Authors Note: Whoa, it's been awhile since I posted another chapter. I hope
you like it as it was before my bout of writers block came along which has
caused me not to write since the holiday break. *sighs* I hope you like my
story. Please R&R! Flames will be used to warm my hands while I type. Thank
you for reading!
Chapter 6: Riddles and Marauding
Soon they were all headed out onto the grounds for Herbology and made their way to the greenhouses. The teacher was young, could have passed for a 7th year, and looked to be just out of school. She had frizzy brown hair and brown eyes. "Good day dears, I'm Professor Sprout, we're going to be working in greenhouse one today, just to get you acquainted with where you'll be working all this year," she said and smiled at them all cheerfully, she was covered in dirt and her robes were rumpled but she was very interesting and class passed by in no time at all. Professor Sprout dismissed them and they headed off in the direction of the castle again.
They walked up to the doors where the Ravenclaw first years were gathering and they were greeted by a man in his mid thirties who was missing an eye but still looked rather cheerful. "Hello! I am your Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn, please follow me," he said and began leading them down towards a fairly large cabin that Hagrid was sitting on the porch of, whittling at a piece of wood in his hands.
Hagrid waved and said, "G'mornin' Professor! What are yeh showin' 'em today?"
"You know perfectly well Hagrid. Thanks again for the use of your paddock," Kettleburn said and smiled at Hagrid kindly.
"Yeh, no problem. Yer all in for a real treat," Hagrid called to the class as Kettleburn lead the students a little further and just beyond Hagrid's hut.
As they came around to the paddock there was a group gasp and several 'oh my's. Standing in the paddock was what resembled an overlarge lion with a woman's face. "It's a sphinx," Professor Kettleburn said excitedly. "I can't let you near her but I imagine she may want to say hello," he said allowing the students to line up along the fence.
The sphinx lay as still as a statue watching the students watch her. "Good afternoon students of Hogwarts," she said, a sly smile crossing her features as she glanced at all of the students in turn with her almond shaped eyes. The Sphinx suddenly sat up from her prone position and Professor Kettleburn looked slightly nervous. "Don't worry Professor, this won't be a riddle they have to solve," she said and proceeded to say:
There are two amongst you,
Who will fall in love.
One is a flower as white as a dove
The other descending from a founder's love
Yours will be the one to defeat an enemy
That all who live will fear to speak of.
The Sphinx looked in the direction of the Gryffindor students and then the Ravenclaw students not giving away another word. She lay back down and Kettleburn sighed with relief. "Good day Hogwarts Students," she said and Kettleburn gathered the students and led them away from the paddock.
When Kettleburn had all of their attention he said, "Please write an essay, one roll of parchment long on the Sphinx. Include as much detail as possible, and if you like what muggle mythology believes Sphinxes to be and do. Turn it in to me on Thursday at the beginning of class. We will be having a discussion that everyone will be expected to participate in. We meet in the castle on Thursday. You are dismissed." He walked swiftly over to Hagrid's cabin and started speaking to him hurriedly.
As he was walking over to Hagrid's hut Lily said, "I've never heard of a Sphinx making a riddle for no reason," she scratched her head and pushed her auburn red hair behind her ears as she heard a noise and whipped around.
They all turned to see that the Sphinx had jumped the paddock fence and was standing about 3 feet behind them. James, Sirius, Remus, Lily and a few other Gryffindors gasped and then listened carefully as she proceeded to say, "I always have a reason for my riddles," and she started a new one, connected to the first one:
They will be betrayed
By one they trust,
By one they love.
They must choose wisely,
Who their friends are,
And who their enemies are.
Then the Sphinx winked, stood and walked back to the paddock, jumped the fence again and lay down. Professor Kettleburn looked as if he was going to have a heart attack right there and he dashed over to the paddock and began arguing with her. She just smiled and said something that none of the students could hear which frustrated Professor Kettleburn and caused him to shout, very audibly, "ARGH!"
The students walked back to the castle in almost silence wondering separately how on earth they weren't dead and vowed to do that essay to see if they could figure out why the Sphinx had said her riddles and predict who they were about.
The whole school was talking about the Sphinx's riddles. Whispers were started around any first year Gryffindor or Ravenclaw students. The school was a field and the rumors spread as quickly as wildfire. There were incomplete and adapted versions of the riddles flying everywhere. Only a few copies were the true riddle, and all this happened in the few hours it took for dinner to begin.
At dinner the castle was in a flurry, whispers and shouts echoed in the Great Hall. Dumbledore stood and everyone was silent, he smiled and addressed the school, "By now you have all heard about Professor Kettleburn's exciting class this afternoon. However, having heard some of the rumors flying about the corridors, I spoke to the Sphinx and asked for her riddle again, which I will recite to you all now." He then repeated the riddle and many of the students memorized it to write down later or wrote it down on spare bits of parchment. Dumbledore then said, "Let's eat," and the food appeared on the tables.
