Ahh all those review last chapter made me extremely happy! And now to thank you, I have some of the Marauder Tale for you. Keep in mind that I've written the prank as a flashback and not as if Sirius was reading it word for word from the book. I thought it would be more entertaining this way. as always enjoy, and review!
To Love a Marauder
"So how do you like the library, Hermione?" Sirius Black asked his fellow Gryffindor as they settled down into two cushiony brown chairs in the center of the room.
Hermione for one of the first times in her life was speechless. At the moment, she was absolutely glowing as she gaped in awe at the miraculous library of the Black's. It was nothing like the rest of the house at all: this room was impeccably clean. Burgundy walls surrounded the room and a large golden chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling. Rows and rows of books on shelves took up most of the library, leaving a decent sized clearing for a few comfortable chairs and a cherry oak table.
'This is by far the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life. Period!'
"It's beautiful, Sirius…" Hermione said with a dreamy gaze. She pleasantly sighed while her eyes combed the looming towers of books as far she could see. Sirius watched the young girl become mesmerized by the books. He couldn't help but actually feel appreciative for once of his parents for creating the luxurious library. It was the only thing he missed after he ran away to live with James; but now, he was glad to would be able to put a smile on Hermione's face.
"This is the one room in the house that I keep clean aside from my own bedroom," Sirius told her. Hermione leaned back happily in her chair, instantly feeling relaxed and at home for the first time since she arrived at the House of Black.
"I could sit here forever." Hermione looked at Sirius with pure joy in her eyes, grinning madly. He put his legs up onto the small table in front of him and lounged out, picking up the thick black Marauder Book and placing it onto his lap.
"Before we start this," he motioned to the book, "I just want to tell you that you're welcome to come use the library any time you want. My house is your house." Hermione squealed and almost launched herself out of the chair to embrace him but somehow restrained herself.
"Oh thank you so much! This is wonderful….really it's just…wow," she gushed, racking her brain with thoughts of all the books she could read.
'My stay here just became ten times better. No, a million times better! '
"No need to thank me. Everyone needs a place where they can just be at peace with themselves and a book sometimes." Sirius inwardly smirked at his comment, knowing damn well that all of the Marauders thought Sirius detested books. Little did they know he very well lived in the library during his stays at home.
"Will you come sit and read with me sometimes?" Hermione requested before realizing what she had said. She clapped a hand over her mouth and blushed. Sirius chuckled, attempting to show no harm was done, though her question made the wheels in his mind turn.
'She wants to read in my company? That's odd…it's like she enjoys being around me. No one ever really liked being anywhere near me beside James and Remus. Those are the only two people that really understood me and now Hermione out of all people wants to be within ten feet of me? That's something to think about.'
"Are you sure you can put up with me voluntarily for a couple hours?" a glint in his eyes flashed. The slightly pink faced Hermione smiled and curled her legs underneath her.
"Isn't that what I'm doing now?" she pointed out, referring to their current plan for story time. Sirius scratched the back of his head in thought, tousling his silky black hair.
"You make a good case Miss Granger," Sirius concluded after a moment of consideration. Hermione grabbed one of the fluffy pillows next to her and hit the man across from her lightly on the knee.
"Enough small talk, Padfoot. It's story time." Hermione put on a serious face and crossed her arms to add to the effect that she meant business. Sirius put his hands up in surrender.
"Alright, alright. You win," he declared and picked up the book on his lap. She pumped her fist in celebration.
"Yes! Victory in mine!" she laughed, making herself more comfortable in the chair as Sirius flipped through the pages.
"Hmmmm…what's a good one," he muttered to himself absent mindedly, skimming the entries. His black hair kept falling into his eyes, annoying him thoroughly as kept brushing it away. Hermione bit her lip, forcing herself not to laugh as his frustration with his hair grew larger by the minute.
"Bloody fucking hair," he growled, running his hand through it furiously.
"Allow me." Hermione pulled out her wand from her pocket and pointed it directly at the section of hair that repeatedly fell into his eyes.
"Immobilus." She pocketed her wand with satisfaction and resumed her seat. Sirius looked at her curiously and then rolled his eyes back to see if he could get a glimpse at the ruddy piece of hair that ceased to bother him.
