A/N: I don't own Harry Potter!
Oh Well
Marauders Era, 3rd Year.
"I didn't do it."
"We know that, Peter."
"Just saying." Peter bit his lip and scuffed his shoe against the hard-packed ground.
Remus sighed. "Well, you can stop now."
"He just slipped—"
"Shut up, Peter," Sirius said as he leaned over the edge of the well, peering down into the inky depths. "James! You dead yet?"
"Still alive," came the reply, along with quite a bit of splashing. "If someone would like to get on with the Wingardium Leviosa-ing, I'd probably stand a greater chance of staying that way."
"I don't think it'll reach that far," Remus said, "I think it has a radius of control or something, I can't remember. That lesson was two years ago."
"Just climb out, you lazy git," Sirius called down. Remus had to grab the edge of his cloak as he leaned too far over the edge, nearly slipping and falling in himself.
"Not you too," Remus said, eyes frantic, "It's bad enough with James down there."
James' voice echoed from the well. "I'm getting waterlogged. In case anyone cares. Remus obviously doesn't."
"I do, James!" Peter yelled down the well, the sound reverberating off the walls.
"Not heeeeelping."
"It's your own fault." Remus rubbed both hands over his face.
They had been wandering around the outskirts of Hogsmeade, enjoy the last weekend of being together before they all went home for the holidays. The little wizarding village held a great appeal to the thirteen-year-olds, especially because there were so many places to explore once the regular shops had been visited. With their pockets bulging with Tongue-Twisting Toffees, firecrackers, and sugar quills, they had taken to roaming the edges of the village, where they had found an old well. James had made a show of walking around the edge, ever-confident in his own agility and balance with Peter as an audience while Remus and Sirius argued about the finer points of an upcoming prank they all hoped to play on a particularly annoying Hufflepuff girl.
That's when James had slipped and fallen right into the well, prompting Peter to start running around the well and loudly declaring it absolutely wasn't his fault.
"There's a thousand spells, pick one!" James demanded.
Sirius grinned. "Oh, do enlighten us, James, which one should we pick?"
"Maybe if we did Wingardium Leviosa together," Remus said, biting his lip, "We could at least try." And if that didn't work, maybe they could just throw a rope down the well and do it the Muggle way.
Sirius nodded. "I'm game."
"Ditto," Peter said with a wavering smile, as if he still expected them to blame them for James' idiocy.
The threefold spell worked, but the combined force sent James shooting out of the well and into a nearby tree, one with a hugging ivy vine. It took them another half hour to coax the ivy to fork over James.