Conversations ran rampant about the Sphinx and her riddle and many new rumors sprung up, but as we all know, rumors have a tendency of becoming rather unbelievable and extremely uncontrollable. Dumbledore had just opened the door to strange new rumors and all of them were miles from the truth. The first years from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were being watched as if two of their number were about to jump up and start making out in the middle of the Great Hall. Sorry, not happening.
Dinner ended and Lily and Company made their way up to the common room to lounge around or work on homework. Lily sat at a table pouring over books that she'd gotten from the library on Sphinxes. Every so often she'd pause in her reading, take up her quill and write a paragraph or two. James, Remus and Sirius admired her work ethic although they had absolutely no intentions of doing their homework that night. They wanted to go for a stroll and explore the castle. They were just waiting for people to clear our of the common room before they headed out, as the riddle had caused the older students to watch the 1st years with interest anytime they moved. It got to be just them and Lily and so they started for the portrait hole as quietly as possible, hoping they wouldn't disturb Lily.
Lily on the other hand had been waiting all night for them to get up and head out, knew exactly when the three boys had started for the exit and she asked, "Where are you three going?" Her voice was unexpected and caused the boys to jump slightly.
"Just up to our dorm," Sirius lied almost convincingly as they watched Lily put down the book she'd been reading and set her quill on the table.
"I see that's why your dormitory is on that side of the room, thinking about leaving and climbing into an open window are you?" Lily asked walking over to where the boys stood, looking decidedly guilty.
"Well, no, we were just going to go exploring," James mumbled in an embarrassed manner under his breath.
Lily smiled, "Exploring is it? On the second day of school, tut, tut, what would your parents say?" she asked in a teasing voice as she looked over at Remus who began to understand Lily's behavior.
Remus's eyes lit with laughter, and he asked, "Would the Lovely Lily like to join us in our search for the kitchens to pillage and plunder?" with and over exaggerated accent while holding his hand out her.
Lily laughed, "You're a clever one Remus, but does Sir James and Lord Sirius have objection to a lady joining your party?" she asked as she took Remus's hand and he jokingly kissed it for effect. She waved her hand like a fan in front of her face and batted her eye lashes at them. Sirius was laughing and almost crying with mirth at their production.
"That's all you wanted? To come along?" James asked entirely perplexed at Lily's 'silly' charade.
"Yes. If you hadn't noticed James, I am not one to let rules hinder my activities," Lily said and smiled brightly, her eye brows raised at him, reminding them all of that morning and the scene they'd caused.
James flushed at the memory and said, "Well alright then," and started for the exit, the others following him out quietly.
When they had exited the portrait hole they discovered that the Fat Lady had left her frame and was away visiting other portraits in the castle. They started down the corridor in silence, listening intensely for any teachers, the caretaker or any of the ghosts that could be patrolling the hallways.
"Where do you reckon the kitchens are?" Sirius asked eagerly and patted his stomach for effect.
"Somewhere below the Great Hall I think as the food gets magicked to our tables from ones identical to the ones we sit at," Lily whispered and kept eyes and ears open for anything fishy.
"How do you know that?" James asked in confusion.
"I read it in Hogwarts, A History," Lily said as she jumped over a trick stair which James just happened to forget about and fell waist deep into it.
"Guys! Help me will you?" James called out rather loudly having heard someone coming from behind them in the corridor and hoped it wasn't Mr. Pringle. Sirius and Remus chucked as they hefted James out of the hole. "Thanks!" James muttered.
"Quiet!" Lily whispered hastily, listening intently for the noises she, like James had heard in the corridor they'd come from. THUNK!! The noise was getting closer, as Sirius and Remus finally managed to get James out Peeves the Poltergeist came out of the corridor above them.
"OH! Ickle firsties! Tut, tut, roaming the castle at night, Should go get Pringle, that I should," Peeves said rather loudly, about as loud as his outfit, a bright orange suit and green bow tie.
Lily, knowing Peeves could call out at any moment and cause the caretaker to come shooting out of the woodwork, looked up at the floating poltergeist and said, "Please Peeves, don't call Pringle on us. Then we'd get in trouble and you wouldn't want that would you?" she smiled charmingly at him, awaiting his reply.
Peeves seemed to consider this a moment before asking mischievously," Hmm, what's in it for me?" and he flipped upside down eying Lily questioningly.
"Well," Lily started and was stuck suddenly with an idea said, "If you could lead us to the kitchens we'd give you anything that you want." Then she smiled again batting her eyelashes as she'd seen her sister do when she wanted something extremely badly and was trying to charm it out of a person.
