Chapter 25: The Persuasive Potion
(Albus)
I sat in my room. I couldn't stop thinking about Scorpius' cousin, Jonah Greengrass. I wondered if James had thought of a way to get him back.
"Don't worry, Al, your brother will prank him bad," Scorpius said.
"I know. If you can trust James to do something it's pranking. But I just don't understand what's taking him to long." Today was the day before Valentine's day ad James still hadn't pranked Greengrass.
"We should be heading down to Great Hall now," Scorpius suggested.
"Why? It's Saturday."
"Yeah, but we might as well eat at a normal time."
"Okay."
We headed down to the Great Hall together and I couldn't help but notice all the hearts and cupids lined along the wall and hanging on the ceiling.
"I hate all these hearts," Rose said coming up behind Scorpius and me.
"No doubt James and Fred are gonna do some sorta prank with them," I added.
"Ugh," Rose groaned "They're so immature."
"At least they don't moan and groan and complain all day," Scorpius muttered.
"I heard that," Rose said.
"So?"
"Would you two be quiet? I'm trying to enjoy a perfectly normal day," I told Rose and Scorpius.
We all sat down at the Gryffindor table laughing and talking about random things. Then James came over.
"James!" I said in shock "You look terrible." James looked like he hadn't slept for a month and then had a fight with a werewolf.
James grinned proudly and looked at the Ravenclaw table. "I beat Scone in a fight."
"Really Pot-Head you beat me?" Said a voice coming up behind James.
"Yes, Scone I beat him."
"So if you beat me why were you the one on the floor crying?"
Scorpius Rose and I stifled a laugh. The thought of James crying was hilarious. "Shut it, Al!" James aid threateningly.
James turned back to Scone and said "You cried first!"
Scone snorted. "I wasn't crying I was laughing at you!"
"That's bull!"
As James and Scone kept arguing I beckoned for Rose and Scorpius to follow me to the other side of the table.
"I'm worried about James," I declared.
"Why? He's a fourteen-year-old boy genius- not literally of course more in a pranking sort of way- he could fend for himself," Rose said.
"Yeah, but…" To be honest I had no idea why I was worried about James. Rose was right, he was fourteen and he can fend for himself.
"So…" Scorpius said trying to change the subject "what'd you think of the Hufflepuff Slytherin game?"
"That was months ago Scorp," I said.
"Actually, it was less than a month ago about two weeks, now answer the question."
"I'm surprised Hufflepuff won," I commented.
"Really? Why?"
"Cause… you'd think after Hufflepuff lost so badly to Gryffindor they'd do just as horribly against Slytherin."
"True enough," Rose shrugged. "Plus they got a new keeper so that must've helped." Rose hated playing Quidditch but she always liked talking about it.
"So… the Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor game is coming up. Who do you think will win?" Scorpius asked.
"Gryffindor," I replied automatically, "there is no way James would let Gryffindor lose to Ravenclaw."
"That's right," James said coming up beside me. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"No, you can sit," I said.
"Our only problem," James said joining right into our conversation "is the idiot of a seeker, Winston."
"I remember him!" Scorpius recalled. "He was the idiot who couldn't even catch the snitch in the against the Hufflepuff seeker, right?"
I hated Winston. Once he had kicked me, Rose and Scorpius off the couch near the fire in the Common room. It wasn't a very good reason to hate someone., but he also held the Quidditch position I wanted.
"Exactly!" James yelled ignoring the glances he earned. "I hate him. Gryffindor hasn't won a the cup in forever because of that idiot."
"Hey, James," I said changing the subject. "Did you find a way to prank you-know-who?"
"No, I don't think it'd be wise to prank Voldemort," James replied smirking. "Though if he were still alive I'd give it a try."
"You know what I mean James!"
"Yeah I found a really interesting method of pranking. In fact I'm testing it on someone else right now."
"Who?" Scorpius asked right as a bunch of rotten eggs fell on Professor Valance.
James swore under his breathe "Wrong target!" And with that James ran quickly out of the Great Hall.
"Who do you suppose James was trying to hit?" Rose asked.
"Scone," I replied. "Valance was walking beside the Ravenclaw table next to Scone. He probably got right in the way."
I watched as Valance tried to remove the eggs and the smell but it didn't work. Valance look infuriated. "Who did this?" Valance asked addressing the whole hall. "IF you don't come forward right know you'll be facing weekend detentions for the rest of the year!"
Valance was usually a calm person probably a trait of Hufflepuff. He was nobody's favourite teacher, but no hated him. Now, however, he was exploding like a volcano.
