Chapter 16 - The Search Continues
"What? Really? No, in a Potion, muggle!" Sirius seemed to be having a few difficulties coming to terms with the muggle nature of this missing potion ingredient. Remus, on the other hand had more sense,
"Well, do you have any idea where we could get some?" James didn't know, where could you get muggle fruit in Hogwarts during term time? James doubted that even if they could get to Hogsmeade somehow there wouldn't be a place where they could buy such a thing.
"There's always the kitchens," James said slowly "the house elves may keep things like that to cook with. I'm sure they could be relied on to provide something like that if they have any."
That settled it. They had to go down to the kitchens and see what they could do about this. They were pushing it for time, so James decided that the best option would be to go then and there.
It didn't take him long, and under his invisibility cloak he was pretty much able to avoid running into Pringle, the caretaker, or his grouchy assistant Filch, or Peeves for that matter. Because he was on his own there wasn't the usual problem with there being too many people under the invisibility cloak and he was able to move much more quietly than usual. It didn't take him long to get to the portrait of the bowl of fruit and tickle the pear (his dad had told him long ago how to get into the Hogwarts kitchens) and go and see if the house elves could help him.
"Master James, hello. We is not seeing you for ages sir? Can we get you anything?" Even as he stepped into the portrait hole he was confronted with loads of little elves swarming around him at waist height offering him everything from Tea to cream cakes. He took a cup of tea from one of the elves and sat down.
"Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a very big favour." James flashed them the biggest and most charming smile he could muster. "We will do all that we can, sir." Came the resounding reply. "Excellent, because I was wondering if you had such a thing as rhubarb down here." "Rhubarb sir? Why is you wanting rhubarb? We is not using it often sir, unfortunately we is not having any at the moment." James tried not to feel deflated at this. "sir, we is getting it from the forest, sir. Hagrid is sometimes getting us some when we needs it master James." This news had the effect of cheering up James considerably, though the thought of mooching around the forbidden forest at night for something he didn't know anything about didn't really appeal, but this was such a good opportunity to amuse the entire school, and at the same time to humiliate old Snivellous. How could he possibly pass it up?
After some hurried goodbyes and thank yous he climbed out of the portrait and made his way back to Gryffindor tower. It was now ridiculously late and James was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. Tomorrow he would solve the rhubarb problem he thought, as he fell onto his bed, still fully clothed, not even bothering to take off his glasses.
The next morning he told the others what he had found out, and all of them (with the possible exception of Peter) looked upset that they hadn't found any of the last ingredient devastating, but when James told them that they had to go into the forest only Sirius looked excited, Peter looked terrified and Remus looked reluctant.
"So, looks like it's just you and me mate!" James said, sounding an awful lot braver than he felt. "Looks like it is." Sirius looked fairly pale now as the reality of what he was agreeing to sank in. James couldn't help but sympathise, there were rumoured to be all sorts or terrifying things in the forest, snarling beasts, magical creatures who like to keep themselves to themselves and were ready to fight to protect their privacy and all sorts of other things that James didn't even want to think about.
"So, have either of you geniuses got any idea of what you're looking for in the dark forest? I presume neither of you have ever seen rhubarb." Remus made a good point. As always he was the sole voice of reason. But maybe there was a way. He was deep in a train of thought that seemed to be taking him down the hall of Hogwarts towards a room, it could be the library he thought, and just as he was about to reach a conclusion he was interrupted by a throat clearing cough from Remus who was looking amusedly at him. It seemed that he had got there a few steps ahead of James.
"I think, James, that you will need to check in the Muggle Studies part of the library, where I'm sure you will no doubt find a description or a picture of this particular item." Feeling slightly irritated that Remus had pre-empted the precise thing that he was going to suggest doing he nodded curtly and stood up.
"Come on people, it's time for Potions. We'd better get going."
Today, as was often the case in Potions lessons, Professor Mechante made James feel uncomfortable. He had no idea how much she knew, or how much she was likely to repeat to anyone else. It was disconcerting to have to rely so heavily upon the silence of a woman who showed no signs of honesty or loyalty at all. What would happen if she ceased to find their antics funny? It was this thought that troubled James more than any other.
