Chapter 13: Toilet Bowls

James had not slept well that night. Big surprise there. The most he slept that night was on the couch with Lily. If he didn't have that cursed dream, they would probably be on the couch still and James would have gotten a bit more sleep. James sighed as he got out of his bed and rubbed his eyes. They were bloodshot and stinging. At least he had the patrols that night to look forward to.

Sirius was snoring loudly. It was still 7:30. Hmm, James thought to himself, maybe it's time to try out that little experiment. He quickly woke up Remus and Peter and explained the plan. They both were enthusiastic about it and helped James change the clocks to show 8:15. Of course, they kept their watches to the right time so that they could later change them back. Sirius never wore a watch; he said he was too cool for one and that he could just ask nerds like Remus. Remus and James were both deeply offended; Remus because he was called a nerd by his friend and James because Sirius didn't consider him 'cool' because he wore a watch.

"Hey Sirius! Wake up! Veronica's waiting downstairs!" shouted James.

The effect had faded a bit, but it was still fairly affective. Sirius no longer leapt out of bed, but his head jerked up instead, with his eyes still closed. This fast action would usually give him a neck cramp, but really, James had no sympathy for his best mate.

"Wha time's it?" he asked groggily, sitting up in his bed.

"8:15, mate," answered Remus.

"Weird, it feels much earlier," Sirius said, checking the clock.

Peter giggled like a little school girl. James and Remus shot him an annoyed look.

"Why you laughing, Pete?" asked Sirius.

"Oh, er. No reason. My…er—"

"His robes are tickling him," replied James, before Peter could say anything that would give away their plan.

Sirius looked at James strangely and sat up on his bed. "His robes are tickling him?" he asked, looking for clarification.

Remus and James nodded. "Yeah. His robes," replied Remus, giving James a look. James shrugged back.

"Okay," said Sirius, looking between his three friends. "Well, I'm going to take a shower now, good luck with your robes, Pete." He rose from his bed walked to his trunk. On his way there, he stubbed his toe on Remus' bedpost.

"OW!" cried Sirius, grabbing his now swollen, red toe. A stream of colourful language ran from his mouth cursing both Remus and his bed for moving in his way. James, Remus and Peter were all baffled that bad luck was already befalling on their mate. Just a coincidence, thought James, confused.

When Sirius had stopped cursing, he gathered his things and headed for the bathroom. He opened the door quite forcefully and slammed it right onto his other big toe. This caused another flurry of swear words to come exploding out of Sirius mouth and a cry of rage.

"James. ARE YOU SURE IT'S PAST EIGHT?" asked Sirius, very red in the face and holding both his feet.

James nodded numbly, hardly believing his eyes. Did Sirius ACTUALLY have bad luck if he woke up before 8:00? What a strange…what do you call this?

Sirius grumbled and stormed into the bathroom. He slammed the door and the three mates could distinctively hear a resounding "OW!" followed by more curses coming from behind the bathroom door. They did not want to know what could have possibly happened this time.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," said Peter.

"Nonsense. It's just a coincidence," said James, somewhat confidently.

"Er, knowing Sirius, it probably isn't. All his days seem to be good besides the ones he spends at his house, but that's understandable. Everyone has their bad days, James. Mine are during the full moon, his are when he gets up before eight," said Remus shrugging.

"But, Moony! How is that possible? How can all the bad things possibly go wrong all in the same day? How does that work out?" asked James.

"Don't know, Prongs. It's the Magical world. What isn't possible?" said Remus, getting ready for class.

"There are lots of things that aren't possible in the Magical world. For example, it is impossible to bring back the dead. Second, it is impossible to reverse lycanthropy. It is impossible for me to get any sleep with these bloody dreams. It is impossible that Lucius Malfoy will marry a Muggle-born girl. It is impossible for Dumbledore to join the Dark side. It is impossible—"

"OKAY JAMES. I get it. There are some things that are impossible, I understand. What I meant was that there is a possibility that Sirius might actually have bad luck before 8 in the morning!" said Remus, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Moony. But by the end of today, I will prove you wrong, just you watch," James replied. He was half convinced that he was right.

