Chapter 3

The Beginning of a Long Day

"Oi, Potter! Wake up!" James opened his eyes when he felt a pillow hit him in the face. Sirius was standing over him with a smirk on his face, holding the pillow in question tightly in his hands. When James gave him an annoyed look his smirk widened.

"About bloody time. You sleep like a rock, Potter. Remus and I have been calling your name for the past five minutes. We have our first lessons in less than an hour." James sat up slowly and forced himself out of bed. The four roommates got ready in silence, each one still tired from the night before. Sirius was the only one with any real energy, and even that was a little forced. After pulling on clean clothes and quickly brushing their teeth they exited their dormitory, walked through the common room, and clambered out of the portrait hole.

"Do we know how to get to the Great Hall? I wasn't exactly paying attention last night…"

"Relax, Remus. Sirius Black has never gotten lost in his life." As if to illustrate his point, Sirius started weaving a definite path through the corridors and down the staircases. He walked at a fast pace, confidence noticeable in every step that he took. The portraits that they passed called out in greeting, one of them attempting to follow them a couple floors before giving up and returning to his original painting, and a couple of ghosts glided past them slowly.

It took fifteen minutes for Sirius to lead the group into the Great Hall and when they entered the room they were met by the sight of hundreds of owls swooping in to find their respective owners. The foursome had just managed to take a seat at the Gryffindor table, James and Sirius rolling their eyes as Peter tripped slightly before sitting down, when James saw his owl, Maurice, flying towards him. In her beak was a letter addressed to him that was written in his mom's handwriting.

"Aww, your mum wondering if her little boy got to school okay?" Remus and Peter laughed as Sirius gave James a playful shove. Too tired to respond, James rolled his eyes at Sirius and untied his letter from Maurice's leg. The tawny owl perched on his shoulder and waited patiently for him to grab some food before helping herself to a sausage link and flying off towards the owlery.

As the boys started to eat their breakfast, hurrying slightly so they would have plenty of time to get to their first lesson, Professor McGonagall made her way down the line of students at the Gryffindor table handing out schedules. It didn't take her long to make her way to where James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting.

"Good morning boys. Here are your schedules for the year. All first years take the introductory courses- charms, transfiguration, potions, defense against the dark arts, herbology, history of magic, and flying lessons." She handed them their schedules and then fixed them with a piercing stare. "Try not to be late to your first lesson. It starts in ten minutes. If you aren't there, believe me, I will know."

Remus glanced down at his schedule and noticed that, sure enough, they were to begin their day with transfiguration. Professor McGonagall would indeed be the first teacher they faced. Remus didn't mind this at all. She was one of the few people at Hogwarts who knew his secret. In fact, as far as he knew, Professor Dumbledore was the only other person. The two of them had made arrangements for him for when he needed to be away from the school and had made up many excuses to feed his other teachers to cover frequent absences. For this reason, Remus had a great respect for the two professors. They had let him attend Hogwarts when he was almost positive that no one else would have.

"Hey, Remus? You ready to go?" Startled out of his thoughts he looked up to find his roommates all standing and getting ready to walk out the door. Quickly arranging his features into a smile he finished his last bite of toast, took a drink of pumpkin juice and followed the group out of the hall. They were just about to reach the doors when James heard a voice speak behind him.

"I'm just a little worried. I mean I know most of us will be in the same boat, but what if I am not as good as you all are? I mean I haven't had as much time to practice and…" Lily Evans trailed off when James started walking next to her.

"Don't worry, Evans, you'll be fine. And if you aren't, I can always help you out." James unconsciously ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm James by the way. James Potter."

Lily stared for a moment as if she didn't know what to make of him. Then she gave him a small smile and quickly turned back to her friends, clearly showing that she was done with the conversation. She didn't notice James's face fall as he walked slowly back to his friends or Sirius try his hardest to look sympathetic when he was struggling mightily not to laugh.

"Bad luck mate."

"Don't worry about it. She was probably just surprised. I'm sure she'll warm up to you eventually."

James smiled unconvincingly at his friends and the foursome walked in silence the rest of the way to McGonagall's classroom. They could still hear Lily and her friends, including the one that Sirius had declared hot the day before, chatting as they walked along behind them, adding to the now rather strained atmosphere.

James tried his hardest to put the encounter out of his mind by focusing on the letter his mom had sent him. It had been short and sweet, a quick note to ask him if he made it to Hogwarts and whether or not he had met any nice boys yet. He couldn't help smiling as he thought about the three people walking beside him. Nothing had happened to bond them together, but they already seemed like friends. It was just a connection they seemed to have from the moment they met. Sure Peter was rather clumsy and awkward but he was so eager to belong that the other three couldn't help accepting him. And Remus. James could tell he wasn't completely comfortable being around other people, but he was doing his best to stay included. He seemed like he was always being careful to keep his true self hidden, but James had confidence that he and Sirius could draw him out of his shell.

Sirius. They had only met a day ago, but James could already tell that they were going to be great mates. The moment he had met Sirius he could tell that they shared something strong. James could see that he had his own secrets and was determined to keep them to himself, but didn't they all? To James, Sirius was already becoming the brother he had always wanted but had never had.

James mentally composed a letter in his mind that contained this information and had just about finished it when they reached the classroom door. Peter reached up and slowly turned the handle. The moment the door was open and they had stepped inside, their first real day at Hogwarts had begun.

A/N: Okay I know the chapters aren't that long and I am sorry. I do plan on making them longer but I keep finding places I want to stop. And thank you all so much for the reviews. I appreciate them all. I hope you will keep them coming because they help me enjoy my writing so much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will get the next one out as soon as I can. Let me know what you thought. I take all your suggestions into consideration, and I am sorry if you don't like the way I write some things. I will always try and make my readers happy, but I cannot always do that. I do my best though.