You Don't Know Left from Right!

I had to admire James's love of adventure. Even though his affection for me had dropped by five points, as eleven o'clock approached, he still hesitantly tossed me a paper ball. I opened it and read, "Are we still going tonight?"

I gave him an OK sign, and James smiled at me, though his smile was clearly less enthusiastic than before.

It was really something that he was still willing to go on an adventure in the Forbidden Forest with me. Wasn't he afraid I'd sell him out?

Sirius saw everything we did. After giving me another [Sirius affection -1], he stormed back to the dormitory. James was about to go comfort him when my paper ball hit him on the head.

"Let's go!"

The moment James opened the paper ball, he completely forgot about Sirius. The two of us eagerly ran out of the common room. Remus was the only one left there now, and he watched us leave, looking rather troubled.

I led James through the corridors of Hogwarts with practiced ease. He seemed interested in everything, and when he saw me navigating the secret passages as if I were at home, his eyes filled with curiosity. "How do you know Hogwarts so well?"

"My family told me about a lot of places at Hogwarts before I came," I told him mysteriously. "I'd heard ages ago that Hogwarts has lots of secret passages and secrets. My goal is to explore every secret passage here. I want to visit every place."

My words must have been just what James wanted to hear. Though he didn't throw an arm around my shoulders like before, the hesitation in his eyes had faded, replaced by eagerness. "That's my goal too. Looks like we'll probably get along great." His brow furrowed slightly at that. "But I don't understand why you're so... friendly to that lot in Slytherin. Those dark wizards are all vicious people."

"Your brain really doesn't work well enough sometimes." I couldn't resist poking him in the head. I didn't use much force at all, but James clutched his head and began silently howling as if I'd twisted it off. "I like Lily, so I won't say things that make her unhappy in front of her. Besides, I don't think Slytherin is..."

"So that's it."

James threw an arm around my shoulders, nearly pulling me to the floor-how strange, had I become so weak?-then went on and on about how he'd nearly taken me for a traitor to Gryffindor before, making me too embarrassed to continue saying things like "Actually, I think Slytherin is pretty good too."

"Meow?"

Just as James was telling me about the history of dark wizards, a cat's meow rang out in the quiet corridor, and I froze. I slowly turned my head and saw Mrs. Norris looking at us, her tail swaying and her head tilted.

"Have you found some little brats running around in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Running all over the place on the very first day of school! If I catch them, I'll throw every one of those annoying pests into the Forbidden Forest!"

"We've been spotted." I immediately clapped a hand over James's mouth. "You go left, I'll go right! Filch is coming from the right. I know this place better than you do, so I can dodge him!" As I spoke, I picked Mrs. Norris up, intending to put her to the side. But at that moment, James shot off like a Golden Snitch on the pitch, sprinting straight to the right. Then, before my shocked eyes, he came face-to-face with Filch.

Me: "..."

James: "..."

Filch: "?!"

In the end, Professor McGonagall hauled us back to the common room, and we each lost five points for roaming around at night. I was glad we'd been caught in the corridor. If we'd already reached the area around the Forbidden Forest, that five would definitely have had a ten after it. When the Gryffindor students got up, they'd probably hang us up and parade us through the streets.

Our first night's excursion had lasted less than half an hour before the two of us returned to the common room, dejected. Remus was no longer there when we got back, so we started blaming each other as though no one else were around.

"Potter." I placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "I never thought you were someone who couldn't tell left from right. I misjudged you."

"How can you blame me for that!" James protested indignantly. "You were facing me, so your left was my right. How was I supposed to know whether you meant your directions or mine?"

I thought about it carefully, and he seemed to have a point. "Then let's each take a step back. From now on, let's forget about left and right. I'll just grab you and run."

"How come you're back already?"

Just as James and I were discussing some signals we could use in the future, Sirius's cold voice rang out. I looked up and saw him standing in the doorway to the boys' dormitory. I didn't know when he'd appeared there. His arms were crossed, and he was looking at me very unfriendly. "Didn't you go to the Forbidden Forest?"

"We got caught halfway there." James scratched his hair, looking very depressed. "We could've gotten away, but something happened..."

I swore this was the first time I'd seen Sirius smile so happily. He bounded over to James in two strides and deftly squeezed in between us. "I told you there was no way you'd succeed with this guy." He began making malicious guesses about me. "Maybe she deliberately got you caught..."

"Hey! Black!" I felt I had to make a fuss, or Sirius would definitely go back and badmouth me. "You can't take it out on me just because James ignored you. You're the one who couldn't keep James with you!"

I didn't care how murderously Sirius glared at me anymore. James, on the other hand, paid no attention to what was going on between us and simply let out a long sigh. "Sigh, when it comes down to it, I was at fault too." He leaned out past Sirius to look at me and patted his chest as though making a promise. "Next time, there definitely won't be any problems next time!"

"I think maybe going straight to the Forbidden Forest was a bit too difficult." Seeing James's expression fall, I hurried on, "How about we explore all the secret passages in Hogwarts first? If we know where they are, it'll be much easier to hide from people, and we might even find something interesting!"

James brightened again. I realized his likes really were quite clear-cut in his first year.

After that, the little bit of unpleasantness between us vanished completely. He even said there was no need to call him Potter anymore; James was fine.

"Okay, James." I yawned. "It's getting late, so let's hurry to bed. Tomorrow's the first day of school. If we're late, we'll probably lose more points."

James and I exchanged a look. At the thought that we'd lost points for our house on the very first day, we both burst out laughing.

Then Sirius pushed me away.

It was nearly midnight, but James was still in high spirits. Though he hadn't made it to the Forbidden Forest tonight, he'd found several secret passages, and Merlin had told him the passwords for several doors. At that thought, he couldn't help turning to look at Sirius beside him.

"I don't understand," he said. "Why is your relationship with Merlin so bad?"

"It's your relationship with her that's too good." Sirius's expression soured at the mention of Merlin. "That face of hers..."

James recalled Merlin's face. He rarely saw girls so beautiful and delicate. Though Lily was undoubtedly the prettiest girl in the whole house, Merlin was definitely one of the best-looking people he'd ever seen.

"Isn't she pretty?" he said casually, greeting Remus, who was still reading nearby. Remus was a little surprised he'd returned so early, but he only nodded and didn't ask anything.

Sirius said nothing more, but James didn't care about the answer to that question. He lay down on his bed while discussing tomorrow's classes with Remus.

Click.

The light went out, and the entire dormitory plunged into darkness. Sitting at the head of his bed, Sirius unconsciously thought of Merlin's face.

The same hair color, similar eye color, and the same delicate features...

Whenever he saw Merlin, it was as though he were seeing a member of the Black family.

[Author's note]

★Notice★

On Lily's route, the first night will be spent previewing lessons with Lily and listening to her talk about her and Snape.

★Side quest reminder★

*Congratulations on achieving James's romance achievement-[Just call me James, Merlin]

*Congratulations on unlocking Sirius's main romance route-[Black family]. A side quest will automatically unlock when the time comes.