Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or anything associated with it. I'm writing this just because I love the Marauders to pieces. I own only the plot.


"But, Professor!" Sirius whined.

"I've made up my mind!" McGongall snapped, "And you're lucky it isn't more!"

"We didn't mean to go flying down the train." James put in.

McGongall looked at the Marauders sternly, "To be frank, you're lucky I'm not taking house points away, as term hadn't started."

The boys sighed and gazed out the window. It was a beautiful autumn day, with people making the most of the sunshine, because they knew the weather wouldn't last.

"Detention, tonight." McGongall said in her curt voice, "I shall notify you of where and when."

James and Sirius looked at each other, with a twinkle in their eye, and Remus sighed.

"Separate detentions." McGongall confirmed, "Otherwise it's more like a reward. Run along."

The Marauders headed out of McGongalls office and sighed. They made their way outside, noticing the admiring looks as they walked past. They weren't popular for nothing, and Sirius was sought after by almost every girl. Sirius took girls for granted, and was known as a heartbreaker, but the girls just wanted him even more. Each one was convinced that they would be the one he would change for, but that was never true.

"Wonder what Minnie has in store for us?" Sirius wondered.

Peter shuddered, "I hope its nothing to do with bedpans in the hospital wing."

"Or Potions ingredients preparation." James winced, remembering accidents in his previous detentions.

"Or anything to do with cleaning and Filch." Remus offered a worse idea, which the marauders all hated.

"Its going to be torture!" Sirius groaned. "Its not as if we meant to go flying down the train!"

"She thinks we haven't been punished enough already!" James exclaimed, "If she knew how much my head hurt after that."

"Not to talk about your wounded pride, Prongs." Remus laughed.

The four marauders walked down to the lake to visit the Giant Squid, they'd always liked seeing him, and it made them laugh. They found that when they were down at the lake, they got the best ideas for pranks, and they were in the mood for a prank. They needed to pull back their status after the flying trolley, and show people that they could make other people look stupid too. They almost felt sorry for anyone who got on the wrong side of them, and McGongall had got on the wrong side of them for splitting them up for detention.

Sirius was struck with a sudden idea, "Guys, do any of you know the password to the teachers bathroom?"


"Sirius, are you sure about this?" Peter whispered, "What if we get caught?"

James raised his eyebrows, "Or even worse, what if there's a teacher in there?"

"God, that's a sight I really don't want to see!" Remus exclaimed.

"Come on, guys!" Sirius said, "Its just a bit of fun, Moony, have you got the dye?"

"Check." Remus replied.

The four boys crept down the corridor towards the teachers bathroom, not many people knew of its existence, or the password, but once they had told Peeves exactly what they planned, he had told them what he knew. They weren't entirely sure they could trust him, but as a fellow prankster, they felt that they had to.

"I really hope the password Peeves heard is the same as it is now." Peter whimpered.

They arrived in front of a plain wall, but they knew it was really a door. Sirius drew his wand and uttered a spell.

"Lumos." The wall lit up, and he saw some Ancient Runes engraved.

"Any idea what those mean, Moony?" He asked.

Remus bent double with laughter as he translated them, but the other marauders looked at him strangely. Lupin was the only one to take Ancient Runes, so he was the only one who understood what it meant.

"Moony?" Peter asked.

"It says, 'And Now Be Clean'" Moony sniggered.

The marauders cracked up laughing before James realised something.

"Hang on a sec!" He exclaimed, "Its not even funny!"

The marauders realised that James was right, and stopped laughing. However, they started laughing again.

"What now?" James asked.

"Just imagining the teachers reading that!" Sirius exclaimed. "Anyway, Draconis"

The door swung open, and the four marauders entered the teachers bathroom. Luckily for them, it was empty. Even Remus, who had access to the prefects bathroom, was awed by its size and grandeur. The bath that had been so big for the Prefects seemed like a paddling pool compared to the enormous bath in the teachers bathroom, in fact, it was more like an Olympic Swimming pool made bigger by about one hundred. There were even more taps than in the Prefects bathroom, and the towels were softer and fluffier than the four boys had ever set eyes on before. They began to whoop, they couldn't believe how big the place was, and they sniggered as they noticed a rubber duck. James examined the bottom of it, and broke out into nervous laughter.

