The next morning saw Sirius awake at dawn. A clear two hours before breakfast. Sirius Jr. was furious and had gone to pouting and refusing to talk to The Time-Traveling Interloper. But the Time Traveling Interloper insisted that he would thank him later. Okay, a LOT later.
This was a change he needed to make. He remembered how lazy he had been and the routine they had developed. Sirius was NOT a morning person. He never ever would be a morning person. But he also knew that what he needed to do required that he become one. So with the first light, Sirius arose and woke his dorm mates. "Up and at em boys." He cajoled his dorm mates to grumbling wakefulness and when they questioned his sanity he told them they were going to be the best of their year, and the first secret to their success was an early start.
Surprisingly they didn't argue as much as he expected. Maybe he was the only true non-morning person as dawn seemed incredibly early. "Don't take a shower yet." He told Remus who was heading in that direction. "I brought these for us." He tossed to each boy a pile of clothes. Remus unfolded a pair of shorts and black sweat pants holding them up to himself. Perfect fit? He seemed to ask with his eyes.
"Don't ask questions...just meet me down at the pitch when you're dressed." He commanded with a mischievous grin. Remus looked suspicious, James looked curious, and Severus looked... baffled and perhaps horrified. "Trust me... You'll be grateful someday." He winked and sauntered out of the dorm hoping this worked out as well as he hoped it would.
Fifteen minutes later the boys were gathered at the Quidditch pitch. The morning was cool and so the boys were wearing sweat pants and hoodies and brand new running shoes spelled by his grandfather with a few enchantments that they were about to discover. His heart was beating hard and his mouth went a bit dry. He wasn't sure how to present his idea without coming across as a know-it-all prat, but he hoped his friends would go along with this.
He looked at Snape who was looking extremely uncomfortable, but putting on a brave face nonetheless, and decided that the term friends actually did apply to the boy. He smiled and said. "OK. I know this is going to seem mental, but I was thinking about what happened at the World Cup." He shrugged a bit, "And well... You guys wanted me to teach you self-defense and I want to teach you, but part of it is being physically fit.
My grandfather has been giving me a lot of advice lately, and he says that Hogwarts doesn't really provide a physical fitness class and if we want to be truly strong and powerful wizards, that we need to condition our bodies as well as our magic. Conditioning the body will help increase our magic. He encouraged me to run every morning for about a half-hour and to practice spells at the lake. He says the lake will absorb spells. I thought we might add little martial arts to that routine." He took a breath and looked at their reactions. No one looked thrilled.
"Also being strong will help those of us who want to get on the quidditch team next year. Arm strength and stamina, speed, reflexes." He grinned. "Being physical gods, won't hurt with the girls either." James perked up and nodded a bit.
He grinned. "So... I took the liberty of asking my grandfather to order a bunch of these..." He motioned to the shoes, the hoodies, and sweat pants. "They're all enchanted." He grinned. "Warmth and cooling charms, water-resistant. The shoes will help you increase your speed and I sort of begged him for stealth as well as agility. They are bloody brilliant really." He grinned, "Check this out!" He turned and began sprinting silently and then gathered himself to leap and he lept twice as far as he would normally be able to without the shoes. He landed gracefully and then spun and did it a second time pushing himself and he was running in almost a blur. He then slowed down and jogged back to the boys who were staring at him with varying looks of excitement and incredulity.
Suddenly James was off and leaping through the air like a gazelle performing acrobatic feats in the air. He landed and ran back barely panting and said, "Are you Serious? This is... Bloody AWESOME!"
"Of course, I'm Sirius, Who else would I be?" He deadpanned earning a groan from all of them. He grinned, "So you all game?" The boys looked at each other and nodded eagerly. He imagined they would feel differently once muscles, they didn't even know they had, began to protest, but decided starting slow and easy would be the best use of their time.
