Spies
"But I want to meet the gamekeeper," Peter was complaining, crossing his arms resolutely.
Sirius huffed and tipped his head back against the wall he was leaning on. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and by all rights they should have been outside by now, seeing as it was forty-five minutes after their last class. But no, instead of exploring the grounds as he wanted to do, they were waiting in the hallway outside the library so that Remus could check out a book he absolutely had to get at that very moment. Sirius stuffed his hands into his pockets, frustrated that they were whiling away the minutes arguing about what they would do once they finally got outside.
"Who wants to do that?" James asked, impatiently running his hand through his hair. "Don't you want to see what models of brooms are in the broom shed?"
"No," Peter pouted, a whine creeping its way into his soft voice.
Sirius groaned loudly.
"And what is up with you?" James rounded on Sirius.
"I just want to go outside. What would you rather do, fight outside in the sunshine, or fight in here?"
Just then, Remus appeared behind them and asked casually, "What are we fighting about now?"
All three boys' eyes widened as they saw the enormous stack of books under his arms and James said, "What in Merlin are you going to do with all those?"
Remus rolled his eyes and said, "Read them. What did you think I had in mind? But don't change the subject. Why are we fighting? I want to join in."
"Would you rather go see the gamekeeper and look at the animals there, or check out the brooms?" Sirius said quickly before James or Peter could begin expounding on why what they wanted was better.
Remus flinched slightly at the mention of brooms and answered quickly, "The gamekeeper will be great." James pulled a face and Remus pointed out coaxingly, "We have flying class tomorrow, anyway, you'll get on your broom soon enough."
"Good, let's go now," Sirius said, grabbing the cuff of James's shirt and beginning to drag him outside into the yellow afternoon glow of light.
James gazed longingly toward the broom shed as they passed the outbuildings, and Sirius smirked at the passion in his eyes. "James, it's not the first time you'll have seen a broom."
"I know," he sighed dreamily.
"Well," smiled Remus teasingly, "I know you can't be too head-over-heels for that Evans girl, because you sure don't look at her the way you're looking at that broom shed."
James coughed and blushed. "Where's Peter?" he asked, looking around desperately and latching onto Peter's absence to change the subject.
Sirius grinned sympathetically and jerked his head in the direction just ahead of him. "He went running off. I wonder what could possibly be so interesting about Hagrid that he'd want to see him that bad. The only thing about him out of ordinary is his size, and who cares about that?"
James shrugged. "Yeah, Peter's weird like that."
Remus shot the two of them reproachful glances, clearly disapproving of talking about Peter behind his back, and Sirius was about to complain about Remus's uptightness when they arrived at Hagrid's hut and saw that Peter was nowhere in sight.
"Peter?" James called.
Faintly, from around the back of the cottage, came Peter's soft call, "I'm back here!"
Sirius and the others trooped around the back to the pens where the animals were kept. They found Peter there, kneeling in the grass, slightly red-faced from his run to get there, but beaming delightedly as he reached both his hands over into one of the fenced enclosures and let three long, black, furry creatures nuzzle and swarm across his hands.
"Aren't they great?" Peter asked excitedly, picking up one of the weasel-like animals behind its forepaws as though it were a cat and rubbing the thick fur against his cheek.
"What is it?" Remus asked, staring at the oddly cute creatures.
Sirius snapped his head around from the animals to goggle at Remus instead. "There's something you don't know?" he asked incredulously, his face a mixture of surprise and immense satisfaction. "I thought it would never happen."
"So true," James agreed, not looking away from Peter, "but Remmy had a good question. What are they?"
"Nifflers," Peter said, looking at them as this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"A nif-what?" Sirius asked, doubting that there could actually be something called a niffler.
"Niffler," Peter said, an edge of pride creeping into his voice. "They're soft, here, have one." He grasped the one in his arms by the scruff of his neck, freeing one hand, and with it pulled out another squirming niffler and handed it over to the other boys.
They each accepted a niffler, and Sirius held his at arm's length, squinting at it carefully. "I think Mother has a coat made out of this stuff," he said, rolling a tuft of the silky fur between his forefinger and thumb.
Peter stared at him in horror. "But they're under the Rare Magical Creature Protection Act!" he said in outrage.
Sirius shrugged apologetically. "Um, it's an old coat. Maybe she got it before the law was pass- hang on, why would you know about some random law about rare creatures?"
Peter blushed a little, seeming to be flustered by the attention. "I don't know, I just…" he trailed off and shrugged a little helplessly.
"You're an animal lover," James said, emphasizing the last two words so much that it sounded like an accusation.
"Well… I… I mean…" Peter blustered.
"No, that's cool, it's just… it's kind of cute," James said, biting his lip a little, clearly trying not laugh.
Sirius glanced quickly at James and the humor in James's eyes made it impossible for Sirius to not suddenly find himself struggling to contain his own amusement. They were choking on their chuckles and Remus was sending them disapproving little glares when a booming voice shouted, "Hey, who's there?"
Peter squeaked and scrambled to his feet, dropping the nifflers quickly into their pen, while Remus, Sirius, and James backed away nervously from the huge man who had rounded the corner of the house.
