Neco
Frequent RPer
Posts: 74
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Post by Neco on Jul 7, 2009 12:20:53 GMT -5
Light streamed through the massive stained glass windows of the library, highlighting the dust motes that rose from shelves and tables alike as students slowly made their way through the labyrinth of books. Others were hunched over on tables, poring over open pages or scribbling furiously with their quills in an open race against procrastination. It was near ICU-ward silent and had that same pervading feel of depression, as if writing an essay was too much for many of the students to bear.
Not that James was even paying attention to all of this. He had managed to commandeer an entire table to himself, scattering books up and down its length in a half-assed attempt to make it look like he was studying for Potions. He had parchment sprawled in front of him, a quill in hand, and was leaning intently over a book in front of him, dark hair falling in front of his face. But his eyes weren't on the book; he was staring intently through his bangs at the back of a fellow seventh-year student, willing his X-Ray Eyes spell to finally work.
After all, appearances were everything in this undercover work of cheating. No, sorry, creative acquisition of information. Yeah, that sounded a lot better. And much more important.
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Post by Chaos on Jul 7, 2009 22:31:50 GMT -5
(( of course you can join. =] and we're kind of just playing with the characters as kids...no sense of timeline...shown by my later actions ))
Sirius saw James in the library several tables ahead of him, back toward the door, in what Sirius recognized as his special new form of art; Cheating, For the Advanced.
"Wow, James and Sirius both in the library...this day's getting weirder and weirder," he could almost hear Remus' thoughts churning in his head. Sirius crept up slowly behind James and took out his wand, silently turning his hair to blue. James wouldn't have even noticed if so much hadn't been laying directly in front of his eyes.
Sitting down, Sirius laughed as he rocked back on the edge of his chair, earning a cold stare from the librarian. "So," Sirius said nonchalantly, "Can I use a bit of this table, or would that deter you from your studies?" he sat grinning as he said it, and also not waiting for a reply. He took his arm and dragged it across the table, creating a bigger pile but resulting in more desk room, which he then began to refill. He reached into his bag and pulled out book after book. One, two, three, four, until Remus' eyes bulged out. It was a very small bag.
"So," began Sirius again. "I was thinking..." he said, while opening several books to bookmarked and highlighted pages, "of making something that I think you will love, James; you will both love and despise, Remus; and Pettigrew...wherever he is, will support wholeheartedly as long as he's in on it." Sirius leaned forward across the table, now having succeeded in capturing both of their full attentions. "I say," he said, looking both of them directly in the eye, "we make a map."
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Post by kenzie on Jul 7, 2009 23:01:37 GMT -5
"Who knew that the day would come when Sirius Black would willingly enter a library," Remus said, the sarcasm bubbling in his voice "and even more shocking, that we'd find James Potter in here upon entering. With books none the less! I'm shocked." Remus took a seat at the table, shaking his head as Sirius played his little games. Of course, at closer inspection, Remus saw that James wasn't studying at all. Sigh. He knew it was almost to good to have been true.
As Sirius began to go off of whatever he was wanting to talk about, Remus found himself mildly interested. Until the end that is. Then, well, Remus was just puzzled. "A map?" He asked, wondering what Sirius was getting to. "A map of what exactly?"
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Post by Chaos on Jul 7, 2009 23:34:31 GMT -5
"Well. You know about your time of the month?" he and James shared a laugh. "Well, also the way we changed so we could come with you? You know, keep your hormones in check? And how occasionally you stop PMSing -okay, I'm done! - long enough to enjoy some time exploring the castle after curfew with us? Us using our transformations, you using James' cloak. I was thinking we put that time to good use!" Sirius looked delighted, but Remus and James still seemed to be quite confused.
"A map of Hogwarts!" Sirius exclaimed, earning a 'shhh' from the librarian. Lowering his voice, he continued. "We've already found one secret passage, and we alone know the secret to the Womping Willow. What if," he said, spinning a book toward each of them, "we wrote it all down. We made a map? Perhaps help out a few students in our years to come - leave a little bit of a mark on this school." Sirius was beaming.
"And to passify you, Remus, look down here." He pointed out a passage he had highlighted about invisibility enchantments and passwords. "We can't even get in trouble if we use our nicknames and use charms and spells to protect it. We could even make sure people like Snivvelus and his Death Eater friends can't read it!"
