Things are going great, and they're only getting better

I'm doing all right, getting good grades

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

- The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades, Timbuk 3

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Detention with Remus Lupin was one of the best things ever, Sirius decided. Or maybe it was the fact he had actually agreed to be friends and was actually talking and occasionally smiling and not getting angry. They were actually conversing. It was brilliant.

"You really don't like Quidditch?" Sirius asked as they worked on some large trophies together.

Remus—and how great was it that he could properly think of him like that instead of Lupin?—shrugged. "I d-don't know m-much about it," he mumbled, carefully wiping off the names on the plaque section while Sirius worked on the giant cup.

"You ever been to a game?" he asked, and Remus shook his head. "Wait till the season starts soon, though I really haven't heard a whole lot about the Gryffindor team yet. James will know more." He thought of Remus in flying lessons, of how much trouble he had. "Is this the first time you've ever flown? Coming here?"

Remus looked up at him with wide eyes. "Y... yes," he whispered. "I d-d-don't like it."

"How come?"

Another shrug. "I d—don't like heights."

Sirius was about to make a sarcastic comment about a Gryffindor being afraid of heights but then changed his mind since he had his own fears. Everyone did. "At least you're trying." Remus seemed startled, as if he hadn't expected that response. He hummed, then moved to another trophy. "Tell you what, as soon as James gets on the team there won't be anymore of these." He brandished a trophy awarded to Slytherin for winning one year. "Think ol' Filchy be mad if I give it a spit shine?" He spat on the Slytherin and gave it a vague sort of wipe.

Remus didn't say anything, didn't look up, though his nose crinkled slightly. Which made him look cute, Sirius had to admit, and that sent an anxious chill down his spine as the word realized itself in his head.

He remembered the first person he had ever thought was cute: a Muggle girl in his neighborhood. He had been very young and gave her some flowers. When his parents found out, they had punished him severely. Screaming, threatening, hurting, then finally locking him away for what felt like ages. The next person he remembered thinking was cute happened a couple years after that, the son of a family friend during a fancy dinner party. Sirius had told him he was cute and asked him to dance and the next thing he knew his parents were screaming at him, threatening him, hurting him, and locking him away for what felt like ages.

He tried his best not to think of other kids like that again. He knew now the actual reason wasn't what he had assumed for ages. He understood now thinking a boy was cute was wrong, and that thinking a Muggle girl was cute was wrong. If it had been a pureblooded girl he figured his parents would have been fine with it. Actually, they probably would have set up a betrothal.

But surely just thinking someone was cute didn't mean anything, did it? Because nobody could deny how cute Remus was. Sirius bet if he asked anyone at school—girls or boys—they'd say the same. Of course, he wasn't going to ask anyone. It was just if he did, they'd agree. So it didn't mean what his parents were worried about.

"James is gonna be happy you're our friend now," Sirius kept talking as he worked, setting the trophy aside without cleaning off the spit. He saw out of the corner of his eye Remus taking it and diligently cleaned the Slytherin word off. Cleaned off the spit.

They talked for the rest of detention—or rather, Sirius talked a lot while Remus listened and occasionally talked as well though it was mostly Sirius filling the silence. He grew a little fearful that Remus hadn't really meant the friend thing. Maybe Remus had just agreed to the friend thing to get Sirius off his back?

Eventually McGonagall showed up to let them free after hours and hours and hours. The two boys headed back to the Gryffindor tower, Sirius talking, Remus quiet. They climbed through the portrait hole and as soon as it shut behind them Sirius turned to Remus, unable to resist any longer.

"Was all that the truth or was it just for the detention?" he asked, staring at Remus. If Remus said it had been a lie, he'd accept it. He'd be upset and frustrated, but he wouldn't harass the small boy.

"T… truth," Remus mumbled, sending a wave of relief through Sirius's body.

"Good," he said, grinning. "Come on then, I think James and Peter are in the dorm."

They were, arguing over Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. James was trying to pop it while Peter kept telling him it was impossible. As soon as they came through the door Peter happily welcomed Sirius back.

"Thanks!" Sirius had intended to act all cool and blase about it but instead blurted out, "Guess what? He's our friend now."

James was very surprised, shooting glances at Remus who was ducking his head. "Wait, what?"

Sirius winked at James. "We had detention together and my irresistible charm won him over." He ran his fingers through his hair and then flipped his hair back.

James snorted. "Are you just being illusional again?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. He had expected this to be James's reaction but of course couldn't admit it. "No! Tell'em, Remus!"

He waited for Remus to say yes, he was their friend now. Instead Remus gave James a strange look and asked, "D—do you mean delusional?"

