Friends at Last?
The day started out like any other day for all the students except for Sirius Black. He lay in his hospital bed, fuming.
"How dare he humiliate me like that? Just who does he think he is? I'll get him back. Oh, I'll get him back! He'll wish he hadn't crossed me when I'm through with him! He'd better watch his back. Oh, yes, I can see the plan forming right now!"
Sirius lay in his bed happily, forming his evil plan.
James sat in the Common Room, toiling over some Defense Against the Dark Arts homework when he was approached by none other than Sirius.
"What do you want?" James asked, annoyed at being interrupted.
"I just wanted to apologize," Sirius said.
"What?" James asked, shocked.
"I said I wanted to apologize. While I was in Madame Pomfrey's care, I had a lot of time to think things over. I realized that you are the better man. I want to start all over and be friends."
James stared at Sirius for a good five minutes before he could respond.
"You can't be serious."
"Oh, I'm as sirius as I'll ever be!"
Sirius started to laugh. It took James a second to fully process what he said, but he laughed too when he got the joke.
"If you're sirius about this, then I'm game," James said happily. Sirius had finally come to his senses and seen who was who in the world.
"Good. I'm Sirius Black," he said, sticking out his hand.
"James Potter."
And so their "friendship" was formed.
Sirius kept the act up for several days. He felt bad for Peter and Remus, who were happy they had finally worked out their differences. But he had to get that git back.
Finally, it was Saturday, the day Sirius had been waiting for. He quickly conjured up a glass of water and then added the clear liquid to its' contents.
"Hullo, James. What's going on?" Sirius asked jovially, entering their room.
"Just playing a bit of wizards' chess with Peter. Care to watch?" James replied.
"Of course. I'm not thirsty any more, would you like this water?" Sirius asked sincerely.
"Thanks, mate," James said, taking a long swig at the ice cold water.
But he stopped mid-swig. He began so sputter and cough.
"What'd you do to this water, Sirius? It tastes gross!" James yelled.
"Whatever do you mean, Jamesie?" Sirius asked, an evil grin on his face.
"You! You didn't! Yo-"
James's voice stopped. His lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. To make matters worse, the word GIT appeared across his forehead in large letters made of purple boils.
"Do you like it, James? Concocted it myself. Especially for you, for that matter. Don't bother trying to speak. Your voice will be gone for a whole day. And those boils, could be a few days. I'd go see Madame Pomfrey if I were you!" Sirius said, howling with laughter.
This is how it was when Remus entered the room: Peter was sitting on the floor, terrified as usual. James seemed to have lost his voice and the word git was on his head. Sirius was doubled over in laughter. He could only imagine what had happened in this room.
"What's going on in here!" Remus demanded.
James was motioning frantically toward the glass and then Sirius and then his throat, so he knew he wouldn't get an answer out of him. Sirius's words were incoherent.
"Peter! Tell me what happened!" Remus ordered.
"Me and James were playing wizard's chess when Sirius comes in and offers James his water. Then git was on his head and he lost his voice. Then Sirius says it's all his doing. And then you came in." Peter said quickly.
"Thank you. James, go to Madame Pomfrey. Sirius, you are an insufferable git."
Remus walked out of the room, not sure what to do about his friends. James and Sirius just couldn't seem to get along!
24 hours later, James lay in exactly the same bed where Sirius had lain just a few days ago. Luckily for him, Madame Pomfrey had found a way to get him his voice back and get rid of the letters on his forehead. He was free to go.
He walked down the corridor, desperately trying to think of a way to get Sirius back, when he heard yelling.
He ran to the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner. He saw Remus, Peter, and Sirius backed against a wall. He saw a kid who was probably in his fourth year with long blond hair, a girl about the same age with curly brown hair, and a girl with jet black hair who looked to be a year or two older than the others. Their wands were out and they all seemed to be addressing Sirius, but angry that Remus and Peter were there. He struggled to listen.
"How dare you speak to me like that, little Sirius!" the black-haired girl demanded.
