The Mormfongs
I disclaim rights an' all dat shizzle. [shudder]
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And while our blood's still young, it runs, and we won't stop til it's over
(-)
Sirius peered down at the boy sleeping on the hospital wing bed.
His caramel hair was fanned out on the pillow; clean but disarrayed. His face was covered in new cuts and bruises. His eyes were scrunched tightly shut. His lips were parted and moving, as though reading the subtitled text of his dreams. They appeared to be horrific.
Sirius sat down in the chair next to the bed, and laid a hand on Remus's shaking shoulder. "Remus?"
Remus's eyes -usually as light as his hair- snapped open, dark and forbidding, until they focussed upon the other boy. He relaxed. "Sirius."
"What happened, Remus? You look bloody awful."
"Thanks."
Sirius eyed him steadily.
Remus sighed, and struggled limply to sit up, supported by his pillows. "Stopped for a spot of fresh air in the grounds before I came to see Madam Pomfrey. Encountered a rather grumpy hippogriff."
"Pompous arses," muttered Sirius.
"You would know."
"Oi! I came to visit! I was worried!"
Remus laughed at the indignant look on Sirius's face. "And it was very much appreciated. How did you get in here, anyway? It can't be visiting hours yet."
Sirius eyed him curiously. "Remus, it's Monday 6th September, 9.30pm."
"Are you serious?"
"I'm Sirius."
Remus rolled his caramel fudge eyes. "Whatever inspired your parents to name you that?"
"Family name, I guess. Or maybe it was just my parents being cruel."
Remus gave a timid smile in response. "So, how did you get in here?"
"I can be sneaky. Shall I sneak you out with me?"
"Much appreciated," replied Remus, already sliding out from between the blankets. He picked up his wand from the bedside table, and quickly pulled his robes on over his pyjamas. He re-made the bed neatly, and as an after-thought, conjured up a bouquet of flowers to leave for Madam Pomfrey for her kindness.
"What are they?" Sirius inquired, touching a petal cautiously.
"Peruvian lilies," said Remus. "They're in season at the moment." He added a single poppy to the lilies. "Ancient Egyptian doctors often prescribed poppy seeds to relieve pain, as they contain morphine and codeine. Muggles still use those today."
"You're going to be brilliant at Herbology, then?" Sirius teased, as Remus fussed with a ribbon.
"Decidedly not. I like muggle plants, not these strange bitey ones you wizards are so fond of."
"I thought you were half-blood?" Sirius queried.
Remus stood back to admire the effect of the ribbon. "That'll have to do. Shall we go now? And yes, I'm half-blood, but my mother worked as a florist."
Sirius smiled fondly at the idea of a very small Remus sitting in a ladybird-spot watering can, before leading the other boy out of the hospital wing cautiously.
(-)
"Remus!"
"Sirius, leave him alone."
"Reeeeeeemus!"
"Sirius. Quit it."
"Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemus!"
"SIRIUS!" James eventually snapped, throwing a pillow at his supposed best friend.
Remus's tent unzipped slightly from the inside, and he poked his head through to glare at Sirius, who was being irritatingly chirpy that morning. "It's 5am."
"And?" Sirius demanded.
"And it's 5am."
"Your point being?"
"It's 5am."
"So?"
Remus's head disappeared back into his tent, and he zipped it shut pointedly.
Sirius huffed, and threw James his pillow back. "Say, Potter-"
James caught it without a glance, and rolled over, turning his back on Sirius, and covering his ears with the pillow.
"James?"
James gave an exaggerated, no-nonsense snore.
Sirius sighed heavily, considered waking up Peter, but then thought better of it.
He wriggled around in his bed, trying to get comfortable, but ended up with the duvet and blankets strewn on the floor, half-way across the room.
"Read your book," Remus suggested, sounding very tired.
Sirius pulled Remus's copy of 'Alice In Wonderland' out from under his pillow, and rolled over to lay on his stomach.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'
By 8am the following morning, Remus's notebook was full of 'Alice In Wonderland' quotes.
(-)
An owl flew head-first into James's cereal in a splash of milk and various other debris.
