Brothers by Choice
A/N: Well, I don't have much to say yet, as it is a new story. Let me know what you think.
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Chapter One: OWLs Are Over
The weather was perfect for Quidditch, and with exams over with, neither James nor Sirius planned on letting it go to waste. The two boys had bound from their room, past the few who were meandering sleepily through the common room, and through the portrait hole. Like most mornings, they were the first to the breakfast table, inhaled a copious amount of eggs, toast, and bacon, drank a gallon of pumpkin juice between the two of them, and cheered. It was a perfect day for Quidditch.
"Man, have you seen a better day?" Sirius asked as they abandoned their classmates at the table. James grinned and shook his head.
"Perfect amount of sun, a light, variable breeze, and I'd be safe to bet a spongy pitch, all the signs of a perfect pickup game of Quidditch," James said cheerily as he pushed through the door of the great hall. They didn't slow down as they headed out of the castle, instead sprinted to the pitch with eagerness of two fifth years done with their exams.
"I swear, those losers that insist on going over every little exam question, holed up in the common room, should be carted off," Sirius laughed. James grinned.
"You mean like Remus and Lily?" James asked as they tapped their wands on the broom shed door, which opened with a loud creak. The brooms quivered in anticipation. "Accio broom."
"Yeah," Sirius said as James' broom zip from among the masses of brooms and was caught deftly with a resounding slap. "Accio broom. I mean why waste a perfect day like this going over an exam we've already taken. It's not like the extra studying can change the results."
Brooms in hand, the two boys headed to the pitch. Within a few minutes, both boys were up in the air, soaring around the field. One on one, they couldn't play much of a Quidditch game but they could race around the field, dodging and dipping, their shoulders knocking against each other as they tried to knock each other off their brooms. They laughed as they tried their hardest to knock each other from their perching places.
"Going soft on me, Prongs?" Sirius teased as he body checked him. James roared with laughter.
"When have you ever known me to be soft, Padfoot?" James countered as he threw his body into Sirius', pushing him aside. Sirius veered off course for a moment before pulling even with James.
"Nice one, Prongs! Almost had me there," Sirius teased.
The boys continued to race and battle, trying to knock the other off of his broom until lunch time, surprised by how few people actually joined them, certainly not enough for a pickup game. Good naturedly, the boys shrugged and shed their brooms before heading back to the common room to save Remus from Lily.
"Half a day is more than enough for one man to take," Sirius said solemnly as they climbed through the portrait hole.
"Ah, well, she's not that bad, Padfoot," James said shrugging as he saw Peter and Remus playing a game of wizarding chess. Peter was losing horrible, his pieces cowering at his every move for fear that they'd be next to fall at Remus' expertly delivered moves.
"Moony, really, holed up in here with these losers when you could be out with us, playing Quidditch?" Sirius questioned as he and James flopped down in the seat of the couch, causing poor Peter to bounce off of it and onto the floor. Sirius laughed as James offered his hand to help the kid up.
"I got it," Peter grumbled as he pulled himself back onto the couch. James snickered and shrugged.
"I only just left the post O.W.L. exams review with Lily," Remus said nodding toward the red haired girl sitting at a table in the corner, pouring over thick tomes. James glanced at her.
"Hey, EVANS!" James called loudly across the common room. The girl looked up at him, glaring at the obvious intrusion to her studying.
"What is it Potter?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"You wanna spend the last weekend here with me in Hogsmead?" James asked. Lily made a face.
"You'd think you'd know the answer by now," Lily replied as she turned back to her notes. James shrugged.
"Perhaps tomorrow then," James said as he turned back to the boys. He picked up Peter's rook and forced it to move. Remus' knight over took the rook immediately, the poor piece flying through the air and shattering against the wall near Lily. She shot him a rude look, frowning, but turned back to her studies.
"You'd think you would have learned that Lily's just not into you," Peter commented. James raised and eye brow and put Peter in a headlock, the small boy's head buried in James' sweaty pit.
"What'd you say?" James asked as Peter struggled and coughed, gagging.
