Everyone in the school knew about Sirius's dramatic new look by the end of their first day back. James and Peter took to walking either side of him through the corridors, like body guards, shooting glares at anyone who dared snigger or whisper as they passed.
"It doesn't look that bad," James assured him, watching Sirius stare at himself in the mirror. They were hiding in the empty second floor girls' loo's during lunch to avoid any more staring.
James was lying, Remus thought to himself, and Sirius probably knew it. It looked really bad - he seemed so much smaller. Without the dark hair framing Sirius's face his eyes appeared larger than ever, making him look young and anxious. The high cheekbones and sharp eyebrows stood out more than ever, giving him a mean, gaunt sort of look. It was no wonder everyone stared - in fact, barely anyone glanced at Remus's newly scarred face because of the distraction. Still, Remus thought, glumly - hair grew back.
Sirius rubbed his head, still watching his reflection. Peter laughed nervously,
"You look like Lupin."
James nodded, eyes darting between the two of them.
"Yeah, you do a bit."
Sirius looked at Remus, and for the first time since Christmas Eve, Remus saw him smile. That Sirius Black smile - nothing could ever ruin that.
"Oh yeah, I think I see it," Sirius said, still rubbing his head. He reached out and pulled Remus into the mirror's frame, so that they stood side by side, staring at each other. "We could be brothers."
Remus laughed too, despite himself.
Sirius's real brother was waiting outside Gryffindor common room later that evening. He was sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up, staring into space. His hair was still long enough to touch his shoulders. His friend, Barty Crouch was leaning against the opposite wall, looking bored. He had made a paper aeroplane and was directing it lazily up and down the hallway with his wand. Crouch and Regulus were as inseparable as James and Sirius; Barty was fair haired and weedy, with a mean streak longer than Snape's - Remus already recognised him by his cruel barking laugh alone.
Regulus stood up smoothly as the marauders approached. Remus felt inside his pocket for his wand, just in case.
"There you are." The younger boy said, a tremor of nervousness in his otherwise arrogant tone. His eyes kept flicking towards James. Barty's paper plane began circling them all.
"What d'you want?" Sirius asked.
"Just seeing if you're... seeing how you are."
"No different from last night." Sirius shrugged.
"I didn't see you at dinner."
"Wasn't at dinner." Sirius replied, unhelpfully. They'd sent Peter down to the kitchens to pinch some sandwiches and sat in one of Remus's hidden alcoves to eat. Remus was quite enjoying this game - avoiding the rest of the students, even the Gryffindor's. Usually James and Sirius would do everything in their power to be noticed, Remus much preferred flying under the radar.
"Can I talk to you?" Regulus addressed his older brother.
Sirius spread his arms, as if giving Regulus the floor. Regulus rolled his eyes, irritated. He didn't quite have the same mouth as Sirius, Remus noticed. He had a weaker jaw, smaller lips. "I mean alone," he said, shooting looks at James, Peter and Remus.
"No." Sirius said, simply. Regulus sighed. He clearly knew Sirius too well to try and argue.
Barty Crouch's paper plane began spinning faster over their heads. Peter was watching it's progress anxiously.
"Fine." Regulus said, folding his arms. "I just wanted to let you know that mother and father asked me and Narcissa to watch you. And report back to them."
Sirius made a noise of disgust. Regulus continued, not dropping his gaze, "And we're not going to. We're both staying out of it, ok?"
"How noble of you." Sirius replied. James grinned. Regulus rolled his eyes again.
"I'm telling you I'm not your enemy, idiot. Nor is Narcissa. You can do whatever you like, that's between you and our parents."
"Good."
"Good."
The two brothers continued to stare each other down. If it had been James, he'd have broken into a smile, slapped Sirius on the shoulder and all would be forgotten. But Regulus was clearly just as pig-headed as Sirius, and couldn't tell when to end a fight.
"Ow!" Peter let out a yelp like a whipped puppy, crouching down suddenly. Barty Crouch had obviously grown bored of the family drama and had decided to dive bomb the smallest of the marauders with his sharp paper plane. Crouch was giggling meanly as the place backed up and prepared for it's second attack, when James pulled out his own wand,
"Incendio." He said, lazily, flicking his wrist in Crouch's direction. The plane, wings now alight, went soaring towards the first year boy with frightening speed. Crouch let out a cry of anguish, covering his face with his arms as the flaming projectile flew straight for him - only to fizzle out mid-air, crumbling in a pile of ash and cinders inches from Crouch's nose.
"Let's go." Regulus muttered to his friend, who had gone pale and was staring at James warily. They both set off back towards the dungeons. "Narcissa said to tell you good luck for Saturday, Potter." Regulus threw over his shoulder as they turned a corner.
