September 2nd- A Day of Infamy

To Willow, who introduced me, Ryan and Brett, who inspired me, and J K Rowling, who gave us this marvelous world. This all belongs to her.

Part One: Red-Handed

Lily walked through the corridors, ignoring the whispers that followed her everywhere.

"A Potter…in Ravenclaw…I thought for sure she'd be a Gryffindor…"

Lily rolled her eyes. 12 hours into term, and they still couldn't get over it. They didn't make this much fuss when her other cousins were placed in different houses. It was just because she was a Potter that they couldn't let it go. Pathetic, really.

"I don't see what the big fuss is. She's probably not even a Potter, look at her carrot hair."

Lily stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly turned. She quickly located the speaker, a Ravenclaw a few years older than her. He caught her looking and an arrogant smirk crossed his face, though Lily could see a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.

"Furnunculus!" She had seen her cousins perform the spell before and was quite please with the result. The Charms professor behind her, however, wasn't.

"Miss Potter! Detention, this evening!"

Lily groaned as the hexed boy smirked at her, though the effect was lost due to all the boils on his skin. Mum was going to be mad…

Dominique grinned at her schedule. A break now, then charms, then another break right before lunch! Maybe seventh year wouldn't be as bad as Victoire said it would be.

Dominique looked outside at the clear blue sky. A perfect day for flying. She grabbed her new broom- a gift from Dad and Maman for making Quidditch captain, and headed for the pitch.

She was halfway there when she was intercepted by Peter Collins, a seventh year Gryffindor that she sometimes sat next to in Arithmacy.

"Hey" he called, jogging to catch up with her. He flashed what was clearly supposed to be a charming smile. "Want to go to the library with me?"

Dom shook her head, to excited to fly to try and be polite. "Sorry, I have to try out some new flying techniques for the team…I want to make sure we're ready to win the cup this year!" She smiled in anticipation, gesturing to the yellow and black Quidditch Captains badge on her chest.

Peter snorted. "Do you honestly think that Hufflepuff stands a chance at winning?"

Dom stopped short, staring at him. Then, she did the only thing you could do in this situation. She hit his head with her broomstick.

"Weasley! Detention!" Dominique winced.

She hadn't seen Hooch.

Seventeen-year-old Molly Weasley smiled vindictively to herself. Normally, she would be sitting with her friends at the Ravenclaw table, saving her revenge for a time when she would less likely be caught, but it was lunch on the first day of her last year, and she was mad. Ravenclaw she might be, but she had the Weasley temper, and right now all 5'6 of her fury was directed to the Slytherines who had blown up her potion in class earlier.

Half-hidden behind a suit of armor, Molly levitated the unstopped potion into the pitcher of pumpkin juice the green-trimmed boys were sharing. She leaned back, full of excited expectation.

Sure enough, the boys each drank some pumpkin juice, and the results showed immediately.

Their faces began to grow and enlarge at alarmingly fast rates, and their hands became the size of dinner plates.

Molly grinned evilly to herself as the three boys began to shriek at rather high pitches. She was feeling rather proud of herself for pulling this off so well when-

"Ehem." The seventh year Ravenclaw turned to see Professor Marin, head of Ravenclaw house, staring at her, one eyebrow raised.

"I don't suppose you came to sat good job?" She asked half-hopefully.

Professor Marin sighed. "Detention, Miss Weasley."

Molly looked chagrinned. In retrospect, behind a suit of armor probably wasn't the best hiding spot.

The two-month sub for Defense Against the Dark Arts looked around in disbelief at his classroom. Yes, the other teachers, as well as the man he was filling in for, had warned him about this, but he had not expected it so…soon. It was only his second lesson of the day, right after lunch!

In the front of the room, second-year Roxanne Weasley smiled winningly at her professor as her fellow Hufflepuffs and second-year Ravenclaws ran around her in a beautiful scene of chaos.

She had got the idea from a story she had heard Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry tell once. She thought she had recreated the scene rather well.

