Song: anything you can do, I can do better
Cassie's POV:
As time dragged on, I began to believe that the professor's first name was Bean Sprout. It seemed logical enough. I was snapped out of my thoughts when said Professor asked a question in a stern voice that made me jump.
"Has anyone ever heard of Devil's Snare?" Professor Bean Sprout asked the class from her desk at the front of the room.
James's hand shot up causing me to jump. I had chosen a seat in between James and Sirius seeing as they were the only two I knew in the greenhouse aside from a few students I had seen in passing.
"Yes, Mr. Potter?" Professor Sprout asked.
"Devil's Snare is a relatively rare plant that will suffocate anything or anyone who touches it." His arrogant smirk came up again and I raised my hand, almost desperate to one-up him.
"Very well Mr. Potter, did you have something to add Miss Black?" Professor Bean looked at me in question.
"Well Professor, the Devil's Snare plant also despises light, it's tentacle-like appendages will shrivel up and the plant could potentially die." I gave my best 'I am smart too' look toward James who just gapes at me. "What's wrong Jamsie Poo? Someone finally giving you a run for your money?" I stick my tongue out at him and he sticks his right back. Boys and their crazy egos.
We are in the middle of a battle of who was smarter when the Professor cleared her throat and threatened detention. Dam the teachers did not seem to find me as funny as the rest of the students did. They always seemed to giggle at my interruptions which made me smile. It made me feel seen, even if I was in a crowd of thousands, they noticed me. For most of my life, I had been invisible or ignored, but at Hogwarts, I had the chance to be known, a chance to be noticed. The thought makes me smile. Looks like it is no more hiding in the dark for Cassiopeia Lyra Black.
Professor Bean Sprout was busy talking to a student from my house about different ways to drive the plant away. One of the many ways included the use of Blue-Bell Flames. The name of the flames reminds me of bluebell flowers. In Scottland, they are simply known as harebells, but I think bluebell fits them better. They are some of my favorites, but my mother never allows me to get them. She claims they are 'too sappy and not nearly elegant enough'. I however think they are just right. The vibrancy of the blue brings life and happiness to such a simple flower.
I am shaken out of my thoughts when James waves his arm in front of my face as well as Sirius's. We both turn to look at him and see him with a strange colored leaf across his upper lip, mimicking a mustache. He wiggles his eyebrows up and down as if it is the best thing to ever happen. My posture immediately falls and my eyes go wide. My face looks as if I am laughing, but no noise comes out. He used a Mandrake to make his 'mustache' and from the looks of it, he does not seem to notice the sleeping baby-like root hanging from the edge of his lip.
I try to speak, but no words come out. My mouth remains agape while Sirius laughs his head off. He is clutching his sides and I have yet to make a noise.
"Aw" James begins attempting to look serious, "Little Cassie lassie can't even fathom how handsome I look right now. I am the top tier of sexy, even sexier than Shrek I'd say."
Sirius lets out a bark of laughter resembling that of a dog and I close my mouth but open it right after to respond to his remark, "Well if you must know oh sexy Jamsie poo, that just happens to be a mandrake hanging off of your lip and it looks like you've awoken the root."
His face scrunched up in confusion, but he looks down at his lip none the less. He lets out a high pitched shriek when he sees the baby-like root that has begun crying on his lip. The Mandrake flings across the room and lands in a young girl's hair. She looks similar to the girl James crashed his broom into earlier. It is only when she turns around that I realize it is in fact Jennifer Mules. The poor girl couldn't seem to catch a break.
The three of us cringed as she struggled to get the root out of her hair. "We better not get detention from Bean Sprout too because of you Potter, I already have to deal with McGonagall." I narrow my eyes at him and just when my gaze gets serious, I wink and he lets out a sigh of relief.
I think back to the letter my mother had sent earlier today and arriving at the school with Siri. She is going to yell at me no matter what I do, so why not make it worth it? Why not remind the wizarding world that the Blacks are not as noble as they seem while I'm at it as well? The only place I drew the line was if she hurt Sirius, I could tell he was pretty shaken up about her letter. Granted I was too but I would put aside my fear to protect my brother.
"Oops?" is all James has to offer. I roll my eyes and chuckle alongside Sirius.
Much to my pleasure, the narrow nosed professor did not seem to notice our game of 'scare James causing him to throw a baby mandrake across the room'. It was a miracle she didn't notice the uproar. She was too busy talking to a student names Jenkins about the uses of Devil's Snare. Hopefully, this topic was not going to come up again on exams because I had not really been paying attention to her lesson.
I lean over to Siri, realizing I already know a lot of what she is teaching us and deciding it is okay to not pay attention.
"Psst Siri" I whisper. He looks in my direction, silently gesturing for me to continue, "you know how we agreed to make our parents' lives hell?" He nods his head, the right side of his mouth curving up mischievously, "what do you say we pull a prank?" My own lips quirk to the left, creating the Cheshire Cat look.
His smirk only grows and he asks, "and what were you thinking of my dear Sio?" His eyes light up in a way that reminds me of the star he is named after.
"Well well, it can't all be up to me. But I was thinking of something involving the library and possibly Potter here?"
