Marauders vs. Tsukis
by MlleNinja AKA dancegirlgirl
Summary: AU. The Tsukis is a group of six pranksters who are known only by reputation but not name. After the Marauders become extremely annoyed with them, they retaliate and set off a prank war and only The Tsukis know who the others are.
Warnings: Language, Violence, Teenagers being Teenagers
Disclaimer: I'll only say it once. I do not own Harry Potter. Nor do I own anything related to the universe. That all belongs to JKR.
This has been Beta'd by Jatori23112 and my friend Lyn, who helped expand this story from the original.
This is AU as:
There is no Voldemort, nor are there Death Eaters.
Slytherin prejudices are minimal and only a select few call Slytherins Dark Lords.
There is also a different schedule for school than there is in canon. THIS IS INTENTIONAL.
I could feel the air blowing my hair back as I ran as quickly and quietly as I possibly could down the halls while wearing my annoyingly loud shoes that never seemed to be able to travel in silence. With an irritated sigh, I tugged them off and proceeded to run without them. Instantly I had mixed feelings about this decision; while it was quieter in my bare feet, the floor was also freezing cold and possibly dirty. Another gust of wind hit me and my hands flew instinctively to my exposed arms, which had goosebumps by now. It was cold, and I wished that I had my robe. I always seemed to forget that darned piece of clothing whenever I really wanted it and, of course, I really wanted it now. Honestly, I'm not positive why I don't wear it all the time, although it can get extremely hot and sweaty. That's probably the reason.
Along every wall hung portraits, animated portraits, but I had no time to stop and admire them. Normally, they were captivating enough for anyone to stop for just a few seconds and talk to them, but I couldn't afford to do that. You see, I was trying to flee from that evil cat named Mrs. Norris. If she caught up with me it would surely mean detention. I don't mind detention, per se, but it is a waste of time. I could be doing something else, something more productive. Like pulling pranks, for instance. I find that to be a very good way to use my time. What is life without fun?
I allowed my mind to wander until I literally ran into somebody. Stumbling back in shock and surprise, I nearly dropped the shoes. Actually, they were on their way to the ground but I managed to catch them before they made contact. Initially, my thought was to try to blend in and hide, so I threw myself against the wall in an effort to camouflage myself. The resulting noise was obnoxiously loud, and as it echoed down the hall, I realized that it would have been a better idea to run. Oh well, too late now.
I still didn't know who it was that I had run into. A million thoughts raced through my head as I squinted into the darkness in an effort to figure out who it was, each fragment of my vivid imagination worse than the one before. This was wonderful - now I was panicking and couldn't think straight, but I couldn't get the images out of my head. What if it was McGonagall or maybe Filch?
I managed to make out a black robe with green and silver trim, which narrowed it down to someone in the Slytherin house. It was a bit of a relief, but not enough for comfort. Slytherins were notorious for their cunning, and I wouldn't put them past blackmail. They weren't bad, but like most, they wanted to succeed in life, and it never hurt to either get on the good side of the headmasters or receive something nice in exchange for not turning a fellow student in.
"Hello? Who's there?" I recognized the daring and confident voice of my friend, Adder. Thank Merlin, it was only Adder. Now that I knew who it was, I dared to step out of the shadows and move to where I could see her better. I didn't speak, not yet. Adder's brown eyes shone with hostility until she recognized me in the dim light, and once again I was relieved to have her as a friend. Kind as she was to me, I knew how rarely she showed compassion toward those she barely knew.
"Oh, it's just you, Talon. Why are you running through the halls?" she asked, dark eyebrows raised in curiosity.
"Ask me no questions, and I shall tell you no lies." I replied, flipping some of my hair behind my shoulder. It tickled the bare skin on my shoulder that would normally have been covered in the robe and I did my best not to shudder. I was still cold, and it was only getting cooler.
Adder stared at me for a moment, and then smirked. "Good answer." She decided, running a slightly tan hand through her brown hair.
"Oh yeah, it um, might be a good idea to run, Adder."
She gave a questioning glance but, with a faint smirk and shake of her head, was certian I had a good reason. With a quick glance behind us, we began to run as fast as we could go in the dimly lit hallways.
"Look out, Talon." Adder grabbed my shoulder and steered me out of the way of something that I was apparently about to run into. We cut through multiple halls and secret passages before Adder turned, gave a wave and ran toward the Slytherin dungeons. I, on the other hand, kept going straight and skidded to a stop in front of the common room door. There hung the golden eagle knocker, though I was not in the mood for one of its challenging riddles. I needed access to my room and fast.
Finally the knocker spoke. "Where do vanished items go?"
"Into nonbeing," I replied after only a moment's thought, which wasn't long considering I was a Ravenclaw and it wasn't too terribly challenging of a riddle anyway.
