AN: Written for Round 2 of the QLFC
Team: Pride of Portree
Position: Beater 2
Beater's Prompt: Pterodactyl: Write a story that takes place in the sky or somewhere that houses broom equipment
Prompts used:
(word) ancient
(colour) forest green
7.(dialogue) "Aww, does somebody need a hug?"
Word count (excluding AN): 1138
Pranking the Pranksters
Sirius Black and James Potter were in trouble. Surprisingly enough, this trouble had found them instead of the pair searching for it.
The two fifth years sat next to each other, both straining to hear the sound of a stray student making his or her way into the Quidditch locker room. Unfortunately, neither held much hope that anyone would show up after midnight on a Thursday, the one day of the week that the pitch and locker rooms were completely empty.
"Why did I believe you when you said you'd found something, Prongs? I've known you five years now, and this is only the third time I've fallen for one of your pranks."
James stared at his best friend. "Prank? You think I pranked you, Padfoot?" James turned—as much as he could in the small, dark broom closet—and glared at what he thought was Sirius's eyes. "You think I locked us both in here, wandless, on bloody purpose?"
Sirius shrugged. "Prongs, you were the one who led me down here. You told me you'd found some ancient broom in here that would guarantee Gryffindor the Cup this year. This broom, supposedly, has more juice than that new Nimbus that was released last month. You do remember telling me that, don't you? You weren't Imperiused, were you?" Sirius was annoyed. Normally, a prank of this proportion would be met with congratulations from Sirius, but this time it had ruined his chances with a certain Hufflepuff he had been eyeing. She'd think he had blown her off…again.
James sat silently for a while, thinking. "We've been had, my friend."
"Yeah? Who'd be brave enough to prank you and me, Potter? Certainly, anyone who knows us well enough to prank us knows that we will retaliate. Who told you about this all-powerful broom?"
"The person who told me would never prank us. She must have been fooled herself." James sighed. "It must have been Snivellus," he stated determinedly.
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Snape!? That greasy coward doesn't have the bollocks, not to mention the intellect, to pull this off."
James shook his head. "Snape may be a greasy coward, but never mistake him for an idiot. That guy is smarter than he looks. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that he did this to us."
The pair sat quietly for a moment, thinking of how Snape would have pulled this off. Then Sirius spoke.
"It wasn't Snape. He's been working like crazy on his Potions project with the Slug. Haven't you heard him harping through class, complaining that we Gryffindors were wasting his project time by actually coming to class?"
James smirked. "Merlin forbid we actually get our own education instead of him becoming the youngest Potions Master in a century. Especially when we know he's just going to be brewing the Dark Lord's personal supply of potions in a year or two." The bespectacled Potter was quiet again. "If not Snape, then who tricked my precious flower, Padfoot?"
Sirius stiffened. "Lily told you about this broom?"
"Ah…yes? That's how I know it wasn't her idea. She would never—"
"Never what? Trick us? James, she hates our guts! Also, who would be the only person who would actually think to switch out our actual wands with worthless duplicates? I hate to say it, but Gryffindor intelligence is not at a high right now."
James, shocked, laid a hand across his heart and exclaimed, "My Lily-flower would never do something as vile as this! She doesn't have a manipulative bone in her beautiful body!"
Sirius gave a rueful laugh. "Merlin, Prongs. You have it bad for the girl. Lily Evans is the most sinister Gryffindor at Hogwarts. I heard the Sorting Hat debated between Slytherin and Ravenclaw for ten minutes before she demanded to be placed in Gryffindor. The girl has brains, lad, and she knows how to manipulate people…especially you!"
"But—but she was so sincere and excited when she told me about this broom! Said that it'd give us an edge over Ravenclaw next weekend. She wouldn't…couldn't…" James looked over in the direction of his best friend. "Evans lied to me!" He sounded as if he were about to cry.
"Aw, does somebody need a hug?" Sirius poked his lower lip out, mocking James. "Focus, Prongs!. Now that we know who put us in here, we can plot our revenge."
James nodded. "I wouldn't put it past that wanker Snivellus to be in on this as well. He's as in love with Evans as I am and follows her round like a sad puppy."
Sirius felt around the closet, finding nothing but old practice brooms. "If I just had something to pry this door open…"
"Oh, that's not possible, Black." The two boys jumped at the female voice on the other side of door. "This door is sealed with magic so using tools the Muggle way will be ineffective. And your real wands are out here with me. So," the voice took on a humored lilt, "find that broom I was telling you about, Potter?"
"You'll pay for this, Evans." James was finally annoyed enough to be a bit angry with Lily. Sirius patted him on the back.
Lily laughed. "What could you possibly do to me, Potter? You can hardly get, 'Go out with me, Evans?' out before stupidly running off with your mates. You won't prank me. You don't have the nerve to, not since that vile prank you pulled on Severus last month."
Sirius hit the door with his fist. "James might not retaliate, but I will. Prefect or not, you don't scare me, Evans. I'll definitely get you back…if we ever get out of here."
"Oh, the door will open in a bit. Until then, Severus is going to sit here and tell you just how we plotted and executed this wonderful plan. Can't wait for you two to get out and see what we've done to your hair! Severus lined the closet with a new potion he's been working on. You two should love it!"
Both boys' hands flew up to their heads. Their hair felt the same, but both had a sinking feeling that they would be appalled at the colours staring back at them once they reached a mirror and some light.
Sure enough, a couple of hours later found James Potter and Sirius Black staring at their reflections, both sporting a mane of forest green hair that would make any Slytherin proud.
James looked over at Sirius. "Snivellus and Evans will pay."