Last time: Peter and Remus are finally reunited. James and Sirius pull their prank, Remus decides to turn them in. Sirius and James get back at him by attacking him in the middle of an empty corridor.
Sirius had to admit it, his and James second prank wasn't the best one. The idea of targeting the whole school wasn't bad, quite good actually. It was the potion.
It was perfectly brewed and everything, but they should have used a different potion. The few students who had actually been drinking it before everyone quickly found out about it, had taken so little that they woke up after only ten minutes. It hadn't caused as much chaos and mayhem as the two pranksters had hoped.
It had been... boring, Sirius couldn't wait for them to learn more potions and more spells they could use for pranks.
James was a better friend than Sirius could ever dream of. He loved pranks, just like Sirius, and he supported Sirius when Lupin had said he was a bad friend. Sirius didn't know if he was a bad friend or not, how do you know if you're a bad friend or not?
To find out Sirius used a lot of time to study older students, saw how they did it. It didn't help much though, they mostly just hang out. He didn't have too much to worry about though, James had just like himself been home-schooled before Hogwarts. So, Sirius was James's first friend too.
After Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration, a while before Astronomy. They had been called into professor McGonagall's office.
"I know you two put Sleeping Draught in the pumpkin juice this morning." It was the first thing she had said, they had barely even sat down before she had said it. None of them had been prepared for this, the look on their faces exposed them.
Before they could defense themselves, she began talking again. "You will receive detention on Saturday with Mr. Filch, be outside his office at six in the morning."
The two boys stared at each other, at six in the morning?! That was way too early for anything to be awake! Again, before they could not get a word in edgeways, she said, "Now you can go out, if you're not there you will receive several punishments." They left without a word.
"What crawled up in her butthole and died?" James asked when they were in a safe distance from her office.
"I bet Lupin told about us." Sirius said.
James thought about it. "I think you're right, he probably got back at us for what happened last night and at lunch" at lunch earlier that day they had confronted their dorm-mates, just so they knew who got to boss who. Also, the two boys had seen Lupin go to her office earlier that day. "Maybe we shouldn't have been so harsh on them."
"Maybe" Sirius agreed, "But we are not going to let him get away with it, are we?" he asked a little unsure.
"Of course not!" James exclaimed as it was obvious, Sirius immediately relaxed. "We have to catch him when he's alone, then we'll have the best chance." Sirius agreed on this.
They didn't have to wait too long, right before Astronomy Lupin was walking alone in an empty corridor.
He was half running, but in the middle of it he suddenly stopped, neither Sirius or James dared to move, so they stood still and stared at him under the invisibly cloak.
James whispered the levitation charm, Lupin's bag was levitated into the air, he tried to catch it, but James just levitated it higher. Sirius had to bite his lip so he wouldn't laugh and expose them.
Lupin's bag opened and all it's content fell out. Quills, books and parchment fell out of it. One of his ink bottles crashed on his head so his hair got black, the other one fell to the ground, there was ink everywhere.
As all this had happened, Sirius and James came closer to Lupin, they had taken off the invisibly cloak when Sirius said;
"Hi"
The tiny boy in front of them got the biggest jump scare ever, he tried to turn around quick, but fell in the ink. They both looked furious at Lupin.
"Did you hurt your head Loopy? Cause I think you lost your memory, pretty sure me and James told you not to mess with us!" Sirius said angrily. Lupin stared at them with wide eyes.
"I bet, with those big robes he would fall sooner or later." James teased, Sirius grinned. It was true, his robes were definitely second-hand and a few sizes too big.
Lupin breathed loudly as he continued to stare at them.
"What's the matter? Scared without your little petty friend?" Sirius teased.
"You suppose he begged the hat to put him in Gryffindor?" James asked Sirius, "he doesn't seem very brave to me" they both laughed.
Lupin was breathing even more loudly now, it was as if he didn't even register what they were saying. Tears were forming in his eyes.
"Aw, are you crying little Loopy?" James said, with fake concern in his voice, it made Sirius laugh. Lupin was weak for crying, for showing emotion.
Sirius wanted a reaction from Lupin, "Let's see what we have here" he picked one of Lupin's books up, it was completely ruined by the ink.
He got the reaction he had wanted. Lupin yelled "I'TS MINE!" and raised from the ground. Sirius dropped the book on the ground. Lupin fumbled with his wand, at the time he had raised it both Sirius and James had theirs raised and pointed them at Lupin. The tiny boy didn't know who to point on, he kept moving it between them.
"You know you can't do it Lupin" Sirius said seriously. It amused him to have power over someone else. "Now drop your wand, or we'll shoot."
Lupin considered, he knew he couldn't beat the two of them, slowly he put the wand in his pocket and raised his hands in defeat. For a guy who was being over rumbled, he took it pretty cool.