James coughed, turning his face away from Remus a bit. "Erm, possibly. So, is it true?"

Sirius waited impatiently, standing on the balls of his feet, feeling irritated as Remus just casually went over to his bed, sitting down to kick his shoes off. He was doing this on purpose, Sirius just knew it. But finally, FINALLY he confessed the truth. "So it would s—seem." Remus's eyes widened very slightly at James. "If… you're okay with a nutcase hanging around."

Sirius turned away, trying not to laugh while James looked beyond embarrassed. He could NOT believe Remus just put James in his place like that! Then he realized this meant Remus had known what James had said about him. Ouch.

"Heh, right, well—uh, sorry about that," James said, so easily throwing out that word. "I don't really think you are, you know." Huh, that was the first Sirius had heard about that. James darted over to his desk and got out a chocolate frog, tossing it over to Remus. "Here! Peace offering. Besides, you know, Sirius's a bit mental and I don't mind him."

A stab of nausea went through Sirius for a split second then dissipated. He knew James was only teasing him, except it did hurt a little bit because of the connection of Blacks and Craziness. He laughed, kicking at James's feet as his friend danced away, laughing as well. "You're the mental one."

James decided to start a pillow fight with him and they began pummeling one another, feathers flying, both of them shrieking happily until finally Sirius got the upper hand and sent James flying. He tackled James, sitting on him while pumping his fists in the air in victory. He rolled off James as they began arguing about what to call their group. Really, Quartet of Coolness was perfectly fine! So was Gryffin-dudes. James was just being a butt, and kept complaining until Sirius said, "I've tasked Remus with finding us a decent title."

They both looked at Remus at that; their newest addition was sitting on his bed with Peter, nibbling at the chocolate frog. He didn't say anything.

Shrugging, Sirius went over to his bed, getting a broom catalogue out to browse through while James and Peter returned to blowing bubbles and trying to pop them. Remus was very quiet, not adding anything to the conversation however he also didn't disappear behind his curtains. He watched the others as they began talking about brooms, laughing a little (kinda awkwardly) at some of the jokes; he was being left out already. Sirius showed Remus the catalogue and the smaller boy nodded in a vague sort of way which made Sirius realize... Remus didn't know anything about brooms or flying, so he changed the conversation. He wasn't sure what Remus liked to do besides read.

"I can't wait till the next issue of 21st Century Witch," Sirius said, referring to a popular futuristic comic book series. There, Remus could certainly join this conversation!

"Me either!" James moaned out. "I can't believe she got captured by those minotaurs!"

"And they broke her wand," said Peter, eyes going huge. "How's she going to get out?"

"They didn't break her wand," James said.

"Uh-huh, they did!"

"Nah, it was a fake wand!" James argued. "Remember the issue before last? When she was in the woods? And she turned the oak tree into a bed? Her wand's made out of oak, I bet you anything she made a fake wand."

"You're right," Sirius agreed, snapping his fingers. "The last panel before she fell asleep showed her picking up some of the branches and looking at them."

Peter covered his mouth. "That is gonna be so neat! You're totally right! I bet that's how she gets away!"

Sirius realized that Remus still wasn't joining the conversation. "What's your favorite issue of 21st Century Witch?" Sirius asked.

Remus looked down, the last bit of chocolate frog melting between his fingertips. "I've n-n-never r-r-read it," he admitted.

"How could you not read it?" James asked, shocked. "It's one of the best comic series out there!"

Remus's cheeks turned faintly pink and he mumbled something incoherently. Peter ran over to his trunk and began going through them until he found his well-worn copy of Issue #1. "Here!" He offered it to Remus who stared at it in confusion. "You can borrow it."

"Erm, th—thanks." Remus took it, looking as though he had never even held a comic before.

Maybe he hadn't, Sirius thought, watching him. He was so intelligent, maybe he just read grownup books and dictionaries. Maybe instead of Delly The Dragon as a toddler his parents had read him Advanced Theories of Nerdy Complicated Astronomical Equations or whatever. Soooo that meant chatting about comic books wasn't going to help. "What sort of things do you like to read?" Sirius asked.

Remus frowned, fingers curling around the edges of the comic. "Um. I—I g-guess lots of... d-different things..." All three of them just looked at him and he ducked his head, his hair falling across his eyes. He did that a lot, Sirius noticed. "I... I'm currently r-reading Jane Eyre."

"What's that?" James asked.

"Er, a, um, it's about a—a girl who... she's had a... a rough childhood and, um, sh—she becomes a governess and—f-falls in love with her, um, em—employer."

"Ewww, romance?" Peter asked, wrinkling his nose.

"It's... it is, but—but also... it's... it's not j-just... it's also g-g-got a lot of other elements to it," Remus muttered. He began plucking at his sleeve, visibly distressed.