"Alright. I bet you two galleons that Sirius will have bad luck for the rest of the day," said Remus, sticking out his hand.

"Two? How about five?" challenged James. He was always the confident one.

"Done." The two boys shook hands.

Just as the boys let go of each other's hands, Sirius walked out of the bathroom muttering. They all stared at him, trying to see if more bad luck would fall upon their friend.

Sirius, noticing their staring, looked at them. "WHAT ARE YOU LOT STARING AT?! WHAT IS GOING ON! I SWEAR I WILL FIND OUT BY THE END OF THE DAY!" he shouted. Obviously something bad had happened while he was taking a shower, as he was in a fouler mood than when he entered. James cringed at the thought of what could have happened.

The three boys looked away and resumed getting ready. So far, they had been able to keep up the act and now the clocks read 8:30 when it was only 7:45.

The three boys were watching Sirius from the corner of their eyes as he struggled with his hair. He had one flick of hair that was sticking up and was placed in a nice cowlick at the top of his head. He patted it down only to have it stick up again a few seconds later. Remus was shaking with silent laughter as he was now winning the bet against James. James found it extremely funny, but couldn't enjoy it as he might be five galleons poorer.

After Sirius repeated the process of flattening his hair many times, he growled in rage and grabbed the gel bottle. He squeezed some on his hand and fiercely rubbed it through his hair. To his surprise and the rest of the Marauders', Sirius hair now stuck up in every direction, much like James'. Sirius grabbed the gel bottle and read the label.

"LEATHER CLEANER? WHO DOES THIS BLOODY BELONG TOO?! AND WHY THE HELL IS IT ON MY DRESSER WHERE MY GEL USUALLY IS?!" Sirius bellowed.

James and Remus gulped and pointed to Peter. Peter whimpered and cowered into a corner. Sirius looked even more intimidating with his hair sticking up in every direction. They had never seen Sirius with James' hairstyle because his hair was ALWAYS perfect. James and Remus usually always defended Peter, but when Sirius was in his angry mood, it was every Marauder for himself.

"PETER! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DOING HERE!" asked the enraged Sirius, holding up the bottle.

"I-I was-s c-cleaning m-m-my s-shoes…" stuttered Peter.

"CLEANING YOUR GODDAMN SHOES? HOW WOULD YOU BLOODLY LIKE IT IF I PUT LEATHER CLEANER IN YOUR HAIR?" said Sirius.

"N-not v-v-very much…Sirius, s-s-sir," he replied, looking like he wanted to melt through the walls.

"ARGH! YOU SON OF A—"

"Enough, Sirius!" shouted Remus. "It was an honest mistake. Don't murder Peter over this. You're just having a bad day, Sirius. You have to calm down," said Remus, restraining Sirius as he was trying to move towards Peter.

Peter was now whimpering behind James like he was some sort of protection. James pushed him away from him and told him to get a grip. Sirius quickly washed his hair in the sink and left his annoying cow lick at the top of his head.

The Marauders went down to breakfast while it was more that half way through and Sirius did not seem to realise that they were supposed to be in class according to the time. The boys went to sit with Lily and Marlene.

"Hey Lily, Marlene," James said.

"Hey, James. Sirius you look horrible and since when do you wake up at—,"

James shook his head urgently at Lily and she instantly caught on. It was the experimentation day. She quickly tried to cover her mistake.

"I mean since when do you…er…not do your hair in the morning?" she tried lamely.

Sirius glared at her and patted his head self consciously. He sat down and started piling his food gloomily onto his plate.

James smiled apologetically at Lily and followed Sirius by putting food onto his plate. "He's not having a good day so far," he whispered to her.

Lily held in a laugh and ate her food. Marlene was wondering what was going on with Sirius and what James and Lily knew about it. She raised an eyebrow at Lily who was giggling slightly and stuffing food into her mouth at the same time.

