A Break from Monotony, or, How That Idiot Sirius Black Managed to Charm Me
Disclaimer: The fabulous Ms. Rowling is the owner of all characters from the Harry Potter series. Credit is given where credit is due.
Chapter 8
Surprise, Surprise
"I thought you didn't have an owl," Sirius asked, his mouth full of toast. A fleck of moist bread flew from his mouth and landed on a third year's face. Luckily for Sirius, however, the third year did not notice.
"I didn't," Morgana answered, stroking the owl's head. "Just got him this morning from my parents."
"What's the occasion?" Remus asked, though, he had swallowed his food before he started talking.
"It's my birthday," Morgana said absently, waving her hand in his direction. Eustace had now eaten half of her toast, and not wishing to share it with him, she reached for another slice.
"Oh, well, happy birthday, then," Remus said, smiling kindly at Morgana.
"Your birthday?" Sirius asked loudly, standing from the bench.
Morgana, who was almost accustomed to Sirius' loud proclamations, turned away from him and covered part of her face with her hand. She pretended to be having an in-depth conversation with the side of Judy's head.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Sirius was being quite loud, and receiving many puzzled and annoyed stares from the people around him.
"This is exactly why," Morgana said underneath her breath. She had seen what Sirius, James, and Remus pulled for Peter's birthday, which had only been a few weeks previous.
Sirius, James, and Remus, who were far too magically advanced for their ages, charmed Peter's robes to change color every hour or so. It caused quite the distraction in their classes, though, most teachers found it rather clever – Professor Flitwick had awarded the three of them five points each for "an excellent display of magic and personality!".
In addition to this, they had given Peter a large button to wear on the front of his robes that flashed, 'IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!' in large red and gold letters. Every time someone tapped it with their wand, it would start singing, 'Happy birthday' in a very nasally and very annoying voice.
And, for some reason, the button kept singing during lunch, though no one was tapping it with their wand. Eventually, everyone got irritated with it. Judy, who was probably the most irritated with the pin, went up to Peter, took the button from his robes, and threw it in the nearest trash bin. Sirius did not like this very much, but seeing as she had murder in her eyes at the time, did not retort until the next morning.
Let's just say that every kipper she tried to eat flopped off her plate and into her lap every time she approached it with her fork.
Furthermore, Sirius and James presented Peter with a large cake (Morgana noticed that Remus was far on the other side of the common room, his face completely buried in a book).
Very early in the term, the four boys had located the kitchens and figured out how to get in. They quickly befriended the house elves, and often came back to the common room with loads of food. They generally smuggled the food in their robes up to the dormitories, but occasionally they would share with the first year girls, if the girls were nice to them, of course.
The cake Sirius and James gave to Peter was very beautiful, with the words 'Happy birthday, Master Peter' in squiggly pink icing. Peter flushed a deep magenta when the cake was given to him in the middle of the common room with the majority of Gryffindor watching.
In true Gryffindor spirit (Morgana had to admit, she really liked the family atmosphere in the Gryffindor house), the common room came alive with a booming chorus of 'Happy birthday' and stayed to watch Peter blow out the candles.
These candles, however, were fireworks. And Peter, with his weak lungs, could not blow them out (though, there was not any hope, for a human being cannot blow out fireworks by merely using his or her lungs). Sirius and James gave each other menacing looks as the fuses burned further and further down.
And with a blast that shook the Gryffindor tower, the cake exploded, covering everyone in white frosting and chocolate cake.
Half of the common room was utterly disgusted, and ran off to the showers as quickly as possible. The other half (which did not include Judy, Morgana noticed), thought the prank was great fun, and proceeded to assist in the cleaning up process.
Morgana smiled despite of herself at the memory. She was still on the fence about Sirius Black. She liked his friends alright – James was hilarious, Remus was a complete sweetheart when he wasn't being an arse, Peter was a scared little school boy, but she liked him nonetheless – but something about Sirius still rubbed her the wrong way.
Perhaps it was because he kept trying to force himself into her life (or desk, whenever she had taken a spot he insisted on having), or because he walked around with a certain arrogance that made her livid, for some reason.
