First Class
Class starts a week later. In that time, Remus and he had watched all the How To Train Your Dragon films, all the Jurassic Parks, and they’re halfway through Lord of The Rings. Sirius finds that he does rather enjoy watching the films in the evening with Remus. It’s almost become a routine for them, every night Lily or James makes them dinner and whilst the food is being made, Remus and Sirius watch a movie in Remus’ room. It’s a routine that Sirius has come to enjoy. He hasn’t seen much of Peter since he moved in, he seems nice enough just a little distant with Sirius but Sirius doesn’t blame him, he’s new. James has said that’s he is really nice, it just takes him some time to adjust.
It's the night before his first class and Sirius is in his room, one that Remus and James have both made sure has been thoroughly decorated to Sirius’ liking. His art is hung up all over his room, there’s some paintings that Sirius found that’s been hung up all over the room. They also got him some new furniture; it’s dark oak and Sirius couldn’t have fallen more in with. He’s also got some new pillows and Sirius doesn’t think that he has ever had a better night sleep. He’s lying on his bed, staring up the ceiling, going through his checklist to make sure he has everything he needs for tomorrow.
He has all his art supplies (selection pencil pack, yes, selection paintbrush pack, yes, acrylic paint selection, yes, rubbers, yes, tracing paper, yes, drawing pens, yes), he’s got a fresh note pad, his laptop is on charge to be fully ready, his bottle is in his backpack, James said that he is making extra dinner for everyone to take leftovers so his lunch is being made. He’s also charging his headphones just in case he can listen to his music whilst they’re creating. He feels like he is missing something but he just cannot put his finger on it. He’s brought out of his thoughts when he hears a knock on the door and Remus pushes the door open.
“Hey, James is almost done with dinner. There’s also some charcoal pencils in the lounge, they yours?” Remus asks. Sirius practically flies off the bed and hugs Remus.
“Thank you so much. I knew I was forgetting something.” Sirius sighs in relief. Remus nods.
“No problem, come get dinner.” Remus says and they both head towards the lounge. Dinner is always in the lounge, together, communal and there’s something homely about it that Sirius loves.
“Hey guys, we have kadai paneer for dinner. Sirius, I toned down the spice.” James says as he passes Sirius a bowl.
“Thanks.” Sirius smiles. They found out pretty quickly that Sirius does not do very well with spice. His parents never exposed him or his brother to anything other than their own culture and food and ways, saying any other way was wrong and inhuman. Sirius had spent much time in his last years in school unlearning most of those ways, spending to many hours trying to unlearn everything by himself. Luckily for him James seems pretty understanding whenever he says something wrong and explains it to him rather than what people would do in France. Sirius hasn’t gone into any depth about his past but he thinks his new friends understand to a certain level that his life was vastly different to theirs.
“Is everyone ready for tomorrow?” Lily asks when they’re all sat down.
“Very much, I can’t wait to see what my classmates are like?” James smiles. Sirius found out very quickly found out that James was desperately into PE and was studying sport, exercise, and physical activity and according to both Peter and James he was good at it. “Sirius, you excited? You’ve been hauled up in your room all day?” James turns over to Sirius who smiles.
“Yeah, yeah. Just- nervous I guess. I didn’t actually do art at a level, my parents made me do chemistry, biology, maths, and physics. My uncle called to allow me to do it which I guess is showing my privilege but I’m very grateful and very happy I’m not being trained to be one of those mechanical doctors my parents are.” Sirius answers, letting most of the information just come out without actually thinking. “Sorry.” He then adds feeling the tension in the room, “I’m just going to go eat in- in my room.” He says lastly and hastily gathers his food and his charcoal pencils from the coffee table and runs off to his room. He doesn’t really know why. He didn’t want to make so much of a drama as he did, he doesn’t even really know why he ran out the way he did but he did. He doesn’t even feel hungry anymore so he just dumps his plate on the dresser drawers and the pencils onto the bed and sinks down onto the mattress. His dad would call him pathetic; his mum would slap him; his brother would go run to his room. His parents would then probably praise him, complaining about how his privilege that allowed him to go to the best private school in France and allowed him to do the equivalent of four a-levels and got him into one of the best universities in England. His privilege that he’s just complained about to the people who he wanted to be his friends.
