Friday 25 August 1972

The Evans arrived at the Leaky Cauldron via the Floo Network simply because they could and because Harry wanted to try it just once. It turned out that traveling by floo required someone with magical ability since the traveling part required a tiny tap on the person's core to power it. Just simply throwing in the powder opened the network but wouldn't let a Squib or muggle to travel through it. Therefore, it fell to both Evans sisters to guide their parents through the network.

First stop was Gringott's Bank to exchange pounds to Galleons. While they were there, Harry asked the teller about opening up an education account so the girls could just directly access the money without having to wait in line to do the currency exchanges.

The teller handed him a form and told Harry to fill it out then bring it back along with the initial amount he wanted to deposit.

"Would I be able to write the bank a transfer check from my bank to this one or do I need to bring the actual money?" Harry asked.

The teller looked pleased at being asked an intelligent question, "Yes, you may use a transfer check. This will save both time and money for both of us. That brochure will have some basic information but if you require anything else, I would suggest that you consider contacting your account manager."

"An account manager? Would you recommend I speak with him or her now or wait until I get this form filled out?"

"I would recommend that you wait until the form is filled out. Will there be anything else you need?"

"No, sir. You've been very helpful." Harry concluded.

After the bank, Lily and Petunia led their parents around Diagon Alley to purchase replacement materials for their potions kits, the second year textbooks for Lily while Petunia was getting third and fourth year course books and in Lily's case a new set of school robes as her current ones were getting too short. Lily grumbled a bit when Petunia mentioned that it was nice that she could choose her own textbooks for Defense Against the Dark Arts, whereas Lily had to get the assigned book.

"It's not fair, you don't have to put up with a new teacher every year for Defense," Lily complained.

Petunia looked at her younger sister in puzzlement, "Why is that? Are the professors there only on one-year contracts?"

Lily snorted in derision, "No, there's supposedly some sort of curse on the Defense professorship. Been like that since the late 1950s, supposedly."

Tuni scrunched up her face in perplexment, "That doesn't make sense. Doesn't the Headmaster want that cleared up? Heck, I'd think that someone there would've mentioned it to the Ministry so they could send someone in to fix the problem."

Lily rolled her eyes, "You'd think that but no…I've heard that Dumbledore wants it all kept in house and that there's no real problem."

Harry joined the conversation, "Lily, maybe we should say something? If it's affecting your learning and schoolwork then we have a responsibility to do the right thing." He then turned to Petunia, "Do you know which department it would be the right one to contact?"

Petunia thought for a moment before scrunching her shoulders a bit, "Well, just off the top of my head, I'd contact the Department of Magical Education seeing as how they're the ones who'd be the ones to oversee the activities."

"Then how about after we get done here, we floo over to the Ministry and talk with someone there?"

The others agreed to the plan.

In Madam Malkin's clothing store…

Lily was up on the tailor's stand getting measured while Marigold looked over her clothing purchases and turned to ask Madam Malkin a question.

"Besides the charm to change their school robes the color of their House, is there anything other that's special about the material? It feels like ordinary wool and cotton."

"No, there's nothing special about the fabric. I might put on a resizing charm on it as an extra charge but beyond that it's just an ordinary wool robe."

"Is the color changing charm for the House colors difficult to learn? How does it stay color that without repeated application?"

"Once the House is chosen and the color applied, the school's elves make it permanent through their own version of magic. You're thinking of making your own robes for yourself or your daughters?"

Marigold nodded, "That wouldn't be a problem, would it?"

Madam Malkin shook her head, "Nah, it's been done before. I don't mind it myself."

Marigold smiled, "Thank you, Madam."

At the Ministry for Magic…

The Evans family arrived at the Ministry and headed directly for the Department of Magical Education once again. After getting a clerk's attention, Harry described the conversation they'd had back in the Alley and if it were possible to get someone out to the school to look over the problem.

"Well, Mr. Evans it's like this, we would love to be able to send a crew out to the school but the Headmaster doesn't like us to be rummaging around with the wards and whatnot. Says it's a detriment to the students' routines," the clerk explained apologetically.

