Chapter 10 : The bad joke

Committing an offence can sometimes be exhilarating. Who has never crossed a road at a red light or played a tasteless prank on his worst enemy to get a rush of adrenaline ? But there were misdemeanours and misdemeanours, and those which endangered the lives of others were much less pleasant from the point of view of a person who wanted to do some good in this world.

The missions in Konoha where Akira came to the rescue of people in distress seemed very far away now that she was accomplishing the mission that Voldemort had entrusted to her. But she gave her promise to him that she would do what he wanted, and she had only one word. So she continued to send a clone to hide in Dumbledore's chimney to listen at all the news that was exchanged there.

However, the one concerning the creation of an entity called the Order of the Phoenix remained Akira's greatest discovery, and she wondered what Voldemort was currently doing with this information that she had already transmitted to him. Apparently not so much as she hadn't spotted anything in the Daily Prophet talking about a secret society attacked by the Dark Lord and his followers. But the fear of reading about it one day didn't leave Akira. In the meantime, she hid it as best as possible so that no one would notice anything about her guilt which was tormented her day after day.

Akira was very aware of being a delinquent, unlike James and Sirius who were constantly mistreating the poor Severus without thinking for one second that it was bad. Their bickering got worse with each passing year, and the two Gryffindors were creative to find new ideas to make the life of Severus more miserable. This time on the first Monday of March, Akira even got to hear about what they planned for Severus as she was pretending to read a book in the library, which was an excuse to not be bothered as she was letting her mind wander around freely before getting it filled with new information once her clone would have disappeared from Dumbledore's office.

Akira's gaze was sometimes scanning the room to see the new comers and her eyes eventually landed on James and Sirius who were having fun sticking together the pages of a book with a Permanent Sticking Charm. They were gluing together the pages on which they found the answers to their potions homework so that no other student after them would have access to these answers. Akira – who was used to their constant bad jokes – wouldn't have paid them any attention if Severus hadn't appeared from between two shelves to confront them about it.

"You won't go away with it !" He advised them in a low and threatening voice while Akira was using some chakra into her ears to hear their conversation. "I'll tell Pince about your behaviour and after all the detention you already got, you'll finally be kicked out of school."

"Calm down, Snivellus. You should rather be grateful because if it wasn't this poor book that would suffer from our Sticking Charm, it would be your face." James told him while displaying an evil grin.

"You think you're funny. But I'll be the one who laughs at the end when you'll have to pack your things and leave the school for good. You and all your friends." Severus said hatefully while starring at Sirius.

"Except that we're four talented Gryffindors. If we leave, that will be a great loss for the school, especially to satisfy an insignificant little Slytherin like you who's fond of dark magic. You should be the one to be fired for the greater good." James added cheerfully.

"And we already have an ideal gift for your departure." Sirius intervened in turn. "You always harass us to find out where Remus is going when he leaves the castle now and then, so it's about time that you learn the truth about it."

"I know where he's going. I once saw him being taken by Madam Pomfrey to the Whomping Willow. What I want to know is the reason for his repeated disappearances. As far as I know, he's the only one who has the right to put a foot in the Grounds during the night." Severus replied with a glint of interest in his eyes.

"If we tell you the reason, you won't believe us. So the best thing to do is to let you discover it with your own eyes. You know what ? This Friday when it's dark outside, go and press on one of the Whomping Willow's roots to make it stop moving, then venture into the tunnel which is located under its trunk. You might be surprised by what you'll find at the end of it." Sirius added while nudging James.

"You think I'm naive enough to fall into one of your traps ?" Severus told them defensively.

"You're the one who wanted to know." Sirius pointed out while leaning back on his chair. "You're free to make good use of this information. Just don't miss the day. It's this Friday night and not any other. Now if you don't mind, I have to tear out the final page of each potion recipe in this book so that no one will be able to prepare them until the end."

Sirius then made sure that Madam Pince wasn't around before carrying out his plan with the help of James who was more than happy to give him a hand in his mischief. They were both ignoring Severus so the latter left them alone as he had a lot to think about.

But the conversation didn't stop there. As soon as Severus was nowhere to be seen, James leaned towards Sirius to speak to him discreetly without knowing that Akira was still listening to them.

"You're quick-witted. It will teach Snivellus to not snoop on us." James congratulated him while patting him on the back.

"My mother says that I'm a good-for-nothing but when it comes to make a stupid Slytherin understand that he shouldn't come after us, I'm a champ." Sirius replied proudly.

"It's Remus who might not be very happy if he learns what we did." James added while grimacing. "We might as well not tell him anything about it or he'll be really mad at us and I need his help to reread my potions homework before tomorrow."

"To do completely your potions homework, you mean, since we just wrote some random words on our parchment." Sirius corrected him before the two boys laughed while putting more efforts in the complete destruction of the poor book that was between their hands.

Akira stopped listening from that moment since she had little interest in the fate of the book. On the other hand, it was true that on one or two occasions, she had wondered why Remus was in a pitiful state on a regular basis. She had thought for a moment that it was because of a fight, or that he was particularly clumsy but knowing him, it was neither. Indeed, he had an aversion for conflicts, unlike James and Sirius who had many times found themselves in the Hospital Wing for this kind of childish game, and he couldn't be clumsier than Arcturus, who had never ended with as many scratches as him.

Being rarely around Remus since he wasn't in her year, Akira had never tried to clarify that point. But now that James and Sirius had raised the issue with Severus, she was interested in knowing the reason as well. All she had to do was to follow the instructions that the two Gryffindors gave to their Slytherin enemy and be there on Friday. If she managed to survive until then as Arcturus – who was gone for the last fifteen minutes to go get books – threw himself on the chair next to her, making the stack of books that he had collected collapse on her in the process.

