Four boys stood in the doorway of a Gyffindor dormitory. The one at the front of the group, and partially responsible for the pileup, was slim and proper looking, with his uniform exactly as it should be, and his caramel coloured hair carefully pushed out of his eyes as he surveyed the room. Beside him, a small, round boy with sandy hair, was just finishing off a stick of liquorice and looking round the room with an air of pleasant oblivion.

Behind these two, and craning their necks to see what had stopped them, were two, taller boys, one with wild dark hair that stuck up at the back and glasses, the other with boyish, handsome features and black hair that looked like he'd just come through a gorse bush backwards. Both were in defiance of the school dress code, with shirts untucked and James' tie loosened, and Sirius having not bothered with a tie at all this morning.

"Why'd we stop?" Sirius asked, with an appallingly convincing tone of innocence.

"Look at this room!" Remus ran a hand through his already perfect hair in frustration, and turned to the other three with an exasperated sigh.

"I don't see anything wrong with it. It's how we left it this morning, isn't it?" James pointed out, looking around him in bemusement.

"That is exactly the point. It is how we left it. And we left it in a right mess!" Remus, feeling he was getting nowhere, spelt it out. "And I'm not living in it any longer. We're cleaning it."

The effect of these words on the rest of the Marauders was that of dismal silence. It's alright for Remus, Sirius thought. He is a naturally tidy person. Look at his corner of the room! It's immaculate. I don't know what he's complaining about…

He was about to voice his argument, but then caught the look on Remus' face, which was set with both determination and a look of 'don't argue with me if you know what's good for you'. Sirius knew that face, and he also knew that it would be both pointless and dangerous to try and convince him otherwise.

Finally Remus moved out of the doorway and picked his way across the room until he reached his corner, the only piece of clear floor in the whole dorm, Peter shuffling after him.

Sirius and James looked at each other, defeated. How was it that Remus always got his way?

Five minutes later and the room was, if anything, looking worse. Remus had concluded that, "It has to get worse before it gets better," and so the boys had emptied every single item from their trunks and drawers, and scattered it around the room. With a sigh, Remus decided that he had asked for that one, but it didn't deter him. They were cleaning this room if it took all day. And by the looks of it, it probably would.

James was sitting in a pile of Quidditch gear. Surrounded by Gryffindor red socks, jerseys and a stray snitch, he almost looked content. He threw the snitch in the air, and at the last minute reached out and caught it again, repeating the action for Peter's amusement. Remus sighed, held up his wand and muttered, "Accio James' snitch."

James gave a yelp as the snitch flew just out of his grasp, across the room, and into Remus' hand.

"Hey! I was playing with that!"

"Yes, but you're not meant to be playing, you're meant to be cleaning."

Sirius gave a snort from the other side of the room. "Bad luck Prongsie, I don't think you'll be getting that back in a hurry."

"You can have it back when were done." Remus concluded.

"You sound like a teacher when you talk like that, Rem," Peter declared, as he started on another liquorice stick. He was currently sitting on his bed, surrounded in sweet wrappers, books and clothing, looking quite at home. "Besides, I don't see the point in cleaning if it's only going to end up back like this in a week."

Sirius and James whole-heartedly agreed, but Remus was not to be persuaded. "Look, I know you lot are happy to live like pigs, but I'm not. So were cleaning. Either you have this finished by tonight or James, no snitch. Peter, no more lollies, and Sirius, you know what you'd be missing out on…"

"You wouldn't." Sirius looked at his boyfriend, who was standing with his arms folded, wand in hand, looking at him with a look of utter seriousness on his face.

"Oh, I would."

James looked from one boy to the other, and groaned. "Don't give us details please. We can only imagine what Moony is getting at."

Remus looked smug as the other three set to work. James hurriedly stuffed his Quidditch gear back into his top drawer, and then set about removing any other items of his clothing from their various hiding spots around the room. Sirius was shoving odd socks and other pieces of uniform into their drawers, and Peter was half-heartedly picking up sweet wrappers and throwing them at the waste paper bin, and missing. Remus, with a flick of his wand, sent them flying into it, and then fixed a stern glare on Peter, who slid off the bed and began picking up text books.

