Rainy Day Blues

A/N: Yeah...so quick disclaimer. I don't own what you recognize (aka Harry Potter characters). I don't own Caila, Stephanie, or Jace either, they belong to three friends of mine. And I do however, own Ash. And the story, I suppose. Weird twisted stuff.

Anyways, to a lighter note (kinda). This is just a short one-shot I worked on the other day while I was trying to fight writer's block on Felix. And yes, it's the same characters as in Felix (meaning OCs). And this may actually become a chapter in it, way in the future, since this refers to some of the stuff that's coming up in the story, and the fact that this is during 7th year. So slightly sorry for the confusion, if you want to be unconfused (or at least slightly, dunno how much better Felix is at explaining the OCs), read Felix. Or at least what's up of it.

Oh, one more final thing I forgot: I suck at grammar. The whole comma in quotes stuff throws me off. I don't know when it's supposed to be a period, when it's supposed to be a comma. But I think you'll understand what they're saying, so it's not that big of a deal to me. So yeah, just forewarning you :D

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oy. Could this day get any more boring?" Sirius grumbled.

He looked around the room at his eight other friends, each looking like he felt. Well, except for three. Caila, Stephanie, and Peter were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace playing Exploding Snap.

Meanwhile, James and Lily were sitting on a couch nearby, not looking that bored, either. They were talking cheerfully about something, which was good. In the years before, one would usually find Lily chiding James about something and repeatedly declining his requests to go out, while he would be pointedly ignoring her advice and giving her puppy-dog eyes with his invitation to join him for the next Hogsmeade trip.

Remus and Jace were the only two left who really weren't doing anything (besides Sirius himself, and Ash, who was currently laying down with her head in his lap and her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep while he absently ran his fingers through her hair). Remus was watching the Exploding Snap game with the slightest bit of interest, while Jace really was asleep, snuggled up next to him.

"You know, if you're so bored, you should come up with something to do." Ash muttered, her eyes still closed.

Sirius gave a short hmph! while Remus nodded in agreement. "Those three over there have found a way to entertain themselves."

"Exploding Snap is so third year, though. I'm sick of it. I want to do something different."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, until finally the card tower blew up with a loud BANG! and Cai started running around excitedly, her blonde curls bouncing wildly. "I WON!" she declared triumphantly, while Jace looked up at Remus questioningly, as the loud bang and Cai's shrieks of joy had woken her up.

"They were playing Exploding Snap." Remus answered.

"I see." Jace said, stifling a yawn and leaning back up against Remus.

Meanwhile, Stephanie was currently picking up the cards and trying to get Cai's attention. "CAI!" she yelled, tossing a bon-bon from the table at the girl in question.

"Oooh, candy!" Cai said, and she turned around and picked it up. "Whatdyawant?" she continued, munching on the candy.

"You didn't win." Steph informed her.

"Yeah, I did."

"No, you didn't. Yo--"

"Yeah, I did. It blew up on your turn."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But you weren't the last person to completely finish a turn."

"I wasn't?"

"No, Petey over there was."

"Oh." Cai said, sitting down, looking shocked. Meanwhile, Peter shared the same expression.

"I won?"

Stephanie nodded. Peter looked around the room in disbelief. "But I--I never win." Everyone waited while it sunk in to Peter that he had actually won something. "Oh my God. Oh my God, I won. I WON!"

A round of praises went around the group, various encouragements as "Good job, Petey!" and "Great going!" were shared, while Peter was glowing.

Sirius, meanwhile, didn't seem to like this shift in attention to Peter. "Alright, we've established he won. Good job Pete, but can we move on to something else? Honestly, I was bored before this whole mess began, now it's only worse."

Peter lost his smile as quick as it was won; meanwhile, Ash slapped Sirius lightly on the side of his face. "Tell him you're sorry!" she chided him, sitting up and narrowing her eyes.

