the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 35: Meet the Candyman

Straight people don't know what you're about,
They put you down and shut you out;
You gave to me a new belief,
And soon the world will love you sweet leaf...

- "Sweet Leaf" Black Sabbath, 1971

Monday 25th October 1976

They had six days until Halloween, which meant six days to put their horrifically devious plan into action. First on the agenda was scoping out an adequate spot for the bonfire that was both far enough from school that no one would stumble across it but also not too far that the girls would question their intentions. They ended up finding just the place along the path and after that—were free to set the scene.

Returning to the Shrieking Shack was not Remus' ideal way to spend their free time, but once he'd gotten to see for himself just exactly how they were going to scare the pants off the girls, he finally began to see the appeal. The plan was genius—and hard to bungle provided none of them broke character. Remus was a little nervous about that, but after Sirius had informed him he would be playing the role of 'sleeper agent'—meaning he could be as irritated and pessimistic in front of the girls as usual—he'd been more than willing to throw his hat into the ring.

Naturally though, Halloween prep went beyond fake blood and pumpkins; any good and sane teenager knew there had to be ample drink in order for anyone to have a half-decent time. Sadly for the troupe of 4A, without Simeon to supply them their stash was running dangerously low. 

"Are you sure we drank that entire bottle of vodka last week?" Remus asked, rifling through his cupboards.

"Yes," James called, "I distinctly remember reliving the experience the next morning while hugging the toilet."

"What about the brandy?"

"Do you mean the apricot or the cherry?"

"Either!"

"Gone."

"Then why bother specifying?" Remus grunted as he pulled his wardrobe hutch away from the bedroom wall and reached behind it, returning with a half-litre bottle of whisky that was relatively untouched. "Found one!" He declared, waving the booze in the air for James to see.

"And look what I found!" James said, untucking himself from beneath his bed to reveal a few spliffs wrapped up in a plastic baggy.

"Please do not tell me you found that in your football kit," Remus grimaced.

"What—it hides the smell!" James said dejectedly, tossing the weed on his bed and going back to his search.

"There's that bit of white rum in the bathroom cupboard," Peter supplied from his own bed where he was working on his latest art assignment.

"What's it doing in there?" James asked.

"Don't you remember? You and Sirius dared each other to use it as mouthwash."

"No wonder we have a shortage," Remus said, making James snort. Standing, he went to the bathroom to have a look for himself and found the rum tucked up between a wrinkled tube of toothpaste and a bottle of Peter's aftershave—which had regrettably never been opened. When he returned to the room he tossed the booze onto James' bed along with his wardrobe-whisky and stood back to examine their small haul of illegal substances; one bottle of port wine courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew's wine cellar, half a litre of rum that had once been a full litre, the whisky, a few measly spliffs, and their leftover tobacco and rolling papers. All together he figured it would last them till the end of the month if they were lucky—but it wasn't nearly enough for Halloween as well as Sirius' seventeenth.