Chapter Four
Day two at Muggle School…
"Hey Peter, where are Sirius and Remus?" I asked as Sam and I walked over to where he was standing on his own.
"Oh, well Sirius is over there talking to that girl…Louise," he said pointing, "and I think Remus might be away today."
I glanced over at Sirius and laughed as I saw that the girl had just poured her water bottle over his head. "Whats wrong mate, didn't she fall for any of your regular lines?" I asked. It was a rare girl indeed who could say no to Sirius, not that I would ever tell him that.
"Oh, we just had a minor disagreement. She loves me really," he said grinning.
"Any idea whats happened to Mooney?" I asked in concern.
"I dunno, but here comes Barnsey." He said.
"Hey Professor, Where is Remus?" I asked as the three of us ran over to him.
"Oh, well he did not have a good night… and so won't be coming to school today," he said.
"Can we visit him this afternoon?" I asked in concern. Remus had probably ripped himself to pieces without us there in our animagus forms.
"I'm afraid that's not possible boys."
I frowned, why would visiting Remus be…not possible? Professor Barnes seemed to sense that he was in for some serious pestering and so by the time I looked up he had walked away. How rude!
"Hey don't look now Prongs but here comes our good friend Brett," Sirius said with a wink.
I cheered up immediately, "Excellent, now we just need to catch him alone and we can commence operation hypnotise the evil muggle." I said smiling.
"Whats a muggle?" asked Sam who had walked over to join us.
"Oh, it's the English version of jerk," I said. I was mentally kicking myself, if I was not careful I would have all the muggles calling people well…muggles.
"Oh, in that case Brett is definitely a muggle," said Sam smiling.
Sirius and I looked at each other and nearly burst our laughing. The bell went and we headed off to our first class. I noticed that Brett was absent from our science class and I leant over to ask Sam about it.
"Oh, he is probably out smoking behind the gym," he said. I glanced at Sirius who was sitting next to me. Simultaneously we both raised our hand, "Can we please go to the bathroom?" I asked.
"Both of you?" the teacher asked suspiciously. We both nodded and she waved for us to go ahead.
We ran outside to the back of the gym and sure enough there was Brett. "Get lost," said Brett as we walked over.
"Oh, we just came out here to show you something really awesome." I said holding up the hypnotism pendant.
"You are getting very sleeping, "began Sirius,I kicked him. That line was so cliché, no one actually used it for hypnotism. "Ok Brett, every time you hear the school bell today you are to…."
"Run up and down the hallway clucking like a chicken!" screamed Sirius. I glared at him, but let it go.
"Afterwards you will have no recollection of ever doing so. Oh and you never saw us here," I said.
I stopped swinging the pendant and waved my hand in front of Brett's face. He stared blankly, "This is going to be great!" said Sirius. I rolled my eyes at him; pranks just weren't the same when you had to make do with the small fry magic.
We walked back into science looking completely innocent. When the bell went for the end of class I glanced at Sirius, clucking could be heard down the hallway. All the muggles were going hysterical and even Lily was smiling. She caught me starring and I looked away innocently.
"Let me guess, the Marauders strike again?" she asked.
"I assure you, we have absolutely nothing to do with that… I mean we don't even have magic," I replied trying desperately to keep a straight face.
"Oh, of course…Where is Remus today?" she asked suddenly
"He is not feeling very well, which reminds me I need a favour," I said.
"I'm listening."
"Well… we want to go and check up on him this afternoon but old Barnsey won't let us, do you think you could keep him busy for a bit this afternoon?" I asked hopefully.
"You're really worried about him, aren't you?" she asked.
"You sound surprised," I said smiling.
"Ok, I can probably manage a half hour distraction," she said.
"Lily Evans you are an angel," I gave her a quick hug and then ran off after Sam before she could protest.
"So, what have we got now?" I asked slinging an arm around Sam's shoulder. "Get off you muggle," he said shoving me away. I frowned; ok I really needed to do something about that. "We have Japanese next," Sam said after a moment.
I smiled, now I could get in a quick nap before lunch.
"Hey James, I saved you a seat," said Sophie as I walked into the tuckshop.
I mentally groaned, this girl just would not quit! "Where is Brett?" I asked. She looked annoyed, "Oh, he is….busy," she said. "Busy being a chicken," Sirius said as he sat down laughing.
"Lily is going to cover for us with Professor Barnes this afternoon so we can visit Remus," I said after a moment.
"Great," said Sirius.
"I can't guys, I am really sorry but Brett would probably bash me," said Peter frowning.
"I'll help Lily distract your teacher if you like, James" said Sophie as she shuffled closer to me.
"Umm thanks," I said as I shuffled away. Sirius grinned at me and I glared. When the lunch bell rang I all but sprinted out of the tuckshop and straight into Proffessor Barnes.
Just at that moment Brett ran past, clucking like a chicken. "Excuse me professor," I said as I attempted to get past him and make an escape.
"Not so fast Mr Potter, don't think I haven't noticed chicken boy over there." He said.
"Oh, I had absolutely nothing to do with that…no magic remember," I said innocently before turning to dash past him.
I chuckled to myself; no way could he find enough proof to peg this one on the Marauders.
That afternoon Sirius and I ran out of the school and off to the bus stop. "Wait a second, do we even know where Barnsey is staying?" I asked.
"Shit!" said Sirius.
I quickly grabbed out my notebook and scribbled.
Prongs: We are coming to visit, how do we get there?
Mooney: Catch the 111, staying at the Grand Central hotel.
Prongs: Ok, hang in there we are on our way!
I shoved the notebook away as we hopped on the bus.
"Well Barnsey sure knows how to travel in style," Sirius said as we arrived at the massive 5 star hotel.
"Oh no, we did not ask which room he was in" I said in horror.
"You guys are hopeless," said Remus from behind us. There were scratches on his face and he was wearing a long sleeved shirt and long pants… in the middle of an Australian Summer!
"You look awful," I said.
"Thanks," he said smiling
We headed up to the apartment, "How come Barnsey did not heal your injuries?" I asked.
He looked away nervously, "Oh…he does not like me very much, he treats me like a freak and completely ignores me when we are away from school," he said sadly.
I looked at him in shock, "I think I can help," said Sirius as he pulled out a wand.
"Where the hell did you get that? I screamed, "and more importantly why are we only learning of this now?"
He looked away sheepishly, "Oh well I gave Barnsey a fake wand."
"So, you just happened to be carrying a fake wand around?"
"Well, I was maybe going to get a bit of revenge for that pink hair prank you pulled the other week," he said grinning.
"You were going to give me a fake wand!" I yelled.
"Just let the man heal" said Remus.
"Oh, sorry" I said feeling guilty.
"How are we going to explain your miraculous recovery to Barnsey?" I asked suddenly.
"Its ok he did not see me this morning, I just called out that I was not coming," Remus said.
"Oh ok, well we better be quick cause Lily can't cover for us for long," I said.
"Relax, James… make yourself useful and go stick this in Barnsey shampoo," Sirius said holding out a small bottle.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's the pink hair potion," he said smiling. "The great thing about it is that everyone else will know its pink but whenever he looks in the mirror it will appear normal."
I scowled at him having already been the recipient of that particular prank… but still it was a good idea…
"So, are you going to be alright for school tomorrow?" I called to Remus from the bathroom.
"Yeah, it's the last night of the change and Sirius is going to come by and heal me in the morning," he replied.
"Oh ok, what about Barnsey?" I asked
"Don't you worry about that James, I have everything under control," said Sirius grinning.
…………………..
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, next chapter will feature much more of Lily and James…now that I have got the pranking out of my system.