...I did it again TvT
Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay this week but life and blah XD Anyway, this is the precursor chapter to probably the best part of second year :D I really hope that you guys love this and the next chapter. We're coming so close to where I had stopped the first time I posted the story, and that means we're almost into things that will be seen for the first time by people other than me XD Are you as excited as I am? Probably not, haha.
Kam, I'm always team Sirius and Remus XD
Alright guys, that's all for now. See you in two weeks. Love ya! :D
~SXS
FOR WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMER, SEE FIRST CHAPTER AN.
The first snow of the season rang in the month of December. And with December and snow came talk of the holidays. The decorations were up on the first of the month and the sweet smell of pine filled the air. Garland wrapped the banisters and twinkling lights took the places of torches and candles. Remus had to admit, Christmas seemed to carry a magic of its own.
Leave it to James and Sirius to muck all that up.
The Gryffindor boys were sitting in the common room one night, discussing Christmas. "You know, I never realized how wonderful Christmas was until last year. I love everything about it, especially the trees. I don't know about you lot but I love the smell of Christmas trees," Sirius said. As if to emphasize this, he leaned over to the tree next to him and inhaled deeply. "Ahhh. That's the stuff!"
"You're such a nut," James said.
"I like that this year I asked my parents for nothing but chocolate," Remus said and licked his lips. It had been far too long since he'd had any truly good chocolate. Brownies were his favorite substitute, but they were not at all the same as the silky, smooth, creaminess that was a solid chocolate bar.
"Chocolate is good," Peter agreed. "But I never just settle on chocolate. I always ask for a full spectrum of candy. Sugar quills and Fizzing Whizbees and licorice wands..."
"You're all bonkers. Everyone knows that Christmas isn't about presents or smells or candy," James said, sounding like he was trying to be reasonable.
"You mean that Christmas is really about spending time with the ones you love and celebrating the birth of the Savior?" Remus asked.
"No. Christmas is about trying to catch as many people as you can under the mistletoe!" Remus opened his mouth to protest but closed it again and instead shook his head, touching his fingers to his forehead.
"But you can't really catch people under the mistletoe for sure," Peter said. "I mean, you can wind up with someone under the mistletoe, but you can't force them to kiss you. They'll just walk away if they don't want to."
"True. But with looks like these, who needs to worry about that?" James gave a toothy grin. Remus could almost imagine the comical sparkle of his teeth.
"It's true. The blessings of being gifted with gorgeousness." Sirius flipped his hair and matched James's smile. Then his face suddenly lit up much like a star on top of a tree. "I just got an idea! James, my boy, what do you say to a temporary truce in the War?"
"It would depend on what you are about to propose." But the mischievous glint in his hazel eyes told Sirius that he would agree no matter what.
"A school-wide prank, the likes of which we have never attempted before! Especially because we haven't really done anything but prank each other and Snivellus once. Something we must amend when our own War is over."
"Stop rambling and tell me your idea," James demanded.
"Alright, alright." Sirius put his hands in front of him, palms facing his friend. "Let's charm the mistletoe." He had a wicked grin and looked deep into James's eyes as if to try and will him to understand what he was thinking. It seemed to have worked when an identical expression appeared on the other pureblood.
"You mean-"
"Yes. And the only way-"
"Brilliant! But how-"
"Moony will look that up."
"Excuse me? I don't look up anything that you don't speak in full sentences about," Remus interrupted.
"Sorry, Moony," Sirius said. He leaned conspiratorially over the table so that James, Peter, and Remus huddled in as well. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he explained, "We're going to charm the mistletoe so that you can't get out from under it unless you kiss the person you're there with."
"Oh, that'll be so funny!" Peter said with a laugh. "But wait, what if we're not around to see when it happens?"
"You're right, Pete, good catch. How will we see the fruits of our labors?" James asked.
"Excellent question...If only there were a way to get it to snap pictures..." Sirius trailed off, the cogs in his brain working. "We could always have it so that they're trapped until one of us is there to see it."
"No way. We're not trapping innocent students under mistletoe for undefined periods of time," Remus said.
"I guess not. I'll have to sleep on it. But please, Rem, will you look up a way to trap people under the mistletoe?" Sirius clasped his hands together and showed him his practiced puppy dog eyes.
Remus's resolve wobbled as he chewed on his lip. Then it completely toppled. Try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to say no to that face. "Oh...Alright, fine. I'll look into it tomorrow. Maybe in that book about magical forcefields that we looked in last year."
