part eleven

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good song i was listening to whilst writing this one: wheatus- a little respect, but maybe thats just me.

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Sirius rolled over in the bed he shared with his wife, "You're not telling me something." He muttered as dawn broke over the horizon, "I can't sleep, you know."

"There's nothing to tell." Edea spoke into her pillow.

"Then why's Snape so giddy about this?"

"He's a nutcase." Edea replied, turning over to face him. "Nothing that concerns you."

"But its about you, right?"

"Maybe." Edea yawned. "Difficult to say."

"Is he trying to blackmail you into doing something?" Sirius watched as a troupe of owls flew past the window.

"No." Edea said quietly, "He's not trying to get me to do anything."

"DID you go to his place?"

"Maybe." Edea moaned, "Sirius, shut up, stop worrying about it, it has nothing that could possibly harm you, or Harry, or me, or even himself."

"I'm just worried about you."

"You dont have to be." Edea grinned at his face, "We're never going to survive unless we get a little crazy."

"I guess." Sirius

"I can tell you why you cant sleep." Edea smirked. "You're wondering how you got to be thirty eight so quickly."

"Very true." Sirius nodded glumly. "God, i'm ancient."

"One would have thought, that with age, you would have matured a bit..."

"Well... *ONE* was rather mistaken about that, wasn't one." Sirius smiled, "Great, presents!"

"Barking." Edea rolled her eyes, "Its like... five AM."

"SO?" Sirius pulled a t-shirt over his head. "All the more fun."

"I'm going to hide them next year." Edea pulled the duvet over her head as Sirius summoned a colourful box towards him, and started ripping off the paper.
****



"Hermione, its five thirty, what the hell are we doing?" Harry rubbed his eyes as he put on his glasses.

"Giving Sirius a surprise bithday party."

"He wont even be awake..." Ron mumured.

"Dont bet on that." Harry grinned, "But i can think of something else he'll be doing and wont want to be disturbed by a way-too-hyper Hermione."

"Thanks for the visual." Ron scowled. "We have the entire morning you know... its a Sunday."

"What's the commotion?" Remus crawled through the portrait hole, still bleary eyed.

"Sirius' birthday."

"Oh yes." Remus nodded, "Nice and early, before he twigs on that we're up to something."

"See!" hermione gave Harry and Ron a patronising glare.

"Where's it going to take place?" Remus asked, scanning the marauder's map the harry had brought own from the dormitory with him.

"Shreiking shack." Ron stated, flumping down into one of the overstuffed armchairs.

"Yes, thats a good idea." Remus nodded, "Wont be disturbed by people and can make a lot of noise."

Hermione looked triumphant.
****

***FLASHBACK***

Edea sat down on one of the many Hogwarts chairs in the great hall. Azkaban visits really drained her. she'd safely put away the Lestranges in a cell, and had found it unnerving how in the cell opposite a pair of familiar dark brown eyes were staring up at her with a lost look.
Those eyes did not belong to a madman, just someone who wasn't sure on what his life was heading towards.

"Alright?" A silky voice came from behind her.

"Not really. Don't you have a class to teach?" Edea asked, not turning round.

"You took them in safely i presume?"

"Of course. They were screaming before i even left their cell." Edea laughed bitterly. "Great place to be in."

"Dont you have to file a report on it for the ministry?"

"Already written and filed away." Edea smiled sadly. "Efficiency at one hundred percent."

"You're not alright, come, let me boil you up something."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Edea asked, turning round in her chair to stare up with her steely blue eyes.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "You followed the stereotypical view of me that Potter set down, I'm not one to follow stereotypes."

"Cryptic arent you."

"Made sense to me." He extended a hand, "Come, the dungeons are empty. I can make you something without the noise of schoolchildren in your ears."

"Why are you teaching, you hate teaching. You hate children. You hate rules that arent your own."

"I'm good at what i do."

"So i've heard." Edea followed him through many corridors. "You dont have a very nice reputation with the kids in here."

"They get used to it." Snape shrugged. "I'm a potions master, not a kindergarten nurse. Its not my job to mollycoddle them, its my job to teach them the fine art of potion making."

"Nasty."

"You dont have much of a nice friendly reputation yourself." Snape unlocked an empty dungeon, and with a wave of his wand had lit the fire at the front. "Efficiency may be one hundred but the charming auror persona is below average."

"Full of compliments aren't you."

