Chapter Two: A Get Out Of Jail Free Card
Sirius lay on his bed staring at the ceiling with his Wizard's Wireless screaming in his ear. His door was shut tightly (to ensure privacy) and he could hear the tuts and snickers emanating from the vacant spot where his great, great grandfather Phineas should have been portrayed. He smiled to himself when he heard Phineas grumble, "They should have taken that blasted music-maker away from you as well!" before no more sounds were heard from the blank picture.
Sirius rolled over and picked up the illegal stack of letters under his bed (provided by Andromeda; true to her word) and sorted through them for billionth time, re-reading the memorized passages. He couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of James' adventures as his best mate relayed tales of harassing the Grecian muggles (for Sirius had been mistaken, James was in Greece not Spain). Or when he discussed the other Ambassador's son, who, according to James, walked around with a menagerie of servants that answered to his beck and call round the clock. From the arrogance Sirius had read about this boy, he firmly believed that he deserved every prank James threw at him. Besides it was also good practice for Snape when school resumed again.
But it wasn't only James' summer stories that made him green-eyed. Remus' tales of spending time with Alexial and Kara, doing similar things as he'd done last year with him, didn't help him feel any better about his confinement to his room. Though the main difference between Remus and himself and the two girls was that Alexial and Kara merely sat around and talked. Sure they went down to the lake to swim, but even then they merely talked. Which would probably have drove him crazy, but he still would have preferred that over his fate. Plus, according to what Remus had written, it didn't bother him; in fact, he seemed to participate whenever he could.
But it wasn't those two that bothered him. It was the fact that- heaven forbid- he was envious of Peter! He wanted to be a part of Peter's family, even though his mother was a bit overprotective and hard on him as well. Even Peter's father seemed a little hard at times, but mostly he seemed to be the balance between the two of the parental units.
It hurt Sirius to realize that he'd gotten the wrong end of the stick when it came to families. He'd rather have that than whatever dysfunctional situation he had, and he'd written Peter back and said as much. Though, it didn't seem to do much good. For Peter had merely sent him ramblings about the things he had been up to with his other friends or the little projects he'd given himself. And for Sirius, even if these stories sometimes bored him when they were in person, it made him happy to at least hear from him none-the-less.
In short: everyone but him seemed to be enjoying their time away from Hogwarts.
Sirius heard a knock at the door and quickly rolled back over and tossed the stack of letters underneath his bed. "Come in!" he yelled over his music before he took the time to turn it down.
He made sure he had his sweetest smile on as he sat back reclining on his bed as the door opened. He let the face go once Andromeda stuck her head threw the opening in the door.
"Oh don't look so glum to see me. I bring tidings of… well, really good news."
He chuckled a bit and managed to sit upright, "More letters?"
She nodded enthusiastically and handed them too him before she went on, "And a get–out-of-jail-free card for those who unfortunately spent the last five hours of their life playing a really dumb muggle game."
"Dear Teddy?"
"Dear Ted," she retorted very much annoyed by his constant teasing.
"So, I'm free?"
"So to speak," then she launched a piece of paper at him.
He glanced at it and instantly understood. He quickly jumped up, "I get to go! I get to leave! How?"
She smiled widely, "I managed to con your mum. Apparently, she's sick of your whining."
"I knew I'd break her!" he stated with a hard "yes" gesture.
"You're a goob."
"I know."
They fell silent for a while before Sirius spoke again, "So… when do we leave?"
"Now."
He smiled widely at her and ran over to his closet and put on his most comfortable shoes. He then randomly took out a black cloak and threw it on, so that he was acceptable fore a Black's appearance in public. He then turned around, "I'm ready."
"Good 'cause I wasn't going to wait much longer."
"Aren't you a bloody riot. You should make a routine and sell out."
"Oh har-har."
