10

1975, 4th September.

This time Polaris made sure to wake up early and head to breakfast, leaving both Corvus and Aaron behind. Elora had sat with him, with her also being early to breakfast, her friend joining them, Anabelle Morgan. He was already halfway through his breakfast when they made an appearance. Corvus kept his mouth shut when he spotted Elora sitting down at his side.

Elora gave him a pinched smile before excusing herself, with Anabella following behind, giving a quick goodbye.

Polaris made sure they would be early to their first class of the day, which was potions. Unfortunately for Corvus, if he wished not to be left alone at the table that barely had anyone, he had to rush his food unless he wanted to sit in an hour-long class, thinking of food.

To the annoyance of Corvus, Polaris had made sure to drag him along after trying to get another mouth full of the hot soup he was rather enjoying… something about not being late to this class like he was the previous day.

They were the first two to enter the classroom. Polaris really could care less if Corvus had stayed behind or not. He just didn't want to be the first to enter the classroom since it was their first lesson in Potions. H wasn't sure who would be where, who was sitting with who, but with Corvus, he had least knnew he could just sit with him. No problem at all.

They made themselves comfortable in the middle row and talked amongst themselves. The classroom slowly but surely filled up bit by bit as both Slytherin and Gryffindor's firsts years arrived before 09:00.

It was blatantly obvious that the Gryffindors and Slytherins were not too keen on sharing this class together, seeing as they were separate, every row was either filled with Gryffindors or Slytherins, no one dared to sit outside their house.

Just as it turned 9 on the dot, Professor Slughorn, the Slytherin house head, walked in with a smile branded on his face as he glanced at his new students. The murmuring quickly quieted down as the professor walked in.

He walked with a book under his arm and reached the table at the top of the room, and placed it on the table.

Turning around from his desk, he spoke, "Good Morning, first years." He squeaked out in a high-pitched voice.

"I am Professor Slughorn, the head of Potions and the head of Slytherins as well. I will be teaching you the theory of brewing potions and how to do so as well, of course, during your time here at Hogwarts. I want you all to know my door is always open for any of you who wish to ask questions or need help with anything at all," he spoke with such enthusiasm as if it was his greatest wish to be able to help students learn.

Just as he finished speaking, the door opened loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the classroom.

"For Merlin's sake", Corvus muttered under his breath when he saw who it was.

"Sorry… Professor, we seemed to have gotten lost on our way up here," Willow spoke with an apologetic voice as she glanced to the top of the room with a heavily breathing Nathaniel behind her, who just nodded his head along as she spoke.

"Yes, we're truly sorry for interrupting the lesson like this", Nate spoke up with a nervous look.

'I find myself unsurprised.'

The professor sighed, "I suppose it's alright, seeing as it is your second day here at Hogwarts, and it is your first lesson. Please do take a seat as I continue with the lesson. Rest assured, you haven't missed anything. I've just begun."

With that, he continued with the lesson as Nate strode into the classroom, glancing around for two seats. Willow and himself could sit with each other, although with every glance he took, he would only see one seat until he finally found a spot with two seats, and he couldn't be happier.

Nathaniel grabbed Willow's arm and led her towards the two seats, which happened to be right beside Polaris Black and Corvus Avery, making Willow's eyes widen in surprise.

Once they sat down, Corvus's eye twitched in annoyance. He knew they had just sat right next to him, so he decided to pay no attention to Nathaniel, who was trying to grab his attention. At that moment, he wished he could switch places with Polaris since he was on the other side and wouldn't have any problem being bothered by them without drawing any more attention.

"This is fate, isn't", Nathaniel whispered to Corvus. Corvus rolled his eyes before sending a glare Nate's way, "Fate my arse, next time don't be late, then maybe we won't have to sit beside one another, Sayre", Corvus snapped quietly.

"Come on, don't be like that. Just because we're in different houses doesn't mean we can't all be friends, and I said call me Nate on the train," he whispered back to Corvus, only annoying Corvus further.

"Were you dropped as a baby or something!" Corvus hissed. He then turned to Nathaniel, "I've insulted your friend, and so has Polaris. We're purebloods, superior to her kind. So, do tell me, why do you insist on being 'friends'."

Their whispering bickering went on while Polaris had them zoned out as he took his notes and paid attention.

"Would you two be quiet!" Willow hissed towards her friend Nathaniel and Corvus a bit too loudly, gathering the attention of a few students nearby.

