Chapter 1: Together Once More
The dark haired, dark eyed adolescent had a frown etched deep into his brow as he stared off into the fire, listening to that retched mother of his telling him off once more for playing a harmless prank on his 'perfect' brother.
"Really Sirius, why couldn't you be more like Regulus? He's never playing those stupid little jokes on people, he's much more a better 'Black' than you. It's such a shame." But Sirius jumped up out of the expensive leather chair he was seated in before his mother could finish whatever it was she was about to say.
"You know what? I've had enough!" Sirius yelled, staring fiercely at his mother, "you can just go ahead and pretend I'm not your son, you've got 'perfect' Regulus anyway, you don't need me! I'm sick of you always telling me I'm not good enough, and you're damn beliefs in what a 'real Black' is," Sirius continued, his voice rising with each word, "you know what, you might as well blast my name off that go-damned family tree of yours, because from now on you've only got one son, and it sure as hell isn't me! I'm outta here," and with that, a 16 year old Sirius Black strode out of the room, hoping never to see it or it's inhabitants again.
He made a pit stop at the fire place in the living room, and threw some Floo Powder in the blazing fire, before saying "Potter Mansion." A formal sitting area came into view beyond the fire, and Sirius stuck his head into the flames. He looked around at the empty room that held three comfortable looking cream lounges, before yelling out, "Is anyone there?" After waiting barely ten seconds, he heard steady footsteps heading towards the room. A tanned, kind faced looked into the room, then noticing Sirius' head in the fire, strode in, smiling. "Hello there young Sirius," he said, and then seeing Sirius grimace, he added, "is something the matter? I would call James down but I'm afraid he's currently in the shower. Sirius' face shifted into one of thought, and then said, "Actually, Mister Potter, I was hoping I could ask you a favor? I was wondering if I could come spend the rest of the summer over there with James." Mr. Potter, concerned for the boy whose face was usually graced by a jovial grin, instead of the discontented one in front of him, agreed immediately.
"Yes of course you can, you're welcome here whenever you like, you know that," He said kindly. Indeed, Sirius had been over countless of times during the five years he had known James, and the Potter Mansion had become more of a home to him than his own. "Thanks Mister P," the frown on his face had somewhat lessened, "I'll be over in about thirty minutes if that's okay?" "Of course, I'll inform James as soon as he's out of the shower, and we'll prepare your room," James' dad said. Indeed, among the many guest bedrooms in the Potter Mansion, there was one that had now been officially established as Sirius'; he had stayed there often enough.
"Thanks again," and with that, he popped his head out of the fireplace, and quickly made his way to his own room to pack ALL of his belongings. He had made his decision, he would stay at James' house until the end of the holidays, and as for after his next year at Hogwarts, well, he had plenty of time to figure that one out. But he was sure of one thing; he was never going back to the place he had dared to call home for the last sixteen years. Never.
~*~
Forty Five minutes later, a black haired boy with hazel eyes framed by black rimmed spectacles and a lopsided grin, punched his best friend lightly in the arm in way of greeting. "Hey hey mate, I was wondering how long it would be before you were over here again," James Potter said, in greeting to his best friend Sirius Black. Sirius' smile faltered, and, however slightly this was, James noticed. "Yeah, seems like I'm attracted to this place or something," Sirius replied, covering up his unhappiness as to why he was here. "Come on, let's go upstairs, the house elves will take your stuff up to your room," James said, and with that the two best friends - who - should - have - been - brothers walked up to James' room.
Sirius had been to the potter Mansion so many times that he had memorized every hallway, every twist and turn leading up to the bedrooms and pretty much everywhere else. For any one else, this would have been no easy feat, as the Potter Mansion was by no means small. The whole house, if you could call it merely that, held forty four staircases, twenty one bedrooms, two ballrooms, and not even God knows how many bathrooms. Sirius and James never got bored when they were together in this house (Not that they ever got bored when they were together, but nevertheless). Over the many summers Sirius had spent here, he and James had explored the whole mansion, memorizing every room, every broom closet.the place was more like a castle than a mansion, though it would have just sounded conceited to formally call it a castle.
After about five whole minutes of trudging up and down corridors, and idle talk, the two boys finally made it to the second highest room. The room where so many pranks were thought up and discussed, in which most of them were executed at Hogwarts when they got the chance, or just damn felt like it. The room where deep conversations where held, deep conversations that is, of quidditch, girls, one hundred and one ways to embarrass Snape in front of the whole school, more quidditch, and discussions about good times and jokes. To sum it all up: James' Room.
