Chapter 10: Hangovers and Hexes
"Maybe if we soaked the frog liver in wine first…"
"The acidity would interfere with its healing properties."
"Butterbeer?"
"Why does everything have to be about alcohol with you?"
Ariadne turned around and shot the Marauders an irritated look. Whispering loudly during Potions study hall was not helping her concentration. Unfortunately, they took this as an invitation to include her in the discussion.
"Psst—Morrigan!"
Ariadne ignored them.
"Ariadne!"
"PrefectAriadneMorriganofGryffindorHouse—"
"James Potter, I swear to God I will earn you a month's worth of detentions cleaning Peeves' spit wads out of suits of armor."
James merely grinned. "Empty threats, Morrigan. I know your true nature now, you party animal." He winked at her.
Ariadne snorted quietly. "I'm impressed you can claim to remember anything about that night, because if I recall correctly, you spent a good portion of it passed out in your underwear on the common room floor."
Remus smiled but James just shrugged. "Must've been a good night, then." Ariadne rolled her eyes.
"Anyway," he continued in a whisper, "we have an important question."
"Let me guess—it has nothing to do with the Hiccoughing Solution we're supposed to be studying."
"Right on, Morrigan."
Ariadne sighed. There probably wasn't any way for her to get around this, considering James' persistence and the presence of all four Marauders to back him up, though Sirius (as usual) looked fairly bored and disinterested in the whole affair.
"What do you think are the best ingredients for a magical hangover cure?"
Of course that's what they wanted to know. Ariadne had never given this particular question much thought, but her thorough knowledge of potion-making and the properties of ingredients meant that it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out.
"Frog liver to filter toxins faster, a little crushed bezoar to counteract alcohol poisoning, murtlap essence to soothe head and body aches, and you'll want a base of charmed morning dew for hydration."
James looked triumphant and was actually writing something down, which was a rare sight. Sirius, however, seemed to take issue with Ariadne's concoction.
"The murtlap essence will react poorly with a bezoar. It'll dissolve the minerals," he said, lazily playing with his quill.
"That's why it'll already be crushed. It's antidote properties are powerful—just a little will have an effect."
"I doubt it will have any effect at all so diluted. Waste of a valuable potion ingredient."
"I didn't say this was something you should brew every weekend. But in an ideal world, it would make the perfect hangover remedy."
James stopped writing and seemed confused, possibly because he fully intended to rely on this remedy every weekend.
Sirius merely looked at her superciliously and continued twirling his quill. Ever since the party…incident, as Ariadne tended to think of it, the Marauders seemed keener than ever to ask her for advice, involve her in their plots, and mine her trove of magical knowledge for their nefarious purposes. At least, James, Peter and Lupin seemed interested in doing so. Sirius remained as aloof as ever. He didn't seem to particularly mind the Marauders sitting behind Ariadne in every class and bothering her, but then again, exhibiting resistance to this would have been to admit he cared, and that was one thing Sirius Black rarely did.
Ariadne left Potions study hall after staying late to ask the professor some questions, and turned a corner in the dungeons passageways to find a Slytherin fifth-year who looked like he'd been hit by a combination of bat-bogey hex and undiluted bubotuber pus writhing in a corner. James and Sirius looked on and laughed while Peter egged them on.
She instinctively whipped out her wand and went into full prefect mode. "Lay off him, you two."
Sirius' raised his eyebrows and the look in his eyes was clearly challenging her. Ariadne had told off the Marauder's for their wrongdoing many times before, but now that she and Sirius had collaborated to break the rules, something was different.
Ariadne wasn't going to let that stop her from acting as a prefect, obviously.
"Wands down, Potter, Black. Please don't make me have to write up my third incident report for you this month."
James pocketed his wand and raised his hands in surrender, but Sirius twitched his and added a couple more bats to the Slytherin's face, who groaned.
"Miss Morrigan, I think you've misunderstood. This is purely an instructional exercise. We were just teaching Mervon here a little history lesson about what happens to wizards who associate with pathetic Death Eater scum. I'm sure Professor Binns would approve."
"Tell it to McGonagall."
"I think if she knew the full extent of what Mervon has been up to, even dear Minerva would be sympathetic to our cause."
"Don't make me hex you, Black."
Sirius sighed and finally raised his hands in surrender. Ariadne performed the counter-jinx to relieve Mervon Yaxley of his bat bogies, and she was recommending that he visit the hospital wing for a cure for his boils when he turned and hissed at Sirius and James, "Your days are numbered, you Mudblood-loving filth."
In an instant he was pinned to the dungeon walls by the neck of his robes. Ariadne advanced on Mervon with her wand raised, and in a deadly cool voice, warned him, "Say that word again, Yaxley, and you'll have more to worry about than a few bat-bogeys."
She released him and he dropped to the ground. Ariadne pocketed her wand and swept around the corner of the hallway without another word.
A/N: Hi lovelies! Sorry for the delayed updates this weekend- still working out this fanfic thing and my writing schedule. My goal is still to update every weekday—I'll try my best, and hopefully my summer job will continue to be flexible so I have time to write—but I'll probably only update once over the weekend because weekends are for getting out of the house! Thanks for all the love on this story (I can't believe 27 people actually want to read my this ?!) and keep the reviews coming! I want to hear from you guys.