Laughter

Laughter

The sun crept in quite early in the dormitory of the Gryffindor Sixth years. Too early, in fact, for the majority of its occupants. This morning however, was quite unlike any other, as Sirius Black, who hated mornings was awake. He sat up, thankful to have escaped the normal wake-up calls of his dormmates, including but not limited to: water balloons, mousetraps, and exploding snap cards, which left a nasty scorch mark in his pajamas. But this morning, he was wide-awake, and had no intention of going back to sleep. He climbed noiselessly out of bed with a rather malicious smile on his face. Oh this is going to be great. He grabbed his wand and crept silently out of the dorm, failing completely to notice James Potter's watchful gaze. As soon as Sirius had left, James jumped out of bed, grabbed his wand, and followed Sirius into the common room. After a quick glance at Sirius, who had started putting his master plan in place, James walked unnoticed through the portrait hole to find Peeves, laughing softly to himself.

Sirius stepped back and admired his handiwork. The words I love James Potter (and various other phrases), written in purple glitter, now covered every available space in the common room. He decided to add a few pink flowers for emphasis, and retreated up to his dormitory. He then crawled into bed, and drifted off to sleep, waiting for his friends to wake up.

"I'm up! I'm up!" Sirius' yells pierced the dormitory. He ran to a mirror and inspected his hair. Polka dots. He glared at the grinning Peter, and swiftly returned his hair to its original state. Peter's smile vanished to be replaced with a look of sheer disappointment.

"Next time," Sirius told Peter, "have James do it."

James chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing to my nearest and dearest and bestest friend," he said innocently.

"Ah, shut it," Sirius replied, "you probably told him to do it."

"True," James remarked. The last of the group, Remus Lupin, smiled sleepily as he watched the proceedings, then crawled out of bed. A few minutes later, James stood up and led the group to the common room, Sirius barely managing to stifle a laugh. His hard work, however, went unrewarded, for upon entering the common room, James simply smiled wide and remarked that he must have a secret admirer somewhere.

"Did you do this, Evans?" he called to the redhead that had descended the staircase. She smiled cooly at him.

"I would have if I found blokes like you worth wasting my time on." James smiled wider still as he saw the twinkle in her eye. Sirius watched the scene, still trying to digest James' reaction to his mayhem. He noticed Remus and Peter, along with the rest of the house, staring avidly at the glittering words, and tried to take a little comfort from their shock. The foursome continued to the Great Hall, Sirius trailing behind sulkily, but forgetting his bad temper as they settled down to eat. As they were putting away their food, Peeves sailed in, very obviously singing something at the top of his lungs. As the crowd quieted down to listen, the words became understandable.

"Sirius Black, Sirius Black,

His dad is so mean, his mum is so fat,

His brain is so small, it gets lost in his hat.

Sirius Black, Sirius Black.

Disaster follows wherever he's at,

He's nothing more than an overgrown brat.

Sirius Black, Sirius Black.

He looks like a toad that belongs in a vat,

So how could I love a person like that?

Sirius Black, Sirius Black".

As Sirius glared violently at James, Dumbledore rose to quiet the hall.

"Now that our musical entertainment has ended," he said, his eyes betraying his almost serious face, "I request that James Potter and Sirius Black report to Professor McGonagall after the meal." He sat down and coughed wildly into his handkerchief for a few minutes. When he straightened up, he surveyed the hall, and finding everything in order, dug into his food once more.

* * *

That was NOT funny, Prongs, Sirius wrote on his parchment and shoved it to James who was sitting beside him in History of Magic.

Yes it was Padfoot. Especially that line about your mum.

Now tell me, did you make that up? Sirius scribbled in reply before turning and glaring at Remus, who was humming quietly. Remus smiled calmly and continued his humming at a slightly higher volume. Sirius turned back around, disgusted.

Why do you want to know?

So I know whether to kill you or Peeves.

I think that might be rather difficult.

What?

Killing Peeves. Sirius growled and crumpled up the parchment then put his head down on his desk, too moody to pay attention. A few minutes later, another piece of parchment landed by his elbow

But for the record, I did make it up. - Prongs. Sirius bent down and resumed his nap.

* * *

By lunch, the earlier squabbles had been forgotten, and the foursome was sitting at the table, talking animatedly as they ate.

"We could tell Moaning Myrtle that Snape has a crush on her." Peter suggested.

"No," Sirius replied shivering, "that would mean that we would have to talk to her. We could paint his fingernails in his sleep."

"We did that, didn't we?" James said.

"Last week," Remus said briskly. The two boys grinned sheepishly.

"So what should we do?" Peter queried.

"Um..." James searched for inspiration. "We could charm Snape's quill to write only obscene words."

"Yes," Sirius agreed, "but we would have to get close to it. Not going to happen."

So the discussion continued through lunch, and they left the Great Hall uninspired and uncaring.

