"What are you two up to?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she saw the two of them sneakily talking to each other and immediately heading for the stairs the moment they had entered the Gryffindor tower.
The two have been acting strange since Ron whispered something to Harry outside the library. And while she didn't know what they were planning exactly, she knew that it couldn't be anything good as her trouble sensors were tingling like nothing else.
"Um... Ron was asking me—"
"Nothing! We're doing nothing," Ron hastily interrupted Harry while immediately pushing his friend up the stairs so that he didn't give away the game, "We just wanted to quickly pack up all these books in our trunks and get some rest," he said with a smile while gesturing towards the stack of books in his hands, "You know since all that reading in the library was really tiring..."
"Really? You just want to rest?" Hermione asked while raising a sceptical eyebrow and Ron immediately nodded his head, "Well, you can't." she said factually, shaking her head, "Since the end-of-year feast will start in just a few minutes, you need to immediately come back down if we are going to reach the Great Hall on time..."
"Ah! About that," Ron replied while scratching his cheek, "I think I am going to skip that,"
"What? Why?!"
"B-Because of...er... my headache," Ron said hurriedly coming up with an excuse, "Ah! Yes, a Headache! I have a very bad headache due to all the reading I did so I think I am going to skip dinner and go straight to bed,"
"You?! You are going to skip dinner?" Hermione asked with a bewildered look on her face, "A-Are you alright?" she asked in a concerned tone.
"Hey! What's with that reaction?" Ron retorted in an offended tone that was a bit exaggerated, "There was no need to be so shocked just because I am not going to dinner today. I am not a pig you know." Ron snorted with a fake sneer worthy of Draco, "It's quite tactless of you, Hermoine," he finished before immediately stomping up the stairs leaving behind a completely dumbstruck Hermione.
Only after a few minutes had passed did Hermione come to her wits and almost instantly her face turned a crimson red as she realised what had happened.
The sheer irony of being taught tact by Ron was just too much for the girl and she immediately jogged up the stairs to the Girls' dorms to hide in her room for a while.
...
"You need to be very careful during dinner, Harry," Ron warned Harry in a serious tone as they climbed the stairs, "You can't let Hermione grill anything out of you about what we are going to do tonight..."
"B-But I don't even know what I am not supposed to say?" Harry replied with a helpless expression on his face.
"That's exactly right," Ron nodded his head with a satisfied expression on his face before he pushed the door to their dorms with his leg, "Oh you're all here, that's perfect," he said loudly with a wide grin attracting the attention of the rest of his three roommates.
"Oh! Hey, Ron," Neville said from his position beside his bed where he was in the midst of some last-minute packing, "What's perfect about us being here?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
"Yeah, what's happening, Ron?" Dean asked mirroring the confused expression on Neville's face. He was sitting on Seamus' bed and both of them were playing a game of Gobstones to pass the time before the feast started.
"Gather around, you three. I have something important to tell you," He said beckoning them with an eager tone, "Here, Harry. Place these books on my bed and quickly get me those things I asked you about."
"O-Oh, alright," Harry nodded distractedly, taking care not to drop the wobbly stack of books in his hands while moving towards their beds beside the window.
"What did you want to talk about, Weasley," Seamus asked curiously as three of them came to stand before him.
"You guys must have saved up quite a bit of pocket money over the last year, right?" Ron asked and all three of them nodded their heads with some hesitation "Well, I want to ask you to give all of those savings to me," he said with a wide smile as if he was doing them a big favour.
All three of them had bewildered expressions on their faces at that absurd request by Ron, "And... why in Merlin's name would we do that, Weasley?"
"Yeah, Why would we give you all our money, Ron?"
"Because we're all going to have a party tonight, right here in our dorms to celebrate the end of OWLs," he said in an excited tone, "After all, this is going to be our last year before NEWT's and this is also our last day before we leave for the holidays... so all in all, we have a lot of reasons to celebrate, won't you agree?"
