S. aint Brutus Godric Zulfiqua Orion Black (puppyanarchy) wrote in _bollocks_, @ 2008-06-27 21:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | dorm, james potter, library, restricted section, sirius black |
September 21st, 1975; Late Night Frolic
Who: James Potter & Sirius Black
When: 10:30-11:00pm.
Where: Dorm-restricted section-Dorm
What: Animagus plot! Part 1
Rating: PG-13.
Incomplete/Complete: Complete.
Routines and expectations were normally reserved for the more average, hardworking, rule abiding student who would not think twice about what it meant to be adventurous. The kind of student who saved the larger portion of their essay work for the day time to be able to go to bed at decent hours every night. The kind of student that James Potter, or Sirius Black, could not be compared to in any way shape or form. It was hard pressed to actually believe that those two did keep to a certain routine, and had particular expectations to see to on certain nights every month. A time of the month where they were missing a very big part of their small circle of friends. Count one: Remus J. Lupin. Unfortunately this group of friends reduced to a trio found themselves forced into a duet when Peter got himself tangled up into a bit of detention that night. But that could not stop, nor hinder the plans that had been rigorously set for a specific part of every month. The only time when it was guaranteed that their secret would be safe. Their secret plan would continue to be secret for at least another month. Sirius grabbed one of his shoes and lazily forced the dirty thing onto his foot, never mind that socks usually went on first, as he gave James a glance. They didn’t have to hurry so much as make sure they could get through with their plan without trouble, and with Prefect Remus missing from the equation, it would be tricky. Well, not very tricky considering all the things they had done in the past, and plan on doing in the future. The future being tonight. “Do we know which area we’re going to be looking into? Or are we going to wing it, as they say?” James was both eager and impatient to carry on with tonight's plans. On one hand, the prospect of getting closer to perfecting their animagi transformations was very endearing indeed, but on the other, the likelihood that tonight, like so many other nights, they would not be able to morph into their animal forms just yet was a bit annoying. It was miraculous that James, a boy very ill acquainted with the word 'patience', was able to stick to this one particular feat for so long, but he wanted to master his animagus transformation so badly that the years of researching and practising and (as of last year) having odd bits of fur and whatnot appear in strange parts of his body would be well worth it. Whenever James was getting frustrated with the whole ordeal, all he had to do was think of Remus alone in that bloody shack going through hell while there was nothing they could do about it. Well, it wouldn't be much longer Remus would have to go through those ruddy awful transformations on his own. James could feel it in his bones that this year would be The Year. It was just that he had good reason to suspect this night wouldn't be The Night, and that was a bit frustrating. There were still a couple of aspects of the transformation they had yet to really figure out, and so it was expected. With his father's invisibility cloak (well, his invisibility cloak, now anyway) folded up rather messily in his hands, James leaned casually against the wall, waiting for Sirius to get his shoes on. "A little bit of winging it, a little bit of looking for books on advanced Transfiguration. You know, the kind that make your brain hurt just from looking at them," James informed. “Why is it always bloody books?” Sirius whined into his knees as he attempted a quick knot with his laces. “And never one with any good pictures. Did they not know how to draw back in the day?” He leaned back, gave James a face that seemed on the verge of whining some more, but then bent back down over the side of the bed to put on his other shoe. He wasn’t trying to be a pain; Sirius loved the chance to go about the castle like ninjas and had, more than once, compared their stealthy dealings of the sneak and hide kind as master ninja-fu work. And of course their secret plan was very interesting and even dangerous which was all sorts of exciting for Sirius. It was just the horrible fact that he was pressed to actually read, study, and do the stuff that Remus loved to do. He made himself a promise over the summer holiday when he was flipping through notes he had taken all that year between himself, Peter and James that this would be the end of it. If they didn’t get down the work involved this year, he would at least die trying. Or something. He’d certainly die if he had to do another whole year more of reading and writing and boring things. School work was bad enough. “My brain is already hurting. But what’s pain to a man of adventure.” He added as he