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Eight, five year old little feet padded their way through the living room quietly, except for the harshly weathered wooden floor underneath their small portioned bodies creaking and moaning with the slightest weight placed upon it.

They all came down in their play clothes, tired, hair ruffled mostly to one side, yawning and gently bumping into each other. They had just awaken from their afternoon nap and were still waking up. They were at Peter’s house, with his Muggle parents, who were out at the moment. And the babysitter... well... she had taken a well deserved nap herself, just forgot to set up the alarm clock. Sirius walked over to the couch to sit down, scratching his little butt, he searched for the remote to turn on the telly. James climbed up on the couch with his friend where as Remus went off to find something to drink. Peter was the last one down, dragging his treasured blanket with him, the one with the little yellow ‘safety’ duckies on it. He went straight to the loo and stayed there.

Flipping through the channels, Sirius came across a car channel, and today, they were learning about how buses work! They watched about 10 minutes of the show when Sirius got an idea. Looking over at the wall, he saw an electrical socket and smiled widely. Sliding off the couch and running into the kitchen to get Remus, he told his friend the idea.

The idea is that they were going to play bus. One was going to be the driver and put the key in the ignition and drive the others around town.

“Peter! We’re playing bus! You’re the driver!”

With that, Peter ran out of the loo and over to the others, his blanket trailing behind him. He saw Sirius, James and Remus sitting on the floor a couple feet away from an electrical socket in a line.

“Come on Peter! You’re the driver and we’re tired of waiting!” James said with a sort of irritated tone.

With an oblivious nod, Peter sat down in front of them and put his hands up on an imaginary steering wheel. “Where too?” He asked his passengers.

“No, no! You’re doing it all wrong Peter! You need to start the bus! Put the key in the keyhole!” Sirius said from behind him.

Peter, setting his index finger and thumb together to form an imaginary key, reached down and put it in an imaginary keyhole.

“No, no, no! You’re still doing it wrong! You need a real key! Like this here!” Sirius said once again as he held up a twisty-tie that had held the bread packaging closed. “And you need a real keyhole! Like that!” He said while pointing toward the outlet in the wall.”

Looking from the twisty-tie to the outlet, then back again, he looked behind to Sirius. “Is it safe?”

“Of course! I saw them do it on the telly! Now go! Start the bus! I need to get to the park!”

“I don’t think this is very safe Sirius...” Remus said from behind them in a hoarse whisper.

Reaching back and slapping his hand on Remus’ mouth, James put his other hand against his mouth with one finger sticking up over his lips. “Shhh.” Making the noise quietly, he looked back toward Peter and just waited.

They watched in total silence as Peter shoved the twisty-tie into the socket. In one huge, blinding flash of electrical dancing light, he was thrown back across the room, hitting the top of the back of the couch, making it tip backward, then hitting the wall and landing on the floor with a hard thud.

Standing up and slowly walking over, they looked at their friend in utter shock. They watched him, lying there just twitching, his flesh completely chard up and down his right side.

“Smokin’!” James said loudly and with a hard laugh as Sirius got a long stirring spoon from the kitchen.

“Oh no! We’re going to be in so much trouble! Is he alive? Oh no... no no no!” Remus worried as he paced back and forth. Yes, even at such a tender age he was a worry-wart.

“He’s crispy.” Sirius said as he hunched down and began poking the twitching body with the handle end of the stirring spoon.

“Merlin’s beard! The sitter! She’s the fourth one his parents have called all weekend! We’re going to be in so much trouble!” Remus almost squealed. “Stop poking him Sirius!”

“Like it’s hurting him.” The ebony haired marauder snorted, while still poking Peter as he lie motionless on the floor.

“He’s still breathing. He’ll be fine Remus.” James interjected.

“He has third degree burns!”

“And you read to much.” Sirius laughed as he stood up and nudged Peter with his foot. “Come on Peter! Get up! You still have to take us to the park!”

Soon, they heard a hard groan and then a scream as they saw the sitter run down the stairs and over to Peter. “What happened?!” She asked with terrified eyes.

“We were playing bus...” Sirius said with a very innocent tone and huge eyes.

“Oh my Lord!” The sitter screamed once again and grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around the poor boy. Picking him up, she grabbed the phone and punched in the number for the paramedics. She cradled the poor little guy in her arms, pacing back and forth. She looked at the clock over and over again, waiting and waiting. She looked down to the three, watching Sirius throw his arms behind his back to hide the stick. “You three! Against the wall! Time out!” She yelled, more worried about Peter than she was about the three, but still trying to keep them in check so none of them were hurt either.

They each kneeled in front of the wall and placed their hands behind their heads, barely leaning in to touch the wall with their noses.

“Now, what have we learned?” Remus asked the other two without looking toward them.

“Twisty-tie plus outlet equals fun!” James said with a laugh.

“Wait until the sitter is gone to do it again.” Sirius laughed.

Remus only shook his head with a deep sigh as the two continued to snigger and laugh.

~The End~