Harry's eyes narrowed, "That doesn't make any sense, especially given how it's the summer holidays and there are no students there. Isn't this a case of proper maintenance of the school regardless of what or how the Headmaster feels?"

The clerk apologized again and said there was nothing the department could do unless the Headmaster requested it. Giving up in frustration, the Evans family left the office.

As they were heading out, Petunia suggested that perhaps they should swing by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and submit a complaint about the suspiciousness of the Headmaster's actions in regards to the education and safety of the students. Agreeing to this, they deviated from their course and headed to their new destination.

Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Front Desk…

"Hello, how may I help you?" asked the Desk Sergeant.

Harry cleared his throat, "I'd like to file a complaint about the Headmaster of Hogwarts not providing a safe learning environment for my daughter and the other students in the school." The Desk Sergeant's eyebrows rose in question.

"What is the nature of the complaint?"

"Namely, he refuses to have Ministry help in identifying this so-called 'Curse of the Defense Professorship' and having it dealt with. On top of that, his inability or unwillingness to have competent teachers for Defense as well as History. Finally, my daughter has informed me that the school equipment is seriously out-of-date or damaged in some sort of way or another."

The Sergeant nodded as he was writing all of this down, "Anything else?"

Marigold leaned over, "Yes, the bullying and personal attacks that happen between some of the students are not being dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner. I understand this is supposed to be in the remit of the Deputy but the Headmaster is apparently overriding any of her decisions. He has been allowing it to continue unchecked."

Once the complaint form was finished and signed, a copy of it was made for the Evans' to keep and they were informed that the next available Auror would investigate and get back with them as soon as possible. With that done, the Evans family headed home.

When they finally got home, the girls went upstairs to put their purchases away. Marigold sat down at the kitchen table and began sketching out designs for robes and school clothes. Harry joined her a few minutes later while sipping from a beer can.

"What are you doing, Mari?" he asked while gesturing with one finger at the sketches.

"Sketching up some designs for school clothing for Lily. I asked the shopkeeper in Diagon Alley if it were permitted to make our own clothes and what sorts of charms were used. She said it's not a problem as some parents do this to save money. I want to do it not only to save money but it will give me a chance to be a bit creative."

"Um… Mari? How are you going to apply the charms?"

"Hopefully it'll be within Petunia or Lily's capability. I'll ask later tonight. I'm pretty sure it is after all Petunia was able to perform that petrification charm without any trouble and Lily is a full witch."

Harry kissed his wife on her cheek and said he was proud of her initiative. She just blushed.

Friday 1 September 1972

Unlike the prior year, Harry was unable to take off work to take his daughter to the train station. This left Marigold the only driver available. That was until Lily found out that there was a public Floo access point in the station. With that settled, the three Evans girls flooed to King's Cross with nearly an hour to spare. It was also the first time that Marigold was able to see the magical side of the train platform.

Gazing up at the gleaming magenta locomotive and around the insides of the Pullman style cars, she marveled at the train that would take her youngest back to her school.

Marigold and Petunia hung around until the train left the station. When the other passengers and their families began arriving, it was their big chance to meet Lily's magical friends. Many introductions were made to both sides and contact information was exchanged. Petunia giggled at the public display of idiocy that was James Potter when he spotted Lily, much to the younger girl's annoyance. James' parents, Dorea and Charlus Potter made their introductions to Marigold and Petunia and profusely apologized for their son's lack of manners.

Marigold waved it off and chuckled, "Don't worry about it. You should've seen the lengths at which my husband went to in order to get my attention before we started dating. I sometimes think it's a rite of passage for boys."

Dorea shook her head in exasperation while grinning back, "If that's the case, then there's hope yet for James. At any rate, I hope that this will just make us better friends?"

"Definitely."

While the adults were chatting, Lily came back dragging her childhood friend Severus Snape in tow despite the boy's vehement disagreement in methodology. James sneered at Severus who sneered right back. Petunia chuckled at the pitiful display of male dominance before her.

"You two look so silly trying to act like you're the bigger threat to male superiority."

"That's because I am the better choice for Lily," Severus replied with a snobbish attitude.

"Yeah, right Snivellus…" James snarked back.

