Ethan Frome

Once Upon a Time

A/N: Thanx 4 all your reviews on the last chapter! You don't know how much I appreciated it. Um...you won't be seeing much from me over the summer (sorry) because I'm going to China for two months. But once I get back, I'll start writing again! Oh, yea *looks sad*...I posted my last half to 'Stained Silver' a while ago and...*sniff* no one reviewed....please review that? And this...cuz its my last chapter for a while, and I'd be happy if you reviewed...

Disclaimer: Uh...see before

Chapter 11: It's War!

Sirius, as James expected, was particularly awed by the news. He stubbornly refused to believe it, making quite a comical sight standing pouty-lipped and straight backed in the middle of the crowded common room.

However, once James actually put on the cloak and disappeared from view (only to sneak around Sirius and give him a satisfying kick in the behind for not believing at first), Sirius began to get excited over all the possibilities.

"Sneaking out of class...playing pranks...Jamsie boy, do you know how much fun we're going to have?" Sirius sighed wistfully as the two headed down the stairs for dinner in the Great Hall.

"No, Sirius, I thought we were going to keep it and do....erm...good," James finished rather lamely. He stepped into the light flooded Great Hall. Immediately, his eyes drifted toward the starry ceiling, then fell back to the Gryffindor table. Lily Evans was seated next to Peter Pettigrew, who had a rather frightened look on his face as Lily reached for a platter of boiled eel.

"Lets sit over there," James said hurriedly, tearing his eyes away from the fiery girl and guiding himself to the opposite end of the table.

Golden platters laden with food were already being dug into. Strangely enough, as soon as the twosome had sat down, two shiny silver plates laden with food materialized in front of them.

"Hmm...good service!" Sirius guffawed through a mouthful of goulash.

James gazed suspiciously at the plates, then at the food platters in the center of the long table. "I don't know...isn't it kind of strange that the food would appear on our plates when...you know," he gestured limply toward the heaping amounts of food in front of them. "When we're supposed to serve ourselves.

"Maybe everyone was served this way," Sirius shrugged, not bothering to heed James's warning. He began biting savagely into a chicken leg. Watching Sirius gnaw away at the fried chicken made James's stomach give an almighty growl. He threw caution to the winds and tucked in, oblivious to the sudden hush spreading across the Great Hall.

A prickling sensation spreading across his fingertips. His head quickly snapped up, and his chocolate eyes met with the amused ones of an older red-haired boy.

"Er...Sirius..." James prodded Sirius tentatively in the ribs. Sirius immediately stopped eating and jerked up, a piece of egg dangling from his chin.

For a split second, James stared at Sirius and burst out laughing. A few giggles rang out with his, and before long, the Great Hall was roaring with laughter, including Sirius.

"Why are you laughing?" Sirius asked pointedly, taking another glimpse at James and cracking up again.

"Why are you?" James asked, cocking his head. He looked down at himself and immediately stopped laughing. "W-wait...I look like you do!"

"You are what you eat," Sirius quoted wisely, though his face was a mask of horror.

For both of them, their bodies had been transfigured to look like the first piece of food they ate (Sirius looked like a lump of gloppy pudding, and James could barely move for his large stomach that strangely resembled a cream puff).

James forced a strangled sort of laugh out of his throat, and grabbed Sirius by his mushy arm. Together, they traipsed out of the Great Hall, Sirius's legs and James's stomach wobbling.

As they passed Lily and Peter, James saw a satisfied grin pass over the girls face, spreading rapidly to the chubby boys. Both sat there, smirking widely.

James exchanged a few well chosen words with Sirius, and walked slowly up to Peter and Lily.

"You, my good woman and man, are in for a world of pain and torture," James said slowly and deliberately, locking eyes with Lily. He turned sharply on his heal, forgetting he was now a cream puff, fell over, and rolled the rest of the way towards the door.

A few uneventful weeks passed, and James finally proved true to his word. He and Sirius had spent the last month devising the perfect plan, gathering the ingredients for the spell, and had just picked out the perfect Slytherin; a greasy, first year boy with a hooked nose resembling a birds beak.

"This is going to be too good," Sirius whispered as they crept pass the group of clucking turkeys in front of the boys dorm (it was Thanksgiving Day).

James felt a little flutter of excitement rise from his chest. He nodded briskly. "Teach her to humiliate James Potter in front of the whole school..."

"Ahem," Sirius coughed loudly.

James smiled sheepishly. "And the famous pudding, Sirius Black."

A few moments of tense silence passed as they made their way towards the Slytherin common room. A small, crystal clear bottle of purple fluid was clutched tightly in James's fist. The sun had already begun rising in the sky, spreading warm triangles of yellow light throughout the corridors.

As they descended down a dark, dank set of steps to the Slytherin room, the light gradually began fading away, to be replaced with a musty smell and creeping shadows.

Finally, they reached a large, stone door, with a bloody portrait hanging in the front.

"Password?"

James almost dropped the crystal bottle as he turned, horror-stricken, to Sirius. "Password?"

Sirius sighed loudly and walked up to the portrait. "Start guessing."

"Salazar?" James said, trying the first name that popped to mind.

The portrait hung sullenly, staring at the pair with glinting eyes.

"Er...serpent? Parseltongue? Ambition?" Sirius let of a string of useless words.

"Yellow bellied big footed prats of the school?" James growled through clenched teeth, losing his temper.

"Mudblood?" Sirius tried once more. The eyes on the portrait popped out, and the door immediately swung open.

James and Sirius immediately ducked behind a gargoyle statue.

"Clear," Sirius mouthed, and they crept slowly into the common room.