"Huzzah!" Sirius cried while pointing his finger into the air and puffing out his chest. "Henceforth we shall remember this prank as the Mistletoe Mayhem of Christmas 1972."
"You know, for someone who sleeps through most of History of Magic, you know quite well how to name things like they come from history books," Remus commented.
Sirius dropped his arm, making a safe landing onto Remus's shoulders. "How would we remember which prank was which otherwise? I mean, fifty years from now when we're old and senile and looking back on our greatest adventures, if I just said, 'Remember the mistletoe thing?' you lot might not remember it. But if I said, 'Remember the Mistletoe Mayhem of '72?' you're bound to say 'Oh, yeah! One of our greatest triumphs!' or something along those lines. And this way it makes it easier for our children to remember so that they can pass it to their children and so on."
Remus sighed with a fond smile. "Suddenly I feel bad for our children."
.:~I~S~S~:.
It took a week of research but eventually Remus found exactly the charm they were looking for. While looking for the books that they had used the year before, he happened across one called Silver Spells: The Magic of Christmas. There was a whole section on mistletoe including information about the plant itself, charms for hanging it, and the comically named O Holy Crap charm.
"Perfect!" Sirius said when Remus told the others of the results. "Ooo, and it says that you need to attach an eyeball to it so that it can see when two people are underneath. Squishy."
"You'll be doing that part, thanks," Remus said.
"Hey wait. If it's already going to have eyeballs, can't we make the eyeballs take pictures or something?" James asked.
Remus looked thoughtful. "Wizard mistletoe is very intelligent. It has the power to sense strong emotions and potential for love. It says here that if two soulmates are caught under it, it will do exactly what we're doing of its own accord."
"Creepy. Imagine if you accidentally got stuck under there with someone you hated. I think that would be the worst way to find out who your soulmate is," Sirius commented.
"That aside, it means the mistletoe almost has a brain of sorts. We're going to have to attach the eye to that brain somehow, and if that's already done, we can probably convince it to take pictures. The problem is that normal eyeballs don't have cameras in them."
"Too bad we can't go to Zonko's," Peter said. "I'll bet they sell eyeballs with cameras in them already." James and Sirius's eyes widened, slow smiles breaking over their faces.
"Oh, Peter. Why did you just say that?" Remus groaned. "He didn't mean it. Don't think about it too much." But it was too late. The spark of the idea burst into a flame when it reached Sirius and James's ears.
"You know..." Sirius said and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Yes. We could..." James agreed with a matching expression.
"Oh no...Look, lads, I'm all for a good prank but sneaking out of the school is dangerous." Deep down Remus knew it was pointless to try and stop them but he felt that someone should at least try.
"Remy, Remy, Remy," Sirius said, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head. "Where's your pranking spirit? This is the kind of thing that will allow us to be remembered forever as the only boys bold enough to prank the entire school. There are no walls that can hold us, no possibilities that we are limited to. We are invincible!"
"What has gotten into him lately?" Remus asked, more to himself than the others.
"Christmas Spirit?" James suggested. "Funny because last year he was so mopey, but I suppose since this year he knows he's going to go home with you he's in a better mood."
Sirius put one hand on his hip, the other making a fist which he placed on his chest. "And with the smell of prank in the air, I have even more spirit within. More gusto and more excitement for life! Embrace the day, boys! We are going to make history! Now off to the one-eyed witch!"
"Sirius, we have class in five minutes," Peter said.
"Bollocks! Well, I guess it can't be helped. To class then. Ugh, it's Potions next isn't it?" Sirius's good mood deflated at the thought of another class with the Slytherins but nothing could completely dampen him during this, the greatest of seasons. Potions class was one minor setback during which he would dream about their adventure into Hogsmeade soon to come.
.:~I~S~S~:.
Knowing that it would be hard to find a good chunk of time during the week when they could sneak away and come back without missing class, the boys decided to wait until the weekend to make their secret trip. With Quidditch practice on Saturday, it seemed Sunday would be their day. Sirius was so excited that he woke bright and early and jumped on each of his friends in turn to wake them as well.
"Today's the day, boys! Get up, get dressed, let's go! Come on, Moony, you take waaaaay too long. James, don't bother with your hair, it's hopeless anyway. Pete, good man, all ready to go. Come on, come on!" He bounced around the room like an eager puppy and Remus groaned as he felt potential for a headache building.
"Keep your knickers on," James said. He was rubbing hard at his eyes trying to wake up, but he was smiling. He and Sirius seemed to feed off of each others' desire for mischief; if one was raring and ready to go, it wasn't long before the other followed in his footsteps.