"Sounds neat," Sirius said, ignoring the raised eyebrow look James gave him. "Does any of it take place at Hogwarts?"

An amused expression flitted across Remus's face for the briefest of seconds. "N-no. It's Muggle."

"You read Muggle stuff?" Sirius asked, taken aback. Remus nodded. "Oh. Er, that's interesting." He tried to sound earnest but Remus just bowed his head again, looking at the chocolate on his fingers. James began talking about 21st Century Witch again which Peter jumped in with, and Sirius wasn't sure what to do. He fished a rumpled handkerchief from his pocket, tossing it over. Remus tried and failed to catch it, bending forward to pick it up off the floor.

"What do pigs use to blow their noses?" Sirius asked Remus who stared at him. "Hamkerchiefs."

Remus snorted while James smacked Sirius. "That was awful!"

But it started off jokes, which allowed Remus to be more part of things. By the time they went to bed Sirius thought things were all right. He wasn't completely sure how well James and Peter would let Remus into the fold, as it were, but he'd do his damned hardest to make sure Remus knew he was welcome.

/\/\/\/\/\

Dear Ri

Mother has been going around the house saying your doing bad things. She was yelling at dinner last night saying you wood not stop being with the wrong sort. They keep shouting about half dirty bloods and dirty half bloods. They said it was a shame Bellatrix wasn't still at Hogwarts to keep an eye on you becuze they said Andromeda was too soft on you and Narcissa is too young. But I think I heard them say there are others to watch you. I don't know who but be careful please. I probably shouldn't be telling you this even but I want you to be okay.

I miss you so much. It's so lonely without you but I have Kreacher. I know you don't like him but you know he likes me. We played Gobstones today and he kept trying to let me win until I told him I wanted him to play for real and he beat me. He tried to throw himself down the stairs but I told him not to so he didn't.

Mother and Father are planning a big dinner party for Halloween and have told me to be on my best behavor. I think the Malfoys might be coming and I don't want to see them. I don't like Mr. Malfoy he scares me. But I have to be nice cause they say Narcissa might marry Lushis. Do we have to marry people cause of hair? Cause Narcissa and Lushis are both blond and they want Andromeda to marry that Nott boy who has the same hair color like her. Its kind of weird isn't it? I guess we will know when they pick someone for you.

I hope its a long time till they make me get married

Regulus

/\/\/\/\/\

Four seemed to be a perfect number. It felt right. Sirius couldn't really explain why it felt right (nor did he admit this to James), just that it did. Remus joining them again at breakfast, walking with them to class, exchanging notes with them... it was brilliant! Although Tuesday night when Remus came back from study group he seemed a bit off. Rather tense.

"Everything all right?" Sirius asked, and Remus jumped as if hit with a spell.

"Y-yes," he mumbled, sounding and looking a little guilty.

That night Sirius woke up to the sound of Remus quietly leaving the dorm. He sat up, seeing a dark figure sliding out the door. He waited for a moment then followed, surprised that Remus was going down to the common room; he had expected him to be going to the bathroom. Sirius tiptoed down the steps and peered into the common room.

Remus was balanced on a window ledge, arms around his knees, face upturned towards the window. He looked incredibly sad. Sirius fought the urge to go after him, to try and promise him whatever was wrong would be okay, except he thought it would be breaking into Remus's privacy. Remus gave a small sigh and rubbed his cheek against his knee. Sirius silently backed up, holding his breath until he got back to the dorm. He dove into bed and waited for a while, relieved when he heard Remus finally return.

Is it us? Sirius wondered as Remus went back to bed. Is he upset because we're friends now?

The next day cemented that possibility into Sirius's head as Remus just seemed to get tenser and tenser. Sirius could actually see his entire body stiffen and tighten whenever any of them said something. It was if them talking was actually... affecting him? Physically? Sirius had no idea what was going on, but he wasn't too surprised when Remus scarpered off during one of their free periods. When he came back he claimed to be sick, that he had gone to see Madame Pomfrey, but Sirius suspected he just wanted to be alone.

/\/\/\/\/\

Remus was shaky, and looked quite pale as the Gryffindors headed to Astronomy that night. He had been very quiet though gave vague looks of amusement whenever one of the others cracked a joke.

"Hey, Remus," Sirius said, whirling around to face the smaller boy, walking backwards. "What do you call a hippogriff from the 60s?"

"What?"

"A hippie-griff."

Remus rolled his eyes and smiled as James and Peter both laughed. Sirius, still walking backwards, banged into the staircase and fell. He yelped in pain, striking his elbow pretty hard.

