Hey all! So, all things considered, at least this chapter didn't take as long as some of the others, right? Hehe, well hope you enjoy!
It was such an innocent question. So innocent, in fact, that even Remus Lupin, who knew full well just what his three counterparts were capable of, did not expect anything to come of it. And yet…
"Hey Sirius, what's today's date?"
"Uh, the 19th, question mark?"
...
And so it began…
James, Remus, and Peter all snapped their heads around to stare confusedly at the fourth marauder. Sirius continued zoning out until he noticed his friends' looks and raised an eyebrow.
"The 20th?"
James shook his head. "Wait, wait… What did you say before?"
"The 19th? Well sorry if I can't always get the date right-"
"No, I mean, did you…say… 'question mark'?"
"Oh that. Yeah, why?"
"I don't know. Don't you find it a little strange to say 'question mark' when the question mark is kind of implied?"
Sirius grinned and shrugged. "I guess, question mark?"
The other three just shook their heads, not really wanting to delve into the inner workings of their friend's mind. So it was dropped. For the moment. For you see, the next day…
The marauders (minus Remus) were shaking in their seats as McGonagall made her way around the classroom, handing back the exams from the previous class. It had been challenging, and worth a lot of points, so most of the students were extremely nervous at the prospect of seeing their grade. The four snatched their papers up as soon as they were out of the professor's hands.
There was a moment of silence…
"WHOO!!" James leapt from his seat, soon followed by the others as well as the rest of the classroom (well, the ones who didn't fail). Peter hugged James.
"I got an 80! That's a B!"
"I got an 86!"
"83 for me!"
"I got a-"
"We know you did great, Remus. No one needs to hear the numbers."
"I can't believe we all passed!"
"I know! We were panicked for nothing!"
"Well I say tonight we CELEBRATE!"
"Definitely, exclamation point!"
No one else in the room noticed due to their own excitement, but James, Remus, and Peter found themselves suddenly staring dumbly at Sirius, who was still smiling widely at his score. Remus, being the diplomatic one, spoke first…
"The heck did you just say?"
Sirius looked up. "What? I was just agreeing!"
James hit him over the head. "Not that, Padfoot! You said 'exclamation point'."
"So. I though it was exciting enough to warrant an exclamation point."
"But why-"
"Eh hum."
The four Gryffindor turned at the sound of a throat being cleared to find McGonagall standing in front of them. Behind her was…no one.
"Don't you four have other classes to attend?"
After a beat of silence, the Marauders rushed out of the classroom, hoping they weren't late.
Closing the door to their dorm room, James turned around to see Peter and Remus putting their books away while Sirius flopped down on his bed, leaving his things haphazardly on the floor. James shook his head.
"Ok, so we need to have a talk, Padfoot."
Sirius sat up so he was facing James. "Look, if this is about that spell I cast on Peter-"
"WHAT!?"
James shook his head, ignoring Peter. "No, not that. I'm talking about in McGonagall's class earlier."
"Wait, what spell did you cast?"
"Oh yeah, we were gonna celebrate our grades right, question mark?"
"That! Wait, I mean no! Well, yes, but that's not what I'm talking about!"
"It wasn't something dangerous right?" Peter still tried to get their attention.
Remus joined in as well. "Prongs is talking about how you've suddenly found it necessary to speak all of your grammatical symbols."
Sirius frowned. "I'm not speaking all of them."
"Whatever spell you used will wear off, right?"
"Shut up Peter!" "Exclamation point!"
Peter jumped as his three friends spoke at the same time (with Sirius adding something extra). James turned back to Sirius.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, comma, if I was speaking all of my grammatical symbols, comma, it would probably sound something like this, period."
After thinking for a minute, James suddenly grinned. "Ah, comma, I think I get it, period. So it'd be something like this, comma, right, question mark?"
Sirius grinned back. "Exactly, exclamation point! See, question mark? It's fun, exclamation point!"
James giggled. "Yeah, exclamation point! I wonder how crazy Mcgonagall or the other teachers would get if we talked like this all the time, comma, even during class, exclamation point!"
Suddenly, Remus turned to James. "Wait, I think you mean, 'I wonder how crazy McGonagall, comma, or the other teachers, comma, would get if we talked like this all the time, period. Even during class, period.'"
James shook his head. "No, no, no, period. That's-"
" 'No, comma, no, comma, no, comma." Sirius interrupted. James glared at him before turning back to Remus and continuing.
"That's way to many commas, period. Plus, comma, I used it as a compound sentence, comma, so there would be no period in the middle, period."
Sirius piped up again. "I think if you used it as a compound sentence, comma, you'd need a conjunction, period. Like, comma, quote, 'I wonder how crazy McGonagall, comma, or the other teachers, comma, would get if we talked like this all the time, comma, such as during class, period. Un-quote'."
James shook his head. "That's still too many commas, exclamation point!"
"Well, comma, some sentences just have a lot of commas, exclamation point!"
"I also still think it's suppose to be a comma instead of a period separating the two ideas, period."
"No, comma, the way you worded it, comma, the two separate ideas would be distinguished by a period, period."
Peter, having finally decided that whatever spell had been cast on him couldn't be that bad, unfortunately spoke up.
"I'm pretty sure you could use a semicolon."
Peter flinched as the three boys groaned loudly. Sirius put a hand over his face.
"Why'd you have to go and bring semicolons into this, question mark?"
"They've got to be the most annoying mechanical symbol involved in grammar, exclamation point!"
Peter frowned at them. "Hey, comma, it's not my fault, exclamation point! You can't just exclude a grammatical symbol just because you don't like it, exclamation point!"
Sirius glared back. "They aren't even anything, exclamation point! I mean, comma, what, question mark? Are they a colon, comma, are they a comma, comma, make up your mind, exclamation point!"
"That doesn't make them any less real, exclamation point!"
"They're worthless symbols, exclamation point! Where ever you would use a semicolon you could just use a comma or a period, period."
"Well don't get mad at me for that, exclamation point!"
"Will you two stop yelling, exclamation point!"
"You forgot a question mark, exclamation point!"
"Stop correcting me, exclamation point!"
"You asked a question with no question mark, exclamation point! What was I suppose to do, question mark?"
"I was using it as a command, exclamation point!"
"Well I-"
"WHY ARE WE EVEN HAVING THIS ARGUMENT, QUESTION MARK EXCLAMATION POINT!?"
James, Peter, and Sirius all turned to stare at a panting Remus. For a few minutes there was silence, no one wanting to say anything. Finally, Remus sighed, picking up a quill and walking over to the back wall. Giggling, Sirius jumped off his bed, grabbing his own quill and following Remus. As soon as Remus stepped back from the parchment, Sirius reached down to add to it himself. As Remus looked on, he rolled his eyes before walking away.
41.) Speaking all grammatical symbols (Period).
Guilty as charged. I do this all the time. (Well, I don't do the commas, but I do speak my exclamation points and question marks. XP ).
So, you know what's fun? Updates. Know what's not fun? College apps and English projects consisting of reading two 600 page books, two 5 page essays, an in-class essay, and a 12 page mega essay that's worth a couple hundred points. Hehe, yeah. So just a heads up for all you guys, unless I'm super inspired, the updates are going to be a bit slow for the next couple months. There will be updates, they'll just be a little more spread out. (Unless, like I said, I have/ one of you gives me an idea that I simply must post). But don't think I've abandoned the story or anything!
Well, hope you enjoyed and please let me know what you think/ any suggestions you have! Thanks a million!
