6. Down
Sirius yawned loudly and stretched his arms and put his right arm over James's shoulders.
James pushed Sirius's arm off of his shoulder laughing. "Geoff me!" James said, his mouth still filled with waffle. Sirius laughed and pushed James back, knocking him into a first year who looked startled.
"Sorry," James apologized to the kid who, though only two years younger, seemed a lot smaller than James.
The kid mumbled a response, not meeting James's eyes before returning to his breakfast. James turned away from him and did the same, flicking Sirius in the ear as revenge for the earlier push.
Just then, the owls came in with mail. One flew down towards Remus, clutching a Daily Prophet in its claws. James watched Remus grab the paper and drop the couple Knut fee in its pouch.
"What's new?" James asked.
"Nothing good," Remus responded, his brow creasing as his eyes flashed back and forth across the paper, the letters reflecting on his brown eyes as his expression became more and more distressed. Remus handed James the paper, the front page sticking out.
Ministry Officials Missing
John Thomas of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has now been declared missing, joining the ranks of the now half dozen Ministry officials to gain that status in the past fortnight. As of right now no new information is present, however, Bartimus Crouch, newly appointed Head of the Department of Magical Law enforcement, has released a statement.
"I urge the Magical Community not to panic. The Auror Department has made the recovery of the missing Ministry officials their top priority and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as a whole will not rest until these people are returned safely to their families."
The article continued but James had read his fill. Handing the paper back to Remus, James looked at his plate and wasn't as hungry as he had been before. Distracted by his own thoughts after reading the Prophet, he failed to notice the eagle owl to his right until it began pecking at his shoulder. James took the letter off of Aquila's foot and pushed his plate towards her. The owl hopped forward, gave a hoot of appreciation, and helped herself to the remaining bacon on James's plate.
James opened the letter and read it.
James,
We had a little scare after you left with your mother. She's fine and we don't want you to worry. She didn't even want to tell you but I figure you have a right to know. She was experiencing an episode, something completely ordinary for someone who went through what she went through, and so she had to go to St. Mungos and stay the night. I don't want you to worry, everything's fine, the healers prescribed a Draught for Dreamless Sleep and everything's back to normal. On a lighter note, how's school? I heard your new Defense teacher is an Auror, very cool. Have you pulled any pranks yet? (Don't tell your mother I'm encouraging you).
That's it really, owl me back when you get the chance.
Love you,
Dad
James stuffed the letter in his pocket and shook his head when Sirius looked as if he was about to ask what the letter was about. James grabbed his bag and pretended not to notice the concerned look Sirius and Remus shared as he exited the Great Hall and made his way to Divination early.
It was going to be a long day
James tried to push the dark thoughts from his mind all day, wishing that Quidditch Practice would start up early so he could loose himself in the motions of the game. High in the air, way above his problems, with the wind blowing through his hair and-
"Mr. Potter?" McGonagall's sharp voice brought him out of his thoughts. Her mouth was a thin line and her eyes were staring at him coldly and expectantly, completely without mercy. James recognized that look. She had just asked him a question, obviously knowing James hadn't been paying attention.
Frantically, James's eyes began darting around the room, looking for clues as to what they had been talking about. James started coughing to buy himself more time, and as an excuse to shift from his leaned back position to an upright one. Remus was sitting next to him, notes scrawled in his neat penmanship. On the board were some notes but James couldn't see what about as his glasses were at the tip of his nose. He looked back at McGonagall who looked tired of waiting. She turned to Lily.
"Ms. Evans?" She asked, giving James a quick glance. She hadn't cared if he would be able to give her the answer or not. McGonagall had been teaching long enough to know James hadn't been paying attention. She had only asked James to let him know that she knew.
Sighing, James held his head up with his right hand, leaning forward onto his desk and actually trying to pay attention. He looked at his watch and noticed there was no more than a minute left in the class. Sure enough, the bell rang within a couple moments of James looking at the time. McGonagall told the class the homework, having to speak more loudly than usual due to the noise of the class shoving their books into their bags and getting out of their seats.
"A foot and a half on the process of becoming Animagi and the dangers associated with it!" She called to her students as they filed out the door.
James followed his friends to the last class he wanted to go to: Potions; a double period in the dungeons with the Slytherins. Knowing that these people's parents are responsible for the missing people and what happened to he and his mother last May, and knowing that they agreed with-
Not paying attention to where he was going, James walked straight into Avery. Their eyes met and James realized that he was the same height as the normally taller Slytherin. Scanning the student over, James saw that the only way Avery had grown over the summer was sideways. He smirked.
"Watch it Potter," Avery pushed James backwards and the smirk fell from his face as Avery's change in size caught James off balance. Tripping back and not getting a chance to think his actions through, his wand was out and pointed directly at Avery's chest.
"Don't touch me," James growled. Avery, thinking James was bluffing, took his meaty right forefinger and tapped James on the shoulder.
A second later the Slytherin flew backwards and his front teeth were growing at a ridiculous rate, surpassing his chin within a couple of moments. James stood, wand still outstretched, breathing heavily, looking down at Avery.
"James!" Professor Slughorn cried out, clearly surprised. The Potions Master scanned the situation and then went to Avery's side. "Go to Professor McGonagall's office, I'll take Mr. Avery to the Hospital Wing."
James stuffed his wand in his pocket and turned away from the scene, heading to McGonagall's office as he was told. It took him a good ten minutes and when he got there he wished it had taken longer. Taking a breath, he knocked sharply on his Head of House's door.
"Come in," McGonagall called. James pushed the door open.
"Potter?" She asked surprised. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
James walked up to her desk and sat in the seat in front of it. "Slughorn sent me to you, Professor."
McGonagall's face changed, her lip thinned out to the point it was barely visible, her nose flared ever so slightly and her eyes squinted at him, looking him over and staring into his soul in the way only some teachers can do. The Look.
The Look stood in place of the question, "What did you do?" It made you squirm in your seat until you told without having to be asked. James was familiar with it, having been on the receiving end too many times to count. And no matter how hard he tried, it would always get him.
"I hexed Avery," James muttered.
"Why?" His Head of House continued staring at him.
"He pushed me," James responded, realizing how childish it sounded as he said it.
"Why would he do that?"
"Well… I kinda, sorta… bumped into him. Not on purpose or anything but…" James let the sentence trail off.
Professor McGonagall sighed. The Look fell from her face and turned to one more of concern. "I know what this is about."
James looked up at her.
"James, you can't take out your anger at what happened out on everybody. And just because he is a Slytherin, because I know you wouldn't have hexed Sirius if he pushed you, doesn't mean you have a right to hex him."
"But his parents-" James started.
"What his parents are, what they do or believe, does not necessarily define Mr. Avery as a person. If you're judging him on suspicions like that, how are you any better?"
"Professor, are you saying that you don't think Avery agrees-" James tried to counter.
"Sirius doesn't." McGonagall cut him off.
"Sirius is different." James shot back.
"I don't want to Mr. Potter, but I'm giving you a week of detention-"
"A week!" James interrupted.
The Look reappeared and James was silent.
"A week of detention with Professor Slughorn." Professor McGonagall finished and James was dismissed. He stood up, his chair, pushed back a couple of inches when he stood, made a harsh squeak that made James cringe. He made his way towards the door.
"I won't inform your parents of this James, but you know that they wouldn't want this." McGonagall told him, not looking at him but down at the paper she was writing on. Her voice was warmer as she said this, and James knew that his Professor really did want him to feel better.
It only made James feel worse.
A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay and for the shortness of the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Please review and, I know haven't asked in a while, but prank ideas are always welcome and the creator will always get credit. See you soon.