The short-term professor had a rather weak look on his face.

"Roxanne Weasley?" She looked at him innocently.

"Detention." He stumbled back to his desk and began to look for his wand.

Roxy shrugged. It was worth a detention. Releasing wild pixies in a classroom was fun.

Fourteen-year-old James Potter was grinning as he looked around the Transfiguration classroom, which looked oddly devoid of anything. That is, until you looked up.

"JAMES POTTER!" He spun around, a broad smile on his face as he took ing the rage on Professor Vincent's face.

"Do you care to explain why all the desks, benches, and everything else are not only attached to the ceiling, but are singing the school song, quite loudly? She said furiously.

"Just a bit of start of term cheer, professor!" James replied gaily, trying and failing to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"Detention Mr. Potter! And 15 points from Gryffindor!"

James couldn't hold it in any longer. He burst out laughing.

It was only the second class of the afternoon, and already Lucy Weasley was sick of the N.E.W.T.s lectures. It was her opinion that Double Arithmacy was bad enough without hearing the same speech she had heard all day. She wished had Lorcan and Lysander to distract her, but this was her only class without her fellow pranking Gryffindors.

She let out an inaudible sigh and began to daydream of Quidditch practice, which would hopefully start soon. She had practice all summer with her cousins, and with Louis as the Gryffindor captain this year, she couldn't wait to begin to work toward the cup, which Gryffindor hadn't won in two years, much to Victoire's disappointment when she graduated.

"Weasley! Weasley are you listening to me!" Professor Smith's voice broke annoyingly into her daydreams. Lucy looked up into the man's red, scowling face, and snapped.

"Shut UP!" She yelled, "We know that a N.E.W.T class is harder! No one cares about your little speech, and, quite frankly, we all think your voice more irritating then a screaming mandrake!" Lucy finally stopped yelling, feeling a lot better, as if she had got something big off her chest. Professor Smith was gaping at her.

"DETENTION!" He bellowed.

Hugo exited the classroom looking very happy. He had just come from his very first charms class, where, not only had he been able to sit next to Lily, who didn't start ignoring him just because she was a Ravenclaw and he was a Gryffindor, but also was the first to do the spell correctly, earning 5 points.

Humming to himself, he decided this was time for celebration. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a couple of dungbombs that his dad had slipped to him when his mom wasn't looking.

Still sporting a happy smile, he dropped them in the middle of the crowded corridor. The smell filled the air instantly. Some people screamed to Hugo's left and a lot of coughing and gasping could be heard. Hugo started to laugh, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into the face of Firenze, the centaur teacher.

"Um…hi?" offered Hugo. Firenze frowned.

"Detention, young man." Hugo's shoulders dropped. His mom was going to kill him.

Fourth year Fred Weasley II was very proud of himself at the moment. His current pride and joy lay before him, stretching out across the entire fifth floor, glowing a dark green.

He, Fred Gideon Weasley, had recreated his father and Uncle Fred's swamp.

Actually, not only had he recreated it, he had improved it. It now stretched across the entire floor, and had a variety of little creatures in it.

He smiled at Professor Archel, the Ancient Runes teacher, who was currently stuck in the middle of the floating vegetation.

"Do I even need to say it, Mr. Weasley?" The professor asked in exasperation and annoyance.

The red-haired boy just smiled pleasantly at her, before smirking. His dad was going to want to hear about this.

Albus Potter decided that so far his third year was definitely his best. He had Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures, he was no longer the youngest Potter, he got to (legally) go to Hogsmeade now, and he was in the position to make a lot of money.

He had swiped some of Uncle George's WWW owl order forms in Diagon Alley a few days before the start of term, and was selling them secretly to the students (Filch had banned WWW owl order forms from Hogwarts) 2 Knuts a form. He had already made 17 sales during lunch and word was spreading. So now, after their lessons had ended for the day, Al hurried to the corridor outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where he had promised people he would be after lessons. As he expected, a large group of people had already formed.

