Happy Halloween, everyone!
An Unwitting Mistake
When classes started again the next week, James spent the first Monday evening scrubbing out the inner walls of the Astronomy Tower, a time-consuming task that lasted until far past nightfall. Thankfully, he was able to pass the hours whispering with Sirius through their two-way mirrors whenever Filch looked the other way; even when Mrs. Norris turned her yellow eyes on James, he and Sirius were able to communicate through facial gestures and muffled laughter, which nearly enabled Filch to sniff out James' source of amusement a few different times before the night had ended.
Although James was scheduled to clean the rest of the Astronomy Tower before the holidays arrived, he was pleased with Professor McGonagall's foresight in having him and Kennedy serve their punishments on opposite sides of the castle. Remembering his, Sirius', and Peter's detention with Hogwarts' biggest gossip last year, he knew he could have it worse. But as fate would have it, he survived the first night of detention with a sporting manifestation of exhaustion the following morning, when he joined the other fourth-year Gryffindors for Charms class.
"Protego!" Professor Flitwick demonstrated for the students, flicking his wand as high as his voice. Jumping from his wand-tip, a shimmering wall of blue light appeared between him and the rows of desks, staying in place while the watching students oohed.
"The Shield Charm is normally invisible, but I conjured a material form so that you could glimpse its makeup," Flitwick explained, waddling out from behind the shield, which stretched a fair ten centimeters above his head. "Depending on the strength of the hex used against the Shield Charm, the offensive spell could dissipate, glance off, or even shoot back at the attacker. Why don't you get into pairs and try it yourselves? You can use a simple Knockback Jinx to test out your charms' solidity."
Quickly rising from their seats, the students got into pairs as Professor Flitwick evaporated his Shield Charm with a slash of his wand. Joining his roommates near the back of the room, James tested out the charm with his drawn wand, producing a layer of transparent, water-like film between him and Peter. Frowning, he banished the charm with another wave as Remus sneezed.
"Sorry," he told the others, wiping his nose with the back of his hand as Peter jumped. "I think yesterday's Bubotubers are still bothering me."
"They were bothering everyone!" Sirius said, referencing the black, slug-like plants that they studied the day before in Herbology. "If I hadn't let go of my plant when I had, it would have spurted its pus all over my face! Did you see what it did to Newshod's hands?"
"I don't fancy Madam Pomfrey's job," James agreed, remembering with a shudder. The boils had grown to the size of Alice's eyes before she was ushered out to the hospital wing.
"I'm halfway surprised that the Bubotubers didn't get you," Sirius commented, turning to Peter. "You're usually the sort of person to get hit by bad luck."
"If he hadn't been standing a unicorn's length away from the nearest plant, he might be stuck in the hospital wing, too," Remus spoke up with a slight raise of his eyebrow, making James and Sirius laugh as Peter flushed.
"I was sure that it was going to explode if I touched it!" Peter defended himself. "Anyone would have thought the same thing, the way that it was jiggling!"
"Just tell us that when you get your Herbology marks back," James answered, and he turned to face Lily where she was partnered with Hillary on the other end of the room. "Hey, Evans! Is Newshod holding up all right?"
"Why would you care?" Lily asked back in a raised voice. "You haven't even so much as mentioned her since yesterday."
"I just miss seeing her with you, that's all," James replied, smirking. "You always look so much taller when she's standing next to—"
Ducking, James barely had time to clear his head of Lily's Knockback Jinx as she shot it across the room, one eye closed in concentration. Unprepared for the sudden action, Peter yelped and fell over as the jinx barreled towards Remus, who summoned a fully-formed Shield Charm just in time to defend himself. Nodding with a smile when her spell dissipated, Lily turned back towards Hillary and went on ignoring James and his friends.
"Blimey, nice aim!" James commented, rubbing the top of his head as he stood again, grinning in Lily's direction. However, he soon froze when he spotted his roommates' expressions, which ranged from confusion to Sirius' look of near-revulsion.
"What is it?" James asked.
"Are you feeling all right?" Remus inquired.
"What? Of course I am!" James defended, glancing between his friends' faces.
"Just making sure," Remus responded with a shrug, and he turned away so that he could conjure another Shield Charm. Feeling unnaturally hot around his neck, James threw another glance at Sirius, but his best mate only looked away and beckoned at Peter to defend himself with a Shield Charm.