Sirius was bouncing up and down in his seat, only toning it down when the librarian actually slammed a book down on her desk, strode angrily over to where Sirius was sitting, and yelled in a hushed whisper "Young man, if you don't calm down this instant I will make sure you are kicked out of this library and given a detention!" and stomped away.
Barely paying her mind, Sirius continued. "I've looked up plenty of things you'll enjoy working out, Remus," he said, pointing to another book in front of James. "We can use moving and tracking spells, identification charms, and loads more!" Sirius looked seriously at them, for the first time looking as though his plan might be a bit ostentatious - not that he cared.
Looking seriously at each of them, he leaned back and asked, "What do you think?"
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Post by silverpen on Jul 8, 2009 9:44:02 GMT -5
“Oh, look who we have here, Gryffindor’s personal gang of gentlemen. Sirius! What are you doing in a library? Did Lupin here have to drag you in by your hair?” Lily taunted, smirking. “Or did you lose your little dog fight by the lake?” “Sadly, Miss. Lily, you’re mistaken. I happened to drag my friend here to the library,and also happened to run into James here."
Sirius leaned back on his chair trying to get a better look at Lily. She looked only at him, but gave a few glimpses in the direction of Moony. James, though, she ignored completely. It was known to every Gryffindor about the relationship between James Potter and Lily Evans. It was quite apparent that James was smitten with the lovely Lily, while she turned him down every chance she had... but lately, she's been softening up on him.
“Oh no, you in the library with Potter. This can only mean trouble,” Lily said in a serious tone, but her green eyes were filled with laughter. “I don’t want to be here when that trouble pays its little visit, so I’ll just deliver my message and go. I am here to advise you to turn down that charming haughty behavior of yours, Black. My poor friend was swooning, and very upset that she said no to you, and sent me looking for her knight in black. She wants to know if you want to get some butterbeer with her later tonight.”
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Post by Chaos on Jul 8, 2009 11:48:00 GMT -5
Sirius was stunned, falling forward in his chair, which he had resumed leaning back in. He raised his eyebrows and glanced over at James, then Remus. But his astonishment wasn't for the assumed.
"I won that fight!" Sirius said with a prideful tone. "It may not have looked so, but we fight like wizard chess. With more purpose than outward appearances!" He kicked his feet up on the bar of the table and looked contemplative.
Well, she was pretty, Sirius thought. A little...dense, it appeared. But nice. Didn't seem to be his type...but Sirius had a reputation to keep up. Although that reputation never said he had to actually go out with any of them. He already earned the desired effect of swooning... Sirius battled with himself inside his head, interrupted only by an impatient female cough.
"Agreed," Sirius finally said. "But tomorrow might be in our best interests seeing as we can't leave the castle grounds and as you know I'm very impartial to sneaking around after curfew. There's a scheduled trip to Hogsmeade tomorrow, anyway. We could go then."
He eyed his two friends furtively, looking a little longer at James, "If that will be all tell her I'll meet her tomorrow directly after detection, and we'll see you there, as well." Sirius smiled a dangerous smile. At Lily's confusion at the look on his face, Sirius finished by saying, "Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm not allowed to go out with girls alone in such a way. Parents' rules. Need to double, and I was assuming you'd like to come so your friend won't be disappointed, otherwise I can't go." Sirius' smile widened. "And of course, I can try to find someone who wouldn't mind going with you," he said, with a pointed glance at James, whose expression he couldn't read.
"If you wouldn't mind," Sirius said, apparently breaking into some of Lily's thoughts, "we've got some work to do."
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Post by silverpen on Jul 8, 2009 12:18:19 GMT -5
"Alright, I'll come as well. Oh and Sirius, there isn't any need to trouble yourself with finding me someone, I had a fellow Gryffindor already ask me for tomorrow. We'll see the two of you tomorrow then," Lily laughed as she watched the three mens faces turn from the glow of victory to an unbelievable shock. "Now, as you have some mischief to create, I'll be on my way."
So typically Sirius...always trying to get me with Potter. Now, if James asked himself, and didn't seem so darn proud...oh well
Laughing to herself, Lily left the library and the group to their business, whatever that was.
