Tick tick tick BOOM! [Sirius/Lloyd]

[lloydhoratioirving]

"For your homework, I'm going to pair you off into teams and you'll work together. I want you to make something by hand and then enchant it. I'll be judging on creativity, the complication of your device and the magic you used. The team who scores the highest will not only get an 'O' but also, a prize." Said Professor Flitwick, standing with a smile on his face as he addressed his class.

"Here are the teams, I'm announcing them myself." there was a collective groan, but the little man ignored them. He rifled off names, James was paired with Marlene, Lily with Peter, Luke with Remus, and so on and so forth with Sirius and Lloyd being paired up together.

Lloyd wasn't too sure what to think about that, would Sirius be good at making things? Lloyd was! He was good at charms, but he knew Sirius was better. Smiling, he waved at him and headed over as soon as he could. "This is gonna be great!" He said brightly, "We can make something really really cool!" He glanced over at Luke and Remus, who were already making plans. ".....Luke's good at makin' stuff and Remus is one of them walking brains like my friend Genis but.....but I'm good at building things too and....and you're good at charms! We'll win the prize! Whatever it is!"

Professor Flitwick gave them each a box with the same materials in them and Lloyd smiled as he pawed through his. They were allowed five extra items, but none of them could be pre-made, or magical. "This stuff is great!" He exclaimed, "I got lots of good stuff in my trunk too! I'll meet you in the dorm after dinner!" this was the first time he was actually excited about a homework assignment! He left the room, carrying the box of supplies with him.

He hurried through dinner, already coming up with plans for what he wanted to do. Shoveling food into his mouth, he finished up in record time and vanished from Great Hall. As a result of his haste, he was the first one back to the Common Room. He smiled at Sirius as he finally came into the room.

He emptied the box out, there were gears, pieces of wood in many shapes and sizes, strong plastic domes, screws, nuts, bolts, springs, all kinds of muggle objects! "Some of this stuff's really good." He said with a smile, "And then there's my stuff!" and he took out a small pendulum type thing for a grandfather clock, brass numbers, hands and all kinds of other things. "Clock stuff! I figured we could make a clock! But since something made entirely out of muggle stuff don't really work around magic, I figured we'd use magic to make the gears turn and....and then to do something really neat! I already got a pretty kickass idea but....but I wanna hear what you came up with first Sirius!"

Lloyd was grinning like a fool, truly happy about this. This was his time to shine! His time to show that he wasn't an idiot! That he could do something right and do it righter than anyone else! "We'll win the prize for sure Sirius! And....and I can tell mom and dad about my very first 'O'! They don't even know those grades are possible! Most I've ever gotten was an E!"

He inspected the objects while he listened to Sirius' idea, turning them over and over in his hands and sorting them into piles. He seemed to be in his element. The metal things went into one pile, the wooden into another, and the odds and ends such as the plastic dome went into a third.

[madie]

Sirius sat in the back corner of the classroom with the other marauders, just as he always did. His feet were propped up on the desk, his weight distributed between two chair legs. He inwardly groaned as Professor Flitwick rattled on about a group project. Sharing a meaningful glance with his best mate, Sirius could not help but roll his eyes. It was not so much the group work that fazed him, more so the knowing he’d be spit up from his friends. Flitwick was not stupid... he knew pairing the marauders together would end in the untimely destruction of his classroom. Moony was the brain behind their operations, James and Sirius the masterminds... Peter the cute little tag along. Only bad things could come from pairing them together.

“James and Marlene”

Shooting and annoyed glance towards the front of the class, Sirius shifted as to allow his best mate past. The knowing that the four of them would be split up was hardly enough to prepare him for their separation. It would be strange, sitting with someone outside of his immediate friend group.

“Lily and Peter”

“Remus and Luke”

Rolling his eyes once, twice... and again at his name being called, Sirius could not help but frown. Of course he’d been paired with Gryffindor’s happy pill. Irving waved at him from the class- an action which evoked nothing more a halfhearted smile from the Black heir. Why couldn’t he just be disgruntled by the assignment like a normal person? They were being asked to play with muggle toys after all. What could be worse?

“Remus is more than just a walking brain” he said, exasperated, “He’s like a bloody encyclopedia on legs”. Sirius knew he was taking his frustrations out on the boy, knew he was doing so despite the fact he was an unwilling participant in this pairing. It was unfair, he knew, Lloyd hadn’t asked to be paired with him after all. It wasn’t his fault he’d been split up from the other marauders. It had simply put him in a bad mood- and Lloyd was easy to take his frustrations on.