"You are all here for the order forms?" He asked in a carrying whisper. They all nodded, many of them impatiently.

"Ok, everyone knows the price- 2 Knuts a form- so queue up and I'll-" The students all surged forward and soon Al found himself caught in the bustle- he was receiving money and handing out forms left and right. A smug look came over his face. Why hadn't Fred or James or Louis thought of this?

"What is going on here?" A female voice broke through the din.

The students fled almost immediately, leaving Albus where he stood, forms in one hand, Knuts in the other. Professor Sinstra gave him a searching look, and the Gryffindor smiled sheepishly.

"Detention, Mr. Potter."

Rose Weasley watched Al slip off with a knowing smile on her face. He was off to sell more banned order forms, leaving Rose, of course, bored and with nothing to do.

The corridor was strangely deprived of any red-hairs, messy black hair, or the platinum blonde that belonged to the Scamander twins and Scorpius, her and Albus' best friend and fellow Gryffindor.
Rose wasn't feeling particularly ravenous (for once), so she decided to wait in the Entrance Hall for Al. Because everyone was at dinner, the Hall was also empty except for…

"Peeves!" Rose called out excitedly. There was something she wanted to try out for a while and now was the perfect opportunity.

"The little weasel girl is calling Peevsie" the poltergeist shrilled loudly. "Peevsie wonders what she wants."

Rose's blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "To help you cause trouble," She stated, knowing that would get his attention.

Peeves grinned horribly. "And just hoooow do you plan to do that?" Peeves swooped down and through Rose, leaving a sick, icy feeling in her stomach.

"Well, first off, I can teach you a new song," She offered.

Peeves' face lit up. "Reeeally?" He drew the word out.

Rose nodded eagerly. "Here it is." She leaned over and whispered in next to the colorful ghost's ear.

Peeves laughed wickedly and flew upwards to spin around the chandelier, singing in a horrible voice,

"Hogwarts Bells, Filch really smells,

The Fat Lady drinks all day!

The Slytherines' all need hugs,

And the head boy does ballet!"

Rose laughed at the little dance Peeves had made up to go with his new song.

"Do you want to hear another one?" She asked, but before he could respond, they heard an angry cry behind them.

"PEEVES!" Argus Filch, the Caretaker of Hogwarts for nearly 50 years now, hobbled toward them, his ugly face twisted up into a nasty scowl. "I'll get you this time, you filthy poltergeist!"

Peeves merely stuck out his tongue and swooped away, cackling and singing his new song.

Filch let out an angry roar of frustration and whirled on the tiny red-haired Gryffindor.

"What are you doing?!" He spat at her.

"Nothing" Rose said in what she hoped was a convincing tone. It probably wasn't.

Filch gave her a look of deep loathing. "You taught him that song didn't you? Detention for you, then, Weasley!"

As Filch went on to describe what her (according to him) horrible, painful, and torturous detention would consist of, Rose slipped off to dinner. In all fairness, she probably did deserve it, even though Filch had no proof. Besides, it was worth it. The look on the Head Boys face when he finds out Peeves has been telling people he does ballet…well, she just hoped she was there to see it.

5th year Louis Weasley tiptoes past Hagrid's hut and crept stealthily into the forest. Normally, he would use the cloak- James and Albus were only too happy to share their mischief-making aids with their cousins- but he hadn't seen Albus since last night (he was late to breakfast and Albus was nowhere to be seen at lunch) and the desire to go into the forest had been on a mere whim.

Louis was starting to see why everyone hated O.W.L year. It was only the first day back, and already he had what he estimated to be about three hours of homework he would have to do that night. If this kept up, he would hardly have time to go pranking with James and Fred, or any of his other cousins.

