A/N This story takes place during the infamous trio's (plus one rat's) 6th year at Hogwarts. It's a story about hate, desire and friendships, about love and lust. About pranks, holidays and balls. About jealousy, betrayal and rejection. All spun into the depressing dark times J.K. Rowling has set this time period in, what with murder, kidnapping and Voldemort slowly on the rise. I personally am a Marauders junkie, so I adore this kind of thing. I must say Sirius is my favorite out of all of them, so the story may tend to focus a wee bit more on him than the others…but only a wee bit lol.
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all things Harry Potter. All hail her!
Enjoy ; )
A cool breeze zipped in through the crack of the slightly opened window in the sixth year Gryffindor Boys' dormitory. It rustled the scarlet curtains encasing the two four-poster beds on either side of the window, and as the gale outside grew, it made a high, wailing noise as it snuck into the dorm through the crack.
James Potter, occupant of the bed to the left of this window, slept on through whining noise without even hearing it. But the sixteen-year-old boy to the right of this window had not been sleeping well, and was more easily perceptible to this minor annoyance.
Sirius Black groaned and rolled over onto his stomach, trying to force his entire face into his pillow in the hopes of drowning out the squealing gusts of wind. It was already one o'clock in the morning and despite his stubbornly closed eyes, he had yet to fall asleep. He had to take his first potions test of the year early the next morning and even he didn't fancy the idea of both failing and having two detentions in the first week of school.
The wailing at the window raised an octave and began to resemble a teakettle about to boil over. Sirius reluctantly sat up and opened his brilliant blue eyes, blinking a few times to focus his vision properly. Swearing under his breath, he kicked the frustrated tangle of sheets and comforter clean off his bed and clawed away the rouge curtain at his bedside. He brought the window down to meet the sill with a very loud clap of sound. Sirius glared jealously at his best friend as James grunted and rolled over in his bed, still sound asleep.
Just as Sirius was getting back into bed, he heard a very girlish giggle coming from the other side of the dorm. A giggle that he recognized immediately as belonging to Kenzi Everlace, a sixth year Gryffindor friend of the Marauders.
Sirius hoisted himself once more out of bed and slowly began making his way passed the other boys' beds and to the door of the dormitory. If Kenzi Everlace was nearby, that would most likely mean that Karissa Rosewood was, too. And if they both were around, then it would make quite a great deal of sense if…
"Shh!" hissed another female voice in a hushed, commanding tone that made Sirius stop dead in his tracks, "Our boys may be heavy sleepers but they're certainly not deaf!"
A knowing smirk slowly worked its way across Sirius's handsome face. There was no mistaking who that voice was; his primary rival, Danielle Cherrystone.
The seven of them (James, Danielle, himself, Kenzi, Karissa, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew) had always been Hogwarts's biggest troublemakers, and the school's most popular group of best friends. Though they had all become very close friends in their six years attending Hogwarts, they remained, as they were since the first year, rivals, divided by gender; The Marauders versus their girls. They rarely ever pulled a prank together, most pranks they pulled on each other, but when they did, it was magnificent.
While most everyone in the group got along very well in times outside of their constant one-up wars, Sirius and Danielle never could manage it. Their intense personal rivalry kept the competition within the group from ever simmering down. It was widely known throughout the school that Sirius Black and Danielle Cherrystone hated each other. They would never have you doubt that fact for a second.
Sirius reached the door and very quietly rested his hand on the doorknob. He toyed with the idea of waking his partners in crime and giving the girls one hell of a shock, but he quickly discarded the option as time was of the essence and James Potter would not wake up before sunrise unless an anvil was dropped on his head. Unfortunately, Sirius was lacking an anvil at the current time.
In one swift motion, he swung the door open and was staring down at a very familiar pair of big, almond-shaped, honey-colored eyes, framed by long, dark lashes. They were Danielle's eyes, and they widened in surprise as he smirked down at her. Her two friends let out disbelieving shrieks.
"What the hell!" cried Kenzi, stumbling backwards over Karissa, who was kneeling beside the doorframe. Kenzi had an abundance of unruly, curly light brown hair, that hung at her shoulders when it was down, but tonight it was pinned back forcefully in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She was a very small girl about the height of a second year with kind, light brown eyes and a charming smile.
Karissa was a little taller with perfectly straight, light brown hair streaked with blonde that fell just long enough to frame her face. She had smooth, tanned skin and very pretty eyes that were a pale, smoky blue color that was brought out by the light, silvery eye shadows that usually capped her lids.
Sirius's eyes, however, were still focused on Danielle's with an amused but triumphant gleam to them. He never could figure out whether they were more yellow or brown, they seemed to alter with her mood and changes in sunlight. Danielle was of average height, but a very petite, delicate-looking girl. Her skin was a little pale and her hair fell halfway down her back in thick, dark waves. It was such a dark shade of espresso brown that it was often taken to be black, much to her annoyance.
