What if they all lived?

Chapter 14

Wednesday 27th October 1971

Athena Black

James entertained them throughout dinner with a detailed account of the quidditch practice, including the names of every member, their positions, their techniques, their weaknesses—even some of their birthdays. Peter piped up occasionally, usually just to remind everyone that he agreed with what James was saying. But Sirius looked like he was in such a good mood that he was hardly even irritated by him.

 Pudding was a disappointment—millionaire shortbread, which neither she nor James liked. Remus and Peter both acted like they were mad, scarfing down the lot. In fact, when Remus saw that Peter had already eaten both hers and James plates, he shot him a bit of a dirty look. "I've got some sweets," Peter said nervously, as if realizing the mistake he'd made in coming between Remus and food. He dug through the pockets of his robes and pulled out a bulging brown bag, "Mum sent them, help yourself.""Cheers Pete!" James said happily, and the rest of them wasted no time in tearing into the surprisingly wide selection of candies. They didn't slow until they'd demolished about half the bag, and all looked a bit queasy. She didn't take any, they were all either rock hard candy or gummies, she prefered chocolate.

"What homework were you doing?" James asked, scratching his chin absentmindedly, "I thought we'd finished everything for this week."

Sirius itched at his collar bone as he said, "Yeah, um, I was behind on history. Had to go back and check something."Next to him, Remus was starting to scratch, too. Athena didn't think anything of it, more focused on James, who was asking, "Oh, really? Did we miss something, then?" They're scratching a bit too much now, do these boys even shower? she thought

Suddenly, Remus leapt out of his seat. Sirius jerked around to look at him—his eyes were wide with horror, and his face had gone white. He was staring down at his own hands.

"What's up, Lupin?" James asked, startled.

Remus looked up at them, breathing hard, naked terror in his expression. She realized that dark hair was sprouting from the back of Remus's hand, where he'd been scratching.

Oh, bollocks...

"Lupin-" she started but got cut off by a scream Peter had made when looking at the hair growing from his hands. Sirius looked down at his collarbone—sure enough, the same dark hair was sprouting. From his face, his hands, his arms—it grew from every bit of exposed skin.

"Oh bloody hell..." Across from him, James was experiencing the same conundrum, "What's going on?!"

Isn't it obvious, She thought, glaring at the bag of sweets that was still sitting, innocently, on the table.

"Peter," she growled, already knowing the answer to her question, "Are you sure your mum sent those sweets?"

"Well, I mean...I thought they were from her...they arrived this morning..."

"Peter!" James roared. People were turning to stare at them now, whispering and laughing. Pretty soon the entire hall was craning their necks for a look at the four furry first-years. The loudest laughter was coming from the Slytherin table, where Severus Snape looked close to hysterics. It was obviously revenge.

"Come on," Sirius stood up, squaring his shoulders and attempting to maintain some shred of dignity, "Let's go to the hospital wing. We can plot our revenge later." She didn't go with them, now she was way more interested in making Severus confess to what he'd done.

Sirius Black

Although he could certainly see the humor in the prank, he hated the self-satisfied smirk that Severus shot him as they left. He hated that he'd let a Slytherin get one over on him. Down the table from Snape, Bellatrix and Narcissa were staring at Sirius disdainfully, which made him want to cringe. He had no doubt that his parents would be finding out about this, one way or another—though he doubted his cousins had been so eager to share the news about the case of itching boys in their own Hogwarts house.As they exited into the hall, Sirius muttered darkly, "Told you they'd strike back." He thought of his cousins, smirking in their green robes, and gritted his teeth, determined to return the favor—not just to Snape, but to every Slytherin that thought they were better than him. This time, girls also.