He shrugged his shoulders at her and walked past. She then took the liberty of pushing him through the door. He laughed heartedly and they continued to gently push and tug on each other until they reached the sitting room. They instantly stopped once their eyes settled on Mrs. Black and her guest. Sirius felt his mouth drop and his hand fall dead to his side as it collapsed off of its perch on Andromeda's shoulder, "Professor Lamia."
The woman looked at him with a stone cold glance, "Mr. Black… it's so good to see that you've managed to make it through another year of school."
Sirius cocked an eyebrow at her. Her complexion was, if possible, whiter than he remembered and her icy gaze was just as piercing. Yet, she still could be accounted as an elegant woman. He felt his lips curl up as he looked at her, "It's a shame I can't say the same thing about you."
He swiftly felt a hand connect with the back of his head and his body jerked forward from the sudden unexpected attack. He looked over his shoulder at Andromeda and glared at her with a gaze that simply said, "What?"
She looked straight at him with a statement so vivid, saying merely, "Hold your tongue."
He shrugged his shoulders at her and turned back to Lamia who was sitting more upright in the ancient chair, "With that attitude you would have made a wonderful addition to this family. It's such a shame that you've wasted it on simple-minded pranks." She stated with the swiftness of a precision knife before she turned to his mother, "It's a shame really, he would be a perfect addition… he could be great."
Sirius couldn't stop himself from stepping closer too her, as if seeing her in a new light, and his brow cocked up as his mother replied, "Yes, he could be."
He felt Andromeda place her hand on his shoulder and then lean into his ear, "We should go, the sooner we leave, the more time you have away from here."
All he could do was nod as he stared at his mother, the words still fresh on her lips; the closest thing to a complement he'd ever gotten from her. And it scared him. He heard the fire spark up and the whoosh of Andromeda going through the floo network and he stepped closer to the fireplace.
He took his hand up to the mantle and removed the cover off the urn that held the floo powder and collected a handful of the dust. As he took his hand up to toss it into the flames he heard Lamia continue, "Oh, and Sirius, it's Ms. Lamia. I'm no longer a professor."
He tossed the dust in and stepped into the green flames feeling the familiar tickling around his body and looked at her, "Right."
His mother then stood up and handed him a small bag full of money with a pointed glance. He took the money, and placed it in his pocket before he stated clearly, "The Leaky Cauldron."
He felt the familiar tug on his body as he was pulled away from his home and whirled to the other end. He coughed loudly once his feet were sure he was on solid ground and he opened his eyes and looked at Andromeda. "Now tell me why I couldn't just side Apparate with you."
"Because it's more fun this way," she stated simply and slapped him on the back making excess dust fly off his robes. He coughed a bit more as he inhaled it and then proceeded to glare at her. She only laughed in return.
"So, what are we getting first? Books? Potions supplies? Robes? A new ow-"
"Ice Cream."
"What?" he felt his brow furrow, "I'm pretty sure the look my mother gave me when she handed me this," he quickly took out his sack of gold and waved it at his cousin, "was that she'd place my head next to the last house-elf in the line, if I spent it on something other than school supplies."
She shook her head at him, "My treat. We're having fun remember?"
He smiled at her and nodded, "Okay, then let's have fun."
They walked out the back of The Leaky Cauldron and up to the wall. Andromeda tapped out the familiar sequence and the wall began to collapse on itself, opening up to Diagon Alley. Sirius grinned widely as his eyes fell upon the bustle of the street and he had to collect himself before he started dancing in the street screaming "I'm free!" for a good part of the wizarding world to see.
He quickly felt a tug on his robes as his aunt began to pull him through the crowds of people to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. He groaned slightly as they passed a few stores he wanted to go into. All Andromeda did was mock him gently.
"You know I can walk by myself right?"
"Of course you can. But both of us know that you will get distracted and we will not end up at the ice cream parlor. And you'd be sorry if you didn't."
He cocked his eyebrow up at her and let her drag him to the little parlor. Once they were in front of the building she let go of him and they walked inside. Sirius looked around the quaint shop and told his aunt what he wanted before a group of people in the corner of the room caught his eye. He stared at them for a while before his face broke out into a smile, "No way," he mumbled before he began to walk towards them.
