"Padfoot...Padfoot...PADFOOT!" someone shouted in Sirius's ear, causing him to roll out of bed in fright.
"Aaaggggh!" he yelled, as he landed on the floor in a tangle of sheets, only to look up and see that it was James who had woken him.
"It's time to get up. I don't want to be late for the Hogsmeade visit", said James, who was rugged up in his Gryffindor scarf and brown jacket.
Sirius suddenly remebered that today had been set for the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. All the events of yesterday's Quidditch match had driven it from his mind.
"I'll get up, but just you wait, I won't forget this..." he threatened, tugging himself free of the bed sheets.
Sirius rushed to get dressed. He changed from his pyjamas and into some warm clothes, readying himself for the heavy sleet that had been thankfully absent at the match, but had been falling for all the week before, and had now returned, hammering the castle in earnest.
Grabbing his leather jacket from the end of his bed, he followed James as they rushed out of the dormitory, making their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Sirius! Are you coming to Zonko's with us today?" Peter greeted him jovially, as he and James reached where Peter was sitting with Remus at the Gryffindor table.
" 'Course I am, I need to pick up those fireworks we're going to set off outside the Slytherin common room", said Sirius, spreading marmalade on his toast.
"Oh, yeah, can't believe I nearly forgot about that", said James, piling bacon onto his plate, "We're doing it Wednesday, right?"
"That's when we planned", said Remus from behind a copy of the Daily Prophet,which sported a headline telling of the large Muggle death toll, attributed to greatly by the Death Eaters.
"Why'd you ask, anyway Pete?" Sirius said, turning to Peter.
"I'd thought you might have been going with someone else", Peter replied, cutting into his scrambled eggs.
"Who else would I go with?" said Sirius, baffled by Peter's assumption, "I want to get ready for that prank with you three".
"I think you know who Peter means", said Remus matter-of-factually from over the top of his Prophet,"You were talking to them last night".
"Whfm?" said James through a mouth full of bacon.
"While you were busy arguing fruitlessly with Lily, Sirius went and had a lovely chat with Ariella Hartley", explained Remus, much to Sirius's dismay.
"Evans and I were not- I- nevermind", sighed James, "What did you talk to her about?"
"I just asked if she was enjoying the party, since us four practically organised it", said Sirius, bemused by his friends. He might have thought Ariella had looked pretty last night, but he wasn't interested in her in that way. He was just checking if she had found her friend, "I don't see how that points to me going to Hogsmeade with her".
"I guess it doesn't", said Peter, looking slightly abashed for thinking it.
"Sirius, you asked us if we knew her, and then you spent a bit of time talking to her", said Remus, "It is a normal conclusion to come to to think that you were interested in her".
"Ariella ran into me earlier, and asked me if I had seen one of her friends", Sirius explained, somewhat exasperated, "I was just making sure she had found her friend".
"It seemed a little different to me, that's all", said Remus, before returning to reading the Prophet.
"Fine, whatever", sighed Sirius, "I just want to go to Hogsmeade, buy the fireworks and a giant bag of sweets, and come back to the castle. The weather is awful out there".
"Changing the subject to the weather? It's a sign", James chuckled quietly to Sirius, elbowing his friend's arm, receiving a shove in return.
The four finished their breakfast in silence, then headed out into the Entrance Hall. There, they joined the line of students filing out and into the cold, but only after they had been marked off the list by Filch the caretaker.
The closer they moved towards him, the clearer Sirius could see that Filch was searching each student as they left. He had a Secrecy Sensor, and was prodding them here and there, looking for contraband items.
"Ouch", said Peter, as Filch poked him and he ran after Sirius, Remus, and James.
"You'd think he'd be better off checking us when we're coming back in", said James as Sirius and their friends walked down the path with the many other students, towards the high Hogwarts gates.
"Why would he even bother checking? Like we're going to try and smuggle something out", Sirius sighed.
"I think that's exactly what he thinks", said Remus as the four friends grew closer to the high gates topped with winged boars.
"Well then he's stupid", said Sirius.
"I can't deny that..." smiled Remus.
"No, but, what if someone wastrying to sneak something out ", James said thoughtfully as they exited through the gates.
"Like what?" asked Peter.
"I don't know. Something to give to someone in the village", James said, "Like, say, a love potion to slip into someone's butterbeer. While you're talking to them, just, you know, slip it in".
"You'd know all about that", Sirius sneered at his friend, "Tried that on Lily yet?"
"Shut up Padfoot- you know that's not something I'd use to get attention", James said, suddenly irritable, hunching his shoulders and walking ahead into the outskirts of Hogsmeade village which lay before them.
Sirius laughed along with Peter while Remus smiled and rolled his eyes. They came to the main street in hardly any time.
"James? Can you see Zonko's up ahead?" Sirius called out to his friend, "I want to get out of this blasted sleet."
"Yeah! Just up here!" James called back through the thickening sleet.