5 minutes pass and Sirius hears someone knock on his bedroom door. He wants to tell them to leave him alone that he’s ok but before he can answer, the person walks into the room – it’s Lily. She’s got two mugs in her hands and a soft smile on her face. She moves over to the bed and Sirius sits up to let her join him on the bed.
“Here.” She says passing him one of the mugs. Sirius peers into it, “It’s not poison, it’s tea. Mint. Technically it’s Pete’s but I don’t think he’ll mind.” She explains. Her voice remains soft as she talks to him but it’s not in a condescending way Sirius is used to.
“Why are here?” Sirius asks, curling his fingers around the mug. “I mean, we’ve only spoken in the car ride and the day I got here. Peter has talked to me more.” Sirius asks.
“Because you seem to have a very complicated relationship with your family and your feelings around that. So, do I. James understands the rich part, Peter probably understand the being away from home, his family is from Ireland originally, and Remus probably understands the self-loathing. But- but we reconned that I probably was best to understand the family dynamic.” Lily explains. Sirius nods. “I didn’t come in here to make you feel bad or take anything away. It’s also the first time you mentioned your family. We all talk about our families, our parents, siblings at least three times a day, but you, never.” She continues and Sirius nods, still unsure what to say.
“I- I don’t want to be the privileged rich kid and I just did. My uncle is the only who actually let me do art. My parents haven’t spoken to me since I turned 18. I turn 20 in November.” Sirius says, his voice breaking at the end. “Sorry, sorry. You just asked if we were excited for class and I turned it into a trauma dump. I’ll try not to do that in the future.” Sirius adds, violently rubbing some tears from his cheeks.
“Sirius. Stop. We’re your friends, if you feel that you need to trauma dump, do. We may have only known each other for a week but we’re friends. However, I can see you want to be alone. If you want to talk we’ll all be in the lounge until midnight most likely, if not remember to set alarms, I’ll make sure you’re awake by 8.” Lily says and stands from the bed. On her way out she grabs Sirius plate that is half eaten and just as she leaves Sirius asks the question he’s been dying to know.
“Lily?” she turns around, “Why- why is your family dynamic confusing?” he asks.
“My sister refuses to talk to me and my parents won’t talk to me because I won’t talk to my sister because the last time I did she slapped me. All because I got into this university. She’s going to have a baby in June and I won’t get to know them.” Lily answers and leaves the room. Somehow, somehow, that makes Sirius feel somewhat better. Like it’s not just him that has a shit home life.
Sirius wakes up to both his alarms and Lily knocking on the door gently. He guess he must have slept through his 7:30 alarm. He gives Lily a thankful smile, part of him somewhat glad that she is also in her pyjamas and her class is the same time as his so he knows he won’t be late. Sirius does manage to get a quick shower in to wash his body and puts together a rather mix matched outfit but he doesn’t really care – he hopes that no one is going to bat an eye when they see him.
“Sirius, lunch is the one in the blue container on the kitchen side.” James tells him as he walks out the room. His dressed in a pair of grey joggers and a sports t-shirt. He looks way to jumpy considering that Sirius heard them up until nearly 1am. “Oh, I’m driving us all to campus and we’re leaving in 15 minutes.” James adds and runs into the kitchen. Sirius nods to himself and grabs his bag, making sure that his room looks somewhat presentable, and follows James’ path. He makes sure to pack his lunch and fill his water bottle with some cold water to last him through the day. Just as he’s filling his bottle up Peter joins him in the kitchen. Sirius hasn’t really spoken to him since he moved in so the kitchen feels somewhat awkward.
“I would say are you ok but you look nervous so I’m going to say good luck.” Peter tells Sirius, a friendly smile on his face.
“Thanks. Sorry, I don’t even know what you’re studying.” Sirius says, feeling rather guilty. He knows what Lily studies, he knows what Remus studies, what James studies, what he studies but not Peter.
“Analytical chemistry.” Peter smiles.
“Wow. One part of chemistry I hated. Well, I hated most of it, I really only enjoyed the experiments and they were rarely done.” Sirius says and Peter laughs.