As soon as Sirius walked into the room and plunked down on James' four - post bed, his shoulders untensed, and he just relaxed. He lay down flat on his back and then. He laughed. No, more like he was rolling around on the bed, tears rolling down his face in hysterics. James looked over to his best friend, and he suddenly held a very perplexed/bemused expression on his face.
"Um.mate, care to include me in this oh- so - funny joke of yours? Rolling around on the bed having fits of laughter looks like fun," James said, still looking at Sirius, who he thought had now officially lost it. Sirius sat up in effort, holding his side, still chucking, then said simply, "I'm free!" and with that, he fell back on the bed, once again laughing uncontrollably.
"You know, it usually doesn't take much to amuse me, but I for one, cannot see what is so hilarious at the moment," James said, and with that, he sunk down to sit cross legged on his thick, comfy navy blue rug, pouting like a child defied of a lollipop, while the kid next to him happily sucks away at one. He stayed like this for another couple of minutes as his best friend seemed to be having the time of his life rolling around on his bed. (A/N I know, I know, that didn't sound too good.) Once more, having seemingly gotten control of his laughter, Sirius sat up on the bed, wiping his eyes of the mirthful tears. Panting slightly, he once again said, "I'm free." "Right, this still doesn't confirm as to why I shouldn't call St. Mungos to come and collect you pronto."
Sirius spent the next five minutes explaining to James what had happened before he got there, and how he had made an absolute decision to himself never to step foot into Black Manor ever again. "And to think, I held through all that shit, when I could have just walked out anytime I wanted to. I'm surprised they haven't come looking for me yet. Either they're glad never to have to see me again, or they think I'm going back," Sirius finished off. James got off the rug and clapped Sirius on the shoulder, and solemnly nodded. "Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want," James told him. "I know," Sirius replied grinning, "why do you think I chose to come here over anywhere else?" "Err.coz you love me terribly and can't stand being away from me for more than two weeks," James joked, once again getting into the joyful mood he was always in when with his best friend of all time. "In your dreams," Sirius said, "one, I get my own bedroom, I don't have to share it with YOU, and two, you're house elves are mighty good cookers. He said, a dreamy expression coming over his face at the thought of food, then he said cheekily, "besides, there's always the chance that devishly good looking cousin of yours might drop by again like she did last year." This comment was followed by a smiling Sirius being tackled by a 'oh you're gonna pay for that one' looking James. Yup, Sirius thought, while tumbling off the floor, to then quickly pick himself up to accordingly tackle James, this is home.
The next day, James had to be woken up at 1:30 pm by the house elves with a, "Mrs. Potter tells Ringo that Ringo must wake up the boys because they will miss lunch." James groaned at having to be woken up by a high squeaky voice, as house elves voices commonly were, and then to make itself even more irritating it flung open the curtains so that the sun was shining right into his eyes, making it impossible for him to go back to sleep. "Eugh, get lost you damn house elf can't you see I'm quite comfortable right here asleep," grumbled James, but nevertheless, he threw the covers aside and got out of bed anyway. "Would sir like me to wake up Mr. Black also?" Asked Ringo the house elf. "No, I will just bugger off before I stuff a sock in your mouth," groused James, not in a good mood at having been woken up, especially when he had been having such nice dreams. As the house elf left the room he sloppily threw on some emerald green robes and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it had been from sleep, which he did on purpose.
He grudgingly walked into the room proclaimed as Sirius', he didn't like the prospect of waking him up.Sirius was not a morning person. Oh well, pissing Sirius off is fun, I have legs, I'll just throw a bucket of water on him and run away, he'll never know it was me. He strolled into Sirius' room, knowing this wouldn't wake him, really, not even jumping up and down on his bed woke him.but cold water, down his shirt.James chuckled to himself. He went over to the jug of water under the windowsill which his mother insisted on having in every occupied bedroom.God knows why. He picked it up, cautious not to tip any, wanting to save it all for Sirius. He crept over to where Sirius was laying in his bed, the sky blue covers tangled all over the place, looking as if he had used it as a jumping castle before he went to sleep.
Sirius was lying on his back, arms thrown over his face, snoring ever so slightly. Frowning, James put the jug down on the mahogany bedside table and ever so carefully slipped his arms under Sirius and rolled him over so he was lying on his stomach. He jumped back, scared he had woken him up; no, instead Sirius just grunted once then kept on snoring. James let out a tiny sigh of relief. He picked up the jug of water once more and slowly started trickling it down the back of Sirius' neck. Sirius twitched. And again. Finally, James tipped the rest of the water down his back, dropped the jug on the bed and started running out of the room. Halfway there he stopped and turned around, not wanting to miss the opportunity of seeing Sirius' face.
