No One Does It Better

Chapter Thirty Four

I never fell in love, I saved those feelings for you

So let's do all the stupid shit that young kids do

It had been a full month since our Quidditch Pitch date and Sirius and I still hadn't said those all-important three words and eight letters to each other – not that I was counting, or anything. Ugh.

To make matters worse, it was the Hogsmeade weekend before the Equinox Ball and Slughorn had kept me behind in Potions that Friday to remind me that I was unable to leave the castle that weekend. I left the potions classroom in a foul mood and found Sirius waiting outside the Slytherin common room.

'What was that all about, then?'

'He wanted to remind me I can't go to Hogsmeade tomorrow,' I grumbled. He smiled at me softly and pulled me in for a quick hug.

'We'll find something else to do, then,' he told me.

'We?' I looked up at him. 'Don't miss a Hogsmeade trip because of me. I'm just going to study, anyway.'

'Nah, I'll stay.'

I was in such a mood that I couldn't even find the strength to argue with him. We said goodbye and I went into the common room to get changed out of my school robes. Adaline appeared back from Arithmancy as I lay on my bed in my leggings and an old muggle sport sweatshirt.

'I need your advice,' she declared and chucked her bag under her bed.

'Okay,' I said but didn't move an inch. I stayed on my bed, eyes closed and opened my ears to hear what she had to say.

'Matthew White asked me to Hogsmeade tomorrow.'

'Shut the fuck up,' I shot up and stared at my best friend. She was trying to hide it, but she was blushing like mad. Adaline burst out laughing at my response.

Matthew White was a Seventh year Hufflepuff that Adaline had always had a soft spot for. They were paired together in Charms in third year, and they've always had a friendly rapport ever since. Only when she was drunk would she tell me that she fancied him.

'What do I do?' she bit down on her lip, the laugh disappearing from her face.

'What do you mean? Please, for the love of Salazar, tell me you said yes!'

'Of course I did but – I've never been on a date. You won't even be there tomorrow. What if it's a disaster?'

Since boys became an interest to us, it was always me that was the more forward one out of us both. Adaline admired from afar, but no one ever tugged on her heartstrings enough to force her into action.

'Lily will be there,' I told her softly. 'But you won't hate it. You and Matthew have gotten on for so long, it will be fine. Although, we need to get you an outfit sorted, like, now.'

We tore through both our clothes right up until we had to go to dinner. I had never seen Adaline like this, she pushed the food around her plate, and I had to threaten her to stop looking over at the Hufflepuff table. Once I finished eating, we both made our way back to the common room, bumping into the Marauders while we were down there.

'What are you all doing down here on a Friday night?' I asked suspiciously.

Sirius just smiled goofily at me, James grinned mischievously, Peter couldn't stop sniggering and Remus was too busy watching Adaline who was scowling at them.

'I'll get you in the dorm, Nova,' Adaline said and trudged further into the dungeon.

'What's with her?' James asked, watching nervously as she walked off.

'She's stressed,' I shrugged. 'And don't ignore me, what have you been up to down here?'

'Moony, go stop Adaline from getting into the common room,' Sirius said and off Remus went after Adaline.

'We were getting payback,' Peter grinned.

'For what?' I asked incredulously. I tried to rack my brain for things that had happened over the past few weeks against the Marauders and any Slytherins, but nothing had happened. Even Severus had been staying out their way as much as possible.

'Just so you know, Padfoot didn't have anything to do with it,' James started. 'He was lookout.'

'What the fuck have you guys done?' I said, my voice going high with fear.

'We also have all of you and Adaline's things in a safe place,' Sirius told me.

I gaped at the three boys in front of me. They were getting payback on my roommates for the blood traitor comment on Sirius, I knew it.

'We acquired some ink from the Giant Squid and have put little bits of it in the Seventh Year Slytherin dormitories...' James spoke innocently.

'And we covered everyone's clothes and robes in it and made sure that no matter how much they wash it, it won't come off until after the ball,' Peter added gleefully.

'Oh, and we changed the girl's toiletries to be filled with the ink as well and it'll refill with it for the rest of the month,' James said quickly. 'But it changes back for you and Zabini.'

