Wednesday, November 17, 1976
"I don't think I have any homework today," Mary said brightly, flopping down into the chair across from Sirius.
"Neither do I," Sirius said, grinning. "What shall we do with all of our extra time?" He glanced in the direction of the dormitory staircase then looked at her questioningly.
"Oh," Mary said, frowning slightly. "I, er, can't today." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully
"Why?" Sirius asked, nonplussed, then his eyes widened in comprehension. "Oh."
"Yeah," she said. "Sorry."
He shrugged. "You don't need to apologize. It's not really something you have much control over, is it?" He thought for a minute. "Want to go throw Dungbombs off the Astronomy Tower instead, then?"
She laughed. "You know, I think I do."
"All right, hang on and I'll go get the Dungbombs." He dashed up the stairs to the dormitory, returning a few minutes later wearing his jacket and carrying a bulging bag.
"Let's go," he said, giving her a hand up and then leading the way out through the portrait hole.
"So, is this what you usually do when you're bored?" she asked as they strolled leisurely down the corridor.
"Among other things," Sirius replied. "It's also fun to drop them from the top of the staircase above the Great Hall. It's a laugh when you throw them at people and then duck out of sight, and then they look around all confused trying to figure out what just happened." He chuckled softly as he pictured it. "But they go the furthest off the Astronomy Tower, and we can smoke while we're up there."
"Boys are so strange sometimes," she observed, amused. "I would never think 'Hmm, I'm bored, what to do? Oh I know, I'll drop exploding wads of shit from high places.'"
"Well, it does sound incredibly juvenile and silly when you put it that way," Sirius admitted. "But then again, sometimes the most juvenile and silly activities are the most fun. Don't knock it 'till you try it, Macdonald." He raised his eyebrows. "Besides, I'd say it sounds much better than reading about how wand length corresponds to how big a wizard's knob is, or whatever the hell those Witch Weekly articles are about."
An unexpected burst of laughter escaped Mary's lips. "Is that really what you think Witch Weekly is about?" she asked incredulously.
Sirius shrugged. "I dunno, I figured it would be something like that for girls to find it so interesting."
"Because the only topic we could possibly find interesting is male genitalia?"
"Well, now you're making me sound juvenile and silly again," Sirius protested, grinning.
"All I'm saying is that I've seen Professor Sprout reading Witch Weekly at breakfast. Do you really think she'd sit there in plain view of everyone, reading about whether you can tell how well-endowed a bloke is by measuring his wand?" She eyed him skeptically.
"Why not? What, are you saying that professors are completely asexual, that just because they've chosen to spend their lives educating young witches and wizards that they're not allowed to have a sex drive? Because if so, that's just unfair, Macdonald, not to mention extremely impractical." He smirked at her as he opened the door to the Astronomy Tower and gestured for her to go first.
She rolled her eyes. "Black, it is exhausting to have a conversation with you, you know that?" She stepped through the door and walked to the edge of the tower, leaning idly against the cold stone. "At some point I'm going to force you to read Witch Weekly so you can be informed about what sort of content it does and doesn't contain."
"All right, fair enough," Sirius conceded, pulling his cigarettes from his pocket and offering her one before selecting one for himself. "At least Remus won't have to tell us off for smoking in the dormitory today."
"Poor Remus," Mary commented, releasing a long stream of smoke and watching it drift away.
Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "He's fine. He doesn't actually care, he's just sort of chosen it as the one rule to crack down on so he feels he's doing his due diligence as a prefect and doesn't feel as guilty about all the other rule breaking and shenanigans going unpunished."
"You do get away with murder, don't you?" Mary said affectionately.
"We really do," Sirius agreed. "It was honestly the best day of my life when Remus told us he'd been made a prefect. Dumbledore is such an optimistic bloke, he must have hoped Remus would be able to stop us from wreaking our usual havoc. He was, obviously, sorely mistaken." He grinned. "I suppose Evans was meant to pick up Remus's slack."
"She does take her prefect responsibilities seriously," Mary agreed. "I think she'll end up Head Girl."
"Oh, there's no question," Sirius said. He tapped the end of his cigarette against the stone railing to dislodge the ash, then took a long drag. "If Snape is picked for Head Boy, I'm fucking dropping out of school."
"I'm so glad they're not friends anymore," Mary confessed. "I know losing his friendship was hard for Lily, but he's just a bloody terrible person."
"And this is why we get along so well, Macdonald," Sirius said, dropping his cigarette butt onto the ground and grinding it beneath his boot. "We agree on the important things."
"We agree on most things, really," Mary replied.
"Except what's within the mysterious pages of Witch Weekly," Sirius said, smiling slyly. "Right, are you ready?"
She finished her cigarette, then nodded. "You'll have to show me, though. Can't say I've ever used a Dungbomb before."
He stared at her. "Never?"
She shook her head. "Nope."
