The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

Cruciferous Vegetables and Legumes

"Time is fleeting, madness takes its toll... but listen closely, not for very much longer, I've got to keep controooooool... I remember doing the Time Warp... Drinking those moments when... the blackness wolud hit meeee and the voooooid would be calling.... LETS DO THE TIME WARP AGAIIIIIIN..."

Remus and Bradley both looked up.

Sirius had just stepped up onto the coffee table,  stepping carefully around the several pages of drawings and comic books that the pair of them had splayed about between them. Bradley's eyes were wide as Sirius theatrically waved his arms. He looked at Remus, who had already turned back to the drawings.

"Ignore him and he'll go away," Remus murmured.

"Oh but I won't," Sirius sang out. "I won't, I won't, I won't, for tomorrow is finally - at last - at very - very - very last my court hearing!" He sang the words.

It had been two weeks - somehow or another, time had managed to fly by. Possibly it had something to do with being two weeks closer to rent being due again and no money in their coin purses to so much as purchase an extra can of mushy peas to spare that it seemed to be flying by. Or else it was just because the first of the three weeks of Sirius's house arrest had been so bleeding L O N G that the subsequent ones had just flurried by in what seemed like an instant. No giant attacks, no heart dragons, no further arrests, and no further fights had transpired. Things had just... gone on. 

The only new thing that had transpired during the two weeks was the fact that Bradley had decided he wished to create his very own comic book - Wolf Boy, it was called - a story about a young boy turned werewolf who managed to keep his mind and battle evil werewolves, using his greatest weakness as a strength to protect others. Wolf Boy was essentially a slightly developed stick figure in the earliest issue of the comic, which Bradley had drawn himself in the suitcase one night after Remus and Sirius had tucked him in and Sirius had recited a story about a dog called Snuffles who ate sausages which made him cry for reasons unknown.

Well, now Wolf Boy was being given a bit more treatment as Remus had helped Bradley develop a more dimensional version of the character, and was busy trying to teach him how to draw Wolf Boy in some classic super hero poses, drawing it out himself, then erasing it and letting Bradley re-draw over the faint erased lines on the page. He was getting really good at it, and Remus was sure that within the week Bradley would be able to freehand draw many of their prescribed poses. Soon, Remus reckoned Bradley would be drawing the character with no problem and he was quite proud of Bradley for the enthusiasm with which he was learning how to draw Wolf Boy. 

Even if the premise of the book made Remus a wee bit uneasy.

Otherwise, though, most everything else was exactly the same. Sirius had found himself unable to speak whenever he tried to figure out how to talk to James about the love magic he'd accidentally-sort-of-on-purpose performed, and though Lily kept trying to corner him to talk about what he knew was her suspecting him of having done it, he'd managed to avoid the conversation, unsure what to say to even Lily about it. Meanwhile, he and Remus had also not talked much about it - Remus flat out refusing to be the one to divulge James's time travelling secrets. "It isn't my secret to tell, Sirius, you know that, just like he wouldn't tell anyone about --" and Remus had stopped because what James or Sirius would and would not tell of Remus's secrets was, after all, a recently resolved, but still touchy subject.

The other thing that had not changed - much to Lily's upset - was the status of the Potters' parentage.

"I'll bet ol' Prongs is purposely shooting blanks so he gets all the fun but none of the responsibility," Sirius said, smirking and elbowing James.

"That is scientifically impossible," Remus said. "You can't - shoot blanks - on command."

Sirius continued elbowing James, making him flush.