Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine. I know, I know, totally unbelievable, right? But it's the sad, cold, hard truth.

A/N: The joys of writing a chapter where eleven year olds are so care-free… (Not meant sarcastically)

!#$& seperates what the wavy lines will not... (You'll see what I mean)

Chapter 4 - The Fun In Pointless Games

"I'm bored," Sirius declared to no one in particular as he, along with James, Remus and Peter, sat haphazardly on the couch that sat in front of the common room fire.

"Me too," James said sighing.

"Do your homework, then," Remus said not bothering to look up from the Charms essay he was currently working on.

"Finished it," James said looking up at the ceiling and counting tiles seeing as he had nothing better to do.

"Yes, same here," Sirius agreed. He turned to James and saw him counting tiles. "I bet I could count all the tiles faster than you."

James looked at him and smiled. "You're on."

Remus finally looked up from his essay. "When did you two finish your essay?"

"…three-hundred and twenty-two…" Sirius was saying, clearly intent on counting faster than James.

James looked down at Remus. "Mmm… during class. It was easy." Then he turned to Sirius. "I quit counting by the way. There's no possible way for you to have been on three-hundred and twenty-two within two seconds."

Sirius looked at James and grinned. "You're just jealous about my fast counting ability."

James rolled his eyes. "Yes, that's it."

"I thought so."

"Well, I know so."

"So you admit I have superior counting skills."

"Yep."

"And you won't change your mind at any given point in time?"

"Nope."

"Okay, then."

"That's only because I bet I can hold my breath for longer than you, and counting has absolutely nothing to do with holding your breath."

"Oh yeah, Potter? You're on. Remus, make sure you see who breathes first."

"Fine, but if either one of you kills yourselves in the process, I refuse to admit I had anything to do with this."

"Well, you know, if one of us dies, and since you can't breath while dead, both of us would die because trying to non-out breath each other if one is dead and cheats because he can't breath," Sirius said grinning at looks of confusion he got from his friends.

"Right, Sirius. Well, if someone dies, whoever dies first, wins."

"Yeeeah, okay." Remus looked from Sirius to James with confusion written all over his face. "So, okay… GO!"

James and Sirius simultaneously sucked their breathes in together and sat stock-still on the couch.

Peter looked up from his Charms essay to give an awed sort of glance to James and Sirius before shaking his head reminding himself that he didn't exactly understand Charms at all and therefore had to pay attention to the essay instead of such pointless activities. Even if they were fun.

Remus had wondered briefly what in the world had possessed the two to get into such a pointless activity as this, but gave up and studied each of them making sure the other didn't breath - even a little bit.

James felt like he was about to explode, but wouldn't let Sirius win.

They sat like that for about a minute before Sirius had finally exhaled.

"James wins."

"Haha! I win!"

Sirius crossed his arms and huffed angrily.

"Umm… so… what exactly?" Maren asked, her eyebrows raising in confusion.

Lily sighed. "All you do is guess put and x or an o on one of the squares. Then I go. Then you. And when the first one gets three in a row, they win! I'll be o so you're x."

Maren nodded her head slowly. "Okay, I get it now… I think. But just in case, you go first."

Lily smiled and put and o on the top left-hand corner.

"Okay… yes. I understand, now," Maren said happily and put an x in the middle.

About ten minutes later Lily sighed frustrated-ly. Maren had won 12 out of the 14 times they played.

"Are you one-hundred percent sure that you've never played this game before?"

"Yup," Maren said happily. "But I think I'm very good at it."

Lily snorted. "No kidding."

!#$&

"We have Astronomy tonight at mid-night, right?" Lily asked over breakfast the next morning.

"Yep," Maren replied absent-mindedly scanning the Daily Prophet.

"And Herbology after breakfast?"

"Mhm."

"Then Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Uh-huh."

"And then its - " Lily was cut off by Maren laughing.

"Lil, don't worry. We can take our schedule one class at a time. It will be great!"

