DISCLAIMER: All recognized characters aren't mine. Right then.
A/N: Hello all. Since school started, I'll probably get chapters up on weekends now. Again, I'm sorry on the delay for this chapter too. I've had half of it written for a while, but a bunch of things had come up which I suppose prevented me from writing and updating. Here's the fourth one.
Slow DownChapter 4 – Water, Beds, and Puppy Dog Eyes
The seven students sat at dinner nearly three weeks later. Students, teachers, and caretakers alike had all gotten used to being back at school, and everyone was glad that it was finally Friday. Excited murmurs could still be heard in the Great Hall from some third years because of Dumbledore's announcement before dinner. He had told everyone that the first Hogsmeade trip was to be in three weeks, and since the third years had never been before, they were very excited.
"I am so tired," said Shea as she yawned. Her head dropped onto Sirius's shoulder, as he was sitting right next to her.
"Why?" asked Lily who was sitting across from her. "Too much homework?"
"No, not really. It's just that Mr. Quidditch Slave Driver here is having practice everyday." Shea half glared at James who shrugged.
"We have to win the quidditch cup this year. Ravenclaw beat us out last year, and then Hufflepuff was the year before that. And then the year before that was-"
"WE'VE HEARD IT BEFORE JAMES!" a bunch of people, including Shea and Sirius yelled at the aforementioned quidditch captain. The other people were some of the Gryffindor quidditch players who had decided to sit a couple seats down from James. He smiled a little sheepishly before shutting up and shrugging again.
They all finished their dinners and were talking in the Great Hall since nobody felt like going up to Gryffindor Tower just yet. Shea's eyes were closed and she was half trying to fall asleep on Sirius's shoulder when a hand on her arm startled her. She turned around in her seat to see a seventh year Ravenclaw named Conner Quirke. He smiled down at her a little nervously because Sirius, who was very protective of Shea, was sitting right next to her.
"Hi Conner," Shea said while smiling.
"Hey Shea. I was wondering if you had, erm," he paused and quickly glanced at Sirius before continuing. "If you had thought any about yesterday." Shea's smile quickly left her face.
"Um, no. Not really. Can I get back to you about that?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later." He turned to leave.
"Bye Conner."
"Bye Shea."
Conner walked out of the Great Hall and Shea turned back around in her seat while frowning slightly. Kyne and Lily shared a glance before they both looked at Shea who looked like she was in a staring contest with Sirius.
"What did Quirke ask you Shea?"
"He asked me out," she said slowly with a quick, fake smile.
"WHAT?" Sirius yelled. Shea's shoulders tensed at the sudden outburst, and James's eyebrows rose. Sirius quickly stood up and picked up Shea by her waist. He threw her over his shoulder and started to walk out of the Great Hall following the same path that Conner had taken just a few minutes ago.
"Sirius let me go," Shea said while she hit his back with her hands. She was aware of the many pairs of eyes that were following them now, and wanted them to stop staring at her.
"No. I want to talk to you." Sirius held her legs down from kicking him in the face.
"We could talk without you carrying me!" Shea raised her voice a little. They were almost at the doors to the Great Hall.
"We are going to talk without me carrying you. I'm just finding a place for us to talk." Shea tried to twist out of Sirius's arms to no avail. She decided to stop struggling and wait for Sirius to put her down.
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The students in the Great Hall stared at the closed doors that the two best friends had just exited through. Some turned around to look at the remaining marauders while others just shrugged it off and went back to their own business.
"Did anyone know about Conner?" Lily asked.
"If Sirius didn't know, I don't think anyone would," Peter answered her.
"You never know. Shea's told us stuff that she didn't tell Sirius at first," Kyne said.
"Either way. They'll work it out and be fine tomorrow," James said while drinking the rest of his pumpkin juice. "Or at least they better be. We have practice tomorrow." Everybody around James groaned.
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Sirius stopped close to the lake and decided to sit under an old willow tree. He gently put Shea down on her feet and sat down against the tree. She scowled at him for a minute before sitting down next to him.
"You didn't have to do that you know," she told him quietly.
"Yes I did," he said stubbornly. Shea sighed. "Why didn't you tell me that some guy had asked you out?"
"Sirius, it just happened yesterday. And even so, I hardly get to talk to you anymore. We both have quidditch practice, and I have all my homework, and you should have homework too. We've just been really busy lately. You know I wouldn't have kept anything like that from you on purpose." Sirius ran his hands through his hair.
"Yeah, I know." Shea looked over at him.
"Then what's the problem?" He met her eyes and sighed.
"I don't want you getting hurt Shea. You mean a lot to me, and I have to look out for you."
"You have to?" Shea interrupted while smiling.
"Yes," Sirius said firmly. "I have to. You may think Quirke's a nice guy, but he doesn't have the best reputation in all of Hogwarts. He's hurt a couple of girls, and I don't want you added to that list." Shea smiled.
