The Burning of the White Wisteria

CHAPTER 2: BUSY BEETLE

"Mara, this is such a bad idea."

"She's not wrong."

"Oh, shove off! It's going to be fine," Mara whisper-yelled, looking back at Luci and me. "Now will the two of you shut up before you get us caught?"

"You're the only one talking."

"Luci, I swear to--"

Mara abruptly stopped, holding her arm out in front of Luci and me to hold us where we are. She held a finger up to her mouth, motioning us to be extremely quiet. Luci and I looked up, finding Filch walking in the hallway with his prized cat. He peered around the hallway after likely hearing us whisper, looking around the corner. We all held our breath as we watched him raise a brow before giving up and continuing down the hall. I let out a huge sigh of relief once he was gone from our sight. "Merlin, that was close."

"What did we expect honestly? Mara planned this," Luci mused, rubbing her cold exposed arms.

"Normally I would stick up for you, Mara, but she's not wrong," I rubbed my temples in frustration, "we really had to leave right away? I mean we're literally in our pyjamas."

All three of us looked absolutely ridiculous. I sported a fabulous white t-shirt and green shorts; shorts that will not stop riding up no matter what I try. Not to mention that I wasn't wearing a bra and just felt totally, entirely exposed.

Mara was dressed in full grey sweats, courtesy of the fact that she gets cold during the night, with her hair in the messiest ponytail I have ever seen.

Luci, on the other hand, had her long black hair pulled up in an awful messy bun, dressed in a black nightgown and bunny slippers. She was also uncharacteristically bare-faced, without a hint of her usual dark makeup anywhere on her face.

"I mean, how do you even know where to find them?" The Ravenclaw asked, her voice dripping with annoyance.

"Remember that Gryffindor I sold an essay to? I cashed in a favour with him to spy on Potter and his gang for me. Trust me."

And I did. I always trusted Mara. Carefree and crazy as she is, she is always reliable.

"Lumos!"

The three of us continued down the hall guided by the spell Mara casted, narrowly avoiding a Hufflepuff prefect and Filch once again, before finally reaching the potions classroom. Upon arrival, the three of us immediately noticed that the door was already open, the lock broken entirely.

They're already here.

We carefully began to enter the room not daring to even breathe or step incorrectly in fear of alerting the group of boys. They stood around a cauldron, dropping things into it at random while laughing at the same time. Luci, Mara, and I exchanged a look, nodding in agreement that it was time to reveal ourselves.

Mara cleared her throat powerfully, scaring all the Gryffindor. "Hello, boys."

The Marauders, well three of the four at least, exchanged worried looks between each other, not knowing our intentions. Sirius' eyes met mine, trying to read my thoughts. I sent him a playful wink in return. Potter, who was watching this interaction, narrowed his eyes at me. "See! Sirius, I told you Malfoy is a bloody snake! She's gone and spoiled our plans."

"Honestly, Potter, it's cute you think I care that much," I retorted taking a step further into the room. "And believe it or not we're not here to ruin your little prank."

Sirius raised a sceptical eyebrow, crossing his arms in front of him. "You're not?"

"No," Mara started, a wicked smile forming on her lips, "we're here to improve it."