This chapter is dedicated to Julia (aka Wondering What Breakfast Is). Thanks for everything!

AN: So I realized that I need to clarify something. I said that this story wasn't DH compliant, and it still isn't, but it's also sorta not HBP compliant either. Well it is, but anyone who died is alive and no one was betrayed. And Voldemort was destroyed. So pretty much this story is AU. We'll go with that, it's easier.

More Carefree

Chapter 3

"SIRIUS!" I yelled.

"Hermione, I'm standing two feet away from you, there's no need to yell," Sirius said with an amused and slightly curious tone. I've never acted so… well, like this around him.

"…Right," I smiled at him. It was the first day of classes and I stayed after Sirius's DADA class in order to ask him about my plan. I feel like this plan of mine needs some sort of top secret name. Like operation bananas! No. That won't do. That just makes me hungry. Well I'll think of something. Sirius leaned back against the desk, folded his arms against his chest, crossed one leg over the other, and smiled back at me. Holy fluffy bunnies. I think I forgot to write the dates of the Hogmeade's trips down so I could post them in the common room. Oh well. Always time for that later.

"So, Sirius. I was wondering if you might be able to help me with a little problem I have," I said trying to look innocent. I don't think it was working. He glanced suspiciously, but still curiously, at me.

"What sort of problem?"

"Well… I had this idea," I said speaking slowly. "I wanted to make my last year here at Hogwarts fun. The problem is I'm not very good at some of the things I had in mind. So I was wondering-"

"-if I might be able to help," Sirius supplied. His gray eyes were twinkling madly and I could tell that he was thinking back to his own Hogwarts days. He seemed to shake himself out of his memories. "Hermione, you do realize that I've been out of Hogwarts for many, many years now and that I'm a professor?"

"No! Really?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "I thought you were fresh out of Hogwarts!" He chuckled lightly but continued to look at me until I addressed his concern. "Of course I know. I was just hoping you could help me come up with some ideas. I'll carry them out and you can of course participate whenever you'd like as well."

"You've practiced this conversation before, haven't you?" Sirius said sounding amused. I blushed lightly but tried to recover quickly.

"Well, I had to phrase it just the right way otherwise I was sure you wouldn't help me," I crossed my arms and put my chin up defensively. Sirius just let out his unique bark-like laughter.

"So was there something in particular that made you decide to do this or was it just to get closer to me?" he asked in a very smug voice. He really does have the ego of a thousand hot air balloons. I decided that by ignoring him I might be able to take down one, maybe two, of those hot air balloons.

"Harry told me to lighten up," I told him simply while shrugging my shoulders as if it was no big deal. He stared at me for a moment as if expecting something more.

"…And you're taking that quite literally?"

"It would seem so," I replied.

"Well, what's in it for me?" He raised his eyebrow slightly but was still smiling slightly at me as if very curious to hear what sort of answer I was about to give him.

"You get to see me carry out whatever your sick and twisted mind comes up with and participate in the really fun ones?" I suggested hesitantly. He laughed again and I smirked to myself for having the ability to make him laugh.

"I'd say you've got yourself a deal, Hermione." I noticed that when he laughed he really did look a lot younger and the haunted look that came from years spent in Azkaban almost left his eyes. I hated that it was even there at all. I vowed that by the end of the year I would help to erase that haunted look once and for all. Wait a second. That was a pretty passionate statement. I'm sure anyone who knows this man would want to achieve the same thing, I quickly supplied my own mind for an answer.

"So what kinds of things were you thinking of?" he asked curiously. I just smiled at him.

