Chapter 3: Snape's Turnaround
The next day's weather was worse than yesterday's. Rain pounded so hard against the windows in the early morning that even Sirius, the King of Late Sleepers, woke up with a start at 4:30 a.m.
"I can't sleep with all that damned rain lashing at the windows," he complained. Early though it was, Remus, James and Sirius noticed that Peter had already gotten up.
"Wonder why Peter got up at the break of dawn," James said with a yawn.
"Maybe he's scared of thunder," Remus guessed.
"That coward's scared of everything," Sirius said unconcernedly. "Anyway, let's not talk about The 1000 Fears and Dreads of Peter Pettigrew. Then again, if we talk about that, it would actually help us get back to sleep."
"What have you got against Peter anyway?" James asked. "All those punishments were a fluke. You shouldn't be mad."
"Is it so wrong to think that a person is irritating and just not fun to be with?" Sirius said irritably. "Take it from me, Jamie boy, you'll regret ever having a friend like that."
"We-ell… If you say so," James shrugged. "Since we're up anyway, what say we head to the Great Hall and start off our first morning back with a back-to-school gift for Snape and his saintly buddies," he deadpanned.
"Better than sticking around here, no doubt," Remus agreed, rubbing his eyes. He looked down at his watch. "We'd better take a shower first, it's too early for anything today, pranks or otherwise." He grabbed a towel from his trunk and headed for the bathroom."
Their other classmate, Martin Kimball, snored loudly. This was a surprise, since, aside from being the only one out of place in the dormitory when Peter was still Sirius's close friend, he was usually the lightest sleeper.
"Want to play a trick on Martin to pass the time?" Sirius asked.
"Nah," James replied. "Maybe some other time. Today's target is Snape, not a harmless Gryffindor."
"You don't call Snape harmless?" Sirius said with a smirk. "If he only knew how to fight back…"
"Well, he does know more curses than the seventh years ever will," James pointed out.
"That's different. There is a very visible distinction between knowing and being smart enough to actually perform a hex," Sirius answered knowingly.
James rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Sirius."
A disgusted sound arose from the shower. "Eurgh! What the hell is this stuff? Sirius!" Remus bellowed.
James looked bewildered; Sirius grinned. "What mysteries are going on there, Rem?" he called innocently.
"Just shut up and get this stuff off me!" was the reply.
Sirius exhaled loudly. "All right, all right, keep your pants on," he said. James followed him.
Sirius opened the door wide and doubled up with laughter. "What's so fun--" James started, and then he laughed too.
Remus was wearing a towel around his waist. His light brown hair became blue and his face, chest and arms were covered in what were unmistakably giant, purple boils. "What are you two laughing about?!" he shouted angrily. "I can't take this stuff off!"
Sirius wheezed. "Hold on, werewolf boy, I'm just going to get a camera," he said between gasps.
"No, you don't! Take it off or I'm going to disown you as a friend!"
"What's wrong? I thought blue was your favorite color," Sirius said innocuously.
"I never said I wanted it in my hair," Remus snapped. "And it's not funny, James!!!"
For James was still rolling around on the floor, sniggering.
"You said Avery looked better with boils on his face," Sirius continued.
"That's him, not me!" Remus said. "Hurry up, Sirius…" The boils were starting to burst, and disgusting, electric green pus oozed out. "This is disgusting!" he spat.
"Don't worry Rem, it'll disappear any minute now…" James assured when he finally stopped laughing.
"Just one little picture, Re--"
"Sirius!"
"Oh, fine," Sirius said sulkily. "Evaseum!" he cried.
Remus's purple boils disappeared. But his hair was still blue and green gooey liquid was streaming down his chest. "SIRIUS!!!"
"Calm down, I'll fix it in a jiffy," Sirius snapped. "What do you call that spell again…"
James had stepped into the bathroom and peered into the shower. "Gross," he said, staring at the pus-splattered walls, the shower dripping with blue liquid, and the floor that grew enormous boils.
He looked back at Sirius and Remus. The werewolf was back to normal, but he appeared really furious. Sirius was trying not to laugh.
"What did you do that for?!" Remus said fiercely.
"I didn't do anything! I just put it in a box--"
"What thing?!" Remus yelled.
