The Bewlay Brothers

October 4th, 1971

The leaves were turning orange with autumn and Sirius Black had two favourite people; his younger brother and James Fleamont Potter. He loved everything about his new best-friend. He loved his happiness and his love for pranks and his mother’s sandwiches. 

He loved the light in his dark brown eyes every time someone mentioned a quaffle and he especially loved the excitement shining on his face at the beginning of quidditch season; even if it meant waking up at five in the morning to the bustling of James’s sheets as he woke for his morning runs.

Everybody loved James.

It was so blatantly obvious that Sirius didn’t understand why girls weren’t crowding around him like a mob. He was funny and kind and happy. He was everything Sirius had ever wanted in a best-friend. 

So he smiled as he awoke to the fast footsteps of James heading out for his run. It was the little reminders that he was still at Hogwarts that kept him alive; James’s laughter, the chattering of the students, his footsteps as he left the common room in his quidditch clothing. It reminded him that he wasn’t alone anymore. That he was free. Sometimes, especially at night, he seemed to forget that.

Groggily, he pulled himself up on his bed, trying to think of a good prank idea. James and him stayed up all night last Saturday thinking about it. They’d decided to pull one last hurrah before Halloween, the biggest one yet. 

Sirius Black was finally going to be part of something big; bigger than his family and his stupid last name. And Merlin knew he was excited.

Every waking moment was spent thinking about the prank. Different spells he could study and strategies he could use and books he could read; all of them a jumbled mess in his tangled head. 

He pulled up the small book from under his bed. It contained many spooky spells they could use for pranks and such. Sirius didn’t like reading much; it was boring and tasteless and he didn’t know why his brother liked it so much, but as he flipped through the pages of the small spellbook, a giddy sort of excitement bloomed inside him and he never wanted to stop reading.

By the time James came back from his run and entered the shower, two good hours flew by and Sirius was still buried within the small spellbook. Peter occasionally passed by to peer at the book over his shoulder, to which Sirius fought the urge to scoff. He wasn’t very fond of the short boy to say the least. He didn’t understand why James liked him so much.

Peter was nice. But that was all. He wasn’t special or exciting or bursting with personality. He was just Peter. But James liked him, and so Sirius tried to like him too.

The strange chestnut haired boy was still sleeping in his closed curtained four-poster when the three boys were ready to head to The Great Hall.

“Should we wake him?” Peter asked tentatively.

“Why should we do that?” James asked bitterly.

“Because he’s our roommate,” Sirius reminded him.

The olive-skinned boy scoffed. “Maybe if he hadn’t spent all night away kissing Evans then he would have had more time to sleep.”

Sirius and Peter shared a look. “I think we should consider the possibility that Lupin might not be kissing Evans.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” James told them. “What would he be doing in the girls common room for so long?”

“Maybe he was actually hanging out with his friends,” Peter suggested.

James looked at him as if he was crazy. “What could possibly be done with the girls?”

Sirius stepped toward Lupin’s four posters. His trunk lay closed beside his bed, unlike his own possessions; scattered across the dormitory and the common room; along with a few of James’s quidditch posters decorating their side of the room.

“Loony! We’re heading down to breakfast,” Sirius announced. “Are you going to get up and come?”

No answer came from the bed. Sirius scoffed. The least the sleeping boy could do was answer when they tried to wake him up. After all, they were trying to do something nice. He couldn’t just ignore them. Sirius could practically hear his annoying accent replying; I’ll do whatever I want.

“I’m going to pull back your curtains,” he warned. Still no answer. And since Sirius was a man of his word, he pulled the curtains back. But instead of revealing an annoying chestnut haired boy, all that was left of him was a thick book placed atop his perfectly made bed.

His cheeks heated. His attempts at catching the boy’s attention seemed rather foolish now. “He isn’t here.”

James shoved past him towards the empty—and strangely orderly—bed. “I’ve been gone since five in the morning? How could he have left?”

Peter shrugged. “Maybe he left while you were gone.”

“Maybe Jamesie was the one kissing Lily,” he joked as they made their way down the moving stairs.

“I wish,” James fumed. “But if you must know, I was out on a run, it’s quidditch season, you know. Yes, I know I can’t make it on the team because we’re first years—that rule is stupid anyway. I've been practising since forever. They should at least let me try out. Anyways, I thought I would at least try. I mean, if the captain happens to recognize my talent because I happen to be on the quidditch pitch with Hogwarts’s practice brooms on the first of November, that’s not my fault, right?”

