That evening, after what we all considered our triumph over Snape (and I was effectively booed and hissed into silence when I pointed out that he would most definitely be getting back at us), we were all sitting in our favorite couches and chairs around the common room fire. When everyone else had gone up to the dormitories, Serena-Rose had passed around bottles of butterbeer to chase shots of firewhiskey, a purple metal pipe of pot and was lazily smoking a hand rolled cigarette. Everything was quite relaxed until—
"How did you know all that stuff about Snape?" James demanded. It was obvious we were all dying to know by the looks we'd been exchanging since it happened, but James just happened to be the one to blurt it out when the time was right.
"What? It's not obvious just by looking at him?" a small knowing smile playing at her sensuous lips.
Sirius, determined to find out now that the topic had been broached, grumbled loudly "Sod off! Fess up!"
"Sod? Like dirt or peat moss? I swear, your guyses slang and accents are hard to understand sometimes…." She mentioned, in a rather closed way. She inhaled her smoke deeply and put her feet up on the table in front of her.
"So, what about doing the Wronskei feint, but add the modifications I showed you yesterday that the San Francisco Slammers came up with and couple that with the Berkeley Berserkers move?" She successfully pulled Sirius and James off the track of their interrogation but Peter and I weren't. I eyed her, working over the details of the altercation and remembered her scrutinizing a book all throughout it. Peter was just ogling Serena-Rose—a female version of what he worshipped in James and Sirius.
My plan of attack in place, I started bringing the conversation around. "So, Aldebaran, what were you reading so intently while we were being so rudely interrupted by Snape this afternoon?" James and Sirius broke off their Quidditch discussion and looked over expectantly.
"Just something very informative…." She said mysteriously.
"Did your book somehow give you the goods on Snivellus?" I asked.
"The book? No…." she chuckled. "Let's just say I know things."
"Things? What things?" Sirius inquired nervously. We exchanged anxious glances.
"Oh, this and that…. James being so nuts over Lily Evans that he keeps a quill he stole from her during your fourth year in his nightstand. And what he does with it at night. Two of you have secret loves. Three of you Marauders being unregistered Animagi, Remus being—"
I cut her off quickly, "Ok, ok! Stop! We're convinced you have sources! How?"
"Don't worry, I'm not going to spill if that's what you're worried about! No, I just have my ways—I'm not going to go into any situation without getting as much knowledge as I can. Would you?"
"Well, no," James conceded. "But it's uncanny how you know such intimate details."
"Intimate…. Yes. Haven't you guys ever heard of a Sandy Scope?" Serena-Rose asked, surveying our baffled faces.
"This," she said, pulling something out from the pages of the book in her bag. She held it up. It was thin and framed, like a mirror, but where there would have been glass it looked like sand.
"What's this?" Sirius and James leaned in close, intrigued.
"Ok, watch," Serena-Rose positioned the Sandy Scope in front of her eyes. "Where am I right now and what am I doing?" she spoke into its surface. Suddenly, the sand-like substance had writing appearing on it.
>>Serena-Rose is in the Gryffindor common room, a little buzzed, showing the Hogwart's Marauders Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs her Sandy Scope. She's feeling a bit-->>
"Ok! That's enough!" She shook the thing making the sand within obscure over the words. "You get the idea"
"Whoa!" was all Sirius could muster. We looked at each other dumbfounded, minds swirling with the possibilities.
"So this—Sandy Scope—tells you what's going on? With anyone?" James asked, breathless and astounded. I knew he was already scheming to borrow it and learn all about the inner Lily.
"Yeah," she affirmed in an off-hand way. "It's sort-of a half-assed answer to actually learning Legilimancy, none of the hard work or necessary eye contact, but you do have to be in somewhat proximity to the person in question. Like it won't work for my sister and our best friend still in California. That's what our two-way mirrors are for…."
Two-way mirrors? I shook my head and decided to just focus on the Sandy Scope for now. "So…. You checked us all out?"
