Author's Note: Thanks to those who read and didn't review and to those who
read and did review! And a small warning for this chapter: mild
Sirius/Remus foolishness.
A special thanks . . . Thank you, Squeaky (Tonks208), for helping me on this chapter when my brain stopped working . . . I know what you're thinking, Squeaky, so don't say it. I hope you like how it ends since I obviously didn't let you finish reading it beforehand. But, just so you know, this chapter is dedicated to you, despite the rather loud protests of my selfish muse. (Got a hammer, Squeaky? I need to kill off yet another muse . . . mine never seem to work for very long . . .)
~*~*~
The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Sirius stumbled in, holding his stomach as he howled with laughter. Remus' eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed, agitated by the sudden noise. He was sitting at a table by the fireplace, working intently on his homework.
"Sirius, do you mind lowering the volume, say . . . a lot? I'm trying to finish this Potions assignment," Remus asked flatly, giving him a "no nonsense" tone.
Sirius' laughs dwindled down to loud chuckles, which wasn't as bad as before. He plopped down in the chair next to Remus, grinning idiotically.
Remus rolled his eyes, resting his cheek against his ink-smudged hand. "Okay, what did you do this time?" This made Sirius break out into another fit of laughter. Remus shot him a venomous glare. "Spit it out, Seer, I have homework I need to do and the racket you're making isn't helping one bit."
"H - homework?!" Sirius spat out as he laughed. "But there's two more weeks of holiday vacation! Why do homework now?"
He tapped his quill repeatedly against the table impatiently. "I was absent because of the full moon and I need to catch up. Unlike you, I'm not a procrastinator; I get my homework done as soon as possible."
Sirius looked horrified. "But it's Christmas!! You're not supposed to do homework on Christmas!"
"Got nothing else to do . . ." Remus muttered. "James is flirting with Evans, Peter is home with his family, and YOU . . . well, I don't really want to know what you're up to." Giving an indignant sniff, he returned to his homework.
Frowning slightly, Sirius watched the quill dance across the parchment, forming neat curves and lines. He HAD to get Remus out of the common room somehow. It was Christmas day! Come on, you don't spend Christmas day locked up while doing homework . . . do you?
Releasing a frustrated sigh, he quickly snatched the quill out of Remus' hand and threw it across the room. Remus gave him a surprised look, which turned into a glare not a moment later. "You git, I was writing!" he hissed.
As he rose up, Sirius stopped him. "Really, Remus. Put the homework on hold for now. I've got an idea."
Remus cocked an eyebrow. "Was that why you were laughing?
"Yup." He caught Remus' reproachful gaze. "Oh, come on, it's a good idea! Prank!"
Remus didn't look convinced.
"Please, Remmie! Pleeeaase!!" He gave him his best puppy-eyes look. He took his hand in his, pouting. "Pleeeaase!!"
Remus growled lowly, a look of complete disgust on his face, and ripped his hand from Sirius' grip. "No," he said bluntly. "Now leave me alone so I can finish my homework."
Sirius glared at him. "I won't let you finish your homework if you won't listen to my idea," he retorted.
"I'd like to see you try," Remus shot back bitterly. He retrieved his quill and started to work on his assignment again.
Nostrils flaring, Sirius narrowed his eyes and promptly pushed himself down into Remus' lap. "You're not going to finish your homework until you listen to my idea," he hissed.
"Gerrouf, Sirius!" Remus jabbed his side with his elbow in attempt to push him off.
Sirius didn't budge. "Nope," he said shortly.
"Sirius Black, I am warning you . . . Get off of me and I'll let you live one more day," he threatened.
"Not a chance." He leaned his back against Remus' chest and stretched his legs out onto the table, crinkling the parchment that was Remus' Potions assignment. He relaxed his head against Remus' shoulder, snuggling closer to him, as if he was trying to get comfortable for a long rest, and crossed his arms loosely.
Sirius smirked as Remus scowled. "Sirius Orion Black, get off of me!!" Remus yelled in his ear. Sirius didn't flinch and instead started to hum. "SIRIUS!!!"
"Yessie?" Sirius chirped happily.
"Do you MIND?! I want to finish my homework and you are REALLY making it hard for my to do so! And it's REALLY getting on my NERVES!"
