AN: For the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.
Round 4: It's a horror story out there
Position: Chaser 1
Team: Ballycastle Bats
Prompt: Coven
Optional prompts used:
2. (word) collateral
11. (creature) bowtruckle
14. (word) venture
Word count: 1,719
James was the first to hear about the group since he always was keeping an ear out for any information concerning Lily Evans. I only found out because he told me. He came barreling into the dormitory one evening from the Common Room, hair sticking up every which way and glasses askew, gesturing madly. When Remus had managed to settle him enough to get the words out of him, he said that he'd been eavesdropping on Lily and some other girls in the Common Room. He said that they were talking about regular meetings that they were having, though when he started ranting about Lily's eternal beauty or some other rot, I'd lain down on my bed, covered my head with a pillow, and tried to drown him out.
Hogwarts was quite the rumour mill and when other Gryffindor students in fifth year started talking about some creepy group of witches that held meetings on Thursday nights to practice dark magic, James immediately put two and two together and realized that the mysterious coven was the one that Lily had been talking about in the Common Room. However, neither he nor Remus could reconcile her gatherings with the rumours that they were practicing dark magic.
"I don't understand, Moony. How could a respectable student like Evans be holding group meetings to practice dark magic?" James said over breakfast one January morning.
I rolled my eyes and focused on my goblet of pumpkin juice. "Maybe Snivellus convinced her to break some rules for once."
"Unlikely, Padfoot," Remus said.
James turned to stare at Lily who was farther down the table with Mary and Marlene. "No way, Padfoot. Not even Snivellus could make Evans practice spells like Unforgivables."
"I vote for blaming Snivellus," Peter piped up from beside me.
Remus sighed. "Clearly the rumours about them practicing dark magic are just that: rumours."
"How are we supposed to find out what they're doing then?" James said, still ogling Lily.
"Why do you even need to find out what they're doing? I reckon it's simply a study group, and even if Snape is there, I doubt Evans would condone practicing dark magic when she's right there."
"That still doesn't answer my question, Moony," James said, his voice muted since he was still facing away and ogling the redheaded witch.
"Merlin's beard, isn't it obvious, Prongs?" I drawled. "We need to venture into their group ourselves. You know, infiltrate it or put your cloak to good use."
James whipped around to face me so fast that he knocked over his goblet of pumpkin juice. "Padfoot, you genius!"
Peter laughed and clapped his hands together. "Brilliant idea, Padfoot."
Remus frowned first at him, then at me, then at James, pulling out his wand and muttering a spell to clean up the spilt sticky liquid. "Great, just great."
James reached a hand up to ruffle my hair, grinning like a lunatic. "You're bloody brilliant. You know that, mate?"
I swatted his hand away, barking with laughter as I tried to rearrange my hair. "I'm only helping you because you're my best mate. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't bother."
"Oh, Padfoot! My heart!"
"Lay it on a little thicker, why don't you," I said, laughing and throwing him a friendly punch on the arm.
"I hope Evans is going to be lenient with you two half-wits. Do you know how absolutely angry she'll be when you crash her group?" Remus said.
James waved his hand. "Nah, she won't be that angry. It'll only be Snivellus, and me and Padfoot can take care of him easily. It's not like Evans and her group of friends are scary."
"I hope so for your sake, Prongs," Remus muttered.
It was Thursday two days later. James had been talking about our venture incessantly, though not because he was trying to smooth out any hitches in the plan. We were planning to wing it and we didn't care how much collateral damage we created. Pranks and other mischievous ventures were always best that way.
In the dark and damp evening, James and I hunched over the Map in the dormitory, watching the dot labelled "Lily Evans" moving from the girls' dormitories to the Common Room, and then out of the portrait hole, making her descent down from the Gryffindor Tower.
"Where in the bloody hell is she heading?" James grumbled, staring at her dot as if it were going to vanish at any moment.
I sighed and pointed at the Map. "Here. Remember we heard it was Snivellus running the meetings with her?"
"The greenhouses? Why there?"
"Dunno. That's why we're going on this venture."
We watched the Map as Lily's and Snape's dots were joined by other Gryffindor girls in our year in one of the greenhouses.
"Bloody hell. Let's just go, Padfoot. They must be having the meeting proper in the greenhouse, though I dunno why."
"Nervous, Prongs?" I teased as we slipped through the portrait hole and bounded down the stairs from the Gryffindor Tower.
"Why would I be nervous?" He laughed, shoving me.
