"WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

James jumped out of bed, thinking that something dreadful had happened. He saw that Sirius was ready to go downstairs.

"What?" asked James angrily.

"Won't you get up? It's already seven," he said.

"Exactly. It's only seven," pointed out James, annoyed.

But Sirius wouldn't rest till he had got James and Peter out of their beds. Remus had already vanished. It was the first time James and Peter learnt that Sirius was a morning person—a trait that was sometimes useful for them, but mostly always annoying.

They went to the Great Hall for breakfast. The food was as great as last night.

In the middle of the meal there was a great rustling of wings, and the children looked up to see hundreds of owls arriving with the morning post.

A red letter dropped in front of Sirius.

"A Howler!" cried Peter, looking horrified.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I was expecting as much."

He opened it.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" shouted a high pitched female voice. "WE HAVE NEVER EVER FACED SUCH HUMILIATION AS WE DID YESTERDAY! ANDROMEDA WAS BAD ENOUGH, GOING TO RAVENCLAW! BUT GRYFFINDOR! WHEN WILL YOU LEARN TO BEHAVE LIKE A PROPER BLACK? WE ARE SO ASHAMED OF YOU! I SUPPOSE IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU START MINGLING WITH MUDBLOODS TOO..." It went on and on for about five minutes before it crumbled to dust.

The Great Hall was silent for almost a minute. Every single person stared at Sirius.

Sirius looked supremely unconcerned, and he continued eating as if he hadn't heard anything. James opened his mouth to say something sympathetically but he closed it when Sirius glanced at him warningly.

When they were leaving the hall, Sirius muttered mutinously, "I bet Bellatrix told her right away yesterday. Git!"

"Ok, cheer up!" said James, taking his arm. "We have Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall first. Where do you suppose the classroom is?"

"On the third floor," volunteered Peter.

They had difficulty in finding the classroom because they tried hard to force open a door on the second floor, but after few minutes, Gideon Prewett, who was passing by, told them, "That's just a stretch of wall—it's pretending to be a door. Save your time."

James, Sirius and Peter relaxed their efforts, thanked the sixth year boy and went in search of their classroom.

On the way, they met Hagrid. "Yeh'r Harold's son, aren't yeh?" he asked, smiling down at James.

"Yes," said James, grinning back. "He told me about you."

"He is a great man, Harold Potter," said Hagrid warmly. "Yeh take it after 'im, don't yeh?"

James laughed.

"Too early to say," said Sirius. "And if we don't go now, Professor McGonagall will probably give us detention—we're already ten minutes late."

"What!" cried James. "Hagrid, where's the Transfiguration room?"

Hagrid gave them the instructions, and they set off at a run. A gleaming eyed cat came in their way, hissing.

"Get lost, you beast," snapped Sirius. When it didn't, Sirius kicked it to one side. The cat spat and yowled, and the caretaker Argus Filch appeared, his eyes gleaming spitefully.

"Which of you kicked my cat?" he asked.

"Sorry, we're late!" yelled James as they didn't slow down, but sped into the classroom.

Professor McGonagall was not amused. "You're late," she said sternly.

"We got lost, Professor," squeaked Peter.

"All right, settle down quickly," said the teacher. "As I was saying before, can anyone tell me the exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elementary Transfiguration?"

Lily's hand shot up at once.

"Miss Evans?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"The exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elementary Tranfiguration are," began Lily at top speed. "Food..."

The door opened and Filch looked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, Professor, but one of these boys kicked my cat a little while ago and..." he said wheezingly.

"Who was it?" asked the Professor.

Sirius stood up, his lips twitching. "Actually it was me, Professor. That cat got in our way, so I kicked it."

"Wow! You seriously kicked Mrs. Norris?" asked Marlene with a giggle.

"Quiet, Miss McKinnon," said Professor McGonagall, frowning. "You may leave us, Filch."

"But surely you are going to punish...?"

"I will deal with that later," she said coldly. "Please leave at once."

Sirius winked at James.

"5 points from Gryffindor, Mr. Black. Such behavior is not expected from any of you. Continue your answer, Miss Evans."

Lily won back 5 points for their house.

"Looks like we have got a teacher's pet in this room," Sirius drawled to James. Lily overheard his words and kept shooting them dark glares all through the class.

--------------------

Their next class was Potions with the Slytherins. Professor Slughorn, the Potions master, and also Head of Slytherin house, welcomed them enthusiastically.

"I trust you have all gone through your textbook?" he asked.

Lily answered at once, "Yes, Professor."

Peter sent an alarmed glance at James and Sirius.

"Don't worry, Peter, we haven't even opened it once," said James, grinning at his face.

Professor Slughorn took Lily's answer as an answer from the entire class. "All right, then. Today, in the first lesson, I'll give you a simple potion to brew, just so that I can judge your elementary potion making aptitude. Turn to page 28, please, and begin. If you need any help. I'm always here. You may work in pairs."

James and Sirius went to the same table, and Peter looked lost for a moment. Then James suggested, "Why don't you work with Remus? He's alone too."

So Peter went to Remus' table. There was silence for a few minutes as they read the instructions and began.

"I've never even heard of these stuff, have you?' asked Sirius, looking disgusted. "Spleen—what's that?"

"I think we're supposed to know that. Look at them," said James, nodding at Peter and Remus. They were going along fine, Remus doing most of the work.

"And them," said Sirius maliciously. Lily and Snape, who were working together, were already halfway through.

Just then Professor Slughorn passed them. "My goodness, I have never seen such progress in a first lesson! Is it your first time of making a potion, Miss Evans?" he asked.

"Yes," said Lily, smiling at him.

"You must be a natural then, and you too, Mr. Snape," he said heartily, and passed on.

"And we haven't even started," said Sirius.

James glared resentfully at the successful pair. "I wish we could upset their cauldron," he said.

"All right, then," said Sirius, grinning. He sauntered over to the offending table.

"Hey, Evans, could you tell me what a spleen is?" he asked.

Lily looked at him suspiciously, and Snape glared at him. Then she pointed to a weird squashed thing and said ungraciously, "Here."

"Thanks!" said Sirius, and turned to go.

Lily and Snape's cauldron exploded. Sirius darted back to James.

Lily screamed and stepped back.

"Now, Miss Evans, what happened?" asked Slughorn.

"It was Black, Professor!" said Lily shrilly. "He did something to our potion!"

Slughorn came over and examined the remains of the broken cauldron. The last bits of a Dungbomb were found there.

"Did you throw a Dungbomb at their cauldron, Mr. Black?" asked Slughorn sternly.

Sirius stood up. "Well...I suppose my hand must've slipped. Sorry, Evans."

Lily looked furious.

"I am afraid that means a detention. Report to my office at eight on Sunday," said the teacher.

"Professor, will we make the potion again?" asked Lily anxiously.

"There isn't any more time left, Lily," said the teacher kindly. "All of you, clear up now!"

As they left the room, Snape hissed at James and Sirius, "You will be sorry."

James and Sirius laughed.

A/N: Votes and comments would mean the world to me 💞