Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: So…Tag is back and so is my rapid-fire fills that are totally random. Here's more genderfluid Sirius Black and the rest of the Marauders. Also, there's minor references to NBphobia with a bit of imposter syndrome thrown in for added measure, but don't worry. The Marauders have Sirius' back. On a different note, I was listening to "Bad Blood" by Bastille while writing this and that's where title is pulled from.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Misunderstood; More than England; Rainbow Focus; Black Ribbon; Black Ribbon Redux; Gryffindor MC (x4); Marauders Tales; Bow Before the Blacks; Fall Leaves; Seeds; Minerva's Migraine; Interesting Times; Old Shoes; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A [Love]; Themes & Things B [Protection]; Ethnic & Present; True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 11 – Assignment 04
Subject (Task No.): Charms (Task#2: Write about blowing something up with Bombarda Maxima.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [231]("Did you hear that?"); 365 [28](Courtesy); Sci-Fi September [Repulsor Technology](Blue color); Mythology Club (Chains)
Space Address (Prompt): Fa Bingo [4C] (Leaves)
Representation(s): the Marauders; Genderqueer Sirius Black; Remus Lupin/Sirius Black pre-ship; Desi James Potter; Mixed Remus Lupin
Bonus Challenges: Casper's House; Hot Apple; Second Verse (Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Car in a Tutu; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Muck & Slime); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: TY (Enfant; Ntaiv); O3 (Orator; Oath); FR (Satisfaction; Liberation); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); T3 (Toad)
Word Count: 1504

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These Little Things
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"Did you hear that?" Remus said, drawing James and Peter's attention away from their game of chess. James exchanged a look with Peter. The other boy just shrugged with a bemused look on his face. Remus was already placing the pale blue ribbon that he was using as a bookmark into the book he had been reading and shoving the book into the satchel that Sirius had got him for his birthday just the previous year. The edges of the leather had been tooled with aconite blossoms, because Sirius and Remus both had the same horrible love of irony. "Come on. I think we should check it out. It came from that direction."

"That's the direction of the Forbidden Forest," Peter pointed out in a trembling voice. "We know what's out there!"

"Exactly," James agreed as he tapped the board with his wand to trigger its built-in packing charm. It gave off a blue glow as it obeyed, not that it was really visible in the bright light of a perfect autumn day, the kind with a flawless blue sky that looked like it had been painted in place. Once packed, he handed the board over to Remus to be shoved into the wolfsbane bag. "We know what's out there, except for whatever made the noise that Remus just heard."

"So, you're what? Going to run towards it?" Peter squeaked as James and Remus proceeded to do just that. "Oh, god, you are. You're running towards the danger!"

"Yep," James called back over his shoulder. He didn't spare any more breath than that. He couldn't afford to, really, not if he was going to be able to keep up with Remus. Despite how exhausted he got around the full moon, Remus kept in better shape than James did with his training regime for Quidditch. James knew that Remus could outpace all of them except for Sirius, who would just cheat and transform into Padfoot to keep up. He had done it enough that all of Hogwarts knew there was a large black dog roaming the grounds and not even Professor Halliwell (who was rumored as thinking of retiring from teaching Divination) thought it was an omen of death anymore.

A loud boom sounded from deep within the forest. Well, not really that deep, James guessed, because they stumbled into a clearing almost immediately upon getting past the section of trees where the castle was still visible. And then promptly dropped to the ground as one because the figure in the clearing threw another powerful Exploding Hex, this time in their general direction. Luckily, living with Sirius Black (and Lily Evans, to a lesser extent) had given them an instinctive response to shouts of "bombarda maxima". Namely, that they kiss ground and be thankful that it missed them, because Sirius wasn't always, well, stable enough to note was at the other end of his wand.

James knew from his mother's stories of growing up that it was just a trait of being a Black. If he hadn't known it before making friends with Sirius, then watching even one of the epic duels between the Blacks currently attending Hogwarts would have been enough to convince him. Blacks were vicious and ruthless and downright insane. He still had nightmares of Andromeda and Bellatrix fighting in the entrance hall over Ted Tonks, and not just because being slipped a love potion was horrifying.