James and Sirius lowered their wands, they didn't know what to do know.
"Come Sirius we'll be late for Astronomy" James said casually to Sirius, "If you turn us in again it's going to be worse for yourself Loopy" he added angrily to Lupin. Sirius just wanted to do one last thing, so he pushed Lupin, so he fell down again, they walked away.
Sirius was taught Astronomy at home, only because Hogwarts taught it, he had to be at top of every class. His parents thought that it was silly, didn't make much sense though, everyone in the Black family was named after stars. However, this was definitely one of his favorite subjects, it was an excuse for looking at the stars.
On their first day they were just observing the sky, Sirius fell in talk with Professor Sinistra. She had just began working here and was just as interested in stars as Sirius was. She found it amusing that Sirius was named after the brightest star on the night sky, and he was the student who knew most about astronomy.
At home Sirius had studied astronomy after his classes. So, he knew practically about all the stars there was.
"Is that also something you learned from home?" James asked while Sirius was naming the stars for him.
"No, not really. A little bit yes, but I mostly did it as extra, I really love the stars." He said dreamingly and looked at the sky again. He hadn't actually been seeing them since he had been at Grummauld. "My whole family is named after stars." James did a face as he usually did when they talked about his family, but Sirius didn't notice, he was looking at the stars.
"Which one is you named after?"
He rolled his eyes, "Sirius, obviously" he teased.
James grinned "I know, but where is it?"
"Do you know Orion?"
"The guy with the belt and all?"
"Yes, my father is named after that one, and it's my middle name too. If you look at the belt there ((he pointed)) and then follow it down, ((Sirius drew the line from the belt to another star)) then you can see, Sirius the brightest star on the night-sky, in the constellation Canis Major. Can you see it?" Sirius asked.
James nodded. "Brightest star on the night sky huh?" he teased.
"Yea. And you want to know something funny? I am named after the dog star and my brother is named after the cat star"
"You two don't get along?" James asked concerned.
"Nothing like that at all! We have always been getting along." He smiled to James. "It's just you would expect brothers to not always get along, just like cat and dog."
Sirius found the cat star. He missed Regulus so badly, they had never been apart from each other before. Luckily Regulus would come to Hogwarts next year, hopefully they would be able to see each other more, and they would be together at Christmas.
Far too quickly the class was over. Lupin hadn't even showed up, Sirius didn't really bother much.
And far too quickly Friday was over, and it was Saturday. James and Sirius dragged themselves down to get breakfast a half hour before detention. Five thirty in the morning.
"This should be illegal!" James demanded.
"Agreed" Sirius said and yawned, "Next time we will have to come up with a better prank, so this will actually be worth it."
"Agreed" James said and almost fell asleep on the table. They were the only two students who was at breakfast yet. Not even any Ravenclaws.
Probably the only reason there was food in here was because of them. No one wants to be up this early a Saturday morning, and this was their first weekend at Hogwarts.
"At least she didn't take any house points" Sirius pointed out.
"I think Lupin would have a flip if she did" James grinned, still half asleep.
Ten minutes before they were supposed the meet the caretaker, Sirius and James found their way to his office. Outside of it, they found Lupin curled up against the wall, his face hidden by his knees.
"What are you doing here?" James demanded.
"I got detention for skipping class" he murmured to his knees without looking up. Sirius remembered that Lupin never showed up for Astronomy a few days ago, so he was here because of them and they were here because of him. Ironic.
"That's what happens when you mess with us Loopy, I hope for yourself you'll think twice next time." Sirius said threatening.
"Don't worry, I will." He murmured unreadable to his knees.
At this moment the door to the caretaker's office opened, Mr. Filch came out. Lupin raised from the floor. Mr. Filch was a disgusting old looking man. A cat by his side meowed.
"Hand in your wands, now" he demanded with a raspy voice.
The three boys did hesitantly as he said, he stuffed all three wands into his pocket.
"Follow me"
Sirius, James and Lupin followed Mr. Filch down to the dungeons. He didn't seem mad for being up this early, he actually seemed kind of happy. Sirius recognized the expression on his face, it was the exacts same his parents had right before they got to punish him. His face was... happier, kind of, then the punishment must be really nasty.
He tried not to think of it. He also tried not to think of the extra punishment he would get once he got home. His parents wouldn't be satisfied with whatever Filch had planned, they would take matter into their own hands.
The dungeons were dark, Sirius flinched and was happy the Gryffindor common room wasn't down here. They stopped in front of a door, Mr. Filch handed each of them a toothbrush and a bucket of water.
"In you go" he gestured to the door with an evil smile on his face. Sirius was the first one to walk in. It was an old lavatory, probably not used in about one hundred years or something. The smell in there was locked-up and worse than anything Sirius had smelled before, it was even worse than dungbombs.