Petunia smirked again, "You two idiots just don't get it do you? Instead of fluffing your feathers in…whatever this is, you should be spending your efforts to win my sister's love."

James turned towards her, "I've been trying. The problem is him. He keeps interfering with my efforts." He gestured dismissively at Severus.

Severus snorted at that, "And just how is that possible when I don't even share the same House or even sit at the same table as she does?"

"Well, there's the fact that you exist!"

Petunia pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled noisily, "James Potter, shut up. You obviously are too immature to understand. Severus? Just ignore him. Better yet, keep an eye out for a letter from me. I have ideas that you might be interested in."

Severus' eyes narrowed but then shrugged it off, turned and walked away.

James was pulled into a goodbye hug by his mother and couldn't continue the conversation.

Sirius Black then showed up with his sneering, disapproving mother and younger brother in tow. The look on his face clearly showed that he couldn't wait to be shot of them for the coming year. He spotted the Potters standing next to what appeared to be Lily and her family so he made a beeline over to introduce himself.

"Hey James, Lily, girl I don't know."

Lily grunted in disapproval, "Sirius Black, this is my older sister Petunia."

"Charming to meet you, Petunia," he said obsequiously.

Petunia had a teasing glint in her eye as she replied, "Apparently whatever that charm is needs to be reviewed and reapplied or maybe it's whatever you bathed in last, it stinks."

James fell to the floor howling in laughter while Marigold looked on in shock while the elder Potters smirked. Lily covered her face with her hands as she tried not to laugh. Sirius merely looked mildly impressed.

Nodding defeat while giving a silent applause, "Very good my dear, very good. You had me going there for a moment." He then stuck his nose in the air in a over the top, snooty manner, "James? Come, let us away from the ordinary folk." James managed to haul himself up and let Sirius drag him away from the group still laughing at his best friend.

Lily let loose at that moment and gave Petunia a dual thumbs up, "I am so going to miss you!"

By the time that Petunia and Marigold got done with Lily and by the time they left the train station, it was nearing time when Marigold would normally begin preparing dinner. They stopped at the grocery store and wandered through the aisles.

"What did you have in mind for dinner, mum?"

"I was thinking of making a brisket, dear. Why don't you go and find some vegetables to go with it as a side dish?"

Petunia headed over to the produce aisle humming to herself the incantation to make things fly. To her surprise, a couple of items that she had been looking at rose up into the air. Blinking owlishly, she puzzled over how it happened but then shook herself and quickly removed her wand from her sleeve and cast a finite at the hovering fruit. She glanced around to see if anyone else had spotted what she had accidentally caused to happen but there was no one else in the vicinity.

Quickly selecting the desired vegetables, she hurried back to her mother.

Sunday 3 September 1972

Dear Lily,

How are you settling in for your second year? Things are the same here, really…well, sort of. On the way home from dropping you off at the trains station, Mum and I stopped off at the grocer's to pick up a brisket and vegetables when I may have accidentally caused some fruit to rise up off the shelf. I swear I didn't do it on purpose! I was humming the incantation for wingardium leviosa when the tomatoes rose a foot into the air!

The strange thing was I wasn't holding my wand at the time! Looking back, it's clear now that I perform wandless magic and here I thought that I was incapable of the higher magics.

It's only been a couple of days and my teachers haven't really given us anything but what I really would love to do is just focus on the magical stuff. It's just so much more interesting! I spoke with my contact at the DoME and she said that she'd send me the practice exams for the History of Magic OWL by the end of the week. I know that I originally wanted to work in a field that bridged the divide between the magical and non-magical worlds but after reading through some of the literature on types of careers, I don't know what I'd like to do when I graduate.

So is 'Potter and Pals' still giving you trouble? I have a couple of ideas on how to prank them into at least giving you some breathing room. Have you read up on glamour charms?

Love Petunia

Dear Severus,

Well, as promised I have a couple of ideas on how you can attain a bit of revenge against James Potter and his cohorts. Lily proved last year that magicals have no concept of muggle pranks as evident by the itching powder in their underwear or the Whoopee Cushion under Potter's favorite chair. In no particular order, here are my favorites:

Swap contents of the ketchup bottles with habanero sauce.

