"I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together."

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"I have a surprise for you."

Sirius looked up from his History of Magic paper, both glad for the distraction and also to see Bell, and raised a teasingly-suspicious eyebrow at how she was holding both hands behind her back.

"And what might this surprise be?"

Remus, seated beside him, nudged his arm with an elbow just as James, on his other side, did the same with his foot. The former was sitting cross-legged, his knee poking Sirius', and the latter was half-draped over the arm of the sofa, most of his torso hanging upside down while his lanky legs laid across Sirius and Remus' laps.

"It's not a surprise if you know what it is," chorused the pair together and Sirius grinned. Ah, the little joys of true friendship, moments like these that they'd never remember but were sweet in the seconds they occurred.

"She's about to show me anyway-"

"Doesn't matter." With a huff, James used the ab muscles he'd developed in the last five years while the Gryffindor Quidditch team's Seeker- one needed good core strength and balance to zip about in the air as Seekers had to, and so James' near-six-pack was simply a 'reward of the trade' as he said -to flip his torso back upright, drawing in his legs and almost knocking Sirius in the mouth with his knee as he did so. "You've got to wait until the very second she shows you, then it's a surprise."

Bell smirked and ruffled James' already-messy hair as she agreed, "That's exactly how a surprise should be- taking notes, Hot Stuff?" Sirius had scribbled something on a corner of his essay's parchment which he now tore off and tucked in his pocket as he winked at Bell.

"Of course, Angel, I always strive to be better- even if it's impossible to improve perfection." He tossed his hair and they shared a laugh, but Sirius' mirth faded as Remus looked up from his own HoM essay with a wide smirk and James gave a loud wolf-whistle. Bell gave a sudden cough, her surprise still hidden behind her back, and Sirius shot a questioning look at his friends.

"'Hot Stuff'!" quoted James, clearly delighted at the nickname, and Bell glanced away, obviously pretending not to care as he repeated it again, "'Hot Stuff'! Out of all the nicknames-"

"It took you six years to give Sirius a flirty nickname?" Sirius could tell a blush was creeping up Bell's neck and he grinned at her, glad to hear her use the nickname in front of their friends for the first time since she'd first offered it to him in the library two weeks ago.

"I suppose it was overdue." Bell nudged aside James and plopped down on the couch, half-sitting in Sirius' lap because of the lack of space (ah, the long-gone days when all four Marauders and Bell could fit comfortably on this couch with room to spare), and dropped something on his head as she sat. Trying to ignore the quickening tempo of his heartbeat caused by how close to him she was and how her leg was on top of his and how her hair smelled as lovely as always, Sirius plucked the item off his head and held it out before him with one hand as he smoothly draped his other arm along the back of the couch and around Bell's shoulders.

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"A beanie?" Sirius paused, then a smile grew on his face. "A beanie!"

Bell grinned, leaning back into Sirius' arm around her. She had long been comfortable with physical touch with him and her other friends and hugs were part of her daily routine- this just seemed like a side-arm hug of sorts to her, and she welcomed it.

"A BEANIE WITH 'HOT STUFF' ON IT!!!" exclaimed James as he burst into raucous laughter.

"You can wear it to Quidditch matches," remarked the ever-perceptive Remus, "that maroon is just about the same shade as Gryffindor's."

"And also to Hogsmeade in the Winter," added Bell with a slightly-more-practical suggestion. The days were getting shorter as September came to a close and the wind was starting to chill. It was strange, Bell hadn't remembered cold weather making an appearance until late October in all the years she'd gone to Hogwarts, but just last Thursday, the temperature had dropped one degree below freezing- especially odd considering the Friday after it was August-warm again.

"And for ticking off your family-"

"And as a pouch if you fold it right-"

"Especially to hide sweets-"

Peter chimed in with this last remark, leaning against the back of the sofa behind Remus' head as there was no room for him on the actual seat, but all five friends fell silent when Sirius raised the beanie in a dramatically-regal manner and placed it on his head. Bell stifled a laugh and turned to help him out a little. It was clear he'd never worn one of these before, hence the last item on his list (which was exactly the reason Bell had bought him this gift).

"You've got it on backward, here-" A sudden pause fell between her and Sirius when she shifted to fix the beanie and realized she was practically sitting on his lap, facing him. That probably didn't look exactly innocent to someone looking, but it didn't seem like anyone was, as James and Peter had started discussing the best sweets from Honeyduke's while Remus went back to his essay, their passing interest in the beanie fading. Bell could feel her heart skip a beat and the blush she'd fought down earlier rose into her cheeks as she muttered something about angles, busying herself with adjusting the hat over Sirius' black locks.

