4.

"Must you do that?" he asked without taking his eyes away from the book he was absorbed in

I grinned "yep" I answered continuing to tap my pen on the desk's edge while swinging on the back legs of my chair

I heard my friend heave a very long heavy sigh before grabbing the pen from my hand mid tap and pulling my seat back on its four legs, to this I gave a small groan before looking at the offender "aw" I pouted

Remus cast his amber gaze on me "Siri, you have to study if you want to pass your exams"I let my lower lip jut out a bit "But Remmy" I whined "I'm hungry and bored and this place smells of books"

He grinned crookedly at me "well we are in a library Sirius and don't call me Remmy" he shifted the book towards me

I sighed and stared up at the ceiling before lowering my head to read, audibly complaining and heaving heavy sighs

"Stop being so stubborn, Sirius, it has to be done"

I pouted some more and continued to read till Madame Pince, the school librarian shooed us away back to the common room

"Where were you at dinner?" James asked when I stepped through the portrait hole

"I was being held captive by Moony" I answered as Remus stepped through the entranceway

"You missed Snivillus choking on a pea" he mused staring into space

I chuckled "oh god no, and I missed it."

*

Tuesday, the day I most hate dawned in a flurry of snowflakes and icy cold gales.

After breakfast we trudged down to our first lesson of the day which was Divination, the professor was a strange woman with he bushy brown hair and freakishly large blue-green eyes

, she also liked to predict the death of either myself or Remus every other lesson and openly wept when she foresaw a "terrible accident" which will befall James in the next few weeks, she was a Trelawney who came from a long line of female seers which made her believe that her daughter would become one also.

"Moony?" I noticed Remus dragging his feet and being eerily quiet as we made our way up to the northern tower, sure Remus was quiet but never this quiet and he never shuffled along as slow as he was today "you okay, mate?" I continued halting to a standstill while James and Peter continued on saying they'd save seats for us

"I'm fine" he lied

"No you aren't, Remus I've known you for seven years, I know when something is wrong so stop pretending nothings wrong and tell me what's on your mind"

He sighed and spoke in hushed tones that only I could hear "it's about the full moon tonight, what if something-"

I silenced him with a look and spoke in the same hushed tone "nothing will happen, how many times we have been through this?"

"But, what if something does? It only takes one wrong move" he looked down at his feet "I couldn't bear if anything happened to any of you" his voice faltered on the last word

"Hey, don't get all weepy on me now" I joked "besides we should get going to Divination, wouldn't want to miss Trelawney's new prediction of my death"

He laughed while we made our way to the class.

The Divination room was invitingly warm today as | took my seat next to James as Remus took his near Peter

"Everything okay?" asked James as I put my bag down on the floor

"Yep" I grinned

Just then the professor emerged from her small office that was hidden behind the purple heavy silk drapes

"Good morning my children, today we will partake in the art of palmistry" Trelawney mused "now if you'd take your partner's dominant hand and then turn to page 490 in your books it will illustrate to you how you are to gain an accurate reading"

I sighed and dug in my bag for my copy of Unfogging the Future, laying it on the desk with a dull thud and turning to the page I needed, there was a large diagram of a hand with detailed explanations of each line and the length of each finger

"Remind me why we retook this class?" I asked turning in my seat before giving my left hand to James. Because it's fun" he replied grinning at me then frowning down at my hand as though he was studying it intently "wow Sirius" his frown grew deeper "you have quite feminine hands"

I snorted back a laugh and punched his shoulder with my free hand.

He rubbed his arm and pushed his glasses up his nose before looking at the teacher again

"Now now, children" she waved her hands about making the many bangles rattle together on both her wrists "first you must determine the shape of your partner's hand

"Hmmm….I'd say your hand is a fire shaped hand"

I raised my eyebrow quizzically

James tore his eyes from the book and looked up at me "it means you have a square or rectangular hand with shortish fingers." James' eyes widened as he looked back at the book "it says, that people with that shaped hand are prone to die of a stampede of rabid pigmypuffs"

I gasped dramatically "oh no"

The class continued that way till the teacher assigned us to practice our palm reading and write down what we see in our other partner's hand "and that, my children is unfortunately the end of our time"

"Oh and Mr. Black, I regret to inform you that you'll suffer a nasty bout of the flu next week"

I looked at the professor and grinned then started making my way down the thin ladder leading to the corridor

The rest of the day went by quite smoothly even with Remus' worries about the coming evening

"We'll meet down at the willow as soon as we see Madame Pomfrey back in the castle again" I said while James comforted Remus with a pat on the back as he made his way towards the hospital wing

*

I blew into my gloved hands as myself and James waited for Wormtail to press the knot in the Whomping Willow, which was currently swaying merrily in the winter air with dustings of snow covering its branches

I watched as the small grey rat that was my friend scurry its way into the brambles, entwining its small body between the tree's growths, a few minutes later the tree froze and Peter made his way with the two of us down the dark damp corridor that led us to our fourth friend . The moon hadn't fully risen yet when we got to the entranceway of the Shrieking Shack so we waited till we heard screaming eventually turn into painful howls, I gave James a look before transforming into my animal form and entering the room.