AN: This one was fun to write and hardly planned. Just one thing that happens when I start writing, the unexpected moments~
I didn't plan for the end of this chapter at all, in fact it's completely unplanned and unexpected. The idea just sprang up and, like Sirius, I went with it.
As a note for this chapter, she didn't charm it herself, she got it elsewhere as Rain fails at Charms.

Hope you enjoy the antics,
-Rue
PS: Still looking for a beta!

The One Good Thing

::~::

Chapter Six
The Smallest Spark

When Rain left the library all four boys beneath James' handy invisibility cloak exhaled the breath they'd all been holding since the girl had walked to the entrance of their hiding place.

"Bloody hell," James breathed, "if we weren't already under this thing what do you think she would have done to us?" Sirius grinned at the question. He wasn't sure he actually wanted to know, but Merlin, he did know he wanted to see that spark in her eyes again.

"Maybe turn us into kettles?" he answered eventually, when neither Remus or Peter offered one of their own. James snorted and pulled the cloak off them as Remus now moved to see what books she had left behind. The only reason they'd been almost caught at all was because they'd been arguing over what she was reading. James had called Transfiguration and Peter had agreed, Remus had argued that she was probably looking at Arthrimancy book and Sirius had been the one to 'shush' them(for once).

"Uh oh," alerted to Remus' concern the other boys joined him at Rain's now vacant table. There they found something very concerning, she'd been reading books on various magical creatures and a small notebook that she'd accidentally left behind in her hurry to leave. On the first page of the little book was a list that Remus was staring at worriedly;

Mysterious Creature:

Fast

Long low howl

Carnivorous

Land based

Friends with other animals?

Full moon appearance?

"This can't be good," James said taking the notebook from his worried friend. He frowned as he looked at the list properly, "you think she knows?" he asked the others, mirroring Remus' worried stare.

"There's a question mark after the full moon comment, if she knew I'm pretty sure there'd be a 'werewolf' comment there too," Sirius argued. Remus gave a weak smile and nodded in agreement, conceding that Sirius had a point.

"There's some books on canines too," Peter said from the other side of the table. His attention caught, Sirius walked around the table to look at the books Peter was referring to. He raised an amused eyebrow at some of the titles she'd chosen; 'Seeing the Grim', 'Canine Spirit Guides and You' and 'Magical Dogs and their properties'.

"Looks like I made an impression last night," he said grinning in amusement at her selections. He held up the book on 'The Grim' to show James, who grinned back at his friend.

"I'd say so Pads," James held up the second page of the notebook to Sirius in response. There was another list on it and by the look on James' face it was about him, taking the book with him Sirius walked back over to James to peer over his shoulder at the second list they'd found in the notebook.

Furry Friend

Not an ordinary dog

Intelligent

Impossible timing

Friendly

The Grim?(not likely, too friendly)

Animagus? (possible)

Student or Teacher?

James had snickered at the first five comments but when both James and Sirius' faces had paled considerably after reading the last two both Remus and Peter had hurried over to see what was wrong.

"Hate to say it, but I think we're all royally screwed if she figures out who you are and tells the teachers, mate," James said finally after they'd all taken in Rain's comments about her 'furry friend'.

"That's putting it lightly," Sirius groaned and began pacing. On one hand he was impressed with her deductions and on the other he was horrified that she was able to figure it out that quickly.

"Hold on," Remus stopped Sirius from pacing with a hand on his friend's shoulder, "it's like you said about my page, there are question marks so she doesn't know for sure," Sirius' shoulders slumped in partial relief. He knew Remus was right and was glad his tired looking friend still had his wits about him the night before his 'furry little problem' took over.

"Right," he said. Taking a deep breath he looked back to James who was fiddling with the corner of the paper as he waited for the others to turn their attention back to him so he could turn the page of the little book. Returning to his place next to James, Remus and Peter also crowded around them, curious about what else was contained within the pages of Rain's small notebook. "Next page," he told James, who complied. The next page contained only one sentence however;

"Miss Rain Pratt wishes to tell the imbecilic boys who are reading this that they should mind their own business and refrain from reading notebooks that don't belong to them." The boys blinked in surprise and watched, mesmerised as the words faded from view to be replaced by others. "Also," it said as that word was then replaced by another, "your shoe's are untied."

It was out of habit and sheer trust(and some stupidity) that made all four boys look down at their shoes to find they were not, in fact, untied. Looking back up at the page before them were two words they weren't expecting; "Gotcha boys!"

With that the four of them were splattered with black ink as the notebook sprayed it at them in four long spurts. Once the book was done James slowly placed it back on the table and then took his ink covered glasses off and wiped them on his pants before placing them back on his nose.

"Pads?" He asked after a moment of silence between them all. Sirius glanced at his best friend sheepishly.

"Yes Prongsy?" Sirius answered still suffering from the stunning fact they'd been had.

"If you don't marry her, I bloody well will," James was grinning now. He was obviously impressed with the effort Rain had put into her little prank, the notebook telling them off like that had been a brilliant touch.

"Noted," Sirius grinned back. He wiped some of the ink off his face with his school shirt and unable to help himself, began laughing.

