The Bonds of Spirit are stronger than the Bonds of Blood

Chapter Twenty Seven

Sirius sat in the back of the classroom, fiddling with a quill as he eagerly awaited the end of the lesson. Once again he was trapped in History of Magic. It was a wonder Professor Binns even bothered to teach. It's not like the class ever actually paid attention. Even Lily was struggling to stay awake as his dull voice droned on. She was easily the brightest witch in their class, but even her love of all things magic couldn't prevent her from nearly falling asleep each time the Gryffindors had History of Magic. Sirius figured if Professor Binns was this dull and sleep inducing as a ghost, he must have been just as devastatingly dull in life. Perhaps the reason he was still teaching was because his life was so dull he had nothing else but his routine. And that routine became so important that even Death couldn't stop him from following it. Thinking about this had Sirius imagining Death, the personified guide to the life beyond, just silently following around Professor Binns trying to be noticed by the professor without actually interrupting the professor. Sirius always imagined Death would be polite, always allowing those he needed to guide the chance to actually realize everything was over and they needed to move on before guiding them away. Sirius chuckled as he imagined how frustrated Death must be with Professor Binns. It really was strange the direction his day dreaming would turn whenever he was in History of Magic class. Any other class he only had normal day dreams of going off on an adventure or just being surrounded by the loving family he had formed. But for some strange reason, whenever he was in History of Magic he always found himself pondering the oddest and most incredibly deep questions. He pondered what happened after death, and whether there really were personifications for Death, Time, War, and so on. He thought about what the meaning of life really could be. He even tried to figure out where his family shifted. He couldn't believe they had been cruel from the start, so he tried to figure where along the line of his ancestors someone decided their family should be so stuck up, selfish, and cruel. He drew absentmindedly on the parchment in front of him as he thought. There had to have been some cause. But there was no sense in actually finding it. After all, only a fool would meddle with time! Sirius took a look around the room to see how the others were faring. James was asleep on his left, snoring softly into his parchment. Remus was on his right, trying desperately not to fall asleep. Every so often he would snap awake at the mention of an important date or name, jot it down quickly with his quill, and then return to the near sleep state he had been in. Peter, on Remus' right, was snoring rather loudly as he used his textbook as a pillow. Sirius was amazed Professor Binns had not already noticed Peter was not paying attention. Really it was amazing Professor Binns did not notice how the whole class was clearly not paying attention to the droning lecture. Even the best students had trouble marking down the important dates and names while listening to such a monotone voice.

The class shot up, awake, as they heard their cue to leave. Some of the sleeping students, Peter included, had even fallen out of their desks at the sudden announcement. The students staggered out of the door and headed off to continue their day. "Ugh! I don't know why we have to *yawn* sit through that ridiculously dull lecture! Even if History is important, there's no way we are gonna learn anything in that class!" James groaned as the Marauders made their way to the next class. Sirius laughed and said "Well at least it lets us take a break in the middle of the day! Sure we still have to actually study the information eventually to pass our exams, but we don't have to actually pay attention in class at all!" It was certainly nice to take a break and not have to worry about missing anything important. Sure the four boys had been goofing off in classes, appearing like they were learning nothing, since their first day of classes. But really, they were always paying attention. They just liked to use every opportunity they got to have some fun. No one actually saw how studious the quartet was. Well, they saw how studious Remus was, and how studious Peter attempted to be. But everyone assumed that James and Sirius were just trouble makers who didn't care about their classes. Yet, no matter what class it was, the quartet managed to achieve some of the highest marks in the class. Since the professors were always weary of the boys, assuming they would try to cheat if they had the chance, the professors would always keep an especially sharp eye on the quartet. Some even went as far as to enchant the boys' desks to ensure that there was no cheating. Despite all this, the boys continually did well in all their classes and never once cheated. This never ceased to surprise their classmates, who assumed the Marauders had actually found a way to cheat without getting caught. In reality, the four boys detested all manner of cheating. Sirius, especially, hated cheaters. He would use every chance he got to ensure a cheater was caught in the act, or suffered from a prank that would prevent them from cheating. The pranks he pulled on would be cheaters before last year's exams had been some of his finest work. Sure the four boys had no problem with bending rules, or even breaking rules, but they drew the line at cheating. Remus spoke up next. "Yes, the break is nice, though I wish we could actually learn something from that class. I always end up with so few notes! Just a few dates and a few names, and nothing to really tie them together!" He groaned a bit as he realised he would have to go digging through the textbook before the exam to properly study. With most classes all he needed was his notes. James laughed and said "Wow Moony! How you manage to get anything out of that endless drone of noise, I'll never figure out!" Peter piped up and said "Well, at least one of us got something out of this class, aside from a nap!" James, Sirius, and Remus all laughed at his words. Of course Peter, the notorious snoring fixture in History of Magic class, would bring up sleeping in class.