* * *

In the middle of the hallway on the way to Charms, Peter sneezed.

"Could somebody get Germs here a tissue?" James yelled to the entire hall. Lily Evans turned and looked, then resumed talking to her friend with a slight smile on her face. James grinned.

"You're nuts, mate," Sirius told him, shaking his head. James simply smiled wider. Oh, wasn't life wonderful? They continued on to Charms, each one lost in their own thoughts, James' in particular involving a certain redhead. They filed into the classroom and sat in their seats in the back row, the perfect place for pranks and private conversations. Tiny Professor Flitwick strolled to the front of the room and addressed the class.

"Today, we will be practicing the Shrinking Charm." Sirius raised his hand immediately.

"Yes, Mister Black?"

"Is it used to make objects smaller?" He asked eagerly.

Flitwick smiled and nodded his head. "Yes, as Mister Black has already pointed out, it is used for making objects smaller. Five points from Gryffindor for the needless interruption." Sirius looked stricken.

After some time learning the charm, they divided into groups to practice it on a number of wiggling mice. At the table next to Sirius and James, Peter was performing the spell while watching a certain Ravenclaw across the room. Sirius spied his chance and discreetly summoned the mouse. The look on Peter's bewildered face when he looked down again was priceless.

"Professor," Peter said nervously, "I think I overdid my charm. My mouse is gone." Flitwick gave him a slightly exasperated look and handed him another one. Meanwhile, James returned the mouse to full size and turned to Sirius.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he whispered conspiratorially. Sirius nodded and grinned. He took the mouse, and after setting a Locomotor Charm on it, set it loose in the aisle in front of a table of Hufflepuff girls. They instantly jumped on the table and started shouting.

"Mouse! Mouse!" Flitwick ran over and vanished it with a wave of his wand. The girls climbed down, looking relieved. Remus glanced at Sirius and flashed him a knowing smile, shaking his head.

* * *

After dropping their bags off at the tower, the four of them ambled over to the Great Hall for dinner, Peter and Sirius arguing about the coming full moon.

"Why don't we just do what we normally do? You know, run around and be crazy. It's always fun." Peter asked.

"Because we have to do something special," Sirius replied commandingly.

"And why is that?" James remarked, too wrapped up in thoughts of Lily to wholly follow the conversation.

"Because I said so, that's why," Sirius replied scathingly.

"Ah," James remarked, and went back to staring at Lily, who was walking a little in front of them.

"He's no fun when he's in love," Sirius remarked to nobody in particular.

* * *

Sirius and James trudged behind Professor McGonagall towards Gryffindor Tower, James complaining loudly.

"Why should I get punished? I didn't do anything! It was this nasty rat here who..." McGonagall glared sharply at him, and he fell silent. They reached the entrance and she ushered them through the portrait hole.

"I want to you clean all of this mess up," she said sharply. "And without magic!" she added, handing them a bucket of water with some soap and rags. "Now get started," she said sternly, then retreated against the wall to keep an eye on them, along with the rest of the common room who seemed to figure out what was going on. The two boys grabbed their rags, bent down wearily and began scrubbing at the nearest phrase (James Potter is my life.) After a few minutes however, it was clear that soap and water we not going to get the words off. James looked at McGonagall.

"Professor," he ventured, "I don't think that the stains are coming off. Maybe we should use um... some magic." McGonagall stared exasperatedly at them and threw up her hands.

"Fine, use magic. Do whatever you want. Just get the stupid stuff OFF!" At that, she strode briskly out of the portrait hole, leaving the two boys exchanging excited looks.

An hour later, McGonagall came to check their progress. Before she had fully opened the portrait, a strong smell reached her, accompanied by...singing? She walked inside to find a number of German Dwarves pouring lavish amounts of a green fluid on the writing while singing an exceptionally loud and rousing song.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded. Sirius ran over to her with a big grin.

"Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover," he said excitedly, showing her a large green bottle. "Comes with help and entertainment," he read. McGonagall dismissed the dwarves with a wave of her wand. Then, she rounded on James and Sirius.

"I want this cleaned up tonight with no noise and no distractions. Do you understand?"

"We could tell them not to sing," Sirius muttered.

McGonagall turned red. "AND NO DWARVES!" She stomped out of the portrait hole. James and Sirius exchanged weary looks and got back to work.

* * *

Stars twinkled in the velvet sky outside of the 6^th years' dorm, and four boys lay fast asleep, weary from the day's adventures. In one bed lay James, his dark hair more rumpled than usual, in another Sirius, loyal to a fault. In the third bed lay Remus, the thinker, who often kept the boys down to earth. In the last bed, Peter lay curled up, blissfully unaware of his role as Judas, the one who would betray all that he loved. These four boys, though thought annoying and immature by students and professors alike, had learned a very important lesson, that the darker the times, the more important the laughter. They laughed at what stole laughter and mocked what inspired fear. And that is the best way to fight - to laugh.