Chapter I -- Flaming Bird Poop
"Miss Scutio!"
The sixth year Slytherin was awoken suddenly by the voice of an annoyed professor. She looked around, seafoam eyes trying to adjust to the bright light in the greenhouse.
"This is the fourth time you've fallen asleep in this class today. I'm going to have to ask you to, regretfully, see the Headmaster." The girl's face brightened and she tried not to grin.
"Miss DiNozzo, please make sure Miss Scutio actually makes it there this time. We don't want another incident like last time, do we?" The stout, grey-haired witch gave a frown as she motioned a Ravenclaw off towards the door that the Slytherin was exiting.
"I don't see how you fall asleep in the middle of Herbology. I mean, it's the middle of the day and we are in a greenhouse, after all. And how do you fall asleep standing up in the first place, Lauren?" The Ravenclaw glanced over at the other girl, awaiting a response.
"I've had plenty of practice." Lauren stated simply as they neared the entrance to Hogwarts castle. "You should know that by now, Rosemary."
"What, going against the rules or falling asleep standing up?"
The strawberry-blonde thought a moment before replying, "Both."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Rosemary opened the great doors and stepped inside, Lauren close behind. "Now which way to Dumbledore's?"
"Follow me!" Lauren exclaimed with a wave. Rosemary shook her head with a laugh and followed quickly, not bothering to join in the fun.
After a few twists and turns here and there, a couple of ghosts passed, and a flight of stairs later, the girls arrived at a large statue of a griffin.They stepped on as it began to spiral upwards. The two stopped at a pair of magnificent doors, both of which were promptly opened by Lauren.
"What's up, Dumbledore?" Lauren asked happily as a bearded face turned their way.
Rosemary greeted him with a polite. "Hello, Professor."
A pair of twinkling blue eyes watched them from behind half-moon spectacles. "Ahh, I see my favorite students have decided to pay me a visit today. How fortunate."
"Well, sort of..." Rosemary stared pointedly at Lauren. "Someone decided to take a nap in Herbology today. Standing up."
Dumbledore's eyes seemed to laugh, but he made no change in expression. "I see Professor Sprout took a little longer than usual to send you here. How many times did you fall asleep, Miss Scutio?"
"Four." Rosemary stated before Lauren had a chance to say anything.
"Ahh, a new record."
"Hey, I am in the room, you know." Said Lauren, giving them an offended look, which was outweighed by the smile that played across her lips.
"Someone needs to come up with some sort of in-dream classes... Then maybe you'd know what's going on," the Ravenclaw laughed. She saw Dumbledore look to Lauren and give her a subtle look.
Rosemary turned towards Lauren, who was now trying to look innocent. "You were about to smack me in the back of the head, weren't you?"
"No." The answer came back a little too quickly.
"She was, wasn't she, Professor?" Rosemary looked back at Dumbledore with a glare.
Dumbledore smiled slightly and changed the subject. "You know, I'm going to have to give you a detention. Professor Binns has been needing someone to help him dust off some of his old artifacts."
"Aww, not Binns!" Rosemary groaned. "He's so... so... boring! If he wasn't a ghost already, he could bore himself to death!" Then it dawned on her; she smiled. "Hey, I don't get detention! Technically, I wasn't the one falling asleep. I'm just the escort."
"I don't think so. You're coming with me. There's no way I'm staying all day with that old fart," she looked to Dumbledore and added a quick, "No offense, Professor," before continuing. "You still owe me for all the times you got into detention and I stayed with you."
"I was in detention because you got me put in there in the first place!"
Lauren gave a guilty laugh before an errie song echoed in the room. "Fawkes!" A fiery crimson, orange, and gold bird swept gracefully into view and landed with a soft ruffle of feathers on Lauren's shoulder. He glistened in the light that streamed in a window nearby as the Slytherin scratched his chin.
"Isn't there any way I could have detention in here?" Lauren asked, not taking her eyes off the bird. "I could help you... clean under Fawkes' perch or something. I'm sure it needs it; he's a big bird and with big birds come big piles of --"
"You'd have too much fun petting and talking to Fawkes for it to count as a detention." Rosemary interrupted.
