Summary:

In which: James' ego is deflated, Sirius is bored, then electrocuted, and Lily is nostalgic.

Sirius

September 2nd, 1971

Charms Room

9am

Sirius was bored. He had successfully mastered windgarium leviosa when he was two, levitating the spoon out of Kreacher's hands whenever the house elf would attempt to feed him.

"Won't!" Two year old Sirius crossed his little arms and shook his head.

"What a bright little star you are," Wallburga Black cooed, watching Kreacher mumble in exasperation as he summoned the spoon once again.

"Don't give the boy a complex," her husband, Orion, drawled from behind the Daily Prophet.

"The brightest star in the sky," Walburga insisted as her lips curved, eyes narrowing with delight. "Good boy, Sirius, show him his place…"

Flitwick was half Goblin. At least, Sirius thought he was. He was very short and had a high pitched, squeaky voice. Something perpetually like Peter's when he was nervous.

A Goblin professor? Dear sweet Merlin—his parents would not approve. Sirius smirked at the thought.

"Well done, Black!" Flitwick clapped in approval as Sirius's practice feather levitated around the room, under perfect control.

Sirius gently flicked his wand and the feather stuck upright in Peter's black, pointed wizard's hat.

"Aaand they called him macaroni…"

Sirius locked eyes with Remus, who sat beside him. "What was that?"

"Oh," Remus flushed. "Nothing."

"You were singing," Sirius suppressed a smile. "Something about macaroni?"

Remus flushed deeper. "Err…it's nothing."

"Okay, Lupin." Sirius smirked, enjoying his effect on this odd boy.

"Now everyone, Mr. Black has set a new precedent for this class! You all best do your homework—see you next week."

The first years packed up and filed out of the classroom.

"So lunch and then Potions?" James stopped to sit on a stone bench in the corridor. "Where's the Great Hall again? We really need a map of this place…"

"How did you do that?" Peter panted as he caught up with the two of them.

"What?" Sirius asked as he raised an eyebrow, becoming increasingly bored each time Peter opened his mouth.

"That!" Peter widened his eyes as if it were obvious. "The feather in my hat!"

Remus filtered through the rest of their class at that moment and Sirius caught his eye. He liked doing that.

"Dunno, you should ask Lupin—he has a song about it."

Remus blushed again, stopping an awkward distance from the other three boys and fiddling with his heavy book bag.

"Coming to lunch with us, Lupin?" James smiled invitingly.

"Um, no…"

Sirius noticed Remus was holding a letter with emerald green script.

"I actually have somewhere to be, I'll catch up with you at Potions!"

"Where d'you 'spose that is?" James scratched his head as the boys watched Remus speed off down the corridor.

Sirius shrugged, disguising his interest. "Do you think we can skive off potions?"

"On the first day?" Peter baffled.

Sirius glared, relishing in Peter's uneasiness. He glared menacingly, narrowing his eyes. "I'd rather eat dragon dung."

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry too," James agreed, appearing quite oblivious to the social tension. He jumped to his feet, grinning widely.

Peter tilted his head.

Like a little lost krup watching it's owner, Sirius mused.

James checked his watch. "It's 11:45, I think the Great Hall is this way…onward, lads!"

• • •

Sirius couldn't help but admire James's enthusiasm. It was quite infectious. James was just so…genuine.

It was unlike anyone Sirius was accustomed to. He wasn't particularly trying to pop James's bubble of optimism, but if it did happen it was of no consequence to him. Sirius would just lie in casual watching and waiting, mostly out of curiosity, for the inevitable.

"Owl post is just so odd."

Sirius turned to the red headed girl sitting near them. She seemed very jumpy as she eyed the ceiling, ready to brace for impact if the morning post decided to return again.

"What's odd about it?" James asked through a mouthful of stew.

The red headed girl looked taken aback. "What isn't odd about a thousand owls swooping about your food—delivering mail!"

"Oh! You must be muggleborn," James grinned through giant slurps.

The red headed girl looked disgusted. On perhaps multiple accounts.

"Yes," she said haughtily. "I am. You must be pureblood?"

