2. Muggle Studies

Sirius tapped the feathery end of his quill against his chin, staring at the tic-tac-toe game he and James had been passing back and forth. If he went there, James would win, but if he went there… No, no good, that would be a tie.


“Mister Black,” a voice interrupted his strategizing. He looked up sharply to see Professor Danop scowling. “Care to explain?”


“Well, it is a Muggle game…” he said, grinning unashamedly.


Danop was unamused. “Evanesco,” he said, disappearing the parchment before turning back to his lecture.


“I would’ve won, you know,” James whispered to him.


“Shut up.”

3. Transfiguration

“Really, Black?” Professor McGonagall snapped at the shaggy-haired boy. “You didn’t seriously think it would work?”

She pointed at the gopher, which was sporting a pair of ruby lips and a bikini.

Sirius replied, shrugging, “Worth a shot anyway, right, Professor?”

McGonagall frowned. “You are by no means on the level of human transfiguration. Anyway, would the middle of class have been the most appropriate place for a girl wearing a bathing costume?”

An unapologetic grin spread across his face.

“Never mind. Detention Saturday night,” she said, but he could swear a twinkle of good humor lay behind her eyes.

4. Ancient Runes

“What do you lot reckon this one means?” James gestured at the rune he’d just pulled.

“Just looks like an F,” Sirius replied. Peter nodded.

Remus frowned. “Read the description, idiots. Fehu… Money, cattle, wealth.”

“So you’re going to get a cow, then?” Sirius grinned.

“Oh, no, I don’t think your mother would like me much,” James replied, feigning seriousness.

“I don’t reckon she would,” Sirius answered, laughing. “Go on, Moony, what else does it say?”

“Hmm… Love returned…” He looked up with an arched eyebrow at his friend, who grinned as he eyed a certain ginger across the room.

5. Astronomy

“How do people even see these ruddy things?” Sirius said grumpily as he frowned into the telescope. “I’d have better luck finding a picture in the spots on Snivellus’s greasy face.”

A giant grin lit up James’s countenance immediately, the mental image pleasing. “We should try that, Padfoot. Might be... Enlightening.”

“Probably should,” the long-haired boy agreed, but with a hint of irritation in his voice. No matter how he squinted, he couldn’t see the constellations that were apparently obvious to everyone else, and for one of the first times in his life, he felt a true sting of inadequacy.

6. Divination

“Er… It sort of looks like a Snitch if you squint a bit…” Sirius said, staring into the teacup. “Maybe that means you’re meant to try out for the Quidditch team?”

“Um… Maybe…” said the shy brunette girl whose tea leaves he was reading (and whose name he’d already forgotten).

“Well, go on then, how’s mine look?” he asked eagerly. Not that he believed in divination, but maybe it’d say he would be a rock star who hung out with bikini-clad women all day...

“Sort of like… A dog?” she said.

And just like that, Sirius was suddenly a believer.

7. Care of Magical Creatures

“Oi… Now that’s just disgusting.” Sirius eyed the Murtlap suspiciously. “No way I’m touching that. Actually…” he continued, casting a sideways glance at Peter, “it looks a bit like you, Wormtail.”

James laughed loudly, causing Professor Kettleburn to look over and joyously exclaim, “That’s the spirit! They truly are marveous creatures! They make me want to guffaw with glee, as well!”

“Guffaw with glee?” James snickered.

“Nobody said you had to touch it, just feed it,” Remus said languidly, not looking up from the notes he was taking.

“Killjoy,” muttered Sirius.

None of them noticed the look in Peter’s eyes.

8. Potions

Bang! The cauldron flew across the room, smacking against the dungeon’s wall.

Professor Slughorn looked sternly at the culprit. “Mr. Black,” he said. “What is going on here?”

“Well, sir, I was just practicing my Charms,” answered the boy. “Depulso.” He shrugged, clearly unbothered (amused, really) by the scene he had caused -- and the detention he was about to receive.

