Sirius sniggered as he read the note that James had just tossed to
him. Professor Grote turned away from the board to glare at his student.
"Is there something amusing about Calming Draughts Mr. Black?" he asked.
Sirius quickly stifled his laughter and shook his head. "No sir. Nothing
funny about them." He said. It wouldn't do to get a detention the very
first day of school.
"Very well then." Professor Grot turned back to his writing and Sirius turned around and gave James a thumbs up. He had set up his part, now it was all up to James from here out. "Mr. Black, if you know so much about these potions that you can afford to ignore me perhaps you could tell us what the main ingredient of the Calming Draught would be?" Sirius turned around to find Professor Grote standing directly in front of his table.
"Err." Sirius wasn't even completely certain about what the question had been much less the answer.
"I thought not. Five points from Gryffindor." Professor Grote said. "Who can tell me the main ingredient of a Calming Draught?" he asked. A hand shot up on the Slytherin side of the room and Grote nodded. "Mr. Snape?"
"The main ingredient of the Calming Draught would be powdered Abyssinian Shrivelfig sir." Said Snape. Sirius grimaced at the Slytherin. "Show-off." He muttered under his breath as Grote awarded Snape ten points to Slytherin for his answer.
As they filed out of Potions Sirius nudged Remus. "Who's that prat who answered Grote's question?" he asked, pointing to the Slytherin in question who was clutching his books tightly to his chest as he hurried off to lunch.
"I think that's Severus Snape." Remus said. "But what's this I hear about flying monkeys?" he asked.
Sirius grinned. "Me and James figured security wouldn't be too tight since it's only the first day of school. I learned how to make these awesome little pellets from a book I've got. You just put water onto them and they turn into monkeys. And if you add pixie dust to them then they can fly. We've got them all set up." He smiled. "It's going to be great, hurry, I don't want to be late for lunch." As the two entered into the Dining Hall pandemonium broke out. Students shrieked as monkeys swooped down from the ceiling and around the tables.
Sirius was delighted to see that one of the monkeys seemed to have fastened itself to Snape's head and was rapidly relieving itself. He nudged Remus who burst out laughing at the sight of the first year draw his hand away from his head covered in dung. Sirius waved to James who was attempting to shove the Muggle watergun he had used to activate the pellets into his robes.
"Isn't this great?" James asked excitedly as he stared around at the chaotic hall. Up at the high table Grote was being attacked by a monkey wielding a breadstick and another monkey was zooming around holding giant tureens of stew that he sloshed on everyone near him.
As the monkeys started to disintegrate into air Sirius and Remus dissolved into hysterics as they watched James attempt to wrestle a fading monkey off a whimpering Peter. "Buck up, they're just a joke shop trick." James said as he led Peter back to the table. "I sincerely doubt that any joke book would teach you how to make killer monkeys." He said. Peter still didn't look reassured but he stopped whimpering which was definitely an improvement.
"Ahem." All four boys whirled as Grote cleared his throat behind them. "Well now, somehow I'm getting the feeling that you four are behind this somehow?" he said. His robes were still covered with crumbs and he disdainfully picked a few off of his robe. "Who us?" James asked, attempting to keep a straight face as he looked at the Potions master. "No sir. We were just telling Peter here that it must have been some quite advanced students who were the perpetrators in this instance. It must take quite a few years to learn how to do Charms like that." He said earnestly.
Grote stared at James suspiciously and then shifted his gaze to Sirius who gave him a scared look and then said. "Oh please say you'll catch the people who did this. It makes Hogwarts seem so unsafe to have killer monkeys at meals." He said. Grote just scowled and walked away.
Everyone except Peter who was still cowering in his chair sniggered as Grote walked away. "You two are horrible!" Remus said with a grin. James took a mock bow as he dug in. Chris and Sarah came up to join them, both laughing about the monkeys. Soon the talk turned to their classes as reams of house elves came out to clean up the mess the monkeys had made.
* * *
James skidded around the corner, Remus Lupin only steps behind him and almost tripped over the crumpled form on the ground. "God, what's wrong with him?" Remus asked as he slid to a halt at James' side.