Sirius shrugged and continued to hum. Remus swore under his breath moodily, mentally plotting possible ways to kill his friend.
"Sirius, I'm warning you . . ." Remus' voice trailed off as an idea popped into his mind. Not an idea that would be appreciated, but an idea nevertheless. It was his turn to smirk. "I'll give you ten seconds to move. If you don't, I'll hurt you and you will be scarred for life. Seriously."
"Ten . . ." Sirius hummed louder. "Nine . . . Eight . . ."
"Are you ringing in the New Year?" Sirius asked smugly.
"Five . . . Four . . . Three . . ."
Sirius grinned. "Two, one?" he offered.
"Sirius? Look at me," Remus ordered.
Confused, he turned his head and was met with a kiss pressed to his lips. "Holy shi-"
Remus took advantage of Sirius' shock and shoved him off of his lap and to the ground, laughing triumphantly. "Thank you. Now, I have homework to do." He scooted closer to the table . . .
Only to find that his homework had been torn apart when he had pushed Sirius off of him. His faced flushed and he banged a fist against the table top, causing the bottle of ink to spill. "Sirius . . ."
Sirius moved his hand from his lips, still slightly shocked. " . . . Huh?"
Remus sighed in defeat. "What's your idea for the prank?"
The shock from the kiss immediately forgotten, he beamed and jumped up. "I'll tell you on our way to the kitchens!" Grabbing his hand, Sirius dragged Remus out the portrait hole.
~*~*~
"Alright, explain this to me again. We fill snowballs with fudge syrup and throw them at James?"
Sirius grinned widely. "Yup. And, hopefully, he'll still be trying to talk to Evans. Then we can embarrass him even more."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Which means you want to pelt Evans with the fudge snowballs, too, right?"
"You know me too well, Remmie."
"Unfortunately," he muttered under his breath.
After rummaging through cabinets, storage containers, and the like, they found several bottles of fudge syrup. Sirius cradled them in his arms, the smile on his face brightening, and commented, "The house elves probably won't mind if we borrow some of this. What do you think?"
Remus chuckled softly as they left the kitchens. "I don't think they have a choice but to let you borrow it. Come on, we don't want to be spotted. Let's hurry up and get outside."
They paced through the corridors quickly, laughing quietly to themselves as they guessed how James would react to the prank.
It didn't take long for them to make it outside. Sitting down underneath a tree near the Forbidden Forest, they started molding snow into balls, magicking the fudge syrup into the core to complete the fudge snowballs.
"Perfect for a messy snowball fight, eh, Remmie?" Sirius asked.
"Won't be much of a fight. More like a surprise attack." Remus chuckled slightly as he charmed the snowballs so they wouldn't melt when they took them inside. "I think we're ready," he stated a moment later. "Let's go."
They ran back into the building, Remus carrying six snowballs in his arms and Sirius racing ahead to find James. Luckily, there weren't many people venturing around in the hallways, which meant that the duo would probably finish through the plan unnoticed.
"James is at the bottom of the staircase with Evans," Sirius reported as he jogged back over to Remus. "Looks like we'll be able to get them both after all." He grinned widely at his friend.
Remus grinned back, hugging the snowballs to his chest. "Well, let's get going before we lose our chance." He broke into a brisk pace with Sirius, heading toward the staircase.
As they came closer, their excitement grew and they had a hard time containing it. Sirius was shaking with quiet mirth and Remus couldn't help but to smile wolfishly. When James and the redhead by the name of Lily Evans came into view, they ducked behind a corner, watching in amusement.
"Come on, just come with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend trip? Just once? Please?" James was begging.
Lily looked disgusted and dismissed him with the wave of a hand. However, as she turned to leave, James grabbed her hand.
"Now," Sirius hissed.
The fudge-filled snowballs flew through the air at them, hitting the two unexpected victims. That was met with a squeal from Lily and a yelp of surprise from James.
Now James and Lily were covered in the white snow and sticky fudge syrup. James wheeled around, glaring at the two boys that just stepped out from their hiding place and into view. "Sirius! Remus! How DARE you!!" he yelled at them.
Sirius and Remus put on identical grins of innocence and waved in unison. Those grins, however, were wiped off their faces as James pulled out his wand. They turned quickly and shot down the hallway like mad beasts with James following and shouting threats mixed with swear words.