James ignored him, following Sirius through the portrait hole. Once they were all in the common room Remus asked,
"What's Saturday?"
"Quidditch match. Gryffindor v Slytherin." James replied, promptly.
Ah. Remus was no good at keeping up with the quidditch schedule - he only went to Gryffindor matches, and the last one had fallen on the day after a full moon, so he'd missed it anyway. He tended to tune out when the others started talking about tactics and league tables, burying his nose deeper in his book.
"I hope you thrash 'em, mate." Sirius growled, throwing himself into the nearest armchair.
"Plan to." James said, jovially, sitting on the arm of the chair. "S'long as she doesn't get the snitch too early - and Marlene's the best beater we've had in years, so--"
James stopped short, realising what he'd said. He looked at Sirius. Sirius groaned and stood up.
"I'm going to bed." He said.
* * *
Saturday 13th January 1973
It had snowed overnight. If Hogwarts had been any normal school, Remus thought to himself grumpily, they would have called off the stupid match. But no; instead Gryffindor common room was buzzing with excitement, with talk of how these were 'perfect flying conditions'. Peter and Remus spent half the morning trying to cast long-lasting warming spells on James's kit. Sirius had done one of his early morning vanishing acts, and was nowhere to be seen.
Adil Deshmakh, the Gryffindor team captain, made the team eat together at breakfast, rather than with their friends. They all sat there looking pale and tired, eating uniform bowls of porridge and fruit (on Deshmakh's orders). James was the only one in a good mood - even though they hadn't got the warming spell to work.
"Where's Sirius?" Lily yawned, as she took a seat next to Remus, biting into a slice of heavily buttered toast.
"Dunno," Remus yawned back, hugging his hot cup of tea as if his life depended on it.
"Sulking somewhere, probably." Peter said, bitterly. Remus gave him a sharp look. "What?!" The blond haired boy frowned, indignantly. "He calls me whiny all the time."
"He'll be here." Remus said, ignoring Peter. "He wants to see us destroy the Slytherins."
Even Lily grinned at this - despite her usual pleas for inter-house unity, today she was decked out in red and gold from head to toe, just like everyone else. After breakfast they walked out to the quidditch pitch together. The Gryffindor quarter of the pitch was bedecked with red and gold flags and streamers, plus four large banners displaying the golden Gryffindor lion. Thankfully someone had also cleared the snow from the benches.
Lily and Peter wanted to get the best seats at the very top of the spectator stands, and Remus was already shivering despite wearing two jumpers under his cloak.
"Cold, Remus?" Lily glanced at him, as he tried to blow hot air into his gloved hands.
"Just a bit." He replied, sarcastically, too bad tempered to be polite.
"Here," Lily pulled out her wand and grabbed his wrists, pointing into his palms; "Calidum Vestimenta."
At once, a delightful warmth spread through his hands, to the very tips of his frozen fingers.
"How did you do that?!" He asked, "We've been trying all morning!"
"I think it's in the annunciation." Lily shrugged. She quickly applied the same spell to Remus's cloak, then to Peter's.
By the time this was done, the two quidditch teams were gathering on the pitch, which had been cleared enough for them to make a path from their changing rooms at least. They stood in two neat rows - one scarlet, one emerald. Remus could clearly make out a few of the players - James's unmistakeable mop of jet black hair, Marlene's fluffy sandy blonde ponytail. He could also see Narcissa Black, on the opposing team; tall and willowy, her platinum hair woven into two neat braids which reached hallway down her back.
Still no Sirius,
"Of course," Peter was blathering to Lily, "We don't actually need to win this one, we just need to keep our points up - as long as we finish with at least six goals then we stay at the top of the league. Black's a brilliant seeker, but Slytherin overall are pretty poor. Especially when you look at James, having him's like having three chasers in one."
Lily was nodding along politely - people so seldom listened to Peter when it came to sport. Remus certainly didn't. He'd attempted to read Sirius' dog-eared copy of Quidditch through the Ages, but nothing in it could help him make sense of the ridiculous points system.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle below them, and the players mounted their brooms, squatting ready for kick off.
Still no Sirius.
Remus craned his neck, looking around the stands - but even with his excellent eyesight, he couldn't spot his friend anywhere. Surely Peter wasn't right - he couldn't be off sulking somewhere? They'd thought he was over his rejection from the quidditch team - he'd been at every match that year to support James. Just because this particular match was against Slytherin...
Madam Hooch blew her whistle again and released the snitch. The players shot into the air like red and green cannonballs.
Still no Sirius.
Peter and Lily were on their feet cheering with everyone else, so Remus got up too and attempted to look involved in the game. James had possession of the quaffle within seconds of being in the air, and had it through the hoop in under a minute. The red crowds exploded with triumph, but were quickly overshadowed by a deafening noise like a thunderclap,
"Rrrrrroooooaaaaar!"