"There." Bell moved to return to her seat squished between Sirius and James but, finding it had been taken by the latter shifting his position on the sofa once more, stood up instead. As she mentally forced her heart to slow down, she grinned at Sirius as if she felt no sudden turmoil and remarked, "You look great." The smile and wink he offered in return flustered Bell again and she was glad when he offered a reply, saving her the embarrassment of explaining the hue of her complexion.

"Do I, Angel? Do I really?"

"Yes, Sirius, the nickname really suits you right here and now." He turned to look at Remus and Bell took the chance to shake her head a little to clear her thoughts. That's better. What did she care about what others thought of her and Sirius' friendship? That's all it was, anyway, and any assumptions otherwise would be by people who didn't know of their long history of being mates and thus wouldn't know any better, meaning that the opinions of those same people wouldn't matter anyway to Bell if she knew of them.

"Which nickname?" Sirius winked and leaned back in the chair, his hair moving in waves around his face, framed nicely by the beanie, and James sat up perfectly straight with a broad grin.

"'HOT STUFF'!" Bell couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm along with Remus, Sirius, and a slightly-confused Peter, who'd missed the moment she first revealed the nickname to Remus and James.

"Just like it says on the hat."

"I'm sorry, what in the name of Merlin did I miss?" Marlene had appeared from the girls' dorms just in time to hear James' shout of 'Hot Stuff' and now she stood, arms crossed and smirking, to the right side of the sofa. James took over most of the explaining, which Peter appreciated as well as Marlene, and Bell was glad to have him tell of it instead of her lest another blush appear on her cheeks and Sirius never let her live it down.

"Why don't we test out the theory, then?" Bell tilted her head, frowning a little as Marlene began to smile, but a grin also appeared on her face when she realized her friend's idea. "Get your answer to that number 18," Bell added, this part directed at Sirius, and it seemed he understood as he stood up and then hopped onto the coffee table in front of them.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-"

"BOYS AND GIRLS-"

"LOUSES AND LAMBS-"

"SHRIMPS AND SAUSAGES:"

Bell mouthed an amused "What?" about those last two calls to Remus, but he just shrugged and waved at James and Marlene to get this over with.

"IF YOU THINK SIRIUS BLACK-"

"-THIS FELLA RIGHT HERE-"

"-ON THE COFFEE TABLE-"

"-CAN'T MISS HIM, FOLKS, HE'S RIGHT BEHIND ME-"

Bell just felt lucky neither of them owned a megaphone, or the whole Common Room might have rioted by now.

"-LOOKS GOOD IN THE BEANIE, GIVE A CALL OF 'AYE'!"

"OR RAISE YOUR HANDS!"

"YEAH, ACTUALLY, IGNORE WHAT I SAID ABOUT 'AYE', RAISE YOUR HANDS!"

A few hands went up at first from a group of giggling fifth years, then a few more, and within ten seconds, 90% of the Common Room had agreed Sirius Black was rocking that maroon beanie. With a dramatic bow, complete with a sweeping gesture with the beanie in his hand now, Sirius hopped down off the coffee table to generous applause from the aforementioned giggling girls and the well-meaning jokes of his friends.

"Well, it wasn't unanimous, give me that, let's see if I look better in it-"

"Not possible, James, Sirius is just too effortlessly handsome-"

"What about me?"

"Peter, you can rock a scarf, but hats are another accessory entirely-"

"I agree with the majority vote," Bell said as she claimed James' seat on the sofa to protests of nudging from the former occupant, and Sirius sat down where he had, drawing his list out from his pocket and picking up his quill.

"That's one item crossed off the list, then." They shared a grin. The dimple on the left side of Sirius' smile creased up his cheek just a little and Bell smiled at the familiar sight.

"Only seventeen left to go." Bell scoffed and leaned her head on Sirius' shoulder, shooing James away to go decoupage the chandelier again or something else productive.

"For you, that is. I've still got all twenty of mine."

"You pretty much did one of mine for me," Sirius said, and Bell could tell he'd turned his face to look at her by the exhale she could feel on the top of her head, "so how can I help with one of yours?"

Bell could hear James getting out the stepladder.

"There goes our decoupage champion again."

"Indeed. Remus-"

"Already on it."

"Phew. And you-" Sirius tapped Bell's nose and she smiled. "-answer my question, I beseech you."

Bell gazed into the fireplace as Sirius leaned his head on top of hers, which still rested on his shoulder, and made a brief mental note to buy another beanie from that brand, as she could feel how soft it was through her hair.

"How can I resist such fancy language? Mayhaps you could let me 'borrow' your leather jacket-"

"Nice try, Angel."

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Sirius' list:

18: Determine whether or not I look good in a beanie. ✔