Saturday 3rd March

Gryffindor Table, 09:30

James poked at his sausage. It didn't look very appetising at the moment. Not that je was very hungry. Butterflies had taken up residence in his stomach and they weren't leaving any time soon. Je glanced at the other breakfast items, hoping something else would tempt his appetite; there were eggs, bacon, porridge, even pancakes. Lots of fruit too. But they just made his stomach lurch instead of grumble.

With a groan, he buried his face in his arms. It only blocked out the food, not the excited chatter all around him. He didn't want to hear anyone talk about today at all. No thank you.

"You need to eat," Peter tried to encourage him.

"M'not hungry," he said in a muffled tone.

He could practically feel Sirius' incredulous look. Probably with a mouthful of toast too.

"How can you not be hungry?"

James heard a thump and a yelp, which made him look up. Remus was rolling his eyes and Sirius was rubbing his arm with an injured expression on his face. He couldn't even bring himself to laugh at that.

"You don't want to faint off your broom," Sirius tried to point out helpfully.

It wasn't helpful. James glared at him. It was all very well and good for Sirius; he was just a reserve! He wasn't playing in this match. He was just watching. So unfair! James, on the other hand, had to play in his first ever Quidditch Match. As the only junior student! Did he mention that it was an important match? If Gryffindor won this one then they'd have a better chance of winning the Cup. But only if they were ahead by ninety points. And the Ravenclaw Chasers were good. Like, extremely good. And had been playing together for four years.

No pressure on him or anything. He had been trying his hardest at practice, trying to fit in with Peterson and Docherty. And all the training had paid off, they could sort of work as a cohesive unit but it was a big sort of. They had only been practicing together for a few weeks! And now James felt that he hadn't been practicing at all.

A shadow fell over him and he looked up to see McKinnon and Evans. He tried to smile at them but didn't exactly manage it if their weird looks were anything to go by.

"Just wanted to wish you luck, Potter," Evans said.

"Kick some Ravenclaw butt!" McKinnon told him with a grin.

"I'll try," he reassured her, stomach sinking even further.

"Please," Evans added. "I won't be able to stand it if my sister brags about her House winning."

"Can't be having that," he said briskly, wanting to push them along.

Just even thinking about facing another team was making him feel sick.

Evans gave him another weird look but nodded and started to move away.

"I hope we win."


Gryffindor Quidditch Stands, 10:15

"Nervous for him?" Remus asked as he and Peter shuffled along the stands to try and find a seat.

Sirius had to go with the rest of the team and reserves.

Peter gave him a guilty look and nodded.

"Me too," Remus said, looking down at the pitch where the teams were lining up.

James looked awfully small compared to the rest of them. Even the Docherty was taller than him and no one ever called her tall.

With a shout from the commentator, everyone was up in the air. Remus scanned the sky anxiously, crossing his fingers for James. He really wanted this to go well.

And it started well, James stayed in formation and actually caught the quaffles that were sent his way. Not that they were sent his way a lot.

When he did get passed it eventually, James had to roll out of the way of a bludger, dropping the quaffle. Unfortunately, a Ravenclaw Chaser caught it.

"Come on, James!" Peter shouted.

Remus didn't think a match had ever gone so fast. He didn't even feel the time passing, he was so focused on watching James. Before he knew it, the points were sixty to Gryffindor and a hundred and a hundred and ten to Ravenclaw and James had the quaffle!

"Please, please, please," Remus prayed to whoever was up there.

James zoomed towards the goal and looked like he was heading for the centre hoop. He lurched to the left, making the Keeper zoom in that direction, but threw it to the right.

Remus was convinced that time stood still as the quaffle rolled through the air. It looked like it was just going to fall short but no - it went in!

"TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" the commentator bellowed.

Peter and Remus cheered alongside the rest of their House. This was great!

And it was about to get better! Suddenly, Prewett went into a dive - catching the Ravenclaw Seeker by surprise. He had seen the snitch! Everyone watched with bated breath as Prewett zoomed along the ground, hand outstretched. The Ravenclaw Seeker tried to catch up to her but he had been on the other side of the pitch. Prewett had the advantage of being smaller than him as well.

Just as sudden as her dive, Prewett pulled herself up - the snitch fluttering in her fist.

"PREWETT HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

They had won! Remus slapped Peter on the back and they both beamed at each other. Gryffindor had won! And James had scored a goal!