A special thanks . . . Thank you, Squeaky (Tonks208), for helping me on this chapter when my brain stopped working . . . I know what you're thinking, Squeaky, so don't say it. I hope you like how it ends since I obviously didn't let you finish reading it beforehand. But, just so you know, this chapter is dedicated to you, despite the rather loud protests of my selfish muse. (Got a hammer, Squeaky? I need to kill off yet another muse . . . mine never seem to work for very long . . .)
~*~*~
The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Sirius stumbled in, holding his stomach as he howled with laughter. Remus' eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed, agitated by the sudden noise. He was sitting at a table by the fireplace, working intently on his homework.
"Sirius, do you mind lowering the volume, say . . . a lot? I'm trying to finish this Potions assignment," Remus asked flatly, giving him a "no nonsense" tone.
Sirius' laughs dwindled down to loud chuckles, which wasn't as bad as before. He plopped down in the chair next to Remus, grinning idiotically.
Remus rolled his eyes, resting his cheek against his ink-smudged hand. "Okay, what did you do this time?" This made Sirius break out into another fit of laughter. Remus shot him a venomous glare. "Spit it out, Seer, I have homework I need to do and the racket you're making isn't helping one bit."
"H - homework?!" Sirius spat out as he laughed. "But there's two more weeks of holiday vacation! Why do homework now?"
He tapped his quill repeatedly against the table impatiently. "I was absent because of the full moon and I need to catch up. Unlike you, I'm not a procrastinator; I get my homework done as soon as possible."
Sirius looked horrified. "But it's Christmas!! You're not supposed to do homework on Christmas!"
"Got nothing else to do . . ." Remus muttered. "James is flirting with Evans, Peter is home with his family, and YOU . . . well, I don't really want to know what you're up to." Giving an indignant sniff, he returned to his homework.
Frowning slightly, Sirius watched the quill dance across the parchment, forming neat curves and lines. He HAD to get Remus out of the common room somehow. It was Christmas day! Come on, you don't spend Christmas day locked up while doing homework . . . do you?
Releasing a frustrated sigh, he quickly snatched the quill out of Remus' hand and threw it across the room. Remus gave him a surprised look, which turned into a glare not a moment later. "You git, I was writing!" he hissed.
As he rose up, Sirius stopped him. "Really, Remus. Put the homework on hold for now. I've got an idea."
Remus cocked an eyebrow. "Was that why you were laughing?
"Yup." He caught Remus' reproachful gaze. "Oh, come on, it's a good idea! Prank!"
Remus didn't look convinced.
"Please, Remmie! Pleeeaase!!" He gave him his best puppy-eyes look. He took his hand in his, pouting. "Pleeeaase!!"
Remus growled lowly, a look of complete disgust on his face, and ripped his hand from Sirius' grip. "No," he said bluntly. "Now leave me alone so I can finish my homework."
Sirius glared at him. "I won't let you finish your homework if you won't listen to my idea," he retorted.
"I'd like to see you try," Remus shot back bitterly. He retrieved his quill and started to work on his assignment again.
Nostrils flaring, Sirius narrowed his eyes and promptly pushed himself down into Remus' lap. "You're not going to finish your homework until you listen to my idea," he hissed.
"Gerrouf, Sirius!" Remus jabbed his side with his elbow in attempt to push him off.
Sirius didn't budge. "Nope," he said shortly.
"Sirius Black, I am warning you . . . Get off of me and I'll let you live one more day," he threatened.
"Not a chance." He leaned his back against Remus' chest and stretched his legs out onto the table, crinkling the parchment that was Remus' Potions assignment. He relaxed his head against Remus' shoulder, snuggling closer to him, as if he was trying to get comfortable for a long rest, and crossed his arms loosely.
Sirius smirked as Remus scowled. "Sirius Orion Black, get off of me!!" Remus yelled in his ear. Sirius didn't flinch and instead started to hum. "SIRIUS!!!"
"Yessie?" Sirius chirped happily.
"Do you MIND?! I want to finish my homework and you are REALLY making it hard for my to do so! And it's REALLY getting on my NERVES!"
Sirius shrugged and continued to hum. Remus swore under his breath moodily, mentally plotting possible ways to kill his friend.