James swallowed a bite and wiped his chin with the back of his hand, regaining some dignity. "Err yeah," he threw back his shoulders and puffed out his chest. "How d'you know?"

"Oh," she rolled her eyes and James's dignity popped like a deflating balloon. "It's so obvious."

She fell into a fit of giggles with the girl beside her.

Sirius was not expecting his new friend to go down so easily, let alone at the hands of one muggleborn girl. So he decided to intervene. He wasn't cruel, after all.

"Sirius Black," Sirius ran a hand through his dark hair and presented a dashing smile. "And…you are?"

The girls stopped giggling. Another girl sitting beside them turned to their conversation with wide eyes.

"Sirius Black?"

Sirius smirked. He knew this conversation well.

"Yeah—"

"I don't care who you are," the red headed girl crossed her arms.

Sirius shrugged, narrowing his eyes at this easy prey. "Well if you were smart, you might. Although confringo is probably your strong suit, given the hair—it's better to cast in the opposite direction."

Whether he liked it or not, Sirius knew this for sure. He had to learn the political side of the Wizarding World at a very young age. He didn't know this girl, but he knew no expense was spared for muggleborns that didn't know their place.

"Well if you were smart, you'd shut your mouth." The girl snapped, the ends of her red hair cackling with electricity.

Then she smiled, but not with her eyes. It reminded Sirius of his mother and he felt a twinge of shame.

The girl suddenly stuck out her hand.

"I'm Lily Evans, a pleasure to meet you."

He was surprised at this cordial act after such a hostile remark, but he was Sirius Black after all. A bred politician. So he smiled politely in return, paying this staticy, muggleborn girl half a mind. He reached for her hand, surely she realized it was a mistake to trifle with his family name—

"YEEE—OW—!"

Their hands made contact and a jolt of electricity shot up his arm. Sirius frantically shook his wrist, like he'd stuck his finger in an electrical socket.

"What the hell—!"

"Like you said, I need a practice target." Lily Evans smirked. "And like I said, shut your mouth."

They had drawn a crowd of curious side-eyers at this point.

Sirius shoved his hands in the pockets of his robes and glowered.

"Bad luck, mate." James shook his head, mouth agape.

"Does she know who you are?" Peter whispered.

"I think we've covered that, Pettigrew," Sirius snapped.

Another first year girl Sirius did not know the name of, tossed her curly, dark ringlets over a shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Boys."

The crowd of side-eyeing girls giggled along the table.

"Hey look—flying class is this Friday!" James announced, once again socially unaware of the brimming tension around him.

"I wish first years were allowed a broom, I would've brought mine." Sirius drawled, hoping for a little redemption and appearing to ignore the girls all together.

"Me too! Rubbish rule right?" James agreed. "What do you have then?"

"A Nimbus 1001."

James's jaw dropped. "No way—! That's the best racing broom on the market! I've been trying to convince dad but he wants me to make the team first…"

Sirius just shrugged, like his high end racing broom was a terrible Christmas present from an uncle that he was forced to be grateful for.

"Do you fly, Pete?" James asked excitedly.

"Um, no. N-not really…I use my dad's old Cleansweep Five sometimes."

"Oh nice! That's a solid broom, Pete, maybe we could sneak them in and have a game…" James's eyes glinted, bright and mischievous at the thought.

"We have Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws first thing tomorrow," Peter squeaked nervously. Perhaps at the idea of flying, or simply breaking rules on his first day.

"That should be all right, but uckk—can't believe we have to sit through double Potions with the Slytherins." James wrinkled his nose.

"At least O'l Sluggy's after lunch," Sirius considered solemnly, "I am not a morning person."

"Sluggy?" Peter asked, picturing an ancient, giant, slimy slug. Possibly with a top hat.

"Slughorn. He's a family friend."

Lily Evans

September 2nd, 1971

Potions Room

1:30pm

Confringo. Lily had to remember to look that one up.

She supposed it was no different than all the other names. Kids usually picked on her for her red hair, why would this stupid, entitled boy be any different? He was just a bully. With a slightly different vocabulary.

