𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗭𝗞𝗔𝗕𝗔𝗡 [𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍]

Chapter Eleven: Black Eye

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

"These flying classes should have been cancelled a long time ago. Nothing good ever comes out of them." Professor McGonagall muttered as she paced the space behind her desk. "You don't have to stand here anymore, Hagrid. You can leave." she said to Hagrid who was trying not to knock over anything in the small office.

"Oh. Right. Sorry, Professor." he mumbled and squeezed his way through the door, breaking a small china tea cup in the process.

Sirius and James smiled at the scene but their smiles faded when they met McGonagall's frown.

"Care to share your story?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

Sirius and James started talking at the same time, telling different parts of the story and their voices overlapping annoyingly.

"One at a time." McGonagall interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"So where are the Slytherins?" she asked after they finished telling the story as truthfully as possible and with as little insults as they can manage.

"Madam Hooch took them to Professor Slughorn." said James.

"Slughorn? Horace couldn't give an appropriate punishment to save his life." she sighed, sitting on her chair and rubbing her eyes. "Well . . . you are both to go to the Trophy Room after lunch and polish the trophies until supper."

"Yes, Professor." they mumbled and exited her office. At least she didn't take any points or the whole of Gryffindor house would have hated them.

The two slid into the seats Remus and Peter saved for them at the house tables and devoured the table's offering while they recounted the story in great detail to Remus and Peter. Peter was whimpering with excitement by the time they finished telling the story but Remus pursed his lips disapprovingly.

"You shouldn't pick fights. You'll get into trouble." he said, with a frown.

"Nah." shrugged James. "We only got detention."

"Has it occurred to you that Professor McGonagall went easy on you because this is your first time?" asked Remus in a tone that would make anyone feel stupid. "Just be careful around those Slytherins. They'll try to provoke you into doing something stupid to get you into trouble and/or lose you house points."

"You got it, Professor Lupin." Sirius said mockingly.

"That black eye does nothing for your looks." he retorted.

"Sirius Black with a black eye." said James and he and Peter roared with laughter. Sirius and Remus joined them with a shrug.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

"If I had it my way you'd be hanging from the ceiling by your ears." whizzed Filch, his jowls quivering, as he led James and Sirius into the musty Trophy Room and closed the door behind them. "But the Headmaster insists that you hoodlums have rights."

"Imagine that." muttered James.

Filch's scowl deepened when he heard their snickers. "Get to work." he said and threw a pair of filthy rags at them and left the Trophy Room. The boys made faces at the door.

"I'm hungry." James said, sitting down on the dusty floor and sighing dramatically.

"We left the Great Hall like five minutes ago, mate." Sirius said, trying not to cry at the sight of all the tall shelves lined with trophies and cups.

"Listening to Filch burns a lot of calories." James reasoned matter-of-factly.

They got to work afterwards, dusting and wiping the boat load of old trophies.

"How many trophies could there be in one school?" grumbled James.

"I bet Remus could tell you." Sirius laughed.

Sirius dragged his rag over the surface of a ridiculously large cup some random block named 𝚃𝙾𝙼 𝚁𝙸𝙳𝙳𝙻𝙴 got for making some stupid potion. It felt like they'd been here for days but a quick glance at his watch told Sirius that they still had about an hour to go.

"This detention thing is working, you know." Sirius sighed. "It's almost making me regret punching Lestrange."

"How does he know you anyway?" asked James, his tongue between his teeth as he rubbed a dark spot on one of the trophies.

"Our families are kind of close. Arranged marriages and stuff." Sirius said. "His family are obsessed with being purebloods too."

"No wonder he hated Ross."

"Did you know she was Muggleborn?" Sirius asked.

"Well . . . yeah." said James.

"How?"

"Umm . . . I just asked around a little bit about Evans and something about Ross might have come up at some point." he mumbled without looking up at Sirius.

"You're a creep."

The door to the Trophy Room banged open before James could respond.

"Professor McGonagall says you scum have been here long enough." spat Filch, his face scrunched up like he was swallowing something really disgusting. "She wants you to see Madam Pomfrey before you go down to dinner." he added and handed them their wands.

"Now she's concerned about our health?" mumbled James as they jogged out of the room.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