"Everyone under the cloak. We have to make it look like we haven't even woken up." James opened the cloak for the others and they stepped inside and closed it over them. "Alright. Let's move out."
Carefully they shuffled out of their dorm and down the stairs to the common room where some early rising students were enjoying the relaxing Sunday atmosphere. The invisible boys stood out of the way near the portrait hole, waiting for someone to open it so they could slip out. Sirius was so antsy that he was hopping from foot to foot, making it almost possible for someone to see their ankles from under the cloak.
"Stand still!" James hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "You'll give us away!"
"Why won't someone just open the bloody door!" Sirius said, almost a little too loudly. They looked at the others in the room and thankfully no one seemed to have noticed.
After a wait of ten minutes that felt like ten hours, Frank Longbottom finally came down the stairs and went out the door. The boys took their chance and snuck out behind him, hoping that no one noticed the door staying open just slightly longer than it normally would have.
Once out of the common room, the rest was easy. The four went down to the third floor and found the one-eyed witch statue. Sirius tapped the hump with his wand and said, "Dissendium!" and it opened to reveal the secret passage. Remus, though he knew what was going to happen ahead of time, was still surprised.
The four of them slipped out from under the cloak and into the tunnel. They descended down below the castle into the dank underground. Each of them lit their wands to help guide them across the uneven ground.
Remus couldn't deny that he enjoyed the feeling of breaking the rules. He supposed that came from his mother's own mischievous streak; she had recruited him to pull small pranks on his father as soon as he could talk. But those harmless jokes were nothing compared to the magnitude of what he and his friends were doing now. It was potentially dangerous and the consequences were more severe. He had to wonder whether she would be proud or concerned. Probably a little of both.
Still, one of them had to be at least somewhat responsible. James and Sirius's penchant for getting into trouble would otherwise go unchecked. "Remember: we go in, get the stuff, and leave," he said. "If we linger too long we might wind up getting caught. There are other students there and that means there might be teachers."
"That's true. I'll bet McGaga is probably lurking about up there," James said. Sirius barked a laugh and clapped him on the shoulder.
"McGaga? That's hilarious, mate! We are definitely using that from now on."
"Hopefully not in front of her."
"Of cooooourse not," Sirius said, but it was obvious that this was how he would address their Head of House the next time he saw her.
After about half an hour's walking, the tunnel began to incline and they found themselves at the bottom of a ladder. One by one they climbed it up to the trapdoor and pushed up into the basement of Honeydukes.
"Cloak on," James whispered and they draped it over themselves once again. They went up the stairs into the store, dodging around the throng of students, hoping that they would think it was the other visible ones when they were accidentally bumped. They stepped out into the snowy street and Peter drew in a breath.
"Wow…And I thought Honeydukes was impressive."
"It'll be better when we can go in without having to worry about getting in trouble. Now let's keep moving," Remus said.
"Oh, don't be such a party pooper, Rem!" Sirius said. "If you're good, I'll buy you some chocolate on the way out."
"You sound like you're bribing a toddler."
"Is it working?" Remus said nothing. "Thought so."
They went up the road to Zonko's and found it was more packed than Honeydukes, students everywhere buying all kinds of gags and prank materials. "I think it's okay to take the cloak off. McGogs won't be in here and the other kids won't notice the difference."
"Yeah, let's split up," Sirius said. The four of them slipped out of the cloak and into different parts of the store. Remus cautiously weaved through the other students, looking at the shelves for anything resembling what they were looking for. He found himself in the section of prank candy; exploding gum, licorice that turned your tongue purple and polka-dotted, and sugar quills infused with potent a Sleeping Drought. Nothing like picture-taking eyeballs.
Suddenly Peter's voice was calling out to them from nearby. "I think I found something!" The other three crowded around and James took the box he was holding.
"Good job, mate. Let's see. 'Spyballs'," he read. "Like an extra eye out of your head! Hide Spyballs anywhere and take secret pictures that automatically appear in the included 'Evidence Album'. Ten Spyballs per box."
"There's a lot more than ten sprigs of mistletoe in the castle," Sirius said.
"I think we can afford two boxes. We'll just have to pick the highest traffic areas." James grabbed another box from the shelf behind Peter and they headed to the checkout. The man behind the counter didn't even bat an eyelash. Then the boys went back under the cloak and out into the cold winter air.
"Oh, can't we stop for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?" Peter begged. "It's really cold!"
"Sorry, Pete, but we've got work to do," James said.
