Lily sat in Magical Studies, looking forward to what they were going to do that day. Professor Jones walked into the room.
"Good afternoon," she greeted them.
"Good afternoon, Professor Jones," the students replied respectfully.
"It is now May, which means we have one more month before exams," the professor explained. There was a cheer from the students. "Yes, but for this month, we will be learning the basics of how to associate with Pure-bloods. Today, we'll be learning how to greet a pure-blood. We have learned about the different pure-blood families. So now we will be putting that into practice. Therefore, I have asked James Potter, the Heir to the House of Potter to come in today." James walked in at that moment. "You will all greet Mr. Potter like this." She then stepped forward and said, "Greetings, Heir Potter. How do you do?" She was going to teach them how to bow and curtsy later, but she" needed to make sure they greeted people properly first.
"I am doing well, Professor Jones," James replied formally.
"Now, each student will come up and do what I did," Professor Jones announced. "Who would like to go first? Ah, Miss Dunn?" Amara stood and walked up to James.
"Greetings, Heir Potter. How do you do?" she asked.
James grinned. "Oh, Amara, you don't have to be so formal, you know!" Professor Jones glared at James.
"Mr. Potter, we are practicing formalities," she reminded him. James shrugged.
"But these are my friends!" he exclaimed.
"Heir Potter, what would Lord Potter say about this?" Lily asked, knowing a thing or two about the pure-blood families thanks to being friends with three Heirs.
"Oh, Lily, not you too!" James exclaimed. "You're all no fun!" Lily couldn't believe James could be so immature sometimes.
"Miss Evans, do you know if Heir Black is in a class at the moment?" Professor Jones asked, hoping he wasn't. She would have to write to Lord Potter about James' behavior. Or maybe she would let the headmaster send a letter to Lord Potter. Either way, James' behavior was unacceptable for a pure-blood.
"I can go get Heir Black, if you'd like," Lily suggested.
"Yes, please do," Professor Jones said. "Mr. Potter, you may go."
Lily first checked Gryffindor Tower, and when Sirius wasn't there, she decided to go see if he was with the headmaster. She headed to the headmaster's office.
"Enter!" was the response she got when she knocked. She entered the room and smiled when she saw Sirius and Regulus sitting together, Regulus working on maths homework, by the looks of it.
"Sirius, we need you in Magical Studies," Lily explained. "Professor Jones is teaching us about greeting pure-bloods, and James is being immature so Professor Jones told me to fetch you."
"Well, you're good at playing fetch then," Sirius said with a grin. Lily rolled her eyes.
"You act like a dog sometimes, you know that?" she asked.
"Good to know!" Sirius exclaimed. He then became serious. "I'll come with you. James isn't exactly the most formal person ever, especially not when he had a bunch of sugar at lunch." He then turned to Regulus. "I'll see you later, Reg. I'll help you with scientific notation later."
"Alright, thanks Siri," Regulus replied. "Have fun!" Sirius snorted.
Lily and Sirius left the headmaster's office, but Arcturus followed them. He was curious to see how this would go.
"Professor Jones, I got Heir Black," Lily announced.
"Greetings, Heir Black," Professor Jones greeted Sirius. "How do you do?"
"I am well, thank you, Professor Jones," Sirius replied formally.
"Alright, Miss Dunn, would you like to go first again?" Professor Jones asked. Amara nodded and once again stepped forward.
"Greetings, Heir Black," she greeted him. "How do you do?"
"I am well, Miss Dunn," Sirius responded. Amara widened her eyes.
"Heir Black, would you like to explain why you responded to Miss Dun so formally?" Professor Jones asked.
"Certainly. It's because you do not call someone by their first name unless they give you permission to do so," Sirius explained. "So I do not call Miss Dunn by her first name until she gives me permission to do so. On the other side of things, when you greet an Heir, Lord, or Lady, you do not call them by their first name unless given permission to do so," Sirius explained.
"Do people often make that mistake by calling the Heir, Lord, or Lady by their first names?" one of the students asked.
"Yes," Sirius answered. "Albus Dumbledore even called Lord Black by his first name when in a meeting once."
The students gasped. Lily crossed her arms.
"Why did he do that?" she asked angrily.
"Because he is under the impression that he's on first name terms with everyone, no matter their title," Sirius responded.
"That's horrible!" Amara exclaimed.
The other students took turns greeting Sirius formally. Then Professor Jones said, "Very good, class! Next class, we will practice on greeting a Lord or Lady. Thank you, Heir Black, for coming on such short notice."
"Of course, Professor Jones," Sirius said. When he walked out of the classroom, he saw James standing there, with Arcturus glaring at the Potter heir. Sirius figured James was in big trouble.
"I will be writing to your father about your immature behavior when you were supposed to be acting as Heir Potter," Arcturus told James.
"I-I was just playing around!" James exclaimed, not wanting his father to know how he had behaved.
"That was not the time to play around," Arcturus snapped. "As you have seen, my Heir would never act the way you acted today."
James gulped. He knew that no matter what he said, his father would find out. "I understand," he said quietly.
Sirius and James went back to Gryffindor Tower, James not in the same energetic mood he had been in earlier.
"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure 'you'll survive," Sirius tried cheering James up.
"If I keep this up, I'll never be Lord Potter," James said.
"Sure you will," Sirius reassured him. "You'll learn. I had to learn. It's no fun being formal, even the people who do it all the time don't like it, but you'll learn."
James gave Sirius a slight smile. "I guess you're right," he said. With that, they started doing their homework.