"Today is your last day of punishment, and you are so close. I didn't think you would manage to sort and classify all these ingredients in only 2 weeks. Well done," said Slughorn, looking at James, who had just arrived in his office.
"Thank you, professor. It's thanks to your guidance," said James respectfully, as Slughorn had helped him when he couldn't find an ingredient in the book or saved him time looking it up.
"Modesty is good, but not too much. Get on with the work. You have an hour," Slughorn said, pleased with James' attitude.
James walked over to the two tables where he had been working for the past two weeks. One of the tables was already empty. The other table had only a few ingredients. He estimated that in about 30 to 40 minutes he would be able to finish.
'I gotta wait for the guys to arrive....' thought James as he began to sort the ingredients at a slow pace.
Ten minutes passed, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. James continued to work at a slow pace, as he waited for his friends to arrive.
Fifteen minutes later, James began to grow impatient, 'What's taking them so long...?' he thought.
Finally, at the thirty-minute mark, since the punishment began, someone knocked hurriedly on the door. Slughorn looked up from the papers he was correcting.
Knock, knock.
Again there was an impatient knock at the door. Slughorn got up from his chair and opened the door, "Student Sirius? What happened? Why do you have that look on your face?" asked Slughorn, seeing Sirius, who had a frightened expression and pale complexion.
"P-professor it's bad! Lupin is hurt in the Potions classroom!" said Sirius, stuttering and nervous. James looked at his friend and had to hold back his laughter.
'He's a very good actor,' thought James.
"What!? What exactly happened?" asked Slughorn, believing Sirius' performance.
"We were practicing the Flipendo spell in the Potions room and I inadvertently... got a bit out of hand and sent him flying into the wall," explained Sirius as he acted nervously and looked down and up.
"The Flipendo spell? Come on. We have to get him to the infirmary," Slughorn said quickly, "I'll be back in a bit," he said, looking at James for a second and leaving his office as he hurriedly closed the door.
James, who was finally alone in the office, went to a corner where he had already looked at the ingredients he needed. He pulled a bag out of his robe and stuffed all the ingredients in there.
Knock, knock.
"Who is it?" asked James.
"I-it's me, P-peter."
He opened the door and saw that it was indeed his friend who always acted like he had ants biting him all over his body, "Here you go. Take the bag to our room, go quickly," said James, passing the bag to Peter who quickly left the place.
After fifteen minutes, Slughorn returned to his office. James just finished ordering all the ingredients.
"Is Lupin doing okay?" asked James in a concerned tone. He had to keep up the act, as Lupin and Sirius were his friends, and it would be strange if he didn't ask anything.
"Yes, he only lost consciousness and had minor wounds," said Slughorn sighing for all the trouble this group of friends caused.
"You taught them the Knockback Jinx?" added Slughorn, looking at James.
"Yes...when they saw me use it against the Slytherin students they were all day convincing me to teach them," said James, scratching his head.
"It's good for students to learn on their own during free time, but they have to be careful," said Slughorn.
"Sorry..." said James.
"It's not your fault. You just need to keep it in mind. Anyway, you've done well. It's rare for first-year students to know that jinx at this time of year. I see you've finished tidying and sorting," said Slughorn, approaching the table and seeing everything very tidy.
"I'll take care of putting it away. You can go. Your punishment is done," said Slughorn as he looked at the ingredients and nodded in satisfaction. James said goodbye to the professor, and as he closed the office door, he began to walk hurriedly towards the Gryffindor common room.
"Password?" asked the portrait of the fat lady.
"Fortis eques," said James, and the portrait opened letting him through. Arriving in the common room, he didn't see Sirius and Peter anywhere, 'They must be in the dormitory,' he thought walking up the stairs.
As he entered the first thing he noticed was Sirius' winning smile. Next to him was Peter with a more relaxed expression as everything went well. As they were on the subway floor he could have run into Slytherin students and the cowardly Peter didn't like that idea at all.
"Did everything go well?" asked James, although he already knew the answer.
"Perfect. This what ingredient is it?" asked Sirius, pulling a small vial with a violet powder in it out of the bag. James had already explained the recipe for the potion to them and they didn't need this ingredient.
"Octopus powder. It's used to increase the strength of potions," James replied with a big smile, and Sirius started laughing.
"Imagine if they grow flowers up to their waists, like girls!" said Sirius in a good mood.
"Won't Professor Slughorn notice what he's missing? I understand octopus powder isn't that normal," said Peter.
"Don't worry. He had a large amount. I don't think he'll notice and if he does he has no proof that I stole it. I'm sure he'll think he lost it or something," said James not giving it a thought. James had ordered hundreds of ingredients. It was very hard for him to notice anything missing.
Breaking the rules was a fun thing to do, and even more so when you had friends who followed you. In his previous life, he always followed his family's rules to the letter and he never got to do fun things.
"Is Lupin alright?" asked James.
"Yes, he must stay in the infirmary to do the act. Madame Poppy won't let him off that easy," replied Sirius, "Don't you have practice with the team?"
"I almost forgot! See ya!" said James, seeing that it was time and quickly leaving the room.
Practice with the team went well. James was treated very well by all the members, they didn't even make him do the props duty and wanted him to concentrate on training, so he was like a teammate.
Alex, the seventh-year seeker, started to train him personally, giving him many useful tips to be a successful seeker, something that was very useful for James.
When the training was over, he headed to the big dining room with all the team members for dinner. Where he met Sirius, Peter, and the recovered Lupin, who had a band-aid on his nose.
They talked about whether they should make the potion when they got back to the dormitory, but James refused. He was too tired, he had been going back and forth all day without being able to rest at any point. He preferred to play a few games of Exploding Snap and then go to bed.
They decided to brew the potion tomorrow, and Monday would be the day of the prank, as James had to concentrate on teaching Mary and Toby. He didn't want another week of detention when he had already completed Slughorn's punishment.