James looked down at Peter and then pulled out his wand. "I think it's a Bouncing Jinx. I read about them in one of the books Sirius ordered from China. The person you put it on will be flung back from anything he touches. It was originally just supposed to be funny but it can end up knocking the person out if it doesn't wear off quickly enough."
Remus nodded as he leaned down to hoist Peter to his back. "Let's get him to Madame Pomfrey then. He looks like he'll be alright when he wakes up." He said. James stared at Remus. Peter wasn't exactly the lightest of boys but Remus had lifted him as though he were a stick. Remus noticed James staring at him and James quickly looked away as the two boys made their way down the corridor and towards the Infirmary.
"Hey! Remus, James, come here for a second." Sirius said. He stopped as he saw Remus' burden and a concerned expression washed over his face. "What's wrong with Peter? What happened?" he asked. James explained his theory about the Bouncing Jinx and Sirius grimaced. "Slytherins."
James nodded as he held open the Infirmary door for Remus. "Who else would it ever be?" Miss Pomfrey, the nurse's assistant rushed in as she saw Remus lay Peter's still form down on one of the beds.
"My goodness! What have you boys been doing? What's wrong with the boy?" she asked. Remus and James shrugged and Sirius put on his best concerned yet innocent face. "We think he might've been trying the Wingardium Leviosa spell and mistakenly levitated himself and hit the ceiling. That's what we were working on today in Charms class and Peter was having some trouble with it ma'am." He said.
Miss Pomfrey nodded as she prodded Peter a few times with her wand and then felt his head with her hand. "Yes he's got quite a lump here. You boys had better run along. Peter should be back with you by dinner time." she said. The boys thanked her and went back out to the hall talking quietly.
"He can't really take care of himself, can he?" Remus asked. Sirius shook his head disgustedly. "I guess we'd better watch out for him or he's going to go and get himself killed before his second week here is over." James said, "But we can't do anything about it until he wakes up and can tell us what happened."
* * *
"I mean it, it was nothing. Really." Peter said. James stared at him suspiciously but Peter was concentrating fiercely on his chicken and refused to look at any of them. "It was just an accident. I tripped coming down the stairs and I must have knocked myself out."
The other three didn't look even remotely convinced but James motioned for the other two to drop it and the talk turned to Quidditch. "I wish they would let first years play." Sirius said wistfully.
"I hear they used to." Alyse said, looking up from her conversation with Lily and Sarah. "But then it was kind of unfair to the Muggle borns if all the wizarding first years filled up all the empty spots on the team before the Muggle born even knew what Quidditch was." She said.
Sirius shrugged. "Makes sense I guess but I'd still love to do some Beating. I'm going to lose my touch if I don't practice."
Remus looked up from the Transfiguration book he was poring over and grinned. "I miss Keeping too. Those broomstick lessons aren't even close to actually playing." Remus said. James grinned. "Well, at least without us there they're boring. With us around I don't think it's possible for anything to be boring." He said. Lily glared at him. "It's quite possible for you to be boring James Potter." She said. She glared at him for a moment and then turned away angrily.
James blinked. He hadn't really meant to be conceited. What he had said was true. Just the other day during class Sirius had managed to put a simple Dancing Charm onto Madame Hooch so that whenever she said the word "broom" she would begin to dance around uncontrollably. The class had caught on quickly and had spent most of the period going into hysterics over their teacher's antics.
That one had, in the end, earned both James and Sirius a detention each but they had agreed that it was well worth it.
James frowned as he glanced quickly at the back of Lily's head. Her long red hair was in its normal ponytail and James wondered just what she would look like if she let that beautiful hair down. James was only distracted from his musings as a cold glob hit the side of his face and he looked up indignantly, scraping the mashed potatoes off the side of his face. "Quit staring into space and listen to me." Sirius said. "I was just saying that we should get together some first year quidditch teams. Chris was telling me about how at Muggle schools they have varsity for the older kids and then junior varsity for the younger kids. We could do that here too. Muggles had a good idea for once."
Remus smiled excitedly. "That would be great. For this we'll actually have to get permission for once. And we'll have to get the real Team Captains to say it's alright since we don't want to endanger our chances of getting on the team next year. But we have to figure out a good way to suggest it to everyone so all the houses will do it. It won't be any fun if only Gryffindor has a team."
