Word Games - November 27th 1974

"Hey Padfoot!" James called, weaving through the crowd of students towards his friend, very likely concussing several shorter first years with his bag on the way. "Oi!"

Sirius stopped obligingly and grinned at James.

"Hullo fathead." He said cheerily. "What do you want?"

"Fancy going out to chuck a quaffle around for a bit?"

"Can't." Sirius said, turning and moving out of the flow of students. James followed, his face showing that he was terribly close to whining.

"Why not?" James demanded. "You haven't got a detention for once and we've got all weekend to do our homework."

"'M busy." Sirius shrugged. "Sorry."

"No you're not."

"You're right, I'm not. It just seemed polite to apologise."

"No, I mean you're not busy." James stated. Sirius blinked.

"Yes I am."

"No you're not. I officially cancel all your appointments and declare you Not Busy." He poked Sirius in the chest. "Now go get your broomstick."

"Nice try, Prongs." Sirius said with a smirk, pushing his friend's hand away. "But I really am busy."

"But if you don't play, I'll have to play with Peter!" James whined. "And he can't catch for shit!"

"That's alright then," Sirius tossed over his shoulder as he walked away. "Neither can you."

James scowled and moodily threw the quaffle to Peter, who, as James had expected, missed it.

"I can't believe this!" He steamed, as Peter flew back up from retrieving the ball. "This is the third time he's ditched me in the past fortnight!"

"Maybe," Peter said. "He really is busy."

"What the hell could keep him too busy to sneak into Hogsmeade and nick butterbeer!" James demanded. "Or too busy to see if we can beat the staircase into the girls' dorm!"

"Maybe he's got a girlfriend." Peter suggested.

James frowned.

"Why wouldn't he tell me if he's got a girlfriend?"

"Because you'd make it your duty to embarrass him in front of her?"

"I would not!" James tried his best to look affronted, but even he was forced to admit the truth behind that statement. "Well, maybe I would. But only because he does it to me!" He huffed. "But if he is hiding a bird from me, how'm I going to find out?"

"Ask Moony." Peter said, flinging the quaffle back at James and nearly falling off his broom in the process ((Peter did not have the best sense of balance in the world.))

"I have." James replied, wincing as the ball hit him square in the chest. "Says he just dosses around the dorm with him."

"Maybe he's covering for Pads."

"I don't know about Moony," James said. "But I wouldn't want to hang around if Padfoot and his girlfriend were sucking face on the other side of the room, and everyone else I've asked has said that they never see either of them leave the dorm." He drew back his arm to throw the quaffle as Peter made a squeaking noise that meant something had just occurred to him and taken him rather by surprise.

"Maybe Moony's Sirius' girlfriend!" He gasped.

James, who had been in the process of bringing his arm forward in the throw, froze, dropping the quaffle and almost toppling off his own broom. After the little, undignified scrabble for grip that followed, James regained his balance and stared wildly at Peter.

"What!" He screeched, as the quaffle landed with a 'plumpf' on the ground below.

"Maybe," Peter said, bouncing slightly in the manner that he did when he was terribly excited. "Maybe Padfoot is sucking Moony's face!"

James looked somewhat sceptical.

"Are you trying to suggest that Remus and Sirius are having a torrid love affair under our very noses?"

"Yes!"

James thought about this.

"It's a possibility, I suppose."

"Prongs is mad at me again." Sirius declared, as he banged into the dormitory with his usual grace, kicking the door shut behind him. "He's gone off to sulk for a bit now because he can't quite handle being ditched four times. Apparently Peter sucks worse than James expected at Quidditch."

"You can go join him if you want." Remus said, setting out the stuff they needed on the large desk they had near the window in their room. "You don't have to play with me."

"But I like playing with you!" Sirius protested. "Because you play lazy games! James doesn't play lazy games and I like being lazy!"

Remus raised an eyebrow at him as he sat down at the desk.

"Alright then." He said slowly, as Sirius came to sit beside him. "Shall I start, or do you want to?"

"You can." Sirius said graciously.

Remus nodded and flipped open his dictionary, scanning the pages.

"A member of a Native American people of central Peru." He read.

"Aborigine?" Sirius guessed, not even opening his own dictionary.

"Since when has that begun with a 'Q'?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh." Sirius opened his own dictionary and flipped to the right section.

"It's between 'Quarrel' and 'Queen'." Remus said helpfully.

"How strangely appropriate." Sirius muttered.

"Why appropriate?"

"Because James is a nancing great Queen and I've just had a big Quarrel with him." Sirius expanded. "Que'chu?"

"Bless you."

"Ahahaha. So funny. My turn. 'Of or dependant on alms; charitable; gratuitous.'" Sirius read clearly. "Between Electric and Elegize."

"Eleemonsynary." Remus replied promptly.

"That was quick." Sirius said, blinking. Remus shrugged. "Alright, your turn."

"'The sorow, goat-like antelope of Nepal; Himalayan wild goat.' Between 'Thane' and 'That'."

"Tharrrrr..." Sirius drawled gleefully.

"Yes," Remus said dryly. "But with less gratuitous 'r's."

"Okay, 'the ringing of bells', between Timelock and Titian."

"I don't have Timelock." Remus protested, after scouring his dictionary for a while.

"Between Time and Tit then." Sirius shrugged.

"Tintinnabulation?"

"Correct!" Sirius said, flicking the pages of his dictionary absently. He paused. "Oh bollocks."

"What?"

"I can't call James a gimp any more." He pouted. "It means 'Courage'. I've been accidentally complimenting him!"

"There there," Remus soothed, in a terribly insincere manner. "'A small box with perforated lid for perfumes.' Between Poultry and Pound."

"Oh you ponce." Sirius said, in vague disgust. "Pouncet Box."

"Well done."

"'The use of a name of a single object, of or adjunct to a thing as a way of referring to the whole thing itself'." Sirius proclaimed smugly. "Between Metic and Metropolis."

"Metonymy." Remus read, wrinkling his nose. "That can't be a real word."

"Dictionary says it is." Sirius said, pointing at the page. "And the Oxford Concise Dictionary never lies."

"Alright. My turn." Remus found something and his eyes lit up with mischief. "'And of a group of radially symmetrical marine animals, including starfish, sea urchins, etc. Between Ebola fever and Economy."

Before Sirius could respond, the door to the dorm was flung open and James burst in. Sirius flung himself forward over the books, trying to hide the fact that he and Remus had been playing with dictionaries. Remus leaned back in his chair and wondered how anyone could ever have thought Sirius Black was sneaky.

"Gotcha!" James cried, brandishing Sirius' camera which he had nicked earlier and taking a picture. "Hah! Evidence that you are nancing great poofs!"

Neither Remus nor Sirius responded, and James slowly lowered the camera and took in the scene properly – the pair of them seated at desks and the dictionaries which were patently obvious beneath Sirius' arms. His lip curled in disgust.

"Oh you great big geeks." He said, and stomped out the room.

There was a pause.

"Moony," Sirius said, sitting upright. "I don't have Ebola Fever, you're going to have to give me something else."

Remus burst out laughing.

Photograph can be found here: www . deviantart . com / deviation / 16174287 /

Just remove the spaces.