"Shut up Bella. Who cares what house I'm in!" Sirius yelled.
"I do and so does your mother and your brother, who was too spineless to show his face here. You are giving us Blacks a bad name by just existing in Gryffindor!" Bella yelled.
"And you couldn't stand to address me alone, could you? You just had to bring good ole' Lucius and Narcissa along, didn't you? Just in case your scrawny first-year cousin got the best of you."
"You filthy blood-traitor!" Lucius yelled. "I ought to kill you right now. But I won't. You're not worth it."
"I will!" Bella screamed, pulling out her wand.
Suddenly, a voice from behind yelled, "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Bella's wand was knocked out of her hand, and all three of them were thrown on the floor.
Sirius looked up, searching for the person who had saved his life. He expected to see Lily or one of the other girls, but to his shock, James Potter stood with his wand raised.
Before he could react, Lucius shot a jinx at James. Sirius, his reflexes working amazingly well, blocked it.
Remus threw a couple of hexes at Lucius, Narcissa, and Bella. They gave up.
"You'll regret this!" Lucius screamed as the two girls dragged him down the hall.
All four boys stood for a moment, catching their breath.
Sirius was the first to speak.
"What was that all about?"
He was addressing James.
"What, saving your arse?" James asked.
"Yes. Why did you help me?"
"I dunno. I saw that she was going to kill you. I could just hear it in her voice. They were being right jerks, you know. Besides that, I couldn't let Remus or Peter get hurt, now could I?" James asked.
"True. But still, we hate each other!" Sirius protested.
"You know, maybe Peter and I should leave you two to work this out," Remus said, hoping his plan would work.
"Yeah!" Peter said jumpily.
Before James or Sirius could reply, they walked away.
"Look, James, I'm sorry about last night," Sirius said after a long silence.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about the boils. It was a nasty thing to do,"
"Yeah, it was. But so was mine."
"Yes, it was. You said you made that yourself, how?"
"It was simple. I combined a few types of potions and BANG! Instant torture device!" Sirius said.
James laughed.
"And how did you manage to cover me in boils?"
"It was a powder my dad gave to me before I left. He said if I ever got into any trouble, I could use it."
"That's one cool dad," Sirius said in awe.
"You know something, Sirius Black, I think we should really start over. Except this time, not so that we can prank each other," James said earnestly.
"Brilliant idea, Jamesie!" Sirius cried.
"Please, if you ever want to re-live the boils, call me Jamesie again," James said sincerely.
"Well, that's a start: honesty is the key to a good friendship! So, my name is Sirius Black. I'm eleven years old, enjoy long walks on the beach, and brunettes are my favorite."
"It's nice to meet you Sirius. I'm James Potter, prefer dinner and a walk, and like redheads."
"Good to meet you James old boy!"
"OH, but the pleasure is all mine!" James said.
Both the boys started to laugh.
"You know something, I think we could make a really good team, Sirius," James said after they had caught their breaths.
"Same here. If we both put our brilliant minds together, we could give this school a run for their money!" Sirius cried.
"I think Remus would go along with it," James said.
"Definitely," Sirius agreed. "And Peter will go along with anything I do. Honestly, I think that boy lives to worship me! It's really quite disgusting. He has no mind of his own."
"Well, that's good. It's always good to have one of them in the group," James said.
"Good point."
"So, we have me, the quiet rebel; Remus, the genius rebel; Peter, the rebel who's only a rebel 'cause the rest of us are rebels-"
"And me, the hottest, most sexy, and smartest rebel to ever grace this school with his presence," Sirius interrupted.
"Something like that," James muttered.
"So there's four of us! We should make a name for ourselves, like a nickname that everyone will call us by. That way we'll have a legacy to leave behind. Only I can't think of a good one right now," Sirius said.
"We'll ask Remus. He'll think of something good," James said.
"Right. Let's get back to the room before my dear cousins and their male prostitute decide to join us again," Sirius said.
James and Sirius walked back to the Gryffindor Tower arm-in-arm.
They were friends at last!