Balanced

'Welcome to another year!' James looked at Dumbledore, who seemed oblivious to the fact that the whole school wanted to start the feast as soon as possible. The first years had just been sorted and were now sitting at their tables; most looked fairly nervous. 'Before we start our feast, a couple of the usual notices: no matter what you hear from older students-' James could have sworn Dumbledore looked at him before his eyes moved over the other tables '- the Forbidden Forest is completely off limits.' James caught Sirius' eye and wondered if Dumbledore realised that this sort of speech did nothing but encourage his friend. 'Also, only those in third year or above are allowed to visit the village of Hogsmeade. Enjoy the feast.'

James filled his plate as high as he could; after almost two months of Aunt Susan's cooking, he felt he could eat anything. The customary chatter started, "who had been where on their holidays?"; "who had got how many new things?"; or "who had learned so many new curses?"

James managed to avoid answering the third one by telling Severus, who had asked, that he had spent the summer with a colony of wild mongooses and hadn't had any time to do magic.

'How long do you think it will be before you are locked up in St Mungo's?' Marian asked him.

'You mean you think I'm crazy?' asked James in a hurt voice. She rolled her eyes but smiled slightly too. He grinned back, glad that there was someone on the Slytherin table who didn't take him too seriously.

The year started off as normal and James quickly settled back in to school life, apart from the early mornings. To welcome everyone else back not only were many Dungbombs used, but Sirius developed an interesting charm that made the person talk backwards, which he used on Severus during Transfiguration. It took McGonagall a while to figure out what was going on, and she gave all four of them detention, even though it was mainly Sirius' fault.

Severus was not pleased.

'I don't know why you can't just get rid of them and stop being so immature,' he told James in the common room after their lessons had finished.

'I thought it was rather funny. And I would never give up my friends.'

'Get into the real world,' he snapped in reply. 'You won't stay friends forever; no one stays friends all their lives. You ought to end it before you get sent to Azkaban.' James glared at Severus and pointed his wand directly at the other boy.

'I could sent to Azkaban now if I wanted,' he told Severus, quietly. 'I know more curses than you think.' Severus looked slightly worried. James lowered his wand, still glaring, and stalked out to go to the library.

He wondered if he would have actually cursed him if he'd gone any further. James hadn't exactly intended to lose his temper like that, but at least he hadn't yelled or attracted too much attention. Severus was so used to just insulting James' friends that he didn't expect a response, except a good-natured insult back, or a Dungbomb. He didn't even know that James knew any curses.

James sat down in the library, the other three were probably still in their common rooms. He got out his work and started on Transfiguration. This year their essays were much harder to find in their textbook and James suspected McGonagall had set the book for exactly that reason.

He shot the first years arguing on the table next to him a furious glare and was pleased to note that they quietened slightly. OK, so it might have been the librarian yelling at them, but James chose to ignore that. Sirius, Remus and Peter arrived slightly afterwards but Sirius was the only one who approached James, who was still sulking into his textbook. The other two looked wary and sat opposite him.

'Remus,' said James, looking up from his work. 'Where exactly do you er... transform? Because we'll need to know if we have to go there.' Remus gestured for them to lean in slightly so he didn't have to speak loudly.

'I go out to this little shack in Hogsmeade, through a tunnel under the Whomping Willow.'

'Can you get out easily?'

'Not by myself, thank Merlin. The Whomping Willow can be frozen into place by pressing a knot in the tree, but a wolf can't do that. A human with a stick can.'

'Could a small animal?' asked Sirius, who was reading an animal book inserted into the jacket of his Astronomy one. Remus thought.

'Yeah, I think so, a dung beetle, for example, would probably have no trouble. A cat would have to be careful and anything much larger would get whacked.'

'My dad was going to buy a tree like that,' said James cheerily. 'He offered to build me a tree house in it for my birthday.' He looked at the shocked expressions of the others. 'What? He wouldn't actually have built it, just made a few house elves do the job.'

'Er... James,' said Sirius uncertainly. 'You do know what a Whomping Willow does, don't you?'