When Lupin entered as the last person he quickly turned around, "Mr. Filch can I..." but Mr. Filch had closed the door and locked it.
"I'll let you out when you're finished" he grinned evilly, they could hear his footsteps disappear.
"Sorry Loopy, but you will have to do the punishment as the rest of us" Sirius said. Lupin didn't answer, he just sat down and began scrubbing the floor with the toothbrush. James and Sirius did the same.
Sirius had no idea how long they had been there, there was no windows so he couldn't check that way. The smell in there just seemed to get worse and worse, Lupin's face was practically green. None of them said anything to each other, not even mean comments. They all wanted this done as quick as possible.
It felt like hours of scrubbing when Lupin suddenly ran to the toilet to throw up in it. Both James and Sirius stopped to look at him, he continued for several second before he cleaned his mouth with the toilet paper and continued scrubbing.
The second time it happened Lupin never made it to the toilet, luckily, he did it on parts of the floor they hadn't got to yet. Lupin's face was all green and sweaty now. He breathed harshly.
"Sorry" he choked, "I'll clean it up, sorry" Lupin took some toilet paper and tried to get it all away. James and Sirius continued on scrubbing the floor, and now also the walls.
The last time he did it was right before they were done. This time though, he didn't have more food inside of him, so he was just hovering over the toilet making strange noises.
When they were all finished Mr. Filch came and inspected the lavatory, there was a few missing spots, but otherwise the room was perfectly clean. He unwillingly gave them their wands back and let them out. Sirius and James headed straight to the great hall, Lupin went for the dorm.
Five hours, they had been locked up for five hours, in a stinky little lavatory, with no windows. Luckily there was no students in the great hall yet, cause James and Sirius smelled really, really bad.
"I wonder why it was so bad for Lupin." Sirius thought out loud.
"Perhaps he was already sick? Then it would only be worse." James tried.
"He didn't look sick before we got in there" he pointed out.
"I don't know Sirius, it's probably nothing."
Sirius wouldn't let the subject go.
"Do you think we're being too mean to him? I mean he haven't really done anything, have he?" Sirius asked uncertain.
"He called you a bad friend." James said hurt.
"Yes, he did, but only after I offended his friend."
They both thought about it. None of them knew what to do about it. When they had finished eating they returned to their dorm to bath, Sirius was the first one.
James didn't know if they were being too mean to Lupin. Sure, Sirius had started, but he hadn't directly offended Pettigrew. He had accused Lupin for wanting to be friends with them more than Pettigrew. It was Lupin who had said that Pettigrew was a ten times better friend than Sirius.
In the moment it had happened, Sirius didn't look hurt or offended, he had look accepting. That was even worse than hurt or offended, he had just accepted that he was a bad friend. James didn't want Sirius to feel that way.
He had reacted without thinking, of course he had only yelled, but he had reacted without thinking. James wished he knew what to do, he also wished he was more skilled at magic.
The weekend was over way too quickly, it was Monday again. After classes James saw ((for the first time since the sorting)) Snivellus Snape. That odd Slytherin slime-ball.
"Oi Snivellus, looking for a shampoo bottle? Cause I saw it run away from you earlier" James called before he could think. Sirius laughed.
"Like you are the one to talk with your birds-nest, do you actually call that hair?" Snivellus fired back.
"At least I don't have a hook, can it even be considered a nose?" James laughed, Sirius joined him.
Before Snivellus could say more, Peeves the Poltergeist came around.
"Potti Lotti being mean to little Snivy Snake? Whyyyyyyyyyy? What happened to Looney Loopy?" Peeves asked with a way too cheerful voice.
"Because why should we be mean to Looney Loopy when we can be mean to Snivy Snake?" Sirius asked teasing and yet reasonable at the same time. James wondered how he was able to do that.
"Ohhhhh, Blacki Smacki has a pointi lointi" Peeves exclaimed and rolled in the air. "I have a better pointi lointi than Blacki Smacki, why aren't you just mean to both?"
"What do you mean?" James asked confused, "Because Snivellus is here and Lupin is not of course"
Peeves just laughed.
"Ohhhhh, looks like Potti Lotti haven't seen that Snivy Snake is gone and Looney Loopy is here" he laughed.
James looked at where Snivellus had been a few moments before, he was gone, and Lupin was there with Pettigrew. When Sirius and James looked at them, Lupin and Pettigrew turned around to walk in the other direction.
"Look what you have done Peeves! Now we got neither Snivy Snake or Looney Loopy." Sirius exclaimed angrily, "Peeves?" the poltergeist had disappeared. Sirius let out a frustrated sound that made James laugh.
"You sound funny when you talk like Peeves" James teased.
"Oh, shut up Potter"
The rest of the week happened without any situations with neither Lupin or Snivellus, that was until they got to Thursday.