Sev had already told her about pure bloods and muggleborns, so although she didn't really understand, it wasn't a totally shocking concept.

Where is Sev, anyway?

Lily had scanned the Great Hall at lunch, but she couldn't seem to find him anywhere. She knew he was disappointed that she wasn't sorted into Slytherin…

She would find him and he would understand. They were best friends, after all.

The Potions classroom was all the way in the dungeons. Luckily, Dorcas suggested that they leave lunch half and hour early, and so they arrived just on time.

It was dark, damp, and cold down here. Nothing like the cozy Gryffindor common room. Lily spotted Sev's back immediately, seated at one of the many two person tables lining the room.

"Lily—!" Severus' gaunt face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Here—I saved you a seat!"

Lily dropped her book bag on the table and threw her arms around him.

"Sev! It's so good to see you!" She released him and was very oblivious to the dark shade of crimson flushing his cheeks.

Severus quickly looked down, his dark hair drawing curtains around his face. Lily sat down beside him and leaned in close, with innocent doe eyes.

"Oh Sev—I wish I'd been sorted into Slytherin, I'll never get to see you anymore!"

Severus barely met her eyes, but fought a smile. "Well we have Potions and Flying together…"

"And meals, we can sit together!"

Severus did not look too sure. "Umm…yeah, maybe…"

Tears welled in Lily's eyes. "What do you mean?"

His eyes darted around and he fidgeted, searching for the right words. "I just, I—I don't know if that's allowed…"

"I don't care. I don't care what houses we're in. You're my best friend, Sev."

Severus met her fiery gaze and melted.

"You're my best friend too, Lily…"

"Okay then." Lily folded her hands together on the table and faced forward, as if the matter was put to rest.

Professor Slughorn stepped out at that moment and began the lesson with a long lecture on safety and importance of proper measurements.

About twenty minutes in, the door to the classroom creaked open and everyone turned to stare.

"Err, sorry Professor…"

It was the Gryffindor boy with the large scar running across his nose. He turned bright red and handed a note to Professor Slughorn, who merely glanced at it and said, "Yes, yes—have a seat, now as I was saying…there is a great difference between a referenced pinch and a scoop, although some instructions may not be quite so meticulous in their meaning. As I always say, 'the discerning potioneer is the best potioneer…'"

Lily spent the entire class scrawling frivolous notes.

"Sirius, m'boy!"

Towards the end of the lesson, Lily copied this onto parchment and her brows knit in confusion. She looked up to see Slughorn beaming down at Sirius Black.

"Professor," Sirius responded with a polite nod. Lily noticed he was not bothering to take notes.

"A first year already, my the time does fly! I must admit I'm a smidge disappointed not to have you in Slytherin—"

"Is 'smidge' closer to a teaspoon or tablespoon, sir?"

Slughorn let out a great, deep belly laugh.

"Oh ho! Sharp lad, sharp lad—a natural born potioneer, I'm sure!"

Lily hadn't realized she was glaring until Sirius caught her eye and smirked. She quickly looked away, fuming into her pages and pages of notes.

"Everyone thought he'd be in Slytherin…" Severus whispered thoughtfully. "They're all talking about it."

"Who cares," Lily crossed her arms. "Gryffindor, Slytherin—if you're a arse, you're an arse."

Severus looked taken aback and Lily did not feel like explaining. Slughorn dismissed the class shortly after and a lightning bolt of sadness struck through her.

"Hey Sev! Promise me we'll see each other again…soon?"

Severus seemed very anxious. There were a few moments of silence as she watched him gather his things. Finally, he met her eyes through a dark curtain of hair.

"I promise."

Notes:

I love building these characters! The first couple school years may be a little slower than I originally intended...I'll have some flashforwards/flashbacks that break up the chapters here and there, then also reach those moments as the fic progresses chronologically through a different perspective. Lol I'm feeling ambititious tonight. The next chapter connects with a flashforwards in time to 1976 Snape's worst memory, told from Lily's perspective. I'm excited to get into all these time jumps. Hope you enjoyed! :)