Ch 12 Preparations

James and Sirius spent the next few days going to the kitchens when they had time. They's go down after dinner and get extra desert and at night. They'd talk to Moppy and even spend some weekends and hours there.

One Saturday, two weeks after they met Moppy, James and Sirius were sneaking down to the kitchen, under cover of the cloak. Sirius was about to pull the door open but stopped with a small crack in the door. James looked at him but Sirius put his finger up to his mouth as if to say shh and they both put their ears up to the door. Sirius was the one closest and could see into the room. What he saw scared him and he motioned James over to look. The scene scared James as well.

The first thing James saw was Moppy lying on the floor unconscious. Then you saw Dumbledore and McGonagall talking to an elf they knew by the name of Daisy. Daisy was an average height house elf with long black bat like ears and skin. She had dark green eyes and was talking to Dumbledore.

"Master, Moppy was a traitor-."

"Daisy, that doesn't give you the right to harm him. He was half your size and four times younger your age." Dumbledore said in that calm but serious voice of his.

"Daisy, is sorry she disappointed her master." And she ran towards the wall.

"Daisy, you are not to harm yourself," Dumbledore said lazily. Daisy fell to the floor because she stopped running suddenly. After a moment she got up.

"Now, I need to know what happened. What did you do to Moppy?"

"Daisy stunned him sir and miss."

"Well, Daisy is on probation for this. You can not work for a week. If your attitude does not change I'm afraid I may have to give you clothes." Dumbledore said regretfully. He didn't like to fire his house elves. They were well behaved and worked hard to do a good job.

Daisy looked shocked and scared at this.

"Daisy will do better master!" she wailed.

"For your sake I hope so," McGonagall said.

"Minerva let us leave. Daisy, you are to come with me."

Daisy got up. Sirius quickly shut the door and backed away towards the wall. James and Sirius hid by the wall and watched as Dumbledore walked out, Daisy following and McGonagall with Moppy in her arms.

"Minerva, take Moppy to Poppy, she'll recover him. Daisy, I'd like you to apparate up to my office with me. We don't need students seeing you." Daisy clutched Dumbledore's arm and with a crack were gone. McGonagall cast a disillusionment charm on herself and Moppy and walked away.

James and Sirius looked at each other.

"Should we see what exactly happened?" asked James. Sirius nodded and they tickled the pear and pulled open the door handle. The first thing they noticed was the elves weren't as energetic as they usually were.

The house elves seemed a little down and scared. When the door opened they were worried but once they saw who it was they relaxed a little but not much. A little grey house elf, by the name of Korky, bowed to them and spoke.

"Sir's we were expecting you's. I'm afraid Moppy isn't here."

"We know, we saw them carry him away. But what happened?" asked Sirius. It was vital Moppy get better, he was part of the plan.

"Daisy stunned him for saying he was going to help you's with a secret plan." Another elf, Bot, said.

"Korky will help if Moppy isn't better." Korky said. A lot of other house elves nodded at this.

"We disapprove of what Daisy did and hope you don't judge us by that and we want to help." Bot said.

James and Sirius said thanks but that they had to leave. They took some snacks with them but not a lot. Their plan was working. They were gaining the trust of more of the elves and that meant their prank may be pulled off after all.

James and Sirius went back to the kitchen the next day to find Moppy feeling better. Daisy was on suspension still and when James asked Moppy if he was better, Moppy only had mean things to say.

"Daisy was being a bad elf. She shouldn't have used her magic on a fellow elf."

"Well Moppy, you still want to help us?" Sirius asked.

"Yes sir's."

"Bot would like to help you's too."

"Korky will help as well." And the next thing they knew the whole kitchen was up for helping James and Sirius with their plan.

"Ok, we'll be down here tomorrow evening before dinner," James said.

"We'll have two other boys with us and Remus, one of the boys, will have the stuff we need for Snivellus's food." Sirius added.

"Yes sir's." the elves said and James and Sirius walked out of the kitchen.

"It's actually going to work. Did Remus finish the potion?" asked James.

"Last night, he said it needs to set for thirty six hours, which is perfect because that's enough time to pull this off.

"So, let's get back up to the common room and let them know." James and Sirius ran upstairs. They ran all the way up to the tower. James and Sirius were both out of breath when they got there. James grabbed them both a glass of water and then after resting a few minutes Sirius whispered everything to Remus and Peter.

"Well, the potion is hidden in my trunk, if you really wanted you could bring it down before tomorrow evening."

"Too risky, rather do it under cover of the cloak tomorrow."

"As long as it'll work."

"It will." Remus reassured them

The boys walked down to the kitchen together under the cloak. Remus was carrying the cauldron and they and they were having troubles walking. They all just fir under the cloak but the cauldron made it hard to walk fast.

James already was down to the kitchens earlier that day to make sure everyone was ready. Daisy still wasn't back, which was a good thing because they didn't need her distractions. By the time they were able to get to the portrait and in it, the elves were putting the food on the tables.

"Korky, Bot and Moppy, here's the stuff. You have to make sure that Severus Snape has it in his food. Use your magic, I'm sure there's a way you can do it without the notice of anyone," Remus said.

"Yes sir." Korky said. The three of them hurried over to the food at the Slytherin side of the room. Since the Great Hall was noisy, Moppy was able to apparate up into the room and see where Snivellus was sitting and back. He showed Bot and Korky where he was and they put stuff on three pieces of chicken, a baked potato and two pieces of corn on the cob.

"Korky will hide and make sure the young boy eats the food." And Korky left to hide in the Hall.

"Korky is very good at hiding. He's always hiding in the school. He knows everything there is to know abut Hogwarts." Moppy said.

"Korky has taught Bot lots." Bot said. It seemed Bot and Korky were very good friends. As Bot walked away to double check they had the potion in the food, James walked over to Moppy.

"Moppy, thanks a lot for helping us."

"No, Moppy must thank James Potter and Sirius Black. They's helped Moppy make friends. Bot and Korky like Moppy now." Moppy had tears in his eyes.

"We're glad we could help. We better get up to the Great Hall so we can see this though, or else it would be point less." James said to Moppy.

"James, I think it's time to go." Sirius said.

"You read my mind mate, any seer blood in your family?"

"Ha ha, no, we just think alike." Sirius said. They said a quick good bye to the elves and thanked them all. They put on the cloak and snuck out the door and walked up to the Great Hall.

A/N: Wow, another short chapter! I'm so used to writing longer ones that these short ones amaze me lol, anyways I hope you liked it. Please don't forget to review!