All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

First Year : The Prank

Sunday 2nd January 1972

It took a few tries for Remus to get the spell right. Sirius had to coach him through the pronunciation, which was a bit tricky, and although most magic seemed to come naturally to Lupin, he was hesitant to perform the spell on himself. Eventually, he said shyly,

“D’you mind just…doing it for me? Until I get the hang of it?”

“No, of course not!” Sirius assured him, secretly bursting with pride. He liked being able to do something for Remus, and he liked that his friend trusted him enough to even ask.

Of course, when the others returned, they had to be a bit more secretive about it. Sirius didn’t say anything, but he knew Remus was embarrassed about his trouble reading and didn’t want James or Peter to know. Luckily, they had the perfect distraction.

“Brilliant!” James crowed, breaking into a grin, “Completely brilliant!”

“You’re so clever!” Peter gushed.

They had all crammed into the small, shared bathroom. Sirius was positioned in the bathtub, the open umbrella over his head the only thing keeping his robes from getting drenched as Remus conjured a grey rain cloud above his head. It hovered, pouring rain down into the bath below. Sirius shuffled up and down the tub, but the cloud stuck to him, following him about the way Peter did James.

Their two friends had arrived back at Hogwarts just hours ago, but as soon as dinner was over Sirius and Remus had dragged them upstairs to reveal the fruits of their labours.

“Lupin gave me the idea,” Sirius explained, “But I looked up the charms to do it. He won’t know what’s hit him!”

“When can we do it?!” James was jumping up and down now, unable to contain his excitement. “First thing tomorrow? Breakfast? Potions?”

Sirius shook his head sagely. “Dinner. More of an audience.” He’d already thought of this.

“Yes, dinner,” James agreed immediately, “Seriously, you two, I’m so bloody proud.”

“Cheers,” Sirius raised an eyebrow, casually, but his heart leapt with the praise. He looked over to Remus. “Um…Lupin? You can probably stop now. My feet are getting wet.”

“Oh!” Remus shook off the charm, looking down at the tub—he had produced more rain than the ancient plug hole could manage, leaving Sirius ankle deep in cold water. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Sirius laughed, squeezing out his robes and stepping out of the tub, “Just make sure you do the same to Snape.”

“So, Lupin’s doing this one?” James asked. Sirius shrugged,

“He’s better at it. I can do it too though, if we get interference.”

*  *  *

Monday 3rd January 1972

It was getting easier, admitting stuff like that. One side effect of spending all his time around James and Remus was that Sirius had to accept that he simply wouldn’t be the best at everything any longer (they were much tougher competition than Regulus). But he found that he enjoyed the challenge of competing with James, who—regardless of whether he won or lost—always concluded the competition with a broad grin and a friendly pat on the back. And he could hardly hold it against Remus, who was so shy about his own talent with magic that he acted baffled anytime he came first in something.