Sirius hurried down to the Great Hall and was almost the first person there. Only Lily Evans and Remus Lupin sat at their tables. Sirius nodded towards both of them, but while Lupin acknowledged the greeting, Lily seemed to disregard it. Sirius felt that she was the first in the line of people who would ignore him. He sat down and ate his scrambled eggs at high speed. By the time the Great Hall was filling up with students he was out of the room, but unfortunately, once outside he bumped into his Head of House.
“Sorry,” he murmured and tried to hurry away, making a half round around Professor Slughorn’s protruding belly.
“Mr. Black, I recall.” The Potions Master’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“Yes,” he said with a nod, not looking up. He hated the man; he hated him for he was the head of the abhorred house.
“It’s ‘Yes, sir’ or ‘Yes, Professor’, Mr. Black,” Professor Slughorn told him with an undertone that made Sirius look up.
“Yes, sir,” Sirius repeated obediently.
“Mr. Black, have you finished breakfast?” the professor asked him.
“Yes, sir,” he said, showing that he learned his first lesson.
“Then kindly give these timetables to your housemates,” Professor Slughorn shoved a little pile of parchment into his hands.
Sirius looked down and saw the first name, Ackerley, Flavia. He remembered that this girl was sorted before him. He searched for her face and found her at the end of the Slytherin table. He went to her and without a word handed her the timetable. He looked down and in complete silence he went to the group of fifth years and handed Bennett, Andrew his timetable. Then came his own, he put it under the stock of papers and went on with his task. By the time he finished, Bellatrix and her gang arrived for breakfast. He sighed deeply and then approached them. He gave them their timetables and wanted to leave, but his cousin called after him.
“You don’t want to get friends with Gryffindors, Black,” came her warning.
“It’s none of your business with whom I get friends, Bella. If I was you I wouldn’t want to be friends with that daft lot,” he said, indicating towards two big girls of the size of baby whales. It took those three minutes to grasp the insult, but Sirius was finished, so he left the Great Hall immediately. He was awaited outside.
“James!” he exclaimed, relieved. His fears vanished. He thought James might desert him the next morning. Not that he didn’t trust him, but because of the animosity between the two houses. James was surely advised not to get too close to Slytherins, and Sirius thought James might change his mind.
“I’ve got my timetable,” James pulled him into the corner. “Let’s see what we have!”
After studying their timetables, they found out that Slytherins and Gryffindors had three classes together: Flying Lessons, Transfiguration, and Potions.
“Almost the whole Wednesday belongs to us!” Sirius said and looked at James with a grin.
“Friday isn’t that bad either,” James stated, looking down at his timetable.
They looked down at the parchments and sobered. It wasn’t that much.
“It’s not that much,” James stated in whisper. He was clearly disappointed.
“No, but it isn’t that bad, James. You’ll have three lessons with that chap, Lupin. And me, two.”
They cast a final look at their timetables and saw that they had to head into different directions. James had Charms with the Ravenclaws; Sirius had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs.
“See you at Flying Lessons,” Sirius said and hurried out to Greenhouse One. James headed to one of the classrooms on the second floor.
Sirius stepped into the greenhouse as last and looked around. The Slytherins looked at the Hufflepuffs with almost disgust on their faces, and Sirius saw one black-haired boy from Slytherin and the round-faced Hufflepuff from the train standing aside. He smiled bitterly at the thought of not being the only outsider on the “team”. Professor Anthera, a very old witch with almost white hair, beckoned them closer and then looked at them intently.
“This year we’ll work in this greenhouse only. Make sure to arrive on time or else you’ll miss my class. Who is late, stays outside. And now to your books,” she said, looking at their books. “You won’t need them here, but don’t throw them away, you’ll need them to prepare for the next class. Now, who can tell me the name of this magical herb?” she hold up a plant. “State your name and house, please,” she said, turning to the only raised hand of a blonde girl.
“Senna Truman, Hufflepuff. And that is a butterbur.”
“Excellent. Five points to Hufflepuff. Who could tell me what is it good for?”
The hand of Senna went up again, but this time she wasn’t alone. The black haired boy raised his hand, too.
“Severus Snape, Slytherin,” he stated. “In medieval times butterbur was used against the plague. Basically it is good against coughs and fever resulting of flu or colds.”
“Very good. Ten points to Slytherin. Now you’ll form groups of four and tend to the plants as it says on the board,” she said, motioning towards the blackboard, where a number of instructions were written in neat handwriting.
Sirius teamed up with the round-faced boy and two Hufflepuff girls: Peony Medley and Senna Truman.
Meanwhile, James enjoyed Charms, sometimes stealing a glance outwards, as if he could get a glimpse at Sirius. Professor Flitwick was speaking about the Levitation Charm.
“Now, you’ll work in groups of two throughout the year. Choose your partner, please, and then let us begin!” he announced.