stood from the bed and half-stretched, half-flexed. “I bet Peter got out of this little bit on purpose. I bet he knew I was going to have him do all the reading tonight. The wanker.” "Books first, then we'll try some transformation stuff," James said and nearly gagged at his own words. He wasn't a big fan of the ol' books himself, but James wanted to get moving, and he was fairly certain that hitting the books would expedite the whole process a bit. "Besides, it's all we've got to work off of right now, unless you want to go stop by McGonagall's office and ask her how she did it," James smirked. "And no, they didn't know how to draw. Good pictures weren't invented back in the 1200's or whatever bloody millennium these books are from," James said. James let out a bit of a 'Hah!' when Sirius mentioned Peter and his detention. "Probably," James yawned. "Awfully suspicious that he runs off and gets detention without us the very night he knew we were going to be working on this," James said. "Nevertheless, I can't imagine Peter's having much fun with Filch or whatever lunatic is doing detention tonight," he pointed out. James fiddled with his invisibility cloak a bit and then asked "Ready then?” With a stretch Sirius reached across his bed to a small table and retrieved his wand, before he turned back to face James. Wand: check. Shoes: check. Trousers: check. He gave a quick glance around the room and his person, and then stuffed his wand into a pocket so he could use both of his hands to arrange his hair from flailing about his eyes. “I don’t think the sight of me, this late at night, would be very appropriate for McGonagall. Or the mission. If we stopped by, I probably wouldn’t be able to escape to help you with those very old books, mate.“ Sirius said as he moved to join James, smiling a devious smile. “As much of a pain as she says I am we both know I’m her favourite.” He reached their dormitory door and carefully opened it with a cautious pull of his arm. “I’m always ready. You just complain too much when I want to run about naked.” Sirius added quietly with a chuckle. He angled his head in a jerk to the side (a wordless signal saying ‘let’s go’) before he disappeared behind the doorway knowing James would follow. It took him about four seconds to descend the stairs with graceful movements like that of a sea lion; a lot of flopping of the limbs, and a few body slams against the stairway wall helped him hurry down the stairs. Luckily Sirius knew when to be quiet, and even though he was reckless and speedy, he barely made any sound as he made his way down. When his feet finally landed in the common room he stopped to survey the empty area with a quick and observing eye. "Precisely why I think those musty old crumbly books are the only way to go," James said. He smiled at Sirius in amusement and then shook his head. "Clearly you always have been McGonagall's favourite and always will be," he agreed. "Which is why she bombards you with detentions every chance she gets," James added. James wrinkled his nose "Yes well, that would be just a bit disgusting for me to witness, mate, and I'd rather not be forced to throw up on our way to the library," he said. "It might draw attention to us," James pointed out with a raise of his eyebrows. James followed behind Sirius. He skipped every other step, balancing himself on the banister to make his steps as silent as possible so that they were reduced to a murmured tapping. A few moments after Sirius reached the common room floor, James appeared behind him. His eyes scanned the common room for any of their house mates, but at this hour the common room was deserted. "I think we're all clear," James said in a hushed tone. “Crummy old books, McGonagall’s detentions....” Sirius murmured as he lifted his hands up and pretended to weigh out the options to James who finally met up with him in the quiet common room. “I don’t know, James. Either way you look at it, they both end the same way. With me suffering. Horribly. Unjustly. I hope Remus appreciates my undying sacrifice.” The two of them had searched for any intruder or witness of their appearance, and when James gave the all clear, Sirius nodded and hurried across toward the entrance way. Carefully he nudged the door of the passageway open, and tried to look down the hallway for any moment, but the blasted hallway lights were too dim. “Your vomit might be the distraction we need to get away, though. That’ll be our backup plan. I’ll strip, you throw up, and then we’ll run back to base without problem.” Sirius grinned lopsidedly. “That’ll be your undying sacrifice for Remus, getting to see me in my birthday suit running down the halls.” If he didn’t have to be quiet, Sirius would have laughed. Instead, he pressed his lips tightly together while his grin spread. "Tough call, yeah?" James teased. "You know, I have a funny feeling Remus might just appreciate all our hard work when he finds out," he said. "Though initially he might think we're a bit stupid for breaking about, oh, I