"Sorry." Arcturus apologized flatly while hurrying to pick up his books that were everywhere on the table and on the floor.

"What's all this ?" Akira asked him with disbelief while staring at the pile that he was reconstituting with a raised eyebrow. "We don't have enough homework to need all these books."

"Indeed, but while I was looking for one on poisonous plants for Herbology, I got lost in the section dedicated to Muggle Studies. I couldn't make my choice so I took as many books as my arms could carry. The only problem is that I can't see much with this pile in front of my eyes so I'm colliding with everything or everyone who happens to cross my path and it falls all the time." Arcturus sighed while getting on tiptoes to finish putting the last books on top. "And you, how is your reading progressing ?"

Without waiting for her answer, he glanced at the open book in front of Akira.

"You seem to have issues with it. You've been reading the same page ever since I left." He pointed out to her with a perplexed look.

She knew that. She hadn't come to the library to read something, but to let her mind wander around on subjects that were worrying her to the greatest extent. She had hoped to find peace in that place except that with Arcturus who was unable to remain silent for more than a few minutes, it was impossible. And thinking of a lie to justify why she was daydreaming instead of actually reading was just as hard. Fortunately, Arcturus quickly moved on as he was delighted with the books that he had just found.

"I can lend you one of these." He offered while peering at the titles on the spines of his pile. "They all look fascinating. I can let you have the one that you want, except the one about electricity. It's the first one that I'm going to read."

He then proceeded to extract this book from the middle of the pile while sticking out his tongue as he was extremely concentrated.

"You should first..." Akira tried to warn him but what she feared happened with the books on top of the pile falling to crash on the table, on the floor but also on Arcturus' head.

The commotion that he had just made was what Akira wanted to avoid. Because Madam Pince wasn't far away and the latter didn't tolerate any noise in her precious library. And precisely, she was coming in a hurry towards their table while glancing at them furiously.

"You again ?" She whispered to Arcturus once she had reached their level while the latter and Akira were quickly picking up the books from the floor. "I told you that it was ridiculous to take so many books at once but you didn't listen and it led to a disaster. So now, you'll put all of them back in their place and pick only one to read !"

"One ? But I don't know which book to choose." Arcturus complained. "If I promise to be extra careful, can I borrow them all and bring them back tomorrow ?"

"Unless you know a spell to read four books at the same time, I doubt that you'll be able to read everything in one night." Madam Pince advised him rightfully.

"In a week then ? I promise to take great care of them." Arcturus assured her in an attempt to convince her.

"I don't know why you're insisting on picking them all at a time when you can borrow one after the other but I have other concerns. I let you until this Friday to read everything. And if you succeed, I'll let you borrow as much as you want in the future. Otherwise, the number of books to borrow will be limited to three maximum for each student. Is that clear ?"

"Yeah." Arcturus said as he seemed reluctant at the idea of soon being responsible for a new library regulation. "But that's okay. I'll bring everything back to you at the end of the week."

"You can even return them as soon as you finish their reading because other people might surely want to take them." Madam Pince announced to him sharply. "And now, you should both leave with all these books because I won't tolerate that you make another fuss by letting them fall again !"

Akira - who wanted to keep her peaceful seat in the library - was about to point out that she had nothing to do with the urge of Arcturus to take so many books but Madam Pince was already leaving to rush towards James and Sirius. Surely to see what the two boys were doing to their book that they had closed in a hurry in a very suspicious way when they spotted her approaching.

Akira had no choice but to take half of the books borrowed by Arcturus in order to help him put them in their Common Room while the latter was taking the other half. Even though the height of their pile was half of the one of the initial stack, Akira and Arcturus were unable to see above it. They had to peek on either side of their pile to make sure that they weren't about to collide with someone or a wall. It didn't help that Arcturus had bewitched the book on electricity that he was so eager to read to make it float before his eyes as he was walking. With this distraction and his legendary clumsiness, he managed to run into all the students, teachers and even ghosts that they encountered. For Akira who had tried during the whole journey to prevent him from hurting himself or anyone else, it was a relief to finally arrive at the Common Room.

"Slowly, slowly." Arcturus repeated over and over again while lowering his stack of books towards an empty table that he was about to occupy. "Perfect !" He added once he had released them without the pile collapsing. "Now, I should begin to read right away if I want to finish on time."

"Have fun." Akira told him while putting the books that she was carrying next to his pile. "But in my opinion, it's a waste of time. You'll never use that kind of knowledge in the magical world, and knowing your family with their rejection for all things related to Muggles, they won't be very happy if they learn that you're filling your head with such stuff."

"I don't care. It's a hobby like any other and it doesn't need to be of any use in the future as long as it helps me pass time instead of doing some boring homework for History of Magic. And you, wouldn't you like to have a hobby ? You had Quidditch before but since you're not on the team this year, you could find something else to do."

"I'm busy enough as it is. No need to add more." Akira hurriedly replied without elaborating on the subject as spying on Dumbledore was already taking all her concentration and time.

To put an end to this conversation, she threw herself into an armchair and pretended to read the book that she had picked up from one of the piles. Arcturus didn't insist, he simply shrugged his shoulders before taking a seat at his table to read with excitement all the books on which he had put his hand on.

Hello dear readers,

This chapter is a small break in the story as I want to wait a little bit before making revelations about the betrayal of Akira and the consequences it might have. It's also perfect to elaborate on the prank that James and Sirius played on Severus a few days after April's fool.

Because this prank was a major event taking place in the real Harry Potter story, and it was one of the main reasons why Severus hated James and his group so much. For those who know what I'm talking about, you know, and for the others, see you in the middle of the month to find out.