Prologue: Original Pranksters

It was a cold, crisp March evening at Hogwarts. Although, while the air outside was icey, inside the castle the atmosphere was warm and cheerful as the students sat, enjoying their dinner. The enchanted sky in the Great Hall that night was dark and velvety, the stars twinkling like tiny diamonds.

Not that the Marauders were taking any notice, however. Conversation amongst the four boys that night had turned to a far more relevant topic.

"You know," said Sirius thoughtfully, through a large mouthful of apple crumble. "April Fool's Day – when approached in the correct manner – can be even more satisfying than Christmas."

"Amen to that, Padfoot!" James exclaimed, plunging his spoon into his own dessert. "If there's anything better than a good haul of presents, it's a bloody good supply of Zonko products, and a castle full of gullible kids!"

He took a moment to inhale dramatically.

"Can't you just SMELL the fear on the first years already?"

Remus Lupin smiled from behind the Charms book he was skimming through.

"Don't peak too soon," he warned. "It's still a week away."

"We know that!" said Sirius indignantly, and swallowed. "It's just that we'll need a whole week to start planning all the things we're going to do."

James had begun to look wistful.

"Just think of the possibilities this year, lads," he murmured dreamily. "We could set off a chain reaction of dungbombs…"

"We did that last year, Prongs," Remus reminded him, not looking up from his book. "Filch didn't like it much."

"Neither did I," Peter piped up. "I got trapped, remember?"

James snorted into his dessert.

"Oh yeah," laughed Sirius, now spooning hefty dollops of custard into his bowl. "Remind me how, exactly?"

Peter didn't seem to want to relive the moment, and fell silent, looking pained. James, luckily, was all too happy to fill in.

"We set them off in that dead-end corridor."

"Ah, that's right. Pete got stuck at the wrong end when they erupted. Classic, I can still see his face!"

"AND we wouldn't let him sleep in the dorm for a week!"

"Well, I wasn't going to have anyone smelling like dung in the same room as me!"

Peter seemed to sink lower into his chair, his round cheeks flushing red.

"It really was pretty bad, Wormtail," Sirius added, unnecessarily.

"He just has a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said James dismissively, waving his spoon around. "Anyway, if we do that one again, we'll know to only try it somewhere with an easily accessible exit. For us, anyway. Right, Wormy?"

"I don't think you ought to put Filibuster Fireworks down anyone's bed again, though," warned Remus, closing his Charms book and frowning. "McGonagall was furious when you did that in second year."

"Hey," said Sirius pointedly. "It could have been worse. We could have put them down her bed!"

"Now there's a thought, Padfoot!" said James, eyes glinting mischievously. "Very daring – I like it!"

"But McGonagall's not even here for the next week," Peter chimed in, somewhat sulkily. "It wouldn't do any good."

The other three stopped dead, Sirius with a large spoonful of custard soaked crumble half way to his mouth. He and James in particular were ogling at Peter as if he'd told them Zonko's were having a 50 percent off everything sale.

Peter – suddenly aware he was the centre of attention - looked worriedly between his friends.

"Why are you all staring at me? Do I have something on my face?"

"Say that last bit again," murmured James, leaning forwards.

Peter blinked his watery eyes.

"Do…do I have something on…my…face?" he reiterated, uncertainly. "Its pudding, isn't it?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "No, you wing-nut. We mean the bit about McGonagall going away. Is she really not going to be here for the next week?"

"Oh!" said Peter, back on track. "Yeah, she's gone away to London. I can't even remember why. I think it was something to do with her sister. I-I'm not sure…anyway, she's not coming back until about the 2nd of April."

A delighted smile was creeping its way across James' face.

Sirius almost looked on the verge of happy tears.

"James," he said, grinning uncontrollably. "Did you hear that? Old McGonagall, the bane of our existence…the one adult forever barring the way between the four of us and absolute havoc…"

"-aside from Filch, the Headmaster, the entire Hogwarts faculty, your parents, the Minister for Magic-" Remus cut in, but was overrode.

"…isn't going to be here for the next week," Sirius finished, with suppressed excitement. "Ohh, Merlin. This is good."

Peter's mouth was twitching into a smile. He felt incredibly proud he'd said something which had obviously pleased them.

Remus, however, seemed worried: more so than usual.

"I hope you two aren't thinking what I think you're thinking."

"Moony," said James, pausing to push his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, in a business-like manner. "If you think we're thinking we should make the very most of a week without McGonagall lurking around the Gryffindor common room, preventing us from celebrating this once a year opportunity, then I think you're right."

Remus gave him a completely helpless look.

James beckoned them all closer, and he lowered his voice.

"Marauders. I am pleased to inform you that I have – just this moment – hatched a plan," he said quietly. "A little challenge for us, you might say. It's exactly seven days til April Fools, and so I want the four of us, up until then, to play as many pranks, as many tricks, as many practical jokes as we can possibly manage, without being caught – charms, jinxes, curses, hexes, you name it – we'll do it! If we can keep it up, we can end the week with a big finale on April Fools Day…and I mean big. It's got to be the MOTHER of all jokes. If we succeed, the Marauders'll go down in prankster history."

He paused for effect, allowing his comrades to absorb what he'd just told them. Sirius looked beside himself, as did Peter, who was always the perfect mimic. Remus appeared considerably less rapt, as if going down in "prankster history" wasn't exactly one of his life goals.

"James-" he began delicately, but his messy-haired friend paid him no attention.

"What do you say? Are we up for it?"

"Sounds like the chance of a lifetime, Prongs, me old mate!" said Sirius, rubbing his hands together. "Count me in!"

Peter wasted no time in squeaking "I'll do it!" immediately afterwards.

"Look at that," said Sirius proudly. "Petey's even brave enough to risk a repeat of the dungbomb episode from last year. That's my boy!"

All three sets of eyes now fell on Remus, who was still looking hesitant.

"Look, I don't know…" he said, nervously touching his newly acquired, glinting Prefect badge. "You know I'm supposed to be setting a good example."

"Oh, pish and tish, Rem – it'll be loads of fun," Sirius insisted. "Anyway, you forget – anonymity is the key, no one's even gonna know it's us! What else do we have an invisibility cloak for?"

"Yeah, and we've got the map," offered James, adopting a more sober tone as he tried to win Remus over. "We're covered from all angles, we'll be perfectly safe."

Remus looked around once more at their desperate, pleading faces and caved in, with a sigh.

"Well…all right," he said weakly, causing James and Sirius to let out a series of overjoyed whoops and yells, gaining them a few odd looks from nearby students. Remus imploringly tried to hush his two friends, but it didn't really have much effect. Mere seconds had passed since he'd agreed, and already a sickening sense of regret was engulfing him.

"Come on, we need to get back to the Common room to start 'plotting'!" said Sirius enthusiastically, getting up.

"First thing tomorrow," said James, doing the same. "We begin. Hogwarts won't know what's hit it."

"Please," Remus begged, as he and Peter also stood up and followed Sirius and James towards the doors, "promise me you're going to be careful about all this. If you get the four of us caught…"

He trailed off, the consequences too dire to consider.

"R-Remus is kind of right," stammered Peter. "Just because McGonagall's gone, doesn't mean the other teachers won't around to watch us."

"Oh, relax, you two," Sirius laughed, slinging his arms around them both. "Nothing's going to go wrong!"

"Exactly," agreed James, with a roguish grin.

"Let the mischief begin."