"Let�s go?" James suggested, but Sirius had a rather mischievous twinkle in his eye and he knew that they would not be leaving soon, at least without causing some sort of trouble . . . Sirius walked over to the stunned Malfoy and gave him a dirty look, "James, we just can�t leave Mr. Malfoy stunned now can we? What if he goes running off to Slytherin?"
Shrugging, and judging by the look on his friend�s face, James did not bother suggesting anything, for he was already sure that Sirius had planned Malfoy�s treatment. Sure enough, Sirius raised his wand. "Obviate!" he called, waving his wand, and erasing the memory of the Gryffindors� presence in the library from the other�s mind.
Sirius stood back to admire his handiwork, but James sounded rather nervous, "Can we go now?" Without waiting for Sirius�s response, he threw the cloak over both of them, explaining, "We never know when someone may come around. We can�t get caught here, now can we?" To his relief, Sirius nodded in agreement, and they left the library, leaving Malfoy there to wake up after the effects of the stunning charm had worn off, and to explain his presence.
Just as they were pushing open the door, James suddenly stopped and pointed to a lone figure in the darkened hall before them. Surprised, Sirius recognized Professor Slytherin and whispered harshly, "What�s he doing up so late? I would bet my date to the Yule Ball that he�s up to no good!" He paused and glanced at his friend, a crazy idea forming his head. James�s eyes filled with horror as he watched Professor Slytherin descend into the dungeons, "Sirius! We can�t follow him! Do you know how much trouble we�d be in if we were caught?!"
Sirius shrugged, "Come on, James, adventure. Old Hoggywarts can be pretty boring, and I�ll bet it�ll be fun!" Before waiting for a response, Sirius started to walk towards the staircase down which Professor Slytherin had disappeared, but then, he was struck by a sudden thought.
He suddenly tugged on James�s arm. "Wait! We can�t go yet! We still have to do something!" Doubling back, he ran into the darkened library, leaving his extremely tense friend under the Invisibility Cloak. Fortunately, Sirius returned a few seconds later carrying a pair of green-tinted glasses. James offered him a questioning look, but Sirius just shrugged, "We can�t let Malfoy keep these, now can we?"
The delicate scales tipped with the addition of the small golden lion fish�s quill and Adhara Sinistra screamed with frustration. She could not measure out exactly half a dozen grams of quills for her rather strange potions lab, requiring the making of a Queer Concoction. Her large golden cat curled herself around Adhara�s feet as she carefully replaced a rather large quill with a smaller one, causing the scales to swing back into balance.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Adhara quickly poured her carefully measured ingredient into her pewter caldron which already contained a rather bubbly bright green potion, slowly simmering over an even flame. With the application of a small self-stirring charm, Adhara picked up her cat and left the potions dungeon for the darkened hallways of Hogwarts.
Even in the brightness of noon, the innards of the old castle were always the darkest and appeared threatening to those who did not belong here. But Adhara knew that the extremes of the magical world were right for her, both the darker art of potions, as well as the brilliant study of astronomy. Of course, she and those of her house, Slytherin, felt completely at home in the dungeons, however, those of the rival house shunned this place and dared not linger longer than necessary.
Her cat wiggled and meowed in her arms, just as Adhara was tapping a magical stone which could, with a little help from a password, reveal the gateway into Slytherin Tower. Turning to her cat, she laughed, "Just a little longer, Miti, and we�ll be able to get some sleep." Indeed, she smiled, Mitochondria was the perfect name for her cat, who seemed a little too energetic at times.
"Adhara?!" She jumped slightly and turned in surprise to see Professor Slytherin, one of her favorite professors, hurrying towards her. It was rather late, past midnight. Adhara frowned, what did he want? Sealing up the entrance to Slytherin Tower, nervous jitters ran a course through her mind, what was so urgent? Maybe he didn�t like her last potions lab report . . . Taking a deep breath, her voice shaking, Adhara asked, "Yes, Professor?"
Slowing his pace a little, Professor Slytherin smiled, "I�m so glad I found you, Adhara! Who are you going to the Yule Ball with?" She frowned, this was a rather odd question. Cautiously, Adhara replied, "Not anyone at the present moment, Professor."
