Chapter II
The Sorting Ceremony had been quite the show.
After Sirius’ sorting the air kept somewhat tense. James had been sorted into Gryffindor as expected, Peter also ended up being a Gryffindor; his sorting was the longest, almost twenty bloody minutes! He wondered what had the hat told him? Had Peter also asked to be in Gryffindor?
Dolohov was in Slytherin, of course. And Sirius didn’t actually mind, that way he could keep avoiding him. The greasy kid from the train, Severus Snape, whose name they learned as Professor Mcgonagall called him up front, had been sorted into Slytherin, which made Sirius feel relieved. He wouldn’t have to share a dorm with him. On the other hand; Evans, Lily, his annoying redhead friend, had been sorted into Gryffindor, and that meant he would have to deal with her.
There was a boy whose head had barely touched the hat before it immediately screamed GRYFFINDOR! Sirius recognized him from the train, he was one of those kids wearing muggle clothes that made Sirius extremely uncomfortable, sharing a dorm with a mudblood definitely wasn’t something he was feeling keen of.
Either way, James and Peter seemed to be incredibly excited that the kid had been sorted into Gryffindor with them.
“I told you mate, it was fate, you needed new better mates.” James’ said with half a chicken leg stuffed down his throat.
“Yeah, we promise we’re much better than any of those Slytherin folks over there!” Agreed Peter enthusiastically.
“So, you know Dolohov?” Asked Sirius. “From before Hogwarts, I mean.” He tried to be casual about it.
“Yeah. My dad hates the guts of his dad. Says he’s a proper prick.”
“How come we’ve never met before?”
“Nah, my family avoids the Blacks” Replied James. “No offence mate. Besides, I don’t think your family would be very fond of us anyways.”
“And why is that?” Sirius inquired.
“I’m not really sure, but my dad says the Blacks are a family of intolerant pretentious aristocrats.” James explained.
“Well, a toast to that!” Said Sirius raising his cup.
He had never met people who didn’t like his family before. It was exciting.
After the feast, they had made their way up to the Gryffindor common room.
The moving stairs were amazing. They had lost half the group because the stairs decided to move just as the Gryffindor first years were going up; And while others seemed to find it annoying he had found it hilarious. Frank Longbottom, the Gryffindor prefect, had told them a story of how last year he missed his first class of the day cause he couldn’t get to the stairs in time. He made a note to himself on how he should use that excuse. Perfectly believable.
But oh, the Gryffindor common room was undoubtedly his favourite part of the whole castle so far. It was cosy and red and gold and everything he could’ve ever imagined. Unlike Grimmauld Place, where everything felt cold and unalive.
“Hi, I’m James.” He heard James’ voice introducing himself to the other kid in their dorm. “These are Peter and Sirius.”
“I’m Remus.”
Remus was tall, a bit shorter than Sirius, but taller than James and Peter. He had sandy hair and a scar on his cheek. He was lanky, and had the worst posture ever seen on a kid.
“Are you-are you a mudblood?” Asked Sirius.
“What did you just say?” James gnarled at him as Peter gasped.
Remus looked dumbfounding at him.
“You’re a friendly one. Aren’t you, mate?”
“I’m not your mate.” Replied Sirius, politely.
“And I’m so happy we cleared that out.” Remus tilted his head uncomfortably.
“Look, I’m not trying to be rude-”
“Well, you’re clearly failing.” He said, shaky as he turned around “Now if you excuse me, I’ll be downstairs.”
He walked out, stopped halfway through the doorframe and said: “Away from here.” And then he slammed the door.
“What the hell was that?” Said James, clearly confused.
“Yeah, I don’t know what he’s all about.” Sirius agreed.
“No, I mean you!”
“Me? What did I do?” Now, it was time for Sirius to be confused. Why the hell was James turning on him now? Remus had been the one who had a little strop over nothing at all.
“You cannot just call people that.” Stated James, very severely.
“Mudblood?”
“Yes! Stop saying that!” Sirius couldn't understand why James was raising his voice at him, being such a prick.
“Why?” He shrugged.
“Because it’s wrong!” The boy answered, as if that were just obvious. “You’re not supposed to say that.” he added, in a much calmer voice.
“Well, how am I supposed to know that?” Sirius was annoyed, to say the least. “They say it all the time at home” He simply stated, turning around and starting to get ready for bed.
“And what’s your deal with muggleborns anyways?” Asked Peter, who Sirius had honestly forgotten about, the quiet little git.
“Yeah, it’s not like they’re any different from us” Said James, still offended much to Sirius’ annoyance.
“Except that they are, aren’t they?” He tried to rationalise with them, “How do they even get their magic?” Sirius was honestly starting to question whether he wanted to be in here or not. How were they not aware of the mudblood situation? Had their parents not warned them about it? Or were they just mad stupid?
