The Misadventures of Padfoot and Prongs

"Remind me again why I'm taking that class?" James asked Sirius, who was waiting for James outside of his first ever lesson of sixth year Ancient Runes. "I don't even like runes."

"But you do like Lily, who is in that class." Sirius said.

"Ah. The things I do for love," he sighed. "What do we have next?"

"Hang on," Sirius reached into the front right pocket of his trousers and extracted a piece of paper. Unfolding it, he held it up to his face. "Astronomy with the Ravenclaws."

"Wonderful. We get to stare at star charts for the next hour. And I thought life couldn't get any more dull." James moped.

"Stop complaining, will you? The first day can't be too horrible, can it?"

They hiked onwards toward the Astronomy Tower, chatting about their lessons so far. When they reached the classroom, the two of them took their usual seats near the back of the class.
Sirius was pushed from behind suddenly. Whipping around, he opened his mouth to yell when he noticed that it was the Ravenclaw girl from before. What was her name again? Lora, Lisa, Lenette...? It had been so long since he'd last spoken to her that he couldn't remember.

"I'm... so... sorry!" she said, slightly out of breath, "Running... late."

"It's all right," said Sirius, turning in his seat to face her. "I know you, don't I?"

"Not well. I think we worked together on a Transfiguration project once. Sirius, isn't it? Sirius Black?" Her breathing was back to normal and she readjusted her handle on her books as she spoke.

"Yeah. And you're..?"

"Lyra. Lyra Sumner."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Lyra Sumner." Sirius smiled at her. A sharp tap on the shoulder drew his attention away from her and back to James.

"Is Moony coming to class?" he whispered.

"Probably not. He's still feeling ill. Why?" Sirius followed suit and kept his voice low.

"Just wondering." said James.

Sirius nodded and turned around again to speak to Lyra, but she was no longer there.
Glancing around the room, he saw her alone at the desk next to the one he shared with James.

"All right, class, settle down," said Professor Snatch, their Astronomy professor. She was just shy of being middle aged, but she looked a lot younger. She was fit by every definition of the word, if you asked any of her male students. "As you all know, I am Professor Snatch." Giggles erupted from some of the students, mostly the boys. "Quiet!" she commanded. "Now, as it is your first day back this term, I am going to permit you all to work in pairs for today's lesson. No more than two to a group, please." When no one moved, she gestured with her hand for them to get up. "Go on now, pick your partners." James turned to Sirius and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but I'm snagging Lily for this. Remus is usually her partner and now that he's not here, she's available. So, bye." James was gone before Sirius could even reply. He was halfway across the room when Sirius yelled "Traitor!" at him.

Feeling not unlike an abandoned puppy at the loss of his favorite class partner, Sirius looked around the room for someone else to work with. Lyra was still at the desk next to his, so he opted to see if he could work with her.

"Evans!"

The redhead jumped a little in her seat before groaning. She stood up and her desk disappeared almost immediately along with everyone else's to make room for stargazing.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily spoke, lacing every word with her irritation.

James smiled wide and answer with, "Wanna be my partner?"

"No," she said sharply. "Go find Black."

"Well, Lils, that's a problem," he said, pointing over to his left. "He's partnered himself up with that girl from Ravenclaw. And it looks like it's just gonna be you and me, love."

Lily looked around and groaned once again. It was true; Remus hadn't shown up and everyone else had a partner. Lily closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Alright, Potter," she said looking pointedly at him. "But unlike you, I take my classes seriously! So don't mess with me tonight and just help me get this work done!"

James just grinned and nodded enthusiastically. The couple moved to an open space overlooking the courtyard. James pulled out his telescope before Lily could open her bag and set it up on the rail.

Professor Snatch flicked her wand once everyone was set up, causing the lesson plan to appear on her chalk board.

"Alright class, here is your assingment," the professor said. "It's easy, so you should be able to finish before the end of class." It was taking everything in James to not say something snarky about that sentence, and pertain it to Professor Snatch's name.

Lily glanced at the boy next to her as he blankly stared at the calkboard, biting back a smirk. Looking down, she saw that he didn't even have his star chart or quill out.

"Potter... Potter... Pot- JAMES!" it wasn't just James, but the entire class that turned to her. Lily blushed and mumbled, "Sorry. Uhm, Ja-Potter, you need to get your star chart out."

James just gave her a sweet smile and turned to grab his stuff.

Fifteen minutes later however, James turned to Lily, grinning like an idiot, and said, "You called me by my first name. I think we're making progress."

Lily just scoffed, "Don't think for once I would want to date you. I can barely stand being next to you right now."

"Aw, Lils," he said, putting a little pout in his voice, "I haven't disrupted you for fifteen minutes now."

"You're disrupting me now, you git!" Lily growled through her teeth. She cursed under her breath, and used her wand to erase her last answer. Frustrated now with both James Potter and the star she was trying to name, she opted to throw her hands in the air in said feeling.

"I give up! For the life of me, I cannot remember that bloody star!" James cocked his eyebrow and looked down at her chart.

"Sirius," he said, naming one celestial ball as 'Venus' and finishing his work.

Lily looked at him incredulously, "Why would Black know anything about stars? I'm still trying to figure out why the hell he's taking this class."

James stared at her in disbelief for a moment, and finally said, "The star, Evans. You know 'Sirius: the Dog Star'. It's what Black's named after."

Lily blushed, much to James's delight (he found it cute!) and murmured a quick thank you before writing it down.

"Do you need the telescope any more?" Lily shook her head no, "Alright, I'll just put it up."
The redhead next to him dried her paper and then held out her hand to James, who smiled and laced his fingers with her own. Instead of jerking away, like he expected her to do, Lily just raised her eyebrow.

"No, Potter," she said, shaking his hand off and holding out her palm again. "I'm turning in our work, I just need yours."

James frowned and handed her his work. Of course the negative feelings didn't last long as he watched her walking away, swaying her hips a bit. In fact, he just smirked, crossed his legs, and reached out his hand to lean against the rail.

Unfortunately for James, his calculation of the space between his hand and the rail was underestimated, causing him to lose balance and fall to the floor of the tower. On impact, James heard a sickening crunch and felt liquid hot pain shoot up his arm from his wrist.

"Merlin! Are you okay?" James thought for a second to reply to Sirius, but looked up to find Lily crouching over him.

James sat up a bit looking down at his wrist, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Sirius soon appeared, his lips threatening to smile, as he looked down, assessing James' injury.

"I think you broke it, mate," Sirius spoke, just as Professor Snatch appeared.

"Mr. Potter, you need to go to the Hospital Wing," she said, helping him up. "Ms. Evans, you are the only other one done, so go with him."

James was shocked to find that Lily didn't object, but instead wrapped her arm around his waist and headed for the door.

Lily turned to Sirius as they reached the door and asked, "Can you take our bags, Sirius? If I'm not back before the end of class, that is."

Sirius stared at her in minor disbelief. Did she just acknowledge him by his first name?

"Uh... Sure, Evans," he said, "Don't even worry about coming back up here. I'll leave it in the common room close to the girl dorms, alright?"

"Thank you," was the last she spoke to him before disappearing through the door.