Authors Notes:
This story will not follow canon story lines due to there being limited conformed canon for the Maurders whilst at Hogwarts.
I will keep this story as a one shot, but it may be split into additional chapters.
It will also contain scenes of Parental CP of Minors – specifically Caning and Spanking (caning was still legal in 1970's and would've defiantly been common practise in boarding schools)
Please, if this offends you or you have strong opinions on CP, then do not read this story just to leave a rude review!
I have given Mr and Mrs Potter new names, Harry (not Harry Potter as we all know) and Charlotte; i disliked the canon names.
Enjoy!
"So who are we going to prank then?" asked Sirius with a glint of mischief in his eyes, flopping himself down on the sofa in a deserted Gryffindor common room. It was a quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, with no relevance to them, and so the Marauders viewed this as a perfect opportunity for mischief making.
It was almost an annual tradition that the Marauders completed a prank on an unsuspecting student, teacher or house each Halloween. They took the saying of 'trick or treat' to a whole other level, ignoring the treat part completely. It was, of course, their favourite time of year and Halloween wasn't complete without a riot of students outraged at the prank that was pulled. The marauders were sure that the teachers knew who was behind the pranks; but without any solid evidence, they could never be sentenced to a years' worth of detention for it.
"I think the Slytherin's have been giving us the most trouble this year" James replied from the far table, "Remember a couple of weeks ago when all our tables pumpkin juice was charmed into slime; I could've swore the look on Snivellus' face was suspicious."
Remus however wasn't convinced; he always seemed to be the mediator of the group, the one with reason and apprehension about every prank, trick or missed curfew. He worried about the disappointment especially due to his condition and the hassle that Dumbledore went to, to enrol Remus as an ordinary Hogwarts Student.
"Maybe the teachers are starting to get suspicious of us though Padfoot – I mean, we do a prank every year. Don't you remember the look on McGonagall's face last year when we drenched the teachers table?" Said Remus as he walked over to join Sirius, sitting in the arm chair opposite.
Their prank last year had been a huge success, it took weeks of planning to get it perfect. When any student mentioned a teachers name at the Halloween feast, despite whether they could be overheard or not; water would drench that teacher, leaving a rather embarrassed teacher and student. Dumbledore defiantly knew the charm and its counter curse but he was never one to stop a bit of fun. McGonagall on the other hand, did not see the funny side to her robes being drenched and was almost certain that she knew the culprits. She continued to glare at the boys, watching as they squirmed in their seats with excitement. She swore next year, if the prank was anything like this year's, the culprit would be found and punished; and this she absolutely promised.
"Have you still got those whoopy cushions from Zonko's Prongs?" Asked Peter, eager to impress his friends with a prank suggestion.
"Really Peter, you have got the memory of a sieve, we used them in potions a couple weeks ago on Snivellus. They're locked up in Slughorns office." James replied getting up from the table and flopping himself on the sofa next to Sirius. "We need a new, original idea…"
"I think we've used all of the pranks ever made Prongs, we are doomed!" Sirius replied dramatically.
"What a shame" Remus muttered under his breath.
"I'll tell you what I have still got though," Sirius said, getting up from his seat on the sofa. "Do you remember those fireworks we used to try and get Mia Crestfield to go out with me on Valentine's Day? We charmed them to say her name in pink and everything!"
James, who could now feel Sirius's excitement grow in his own body, began to formulate a plan in his head. "So, how about we prank the Slytherin's on Halloween morning. We'll sneak into their common room the night before and put the fireworks right in the middle."
Sirius then carried on James' plan; "then we can charm them to look like green snakes and burst into green fireworks! This is fool proof!"
"What about if we set the timer for the middle of the night, when they are all asleep?" Contributed Peter,
James and Sirius look at each other, a smile forming on both of their faces.
"You know what Wormtail that is a bloody good idea." James said with glee.
"If we are going to execute this plan without being caught, I think we need your cloak and the map Prongs." Remus said, once again being the only one with a conscience.
"Okay, Wormtail and Moony, you can take the cloak. Prongs and I are probably a bit better and not getting caught." Sirius also liked the thrill of adventure but didn't express this though out loud. "Wormtail can transform and sneak into the common room through a hole, and open it the other side to let us in, instead of waiting for someone to open the doors." Said Sirius, taking charge.
"Sounds like a plan." Replied James.
Everyone nodded in agreement; even Remus despite his apprehension.
Sirius had been far too excited to sleep and so had offered to wake up the others at one o'clock to begin pranking. He was left to his own thoughts as the silence of the dorm engulfed him.
Despite his confident and cocky demeanour, Sirius was an extremely sensitive and fragile 14 year-old. Mostly due to his fathers wicked temper and abusive lashings. It wasn't until last year the Sirius was free of his abusive home and was taken under Mr and Mrs Potters care after he ran away from a particularly bad punishment from Orion Black. He smiled softly at the new memories he had with Harry and Charlotte, flying around with James in the summer and going on picnics with the whole family; he couldn't have had a better year.