"Oh, sorry…" Nathaniel whispered to Willow, while Corvus could care less if she wanted them to be quiet, knowing it was her who had scolded him for talking, more so arguing.

"You've made me miss a few words now. I can barely keep up as it is. He never stops talking, going on and on," she mumbled, staring at her parchment filled with sentences.

With that said, both Corvus and Nathaniel glanced down at her parchment. Corvus leaned forward to see past Nate, seeing words written down.

"Since when were we taking down notes" Corvus mumbled under his breath.

"Since like 20 minutes ago", Polaris drawled from the other side of Corvus, as the rest of the class started to chat amongst each other as the Professor decided to give them a short break.

"Why do you have like three parchments of information," Corvus said in awe.

Polaris looked to the pieces of parchment on his side of the desk, "Oh, I just added a few things to the stuff Professor Slughorn said," Polaris said unbothered.

"Try hard. I see you're trying to make an impression on Slughorn then," Corvus said with a small smirk.

"It's Professor Slughorn, you git".

--

The first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins all walked out of the classroom as the lesson had ended.

Polaris and Corvus were walking side by side as they walked out, "How did you manage to get 50 points!" Corvus exclaimed out in confusion.

Polaris glanced at him before looking straight ahead again, "It was 45 points, not 50, but I guess if we're rounding up, then yes, Mr Avery, I have gotten our house 50 points. Now, now what about you then? How many points did you get us? Ah, none was it?" Polaris couldn't keep the smug look off his face when speaking as he tried not to burst into laughter.

With narrowed eyes, Corvus responded.

"I could have gotten us points if I wanted to," he said confidently.

Polaris snorted as he waved his hand nonchalantly, "Hm, I only planned on answering two questions which I did at the start. Then he kept asking me questions when no one else would put their hand up to answer, so basically, I got us points without trying while you have to try to get points… I'm pretty sure if you even tried, you still wouldn't get us points," Polaris spoke again, this time with a smirk.

"You know, Pol… one day, I might just have my fist in your face."

Polaris rolled his eyes. "I'll wait for that day, then."

"Wait up!" A voice sounded from behind them. They turned to see Nathaniel Sayre jogging towards them with Willow walking behind him with a sullen look on her face.

Corvus quickly turned towards Polaris, "If we run now, we can avoid them", he whispered. Polaris hit the back of his head without thought, "Stop being an idiot. Even if we did run, I don't doubt that Sayre would run after us," Polaris whispered back.

"You guys didn't wait", Nathaniel spoke as he reached their side. "Why would we?" Corvus whispered to himself.

"Well, I'm surprised you didn't get lost while finding us", Polaris drawled. Nathaniel chuckled nervously, "Well, actually, we didn't get lost, I just happened to wake up late, and my roommates didn't wake me up. Willow was late too because she waited for me, I guess," Nathaniel said with a sheepish smile.

"You overslept? What are you five?" Corvus responded with a raised brow. "No! It's just my mum usually wakes me up, but she's obviously not here to do that anymore, either her or the house elves…" Nathaniel responded before getting grabbed by the collar.

"Anyway, I thought… um, maybe you guess can appoligise to eachother?" Nathaniel spoke again.

"What?!" Willow said.

"Excuse me?" Polaris found himself saying.

Corvus just burst out laughing, receiving a few looks from passers-by.

Willow pointed an accusing finger at her friend, "You tricked me! Apologise? Are you mad?"

"I actually agree with her. I have no interest in being friends with someone who thinks less of me merely because I was born with pure blood," Polaris said hauntingly.

She glared at him, "That mouth of yours is going to get you killed one day, and I'll be there laughing. I don't want to be friends with someone who thinks they have purer blood."

"Come one. Let's just let bygones be bygones. Stop thinking about blood. No purebloods, no half-bloods, no muggle-borns. Just witches and wizards. Willow, you started this whole thing by assuming they were dark wizards, which only caused them to retaliate- I am in no way condoning the way they responded to your taunts-" Nanthiel was cut off.

"-Look, Nicholas, was it?-"

"-Nathaniel", Sayre awkwardly corrected.

Corvus rolled his eyes as he continued, "I really don't think it'll make a difference if we do solve this apparent problem. We don't see eye to eye. Therefore let it be. No need to force what there's nothing to build on."

Willow crossed her arms, her kaw clenched, "Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, I agree with him. Stop forcing it, Nate. You can't possibly be friends with everyone, so just give up."

