"That ruddy old git!"
James Potter watched, dumbfounded, as Albus Dumbledore settled comfortably back into his seat, serving himself a generous portion of mashed potatoes and striking up a leisurely chat with Professor Slughorn as several hundred students watched him with varying degrees of incredulity.
"How can he spring news like that on us then just...just," his voice faltered, "...eat food like that!" He finished anti-climatically, his voice full of badly suppressed emotion. If there was one thing James hated, it was being left hanging.
"Relax, mate," Sirius encouraged lazily, leaning casually against Remus and helping himself to a large platter of chicken, "It's not like the tasks are going to start in the middle of dinner." He was just as excited to hear the news, but, unlike his best friend, the combination of the feast, and the fact that he was finally seeing his three friends after a particularly nasty summer with his family, was enough to keep him content until Dumbledore was ready to pick up from where he had left off.
"But it's the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" James protested weakly, looking at Sirius as if he had just proclaimed that his ever-lasting love of Severus Snape. "He can't tell us that something like that is going on this year, then leave us hanging like that!" He glared indignantly at Dumbledore, folding his arms across his chest with an angry huff.
"Drop it," Remus advised calmly, pushing a plate towards James. "I wouldn't recommend looking at the headmaster like that either, James. Glaring daggers at the back of his head isn't bound to earn the approval of the staff." His voice was stern, but a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth gave away his true feelings of fondness for his slightly more anxious friend. Beside him, Peter nodded, his cheeks bulging with food.
"Oh, shut it," James shot at Peter childishly, pulling his plate towards himself and beginning to pile food on with an air of imperious dignity. Never mind the fact that he hadn't technically said anything. Remus shook his head, rolling his eyes but still grinning.
"Be nice," He scolded gently, prodding James in the stomach with his fork.
"Yeah," Sirius agreed through a mouthful of food, "Be a good boy and eat your supper. Dumbledore'll get to the point soon enough."
Remus snorted into his plate. "I wouldn't be talking, Padfoot."
"Yeah, you're not exactly a "good boy" either," James agreed, now tucking into a bowl of chowder. "I can think of a few things you told me over the summ-ouch," James yelped as Sirius' foot met his shin with a sound crack. "I wasn't going to be specific," he protested, glaring at Sirius as he massaged his shin.
Sirius said nothing, poking a bit of chicken with his knife rather more forcefully than truly necessary, shooting a meaningful look at James. During his "incarceration" as he called it, with his family over the summer, Sirius had kept up contact between himself and James though the owl post. Though the young Potter was not known for his sensitivity, Sirius knew that he could trust him with things close to his heart that he would never even consider telling anyone else. A particularly sensitive subject had been prodding at the edge of Sirius' conscience for a while before the summer had started, but, rather uncharacteristically, had not been able to pluck up the courage to bring up the topic until well into July. It was this, perhaps, that had made James take this seriously where he would not with other, less touchy things that Sirius had told him in the past. He would never reveal Sirius' secrets on purpose, but could certainly not be trusted not to let something slip by accident.
Remus and Peter gave each other slightly confused looks, but said nothing. Things said and done between James and Sirius were best left alone. If it was something that they needed to know...well, they trusted the pair to let them know about it.
The subject was dropped, and the rest of dinner was spent filling each other in on bits of their holiday that had not been communicated in letters.
"And then Kreacher walked in," Sirius was saying, a grimace fixed on his face. "I don't think I've ever seen my mum that upset."
Remus gave him casual one-armed hug, sighing understandingly. "I'm sorry, mate. I can't imagine what it's like to live with people like that."
Sirius nodded miserably, flopping limply against his friend, "I hate living there. It's all dark and musty and miserable and...stuff. And my family is just about as dead as the house."
"Ah well, only three more summers there, then you're free," James consoled, "And that's if we can't get you over to my place. You know my parents love you. Can't quite figure out why, but..." He ducked, chuckling and Sirius' fist missed his head by mere centimeters.
"Meanie," He pouted, giving Sirius rather unconvincing puppy eyes, "I'll be sure to tell them you're busy if they ever fancy inviting you for the summer holiday." He ducked again as Sirius' fist rose again.
"Enough, you two," Remus said mildly, catching Sirius' fist and holding it tightly in his own until James had scrambled back into his seat. Sirius sat obediently, leaning against Remus again with a self-satisfied air, arms folded across his chest. James gave him a meaningful look, waggling his eyebrows suggestively, and Sirius aimed another kick at him.
It was clear that another scuffle would have broken out had Dumbledore not gotten to his feet, clearing his throat. At this, however, James sat bolt upright, fixing all of his attention on the headmaster. Sirius allowed his attention to focus on him as well, and waited excitedly for him to speak.