Pairing up with Remus, James tried to focus on the lesson for the better part of an hour. By the end of the lesson, James had improved his Shield Charm to a near-invisible sheen, and he followed his classmates outside at Professor Flitwick's dismissal.
"James, do you think that you could show me the Shield Charm later this week in the common room?" Peter asked, dragging his left leg after a hard hit from one of Sirius' Knockback Jinxes. "I don't want to take remedial lessons, and you had one of the best Shield Charms in the class!"
Fighting a sigh, James tried to think of a way to refuse Peter's request. "Why don't you let Remus do it?" he responded, turning towards the mentioned party. "Yours was just as good as mine, and you don't have Quidditch practices to attend."
"Or detentions," Remus added, which made James smirk. Growing serious, Remus looked down at the ground. "I don't really think that I have the time, Peter. I've got enough homework with Study of Ancient Runes, and the full moon's coming up."
"Please?" Peter whined. "It won't be any trouble! It won't even take an afternoon to show me! I promise I'll get it down before an hour's done!"
Biting his lip, Remus seemed about to respond in the negative just before Sirius opened his mouth. "Why don't you ask Evans?" he spoke up, glancing over at Peter and James. "She didn't seem to be having any trouble with it. Just ask James—his eyes were stuck to her side of the room the entire period."
"No, they weren't," James disagreed, glaring at Sirius, but he added a small chuckle when Remus and Peter looked his way. "Come on, mates! I was just bored, and I wanted to see if anyone would miss me if I slipped out early!"
Still staring at him, his friends narrowed their eyes, and James felt the back of his neck begin to moisten beneath his tangled hair. Eventually tearing his eyes away from James, Peter addressed the others.
"Shouldn't we head down the stairs? Potions is that way."
Halting abruptly, the others realized that they had already passed the doorway that led to the dungeon level. Backtracking, they jogged down a dimly-lit flight of stairs until they reached the lowest floor of the castle, where they trotted hurriedly towards the Potions classroom. With just a moment to spare, they reached their desks before Professor Slughorn called the students to attention, which he did by tapping a ladle on a bubbling brass cauldron on his desk.
"Attention everyone!" Slughorn boomed, rapping the cauldron's side until the Gryffindors and Slytherins had quieted down. "We're going to be attempting to brew the next potion in our textbook today: the Wit-Sharpening Potion! It's a relatively simple exercise, at least for those of you who successfully prepared the Contemplation Concoction last month . . ."
Snorting, James turned to Sirius to crack a joke about their less-than-expert attempt at the previous month's assignment, but Sirius did not catch his eye and instead continued to stare straight ahead at the far wall. Sitting back with a frown, James turned back towards the barrel-chested Potions professor.
". . . but for those of you still struggling with the basics of rationale-based elixirs, not to fear! There are only three ingredients necessary for the potion, so keep your measuring bowls close by as you rotate between them! Wands out, and get to work!"
Preparing his armadillo bile for the beginning of yet another undoubtedly tortuous lesson, James barely had time to place his ingredients on the desk before a cough caught his attention from the table next to his. Looking up, he met the leering gazes of Snape and Wilkes, who regarded him with the exact sort of smiles that James had learned to distrust.
"What's the matter? Do I look especially dashing today?" James inquired, throwing them a grin.
"I noticed that you're looking a little tired," Wilkes replied, his smile exposing his gleaming teeth. "Could it possibly be from your detention last night?"
Clicking his tongue, Snape shook his head in mock pity. "It's a sad thing, fighting your own teammate on the field. How is Gryffindor ever supposed to recover from their embarrassment, not to mention their crushing loss?"
As he and Wilkes sniggered, James slowly felt his grin fade into a scowl. "Big talk coming from a House that hasn't won the Cup since our first year! What was it like winning a match for once? Your common room must have been wild that night, if any of your mates actually know how to have a good time."
"We were certainly having a better night than you were," Snape responded. "Did I hear correctly that your Captain nearly sacked you? I'm not entirely sure that he shouldn't have—there are loads of first-years who could replace your talentless hide in a heartbeat."
Bristling, James gripped his wand. "How about you try and stay up in the air long enough for me to take a Beater's bat to the side of your slimy head?" he growled.
