The dull morning light cast just the tiniest specks of a rainbow in each little drop of dew hanging on the leaf in front of her face. She pulled back quickly to further inspect the pot, and then her proper surroundings of Greenhouse Three. Lily looked around swiftly, but in total ease of being in one of her favorite parts of the castle. The mist casting everything with a more mystical glow than any chalkboard filled classroom could, the warm smell of earth and the feel of a garden around her reminding her of her most pleasant childhood memories with her mother.

She noticed instantly the others weren't in quite as good a mood. Clearly being around more plants after yet another had tried to kill them wasn't helping anything.

Alice and Frank immediately backed to the glass-wall upon seeing more greenery around them, and all of the Marauders were now nursing head injuries to boot. She stepped forward at once and identified the foliage as Mandrakes, and spotted the green binding of the book blending in conspicuously with a particularly fat pot.

"Well, I think you're motion theory was just ruined," Alice sighed when they'd gotten their bearings.

"Why's that darling?" He asked, still inspecting the venomous tentacula carefully, which was currently slithering a vine along the ceiling towards anyone.

"We were in a moving car," Alice needlessly reminded, easily pulling his attention from turning on the spot and trying to find that book on Toadstools to follow this new idea. She even tried summoning it to her, but it seemed as no one had kept a conscious decision to keep it on her person it had not traveled along. "The car clearly didn't come along with us."

He frowned around her, though it was rather apparent. "You're right, guess we'll have to come up with another idea." He stepped forward and brushed his hand across her forehead, where blood had already dried into her hairline and was still trickling towards her cheek. His thumb gently swiped at it, but when that only smeared it he pulled his wand and gently cast the worst of it off her.

"Thanks," she sighed, taking his outstretched hand.

"I think you were close with that movement idea," Evans offered, sidling up to them with the copy of Harry's life in hand. She was so distracted from her mind spinning at the possibility of all this she hardly noticed who she was speaking to, let alone she'd interrupted the pair. "The book moved with you because we were in motion," she emphasized by waving her arm about this new space. "That car was already in motion when we got there though, maybe that negated the affect."

"I can see that," Frank agreed.

"Well bully for Harry, getting to enjoy the after affects of hitting that tree!" A very loud voice said from right above him. Padfoot was very clearly more sore over the fact this kid had gotten such a reception over his more than any bodily injury Sirius now possessed. Remus didn't feel the same, just groaned and tried to bury himself further into the darkness of the dirt on his face, to avoid the sharp twinge of his rib-cage.

"Why couldn't we have appeared amongst a cheering crowd for surviving the same," another voice agreed. Slightly farther away, but just as familiar.

He was used to his rib-cage breaking. It did so once a month to accommodate another body erupting from his own. So he was quite clear on the fact they were broken now, and still somehow found it comforting the effect would last much longer than just the night.

"Oi, Moony, quite taking a literal dirt nap and pay attention," Sirius was now nudging him in said rib cage. He sighed restlessly, inhaling some dirt for his effort, but sitting up all the same, holding himself carefully. He saw Sirius' remorse at once, and the swelling along his forehead an accompanying shade of bruise to still match the laceration around his throat. It matched the exact shape of the cars dashboard they'd just been in. He'd been thrown to the floor in the impact, so his sore body was probably the least of the damage.

"You alright?" He spoke quickly, looking around to everyone else to see the worst of the injuries.

Prongs and Alice both had blood still dripping down their faces, but both had already set about healing the injury and now it just left a gruesome affect. Peter was still holding his nose as if in great pain, but that seemed to be the worst of it. Everyone else was simply holding themselves stiffly from their new death experience.

"Sure," Sirius agreed with chipper as he folded himself beside him on the floor.

"Then clearly that impact didn't knock any sense into you," Remus said good-naturedly.

Sirius' eyes gleamed now, a teasing light so familiar he swore Sirius alone possessed it, had perfected it just for him. "I know I'm the only one you've kissed, so it must be torture, you going so long in between. You could always do so now, make it better." He unnecessarily indicated the dark shadowing at his right temple. "I'm sure that'll put something in me, eventually," he finished with a not so subtle shifting closer to him.

Remus snorted lightly and again looked very obviously around. It was very clear where they'd landed, in a very open space, the only obstruction was the long table before them holding many pots. He cared not enough to get up and investigate what they were, but even under normal circumstances this was not the place for such talk. Sirius' brazen whisper meant he must have hit his head harder than he'd thought, perhaps his ears were still ringing. It didn't mean he certainly wouldn't mind- "You're not the first person I kissed you know." He said swiftly, being sure to ruin his presumption, though it wasn't doing anything to put his mind elsewhere. He couldn't help but admit to himself he wasn't really trying.

