Chapter 8
"Seventy times Seven and the First of the Seventy-First"
When Lily arrived home to Devin Lane, she chose to not say anything about the gypsy to her parents. After all, it would have worried them far too much, and Lily herself was trying hard to put it out of her mind. So she told her parents that she had a lovely time, that Madrid was a wonderful city and that Gabi’s family was very accommodating.
Lily chose not to speak another word of it to her friends either, so the train ride back to school was filled with conversations of other sorts. The primary topic of interest among everyone was the kaleidoscope fairies, who were comfortably sitting in their aquarium on the seat next to Lily.
"I don’t think you’re supposed to take kaleidoscope fairies out of the kaleidoscope," Gabi said.
"Thanks," Lily said. "I didn’t take them out on purpose, of course. The kaleidoscope broke."
"But they’re kaleidoscope fairies," Gabi pointed out. "Why didn’t you put them back in another kaleidoscope?"
"Well, a kaleidoscope isn’t exactly the type of thing you have lying around as a spare," Lily said. "Plus, they like the aquarium."
Lily glanced into the fish tank, quite proud of the improvements the fairies had made to it. In addition to the condominium development, the fairies had requested a small cornucopia that they could turn into an amphitheatre. Kaleidoscope fairies, after all, love to perform. They had added sidewalks and a shuffleboard area, and they had recently named the development "Boca Hogwarts." Earl, who had been named director of the condo co-op board, was currently working on the sign, which would read, "Welcome to Boca, Oy Vay."
"You know what they say though," Sirius interrupted. "You give a fairy an aquarium …"
He paused.
"Yes?" Lily asked.
"I don’t know. I was trying to think of something witty and charming, but I couldn’t think of anything."
James groaned and rolled his eyes. "You don’t always have to be Mr. Snappy Comeback, you know."
"Good one, James," Sirius told his best friend. "I guess we can all see that you don’t hold the title either."
When the train stopped back at school, Lily felt a small lurch in her stomach. As stressful as the holiday had been, Lily sort of wished she were still at home, not having to start schoolwork again.
But as soon as she stepped back into the castle, Lily’s pangs of dread vanished. She felt as if she was at home. She carefully carried the fairies back up to her room and ignored Gabi’s groans as she set them next to her bed. Gabi hadn’t been too keen on the idea of the fairies living in the dorm with them.
Their first class of the next day was Potions, which unfortunately was with the Ravenclaws. Lily and Ophelia hadn’t even sat down when Ariel and Aurora began a very loud conversation, gossiping about them.
"So," Ariel began, loud enough for the entire room to hear, "on my eighth birthday, I decided to have some girls over to spend the night. I was forced to invite Ophelia, seeing as how my mother simply adores her mother, although I personally have no idea why …"
"Ariel!" Ophelia exclaimed. "Be quiet!"
"What is it, Ophelia dear? Don’t want me to tell the story of your …"
"No!" Ophelia interrupted. "Not unless you want me to tell about our kindergarten class Christmas party."
Ariel suddenly got very red in the face and conveniently forgot what she was about to tell the class. The good thing about knowing your enemies for many years is that the supply of ammo never seems to run out.
Ophelia sat back down and turned to face Lily, who was smirking at her.
"So, what did happen at Ariel’s eighth birthday party?" Lily asked.
Ophelia’s face turned scarlet and she quickly bit her bottom lip. "Nothing," she muttered.
"Oh, right," Gabi interrupted. "That’s okay, Ophelia, I’ll find out eventually."
Just then, Professor Mortar entered the room and told them to turn to page 134 of the textbook. "Ms. Julian, tell me what Brynhild powder does."
Ariel looked noticeably flustered. "I don’t know, sir," she said.
Mortar sighed loudly and purposely. "I am tired of this class never reading the assignments before they attend the lesson. I have told you all with enough frequency that you ought to know by now that I expect you to be prepared before you walk in the door. Ms. Julian, for your transgression, you have just earned the entire class two rolls of parchment on the importance of scholastic preparation."
The entire class turned and glared at Ariel.
"Now, Mr. Potter," Mortar continued, "are you able to tell me what Brynhild powder does, or are we going to make it three rolls of parchment?"