Professor Casher had written a lot of names on the black-board, new seat-mates, James had been paired with Lupin.
"That's what you get from karma for hiding a dungbomb in my bed." Sirius laughed.
Professor Casher hadn't showed up yet, just like last week, she was late, so James sat with Sirius at his seat. He had been paired with Kenneth Bing, not the best partner, but very far from the worst.
"How am I going to survive this? He can cast it and I barely can!" he exclaimed helplessly. James had practiced as much as he was able to whole last week, he had done it once, but after that he couldn't do it again. He knew he just knew that Lupin would bully him with it.
Professor Casher entered the class, room. "No need to sit down everyone" she said as soon as she entered the door. "We will continue to cast Petrificus Totalus on each other, I have signed y'all new partners, we will continue to get new partners every week, so we can get to know each other better and get new challenges."
James sighed, this would mean that he didn't get to spend much time with Sirius doing those classes.
She used her wand to move the tables off to the side just like last time and a bunch of pillows appeared. "Now find your partner and begin practicing." She said happily to the whole class. James groaned, but walked over to Lupin who patiently waited for him.
"You start or me?" he asked nervously when James came over there.
"I'll start" James murmured, there was no way he would let Lupin cast the body-binding curse on him. "Petrificus Totalus" he said, but nothing happened. James sighed and prepared for a nasty comment from Lupin.
It didn't come.
"You have to really concentrate about it" Lupin told him, "Try taking a deep breath while you imagine what the curse will do"
Unwillingly James tried to do as told, there might be something to what he was saying, it wouldn't hurt to try. He took a deep breath, just as Lupin had told, he tried to imagine the curse forcing Lupin's arms down and make him fall backwards. "Petrificus Totalus"
It worked, Lupins arms were forced down by his side and he fell backwards. James couldn't stop smiling, he had done it, James tried to find Sirius, he had seen what James had done and gave him a thumb up. He felt proud of himself, just for a moment.
Professor Casher came to undo the curse on Lupin.
"Thank you" he said to Lupin when he had raised himself from the floor, maybe this guy wasn't so bad after...
"Anything to help a little kid like you" Lupin said as if he talked to a little kid.
All.
"What?" James asked shocked.
"I said; anything to help a little kid like you" he now explained as if he talked to an idiot. "It means that I would do anything to help, and that I think you are a little kid." Lupin had put his hand on James's shoulder.
James felt anger rise in him, who did Lupin think he was? Talking to James like that.
"Shut up you freak" James hissed. He could see the regret in Lupin's eyes, but Lupin didn't move his hand, instead he lifted his wand with almost in-human speed and used the body-bind curse on him. James felt his arms forced down by his side, he fell backwards.
He could see it. James could see the satisfaction in Lupin's eyes, the tiny boy had gotten back at him, legally. Lupin didn't call for Professor Casher to come, he waited for her to come. It took almost ten minutes and it was only because Sirius noticed.
Lupin leaned against one of the desks as if he didn't care at all. James raised from the floor and stood next to Lupin, then Professor Casher dismissed the class. Sirius went over to James when Lupin had left with Pettigrew.
"What was that all about?" he asked interested and curiously.
"He deserved everything we have done to him!" James told angrily.
"What? Why? What had he done?" he asked eagerly.
"He talked to me as I was an idiot, and then he locked me in the body-bind curse for ten minutes."
"Then we'll just do the same to him" Sirius said with an evil grin, James liked that grin.
Lupin was a wicked little boy. He may not be the best at charm work, or wand against wand, but he was really good at coming back at people. If it wasn't because he used this against Sirius and James, he would be a wicked prankster.
He was really good at using what he had, he always knew exactly what his talents were and what his chances were. He knew how to come back at people the best way possible. It was like he knew things about people, like he could read-minds or something, that way he knew how to get back at people.
James and Sirius didn't change behavior around Lupin, he shouldn't think that he could be the boss. They were, and he should learn that, the easy or the hard way, Lupin gets to decide that.
It turns out that Lupin isn't their only problem, Snivellus is just a great pain in the arse, or a slimy-pain in the arse. The guy was still mad at James and Sirius for what happened on the Hogwarts express. At potions he had spoiled James's potion by putting a whole bucket of snake fangs in by "accident".
Professor Slughorn turned the blind eye to it, probably only because it was a student from his own house. He wouldn't even listen to James or Sirius as they explained that it was on purpose. So, James had to start all over again.
When Slughorn didn't look Snivellus gave them an evil smirk to brag; he believed me, not you, me. James couldn't contain himself, he took a deep breath, imagined the curse hit Snivellus, and murmured the words to the body-binding curse. It hit him and Snivellus fell on the ground, Slughorn wasn't able to tell who it had been.
It was pretty ironic that James wouldn't have been able to do it without Lupin.