Chapter One
It was 6:50 am and Sirius Black's mother was yelling his ear off, again. This was the second howler she had sent in response to him receiving Saturday detention, and the boy reckons he will not be able to hear the next one due to the damage Walburga's shrill voice is inflicting on his ears.
His mother wasn't able to get him out of this detention. So, as a result, her failure to assert dominance over a ridiculously obstinate McGonagall is being taken out on him. No matter how absurd the punishment is regarding his actions, he'll never allow himself to be associated with the likes of Remus Lupin and his gaggle of rebels. Which, obviously was his mothers main worry concerning said detention, so he was stuck listening to his mother scold him about something he would never even dream about doing.
He really tried to listen to this one all the way through...He did. But alas, his mothers tone of voice was far from angelic, and he ended up tuning her out as he got dressed for what was going to surely be the most boring day of his life. As Sirius stuffed his wand into the back pocket of his jeans, he noticed that his mother finally shut up, which brought his eyes to the floor, and to the pile of dust in the spot where the howler must have disintegrated during his search for a proper outfit. With a quick scourgify, he was out of the dorm and headed to the transfiguration classroom.
Lily Evans was sat front and centre when he had waltzed into the otherwise deserted room, she had a stack of school books and her quill and parchment lined up perfectly straight in front of her, and she was tapping an obscure song onto the table with her fingers. When he was done struggling to avoid asking her the burning question of why on earth she was here, he promptly plopped into the seat at the table behind her. The next person to make their way into the class was James Potter, who looked at Lily with visible confusion before his eyes moved to Sirius. James noticeably relaxed when he saw the other boy, and although he didn't show it, Sirius was relieved as well. He nodded at Sirius before slipping into the chair beside him and leaning forward to talk to the perplexing girl that was sitting in front of them.
Although he wasn't completely familiar with the likes of Potter, he had encountered him before, and Sirius was pleased that there was at least another person that matched his status in this room for him to be able to interact with without consequence.
"Oi Evans, what'd you do to get yourself stuck here?" Lily's head jerked up at the sound of being addressed, and she turned to face the two boys looking at her expectantly.
Her green eyes were wide, "I wasn't aware it was any of your business, Potter."
James lifted in his arms in surrender while opening his mouth to reply, but he was silenced by the sound of the door swinging open and the sound of heels clicking as their professor made her first appearance.
"It is seven o'clock." She primly stated, "Can anybody tell me why I am only seeing four out of five of you?"
At that statement, Lily, James, and Sirius himself all whipped their heads around to look for the person that had gone unnoticed. All three sets of eyes settled on a figure at the very back of the classroom with their head shoved into a book, obscuring their face from view. Sirius made note of what they were reading, an astronomy textbook. What could be so intriguing about the stars, Sirius didn't know. But this mystery person seemed deeply immersed in the subject.
In an attempt to recapture their attention, McGonagall spoke again, "It really isn't surprising Mr. Lupin hasn't graced us with his presence, seeing as he seems to think he has all the time in the world in his back pocket."
"Or lack thereof." Lily muttered as Lupin slipped into the classroom, just quick enough to catch the last bit of the professor's sentence.
And Lily was correct, because it literally looked as though Remus Lupin had got out of bed, stuffed Doc Martens on his feet, and showed up at detention. Clad in a band tee and pyjama pants (which were, in fact, lacking pockets) he ran a hand through his bed head, smiling sheepishly at McGonagall, who looked at him with distaste.
"I'm sincerely sorry my detentions have come to be such a hindrance to your beauty sleep, Mr. Lupin. So much so that you've resorted to wearing the attire casually." If Lupin picked up on the sarcasm, he didn't show it.
"Wasn't aware there was a specific dress code, Minnie." He deadpanned, his distinct welsh accent making his words only slightly unintelligible. James made a choked sound at the nickname, while McGonagall just rolled her eyes, clearly used to his antics.
The professor didn't bother replying, just turned back to address the rest of them, "Now, I'm sure Mr. Lupin has a very good idea of what will go on in this room, but for the rest of you that do not know." She swiftly casted a tempus before continuing, "It is ten minutes after seven. You all have exactly eight hours and fifty minutes to formulate five feet of parchment describing to me who you think you are."
She made sure to gouge reactions before she started talking again; Remus (who was now sat at the back table not occupied by the mystery bookworm) looked like he was about to fall back asleep, James looked dejected, and Sirius couldn't see Lily but he was almost sure he heard her sigh.
Seeming satisfied by their despair, she went on, "While you all sit here and ponder the error of your ways, you will not talk, you will not move from your seats, and you..." Interrupted by a sudden snore, a scandalised look flashed across McGonagall's face before she was walking to Remus' desk and pulling his arm out from his chin, "Will not sleep."
Lupin, who recovered quite well from the collision, was rubbing at his chin and dutifully nodding. Until she turned away from him, of course, to which he returned to his previous state and acted as if she had never even woken him up.
The professor, who didn't seem to notice, attempted to save her speech by saying, "Am I clear?"
To which Lily replied, "Crystal."
"Good, maybe you will even learn something about yourselves... Though I highly doubt it." She gave all of them one last assessing glare, before promptly reminding them that her office is across the hall in the event that any of them insisted on breaking the woman's harsh rules.
James stood up and dramatically saluted her, sparking a faint chuckle from the back row. The boy looked very pleased about the reaction he got as McGonagall shook her head while swiftly walking out of the classroom. Sirius didn't blame her. Truly.
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It took a total of twenty excruciatingly long minutes for the silence to be broken, and it comes in the form of James' frustrated groan.
"I'm sorry, but can you guys stop that? I can't hear my thoughts." Sirius assumes he means Lily's rhythmic tapping (the same song from before; Sirius wonders if she ever stopped doing it at one point, or his brain just decided to tune it out), combined with the sound of mystery person's foot vigorously hitting the ground, which stopped suddenly at the sound of James' voice.
Lily didn't stop her ministrations, "No."
James shrugged and turned to the back of the classroom, where the book was dropped from the not-so-mystery person's face, revealing them to the class.
Before James could ask him again if he could stop the foot tapping, which had started anew at the attention he was receiving, Sirius' eyes had widened, "Regulus? What the fuck are you doing here!"
His brother winced before replying to Sirius with a shrug, then dragging his eyes over to James to address him.
"Sorry." He mumbled, not meeting the other boy’s eyes, instead looking to his fidgeting fingers before bringing his hand up to his mouth to bite at his nails.
Remus, who was now awake, looked at Regulus incredulously, "Both Black brothers in detention, I wonder how mummy feels about that."
Sirius Black's temper is a well known and commonly discussed topic amongst the students of Hogwarts, and there is something about Remus Lupin's smug face and stupidly attractive chuckle; the way he assumes how his mother will react (even though it's not completely unfounded), that ignites the familiar beast inside of him that no one seems to be able to tame.
"Shut it Lupin, you have no idea what you're on about."
"Actually Sirius, he's not-" Regulus cut himself off when he took notice of the glare his brother was sending him, rolling his eyes and muttering something about Sirius always wanting to start fights.
Remus just leant back in his seat, and raised an eyebrow at Sirius in response. This was bait, and the older black brother had no choice but to be reeled right in as his impending rage left him completely vulnerable to Lupin's provocative nature.
Lily, who was watching all of this, still ceasing to stop tapping her fingers, just shook her head in an amusing impression of McGonagall. Whereas James, on the other hand, now seems to be unbothered by any of the intricate little sounds he was hearing before, and is now fully invested in the prospect of an argument. One that was bound to be explosive.
Sirius was starting to think this Saturday will be more eventful than he thought. Lovely.