Ponderings of the Soul

Chapter 6

Yeah…Okay, we, James, Sirius, and I that is, were still at it, talking and joking around. It'd been nearly an hour since the 'tickling fiasco', as I have so dubbed it. James was currently re-enacting, quite vividly I might add, some kid's reaction to a joke they had played on him. Although James was quite a sight to see, and his re-enactment was pretty humorous, I thought the joke itself was rather cruel.

"Greasy git! Didn't even see it coming!" James said with obvious animosity in his voice. I shifted uncomfortably. Yeah sure, I don't know the guy he's talking about, doubtless that I will soon, but I still am uncomfortable with James' bashing of, what's his name, ---Snivellus, or such?

Sirius, noticing my unease, opted for changing the subject. "So how about that prank at dinner tonight? Ingenious job James, the last minute modifications of that prank! Whew! That was fantastic! Now we gotta think up a suitable name for it…hmm…"

Of course I already had this whole thing covered, "The Tickling Fiasco, isn't it obvious? It's perfectly clear to me that The Tickling Fiasco of 2nd year (your second year I mean), is what it's destined to be." I said with a smug smile.

James and Sirius exchanged looks and began to ponder this over.

"It does have possibility, one must admit."

"Yes, true true, classy yet…"

"…Scandalous," Sirius finished.

"But is it really good enough, one must decide these things carefully…"

"Yes, very carefully…"

"Almost…"

"…too perfectly."

" So we're in agreement?"

"Yes, it's perfectly…"

"Divine," finished James.

"Spectacular."

"It works."

"What we mean to say is that…"

"We love it!" they both ended in unison.

My eyes were slightly bulging. That was one of the weirdest conversations I've ever heard. They seemed sort of like one person with two voices and separate bodies…Well that's a weird thought for ya! I shook my head and said, "Amazingly enough, I actually followed that."

Sirius and James beamed at me. "We knew…" Sirius began.

"…you would," finished James.

"Okay you guys can stop that any time now." I said, they were starting make me edgy…

"But come on. You know you…"

"…think it's…"

"…cute."

"Okay you guys, seriously, stop it." I said, I was starting to get itchy and my palms were beginning to sweat.

Sirius and James just laughed, though I was finding the situation far from funny. I don't know why them doing that back-and-forth thing, bothered me. It just did. And I know if they don't stop doing that this instant, there's going to be some serious boo-boos in some hurtful places.

"But…"

"…it's…"

"…so much fun…"

"…to see you squirm!"
Count to ten Emerald, just…just count to ten…Though my self-attempted calming techniques weren't helping very much at the moment. I was about to pounce on one of them. In fact, I had just plunged towards James, when suddenly a pair of strong arms snatched me from behind, pulling me back, and successively keeping me away from my ever-so-lucky prey.

"Hey!" I started to shout, but was interrupted by a laughing voice.

"If anyone gets to attack those two, it'll be me first." He said.

"Hey Remy! How nice of you to show up! Is Peter here? Wow, you look a bit frazzled. Been preying on innocent girls again? Just kidding! So what's your prob? Is something wrong? Why are you going to assail us? Huh? Why are you glaring? Are you su---?" James would've have rattled on, I'm sure, if it hadn't been for Remy.

Remy, whom I'm taking to be Remus, stopped him mid-sentence with "Silencio!" and a harsh glare.

Me, not one to pass up on a chance, decided to let out a squeak that was supposed to resemble "Will you let me go?" but didn't turn out quite so. Sounded more like a gurgling sqeakish thing…any who! I did succeed in gaining Remus' attention. He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow, then upon realizing what he was doing, let go of me quickly, and nearly shoved me away.

"Pardon me," he began. "I got a little…distracted…"

Regaining my balance, I said, "Oh it's quite alright, it was just a little uncomfortable that's all…" I rubbed my arms were he'd grabbed hold of me, he may not have looked it, but he was strong! There is no doubt that'll have a bruise there by tomorrow morning…

Sirius was laughing at Remus' discomfort of the situation, and James was pounding his thighs, and looked a bit like he was having dry heaves, since he was still unable to make any noise aloud, due to the silencing charm. This was a very odd sight, and I do believe that you'd have had to be there to fully grasp what I'm trying to describe. It was on the verge of being extremely scary, and at the same time, extremely scary…

"So Rem, what's got you so obviously pissed?" asked Sirius, sobering up.

"I believe I might know the answer to that." I piped up.