"Well, I wouldn't want to spoil everything all at once. Let's just call this conversation to be continued." He looked like I had just suggested we cancel Christmas. He gave me his best Sirius pout and while I know I could have resisted it, I felt bad that he reduced himself to such measures. "Oh all right," I tried to sound annoyed but his smile told me that he knew I was amused. "Here's one thing I was thinking…"

Later…

It was a perfectly normal night at dinner… okay, not really. I kept glancing up at the high table, but Sirius refused to meet my eyes. I was a little annoyed, but I knew it was just because he didn't want to look like he had anything to do with what was about to happen. I mean… what? Nothing is about to happen. I attempted to hid the smirk that was on my face from all those around me. I'll have to learn to perfect this art if I want to succeed in everything I'll have planned for this year.

I glanced over at the Slytherin table, then back up at Sirius. He lifted his drink to his lips and gently tapped the side gently twice with a single finger. I tried my best to hid my smirk. I really need to work on this. But I have much more humorous things to work on at the moment. I had my wand hidden up my sleeve and I gently coaxed it down into my hand. Under the table, I waved it in a complicated motion and thought hard about the spell I wanted to perform. There was no immediate effect, but that's the way I planned it. I slipped my wand into my bag at my feet and continued eating as if nothing had just happened. I joined in the conversation that Ron and Harry were having while trying not to look too proud of myself. Not that those goofballs would have noticed anything anyway.

I wanted so badly to look over at the Slytherin table, but I somehow managed to refrain myself. I was determined to wait until lots of people noticed before I looked myself. Then I heard it. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but the sounds of more and more people laughing were reaching my ears. I could see people looking around to find the source of humor.

Harry noticed and pointed it out to Ron who was sitting across from Harry and I and couldn't properly see the Slytherin table without turning around. Once Ron looked, I knew it was okay to look as well. I finally was able to join in the laughter. Every single head at the Slytherin table was sporting either scarlet or gold hair. This was priceless. They were all glancing at each other, befuddled to understand what had happened. Malfoy was having a particular hard time dealing with his special half scarlet, half golden hair. He ran from the Great Hall, clearly upset about the change from platinum blonde to something so…Gryffindor. I thought I could see tears, but I'm not 100 percent. Several other Slytherins left as well, but not before shooting angry looks at seemingly every single person in the Great Hall. I and many, many other students were literally clutching their sides from laughing so hard. Some even fell off their seats and were rolling on the floor laughing. I personally couldn't breathe, but I've never been so happy to have a lack of breath.

Even the Professors seemed to be attempting to hold back their laughter. Everyone except for Snape that is. I felt my stomach drop as I noticed that Professor Snape was also sporting a full head of crimson/golden hair. I'm pretty sure he hasn't noticed yet. This wasn't part of my plan! I specifically noted that I didn't want Snape involved in this one. I glanced over at Sirius who caught my eye and winked. Of course. How could I expect him to not include Snape in all of this.

Something caught my eye and I looked towards the entrance to the Great Hall. Letters were appearing there. I smirked knowing what was about to come.

Brought to you by Xeonim, the letters read in the gold and scarlet theme.

Xeonim is my chosen nickname. Random, you say? A little, but not as much as you would think. I chose it because I knew no one would figure out that it was me. What do you mean, 'how do you even pronounce that'? Sigh… Okay. Say "neon". Now replace the first n with a z sound. Good. Now say "him" but take off the h sound. Now put it all together. It's like Zeonim, but obviously it's really Xeonim.

Harry and Ron who were still laughing their heads off along with the rest of the school, were talking about whoever did this. Yeah, I wonder who it could have been…

"Whoever did this is a genius!" Ron was saying.

"Absolutely. Whoever this 'Xeonim' guy is, I'd sure like to shake his hand," Harry said between laughs. I was slightly insulted that they assumed it was a guy who did this, but then Harry said in a shocked voice, "Holy- Look at Snape!" New rounds of laughter began when everyone noticed that Snape was included in this bout of Gryffindor spirit. Snape finally noticed that there was laughter being directed towards himself, noticed his hair, gave a glare that would have been threatening had it not been for his current hair colors, and stalked out of the Great Hall. I glanced to Sirius again who was currently trying his best to not laugh too hard at everything, being a professor and all, and I shook my head, smiling broadly at him. He saw and winked again. What a great night.

