Textbook Troubles
Inspired by this post by @theblackstar04 (470 words)
They'd been in their Defence Against the Dark Arts class twenty minutes before Sirius finally takes out his textbook with disinterest.
"It's not like we don't already know this stuff," he complains, pushing James' book with his own in an attempt to knock it off the table at the other side.
James' hand slaps down with a bang to stop it falling.
Their professor isn't impressed, but they're not concerned. They're bored.
Sirius starts flicking through the pages to see if he can find anything interesting. He especially likes the little sections at the centre of some pages with 'interesting facts'.
"Hey," he whispers suddenly to James. There's a snicker in his whisper, and James turns to see him pointing at the book. "It's you!"
True to form, what appeared to be an ogre was looking out them from the pages. It was a large, brutish thing but if you looked hard enough the wrinkles in its eyes could look like glasses. That was where the resemblance ended, but it was enough to crack Sirius up.
"You fucking loon," James grumbles, grinning and beginning to flick through his own copy to find something equally as harsh.
"That's you, too!" Sirius laughs again, this time pointing at a grindylow whose arms were flailing about the place, "When you're flying."
With a determined look, James huffs under his breath and opens a page at random.
"Ha!" he cheered in a low voice, "That's you." He was pointing at a forest troll with a beard which did bear some semblance to Sirius when he hadn't washed his hair for a week.
"Pfft," Sirius mutters, before flicking to another page and barking a laugh so loud he was called upon to answer a question.
"What were you-" James began, once the teacher's attentions were otherwise occupied again.
Sirius was beside himself. "Look, it's Evans!"
He'd opened the book at a double-spread comparing banshees and hags.
James' subsequent glare does nothing to curb Sirius' laughter.
"Look," James says at last, breaking into a grin as he mutters in an even lower voice. "It's Pete," he says, pointing at a red cap.
They share a grin, eyes meeting in amusement before a sudden mischievous look passes between them. They've had the same idea.
In a rush, they both turn their attentions to their books, hurrying to one of the pages at the end.
James gets their first, but they both turn around together with books open at matching pages.
"Remus! It's you!" They shout in synchrony, as James slams his textbook triumphantly on the desk behind them where Remus was sitting with Peter.
They'd observed what had been going on ahead of them, and knew it was only a matter of time before their learning, too, was disrupted.
Page 394.
Needless to say, Remus was unimpressed.