Once he was hovering over the one with the light brown hair he poked him in the back. The boy jumped violently and his sundae tipped over as a result. He turned around and smiled, "You're a jerk. You know that, right?"
Sirius only laughed, "What are you guys doing here?" he asked as he looked at Remus, and then at James, and then finally at Peter.
"Surprise!" Peter yelled absentmindedly as if he didn't realize he'd missed his entrance for such a statement.
Sirius looked at Peter like he was the daftest person in the room before he finally broke into a huge smile, "You guys planned this?"
James shrugged his shoulders slightly and furrowed his brow as if it pained him to admit this: "Not exactly, we were in on it, but it was Andromeda's idea."
Sirius felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to look at Andromeda and quickly relieved her from her load of chocolate fudge ice cream, before he grabbed a chair from a table nearby and pulled it up to his mates and sat down. Andromeda followed his lead, "That's right, it was my idea."
Sirius took a bite of his ice cream and turned to her, "I don't owe you anything now, do I?"
She appeared to think on it and then stated, "Just don't tell anyone that I left you here alone, with them, to see Ted."
Sirius laughed loudly as she stood up with her ice cream cone and walked out the door with a telltale ding resounding behind her.
"She's so cool," Peter stated.
"Who's Ted?"
Sirius looked at James and managed to swallow his ice cream without freezing his brain, "Oh, it's Andie's boyfriend."
"So, why is it a secret?" Remus asked not being able to resist it.
"Er… he's muggle-born."
No one said anything, but three sets of eyes seemed to grow a little wider at the news, "It's not that bigga deal, guys. I mean she knows what she's getting into, just as much as I do when I run away. She's twenty-three. I think she can handle it."
James and Remus seemed to exchange glances before Sirius hit James upside the head, "She'll be fine. Geeze, if she does manage to get disowned, well, good for her."
"That's horrible."
"Well, Peter, it's true," Sirius stated as he looked down at his sundae and took the last bite of it before he looked up at them to see how far along they were with theirs. Once he saw that they were done he said, "So, what are we going to do first?"
"Well, we need books-" Remus chimed.
"And I definitely need potions supplies," James stated.
"Mum said I could get a pet," Peter voiced.
Sirius stared at them and weighed what they had said before he looked at Remus, "I think we should get new school robes."
"But I don't need any," Peter whined.
"It's not our fault you didn't grow any."
James slugged him on the shoulder as hard as he could, "Be nice. Fine we'll get robes. Then we'll go to Magical Menagerie to get Peter a pet. Then the Apothecary. Followed by the bookstore, and ending with the Quidditch Supply store. Did I miss anything?"
They looked at him and shook their heads, "Nope, I don't think so."
"Then let's go already!" Peter chimed, only to receive glances from his mates, followed by them swiftly standing up and heading for the door.
The moment they were in the street they headed straight over to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. When they were inside the shop Madam Malkin promptly measured the boys one by one and fitted them with a wardrobe that would fit them. Although, Peter spent the time sulking in the corner. Throughout, the fittings, Sirius tried to keep Peter occupied by taunting him about his size. Though, for the most part, he was really just intending to get Peter to come back with something clever, but instead just managed to make him huffy.
Finally, when Remus had finished with his measurements and paid for his robes, they left and wandered towards the Magical Managerie only to have Peter change his mind about getting a pet.
"You have permission and everything!" Sirius stated, while looking at a horn owl in the window, "and you don't want one!"
Peter just shrugged his shoulders at the comment, "I already have an owl. Cats are dumb. Toads would label me a loser, and rats are vermin," he paused for a while looking at the owl that had caught Sirius' eye before he switched gears.
"We had rats in our house over the summer. Mum caught one in a trap and it didn't die. Its tail was caught, and it kept squirming but it couldn't get free… I felt sorry for it."
