Author's Note: I must both apologize and thank my dear readers for sticking with me through my lack of updates! I had to take time away from this story to write a novel which I am currently sending out to agents. Wish me luck! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Also… for any of you on Facebook, my sister and I are working on setting up profiles for our versions of the characters if you'd like to friend them! Our plan is to have their pages match what is going on in the current chapters of Managing Mischief. So please feel free to visit and send a friend request to keep up with your favorite Marauders!
You can start by finding and adding Sirius with "his" e-mail: siriuz black paws at hotmail dot com without the spaces and such, of course. Have fun!
Managing Mischief
12. Tea With Hagrid
While James was always happy to return to school to see his friends, he was especially excited to see Lily Evans again after the Christmas holiday was over. Two weeks had been too long without glimpses of her red hair and green eyes. He wasn't quite sure how he'd be able to survive summer holidays, but resolved to cross that bridge when he came to it.
Sirius had a bandage on his wrist when he boarded the train at Platform 9 ¾ after James was already onboard. The shorter boy grimaced as he flexed his arm, placing his luggage in the overhead compartment.
"Here," James said, taking over for him.
"Thanks, mate," Sirius replied with a sigh.
"What happened to your wrist?"
"Christmas gift from Bellatrix." Sirius slumped into the seat beside the window. James sat down nearest the door where he could keep a casual lookout for Lily. Not that he wanted to speak to her or anything. He wasn't ready for that yet. No, he just wanted to look at her and maybe see if she'd notice him. "How was your holiday?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, um, good, yeah." James spared his friend a glance as he nodded then resumed his lookout.
Sirius eyed James with his one eye, noting the other boy's apparent distraction, then stuck his feet up on the seat across from him. "What're you doing?"
"Wha?" James asked, looking rather like a startled deer.
"You seem like you're waiting for someone."
"Me?" James shifted his weight so that he was facing Sirius instead of the door. "Nah. Just keeping an eye out for Remus is all."
"You reckon he's all right?"
James shrugged. "Why wouldn't he be?"
"You're waiting as if you don't expect him to arrive."
James stared at Sirius. They were alone. He could tell him. He could try to explain to him that he was in a love triangle with himself and Lily. That he and the redhead were destined to be together, even if he wasn't all that sure what "together" would mean. But Sirius had a slightly pouty expression on his face and looked so childish that James knew he wouldn't understand. And so the moment passed and James said nothing. Sirius parted his lips to ask another question when Remus arrived, hauling his trunk behind him.
"There you are," Sirius said with a grin.
"Yeah," James excitedly jumped in to cover for his straying thoughts. "We were worried about you, Remus, don't do that again."
Remus furrowed his brow. "I'm sorry?"
"You're so late."
"James, we still have twenty minutes." Remus glanced between the two.
"Oh, yeah, right," James stuttered before busying himself by stowing Remus' trunk for him.
Remus exchanged a confused look with Sirius who merely shrugged.
Peter was next to last on the train, which was usual, for as with everything with Peter, he didn't enjoy moving quickly. Once the boys were all back at Hogwarts and settled into their dormitory again, Sirius told the others about his strange Christmas.
James rammed his fist into his mattress. "I'm gonna kill her."
"It didn't hurt all that bad," Sirius said.
"Still, she hit you," James said through gritted teeth. "I'm gonna kill her."
Remus sighed. "She really needs some counseling."
"I know, right?" Sirius lay down on his bed and smiled up at Petra. "She's touched in the head."
"To say the least," James grumbled as he unpacked his new clothes.
"Who're we talking about?" Peter asked. He had been in the room the entire conversation but only just now began to listen. The other boys ignored him.
"Just avoid her," Remus suggested.
"Easier to do when we're at school than at home, oddly enough," Sirius murmured before blowing on Petra to make it wobble as it flew. Much to James' despair, he did not see much of Lily in the following weeks outside of class. The rest of the Marauders saw this as a happy turn of fate, for it meant that Large Marge and her crew were leaving them alone for the time being. Which was just as well for the boys somehow managed to get into enough trouble on their own.