I stared dumbfounded as they tried not to laugh. I could see Remus and Adaline coming down the hall, Adaline's face would have even made Professor McGonagall cower.

'Remus told me,' Adaline snapped as James began to open his mouth to her. 'Where is my stuff? I need it now.'

Sirius stared at me wide eyed. I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath. Any other day, this would have been funny, but Adaline was about to go on her first date and our dormitory was in complete disarray and our belongings hid away.

'We have them in one of the empty classrooms down here,' Remus said. 'Come on.'

We started to move but Sirius tugged on my hand so I could walk behind everyone with him.

'You're not annoyed are you?' he asked quietly.

'Not really,' I told him and squeezed his hand. 'It is a very good joke, but Adaline is going on a date tomorrow and you boys are making us live in a shit storm.'

'Well, shit,' he muttered. 'Who is she going out with?'

'Matthew White.'

'Hufflepuff? Do you think they will go to the ball together as well?'

'Um, I don't know,' I replied, confused at his question. 'Why?'

'It doesn't matter,' he told me as we walked into the room where Adaline and I's belongings were being kept.

'When can we move them back?' Adaline snapped.

'Right now,' Remus told her. 'We only moved it out so that nothing was accidentally touched. If you take it in now, the spell won't affect your things.'

'Addie maybe we should wait until the other girls have been in and saw the... mess,' I swallowed. 'We can go through the clothes in here until they have calmed down.'

'Fine,' she sighed and sat down on an empty desk. 'While I would love to see the other girls having a breakdown, this was not the time to do it, guys.'

They all nodded quietly and without any more questions, they left me to deal with Adaline on my own.

Both Adaline and I waited in that room well into the night before going back to the dormitory to see the aftermath of the Marauders prank. We had laid her outfit for the next day on one of the desks, and I locked the door as we left. When we got back to the common room, it was just hitting nine o'clock. Every seventh year Slytherin was sitting around the fire when we walked in and each one of them stopped talking and looked at us both.

'Just keep walking,' Adaline said under her breath.

'You can't get into the dorm,' Marianne called over to us. 'The house elves are cleaning up.'

'Oh,' I looked at them in fake surprise. 'Alright, how come?'

'Don't pretend like you don't know,' Lucinda spat at us. Both her and Cecilia's eyes were red as if they had been crying over their precious clothes. 'This has Black and Potter written all over it.'

'We have no idea what you are talking about,' Adaline answered coolly. 'So why doesn't someone tell us what has happened?'

'Someone has covered all our clothes and robes in what looks like ink,' Nathaniel snapped. 'And every time the elves clean them, they become drenched all over again.'

It took every part of me not to laugh at them. The worst part was, the girls didn't even know their shampoo and body washes were filled with ink also. I bit down hard on my tongue to stop a smile creeping onto my face.

'Well, that's annoying,' Adaline fake sighed and looked at me, a small smirk on her face. 'I hope our things are okay.'

'You know they are,' Cecilia barked. 'None of your things are in the room at all!'

'Wow,' I said in fake awe. 'Can you believe our luck?'

No one said a word and Adaline and I sat in an empty corner of the common room, tears streaming down our face with laughter.

The whole seventh year of Slytherin fell asleep in the common room that night. Adaline and I got up in time to get her ready for her Hogsmeade date. We stood in the empty classroom with our belongings and Adaline wouldn't stop fidgeting with her outfit.

'I don't like seeing you nervous,' I muttered as I handed her a hairband. 'It makes menervous. You're never like this.'

'I'll be fine,' she said quietly, more to herself than to me. 'You promise I look okay?'

'Ask me one more time and I'll tell the boys to cover your things in ink, too.'

Adaline stood in front of me wearing dark blue skin-tight jeans, my muggle converse, and a white v-neck blouse. She had a cardigan on underneath a long grey overcoat. It was still March and in Scotland, that meant we never knew if we would be melting in 12-degree heat or experiencing snow.

I grabbed my bag with my books and notes and we both left the dungeons. Matthew was waiting on Adaline at the Entrance Hall and beamed when he saw her. I couldn't help but smile as they walked away. I went straight to the library and hoped I would be able to get some form of studying done before Sirius disrupted my plans for the day.