"Brynhild powder is the main ingredient in the Brynhild potion, which leaves a person in a deep sleep for 12 hours," James told him.
"Where do we find Brynhild powder?"
"Iceland."
"What century was it discovered?"
"The thirteenth."
"What potion will counter-effect the Brynhild potion?"
"The Sigurd potion."
Lily was impressed. Mortar was rapidly firing questions at James, who was shooting back the answers just as quickly. Lily was glad Mortar hadn’t called on her. She had known what Brynhild powder was used for, but she had no idea it was from Iceland or the rest of it.
"Very good, Mr. Potter," Mortar said, an expression appearing on his face that was the closest the class had ever seen to a smile. "Ten points to Gryffindor."
After class, Lily made it a point to tell James how impressed she was with his knowledge of the powders.
"Thanks," James said as he held the door open for her. "It’s a shame we still have to do the essay though."
"One more reason to despise Ariel," Lily told him.
"Listen," James said as stopped walking and grabbed her arm. "You’re okay, aren’t you?"
"Why wouldn’t I be?" Lily asked.
"Well, I just thought that after New Year’s, you might be a little down or something."
"James, I’m fine," Lily smiled. "I think you all convinced me that this cursed thing isn’t so bad after all. I mean, it really is a great conversation starter. ‘Hi, I’m Lily Evans. I’ve been cursed by the Atreus stone. More to drink?’"
James gave a small laugh. "If you say so," he said.
James and Lily walked into History of Magic together and separated at the doorway, Lily heading to sit next to Ophelia, and James heading toward Sirius.
On this particular lesson, Professor Binns had turned from the topic of Asian magical funeral rituals and had dramatically shifted to the topic of war, which had every boy in the class sitting on the edge of his seat.
"There are exactly 490 different ways to start a magical war," Binns was telling them. "The full list can be found on page 239 of the textbook. So far, wars have been started 489 ways, the 71st being the only on the list to never be brought to fruition."
Immediately, the class nearly simultaneously flipped to page 239. Lily’s eyes scanned the page until she stopped on number 71 – "stealing a zucchini from a member of the opposite side." Lily frowned, thinking to herself that it was no wonder number 71 had never been a cause of a war. What a stupid thing to fight over.
Lily was proven wrong the very next day.
The day was destined to be doomed, from the moment Lily stepped out of bed. All three Gryffindor first year girls woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and the shades hadn’t even been drawn before the bickering started.
"Lily," Gabi said gruffly, pushing back the covers, "those damn fairies are not staying in here another night. I refuse to share space with them."
"Were they too loud?" Lily asked innocently.
"I don’t think I slept all night," Gabi told her, a scowl still on her face.
"Oh, that’s not true," Ophelia interrupted. "You spent half the night snoring, so if anyone was kept up by noise, it sure wasn’t you."
"I don’t snore," Gabi said matter-of-factly, swinging her legs out of the side of the bed.
Lily snorted. "I beg to differ," she said. "It’s a wonder I ever get to sleep, what with your hemming and hawing all night long."
"You’re one to talk, Lily," Gabi retorted. "And I mean that quite literally. Why, one would think you’re developing a novel, the amount of time you spend talking in your sleep."
"Well, at least she’s entertaining," Ophelia added. "You’re just annoying."
"Excuse me?" Gabi growled, standing up from bed, a menacing look on her face. "I’m just what?"
"I think you heard me perfectly the first time," Ophelia said casually, getting out of bed and beginning to pull it up.
"No, I don’t think I did," Gabi shot back. "I mean, I thought I just heard one of my best friends call me annoying, but I must have been hearing things, right?"
"Wait!" Lily interrupted. "I talk in my sleep?"
Ophelia rolled her eyes. "Practically every night, Lily."
"Ophelia," Gabi interjected from the other side of the room, "if you leave your robes lying on my trunk one more time, I’m going to banish them to Albania. I do know the spell, you know."
"Of course I know," Ophelia said through gritted teeth. "You seem to always rub your so-called brilliance in my face."
"I do not!" Gabi exclaimed. "And while I’m at it, let me tell you something – it’s a good thing you can’t read my mind right now, little Miss Rhine disk."
Lily looked from Gabi to Ophelia and couldn’t quite decide which face was wearing the more murderous look. She did decide that she needed to leave the room – and quickly.