"Oh, yer all firs' years, aren't yeh?" he asked, the fierceness in his eyes seeming to melt a bit at the sight of the row of trembling students.
Peter whimpered and shrank further back, and James licked his lips nervously but said nothing. Sirius gave an impatient glance to Remus, who shook his head almost imperceptibly. Pressing his lips together in irritation, Sirius stepped forward since nobody else seemed willing to, and bowed his head slightly as he said surely but very quietly, "Yeah, we're all first years. We just wanted to see your, um, nifflers." At the word "we" Sirius gave a very pointed stare to Peter, who had partially hidden himself behind the other two boys and was peering around James's shoulder.
The man smiled rather kindly and offered his hand to Sirius, saying gruffly, "Yeh'll remember me from the boat ride 'ere. I'm Hagrid, the gamekeeper. Explorin' the grounds, I'll bet?"
Sirius brightened a little and thrust his chest out slightly, suddenly proud that he'd been the one brave enough to talk to Hagrid first. "Yep, we haven't gotten a chance to look around yet. Say," Sirius said, getting distracted by a fenced enclosure a ways off that held large, scaly, winged creatures. "What are those? They look way cooler than the nifflers. Can you ride those?"
Hagrid turned to look in the direction in which Sirius had pointed, and answered, "They're hippogriffs, and yeh can't ride 'em, least not until yeh've been taught to properly. Don' cross a hippogriff, things kin get ugly mighty fast with 'em. Animal lover?" he inquired in a very different voice than James had used, nodding over to Peter, who'd whispered the word "hippogriff" at the same time as Hagrid.
Peter, for once, didn't blush at the attention and stepped forwards to join Sirius, saying with easy enthusiasm, "Yeah! We're not in trouble for touching your creatures, are we?"
"Nah," Hagrid boomed. "Long 's yeh keep to the nifflers, yeh'll be fine. I'd invite yeh lot in fer some tea and cake, but I've got ter attend to feedin' the horned slugs. Yeh can stay out here long's yeh like, though."
The boys thanked him, and Peter had turned eagerly back to the nifflers when James stiffened and stared fixedly past Sirius's shoulder into the distance. He gritted his teeth and muttered, "I swear to Merlin, as soon as I learn a hex I'll…" he trailed off, muttering venomously under his breath.
"What is it, mate?" Sirius asked, furrowing his eyebrows. It seemed to take a lot to cloud James's enthusiasm, yet his hazel eyes were darkened and dangerous. Having elicited no reply from James, Sirius turned his head to follow his friend's gaze and caught sight of two distant figures walking, arm in arm, towards the Black Lake. One of the student's hair floated out behind her in a sudden breeze, and as the red locks rippled in the wind, Sirius instantly recognized the pair as Evans and Snivellus. Suddenly James's reaction made perfect sense.
He brushed off his robes and grinned at James. "C'mon," he said coaxingly. "I know what we'll do. Let's go spy on Snivellus, see what he's got going for himself that Evans would want. Yeah?" he asked, beaming at James hopefully. He couldn't care less for Evans, personally, but anything that would bother Snivellus was fair game, and who wouldn't be cheered up by some spying?
James brightened and a mischievous sparkle lit in his eyes. "I like the way you think, Black," he smiled. "You coming?" he asked, turning to Peter and Remus.
Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't see what's going to be so exciting about following Snivellus around all afternoon, but seeing as I'm the only one who can actually do a spell, I guess I better come so you don't all end up turning yourselves into slugs or something."
Peter jumped to his feet, too, looking from Sirius to James with something like rapture in his eyes. "It's going to be awesome!" he squealed happily. "We'll show Snivellus!" He paused a minute and asked hesitantly, "Wait, who's Snivellus?"
The other three boys laughed good-naturedly and explained the animosity towards Snape as they set off, following Snape and Lily. James's frustration was already reduced to anticipation and humor, and Sirius smiled excitedly. He set his eyes solidly on Snivelly's back and lead the way, drawing his wand for theatrical effect, feeling like an auror even though he couldn't yet make any magic issue from the wand in his hand.
"Ugh," Sirius groaned loudly as he and the other boys trooped across the grounds back to the castle an hour later. "That was the worst idea ever!"
"You're the one to whom the idea belonged," Remus muttered, casting a reproachful look at Sirius.
"Merlin!" Sirius burst out. "Why does your grammar have to be so perfect all the time?" he snapped.
"We just got assigned detention with McGonagall and we've collectively lost forty points for Gryffindor, and your biggest problem with that is my grammar?" Remus countered angrily. "And it was your idea, so stop complaining."
"It was only my idea because James was staring after Lily with puppy dog eyes and I had to do something about it."
"I can hear you, you know," James cut in. "And I do not stare at her with puppy dog eyes."
"Yes, you do," Peter said quietly.
"Shut up," the other three growled simultaneously.
A silent moment passed, awkwardness hanging in the air, and then all four of them muttered, "Sorry," as softly as they could. Sirius's head snapped along with all the others' and they all chuckled a little, and tension dispelling as they grinned with the comradeship of a group of people who are all in trouble together.