Peeves didn't seem to notice that he'd be giving them a two for one deal said, "There's only one way to the kitchens. There's a portrait of a bowl of fruit in the corridor below the entrance hall, you've got to tickle the pear," he paused then said, "What I want is for you," he gestured to Lily, "to give me a kiss!"
James, Sirius and Remus tried not to laugh at this request and watched as many unrecognizable looks crossed Lily's face before she said, "Alright, but you've got to be right side up," and they watched as Peeves' face seemed to color and he floated obscenely in the air in front of Lily. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the cold, mostly solid cheek of Peeves the Poltergeist who proceeded to grin maniacally and shot off in the direction he'd come from rattling suits of armor loudly and hooting with laughter. Remus and Sirius laughed, mostly at Peeves' reaction and James chuckled lightly as he felt a strange fluttering in his stomach that didn't make any sense to him at all. "Argh! Get moving! Pringle'll be along any moment now," Lily said and jogged the rest of the way down the stairs and headed for the entrance hall where the door to the corridor they were looking for was located.
As they got o the hall there was a noise from the corridor leading to the dungeons and the quartet sunk into the wall hangings and hid in shadow. The noise became footsteps that were light and obviously of a student not Mr. Pringle, and they watched as Snape and Malfoy crept out of the corridor, their voices carrying slightly across the hall. "Where do you reckon those stupid Gryffindor's common room is?" Snape asked seeming too interested in that location for any of the quartet's tastes.
"Serverus, will you stop thinking about that mudblood filth Evans?! You talk in your sleep and I've heard enough to know about that damn crush you've got on her! Why I have no idea, but it's gross," Malfoy said viciously as if he wanted to laugh as well as vomit. Lily cringed and felt sick, the boys felt sorry for her having such a slimy git as Snape like her and thought it excellent ammunition for future pranks, on the other hand, they had to restrain themselves from revealing where they were as they all wanted to beat the crap out of Malfoy for calling Lily a 'mudblood' again.
"Lucious, I do not talk in my sleep and I don't have a crush on Lily Evans. That's just dumb," Serverus Snape said, rather convincingly except for the fact that a blush was creeping up his sallow skin, making him look rather strange. That and the excuse was pathetic, so they all knew that Snape was lying, Lily cringed again.
"Yeah right! C'mon, we've got to find it," Malfoy said and they disappeared down the door to the kitchen corridor.
Lily checked to make sure that the coast was clear before she darted across the hall and followed the two slimy Slytherins. She wanted to know what Malfoy was plotting. She heard the boys behind her and knew they were following, she also heard Malfoy and Snape ahead of her. "Father told me how to get to the kitchens, we can curse the stupid mudblood and her Gryffindor buddies and no one will know we did it except for the house elves who are stupid and won't care," Malfoy's voice said and they stopped at the portrait of the fruit, he reached up and tickled the pear, it giggled and changed into a door handle. Snape and Malfoy went into the kitchens and Lily found herself a hiding place for when they came back out of the kitchens. They didn't take long and they boys were barely able to hide next to her but she managed to charm the shadows into being darker and protecting them more.
"That should serve those damn Gryffindors right and that bitch of a Potions Master too," Malfoy said snidely, but didn't notice the face creeping out of the shadows ahead of them until it was too late.
"Messieurs Malfoy and Snape correct?" Professor Dumbledore's voice came to them, his long gray beard reflecting the light, his eyes cold, face firm, dressed in pajamas and nightcap; he looked rather silly but was anything but.
"P-professor," Snape seemed to stutter followed by other unintelligible words. "Quiet Mister Snape, come with me, students shouldn't be out of bed this late without good reason, and I am particularly eager to hear yours," Dumbledore said, directing them back up the corridor they way they'd come.
Lily was intent upon fixing Malfoys' curse on Professor Henderson's plate and seemed to be thinking loudly enough because as Dumbledore passed by he seemed to smile then wink in their direction. As soon as they were out of sight Lily and the boys made for the portrait, James tickled the pear, which giggled and changed into a door handle once again and they entered the kitchens. They entered the vast room that was filled with house elves, at least 100 of them, who seemed angry about something and didn't notice them right away. "Dumbledore will set them straight," said one of them a male elf with long pointy nose and large eyes the size of tomatoes, who like the rest of them was wearing a tea towel with the Hogwarts Crest emblazoned on the front. He looked up spotting the quartet of Gryffindor students and asked, kindly, "What can we do for you sirs and miss?" He bowed and a number of the elves did the same while others rushed around returning to jobs that they'd stopped.
Lily smiled at the elf, "We would like to know what Snape and Malfoy, the boys who were just in here, did," she said kindly.
