Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER-THESE CHARACTERS BELONG TO JK ROWLING.

"Oi, Remus." Peter turned to see James put his head on his palm and grinned. Remus looked up and sighed at his mischievous expression.

"We're boored. We finished our homework. Come on, that deserves some free time, right?" Sirius exclaimed , eager to help his best friend get up to some mischief. Peter was eager to help in any way he could even if involved, even if it included doing the dirty work.

"Remember the last time?" Remus said, and they four of them shuddered, remembering the last time. Over the past six weeks, they had a fair deal of successful pranks, but their pranking attempts were cut short after James, Peter and Sirius ended up in detention for trying to prank Bellatrix and Lucius, an obnoxious, stick-up-his-arse fourth year but ended up spilling the pile of dirt, slugs and worms on the current head girl who they also simultaneously shot hexes at. It was meant to hit Lucius and Bellatrix but backfired miserably as they reflected later while they scrubbed dusty trophies while Remus sat near the steps and snickered at them.

Ah, friendship.

Peter was meant to look at who was coming so they could successfully hit the two and pour the bucket on, but he was too busy laughing at James making a joke and unintentionally gave the signal, resulting in two weeks on detention and constant teasing from Remus, who had a family reunion to visit but somehow ended up in the infirmary, released a week later. Whenever they asked, he always turned red and turned, muttering a half-hearted response or diverting the topic.

Peter didn't divulge on it much. He trusted Remus, with his forgiving nature and wisecracks. He never told Peter off when he asked for help and always helped when he could clearly see him frazzled over 'simple homework', as James and Sirius put it. It wasn't simple. The theory or the practical. They always had to help Peter somehow, but he didn't mind. They were people he could easily depend on and was happy to.

"Please?"

"You can it without me." Remus said firmly, picking up his book and attempting to ignore them by reading but failed when James took the book, placed it aside and looked deep into his eyes with his hands on his calves.

"Remus, you are the brains of this operation. We cannot do this without you." He looked serious for once, but all four of them knew it was just a façade. Sirius chimed in,

"Please. Listen, we have been sitting near this tree for practically two hours doing homework. We haven't pranked anyone for a week. We have to do this." This may have been a slight exaggeration but Peter knew how desperate they were.

"Yeah, R-remus." Peter said, voice faltering as Remus looked at him expectantly. "It has really been a long time. C'mon." Peter still felt nervous persuading him for anything, afraid to ruin their friendship. Remus looked around at the expectant faces.

"Well, whaddya want to do?"


"Ok, so this is how it goes. Stag head in and-"

"Hold it. If I do this is I want no stupid code names." Sirius looked crestfallen at his Lupins declaration.

"Awww, but-"

"No."

"Dammit. Anyway, James, you head on to the library and look if Madam Pince is near the shelves. Well, she always is, but-"He waved his hand wildly to make his point and hit Peter full force in his face. "Oops. Anyway, we go sneak the creatures out of the cages and you put in the bait, James." Sirius moved his hand onto his shoulder. "My very first friend, the balance of this prank depends on your clear contribution. We would die otherwi-"

"You would get detention for a week or two and have thirty points deducted." Remus added in, tired of Sirius toying around and James putting on his serious face and nodding gravely. Peter blushed when they turned to him.

"Listen, Peter you need to distract Madam Pince and Remus, you need to sneak the Occamys and I sneak the Nifflers in." They nodded. Sirius was good at devising plans and putting them to action. He smiled and James's eyes lit up.

"Ohhhh, what if we," He grabbed Sirius's robe and whispered an idea to him. Peter watched Sirius's face light up and felt a pang of envy. He knew at that moment, no one in Hogwarts history would ever have a friendship like the two of them.

"Listen, so Jamsie here suggested that…."


"Hey, Madam Pince!" She looked down to see Peter standing there sweat streaming down his forehead in thin, visible stripes. She narrowed her eyes. This was the boy always hanging out with the Potter and Black troublemakers. She narrowed her eyes. Anyone associated with them that closely was defiantly in her bad book, knowing about their reputation as the four first years who made their mark on Hogwarts after only a few weeks.

"Can I help you?" She snapped at the boy, strangely feeling no guilt as he flinched away.

"WherecanIfindthisbook?" He rushed out and stood on this tiptoes to show Madam Pince the book title.

"On aisle four-" She stopped as the pumpkin juice in the boys hands spilled all over her dress robes.

Silence.

"IDIOT BOY!"


"Nice work!" James whispered as he dragged the paint cans across the floor and with Sirius and Remus who tried to muffle their respective creatures they hid under their dress robes.

"You know, for a librarian, 'idiot boy' is just terrible vocabulary." Sirius stifled a laugh at Lupins dry comment. "All right." They looked at the clear shelves full of bright and mature books.

"I almost feel bad for doing this."


Madam Pince stopped yelling obscenities at the boy who looked near tears, and concentrated on the yells coming from the seventh aisle.

They yells didn't sound remotely human.

The mousy boy looked in another direction, clearly trying to blink the tears away. Please. She knew he was a part of this.

"Come with me." She growled and dragged him to the aisle, trying to ignore the fear of something terrible happening.

When she reached the aisle, she felt her face contort into horror.

Something terrible happened.

Somehow, Nifflers escaped and were tearing the books, ransacking them, and running to another after they found the gold coin. Gold coins? There were Occamys nestled between the books, in between spaces, coiled into the ceiling for heaven's sake. Who could have done this? Who would have wrecked this place so badly.

Her eyes shifted and she found her answer. Three paint covered Gryffindor boys were covering book shelves in paint while laughing and shoving at each other with colossal grins, admiring the chaos they wrecked.

Madam Pince let out a blood-curling scream.

The boys fell down, startled and cowered as the pumpkin juice covered, raging librarian advanced and the one with hazel eyes, glasses and messy hair grinned at the boy with dark hair and grey eyes and whispered,

"Mischief managed."


And this was how the Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew got detention for three weeks and had fifty points deducted and set history for the earliest points lost by first years ever. Wasn't the greatest record.

But they didn't feel any guilt. Not really.


A/N- Please review and comment on what I could improve on. Thanks for reading!

Peace, pizza and Percy

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