"Why didn't I think of that?" he asked himself out loud, poking the now immobile piece of hair in amazement. Hermione shrugged her shoulders and yawned. Sirius snapped out of his hair-petting moment at the sound and took it as a signal to start reading before she konked out. He looked back down at the book and turned a few more pages until he found a prank sure to impress the intelligent witch.
"Are you ready to be blown away by the reckless lifestyle that belongs to myself, Sirius Black?" he dramatically questioned her. She seemed to shake off her sleepiness as she sat up straight, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"I'll be the judge of how reckless you were, my furry friend," Hermione joked, crossing her legs Indian style on the chair. Sirius grinned and cleared his throat as he began reading, spiraling Hermione down into the world of the Marauders. Soon, his sultry voice flooded over her as she felt herself reliving the sly tale….
"The bloody Quidditch final is in two days and all everyone is worried about is exams!" an annoyed James Potter shouted, throwing his broomstick down onto his four poster bed. His best friend, Sirius Black, was lying comfortably on his own bed, flipping through a magazine on Motorcycles. He tossed it to the side and looked over at Remus Lupin, who was reading a book at the end of his bed.
"Oi Moony, do you reckon we should be painting a sign with Prongs' face on it so we can parade around the common room to get everyone to drop all their things to see him play Quidditch?" Sirius asked his friend with a grin. Remus took his eyes off the book he was reading and looked from Sirius to James before answering.
"Oh I don't know Padfoot; you know I was never good at painting and all those crafty sort of things," Remus replied in all seriousness. James chucked the pillows from his bed at his two friends, groaning loudly.
"Very funny, you lot. But this is serious business! How are we supposed to win the House Cup with absolutely no Gryffindor Spirit!" he complained, messing up his jet black hair. The young man's hazel eyes looked back and forth at his friends, hoping for some support. Sirius sat up and loosened the striped scarlet and gold tie around his neck.
"I assure you, we have plenty of Gryffindor Pride Prongs. Haven't you seen my bedroom?" he asked with a satisfied smirk. Remus put his book down on top of the discarded magazine and smacked Padfoot's leg.
"You my friend almost have too much Gryffindor pride," he told him, chuckling lightly. James however still looked frustrated.
"I know you love Gryffindor more than your own reflection, but that's not enough to help us win," Potter pointed out, taking his Quidditch robes off.
"For your information, Prongs, I enjoy my reflection a hell of a lot more than some ruddy lion," Sirius said amusedly. But before James had a chance to retort, the dormitory room swung upon revealing a flush Peter Pettigrew.
"Ahh Wormtail, just in time," Sirius called out to his other friend, motioning for him to join the group. Peter grabbed the closest chair to him and pulled it over in between Sirius and James' beds and sat down.
"What's going on?" Peter fidgeted in his chair wildly. Sirius swept a handful of black hair across his forehead and yawned.
"The lovely James Potter is concerned that our Gryffindors are not showing enough spirit in light of the upcoming Quidditch final," Black explained, playing up the ridiculousness of James' dilemma. An angry huff came from James' bed but he said nothing. Peter stayed quiet, thinking hard. Finally, his squeaky voice spoke.
"Couldn't we just throw a House party or something? With lots of banners and such?" he proposed, keeping his eyes on the floor. The boys sat in silence for a few seconds, musing over the idea. James picked at the straws of his broom while Remus whistled a tune, Sirius, however, was scratching his chin thoughtfully. His small bits of stubble were coveted by him, his idea of showing everyone he was a 'man.'
"Actually…that's genius Wormy!" Sirius exclaimed gleefully, sitting up straighter. His ideas were flooding his brain faster than he could talk. James, at the sound of Padfoot's elated voice, sat up on his bed, staring suspiciously at his friend. Remus leaned forward a bit towards Sirius; Peter doing the same. All three boys were clinging onto Padfoot's next words.
"We do exactly what Peter said…just to a bigger scale," he started, practically bouncing on the springy bed.
"We can get huge Gryffindor banners, enchanted ones that shout things out, flash lights, and all that good stuff. They can go up on the ceilings around school; we can find some way to charm them up there. Also, we'll make scarlet and gold fireworks! We can set them off all over the place, cause a big commotion and everything. And I know this next part might be hard, but I'm sure we can get it to work if Lily helps us," Sirius rambled, seeing James eyes begin to flicker with excitement.