Sirius looked to me in amusement. "So you can read minds now?"

"Hello," I said. "It really isn't that hard to figure out. It definitely has something to do with the Tickling Fiasco." I concluded.

"The what?" Remus asked.

"The 'Tickling Fiasco' as it has so been christened, by our wonderful Emerald over here." Sirius said, gesturing towards me. I gave a slight bow, succeeding in my attempt to make him and James laugh. Which by the way, James had yet to stop doing.

Remus looked at us all in a, I'd almost say incredulous, look.

"Am I right in my presumptions?" I casually reminded him.

He stared for a moment, and then remembered what he was going to berate the two tricksters' with. "You could have at least warned me ya know!? So I could've been prepared! Are you aware how painful it is to be laughing for twenty minutes straight?!"

"It was only 15…" Sirius pointed out, but immediately shut up at the wiltering glance he was given by Remus.

Remus paused another second before continuing. "One second you were standing right next to me, then the next you just disappear with her!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble…"

"No! Emerald, it isn't your fault, it's me and Jamesie. You're right Remy, we should've said something to you…" Sirius said with an apologizing smile.
"Ah, that's alright Siri, I know you didn't mean to exclude me from the last-minute details…" Remus said with a smile, before turning towards me. " I wasn't implying that you were to blame, just so ya know." He gave me a friendly smile, which turned into a look of realization. "Oh! I almost forgot! Professor Dumbledore asked me to escort you to his office, as I slipped out of the Great Hall!"

"Really?" asked Sirius. "it's probably about your sorting or something. Which by the way, I'm rather curious about. Make sure to ask him why the hat rejected you. You can fill us in on all the details later!"

" I wasn't exactly rejected, I'll have you know." I stated. "And besides, how will I be able to fill you guys in if I can't even find were you are."

"Don't worry about that doll!" Sirius said.

"Quit mocking me."

Sirius gave me a mischievous smile before continuing. "I'm not mocking you…love. And don't worry about finding us, because I assure you, we will be finding you."

I rolled my eyes at him and turned to Remus. "So should we get going?"

"I suppose we should," he said with a smile. "Follow me, we aren't that far from the headmaster's office."

Sirius grabbed James, who by the way, still couldn't talk, and began dragging him behind him as he started following us.

"Sirius," said Remus stopping and halfway turning. " I was also informed that James and you were to report to Professor McGonagall's office…" Remus, noticing his words hadn't in the least deterred Sirius, said. "Immediately"

"Ah! James you're no fun!" Sirius whined with a pout. "Fine! James and me will have loads more fun any ways!"

"I'm sure you will," said Remus in an amused voice. Sirius and James stuck their tongues out and "huffily" stocked off towards their Head of House's office. "I don't envy them," remarked Remus as we began walking again.

"Why?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Well let's just say that McGonagall, is…far from pleased with their little stunt…" he answered. We didn't talk much on that walk to Dumbledore's office, it seemed like it took an eternity, but my perception of that night is a little off, I must admit… But yours would be to if you'd experienced such a, I want to say difficult, but it really wasn't all that bad, night. So I'll just leave it at…an, odd, evening… And it was about to get a whole lot stranger…

A/N: Wow. This has to be the quickest I've ever written a chapter! You guys must be so grateful! So HAPPY! So…Ecstatic? Was it a good chapter? Because I'm honestly a little unsure… Please review! This was a Christmas present of sorts to you readers of mine! Merry Christmas! Actually, one of the reasons I updated so fast it because of Thestral Tamer. Go you girl! (I'm guessing you're a girl) So is anyone interested in being my BETA? Please? Anyone? Okay, well I'm not forcing any of you, I'd just be really happy if one of you would volunteer. Anyways! Merry Christmas you guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! No matter how short it may have been! Oh and kudos to Smileyface3 and Thestral Tamer, my most devoted readers from the start! Yay! Okay, never ever again refer to Christmas as Crimbo, which just creeps me out. I'm not exactly sure why, but it does. Sorry about that! And in answer to Smiley, Lily will show up at some point, cause she has a part to play in this. It might be small, but she'll show up nevertheless! And Allie-Bug, thanks for listening, although I know you don't mind…do you?! J/K. Okay this is a really long Author's Note, and my idiotic brother is really getting on my nerves! So I best get going for now. Once again have a wonderful Christmas, and Farewell for now!

---Enchanted---

p.s. I'm changing my username to Socks if I can get it to work. Just wanted to let you guys know!