Potter you rotter! Where the hell have you been, mate? There’s a horrible shortage of mischief being managed around here.s-padfoot
Sirius, you’re delirious! I’m always up to mischief; it’s just right now it’s not as noticable because our respective mischief-making auras aren’t together. So let’s fix this! I’m in the Entrance Hall talking to Evans!
Oh ho, is she finally letting you get a word in without hurling insults and hexes? My word, that is progress. Finally going to make a move, Prongsy?
Completely understandable. After all, Gryffindor is the greatest of them all. I feel sorry for anyone placed anywhere else. But certainly not for the faint of heart. Or those strongly opposed to hangovers.
Dromeda, Dromeda, Dromeda. When will you learn to simply throw hexes the moment one of those slimy future Death Eaters open their traps? Though I suppose that would be rather difficult considering you’re crammed into a dungeon with the lot of them. I pity you, truly.
Anyone up for a study session on the lake? This dorm room is like a prison. Ugh.
Hello, patrons of the interwebs. Sirius black here, telling you that dozens of characters are waiting for a few talented writers to step into their shoes at Marauders- TRP!
Not to mention I’m still looking for my partner in crime, James Potter!
Or you could be that snotrag of a Slytherin, Sniv - er, Severus Snape.
Check out our characters! We’re a right merry bunch, and delightfully active!
I LIVE!
My sincerest apologies for my absenteeism over the past few weeks, especially to Marlene and Lily for leaving the Yule Ball business unfinished. Between wrapping up summer school, narrowing down colleges and dealing with a crazy family (Black family caliber) I haven’t had much time for tumbling. Nonetheless, expect to see your dear friend Sirius Black regularly on your dash!
Lily was actually doing it.
Marlene burst out into shocked laughter - she’d only been halfway serious when she’d shouted to the crowd that Lily needed a snog, but Lily was actually doing it, she’d grabbed a boy out of the crowd and planted one right on him, and Marlene could not stop laughing enough to wolf-whistle during a kiss that was quite longer than a polite peck would be. Lily dropped the boy unceremoniously when she was done, turned on her heel and walked back to Marlene, blushing furiously. Even as she expressed her disbelief in her own actions, she was laughing a bit and obviously pleased with herself, and that was enough to keep the shit-eating grin on Marlene’s own face.
Lily pushed her forward suddenly, and Marlene teetered in her heels, sticking her tongue out at Lily over her shoulder. A few boys within hearing range had heard Lily say that it was now Marlene’s turn, and soon all the people that had been watching the spectacle from the beginning were murmuring to each other, until one boy had the courage to yell out, “I’ll do it!” and a couple others scattered around copied him, and Marlene felt kind of dizzy, swaying on her feet. She carefully went up on her toes one last time to look for Sirius (drunk, and being honest with herself, Marlene could admit that he was the one she wanted to step forward and volunteer himself), but she couldn’t find him anywhere.
Lily was egging her on, giggling wildly behind her, and Marlene couldn’t see any red sparks anywhere, so she had no other choice but to sigh and point to a random boy in the crowd who was grinning and shouting propositions at her. He stumbled forward eagerly, and Marlene could hear Lily saying do it, Marlene, and the boy’s friends shouting encouragement at him, too, and this was probably going to make his year, and it was her idea after all, and she couldn’t very well back out now, in front of their whole year, and Marlene let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes, and waiting…
Sirius was walking as quickly as his feet would carry him away from Bellatrix, his pocket now significantly lighter now that the Firewhisky had been removed from his person. He didn’t want to leave Marlene too long, but certain things had to be in place for everything to fit together. As he stepped through the crowd, a flustered looking Ravenclaw caught his eye whom he recognized from his classes - and for tattling on he and James as they tried to steal the Quidditch Cup from the Ravenclaw common room as first years. Perfect.
