Mischief Managed (Discontinued)

CHAPTER FOUR

"Boys, boys, what am I going to do with you?" asked Dumbledore with a half smile. "Getting called into my office on the very first day - you must be trying to set a record."

James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were standing guiltily at the headmaster's desk, awaiting their sure-to-come punishment. Remus was fuming inside. Why did the others always drag him in like this? I mean, sure, sometimes he did tag along for a bit of fun, but - he didn't want detention on the first day back!

"Professor McGonagall, I will hand these boys over to you, as you are the head of house," said Dumbledore. The two nodded to each other, then Professor McGonagall escorted the foursome from the office and down the flight of stairs, where she looked at them reproachfully.

"You four will all get detentions tonight," she said. Remus silently groaned. "Mr. Black, you will be assisting Mr. Filch with the cleanup of the mess you made. Mr. Potter, you can help Professor Slughorn sort out his Potions materials - he's been meaning to do it for some time."

"Professor! Do I hav-" James started angrily. Professor McGonagall cut him off.

"Yes, Potter, you do you have to! Now, as for you two," she said, peering down at Peter and Remus. "Mr. Pettigrew, you can help Madam Pince shelve library books." Peter looked agitated. Madam Pince always frightened him. "And Mr. Lupin, you may help Hagrid with some Devil's Snare that's been taking over his pumpkin patch."

Remus felt relieved. That wasn't as bad as he was hoping for. As soon as Professor McGonagall dismissed them to their classes, James looked eagerly at Sirius.

"What if we-"

"Skipped detention?" asked Sirius bitterly. "Yeah, fat chance. Then we'll get an entire week's worth. I'd rather keep it at one night."

"Fine, okay. Just an idea." James looked away, daydreaming.

The friends made their way down the hall, to the right, down the marble staircase, and began to head for Potions class in the dungeons when Remus broke off from them.

"Oi! Where you going?" called Sirius.

"What? Oh, I don't have Potions this period, I have Arithmancy."

"Oh. Alright then. See you at lunch, Remus."

The trio entered the dungeon, opening the creaking Potions class door.

The whole class was staring at them, cauldrons and textbooks out. Professor Slughorn had been mid-sentence but cut off with a smile.

"Ah, there you are, boys!" he said. "You're late. Anyways, please set up at your desks. As I was explaining, this year you're learning all about antidotes. To start..."

Slughorn droned on as James, Sirius, and Peter pulled out their textbooks, ingredients, scales, and wands. Sirius had noticed something behind James and didn't say anything, but quickly grabbed a table with Peter. James looked confused for a moment, then turned around.

Lily Evans was alone at the desk, watching Slughorn, trying to look interested while her mind was clearly elsewhere. She blinked as James sidled up next to her with a half smile. Her face temporarily changed to disgust, but she looked away again with a small shake of her head.

James grinned at Sirius then tuned in Slughorn's voice again as he was wrapping up.

"It's a bit of a difficult antidote, this one, but if you're cautious and patient it should turn out just fine!" he said merrily. "I'll put the ingredients and directions up on the board-" He waved his wand, and writing appeared. "You may begin!"

James glanced back at Lily as he began to cut his newt tails. She was completely ignoring him, instead working on her potion. After a moment she noticed him staring.

"What are you looking at, Potter?" she snapped, accidentally cutting her tails unevenly. She groaned and grabbed some new tails from her ingredients as Slughorn made his way through the desks, commenting here and there. James smirked.

"Ah, Miss Evans! Oh, I see you cut your newt tails uneven. Every makes mistakes, that's all right! No doubt your antidote will turn out perfect!" He beamed and she smiled warmly. Slughorn kept walking as James added his tails to the cauldron and watched the potion turn a pale blue. Then he grabbed three unicorn hairs and added them to the potion as it turned a gentle maroon. He stirred it counterclockwise two times and it turned white.

James looked over and was partially shocked to see Lily was ahead of him on her potion, already grounding up her lacewing flies. He began to do the same as she sighed.

"Oh, don't turn this into some sort of stupid competition," she said, irritated. He grinned.

"Not a competition, Evans. Just want to go fast, is all. And try to get to the next step before you. And finish first." Lily rolled her eyes and dumped her lacewing flies into her cauldron just as James did to his. He kept glancing at her, trying to impress.

Before he could begin the next step, a bang sounded throughout the class, followed by a whoosh of air that knocked James off his feet.