Bedknobs and Broomsticks [HP fanfic; BNB Book 1]

Hellion Hexes

"What is McGonagall thinking!?" seethed James back in the common room that evening. He and the rest of his pals were seated around a fire, Lily and Mariah with them, practicing nonverbal charms on a teakettle. "That just about got rid of all the extra points we won in the last Quidditch match! She's mad, I swear! I mean you saw it, the Slytherins were causing just as much chaos as we were!"

"Yes, but the Slytherins didn't start the fight," said Lily, raising an eyebrow at James. "As I recall it was you who started lifting people into the air by their ankles."

"Technically it was me," interjected Sirius from where he sat draped across an armchair. "But that ole slimeball deserved it. Come to think of it, they all do."

"Oh, that reminds me, I saw something funny in the Invisibility Section when I went back for my bag," said Mariah casually, flicking her wand and causing the teakettle to start spouting ribbons everywhere.

"Only you would see something in the Invisibility Section," muttered Sirius.

"No, no," said Mariah impatiently, frowning, "I mean there were Slytherins hunting around for an old charms book Avery had stashed away there for them. Your brother and Rodolphus Lestrange. And then that... Kurt something showed up before they could find it."

"Lovell," filled in Sirius, folding his arms back under his head to prop it up. "Did they say what book it was?"

"Well I mean I've got it," said Mariah, reaching for her bag and shuffling around through it until she found the book and pulled it out. "Hellion Hexes..." she read.

James and Sirius exchanged identical grins. Mariah glanced from one to the other.

"What?"

"Oh we're familiar with that one. That's not a Dark Arts book," said James.

"Have you looked in it?" asked Sirius eagerly. Mariah furrowed her brow and looked back at the book warily.

"No, what's wrong with it?" She stopped as James and Sirius started snickering harder than ever. Lupin coughed once, looking as though he were trying to hold back laughing as well.

"You wouldn't have heard of it, but it's a... well, a textbook that's been passed around the school... or at least the male students, for years."

Mariah still looked puzzled, waiting for further explanation, but Remus didn't offer any. He kept looking at her expectantly. Frowning, Mariah opened the book.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed in disgust, closing it again quickly and tossing it away. Sirius stretched to pick it up.

"Hey, now, don't be rude. This is like an ancient school artifact passed down through the generations! Like an heirloom." He sat back and opened the book, flipping through. "Oh Valentina!" he exclaimed suddenly in recognition. "I remember you..."

"Well I guess it wasn't anything then," said Lily, patting Mariah lightly on the back as the girl put a hand to her face.

"I can't believe that was in my bag," she wailed.

Sirius laughed. "Hey, look on the bright side, the Slytherins don't have it now! Thanks to you, we have successfully deprived the Voldemort supporters of their nightlight entertainment!" He flashed her an evil grin from around the edge of the book. "Really, thank you."

"Is Tabitha still in there?" asked James, laughing.

Sirius flipped through. "Hah! Yeah, she is! I'd forgotten how great this was..."

"Let me see," said James, but Lily snatched the book from Sirius's hand before he could grab it.

"I think we'll hold onto this until we can get it back to the Invisibility Section where it belongs," she said loftily, standing. Mariah followed her up the girl's staircase, leaving the boys to their new distraction of charming the teakettle to spout fireworks that sailed through the entire common room.

"Why do you think the Slytherins wanted it?" asked Mariah, following Lily up the hallway to the girls' dormitory labeled Seventh Years.

Lily shrugged, opening the book and flipping through a few pages briefly before shoving it under her bed. "Probably the same reason any boy would want it," she said. "Let's just hope James and Sirius don't start an inter-house war over it."

"Wouldn't put it past them," said Mariah, sighing.