Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs—Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter—lay in their bunks in the dark, waiting for the proper hour to set out for that night's adventure. James had enchanted the wall clock to glow so that they could easily read it, but its hands moved ever so slowly.
"All right, here's one," Sirius said. "Say you were going to snuff yourself. How would you do it?"
"Don't you think that's a bit morbid?" Remus's voice asked from the bunk below him.
"Of course it is. That's why it's fun."
"All right, but you thought of it, so you have to go first."
Sirius mused for a moment. "I think I'd go outside and cast Reverse Gravity—just fall into the sky and never be seen again."
"Try to live up to your name, eh?" James remarked across to him, from the other top bunk.
"Well, it'd be interesting for the first little bit. What about you?"
James leaned back on his crossed arms, thinking about it. "I think I'd throw myself into a hopeless fight with the most powerful force of evil I could find," he said with a grin.
"Ooh, that's a good answer," Sirius said.
"Yeah, that's what I'd do," Peter said from the bunk below James.
Sirius gave a sniff. "Right...
"So Moony, that makes it your turn."
Remus stayed silent for some time. "I... I'd bottle out at the last practical point and not go through with it."
James laughed. "Even better answer! I'm going with him."
"Well, I'm sticking with my first for the sake of argument, but actually I'd rather that myself," Sirius admitted. After a long pause, he spoke again. "So what about you, Wormtail? Still going with your suicide mission against the ultimate evil?"
"Uh... Yeah."
Another long silence, and then James turned across to Sirius.
"Let him pretend, Padfoot."
Finite Narratium
last edited 4/2/2005; some issues in reviews have been addressed—thanks for the feedback!