"I’m going to go shower," Lily announced, heading for the door.
"Sure, Lily," Ophelia called, not taking her eyes off Gabi, "take the first shower, just like you do every morning. It’s not like the rest of us mind cold water or anything."
Lily felt her blood start to bubble, but she tried to remain calm. "I most certainly do not take the first shower every morning, and you know that."
"Well, out of the three of us, you definitely have taken the first shower the most," Ophelia responded. "It is rather rude."
"What, are you keeping a detailed schedule?" Lily asked hastily. "Do you have all of our daily grooming habits written down in a journal, perhaps?"
"Oh, Lily, just go shower!" Ophelia told her.
"Fine!" Lily said, grabbing her things and walking out of the room, doing her best to slam the heavy oak door behind her. Sadly, the weight of the door didn’t produce quite the dramatic effect Lily was hoping for.
Lily replayed the morning’s events while she was in the shower, getting more and more angry as she washed herself and shampooed her hair, taking all of her aggression out on her scalp. Lily had brought all of her clothes with her into the bathroom, not wanting to have to face either Gabi or Ophelia again in the dorm. After she had gotten dressed, she walked down to the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, glad to find she was the only first-year there. The last thing Lily felt like doing was talking to anyone, even if all that was required of her was a polite hello. She quickly ate two pieces of dry toast and left the Hall, too worried she might bump into one of her seething roommates.
The first class of the day was Herbology with the Slytherins, and the lesson was a practical one in Greenhouse Two. Lily entered the greenhouse and walked over to Remus, ignoring Ophelia’s glare.
"Morning," Remus grunted, delivering the greeting as if he was a child being forced to apologize for something he really wasn’t sorry for. Remus obviously wasn’t having the most pleasant morning either.
Lily responded with a brief, forced smile and was glad when Professor Sprout began the lesson.
"Today, we’ll be harvesting the cucurbita plant," she told them. "Ms. Evans, why don’t you tell me about the cucurbita plant."
‘Oh, well this is just perfect,’ Lily thought to herself. She had no clue what the cucurbita plant was, what it looked like or what it did. Lily suddenly grew very miffed at Sprout. Couldn’t she see Lily was in no mood to answer any questions?
"I’d rather not," Lily said flippantly, a definite attitude looming in her tone. "And frankly, I could care less."
Lily instantly knew she’d stepped over the imaginary line when she heard a few shocked gasps coming from behind her. As soon as the words escaped her lips, it was as if Lily had stepped out of her body and had watched as a spectator in horror as she disrespected a professor. An intense feeling of dread formed in her stomach, and she quickly tried to think of a way to justify her statement.
Unfortunately, Sprout spoke first. "Outside, Ms. Evans," she ordered.
Lily slowly walked to the door, still desperately trying to think of any sort of justification for her words. Maybe she could still play the slug card. Lily wondered if Sprout still felt guilty about that.
"I refuse to be spoken to like that," Sprout told her once they were outside. Sprout had the reputation of being the kindest teacher in the school, but Lily couldn’t see any of that on her face today.
"I’m sorry," Lily quickly said. "I truly am. It’s just been a bad day, and I’m not prepared for today’s class. I honestly didn’t mean to disrespect you." Lily gave a weak smile, hoping her professor would take it easy on her.
Sprout wouldn’t hear it. "I am going to take ten points from Gryffindor and I will be speaking to Professor McGonagall about this. I thoroughly trust she will handle the situation far better than I ever could."
"Yes, ma’am," Lily quietly responded. She followed Sprout back into the greenhouse, keeping her head down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone in the class.
Lily’s insolence had summarily quashed Sprout’s initial good mood.. "The cucurbita plant," she said shortly, "is nothing more than an ordinary zucchini that happened to be grown in moschata soil. The moschata soil will turn the zucchini into the cucurbita plant, which allows anyone who ingests it to fend off any tropical illness.
"There are two troughs at the front of the greenhouse. The Slytherins will take the one on the left and the Gryffindors the one on the right. An ordinary zucchini will take weeks to grow, but the moschata soil should produce one in about 30 minutes. Each house will find soil and a seedling in front of their trough. The first house to successfully tend to and produce a cucurbita plant will win five points."
