alwaysimpure | Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

"This is boring," Sirius announced. Then he ducked his head down, because he caught the look the librarian just sent his way. And, yes, he had only just sat down, after talking his way into Remus' library trip, to accompany his friend so he wouldn't have to be all alone.

This was worse than having to be all alone. Somehow it had never occurred to him that when Remus mentioned he'd go study in the library, he actually meant that he'd study. In the library.

He dropped his voice, elbowing Remus so he couldn't ignore him. "I'm bored."

"Do you think I have an arrogant smile?"

James smiles several times at Sirius, just trying different smiles before looking at Sirius for his honest opinion. "Lily always says it's cocky or arrogant but it's just my face. I can't do anything about my face. Well, I could but I don't think you can improve perfection so I don't want to risk it."

Seemed like an awful idea, honestly. "She also said I walk with a swagger... am I swaggery? Do I swag? Swag like a stag."

"It's time," Sirius whispered to Remus, as if Remus would know what this was about. Sirius looked around, then nodded. And he got up, walked around the table - which was very unnecessary, Remus was sitting right next to him and the table was round, but now he had ensured that several people were looking at them - and then he approached Remus from the other side, holding a hand out to him. "Shall we?!"

His eyes were looking straight at Remus, his smile was debonair, his robes were well tailored and he was ready for their big moment. A moment Remus knew nothing about.

"So..." Sirius crawled behind the curtains that this kid had drawn all around his bed, not seeing them as the obvious 'stay out' sign that they were. He heard James talking to Peter, but he was on the second part of the mission. Befriending this kid.

Trouble was that he had no idea how to go about it. He didn't even know his name, because during the sorting he had been too distracted by the impending doom unfolding in front of him, given he had been one of the first to be sorted, sitting down at the Gryffindor table to be welcomed by icy looks all around.

Things had thawed once James was there. And now he had to break the ice here too. "I'm Sirius."

Wait. "I mean, I'm pretty funny actually. But I'm called Sirius."

One of the good things - and there were few - about Gilderoy Lockhart was that he didn't care at all whether Barty was actually paying attention to him or not when they sat together. He would go on about nothing much - so, himself - either way and Barty had time to think, to watch others, while passing as someone having a normal conversation. It worked well enough, although he knew he'd still get fed up after a while.

His eyes finally focused on Gilderoy again after a minute and he paid actual attention to his words, raising his eyebrows. What even.

Being sent to his room was really nothing new to Sirius. Really, honestly, it was so rare that he wasn't sent to his room that, more than once, his parents had just sent him out of habit, simply assuming that something had to be wrong about him being outside.

However, he certainly did all he could to live up to that legacy and today had certainly been no exception. But even so, things weren't completed yet. He was already in his room due to what he'd done this morning, since he was had to come to the gala this evening no matter what. He was the Black heir, he had to be there, he had to behave and his parents would make very, very sure that he would. He had even promised that he would behave appropriately, secretly thinking that appropriate was really a flexible word. Be that as it may, so far he had no plans for the gala.

That didn't mean that he hadn't still done things before the gala started. It had started simple, as most pranks, with him observing one day that Regulus had taken to using some kind of product in his hair to make it look better. Good sign, puberty had finally hit. The second phase of the plan was figuring out when he did it and then he had to find the best spell to make things glitter when they were near body heat long enough that there was.

Long story short, Regulus' hair should be glistening by now. Sirius, already banished to his room for something unrelated, was expecting Regulus' discovery of this fact and the subsequent tantrum, just lying on his bed and tossing a ball. Just not the same without James there.

Most of today, Barty had spent trying not to think about some things. He had focused on his studies and tried to push past whatever negativity still clung to him after Christmas. Concern for his mother, resentment for his father. But today there was a deciding vote, one that could secure his father's position or oust him, depending on how it went.

He had been trying not to think about it. Had done his best to resist temptation to check. But now, as he arrived in the common room and found it almost empty, he sat down opposite Severus Snape and eyed the newspaper he was reading. He couldn't help but wonder. So, finally, he cleared his throat. "Severus? May I borrow the paper, when you're done with it?"

After the full moon, Remus always got exhausted. The sheer toll of it tended to be a lot for him, he couldn't keep up with Sirius and James - too much energy required and he wasn't able to pull it off. It was easier to be with Peter around this time, he was a lot less intense, a lot less active and he could doze off against him and not be disturbed.

Which is what he'd done during lunch that day while waiting for Sirius and James to come, just nodded off against Peter quite content.

When he woke up, he was drooling on Peter's shoulder and swiftly pulled his head away. Whoops. "Er, sorry. Did I do it again?"

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