Sirius' grin keeps getting wider and wider, his eyes more mischievous by the minute. "You are ingenious, I tell you, ingenious." I mock a bow and blow kisses to an imaginary crowd. Another thing I inherited from my family was my ability to be dramatic. Even my cousin Andromeda had a flare for the dramatics, considering she had run away around 5 or so years ago. I wish I could do the same as her, but I had nowhere else to go and could not leave my brothers behind. I had to keep them safe.
Apparently, teachers liked to drone on about one subject for an entire class period because I am shaken from my thoughts by the sound of a bell. I had the rest of the afternoon to plan my prank with Sirius and then dinner and then it was off to detention.
Sirius and I just about kidnapped James to tell him of our plans involving the library. Based on his reaction, one would have thought that we had. His arms were flailing around him and he looked frantic. It was definitely an overreaction considering I had only grabbed the edge of his robe, nervous to grab his arm for I had only known him a day and pull behind an old statue of a gargoyle.
I had expected to land against a wall and was shocked to see that I fell right through it instead. James and Sirius landed next to me with a dull thud. I looked up to find only darkness. Scrambling to get to my feet, I tried to find where we had fallen through. Was this like the wall at Platform 9 3/4 back in King's Cross station? It sure seemed like it.
"Guys," I whispered into the dark as if someone was lurking in the curtain of darkness waiting to strike, "where do you think we are?"
My eyes have adjusted to the dark enough to see the vague outline of a very long tunnel. It appears to be old and looks as if no one has been in it for over fifty years. I move my foot only to be met by the crunching of glass.
My stomach fills with dread. I reach down and hope to Merlin that I did not smash James's glasses. Instead of the thick square frames that adorned James's face, I am met with round silver frames that appeared to be almost new. The glass of the lenses told a different story, however. It had lost its smooth enamel and gained a layer of what could pass as Someone must have left them here years ago. I wonder who they belonged to? They had impossibly dainty lions engraved on the frames and looked to belong to someone with a lot of wealth.
I carefully slip the cracked glasses into my bag and turn around to check if Sirius and James are okay.
They seem to have recovered from the fall and are looking around much like I had. Both are staring in awe at the old corridor leading into darkness. James is the first to break the silence, "So I'm going to take it neither of you knew this was here and that we have all just discovered a secret passageway?"
Whatever I had expected him to say, it was not that. I surprise myself by laughing, Sirius seemed surprised too. How could we have possibly known that this was here?
"I had no idea there were even secret passages in the school." Sirius barks a laugh alongside me.
James points a mocking glare my way but continues to speak nonetheless, "my dad used to tell me stories about Hogwarts. They all seemed too good to be true or as if they could never be possible; take the giant squid for instance. Since he was right about that," he runs his hand through his messy hair as if in deep thought, "now I'm beginning to think he was right about everything."
His eyes go wide as if he is suddenly aware of secrets that have been etched into the walls, long forgotten by their inhabitants. The words that come out of his mouth are the words that I could have never imagined leaving his mouth, "maybe vitamins are real?!" He looks as if he has seen a ghost and I choke on the air in my lungs.
Of all the things his dad told him, vitamins are the things he finds the most horrifying?? I can think of a lot more things to fear, and it brings a shiver up my spine, making me feel as if someone was watching me.
"Seriously??" I put up a finger to stop Sirius from making an awful pun, "Vitamins is what you think of??" I am almost angry, but then I realize just how funny the situation truly is. James Potter had gone his whole life believing in magic, but not vitamins.
I let out a pure snort of laughter and am soon rolling around on the floor, overcome with laughter. James's shock melts off of his face as he watches me howl with laughter. I know that what I am doing is very unladylike, but that makes me only laugh more.
Soon enough he and Siri are standing above me, large grins painting their faces.
"What?" I look up at the two of them in curiosity. Sirius's grin only grows larger, "I told you her laugh was contagious" he looks over to James as if James had not believed the sentiment before.
My cheeks burn bright and I sit myself up. Sirius had told his friends about me? I am about to blush even more at the thought of his friends knowing who knows what about me, but I am stopped when Siri gives me his hand and helps me off the ground.
I dust off my robes and reach into my bag to make sure the glasses aren't broken, well, any more broken than they were. Turning to the boys after making sure they have not been broken, I speak.
"Well boys, I think we have a prank to plan."
The three of us light up with mischief as we find our way out of the old tunnel and into the now emptying corridor.
Oh my gosh, guys, I just read the Folk of Air series and I am in love. They are so good I finished all three in two days and the novella in less than an hour. I would 100% recommend them.
Moving on from my rant about books, if I have calculated this correctly, this chapter will be published on Monday. I am happy with where it is going and what has happened so far. For those of you wondering why it is so long, I wanted to challenge myself into writing a book and not just slivers of a story. I am aware that there are references in here that would not fit the time period, but they were too funny to leave out. Most of them come from things my brothers have said.
I'll give you a hint (the title of the next chapter), I want to see what people come up with for the plot :) it sounds entertaining to see how you guys interpret my titles. So here is the title: Drawing Boards, Cattails, and a Big Mistake. I am excited to see what you guys come up with!
Lots of love and goodbye for now!