Because of his poor upbringing, Sirius had found it hard to trust, and even harder to trust adults. It wasn't until Mr Potter showed him true fatherly love that this trust was slowly beginning to repair itself. He was no longer afraid of punishments as he knew, even if Mr Potter did decide he needed an old fashioned spanking, it was truly deserved and all was forgiven afterwards. Harry had been reluctant to use physical punishment on Sirius because of his previous home but when given the choice of being grounded for 2 weeks or a spanking, this past summer, Sirius had chosen the spanking just like James. Sirius new that, unlike his father, Harry never punished out of anger and for that he was grateful.
However, getting used to having parents that truly cared for him, whether his actions were right or wrong, was difficult and he found himself on the receiving end of many, rather angry letters from Mr Potter about his behaviour. After the prank on Snivellus a couple weeks ago, Sirius and James found themselves on their last warning both from the professors and from their father. One more toe out of line and Mr Potter would come down to the school and take them home for a much needed punishment. Sirius knew that Mr Potter could deal with a few cheeky remarks and detentions; but anything malicious or dangerous was completely off the cards. Sirius was determined to not get caught tonight, as if he did, that put his and James' necks on the line; because whatever Sirius does, James does too.
Sirius also knew the reason why Remus worried and fussed so much. Like Sirius, Remus was fragile. His condition was a tough and exhausting one; Remus always felt like a burden to not only his parents, Lucy and Robert, but also to his teachers who did everything in their power to keep his secret safe. Whenever they'd been in trouble before, Remus was usually the silent one, eyes down and sniffing; unlike Peter who blurted out all their misdeeds and then some. Peter struggled to lie to people, and always would always seek approval from his friends. He wanted to fit in, despite the measures he had to go to.
The more Sirius thought, the more he realised that his worries about disappointment were normal and something that all his friends experienced to. A pang of guilt formed in his stomach as he realised that before he had parents to answer to, he'd always force mischief upon his friends, damn the consequences. He made a mental promise to check with everyone that they were sure they were still okay about the prank before setting off for Slytherin common room.
Sirius woke up with a start, as he realised that he must've drifted off to sleep. He glanced over the muggle clock on Peter's beside table and in a panic, realising that it read four-thirty in the morning. He rushed to shake James, Peter and Remus awake, begging that it wasn't too late to set up the prank.
"Merlin Padfoot, I thought he agreed one o'clock' said James as he pushed back the covers, scrambling to put his trousers and a t-shirt on."
"We'll still have time though; no one will be up for another couple of hours" Sirius replied whist getting dressed also.
All 4 boys scrambled to put their shoes and socks on. James reached under his bed to pull his trunk out; retrieving his invisibility cloak from the bottom of it. Sirius grabbed the map from his bedside table draw and spoke the words to activate the map 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.'
The map came to life and the boys looked around the map to check which teacher was on duty tonight.
Unsurprisingly, that teacher was Professor McGonagall who, after last year's trouble, was determined to stop any pranks before they had even been set. She was pacing in front of the Great Hall, obviously expecting trouble there once again.
The boys closed their map, smiling as they realised that they were likely to pull this prank off. The Great Hall was miles away from Slytherin Common room.
Remus and Peter got under the cloak and made their way down the spiral staircase and towards the portrait. The plan was that once the two boys were half way down, James and Sirius would follow with the map, avoiding detection.
Remus and Peter pushed the portrait open and quietly began their descent down the moving staircases, towards the dungeons ; eager to get there as quickly but also as quietly as possible. Once they'd reached the ground floor, with only one more floor left to descend, a light shone through from around the corner. The boy's stomachs dropped as they realised that someone was headed straight for them.
James and Sirius had been following the others little dots on the map for around ten minutes, waiting for them to reach the ground floor. Once they had, they could set off too. They had also been following McGonagall's dot and realised that she had moved from the Great Hall, also heading towards the ground floor. Realising the danger their friends were in, James and Sirius set off, out the portrait hole.
They took the same path as their friends before them eagerly watching as the two dots of McGonagall and the boys grew closer together. They watched as Peter and Remus slowly began to back up, McGonagall was edging closer. Despite being two floors above, James and Sirius heard an almighty CRASH…
They looked at each other as they heard a shriek come from a woman's voice.
'"Never have I been so disappointed in two of my student's behaviour. I know exactly what you are up to; don't you dare lie to me!"
They then heard the distinct sound of footsteps coming towards them now,
"James," Sirius squeaked "quick, in here" both boys stuffed themselves in an unused, dark classroom. They waited as they heard the footsteps nearing them; the door open ajar.
McGonagall stormed past, her hands pinching the ears of both Remus and Peter, who were openly showing their discomfort. Sirius assumed that they were headed for her office to have a not so pleasant discussion.
"Are you sure you want to still do this? If McGonagall catches us again we'll be in so much trouble!" Asked Sirius
"Now is a better time than any. With McGonagall gone, no one is in the corridors, no one can catch us." Sirius nodded in agreement and they both made their way to Slytherin common room. They'd reached the spot where Peter and Remus had been caught and saw the cloak had been dropped and left behind -
"Padfoot!' James exclaimed, 'They've left the cloak!"
