Okay, here is Chappie 26, things are hotting up! (Except the writing, which remains its awful self.) Bad news, though, because the computer has rebelled and... gone funny, to use a technical term. My story has temporarily gone missing... There were two finished chapters not yet posted here, and the story's not finished yet... But I'll find them, I promise! Assuming you care, although the reviews continue to be positive, so that's a good sign! Cheers dudes!
Chapter Twenty-Six: They say the Sun is sometimes eclipsed by the Moon
The next Friday afternoon, almost a week later, the Gryffindors had their usual lazy lesson with Professor Harlem. They were reading about Pluto, the last planet in the solar system, today.
"Pluto is so far away in the universe," Harlem told them in his soft Irish drawl, sitting as usual on his desk at the front of the class, "that the Sun would only appear to it as a brightish star amongst countless others in the sky. The planet is named after Hades, the ancient ruling god of the underworld in Greek and Roman mythology."
The mythical origins and naming of the planets, as the students had long-since found out, was Harlem's favourite part of the subject. He carried on, "Pluto is a mysterious, remote world, unimaginably cold and forbidding... which I suppose gives us an idea of what the Slytherins' common room might be like," he added with a roguish smile.
Enjoying a piss-take of the rival house, the pupils laughed appreciatively. Except for Adriana, Sirius noticed, as he glanced at her. He didn't mention it to James next to him, though.
After he'd finished on Pluto, Harlem decided they'd do something on eclipses. "As the eclipse of the Sun is coming up on Sunday," he said as they turned to the relevant pages in their textbooks.
They read about eclipses of the Moon first. "There is an eclipse of the Moon whenever the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun in such a way that the Moon's orbit takes it into the Earth's shadow," the book said. "This can happen only at full moon, when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun."
At this point Remus was interrupted in his reading when a note fell on the open page in front of him. He unfolded it and read Sirius' scrawled handwriting: "Bad Luck, Wolfman!"
Remus grinned and carried on reading about lunar eclipses.
Towards the end of the lesson, Harlem told them a little about eclipses of the Sun, in preparation for Sunday. "An eclipse of the Sun takes place when the Moon passes between it and the Earth. When the Moon appears to be the same size as the Sun as we view it from here, the eclipse is said to be total. In such an eclipse, the Moon's shadow falls on a region of the Earth and sunlight is cut off from that region." He paused and looked at them, the ever-present smile quivering on his lips.
"Those are the facts," he said, "but it's much more exciting watching it for real. I expect you all to be up on the Tower on Sunday afternoon; you owe to me guys, after the lack of homework I've set you this year."
The end of the lesson came and they packed up. Sirius was quite looking forward to the eclipse, but next to him James grumbled, "Sounds like a bit of a waste of a Sunday, especially when we'll probably have hangovers. Oh well, something to get out of bed for, I suppose."
Sirius frowned. "Apart from me?" he asked. "How dare you?!"
As they walked out the door, Harlem said, "My condolences on your defeat last weekend," but the smirk could still be seen.
"Oh, shut yet trap, sir," Sirius replied lightly, "Or I'll give you a goo punch up the bottom."
"Such decadence I've never heard of," Harlem muttered.
"You like that phrase, don't you, Padfoot?" Remus asked.
"Punch up the bottom? Yeah," Sirius said. "I'm airing more towards 'punch up the bracket' not, though; it sounds less... homoerotic."
Absorbed in their conversation, the Marauders didn't notice Adriana hanging back to arrange a private meeting with Harlem later on after dinner; to discuss some problems she had with the subject, she said.
"I'd better be going," Adriana said that evening, rising from where she had sat at Peter's feet before the fire. "I don't want to be late for my appointment with Professor Harlem."
"Ooh!" The girls whooped excitedly. "Up on the tower, is it?" Bethan asked, giggling. "How romantic!"
"Aren't you worried, Peter?" Lily added. "What if that gorgeous man tries it on with your gorgeous girlfriend?" she teased.
Peter smiled up at Adriana. "I trust you," he said as she bent down to kiss him. Sirius had to look away; he felt no trace of jealousy, but the sounds of the couple bidding each other farewell went on for ages and were hard to bear. Finally Lily broke it up, by saying loudly, "See you later, then, hun."
Her prompt had the right effect, and soon Adriana had gone, leaving Peter rather red in the face.