I started laughing hysterically at the DADA teacher.
"Potter!" Valance growled "Was it you, Potter?"
"No, sir."
"I'll give twenty house points to whoever tells me who did this."
McGonagall walked towards Valance and told him something that sounded like 'you can't offer house points for being a snitch!'
I laughed again and Valance glared at me as if there was no doubt in his mind that I pranked him. Well, he had the wrong Potter boy.
I had never been the prankster type but apparently Valance thought there were no other suspects. I swear he was following me around as if he might discover proof that I pranked him.
"For the last time, Valance Albus didn't prank you!" Scorpius shouted.
"Scorpius!" Rose scolded "You can't yell at a professor like that!"
"I can if he's stalking us!" Scorpius retorted.
"He does have a point," Crystal agreed. She had joined us after breakfast.
I felt watched and I didn't like it. Secretly I thanked Scorpius because I could no longer smell the rotten eggs which meant Valance had left.
"Is there anything you want to do?" Crystal asked leaning against a wall. Her smile suddenly brightened "Let's play Quidditch."
I thought about it for a second. "Let's go!"
Playing Quidditch was awesome. Even though we just took turns shooting on each other. It would have been perfect, but a certain Hufflepuff Head of House was being a baby. I could feel the eyes watching me as we played Quidditch. From all the way up in the air I couldn't smell Valance but he was watching waiting for the perfect moment for me to screw up.
(James)
I sat in my dormitory on Valentine's Day laughing my head off. Valance was so mad. I was surprised that he hadn't suspected me right away. I walked by him yesterday and he still smelt rotten despite the fact that he removed the eggs by hand. Debilitatus was officially my favourite spell in history.
"James what's so funny?" Josh asked groggily. Finally someone was awake.
"I found the best spell on earth!" I replied happily.
"What'd you do?" Fred asked all the sudden wide awake and grinning.
"Dumped rotten eggs all over Valance and he can't get them off or at least the smell is."
"What, is he a squib or something? Why doesn't he just use magic?"
"That's where the spell comes in. It's called Debilitatus and it makes it impossible to remove something magically."
Fred grinned as wide as I did "That is sass1!"
"Is it Valentine's day?" Josh asked.
"You got that right!"
"So, Padfoot, did you rig the stuff?" I asked Fred. We used the idea of the old Marauder's nicknames for our own. Fred was Padfoot, I was Prongs, Teddy was Moony and, since we didn't consider Peter a real Marauder, we made Josh's nickname, Cheeky.
"Of course I rigged it," Fred said.
"Okay, so everyone know the plan, right?"
The Marauder's nodded and I grinned. The prank was to make the Cupids shoot people with love arrows and the hearts would make your crush's name appear in bright red above your head. The best part was there was no way to avoid the magic so even us Marauders could get shoot with a love arrow.
"We might as well admit our crushes now cause everyone's gonna see 'em," Josh explained.
"No," I said immediately "We can find out each other's crushes when everyone else does."
"James, everyone knows your crush is Alice," Fred laughed.
"Is not!"
Fred and Josh just laughed.
"To the Great Hall we go! To the Great Hall we go! Getting shot with arrows and going to the Great Hall!" Fred sang half an hour later.
"Would you shut up?" Josh asked.
"Yeah, Fred, that your worst song ever. It doesn't even rhyme."
"That hurts, James," Fred said and began to fake cry.
"Hey look!" I announced. "There's our first victim."
We had made down the Spiral Staircase where someone was shot with a love arrow by cupid. It was a Ravenclaw boy who looked to be in his fifth year.
The boy turned around and saw a Slytherin fourth year. The love arrow was supposed to make you fall in love with the first person of the opposite gender that you see.
"Margret!" The Ravenclaw boy yelled. "I love you! Will you be my Valentine?"
The girl, Margret, looked at the boy like he's crazy. "Are you crazy Lector? I will never go out with you!"
Lector walked away disappointed and I started laughing. "That was priceless!" I said between laughs.
"I can't wait to see the other ones," Josh commented.
We continued our walk down to the Great Hall. Then I saw Albus and his friends walking down the staircase. I also saw Valance following him at a distance.
"Quiet for second," I told Fred and Josh "I wanna see who my brother has a crush on."
Just as Albus passed under the heart a name glowed in bright red above his head. I was quite shocked when I saw the name Samantha Waters. I always thought he liked that Black girl.
"Huh, I really thought it'd be Crystal Black," I thought aloud.
"You don't pay much attention to your brother then," Josh said, "Cause he went to the Christmas Dance with Waters."
