As inwardly worried as Sirius was, he was undoubtedly relieved to be heading in the same direction as James. Things could be worse, a lot worse. Sirius' thoughts drifted to Remus, as they so often did. Remus had grown more and more anxious over the last few days, he had allowed himself to become worked up at the thought of change and it was really taking a toll on him. Sirius felt he was the only one who had noticed Remus' loss of appetite and inability to focus, though it seemed as though Remus himself hadn't noticed either. 

James was making his way through the crowds at a speed almost impossible to match, weaving his way in and out of pupils and teachers, Sirius couldn't quite tell whether it was his nerves or excitement driving him forward, but one thing he did know was that he wasn't about to be phased by a muggle school. He spent the vast majority of his life living with his parents, nothing could be more terrifying than that.

Before Sirius had time to register what was happening, James had pulled him around a corner and was stood dramatically in front of a door, door 78.

"Well, here it is, darling Padfoot, your room awaits." James spoke in a voice that would not be out of place in a princess film. Sirius glanced at the watch on his wrist, gifted to him by Mrs Potter, and realised that there was still ten minutes until lessons began. He was about to vocalise said realisation to James, but his thoughts were interrupted by a high voice, pitched on such a scale your ears might bleed. 

"Oohhhh who's this then?" The voice spoke, making it's way towards Sirius. "Got fresh meat have we?" She continued, making her way into Sirius view. She was a tall girl with long  blonde hair swept over her right shoulder. Her eyes were ash-like and her lips were so thickly coated with lipstick that Sirius wasn't even sure she had lips. Sirius got the immediate impression that this girl was not the most innocent. The girl was physically flirting in every way she found fit, but when she reached out to put her hand in Sirius' hair, enough was enough.  

"Excuse me." Sirius spoke indignantly, taking a harsh step back. "But I don't believe we've met and I find it rather intrusive to be so forward at first greeting." He smirked sidewards at James, knowing that only he would understand his usual method of introduction. 

The girl looked confused and glanced back at her friend who simply shrugged, uninterested in whatever was going on.  She turned back to Sirius with a disgruntled look on her face. "Are you calling me a whore?" She asked sounding indifferently offended. Sirius replied with a confused look, this wasn't at all what he was implying and he knew she wouldn't understand, but he didn't think she'd assume so far.

"No, no. Why would I...?" Sirius began, but he was cut off by the suggestive smile creeping onto the girl's face.

"Well, if that's what you want...I'm sure I could spare you some time, sweetie." She was suddenly speaking in the most un-erotic seductive tone Sirius had ever heard-and he had heard James talking to his own reflection. 

Sirius made the educated realisation that the time to escape was now or never. He turned urgently to James. "I'm gonna find Remus." He said with haste evident in his voice, he couldn't care less how desperate he sounded.

James smirked and chuckled to himself as he answered. "His room was down the second corridor we passed, no doubt he would have gone with Peter instead of following sense." Sirius didn't waste a second before jogging off down the hallway, as far away from flirt-central as he could possibly get. 

As he walked, Sirius couldn't help but laugh at how observant James often was, he had noted exactly where Remus' classroom was, probably knowing that Sirius would want to escape in that direction. He really loved that guy sometimes. 

Sirius slowed his pace as he passed the second corridor, knowing that he would not yet find Remus down there, but instead headed in the direction Remus and Peter had taken prior to the moment. Sirius passed classroom 13, there was already a group of people huddled around the door, he considered looking out for Peter just for a second before realising that the only person he wanted to see at all was Remus.

Walking further down the corridor, Sirius slowed his stride to a more natural pace, he knew Remus would be around the halls somewhere. As he rounded a corner, Sirius recognised the shape of a certain werewolf slumped over his bag. He hesitated for a second before making his way towards Remus, guessing that he'd have heard his footsteps he couldn't help smile as Remus jumped as Sirius placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

"Lost are we." He asked, not bothering to hide the amusement in his voice. As Remus rose, a displeased look spread across his face, but Sirius knew that he was more than relieved to see  him.