don't know, all the school rules ever created, not to mention a few actual wizarding laws," James said, with a bit of excitement in his voice. "But then he'll realize, 'Bloody hell, they mastered the animagus transformation, my mates are brilliant!" James predicted with a knowing nod. James stopped behind Sirius and after a moment of inspecting to no avail he said "Let's just go," and swished the invisibility cloak over both of their heads. "That would certainly cause a distraction," James smirked. "Now that he better appreciate," he asserted quietly. "In fact, I think just at imagining that sight I might've thrown up a little bit in my mouth, so if we see Filch I'm all ready to throw up on his shoes," James joked in a whisper. “Well… when you say it like that.” Sirius replied with a lift of his brows after James went on about all the things they were defying in order to become unregistered Animagus. “Makes us sound almost heroic, that does. Brilliant and deserving of medals. And a cake. Remus better bake us up something lovely, with strawberries and coconut. Marmalade, too. -Bugger. I’m hungry now.” Sirius pushed the entrance door open further, once they were covered by the cloak, to allow the both of them through and into the hallway without a second thought. Usually when James said ‘go’ Sirius didn’t question it. It wasn’t as if Sirius held status below the way of James Potter, it was just that the two of them were very close, and it was known that Sirius Black usually needed direction; a five minute attention span had quite a few downfalls. Their closeness allowed Sirius to follow James without a fight, and gave James the know-how to keep Sirius on the right path. Two pieces of the pie, they were. Sirius moved back to let James help dictate their decided movements, especially after hearing that James’s upchuck reflexes were being sensitive. “That’s what you get for imagining things like that, mate. I’m afraid I won’t be kissing you tonight. Not unless you gargle with acid. And eat a mint. Hhhmmm, should we try to wake up Evans and have her tell us if your mouth tastes like poorly digested lunch?” Sirius whispered back. As they walked he scanned the area for anything suspicious, and pulled his wand out to be ready for anything. "Risking our necks to help carry the burden of one of our best mates," James said "I reckon we are rather heroic," he said. "It's the Gryffindor in us, we can't help it really. Heroism is just what we do," James said, matter-of-fact. "See, some of the Ravenclaws might have the brains to figure this stuff out, but they would never have the balls," he said. The only thing James was disappointed about with this whole ordeal was the fact he wouldn't be able to brag about their new found animagus status when it was all done, but even James had sense enough not to go blabbing about what they were doing. That would be detrimental to the whole cause in about ten different ways. James led Sirius slowly down the hall. The whole 'no questions asked' thing was one of the facets of his and Sirius' friendship he liked best. It wasn't often they bothered to ask what the other was doing or why, the reason behind each other's actions was just known or the blind faith thing kicked it. Whatever the case, it made them a hell of a lot more compatible than most best mates, and that was key to dominating the school. "You know, I don't think that will be necessary," James hissed as they continued down the hall. The mention of ‘burden’ and ‘one of our best mates’ made Sirius actually take a second to concern himself with how Remus was holding up. It’s not like he never did think about it, but things like that were better left ignored for as long as possible in Sirius’s case. Otherwise the times when the full moon was up there’d be a lot of pacing, and whining, and crazy, worried Black antics that do not sit well for anyone, including Sirius. He just wasn’t very good at expressing emotions. He didn’t show love like most normal people did, nor did he hate normally, or care about someone in a normal sense. Sirius often distracted himself with things in order to not face the demons of his emotions, which usually came off as indifference. It could hardly be said he was indifferent if you knew him well enough. “Remus won’t be alone much longer.” Sirius commented quietly, a bit off from their normal discussions of heroics and vomit. When they got to the stairs, Sirius was careful to keep in step with James so they would not lose their cover of the invisible cloak. It was so easy for him after all these years of sneaking and silent stalking that doing it now seemed rather natural. A talent only a real marauder could pull off. “Big balls of manly steel. Steely balls. We’re risking the chance that one of us will change into something, well… edible. Like a rabbit, or a chipmunk. That’s a risk we are willing to take, because we are so very brave and heroic. And I am positive I’ll be something massive like a- like a… hippogriff.” "No, he won't," James agreed, acquiring