"Brilliant," I deadpanned as another tiny firework shot into the air and exploded above my head.
James barked out a laugh as he had been doing all morning. I pursed my lips to stop speaking considering that was the cause of the small explosions. Well, more strictly speaking, sarcasm was triggering the fireworks and I just happened to be dripping with it.
"It is brilliant isn't it Y/N?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows at me.
I rolled my eyes in response and another firework set off, "What?! That wasn't sarcasm"
It was difficult to hear even Sirius's loud voice over James's obnoxious laughter, "What you're forgetting is that I invented this spell. Hence it has been tailored to you perfectly for maximum results"
I narrowed my eyes at him, refusing to offer any sort of response that would merit a bang going off by my ear.
"Well whatever you've done I need it gone by tonight. You know I have that meeting with Olivander to discuss work after Hogwarts"
I had this interview set up for weeks now with the wand maker and I had received permission to meet him at Hogsmeade in the evening. It was my dream to learn the art of wand making after my schooling and who was better to teach me than Olivander himself? I had been fidgeting all week at the thought that tonight could make or break that dream and I was not about to let some stupid prank get in the way of that.
Sirius waved his hand at me in dismissal but I knew the charm would be gone by nightfall. He knew how important tonight was to me.
"Y/N don't you think Snivellus's hair looks great today?" James cut in, pointing at the Slytherin who was walking in front of us.
"Oh yes, nothing screams sex appeal like a bucket of grease"
James peeled with laughter as a pink explosion rained down around me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Herbology was a great class to have after lunch on a Friday, I had decided after 6 and a half years of schooling. Professor Hornby generally recognised the post-lunch haze that came over us and ensured we had a relatively mindless lesson.
"Gather around everyone," he called as we entered the greenhouse, directing us to his desk where a shallow pool of water had been placed and in it a number of rocks. I squished in up to his desk between James and Marlene.
"These are Skittish Stones originating from Sweden. When placed in water they remain at ease and offer minimal response to contact," to demonstrate he nudged one of the rocks which remained unmoving, "but when exposed to air they become squeamish and destructive. The trick is, when relocating them from one body of water to another, to keep them asleep. This means no sudden movements and no loud noises." He made sure the class was silent before gently picking the rock up. It didn't respond and continued to look like a regular rock while he placed it into the other shallow pool of water across the room.
"Today I need you to transfer the Stones from salt water to fresh water to acclimatise them before they are taken to their new home. What I ask is that no one speaks above a whisper and everyone remains mindful of their surroundings. The Skittish Stones can be very destructive when awakened."
I nodded along with the rest of the class and joined the line to grab a stone.
"I wonder how you tell them apart from normal rocks," I whispered to the others.
"When you lift them up look at the base of them," James commented, pushing his glasses up his nose, "they have an indentation like a small bird foot"
"Oh" I was always impressed by these random bits of information James came out with. Part of growing up in the wizarding world I supposed. However the other purebloods tended to pop out with random facts far less, so perhaps it was some nerdiness peeping out from James. I restrained a smile at my thoughts, he was definitely more nerdy than he liked to admit.
"Hey Y/N this rock looks like you," Sirius whispered as he seized a stone with two deep dents on the side, presumably eyes.
"The things I would give to look that damn good," I hummed mindlessly as I grabbed my own stone from the tub.
A whirring sound stirred from behind me and my eyes opened in horror, "shit"
A yellow firework shot into the air and with an echoing bang exploded in the middle of the greenhouse.
The classroom immediately descended into chaos. The rocks out of the water flew across the room haphazardly, a couple of them knocking into the pool of water and sending it toppling from Professor Hornby's desk. Water drenched the floor and the entire room full of rocks skittered to life, whizzing about the room in alarm. A crash sounded from my left and I turned in astonishment as one of the glass window panes was shattered. The first of many. Professor Hornby was aiming immobilising spells at them but the stones' pattern of movement was far too hectic to hit with a spell.
"The roof!" Marlene screamed as one of the stones made for the glass covering the entire greenhouse which already had cracks webbed through it. I threw my arms over my head in fear.
"Protego!"