“I was never really good at those; I shine in the theory.” Peter explains
“Fair. Well, good luck.” Sirius says. Both give a small nod and leave the kitchen. In the lounge, Lily and James are both muttering to themselves, both appear to be giggling and smiling with each other. Lily is dressed in a pair of baggy dark blue jeans, black healed boots and a light green jumper. Sirius can’t explain it but he feels like he’s always seen Lily in that outfit, it just perfectly matches everything about her. He also only just realises her height compared to with James’, she’s only just coming up to his eye level in heals.
“Where’s Remus?” Sirius questions, noticing that he is the only one missing. That breaks James and Lily apart and she gives him a soft smile, she’s smiling so much that it’s hard for Sirius picture her not smiling.
“Because of his health conditions, the university has made sure that his classes start later on in the day, that way he can get there without causing any problems with his mobility or anything.” Lily explains and grabs both her and James’ bags. “James, we’re going, go grab your stuff.” She then turns to him and James looks confused as Lily is holding her bag. “What are you missing?” She questions. James suddenly lights up like a light bulb and sprints off to his room. He returns two minutes later with a large duffle bag and a hockey stick. “He’d lose his head without me, honestly.” She chuckles to herself and they all grab their things and clamber out the flat and into the car. Sirius is secretly glad that Remus isn’t with them, he’s already packed in the back with his bag, Peter’s bag, James’ bag and his sport equipment, he’s not even sure how they would fit with Remus.
It's a ten minute to the university and it takes James a further five minutes to find somewhere to actually park his car. Luckily for them, they left 10 minutes earlier than they needed to so they’re not late.
“Ok, I think Pete’s class is the last and finishes at 4:30 so leave at 5?” James suggests, everyone nods. “Great, see you guys later.” He smiles and runs off the other way to his class, Lily says bye and goes in another direction. Peter takes slightly longer trying to find his way on the map but he then leaves, giving Sirius a small wave as he goes. He is then left on his own to try to find his own class. He sees the art block labelled clearly and just walks in that direction, hoping he can find his class before it starts.
A few minutes later, Sirius finds himself down a corridor that definitely is an art corridor. He still cannot find his class but he thinks he can maybe try and ask someone, see if they know. Just as Sirius turns around a woman walks straight into him. She’s got dark long braids with blue tips at the end that reach down to her waist. Her makeup is vibrant and colourful with several face piercings and necklaces dangling around her neck. She’s got a flowy dress on that Sirius feels like he recognises and a pair of dark brown boots.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry. I’m just trying to get to Prof. Amy Whitley’s class.” She says hurriedly and goes to pick up all her things. Sirius bends down to help her catch some stray pencils.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m trying to find her class too; this place is a maze.” Sirius brushes it off and the woman smiles thankfully. “I’m Sirius.” He introduces himself.
“Dorcas.” She smiles and reaches out to shake his hand to which Sirius gladly accepts. “My girlfriend said I should have slept at hers last night, that way we could both make it on time but I was stupid and said no.” Dorcas chuckles to herself. “She’s doing art so we could have gone together.” She then sighs, putting the final pencil into her bag.
“Dorcus!” another female voice and both Dorcus and Sirius turn to see someone who Sirius already knows and has since he could remember, one Marlene McKinnon. “Honestly, I said you should have come with me, I’ve been here ten minutes, but don’t worry the Prof. isn’t here yet but let’s go.” She says quickly helping Dorcus to her feet. It’s at that point that the girl notices Sirius. “I know you. Why do I know you?” she questions staring at him. Sirius goes to answer but she gets to it quicker, “Oh my God! Sirius! I haven’t seen you since, I don’t know, 2021 in Paris, your parents held a fundraiser and we got drunk and got lost in the park.” She smiles and pulls Sirius into a big hug and pulls away but not before kissing his cheek. “What are you doing here? I thought your parents wanted you to become a doctor, I remember them bragging to my parents about how well educated you were and that you would be able to get into any medical programme.” She speaks.
“Yeah- they, they haven’t spoken to me since the day before my 18th birthday. My uncle said he would fund me to come to England only if I did a degree so here I am. What about you, I thought you wanted to be a history major?” Sirius asks.