Meanwhile, Sirius was pouring maple syrup onto his pancakes. Peter decided that he wanted an apple from Sirius' other side. While he was reaching over, his arm hit Sirius and the maple syrup bottle was pushed away from his plate and into Sirius' lap. The six Gryffindors sat there staring at the maple syrup pouring out into Sirius lap until Remus had enough sense to take it out of Sirius' hand and put it safely on the table. Sirius sat staring down into his lap until he looked over at Peter, face strangely calm.

Peter started whimpering again, though this time, he was disturbed by Sirius' strange calmness and not his raging anger.

"Peter, do you know what is in my lap at the current moment?" asked Sirius, voice and face still neutral.

"M-m-maple s-syrup?" replied Peter, looking around at the others to see who would come to his rescue. There was no reply from anyone.

"And do you know what qualities maple syrup has, Peter?" Sirius asked him again.

"I-it's b-brown?" tried Peter.

"Yes. And it is sticky. Very sticky. Is sticky comfortable, Peter?"

"N-no?"

"Correct. Do you know what I do when someone makes me uncomfortable, Peter?" asked Sirius, slowly raising his wand.

Peter shook his head, slowly cowering under Sirius' calm gaze.

Remus and James sensing trouble began to rise out of their seats to prepare themselves for a battle.

"I hex—"

"STOP," said James, grabbing Sirius' wand from his hand. "Sirius, it was an accident. Remus can clean your robes for you. Right, Remus?"

Remus nodded and did a quick cleaning charm to remove all the maple syrup from Sirius lap.

Sirius growled. "Well, that rat seems to be having a lot of accidents, doesn't he?" he said, glaring at Peter.

Peter was so far down into his seat, he was practically on the floor. James rolled his eyes at his cowardly friend and pulled him back onto his seat and ignored Sirius' comment. Remus was smirking at James, knowing that he was winning and James was narrowing his eyes back.

As the situation had ended, the seventh years resumed to their breakfast. Marlene looked down on her lap just in case Sirius poured some syrup onto her as well as he was sitting beside her.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Lily burst out laughing. Her face was red like she had been holding her breath for some time and she was almost in tears. Everyone looked at her confusedly and James was the only one who understood her sudden outburst. She continued laughing for two minutes straight and everyone was still staring at her. She noticed everyone's eyes on her and she blushed.

"Haha…sorry everyone, carry on," she said wiping her eyes and laughing quietly.

"What's going on here? What is with everyone? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?" asked Sirius, losing his calm demeanour.

The whole Gryffindor table turned to stare at them. When they saw Sirius' red face and angry expression, their curiosity spiked.

"Why is everyone staring at me like I'm going to drop dead? Why are these bad things happening to be when I woke up after eight? WHAT IS GOING ON?! SOMEONE ANSWER ME!" he shouted, now standing up.

Remus looked around and noticed the staring and wide eyes. He quickly pulled Sirius onto the bench and swiftly put a silencing charm on his friend. Sirius opened his mouth to scream again and found no sound coming out. He looked at Remus and started moving his lips in quick motion. Remus was sure that ¾ of the words Sirius was saying were curses.

Sirius reached into his pocket to pull out his wand, but James waved it in his face.

"Ah, ah, ah, Sirius. No foul play. Remus did that for your own good," said James. He moved the wand out of Sirius' reach as Sirius made a swipe for it. Then Remus dodged skilfully as Sirius made a swipe for his head. Frustrated, Sirius banged his hands onto the table and the orange juice pitcher fell on the table, pouring onto the one and only, Sirius Black.

…………………………

The rest of the day proved to be very unlucky for Sirius. He was given a detention from Professor Gripul in Defence Against the Dark Arts for not answering a question because Remus had forgotten to take the silencing charm off of him. If looks could kill, Remus would be long gone.

Peter seemed to be having a bad day as well because he seemed to be the main cause of damage in Sirius' day. He would accidentally knock something over or trip and cause something to go flying in Sirius' direction. James and Remus continually had to stop Sirius from pouncing on their small friend.

The only one who seemed to be enjoying their day was Remus. He was finding this experiment extremely funny and was thanking James for his brilliant idea. "It was actually Lily's," James would grumble as a reply. Remus would laugh anyways and then start to count off different ways he could use five galleons.