"Right… hey, look at his reaction!" Albus had turned red as he walked towards the Gryffindor table glaring at me. He look just about ready to kill me.
"Shut up, James," Albus called from half way across the table.
"I didn't say a word," I replied.
Albus just continued to glare at me.
"What's wrong? Little Albee has a little crush?" I asked.
Rose whispered something to Albus and he nodded. A couple seconds later Samantha Waters came into the Great Hall. However, to Albus' devastation, the glowing red name above her head was not Albus Potter but instead the name William Walters appeared. Albus looked upset.
Samantha looked embarrassed but the she looked at Al and her face turned to a look of pity. "I'm sorry, Al, but… um… I don't like you," Samantha said.
"Rejected! Rejected!" Jonah Greengrass began to sing at the Slytherin table. "You just got rejected! R-E-J-E-C-T-E-D!"
Albus looked around and ran out of the Great Hall. I looked over at the Head table wondering if any of them were going to yell at this Greengrass idiot. When none of the Professors got up I did.
I walked towards the Slytherin table and stared at Greengrass. He continued to eat as if he didn't notice me. I took his fork from him and slammed it on the table.
"Do you want something?" He asked in a snobby voice.
I stared at the brown-haired git. "No," I said sarcastically, "I just came here to bask I your glory."
Once again Greengrass tried to continue eating but this time I pushed his plate right off the table. It smashed on the ground with a very loud Clang.
"Who are you?" Greengrass asked this with atone that clearly stated he was bored of this conversation.
"I'm Albus' older brother, James-"
"I'm Jonah Greengrass. Is this conversation done yet?" By now everyone who wasn't watching before was watching now. Since it was early I the morning on a Saturday not very many people were here- about twenty-, but still enough to witness the humiliation of Jonah Greengrass.
"Why were you picking on Albus?" I asked Greengrass. He didn't respond. "I grabbed Greengrass by the robes and dragged him under one of the hearts.
Immediately he looked up to see a glowing red name above his head. Rose Weasley. Everyone started laughing simultaneously , except Greengrass and Rose. In fact Rose looked furious.
"You actually think I would like a git like you?" Rose roared at Greengrass. The boy was at a loss for words.
She stormed out of the Great Hall but not before dumping a pitcher on Pumpkin juice on Greengrass.
I laughed and unnoticeably casted the Debilitatus spell. That's teach that git to mess with the Weasley/Potter cousins.
Later that day half the school was in chaos. Everyone was incredibly embarrassed because their secret crush's weren't so secret anymore.
"I totally hate you James," Dominique said as she walked by me in the hall.
"Why?" I asked amused.
"Frank Tute knows I have a crush in him."
I laughed "Frank Tute?"
"He's the Ravenclaw Beater."
"Whatever." I walked away laughing to myself.
On my way walking back to the common room I saw a girl with my name burned above her head. She giggled an annoying girly giggle and looked at me.
"Sorry," I muttered "I don't like you."
That was the tenth girl today. It was getting annoying. I bet girls didn't fling themselves on my dad.
"Hey, James!"
I turned around to see Alice bounding towards me "Yeah, what is it, Ally?"
"Just wanted to remind you about the Homesgade weekend," She replied.
I nodded "Yep, the week after the Quidditch game. To bad I can't come."
"Why not?"
"I got banned at the beginning of the year."
She nodded and we walked to the common room together. As I entered most of Gryffindors glared at me and I just shrugged laughing.
(Albus)
Defense Against the Dark Arts was horrible. It used to be my favourite subject until Valance started treating me like I murdered his dog. I was almost looking forward to having him retire and have Scorpius' dad teach. Almost.
"Potter!" Valance barked in the middle of Defense. "Show us a 'Protego'."
Scorpius sat beside me with his mouth hanging open. "That's like fourth year level," he said.
"Quiet Malfoy!" Valance yelled.
I walked to the front of the class nervously. I remembered Teddy showing James this spell when James was only in his second year., I hoped I could do it as well as he did, which was perfectly.
"Umm… PROTEGO!" I yelled.
A weak shield appeared in front of me. It looked barely strong enough to block a weak first years' spells.
Valance scowled. "Sit down Potter."
"That was really good," Rose whispered.
"Okay that's the end of class. I want you all to read chapters 25-35 in your books," Valance announced. The whole class groaned. "Oh, stop your groaning. And for you Potter I want an essay on Protego."
"Yes Professor," I said biting back my anger.
"This is really unfair," Scorpius muttered "He can't do this to you."
"That's it," I said "This guy is mental. I really think there's a problem with him. It's been a week! I'm gonna have to ask James to confess."
