Crazy Juice

Or

Day Three, Part One

This bet was the best entertainment Hogwarts had seen in months. Alice couldn`t remember a more interesting week since the Marauders had put niffers down the chimneys in third year.

As the unofficial ref of the bet and also the only roommate not in the competition, Alice was being kept up to date constantly by her friends.

Nobody had managed to finish yet, and the girls were all too aware of the looming deadline. Mary`s tactic was to stay close to Peter during the day and hope for an opportunity to present itself, while Melody`s plan, which she insisted she had but wouldn`t spill any details, seemed to involve a lot of procrastination. Mattie, on the other hand, kept uncharacteristically inconclusive on her strategy. She`d told Alice not to tell the other girls, but she wasn`t sure she was going to be able to be able to win unless she could get him to drink a polyjuice potion, and even then she wasn`t sure if it would make it feel less like kissing a brother. She hadn`t given up yet, but Lily had. Lily told Alice all about when she`d studied with Remus on Monday, and apparently the ordeal had convinced her that it was best just to throw in the towel.

Unfortunately, Alice had been sworn to secrecy, which meant telling Ryan was out of the question. She knew he`d love this, but she wasn`t going to break her promise to her friends.

It was temping though. As Alice walked hand in hand with him on their way to Divination, shoulders brushing, they passed Mary, who was picking herself up after tripping yet again while watching Peter.

"Bloody bet." She muttered to Alice as she caught up with them. "I swear, this thing`s gonna be the death of me."

"What is?" Ryan asked.

"Her bag. The straps are faulty." Alice covered calmly. "It`s been bothering her all week."

"That`s right, it has! I`m Mary bloody McDonald, why haven`t I taken care of this already? Alice, why haven`t I taken care of this already?! I`m taking care of this right now! This is ridiculous! I`ve got a life! I can`t be bothered to continue on like this." Mary stormed up ahead.

"OI!" She yelled at Peter`s back. "PETTIGREW!"

Peter (and everyone else in the hall) turned, bewildered.

Mary marched up and quickly kissed him. "This means nothing, just to let you know."

She stormed off as swiftly as she`d come.

Peter turned to James and Lupin, who were stunned as well, and said in a very clam and Dumbledorish manor, "I could do for some raspberry jam right about now."

The boys broke out in peals of laughter and walked on as if nothing had happened.

Ryan raised his eyebrows, and Alice shrugged.

"Don`t ask. I think someone put a crazy potion in some of my housemates` pumpkin juice."

"Where`s Mar, Mel, and Mattie?" Alice asked.

"Detention." Remarked Lily.

Alice nodded thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that stunt they pulled. I`m surprised McGonagall only gave them a detention two days after for that. I heard Mulciber still hasn`t been to a class since."

"It was bloody brilliant though, you have to admit that. Anyway, speaking of crazy stunts, I heard Mary`s already finished the bet."

"Now that was bloody brilliant! You should have seen her. She scared the sweet Merlin out of poor Ryan!"

The girls climbed the stairs to the pace of the bucketing rain visible through the windows. Through the masses of students, Remus emerged to join them.

"Hey, you guys going to the Quidditch match on Saturday?"

"Remy, of course we`re going! Have we ever missed one?" Alice cheerfully replied.

Lily glanced over. "What about the one in second year?"

"Not the point. By the way, do you wanna study with Lil and me in the library tonight? Mel, Mar, and Mattie have got detention till half seven."

"Alright. What time?"

"How about we meet in the library after dinner?" Lily suggested.

"Sounds good."

"What are they doing for their detention that`s taking so long?"

"They`re helping Filch clean and organize all of the broom cupboards and storage areas, without magic."

"Um, guys? Ah, I sorta need help over here..."

"Give us a minute Mar, we`re kinda busy at the moment."

Melody, feather duster in hand, was precariously perched on Mattie`s shoulders as to reach the top shelf of the cupboard. A few feet away, Mary was on her hands and knees, still as a statue except for her eyes, which danced around feverishly scanning the junk.

"Where`d it go? Oh Agrippa, where is it?!" Mary whispered nervously.

"Where`s what?" Mel inquired.

"There`s a-a-a-"

"A what?"

"R-r-r-r-a-a-"

"Radio? Raven? Raft? Rabbit?"

"a-a-a-"

"Rapscallion?"

"Mel, let her talk…" Mattie said.

"There it is!" Shrieked Mary, causing Mattie to jump back from the shelf evidently containing the danger, which made Melody loose her balance and tumble off her friend`s shoulder`s.

Since Filch had taken their wands, the girls were unable to magically catch her. Right before Melody hit the ground, Mattie dove to try and catch her, but unfortunately she`d dove too late. Melody crashed to the hard floor, and her feather duster conked Mary on the head.

"Mel! Oh, Merlin, are you alright?!" Mattie gasped.

"Mats, quick! Get it!" Mary squealed, pointing at a large black rat sitting on one of the lower shelves. Mattie quickly trapped it under a bucket.

"That`s what it was? Really Mar?" Mattie asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically before rushing to Melody`s aid.

"Can you move?"

"I think s- Op, ah, no no nope." Melody winced.