He shook his head in disbelief. "You're joking! James and I carry a couple with us at all times. You never know when they're going to come in handy." He pulled a Dungbomb from the bag and handed it to her with a dramatic flourish. "It would be my honor to guide you through the detonation of your very first Dungbomb."
She accepted it hesitantly, holding it away from her body as if it might explode with the slightest provocation.
"You don't need to hold it like that, there's a protective spell that prevents it from going off unless you throw it," Sirius explained, amused by her obvious trepidation. "What I like to do is pick a spot on the ground, and see how close to it I can get."
Mary peered over the edge and scanned the ground far below them. "I'm going to try for that weird rock down there."
"Good choice. All right, now lean over and just let it drop. You don't need to throw it hard, because it'll pick up a lot of speed on the way down."
Mary followed his instructions, watching avidly as the Dungbomb hurtled to the ground. When it finally hit the grass and exploded with a satisfying splat, she let out an involuntary squeal of excitement.
"Nice one, Macdonald," Sirius said, nodding appreciatively.
"I didn't hit the rock," she said regretfully.
"Nah, but that was pretty damn close for your first time," Sirius assured her, pulling a Dungbomb from the bag for himself. "I'll try for that same rock." He leaned over the edge, frowning in concentration, then released his Dungbomb and watched its descent.
"See that, Macdonald?" he crowed as it splattered all over the rock. "Perfect aim."
"Let me try again," she said, reaching for the bag. "I think I can get it this time." She took aim and let her Dungbomb fall, biting her lip nervously as she tracked its journey to the ground.
"You've done it!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly as her Dungbomb exploded on top of the spot Sirius's had landed. "You're a natural. It took me ages to get that accurate."
"Call it beginner's luck," she said. "It's way more fun than it has any right to be, isn't it?"
"I tried to tell you," Sirius said, grabbing another Dungbomb from the bag. "This time, we're going to see how far we can throw it." He extended his hand over his head and sent the Dungbomb flying. It went forward a good distance before beginning to drop, then eventually hitting the ground next to several trees.
"Nice throw," Mary said, helping herself to another Dungbomb and preparing to throw hers. "I'll be lucky to get it half that far." When her Dungbomb came to rest at least ten feet short of Sirius's, he shook his head disapprovingly.
"Come on, Macdonald, you can do better than that. It's all in the wrist movement." He demonstrated, extending his wrist back, then flicking it forward in a graceful arc. "Here, try it again." He pulled a Dungbomb from the bag and handed it to her, then scrutinized her form as she mimicked his wrist motion and sent it soaring. "Not bad," he said, as it came to rest only a foot from his own Dungbomb.
"How'd you get so good at this?" she asked. "Is this what you and James did every weekend as little first years, before you discovered firewhisky and he discovered Lily?"
Sirius laughed. "Nah, I was doing this before Hogwarts, actually. I used to sit on the roof outside my room and throw Dungbombs with my brother." He clenched his hand into a fist reflexively and frowned. "He, well, he used to be a lot less of a prat."
"That's fair," Mary said, experimenting with throwing a Dungbomb with her left hand and grimacing at the result. "I always wanted a sibling growing up. It was dead boring being alone all the time." She fell silent for a minute, studying Sirius's face. "But I dunno, Lily's sister is a spiteful, nosy bitch, and from what I can tell, your brother's not exactly the easiest person to get along with, so maybe I was better off being an only child."
Sirius did not reply immediately. Instead, he pulled out a Dungbomb and threw it as hard as he could. He watched disinterestedly as it dropped and spattered against the grass near the lake. Finally, he replied, "It doesn't necessarily matter if you're born an only child or not, because sometimes your family ends up being people you're not related to." He looked at her and grinned.
She met his gaze, thinking back to the day the previous June when she and Sirius had sat by the lake and talked about their respective family problems. She felt oddly touched that he had remembered and taken the advice she'd given him to heart.
"That's right," she said, smiling back at him. "I suppose we're lucky to have the friends we do."
"I suppose we are," Sirius agreed. "Even if they tell us off for smoking in the dormitory or shagging people we aren't dating or not wanting to talk through Quidditch plays every second of every day."
Mary looked at Sirius, noticing how his dark hair fell into his eyes and the way his leather jacket perfectly hugged his lean frame, and suddenly she felt she couldn't go another moment without kissing him. She had the wherewithal to wipe her hands on her trousers before she threw herself at Sirius, tangling her fingers in his hair and pressing herself against him.
"Shit, Macdonald," he muttered, wrapping his arms around her and sounding pleased with himself. "I thought we were going to have a respectable, non-sexual afternoon of Dungbomb throwing."
"I've changed my mind," she said, sliding her hand under his shirt and tracing the raised scar on his chest.
"It's just, you said you can't, you know, today," Sirius insisted, sliding a hand into her back pocket despite his protests.
"It's not all about me," she replied, dropping to her knees. "Now don't talk for a while."
"Shutting up now," Sirius said breathlessly, closing his eyes and sighing with pleasure.