"Really?" He sounded genuinely surprised, and perhaps even a trifle something else Remus wasn't sure of. Certainly not jealous, he'd made that clear. Hadn't he? He'd certainly thought so, but they hadn't really discussed this since back before the mess began, and they hadn't really started all this in the best circumstances... "Hmm," Remus hummed in agreement, deciding to think on this later when it was bound to come up again. "Remember Chelsea Magni?"

"I thought you never actually went out with her."

"No, I did. Prongs had been driving me crazy, insisting I was going to die alone because I was fourteen and hadn't kissed anyone like you three had. You know he kept setting me up, so finally I gave in. Don't know where he thinks he's got room to talk, considering the only person he's been with is Heather Valson and that lasted what, three months?"

"Two and a half," Sirius happily corrected.

Remus rolled his eyes but kept going, "anyways, so yeah, tried it out with her, and it wasn't bad. I certainly enjoyed myself, but it was only the one date, honestly I'm not even sure what all we did should count as a date," he trailed off with a far away gleam in his eyes. "She broke it off right afterwards though because I wouldn't tell her why I kept getting sick all the time and missing classes, she seemed to convince herself I'd given her something contagious." He finished with an awkward smile he only reserved for the werewolf humor he used on them.

Sirius' smile was nothing but sympathetic now, so Remus was sure he was overthinking the first reaction.

Peter watched restlessly, as Remus and Sirius stood whispering in the farthest corner and James had eyes only on Lily. The chapter title was of no consequence to anyone, that pompous idiot would get one named after him. Evans had already dug right past that right into Harry's first day back at school, which started out quite eventful with a Howler of all things. He listened without much care as Ron's mother had a go at them. Frank was going through all the plants around them kindly and patiently with Alice. He spotted Regulus from the corner of his eye pacing restlessly near the back trestle table where all the earmuffs were stacked and waiting, eyeing the venomous-tentacula as he passed every sweep.

This was certainly nothing new, he wasn't even sure why it was hitting him so hard lately, but he couldn't deny the more frequently it was happening, the more it grated on his nerves he was once again left standing here without any of his friends taking notice, or trying to draw him into the conversation. He couldn't help blaming it on Sirius and Remus, a vicious edge to his thoughts as he glared at the two comfortably close together, smirking and laughing along at the door.

Things had been fine before their stupid spat, but when it had been going on both James and Remus had been so mopey he'd barely gotten a laugh out of any of them, yet he was still the one trying at least, and he'd thought they'd appreciated that. He'd missed Sirius of course do, but what he'd done had been horrible, and then he'd gone and acted like he hadn't even cared, treating them like they'd had the overreaction when he'd barely had one at all. Peter had even, foolishly he now realized, started to hope James and he could even do something together more often without Sirius always hanging around. It had never happened, and things had just gone right back to normal now without so much as a thank you to him for trying to keep it that way all along.

Lily couldn't help but smile with pride at Harry's guilt over what he'd caused the Weasley's. She wished he'd thought of that before he'd pulled such a stupid stunt, but it was such a good thing it occurred to him at all she'd have given him a hug if she could.

James was watching her smile, he always loved watching that the most as she rarely did it near him, but couldn't grasp why as he huffed in annoyance at Hermione's 'you deserved it,' air. He didn't dislike her, being the loyal friend she was, but he wished she wasn't so high and mighty about such a stupid thing as rules. It didn't help she was clearly so deluded by that idiot Lockhart, constantly trying to make a fool of his kid.

"Ouch," Frank winced in sympathy for Sprout having to tend to that mad tree. "Why would she put that tree in a sling at all? Surely the branches would grow back?"

"She'd no sooner make its regrowth harder than Flitwick would insult a student," Alice said with a kind smile as she glanced out through the glass window to see it set up just like that now.

"Lockhart's quite the idiot, thinking he knows better than Sprout about anything," James snorted enthusiastically, causing all three of them to jump, none of them had realized how close he'd gotten.

Lily sniffed and walked quickly away, intent now on the lesson about Mandrakes even if she knew plenty about them now.

James sighed in disappointment, but took it with his usual good grace and meandered back to his friends. Sirius and Remus were happily chatting away, but to his surprise, so was Peter with Regulus of all people, again.

James paused to access this for a moment. He couldn't understand Peter's sudden urge to do this so often. The first time he'd excused, trying to get Sirius' kid brother involved in a prank was quite brilliant, but ever since he'd seen them chatting together quite often. He'd never been one to postulate around, so he went over to find them in a conversation comparing the most pompous people they'd met. Not unreasonable, considering Lockhart was being one to Harry right now, lecturing him of all things on that flying car stunt.

