I always knew I was a star. And now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me.
-Freddie Mercury

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“Now class, please repeat after me- Wingardum Leviosa.” Professor Flitwick awaited the chorus in unison, but it appeared everyone was too tired to do anything. First class of the day was always a hardship. “Let’s try again, shall we?” he prompted, positioning himself on the stack of books that allowed him to look over his desk. Trying to get the class to respond would take a while. “Wingardum levio-”

The door flung open at that second and he heard scurrying feet. Another student overslept, he imagined. “Take a seat, please, take a seat. I won’t mark you late today, I know it’s hard to get up and this is your first year at Hogwarts-”

All he could see was a mass of black hair, and he couldn’t recall any first years like that. “Mr… erm…” He desperately tried to peer around the accumulating paperwork on his desk.

Luckily enough, the student was coming around the desk to be seen. Good, what a jolly chap! “Thank you very much, Mr.…”

A boy with long dark hair stood beside him, bangs sweeping across his eyes. He looked quite a bit older than the first years, maybe a seventh year or sixth. The face did seem vaguely familiar… Oh! For a moment, Flitwick had to put a hand on his desk to steady himself. The lad looked uncannily like Sirius Black, when he was in school… You really are going mad, old fruit, he thought to himself. No, looking closer, it clearly wasn’t Black. Black never looked that tired, and this boy seemed exhausted. Of course it wasn’t. Of course.

Suddenly, Flitwick felt an odd feeling at the top of his scalp. “Hey! Stop that! Stop that right now!” he yelled, but it was too late. The student who looked like Sirius Black had already plucked out several of his hairs and had run away.

The students just stared blankly as the boy raced out, then collapsed into a fit of laughter. “He looks like that boy in the video that got shown in Great Hall a few days ago!” exclaimed a blonde haired girl, looking extremely satisfied with herself. No one paid any attention.

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For my darling Looney, for my darling Looney… thought Sirius over and over as he rushed through the halls, carrying the hairs with utmost care. If he could only get this to his beloved Looney before falling asleep…

Too late. He slowed down, feeling a wave of fatigue wash over him. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he were back in his own time, back with James and Remus and Peter, just sleeping and silently laughing as James hit him repeatedly with a pillow, trying to get him to wake…?

A tall figure appeared at the end of the corridor. McGonagall, ready to punish him for painting the portrait of Salazar Slytherin pink… He didn’t deserve it, everyone hates Slytherin, she probably laughs about it at night, don’t you think?

“Hi Professor McGonagall… lovely day, isn’t it?” Sirius asked, giving a grin while his eyes slid slightly cross and his eyes had a ridiculously hard time keeping open. But although he did stay up all night to get his lovely Looney’s want, it was completely worth it. He didn’t even mind running into McGonagall. Everything seemed okey-dokey to him…

Professor McGonagall looked extremely shocked and went backwards, face white. Wow, she was acting funny. “Aren’t you going to punish me or something? I knew you were going to find out about that Slytherin thing someday…”

She still didn’t say anything, but just stayed frozen as if she’d seen a ghost. “All right then, I’m going to get down to Potions now…” His words were becoming slightly slurred as his head began to droop. His mouth didn’t seem to want to move… just to relax, and rest and sleep… Without noticing, he went a little bit too far to keep his balance and fell onto Professor McGonagall, who caught him deftly, if not a bit panicked.

“Sirius Black!” she stammered loudly, his name practically ricocheting off the walls. She went on, saying more, lowering it down to a whisper, “Something’s wrong, blah, blah, alive, blah, miracle, blah, blah, amazing, help, blah, blah, blah…” As he felt himself start falling asleep, going limp in her arms, she positively screeched his name. “SIRIUS BLACK!!!”

This appeared to be the signal he needed to perk up. Oh God, he was caught. Where was he? And… in McGonagall’s arms? Thinking it over clearly was not an option- pure instinct was the best thing to rely on here. Run away.

Breezing through the corridors, just running to save his skin, Sirius ran past rooms and passages, trying to think as he flew. Remus… Remus said… not to be seen by anyone. They were in the future… and he wasn’t supposed to be seen by anyone! New panic settled in. Great, now he was going to cause something weird to happen and everyone will go ballistic and then the Marauders and he will have to go back and stop his past self from running into McGonagall…

“Sirius?” A hand grasped his arm, and Sirius spun around to see the puzzled face of James.

“Oh hey, James!” Sirius stopped abruptly, watching as James’s face changed from confusion to joy. “I haven’t seen you in so long! It’s been, like…”

“A day?” James suggested, but his smile was so large, his sarcasm simply fell flat.