Sunday 4th March 1973

Entrance Hall, 10:00l

"Hey, Reggie."

Regulus jumped and frowned as he faced a lazily grinning Sirius. His little trio of friends were right behind them. Regulus' dormmates (who he had been speaking with before he was so rudely interrupted) chuckled behind him.

"Don't call me that."

It was such a childish nickname and je wasn't a child anymore, for Merlin's sake. They were both at Hogwarts. There was no room for such childishness anymore. That, and it was embarrassing.

Sirius shrugged. "Sure."

Regulus looked expectantly at his brother and sighed when no other statements were forthcoming.

"What do you want, Sirius?"

That got him a brief blank look before Sirius replied, "Oh, uh, I was just wondering if you wanted to go down with us to the lake?"

"We're going to throw things for the Giant Squid to catch!" Potter added, holding up a bag of Merlin knows what.

A series of titter came from his own friends and Regulus put a sneer on his face.

"No, thank you. I can think of better things to do with my time."

And he could. Why on earth would you want to throw things at the Giant Squid? Wouldn't you just get drenched? Also, he was not going to be some stupid little tag along.

Sirius shrugged again, such an untidy looking gesture, "Suit yourself."

Regulus thought he caught something in his brother's eye but it was gone before he could see properly. Sirius was always better at hiding his true emotions than him.

"See you, Baby Black!" Potter said cheekily as the quartet of Gryffindors turned to the Entrance Door.

Regulus flushed as his dormmates actually chuckled at that new nickname.


Monday 12th March 1973

Library, 17:10

Chryssie watched, fascinated, Tonks' hair shift colours as she agonised over an essay. She had known Tonks for nearly six months and she was still distracted by her shape-shifting abilities. She couldn't help it. It was just so amazing. And at least this wasn't something that she got teased about for being a Muggleborn not being used to magic, everyone was interested in Tonks' hair.

Speaking of Tonks' hair, it had just turned to deep red. That meant she was annoyed. Chryssie always had to fight back her instinct of thinking that Tonks was angry. Red was just such an angry colour.

"Are you quite done staring?"

That shook Chryssie out of her thoughts.

"Sorry," she apologised.

Had Tonks been talking to her? That would be embarrassing if she had completely ignored her.

Tonks grumbled at her and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"I wish people wouldn't stare," she complained, hair turning yellow.

An eye-watering bright yellow in fact. Chryssie suspected that it would glow in the dark.

Chryssie made a shushing gesture and looked around anxiously, not wanting to anger Madam Pince. You learned very early on in your time at Hogwarts that you didn't annoy the librarian. Too bad she wasn't a Metamorphmagus, it would be a lot easier to see if she was annoyed.

Tonks frowned at her and crossed her arms, still annoyed.

"It's just so unusual," Chryssie tried to sooth her.

It didn't work.

"It's rude to stare!"

Chryssie didn't really have an argument for that. It was rude to stare, not to mention it was annoying to be stared at. She was sure Tonks felt like she was in a zoo sometimes. The giggling and nudging people aimed in her direction probably didn't help either.

"You just have to ignore it."

There wasn't anything else that could be done. You couldn't go around everyone in the whole school and ask them not to stare. You just couldn't. You couldn't get angry either because you'd just get in trouble.

Tonks crossed her arms and her glare turned into a pout.

"Can't I just hit people?"

"Dora!"

"Just one? An itty-bitty hit?"

"No!"

Tonks slumped back into her chair, her pouted deepening.

"Well, that's no fun."


Thursday 15th March 1973

Gryffindor Second Year Boys Dorm, 07:30

Remus winced as he pulled his jumper over his head.

"Are you okay?" James asked, worried about the look of what seemed to be discomfort cross his friend's face.

"Yes," Remus answered quickly.

James wasn't too convinced, especially since Remus still looked uncomfortable.

"You sure?"

"I'm fine," Remus replied, rubbing at his arm. He caught James' concerned look and explained, "My jumper just feels too heavy."

Huh. That was weird. Especially since the standard school jumpers were quite thin (which is why his parents got thicker ones specially made for winter). Remus' were incredibly thin, well more like worn. James suspected that they were the same ones from last year. But they couldn't be heavy.

"Maybe you've had a growth spurt and it's too tight?"

