A/N:
Madeline: I don't own Harry Potter, nor would I want to... Eick, Potters...
Scorpius: Al's a Potter, you know.
Madeline: Yeah, but that's different. He's not a redhead and he gives me things, so he's okay.
Scorpius: Ignore my sister and enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 2 - The Hunt
"A typical start to a not so typical day. Not so typical because Scorpius and Albus decided today, the first day of school, will be the day they convince one of their classmates to essentially defect from main stream thought; to show everyone the world is what you make of it and that detention isn't so bad..."
"Albus! It's early! Stop with the crazy." A grumpy Scorpius dead panned while tossing his pillow into the vicinity of his roommate and rolled over to return to sleep.
Albus clucked the projectile and mumbled halfheartedly, "I'm not crazy..." Before going about his daily routine.
Hours later, the three soon to be civilly disobedient students all met after dinner at the library, a place where they could be sure to find their target.
Lorcan Scamander was a somewhat tall Ravenclaw who always seem impossibly bored and was commonly spotted lazily flipping through a multitude of texts. Often times he ended up dangerously close to the restricted section. The sloppy uniform and messy dirty blond hair did nothing for his slacker image.
The threesome took their seats and Albus quickly got up, hoping to corner the dirty blond alone. He had known Lorcan for quite some time and knew he was easy enough to convince on his own. However, if his twin should get involved, the plan would be over before it even started.
Lysander Scamander may have been Lorcan's twin but besides the physical features, there was nothing similar about them. Lysander was always open and willing to learn, trying his hardest to do no wrong and to stay on the meticulous course he had plotted for himself.
"Hey Lorcan, what's sup?" Albus nervously began.
"What do you want me to do, Albus?" Lorcan immediately questioned.
"Who said I wanted anything?"
"You did, by seeking me out... Oh, and the fact that you keep looking around for Ly," he added with a shrug. "You're nervous so let me ask you again, what do you want?"
"I need your help... I took James' map... and me and my friends wanna have some fun with it but we know we're not smart enough to account for everything so we need someone with brains, someone like you."
Lorcan sat quietly in thought for a moment then nodded.
"When did you get here, Albus?" Lysander blurted out when he walked up, starting the Slytherin out of the hushed conversation with the other twin.
"Hey Ly, I was here with some friends and saw Lorc alone, so I thought I'd come say hi," he squeaked as he nervously fisted his robes.
"Wow Albus, I never took you for a liar. I hope you know I heard everything; I was only one shelf over. And Lorc," he said, turning to his brother," you're not helping him." Lysander glared at his twin as Albus was fighting the reaction to walk away.
"Ly, I'm doing this. You can either help us or get out of the way." Lorcan leaned back on the chair, bored after the moment of seriousness. Lysander stared at his twin and then Albus over his arm full of books.
"Fine, but only because you'll get caught without me." As soon as the statement left Lysander's lips, Albus couldn't control his smile. He ran over to the Malfoy siblings, dragging them back over to the table.
"Okay guys, this is Lorcan and Lysander Scamander. Ly is the one with the glasses, by the way. And this is Scorpius and his little sister Madeline." The two sets of siblings gave each other quick curt nods in recognition.
Madeline decided she had enough dancing around he subject and plopped down across from the twins. "We want you to help us dye the student body's skin color," Madeline finished this bold statement with a huff as both Slytherin males' jaws dropped.
"Since when the bloody frickin' hell did we decide that?!" Scorpius shouted, throwing up his arms. Madam Pince, the librarian, poked her head around a shelf, quickly scolded Scorpius, and set off just as fast with a new scowl to match. "We're doing what now?" Scorpius fiercely whispered.
As Madeline attempted to reply, the group heard a stern "Out!" commanded from shelves away. They began to pack up their books and moved to a spot outside by the lake.
"I like it, Madeline. How are we going to go through with it?" Lorcan asked while lying down in the grass. All eyes turned to Madeline.
"We have to brew potions enough to dilute the water supply running through the school's pipes. We find the access point and pour it in early morning and boom, we pretty up Hogwarts!"
"And how exactly do you purpose we get all the potions needed for this spell?" Lysander questioned, frustrated.
"I already did all the potion work," Madeline sternly replied, glaring down the condescending twin.
He quickly answered back with, "And what makes you think I'd trust an incompetent little first year with brewing potions. Especially of this quantity."
Scorpius stood up defensively. "Talk to my sister like that again and you'll be swallowing your teeth."
Madeline whipped around to her brother, knocking her beret off her head. "I can protect myself!"
Albus chased after her beret to get away from the fight, as Scorpius retorted, "No you can't! You're eleven!"
"I don't care! I'll tell Daddy you're picking on me!" She threw her hands down and Scorpius let it go.
Lysander sat back quietly amused by the siblings antics and intrigued by the younger one's ambition.
Madeline turned to the twins. "Your job is to figure out how we will get into the water supply, okie dokie?" She gave them a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. The Scamanders nodded and walked off together, contemplating just what they got themselves into.
Albus handed the first year her beret, which Scorpius took gently from her hands, brushing off the grass. He pulled her closer and clipped the beret back into its rightful place. Madeline headed inside shortly after the twins, leaving the two older Slytherins alone in awkward silence.
Not wanting to leave his best friend stewing in shame, Albus broke the silence with, "So... Any reason why your sister can't fix her own hair?"
Scorpius looked at Albus, grateful for the change of thought. "She's never done it before." His face colored at his sister's incompetence. "My dad always does it."
Another awkward silence quickly descended upon the duo.
Scorpius suddenly began an intense staring contest with his shoes. "Hey, I'm sorry about before... I was a dick to your friend..."
Albus gave an awkward smile. "You were just protecting your sister. I'd the the same for mine so don't sweat it."
"No you wouldn't," Scorpius said with a laugh.
"Fine, then I'd do the same for yours."
Scorpius turned, shocked at the genuine look in Albus' eyes. "Why? You don't even like her and I know she's a bit of a brat."
"A bit?!" Albus chucked in response. "But I know she's important to you, so that makes her important to me." He placed a light punch on Scorpius' shoulder with a "bink" as it made contact. The lighter haired Slytherin just laughed. "What? Is it still too early for the crazy?"
"It's always too early for the crazy," Scorpius responded and they both chuckled.
Their potions instructor and head of Slytherin House, a burly older man by the name of Professor Cid, poked his head out of the top of the clock tower and shouted, "It's getting close to curfew. Get your asses back inside before I start taking away house points."
The students let out a collective grown and the two boys quietly rushed inside, thinking over the small flutter in their chests as their fingers brushed.
Coming Soon:
The gang meets up with a mysteriously stupid stranger and puts their first plan into action.