James had always loved running. He'd been scolded his entire childhood for running in the house, and he felt a curious sense of nostalgia now as he was running down the corridor. One foot was pounding down the other, and his footsteps were quick and springy on the thickly carpeted floors. With the Charms classroom almost in sight, he urged himself to go faster, sprinting at full pitch. Of the four of them, James was the best runner and that was why the final stage of their prank had fallen to him. He was built for running: tall and lean and sure-footed. He moved through the space gracefully, loping like a deer.
It was just like flying in quidditch, he thought. The higher the stakes of the game, the more excitement he felt and the surer he flew. This was just another game, albeit with much greater consequences should he fail. But he wouldn't get caught this time; he knew it. And so despite the pressure and the time-crunch, he found himself grinning from ear to ear. No one could see his expression under the invisibility cloak anyway, he mused. Certainly, flashes of his feet and shins had to be visible; he was not moving carefully but with reckless speed. It didn't matter. No one was in the halls now; all of the students were busy in the classrooms and the cloak was just an extra precaution. But he had to make it back to Charms before the class period ended. He had to be seen leaving the class with everyone else: that was key. His appearance of innocence hinged on that.
So he moved faster, heart pounding and blood coursing, feeling exhilarated and alive in a way that he only usually felt as the stag. Part of the joy of being the stag was in how fast he could move through the forest, springing in great bounds through the trees while his hoof beats were muffled on the leafy grounds of the forest. He felt like leaping now, but reigned himself in. He only had two legs, after all, and not four. James knew he wasn't completely safe yet, but their plan seemed to be exactly on schedule, so he ran with confidence, every movement controlled and precise.
Peter had stood watch while James quickly completed the enchantment just outside of the Slytherins' common room. It was a game of timing. They'd had to both arrive at the same time, and they had to hope that no one would try to enter or exit the common room. It was blind luck. During class time, it was a fairly good bet, but Peter was there just in case to create a distraction if he needed to or provide a warning if he could. He'd turn into a rat if he couldn't, while James hid under the invisibility cloak. That was their plan. Peter was an especially good lookout with sharp ears and eyes, and he only had to travel a short distance back to his classroom in the dungeon, so he was the best choice for the role. They'd said a hurried goodbye as soon as the enchantment was done, with Peter grinning as James's feet sprinted away; they were the only visible part of him.
James imagined what it would have been like if they'd left the last leg to Peter and had to smile. With his short legs, Peter would still be making his way up from the dungeons what seemed like miles away from where James was in the Charms corridor. One might think that Lupin would be faster than James, with some kind of hidden supernatural ability. But human Lupin was ungainly, and his running was effortful and slow. Sirius might have been able to make it back to Charms in time, but he was bigger than James and built for quick sprints: bursts of power rather than distance. He would have given himself away by being so out of breath on his return. But James was in his element: terrorizing Slytherins and running like a gazelle. It was what he was made to do.
Finally, he turned the corner and saw the classroom door. He stopped just outside of it, feeling a little winded but not noticeably so. He balled the invisibility cloak as small as it could go and shoved it deep into the pocket of his robes, wiping the light perspiration off his forehead.
Walking inside the classroom with feigned nonchalance, he was just in time to hear Flitwick dismiss the class. He looked at the clock, noticing that he'd been gone for 7 minutes. It was close to a personal best, and still within a reasonable amount of time to use the bathroom - which was the excuse he had made to Flitwick. He was proud of himself. His things were up front where he'd left them. Packing up, he glanced over his shoulder at Sirius, who was lounging in his chair at the back table, the picture of languid ease. His eyes were on James, and James gave him a low thumbs up, making sure to keep his hand out of sight from the front of the room. Sirius grinned in appreciation, his features lighting up with his smile.
James made a point to talk to Flitwick as other students began to mill around and exit the classroom. "Did I miss anything important, Professor?" he asked, doing his best to appear concerned that his trip to the "bathroom" might have led him to miss something. In reality, he'd vanished the murky bottle of ink and the heavy slabs of quartz and granite, completing the assignment at the beginning of class. The solids took a different level of concentration than the liquids: a different level of effort. The granite was heaviest of all. That had been obvious to James, even without Flitwick's explanation at the start of the class. But he'd long since learned that these things weren't obvious to all the students. It had made him conceited in his earlier years at Hogwarts, and he still felt a sense of pride at being able to do things well and with ease. But he was Head Boy now, and Dumbledore had told them all to be kind to each other. He knew how distracted he'd been at the start of the term and could only imagine what others were feeling about the terrible events happening outside of Hogwarts, so he'd made an effort during the first few weeks not to blow off the class with Sirius in the back, but to help some of his less capable peers once he'd finished the lesson himself.
And helping others felt nice, he'd realized. He'd spent so much time showing off in an attempt to get people to like him, but these weeks had quickly taught him what a bad approach that had been. He'd formed better relationships with his classmates in the first few weeks of the term than he had in the years that he'd known them.
Flitwick waved James off without concern. "Just remember the reading for Monday." The small man paused, looking at the students who remained in the room and what was left of the materials on their desks. "Mary," he called to a girl in the middle row, before walking over to assign her additional homework. She hadn't managed to vanish anything that lesson.
