being top of your class was your highest honor. your prefect badge on your school robes was your greatest pride. being the head of your house was your greatest accomplishment.

you were, by all means, one of if not the brightest student in your year. perfect marks, not one absence, professors adored you. you were, in simple terms, quite perfect.

it’s not that the infamous sirius orion black wasn’t a good student. but, he chose where to show his strengths. he purposefully flunked the classes his parents wanted him to excel in, and he was academically gifted in those they didn’t approve of. or, in some cases, those that you also happened to take.

ever since first year, he’d made it his only goal to be better than you when it came to academics. and all in good fun, the way he saw it. just a little friendly competition. for his own amusement.

you weren’t so pleased.

you’d never let him take your place as top of charms class, potions, or even herbology. transfiguration was where the real challenges set in. and not just because he was naturally good at casting the spells.

homework was being collected one morning, a simple paper that you’d worked on last night.

when you reached into your bag to retrieve the parchment, to your utter horror, it was ripped to shreds. almost as if an animal, like a dog or something, had torn through it. you could’ve easily restored it with a simple charm, but some of the pieces were missing. great.

the professor looked down at the scraps of yellowed parchment with a mildly confused expression. sirius snickered behind his hand on the other side of the classroom, silver eyes glimmering with suppressed laughter.

“shame,” he said, loud enough for the rest of the murmuring class to hear. “our beloved role model over here with unfinished homework? hell must be freezing over.”

you glared over toward him. he had something to do with this. you just knew it.