(Ask the elves for help with this one) Swap the contents of their deodorant with spray adhesive.

Send Professor McGonagall gift-wrapped cat toys with a tag that reads 'With Love, James Potter.'

Scatter catnip under McGonagall's chair or desk and dump the leftovers in Potter's bag and robe pockets.

(Ask the elves for help with this one) Swap Potter's underwear for girl's panties.

Send a gift box of lemon drops laced with laxatives to the Headmaster. Write a note and sign it 'Have a blast! James Potter and Sirius Black.'

Silly and immature, I know but you've got to start somewhere. Lily tells me that you're a potions prodigy. From my own studies, I know there are a ton of potions that could be used to prank your enemies. Heck, you could probably whip something up to make him think that he ought to be serenading the Headmaster at dinner!

Enjoy!

Petunia

Tuesday 5 September 1972

Dear Petunia,

Wandless magic, eh? Maybe with your studies and the fact that you're capable of using a wand, you've bumped yourself up on the Magical Index Scale to where you could be thought of as a full witch? Were you overly emotional about something? That's what happens to young magical children when they show their first bouts of accidental magic. Something to check out the next time you're in the Ministry.

School is fine, I managed to surprise Professor Flitwick by charming a rubber ball to randomly float around the room so I could use it as target practice. He gave me 20 points for ingenuity and spell accuracy! My potions professor, Slughorn, is such a pompous ass! Just because I'm muggleborn doesn't give him the right to be all condescending towards me, treating me as some kind of pet or zoo animal that's learned how to be all cute by standing on my hind legs. I showed him just what it means to annoy me with that sort of attitude! I created a potion that made him temporarily allergic to those candied pineapples he's always fawning over. Every time he eats one, it makes him violently sick.

Left him a note the next day telling him who was responsible and why. So far, his attitude towards me and the other muggleborns has dramatically improved.

Interesting thing happened a couple of days ago. Did you, dear sister, happen to send a letter to Severus? He got this glint in his eye that promised retribution towards Potter and his friends. I could swear that the usual sardonic smirk was downright evil in nature. The next day James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew all came down to breakfast wearing very uncomfortable looks on their faces while tugging at their pants. I wonder what that was about? Then at dinner, Sirius Black started yelling and begging for water. It seems that someone swapped the ketchup he was using with habanero sauce…Know anything about that, dear sister?

Nothing else major happening here, I got an Astronomy test I need to study for.

Love,

Lily

Two days later, Petunia and Maya were out on the school's playground eating their lunches and admiring Petunia's wand for the umpteenth time. A shadow fell over them and to both girls' annoyance it was Tommy Dillard, the school bully. He sneered at the two of them and grabbed the wand out of Maya's hand.

"So what do you two spazzes have here? What's with the stick, eh Petunia? You planning on going out for the cheerleading team to root for the loser squad?"

"Give that back, Dillard!" Petunia yelled as she latched her hand around the handle.

The bully just laughed and started to pull it out of her reach again when all of a sudden there was a red flash and Tommy Dillard hit the floor unconscious. Petunia got a little woozy as she quickly put the wand away and glanced over at Maya.

"D-Did you just do magic?" Maya asked nervously.

Petunia's head still spun a bit as she looked down at the unconscious Dillard and shrugged, "I must have. I was thinking that I wished I could knock him down. I must have subconsciously stupefied him. I also feel a bit light-headed. The Muggle Liaison Officer said that could be a result of me trying to perform the higher rated magics."

Maya looked at her in askance, "Petunia, sometimes you scare me with how easily you get magic to do what you want. Hovering fruit, stupefying Dillard…what's next? Going to conjure something?"

Petunia snorted and grinned back at her best friend, "I sure hope not. I love the fact that I can do some magic but I really don't want all the power and abilities that come with it."

Maya's eyes widened in surprise then narrowed as she huffed in annoyance, "Why not? It's something I've always dreamed about having!"

Petunia sighed, "I'm not greedy about it. Too much power is dangerous. Just look at that Headmaster Lily has to deal with everyday at school. He's the Headmaster, the Chief Warlock plus he's got that chairmanship for the ICW…it's too much power for one person. No, I just want enough magical ability to assist me in whatever job I have and to help out around the house."