"Of course he's mental," Rose rolled her eyes "Why else would McGonagall fire him?"
"He got fired?" I asked, shocked.
"Well he has anger issues so McGonagall suggested he retire at the end of the year."
"Oh."
"And now my Grandfather will be the new Defense teacher," Scorpius spat the word 'grandfather'.
I thought for a moment about the torture of having Lucius, a supposed Death Eater, work at Hogwarts.
"I think I'd rather be taught by a rapid dog," Scorpius muttered.
"Albus!" James called as Rose, Scorpius, Crystal, and I headed to dinner later that day.
"James, I need to talk to you," I remembered.
"What is it, Al?"
"Valance is mentally insane and has anger issues," Scorpius answered for me.
"Yeah, I could have told you that," James laughed.
"I need you to admit to the prank," I said.
"Do you want me to die?"
"Do you want me to? He's making my life miserable."
"Do me a favour, and you got a deal." I nodded "Okay so there are these girls chasing me around the school. They are literally in love with me, course I can't blame them. But all I need you to do is distract them for a couple minutes while I get the Invisibility Cloak."
"Deal, but you better go to Valance right away."
James put his hand out for me to shake and I felt something squishy and gooey. I jerked my hand back and goo exploded on me. "Eww James! Gross." I heard Scorpius and Crystal chuckle softly.
James, however, laughed loudly. "That was one of Uncle George's inventions. Hilarious, and classic. But back to the deal, get these girls off my back and I'll fess up to Valance."
"Was that necessary?" I asked James.
"What?" James said innocently. "I'm gonna be locked up in detention for the rest of the year, I needed to get one more prank in."
"Whatever. Anyway I'll distract the girls-"
"Here they come." Scorpius pointed.
I had expected a couple girls swooning over James. But I had not expected a stampede of girls yelling James name over and over again.
James chuckled at my surprise "Good luck."
"I hate James," I complained after successfully averting the girls from my brother.
"Join the club," Rose agreed.
Scorpius smiled. "There probably is a 'we hate James Potter' club."
I laughed at that. "Everyone either hates him or loves him, there's no in the middle."
"That Janice girl looked like she was into me," Scorpius said.
Crystal laughed. "It would take a love potion for someone to have a crush on you."
"May I remind you that my name appeared above Alana Brown's head on Valentine's day."
Rose snorted and Scorpius scowled at her "What?" he asked.
"Well," Rose began, "I find it funny that she's the ugliest girl at Hogwarts."
As if on cue Alana walked and shot a perfectly aimed colour charm at Rose's hair.
Scorpius, Crystal, and I started laughing hysterically. "What?" Rose demanded "What'd she do?"
Between laughs Crystal said "Your hair… is… rainbow coloured."
Rose screamed and ran towards the nearest bathroom.
"Girls," I muttered.
(James)
"You do realize you're basically walking into death right?"
"I've dealt with Filch's detentions I can deal with Valances'."
"You don't understand!" Wood yelled as I walked towards Valance's office. "He'll give you detention every day of the week for the rest of the year! He's nuts!"
"I know!" I yelled over Wood, "But he's picking on my brother, and no one picks
on my brother-"
"But you. I know you've said this before."
I waved to Wood as I entered Valance's office without even knocking.
"What do you want Mr. Potter?" Valance asked a little bit harshly.
I didn't answer right away because I was looking around the office. Out of my three years at this school I've only been in Valance's office twice but it had never looked like this.
The walls were dull grey colour that made me feel dead inside. The desk was the same dull colour and there were papers scattered messily on top. It was long wooden and it took up one whole wall but that wasn't saying much because the room was small.
"Mr. Potter?" The voice sounded as dull as the walls.
"What's up with you?" I asked.
"There is nothing wrong with me James," I was shocked at the use of my first name. The only teacher that called me James were McGonagall and Neville.
"Then why does your voice sound like you swallowed a boring potion?"
"There no such thing and I'd prefer to get to the point."
"Have you ever staled someone before Vince?" I asked the Defense professor.
"No and call me Professor Valance."
"It's okay, Vince. Were on good terms you called me James so I'm calling you Vince."
"I thought I told you to get to the point?"
Pushy. "Fine," I said. "I pulled the prank…"
I trailed off after I noticed the paper on his desk. It was a book about pranks.
"Are you going to prank Albus?" I asked astonished.
"Of course not! And stop looking at my papers," He replied icily.
"Okay… yeah but the prank was me, okay? I pranked you not Albus so leave him alone."
"You poured eggs on me?" He asked. He was standing now and he was two inches from face.
