2"I'm bored." moaned Sirius, rolling over to face James.
"You're always bored." muttered James, not looking up from his newspaper.
"Only when there is nothing to do." argued Sirius, walking over and snatching the paper out of his friend's hands.
"Tell me what I need to do so I can have my paper back." sighed James.
"Hogsmeade." said Sirius; at this James raised his eyebrow.
"The Three Broomsticks has some upcoming act on, The Strange Brothers or something." pressed Sirius, enthusiasm in his voice. It always helped if he sounded keen to go, then James would get excited about it as well.
"With everything going on, do you think it's a good idea?" asked James, biting his lip.
"We haven't been out since graduating from Hogwarts, tomorrows our day off. Come on!" laughed Sirius, slapping James on the shoulder and standing up as if to go.
"Alright, but if I am called in you have to explain to Scrimgeour." said James, standing up and checking his appearance in the mirror.
"You look fine princess, let's go!" exclaimed Sirius, pushing James out of the door.
"Wait, I'm supposed to meet Lily tomorrow." said James, stopping in the doorway.
"Fine, you drive my motorbike so you have to stay sober." suggested Sirius, imploring James to embrace his inner recklessness.
"You know I Apparate better when I'm drunk, anyway Mrs Rosmerta will let me sleep in the backroom." smiled James, the amount of times he had snuck out into Hogsmeade only to be caught by the attractive looking owner.
"She's has a kid now, don't think she'd appreciate a drunk seventeen year old waking her daughter up." laughed Sirius, pushing James further and further out of the house.
"Fine, let's go." scowled James, grabbing the keys of the hook as they left.
The drive was relatively short as they only lived a few miles from Hogsmeade, placed there through Auror Training in case there was an attack.
"Come on, it's already started." urged Sirius, waiting for James to get out of the side car.
Inside was packed, unusually so for mid-summer.
"I want a drink." said Sirius, looking for a place at the counter.
"I need a drink." whispered James, noticing his hands shaking slightly.
"Then have one, not going to kill you is it?" asked Sirius, looking at James who only nodded.
To be fair it didn't kill him, but the ten or so after the first one made him feel like he should be dying as he retched over the toilet seat with Sirius standing above him.
"Why don't you go back with…what's her name." muttered James, resting his head on his arms as he closed his eyes to ignore the dizziness.
"Jennifer? Nah… Can't leave you on your own in this state. Want a Sobering Charm?" asked Sirius, taking a sip from his glass tumbler filled of Mead.
"Please…" groaned James. Instantly feeling the effects as the spell hit him.
"Evening…" grunted a man as he walked in to the toilet.
"Evening." said Sirius.
"Sirius, I want to go now." said James, though his voice was muffled by his robes.
"Fine…Come on." sighed Sirius, helping James to his feet.
"You're a good friend Padfoot" murmured James, staggering slightly as they walked through the now, near empty bar.
"I know." said Sirius, half-walking, half-carrying James.
"Night boys, sure you don't want to sleep here?" asked the barmaid as they walked past.
"No thanks Jen, best get this stag home." winked Sirius, making the barmaid blush.
"Alright, see you next time." giggled Jennifer, as they walked through the door and out in to Hogsmeade.
"I'll drive." said Sirius, taking the keys from James's robe pocket.
"You've drank too, we can Apparate." muttered James,
"You say you can Apparate drunk, last time you ended up in a field a mile from the flat. Took me an hour to find you, we'll walk." said Sirius, putting an arm round James and heaving him off the wall he was propped up against.
"Crucio!" shouted a voice, Sirius pushed James to the right and went left as the red spell sped past him and missed by mere inches. Sirius turned to see that it was the man from the bathroom from only moments ago.
"You die tonight, Black." hissed the man, sending another curse his way which Sirius blocked.
"I doubt it, Incarcerous!" shouted Sirius, smiling as he saw some of the ropes entangle the attacker before he could counter it.
"Enfrangar!" shouted the man, shooting off a spell just as he tripped over. The Bone Breaking spell hit Sirius in the arm, letting out a cry of pain as the spell did its job and cracked his Humerus, though there was nothing funny about it…
He looked up to see the man was busy freeing himself and sent another Binding Hex his way, which missed.
"Diffindo." he heard the man say, the ropes were cut and slackened and he was now free.
"Stupefy." shouted Sirius, which was blocked and sent right back at him. Diving out of the way, he landed hard and his breath left his body for a moment.
"Reducto!" shouted another voice. Sirius looked up and saw James had regained his footing and watched as the spell missed by some distance and hit his bike which was sent flying through the air and landed on top of the attacker who had frozen in place at the sight of it, killing him instantly.
"Thanks." moaned Sirius, getting to his feet but keeping his arm still.
"Welcome…who was that guy?" asked James, walking after Sirius who rolled his now ruined bike off the man and rolled up his sleeve.
"Death Eater." muttered Sirius, upon seeing the brand Voldemort had taken to burn on his follower's skin.
"Git." spat James.
"You lads alright?" asked someone behind them.
"We're fine Mr Jonesmith." replied Sirius.
"Official Auror business." said James, drunkenly.
"Need me to call the Ministry?" asked Mr Jonesmith.
"That would be best Mr Jonesmith, thank you." said Sirius.
Ten minutes later, the area had a dozen Ministry employees and Sirius was retelling the tale for the fourth time.
"Alright, you can go. We identified the guy as Joseph Rowle, has a younger brother called Thorfinn. We'll let him know. Don't worry about being called in tomorrow; I'll have a word with Scrimgeour." said the Magical Law Officer who had interviewed them.
"Thanks, Kennedy." muttered James, standing up. He had sobered up completely now, and turned to Sirius who had the same look on his face when he had thought of a good prank idea.
"What are you thinking?" asked James, as they turned to start to walk back.
"Just something you brought to my attention." said Sirius, nonchalantly.
"What?" pushed James. Sirius paused for a moment before replying…
"Well…what do you think about a flying motorcycle?"
That was fun to do!
Happy Birthday, Hermione!