SURPRISE BINCHES
…
"This is a dangerous plan, Jamie," said James nervously, running his fingers through his hair. At this point, he was sure that every single strand of hair was standing upright from excessive touching, but he just couldn't stop.
They stood in the dark entrance hallway of 13 Grimmauld Place, the eyes of ancient Black relatives leering down upon them. Even after extensive cleaning and years of occupation, the place incredibly still smelled of must and cobwebs, as though the scent had been laid into the walls by a permanent sticking charm.
Jamie rolled her eyes, and forcefully exhaled a frustrated breath. "Yes dad, I know, I heard you the first million times you said it," she said in a low whisper, with a furtive glance at the covered portrait of Sirius' mother. The last time the dreadful old woman had woken up, it had been the middle of the night, and no one had been particularly happy about it.
"I'm just saying, are you sure you want to do this? Shouldn't I come with you, just in case?"
Jamie groaned, running her own fingers over her own scalp, before turning and firmly placing both her hands on his shoulders. "For Merlin's sake, dad, stop asking. I will be fine. I am quite capable of looking after myself. "
"I know you are," he whispered back, "but-"
"Dad!" Jamie hissed. He looked into her eyes, and she was eleven years old again, looking at him with the same sharp, determined look; the same look he'd seen in Sirius, Remus and even himself many times in his own youth. There was no stopping his daughter now, he knew that. He just wished he could.
The door at the end of the corridor creaked open, and Sirius waltzed in, with Ron and Hermione tailing behind. Jamie gave his shoulders a quick squeeze, before letting go and turning to the newcomers.
"Are you all set?" James asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Completely, Mr Potter," replied Hermione quietly, with a reassuring smile, and a light tap at the deceptively small bag at her side.
"Now, I should probably warn you," announced Sirius, pulling a hip flask from his robes with flourish and swirling the thick potion around inside it. The liquid made a horrible gurgling sound. "This stuff tastes like the rear end of a troll."
"Have you had some experience with the rear end of trolls, Sirius?" Ron quipped, with a wide Weasley grin.
"Don't worry Sirius, we've done this before, we know what to expect," Jamie said, shifting her wide-eyed, determined stare between the two older men, while Hermione rolled her eyes and pinched Ron's ear. The red-headed boy yelped.
James sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "Alright, alright! Just for Merlin's sake, be careful and stick to the pla – wait. Wait, wait, wait, what did you say? What do you mean 'you've done this before', Jamie?"
"What?"
Jamie had stilled, eyebrows furrowed, mouth dangling open and a faint tinge of red on her cheeks. She and Hermione exchanged panicked looks.
"Jamie?" James repeated.
"What? Did I say done?" she replied, flustered, as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. "I – well, what I meant to say was, um, we- we've read a book on it that explained what happens pretty well, so it feels… oh, bollocks!"
James watched, flabbergasted, as the excuse crumble in the air before him.
"Did- did I not tell you about that?" Jamie said, tinnily through her teeth.
"No, you didn't," James replied, his arms crossed.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Sorry? You've used Polyjuice Potion?" James cried, and everyone shushed him. "Do you know how dangerous- I can't believe this!"
"Come on, James, be fair," Sirius chipped in with a short laugh. "You know very well we had Polyjuice worked out by Fifth year."
"Fifth year? Ha! We did it in Second!" exclaimed Ron, which was followed by an "Ouch!" as Hermione pinched him again.
"Second year? You lot were running around with Polyjuice when you were twelve?" James said, bordering on shrill, and rounding on his daughter.
"Well, to be fair, Hermione did the brewing," said Jamie, pointing a thumb at her friend.
"Jamie!" cried an affronted Hermione.
"Yeah, and it was her idea to begin with, too," added Ron, and he dodged a third pinch from the frizzy haired witch. "And she was technically thirteen at the time."
"You brewed it yourself-!" began James.
"Look, okay, we don't have time to talk about this right now!" pushed in Jamie, her hands held out placatingly. The curtain in front of Sirius' mother's portrait rustled, and everyone turned to look at it, terrified. They held their collective breaths, and waited…
A tense moment later, the rustling stopped, and everyone visibly relaxed.
"Give me the potion, Sirius," Jamie whispered. Sirius passed the flask into her outstretched hand, and the girl unscrewed the cap and took a sniff. "Ugh, just as rank as I remember," she breathed, scrunching up her nose.
James met her eyes, and she smiled reassuringly in return.
"Like I said, we've done this before, we'll be fine," she said, as she tucked the flask into the pocket of her blue jacket. "Let's go," she commanded to Ron and Hermione, and the other two followed her down the hall.
"Be safe," he whispered after them, and his daughter gave a quick salute and a grin in response, before disappearing out the front door and into the wild world.
"They are so much like us when we were young," Sirius said, clapping him on the shoulder, but there was a look of worry on his best friend's face that James was sure mirrored his own.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm afraid of," replied James. He ran his fingers through his hair again, and turned away.
…
It's been over two years. You all thought I was dead. I have graduated high school, got most of the way through a university undergraduate degree and lived in two different countries besides the one I was born in since the last time I posted a chapter. But here I am, once again, with my silly short fics about a genderbent beloved literary character.
(I actually wrote a lot of this chapter months and months ago, but didn't end up finishing. Commitment is hard.)
Anyway, this was mostly spontaneous, but how about we set the goal at a nice round 50 chapters, and see how that goes. So, see you all in another two years, then?
As always, thanks for reading!
