A/N
Dear god! It's been months! Months! I am SO sorry! I know how awful it is when the author doesn't update for AGES.
This is more of a little chapter, but still important. Dedicated to emzy lupin, Dave the L's gal (I take it that's a GN reference? I like it!) and LunaSky (I think that covers everyone apart from anonymous, but if not don't worry you will get a dedication at some point!).
Disclaimer stuff. Hope you enjoy.
James was worried. That's right, worried. The flower-loving, eternally joyful James was… worried. It wasn't a big worry – well, in reality it was, just that the amount of space it occupied in his mind wasn't as large as it could have been; most of his mind was devoted to making the karma in the school perfect (apart from the library, of course), so it was only a small fraction which was devoted to the upcoming problem.
The full moon.
Sirius wasn't often present in the current time; the last time James had 'spoken' to him he had muttered something about Mods and Goth Juice before phasing out again, so he hadn't really been able to discuss it with anyone. Dumbledore was largely confined to his office currently; he had to be in order to ignore the complete and utter perversion of the rules which was currently taking place.
(Professor McGonagall sent another concentrated burst of magic at the doorway, but to no avail. Professor Dumbledore, relaxing in his office, allowed a small smile to worm across his face before he held the small vial back up to the light, to which it audibly hissed and shrank away. He muttered something under his breath which might have been 'genius' before walking towards the window and surveying the grounds, another smile temporarily on his face as he saw the two distinct groups in the grounds – the third one never ventured outside unless under heavy cloud cover. His hands clasped behind his back, he surveyed his school again. Those boys were a hell of a trouble but they did make his life worth living. Why else do you think they lasted in school for so long?)
Anyway.
With Sirius gone and Dumbledore… indisposed James had a problem he couldn't really solve. So, with his large and magically-adept brain and remarkable intelligence, what did he do?
He asked Lily, of course.
---
"Hey…" he murmured under his breath. Well, to say that's an understatement; he made the 'e' last for several moments which resulted in Lily's already considerably large annoyance with him escalate until it needed that little push to drive her over the edge, which happened to take form as the next few words. "Evans, I don't suppose… you know…"
"Potter, you had better choose your next words very wisely. They had better not, completely for your sake, because I have absolutely no problem with sticking this wand into various places on your body, include such phrases as 'peace', 'bad karma' or 'chill', or God help me I don't think Remo's tendrils of blackness –
(At which point the authoress apologises for her terrible abuse of the Bold, but insists that if you have seen Remo's tendrils of blackness you will know that this is the only way to do them justice, and also apologises for the interruption)
– will hold me back," she finished, panting slightly, emerald eyes ablaze. James opened his mouth on instinct, thought better of it and slowly closed it again.
"Errm… I… like… have a problem, you know?" he risked, wincing as Lily pursed her lips. When she pursed her lips, all hell was about to ensue.
"Continue," she said, her voice just that little bit too calm for it to be safe.
"Well, like, I need to, you know…" he mumbled. Lily managed to suck in her lips that extra millimetre, causing James to visibly cringe.
"No, Potter, unfortunately I do not know, and at this precise moment in time I am eternally grateful that I don't understand your insane mind, because I would frankly believe that even two minutes in its presence would lower my IQ considerably."
James frowned. He was quite sure there might have been an insult in there somewhere, but due to the fact his entire brain was chilling he didn't have the time to work it out. Maybe later. And what was IQ, anyway? Never mind. Back to the problem. Deep breaths.
He looked at Lily again, who also seemed to be taking deep breaths. "Errm, Evans," he risked, and she turned her attention to him fully, evoking another wince. "I need to," he continued, resisting the urge to blurt one of his 'slogans'. "I need tocontactSirius," he blurted out, just managing to keep his voice calm.
"Very well," she sighed theatrically and tossed her hair slightly. "I have got a theory. Do you know what this is?" she asked, producing a small vial from the inside of her robe. James squinted at it. The contents appeared to be shunning the light, and if he really concentrated he could hear a faint hissing emitting from it. He frowned and shook his head, causing another theatrical sigh from the woman who was entirely enjoying exploiting the fact the one boy who had caused the whole school to be in an uproar was asking her for help. "This is… Remo Glitter," she finished dramatically. James was quite sure he could hear the capital G.
"Remo glitter?" he cautioned, and Lily tutted.
"More like… Remo Glitter," she said, and the lights seemed to flicker before James sent them a warning look.
"And what do we do with this… Remo Glitter," he asked, glaring at the lights in a 'you even think about it and I'll find a large bucket of water' way.
"You," Lily continued, "find Sirius when he is near the visible spectrum and toss the contents over him. That should anchor him for a moment. Then you'll have to grab him or something."
"Or something?" James asked, and got another dangerous glare from Lily.
"Well, I can't think of everything, can I?" she muttered, and flounced out. James sighed and held the glitter up to the light. Well, it was better than nothing.
---
James sighed. He'd spent his entire evening doing calculations to see if he could figure out the next time Sirius would involuntarily come back into the present. It didn't look good. A small patch of shimmer grinned and Sirius materialised beside him.
With a fumbling movement James cast the Remo Glitter over Sirius, who merely shrugged it off.
"What was that for?" he grumped. Actually, it was more of a 'whatwasthatfor' with the speed of James' last Quidditch goal; ie very fast.