Lily yawned as she made her way to her next class. Lydia and Alice walked beside her, chatting away as they tried to stay awake long enough to actually wake up. The History of Magic lecture always left the trio ready to sleep for the rest of the day. "That was *yawn* somehow even more dull than usual! Did Professor Binns decide to try to put the entire class to sleep for the entire day? Did he spend the summer working out the details of his master plan?!" Lydia groaned, trying not to fall asleep while walking. Alice laughed and said "Oh come on Lydia, it wasn't that bad!" She paused as Lydia gave her a deadpan look. "Okay, so it was terrible, but I highly doubt the professor actually planned it out. He clearly likes to teach so much he's still teaching as a ghost, so why would he want to put the entire class to sleep?" Lydia thought for a moment before saying "Well, how am I supposed to know that? He's the mastermind of this devious plan, not me!" Alice and Lily laughed as Lydia continued to mutter about how devious their dearly departed professor was. "So Lily, what are you going to do over the Hogsmeade weekend?" Alice asked, ignoring Lydia and her continued muttering. Lily thought about it. What did she want to do? "Well, I want to start with Honeydukes, of course. Maybe we could drop by Madame Puddifoot's for tea, and then maybe stop by the Hairdressing Salon. Oh! And Gladrags Wizardwear! We could turn this into a grand event, the perfect girl's day! Well girl's weekend!" Alice giggled, clapping her hands excitedly, and said "That sounds perfect! Now I really can't wait for the weekend!" Lydia perked up at the sound of the weekend and said "Oh? Perfect weekend? Count me in! I'll even endure Binns' lecture twice over if it means I can enjoy the perfect weekend!" Lily smiled at their reactions and said "Alright, it's settled then. This Hogsmeade weekend, we are going to have the perfect weekend!" The trio cheered and moved on to their next class. As Lily settled into her desk, she wondered what Sirius would do over the weekend. Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter all seemed to vanish more often lately. Most assumed it was so they could plan and set up really elaborate pranks. This was certainly a possibility, as each year the quartet tried to pull off better pranks than the year before. But Lily doubted this was the real reason. Ever since last year, something was different. They snuck around more than they used to, not that anyone other than Lily actually noticed this. They were too careful. But ever since Sirius had asked her for advice, Lily had found herself more aware of what the quartet was up to. She wondered what they were really doing. She still had the nagging feeling that it was dangerous, incredibly dangerous. But she didn't dare ask Sirius what was going on. She refused to break her promise. Even so, she was sorely tempted to just follow them one night. In the odd nights where she couldn't sleep, she considered getting up, sneaking down the stairs, waiting for the quartet to make their move, and follow them. She wanted to be sure they wouldn't get themselves hurt. Sure, she didn't know Peter, and she didn't care much for James, but Sirius cared and that was good enough for her. Besides, she cared deeply for Sirius and she and Remus had been growing closer since she first spoke to him last year. They didn't speak nearly as often as she and Sirius did, but when they did speak, it was always pleasant. Remus was a sweet boy, and Lily wondered why he was so skittish around new people. He was nearly as bad as Peter when it came to confidence around strangers and acquaintances. Turning her thoughts away from the quartet, Lily readied her quill for the lesson just as the professor walked through the door.