a serious tone as he said this. "We're going to figure this out, soon," he said. James matched Sirius' careful steps with his own, and the invisibility cloak didn't make even the slightest indication that it was about to slip off their heads. Sneaking about the castle was a talent, an art even, and James and Sirius were masters at it. It was seldom that they were caught, especially when they had the aid of the invisibility cloak, so James wasn't particularly concerned about being discovered by Filch or any other authority type figure. James let out a silent laugh. "I'm not going to transform into a chipmunk," James said. "I'm going to be something big too," he said. "Or maybe something normal sized but really fast," James added thoughtfully and then grinned. "I think a Hippogriff would suit you." It wasn’t before long that the both of them had approached the right landing, switched off the steps, and headed straight for the dreaded Library. The place looked spookier and ugly at night, and Sirius cringed every time they had to go and do this adventure. Library’s should be painted pink and smell like candy so they didn’t seem so frightful. Madam Pince didn’t help matters any, either. “That’s what a rabbit is, James. Small and really fast. But still breakfast to a werewolf,” Sirius teased quietly as they stopped in front of their destination. “Peter will probably be the chipmunk. Or, hah- could you imagine him turning into something putrid, like a skunk!” Sirius had to clamp his hands over his mouth for forgetting that being loud would not suit, and to show James that he didn’t mean to get so carried away. His shoulders hunched down and he tried apologizing with his eyes for a moment. When it seemed safe enough, and no one caught the blunder, Sirius removed his hands and sighed in relief. “Sorry.” James couldn't deny that the library was a bit eerie at night. That's not to say that James was afraid, because obviously James Potter is afraid of nothing, but there was no harm in silently admitting that the library was a bit creepy. It was quite possible Madam Pince saw to it that the library looked strange at night to keep away trespassers, but James and Sirius would not be deterred. They were on a mission. "I was thinking something cooler, like a fox," James clarified. "Which I suppose is also breakfast to a werewolf, but I think a fox would fair better than a rabbit," he whispered. James bit down hard on his lip to keep from laughing. It was bad enough Sirius was starting to get noisy, but if he started to laugh they might summon Mrs. Norris in their direction and that was the last thing they needed. "It's alright," James said quietly. He continued down the library into the restriction section, which, of course, was a great deal creepier than the rest of the library, but it was hardly the first time James had entered the restricted section in the dead of night. James passed by a few rows of books until he found the section which contained books chiefly concerning Transfiguration. The ghastly sort of Transfiguration, that is, the kind that needed to be kept away from the masses. James paused for a moment and held up a hand to Sirius to be still. He listened for any signs of Peeves, Mrs. Norris, or Filch but when he was met with only silence, James turned to Sirius. "I think we're ok," he said and then pulled the invisibility cloak off but kept it safely in his hands. "Now, let's see what we have here," James began. The Restricted Section. Those three words made things very, very, very mysterious. The adventure and the excitement of those three words always got Sirius wound up. What kind of goodies would they find tonight?! Maybe he’ll come across a book that sent off poisonous gasses! Maybe he’d find a book that, when opened, would try to suck him into a black hole! The possibilities were endless, and the only time Sirius Black was anxious about digging around books. He followed James for a bit, as his eyes took in all sorts of things, and held still when James raised the signal to do so. But when the cloak was pulled off and James was ready for the search, Sirius’s hands shot out and grabbed the first thing he could see. Hellhound Hunting: How to track, trap and train a Hellhound.: was the first thing Sirius grabbed, and his eyes stared down at the three-headed, red eyed beast with a grin most sinister. It figured he would not find the same kind of book that James was looking for, and in fact wasn’t looking in the same section; he turned around and searched behind his mate. Attempting to open the book made the beast on the cover growl, and Sirius almost giggled out of glee. “I’m going to be a Hellhound.” He whispered darkly, before he blew a kiss to the evil monster’s profile and put the book back. “Who eats foxes for breakfast. And werewolves, and even small children. And Snape. I’ll eat Snape too, and probably throw up- but it’ll be worth it.” Sirius laughed at his own thoughts and went to pluck another book from the shelf. This one was dark grey