21 February 1974
Perhaps taking their cue from the girls' hair-dye trick, the boys also chose a Muggle-inspired prank for their next venture.
On Thursday afternoon, Peter scurried to catch up with Lily and Mary after Care of Magical Creatures. "Brilliant lesson, eh?" he asked, smiling at the girls as they made their way up the hill. While normally Peter took whatever classes James and Sirius agreed on, he had refused to give up Magical Creatures even though his mates had ditched it this year. "Nifflers are such cute little fellows."
"They really are!" Mary agreed, grinning. "I wish I could keep one."
"You heard the Professor," Lily chided her gently. "They make terrible pets."
"Too right," Peter agreed, frowning as they approached the castle. He made a show of checking his pockets, then announced, "I'm such a dolt, I've forgotten my wand! I'll catch up to you." He took several quick steps back from the girls, waving goodbye cheerfully.
And that was the signal.
"Bombs away!" Remus hollered from the second floor corridor overlooking the courtyard, and six balloons filled with stinksap (two each from Remus, Sirius, and James) came flying towards the girls before they had a chance to react.
The balloons burst on impact, covering Lily and Mary – as well as a couple of students who had the misfortune of walking nearby – in smelly goo. Lily gasped and Mary screamed.
"Good luck we learned cleaning charms last week, eh?" James called down to them, teeth gleaming in a wicked grin.
"That'll teach you to mess with a bloke's hair!" Sirius added triumphantly, waving down at them from the balcony.
"This is foul!" Mary wailed. "Our hair will be far worse than yours ever was!"
Lily stomped her foot and growled in frustration. "And you liked your hair purple!"
"But you didn't know that when you did it," Sirius replied with a casual shrug. "It's the principle of the thing."
...
AN: The prank war escalates! Let me know what you think, and feel free to send me more prank ideas and I'll try to write them!