"So, does this mean Hufflepuff won?" Peter asked groggily. Even having landed upside-down in a warm, plush chair, the vibrant yellow walls with little badgers painted on them and the earth colored carpet gave it away. "How utterly rude," he finished in a mutter, thinking Harry had been slighted if that were the case. A tie was more than fair-
"Prongs? Moony, you two alright?" Peter flipped out of the chair and landed even more painfully than when he'd been upside down, but ignoring any cricks in his body he'd get for that later, he quickly scrambled around to see Sirius bending over the two in concern, rightly so. James's leg was still smoking slightly, and even as he watched, Remus lost the battle of keeping his eyes open, they rolled back into his head and he passed into sleep right on the table he'd landed on.
"We'll live," Prongs groaned, ignoring Padfoot's outstretched hand and inspecting the rest of his leg for further damage. Thankfully for now it just looked like a really bad sunburn, rather than charred flesh. "Remind me to kill Hagrid though."
"Don't think that'll be top of my list," Sirius crouched down beside him instead, casting a healing charm for him. "Even you wouldn't take those odds mate."
"I still owe him a good one," James returned sourly, still prodding the angry flesh until Sirius slapped his fingers away. "Only reason that blasted skrewt didn't kill us was the sphinx got territorial."
Peter choked in further concern and made his way over to Remus to check he really was asleep. Despite the slight snoring, he easily could have been dead.
Sirius didn't wait for permission this time and grabbed Prongs under the arms, hoisting him to his unsteady feet despite his protests and dragging him to the chair Peter had vacated. Then he came back and Peter was quick to help him get Moony to the couch, he didn't so much as twitch as they sort of half-dropped him down, he definitely wasn't light.
"Probably best we all get some sleep while we can," Alice agreed, standing surprisingly close to Sirius. "What with the tournament being over, and who knows what's coming for us next." Then she patted him lightly on the arm and whispered for him alone, "just remember what I said."
Sirius gave her a strange look as she went back to Frank's side, not quite in agreement, but he'd think about it regardless. For now he shoved Remus's legs at least slightly out of the way and claimed the other end of the couch again, ignoring the strange looks he got from Peter and James for this as there wasn't a lack of seating, but both of them were clearly just too exhausted themselves to care enough to ask, thankfully, as they tried to make themselves comfortable.
Frank watched the exchange with bewilderment, eyeing the shirtless stud of Hogwarts as it was clear some kind of interaction had happened between them, but brushed it off even before she slipped her hand into his and smiled for him alone. "How do you like my common room?"
"Lovely," he complimented with a genuine smile as he looked around once more. "I'm honestly jealous we can't switch houses now." It was a round, low-ceilinged room with a colourful profusion of plants and flowers that seemed to relish the atmosphere of the Hufflepuff common room: various cacti stood on wooden circular shelves (curved to fit the walls), many of them waving and dancing for no apparent reason, while copper-bottomed plant holders dangled amid the ceiling caused tendrils of ferns and ivies to brush your hair as you passed under them. James Potter seemed to be eyeing them with a careful eye Frank couldn't blame, he remembered the Devil's Snare as well, even if such a thing would never be here.
A portrait over the wooden mantelpiece (carved all over with decorative dancing badgers) showed Helga Hufflepuff, toasting her students with a tiny, two-handled golden cup. Small, round windows just level with the ground at the foot of the castle showed a pleasant view of rippling grass and dandelions, onto the grounds beyond. These low windows notwithstanding, the room felt perennially sunny.*
YOU ARE READING
All in the Family
Fanfiction"The title The Boy Who Lived dominated the chapter, but this meant nothing to anyone, so their eyes skipped down to just below that, which was under the date 1981. Six years from now." A reading the book style fic, except much more loosely based aro...
