the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 48: Horribly Brilliant

Treat him well, he is your brother,
You might need his help one day;
We depend on one another,
Love him that's the only way...

- "He is Your Brother" ABBA, 1973

Tuesday 25th January 1977

Sirius gave a great groan as he stretched his arms above his head. His shoulder popped and he let out a sigh of relief as he rubbed it. "I swear to bleedin' Christ, Binns gets more and more boring the older we get. The old dinosaur would probably explode into to dust if you so much as threw a pencil at him."

James wrinkled his nose in amusement. "I'll bet he doesn't even know how boring he is. He probably lost his hearing in '69 and has just been rambling ever since."

"Sight too," Peter added over a yawn, stretching as Sirius had. Both of them had elected to take a nap during the second half of the lecture.

Remus didn't mind Professor Binns' class as much. They all had it together and he was already ahead of the assigned reading, which gave him time to work on other, more trying things.

"So how's that novel coming along, Lupin?" Sirius asked, nudging Remus in the side as they made their way down the hall.

"I told you I'm not writing a novel," Remus dismissed. Ahead of them, James spun around next to Peter and began to walk backwards.

"What is it you're always scribbling in that diary of yours then?" He asked.

"It's not a diary, it's a journal."

"Love notes for McKinnon, perhaps?"

Sirius clapped his hands over his ears. "Please, spare me."

"They're not love notes!"

" 'Course not. They're love songs aren't they, Moony?" Peter smiled.

Sirius' yanked his hands down. "Songs? You're writing songs and you haven't told me?"

"I'm going to ask Binns for a new seat partner if you keep spying over my shoulder, Pete," Remus threatened bitterly.

"Don't change the subject!" Sirius snapped. "C'mon, pull the diary out, I want to see them."

"No way! Nothing's finished yet."

"I don't care if they're finished. Art's best in its rawest form anyway."

"I'm not giving them up so you best just give it a rest."

"Fine." Sirius reached out and grabbed Peter by the shoulders. "Wormtail, my main man, c'mon, fess up now—what'd you see? Were they any good? Did they even rhyme?"

"Don't even try it Pete!"

"I'm not telling you anything while you're still calling me 'Wormtail'," Peter rebuffed, shaking Sirius off. Sirius glowered and James slung an arm across his shoulders as they all started down the staircase toward the ground floor.

"Should'a known you were fightin' a losin' war, Black. It is Moony."

"We're supposed to be a band," Sirius complained. "Brothers in arms—Marauders! How can we do that if we're holding back from one another?"

James lifted a hand off Sirius' shoulder and pinched his nose between two knuckles. "Didn't realise there was such a rush."

"There isn't," Sirius said in a nasally tone, before ripping his nose free, "unless you want to leave school and head straight for Law like your dad wants."

James rolled his eyes and Sirius pinched him back smugly, before wheeling on Remus. "C'mon Moony, let us see the songs?"

"No."