Maya grew thoughtful as she pondered Petunia's words.

When Petunia got home, she began to work on her non-magical homework until it was time for dinner. Afterwards, she assisted in the clean up of the dishes and as a curiosity of whether or not it was possible she used her wand to charm the dishes clean. Marigold watched in bemusement as Petunia used a Scourgify charm to clean the dishes then a Tergeo charm to remove the water. Handing over the now clean dishes to her mother, she awaited inspection.

Impressed by how well of a job that Petunia had done, Marigold gave her eldest daughter a warm smile and began stacking them in the cupboard.

Once that was done, Petunia dug out her magical studies and decided that tonight would be a nice night to work on the practical side of her astronomy assignment. She setup the small telescope her father had purchased for her in London and began marking the landmarks of the moon on her worksheet. Next, she located Jupiter and sketched out what was visible and the position of the planet in the sky. Once the worksheet was completed, she packed everything up and headed inside to go to sleep.

By the time that the weekend had rolled around, Petunia was caught up on all of her class and homework assignments. That left her with plenty of free time to go see a couple of movies with her friends and to also go hang out at the local mall. Maya, for whatever reason, had started drifting away from their friendship and seemed to find reasons not to be as close as they had been. This hurt Petunia, who had thought she'd found a kindred spirit in her closest friend.

She talked it over with her mother and together they put in a floo call to the Richards to see if Mrs. Richards had any idea as to what was going on between the two girls.

"Susan? Have you any idea as to why Maya has pulled away from her friendship with Petunia?" Marigold asked worriedly.

Susan Richards sighed exasperatedly and shook her head, "I believe it's a touch of jealousy on Maya's part. From what I've heard, Petunia is coming into her own with her latent magical ability, and Maya is jealous of not even being able to do that much."

"But…I-I didn't mean to make her jealous," Petunia sobbed quietly.

Susan patted her hand consolingly, "It's not your fault, Petunia. Sometimes Maya gets jealous over the littlest things but then snaps out of it a week later. She's been like this ever since she was little. Give it another week and I'm sure that she will be back asking for your forgiveness."

Petunia sniffed and nodded in understanding, "Could you please tell her that I miss her? It's just not the same without her witty sense of dry humor that makes my day all that more interesting."

"I will dear. I promise you that much."

True to Susan's prediction, Maya did come back begging for forgiveness to which Petunia gave almost immediately while both were crying profusely. Once the tears dried up, the two girls began discussing what had transpired and what they could do about it.

"There has to be a way for you to perform some kind of magic. I mean there's a ton of subjects that don't require a wand that is recognized as magic," Petunia said.

"I know but I really wanted the ability to use a wand like an ordinary witch," Maya sniffled, "It's the one thing that sets us apart from the mundanes."

"What about runic magic? I've been looking through some of the books on that in preparation for next year and from what I could gather, the magic within those runes is what the ancients used before the advent of wands or even staffs."

Maya tilted her head in thought, "It's possible though how would I be able to power up the symbols to get them to do what I want? I've always thought you needed a wand to do so."

Petunia harrumphed, "Well, that just gives us both a research project to ponder over the holidays doesn't it?" Maya just gave her a sad, watery smile in response.

Monday 18 September 1972

Petunia was sitting in her math class not really paying attention to what was on the board. Instead, she was thinking about her Arithmancy assignment that was waiting for her at home. A cleared throat interrupted her daydreaming.

"Miss Evans? Is there a reason why you're not paying attention?"

Quickly shaking her head no, Petunia grimaced at being caught woolgathering.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Potsdam. I was thinking about this math self-study assignment I have waiting for me at home."

An eyebrow rose, "Really? What's so interesting about that particular math that you couldn't pay attention to the material I'm teaching?"

Trying to think fast on how to explain magical mathematics, Petunia could only stammer out, "Well…I don't know how to best explain it. It's almost like…magic."

Mrs. Potsdam snorted in derision, "Magical math? Really Miss Evans?"

Throwing her hands up, "I have no other way to really describe it. I could bring it in to show you and the class tomorrow if you'd like?"

