THC – Round Three
House: Slytherin
Class: Herbology
Category: Standard
Prompts: [Colour] Orange [Location] Quidditch Pitch
Word Count: 2097
Disclaimers/TWs:
Beta's: S L Blake, StoryPlease, Charlie9646
"Moony," Sirius whined childishly. "You just stepped on my foot!"
"You're the one who woke me up at this ridiculous hour! I can't believe I'm helping you do this, so, if you complain one more time–"
"Shhh!"
Sirius couldn't help but chuckle as he shushed his best friend, glancing at the map as they wandered through the corridors. Remus was right– it was a ridiculous hour– four o'clock in the morning, to be precise. But they had to do it now, because in an hour's time James would be up and ready for Quidditch practice. So, they had to be organised and prepared, in order to pull off this prank.
Yes, they were going to pull a prank on James.
Whether they'd regret it or not later, well… That was a problem they would handle at a later time.
At this moment, they had to reach the Head Boy's room before a professor found them. Which was proving to be successful.
Although, knowing my luck, Sirius thought as they finally reached the door, this is probably where we'll get caught.
Peter had been too chicken to join in on this prank; he had argued that they shouldn't turn on each other. He didn't see the humour in it, but both Sirius and Remus thought it was a great idea. So had Lily Evans, who had overheard them when they were planning it in the library. She was their ticket to learning the password, and to make sure that James had absolutely no idea what they were planning.
"He'll know it was us," Remus commented in a hushed whisper.
Sirius rolled his eyes as he knocked five times so Lily knew they were there. "We're the only ones stupid enough to prank him, of course he'll know it was us. That's the whole bloody point," he said, grinning with amusement.
He jumped, however, when a voice startled him.
"Halt, young Knights! I shall need the password before you are allowed in!"
He looked just above him and that's when he finally noticed the portrait. It was large and had a gold frame, but the painting interested Sirius the most. A white horse, with a knight in a protective stance. He had never seen this one before, but perhaps there was a good reason for that.
He glanced at Remus with an amused smirk as the knight tripped over his own feet while getting off his horse, though that did nothing for his nerves. What if the knight warned the professors of their presence? Their planning would go to waste. He couldn't have that.
"Prince Arthur," Remus spoke, his voice just barely above a whisper.
"No, no, young man. Though it praises me to have been compared to such a fine noble, I am not him. For I am Sir Cadogan, at your service!" The knight exclaimed.
Sirius raised his eyebrows, trying his best not to laugh, both at the so-called knight, and at Remus' expression. He looked like he was done with it all, and Sirius couldn't help but be pleased that someone had gotten that reaction out of his best friend.
"No, Sir Cadogan. Prince Arthur is the password–"
"Oh yes, of course. Of course. Well then, young men, come on in, I suppose. Although, why are you here at this time?"
"Thank you, Sir Cadogan, for your protection. I'll take them from here, if you don't mind."
Never had Sirius been so thankful to hear Lily's voice.
Once she had distracted the knight, Sirius let out a breath of relief when she closed the door, making sure it didn't slam as she did so.
Sirius was about to ask something, but didn't get a chance to as he was shushed and gestured to head to the fireplace of the small common room– which still seemed more spacious than the Gryffindor common room – but hey, he wasn't going to argue about that right now.
"You know the plan, right?" Lily asked, with a little excitement in her eyes.
Sirius grinned wolfishly and nodded, "Like the back of my hand. You know, Lily-flower, if I weren't mistaken I'd think you were—" Whatever he had been about to say they never found out, but that was mainly because Lily placed her hand over his mouth and gave him a stern look.
"Shut up," she replied, trying and failing to hide her flushed cheeks as she glanced over to James's room before looking back at Sirius. "I am in half a mind to tell Professor McGonagall about this."
"And the other half of your mind?" Remus questioned, quickly. He had been staring, not knowing how to help his best friend; he decided distracting Lily would be the better way to go.
Sirius gave Remus a grateful expression, one which shone through his eyes, as Lily removed her hand from his mouth.
"Yes, well, he's a light sleeper, so, you probably have about ten minutes before he stirs and realises you're there. Whatever you're going to do, do it quickly," she said, her voice still in a hushed whisper.
"How do you know he's a light sleeper?" Sirius couldn't help but blurt out, smirking at her even darker flushed cheeks. He knew it, he knew something was happening between the two of them and this confirmed that! Oh, he couldn't wait to tease James about it.
Before she could give him a piece of her mind, Remus dragged him away by holding his wrist, which sufficiently distracted Sirius from anything else that was going on, as the contact made his heart skip a beat.
"You're an idiot, Pads." Remus deadpanned.
"I know," Sirius replied, smiling stupidly, as he focused on being as quiet as he could, climbing up the steps to James's sleeping quarters.
"That wasn't meant to be a compliment," Remus said, rolling his eyes somewhat fondly.
"What if he wakes up the moment we open the door?" Sirius asked, hesitating, as his fingers hovered over the doorknob, concern written all over his face as he turned to Remus.
