Warning: Language
"James Potter truly does have a brilliant mind…. Don't you dare tell him I said that it'd go straight to his head!" - Eilidh Nicnevin, later that night.
Chapter 7 of Year 4: Machinating
"Stop grumbling, Sirius, and enjoy the sunrise!"
"Enjoy the sunrise! That is the most bullshit line you've ever said."
Conversations like these often slipped through the cracks of Remus's unconsciousness. He was getting used to it; the three of them messing around at the crack of dawn. Now he was able to slip blissfully back to sleep without bother. This day of all days was not the day to fall back to sleep though. They had to plan, to scheme, to machinate if you will, to stop the Slytherins from bringing in some deadly, dark object.
He was back in the first stage of his REM sleep when he was reminded of this by someone knocking briskly on the door. He groaned, decided to get up, and ripped apart his bed curtains in time to see Peter scurrying to the bathroom, Sirius scrambling toward his bed yelling for James to wait, and James, completely ignoring his wishes, hurrying toward the door.
He opened it, revealing Eilidh, as bright eyed and bushy tailed as James, grinning her good morning.
"Morning," he smirked and stepped aside allowing her in. (Morning people are truly the worst.) James and she suddenly burst out laughing. He turned and laughed too. It was indeed a funny sight: Sirius Black, clad only in rainbow coloured pants, hopping around to keep his balance while trying to get a shirt, he had obviously thought were trousers, off of his foot.
"Mate I think shirts go on your upper half," James laughed.
"Thanks, Patches, I had no idea!" Sirius growled.
"Aw, don't worry. We still think you're cool," Eilidh teased.
"Oh shut it and turn around will you?" Sirius shouted, finally getting his sleeve off of his ankle.
"As you wish, Ace," Eilidh said, spinning on her heels. James laughed again.
"Lupin, get up, we've got work to do," Sirius ordered, spotting him grinning smugly behind his bed post.
Remus got up, though he knew most of the work was already done for them. Sirius and James had pushed their beds together and spent most of the night whispering by the light of their wands. He was only able to fall asleep when they stopped to sneak down to the kitchens.
With Peter out of the bathroom, Sirius with his shirt and trousers on correctly, Eilidh allowed to face them again, they sat in a circle in the middle of their dormitory. James and Sirius had roughly mapped out Hogsmeade.
"See this is where we come in," James said pointing, unnecessarily, with his wand to the beginning of Hogsmeade.
"And most of the seventh years spend the day in the three broomsticks, here," Sirius said, pointing to the pub.
"Right, but for their purposes, it'd probably be best if they did it somewhere less populated, like Hog's Head," Eilidh said, matter of fact
"We're getting there, Nicnevin, wait your turn," James scolded. Eilidh gave a very sarcastic apologetic look.
"Like Eilidh said," Sirius said, powering through, "Hog's Head is most likely where they are going to be. But also, we need to watch the post office and… James thinks Hogsmeade station is a good idea too."
"No one pays it any attention, it's a perfect spot for them," James argued, seemingly for the millionth time.
"You can be the one to cover it then," Sirius said.
"I wanted Hog's Head," James protested.
"No one wants the station," Sirius hissed.
"I'll take the station," Peter groaned.
"Good lookin' out, Pete," James grinned.
"He only took it because he doesn't want to hear you whining," Sirius told him.
"I'm not whin-!"
"OKAY!" Remus bellowed, silencing James and Sirius. "We have a guest, who probably thinks you two are completely barbaric without the squabbling. We're sorry, Eilidh."
"It's fine," she smiled. "So, Peter's at the station. What're the rest of us doing? I don't think it's a good idea for me to be in the Three Broomsticks. If any of my friends see me, they'll want to talk then I'll get distracted."
"Kay, Remus you wanna take the Three Broomsticks?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded his agreement. "Alright, Eilidh you take the post office. James and I'll take Hog's Head."
"Er… maybe we should separate you two," Peter said, carefully. Remus felt his stomach drop. He knew what Peter meant, they hadn't stopped fighting since they came back to the picnic last night, even while they were making this map. He just didn't think pointing it out was going to do any good, especially in present company.
"What do ya mean, Pete?" Sirius asked, sounding oblivious but there was an obvious threat in his facial expression. Peter looked panicked as his eyes flashed between Eilidh, James, and Sirius.
"I'm gonna go use the lavatory," Eilidh said, quickly catching on. She jumped up and practically ran to the door.
"We need two people in Hog's Head, it's the most likely place," James said after she left.
"Peter's right, though. Unless you get over whatever this is, we should probably put you with someone else," Remus said, speaking to both of them. It was obvious that they were avoiding each other's eye.
"There's nothing to get over, Remus, Peter," Sirius said, eyeing them both.
"Right, it's just friendly banter," James smiled, weakly.
"So, what happened last night, after you talked to Professor Slughorn?" Remus said, sounding casual but the truth was, he was really worried.
"Nothing, Sirius just revealed what he truly thought of me," James said, airily.
"And James proved that he is incapable of keeping promises," Sirius said, voice full of venom. "AND that he's overly sensitive!"
"Right, being called a pathetic idiot by my best mate is something I should just brush off!" James yelled.
"THAT WAS A JOKE!" Sirius yelled back.
"AND I BARELY TOUCHED HIM!" James returned.
"This is obviously more than just friendly banter," Peter muttered while Remus pushed Sirius, who was muttering about showing him exactly how he 'barely touched him,' roughly away from James.
