Readers, hello. I hope that you enjoy this new version of The Prank. I was not happy with how it was left, and so I chose (during finals week of course) to revamp it giving it new life. I am currently writing the fourth chapter, and will release the ones currently written when you guys let me know when you want them and if you like the new style. Some stuff will remain, others are gone and new material will be in this story, so I suggest not skipping anything! Also the story structure has changed. I hope you like it!
-Aalis
Chapter I
Fifteen year old Lily Evans was busy working in the library. She was completely unobservant to her surroundings while she read through her textbooks for the following school year. It was a tradition she had begun during her first year. After she'd read through all of her books, and realized that she had nothing else to do in her spare time, she began to "borrow without permission" from the second year Gryffindors. She always returned their text books before they noticed they were missing. When she was shopping for her second year, she made sure to partner up with an older student so as to steal their list and duplicate it. That way she could buy the books and use them throughout the year. It gave her an interesting perspective on what changes were made to the curriculum each year. It also helped her stay ahead of everyone else.
She was browsing the "Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six" looking to see which spell she wanted to learn first. She flipped page after page as her eyes stared keenly at the text. The spell that finally caught her eye was an advanced version of the Lumos. "Lumos Felibus is an advanced version of the spell Lumos. Instead of the small amount of light that is produced from using Lumos, this branch of the spell will flood an entire room, allowing numerous amounts of light, regardless of whether or not the darkness is a spell, or natural"(Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six).
Lily grinned after she finished reading. She bookmarked the page and hurried off to an empty classroom after grabbing her satchel. After going over the theory once more she pulled, out her wand and started practicing. It took several attempts, but her wand erupted into a light so powerful that it lit the entire room.
"Amazing," she whispered. She was just about to mutter the counter spell when the door burst open.
"Lily!" A girl with straight honey brown hair had entered into the room.
"One day and you've already been to the library?" She asked teasingly. Lily gave her a sheepish grin.
"Don't tease me when you're the one who's coming to ask me to teach it to you," Lily said. The girl sat down next to her and grinned.
"You know me far too well."
"Considering you're one of my best friends Ashton I should hope so." Lily answered as she handed her the spell book.
"Lumos Felibus," Ashton read aloud.
"Sounds interesting." "Alright, how do I do it?" Ashton asked.
"Follow the directions," Lily teased.
"Hey, now, I'm not the one who is able to maintain an advanced level which is equal to the students above us," Ashton said. Lily rolled her eyes and relented. Several minutes later, Ashton was able to produce the light.
"I feel like we go through this every year." Lily said, as she started laughing.
"That's because we do." Ashton said rolling her eyes.
"Parker's going to yell at us for being late to lunch. You know how she is about food," Lily said as she put the book in her satchel. She stood and pulled Ashton up with her. When they arrived at the Great Hall, they saw that the entire student population was packed into the four large house tables already. They headed for their usual spot which was the end of the table furthest from the door. Parker was already sitting there, with her nose in a book. All the that could be seen was her curly black hair over the top of the novel.
"Parker!" Ashton yelped as Lily rolled her eyes. Of the three of them, Ashton had the largest amount of energy. It showed most often late at night when Lily was attempting to sleep. She ran a hand through her long curly red hair that had fallen in her face, brushing it out of the way.
"Hey guys." Parker said after swallowing a mouthful of food.
"What spell have you been learning today?"
"What makes you assume that's what we were up to?" Ashton asked as she sat down.
"Please, it's the two of you," Parker answered.
"I found an advanced version of the spell Lumos." Lily answered as she started filling a bowl full of corn.
"It's a sweet spell. Where've you been?" Ashton added.
" Reading outside by the lake. I vacated the dorm as fast as possible. Apparently someone got new mascara or lip-gloss; something of that nature" Parker explained.
"The girls were driving me mad."
"Any idea why they started term on a Friday this year?" Ashton asked.
"Not that I'm complaining. I mean, it gives me time to actually complete my homework, but isn't it sort of a waste?"
"You should have had your homework assignments done sooner," Lily lectured. Ashton waved her off as Parker laughed.
"I think it has to do with that Voldemort guy." Parker whispered while glancing down the table, to make sure no one heard her.
"A lot of people are getting worried that something bad might happen soon." She said.
"The Daily Prophet is reporting a disappearance or two every few weeks."
"I haven't been able to renew my subscription." Lily said sadly.
"My mum felt it was best to give my sister a break from the Owls flying in and out."
Ashton made a sound of disgust.
"I seriously am contemplating showing up at your house on my seventeenth birthday and petrifying that girl." She growled as Lily shook her head slowly.