For the rest of the class, Sirius tried his hardest to put on a happy face. He tried, desperate though his attempt may have been, to pretend he was okay with working on a muggle project. His parents would kill him if they heard what he was doing. More so than that, they would have skinned him alive for working so closely with a muggleborn. Not that he cared much, Lloyd was nice enough. He was enthusiastic, happy, energetic.

... this would be interesting

The two boys did not meet again until after dinner, the pair having decided to start early. They met in the common room, beside the fire, immediately after tea. Sirius could not help but laugh at this, perhaps he wouldn’t make such a bad partner after all. He was definitely... eager.

Despite having known on another for six years, Sirius and Lloyd were essentially strangers. This was the first time the two of them had properly talked... for more than a few seconds in any case. “So long as you know what you’re doing” he smirked, jumping up to sit on the couch. “I’ve no idea how to work that muggle crap” He said, raising his eyebrow at the sight of a screwdriver. Muggles certainly were strange. “All of my ideas involve explosives... you might not want to ask me” He sniggered, smiling up at the boy. “If you’re smart Irving... you’ll not let me anywhere near that clock until it’s time to charm it.”

Twirling his wand between his fingers, the boy smirked. “never got an O eh? Well... we’ll see about that” He laughed, winking at the boy. If his ambitions were to make his parents proud... he was more than willing to assist. At least their joint O would go appreciated by someone.

[lloydhoratioirving]

"......Yeah....no explosions." Lloyd muttered, "As cool as that would be... I don't think the Professor would like that at all." and he nodded again "Okay! You can charm the stuff. I'm good at charms too but ..... well I'm probably better at this stuff than you." He said, gesturing to the items.

He settled on one of the pieces of wood and took the knife he usually used in potion's class. Sitting down on an armchair, he slowly began carving. "So...." he asked, struggling to find a subject, he'd heard that Sirius' parents didn't exactly....like him all that much, so he decided to stay away from that subject.

"I figured.....since you don't know much about .....muggle stuff....it'd be kind of fun to show you." he muttered as he carved away, shavings hit the floor and the scent of pine filled the air around them. "My dad showed me how to carve and build things. He's really good at it. You should see some of the stuff we got at home."

"A-....anyway, I figured we could make a....mini version of the school. It don't have to be perfect or nothin' just....good." He said, "And we can put a buncha dragons around and charm 'em to fly around on the hour. We could make the castle and have .....I dunno, the whole front the the clock instead of the clock tower." smiling, Lloyd set his wood down and instead, took a quill and parchment and started to draw his idea out.

It was crude, but it got his point across pretty well. "I figure we could make the castle mostly with magic since ....well it takes time and we only got a week. But the clock itself has to run with magic since nothin' muggle works around magic stuff."

Sitting back in his chair again, he resumed carving, checking the wood every now and again as he worked. He didn't know what else to say, so he just let his natural curiosity take over.

"You don't know anything about muggle stuff?" He asked, "No football, no TV or nothin'?" And so he started explaining about muggle sports, "So in football, you got a ball on the ground, it's black and white and everyone on one team chases it and kicks it around. You can use every part of your body to hit the ball but your arms! That's bad. Anyway, you gotta get the ball into the goal on the other side of the field!"

He listened to Sirius' reaction and then whistled lowly, "Weird. I don't know anybody who's never played football before. Even Genis and Raine did!" He laughed, "But Raine totally sucks at it." he smiled, "I didn't know nothin' about bein' a wizard." He muttered, "But I remember the first time I used magic. Made a puppy float away from a car. Raine explained it to my mum and dad and it was so.....weird! Then Genis showed signs of magic too and well....it was cool!"

Laughing he said, "I don't know as much 'bout magic as I do 'bout muggle stuff but Raine read me some of them fairy tales you guys got. They're ......weird! Some of 'em are really creepy. That one 'bout the three brothers.....gave me nightmares!" He laughed again and shook his head, the wooden dragon taking shape already. "It's kinda strange. Muggles and purebloods ain't so different from each other. Sure they got different stuff but...that don't matter. Muggles, half bloods, purebloods and even muggleborn witches and wizards, we all got the same heart. I don't see why more people don't see it."

And he blew across the top of his dragon, it was already half formed. He turned the wood around in his hands and then resumed carving. Looking up he stared at Sirius, "You wanna try?" He asked, pointing to another piece of wood. "I'll show you I guess. Ain't as good at teacher as Raine, but .....I'll show you anyway."