With that, the class walked to the front of the greenhouse to begin their assignment. "I trust most of you have actually read the assignment and know how to tend to the cucurbita plant," Sprout called after them. Lily couldn’t help but feel the remark was directed at her.
Lily found herself standing next to Ophelia. She felt Ophelia staring at her, and Lily raised her head and met her friend’s eyes.
"Are you okay?" Ophelia whispered.
Lily just nodded and turned her attention to the trough. Sirius and James had taken command of the group, much to Remus’ dismay.
"You’re doing it wrong," Remus spat to Sirius, who was pouring a layer of soil into the bottom of the trough.
"Doing it wrong?" Sirius repeated. "I’m putting soil in a pot. You can’t do something like that wrong."
"Yes, you can," Remus told him. "First of all, this is a trough, not a pot, and second of all, you can’t just dump the soil in the bottom or the cucurbita plant won’t grow. Did you read the assignment?"
Sirius didn’t say anything. Obviously he hadn’t, but he wasn’t about to admit it. "Alright then, you do it," he said as he shoved the bag of soil into Remus’ hands.
Remus shoved it back into Sirius’ hands. "Hold this," he commanded. "First I have to fix the mess you already made. Haste never did anyone any good, Sirius." He picked up the trough, turned it over and dumped all of the soil Sirius had added onto the ground.
"Haste never did anyone any good," Sirius repeated. "Well, that’s very poetic of you, Remus. Flows so nicely off the tongue too."
Remus set the trough down, then turned to face Sirius. He chose not to say anything, but merely snatched the bag back out of his roommate’s hands. "James, hand me the shovel," he said.
James silently bent down, picked up the shovel and handed it to Remus. Remus shoveled the soil out of the bag, pressing it tightly into the bottom as he went. "You have to pack the soil firmly in order to harvest the plant," he explained, casually addressing the group, even though they were all aware he was only addressing Sirius.
Gabi was holding the seedling in her hand, and as soon as Remus was done laying the soil, Gabi stepped forward the bury the seedling. Remus, however, held out his arm to stop her, feeling in charge of the lesson.
"I know what I’m doing," Gabi told him. "I read the book."
"We know," Ophelia muttered disdainfully.
Gabi whipped around suddenly, fed up with Ophelia’s hushed commentary, which apparently had only intensified once Lily had left the dorm to shower earlier in the morning. The force of Gabi’s turn caused her to knock into Remus, who tripped over the trough, tipping it over and causing its contents to spill to the ground. In the confusion, Gabi dropped the seedling, and as James quickly leapt forward to break his friend’s fall, his foot crushed the seedling into the ground.
Remus, who happened to watch the seedling being mashed, immediately yelled for James to move his foot. James brought his foot up and peeled the remnants of the cucurbita seedling off the bottom of his shoe.
Lily looked over and saw the Slytherins snickering at their misfortunate, which caused the group to grow even more irate. Everyone began shouting at each other at once, and James was forced to step in the middle, push people apart and yell for everyone to be quiet.
"Alright!" he shouted. "Enough! Look, it’s a Tuesday the 11th and we’re all going to have to deal with it."
"What’s a Tuesday the 11th?" Lily asked.
"Tuesday the 11th, Lily," Peter spat. "C’mon."
"I don’t know what it is," Lily spat back, glaring at Peter.
"It’s just a day where everything is predestined to go wrong," James quickly told her.
"What, like Friday the 13th?" Lily asked.
"Friday the what?" Sirius asked.
"Never mind," Lily told them, as it was clear this was a Muggle superstition. "What are we going to do about the plant?"
"Suck it up, admit the Slytherins won this one and chalk it up to yet another Tuesday the 11th curse," James calmly said. Lily felt a slight chill in her arms when James said the word "curse," but she was soon distracted.
"Oh, hell no," Sirius said, turning to face the Slytherins, who all stood with smug looks on their faces.
"Such a shame, isn’t it, Black?" Snape commented, grinning widely.
This was the last straw for Sirius. He walked over to the Slytherin trough and kicked it over. "Such a shame," he said, imitating Snape’s tone.
