September 1971
James enjoyed the feast, although he had already begun to miss his mother’s cooking. He found the Hogwarts food often felt bland but no one else thought the same.
“You’re kidding right, James? This is so good.” Peter moaned as he continued stuffing his face. Sirius stared at him in disgust, which Pete didn’t notice.
“You know, this feast is nothing compared to the food at my house. If you think this is good, then I feel very sorry for you” Sirius unnecessarily commentated. That earned a kick from James under the table.
James quickly realized that despite trying to go against his family, Sirius was another pompous cocky spoiled brat.
“You say you hate your family, and yet here you are, doing what ever it is your doing.” Remus spat.
If James and Peter were like color dye and water, dissolving into each other, very compatible, then Remus and Sirius were oil and water.
“Well, atleast I’m able to differentiate between an salad and soup spoon” Sirius’s tone was lacked any humor, and it left a bad taste in James’s mouth.
“Wonder where the “shut your arse before I shove an spoon up it” spoon..”
Peter snorted loudly at that.
James tried very hard to keep his composure, and when he kept glancing over at Evans, she seemed to be trying to avoid any conversation with them at all.
“Maybe if you weren’t so scarred up, you wouldn’t be so uptight”
And when Sirius said that, something changed in Remus.
He began to yell at Sirius, in an very… colorful… tone.
Really, everyone, and even other houses turned to look at the first year Gryffindor.
And it didn’t really help Sirius began yelling back.
James tried to calm the two of them down, but he was far too afraid he’d have to pick sides. Worse, get detention.
He looked at Pete, trying to see if he had any ideas. Afterall, he was right next to the two of them.
Pete understood what James was trying to communicate, and tried to do something.
Unfortunately, in his hand, was a piece of bread.
Soft and warm. Delicious, all buttered up.
And it slipped.
And it hit Sirius Black’s hair.
If the yelling and weird looks was bad, then what came next was pure hell.
Sirius picked up a jug of gravy and dumped, right on Peter’s lap. He looked smug right after but not for long. Remus had enough of him, and so he picked up a plate of Yorkshire pudding and began chucking it at Sirius. However, Sirius managed to dodge every one of the missiles, and the puddings hit the people behind him. The first-years didn’t take this well and began chucking whatever they could to whomever it could reach. It wasn’t long before another house got hit. And that led to a brutal scene.
Food was flying everywhere. House banners became stained, and children were cowering beneath the tables for refuge. Teachers didn’t know what to do, who to stop because everyone seemed to be engaging in the fight. Prefects were trying to round up their houses, but most of them gave up, smelling of rotisserie chicken and mashed photos.
James was one of the kids under the table, meanwhile, Peter, Remus and Sirius were really going at it.
“Awful friends you got there.” Evans muttered, next to him.
“Nah, they’re not my friends. Well…” James thought about it. Peter was his friend, and he promised to be Sirius’s. And he did like Remus.
“Bloody hell, they are my friends!”
Evans just laughed as he said that.
Suddenly, the screaming stopped.
James and Evans slowly came out from under the tables, just as the other students had done to find an interesting scene.
Everything was frozen.
The headmaster was at the podium again, his wand out.
He gave a small chuckle, before vanishing the food and unfreezing the students.
The hall was still all messy and smelled, but atleast you didn’t have to watch out for surprise bombs.
“Lupin, Black, and Pettigrew. To my office, now.”
McGonagall appeared, and she led the three boys away from the hall.
There was silence until Dumbledore requested house prefects to lead the students to their dorms. Everyone was glad as they had lost quite a lot of energy during the fight.
Frank Longbottom was the Gryffindor prefect.
James and Evans followed him, keeping track of their surroundings. The staircases moved too fast, and the portraits talked too much.
On the way to the common room, James found a sign pointing towards McGonagall’s office.
“If anyone asks, say I I’m going to the toilets.” James whispered to Evans, who rolled her eyes.
He snuck off from the group, and no one really noticed him going.
He tiptoed quietly, and reached the door.
He couldn’t really hear anything nor was there an small hole where he could peak through.
James decided to wait, curious to know what the predicament would be for his friends.
The wait was short, a couple of minutes at most.
The door swung open, and out walked three miserable looking children.
“James?” Peter looked confused as to why James was outside. Sirius and Remus looked too solemn to really care.
“Thought you might want me to show you guys where the common room is.” He answered, rubbing the back of his hair absently.
Pete smiled, and he and James talked all the way to their destination, while Remus and Sirius tried to avoid each other.
“You in trouble?” Peter nodded. “Lots of trouble?” Peter nodded again. “You get detention?” Peter shook his head. “You get some sort of punishment?” Peter nodded.
“Just tell him the entire thing Pettigrew!” Sirius groaned.
“I was just going to…” Peter mumbled.
“If you’re all going to fight again, the punishment’s going to be even more severe” James reminded them.
All three boys unanimously agreed there was no way for the punishment to get more severe.
“We all have bunk rooms for the rest of the year.” Remus supplied.
A second. Another and another.
“Seriously? That’s it?” James was shocked. He thought they’d be scrubbing the hall clean or not allowed to use magic for weeks.
“It’s one thing to share a train ride, boat ride and sit next to this annoying bloke. It’s another to basically live with him.” Remus showed no hesitation in his hatred for Sirius.
“Well, who knows! Maybe we’ll all grow together and became good friends!”
“Aren’t you a ray of sunshine?”
“I’ll be taking that as a compliment.” he told Sirius, winking at him.
-
“Well, here we are! I shall bid you three goodnight!” James exclaimed, before running off to find his own room.
“Not so fast!” Pete grabbed his arms and pointed at the brass plaque outside his room.
Sirius BLACK
Remus LUPIN
Peter PETTIGREW
James POTTER
“You have to be kidding me…” James huffed.