The Losing One || Sirius Black

56. The Forms

Sirius Black

Thursday, 24th May 1973.

Hogwarts

The rest of March flew by quite quickly. James wasn't in the best state per say. He tried not to let it show, but Sirius knew his best friend enough to recognize a forced laugh or over-the-top jokes.

Now, he felt bad for even telling James about Evans' conversation with Snape. On the other hand, James deserved to know the truth. Sirius wanted the best for James and, obviously, Evans wasn't it.

James kept the bright smile and positive attituded all the time. During Quidditch practices, classes, lunches, dinners, pranks, while mapping the castle... but Sirius knew better.

The Marauders avoided Evans as much as possible and, in situations where they couldn't, they tried their best to just ignore her and only talk to McKinnon and Greenford.

Two days passed with James just forcing himself to be positive thus the night before his birthday came. Sirius waited for Remus and Peter to fall asleep before he climbed out of his bed and knocked on one of the bedposts of James' bed.

Red curtains parted just enough for James to see who it was and, once he saw Sirius, he opened the curtains all the way so that Sirius could climb onto the bed.

They talked a lot that night.

Sirius felt happy, not because James wasn't feeling good, but because now he could show James that he was there for him too. He congratulated him on his birthday first and James gave a small smile. But then the conversation moved to the elephant in the room.

They talked about Evans. James continuously denied that he even liked her, but Sirius knew. They came to the common conclusion that James just found her very interesting which was quite funny to Sirius. It was like the word like was forbidden from being mentioned.

Then James told him about all the smiles and glances Evans threw his way and Sirius felt even worse. He didn't know that her and James shared these special moments. Sirius just suspected that she acted the same towards James as she acted towards him, but, clearly, he was wrong. Deep inside his mind, Sirius tried to defend Evans, but her words were loud and clear. She just didn't like them.

Sirius did manage to cheer James up by telling him how there were other girls in the castle he will find interesting and how they didn't even need girls. They were the Marauders after all, they just needed each other and well-planned pranks.

James was smiling the next day, not that fake smile he wore, but a real one.

The birthdays' celebration plan was set as well. Not only will they have a small party with the cake in their dorm, they will also try and find out where that cake came from.

Remus came up with this amazing plan to camp outside Ravenclaw's common room and wait for William to go and get the cake. They could then follow him and finally find out about this secret food factory inside Hogwarts that nobody was permitted to tell them about.

Sirius and James thought that the plan was amazing while Peter felt a bit nervous when it came to following his big brother. Nonetheless, he still went with them.

So, on the 27th of March right after classes, the Marauders followed the fellow second year Ravenclaws up to the fifth floor. They stopped in front of a spiral staircase, where all the students in blue robes seemed to go, and quickly ducked under the invisibility cloak.

When the boys ascended the spiral staircase, all the fellow second years were gone. At the top of the stairs was only a very tall door the Marauders knew led to the Ravenclaw common room. Nothing seemed different compared to the last time they were here. The door still had neither a doorknob or a keyhole. The only thing decorating them was a bronze knocker in a shape of an eagle who would ask anyone who wanted to enter the Ravenclaws' common room one riddle.