“Say, did you see Bellatrix?” he asked, sidling up alongside the startled-looking boy, “I saw her with a bottle of Firewhisky. Heard her saying something about the punch?” Sirius stifled his triumphant smirk as the Ravenclaw’s eyes lit up. Suddenly, his attention was grabbed by a gaggle of sixth years nearby. He let his attention be taken away from the plan momentarily, walking towards them with an intruiged gaze, trying to get closer and find the source of the commotion. Outright horror washed over his features as he saw some boy leaning in to kiss none other than Marlene. Oh no no no. How could Sirius have left her drunk and alone? This was about other people doing ridiculous things and laughing at them the next for it, not actually doing said ridiculous things. Without thinking about it, without worrying about the fact that the Ravenclaw had not yet reached Professor McGonagall or that the bottle he’d eagerly passed along to Bellatrix was still unopened, his hand dove to his wand and pointed it to the enchanted ceiling. A waterfall of red spark erupted, cascading dangerously close to the back of the perpetrator with the kissy face’s head.
Marlene grabbed the glass of firewhiskey out of Sirius’ hand, not bothering to wait before she knocked it back, coughing only a little as it burned the whole way down. “Wow,” she said hoarsely, setting her glass back down onto the table with a dull thud. She was nodding along to whatever Sirius was saying without paying attention, but snapped out of it when the bottle was shoved in her hands and Sirius moved close to whisper in her ear.
Shivering, Marlene murmured back, “I thought I was supposed to be the distraction?” but she ducked behind the punch bowl obligingly, grasping the bottle of firewhiskey, already feeling the adrenaline rushing through her. Marlene glanced around to make sure no one was looking at her (they weren’t) before she quickly upended the entire bottle into the punch. She glanced back up to check and make sure no one saw, and as her eyes scanned the room, the only person looking was a seventh year Ravenclaw she vaguely recognized from Quidditch, grinning at her with an eyebrow raised. Not even Lily had noticed, which was excellent. Maybe she’d drink the punch without realizing anything was off about it and have a little fun of her own. The boy beckoned her out onto the dance floor, but Marlene knew their plan for the dance wasn’t quite finished yet, so she simply winked back at him, shaking her head, before turning back to the table.
She had the empty bottle in her hand and was trying to crane her neck around Hagrid to meet Sirius’ eyes, but Marlene was only so tall, even in her heels, and Hagrid was blocking her entire view of Sirius. She was trying to get his attention without making it too obvious that she had an empty bottle of firewhiskey in her hand, and this was why she was usually the distraction. Marlene leaned all the way to one side, waving her free hand wildly, aware that she probably looked ridiculous, but it worked, because Sirius’ conversation with Hagrid cut off abruptly. Relieved, Marlene hid the empty bottle behind her back, smiling sweetly at Hagrid as he ambled past her, putting her best wide-eyed, innocent look on her face.
Sirius was hardly paying attention to Hagrid’s reverent account of manticores, a pleasant buzz setting in as he grinned patiently. When a flash of an arm appeared behind his back, though, Sirius wasted no time in saying, “Fascinating, you’ll have to tell me more another time,” and clapping Hagrid’s massive arm as he moved past him. Hagrid looked puzzled for a moment before continuing on his way to the washroom.
Sirius returned to Marlene’s side, smirking at her doe-eyes. The words “a vision in red” kept surfacing to his mind, but he kept them at bay for their unbridled cheesiness.
“Stop looking to bloody guilty,” he said lowly, eyes glinting as he clutched the delightfully empty bottle out of her hands and shoved it back into his pocket. “Sorry about that. I’ve learned improvisation is the key to a successful prank.” He ladled a serving of punch into his goblet, testing the concoction. The punch masked the initial sharpness of the Firewhisky, but it burned going down just the same.
“Delightful,” he purred, licking the remnants off his lips. He only allowed a moment to savor the success, though. This operation was far from over. The next part of the plan was at once Sirius’s most anticipated and most dreaded; finding Bellatrix.
“Alright, watch for my signal to begin phase two. Red sparks, got it?” Sirius whispered, meeting Marlene’s eyes purposefully before disappearing into the crowd. A sense that he was walking to his doom ebbed in his gut.
