𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑 ❧ sirius black

XII - Sugar, Fire, and Wet Dog

Hermione chuckled as she started for the potions classroom, putting on a fake face by telling Peter, "good luck."

"You too."

The trek from the Room of Requirement to the Potions classroom was about as long as it could get. Hermione raced down seven flights of stairs that were ever changing: it was relatively long walk, especially underneath the weight of the invisibility cloak. A part of her hoped she wouldn't have to worry about that aura that the diadem gave her on this journey around Hogwarts. It made her feel uneasy.

Slowly, Hermione creeped into the potions classroom, thankful that she didn't see her false uncle roaming in his own office.

"James? You there?" Hermione whispered.

And with a not-so-subtle response, James popped his head out from underneath a table and nearly shouted, "Over here, Harper."

"Oh boy do I have a treat for you," he started, and before Hermione could say a second word, he fired back with, "don't worry, the room's charmed so no one can hear a thing. And Slughorn's at lunch. He won't be back for a while."

James seemed rather excited for someone who had spent the day waiting on a girl he had know for about twelve days to come find in a smelly potions classroom. A smile like no other was perched upon his face, and it was no surprise why that smile was there after James explain the next task to the new girl. He could barely get a word out with breaking down in laughed.

"Let me get straight to the point," laughed James, grinning while picking up a vial of a certain potion from the table, "were going to make Filch's cat go mad for Snape. Even though you're going to do it, it's probably my best prank so far this year."

"So that's Amortentia then?" Hermione laughed. She was relieved that this task was more lighthearted than the last one had made her feel.

"Yep," he spoke, picking up the vial and smelling it. "Just curious," he continued as he held out the vial for Harper, "what's it smell like to you?"

Interesting. Hermione had never worked with Amortentia before, let alone smelled it. However, she knew that it smelled of what she was most attracted to. Maybe, even, the person she would love one day.

In an instant, Hermione took a deep smell of the dangerously powerful love potion.

"I smell," she paused, "something smokey, like from a fire. And sugar. And what's that third smell?" she asked herself before taking another whiff. "Wet dog. Why on earth would it smell like wet dog?"

"Curious," James smirked.

"What's your's smell like?"

"Honestly, exactly like Lily. Almonds and minty flavored things, and treacle tart: her favorite treat."

"That's cute."

"Whatever, back to this potion thing, we've got to get some of Snape's hair first. You've got my cloak, Merlin knows where it's been" he muttered.

"Is Snape nearby?"

"He should be making his rounds around this time," James said and he and Harper peered out the potions classroom window in search of their prank's next victim.

"There he is!"

"Go on now, you've got it," James encouraged.

From then on, Hermione made a seemingly difficult task look like clockwork. Underneath James' invisibility cloak, she was shifty with her pair of scissors around Snape's head. After she got back with the victim's hair, James was astounded by her ability to not even have Snape notice. His already-terrible haircut had taken a downgrade, and Snape didn't even lift a finger.

"Amazing."

"Thanks, Potter," Hermione spoke, feeling as if she were back with Harry, "so, what now?"

"Oh, yeah. I've got some candy from Remus," James spoke as he pulled a Fizzing Whizbee that she had picked up at Honeyduke's from his pocket, "and we're going to put the potion on this, and give it to the cat. It's going to be epic," spoke James, more excited than Hermione had ever seen.

The two invisible Gryffindors camped out in the hallway with the potion-coated candy in hand, as they waited for Filch and his cat to pass through the corridors. After a long while of waiting, Hermione tossed the candy to Filch's cat while he wasn't looking. She ate it with delight, started squealing like a pig, and bolted in the direction of the Slytherin common room.

And James and Harper were laughing harder than ever before. Even tears streamed down James' face as a result of him snickering so much.

Soon the time for Harper to begin her last clue was due. After he wiped happy tears from his face, James handed Harper final clue to her from his pocket.

Hermione unfolded the crumbled up parchment, and read her final clue, in which familiar handwriting was present. She didn't know whether to be excited or scared, but she did know that a feeling of nervousness took over her body. And she couldn't quite tell why.

A/N: i really hope you enjoyed this chapter and the other two about harper's initiation, they took forever to write! thanks for 315+ views!

A/N (7/14/20): guys i really took a whole ass week to edit this my bad. i'll try to get to the next one sooner now that the juices are flowing!! lol it seems like 315 views was so long ago. speaking of which, happy 130K!!! that's big time progress, all thanks to y'all.  also i don't mean to sELf pRoMoTe but i made like a music inspo book if u wanna check it out. no pressure. also this is a hella slow burn but shhhh u didn't hear it from me but the next chapter might have some progress. maybe. you'll see. actually i am the author so you did hear it from me (that was my attempt at being funny and i don't think it worked! haha! bye for now)     - callahan