Growing up Pureblooded

Crazy Cousins

That evening, Aries and Draco sat up in their dormitory and talked with Dean. Ron and Seamus were out walking somewhere, so they could speak freely. "Good job at dinner," Aries said to Dean. "You pulled it off just right." Draco nodded. "Where did you learn to talk in that snobbish, arrogant way?" he asked. "It seemed very authentic." Dean smirked. "Thank you. I just imitated things I've heard from you and Aries over the years."

"We don't talk that way!" Draco insisted. Dean gave him an amused look. "You do, mate." "You make out like we're a couple of bloody toffs!" the blond boy went on. "If the shoe fits," Dean replied with a shrug. The blond boy sniffed. "Well, I've never been so insulted in all my life. I had thought we were friends, but all this time you've thought I was stuck-up and arrogant."

Aries's mouth twitched. "To be fair, Draco, Dean never used those words to describe the way we talk. You did." "Don't you mind being thought of that way?" Draco demanded. Aries shrugged and ran a hand casually through his hair. "Why should I? We've a lot to be stuck-up about." Dean rolled his eyes. "I rest my case. So, what's the next part of the plan."

"We have to brand all your followers with your Mark," Aries said, pulling a piece of parchment out of his bag and handing it to Dean. "I call it 'the Marauder's Mark'." Dean looked down at a drawing of a yellow smiley-face with downward-slanting eyebrows. He frowned. "It looks like an evil happy face," he said.

Aries grinned. "Precisely. I'm also planning to come up with an incantation so we can conjure it everywhere we've performed a prank." "I don't know about that, Aries," Dean said cautiously. "Don't you think that's taking things a bit far?" "What are you complaining about?" Aries demanded. "We're setting you up with power, glory and minions. If you play it right, gold and girls can follow."

"He's got a point, Aries," Draco said. "Besides, if we send up this Mark, everyone will know we were the ones responsible for our pranks. We'll get more detentions that way."
Aries chuckled. "Not if we make the Mark so that it's visible only to certain people."

Draco nodded in understanding. "You mean Bilius and Finnegan." "Can you really do that?" Dean asked in amazement. "You're only a third-year." Draco gave Dean a condescending look. "Aries can do anything," he drawled. "And you wonder why people think you two are arrogant," Dean muttered as he crawled into bed. "Crazy cousins." "We're brothers now," Aries reminded him.

Dean sighed. "That only intensifies the insanity. Look at the twins. They're a pair of nutters." Aries and Draco had to concede his point.