"You all right there?" James asked, helping Sirius back up.

"Perhaps if you looked where you were going instead of trying to be Mr. Funnyman you wouldn't have gotten hurt!" snapped one of the most annoying Gryffindors: Matilda Twycross.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you."

Twycross huffed. "Can't hear me over the sound of your own ego?"

Sirius turned to James. "Do you hear words? All I'm hearing is..." he extended his hand, opening and shutting it like a mouth, "wah-wah-wah-wah." Twycross snorted and stormed past Sirius up the stairs. Sirius rubbed his elbow, heading up the stairs too. It really stung... It was still smarting by the time they reached the Astronomy tower though his arm felt considerably less wibbly-wobbly.

There was pretty much no moon in the sky, just the faintest of slivers, and some cloud coverage so everything was pretty dark. Professor Spring began talking which Sirius tuned out of, instead drawing where he was pretending to take notes. He drew a picture of Twycross with her head inflated like a balloon, a speech bubble coming out of her mouth with 'wah wah wah' written inside. He pushed the paper over to James who snorted, covering his mouth, trying not to laugh.

"Mr. Black!" Spring said, and both boys jumped. "Can you answer the question?"

Sirius blinked several times. "Errrr. Yes. Of course I can." He went silent.

Spring raised one bushy eyebrow. "Well?"

Suddenly a tiny voice behind him whispered, hardly audible, "Petrus Plancius."

Sirius beamed at Professor Spring. "Petrus Plancius," he repeated.

Spring harumphed and grumbled then admitted Sirius was right, before plunging on with the lecture. Sirius looked over his shoulder at Remus who gave him a very faint smile.

"Thanks," Sirius whispered and Remus shrugged.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next day Remus disappeared again. This time, James began commenting on it, wondering about what was going on. Sirius pointed out that just because they were friends didn't mean they needed to spend every second of every day together.

"I'm not saying we do," James said, even though he and Sirius pretty much tried to spend every second of every day together. "It's just a little weird, him running off like that."

"Maybe he's in the hospital wing again," Peter suggested.

They checked, and Pomfrey informed them that no, Remus wasn't there. James and Peter started to leave however Sirius paused. "Was he here yesterday?"

Pomfrey frowned. "No. Now go on. If you're not injured, I don't want you in here; I don't trust you or Mr. Potter."

James laughed triumphantly as they left. "You hear that? Infamous already!" He held up his hand for a high five which Sirius gave though his mind was elsewhere.

Remus had lied yesterday.

Is it that important? Sirius strode along, hands in pockets. Obviously Remus was still wanting to be friends, willingly telling Sirius the answer to get him out of possibly hot water the night before, and had hung around them a bit that day. Whatever the reason for his lying, Sirius didn't think it mattered too much at the moment.

The other two didn't seem to realize Remus had lied about his whereabouts, but James started going on again about how he wasn't really being very 'friendly'. Which made it all the better that evening when Remus spent more time with them, helping them out with their homework. Really helping out, actually physically altering some of their homework and giving them ideas to fix things.

Sirius enjoyed watching him do this, feeling a swelling in his chest as Remus just spout out information like it was stored in his head, like he had every single book he ever read in his head and he could just pull out the information. He obviously enjoyed doing it, too. He clearly enjoyed explaining things, lecturing, teaching. It was like when he answered questions in class: he practically became a different person. He didn't seem so... scared of everything.

After Remus left to get a shower Sirius had to rub it in.

"This is better, innit?" he asked, stretching his arms out, waiting for the response.

"What is?" James asked. He was on his bed, not doing homework even though everything was laid out in front of him, while Sirius was on his own bed, browsing through a magazine.

"The past few days," Sirius said, looking at him. "Remus being our mate."

"I think so," Peter agreed as he diligently worked on redoing the essay Remus had given him help with. His tongue was curling out the side of his mouth as he carefully wrote.

James groaned slightly. "You're gonna say I-told-you-so, aren't you?"

"Yup, but I am right!" Sirius said, wanting James to admit it.

James shook his head, pushing his parchment away and swinging his legs round to sit upright. "Yeah, just don't be smug about it."

Sirius struck a pose, quite gleeful he had won. "Can't help it, I'm too good-looking not to be smug." James grabbed a pillow and chucked it at Sirius, smacking him in the face. "Oww!"

"Oh like that hurt," chuckled James.

Sirius grabbed the pillow and dove for James, smacking him. The two were soon in another pillow fight, laughing as they whalloped each other until James came out victorious. Sirius relinquished the battle and got up off the floor, feathers sticking to him.

/\/\/\/\/\

"Come on..."

"Shhh!"

"You shhh!"

"I didn't say anything."

