the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 12: Halloween, 1975

Say there's a girl,
Who's new in town;
Well you better watch out now,
Or she'll put you down;
'Cause she's an evil chick,
Say she's the witch!

- "The Witch" The Sonics, 1965

The interruption had only lasted for about three songs, as Sirius predicted, but it remained a topic of conversation throughout the upper-secondary students for much longer than that, and as a consequence the boys of dorm 4A had become silent celebrities. Everyone knew that Sirius and James had had a hand in the music, and by extension, Remus and Peter too; but without any proof none of the teachers were able to crack down on them. More than once in the following week Remus received high-fives from kids he didn't know while walking to and from his lessons. It was a funny feeling, being famous by association—though the word 'infamous' was probably more applicable.

Oddly enough, Sirius didn't seem disgruntled by losing his cassette when the hi-fi was eventually found and confiscated. He kept saying he'd get it back sometime, along with the rest of whatever he'd lost to the school over the years. Remus figured the list included several rubber snakes and enough gag toys to choke a whale.

The second hi-fi they'd borrowed remained in the corner of their dorm room over the weekend, covered by a towel. It hadn't taken the school long to discover that the set-up had come from the AV room, but luckily Peter was pretty good at playing dumb, and everyone just assumed that whoever had done it had jimmied the door to get in. They had to change the locks though, and Peter was pretty protective over his clubroom keys after that.

"Did you tell Francis we had his sex tape when he threatened to kick you out?" Sirius cackled while teasing Peter mercilessly over breakfast the following Monday morning.

"How do you know it belong to Francis? It could be anyone's!"

"We could always play it again and see if we can catch a name."

James snorted and reached for his tea. "The tape said it was from 1972. I doubt Francis had much game at thirteen."

"Maybe someone in the club had a dirty habit of leaving their tape recorders under their parents' beds."

"Please shut up," Peter groaned, as Sirius and James shared an evil look. When Sirius turned back to his breakfast James brought his cup to his lips and took a sip before gagging spectacularly;

"Oh my god, what—"

"That's my cup," Remus said, snatching the mug back.

"What'd you do, Lupin, pour the entire sugar tin into your tea?"

"Keep it up and I'll put salt in yours."

"You're going to end up with diabetes."

Despite James' distress over his rampant sweet tooth, the last week of October had came and gone with next to no fighting. Now that Sirius was no longer basting rock and roll all hours of the night, Remus had managed to settle in, though he did so reluctantly. Ever since the successful prank in church the boys had come to a quiet understanding (pun intended) and Sirius rarely played his music without making use of the headphones anymore. This led James and Peter to become quite comfortable leaving them in the same room alone together without the worry of WW3 breaking out. Apparently, playing Switzerland in your own bedroom was much more involved than one might think.

The real shock came when Remus realised he was almost disappointed by Sirius' willingness to use the headphones. Whether it be late in the night, when the others were fast asleep and Remus was only one awake, or during their free-time during the day, Sirius was always lying back in bed, eyes shut and ears covered, the only sound that of the turntable's crackling needle. It was finally James who broke the dorm's silence when he put a record on while the boys were sitting around playing a mock game of poker. They had nothing to bet with, so whoever won got to pick the next song. Remus, who had always been sort of shit at card games, managed to win twice and put on Who's Next both times, only slightly jealous that Sirius had the record. James ended up taking the most rounds, and Remus was surprised to find that the sportsy boy did have decent taste in music—he appreciated The Kinks a lot, and Bad Company as well. It was Peter who took the final round though, and they finished with his favourite, Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love", which Remus had never heard before but enjoyed immensely.