At once, two large Slytherin boys – Peyton Olson and Roderick Hanley – lunged at Sirius, knocking him to the ground. James and Remus quickly rushed to help, and Remus single handedly pulled both of them off Sirius, who was left with a bloody nose. Lily was surprised just how strong Remus was.
All of the animosity between Remus and Sirius had managed to evaporate the moment Sirius was attacked, and Remus quickly proved to be someone you would want on your side in a fight, which was what the Herbology lesson had officially turned into. Sprout’s yells fell on deaf ears, as every Gryffindor had managed to find a Slytherin counterpart to brawl with. Lily herself was face-to-face with Garnet McNally, pushing her out of the way in an attempt to get to Ophelia, who wasn’t holding her own against Natasha Lee. James and Sirius were trying to get in a few goods blows on Snape and Peyton Olson, while everyone had seemed to back down from Remus, who had turned his attention to pulling Roderick Hanley off of Peter.
At once, a loud boom exploded in the greenhouse, causing every student to jump and gasp from the sudden acoustic shock. Lily, along with every other head in the greenhouse, whipped around to ferret out the origin of the sound and saw Sprout raising her wand in the air, surrounded bright blue sparks that were beginning to fall to the ground.
"Never in all of my years teaching," she began, speaking slowly, making it a point to enunciate her words. "This class is dismissed, with the promise that Professors Mortar, McGonagall and I will be discussing this later. I want this class out of this greenhouse immediately." With that, she pointed toward the door with the hand still holding the wand.
Lily filed out of the greenhouse behind James and walked back up toward the castle. Nobody spoke a word, and the fight was left completely unresolved. All the Gryffindors went straight to the common room, seeing as how they had another 30 minutes before they were due in Transfiguration, a class they were all dreading. For a while, they all sat around the fireplace silently, not making eye contact with each other.
Finally, Ophelia leaned over to Lily and Gabi and whispered, "I’m sorry."
Lily nodded her head. "I am too," she said. "I don’t mean to hog the shower, honestly."
Ophelia gave a quick chuckle. "You don’t really," she admitted. "And you don’t show off your intellect either, Gabi," she added.
"I really don’t mind the fairies," Gabi told Lily. "In fact, I’m quite fond of them. They are a tad loud, but they’re highly entertaining."
Lily gave a sheepish smile and leaned in to embrace her friends. "Oh, I really am sorry," she said. "I love you guys."
Sirius grunted. "Please, spare us the sentiment," he said. "Girls." He rooled his eyes for effect, making the other boys snigger.
While Lily, Gabi and Ophelia had verbally expressed their apologies to each other, their male counterparts had simply nodded their heads and shoved each other a bit, but they seemed to be on the same wavelength.
Their camaraderie was really the only thing that helped them make it through their Transfiguration lesson. McGonagall was a few minutes late to class, and she was noticeably miffed when she entered the room. After class, she dismissed the Hufflepuffs but asked the Gryffindors to stay behind. She lectured them for a bit, then told them they had to each write detailed letters of apology to Professor Sprout and further told them they were confined to the Gryffindor tower for two weeks. Lily found out how McGonagall was able to enforce this when Peter tried to leave the common room after dinner and was physically barred from doing so. The portrait had swung open, but Peter hadn’t been able to pass, as if an invisible wall prevented him from doing so.
They were allowed to attend classes and meals, but the rest of the time was spent in the tower, which actually wasn’t so bad. James and Sirius were more than entertaining, and the punishment drew the group closer. Even when they were finally allowed back out in the castle, they seemed to always stick together.
One feeling that had intensified as a group was disdain for the Slytherin first years. They had escaped the Herbology incident unpunished by managing to dupe Mortar into thinking they were the victims rather than the instigators. They had walked around the castle gloating and acting quite smug, which only furthered the loathing.
For two weeks, the Gryffindors discussed how they were going to make the Slytherins pay, but no one had been able to come up with a good scheme. Well, one that wouldn’t get them expelled, at the least.
Such was the discussion around the fireplace one night, a few weeks after the punishment had been lifted. Revenge is a very serious business that cannot be trifled with, and Sirius, most of all, was acting very reverent.
"I ran into Snape today," he was telling the others. "Can you believe that he’s actually still gloating? It all happened over a month ago, yet he still feels inclined to revel in their victory! We need to bring him down."