Besides his O.W.L.s, Louis also had Quidditch to worry about. He had been chosen as the Gryffindor Quidditch captain this year, even though Lucy was a year older. He only had 2 positions to fill, chaser and beater, since the rest of the team was already filled. He was keeper, with Mickey O'Donnell as his reserve, Lucy and 4th year Song Li as chasers, James was seeker, and Fred was beater, with Kenneth Whitby as the other beater last year, beating out Albus by only one shot. However, Whitby had graduated last year, and Louis was sure that Albus, who had practiced all summer and worked well with Fred, would soon fill that position. Rose was a reserve chaser who needed to try out to get a secure spot on the team…and from the looks of it, she had 9 other people determined not to let another Weasley join the team.

The team was good, Louis mused, but they didn't lack competition. His older sister, Dominique, had been made Hufflepuff captain as well and she was a superb chaser, and he knew Roxy was planning to try out for seeker. Ravenclaw had a good team to, although his cousin Molly, who usually played keeper over the summers, was only on the reserves, not really wanting to play school Quidditch.

Louis looked at his surroundings. He had been so lost in thought that he had unknowingly wandered rather closely to where Grawp lived.

Might as well take advantage of this and visit him Louis decided. He had had just stepped down the thin, hardly visible path that lead to the gamekeepers half-brother, when someone walked out of a bush in front of him.

"Mr. Weasley?" Slughorn said in surprise. However, the surprised look didn't last long, and soon changed to a stern look that looked odd on the Potions professors face.

'These woods are forbidden, Mr. Weasley, as you undoubtedly know very well, you've been coming here for five years now. I think a detention is in order. Follow me." Slughorn set off out of the forest, clutching a bag to his arm as if afraid of losing it.

Louis made a face at Professor Slughorn's back. Looks like that Herbology essay will have to wait.

Part Two- Explanations

Molly showed up to the trophy room a few minutes before half past. The room was empty, which didn't surprise her. Who else could have got a detention this early in term? Al, James, Fred, and Louis had not come up with the "perfect" start of term prank yet, and outside those four, she didn't really know of anyone who would have been condemned to detention on their first day.

Stubbornly deciding that she didn't have to start until 7:30, which was the time she had been told to be at the trophy room, Molly sat down on the bucket next to the cleaning supplies.

"Molly?" The brown-eyed Ravenclaw looked up to see Dominique standing there in the doorway.

"Hi, Dom," Molly said in surprise. "Why are you here?"

The 7th year half-Veela shrugged. "Detention- apparently cleaning is good for anger management issues."

"Since when do you have anger management issues?"

"Molly, Dominique has had anger problems since the day she was born." Broke in a new voice. The two girls looked up to see Louis in the doorway.

"Louis? You have detention too?" His older sister asked incredulously. The auburn-haired boy nodded.

"I don't think I'm the only one either," He added. "Listen- doesn't that sound like Fred?" He jabbed his head to a tapestry that they knew concealed a secret passageway.

The tapestry opened at the same time four others rounded the corner, and soon it was a mixture of voices and people, each trying to make themselves heard.

BANG! Dominique held up her wand and looked at her younger relatives. "If you could all please shut up, we can maybe figure out what precisely is going on." She instructed, her role as the oldest quickly coming to view.

Fred was grinning widely. "So, every single member of the family in the school got detention on the first day? Brilliant! That's got to be some kind of record."

James and Albus were looking at their sister, their expressions a mix of impressed and suspicious. "How did you get a detention already?" James queried.

Lily glared at her two brothers. "Oh, hi Lily!" She said sarcastically. "It's so nice to see you since the first five minutes of the train ride yesterday! Congratulations on being sorted into Ravenclaw! How was your first day of Hogwarts ever?"

Albus had the grace to look sheepish, but he waved it aside. "Come on, Lils. Tell us what you did." He pleaded.

"I hexed a boy in the corridor this morning." Lily said smugly. "The one that gives them boils."

Hugo looked at her quizzically. "Why?"

Lily's face turned a light pink. "He insulted me." She said angrily.

"Wicked." breathed James, a look of pride on his face. "So, Hugo, what did you do?"