"What for? I just told him the truth. I mean, he did do a good job, but really, is all of this necessary?"

"Yes, in fact, it is."

Sirius sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry Petey. I'm sorry you're such a loser that you winning a game of Exploding Snap is cause for celebration. And I'm sorry that I rained on your parade by saying that you're boring."

Peter's eyes went wide and he ran off out the Portrait Hole. "Great job. Now not only have you ruined a great occaision for him, but you probably ruined the rest of his day." Ash said, crossing her arms.

"Oh God, here they go again." Cai said, grabbing the bowl of candy from the table. "This should be good. Anybody want some?" she asked, shoving the bowl around after grabbing a handful herself.

Sirius sighed. "He's pathetic, and you know it. You've even said it. Now really, quit sticking up for him. Since when have you done that, anyways?"

"Since I grew up and started acting my age." Ash shot back. "Which you've seemed to forgotten how old you are. So if you want to act like a first year, fine. I'll treat you like a first year." she said, standing up and looking at him directly in his eyes.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Fine." Sirius said, a smile forming. He shot up as Ash took off, and he ran off after her.

"Looks like someone isn't bored anymore." Remus said.

James laughed. "Looks like someone won't be bored tonight, either."

"James!" Lily said, looking at him disbelievingly. "That's not--you shouldn't--I'm appalled!"

"Notice she didn't say shocked." Cai added in an undertone. But of course, Cai was loud, so her undertone was normal speaking. So everyone currently sitting laughed.

A few minutes later, they again were bored. Sirius had chased Ash back to the couch they were on and was currently tickling her, causing her to laugh so that her face was really pink. James wondered vaguely how Lily would react if he tickled her to death, but then he realized that she probably wouldn't take too well to it, seeing as how childish stuff like that had annoyed her since fifth year.

"Will you two cut it out and get a room already?" Remus chortled, causing everyone else to snicker and James to look around bewilderedly, pulled out of his thoughts (which of course, was what made him think Remus was talking to him).

Sirius moved so that he was sitting down again. "Somebody's a bit jealous." he muttered, causing Ash to giggle while she pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

"Hmph," Remus started. "At least I don't have to fight and make up with my girlfriend to get what I want."

"Well, now," Ash said, shooting daggers at Remus with her eyes. "That would be because of how easy your girlfriend is."

Remus looked angrily at the two, and he tensed up. But Jace on the other hand, just looked at him and then at the other two sweetly. "Don't worry about it," she told him. "See, they're so immature and insecure, they feel like they need to insult others when they get called on something or they don't get their way."

"So, Remus, has Jace cheated on you yet?" Sirius said loudly, glaring at the two. "I wouldn't be suprised if she has. It's just like her to grab hold of your heart and then rip it out gruesomely by going behind your back with your best friend."

At this, Remus stood up, and so did Sirius. "Do something!" Lily said, giving James a shove. He went over to the two.

"Both of you sit!" James ordered. "Look, stuff happened last year. That was last year. No hard feelings anymore, right?"

"Right, James." Ash said, tugging at Sirius' arm to make him sit down. "But like I said before, if you want me to be buddy-buddy with that--" at this she nodded her head towards Jace "--it's not going to happen."

"Same to you." Jace said darkly, then turned to James. "Besides, it wasn't really last year. It was last school year."

"Whatever." James said, sitting back down with Lily. "Just chill out."

"And now, we're back to square one." Cai said.

The group sat around silently for about a quarter of an hour, before Steph spoke up. "We need to do something. We still have half an hour before dinner. I for one say we play Truth or Dare."

Everybody gave responses in various degrees of disagreement. "What about Choose?" Jace suggested.

"What's that?" Lily asked.

"It's a game where a person picks another person, and lists two things, and the other person has to choose between them, and give a reason. Like this," Jace responded, looking around the room. "How about...Cai. Choose: Macaroni and cheese or pickles?"

