Chapter 60: Fumos
Before they could sit down, Professor Antennae stopped them, "Today you don't need to sit. It's gonna be a pure practice class," she said as waved her wand. Instantly all the desks floated up and headed for the walls, stacking neatly and leaving the entire center of the classroom free.
Everyone hearing this smiled, glad that they wouldn't have to copy and read. Most preferred the practical, one of them being Sirius, who had a big grin on his face.
"What powerful charm will you teach us?" asked Sirius loudly.
"You must raise your hand to speak, Black. Stand round," she ordered as all the students made a big round.
"It's not an offensive charm. It's defensive and very useful," she began. James, hearing defensive paid much closer attention.
"The charm is called Fumos. It creates a defensive cloud of smoke that hinders the opponent's visibility. It can have several uses: to escape, to confuse the opponent, or to tactically reorganize if you are in combat. Now, watch closely..." she said as walked to the center of the round.
"Fumos!" exclaimed Antennae as she made a circular motion with her wand. Suddenly a large amount of smoke began to fill the entire room. James' vision was obstructed, and he stopped seeing the professor. Even watching Sirius was difficult.
A lot of commotion suddenly started to be heard from all the students who couldn't even see the face of their classmate next to them. Out of nowhere a huge blizzard arose and dispersed the cloud of smoke in seconds.
James and Sirius looked at each other instantly, both with big smiles on their faces. This was the charm they so desperately needed. If they managed to create a cloud of smoke that covered a large space, they could remove their invisibility cloak and begin the bombardment of the unseen.
"That's great! Who would've thought we'd get the charm served on a silver platter. It's destiny!" said Sirius excitedly near the marauders.
"All indications are that fate wants the Slytherin common room to smell putrid," said James, amused.
"You guys have it easy...we still haven't found anything, and we've already read hundreds of pages," complained Lupin.
"You handed out the homework," said Sirius.
"Silence!" exclaimed Antennae as she saw that all the students were muttering, "Now, line up and practice," she added.
The next hour and a half of class was spent repeating the same charm: Fumos!
James couldn't believe he had been such an idiot. This charm was found in 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection' a book written by Quentin Trimble that they were using in the first year for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
How it was a book he would sooner or later read it he passed over and didn't think there would be such a useful charm, as it would not only be useful for banter, it would also be useful for a battle.
Though with a Ventus you could disperse the cloud of smoke like the teacher did.
"Hold the wand at a slightly upward angle! Not like that Macdonald, higher!" shouted Antennae as she walked around like a military man watching all the students wave their wands.
From the 50% of students, only a little smoke was coming out of their wands. Other students managed to create a smoke, although they were far from filling the room how the teacher managed to do it.
On the other hand, the top students were James, Sirius, Lupin, Lily and Jasmine.
"Nice wand movement, Lupin," praised the teacher as she saw Lupin finish the charm, and his figure was covered in smoke. James even managed to make him and Sirius, who was closest to him disappear through her cloud of smoke.
Every so often, the professor would generate a blizzard of air to disperse all the smoke that was generated in the classroom so that the students could continue to summon more smoke.
"That's all for today! Next week there will be a little test. You must cast a curtain of smoke that covers a radius of 3 to 5 meters, from the point where the spell was cast. Don't be lazy and practice," said Antennae in a firm tone.
"We'll need more than five meters if we want to cover the entire Slytherin common room," Sirius said to James as they walked out of the room.
"Yes, a week is enough," said James confidently, "Did you hear?" he added as he looked at Lupin, Peter, and Toby.
"They better find the potion for a week from now. I'd recommend going to the library," said Sirius with a smirk as he went with James to the Gryffindor common room to practice Fumos.
The three marauders looked at the two with rolled eyes. In this way a week flew by.
James and Sirius spent their time training in the dormitory and the Gryffindor common room the Fumos charm. In those days it was very common to see the room full of Fumos, not only by the two of them but also by most of the first-year students who were practicing the charm with fervor, for the Antennae test. No one wanted the strict professor to reprimand them.
The marauders easily passed Professor Antennae's test, especially James and Sirius, who managed to cover a radius of more than twenty meters, which earned them 10 points each for Gryffindor.
Lupin, who showed great skill did not have the same result, as he was spending his time in the library looking for a potion to protect them from putrid smells.
"When will they find the damn potion?" said Sirius as he moved a pawn.
He was currently playing magical chess against James. As was customary these days, both Lupin and Peter and Toby were in the library reading potions books.
"Don't be impatient. It's a potion with a very strange effect. It must be in a very peculiar and little-known book..." said James as he looked at the board carefully. As expected James was winning. He was very good at magical chess.
Sirius was getting more impatient every day about the subject of the potion, as it was a crucial point. Otherwise, they would end up just like Rabastan and all the others in Slytherin and also be found out as they would end up with a putrid smell.
'There might not even be a potion with that effect...' thought James, but he didn't want to tell Sirius this. First of all, who would create a potion for such a thing? Only pranksters would.
Just as he was about to move a piece, a book fell straight onto the chessboard crushing all the pieces and scattering them.
"Hey!" exclaimed James and Sirius in annoyance at the same time as they looked up and noticed that it was their marauding friend, Lupin. Who was smiling a triumphant smile.
"Look at the book," said Lupin, not caring about the angry looks from his two friends.
James looked back at the chessboard. He could see that the book was open to pages 145-146. The title on page 145 was as follows: Potion: Olfacto Repellum.
[This potion protects the user from bad smells for X amount of time. Difficulty level: beginner. Instructions: First of all...]
"That's great. Well done you, bastard!" said Sirius with a smile and a strange way of congratulating his friend.
"I found the book by coincidence. It's very strange. It's only a few pages long," commented Lupin.
James took the book and looked at the name which was as follows: Peculiar Potions and Improper Uses by Armando Strange.
"Where are the other two?" asked James, noticing that Peter and Toby were not in the room.
"They're already looking for the ingredients. They're not too difficult. Peter went to the greenhouse and Toby to the Potions classroom. If we're lucky, we'll have everything to brew the potion by today," replied Lupin sitting down on a couch and feeling that he had done his part.
"You've worked hard my friend, a game?" said Sirius as he pulled out a deck of cards. Lupin nodded happy that he wouldn't have to read any more strange potion books.
As James watched Sirius and Lupin leave, he was thinking about Gwen and Emily. The prank looked like it would be executed in the next few days, and his two friends were from Slytherin and might suffer from the stink bomb barrage.
He was thinking if he should warn them and on the day they decided to do the prank send them a letter so they wouldn't be in the Slytherin common room. The problem was that it would be exposed. He trusted them both and knew they wouldn't tell on him or so he thought....
'They won't tell me anything. Why should I warn them? Their luck will decide whether or not they are in the common room at that time,' thought James, deciding not to tell them, still upset about the other time.
45 minutes later, Peter and Toby arrived. They nodded to the others to go to the dormitory where they were shown various ingredients.
"Good job guys. Is everything there?" asked James as he checked the list of ingredients in the book.
"No..." replied Toby and Peter with an ugly expression on their faces.
"We need Wiggentree Bark..." said James, reaching for the last ingredient and looking at the table. He couldn't find it.
"Wiggentree Bark? What's that?" asked Sirius as his earlier smile disappeared, as if his favorite toy had been taken away from him.
Lupin, Peter, and Toby shook their heads not knowing the answer. They all looked at James, as they knew he was very good at potions and knew information on many ingredients.
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