The Slytherin Transfer

24: "You know I'm always on top."

"Shut up, he's coming." Sirius clamps his hand over my mouth, stopping me halfway through my rant about Lucius Malfoy's hair as he peers around the corner.

It's Christmas Eve now, and I'm completely healed save for the occasional headache and aching joints. Sirius and I press our backs against the wall as Filch trudges through the corridor, oblivious to the trap we set out for him.

Soon, just as planned, his foot makes contact with a trip wire, and Sirius and I grin as multiple fire crackers set off around him, sending him yelling out in shock as his cat, Mrs Norris, scurries away in fear. I act quick, pointing my wand up at the ceiling of the corridor and muttering a spell under my breath. The bucket of gravy that we got from the kitchen turns upside down, the contents completely emptying over Filch's head.

Sirius and I cackle as the man before us swears loudly, looking around for the student responsible for this.

"Run," Sirius mutters in my ear, and we both turn on our heels and race down the hall, snickering as we do so. He grabs my hand, Filch yelling behind us, and drags me to go faster, racing down staircases and only stopping once we're certain we're in the clear, at which point we double over in a mix of laughter and try to catch our breath.

For the last four days, Sirius and I have gotten to know each other a lot better. We already were close, but we never actually knew one another that well.

We've also spent our break so far pranking anyone in sight. We started off with the other Gryffindors that are staying for Christmas, a first year girl named Mariah, and two fourth year boys who think they're the shit (they quite literally said so). The former actually cried, so Sirius and I had to spend the following half hour comforting her, but the latter was a blast to ridicule. We locked them out of the common room, getting the password changed by telling McGonagall that a Slytherin found out. She gave us a new one and made the mistake of letting us be the ones to tell the others of it, which is why Gardner and Hocks ended up sleeping in the corridor three nights back.

After we pranked everyone in our house, we had to move onto the others. We pranked all the Hufflepuffs in one day by telling the House Elves that their furniture was infested with lice, leaving them with a bare common room and a frustrated prefect. After that, we pranked half the Ravenclaws at breakfast by putting hair colouring in their drinks, and then half at dinner by putting itching powder in their mashed potatoes. For Slytherin's we went all out, sneaking into their common room at night after I snagged the password from an idiot first year whilst wearing my old robes. We had spent all night learning the Sticking Curse, and cast it on their floor so that they were stuck on it when they woke up until somehow word got out, though not until well past lunch time. Even if we woke up exhausted today after the all nighter, it was completely worth it, though McGonagall is getting a little suspicious.

"Brilliant!" Sirius wheezes, and I grin. We make eye contact, knowing smiles on our faces as we imitate Gardner and Hocks.

"We're the shit." We say in unison and laugh, starting to walk again as the cold air travels through the windows and nips at my face.

"I'm exhausted," I yawn as we make our way to the common room, the adrenaline from pranking wearing off to reveal how tired we really are from pulling an all nighter. I follow Sirius up to his room, where we've spent a lot of time playing Gobstones, Chess, or Exploding Snap in the last couple of days. We can't go to my dorm room because the staircase turns into a slide if boys try to go up it. I tried to trick Sirius into trying, but of course he already knew about it. He's probably tried a million times with Marlene.

I plop down on Sirius's bed, which smells like him and never ceases to remind me of the incident with the love potion. I've decided that it must've been some coincidence, and I must just really like tobacco and vanilla. The cigarettes part makes sense, but the vanilla? I've never had an inkling for baking or anything like that, so it just doesn't add up to me.