He paused to take a breath.

“Yeah, mate,” Sirius agreed with a wink. “They can’t blame you for that.”

James talked a lot as they walked down the stairs towards the hall. But Sirius liked listening to his best-friend talk; especially about quidditch. He liked hearing about the different teams, even if he couldn’t identify all of the players.

“So the last time the Chudley Cannons brought in a new member was seven years ago. Maybe in seven years I could join them,” he said dreamily. “I’m already pretty good at quidditch and with more practice I’ll probably be able to make the team.”

Peter looked more focused on something else when he replied. “That’s great, James.”

Sirius nudged the plump boy. “What is it?”

The boy pointed over to the other end of the Gryffindor table. Seated beside Lily and another two girls sat a laughing Remus Lupin. His head was thrown back with laughter at something the red-haired girl said, and Sirius was beginning to think that Perhaps the chestnut haired boy really was snogging Lily Evans.

And as if reading his mind, Peter gave him a suggestive look. “Do you really think he is?”

But before the answer could slip his lips, an excited James Potter came striding back over to them. “What are you guys talking about?”

“The roast potatoes,” Peter lied. He piled some of the potatoes onto his plate, along with a runny egg. “They’re really good.”

“My mum makes better ones,” he told them with a smile. “She likes using a lot of Red potatoes. They absorb the spices the best.”

James sounded so genuine he felt bad that they had to lie to him. He didn’t like lying to his best-friend. Especially since it seemed that James was so real with him. 

“She makes the best curry with them,” he continued, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. “Great for after quidditch.”

Sirius smiled at the thought. “So, when’s the first match?”

“The first match is in the beginning of November, but try-outs are this month so I really need to get my game on before our first quidditch lesson. You know, prove myself to the new captain,” he said. “So before quidditch season we need to do the prank. It needs to be grand, because if I get into the team then I’ll have to focus on that.”

Sirius lit up at the mention of the prank. “I’ve been reading an advanced spells book I found in the library and I found that we can use the colour-changing charm to switch the Slytherin robes into Gryffindor ones.”

Peter chuckled. “That’s brilliant.”

“Yeah,” James agreed. “Sirius is a genius!”

Sirius’s grin turned supernova.

He spent the rest of Charms class thinking up different ways to execute the prank. He listened intently to the professor's teachings, and even asked the occasional question. Professor Flitwick seemed surprised and maybe even impressed at his sudden interest in the class, even though it consisted solely of theory. 

Soon he would laugh with his friends about how he wouldn’t have been so impressed if she’d taken a glance at his notes; a piece of parchment so unruly it would probably give his mother a heart attack if she’d ever see it.

Perhaps when he initiated the prank the professors would realise there was more to magic than the simple theories. Because for Sirius; theory was trivial. Maybe it was cruel, but he didn’t care for the history of the cheering charm or the woman who created the bat-bogey hex twenty years ago.

He wanted to act. He wanted to cast spells and actually use his wand for a change. The last time he used his wand was to cast a Levitation charm—for which they spent two weeks learning the theory before attempting the spell.

So when he gathered the materials for the colour-changing spell, saying Sirius was ecstatic was an understatement. As soon as classes were over, the raven-haired boy raced up the changing stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

“I got the spell,” he panted, collapsing onto his four-poster. He was sure he was laying on more than one of his possessions, but he didn’t care. “Lads, I got the spell!”

But instead of being met with James’s signature grin, he was met with a tired looking Lupin. The boy was sitting on the small nook near the window and his nose was buried into a thick book. “So.” He lifted his head from the book. “Let’s hear about this grand plan of yours.”

Sirius frowned. “Where’s James?”

“Somewhere over the rainbow,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The boy’s voice was rougher and his tan skin seemed paler; the colour almost rivalling the Black family skin. Lupin even looked a bit weary as he glanced over at the parchment in his hand. “Colour-changing charm, eh?”

He clutched the parchment defensively to his chest. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“You’re not nearly as mysterious as you think you are. I could hear you talking about changing the robes from across the room” Lupin told him. “It’s not that good of an idea, by the way.”