“We should walk and talk.” Marlene says and Sirius starts to follow her. “GCSEs I decided to do art and that was that. Got an A at GCSE, A+ at A level and now I’m here. Met Dorcus in my last year of a levels and by chance we got into the same university, something that neither of our parents believed.” Marlene smiles at the end.
“It’s your dress that Dorcus is wearing.” Sirius says and Marlene happily nods. “I knew I recognised it.”
“Yeah, got to the stage where we share clothes. Oh, here we are.” Marlene says and she takes them down a small corridor and at some point it opens up to a large lecture hall that Sirius was in no means expecting. Dorcus and Marlene both walk down to some seats that Marlene had saved for them. Sirius looks around the room unsure where to sit. “Sirius, come on sit with us.” Marlene then calls out and waves Sirius down to their seats. Sirius happily jogs down the stairs to join the two, placing himself to the right of Marlene. They don’t get to talk any longer as a tall, thin, blond woman walks into the hall. She’s got a dark green suit with black heels and looks like a woman Sirius would have feared in school. The moment she gets to the centre of the floor the room goes silent.
“Good morning. I am Prof. Whitley. I will be your teacher this term. You will cover anatomy with me along with a series of guest lectures to assist in your work. This morning, we will start off with the skull and work down. Let’s begin.” She says, her voice sounds somewhat cold and professional. None the less Sirius could not be more excited as she turns to a PowerPoint filled with human anatomy.
Sirius’ only class that was his art class. When it finished he quickly said goodbye to Marlene and Dorcas who had to run off to catch Dorcas’ volleyball team mate. He then made his way down to the cafeteria and sees so many empty tables that he doesn’t know what to do. Eventually, he decides on sitting down on a table near the back corner by a window and unloads his art supplies. He might as well get ahead with his anatomy practice for the next 5 hours.
An hour into him drawing, a rather sweaty, excitable James plops himself down onto the seat opposite. He’s mostly sweat through his t-shirt and Sirius can see that his grey joggers have been swapped out for a pair of blue hockey shorts. Sirius can’t say that he doesn’t blame James, despite it being the middle of September he can imagine that you would get rather hot playing hockey for nearly three hours.
“So, how was art?” James questions.
“It was good, we’re learning about anatomy at the moment. I also met up with someone who I knew in France, well, she’s not French but our parents- our parents spoke and we became good friends for a while.” Sirius says and James smiles, “How about you? Hockey?” Sirius questions.
“It was a lot of fun. The first hour was essentially just some tasks for us to get to know each which meant it was an hour of awkwardness but the moment we were in teams and playing ah amazing. I know we’ll only get to play for 4 hours each week but that’s a lot of fun. Tiring though, but so much fun.” James smiles the entire time. James then peers over to see what’s on Sirius’ laptop and his face pales when he does so.
“Making you queasy?” Sirius chuckles and James nods.
“How can you just look at that and draw it?” James questions.
“My parents are both doctors who did not hide anything from their children. My brother and I were six and four the first time we saw an open medical book, a detailed medical book. To this day my brother can’t look at blood.” Sirius explains.
“Oh my God, why? That stuff is gross.” James grimaces.
“If you think that’s bad. My mother is a surgeon, we used to watch her surgery videos over dinner to critic it.” Sirius just laughs as he sees James pale.
“Over dinner. Like eating a family dinner and your mother’s hands are in someone else?” James struggles to get the words out and Sirius nods.
“Yep. She did general surgery so it was a lot of abdomen stuffs.” Sirius continues laughing somewhat at the end and James just puts his fingers in his ears.
“Stop talking. Stop talking.” James shakes his head, glaring at Sirius as he does so. Sirius nods and crosses his heart so James somewhat settles back into his chair. “So, Lily, Remus, and Pete should be done in about half hour and then we can head back. Lily is doing dinner, we’ve got pasta.” James smiles and Sirius nods turning his attention back to his drawing. He’s got most of the outline done. “Whilst you do your gross, vomiting inducing, sicko art, I’m going to do my homework.” James says and starts to pile out some folders onto the table.