"Since you're going to be seeing Evans face-to-face," I said in a sing-song voice.
"You sod," he said, grinning and ruffling the top of my head. "Stop barking and let's go. You're my collateral prank executor."
"Piss off with those fancy words."
"If we get caught because you decided against bringing the cloak, it's all your fault."
"It's just Evans, Snivellus and a load of other girls, Prongs. We don't need the cloak to outsmart them. And the whole point was to attend the meeting, not spy on them through the window like some cowardly Slytherins."
When we reached the one lit greenhouse, we could see students huddled together in a circle, heads bent as they examined something. Sneaking along the side of the greenhouse, James peered in through the window. We couldn't hear what they were saying, only the faint murmur of girls' voices.
"What in Merlin's name are they doing in there?" James muttered.
"Your guess is as good as mine," I whispered.
Through the dirty glass of the window, I could see Lily gesturing and speaking to the group as they watched whatever was at the centre of their circle, while Snape stood to her left, drinking in her every movement with his greedy eyes. Lily said something, her voice muted, and the other girls nodded solemnly.
"Bloody hell, the rumours were right! They must be practicing dark magic in their secret, exclusive meetings. Why else would they be standing in a circle like that?" James hissed in panic.
I snorted. "As if. This is Evans and—"
Without any warning, James got up and dashed off towards the door to the greenhouse.
"Prongs!" I hissed. "What about the collateral damage? Evans is going to have your head!"
"I don't care!" he hissed back before throwing open the greenhouse door with a loud bang.
I slid to a stop beside him as he stood poised in the doorway, hair sticking up in all directions and wand at the ready. Lily was staring at him, a look of pure vexation on her face.
"You!" she hissed. "What are you doing here?! You're not invited!"
Snape pushed a greasy strand of hair out of his face. "You heard her. This is a girls-only study group."
"Wouldn't that make you a girl, Snivellus?" I couldn't resist saying, earning a hoot of laughter from James.
Red splotches appeared on Snape's face and Lily folded her arms tightly across her chest. "Leave us alone," she hissed.
"We can't just go, not when you could be practicing dark magic," James blurted out.
Lily laughed. "Dark magic, Potter? You honestly think we'd be practicing dark magic? How thick are you?"
James deflated slightly and pushed his glasses up his nose with a finger. "Rumours hold some truth, you know. Seemed like a worthwhile venture."
"Fancy seeing the dark magic we're practicing?" Snape sneered.
"Fancy your head getting inflated to twice its size?" I retorted, my wand already raised.
"I'd like to see you try, Black."
"We're trying to study bowtruckles in peace!" Lily burst out.
The group around her parted to reveal a small shrub on a table in the middle of their circle, hosting what looked like a whole colony of bowtruckles.
Lily fumed and raised her voice. "We can't have one moment in peace without you interrupting—"
Startled by the shouting, the bowtruckles leapt out of the shrub and skittered across the floor, looking for the nearest way out of the greenhouse: the door behind us. I vaguely registered Lily's frantic voice before the nearest bowtruckle leapt at my leg, sinking its pointed fingers through my trouser to stab my skin.
"Bloody hell!" James cried in pain, several bowtruckles attacking him on the legs and arms.
I tried to swat them off, but more seemed to appear out of thin air and latch onto me, pain exploding from where they'd sunk their fingers into me. Retreating out of the door, we were hopping around in agony outside the greenhouse, and I had just pulled my wand out to try something, anything, to get these blasted creatures off, when the bowtruckles let go. Sensing the forest nearby, they leapt off of us and took off, vanishing into the darkness in between the trees.
"My leg!" James said, pulling up the hem of his trouser leg to reveal cuts criss crossing his skin.
"Was that a satisfactory amount of collateral damage?" I grumbled, wincing at the stinging stab wounds all over my hands.
"I reckon this venture into their supposed dark magic group wasn't worth the pain," he groaned.
"Next time you suggest something this ridiculous and bloody foolish, I'm not agreeing to come."
James laughed and cast a healing spell on me first, then himself. "You know you don't mean that, Padfoot."
I conceded defeat with a bark of laughter as we set off back towards the castle. "Alright, maybe I don't really mean it."
He reached up to ruffle the top of my head, laughing when I tried to swat him away. "As long as it's some sort of venture into making mischief you'll be along for the ride, yeah?"
Grinning, I agreed. Perhaps a few stab wounds from bowtruckles was worth it after all.