Chapter five: Ticklish Pears
Disclaimer: All bow before Mrs. Rowling; she owns the world! Or, at least the Marauders and Hogwarts and- well crap. She owns all the characters that I don't; which is alot. ::sniffles:: Like Sirius. And his Cuz. And I don't own Bohemian Rhapsody. That's the property of the almighty Queen. Bow before the British glam rockers!
"What's the occasion?" Peter asked, grinning even more broadly when he saw James and Sirius step forward. The Fifth Year girl closed her book and headed up to the girls dormatory, leaving Peter and the others with the Common Room to themselves. Sirius looked around the Common Room mildly impressed.
"So this is what it's like inside Hufflepuff," he stated rather than questioned. Peter nodded.
"Yup," Peter said warmly, "This is my home at school."
"Right then," James said stepping forward, "Enough pleasantries; we have a most intriguing proposition that might spark your interest, Mr. Pettigrew."
James said this with his formal dignified voice; the others chuckled. Peter cocked his head, then took a seat much like an important man about to strike a major deal with an investor.
"Very well then, Mr. Potter; I would like to hear this proposition," he said in a voice strangely unfamiliar to his own high squeak. James and Sirius each seated themselves as well in chairs across from Peter; while Andromeda and Remus made themselves comfortable on the plush couch. Sirius leaned forward in a business-like manner.
"Mr. Pettigrew, my parter, Mr. Potter and I have rallied a small strike team as you can see seated on the couch," Sirius said in a low voice, indicating towards his cousin and tawny-haired friend.
"We wondered," he continued, "if you would be interested in joining us."
"The strike team is assembled for the sole purpose of raiding the Hogwarts kitchens," James took over. Peter's mouth twitched into a grin again.
"I think you have yourselves a deal, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black," the round faced boy stated professionaly, but then turned to Remus and Andromeda and indicated toward the girl, "Who is she?"
Andromeda straightened up in her seat.
"Andromeda Black," she quipped cheerfully, standing up and holding her hand out to Peter; at which gesture Remus hid his laughter. Peter took her hand without so much as a second thought and like the others before him, was pulled into a massive hug that could only be given by Andromeda Black. The small Hufflepuff seemed terribly shocked by the tall girl's friendliness. She let go of Peter and patted the considerably shorter boy's head with a pleased grin.
"Shall we be off then? The hour grows late," Remus pointed out, still slightly shaking from laughter. The others acknowledged this and without another word they exited the Hufflepuff Commons.
"Is she related to Sirius?" Peter asked the amber-eyed Gryffindor next to him. Remus nodded.
"How could you tell?" he asked sarcastically.
"Lucky guess," the smaller boy answered.
The oddly assembled group descended the shifting staircases and finally reached the ground floor. They made their way to the Entrance Hall, then to the left and down a flight of stairs. The corridor was lit well, and several portraits of food were hung. Andromeda stopped them in front of a picture of a bowl of fruit. She reached towards the pear, and tickled it. The boys boore expressions mixed of amusement and question, but before they could ask; the pear turned into a doorknob and they followed the 7th year in.
"Welcome to the kitchens boys," Andromeda whispered. They were now standing in a cavernous room much like the Great Hall, and saw house elves bustling about. One elf took notice of the newcomers and gave a squeak that sounded vaguely like Peter's. Sirius's cousin gave him a light slap on the back.
"Well," she said, yawning, "I think you can manage it from here; I'm going back to the dorms for some sleep."
"Aw, can't you stay," Sirius asked with a pout. Andromeda shook her head laughing; then said goodnight to each of them before give them a bone-crushing hug one at a time. As she headed for the portrait, however, she turned to face them; wearing an inspired expression.
"I can show you some of the passages I know sometime! Then my legacy will live on in Hogwarts!" will that being said, she finally departed, leaving her first year friends to muse her parting words. James's face lit up.
"This is brilliant!" he exclaimed, "She knows more of this place than we do!"
"Think of what we can do if we know the secret passages!" Sirius joined in, practically shaking with mirth.
"Pardon, sirs," a small voice said from behind them, making the group of first years jump. A house elf, stood there timidly shifting from one foot to another.
"Can we help you sirs?" the elf asked hopefully; and the boys' faces lit up in grins.
~*~*~*~*~
Quite full and contented with sneaking around the school after hours; the four boys headed to the Hufflepuff dorms.