One afternoon in Potions class, Professor Slughorn assigned a rudimentary elixir of acne control. While everyone was busy following the recipes in their textbooks, including Sirius who was partnered with James, the taller boy, in fact the tallest boy in their class, was busy following Lily with his eyes. She was working with Severus at the table in the corner of the room. James narrowed his eyes as she giggled while Severus told her some trick of the trade. The boy was uncommonly good at potions. That's what I need to do, James thought. Get like, really good at something and then she'll notice me.
"James!"
The fourth year startled and looked to Sirius, adjusting his glasses. "Wha?"
"I've only just said your name three times now."
"Oh, yeah, sorry."
"I can't tell which one's mugwort," Sirius said, leaning down to get eye-level with two jars of dried plants. "You reckon it's the one on the left?"
"Yeah, sure." James was already looking at Lily again. Severus was now laughing as well and combing his fingers through his greasy hair. Sirius opened the jar on the left that was in fact not mugwort, but rather wormwort, which was highly volatile when combined with water and sulfur. Sirius plucked three leaves out of the jar and dropped them into his and James' cauldron. The mixture steamed and bubbled but the alcohol base of the potion absorbed the wormwort in stride.
Sirius smiled. While Potions would never be his favorite, he had yet to mess up the recipe, or so he thought. "This is actually kinda fun."
James slowly turned his head to look at his friend. "Really? Fun?"
Sirius shrugged. "Well you're not exactly helping much. No wonder you're bored."
"Do you reckon Snivellus is up to something?" James asked.
Sirius glanced over at their enemies across the room. "Could be."
"I think he's up to something," James said again. "He looks like he's scheming."
Sirius cocked his head. "He kinda always looks like that, mate."
"That's the problem," James muttered.
Professor Slughorn began to make his rounds through the groups of students so Sirius hastily set back to work on their assignment. When James continued to stare at Lily and Severus, Sirius smacked his arm to get his attention. James managed to bury his nose in his textbook just as Slughorn looked their way.
"Yes, yes," Slughorn murmured distractedly as he waddled past. "Very good."
Sirius grinned. It was nice to be back at school where he didn't mind doing what was expected of him. Unlike home where he was never quite sure how to please his mother, or if he even wanted to. James read the list of ingredients then began cracking open three black acorns.
"I mean, sure, Snivellus is good at Potions and all," James griped. "But how can Lily stand smelling all that greasy hair and must that's always clinging to him?"
"Dunno," Sirius said as he stirred the cauldron. Then he grinned and giggled as he spoke. "Probably because the stench of her own hair overpowers his."
James chopped the last acorn open with an unnecessary crack that caused half the classroom to look his direction. Sirius cast James a sidelong glance. "Lily doesn't smell," James said through gritted teeth.
Sirius narrowed his eyes. "How would you know?"
"Because," James said, adjusting his glasses, "I just do. She doesn't stink, all right?"
"All right." Sirius scooped up the chopped black acorns and sprinkled them into the potion. "But one of those girls does."
"Your nose is too sensitive."
"No, it's not. You can smell her coming from a mile away."
James arched a brow. "That's Large Marge."
"Oh, yeah." Sirius' gaze grew pensive. "I reckon that's what I smell on Lily. Large Marge. Cuz they hang out together all the time. It rubs off on her. Literally."
James snorted. "Still doesn't explain Snivellus' stink."
Sirius smirked then clapped as their elixir turned sea-green and frothy. "We've done it!"
James smiled, as well, then his smile slipped when he saw the picture of the elixir on the following page of his book. It was clear. "Um, Sirius…" He pointed the page out to his friend, causing Sirius' smile to fall off.
"But we did everything right!"
James held up his hand and began to tick off the ingredients on his fingers. "We got the alcohol, the aloe paste, ground urchin's spine, the mugwort, and the three black acorns?"
Sirius nodded, reading the recipe in his own book. "It doesn't make any sense."
James sighed then spotted the two jars of dried leaves that had been shoved to the edge of the table. "Hang on, where did you get those?"
Sirius followed his gaze. "From the supply closet."
"They aren't labeled."
"Yeah, but the only ingredients he lets us help ourselves to are the ones we're using for the day."
"Except that those are different," James said, grabbing the two jars.
"I know they're different, that's why I asked your opinion." Sirius stepped over to the taller boy and peered at the jars.
James rapidly flipped through his textbook to the glossary at the back. He paused on an entry titled "Wormwort." "Oh no."
"What?" Sirius peered over what he could of James' shoulder to see the page.
