Remembering Sirius
Chapter 3: Action
Author's Note: Thanks so very much to cassie89 and Mage Ren for reviewing! I update as soon as I get a good amount of reviews, so...review! I'm very glad to hear that all of you who have reviewed so far like it.
cassie89: Thanks for the review! As earlier stated, it sped up the updating. ;-)
Mage Ren: I'm glad to hear you like it! Chapter 8 has been in the MNFF queue since the beginning of July, so...it'll probably get on here faster.
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They had to be raving mad—there was so much that could go wrong with this...but it was fun!
They were in the library, watching a teenage Snape—er, Snivellus—pour over Defense Against the Dark Arts books. Harry looked across the room and saw Sirius give him the slightest of nods.
Here goes nothing, he thought.
"Hello, Snivellus," he said.
The reaction couldn't have been more perfect. Snape jumped up and took a few steps toward Harry, fingering his wand.
"Potter," he spat, hatred etched in every line of his face, "What are you doing in the library? Decided to finally crack open a book, eh?"
Sirius was slipping into his dog form and walking toward the table with stuff on it. He had to keep Snape's attention on him--
"No," said Harry, his voice calmly serious, "Here on Madam Pince's orders. Didn't want you ruining all the books—what with the grease and snot and everything, it's understandable."
Snape's wand was pointed at him now, his face flushed with rage. Perfect.
"You filthy little imbecile! Strutting around the castle like you already play Quidditch for England, jinxing anyone who looks twice at you, stringing along—"
"Calm down, Snivelly, don't get your dandruff in a bunch." Harry was smirking now—it was so much fun to have the upper hand on him! "So sorry to disappoint you and all; I know you must have spent all night thinking up that line, and I do enjoy our little visits, but I really must go. Until we meet again, you poorly-groomed Dark Arts freak."
Snape seemed too angry for words, only managing to sputter a "You—you--!". Harry took a step and bumped his shoulder, turning his head with one last smirk. He crossed the room, putting a little strut into his step just to irk Snape and found Sirius around the corner, hidden from sight. He was back in his human form, and doubled over with silent laughter.
"Here he goes," said Sirius, "Watch."
Snape was so enraged that he was shaking. He made to sit down on his chair and—
BANG.
A horrible odor was wafting through the library—Snape had sat on a Dungbomb. Harry and Sirius peered through the shelves as Madam Pince swooped down on Snape.
"How DARE you!" she shrieked. "This is a LIBRARY! There are absolutely NO—"
Her eyes had drifted toward the table where Snape's books lay. She looked about ready to explode. Snape looked about ready to cry.
"BANNED CURSES AND HEXES?" she bellowed, holding up the book from the desk, "THAT WAS IN THE RESTRICTED SECTION, THAT WAS! You'll pay for this, boy!"
They were all shaking—Madam Pince with fury, Snape with fear, and Harry and Sirius with laughter—as the librarian led Snape out by the ear.
As soon as the door closed, they collapsed, gasping and wiping tears of mirth from their eyes. Sirius had transfigured Snape's book to look like one from the Restricted Section while Madam Pince's back was turned.
"It'll be wearing off any second now...we should go."
And no sooner did they slip out the back entrance was the screaming replaced by confused inquiries.
--
"That was perfect, Padfoot!" exclaimed Harry as they walked down the hall, "I can still smell the Dungbomb!"
It was then that a girl with auburn hair rounded the corner.
"Why, hello Alice," said Sirius politely, "How have you—"
"Don't start with me, Black," said the girl, "You've been up to something, haven't you? I can tell by your sickening smirks. Messing around with Severus, I expect—"
"Now, what makes you think that?" cut in Harry. The girl—Alice?—raised her eyebrows coldly. "All right, then—nothing he didn't deserve."
"It doesn't matter if he deserved it, James! You're just sinking to his level!"
"And—why do you care?" said Sirius. "Unless…you're looking out for us, aren't you? And I think I have a pretty good idea why."