Much to the relief of the Marauders, the day was finally over and the seventh years were sitting in the Common Room finishing homework or playing chess.

Sirius was sulking in a chair and playing with the hem of his robes. He was even ignoring flirtatious winks from girls on the other side of the room. Remus was playing chess with Peter who was nervously glancing over at Sirius to make sure he wasn't going to attack him at any moment. Marlene was humming a song as she finished one of her essays. James and Lily were trying to distract themselves from acting overly excited for their patrol that night.

Finally, the time came for Lily and James to start their patrol. They said goodbye to their tired friends and walked out of the Gryffindor Common Room.

The beginning of their patrol was a bit awkward as it was their first time alone together since the situation in the Common Room the night before. They didn't say a word. It had been a long time since they had an uncomfortable patrol.

"So, today was experimentation day?" asked Lily, finally breaking the ice.

"Yeah. I was up early again so I decided that it would be today," said James.

"You don't seem too happy, and Sirius didn't seem like he was enjoying it either," she said giggling.

James smiled at her laughter. "I bet Remus that Sirius was not really unlucky before eight and that it was all in his head. I lost five galleons," replied James.

Lily laughed again. "Aww. Poor James," she cooed.

James nodded. "I was convinced it was all in his head. Where did I go wrong?" said James. He furrowed his eyebrows, thinking about the situation.

Lily laughed at the adorable face James was making. "Haha, you look really cute like that," she said. She froze. BLIMEY! Did I say that out loud?

James seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Lily and stared at her, surprised. "What?"

Lily blushed. Yup, she said it out loud. "Oh, um. You know, you look like a little kid thinking really hard," she said to sort of explain herself.

James raised an eyebrow. "Thanks?" he said uncertainly.

Lily blushed again and nodded. She was so embarrassed. She acted like a complete fool. Oh, Merlin. What must James think of me? Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

"You look cute all flustered like that," said James, mockingly.

Lily glared at him and continued walking. Her face was burning and she was pretty sure that it could fry an egg. She thanked Merlin that it was dark and he couldn't see the full effect he had on her.

They continued walking and the awkward silences resumed their patrol. James was searching his mind for something to talk about.

"Hey, you want to check the Marauder's Map to see if Malfoy and Bellatrix are out tonight?" asked James.

"Sure! Can I open the map?" Lily asked like a child on Christmas. James had told her that she would be able to one day, but she hadn't got to yet.

James rolled her eyes at Lily's eagerness but he smiled. "Hmm…lemme think," he started. He saw Lily's pleading eyes and nodded. "Fine, I guess you can," said James sighing.

Lily whooped and got out her wand. James handed her the parchment and she whispered, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

Soon the map had unfolded before her and she looked over it to see any signs of the two Slytherin seventh years. She first checked the Slytherin Common Room and dormitories. "They're not in the Common Room!" she declared in an excited whisper. James came over to look at the map to help find the destination of Malfoy and Bellatrix.

James scanned the popular places where the two Slytherins could be: the Kitchens, the Prefect's Bathroom, the Great Hall, he even checked the Astronomy tower just in case Malfoy was cheating on Narcissa with her sister; with Malfoy, you never knew. Then he and Lily checked the main hallways and the seventh floor corridor, where they had heard seen Malfoy and Bellatrix last. They were not there. Finally, James looked in all the small areas where Lily would not see as easily. There, in a little crevice on the fourth floor corridor, he found Malfoy, Bellatrix, Lestrange, Rosier and Dolohov. It was the same bunch of Slytherins as the night Lily and Bellatrix duelled, with the exception of Snape. James pointed it out to Lily and she looked at him.

"There are five of them. What are we going to do?" she asked.

"We won't appear to them. I have my invisibility cloak, so we'll just hide out. We're just looking for some more information, not a fight," James said.

Lily nodded and waited patiently as James pulled out his invisibility cloak from his large robe pocket. They both got under it and were forced to stand and walk close together. They walked side by side and both found it extremely hard to be so close to one another without any contact.