"Somehow we can make lion illusions, a whole bunch of them. They can roar and run around the school into all the classes, getting people really riled up. Then, if we aren't caught by then, we can have a huge blowout in the common room. That should get everyone really pumped up for the game, including Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw," a heaving breath signified the Sirius had finished. He looked impatiently at his friends as they soaked his hair brained scheme up.
"Well what do you think!" Sirius almost shouted, slapping his hands onto the bed. James was looking intently at Sirius, his eyes bulging. Padfoot was panting now, waiting for a response.
"I want to marry you Mr. Black!" James yelled and lunged from his bed over to Sirius, tackling him in a hug.
"You are a god, right you are," James told him, getting off of his muffled friend. Sirius was grinning while looking at the other two boys.
"So are you two siding with James on this one; that I am a god?" Sirius asked them with a cocky smile. Remus shook his head in disagreement and clapped Wormtail on the back.
"I think I speak for both of us when I say that you are most definitely not anything remotely close to a god…but that you are a smart bastard," Remus laughed along with Peter. Sirius let out a sigh of relief and looked hopefully at his friends.
"So we're gonna do this, the greatest school spirit prank in history?" The boys shared a side glance at each other and looked at Sirius, grins slowly spreading on their faces. In one swift movement, Sirius jumped on top of his bed, waving his hand like a conductor.
"Marauders going in?" he yelled.
"Marauders going out!" James echoed, pumping his fist into the air.
"And if detention we receive…" Remus said in a sing song voice.
"We'll whine and cry and pout" the other three chorused.
"However the last laugh is always ours" Sirius boomed with a low, mock bow.
"Though many think we're loony" the small of voice of Peter suddenly intensified.
"The dashing and handsome posse…" James sprung on top of his bed as well.
"Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail and Moony!" the group shouted in unison.
All four Marauders tossed themselves onto the beds and rolled onto their sides, double over in laughter. Their chant had become a ritual for them to recite before starting any prank; it was supposed to bring them 'luck' even though their deeds usually landed them at the mercy of Professor McGonagall. It was still a riot every time they said it.
"D-D-Did you guys really say that little j-jingle?" Hermione said between bouts of laughter, interrupting Sirius from reading. He looked at her giggling uncontrollably, and scowled.
"Mind you, it took me and James months to come up with that," he remarked with a frown. Hermione took no notice of him feeling insulted and waved her hand for him to continue.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupting…" he continued, going back to the book.
"How do we plan on getting all the stuff we need?" Remus brought the question up once the laughter had died down. James hiccupped and clutched his stomach, making sure he had quite finished cracking up.
"That won't be too hard. The fireworks we can get at Zonko's in Hogsmeade. A couple of us can sneak there tomorrow and get them. Hmmm… the banners we can steal from that closet outside the Great Hall. It's got all the stuff they use to decorate at the End of Year Feast. There's bound to be a bunch of Gryffindor banners," James rattled off to them. Everyone nodded in affirmation.
"Now the master plan," Sirius said, drawing attention to himself by puffing out his chest.
"I say Wormy and Moony go under the Cloak early tomorrow morning to the closet by the Hall. They can snag a bunch of the banners to bring back up to the dorm. Around lunch, me and James can go to Hogsmeade since we have an hour long break from classes. That should be enough time to get the stuff. Meanwhile, Remus, you can try to convince Lily to help us out with the Charms aspect of everything. We'll regroup here right after the last class of the day and work on charming the banners and fireworks," Sirius told them with authority in his voice.
"What about the illusions? Do any of us know how to do those?" Peter spoke up. They all looked at each other uneasily; apparently no one had mastered the illusion concept yet.
"Okay, well maybe we can read up on it. Can you swing by the library tomorrow to get a book on illusions, Moony?" James asked his friend, who had picked up the book he was reading previously and was cradling it in his lap.
"Sure thing. Maybe I'll even get a chance to read it," Remus said sarcastically.
"Perfect then. We'll figure out how we can go about setting everything up tomorrow, it's getting late and I'm beat," Padfoot announced to them, unbuttoning his shirt. They all took the cue and went to their respective trunks to grab nightclothes. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and they would need all the rest they could get.