Sirius couldn't stop the snicker forming in his throat and quickly exchanged glances with James. And just before he could open his mouth with the sly comment his brain had concocted, Remus spoke; "Thank you for that Peter," and he clapped him on the back.
"What?" Peter asked, somewhat confused by what he'd done as he followed his friends to the Apothecary.
"We love you, man!" Sirius chuckled out.
In return, Peter smiled at them like he'd done something good but wasn't sure what it was. They all laughed loudly until they reached their next stop. They opened the door and the bells attached to it jingled awkwardly. The four boys grew quieter once they entered and proceeded to collect the needed potions supplies. Sirius, looked over the different objects on display, casually tallying the things he wanted, versus the things he dubbed useless. He turned into a different isle feeling the clerk's eyes following him as he went. He stopped once he reached James.
"What are you looking at?"
James glanced at him, "It's a two piece mirror set."
Sirius laughed, "How very girly of you! Is there something you wish to tell me?"
James grimaced knowing in advance that he was going to receive a comment like that, but continued anyway not bothering to even acknowledge what his mate had said, "According to this, if one person has the other one they just state who they want to see and then it'll show them. Then they can talk to each other."
Sirius stared at the simple mirror before he took it off the shelf, "Let's split the cost."
James smirked at him, "Sounds good to me."
They then walked to the counter and paid for their stuff. The Apothecary looked at them seriously, when he handed the bag over to them, almost as if he officially handed it over. The two then walked over to the door where Remus and Peter were waiting talking with one another.
"What took you guys so long?" Remus asked.
"We decided to get something else, as well."
"Prank supplies?"
Sirius looked over his shoulder at Peter, "Do you ever find prank supplies at an apothecary?"
James swiftly elbowed him in the side and glared at him openly. Sirius returned the gesture before he turned it on Remus who had decided then to laugh. James jabbed him once again before he spoke in order to save his friend from having the gang kick his bum, "It could be counted as prank supplies."
Sirius' face fell slightly, "How?"
James sighed and pulled out the delicate mirrors handing one over to Sirius, "These mirrors are supposed to let you see the person who has the other one. Right?" Sirius nodded while the others looked at him mildly confused. James went on to speak very slowly to Sirius, "Now, Sirius, these can be prank supplies, because we can use them to do more elaborate pranks. You know, team up and go to separate locations in the school so we can hit more than one person at a time. It would make it harder for them to pin it on us."
"Or easier."
James stared at Remus in slight disappointment at his cynicism when Sirius took his chance to punch him on the shoulder to scold him for talking to him as if he were an advanced retard, "Alright, smartass, I get it. I was thinking more about using them for detention when Filch or whoever isn't looking."
"Hadn't thought of that," James admitted.
"See you need me so you can use all of your brain properly."
"Aye, but you need me for the same. So, it's really just an even trade."
They laughed at each other before they turned back to the other members of their clan and finally looked at them. Peter seemed to be impressed with the new gizmo and if possible a little anxious. Whether that was because he wanted to try it out or was afraid of the idea, Sirius had no clue, and quite frankly, didn't really care. But Remus did not look impressed at all.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked. The moment the question left his lips he wanted to smack himself.
"Nothing."
"Yeah, right, Remus. You always have to lodge some kind of complaint."
Remus glared at Sirius, "I do not!" He growled out, "It's not my fault you lack a conscience."
"Ooohhh-" James and Peter chimed in unison.
"Low blow, Remus. Just say it already."
"Fine," Remus huffed out, "that's a Dark Arts thing you want to play with."
"No, it's not. It was sold in the Apothecary, not Knockturn Alley."
"You know as well as I do that you can get Dark stuff anywhere if you really want to."
Remus stopped before he continued lamely, sick of arguing, deciding to get straight to the heart of his argument, "Besides, I read it in a book."
"Of course a book is involved! All your excuses for not doing things come from books. You read too much."
Remus huffed slightly before he replied sounding hurt, "You read just as much as I do."