Sirius had jumped around so he was now sitting on the bed, silently saying, "What the." At the sight of Sirius looking utterly confused James snorted with laughter, then quickly tried to cover it up as he realized Sirius might hear him. A look of alarm spread of James' face as he saw Sirius turn towards him. Upon seeing James standing there looking at him he jumped out of bed just as James turned back around and ran out the room. This didn't faze Sirius, he simply ran after James, cursing he would 'pay for that'.
They ran down the corridor, and ignored all the people in the framed paintings hanging up on the walls either yelling encouragements, or grumbling about 'youngsters these days.' They were halfway down the stairs when they heard an "Eep," and then someone clearing their throat rather loudly. Each boy stopped in their tracks, and turned towards whoever was making those sounds. James' mother was standing in the spacious foyer that the stairs led into, next to a rather tall, skinny woman who had a rather strict look about her. Both of them were staring at the boys, Mrs. Potter in a half amused/despairing, while the woman standing beside her was looking on at them in obvious shock.
"Err.hi?" James said rather weakly. "Boys," said James' mother, nodding her head slightly, "Sirius I suggest that you go and put some clothes on before coming down for lunch." Sirius looked confused for a second, then upon noticing James raising an eyebrow at him, he looked down to see that he wearing nothing but his red boxers on, which had little snitches all over it, giving it a rather dizzy affect.
Not looking at all abashed, he turned back to the two women standing in the foyer, winked and said, "Yeah, supposed I should huh," and with that, walked casually back up the stairs. James, shaking his head just kept on walking down the stairs, waved a short hello to his mother and the lady next to her, and strolled his way to the dining room.
Next to ten minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting at the dining table, eating their scrambled eggs and bacon, while Mrs. Potter sat nearby, sipping on some coffee. "Now really boys, what if that woman hadn't been dear old Mrs. Rinton from next door but someone more important! Like someone from the ministry here for an inspection or something!" Mrs. Potter went on, who had been telling them off for their 'rowdy' behavior this morning. "Now really Mum, I'm sure she enjoyed seeing Sirius in his boxer shorts.I mean, her husband isn't a pretty sight to look at if you ask me." James said bemusedly. His timing was spot on and managed to make his mother splutter into her coffee as she was lifting it to her lips. "James, really, there is no need for that. Mrs. Rinton is not one of those little fan girls that are always bothering you two." As Mrs. Potter ranted on, she seemed to have lost the attention of her son and his best friend, as they had gotten themselves into a deep conversation about the mentioned 'fan girls.'
Indeed, Mrs. Potter was not off track when she mentioned their 'fan girls', as over the years, the two boys had become a somewhat fandom to each and every girl that had reached puberty, and were envied by many males because of this verity. Any girl that dated either of the two were envied by pretty much the whole female population of the school, excluding, perhaps, the professors. These two boys were hot. And they knew it. By the time Mrs. Potter had realized the boys weren't listening, they had already finished their second helping of breakfast and were now pushing their chairs back to go and find something to do. "Oy, Mum, do you reckon we could invite Remus and Peter over to sleep over?" James asked, with a questioning look at his mother, while Sirius nodded his head pleadingly. "Of course you can, you know you're friends are welcome here any time," She said, with a wink towards Sirius, "and Merlin knows, we've got enough space here to fit half you're school." That certainly was not an exaggeration. "We'll go call over now," said James, and with that the two boys bounded out of the room to invite the rest of the Marauders over for the night.
Ten minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting one of the less formal lounge rooms, playing chess to wear away the time left before the rest of their group arrived. Remus would be arriving in the hour, but Peter wouldn't be arriving until that night, as he had to attend his grandfathers 89th birthday lunch. "Checkmate," James said, triumphantly. "Luck," Sirius replied, somewhat nonchalantly, as if trying to make himself look superior, and that he had in fact won that game. "Skill," James rebutted, smirking at Sirius, "admit it, you're just not good enough for me, I am the Chess King, come on, chant it nice and loud." Sirius gave James a look of somewhat concern. "Are you sure you didn't mean 'psycho king' or you know even 'Oddball of the century would work." "Haha, well I guess that's your loss then, 'cause if a supposed 'Oddball' can beat you at a simple game of chess, I'd be worried," James smartly replied, looking smug as he did so. Sirius just rolled his eyes and went about setting up his side of the chessboard again, with the black chess pieces. James chuckled quietly to himself and went about setting his own pieces up.
Three more games and one hour later both boys were sitting in their respective chairs, Sirius with his arms crossed over his chest in an angry manner, and James inspecting his nails, smiling arrogantly. "You cheated then," Sirius protested. "Come now Sirius, Gryffindors don't cheat. Every time we play I win, and every time I win, you pout, and insist that I cheated. That's blasphemous. You just can't admit that I'm better at you than anything." "Not true," Sirius said, though only half heartedly, he never won this gamble, and he didn't suppose he ever would. He had to admit, James had been hard learned in the way of playing chess. Sirius was an extremely good chess player, as he had the mind of a strategist, being a prank player and all, but James would always be that bit better than him.
