Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. -sniff-
The boys whipped around to face the woman who had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall before the Sorting Feast. The same thought went through all their brains: 'Uh-oh.'
Chapter Four: Sleep is Good...
"Gryffindor Tower," Sirius said quickly.
"We lost the Prefects," James began.
"And we were tired," Peter continued.
"So we decided to look for it ourselves," Remus finished.
"I see," she replied, her lips pressed together in a thin line. "Did none of you think of returning to the Great Hall and asking a Professor?"
"Er..."
"We...uh..."
"Um..."
It was Remus who summed up the disjointed answers. "Oops."
McGonagall gave them all a suspicious glare. They fidgeted, suddenly feeling guilty, though they weren't entirely sure what for...besides the whole being-out-after-curfew thing, of course.
Finally her gaze softened a bit. Not much, but a little. "Since it is your first night here, I'll let it go. But," she continued as the boys exchanged elated glances, "I don't ever want to catch you in the halls at night again."
"Yes ma'am," Remus said, suppressing a relieved sigh.
She gave them all one last look, before turning and leading them to Gryffindor. They stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.
The boys all stared at the potrait for second, remembering that they had passed it at least twice. None of them had thought that the Gryffindor Common Room would be behind it though. They were brought back to the here-and-now by McGonagall rapping on the frame to wake the lady in the portrait up.
"Turnip leaves," she said, before the Fat Lady could say anything.
With a sigh from its occupant, the portrait swung forward (Peter had to jump backwards to avoid getting hit), revealing the entrance to a rather large room full of squashy armchairs with a roaring fire in the hearth. "Your dormitories are up the stairs to your left," she informed them tartly, as the boys clambered through the portrait hole.
"Thank you," Remus said politely, as he waited for Peter to get through the hole. She gave him a small smile before heading off down the hall. As James and Sirius finally just pulled Peter in, Remus stepped through with relative ease, closing the portrait behind him.
One of the prefects from the feast emerged from one of the chairs in front of the fire. "Oh, good," he said, obviously relieved. "You four made it. Do you know how easy it is to get lost in this castle?"
"We kind of figured that out," Remus replied dryly, stifling a yawn.
The older boy's mouth quirked into a smile. "Yes, I suppose you would have. My name is Frank Longbotom," he said, abruptly changing the subject. "I'm one of the fifth year prefects. If you have any problems feel free to talk to me or Gideon Prewett-he's Head Boy. Okay?"
"Sure," James said, yawning. "Whatever you say."
Frank grinned. "C'mon, I'll take you up to your dorm." With that, he started up one of the staircases, the four first years stumbling up behind him.
"Stairs," Sirius moaned. "Why does it have to be more stairs?"
Frank ignored him, stopping in front of a door with a wooden sign bearing the words 'First Years.'
"Here we are," he said cheerfully. He eyed them. "Try to get at least a little sleep tonight. No one will be very happy with you if you make Gryffindor go negative on the first day. If you're lucky though, you might get History of Magic first. Best class to fall asleep in. Well, I better get to my own dormitory. 'Night!" He continued up the stairs, leavng the four first years staring after him.
"That Longbottom is much to wide awake," Sirius grumbled eventually, opening the door. Immediately he wished that he had left it closed.
"Made it here, did you?" Kevin Price stuck his head through the hangings on the bed closest to the door. "Took you long enough."
"Not as long as I would have liked," Sirius retorted. "You're still awake."
Price glared. "How much trouble are you in?" he asked, an unspoken "I hope it's a lot" hanging in the air.
"None," Remus replied, slipping past Sirius and locating the bed with his trunk at the foot. "Why?"
"Just curious," Kevin replied, pulling his head back behind the hangings.
"Curiosity killed the cat," James remarked, sitting down on his bed.
"And satisfaction brought it back," Price shot back.
-----------------------------------------------
The next morning, Kevin was the first one out of the door.
"You'd think we have the plague or something," Sirius grumbled, pulling his robes on.
"Gee, I wonder why," James said sarcastically, pulling on his shoes. "And your robes are backwards."
"Wonder what classes we have today," Remus said, yawning as Sirius righted his robes.
"Who cares?" James and Sirius said together.
Remus gave them a Look. "I do. We should wake Peter up, you know."
"Yeah."
"You do it."
"You're closer."
"Fine," Sirius said, scooping up one of his shoes and throwing it at Peter's bed. They heard a small yelp and Peter stuck his head out, blinking sleepily.
"What was that for?"
"For staying asleep too long. We have to get down to breakfast."
"And classes," Remus added.
"Yeah, whatever," James said, rolling his eyes. "Breakfast is more important though."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is!"
"Is not."
"Is."
"Is not."
They continued in this vein for several minutes until Peter finally finished getting ready.
"Let's go," Sirius said, effectively cutting off the argument between James and Remus.
"Right behind you," James said.
"Likewise," Remus said.
Peter squeaked something and brought up the rear.
Yay! Chapter 4 is finished! Now I can get to work on Chapter 5! (And Chapter 7 of 5P1S for any of you that are reading that too.) This chapter is mostly filler-sorry! But I've been having some problems at home and haven't had much time to come up with anything good. Next chapter will be better, I promise.
Review Replies:
shadow929: Not in too much...yet... I'm glad you like it!
Akalei: I'm glad you like it! And Behind Closed Doors is really good! Please update it soon!
Kaydon: McGonagall really didn't do much to them. But I see her as being pretty fair and it was their first night in the castle. But don't worry, the next time she catches them out of bed, they're going to be in deep trouble...kinda like when she caught Harry and Hermione after they had sent Norbert off.
diamond004: Sorry, the boys aren't in too much trouble. That'll come later. Next chapter maybe. Hope you liked it anyway!