Sirius thought for a while. "Actually, I haven't named it yet, but I invented this shape-shifter that makes boils appear on whatever it touches…"
James could hear Remus counting from one to ten. "Why did you have to pull a trick on me?" he said between clenched teeth.
"I told you, I didn't put it in the bathroom! It must have escaped by itself--"
"What about the blue dye, Sirius?" James inquired.
"Er--I remember putting a vial of it beside the boil-thing," Sirius recalled.
"What are you guys shouting about?" a voice said from the doorway. Martin stood there, half-asleep with a towel draped over his shoulder. "I'm going to take a bath." He headed for the shower.
"Uh, Martin there's--"
"Don't go there--"
Too late. Martin had gone into the shower. And yelled.
"Let's get out of here…" Sirius said, dragging James and Remus away.
"But I have to put on my clothes," Remus protested.
"SIRIUS!!!" Martin roared.
"Later, then," Sirius whispered. With that, he dashed out of the dormitory, narrowly missing a pus-contaminated loofa that was flung toward the doorway.
*****
"There. That should do it," James said, pocketing his wand.
"What about the other two?" Remus asked.
"Never mind that, we'll trick them on another day," Sirius said impatiently.
"You always did say that 'The more pranks, the better.' What changed your perspective on life?" Remus told him.
Sirius looked annoyed. "Don't you want to humiliate Snape? The only way to make him want to crawl under a table and die is to do this to him without anybody else sharing in his worst moment."
"Whatever. But don't say I didn't suggest it later," Remus shot back, rolling his eyes. "And I'm going to get you for what you did this morning."
"Uh-huh. Better hurry, the early birds will be here any minute…"
They slid back to the Gryffindor table just in time. Students started trickling into the Great Hall, chatting unconcernedly.
Chase Tarlise, Lily's dorm mate and a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, sat opposite them. "Morning, you guys," she greeted.
"Here to get the worm?" Sirius inquired.
"What?" Chase said blankly.
"Never mind," Sirius said. "Where're Lily and Celeste?"
Chase shrugged. "I dunno. But they had a fight last night," she informed, her pale blue eyes sparkling.
"Really? About what?" Sirius asked with interest.
"Gossipmonger," Remus interjected, sipping his juice.
"Honestly, Sirius. Don't you know that only girls nose around for information about the latest rumors and stuff?" James said, shaking his head.
Chase glared at him. "Not all girls are that low, James," she objected. "And in case you didn't know…"
"Know what?"
"Oh nothing," Chase answered tauntingly.
"Whatever," James said, shaking his head. "See? That's what happens to people like her," he told Remus and Sirius.
"Hey, guys," Lily said, plopping down next to Chase. "What's up?"
"The ceiling, the sky, Paradise," Sirius replied sarcastically.
"Thanks for the update, Sirius," Lily deadpanned.
"You're welcome. I try my best." Sirius answered. "Heard you had a fight with Celeste."
Lily glanced at Chase. "You told them?"
Chase speared a waffle piece on her fork. "What gives you that idea?" she asked sardonically.
"How much did you say?"
"Nothing! All I said was that you guys had a fight. Is that a crime?" Chase said while munching on her waffle.
Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you didn't spill anything."
James stood up. "The hook-nosed freak isn't here yet," he said, sounding disappointed.
"What's wrong, Jamie? Given Sirius's quote any thought? Are you and Snape a couple now?" Lily said malevolently.
"Excuse me, but I do not have infatuations on stupid, grease-haired, pathetically weak male morons. Females too," James added as an afterthought. "You, on the other hand, seem to have a habit of telling other people that they have a crush on your crush so that your scent will be thrown off," he said placidly.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I--do--not--have--a--crush--on--anybody?!" Lily snapped. "And that's the truth!"
"The truth lies," Chase remarked. Lily glared at her. "What? People tell false information everyday," she added innocently.
"Interesting remark, Chase," Sirius grinned. "So… Are you saying that yes, Lily has a crush on somebody or are you just merely stating a fact?"
Lily eyed Chase beadily. Chase opened her mouth to say something, but--
"Oh, look, there's Celeste," she said instead, pointing across the Hall. Lily narrowed her eyes, and when Celeste made to sit next to Chase, Lily walked around the table and sat next to Sirius.
Celeste pretended not to notice that Lily was purposefully avoiding her. "What's new, you guys?" she asked desperately to break the tense silence that followed after she had arrived.
