The bell rang through the school, triggering the masses of pupils to come pouring out of their classrooms. Sirius retreated back to where he knew Peter to be, their class was only a few doors down from there, he only hoped the situation would be similar for the other two.

Peter was hesitant to move too far from his form room, he didn't want to ask his form teacher where to go and most approachable-looking pupils had already moved on to their lessons, he just hoped that Sirius would head in his direction, fast.

Much to Peter's mitigation, Sirius arrived at his from class before he had moved more than two doors down the corridor.

"Sirius! Great let's go-wait, do you know where we're supposed to be?" Peter asked, realising that in all the time he spent alone in form, he hadn't once thought to look at his timetable.

Luckily, Sirius had. He chuckled at Peter as he shook his head and grabbed his arm pulling him in the right direction, he knew Peter would play lost in the hope that Sirius would find him, that was just the kind of guy Peter was.

They made their way to room 18 to find they were the first ones there. To pass the time, they relived their form class experiences, Sirius spoke of flirt girl and Mr punctuality. Peter told the cautionary tale of Eve and Scott and how he apparently appears deaf when lost in thought. All the while pupils were turning up, all too absorbed in their own conversations to bother looking twice at Peter and Sirius.

The teacher that arrived soon after was a short woman, shorter than any pupil in this class, with long black hair and an expression that bared far too much enthusiasm for either of the boys likings. She lead the pupils into the room and began taking the register immediately.

The room they were now in could hardly be called a generic classroom, all tables and chairs had been pushed back against the wall, leaving exposed carpeted ground in the middle of the room. Sirius and Peter followed in suit as the class sat on the floor, all facing the large blackboard that had the word 'Introductions' written on it accompanied with a smiley face. 

The teacher spoke in a voice that would only seem in place on stage in front of a 5000 strong audience, she was light and airy in a traumatising way. She didn't skip a beat when passing over Sirius and Peter's names, it was as though she had known them for as long as any other pupil in the class. 

"Okay," She spoke in a singsong voice that reminded the two boys painfully of Professor Trelawney. "Today we're all channeling our inner selves. We have new pupils so it only seems fitting that we work on an actors most difficult role; being themselves." Sirius and Peter kept their heads down as they felt people turn to look at them at the mention of new pupils.

"Right, let's see...George, yes, George. Come up here, George, we're going to introduce ourselves to one another okay? Good." She spoke with a certain vigour as a boy walked to the front, pushing his black curls from his face as he did so. 

George seemed less than reluctant but also none too pleased to be called upon so soon, though a small smirk played on his face as a girl could be heard whispering "My boyfriend, everyone."

The attention was quickly directed from George back to the teacher as she cleared her throat and began to speak. "I am Jane Petra, actress, singer, dancer and above all, teacher at this fine establishment." She held out her hand and the boy that shook it before gently placing a kiss upon her knuckles definitely was not the boy that was seen just moments ago.

The George that was now stood in front of them had pushed back his shoulders and held his head high, the hand that was not holding that of Mrs Petra's was placed dignantly behind his back as he took to his role. "I am George Ball, m'lady, it's a pleasure to meet you, I must say, I have heard only the best of things about you. It truly is an honour to be stood in your presence." He spoke formally, perfectly pronouncing every syllable. This much amazed Peter, the idea of escaping and becoming someone else, even in your own persona, made him want more, need more. 

Sirius, on the other hand, found the whole thing quite foolish. He was no stranger to over dramatising himself, but the whole acting thing took it too far for him. 

"Oh, Mr Ball." The teacher now said in a tone of absolute flattery. 

"Please, call me George." George replied, smirking as he bent down in a low bow.

The class began to applaud as both actors took a bow. A girl stood and ran towards the front with an almost determined aggression, she wasted not one moment in grabbing George's tie and pulling him into a rough kiss. She was clearly the girl from earlier.

George allowed the kiss to go on for a short moment before placing his hands on the girls shoulders and pushing himself away. This reminded Sirius of the moment he had shared with his own significant other, what seemed like an age ago. 

"Okay, okay, Ellie, I think everyone gets the point." George spoke low, close to her ear as their hands intertwined and they made their way back to the floor. 

Everyone looked back to Mrs Petra to see her smiling happily at the couple before realising the attention was back on her. She clapped her hands briskly before continuing with the lesson.

"I'm going to pair each of you with another and you are going to introduce yourselves, don't hold back, accentuate each of your resounding features and really get to know yourself. In 15 minutes you will each report back to the class giving a short character description of your partner." She began calling the names of pupils who happily stood to meet their partners and take to their own little space of the room.

Peter ended up paired with Ruby Woods and Sirius with Ellie Thomas-George's girlfriend. Sirius trudged slowly to where George and Ellie now stood as Peter practically flew across the room in excitement. 

Sirius stood awkwardly in front of them and ran his hand through his hair, it was unlike him to seem so shy and retiring but he felt universes out of his comfort zone. George was the first to speak up, he explained, more for Sirius' benefit, that there was an odd number of pupils in the class so he could sit this one out, though Ellie seemed reluctant to let go of his hand. George gave his girlfriend a slight nudge of encouragement before he finally dropped his hand and stepped forward to hold it out for Sirius. 

