It was the first proper social event that Hogwarts had held in years. Pureblood parents had insisted on inspecting the schools teaching methods, and meeting the witches and wizards who taught their children. So of course, the school had caved in and both pureblood parents and muggles were invited to attend the schools first formal event. Dumbledore had released this news to the students several weeks ago and they had been prepping ever since.

Sirius stood in the middle of the 5th year Gryffindor boy's dormitory. The pit of his stomach was swarming with giant flapping moths and he couldn't help himself from tapping on things in nervousness. His black shoes were polished and everything from his trousers, to his shirt and his green tie was immaculate. His green tie bore the crest of the Black house and his hair was, for the first time in his years at Hogwarts, neatly pulled back by a thin piece of black ribbon at the nape of his neck. Sirius Black looked like a different person, Remus admired.

His expression was serious, something that Remus was unused to seeing on the usually rambunctious boy's face. Suddenly, Sirius' eyes caught Remus' and he fell into a wide grin.

"Like what you see Moony?" Sirius gave a little twirl and Remus couldn't help but let out a snort.

"You wish Padfoot" He replied, shaking his head at his black haired friend.

A loud bang came from the bathroom and both Remus and Sirius stifled their laughter as James and Peter left the bathroom singed. James was glaring at Peter as he cowered away from the bespectacled teen.

"I told you it wouldn't work Peter!" James was yelling at their poor friend.

Sirius watched as Remus took pity on them both with a cleaning spell. He took the time to look at what each of his friends were wearing to the dinner. James had on a pair of black pants, his school shoes and a red tie tied haphazardly around his neck over a black shirt, his glasses, as per usual were askew. James often wore his clothes haphazard and somehow always got it to look decent. Peter, the poor bloke, had decided to just stick with his school uniform, apart from he had ditched the tie and opted for a hideous leather brown vest. Remus, however, had bothered to put in some effort. He sported some black trousers, a white button up with a red bow tie. His green eyes were twinkling as he laughed at his friends antics. They were all excited to see their parents. All except Sirius that was, he stared at his green tie in disdain.

It was going to be a long night.

The worst part of being born into a wealthy pureblood family, Sirius thought, was the fact that his mother had drilled etiquette in him since before he was born.

He had felt his parents presence before he had seen them, Orion and Walburga Black were hard to miss. His father, Orion, donned the same green tie that Sirius wore, his sharp, black suit was immaculate and so was his neatly trimmed black beard. His cold, black eyes grazing over the crowd until they landed on Sirius. His mother, Walburga, towered over her husband, her emerald green dress fell to the floor around her, and her heels clicked menacingly as she and her husband walked across the floor to greet him. Unfortunately, Sirius had gained most of his good looks from his mother, the same sharp jaw, grey eyes and black hair. Her grey eyes looked down at him in subtle approval as she assessed what he was wearing. It disgusted him by how relieved he had felt at this.

He turned to his friends, who had not yet seen their own parents.

"Mother, Father, I would like you to meet my friends, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew"

The boys were looking anywhere but his parents to avoid his Mother's look of distaste.

"These are my parents, Lord Orion Black and Lady Walburga Black of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black"

Sirius held back his grimace as he spoke, despite his family's belief that they were practically royalty, Sirius couldn't stand the formal introductions that they made him say.

Perhaps the only amusing part of the evening was the everyone's astonishment at how gentlemanly Sirius could be. As one of the ringleaders in the Marauders, people tended to forget that Sirius was raised by wealthy pureblood wizards and as such, knew everything from formal etiquette to dancing to knowing how, when and who to speak to.

Remus was in shock of how much Sirius had changed over the night. He walked with an air of confidence around him as he always did except this time it lacked the usual arrogance. His accent had changed too, Remus noted. Each word rolling off his tongue rich and velvety, carefully pronounced and softly spoken. It was strange seeing his friend so… elegant.

Remus looked over to where his two other friends were sitting across from him. Unlike Sirius, they hadn't changed. James was still cocky and arrogant when he spoke about quidditch but his voice took on the soft timbre that it when he spoke to those whom he loved dearly. Whilst Peter was being coddled by his mother. At least there was some normalcy to the night, he thought as he looked over to his own parents.

Remus couldn't stop thinking about Sirius the entire night. Not a hair out of place on his head as he danced with some Slytherin girls. Not a single crease in his shirt or a single moment where he showed disdain at his parents. It scared Remus, to be honest, that Sirius could fit in so seamlessly with his family who he'd only told tales of terror about. It was scary because suddenly Remus knew that Sirius was capable than so much more than pranking and trouble making. He was capable at fooling even the most fool-proof of people, of lying through his teeth so easily and knowing just what to say to please whomever he was talking to.

Remus looked over to his sleeping friend, his tie thrown across the floor, his hair falling out of its ribbon and soft snores escaping from his lips. He wondered why he had ever thought that Sirius' interactions with people that night had ever made him think ill of his best friend.

Remus sighed and closed his eyes. He was about to fall asleep when a soft voice glided through the air pulling him from his almost slumber.

"Stop watching me sleep you stalker."

Remus smiled, "You know you like it Pads."