"Correct." The voice replied as the door opened. I briefly considered thanking the knocker for the simplicity of the question, but that would not only waste the precious time I had but would also serve no purpose as the golden eagle was an inanimate object save for its ability to talk. I ducked in through the door and welcomed the almost homely feel of the room I had become accustomed to for the three plus years I had been here.
I started skipping toward my golden-haired friend Redwing, who was looking extremely impatient while standing in the middle of the blue and bronze room, tapping her foot quickly against the ground. Once I caught sight of her narrowed eyes aimed at the clock, I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to tell her the results of Fireye's idea at 10:00. Oh well, if it was too late, it was too late and Redwing could never get very angry anyways.
"Do you know what time it is?" Redwing asked as sweetly as she could despite her naturally slightly demonic appearance. Well, this was wonderful. Being asked that question was never a good sign, especially when it was asked by one who was notorious for late arrivals.
"No..." I replied, glancing at the clock in an effort to find out the time before she told me. I couldn't see it though, and had to turn back to her in defeat.
"It's midnight, and I've waited for over two hours for your arrival. I have half a mind to yell and although I'm not going to, beware..." she tried to threaten in as ominous of a voice as the smaller girl could muster. I honestly wasn't sure how she knew what time it was when I couldn't see it myself, but I also knew better than to challenge her. It was amusing enough to see Redwing try to be serious, but a mad Redwing was someone you didn't want to mess with.
"Nice try Redwing, you're getting better. Now, don't you want to hear what happened?" I laughed as her whole demeanor changed in a blink of an eye. Her attempt at being stern and dominant changed into a barely concealed state of excitement, easily portrayed by her ever-honest blue eyes.
"Of course I want to know. Did it work? Did you have any issues? Did you receive any detentions or lose any house points?" She was going a kilometre a second with her questions, but she was a fast talker anyway and I easily understood the words that she had quickly slung together in her over-excited state. Redwing was a hyper girl anyway, and she often talked so quickly and youthfully that many people couldn't understand what the wide-eyed, pale, dirty blond girl was going on about. My friends and I even joked about "Speaking Redwing".
"Let's see. Just wait for tomorrow's breakfast to see if it worked." Unfortunately, I didn't know if it actually worked so I couldn't tell her even if I wanted to. "Of course I had issues, Mrs. Norris seemed to see me and ended up chasing me, which seemed weird so it might've been my paranoia kicking in. I saw Adder, too, although I wonder why she was there. No, I didnt lose either house points or receive detentions as I wasn't caught."
"Why won't you tell me if it worked?" Redwing whined. "You know, you just don't want to tell me!"
"Because it's a surprise." She wouldn't believe me if I continued with the plea that I knew nothing, so perhaps this would work.
"Aw... You're no fun." She complained, managing to make herself look younger than she already looked. With her long dirty blond hair that could never stay perfectly straight no matter how many times you brushed it, bangs that hung straight down in her face, and freckles dotted along her nose and cheeks, people often mistook her for being years younger than she really was. Redwing really was the youngest out of our group of friends, though, so she was already the baby and got away with things she shouldn't. A victory when arguing with her was never gloated about because when she lost, she pulled out her innocent little girl face and made you feel all bad.
I opened my mouth in an attempt to reason with her but quickly realised it was a down-hill battle. "See? This is why I was the one to set up the prank, not you, because you cannot keep a secret. Or keep quiet."
"And why did you end up being the one to set it up?" She retorted, tucking a few strands of her stringy golden hair behind her ear and staring up at me in disappointment.
"Nobody ever suspects me." I said, shaking my head and laughing lightly as I thought of the naivety of most people. Somehow being the better-behaved one who never got in trouble made me the ideal person to run around doing these little night missions. Fortunately, it had paid off so far, seeing as I had never been caught.
She rolled her eyes and said in a childish mocking tone, "Yeah, you have your image to keep up."
Redwing adored to use that argument but I heard it so many times that I honestly didn't need to think up a reply. I used my standard comeback of: "My 'image', as you put it, keeps you lot out of trouble."
Redwing sighed in resignation and started walking to the stairs of our dorm. She started climbing, then turned around to face me, her exhaustion shown only by her tired blue eyes. "I'm going to bed. It's midnight and I need to check at breakfast to see if my idea worked." Suddenly she really looked tired and I considered telling her all I knew instead of holding back and surprising her, especially since she apparently had waited all night for me. Oh, well. It would be more fun for all of us to know at the same time tomorrow than for many of us to know now.
"It was Fireye's idea!" I called up the stairs to remind her, but it either didn't register in her tired head or she didn't care until she had gotten to the top of the stairs. It was probably a mixture of both.
"Your point?" Redwing replied as she finally finished the stairs and went into the dorms. I followed with a shake of the head at my friend's youthful antics and as soon as I got there, I changed into my pyjamas and fell asleep. As my adrenalin emptied out and sleep begin to take over, I heard Redwing's final murmur: "It better have worked."