"Moxie saws them! The pale boy went over to your table miss and said, 'Appetius Subtractus,' and then walked over to where Professor Henderson sits and said the same and then mumbled something under his breath which caused this bright light that hurt Moxies' eyes. What ever it was that, that pale boy said won't let us take off the curses," the house elf, whose name had to be Moxie, said, "So Moxie called Master Dumbledore to deal with them."
"Subtraction soup," James muttered having heard the spell and explained for Lily's sake, "Makes it so the more you eat the worse your hunger gets. Rather nasty if you don't notice it for a while. The reversal is simple and the charm Malfoy would have worked is simple enough as well," James pulled his wand out of his robes and said, "Finite Transitivo," there was a flash of bright blue light and then he said, "Finite Incantatem," following that there was a popping noise and Moxie shrieked in gratitude, which caused James to blush profusely.
"Good show James me boy," Sirius said taking up Remus's earlier accent and patting him on the back. He whispered quietly to James, "Don't you think we should return the Slytherins the favor?" his eyes flashed at the possibilities.
"That would be up to the house elves, don't you think Sirius?" James asked as Moxie's attention was captured and he turned to look at the boys.
"What would be up to us sirs?" his squeaky voice asked as he looked up at the boys.
"Our friend here is wondering if you'd let us put the same spell on the Slytherins," Lily said to Moxie.
"Well miss, Moxie doesn't know. The pale boy was awful rude to Moxie and Moxie would like to see punishments dealt out, maybe yous could do somethings," Moxie said rather slyly, though shaking at his daring.
James and company took this as permission and James held out his wand over the Slytherin Table and said, "Appetius Subtractus," but nothing happened; there was no flash of light and no popping noise.
A familiar voice spoke from near the door, though this time it was filled with humor instead of anger, "Mister Potter, I don't believe that is necessary any longer." Everyone whirled around, looking shocked, the house elves all stopped what they were doing and bowed low, Moxie's nose brushing the floor. Dumbledore was standing near the door, smiling, and light was twinkling in his eyes.
"P-professor, I, we, um. er," James turned bright red as he stuttered and the rest of them waited in silence for punishment they should soon be receiving.
"Don't worry Mister Potter. I know why you are here; to reverse Mister Malfoy's spells. Miss Evans thinks as loud as a French Tarasque stampede, I saw you four in the corridor as I was leading them away. You're here on fairly noble terms so I'm just going to let you go back to Gryffindor Tower and think up a different way of revenge, if you really have to," Dumbledore said smiling as he gestured to the exit.
"What was their punishment?" Remus asked bravely.
Professor Dumbledore smiled in a knowing way and said, "Detention, to be served with Professor Henderson," he eyes flashed with laughter and Remus laughed in a daring way.
Lily, James and Sirius were waiting for Remus near the door; they thanked the house elves who pushed food at them on the way out. Dumbledore followed them up to the entrance hall and up the stairs to the second floor where he winked at Lily and went down the corridor to where his office must be. They hurried up to Gryffindor Tower and luckily avoided getting caught out of bounds by Mr. Pringle, the caretaker or any other of the teachers. The Fat Lady had returned and was looking down sternly at them as James said, "Monoceros," the password and she swung forward to allow them in. (A/N: Monoceros, aka the Unicorn, is a constellation in the northern sky.)
"Can you believe he didn't give us detention?" Sirius asked, completely astonished, they instant they got into the common room. He had been waiting to ask that question since they'd left the kitchens.
"No I can't. I still feel like I blanked out on five minutes of the night when he said we'd be having detentions," Remus said, looking extremely strange, as if he was afraid of having disappointed someone.
"Don't worry Remus. Dumbledore won't do anything. He was in Gryffindor once and probably did the same as us years ago," Lily said reassuringly as she wondered why Remus was looking so nervous. Remus just nodded and proceeded to bid them all good night as he headed up to bed, disappearing from sight as he climbed the staircase.
When Remus was out of sight James remembered something, "Why didn't you say that Dumbledore had seen us?" he seemed annoyed at not being told.
Lily looked indignant, "What was I supposed to do? Say it while Snape and Malfoy were standing there? Geez James, have you any brains in your head to think with?" she asked and turned on her heel, calling out goodnight on her way up the staircase.
"Argh!" James said angrily and mumbled something that Sirius caught as "Girls!" and James stomped off up the stairs, Sirius trailing him thinking, "Why does it get to him? If I'd said that he wouldn't have cared!" Sirius sighed and changed into for bed listening to James mutter to himself incoherently.
