The Losing One || Sirius Black

55. A Fake

James Potter

Saturday, 24th March 1973.

Hogwarts

"So... do we have a deal?", James whispered in a dark tone.

The boy in front of him looked around them to make sure that nobody was watching. Then he hunched over the table and shook James' hand, "We do, boss. I'll try my best.", he said in the same tone as James.

"Don't disappoint me or there will be consequences.", James gave him an intimidating look and squeezed his hand a bit harder than he needed to.

"Can we stop this dark theme you two got going on.", Remus said, unimpressed, "It's just a cake."

William and James both gasped dramatically, "Just a cake?", James said in a disbelieving voice, "It's not just a cake!", he whisper-yelled at Remus who facepalmed. Peter's head was already on the table.

"It's a payment, my innocent child.", William stated as he placed a hand on Remus' shoulder while giving him a disappointed look.

Remus slapped the hand away, "Payment for what?", he raised an eyebrow at William but it was James who answered, "When Sirius and I hid those Diricawls from Kettleburn, he didn't check to see if they were back until tomorrow, so the Ravenclaw's Care of Magical Creatures class was cancelled as well.", he then turned to William, "So the Ravenclaws have a debt to pay.", the dark tone was back in place.

William nodded, "It will be done.", he said and then patted Remus and Peter on the back, "I have to go now, Sophia's waiting for me. When did you say you needed the...", he looked around them to check if the coast was still clear "Thing?", he whispered mysteriously.

"The dusk of the twenty-seventh."

William nodded, "Consider it done.", he said dramatically and then he walked away and got lost in the bookcase labyrinth.

"Well, I'd say that we can check the birthday planning off of our to-do list.", James announced satisfied, "We can have a small party in our dorm and—", but then his eyebrows furrowed. Sirius was running towards them with a huge book in hand.

"Guys! Guys!", he whisper-yelled at them which caused Madam Pince to rise from the dead again, "No running in the Library!", she hissed.

Sirius stopped immediately and gave her an apologetic smile which seemingly did nothing to ease the scowl on her face. Merlin, and James really thought that he had made some progress with that woman...

"What's gotten into you—", James started, but was cut off with a thud that was caused by Sirius dropping the big book he was carrying on the table. The curly haired boy started his rapid explanation accompanied with erratic hand gestures, "I found it! I finally found it! After a whole year of research, I—"

"You know how to move the map?!", Peter asked excitedly. It was no secret that he hated researching even though he was quite descent at it, so he immediately closed the book in front of him before Sirius even answered.

Sirius gave him a funny look while he pushed hair out of his face, "No! I found—", but he was cut off by groaning sounds from the rest of the Marauders. James saw Peter burying his head in his hands before James' own head dropped on the book in front of him, causing a small cloud of dust to lift into the air.

"Shush, you idiots! This is way more important! I—", but James cut Sirius off, "What could possibly be more important than the map right now?", his voice was muffled due to the old pages of the book. He could literally smell the dust, but he just didn't have the strength to pull his head up.