A Fairy Tale

A Fairy Tale | Chapter 4

A week had gone by and Andie's horrible warts had finally disappeared. She was still not talking to Sirius, although he did apologized and bought her a large box of Chocolate Frogs. She took them and completely ignored Sirius. He got mad and thought that he got ripped-off.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter had started to work on the potion again. Remus was a bit hesitant, afraid that the results may come out incorrectly again. Sirius had talked him into it though. So they mixed up the potion (ingredients added by Remus personally--he had told Peter to sit quietly and not to touch anything). They added another piece of James's hair and now all they need was Lily's. Sirius was thinking of another way to get Lily's hair and Remus was sitting by, waiting to foolproof it.

"I've got it!" Sirius announced.

"What?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"We can sneak up behind her and pluck out a strand."

"Oh great," Remus said sarcastically. "I'm sure she would never notice if some guy came up behind her and pulled out her hair."

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"Shut up and keep thinking."

"You're so bossy." Sirius poked his tongue out at his friend.

Remus sighed. "Merlin, why do I have to put up with this? Why?"

Silence. A long, uncomfortable silence took over the boys' dormitory (James was at a Heads' meeting and Peter was studying in the Common Room with help from Ronnie).

"I've got another plan!" Sirius cried.

"What is it?" Remus asked carefully.

"We can borrow Lily's hairbrush."

Remus thought about it. It wasn't a bad idea, but-- "What makes you think she'd let you borrow it?"

Sirius smiled mysteriously. "I have my ways..."

"Forget it."

"What?!"

"For--get--it. I can see you wheels turning, Padfoot. This is going to be a stupid idea and something probably--no, definitely--will go wrong."

"You act like I'm an idiot or something."

Remus coughed mockingly. "That is the understatement of the year."

Sirius glared at him. "I did get a higher grade than you did in Divination, remember?"

"You got lucky with your stupid bull."

Sirius grinned. "It wasn't luck--it was pure talent. You're just jealous."

"Whatever."

"I'm still going with my hairbrush plan."

"Padfoot--"

Sirius held up a hand to silence Remus. "I've made up my mind." He walked out of the room.

A Fairy Tale | Chapter 5

Sirius walked down the staircase and looked around the common room. He sat down on the couch next to Peter, who was still getting homework help from Ronnie.

"...So you have to solve it this way," Ronnie was saying.

"But then why..." Peter scratched his head with the tip of his quill. "Oh..."

"So you get how to do it?"

"No, not really."

Ronnie sighed. "Okay, one more time, Peter. You see..."

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Lily climbed through the hole, followed shortly by James.

"How was the meeting?" Sirius asked.

"It went very well...if the Head Boy had been someone else!" Lily said, glaring at James.

"What?!" James yelled. "It wasn't my fault that Dumbledore liked my idea better!"

"Well, he would've gone with the formal dance if you hadn't butted in."

"He would not! Masquerades are way cooler!"

"You know what? You're right. Masquerades are better. That way, you could hide your ugly face behind some mask and scare off less people!"

"No, I actually want to scare off more people--can I borrow that mask you're wearing right now? You know, that horrible Lily mask?"

"Oh boo hoo! I am so hurt--hurt that you came up with such a lame insult to compare with mine!"

"Oh, and how many times have yours been used? A million?"

"Doesn't matter as long as it suits you!"

"Shut up!" Peter shouted. The Common Room quieted, surprised at Peter's outburst.

"Peter?" James asked carefully.

"Look, I'm trying to do my bloody homework here--and I'm having a rather difficult time at it, mind you. So you do guys mind taking it somewhere else?" He glared at the Head Boy and Girl.

"Er..." James said. He had hardly seen Wormtail so irate. "You know, I'm just going to go find Remus." He ran up to his dormitory.

Lily stared at the ground in embarrassment and walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Ronnie.

"All right, Peter!" Ronnie cheered.

"What? Did I get the problem right?" Peter asked hopefully.

"No, but you got James and Lily to shut up, and that deserve even more praise!" She received a punch in the arm from Lily for that comment.

Sirius observed all of this silently. He decided it was time for Plan Hairbrush to take action. He cleared his throat. "Ahem, Lily," he said.

"What?" Lily snapped.

"You're mad at Prongs, not me," Sirius said defensively. "There's no need to give me that attitude."

Lily blushed. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Can I borrow your hairbrush? Please?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "What happened to yours?"

"Ah...well, Wormy here...seems he was hungry last night. He tried to get me to go to the kitchen with him. But I was too sleepy so I told him to go eat his hairbrush. Of course, I was just joking, but the desperate chap actually did what I said. Fortunately, the hairbrush was tasty. Unfortunately, his stomach was not satisfied, so he ate mine too."

"What??" Lily and Peter cried. Peter shot Sirius a confusing look.

Just go with it,

Sirius mouthed. Peter nodded.

"You don't actually expect me to believe that, do you?" Lily asked Sirius.

"Ah, but it's true! Isn't it, Wormtail?"

Peter nodded slowly, rubbing his stomach for extra effect.

"Okay," Lily said slowly. "Let's say I actually believe what you said. So why don't you borrow Remus's? Or Potter's? And don't tell me that Peter ate theirs too."

"No. No, he didn't. Er...Remus lost his yesterday. And as for James...well, we all know that he doesn't own a hairbrush. Or a comb for that matter."

Lily snorted. "Got that right. But why do you need a hairbrush now?"

"Why would one need a hairbrush? To brush my hair! Duh..."

Lily looked skeptical. "And give me one good reason why I should let you borrow mine? I mean, we're not exactly friends or anything."

Sirius put on a hurt look. "You mean that? After seven years, you really mean that?" He looked down.

Lily bit her bottom lip, feeling a bit guilty. She didn't mean to hurt him. "All right, all right," she said. "I'll get it for you. Just...make sure that you pick out all your hair afterward." Lily went up to get it for him.

"Consider it done," Sirius said, grinning. His plan was going to work! I'm a genius! he thought happily.

Lily came back and handed him her hairbrush. Then she left to find Andie.

Sirius looked around the room, making sure that nobody was watching. He looked at the hairbrush. There weren't any hair on it. Sirius disappointedly put it down, but something caught his eyes. At the corner of the hairbrush was a long strand of red. Yes! Sirius thought. He checked it over to make sure that it really was red and not pink. It was a reddish-orange color. Yep, that's Lily's, all right. Project Extraterrestrial was going to be completed soon.