Up to No Good// James Potter

Chapter 13

The morning of Halloween 1976, James Potter woke up earlier than his mates. He had always been the morning person of the Marauders but this time he'd woken up because his mind could not rest and not because he was done sleeping.

All night he'd turned and tossed in bed, getting up every few minutes to walk around the dorm. That had earned him multiple pillows from all three of his friends. But it wasn't his fault his brain wouldn't just shut up, the poor boy felt like he was going mad.

"Are you ready to tell us why our dorm turned into a runway last night?"

James was so startled that he fell off his bed. Groaning slightly as he hit the hard floor below him. "Good morning to you too, Moony. And I'm training to be in a fashion show, didn't you know?"

From his bed, Remus laughed at his friend. Not hearing Peter's snores or Sirius's heavy breathing, James sat up and looked around. "Where are the lads?"

"Stalking Nessie's date again. Sirius is set on finding something wrong with the bloke. Who knows? Maybe this one will be worthy enough in the eyes of older brother Black."

Although his friend's voice was filled with humor, James's mood soured. What did Sean Wells have that he didn't? "I still don't understand what she sees in him."

The young werewolf's eyes narrowed slightly at the boy still sitting on the floor. "Well," he began carefully. "He is quite a nice fellow. A quidditch player, fairly smart, has a good sense of humor."

His eyes stayed trained on his friend as the boy huffed, "You could've been describing me. Besides, I'm better looking than him."

"That may be true, but at least he isn't blind," the Gryffindor prefect couldn't help but give his friend a hard time. When James sent him a glare, the boy rolled his eyes. "Say, Prongs, why are you so worried about him anyway?"

"I'm not, I'm just..." James trailed off as he realized he had no idea what he was even trying to do. With a groan he turned to look at his only friend who had any functioning brain cells. "Moony, what's happening to me?"

Remus didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, only looking at the disheveled boy on the ground. "I think," he began slowly, carefully looking for any reaction. "You might have started to look at Vanessa in a different way."

With a groan, James Potter pulled the covers from his bed and curled up on the ground. Within a few minutes, his soft snores could be heard. Remus Lupin shook his head with a small smile, leave it to James Potter to fall asleep on the floor rather than face his problems.

A staircase over, in one of the dormitories for sixth year Gryffindor girls, it was pure chaos. Clothes were littered everywhere: the floor, their beds, even floating throughout the dorm.

In the middle of it all, with her wand between her teeth, stood Marlene McKinnon. The girl had raided all three of their trunks in order to find the perfect outfit. You have to look perfect, she had yelled before even the sun woke up.

Now Vanessa laid all bundled up with her blankets on the floor after Marlene had dragged her out of bed. Lily, although not half as enthusiastic as the blonde, was also looking around through the clothes helping pick out an outfit.

A knock at the door startled the redhead, as she was the only one who heard it, Marlene too busy 'perfecting her masterpiece' and Vanessa happily getting in a few extra minutes of sleep.

"Come in," she called, not bothering to be quiet hoping to wake up one girl and snap the other out of her trance.

Much to the surprise of the girl, Sirius Black strutted through the door and into the room. "Morning, Evans. McKinnon."