Authors Note: Sorry for my bad bit of poetry there with the Sphinx. At least it was somewhat better then my Sorting Hat song. It is completely obvious to all who that poem speaks of and I find it hilariously funny in my head. I'm pathetic. PLEASE READ & REVIEW!!
Chapter 6: Riddles and Marauding
Soon they were all headed out onto the grounds for Herbology and made their way to the greenhouses. The teacher was young, could have passed for a 7th year, and looked to be just out of school. She had frizzy brown hair and brown eyes. "Good day dears, I'm Professor Sprout, we're going to be working in greenhouse one today, just to get you acquainted with where you'll be working all this year," she said and smiled at them all cheerfully, she was covered in dirt and her robes were rumpled but she was very interesting and class passed by in no time at all. Professor Sprout dismissed them and they headed off in the direction of the castle again.
They walked up to the doors where the Ravenclaw first years were gathering and they were greeted by a man in his mid thirties who was missing an eye but still looked rather cheerful. "Hello! I am your Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn, please follow me," he said and began leading them down towards a fairly large cabin that Hagrid was sitting on the porch of, whittling at a piece of wood in his hands.
Hagrid waved and said, "G'mornin' Professor! What are yeh showin' 'em today?"
"You know perfectly well Hagrid. Thanks again for the use of your paddock," Kettleburn said and smiled at Hagrid kindly.
"Yeh, no problem. Yer all in for a real treat," Hagrid called to the class as Kettleburn lead the students a little further and just beyond Hagrid's hut.
As they came around to the paddock there was a group gasp and several 'oh my's. Standing in the paddock was what resembled an overlarge lion with a woman's face. "It's a sphinx," Professor Kettleburn said excitedly. "I can't let you near her but I imagine she may want to say hello," he said allowing the students to line up along the fence.
The sphinx lay as still as a statue watching the students watch her. "Good afternoon students of Hogwarts," she said, a sly smile crossing her features as she glanced at all of the students in turn with her almond shaped eyes. The Sphinx suddenly sat up from her prone position and Professor Kettleburn looked slightly nervous. "Don't worry Professor, this won't be a riddle they have to solve," she said and proceeded to say:
There are two amongst you,
Who will fall in love.
One is a flower as white as a dove
The other descending from a founder's love
Yours will be the one to defeat an enemy
That all who live will fear to speak of.
The Sphinx looked in the direction of the Gryffindor students and then the Ravenclaw students not giving away another word. She lay back down and Kettleburn sighed with relief. "Good day Hogwarts Students," she said and Kettleburn gathered the students and led them away from the paddock.
When Kettleburn had all of their attention he said, "Please write an essay, one roll of parchment long on the Sphinx. Include as much detail as possible, and if you like what muggle mythology believes Sphinxes to be and do. Turn it in to me on Thursday at the beginning of class. We will be having a discussion that everyone will be expected to participate in. We meet in the castle on Thursday. You are dismissed." He walked swiftly over to Hagrid's cabin and started speaking to him hurriedly.
As he was walking over to Hagrid's hut Lily said, "I've never heard of a Sphinx making a riddle for no reason," she scratched her head and pushed her auburn red hair behind her ears as she heard a noise and whipped around.
They all turned to see that the Sphinx had jumped the paddock fence and was standing about 3 feet behind them. James, Sirius, Remus, Lily and a few other Gryffindors gasped and then listened carefully as she proceeded to say, "I always have a reason for my riddles," and she started a new one, connected to the first one:
They will be betrayed
By one they trust,
By one they love.
They must choose wisely,
Who their friends are,
And who their enemies are.
Then the Sphinx winked, stood and walked back to the paddock, jumped the fence again and lay down. Professor Kettleburn looked as if he was going to have a heart attack right there and he dashed over to the paddock and began arguing with her. She just smiled and said something that none of the students could hear which frustrated Professor Kettleburn and caused him to shout, very audibly, "ARGH!"
The students walked back to the castle in almost silence wondering separately how on earth they weren't dead and vowed to do that essay to see if they could figure out why the Sphinx had said her riddles and predict who they were about.
The whole school was talking about the Sphinx's riddles. Whispers were started around any first year Gryffindor or Ravenclaw students. The school was a field and the rumors spread as quickly as wildfire. There were incomplete and adapted versions of the riddles flying everywhere. Only a few copies were the true riddle, and all this happened in the few hours it took for dinner to begin.
At dinner the castle was in a flurry, whispers and shouts echoed in the Great Hall. Dumbledore stood and everyone was silent, he smiled and addressed the school, "By now you have all heard about Professor Kettleburn's exciting class this afternoon. However, having heard some of the rumors flying about the corridors, I spoke to the Sphinx and asked for her riddle again, which I will recite to you all now." He then repeated the riddle and many of the students memorized it to write down later or wrote it down on spare bits of parchment. Dumbledore then said, "Let's eat," and the food appeared on the tables.
