Sirius Black

Sirius searched the Great Hall for Leah White, feeling nervous for the first time in his life. James seemed to pick up on this, giving him a thumbs up. Remus sat across them, fiddling with his thumbs, and Peter, who was asleep when the midnight discussion between Moony, Padfoot and Prongs took place, had been given a quick, brief description of the nights events. He hadn't been given all the details, so he was still in deep thought. 

He just wanted to make sure that the girl he saw for a few seconds the night before was actually the girl who was in the yearbook. 

Sirius worried that perhaps the girl would come in and be disguised, as she had been for the first  three years of her Hogwarts life. 

There was no need to worry. She came in, surrounded by her three friends, and followed by four boys who were trying to ask her out. 

Sirius realized how annoying they looked, and decided that he was not going to do that. On the plus side, that was definitely Leah White, the same girl he had fallen in love with last night. 

"There she is, Pad." James said to Sirius, as though Sirius had missed her entrance. 

Remus looked weary of her. "I dunno, Sirius. What if she's mean and snobby? Just because she's pretty doesn't mean she's pretty on the inside too." 

James shrugged. "She's shy. Shy girls are usually unproblematic." 

"I'm not going to talk to her." Sirius decided. 

"Why not?" Peter asked. "You clearly-" 

Remus quickly whispered something in Peter's ear that made him take back whatever he was going to say.

They quickly ate their breakfast in silence, and a thought of worry crossed over his mind. If she was so popular, and boys wanted to ask her out, what if she fell for one of them? He shook his head. He was overthinking it. And what if Remus was right? What if Leah White was snobbish and mean? 

The silence was broken when James spotted Lily and her friends walking over to their usual spot on the end of the table. 

"Lilyflower! Hey! Your hair looks really good, what shampoo do you use?" James asked, trying to be nice. 

Sirius froze. Behind her, Leah White and Alice Fortescue were chatting to each other, Leah completely unaware of Sirius' presence. Remus and Peter seemed to pick up on this, and casted a curious glance at Sirius. 

Lily obviously took offense to this comment. "I use the same shampoo all the time, Potter. Stop trying to make me fall for you, it's never going to happen." With that, Lily continued on walking with Marlene, Leah and Alice, and James frowned as he saw the retreating figure of Lily.

"Oh yes it is." James said. "I'm going to make it happen if it's the last thing I do." 

"Y'know, you can't force someone into love." Remus said, forking a slice of his pancake. 

"Yes you can!" Peter interjected. "Amortentia!" 

"I mean real love." Remus rephrased. 

"Oh." Peter said, looking crestfallen. "Yeah, I dunno....." 

Sirius was hardly paying attention to their conversation. He hadn't gotten his schedule yet, so he didn't know if the Gryffindors had any classes where the teachers would do group work. If they did, then maybe Sirius could introduce himself to Leah White, and start a friendship.

His heart started beating a little faster when he saw Professor McGonagall approaching them, with timetables in her hands. 

"Potter, Lupin, Black, Pettigrew. Here are your timetables." Professor McGonagall handed each one to them, and Sirius eagerly took it. 

Double potions....that was unfortunate, but perhaps Professor Slughorn would pair them up.....after lunch it was Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and Sirius realized that Herbology also did partnered work most of the time. 

After that was Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins, which Sirius hated, and he once again thanked Merlin that his brother Regulus was younger than him, and Sirius didn't have to endure seeing him during lessons. 

"Whoa, this is all group work." James pointed out. "Well, maybe except for Care of Magical Creatures." 

"Why did we sign up for that?" Peter asked. "We all think Professor Kettleburn is weird and a bore." 

James stifled a laugh as he bite into his toast. "I find it interesting how he visits the hospital every other week." 

Remus and Peter laughed, but Sirius didn't join in. 

"Someone's awfully quiet." Remus said, cleaning off his plate. 

"He's probably thinking about Leah Gray." Peter said, and Remus whispered something else into his ear, that made Peter say, "I mean white. They're all the same, aren't they? I mean Black and white make gray, and gray is just a darker version of white and a lighter version of black.." 

