The Marauders And The Rose

This Is Where The Fun Begins

Early September

Sirius's Point of View:

I was eating breakfast with Remus and Peter. We were all looking round the Great Hall for James because he wasn't in the Dormitory when we woke up and James and I are nightmares to get out of bed.

"Where is he?" Remus wondered out loud.

"Maybe he wasn't hungry." Peter squeaked.

"James not hungry? Actually, when do any of us ever stop eating?" I said dramatically.

Remus rolled his eyes but couldn't argue.

"Do you think he found another secret passage?" Remus suggested.

"Well I would hope he would at least come and get me if he did. I swear, if he's pranking without me, I'll never talk to him again." I said, dramatic as always.

"You're so unnecessarily dramatic!" Remus said.

Before I could respond James ran into the Great Hall looking like I do on Christmas morning.

"Where have you been?" I demanded, scowling at him.

James looked taken aback for a second.

"I thought Remus was the parent." James said.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"For your sake, James, I hope you haven't been pranking or Sirius will kill you." Remus said and continued to eat his breakfast.

My scowl darkened and James laughed.

"Like I could ever prank without my main partner in crime." James said and we high fived.

"So where have you been?" Peter asked.

"The greenhouses. I saw Professor Sprout holding Mandrakes! We can finally start the Animagus process. We have Herbology today, we'll take a few leaves then. Best to grab at least three each just incase it's cloudy next full Moon or we can't keep the Mandrake leaf in our mouth." James said eagerly, helping himself to bacon and eggs.

"Figures just when I need to actually talk to someone I have to keep a Mandrake leaf in my mouth for a month." I said, looking at Rosalie who was laughing with her friends.

"Just get her to do most the talking." James said, shrugging.

"You're making it sound like my sister doesn't have a brain. She'll notice that Sirius is unusually quiet." Remus insisted, shaking his head at James.

"Well, we could tell people that Remus dared us to do a vow of silence for a month." James suggested.

"That could work." I said, tearing my eyes away from Rosalie.

We all then made our way to Herbology. To our displeasure, we weren't doing Mandrakes. We were collecting Pus. I tried distracting Professor Sprout but she was suspicious.

"The four of you stay where I can see you." She said firmly.

She turned away from us to check on other students but kept glancing at us. I wrecked my brain trying to think of a solution.

"This is disgusting." I heard Rosalie whisper to Alice as they passed us.

I whipped round and grapped Rosalie's wrist to stop her walking away.

"Rose, I need to ask you something." I said urgently.

Rosalie looked surprised.

"Why don't you go back to the tray and help Lily? I'll be there in a second." Rosalie said to Alice.

Alice nodded and walked away. Rosalie looked back at me and raised a curious eyebrow. I moved closer to whisper in her ear.

"We're nearly ready to start the solution we came up with to help Remus with his transformation. We just need one more ingredient. A Mandrake leaf and quiet a lot of them. Professor Sprout won't let us out of her sight long enough to grab some. I need your help. Can you grab the Mandrake leaves while I keep her occupied?" I whispered.

I felt Rosalie nod as her hair tickled the side of my face. I smiled genuinely and without thinking kissed her cheek. I cleared my throat and moved back the same time Rosalie moved back. Rosalie had a pink flush to her cheeks. I shot her a wink and I got Professor Sprouts attention and made sure the other Marauders were in her eyesight.