Conversations ran rampant about the Sphinx and her riddle and many new rumors sprung up, but as we all know, rumors have a tendency of becoming rather unbelievable and extremely uncontrollable. Dumbledore had just opened the door to strange new rumors and all of them were miles from the truth. The first years from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were being watched as if two of their number were about to jump up and start making out in the middle of the Great Hall. Sorry, not happening.
Dinner ended and Lily and Company made their way up to the common room to lounge around or work on homework. Lily sat at a table pouring over books that she'd gotten from the library on Sphinxes. Every so often she'd pause in her reading, take up her quill and write a paragraph or two. James, Remus and Sirius admired her work ethic although they had absolutely no intentions of doing their homework that night. They wanted to go for a stroll and explore the castle. They were just waiting for people to clear our of the common room before they headed out, as the riddle had caused the older students to watch the 1st years with interest anytime they moved. It got to be just them and Lily and so they started for the portrait hole as quietly as possible, hoping they wouldn't disturb Lily.
Lily on the other hand had been waiting all night for them to get up and head out, knew exactly when the three boys had started for the exit and she asked, "Where are you three going?" Her voice was unexpected and caused the boys to jump slightly.
"Just up to our dorm," Sirius lied almost convincingly as they watched Lily put down the book she'd been reading and set her quill on the table.
"I see that's why your dormitory is on that side of the room, thinking about leaving and climbing into an open window are you?" Lily asked walking over to where the boys stood, looking decidedly guilty.
"Well, no, we were just going to go exploring," James mumbled in an embarrassed manner under his breath.
Lily smiled, "Exploring is it? On the second day of school, tut, tut, what would your parents say?" she asked in a teasing voice as she looked over at Remus who began to understand Lily's behavior.
Remus's eyes lit with laughter, and he asked, "Would the Lovely Lily like to join us in our search for the kitchens to pillage and plunder?" with and over exaggerated accent while holding his hand out her.
Lily laughed, "You're a clever one Remus, but does Sir James and Lord Sirius have objection to a lady joining your party?" she asked as she took Remus's hand and he jokingly kissed it for effect. She waved her hand like a fan in front of her face and batted her eye lashes at them. Sirius was laughing and almost crying with mirth at their production.
"That's all you wanted? To come along?" James asked entirely perplexed at Lily's 'silly' charade.
"Yes. If you hadn't noticed James, I am not one to let rules hinder my activities," Lily said and smiled brightly, her eye brows raised at him, reminding them all of that morning and the scene they'd caused.
James flushed at the memory and said, "Well alright then," and started for the exit, the others following him out quietly.
When they had exited the portrait hole they discovered that the Fat Lady had left her frame and was away visiting other portraits in the castle. They started down the corridor in silence, listening intensely for any teachers, the caretaker or any of the ghosts that could be patrolling the hallways.
"Where do you reckon the kitchens are?" Sirius asked eagerly and patted his stomach for effect.
"Somewhere below the Great Hall I think as the food gets magicked to our tables from ones identical to the ones we sit at," Lily whispered and kept eyes and ears open for anything fishy.
"How do you know that?" James asked in confusion.
"I read it in Hogwarts, A History," Lily said as she jumped over a trick stair which James just happened to forget about and fell waist deep into it.
"Guys! Help me will you?" James called out rather loudly having heard someone coming from behind them in the corridor and hoped it wasn't Mr. Pringle. Sirius and Remus chucked as they hefted James out of the hole. "Thanks!" James muttered.
"Quiet!" Lily whispered hastily, listening intently for the noises she, like James had heard in the corridor they'd come from. THUNK!! The noise was getting closer, as Sirius and Remus finally managed to get James out Peeves the Poltergeist came out of the corridor above them.
"OH! Ickle firsties! Tut, tut, roaming the castle at night, Should go get Pringle, that I should," Peeves said rather loudly, about as loud as his outfit, a bright orange suit and green bow tie.
Lily, knowing Peeves could call out at any moment and cause the caretaker to come shooting out of the woodwork, looked up at the floating poltergeist and said, "Please Peeves, don't call Pringle on us. Then we'd get in trouble and you wouldn't want that would you?" she smiled charmingly at him, awaiting his reply.
Peeves seemed to consider this a moment before asking mischievously," Hmm, what's in it for me?" and he flipped upside down eying Lily questioningly.
"Well," Lily started and was stuck suddenly with an idea said, "If you could lead us to the kitchens we'd give you anything that you want." Then she smiled again batting her eyelashes as she'd seen her sister do when she wanted something extremely badly and was trying to charm it out of a person.
