stain ☾ remus lupin

THIRTYSEVEN

V E N I
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Pitch black darkness painted the vast, arched window of the classroom due to the late time. If she tilted her head ever so slightly towards the right - the glowing, white orb in the night sky could be seen through the tinted glass. As if an unknown artist had accidentally dropped an unexpected dot of ivory paint among the ebony, and it did not belong.

James occasionally sighed as he looked out the window and imagined what his friends were doing on the very grounds of Hogwarts. The full moon reflected onto the lens of his glasses, a small, insignificant (but so terribly significant to them) dot to the right of either eye.

To their astonishment and relief, Dumbledore's only punishment for the prank was two weeks' worth of detention. Part of Freya wondered if she would ever see the elderly wizard lose his temper. He always seemed to keep a level minded attitude, but held a certain natural authority in his voice.

The meeting in his office was a rather awkward explanation of muffins, plans, and spells. The man seemed quite surprised and skeptical about the rain from the ceiling. When they explained, he simply stated, "Well thank you for telling me that, Mr. Potter, you have made me realize our Great Hall's exquisite ceiling may need another enchantment or two."

Also surprisingly, not many students were angry over their prank. On the contrary, Mark Lydrenburg, a seventh year Ravenclaw, came up to her earlier that afternoon to compliment the prank. A fourth year Gryffindor even asked to be included next time.

The entire group that had been involved with the prank was assigned different detention locations for the following two weeks, but James and Freya were given an extra day for the muffin incident.

So there the two sat in the midst of different decorative trinkets and checklists as Slughorn surveyed the dishes they now polished.

Just as James used Slughorn's turned back as an advantage to make ridiculous faces with Freya in the freshly polished pot, a loud crash sounded from outside the borrowed, empty classroom.

"What was that?" The teacher questioned himself curiously.

Another loud bang filled the room and he turned to them, as if suddenly remembering their presence, "Merlin's beard! Too loud for thunder, don't you think?"

This time, a muffled scream travelled down the castle's corridors and James's hand maneuvered to his pocketed wand in the blink of an eye. Freya caught his gaze, and the boy took the pot off of his lap and stood from where he had been sitting cross legged on the floor.

"Definitely not thunder," he whispered and nudged his glasses further up the bridge of his nose out of habit.

A peck on the glass of the window that boasted the moon caused Freya to jump. To their relief, all that could be seen was an owl, with a piece of paper clenched inside its beak. Slughorn seemed to realize it was for him, and he unlatched the window slowly before pushing it up only enough to let the owl fly through.

A thud could be heard, though no one in the room knew the location of where the noises were coming from.

"Professor?" Freya asked as the teacher's eyes scanned the note, "Don't you think we should check on whoever screamed?"

"The scream," he repeated without notice, eyes still on the note. Finally, he placed the paper onto the windowsill beside the owl that had brought it. "I need you two to stay in this room. I mean it."

"Stay here?" Freya questioned as if it were a joke, her eyes strolled over to the letter and she pushed away the desire to cross the room and nosily grant the knowledge of the note upon herself.