“By stealing it from us. That’s how!”He finally added, after a moment. “It wouldn’t be wise of me to befriend that kind of person.”
Sirius stared at James and Peter’s faces, it was a perfect mixture of sad and angry, and he couldn't help but to feel a notch of guilt and shame. Maybe-
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m not muggle-born.” He heard another voice say from behind, “And you’re probably right. I wouldn’t like to be friends with you anyways.” Oh, great. Remus was back.
He probably heard everything Sirius just said, and he didn’t sound very understanding.
A Half Blood then? I guess it's not as bad, Sirius thought, but the damage was already done.
He didn’t know what to say, and the silence was already so tense. Should he apologise, or should he just ask for an apology instead. Should he let Remus know that he was ok with him now knowing he wasn’t really a mudblood?- well, not a full one at least.
“I’m going to the loo” He finally decided. Yeah, this was gonna be a long year. Maybe Sirius would ask Professor Dumbledore to let him go to Slytherin now, and he could go back to Dolohov and Avery like a little whiny baby… Oh no! He was starting to sound like his brother. I’m never scared, Reg. Yeah sure, look at him now. He was panicking.
“Hey, it’s ok.” James had told him the next morning. “My dad did say your family were blood supremacist arses. Not your fault then.” He half smiled.
James was nice. He was very obviously trying to cheer him up.
“Just- Don’t call people that.” Sirius had yet to say a word. “It's like- like, you didn’t ask to be part of your little posh family, did you?” Hmm, Right.
“My mother and father get bollocks when they have to be around mud-” James' eyes widened for a second before Sirius corrected himself. “ Muggle-borns, so I just assumed…”
“Your folks sound like they’re complete knobs,” said James.
“I’ll say sorry to Lupin next time I see him then,” Sirius smiled, “Make sure to let him know my parents are arses, please?” The reality is, James would have to help him get on the other boy’s good side. He didn’t really know how a silly little word could possibly be that offensive, but it seemed like it really made the kid angry, and he didn’t fancy listening to his sarcastic little tone the whole term.
“Deal.”
He apologised to Remus and he accepted his apology, except he was still throwing snarky little sarcastic comments to him everytime he could. Sirius was expecting James to jump at his defence, but instead, he would laugh at it or just brush it off. “It’s just banter mate,” he said.
Antonin would never dare to let that happen, let someone disrespect his best friend, well, ex-best friend now, he guessed. They hadn’t really talked to each other in weeks now. Was he really all that mad about the sorting? It’s not like he could know what had actually happened, right?
School wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, some classes were especially boring, History of magic was the worst of them. Yeah, having a ghost as a teacher sounded exciting at first but man, he was the most boring ghost to ever haunt a place. He had loads of fun in the ones he did enjoy though; Flight lessons were his favourite by far. And he spent his free time just hanging around Peter and James (And Remus, by association.) he didn’t even miss his old friends. He made a mental note to say that around Antonin and Avery when he had the chance.
“I’m so bored!” James exhaled. “I hate boring weekends!” He threw himself dramatically onto his mattress pretending he got hit by a deadly spell.
“Why aren’t first years allowed to have their own broomsticks?!” Groaned Sirius.
“I know! I would kill for a quidditch match right now.” Yeah, James had the right idea of fun, alright.
“If your idea of fun is to chase each other around with broomsticks, I think I’ve found the wrong group to be hanging around with.” Oh and there it was, Remus’ annoying little voice criticising everything he says or does.
“Oh yeah? And what’s your idea of fun Mr. I’m better at having fun than any of you?” Asked James, raising his head to see Remus’ face.
“Oh, I don’t know!” He answered, not looking away from his book.
“You were the one saying quidditch isn’t fun!” He was so annoying.
“I never said quidditch wasn’t fun.” He said nonchalantly.
“You implied it.” Sirius smiled, sarcastically.
“I wasn’t talking to you, was I?”Remus finally looked away from his book to throw him a smug face. “Be creative.”
“How about a prank?” He proposed, remembering the last prank he pulled. Yeah, the one with the champagne. Badly executed but that was all because he didn’t have the right accomplices.
“Yeah, something like that, I guess.” Remus shrugged, putting down his book. Sirius swore his smile was genuine, but he could just be imagining things.
“A prank?” James smiled excitedly.
“Got a better idea?”
“We could just do as Remus and just stay here doing our school work quietly?” Peter had the habit of being so quiet Sirius nearly forgets about him, until he says something incredibly stupid at least.
“What? Peter, that's so boring!” James sounded almost flabbergasted.
“Yeah, I’m not reading any books.” Added Sirius.
“Play quidditch then.” Thanks, Remus.
“I think I missed the part where rules suddenly changed and we were allowed to have broomsticks to have fun as first years” Said James
“Right. Suck it up then.” Thanks, Remus.