Sirius leaned forward, folding and resting his arms on the table. "Not much. Just that Lily Evans and Celeste Schoharie had a fight yesterday, and we were just pressing Chase Tarlise for information. She was about to give us the goods when you came and asked us what's new," he responded the tone and expression of a secret agent discussing top-secret plans with his boss.
Celeste shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her eyes darted around for something to change the subject with, but she found none. Luckily, Remus spotted something. "There's Snape!" he whispered excitedly.
"Don't tell me you have a crush on Snape too, Rem?" Lily said with a puzzled expression.
"What's the matter Lil? Worried that you've got competition?" James said cynically.
"Oh, not really, I was just worried about my friend James Potter. He'd be overly jealous if somebody took his beloved Snape away from him," Lily answered nonchalantly.
James was about to retort when Remus jabbed his thumb in Snape's direction. He was striding toward the Slytherin table with a smirk on his face. James couldn't fail to notice that the crowd in the Great Hall became sizably bigger in the last five minutes.
"Show time," Sirius said, rubbing his hands together with glee.
Snape sat down in his usual seat at their table, but suddenly jumped up as if a porcupine had chosen to sleep on his chair. There was a loud POP! and Snape was engulfed in thick, purple smoke. When the smoke faded, the whole Hall was roaring with laughter.
Snape looked horrified. "What? What happened to me?" he cried, wringing his hands at the Slytherins. That was when he noticed the silver bangles on his wrists.
"Lookin' good, Snape!"
Snape was wearing deep pink, flower-printed robes with a frilly collar and cuffs. His face was instantly covered with make-up, which was fast becoming heavier, as if an invisible hand was applying the enhancers on his face. A large amount of pale blue eye shadow was on his eyelids; fake eyelashes heavy with mascara had found their way onto his eyes; his cheeks had way too much blush; and thick layers of deep red lipstick were on his lips. He looked down at his feet; he was wearing pale pink shoes with pencil-thin high heels. His nails had lengthened and were a snow pink color. He swung around, and long, black greasy hair whipped his astonished face.
More people entering the Great Hall for breakfast stopped in the doorway, their eyes widening as they gaped at Snape, and sniggers and giggles escaping their lips as they held their stomachs in fits of laughter.
Snape's face, already red due to the blush, positively turned a darker shade of scarlet with every snide comment or snicker from everyone in the Hall. At the point when he desperately reached for his wand to magically change his attire, it burst and turned into a compact of face powder.
With as much dignity as he could muster, he started walking toward the Gryffindors (who were hurling the most catcalls, laughs and jeers at Snape), tripping every now and then because of his new shoes.
"Look, Lily, Snape's come to sweep you off your feet and ride with you to the sunset--I mean, sunrise--on his Blast-ended Skrewt," James couldn't help to say between sniggers.
"Then he's going to give you a big, slimy kiss and you're going to run your hands through his oil factory of hair and say, 'Oh, Severus, I love you so much!'" Sirius supplied, clutching his stomach because of laughing too hard.
"Shut up, even if he was the last man standing on earth I wouldn't even touch his slimy skin," Lily snapped at the pair of them just as Snape reached them.
"Lovely outfit, Snape," James commented loudly, stopping laughing long enough to say the words with a straight face.
"Yeah, I didn't know the gay parade was coming to Hogwarts this year," Sirius added with a loud guffaw. People who heard him laughed harder.
"Want to borrow a pair of large silver-hoop earrings to go with your new look?" Lily asked, her eyes glinting maliciously.
Snape's face burned with embarrassment as laughter closed in on him on all sides, more so when the Gryffindors started attacking him.
"Are you going to come to lunch in a bikini next?"
"Fishing for a date?"
"Wonder who's the unlucky guy."
"No level-headed guy or girl will go out with slime like that."
The noisy chatter in the Hall was so loud that a new voice could barely be heard over the racket.
"What is going on here? Disturbing the quiet of the castle, six o'clock in the morning…Who--" Professor McGonagall in her tartan bathrobe too was lost for words as her beady eyes scanned the Hall for the cause of noise. And, like everyone before her who had entered, she gaped at Snape, her eyes widening. For a moment she looked angry, but the sight of Snape looking like a trying-too-hard homosexual was enough to make even the strict professor to let out a chuckle. She tried to force her amusement at the ludicrousness of one of her students out of her face as she walked toward the Gryffindors.