Five minutes previous, James felt very tired. Now, he was wide awake, but he felt slightly drowsy at the close proximity to Lily. James would accidentally brush Lily's hand while they were walking to the fourth floor and he would blush slightly and pretend like it didn't happen. Potter, you're acting like a love-sick fool. Get a grip, he told himself. He would glance over at Lily and notice that she looked completely calm except the determination shining in her eyes.

James didn't even know why he kept snooping around like this. The dreams were enough to drive him to the loony bin. He knew that if he found out any more information about what Malfoy and Bellatrix's mission was, it would be goodbye to his bed, period. But, even though he would be losing sleep, he still felt curious and he felt the need to do something to stop whatever they were doing. He felt the need to correct all the wrongdoings and evil that was occurring in his school and he wanted to catch them in the act. He guessed it was because both his parents were renowned aurors who made a living on righting wrongs and catching Death Eaters.

Lily's hand on his arm brought him out of his thoughts. Actually, it was more like shocked him out of his thoughts, but who cares. He looked at her and saw her pointing to a spot ahead of them. He looked to where Lily was pointing and saw the seventh year Slytherins. James motioned for Lily to move over a little indent in the wall so if the Slythirins decided to move on, they wouldn't get trampled and discovered.

"Well, have you found anything?" asked Malfoy impatiently.

Rosier and Dolohov glanced at each other. "Well, we aren't exactly clear on what you want us to look for," said Dolohov uncertainly.

"We can't give you any more information than what we gave you already. The Dark Lord entrusted this mission with me and if you cannot deliver, that is too bad indeed," Malfoy replied back.

"No, no. We can do it," said Rosier, nodding his head.

"Very well then; split up. Rodolphus, go with Evan and Antonin. Bellatrix, come with me," said Malfoy, walking in the direction of James and Lily.

"How come you get to order around everyone? Why can't I go with Bella?" asked Lestrange, upset.

"Because the Dark Lord ordered me the leader of this mission. Its success lies with my actions so I make the orders," snarled Malfoy.

Bellatrix smiled. "Don't worry Rodolphus darling, Lucius is nothing to me. I am still yours," she said, stroking his arm. James almost vomited and he could see Lily making a face of disgust beside him.

Rodolphus smiled dreamily at Bellatrix; Rosier and Dolohov looked away. Malfoy appeared as disgusted as James and Lily.

"Now, get a move on! The sooner we find it, the sooner we can stop sneaking around the school like a bunch of marauders," said Malfoy.

James was insulted. Malfoy had compared himself to a Marauder. James didn't know what Malfoy was smoking, but James was sure that Malfoy would NEVER become a Marauder. First, he was a Slytherin. Enough said. Second, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all hated him. Third, he was way too loud to be a Marauder and would always be caught. He was worse than Peter, and that was saying something. Finally, he was blond; it would clash. Blond was just…not Marauder-ish.

The Slytherins parted and Lily moved towards Rosier, Dolohov and Lestrange. James assumed it was because they would be less careful in mentioning something that would be important for their snooping.

"So, where do you reckon we'll find this…object?" asked Rosier.

"Don't know. It could be anywhere, after it's has to be something related to the Hogwarts founders, right?" replied Dolohov.

James and Lily looked at each other, confusion on both their faces. Something related to the founders? What could Voldemort possibly want with something like that?

They continued following the three Slytherins as they looked for possible objects. So far, they hadn't learned much.

"So what do you think the Dark Lord wants with it?" asked Dolohov.

"Don't know. That git, Malfoy probably doesn't even know. 'Leader of this mission' my arse. He just likes bossing people around like a huge pompous prat," snarled Lestrange with hostility in his voice at the other boy.

James could tell that Lily was holding back her laughter with some difficulty. James was staring disbelievingly at Lestrange. Was it possible that he was a little envious of said pompous prat?

Rodolphus was now walking a little ahead of the other two. Lily couldn't hold it in anymore; she let out a little giggle. Rodolphus stopped.

"Which one of you giggled like a girl?" asked Rodolphus, disturbed that his friends would make such a noise.