"Them down, you mean," Remus added.
"Yes, whatever," Sirius told him.
"What about dungbombs?" Peter asked.
"Too destructive," Sirius said.
"A spell that would leave them wearing nothing?" Gabi volunteered.
"Too clichéd."
"A charm that would make them fall down?" Ophelia asked.
"Too juvenile," Sirius sighed. "No, it’s got to be good. We’ve got to make it hurt."
The group was silent for a while until James finally spoke up. "Brynhild potion," he said.
"What?" Sirius asked, springing out of deep thought.
"Brynhild potion," James repeated. "Make them fall into a deep sleep right before the Defense Against the Dark exam on Thursday. Slip it into their goblets at lunch or something."
No one said anything for a moment, all trying to figure out the logistics of what James was proposing.
"But the Sigurd potion counters it," Sirius pointed out.
"The Sigurd potion takes two hours to be effective. If we spiked their goblets at lunch, by the time the Sigurd potion took effect, class would be over."
"But Sundi would just call off the lesson and reschedule the test," Ophelia observed.
"Not if we make it look like the Slytherins are all intentionally skipping the test. We make it look like they’re protesting the exam, and we’re set. Sundi will say ‘To hell with them’ and give it anyway."
"This will completely be traced back to us," Lily said. "It’s far too risky."
"Lily, nothing is too risky," Sirius butted in. "But, even so, we’re not the only one’s with a grudge against the Slytherins."
"But still," Lily started, choosing not to finish the sentence.
Everyone started talking at once, trying to keep their voices down for fear of have another plan foiled. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were all for the plan, with Lily and Ophelia taking the other view. Gabi, however, was oddly silent.
James finally asked her what she thought.
"I’m for it," she said. "But only if we do it my way."
Sirius scoffed a bit. "Your way? And what, pray tell, is your way?"
"It’s a little complicated," she said. "But basically, if you add Papuan powder to the potion, it masks the identity of the Brynhild, so no one could figure out that’s what they were given. You can’t trace Papuan powder either, so no teacher would ever expect they were given any sort of potion."
"Brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed. "Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?"
"Because Papuan powder was outlawed by the Ministry in 1856. Professors aren’t even allowed to teach about its existence."
Sirius closed his eyes. "You know, you get my hopes up so high, then you dash them to the ground."
"But," Gabi continued, ignoring Sirius, "I just happen to know that Mortar has some in his personal stash."
"What?" everyone said in unison.
"Certain Ministry officials are allowed to possess it, because it can come in very handy in emergencies. Mortar was given control of some to hold onto as safekeeping."
"How do you know all this?" Remus asked.
"You’re forgetting that my father has access to some highly classified documents," she said. "Over Christmas holiday, I did some, shall we say, personal reading to pass the time. My father would skin me alive if he knew I read his files, but in all, it’s proving very handy."
"This is perfect," James said. "Absolutely perfect. All we do is slip the Papuan powder in the Brynhild potion, make sure the soundly sleeping Slytherins are out of sight for 12 hours – call it a protest or what not – and we have our revenge.
"But," he continued, turning to face Lily and Ophelia, "we need total cooperation. We’re all in or we’re all out. Which is it?"
Lily and Ophelia turned and looked at each other. They smiled and simultaneously said, "In!"
"Excellent," James said.
That night, he, Sirius and Gabi took the invisibility cloak and went on a little scavenger hunt. When they returned, Gabi took out a small vial holding what looked like a modicum of dirt.
"We only need a little bit," she explained. "Which is fortunate, otherwise Mortar would know it’s missing."
Gabi said she could handle the potion, no problem, so that was out of the way. However, there were still two very tall hurdles standing in the way. The first was to somehow make it look like the Slytherins were going to boycott the DADA exam. In all honesty, no one was quite sure how they were going to manage this one, so it came as a bit of a shock when the everything they would need seemed to fall into their laps in Tuesday’s DADA class.
Near the end of the lesson, Sundi had reminded them all about the exam on Thursday. This had prompted Severus Snape to raise his hand.
"Yes?" Sundi had asked him.
"Sir, we were all talking," Snape had said, looking at his housemates, "and we decided that giving an exam right now is unfair, considering the amount of work you have been assigning us the past few weeks."