"I think we'd better clean up before going up to the common room or she'll know it was us," Remus warned the others while having a chuckle at their obvious loss here.

"Agreed, I think we also need to give her a point for that prank…" the last part of that sentence Sirius said mostly to himself however.

"What's the score then?" James asked as he wiped more ink off his face. He'd heard Sirius' comment about the point. He watched as his friend grimaced and shove his inky hands into his pockets.

"Two all," he said slowly, "not that I'm keeping track," he added hastily. Remus snorted and rolled his eyes, he wasn't surprised Sirius was tied with her after this escapade.

"In all fairness mate, I think she deserves two points for that masterpiece of trickery," James told his friend as he put an arm around Sirius' shoulder as the four of them left the library, covered in ink and highly amused.

"Think I can get the tie back?" Sirius asked after agreeing James was right and Rain deserved an extra point.

"Pads," James said tisking at his friend, "no doubt, in fact I think you can get at least a point ahead in no time!" It was at these words that Sirius began to worry what James had in mind for Rain and himself but there was little time to dwell on it. They had reached the portrait hole and still had not cleaned themselves up.

Remus, being the only one of the four whose magic was the most reliable for cleaning up their messes, used Scourgify to remove the ink covering himself and the other three boys. Once clean the four quickly entered the common room quietly, Sirius looking around for Rain but finding her absent. He frowned, the blasted girl hadn't even eaten anything for dinner and she'd already gone to bed?

"Impossible girl," he repeated to himself.

The next night, rather than risking the trip through the corridors James, Sirius and Peter grabbed their brooms and flew down to the shadowy grounds below them. Once all six feet landed on the ground the boys hid the brooms for later and attempted their transformations. It took James all of five goes to make his form of a stag actually stick, at one point having a fourteen year old boys head and the rest of him being stag; much to Sirius' amusement.

Peter took a solid fifteen minutes of looking constipated to turn into a rat and Sirius, well, he wasn't having a good night to say the least.

Being worried that Rain would sneak out again didn't help his concentration at all, in fact, it hindered it to the point that transformation was looking pretty much impossible after a total of thirty minutes passing without success.

"Ugh, go on ahead boys. I don't think Padfoot will be joining the fun tonight," he told James and Peter as they waited patiently before him in animal form. He was frustrated with himself, when he'd known Rain was in trouble there had been no problems at all with the transformation process. Yes despite the fact that he knew what it felt like to have such a smooth transformation from human to dog and vice-versa, he was completely unable to do so tonight when his friend needed his support. Infuriating.

James' hoof pawed at the ground and the stag moved forward, slightly concerned with Sirius' obvious frustration. He waved his friends off, not wanted to make them worry or leave Remus alone as a werewolf for too long. He was better when they were with him, more conscious. "I'm fine, I'll go back to bed and have a decent nights sleep without James' incessant snoring!" he told them grinning at stag James. He got a snort in response and watched as James and Peter left for the secret passage under the Whomping Willow. "I'm fine," he repeated to himself once they were gone, "just having a bad night," he added to the night air as justification. Uncertainly he started to walk back to where he'd left his broom, but faltered halfway there. Why was he going back? Because Remus would off himself if he bit you that's why you bloody great prat! His inner self replied sarcastically. Pratt. That's right, that's what her notebook had said her last name was. Sirius ran a hand through his shaggy black hair and smiled to himself, remembering the fiery spark that had been in her eye when she'd walked around the corner of the bookshelf the day before.

Mentally slapping himself before he began wondering what her hair would look like if she let it out of the messy bun she always wore. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he muttered to himself. Shaking his head at himself he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the mental image of Rain's amusement at finding her notebook covered with ink the next morning when she returned to the library before breakfast. He'd followed her, out of curiosity and had almost approached her to apologise for stalking her, but for some reason he'd been able to open his mouth. Choosing instead to hide in the shadows and watch her in a worried non-creepy way. He hoped.

"Who's there?" called a sharp, suspicious voice from the shadows. Sirius, who'd been lost in his own thoughts spun on his heel quickly, losing his balance in the process. This left him sprawled unceremoniously on the ground on his stomach.

Opening his eyes he found a familiar pair of well-loved sneakers before him and looking up he found himself looking into the suspicious blue eyes of the girl he'd been unable to stop thinking about for the last month. Merlin help me, he thought to himself as he started to slowly pick himself up.

"Uh, hi," he said stupidly. Kicking himself immediately after opening his mouth, now he could speak to her. She looked him up and down, surveying him carefully; he could see her take note of his house and then slowly saw vague recollection in her eyes.

"What are you doing out here?" she demanded. Her body language was stand-off-ish and not what Sirius had been expecting, of course, he wasn't sure what he had been expecting.

"Oh, uh," he faltered for the second time since James and Peter had left, what could he tell her? Her eyes thinned as he floundered for a plausible lie, slowly an idea formed and, unable to think of anything better, he went with it.
"I'm," he looked around for effect, "looking for my dog, have you seen him?"

Point Tally:
Rain: 3
Sirius: 2