MISCHIEF MANAGED

Chapter Seven – Detention in Greenhouse Three

Next morning at breakfast, a large grey owl dropped a letter in front of both James and Sirius. The notes read the same:

Your detention will take place at eight o'clock this evening. Please meet Professor Blume in the Entrance Hall at five minutes to. She will give you the details of your punishment and will supervise.
Professor McGonagall

'Awesome,' Sirius exclaimed with a wicked smile. 'My cousin told me that was the dangerous one!' Remus plonked himself down next to them and began to butter some toast, looking tired and withdrawn.

'You look dreadful,' James observed. 'Did you sleep alright?' Their other roommate, Ben, seated himself across from them at the Gryffindor table. 'Ben can keep the whole castle up with his snoring!'

'Remus wasn't in the dorm last night. How'd my snoring affect him?' Ben replied. James and Sirius gave each other confused looks.

'He was in the common room, finishing his homework when we went to bed,' James stated adamantly.

Before a debate began among the boys, Remus cleared things up. 'My eye was aching,' he started. James cringed at the knowledge of what he had done to his friend. 'So, I took myself off to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey decided that I looked a bit peaky so she kept me in for the night. Satisfied?'

'Damn! I was about to throw in a theory that you were a werewolf or something,' Sirius jested. Peter joined the boys, puffing, having run from the common room so as not to miss breakfast. This took the attention away from Remus, who had turned scarlet at Sirius' joke.

The boys finished eating and prepared to leave. Their departure was hindered by the arrival of a late owl, a large red envelope in its beak. 'I pity the poor bugger getting a Howler on his second day,' Sirius laughed. Suddenly, the owl began to fly towards the group. 'Oh crap, that's my mother's owl!' James exploded in a fit of laughter.

Sirius opened the smoking envelope with caution and James stuck his fingers in his ears. A split second later, a roar of sound erupted, filling the entire hall. 'YOU FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR! ANY OTHER HOUSE WOULD HAVE BEEN ACCEPTABLE, BUT GRYFFINDOR? THIS IS DISGRACEFUL! YOU'VE BROUGHT SHAME UPON THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK! CENTURIES OF TRADITION THROWN AWAY! AND TO THINK YOU COULDN'T EVEN TELL ME YOURSELF. I HAD TO RELY ON BELLATRIX'S ACCOUNT! DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE IN GRYFFINDOR, YOU HAVE NO COURAGE TO SPEAK OF!'

The envelope burst into flames and fell into a pile of ashes on the table. 'Gee, you've got some family issues. Wanna spend Christmas at my place?' James asked keenly.

'Are you kidding? That would be wicked!' Sirius exclaimed. 'I'd invite you round for Easter but I don't think I'll go home for that either!'

A whimpering stopped their conversation. 'Is it over?' Peter asked timidly, climbing out from under the table. The other four boys roared with laughter as they traipsed out of the Great Hall for class.

'Maybe I should introduce Mother to Peter,' Sirius whispered to James, 'then she'll know I have some courage!'

The day passed fairly uneventfully, until, at ten past eight, the boys remembered their detention. As they were running out of the common room door, Remus scolded after them, 'I told you to leave twenty minutes ago!'

Sirius and James arrived in the Entrance Hall slightly out of breath, quite late for their detention. They were met by a friendly looking witch with flyaway hair. 'You're ten minutes late,' she stated in an airy voice. 'Now that you're here, let's get started.'

Greenhouse Three was covered top to bottom in mysterious and dangerous looking plants. 'This,' Professor Blume stated, 'is your detention. Professor McGonagall wanted to give you a scare, so tonight we will be trimming adolescent Devil's Snare. Unfortunately. This is when it's at its grabbiest, so watch out it doesn't strangle you.' James and Sirius couldn't tell whether or not she was serious about this last comment.

She handed them a pair of secateurs. 'No magic tonight, boys, I want you to do this the Muggle way. See the creepers with the black ends? They've been exposed to sunlight, so I need you to cut them off. Too much Vitamin D in its system can hinder a Devil's Snare's growth.' Professor Blume seated herself in the corner to supervise the boys.

The boys wrestled with the Devil's Snare for about an hour. Professor Blume had fallen asleep and was snoring softly when Sirius spied a human figure standing near the Whomping Willow, illuminated in the full moon. 'I think that's Remus!' he exclaimed to James.

'He must be cooler than we thought!' James replied excitedly. A loud scream interrupted his train of thought. 'Flying hippogriffs!' yelled James. Sirius was being strangled by a Devil's Snare. While their attention had been elsewhere, the plant's creepers had taken hold of Sirius, and were blocking his airway. James sprinted over to Professor Blume and began to shake her. 'Professor, wake up. PROFESSOR!'

'You boys have done a good job,' she said sleepily. Sirius made a gurgling noise, causing her to look in his direction. 'Oh my god, what have you done?' She pulled out her wand, mouthed an incantation, and the Devil's Snare fell to the floor. She moved towards the plant and ran her wand over it, causing it to regenerate. 'You can go now,' she said, glaring at them.

Very sleepy, the boys made their way to the Gryffindor common room without speaking. They trudged up the stairs, opened the door to their dorm and noted that only two of the beds were filled. They pulled on their pyjamas and as their heads hit their pillows, Sirius murmured, 'I wonder what Remus was doing near the Whomping Willow?' After that James' snores were the only sounds disturbing the silence of the room.

By the next morning, James and Sirius had forgotten what they had seen. Remus was sound asleep in his own bed, incredibly grateful that no one knew why he had been near the Whomping Willow last night.