Mandy, Trish, Benjy, Jess, Eliza, and Robert all were squished into McGonagall's office, who was sitting behind her desk with squared shoulders. Although it was hard to take her seriously with the mound of curlers in her hair, the expression on her face instantly sobered the teenagers up.
"What do you have to say for yourselves?" she asked, glaring at them over top of her glasses.
Jess pulled at her collar, having dressed when she, Trish, and Benjy were ordered to seconds before. "Are these clothes more constricting than usual?" she asked.
Eliza elbowed her harshly and smiled sweetly at McGonagall.
"What?" Jess whispered. "It's true."
"We're very sorry, Professor," Eliza said, talking over Jess. "It's just that, well, we went outside and then something started following us, and–"
"We almost got eaten alive!" Benjy called dramatically.
This time Trish elbowed him harshly. "There is something out there, Professor," she told her.
McGonagall sighed, taking her glasses off and rubbing her tired eyes. When she put her glasses back on, she looked up to her students. "I'll have Filch check the grounds. However, that does not change–"
"Professor," Mandy cut in. "Sirius was out there with us. I don't know where he went, but–"
"Ms Thomas, when I found you outside I didn't not see or hear Sirius Black whatsoever."
"But he was–"
"Filch can look for him on the grounds as well. Also, I'll have Mr Potter check the dorms after his patrol," McGonagall interrupted. "How's that?"
Mandy lowered her head. "Fine," she mumbled.
"Now, on to your punishment." McGonagall stood from her desk and laid her hands flat over it. "I'm very disappointed in you. You've acted like children tonight, and it is my duty to punish you all. Come here tomorrow during breakfast and we can go over what you'll be doing for the next two weeks."
They all mumbled their agreements and shuffled their way out of her office. Once they were out, Jess started unbuttoning her top. "God, this thing is like a fucking straight jacket," she muttered.
"Keep your clothes on,"Eliza suggested. "We've all seen more than enough of you tonight."
Jess made a face at her from behind her back but didn't unbutton any more buttons.
"Let's just go to bed," Trish said wearily, and they all went their separate ways.
—x—
The moment Mandy banged her way into the Gryffindor Common Room, she made her determined way to the boys staircase. She clomped upwards to the Seventh Years Boys Dorm and threw the door open.
And of course, there was Sirius lying in his bed.
"What the fuck?" she yelled. Two out of the four Marauders shot up in their beds. "Sirius Black, you little bitch, you totally just left when McGonagall showed up!"
Sirius rubbed at his eyes while Remus watched in confusion. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
"You," she answered, advancing on him. "Leaving. McGonagall. Me. Trouble."
"Full sentences?" he requested.
"You left and the rest of us got in trouble!"
"Oh." He put his head back on his pillow. "Sorry."
Mandy stared at him while he closed his eyes and snuggled deeper into his covers. She glanced over at Remus who was still watching her. "Can you believe this kid?" she asked. "I've got two weeks of detention and he gets off chalk-free just 'cause he's a little pansy."
"Hey," Sirius protested, sitting up in his bed and letting the sheet fall from his bare chest. "I am not a pansy. I heard her behind us, I told you guys to run, and no one followed me."
"Lies!" Mandy screeched. "Lies, lies! I heard no one telling us to run."
"Well, I did," he answered. "You should work on your hearing."
"You should work on your hearing," she mimicked childishly. "You suck, man."
"Um," Remus spoke up. "Might I ask what the fuck you guys are talking about?" He stood from his bed and stretched his muscles, knowing that there was no way he was going to get any sleep now. He made his bed like a good little boy and threw himself on top of it.
"You don't want to know, Moony," Sirius answered at the same time Mandy said, "Your best friends got no balls."
"I have balls," he argued. "I told you guys to run."
"What happened to 'we can't leave anyone' blah, blah, blah, huh?"
"I told you to run!"
"I didn't hear you."
"Well, I did."
"Well, I don't believe you."
"Well, you're stupid then."
"Well, you're stupid then!"
Sirius threw himself back onto the bed. "Fine," he sighed, placing his arm over his face. "Whatever."
"I'm leaving," Mandy announced. "But I hope you're happy with your handiwork." With that, she exited dramatically with a slam of the door. Which was slightly downplayed when she fell down the stairs.
—x—
Their clan of troublemakers found themselves all outside of Mcgonagall's door the next morning. Eliza wrung her hands as she looked around at all their faces. Robert, who still looked frightened and was avoiding everyone's eyes, Trish who seemed nervous, Jess and Mandy who just seemed resigned to their punishment, and Benjy who looked completely at ease. She sighed, knowing that it would be her taking charge in this situation.
It always was.
She knocked on McGonagall's door loudly.
"Come in," she called out to them.
Eliza opened the door and noticed someone else in McGonagall's office. Remus Lupin sat in one of the three chairs in front of McGonagall's desk. He turned to look at them all in confusion as they did the same to him, hesitating in the doorway.