Dinner was pretty much over and lots of people were leaving, but the topic of every discussion was the Slytherin's new hair colors and who was this Xeonim person? Many people assumed it was a Gryffindor, but not everyone was convinced. Some people thought that someone was just trying to blame it on a Gryffindor because of the colors used. I didn't try to change anyone's mind.

Harry, Ron, and I left the Great Hall, still discussing the entertainment that was provided. I told them I was going to the library and they just rolled their eyes at me, but said they would see me later. I almost made it to the library when I heard an amused voice coming from behind me.

"So whoever this 'Xeonim' person is, they must be feeling quite proud of themselves tonight," Sirius was saying. I spun around and smirked at him.

"Whoever this 'Xeonim's' partner in crime was must be feeling pretty proud of themselves as well for including Snape in this bout," I countered. He did indeed look quite proud of himself at the moment.

"Well, they must have thought that the rules included that they could 'participate in the really fun ones'", he said quoting me from earlier.

"Maybe she- or he- didn't want anyone to mess with the first one," I attempted to sound hurt.

"Maybe that should have been stated," he countered, but looked torn between an amused and worried look. I honestly didn't care that much that he included Snape. It just wasn't part of the original plan. Would it be mean if I tried to make him feel bad anyway?

"Maybe it should have been understood," I said adopting a clearly hurt face this time. He looked around as if to see if anyone was around.

"I'm sorry, 'Mione," he said coming closer to me and embracing me. Um… where did that come from? And why did my heart skip a beat? He took a step back and I was sure I must have looked stunned.

"Sirius," I said recollecting myself, "I really don't care." He stared at me wide eyed for a moment. He seemed to shake his head and then put the trademark Sirius grin back on his face.

"Well if you wanted a hug from me, you could have just asked. I'm not one to say no to hugs," he said and I knew the thousand hot air balloons of ego had returned.

"Sirius!" I said smiling slightly, "You're such a boy." While I certainly did not mean this as a compliment he seemed to take it that way.

"Why thank you," he said while puffing out his chest. I just rolled my eyes at him to which he laughed at. "Well, anyway, congratulations. I'm sure this won't be the last of our conversations like this," he said while winking. What is it with him and winking? Maybe it's like a nervous twitch he has or something. He said goodnight and walked back in the direction he came from.

I turned and went towards the library. All in all, not a bad way to start the year I'd say. I'd also say "chicken" but that would probably be really random, so I won't. Now what to plan for my next escapade…

AN: Yay Chapter 3! Credit for the hair color changing to Gryffindor colors idea goes to Wondering What Breakfast Is (really, really, really appreciate it). If you have an idea that you would like to see in this story, let me know and I'll see if I can work it in. I have a bunch of ideas... but at the same time I don't have any ideas. All my ideas are on my computer at home which is about 5 hours from where I am now so it's not exactly accessible at the moment. I'll get them when I'm home for Thanksgiving. There are some good ones, I just wish I could remember them.

Anyway, if you don't know what the pairing is going to be yet, I'll tell you because I thought I made it quite obvious anyway. (Insert drum roll) It will be a SBHG fic! Yay! One of my favorite parings ever!! I couldn't resist. It's such a good one and I'm still in that mindset after writing Just A Stupid Crush (which you should read if you haven't).

OH! And a billion gold stars to anyone who can figure out where I got Xeonim from! I'll put the answer at the end of the next chapter and I'll also tell people if they are correct or not if they guess. It's really not as random as it seems, but that depends if you're familiar with...something. I can't say! But I will say that it does not fit in with the correct time period. That is, where I got the name from didn't exist in 1997.

Well, my homework is calling me and I've been ignoring it for most of the day... but I suppose I shouldn't do that anymore. Check my profile for notes about when the next chapter might be up! Let me know what you thought please!!

PadfootBlack4Ever