The Slytherin Transfer

06: "That's the Slytherin in her."

"So then the piece of string goes outside and he, you know, roughs himself up a bit, splits a few ends and whatnot," James is saying as I walk with him, Sirius, Peter, Lily, and Mary to class, the others having not done eating, "And then he goes back into the bar, and goes up to the bartender and asks for a drink. And the bartender says 'aren't you that same piece of string that came in here earlier?' And the piece of string says 'no, sir, I'm a frayed knot."

I burst into giggles at his dumb joke, and Sirius looks at me in amusement as no one else laughs, Lily just rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"You're very easily amused," he says to me as James beams in appreciation at my laughter.

"That was funny!" I say, "I mean come on. I'm afraid not? I'm a frayed knot? That's well thought out."

"Finally." James grins, "Someone who appreciates good humour around here."

"Okay, okay," I say, "I've got one."

"Oh I can't wait for this," Sirius says, chuckling as he shoves his hands in his pockets and winks at a girl that walks on by.

"Right, so there's this set of twins, okay? And they get adopted at birth. One of them goes off to Egypt, where a family names him Amal, and the other goes to Mexico, where they name him Juan." I try not to laugh before I say the punchline, but it's hard, "And so they grow up with these families, and eighteen years later their biological mom is sitting at the table when she gets a letter from Juan. It's a photo of him and a message just telling her about his life. She thinks it's great, right? And she's showing her husband and all that and she goes 'I just wish Amal would send me something like this, just so I could see what he looks like', and the husband shakes his head and says 'honey, come on. They're twins. If you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal."

I burst into laughter and so does James, Lily snorting and Sirius chuckling lightly as I double over with glee.

"I'm using that," James says, grinning as I try and contain my cackling.

"Okay, that one was better than yours, Prongs," Sirius says, using some strange nickname that I decide not to question as he addresses his best friend.

"What? It was not." James runs a hand through his hair, and I grin.

"Okay I have another one—"

"No!" They all groan, Sirius shoving my face away as I grin.

"Fine." I roll my eyes, "I'll tell you later, James."

We've made it to the dungeons, where our Potions class is starting, a few people already having dwindled inside. Slughorn isn't in the room yet, but a group of Slytherins are, including Mandy, Dolohov, and Severus Snape.

Lily immediately goes over to Snape and plops down next to him, them sparking up a quick conversation as James glowers in his direction.

"That's ice cold, man," I say, patting him on the back with pity as we walk over to take the empty seats next to Lily. I sit next to Mary, Sirius and James in the seats to my right while Lily and Snape sit on Mary's left. Soon Remus walks in and takes the seat next to Peter as I strike up easy conversation with Mary. Dorcas and Alice grab a seat next to one another, and Marlene hasn't even shown up yet, not as the rest of the class arrives, chattering about everything and nothing.

"Hey Milton!" I turn to see a boy named Mulciber sitting with a girl named Emma Vanity, both of them glaring my way, "What's it like being a filthy Gryffindor, huh?"

"What's it like inside your asshole?" I shoot back, "I mean, you do spend most of your time with your head up there."

"Oh!" Sirius laughs, whooping loudly as James howls.