Sirius Black and the Golden Lion

Charms and Red Hair

"Wake up, Sirius!"

Sirius rolled over onto his back and opened one eye. He thought briefly that he was back in his room in London, and Regulus was trying to wake him up in the middle of the night again. But as his vision cleared, he realised that the curtains were red and the boy looking at him, though black haired like Sirius and his brother, had hazel eyes rather than grey and was grinning in a friendly fashion.

"Is it morning already?" Sirius asked, closing his eye again. "Give us another five minutes."

Thwack. Before Sirius had even had a chance to roll over, something soft hit him hard around the side of his head. He opened both eyes and sat bolt upright in bed. James was still by his bed grinning, but Sirius now saw that he had a pillow in his hand.

"That woke you up!" he laughed, and nimbly dodged Sirius' return pillow.

Sirius leapt out of bed, the sheets falling haphazardly to the floor and chased after James brandishing his pillow which he had retrieved from the floor. He followed as the other boy leaped clean over Remus' bed, and jumped onto Peter's, who shrieked in surprise. Sirius proceeded to beat James around the head with the pillow until it burst and pure white feathers floated in the air. Meanwhile, James gave as good as he got; both boys swerving and ducking.

"Mr. Black! Mr. Potter! "

Both boys span around quickly to see Professor McGonagall stood in the doorway with a look of disgust on her face. Sirius jumped off Peter's bed, landing with a bang and both boys dropped their weapons and tried to look innocent.

"This is a fine way to start your first day! I suggest you clean up quickly, unless you want to lose points for Gryffindor before you even set foot in a classroom," the professor said sternly. "Mr. Lupin, a word, please?"

Remus looked at the others and shrugged, then followed Professor McGonagall out of the dormitory. James bent down with a sigh, and started picking feathers off the sheet on Peter's bed.

"You'll be here all day," Sirius said, lounging casually against a wall.

"So help, then," James retorted.

Sirius wandered over to his bed and grabbed his wand. Returning to the other side of the dormitory, he resumed his slouching against the wall.

"Yeah, real help, Sirius mate!" James turned to look at him. Lazily, Sirius raised his wand.

"Evanesco."

The feathers covering Peter's bed vanished from sight. Both Peter and James stared at Sirius dumbstruck. Sirius returned their stares.

"What?"

"Y...you can do magic already?" Peter asked in awe.

"Yeah..." Sirius replied. "What's the point of being a wizard if you don't use magic?"

"But that's the Vanishing charm," James protested. "It must be at least OWL level."

"But you can't deny it's useful, that's why I learnt it," Sirius reasoned. "I only really know the useful spells. Can't either of you do magic at all?"

Peter shook his head sadly.

"I can do one or two of the easy ones," James said, "But nothing like that. Hey, can you show us another, teach us one?"

Sirius thought for a minute, looking around for inspiration. He caught sight of Peter's tousled head.

"OK." He lifted his wand again and pointed it towards Peter's hair. The boy looked terrified.

"Capillumundus," Sirius said firmly. Almost instantly, Peter's hair stood up on end, then fell neatly into place.

James' eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets, and once Peter glanced in the mirror and saw what Sirius had done, his eyes threatened to join James' on the floor.

"That's amazing!" Peter breathed. He ran a hand through his hair until it was all sticking up again, then reached for his own wand.

"What was it again?" he asked.

"Capillumundus," Sirius replied.

"Capillumundus, "Peter muttered under his breath. He raised his wand.

"Capilirunnus!" he shouted. Sirius laughed. James joined in after a second, then raised his own wand to his head.

"Capillumundus," he said, echoing Sirius' earlier tone of voice. His hair lifted up in the same way that Peter's had, but when it flopped down again, it barely looked any tidier. James looked in the mirror, then turned to Sirius in disappointment.

"It didn't work," he said, grimacing.

"Let me try," Sirius said, and pointed his wand at James. "Capillumundus."

Again, James' hair rose up, and again, it fell down in the same mess, the back standing up stubbornly.

"Guess you've just got magically resistant hair," Sirius snorted with laughter. James ran his hand through it, making it even more rumpled.

On the other side of the dormitory, Peter was still trying to get his hair to lie tidily.

"Capillyundus. Capillarundy. Capillumundus!" The last was said with an air of triumph, but nothing happened.

"Capillumundus!" Peter repeated impatiently. One or two hairs lifted up slightly, but nothing else happened.

"Sort his hair out, James, or we'll be here all day waiting," Sirius said, tidying his own, and looking in the mirror in satisfaction. Unlike James' scruffy style, Sirius' hair fell neatly into a centre parting, the front of his curtains falling ever so slightly into his eyes. Sirius pushed it back

"Are you lot coming down or not? John Kidgell, the prefect, has your timetables. " A new, female voice came from the doorway. Sirius span around again to see the red-haired girl who had been sorted with them the evening before.

"Yeah, we'll be down in a minute," Sirius replied. The girl gave him an appraising look as he pushed his hair out of his eyes again.

"Capillumundus! Yes!" James punched the air. Peter's hair was once more lying in the same basin cut as it had been the evening before. Peter looked at James with the same awe as he had used for Sirius earlier. The girl turned to look at them.

"See you in a minute, then," she said, glancing back at Sirius interestedly before leaving.

James let out a whoop of laughter.

"Looks like you've pulled, mate!" he grinned at Sirius.

"What?" Sirius asked, looking across the dorm.

"Didn't you see the way she looked at you?" James asked incredulously.

"Nah," Sirius shook his head.

"Then, can I have her?" James asked, grinning.

"Sure. Why?"

"Cos she's so pretty, you idiot!"

Sirius threw a pillow across the room, as Remus walked through the door.

"You're not still doing that, are you?" he asked. "You're not even dressed."

Sirius looked at the other boys and realised Remus was right.

They all dressed in double quick time, and were soon scrambling out through the portrait hole.

"Sirius, can you help me with that charm? And can you teach me some others?" Peter gabbled as they made their way down the staircase to the Great Hall. Sirius merely grunted. He didn't want to be stuck tutoring Peter, who seemed to be hopelessly behind before even starting.

"I'll help you, Pete," James offered.

"Wow, thanks James." Peter's face lit up. "I'm starving."

Peter quickened his pace, but Sirius dropped behind.

"What did you have to say that for? Now we'll never get rid of him," he muttered to James.

"But it's kind of nice to be hero-worshipped like that," James grinned. "Don't deny it, Sirius."

Sirius just grunted again as they walked into the Great Hall, Remus just behind them. As they walked over to the Gryffindor table, Sirius was acutely conscious of all the eyes on him. Couldn't they all just leave him alone?