Forever and a Day ~ James Potter

Back In Detention

Chapter Thirty-One

17:44

After James came back downstairs from putting Sirius safely into his bed and assuring everyone he was sleeping deeply, the two groups decided to go and get some food before Rosie and Remus had to leave to get to their detention on time.

They all arrived in the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table in their own separate groups, filling their plates with sausages, mash and peas. The hall was buzzing with chatter as students discussed their lessons for the day and talked about the homework they needed to complete.

The Marauders were discussing a way to get Remus out of detention so that it wouldn't get onto his permeant school record while the girls caught Rosie up with the work she needed to do.

"...and in Charms, we revisited the aguemente charm," Lily was saying as Rosie tried her best to hold back a yawn, "so I think that's going to be on our O.W.L exam..."

Rosie was looking around the hall, watching a few of the students and studying what they were doing. She saw her brother sitting at the Ravenclaw table with a Gryffindor girl in her seventh year, but she couldn't quite recall her name. Dorcas Meadowes was sitting with her friends and giggling as she watched the two, so Rosie assumed it was some sort of date.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain on the side of her head, and she whipped her hand up to defend her skull. "Ow!" she said loudly, looking over to Lily and glaring at her.

Lily placed down her pile of parchment neatly and brushed her hair behind her shoulders. "Listen to me next time, and I won't have to hit you," she said calmly.

Lily looked around and shot a look at James and Peter, who were snickering at Rosie, so they put their faces straight and went back to their own conversation, not wanting to be scolded by Lily when she was in a mood. She checked her watch and gasped, "Rosie, you must get to your detention. I'll talk through the rest of the work with you tomorrow."

"All right, mum," Rosie teased, standing up and stretching her arms forward a bit, grabbing James's attention again.

"You leaving already?" he asked sadly, looking up at her with puppy eyes.

"Yeah, Rem and I have another date to get to," she joked, smiling sweetly.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," James replied sarcastically, nudging Remus on the shoulder. "Go on then, lover boy, have a wonderful date."

"Why are you so okay with us being alone in a room together for an hour?" Rosie asked, raising an eyebrow while Remus stood up.

"Oh, that's right!" James exclaimed exaggeratedly, pretending that he had forgotten something. "I'm taking the detention instead."

Rosie shook her head and scoffed, "You can't just swap out your detentions. Isn't that right, Remus?" Remus scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and Rosie sighed, "What? You actually managed to persuade McGonagall to do that?"

"I said I needed to fulfil my Prefect duties tonight, and James was already on the brink of a detention anyway, so..." he trailed off, not wanting to look at her.

"Right," she said through gritted teeth, looking back over at James. "Let's get it over with, then."

"I can't wait, my dear," he said sweetly, hopping up from the table and jogging to her side.

They walked out of the hall in silence all the way towards Filch's office. Rosie knocked on his door hesitantly, and the caretaker opened it with a slimy grin on his face, looking up at the two tall students.

"Well, well," he said, eyeing Rosie with amusement. "Looks like someone's returned to her old ways, eh?"

She clenched her jaw, not wanting to say anything that would give him the excuse to make her do a worse punishment. She'd learned that trick pretty early on at school. Filch frowned and then turned to James, his grin growing back again. "And precious Mr Prefect has managed to get out of trouble, has he? Left his little girlfriend by herself?" he laughed groggily while James looked away and said nothing. "Well then, you two'll be cleaning the dirty cauldrons down in the dungeons today."

They resisted the urge to groan, knowing it would only make Filch happier and instead waited for him to hand them the supplies. "Of course, you will not be using your wands," he put his hand out, indicating for them to give their wands to him. "You'll get them back when I collect you in an hour."

Begrudgingly, Rosie and James took out their wands and put them in the caretaker's hand, feeling completely and utterly deflated. He waved them off with a smarmy grin, and the two walked in silence all the way down to the dungeons.

James pushed open the door to the cauldron room and grimaced when he entered, pinching his nose with two fingers. "Bloody hell!" he shouted. "What have they been doing with these?"

"Merlin," Rosie gasped, covering her nose with her robes as she, too, walked into the dingy room. "This is going to be hell."

"Down on our knees, then," James tried to joke, but Rosie only raised an eyebrow at him before kneeling down next to the closest one. "Come on, it's funny!" he said, following her and doing the same.

*

After about half an hour, the two had almost finished cleaning the same cauldron, and Rosie was quite pleased with herself until she remembered that there were about four more to clean.

"This is awful!" she whined, throwing her sponge onto the floor and wiping her brow with her sore wrist.

"It could have been much worse, trust me," James said sincerely, leaning back onto his heels for a momentary break.

Rosie looked over at him for the first time in the detention and noticed that when he was sweaty and breathing heavily, he actually looked quite good. But she quickly shook the thought away and reminded herself how much of an annoying prat he was.

"They're letting us off lightly with this," he continued, blushing a little when he noticed she was actually looking at him.

"In what way is this letting us off lightly?" she gestured around the disgusting room.

"Well, firstly, Filch is trying to get a licence to be able to hang students from their toes in the dungeons, and second," he grinned then, "You and I are alone now. What could be better than that?"

"Anything is better than that," Rosie rolled her eyes so that she wouldn't smile.

"Don't worry, darling," James said, grabbing the sponge and beginning to scrub again. "You'll fall head over heels for me one day."

"In your dreams, Potter," Rosie said, starting the work again.