"Yeah," said Bethan, also getting up, "I'd better go too, I'm meeting Marley tonight." Sirius gave a snort of derisive laughter, which luckily only James heard.
"Right." James slapped Sirius on the thigh. "Let's finish this Transfiguration homework, then."
"Nothing would give me more pleasure," Sirius replied dryly as they sat down at the table and got their books out. "Moony, Wormtail, you coming?"
Peter came over to join them, but Remus remained where he was, at the window. "No, I'll do it later," he said absently.
"Dost my ears deceive me?" shocked wasn't the word for how James sounded. "Or is Remus Lupin, top student and prefect, putting off his homework?"
Remus didn't reply, but continued to look out at the deserted, darkening school grounds. The others were all turned towards him, looking puzzled.
"You alright, Moony?" James asked.
Remus looked around and blinked, he seemed surprised and self-conscious to see everyone so interested in him. "Yes, of course," he said, and then grinned. "Why, what have you heard?" The others laughed as he came to sit beside them. "I'm just a bit tired after the full moon, but you're right, I do need to do this homework."
Sarah sat down between James and Peter and looked at their work. "I've got to do that, too," she realised sadly, and went to fetch her bag.
Half an hour later the five were sat at the same table, scribbling busily. Lily had gone to bed, having done the homework already, and Bethan had left to meet Marley. Sirius and James were racing each other to see who could finish the final paragraph first. James glanced over at Sirius' parchment and continued writing on his own at an even greater speed. He finished with a gleeful smile and a triumphant flourish, and set his quill down just as Sirius scoured a full stop into his page.
"Face it: you're a pathetic loser compared with the likes of me," James said smugly, leaning onto the back two legs of his chair with his hands behind his head.
Sirius looked at his own parchment, then at James'. "You haven't put your name on yours," he commented casually, as he screwed the lid onto his inkbottle.
James brought his chair back down to all fours with a bang and inspected his work. "Crap!"
Sarah looked at both the scrolls. "You know it doesn't matter," she told them, "because no one would be able to read either of your equally abysmal handwriting, and McGonagall definitely won't accept what you've just produced."
Sirius eyed her lazily. "Don't be pedantic, Sarah," he said, closing his tired eyes, "if it's that bad then McGonagall can Transfigure the writing into something more to her liking."
Peter set his quill down and looked up. "Done!" he announced proudly.
"Well done, Wormy," Sirius yawned.
"Guys," Sarah said suddenly, "Where's Adriana?"
Sirius opened his eyes to see Peter look up quickly at Sarah, who wore a worried expression. Remus checked his watch.
"Yeah, it's been nearly an hour," he told them, "that meeting thing with Harlem shouldn't have taken this long."
"In theory," Sirius said logically. "But you all know how much Harlem likes to talk; chances are Adriana's still standing up on the tower freezing and listening to him going on about one of Jupiter's moons or something." He couldn't deny to himself that this was a satisfying thought.
"Or," Sarah said, her voice rising, "something awful could have happened!"
"Yeah," Peter agreed, sounding worried and squeaky, "Remember what Lily said – Harlem might try it on with my gorgeous girlfriend!"
"No." Sirius banged his palms down on the table and sat up properly, glaring at them. "Why are you saying that? You're making something out of fucking nothing! You know that Professor Harlem would never do anything like that."
"Well, where is she then?" Sarah asked timidly after a moment's silence.
All four of them looked to Sirius. He sighed, feeling slightly guilty about his outburst. "If you're that worried, why don't we go check on her?" He looked at Remus, and they seemed to be thinking the same thought: what was Adriana up to?
"At this time of night?" Sarah said. "We'll be caught!"
"I'll get the Cloak," James said, and sprinted up the stairs.
At Sarah's obvious confusion, Sirius explained, "He has an Invisibility Cloak. Comes in very handy for parties and late night feasts and general late night wanderings. But keep it under cover," he added confidentially, giving her a wink as he mimed zipping his lips up.
"It won't fit all five of us under there, though," Peter protested.
"It'll fit four at most," Sirius muttered, working out a plan as he spoke. "Me and Moony can stay here, in case she comes back, and you three go." When Peter looked suspicious, he assured him, "Don't worry, I won't try anything with her." 'That was so last year!' he thought with a small smile.