Sirius was rambling on about his plans to no one in particular, gesticulating grandly from his seat. He sent a pitcher of pumpkin juice soaring, and it splashed all over the toast-flecked third year's robes. He noticed this time.
The third year stood from the table and cursed loudly, causing McGonagall to take ten points from Gryffindor. The third year glared at Sirius and promptly left the Great Hall, presumably to change his robes.
Sirius was still talking when Morgana checked her watch and noticed the Gryffindor first years were due in Transfiguration in five minutes.
Morgana shoved one last piece of bacon into her mouth and hastily grabbed a piece of parchment and her new quill from her bag. She cleared a space in front of her and quickly wrote a thank you note to her parents.
She placed the letter in Eustace's beak. "Take this to mum and dad, okay?"
Eustace blinked in understanding and flew off. She replaced her quill in her bag and stood.
"That's all very nice, Sirius," Morgana said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "But class starts in a few minutes and we should probably head over."
Sirius looked down the table to find he had been talking to himself for a great deal of time. Everyone else had left for Transfiguration except Morgana and Sirius.
"Those prats," Sirius mumbled underneath his breath. He gathered his school things and walked down to the Transfiguration department with Morgana.
X
"Why, McGonagall? Why?" Morgana said dramatically before dropping her head down on top of her Transfiguration text book. The table her and Lily were working at was cluttered with parchment, quills, books, and inkwells.
Lily chuckled, but did not take her eyes off of her levitating apple. While almost everyone else was still working on levitating feathers, Professor Flitwick advised Lily to start working with denser items.
Morgana lifted her head from her book and looked over her half-finished essay. There was a smudge from where her forehead had rested on the yellowing parchment. She sighed and reached for another roll of parchment.
"I'm never going to finish this," Morgana moaned. "I think this will be the third time I've rewritten it."
"I don't see why you're so fussed to finish it," Lily said. "It's not due until next week."
"Well, with the essays from Barnes and Slughorn, the extra practice from Flitwick, and the detailed botanical drawing for Sprout, I won't have time next week to do this essay,"
"Hmm, I see," Lily said, allowing the apple to fall back to the table. "There's always the weekend."
Morgana stared at Lily from across the table. "I sleep on the weekends."
Lily laughed and took a bite from her apple. Morgana, who didn't really find it too amusing that she did not get adequate sleep on the weekdays, set to rewriting her essay onto a new piece of parchment.
An hour later, Morgana yawned widely and rolled up her parchment. The essay was not yet finished, but she resolved to complete it when she was less sleepy. Morgana began to clean up her surroundings when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
Morgana turned around, her quill between her teeth and her arms full of balled up pieces of parchment.
"Er," Remus said. "Let me…"
With a wave of his wand, the paper disappeared.
"Thanks," Morgana said, removing her quill from between her teeth. She knelt down to pack away her school things. "What do you need?"
"Um," Remus scratched the back of his neck before hastily taking Morgana by the hand.
She allowed herself to be pulled across the common room and up the stairs leading toward the boys' dormitories.
"Remus?" Lily asked loudly. "What are you doing?"
Lily was at the foot of the stairs, looking quite stern with Remus. "Um,"
"Those are the boys' dormitories. Girls aren't allowed up there!"
"Yes, I know. This wasn't my idea," Remus said, apologetically. "Just…come up with us. I suppose James wouldn't mind anyway…"
Lily did not hear the last part of Remus' sentence, but cautiously climbed up the stairs, looking around to make sure no one was watching.
"I swear, Remus, if we get in trouble…"
Remus led Morgana and Lily into the first year boys' dormitory. Nervously, he placed his hand on the doorknob and pushed the door open.
The first thing Morgana noticed was that it smelled terrible. "Merlin, it stinks in here!" She cried, pinching her nose.
"Sorry," Remus said, blushing at bit.
The three entered the circular dormitory. It was identical to the girls' dormitory, except the personal touches added by the boys were quite different. Morgana was quick to notice that posters of motorcycles and Muggle girls in very skimpy swimsuits adorned what she knew to be Sirius' four poster bed. Around James' bed were moving pictures of Quidditch players and Gryffindor banners. On Peter's night stand, there were many candy wrappers and empty Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans boxes. Remus' bed curtains were closed around his bed, but Morgana could see many boxes stacked on his night stand. Justin's area was not unlike the others'; he was representing his favorite Quidditch team and had a few personal pictures on his night stand.
