Author's Note: Hello, there. This is my new chapter. Sorry for the delay. Please review. Enjoy.

P.S. Thank you JilyEvottor19 and hpandthemaraudersrock for your reviews.

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter's world, not me (unfortunately).

Chapter 4: The Opening Feast

The Great Hall looked magnificent. The ceiling was a deep blue, almost black, with stars glinting here and there. It took the four's breath away. The first-years would be blown away seeing it for their first time.

The four girls took their places at the Gryffindor table. Lucy glanced at her watch.

"The first-years should be here soon," she told the others. Gwen nodded. Jenny and Emily were paying no attention. They were fawning over Sirius.

"Look at his gorgeous hair."

"Isn't he handsome."

"His eyes."

"Shut up" Lucy told them. Her friends really needed to grow up.

They listened to the Sorting for a while. Gwen and Lucy played the age-old game of guessing where each child would be sorted.

"Hufflepuff," Gwen said confidently as a tiny, mousy-haired boy staggered up to the hat. He was shaking with nerves and looked ready to faint any minute. Lucy smiled.

"Gryffindor," she said in an amused voice. After a moment the sorting hat shouted "Gryffindor."

"Oh, come on," Gwen moaned. "How did you guess that? He looked like he was going to wet himself with nerves."

"Being scared of the sorting hat doesn't mean you're a coward," Lucy said, clearly amused.

"Yeah," Gwen agreed. "You were terrified of not getting into Gryffindor because James said you'd be disowned," she added. Lucy whacked her on the back of her head. Gwen winced. She quickly changed the subject.

"Look, they're on the Y's" she said brightly as her stomach growled loudly, as if agreeing with her. Lucy, Jenny and Emily collapsed in a fit of silent giggles. Professor McGonagall called out "Yard, Paul." A mean-looking boy with a scowl onhis face walked up to the hat.

"Hm..." said Gwen pretending to deeply consider.

"Very difficult..." pondered Lucy. Jenny and Emily began to giggle, loudly at first but when Professor McGonagall glared at them, they immediatley quieted down. Only the marauders weren't afraid of McGonagall's death-glare.

"On the whole, I think..." Gwen began.

"Slytherin" Lucy and Gwen whisper-shouted together.

"Slytherin" the Sorting Hat yelled. The four of them collapsed into giggles, though it wasn't really that funny. Lucy felt like a great weight was lifted off her shoulders. She hadn't felt this happy for a long time. 'Friends are great,' she thought, as Professor Dumbledore stood up and gave a short speech.

"To all our new students, welcome, to everyone else, welcome back. A new year awaits us, full of magical education. Now, before the wonderful feast that awaits us, I would like to make one or two announcements. Firstly, I would like to introduce you to our Head Boy and Girl: Frank Longbottom..." There was lots of applause for Frank. He was a well-known Gryffindor and was extremly popular with all the students, especially the younger students.

Frank stood up and bowed to the applause, looking extremely pleased and a little embarrassed. When all the applause died down, Dumbledore continued

"And our Head Girl, Marlene McKinnon." Marlene, also a Gryffindor stood up. She was a Beater on the Gryffindor team (along with Sirius Black) hence she was also very popular. She was great fun and a lot of people were anticipating the parties there would be that year with Marlene planning.

She stood up to the clapping and wolf-whistles, and waved at everyone. When the clapping died down, Dumbledore gave his second announcement.

"Now I would like to welcome a new professor to our ranks: Professor Stubbleman. He has so kindly agreed to take the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Welcome Professor," he called. Professor Stubbleman stood up. He was heavily scarred and had the air about him that nothing crossed him. He looked quite familiar to Lucy. She racked her brains for a moment then suddenly remembered where she had seen him before. She leaned into Gwen and murmured "He's was an Auror while my father was training. He is always very suspicious and trusts only a few people. My dad said he's not someone to cross."

"So I noticed," Gwen muttered back. Stubbleman was glaring around at the students and only a few were clapping half-heartedly. Lucy could not imagine how he would punish anyone who stepped out of line in his class. That thought was followed quickly with the Marauders. She would have to warn James before he did anything rash.

Dumbledore announced the beginning of the feast and Gwen piled her plate with chicken, ham, stuffing, potatoes, carrots and parsnips and a goblet of pumpkin juice to wash it down. Lucy ate a little but it hurt so she sipped pumpkin juice and talked while the others ate.

"James told me that all the teachers begin the fifth-year classes with lectures about OWL's," Lucy told the others. Gwen began to reply but a loud crack drowned her words. Lucy, well used to recognising pranks, looked up the table to where the Maruaders were sitting. They had their wands out and were muttering something. A cloud of blue smoke errupted from their wands and engulfed the hall. When it faded, it took a moment for everyone to realise what had happened. All the Ravenclaws were wearing blue robes with 'Bigheads with big brains' on the back.

The Hufflepuffs were wearing yellow robes with 'Said to be thick, but will help you in a fix' written across them. Lucy guessed Remus had come up with that as it sort of rhymed. She doubted James' and Sirius' poetic genius.

The Slytherins were wearing green robes with 'I'm with stupid' written all over.

All the teachers were wearing bright pink robes that hurt the eye to look at with 'We're not insulting those with the power to punish us' written on the back. Lucy chuckled when she saw that. All the Gryffindors were wearing red robes with 'Another great mind ruined by education' on the back and front. All the Gryffindors roared with laughter, though no one laughed louder that the Marauders themselves. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws joined in and even a few Slytherins chuckled at the teachers. Lucy spotted Professor Dumbledore laughing at his robes.

Professor McGonagall, however, did not find it quite so funny. She stood up.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew. Detention, eight o' clock sharp, tomorrow night," she announced. She waved her wand and everyone was wearing their proper robes again. She ignored James and Sirius' complaints and sat down again. If you looked carefully, you could see a shadow of a smile on her face.

The school left for bed in good spirits. Lucy's happiness drained out of her as she made her way up to the Hospital Wing for her daily medicine. 'It's going to be a long year,' she thought to herself.

Author's Note: I hope you like the start-of-year prank, I couldn't think of many things the Marauders would do. Sorry again for the delay.