 "No, thank you, I am simply re-evaluating my route." He said nonchalantly, with a joking tone hinting in his voice. Sirius didn't quite understand why, but it was like he was seeing Remus in a whole new light, he seemed vulnerable in the most innocent way, he seemed almost clueless and had an air about him that felt lonely and lost, in every sense of the word.

Brushing off this thought, Sirius spoke up again. "C'mon, you idiot, I know where you've got to go." He was about to lead him down the corridor to the right when he felt Remus hesitate.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be in class? Where's James?" He asked in a way that made things almost seem right again.Sirius thought this very typical querying of Remus, always looking for the loopholes of the situation.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, Moony." Sirius replied, chuckling inwardly seeing the small, involuntary scowl creep onto Remus face as Sirius ruffled his hair as though he was a toddler. "James and I found our classes straight away and passed your's on the way. Plus I was sick of the flirting already, so I thought I'd come find you." He made a disgruntled face remembering the girl from not so long ago.

As they walked, Sirius recalled all of the events of that morning, though it seemed as though the day had not yet begun, Sirius felt himself at the end of his emotional tether. He thought again of the flirt outside the classroom and realised, no matter how soppy the thought, that she was the reason he was so drawn to Remus at that moment, he needed to know that he was still there, it was too odd not constantly being with all three of the other boys yet they had hardly been apart for any measure of time.

Sirius decided that now was the right time to  voice his thoughts. "Do you know something, Remus?" He asked, Remus looked up at him, anticipating the rest of the statement with a small smirk on his face. "The path to gay heaven is blocked by a barricade of straight girls with nasty intentions, don't even look twice at them." He said seriously. Remus laughed but Sirius felt he had never spoken truer words.

A bell rang through the school, it was uncomfortable to Sirius' ears but he felt something he couldn't quite explain when he saw Remus flinch at the sound. He wanted to put his arm around Remus and leave, he wanted to pack his things and go straight back to the safety of Hogwarts, but he knew that was not an option, they would just have to grin and bare it day by day. 

Sirius knew he would have to rush if he wanted to make it back to class before his teacher arrived, but he couldn't simply depart, throwing caution to the wind, Sirius took Remus' face in his hands and kissed him . He kissed him lightly and quickly but with every ounce of himself and that was all that mattered.

He jogged down the hall with a lucid grin on his face, he didn't dare look back to see the aftermath because he knew that if he did, he wouldn't want to leave again. The halls and corridors were beginning to clear so Sirius' path was free, though it proved no fine feat as by the time Sirius reached the class, the teacher was closing the door. This first impression wasn't going to go so well.

Sirius quickly pushed his hand against the door to prevent it closing, the teacher noticed this and positioned his face to be in Sirius' sight line in the gap between the door frame and partly shut door. The man was thin and tall, from what Sirius could see. He had piercing green eyes and greying hair that fell into his face. His lips were drawn in a displeased manor.

"Shakespeare once said," The teacher began to say. "better three hours too soon than a minute too late." 

Sirius decided to speak against his better judgement. "My hand was on the door in time." He smiled hopefully as the teacher gave in and pulled the door open.

"You will soon learn that punctuality will get you far in life." The teacher spoke again in a rather monotone manor. "Go and sit down, I don't care where." 

Sirius nodded and looked around the room for the most secluded space, he decided that making friends was not high on his list of things to do today. Sirius took a seat at a desk with one other boy and girl occupying it, though they seemed so intrigued with each other that they did not seem likely to be bothered my Sirius' presence.    

As soon as the class had settled, the teacher took the register, making it blatantly obvious that Sirius' name was not one you would often come across. The class then slowly slithered back up to a conversational noise level when the teacher said nothing about the whispering here and there. Sirius heard his name mentioned more than a few times and felt longing glances burn into the back of his head, but each time he would allow his thoughts to drift back to Remus, he would wonder how he was holding up, he would wonder if Remus was thinking of him, he would try to put himself in Remus' position. And before long the bell had rung once more, signalling the end of the lesson. Sirius realised that half an hour had passed in a matter of moments as he sat pining over his own boyfriend. He was actually ashamed of himself for stooping to James Potter-Lily Evans level of desperation.