"This isn't mugwort, it's wormwort."
"But that's the one I used," Sirius hissed.
"Crap, um," James glanced about frantically. He spotted Slughorn across the room, chatting with Lily and Severus who was one of his favorites. "Quick. Dump it down the drain while he's busy."
"What? Why?"
"Because that stuff's dangerous. Hurry."
Sirius glanced at Slughorn then grabbed their cauldron and carefully poured the contents down the sink. By the time Slughorn wandered back over, their cauldron was full of water that they hoped looked enough like the elixir that their professor wouldn't notice. He didn't. Slughorn took one look at the clear liquid and nodded. "Well done, boys."
Sirius shot a relieved look to James as their professor shuffled off. James curtly nodded. They'd done the right thing. He just hoped none of them would ever get acne because now he didn't know how to treat it. Meanwhile, their elixir trickled down the drainpipes of Hogwarts Castle.
That afternoon, the four Marauders headed down to Hagrid's hut to visit him for tea. When he'd seen Sirius earlier in the day he'd gushed that he had something to show him. The four wondered what it could possibly be as they trooped down the hill to the edge of the woods. "I'll bet it's a dinosaur," Sirius said.
Peter snorted and Remus lightly shoved him.
"I wouldn't put it past Hagrid to get a T-Rex if they still –" James caught himself when he noticed Sirius' glare. "If they still were available on the black market," he added.
"I'll bet you I could find one if I really wanted," Sirius said, sounding rather snooty with his nose in the air. James rolled his eyes.
"Whatever it is, it'd probably be wise to stand back," Remus said with a sigh. "You know Hagrid and his love of dangerous creatures."
Peter gasped so loudly that the other three boys all stopped in their tracks to look at him. He stood stock still with his mouth agape.
"What is it?" Remus asked.
"Hagrid… what if… what…."
"Spit it out, Peter," James snapped.
"What if he wants us to visit so that he can feed us to his beast?"
The other three exchanged a look. "Beast?"
Peter nodded. "You said it yourself, Remus. He loves dangerous creatures. What if it really is a T-Rex and he's going to feed us to him?"
Before the other two could reassure Peter, Sirius had bolted. He was racing towards Hagrid's hut. "Sirius, wait!" James shouted.
"If it really is a dinosaur, I wanna see it!" Sirius yelled back over his shoulder as best he could while running.
The other three broke into a jog after him. Well, the other two, at least. Peter sort of followed at a clipped waddle. "You might get eaten, Sirius!"
"Are you kidding?" Sirius barked. "It'd be an honor to be eaten by a dinosaur!"
The jubilation in Sirius voice disturbed both Remus and James. "No, it wouldn't!" James scolded, picking up his speed to try to stop Sirius before reaching Hagrid's door. He was too late. Sirius climbed up the steps and pounded on Hagrid's door and was let in so quickly that he nearly fell over. The door was slammed shut behind him. "What the?" James began. Then Sirius screamed.
"He's being eaten!" Peter shouted.
James poured all of his energy into his legs and with a final burst of speed, ascended the stairs and burst into the hut. What he saw made him yank out his wand. Hagrid was off to the side, looking at Sirius who was on the ground, crying. A large grey shape was on top of him with huge jaws and a massive head. The creature was trying to eat his friend. James snarled and readied his wand when a hand restrained his arm.
It was Remus and the flushed boy was shaking his head at James. The taller boy was about to yank his arm away when he realized that Sirius wasn't crying, after all. He was laughing. And the beast on top of him was wagging its tail. "It's a… a…"
"Puppy!" Sirius shouted.
James just stared. That was the hugest puppy he'd ever seen.
"Boarhound," Hagrid boasted. "From a special family line, to be exact. Little feller will grow up to be just my size."
Remus looked Hagrid up and down. "Your size?"
"I think he likes me," Sirius giggled.
James adjusted his glasses and put his wand away. Sirius was trying to get back up but the alleged puppy wouldn't let him. Reaching out, James yanked Sirius to his feet.
"Thanks," Sirius said, using his sleeve to wipe some of the slobber off his face.
The dog wagged his tail as Peter came huffing into the hut, flushed and sweating and leaning against the door.
"Don' leave the door open!" Hagrid snapped. "Or Fang'll bolt!"
Peter hastily shut the door.
