The Rival

Much to Sirius' great surprise - and minor displeasure - the best and most prime location to stir up trouble was the potions section of the Library. It was secluded - which was ideal in his opinion- and happened to have the best line of sight to the reference desk and the vulture of a librarian, Madam Pince. She was strict woman, with a pinched nose, thin lips, and a countenance to rival that of his mother, and Sirius could tell that she was going to be a thorn in his side for the next seven years.

But he was not going to let her deter him from his current set of targets.

Sirius leaned out from between the stacks and watched the small gathering of students. It was mostly students from his house, universally nerdish as they were, with a few Hufflepuffs and Slytherins sprinkled throughout.

Beside him, Peter Pettigrew mimicked his movements, glancing back at Sirius every so often to make sure he was mirroring him exactly. Sirius would have been more annoyed if he didn't recognize that there were certain advantages to having a partner in crime, even one as awkward and sweaty as him. So Sirius tolerated his presence for the time being, and ignored his nervous vibrating next to him as he watched the other students.

Sometime around Halloween, Sirius had gained Peter as a near constant companion. At first he tried to resist, too determined to make as much mischief on his own, before he finally relented.

And he supposed, although he would never admit so out loud, Peter wasn't so bad to have around.

At the very least, he could proudly report to his parents about his new Gryffindor friend.

It was a little thing – a tiny little droplet of disappointment and embarrassment for his parents- but he was determined to turn it into an absolute flood.

And he would start with the first of his pranks.

His current target, out of sheer coincidence more than anything else, was the bird girl Mavis. Face buried in a book and hand discreetly feeding something under the desk, she hardly noticed Remus Lupin sitting across from her, let alone the book currently floating in her direction high above her head. It was only a small book, something about the moon if he remembered correctly, and wasn't likely to hurt.

But it would certainly be annoying.

And it would certainly be enough to cause the distraction he needed for the actual business of the day.

Remus tapped the table in front of Mavis and pointed to something in the open book between them, a smirk twisting his tired face.

Mavis snorted, covering her mouth to keep the volume to a minimum when Madam Pince warned her with a loud shush. They leaned their heads together and Mavis continued to laugh, much quieter this time, as Remus pointed to another place on the page in his book. They seemed attached to each other, even after only a few months, and Sirius found himself souring at the idea for reasons he could not even begin to explain. She whispered something back to him, gesturing wildly with the hand sitting on the desk. She looked conspiratorial, mischievous even, and Sirius would have been intrigued if not for the fact that he was still endlessly suspicious about the first night he met her.

She clearly knew who he was, just as well as he knew who she was, but she had since given no other indication of her opinion on him. The Fawleys were old money and even older blood, but they had never been fond of high society. They attended, at most, one even every couple of years. Sirius had never seen Mavis before, but he met her mother and father and older sister a few times.

Her father, Finchley Fawley was strange, but not unpleasant.

Sirius wished he could say the same for her mother.

Slimy, social climbing, obsessed with appearances and accumulating more money than Merlin himself, Bellona Fawley was a miserable woman just like Sirius' own mother. He supposed it was why they were so close. He also supposed it was why he was so suspicious of Mavis and her intentions.

She was too nice to him, too willing to cover for him, and he was determined to know why.

He was willing to wait for that information, however, so he made himself busy for the time being by levitating the book above her head. He moved his wand to the left ever so slightly, lining up the book with the largest part of the pile of white-blonde hair sitting messily atop her head. She didn't even notice, too engrossed in her endlessly entertaining conversation with Remus to see much of anything besides the book on the table between them. Remus turned a little bit in his chair and closed the book.

He was far more observant than Mavis and Sirius panicked when he saw Remus point up, lips quirked slightly in what could generously be called a smile.

"Ready?" Sirius hissed to Peter, moving his wand to lift the book up higher and just out of Mavis' reach.