"Shhh!"

"Oops."

Sirius and James were very close together, peering around the corner of a hallway. They were watching Slimy Snape who was talking to another student, waiting for the conversation to end. James had a bug bomb in one hand. In Potions the day before they had overheard Snape insulting Peter. They hadn't told Peter the things Snape said, but wanted to get revenge of course. Peter was their friend, so Snape had to get it.

"Come on," James whispered again.

Then the other Slytherin walked off. Snape turned and started coming towards where James and Sirius were hiding. James waited for a second then lobbed the bug bomb at him, hitting him square in the chest. The sphere exploded into various insects and Snape began shouting while James and Sirius took off down the side corridor, going as fast as they could to a secret passage. Once inside they collapsed to the floor, laughing.

"He's such a git!" James said, rolling back and forth. "How can anyone be that gitty?"

"It's a mystery," laughed Sirius.

Snape was one of the few Slytherins he knew next to nothing about. The Snape name was completely unfamiliar, and he had no idea what the slimy git's maternal name was. He figured if he found that out he'd probably know more. It actually sorta bugged him, and he wanted to know.

He got the opportunity that evening, actually. During supper he got a note asking to meet his cousin so he went off, telling his friends he'd be right back. He went to the corridor the note mentioned and found Andromeda there. She smiled when she saw him, and gave him a quick hug, wanting to know how things were going, as well as making sure he wasn't being too harassed by the family for his choice of friends.

"They're mad," he answered honestly. "Every letter they're telling me to get better friends. They're still trying to figure out a way to get me into Slytherin."

Andy shook her head. "Be careful."

"Always," he joked with a wink and she rolled her eyes.

"I mean it, Siri!" She glanced around then bent in, dropping her voice. "I know how furious they are about your Sorting, and I can't imagine how furious they're getting over the fact you are in the company of two half-bloods."

"You're not going to lecture me for that, are you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Andy had never seemed inclined to do such a thing before. She was the nicest about non-Purebloods.

"No," she replied. "Never. I'm glad you're friends with them. I'm only concerned about you."

"Awww, what more can they do than what's already been done?" he asked, grinning at her. "There's only so far they'll go. I am the Heir after all."

Andromeda stared at him. "They have another," she reminded him quietly.

Sirius swallowed, the grin fading. It was a dark thought that crept into his mind more than once. His parents had never outright threw it in his face though they had vaguely hinted, which he usually ignored. "They're crazy but not that crazy," he said, trying to sound brave.

"It hasn't been that long ago in Black family history that filicide's been committed," Andy said flatly.

Sirius looked away now, jamming his hands in his pockets, shoulders tensing. "S'been long enough." He rocked back and forth, trying not to let the fear take over, trying not to think about what Andy was insinuating. "Say, you know anything about that dumb Snape kid?"

"What? Siri, don't change the subject—"

"Snape's not a Pureblood name, is it?" Sirius asked, ignoring her.

Andromeda sighed and reached up, adjusting her prefect badge. "No. He is half-blood. His father is a Muggle."

For some reason that shocked Sirius. "And his mother?"

"Eileen Prince. Disinherited by the Prince family when she married the Muggle," Andy replied with a shrug.

"Prince... Our cousins?" Sirius asked, screwing his face up in thought as Andy nodded. Not immediate cousins, but distant cousins. It didn't surprise him at all that he was somehow related to Snape. Thankfully very distantly. "There's not many of them left, is there?"

"Not anymore," she sighed. "Why are you so interested? Hardly anyone in Slytherin likes him."

"Because he's a git?"

"Because he's a half-and-half," she said, folding her arms. "I know you're not put out by bloodlines but I am curious to know why you wish to know his history."

"Because he's a git," Sirius repeated, this time not a question. Andy gave him the stink eye and he bust up laughing. "Come on, he is! I don't care if he's half or pure or a quarter or not at all! He's a full-blooded git! He called me crazy the other day."

Andy pressed her lips thin. "Not an unusual insult towards the Black family. I get it all the time. Especially from those who knew my sister."

"Yeah, well, Bellatrix is crazy," Sirius grumbled. He shuddered, grateful she had graduated before he came to Hogwarts. Coming to school with her skulking about the halls would have been awful!

Andy gave a slight smile now. "Perhaps a little."

"Try a lot."

Andy sighed again then gave him another quick hug. "Be careful."

"I will. You too."

He hadn't really meant anything by it but to his confusion she stiffened. "Why?" she asked lightly.

"Uh, because you're actually nice unlike 99% of Slytherin?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, yes." She smoothed down her skirt, cheeks a little pink.

"Andy—"

"I need to go. I'll see you later." She hurried off and Sirius stared after he, thoroughly perplexed.