“But I’m so bored!” James threw his head down onto the mattress again.
“You say that as if that’s my problem.” Stated Remus, and Sirius noted he was trying to imitate McGonagall’s strict voice. Ok, he’ll give him that, it was kinda funny. “Why do I even bother?”
“Why do I even bother?” Repeated James in a mocking voice.
“You know the moving stairs?”Asked Sirius.
“I’m familiar with the moving stairs.” James jumped up and smiled.
“Oh no, I don’t think I like where this is going.” Peter whispered.
“And you know the girls' dorm's stairs?”
“Oh, definitely.” James was suddenly standing on top of his bed, visibly shaking with excitement.
“What if-” Sirius didn’t even have to finish his sentence before James answered “Yes.”
“That’s a good idea. For a prank I mean.” Oh, so Remus was capable of appreciating his geniusness.
“I know, right?!”
“It’s a shame you both suck and don’t know how to do it.” He quickly added before picking up his book again.
“Ugh, sod off Lupin.” Said Sirius.
James was still standing on top of his bed. He gave Sirius a look and he understood exactly what his friend was trying to say: Let’s show him then.
“I bet your ass we can figure this out in a matter of minutes-” He jumped down, starting to walk towards Remus. “in a matter of a couple of days. At least three days to be precise.” Sirius threw a look at him. “Minus bathroom and snack breaks” Sirius nodded.
“Ok then. You’re on.” Lupin put down his book and extended his hand out, waiting for James to shake it.
“What do you mean?” Asked Sirius, lowering Remus’ hand with his own. “You mean like you wanna do an actual bet?”
“Oh I’m sorry, I was under the impression I was dealing with serious people, not scared little babies.”
“For your information, I’m always Sirius.” he joked, making James and Peter laugh out loud.
“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that,” said Remus, snorting. “This is the deal: if you manage to pull this little prank of yours out by, let’s say Friday, next week-”
“You’ll have to do our history of magic work. For a month.” Said James.
“What? No.” It was a back and forth between Remus and James now, Peter and Sirius were merely spectators now. This was serious business.
“Then what’s the point?” Spat James.
“For two weeks. Take it or leave it.”
“Done.”
“But if you don’t,” This was Remus’ side of the deal, alright. “Sirius will have to stay out of the dorm for a week.” WHAT?
“Deal.” And so, James shook Remus’ hand.
“What? No!- James!” Sirius couldn’t believe it. Didn’t he have a say in this?
“Relax, mate.” The shorter boy tried to assure him, “There’s no way we’re losing.”
“Great, I can’t wait to get you out of sight for a week. I’ll start packing your stuff!” Said Remus, getting weirdly excited.
“Come on Pete, we have lots of work to do.”
They had spent hours at the library, reading books nonstop for the past five hours and Sirius was beginning to feel stressed out. James had assured him they were gonna be able to do it, but they were dealing with sixth year level spells, they were hardly familiar with the first year spells. Sirius was gonna have to sleep somewhere else, he figured. Maybe he could sleep at the common room… no, McGonagall would see him and send him back to the dorm, where he wouldn't be allowed in. Or perhaps he could sleep in the library, he could start finding a good spot. He would have to be here very early and wait for madam Pince to leave at night, but if he was quiet enough he could definitely do it.
“Let’s take a break.”
Yeah sure, like they can afford to take a break. He does agree.
“How’s your little prank going?” Asked Remus.
“Not telling you.” James was really determined to win this bet. If Sirius admired something was his determination.
“Probably cause you’re failing, aren’t you?” Sang Lupin’s voice.
“It’s going great.” Said Peter, quickly, nervous, such a bad liar that one.
“Sure thing.” Remus' smug smile made his blood boil.
“It really is going great!” Said Sirius. Dragging Peter back to the library.
They went back to their studying, they even skipped a couple of classes and by Friday morning they were set and ready to go. They met Remus at their dorm room that morning. They were very tired there's no denying that, but they were confident on their new accomplishment and Sirius couldn't help but to feel excitement at the thought of Remus Lupin doing his work for the next few weeks.
“Blimey! You look terrible.” Snorted Remus, “How does it feel to know you’ll be homeless for a week?”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Lupin.”
“What?” Oh and the poor boy had the nerve to look confused, “There’s no way.” He said.
The boys ran outside of the common room, through the portrait and watched the chaos that was currently ensuing beneath their eyes; they somehow managed to turn the moving stairs into slides that activated at random moments. So there was no way of reaching the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower.
“How on earth did you manage to do this?” Asked Remus, dumbfoundedly.
“Well my dear Remus, it was hard work.” James started talking, “The hardest. There was a point where we thought we wouldn’t be able to do it.” Sirius continued.
“But we are believers!” James pointed a finger to the sky. “And we believed in a vision!”