“It’s been so weird these past… hey!” His ‘hey’s’ changed from friendly to shock. “We... we need you! Remus is looking for you! Come on, we’ve got to-” Sirius’s eyes drifted the end of the corridor, where McGonagall’s thin form was standing. Now she was chasing him? It’s not my fault I ran into McGonagall, she’s after me, Sirius swore…

James looked extremely concerned. “Sirius! Remus is here?”

“Sorry, but I really must dash,” said Sirius, giving a bright grin. Wow, he had so much energy! “Find Remus, he’s been looking for you everywhere, I swear he’s going slightly mad; he’s under so much pressure…”

“Wait!” James shouted, running towards Sirius, arm outstretched. But it was too late; Sirius was gone. Speechless, James just had to lean against the wall and rake his hand through his hair. Remus was here? Where?

Out of the corridor, Sirius’s loud voice came trailing, “Tell Looney I love her…!” James didn’t want to know.
McGonagall finally reached the end of the hallway, giving James a piercing stare. “Did you convince him to run out the door?” Her voice was urgent, and she seemed upset.

James lifted an eyebrow, copying one of Remus’s fine traits. “I would have done completely the opposite, if he would have stayed a little longer and gave me a word in edgewise…”

Sighing, McGonagall placed a hand on James’s shoulder. “I know, and I apologize. I just wonder what on earth came over him. I didn’t mean him any harm…”

Looking up, James saw McGonagall’s face soften slightly. A wave of feeling for his professor swept over him as he smiled knowingly. “Don’t take it personally, Sirius’s main theory is run away,” James joked.

Copying James’s copying Remus’s, McGonagall lifted her eyebrow skeptically. “Yeah, that was a pretty stupid excuse… But Sirius always was a little strange.”

Another eyebrow lift.

“Fine. I will admit, something was up,” James acknowledged, scuffling his shoe on the floor.

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“Bloody television. I don’t want to see this fool Ponty Mython stuff. I mean, who on earth are they fooling? Is this supposed to be adult television? They’re climbing up a road like a mountain for Lord Archibald’s sake…”

“Yes dear.” Petunia made her way from the window, where she’d been peering into the neighbor’s garbage, and turned off the television for Vernon. He snorted intent on pattern of the rug. This usually meant in a few seconds he was going to say something.

Waiting patiently, Petunia stood, making small noises once in a while to remind Vernon that she remained, waiting for him to speak. Finally, he spoke, a bit hurriedly.

“Petunia, dear, you know my sister Marge…”

“Died?”

Vernon’s head shot up. “How did you know?”

Giving him a small, icy smile, she replied, “Dear, you should put more faith in my eavesdropping skills.” She moved to the table and quickly brushed the morning paper off the table into the wastepaper basket. What a shame it was, as the front page bursted with exciting news- ‘Hunters Mistake Woman Walking Dog for Lethal Bull- “The Snorting Sounds Sounded So Realistic,” Sobs One.’

Vernon moved uncomfortably in his seat, thinking for a moment. “But… there’s something else…”

She froze for a moment, smug pride fading quickly. “What?”

“Well…” Pausing for a moment, Vernon gave a deep breath. “Marge had something written in her will.” His eyes slid over to Petunia, who looked curious, and not upset. Maybe this would come out okay. “She wants Harry to be there- at her funeral. So he can…” He muttered something inaudible.

“Dear?”

Clearing his throat, Vernon mumbled, “Ipprillavefun.”

“What?”

“She wants him to be there…so that Ripper can chase him. You know how much he loved chasing Harry up that tree years back. She said he’s never had as much fun in his life, except when he found a small defenseless bird on the lawn of Margret Thatcher. She also said that Harry should have some discipline anyway.”

There. He’d gotten it out. Now all he had to wait for was Petunia’s response. She’d been quite protective over Harry since last summer when Dudley almost died from the dementerr thing.

She looked a bit perturbed, but also appeared to be thinking. He could almost see her mind at work.

“How are we going to get him out of… that school?” she asked finally, pausing uncomfortably after ‘of’.

Vernon didn’t know, and he didn’t really care. Just as long as darling Marge got her last wish granted. “Turn back on the telly, Petunia, it helps me think.”

“Of course, dear.”

Settling back, Vernon watched as a flying car with a mustached man went around a city from an old movie, singing a catchy song about radios. How this was going to solve the problem with Harry, he didn’t know. But for now he was going to let Petunia do the thinking.

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Author’s Note: Shall I apologize again for being late? Or should I just give up now? I’m in three plays at the moment, about 3 practices a week for one, 2 practices for another, and just one for the other. I also have Newspaper, and, shockingly, I have homework too! So there’s my lame excuse. Next chapter will be written when my brain comes up with some ideas and when I have the time to write them down. Or just when I have the time to stare blankly at the computer and see if I can think of any silly ideas to put into the story. Hope you liked the chapter, because although I thought it was pretty short and pointless and not very amusing, you might have a different opinion, lol.