"Are you busy tomorrow night?" She shook her head, and he continued, as pleased as ever, "I�m sure you know about the Halloween party in the Slytherin common room tomorrow night and I�m sure you�re going. I think I�ve found the perfect one to compliment your wondrous academic talents. Well, he�s great at Potions and Transfiguration, not to mention Arithmancy . . . Yes, he�s extremely wonderful and he shall be at the party tomorrow night. You must have had some classes with him . . ."
"Professor?" Adhara interrupted, still frowning, slightly confused. "Who are you talking about?" He paused, as if considering her question, but then laughed, "Of course, I haven�t told you whom this is . . . Thuband, you know of him, don�t you? But you�ll know soon enough, and I�ve already talked with him. I do believe that we are permitted to assume that -"
"I�ll see," She sighed, agreeing not from her own interests, but purely just to please Professor Slytherin, "I�ll see what he�s like and after tomorrow night I will be able to see if he is really so �compatible� as he may seem."
"Thanks," Professor Slytherin smiled, "I�m sure that I have not been mistaken." He turned and walked down the hallway, blending into the darkness of Hogwarts castle. Adhara sighed, and glanced down at the cat in her arms, "Well, Miti, I just said I�ll see, so that isn�t anything firm . . . I don�t really want to do this, but if Professor Slytherin thinks that . . ."
Touching her wand to the wall once more, she opened the passage to Slytherin Tower and walked into the dimmed common room. Pausing to stare at the roaring fire, a dark, foreboding shadow leaned over her shoulder, and Adhara frowned, unsure of her decision to meet with Thuband. But how was she to decide?
"I�ll ask Madam Promfrey tomorrow morning," She concluded, referring to the kindly Hogwarts school matron, who had taken a liking to Adhara and looked out for her while she was away from home. Adhara sighed, and turned to Miti, "She�ll be able to direct me onto the correct path."
Despite her plan, thousands of misgivings flooded through her, concerning the party tomorrow . . . but she shook them off. "After all," Adhara whispered to herself, "Doesn�t Professor Slytherin always know best?"
"Stop!" James hissed and grabbed Sirius�s arm flinging him off balance, "That�s enough. We�ve already found out what he�s going to do. A Slytherin party, �eh?" Walking towards Gryffindor Tower, Sirius rubbed his arm and stuck his wand back into his pocket, "So, why would we care if there�s a Slytherin party, James? We�re Gryffindors. We have our own celebration with the rest of the school in the Great Hall . . ."
His friend laughed rather loudly, and Sirius glanced around and found that, fortunately, they were alone. "Sure, the rest of the school will go to the Great Hall, except for the Slytherins and four others." Sirius gulped, already sure where this conversation was destined to arrive at, "James, what do you mean, four?"
With a small password, the portrait before Gryffindor Tower swung open, and Sirius clambered inside, followed by James who was grinning. Unlike the dark hallways outside of the tower, the Gryffindor Common Room was bright with the soft light of many pleasantly laughing fires, sending flickering shadows along the stone walls. At one of the scattered tables, scrolls of homework were stacked neatly, nearly hiding the pretty, red-haired Gryffindor from view.
James walked over, a bright smile on his face, "Hi Lily! Still studying?" She looked up in surprise and glanced at Sirius who turned to head up to bed. "Hey Sirius!" James called again, "Come back over here. We still have to talk about how we�re going to get into the Slytherin Halloween party . . ."
"What?!" Lily gasped, frowning at both James and Sirius, pushing away a piece of parchment on which she was completing her Arithmancy homework, "You two are going to a Slytherin party? But we�re all Gryffindors!"
Sirius frowned, backing away from Lily�s table, "I�ve been trying to tell him that. James, I�m not, and I�m sure both Remus and Peter shall agree with me, going over to the Slytherin Commons Room to stir up trouble. You know what Professor Dippit declared, I rather enjoy it here at Hogwarts . . ."
"Oh, don�t worry, Sirius," James laughed, walking over to the staircase that lead to the boys� dormitories, "It will keep your mind off Lily and the Yule Ball. Besides, we�re not going over to cause any mischief . . ."
"Then what are we going to do?" Sirius pushed open the door to their dormitory and looked warily at his friend, but James grinned proudly, "We�re going to give those dirty Slytherins a Halloween party they�ll never forget!"