» a werewolf's heart » {wolfstar}

sparks

- padfoot -

James jabs me in the ribs with his elbow and hisses for me to be quiet, but I can't stop laughing. I (barely) manage to keep my laughter under control, but I'm shaking with it as I watch Snivellus around the corner. He's practically in tears after tripping over the wire we stretched across the hallway and spilling ink all over his books. He's trying to salvage a couple pieces of parchment—probably his homework—but I can already tell that there's no way he's going to swipe the ink off so that his professors can read his work. He looks furious, and he keeps glancing around suspiciously between attempts at cleaning his books.

Remus flicks his wand, and the trip wire disappears. "Good thinking," I whisper harshly as I try to contain my laughter. I wipe my eyes and try to breathe. "'But Professor, someone tripped me,'" I whine in a high-pitched imitation of Snivellus' voice. "'Mr. Snape, I don't see a trip wire anywhere. Don't try to blame someone else because you tripped and ruined your homework.'"

I hear an angry huff behind me, and all four of us turn around. Lily is standing behind us, looking infuriated, with her hands on her hips. I've gotta hand it to James, he's got good taste. She's cute when she's angry, her green eyes flashing with spirit. "That wasn't funny!" she whispers furiously. "He probably worked hard on his homework, and he'll get no credit for it!"

"That's the beauty in it," I reply smugly, grinning. Looking at the other Marauders, I see that Remus is carefully avoiding Lily's gaze, looking completely sober. James doesn't seem to know how to react. The last few times Lily has seen us pulling mean jokes on Snivellus (regardless of how much he deserves it), she has gotten very angry, just like this. I think James is starting to realize that she isn't kidding, and it isn't helping his chances with her to act smug about the whole thing. He nervously runs a hand through his hair, eyes darting between her and me. Only Peter still looks remotely pleased about the successful prank, but he also looks uncertain.

"Who's there?"

We all freeze, turning to peek around the corner. Snivellus is livid. He's looking around; the snowstorm outside makes it dark enough in the corridors that our heads aren't entirely obvious peeping around the corner.

"I know you're there, and you're going to get it when I tell Filch about this!" he says, his voice slightly shrill and shaking.

Lily groans and steps around the corner, ignoring the gesturing and whispered 'What are you doing?'s from us Marauders. Snivellus takes one look at her and his expression turns absolutely disbelieving. Maybe even... a little hurt? I stiffen. "Merlin... Snivellus has a crush on Evans!" I whisper incredulously to Remus, Peter, and James. I nearly fall into another convulsive laughing fit, but before I can—and before the other Marauders can react to the news—Lily walks toward Snivellus and starts helping him pick up his books.

"Let me help you, Severus," she says kindly. I can't help noticing the way her eyes flick to his greasy hair—she may feel sorry for him, but at least she has the sense to see how revolting he is. "It's the weekend, you'll have time to get your homework redone—I'll help if you like—" She piles his books in his arms, takes out her wand, and aims a cleaning charm at his books. The ink disappears—even off of his homework, but unfortunately for him, it takes the ink of his answers away as well. I snicker a little; he's got blank parchment in place of his homework.

Snivellus jerks his head to the side to look behind Lily, glaring sullenly. He hates that Lily's helping him, I can tell; he probably knows it's out of pity. "I know you did this," he snarls, and I can also tell by his tone that he knows we're hiding. So I step out into the hallway.

"Oh, sorry, Snivellus, we must have left some wire lying around," I greet him, my voice dripping with sarcasm and smug gloating. "Maybe you should be more careful walking back from the library, y'know, what with all that homework you've just spent so much time on..."