He huffed. “What’s your brilliant idea, Loony Lupin?”

“I have many, actually” He twirled his wand through his fingers. “Cheering charm, bat bogey hex, that one powder in the Herbology gardens that gives people lice...”

Damn him. Damn Lupin and his smug, brilliant ideas. He didn’t know if he wanted to steal his idea or punch him in the face. But instead, he snapped; “And how are you going to do any of that? All we’ve been learning is theory.”

He smirked. Lupin smirked. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

“Whatever,” he muttered. “I’ll think of a better idea. You’ll see.”

He chuckled, wincing in pain at something. Whatever it is, he deserves it, he thought bitterly.

 Though soon he would curse himself for ever having that thought; for ever thinking—even for a moment—that Remus Lupin deserved living the horrors he had; feeling the aches he did.

But then, Sirius was oblivious. And boy, was he angry. 

Especially once that annoyingly smug smirk returned to the boy’s face. “I’m sure you will.”

And for the rest of that afternoon, Sirius was locked in his four-poster, drowning in books. There were so many words floating on the page that he thought they could suffocate him. The words flew around before his eyes, refusing to be set straight. He searched and searched the books that surrounded him. 

Though he knew it was stupid, he couldn’t help but feel like something was clawing at his ribcage. There was a childish desperation stirring inside of him; a hand straining at his lungs, taunting him.

 Because if he couldn’t figure out a simple prank, what would James think about him then?

“You’re really desperate, aren’t you?” The last voice he wanted to hear echoed from outside the curtains.

“And you’re really obsessed with me, aren’t you?” he shot back. 

Lupin laughed. “Anyway, I decided that I had a better idea, so you can use mine. You can sign your name on it, and everything.”

Sirius blinked “What?”

Lupin flashed him a smile. “I know, shocking. You can have my autograph later. Since it’s too much for your small mind to comprehend, I’ll use simpler words. I have a better prank idea, so I’m allowing you to use my cheering charm idea. Since you’re so eager to impress James, and all.”

Ignoring the jab, he narrowed his eyes on the boy. “Why would you do that?”

“I told you, I’ve got a better idea,” he told him. His smirk faltered a bit and his eyes became a little more weary as he said his next words. “Besides, I’m going out. So I won’t be able to do it tonight anyways.”

“You’re going out?” he asked. “Why?”

He flashed him another smile. But this time it wasn’t smug. It was sadder; only a shadow of the smile on his face only seconds ago. “A magician never reveals its secrets. I thought you knew that.”

“You’re always going somewhere,” he urged. “Where are you going?”

Lupin is silent for a moment. The sun was coming down and the amber-eyed boy glanced at the window. His face seemed paler when glazed with the setting sun; the colour almost rivalling the Black family’s paper-white skin.

 “The spell is on page fifty three,” the boy told him, before throwing on a jacket and heading out of the common room in a brisk walk.

And before Sirius could even think to follow the strange boy outside, the bubbly voice of James’s Potter entered the common room. His eyes seemed brighter than ever when he spotted him and it filled him with a warm sort of feeling and Sirius completely forgot about the strange boy and his sad smile. 

“Did you find anything?”

He nodded eagerly as James and Peter sat down beside him, matching grins on their faces. 

That evening, as the boy’s studied the spells in the common room, the sound of their gleeful laughter bouncing off the walls, Sirius was endlessly grateful to the strange boy that gave him the spell.

Many moons later he would wonder where the boy would disappear so often, and why he seemed oh so sad as he said those words, but now, as he sat laughing and planning pranks with his best-friends in the whole wide world, Lupin hadn’t crossed his mind for a moment.

He didn’t know how long they’d sat there, but by the time they’d finished, Sirius didn’t think anything in the world could ever wipe off the grin on his face.

His heart was racing and his blood was pounding in his ears but he didn’t care. It was his very first prank; and he was going to have so much fun.

And when he was finished, he was going to tell his younger brother all about it. They would whisper his name in the corridors and talk about how the perfect family heir had executed the best prank in history.

He grinned. Mother would die on the spot.

“Ready, mate?” James asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Are you kidding me? I was born ready,” he swaggered.

And with a wave of their wands, they changed the world. Maybe that was a bit dramatic, but that night really and truly changed the world for Sirius Black. It was his first taste of freedom. And he was loving every single moment.