James looked around and was very tempted to team up with Lily Evans, but he knew she would never voluntarily become his partner. She chose Mehndi Sundara instead and James approached Remus Lupin, who was standing around pretty much as if he knew no one would choose him.
“Hi!” James greeted him and earned a slight smile.
“Hullo,” Remus nodded, and they went to sit next to each other.
“We’ll learn today the proper use of the wand when casting the Levitation Charm. Please, pay attention to my wand and try to imitate it.”
James decided that he liked Charms as he hurried down to the lawns of Hogwarts. He could barely wait to see Sirius again and tell him everything about Remus. Sirius and the rest of the first year Slytherins were already there. James looked at them and noticed a black-haired boy and Sirius standing not too close to the group. He stepped to Sirius and saw relief in his eyes.
“What’s up?” James asked casually.
“How was Charms?” Sirius asked, avoiding answering the question.
“I like it. I teamed up with Remus.”
“That Lupin boy?” Sirius asked, while he watched his house mates eying their brooms. Awaiting James’s answer, he looked over to the Gryffindors and decided that they really looked nicer.
“Yes. He is a good chap, just as you said,” James informed him.
“Good,” Sirius said with a nod, just as the Flying Instructor arrived.
Branwyn Brandubh looked at them, measuring, and then stepped next to her broom. “Up!” she whispered and the broom flew into her hands. It trembled there as if it could barely wait for lifting up.
“Stand next to your brooms, please,” she told them in an unusual deep, rich voice.
Sirius and James stood next to each other and glanced down at their brooms.
“Say ‘Up’ and hold the broom firm,” she instructed them.
“Up!” James almost shouted and the broom hit him with so much force that he stumbled, but then steadied and gripped the broom tightly.
“Up!” Sirius said, but the broom refused to spring into his hand.
He said that word over and over, finally almost yelling, but the broom still refused to act. Everybody was staring at Sirius when James gave him his broom and stood next to Sirius’.
“Up!” James said, but the broom did nothing. “Try it with mine, Sirius,” he said, turning to his friend.
“Up!” Sirius looked at James’s broom and the broom glided into his hand impeccably.
“Well, this broom is no use,” Madam Brandubh told them, making them jump; they didn’t hear her approach. “Take mine, Potter,” she said, handing her broom to James.
“We’ll practice hovering today. On my count, rise and stay there. Should someone rise higher, he would leave the class and never return,” she warned them.
After the lesson ended, they went together for lunch to the Great Hall. They parted, after agreeing to wait for each other outside. James saw that Bella spoke to Sirius and that his friend’s face became red instantly. He ate at high speed to finish lunch at the same time as Sirius who barely ate anything.
“What happened?” James asked, after they stepped out of the Great Hall.
“That moron Snape told Bella about my broom,” Sirius complained, not quite able to hide his fury.
“Who is that?” James asked, peeking back.
“The one with the greasy black hair,” Sirius pointed Snape out.
“I see,” James said, nodding. He watched Severus Snape and a glint appeared in his eyes. While a strong friendship was formed, the seeds of a long-lasting animosity were planted.
They arrived second for Transfiguration. Lily and Mehndi were already there.
“She is good at Charms”, James whispered to Sirius. “We’ve got fifteen points because of her.”
“I’m more interested in this subject,” Sirius said.
“Because of McGonagall or are you interested in it anyway?” James asked back with a wink.
“Anyway, but McGonagall is superb. Theus told me so.”
They went in and sat down. They were looking around, staring at the blackboard when the cat, sitting on the front desk, stirred. It startled them. After the cat leapt forward and landed on the floor, everybody gasped for in front of them stood no more a cat, but Professor McGonagall. A few of them applauded and Sirius looked very impressed.
“Thank you. Settle down and we will begin. Who can tell me what the difference between Metamorphmagi and Animagi is?” she asked, and looked around appraisingly. She saw eager faces and two raised hands. It was Sirius’ and Nita Fontana’s from Gryffindor.
“Mr. Black?” she called him.
“Both can change their appearance at will, but Metamorphmagi are born with this ability, Animagi must learn it. Animagi turn into animals, but Metamorphmagi can turn into everything they want.”
“Right, Mr. Black. Five points to Slytherin. However, you won’t take any lessons in Animagic,” she shattered their hopes with her words, and then looked around with a barely visible smile on her lips. Some people sighed with disappointment. “We are beginning with the basics. Who knows what the difference between Mutatus and Commutatus Spells is?”
Nita’s hand shot in the air and McGonagall turned to her.
“Miss Fontana?”
“Commutatus Spells alter the object completely, Mutatus Spells only partially.”
“Very good,” Professor McGonagall said and nodded praising. “Five points to Gryffindor.”
At the end of the day a tired-looking Sirius told James that he would skip dinner and went straight to his dormitory. James sat down next to Lily, who ignored him the whole day.
“Hi, Evans,” he greeted her.
Lily chose to ignore him further and chatted on with Mehndi Sundara. James shrugged his shoulders and dedicated himself to dinner.