章 80: Terraforma
"Damn. We're screwed!" growled Sirius sitting on a couch in the Gryffindor common room.
Only the marauders were in the room, as it was almost midnight, and they were all asleep.
"What shall we do now...?" asked Peter, and everyone automatically looked at James as he always had some solution for everything.
Today, they visited all the greenhouses, but the seeds there were limited it would be impossible to steal them and not be noticed by the professors. They also tried going to the secret room and trying to ask for seeds, but for some reason, it wouldn't fulfill their request. Maybe they were asking for too many seeds.
"Mm..." James found himself thinking of another way to accomplish writing in giant letters on the lawn. Everyone was looking at him expectantly.
"Maybe... Find a spell to dig up the soil and shape the grass. Leaving it brown where the letters are formed," he replied after a few seconds of contemplation.
"That's a good idea. What spell exactly?" asked Sirius impatiently.
"I haven't the slightest idea..." said James, who didn't learn such a spell, as it would be useless for a battle.
"We should go to the library and start looking," suggested Toby.
"No, it's better to go to the room of requirement. If you ask, it will give you the books and save us time," said Lupin, and they all nodded, asking for books did work. At that very moment, they headed for the secret room that they had called the Room of Requirement since it fulfills your wishes to a certain extent.
James used the method of turning around three times. This time asking in his head for charms that cover earth magic. As they entered the room they could see a simple bookshelf with several books, a small round coffee table, and some couches.
"Let's get to work, gentlemen. The night is young," Sirius said as he grabbed the first book and began to read it.
Two hours passed. They each read a book. To their bad luck, no one found a useful charm. They were either too simple or too complicated.
As Sirius was about to complain, Toby spoke up, "I think I found something," he said, and everyone came over and looked at the book he was reading. The charm was as follows:
[Terraform:
This charm is of intermediate difficulty. It allows mages to modify the earth superficially. It affects only the upper layers of the earth, avoiding deep excavations.
To ensure that the shape created remains, the mage must perform an additional charm after sculpting the earth. This charm seals the landform and prevents it from returning to its original grassy state for a specified amount of time.
Warning:
Excessive or improper use could adversely affect the health of the soil. Users are advised to be cautious and considerate so as not to cause irreparable damage.
Wand movement...]
Then, the book explained the specific movement of the wand. The correct pronunciation and a few more tips on how to cast the charm correctly.
"This is what we were looking for!" exclaimed Sirius enthusiastically.
"The Room of Requirement saved us a lot of time..." commented Lupin. If they had gone to the library it would have taken days. If they had this room when they did the 100 dungbomb prank it wouldn't have taken so long to find the book with the damn potion in it.
...
Thursday, May 12, 1972.
It was three days until the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match and about ten days until the Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw match which would be the last quidditch match of the year.
It was getting closer and closer to summer, the days were getting hotter, and the sun was getting stronger. It was also very close to the exams, and now most of the students were studying and revising.
William, the captain of the Gryffindor team looked like a mummy, besides killing himself training (figuratively speaking), he was also in a very important year at Hogwarts and much more difficult than the previous ones.
Lily Evans, it seems, increased her study hours, as she spent all her time in the library or the Gryffindor common room reading her notes or a book. Even James saw her reading while eating breakfast.
Toby, Peter, and Lupin also started studying with much more emphasis, only leaving time for the last big prank.
James had more limited time. Besides studying he had to keep training and reading advanced books to get stronger. He also had Quidditch training. And lastly, he had to leave some free time for the joke. Somehow, he managed it. Mostly by putting studying aside, as he was very smart and knew he would pass anyway.
The only one who seemed out of place was Sirius, who was all day talking about the prank. He was very confident in his intelligence and knew he would pass so he spent time on the prank.
"Listen to me, James. We have to put a hex on the grass or something... Oh, I know! We can make the grass smell putrid, that way they won't be able to concentrate, and they'll score very few points," whispered Sirius near James with an evil grin.
James who had some free time decided to fool around with Sirius.