"Besides, that's the most likely place we'd run into Professor McGonagall," Remus said.
"I guess I'll just have to get something in the Great Hall when we get back." Peter sighed.
As promised, when they went back through Honeydukes, Sirius came out from under the cloak and bought a bar of chocolate for Remus. And on their way back to the castle, the werewolf broke off little pieces of the bar at a time, letting them melt in his mouth and savoring the flavor. Breaking the rules did have some excellent advantages.
.:~I~S~S~:.
Not wanting to waste any time, the Gryffindor boys chose set their traps that very night. Long after everyone had gone to bed the four boys emerged from their common room with the cloak, a broom, wands, and their boxes of Spyballs in tow.
"We have to be sparing with these. I think one for each of the places where people walk by the most. Starting here," James said, looking up. There was a sprig of mistletoe above the moving staircase. "Lumos!" His wandlight cast shadows on his face as he got onto his broom.
James turned to Sirius. "Remus and I will head up there while you and Pete wear the cloak down here and watch out for anyone, namely Filch."
"Remus who? I don't like brooms, remember?" Remus said, eying the broomstick under James with trepidation.
"But it's not that high," James said. "Plus I'll be the one controlling it. None of us can cast that charm like you." He looked at him, employing the same puppy dog eye technique that he had seen work so well for Sirius.
"That's not going to work this time. I'm not getting on that broom." Remus had tried to sound firm, but the slight shake in his voice betrayed him.
"Please, Remy!" Sirius then took his turn to try the face, but Remus had closed his eyes and turned away.
James sighed. "Alright, fine. Sirius and I will go up then. I should be able to do the charm." He knew that it was a long shot getting Remus up there anyway, after what had happened during that first flying lesson (which he now felt much guiltier about being that they were friends). He took one of the Spyballs out of a box, then gave the cloak over to Remus and Peter who draped it over themselves. Sirius straddled the broom in front of James and the two flew up to the mistletoe.
"Where are we supposed to put the eye?" James asked.
"It has to point down so it can see." Sirius let go of the broom with one hand and moved the eye to blend in with some of the white berries on the plant. Then he took the trailing pink cord and coiled it around the stem. "The real problem is where the end of this goes."
"You have to cut a little slit in the main stem," Remus called out quietly from below. "Put the end of the cord inside and it will automatically close over it. Then do the spell."
Sirius steadied himself with his legs and removed his other hand from the broom handle. He grabbed the stem of the mistletoe between his thumb and forefinger and squeezed it. It seemed like it would cut easily enough with the tip of his wand. He pressed it into the green flesh and sure enough, a slit opened wide enough for the cord of the Spyball. After sticking it inside, the green molded around it, changing the color of the cord to match. "You're up, Jamesie."
He steered the broom so that James's arm could reach and the bespectacled boy started muttering the charm. A glow formed around the sprig, then faded as he finished the spell. Then the two flew back down to their invisible friends.
"Too bad we can't test it," James said.
"We could if it didn't mean that we'd have to snog each other to get out," Sirius said. "Because I don't think anyone wants to lock lips with you." James swiped at him and the other boy ducked.
"Alright, let's go down to the dungeons and work our way back up. And I think I have the perfect place to put those 'Evidence Albums.'" Even in the faint light of his wand, Remus could still see the sparkle of mischief in James's eyes.
"This is definitely going to be a Christmas to remember," he muttered to himself.
By the time the boys had finished the job there were Spyballs attached to two sprigs of mistletoe on every floor, two in the dungeons ("The better to catch Snivellus unexpectedly," Sirius said), three around the moving staircase, and one near the Great Hall. Peter had been given the job of ripping up the Evidence Albums and after setting up the final sprig, James revealed his plan for the pages.
"We're going to stick them right here, where everyone can see them," he said, motioning to the wall outside the Great Hall. "This way we're not the only ones who get to enjoy our masterpiece."
"That's utterly humiliating to everyone involved," Remus said, but there was a small part of him that admired James's creativity. Plus after staying up for three hours setting this prank up, he definitely did not want to miss results of their labors.
"That's the point, my dearest Remy," Sirius said. "Let's put an Unstickable Charm on them."
"Brilliant as always, Sirius," James said. "Here, you and Pete hold them to the wall and Remus and I can do the charms." The boys did as they were told and in a few minutes there were twenty pieces of what looked like blank parchment stuck to the stone wall. Satisfied with their work, and needing at least a few hours' sleep before morning, they then adjourned under the cloak and made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.
"And now," James said, as they settled back into their dorm, "we wait."