"I don't think that would help. My mom would probably freak out even more. Neither of them really likes me being a witch to begin with, especially not my sister."
Parker sent her a sympathetic look across the table. Lily knew that while she didn't understand having a family who were muggles, she also knew that she genuinely cared.
"What'd they say about you being prefect?" Parker asked.
"Mum was so happy. Especially once I explained it fully. She couldn't stop smiling, and she actually bought me Sneakers as a reward." Lily couldn't keep the silly grin off of her face as she thought about the adorable kitten asleep in her dormitory at the moment.
"I swear I'm going to steal her from you Lily." Ashton said grinning.
"She's the cutest thing ever." It wasn't until after breakfast when they could be away from the rest of the school that the serious conversations began.
"So, what's next on the to do list?" Lily asked once they were climbing the staircase. Parker began grinning at the question. .
"Thought so." Lily said smirking back.
"What's the plan and who's the target?" Ashton asked, giggling.
The three girls had been best friends from day one. They first met on the train, all three petrified of the sorting hat, although for various reasons. Lily, was muggleborn, so didn't have any idea as to what to expect, while Parker was a pureblood, whose older brothers had told her horrifying stories about how you got sorted, and Ashton was afraid of tripping in front of everyone.
"Okay, so Parker, what's this big idea that you have?" Ashton asked.
"I think that as our first prank for this term we should target James Potter. After all, it's not like they'd be able to get us back." She answered.
Despite having a competition with the Marauders—a group of four Gryffindor boys—no one in the school knew that the girls were the ones who pulled the majority of pranks at the school. For the past year and a half the rumors had been that it was a group of Slytherin boys.
"Hmm..." Lily said quietly. Both girls turned to look at her expectantly.
"Well you know what would drive them mad."
"What?" Ashton asked almost impatiently.
"What if we managed to prank them from inside their dormitory? They'd be dying to know how the Slytherin's managed it. Even if they do realize that it's someone in Gryffindor, they'll never think it was a girl, much less us three."
"That's wicked! Parker exclaimed as Lily stood up and took a mock bow.
"I try. What exactly do you think would irritate them the most?"
"Well, you know how Sirius is about his hair." Ashton paused.
"What if we manipulated it somehow? Suppose we either cut it off magically, or changed it to dred locks?"
"I like it as a beginning, but we have to hit all four of them. What about Potter," Parker asked.
"What about their uniforms?" Lily said suddenly, as a coy grin spread across her face.
"You know how they love their images. What if we swap their clothes?" The other two caught on really quickly.
"Is there a way for them to think they're wearing their normal ones?" Parker asked.
Lily nodded.
"We can do Sirius' hair, at the same time we fix their clothes. We'll have to actually get into their room, to do that though. I think it's best to actually switch it over once they've hit the Great Hall," she explained.
"We're going to have to come up with a way of getting them to stay asleep." Ashton said quickly.
"We can't' risk getting caught." Lily grinned. Nope. With all that they'd done over the years, they'd get expelled if anyone ever turned them in.
"That's half the fun." Parker whined.
"Yeah, but is it worth what they'll do to us?" Ashton asked, trying not to laugh at Parker's hysterical antics.
"Even if they catch us, it's not like they're going to know who we actually are." Lily said.
"All we have to say is that we think they're hot, and that we wanted to make out with them. Those boys are so full of themselves that they'll totally buy that story.." She said disgust lining her voice.
"She's right." Parker said grinning.
"I mean, I'm sure they'll sleep through it anyway and if they don't, the worse they can do is kick us out."
"You just have a thing for Black." Ashton said, laughing at Parker's look of horror.
"No I don't." she sputtered.
"He's too arrogant, and besides, I have a feeling he's made out with every girl in this school, save for first, second and third years." Her protests were futile because Lily and Ashton had started to tear up from laughing so hard.
Once they had managed to control their laughter, the girls began planning their time to see whether or not they would be successful at this prank. It was decided that Ashton would keep a look out, and if anyone started coming near the door, she'd create a barrier within the door frame. They only wanted to use this as secondary course of action in case the boys woke up and they needed a quick getaway. Parker was in charge of fixing Sirius' hair while Lily cast the spell, which would allow her to change their clothes at her every whim. She put it on every single uniform, because she had a feeling they'd try to sneak back up and change.
Luckily for them all four boys stayed completely silent as they stole out of the room as quietly as possible. They quickly walked down to breakfast; laughing as they talked about how exciting today was going to be. They knew that Gryffindor house was going to get a rude awakening this morning, on the account that Sirius Black absolutely adored his hair.