"Well, you know," he muttered. "The full moon, is like, karmically, disrupting, you know?"
Sirius sighed. "Look, don't worry about the full moon, I've got it covered. Anyway, I've got to be off, see you in – " he glanced at a digital watch " – half an hour? Usual place. Anyway, future's calling, gotta be off!" And with that he yet again phased into whatever half-physical world he currently inhabited. James shook his head slightly and stood up.
Well, with his new walk, the Shrieking Shack was easily more than half an hour's walk. And besides, he had to delegate responsibility when he was gone. How else would he keep the emo population under control?
---
Sophie slowly phased back into a low enough frequency to talk to Lily without giving her friend a headache. The latter glared at her dangerously before flicking her hair – Sophie winced; not the hair flicking – tutted slightly under her breath – aargh, no, she tutted as well – and wrote another line on her Potion's essay.
"Err, Lily?" Her friend slowly turned dangerously glowing eyes.
"Yes?" Her voice was beginning to dampen Sophie's ever-cheerful atmosphere. She might even have to go to the hippies and ask for some karma cleansing; she had to be completely high when she tried to phase, or it just… wouldn't work. And Sirius would be getting bored in Limbo.
"Well, do we have any homework due?" she asked quickly. Lily slowly closed her eyes and opened them again in an extended blink.
"You really need to keep check of your dimensions, Soph," she sighed. "It's Saturday. Which means it's Sunday tomorrow, which means no lessons, so no homework."
Sophie frowned. "Oh, is it Saturday? My mistake. So how was Friday?"
"Uneventful," Lily sighed. "Same usual insanity as always – wait a minute, what do you mean how was Friday? You were there too!"
Sophie smiled briefly. "Got to check my times, I could end up meeting myself and that'll just cause a whole lotta sugar… anyways, Monday calling! Bye!!!!!" Lily opened her mouth to protest about the extra exclamation marks, but Sophie had already joined her future self next Monday. At least, she presumed it was next Monday. Knowing Sophie it could be 1863 and she wouldn't notice. Surely all this time-travelling can't be doing anyone any good.
She sighed, ran her fingers through her hair and turned back to her Potions essay. Some people remembered there was a next week, too.
---
James had been sitting in silent meditation for some time when Sirius phased in beside him. He continued to hum for a while, Sirius starting when he realised the complex bundle of arms and legs was him – after all, those positions were hardly natural – before he was sure the Shrieking Shack was as 'karmically cleansed' as it was going to get.
Sirius and James looked at each other and slowly transformed. Surveying each other through their animal eyes they took in the result of their little 'game' on their forms. Sirius frowned; he didn't think peace signs normally figured that heavily in a deer's pelt, but there you go. James placidly put his head to one side, trying to find a point of focus on Sirius before giving up, his small(er) mind struggling from the effort of trying to pin a constantly-moving object to one point.
"So…" James began, through telekinesis. Normally it would take him less time to speak it, but he had the restrictions of a deer brain and a mouth which was so chilled it would take a while to persuade it to open.
"We have about five minutes," Sirius beamed back at him through high-energy waves. Don't ask.
James frowned slowly. "But…"
"I chose a moment which meant we'd have time to prepare and stuff," he said, his 'voice' sounding slightly jumpy in James' head. He tried to pin it down and got a mental headache; imagine if you will trying to focus on a cricket chirping while bouncing on a trampoline in the middle of the A1 on a Monday, but the cricket wasn't actually real, just inside your mind. That's enough to give anyone a headache.
"So…" he tried again, but Sirius cut him off. He was wondering whether there was any point in conversation; after all, Sirius knew what he was going to say.
"He's in the tunnel," he said absently, cricket still jumping wildly. The springs on the trampoline were beginning to groan.
As if on cue, the black form which was Remo slunked in from the side tunnel. James and Sirius shared a nervous glance and slowly walked towards him. After a few pathetic moans and sighs the quivering werewolf looked up at them balefully, growled something under his breath which the two boys – or the deer and the dog – were sure had involved something to do with 'hell' and 'blackness'.
Looking at each other again, they sat down and kept their minds trained on each other, and their eyes on Remo. This was exceptionally hard for Sirius, who found it difficult to stay in this current dimension for a few seconds straight, but managed to compromise by being here and not here at the same time. Don't ask.
This was going to be a long night.
---
The third-year glanced at his classmates and tentatively reached out for the blackness. It sent out a thin tendril and wrapped itself around the hand; this tendril was revealed to be Bethany's hand.
"Yes?" she asked, monotone. The third-years squealed and ran off. Bethany rolled her eyes, sighed, and slunked back into the library. There were ancient tomes to emo-fy.
---
Because Sirius wasn't there all the time, and watching an emo wolf slump and howl miserably every few minutes isn't particularly interesting James sent out his mind. Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone tonight. Figuratively, of course. He disapproved of any killing of animals.
His karma waves wrapped gently around a paintbrush. With the help of Nearly-Headless Nick and a few other of the more 'cheerful ghosts' – those such as the Bloody Baron and Peeves had long floated off library-wards and never been heard of since – he began to paint. And paint. And paint.
Well, covering the whole school in peace signs is a little taxing, isn't it?
A/N
Aww, there you are! Not much happening really, just the night of the penultimate day – don't worry, epilogues on their way – but it was still fun for me to write, so I hope it was fun for you to read. See y'all very soon!