The Houses Competition, Round 4

Hufflepuff, Ancient Runes, Drabble

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1000

Prompts:

THC:

The Rugrats: [Genre] Friendship

The Menagerie on Discord July Bingo:

[Pairing] James/Lily

[Pairing] Sirius/Remus

[Dialogue] "We are so late"

'Now Boarding'

Sirius stood in the shabby hallway outside James' apartment watching as Remus banged on the door to James' apartment with his fist and a harried expression. His boyfriend was so cute when he was stressed.

The two of them were both equipped with their carry-ons, Remus with his 'decent' brown briefcase that would make a college professor envious and Sirius with his violet My Little Pony backpack. The Black heir had eagerly bought it from the children's school section of a muggle M&S as Remus looked on with embarrassment. Peter was downstairs, right outside the building, stalling the cabbie who Remus had insisted they keep ready, making sure she didn't drive away when she realized that while they had every intention of going to the Heathrow airport, they wouldn't be leaving in the next ten minutes. Not with James' track record.

"James!" The man in question hadn't yet opened the door. Remus' banging was getting progressively louder and his language more colorful. "I know you're in there and I know you haven't packed yet bloody fu–"

"Hello, Remus, Sirius!" Lily opened the door, interrupting Remus' spiel, with a pleasant smile.

"Erm, hello." Remus slowly dropped his fist.

Sirius grinned at her, "Morning Lily, you look as vibrant as ever."

She rolled her eyes at that, even though she did look remarkably awake for someone who didn't even have a flight to catch.

Remus coughed, "Lovely morning we're having, aren't we?" Sirius personally didn't think five AM should be allowed to count as morning.

Lily apparently agreed, snorting and stepping back to open the door further. "Why don't you two just come in?"

Sirius nodded, entwining his fingers in Remus' to pull him inside with him. "Now where would our dearest Prongs be?"

At the sound of them entering the master bedroom, James turned away from his closet, his eyes widened in panic, and towards them with a sheepish smile. On the ground near him was a bright red trunk that was wide open on the floor and only a quarter filled with clothing. And the quarter that was filled only comprised of quaffle-printed underwear and crisp carmine dress shirts.

Their plane left in an hour and a half and James had apparently only just started packing.

Remus narrowed his eyes, and James immediately raised his hands in defense. "You really haven't finished packing yet?" He checked his watch and then turned his wrist so that Prongs could see the time. "It's 5:08, we said we'd pick you up thirteen minutes ago. We are so late and you still aren't done? When did you start?"

Sirius wasn't sure why Moony was surprised, it wasn't like Jamie had been much better during their Hogwarts packing.

"Would you believe me if I told you three days ago?" The mess, which seemed to just be the rest of his closet, gave him away.

Sirius barked a laugh, "No, Jamie, we would not." Prongs smiled at him unabashedly, and Remus sighed next to him, undoubtedly calculating the latest they could leave given traffic. "How about we help you?"

"Please." The two of them pointed their wands at the mess and got to work.

Twenty minutes later found James fully packed, dressed, and kissing Lily a warm goodbye.

"You stay safe, alright Lils?" he whispered to her, "I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to you…"

"Yes, a big strong man leaves and I'll suddenly be in danger. Whatever will I do?" She rolled her eyes and Prongs was looking down at her with the fondest grin, like she was the most precious thing in his world. He looked at her like Padfoot looked at Moony. Sirius turned to catch Remus' hand in his own and squeeze it. His love squeezed it back, blushing.

"I'm gonna miss you."

"You'll be back in four days."

"I still will."

Lily smiled softly, "I will too."

"I can write–"

"No, don't do that. Honestly, love, you'll be fine. It's only four days." She put a hand on his cheek and he seemed to lean into it. "You'll be back before you know it."

"You're right."

"I know."

Prongs pulled them impossibly closer, "Know that I'll be thinking of you the entire time and–"

"I hate to interrupt but we are incredibly late, there is a cabbie downstairs probably about to leave, and I refuse to miss our flight." Remus clapped twice pointedly, before opening the front door.

"Not to mention that my darling might have a panic attack if we don't move in the next thirty seconds." Sirius moved to gently pull James away from Lily and then proceeded to push him through the open front door. "Bye Lily, have a wonderfully relaxing time."

James called over his shoulder. "Bye Lily, I love you, my love. In the time we are apart, I will weep restlessly wondering when we might be together and in each other's delightful company–"

"I think she got it mate," Remus murmured, closing the door behind them.

The three of them sprinted down the stairs of the apartment building, suitcases comfortably shrunken in their pockets, and to the yellow cab that'd been waiting for them for the past half hour.

They found Peter standing outside it with the cabbie leaning against her car, conducting a discussion with the cab woman on the topic of breakfast foods, of all things.

"Wormy!" James exclaimed, slightly out of breath.

"Hi, Prongs! What took you so long? Did you know we're so late?" Peter greeted cheerfully.

James laughed, "It's been mentioned a couple times." He then politely introduced himself to the unamused cab driver. Remus took the moment to discretely move to the other side of the cab to enlarge their bags.

If the cabbie noticed the sudden appearance of the suitcases, she didn't say anything. "Are you boys ready to go now?"

They nodded, "Yes ma'am."

James settled into his seat and grinned, "I can't wait to fly!"