I waited for the glass to hit but it didn't. Peeping out from behind my hands I saw James centred in the room with his wand raised. A shimmering blue light emitted from his wand and cast a dome above everyone's heads that redirected the shards of glass from falling directly on us. The class stopped, panting and terrified as we absorbed the state of the room.
Professor Hornby was the first to break the silence, "Miss Y/L/N!" I swallowed at the number of scowls I was receiving and trained my eyes on the floor, "Never have I witnessed such a blatant disregard of my clear instructions. The Skittish Stones are gone, the greenhouse destroyed and people could have been injured!"
"Sorry Professor," I murmured, lowering my head even further, "I'm really sorry"
"Sorry won't cut it! Two weeks of detention starting tonight. You will find all 43 of the stones and clean up this mess."
I looked up in alarm. I couldn't have detention tonight I just couldn't.
James's voice joined the conversation, "Professor, Y/N can't tonight she has-"
"I do not care about prior arrangements, she will be punished!"
"Professor please-" he tried again.
"You will join her," Professor Hornby decided, "to teach you to not talk back to a professor"
James fell silent.
We were dismissed from the remains of the greenhouse and I trailed up to the castle with tears stinging my eyes. Sirius approached me but was pulled away by James before he had a chance to talk. Good. I didn't feel like talking. Sirius lifted the charm from a distance.
The rest of the day passed in a blur as I tried to figure out what I could possibly say to Olivander that would excuse my absence. My quill scratched out his name on parchment four times before I gave up. There was no letter I could send that would redeem me from this. Passing by McGonagell, my intended accompaniment for tonight, it was clear she had heard the news, she offered a look of sympathy but there was nothing she could do.
I arrived back at the greenhouses at 6pm, one hour before when my meeting was supposed to begin. Professor Hornby was already there, berating James for earlier. The full force of his anger quickly turned to me, clearly the main instigator in todays endeavour.
"I expect all the Skittish Stones to be found tonight. They don't have the tendency to travel far but I would not like to risk it. I'll be checking on your progress so no slacking off." He turned and made himself comfortable in one of the garden chairs outlining the greenhouses and fixed us with a look before pulling out a newspaper.
I glanced around, not having the slightest clue of where Skittish Stones liked to dwell.
"This way," James whispered so Professor Hornby couldn't hear. He led me behind a thick rooted tree then dropped the bag I hadn't realised he'd been carrying on the ground.
"What are you doing?" I asked half heartedly.
"Getting you to that meeting with Olivander," he responded while digging through his bag.
"I can't," I sniffled, "Hornby would murder me if he saw me leave and even if I managed that McGonagell won't take me now"
"A-ha" James stood up in triumph with a bundle of fabric in his hand, "this should help with that"
I raised an eyebrow at him that caused him to promptly unravel the fabric to reveal a cloak. "A... cloak?"
James threw the cloak around his shoulders and his body disappeared, "Holy shit"
"It's an invisibility cloak and you're going to wear it to Hogsmeade" he smiled at me, open and genuine, "Hornby won't notice you leave and you won't need a professor to take you"
Tears sprung up to my eyes as a glimmer of hope was reignited in me. I gazed up to James's face and fixed him with a watery smile before throwing my hands around his invisible shoulders for a hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you"
"Hey it's what friends do," he hugged me back with a laugh, "You should get going now, it's quite a walk to Hogsmeade and we don't want Mr Wandmaker seeing you all puffed out from running there"
I giggled and pulled back from the hug, "Seriously, thank you James"
He took the cloak off his own shoulders and placed it on mine, "You can do this"
I nodded at his encouragement and pulled the cloak over myself. To Hogsmeade it was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I traipsed down the stairs from the girls dormitory the next morning with a grin overtaking my face. My meeting with Olivander had gone well, great even as he was willing to take me in as an apprentice after I finished at Hogwarts in July. I had made my way back to the castle the same way I had arrived (after assuring Olivander that McGonagell was just around the corner waiting for me) under the cloak James had leant to me. I glanced around the common room for him as I entered.
"James!" I smiled in greeting, standing beside him and his friends who were sat on the sofas.
Taking in the look on my face he beamed back up at me, "It went well?"
"It did," I practically squealed, "he's going to let me work with him after Hogwarts"
James jumped from his seat and smothered me in a hug that lifted my feet from the ground, "I knew you could do it!"