Suddenly, at the sound of someone news voice, the boys turned towards the doorway of the room. "Deal with it Siri, you're never gonna beat James at chess," said the new voice. "Damn straight," James said, getting up from the lounge and walking over to the new person. Giving him a 'manly' hug and pat on the back, he said "How you doing Remus?!" "Mighty fine," Remus replied. He grinned at Sirius who was walking towards him, then accordingly, Sirius and Remus greeted each other in the same way Remus had with James. "C'mon," James said, "let's go grab a butterbeer from the kitchen, and I'm pretty damn sure I've got a stash of junk food hidden somewhere in my room.unless I've eaten them all.."
So the boys walked, skipped, jumped their way up to James' room, while calling on the dependable house elves to get them a six - pack of butterbeer. The boys spent the rest of the rest of the afternoon mucking about in James' room, eating Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties, and probably every other piece of junk food they found stashed about in James' room. They continued to 'guy gossip' as they liked to call it, which was not the same as the sissy 'girl gossip' they often made fun of but loved to hear, but the good old talk about girl and quidditch. Alas, they could not get through one 'guy gossip' session, with the name of a certain ginger haired, green eyed female popping up. Popping up, that is, out of a certain love sick, black haired, glasses wearing male.
"Guys, listen up," James began, "you absolutely have to help me to get Lily to go out with me on a date. Everything I've tried so far just doesn't seem to work. It's so unfair!" He whined. "James, mate, have you ever considered the thought that maybe, just maybe, one girl in the school doesn't like you. I mean, you've tried showing off in front of her, which doesn't seem to impress her, you've even tried making her jealous by getting her best friend to fall in love with you, you've even considered a damn love potion! None of these things work. Do I need to spell it out for you?! She - does - NOT - want - you. I'm sorry but this is just something you're gonna have to deal with." Remus explained, trying his best to look sympathetic, but totally failed when he took a look at the anguished look on James' face, and he and Sirius fell off the bed laughing at it. "But! There has to be something I can do to make her like me! I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with me." James whined on. "Ok, ok," started Sirius, getting up off the floor and plunking back on the bed, "tell you what, when we get back to Hogwarts, I will help you as much as I can to win the heart of Lily Evans, if YOU, my friend, swear to me you will win me the heart of the wonderful Joey Milton." James gave Sirius a queasy look, "Well, after what you did to her 4th year, you know, with the whole 'body development' prank you played on her, you haven't exactly been in her good books." James said, giving Sirius a reproachful look. "What! All I did was speed up the process, I'm sure they would have grown to that size someday anyway." Sirius said, defending himself, "and if I don't get her, you don't get Lily." "Fine fine, it's a deal," James said, and he and Sirius shook hands. Remus was looking on at this with amusement.
"You guys do know, to win the hearts of these ladies you're gonna have to change you're attitude. I mean, part of the reason they don't like is probably because of you're attitude.so, no more pranks on them, no more being a player, and no more trying to impress other girls. You want these girls, you gotta forget about all the rest. Look, 'cause we're now in 6th year, we've got the annual Rulo Ball at the end of the year right? So you win over Joey and Lily by then, and you've got yourself two fine dates for the ball," Remus thoroughly explained. Sirius and James shared a look. "Can we do this?" James asked. "Damn straight we can!" Sirius replied, and with that they launched into ideas as to who Remus should ask to the ball. "You know, Lisa is not a bad chick, and she seems to like you well enough right?" James suggested to Remus. "Nah, sure she's nice enough, but I've got my eyes on Belinda," Remus replied. "Ah, Belinda eh? Yeah, she'd be a nice catch, what you say James, we try to get her for Remus?" Sirius said, wriggling an eyebrow, but before James could reply, Remus intervened. "No no no! Remember when you tried to get me that chick in third year?" He said, half franticly, "She hasn't spoken to me since! I can get her for myself thank you very much. But thanks for offering," he said as an after thought. Sirius just shrugged. "Sure, if you say so Remus, I can set all my efforts on getting Lily for James."
The conversation went on like this for the rest of the day, varying in topics of course. Just before dinner, Peter arrived, and they made a pact to get him a girl for the ball. As Lisa was the only one left in sixth year, and Peter couldn't care less who he had, as long as he wasn't going on his lone, he agreed full - heartedly.
A/N: Hey guys, please drop a line and review, I know this chapter wasn't that good but it's only the first chapter.it will get better in the chapters to come! I promise!