At lunchtime James and Sirius polished off a large plate of food in record time and ran down to the library in order to get as much time as they could in the library. Anyone who had seen them would have laughed at the unusual sight of James Potter and Sirius Black rushing to get to the library of all places. Especially at lunchtime when they should have been in the Great Hall causing as much trouble as they possibly could. They dashed in and made a beeline straight for the Muggle Studies, hissing a hurried apology to Madame Pince the librarian for disrupting the silence of the library. They quickly pulled a large selection of books from the shelf and sat down at a desk to read them. They knew that they only had a few days left to pull off a trick that they could be proud of and it was becoming a matter of urgency that they find the last potion ingredient.
It was a good half hour before they managed to find what they were looking for. After a few dead ends (Add stewed rhubarb, he grew rhubarb in his garden etc) James hit upon a picture of some rhubarb in what seemed to be a children's cookery book as it was full of pictures of the ingredients and instructions such as 'ask a grown up if they will do this part for you' etc. It looked decidedly weird; it was a long stick shape with huge leaves growing out of the top. According to the blurb in the book next to the picture it was a root plant, and so he deduced that he would have to look close to the ground for it. Still, at least they knew what they'd be looking for.
Feeling a good deal more cheerful they made their way back along the corridors on their way to History of Magic. James brought the book with him, inside was a recipe for crumble that he thought might be useful. The way Lily had described it had made it sound delicious. It might be worth a go.
Everything was going fine; they had made arrangements to slip out of the tower that night during History of Magic and they were on their way to Transfiguration when disaster struck in the form of one Severus Snape.
"Ah, Potter and Black, I can see by your faces that you're plotting something nasty as usual, it would not be good for you to get caught, I am sure that Black's parents would not like him to get into any more trouble, especially since he is already considered to be somewhat of a, how shall I say this, disappointment to them." It happened before James was able to register what Snape had said, a flash of green light whooshed through his line of sight but he gathered from the expression on Sirius' face that Snape had caught a sore point. Sirius was glowering and Snape, James noticed this with a start, was on the floor making horrible, painful sounding retching noises and out of his mouth were coming what looked like fat, black juicy slugs! It was disgusting; all the people in the corridor had either backed away in horror or had crowded around to see what was happening. Some thought it was funny, and others, like Peter looked as they too were going to start retching at any moment.
James wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in this situation, was there any point in trying to get Sirius away from the scene of the crime, was there any chance that they might get away with this? James seriously doubted it, they were right outside McGonnagall's office. What was Sirius thinking? James was sure he had more sense that that. Almost as if she was able to read his thoughts the person he least wanted to see appeared as if out of nowhere.
"Black, Potter I demand to know what has happened here!" McGonnagall had stormed into the corridor and was now glaring angrily at the two boys. James felt a little annoyed at how quickly she had jumped to the conclusion that they had been involved. For once, he hadn't been involved.
"Well," James began, trying to think of something to say that might minimise the punishment that Sirius might have to undergo, but before he had thought of something, before he even had chance to stall for more time Sirius had jumped in.
"I cursed him professor, he provoked me and I lost my temper. This had nothing to do with James this is between me and Snape." McGonnagall looked surprised at this outburst and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Very well, in that case I shall take twenty points from Gryffindor. No matter what he said you still should have controlled your temper, you cannot go cursing everyone who insults you and you shall have a detention tonight. See me after the lesson. Snape, you need to go to the hospital wing, there's nothing for it but to throw them all up I'm afraid but the nurse may be able to give you something to speed the process up a bit. Right, everyone, into the classroom, we haven't got all day." James spent the rest of the lesson cursing Sirius and his temper, because of it he was now going to have to go into the forest on his own that night, and he was not looking forward to it. He also spent a while wondering why what Snape had said had affected him like that, Sirius didn't usually let Snivellous Snape get to him. Maybe there was something about his family that Sirius wasn't letting on.
