Sirius is staring at Peter.
His eyes are beginning to water.
He feels his face beginning to burn as blood floods to his cheeks.
In his defence, however, Peter does not look any better than he does.
The guy looks like he is about to faint.
There is a vein pulsing on his forehead and for a couple of seconds Sirius wonders if he should stop this to make sure it doesn't pop.
His lungs are begging Sirius to breathe in but he refuses.
He is strong.
He is determined.
He is unrelenting.
He is Sirius Black.
He is the winner.
So he will surely not lose this no-breathing-staring contest.
In the corner of his vision Sirius notices someone enter the common room and his eyes stray to look at Moony who is standing by the entrance looking at them strangely.
"I win! Ha! I win!"Peter cheers wheezing and Sirius realizes his mistake.
"No! Wait! No! No fair!"He yells his eyes jumping from Remus back to Peter and back to Remus again.
Of course he is going to look at Remus passing by, doesn't mean Peter is better at holding his breath and not blinking at the same time.
Obviously not.
Sirius is the manliest man here and so he is the obviously more capable at that than Peter.
There is no question about it.
Really, waving Remus in front of Sirius' nose is the same as waving a piece of cake in front of Peter's – it is cheating lewd and clear.
Loud and clear.
Sirius means loud and clear.
"Do I want to know?"A small smile pulls at the corners of Remus' lips.
"No! That's not fair, Peter! Nooo."Sirius mewls in despair and falls to his knees hiding his face in his hands, wallowing in his defeat.
"Ha! I won!"Peter dances around Sirius' broken frame pointing at himself.
"I demand a rematch!"Sirius looks up suddenly, his eyes afire with determination.
"Guys?"Remus asks and Sirius looks at him softening his eyes.
"Could you please go up, Remus? You're not helping. Trust me."Sirius smiles at Moony, because he really needs to win this.
"No! I won! You lost! We're not doing it over and over again until you win and I have to do you know what!" Peter exclaims outraged at Sirius' attitude.
"Ah, it's a bet." Remus hums nodding as if it's just what he has been expecting. "I'll just go up and try not to take it personally, Sirius."He gives his friend a pointed look.
Sirius is surprised for a second and almost blurts out that it was a compliment but thinks better of it feeling his heart sink a little.
He then frowns instead.
"Sorry, didn't mean it like that." He murmurs.
"I'm sure you didn't." Remus' tone is that of a parent talking to a five year old and Sirius can see that his attention is already on the roll of parchment in his hand.
As Remus bites his lower lip walking absentmindedly to the stairs, with his eyes focused on whatever text is on it, Sirius can't help but bite his own lip in response.
He snaps out of it feeling someone staring at him and remembers that he's still talking to Peter who is looking at him with a sceptical expression.
"Be a little more obvious, why won't you?"Peter whispers under his breath and Sirius' eyebrows shoot up.
"What?"He asks.
"I said I'm not doing a rematch."Peter responds.
"But why? It wasn't fair!"Sirius whines distracted from the fact that it is certainly not what he heard.
"Why? He entered the room we were both in; it was just as much of a distraction to me too!"Peter counters turning his nose up a bit.
"But..."Sirius stutters and realises that he's cornered.
"Yes?"Peter is all innocence but he knows that he just won, because if Sirius wanted to argue further it would mean saying some things out loud he certainly doesn't want to say.
Granted everyone knows them anyway, because Discrete is definitely not Sirius' middle name.
But because his middle name isn't Self-Awareness either, Sirius thinks no one knows.
And Peter is just so proud of himself for being smart enough to play this card.
"But... I really don't want to do it."Sirius sighs and Peter knows he just won.
"A bet's a bet, no matter who wins and who loses."He almost sings out.
He knows his friend only agreed to the thing because he is too conceited to even think about losing and actually having to do it.
Let him learn his lesson.
"Peter."Sirius is now pulling out his most charming smile and looking at Peter through his eyelashes.
Peter is aware of what's happening, he's seen it in action enough times to recognise the Move.
"My friend."Sirius' voice is now an octave lower and husky as if what he's about to say is a secret meant just for Peter.
Unpleasant shivers run down Peter's spine.
"Sirius, you do realize I'm not some bird you're in a broom closet with. That doesn't work on me."He grumbles and scrunches his face as if having tasted something terrible.
Sirius curses under his breath.
"Come on, Peter! We're friends, aren't we? What kind of friend would do that?"Sirius whines like a kid throwing a tantrum and jumps up and down acting out the role perfectly while his hand clutches Peter's.
"You would. If I would've lost that would be exactly what you'd do!" Peter's having none of this.
