DISCLAIMER: They aren't mine! Stop calling me!
A/N: I'm trying I really am. It's just hard to write with school and all that other…jazz. Then I couldn't figure out how to sign on with that secure login thing. Oh, that and I forgot my password, and I couldn't get it for some reason. I wrote a little during math. That was interesting. I seem to get inspiration in that class for some really odd reason. Tis odd. Onward!!
Slow DownChapter 5 – The Dark, a Fireplace, and a Couple
It was dark in the common room. A shadow was tiptoeing across the entrance. 'Where'd everyone go? Um, I should probably keep moving. I can't let him find me.'
She looked frantically around the dark, quiet room. There was still no one in sight. She crept as quietly and as quickly as she could towards the couch when a huge shadow came catapulting out of the darkness. The shadow hit her and they both tumbled over the back of the couch, landing on the soft pillows. The girl was pinned between the couch and the shadow.
"AAAAAHHH! Flying rabbits of doom!" the girl screamed. The shadow backed off a little.
"What?" James asked. Lily shrugged. "Either way, Lily dear, you're it." James lightly tapped Lily on the head, scrambled off of her and the couch, and then ran back into the darkness. Lily sat up on the couch and straightened her shirt before getting up. She tried to make her green eyes focus in the darkness. 'Now, if I was a bunch of teenagers in a dark, closed, circular room, where would I be?'
Half an hour ago, the Marauders and the girls had been sitting in the common room, bored out of their minds. Everybody else in the tower had gone to sleep, but the seven teens just hadn't been tired. Then, Sirius had gotten an idea. The girls had protested as much as they could. They begged, they bribed, and they batted their eyelashes, but to no avail. The boys had decided. They were playing tag, in the dark, with one rule. You could only tag someone on the head.
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Kyne followed the body that was attached to the hand she was holding. She grabbed the wrist of the person in front of her and pulled gently.
"Sirius," she whispered. "Are you sure you know where we're going?"
"Yes, now be quiet before James finds us."
"Lily." Sirius turned around.
"What?"
"Lily's it."
"Okay."
"You said…" Sirius covered Kyne's mouth with his free hand to keep her from raising her voice.
"Shh. I get it." He took his hand away from her mouth and continued to walk. "Come on."
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Remus stopped quickly as he heard some shuffling to the left of him. He ducked quickly, and watched as a fluffy looking pillow flew over his head. The room proceeded to be quiet as he crouched there silently, waiting for any noise that would tell him if there was anyone around. He started to half walk half crawl towards the wall when something poked him in his side. He looked sideways and saw Lily sitting next to him. Remus sat down and Lily tapped him on the head. She grinned.
"Sorry Remus." She got to her feet and skipped away from him. 'Great. Just great,' Remus thought as he slowly got up and looked around the dark room.
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Peter sat in a soft armchair on the right side of the staircase. Nobody had found him yet, and he had been sitting there for almost the whole game. The only time he hadn't been sitting there was when he had been it at the very beginning of the game. He knew it wasn't hide-and-go-seek, but technically he wasn't hiding, so technically he was playing by the rules. That, and nobody had said they couldn't sit down.
He had tagged Kyne, who had tagged Shea, who then got Remus, who tagged Sirius, and then it went from Sirius to James. James had then tackled Lily and made her it, who then snuck up on Remus, who was currently it. Peter squashed himself into the back of the armchair as he saw a shadow pass by him. The shadow, who Peter guessed was Remus, walked around the chair and disappeared behind it. Peter silently sighed a sigh of relief. He didn't enjoy being it, and was quite content to stay seated in the armchair until everyone got tired of playing.
Unfortunately, Peter was going to be denied the comfort of his chair. Remus, who had indeed seen Peter sitting down, crept up on the chair from behind. He looked over the top of the chair and saw a mop of hair beneath him. He slowly tapped Peter on the head. The aforementioned boy, sitting in the chair, looked up. He let out a defeated breath of air and got up from the chair.
"Just had to do it, didn't you Remus?" Remus patted Peter on the back before he disappeared into the shadows.
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Shea stood as still as she could against the wall. She thought that if she stayed there, no one would find her. However, the situation with Remus and Lily had been pretty close to her, and now Remus was back. She pressed herself up against the wall as Remus continued to walk closer to her. She felt him stand next to her on the wall and she turned her head to look at him. She raised her eyebrows in a question when he didn't tag her.
"Peter's it, not me," Remus whispered. Shea nodded in understanding. They both leaned against the wall silently while they waited to hear any sounds of the continued game. "Did you and Sirius settle out everything from yesterday?" Remus asked in a whisper after a while.
"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Shea whispered back. Remus shrugged.
"Sirius didn't say anything about what had happened, and I just wanted to know if everything was okay."
"Yeah, I guess everything's okay."
"What about Conner?" Remus asked.
"Oh, um. I don't quite know yet." Remus nodded and motioned that he was going to walk away. Shea smiled at him and closed her eyes as she rested against the wall. Peter chose this time to sneak up on Shea and pat her on the head. She opened her eyes and looked up at Peter, as he was taller than her by seven inches.
"You're it," he whispered.
"No shit Sherlock."
"Up yours Watson," Peter replied. Shea grinned.
"Get out of here." Shea pushed Peter away from her and got herself up off of the wall.
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Lily felt her way around the darkest part of the common room. She had been walking around for a while, and her feet hurt a little. 'How long do they want to play this game?' Lily thought as she felt her way around the couch. She walked forward thinking that nothing was there when she stubbed her toe on a low table.