"Oh… my… God," Peter gasped. "You… smell… nasty!" James released Peter and sniffed, not noticing any aroma that wasn't more than pure manliness and strong Quidditch. He offered a pit to Sirius.
"I don't smell anything," James commented. Sirius sniffed James, then his own pit for comparison.
"Nope," Sirius said shrugging.
"You both smell like the back end of a Hippogriff," Remus teased. James and Sirius looked at him, affronted, and shook their heads.
"We do not," James defended. Sirius grinned.
"How do you know what the back end of a Hippogriff smells like?" Sirius inquired. Remus' cheeks turned slightly pink.
"I can only guess," Remus said quickly. James laughed loudly, causing a few student to look at them curiously. James shook his head at them and stood.
"Perhaps, then a shower," James said. He glanced over at Lily, who had looked up at the word shower and grinned. "Care to join me?"
"Not particularly," Lily said sourly as she turned back to her work. James snickered again and left the common room. Armed with his towel and a change of school robes, he headed into the showers. He couldn't have cared less if he smelled, but he had a date with some Ravenclaw sixth year and suave James Potter never went on any date without being completely fresh and clean. He grinned to himself as he turned on the water. There would be plenty of time to get dirty again later that evening, perhaps in the astronomy tower.
Stepping under the water, James flattened his hair. It was one of the few times his hair wasn't casually messy. It felt odd not having is waving in the wind as he dashed from girl to girl, or class to class. Every girl he had ever gone on a date with begged to run their hands through those wildly messy locks of raven softness. It was one of his many charming qualities that no girl was immune to, well almost no girl. There still was Lily.
He had asked her out every day since first year, and every day she would flat out turn him down. She never gave a reason, just a plain `no' or `heck, no'. A weaker man would have given up, but James loved a challenge. It was like Quidditch, he knew he was great enough to get what he wanted. In Quidditch, it was plenty of scored goals. He no longer saw Lily just as an object of lust, though he did still find her mildly attractive, but as a challenge. The more she told him `no' the more he was determined to get her. James grinned. She was a feisty one, for sure, and could be a little abrasive. He chalked that up to her muggle upbringing. He had dated a few muggle born girls over the years, and they tended to be a little distant in the beginning.
James shook the thoughts of Lily and the muggle born girls he had dated in the past. He needed to focus on that Ravenclaw girl he'd be spending the evening with. If he was lucky, and he usually was, he could count on spending the night with her as well. James poured his shampoo in his hand, always using way more than he needed, and scrubbed his scalp. He loved the way that it felt, the thick lather tangling in his hair.
"Hey, you still in here?" Sirius called out as one of the other showers burst to life.
"Yeah, number seven," James called. Sirius laughed.
"Always for lucky number seven, aren't you?" Sirius teased. James laughed too, getting a choking amount of water in his mouth. He coughed and spit, the soapy water stinging his eyes. "Don't drown yourself in there. I don't doubt that I could handle your date and mine at the same time, but I'd rather only play a little one on one tonight."
"I wouldn't dare dream of inconveniencing you with such prospects," James teased as he rubbed his eyes and rinsed off. Sirius' laughter was lost in the sound of the noisy wash room as others trickled in to occupy the various showering vestibules. The raucous noise of fifth year boys showering and goofing off was deafening, and James was happy that he was nearly done.
Stepping out, towel around his waist, James headed to the mirror, to shave. He didn't have much in the way of facial hair, just a few random stubble here and there, but he liked to be baby smooth when he knew he'd be entertaining a woman. James nicked himself with the razor, a tiny cut near his jaw line gushed as if it were a mortal wound. Swearing silently, James whipped off his towel and pressed it to the cut, staunching the blood after a moment.
"Oh my God, really!" Peter squeaked as he stepped next to James, realizing a moment too late that James was quite naked. James frowned at Peter and glanced down at his nakedness. Whereas James was naked, Peter had his towel wrapped tightly around his chest, tucked under his arms, as if he had breasts to cover. James snickered. That wasn't far from the truth. The portly boy did seem to be sporting a set of man-boobs.
"What?" James asked as he turned back to his reflection, checking to see if the blood had finally dried. Satisfied, he grinned at his reflection and raked his hands through his rapidly drying hair.
