I'm back! My computer has been cured so hopefully these updates will come much quicker now. I already have the next chapter planned out so hopefully that will be up by tomorrow or Saturday. I'm excited because we are finally coming to the end of first year. I think that was the hardest year to get through, but I think that the other years will go by faster because as they get older, I have a lot more planned for this merry group of Gryffindors.
Please review because I always appreciate hearing people's thoughts and opinions on my story. I hope you enjoy.
"I'm bored," Sirius complained as he dramatically sprawled across his bed.
He was rightfully bored. There were no more Quidditch games for another three weeks until the end of the term. There was a horrible storm outside so they couldn't go outside by the lake. He couldn't even go spend time with his sister- she had been 'kidnapped' by Lily for some 'girl bonding time' or some rubbish like that.
Ben rolled his eyes and held up the scroll to see how much longer he had to write, "Try doing your homework."
The other boy's response was to snort, "Funny joke Ben. Tell it again."
"Do your homework," Remus said. Ben laughed from the adjacent bed and they fist bumped.
"Ha, ha, is this gang up on Sirius day or something?" Sirius complained.
James looked thoughtful for a moment. He rubbed his chin while looking at the ceiling and mouthing numbers and days of the week. Finally he turned to Ben, "If I'm not mistaken, pick on Sirius day is…" he paused again dramatically. "Every day." He finished with a smirk towards Sirius.
"You know what?" Sirius began as he jumped off his bed, "I'm not going to listen to this. I'm off to go cause trouble and not be little goodie two shoes. You coming Pete?" Sirius offered the one person in the room that hadn't been making fun of him.
Peter, thankful for a reason not to do his potions homework, jumped from his bed and joined Sirius. While walking out of the room, Sirius grabbed James's invisibility cloak.
"Hey!" James shouted and tried to dive for his most precious possession.
Sirius threw a small piece of paper in his direction, "This is one of the five."
Begrudgingly, James tore up the piece of paper he had given his friend for his birthday all the while muttering things about stupid friends that have no respect for other people's possessions. Sirius ignored the muttering and stuffed the cloak in his messenger bag, not wanting their shared secret to be common knowledge to the whole school.
They had just walked out of the portrait hole when Sirius asked, "So Pete, what sort of mischief do you want to get into?"
Peter shrugged, "Nothing that will get us in trouble."
"Come on," Sirius said throwing his arm around Peter's shoulders, "No one ever had fun following the rules."
Two hours later, they had set a small trap for the Slytherins when they woke up. At the top of the dungeon stairs, they had left a thin string that when pulled would dump a bunch of mud they brought in from the outside.
They were wandering around where they thought the Hufflepuff Common Room was to try to find it when it happened.
Peter was walking closest to the wall and gently running his fingers across all the portraits. Most of them would shout in indignation at what they considered inappropriate touching. Sirius was just walking down the middle of the hallway trying to look at all of portraits to try to narrow down the one that was the entrance to the other house.
Then there was a giggle.
Both boys froze midstep and turned to look at the pear Peter had just run his hand over. Suddenly the portrait swung open. Sirius and Peter looked at each other for a moment before the delicious smells hit their noses. They took cautious steps into the dimly lit room
"Bloody hell," Sirius whispered in shock when he saw inside the room. The ceiling seemed to never end and the walls looked like they were glittering. There were some small candles that lit the room, but there wasn't much light to see any details.
"Hello?" Sirius called out. His call echoed but there was no response. He shrugged and turned back to Peter, "Well, mate, it looks like you found an empty room. Congrau-HOLY CRAP!"
A house elf appeared right in front of Sirius as he was talking, scaring him half to death. It felt like his heart was about to jump from his chest and do the can-can.
"Oh! Mitzi is sorry, sir, she is! Mitzi never meant to scare you, she didn't!"
Sirius placed his hands in front of him as if he was trying to assure a wounded animal he wouldn't hurt it, which Mitzi kind of looked like. She had scars that looked like they were years old. She looked slightly familiar to Sirius until it finally hit him,
"Mitzi! You were my crazy aunt's house elf until four years ago! I thought they'd done off with you!" He exclaimed, remembering the house elf that was forced to serve the Lestranges. Bella found a sick fascination with punishing the house elves with extremely cruel tactics for doing nothing wrong.
Her eyes widened even more, something that Peter thought was impossible, as she took in the student that bore great resemblance to her former family.
