what we shared

chapter 2

Thursday 2nd of September

"Wake up sleepy head," Lily had opened Laurie's curtains, light streaming onto her face.
"Hmmrrgh"
"I know, but breakfast 'll be ready soon and then we've got classes." Lily practically squealed at that and Laurie didn't know whether it was nerves or excitement. Probably both.
Lily was already in her uniform, fiddling with her robe
"Yours are on the end of your bed, must've been the... house elves. What a strange notion." With this Lily wandered back over to her bed, looking slightly dazed and confused.
Aquila, one of the other girls in their dorm was leaving the bathroom, her hair wet, just as the door swung open.
"The common room, you'll want to see this."
The girls all passed quizzical looks to each other.
"Lyra what do y-"
"Just come on will you, some boys in our year-"
Laurie had a pretty good idea where this was going and she rushed out the door, closely followed by the rest of the girls. Down in the common room Remus and James were floating in mid air, frozen.
"What on earth?!" She glanced around the room, looking for the culprit and locked eyes with Sirius, who shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. Peter was sitting in the arm chair next to him, looking amazed.

"Had to make our first impression somehow!"
"And that involved freezing and levitating two of your roommates because?" Laurie had made her way over to him now, glancing up at James.
"Think of it as practice for charms too, which we have after breakfast. And now they know I need my beauty sleep-"
"Right, which one of you is responsible for this." They were interrupted by one of the Gryffindor prefects, standing in the doorway.
"Oh bollocks, we're in for it now." Peter muttered.
Sirius just shook his head.
"Don't be ridiculous Petey my boy. I'm a professional prankster." There wasn't even a hint of uncertainty in his voice, like he did this every day.
With a simple incantation Remus and James were released from their temporary invisible prison, landing gently on the couch beneath them.
The prefect clearly didn't have time for shenanigans because he didn't press the matter any further. Departing with a simple, "Get down to breakfast you lot."
"That was brilliant!" James slapped Sirius heartily on the back and Remus was smiling, slightly shaky on his feet, but unharmed.
"Where'd you learn to do that?
"I've got a little brother, does that answer your question?"
None of the others had younger siblings, let alone siblings in general- apart from Peter who had an older sister. But they nodded.
"Well now that you're up, get ready for breakfast will you. Then we can head to charms where you can put your skill to good use." Remus nudged him before bounding back up the stairs.
Laurie rolled her eyes again jokingly.
"I'll wait for you down here." James resumed his place on the couch.
Laurie didn't bother telling him he didn't have to, he would anyway. Instead she just nodded, then made her way back up to the dorm.

At breakfast Laurie grabbed Lily's hand and sat her down next to her.
"Sirius, Peter, James, Remus, This is Lily. Lily, this is... Everyone."
This was met with inaudible 'Righto,' 'pleasure.' and 'morning,'s as the boys spoke with their mouths full.
Lily didn't seem to mind and she smiled, cheeks slightly flushed.
"Morning."
"Christ James, anyone would think you'd have been starved." Laurie laughed. His plate was piled high with sausages, eggs, and toast.
He stuck his tongue out at her, and kicked her shoe lightly under the table.
"Growing boys and girls need their nutrients." He retorted, quoting his mother, and putting a sausage on her plate.
"Anyone prepared for charms? Apart from Sirius of course." Peter asked, looking around.
"Well I have been reading up as much as possible but not exactly the same thing is it." Lily responded, somewhat glumly. "Potions I'm quite a bit more confident about."
Remus just shook his head. "No. Rather excited for defence against the dark arts though. That was my dad's favorite"
"I'm looking forward to Transfiguration." Sirius seemed much more awake now. Having finished his second bowl of porridge.
"My sister told me astronomy was fun."
Something seemd to have clicked in James' head and his eyes widened.
"Quidditch tryouts! Next Monday! Surely you lot try out with me. They're letting first years try out this year." James had been extremely invested in Quidditch his whole life, keeping magazines and memorabilia, going to games, and even insisting his dad help him set up hoops in their garden.
"What's quidditch?" Lily spoke up, James's eyes practically jumped out of his head.
"You 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵?"

* * * * *

Charms had gone surprisingly well, with all of the group being able to successfully levitate their feathers, and some even being able to take a book out of the bookshelf. The teacher- Professor Flitwick- was a short wizard, with grey hair, sticking out at all angles. He was enthusiastic, and encouraging, especially towards Peter who's book landed with a heavy thud on the ground.
The rest of the day ran smoothly, Sirius had in fact excelled at transfiguration, earning their house 5 points.
Herbology had been surprisingly more interesting than Laurie had expected, the teacher being a cheery short and stout woman. It was interesting to hear about the healing components of the plants around them, who would've thought that some leafy stick could could cure scars. To her left, Remus was frantically taking notes.
Things took a turn in potions, which Gryffindor had with Slytherin. And Laurie noticed Sirius tense up.
The classroom smelt slightly damp and there were shelves along all the walls packed with books, mortar and pestles, brightly coloured liquids and plants.
"Welcome to first year potions! This class takes a lot of concentration, which I trust you all know already if you did the summer reading." This was met with hushed murmurs from the class and The professor tutted. "Nonetheless, I, and your classmates will be here to help. First I ask that you get into pairs.
Behind Lily someone cleared their throat.
"Hi Lily,"
"Oh. Um, hi Severus."
"Want to be partners?"
Laurie watched the interaction, feeling an immense amount of second hand embarrassment and discomfort.
"Partners?" James asked Laurie.
"Sorry James, but me and Lily are already partners." She said loudly. This was met with a grateful look from Lily, a hurt look from Severus, and a slightly surprised look from James.
"Right-O then. Sirius?"
"Thanks for that," Lily spoke quietly, not wanting to be heard.
"You know him?"
"Sort of, he lives in my street, and we sat on the train together but that's about it."
They didn't have time to continue the conversation because Professor Slughorn began droning on about some ingredient or rule-it was anyone's guess.
On the desk to Laurie's left a piece of paper had landed in front of Sirius and he glanced around, trying to see who it was from. He opened the note and Laurie watched as his eyebrows furrowed, lips pursed.
For a second it seemed like he was going to say something- or shout. But he just scrunched it up, sticking it in his pocket.
Laurie made a mental note to ask him about it later, but then thought better of it. If Sirius wanted to talk about it, he would.