The young boy flushed from both embarrassment and pride as everyone focused on him. "I released some dungbombs in a crowded hallway." He answered proudly.

Rose looked at him, amused. "Dad slipped you those, didn't he?" At her little brother's nod, she laughed. "Classic Dad. He did the same to me. So, who caught you?"

Hugo grimaced "Firenze did. Apparently laughing is a big give away."

Fred nodded solemnly. "Don't worry Hu. We'll teach you the perfect innocent face." He winked and turned to Roxy. "Alright sis, confess. What crazy stunt did you pull this time?" He tried to sound stern but his mouth kept tugging upwards.

Roxanne smiled sweetly. "I released a cage of Cornish Pixies in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

Rose high-fived her while Fred blinked.

"Wait…where did you get a cage of Cornish Pixies? And how did you get them into Hogwarts?" He asked her. Roxanne smiled deviously.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies, Freddie."

James turned to his younger brother, who was sitting on a ledge next to Hugo. "Spill. What did you do to get a detention?" He looked expectantly at his fourth partner-in-crime. (Fred and Louis always came first.)

Albus raised one eyebrow. "Are we going from youngest to oldest?" He asked sardonically.

"Yes!" cried James impatiently. Dominique shrugged. "It does give us at least a semblance of order. Go on, Al."

The green-eyed wizard looked rather proud as he said, "I was selling WWW owl order forms between lessons." He cast a smug look at his brother, who looked dumbstruck. "Made some money off it too, that I hid before Professor Sinstra caught me. She also forgot to confiscate the order forms; I sent them to Uncle George after dinner."

"Bloody brilliant!" Lucy said, and Fred whistled appreciatively. "How come we didn't think of that?" He demanded to no one in particular.

Rose cleared her throat. "Guess it's my turn, then" She said happily. She had wanted to tell someone about this all day. "I taught Peeves a new song, which takes the mickey out of the Fat Lady, Filch, the Slytherines, and the Head Boy." She grinned, leaning back against a trophy case and folding her arms. "I was going to teach him another, but Filch came along and immediately gave me detention. He just automatically assumed I had something to do with it." She shook her head sadly, "Crazy, isn't it? He was really mad...and covered in green muck." She wrinkled her nose.

Over by the Gobstones trophy, Fred looked slightly apologetic. "Sorry Rosie. That would be my fault." He turned to face the whole group, his face now sporting a wide grin. "I recreated Dad and Uncle Fred's infamous swamp- improved it, too- up on the 5th floor. It's everywhere, which Archel wasn't too happy about. After she gave me detention, Filch had to pull her out of the middle of corridor, which neither of them was particularly thrilled about."

"You'd think Filch wouldn't mind actually getting hands-on with a woman" Louis muttered under his breath to James, who snickered. Molly, who was right next to them and overheard, rolled her eyes.

"My turn!" James yelled excitedly. The eldest Potter was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement, all his usual attempts to look cool was forgotten in front of his family.

"I charmed everything in the Transfiguration classroom to stick to the ceiling-"He began, smiling impishly.

"That's all?" Lily demanded.

"-And to sing the Hogwarts song repeatedly." James finished, ignoring his sister's interruption.

"Cool!" Hugo yelled and the others nodded in agreement. "Not bad, Potter," Fred told his fellow fourth year, grinning. James nodded.

"Your turn, Louis." Rose told the fifteen year old, curious as to how Louis, who was usually the sneakiest of all of them, had got caught.

"I didn't do much" Louis admitted. "Slughorn caught me in the forest, about to visit Grawp, and gave me detention."

"Slughorn gave you detention?" Lucy said in disbelief. Louis nodded. "I think he's still mad about me and Marcus blowing up half the dungeons last spring."

"I'd had forgotten about that" Lucy smiled "Potions was canceled for three days so he could clean everything up." She and Lorcan had been happy about that, though Lysander wasn't.