/\/\/\/\/\

With Halloween coming up James and Sirius really wanted to pull some prank during the feast. The problem was they weren't really sure what to do especially since they didn't have much. If they had thought of it earlier they could have been preparing... but oh well. They'd be able to prepare plenty for next Halloween at least.

Sirius was kneeling on the floor, going through what little pranks they had left. They needed to get some more in soon. James planned on sending out to Zonko's for mail order stuff but they needed a catalogue first, and James's owl Godric wasn't back yet with that. Sirius sorted through what little they had, sighing heavily.

"Hey, uh, Remus?" James asked suddenly, while the boys had been musing over what to do and what not to do. "Would it be difficult to do this?" James indicated the toy griffin he had been playing with, the kind that just flapped around on its own.

Remus had been curled up on his bed with an impossibly thick book in his lap; honestly, Sirius had no idea how he did it. Or why he did it. The book was thicker than any of their school textbooks and he didn't think it even had to do with school! "Do wh-what?" Remus asked.

"This."

Sirius shook his head at how helpful James was being, and Remus seemed faintly amused as well. "Erm, there's a lot of p-possibilities to what 'this' entails."

James wanted to make something fly, but not with the levitation charm they were supposed to be learning in class. Sirius couldn't wait to learn to start levitating things. He wanted especially to levitate dungbombs near the ceiling then let them drop when Slytherins went by. Hah! That'd be so great!

"You mean, sentient magic? Wow, th–that's pretty advanced," Remus asked as he sat on the edge of his bed. His legs dangled down, feet high above the floor. He was wearing mismatched socks again. One of them was dark blue and the other was black.

Sirius had always suspected Remus just simply didn't notice the clothes he put on but sometimes he wondered if Remus flat out didn't care. Socks weren't really seen... although he did occasionally have other clothing issues. Sometimes his vest was on backwards or his buttonup shirt wasn't buttoned properly or it wasn't tucked in like it was supposed to be (Sirius and James didn't always tuck in their shirts but that was on purpose for fashion statements and Sirius knew perfectly well Remus not tucking his shirts in was from lack of noticing). Plus he never tied his tie properly. Sirius itched to just fix his tie for him. Even when he pointed it out and Remus fixed it it wasn't fixed. He just simply wasn't capable of tying a tie, and every day Sirius had to force himself to keep his hands to himself and not just retie it.

"No, not sentient magic." James's words broke Sirius out of his thoughts about Remus's clothes. "I just mean like make an object fly around like this. And avoid being caught." The griffin was flying around and went upwards when James reached to catch it. "Like that."

Like a Snitch, Sirius thought, ducking as the griffin flew close to his head.

"So… sentient magic," Remus said a bit slowly, as if talking to someone who simply didn't understand. Then he began rambling about sentient magic and stuff that went over Sirius's head. He stopped paying attention to the words and just looked at Remus's socks again. Does he really just NOT notice? He considered pointing it out, then changed his mind. Maybe Remus purposely wore mismatched socks. Maybe it wasn't he didn't notice or didn't care, maybe he really took his socks out and made the active choice to intentionally wear socks that didn't match.

"So making bats and having them dive bomb the tables is… not… gonna happen…?" James asked a little sadly.

Remus shook his head. "N—not in a week."

James snapped his fingers, disappointed, and Sirius pat his back. "Next year, then."

/\/\/\/\/\

James was FURIOUS later that week. During flying lessons Hooch had made him stop flying since apparently all he was doing was showing off. Some older students took him to the Quidditch pitch so he could show off on one of their brooms which had cheered him quite a bit, but then once the four friends were hanging out together later in the day James's fury whipped back up. He paced around, complaining about Hooch, complaining that he hadn't been 'showing off'.

"She's denying me my education!" he growled.

Remus gave a soft snort and ducked his head. Sirius grinned, suspecting Remus was thinking the same thing he was: if any other teacher had done this James would have been happy. Denying an education only counted when it had to do with brooms.

Then James muttered they should try to prank Hooch, as revenge. Sirius perked up but Remus and Peter both began freaking out at the idea of pranking a teacher.

"She's not a real teacher," James huffed.

"Yes, sh-she is," Remus said, sounding a bit afraid. "P-p-pranking adults—the t-teachers—isn't a g-good idea."

James looked at Sirius who shrugged. If James wanted to, he'd be on board. "Maybe later," James mumbled, messing up his hair.

He did, however, want to do something so that night when Remus went off to do his nerdy study group thing, James, Peter, and Sirius attempted to use the locomotion spell to untie shoelaces from a distance but it didn't really work that well. They wondered if there was a spell to make people trip and figured they'd ask Remus down the line.