The Marauders, even Sirius, looked at Peter weirdly. "I mean.." Peter said his little eyes darting from Remus to James to Sirius. "Actually, I don't mean. Never mind." 

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Sirius and the Marauders were the first ones to arrive in double Potions, and Sirius made sure that James and Remus sat together, and Peter sat alone, so that there was an empty seat beside Sirius, which Sirius hoped Leah White would sit in. 

Professor Slughorn came out of his office, a box of crystallized pineapple in his hand. 

"Oho! You four are early!" Slughorn said, swallowing a piece of his favourite snack. "Why so?" 

"Wanted to get the best seats, Professor." Remus said, acting like the perfect student. Coming from Remus, Slughorn believed it. 

"I bet you talked them into it?" Slughorn said, sitting down in his desk in the middle of the classroom. 

"Oh yes, he did. Pestered us all the way here." James said helpfully. Sirius was half paying attention, he was nodded along to Slughorn, and half checking the door. 

Slughorn and Remus started chatting about some new potion, Sirius didn't know which one,  when the door opened and Sirius heard the sound of a girl talking. Sirius's hopes got up, only to see a girl with long red hair enter. 

It was Lily Evans. 

Sirius tried to look behind her, but he only saw Alice Fortescue. Weren't Lily and Alice friends with Leah, and didn't they have a little group together? With Marlene McKinnon? 

So where were those other two?

Sirius looked over at Professor Slughorn, who had stopped talking to Remus and was ready to greet Lily and Alice. 

"Lily! Alice! Pleasure to see you, how was your summer?" He boomed. 

"He didn't give that introduction to us." Peter grumbled. 

James sighed. "He's talking to Lily Evans. Who wants to talk to us boring boys when you could talk to Lily?" 

Remus leaned over from his seat and asked Sirius, "Where's Leah?" 

"I don't know, I'm trying to figure that out myself!" Sirius whispered back. Remus shrugged and went back to his seat. 

Sirius saw James trying to switch places with Peter, trying to get the empty seat, obviously hoping Lily would sit next to him. 

As the rest of the class started filing in, Lily and Alice had to sit down, and James eagerly patted down the seat next to him. 

Lily took one look at the seat, crinkled her nose, then walked and took the seat one row down from James, next to Alice. James frowned. 

Sirius' eyes were kept trained on the door, so much that his neck started to hurt. 

Finally, after what seemed like so many minutes that they had to be late, Leah walked in, panting, next to Marlene. 

"Miss White!" Professor Slughorn said. "It's a pleasure to see you again!" 

Leah breathed out slowly, stood up straight and said, "It's nice to see you again, professor!" She blushed. "Sorry I'm late." 

Sirius felt his insides turn and twist. 

"I'll give you the pass, Miss White, because it's your first day back." Slughorn said. "Just make sure you are here on time next lesson." 

Leah nodded. Sirius smiled at himself as he and Leah realized there were no empty tables with two seats available. The only two remaining were the ones beside Sirius and James. Sirius prayed that Marlene would take the one next to James.

Leah and Marlene looked around, and Marlene sighed as she saw that James had an empty seat. "I'll save you, and I'll sit next to The Flirter." Marlene whispered to Leah, and Leah looked weary. "Uh....." Leah said. "I can sit next to him if you want," She offered. 

"No, seriously, you don't want to sit next to The Flirter." Marlene told her quietly. "He'll just keep on asking you questions about Lily." 

"OK, fine." Leah said, and Marlene walked over to James, looked at him through a sideways glance, then sat down. James looked very disappointed. 

Sirius watched as Leah walked over to him, waved, and sat down.

He thanked the cloud of luck over his head. 

So now all he had to do was introduce himself. 

Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter, I had to rewrite it so many times. Just wondering, should I make an update schedule, or should I just update whenever? I don't really know. If you liked the chapter, votes are appreciated! 

Thanks,

g-lil-ginny!