I smiled. "Rotten eggs, actually."
"Densaugeo," Valance yelled.
I deflected and shot back the same curse using I spell I learned in the Marauder's book Refelcto Protego.
"What was that?" Valance snarled as his teeth grew at an alarming rate, the effect of Densaugeo.
"A spell I learned," I replied. Valance could no longer talk and I waved at him. "Goodbye Vince, I'm glad we agreed on no punishment."
"You did what?"
"Hey, in my defense he tried to hit me first! I'm just smarter than him."
The whole Quidditch team started at me in amazement as I told them what had just happened with Valance.
"And he didn't punish you?"
"He had his mouth full at the moment." The hole team laughed except for Johnny Winston
He frowned. "I thought the expression was 'had his hands full'."
"It was a joke," Tyler clarified.
"Can we kick him off the team?" I asked Wood pleadingly.
Wood just shook his head. "It's the middle of the season James, you can get a new seeker next year."
"Fine."
March was a great month. The snow was finally clearing away, you could actually see grass and it smelt like flowers, fresh grass… and well Spring.
And I was stuck inside.
"Hurry up fix those papers," Valance snapped.
I had gotten so many detentions that I hadn't had a moment of free time in weeks. I was either in class, doing homework or stuck in goddamn detention. I wasn't even aloud to eat meals in the Great Hall because I was now Professor Valance's servant.
"I thought I said hurry up!" Valance snapped again.
"You did," I grunted "Twenty times."
If Albus thought he had it bad with Valance before then he should really try this for a day. I never regretted thing because I hated to live in the past but right now I was quite ready to kill my brother for telling me to fess up to prank. I suppose in the end though I wanted to kill myself for agreeing to it.
I was incredibly bored and I was ninety-nine percent sure I'd die of boredom before I got the chance to kill myself or my brother. Maybe hitting Valance with that curse was going too far.
I never hated detention before. Sure, it was annoying but I always loved it because the reason I got it in the first place was because I pulled an awesome prank. This time was different. I had pulled a great prank, two actually, but the detention was so much worse than usual.
I stared out the window longingly ignoring Valance's demands for me to hurry up. I saw Albus and his friend outside playing around and laughing. Again my thoughts turned to how much I hated my brother right now. But before I could plot his death I saw a familiar face right in front of the window.
Scone started to make faces at me as he hovered in front of the window on his broom. He mouthed the word 'sucker' and without thinking I punched the wall with one hand and whipped out my wand with the other.
Scone laughed so hard he almost fell off his broom. If he had just laughed a little harder he's be in the hospital wing. Instead I was probably going to the Hospital wing. My hand hurt so bad it could have been under the Cruciatus curse.
In a voice with absolutely no sympathy Valance asked, "Are you okay, James?" I hated that he kept calling me James. People who hated me always called me Potter and I preferred it that way. James was only what my friends called me, not my slave driver.
"Why'd that hurt so much?" I questioned.
"Because there's a charm on it Makes the glass unbreakable. Naturally your hand hurts more when you punch unbreakable glass. Now get back to work!"
Despite the pain in my left hand I continued filing papers with my right hand. By now Scone had left and I stared at the window bitterly. I hated him.
"Since you refuse to do your job I think we should give you a different punishment," Valance suggested.
"Bring it on," I agreed.
Valance pulled out the sheet that contained the list of punishments. "How about extra homework in all your classes, James?"
"Whatever you say Vince," I said cockily.
"Well since you're so cocky-" I instantly wished I hadn't said that "-You will get extra homework in all your classes and you will continue to help me. Understand, James?"
Yes, I really wish I hadn't said that. I also really wished I had the self-control to be able to stop myself from saying something stupid but of course I didn't. "Is that all you got," I snorted.
"Fine, never mind one month of detentions. You and I can spend the rest of the year together, if you're so eager."
I groaned. Why'd I have to be cocky? Why oh why? I was an idiot.
For the next five hours I worked as Valance's slave. I'd done it for two weeks now but this time it was so dreadful. I thought I had gotten used to the drab, dull office but today they really got to me.
"Goodbye, James," Valance said.
"Bye."
"You have to let me go to Quidditch!"
"Hmmmm…"
"Please?"
"Hmmmm…"
Knowing it wasn't such a good idea I interrupted Valance's thinking "I'll do anything!"
"There's the words I'm looking for!" Valance beamed.
I was vaguely starting to wonder if he really was mentally insane. "Thanks, Vince."
"Don't push your luck kid!"
I ran down to the Gryffindor locker room as fast as I could. "I'm here," I panted.
"Jamie you just missed Wood's speech," Fred said as if wishing he did to.