"Really? I'd have thought Sirius was the worst in your family," Peter insisted good naturedly. "How can any Uncle be worse?"

"Don't ever take Sirius up on his offer of a family dinner, or you'll have to find out," Regulus chuckled. "This prattle Lockhart's going on about has nothing on Uncle Cygnus' stories about how he bested the worlds deadliest creatures. Man won't shut up about this Iron Belly he captured and put down in our vault."

James groaned as he jumped in by saying, "I'll bet Sirius hates that story in particular. "

"He does, as a matter of fact," Regulus' animated face dropped slightly as he eyed Potter wearily. It hadn't bothered him as much lately talking to Pettigrew, he'd made himself easily enough available over here muttering to himself, and he'd honestly just grown bored standing in the corner when nothing of interest was going on. Even now, Professor Sprout was going over the lesson on Mandrakes, something they were all well aware of. Now that Potter arrived however, he became much more aware of what his impulsive decision had lead him to doing. He didn't even know Pettigrews blood-status, how would this look to his friends, his parents?

It should have been even easier with Potter, Regulus tried to tell himself, he knew his blood status. He couldn't make the easy words keep coming though, now shifting guilty as if caught red handed.

James didn't seem to notice a thing, he had his head cocked to the side and was watching Evans again as some idiotic kid named Justin tried praising Lockhart's book, his Wanderings with Werewolves one in particular. He'd only skimmed a few sections and found it ridiculous, how could anyone fall for that?

Peter tried to reengage Regulus, mostly for revenge in James deciding to come over long after the fact when he'd actually had a conversation going. He was now being ignored by both.

Regulus couldn't help but be intrigued at Ron's broken wand and all the problems it was causing him. He remembered this redhead saying it was his elder brothers wand at some point, and so this one being on its lasts legs and not cooperating more than ever was fascinating to listen to. He'd interrogated Ollivander for ages on the properties of these when he'd first gone to him, pleasing his father immeasurably as he'd assured his son as they'd left the shop the wand-maker would likely make him his assistant in no time.

He and Frank were actually of the same mind. Frank had not forgotten what Ron had done for his son last year, and he wished he could do something for Ron now to return the favor.

Lily snorted violently at a kid with a camera appearing around a Potter. She was sure the one in here would actually pop from over-inflation, she still couldn't help picturing him instead of young Harry half the time.

Malfoy of course didn't help anything, and she really did wonder about that kid. He reminded her a bit of Sev, and she wondered what his story was, if he still acted around his friends or if he was a sweet, kind kid who listened to all of their problems. She sighed heavily as she realized she was projecting, how much she just missed her friend and wished she wasn't so alone on this journey, unlike everyone else who had someone to connect with.

James scoffed and got all huffy when Lockhart entered the scene and only made things worse, grabbing Peter and hauling him over to his other two friends.

"Do we know a Lockhart," he demanded of all three of them, "because we are soon. I'm sick of him singling my kid out."

"Not that I'm aware of," Remus shrugged without concern.

"They haven't said how old he is, so there's really no telling," Sirius shrugged, though his expression was a bit more miffed, briefly making James wonder what he'd interrupted them talking about, but then he pressed on anyways in a much quieter voice, thinking it was likely, "think I've got a new idea for Moony."

"Oh?" Peter said, finally looking like he was trying to be invested in this instead of making faces at them all. James also briefly considered asking what his problem was, but he had more important matters.

"Yeah, it'll only work if it's on Hogwarts grounds, but-"

He cut off, and all three of them understood why. Evans had continued all through their whispering, going on about Lockharts big-headed prattling and that stupid useless thing called a quiz that they all would have ignored anyways. Then the moron had let pixies loose in the class.

"Now see, why couldn't we ever get a teacher as mad as that," Sirius said at normal volume and then some, laughing like crazy.

"I don't believe that man's ever had anything to do with, any magical creature," Remus said slowly, for surely if he'd dealt with half the things he'd said he wouldn't be using such an obvious fake spell.

"What a fraud," Peter agreed impatiently, he'd already turned away from ignoring this and wanted to hear Prongs' plan, but all three of them were laughing now and concocting ways of doing this school wide in the castle.

When Lockhart vamoosed from the classroom leaving the kids in place and everyone else was just laughing at all these antics, Regulus again wondered if he was the only one wondering at the mystery at the beginning. Dobby had not made another appearance, though he was still sure his guess was right about it being the house-elf trying to keep the Potter kid out of school. The first day of classes had come and gone without a real incident, so those 'terrible and unspeakable,' things hadn't started up right away. Was anything at all going on, or was that house-elf as mad as his brother claimed this teacher was.