"That was great guys! Don't leave me out of anything else," Peter said quietly before leaving the safety of the invisibility cloak. The three remaining boys waited until he was safely in the Common room before heading towards their own.
"How can Andy sneak around without any invisibility cloaks, I wonder?" Remus whispered curiously. Sirius shrugged.
"She's always had that stealthy edge over everyone else in the family," the darkhaired boy answered.
They reached the portrait hole for Gryffindor Tower and the Fat Lady gave them questioning looks, but said nothing.
"Squigglemoose," Remus said, allowing the portrait to swing open for them to clamber inside.
"Time is it?" Sirius asked when they had all plopped down on chairs in the Common Room. James checked the watch on his wrist,
"Ten twenty-one," he replied. The eccentric Gryffindor boy disappeared suddely into the dorms; then reemerged, arms laden with shower supplies.
"Still not to late for a shower!" he explained happily, and disappeared once again; now into the boys' showers. James and Remus shrugged and decided it wouldn't hurt anything, so they followed Sirius's suit and also headed to the showers. When they entered, however, Remus was starting to wish he hadn't- Sirius's voice was heard very clearly singing from an occupied stall. Rolling his eyes and ignoring the nutty rock music coming from the off-kilter Black, the tawny haired boy claimed an empty stall.
"Mama,just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger,now he's dead," the music started seeping into Remus's quiet world, "Mama,life had just begun, But now I've gone and thrown it all away- Mama ooo, Didn't mean to make you cry- If I'm not back again this time tomorrow- Carry on,carry on,as if nothing really matters-"
What the heck was he singing, Remus wondered. James decided to join in now,
"Too late,my time has come, Sends shivers down my spine- Body's aching all the time," James's voice crooned, "Goodbye everybody-i've got to go- Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows) I don't want to die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all-"
Remus groaned helplessly; Sirius and James began their own version of a guitar piece now, and it lasted for about a minute before James began humming a perkier beat.
"I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche,scaramouche will you do the fandango-" Sirius sang happily in a demented voice, then James joined him
"Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me- Galileo,galileo,
Galileo galileo
Galileo figaro-magnifico-"
"But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me-" Sirius piped. James then replied in a low tone,
"He's just a poor boy from a poor family- Spare him his life from this monstrosity-"
It contiued on much in this manner until Sirius belted out a verse in such a comical deep voice that even Remus started laughing,
"Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go-
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me,for me-" James popped into the last verse singing "me" in such a high falsetto voice that Remus fell over in his stall laughing so hard. He was about to open his mouth to tell the musical duo to quiet down, when James erupted into another a capella head-banger air guitar solo.
"So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye- So you think you can love me and leave me to die-" Sirius shouted, the sound of his feet stomping from jumping up and down, "Oh baby-can't do this to me baby- Just gotta get out-just gotta get right outta here-"
Remus tried to quiet his own laughing, but failed, seeing as though the more he got misted from Sirius's head-banging on the other side, the harder it was to stop laughing.
"Nothing really matters, Anyone can see, Nothing really matters-,nothing really matters to me," James finished somberly, and received applause from Sirius and Remus. The door to the showers slammed open angrily.
"Keep the bloody singing down!" a preturbed female voice shouted.
"No girls in here!" Sirius whined.
"Then shut the hell up!" came the heated reply, and with that, the door slammed shut again.
Remus stifled his laughter now; and they all finished their showers in quiet.
~*~*~*~*~
Back in the first year dormitories, three exhausted boys flopped onto their four posters. Nearly drifting into slumber; Sirius was tugged back out again by the sound of Frank Longbottom's voice.
"Hey, great singing guys," he whispered across the room, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Mm-hmf," Sirius and James acknowledged sleepily into their pillows. Soon they all fell into a deep sleep; and the sound of crickets outside the window reigned sumpreme throughout the night.
To be continued in chapter six…
A/N: Yeah! Another update!!!!!!!!! I just bought the Queen Platinum collection and I am soooo inspired! Marauder madness and everyday angst. On the downside; school started, and even though the laptop is fixed and I shall never type on it again, updates won't be coming fast. I am also working on another fic, "Like Lovers (Holding On)" starring the Hermione, Pansy, and Ginny, when she shows up. So; I like review; the signed reveiwers like reviews, we all like em. Plus they motivate me! Click click people! Feedback.