'It whomps,' said James simply. 'Would have been an interesting tree house.'

'So,' said Peter thoughtfully. 'What if we discover that none of us are very small animals? Say I'm an elephant, James is a giraffe and Sirius is an ostrich?'

'Whee! I can fly!' said Sirius gleefully.

'Sirius,' said James, 'ostriches don't fly.'

'So?' said Sirius. 'Neither do giraffes!' James whacked his friend on the head and turned to Remus, ignoring Sirius' laughter.

'Do you think we could touch it as a human and quickly transform? Would we have enough time?'

'Er... I think so,' said Remus. 'As long as you can change quickly enough. But please tell me you're not an elephant, giraffe and ostrich?' James grinned.

'That would be quite funny, wouldn't it? But none of us know what we're going to be yet. Still researching it.' Remus nodded, glancing at Sirius, who, thankfully, didn't seem that attached to the idea of being an ostrich.

Their detention for the prank on Severus was fairly normal; James had had enough to know that. Sirius was only slightly apologetic at getting them all detention, but they were friends enough to not mind sharing the blame. Filch was taking them, which wasn't good.

He led them down to the deepest, darkest and most disgusting dungeon he could find. Greyish green slime was dripping off the walls, there were cobwebs in all the corners and mouldy-looking moss was growing everywhere. Filch told them their job was to collect as much of the moss as possible. He stood over them, occasionally barking an order.

'What's the moss? Do you know?' James asked Peter, very quietly.

'It's used in a potion,' hissed Peter, 'I think so, anyway. I can't remember what.' Before James had time to ask him where the hell he found out crap like that, Filch yelled at them both to shut up. Several buckets of disgusting, slimy moss and five hours later he let the four go. James actually considered stealing one of the buckets when Filch's back was turned to tip over someone's head; but he decided he didn't want to die that night.

He and Remus had their first Divination lesson the next day. Professor Trelawney just begged to have some sort of prank played on her, but the drugs she put in her fire were so strong that James' mind went rather blank and he couldn't think off anything more original than a Dungbomb, and unfortunately, Verdied had stolen the ones he had in his pockets at breakfast. Trelawney was truly strange looking; James had never actually seen her before, as she seemed to spend all her life in her classroom.

'My dear,' she told James, quite enthusiastically. 'You have the aura of a true Seer.'

'That's why,' said James, 'when my parents took me to the most expensive tester available at age three, he told them that: "I have seen rocks that can sense the future better than your son."' Professor Trelawney stuck her nose in the air and turned away. James smirked, he would have liked to be a Seer - his father would have liked it too - but Divination already promised to be completely stupid.

Trelawney told them to get into pairs, have a cup of tea and look at each other's left over tealeaves.

'Hmm,' said Remus, peering at James, 'apparently illness is threatening a relative. It could be serious.'

'Interesting prediction,' said James, grinning. 'Perhaps I forgot to tell you, Remus, but all my close relatives are dead. Don't tell me you can still get sick when you're dead.'

'You're the Seer,' replied Remus. 'Why don't you try doing mine?' James made a big show of peering into Remus' cup.

'I see... I see...'

'What do you see?' asked Trelawney, eagerly from behind James.

'Remus,' said James dramatically. 'Tealeaves will stain your teeth. Brush them, before... it's too late.' Trelawney peered into Remus' cup, as dramatically as James had.

'Oh! My poor dear!' she said, finally, in a sorrowful voice. 'It appears you live cursed, and will die shortly.' Remus' eyes widened and he looked worried. James doubted she knew what she was talking about, but he didn't say anything.

To say Remus was worried after the lesson was an understatement.

'I'm going to die,' he told them, and James was forcefully reminded of how Remus always was after his exams.

'Ignore him,' James advised Sirius and Peter, who were looking curious. 'We read tealeaves and Trelawney said he was going to die. But, she also thinks I'm a Seer, and my parents had me tested. The bloke who did it said I was one of the worst he'd ever tested.' Sirius snorted.

