Transfiguration Classroom/Office

McGonagall has been puttering around doing whatever it is that a McGonagall does. She hears a knock on her door and calls, "Come in!"

James sighed before pushing the door open. "Hello Professor," he said, closing the door behind him once he entered the office more. "I'm here for the detention," he said, trying so hard to keep the enthusiasm out of his voice. Lies.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," Minerva said briskly. "Your family seems to get in more trouble than I have seen of any, except for maybe the Weasley's." She signed and moved behind her desk. "Do you see that cage over there?" she asked gesturing. When James nodded, McGonagall continued, "That is filled with porcupines that my NEWT level classes are Transfiguring. For your detention, you are going to bathe them."

James couldn't help it, he liked pranks. "Aww, come on McGonagall. You can't deny that I've been quite the good boy lately and haven't been in your office in a good month," he grinned. The grin quickly fell off his face though when she announced what he would be doing for his detention. "What?! Are you serious? I'm going to get all cut up! We can't have these amazing hands ruined!" he pouted, holding up his hands to show her. "Can't we come up with another punishment?" he asked sweetly.

"Professor McGonagall," she corrected sharply. "And I was just making a general statement. Your father used to be in trouble Merlin knows how many times." McGonagall raised an eyebrow and said dryly, "Have you ever seen me joke, Mr Potter? I am quite serious. And don't worry about your hands. You can wear these." She opened a drawer in her desk, pulled out a pair of dragon-hide gloves, and threw them at him. "Hop to it."

James let out a small relieved sigh when she said that he could wear protective gloves. After all, he had a feeling that Parv liked his hands just the way they were. Not that he would say that to McGonagall though. "Alright," he sighed. He put on the gloves then moved towards the cage. Slowly, he picked one up and brought it to a small basin. "What happens if it attacks me?" he asked, holding the porcupine far away from his body. "Do these things even like water?" he mused, wondering what exactly would happen once the porcupine touched the water in the basin.

"I wouldn't say they like water, but they certainly won't attack you for it," McGonagall assures him. "If they do, you calmly remove it from your person and place it in the basin." McGonagall moved out from behind her desk and then pointed to what she was doing before. "I'll be over here. And do be careful," she stressed. "Don't break anything. I have some fragile items over there and it would not be in anyone's best interest for them to break."

"Right," he said, nose wrinkling is slight disgust as he realized he really was going to have to deal with the porcupines. He nodded when she said she had fragile things, then got to work on cleaning the animals. He moved slowly, not wanting to get poked to death or anything. As he was washing one of them, his eyes wandered over to the fragile items she had mentioned. Some of them definitely caught his eye, especially the gold spherical thing on a large string. He knew better than to touch it though, especially with McGoogles so close by. Every now and then he'd glance over his shoulder to see if she was looking, but he didn't seem to really get an opportunity to go near the item.

After a while, McGonagall looked over to where James was bathing the animals. She cleared her throat and announced, "I am leaving the room a few minutes. Do not cause any trouble." And she swept out of the room.

Once McGoogles left, James continued to bath the porcupines for a bit before pausing. Glancing at the doorway, he waited a second before drying his hands and then moving to the gold sphere thingy. He picked up and looked at it curiously, wondering what exactly it was. Too quickly though, he heard footsteps approaching and in an idiotic decision, decided to pocket the item. After all, he needed to do some investigating and she probably wouldn't even notice. He then quickly moved back to the basin and started cleaning the animals again like it was no big deal.

McGonagall entered the room sometime later. Her eyes swept over her classroom, and finding no obvious damage, she turned to James. "How are we holding up, Mr Potter. They haven't caused too much trouble, have they?"

"Nope, they're fine," he told her with a nod and acting as if everything was totally and completely fine. "Err, this is the last one though," he said, holding up the last porcupine. "What should I do when I finish washing him?" he asked as he began to wash it.

"You put it back in the cage Potter," McGonagall said slowly. "You put it back in the cage, and then you lock that cage. Understand?"

James let out a small huff from her answer. "That's not what I meant Miner-McGonagall," he said, rolling his eyes. "I meant once all done, am I free to leave, your Majesty?" he asked, scrubbing the last porcupine and then shoving it in the cage.

"Professor McGonagall," she corrected again. "And I would appreciate it if you would refrain from using my first name. Or the title 'your Majesty,'" she added, although her mouth twitched it what might've been a smile. "Yes, once you have finished, you are free to leave."

"Yes!" he said happily, quickly making sure that the porcupines were all settled in their cage and that the door of it was completely locked. "Okay! All set!" he said, taking off the gloves and placing them on her desk. He knew he had to find Parvati soon, wanting to see if she had any idea what the weird object in his pocket was. "Have a wonderful weekend McGoogles!" he said, rushing out of the room and heading to the Gryffindor tower.

McGonagall blinked in confusion. She turned, mouth opened to ask a question, but Potter had already rushed out of the room. Miffed, she went back to her desk.

Reed somehow made through History of Magic then quickly rushed to Transfiguration. He looked around anxiously, wondering who was going to give him his next note.

Another Hufflepuff, who was sitting right in front of Reed, tossed the envelope over her shoulder, the envelope landing on Reed's desk. "Supposed to give this to ya. Happy birthday, Reed." Then she went back to her book.

On the outside of the envelope was written don't open this till after class
Inside the envelope was another childish painting. It was of a beach, the sun setting in the background.
I'm super looking forward to the summer when we go to the beach. We're going to go down to this lovely secluded spot I know of and I'm going to cuddle with you on the sand and kiss you as the sun goes down. It's going to be beautiful and perfect.
I love you, gorgeous.
~Kras
PS. - your next surprise is stuck in an art book someone is looking through in the library. He'll be sitting at a table near the art books section.

[SGHSPEOHJSPREOHJ THIS IS SOOOOOOOOO CUUUTTTTEEEEEE]

Reed barely hears the other Hufflepuff, eager to get to the letter. He almost breaks the rules and opens it immediately, but he was a good boy and waited. He sat frozen in his seat for a while just staring at the picture as if they had already gone to the beach. He smiled happily and got up to go get his next surprise. Reed didn't know how many times he would think that this day couldn't get any better.

[I posted in the library already. hehe]