"Merlin, this isn`t good." Mattie gasped. "FILCH!"

"I`m sorry." Mary whispered as Mattie bolted down the corridor in search of Filch.

"FILCH! FILCHY! HEY! MEL`S HURT! WHERE ARE YOU?" Mattie belted down the hall.

"It`s okay. It`s not your fault you`re afraid of rats." Melody replied kindly, biting her lip to distract herself from the fiery pain emitting from her leg.

"OI! ANYBODY GOT A WAND AROUND HERE? I NEED SOMEONE TO LEVITATE MY FRIEND TO THE HOSPITAL WING!"

Mary tried to help Melody straiten her leg, and Melody winced in pain. "Are you okay?"

"IS THERE A TEACHER ABOUT? FILCH!"

"You know, I think I might have broken something…." Melody said matter-of-factly.

"FILCH? WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!"

"This isn`t good at all…"

Mattie appeared at Melody`s side again, along with Filch and Professor Kettleburn. "Step aside, girls."

"Can you walk?" the professor asked.

"No, I think my leg is broken."

Professor Kettleburn levitated Melody and navigated her out of the cupboard. "Ms. McDonald and Ms. Bell, please step back!"

Filch begrudgingly handed the two remaining girls the wands back as Kettleburn escorted Melody to the hospital wing. "You may go back to your dorms now."

"You may think that she`s going without us, but you`d be wrong." Mattie insisted, and the girls sprinted after their friend.

When they caught up to Kettleburn and Melody, the professor looked at them as if he was going to tell them they couldn`t come, but then thought better of it.

After the last of the food vanished from everyone`s dinner plates, Remus headed to the library. Lily was already there, waiting at one of the tables in the back.

"Alice might be coming later, but she wanted to bring some food up to Mel, Mattie, and Mar in the hospital wing."

Remus nodded sympathetically. "It`s good Filch let the detention go after Mel had to go get her bones mended."

Lily flipped open one of the heavy books before them, and a cloud of dust arose, making the pair cough.

"Melly! We come bearing food!" Sirius announced, gallivanting into the hospital wing with James, Alice, and Peter.

Madam Pomfrey rushed out and tried to usher the crowd away. "Only six visitors allowed at a time!"

"It`s okay, I was just going to be going anyway." Melody explained brightly.

"Well….I suppose, since you are healed. Take it easy for a few days, though."

"Okay. Thanks for everything!" Melody slid off the bed and she and Mary and Mattie joined the newcomers.

"You`re welcome." James said as he and the others piled the food into the girl`s arms.

"It was my idea. I just recruited these fools to help me get the food from the kitchens." Alice smirked.

James jokingly threw a roll at Alice, who caught it easily and passed it off to Mary. "You`re welcome anyway."

"Hey, I was supposed to meet Remus and Lils in the Library. Do you guys want to come? Mel can fill us in on the details of the accident."

"Sounds fine by me."

"I`m cool with it."

"Let`s go."

Lily looked up from Remus` essay she was editing. She could hear faint but recognizable voices.

"…So I punched him…"

"…If you actually…"

"..secret passage that leads…"

It was hard to understand all what the voices were saying, but it was pretty clear the speakers were Gryffindor from what she could hear.

She couldn`t distinguish the other voices, but she knew two for sure. Alice, Mary, and a few others were in the library, probably looking for them.

Lily had given some thought to her decision of giving up on the bet. Everything about giving up was a good idea, except for the fact that she`d have to complete a punishment. Knowing her friends, the punishments were going to be a lot worse than kissing Remus Lupin.

It was then that Lily found herself standing in a metaphorical doorway of opportunity.

"Ew, it`s so…bookish." Sirius said.

James shivered. "It`s a constant reminder of …"

"…learning." Mattie finished for him.

James looked to his best mate. "The last time I was in here, I encountered an evil book spirit. He tried to teach me things, so I punched him."

"Really Potter, if you actually read a book every once in a while, you might know that there`s no such things as 'book spirits'." Mary laughed.

"If you can stand the knowledgy bits…."

"I heard a rumor that there`s a secret passage in here that leads to the kitchens. Have you guys found that yet?" Alice asked the boys.

"Are you serious?" Sirius, who had never thought to check the library for hidden tunnels, yelled, causing the librarian and several students to look over and hush them.

Alice struggled to keep a straight face. "Siriusly Black."

"Whoa, that`s mad awesome! Prongsy, we are so gonna find it!"

The voices drew closer.

"But I don`t see why you would need to include those last few dates in there. The goblin recruitment numbers would make more sense, to show the impact. Ya know?" Remus said, scanning the page.

Lily`s nerves were going crazy, her brain frantically trying to choose which fate was worse.

But really, there was only one option.

"If you moved things around a bit, the paragraph structure would flow more and sound less robotic."

She saw movement in the reflection on the window. There was seconds left until they would turn the corner.

Her hand tremored slightly, but Remus didn`t notice.

"See what I mean?"

The figures appeared on the surface of the polished table.

"Lily?"

He glanced up.

Lily grabbed his necktie and pulled him to her in one swift motion, crashing her lips to his, her free hand tangling in his hair.