"Naturally," she said unabashedly, tossing her cigarette butt into the fire. "But things change all the time, just like you change your mind or feelings. And it depends on what you ask it…."
"That's not fair! You know all our secrets but we don't know any of yours!" James voiced forcefully for all of us.
"What, you want to know that I don't wear panties unless I have to? That I like a little ass-play when I cum? That I—"
Peter interrupted, "When do you have to wear panties?" James and Sirius rolled their eyes, but I'm fairly sure they wanted to hear too.
"You know…" she stated matter-of-factly, "When I bleed, when I go shopping to try on clothes and sometimes if I get overly…. moist…. usually during a full moon."
"F-Full moon?" Peter stammered, unable to stop himself from speaking.
"When I'm ovulating," she answered unflinchingly but seeing our clueless expressions continued (a bit excessively, maybe trying to shock us into silence), "Laying an egg? Bitch in heat? Feeling frisky with the fertility fires of desire? Creaming my jeans? Horny as all get out?"
All four of us boys groaned, but for different reasons. James appeared entertained and delighted to be informed of these female secrets; perhaps imagining that his beloved Lily might be feeling fits of desire like we do. I was a little taken aback by her frankness but had been a little aroused too. Sirius looked eager and impressed, his legendary libido undoubtedly tickled at the sex talk. Peter was the most flustered out of all of us and fussed about, clutching his robes around his lap. Then, he giggled and squeaked out, "Uh, I gotta go to bed now, early morning tomorrow…."
All of us sniggered as he raced up the staircase to the boy's dormitory. "How thick can you get?" James mused. "Does that wanker actually think he's fooling anyone?"
"Soooo, who wants to see what Petey's doing?" Serena-Rose shook her Sandy Scope, looking around at us with good-natured amusement, nodding and egging us on.
"Fuck, yeah! Let's see this thing do its magic!" James edged in excitedly. Obviously, he had the strongest stomach of the Marauders.
"You can do it verbally or non-verbally. Of course, I have enchantments in place so no one can steal it and see me…. Ok, here we go." We all crowded around Serena-Rose to witness this new phenomenon.
"What is Peter Pettigrew doing now?" As she held the Sandy Scope the once smooth sand rippled and then began spelling out some obvious words.
>>Peter has drawn his bed curtains. He is picking up the hand lotion from his nightstand. He tries to silence his curtains but fails.>>
There was a brief pause and we all looked at each other, trying not to laugh. Then, Serena-Rose brushed her thumb over the right edge of the Sandy Scope's frame. The surface scrolled past and revealed more writing.
>>He takes a tie from under his pillow, smells it and says "Mmm roses".>>
"Hey! That's my tie! Shit, I thought I lost it! I had to ask Dumbledore for a new one!" Serena-Rose exclaimed. "Shhh!" Sirius hissed and experimented with his thumb on the frame to do the scrolling.
>>He secures one hand to his bedpost with the tie. He spreads lotion on his dick and starts jerking off. He says, "Yes, Miss Aldebaran, I'll shag you rotten." and spanks his ass. He goes back and grabs-->>
"Oy, that's enough!" yelled James, shielding his eyes. We surveyed Serena-Rose warily, waiting for a reaction, trying not to crack up.
"Ha, ha, HAH! That's hiLARious!" She collapsed into a soundless spasm of breathy laughter. Seeing that it was indeed all right to laugh, we did. Hard. With Sirius barking out the loudest. Serena-Rose gave her Sandy Scope a quick glance and remarked, "Oh dear!" and we renewed our frenzy of laughter ten-fold.
She had a contagious laugh—It started in her belly and deep in her throat and then she'd writhe back, slapping her stomach like a gorilla and eventually dwindle off into chirping giggles; not girly titters but an honest chuckle. We all became addicted to that laugh of pure joyful abandon that night. It held no malice, just mirth. In that moment of shared gleeful humor and the sparkle of mischief in her eyes, it was apparent that she was a true Marauder at heart.