"It says F. F on the bottom." He laughed, "It must mean Flitwick!"

"Anyway, my boys, to work!" Sirius exclaimed.

It was lucky that they had a lot of food dye, and that Remus knew spells complex enough to mess with the way the bath worked. They brought out the bottle of green dye, and managed to put a bit into every tap.

"And because of the colours of the bubbles, and the lack of mirrors in here, she wont notice until its too late!" Sirius laughed at the ingenious plan.

He stopped Peter as he tried to swipe the duck, as Sirius pointed out, they didn't want anyone to suspect they had been in there, of course, they would get blamed in the end. They were the ones who pranked like mad, although other people played jokes, none of them were to the scale of the Marauders jokes. As they exited, they laughed amongst themselves, hiding under James' cloak so that they were not spotted.

"And what's even better," Remus remarked, "Is that it wont turn anyone green apart from McGongal!"


James stared dreamily into space. No, not space, into Lily's green eyes. There was something about them that he loved so much, not just the fact that they were green, no, the fact that they looked like a whole other world, like swirling pools, like…

"EARTH TO JAMES!" Sirius shouted.

When he still got no answer, Sirius hit him over the head with his copy of A Standard Book of Spells Grade five, causing James to leap up in the air and screech loudly, whilst several other Gryffindors sitting in the common room looked on in amusement.

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?" He shouted, rubbing his sore head.

Sirius laughed, "Well, I know I'm handsome and all, but I wouldn't go that far. You know, I'm more into the ladies!" He winked at a girl sitting next to Lily, and she sent him a death glare.

"Hey, who's that?" He whispered to Remus on the other side of him.

"That's Alice, Lily's friend, the one who rejected Peter last year, remember?" Remus whispered.

"Na, don't remember her." Sirius yawned.

"Anyway, she's in love with Frank Longbottom, mate, its not going to happen."

"As if I'd want it to!" Sirius exclaimed, "She looks like a bitch anyway."

Remus smiled, "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

James let out another groan as Sirius whacked him over the head again.

"What is it with you lot and hurting me?" James whined, "First Remus knees me in the face, then you hit me over the head with a textbook, twice, I'm staying away from Peter!"

Peter looked up, "What? Did I miss something?"

The others laughed, "You always miss something Pete." Sirius replied.

Pete tackled Sirius to the ground, and the other two marauders jumped on top, play fighting with each other. There was nothing that could get in between the friends, nothing.

Lily and Alice looked at each other and sighed.

"Honestly, boys!" Lily exclaimed.


Minevra McGongall had never been one for jokes. Especially when they were being played on her. She was used to the marauders and their prankster ways, but she had never got in the way of their jokes before. As she walked down the corridor, she noticed people pointing and laughing and she had no idea why. The Marauders walked down the corridor, and noticed McGongall and her green skin, and sniggered amongst themselves.

"DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!" Sirius sang at the top of his voice.

"Which old witch?" James joined in.

"The wicked witch! Ding Dong, the Wicked Witch is dead!" They all sang together, causing McGongall to look at them with concern.

"What on earth are you up to boys?" She asked.

They laughed, as she did look like an exact replica of the Wicked Witch.

"Just singing." Remus said innocently.

McGongall raised her hand to her cheek, and in a flash, noticed there was something wrong. She saw her green hand, and raised her hands to her face. She realised she was completely green. The marauders looked worried, knowing that she had realised, and that she would know it was them.

"Boys, to Dumbledores office now!" She barked, and swished on her heel in the direction of the teachers bathroom.

The four Marauders linked arms and skipped all the way to the Headmasters office, singing all the way.

"WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ!"


Credit goes to: Thanks to pineapple girl 1997 for the idea of bringing in the Wizard of Oz. I just love that movie. Thanks in advance to her as well for helping me with an OC who hopefully appears in the next chapter.

Authors Note: I've now brought in chapter names, as you can see this chapter is named The one with the dye, I know I didn't do that when I first published. The first chapter is now named The one with the trolley. I hope you enjoyed let me know, and as always, if you have any practical joke ideas, I'd love to hear them, and credit will go to you of course. Thank you to all my nine reviewers, I never expected to get that many reviewers for the first chapter. Thanks again.