House: Gryffindor
Position: HoH
Category: Drabble
Prompt: [First Line] He/She/They had three hours before anyone would be able to see him/her/them again, provided the spell worked fully.
Word Count (excluding header): 489
Beta: Tigger
They had three hours before anyone would be able to see them again, provided the spell worked fully. That should be just long enough to determine their success or failure.
"I don't understand why we all just couldn't keep using James's cloak," Peter whined.
Sirius slapped his friend upside his head. "In case it has escaped your notice, we are a tad bit taller than we were as first years. Well, at least some of us are."
Peter pouted. While the other Marauders had sprouted like flitterbloom over the last summer break, Peter remained a stout five-two.
"I don't see why I couldn't keep going with James under the invisibility cloak. You giants," he addressed Remus and Sirius, "could just fend for yourself."
James arched a brow. "You know that's not the Marauder's way."
"Yeah," Sirius declared. "All for four and four for one!"
Remus shook his head. "Good try, Sirius, but that's not quite right." He unfolded the three experimental cloaks. "James and I have spelled these cloaks with a series of concealment charms. They should last for three hours, but to be on the safe side we should return to our dormitory in no more than two hours. Now, Sirius, if you'd be so kind as to put this on."
Sirius whipped the cloak from Remus's hands and threw it over his head.
"Well, am I invisible?" he asked.
Peter averted his eyes from where Sirius stood. Remus shook his head in disappointment.
James laughed, "I wish you were invisible, mate!"
Sirius groaned. "So the spells didn't work at all?"
"Oh they worked, alright," Remus muttered. Turning to James, he asked, "How could this happen? Which spells and charms did you use?"
James shrugged. "I developed one of my own. I did an inverted Revelio charm hoping that it would work as a strong concealment charm. Clearly, that didn't happen."
Sirius felt a jolt of panic. With the cloak still over his head, he glanced down at his body. Nothing looked wrong, so he breathed a sigh of relief. "Can someone fill me in?"
"Put it this way," James deadpanned, "we know you were lying about getting that dragon tattoo on your arse."
Sirius's hands flew to his backside. "What?!"
"As far as we're concerned, you're naked as a jaybird right now," James said. "Can you do us all a favor and take the cloak off before the image is permanently burned into my retinas?"
"Really?" Sirius laughed. "Oh this is too good! You think I can sneak into the girls' dormitory and—"
James summoned the cloak away and, with a flick of his wrist, set it ablaze.
"Spoilsport," Sirius said. "I wouldn't have waggled my goods in front of Lily."
"You won't be waggling in front of anyone," Remus pointed out. "Back to the drawing board on these spells, James. We will figure out how to replicate your cloak. It can't be that special, after all."