"You're…n-naked!" Peter cried out. James glanced down at his manliness.
"I am?" James questioned, feigning shock. A cruel smile crossed his face. "Come on, Peter… we've been friends for like, what, four years or so… it's not like this is the first time you've seen my twig and berries."
"Y-your twig and b-berries?" Peter stammered. Sirius stepped out of his own shower, seeing the way that Peter's eyes were transfixed to James' groin area with a bewildered look on his face. Having seen it plenty before, it certainly didn't need such a look of horror that Peter had plastered on his face. Sirius' laughter was louder than all of the miscellaneous noise in the wash room, the sound echoing off the tiled walls and floor. James glanced over at Sirius, grinning.
"Come on, Wormtail," James taunted. "Don't be such a girl. It's just a dick. Isn't that right, Padfoot?"
"Right-o, man," Sirius said joining them at the sinks, taking to Peter's other side, his towel abandoned on the bench. Peter tore his eyes away from James' body long enough to get a glimpse of Sirius and the Black family jewels. Peter turned a pasty white and passed out.
"Ah, you killed him," James taunted. Sirius laughed and snapped the hand towel at James, a red mark on his right buttocks. James laughed and rubbed the spot to lessen the sting. "Ouch, man."
"Did not," Sirius said. He went to work, shaving as James started to get dressed. Within ten minutes, the boys were properly dressed and ready to leave the wash room.
"Should we wake him or something?" James asked as he elbowed Sirius. The two boys glanced at the still passed out Peter Pettigrew. They glanced at each other, mischievous looks on their faces.
"We really shouldn't leave him on the floor," Sirius said grinning madly. James nodded, his own face mirroring Sirius.
"No, it wouldn't be nice," James said as he pulled out his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa."
"Hell, you a mite nicer than I would have been," Sirius said as he held open the door. James levitated Peter a foot off the ground and guided the unconscious boy out the door. "I would probably have used Levicorpus."
"Yeah, but then I think Peter'd wake up from being on his head like that, now wouldn't he?" James said as he struggled with the heavy little boy. "Open that door so I can set him in, will you?"
"The girls' lavatory?" Sirius asked with a delicious smile on his face. He hurried to the door, opening it wide as James' spell threatened to deteriorate before he had placed Peter strategically in the most visible shower vestibule in the girls' washroom.
"There, this should be interesting!" James snickered quietly as he backed away slowly from the shower vestibule.
"This will make it better!" cheered Sirius. "Accio towel."
The two boys ran hurriedly, stifling a laugh as they passed a large group of girls heading towards the washroom. Among the girls was Alice and Lily, and James could feel his side splitting from pent up laughter as he and Sirius sprinted down the corridor. When the girls discovered Peter, neither James nor Sirius wanted to be close enough to be fingered as the culprits.
"Get rid of the towel!" James hissed as the sound of many screams echoed through the castle. Everyone in the main corridor stopped what they were doing, some mid step, and looked up to the seventh floor hallway that James and Sirius had just exited out of. James shrugged as Sirius uttered a mumbled curse and the towel shrunk until it was no bigger than a wash cloth. Sirius shoved it into his pocket as Professor McGonagall stepped in front of them
"Why do I suspect you two have something to do with the screams coming from the girls' wash room?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly. James and Sirius tried to flash their charming, innocent-boy smiles, but the unyielding woman just crossed her arms. "I want to see both of you in my office straight away."
"But Professor," they both started. She glared at them, causing them to shut their mouths. They were smart enough to know that they needed to keep their mouths closed. Both boys nodded and headed straight to her office while she went to investigate what the continuous screams and shouts were all about.
"Do you think she can give us detention?" James asked casually as he entered Professor McGonagall's office. It was sinfully neat, and for a moment Lily flittered into his mind. He squashed the red haired girl from his mind and focused on wilting Fluxweed plant in an old terracotta pot.
"Probably, but we leave on Monday for Summer Holiday," Sirius said casually. James grinned.
"Knowing her, she'll just hold us over until next year," James said. Sirius rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Too right," Sirius said as he took the wash cloth sized towel out of his pocket and stuffed it behind Professor McGonagall's bookshelf. "Can't have that on me, just in case."