"Boys, boys!" Professor Slughorn interrupted before either of the Slytherins could respond, stepping between them and James. "Less chatter and more chopping! I want to see those potions glimmering on my desk at the end of the period! Hurry up, now!"
Slowly peeling his glare away from Snape as Slughorn moved aside, James threw a handful of ginger root into his cauldron as the professor waddled off. However, he only had a few moments to work on his potion before Snape and Wilkes started snickering again, causing James to grip his wand handle on instinct.
"Potter's looking pretty riled, Severus!" Wilkes spoke up just loudly enough for James to hear. "There must be some truth to him almost getting kicked off the team, after all!"
Leaning over his desk, Snape sneered at James and said, "Take away your Airwake, and you're nothing more than a mediocre flyer with a head as big as your mouth."
Standing up, James turned his wand on the two hecklers, but Professor Slughorn spotted his movement out of the corner of his eye. "Mr. Potter, sit down and get to work!" he exclaimed rather severely, his eyes popping when he saw that James had not obeyed him. Sinking back down into his chair, James gritted his teeth and glared at Snape and Wilkes.
"I bet that you wouldn't be so confident if you didn't have Professor Slughorn to hide behind," James accused with a hiss. "It's like the Hogwarts Express all over again, isn't it? You won't pick a fight unless it's already rigged in your favor!"
"Speak for yourself," Wilkes goaded, leaning back on his chair with a smirk. "You don't go anywhere without Black at your side. It must have been a real shock to be bested by his little brother at the last match, wasn't it?"
Rising to his feet again, James caused several of the other students to turn his way as Professor Slughorn spun around, his face purple. "Take your seat, Mr. Potter! If I see you fool around one more time, I'll take twenty points from Gryffindor and send you straight to your Head of House!"
Plopping down into his chair, James attempted to ignore Snape's taunting whisper by staring at his open textbook, unable to take in any of the information. "Too scared to do anything in front of Slughorn?" Snape teased. "You're showing an uncanny amount of discernment, Potter!"
"I didn't know that it was possible for him to keep quiet for more than a few seconds!" Wilkes told his Housemate, chortling as James' jaw twitched. Following a glance over his shoulder, which showed Slughorn watching him out of the corner of his eye, James decided to wait until the period had ended before taking his revenge.
After every minute or two, either Snape or Wilkes would find something else nasty to say, chuckling to themselves when James' knuckles turned white from clenching his fists. Unable to focus on his Wit-Sharpening Potion, James ended up guessing at the amount of ground scarab beetles to mix in, which caused his solution to turn a light yellow instead of a deep red. His jaw tightened with each passing jab that Snape and Wilkes threw at him, and he concluded the lesson by stirring his elixir far more vigorously than necessary, which at least darkened the potion a few values.
Eventually giving up, he started to bottle up his potion, but he accidentally spilled a few drops on his robes as Snape walked past him with a harsh whisper. "Might want to save a bit of that for later, eh, Potter?"
Scowling at Snape's back, James brushed off his robes while Wilkes smirked at him and joined his Housemate in front of Professor Slughorn's desk to drop off their potions. After envisioning what Snape would look like blasted off of his feet, James paused and glanced back at the Slytherin' abandoned cauldrons. Moving fast as an idea struck him, he scooped up a vial of Snape's potion, knowing full well that his own was probably not potent in its sorry state.
Rushing up to the front of the room, James deposited his own vial onto Slughorn's desk while pocketing Snape's, and to his relief, no one seemed to notice his stolen prize. As Snape and Wilkes exited the classroom in front of him, James ran back to his desk and tapped Sirius to follow him.
"What's going on, mate?" Sirius asked as they slipped out into the hallway ahead of their other Housemates.
"Just watch this!" James answered, taking out Snape's potion and downing it in one gulp. Breaking into a jog, he pulled out his wand and ran to catch up to Snape and Wilkes.
"Oi, Snivy!" he called out as he and Sirius broke out into the Entrance Hall, and Snape turned around just as James blasted a spell at his feet. "Provolvo!"
Falling over thin air, Snape caught himself as he hit the ground, and a few of the other students in the corridor could not help but laugh at his sudden descent. Rolling into a sitting position, he sneered as James approached, and Sirius issued a laugh while Wilkes watched from farther away.
"Come to prove our point?" Wilkes goaded James. "You really can't handle anything without brute force, can you?"
