Drowning in Books...

[Kaleb Bane]

Kaleb was bored out of his mind. Friday... That meant no classes for him. He was also both excited and very nervous. Nervous for his second flying lesson, and excited for his second potions. Naturally, when these two thoughts meet in Kaleb's head the first thing he thought of was potions to remove fear.
Kaleb could hardly imagine climbing up a ladder, let alone riding a broomstick...

As he walked into the library, Kaleb immediately headed for the Potions section. He had already checked his own Potion books, yet found nothing of use... He pulled a total of four books out from the shelves at once and started flicking through the pages in unison, looking for something to suit his needs...
There were some potions that did catch his eye, though...

Flipping through the pages, Kaleb instantly became caught up in some of the more... prohibited... potions. Not because they were dangerous to use, but because they were incredibly embarassing or annoying to who they were used on...
Prank potions! Kaleb's mind was instantly drifting from his fears and now all he could think of was how an obnoxious slytherin would react to some of these...

 

[Margo Liddell]

Margo Little was a muggle born, and as such knew very little about the Magical world. It was precisely for this reason that the young girl had decided to head to the library that gray afternoon. The first year got lost a couple times on the way to the library, but remained unfazed. Margo loved exploring the giant castle and merely looked at getting lost as an opportunity to do some exploring. Eventually the tiny girl found her way and entered the library musing over what books she wanted to check out.

The library was huge! Margo's heart soared at seeing such a collection of books. Perhaps it was because of her adventurous side that the tiny Gryffindor so loved books (in books you could adventure anywhere in the world!) but whatever the cause she was glad she had decided to come to the library. Margo spent nearly and hour just wandering through the shelves, enjoying the booky smell and reading different titles before finally arriving in the Magical history section. Margo retrieved Hogwarts, A History and a book about the early history of the magical community from the shelves and made her way to the librarian to check them out.

Margo would have left the library then, and was about to when she spotted a boy she recognized both from the sorting ceremony and her common room. Another Gryffindor in her year! Margo just had to introduce herself. With her books under her arm the young girl headed toward the table the boy was reading at. As somewhat of a bookworm Margo felt a little bad for disturbing the boy at his reading, but could not resist the temptation to get to know one of her housemates. Margo tucked a stray strand of her long chestnut hair away before clearing her throat as politely as she could manage. With the warm smile Margo began to speak, "Hello, I'm sorry to bother you, but I recognized you from our common room and I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Margo Liddell. What were you reading?"

 

[Kaleb Bane]

Kaleb had just been studying the inredients of a recipe for Babbling Beverage in one of his books, and a forgetfulness potion in another. Kaleb seemed to have a sort of Photographic memory for potion recipes, so luckily these weren't getting mixed up. These potions could be used for some seriously funny results... If they were timed with the right dosages, and used in conjunction to a timed antidote to their effect then these would make amazing pranks, with little long-term effects!

Kaleb was just taking out his notebook, where he kept a list with recipes of potions that intreigued him, and had just started to write down the recipes of the potions with their possible uses when he was startled by a voice behind him. turning around he saw a girl he recognised from the sorting and around the dorms. She seemed to be a first year, so Kaleb guessed she must be in some of his classes too.

"Umm... I'm Kaleb. Kaleb Bane." He said, hesitating to answer about the books he was reading. But then he thought, Why not?, and decided to not leave her suspicious. "I was just reading some books on potions... I find them intriguing, how such diverse substances can do such different things when used together and prepared in a very specific way... " he said, hoping she wouldn't notice what he had already started to write down and report him to their Head of House. It wasn't that he was scared of being in trouble. It was just he didn't want it to be because of potions. that'd make it harder to get away with it afterwards if he tried a different potion...

 

[Margo Liddell]

"Nice to meet you Kaleb." Margo replied with a friendly smile taking a seat at the table. She put her own books to the side, resting her elbows on top of them an propping her chin up on her hands. The boy across from her seemed nervous about something and Margo sincerely hoped it wasn't to do with her. She was wondering what could be the matter when he started to tell her about potions. From the way he spoke it was clear to her that this boy liked potions. Alot.

Margo had noticed the boys notebook and was making a conscious effort not to be nosy though she desperately wanted to know what Kaleb had been writing when she approached. His nervousness still confused her. Maybe he was shy? She didn't think so though. So what could it be she thought to herself. Determined to befriend the boy Margo started talking about potions. Passion was something Margo understood, and knew that when someone started talking about something she was passionate about all her other thoughts vanished and she could talk for ages. She hoped talking about potions would work similarly with this boy.

