Nodding in approval at the location, and making sure there was no one else around, I promptly grinned towards my unwilling associates and gestured for them to walk inside.
James Potter didn't hesitate in following me.
"Sev? Remus?" I questioned.
"Don't call me that," Snape remarked indignant, his nose lifting upwards as he took a whiff of the place.
James Potter, on noticing the expression on Remus's face, promptly walked back out and slung an arm over the werewolf's shoulder. "Come on,"
"But this-"
"No one's going to come in here." The other boy snorted. "I mean just look at it. Who wants to use this dump?"
"...I don't think the professors would approve."
"Only if they find out," I added on, before turning my gaze back to Severus the moment Remus sighed and walked in. "Well? Chickening out already?"
"I only agreed with your plan because it involved stealing and reading forbidden library texts."
I don't remember the library part...
Snape sighed and promptly turned around.
I blinked the moment I realized I'd said that out loud and put a hand on the other shoulder. "Seriously, you're going to want to see this."
"I've seen it. I am leaving." The boy stated, shrugging my hand off as he took a few steps in the way we'd come.
"I just want to clarify, I still don't approve of this," James stated. "I still think why were here's a terrible idea. But you should stick around given you're here already."
"Uh... He hasn't actually told us why where here." Remus remarked warily, as his gaze wandered around the room.
Severus seemed to hesitate for a moment before he shook his head and continued on, clearly uninterested-
"He wants to make a new curse to replace the word..." James followed his sentence with a cough as he tried to hide the word 'mudblood.'
Needless to say, it did enough to convince Severus to at the very least stop on his tracks as he turned a raised eyebrow towards us, while Remus unsuccessfully made to get away from James' grip.
"You're going to make a curse?" Severus deadpanned as he crossed his arms. "This I gotta see."
James grinned in triumph.
The boy really was talented in sending mixed messages.
"I don't- Nevermind," He shook his head.
"Anyway, glad to have you onboard Sev-"
"Don't call me that. Only Lily calls me that." He narrowed his eyes at me. "And can you fail this quickly? I have actualwork I need to do."
I rolled my own in return.
You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think Snape doubted my genius.
"You're not a genius." The boy added on, evidently reading my mind.
I shrugged and walked further ahead inside the room, my mind noting the following footsteps. Quickly double-checking to make sure the mark was in the right place, I grinned and sat down before it, immediately taking out a large pre-filled piece of parchment and placing it before it.
"If not a genius, then what do you think of me?" I idly questioned as I reread over the parchment's numbers. James and, surprisingly enough, Remus quickly started trying to make heads or tails of it over my shoulder. While Severus settled for leaning against one of the taps, his arms still crossed.
"I think you're an idiot."
I blinked and turned a stare towards him, even as James and Remus frowned over the numbers.
"That it?"
"...A weird idiot. With a habit of saying very stupid things at the wrong place and time. And a very active imagination."
I hummed along to the words.
"Anything else?"
Snape shrugged, idly twisting the broken tap next to him.
"If you live long enough? You might become as eccentric as the old man." A single beat passed as he seemingly appraised me from my seated position. "And with your family name and luck... You might even become one of the greatest, dumbest, wizards in existence."
I kept on humming along to the words.
"Live long enough? You don't think I will?"
"...Like I said. You have a habit of saying very stupid things, and one day, probably soon, you're going to say it to the wrong person, who won't care about your family name." He paused for a moment, his hand moving along to the next tap, mild surprise showing through his face as he watched water leak out of it. "And they'll probably kill you for it."
"Well, that's just morbid." Remus deadpanned as he stared at Severus. "Skipped the hurting and tripping and went straight to death," James added on, both of their attention fixated on a suddenly uncomfortable Snape.
"It's Sirius," Snape remarked defensively. "There's no middle ground with him."
"Well, you're certainly right about that- And the fact that I am going to end up saying things to the wrong person. Hell, I'd say I was counting on it." I grinned.
"...You're counting on the fact you might one day get killed?" Snape questioned incredulously.
Well. They're certainly gonna try...
With that lovely thought, I promptly turned towards James Potter and asked to borrow his wand.
It took a bit of convincing before the boy let out a tired sigh and let me borrow it.
"One of these days you're going to tell me what happened to yours." The Gryffindor remarked, shaking his head.
"...I'd prefer it if he just got his own one." Snape followed on.
I rolled my eyes at the two of them and asked them both to stand back from the sink as I stood up again, happy with the proof-reading of the parchment on the ground.
Pointing James' wand at it, I let off one more grin and activated it.
"Reveal your darkest secrets!" I stated, more for show and tell than anything else.
After a moment of worried anticipation from James and Remus, though the former was just staring at his wand, which I immediately handed back over to him- And clear indifference from Snape. I watched as all of the jaws metaphorically dropped as the sink started to move.
"When I said forbidden textbooks, Severus, I didn't just mean the off-brand Library variety. I mean the ones belonging to the one fucker who probably already made the kind of curse I am looking for." I giggled gleefully.
James Potter promptly poked his head over me, his hands pushing my shoulders down out of the way as the grin on his face grew, while Severus and Remus took a careful step back, likely worried the floor was going to crumble beneath them.
"Gentleman," I remarked, pointing James' wand down the entrance before us. "I give you, the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
The bonding moment was unfortunately interrupted by the sudden appearance of a shrieking female ghost.
Which reminded me...
Wasn't there a Basilisk down there?
And the better question- Could I tame it? Or would I have to kill it?
"What's down-" Remus made to question before I promptly pushed him down inside first, given he was the most likely one to make a run for it.
"Last one down there's a Slytherin!" I cackled, ignoring the other's reaction to Remus' sudden scream, as I watched Snape's expression pale the moment I quickly scooped up the parchment, grabbed hold of his frozen arm, and pulled him down with me.
"Oh, that is so not fair!" Was James' reply as he immediately jumped in after us.