Every Gryffindor mouth in the room had dropped to the floor, and everyone had moved to the edge of their seats, waiting for Sundi’s answer. If he agreed with Snape, the plan was ruined. If he disagreed, well then, weren’t they the luckiest people alive?
Sundi had taken his time, as if he was really thinking it over. Finally, he had said, "I’m sorry, but my decision to hold the exam stands. The material is too important for you not to be tested on it, plus you’ve had plenty of notice to prepare."
"But sir," Snape had started again."
"No," Sundi had interrupted. "My decision stands, and I don’t want to hear another word."
The look of contempt on Snape’s face had been priceless, and the Gryffindors knew they had hit the jackpot. The only other hurdle yet to face was making sure only the Slytherin first years took the potion and no one else. This had been the toughest part. Getting it into the goblets was going to be nearly impossible, and everyone had started to grow very dismayed – until they learned that Thursday was Natasha Lee’s birthday.
"A birthday cake!" Lily had suggested. "Put the powder in a birthday cake, and give it to Natasha in front of the other Slytherin first years. That way, they’ll all share it."
They had decided that none of them could give Natasha the cake, so they enlisted the help of a house elf who had taken quite a liking to Sirius. She promised to deliver the cake to Natasha and Co. as soon as they were alone.
The entire group stayed up all night on Wednesday perfecting the potion and making the cake. They were all exhausted on Thursday, and the fact that the morning classes seemed to drone on and on didn’t seem to help either. But, as soon as classes were dismissed for lunch, everyone felt a sudden surge of energy, and they were all ready for action.
Lily, who was hiding in a nearby room with the rest of her housemates, watched as the house elf delivered the cake, as promised, as Natasha was leaving the Great Hall. Natasha grinned as the elf gave her the cake, telling her it was a birthday present from the kitchen staff. Lily tried her best to suppress a laugh, and James had to clamp both his hands over her mouth to keep her from losing it.
"Shhh!" Remus called, turning around from his look-out post. "Natasha and the others just took the cake into another room. It shouldn’t be long now." He grinned widely, showing how much he was relishing this, a sentiment felt by all.
They decided it would be best to wait a while before checking to see if their plan was a success, as the Brynhild potion takes a few minutes to take effect. When they finally did call on the Slytherins, they found them all passed out on the floor of the room, the birthday cake being half gone.
"Oh this is just too perfect!" Sirius exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "I wish I had brought a camera!"
"It’s a good thing you didn’t," James told him.
"Oh, c’mon James, don’t you wish we had thought to document this momentous occasion?"
"I’m going to let you think about that one for a little bit, Sirius," James told him, taking Peyton Olson by the arms and dragging him over to the rather large coat closet.
Lily started to giggle as she watched the boys dragging all the Slytherins into the closet. It was quite a sight, and as much as she wished she could have taken a picture, she knew what James was saying. Sirius, however, remained clueless.
"Okay, I’m done thinking," he said, laying Garnet McNally down next to poor Natasha, who was easily having the worst birthday of her life.
"Well, that’s good," James said, shutting the closet door. "Hope you didn’t hurt yourself too much."
"Ooh, Mr. Snappy Comeback is at it again," Sirius told him. "So, are you going to fill me in, or are you having too much fun basking in my ignorance?"
James thought about it for a second, then decided to clue in his best friend. "Evidence!" he said, smacking his forehead. "If you take a picture, there will be solid proof floating around that we were the ones who did this, which pretty much destroys our hopes for anonymity."
"Yes, but it would be great to show our grandchildren," Sirius said.
"Okay," Peter interrupted. "We really need to get to class, unless we’re planning on staging a boycott as well."
On the way out the door, Ophelia hesitated and asked, "Do you really think it’s safe to leave them here? What if someone finds them?"
"Ophelia," Remus reassured her as she shut the door behind him, "I have never seen anyone step foot in this room. Well, besides Natasha just now. I’m confident they’re safe."
"And even if someone does in the room, who’s going to think to open the coat closet?" Gabi chimed in.
The group made their way to DADA, where Lily, along with the rest of her class, entered the room in extremely high spirits, not a normal reaction to a test day.
"Where are the Slytherins?" Sundi asked.