"That... sounds great and all, but what kind of party is it that you need to take money from us? We've had countless parties in the common room, but we never had to spend any money, did we?" Seamus asked with a sceptical look on his face and Dean nodded in agreement.
"That is a secret for now. You just need to know that it's going to be the most special night of your life... a night you'll remember for the rest of your days," Ron said in a mysterious tone, "So are you going to trust me and give me all your money?"
"... sure,"
"Um..."
"Merlin, No!"
One said yes, one was undecided and one gave an unflinching no... So all in all it was what Ron had expected from the start.
"Neville! I knew that you would come through for me," Ron said jubilantly while patting the shy boy's shoulder affectionately, "Now, how much are you going to contribute to this sacred endeavour?"
"Um, I have about two galleons in my trunk, I think..."
"That's perfect. Go and bring them immediately," Ron said pushing the boy towards his trunk, "And Harry you can also bring two galleons for your share,"
"Er, sure," Harry nodded unsurely before turning back to the task of putting his most precious possession in a small spare bag for Ron. He was quite confused at seeing how frank Ron was with asking money suddenly when he had always been so... uptight about even the smallest of sickles. But other than that, he didn't have much problem giving his best friend his gold... and even if he had asked for a lot more, Harry wouldn't have hesitated in the slightest.
"Good," Ron nodded his head as if he had expected it before turning back to Dean and Seamus, "Now, for the two of you... Come closer I need to tell you something..." he lowered his head and then began whispering into their ears.
At the start, both of them had doubtful expressions on their face but as they listened to what Ron was saying their mouths gradually fell open and finally a few seconds later, their eyes widened in shock and Seamus involuntarily exclaimed, "What?! You can get that?!"
"Shh! Not so loud," Ron hissed before making sure that Harry wasn't looking towards them before replying to him, "Of course I can get it. Why else would I be asking for your money?"
"T-Then you can have it all," Seamus immediately said in a rush, his thick Irish accent coming out in his excitement, "I was saving the money for something... But it doesn't matter. This is far more important," He replied as he happily ran towards his bed to open his packed trunk.
"And now what about you Dean?" Ron asked with a satisfied smile on his face while turning to the last one who still had an undecided expression on his face.
"Um... I like the idea and all, but aren't we going to get into big trouble if P-Professor McGonagall finds out about this?"
"And what is she going to do, give us detentions?" Ron scoffed while rolling his eyes, "This is our last day before holidays, mate. There's not a lot she could do. Besides this is only if she or anyone else finds out... and no one's going to, so don't worry,"
"Alright then," he said while nodding his head with a small smile before turning away, "I'll go get the money, then,"
A few minutes later, Ron was kneeling on the ground with a bag beside him and counting gold, silver and bronze coins laid in front of him. There were four gold galleons courtesy of the rich heirs of the old wizarding families while the sickles and knuckles were the entire savings of his remaining two not-so-rich wizard roommates.
"Hmm... About seven galleons," Ron nodded his head before scooping up all the coins and dumping them into the bag Harry had given him, "This should be just enough..."
"Wait! Aren't you going to add your contribution too," Dean asked bewilderedly.
"My contribution is that I am going to be the one to procure our goods and take all the risks," Ron replied nonchalantly with a raised eyebrow, "Or do you want to be the one to do it... and risk the chance of running into, let's say, someone like Snape and explain to him what you're carrying?" he asked with a smile while holding the bag out to him.
"N-No, It's alright."
"If you say so," Ron replied with a shrug before putting the bag on his shoulder, "Then, I'll be on my way," he waved while turning towards the stairs, "And, oh yes, before I forget. Try to sneak in as many snacks as you can from the feast, especially if you can find something crunchy and salty. And if you can't find any in the Great Hall, then Harry knows the way to a secret magical place where you get anything you order. See you later, then." he saluted, then immediately bolted down the stairs.
There was silence for a few seconds before Seamus suddenly asked, "Um, did Weasley seem a bit different to you today?"
"Yes!" Dean immediately breathed in relief, "Thank Merlin, I wasn't the only one."