Remus, never one to be hypocritical, thought he had better make himself useful, so sat down beside James. He had turned his attention to the scraps of parchment and odd quills that had found their way under his bed. Remus helped him blow the dust off and pack them inside his trunk. Next, he picked up a pile of books and sorted through them. "This one's yours Moons, and this one's Padfoots." He threw the book, with considerably good aim, at the back of Sirius head. It made contact with a painful thump, and Sirius immediately picked up a shoe and threw it hard at James. Unfortunately, it hit Remus instead.

"Oh Merlin, Rem, I'm sorry! I honestly didn't mean to hit you! I was going for James I swear-"

But Remus had picked up another book, and hurled it across the room at Sirius, who dodged. Then, the whole room was a riot of flying books and hurled shoes, and squeaks and yells from all four Marauders. After they had thrown everything in sight, the fight died out, and they were left lying on the floor, laughing. Sirius got up and flopped down beside Remus, ruffling his hair. "See Rem, messy is a lot more fun!"

James looked at him for a second, and then all four simultaneously cracked up laughing.

"I didn't mean it in that way, you prat," Sirius choked out between laughs.

"'Course you didn't," James shot back. "We all know Remus wouldn't put up with it if it was messy." That comment sent them all into fits of laughter again, rolling around on the messy floor.

Half an hour later the room was starting to look better. Clothes were back in their drawers, books were stacked neatly on top. Remus sat down on the bed next to Sirius, who was sorting through a stack of parchment, all pieces had the heading, 'PLANS'.

"Hey, I found our old prank plans! Some of these we never actually put into action you know…"

Remus took the pile gently out of his hands, and tucked it into his top drawer. "Don't get distracted, we can go through them later. You're nearly done over here!"

"Well I have been working hard, Rem… I really have." Sirius, with a sly grin, slipped an arm round Remus' waist and pulled his closer.

"No, James and Peter-"

"Aren't taking any notice."

It was true. James was sorting through his dwindling supplies from Zonko's, and Peter had found a new stash of liquorice sticks in the back of his drawer that he'd forgotten about, and was now searching in case he's missed any more.

Remus gave in as Sirius started to kiss his way along his shoulder and up his neck. He shivered a little at the contact, and bit his lip. Sirius opened his mouth and licked little circles just under his jawbone, and Remus had to hold in a moan. Instead he moved his hands from where he'd been gripping the bed quilt as though his life depended on it, onto Sirius' knee. He turned his head and caught Sirius off guard, kissing him insistently on the lips. Because he was rather liking his position as head of the tidying committee, Remus decided he'd quite like to be in charge for a change. He moved his hands to Sirius' shoulders and gave him a shove. Sirius fell backwards onto the bed with an indignant "Hey!" but Remus silenced him with another kiss.

Straddling him, he gave Sirius the same treatment he'd just received, and began placing open mouth kisses all along his neck, down to the collar of his shirt, and back up again. Sirius reached up and grabbed Remus' tie and pulled his closer, revelling in the feeling of Remus' body against his.

"I thought you said I wasn't getting any of this until we'd finished tidying?" he whispered in Remus' ear.

"Yeah, well I made the rule, so I'm allowed to break it," Remus growled back and nipped at Sirius' neck, making the breath catch in the other boy's throat. The kisses moved from his neck up to his mouth, and as their tongues tangled together and hands roamed over their clothes, a voice broke through the room.

"I'm going to turn around in 5 seconds and you two are not going to be snogging."

Pulling away from each other, Remus blushed and Sirius just grinned. Remus quickly climbed off Sirius, and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked around.

The room was clean. Spotlessly clean.

He looked at James in amazement. "It's… clean!"

"Don't sound so surprised, Moons. You're not the only one who can read a book. Let's just say I found one on 'Household Chores Made Easy' while you and Pads were going at it over there."

There was a short silence, then Sirius spoke.

"Why in Merlin's name didn't we think of that earlier! I've always wanted to try one of those spells! They always look like such fun!"

"Well…" James contemplated. "I guess we could just mess the room up and tidy it again..." giving Remus a hopeful look.

Remus let out a groan and lay back on the bed, and Sirius, James and Peter all whooped in delight.

Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon was spent throwing things out of drawers and trunks and around the room in general, and then taking turns to magic it clean again.

And Remus thought, grudgingly, that making a mess was rather fun after all.