Chapter 4

Rose, Albus and Abby were making their way down to Hagrid's hut walking along the winding pathway in the crisp autumn air. They had just come from their disastrous first potions class and Rose was still snickering at them.

"You should have seen your faces!" She said laughing. Albus said nothing as he was a bit embarrassed about the whole incident, Abby however laughed along with her.

"It was pretty funny wasn't it?" She said. Again Albus again said nothing. He had already resolved to do better in potions, he didn't want to let his parents down.

"We're here." Rose said brightly and knocked on the door. Immediately a dog started barking and Rose jumped back.

"Oh shut up Fang!" Said a gruff voice from behind the door. And with that, the door swung open and Hagrid stood beaming down at them.

"Come in, come in." He said "I've made yeh some rock cakes."

Albus stepped inside and so did Rose and Abby. They all took seats around a large table while the kettle boiled.

"Hagrid," Albus began "This is Abby, Abby this is Hagrid."

"Hi." She said nervously to the half-giant.

"Pleased to meet yeh." He replied. "And you must be Rose? Blimey. I haven't seen yeh since you was a baby, I haven't"

"It's nice to see you too Hagrid." Rose said with a smile.

"So tell me about your first week. Any Slytherins been buggin ya?" Hagrid asked them after pouring the tea.

"Not really," Albus replied "But that Payne girl does seem to have it out for Rose."

"Humph, she was just jealous because my potion was better than hers." Rose replied haughtily. Then she smiled and said "Not like yours though." At which Abbby and even Albus started giggling.

"What happened to yer potion?" Hagrid wanted to know. So they told him all about their lesson and the explosion at the end. At the end of it, Hagrid was roaring with laughter.

"You three remind me of your parents, Harry, Ron and Hermione. The three of them were always gettin inter trouble." Hagrid said.

"Were they really?" Albus asked with wide eyes.

"Of course!" Hagrid replied. "Never met a more meddlesome lot in me life! Why this one time, they went into a forbidden corridor of the school and met me ol' pet fluffy…"

The four of them continued to talk and share stories all evening (though none of them ate many rock cakes), meanwhile…

James leaned back in his chair and grinned. He was serving detention with his cousin and partner-in-crime Roxanne. He forgot what the detention was for, something about disrupting the class and being disrespectful. It probably had to do with Roxanne and him setting the professor's desk on fire during transfiguration today. It was only a small fire though, not detention-worthy in the least!

James had been in this situation a lot though. He and Roxanne liked a laugh, just like Roxanne's dad Uncle George. Admittedly, they had brought the trouble maker reputation onto themselves. Ever since September of last year, when they had made all of the toilets simultaneously explode, the teachers had had it out for them. That prank was completely worth it though as the two were known around school as the "prankster twins" a reputation they both thoroughly enjoyed. But now they were in detention for just a teensy little fire! The professor had given them lines to write "I will not set desks on fire during class." Bit stupid really.

James waited until professor Stratas had stepped out of the class and then pulled out his map. It wasn't technically "his" map as he had taken from his Dad's desk last year. He had showed it to Teddy Lupin because he knew he wouldn't rat him out and Teddy had helped him figure out how to work it. Whoever Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were, James owed them a good deal.

He scanned over the map and watched as Proffesor Stratas' dot moved towards the teacher's lounge. The muggle studies professor was there as well. Excellent, James thought. He wasn't sure why those two always spent so much time together, but James had a sneaking suspicion that the two had a hidden romance. They would be awhile then.

"Hey Roxanne?" James called over to her,

"Yes, James?" She replied in a sweet sing-song voice. The picture of innocence, HA!

"Up for a bit of an adventure?" He asked her.

"Do you even have to ask?" She replied.

They decided to sneak out towards the Ravenclaw tower. Roxanne had a bag of dungbombs she was dying to use and the Ravenclaws had been exceptionally annoying lately.

"Ok," James said when they arrived "Let's split up. You go down that hallway and set a couple of them off, I'll guard the hallway."

"Right." Roxanne nodded and took off down the hallway.

James stood in there in the hallway for a few moments waiting, when he started to hear footsteps. A redheaded ravenclaw girl in his grade rounded the corner.

"What are you doing here?" She asked suspiciously. Ok James, he thought to himself, keep cool. He had to keep her distracted for awhile. What was her name again Barnes – something?

"I could ask the same about you." James replied loftily.

"Well if you must know, I was on my way to the lavatory when I –"Suddenly there was a loud bang, Roxanne had set off the first dungbomb.

"What was that?" She demanded. Ria! That was her name, Ria Barnes.

"Er, what was what?" James said.

"That noise! Listen there it goes again! And… What's that smell?" Uh-oh thought James.

"JAMES POTTER!" the girl –Ria- exploded. "ARE YOU SETTING OFF DUNGBOMBS NEAR MY DORMITORY?" Wow, James thought, she's got a set of lungs to rival my mother's – and that's saying something.

"Well you see –"James started to say, but she cut him off.

"I know all about you James Potter, and how everyone thinks you're so cool. But you know what? You're nothing but an annoying prankster!" And with that she whipped out her wand from beneath her robes.

James had almost no time to react before she yelled "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" And he fell over, stiff as a board.

She ran off then, just as Roxanne came back down the hallway.

"James are you alright, I thought I heard-"As soon as she took sight of him on the floor she started laughing so hard there were tears streaming in her eyes. It took her two tries because of the laughter but she finally managed the counter-curse and freed James from the body-bind.

James got up and grunted. "Come on," he said "She's probably getting a professor." And with that, they sprinted back into class, just in time to sit in their desks and catch their breath before Stratas walked in.

"Your detention is finished. " She said "I hope you two have learned your lesson."

A/N – Hi everyone, sorry about the long wait between chapters (two weeks!) but I've been extraordinarily busy. Hopefully it won't happen again as it is now the Christmas break (yippee!) and I will try to get ahead with my writing.

Review if you feel like it! :P