The sleet poured down from the clouds above in icy chunks, pummeling Sirius as he held the door open to Zonko's Joke Shop, following James, Peter, and Remus inside. Once he was out of the cold, Sirius took a moment to shake the ice from his jacket and scarf, while looking around the shop. There were bright coloured gas lamps stationed around the walls, which were lined with shelves upon shelves of the finest practical joking goods.
Peter was looking excited and Sirius could tell he was itching to get his hands on some of the magical equipment. James smiled and seemed to drink in the familiar scene, as if he felt some kind of profound sense of belonging. Remus was already observing a small package in a corner, reading it intensely and unaware of the goings on around him, as he always was when engrossed in something.
Sirius, however, only had eyes for one thing, and that one thing was a giant box of Dr Filibuster's fireworks. The box sat among its fellows high on a shelf on the second level of the shop. Sirius made his way to the magnificently coloured display.
Reaching the shelf by going up a narrow staircase cluttered with other shoppers, Sirius grabbed the lairy box and took it from the shelf. It was rather heavy in his hands, and the front of the package boasted a picture of thirty-six different pieces of pyrotechnics.
"Got it!" he called down to James, who was rifling through a bin of sale items.
"Great!" James called back, pulling a squawking rubber goose from the bin and tucking it under his arm.
As Sirius turned around with the fireworks in hand, he caught sight of something vividly purple through the sleet outside. He peered out the shop window from his high point on the second landing. It was Ariella Hartley, walking alone through the relentless ice pouring from the sky, her bright jumper shining like a beacon through the harsh weather. Sirius thought she looked a little sad, but he brushed the thought aside, as she was possibly just watching her footing on the slippery road. Sirius hoisted the box of fireworks under his arm and descended the stairs to meet James in the front of the shop.
"What is that supposed to be?" he asked James, motioning to the rubber goose that was under his arm.
"It sings", James said simply.
"That's great, but why? Why are you buying it?" Sirius asked him.
"I'm going to stick it under the cushions on one of the armchairs in the common room", explained James, "As soon as someone sits on it, they'll get a wailing rendition of Odo The Hero"
"Simple but effective, James", Sirius said approvingly, "I like it".
"And I like this", said Remus, flashing them a small package apparently containing a talking tea cup.
"Now, Remus, what have I told you about playing nasty tricks on your mother?" asked Sirius, feigning a look of disappointment.
"It's not for her, you idiot, it's for me", said Remus, "I think it would be brilliant to have a tea cup that can talk to you"
"Only way you can have a good conversation?" Peter asked, joining the others as they started for the front counter.
"I don't need it because I'm lonely, Wormy, I already have a nice group of morons to keep me company. No, I do need to have intelligent chats though, so that's why I'm buying it", Remus explained.
"Just because I'm buying these fireworks for the Slytherin common room, doesn't mean it's their sole purpose..." Sirius said threateningly to Remus.
"Alright, alright. Girls. Calm down." said James as he handed the rubber chicken to the shop assistant behind the counter.
Sirius and his friends bought their respective joke products and left the warm and colourful joke shop for the frosty street outside. Trudging through the thick sleet, Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter made their way down the road towards the Three Broomsticks.
Thankful for refuge from the dreadful weather, the four boys pushed the door open as soon as they reached the little pub. Inside it was warm. There was a fire crackling in its grate at the back of the room, casting a golden glow over everything in the pub, and compensating for the lack of light coming from the windows, which only showed the dark and grey skies outside.
The barmaid, Madam Rosemerta, was behind the bar up the front of the room, where many people were being served various drinks. There were rather a lot of students in the pub, sheltering from the downpour as Sirius and his friends were.
Sirius looked around the pub, searching for a table where they could sit. While James left to get himself and the others some butterbeer, Sirius lead Remus and Peter towards an empty table in the middle of the room that he had managed to scout out.
Sirius cast his eyes around the pub. Most of the patrons were Hogwarts students, as Sirius had seen when he had first walked in. A group of rough looking warlocks were gathered at the bar, talking loudly about a prize Hippogriff one of them had bought at a faire. Sirius turned his gaze to the portion of the room behind his own table.
A glimpse of bright purple told him that he had us just spotted Ariella Hartley out of the corner of his eye. Looking back, he saw her sitting by herself at a dimly lit table, looking slightly lonely.
"I'll be back in a minute", Sirius said to Remus and Peter as he got up from his seat, "And keep out of my butterbeer, Wortmail."
Sirius only received bewildered looks from his friends. Turning, he made for the back of the room. Sirius reached Ariella's table, looking down at the solitary girl.
"Hello", Ariella said, seeming a little surprised to see Sirius standing at her table.
"Mind if I sit here?" Sirius asked, pulling out a chair once Ariella mentioned that it was fine.
"Where're your friends?" Ariella asked Sirius, "I thought you'd be sitting with them."
"Don't worry about them", Sirius said to her, "I couldn't help but notice that you were all alone, so I guess I came to see if you wanted company."