"What was that?!" Lily stared about, wide eyed, along with everyone else. Even the players on the pitch looked startled. Remus looked up and saw that the lions in the Gryffindor banners above them appeared to have come to life, and were now prowling back and forth across the red material, growling and tossing their heads restlessly.
"Is that normal?" He asked, pointing. Lily and Peter shook their heads, speechless, as the enormous lions roared above them.
Remus smiled, suddenly. He recognised that magic; playful and a bit scary. "Look!" He pointed again.
At the bottom of the spectator's stands, nearest the ground, a young Gryffindor in bright red robes was also stalking back and forth, waving his wand like a conductor's baton. It was undoubtedly Sirius - who else had that over-confident strut? - but he was no longer bald, and had instead donned an enormous golden wig, like a lion's mane. Remus thought he could even see a gold tail dragging behind from under his robes.
Once everyone had seen him, the crowds laughed - even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. But Slytherin did not - the green coloured portion of the crowd merely glared at the garish show of house pride.
James was clearly not distracted by the new mascots, but instead encouraged by them - which must have been Sirius's intention. He scored at least three more goals - resulting in three more ear-splitting roars - while the Slytherins struggled to recover from the surprise.
"We are Gryffindor!" Sirius was chanting, his voice magically amplified,
"Mighty Mighty Gryffindor!" The crowd screamed back.
Once he got used to all of the noise, Remus began to enjoy a quidditch game for the first time. James was like a red blur on the pitch, darting this way and that; though the other chasers were very good too, managing to keep up with his complicated formations and passes. Marlene, bat in hand, was doing a stunning job of not only protecting the chasers and seeker, but aiming bludgers at the other team - Narcissa in particular.
Narcissa Black, however, was in her own league. She had an elegant, smooth flying style that Remus recognised from Sirius's attempts to teach him formal flying. She was quick and always moving, like water. The Gryffindor seeker was following her movements, hoping she would lead him to the snitch, but she kept dodging and making false turns to confuse him; twice sending him directly into the path of a bludger. She wasn't showy like James - she was efficient and ruthless.
Gryffindor had a one hundred point lead when Narcissa finally saw the snitch - Remus noticed the moment she caught sight of it. Her posture changed; she didn't look away even once. She hovered for a few moments, glancing behind her to see where the Gryffindor seeker was. He was hanging back, unsure what she was planning.
At that very moment, Maisy Jackson, one of the Gryffindor chasers, scored another goal, bringing Gryffindor's score up to 130 against Slytherin's 20. The Gryffindors went wild, and Sirius waved his wand even more enthusiastically. The lions not only roared this time, but leapt clear through the banners, out into the winter air, where they became strange golden shadows striding across the pitch. The Gryffindor seeker dived to dodge them, clearly terrified, though they vanished just above his head.
"No, you idiot!" Sirius's voice echoed over the cheering.
It was too late - Narcissa had taken advantage of her opponent's distraction and scooped up the snitch. She flew above the crowds, holding it aloft triumphantly. The Slytherin crowd finally burst into applause, sending up green and silver sparks, cheering;
"Black, Black, Black!"
Of course, this was highly confusing, as the Gryffindors were also chanting,
"Black, Black, Black!" As Sirius took his bows before the crowd. James swooped down to land beside him and ruffled his friend's ridiculous mane, as the crowd now chanted, "Pot-ter! Pot-ter! Pot-ter!"
"Oh well," Peter grinned up at Remus, "We lost, but we're still tied with Ravenclaw in the league table - still going through to the final!"
Remus couldn't care less.
Afterwards they poured onto the pitch to congratulate their team - Remus and Peter both punched Sirius playfully,
"You never told us!"
"We could have helped!"
Sirius just smirked and tossed his glorious golden hair.
"Sirius!" A thin, cold voice broke through the crowd. They all turned. Narcissa was striding towards them, still in her billowing emerald robes, a bright silver medal hanging around her neck that made Remus shrink back behind Peter. Sirius stood to face her. She gave him an unexpected smirk, "Take off that obscene wig." She said sharply.
He complied, rubbing his bare head self-consciously. Narcissa pulled out her wand with one sweeping motion and tapped his head, "Crescere."
The marauders, and the crowd of Gryffindor's around them all gasped. Sirius hair began to grow, like black water tumbling from his head, until it was back to its usual length.
"What the?!" Sirius grabbed his head. Narcissa grinned, showing rows of pearly teeth,
"That's for your help in ensuring a Slytherin victory." With that, she turned, silver plaits whipping around, and flounced off towards her own team.
James tugged on Sirius's newly restored tresses.
"I'm never going to understand your bonkers family, mate."