"I didn't catch your name?" She asked as Sirius shook her hand.

"I didn't throw it...Sirius." He replied grudgingly, his humour wasted on this girl. He knew he would be taking precautions to avoid as many future drama lessons as possible.  

"You don't have a last name then do you? Or a middle name? I'm Elinor Cerys Thomas, but you will call me Ellie." She spoke with a certain confidence and authority that reminded Sirius of Lily in so many ways. 

"Fine, Sirius Orion Black, but you will call me Sirius." Sirius mimicked her tone with much less actual purpose and more surge of hatred for the room he was in. 

Ellie frowned slightly  then laughed lightly, she turned to George, who was still but a step behind her, and said "That's the second person we've met today with an odd name. Peculiar don't you think?" Her statement was clearly harmless but made Sirius feel strange none the less, it seemed out of place to him for someone to be judged on the obscurity of their name rather than the name bound to them by family.

George now stepped forward and placed his hand gently on Ellie's shoulder, he spoke as though Ellie was a child rather than his girlfriend, as though he held a moral responsibility over her, as a parent would to their child. 

"Ellie." He scolded with a small frown forming between his eyes, she looked up at him and shrugged, she seemed truly clueless that what she had said could possibly be at all insensitive. "I'm sorry, there was a new kid in our form and Ellie, well, Ellie's hard to love until you know her. Not exactly  the sharpest tool in the shed, are you?" He said, directing the last part back at Ellie. George seemed kind and it was apparent to Sirius that he must love this girl a hell of a lot because most people would turn and run if faced with her for too long. 

Sirius had decided to play nice, to say that it was fine and maybe even make a joke about his name, but then Ellie spoke up again. "I still don't get what the deal with him was though. He didn't look very happy." She said as though being unhappy in her presence was a sin. She then turned to Sirius and continued to talk. "He had these scars down his face though, it was right st-" She cut her sentence short, clearly seeing the look on Sirius' face as her realised just who they were talking about. 

His jaw clenched and he felt his ears redden, he didn't understand how people could be so rude, they didn't know Remus, they didn't know what he'd gone through, this girl who had hardly known him for half an hour had the gall to feel right to judge him, the audacity to talk about him with a look of disgust on her face. He surprised himself with how calm his voice projected.

"Oh, you've met Remus then?" He asked, not really sure what he felt he was going to achieve with such a question.

George was bent close to Ellie talking under his breath about how he'd told her not to bring the subject up, he sounded firm but the pure affection in his voice never wavered. He turned now to Sirius with an apologetic look on his face. 

"Yeah, you know him I'm assuming?" He seemed cautious in his speech, as if Sirius was a bomb about to detonate at the slightest of jolts. 

"You could say that, I've only lived with him for...around five years now." Sirius' voice now shook as he spoke, he didn't even want to think about what it must be like for Remus, he thought back to First Year when Remus would hide his face and shy away from people in the halls, he thought about how long it's taken for Remus to be happy and how that must all be slowly stripping away. 

George was about to speak again, when Ellie intervened once more. "So you must know how he got the -" 

Sirius turned away quickly, he didn't want to get angry at her, she meant no harm, but he couldn't take it any longer. He scanned the room and found Peter, he grabbed his arm and told him he'd have to find his own way to the next lesson, and with that, Sirius left the  room without a seconds glance back. 

Peter was entirely confused, though he didn't care much, he was enjoying the new company a little too much. This girl was beautiful and he could listen to her talk for hours. He was glad that all she wanted to know about him was his name and hobbies, she was far to interesting to be silenced. Peter felt strange, he had known this girl no longer that half an hour but he felt suddenly like a hopeless romantic, he felt he finally knew what James felt as he looked at Lily, he felt he understood the years Remus and Sirius pathetically pinned over each other. 

Peter had girlfriends before, that was nothing new, but he felt for once that he believed in true love, love at first sight, he felt stupid and idiotic but no one else in the room mattered when he was looking at Ruby.

Peter was so captivated by this girl that when it came time to describe her, he didn't care that a whole class was watching him, he just let go.

"Ruby Juliette Woods is a spectacle . She is smart, beautiful and ambitious. She is determined to go to to 3rd world countries to help save undernourished children. She is asexual but over romanticises her life. She believes in astrology and the mundane type of magic. She is loyal to her friends to her grave. Her hair is like a tamed lions mane and her skin is glowing. Ruby's lips are like a gentle calming rose. Her eyes are wise beyond her years and are so dark they hold the stars, the moon and all the secrets of the universe." Peter was aware that his voice now had a ridiculous dream-like tone to it, but he didn't care. He was, however, glad that Sirius was no longer in the room because had Sirius been present, Peter would never have heard the end of it until his dying days. 

Peter had hardly begun to enjoy the lesson enough when the bell rang once more, as the class dismissed, the teacher called after them. "If anyone sees Sirius, please tell him he is not welcome back in my class."