Peeves didn't seem to notice that he'd be giving them a two for one deal said, "There's only one way to the kitchens. There's a portrait of a bowl of fruit in the corridor below the entrance hall, you've got to tickle the pear," he paused then said, "What I want is for you," he gestured to Lily, "to give me a kiss!"
James, Sirius and Remus tried not to laugh at this request and watched as many unrecognizable looks crossed Lily's face before she said, "Alright, but you've got to be right side up," and they watched as Peeves' face seemed to color and he floated obscenely in the air in front of Lily. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the cold, mostly solid cheek of Peeves the Poltergeist who proceeded to grin maniacally and shot off in the direction he'd come from rattling suits of armor loudly and hooting with laughter. Remus and Sirius laughed, mostly at Peeves' reaction and James chuckled lightly as he felt a strange fluttering in his stomach that didn't make any sense to him at all. "Argh! Get moving! Pringle'll be along any moment now," Lily said and jogged the rest of the way down the stairs and headed for the entrance hall where the door to the corridor they were looking for was located.
As they got o the hall there was a noise from the corridor leading to the dungeons and the quartet sunk into the wall hangings and hid in shadow. The noise became footsteps that were light and obviously of a student not Mr. Pringle, and they watched as Snape and Malfoy crept out of the corridor, their voices carrying slightly across the hall. "Where do you reckon those stupid Gryffindor's common room is?" Snape asked seeming too interested in that location for any of the quartet's tastes.
"Serverus, will you stop thinking about that mudblood filth Evans?! You talk in your sleep and I've heard enough to know about that damn crush you've got on her! Why I have no idea, but it's gross," Malfoy said viciously as if he wanted to laugh as well as vomit. Lily cringed and felt sick, the boys felt sorry for her having such a slimy git as Snape like her and thought it excellent ammunition for future pranks, on the other hand, they had to restrain themselves from revealing where they were as they all wanted to beat the crap out of Malfoy for calling Lily a 'mudblood' again.
"Lucious, I do not talk in my sleep and I don't have a crush on Lily Evans. That's just dumb," Serverus Snape said, rather convincingly except for the fact that a blush was creeping up his sallow skin, making him look rather strange. That and the excuse was pathetic, so they all knew that Snape was lying, Lily cringed again.
"Yeah right! C'mon, we've got to find it," Malfoy said and they disappeared down the door to the kitchen corridor.
Lily checked to make sure that the coast was clear before she darted across the hall and followed the two slimy Slytherins. She wanted to know what Malfoy was plotting. She heard the boys behind her and knew they were following, she also heard Malfoy and Snape ahead of her. "Father told me how to get to the kitchens, we can curse the stupid mudblood and her Gryffindor buddies and no one will know we did it except for the house elves who are stupid and won't care," Malfoy's voice said and they stopped at the portrait of the fruit, he reached up and tickled the pear, it giggled and changed into a door handle. Snape and Malfoy went into the kitchens and Lily found herself a hiding place for when they came back out of the kitchens. They didn't take long and they boys were barely able to hide next to her but she managed to charm the shadows into being darker and protecting them more.
"That should serve those damn Gryffindors right and that bitch of a Potions Master too," Malfoy said snidely, but didn't notice the face creeping out of the shadows ahead of them until it was too late.
"Messieurs Malfoy and Snape correct?" Professor Dumbledore's voice came to them, his long gray beard reflecting the light, his eyes cold, face firm, dressed in pajamas and nightcap; he looked rather silly but was anything but.
"P-professor," Snape seemed to stutter followed by other unintelligible words. "Quiet Mister Snape, come with me, students shouldn't be out of bed this late without good reason, and I am particularly eager to hear yours," Dumbledore said, directing them back up the corridor they way they'd come.
Lily was intent upon fixing Malfoys' curse on Professor Henderson's plate and seemed to be thinking loudly enough because as Dumbledore passed by he seemed to smile then wink in their direction. As soon as they were out of sight Lily and the boys made for the portrait, James tickled the pear, which giggled and changed into a door handle once again and they entered the kitchens. They entered the vast room that was filled with house elves, at least 100 of them, who seemed angry about something and didn't notice them right away. "Dumbledore will set them straight," said one of them a male elf with long pointy nose and large eyes the size of tomatoes, who like the rest of them was wearing a tea towel with the Hogwarts Crest emblazoned on the front. He looked up spotting the quartet of Gryffindor students and asked, kindly, "What can we do for you sirs and miss?" He bowed and a number of the elves did the same while others rushed around returning to jobs that they'd stopped.
Lily smiled at the elf, "We would like to know what Snape and Malfoy, the boys who were just in here, did," she said kindly.
