Startling Flare -A Scorose story

Chapter 4: Fun & Games

James 🔝

We arrive at the portrait of fruit, after a lot of bad attempts at jokes. James could not seem to speak when he was around Alice. I laughed every time he opened his mouth because his words always came out wrong and messed up.

"I've just got to pear the tickle." James states reaching out to touch the pear. "I mean tickle the pear." He corrects, with a heavy sigh.

James tickles the pear and the door swings open, revealing a busy kitchen. I lead the way inside and wait off to the side as James takes Alice around the kitchen, showing her around. The house-elves swarm us, asking us if we'd like tea or some food. We decline politely, as a basket filled with food is brought to us.

"Here you are Mr. Potter sir." A tiny elf says. She is about as tall as my calf, and her eyes are so big they take up half of her face. James bends done and takes the wicker basket from her.

"Thanks, Trilly." He pats the elf on the head and hands her a sickle. She tries giving it back to him, but he kindly insists she keeps it. Alice's eyes soften a little as Trilly stares at the coin in wonder.

We grab the food, and after checking the map, we confirm there are no teachers are in the corridor. We sneak around the halls, ninja rolling across them, and peeking around the corners to make sure there are no ghosts, or professors wandering around.

I walk beside James, who is trying and failing to flirt with Alice, again.

"So Alice do you come here often?"

"Well ya. I kind of live here for part of the year." She replies clueless to the fact James is terribly flirting. I snicker. I've seen James flirt with a lot of girls, never has he flirted so awful. He glares at me, his eyes silently saying one thing "Shut up."

"I knew that." James lamely says. "Alice how come I've never seen you around that much." She stops dead in the hall, and we follow suit. She seems to contemplate his words before she answers.

"Maybe it's because you weren't really looking." Alice sways her hips and slowly walks away. It takes everything in me not to applaud her, but for the sake of our "mission", I don't. I saunter after Alice ready to praise her when I hear a loud thud. I whip around to see James has tripped over his own feet.

We stand there frozen, hoping that nobody heard that, but the taps of footsteps sound in the halls, telling us otherwise. We look at each other panicked.

"James the cloak!" I whisper.

"I forgot about it! You made us leave in such a hurry." He runs a hand through his untidy black hair, pushing himself off the floor and desperately searching for an escape. Alice looks around frantically.

"Uh there!" She points towards a broom closet. James grabs Alice's hand and ushers her into the closet, and waves me in after them. I follow quickly. James shuts the door, and we hold our breaths, as the footsteps get louder. An idea pops in my head. I take out my wand.

"Silencio." I breathe out as loud as I dare. James has an arm wrapped around Alice, but she's so worried I don't think she has registered the fact that she is in his arms. I get real close to the door and peer out the crack looking for the owner of the footsteps. A dim light brightens half of the corridor. I hold my breath, as Filch shuffles slowly down the hall. I seriously have no clue how that guy is alive. His gray hair has grown past his shoulders, but age has claimed half of his hair, leaving just a few strands of gray hair. He shakes as he walks, even with a cane to support him. Shakily he makes it halfway across the corridor and stops. He holds up the lantern and intently gazed around, perhaps looking for some signs of our presence. After finding no trace, he continues on his shuffle down the corridor. I wait till he is gone, and open the door.