"I-I don't know, I guess he was mostly the same, just..." Neville said with an unsure expression on his face, "He's a bit more confident and more like an adult ever since the—"
"Ahem, So will you guys tell us what Ron was whispering to you about before?" Harry said, interrupting Neville before he could say the wrong thing, "Do you know where he is going exactly?"
"Uh-Uh," Seamus tutted while shaking his head with a smirk, "Ron especially warned us that both of you are potential risks and that if you two know about it then Hermione will somehow force the secret out of you and then the plan will be ruined... So sorry, but you're just going to have to wait for the surprise,"
"Oh! Come on!"
...
Using his almost half a decade of memories roaming these walls, as well as the infamous map in his hands, Ron was able to choose the quickest paths on the way and move towards the entrance hall without encountering any student, professor, or ghost, since most of them were at the feast.
He could have used the cloak for more stealth but that would have been far too slow and it would be much more useful on the way back.
When he finally reached the last corridor before the exit, Ron stopped and searched for an empty classroom. And he easily found one at the end of the hall and immediately entered it before closing the door behind him.
Placing his bag on a nearby desk, he began to rummage inside it before bringing out the first and most useful tool in his arsenal for the night's mission— The mirror.
"Sirius!" he whispered while holding the small mirror in between his finger and thumb. And almost immediately the mirror began pulsing and glowing as if it were a malfunctioning light bulb.
Sirius must have been keeping the mirror on his person because only a couple of seconds later, the blank surface on the mirror was replaced by the scene of a widely grinning Sirius standing in front of... an aisle of biscuits.
"Hey, Harry! How are you doing— Ron?" Sirius's grin immediately froze as he saw that the face on the other side of the two-way mirror was not his godson's, "Ron? What are you doing here—Where's Harry? Is he alright?" He hurriedly asked with a panicked expression on his face immediately assuming the worst.
"Calm down, Sirius. Harry's alright, I just borrowed the mirror from him because I wanted to talk to you," Ron said in a rush, wanting to quickly assuage the man that his godson was not in a life-threatening situation this time.
"Oh..." Sirius replied with a stunned expression before his face slacked in relief, "I thought..." The sheer trauma that flashed in the man's eyes for just a moment made Ron flinch, knowing that no one could ever understand what it was like to live with all that guilt.
"Um! So where exactly are you right now," Ron asked trying to awkwardly remove the awkwardness from the air.
"Oh, this..." Sirius replied distractedly while looking around, "This is some kind of a massive muggle shop called the... er... Mental store or something, and it's bloody awesome." He said with sudden wonder in his eyes, "You can find almost everything in here, from soaps to towels, to T-shirts, to snacks, to drinks... Everything!" he gushed in the exact same tone that a muggle child uses when he first walks into Diagon Alley.
"Mental Store?" Ron asked in a flabbergasted tone, he didn't of any store in the muggle world called the Mental Stor— "Wait! Do you mean the Departmental Store?"
"Ah! Yes. That's exactly the one," Sirius replied eagerly nodding his head, "I'm impressed Ron, I didn't think you could recognise what it was immediately. Have you ever been to one?"
"Er, No. It's just I heard Hermione mention it once, that's all," Ron said while looking away and scratching his cheek, "B-But is it alright for you to roam openly like this... Isn't it dangerous? What if someone recognised you?" As far as he remembered, even the muggles had an announcement about Sirius being a wanted criminal on TV a few years ago so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that someone remembered seeing his face.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I've been completely taken off the Ministry's watch list with Professor Dumbledore's help, and even the Death Eaters all think that I'm dead. Besides I was under a facial transfiguration just a few moments ago and only removed it while applying a notice-me-not so that I could use the mirror."
"Ah, that makes sense..."
"So... what did you want to talk with me about, Ron? What can this old dog do for you today?" Sirius asked with a warm smile before a confused expression appeared on his face, "And why are you not at the feast with Harry and here in an... empty classroom?"