and had words that moved like smoke on the top. “Mind meld; artful concentration and mental meanderings.” Sirius read. “Hey- isn’t that like for Divination?” He twisted around to ask James, though quietly at that. James craned his neck to look over at the book Sirius had taken out. James skimmed the title, and although it wasn't likely to tell them much about becoming animagi, the book itself sounded ace. As a whole, books were rather boring. Naturally that's only James' opinion, but as James often declares his opinion as law, to James the belief that books were dull was fact. However, James had to admit that it was an entirely different breed of books lurking in the Restricted Section. Some of them had to do with the Dark Arts, no doubt, and those were bad, but the rest seemed alright to James, interesting even. "Hellhound, now that suits you," James joked. "Then I'll just have to turn into something else, I don't rather fancy being eaten, but you're free to devour Snape if you want," James snickered. "Well, we know he'd taste greasy, beyond that I'm not sure I want to know what Snape tastes like," James said with a shake of his head and an 'ugh'. James looked over at the new book Sirius pulled out after scanning through some faded titles himself, but finding nothing appealing. "I don't know," James said. "Mind meld; artful concentration and mental meanderings..." James repeated. "Is there anything in there about unspoken spells?" James asked. As of last year, they had been doing alright with those, but James reckoned they were going to have to become a lot better at them in order to complete a total animagus transformation. “I bet he’d taste like sewage. And five day old moldy cheese, and sweaty armpit.” Sirius replied with a wrinkle of his nose. “But I’ve had worse.” Then he shrugged while weighing the odds between his stomach and the rancid state of assumptions over Snape flavours. “Besides, to a Hellhound- I bet everything tastes like chicken.-You can be the hippogriff. They are brilliant fliers, yeah?” He looked at James for a second, then looked back down at the book now open in his hands and shrugged again. “Not sure. The words are moving around a lot.” Inside book revealed all sorts of lists, and what looked like training exercises (with no pictures. Bah!) to, what he supposed, would help meld a mind. “Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a yellow field. See the yellow, feel the yellow… --this sounds sissy. You check.” Forget looking through Nancy-like books; Sirius was not about to read any mumbo-jumbo about yellow and how to feel it. What would yellow feel like, anyways? Ridiculous. He pushed the book gently at James to take as he turned to look for something else. "That sounds about right," James said. "Worse?" he asked and wrinkled his nose. "What could be worse than Soupe Du Snape?" James asked. "You have a point there, I don't think hellhounds are very picky," he said. "Yeah, they are, so it's settled then? I'm to be a hippogriff and you a hellhound?" James grinned. "The words are moving?" James asked and peered over at the book. "Weird, makes me dizzy," he said and looked away. "It sounds like the book's trying to brainwash you or something," James said and as Sirius offered him the book James shook his head. "No, I think it's best we just put this one away. It seems to me like this book's a bit off its rocker," James said and turned back to the book shelves. The books didn't seem to be in the most coherent order, but as he moved down the row to the right the subject matter seemed to be turning away from yellow fields and to Transfiguration. "Alright, these sound good," James said. "Advanced Transfiguration of the Human Body," he read allowed and pulled the dusty book off its shelf, followed by "The Art of Transfiguration: What They Won't Teach You in School." Sirius moved and put the cheeky book about melding the mind on the color yellow away, and searched further as he talked with James. “Soupe Du Snape sounds too tasteful for even the likes of him. It should be something like Snape-shish kebab. Or Deep-fried Snape, which would explain his greasiness.” Sirius thumbed through another book, this one looking and smelling like dust, and then put it back when the feeling of a sneeze started to itch the back of his nose. “I’d say that is perfect. Hippogriff, Hellhound, and Peter is… Peter can be… Peteerr—ACHOO!” It was too late. Even though Sirius had put the dirty, nasty thing that looked like a book away, the dust had already settled inside his nose and caused him to explode into a sneeze. Snot of assorted green, slimy complexion decorated the portion of the shelf Sirius was staring at, as the dust cleared from his nose in a forceful manner. He wheeled around to give James the ‘Oh shite’ look, as the back of his hand wiped away residue from his nostrils. He saw James with the books he mentioned in hand, and the cloak, and decidedly reached for the cloak to help cover the both of them. “Let’s go.” He said urgently, knowing that