When Lily, Remus, and Peter all arrive, James and Sirius quickly pack their stuff up. Peter and Remus both complain about being hungry and Remus doesn’t look very good in Sirius’ opinion. He looks pale and in pain but Sirius doesn’t want to say anything, he might be imagining it, and if he’s not, he doesn’t want to point it out. Remus hasn’t particularly been very vocal about his illness apart from the comment when James picked him up from the hospital and he doesn’t want to make Remus feel worse.
“You alright there Remus?” James asks as he gathers his hockey equipment.
“Yeah, just tired.” Remus mumbles and James gives him a small nod and no one mentions it again. Sirius was right on their journey in the morning. Sitting in the back seat behind James with Lily and Peter squished in next to him, it’s not the most comfortable car ride he has ever had. Sirius could not be more thrilled when James parks and everyone clambers out the car.
“I’m going to start dinner when we get in, should be done about 7.” Lily smiles as they head up to the flat. Sirius checks the time – 5. He’s got enough to have a shower and get some more drawing in. When they reach the flat, everyone goes off in their own separate ways. Lily dumps her belongings in her and James’ room and starts making dinner, James heads to lounge to watch some TV, and both Remus and Peter make bee-lines for their rooms, not that Sirius can say much, he also makes a bee-line for his room.
It doesn’t take long for Sirius to shower and get himself ready for the next day. He’s just about to start his drawing when he hears James bellow his name through the flat. Sirius chuckles to himself and heads to the kitchen to find James looking like he’s annoying Lily.
“Hi, Lily wants to know if you like meatballs?” James questions.
“Yeah, I like meatballs. Who doesn’t like meatballs?” Sirius replies and James gives Lily an almost knowing look.
“I just wanted to check, Pete doesn’t like garlic and you were sure that everyone loves garlic because of garlic bread.” Lily says and coincidentally puts garlic bread in the oven. “I don’t want to make anything that the flat isn’t going to enjoy.” She then adds, as if she feels the need to defend herself more.
“It’s ok Lily, I like meatballs.” Sirius says, it almost sounds like a promise when he says that.
“Perfect, now, James out the kitchen. Despite your belief, you are more a hinderance than a help.” Lily ushers the both of them out the kitchen and into the lounge.
“Mum told me I was more of a hinderance. Honestly, it’s like I’m always a hinderance than a help.” James rolls his eyes and plops down onto the sofa. “Want to watch something? Pass the time until dinner?” he suggests and Sirius nods. They eventually settle on watching Bohemian Rapsody and 20 minutes in Lily calls dinner.
Remus doesn’t show up to dinner, instead Lily takes him a plate of food and doesn’t say anymore. They talk about their days at dinner and when everyone is done with eating and the cleaning up, they’re all exhausted and really only have the energy to go to bed.
“Oh, Sirius, can you go get the plate from Remus’ room and ask if he wants some water?” Lily questions when Sirius goes to his room. Sirius of course diverts his direction and heads to Remus’ room. He knocks to let Remus knows he’s entering. Sirius enters to find Remus laying in his bed, there’s very little light and Sirius suspects that most of it is coming from the open door.
“Hey, I’m just grabbing your plate. Lily wants to know if you want some water?” Sirius asks. Remus doesn’t give much of an answer, he just slowly sits himself up. “Are you ok? Can I help?” He then asks and moves over to the bed.
“I’m fine- just- just a flare up. Stress.” Remus answers. He sounds exhausted when he talks and Sirius wants nothing more than to just pull him into a hug.
“Oh. Can I do anything?” Sirius asks.
“N-no. I’ll pass, it always does. I will take Lily up on that offer for water though.” Remus says and Sirius nods. He quickly takes the plate out, Sirius doesn’t miss that it’s only half eaten, and gets Remus some water. When Sirius walks back into the room, he finds Remus laying back down again and Sirius wonders if he should have gotten Remus a straw.
“Do you want a straw or something?” Sirius questions but Remus shakes his head. “Ok, well, here’s your water. Erm…if you need something just come get me, or I guess call me.” Sirius says, they had all exchanged numbers for a flat group chat so someone they can all easily communicate. Sirius gives him a small nod, “Ok. Night Remus.” Sirius then mumbles and leaves for his own room, wanting nothing more than to stay.
Sirius retreats to his room once again and after an hour he is finally asleep.