I woke up in the dim dormitory and stretched my limbs, yawning widely. Throwing a cursory glance ay my nightstand, I saw my clock show 5:41. It was too early. I should try to get some sleep...
Aw screw it, sleep is for the weak! Throwing off my covers, I dressed quietly and tiptoed out of the dormitory, through the empty Gryffindor common room and out the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Good heavens girl, do you know what time it is?" she mumbled sleepily, as her frame swung back into place.
"Sorry," I whispered over my shoulder and continued down the corridor.
With another huge yawn, I pressed against the portrait of the Man in Red, and almost tripped in his frame, trying to enter the secret passage. It really was too early, I thought, descending the stone steps. Shouldn't I have waited until my brain can function at full capacity for this? But the excitement in my gut wouldn't let me go back to bed. I was halfway to the Hufflepuff Basement anyway.
Emerging behind a tapestry on the other side of the tunnel, I spotted a Ravenclaw prefect, walking half-dead down the corridor. I snickered to myself and considered startling him by jumping out suddenly, but thought better of it. It was always the easiest to sneak around the castle in the early hours of the morning, when prefects and teachers were too tired to even keep their eyes open. After he passed, I snuck over to the stack of barrels and knocked in a specific pattern on the second one from the bottom. Other than the Slytherin common room, the Hufflepuff one was the easiest to break into. You just needed to have a Puff tell you the password, they never changed it.
Sunlight was already streaming through the circular windows, and I wondered for a second how long it took me to get here, but it must've been at least 20 minutes. The drawbacks of living on the seventh floor.
I quietly snuck through the circular entrance to the dorms and quickly found the one I needed. Cracking the door open just a tad, I could see all of the Hufflepuff girls were still asleep. I wondered if that plushy I enchanted to sing Nyan Cat was still locked in Lexi's trunk, but decided there'd be plenty of time to check for that later. I found Gally's bed and saw her still blissfully snoring under the covers. Shooting a few quick Muffliato charms to the other girls, I shook her shoulder.
"Gally," I whispered, dragging down her patchwork quilt. "Wake up!"
She mumbled something incoherent, but her eyelids fluttered open. The second her eyes landed on me, she shot upright into a sitting position.
"Are you awake now?" I asked impatiently. "Let's plan some pranks! We need to spread our name through all the halls of Hogwarts!"
Instead of the sleepy response I expected, she only grinned at me and said, "Quite literally! We can run around causing chaos now."
I stifled a chuckle. "Then get dressed and let's go. We can discuss more in the kitchens, I'm starving."
Gally quickly pulled some clothes on, and we were sitting in the Hogwarts kitchens only ten minutes later, having some blueberry pie.
"Also, if we do that, we need division of labor. I'll take the Claws this time, you can have the Snakes. And I think we should keep it to you do Gryffindor and I do Hufflepuff," I said, taking a sip of my chamomile tea. Gally simply nodded, her mouth full of pie. "And I think we should use RED and YELLOW (or black, whichever you prefer) paint to do this, to signify our house colors."
"YES!" she exclaimed excitedly, swallowing her food. "I'm totally using yellow. RALLY TROUBLEMAKERS!"
I sniggered, seeing a couple of house elves jump at the sudden noise. It was a good thing no one could hear us in here. I pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote down which parts of the school I would take, and which ones she would take.
"I have to go to class soon. Have I got Ravenclaw and Gryffindor or Slytherin and Gryffindor?" Gally asked, checking her wristwatch.
"You have Slytherin and Gryffindor. If you get confused, just look at the list," I replied, sliding the parchment over to her.
She stashed it in her bag. "We have a meet up place for when we're finished?"
"Great Hall? Library?" I suggested.
"Library, since it's the quiet place and we're not allowed to play pranks there. It'll be our designated meet up spot." Gally got up and headed to the door.
"I'll wait for you there when I'm finished, then. And bring the paint! And make sure it's sufficiently charmed against spot removers, we want it there for a LONG ASS TIME," I called after her. She flashed me a grin and waved, then left the kitchens. I stayed a little while longer to finish my tea, before also standing up and heading to my first class.
A few hours later, the story continues, as told by Gally:
fanfictiondotnet/s/11355390/1/Detention/