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Post by Chaos on Jul 8, 2009 12:31:21 GMT -5
Sirius was annoyed. He could obviously see why James fancied her. She would fit in and possibly be a good friend if she wasn't so...
"Well, I tried, mate," Sirius said, patting James on the back. "But don't worry. I've got more ideas up my sleeve, that wasn't 'Plan A' if you catch my drift." Redirecting their attention to the books in front of him, he thought about tomorrow and whether or not his plan would work. He decided not to worry about it, he had plans for tonight to carry out, anyway.
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Post by silverpen on Jul 8, 2009 14:05:01 GMT -5
Location: Gryffindor Common Room Lily was in her own little world, smirking at her victory. She had been a loyal friend while avoiding a date with Potter. As she walked into the Common Room, she noticed it was unusually crowded. All the 7th years were crowded around the nearest couch, where a boy with brown hair was laying, puking up his guts.
“He’s been cursed by a Slytherin,” Anne came up behind Lily, giving the boy a look. “Madame Pomfrey is coming up, but I doubt he’ll be allowed out of Hogwarts tomorrow. ANYWAY…WHAT DID HE SAY?”
Lily didn’t answer as her friend was bouncing up and down waiting for the answer if she was going to be going out with the most charming man in Gryffindor tomorrow. She was too distressed by the boy being sick. It was Tom who was puking up his guts over there, and it was also Tom who she was planning on taking with her to meet Sirius and Anne tomorrow. Oh no! Now Sirius will probably try and make me go with that proud Potter. What am I going to do?
“LILY…tell me what he said!” Anne was getting restless, twirling her brown hair around her index finger.
“He said tomorrow after detention, but he has to double date and wanted me to come as well. Tom had asked me before, so I was going to take him, but now I can’t. Maybe you should take another friend,” Lily finally answered in a sorrowful voice.
“Noooo, you’re close to Sirius, and I’ll feel better with you there. Can’t you ask James or something? You and I both know how much he fancies you. He will say yes defiantly. PLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE?” she begged, making her brown eyes go all puppy-dog.
“Sirius hinted at that and I kind of turned him down. Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out,” I promised halfheartedly, and left.
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Neco
Frequent RPer
Posts: 74
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Post by Neco on Jul 8, 2009 14:55:47 GMT -5
James arched dark eyebrows at his friend, pointedly trying to ignore the still-lingering smell of Lily's perfume in the air. Shapeshifting into a deer once or more a month was starting to wreak havoc with his normal senses and he was just waiting for the day when someone lit the common room fire and he froze like a git. "Don't worry about it. She's trying too hard to resist, and you know how much I love a woman that's hard to get." He waggled his eyebrows and flipped his still-blue hair out of his eyes. Fashion statements might just get the lady fair's attention.
"So. This map." He leaned forward on the table, whipping out a blank piece of parchment and slapping it down in front of Sirius. He craned his neck to skip his gaze across the books laid out in front of him, but blueprints were something that were beyond him; he was more of knocking down walls kind of guy, not putting them back up. "You got a plan for what we're gonna do, or are we gonna skip around the hallways and hope we fall into a hole or somethin'?"
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Post by kenzie on Jul 8, 2009 16:42:42 GMT -5
"Well Sirius, I can't say I remember much from what I'm sure are jolly good times, after all is said and done." Remus shot, then asked "You use the invisibility cloak though? Bloody hell, doesn't that sound like a bad idea? I'm not a puppy to be dragged around on a leash once a month, what if you lost me? Some git wandering the halls wouldn't know what hit them.." He ran his hands through him hair, pretty worried now.
Damn, they could be so dense. But come on, why make a bloody werewolf invisible and then set off through a school?
He was cut off though, because a certain Lily Evans had entered the library. He wouldn't have cared either way, but this was a secret no one but his three best friends new. The marauders. Oh bother, poor git. Knight in black? Thought Remus. It was almost silly how girls swooned over Padfoot. Remus was amused at Sirius' attempts to get Lily and James' wagons hooked, and even felt a little bit sorry for Jamesy when Lily cleverly got herself out of it. She was a smart girl, that one.
Anyway. Back to the matter at hand.