Cai smiled. "Easy, mac and cheese. It's gooey, yummy, and besides, pickles are nasty and bitter."

"Good." Jace said, smiling. "Now pick somebody else."

"Hmmm...James." Cai picked, a smile forming. "Choose: Lily or Quidditch?"

James' eyes widened. "Can...can she give me something else?" he asked Jace, who shook her head. "Damn...well..." he said, looking over at Lily nervously, who was smiling as if to say This should be interesting. "I'd have to choose...Lily. Yes, I love Quidditch, and I'm good at it and all, but I love Lily more." he said sweetly. "Besides, I can live without Quidditch, but Lily...that's a different story."

"That's so sweet." Jace commented.

Lily kissed James, and then he looked around the room. "My turn...Sirius." he said, an evil smile on his face. "Choose: Ash or torturing Snivelly?"

"Well, damn, I can't top your speech, mate." Sirius said, then he looked down at Ash who was looking at him questioningly. "Although I already know who I'm going to pick, I don't need to think. Of course I pick Ashey. I mean, torturing Snivelly's great, and who said if I choosed that I'd have to actually follow the rules? I never follow rules." he explained, smiling. "And Ashey's just great to have around, and I love her too. Besides, I don't think Snivelly would be as much fun to snog." he finished jokingly.

Everyone laughed while Sirius looked around the room for the next victim. "Cai." he said, while she groaned.

"Again?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, again. Now, choose: Detention with Professor Binns or detention with Minnie?"

"Oh, that's easy." Cai piped up. "Minnie, of course. Trash-Binns is a boring old geezer with a sense of humor as dry and transparent as he is. But Minnie...you can see stuff getting to her. And she even laughs at some of it. Speaking from experience, detention with Minnie would be much more fun."

Cai thought for a second while everyone agreed with her, then turned to Lily. "Lily, choose: Being Head Girl or having Tuna-Face treat you decently?"

"Oh, I love being Head Girl." Lily said. "That one's easy. I've given up on Petunia caring about me, I know she never will."

"I wish I was Head Girl." Ash mused. "I think I'm just not responsible enough though. I always forget to do my homework."

"Whatever." Stephanie said. "You do not. You just don't do it."

"Or it could be that..."

"Ash." Lily said. "Choose: getting perfect scores on everything, or being able to torture and kill every member of Sirius' lovely little fan club?"

"That's harsh, Lily." Ash said. "But I'd have to say I'd rather get perfect scores on everything. That's something I'll never be able to do, unless I pulled a large amount of all-nighters. I could at least lower the member count in that damned fan club if I tried hard enough."

Ash turned to Stephanie. "Now...Steph. Choose: Failing every class, or having to date Peter?"

"That's horrible!" Steph exclaimed, while everyone else was chuckling. "How about neither?"

"That's the point." Ash said. "You have to choose."

"I really can't," Steph mused. "See, if I fail every class, even for a day, I'll never hear the end of it from my parents. But if I'm with Peter, I'll never hear the end of it from any student here. Especially you all. So...wow. I'd rather have the wrath of my parents. I'd rather fail every class. At least I'd just get Howlers from them. I have to live with you all for three-fourths of the year. I don't want to spend it miserably because of him."

Everyone chuckled, but they stopped as soon as they heard the Portrait Hole open up. "Speaking of the devil..." Remus muttered, and there in front of them stood Peter.

"I just thought I'd let you know you all are missing dinner. Which isn't like any of you. And Sirius, I forgive you for earlier and accept your apology, as bad as it was." Peter said, out of breath as if he had been running. "So are we going to eat now?"

Sirius and James jumped up and ran across the common room. "Are you kidding?" Sirius yelled behind him. The Portrait Hole opened and shut so fast that the remaining seven laughed as they heard the Fat Lady yelling at the two boys who had just burst out of the common room.

"Crazy things happen when we get bored." Cai said as they all headed out of the common room.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Remus agreed.