"I don’t think they’re coming," Sirius told him, completely straight-faced.
"And why not?" Sundi asked.
"Well, I don’t want to be a snitch or anything," Sirius started, "but they’re still pretty miffed that you’re giving this test, and I overheard them say something about a boycott."
"A what?" Sundi asked rhetorically. He paused and scoffed. "I see. Well, in that case, I guess the curve is going to be a little higher for you all then."
The news of the boycott spread quickly throughout the castle, with most people in shock at actions of the Slytherin first years, who were noticeably missing. Most people figured they were either too scared to face Mortar’s certain wrath or were rather trying to further drive home the boycott. In any event, no one thought it was too strange that they were still missing after dinner.
When they showed up in the middle of the night with the outlandish birthday cake story, Mortar wouldn’t hear it. After all, the Gryffindors weren’t foolish enough to leave the cake in the room, and the house elf vehemently denied giving it to Natasha.
The next morning, all of the talk around the Great Hall was how the Slytherins were too cowardly to fully go through with the boycott, so they had concocted some cockamamie story about a house elf and a poisoned birthday cake. You had to admit, it did sound awfully ridiculous.
The Slytherins, who knew the truth, had vowed revenge, and were acting with such ferocity that the Gryffindors thought it best to avoid them for as long as possible. As much as Sirius had pushed the direct conflict idea, the rest of the group had persuaded him that this wasn’t the best course of action.
The Gryffindors were in remarkably high spirits that Friday, especially Lily. For once, she had gotten a prank right. Their final class before the weekend began was Potions, an already miserable class whose gloom was only intensified by the fact that Mortar had been up the whole night before with an unruly group of first years. Lily felt her good mood sucked right out of her as soon as she walked down the stairs into the dungeons. Mortar was especially harsh with them, assigning the entire class two rolls of parchment just because Peter sneezed. It seemed as if the class would never end, but finally, Mortar dismissed the class and Lily breathed a sigh of relief, beginning to pack up her things.
She joined the rest of her class and started walking toward the stairs that lead back to the main wing of the castle. They were just about to round a corner when they heard voices coming from around the bend.
"Thank you for hearing me out, Professor Dumbledore. I knew you’d believe me. The Gryffindors should still be with Mortar, so you can ask them yourself."
It was Snape.
Lily felt her heart plummet, and she began to panic. She quickly looked around to the rest of the group and saw similar looks of terror. Just then, James quickly turned and started running back down the hallway, with everyone quickly following after him. He stopped at a door just before the Potions room and ran inside. Every filed in after him and James shut the door after them.
Everyone was out of breath and panting, desperately trying to think of a way out of the situation. And that’s when Lily noticed it.
She looked up and gasped. Gabi and Ophelia did the same.
Lily was standing in the middle of the odd, circular black room with no windows.
"We have to get out of here!" she yelled. "Now!" She ran over to the door, but Sirius stopped her and held her back.
"What are you talking about?" he asked in a hushed voice. "We can’t go out there. Dumbledore’s out there."
"You don’t understand," Lily said, trying to free herself from Sirius’ tight grasp. "We can’t stay in this room."
"She’s right," Ophelia added. She brushed past Sirius and ran over to the door. "We’ve been in here before, and we need to get out now. This room is dangerous. We’ll just have to take our chances." She turned the knob, but nothing happened.
"It’s stuck," she said.
Remus went over to help her and started pulling on the door with all his might. The door didn’t budge.
"This isn’t good," he observed.
"What’s going on?" Lily asked. "We were able to leave the last time."
Ophelia bit her bottom lip. "We didn’t shut the door the last time," she said quietly.
At once, it felt like the room started to spin, the turns getting faster and faster until Lily started to feel dizzy. She started screaming and tried to force her eyes to stay open, keeping her stare on her friends, who were also yelling for help. But soon, the wind created by the room proved to be too much and Lily’s eyes were forced shut by the gravitational pull of the room. Lily clamped both her hands over her ears and tucked her head into her chin. She couldn’t breathe. Her head felt like it was about to implode, while her limbs felt like they were about to be torn from her body. Lily didn’t think she could take it much longer.
And then it stopped, just like that.
Lily’s eyes sprang open and she whipped around, shaking and panting. What she saw made her gasp.