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Chapter 8: Planning for the holidays
With help from the invisibility cloak, Remus's research, Peter's enthusiasm, and Sirius and James' talent the prank was managed in just over two weeks. It really was quite a sight to see various Slytherins walking around with pink poke-a-dotted hair. Of course, most of the professors suspected the four Gryffindor boys (really only the two leaders of their group), but no one could find any proof, so they received detentions from various teachers for miniscule things. They didn't care. Sirius and James never minded getting detention from a good prank, even if that wasn't the 'official' reason for the detention. Remus and Peter were more or less let off with merely one detention each. All-in-all, seeing Snape in pink would have been worth a year of detentions.
As Valentines' Day approached, the castle became much chattier. Third years and above were allowed to go into Hogsmeade for the day. Since this excluded four mischievous second years, they had to find other ways of occupying their time. This was no problem, as there were cuddly couples hiding all over the castle. A few well-placed dungbombs and a run-for-their-lives later, and they were laughing hysterically in their tower room. These activities served the dual purpose of being highly entertaining, and to stop James from going on about Evans.
Sirius found that the end of term looked much closer after Valentines' Day than it did before the lovey-dovey holiday. He shrugged it off. Then, suddenly, noticed that March was already half-over. He desperately tried to keep his mind off going home for the summer. He was becoming distracted in class by thoughts of Grimmauld Place instead of by James doing something outrageous. No one else noticed this slight change until he started eating and sleeping less as the year moved through April. James finally found out what was wrong and offered his house again. Sirius decided to send and owl. The worst they could do was tell him no, anyway. Well, not the worst, but that was it as far as James was concerned, and Sirius was not correcting him.
The reply came a few weeks later, but he didn't want to open it. If he didn't read it, then there was still a chance he could go. He knew the moment he read it his chance would be gone and he'd have to give up hope. Finally, after a few hours staring at the sealed parchment, James took it and read it. His eyes lit up and Sirius grabbed it from him.
Sirius Black,
You may go to the Potter residence for the first two weeks of summer holiday. Your father, brother, and I will be out of the country on business. We will contact you when we return. Behave, remember that you are a Black and certain things are expected of you. We will see you in July.
Mrs. Black
Sirius thought he could faint, of course, being him, he didn't. He reread the letter a few times and cringed. James looked shocked.
"What, you don't want to come to my house?" he joked lightly.
"No, I do want to. It's just… you have a lot of people coming to your house, don't you?" Sirius was referring to all of the various stop-ins James had talked about once, who were of all kinds of backgrounds. James nodded, and Sirius continued. "Well, this bit about expectations… my dear mother will be sending spies to see how I deal with those beneath me. She used to do it a lot, especially when I began to realize we weren't better than everyone else. Damn! Well, when your parents have visitors, I should stay in your room. Trust me, it's better for everyone this way." Sirius shuddered involuntarily and tried to change the subject. "So, what will we do at your place? Should we invite Remus and Peter? I'm sure Remus wouldn't mind getting away from his family, before he even sees them. He doesn't talk about them, so they must be pretty bad… he only hides the parts of his life he doesn't like."
"Yeah, I know. I'll ask him. If there isn't a full moon he might. I'm sure he'll say no if there is, though, but we'll convince him; we're good at that, Mr. Padfoot."
"Yes, we are, Mr. Prongs. Let's get to it, then. It'll probably take a while."
They found Peter first and asked him, but his family was going on holiday to Germany for a month, so he couldn't. To their surprise Remus was excited and grateful for the offer. He didn't think he'd be allowed to come, but he owled his mom straight away. When asked why he thought he couldn't come, he muttered something about family obligations.
Remus's reply came a few days later. He was smiling (that's good, right?), then scowling and a flash of anger swept through his eyes. Sirius hadn't seen Remus lose his temper, ever. Even when teased by the Slytherins or given extra work from and unfair teacher, he never actually looked anything but calm and collected. Needless to say, Sirius found this new emotion on Remus to be quite frightening. Was he imagining it, or did Remus just growl?
"He, mate. What's wrong? Can't you come?" James voiced Sirius' thoughts.
Remus looked up, quickly replacing the stoic face. "What? Oh, yeah, I can for a few days, just the first three after term. Then home," the last two words were growled out with much distaste.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you don't really want to go home… wanna share?" Sirius asked politely, for him.
"No, not really, but I know you guys… I'll just say that I don't get along with my sister, father, and Todd all that well, and I'd much rather stay here or at James' for the summer."
"You have a sister? Who's Todd?" James and Sirius exclaimed together. Some people may think it's frightening how much those to think alike.
Remus sighed, "Yes, I have an older sister. Todd is her boyfriend. We don't get along well. I can't wait to go to your house, James!"
Sirius and James got the point – don't talk about Remus' family right now. Sirius pushed it into his memory as something to ask about another day. He hoped it was nothing like his family. Thinking of the Blacks caused shiver down Sirius' back, but James and Remus were talking about what they'd do at Potter's house, so they didn't notice.
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A/N: Hi again. Ok, I know I gave Remus a sister and a father and sister's boyfriend (did that make sense?), none of which are in the books, but I figured he probably has a family, and they probably aren't that great, since we've never heard a thing about them. I could be wrong, but we won't know for a few years or whenever the sixth book comes out (if there's any mention in there of it). I really don't like made up characters (mostly because they're rarely done well), but mine won't really be in the story, only second hand, since it's all from Sirius's point of view. Ok, now tell me what you think! J