"One…" Wood began.
"Two…," the whole team chorused. "Three… Gryffindor!" Everyone made their own roaring noise.
I step out into the cool air as Teddy introduced our team. I swore I heard some Gryffindors booing when Teddy called 'Johnny Winston', I couldn't blame them.
I flew in the air as soon as Professor Bryson- the referee- blew her whistle and released the balls. It was mere seconds before Ravenclaw had possession of the ball.
"Hey Potter," I heard someone whisper beside me. I whipped around and saw Scone. He had a beaters bat in his hand and was smacking it menacingly against his hand "I'm playing Beater today and you" –he chuckled- "Well, you won't be playing for much longer.
I had always admired the Ravenclaw's strategy. Instead of having one person play each position they trained all their players to play all the positions. Last game Scone was playing Seeker, now he was playing beater. I knew he did that on purpose so he could beat me to a pulp.
But it didn't look like he would have the chance to. Hovering right beside Winston was the snitch. I yelled at him to get it and he turned to me curiously. I gestured wildly at the snitch next to him as did the rest of the team but he just looked confused. In about thirty seconds the seeker, Scone's older brother, grabbed the snitch.
"And that's the game," Teddy announced glumly. "The final score is 150-10 in Ravenclaw's favour."
I stormed up to Wood. "Get him off the team," I growled.
Instead of his usual protests he just said "There's no one else to replace him. We don't even have a reserve Seeker."
"Albus!" I called.
Albus appeared from behind the locker room door. "Yes?"
"You're our new Seeker."
He beamed but I ignored him turning to Winston. "You're an idiot and you should have never been chosen. Goodbye."
"James!" Wood hissed.
"I'm sorry but it's not my fault if he sucks."
Wood just rolled his eyes. Albus spoke quietly, "Um... I'm a first year."
"Yeah I know. McGonagall won't mind. Your amazing!" Fred said from behind a stall door.
"It's true," I agreed though I knew it sounded half-hearted. It's not like I didn't like my brother, I loved him and I was happy for him but I never got to play in my first year and he did. It was unfair.
No one really wanted to look at the paper Professor Bryson was hanging up; we were all too afraid we hadn't made it to the finals. If Ravenclaw beat us Scone wouldn't let me live it down.
I was the first to walk up to the sheet setting myself up for disappointment.
Ravenclaw: 1st place Wins/Loses: 1 Loss, 1Win
Hufflepuff: 2nd place Wins/Loses: 1 Loss, 1 Win
Slytherin: 4th Place Wins/Loses: 1 Loss, 1 Win
Gryffindor: 2nd place Wins/Losses: 1 Loss, 1 Win.
I stared at the paper in disbelief. We weren't in last place or third place. This was a miracle, we might go to the finals!
"Well, James spit it out!" Harold urged.
"We're in second" –the whole team cheered- "But we're tied with Hufflepuff. I turned back to the sheet.
Games:
October 5th: Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin
November 14th: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff
January 28th: Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin
March 6th: Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw
April 25th: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff (tie breaker)
May 16th:Slytherin vs. Unknown (Consolations)
June 7th: Ravenclaw vs. Unknown (Finals)
Fred laughed "All we have to do is beat the Creampuffs again? We're totally winning the cup."
"Don't underestimate them," Harold warned. "They beat Slytherin."
"Very true," Dominique agreed. "We have to be careful."
"Hey!" McGonagall shouted. She was standing in the doorway with Winston behind her. "Who kicked Mr. Winston off the team?"
"I did," I said flatly.
"You can do that."
"I agreed with him," Wood said. "Actually, the whole team did." The nodded in unison.
"Who are you replacing Mr. Winston is?" McGonagall asked.
"Albus," Wood replied.
"The only fair way to determine this is a competition. It shall take place tomorrow after the broomball game. The first one to catch the snitch wins."
I laughed out loud. "If Winston was capable of catching the snitch do you really think we'd kick him off?" I asked.
"James!" Wood, McGonagall, Harold all hissed.
I ignored them. "You ready, Al?"
Al shrugged "Not really."
(Albus)
I was super nervous about the Seeker competition. I kept pacing around wondering if there was a specific strategy I should follow or if I should just wing it.
"Is it possible for you to relax?" Matt asked me. "Or at least focus on the game that's about to happen."
Matthew was right. We were about to play broomball and I couldn't get distracted. "Your right. Sorry, Matt."
"No problem."
This was our second last game. Ever. After this year broomball would be cancelled.
"Hey, Al," James said. "Don't be nervous but this game is really important. If we lose, that's it. We're ruined."