Mrs. Potsdam nodded in approval, "I think that would be a good idea, Miss Evans. I'm sure we'd all be curious as to how magic could be broken down mathematically."

"Well, to be honest ma'am, I don't think it's best to use the term 'magical math.' It's more like…mathematical sculpture," Petunia remarked as her eyes glazed over a bit as she imagined the formulas and symmetry of the math as they flowed and twisted in her mind's eye.

Mrs. Potsdam and the others chuckled at the sight of Petunia getting all starry-eyed at the thought of mathematics being an art form.

The next day, Petunia brought in her Arithmancy textbook as well as her assignments to show off to her class. Eyebrows were definitely raised and mouths dropped open at what was on display. Higher level trigonometry, geometry, statistics and other things that the students had never even heard of. Even the teacher was hard pressed to understand some of the concepts. Thumbing through the book, she had Petunia explain an equation for a polynomial.

"A polynomial is the sum of a finite number of terms, each of which is a the product of a finite collection of numbers and variables. For example, 7a2 + 4ab+3b2 is considered a polynomial. Poly being the word for 'many' and -nomial being the word for 'term.'"

Needless to say, her teacher and classmates were impressed by Petunia's knowledge. Mrs. Potsdam went on to have her explain and proof some of the equations and theorems that were assigned in the end of chapter quizzes. Petunia nailed each and every one of them. At the end of the demonstration, it was clear now to even the dimmest student that Petunia Evans was in a class by herself when it came to mathematics and that the work demonstrated truly was…magical.

At the end of the day, Mrs. Potsdam held Petunia back for a brief conversation.

"Miss Evans, I now understand why you've shown very little interest in what mathematics I've been showing if that is what level you're truly at. I must ask though, what got you interested in such a high level?"

Petunia shrugged nonchalantly, "Well, I was taking a trip to a science museum in London during last summer with my family and there was a text that was on display, teaching about the same sort of math that I demonstrated today. For some reason, it just…stuck with me. I could see what the author was talking about and I even noticed a few mistakes in the equations. My parents suggested that I check out a couple of library books on the subject and it just took off from there."

"Hmmm…yes. I know it's still early in your educational career but have you given any thought as to what you want to do when you graduate?"

Petunia shyly scuffed her toe into the carpet, "I've thought about being a teacher. Maybe not just for mathematics but just a general education teacher. I don't know though…"

Mrs. Potsdam smiled knowingly, "I understand. Well, should you decide on what to do, know that I'm always available for advice."

That evening, Petunia wrote in her journal trying to come up with some new prank potions or charms for Severus to use on James Potter and his gang. She set the journal down and rubbed her eyes. Harry came in and sat down on the edge of the couch and asked her what she was up to.

"Just working on coming up with new ideas for pranking material."

Harry looked concerned, "Are you sure that's a wise idea?"

Petunia half-heartedly shrugged, "Dunno. If anything, it gets my creativity flowing and helps with my magical learning while I'm researching potion ingredients, charms and whatnot."

Harry was silent for a moment before gesturing to the journal, "Well, what have you got so far?"

She picked up the journal and flipped to the first page:

Create a magical version of the joy buzzer.

Add a laxative into chocolate brownies.

Chewing gum charmed to make a person continuously smack their lips.

Charm a pair of underpants to turn soggy wet when hit with a stinging hex.

Chewing gum or chocolate biscuits with an added ingredient to make a person's tongue numb for at least an hour.

And so the list went on covering ideas both muggle and magical. Harry's eyes widened at some of the more lascivious ideas and chuckled at some of the classics.

"I like the classical ones. The exploding cigar is always a favorite of mine though you might want to use a different delivery method for school kids."

Petunia nodded and wrote that idea down in her journal, "Thanks, daddy."

Friday 29 September 1972

Dear Petunia,

Greetings from Hogwarts! I don't know what it was that you wrote to Severus Snape but now he and my friends, James Potter and Sirius Black seem to be in an all-out Prank War. I've had to learn to sleep with one eye open because of all the chaos that's been going on. I know that it sounds rather hypocritical of me since I'm usually found in the thick of things as well but your sister recommended that I write to you. She seemed unusually smug about it as well, come to think about it.

