Chapter 17: And Then Again
(A/N: Sorry for the horrid no space thing... I wasn't Quick Edit literate at the time!)
Recap:
That night, dinner was very, very quiet. Those who hadn't heard about the break up looked askance at the group, wondering why they hadn't broken out into song as usual. A few moments later, one of their very knowing friends would hurriedly explain, looking at the group wildly. Although Larika had been avoiding Sirius, coming to meals early or later than him, Lily had chided her (And Gryffindors are supposed to be brave!) and had forced her to have dinner with everyone. For once, Sirius barely said a word through out the meal, speaking only to asking Katrina to pass the peas, (even though Larika was closest to them) or things like that. Everyone thought he was still angry with Larika. Truth was he had realized his mistake and was desperately trying to summon up his courage to talk to her.
Lily had also realized her own mistake. She shouldn't have tried to force Lara to come. God, what sort of a friend was she? She poked her mashed potatoes listlessly. As she was about to start on the peas, she looked up, suddenly and involuntarily, glancing not at any of her friends, but at the Slytherin table. Although she didn't quite know what she was waiting for, she kept watching them. Perfectly on cue, a couple of seconds later, Snape slowly stood up and deliberately walked towards Malfoy, bending to say something. Lily wondered what he had said. But just as the thought entered her mind, she shook her self. Why did it matter to her whether Snape was talking to Malfoy or not? After all, it wasn't a crime to talk to someone, was it? Of course, it wasn't of consequence to her…but her eyes still lingered on Snape as he walked out of the hall. Unexpectedly, he turned at the door and looked directly at Lily. But he hadn't expected Lily to be staring right back at him. A tinge of pink crept into his pale cheeks as he walked out.
Lily looked back at Malfoy. He seemed extremely pleased. She sighed. At least someone was happy.
Sunday arose, bright and sunny, exactly opposite to what some of the inhabitants of the castle felt. Sirius thought grimly. But then again, today, he would have something really big to take his mind off things. Yes, he might as well try to make the most of this day. What was today? Today was the finale, the end result of the four Marauder's combined efforts. And the best part? It would last all day! Yes, no one would have any reason to pity Sirius Black today. No, he was going to be normal…what was normal for Mr. Padfoot, you may ask?
He got up and moving to James' bed, pulled open the curtains. James was still asleep, blissfully oblivious to the figure towering over him. Sirius stood there for a moment, pitying what was going to happen to poor, sleeping, little Jamesie. Then, he jumped.
"AAHH!" yelled James. "AAHHHHHH!"
Remus toppled out of the next bed with a loud bang, holding his hands to his ears.
"AAHH!" screamed Sirius, grinning manically all the while.
"AAHH!" screamed James again.
This time, Peter fell out of his own bed, shouting "Mummy, mummy, I want my mummy!"
Remus crawled over to James. Just as Sirius opened his mouth to let out another bloodcurdling scream, he interrupted. "Sirius, what the heck are you doing on top of James?"
James sat up alarmed. His sleepiness had disappeared with the shock. "It's not what it looks like! I love Lily!"
Remus nodded slowly, feigning disbelief.
"It's not what it looks like!" he yelled again.
The door opened and Lily tumbled in.
She got a clear view of Sirius and James. "My God! James! I thought…I never imagined you swung that way!"
"LILY!" yelled James but she put a hand on her head and in mock regret cried, "I'm sorry, dear dear Sir James. But if you love Sir Sirius, I'm afraid we can never be together!"
Sirius spoke interrupting James' exclamations. "Alas, lovely Lady Lily. I could never let Sir James remain in only your arms! But…" here he adopted a business tone "I'm sure we can come to a compromise!"
James stared at them openmouthed.
Lily raised her eyebrows appraisingly. "A fair proposition, brave and valiant Sir Sirius." Suddenly, she took on a business tone as well. "What say I get him on the weekends, you the rest of the week?"
Sirius considered the matter carefully. "Deal!" and they shook on it.
