Disclaimer: Characters are property of JKR. This is a Marauders' Tale keeping in line with as much of the Memories from the Cannon as I could. I will call this one AU because there are some points that will undoubtedly run counter to Cannon though fit in nicely with my plot line. Without further ado:

War Begins Anew

It wasn't normally a good idea to ignore your own surroundings, but there were times when you couldn't help it. Walking to class was one of those times when people like Severus Snape should pay attention. As it happened, he was a favorite subject of the Marauders' practical jokes, if only because he was one of the few who fought back. Or at least tried to fight back. Otherwise he had no idea why their pranks centered on him. Aside from House rivalry and the prank war he really had no substantial motive to hate them. Though being a Slytherin was probably enough of a reason.

Without warning, he was drenched in some sweet smelling liquid. Looking up he saw Potter and Lupin in front of him looking far too amused and reasoned that Black and Pettigrew were nearby and out of sight. He took a menacing step towards Potter, aware that there was movement to his right. Another missile came towards him, but with a quick wave of his wand and a spell he sent the water balloon back where is came, revealing a wet Sirius Black. Snape smirked. It was always a pleasure to beat the Gryffindors at their own trick.

"Amusing," he said dryly. "And I would think wizards such as yourselves could find other ways of performing such childish pranks." A quick drying spell made him presentable for class, but the odor would remain until he showered.

"Ah, come on. We were only trying to help you with your hair, you git," Black muttered darkly. Snape would have to pay attention for the next couple of days. The Gryffindor Foursome was sure to strike again.

"You would think our dear friend Sevvie would appreciate some free shampoo," Potter said as Snape brushed past him. He tensed at the shortened nickname they branded him with. He hated any form of nickname and any shortenings. They were perhaps more humiliating than any of the other pranks. Still that name was better than some of the others they preferred.

Instead he walked past without comment, knowing it was not exactly what they wanted. An opportunity to engage in a losing verbal battle so they could resort to a physical onslaught was much more their style. They had used that trick far too often in the earlier years, when he had not figured it out. They were Fifth Years now and one could only dream that those four would grow up.

Potions was by far his sanctuary. Even with the Gryffindors. The only problem was Professor Slughorn. Though he was the Head of Slytherin house, he predominately spent his time on the over achievers. He taught straight from the book so his lectures lacked any new insights into the potions. Slughorn had also learned how to spot possible trouble before it began, thus enacting revenge in his class was useless. Therefore, Severus's free time was spent in mental exercises on Potions, the Dark Arts, and most prominently revenge. He plotted revenge for more than just himself. Whenever Slytherin House needed a foolproof prank, Severus had the perfect revenge. The culprit would never be caught for there never was enough evidence to pin it on anyone of Slytherin. But in the case of Severus Snape, if a prank was pulled on the Marauders then he was to blame and they always made it stick.

After a quiet day in lab, Lupin only exploded his potion once, he went to the library, opting for quiet study hours over food. His mother would have a fit if she knew. Thankfully she was too busy with keeping up appearances of a rich family than worrying about his education and health. Despite rumors he wasn't neglected only conveniently ignored and at times displayed as the child genius. His playpen was after all a library of illegal books. But why anyone wanted to ban books was beyond him. Knowledge was knowledge and any knowledge could be used for evil. He learned at an early age how to manipulate legal and 'harmless' curses and charms for 'harmful' purposes. He would probably be in Ravenclaw if his drive for knowledge didn't center on the Dark Arts.

"Hey, Grumpy," an annoying voice called from across the table. Severus knew exactly who it belonged to. The tall, self-absorbed jock of the group, Sirius Black. Snape ignored him. "No hard feelings about earlier?"

Severus looked up from his book. "If it extends to your lack of ill will towards me, I might consider it." Black look stunned and out of place. Verbal sparing was not his forte. That honor belonged to Lupin when he so desired to open his mouth, otherwise it fell to Potter to keep up their reputation. "Since I see it doesn't, I'll leave you to brush up on your vocabulary," he drawled. Elegantly shutting the book he glided out of the room. His mother would have been proud. Outsmarting a foe and avoiding a brawl.

Suddenly he recalled that Black was the only one taunting him. The other three were nowhere to be seen. His sense went on hyper alert. He stopped at a junction. He glimpsed Pettigrew in the hallway on his right. But the Slytherin dorms were to his left. Black was probably behind him. Three ways to go, left, right or straight. Three possible traps, Pettigrew, Potter or Lupin. As luck would have it not a sole in sight and no way to get eyewitnesses to attest to the fact that Gryffindor was responsible.

He turned left, muttering an incantation that would freeze any spells for ten minutes. Surely a Gryffindor wouldn't travel a distance worth ten minutes into the Dungeons. He wasn't wrong. After a minute or two he saw a ghost of a trip wire. And to his good fortune and small group of Slytherins were head in his direction and would reach the wire before him.

Sure enough the boy in the lead tripped the wire and set off the prank. A green and pink slime dropped on the unaware students. Three faces went from shock to horror when they realized what had happened. Severus smiled to himself, they were probably purebloods and had never been dirty before in their lives. Exposed skin began to change to a strange green in attempt to match the color of the goo.

Severus wondered where the culprits were. They were the type to watched as their joke played out. Sure enough delayed and suppressed glee was emitted somewhere behind him. Turning he saw figures fleeing the scene. He smirked. Not the victim they indented.

Severus looked at the potion wasted. He recognized it as the standard variation of Chameleon's Pride. The variation generally found in a joke shop. It made a person's skin change color to match his surroundings, or as in this case randomly changing the skin color, sometimes including odd patterns. Idly he imagined their taunts had he been covered in the substance. Must have thought some color would have cheered him up.

He brushed past the victims as if in a hurry. He needed time to plan his revenge and it required time to create the potion. If the professors wouldn't get the Foursome into trouble, he would mete out his own punishment.

End notes: Credit to the following authors for their inspiration of the mentioned portions of the story. For those of you who might have come across this work before, I have changed it to be compliant with as many Snape Memories as I could. This is still an AU by many aspects because I still wanted to keep some of my background.

And the water balloons inspired by Mwpp-lover's Waterbombs Attack

And I liked the nickname 'Grumpy' Tinyneil from Through the Eyes of a Traitor part 1. Hope you don't mind.