"Potions seem pretty cool. I don't really know much about them. Well, actually, I know next to nothing about potions, but I'm excited to learn," she amended, still trying very hard to keep her green eyes from wandering to his notebook. Margo mentally scolded herself before going on, "What all can potions do? Got anything in that book of yours that can stop an annoying Slytherin from calling me shrimp every time I walk by?" A wide grin split the young girls face in two as she imagined using a potion to make that nasty Slytherin boy shrink down to the size of a toddler.

 

[Kaleb Bane]

"Actually, I've probably got a few things..." He said in reply to the girl's question. his worries lost in intrigue, he revealed one of the potions he'd been looking at. "How about this? Babbling beverage. Give him this soon before he sees you and anything he says will be random nonsense." He said, finding the page and showing Margo an image of the effects. "Or... How about one to makehim as small as a shrimp? I haven't looked into this one much but supposedly it just makes the target shrink." he says, flicking to a page in his other book.
As he showed her the books, Kaleb realised how easily she had managed to make him forget his fears... If only she could do that for flying. If only he had a spare forgetfulness potion...

 

[Margo Liddell]

Margo smiled, thrilled that the boys nerves had seemed to vanish. She leaned over to get a better look as Kaleb showed her a spell. Nodding at the first one she said, "Yeah, that might be good, but I'd have to wait until there were a lot of people around him for it to be really effective, and that might be risky. I'd need an accomplice probably." At the second potion Margo's eyes lit up and a huge smile appeared on her face. "Oh Kaleb, that one's perfect!" she exclaimed. "That's exactly what I was picturing. You must be a mind reader! You're absolutely brilliant! Do you suppose you could help me learn how to make that?" Margo gushed, not quite believing her luck.

"Can you imagine, HE calls me a shrimp, and then shrinks down to be even smaller than me! It would be a marvelous prank! I do so love a good prank!" Margo said loudly. Suddenly realizing how loud she had been Margo clapped her hands over her mouth, looking around to make sure no one else had heard her. "You won't tell anyone will you?" she whispered, "I don't want to get in trouble my second week here."

 

[Kaleb Bane]

When Kaleb realised that she was serious about making a Slytherin stop calling her shrimp his face lit up. If they actually pulled this off, it would be amazing... "Well, I could help with the accomplice thing. I love pranks, especially if they involve potions!" he said, wondering how they would be able to pull it off. "You know, I would absolutely love to help you with this. If you'd like, instead of just teaching you how to make it, I could help you make it and prepare it for use?" He said, attempting a slight puppy-dog eye look.

"No, I wouldn't tell anyone. You're a Gryffindor and something like that would make us all look bad. Anyway, I've already agreed to help you so I could get in a tonne of trouble anyway." He said, when he had started jotting down the recipe for the Shrinking Solution. He didn't write the recipe down, as it was already stored in him memory. Instead he jotted down the list of ingredients and left a column for how they'd be able to source the ingredients. "If we pull this off, this will be awesome! I'm really glad to have met you, I'd been hoping to find someone to do some pranking with... This prank, like all good ones, will take quite a bit of preparation..." He said, Filling in some of the rows. two of the five ingredients (lucky for them, this was a relatively easy potion in terms of ingredients) were quite easy to source. Caterpillars and Daisies. The daisies coulc be found anywhere on the grounds, and for the Caterpillars they just had to find a swan plant or look in the Herbology department...

"You know, to avoid suspicions, we may need a few accomplices. We don't have Herbology until next semester... We may need a help of a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. I'll see if my friend, Isla, can source the daisies and Caterpillars. Maybe she could also get her hands on the Shrivelfig..."
He said, stuck in thought.

 

[Margo Liddell]

Margo saw the other Gryffindor's face suddenly transform as she went on about pranking that nasty Slytherin boy who was so incredibly rude to her. The thing about Margo was that she tended to hold grudges. While generally a very nice, warm hearted girl, the young Gryffindor was not one to be crossed. Margo could make friends with a brick wall, but once you got on her bad side, that's where you tended to stay, and to Margo, the only good revenge there was to being crossed was a brilliant prank. This had never been more apparent than when her dad married her step-mother Mindy. Margo had hated Mindy, once her mothers best friend, for trying to take her mothers place, and had pranked the woman mercilessly. It was because of this that Margo had been sent to New Zealand to live with her Great Aunt.