The dark haired, dark eyed adolescent had a frown etched deep into his brow as he stared off into the fire, listening to that retched mother of his telling him off once more for playing a harmless prank on his 'perfect' brother.
"Really Sirius, why couldn't you be more like Regulus? He's never playing those stupid little jokes on people, he's much more a better 'Black' than you. It's such a shame." But Sirius jumped up out of the expensive leather chair he was seated in before his mother could finish whatever it was she was about to say.
"You know what? I've had enough!" Sirius yelled, staring fiercely at his mother, "you can just go ahead and pretend I'm not your son, you've got 'perfect' Regulus anyway, you don't need me! I'm sick of you always telling me I'm not good enough, and you're damn beliefs in what a 'real Black' is," Sirius continued, his voice rising with each word, "you know what, you might as well blast my name off that go-damned family tree of yours, because from now on you've only got one son, and it sure as hell isn't me! I'm outta here," and with that, a 16 year old Sirius Black strode out of the room, hoping never to see it or it's inhabitants again.
He made a pit stop at the fire place in the living room, and threw some Floo Powder in the blazing fire, before saying "Potter Mansion." A formal sitting area came into view beyond the fire, and Sirius stuck his head into the flames. He looked around at the empty room that held three comfortable looking cream lounges, before yelling out, "Is anyone there?" After waiting barely ten seconds, he heard steady footsteps heading towards the room. A tanned, kind faced looked into the room, then noticing Sirius' head in the fire, strode in, smiling. "Hello there young Sirius," he said, and then seeing Sirius grimace, he added, "is something the matter? I would call James down but I'm afraid he's currently in the shower. Sirius' face shifted into one of thought, and then said, "Actually, Mister Potter, I was hoping I could ask you a favor? I was wondering if I could come spend the rest of the summer over there with James." Mr. Potter, concerned for the boy whose face was usually graced by a jovial grin, instead of the discontented one in front of him, agreed immediately.
"Yes of course you can, you're welcome here whenever you like, you know that," He said kindly. Indeed, Sirius had been over countless of times during the five years he had known James, and the Potter Mansion had become more of a home to him than his own. "Thanks Mister P," the frown on his face had somewhat lessened, "I'll be over in about thirty minutes if that's okay?" "Of course, I'll inform James as soon as he's out of the shower, and we'll prepare your room," James' dad said. Indeed, among the many guest bedrooms in the Potter Mansion, there was one that had now been officially established as Sirius'; he had stayed there often enough.
"Thanks again," and with that, he popped his head out of the fireplace, and quickly made his way to his own room to pack ALL of his belongings. He had made his decision, he would stay at James' house until the end of the holidays, and as for after his next year at Hogwarts, well, he had plenty of time to figure that one out. But he was sure of one thing; he was never going back to the place he had dared to call home for the last sixteen years. Never.
~*~
Forty Five minutes later, a black haired boy with hazel eyes framed by black rimmed spectacles and a lopsided grin, punched his best friend lightly in the arm in way of greeting. "Hey hey mate, I was wondering how long it would be before you were over here again," James Potter said, in greeting to his best friend Sirius Black. Sirius' smile faltered, and, however slightly this was, James noticed. "Yeah, seems like I'm attracted to this place or something," Sirius replied, covering up his unhappiness as to why he was here. "Come on, let's go upstairs, the house elves will take your stuff up to your room," James said, and with that the two best friends - who - should - have - been - brothers walked up to James' room.
Sirius had been to the potter Mansion so many times that he had memorized every hallway, every twist and turn leading up to the bedrooms and pretty much everywhere else. For any one else, this would have been no easy feat, as the Potter Mansion was by no means small. The whole house, if you could call it merely that, held forty four staircases, twenty one bedrooms, two ballrooms, and not even God knows how many bathrooms. Sirius and James never got bored when they were together in this house (Not that they ever got bored when they were together, but nevertheless). Over the many summers Sirius had spent here, he and James had explored the whole mansion, memorizing every room, every broom closet.the place was more like a castle than a mansion, though it would have just sounded conceited to formally call it a castle.
After about five whole minutes of trudging up and down corridors, and idle talk, the two boys finally made it to the second highest room. The room where so many pranks were thought up and discussed, in which most of them were executed at Hogwarts when they got the chance, or just damn felt like it. The room where deep conversations where held, deep conversations that is, of quidditch, girls, one hundred and one ways to embarrass Snape in front of the whole school, more quidditch, and discussions about good times and jokes. To sum it all up: James' Room.
As soon as Sirius walked into the room and plunked down on James' four - post bed, his shoulders untensed, and he just relaxed. He lay down flat on his back and then. He laughed. No, more like he was rolling around on the bed, tears rolling down his face in hysterics. James looked over to his best friend, and he suddenly held a very perplexed/bemused expression on his face.