James grabbed the cloak, and then noticed that a suit of armour was laying a few yards away.
'That must've been what gave them away. I bet it was Peter' Sirius said with an eye roll.
Because of the others carelessness, James and Sirius now had no way of getting into the common room without a password.
They grabbed the cloak and put it over their heads. With the map and the cloak, they were near invincible.
Finally, after what felt like hours since they'd left the common room, James and Sirius had made it to the Slytherin house doors but without a way to get inside.
"I don't think we are going to have any other choice but to set up the fireworks outside their door Padfoot"
James agreed and they hurried to set up around 50 tiny, snake charmed fireworks to set off in one hour. The sun had just started to rise, making the time around six-thirty, maybe even seven. The boys knew that they didn't have long to get back to the common room before Slytherin's would be waking up and heading to the Great Hall for their breakfast.
With the prank set, James and Sirius smirked at one another, and with a high-five, sprinted back to the common room.
Remus and Peter had just returned from what felt like the worst telling off he'd ever had. He rubbed his beat red ear before pouting as he recalled the punishment that he had been sentenced to.
"Four weeks' worth of weekend detention!" exclaimed James when Peter and Remus began retelling their run in with McGonagall. He made a decision to never try and rile her up again.
"Yeah, and it gets worse," Remus' eyes were downcast; "It means that we'll miss the quidditch match next week and the Hogsmede vist in November."
Sirius let out a small sigh and showed sympathetic looks to his best mates. Although he was quietly thankful that he wasn't on the receiving end of McGonagall's tongue lashing or ear pinching.
As the sun rose higher and the clock neared more to 8 o'clock; the Maurders decided to head down to breakfast. They reached the bottom of the dorm staircase when a fifth year prefect came running into the common room looking panicked -
"There's been a serious incident down in Slytherin. Two girls have been burnt really badly and they have been taken to St. Mungo's. McGonagall is on the war path, convinced that it was one of us." She panted between breaths addressing the few students in the common room who hadn't gone down to breakfast yet.
James and Sirius looked at each other, both as white as a sheet. Remus gave both their arms a tug,
"Act normal," he hissed "you'll give yourself away in minutes if you don't. Come on, let's get breakfast."
The boys headed down the same route they'd taken just hours previous. When they reached the Great Hall, the commotion was electric. They'd wanted to cause a fuss but never in such a negative way.
They took their seats at the table, instantly noticing the absence of McGonagall and Dumbledore on the teachers table.
"Sirius if we aren't caught, should we just hand ourselves in?" James asked, the colour in his face draining even more.
"I really don't know. If we don't admit it, is that lying?" Sirius asked, knowing all too well that lying was something Mr Potter despised most.
James cringed as he realised what Sirius was indicating: he gave a half-hearted shrug in reply.
The hall fell almost silent in an instant. Sirius turned to see what could've caused such a reaction; he instantly noticed an extremely irate McGonagall and Dumbledore with the twinkle absent from his eyes.
The two professors made their way to the front of the hall where the staff table stood. McGonagall took her seat; her eyes instantly glancing over to where the Marauders sat. Dumbledore however remained standing; with no need to ask for silence in the hall he began addressing the students,
"Two girls have been gravely injured this morning, outside Slytherin Common room. We believe that, although the intention was not malicious, the intention of the prank was to cause a situation within Slytherin house. I will give the students responsible until the end of breakfast. Should no one come forward, the Christmas feast will be cancelled, as will the Hogsmede trip." Dumbledore departed along with McGonagall as an uproar of voices began to fill the hall.
Once again, Sirius and James looked at each other, both looking as if they were about to be positively sick.
"We've got to go haven't we," James said looking downcast and defeated. Sirius nodded as he didn't trust himself to speak.
"We'll come with you, won't we Wormtail?" the boys looked as they realised that through all the commotion, Peter was no longer sat next to the other boys.
A panicked look appeared on James face; "you don't think he's – no, he wouldn't have."
"Wouldn't have what James?" Remus replied, confusion apparent all over his face.
"Do you think he's gone to snitch on us?" James replied,
Sirius leapt to his feet, and began hurrying towards the doors, James quickly following behind.
Both boys sprinted through the castle hoping to get to Dumbledore's office before Peter.
"Sirius – wait!" James puffed between pants.
Sirius slowed down to turn and face James.
"We've got to get there before Peter. If Peter is the one that tells, then Dad will think we lied. He'll think that we weren't mature enough to admit our own mistakes. He'll be furious Prongs!" Sirius was so close to crying, he just couldn't speak any more.
"I didn't think of it like that…" James said, as he began to pick up the pace again.
It took all of ten minutes to get to Dumbledore's office. They looked at each other, as they realised that the gargoyle was at the top of the staircase. Someone had already been up there; James' bet was that it was Peter.
"We're too late" Sirius croaked out.
The boys waited as the gargoyle began to turn back down again; this time however, a rather irate looking Professor McGonagall stood at the top of the stairs...
TBC!