Slughorn sighed. To think of the family that he came from. Very prestigious. He must be quite the embarrassment to them. Now Regulus… He had Slug Club potential. But Sirius? No, not him. One Black would just have to do.

9. Defense Against the Dark Arts
“Seems to me like this would be of more use if we were doing something practical with it,” grumbled Sirius, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

He furrowed his brow as his quill scratched across the parchment that held his Defense Against the Dark Arts notes. Notes, notes, notes, and all Sirius wanted to do was fight something, you know? But no, just writing.

“I’d think you’d be glad for no imminent danger,” remarked Remus, casting a sidelong glance at the boy.

Sirius scoffed playfully at his friend. “Look who’s talking. You are the danger, Moony!”

“So they say.”

10. Arithmancy

The boy pushed his long hair out of his eyes. He was hunched over his Arithmancy homework, concentrating intently.

"How very out of character of you, Padfoot," James smirked.

Sirius’s head popped up, a grin on his face. Wordlessly, he pushed the parchment over to James.

It began with numbers -- they were doing numerology, a load of you-know-what if you asked Sirius -- but gradually digressed into a drawing of a motorbike.

"This is what I want. One just like this. Only it’ll fly!" He laughed, picturing the look on his mother’s face when she saw him riding across the sky.

11. History of Magic

"Am I boring you, Mr. Black?" came a sudden voice, breaking Sirius out of his reverie sharply. He’d been glossy-eyed, imagining a few things that were, ahem, not school appropriate (but which were much more entertaining than this class ever was).

"Never, sir," the boy answered Professor Binns, who had, in fact, been boring him entirely to his core.

"Humph," the man grunted disapprovingly.

While he returned to droning about the Goblin Wars or something else equally uninteresting, Sirius prodded James in the side. "Reckon we could make a break for it?"

"Not until next year," his friend answered, sighing.

12. Charms

"Prongs," Sirius breathed, prodding his friend in the ribs. "Reckon we have some fun?"

He gestured with his wand, subtly held under the table, at a certain greasy-haired boy’s trousers.

A smile broke out on James’s face. "What are you thinking?"

"Just a bit of Charms practice. Make ol’ Flitwick proud."

"Oh, of course," James adopted a faux solemn voice. "It’s only responsible to practice."

Sirius grinned wolfishly and aimed his wand at the boy’s bum. "Aguamenti," he whispered, and a stream of water emerged, hitting Snape’s trousers and soaking them.

"Had an accident, Snivellus? Most people use the toilet."

13. Quidditch

Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Quidditch finals.

The crowd was going wild, cheering and booing in turn as the teams took the pitch. Sirius scanned the group below, his eyes searching out his best friend, James.

He spotted the Seeker quickly and was about to nudge Remus when he realized that James’s face wore an expression that was not the epitome of focus.

Oh, no.

He’d been talking to Lily that morning. And he looked downright… Goofy. In love, even.

That was all well and good, but if it cost Gryffindor the game, Sirius would not hesitate to pummel him.

14. Hogwarts, A History

"What are you doing, Moony?" The shaggy-haired boy sank onto the bench next to his friend, who was hunched over a thick book.

"Reading."

"Obviously. Why?"

Remus shut the book. He knew he wouldn’t get anything done with Sirius here.

"Hogwarts, A History," he began, "is very informative. Although admittedly not thrilling to read…"

"Okay… Like I said, why?" Sirius cocked an eyebrow.

With a good-natured roll of his eyes, Remus answered quietly, "I’m seeing what the Marauder’s Map knows that this book doesn’t. Those are the places where we can really have fun."

Sirius grinned widely. "That’s my boy!"

15. Room

Sirius sighed as he reclined on his dorm room bed, hands under his head as he stared at the ceiling.

It was a peaceful sort of sigh. He could hear James's steady breathing as he slept nearby, along with the light skritch-skritch of Remus's quill across the parchment he worked on by wandlight.

He thought of his room at home, or rather his parents' house (it never felt like "home" to him), covered in rock band posters and pictures of bikini-clad girls. He liked the pictures, but they were meant to annoy his parents.

This room... This one felt right.