"This map. Sounds like a great idea" Remus said it slowly, deep in thought "But, frankly, it sounds almost impossible to me. All the enchantments of this castle, all its secrets. There's many rooms that are there one minute, gone the next. Stairways change on certain days and certain times. How would you get that all down on one piece of paper? Finding a spell alone to do that would be very difficult. And James is right, how do you think we could possibly find all the secrets of this castle? We're good, but not that good. And, I'm sorry to say, it would take time that we don't really have. What about studying for our N.E.W.T.S?"
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Post by Chaos on Jul 8, 2009 17:04:44 GMT -5
"For an intelligent person, you're a stupid git sometimes, you know that?" Sirius said, slightly annoyed at his lack of faith. "We wouldn't be dragging you around under and invisibility cloak while you're a vicious werewolf. We'll be dragging you around under the invisibility cloak while you're a whiny prude. You know, human." Sirius lightened up a little bit.
"Well, I say we start with drawing out the castle as we already know it," Sirius said, looking down at the blank parchment. He folded it intricately while saying, "Umm...well. Who said we have to draw it?"
Sirius flipped around in several books until he found what he was looking for. There in front of him lay a complete map of the Hogwarts castle, well, not complete per-se, because it lacked the secret passage he knew to be under the Whomping Willow and also in the statue of the one-eyed-witch. He seemed to concentrate very hard as he waved his wand in front of the book. He then moved his wand over the open piece of blank parchment and as he did so the same picture from the book duplicated onto the blank paper. Sirius looked pleased with himself.
"Now, I'm sure you've memorized Hogwarts, A History seeing as you pretty much repel all girls and don't need time to do things that are fun," he said, looking at Remus, "so you'll be able to tell us when things won't work so we don't spend time trying it." Sirius flipped through a heavy book on charms.
"It doesn't even have to be on the secrets of the castle. It could just be all the regular places we can go, and we can just, enhance it to make it better. What if...what if we could track people!" Sirius said, lowering his voice. "What if," he began again, "what if we could use a tracking charm on the map that could tell us where people were at any time. Then we'd never get caught in the halls at night, even as animals." Sirius was beaming, as if nothing could deter him. "And I'm sure the stairs have some kind of a pattern we could find in the multiple hours of the night. And if not, maybe a tracking charm could work on them too? It's foolproof! I would know, after all," he said, making a face across the table.
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Neco
Frequent RPer
Posts: 74
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Post by Neco on Jul 8, 2009 17:12:56 GMT -5
James was trying very, VERY hard, thank you very much, to keep a straight face as Sirius proclaimed his fullproofed-ness. Birds probably had that same thought just before they flew into a sliding glass door.
Still, the map was an idea that was brilliant for coming out of Sirius' head and the fact that he had thought to copy it out of a book was even more astonishing. But maybe not really; Sirius was as lazy as they came, and pulling something out of a book instead of going around and making sure the castle was still the same was definitely a Siruis move. Tracking people, however, was something more than James had thought of... so he guessed credit would have to be given, in small amounts.
"Okay, tracking charm, but which one of us can even make something levitate?" he asked in a low voice, glancing between the two. "I can't, you can't--" he pointed at Sirius "you're okay, I guess--" another wave at Remus "and Merlin knows Wormtail can't do shit. The only person I know that can pull off any charm is Lily. And... well, you saw how she reacted to such manliness earlier."
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Post by Chaos on Jul 8, 2009 17:23:45 GMT -5
"Hey!" Sirius said, "what makes you think I can't levitate things?" But he made no move to prove him wrong. "You're just trying to get Lily involved because you fancy her," Sirius accused.
"But I guess since I'm such the avid matchmaker and girls can't get enough of my charm, we can always fit this into my little plan for tomorrow and try to enlist her help without her knowing it. It can only be us three plus Wormy in on the map, agreed?"
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Neco
Frequent RPer
Posts: 74
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Post by Neco on Jul 8, 2009 18:22:16 GMT -5
I really need to start watching more Spy Books to get my plans down, James thought, but didn't let the heat he felt in his stomach creep to his face. "Problem is, Pads, she's smarter than you. How do you expect to enlist her when she's avoided your plans since we were fifthers?"
There. That sounded... not as obvious. Better than She's the smartest girl in our year and quite frankly, you're an idiot and therefore, I give you little hope of this ever succeeding.
See, tact. He had a few drops of it here and there.
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