Chapter 8: Up to No Good
Sirius and Ariadne practically flew down the stairs. Hardly anyone noticed their arrival from the boys dormitory, most being too busy availing themselves of more alcohol or enraptured by a loud drunken tale James was regaling the crowd with from the mantel above the fireplace. Ariadne whipped out her wand and started casting silencing charms. Sirius was already at work.
"Focus only on the crowds and the loudest areas," she yelled over the noise. "We don't have time to muffle the entire common room."
"I know, Morrigan," Sirius called back at her.
Ariadne grabbed the wireless set and switched it off to make their jobs considerably easier. The dancing cluster groaned. Sirius had interrupted James' story and was whispering something into his ear, smartly taking advantage of his platform and captive crowd.
"OY," James bellowed to the gathered Gryffindors, much more loudly and effectively than either Ariadne or Sirius would have been able to manage. "McGon'gal and that bastard Filth—I mean, Filch—" he swayed dangerously on the mantelpiece as he shook his fist at the villain—"'r coming to break up our party. To DISGRACE," he hiccupped, "our GRYFFINDOR victory!" The crowd booed. Sirius grabbed James' leg to remind him of the more important focus of his message. "Oh, right, sorry mate. Ok," he straightened himself. "So tha' we don't get in trouble," he paused and spotted Ariadne, "and espethially so our dear prefect Morrigan doesn't get it from McGonagall—a hand for Morrigan, everyone, who finally came to one of our lil' gatherings, and doesn't she look fine? I mean, I don't know what took her so long—"
Ariadne scowled and Sirius hit James on the leg again.
"Oh, right, sorry 'gain, my mate. So, everyone has to get in the staircase or hide under the table unless you wanna get detention."
On a thoroughly drunk crowd of mostly underage Gryffindors, James' words had the effect of producing immediate mass panic. Third-years squealed and dived under couches, while slightly more level-headed older students simply headed upstairs into their dormitories. This did not make Ariadne's task any easier. In order to cast a disillusionment charm, she needed everyone gathered in one place, OR completely out of sight in the dormitories, but not scattered around the room.
She glanced hopelessly at Sirius. He was frowning and ushering a panicked fourth-year couple into the boys' dormitory. "We can just individually disillusion anyone who's left. Or who can't physically make it up into the dormitory," he said, prodding a now unconscious James sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace with his foot.
With one long sweep of her wand, Ariadne gathered all of the discarded robes, empty butterbeer bottles, cups, and fallen streamers, and other various debris into a corner of the common room and with an additional flick they disappeared, rendered invisible. Sirius was busy disillusioning James and a hysterical fourth year who wouldn't move. They blended seamlessly into the plush red and gold rugs that lined the floor of the common room. Ariadne snuffed out the torches with a jet of water from her wand. That just left…the tower of alcohol. Sirius looked at the mountain of bottles and pitchers apprehensively.
"Leave this to me," said Ariadne.
She took a deep breath and whispered, "aparente mufare." The table that had been appropriated as the makeshift bar remained the same. But the cardboard six-packs of butterbeer appeared to glisten, waver like smoke, and then turn into cardboard boxes full of library books and stacks of parchment. The bottles of bloodred Firewhiskey turned the bright orange color of pumpkin juice, and the pitchers of butterbeer turned into innocent golden packages of chocolate frogs.
Sirius walked over to the table and gently touched the transformed contents of the table. The illusion shimmered and wavered but did not break. To anyone entering, it looked like the leftovers from a late-night study session in a pristine, quiet common room, with a few festive Gryffindor banners draped along the back wall.
Except for the people remaining in it, who were clearly dressed for a party. Ariadne snatched a pair of robes from the invisible pile and wrapped herself in it, and hissed at Sirius to button up his shirt. Sirius looked down in surprise at the six inches or so of exposed chest, as if he hadn't realized it was there, and complied.
They heard footsteps approaching the portrait hole. Between the silencing charms and her nervousness, Ariadne couldn't even hear the sound of her own breathing. The portrait swung open and a witch's hat, followed by a tartan dressing robe and a stern face emerged. Professor McGonagall looked around the common room suspiciously, not seeing any signs of the raucous party she had clearly been warned about.
"Good morning, Miss Morrigan, Mr. Black."
"Professor?"
"I was advised that an intolerably loud and after-hours disturbance was taking place in the Gryffindor Common Room. Clearly, it seems the person who reported this was misinformed. Though that does not fully explain why you and Mr. Black are out of your beds at this hour."
"We stayed up a bit too late working on the Transfiguration project, Professor. I suppose we got carried away and didn't realize how late it was," answered Ariadne innocently.
"There's just so much fascinating Transfiguration theory to read, Professor McGonagall," chimed in Sirius. Ariadne sent him daggers out of the corner of her eye. But Professor McGonagall didn't seem to pick up on the fake, overdone sincerity. On the contrary, she seemed rather pleased.
"Well, as admirable as your work ethic is, I suggest that the two of you get some sleep and resume working on the project at a more reasonable hour." She turned around to leave. "And may I remind you, Mr. Black, that school robes are to be worn at all times outside of the dormitories," she added, nodding at his skinny black jeans and rumpled white shirt. "Goodnight—or rather, good morning, I suppose."
"Goodnight, Professor."
She had barely left before James, who had apparently regained consciousness, yelled from the floor, "THA' WAS AMAZING!"