Rosier and Dolohov stared at each other. They pointed to each other.

"It was him," they both said at the same time.

Lestrange looked between the two of them.

"No, really. Who was it?" he asked, annoyed.

The two other boys shrugged. "It wasn't me," they said in unison once again.

Rodolphus eyed them strangely and dropped it. "Fine, but if you do it again, I'll hex you," he said, raising his wand. The two boys shrugged once more, but looking at the other with eyebrows raised, questioning why the other had giggled and denied it.

James and Lily let out a breath at the same time. James pulled her arm in the direction of the seventh floor. He checked his watch; it was 12:45. He figured that they would not be able to find out anymore information out of these trolls and it would just be a waste of time. James checked the Marauder's Map quickly to make sure that they were alone and that there were no more students out of bed before they went took off the invisibility cloak. Deciding to finish early, they walked up to Gryffindor tower.

Once James and Lily were in the Gryffindor Common Room, they began talking.

"So, what do you think they're looking for?" asked Lily, sitting down in her favourite armchair. James sat across from her so they could talk comfortably.

"Like they said, it could be anything," said James.

"What do you think he wants with it?"

James sighed. "I have no idea. This is really pointless, we can't really figure out anything without actually interrogating them," said James.

Lily nodded. "Do you think we should wake up the others?" she asked.

James thought for a moment. "I'm not sure it's worth it. We didn't really find out anything worthy of waking them up at this hour, and I'm pretty sure Sirius already had a tough day," said James. He cringed at the thought of what Sirius would do to him if he ever found out what James had done.

"Alright then. I guess we should go to bed then?" said Lily. She sounded reluctant.

James nodded. "Yeah. Goodnight, Lily," he said.

"Goodnight, James," she replied. Lily smiled at him and walked towards the stairs. When he could no longer see her, he walked up to his dormitory expecting to see his three friends sleeping.

"Hello, James. Peter told me a funny story while you were off patrolling tonight," said Sirius when James walked into the dormitory. James gulped and looked at Peter with an accusatory look. He squeaked and smiled weakly at James who scowled.

"So, care to explain yourself, mate?" asked Sirius, now standing up.

James gulped again. "Don't know what you're talking about, Padfoot," said James, backing up against the wall.

"You don't? You mean it was my other best mate named James who tricked me into believing that it was past eight in the morning and giving me one of the worst days of my life?" said Sirius, slowly walking towards James.

"W-what? Padfoot, you have to understand, I did it to prove to you—"

"Prove to me that I actually have bad days? That I can not wake up before eight? Huh? Is that what you were trying to prove?" Sirius didn't exactly sound angry, but James guessed that was only because he had been angry the whole day and just ran out of gas.

"No. I was trying to prove to you that it was all in your head and that it's impossible to determine your day based on the time you woke up—"

"Oh, but you proved me RIGHT and you were WRONG. Right, James?"

"Yes, but—this was also Remus and Peter's doing! They were my accomplices!" said James, pointing at them.

"Oh, don't worry James. They got their punishment as well," said Sirius.

"No, no. Come on, Sirius. Padfoot, buddy, come on! You don't want to, I know you; you don't want to do this," tried James feebly. Sirius was now preparing his wand. "Hey! Look at it this way! At least I will never wake you up before eight!" said James.

"You should of thought about that before, James," said Sirius. "Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Sirius. James was instantly turned into a stiff board. Sirius levitated him towards the bathroom, Remus and Peter following.

"I saw this in a Muggle moobie, or whatever they're called," said Sirius, talking to the immobile James.

"It's a movie, Sirius," said Remus, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. Movie, moobie, same thing," said Sirius, swatting his hand. "Anyways, James. Here is your punishment," he said pointing to the toilet. Sirius' didn't seem angry anymore, but satisfied.

James tried to look confused but his face was as hard as stone. A toilet? Was he going to make him sit on it for a long time or something?

"No, Jamesie. I'm not going to make you sit on it for a long time," said Sirius, rolling his eyes and reading James' eyes. Again James was confused, but couldn't show it. "I'm going to give you a swirlie," said Sirius grinning.