"Master Sirius! Mitzi is sorry she didn't recognize you! Mitzi is a bad elf!" She started to hit herself on the head but Sirius quickly grabbed her arms, "NO! STOP!"
She stopped and looked up at him with tear filled eyes, "You treat Mitzi well even though she forgets about your sister's kindness! Master Sirius is just as kind as Mistress Ursula!" She hugged Sirius tightly for a moment before she noticed Peter standing slightly behind his friend.
Much like a small child would hide behind a parent when meeting someone new, Mitzi ran behind Sirius's legs and peeked around him to look at the students she didn't recognize at all. Sirius decided to introduce them,
"Peter this is Mitzi. She's Bella's old house elf. Mitzi, this is my friend Peter Pettigrew."
Peter knelt down and held out his hand for her to shake, "Pleasure to meet you Mitzi."
She smiled and shook his hand enthusiastically, "Mitzi is glad to make a new friend in Master Peter."
"Mizti," Sirius began, "where are we?" He asked looking around the still dim room that was unidentifiable.
She smiled brightly and grabbed both of their hands and started to pull both boys forward, "This is the kitchens."
"Wicked," Sirius said, now able to figure out what all the shiny objects on the walls were. He stopped admiring all the pots and pans and turned back towards Mitzi,
"So how did you end up here?" He asked. He was honestly curious. The Lestrange family liked his mother's tradition of killing house elves and mounting their heads on the parlor wall so he couldn't figure out how she got out relatively unharmed.
"Mistress Ursula helped Mitzi. She gave mistress Bellatrix dirty sock which she tossed to Mitzi. Mitzi was freed and Master Albus offered Mitzi a job here at Hogwarts. Mitzi agreed because she likes cooking lots, yes she does. Cooking brings Mitzi joy, lots of joy."
Sirius smiled at her enthusiasm. The way he remembered her was a miserable and depressed house elf. Honestly, just being around her made you want to find a high tower to jump off of.
"Wait, Ursula did that?"
He tried to think of any time where she got in a lot of trouble with his mom – who no doubt would have been furious with her – but he couldn't remember that. He tried to remember any time she got in trouble for doing stuff he knew she did, but he came up empty.
She got away with every single thing she did while he got punished for it.
Why was that?
After having a late night snack that Mitzi made for him and Peter, they made their way back to their dorm, whatever prank they were going to do on the Hufflepuffs forgotten. Sirius was laying in his bed with the curtains undone. His hands were folded on his stomach and he looked like a corpse in the pale moonlight.
"James?" He whispered into the silent room.
His friend in the bed right next to him just turned over his sleep, snuggling into the blankets more.
"James," Sirius whispered a little louder.
There was no response.
"James," Sirius said in a normal talking voice.
This time James groaned, "What in Merlin's name could you want at," James half sat up and looked at the clock, "2:00 a.m.? He asked, rolling over to face Sirius.
Sirius didn't turn to look at him and continued to stare at the ceiling, "Do you think that my parents ignore Ursula?"
James let his head fall back into his pillows with an annoyed groan, "Listen, I may be your best mate, but I don't live with you. I've never met your parents so what makes you think that I will have the answer at two in the morning?"
Sirius blushed a little when he realized his mistake, "Sorry mate. Go back to sleep."
James didn't go straight back to sleep, "No, you woke me up, now I want to know what happened?"
After relaying the story of what happened in the kitchens – he knew they found the kitchens – Sirius was silent as he waited for his best friend's response. James was sitting on his bed and was thinking intently.
"I don't know Sirius. And you know if you ask Ursula, she'll deny everything; she's just like that. But we are going home in three weeks. If you notice something is wrong, feel free to come over to my house. My parents love you guys and wouldn't mind at all."
"Thanks for the offer James. Count on that offer being taken this summer. I mean, you know about what happened during the one week at Christmas and this is going to be close to two months with them…"
James laughed softly, mindful not to wake his roommates. "I hear you. Now let's get some sleep. We have McGonagall first thing tomorrow and she will kill us if we fall asleep in her class."
Sirius snorted but went under his covers all the same, "Minnie? She loves us. You, Ursula, and I are the best of our year in that class. She would never kill her most brilliant students."
"We are pretty brilliant if I do say so myself."
"Quite brilliant." Sirius agreed.
"Now," James said, "Let us rest our brilliant minds. Goodnight."
"G'night James."
Now if you would kindly leave a review, I promise that I will update faster! It will only take a couple of minutes at the most to say something.