"I don't think that's poss-"
"Okay!" James interrupted, "as nice as this little love spat is, we need to get books yet. Don't we? So can we just forget what's bothering us Mr. Lupin, and Mrs. Black?"
Sirius swiftly slapped him on the back of the head, which seemed to make everyone feel better. So James felt it was safe to continue, "And let's just agree that this could be 'Dark' if it fell into the wrong hands, but it didn't, so we should be happy."
They walked down the street a bit before Peter spoke, "Plus, anything we learn about in school or elsewhere could somehow become a Dark Art. That is if we wanted to use it like that."
Sirius stared at Peter in slight awe that he'd come up with something so profound. Not to mention true, for that matter. He looked over at Remus, who looked as shocked as he felt, when James pushed open the door to Flourish & Blotts bookstore. The moment they stepped inside, they veered off in different directions to collect the items that they needed.
The last thing Sirius heard was Remus commenting to Peter about how he loved the scent of books. Preferably old books. A weird concept, but as Sirius walked through the isles he was inclined to agree with his mildly loopy friend.
He slowly collected the books that he needed, ending the hunt with his required text for Divination. He checked out and waited with Peter silently by the door. Remus was next to rejoin them with an extra assortment of books that included two classics and a small collection of popular comics that they would swap throughout the year.
They talked quietly about what they thought their new classes were going to be like (mainly Muggle Studies) before James finally showed up.
"Took you long enough!" Sirius stated, which only earned him a stern glance.
"Had to get more books for our… extra curricular activities."
Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend. They'd spent the entirety of last year trying to become Animagi, but had only gotten through the theory of it. By the time they'd gotten that down, they'd only had one night to try it. During that night Peter had sworn he'd gotten hair on his hand, but James and Sirius knew that it'd only been a shadow. Aside from that incident there had been little success on the matter.
"We are going to actually work on it this year, right?" Sirius stated, speaking his mind as he so often did.
James nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, I think we have the basics down, but it really depends more on whether or not Remus has any more secrets."
Remus looked up from his comic that he was already half way through, "There are none that I know of now. You have my permission to continue."
"Oh, that's very kind of you. You numpty."
Remus smiled at Sirius and they walked out of the store. They made their way over to the Quidditch supply store while talking openly about their Animagus transformations. When they reached the store they stood outside for a while gazing at the window display in awe of the new and improved Comet and duplicate robes of the ones Puddlemere United wore for their matches.
"I need that!" Sirius stated openly about the broom as he walked towards the shop door.
"Sirius!"
Sirius turned around and his eyes fell upon Andromeda. He felt his face fall as whatever conversation they had been having died with his new wave of brooding silence. Why'd you have to show up now? He thought, Be gone. One more hour at least.
Andromeda caught up with them. She smiled at the group before she looked at Sirius solemnly, "We have to go."
Sirius heard James laugh slightly as his face fell even more. He hardly understood what was so funny but he let it slide with a firm slap on the back of his friend's head. His cousin smirked at the way he was acting before she repeated herself once more.
"Why? I haven't seen them in ages. I need more time."
Andie looked at him straight, "We have to go because your mother knows how long it takes to shop for supplies. And you will see them next week so stop whining."
"But it's not fair!"
Andy sighed at him and stated mono-toned, "No one ever said-"
"Please, just spare me the stupid sayings," then he turned to his friends, "I guess I'll see you next week."
"Don't sound so glum." Remus stated.
"I promise it won't be that bad." James offered.
Sirius smirked at the comment and sighed resignedly. It was silent for a while and he could practically hear Andromeda say "Common!" even though no such words were uttered.
Then suddenly Peter exclaimed, "Group hug!" and suddenly Sirius was stuck in the middle of a full circle bear hug. He smiled widely but prayed that no one has seen them do that. He then turned around before Andromeda actually had the chance to say anything. He walked away from the group by Andromeda's side before he waved once to his friends and disappeared around a corner.