"That is because I have a big favour to ask of you... Something that only you can help me with..."
"Eh! What is it?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow, "If it's something I can help with then I definitely will."
"I need your help procuring some stuff from Hogsmeade..." Ron said in a conspiratory whisper, "Stuff that's not exactly allowed inside Hogwarts... Do you get my drift?"
"Huh? There are a lot of things that are not allowed inside Hogwarts... So which ones are you talking about?" Sirius had a weird expression on his face as he thought out loud before his expression abruptly changed, "Wait! Isn't it supposed to be your last day at Hogwarts? In fact, your last night there, so what could you want—" Suddenly out of nowhere Sirius's eyes lit up with enlightenment, "Ah! I get it, you guys want to have a party right?"
"Hehe, I knew you would get me immediately," Ron said while rubbing the back of his face with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"Of course, I would," Sirius said puffing his chest proudly, "You think we didn't try to do the exact same thing back in my days? After our sixth-year final, James and I had this big plan to have a massive adult-theme party in our dorms..." he then suddenly shook his head, "but alas at the last moment Remus chickened out and told Lily... and since they had just started going out around that time, James was easily cowered into dropping the plan. Ah...that henpecked idiot," he said with a nostalgic sigh.
"So that means that we'd also be fulfilling the legacy of Marauders by doing this," Ron said with a cunning smile, "Then it is almost like your duty now to help me accomplish this, isn't it?"
"Of course, it is." Sirius said with a wide grin, "What kind of Marauder would I— Wait! Molly!" he abruptly gasped with a horrified look in his eyes, "W-What about Molly? What if she finds out about it... or even Minerva? She'll turn me into a rat if she finds out that I had a hand in supplying alcohol into Gryffindor Tower."
"But—"
"Oh, No, no, they will all kill me if they even get a whiff of this. Not to mention Remus or Dumbledore or..." Sirius's imagination was spiralling out of control as he imagined the worst-case scenarios, "The amount of people who would come after me is just insane... I'll probably have to back into hiding. I am sorry Ron, but it's just too risky and I-I am an adult now so I can't do things like this..."
"Oh, come on, Sirius. You've always considered yourself the funniest uncle, right?" Ron asked and Sirius hesitatingly nodded his head, as he had proudly held that title ever since Harry was in the womb, "Then you can't just suddenly shrink from your responsibility like this. You have a reputation to hold up to, don't you?"
"I guess..."
"And besides, no one's going to find out about it. And even if they did I promise that I won't rat you out." Ron said in a beseeching tone, "Please, you've got to do this."
"Ugh! Fine," Sirius finally accepted while scratching his head furiously, "I guess I can help you with this."
"Haha, Great," Ron said with a triumphant expression on his face, "So where should I go? The Three Broomsticks?"
"Of course not. Rosmerta's cool enough but she'll immediately give you up if she finds out that you're an underage kid trying to sneak alcohol into Hogwarts. No, you'll need to go to a less-know shop where the locals get theirs but first, you'll need a few things to help along the way. You'll of course need the Invisibility Cloak—"
"Got it, right here."
"And the Marauder's Map—"
"Here!"
"Good, it seems you're well prepared," Sirius said with an amused expression on his face, "You know you would have a perfect Marauder during my Hogwarts years,"
"I know," Ron said with a wide grin.
"Anyway, do you know the voice-changing charm,"
"I do,"
"Then what about any disguise? Know about any transfiguration or charm to help change your face?"
"Uh, no. But I got this cloak," he said while picking up a big dark cloak from his bag before wearing it, and completely covering himself so that his face was in the shadows. Covered from head to toe like this, he wouldn't have looked out of place in the Knockturn Alley amidst Hags and Vampires.
"Hmm... You're tall enough so there should be no problems, I guess," Sirius said before nodding his head, "Alright, you're well prepared. So we can begin immediately."
"Let's go get some booze then..."
/
If you want to help me out and read a few chapters ahead you can go to: pat*eon.c*m/lazywizard