The Order of Mischief I

1.27

A month had passed since the quidditch incident where Sirius Black had dislocated his shoulder, but with several weeks of not resting it, his arm recovered rather slowly, instead, he injured himself more with the cast on. Of course, Sirius would not be Sirius if he had not used his injury as an excuse to be treated as some kingly being with several servants waiting on him. Black would be seen wandering the castle empty handed while his friends carried his belongings and complete miniature tasks for him. It should also be noted that, despite his injury, Sirius Black had still partied with his best friends when Hufflepuff had beaten Slytherin in the next match.

And now he was settled in his kingly leather chair by the fire, in the company of his best friends. Remus Lupin had his nose tucked away in another book that Sirius noticed Phoebe reading only days before. Peter Pettigrew had his legs folded beneath the coffee table he sat in front, writing Sirius Black's herbology homework from scratch, having already done his - and he was almost done with it. And James Potter was sat on the couch beside Remus, his legs stretched out on the cushioned furniture, while he completed the transfiguration essay that Sirius was meant to dictate for McGonagall's next class. Except the heir was too lazy and distracted to do any of that and his friends were much too kind to chase him down for it, aside from Remus who treated him no differently, despite often writing notes for him.

His attention was on the girls that sat around one table, huddling in the far corner as they spoke to one another in an undetected code that Black was trying to decipher. He nudged Peter with his leg, essentially kicking him lightly, "Oi, Pete!"

"What?" Peter groaned as he turned around, giving his friend his full attention, despite being irritated by his disruptive presence.

"What do they mean when they keep saying 'are you out' and 'you should be next'?" Sirius asked in a quiet voice, guiding Peter's attention to the table where Lily, Sahara, Marlene and Mary sat. They could be heard talking about something without making it clear what they were saying.

"How would I know?" The blonde boy retorted.

"Because you spend so much time around one of them," Sirius said, referring to the youngest Zion heiress who was best friends with Peter. James looked up at Remus before they were all looking at the girls who were working on their homework while talking about timings and schedules and about going out. The boys looked confused as they randomly exchanged glances before returning to eavesdrop on the conversation for longer, trying their very best to understand what was being said.

"I don't know, but it sounds like they're hiring assassins of some sort," Peter jokingly answered. But his response forced the boys to trade worried looks, as if they believed what he has suggested. The blond boy shook his head and waved his arms at the same time as he spoke, "No, no, no. That's impossible, guys. We all know that Dumbledore would never let something like that happen, it's stupid and dangerous. Maybe they're just talking about dating and hanging out with the other boys or something."

Although his latter suggestion was more reasonable, Peter knew that Sirius refused to believe it was a solution as simple as that. Sirius smirked, "But why would they act all shy about it and not just say it outright?"

James shrugged, "They're girls, Siri. They do unusual things for confusing reasons that no one understands."

Remus rolled his eyes, not fond of the rude comment James had just made. But he ignored the statement and offered his own explanation, "Maybe, they are trying to hide it because of how you and so many other boys would react to it."

"You say that like you weren't mortified by the suggestion just now," Peter sarcastically commented, trying to hold in his laughter as he pointed his quill accusingly at Remus. Lupin blushed with embarrassment while James and Sirius howled in their laughing fit. Black mentally noted how this was one of the few instances where Peter would act more reasonable, logical and mature than Remus - it was not rare, but rather uncommon.