Something grabbed the back of Sirius' head just as he moved the book. The fingers dug into his hair and pulled, yanking his head back until it banged into the stacks. An enthusiastic cackle followed as the poltergeist zoomed up to the top of the ceiling. He was a wicked little man, with bright orange eyes, black hair not unlike his own, and blueish skin. He kept laughing as Sirius pushed himself off the shelf and rubbed the back of his head.

"Icky Wicky Firsty Yirsty," The poltergeist said, hovering just in front of Sirius, a wicked smile on his face.

"Miss Fawley!"

Sirius glowered at the poltergeist as he attempted to push him out of the way, feeling a bubble of guilt spring up when he saw Mavis sitting on the floor next to her desk, rubbing a bright red patch of skin on her forehead. Remus helped her to her feet and picked up the book, dusting it off as he showed it to her. Mavis looked around, dancing from stack to stack, until she found Sirius peering out at her from behind the bookcase.

Instead of being angry, like he would have been, she merely stared at him – eyes searching and lips tight.

A plume of smoke exploded from between the stacks and Sirius turned around, glowering at Peter as the entire library began to stink like a used toilet on a hot summer day.

The students began to scatter, eyes watering from the smell and noses and mouths covered by whatever they could find. A few even shoved their noses deep into the spines of their books, far preferring the smell of

"Miss Fawley, care to explain?"

Madam Pince hurried out from behind the reference desk, expression even more pinched than before. Mavis shirked under her gaze, blushing so bright the red spot on her forehead disappeared. The poltergeist flew down and hovered next to Sirius, cackling even louder when he tried to shoo him away.

"Sorry Madam Pince. I was trying to balance too many books and dropped one on my head."

The lie flowed from her easily and Sirius felt his suspicions about her rise exponentially.

He knew liars.

Liars of all sorts.

Good, bad, and everything in between.

Never once in his life had he encountered someone who so willingly lied for him when there wasn't something to be gained from it.

Students began to flee the room as the smell became nearly unbearable. Sirius was tempted to do the same, but his curiosity got the better of him and he continued to shoo away the poltergeist as he watched Mavis. Much to his great displeasure, in the short time he looked away, James Potter had managed to make an unwelcome appearance. Seemingly appearing out of thin air and right in the middle of the all the mess, he stood next to Mavis and Remus, squinting in the cloud of funk. His chest moved up and down, like he had been running, and he ran a hand through his already messy hair.

"The stink bomb?"

"I swear I know nothing about it," She said.

"It was me, Madam Pince," Potter said, cutting off Mavis before she could say anything else.

It was a noble gesture, one that reeked of self-indulgence rather than altruism to Sirius, and he found himself thinking poorly of the boy without really knowing him. Not that Sirius cared to. In general, and Sirius, who had spent his entire life learning to invest in generalities out of self-preservation, knew purebloods like him, even ones from as new money as the Potters, were only kind when there was something in it for them. Power, access, sex, money. Relationships were transactional and Sirius had little doubt that James Potter viewed Mavis Fawley in much the same light.

Power, perhaps. The Fawleys were extremely well-connected, even if they eschewed the advantages that came with it.

Access, also likely for much the same reason.

Sex, also possible, although Sirius found himself dismissing the thought almost immediately with a slight blush.

Money, unlikely. They were all filthy rich.

"We should go," Peter said, whispering in his ear, nervousness evident in every syllable. Sirius pushed him back, too focused on the scene in front of him to head his warnings. He should run in the opposite direction before she finally came to her senses and ratted him out.

Like he absolutely would have done, if the roles were reversed.

"Magic is not allowed outside of classrooms, Mr. Potter. Let this serve as your first and only warning. As for you both, three days detention."

"Sirius," Peter pushed, voice bordering on desperate.

The poltergeist continued to cackle, but the sound got quieter and quieter as he moved above their heads and out of their reach. Sirius shrank back into the protection of the narrow stacks when Madam Pince turned around to glower around the room. She pulled her wand out from beneath her robes and gave it an over exaggerated wave, pulling all the stinky gas back in and rendering Sirius' half-arsed plan entirely useless. He didn't even get ten minutes worth of chaos out of the whole thing.