James gave Sirius a conspiratory nod, but he let his friend pass to walk out the door. He knew from experience that it wouldn't do at all to have them walking together. Too suspicious. Instead, he slung his bag over his shoulder and fell in line next to Lily as she left the classroom.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" he said, the smile coming easily to his face. "I think it's going to be a really, really good day. What about you?" She took an appraising look at him, noticing the color in his cheeks from the exertion of running and the fact that he was still breathing faster than normal. The air of mischief hung all around him and especially in the glint in his eyes as he looked down at her.
"What have you done?" It wasn't a question so much as a flat statement. Lily looked resigned, but also intrigued against her will. "It's written all over you, James Potter. And you were gone for too long."
"Keeping tabs on me?" he asked, avoiding her question and feeling pleased. If she'd noticed his absence, she had to have been watching him, at least a little.
"Hardly."
"Maybe breakfast just didn't sit well with me," he said airily, and the look she gave him very clearly telegraphed her disbelief. The corridors were busy now as classes had let out and almost everyone was making their way to the great hall for lunch. Their class had merged with the others and they walked slowly with the crowd, an eddy joining the larger river of students. He could see Sirius's dark hair far ahead in the crowd, and knew that Peter and Lupin were somewhere behind them, coming from a different class. They would be anxious to see if it had worked as well.
He and Lily were near to the great hall when he smelled it. It was the ripe and pungent smell of rotting fish and seaweed.
Like many of the students around them, Lily covered her mouth and nose after exclaiming in disgust, but James burst out laughing in glee. He found a sweet satisfaction in it, and he reveled, knowing it would probably be short lived. Against everything that was happening in the world, this small act of rebellion seemed like the very least that he could do. He hadn't anticipated seeing the results this soon, and he wished that he could see Sirius's face right now and hear his laughter. They'd all have to congratulate each other later.
The source of the smell made itself known as a small cluster of Slytherins walked past, coming up from their common room. Their faces, hands, and all visible skin were covered in barnacles and lichen, and they reeked of seaweed and low tide. He hoped it was as itchy as it looked. They were hideous and deformed. James had never seen anything more beautiful.
It had taken him and Sirius some time to come up with a way to get the enchantment to work. It was a tricky bit of magic; the person had to be within range of the enchantment James had cast on the floor just outside of the Slytherins' dungeon. If they were in range and they said the right word, the barnacles grew instantly over their skin. He and Sirius had debated how much distance the range should be, they'd had to guess and measure their own common room as an estimate, and they'd had to bribe Peter into being their guinea pig during the last stages of testing by doing his homework for a week. But it worked! It had actually worked, and James felt like singing. It was a sweet sight indeed to see the future death-eaters covered in barnacles and smelling of old fish.
Lily had moved her hand away from her face, and he saw her expression turn to one of appreciation as she realized who exactly had grown the barnacles. She turned to James with a questioning look, and he leaned down, moving his mouth closer to her ear.
"Anyone who says the word 'Mudblood'. Set it up outside their common room; anyone within a certain radius," he murmured quickly, watching her lips curl up into a wicked smile. She looked at him, smiling brightly at what he'd said, and James suddenly felt overwhelmed. It was the closest he'd ever been to her; he could smell the almond scent of her shampoo, and their proximity and her smile had made his pulse speed up. He'd seen her smile like this before, but it had never been towards him.
Commotion was building around the Syltherins as students gasped and laughed and retched at the smell. James took it all in. Filch the caretaker had moved into view investigating the situation with annoyance. He cast a wide look around at the students, and James made the mistake of making eye contact with him, still laughing at the sight of it all. Filch's eyes narrowed as he looked at James. Whatever had given him away to Lily, Filch could see it, too.
Years of mutual torment had made Filch out for his blood just on principle, and he walked over to James, shouldering other students out of the way.
"Somebody hexed these Slytherins as they came out of their common room. So, where have you been the last hour, Potter?" He breathed it into James's face, scrutinizing every inch of him, and James stared boldly back into the man's face, making himself look as innocent as possible. The invisibility cloak was in his pocket, and it would be unimaginable to have Filch confiscate it.
"Charms with the other Gryffindors, and then walking with me," Lily said imperiously, her hands on her hips. Apart from the detention they'd just served, Lily had almost never gotten in trouble. And as Head Girl, Filch had no reason to doubt her. He deflated slightly at her words and her air of authority, and she continued to stare him down. He looked James over once more, but without further evidence there was nothing he could do. No one had seen James cast the enchantment, except for Peter, and the spell happened automatically to anyone who said the words, so he actually may have physically been in the Charms classroom when it happened. Lily had just confirmed his alibi. Filch huffed, but walked away to glare at other students. James felt a gush of happiness at Lily defending him. He hadn't expected it after how disappointed she'd been with him over hexing the 3rd years on the train in at the start of the term.
"Serves them right," was all she said before walking away from James and into the great hall. But she smiled over her shoulder at him after a few steps, and James felt himself smile back automatically. It was a really, really good day.
