Fred Weasley loved a good prank, that was obvious. He and his brother might've well been crowned kings of the school, especially ever since they had gotten Peeves on their side. That wasn't difficult to do though, not to mention the look on Filch's face was worth more galleons than even Malfoy's family had.
The hallways were always dead quiet at this hour; the perfect time for payback. George was still out cold in the Hospital Wing days after the Slytherins had decided to tamper his broom before the big match. The detentions served by Snape were not enough for Fred's liking; that greasy old git would never give his precious Slytherins more than a night of cleaning cauldrons the muggle way. If Snape wouldn't give them what they deserve, why shouldn't he?
He was rather pleased that Harry's cloak covered his tall, lanky body, as he would never be able to get away with this without it. Harry had been just as outraged with the turn of events, and he was more than happy to help get their revenge; even more so since it had lost them the game. Dirty cheating, that's what it was. As it was, he usually avoided spending time in the dungeons, if at all possible, but years of having the Marauder's Map in hand had given him more knowledge about the layout of the school than most of the teachers likely had.
The Slytherin common room; one of the few places which he hadn't taken the liberty to explore in all his years at Hogwarts. He doubted there would be any protection charms keeping the non-Slytherin students out because, after all, who on earth would want in anyway?
"Going somewhere, Potter?"
Fred stopped dead in his tracks; he had hardly expected anyone to be awake at this hour, let alone have the audacity to stand in the way of his little plan. The girl who had spoken stepped forward into the dim light of the torches on the wall; Pansy Parkinson. He should have known they were expecting someone to come along and pay them back.
She took another step toward him and swiftly (not to mention forcefully, as her hand had collided with his arm harder than he had expected) she tore off the cloak.
"Ugh. A weasel, just as bad as Potter. I suppose I should have smelled you coming before I heard those two left feet of yours."
"Oh, is that why your nose is like that?" he grinned, causing her smirk to turn to a scowl.
"I ought to report you to Snape, Weaselby."
"And tell him you've been roaming the halls? Sounds like a wonderful idea to me."
He could tell he was getting under her skin already by the slight frustration on her face mixed with her usual haughtiness. For someone who came off so sure of herself, she was obviously beginning to rethink her ability to be the most sharp and quick witted person in the room.
"Just go on back to bed, Weaselby," she muttered. "You have no business here."
"I'm not going anywhere. You lot need to be taught a lesson or two, especially you."
"What makes you think I had anything to do with this? I already had to spend all night cleaning cauldrons because Draco blamed it on me," she grimaced.
"Having problems with your boyfriend, Parkinson?"
"Bugger off."
She had begun to look murderous now, but why should he care whether she had a hand in it or not? It's not as though he was going to attack her specifically.
"Wait," he said, getting a dangerous idea. "If you're so angry at Malfoy, why don't you help me get him back?"
Her eyes narrowed, obviously unsure of his motives. But then again, they were pretty obvious; he wanted revenge on Malfoy just as much as she did.
"And what did you have in mind?"
"Well…" he smirked.
The Slytherin common room was cold, that was the first thing he noticed. The second thing was the lavish decorations that surrounded him; he should have expected as much from a house that held blood purity in such high respect. Many pureblood wizards felt the more extravagant; the higher above everyone else they were (of course, his family didn't fall into this category).
They got started right away; Fred focused on switching around the common room while Pansy took responsibility over fixing the dorms. It didn't take long, just as he had hoped; after all, the longer they took the more chance they had to be caught. He made sure to keep the corner of his eye on the direction of the dorms, just in case Pansy fancied the idea of changing her mind and waking up one of her little friends. Fortunately for him, she didn't do so; she must truly have been angry with Malfoy and his lot.
By the time she had descended the steps back to her common room, he was finished; the Slytherin common room was unrecognizable. Everything in it was now the gold and scarlet of Gryffindor, even complete with the mandatory Gryffindor Weasley, sitting comfortably on the couch near the fireplace.
"Well, this has been fun, but I shouldn't be much longer. Shouldn't be out so near to my curfew," he winked at her.
He bounded back up the stairs from where he had came, thinking that maybe this Parkinson girl wasn't that bad after all.
He awoke to the sound of loud voices coming from the Gryffindor; there was an obvious uproar happening downstairs from his dorm. Still somewhat tired from his late night adventures, Fred pulled himself out of bed.
"Oi, mate," Lee Jordan came in looking half angry, half amused. "You should come see this."
He had to stifle his laughter when he came in the common room; their normally bright room was now the dark silver and green that was usually associated with Slytherin. He should have known as much.
"There's a note here for you Fred…" Harry called from the other side of the room, looking more confused than even Wood, who was fuming trying to find out who had done this to his precious common room. "Who do you think it's from?" he said handing over the letter.
Weaselby,
What did you expect? After all, I learned from the best.
Fred Weasley couldn't help but smirk.
Fixed: thank you to crabbyabby3 for pointing that out.