Sirius was being deliberately charming - even more so than usual, this was laying it on a bit thick, even for him - to cover up something. Marlene didn’t know what, but she allowed herself to be distracted, even though a voice in the back of her head was wondering why Sirius had asked her to the dance if none of his friends were planning on going. It was odd - surely, if James had wanted a date he could have had his pick of any girl at school. So if the rest of his friends had written the dance off and decided against taking dates, then why had Sirius asked her? Especially if it wasn’t even a real date, and he wasn’t interested in her.
She shook her head slightly to clear it, and refocused her attention on the task at hand. She couldn’t help but smirk a little at the mention of shots. “I’m game if you are,” she said, licking her lips and smiling sweetly up at Sirius. Firewhiskey was firewhiskey, Marlene didn’t require much convincing on the subject. She knew she wouldn’t have a problem holding her alcohol, and what was the harm of only a few shots? It was time to put the plan into action.
Sirius slipped behind the punch table surreptitiously, leaning onto the table with one arm as the thrust elbow-deep down his pocket, wand in hand. He groped around for a moment before his fingers found the cool condensation gathering on the neck of the Firewhisky bottle. With the tap of his wand, the bottlecap flung off to some uncharted depth of the chasm in his pocket. He cursed internally, making a note to use a Summoning Charm on it later. Sirius grabbed one of the lightweight goblets beside the punchbowl and brought it down below the table, securely invisible to the chaperones at the head of the hall. He tipped the amber liquid into it, filling it up but an inch before handing it carefully to Marlene.
“One for you-” he said with the flash of a smile before repeating the motions for himself, “and one for me.” He raised his glass in a silent toast, his ice-blue eyes electric with sly triumph as he tipped the goblet to his lips. The firewhisky scorched down his throat, and he blinked hard, jaw slack, trying hard not to sputter.
“That’s the good stuff,” he said rawly, settling into a confident dazedness. Suddenly, he acutely noticed Hagrid making his way to them. Sirius swiftly pulled the bottle out of his pocket, thrusting it into Marlene’s hand.
“Time to act,” Sirius whispered in her ear, only noticing now how good her hair smelled. He pushed the thought aside.
“Hagrid!” he shouted as the half-giant tried to scoot his way past, making his way around so Hagrid was all but pinned between Sirius and the punch table. As it would appear, he made an excellent human shield from the rest of the Great Hall.
“Oh, hullo Sirius,” he grumbled, “Jes’ making my way to the res’room.”
“Hold on a minute, before you do, I had a question about manticores. You specialiaze in magical creatures, right?” Sirius asked charmingly, ready to chat up the groundskeeper for as long as it took.
Marlene had just opened her mouth to reply to another comment Lily had made, (she was still worrying about what Marlene and Sirius had planned for that night) when she felt someone bump into her left side, hard. Marlene had just whipped her head around, nasty reply already forming on her lips when she noticed it was Sirius, with a cheesy come on as usual. Marlene smiled wide at him, laughing. “Git,” she said, shaking her head and trying not to blush or be too pleased. She gave him a slow once over, biting her lip. He looked good in his dress robes, handsome, as always, and yet-
“That tie is ridiculous,” she said, her laughter picking up again. “You haven’t even tied it properly.” She rolled her eyes, reaching out and tugging him closer, fixing it before she was aware of what her hands were doing, aware of Lily’s smirking face to her right. She shot Lily a look as she tugged his tie back into place, stepping back to put some space between her and Sirius. “How do you expect me to be seen with you if you’re looking like that?” she teased, half running a hand through her own hair, not wanting to mess the curls up too much.
Marlene leaned closer to him, then, not wanting Lily to hear any more about what they had planned and try to get in the way or scold her some more. “You didn’t forget anything, did you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.
Good God, he’s just as bad as James with all this, Lily thought, but said nothing, as she was too busy carefully judging Marlene’s reaction to Sirius’ presence to determine whether she had been right about her feelings for him or not. And Marlene’s reaction was extraordinarily positive. Lily couldn’t help but smirk knowingly at her friend, though her expression quickly turned to an innocent smile when Marlene glared at her.
