Just brewing up a little something...

Keith sat in front a bubbling potion, checking the large clock that leaned on the wall to his right every few seconds. Since his watch wasn't worth diddly when it came to time, he had been forced to drag this old thing into the abandon classroom so he properly brew potions.

Since classes had ended, Keith had found this room to be an incredibly useful place to brew some potions that weren't strictly...allowed. Most of it was harmless, such as itching potion and shrinking solution, but a few of the flasks held more questionable concoctions, including one Keith had developed himself that was essentially diluted magical marijuana. Keith wasn't sure about the ministry's laws about stuff like that, and he really didn't feel like finding out.

Jack was walking at a comfortable pace throughout the castle when she smelt it. A strange smell that was not normally found at Hogwarts. She sniffed once. Twice. Then she turned on her heel and followed it. It was getting stronger and stronger, and soon, she was lead to a door.

She stared at the door and put a hand on the doorknob. She turned it and walked inside. There was a young boy with a cauldron, sitting on the ground. Jack cocked her head curiously and asked "Hey, kid. Whatcha doing?"

Keith had been whistling quietly to himself when the girl burst into the room, where he promptly jumped out of his skin.

"Ah! Ah...uh...huh...nuhthin?" Keith said, grinning and pushing some of his riskier products into his schoolbag, doing his best to keep it discreet. "Just extra credit." He nodded excitedly, trying to make up for his earlier fumble. "Yup. Just extra credit. School stuff. That kinda thing."

Jack raised an eyebrow as the boy overreacted and was overly suspicious. She closed the door quietly behind her and smiled. He obviously did not know her, otherwise he would know she was always up for a prank or a little bit of friendly troublemaking.

She walked over to the cauldron and sat opposite him, criss-crossing her legs and glancing over the cauldron before looking back up. With a trustworthy smile and that sparkle in her eye she got when she was plotting something she said "Okay. So what are you really doing?"

Keith ground his teeth for a moment, a nervous habit he had picked up when he was really little. The girl hadn't attempted to stun him yet, or get an authority figure, or even make a grab for what he was brewing, so she couldn't be all bad. Besides, it's not like he'd stand a chance if she got serious, so he might as well tell her what was going on and hope she wouldn't make any trouble.

He opened his mouth, but at that moment the minute hand reached the ten. Keith held up a finger. "Just a sec. Might wanna scoot back. He put on a pair of glasses and took a deep breath before reaching in a pouch and taking some ground up peppers and tossing them into the pot. There was a bright flash of yellow light, and smoke poured from the cauldron, causing Keith to fall back coughing. He hit himself in the chest once or twice and shook his head before sniffing the smoke hesitantly and grinning. "Experimenting," He said finally.

Jack smiled widely as he finally looked as though he were going to confess to whatever mischief he was making. She heeded his warning, and not a moment too soon, for the very moment she had scooted back a fairly decent distance, there was an amazing yellow mini-explosion that came from the cauldron.

"Wo-ho!" She said appreciatively, scooting towards the cauldron once the smoke had finally cleared. She could see the boy coughing on the floor before he gave a smile and gave a real answer. Jack nodded impressively; she had been beginning to think the young population at Hogwarts were all rule-abiding pansies.

"Not bad" she said, nodding again as she once again peered into the cauldron, this time a tad more cautiously. "What exactly are you experimenting with?"

James Wake did not usually enter the unused corridors of the fourth floor. But the moment he heard an explosion, he knew something was up. He was merely walking past, when, at about ten o'clock, he heard the explosion. Naturally, James could stand for such abrupt explosions during the day, but not in Hogwarts. Oh no, he needed to keep a real presence at Hogwarts. It was his job as Imperium Squad member, after all. Keep the peace. James was not usually gung-ho about the prospect of finding troublemakers, but today, he was in a foul mood. Cracking his real knuckles, James whipped out his wand, and began to search each room for the offensive pyrotechnic.

It did not take long to find Keith Nicholas. Internally, James groaned as he found his on-again-off-again little foe messing with a cauldron. On the outside, however, James remained stoic. He had only crashed down the door. In addition to Keith, there was an older student. That was most troublesome for James. If Keith had found co-conspirators, then James' job would be a lot harder. And James was in no mood for extra trouble. James held his wand, pointing it at Keith as he entered the empty classroom, careful to avoid any strang(er) ingredients. "Keith, what are you doing THIS time?" he asked.

Keith breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that not only was the girl not angry, she was actually interested in what he was doing. He had kept this little operation secret for weeks, and honestly had been looking for a bit of an opportunity to brag.

"This," He said, waving at the cauldron, "Is a modified Dizziness Draught. The original is powerful enough, but way too obvious...it smells a lot. And how is that use full when you're trying to put in in pumpkin juice? Pumpkin juice doesn't smell like burnt coffee." He shook his head. "This is my third batch. The first batch just made the smell worse, and the second batch...well, let's not talk about the second batch."

In reality, the second batch was Keith's "magical drug." It had failed because instead of making people dizzy it just made them slightly high, but Keith was excited about what he could do with it. Still, there was no point in telling her that little tidbit of information.

However, when James entered the room, Keith let out a little squeak. Seeing James was never good news. He was nowhere near as cool as...well, whoever this was.

The stranger bursting in earlier had put him on his guard though, and he was much quicker about his response. "Remedial potions," he said, smiling up at James. "She's tutoring me."

The door banged open and, apart from letting her wand slip down her sleeve into her hand, Jack didn't react. That was the first thing she had learned when she was messing around with things she should not be. Always assume what you are doing is allowed.

The boy at least knew how to make an excuse. She twisted her body and looked up at the new boy, an older one around her age. She smiled pleasantly. "Hello. Yeah, we're doing remedial potions, he's rather hopeless." She turned to Keith. "I believe I told you one porcupine quill. Not three. Three has rather...explosive effects." She chuckled and turned back to the other boy. "Sorry if we startled you."

((BTW I will be gone for the next few days))

"Regardless of whether this remedial or not," James replied, knowing this was all just a large excuse for illegal experimentation, "would it seem more appropriate to use one of the empty labs in basement? I'm sure the Potions Master would be rather accommodating. I'm going to need to ask you to gather up your stuff and leave. But leave the potions. I'm sure the Headmaster would be very interested in a number of them." James had picked up a white potion, swirling its contents about. He made up his mind NOT to test anything Keith had made.