The door to the potions lab slammed open and a group of laughing teenagers spilled out into the corridor, along with a strange multicoloured sludge. Their footsteps echoed along with their laughter as they started running away from the scene of the colourful crime. However their shoes were covered in the mystery paste and they left brightly coloured splodges in their wake, making escape highly unlikely.
The potions lab was a complete mess. The five troublemakers had set five cauldrons at strategic intervals on the benches, complete with the magical equivalent of magical Elephant's toothpaste; Dragon's toothpaste. On Zodiac's count of three, they set them all off at once, the cauldrons exploded with jets of rainbow sludge, completely covering the walls, floors and ceilings.
The portrait of the late Severus Snape had hurled abuse at the group the whole way through the preparation of the prank and had cried out in frustration that he couldn't throttle them in person.
"In retrospect," Said Zodiac, sitting in their first detention of many. "It was maybe not the best idea."
"Zo, that was legendary, it's worth every minute of detention." CJ shot back, who was struggling through making an origami swan, which was looking more like a rabid pigeon than anything else.
May nodded. "I wish we'd had a camera, I'd have it framed. We need to save it in prank history for the benefit of future students." She reached into her bag and grabbed a sheet of parchment and her quill and started transcribing an account of the event.
Viridisthea blew on her tea. "You could have it signed by the Weasley twins—they are the prank masters after all."
"Now that would be dope," said Isaac. He was sketching a picture of the debacle. He caught the expression of Professor Slughorn perfectly. He wasn't overly cross, so to speak— a couple waves of his large oak wand and the mess had vanished — but it was yet to be removed from a few cracks in the floorboards.
"You understand I have to punish you?" He had told them. "Although I can't say I'm not impressed by the feat of your potion making,"
Filch had, in his grand tradition, fallen into a deep, noisy sleep, completely unaware of the commotions of the five. CJ had given up on her origami completely, restlessly writing scraps of poetry instead. Zodiac coloured her entire left hand with black pen, and Viridisthea was getting started on some homework due in two or so weeks.
"I once was put in detention,
Not for a good reason, I should mention;
I pissed on the door,
I shat on the floor,
Needless to say, I'm not in detention anymore," CJ read out.
"Inspired," Isaac remarked without looking up.
"Only thirteen more minutes," Zodiac whispered to herself. She didn't deal with boredom particularly well. At this moment she had secluded herself to the corner, rocking back and forth in a ball, muttering to herself.
"This Runes homework is killing me," said Viridisthea. "What's even the point? It's a dead language,"
"Your name is Latin," CJ reminded her.
"Shh, I'm trying to focus," Thea rebutted.
They continued with their individual activities for a little while. Isaac's sketch had become significantly more impressive, capturing the sheer volume of the multicoloured mass wonderfully, though only using gentle stokes of his thin mechanical pencil he had purchased in London. "One of our best moments, I'm positive," he said aloud. His green hair bounced up as he said it, like it was charged with his enthusiasm.
Zodiac suddenly jumped up.
"Aight, imma head out," she said with relief, and the other four rose with her, happy to finally be done with detention. "Bye Filch, ya nasty shower bag," Filch didn't stir. The five left, hurrying to get the last of dinner, starving out of their minds having not eaten since lunch. They bounded into the Great Hall, making lots of noise in the way they did, causing professors to sigh, roll their eyes, and shake their heads in that unimpressed manner.
It was as CJ sat down that she brushed Ophelia Phillis' arm accidentally. As soon as she realised it was her she jumped back, an impulse reaction, like touching a flame.
Ophelia was, in the nicest way possible, a nasty bitch. She was quite tall, willowy, with dark, shiny hair and pointed features. There was a sharpness in her appearance that reflected in her personality- she was uptight, serious and harsh- everything the opposing friends weren't. They had always hated her; her aggressive comments, her hard glare and her tendency to ruin everything fun in a situation. She had a posse of admirers, all annoying and snotty, strutting around school like they owned the place because they probably collectively had enough money to buy it. She barked orders at them and they did whatever she wanted, not for any particular reason, because she wasn't exactly universally popular, but because they hadn't been raised as individuals but as members of high society.
"Don't touch me, James," she hissed immediately.
"Trust me, I don't want to," CJ retorted back, facing away from her and towards her friends. She particularly despised Ophelia. The sound of her name was enough to send her into rages of anger. These feeling were mutual- Ophelia also had a specific distaste for CJ and her loud laughter and perpetually inky hands. They were polar opposites, but the repelled each other.
I even hate her smell, CJ thought to herself. It's all...soapy.
"So, May," said Thea, trying to diffuse the tension. "Have you got going on that History essay yet?"
"Oh, Yeah, actually," said May. "I chose the topic about evil dictators,"
Isaac snorted, choking on his pumpkin juice.
"Something to say, have you, Serazion?" Ophelia had turned around to ask provocatively.
"No, although I do think it's quite rude of you to listen in on our conversation," he told her.
"Its such a shame about you, Isaac," Ophelia stated. "With a grand name like Serazion— and, there you are, just wasting it spending time with these idiots. Same goes for you, Viridisthea. Such an awful waste,"
"Yes, and what an awful waste it is that you have a pin in you're arse. Otherwise you might actually have good posture," CJ snapped. May chortled.
"Don't listen to them, Ophelia- you have amazing posture," said Her friend Kimberly.
"O-Ophelia, got a wand stuck up her-" Zodiac started to sing, but Ophelia and her posse promptly got up and left.
YOU ARE READING
Modern Hogwarts
Fanfiction"Yeet," Sure, Hogwarts is just as strange and wonderful as it was back in Harry Potter's time, but how do the students cope without the technology they've been raised with? How do they grapple with prejudice in their world- and how do they avoid ge...