"That's a good idea...! Should we contact the Joker again?" whispered James. They could buy a lot of dungbombs now that they had over 100 galleons between the two of them.
The two continued talking and exchanging different ideas that they would never put into practice as they chuckled under their breath.
Lupin looked up from his book and rolled his eyes, "Shouldn't they be studying?" he asked in exasperation.
"Don't be a spoilsport, Lupin. The exams are far away. You should be fine," said Sirius. As for Toby and Peter, he thought it was fine for them to start studying now since they weren't as smart as the three of them.
"If you don't get a good grade, your mother will keep sending you vociferous letters..." said Lupin, trying to convince Sirius.
"Tsch, you're right," grunted Sirius, getting up and grabbing a book from the stack next to Lupin.
"What are you going to do?" asked Lupin, looking at James, who had a thoughtful expression.
"Mm. I'll go wander around for a bit," said James, getting up and waving lazily as he walked to the exit of the common room. He had already studied a complicated Defense Against the Dark Arts book. As for exams he wasn't worried.
By wandering, he meant going to the dragon club, but he didn't explicitly say so, as he noticed that the marauders were a bit annoyed that he spent so much time at the club.
'Finally, I'll be able to study in peace...' thought Lupin, looking back down at the book and his notes.
James upon arriving at the clubhouse, noticed that there weren't many people. This was usually the case since there was no specific schedule to keep. As for his relationships with the club members, they didn't improve much.
He only interacted with Erika, Gwen, and a guy named Bob from Hufflepuff, who had a few conversations and dueling practices. As he entered the main hall, he noticed Narcissa Black to his bad luck.
'Why is she always there when I come in?' James thought with a barely visible grimace, whenever he was reading in the club library or the potions room, he always felt the cold stare of Sirius' cousin.
On the table where Narcissa was sitting were a large number of books and parchments. She was studying for exams.
James headed for the library. A Ravenclaw boy was reading at a single table and another table by the window Gwen was reading.
From one of the shelves, he took a book titled 'Updated Counter-Curse Handbook' and walked over to where Gwen was sitting and sat down across from her. He opened the book to the page where he had left off and began to read silently.
Fifteen minutes later, Gwen looked up, and looking at James, said, "Now won't you say hello to me?"
"I saw you concentrating too hard on the book," replied James, turning to the next page. He was almost certain that, if he interrupted her reading, Gwen would have been annoyed anyway.
"That book isn't a first year. Shouldn't you be studying for exams?" asked Gwen.
"I am up to date. I'll study later. Right now, I'm reading as a hobby," replied James.
"If you have so much free time. Have you deciphered the message on the silver bracelet yet?" asked Gwen, looking at James with narrowed eyes.
Hearing this, James grimaced slightly. He had completely forgotten about that matter. It had been several days since Gwen had been telling him to start trying to decipher the message on the silver bracelet she had given him.
He didn't have time on his hands to start studying ancient runes.
If it had been anyone else he'd send it to hell, but he couldn't do it with her.
"I'm on it... it's harder than I thought... you are a genius to be able to write such a message," lied James, trying to praise her so she wouldn't find out.
"You're lying," said Gwen, who didn't let herself be cajoled by the praise.
"That's rude," said James, trying to sound indignant and angry.
"Then look at me," said Gwen as James was watching the scenery out the window.
James looked at her and their eyes met, "When you lie, you don't look at me. Plus, your fingers on your right hand gently tap the table," Gwen added as she explained the reasons why she believed James was lying.
'What the hell...?' thought James, surprised by such a revelation. Even he didn't know that he gently tapped the table when he lied.
"I'm right, aren't I?" said Gwen with a slightly triumphant smile as she noticed James' shocked expression.
"How do you know that?" asked James with a raised eyebrow.
"Watching you. How else? That's not the point! You'd better get to looking up the meaning of the bracelet," growled Gwen.
"Fine, fine. I will," said James quickly. He could only backtrack now that his lie was uncovered.
"Hey, James!" greeted a voice. Turning his head, he noticed it was Bob the third-year Hufflepuff boy.
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