As soon as she realized that they were talking about something they didn’t want her to hear, she sighed and rolled her eyes. “You know, I think I’m just going to leave you two to do…well, whatever it is you’re going to do, now, so that there’s no possible way I can be blamed for it.” As she started to walk away, she turned to Marlene and added teasingly, “I hope you have a lovely time,” and quickly kept walking to find someone she knew before the girl could say anything in return.
Sirius felt something drop in his stomach as Marlene looked him over, suddenly very conscious of her gaze as it travelled up his clothes. He found his own vision captured by the little silver wing dangling below the girl’s clavicle – and what it laid between. The red gown really did leave little to the imagination, he noticed hungrily.
Sirius lurched forward suddenly, guided by Marlene’s hand as it jerked his tie. He raised his hands shoulder-high in bashful surrender, glancing away as she adjusted it.
“You’ll have to pardon me for not accessorizing properly, I was otherwise occupied,” he growled between gritted teeth with a knowing look. His lips broke into another toothy grin as Marlene brought up the occupation of which he spoke.
“All right here,” he said with a shifty glance as he gently patted his left pocket. The frosted bottles of Bilshens knocked together with an audible clink. Sirius stood at his full height again, eyes wide as Lily made her departure. Oh, that was certainly his fault.
“Bye, Lily!” he called loudly, cupping his mouth so she would be certain to hear, “I’ll be sure to give Jamesy a big smack on the lips from you! Though I expect it won’t be the same coming from me!” A pleased, nasally little snigger punctuated his hollering before turning back to Marlene. He clapped his hands together, wringing them in anticipation.
“So! I reckon we wait for more victims- er, guests to show up before setting our little plan in motion. We’ll want a full house for this.” He sucked at his bottom lip as he looked the room over once again. The Great Hall was decently full, but at least a quarter of the school had yet to show. It was still early. Besides, this plan was truly perfect. And one must never rush perfection.
Marlene tried not to laugh, elbowing Sirius in the ribs as he goaded Lily. “Be nice,” she chided, waving at Lily as she walked away, rolling her eyes at them. She hoped Dorcas or Mary would show soon to keep Lily company, since neither of them were there yet and they had originally all planned to go as a group, Marlene felt guilty for backing out on it and essentially leaving Lily on her own. None of the girls were upset with her, but it didn’t make her feel any better about it. Watching Lily walk away alone already made Marlene feel as though she needed a drink.
As Marlene looked the room over, she realized Sirius was right. Not everyone was there yet, if everyone was even planning on coming, and they wanted as many people around for this as possible. “Where’s James?” she asked, unable to believe that he would miss out on an opportunity to spend time with Lily like this. “And the others?” With Marlene spending nearly the entire night with Sirius, there would have been several excellent opportunities to force Lily and James to get along together. It was unlike James not to be here for something like this.
“Only trying to expedite the inevitable,” Sirius sighed, eyes still darting to the flash of scarlet that was Lily’s hair as it disappeared into the crowd. If Sirius knew James, the one thing he could ensure was his eternal persistence. It was admirable, really. Sirius could never picture himself so dogged over a girl. But then again, Lily was a might too high strung for his taste. He blanched slightly at the mention of James and the rest of the Marauders. He suspected that by now, they were all transformed in the Shrieking Shack, wreaking mayhem in the full moonlight.
“Ah- couldn’t bear to rear their heads,” Sirius said, tutting, “too embarrassed. None of them could scrounge up dates. Luckily-” he took Marlene’s hand, raising it towards the artificial sky over their heads and twirling her around, “I don’t have that problem.” He knew from the look in here eye that she didn’t entirely buy it. The Yule Ball invitation of any of the four friends was a prize to be coveted – with perhaps the exception of Peter. Sirius needed a distraction. And perhaps a drink.
“Say Marley,” he said, crouching slightly to murmur in her ear, “what do you say we christen one of these bottles of Blishen’s with a couple of shots before sharing with the whole school? Aged thirty-nine years.” He trilled his voice on the last three words, hoping to entice her with the impressive craftsmanship. He nudged his chin towards the punch bowl (bereft of chaperones at the moment), eyebrows cocked expectantly.
