Bullies in Hogsmeade

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Bullies in Hogsmeade



"JINGLE BELLS, SNIVELLUS SMELLS, SLYTHERINS MAKE ME SICK! JINGLE BELLS, SOMETHING-SOMETHING -- VOLDEMORT CAN SUCK MY ---"

"Sirius!!!" Remus shouted, interrupting him before he could finish, "Don't say stuff like that! You never know who could be listening!"

James was laughing uproariously.

Sirius grinned as he ran through the snow, bundled up in his leather jacket - with the collar popped - and the longest Gryffindor scarf known to man, which had been twined around his neck several times over and still hung to the ground. He patted some snow into a ball and chucked it back at Remus, "Aw c'mon, Rey, lighten up!" He ran on ahead.

Remus rolled his eyes, ducking away before the ball of snow could hit him.

It was a week later and the boys were on their way down to Hogsmeade for the second time. Sirius was hyperactive from the cold and his nose was scarlet red as he trotted along, singing loud and obnoxious renditions of Christmas songs - such classics as I Saw Voldey Cursed By Santa Claus, Regulus Got Run Over By A Reindeer, and The Marauders Are Coming To Town.

Sirius had spent a good part of the week moping about, upset that he'd missed the fun of running through the forest from the ginormous arachnids, and getting to see Newt Scamander fend off a werewolf with a whistle. "I always miss ALL the EXCITEMENT!" he'd pouted when he'd heard the story of what had happened.

"What are you talking about? You're usually the one that starts it!" James had argued.

"Lucky Newt had the whistle on him," Sirius had commented.

"I said the same thing," James had said.

Remus had nervously asked, "You think he's onto me? And that's why he's carrying it about?"

"Nawh mate, course not!" James had tried to be supportive, but his flippant attitude hadn't helped calm Remus's nerves much.

Remus was officially off his crutches now, after the last session with Madam Pomfrey on Wednesday, during which she'd clucked in disapproval at the thick bandages that Sirius had wrapped around Remus's bites on his wrist. The flesh was terribly raw and stung when she insisted that he let her pour a bottle of liquid skin over the wound, and though it hadn't healed anywhere near perfectly, it'd done a fair bit better since she'd tried than it had been doing before. It still ached quite a bit, though, and he was still uncertain on his feet, feeling a bit awkward now without the bracing support of the crutches or the cast.

That pain was a lot more tolerable than the others he was feeling, anyway.

After the night in the Shrieking Shack, when Sirius had arrived like a fluffy black knight in armor to keep Remus from slowly losing his mind out there in the night, he'd expected maybe things would go back to how they normally were before. But no. Sirius was still acting so funny, so distant. Normally, walking some place like this, he would've been hanging all over Remus, draping his arms over his shoulders and making wolf jokes and laughing when Remus said some stupid pun that wasn't really all that funny but Sirius acted like it was. And he'd warn Remus about stones or dips in the road. But now, he was off ahead, singing like a doofus, and although Remus couldn't help but laugh at the lyrics Sirius was making up on the spot, he couldn't help but think how much funnier they would've been if Sirius had just been acting like he always had before...

Remus would've done anything for Sirius to come back and flop his arm over his shoulders and make some stupid wolf joke now.

They made it to Hogsmeade without any incidents, which was amazing given how loudly Sirius was singing. They decided to visit Honeydukes, as they could smell the warm fudge from down the way. James bought them each a very large block of it and they greedily ate it in the street as they walked along, licking their fingers for the remnant that stuck to it. They visited the bookstore to replenish their supplies of ink pots for the second half of term, and Remus stopped to marvel at a parchment set that came with a wonderful owl feather quill that he would've liked to buy for Lyall, but he didn't have near enough money to do so.

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