"Thanks Sirius." He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.
"You're like my little sister Shea. I care about you." She lightly hit him in his stomach.
"I thought macho guys like you didn't express their feelings," she teased him.
"Oh no. We express them quite enough. It's just that some guys aren't macho enough to admit to it." Sirius played along with the familiar dialogue that had passed between them many times. Shea tried not to smile.
"And you're saying that you're macho enough to admit it?"
"Of course I am. I am the most macho guy that you will ever find. I am unique."
"Yes, you are, aren't you Sirius. Or should I say, the almighty Padfoot?" He smirked down at her.
"Yes, I am the almighty Padfoot aren't I?" Shea rolled her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder again. He kissed the top of her head before putting his head on top of hers. They caught up on each other's lives, and reminisced about the past before Shea fell asleep. Sirius let her sleep until he was sure it was well past midnight, and instead of waking her up, carried her back to Gryffindor Tower.
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Remus woke up to chaos in the boys' dormitories. He drowsily propped himself up on his elbows and looked around the room to find the source of all the noise. He found it at the foot of Sirius's bed. James was trying to pull Sirius out of his bed as quietly as possible, which apparently wasn't very quiet at all. The two boys were both yelling and cursing at each other for different reasons. Sirius yelled at James because he didn't want to get up, and James was yelling at Sirius because he wouldn't wake up.
"We have quidditch practice today Sirius. Get up!" James pulled on Sirius's legs again.
"I don't care if we have bloody quidditch practice today. It's Saturday and I'm going to sleep." Sirius pulled his legs out of James's grasp and continued to lie in his bed. James was going for Sirius's legs again when a pillow hit him in the head. He looked around bewildered at the thought of a flying pillow. Obviously James wasn't the brightest person in the morning.
"Over here genius," Remus said. James spun around to look at Remus who was still in bed. He noticed one of the pillows on Remus's bed was gone and finally put two and two together.
"Why'd you throw a pillow at me Moony?"
"You're a wizard, James, with a wand. Magical powers and all." James still looked a little hazy on what Remus was saying. Remus restrained himself from flinging another pillow at him. "Use your want to wake him up, or make him stay out of his bed or something." James's eyes lit up.
"Thanks Moony." Remus watched as James grabbed his wand from his desk and thought of something that would keep Sirius out of his bed. Remus flopped back into his bed and was almost asleep again when he heard a loud roar come from the bed on his left, where Sirius's was located. Remus kicked back his covers and threw his legs over the side of his bed. 'Well, I'm not getting back to sleep after that. I might as well get up.'
Peter, who mysteriously hadn't heard any of what had been happening, woke up when Sirius yelped. He pulled back the hangings around his bed and looked out at his three friends. One was sitting on his bed, watching the other two, clearly amused at what he was looking at. One of the other two, however, was standing next to his bed, soaking wet, while the other one had a pleased smile on his face.
"What happened?" Peter asked sleepily.
"James thought it'd be nice to wake me up with a shower in bed," Sirius said while shaking his head and spraying James with cold water.
"Just thought I'd save you some time Padfoot. Is there anything wrong with that?" James asked putting on an innocent expression.
"There is if my bed is going to grow mold in the next couple of days," Sirius grumbled while walking towards the bathroom. He turned suddenly and charged at James knocking him into the still showering bed. James grabbed Sirius's arm at last minute causing Sirius to tumble into the soaked bed. They began to wrestle as Remus and Peter struggled to not laugh. Bringing attention to themselves at a time like this would be bad for them.
Unfortunately, they did laugh, and when James and Sirius heard this, they stopped wrestling. Peter's eyes grew wide, and he started to scramble off his bed, but before he could get all the way off his bed, Sirius gave Peter the same treatment that James had gave him a couple minutes earlier. Peter soon found himself sitting on his bed, soaking wet.
In the bed to Peter's left, Remus was found scowling at James who had performed the same charm on his bed and was laughing at his soaking friend. Remus grabbed his wand and muttered something under his breath. James's bed, which was on the other side of Sirius's, started to pour down water. James glared at Remus who grinned.
"Just repaying the favor Prongs." James sat down with a squish on Remus's bed, while Sirius jumped onto his own bed.
The door to the dormitory opened suddenly and three girls looked into the room.
"What happened in here?" Kyne asked, stunned at the sight of the four beds.
"We all thought we'd like waterfalls in our room?" James answered. Lily's eyebrows scrunched up at that statement. She shook her head and looked at the floor. Amazingly enough it wasn't wet, which was strange since the beds were still pouring water. "Shea, how come you aren't getting ready for practice?"
