The Wolf and the Raven

Ch 8 - Operation: BugFest

A/N: I may have taken some liberties with the Geminio/BettleButton spells, but I hope I will be forgiven for the sake of a bit of humour :)

Sunday was spent in the library. Remus and Branwen diligently pored over their homework while James and Sirius mostly fought aerial battles with paper birds. Peter alternated copying from Remus' work and cheering on James' avian pilots. When shadows finally claimed the whole of the library, James stood and stretched his arms above his head. "All right. Time to implement Stage 1 of Operation: BugFest."

"Just to be clear, I never agreed on that name," Remus scrambled to stuff his supplies into his bag and catch up with his friends.

When they entered the common room, a number of students were still hanging about. Those who had finished their homework were playing Exploding Snaps or wizard chess. In one corner, Lily and Marlene were painting each other's nails with polish that sparkled whenever they moved their fingers. Other students, like Frank Longbottom, were furiously scribbling out the remainder of essays due the next day. Branwen and the boys cut through the room and headed straight for their dorm.

"Wait, I can't go up there," Branwen whispered. "When Lily tried to sneak Severus up into the girls' dorm, the stairs turned into a slide."

"Evans snuck who up?!" James, already halfway up the stairs, came clambering back down.

"Forget about it, mate,"Sirius grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him back up. "Stay down there, Bran," he said over his shoulder.

She looked around to see if anyone was paying attention, but everyone in the room was too absorbed in their own activities to care about the group of younger students. She thought she saw Lily glance their way, but her eyes were soon back on Marlene's blue nails.

James and Sirius positioned themselves at the top landing, while Remus and Peter stayed behind. "Ready, lads?"

As one they quietly chanted, "Wingardium leviosa!" Branwen found herself rising from the ground, then zipping up the dark stairwell. She landed with a thud on top of her brother. Remus and Peter came running up behind. "Did it work?" Peter puffed.

"No, mate, she's still down there," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Now," he crawled across the floor, reaching under his four-poster bed, "James and I caught these five beetles yesterday; one for each of us. Just turn it into a button, then replicate it a bunch of times. Then we'll set them at the table tonight so they'll be ready for the morning."

James suddenly grinned. "I nominate Branwen to put them on the table."

"James, no," Remus said in a low voice. "That's the most dangerous part. You know that whoever's caught at the scene of the crime is most likely to get punished."

"It will be sort of an initiation, then," James waved his hand carelessly.

Branwen leaned forward. "I'll do it. But I want to use Dad's cloak."

"No way! That makes it too easy! You have do it the hard way if you want to be one of us." He frowned and crossed his arms, Sirius and Peter following suit. Remus seemed to have been suddenly captivated by a particularly ordinary looking whorl in the grain of the wood floor. "Well, it's three to one," James said. "No cloak."

It was long past midnight when the seven baskets were nearly overflowing. Peter was already snoring from his bed, and Sirius' wand dangled from his fingers as he yawned and rubbed his eyes. Remus was still tapping buttons, but now had a book balanced in his other hand.

"Is this enough yet?" Branwen groaned.

"Yes!" James, though bleary-eyed, managed an enthusiastic fist pump. "This'll show them."

"Woo," Sirius grunted as his wand slipped from his hand. "I'm going to bed. Good luck with all that, Branwen." He dragged himself up and crawled under his covers.

"'Night, Bon-Bon," James shuffled toward the bathroom.

Once the door was shut, Remus looked up from his book. "Psst. Branwen."

She glanced up from where she was stacking the baskets. "Hmm?"

He dropped the book and lifted the skirt around his bed. "Get under here."

"What are you talking about?" She crawled over on all fours.

"James sleeps with the cloak under his pillow. If you wait under here, I'll give you a signal when he's asleep. Trust me, you won't get caught if you're using the cloak."

Branwen's face lit up. "Thanks Rem!"

As James' shadow approached the threshold of the bathroom door, she shimmied under the bed. Remus shoved the button baskets in after her and dropped the skirt just as the door opened. "Bran go to bed?" James mumbled.

"Yes."

"M'kay. G'night Remus."

"Night, James."

Branwen felt the top of her hiding place dip down as Remus climbed onto his bed above her. A second later, everything went dark. The warm rug under the bed was surprisingly comfortable and she nearly drifted off waiting for Remus' signal. She woke with a start when his wand poked under the bed, alight with the Lumos spell.

They were silent as Branwen wiggled out from the bed. Remus held his wand aloft, lighting her way as she crept to her brother's bed, slid her hand beneath the pillow, and pulled out the silvery cloak. She gave Remus a thumbs-up.

Draping the cloak over her shoulder, she gathered up the baskets and ran to the stairwell. It turned into a slide as soon as her foot touched the top stair and she let out a quiet gasp. Remus jumped out of bed and pointed his wand down the stairwell. "Are you okay?" he shouted in a whisper.

"Yes. Goodnight Remus! And thank you!"

He sighed, returned to his bed, and extinguished his wand.

Despite her late night and fitful sleep, Branwen was up before dawn. Balancing all the baskets and managing to keep the Invisibility Cloak draped over herself, she crept into the Great Hall. The ceiling-sky was a pearl grey, lending a soft, misty light to the empty interior. It was an odd sensation to see those long wooden tables vacant. It was like seeing an empty train station or church hall; it had a lingering sense of needing to be filled.

She shuffled slowly, willing her footsteps not to echo on the flagstone floor. Moving at this meticulous speed, she set the baskets in intervals on the table beneath the green, serpent banners.

She then quickly made her way back to her dorm room so that Alice could see her getting out of bed (and possibly vouch for her later). The two girls joined up with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter on the way to breakfast. "Did you do it?" James whispered.

She nodded, winking at Remus when her brother's head turned.

It was obvious that Branwen had succeeded when they entered the Great Hall and saw the buttons flooding the Slytherin table. Some of the students were picking them up and turning them over curiously, but the majority simply ignored them, too tired or too caught up in last minute homework to care about the odd addition to their breakfast spread.

All five Gryffindor friends sat on the same side of the table, waiting for James' cue to act.

Finally, Lucius Malfoy approached, grabbed up a handful of buttons, and allowed them to slide through his fingers. James whispered, "Now!"

In a flash, the entire Slytherin table was crawling with shiny black beetles. Students jumped up screaming and performed what appeared to be outlandish dance moves in their attempt to rid themselves of the bugs. Lucius' hand jerked away from the nest of bugs, but one of them went flying into Narcissa's hair and she let out the loudest scream of them all. Severus Snape only arched a brow as one of the insects began swimming in his goblet.

Only Regulus, his fist clenched around his fork, realised where the chaos had originated. He glared at his brother and his friends, all of whom were desperately trying to laugh only the appropriate amount and not the gut-busting roars they were holding in.