"Hey, whose side are you on, anyways?"
Dumbledore's eyes moved from Lauren to Fawkes and back again. "Are you sure you're up for it, Miss Scutio? Occasionally they'll catch on fire if you don't watch it. I singe my beard all the time that way."
"Really?!" Lauren was once again excited. "I mean, I can really have detention with you today? I didn't mean your beard... Really?"
Rosemary gave Dumbledore a look of disbeleif as he smiled. "I wish I could get these kinds of detentions. But no, I'm always stuck cleaning cauldrons for Professor Slughorn, listening to his horrible singing and old stories... Why does she get all the fun?" For a minute there she had to stop and reanalize that statement.
"He likes me better." Lauren smiled smugly, receiving a quick glare from her Ravenclaw friend.
"Well, at least I don't have to clean piles of flaming bird poop. See you in Potions, Lauren."
"You're more than welcome to stay if you like, Miss DiNozzo, if you can conveniently manage to receive a detention also."
"I can do something other than clean bird poop, right?" She looked towards Dumbledore a bit reluctantly.
"My bookshelf needs reorganizing... If you like, you may do that instead."
"Thank you, Professor!" Rosemary rushed over towards the many shelves all around. Potions was boring enough to get fake detention instead.
"You're actually taking a detention you didn't even deserve? And you're happy about it?"
"What are you talking about? You were happy to be cleaning flaming bird poop."
"For your information, it's not flaming... yet!"
By the end of the day, all of the phoenix poop had been cleaned (Lauren received a few burned fingers in the meantime) and all the books had been reorganized (Rosemary received a few hits to the head by "flying" books for laughing about Lauren's fingers). The two left for the Great Hall a little tired, but glad to have missed not only Potions but double Arithmancy and one class of History of Magic. Two extra seats were made at the Gryffindor table and the girls joined the mass of students who had already begun to eat.
"So, Lauren got detention again." Rosemary said as a few students around them looked over. "Dumbledore let her stay in his office for the millionth time. No surprise there."
"What were you in for this time?" A messy-haired sixth year glanced over, brown eyes dancing in amusement. "Turning Narcissa into a poodle again?"
"Hey," Another boy nearby piped up. "That wasn't funny. How was I supposed to know that was Narcissa?" He gave the first boy an annoyed look from behind the long, dark hair that fell lightly into his face. Two other boys, not to mention Rosemary, got a kick out of this memory jolt as the second boy passed glares around the small group.
"No, I didn't turn Narcissa into a poodle again... although that was hilariously funny. I fell asleep."
"Four times." Rosemary emphasized.
"Wow, four times?" The second boy asked again. "Sprout is really cutting you slack today."
"Or maybe she's just getting tired of sending her to Dumbledore, Sirius." A third boy addressed the second between bites of potatoes.
"Could be, Remus." Lauren said. "So... you guys pull any good pranks today?"
The first boy answered this question. "We managed to sucessfully transfigure a toilet into a tiger today. Now all we have to figure out is how to get Snivellus to go into its stall." Lauren and Rosemary both had to snicker at this.
"You just now figured out how to do the Man-Eating-Toilet hex, James?" Lauren asked jokingly. "I had that one figured out weeks ago."
"So that's what you were doing while you were in detention two weeks ago!" Rosemary laughed, swallowing a bite of green beans. "Did you manage to turn any of those toilet-tigers on Filch?"
"No, they decided he was too much bone and skin and not enough meat. I set them on his fat little cat instead."
Remus coughed in laughter with the rest of the group, looking very pale. Everyone knew well enough not to ask if he was feeling sick. This was normal. "Full moon's tonight." Remus mentioned idly. "You guys up for another run?" He already knew the answer; none of them had to say a thing. After all, they had been doing this same thing for two years now.
"You going to be alright, Moony?" The Ravenclaw's grey-blue eyes shifted from her plate to Remus' colorless face, the same shade as the moon that would be perching itself in the sky in a matter of four or five hours.
"Yeah." He answered softly as everyone grew quiet. "I'll be fine tomorrow." There was an awkward, almost grave silence before everyone started talking again.