The Magic Within

Chapter 18

Her friends stared at her, smiling. A little mischief here and there didn't harm anyone. Mostly. And back in their fourth year, the Hell's Angels were notorious for their pranks every now and again. They would sit each evening in the Potion's Room and plan their pranks. 

They would each hide Cornish Pixies in classrooms, scoring each other over which one caused the most trouble. Lewis usually won at this by annoying the Pixie beforehand. Or when they had snuck gold coins in students robes during a Care of Magical Creatures class. It just so happened that they were learning about Niffler's that lesson and they watched their classmates trying to flee from the creatures who were doing everything they could to get the Gold. But they eventually had to stop when making a plate of Jelly explode on each table, one dinner time, causing a huge food fight. 

They all received detentions for Months; their first one being to clean the Hall, without magic. And after their parents had been informed, it wasn't long before the Howlers arrived to each of them, their parents shouting at them about their bad behaviour.

It had all been for a bit of fun. But it had been such a long time since their last prank. It was time for a comeback. Lavana wasn't surprised when her friends started cheering, which drew a lot of attention. 

She waited until the evening to tell them about her plan. She wanted it to go perfect and didn't need someone overhearing it and screwing everything up. They all sat in a circle, waiting eagerly to hear what was about to go down.

"Right, the plan is simple." She told them simply, her hands pressed together like she meant business. I need a book from Professor Longbottoms' office. I know where it is and how to get it." 

"A book? What's so special about a book?" Daya said disappointed and she wasn't the only one. 

"It's really important to me and I need it back." They all looked at her but didn't question it further.

"Okay, so what do you need us to do?" Jaxson asked.

"I'm going to go to him and ask him a question about the work. Once you know I'm in the office, you will create a distraction that causes him to leave the room to see what is happening. That's when I will get the book, create a duplicate and put it in it's place, putting the actual book in my bag before he gets back. I'm thinking I will need about 3 minutes minimum to do all that. So it's got to be good."

"I have an idea." Daya said. 

"Oh no" Lewis joked causing Daya to lightly hit him.

"The other day, I was in Herbology and Peeves started knocking over plant pots. Professor Longbottom was furious. Lots of plants got destroyed. I reckon he's still annoyed over that so if we involved him, he's be sure to come running."

"Perfect!" Lavana said excitedly. "Peeves is good at keeping people busy. I will have enough time to get it all done."

They began discussing how they were going to get Peeves to the Greenhouses which really wasn't hard. Every afternoon at 4PM, he would go for a walk around the castle and at 4:30PM, was when he walked past the Greenhouses. Luckily, they all had free lessons at that time tomorrow except Lavana but she was still doing independent learning so she'd have to spare the time. This was important after all.

... 

"Professor, I was wondering if I could ask you about Herbology?" 

It was 4:28PM and Lavana stood in her Herbology teachers office. She was glad that he didn't have a class to teach. She hadn't even thought about that. Hopefully everything else went according to plan.

"Of course you can." He smiled at her. "Ask away."

"Well, I've been reading quite a few Herbology books recently and have found them really interesting. I think that it's an interesting subject and was wondering what kind of careers need Herbology? I still haven't decided on a career, I just need more ideas."