"Um.mate, care to include me in this oh- so - funny joke of yours? Rolling around on the bed having fits of laughter looks like fun," James said, still looking at Sirius, who he thought had now officially lost it. Sirius sat up in effort, holding his side, still chucking, then said simply, "I'm free!" and with that, he fell back on the bed, once again laughing uncontrollably.
"You know, it usually doesn't take much to amuse me, but I for one, cannot see what is so hilarious at the moment," James said, and with that, he sunk down to sit cross legged on his thick, comfy navy blue rug, pouting like a child defied of a lollipop, while the kid next to him happily sucks away at one. He stayed like this for another couple of minutes as his best friend seemed to be having the time of his life rolling around on his bed. (A/N I know, I know, that didn't sound too good.) Once more, having seemingly gotten control of his laughter, Sirius sat up on the bed, wiping his eyes of the mirthful tears. Panting slightly, he once again said, "I'm free." "Right, this still doesn't confirm as to why I shouldn't call St. Mungos to come and collect you pronto."
Sirius spent the next five minutes explaining to James what had happened before he got there, and how he had made an absolute decision to himself never to step foot into Black Manor ever again. "And to think, I held through all that shit, when I could have just walked out anytime I wanted to. I'm surprised they haven't come looking for me yet. Either they're glad never to have to see me again, or they think I'm going back," Sirius finished off. James got off the rug and clapped Sirius on the shoulder, and solemnly nodded. "Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want," James told him. "I know," Sirius replied grinning, "why do you think I chose to come here over anywhere else?" "Err.coz you love me terribly and can't stand being away from me for more than two weeks," James joked, once again getting into the joyful mood he was always in when with his best friend of all time. "In your dreams," Sirius said, "one, I get my own bedroom, I don't have to share it with YOU, and two, you're house elves are mighty good cookers. He said, a dreamy expression coming over his face at the thought of food, then he said cheekily, "besides, there's always the chance that devishly good looking cousin of yours might drop by again like she did last year." This comment was followed by a smiling Sirius being tackled by a 'oh you're gonna pay for that one' looking James. Yup, Sirius thought, while tumbling off the floor, to then quickly pick himself up to accordingly tackle James, this is home.
The next day, James had to be woken up at 1:30 pm by the house elves with a, "Mrs. Potter tells Ringo that Ringo must wake up the boys because they will miss lunch." James groaned at having to be woken up by a high squeaky voice, as house elves voices commonly were, and then to make itself even more irritating it flung open the curtains so that the sun was shining right into his eyes, making it impossible for him to go back to sleep. "Eugh, get lost you damn house elf can't you see I'm quite comfortable right here asleep," grumbled James, but nevertheless, he threw the covers aside and got out of bed anyway. "Would sir like me to wake up Mr. Black also?" Asked Ringo the house elf. "No, I will just bugger off before I stuff a sock in your mouth," groused James, not in a good mood at having been woken up, especially when he had been having such nice dreams. As the house elf left the room he sloppily threw on some emerald green robes and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it had been from sleep, which he did on purpose.
He grudgingly walked into the room proclaimed as Sirius', he didn't like the prospect of waking him up.Sirius was not a morning person. Oh well, pissing Sirius off is fun, I have legs, I'll just throw a bucket of water on him and run away, he'll never know it was me. He strolled into Sirius' room, knowing this wouldn't wake him, really, not even jumping up and down on his bed woke him.but cold water, down his shirt.James chuckled to himself. He went over to the jug of water under the windowsill which his mother insisted on having in every occupied bedroom.God knows why. He picked it up, cautious not to tip any, wanting to save it all for Sirius. He crept over to where Sirius was laying in his bed, the sky blue covers tangled all over the place, looking as if he had used it as a jumping castle before he went to sleep.
Sirius was lying on his back, arms thrown over his face, snoring ever so slightly. Frowning, James put the jug down on the mahogany bedside table and ever so carefully slipped his arms under Sirius and rolled him over so he was lying on his stomach. He jumped back, scared he had woken him up; no, instead Sirius just grunted once then kept on snoring. James let out a tiny sigh of relief. He picked up the jug of water once more and slowly started trickling it down the back of Sirius' neck. Sirius twitched. And again. Finally, James tipped the rest of the water down his back, dropped the jug on the bed and started running out of the room. Halfway there he stopped and turned around, not wanting to miss the opportunity of seeing Sirius' face.