"Get in here already," McGonagall commanded, standing from her desk to herd them in. "We're not all here for tea and crumpets," she grumbled. The students filed in and she closed the door after them, squeezing her way through her tight office back to her seat behind her desk.
"Uh, I'm a bit confused, Professor," Remus spoke up.
McGonagall sighed, wondering why she always had to spell things out for people. "You're all here for your two weeks of punishment. I'm aware that Mr Lupin was not involved in the rest of your...excursion, but he as well was punished with two weeks of detention and it is easier to clump you all together."
The students relaxed.
"Now, this detention is a bit unorthodox. There is no room in the regular detention facilities for you because of Ms Evans...over-achieving ability at her job as Head Girl. So, I am assigning you all a project. Your job in these next two weeks is to meet up with a partner of my choosing from the group of you and work on an essay. The essay will be about the pros and cons of the Fertility Potion. The essay will be due after the first week. Then, it is your job to work with your partner to draw up a correct budget for a family of three and make an outline of an appropriate house."
"Um...no offence, Professor," Jess spoke up. "But why?"
"Maybe you can present your findings to your parents," she answered. "Then maybe they can evaluate whether having you children was the best choice."
"Burn," Mandy whispered.
"You will also have to make the potion. It takes two weeks to make, so you should probably get started today after classes. Now, the partners...Ms Thomas," McGonagall addressed. "You will be working with Mr Lupin. Ms Morgan and Mr Fenwick. Ms Frankson and Mr Adams. And that leaves Ms Campbell as the odd woman out. I'm afraid you'll be working on this project alone."
Trish nodded, biting her lip.
"You all may leave," McGonagall instructed. "Except you, Ms Campbell. I'd like a word."
Mandy, Jess, and Eliza all shot her a look but left anyways along with the others. Trish took a seat in Remus's vacant chair and looking up at McGonagall. "What is it, Professor?"
"I'm afraid," McGonagall sighed, "that I will have to suspend you from your post as a prefect as well."
Trish sucked in a breath. She loved being a prefect. "But why?"
"If this had just been you out after hours, I would leave it at the detention. However, your being nude added to it. That is why Ms Frankson was not suspended."
"What about Jess and Benjy?"
"They aren't prefects," she answered. "You have a job as a prefect to enforce the rules and be a face for this school. o weeks of your detention is up, your suspension of your prefect duties will be up as well. But I want you to take these weeks and think things over, alright, Ms Campbell?"
Trish nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
—x—
When Trish walked into breakfast, the Hall instantly quieted. Looking around, she saw her friends sitting at the Ravenclaw table and made her confused way over to them.
"What's going on?" she whispered to them as all eyes stayed glued to their quartet.
"What happened last night got out," Jess answered. "You're now a slut and I'm a nudist. Benjy, however..."
The girls looked over to see where Benjy was sitting. He was in the middle of a crowd full of boys, grinning and lapping up the attention. When his eyes met Trish's, he winked at her and a ripple went through the Hall.
"Creep," she muttered, plopping down into the vacant seat next to Jess.
"You're telling me," Eliza answered. "Why didn't you go for someone less disgusting than Benjy Fenwick?"
"I didn't know!" Trish defended. "No one said, 'Hey, T, Benjy's a perv.'"
"How could you not know?" Mandy asked. "He's got a reputation as big as China."
"Well, he seemed nice at the time," Trish mumbled.
"At least you've got something down," Eliza commented, referring to the dare. "That's more than any of us have."
Jess grumbled. "Can we not talk about it? Just today, could it not be everything that we're about?"
"I agree!" Mandy said, lifting her glass to clink against Jess's.
"What are you agreeing for?" Eliza asked. "You rode on a broom with Sirius holding you."
As if on cue, Sirius walked into the Great Hall, James on the side of him. Mandy's eyes narrowed as she watched him walk over to the Gryffindor table. He looked up, as if sensing she was looking at him, and noticing her glare, he rolled his eyes and went back to talking to James. "He's a little punk," Mandy muttered. "Can you believe he ditched us?"
"Yeah, what's that all about?" Jess asked. "I thought he got eaten or something."
"No, I checked his dorm last night, and there he was, sleeping like a baby."
"And?" Trish pushed.
"I yelled at him."
"Did he hit you or something?" Eliza asked.
"No, why?"
"Your arms all bruised up."
Mandy blushed, murmuring something into her porridge before taking a large bite of it. At her friends confused looks, she stuff even more into mouth until she was sure she was going to choke.
"You're avoiding something," Jess accused, narrowing her eyes. "Spill."
Mandy attempting to speak but only managed to spray porridge all over the table. Eliza pounded her on the back, resulting in Mandy spitting the rest of it back out into her bowl.
"Gross," Trish commented, watching the porridge-and-saliva combination wiggle in the bowl.
"Damn, M," Jess said. "What's in your spit, radioactive shit or something?"
Mandy wiped her mouth and coughed a bit. "Oops."
"So, are you gonna answer about the bruises or what?" Eliza asked.
Mandy sighed. "I fell down the stairs, la-di-do, now you know."
Jess snorted. "What a klutz."