What an absolute waste.

And to make it all worse, somehow Potter had managed to get credit for it.

Sirius tried not to let that get to him too much as he skulked out of the library, Peter hot on his heels. He wasn't sure where he was going to go, but he set his mind to wandering aimlessly through the castle until he figured it out. He assumed Peter would follow, although Sirius was indifferent to that fact.

"Oi!"

Sirius stopped short at the sound of the voice and pulled away, nearly running backwards into Peter. He let out a surprised squeak, although he tried to cover it up with a series of escalating coughs. Sirius shot him a look out of the corner of his eye but said nothing as he turned to face Potter. He stood at the end of the hallway, arms crossed over his chest. Mavis stood next to him, although she looked decidedly less comfortable with the possible confrontation than Potter. Remus rounded out the group, expression settling somewhere between bored and exhausted.

"Potter," Sirius called, trying to appear as casual as humanly possible as he strolled towards them.

For added nonchalance, he pushed his hair back off his face and regarded the three with the sort of arrogance that could only come from years spent being told he was better than anyone and everyone. It felt false on his face, like a cracked little mask, but he refused to let his discomfort show or to let Potter know how annoyed he was at the failure of his first prank.

"I'm assuming you're responsible for that mess?" Potter said, gesturing to the library with his chin.

Sirius made a noise at the back of his throat, leaving it up to Potter to interpret.

"Amateur."

"James," Mavis hissed, tugging on his sleeve.

"You think you could do something better?"

Sirius recognized the look on the other boys face, one so similar to his own that it was almost scary, but he ignored any hint of possible sameness between them. It was the same look he wore during their first flying lesson, and then again at the end of potions class – a subject at which Potter seemed to excel at- and then again whenever they made eye contact.

Again and again.

Over and over and over, challenging him. Poking and prodding and needling.

He took his first prank, the next step in his nearly decades long plot to embarrass and shame his parents by proxy into whatever oblivion he could inflict on them.

"I do. And I wouldn't even need to drop a book on Mavis' head to do it." Peter let out another noise and Sirius shushed him with a wave of his arm. "But it might make it more fun," Potter finished, shooting Mavis a playful look which she promptly rolled her eyes at.

"Then do it," Sirius said, challenging the other boy without even needing to think about it.

"Maybe I will."

"I look forward to it."

"Good."

"Great."

"Wonderful."

"It is."

Mavis let out a sigh and turned, hitching her bag higher up on her shoulder as Sirius and Potter continued to snipe back and forth at each other. She didn't bother to wait for Potter as she marched down the hallway, muttering under her breath as she went. Remus quickly followed, although he did pause long enough to whisper something to Potter before he moved on his way. Sirius, still glaring at the boy opposite paid them very little mind, although he did have to fight the smirk when he heard the string of colorful insults being thrown at them both as Mavis turned the corner and left them behind.

That little bird was going to be a problem, he was absolutely certain.

When Potter caught him staring, Sirius shot him the deepest and most through glare he could muster and channeled all his internal dissatisfaction at the boy in front of him.

"Great," Potter said.

"You already said that," Sirius said, determined to get in the final word if it was the last thing he did. To prevent Potter from saying anything else, he turned and started to walk away, mind turning to his next prank.

It would have to bigger than this one. Flashier and harder to miss. It needed to be better, and smarter, and with a bit more staying power.

Most of all, it would have to be unmistakably the work of Sirius Black.

Sirius smirked when a little idea sparked to life in his mind.

"Come on, Peter. We need to find a dead fish, a magnifying glass, and three teddy bears."

Not to give away everything, but I do believe Sirius' own worse enemy is himself. Ah well, we can't expect too much solid thinking from a bunch of miserable eleven year olds. This rivalry (both with himself and everyone else lol) is just getting started!

See you next time when we pick up with Remus!