"Sirius, I'm warning you . . ." Remus' voice trailed off as an idea popped into his mind. Not an idea that would be appreciated, but an idea nevertheless. It was his turn to smirk. "I'll give you ten seconds to move. If you don't, I'll hurt you and you will be scarred for life. Seriously."
"Ten . . ." Sirius hummed louder. "Nine . . . Eight . . ."
"Are you ringing in the New Year?" Sirius asked smugly.
"Five . . . Four . . . Three . . ."
Sirius grinned. "Two, one?" he offered.
"Sirius? Look at me," Remus ordered.
Confused, he turned his head and was met with a kiss pressed to his lips. "Holy shi-"
Remus took advantage of Sirius' shock and shoved him off of his lap and to the ground, laughing triumphantly. "Thank you. Now, I have homework to do." He scooted closer to the table . . .
Only to find that his homework had been torn apart when he had pushed Sirius off of him. His faced flushed and he banged a fist against the table top, causing the bottle of ink to spill. "Sirius . . ."
Sirius moved his hand from his lips, still slightly shocked. " . . . Huh?"
Remus sighed in defeat. "What's your idea for the prank?"
The shock from the kiss immediately forgotten, he beamed and jumped up. "I'll tell you on our way to the kitchens!" Grabbing his hand, Sirius dragged Remus out the portrait hole.
~*~*~
"Alright, explain this to me again. We fill snowballs with fudge syrup and throw them at James?"
Sirius grinned widely. "Yup. And, hopefully, he'll still be trying to talk to Evans. Then we can embarrass him even more."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Which means you want to pelt Evans with the fudge snowballs, too, right?"
"You know me too well, Remmie."
"Unfortunately," he muttered under his breath.
After rummaging through cabinets, storage containers, and the like, they found several bottles of fudge syrup. Sirius cradled them in his arms, the smile on his face brightening, and commented, "The house elves probably won't mind if we borrow some of this. What do you think?"
Remus chuckled softly as they left the kitchens. "I don't think they have a choice but to let you borrow it. Come on, we don't want to be spotted. Let's hurry up and get outside."
They paced through the corridors quickly, laughing quietly to themselves as they guessed how James would react to the prank.
It didn't take long for them to make it outside. Sitting down underneath a tree near the Forbidden Forest, they started molding snow into balls, magicking the fudge syrup into the core to complete the fudge snowballs.
"Perfect for a messy snowball fight, eh, Remmie?" Sirius asked.
"Won't be much of a fight. More like a surprise attack." Remus chuckled slightly as he charmed the snowballs so they wouldn't melt when they took them inside. "I think we're ready," he stated a moment later. "Let's go."
They ran back into the building, Remus carrying six snowballs in his arms and Sirius racing ahead to find James. Luckily, there weren't many people venturing around in the hallways, which meant that the duo would probably finish through the plan unnoticed.
"James is at the bottom of the staircase with Evans," Sirius reported as he jogged back over to Remus. "Looks like we'll be able to get them both after all." He grinned widely at his friend.
Remus grinned back, hugging the snowballs to his chest. "Well, let's get going before we lose our chance." He broke into a brisk pace with Sirius, heading toward the staircase.
As they came closer, their excitement grew and they had a hard time containing it. Sirius was shaking with quiet mirth and Remus couldn't help but to smile wolfishly. When James and the redhead by the name of Lily Evans came into view, they ducked behind a corner, watching in amusement.
"Come on, just come with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend trip? Just once? Please?" James was begging.
Lily looked disgusted and dismissed him with the wave of a hand. However, as she turned to leave, James grabbed her hand.
"Now," Sirius hissed.
The fudge-filled snowballs flew through the air at them, hitting the two unexpected victims. That was met with a squeal from Lily and a yelp of surprise from James.
Now James and Lily were covered in the white snow and sticky fudge syrup. James wheeled around, glaring at the two boys that just stepped out from their hiding place and into view. "Sirius! Remus! How DARE you!!" he yelled at them.
Sirius and Remus put on identical grins of innocence and waved in unison. Those grins, however, were wiped off their faces as James pulled out his wand. They turned quickly and shot down the hallway like mad beasts with James following and shouting threats mixed with swear words.