"Mare, you're really weird. But, I suppose you're right."

"Of course I am! Now, off to Herbology we go!"

"Wait… you just agreed to both…"

"You two are so… so…" Remus waved his hands around, searching for the right word.

"Intelligent?"

"Witty?"

"Amazingly charming?"

"No," Remus said flatly in answer to James' and Sirius' suggestions. "More like… immature."

"Riiight, Rem. Because, you're so mature yourself," Sirius said sceptically, but his eyes filled with amusement nonetheless.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Either way…"

James sighed and ruffled Remus' hair. "Don't worry, Remmy. All we're doing is seeing who can find out if Professor McGonagall is able to climb a tree in the Forbidden Forest first."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Yes, because that's nothing to worry about."

"Well, you're not partaking in this little escapade, so I see no reason whatsoever for you to worry," Sirius said, and then added slyly, "Unless you happen to change your mind and join us…"

"No."

"It would be more fun if we had three people playing in our bet-type thing," James grinned.

"No."

"Fine, fine. I see how it is… don't want to be seen with the likes of us." Sirius pretended to be hurt. And wiped at an imaginary tear.

"Where's Peter?" James asked looking around as though half-expecting him to jump out from behind a suite of armour. "I only ever see him around in the dorm lately."

Sirius shrugged unconcernedly. "Last time I saw, tagging along with those prefects who lead us the Common Room the other night."

James looked confused. "Why?"

Again, Sirius shrugged unconcernedly. "Search me."

"We have to get down to Herbology," Remus said, looking at his watch.

"What?" Sirius yelped. "We haven't had breakfast yet!"

"That's your fault," Remus replied. "You slept in… again. And we, like the fantastic friends we are, waited for you."

Sirius sighed. "You're stealing adjectives I use to describe myself."

"Er?"

Sirius sighed again, this time slightly exasperated. "Fantastic. That's an adjective I would use to describe myself."

"Shut up."

A/N: Ooo! Next chapter… do James and Sirius get Professor McGonagall to climb a tree in the Forbidden Forest? Does Remus join them? Will Lily and Maren meet Hagrid? And why is Peter hanging around the Gryffindor prefects? All questions answered in the next chapter.

Umm… Chapter 2 is revised, in case anyone cares and decides to go read it. I'm not saying it's better, because it wasn't very good in the first place, but I made an attempt to better it and… well… yes. If you've read it before I revised it, there honestly isn't much that changed. Slightly more Crazy!Sirius is all that changed, really.

…So, here's the reviewer responses.

I honestly can't thank you all enough! You all managed to make me smile like an idiot all day! You guys rock!

Lizzi, Elizabeth - Thanks! I laughed when I read your review… Cupcake!

super-coffee bean - I agree, sarcasm is the best. So is chocolate, though. Lol, thanks for the review. You get two cupcakes.

selene-luna589547 - Thanks! I love the little bunny guy by the way… he's so cute. Cupcake!

zippyfox - Thanks. I'm glad you liked. Cupcake!

Hazel Maraa - My faithful reviewer… Thanks! You get two cupcakes!

Jamie88 - Snape is git, I completely agree. Especially after what happened in HBP… I have all sorts of odd theories about that and all sorts of other things that happened in the book… Sorry for the ramble. Thanks for reviewing! Cupcake!

Nimrodel Telcotar - Yeah, I know what you mean. Sirius was only saying things about Lily to James to tease him. James was just trying to annoy Lily 'cause it's fun for him. As for Lily… you know how 11 year old girls are… just getting out of the idea that boys have cooties and think they are kind of cute. At least, that's how I was…. Anyway, thanks for the review! Cupcake!

a thousand pieces - Thanks! I would so give you a high five right now… Cupcake!

Silverpheonix2 - Thanks! If you don't mind my asking, where in Indiana do you live? Anyhow, thanks again for the review! Cupcake!

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! It does me heart good to see you lovely people review! Haha, no, I'm just kidding. But, seriously, do review, though.