But James didn't believe those words even as they came out of his mouth. Remus looked just the same as usual. A bit tired, but that was normal first thing in the morning. But he was still the average height, scrawny, Remus. The boy really needed to eat more. James made a mental note to pile up at least four sausages on Remus' plate once they got to the Great Hall.

"Maybe," Remus said, not sounding too convinced himself.

Hopefully, he wasn't coming down with something. That would be awful. James didn't deal with being sick very well. He got utterly miserable.

'Grrr'

James looked down at his stomach as Remus did the same with his own. They gave each other a grin. What would also be awful if they didn't get breakfast this morning.

"I'm starved!" Remus declared, crossing the dorm.

"I'm more!" James retorted, darting after him.

They both wrestled to be the first one out. Remus stopped suddenly and sniffed.

"James?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Did you forget to put your washing in the laundry basket again?"

James looked guilty at the mess that seemed to be constantly around his bed and used his foot to nudge a crumpled pair of trousers behind him.

"Um..."

"James," Remus complained. "It's stinking up the place!"

"It's not that bad," James said defensively.

"It smells foul."

James sniffed the air and frowned; his nose wasn't picking up anything out of the ordinary. Remus was just fussy. He seemed to go through cycles of this, not caring how things smelt until he basically hit his breaking point for the mess and then everything reeked.

"It's been there for a good week and you're only complaining about it now," James challenged. "Obviously, it's not been that bad!"

"Because you've let it fester!"

Grumpily, James grabbed some (not all, out of badness) of his washing and shoved it in his hamper.

"Happy?" He demanded, spinning around to face Remus again.

"Infinitely."


Saturday 17th March 1973

Gryffindor Common Room, 19:15

"And, checkmate," Sirius said triumphantly, capturing Remus' King.

The small crowd that had gathered around them cheered. It had been common knowledge that Remus was the best of the Second Years at chess. That is, until Sirius had finally challenged him. It had been a long time coming. He had easily trounced James, Peter had put up a better fight but inevitably lost, McKinnon was a sneaky player but he had beaten her too. One by one the year had fallen to him.

And it felt great. Sirius smiled smugly at Remus. No one had thought that he could beat him but here he was. Remus pulled a face at him but Sirius knew he wasn't really upset.

"Good game?" Sirius said, holding out his hand.

Remus took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Good game," he confirmed.

It was important to be a good sport and all that. Not that he would have thrown the board across the room or anything but these Gryffindors would pick up even a hint of a sneer.

"Pah!" James made a noise of disgust as the crowd thinned. "You got lucky," he informed Sirius.

"No, I have skills. Unlike you."

James blew a raspberry at him, making everyone laugh. It was now very well known in Gryffindor how bad James was at chess. The older years pitted the first years against him to give them more confidence. James took all the ragging in good humour, unless it was from Sirius. He was determined to find someone to beat Sirius.

Thankfully, he hadn't found such a person yet so Sirius could still rub it in his face, which was always good fun.


Thursday 21st March 1973

2nd Floor Corridor, 10:00

"I've been thinking," James announced as they were walking towards their next lesson.

"Oh no," Remus muttered making Sirius snort.

James ignored him and continued talking, "I think we need to do something for April first."

"That's April Fool's Day," Peter said.

"Exactly!" James said with a nod. "It's a day made for pranks.

That was a fair point. They couldn't not do something on April First. Especially as they were starting to get somewhat of a name for playing pranks. They couldn't let people down, could they?

"What were you thinking of doing?" Sirius asked, adjusting his books in his hands - he had stacked them unevenly.

"Uh," James gave them a sheepish look. "I don't actually know."

"Expecting us to do all the heavy lifting, Potter?" Sirius teased.

"He is just the pretty face," Remus played along as James squawked his displeasure.

"Hey, I'm the pretty face," Sirius retorted in a mock outraged tone, running his hand through his hair.

It was very well-groomed hair. It should be, Sirius spent long enough on it in the mornings. No self-respecting thirteen-year-old should spend that much time on his hair. Hair that Remus was now ruffling. It was very soft.

"Of course, you are."

"Hey!"

Sirius sidestepped him and crashed into Peter whose hand smacked James on the cheek.

"Guys!" James complained.

"So, April first," Remus prompted, deciding that it was probably best to get them all back on track.

"Yes!" James said. "April first! April Fool's Day!"

"That's what April first is," Sirius told him.

James stuck his tongue out at him. Remus poked him.

"You had an idea?"

