Cursed With Curious Minds | Hp Next Generation

42 - Interruptions

Astrid, Delilah, Ophelia, Toby and James were all sitting together in the kitchens on the first day of the Easter holidays, getting on with their homework. It was silent in the room, except for the occasional scratching of a quill, or crunch as one of them ate a crisp that the house elves had kindly laid out for them. This silence made it extremely obvious, then, when James started to get antsy.

The bench creaked a little more than usual as he moved about, trying to get comfortable. The others could hear the paper shuffling, as he decided which of the five essays he was halfway through that he wanted to continue writing. He had borrowed one of Ophelia's pens from her stationary set, and had instead started clicking it repeatedly.

There was a loud bang as Astrid slammed her pen and her hand down onto the table. "What James?"

He looked at her, confused.

"What is wrong?" she asked, a bit more sincerely.

"What do you mean?"

Astrid sighed. "You haven't written a word in twenty minutes, and you're fidgeting so much I think the bench might break." She looked back down at her parchment and continued working.

James looked shocked that someone had acknowledged his boredom. "Sorry, it's just- it's too quiet. No one has said a word in, like, an hour."

"We're working." Ophelia said, as if it was obvious.

James leant back, forgetting there wasn't a back on the bench, and quickly leant forward onto the table. "Yeah, but it's the holidays, why are we doing work?"

Astrid put her quill down again. "Because we agreed we'd get all our work done in the first few days, so we have two weeks to do whatever the hell we want." James started to say something, but Astrid cut him off. "Including investigating the room."

Silence fell once again.

"It is a bit too quiet, though." Delilah said. "We don't have to work in silence – it's not an exam."

Astrid looked at her, alarmed, but settled quickly. "Ok, yeah, you're right. I need a break anyway – I've been working on this arithmancy problem for an hour and I think my brain has turned to mush."

Delilah laughed, and Astrid fumbled through her bag and brought out an astronomy textbook.

"You're taking a break... by doing more work?" James asked, baffled. "I thought you were gonna go on a walk or something."

"Astronomy requires less brain power than arithmancy, besides I want to get this done, like I said." Astrid replied.

James leant back, again, but this time he was aware that the bench had no back to it, and stopped before he leant too far. "Well I'm bored."

Toby suddenly offered James a small vial that contained a bright, blue, sparkling liquid. "Try this."

James looked at it apprehensively. "It's not going to poison me is it?"

"Oh I'd love to see that!" Ophelia said, leaning in closer to have a better look.

James looked Toby in the eyes, and he looked back, and nodded slightly. James took the vial reluctantly.

"Alright then, bottoms up!" James said, and drank the whole thing in one go.

The effect was almost immediate. James suddenly burst out into hysterical laughter, so much so that his face went bright red and tears began streaming down his cheeks. And over time, the laughter just started getting more and more intense, and James fell off the bench and began rolling around on the floor.