"Moxie saws them! The pale boy went over to your table miss and said, 'Appetius Subtractus,' and then walked over to where Professor Henderson sits and said the same and then mumbled something under his breath which caused this bright light that hurt Moxies' eyes. What ever it was that, that pale boy said won't let us take off the curses," the house elf, whose name had to be Moxie, said, "So Moxie called Master Dumbledore to deal with them."
"Subtraction soup," James muttered having heard the spell and explained for Lily's sake, "Makes it so the more you eat the worse your hunger gets. Rather nasty if you don't notice it for a while. The reversal is simple and the charm Malfoy would have worked is simple enough as well," James pulled his wand out of his robes and said, "Finite Transitivo," there was a flash of bright blue light and then he said, "Finite Incantatem," following that there was a popping noise and Moxie shrieked in gratitude, which caused James to blush profusely.
"Good show James me boy," Sirius said taking up Remus's earlier accent and patting him on the back. He whispered quietly to James, "Don't you think we should return the Slytherins the favor?" his eyes flashed at the possibilities.
"That would be up to the house elves, don't you think Sirius?" James asked as Moxie's attention was captured and he turned to look at the boys.
"What would be up to us sirs?" his squeaky voice asked as he looked up at the boys.
"Our friend here is wondering if you'd let us put the same spell on the Slytherins," Lily said to Moxie.
"Well miss, Moxie doesn't know. The pale boy was awful rude to Moxie and Moxie would like to see punishments dealt out, maybe yous could do somethings," Moxie said rather slyly, though shaking at his daring.
James and company took this as permission and James held out his wand over the Slytherin Table and said, "Appetius Subtractus," but nothing happened; there was no flash of light and no popping noise.
A familiar voice spoke from near the door, though this time it was filled with humor instead of anger, "Mister Potter, I don't believe that is necessary any longer." Everyone whirled around, looking shocked, the house elves all stopped what they were doing and bowed low, Moxie's nose brushing the floor. Dumbledore was standing near the door, smiling, and light was twinkling in his eyes.
"P-professor, I, we, um. er," James turned bright red as he stuttered and the rest of them waited in silence for punishment they should soon be receiving.
"Don't worry Mister Potter. I know why you are here; to reverse Mister Malfoy's spells. Miss Evans thinks as loud as a French Tarasque stampede, I saw you four in the corridor as I was leading them away. You're here on fairly noble terms so I'm just going to let you go back to Gryffindor Tower and think up a different way of revenge, if you really have to," Dumbledore said smiling as he gestured to the exit.
"What was their punishment?" Remus asked bravely.
Professor Dumbledore smiled in a knowing way and said, "Detention, to be served with Professor Henderson," he eyes flashed with laughter and Remus laughed in a daring way.
Lily, James and Sirius were waiting for Remus near the door; they thanked the house elves who pushed food at them on the way out. Dumbledore followed them up to the entrance hall and up the stairs to the second floor where he winked at Lily and went down the corridor to where his office must be. They hurried up to Gryffindor Tower and luckily avoided getting caught out of bounds by Mr. Pringle, the caretaker or any other of the teachers. The Fat Lady had returned and was looking down sternly at them as James said, "Monoceros," the password and she swung forward to allow them in. (A/N: Monoceros, aka the Unicorn, is a constellation in the northern sky.)
"Can you believe he didn't give us detention?" Sirius asked, completely astonished, they instant they got into the common room. He had been waiting to ask that question since they'd left the kitchens.
"No I can't. I still feel like I blanked out on five minutes of the night when he said we'd be having detentions," Remus said, looking extremely strange, as if he was afraid of having disappointed someone.
"Don't worry Remus. Dumbledore won't do anything. He was in Gryffindor once and probably did the same as us years ago," Lily said reassuringly as she wondered why Remus was looking so nervous. Remus just nodded and proceeded to bid them all good night as he headed up to bed, disappearing from sight as he climbed the staircase.
When Remus was out of sight James remembered something, "Why didn't you say that Dumbledore had seen us?" he seemed annoyed at not being told.
Lily looked indignant, "What was I supposed to do? Say it while Snape and Malfoy were standing there? Geez James, have you any brains in your head to think with?" she asked and turned on her heel, calling out goodnight on her way up the staircase.
"Argh!" James said angrily and mumbled something that Sirius caught as "Girls!" and James stomped off up the stairs, Sirius trailing him thinking, "Why does it get to him? If I'd said that he wouldn't have cared!" Sirius sighed and changed into for bed listening to James mutter to himself incoherently.
Authors Note: Sorry for my bad bit of poetry there with the Sphinx. At least it was somewhat better then my Sorting Hat song. It is completely obvious to all who that poem speaks of and I find it hilariously funny in my head. I'm pathetic. PLEASE READ & REVIEW!!