'Do you not care?' moaned Remus. 'I'm going to die.'

'Look,' said Sirius, 'we'll miss you and all, and we promise to come to your funeral, if there's free food, but we have to get on with our lives.' Remus glared at Sirius.

'Is it that time of the month again, Remus?' asked Peter. 'Look, don't worry yourself, if it's any comfort, no one here's going to live forever.'

'Do you think I should tell Mum I'm going to die?' Remus asked.

'If you think she would really like to read an owl from her only son, the darling boy he is, telling her that he's so bloody paranoid, he believes the teachers, then yes,' said James. 'I'm beginning to think you would be out there enjoying the show during the apocalypse. You love perpetual doom, don't you?'

'Evil, uncaring Slytherin,' muttered Remus. He wrote "I'M GOING TO DIE" in large letters across the top of his Transfiguration essay. Professor McGonagall took ten points from Ravenclaw and told him that if he did die soon, then she would be most surprised, and that he wasn't to be worried by Professor Trelawney's predictions.

Care of Magical Creatures was interesting, although there seemed to be more theory than actually looking after the creatures, as Kettleburn, an enthusiastic man in his mid-thirties, seemed to love the sound of his own voice. He seemed to think all the students shared his enthusiasm and was most hurt when James and Sirius kept talking and ignoring him.

'He'll be the first to break,' said Sirius, when Kettleburn got back to his lecture. 'It won't be long before he leaves. Sometimes I pity my teachers.'

'Not enough to make you stop torturing them though,' said Remus, quietly. All four were taking Care of Magical Creatures and, unlike James and Sirius, Remus and peter had actually been listening to Kettleburn.

*

Callaway, who was in his sixth year and was Slytherin Quidditch captain, had organized the team tryouts to be on the first Saturday of term. Not too many turned up, and James wasn't worried either, he certainly had the best broom there and he knew he wasn't a bad flier.

Fortunately, he'd managed to dissuade Sirius from coming along, who insisted that if he was in the stands then no one would be able to tell that he was a Gryffindor. James had reminded several times him that most of the players had very good eyesight, as well as being very good at curses.

'Who've we got, then?' said Callaway, looking at who'd turned up. 'We need a Chaser and a Beater. Chasers over here, Beaters over here.' There were six others who wanted to try out as Chasers. Three were second years (no chance); two were brainless and probably couldn't remember their own names, let alone the position they were trying out for; and the last one was a fourth year who looked like he had dismissed the other five as easily as James had. The two looked at each other uncertainly.

'Chasers can wait for a bit,' Callaway told them and turned to test the Beaters. There were only four there who wanted to try. Callaway quickly narrowed them down to three: the other couldn't fly unless he had at least one hand on his broom.

'You're James Potter, aren't you?' asked the fourth year. 'The idiot who's friends with a Gryffindor.' James nodded and wondered how many people knew him just because he was an idiot who was friends with a Gryffindor. 'I'm Siegan, Carl Siegan.' James nodded vaguely towards him and watched a Bludger almost kill a fifth year, who wasn't quick enough. It was rather entertaining. 'Do you fly often?' Siegan asked.

'Often enough,' lied James, remembering his days with his parents where it was one of the few things to do. He hadn't had a full-sized broom, but the small ones he'd used had been pretty fast. He hadn't flown much in recent years though. Siegan seemed to realise that James wasn't eager to talk, and he began to check his broom over.

'Chasers come over now,' yelled Callaway. James looked at the new Beater, a tall, thickset girl with fair hair.

They first had to prove they could fly with both hands off the broom; one of the brainless ones nearly fell and broke his neck, and Callaway told him to get lost and come back when he learned to fly. Callaway got rid of most of them very quickly: one of the second years ducked whenever the Quaffle came at them too fast, and one of the others crashed into the hoop when scoring a goal.

Siegan was a good flier. He had clearly been practising, whereas James hadn't been on his broom since the end of the previous year. Callaway told James to buck up and fly better very early on though. James ended up diving all over the place, he managed to catch the Quaffle upside-down once, unlike Siegan, who just stuck to doing it simply.

