By the time that Sirius had torn himself away from Hestia's demands, he found himself beset by querulous females on all sides who apparently had just noticed a change in the boy since last they'd clapped eyes on him, and they approved of it, lavishing their attentions on him. He did not know how to respond to them. He was flattered, of course, but this was not what he wanted to do. He just didn't have the words for it, so went along with it. But he was thoroughly miserable until he was able to rejoin his friends, just in time for the train to pull into the Hogwarts station.
He walked with Remus, following behind James and Peter, as they made their way to the self-propelled carriages that would take them to the school. Normally he speculated on what drew them, but today he was too distracted to care. And Remus seemed rather quiet, so he took his cue from him.
They received their new passwords and went up to their fifth year boys' dorm, where they found their stuff had preceded them. Sirius wanted to ask Remus if anything was wrong, but for some reason he didn't dare. So, thinking quickly, he used his wand to fashion a small bird from thin air, and sent it flying about his mate's head, chirping, hoping to get at least a smile from him.