Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season 8

Round: 1, Who Are You? Team: Puddlemere United. Position: Chaser 3. Task: The Explorer- Fear: entrapment. Optional Prompts: (word) glitter (setting) Room of Requirement (character) James Potter I. Word count: 2177

Author's Note: For anyone outside the league reading this, this is Shifting Lines canon compliant and the occurrence will probably be in the book lol. Also the Room of Requirement is called the Room of Thrice in Shifting Lines.

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A loud explosion sent both boys flying off their feet; they crashed into the softened floor, bouncing harmlessly around until they came to a stop. Sirius grumbled, while James just laughed.

"That was fun," James said, getting to his feet and brushing his hands off on his jeans. "We should do that in the Slytherin dorm."

Sirius couldn't help but grin at that thought. "Sounds good to me. But it wasn't what we wanted to do. Let's try again." He went over to the pile of supplies set well outside the blast radius. He began rummaging through, trying to figure out the right ratio of potion-to-firecracker... If only Remus was there! James and Sirius were both quite good at coming up with ideas, but they recently that realized without the brains of their group to do proper research and smoothing out the wrinkles the pranks were feeling a little... flat.

"Least the Room of Thrice doesn't seem to be too mad," James commented, going over to a scorch mark on the stone floor, prodding the spot with the toe of his sneaker.

"It's a good room," Sirius muttered, talking as if the room were a pet; in his opinion the Room of Thrice was as alive as any of them. Plus it always gave them the items they needed to test out some of their ideas. Where these objects came from, none of them knew, not even Remus. It was a mystery. But anytime the Marauders came in, the room always gave them exactly what they needed except for food.

James was still just scuffing the floor, not helping look for a good firecracker. "You gonna help?" Sirius asked.

"Eh. Maybe we should take a break." With that, James crossed the room and plopped into one of the beanbag chairs, soot puffing out everywhere from where it had been on his clothes. "We've still got over close to two weeks until the end-of-term banquet anyway."

"Yes, but one of those weeks we'll be taking exams," Sirius pointed out. "Plus... it needs to be perfect." He picked up a particularly large firecracker, studying it carefully. "And since it's just us three, we've got to work even more." These words came out without him even meaning to, and he was well aware how bitter he sounded. "Er, only two of us right now, I mean, since Pete's at Photography Club," he added, hoping James hadn't noticed, which was pretty much like hoping the sky wasn't blue.

James cocked his head, knowing perfectly well it wasn't Peter's absence that was getting Sirius's wand in a knot. "Moony's got prefect duties."

He didn't want to get drawn into a conversation about Remus; however, he couldn't help it. "Yeah... a lot of them..." Sirius pressed his lips together, wondering why Lily Evans didn't seem to have as many prefect duties as Remus did. She was always hanging around the common room! But Remus was always off somewhere. Prefect duties, he kept saying whenever one of them asked. Or, I do have a lot of homework this year. Sirius wasn't entirely convinced Remus was telling them the truth. Part of him wanted to see just what their tiny little friend was up to by using the map, but that would be too much of a betrayal of trust. Sirius knew he could be a jerk, but he hoped he'd never be that much of a jerk.

James yawned, stretching out his legs. "You should talk to him."

Sirius ignored his friend, returning to the middle of the room. He knelt down, carefully opening the rocket tube so he could pour in some of their potion, hoping this one would work. They were trying to get potion-filled fireworks to explode into a shower that would change everything all colors of the rainbow. Remus promised this one would work, it wouldn't be like the pink snow they did the one time where everyone had spots dyed on their skin for days. In any case, they wanted to set these off during the feast before the Christmas holidays. Sirius tried to name the prank 'Code Name ColorPOW', but the other three overrode him with the name 'Operation Dorothy's Song', which was entirely too boring! ColorPOW was infinitely more fun, and you didn't need to see some Muggle movie to get what it was gonna do (which, Remus argued, was sort of the point of giving their pranks mysterious names).

"Don't forget to write down how much you used!" James reminded him.

Sirius gave an annoyed groan, but pulled out a little notebook to mark down the amount of potion, or as close to it as he thought. He hadn't really paid much attention to the amount. He closed the tube up, lit the fuse, then ran over to crouch next to James. They watched the firework with bated breath. The flame reached the end of the fuse, the rocket went up and—

The explosion wasn't quite as loud as the one before it but the entire room filled with smoke. Sirius and James began coughing violently, waving their hands in front of their faces.

"Merlin's balls!" James squealed in amusement once they could see around them again. Sirius began laughing.

Everything was drenched in glitter. Every last inch of the Room of Thrice, including the two boys, was covered in bright gold glitter. Sirius lifted his hands, gold shimmering with the slightest of movement. James began rubbing and clapping his hands to try to get the glitter off, but it was thoroughly stuck to them. Sirius tried to scratch at the glitter but even his nails didn't get the glitter up.

"This is incredible!" James pulled his glasses off, turning part of his shirt inside out so he could use a clean spot to try to clean off the lenses. "Erf, is it working? Can't see a damn thing."

"Sorta?" Sirius got his wand out and used a cleaning spell on the lenses. They were a bit smudged but at least James could see through them somewhat.