"Hi Fang," Sirius said, scratching the boarhound's large, droopy ears. "Look, he's got big ears just like me."
No one knew what to say because no one could remember ever seeing Sirius' ears before.
"Innit he adorable?" Hagrid gushed, hooking his thumbs on his belt. "I picked him up from a feller tha' day when I took ye to the dentist." He winked at Sirius who grinned. He had thought Hagrid looked rather suspicious that day.
"Is he a secret?" Remus asked, tentatively petting Fang's head and smiling when the dog thumped his tail, which whacked Peter with each wag. There was nowhere else for the round boy to go so he had to stand there and get thumped.
"'Course not!" Hagrid laughed then turned serious. "Jus' don' tell anyone, okay?"
Remus and the others nodded. Fang barked and leapt at Sirius, both paws landing on the boy's chest, accidentally knocking him onto his back.
"Aren't you allowed to have a pet?" Remus asked. "The rest of us are."
James helped Sirius back to his feet. The smaller boy only had time to say "thanks," before he was knocked back down again.
"Eh," Hagrid shifted uncomfortably then busied himself with putting a kettle over the fire. "I have certain…. restrictions, you might say."
James helped Sirius back up. His back was starting to hurt from being knocked over twice already so this time, when Fang leaped at him, he tried to keep his balance, only to bump his head on the way down.
"What sort of restrictions?" Remus asked with a furrowed brow, climbing up into one of the over-sized chairs that lined Hagrid's table. Peter followed suit, though had a more difficult time maneuvering himself into place.
"I've got a bit of a track record, you see," Hagrid continued as he fished mugs out of the cupboards.
Sirius winced as he sat up. He glared at Fang but the puppy merely wagged his tail and looked so cute that he couldn't stay mad. Noticing the other two at the table, he tried to crawl towards them only to have Fang step on his back, pinning him to the floor. James smirked. The dog seemed to have picked its playmate.
"Once, while I was not much older than you are now, I had myself the sweetest li'l spider yeh ever did see."
Remus and James exchanged a look. Sirius was making spitting sounds as he tried to get the dog slobber off of his face.
"Name was Aragog, it was. An' he was my li'l secret. Until that Tom Riddle caught sight o' him. He tattled on me, he did. Said I'd done something I hadn't. This, that, the other. An' the next thing I knew, I was expelled." Hagrid ended in a wail, slumping over the table as the kettle began to boil.
"Expelled?" Sirius asked from the floor where he was trying to struggle out from under Fang's paws.
"An' the worst part is, I didn' get to finish raisin' up my Aragog. Now he's out there all alone in the forest."
Peter was blinking rapidly. "But… isn't Tom Riddle the same as You-Know-Who?"
Remus nodded.
"Tha's the one," Hagrid said, sniffling. He lumbered over to the fire and carefully lifted the kettle off. "He was a right bully from the start, he was."
"Still is," James muttered, taking a seat.
"He's ugly," Sirius quipped, finally able to climb to his feet. The other four all did a double-take when they looked at him. Fang had licked Sirius' hair off of his face and it was now nearly standing on end, as if in a fashion forward style, held in place by Fang's dried drool. Even his three closest friends hadn't seen both halves of his face since they were eleven.
James was filled with the rather uncomfortable sensation of wondering if it really was Sirius standing before him because he looked so… different. Remus tried not to laugh. Sirius had even more baby fat than he did and looked younger than his years. Maybe hiding under all that hair was for the best. Hagrid thought he looked rather like a girl.
Sirius narrowed his grey eyes. All three boys silently held their breath. His eyes really did work in unison like everyone else's! "What?" he asked.
"Who are you?" Peter shouted.
Remus shot Peter a glare which shut him up.
James flicked his eyes to the top of Sirius' head. "Nice hair."
Sirius scowled and climbed into the empty seat beside James. Hagrid poured the tea. "So, you've seen the Dark Lord, then?" James asked quietly.
"Of course I have," Sirius said, then glared again. The table nearly came up to his chest. He hated being short for it gave him bad memories of being a baby in a high chair. "He's come over for Sunday dinner a few times now."
Peter screamed. James shot him a warning look and the chubby boy covered his mouth with his hands. "Who is he?" he hissed to Remus, who decided to ignore him.
"Is that so?" Hagrid asked, pouring Sirius some steaming tea.