***END***


"How long do i have to walk like this for?" Sirius whined underneath his blindfold, his arms were searching out in front of him... "If you're sending me into the welcoming arms of the giant squid...."

"That would have been such a good idea." Ron grinned at Harry.

"Next time..." Harry agreed.

"Stop!" Rmus held Sirius back whilst Hermione picked up a long stick and froze the Whomping Willow. "All right, on your knees and crawl into the gap..."

"Hands and knees? Are you gonna play darts with my ass?" Sirius murmured to himself, feeling the way through the tunnel.

"Another fine idea." Harry elbowed Ron.

"Oooooh, i know where we are..." Everybody jumped as Sirius laughed, and felt for the trapdoor, "Whomping willow, shreiking shack..."

"Clever boy in your old age." Edea pushed him up through the wooden hatch, and followed him, pulling up Remus and Harry, Hermione and Ron.

"Can i take it off now?"

"Nuh-uh." Edea spun him round, "Wait a second."

"Someone take a photo of this..." Hermione giggled.

"What are you guys doing to me." Sirius almost giggled.

"You'll see." Remus nodded at Harry, who took a few photos of Sirius in his predicament.

"Okay." Edea stepped back, you can take it off..."

"Thank goodne.... OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY LEATHER?" Siris shrieked as he realised his trousers had turned bright pink with the words "I'm thirty eight, save me a seat on the bus please..." along the sides.

Remus had to hold onto the table to stop himself from falling over laughing at Sirius' expression.

"Priceless." Ron grinned.

"OOoh, cake!" Sirius pointed at the cake in the table that was in the shape of a big black dog. "A padfoot cake."

"I got you a little something." Remus handed his old friend a small box, wrapped up in red paper.

"Wow moony..." He opened the box and let out a laugh... "You remembered."

"Of course."

Sirius took the silver chain out of the box. "It even says Padfoot on it."

"Army Dog Tags." Edea raised an eyebrow. "Very fetching."

"You have no idea what trouble buying that thing in the shop was." Remus frowned, "Can't touch silver... the shop owner was giving me weird looks."

"What did you say?" Sirius asked, cutting everybody a slice of cake.

"Told them i didn't want to touch it and leave fingerprints." Remus shrugged. "They fell for it."

He picked up a floppy parcel Ron and Hermione had given him... "New robes! i have new robes!" He grinned, hugging them both... "Ta, muchly."

"OOOOh!" He picked up a broomstick shaped parcel from Edea. "I havent had one of these.. for about sixteen years... a firebolt!... aha Harry... i'll beat you yet!" He gave Edea a quick kiss before turning back to the pile of gifts. "Wos this from... Fred and George Weasley.. oh yes..."
He opened the bag and was engulfed in a pale green smoke... when the smoke died down he had grown a green moustache. "Classic." He grinned. "I have to pay them back now... how good does it look?"

"Clashes wondefully with your trousers." Remus assured him.

"Brilliant." Sirius's grin faltered as he saw a blue rag in the corner... "What the..."

Remus followed his gaze and reached the corner first. "Padfoot! You said you didn't have anything to do with its disappearance!"

"I... um..." Sirius swallowed. "Its still here?" He looked at Harry... "Did you know that it was here?"

"yeah, we found it earlier." Harry nodded, "Hermione's cat found it."

Sirius picked up the blue ragged Sweater. "This is James' favourite sweater." He smiled nostalgicly, "This has a story to tell."

"If you want to destroy my sweater!" Remus shouted in a mock rage which Harry assumed was an impression of his father.

"That belonged to my Dad?" Harry asked, half shocked half awe-struck.

"Yes." Sirius nodded, blowing the dust off. "Ages ago... Like... we were your age..."

"Sirius wanted to steal... sorry... *BORROW* it." Remus sat down, and informed Harry.

"He hid it." Edea put two and two together. "Do you realise what lengths Lily went to trying to help James find that?"

"He really really liked it, huh?" Harry watched as Sirius folded it up neatly, a faint glitter in his eye.

"I didn't destroy it, i kept my word." Sirius murmured happily. "What a great day."

"Wait till you see the rubber ducky." Remus grinned as he saw Sirius's shocked expression.

"You never!"

"Oh i did." Remus nodded... "I did."

TBC

sorry- i temporarily forgot all about moldie voldie... he'll be back sometime soonish.