Sanctuary

Chapter 32

Monday, 14th February 1972, 1:00 am

Sirius' mouth opened in a jaw-aching yawn, and he paused in his task of slicing the hunk of ginger root into half-inch cubes as his eyes closed against his will.

They hadn't won the Creature Hunt, not even close, but none of them cared. For them, the event had been a complete success. The thestral and centaur tail hairs were safely tucked away with the rest of the ingredients, and they knew where the mooncalves would dance on the next full moon. They only had two other ingredients left to get; the merpeople-scales and hair from a kelpie, and they had a plan for both. Tuesday afternoon, they would sneak into Hogsmeade for yet another attempt at finding something suitable to trade with the merpeople. And next weekend they would visit Emhio. But they had another mission to complete before then. Something far more fun and far less difficult. Crashing the Valentine's Day dance and spiking the punch.

Which explained what Sirius was doing preparing potion ingredients in a freezing cave in the dead of night when he'd much rather be curled up in the toasty dorm room, sleeping. Like Remus. The lucky bastard was so terrible at potion-making that none of them wanted him anywhere near the brew for fear he would cause a disaster. Instead, Remus was to be in charge of making notes for them all in Monday's classes.

On second thought, maybe Sirius was the lucky one. Potion-making was at least more interesting than note-taking.

With so little time to prepare something before the dance, they hadn't been able to go as spectacular as they would have liked. So they wouldn't be giving the Marauders credit for this one. The best potion recipe they could find at such short notice was the hair-raising potion. The recipe was simple, and they had everything they needed in their potion kits. With the addition of Remus' timing charm, they could delay the effects for maximum dispersal. It wouldn't do for people to stop drinking the punch after only a few were affected by it.

Sirius yawned again and shivered. It really was fucking cold in the cave.

'We have got to get some form of heating down here.'

James looked up from grinding his horseradish into powder. 'Bloody freezing, isn't it?'

'Dunno what you two are complaining about,' Peter said, grinning at them from beside the cauldron. 'I'm lovely and warm.'

'If you weren't so close to the potion,' James said, 'I'd chuck these frog brains at your smug little face, but I want to go to bed as soon as possible, so I won't take that risk.' He pointed at him with his pestle. 'Think yourself lucky.'

Peter snorted. 'Note to self: Only tease James when standing next to a valuable potion.'

'Very wise, Pete,' Sirius said. He put down his knife and rubbed his hands together, trying to get the blood flowing into his fingers. 'Ginger's done.'

'Good. I need that soon. Bring it over.'

Sirius scooped the cubed ginger root into a bowl and carried it over to their makeshift brewing station. After handing the bowl to Peter, he crouched down to warm his icy fingers in the heat from the fire.

'How's it looking?' he asked, peering into the cauldron. The potion inside was a murky green with violet steam billowing off it and spiralling up into the shadows.

'Perfect,' Peter said. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned. 'And it's nearly done. We can go to bed soon.'

'Thank Merlin for that,' James said. 'I didn't realise how knackered we'd be after the Hunt.'

Peter added the ginger root to the potion and stirred, counting under his breath. Sirius and James stayed silent, not wanting to be responsible for him messing up and making them start again.