"Why are you here, Lu?" Her older sister asked. The back of Lucy's neck turned a dark pink, but her voice sounded amused when she replied. " I told Professor Smith that his voice is more irritating then a screaming mandrake in front of the whole class. He was going on and on about N.E.W.T.s and I kind of snapped." She said the last bit sheepishly.

"This is why I didn't take Arithmacy" Dominique announced, absent-mindedly folding and refolding a rag. "Smith gives me the creeps."

"He was mean to Dad, too." Lily interjected, as if this settled the matter. "What did you do Molls?"

Molly looked fondly at her youngest cousin. "I snuck a swelling potion into some Slytherines drink at lunch." She said casually. "I was getting them back for blowing up my potion earlier. Unfortunately, Professor Marin found me and was not impressed." Molly made a face.

Dominique smirked at her before saying "I hit Peter Collins over the head with my broomstick." She announced to her expectant family.

"Yes!" Fred cried jubilantly. "Thank you! Now we don't have to worry about him coming to tryouts on Saturday and possibly making the team!" He and James danced a little jig.

Louis rolled his eyes at his two favorite cousins. "Losers." He muttered before turning to his sister. "Why did you hit him on the head?" He asked curiously. "Wait...he wasn't hitting on you, was he?" He eyed her suspiciously.

Dom ignored her little brothers over protectiveness. "No. He said that Hufflepuff didn't stand a chance in Quidditch!" She said angrily. "Arrogant little tosser."

Her cousins all looked outraged, which made Dom feel a little better inside

"That's ridiculous!" Roxy cried. "I've seen your diagrams" She added earnestly. "Their amazing! And we won the cup last year!"

Albus shook his head. "Collins is an idiot. He tried to hex me last year and ended up giving himself tentacles."

James nodded in agreement with his brother. "So…" He said slowly, causing everyone to look at him. "While we are all here together, with no teachers around…" The ever-present twinkle in his eyes gleamed.

His cousins looked at each other, broad grins spreading across their faces.

Part Three- Discovery

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall felt a wave of relief as she entered the staff room. The first day back at Hogwarts had gone very smoothly, and she was looking forward to enjoying a nice drink with her colleagues.

"Evening" she said warmly to Adlana Vincent, who had taken over her post as the Transfiguration teacher 7 years ago. "Hard first day?" she added, noticing the woman's slumped posture.

Adlana nodded. "I had the fourth year Gryffindors today-." She began, and McGonagall felt her heart sink. She had a feeling what was coming next. "- minus Mr. Weasley, who apparently had fallen ill, according to Mr. Potter, though I have my doubts about that." She shared a knowing look with the headmistress. "Anyway, the class hadn't even started yet- I had only just arrived- and already Mr. Potter was causing chaos. The furniture was on the ceiling and everything." She sighed. "He wasn't even fazed when I gave him a detention. He just laughed."

"That boy is far too much like his namesakes." McGonagall muttered. "What was his detention?"

"Cleaning the trophy room by hand." Adlana said wearily. "Filch is supposed to check in on him every 15 minutes. Overused, I know, but I didn't have the energy to come up with something new."

"I don't blame you." Horace boomed from behind her, near the fireplace. 'I caught Louis sneaking out in the forest, and according to Zacharias, his older cousin- Lucy, I believe it was- also got detention, for telling him to shut up during the lesson. Isn't that right, m'boy?" Horace directed this last part at the scowling blonde opposite him.

Zacharias nodded. "The Weasley-Potter bunch is just trouble." He said sullenly.

Neville snorted. The two of them had never got along. "Come off it, Smith. I find that they are all very bright, and a few pranks here or there never hurt anybody."

Reagan Sinstra shook her head at the Herbology Professor. "It's not just pranks, Neville. Today I caught Albus selling banned WWW owl order forms between lessons." She said grimly. "I gave him a detention, but I let Filch decide what it was."

McGonagall froze, the implications of the conversations suddenly piecing together. "Hold on" She said, her face a pale white. "Do you mean to tell me that 2 Potters and 2 Weasleys all have detention cleaning the trophy room tonight?"