"Yes! No. Maybe?"

They all gave James an expectant look as he blustered about. It was rather funny watching him try to save face.

"We need to trick people into doing something."

"That's what our pranks usually do," Remus pointed out, catching the parchment that fell from the top of Sirius' books.

It was basically the definition of a prank, after all.

"I meant that a certain action should start the prank," James tried to explain. "Not just us casting a spell over a bunch of people."

Hmm. That actually got Remus intrigued. It would have to be something that got a large group of people but unobtrusive so that people didn't figure out what was happening until it was too late.

"It would be funny if people only had themselves to blame," Sirius stated.

"Maybe have something that looks like a prank but isn't really?" Peter suggested. "To distract them?"

"Or lead them to the actual prank," James added excitedly.


Sunday 25th March 1973

Entrance Hall, 13:00

Severus narrowed his eyes as he watched Potter, Black and their two friends (he still wasn't too sure of their names) walk by, laughing. Okay, that wasn't exactly suspicious but what made it so was that they had come from the kitchens. Why would you be laughing when you were coming from the kitchens? Why were they even in the kitchens?

"Sev? Sev!"

Severus shook his head and turned to Lily. She was frowning at him. Whoops.

"Potter and his group are up to something," he offered by way of explanation.

"They're always up to something," Lily dismissed. "Something will probably explode or change colour in the next few days."

"And that doesn't bother you?" Severus asked incredulously.

Lily shrugged. "It's childish and a bit annoying but it wears off eventually."

"They shouldn't be doing it," he complained. "It's an irresponsible use of their magic."

"Magic isn't all serious and educational, Sev," Lily chided him. "You can have fun with it too."

"Using it for learning is fun."

Lily just shook her head. Severus was sure he was right. You couldn't just use magic willy nilly like that. He frowned at the Gryffindor Boys.

"Maybe we should tell someone."

"Tell someone what?" Lily demanded. "That they're planning something? Don't be silly. That's sneaking. On possibly nothing too."

"But they're going to something to us probably," Severus stressed.

He did not like being swept up in silly things like this. Especially by boys who thought they could get away with it.

"If you give them a reaction, they'll just keep doing it," Lily told him knowingly. "They just want attention. Don't give it to them and they'll stop doing it."

Severus followed the other boys as they sat at their table. They were still laughing. Somehow, he doubted Lily was right on this one.


Wednesday 28th March 1973,

"You better leave me alone, Potter!" Snape hissed at him.

James gave him a bemused look? What did Snape think he had done? He certainly hadn't done anything. Yet.

"I'm warning you!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about, Snape," James said bluntly.

Snape jutted his chin out. "I know you're up to something."

Up went an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes! And you better not do it?"

"And if I'm not doing anything?"

Snape's eyes narrowed and his hands balled into fists.

"You are planning something!"

This was far too good to pass up. He was just leaving himself open to be wound up, wasn't he? James leaned himself against a handy wall and grinned at the Slytherin boy.

"And what am I planning?"

James was honestly expecting steam to come from the other boy's ear, that's how angry he looked. Snape couldn't even form words in his apparent rage. James didn't know why he was getting so worked up. Sure, they were planning a prank bit it was nothing to get angry over. It was all in a bit of fun. It wasn't like they were deliberately targeting Snape. They were targeting everyone. Or, as much of everyone as they could.

Snape spluttered at him, apparently not able to voice whatever he was thinking that James was thinking of doing (wow, that was confusing). Not in a coherent manner, anyway.

Remus chose this moment to appear, looking vaguely alarmed at how red Snape's face was. James shook his head so he didn't interrupt.

"Just don't do it!" Snape said with a huff before stomping off.

Remus watched him with a furrowed brow before turning to James.

"What was that all about?"

James scratched his head and shrugged.

"I think he's hungry?"


Sunday 1st April 1973

The Great Hall, 09:00

Remus was extremely glad that April Fool's day was over the weekend this year. All four of them were. The four Marauders as they had been calling themselves. It gave them much more opportunities to cause chaos without risking their Professors' wrath. Which was sometimes okay but he could personally do without any detentions. He didn't think James or Sirius minded, however. They seemed to spend at least a night a week in detention recently. Mostly due to poorly thought out pranks that they didn't include him or Peter on. They were the voices of reason for a reason.

Why those two thought that doing something where the Professors' Common Room was, he'd never know.

