intrigue ' sirius [editing]

viii. cravings

chapter
↳ eight
moodboard
↳ lucinda talkalot

-

It was two in the morning when a spider threatened the lives of five sixth year Gryffindors. Sirius had gotten up for a middle of the night pee, and made the mistake of glancing up in the bathroom where a large, spindly spider was hanging from the ceiling. He yelled in surprised, finishing his business as quickly as he could and washing his hands so fast it could've been a new record. He ran back into the dormitory, where the rest of the boys had been startled awake — save Remus, who simply ignored it, turned over, and went back to sleep. "There's a spider!" Sirius yelled as a wake up call.

The first to sprint out of bed was Benji, who claimed he was too done with the world to fight a spider and decided he'd go sleep on the common room couch. The next was Peter, who transfigured into a rat and burrowed under his pillow, where his fearful squeaks were muffled by the cotton. Remus was a lost cause, so Sirius simply jumped into James' back, slapping the poor boy's bare skin until it turned pink. "Get up, get up, get up!"

"Get off me, mate," James muttered calmly, as if he had been through this calamity before. Indeed he had, many times, as he was the resident spider killer in his home. Sirius had nothing to worry about when James was there, shoe in hand. James shoved the shorter boy off of him, allowing his soft body to fall against the hard floor with a resounding thump. Then he grabbed his dress shoe and entered the bathroom. After what sounded like a slap against the bathroom tiles, then another, then another, it seemed the beast had been vanquished.

"My night in shining armor," Sirius said, face still squished against the floor.

Peter seemed to realize the danger was gone, so he turned back into his human form and frowned. "I'm hungry."

"You know where the kitchen is," James grunted, pulling the covers over his head and resuming whatever quidditch dream he had previously been having.

"Not fair," Peter said. "You know I get caught the most whenever I go to the kitchen. And Remus yells at me if I go in my rat form."

Sirius pulled himself up and stood, sending his pudgy friend a wolfish smile. "I'll go knick something for you, Wormtail. I'm a bit famished myself. Fear takes a lot out of you, you know."

Peter grinned, his eyes warm and watery as Sirius grabbed James' invisibility cloak out of the boy's trunk. "Can you get me a sandwich and some brownies?"

"'Course, Mate." Sirius pulled the cloak around his shoulders and donned the hood, disappearing from Peter's sight. His voice reappeared, "I'll be back in a few."

By the time Sirius reached the kitchens, he concluded that he could use some cherries to stump his appetite. He asked the house elves nicely to make Peter's meal, and ducked his head into an ice box to find a basket of cherries. While waiting for the elves, he sat down in front of the fireplace and popped a cherry into his mouth, pulling the meat off the stem and leaving the pit to be thrown into the flames.

The door to the kitchen opened suddenly, and Sirius ducked onto the floor, still chewing his cherry as he waited. Then he heard Millie's voice, asking the house elves for squash, strawberry ice cream, and dried cranberries. His eyebrows furrowed and he peaked over the tables to see Millie in her pajamas — flannel pants and an emerald tank top — he ducked back down to hide his red ears. He bit into another cherry to try and distract himself from her, who suddenly seemed to be everywhere he was. If she could stop, that would be lovely. Instead, Sirius had to now see her much more often, as she was helping them get Benji and Demetria together. She was really doing it for her brother and her best friend. Sirius wondered if he'd be subjected to hearing her and Demetria whisper about Regulus for the rest of his life. If anything, that was enough reason to get the Benji and Demetria together quicker.