Sirius sighed. He'd hardly be able to reach the cup. Though glancing over at Remus, he could see that the shorter boy was managing by sitting on his knees, so he decided to mimic him. "Regulus loves the guy."
"Who's Regulus?" Peter whispered to Remus, who once again ignored him.
"Does he like, eat regular food?" James asked before blowing on his tea.
Sirius shrugged. "I'm usually up in my room. I don't wanna hang out with him and his idiot friends. And that stupid snake he's always bringing with him."
"Yeh might wanna use a bit more respect when talkin' about the Dark Lord," Hagrid cautioned as he sat down, shaking the hut.
Sirius shrugged. "Who cares? He doesn't even have a nose. And hardly has ears. He'll never hear us."
James and Remus stared at each other, torn between laughter and worry.
"Is that Sirius?" Peter hissed to Remus, staring at his thin friend across the table. Sirius heard and glared at Peter.
"Is he nice?" James asked.
"I can hardly understand him when he talks. He has this really nasal, hissy sort of voice. I've only spoken to him once and since I couldn't make out what he was saying, I just nodded. You know, like you do when someone's foreign or mentally retarded."
James snorted into his tea and Remus nearly dropped his. Several seconds passed then Peter laughed, and his timing was so off that the other four broke into laughter, as well. When their tea was drunk and their goodnights said, the Marauders all headed back to the castle. Sirius hugged Fang goodbye several times and promised to come back and visit soon with a special stick for the pup.
At first, James was worried everyone in the common room was staring at them because they we caught being out after dark. But then he realized that everyone, especially the girls, were staring at Sirius' face. For his part, Sirius didn't seem to notice and sat down at his favorite spot on the bay windowsill. He tugged a piece of parchment out of his bag and started reading their current Charms assignment. All the girls were still watching him.
Judging by the looks on their faces, they were about to burst out into laughter and teasing. Sure, Sirius had a baby-ish face but it wasn't worth making fun of. He'd seen plenty of stranger-looking folks. And if anything, the innocence about his friend's features made him want to protect him all the more. Striding across the room and over to Sirius, James sat down beside him. He was ready to glare at the onlookers when he realized that several had stopped staring to hold whispered conversations.
And then it hit him. They weren't staring because they thought Sirius was funny looking. They were staring because they liked looking at him. The thought of Sirius, who could care less about girls, getting so much female attention unnerved James and the urge to protect him once again flared up. With one swift motion, James yanked Sirius' hair back into place.
"Ow!" Sirius yanked away, giving James a betrayed look. "What was that for?"
"I sort of, thought I saw something in your hair," James stuttered.
Sirius winced and scratched his head. There was a wave to the way his hair was now falling into his face but at least it was hiding half of it.
"Sorry," James muttered. He glanced about the room. It had worked. Conversations grew louder and the girls focused on their homework once more. James looked back at Sirius who was still grumpily rubbing at his sore scalp. How could he be so oblivious? And why was it that the oblivious one was getting attention from girls? It was like they liked being ignored. Two fourth-years, Cecilia and Brianna, giggled and swatted at each other then glanced Sirius' way.
James' throat went dry. Girls thinking about Sirius in that way just wasn't right. Not when he hadn't the foggiest what was going on. But there was something else about the situation that left a bad taste in James' mouth. "C'mon. Let's go upstairs so we can work on you-know-what," he muttered, hinting at their animagi research while tugging on Sirius' shoulder. The smaller boy packed his stuff then followed James into the dormitory.
On the way up the stairs, James realized what he was feeling. It wasn't only the urge to shelter his friend. He was slightly jealous. But once Sirius walked past him to his bed and James was reminded of how short he still was, he realized that he had nothing to be jealous of. If anything, Sirius was probably jealous of him. With a small smile, James plopped onto his bed.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the Potions classroom, Professor Slughorn was readying for bed. Too lazy to head into his chambers to retrieve his wand, he decided to light his lamp the Muggle way. He struck a match then lit the wick and smiled. Tossing the charred match into the sink, he washed it down the drain with a burst of water.
The following explosions could be heard all the way from the boy's dormitory in Gryffindor tower on the other side of the castle. Students screamed as all the sinks and toilets burst their pipes and sprayed water everywhere. James and Sirius slowly looked to each other on their parallel beds. "Ooops."
11