He placed me back down and swivelled so he was standing beside me, hand on the small of my back, "Did you guys all hear that?" he asked his friends that were gathered around.
A chorus of congratulations followed his words and I thanked them all. Glancing in James's direction I noticed the happiness exuding from him and the way he stood behind me to almost show me off. A ticklish feeling stirred in my stomach and I realised with a jolt that he was proud of me. Quickly I turned away before I could do something stupid like cry.
I zoned back into the conversation at the mention of a celebration from James, "-in honour of the greatest wand maker the world will ever see!" He turned to me with a sweet smile.
I bit my cheek hard to fight down a blush and offered a delayed laugh that I hoped wasn't noticeable. Shit.
I extracted myself from the conversation after a while in hopes of catching James later when there was less of a crowd around him to give him back his cloak. Yep that was the only reason I wanted to see him alone. Absolutely no other reasons. I hit my palm to my head in frustration. Denial it was.
The day passed me by until half to 6. Groaning, I pulled myself out of my seat, grabbed the cloak and went in search of James who appeared to be sleeping in the armchair by the fire. I shook his shoulder.
Still asleep he grabbed my empty hand and positioned it behind his head like a pillow. My laugh woke him up.
"Morning sleepy head"
He rubbed his eyes under his glasses and blinked them dazedly at me, "you're not my pillow"
"Correct. It is also not morning"
He sat up quickly looking alarmed, "What's the time?"
"5:30. Why, got somewhere to be?"
He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then looked at me guiltily, "You're not allowed to be mad at me"
My brow furrowed, "That's a promising start"
He scratched his neck, "You don't have any more detentions with Hornby"
"What?"
"He noticed that you left yesterday and I told him that I set off the firework in Herbology and you weren't to blame. You didn't need to show up to any more detentions"
"What?! James you should've told me earlier, you're going to receive the punishment instead of me! This is all my fault I'm going to speak to him right now-"
He pulled my hands into his, causing me to drop the cloak, "No you're not. This was my decision and I knew what the consequences of it would be"
"But it wasn't your fault!" My brows pinched with a mixture of guilt and disbelief of what James had done. It certainly wasn't doing anything to make the feeling in my stomach go away.
"Hey it's okay," he assured, squeezing my hands to calm me down, "he lessened the sentence by a week because I was also the heroic saviour"
I laughed against my will. Why was this stupidly perfect man saving my arse left, right and centre?
"James you already did more than enough getting me to Hogsmeade"
"Y/N how many times do I have to tell you - that's what friends are for. And if you hadn't noticed by any chance, I'm your friend"
A muffled and familiar cough emanated from behind the chair, "boyfriend"
Ignoring the substance of Sirius's comment I continued to face James "Has he been there this whole time?"
He sighed, "probably"
"Anyway, this friendship goes two ways and whether you like it or not I'm doing something for you"
"You really don't need to-"
"Shall it be your homework for a week? Should I carry your books around? Should I buy you some horrific pranking tool you will undoubtedly use against me? Any special requests? If not I'm just gonna keep listing things off. Should I steal a dragon-"
"A date," he cut in.
I blinked at him stupidly as the words settled in, "I should steal you a date?"
"No. Go on a date. With me. As in you. Going. And also me going" he held his breath.
My brain seemed to blank at the unexpectedness of it, "Are you sure?" I spluttered.
He breathed a laugh, "Yes I'm sure"
I paused and he seemed suddenly nervous again, "Unless you don't want to"
"No!" I blurted our then covered my mouth with my hands at the intensity of it. Thinking I'd recovered from whatever that was, I continued, "Yeah yeah sounds cool. Super hip. A whole vibe"
I cringed hard and felt my cheeks warm as James chuckled. Laughter was also coming from behind the chair.
Still looking for redemption I went on, "I don't always speak like that. I usually say cooler words and things"
"You sure?" He teased.
I slapped him lightly on the arm, "Shut up"
He retook my hands in his immediately, as if disliking the idea of them being a part. He rose from the armchair with a crooked smile, "A date it is then"
"Yeah," I smiled, letting our fingers link loosely between us, "A date it is"
An exasperated groan came from behind the chair.
"Finally"