"It doesn't really matter, I'm going to back to the castle after this", Ariella said.
"I thought that you usually sit with that friend of yours, Kass, is it?" Sirius asked Ariella, "I've seen you sit with her loads of times in here before."
"Oh, she had something else on, she couldn't come to the village with me" Ariella said. There was something strange in here voice that sounded like frustration.
Sirius remembered her tone from the Quidditch post-match party earlier that term, when her friend couldn't find time to spend with Ariella in that instance either.
"She's not with boyfriend of hers is she? The one from the party?" Sirius asked Ariella.
"Yeah, she is" Ariella sighed, "I guess I just wish she would stop for a bit and hang out with me. But you probably don't really want to hear me complain about it, do you?"
Ariella laughed uneasily, and Sirius joked, "Why else would I have come here? Listening to people and their problems makes my day."
Ariella laughed again, this time at his joking. Sirius was quite glad that this conversation with Ariella was not nearly as awkward as the last.
"No, usually I'd tell them to shut up, but I want to fix your problem", Sirius said to Ariella, getting up from his seat, "Tell you what, I wanted to stop in at Honeydukes on the way out, how about you come along?"
"What about your friends, won't they want to go with you?" Ariella asked him.
"Like I said, they'll be fine, they keep each other company", Sirius replied, and when Ariella still seemed reluctant he added, "I'll buy you a cockroach cluster."
"Damn you, you found my weakness!" Ariella cried, standing up too.
"Well come on then, let's get going before the whole village gets buried in sleet", Sirius adjusted his scarf while Ariella grabbed her bag from her chair.
As they made their way to the door and outside, Sirius asked, "Really though, cockroach clusters?"
"Merlin no, I was just messing around, they're most awful things" Ariella said, screwing her face up at the thought of the disgusting sweets.
##
After a trip to Honeydukes, where Sirius bought a bag of sweets, including peppermint imps for Ariella, the two of them returned to Hogwarts. They went back to Gryffindor tower, where they played wizard's chess and exploding snap. Ariella had a habit of losing in exploding snap, but she beat Sirius at chess at least twice- quite a feat, considering he had been playing since childhood.
By the time James, Remus, and Peter arrived in the common room, Sirius and Ariella had eaten most of the sweets and were engaged in yet another heated match of chess, which ended in Ariella's bishop walloping Sirius's king around the head with his staff.
Once this particularly violent end to the match played out, Ariella decided to go and see if she could find her friend, Kass.
"Thanks for the game, and the imps too", Ariella said to Sirius as she stood up and collected her bag from the floor, "I'll probably see you later, at dinner".
With that, Ariella left the common room through the portrait hole. Sirius packed away the wizard's chess set and walked over to where his three fellow Marauders were playing their own game of exploding snap.
"Well, here he is" said James, looking up at Sirius from where he sat on the carpet, "Where were you? I bought you a butterbeer and I had to drink it because you weren't there."
"A real shame, that must have been, Prongs. More butterbeer for you, terrible", Sirius said sarcastically, as he plonked into an armchair next to his friends.
"That's beside the point, you left us to go off with Ariella Hartley", Said James, "I have every right to be offended."
"He does have a point, Sirius", Remus said from behind his deck of cards, "Speaking of points, Wormtail's assumption that you are interested in and involved with Ariella has been proven somewhat correct."
"Moony, I am insulted that you think I would ever abandon my friends for romantic pursuits," Sirius tossed his head back dramatically, though instantly becoming serious a second later, "But I don't fancy her, if that's what you lot are still on about."
"Moony, six Galleons says he does", said James, sitting one of his cards on the playing space.
"James, if I am putting my money on anything, it is that Sirius does fancy Ariella Hartley, so I can't really bet against you, can I?" Remus explained while waiting for Peter to place a card down.
"Well we need someone to bet against", said James exasperatedly.
"Don't look at me" said Sirius, "I'm the poor bloke you're betting on, so I can't do anything."
"Fine", sighed Peter, throwing a card down, "I'll bet against it. I'll just have to make sure I set aside twelve Galleons for when I lose."
"Because there's no question that you will, the way today's trip went", said James, while he watched sceptically from behind his glasses as Remus placed down another card.
"That's ridiculous, Prongs", Sirius said, James choosing a card to lay down on the pile, "I am going to eat dinner with Gideon and Fabian tonight, since you lot are taking out stakes based on my fictitious feelings towards certain people."
"Whatever you say, Padfoot, you always come back to us, like a lost puppy", James sniggered.
However, James's amusement at his own pun soon turned to angry swearing, as the card he had just lay down on the pile exploded, burning his fingertips.
Sirius was being entirely honest with his friends when he said their accusations were untrue. He didn't think he had any feelings along those lines for Ariella. But he did know that he had taken a liking to her. Talking and joking with her that afternoon had shown him a rather witty, funny, and intelligent side of her. And quite aside from what his friends might have gathered from the time that he and Ariella had spent together, Sirius had found that a new friendship was beginning.