"It was really Snivellus's fault," James said. "If he hadn't been such a git about it when he caught us following him, I would never have tried to hex him."
Sirius bit his lip and refrained from pointing out that once they'd started "dueling" - not that either party had been very successful at it - it had been Lily who'd run off for a teacher. Instead he huffed, "I should probably write to tell my parents about the detention before McGonagall does. They'd rather hear it first from me." Sirius grimaced. What had been Mother's last words before he'd gotten on the train? Oh, yes. "Don't do anything to make me send a Howler after you, Sirius Black." She was going to be livid. Dueling with another student, especially a Slytherin, would surely fall under one of those things that brought disgrace to the "most noble and ancient House of Black." He buried his hands in his hair in frustration and tugged at it angrily. "Oh, what's Mother going to say to me?" he mumbled, mostly to himself.
Peter looked at him and tried to placate him. "Don't worry, everyone must get detention sooner or later." He peered up into Sirius's face hopefully, and frowned when Sirius's expression of despair remained unchanged. "She'll get over it," Peter tried again. "Mothers always do."
"You've never met my mother," Sirius sighed, veering off from the rest of the group to head to the owlry. The owlry was dark and shadowy in the dimming evening light, full of glittering yellow eyes and rustling wings. Normally Sirius would think the mysterious air or the owlry to be a great adventure, but now all he could think of was what his mother would do when she got his letter. He pulled out a quill and a bit of parchment from his pocket with a trembling hand and began to write,
Mother,
I've got put in detention for dueling with a student.
Sirius paused and thought carefully of what Mother would say if the conversation was happening in person.
Before you ask, I don't know his blood status, okay? He's a Slytherin, but James - he's the kid you met at the train station - says he thinks he comes from a Muggle part of town. He's probably a mudblood, - Sirius couldn't help but flinch as he wrote that word - but I don't know for sure. I'm sorry, honest I am.
Sirius bit his lip and scrawled his name at the bottom of the page, trying to calm his pounding heart. He tied the letter to the leg of a tawny owl and had just watched the owl fly off when the door to the owlry was slammed open with a loud bang. Sirius whirled around, startled, and found himself facing a very angry, red faced, wild-haired Bellatrix.
"Bella!" he said, staring at her in surprise. They weren't the closest, and he knew his cousin liked Regulus better, but she had certainly never looked at him like that before.
"How could you, Sirius?" she snapped, striding forwards until he was backed up against the wall of the owlry.
Sirius looked her over, and could have sworn that one of her hands was fisted around the wand in her pocket. "What?" he asked, honestly bewildered. "Whatever it is, I didn't mean-"
"Oh, don't tell me that," the fifth year growled, her eyes feral, wild. "You had to have meant it to go get yourself sorted into Gryffindor, of all foul houses. Do you realize what an embarrassment this is?" she spat. "What you've done? Your poor mother, having to raise someone as stupid and wayward as you! What is wrong with you, Sirius?"
Sirius gulped. He supposed he should have put that in his letter, too. "I can't help where the Sorting Hat puts me, Bella," he said timidly.
"Don't go making excuses to me! This proves it. I always said you were a black sheep, and now everyone else will see what I've known for years."
Sirius tried to stop his lower lip from trembling as he shrank further away against the wall. The hand in Bellatrix's pocket was being withdrawn, and there was the handle of her wand, just becoming visible as she pulled it from her robes… but, no, surely she wouldn't, she was his cousin, his family-
"Sirius?" a voice called from outside the owlry. "Sirius, we're all waiting for you, what's taking you so-" James stepped in, with Peter and Remus close behind. James's eyes widened as he saw what was happening, and he stopped short. "Oh. What's… who is…" James suddenly turned to Bellatrix and snapped "Get off of my best friend!"
"Oh, an ickle little first year is supposed to scare me, is it?" she drawled, her voice sickly sweet.
"I'll go find a teacher!" Peter piped up.
Bellatrix snorted. "Fine, Sirius, you're not worth it. Nothing can fix you now, anyway," she muttered, turning to leave.
"He doesn't need fixing, you do," Remus growled under his breath as she left.
Sirius breathed a heavy sigh of relief and slumped back against the wall.
"Was that a fifth year?" James asked incredulously. "What are you doing, messing around with the older kids?"
"That was my cousin," Sirius said, disgust seeping through his voice.
Suddenly, there were hands on his back, his arm, petting him, pitying him. Sirius clenched his jaw. He didn't need this. He didn't need to be seen differently by his friends. He shook off their sympathy. "Whatever, can we just go to dinner now? I'm hungry," he said forcefully.
Thankfully, they understood, and when he stepped out of the building into the light, Sirius could see that their smiles and gestures hadn't changed. He smiled back at them and headed into the castle, more grateful for his friends than they would ever know.
A/N: I have a couple of people to thank here. Taylur, for giving me the idea of having the Marauders spy on Snape. Dr. Platypus for helping with the Latin for spells (and for having a cool pen name). And thank you to every single one of you who reviewed. You make my day. I give you all virtual hugs. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!