Remus and Peter both shuddered severely. "A swirlie, James, is when I put your head in the toilet and…" said Sirius, flushing the toilet. James wanted to protest; kick, scream, punch, bite, but couldn't. Damn him.

"Don't worry James, it's really harmless. Look at Remus and Pete. They're fine, see? I won't let you drown or anything," said Sirius, binding James with ropes. He undid the full body bind and James immediately started shouting.

"SIRIUS! STOP! I SAID SORRY! PLEASE PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THE SWIRLIE!" he shouted.

"No, James. You, Remus and Peter all get what you deserve. It'll only be two flushes, calm down," said Sirius in a sort of motherly voice. He started to lower James' head closer to the toilet bowl. James' eyes widened and he was helpless as Sirius' hand was clasped firmly into his hair. Remus carefully removed James' glasses and placed them on the counter beside them.

"Sirius! Please stop! You don't want to do this! I—," James was cut off as his head hit the water. He closed his eyes and mouth as his head was plunged into the toilet. Then, he felt Sirius move behind him and felt the water around his head swirling and moving across his face. He heard the swishing noise and closed his eyes tighter. James' hair was being thrown around; it was getting a little too close to the hole at the bottom of the toilet for James' liking. Then, suddenly, it was over.

"So, Jamesie. That wasn't so bad, was it?" asked Sirius, pulling James' head out and grinning like a fool.

James was coughing and shaking the water out of his eyes. Sirius laughed and moved James towards the toilet bowl once more.

"S-Sirius, you bastard!" James managed to get out.

Sirius laughed again. "Shoulda thought of that before, Jamesie Boy!" and James' head was back in the water.

At least he knew what to expect now. Oh, Sirius is getting a detention for this, thought James.

Sirius brought James back up from the water. "So, James. You've learned your lesson right?" James nodded. "And you know never to wake me up before eight, correct?" He nodded again. "And, you will not attack me when I unbind you, right?" James thought for a moment, but eventually nodded. "Good," said Sirius, undoing the ropes.

James grabbed a towel and dried his face. His hair was still dripping so he took his wand and dried it instantly. He put on his glasses and ran his hand through his hair. Then, he pointed to Sirius. "Detention this Saturday with…Filch for attacking the Head Boy," said James triumphantly.

"What? James! That's not fair, come on!" said Sirius, whining.

"Shoulda thought of that before, Sirius, m'boy!" mimicked James, wagging a finger at him.

Sirius pouted and slouched onto his bed. He was muttering under his breath and James heard the words 'wanker', 'Flich' and 'bastard'. James chuckled and turned to Peter.

"YOU! Why did you tell him?" asked James.

"Sorry, mate. It kind of slipped out," said Peter, sitting down on his bed as well.

James scowled. "Whatever. You got your punishment," said James, changing out of his robes.

"Hey, Prongs! You owe me five galleons!" shouted Remus.

James stopped moving. "Damn. I hoped you forgot about that," muttered James. He reluctantly got the five galleons and tossed them over to Remus.

"Hey, why does Moony get money? What about Padfoot?" Sirius asked, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to be mad at James.

"Remus won a bet. He gets money," answered James.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "A bet about what?"

"You," said James.

Sirius started muttering again. It sounded a lot like 'Who bloody bets on their own mate? Arses.'

James went into bed and checked the clock; assuming that Remus and Peter changed the clocks back, it read 1:53. Merlin, he was tired. He took of his glasses and called goodnight to his mates. He closed his eyes and surprisingly didn't find the haunting images in his mind. Satisfied that they would not appear, James drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A/N: Heyyloowww. It's Chapter 13! Tell me what you think. Personally, I thought it was a bit strange, with the swirlie, but whatevs. Anyways, tell me anyways, cause I love REVIEWS. Okay? Thanks ;)

Thank you if you reviewed for past chapters, it's very much appreciated. Please give suggestions as well, they will be considered:D

Uhhmmm. I think that's it...it might be around 3-4 days till the next chapter, i think. THANKS FOR READING AND REVIEWING XD 3