The Houses Competition: Round Six

House: Gryffindor

Class: DADA

Category: Standard

Prompts chosen: [Speech] "I finally did it! I finally-", [Action] Doing homework

Word Count: 1360

Summary:(Marauders Era) Lily, James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were doing homework when Sirius begs Lily to let him copy her work for a potion assignment, but she refuses.

Title:The Homework Dilemma

The Gryffindor common room was a cozy place where the Gryffindors of Hogwarts could hang out with one another without having to worry about the other houses. The common room consisted of a circular pattern where the Gryffindor students could relax after a long day of classes. It was full of spacious armchairs, tables and a bulletin board where school notices would be posted, most often related to quidditch. The common room was decorated in several shades of red, which was associated with their house color, with hints of gold thrown in. There were many windows that looked out onto the grounds and a large fireplace dominated one of the walls. The mantle of the fireplace was adorned with a portrait of a lion in order to remind the students of the bravery that Gryffindor processed.

Lily, James, Remus, Peter and Sirius sat around this fireplace as they did their homework. Lily was curled up on the couch that was situated across from the fireplace with her feet on James' lap as she finished up the last bit of Transfiguration homework that she had. Every so often, her head would bob along to the crackling of the fire, as if she could predict when one of the logs would crackle under the heat of the flames.

Remus and Peter were in the middle of a chess match as Sirius sat on the floor, his books spread out on the table as he struggled with the Potions assignment they were given today. They needed to write a two-page essay on the dangers of Amortentia and so far, Sirius was a sixth of the way there and that was only because he stretched out the introduction.

"Lily, please," Sirius begged. He had been begging for the past twenty minutes, but now it was starting to get pathetic and a little bit sad. Lily was considering giving in; the puppy dog eyes he was shooting her were breaking her heart, but she stood her ground.

"No," Lily simply responded, not even looking up from her own work as she scribbled something down. She flicked her eyes up for a second when she heard James snicker but quickly went back to her Transfiguration work, wanting to get it done before she headed off to bed. "You know, if you spend the time working instead of begging; you would be halfway done by now," Lily pointed out with a small snicker of her own.

"Please, when was the last time I asked you for anything?" Sirius asked, almost at the point of tears. Sirius was already failing Potions and if he didn't get a good mark on this assignment, there was a pretty good chance he wouldn't be able to get his grades up enough to pass the class.

"This morning," Lily answered, "You asked me for my Herbology homework."

"When was the last time I said please?" Sirius inquired, tilting his head to the side a little.

"This morning, you asked me for my Herbology homework," Lily repeated, earning herself another snicker from James. "What is your plan? If you copy my work, Slughorn is going to notice and then we will both be in trouble," she explained.

"Oh, please, you're Slughorn's favorite. You got invited to the Slug Club Christmas party after all; none of us did," Remus chimed in as he waited for Peter to make his move. "He would never get one of his prized students in trouble."

"What are you talking about? James was at the Christmas party," Lily pointed out.

"He was your plus one; he wasn't actually invited," Remus pointed out. "As I understand it, Slughorn would have preferred that he wasn't there."

"What?" James asked, looking up from the book he was reading. "Where did you hear that from? I was a perfect gentleman. I even wore the suit that Lily picked out for me," he explained, causing Remus to roll his eyes a little.

"Stay out of this Remus. This isn't about the Christmas party; this is about Sirius always copying my homework because he's incapable of doing it himself," Lily explained.

"I'm not going to copy it word for word; I'm not an idiot. I was going to mix it up a little." Sirius began, "And for your information, I am more than capable; it's just easier if I copy it off of you," he pointed out with a slight smirk.

"Well then, if you are more than capable, then you shouldn't have a problem because I'm not giving you my work," Lily stubbornly replied. "In fact, I'm going to bed," she said, finishing her Transfiguration homework with one final statement on how Transfiguration could be used in their everyday lives. Lily quickly packed up her parchment, placing everything in her book bag before getting up. "I will see you three in the morning," she added, purposefully excluding Sirius, before heading off to bed.

"Don't look at me like that," James said, noticing the look Sirus was shooting at him once Lily could no longer be heard going up the steps to the girls' dormitory. "You know what would happen to us if Lily ever finds out that I gave you her bag?" James asked, "We will be hexed into next week and I don't fancy waking up in the infirmary."

"Now, back to Slughorn's Christmas party," James went on as he turned his attention back to Remus. "What did I do that was so bad?"

Remus let out a small sigh as he easily put Peter into a checkmate. It didn't matter where he moved; Remus would be able to take down his king during his next turn. "Let's just say that the hors d'oeuvres were for everyone, not just for you," Remus explained.

James let out a huff as he stretched his arms out across the back of the couch. "Slughorn has it in for me, that's all. I'm sure if I were one of his prized students, he wouldn't care," he commented as he placed his feet on the corner of the table.

Hours passed with Remus and Peter setting up a new game of chess whenever one of them won; most of the time, it was Remus who not only won but destroyed Peter in the process. James stayed stretched out on the couch as he engaged in small talk with the two while Sirius did his best to finish his assessment. It was getting close to midnight when Sirius jumped up. "I finally did it! I finally—"

"Before you get too much into your celebration," Remus cut Sirius off. "You only have one sheet of parchment; the assessment was two. You still have one to go," he explained, causing James to burst out laughing.

Sirius paused for a moment, looking down at his work, before letting out a loud groan and collapsing back to the floor. "This is going to take me all night!" Sirius cried out as he placed his head on the table. "I give up; Slughorn can fail me."

James chuckled as he reached out and grabbed the strap of Lily's bookbag and tossed it over to Sirius. "I think you suffered enough; just don't let Lily find out, or we will never hear the end of it," he warned before he excused himself to bed since he needed to get up early for Quidditch practice.

"I should head to bed myself." Remus said, since Peter had left him alone an hour before when he had gone off to bed. "Tomorrow night is the full moon and it helps if I'm rested," he said as he got up from the couch. "Don't forget to put Lily's papers back inside her book bag once you're done," he reminded Sirius. "Like James said, you don't want her to find out."

"Don't worry, I'm not an idiot." Sirius replied, "I will be up as soon as I finish this; it shouldn't take me long now," he said as he quickly started to write down what Lily had written.

Remus let out a small smirk. "Night, Sirius," he said softly before heading up to the dormitories.

"Night, Remus," Sirius responded, not even looking up as he raced through the final part of his homework.