James just smiled. "And I have the perfect idea." He said.
"Very well then." Professor Grot turned back to his writing and Sirius turned around and gave James a thumbs up. He had set up his part, now it was all up to James from here out. "Mr. Black, if you know so much about these potions that you can afford to ignore me perhaps you could tell us what the main ingredient of the Calming Draught would be?" Sirius turned around to find Professor Grote standing directly in front of his table.
"Err." Sirius wasn't even completely certain about what the question had been much less the answer.
"I thought not. Five points from Gryffindor." Professor Grote said. "Who can tell me the main ingredient of a Calming Draught?" he asked. A hand shot up on the Slytherin side of the room and Grote nodded. "Mr. Snape?"
"The main ingredient of the Calming Draught would be powdered Abyssinian Shrivelfig sir." Said Snape. Sirius grimaced at the Slytherin. "Show-off." He muttered under his breath as Grote awarded Snape ten points to Slytherin for his answer.
As they filed out of Potions Sirius nudged Remus. "Who's that prat who answered Grote's question?" he asked, pointing to the Slytherin in question who was clutching his books tightly to his chest as he hurried off to lunch.
"I think that's Severus Snape." Remus said. "But what's this I hear about flying monkeys?" he asked.
Sirius grinned. "Me and James figured security wouldn't be too tight since it's only the first day of school. I learned how to make these awesome little pellets from a book I've got. You just put water onto them and they turn into monkeys. And if you add pixie dust to them then they can fly. We've got them all set up." He smiled. "It's going to be great, hurry, I don't want to be late for lunch." As the two entered into the Dining Hall pandemonium broke out. Students shrieked as monkeys swooped down from the ceiling and around the tables.
Sirius was delighted to see that one of the monkeys seemed to have fastened itself to Snape's head and was rapidly relieving itself. He nudged Remus who burst out laughing at the sight of the first year draw his hand away from his head covered in dung. Sirius waved to James who was attempting to shove the Muggle watergun he had used to activate the pellets into his robes.
"Isn't this great?" James asked excitedly as he stared around at the chaotic hall. Up at the high table Grote was being attacked by a monkey wielding a breadstick and another monkey was zooming around holding giant tureens of stew that he sloshed on everyone near him.
As the monkeys started to disintegrate into air Sirius and Remus dissolved into hysterics as they watched James attempt to wrestle a fading monkey off a whimpering Peter. "Buck up, they're just a joke shop trick." James said as he led Peter back to the table. "I sincerely doubt that any joke book would teach you how to make killer monkeys." He said. Peter still didn't look reassured but he stopped whimpering which was definitely an improvement.
"Ahem." All four boys whirled as Grote cleared his throat behind them. "Well now, somehow I'm getting the feeling that you four are behind this somehow?" he said. His robes were still covered with crumbs and he disdainfully picked a few off of his robe. "Who us?" James asked, attempting to keep a straight face as he looked at the Potions master. "No sir. We were just telling Peter here that it must have been some quite advanced students who were the perpetrators in this instance. It must take quite a few years to learn how to do Charms like that." He said earnestly.
Grote stared at James suspiciously and then shifted his gaze to Sirius who gave him a scared look and then said. "Oh please say you'll catch the people who did this. It makes Hogwarts seem so unsafe to have killer monkeys at meals." He said. Grote just scowled and walked away.
Everyone except Peter who was still cowering in his chair sniggered as Grote walked away. "You two are horrible!" Remus said with a grin. James took a mock bow as he dug in. Chris and Sarah came up to join them, both laughing about the monkeys. Soon the talk turned to their classes as reams of house elves came out to clean up the mess the monkeys had made.
* * *
James skidded around the corner, Remus Lupin only steps behind him and almost tripped over the crumpled form on the ground. "God, what's wrong with him?" Remus asked as he slid to a halt at James' side.
James looked down at Peter and then pulled out his wand. "I think it's a Bouncing Jinx. I read about them in one of the books Sirius ordered from China. The person you put it on will be flung back from anything he touches. It was originally just supposed to be funny but it can end up knocking the person out if it doesn't wear off quickly enough."