'Potter,' said Callaway, when the three were back on the ground. 'You're a complete show-off. If you were to pull those stunts in a game you would be hit by a Bludger after less than five minutes.' James scowled at him; he was only trying to show that he could fly. 'However, I'm going to give you the place on the team, but if you don't stop playing up so much then Siegan can replace you. Siegan, you can be a reserve Chaser.' James grinned broadly, aware that he probably looked like an idiot.

'Great!' he said. 'When do practices start?'

'Whenever I tell you, Potter, now get lost, I've got other things to do.'

James headed quickly back to the Slytherin common room.

'I got on the team,' he told Severus, smugly.

'Good, then I can see you being bashed by a Bludger about five minutes into the match,' said Severus, irritably.

'You know, that's exactly what Callaway said. Now I'm off to gloat to Sirius.'

'Well go away then,' replied Severus, who was apparently in a bad mood that day.

It wasn't all that long before Quidditch practice started. It was hard work, but it was fun for a change. The other players were OK but James didn't become good friends with them, as they all thought he was weird to be friends with those in other houses. This was something James was very used to by now.

The first Hogsmeade trip was the weekend before Hallowe'en. The four went down together. Peter insisted on seeing the Shrieking Shack, where Remus transformed. It was nothing very special, just a small wooden shack. An old wizard stood in front, hobbling about on a gnarled cane.

'They say it's haunted, you know,' he told them. 'There are screams and yells on the night of the full moon.' James glanced at Remus, who had paled slightly.

'Are you being paid to try and scare all the third years on their first visit?' he asked, in true Slytherin style. 'Or do you do this out of enjoyment? Find someone who cares.' The old man gave a very amused chuckle, but hobbled off.

'Well,' said Sirius, grinning. 'Five minutes in and James has already found someone to insult. Typical Slytherin.'

'Five minutes in and Sirius has already made some sort of comment about houses. Typical Gryffindor,' said Peter, in the same tone of voice. The four then headed to the Three Broomsticks to get a drink. The lady who served them was very young and pretty.

'Ooh, who's she?' muttered Sirius.

'Remus Lupin!' she said, sounding surprised. 'I haven't seen you since you were five! Goodness, you've grown, haven't you? These your friends?' Remus looked rather embarrassed.

'Hello, Rosmerta,' he said, quietly. 'This is Peter, Sirius and James.'

'I'll get you some drinks, and you can fill me in on what you've been up to.'

'You know her?' said Sirius incredulously.

'Sirius has a crush!' sang James under his breath. Not mature, but funny, as Sirius scowled and made to retort, but Remus got in first.

'She's the daughter of my mum's friend. She's seven years older than me though. I forgot her family owns this place.' Rosmerta returned and handed them a Butterbeer each.

'How's your mother then, Remus?'

'She's fine, is yours?'

'Same as usual.'

'Did you go to Hogwarts?' asked Sirius.

'Of course, dear, I only left a few years ago.'

'What house?'

'Ravenclaw.'

James exchanged a glance with the other two; this could take a while. Sirius chatted to her in between her serving customers.

'You three aren't very talkative today, are you?' asked Rosmerta, after a while.

'Yes, well,' said James. 'Sirius needs to talk continually so we don't forget he can, we don't need to constantly prove our capability like that.'

'Shut up Jamesy!' said Sirius.

'Stop calling me Jamesy!' Rosmerta had watched this exchange with a very amused look on her face. She then went over to serve a witch who had just arrived.

'Have fun, boys,' she told them when they left. 'See you next time you come.'

Zonko's joke shop was well worth the visit, although James and Sirius "accidentally" set off two Dungbombs on the display and were chased out by a flying stuffed bat with very realistic looking fangs that the owner set on them. They also went to Honeydukes and bought as many sweets as they could afford. Sirius then returned to Zonko's to buy a flying stuffed bat.

