"Guess how many chocolate frogs Remus got me?" Sirius asked, smirking slightly.

"You counted?" James questioned, his voice thick with disbelief. Sirius rolled his eyes. "That's not the point, Prongsy."
"Well it's just that you're so lazy-"
"Prongs-"
"And counting is the most draining of activities."
"Oh shut up, you bloke."

James grinned, rather stupidly, in Sirius's opinion, but grinned nonetheless. "Okay, how many?"

"395,"
"Of course he did!"
"You think your mum will mind if I...er...get your floor a little dirty?"
"Nah, mate. They have wands, remember?"
"Yeah, but it would still be rude."

James hopped off his bed. "Well at least Remus got you something good." He pointed out, picking up the homework planner that he had discarded only a moment before.

"I don't get it," he said, tossing it between his hands. "You're the one who always falls asleep when you try to do homework! If anything, you should have one of these."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I do have one, you dolt! It came with the chocolate frogs. Remus pulled a joke on me, putting all of those frogs on top of it. I thought he hadn't gotten me something school related!"

James laughed. "You know what he'd say right now?" He asked. Sirius grinned. "'School is more important than a chocolate frog record.'" He answered. James grinned. "Exactly."

The two of them paused and stared at the pile of opened gifts next to their beds. Sirius picked up the gift from his family and had the urge to chuck it against a wall.

Of course, they hated all things Gryffindor, so they hadn't even thought to get him something like that...and they hated Sirius, so they hadn't really bothered to get him something he would like.

So what did they decide would be most fitting to get him?

A Slytherin poster.

How sickening.

"Hey, mate," James said slowly. "Maybe they gave it to you so we could enjoy burning it."

Sirius laughed bitterly. "Or perhaps they thought I would be thick enough to hang it on my wall. They probably put a permanent sticking charm on it...and it's probably fire-resistant as well, so we can forget burning it."

James frowned. "Well, we don't know until we try, you bloke!" He said, rather crossly. Sirius bit his lip. "No, I suppose we don't. But I'd prefer not to get my hopes up, and all. That's never any fun, now is it?"

James shrugged. "Burning stuff is fun anyway. Maybe if this doesn't work we'll just burn some sticks." He suggested. Sirius laughed. "Oh, how exciting!" He said sarcastically.

<^>

"IT'S ACTUALLY BURNING!" James yelled, watching the poster curl in the flames. "SIRIUS! IT'S BURNING! BLOODY HELL! GET YOUR ARSE OUT HERE!" He screamed toward the house.

Sirius walked out of the door, holding one chocolate frog in each hand. "That's not funny, Prongsy." He said, not bothering to look at the flames. "You evil little git." He added, stuffing one of the frogs into his mouth and chewing loudly.

James dug his fingers into his hair and pulled, thoroughly frustrated by his friend's stubborn attitude. "Just look at the flames!" He snapped.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Right. Because I'm going to fall for it and you're going to laugh until you can't breath anymore. I'm not in the mood for that kind of embarrassment."

James stared at Sirius for a moment. Then he marched up to his friend, grabbed his hair, and yanked his head toward the flames.

Sirius yelped and dropped his chocolate frogs. "You arse! What are you-bloody hell."

James grinned as a stunned look came over his best friend's face. "It's actually burning?"
"No kidding."
"Sorry, mate."
"S'lright Padfoot."