Sirius had jumped around so he was now sitting on the bed, silently saying, "What the." At the sight of Sirius looking utterly confused James snorted with laughter, then quickly tried to cover it up as he realized Sirius might hear him. A look of alarm spread of James' face as he saw Sirius turn towards him. Upon seeing James standing there looking at him he jumped out of bed just as James turned back around and ran out the room. This didn't faze Sirius, he simply ran after James, cursing he would 'pay for that'.
They ran down the corridor, and ignored all the people in the framed paintings hanging up on the walls either yelling encouragements, or grumbling about 'youngsters these days.' They were halfway down the stairs when they heard an "Eep," and then someone clearing their throat rather loudly. Each boy stopped in their tracks, and turned towards whoever was making those sounds. James' mother was standing in the spacious foyer that the stairs led into, next to a rather tall, skinny woman who had a rather strict look about her. Both of them were staring at the boys, Mrs. Potter in a half amused/despairing, while the woman standing beside her was looking on at them in obvious shock.
"Err.hi?" James said rather weakly. "Boys," said James' mother, nodding her head slightly, "Sirius I suggest that you go and put some clothes on before coming down for lunch." Sirius looked confused for a second, then upon noticing James raising an eyebrow at him, he looked down to see that he wearing nothing but his red boxers on, which had little snitches all over it, giving it a rather dizzy affect.
Not looking at all abashed, he turned back to the two women standing in the foyer, winked and said, "Yeah, supposed I should huh," and with that, walked casually back up the stairs. James, shaking his head just kept on walking down the stairs, waved a short hello to his mother and the lady next to her, and strolled his way to the dining room.
Next to ten minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting at the dining table, eating their scrambled eggs and bacon, while Mrs. Potter sat nearby, sipping on some coffee. "Now really boys, what if that woman hadn't been dear old Mrs. Rinton from next door but someone more important! Like someone from the ministry here for an inspection or something!" Mrs. Potter went on, who had been telling them off for their 'rowdy' behavior this morning. "Now really Mum, I'm sure she enjoyed seeing Sirius in his boxer shorts.I mean, her husband isn't a pretty sight to look at if you ask me." James said bemusedly. His timing was spot on and managed to make his mother splutter into her coffee as she was lifting it to her lips. "James, really, there is no need for that. Mrs. Rinton is not one of those little fan girls that are always bothering you two." As Mrs. Potter ranted on, she seemed to have lost the attention of her son and his best friend, as they had gotten themselves into a deep conversation about the mentioned 'fan girls.'
Indeed, Mrs. Potter was not off track when she mentioned their 'fan girls', as over the years, the two boys had become a somewhat fandom to each and every girl that had reached puberty, and were envied by many males because of this verity. Any girl that dated either of the two were envied by pretty much the whole female population of the school, excluding, perhaps, the professors. These two boys were hot. And they knew it. By the time Mrs. Potter had realized the boys weren't listening, they had already finished their second helping of breakfast and were now pushing their chairs back to go and find something to do. "Oy, Mum, do you reckon we could invite Remus and Peter over to sleep over?" James asked, with a questioning look at his mother, while Sirius nodded his head pleadingly. "Of course you can, you know you're friends are welcome here any time," She said, with a wink towards Sirius, "and Merlin knows, we've got enough space here to fit half you're school." That certainly was not an exaggeration. "We'll go call over now," said James, and with that the two boys bounded out of the room to invite the rest of the Marauders over for the night.
Ten minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting one of the less formal lounge rooms, playing chess to wear away the time left before the rest of their group arrived. Remus would be arriving in the hour, but Peter wouldn't be arriving until that night, as he had to attend his grandfathers 89th birthday lunch. "Checkmate," James said, triumphantly. "Luck," Sirius replied, somewhat nonchalantly, as if trying to make himself look superior, and that he had in fact won that game. "Skill," James rebutted, smirking at Sirius, "admit it, you're just not good enough for me, I am the Chess King, come on, chant it nice and loud." Sirius gave James a look of somewhat concern. "Are you sure you didn't mean 'psycho king' or you know even 'Oddball of the century would work." "Haha, well I guess that's your loss then, 'cause if a supposed 'Oddball' can beat you at a simple game of chess, I'd be worried," James smartly replied, looking smug as he did so. Sirius just rolled his eyes and went about setting up his side of the chessboard again, with the black chess pieces. James chuckled quietly to himself and went about setting his own pieces up.
Three more games and one hour later both boys were sitting in their respective chairs, Sirius with his arms crossed over his chest in an angry manner, and James inspecting his nails, smiling arrogantly. "You cheated then," Sirius protested. "Come now Sirius, Gryffindors don't cheat. Every time we play I win, and every time I win, you pout, and insist that I cheated. That's blasphemous. You just can't admit that I'm better at you than anything." "Not true," Sirius said, though only half heartedly, he never won this gamble, and he didn't suppose he ever would. He had to admit, James had been hard learned in the way of playing chess. Sirius was an extremely good chess player, as he had the mind of a strategist, being a prank player and all, but James would always be that bit better than him.
