Remus and James headed quickly down to room 62, relieved when they saw Other James and his band of merry bastards heading to a classroom across the corridor. Though, not quite as relieved as they were when they saw Sirius and Peter stood outside the exact room they were about to enter. 

All four boys seemed to make the realisation at the same time, and Remus felt he got the best end of the bargain, as he could hear the reaction of each boy, private from anyone else as not to let on their seemingly random excitement. 

James muttered a low 'Oh thank God', proof that he had Lily Evans on his mind, by the use of the word 'god' as opposed to any other alternative. 

Peter, who seemed contented already, gave a small chuckle, this was something Remus noticed Peter did a lot, whenever he was inwardly feeling happy, or relieved, or anything positive at all. 

It was Sirius who Remus was most touched by, the was his heart seemed to skip, it began to beat just a little faster, matching the pace of Remus' when their eyes met. Remus could pretty much pinpoint the sound of Sirius' heart over any level of noise, it was as though they were connected in a way that was supernatural and otherworldly, a type of magic they could never encounter during a lesson at Hogwarts. 

As the previous class of younger pupils trailed out of the room, Peter introduced his 'new friend'. 

"Ruby, you've already met Sirius..." He began, Ruby gave a little wary murmur of agreement, Remus shot Sirius a questioning look, who fired back the 'I'll tell you later, its a long story I'll still be telling at 3am' look. 

"..And this is James..." Peter continued, clearly trying to avoid the whole Ruby-Sirius thing.

Ruby held out a delicate hand in greeting and spoke as James shook it tentatively, "Nice to meet you." She still seemed questioning of Peter's friends since her first impression of Sirius. 

"...And Remus." Peter said, almost sounding relieved, as if Remus couldn't say anything that could possibly cloud Ruby's judgement of him. 

Ruby, again, held out her hand, saying nothing, but carefully studying Remus' hand as she shook it. 

"Odd." She said finally as she released Remus' hand .

"What?" James and Sirius both asked in a somewhat threatening tone, immediately jumping to conclusions and assuming Remus needed protection. Remus just gave them both a look of disbelief, he thought it had been made very clear to them that he could look after himself when he was the only one ballsy enough to speak to teachers. 

"Woah, nothing, it's just that you all seem to have really rough hands, but Remus' are softer." Ruby seemed 'away with the fairies' as a muggle may say-though the Marauders knew better than to want anything to do with fairies. Her light, airy tone had a mystical tone to it, not unlike that of that Trelawney girl in Ravenclaw.

Sirius and James, taken aback by her comment, simply turned and followed the rest of the class in to room 62.

Walking in to the class, James felt a sudden sense of security, knowing he was about to embark upon his first maths lesson, the one thing about muggle school he was actually looking forward to. 

Though, as the Marauders found themselves luckily seated all together, with the addition of Peter's new shadow, James and the others quickly found out that they really didn't have a clue. 

Mr Hill seemed nice enough, he had not pointed out any name obscurities, questioned their previous education, or drawn any unnecessary attention to them, again, nice enough.  He had placed a textbook in front of each of the boys and instructed Ruby to teach them how to do quadratic equations. 

This was something James had looked over, and was confident in, but looking at the O Level style questions made him realise that he would really have to put his head down. 

Sirius had pretty much given up before he'd even started, deciding that he would start afresh tomorrow.

Remus was really trying, he wasn't quite failing, but success wouldn't be the correct word to describe his attempts. 

Peter, surprisingly, was doing very well, actually. His infatuation with Ruby seemed to be having a positive effect on him. Peter, for the second time in his life-next only to meeting the Marauders, felt a sense of belonging and worth, he knew what he was doing and he had someone there to support him when he needed it. He felt like Ruby understood him and wanted to help him. He felt valued. 

A little way into the lesson, with the Marauders finally getting to grips with the work, with the exception of Sirius, who just seemed to be watching Remus' pen move across the page, Ruby seemed to get bored, she wanted conversation, but everyone was too focused, and she couldn't stand for it. 

"Hey, so, I know nothing about you guys, other that that you are unnaturally close, you were home schooled and that you've apparently never had an actual maths lesson before."  Ruby inquired, she seemed wholly sceptical about the, granted make-believe, backstory the Marauders had adopted. She was almost too intrigued in the eyes of Sirius, and James felt a hint of more-than-friendly intentions. 

"Yes, well, all of the above is correct, and I am trying to do this work, so if you don't mind..." James replied shortly, looking back down at his work, indicating clearly that he did not want to talk to her. 

"So how come you were home schooled together, I thought it was just pretentious rich kids that did that?" She continued, it wasn't as if she didn't take the hint, she was just persistent.

"It's a long story." Remus replied, kicking himself as he did so, knowing from experience that saying that only provoked further questions. 

"I've got all day." Ruby replied, raising her eyebrows in challenge and leaning forward on the table. 

"With all due respect, Ruby, we do have quite a lot of work to be doing seeing as we are such ignoramuses, so if you could kindly let us get on with it without the distraction, it would be much appreciated." Sirius answered, his temper growing unnaturally short, Ruby seemed to be having an effect on both James and Sirius that they didn't quite understand.

"Well you don't seem to be doing any work at all." Ruby fired back, just as quick to answer as James. 

Before Sirius could retort again, Peter spoke quietly and tentatively, as if  walking on eggshells, to Ruby; "Will you please just stop? We're all trying our best here." The was Peter spoke reminded Remus and Sirius of their previous encounters with George and Ellie, making Sirius twitch with annoyance. 

Ruby did as she was asked, though she made it very clear that she was doing it on her own accord, rather than by the demand of a man, and continued the lesson in silence.

James, as it transpired, did not like Ruby, there was no reason to it, he just didn't like her or her intentions, and James always trusted his gut feelings. 

Sirius also disliked Ruby, because there was something off about her, as well as the fact that James didn't like her, so Sirius automatically disliked her, by proxy. 

Remus was not quick to judge, but he was glad that Peter had made a friend. 

A good few confusing equations later, the bell rang through the school once more, triggering the stampede of pupils to come thundering out of the classrooms.

"It's break now, you all might as well come with me, you're not going to be able to sit anywhere otherwise, the library is always empty though, for future reference." Ruby stated, clearly hoping to cling on to Peter for a little longer. But James could take no more of her.

"Actually, I think it would be best if we just go to the library, Remus and I have some reading to do by tomorrow anyway." 

"Oh okay, have fun," Ruby replied before turning to Peter, "we'll go on our own then." 

This crossed the line, it was their first day in separated lessons in five years, some girl was not about to come along and just steal Peter away. All three boys, sharing one thought, gave Peter the warning look, the look that told him there was only one option in this situation. 

Peter smiled shyly at Ruby, "Sorry, actually, I think I should go too." Guilt written all over his face, Peter refused to look back at Ruby as he followed his friends.