"It's not like there were any witnesses, aside from Remus, but I think he was too busy shaving his hairy back," James laughed. Sirius laughed, privy to the joke that Remus was super self conscious about his `furry little problem'. When there wasn't a full moon, the boy was a shiny as new born baby. His sandy colored hair barely registered as a real man's color.
Professor McGonagall walked into her office, a pensive look on her face. She walked past them and took a seat behind her desk. She glared at them, the boys sitting casually across from her with looks of unconcerned curiosity on their faces. She remained silent, watching for any indication that they were, in fact, the perpetrators of the shenanigans. She cleared her throat gently.
"Your roommate, Mr. Pettigrew, was found naked in the girls' wash room," Professor McGonagall said slowly. She watched the boys for any change in their expression. The feigned shock.
"What was he doing in there?" Sirius asked as he fought valiantly against the smile tugging on the corner of his mouth.
"I was hoping you or Mr. Potter could enlighten me." Professor McGonagall said. James shook his head, his face still.
"I'm shocked, really," James said. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Professor McGonagall looked at the two of them and sighed dejectedly. She knew she was up against the masters when it came to pranks and shenanigans. Rarely caught with evidence undisputed, James and Sirius walked away from more detention than seemed right. Without proof, though, what were the professors and authority figures of Hogwarts supposed to do? Professor McGonagall shook her head.
"I hope that you have a good summer holiday, and hopefully when you return for your sixth year in the fall, you will have a bit more maturity in your noodles," Professor McGonagall said as she gestured weakly to the door. James and Sirius stood and exited, hearing the woman mutter something about her nerves with these two hooligans running amuck.
"Think we went too far?" Sirius asked. James shook his head.
"Nah," James said. "Too far was when you tried to get Slimy Snape eaten by Moony on the full moon."
"Yeah," Sirius said thoughtfully as they walked back towards the Great Hall for dinner. He turned and looked at James. "You had to admit. The world would be a much better place without that slimy git sulking around in the shadows all of the time."
"Too right!" James laughed as they pushed through the large wooden doors and took their seats near the other rising sixth years midway up the Gryffindor table.
"Slytherins should all be so luck to meet up with a werewolf on a full moon," Sirius said as he glanced over at his younger brother, sitting proudly among the pure blood, muggle hating Slytherins. "How he and I came from the same parent's I will never know."
"Be thankful you're a Gryffindor," James said. "Otherwise who would I have to pull pranks with?"
"I donno," Sirius said as he helped himself to a copious amount of fat-laden food. "But I swear, if McGonagall said `noodle' again, I was going to lose it. All I could think about was how Wormtail was just gawking at your `twig and berries' as you so lovingly referred to them."
"What'd you rather I call them?" James asked.
"I like to think of my as the `family jewels'," Sirius said with his mouth full. James laughed. "Except mine are Black family jewels, so you know that they're tarnished." James laughed harder, a half chewed piece of meat lodging in his throat. He began to choke. Lily, sitting three down from him, rolled her eyes.
"He really shouldn't joke about things like that," Lily said huffily as she turned back to her conversation with Alice.
"I think he's serious," Alice chimed in, concerned. Sirius grinned a second.
"No, I'm Sirius, he's James," Sirius said. Lily and Alice both rolled their eyes. Sirius stood up, leaning forward over the table and thumped James hard on the back, the piece becoming dislodged and landing poetically in Lily's pumpkin juice. Sirius started laughing hysterically as he sat down, tears streaming down his face as Lily shot James a dirty look and began fishing the half chewed beef from her cup.
"That's just disgusting!" Lily grumbled as she flung the meat back at James. James grinned and pushed it aside, ready to finish his meal and go on his date with the Ravenclaw girl.
"Thanks, man," James said loudly. "Glad someone was willing to come to my aid when I was about to choke to death."
"The only thing I think you'd ever do to death, my friend, is Quidditch," Sirius laughed as Lily rolled her eyes again and turned her body away from them.
"And what a hell of a way to die!" James cheered.
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