As the term continued, Callaway organized more and more Quidditch practices; it started to annoy James, but he knew better than to complain. Not that Sirius didn't try and stop James from having to go.

'You're no fun any more,' he moaned. 'All you do is Quidditch practice, and I'm not even allowed to go along and annoy you because I might be "stealing the Slytherin tactics" to quote the guy who's captain. What tactics?'

'Ah,' said James, 'the amazing secret plan must be kept secret, my friend. Besides, the match will be over soon, only a week now.' James was actually quite nervous about flying in front of the whole school, even though Callaway told him he'd do fine. Sirius begged him to mess up completely - it was so nice to have such wonderful friends.

In Care or Magical Creatures they started studying puffskeins, which were yellow balls of fluff and, in James' opinion, rather boring. Sirius decided keeping the puffskeins in crates was cruel.

'We have to free them,' he told the others one evening. 'The poor little things don't like to be caged, they like to run around free eating other people's bogeys. Save the puffskeins!'

'Yes, Sirius,' said Remus calmly. 'Don't worry. We'll save the puffskeins. Now, I think you need a rest.' Sirius gave him a look.

'I was being serious. Will you help me, Peter?'

'Er... I'm busy,' said Peter carefully.

'James?'

'If it gets you to shut up about the bloody balls of fluff then, yes. But tomorrow, right before our lesson, OK?' James was trying to read a book he'd found on different animals, but it was too long and boring. 'Why do they not have picture books?' he moaned. 'How do I know if I want to be this type of animal if I don't know what it looks like?'

'And there I was thinking you could read, James,' said Peter and James pulled a face.

*

James couldn't help wishing that Kettleburn didn't have as many puffskeins; the stupid things were everywhere.

He and Sirius had eaten a hurried breakfast and left early, although at different times as not to appear too suspicious. They'd then headed as quickly as they could to their Care of Magical Creatures classroom and let the puffskeins out of their crates.

'Aren't they cute?' said Sirius. It was truly depressing how sincere he was being. James looked at the incredibly annoying balls of fluff.

'Do you think they'd be better fried or boiled?' he wondered out loud. Sirius shot him an evil glare and picked up one of them, and proceeded to throw it up and down. James chucked one at the nearest wall, and it bounced back. He'd never been an animal person. He didn't mind Harry, who was useful, well behaved and annoyed Aunt Susan, but these things were just pointless.

'What's going on here!?'

It was Kettleburn, accompanied by Verdied. 'My puffskeins! My precious puffskeins!' Kettleburn stared around, looking bemused.

'What have you two done?' asked Verdied, giving them both evil looks.

'We came to talk to Professor Kettleburn,' said James, before Sirius could give the Kettleburn a lecture on how cruel he was being. 'It was like this when we got here and we didn't know what to do.'

'And what did you want to see Professor Kettleburn for?' asked Verdied.

'We were wondering if there would be any point in bringing our books and parchment and stuff to this lesson.' Verdied just laughed.

'Not a bad excuse, Potter, I'll give you that,' he said. 'Much better than telling Professor McGonagall you and your friends heard some strange noise in the Forbidden Forest last year. Now you can tell me the truth. Why on earth did you let these puffskeins out?' James guessed there was no point in lying any more.

'Because if I hadn't, Sirius would have gone on all week about how cruel it was.'

'It is cruel!' said Sirius defensively. 'You should let them roam free over hill and glen, Professor Kettleburn.' Kettleburn looked at him like he was a maniac, which was an accurate observation.

'So, it was basically because the two of you enjoy making trouble,' said Verdied. 'You can both have detention on Saturday.'

'Saturday! You can't!'

'What did you say, Potter?'

'It's the Quidditch match!'

'I know.'

'I have to play!'

'I know that too, better think twice before letting puffskeins loose in future, hadn't you, Potter? Now I've got to go, the two of you can help clear this up.' James glowered at Sirius, while picking up an armful of baby puffskeins and almost crushing them.

'You and your bloody puffskeins! I've got to miss the Quidditch match now!'