James and the Giant Staircase.
One lazy Sunday, Sirius, Remus and I (with the very little useful advice from Peter) were plotting and planning cunning plots and plans to get into Evan's dormitory. Well, just the girls dormitories, in fact.
"What if you flew up?" Remus suggested sensibly.
"With those spiral staircases ? I'd probably be chopped in half by the time I got up there."
"What if," Came the sudden bleat of Peter's voice, "What if you replaced your shoes by carrots?"
Everyone sighed.
"What about the cloak ?" Sirius suggested. I honestly think he was fonder of that cloak than I was. And that's saying something.
"I don't think it'll work. Remember, Ernie Wickam's Disillusionment charm ?"
"Yes but that was a charm, this is a –"
"What if," came Peter's squeaky, annoying voice again. "you walked up the stairs?"
There was a moment's silence. My first thought was : Don't be stupid Peter, hard to do, I know. You can't just walk up the stairs.
But what if you could? Had anyone tried?
"You know Peter … That's not a bad idea." Moony said slowly.
"What's the worst that could happen? Like, the stairs transform into a great slide and James gets ridiculed in front of the whole common room?" Sirius sniggered scornfully.
"Let's think …" Dear old Moony said hoarsely. "What can the stairs actually do?" He walked over to them, tapped them about a little, looked at them from funny angles and pulled his wand out. One "Specialus Revielium" later, nothing had happened.
"Nope. Nothing tricky about those stairs. I say you just walk up them, James."
Pushed on by all of my friends, I walked bravely over to the stairs. I put my foot on the first step. Nothing seemed to happen, so I started to go up the rest. I must have been on the fourth or fifth step when suddenly there were no more stairs. Instead, there was a great stone slide and I was slipping down. My arms working frantically and my legs going at the speed of light I tried my best to get to the top, until I felt myself sliding painfully down the spiral, even ripping a hole in my trousers. I fell down at the bottom and landed in a heap.
The whole common room was laughing. I was extremely grateful towards the hand that offered to pull me up. On my feet I started brushing my self off, but froze in mid-brush. That helping hand belonged to Lily Evans … Oh beautiful, graceful, elegant …
"Trying to get up, James ?" She asked softly, before quietly kissing me on the cheek.
Two hours later :
"You can stop dancing now, James."