She implied that you had something to do with the idea of a prank where James couldn't answer a question without belching uncontrollably or the time when Sirius came down for breakfast wearing the most hideous pink ballerina costume despite his adamancy in thinking that he was wearing his ordinary school robes.

Then there was the time when Peter couldn't walk down the halls without someone hitting him with a stinging hex all because of a piece of paper stuck to his back that read 'Hex me' with an arrow pointing at his butt.

I don't know the extent of your involvement but I must say that I'm impressed.

Sincerely,

Remus Lupin

Dear Remus,

My involvement with your dispute regarding Severus Snape is merely advisory in nature. The continued attacks upon him simply because he's in Slytherin House is childish and needs to stopped. If it so happens that I've come up with a few ideas on how to curb James Potter's immature behavior, then so be it.

That said, I do have some interest in keeping things going. It helps with my magical learning…

Petunia

Dear Severus,

I'm enclosing a list of some new ideas that I've come up with for the Prank War. I think you'll find them quite interesting. For ease of searching, I've separated them by the primary method of delivery: elf, potion, charm, etc.

I think for the time being and so as to not arouse the attention of the staff, you should keep to the simple, one-victim pranks. I'd hate to have you target the group and inadvertently affect the entire Gryffindor House. My sister should never be 'collateral damage.'

Petunia

Dear Petunia,

Thank you for the list of ideas. Yes, they were funny and creative and I find myself shocked that I'd admit that. I successfully brewed the numbing agent that could be incorporated into the chocolate drizzle for the biscuits and tested them out on a few unsuspecting House mates of mine. I mean, seriously? They want to tangle with someone who in this short time frame has already proven himself to be a superior brewer?

Sometimes I wonder about the magical world.

Severus

Dear Lily,

How are you enjoying the results from the Prank War between James Potter and his friends versus Severus? I think that there's something to be gained from all these pranks, you know. It's an interesting study in strategic and tactical planning, an increase and faster absorption of the magical subjects and most of all; it's just plain FUN! You really should be getting involved. I have a couple of suggestions if you're interested! For example:

Create an aerosol that causes a person's sinuses to clog up like they're sick. (Try casting a spell when your voice changes because of a clogged nose!)

Charm their books to yell out inappropriate comments at random moments.

Replace their wands with ordinary sticks.

Hide a dead fish somewhere in their dorm.

Replace the soles of their shoes with lead weights.

See? So many possibilities, so little time!

Tuni

Dear Tuni,

You're really getting into this whole pranking thing aren't you? What do mum and dad think about this? It's not exactly the best usage of your time since you have to juggle regular studies with the magical ones…and I can't believe I just wrote that. I sound so old and mature! Ugh! Okay, I'm going to randomly pick one of your ideas and go cause chaos.

Lily

Monday 9 October 1972

The autumn weather of October was starting to be felt more often in the neighborhood and throughout the British Isles. Petunia had been dropped off after school by her mother who had to pick up the dry cleaning and run a few other errands. Thinking to make herself useful, Petunia dragged out the family cookbook and began browsing for a suitable dinner to make for the three of them. Trying to decide on whether or not to go with the usual English fare or try something different, she pulled out three recipes from the book while also contemplating something seasonal. She finally decided on an easy curried pumpkin soup with chunks of roasted beef along with a side dish of roasted Brussels sprouts.

By the time that her parents came home, the house smelled of the heavenly aroma of home-cooked food. Harry was delighted by the fact that his eldest daughter came up with this recipe all by herself and dug in with relish.

"I'm impressed, Petunia. What made you decide to start cooking?"

Petunia shrugged, "Mum had some errands to run after school and rather than just waiting around for her to get home then start cooking something for us, I figured I'd help out and do it for her."

Marigold beamed at her helpful daughter and patted her hand, "Thank you so much dear. It means a lot to me."

After dinner and the clean up of the dishes, Petunia settled in her room to start on her homework. She separated her magical textbooks from her regular ones and first got the normal work done. The time passed quickly and before she knew it, her mum stopped in to wish her a good night and to not make it a late one.