"Snape, what are you doing in those--those--"
"Pink floral print robes, heavy make-up, jewelry, and three-inch high heels," Sirius supplied.
"Exactly," Professor McGonagall agreed, nodding. Suddenly her eyes narrowed. "Explain what happened here, Snape."
Snape seemed lost for words. Newcomers started to arrive right after Professor McGonagall and started laughing and pointing at him again.
"Does this, perhaps, have anything to do with you four?" Professor McGonagall said sternly to Remus, James, Sirius and Lily.
"Of course not, Professor. We'd never do this to dear old Snape," Sirius said.
"Wouldn't dream of it," James added.
"Yeah, that's because you'd do it before you dreamed about it," Remus whispered to Lily.
"Professor, I assure you that I had nothing to do with whatever they were doing," Lily said quickly when Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows at her.
"And what precisely did Potter, Black and Lupin do?" Professor McGonagall asked impatiently.
Lily glanced at her friends. "Well…Last I saw, we were just here eating our breakfast when Snape sat down and jumped back up from his chair. Then he was covered in purple smoke and when he reappeared, he looked like…that," she explained, chuckling as Snape gave her a murderous stare.
Professor McGonagall was torn between trying not to laugh (at Snape) and yelling (at James, Sirius and Remus). She was muttering distractedly, but the four (and people who were listening in, everyone else in the Hall, apparently) could make out her words. "That must have been several charms, transfiguration for the shoes and an Attenuation spell for his hair…But what about concealing the spells and letting them stay in an exact position? Strange…but very tricky…"
"Er, Professor, what exactly are you talking about?" Remus asked cautiously.
Snape was trying to take off his pink shoes, but they seemed to be stuck. A sudden hush spread throughout the Hall, and Professor McGonagall glanced at the doorway.
Dumbledore had come down for breakfast.
*****
All students immediately focused their attention on their food, yet still discussing the fine points of Snape's transformation. Dumbledore was heading up to the High Table, but he stared intently at the small group that was James, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Professor McGonagall. And Snape. His eyes twinkled.
"Mr. Snape--"
"Ms. Snape, Professor," Sirius corrected loudly, so that Dumbledore would hear him clearly. Everyone laughed. Dumbledore smiled.
"I do believe that he is a mister, Sirius, so please forgive me if my judgment is different from yours," Dumbledore replied kindly.
"Okay, Professor. How about Mr. Gay Snape, then?" Sirius asked. Snape, who still couldn't find his voice, reached for his wand again and this time it turned into a tube of lipstick.
"Please, Mr. Black, let me get this out." Dumbledore said. "Mr. Snape, you may go to your dormitory and change into your proper attire."
"But he can't change into his clothes," James objected.
"And why not, Mr. Potter?"
James shifted in his seat. Even from ten yards away, Dumbledore's inquisitive gaze made him feel uneasy. "Er--because there's an Amaranthine spell on him, and it'll fade only after twenty-four hours," he replied, unsure if he said the right thing.
"Hmm. Quite a difficult spell, is it not? More difficult than those of Ordinary Wizarding Level. I wonder…" Dumbledore trailed off again. He seemed to be lost in thought.
"Uh…We're done. Can we go now, Professor?" Sirius asked uncertainly.
"No, you may not!" Professor McGonagall replied. "Come with me, you four." She beckoned them toward the High Table. The four friends felt all eyes in the Hall trained on them.
"Oh, wonderful. You guys just had to drag me into your trick," Lily hissed at them.
"That's what you get for hanging out with us. If you don't want this to happen to you, then maybe you should just…go with your girlie friends and leave all the dirty work to us," James snapped at her. Lily didn't reply, but there was hurt in her eyes before she looked away.
They reached the High Table in silence. Professor Dumbledore gestured for them to take their seats. "Sit down, sit down," he said heartily. "Most of the staff seem to be having a lie-in, this is the first morning back."
"What did you want to talk to us about, Professor?" Remus asked nervously. As much trouble as he had caused, he still thought highly of Dumbledore and admired him.
"I wanted to comment on your brilliance…yes…not all fourth years, fifth years, even, could do what you all have done." Dumbledore said.