Margo, however, had not learned her lesson, and thought of none of this, instead happily plotting the mean boys demise. When Kaleb offered to help her Margo grinned in an impish way, her green eyes flashing with mischief and delight. She laughed at his puppy-dog eyes and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Don't be silly Kaleb, I'd love for you to help. I'm so dense right now when it comes to potions there no way I could pull this off on my own. Besides, we're friends now. You have no choice, " Margo stated, shooting Kaleb a mock serious look.

Relief swept over the young girl when her new friend promised not to tattle on her. She had figured he wouldn't, but it never hurt to be safe. Nodding her head in agreement with what Kaleb had said Margo replied, "That's right, we're partners in crime now. All for one and one for all and such." At his next words, Margo decided to share and idea that had been forming in her mind ever since that fateful Saturday afternoon on the Great Lawn. "Speaking of doing some pranking.... I've been thinking of forming a little band of mischief makers if you'd like to join. We pull this off and it'll be easy to recruit new members to our group." She mused, just assuming that Kaleb would be interested in the idea. He certainty seemed like the type.

Margo smiled as Kaleb dove into his preparations. She admired his dedication and was glad to have someone so focused on her team. He seemed careful too, which was good when you were trying to pull off a prank. She was about to make some suggestions when Kaleb said they'd need more accomplices, but he beat her to it. "oh! I've met Isla. Do you think she'd be up for helping us?" Margo questioned.

 

[Kaleb Bane]

Kaleb's mouth fell open as Margo mentioned the idea of founding a Pranking group. "Are you serious? That'd be awesome!" He said, clearly excited. The potion itself was a slightly tricky one, so he wanted to maybe refresh some of the potion making standards in potions class before actually getting into it... "Hey, just wondering... how serious do you want the potion? As in, should we have the effect wear off shortly after, or should we have it a really long time, so that he'd have to be taken to the hospital wing to be restored?" He said, slightly malicious thoughts going through his head. he didn't want to have them too evil, cause that wasn't what pranking was about...

"Really? She seems to know everybody... Well, hopefully having two friends wanting the same thing will make her more likely to help us out. Maybe she could even join our little pranking gang?" He said, a mischievous grin resting upon his mouth.

 

[Margo Liddell]

Margo laughed, happy to see Kaleb's excitement. She probably would have reacted the exact same way had their roles been reversed. "I'm seriously serious," Margo replied, her voice filled with amusement. Margo enjoyed being around Kaleb, he seemed to get just as excited about things as she did.

Margo thought for a moment about the potion when Kaleb asked her how serious she wanted it to be. While a small part of her would have loved to really teach the Slytherin a lesson he would never forget, Margo usually kept her pranks somewhat light hearted. Despite the mean boy's poor treatment of her, she did not want to seriously injure him. She also did not want to get in any serious trouble.

"Hmmm..." Margo replied, buying some time as she thought, "Well, it's probably best to make it short term, though Lord knows it would be sweet justice for him to have to stay small for awhile. That way, if it wears off quickly it'll be harder to prove it happened. Also, we need to be clever, spread the responsibility out and such so none of us can get in any serious trouble. I don't want to get kicked out of Hogwarts in my first year." Margo explained, hoping Kaleb would not be too disappointed. Margo's emerald eues were thoughtful as they discussed Isla, "I hope she'll do it," she said, slightly worried. Margo knew most people were not as flippant about the rules as she was. "Of course Isla could join if she wanted to! The more the merrier!" Margo answered Kaleb

 

[Kaleb Bane]

Kaleb nodded, thougtfully. Everything Margo said was completely true. "I agree. I think the more people we have in our little group, the better pranks we can do. We don't want too many, though... it should be a quiet thing. the more other students know of the group, the more Professors might." He said, wanting to make sure the group doesn't get found out that easily. "Getting kicked out of Hogwarts this soon would be terrible..."

"So... How do you think we could persuade her to join?" He said, trying to decide the easiest way to lure Isla in.

 

[Margo Liddell]

Margo nodded thoughtfully to Kaleb, glad that her new partner in crime was also clever. "That's a good point. We'll have to try and make everyone swear to secrecy as well.... sign a pact or something," Margo replied, pondering the ways in which they could help keep their little band of troublemakers a secret.

Margo gave Kaleb's question about Isla some thought, resting her chin on her hand before responding. "Well, I don't know Isla all that well yet. Do you know how she is about rules? Maybe if we both asked her together she'd be more likely to say yes?"