"Speaking of sleeping, I'm getting pretty tired as well, so I think we should finish this tomorrow," Sirius said as he closed the heavy book on his lap. He looked up at Hermione and saw that she had already fallen asleep. Her head was resting on the arm of the chair as her legs curled under her. One of her arms was draped off the chair, almost touching the floor.
"Guess my escapades weren't so thrilling," Sirius muttered, getting up from his chair. He stepped over to her, reaching a hand out to gently shake her awake. When he was right about to make contact with her, he stopped.
"I'm sorry….Padfoot," Hermione mumbled in her sleep, cuddling herself into a ball. Her breathing was light and shallow as her face had a troubled look plastered on it.
'She can't be dreaming about me…can she? I don't know, she did say Padfoot and I don't know many other Padfoots in the world. I have to wake her up, she's got to sleep properly in her bed. Agh I don't want to bother her…. Maybe I should carry her?'
Sirius felt hotness on the back of his neck grow to his face as the thought of him carrying her to bed came up. He shifted uneasily, debating what to do. He extended both arms and touched her, in an effort to pick her up. She instantly grabbed his hand and brought it to her warm face, using it as a sort of pillow. Sirius felt an odd feeling in his stomach as she rubbed her porcelain soft skin onto his tanned hand.
'Hermione feels like a China doll…Gods what am I saying. She's sixteen!'
"Alright I guess if I can't pick you up from the chair I'll have to levitate you out of it first," Sirius spoke to the sleeping figure. He fished his wand from his pocket and muttered 'Wingardium Leviosa.' Her body floated out of the couch at perfect height so that Sirius could easily put her into his arms. He hesitated for a moment, simply watching her float peacefully in midair.
'I really shouldn't be doing this. It's wrong…it's inappropriate…it's….oh the hell with it!'
Sirius walked forward and put his arms around Hermione, cradling her close to him. She felt light as a feather and he sighed as she grabbed onto his shirt, mumbling words he could not comprehend.
"Let's get you to bed, love" he murmured to her and walked out of the library. He silently did light extinguishing spells as he passed through the various rooms of the house, trying to focus on the spells instead of the bundle he was carrying. Once he had reached the staircase, the painting of Mrs. Black spotted them and began to open her mouth.
"Say one word and I will blow your portrait into smithereens, you psychotic witch." Sirius growled and gave the painting the most menacing glare he could muster. His mother's mouth slowly closed and crossed her arms in defeat. Satisfied, he walked up the staircase, finding it was no struggle carrying Hermione.
'I could get use to this feeling of her in my arms…it feels so right. But it's so wrong! Why is the one person I'm fairly attracted to have to be so young? Someone up there doesn't want me to be happy that's for sure.'
Sirius was now in front of Hermione and Ginny's bedroom. Muttering a spell, the door opened quietly and he stepped inside, careful to be quiet. He could see the mass under Ginny's blankets, breathing rhythmically. Sirius walked Hermione over to the bed as the covers pulled themselves down. He placed her gently down, detaching her hand from his shirt that was so firmly grasped.
"Those clothes can't be too comfortable," he said to himself with a groan, knowing what he'd have to do. He opened her trunk that was at his feet.
"Accio pajamas." A pair of shorts and a thin tank top emerged from the trunk. Sirius then pulled the covers over Hermione and performed a switching spell.
"Replacio," he waved his wand and the pajamas zoomed underneath the covers and a split second later, the clothing she was wearing before came out, folding itself neatly on top of the trunk. Sirius acknowledged that his work was done and he turned around to leave. At the door frame, he paused to look back in at the dozing girl.
"Goodnight, Hermione," he whispered, closing her door soundlessly.
'She's off limits, unattainable, off the market, not even a possibility………'
He repeated those words over and over in his head as he headed off toward his room. It was really impossible, what he wanted. A young girl all for him, one that deserves everything in the world Sirius could not give her. The man couldn't even leave his own home, and here he was, trying to woo someone that would need to be taken on proper dates and be given only the best.
Sighing, Sirius entered his bedroom and threw himself onto his own bed, leaving his clothes on.
"Bloody hell, I'm going mad in this house," he moaned, pulling the covers around himself.
'Going mad…for blasted Hermione Granger! Agh, this plan to get to know her is completely backfiring. The more I'm learning about her, the more I don't want to be her uncle-figure but her…lover.
Merlin almighty, Dumbledore's crack pot personality is rubbing off on me.'