"So now that we've seen your dormitory," Lily started, grabbing Morgana's wrist, "I think we will go now,"
Remus ran to the door and leaned against it, in what he thought was a cool manner. "You, uh, you can't leave."
Morgana raised one of her eyebrows at him. "Do I need to hex you?"
Beads of sweat were forming on his brow. "No, no. You do not need to hex me. You just can't leave."
"You have until the count of ten to tell us what you are up to, Lupin," Lily threatened, pointing her wand at him.
"I can't tell you!" Remus said frantically. "It's a surprise for Morgana!"
Lily lowered her wand and looked at Morgana. Morgana smiled and shrugged. "I suppose we could wait to see what the surprise is." She said to Lily.
Lily, Morgana, and Remus took seats at Peter and Remus' beds. Lily kept checking the door, as if she was scared McGonagall would walk in and expel her from the school.
Suddenly, a door did open, but it was not the door leading to the stairs. It was the door to the bathrooms. In the doorway stood Justin, who was clad in only a white fluffy towel.
"Remus! Why are there girls in the dorm?" He asked loudly, tightening her grip on the towel. "Girls aren't allowed in the dorm!"
"Oh, shut up, Justin," Remus said, waving him off. "They'll be gone soon enough."
"Fine," Justin said, striding quickly across the room. He gave the three a very nasty look before climbing into his bed and closing the curtains around him with unneeded force.
A few more minutes passed before the dormitory door opened. In strolled Sirius, James, and Peter, who were all looking quite cool (except Peter, who was trying really hard to look cool, but in reality, was sweating bullets). Behind them floated a massive cake.
"Remus, you were supposed to clear off one of the night stands so we could use it as a table," Sirius said, glaring at Remus.
"Sorry," Remus said. "I was trying to make sure they didn't escape."
Remus cleared off his night stand and charmed it to an open space in front of the beds. James, who Morgana soon found was performing the magic to make the cake float, let the cake fall neatly on the night stand with a soft flump.
The cake was not unlike Peter's – it was white and pink as well, except the colors were reversed. The cake was luridly pink with white piping. In squiggly white letters, it read, "Happy birthday, Morgana!"
"Ta-da!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his arms out. "Happy birthday!"
"Is this cake going to explode?" Morgana asked, tentatively. She approached the cake and prodded it with her finger, as if this would answer her question.
"No, this cake will not explode. We swear on pain of death," Sirius assured her. And, in Muggle fashion, he crossed his heart.
Morgana glanced at Remus, James, and Peter, each in turn, for affirmation of Sirius' oath.
"It won't explode," Remus said. "Trust me."
Morgana narrowed her eyes at him, but then relaxed. She smiled. "Alright, alright."
"Candles, Mr. Pettigrew?" Sirius said grandly. Peter handed him a small box of Muggle cake candles. Sirius placed eleven on the top tier and lit them with the tip of his wand. "And now, for a rousing chorus of 'Happy birthday'!"
The four boys and Lily sang loudly and horrendously to Morgana, who blushed furiously. She was not used to this form of concentrated attention. The song ended (thankfully) and Morgana blew out the candles, braced for a sudden explosion.
But as the boys promised, no explosion came.
"Peter, would you do the honors?" Sirius asked. He nudged Morgana in the ribs. "He cuts cake the best."
After the cake was magically cut and everyone had devoured at least one large slice of birthday cake, Lily and Morgana left for their own dormitory.
"Thank you, everyone," Morgana said, with her hand on the doorknob. "Seriously. That was wonderful."
She smiled at the four boys, bade them good night, and her and Lily left the dormitory. As the door was closing, Morgana and Lily heard Justin talking.
"Thank Merlin they're gone! I thought they would never leave!"
"Oh, shut up, Justin!" Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter said at once. There was a resounding smush and a loud yelp.
Morgana and Lily stifled back laughter as they descended the stairs.