Remus nodded as he leaned down to hoist Peter to his back. "Let's get him to Madame Pomfrey then. He looks like he'll be alright when he wakes up." He said. James stared at Remus. Peter wasn't exactly the lightest of boys but Remus had lifted him as though he were a stick. Remus noticed James staring at him and James quickly looked away as the two boys made their way down the corridor and towards the Infirmary.
"Hey! Remus, James, come here for a second." Sirius said. He stopped as he saw Remus' burden and a concerned expression washed over his face. "What's wrong with Peter? What happened?" he asked. James explained his theory about the Bouncing Jinx and Sirius grimaced. "Slytherins."
James nodded as he held open the Infirmary door for Remus. "Who else would it ever be?" Miss Pomfrey, the nurse's assistant rushed in as she saw Remus lay Peter's still form down on one of the beds.
"My goodness! What have you boys been doing? What's wrong with the boy?" she asked. Remus and James shrugged and Sirius put on his best concerned yet innocent face. "We think he might've been trying the Wingardium Leviosa spell and mistakenly levitated himself and hit the ceiling. That's what we were working on today in Charms class and Peter was having some trouble with it ma'am." He said.
Miss Pomfrey nodded as she prodded Peter a few times with her wand and then felt his head with her hand. "Yes he's got quite a lump here. You boys had better run along. Peter should be back with you by dinner time." she said. The boys thanked her and went back out to the hall talking quietly.
"He can't really take care of himself, can he?" Remus asked. Sirius shook his head disgustedly. "I guess we'd better watch out for him or he's going to go and get himself killed before his second week here is over." James said, "But we can't do anything about it until he wakes up and can tell us what happened."
* * *
"I mean it, it was nothing. Really." Peter said. James stared at him suspiciously but Peter was concentrating fiercely on his chicken and refused to look at any of them. "It was just an accident. I tripped coming down the stairs and I must have knocked myself out."
The other three didn't look even remotely convinced but James motioned for the other two to drop it and the talk turned to Quidditch. "I wish they would let first years play." Sirius said wistfully.
"I hear they used to." Alyse said, looking up from her conversation with Lily and Sarah. "But then it was kind of unfair to the Muggle borns if all the wizarding first years filled up all the empty spots on the team before the Muggle born even knew what Quidditch was." She said.
Sirius shrugged. "Makes sense I guess but I'd still love to do some Beating. I'm going to lose my touch if I don't practice."
Remus looked up from the Transfiguration book he was poring over and grinned. "I miss Keeping too. Those broomstick lessons aren't even close to actually playing." Remus said. James grinned. "Well, at least without us there they're boring. With us around I don't think it's possible for anything to be boring." He said. Lily glared at him. "It's quite possible for you to be boring James Potter." She said. She glared at him for a moment and then turned away angrily.
James blinked. He hadn't really meant to be conceited. What he had said was true. Just the other day during class Sirius had managed to put a simple Dancing Charm onto Madame Hooch so that whenever she said the word "broom" she would begin to dance around uncontrollably. The class had caught on quickly and had spent most of the period going into hysterics over their teacher's antics.
That one had, in the end, earned both James and Sirius a detention each but they had agreed that it was well worth it.
James frowned as he glanced quickly at the back of Lily's head. Her long red hair was in its normal ponytail and James wondered just what she would look like if she let that beautiful hair down. James was only distracted from his musings as a cold glob hit the side of his face and he looked up indignantly, scraping the mashed potatoes off the side of his face. "Quit staring into space and listen to me." Sirius said. "I was just saying that we should get together some first year quidditch teams. Chris was telling me about how at Muggle schools they have varsity for the older kids and then junior varsity for the younger kids. We could do that here too. Muggles had a good idea for once."
Remus smiled excitedly. "That would be great. For this we'll actually have to get permission for once. And we'll have to get the real Team Captains to say it's alright since we don't want to endanger our chances of getting on the team next year. But we have to figure out a good way to suggest it to everyone so all the houses will do it. It won't be any fun if only Gryffindor has a team."
James just smiled. "And I have the perfect idea." He said.
