fatal love

Chapter 37

Exams passed slowly and quickly all at once. Slowly, because every single one of Sirius' friends seemed too busy revising to want to do anything fun. And quickly, because with every exam that he finished, he was one exam closer to going home.

He followed his usual strategy, of ignoring his worries, and instead became a massive burden for McGonagall to deal with. He was being even more disruptive in lessons than normal; in Transfiguration, instead of turning his cat into a cauldron, he cast an Engorgement Charm on it, and tried to get it to attack Snape. James thought it was hilarious, but McGonagall gave him a week of detention.

Anyway, they finished their exams, and soon enough they had only a couple of days left at Hogwarts before they'd be going home. Sirius was in the dorm, trying to convince Pete that he hadn't failed the year, but the supportive friend was more James' role, and he was pretty sure he was doing a crap job. Luckily, he was saved by Remus and James coming back from greasing the hallways in the dungeons.

"Guys, you won't believe this," James said angrily, pacing the room as Remus threw himself onto his bed, looking equally furious.

"What happened? Did you get caught?" Peter asked.

"No, Filch almost caught us so we hid in the bathrooms, and someone's drawn the Dark Mark on all the stall doors!"

"Fucking disgusting," Remus fumed. "Who does shit like that? It wouldn't wash off either." He smirked, "I did turn the snakes into cocks, though."

"Bloody Slytherins," Sirius muttered, "they're all the same, wanking themselves off to their precious Dark Lord. "

"We need to do something," James said urgently. "They can't just get away with that. I mean, they're basically showing off their support for Voldemort! Muggleborns use those bathrooms, they shouldn't have to see that. No one should."

"You wanna tell McGonagall?" suggested Pete.

"Hell no, she'll never find out who it was," James exclaimed. "I want to teach every single one of those slimy snakes a lesson!"

"We should do Moony's idea!" Sirius blurted out, a vision forming in his mind as he spoke.

"My idea?"

"Yeah - have the skull sucking dick, show them what we think of their Dark Mark."

Remus and Pete still looked confused, but James, as always, was on his wavelength.

"Where?" he asked. "Somewhere everyone can see it - the Great Hall?"

"Yeah! Right behind the teacher's table, and massive!"

Remus started to catch on. "Like graffiti? Tonight?"

"It's a good idea, right?" Sirius grinned.

"Sure," Remus smiled, and Sirius could see the cogs starting to turn in his brain, as he started to plan. "We'll need to make sure it can't be easily erased, and it might take a while if we want it to be big, we should leave at midnight..."

"But it's doable, yeah?" James said. "We can pull it off, tonight?"

Remus nodded. "Absolutely. Someone find some paint."

So that night, Sirius wasn't the only one awake in the early hours of the morning, for once. They didn't all fit under the Cloak anymore, but once they were in the Great Hall, they weren't hiding under it anyway. Peter sketched them an outline, of a skull and an extraordinary graphic penis entering its mouth. It was so big, they had to stand on chairs to reach the top, as they filled it in with Padraig's Permanent Paint.

Two hours later, they were done, and stood back to admire their work.

"Well, it definitely sends a message," said Remus thoughtfully.