"Dumbledore!" Professor McGonagall said, astonished. "These children need proper discipline, not more praise for the wrong they have done…"
"I leave that responsibility to you, Minerva. Surely you have noticed that these four young Gryffindors have performed spells that half of the seventh years have problems dealing with? I think they deserve points for their talent and ability--"
"Yes, Headmaster, I do believe that they have had top grades for the past three years, but this is not the right time to praise them for that…"
The four friends grinned, not that they paid much attention to the fact that they were the cleverest in their year, but to have Dumbledore praise them himself was saying something.
"Very well. I would just like to ask a last word with Mr. Potter and Mr. Black."
Wondering what they had done now that the Headmaster just had to discuss, Sirius and James shrugged at their friends and told them that they would meet in the common room later. They sat down again in the chairs they had occupied previously.
"I assume that Professor McGonagall has told you that your match with the Slytherins would be earlier than usual?" Dumbledore asked them.
"Yes, Professor," the best friends answered automatically.
"Yes. Practice hard, then…You don't have any complaints for the early start of the season?" The boys shook their heads. "Well, I guess that is all. Have a good weekend, boys…"
"Yeah, thanks, Professor," Sirius said with a grin. "We will," he added to James in a low voice. "We've got a special lineup for each person in that Slytherin gang that Snape always hangs out with."
"By the way, congratulations for an excellent Amaranthine Charm, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore called before they started to leave.
James nodded, looking slightly surprised. How did Dumbledore know that he was the one who had done that spell anyway?
*****
The Gryffindor common room was in utter chaos.
Philip McKinnon, a third year, had been ordered by Lily to nick food from the kitchens. Lily decided to take Philip's crush on her to her full advantage. However, Kelsey Findlay, who had long since been Philip's admirer, wasn't too happy.
Martin Kimball had been bullied by Sirius to let off his stash of Filibuster's Fireworks, With Heat, so everyone in the room had to exercise great caution and constant vigilance (hehe…Moody) before sitting on an armchair or grabbing food from the makeshift buffet table, in case a firecracker decided to hide somewhere near there to surprise someone.
James and Remus disappeared for half an hour before coming back with a huge cardboard box containing every magical sweet imaginable.
A few Muggle-borns who were at least not yet slightly removed from the pop music world were singing Cherry Lips by Garbage, changing the lyrics so that it fit with Snape's current situation.
Some, who were safe in the shelter of a well-placed Heat-Repelling Charm, had taken to invading James and Remus's cardboard box and blowing enormous bubbles with Droobles Best Blowing Gum, or else levitating around the room after munching on a Fizzing Whizbee.
Others who had already stuffed themselves full of cream cakes and desserts that Martin had nicked were either discussing Snape's turnaround or congratulating Remus, James and Sirius for a job well done.
Peter Pettigrew was nowhere in sight.
"Did he decide to run away from school?" James grumbled when he noticed (after his fifteenth bottle of butterbeer) that he was missing.
"Probably. Else he's decided to sink to total dorkdom and studiously read every single book in the library within a day," Sirius said, wearing his trademark manic grin and inspecting a list of things he had invented to test on the Slytherins.
"Maybe even trying to find what's left in the Great Hall," Lily added. They all looked at her. "What? He wasn't at breakfast, remember?"
Remus looked toward the portrait hole worriedly. "Don't you think something happened to him?"
Sirius shook his head. "With Peter? Nah. Unless you count his everyday bloopers that include thinking that the right spiral stairway in the east wing of the castle is the way back to the common room, or getting lost somewhere in the deeper parts of the dungeons, or stepping on Apollyon Pringle's cat--"
"Blah, blah, blah. Will you give it a rest, Sirius? We need to do something more productive," Lily cut in, gesturing at the wild crowd.
"Oh yeah. I've been thinking…maybe we can solve the greater mysteries about the Slytherins--"
"Like what?" Remus asked.
"You know, whether Snape ever washes his hair, or if Nott has the decency to take a bath, even once a month, or if the rumor about Ferris Wilkes's invented ritual of picking his nose with his fellow bizarre, uneducated friends is really true…"
His three friends laughed. "If we could do that, then I say go for it," James said.
"Yeah, but we'd better do it sometime next week. You know how our teachers love to pile a huge amount of homework on us during the first day of class," said Remus matter-of-factly.