The young Potter gingerly removed the package from the owl's leg, and the bird swooped off again looking smug.
Sirius stole the bowl of cereal and dug in.
James shredded the brown paper from the parcel, and grinned widely as he surveyed the contents. "Gents, we have a calender, a poster, and four large bars of Honeydukes finest."
"I love your parents," said Sirius, picking up the calender to survey more closely. "Hang on... flowers?"
"Ooh." Remus nicked the calendar off Sirius.
"Flowers, James, and not a naked lady in sight!"
"Do you honestly think that my parents would send me a dirty calendar?" James questioned his friend.
"Jamie-boy, we are bachelors, with our own bachelor pad, with room for bachelor items such as a naked lady calendar!" Sirius said, entirely too loudly.
"Sirius, we are eleven!"
"All I'm saying is that a boob would brighten up my day considerably."
"Ask Pete to flash you; he might be generous."
"Hey!" Peter exclaimed, turning a fetching shade of lobster pink.
"Just kidding, Petey, just kidding..." James gave the boy a bar of chocolate to show that there were no hard feelings.
Peter found the arrangement highly acceptable.
(-)
Astronomy was a strange lesson.
James hated Astronomy.
He loved the sky, but the sky was for flying in, not for staring at.
Peter disliked Astronomy.
He couldn't remember how many moons each planet had, let alone see any of them, or name them.
Remus liked Astronomy.
There was a calmness and tranquillity to the night-time lessons, spent just staring at the inky darkness above them, considering endless possibilities...
Sirius loved Astronomy.
His family were named after stars, or the stars were named after them... he couldn't quite remember, but seeing how much influence the Blacks had, either theory was possible. He liked the quietness of the students during the lessons, and their facial expressions and squeaks when they poked themselves in the eyes with the telescopes. He definitely liked disrupting James's perfectly aligned telescope, just for fun.
To express his new found enthusiasm for a subject, he wrote down when the full moon was due to occur each month on their new calendar.
Remus shot him odd looks in response, but said nothing.
James, however, had more to say when Sirius finished engraving:
If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.
on the door to their dormitory.
"You can't just engrave on the door!" James protested, hotly.
"Why not? Remus exploded his bed!" Sirius replied.
"You Vanished it!" Remus defended himself.
"Of course. What I meant. But, James, we're here for the next seven years! We've got to leave something for people to remember us by, besides our dashing good looks and imaginative imaginations!"
"Imaginative imaginations? Oh, that's imaginative."
"You think so?"
"No."
"An excellent quote, though," interjected Remus, scribbling it down in his History of Magic notebook.
"Glad you think so. See, James? Someone appreciates my brilliance!"
James merely grunted, and continued to apply his new poster to the wall.
It was huge -three feet wide, two feet tall- and featured a Quidditch pitch from above. A match was occurring in the moving photograph, and the Snitch zoomed around in a glint of gold, often travelling so that it almost hit the camera. The overall effect was that it looked like the Snitch was going to escape into the dormitory.
Their first flying lesson, however, made that scenario a reality.
(-)
"SIRIUS BLACK! GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
"Eh..." Sirius zoomed back down to a graceful landing, right next to Remus, who edged away slightly.
"What did I expressly tell you not to do?" Madam Hooch demanded of the young Black.
"Chase the owls."
"And what did you just do?"
"Fly to the Owlry," replied Sirius, through a sigh.
"Five points from Slyth- Gryffindor."
Sirius grinned. "Do you like taking points from Slytherin the most, or are you just so used to my family being in the Snake House?"
Madam Hooch eyed him with a glare that would scorch an ordinary wizard.
Fortunately for his skin, Sirius Black was not a normal wizard.
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Black. Please refrain from further interruptions of my lessons."
"Could be problematic; I'm going to be the new Beater next year."
"Indeed," said Madam Hooch, but her eyes said, 'arrogant toe-rag' all too clearly.
(-)
Mormfongs: [Moony Wormtail Padfoot Prongs]
Temper Trap; Sweet Disposition
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xxxx