"Ow!" she exclaimed quietly. She pouted as she sat down on the floor and rubbed her toe. She then smiled as she realized something. 'No one can see me, and yet I'm pouting. That's funny.' She laughed at herself silently before getting up and trying to see if anyone was near her. She didn't see anyone and decided that she would continue to walk until she found someone.
Lily was walking behind the tables where people did their homework when she ran into a tall person. She looked up as the person turned around. She tilted her head to the side to get a better view.
"James?"
"Lily?"
"How long are we going to play this game?"
"I don't know. I guess until we stop?" James said a little questioning.
"Right. Because when we stop the game will be over."
"Of course. What else would it be?"
"Dead?"
"But that would be sad."
"Would it?" Lily asked.
"Don't you know?"
"Should I know?"
"Why wouldn't you know?"
"Um….erm."
"Ha! You lose!" Lily did a little dance as James stood there. "It's okay James, you might win next time. I'm just so much better at the question game than you are." She patted him on his arm.
"Thanks Lily, you just make my ego go right through the roof." Lily laughed.
"Aww. Did James get his feelings hurt?" Lily asked. "I'm sorry. Come here." James eyed her warily before stepping closer to her. She pulled him into a hug and looked up at him. "Better?"
"Very." Lily grinned and pushed him away before sitting down in one of the chairs. James pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.
"How long are you planning on staying here?" James asked.
"Until the game is dead," Lily answered. James smirked.
"Mind if I stay?"
"Of course not."
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"Sirius! This is cheating!"
"No it's not, and besides no one can find us here, so we won't get tagged."
"Exactly! This is tag, not hide-and-go-seek."
"But no one said you couldn't hide when playing tag."
"But.."
"Yes?"
"I mean.."
"Yes?"
"Fine."
"See, my logic makes sense."
"But it's a fireplace Sirius! What happens if someone floos in?"
"They won't. Relax."
"But it's a fireplace," Kyne nearly whined quietly. She pouted.
Sirius had led Kyne into the fireplace in the common room. To say it was dark would have been an understatement, because as dark as it was in the common room, you could still see something. The fireplace had no light in it whatsoever.
"How long are we staying in here?"
"Until someone finds us, or until morning comes and everyone forgets about us," came the reply from the darkness. There was silence for a couple of minutes before Kyne said something.
"Sirius, why are you patting me on the head?"
"I'm not. My hands are right here." Sirius stuck out his arms. Kyne backed up suddenly and grabbed Sirius's wrists.
"Those weren't my hands, Sirius."
"Heh…oops??" Kyne let go of Sirius's wrists.
"That doesn't answer my question though. Who's patting me on the head?" A quiet 'lumos' was heard as the fireplace lit up.
"Tis me! Shea the great! You're it dear Kyne. Ta!" Shea, who had startled the pants off of Kyne and Sirius, crawled out of the fireplace and left the two alone in the dark again.
"Well that was different," Sirius said. "But she did have a good idea." Sirius took out his wand and muttered a spell as his wand lit up. Kyne stuck out her bottom lip in a pout.
"I don't want to be it." She perked up and tapped Sirius on the head. "So, now you're it." Sirius blinked at the sudden change of attitude. He shook his head to clear away his musings.
"But I don't want to be it either." He reached out quickly and tapped Kyne on the head. Kyne narrowed her eyes and leant over to Sirius. She hit him lightly on the head.
"You have to be it." Sirius reached over again and tapped Kyne on the head again, his lit wand lying forgotten on the floor.
"And why do I have to be it, oh all knowing Kyne?" Kyne reached over and touched Sirius head again.
"Because I said so."
Sirius moved over a little to tag Kyne, but she leant backwards so that he couldn't. He put his weight on one arm and reached out with the other, but Kyne grabbed his arm causing him to lose his balance and fall down on top of her. Kyne, then, lost her balance because of the extra weight, and ended up lying on the ground with Sirius on top of her.
"Looks like the situation is reversed this time, doesn't it?" Sirius asked as he propped himself up with his elbows above her.
"Yeah, looks like it," Kyne answered from underneath him. Sirius grinned and quickly tapped Kyne on the head. She sighed.
"This won't get us anywhere Sirius. You'll keep tagging me and then I'll tag you back, and then it'll go back and forth and back and forth."
"I have an idea."
"Will I like it?"
"You won't be it."
"Okay."
"I'll be it, if you promise to do something." Sirius paused and Kyne looked up at him.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to go out with me." Kyne's eyes widened.
"You must be joking."
"No. I'm not. I want you to go out with me." Kyne smiled and nodded.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay. I'll go out with you."
"Are you saying that just so that you won't be it, or are you-" Kyne pulled Sirius down by the front of his robes.
"Stop talking." Kyne tilted her head up and kissed Sirius gently. He closed his eyes as he brought one of his hands up and lightly touched her neck. Kyne pulled back slowly.
"You do realize we're still in a fireplace while everyone out there still thinks we're playing a game of tag?" she whispered quietly. Sirius's thumb moved across her neck and he raised his eyes to meet hers.
"Who cares?" He leant down and kissed her again, deepening the kiss a little. Kyne wrapped her arms around Sirius's neck and forgot about everyone in the common room as she lay on the ground of the fireplace underneath her new boyfriend.
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A/N: I didn't want to end it here, because it's not that long, but it was a convenient place to stop. We're having some breaks from school coming up. Not very long ones, and not ones that are necessarily going to be free, but it'll still give me time to type it up. I had most of this written in my notebook, I just couldn't type it up.
Thanks to Rei, Kayo, kimmerz, ManiacPlea, MarauderLuver4-ever, Shayley Rain, and Mequel.