"Sit down, Beetle-Brain," James told him, flicking his wand and making the Slytherin hit the ground next to Snape as another burst of laughter echoed through the hallway. Glancing over his shoulder, James saw Remus and Peter walk into view with their other classmates. As James had expected, Lily pushed through the crowd just a few moments later, and James grinned back down at the fallen Slytherins, keeping his wand trained on Wilkes to keep him from rising as Lily quickly stomped up to him.
"What are you doing, Potter?" she demanded. "We haven't been let out of class five minutes, and you're already picking fights!"
"What can I say? I don't waste time," James replied, and Peter moved forward to watch the action with the others in the hallway. Staying put, Remus looked at the ground and looked very much as if he wanted to leave the room.
Nodding at Lily, Wilkes told James, "The little red-head has a point, you know. I'd swear that you didn't know how to keep your temper in check if you didn't get along with that blood traitor Black so well."
Putting away his wand as Sirius crossed his arms, James raised his empty hands. "Hey, I'll strike a deal with you: to show that I'm fair-minded, I'll let us settle this without our wands, just you two and me. How does that sound? Seem fair to you, Evans?"
Narrowing her eyes, Lily started to object. "Potter—"
"No tricks, just an honest battle of wits!" James attested, and Sirius grinned knowingly at him as Snape and Wilkes stood. Convinced that Snape's Wit-Sharpening Potion had started to kick in, James waved the Slytherins on. "Go ahead! Tell everyone here exactly what you said to me in class."
"We said that you're a talentless Quidditch player who hides behind your mates," Wilkes stated matter-of-factly, crossing his arms. A few gasps rose from the crowd, and the onlookers all turned to face James; although a bit surprised by Wilkes' bravery, James nevertheless kept a smile on his lips as he stared back at the Slytherins.
"Anything to add, Snivellus?" James inquired, and Snape raised a dark eyebrow.
"No, that just about covers it," he responded, to which the surrounding students started whispering among themselves quietly. Watching James with a blank face, Lily folded her arms as James smirked at the Slytherins.
"And I say that it takes a coward to know one!" James announced. "What were you two prats just doing back in the dungeons, eh? Not too keen on mouthing off when you don't have a professor to fall back on, are you?"
"If you haven't noticed, Potter, there aren't any professors around at the moment," Wilkes replied, fighting back a yawn, "and we weren't afraid to tell the whole room what we thought of you just now, were we?"
Realizing his mistake, James quickly backtracked as some of the nearby students exchanged glances. "Er, I meant that you always have your own mates to back you up," he corrected. "That brute Mulciber and your bird-faced pal Avery are never more than a yell away, are they?"
"They've already gone on ahead," Wilkes answered back, still staring at James as if putting up with an unruly Clabbert. "Will you just get to the point already, or have you got one?"
Shrinking slightly, James felt his face heat up as the watching students giggled around him. Racking his brain for a response, he realized with mounting panic that he could not come up with one, and he paused for a humiliating amount of time while the spectators laughed still more loudly. Frozen, James glanced at Sirius, who gave him the same look that he once sent Peter when he asked for the difference between a Basilisk and a regular snake.
Smirking, Snape finally spoke up and called everyone's focus back to him. "Thought that you would try and give your mind an edge, didn't you?" he inquired of James, and James felt his stomach drop. "I knew that you would filch some of my Wit-Sharpening Potion if I turned my back, so I tainted it after collecting some to turn in. You should find it hard to think straight for the next few hours or so, which will serve you right for stealing someone else's classwork."
Flushing even more as the students continued to laugh at his predicament, James glanced over at his Housemates. Peter's mouth had fallen open, but Lily was wearing an expression much like that of Wilkes' aloof stare. At the cold look from her green eyes, James whirled on Snape with a snarl.
"Slugulus Eructo!" James shouted, drawing out his wand and pointing it at Snape. Unprepared for James' sudden movement, Snape did not have time to dodge the spell as it hit him squarely in the chest and made him keel over onto his knees. Making a hideous retching sound, the greasy-haired boy opened his mouth to let out six or so bloated slugs, which hit the stone floor with ghastly squelching noises.
"Potter, you said that you wouldn't use your wand!" Lily yelled as several of the nearest students cried out and leapt back from Snape.
"He broke the rules first!" James accused, holding his wand over Snape's head as the scrawny boy let loose another rain of slugs.