"Thanks." James put them back on, shaking his hair. "Okay I take back what I said before. THIS is what we should do to the Slytherin common—no! This is what we do for the Great Hall!" He began bouncing from foot to foot. "This is better than turning everything rainbow. Can you imagine everyone covered in glitter? Can you imagine the teachers?"

Sirius had to admit it would be a lot of fun... "I dunno, I think we should keep trying with the rainbow plan. Besides, I—I'm not quite sure exactly how much I used."

"What?" James frowned. "You wrote it down."

"I didn't measure though," he confessed. James rolled his eyes. "Shame it's not rainbow glitter, eh?"

James bust up at that thought. "That'd be so brilliant!" Sirius smiled, then went back over to the pile of supplies while James just crashed onto the beanbag again. "Come on, take a break. You're as bad as Moony with his homework. Pushing yourself, I mean."

"I want to get it right," he said, trying to find a rocket that was the same size as the one he used before.

"No, you want to distract yourself."

Sirius stiffened at the casual accusation then slowly turned, narrowing his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

James shrugged. "It means what it means. C'mon, Pads, you've been keeping yourself as busy as possible since—since she sent that letter."

Sirius grit his teeth, not wanting to discuss this. Instead he knelt down to continue looking for the right sized firecracker, obviously ignoring James, who sighed, pushing himself up out of the chair.

"Paaaads. Look at me."

"Don't you want this prank to be super amazing?" Sirius asked lightly as he picked one he thought would work, then stood up with a grunt. He twisted his sleeve inside out so he could rub at his face. The bright shimmery gold everywhere was starting to hurt his eyes a little, though leaving to get cleaned up meant stopping, and stopping meant his brain would have time to focus on the two things he didn't want to focus on right now. Remus, and Walburga's letter.

James put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to."

"What, work on the prank?" Sirius asked, trying to give James a smirk.

"Go back there," James said. Sirius remained silent, so James pushed a little more. "Come to my house. Mum and Dad would love it if you did. They're always so happy to see you."

Sirius went back to the middle of the room, James's hand falling away. He set the firecracker down, then pulled out the notebook full of numbers. "At least the glitter didn't get in the notebook," he remarked. "I think I used maybe... five ounces... though if we just make everything covered in more gold glitter I dunno how we'll know if it worked. Maybe we should—"

"Sirius!" James snapped. "You're a dog, not a cat, stop ignoring me."

Sirius pushed his gold hair back, jutting his chin out. "I can't go to your house, all right? I have to go back to... to Grimmauld Place." Its name got caught in his throat and he had to practically spit it out, like it was a glob of something gross. Which, really, it was. "My mother made it very clear I didn't have a choice."

For a few years now he allowed James to see the letters his mother sent to him. It was a great relief to share with him; it really helped ease the weight off his shoulders. Well, some of the weight. But this one had been full of such hate towards Sirius that he hadn't shown James, he'd just torn it to shreds and set it on fire. A ritual he had been doing since his first year, when the letters were really painful. This one had made physical threats towards Sirius's friends if he didn't comply. Walburga often used disgusting terms towards the others. Called James a blood traitor, called Remus and Peter both 'half dirty bloods'. However, this time she included the fact she apparently knew where the 'perverts' worked, referring to Peter's mother and Remus's father (perverts due to the fact they married Muggles, of course), and if Sirius didn't come home for Christmas she'd make sure their places of business would 'crash and burn'. Whether she meant forcing them out of business or literally setting the buildings on fire, he wasn't sure. His mother was capable of doing both. Either way, Sirius intended to go to Grimmauld Place.

He had managed to avoid going back for most of the holidays as much as possible. The previous two Christmases, he had gone to the Potters, which hadn't really caused much issue with his family. It hadn't seemed to bother the Blacks before that their failure of a child wasn't around, and he wasn't sure why they wanted him this time... although he had his suspicions. Either they were going to try to force him into a betrothal, or they were going to kill him. Neither was a particularly pleasant option.

In any case, he didn't have a choice, so he was determined to keep himself as distracted as possible so he didn't have to think about going 'home'. Not that Grimmauld Place was home. It was more like a prison, keeping him locked in with his horrible family. When he was seventeen, he hoped to be able to escape... but seventeen was an entire year away. He still had over eleven months of being in their grasp.

He could already feel their cold fingers around him, their hatred walling him in from the real world, their vile blood keeping him tied to their madness.

Locked in the darkness.

What if this time he didn't escape?

A hand on his shoulder caused him to jump. He blinked a few times, remembering that he wasn't in London, he was at Hogwarts. He was with James, who was giving him an understanding smile.

He wished he could go to the Potters. The Potter manor was home. Hogwarts was home. He just... wanted to be home...

James hugged Sirius, some of the glitter finally flaking off as his arms slid around Sirius's body. Sirius hesitated then hugged tightly back. James knew, James understood without Sirius even explaining anything else; James was there, always there. Sirius had no idea what he'd do if he didn't have James. Probably go completely mad.

"You know my parents would do anything for you," James said softly when they pulled apart. "They'd fight to protect you."

"I know," Sirius said wearily. He also knew his family would more than likely fight right back, and while the Potters had more money, the Blacks weren't above using the darkest of magic to keep their son in their clutches. He may have been an embarrassment but he was still their heir.

Unless a miracle happened, he would always be chained to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.