Flight of the Fat Lady
By
Ruby
Sixteen year-old James Sirius Potter knew the Fat Lady well. Often when he was frustrated he was would sit for hours outside of her portrait in the middle of the night talking to her. She always gave the best advice. Now one of the ways James shows his appreciation to people is by pulling pranks on them, multiple in a row. The higher number of pranks in a row the more that James liked that person. The limit of five. James as smart as he was could not think of much more than that. He also pulled five consecutive pranks on his father when he was eleven and felt like that was a good number to keep. And seeing as he had pulled those pranks on his father the person he cared for the most his felt that it would just be rude to go over five.
The Fat Lady knew this about James. It was one of the first things he confessed to her in those long nighttime hours. She had been expecting it for some time now and she also knew that she would find them excruciatingly annoying. She would have to react even if she didn't find the pranks annoying enough to do so. It would just be her part to play in this.
#1
It was seven in the evening. Most students where finishing up with dinner and were about to head back upstairs to grab their bags and then head to the library for some studying. The Gryffindors on the other hand were partial queued up in front of the Fat Lady. Only about a sixth of them were there. For this to work, James thought, it has to be small groups but groups nonetheless. Doing it individually wouldn't really work and would take ages.
The Fat lady knew what to expect when she saw the mass of student milling about in front of her frame. As soon as the clock hit exactly seven the students who were milling about started approaching her wanting access into the tower. Twelve people went into the portrait and then two second later twelve people left. She did even have time to close before they came pouring out again. Then just as the last person was leaving twelve more people showed up to be let in. This went on two more time before the Fat Lady decided she had had enough and she left the portrait leaving the students without a way in to the tower. Nearby she heard someone snicker. She knew it to be James.
#2
James brought out a chess board. He and the Fat Lady often played chess on nights where James was working something out in his head and couldn't find the words. By the end of the chess game he would understand what was going on in his head and knew which words would describe it best. The Fat Lady having many years on James, we won't say how many because to talk about a lady's age is rude, she won consistently at chess. This night however James as determined to change that even if he had to bend the rules a little.
He sat off to the side where the Fat Lady could still see him but he wasn't in the way in case anyone wanted in or out. He slowly set up the pieces. All of them were his. His uncle Ron often gifted him the latest chess pieces at Christmas and his birthday. That also meant that the Fat Lady was used to seeing different chess pieces on the board. James set up the pieces so that she would go first, a curtesy he did not often give her. She knew he was feeling cocky, he always gave her the first go when he was.
The game started out normal. James made his regular moves and the Fat Lady hers. It was until about the middle of the game that the Fat Lady realized it was rigged. Now she was used to pieces arguing with her. It happened often when new chess pieces but these pieces were down right belligerent and then they had the nerve to move without her telling them to do so. They would rid her the chance of an excellent move and end up putting themselves in mortal danger that she couldn't reverse. There was no way that these pieces hadn't been tampered with especially after James spectacularly won. Now he did win on occasion but only barely and never with this much flair. He had taken all of her pieces before finally capturing the king.
He smiled smugly up at her. She huffed and left her frame leaving him at the entrance without a way. He didn't seem too concerned about that. He had gotten what he wanted.
#3
The Fat Lady woke with a start. There wasn't any particular loud noise going on so she wasn't sure why she did. Then again it seemed particularly quiet maybe it was the lack of sound that woke her. The painting above her was quiet which was peculiar for the occupant if not snoring in his sleep was mumbling to himself. It would be no cause for alarm if he actually left his painting every once in a while but the Fat Lady could not think of a time within the last fifty years that the man in the painting above her had left. If he was gone then the others might be as well. She had to check.
She slipped into the painting on her right. It was empty. So she kept on slipping into other painting but all of the ones near her were empty. There wasn't a single painting in her area that had an occupant.
She heard cackling above her. Peeves! she thought.
"You won't find anyone." He cackled then zoomed off.
This was just one of Peeves' jokes. She went back to her frame to see James standing in front of it. She then knew he was the one who had orchestrated it. He bowed. He was signaling the end of his line of pranks. I bowed back and let him in to the dormitories.