"Sirius, calm down," Remus ordered. Sirius stopped fighting him but he was still visibly furious. "James, who did you get into a fight with?" James clenched his jaw and rested his folded arms on his knees, looking like a pouting first year.
"I didn't fight anyone," he said, through clenched teeth. Sirius scoffed. "I should though!"
"You point your wand anywhere near him-!" Sirius yelled.
"NEAR WHO?" Remus yelled over him.
"REGULUS!" Sirius bellowed. "This… knob head thought it'd be a good idea to start a fight with my brother!"
"OY! Your brother's a prat and you know it, and watch who you're calling knob head, knob head!" James yelled, jumping to his feet.
"Ooooh! Great comeback, Potter," Sirius said, matching his pose.
"Oh, it's Potter now is it?" James said, looking more furious than ever. Sirius had called him Potter plenty of times, Remus didn't know why this meant something more.
"It is your name, isn't it?" Sirius returned, returning his glare with full force.
"I-I'm sure you and your brother can work things out," Peter said, quietly.
"S'not the point, Pete," Sirius said.
"So what? You're just not gonna be friends anymore?" Remus asked, truly fearing the answer.
"No," Sirius said, instantly but a split second later his confidence fell. He looked at James, desperately.
"Course not, don't be stupid," James said. An awkward silence fell. James scuffed his bare foot against the floor. Peter nudged Remus's arm and gestured for him to fall back. Sirius massaged the back of his neck.
"You're not pathetic, mate," Sirius mumbled, apologies were not his strong suit.
"Yeah, suppose I could have handled Regulus better," James shrugged.
"Just… leave him to me s'all," Sirius said. James nodded, his lips twitched into a nervous smile as he looked at him. Sirius returned it shortly, sighed and crossed over to the bathroom. He knocked lightly on the door and Eilidh peaked her head out.
"It's safe," Sirius said, waving her back into the room.
"Okay, so where are we with the plan," she grinned, skipping back into the room. (Fucking morning people!)
"Same, you're in the post office, Remus - the Three Broomsticks, Peter's at the station, and Pickles and I are in Hog's Head," James grinned.
"Pickles? Is that why you guys were fighting?" Eilidh smirked.
"Pickles is an awesome nickname," James said, folding his arms and feigning offence.
"All of our nicknames are terrible," Peter said, looking directly at James.
"Traitor," James mumbled.
"We should probably tell them about the signal, Patches," Sirius said.
"I actually kinda like Patches," Peter smirked.
"We'll talk about your treachery later! Pickles and I found a way to signal each other if any of us spot Abbot," James started.
"It's a charm that'll give a really high pitched whistle sound," Sirius said.
"It was warned that we shouldn't use it indoors 'cause it might melt your brains or something," James added.
"That sounds pleasant. Can't wait to use that," Remus said.
"It's pronounced Strideo," Sirius said.
"We should be able to be heard from the station to Hog's Head," James said.
"Won't everyone be able to hear it?" Eilidh asked.
"Yeah, but they won't know what's going on, and it might distract Abbot long enough for us to take whatever he's picking up," James answered. Eilidh nodded. As always the plan was a bit shoddy but given the information they had and the time they had to do it in, Remus supposed it was actually quite brilliant.
"Okay, okay. This might actually work," Eilidh said, looking excited.
"Of course it'll work!" Sirius smirked.
"It had better work. I'd rather not find out what Abbot's planning on doing with… whatever it is," Peter said.
"It will! Merlin's pants Pete, her I get, but you've known us for four years," James said.
"Not all of your plans have worked, mate," Peter said.
"Okay!" Eilidh said before James could return the insult. "Let me leave before you have another go."
"Wait, wait, wait!" James called, just barely catching her arm. "There's one more thing we need to ask you."
"Potter, I've got to finish my potions essay before second period and I haven't even started it yet. This better be quick," Eilidh warned.
"It will. We just need you to use your connections with Slytherin to find out who else is working with Abbott," James said.
"Why don't you just ask Regulus who he hangs out with?" Eilidh asked.
"He's only a second year," James said, barely scraping the surface of the problem.
"We'd do it ourselves but James and I start Quidditch practice tonight, Remus the slacker, is already behind on assignments, and Peter's doing research on Billywigs - possible prank for the Slug Club," Sirius winked, "so unless you want to be stuck in the library, neck deep in Newt Scamander's most famous works-"
"Spare me please," Eilidh said, rolling her eyes. "I'll see what I can find out, but I'm not promising anything. I had to fight Machault tooth and nail, just to get her to see you four."
"Don't tell 'em it's for us," James shrugged.
"By now they know I'm with you," Eilidh said. "I'll figure something out."
"We could probably do it around practice if you'd like us to?" James offered.
"She said she could do it, mate," Sirius laughed.
"Yeah, but-"
"I've got this. You just work on kicking ass in Quidditch this year. If we lose to Hufflepuff again, I'm holding you personally responsible," Eilidh threatened, poking his chest with her finger.
"Okay, they had plenty of time to find a replacement!" James argued, making them laugh.
"Alright, I'm off to do my essay. See you sods in class," Eilidh said and smiled and waved as she left the dormitory.
***Two chapters in one week?! I know super weird but I had to make up for missing a month. Please accept my apology and don't hate me. I love you!
Thanks for reading
All rights reserved to the Queen of our lives JKR
Until next time,
XO***