"You said nothing about potions!" Lily shouted back, her fists clenched, and James let out a small hiss as he ignored her. Looking up at James murderously, Snape soon bowed to the earth again as he belched out a pair of banana slugs between his hands. Stepping back from his Housemate with a wrinkled nose, Wilkes sniffed at Snape's quaking form and turned his blond head.
"Have fun cleaning up that mess," he spoke before starting off down the Entrance Hall.
"Coward!" James yelled out after his retreating back, but Wilkes ignored him as he slipped off out of view.
Heaving, Snape loosed another dozen slugs as Lily turned her bared teeth on James. "Let him up! He's got to go see Madam Pomfrey!"
"Nah, let him be!" Sirius replied, laughing. "I haven't had this much fun watching somebody lose their lunch since Peter got sick during a Quidditch scrimmage!"
Turning bright red to match her hair, Lily slowly pulled out her wand and held it in her quivering fist; looking on, the other students watched carefully for her next move. "Let him go, Potter! Don't make me fight you!" Lily snarled.
James glanced at her furious expression as Snape continued to convulse horridly in front of them, unable to stand or speak, though James felt sure that he would have grabbed his wand if the continual downpour of slugs was not keeping him from casting an incantation. Staring back at Lily's unrelenting gaze, James wavered for a moment before readjusting his wand to point at Snape resolutely.
"Come on, Evans, are you really going to fight me?" he asked, shaking his head. "I've never seen you so much as aim your wand at another student!"
"Er, she nearly downed you with a Knockback Jinx today, mate," Sirius reminded James in a whisper, and James felt his confidence melt as Lily raised her wand to chest height.
"Let him go!" she spoke through clenched teeth. "I'll count to three: one, two . . ."
Freezing, both James and Sirius regarded her with the slightest bit of reverent fear, and James burst out, "Wait just a moment, Evans—"
"Petrificus Totalus!" Lily yelled, and James, expecting the spell, quickly took his own wand off of Snape.
"Protego!" he responded, and Lily's spell glanced away from James just in time, hurtling towards the back wall. Meeting the four towering hourglasses that documented the school's House Points, it smashed into the Slytherin glass and caused a shower of bright green emeralds to cascade out of place while James and Sirius shielded their faces. Crying out, the other students backed away from the green avalanche as it slowed to a halt just in front of Snape's retching form. Lowering his hands as a stray emerald bounced against his foot, James stared up at the shattered column of glass with his mouth hanging open.
"Merlin's beard," Sirius muttered, and James turned to see Lily aiding Snape to his feet, the hook-nosed boy looking even sallower than usual. Deciding not to intervene, James cast a glance over his shoulder at the broken hourglass and smirked.
"Well, if you aren't going to clean this up, Evans, someone has to," he spoke up, gesturing at the mess. "I don't know where all the emeralds are supposed to go, though . . . I suppose I'll just have to guess, then."
Lifting his wand, he started directing the emeralds back into the giant glass ellipses using the Levitation Charm, sending hundreds more than necessary into the upper half of the hourglass to retract Slytherin's points. As Snape and Lily glared at him from behind, he narrated, "Any decent prefect would have taken off points for attempted poisoning, so you can thank yourself for that, Snivellus. And I'll give your House a few dozen less for . . . er . . ." Drawing a blank, James huffed and shook his head to clear it. "Just for being Slytherin, I suppose."
Once he had welded the broken glass pieces back into place, James turned and watched as the students parted to allow Lily and Snape a clear path. "Go on, run off, then!" James called after Snape. "Just remember what happens when you pick a row with me!"
After glaring once more over his shoulder, Snape became sick again, and the surrounding spectators let out revulsed exclamations as several slugs dropped onto the floor. Although she wrinkled her nose, Lily nevertheless tried to hold up her friend, but Snape shoved her away and tried to walk on his own. A moment later, he vomited again and nearly slipped to the floor on the slug slime while James and Sirius laughed at the pitiable scene.
"Don't stain the floors, Sniv!" Sirius cried after Snape's retreating form, and although the Slytherin did not turn his head, James saw his body stiffen before he bent over again to emit a lengthy gag. When he started forward again, he did not fight Lily's support, and the pair stumbled away as James left the Entrance Hall in the other direction with his roommates, still laughing.