"Will…" Nathaniel said sadly, a look on his face that Willow seemed to be much familiar with, and she groaned, looking towards himself and his friend, Corvus. "I deeply apologise. I guess I was out of line. I shouldn't have just outright accused you lot of being dark wizards… and my bad for calling you a 'cousin-fucker' Black-"

"-She called you what?!" Corvus interrupted agasted, "Don't look at me like that. I did try to tell you at some point, but I forgot to mention it again," Polaris responded to the frowned look Corvus gave him.

Ignoring him, she continued, "it wouldn't have hurt to be nice since I was only meeting you all for the first time…."

She then looked at Polaris and Corvus expectantly, waiting for a reply.

"What?" Corvus finally said, "We expect your apology," Polaris himself said after Corvus spoke. She stared at them for what seemed an hour before screeching in annoyance, her hands gripping her hair, "Are you being serious right now?! You're supposed to bloody apologise too! I didn't do that for nothing!"

Again, they didn't respond straight away, "…."

"Oh, um, well, we're heading to the library now to check it out!" Nathaniel shouted towards them as he was dragged back where he had come from by Willow Smyth. The girl sent them both a rather promising look that seemed to scream, watch your back, or else.

"Weird bunch they are…." Polaris mused as he saw them disappear around the corner. "You don't say. How long do you think Sayre will bother us for?" Corvus asked. Polaris merely shrugged his shoulders.

The two boys continued walking, and they began to see a crowd of people as they walked around a corner. The crowd was loud.

Corvus saw another first-year Slytherin around the crowd, "What's going on here?" he asked the Slytherin girl. She looked towards him, "Oh, apparently it's a fight between a 3rd year Gryffindor and a second-year Slytherin, something about the Slytherin insulting his girlfriend or something", she answered before walking off.

Corvus turned to Polaris with a grin.

"This is brilliant! Our second day at Hogwarts, and there's a fight. Who do you think it is?!" Corvus blurted out in excitement as he tried looking past the crowd of students.

Polaris gave his friend a look, "'who do you think it is?' how would I know? Like you said, it's our second day here, and we barely know all the first-year Slytherin names," Polaris drawled to the inattentive Corvus, who was mostly concentrated on standing tall on his tippy toes, trying to see through the crowd.

Corvus looked back from the chanting crowd towards Polaris, "I'm going in", he said with a firm nod before pushing through the crowd.

"Wait- and… he's gone," Polaris said as he dropped his outstretched arm.

After a few seconds of standing at the back of the crowd, he could swear he had heard Corvus's voice from the centre of the crowd, 'Great, what is this idiot doing now?' Polaris thought as he himself pushed his way through the crowd so he could see what was currently happening.

He found himself in the middle of the commotion, "I really don't see the problem here" Corvus spoke towards the Gryffindor with a glare. Polaris put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I don't think-".

"And what in Merlin's name is going on here?!" A stern voice sounded out; Polaris looked towards the voice to see Professor McGonagall.

'Great…'

--

No matter how hard Polaris had tried to convince Professor McGonagall that he had no involvement in the issue, she decided to believe her Gryffindor students over him. The Gryffindor students were no help as well, seeing as he said both Corvus and Polaris were involved as well.

All five of them landed themselves in detention, the Slytherin who had started the whole commotion was in the infirmary instead of detention like the other three. So, it was just Polaris, Corvus and the other two Gryffindors, them being the Gryffindor boy and his girlfriend since they couldn't convince their way out of it as they did to get Polaris into it.

"I can't believe our punishment is to come into the forbidden forest. Like what type of nonsense is that?!"

"What happened to rules?! First, they say the forest is off-limits because dangerous things lurk in there, and here we are being told to go wander into it just to pick up some stupid flowers," Corvus continued to voice his thoughts.

"If my uncle heard of this, he'd have a row with the headmaster", Corvus hissed in annoyance as he picked the flower from the ground aggressively.

"Just shut up. You're the one who got me in this mess," Polaris droned out while he himself grabbed the flower from its roots to put in the basket Hagrid had given them. "Ever heard of self-perseverance, Corvus? What made you think it was a good idea to get involved like that, but I get it. You were just defending a fellow Slytherin."

"Yeah! Us Slytherins have to stick together."

"Besides, they wouldn't make us come out here if it weren't safe", Polaris murmured.

"Safe my arse, it's called the forbidden forest for a reason. What's safe about that. They just hate us Slytherins so much that they have that filthy mudblood and her knight and shining armour helping inside that dumb hut while we're here playing bloody house-elf," spoke Corvus as he sat at the bottom of a tree stump.