they’d be found if that sneeze had echoed in the walls. And from where Sirius was standing, it most definitely had. "I think Deep-fried Snape suits him," James grinned. James glanced at the dust covered book, but was a safe enough distance not to be affected by the dust. James jumped a bit at the sudden burst noise the sneeze omitted, and his eyes promptly widened as he stood there, momentarily frozen in place. James promptly returned the 'oh shite' look which was engraved in his face. They could not get caught, not over James's dead body. In an instant, James was on his feet again, the two Transfiguration books in his hands. James nodded silently to Sirius' 'let's go' as he allowed the invisibility cloak a moment to cascade around them. As silently as humanly possible, James began to walk quickly out of the Restricted Section. It was a tricky thing, attempting to move quickly while under the invisibility cloak, but it was just one of many of James and Sirius' joint talents, acquired after years of failed attempts and being caught by Filch and the like. James came to a halt as they reached the large entrance doors. Very slowly, James opened the door, cringing at even the slightest creak and moan the joints of the door let out. James inched his way through the crack and held it open slightly for Sirius to fully free himself of the library. It took a special kind of mental connection to maneuver the way James and Sirius did when they had to get away from a scene in a hurry. Footfalls were carefully synced, and doors held for the other (such as now when James cracked the Library door open for Sirius to slip past) had to be planned at the right times to keep the cloak on them without falter. Their antics now seemed like cake work in comparison when there were three under the cloak, or even four; Peter liked to step on toes, and Remus had this issue with getting closer than what was needed that caused all sorts of mishaps when maneuvering together. Not James and Sirius, the two of them were, as they say, two peas in a pod. Getting out of the Library was relief in itself, but the dreaded staircase climb was a hassle unwanted. Sometimes the stairs just wouldn’t sync with their movements, but all in all it was another one of those things they did routinely and could work out on the spot should the need arise. Soon it was the hallway toward their dorm that was in front of them, and only a small stretch of space to cross before they were home scot free. So of course that meant trouble. Suddenly Mrs. Norris, all fur and fire, turned the corner a few feet in front of the boys and stopped. She obviously smelt something amiss, and so she sat down to concern herself with what it was. The sight of her made Sirius jerk his legs up and stop, but not until he had a hook on James’s arm so they both would stop at the same time. Sirius dared not speak a word, so instead he nudged and poked James, and signaled for him to walk around the feline as far as possible before it would be needed to just sprint off to the door and then run up to the room. James had been walking on pins and needles the entire time, and when it finally seemed as if they had reached home base without encountering any real obstacles, there was Mrs. Norris, suspicious and alert as always. James stopped moving the moment Sirius did and merely stood there, still as a stature, staring down Mrs. Norris behind the invisibility cloak. James didn't make a sound, he didn't even take a breath while that demonic cat kept vigilance over the space they needed to pass through. Upon being nudged and poked James turned his head ever so slightly to look at Sirius. James followed Sirius' lead and walked as carefully and daintily as he could around Mrs. Norris, making sure that he kept his sorry arse as far away as possible from that stupid cat. Mrs. Norris turned a bit when they started to move around her, but she didn't meow to call Filch. Mrs. Norris wasn't sure enough whether or not someone was really there to go calling from her master (and possibly lover) just yet. Once they were close enough to the portrait James began to run, grabbing hold of the invisibility cloak as it began to float down and Mrs. Norris began meowing. "Lancelot!" James hissed to the portrait of the Fat Lady before she could even ask for a password. "Alright, alright!" she yawned. "Potter and Black, miscreants the two of you! Always waking me up at ungodly hours!" she muttered, partly to herself, partly to James and Sirius. James paid her no mind as he darted inside the common room, promptly collapsing into a nearby chair once he was safely inside. Sirius followed James as close as he could, and as quiet as he could, as they tiptoed, and then sprinted toward the Fat Lady. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up when the demon cat Mrs. Norris started meowing out, knowing full well that her bloody idiot slave Mr. Filch would be coming soon. Of course the Fat Lady had to give them problems when James gave her the password. A lot of sass in that big lass. When the portrait finally let them in, and then James pretty much died into a chair, Sirius fell to his knees. At first he was silent, and a bit on the shaky side, but then he let out a laugh that was so loud and so energetic, that he nearly had himself rolling on the floor. Of course this wouldn’t do, he could possibly wake someone up, so he pulled himself up to stand and tried so very hard to climb up the staircase without falling on his arse—still very much laughing, still very much amused at what had happened to them. It wasn’t until he got himself into their dorm room that he just collapsed on the floor, holding his stomach from the pain of his laughter. “That—ahahaaa- bloody---Ahahaa cat!” James had both hands placed firmly over his mouth as he shook in the chair. To some it might look as though James was having a seizure when in reality he was laughing. He laughed silently, which he managed to do quite successfully by keeping his mouth covered. He really didn't want to wake up one of the prefects, wake up Evans, because after that daring, life risking escape James would be damned if he was going to be caught by some bloody prefect. When James caught sight of Sirius heading up the stairs he rolled himself off the chair and stumbled after him. James' steps weren't as quiet as they could be, but that was everyone else's problem. Once he was in the dormitory they could prove nothing! James opened the door and rushed inside, closing it behind him as he burst out into whooping, howling laughter. "What a rush!" James said breathlessly. James lived for these kind of stunts, the adrenaline! James set the books down on his bed, amazed that they hadn't gotten lost somehow in the fray. “One of these days,” Sirius began when he was able to speak clearly, though he still chuckled and had to sniff a few times to clear his passageways, “One of these days I’m going to get that bloody feline. I’m going to chase the awful thing up a tree and see it shake!” This was a very solemn promise that Sirius intended to keep. If anything needed to happen in his lifetime, it was putting that cat in its place by reminding it what the real social pecking order was: Humans before Felines. One day Mrs. Norris would get what was coming to her. Slowly Sirius picked himself up off the floor and then dragged himself over to where James moved to. Since their beds were right beside each other, Sirius just plopped down on his bed and immediately went about removing his shoes, with a toe to the heel, and let each drop off the edge with a hollow thump. Then he stretched, cracked his knuckles, and then situated himself to sit up and give James a curious stare. “Alright, I suppose I’ll need one of those ugly books- there. Throw us one and we’ll get started. I think.” James grinned a broad grin of approval for those plans. "Oh, it's going to happen alright," he said. "We really have to get her before we graduate," James said. "I'm not sure it's the best idea to try and go after her before that, since you know, Filch will probably kill us but seventh year that bloody cat is going down," James agreed. With a quiet thud James plopped the books down on to his lap. A bit of dust emerged from the crevices, and James made an attempt to blow the dust particles away from Sirius. "Alright you take this one," James said and handed Sirius Advanced Transfiguration of the Human Body as he flipped open The Art of Transfiguration: What They Won't Teach You in School.. "We'll skim through these for a bit and then get to the fun part, yeah?" “Or, you know… I could just eat her when I change into a Hellhound. What the hell, right? If I can eat Snape and live to talk about it, she’d be just like pudding.” Sirius snickered as he reached over and took the book James offered. “Thanks.” He gave James a nod and drew the book closer, since his mate helped clean the book off before hand. It was as if Sirius had an allergy to books or something, he always got all boogey and slobbery around them, and his eyes would water up, and he’d start to itch some invisible rash. Books were no good. Well, old books that went on for days and days about absolutely nothing were no good. With a hrmp! Sirius twisted himself, and then flipped on his back as he held the book up over his head -open with pages flapping idly- looking as if he would wrestle the thing in his backwards resting position. His naked feet pressed against his bed’s headboard with a stretch of his legs. “So book… what do you have for me, eh? No pictures. Ugh, as usual.” He flipped a few pages, then held the book open at a spot in the middle and pulled it down so he could actually read in it. “Put book down and get to the fun part.” He pretended to read before turning his head away from his book to give James a curious eye. “What do you know; book says to just go straight to the action.” He smirked, knowing full well that James wouldn’t even believe him, but it was fun to kid about it. Funnier than say reading the stupid book in the first place. |