Amour

neuf

"Am I right to assume you've all had some time to research concealment charms?" Dumbledore said at 10:20 that Saturday.

Alexei, Lily and Sirius all nodded, going over different spells in their head.

"Right, well I've set a up a room here so you may practice said spells" The headmaster gestured to the large room they were in.

Sirius hadn't noticed it in his initial tour of the castle, but it seemed built for this exact occasion, like Hogwarts had prepared for this day, long before the tournament was even invented.

He walked over to one corner, twirling his wand between his fingers, hair in a bun.

"se préparer à être piégé" He said to the wooden box in front of him. Prepare to be trapped.

Sirius went through Remus' book in his head, petrificus totalus, contrapto, capitonem....

The box started to move, floating across the ground, Sirius grinned and aimed his wand.

"Contrapto!" He cried, sending out jets of red sparks, red sparks that reflected through everyones eyes, stopping the box dead in its tracks.

Alexei noticed this and made sure to keep an ear out for the next time Sirius used it. He had not had as much luck with his search, spending most of the night bathing in the attention he had gotten for knowing something others didn't.

People like you if you have something they want.

Lily was doing well in her corner, research rewarding her greatly, the simplest of charms having as good an outcome as the more advanced ones.

12pm was nearing quicker than anyone anticipated, for the challengers anyway. The rest of the student body had been on edge for the entire morning, Professors gave up on trying contain everyone, no doubt just as excited.

The boys were sat in the common room playing a distracted game of chess while Remus re-read his transfiguration text. 

He had finished his books during this months post episode time in the hospital wing, after Peter and James' animagus quest had failed again, he gained a few nasty scratches on his back and Madame Pomfrey was forced to keep him for a few extra observation days. 

He actually got out the day before Sirius arrived, it was luck--in a way--that the next full moon wasn't due until when he was leaving.  Sure, Remus liked Sirius a lot, even considered him a close friend, but not close enough for a secret like that. 

Sirius was going to leave in the end, after all. 

"Sometimes I wish I was an octopus!" James said out of nowhere.

"What?" Remus sighed, closing his book. 

"Well they just get to float around all day, don't they?"

"So do fish, why an octopus?" Remus asked. 

"You could slap eight people at once?" Peter offered, moving his queen. 

"Useful!" James grinned. 

"That's about as useful as the K in knife, who are you going to slap in the ocean?"

"Anyways, we better get going, its ten to twelve!" James looked at his watch, ignoring Remus. 

They left the common room a long with a few of the remaining Gryffindors.

The headmaster had set up around 200 large blankets that lay on the slope of grass in front of the forbidden forest. Everyone hurried to the front, settling with their friends, the smell of cauldron cakes and pumpkin juice filling the air.