James looked at Sirius. Then he looked at Lily. He jumped back into bed pulling the sheets over his head.
"Good Night."
Sirius looked at Lily. Lily looked at Sirius.
"On the count of three?" He said.
James froze under his sheets.
"One."
Remus moved back warily.
"Two." Said Lily.
"What the hell are you doing?" came James' muffled voice.
"Three."
Both of them pounced on James, tickling him madly. HE began to kick them away.
"Hahahahaaaa…. stop…stop it… please! Come on…. hahaha...Remus…help!"
He fell off the bed, trying to defend himself.
Sirius and Lily followed him down. Unfortunately, since they had been trying desperately to tickle James, their aim wasn't too good. When they hit the floor, Lily's foot was in James' mouth, Sirius' elbow in a place mighty uncomfortable for James.
"Sius, gech yuouch elbow off muoy…" He glanced at Lily. "Jhust gech it off!"
Sirius did so obligingly. "Yech!"
Remus looked at them smirking. "So…are you people quite comfortable?"
"Yes, Remus, we're wonderfully comfy." Replied Lily sarcastically.
Remus smiled. "That's so good to hear."
The three stared at him. Well, at least Sirius and Lily did. All James could do was cross his eyes.
Remus continued. "Yes, especially since you're going to be here awhile." He muttered something under his breath.
"Rhemhus, whatch dhich you do?"
"HEY!" Sirius yelled. "I CAN'T MOVE!"
"Like I said." He replied as he walked out of the door. "You're going to be here awhile!"
Faintly, he could still hear three different voices cursing him into oblivion. "Ah! The wonderful sounds of the morning!" He walked down calmly.
Forty-five minutes later, three very disgruntled students sat down to breakfast.
As the passed Remus, each of them hit him on the back of his head. Hard.
"Ouch.
Ouch!
OUCH!"
Kat and Lara looked at their parade strangely.
Lily stabbed a knife into the butter. "Don't ask." She began to chew her sausages fiercely, throwing murderous looks at Remus every once in a while. James and Sirius also joined her.
About fifteen minutes later, Peter walked in, looking particularly smug and happy.
"What are you so happy about?" snapped Remus. J, L and S's glares were getting to him.
"Oh…nothing." Peter replied.
"Oh, nothing?" Sirius gritted his teeth. "Oh, nothing! He's getting the entire month's homework done…free of cost!"
Remus looked surprised. "Oh?"
"Yep." Lily looked at him angrily.
"So…I'm just guessing here…you three…you didn't get out of that mess…by yourselves?"
James snapped his toast into two and glared at Peter. "No…that freaking blackmailer…." Peter stuck his tongue out at James.
Remus tried very hard to suppress a grin. "He…got pictures?"
The three nodded grimly.
Remus clapped Peter on the back. "I'm proud of you, Wormtail! Didn't know you had it in you!"
At this, Sirius threw his goblet down, Lily dropped her fork and knife and James picked up some of his food and made to throw it at Remus.
"NO! James…the prank!" Remus said but ducked down all the same.
James reluctantly let his hash browns fall to his plate.
Shortly before breakfast ended, Peter muttered something into Remus' ear. Remus nodded and passed the message to James and Sirius. The both of them nodded as well. Remus, James and Sirius slowly pulled out their wands, particularly careful not to advertise the fact. They each whispered a different incantation. All of a sudden, shrill screams were audible. The entire school turned to the source, the Slytherin table. Lily, Larika and Katrina however instinctively looked at the Marauders.
"What" Lily asked.
"Did" said Kat.
"You" said Lara
"Do?" asked Lily.
Remus stared at the ceiling. Sirius pondered over the filthy state of his shoes. Peter turned to stare at the blank wall behind him. James didn't have any alternative left. He began to whistle softly.
Lily leaned over the table and shook him. "You nitwit! You're a prefect!"
"Don't worry…it's nothing illegal!"
"Illegal? ILLE" began Lily but Sirius interrupted her. "Okay, fine. We'll let the cat out of the bag, we'll spill the beans, we'll tell you the truth, we'll let you into the secret, we'll"
"Sirius."