Sirius held his breath as Remus placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, leaning so close he could practically feel his hot breath on the back of his neck.
"Then we run," Remus replied, seriously.
Sirius managed a chuckle before nodding. Without another word, he opened the door with bated breath.
OoO
Sirius didn't realise how little sleep he had gotten, courtesy of his adventures earlier that morning with Remus and Lily. But he didn't regret it, as he was woken up by a muffled scream and groan coming from his best friend, who was stuck staring in the full length mirror on the wardrobe door. Sirius sat up in his bed, trying to hold in his laughter, but failed miserably as he used his hand in an attempt to hide his reaction.
Yes, James had access to the Head Boy quarters now, but that didn't stop him from coming back to his old dormitory every morning. In fact, Sirius was more than certain that half of his clothes were kept in his old drawers, and the other half where his clothes actually should be.
"Orange, of all the colours, orange!" James grumbled miserably.
Sirius shook his head at James's attempt to fix his hair. What was standing out was that this was not his best friend's usual, purposely messy jet-black hair – but something completely different, something completely and utterly ridiculous. He was very glad that he and Remus had decided to go through with the prank, because honestly, it was worth the risk.
"What's wrong with the colour orange?" Sirius asked, innocently. Perhaps, too innocently, as his eyes widened at the death glare James sent his way. Did he know it was them, already? His heart skipped a beat, taking in a breath, wondering just what his best friend was thinking.
"Are you being serious, Pads? What isn't wrong with orange? It doesn't suit me, and it's going to look ridiculous during the game this morning!" James replied, grunting, complaining as he moved a hand through his orange dyed hair.
Sirius was about to answer, as he changed into his school clothes, making sure his tie was a mess but his hair was as neat and curly as ever, when he realised James was on one of his rants. So, he closed his mouth once again and kept his thoughts to himself.
"I don't understand how they did it!" James exclaimed, dramatically. "The only way that would have to have worked is if they–"
"Alright!" Sirius said, loudly, with over-the-top excitement, rubbing the palms of his hands together. "Let's get breakfast! Who knows, perhaps there'll be oranges?"
Sirius cringed, closing his eyes, wishing, just for once, that he hadn't said what he thought he had just said.
In the deathly silence, he knew his answer.
"Pads?"
"Yeah?"
"Run."
OoO
Sirius fiddled with the sleeve of his Quidditch robe as he, along with the rest of his team, waited for the match to start. They were playing against Ravenclaw today, and it was one of their last games before they left Hogwarts. Yes, he was in his last year. Yes, that's why he wanted to prank James – as a last hoorah before joining the real world. And yes, he knew that at any moment now it would click for James just who it was that had dared to dye his hair.
And no, Sirius was not scared.
He was terrified.
Of the game… Not his best friend…
He didn't know who he was trying to convince.
As they made their way onto the pitch, getting into their starting positions, he couldn't help but glance over at James, who was getting a lot of attention from the spectators and professors alike.
Sirius flew by his best friend and grinned, his smile hiding his nerves as he acted in a way he usually would so as to not rouse suspicion.
"I wonder what it would look like with a bright pink stripe down the centre? You know, you–" He was interrupted, however, at the evil death glare James sent his way. He gulped and backed away slightly, hovering over to where his position should be on the pitch.
"I've been thinking, Sirius," James started, sounding like he was just about done with everything.
"You shouldn't do that, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself," Sirius quipped, again, without thinking. He mentally face palmed himself, pulling a face, internally cursing up a storm.
"Someone would have to be really close to me in order to pull off this prank," James continued, as if he hadn't heard Sirius's insult.
Sirius's eyes widened, his heart started beating heavily as he tried to fake his innocence, which he thought he was doing quite well until he noticed James abandoning his starting position, aiming for a very unfortunate target.
"Oh?" Sirius replied, quietly.
"Oh," James said.
"Looks like a commotion on the Gryffindor team between best friends and teammates James Potter and Sirius Black; wonder if it has anything to do with the orange hair that's become the main topic of gossip for the day? Potter, it annoyingly suits you and the girls are swooning–"
Sirius chuckled at the commentary, biting his bottom lip as he backed away once again from James, who was getting threateningly close. He hoped, just for a second, that that announcer had saved him from a very pissed off James Potter, but it did nothing of the sort. If anything, it made things worse.
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall. Yes, I'll focus on the game. Which is still waiting for the teams to be ready, and by the looks of… oh, look at that, Potter is chasing Black across the pitch! Does that mean what I think it means? Did Black prank his best friend? He's so in trouble!"
"And so are you! One more warning!" Professor McGonagall's voice was heard not just through the stands, but the pitch too.
Sirius stopped paying attention as he flew for his life, worried about what James was going to do to him the moment they finished the match. He didn't care that they were waiting for him, he didn't care that James was going to hate him for the rest of the day. He didn't even care that he was probably going to get a detention or two.
All he cared about was spotting Remus in the stands, standing with their friends, laughing, looking happy after everything he had gone through. And that he, Sirius Black, was the reason Remus was smiling.
It felt good.
Everything was good.