"It's nice to have a genius at hand," James said after he tried and failed to untie the shoelaces of a seventh year passing by.

"Yeah, none of us are very good at looking stuff up," Peter agreed.

Sirius laughed, thinking it was a joke, then realized Peter actually meant it. "You're right," Sirius said. "Though I don't think it's really we're bad at it, it's just a lot of work."

"Annoying work," James agreed. "But Remus actually likes doing stuff like that. Locomotor shoelaces! Aw, drat. Okay, maybe there's also a shoelace untying spell?"

/\/\/\/\/\

Dear Reg,

Last night after Astronomy some of the others were talking about something super weird. DO NOT LET MOTHER AND FATHER SEE THIS! But one of the Gryffindor girls said that Muggles have BEEN to the MOON! I don't think its true. The moon? Muggles can't do that! But a lot of the others with muggle blood in them kept saying they did do it, it did happen. My friend Peter said he saw on something called a tellavision that he saw with his own eyes muggles in space. I dont know what that is but it sounds like its something that shows you whats going on? like with a camera? but how did they take pictures in space? sounds fake.

Hope youre doing well. Miss you every day and hope youre staying safe. By the time you get this and get a chance to reply it'll probably be after Halloween so how did dinner with the Malfoys go? Positivily snooty I imagine. Lucius swans around Hogwarts like he owns it. Makes me sick. Need to do something about that. Narcissa may be a brat but not even she deserves that git.

I dont know if i'll be home for christmas holidays. i dont really want to but i guess it depends what mother wants.

Sirius

PS make sure to burn this letter so THEY dont see anything about the muggle stuff. to make that funner ive included a drawing of lucius. burn malfoy BURN!

/\/\/\/\/\

"Wingardium leviosa!"

Sirius watched with amazement as Remus's feather floated up into the air. Flitwick praised him and Remus ducked his head, blushing very slightly. It was a shame he tried to hide his blushing. It looked kinda adorable.

"Wingardium leviosa!" Sirius tried.

"Wingardium leviosa!" James tried. They exchanged looks, since the feather did absolutely nothing. "Wingardium leviosa," James tried again then sighed.

Sirius glanced at the other two, and frowned. Remus was holding Peter's hand to help guide him doing the movements, and for some reason that sent a surge of irritation through Sirius. He glared a bit, then turned back to his own feather. The feeling bubbled up and came out as he kept trying to do the spell.

"Wingardium leviosa. Wingardium leviosa. Wingardiu—"

A flare of heat, and smoke billowed up as the feather and desk caught fire. Sirius jumped back, fanning in front of his face as the flames grew higher. "Errrr, whoops," he said, realizing everyone was looking at him.

"How did you manage to set the entire desk on fire?!" James demanded, arms flailing around.

Sirius studied the fire, suspecting it had something to do with the fact he had been weirdly upset and therefore not really giving it his full attention. "Talent?" he suggested for lack of a better reason. Flitwick put the fire out, giving Sirius an exasperated look. Sirius smiled back as sweetly as he could. "I think we need another feather."

/\/\/\/\/\

If Remus's lack of fashion sense perplexed Sirius, James's fashion sense... or rather... the extent of his wardrobe made Sirius a touch jealous. On Sunday as they got ready for the day Sirius pulled on his nice slacks, a nice simple dressy shirt, and nice shoes. Everything was pressed, crisp, and clean. And boring. James, on the other hand, wore his typical bellbottom jeans and a orange shirt that said GROOVY! in tie-dyed lettering on the front. It was bright, garish, and amazing.

Sirius hardly had any color in his wardrobe at all though he was grateful for the fact he didn't have to wear traditional robes at all times! His Uncle Alphard told him back in his day the 'Muggle' type clothing hadn't integrated enough in the wizarding world for the Black family, so Alphard was forced to wear nothing but robes when he wasn't wearing the Hogwarts uniform. Sirius was glad at least shirts and trousers had become accepted by the time he came to Hogwarts. If he had to wear the robes he'd die, just die. But the non-traditional clothing the Blacks bought were definitely... not as cool as James's.

"D'you two wanna come to the practice with us?" James asked as he pulled on his waterproof robes.

Remus and Peter were still in their beds. Peter shook his head, complaining about the rain. Remus murmered a no thank you, watching them as if he couldn't figure out why anyone would go out in the morning in the rain to watch a practice they had nothing to do with. Sirius noticed right away how awful Remus looked. He was very wane and the dark circles under his eyes were darker than usual. His hair hung limp, and when he moved and spoke he seemed tired.

