Trading Places
By snickerdoodle131515
Summary: The Marauders drink a weird potion and get trapped inside of each other's bodies; so crazy, weird, hilarious things are sure to happen!
Characters: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Snivellus, and many Professors. Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter One: Night Time Wanderings
It was a rare occasion when you would find any of the Marauders other then Remus in the library. But today was different, and the Marauders were scheming for their next prank on the Slytherins. Remus, who knew the library like the back of his hand, was flipping through a very musty old potions book that they had stolen from the restricted section of the library in the middle of the night.
" Here it is!" Remus said excitedly. He turned the book so that the others could see it. James, Sirius, and Peter leaned forward to read the directions on how to prepare the potion. Remus held his wand over the book, and the book lit up in the dark room so that they could all read it.
" It looks—complicated," said James thoughtfully. He pushed his glasses up higher on his nose, and said, " But it'll be worth it. Snivelly won't even know what's going on,"
" How long does it take to make?" questioned Peter, eager to have a say in the conversation.
" A week," Sirius answered, pointing at a spot on the page. " So, we'll be able to control all of Snape's actions for a whole day?"
" That's what it says," murmured Remus as he began scribbling down the ingredients on a slip of parchment. " We can find most of these from the student's store closet."
" A bezoar?" muttered Sirius. " Where the heck are we going to get that? We'll have to steal it from the Potions store cupboard."
Peter shuddered at this. " What if we get caught?"
James snorted. " We won't get caught. Besides, Remus wouldn't tell on us, would you, Moony?"
Remus glared disapprovingly, and fingered his Prefects badge.
" Oh, come on Moony!" cried Sirius. " You've stolen potions ingredients yourself when we were trying to find a cure for your lycanthropy!"
" Keep it down!" Remus hissed, staring frantically around the library for eavesdroppers
" Relax, Remus," said Sirius casually. " There's no one over here." Remus briskly folded up the parchment and stuck it inside his pocket. They all rose silently from their chairs and headed toward the exit, when Peter tripped over his chair. He reached for something to steady his balance, and grabbed the hood of Sirius' cloak. Peter fell to the ground, dragging Sirius with him, who was choking from having the cloth around his neck pulled so tightly. They hit the ground with a loud thud, and Sirius began screaming.
" What the--?" Sirius roared. " What was that for?" Sirius stood and dusted his robes off with his left hand, while pulling Peter up with the other.
" Sorry, Sirius!" Peter gasped. " It's just so dark—I didn't see the chair!"
" Well, we'd better get moving," said James urgently. " Sirius' cursing could probably be heard from Dumbledore's office!"
Sirius and the others nodded, and James lifted his invisibility cloak over the other three boy's heads. They silently walked towards the door, and James was about to turn the door handle when the door shot open, causing the four of them to double back, startled.
To their horror, the nasty tempered caretaker and his nosy cat, Mrs. Norris emerged in the doorway. Filch was whispering to his cat. " They're here somewhere, my sweet. I know I heard Black's voice--"
As Filch moved away from the doorway in search of them, they silently swept past, being careful on how to fit all four of them through the doorway without making any noise, and trying to all fit though without the cloak coming off.
They ran along the stone hallways, their footsteps echoing dully. Once they had put a good distance between themselves and Filch, they stopped, panting, and leaned against a wall.
" That was close," gasped James, panting for breath. Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably under James' gaze. James reached into his pocket and took out the Marauder's Map, a map of the castle that they had created in their fifth year. James tapped the parchment with his wand, and whispered, " I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
As James' wand touched the parchment and he uttered the incantation, spider- like words and illustrations filled up every corner of the page, pouring from the tip of his wand. The heading read, " Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors to the aid of Magical Mischief- Makers are proud to present the Marauder's Map."
As usual, whenever any of them read the map, a goofy smile crept onto their faces. They had created this map. Had studied every detail, person, and every secret passageway, and wrote it onto this map. They were all highly doubtful that anyone but themselves ever learned so much about the castle, Including Professor Dumbledore and Filch.
Their eyes scanned the corridors, and came to rest on four mini illustrations of themselves, labeled James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. There was no one else on this floor prowling in the night, Filch and Mrs. Norris had returned to Filch's office, all the Professors seemed to be in their Living corridors and Peeves seemed to be terrorizing the Trophy Room.