"Why is Sirius wearing a dress?" Peter panted from the leaves next to him. James looked up and sure enough, the person who had thrown the hex at the hawthorn near where they had entered the clearing was Sirius. He was wearing the light blue dress that Lily had been wearing on the Hogwarts Express this year. He must have let Lily perform the extension charms necessary, because it actually fit his beefier form rather than being oddly stretched as it would be if Sirius had performed the charms. "Are those chains?"

Only now that Peter had pointed it out did James notice that Sirius had several copper chains wrapped loosely around his hips like they were belts. Each link was connected to the next one with a dark blue bead that glittered in the sunlight that streamed through the break in the canopy above. Sirius spun to aim another Exploding Hex at another hawthorn on the other side of the clearing. The delicate chiming of the chains with their beads was nearly lost under the concussion of the hex exploding into the tree. James blinked in confusion when the tree just shook instead of raining splinters down on them. Then he wanted to hit himself.

All the trees lining the clearing were hawthorns. It didn't surprise him that Sirius knew where there was a hawthorn grove on the Hogwarts grounds. Given that it was practically the Black family tree, it was even possible that some long ago Black had been the one to plant it. That was if magic didn't encourage the growth herself because of how long the Blacks had been attending Hogwarts. The Blacks weren't the only family that had a strong connection to one of the twelve woods that made up the Celtic calendar, but James had never seen any of the other families that claimed such an affinity that was able to match a Black's ability to work with hawthorn. If the trees had been any other kind, there was no way that they would still be standing, not at the strength that Sirius was capable of dishing out in a temper.

As if to prove his point, Sirius twisted in a quarter turn and fired again. The ash tree exploded into thousands of shards. Peter whimpered as he covered his head. On James' other side, Remus heaved a sigh and shoved himself up headless of the danger from the still following shards. Then Remus approached Sirius, who was clearly upset as well as angry, as if he had nothing to fear from the Exploding Hexes being thrown about. It was always that way with them. When they had figured out that Remus was a werewolf, it had been Sirius that had first closed the distance that Remus had tried to put between them. Yet for all that, it was also between them that the fights typically happened. James had a bet with Frank Longbottom that the pair would end up dating before the end of their seventh year. At the rate it was going, James was likely to convince Lily Evans to date him (instead of the giant squid) than these two to actually get their heads out of their asses.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be on a date with Colin Selwyn?" Remus asked. Sirius literally growled and twisted away to aim a hex at another hawthorn that was safely away from any Marauder-shaped target. Remus rubbed a hand down Sirius' back, the light olive contrasting nicely with the pale blue of the dress that Sirius wearing. "That bad, eh?"

"He didn't even have the courtesy to cancel before going out Tabitha Rosier." Sirius screamed out the incantation as he hit the same target as before. Then he wrapped his arms around himself with a loud sniff. When he continued, his voice was shaky. "He said-he said that if he wanted to date a girl, that he was perfectly capable of getting one. I tried to explain that-that I wasn't a girl, but, but he said-"

"He said that you weren't a boy," James said when it became obvious that Sirius wasn't going to continue. Sirius folded like a puppet with its strings cut at the words. Remus barely caught him in time to slow their descent to the ground. James barely paid any attention because he was scrambling to get to his feet and to them.

"What could I even say?" Sirius demanded through his silent tears. "It's not like he's not right. I even borrowed Lily's dress. What kind of boy wears dresses?"

"Ones with more self confidence that I will ever have," Remus muttered drily. "I just don't think I could pull it with my figure."

"Remus," James hissed, "you shouldn't say things like that! Your figure is just fine." Sirius was still shaking a bit but the hiccups sounded more like laughter than sobs now. James deliberately paused as if thinking before continuing. "Maybe something in yellow or red, though. I don't think you could pull off the blue like Sirius can. Sorry, but you're more of an autumn than a winter."

"What James is trying to say," Remus interrupted, clearly planning to ignore James' comment, "is that what does it matter what boys do? You're not one, and you never need to be one if that's not what you are. Selwyn can go get eaten by a dragon."

"That's really not fair," Peter interjected as he plopped down next to their little huddle. "What did the dragon do to deserve the ingestion?"

This time there was no denying that Sirius was actually laughing.