"James! It's Saturday. We have practice almost everyday. Give it a rest! If you keep on working us this hard, we're going to be so worn out when games actually come that all of this practicing will be for nothing," Shea practically yelled at him. James, who was taken aback at Shea's exclamation, silently nodded and everyone else in the room grinned widely. It wasn't often that you heard Shea yell, but when you did, it was fun to watch.
Sirius jumped out of bed and all three girls stepped back so they wouldn't be splashed with water. Unfortunately, Shea was out of luck in that department because Sirius ran up to her and hugged her.
"Thank you Shea! Now I can go back to sleep." Sirius ran out the door and everyone in the room stared after him. Shea was half pouting because she was now wet from Sirius's hug. She shrugged and sat in Remus's bed between him and James. 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'
Lily and Kyne looked at Shea as if she was batty. Lily watched her whisper something into James's ear and watched as he got a mischievous grin. He looked over at Lily and she understood. He got up off of the bed and walked towards Lily who was backing away towards the door.
"Where are you going Lily?" he asked, putting on a puppy dog face.
"Anywhere that is away from water, beds, and those eyes of yours." She stopped to think about what she had just said and James took the time to run at her, pick her up, and throw her on his bed, which was closest to the door and Lily. She squealed at the temperature of the water and started to slap James's arm, as he was sitting down on the bed next to her.
"Such violence Lily dear." She scowled and flopped back in his bed. "And what about my eyes?"
"They're an interesting colour, and then you do that whole puppy dog eyes thing, and," she paused. "Yeah."
"Are you saying that you like my eyes Lily dear?" James tried not to smirk.
"Of course not, I was just telling you that they're weird." She smiled up at him innocently. He scowled and she laughed. "I'm just kidding James. Of course I like your eyes." He poked her in her stomach and she squeaked. He laughed while he laid down next to her.
Peter got up off his bed and headed for the door.
"I'm going to go get us all some breakfast. I'll be back soon. Anybody want anything in particular?" Nobody answered Peter, and he walked out through the door with a squish as Sirius came running through it and collided with Kyne who was trying to exit the room.
"I didn't know where I could go to sleep, and besides, my clothes are here," Sirius said sheepishly while grinning. Kyne nodded as if what he had said was the most obvious thing in the world, and continued to head towards the door. Sirius quickly assessed the situation in the room and before Kyne could argue with him, he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards one of the beds. She started to pull her arm back, but Sirius tightened his grip and pushed her onto the bed.
"Well aren't we all a happy group of soaking people," Kyne said sarcastically while brushing her hair out of her face.
"I'm quite happy," Shea told her from Remus's bed. Together, they had come up with an umbrella charm, so the water was pouring around them and not on them. They were both sitting comfortably against the backboard of his bed.
"You would be," Kyne snapped jokingly. "You and you're umbrella-ish charm." Shea stuck her tongue out at Kyne while Remus grinned.
Lily took her wand out of the pajama pants she was wearing and imitated the charm that Remus had put on his bed. The water stopped pouring in the middle of the bed and Lily smiled before she made James dry out the bed.
"Demanding little witch aren't you?" James asked. Lily raised an eyebrow. "I didn't mean it like that," he said quickly. "I mean, you are a witch, not a -" Lily laughed.
"Relax James. I get it," Lily assured him. James sighed in relief.
"Kyne, can you make the bed stop pouring water?" Sirius asked Kyne.
"Yes." Kyne had closed her eyes and was resting on Sirius's bed while the water still rained down. Sirius stared at her.
"Well, aren't you going to stop it?"
"I said I could, I didn't say I would."
"Please Kyne."
"But I like the water."
"You didn't even want to be in the room earlier!"
"That was because I wasn't wet. But now, I'm already wet, so I don't mind the water," Kyne told him.
"Please!" he exclaimed.
"And if I don't?" He grinned evilly.
"I'll do this." He grabbed her by the waist and started to tickle her. She shrieked.
"STOP IT!"
"Not until you make the water stop." He continued to tickle her and she started to hit him.
"Fine! I'll make the water stop. Just stop it!"
Sirius stopped tickling her, and she grabbed her wand. She said a spell that made the water stop falling completely from his bed and the rest of the beds. Peter re-entered the room and James transfigured a chair in the corner to become a table for all the food. Peter placed all the food on the table and everyone got out of the three beds to go eat.
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A/N: It's not as long as I'd like it to be, but I wanted to get something up for you guys. I hadn't been in the mood to write because I haven't been that happy. My dad is getting a new job, so we're moving, and I didn't want to write anything depressing for you guys, so I waited until I was a bit happier. Thanks for waiting.
Starborn –I'm glad that you like my l/j story.
Kayo – Thanks for doing the before reading when I'm writing. You keep on reminding me that I have to work on this. Thankie.
To all my other reviewers, MarauderLuver4-ever, Shayley Rain, trashcan, tom girl, almighty me, abarraine, and allie, thank you.