I managed to finish another essay for Defence Against the Dark Arts on the most productive way to cast and hold a shield charm against an Unforgiveable and then I began pouring over previous NEWT exam questions for Transfiguration.

As I was scribbling incoherent words on my parchment to a practice question, the paper slid from underneath my quill. I took a deep breath, knowing that my study time was about to come to an end. I watched as the parchment flew across to the window which opened, seemingly, by itself.

'You throw that out and I will make you bald until the end of the school year,' I spoke.

I let out a small laugh as the papers landed safely back on the table in front of me. Instead, my bag now unhooked itself from my chair and began to make its way out of the library. I smiled to myself stupidly and grabbed the remaining books and parchment and followed the bag out into the corridor. As I snatched it and placed it back over my shoulder, Sirius took the Invisibility Cloak off.

'You are insufferable sometimes, do you know that?'

'Of course, it's part of my appeal,' he grinned and planted a kiss on my lips. 'Now come on.'

'Where are we going?' I asked as I jogged to keep up with him.

'Exploring,' he looked back at me with a wink and pulled out the map from his jean pocket. 'Most people will be out so we have a lot of space to play with.'

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

'You are surely not going to pull off another prank, are you?'

'I really didn't have much to do with the one yesterday, it really was all James and Peter. Moony and I just made sure you and Adaline's things were safe.'

'Hmm,' I said with uncertainty. 'So who do you feel like annoying today, then?'

'Not the Slytherins, anyway, they need time to stew. I am thinking potentially the Ravenclaw quidditch team or just something stupidly harmless across the whole school. I think we need a bit of a laugh.'

'You have slowed down since you have a Prefect and Head Boy in your midst,' I agreed.

'Exactly. Do you have any ideas?'

'You need to do something that is only slightly disruptive and funny,' I scrunched my face up. 'Not something that will just piss everyone off.'

'We have a large quantity of balloons still left over from our birthday party...' he was almost talking to himself. 'We could charm them to burst randomly and reappear when they do.'

'Fill some of them with confetti and some with water?' I grinned.

'Yes! We can have them in the common rooms and random corridors. We should also try and get them in as many of the professor's offices as possible – especially Filch.'

We headed straight for the Gryffindor boys dormitory and Sirius began pulling out bags upon bags of empty balloons.

'Do you think we will need more?' he asked as he place the 15th packet of 50 balloons on his bead.

'Duplicate to get five more packets. That should do us and if not, we can always get more one they are blown up and charmed.'

'Good thinking.'

'Why did you order so many for the party?' I asked incrediously. 'Surely you didn't think you would need them all.'

'We left Peter to order them,' Sirius sighed. 'He thought they came in packs of five - not fifty.'

'Fuck sake,' I laughed and pulled my wand out. 'Let's get them blown up and filled.'

It took us well over an hour to blow up and fill one thousand balloons. We then managed to split the ones filled with confetti from the ones filled with water before deivisng a plan of exactly were the balloons were going to go.

'So say, 100 balloons for each common room?' Sirius scribbled on a piece of parchment. 'So we have 600 left already.'

I watched as he sucked on the edge of his quill in concentration. I had never watched him think so hard and crave perfection as much as he did with the jokes they pulled.

'Put 50 in Filch's office, Slughorn's and ... Flitwick?' I offered.

'Sounds good,' he nodded and wrote that down. 'I'm tempted to put the rest in the Great Hall but then we will have none for the corridors.'

'You can charm them to stay blown up for a prolonged period of time, can't you?' I asked.

'I reckon I could hold them until Monday morning. Balloons are quite easy to manipulate so I don't think it would take the professors long to get rid of them.'

'I think that's fine, then. But, why don't we just put them in Filch's office and leave Slughorn and Flitwick? There will be no point - I doubt they sit in their office over the weekend.'

'That makes sense,' Sirius mumbled and fixed his calculations. 'So, everyone should start coming back from Hogsmeade at around four o'clock... what time is it now?'

'Five minutes to three,' I grimaced. We were cutting it fine to get all the balloons in place in time. 'How will we move them?'

'Our trunks have Extendable Charms on them, we can use mine and James'.'

'Won't that look suspicious?'

'It's nobody's business.'

