Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was enjoying a long hot soak in his private bath whilst the rest of the school was enjoying their evening meal. He would send for something from the kitchens later, right now he wasn't particularly hungry. Truth be told after the day he'd had he didn't have much of an appetite.
The Weasley twins, he was sure it was them, had recently developed a taste for toilet humor. For most children this phase wasn't too bad, however with magical children it could be bad if not nipped in the bud quickly enough, with the twins' keen prankster minds things had gotten out of hand pretty quickly.
He still gagged at the memory of the excrement golem they'd sent after Moaning Myrtle. Filch had nearly had a heart attack at the trail of filth and destruction it had left in its wake. Everyone still preferred to use bubble-head charms when on the second floor, rather than risk the fumes that refused to go away. Hmm, it had been three weeks, he wondered if they might be magical in origin, he'd have to check.
He felt his thoughts slow down and his muscles un-knot themselves as the calming draughts laced into his bathwater started to take effect.
A minute later he felt the bath shudder. He felt his mind go on alert, even as it battled the calming effects of the water. He quickly cast a wandless detection charm and groaned as runes began to light up on the bathtub. He noticed time delay, calming and befuddlement runes before the entire bath gave one more long shudder and suddenly rear up on its back supports.
The bath was a magnificent thing, its bone white ceramic tub was held off of the floor by four bronze legs carved to resemble the forefeet of a hippogriff. There was a scene, etched in gold inlay around the tub depicting the four house mascots at play in a large forest clearing. When the bath began to shudder the scene was distorted into that of two lions laughing whilst the other house mascots dangled from various traps around the clearing. With the final shudder the four legs became animated and the whole tub reared back like a horse before galloping straight through the doorway of the headmaster's private bathroom leaving a large whole in the door.
Dumbledore was not happy, his bath had kidnapped him, was currently racing around the school like a wild animal and he couldn't escape because of a shield charm encasing the entire rim of the bath. He could do very little as he had left his wand inside his robes and could not break the wards on the tub wandlessly. He couldn't think how this could possibly get any worse. A loud cackling drew him out of his reverie. 'Oh no, not Peeves!'
The great hall was full of students finishing off their evening meals. Everyone was tired from the excessive amounts of work they were doing with the exams so near. Some looked ready to drop right into their food from sheer exhaustion.
Suddenly a loud cackling had everyone on edge. Only one person in the castle made such a noise and if he was happy everyone else had better be on their guard. It was possibly one of the hardest but most widely learned lesson at Hogwarts.
Behind the cackling some could discern a loud rhythmic clanking and both sounds seemed to be getting nearer very quickly.
Most believed Peeves had possessed one of the suits of armour again and were wondering what he had planned with it. They were shocked when he came floating into the hall at about ceiling height, closely followed by a large ornate bathtub.
They were even more surprised when said bathtub dumped their naked headmaster inelegantly right into the middle of the great hall, before rearing onto it's hind legs and charging off back out of it again.
Harry, as with most of the students had no idea what had happened or whether it merited laughter, applause or horror. His fears that the headmaster had finally gone insane when he heard one of the Weasley twins whisper to the other as the bathtub reared; "Hi ho Porcelain! Away!"
He snorted into his dessert whilst silently praising them for the latest prank and wondering where they'd seen the Lone Ranger. This seemed to be the cue for the entirety of Gryffindor table to burst into laughter, swiftly followed by the rest of the school.
Dumbledore felt the shield atop his porcelain prison drop an instant before he was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor. All was quiet for a second as he got his bearings before he heard the hall full of students begin guffawing in ernest. Quickly summoning his wand he conjured himself a set of robes before standing a taking a gracious bow. He motioned for silence before speaking; "An excellent display of magic, planning and forethought, I consider myself well and truly pranked, my congratulations to the perpetrators." he said with a quick glance to the Gryffindor table before summoning his chair to him from the staff table. He stood on the chair and spoke again, "Now, if you will excuse me, I believe I have a bathtub to chase down. Minerva, Filius, your assistance would be most appreciated." He nodded to the staff table before motioning at the chair he was standing on with his wand. The chair gave a small shiver before the legs animated and began racing through the doorway after the tub.
McGonagall and Flitwick both exchanged a look before grinning and hopping up onto their own chairs. Flitwick animated his chair as the headmaster had done whilst McGonagall transfigured hers into a small horse. They shared another look before Flitwick announced, "The hunt is on!" and they departed the hall to the cheers of the student body.