"What? Really? No, in a Potion, muggle!" Sirius seemed to be having a few difficulties coming to terms with the muggle nature of this missing potion ingredient. Remus, on the other hand had more sense,
"Well, do you have any idea where we could get some?" James didn't know, where could you get muggle fruit in Hogwarts during term time? James doubted that even if they could get to Hogsmeade somehow there wouldn't be a place where they could buy such a thing.
"There's always the kitchens," James said slowly "the house elves may keep things like that to cook with. I'm sure they could be relied on to provide something like that if they have any."
That settled it. They had to go down to the kitchens and see what they could do about this. They were pushing it for time, so James decided that the best option would be to go then and there.
It didn't take him long, and under his invisibility cloak he was pretty much able to avoid running into Pringle, the caretaker, or his grouchy assistant Filch, or Peeves for that matter. Because he was on his own there wasn't the usual problem with there being too many people under the invisibility cloak and he was able to move much more quietly than usual. It didn't take him long to get to the portrait of the bowl of fruit and tickle the pear (his dad had told him long ago how to get into the Hogwarts kitchens) and go and see if the house elves could help him.
"Master James, hello. We is not seeing you for ages sir? Can we get you anything?" Even as he stepped into the portrait hole he was confronted with loads of little elves swarming around him at waist height offering him everything from Tea to cream cakes. He took a cup of tea from one of the elves and sat down.
"Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a very big favour." James flashed them the biggest and most charming smile he could muster. "We will do all that we can, sir." Came the resounding reply. "Excellent, because I was wondering if you had such a thing as rhubarb down here." "Rhubarb sir? Why is you wanting rhubarb? We is not using it often sir, unfortunately we is not having any at the moment." James tried not to feel deflated at this. "sir, we is getting it from the forest, sir. Hagrid is sometimes getting us some when we needs it master James." This news had the effect of cheering up James considerably, though the thought of mooching around the forbidden forest at night for something he didn't know anything about didn't really appeal, but this was such a good opportunity to amuse the entire school, and at the same time to humiliate old Snivellous. How could he possibly pass it up?
After some hurried goodbyes and thank yous he climbed out of the portrait and made his way back to Gryffindor tower. It was now ridiculously late and James was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. Tomorrow he would solve the rhubarb problem he thought, as he fell onto his bed, still fully clothed, not even bothering to take off his glasses.
The next morning he told the others what he had found out, and all of them (with the possible exception of Peter) looked upset that they hadn't found any of the last ingredient devastating, but when James told them that they had to go into the forest only Sirius looked excited, Peter looked terrified and Remus looked reluctant.
"So, looks like it's just you and me mate!" James said, sounding an awful lot braver than he felt. "Looks like it is." Sirius looked fairly pale now as the reality of what he was agreeing to sank in. James couldn't help but sympathise, there were rumoured to be all sorts or terrifying things in the forest, snarling beasts, magical creatures who like to keep themselves to themselves and were ready to fight to protect their privacy and all sorts of other things that James didn't even want to think about.
"So, have either of you geniuses got any idea of what you're looking for in the dark forest? I presume neither of you have ever seen rhubarb." Remus made a good point. As always he was the sole voice of reason. But maybe there was a way. He was deep in a train of thought that seemed to be taking him down the hall of Hogwarts towards a room, it could be the library he thought, and just as he was about to reach a conclusion he was interrupted by a throat clearing cough from Remus who was looking amusedly at him. It seemed that he had got there a few steps ahead of James.
"I think, James, that you will need to check in the Muggle Studies part of the library, where I'm sure you will no doubt find a description or a picture of this particular item." Feeling slightly irritated that Remus had pre-empted the precise thing that he was going to suggest doing he nodded curtly and stood up.
"Come on people, it's time for Potions. We'd better get going."
Today, as was often the case in Potions lessons, Professor Mechante made James feel uncomfortable. He had no idea how much she knew, or how much she was likely to repeat to anyone else. It was disconcerting to have to rely so heavily upon the silence of a woman who showed no signs of honesty or loyalty at all. What would happen if she ceased to find their antics funny? It was this thought that troubled James more than any other.
