All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

Sixth Year : Boundaries

Hey, hey, mama said the way you move

Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove

Ah, ah, child, way you shake that thing

Gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting

Hey, hey, baby when you walk that way

Watch your honey drip, can’t keep away

 

Friday 12th November 1976

It was not the first time professor McGonagall had shouted at him in her nightgown, and this time Sirius was at least not being eaten alive by his own guilt (he had no regrets about trying to cover the Slytherins in pus). Still, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience—especially not with Remus standing at his side, staring contritely at the floor.

James and Peter had both escaped, of course. It seemed that all of Potter’s morning jogs had paid off, and he’d actually managed to outrun the old caretaker and his vile cat. Of course, Filch had been distracted by the explosion in the bathroom, which had also helped James to evade notice. He felt horrible about it, and offered repeatedly to tell McGonagall that the whole thing had been his idea—but Sirius wasn’t having it. There was no need for James to be punished when he’d been quick enough to get away.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he and Remus couldn’t handle a bit of detention—although the task McGonagall had assigned them was rather ghastly.

“You both have an hour free before lunch tomorrow,” she’d said, scowling, “I expect both of you to report to the dungeons in order to clean up your mess. Without magic.”

No, it wasn’t James that Sirius was mad at. But when he returned to their dorm and saw Peter, already in his pyjamas and sitting on the end of his bed, he had to stifle a wave of rage. He couldn’t believe the slippery little git had just left them there—did he have no code of honour?

At least the prank was not entirely ruined—Filch hadn’t found any of the hidden mushrooms, and the next morning the bubotuber-puffball crossbreeds exploded just as the Slytherins were leaving the dungeons for breakfast. Sirius felt an immense wave of satisfaction when he later learned that both Snape and his darling brother had been in the wave of students heading to the Great Hall, and only wished that he’d gotten the opportunity to see Reggie covered head to toe in bubotuber pus.

Of course, their professors knew immediately who the culprits were—McGonagall pulled Sirius and Remus back into her office at once, reprimanding them thoroughly for a second time and subtracting twenty more house points from Gryffindor (Sirius very much doubted that they would be winning the House Cup that year, but he wasn’t all that fussed either way). She also tacked on an extra night of detention, which started James up again.

“I’ll tell her it was my idea, I was the one who brought the mushrooms into the castle—"

“Oh, shut it, Potter,” Sirius groaned, reaching for a goblet of pumpkin juice, “We can’t have you throwing away all that hard work to build up your swot reputation—what would Evans think?”

Peter, of course, did not offer to turn himself in—only shovelled eggs obliviously into his mouth. Sirius shot him a nasty look, but he seemed too preoccupied with his breakfast to notice.