Knowing that the cost was clear, they walked silently through the hallways where they had spent nearly seven years of their lives. The foursome walked down a dozen staircases, going lower and lower in the castle, taking the route that they used to get their Potions classroom. Peter was continually checking the map, and was so absorbed in making sure that he would occasionally have to be steered out of the way of a wall by the others.
They reached the dungeons, and Peter informed the Marauders that their Potions teacher was asleep. This was the perfect opportunity to steal the ingredients they needed for the potion. James opened the door, and held it open as they all entered. He then closed the door quietly behind them. They were in the large, dark, and cold Potions classroom where they had spent countless miserable hours with the Slytherins. Their Potions teacher was Professor Horace Slughorn, Head of Slytherin House. The Marauders were pleasantly surprised to discover that the door to Professor Slughorn's office was unlocked. They crept silently inside, and explored the office. The room was even colder and darker than the classroom, with a more noticeable draft. They shivered under the cloak, and James pulled it off of the four of them, as they were safe as long as the Professor remained sleeping. Remus waved his wand, and the candles around the office lit, lighting the shabby office. Sirius was delighted to find that their potions essays were left on the desk. Sirius seated himself in the chair behind the desk, leaned the throne- like chair onto its hind legs, and grabbed the pile of essays. Some were graded, others were not. Sirius flipped through them until he found any of interest.
" Oy! James!" Sirius exclaimed. "Lily aced this one!"
James grinned. " Does that surprise you?" Lily Evans was James' girlfriend, and was particularly favored by Slughorn because of her talents in Potions. She was Head Girl, and James was Head Boy. They had started dating after Lily realized that James was no longer an arrogant prat, and when James asked her out for the millionth time, she finally said yes, coming to discover that James was actually a great guy. And this was some improvement, as Lily had stubbornly insisted for years that she would rather go out with the giant squid than James. Lily was a pretty, fiery red head with emerald green eyes that James had had a crush on since their first year, and everyone said " It's about time!" the first time they saw them together. They all knew that they were soul mates.
" How did I do?" asked Peter in a squeaky voice. Sirius flipped through the essays until he found Peter's. " Umm... a C-,"
Peter looked pleased, glad that he had passed.
James looked up, and before he even opened his mouth, Sirius said, " You got an A, Jimmy-boy."
James scowled. " Sirius! Don't call me that!" he whined. " Whatever you say, Jamesie." said Sirius, returning to the essays. The others laughed. They all knew that James' biggest pet peeve was people making fun of his name.
" Okay, Siri." James said back coolly.
Sirius' chair fell onto all four legs with a smack. He glared at James.
" What?" No one ever called Sirius by his pet name.
" You heard me," said James cheekily. He ducked incase Sirius threw something at him. " Oh, well, Jim-Jam." Sirius picked up a quill, and bent his head over the essays. He made a slash on the paper. " Your grade is now an A minus."
James marched up to the desk, and looked down at his essay. Sure enough, it now read A minus. James snatched the quill from Sirius and made a vertical slash over the minus sign. " Now I have an A plus."
" Very smart, Jimmy." said Sirius, laughing. Remus and Peter were stifling laughter as they went through the Professor's store cupboard. No one else saw Sirius write an offensive note on Snape's essay in a perfect imitation of Professor Slughorn's handwriting.
" What did Snivellus get?" called Remus, sorting through some strange purple substance in a jar, and dabbling some into a vial. " His isn't graded yet, though there is a comment," said Sirius in excitement, as he showed them and they laughed, knowing that Sirius had done it. " What do you say, Professor Potter?"
" Well, Professor Black," said James smartly. " I believe that young, greasy Mr. Snape did dismal work. And let's dock him a few points for being a slimy Slytherin git, too."
" Alright, Professor," said Sirius. " A T it is,"
" A what?" asked Peter. " As in troll?"
" Precisely, Professor Wormtail." said James.
" Do you have all of the ingredients?" asked Sirius.
" Yes," said Moony. " That's the hard part. The potion itself should be ready in two days if we start it tonight,"
" Well, then, let; start!" exclaimed James, as they all borrowed a cauldron and heaved the lot of it to a certain empty girl's bathroom.
A/N: This is just a fun chapter before anything big happens. But I promise that in the next chapter, when the Marauders wake up two days later, they will all be in very different situations, I have already started on the next chapter- where the Marauders find themselves in an interesting situation. Please review, and if you didn't read my note in the beginning, I am accepting requests for events in this story through reviews, and please no slash. Thanks for reading, and I'll post the next chapter soon!