At lunchtime James and Sirius polished off a large plate of food in record time and ran down to the library in order to get as much time as they could in the library. Anyone who had seen them would have laughed at the unusual sight of James Potter and Sirius Black rushing to get to the library of all places. Especially at lunchtime when they should have been in the Great Hall causing as much trouble as they possibly could. They dashed in and made a beeline straight for the Muggle Studies, hissing a hurried apology to Madame Pince the librarian for disrupting the silence of the library. They quickly pulled a large selection of books from the shelf and sat down at a desk to read them. They knew that they only had a few days left to pull off a trick that they could be proud of and it was becoming a matter of urgency that they find the last potion ingredient.
It was a good half hour before they managed to find what they were looking for. After a few dead ends (Add stewed rhubarb, he grew rhubarb in his garden etc) James hit upon a picture of some rhubarb in what seemed to be a children's cookery book as it was full of pictures of the ingredients and instructions such as 'ask a grown up if they will do this part for you' etc. It looked decidedly weird; it was a long stick shape with huge leaves growing out of the top. According to the blurb in the book next to the picture it was a root plant, and so he deduced that he would have to look close to the ground for it. Still, at least they knew what they'd be looking for.
Feeling a good deal more cheerful they made their way back along the corridors on their way to History of Magic. James brought the book with him, inside was a recipe for crumble that he thought might be useful. The way Lily had described it had made it sound delicious. It might be worth a go.
Everything was going fine; they had made arrangements to slip out of the tower that night during History of Magic and they were on their way to Transfiguration when disaster struck in the form of one Severus Snape.
"Ah, Potter and Black, I can see by your faces that you're plotting something nasty as usual, it would not be good for you to get caught, I am sure that Black's parents would not like him to get into any more trouble, especially since he is already considered to be somewhat of a, how shall I say this, disappointment to them." It happened before James was able to register what Snape had said, a flash of green light whooshed through his line of sight but he gathered from the expression on Sirius' face that Snape had caught a sore point. Sirius was glowering and Snape, James noticed this with a start, was on the floor making horrible, painful sounding retching noises and out of his mouth were coming what looked like fat, black juicy slugs! It was disgusting; all the people in the corridor had either backed away in horror or had crowded around to see what was happening. Some thought it was funny, and others, like Peter looked as they too were going to start retching at any moment.
James wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in this situation, was there any point in trying to get Sirius away from the scene of the crime, was there any chance that they might get away with this? James seriously doubted it, they were right outside McGonnagall's office. What was Sirius thinking? James was sure he had more sense that that. Almost as if she was able to read his thoughts the person he least wanted to see appeared as if out of nowhere.
"Black, Potter I demand to know what has happened here!" McGonnagall had stormed into the corridor and was now glaring angrily at the two boys. James felt a little annoyed at how quickly she had jumped to the conclusion that they had been involved. For once, he hadn't been involved.
"Well," James began, trying to think of something to say that might minimise the punishment that Sirius might have to undergo, but before he had thought of something, before he even had chance to stall for more time Sirius had jumped in.
"I cursed him professor, he provoked me and I lost my temper. This had nothing to do with James this is between me and Snape." McGonnagall looked surprised at this outburst and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Very well, in that case I shall take twenty points from Gryffindor. No matter what he said you still should have controlled your temper, you cannot go cursing everyone who insults you and you shall have a detention tonight. See me after the lesson. Snape, you need to go to the hospital wing, there's nothing for it but to throw them all up I'm afraid but the nurse may be able to give you something to speed the process up a bit. Right, everyone, into the classroom, we haven't got all day." James spent the rest of the lesson cursing Sirius and his temper, because of it he was now going to have to go into the forest on his own that night, and he was not looking forward to it. He also spent a while wondering why what Snape had said had affected him like that, Sirius didn't usually let Snivellous Snape get to him. Maybe there was something about his family that Sirius wasn't letting on.