"But Wormtail!-" Sirius starts again, though he knows perfectly well that he would, indeed, make Peter do it no matter what.
"No, you lost."
So there Sirius is a couple hours later.
He knows that if Remus the Prefect doesn't kill him for this, James the Head Boy will certainly mock Sirius into his grave.
And if he doesn't do the job, Sirius will most likely die of shame anyway.
As cold bites at his exposed torso Sirius thinks that he just may be too young to die.
That he still has things to do in life.
And just because his will isn't strong enough to control his eyes he's on the brink of utter and total embarrassment.
He feels Peter's wand poking his skin as it traces the letters on his back.
A month the spell said, he will have to stay like this for a month.
He can already imagine Moony's expression and that alone is enough to make his skin burn.
He's Sirius Black for Merlin's sake and there he is already coloured all shades of red from 'embarrassment pink' to 'mortification maroon'.
"Hold still if you don't want a hole in your lungs."Peter murmurs.
"That would probably be my kidneys or something, lungs are a little more to the north."Sirius grumbles absentmindedly, too distracted by his dim prospects to be angry with his tormentor.
"Yeah, well a hole's a hole and I think that you might not want another one of those."Peter responds and though Sirius is not facing him, he just knows that Peter is biting his tongue in concentration.
Sirius then is lost in another image.
There's one more greasy face he just knows will have the worst reaction possible.
He imagines Severus' smirk and shudders.
"Done!"Peter declares proudly.
"Great."Sirius hums sarcastically and his heart starts doing leaps because that means that it's time for the worst part.
"Now come on, Sirius, no need to be so sad." Peter chuckles.
"Wormtail."Sirius' tone is laced with warning.
"Okay, okay."Peter hums hurriedly. "Ready?"
"No."
"Great!" Peter pushes Sirius' stagnant frame forward and Sirius almost falls through the great hall door.
Every head in the room turns to look at him.
And Sirius just knows that this is the end.
He straightens up as conversations slowly die out and despite the burning sensation on his skin he starts walking.
Like there is nothing wrong.
The only sound is behind Sirius' back and it's Peter's choked laughter.
So Sirius presses on.
He walks with wooden legs to his usual spot and sees Remus, James and Lily gawking at his chest with utter disbelief.
The room slowly starts filling up with whispers and the noise is like an approaching tsunami threatening to swoosh Sirius' pride off the surface.
"Sirius."Moony squeezes out as his amber eyes trail up and down Sirius upper body. "Why is…"
But he stops there as if he's unable to say it and shakes his head like he was trying to shake the image out of it.
"Padfoot?" James mutters and Sirius can see the laughter building in the guy's throat as his voice begins to muffle and his lips start to pull into a grin.
"Black."Lily's voice isn't questioning. It's reprimanding.
"Sirius, there are words 'Snape's bitch' written all over you in bright pink, you are aware of that?"
Leave it to Remus to address it in such a cool and collected manner.
James explodes with laughter. Even Evans lets out an uncontrollable giggle.
Sirius wishes for earth to swallow him as he nods.
He hears someone choking by his side and glances at Peter, who apparently had to crawl to their table because he couldn't stand properly with all the laughter shaking his body.
As the whole room gradually drowns in chuckles, giggles, hollering and whatnot, Sirius fights the urge to bring his hands to his face to cover it.
He instead puts on a little smile and looks at Remus.
He realizes that it most probably looks not even remotely close to being kind of convincing.
He then sees that even Remus, the guy who Sirius expected would react by shouting and reciting school rules, is trying to hide his complete amusement and not doing so well as he coughs to hide the 'pffft' that Sirius hears escape his throat.
And that's the moment Sirius knows that even if Remus was attracted to guys and even if Sirius would've had a chance, there is no way a guy with 'Snape's bitch' written all over his skin would be Moony's type.
So he feels his lips betray him and the smile fall.
To which Remus' eyes widen.
"Sorry, sorry!" The guy apologizes quickly. "It's just… the way you just smiled…"
And Remus is coughing again to hide another fit of laughter.
"Blaaaaaaaaack!" McGonagall's voice booms over all the laughter and the sound dials down quicker than Sirius can say 'damn'.
The only one still choking, literally rolling on the floor laughing, is Peter.
"Mate, come on."James whispers hurriedly, pulling Peter up by his arm and pushing a glass of pumpkin juice into his hand.
"What is this-"But McGonagall's sentence is interrupted in the middle.
Peter, who takes a swig from the glass looks at it weirdly, lets out a gargle and falls to the floor.
With no sign of life.
They all freeze looking at Peter's knocked out body.
Then James turns to look at Sirius.
"You did it, Padfoot. You killed Wormtail."