Alice glared at him. "It's no wonder Lily detests you both—your overconfident, cocky egos are, despite what you may think, NOT a turn-on!"
"Oh, really? Is THAT why Deirdre couldn't keep her eyes off me outside? Thanks for clearing that up for me."
"You know what? You're just as bad as the rest of your family! You go on about how horrible they are, but just because they're in Slytherin and you're in Gryffindor means NOTHING when you act the way you do!"
Sirius' cool demeanor was gone—Alice had struck a nerve.
"I resent that," he said.
"Resent it all you want; it doesn't change anything."
Alice looked as if she would like nothing more than to punch Sirius, but then thought better of it. She turned on her heel and stormed off.
"Smooth, Padfoot...very smooth."
"Ah, shut it, Prongs."
"Why don't we go down to the kitchens? I think this is cause enough for celebration."
"What, Alice managing to get me angry?"
"Well, that too, but I was thinking of the look on dear old Snivellus's face."
"Hear, hear!"
--
"Eeee! Ah-hah, ho!"
The pear was still laughing uncontrollably from the tickling as the portrait swing open to reveal the kitchen.
A dozen house-elves rushed to meet them as they stepped inside, a clothed elf with exceptionally long ears at the front.
"We is happy to see yous again, sirs! What is you wanting this time?"
"Butterbeer," said Harry.
"Firewhisky," joined in Sirius.
"Some rolls—"
"And chicken—"
"And pumpkin juice—"
The house-elves scrambled around the kitchen to meet every demand. Soon both Harry and Sirius were cradling large amounts of food in their arms.
"Guess we won't be needing dinner tonight," said Harry.
--
Sirius's POV
James and Sirius were in the Gryffindor Tower, devising ways to humiliate Snape over the food they got from the kitchen.
"We could turn his hair pink," suggested James through a mouthful of chicken.
Sirius took a swig of firewhisky. "Or we could make ourselves look like him and do god knows what."
"Think of the possibilities! I can just see him now...shame it takes a month to brew Polyjuice Potion."
"Polyjuice Potion? When did we use that?"
For a second, Sirius saw something flicker in James's face. Embarrassment? Why would he feel embarrassed?
"Oh, my dad had a book on it somewhere in our house."
"Alright—hey, speaking of potions, what if we 'accidentally' spilled our enlargening potion on him in class!"
James snorted into his butterbeer. "Think of the size of his nose!"
The portrait opened and Sam Thomas walked in. He glared at them.
"Or," said Sirius, not bothering to keep his voice down, "We could throw it on this git."
"Hey Potter!" said Sam, "Need any help finding the dormitory, too? The girls' dormitory's on the right; the guys' on the left. Hmmm...I can't really tell! You decide where you're supposed to go."
Sirius looked over at James. He could see more embarrassment in his eyes.
"Turn right, then," said James, "and say hello to all the other girls for me, would you?"
"You're just jealous because Lily likes me better than you!" said Sam.
"Yeah?" shot back James, "Well then, why don't you go put makeup on each other and gossip about what boys you like?"
Sirius cut in, "Yes, leave us alone, would you? Your 'over-confident, cocky ego' just makes you look like a stupid git."
They both laughed at this. Suddenly James jumped up.
"Ferretus!" he shouted. Sam was there long enough to register shock, but the next second, he was a madly twittering ferret. James was directing him with his wand—he bounced from the ceiling to the floor and everywhere in between. They kept him like this long enough for them to regain the ability to breathe after laughing so hard, which took a fair few minutes, then James muttered, if a bit resentfully, "Finite Incantatem."
Sam turned back into a human and looked at them with horror and revulsion, them scrambled back through the entrance. This had them laughing for another five minutes before they could talk again. Finally, Sirius said,
"That was excellent, Prongs, when's you come up with it!"
"Oh, he just looked so moody...I thought he could do with some excitement."
But as much as Sirius wanted to enjoy the moment, he couldn't help think that something was odd about James.