We loaded the first two trunk-loads of balloons as quickly as we could with our wands. We could only manage around 50 at a time in each one so we had to be as quick as possible to get them into each of the common rooms before everyone got back. We used the map to dodge Filch and took the cloak with us as well.

'Do you know the password for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Tower?' I asked quietly as we walked down into the basement.

'Of course, we get them at the start of the year,' he sounded offended that I would even ask.

It turned out we didn't need the password for the Hufflepuff common room, we slipped the invisibilty cloak on quickly and followed three first years in. We didn't go far into the cosy room, so I couldn't see much but it was roasting hot in it. No one except a handful of younger students were in the room so Sirius ducked out of the cloak and opened both the trunks quickly and used his wand to guide the large mass of balloons further into the common room. He dived back under the cloak quickly and I grabbed the one of the trunks.

We managed to get all of the common rooms done as it edged onto ten minutes to four. It was now about to get trickier as we watched more students start to fill the castle on the map.

'I think we have to do Filch's office last,' Sirius said with his brows furrowed as we stood in front of the Fat Lady portrait. 'Also, we can't afford to do more than one run to the Great Hall, so we need more trunks and I'll just fly them right in to drop them all. We will keep my trunk for Filch.'

'Where are we going to get eleven trunks?' I asked. The sweat was dripping down at my back at all the running about we had done already.

'Room of Requirement,' he said and began to head towards the concealed room.

The room really did have whatever you needed. I held the door open as Sirius had the empty trunks travel towards the Gryffindor Common Room in a uniformed line. When we re-entered the common room, the younger students were kicking the balloons to each other just when one burst and spread red and gold confetti everywhere. They got such a fright that they didn't even pay us any attention with our numerous trunks.

'I just shit myself,' I jumped. Sirius couldn't help but let out a barking laugh.

We filled them up quickly, with one eye on the map. Most people were heading to their common rooms, so the Great Hall would be empty for the most part.

'I want you to go to Filch's office with the trunk for him,' Sirius handed me the map. 'He's already at Ravenclaw tower, they will have been complaining about the balloons.'

'You take the map,' I shoved it back towards him, but he didn't take it.

'Don't argue with me, Nova,' he said. 'Go now and hide under the cloak.'

'No, one of us has the map and the other has the cloak.'

'Fine,' he snatched the cloak off me. He seemed stressed – this wasn't what pranks were meant to do to a person, was it?

I ran off with the map in hand, and could see Sirius was closely behind me. He ordered all the younger kids in the Gryffindor Common Room to go to their dorms by pretending to be a prefect who was prepared to dish out detention if they didn't oblige.

When I reached the Entrance Hall where Filch's room was, I saw that he was still hovering around in Ravenclaw tower. I made sure no one was looking before unlocking the door with my wand and sliding in. I let opened Sirius' trunk and the balloons filled his small room. So much so, I had to be careful not to burst any by accident.

As I left, I looked for Sirius on the map and saw him standing just outside the castle, against the wall. He must've saw me as I saw his wand appear from under the cloak. I waited until a group of younger students entered the castle and joined him as we then watched the eleven trunks, filled with 550 balloons made their way into the Great Hall. He unlocked them as they all hovered over various spots in tables and then unlocked them causing the balloons to drop down.

Those who were already in the Great Hall looked up confused but I could hear laughter nonetheless and I couldn't help but beam at Sirius.

'The water balloons going off are going to be brilliant,' he looked at me. 'That was a very impressive idea.'

'Well, you can't do a prank with just confetti bursting out every now and again. You needed a bit of an edge.'

'You're right,' he said quietly now, his eyes focused on my lips. 'This was one of the funnest pranks I think I've ever done.'

'You don't mean that. Remember when you caused us Slytherin's to all go 'I'm a snaaake' every time someone near us said the word Slytherin for a month back in fourth year?'

He laughed.

'It was fun because I did it with you,' he rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip. I looked around quickly as noise engulfed us with the majority of the school returning from Hogsmeade. I had forgotten though, that we were under the invisibility cloak.

'Well, I'm happy to be your partner in crime whenever you need me,' I smiled as he then kissed me lightly.

'You were my first partner in crime and don't tell James, but you might be my favourite,' he smiled.

'I love you,' I whispered.

'I love you, too.'

8Teen by Khalid