"Listen here, nudey–"
"Hey!"
Eliza shook her head as her friends continued to bicker before turning to Trish. "What'd McGonagall want, anyways?"
"She suspended me as a prefect," Trish answered.
"What?" Eliza asked. "Why?"
"My nudity." Trish cracked a small grin. "It's cool. Let's just get to class."
—x—
Jess felt incredibly tense in Potions. It seemed that her stunt had gotten out to the public and now the only thing people would talk to her about was being naked. Her partner was even more scared of her than usual. And it seemed as though she'd caused a rift between Paul and his dear Alice.
Not that that was a bad thing.
She sidled up to him in the ingredient room. "Hi," she said, pretending to look for something of her own.
He looked up from the two bottles that he was reading, but once he noticed it was her, he only glanced back down.
"What, no hello back?" she asked.
He continued reading.
"Oh, I get it," she said. "There's trouble in paradise and you're blaming little old moi."
He sighed loudly.
"Come on," she told him, laughing. "It's not my fault."
He finally tore his eyes away from the bottles. He looked her straight in the eye. "Stay away from me," he said. He walked away.
She blinked after him. That was the second time in a twenty-four hour period that he had left her standing there.
It seemed, however, that she wasn't alone for long. As she stood there, Alice stomped her way over and stood directly in front of her. Jess lowered her eyes to the shorter girl. "Can I help you?" she asked coolly.
"Stay away from him," Alice said vehemently.
"I don't know what you're–"
"Cut the crap," Alice plowed on. 'I don't know what little game you're trying to play with Paul, and frankly, I don't care what it entails, but what I do know is that you need to stay the hell away from my boyfriend."
"Listen here–"
"No, you listen here. I know that you're used to being some fucking Slytherin princess and getting whatever the hell you want, but you're not getting Paul, and if you try again, trust me, I will have no problem beating your skanky little ass into the ground."
As quickly as she came, Alice left. She grabbed her bag sitting next to her chair and slammed her way out of the classroom. The classes' eyes shifted between the door and Jess, obviously having heard the entire argument. Then, slowly, everyone looked over at Paul. He gathered his stuff up and left the class as well, calling Alice's name once he was in the hall.
Everyone looked back at Jess.
"Now, I say," Slughorn said, waddling over to the door. "What is going on here?"
Jess lowered her eyes. She put away whatever she was holding in her hand and brushed her way out of the classroom as well.
Screw this.
—x—
Eliza was having a bit of trouble getting Robert to speak to her. Even though they had practically all the same classes together, he made an art out of getting in and out of the classes faster than the speed of light and avoiding her in the halls at all costs.
She sighed angrily as she stomped into the Great Hall for dinner. He was sitting in a seat at the Ravenclaw table, shoveling food into his mouth. Eliza noted that her friends were sitting over at the Slytherin table, but she walked over to where Robert was sitting.
When he saw her standing there, he stood up from his seat, nearly knocking his chair over, and grabbed his bag. He walked swiftly out of the Great Hall, but Eliza was hot on his heels.
"Robert!" she called after her. He didn't stop. "Rob, come on! You're going to have to talk to me."
He didn't answer but he stopped, not turning to face her.
"God, it's not my fault that we got detention. But we're partners and we're going to have to work on the project together."
He nodded his head.
"Are you going to say anything?" she asked.
All he did was walk away.
—x—
Mandy hesitated in her seat in the Common Room. She knew that she should go upstairs and knock on the Seventh Years boys dorm door. She knew that she needed to talk to Remus and get started on the project, but she was still hesitating. Every time her hands gripped the arms of the chair to lift herself up, they instantly flew back to her lap.
She didn't want to see Sirius. He was such a little punk for leaving them all there. He was supposed to have some big, bad reputation about being a troublemaker and breaking the rules, but what did he do when McGonagall came? He ran.
"What a guy," she scoffed to herself.
But that, at the current time, didn't matter. She wanted to finish the detention. She wanted to finish the essay early and she wanted to work on the potion and she wanted everything to go back to how things were when she wasn't focused on that stupid dare.
The portrait opened and closed but she didn't move. Her eyes stayed glued to the stairs to the boys dorms.
"Hey," a voice said behind her. She turned her head slowly to see Remus holding books in his hands and nodding his head to the boys dorm. "You want to go work on this project? We could do it down here, but...it's kind of noisy."
Mandy rose to her feet with a sigh. "I guess," she grumbled. He grinned at her. "Is your stinky little roommate going to be there?"
He grinned wider. "Who?"
"Sirius," she mocked in a nasty voice.
He laughed openly now. "Probably."
She grumbled but followed him up the stairs anyways. He opened the door to the dorm and all of his fellow Marauders were inside.
"Ooh, Moony's bringing a girl back to the dorms," James joked, winking at Mandy.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mandy, would you like to have sex in front of all of them?" he asked.
Sirius snorted, sitting up from his spot on his bed. "I wouldn't mind watching," he said, smirking.
Mandy huffed. Sometimes she really hated boys.