"What for? We can always do it tomorrow," Sirius pointed out. "Here's what we'll do… Remus, find a bottle of Magic Rainbow Hair Dye…you know, the kind that flashes different colors every other second?" Remus nodded. "Good. Lily, it's your job to find out Slytherin's password. Just--just flirt with Wilkes or something--"
"I am not flirting with a booger-picking, disgusting, drooling, stupid Slytherin!" Lily said hotly.
"Fine, just sweet-talk Lestrange into telling you or something--"
"And you don't call that flirting?"
"Jeez, Lil, what's with a little sacrifice on your part? If you want to find out something embarrassing about the Slytherins, then we have to expect some kind of atonement from you. It's not like we can persuade Sirius to pull a Snape and act all gay--" James started in exasperation.
"I'm not going to do that," Sirius interrupted. "Anyway, James. You're supposed to make a Reeking Repellant or whatever you call it--once Lil knows the password to the Slytherin common room, we can coat it on Nott's soap, if he even has soap, that is," Sirius added. "Then one of us will put an Undetectable Charm on it and do something that'll break the spell only after Nott uses it." He frowned. "That'll take a lot of research, that will. I guess I'll have to do that…and plan a bunch of other stuff to spring on Snape's other friends. That's about all, I think."
"We'll help you with the research, Sirius, you can't do a bunch of stuff once Quidditch practice starts, and it'll start early, Dumbledore said," Remus said, deep in thought. "I'll probably get the hair dye tomorrow, I'll just go through one of the Hogsmeade routes."
"I'll come with you," James volunteered, "I need to buy the ingredients for the potion…but I'll have to put an Undetectable Charm on it too…the stuff in that potion smells really nasty…"
Sirius nodded in agreement. "Fine. Lily and I will think of some kind of plan to know their password while you're gone… And can you buy me some stuff from Zonko's? I'm running low on Dungbombs and I'll need a stack of Unwritable Parchments--"
"What'd you want Unwritable Parchments for?" James asked quizzically.
"Because, you birdbrain," Sirius said impatiently, "I need to occupy Professor McGonagall and all our other teachers with something while we play something on the Slytherins."
"Nice. What about refilling Ridgewood's ink bottle with glittering alternate-pink-to-purple ink?" Remus suggested.
"Good idea. You'd better bring a lot of money to Hogsmeade and go on a shopping spree," Sirius said.
"In that case, we should bring Lil. Aren't females supposed to be better shopper companions?" said James, giving Lily a sardonic smile.
"Only because males have been known to be color-blind, pattern-blind, and intelligence impaired," Lily shot back.
"And the connection to the subject is…" James said, tilting his head.
"That people like you, for instance, have no intellectual sense whatsoever when it comes to shopping!" Lily cried, throwing up her arms.
James didn't answer for a moment. "Then how come you said I buy the best joke stuff only s few weeks earlier?" he asked shrewdly.
"If you're so hungry for praise, then maybe you should just prove it and get off my case! So shut up, James, because I will not be going to Hogsmeade with you."
"Who said we were asking you to come with us?"
"You!"
"I didn't say that."
"Yes, you did, you said 'we should bring Lil…' Oh never mind," Lily said.
"I suggested it, but I didn't actually say you should come with us. I was just joking, and if it hurts you so much, then okay, I will tell you that you aren't that good in shopping. There, are you happy now?"
"James Potter!" Lily shouted, her face red with anger. A few people partying looked at her.
"What? I thought that was what you wanted me to say--"
"You are so insensitive! I don't even know why I'm friends with you!" Lily turned around and ran off to the girls' dormitory.
Sirius and Remus stared at one another, then at James.
"Like I said…" Sirius singsonged…
"Lovers' quarrel," Remus finished. They both laughed.
James glared at them. "Yeah, yeah, it's Pick-on-James Day… Why am I not surprised?" With that, he stalked out of the room through the portrait hole.
The Fat Lady giggled after him, looking dangerously unstable after finishing her twenty-seventh glass of butterbeer mixed with 'wine' that Sir Cadogan had concocted. Both of them, along with some past headmasters and headmistresses were playing Pin the Tail on the Pony with Sir Cadogan's steed. It looked extremely nervous and attempted to leave the painting without much success.
Just as James disappeared around the corner another person was hurrying toward the common room with a camera in hand.
It was Peter Pettigrew.