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered what was going to happen. What was about to happen. Remus shifted in his seat in anticipation and shot James a grin.

Hopefully they would manage to pull this off. They hadn't made it overly complicated; he didn't think so anyway. It had been surprisingly easy to persuade the House Elves (weird creatures) to add the necessary potions to the food for the meals.

It had been more complicated getting time in the Potions Labs so they could brew the Potions they needed. Thankfully, Slughorn didn't say anything when they had to tell him what they were brewing, though he did give them a knowing smile. Maybe next time they should brew in pairs rather than all together so they didn't make it so obvious.

Small pranks had been going off since the early hours of the morning, everyone taking advantage of the day. Even some of the Professors were getting in on it. Remus swore he saw Dumbledore give Peeves water balloons. Which, of course, the poltergeist promptly aimed all at the Headmaster. Dumbledore had just chuckled and dried himself off while McGonagall scolded Peeves dreadfully. Not that Peeves took any notice of it and just blew a big raspberry at her. Even Peeves didn't dare to something to McGonagall.

"Do you think enough people will eat the eggs?" Peter asked in a whisper.

"I still say we should have put it in the pumpkin juice. Everyone drinks pumpkin juice," Sirius grumbled.

"We agreed it would be funnier if not everyone was affected," Remus reminded him.

Sirius stuck his tongue out at him but nodded and started to drum his fingers on the table in anticipation. Of course, some people in Gryffindor had started eating eggs but Remus was trying not to look at them. He didn't want to give the game away. Anyway, the instructions for the potion weren't too clear on how long it would take to take effect.

"Look at the end," Peter suddenly hissed.

All decorum and discretion went out the window as all four of them turned their heads as one. An older student was hiccupping. Uncontrollably. They grinned at each other and ducked their heads down to their breakfasts.

That seemed to set the rest of the Gryffindor students off and the table was soon full of hiccupping students. It looked like an awful lot of Gryffindors liked scrambled eggs. Sucks to be them.

The Ravenclaws seemed to figure out the source of the hiccupping before the Gryffindors did and pointedly pushed away their eggs. Too bad their potion wasn't in the eggs.

"Buuuuurp."

It was laced in the bread. Quite energetically mixed into the dough, in fact. They burst out into fresh giggles. It was just so funny watching the normally staid Ravenclaws burp. Loudly at that. They had made sure to add the extra flobberworms for volume.


Gryffindor Tower, 11:30

"That was surprisingly tame for Potter and his crew," Julian said, still hiccupping every few words.

Frank chuckled but agreed. Normally, James and his friends (Marauders, he thought he heard them call themselves) usually went for the big and flashy. Bright lights. People changing colours. Not making people hiccup, whistle, burp or, well, ahem, break wind. Merlin, he was glad that particular side effect was given to Slytherin. That would be awfully embarrassing.

"For April Fools I was really expecting something more," Frank agreed.

Or, at least something more showy. They couldn't be good at pulling pranks all the time, he supposed.

He let out another hiccup of his own. It was quite a big one, made his body shake. Huh, up until now his hiccups had been small. It was probably just the potion leaving his system.

"Hic!" Julian went again.

That sounded like a big one as well.

"Wow!" his friend gasped and hiccupped again. "Wow!"

Frank turned to look at him and promptly hiccupped in his face. Whoops. Better than a burp but still not polite. What shocked him though, was that a bubble appeared right in front of his mouth and promptly burst on Julian's face.

"Hey!" Julian rubbed his face.

"Hic!" Frank went again and this time felt the bubble leaving his mouth.

It was red and quite big. Also, it didn't drift off but rather floated in front of him.

"You did it too!" Julian pointed out unnecessarily. "Hic!"

Another bubble appeared and they bounced off each other.

Frank was suddenly aware of more hiccupping but it didn't come from him and Julian. It was faster than it had been at breakfast. Multiple bubbles were appearing, all different sizes.

"What on earth-?" he managed to get out before he hiccupped again. This time producing what must have been half a dozen bubbles.

"There was another potion!" Julian managed to quickly get out before the bubble took over.


Saturday 7th April 1973

Hogwarts Grounds, 10:45

"It was so embarrassing!" Chryssie complained.

"Oh, it was kind of funny," Lily said with a grin and then frowned. "Until the bubbles."