"Ahem, yes…if you promise not to give us away…"
"Give you away?" Lily looked at him incredulously. "It was sort of obvious, you know… You might as well have put a signboard up saying: HEY! MCGONAGALL! THIS PRANK WAS PULLED BY THE"
Remus put a hand over her mouth. "Alright…we get it. Only promise it won't come from you."
"Well…technically, I haven't made any promises and you just gave me a full confession. I can go to McGonagall right now."
"But, you won't, will you?" said James.
"No…I won't." She admitted. "But if anyone asks," she warned. "I don't know a thing."
"Deal." Sirius replied.
"You know…I'm getting worried."
"About what?" asked James, the ever-anxious-boyfriend.
"I'm making too many deals with crazy people…namely Sirius here."
"Oh, don't worry about ol' Padfoot! He can't hurt a fly."
Lily snorted.
"No, really! I could never hurt a fly." Sirius cried.
"Yeah…has to do with the fact that he's terrified of them…" Remus mocked.
Lily gaped at him. Then she vanished and rolling laughter began emitting from under the table.
Larika suppressed a wicked smile. She had been fighting this for a long time. She could never be angry with Sirius for long. But she had to keep face.
("It was very important in her culture." Phoebe from Friends.)
She had to say something. Sirius was looking at her, right at her, for the first time in days. She felt…not quite uncomfortable in his gaze but…just different. NO! She couldn't let this happen. She opened her mouth.
"Black is afraid of…flies?"
At the sound of his last name from her mouth, Sirius scowled. Why couldn't she just act normal around him?
"Yeah well…" he retorted. "At least I'm not scared of" He faltered with the fearful expression on her face. He was the only one who knew her personal fear- rubber duckies. It was silly, she admitted. But that didn't stop her from being scared of them. Sirius knew she was horribly tormented by the thought that her friends would find out.
"Scared of…um, balloons."
"Balloons?" asked Lily, having come up for air. "She's not scared of balloons…"
"Yeah…whatever." Sirius made a mental reminder to hit himself. Yeah…whatever? What sort of a response was that? He gave himself another chance. "Hey! Don't you want to know about the prank?"
"YEAH!" She turned to the Slytherin table. "Totally forgot about it!"
All of the Slytherins were scattered across the hall. Almost every single one was running. Running? Yes, they were running away…away from what looked like…an assortment of… banshees…bunches of broccoli…snakes…a clown…books?
"Well?" James asked.
"Well…what did you do? I mean, besides total pandemonium?"
"See, we" Sirius began, but Remus shoved him aside. "Excuse me, but I came up with this and I'll explain it! See, we basically made personal boggarts."
"Huh?"
"Boggarts, remember them? Riddikulus and all that?"
"Yeah."
"We basically put a fear finder spell, so that we knew all the fears of the Slytherins."
"And I came up with this spell to make holograms of those fears." Sirius added.
James said, "Yeah, and I figured out how to make them last all day and make it so that magic will have absolutely no effect on them."
The Marauders were looking at her, expectantly. She sighed.
"James…"
"What you don't like it?"
She shook her head sadly. "Fears? That's pretty mean. And dangerous. I mean, we could have a hologram of You-Know-Who running around."
"That's where I came in." spoke Peter from behind her. "We have only the stupid, not very scary fear holograms, so no really creepy icky stuff."
Lily nodded, pleased. "By the way…. what's Snape's fear?"
"Let's go find out." Everyone said in unison and they walked to the next class, coincidentally, one with the Slytherins. It was going to be a fun day, thought Sirius bemusedly.
Author's Note:
Hehee, check out Chapter 13, third last line of the first um…stanza thingy. It says Lily, instead of Lara! I can't believe you people missed that! And, the same chappie, a bit further, James nodded her head vehemently. I mean, come on people!
I'd like to thank all of the people who put my name on the author alert watch list thingy.
Many many thanks to:
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