Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 58

With the heavy black book hugged to his chest, Remus climbed up the spiral staircase and entered the boys' dormitory. He walked the usual to the room which had a 'second year' sign hung above it, and so pushed the door open.

As soon as he walked inside their shared dorm, Remus's eyes widened when he saw Sirius sitting on the floor cross-legged as he was doing his Charms homework, head bent low, scribbling on a roll of parchment as he held onto a quill with his right hand.

But what had caught Remus's attention was Sirius's other hand, which was holding onto a chocolate bar as he occasionally took small bites from it. Remus looked around in shock.

There were also many empty chocolate wrappers surrounding him on the floor, and an almost-empty chocolate box beside his ink bottle which Remus recognized with no difficulty; it was the same one he always kept on his nightstand.

     "What did you do!?" Remus suddenly yelled in horror, causing Sirius's head to shot up, startled.

    James and Peter — who were both sitting on James's bed while he explained the latest Transfigurations lesson to Peter — looked up as well, wondering what was going on.

     "What?" Sirius shrugged as he gaped up at the boy, taking another bite of the chocolate.

     "You're eating my chocolate! Mine!" Remus shouted at him, his eyes watering up. In the week before each full moon he was always more emotional than ever and oversensitive. All of his senses and emotions heightened whenever the full moon was right around the corner.

     "Okay! Okay! No need to get all upset!" Sirius placed the chocolate down on the floor, throwing his hands up in defense. "It was just one chocolate, Lupin. Relax."

     "Oh, I should relax, should I?" Remus scoffed. "It was way more than one!" He pointed at the many chocolate wrappers around him on the floor, as though he had caught a criminal right in the act and the evidence was visible all around them.

"Merlin," Sirius whispered, looking back at James, "what's with him today?"

The fury covering his eyes, Remus strode toward Sirius angrily at those words, hitting him on the arm with the heavy book.

     "Ouch! Ouch!" Sirius bellowed, raising his hands up to cover his face from being hit.

     Horror striking them, James and Peter quickly got to their feet, moving forward to pull Remus back, each grabbing hold of one of his arms.

     "Stop it, Remus!" James scolded, finally letting go of him once the boy seemed to have calmed down a bit.

     Remus scowled as Sirius got to his feet, both glaring at one another.

    "Sirius, apologize to Remus," James said firmly, while Peter looked between them worriedly.

    "Me?" Sirius snapped in disbelief. "He's the one who hit me —"

     "Apologize!" James glared at him with a sense of authority.

     Sirius huffed grumpily, mumbling a quiet 'I'm sorry'.

     "Good," said James, before turning to face Remus. "Sirius will also promise to buy you a chocolate box to replace the ones he ate."

    "I—" Sirius began to protest, but a glare from James shut him up. "Ugh, fine!"

     "Now apologize to Sirius for hitting him," James told Remus sternly. "We're brothers. We're not supposed to fight."

     At those words, the expression on both their faces softened.

     "I'm sorry, Sirius," Remus muttered, not meeting his eyes as he held onto the book.

     "Good." James finally grinned in satisfaction. "Now, back to business, gentlemen. Remus, is that the book we needed?"

    "Yup." Remus nodded, handing James the black and large book which he had taken from the library.

     "You sure this is a good idea?" Peter asked James nervously. "If we get caught —"

     "We won't get caught if we're smart about it," said James, opening up the book and going through the list of contents at the beginning of the book.

     "Which we are," Sirius stressed the word, smirking arrogantly.

     "But — but is it really necessary?" Peter asked again, obviously not keen on getting in trouble. Or rather, scared of being caught.

     "Of course it is!" James snapped, looking up at him. "Have you forgotten what those Slytherins did to my sister last year?"

     "Maybe Peter's right, James," said Remus. "Maybe we should just target Avery and Mulciber. They were the ones who did it, after all."

     "No. This should be a lesson for all the Slytherins, so they'll know not to step out of line ever again," said Sirius. "You cross one of us, you cross all of us."

     "Exactly." James nodded in agreement, a smirk tucking at the edge of his lips. "Besides, it's not just about those two dung-brains. I want to see the look on Snivellus's face when this goes down."

     "Why him?" Peter asked with a confused frown over his forehead. "What's he done?"

     "His whole existence had been bothering me since last year, is what he's done," said James.

     Sirius let out a bark of laughed. "Good one, James."

     "Okay, say we manage to make the potion by getting the ingredients from the students' storage," Remus started thoughtfully, "but how would we be able to put it in their food?"

     "The breakfast is always set in the Great Hall before the students show up," said James. "We'll just have to get up early enough to put a single drop of it in each bottle of juice or tea."

     "Remus has a point, though," said Sirius, frowning. "The teachers are always early. They could walk in on us. How can we pour the potion in their drinks without being seen?"

    "I'm glad you asked." James smirked, closing the book and handing it to Sirius to hold.

    He then went over his trunk as Remus, Sirius, and Peter glanced at one another curiously, waiting eagerly to see what James had in mind. After searching his trunk, James finally pulled out a shining, silvery cloth from beneath his clothes, holding it up for them to see.

     "What's that supposed to be?" Peter asked. But Remus and Sirius's eyes widened in shock, already knowing what it was as they stared at the long cloak in James's hands.

     "This, gentlemen, is going to be the secret to our success," James said in a dramatic voice, his grin widening. "After this legendary prank, we will go down in history. From this day on, we shall be called The Marauders."