Corvus grabbed the grass in his gip, ripping it from the ground only to throw it in the air, "Do I look like a bloody house elf" he mumbled.

"It's not that bad. At least we're getting fresh air, I guess, and I'm pretty sure we'll be switching places with them once we get back there," Polaris responded. Corvus looked over to Polaris' basket, "How come you have way more than me?"

Polaris stopped and looked at the basket. He barely but anything in, well, he did, well, at least not with his hands. His hands would ache in the morning if he pulled them all out from the ground. He looked to Corvus and smiled, wiggling his fingers in the air, "magic."

"Seriously? Right, then, let's head ba-" Corvus responded as he got cut off.

"Boo!" a loud voice sounded across the area where they were, causing Corvus to scream at the top of his lungs. He struggled to draw his wand out, only for it to fall out of his grasp.

Once Corvus heard laughter, his heart started to calm down from the fright. He glanced at Polaris, who just looked annoyed. He didn't even seem to flinch at the sound that caught them off guard.

"Are you two done laughing then?" Polaris asked the two laughing figures standing there in their Gryffindor robes.

Polaris glared at his brother and his friend, who he identified as James Potter.

Sirius took a deep breath of air to calm himself down and stop the laughter, "Merlin, you scream like a girl", Sirius sounded out towards Corvus, making him flush red.

Corvus said nothing in response and just put his wand away as Sirius and his friend gave each other high fives.

"I thought Slytherins just hissed like the snakes they are, but apparently they scream at the top of their lungs like girls too," Potter voiced, only to burst out laughing again along with Sirius.

Corvus stood up from his spot and dusted himself off, with a glare on his face as he crossed his arms.

"Control your blood-traitor brother, why don't you" Corvus hissed towards his friend, catching the attention of the two Gryffindors.

"He'd rather be a Lion than a slimy snake", The potter hissed out as he stood in front of Corvus with a glare of his own behind his glasses.

"For Merlin's sake, what are you two even doing out here anyway?!" Polaris grounded out loudly as he pushed the Potter away from Corvus.

"Ahh, us? We're just enjoying the scenery," Sirius responded nonchalantly to his brother as he walked up to him with a grin ignoring Corvus.

Sirius ruffled his brother's head of hair, "What about you? Unleashing your Gryffindor side and going on an adventure yourself?" Sirius asked hopefully.

Polaris smacked his brother's hand away from his hair, not at all appreciating it being messed with. "No, we're helping Hagrid out", Polaris lied, not wanting his brother to know he had gotten detention with them bearly being at Hogwarts for a week.

"Helping my arse. If that's what you call punishments nowadays before you know, you'll start calling this detention a community service," Corvus spoke from behind Polaris as he rolled his eyes.

Sirius grabbed his brother's shoulders with a wide grin, "You got detention? I knew you had it in you! I thought you were a lost cause like Reg," Sirius blurted out, then Sirus looked to his best mate, "I told you, he wasn't a total lost cause."

James snorted, "Right… and you also said he was a total Ravenclaw, yet there he is wearing a snakes uniform."

Polaris again pushed his brother's hands off him and sighed, "What do you even mean by lost cause?"

He glanced at James Potter, then to his brother, "You know I don't even care. Besides, I didn't even do anything to warrant this detention."

James snorted at that, and Polaris glared at him, continuing, "Having the last name Black puts a target on my back. Your House head is a right donce," Polaris said, his arms crossing. "You take that back, little Sirius!"

James looked to Sirius, "He insulted Minnie!"

"It's a full moon tonight", Corvus mumbled quite loudly as he stared lazily at the dark sky before Sirius could respond at all.

Polaris saw how Sirius and his friend tensed at the sentence, which confused him.

Not even a second later, all four of them heard a howl, causing both Polaris and Corvus to tense up themselves, while Sirius Black and James Potter's eyes widened in realisation.

Polaris watched as his brother's friend raced off towards the sound of the howl like an idiot. Before he knew his brother shook him out of his daze, "Go back", Sirius spoke firmly.

Polaris's face scrunched up in confusion, "But-", "I said Go back, what don't you understand!" Sirius hissed before running off in the same direction as his friend.

"Remember when you asked if I had a sense of self-perseverance? Well, it seems your brother his friends don't?" Corvus said slowly. He shook his head.

"Whatever you heard, the guy, let's go. If he wants to go die out there, so be it. I'll attend his funeral and get him some nice flowers or something, perhaps some Kadupul Flowers," Polaris rushed out.

"Huh? Ka- what?"

"Just run!"