Sirius got his rain-robes on too, and went down to steal some food from the Great Hall before hurrying out into the drizzle. They dashed across the grounds, laughing for the sheer joy of being young and energetic and free for the day. Instead of going to the bleachers, they went to the top box which had a cover.

"Alohomora!" James tapped the door and they heard it unlatch. Grinning at one another they went in to the small area where normally only the commentator sat, next to the teachers' seats. It was quite dry there and they were able to take off their robes and set the stolen food in their laps.

"It's going to be great when you're on the team next year," Sirius said, shoving a muffin in his mouth, crumbs falling everywhere.

James beamed. "Think I'll make it?"

"Yeah, no one else but you, you're the best on a broom. Everyone can see it."

"Are you going to try out?"

Sirius looked out at the players spinning around in the rain. "It depends what positions are open." He wanted to play Quidditch, he just wasn't sure what position he'd like. Certainly not Seeker. Maybe a Chaser, with James that'd be great. A Beater would be the best, sending Bludgers off at the other team! He didn't want to be a Keeper, that was a lot of sitting around waiting for the game to come to you then suddenly BAM! loads of pressure.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent waiting for the feast and looking for Remus who seemed to have disappeared. They even checked the library assuming that's where he was but there wasn't any sign of him. Sirius dragged his friends to the hospital wing, remembering how awful Remus looked that morning, feeling relieved yet worried when Remus wasn't there either.

Finally he showed up shortly before the feast wearing old, ratty clothes that looked like they'd fall apart any second. He insisted he had been in the library, only shrugging when Sirius said they had searched there. Fine, keep your secrets, Sirius thought then turned his attention to the fireworks.

Sirius, James, and Peter put in their school robes to fill the pockets with fireworks then the four of them went to the Great Hall. Unfortunately the prank didn't really go... quite as planned. Oh, it went off without a hitch. They set them off without trouble. But everyone seemed to think the fireworkers were just part of the Halloween feast. It didn't help that Dumbledore himself clapped along.

"What the heck? No!" James looked around, horrified at the cheering. "They're not supposed to react like this."

"They think it's what the headmaster planned," Peter said with a frown.

"Ugh! Told you we should have used dungbombs," Sirius complained, mostly bitter about the fact they had used up the last of their firecrackers for this and it hadn't had any nice result! They were better off setting the firecrackers off in the common room!

"If it's any c—consolation, the teachers know s-something's up…" Remus tipped his head towards the High Table. "McGonagall's looking r—right at you."

After the feast as everyone left, Professor McGonagall met with them outside the Great Hall. "Did you have anything to do with those fireworks?" she asked, staring down her nose at them.

Sirius and James exchange glances. James raised an eyebrow. Should we admit it? he seemed to be asking. Sirius smirked. Yes, he silently agreed.

So James turned back to McGonagall. "Yep! That was us!" he said proudly and Sirius tried not to laugh as McGonagall looked very surprised.

They lost a few points and gained a lecture about acting proper, not causing trouble, not disturbing... blah-blah-blah. James and Sirius both nodded, neither of them listening, promising to 'do better'. Then she let them go and they returned to the dorm with Peter and Remus, laughing even more about the look on McGonagall's face when they confessed!

The four of them stayed up late exchanging spooky tales, and at midnight Sirius attempted to recreate one of the stories Peter had said. Saying 'Bloody Mary' three times into the bathroom mirror. He put his hands on the sink and leaned in, the only light from James's wand since the story claimed you needed a 'dimly lit' room. Candles were preferred but since they had none they figured a single lumos spell would work well enough. Well, James, Peter, and Sirius figured; Remus thought it was a load of tosh.

Sirius stared at his pale reflection. Behind him he saw James's grin, Peter's nervous expression, and Remus rolling his eyes. "Bloody Mary," he said in a quiet, hushed voice. "Bloody Mary!" he repeated, a little more intense, a little louder. Then, "Bloody MARY!"

They waited for a second then suddenly another face appeared in the mirror, rushing out towards them. "BOO!"

All four boys screamed in terror, grabbing for one another before taking off scrambling to their dorm as the apparition laughed at them. They all jumped into their beds, some of them going under their covers, Sirius just staring at the door but nothing followed him.

"Wh-wh-what was that!" Peter squeaked.

"I th—think it was Sir Nicholas," Remus said, peering out from under his covers.

Sirius turned towards James. "Nearly Headless Nick?" he asked and James began laughing which set off Sirius laughing. Peter soon joined, and even Remus laughed a bit, then Spinnet yelled at them to all please shut up it was late!

Sirius gave a rude gesture in the direction of his bed then flopped down. "Night guys!"

He heard his friends chorusing goodnights then he slid under the covers, drifting off into a pretty happy sleep.