How Do I Look?
Ch.4: Bad Day
It's been a bad day, please don't take my picture,
It's been a bad day, please
It's been a bad day, please don't take my picture,
It's been a bad day, please
-Bad Day by REM
Sirius didn't see much of the Slytherin Common Room Thursday or Friday. After classes on both days he went straight to the library to find out how to fix his predicament. For hours he went through book after book on the Strengthening Solution-the potion they had been working on-but not a single one said a single thing about what happened when sugar was added to the potion. Stupid, useless books!
On Friday night when he should probably have been out with that Ravenclaw girl he was in the bloody library instead. "I've never read so much in my life!" he groaned, but he knew he had to stick to his task. The full moon was in a few days and Snape could not be in his body then.
"What are you doing?" Regulus asked, coming from out of nowhere to sit next to Sirius.
"Throwing a party," Sirius said scathingly, glaring at his baby brother.
Regulus put on his signature about-to-cry look then swallowed and said, "I could help you, you know."
Sirius opened his mouth to tell Regulus something undoubtedly horrible, but then closed it and smiled. "Yes you could."
o0o
James came bursting into the Boys' Dormitory Friday night looking rather distressed. "Padfoot!" he exclaimed. "I lost the map!"
Snape stared. He had seen the map in question earlier that week and his impression of it was that it was a wonderful piece of magic. He had been on the verge giving the Marauders credit for it because it was rather amazing. He didn't know how long they had the map, but of course Potter would lose it-he would lose his feet if they weren't attached to him.
When Snape didn't say anything, James started rambling to fill up the space. "I know, it's bad, but it wasn't my fault. Well maybe a little, but not really. I was just going to the kitchens with the cloak and map and I think I must of dropped it and I retraced my steps about a billion times, but it just wasn't there!' he said earnestly. About two seconds after this speech, Remus came in. "Moony! I lost the map!"
"You WHAT!"
"Lost the map, but it wasn't my-"
"James Laurence Potter, you had better go find that map!" Remus said, pointing to the door.
"But I've already looked-"
"Look harder then!'
"I won't find it, I know I won't," James protested as he walked out of the Boys' Dormitory. He wanted to back to the kitchens anyway.
When he was gone, Remus noticed Snape. "He's an idiot," Remus said. Snape just nodded and carried on with his life.
o0o
"One book? I get rid of you for two hours and you come back with one lousy book? It looks ancient! How on Earth am I supposed to read it?"
"You found all the other books," Regulus whined. "Why are you so interested in the Strengthening Solution anyway? Why don't you just ask Professor Slughorn?"
"I don't want to."
Regulus sighed. "It's one o'clock in the morning. I am a little boy. Little boys should be sleeping at one o'clock in the morning, not fetching books." (A/n: adapted from "Drake and Josh")
"Fine. Then go to bed. See if I care."
Regulus hesitated, then left. At the door he turned around and said, "You should get some sleep."
Sirius growled, which sent him scampering. "Stupid little boy," Sirius muttered.
o0o
"So did you find it?" Remus asked when James came back late Friday night-or rather early Saturday morning.
James, who was holding various edible (supposedly) objects, stared blankly at Remus for a while. "Oh!" he said, eyes widening as he remembered. "The map, you mean? Nah, but Lily's coming with me to Hogsmeade tomorrow. What are you doing up so late anyway?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm not tired," he said vaguely.
"Okay," James said sitting on his bed, which was next to Remus', and consuming the various edible objects in his hand. "Why aren't you tired?"
"Because I don't want to sleep."
"Oh, well that explains it."
"Good. Now let me not sleep."
James grinned. "Ah, you mean 'Let me be an insomniac in peace'."
"Exactly."
"Alright then," James said, lying down on his bed. "Goodnight."
"'Night," Remus said.
o0o
At four a.m. Sirius made his way back to the Slytherin Dormitories with a book in his hand. It happened to be the book that Regulus had found-all the other books had been highly unhelpful. Before crawling into bed, Sirius glanced at the title- Pythagoras' Potions Theories. It was rather old looking and hard to read. 'Well this looks promising,' Sirius thought sarcastically. 'I need a holiday.'
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A/n: This is a really short chapter, I know, but I wanted to get it over with and I only had two ideas-the book and the map. I'm going to have fun with the next chapter, so it should be longer and more amusing.