“Yeah, sure.” Remus was clearly not taking the dramatic act as seriously as they were. “But how did you actually do it?”
“Oh, just a couple of spells here and there.” Said Sirius, waving his hand dismissively.
“A couple of hours in the library.” Said Peter.
“About seventy-eight hours-” Or more. “seventy-five if you cut bathroom breaks and Sirius’ monologues about not wanting to sleep somewhere other than his bed. More or less.” Definitely more.
“Impressive.” Remus nodded.
“No sarcasm, nice.” Said Sirius with a wide smile.
“No. I mean it.” Yeah, he was impressed.
“Thanks.”
“You do realise that you spent way more time studying in the library than the time I’ll be spending doing your school work. Don’t you?” He said.
“Yeah.”
“It’s not about the hours spent, Remus.” Said James, “It’s about proving ourselves.” With a prideful smile, touching his heart.
“Yeah, well. I convinced Professor Binns not to give any schoolwork for the next two weeks. ”
“Huh. Oh well, at least I get to sleep in my bed .” Sirius shrugged.
“That’s still no work, a win is a win.” James grabbed his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
“FOR MERLIN’S BEARD! WHAT’S HAPPENED HERE?!” Rang Professor McGonagall’s voice.
“Did you do it to every stairway?” Remus asked them.
“Nah, just the ones connecting to the Gryffindor tower.”
“Great. I guess I'm going back to bed.” They could tell he was just as amused as they were with the results of this prank.
“Have a nice nap, Lupin.” Said Sirius.
Time really passed by fast the first couple of months, the highlights having been the glorious moving staircase prank (That only lasted about 5 minutes cause James and Sirius couldn’t figure how to make the spell last longer), The Halloween dinner which was just the best dinner he’s ever had.
Tomorrow was his birthday though, and he was super excited about it. The boys decided to discuss the details at dinner; Peter was talking about asking for a cake at dinner and James was wondering if the teachers would ever let them skip class because of a big celebration like this one.
“Ugh, I’m stuffed.” He said, throwing his head back.
“Yeah, I feel like I'm gonna explode.” James agreed. James seemed to agree with him more often than not lately, Sirius felt the urge to look at the Slytherin table but decided not to.
“Where’s Remus?” Asked Pete.
“Who cares?!” Seriously, why was he not here helping them plan his birthday though? Sirius knew him and Remus were not exactly best friends but he figured they were cordial with each other and it was just rude of him to completely avoid him on the eve of his birthday.
“He said his mom was sick.”
“Again?!” Sirius practically yelled.
“Well, he can’t control his mother’s health. Can he?” Said James.
“But his mother is always sick.” Decided Sirius.
“Yeah, I really hope she’s alright.” Peter said, genuine worry on his face.
“I don’t buy it.” Sirius declared.
“What do you mean you don’t buy it?” James stared at him, confused.
“I just don’t.”
“You think he’s lying?” He asked.
“I don't know.” I think he’s hiding something.
“I know you have your issues with Remus, but that’s too much. Don’t you think so?” James was such a pure soul, he was missing the point.
“I don’t have any issues with him! He’s the one who hates me for no reason!”
“You did call him that when you first met him.” James said.
“What?”
“The word with M.” Oh.
“Mudblood?”
“Yes, don’t say it!”
“Sorry.” Right, bad word. “Ugh, but it was ages ago!” It had been months and they had all forgotten about it.
“Just a couple of months, actually.” Said James.
Sirius stared at him, ready to defend himself.
“We know! You’re a much better person now!” His friend continued before he could even say a word.
“Yeah!” Agreed Peter.
“We just don’t really blame Remus for not liking you all that much.” Mumbled James.
“Whatever. He’s an annoying prick anyways.” Sirius didn’t care if Lupin didn’t like him. “It’s like, everything he does is read books and complain about me. He’s not even here half of the time, he’s always going home to check on his supposedly very ill mother.” Was he overselling it? Probably, but h had to make his point clear.
“Yeah, you definitely seem to be totally ok with him!” Said Peter, cheerfully.
“Oh shut up Peter.”
“What? I said you were ok with him” OH right, as if he didn’t know what sarcasm is.
“I am, I really am.” Sirius just kept going, “And I’m saying it with total honesty.”
“Definitely.” Peter really was getting on his nerves right now.
“If you don’t cut the sarcasm I swear on Merlin’s ballsack I’ll hex you!” Snapped Sirius.
“Ew.” Peter made a disgusted face.
“Anyways. I’m off to bed.” He said as he stood up and walked out of the great hall.
Remus missed his birthday. But Sirius didn’t even care… it's not like they’re even friends. He was just worried- no, suspicious of him. When he came back he gave Sirius a chocolate frog as a late birthday present and ignored the questions he asked about his suposedly ill mother. Sirius didn't mind, really. He most certainly didn't.