Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Forty-One- The Wet Blanket

If his friends knew Sirius was lying, they all pretended not to for his sake. Though Sirius was pretty sure Remus was the only one who realized this as the other two kept excitedly asking him when his gift would arrive.

At least he had a great distraction from it all since Remus had finally told them about the passage he discovered, from Lily and her friends of all things, that led to the kitchens. So their nights had been filled with sweets and midnight snacks. Plus actual sleep, since Peter had gotten very good at slipping Remus a sleeping potion about half of the attempted times.

Then, of course, Valentine's Day itself was dumb, but it left such wonderful opportunities to prank stupid couples and certain stupid Hufflepuffs. It also helped that weeks had passed with no attacks. While the daily prophet continued to report Muggle's disappearance at an increased speed, Hogwarts had once more become a safe place. But there was still tension.

There had been several talks about unity amongst the whole school and about all the houses adding something unique to Hogwarts. But with the disappearance of Muggles more and more common, Sirius could have sworn the Slytherins' open disdain of Muggle-borns was becoming worse, though they kept it mostly to themselves. At least as the weeks passed the Slytherins around Remus had dwindled down to only one again. However, that one was the worst of them all. Sirius was still adamant that Snivellus was guilty...somehow.

The lack of Slytherins around their friend meant James and Sirius didn't have to keep a lookout so much and could resort more of their time to coming up with future pranks to make unsuspecting Slytherins pay. Even if they couldn't use Remus as an excuse for revenge, it was easy to spot a Slytherin mocking a Muggle-born or harassing them. So the few days before Valentine's had resulted in much planning and many disapproving glances from Remus, though he seemed to realize that getting them to stop was a lost cause.

Because come Monday the 14th of February, James and Sirius weren't going to be satisfied until havoc was wrecked!

.................................................

"Remus!" Sirius shouted, rushing over to his roommate. As usual Remus was up before them all and nibbling on some toast, his head stuck in a book.

"No," Remus responded, sounding vaguely amused. He didn't even bother to look up from the book he was reading, the swat.

"But..."

"No, Sirius."

"Oh come on, Remus!" pleaded James, rushing at the same pace as Sirius.

"No, James."

Peter joined them at his usual seat, "But..."

"No, Peter."

Remus shot each of them down, and by his tone, it was clear he would keep doing so. James gave Sirius a look that said, he's a lost cause.

"Oh come on, Lupin! Don't be such a wet blanket," Patricia called as she walked past her usual seat at the table to come closer to them, grinning mischievously.

Remus looked up from his book surprised, and four startled looks turned to Patricia who sat next to Remus, ruffling his hair fondly and laughing at the annoyed look she got. It was kind of cute really. as Patricia seemed to view Remus as her little brother. Though it filled James with a bit of jealousy and a strong impulse to prove that "he didn't care about Patricia".

"We never see you anymore," James protested, and Patricia scoffed, but ruffled his hair as well. James did an altogether terrible job at proving he didn't care about Patricia and often ended up sounding like a stuck-up child, which amused the others a lot.

"That's because unlike you lot I've got exams coming out of my ears," she pointed out with a groan.

"Funny. I only see earwax," Sirius teased easily. He, for one, was thrilled that Patricia had continued to train them. Though the "lessons" had all but stopped since Remus' accident. Sirius knew she hung around Remus more often, but the boy hid it from his friends like he hid most things.

It wasn't until Sirius "accidentally" stumbled across them in a courtyard playing chess that he realized it wasn't just Severus and Lily that Remus was hanging out with. Sirius knew he should be happy that their loner friend had a few other people to hang out with. However, he couldn't seem to find it in himself.

He was sure it was because when he had found Remus and Patricia, it was on an evening when Remus was supposed to be exploring a way to get into the Forbidden Forest with his mates. Naturally, Sirius had been rather crossed with them both. But that was nearly a week ago and Sirius prided himself on being quick to forgive and on being mature.

"Har har, very funny. But seriously, I had a lot to get done," she scoffed.

"That didn't stop you from hanging out with Remus," Sirius pointed out smugly, and just a tad bit crossly. Patricia gave him an amused look he didn't like at all followed quickly by Remus' "be nice" look.

"Well, if you don't want to go into the Forbidden Forest with me, fine," she responded nonchalantly, then attempted to get up.

"Wait! No, no! You are always welcome here," Sirius quickly rectified the matter, swallowing his pride for a chance at adventure and danger.

"That's better. Now, the Forbidden Forest can wait. We have pranks to play first," she responded excitedly, with an eager gleam of mischief in her eyes that Remus noticed with exasperation.

"Oh, not you too!" Remus exclaimed, sounding stressed. Sirius laughed. Maybe the three of them couldn't convince Remus to participate, but the four of them definitely could.

It took all of the rest of the breakfast to catch Patricia up on their plans and to finally convince Remus to participate, but they managed. It seemed like the day was going to be a good one.