"Now that you are all fed and watered, I suspect you all would like to hear more about the Tri-Wizard Tournament," he began, a small smile appearing on his face as James scoffed sarcastically. "And so be it. The tournament is an inter-school championship between three prestigious wizarding schools; Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Each school will have a school champion to represent them in the tournament. These champions are set three tasks, each designed to test wit, strength, bravery and stamina. They will be great challenges and are not for the faint of heart. I encourage each of you to examine yourselves very carefully before entering your names to be considered as school champion." He gazed around at the students, meeting several pairs of eyes before continuing. "The other schools will be arriving on October thirty-first, just in time to join us for the Halloween feast. Please remember that this is not only a chance for students to show off their magical prowess, but an opportunity to form friendships and strengthen the bonds and partnership between ourselves and our guest schools. There is nothing more affective against dark wizards than the power of unity; united we stand, divided we fall. Now, when our guests arrive, you will be given more information on you how you may enter your names for consideration as school champion. Now, I suggest you get some sleep! You are dismissed!"
There was a loud thundering of scraping as the students pushed the benches away from the tables, stood up, and began filing towards their respective common rooms and dormitories. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter followed the rest of the Griffindors to the portrait of the Fat Lady, hoping to catch the password from someone else before they were locked out.
"Oy!" Sirius shouted at a straggling second year, who was already halfway through the portrait hole. Seeing Sirius, his eyes widened considerably, and he tumbled into the common room, dashing away as fast as his stubby little legs would allow.
"What was that all about?" He questioned mildly, catching the portrait before it could swing shut and holding it open for the other three.
"Isn't that the boy you jinxed last year?" Remus inquired, stepping through the hole. "He was spitting bubbles for a week."
Sirius and James cracked identical grins, "Ah yes...that was meant for Snivellus, but he got in the way," Sirius reminisced airily. "Pity, I put all that effort into learning that jinx...I figured Snape could use a bit of soap.
"Ah well, no use dwelling on the past," James said cheerfully, "At least it didn't go to waste; we'll just need to find someone else to get the password from." He halted, eyes fixing on a girl chatting with a friend in a chair by the fire. "Excellent! It's Lily!" He exclaimed happily, bounding over to her, leaving the rest of them to climb the stairs to the dormitories without him.
"You reckon he'll ever get her?" Sirius asked a few minutes later, as they unpacked their trunks."It's been four years now." He flopped back onto his bed, leaving most of his possessions strewn-haphazardly around the room and on his bed.
Remus shrugged, sitting beside him. "You never know, I suppose. Maybe if he sticks a pin into that over-sized head of his and begins to understand that Lily is not impressed with his pranks..."
"I don't know about that actually," Sirius interrupted, smirking, "I saw her laughing during our end-of-year prank last year. Stopped the moment I saw her, though."
"I wouldn't go telling James that," Remus laughed, stretching out over the bed with a yawn, "Lily can be right scary when she puts her mind to it, and I doubt that that would be information she would want James to be aware of."
Sirius snorted, "Don't I know it. I tried to copy her notes last year and kept finding myself dotting my 'i's with little hearts for a week afterwards. Earned myself quite a few awkward questions from teachers. Old Dumbly-dear called me into his office to have a little talk about "not hiding my feelings" and "not being ashamed"."
At this,both Peter, who was finishing up his unpacking, and Remus burst into laughter, doubling over as Sirius just grinned. It wasn't often that he got to hear Remus Lupin laugh, but when he did, it made him realize just how much he had missed him over the summer.
Sirius watched as Remus recovered, still clutching his sides slightly. "Wow," He gasped, still chuckling slighty, "I would have liked to have seen that." Sirius smiled and brushed a lock of golden hair from Remus' face. He didn't answer for a moment, staring off out of the window for a moment, gazing at the velvet blue sky with a glazed expression before speaking once more.
"God, I missed this place," He whispered, fingers playing absently with the edge of his robes. Leaning back, he closed his eyes. "This summer was really bad, Moony. I really don't know how much longer I can stand it."
Remus sighed, not knowing quite what to say. He honestly had no idea what it was like to have parents like Sirius'. His own parents had always been a source of constant support and love that was shown every month from the age of six. Silently, he slung an arm around Sirius' shoulders and the two sat in peace for a few minutes, the quiet punctuated only by the rustling of clothes from Peter and occasional shouts of laughter from the common room that could be heard rising from the floor. A little while later, James burst through the door, arms loaded with butterbeer and sweets from the kitchens and they stayed up late into the night, reminiscing about old pranks, planning new ones, and discussing the classes they had chosen for the year: all of them had applied for the same ones, of course.
It was close to midnight when they finally settled into bed, yawning good nights to each other before pulling the curtains shut. Sirius watched from the corner of his eyes as Remus tugged his own curtains closed around himself.
Sirius Orion Black was not afraid of anything. He could walk through The Forbidden Forest without fear, a carefree, reckless expression on his face. He could run wild with a werewolf over the Hogwarts grounds at night and laugh about it in the morning. No creature could deter him. No human, teacher or student, could bring him down, try as they might. He was always a step ahead, smirk fixed permanently on his handsome face. It seemed as if he could run wild forever, causing trouble and playing pranks exactly as he wished. The idea of the Tri-Wizard tournament only thrilled him; a chance to show off, to test himself and his limits. Students had died in the past, but this didn't matter. If anything, it added to the fun. Nothing could touch Sirius Black. No one, not James, not Peter, not even Dumbledore, could ever imagine that the only thing that truly scared him was none other than one Remus Lupin.
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