[madie]

Sirius could not help but stare, dumbfounded. Football, really? Muggle sports never ceased to amaze him. Despite his reluctance to admit it, the disowned Black air was quick to distance himself from anything that might earn him a beating. Although he tended to play up his bad boy act at hogwarts, he wasn’t suicidal. He knew exactly how to rile his parent’s nerves... but he very rarely pushed the boundaries- his last night in Grimmauld place laying testament to why they had been set in the first place. It was simply not worth it.

Whilst moving in with the Potters had brought the boy some security, old habits were hard to shake. As hard as Sirius might have tried, he still could not bring himself to participate in muggle activities. It was simply too risky. Curious though he might have been, it was not worth one of his cousins tattling on him. It’s not as if he hadn’t rubbed his newfound freedom in his parents’ faces already- muggle sports would only make it ten times worse. He would have to return home eventually after all... he couldn’t leave his things to rot.
"That sounds fine Lloyd... dragons and clocks... whatever’s good” he mulled absentmindedly, completely lost in watching the boy carve. His mind had gone walkabout, talk of football and clock towers leaving him speechless.

”Yeah I... no, I’ve never played football... or watched TV really” Memories of his childhood came rushing back then. He and his cousins had played different games, read different bed time stories. From a very young age, Sirius had been taught that Muggles (and by extention, muggleborns) were their enemies. They were dirty, dingy, not to be touched. Luckily for Lloyd however, his parents’ words hadn’t stuck. The boy had absolutely no problems with associating himself with muggleborns and halfbloods, one of his best friend was a werewolf for Merlin’s sake!

Still, this did not change his childhood. Whilst most children sat in front of the TV watching cartoons, Sirius had grown up listening to his parents mull on about the ministry. As a toddler he had chased Kreature around the house, attended functions and parties... grown up much faster than most kids his age.

”Me and my brother rode brooms and stuff... played with exploding snap cards” He said dismissively, as means to avoid the question. In short, he hadn’t been allowed to play with Muggle things... he was a pureblood, anyone who had heard about his lineage would know that already. Lloyd was a muggleborn though, and Padfoot doubted he knew much.

”The one about the hairy heart did it for me” He chuckled, vaguely remembering his Aunt reading the story to him once. He had been young, much younger than he was now... far too impressionable and innocent for a story like that. It had given him nightmares for weeks! ”It’s gruesome I tell you!”

Nodding slightly at Lloyd’s comment about blood purity, Sirius shifted slightly. Even mention of the subject made him feel awkward... it wasn’t his favorite topic after all. ”Yeah look! I’ve even got my own knife” He exclaimed, simply relieved by the change in discussion. Pulling the knife from his belt, the boy grinned. Today would be brilliant.

((sorry if it’s horrible... I’ve written it up on my phone >.<))

[lloydhoratioirving]

"Wow.....that's ....that's different. I play football all the time!" Lloyd exclaimed, "I mean, I ain't a superstar or anything but ....well I'm good enough."

Laughing, Lloyd said "And my mom used her broom to sweep the house." he shook his head, "Raine would buy Genis magical stuff and send them to him when she knew he'd be at my house. Sent stuff to me too. I know what exploding snap is. It's kinda fun! Specially if you make a house of cards with them and BANG!" He threw out his hands, keeping a good grip on both objects. "They go all over the place!"

He nodded, "Yeah....I never heard that one, I think it's 'cause Genis would always listen in. I was about eight and he was five so Raine usually stayed away from the really scary ones. Didn't stop me from reading them though."

As Sirius took out the knife, Lloyd grinned and got up to inspect it, "Wow! That's a cool lookin' knife! Mine isn't anything special, just a normal one." He gave Sirius a block of wood, "Be careful and don't let it slip or you'll slice your fingers, but go with the grain of the wood and just....try to cut in the outline of a dragon or whatever. Don't let it go too deep, just put some muscle into it and take your time. The dragon will take shape eventually, just use your imagination!"

That was all the instruction he gave Sirius, but he moved slowly enough so that if he wanted to watch he could. "So....what's it like having a brother?" He asked, "I don't have any siblings. But.... I guess Genis is like a little brother to me. We've been together ever since I saw him and Raine at the orphanage. He was just a-" He stopped and then looked to Sirius, "You can't tell anyone I told you that." He said quickly, "It just slipped out! Raine and Genis....they don't like telling people about it....please don't mention it?"