Suddenly, at the sound of someone news voice, the boys turned towards the doorway of the room. "Deal with it Siri, you're never gonna beat James at chess," said the new voice. "Damn straight," James said, getting up from the lounge and walking over to the new person. Giving him a 'manly' hug and pat on the back, he said "How you doing Remus?!" "Mighty fine," Remus replied. He grinned at Sirius who was walking towards him, then accordingly, Sirius and Remus greeted each other in the same way Remus had with James. "C'mon," James said, "let's go grab a butterbeer from the kitchen, and I'm pretty damn sure I've got a stash of junk food hidden somewhere in my room.unless I've eaten them all.."
So the boys walked, skipped, jumped their way up to James' room, while calling on the dependable house elves to get them a six - pack of butterbeer. The boys spent the rest of the rest of the afternoon mucking about in James' room, eating Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties, and probably every other piece of junk food they found stashed about in James' room. They continued to 'guy gossip' as they liked to call it, which was not the same as the sissy 'girl gossip' they often made fun of but loved to hear, but the good old talk about girl and quidditch. Alas, they could not get through one 'guy gossip' session, with the name of a certain ginger haired, green eyed female popping up. Popping up, that is, out of a certain love sick, black haired, glasses wearing male.
"Guys, listen up," James began, "you absolutely have to help me to get Lily to go out with me on a date. Everything I've tried so far just doesn't seem to work. It's so unfair!" He whined. "James, mate, have you ever considered the thought that maybe, just maybe, one girl in the school doesn't like you. I mean, you've tried showing off in front of her, which doesn't seem to impress her, you've even tried making her jealous by getting her best friend to fall in love with you, you've even considered a damn love potion! None of these things work. Do I need to spell it out for you?! She - does - NOT - want - you. I'm sorry but this is just something you're gonna have to deal with." Remus explained, trying his best to look sympathetic, but totally failed when he took a look at the anguished look on James' face, and he and Sirius fell off the bed laughing at it. "But! There has to be something I can do to make her like me! I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with me." James whined on. "Ok, ok," started Sirius, getting up off the floor and plunking back on the bed, "tell you what, when we get back to Hogwarts, I will help you as much as I can to win the heart of Lily Evans, if YOU, my friend, swear to me you will win me the heart of the wonderful Joey Milton." James gave Sirius a queasy look, "Well, after what you did to her 4th year, you know, with the whole 'body development' prank you played on her, you haven't exactly been in her good books." James said, giving Sirius a reproachful look. "What! All I did was speed up the process, I'm sure they would have grown to that size someday anyway." Sirius said, defending himself, "and if I don't get her, you don't get Lily." "Fine fine, it's a deal," James said, and he and Sirius shook hands. Remus was looking on at this with amusement.
"You guys do know, to win the hearts of these ladies you're gonna have to change you're attitude. I mean, part of the reason they don't like is probably because of you're attitude.so, no more pranks on them, no more being a player, and no more trying to impress other girls. You want these girls, you gotta forget about all the rest. Look, 'cause we're now in 6th year, we've got the annual Rulo Ball at the end of the year right? So you win over Joey and Lily by then, and you've got yourself two fine dates for the ball," Remus thoroughly explained. Sirius and James shared a look. "Can we do this?" James asked. "Damn straight we can!" Sirius replied, and with that they launched into ideas as to who Remus should ask to the ball. "You know, Lisa is not a bad chick, and she seems to like you well enough right?" James suggested to Remus. "Nah, sure she's nice enough, but I've got my eyes on Belinda," Remus replied. "Ah, Belinda eh? Yeah, she'd be a nice catch, what you say James, we try to get her for Remus?" Sirius said, wriggling an eyebrow, but before James could reply, Remus intervened. "No no no! Remember when you tried to get me that chick in third year?" He said, half franticly, "She hasn't spoken to me since! I can get her for myself thank you very much. But thanks for offering," he said as an after thought. Sirius just shrugged. "Sure, if you say so Remus, I can set all my efforts on getting Lily for James."
The conversation went on like this for the rest of the day, varying in topics of course. Just before dinner, Peter arrived, and they made a pact to get him a girl for the ball. As Lisa was the only one left in sixth year, and Peter couldn't care less who he had, as long as he wasn't going on his lone, he agreed full - heartedly.
A/N: Hey guys, please drop a line and review, I know this chapter wasn't that good but it's only the first chapter.it will get better in the chapters to come! I promise!