"And Rose Weasley." Added Adlana "I heard Filch screeching it at her earlier."

McGonagall whirled so that she was facing all the professors in the room. "Did any of you give a Potter or Weasley -besides the aforementioned ones- a detention for tonight? " She watched in horror as several professors raised their hands. Trying to remain calm, she counted.

1…2…3…4…5…6…plus the other 5…that equals 11. There are 11 Potter-Weasleys at Hogwarts… Minerva gasped and rushed out of the room, followed closely by many of the other professors. Forgetting all decorum, she half-ran to the Trophy Room, arriving there out of breath and tempted to clutch at her chest. Quickly gathering herself, she flung open the door and marched in.

11 pairs of eyes stared at her from various places in the room, each belonging to a young boy or girl. They were all holding a rag and looked for the entire world like they had been interrupted in the middle of cleaning.

McGonagall looked around in disbelief. There was no way it could be true but…the Trophy Room looked clean. A confused look flittered across her face, before she composed herself.

"Your detention is over" She told the crisply, trying to cover up her confusion. "You shall all return to your dormitories immediately. No nighttime wandering." One by one, the children filed out, James giving her a cocky grin as he did so, and walked off in the directions of their respective common rooms.

McGonagall and all the other professors watched each go, looking for any suspicious of odd behavior. Nothing happened.

"They're up to something." McGonagall said under her breath.

Neville rolled his eyes.

Part Four- Execution

The next day, every professor at Hogwarts watched the Weasleys and the Potters carefully, looking for any hint as to what the young wizards and witches could be up too. They saw nothing. Everything was normal- the children didn't have any unusual run-ins or discussions with a relative or sibling they didn't normally talk to everyday. None of them were distracted in class- or, at least, no more than usual. They caused trouble, naturally, but nothing to big or to serious. Not even Lily or Hugo, whom the staff had pegged as the weak links due to their age, did anything that seemed suspicious.

Minerva was extremely worried. When dinner came she inspected her food cautiously, in case George Weasley's latest spin-off of canary creams had been snuck in there. Beside her, Firenze, who was by now thoroughly convinced nothing was going to happen, coughed lightly.

"What?" McGonagall snapped her mouth thinning.

"Nothing, Headmistress. Nothing at all."

McGonagall, who could see straight through the poorly veiled lie, humphed and turned to talk to Reagan, who sat on her other side.

Then all hell broke loose.

From all directions, Minerva could hear loud crashes and noises, and ran out of the Great Hall to see the suits of armor and the statues battling furiously in the Entrance Hall.

"Stop!" She cried. "As Headmistress of Hogwarts I command you to stop!"

The statues and armor ignored her, enjoying the chance to stretch their legs after 21 long years.

McGonagall narrowly dodged a flying ax and ran up some stairs. She dashed along the corridors, avoiding the warring guardians of Hogwarts, then, suddenly, paused to look inside a classroom.

The furniture was all on the ceiling and, to her irritation, was singing the school song over and over, all in different pitches and tunes.

The cat animagus was about to go up to the next floor, but was stopped by the sight of a swamp. It was huge, horrid smelling, and it was coming towards her.

Minerva turned and ran back to the Great Hall, the swamp right on her tail. She entered only to find complete chaos. Every single person- student, professor, even the ghosts- floating in midair and, upon closer inspection, she realized that they were all wearing robes from a different house. A Gryffindor was a Slytherine, or a Hufflepuff, or a Ravenclaw, and vice versa.

A loud crack sounded behind her and she didn't need to see the bright, swirling colors or hear the gasps, cheers, and a few screams from above to know what it was.

A large amount of Weasley Firecrackers.

Minerva McGonagall, ex-Transfiguration professor, Order of the Phoenix member, Survivor of two Wizarding Wars, and the Headmistress of Hogwarts Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry took one look at the group of 11 laughing children who were still on the ground, sat down, and put her head on her hands.

"I give up." She declared.