Remus pitched in an idea then, "I think that stretching before we start running might be a good idea." And so the boys began stretching exercises for a few minutes and then Sirius nodded and said, "We'll just take a nice easy run along the lake to the edge of the forest and back. That's about a mile..." Sirius judged. And so began a daily ritual that would carry them through their first and consecutive years at Hogwarts.
When they finished running the boys all collapsed back at the pitch and Severus wheezed, "I'm going to die."
James laughed, "Don't worry Sev." Slipping in a nickname so easily, "I think it will get easier."
Sirius nodded, finding that his own body was not as well-conditioned as he had hoped but knew that indeed it would get easier. Sirius stood and stretched again and the boys groaned and followed his example.
Finally, he nodded, "So now I think half an hour practicing some self-defense moves?" He asked... "I used to know someone who taught me a lot. He was an auror and he insisted that martial arts was a great tool to have in your toolbox. If you are ever disarmed you can still do some serious damage." He smirked.
Severus frowned, "I don't see why this skill would be necessary in a potions lab."
Sirius smiled, "Well what happens when you have created an amazing potion and some wicked wizard decides he wants to steal your design? He breaks into your lab and catches you unawares, takes your wand and is about to curse you into oblivion?" Sirius asks. "You never know...It could happen!" Sirius defended when Severus gave him a skeptical look. "Besides, this exercise is multi-purposeful. Get stronger, faster, and increase our magic and our defensive toolbox." Sirius stated. The boys were listening and his idea seemed sound. So he began showing them basic moves. How to stand, move, duck and block. They worked at it for about half an hour before Sirius called a halt.
They debated about taking half an hour to practice spells at the lake and looked around wondering if any of them really knew a spell that they could practice. Sirius knew loads but he felt it was important to hide that. He hoped someone else would take the lead on this.
His hope was realized when Severus said he knew the theory behind the stunning spell but that he didn't know if he could actually do it.
"Well, I say we at least try," James said. "Come on." And down they trooped back to the lake. The boys removed their wands and all turned to Snape as he started to teach.
"Well." He took a breath and said, "Here goes nothing." He seemed to think very hard, his face taking on a look of intense concentration. "Stupify!" He waved his wand and a very small splash of water could be seen about 15 feet in the lake! Remus and James cheered and Sirius patted Severus on the back. "Bloody brilliant mate." He nodded to James and Remus who lifted their wands and pointed it out into the lake as well. They stood as Snape had shown them, "Together." They all lifted their wands and in a unified chorus spoke the command word and a small geyser erupted about 20 feet away showering them in water. They laughed as their magicked hoodies kept them dry.
They kept at it for another ten minutes before they started to tire and flush with success, they trudged back to the castle to take showers and eat a well-earned breakfast. Strangely they felt exhilarated rather than tired.
They were looked at with curiosity when they came into the common area and almost everyone was just beginning to wake up and make their way down to breakfast or the showers. Lilly was just coming down the stairs and asked them where they had been. "Exercising" Sirius answered and Lily laughed as if she wasn't sure whether he was joking or not, but one look at their flushed and sweaty faces convinced her that they weren't joking. The boys beat the rest of the house to the showers and were first to breakfast as well.
James grinned at his dorm mates and said, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm wearing my running shoes everywhere. They muffle all sound. Absolutely brilliant really!" He grinned.
Sirius nodded. "Grandfather really went all out actually. He said that if there's anyone else that wants to join us he'd make sure they got a running outfit too."
"But why?" Asked Remus with a frown.
Sirius debated on how to answer this. He didn't want to scare them, but he wanted them to take their learning seriously. He finally put down his fork and said, "Grandfather says that dark times are coming and that we need to be prepared." Sirius said. "I... I have a feeling that he's right."
Remus looked down at his plate contemplatively. "What does he think is going to happen?"
"I think... a war." Sirius said softly. He caught James' eye. James stared back at him and something in Sirius's expression must have conveyed itself to him because he nodded. "My father said something similar recently." The boys became quiet and contemplative as they finished their meal.