See The Rainbows In My Eyes

An Unmistakable Laugh

Friday 26th September 1975

Sirius thought it would be simple. How hard could it be to keep a leaf in your mouth for an entire month? Well, when you sleep in a dorm with three other boys, are on the Quidditch team, snog girls, have to eat three meals a day, brush your teeth twice, all while keeping it a secret, then yes, it's very hard.

It had only been six days since the full moon and the number of times Sirius came close to choking on his mandrake was far more than deemed reasonable.

Sometimes he'd laugh so hard that the leaf would get sucked back and clog his airway. Of course, only James and Peter knew the real reason why Sirius' face was turning all shades of red and purple. So when Remus would perk up, see Sirius choking, and then rush to his aid, Peter and James would tackle him to the floor long enough for Sirius to run to their bathroom and force the leaf back up. It was a nauseating process but stopped them from having to waste another month restarting their transformations.

It came to the point where Sirius, James, and Peter stopped laughing. They stopped cracking jokes, stopped pulling high-risk pranks, stopped singing, dancing, any form of exercise that would cause their leaves to be choked on. Meals were less cheerful, three-fourths of the marauders had stopped drinking, eating, records were rarely ever played, and the Gryffindor Tower was no longer filled with wholesome adolescence.

Life became dull.

This was all a challenge in itself but Remus, dear old thought to be oblivious Remus, took notice of their sudden quietness.

"Okay," Remus sighed, slamming his book shut during a hazy, awkward breakfast, causing the others to jolt. "What is up with you three?"

Peter, James, and Sirius all exchanged confused glances, pretending they didn't know what Remus had meant. Let's just say that acting wasn't one of their strong suits.

The boy waited impatiently for a response with raised brows but none of them spoke. His eyes flicked to Peter's goblet. "Pete, you haven't touched your Pumpkin Juice. Come to think of it, you haven't touched it in a week."

Peter gulped. "I- I haven't?"

"No you fucking haven't," Remus snapped in annoyance with piercing eyes.

"But...what if I don't want to?" Peter's voice was trembling. Remus was especially scary when he targeted individual people.

"Pete, you love Pumpkin Juice," he said pointedly.

Peter gave Sirius and James pleading looks, unsure of what excuse to use. Sirius just widened his eyes slightly, signaling for the boy not to crack under pressure.

Remus, seeing Peter's plea, whipped his head around to Sirius. "What did you do to him?" he demanded, motioning to Peter whose face had gone white.

Sirius held up his hands in defense. "I didn't do anything!"

"You broke Peter," he accused.

"I did not break Peter," Sirius objected dramatically.

"Fine, then you broke Peter." Remus redirected his attention to James.

"I did no such thing!" James gasped, clapping a hand to his chest in hurt.

"Well someone broke Peter!"

"No one broke me!" the small boy exclaimed, overpowering Remus' voice and making everyone else grow quiet. They'd never heard him yell before. "I just-" he shrunk in his seat, nibbling on his lip. "Am on...a diet."

Sirius almost choked on his leaf, snorting so loudly it tickled at the back of his throat. His laughter was burning at the inside of his cheeks making his nostrils flare and lips line. He could tell James was struggling too, his face had gone as red as Evans' hair.