed. "Thank you, Sirius."
For the rest of the class period, they worked in silence, but they both had things to think about, and plans to make. Things were about to get very interesting. Sirius made a mental note to talk to the Marauders immediately after classes that day, and he would let his grandparents know what was going on. All in all, it was a very productive Potions class.