All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

Fourth Year : November ( Part 2 )

Monday 4th November 1974

"I dunno," Peter wrung his hands, fretting, "Professor McGonagall says we shouldn't mess about with time."

"We won't be," Sirius groaned, losing patience. They had already explained the plan twice, and still Pete couldn't seem to grasp it. "This is a muggle prank, Peter, get it through your thick skull!"

"Don't," Remus chided, frowning. This only served to irritate Sirius further, and he seethed as Remus turned back to Peter. "We're not messing about with time, Pete," he explained, patiently, "We're just messing about with clocks."

Peter blinked up at him, then turned to James for confirmation. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Ok," he said, slowly, "I think I get it."

They'd agreed to begin as soon as possible, and sitting through lessons was torture when all Sirius wanted to do was get started on the prank. It had been ages since they'd done a mission with all four of them, and he was reprimanded more than once throughout the day for failing to keep quiet-both by professors and by Remus.

"It won't work if anyone else knows about it!" Lupin hissed at lunch when Mary leaned over to ask what they were whispering about. "So shut up! I know you lot can keep a secret if you really try."

Sirius frowned, but did as he was told, not wanting to disappoint Moony. Once night finally fell, they crowded around James's invisibility cloak, eager to sneak out of bounds all together once more.

There was, however, one minor issue: it was considerably more difficult to fit all four of them under the cloak than it had been three years ago.

"Peter, you stay here." Sirius ordered, after a third attempt that resulted in Remus elbowing James in the chest.

"Why me?" Peter whined, "Why am I always the one left out?!"

"We're not leaving you out, idiot, this is purely a logistical concern." Sirius huffed, rolling his eyes.

"James!"

"I'll stay," Remus offered, "I'm the tallest, it's my fault."

"But it was your idea!" Sirius pointed out, shooting Peter a dirty look, "You can't miss out!"

Remus shrugged,

"There'll be lots of times. We're doing this more than once."

"Even with three it's a squeeze," James said thoughtfully. "Black, Pettigrew, sit this one out."

"Why me?!" Sirius and Peter both cried at the same time.

"Because," James said, with a sly smile, "It's Moony's idea and my cloak."

After another round of protests, and assurances from James and Remus that they would take turns every night, just to be fair, the two rejected marauders finally conceded. They watched their friends huddle together and disappear under the cloak, only knowing they'd left when the door to the room open and shut seemingly on its own.

Sirius turned to look at Peter-who was pouting-and scoffed, moving to sit down on his bed.

"What?"