"You mean your ruined" I replied. "Just because you might lose to Scone? James, who cares about him?"
"Whatever."
I smirked at James this was one of those rare occasions when James was wrong and I was right. He looked embarrassed and I enjoyed it. You need a bit of embarrassment in your life. Especially if you're James Potter.
"What the hell was that?" James demanded. "How did we lose?"
"It was your fault James," Jackson told him.
"Was not!" James shouted back as he went into a very heated argument about whose fault it was we lost the game.
I just rolled my eyes. It wasn't really either of their faults. It was Mark Short's fault. He had only called five practices this year! He was the worst captain ever.
I heard a knock on the door and it was McGonagall. "Mr. Winston is ready whenever you are Albus," McGonagall informed me. I smiled.
"Good luck, bro," James said as he pinned Jackson to the ground.
"Thanks."
The whole Broomball team wished me luck as I walked out of the locker room.
Winston was waiting for me. His expression seemed to say Sorry about this. I know it's unfair.
"Sorry about this, Al, I know it's unfair," Winston said just as I'd predicted.
"Just don't cry when I beat you," I replied feeling as rude as James. I didn't want to stoop to his level. "Good luck."
"You too," he replied.
"You know the rules," McGonagall announced. "We will have three rounds. The first round will be speed and ability to turn and whatnot. The second will be you're ability to dodge boulders. I trust you'll be fair?" McGonagall asked with a glance at Fred and Tyler. They were the ones hitting the bludgers.
"Of course Professor," Fred said politely. "We won't rig the competition or anything. You have our word."
"Good." McGonagall continued "The final competition will of course be the race for the snitch. Any questions? No, then we shall begin."
I was nervous but I saw the whole Quidditch team up in the stands smiling at me and mouthing things like 'you can do it' and 'good luck.' James was even holding up a sign that Albus rules and Winston drools! Not very creative but it's the thought that counts.
The speed/agility part of the competition was a race from one side of the pitch to the other but you had to weave through the three hoops on each side.
I waited for Winston to finish. He almost crashed at the very end and his time was 2:08.
"Alright Winston that was good," McGonagall said. "Potter your up!"
I stood ready to race off when McGonagall blew her whistle. The whistle sounded and whoosh I was off. I pushed my new broom to go faster than the speed of light. Once I got to the other side of the pitch I carefully raced through each of the three hoops. On my way back I did a little spin just because I knew I was far in the lead. I was already home free, or so I thought. On the exact same hoop Winston screwed up, I hit the side of the hoop. The collision threw me off course but I did recover. In record time if I did say so myself.
"Okay, Potter," McGonagall said once I finished. "Your time was 2:09."
My face fell immediately and I cursed myself for being cocky. "Are you serious?"
"Sorry."
I sighed as I waited for McGonagall to blow the whistle. I looked at Fred and Tyler who both gave me thumbs up. I took long deep breathes. If I lost this round then I lost the competition.
When the whistle sounded the Bludgers were let lose.
Right away Fred went after a bludger and whipped it at Winston. Tyler bashed his bat against another bludger and I ducked barely in time. Winston and I kept dodging and I vaguely wondered when this would be over It wasn't over until one of us got hit by a bludger and that didn't seem to be happening any time soon.
After thirty minutes of dodging I heard Winston cry out in pain. I turned to him and he was clutching his side. James whooped loudly, but I felt kind of bad. I hoped he wasn't in too much pain.
"That's the game!" McGonagall announced "Potter wins this round!"
"Yes!" James cried "Go Albus!"
"Okay it's tied one-all. Whoever gets the snitch is the new Gryffindor Seeker!" McGonagall declared. "I will release the snitch in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1!"
Winston and I were of in seconds. So was the snitch. It was out of sight. Wow that was quick. I began searching hoping that James was right about Winston sucking at finding the snitch. Winston dived but I wasn't stupid enough to follow him. He was just faking. As I turned away from him I saw a little golden ball floating near James' head. I turned my broom and in seconds the golden ball was in my hands.
"Yes! Albus you are amazing!" James shouted. "High five!"
I hive fived my brother. This was the happiest moment of my life, besides getting my acceptance letter allowing me to go to Hogwarts.
"Albus wins!" McGonagall cried. She was clearly over joyed by my victory like the rest of the team. She must've thought Winston was horrible too.
I held up the golden snitch like a trophy absorbing all the attention I could because I knew it wouldn't last long. Not when you had attention-hogging James Potter for a bother.
(James)
I wanted to be happy for my brother, I was happy for my brother but his victory was also my loss.