Danielle narrowed her peculiar eyes up at Sirius.
"How did you know we were here?"
Sirius grinned in a manner that gave her the strong desire to smack it of his face.
"Sweetie, you're gonna have to do better than this if you want to successfully raid our dormitory," he turned to the other girls, satisfied for the moment to leave Danielle seething over his use of pet name, "Why don't you girls just run along to bed now."
"Or…" replied Karissa thoughtfully, "We could not."
Before Sirius could respond Karissa had sprang up and shoved him aside, making a beeline for James Potter's four-poster bed and disappearing underneath the surrounding curtains. Kenzi shrieked excitedly, grabbed Sirius by the arm and swung him into Peter's bed before running to assault Remus with equal fervor. Loud male grunts and groans of protest and confusion echoed around the room mixed with feminine squeals of exhilaration.
"What the--!"
"Whassamatter?"
"Who's on me?"
"Lily? Ow…no…that's Karissa…"
"Get off!"
"That hurts!"
"Sirius, I never knew you felt this way…"
"WHO TURNED ON THE LIGHTS?"
A harsh, bright glare penetrated even the darkest corners of them room and caused everyone to duck and bury their heads in their arms.
Sirius rolled off of Peter's bed and squinted through the fluorescent light. Danielle was casually leaning against the wall, twirling her lighted wand around in her fingers. She grinned wickedly at him.
"Morning, sunshine," she cooed sweetly.
"Screw you," muttered Sirius, trying to rise, but smashing his head against Peter's nightstand in the blinding light, "Damnit!"
Remus and Kenzi had rolled off of his bed, Remus now quite awake due to the harsh light and in gaining control of the situation as he tickled Kenzi mercilessly.
Karissa and James had thrashed about so wildly that the curtains had been torn clean off James's bedposts and were now being used to pin him to his headboards while Karissa drew a large, thick, paintbrush out from the folds of her robes and smirked tauntingly at him.
"Rissa…" panted James, "What on earth are you planning to…NO!"
Karissa raised her eyebrows nonchalantly at him as she applied a massive amount of magical hair gel to the brush.
"Really James," she said matter-of-factly, "It only permanently fixes you hair in the, position of my choice, for one day…" she cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, "Or perhaps, two…"
"Karissa, no." James widened his dark brown eyes in apprehension, "C'mon, not my hair…besides that's so unoriginal…what're you gonna do, a Mohawk? A traffic cone?"
"Eh," shrugged Karissa, finally satisfied with the sopping wet brush, "We were thinking more along the lines of slicking it all back…you have just enough hair for us to tie it in the most adorable little ponytail at the back of your head."
Kenzi freed herself from Remus and scrambled over to them, pulling a hideous pink lacey ribbon with peacock feathers attached out of her robes and dangling it in front of James' face.
"Aw, come on you guys!" pleaded James, squirming against his bed bindings, "Sirius! Remus, Peter; make yourselves useful!"
Sirius flashed him an amused smirk and let out a loud, obviously fake yawn.
"Really wish I could, mate, but I'm just too darned tired!"
James stared at him in disbelief as Sirius chuckled at the prospect of seeing what James Potter would do with his hair looking like a little girls' and without the ability to mess it around every time a hot girl walked by.
"You're letting them win?" he accused, "You're just gonna lie there and let them beat us?"
"Not us, James," Remus corrected as Sirius crawled into his bed, "Just you this time, I'm afraid."
James sighed exasperatedly, "Is this about not saving you guys a pumpkin pastie at dinner last night? 'Cuz I swear, it wasn't my fault, Longbottom just scarfed them all right down—"
"Goodnight Remus!" Sirius called cheerfully across the room as Karissa began to smother multiple layers of the slimy gel into James' precious hair.
"Goodnight!" Remus replied, getting into his bed as well. Peter had already fallen back asleep the moment Sirius had rolled off of his bed.
Just half an hour later, the girls had finished their project on James, but they refused to let him see the final masterpiece.
"I think we'll leave it as a nice little morning surprise, for you," chuckled Kenzi, "You'll like that very much, won't you?"
The girls strode from the dormitory amid a slew of murmured curse words from James, but just as Danielle was about to close the door, Sirius yelled at her,
"Turn out the lights, will you, Cherrystone?"
She smirked.
"I rather like them on," she insisted as she urged the lights with her wand to keep lit until morning, "Sleep well, Black."
Sirius glared at her until she had closed the door, and then yanked the curtains of his four-poster bed closed, grumbling agitatedly about her existence until he finally fell asleep at 3:16 AM.
A/N Aw, gotta love them boys! So anyway, whaddya think? Please please leave me a review with your opinion on this beginning chapter…I'd love to hear it! I need encouragement if I'm gonna keep this going…constructive criticism is also highly appreciated! Thank you!