The bubbles had not been fun. Her robes were still sticky in places where they had burst on her. And, okay the hiccupping had been incredibly annoying but she wasn't going to admit that outside of Gryffindor Tower. She had House pride, after all! And, thanks to those marauding four, Gryffindor had come out on top for April Fool's. It was kind of an unofficial competition between the Houses. Which they had won.

Chryssie gave her a dark look which made Lily grin even more. Her little sister looked like and angry kitten.

"That's because you got the best potion!"

"I wouldn't call having constant, uncontrollable hiccups the best."

"Better than burping! Hiccups are funny. Burping is just rude."

She did have a point but trust boys to come up with a prank that involved rude and uncontrollable body reactions. If she had done a prank, which of course she hadn't, she would have done something a lot more tasteful.

They watched a group of Slytherins walk past. Lily nudged Chryssie and nodded at them.

"Well, it's better than farting!"

Lily hadn't been able to look Sev in the face without giggling for the last few days. He really didn't like it. Both sisters exchanged grins and burst into giggles.


Thursday 12th April 1973

Library, 16:00

"James, what in Merlin's name is that?" Sirius asked loudly as James set something from his bag onto the table.

"Shh!" Madam Pince scolded, making them all automatically wince.

Thankfully, she just settled for directing a glare their way rather than scolding them.

"What is that?" Remus repeated in a far more calm tone.

Sirius poked the, well, he didn't know what exactly was in front of him here. All he knew that it was a twisted bit of metal with glass inserts and it was... oozing something? He quickly pulled his hand away, not wanting to get whatever that was on his clothes.

"It's my good luck charm," James replied matter-of-factly, as if that was obvious.

Sirius, Peter and Remus looked at said "good luck charm" and then back at James. Sirius was pretty sure they all had the exact same expression on their faces. Complete and utter disbelief.

"You're what?" Sirius felt the need to ask.

He didn't think that that had just come out of James' mouth. There was just no way.

"My good luck charm."

Okay, maybe he did say it then.

"Why do you need a good luck charm?"

Now it was James' turn to give them a look of disbelief.

"It's Friday tomorrow."

"That's what tends to come after Thursday," Remus said sarcastically.

"Friday the thirteenth," James stressed. "The most unlucky day on the calendar!"

No one knew what to say to that. Least of all Sirius, which was saying something.

"Wasn't there a Friday the thirteenth in October?" Remus wondered out loud. "You didn't have a good luck charm then."

Sirius looked back at James, that was a very good point.

"And look what happened? Hagrid lost his competition!"

"That wasn't on Friday the thirteenth," Sirius reminded him. "That was on Hallowe'en."

As much as Sirius still felt annoyed about the outcome of that pumpkin carving competition, you couldn't blame it on some superstition. You could, however, blame it on people's bad taste.

"It was affected by the thirteenth."

James said that with such conviction that they all just stared at him. Where on earth was he getting all this from.

"That's ridiculous," Remus snorted.

"It's the truth!"

"And Remus is a werewolf," Peter said sarcastically, making them all laugh.

"What James is doing is even more silly than that," Sirius replied.

"Hey!" James said in a hurt tone and shook his thing at them, splattering slime. "This could really help!"

"It really stinks," Remus said, scrunching up his nose as he inspected his sleeve where the slime had got onto him.

"I can't smell anything," Peter said, wiping the blob of slime off his face and sniffing it.

"It smells like vinegar! How can you not smell it?"

Sirius raised his own sleeve and gave it a sniff. He got a faint whiff of something. He sniffed again. It sort of smelt like vinegar. Barely. But it was there if you knew about it.

"It doesn't smell like anything!" James said defensively.

"Yes, it does!" Remus argued.

"You just have a really sensitive nose! You always smell things more strongly!"

"I, I do not!"

"Yes, you do! You're always complaining about the smell of sweat in the Dorm!"

"Because none of you seem to wash!"

"Yes, we do!"

Sirius decided that it was probably a good idea to interrupt this little argument. Remus was getting really worked up and James was on the defensive. Not good for either of them.

"The good luck charm?" he prompted.

They both stared at him for a moment before a look of realisation crossed their faces. Remus groaned and James reached for said good luck charm.

"It's better to be safe than sorry!" James insisted.

The other three boys exchanged eye rolls. James was just being downright silly. But it didn't look like they could change his mind.

"Just don't get it anywhere near my stuff," Sirius instructed.

He didn't want any of that slime anywhere near him.