There was never any question that I loved Albus and he loved me but there was much tension between us. I was good at a lot of things, but Albus always ended up showing me up. I get good grades, he gets straight O's. I do cool pranks he goes and wins the title of prank master. I make the Quidditch team in my second year, he beats a fifth year and takes the position of Seeker in his first year. I wasn't jealous of Albus, someone as great as me didn't get jealous, but I did slightly annoyed at Albus' victory despite how hard I was cheering for him.
"Your late!" Valance barked as I entered his office.
"You're lucky I showed up," I replied bravely.
"Don't get smart with me."
"Why? Even if I don't try I'm still smarter than you."
Valance just grunted in response knowing that there was nothing he could do about my clever comments.
I helped Valance grade a couple of fifth year tests. It was the best job I'd had in the past month that I'd severed as a servant. Just as I wrote 'A' on the last test I heard a knock on the door. I jumped up to get it.
"James!" Fred cried when I opened the door.
"Fred!" I replied some-what mockingly.
Fred rolled his eyes but continued in the same urgent tone he'd been using before. "McGonagall needs you right away!"
I looked at Valance who sighed dramatically before giving permission for me to go. "Thank you," I said, closing the door.
Fred lead me to the Gryffindor tower and I gave him a puzzled look. "Why are we going to the common room?" I wondered.
"Oh, I just wanted to get you out of detention," Fred explained "McGonagall didn't actually need you."
"Why'd you recue me?" It was only five, I still had at least four hours left with the Valance.
"Two reasons. One, remember that bet we made? The one about whoever has the most detention after graduation wins?" I nodded. "Well you just got four months of detention, you were about to pull way ahead."
"Wow, cheater," I muttered.
"And the second reason… well I found this really cool potion in the Marauder's book-"
"Hey, how'd you get it opened?" I interrupted.
Fred rolled his eyes. "The password is 'I solemnly swear' like every other thing the Marauder's created that uses a password."
"It's catchy," I defended.
Fred lead me into the common rook eager to show me the potion he discovered. No one was there, they were probably at dinner.
"Okay here it is," Fred announced as if he'd discovered a cure for cancer. "The Persuasive Potion."
Fred and I leaned over the page titled 'Persuasive Potion.' I read the little passage beneath it.
The Persuasive Potion (Padfoot's favourite potion) is very simple and very helpful. It causes the drinker to be very persuasive. Harmless, right? WRONG! This potion is incredibly dangerous if it gets in the wrong hands. Though it is fun to persuade your teachers to give the class no homework it is not fun to get overpowered by an evil-dude. This potion is like a small scale imperious curse. It's almost impossible overpower the drinker of the potion. Prongs wants to share a personal experience. Padfoot would like to note that nobody cares about his emotional life. Moony would like to note that he was forced into making this book against his better judgement. Prongs (against Padfoot's better judgement) is going to share his story now: My dad got cursed with the potion when I was in my second year. Voldemort (Yes, I'm not to wimpy to say his name) was just beginning to rise and I had proof that he existed. When I was told my dad about it he said I was acting dumb and should put a sock in it. Long story short he was telling me that I was an idiot for believing in a dark lord and he started acting really nice to Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail. Basically his personality was all different. I had no idea he was under the Persuasive Potion until a year later. He died because of it in my third year. So as you can see this potion is really dangerous and- Padfoot thinks Prongs' story is getting too long.
I did read the rest but I didn't process the information properly. My Great-Grand father died because of this potion. All the things that happened to Grandpa James' dad were gonna happen to someone I loved. Albus discovered that Ryan Code was evil, dad didn't believe him. The Dad started treating me like I was his prized possession…
"Isn't it awesome?" Fred asked misunderstanding my expression.
"No. Do you know what this means, Fred?" I asked in horror.
"We can do really awesome pranks?" He guessed.
I shook my head slowly "No, my dad has been cursed by the Persuasive Potion."
A/N: Sorry it took so long. I've been really busy and haven't had too much time to write but don't worry the chapter's here and the next one's almost done.
1: Just want to say there's only like four more chapters for this book! :) Then the next one comes out. I might as well reveal the name now: "James Sirius, Lily Luna, Teddy Remus and The Secret of Preston Castle"
2: If anyone has any ideas for pranks I'd love to hear them because, as you can probably tell, I'm not very funny.
3: As you may have noticed I've added a little preface (Prologue) to the first chapter. So if you haven't read it I suggest you do.
4: I changed the name of Spencio to Debilitatus because Spencio sounded unproffesional.
4: Read, Review, and Recycle!
-Monkeywoman14