Harry's second quiddich game was a success. He once again caught the snitch not long after the game started, despite the fact that Snape wasn't refereeing.
Harry was relieved not to have to deal with a dragon in this lifetime. He still visited Hagrid when he had time and always checked to make sure there was no dragon egg. He didn't lose Gryffindor 150 points or get detention in the forest. Exams were easy. They did not have to fight for the sorcerer's stone, and Harry easily won the last game of quiddich for the year, winning Gryffindor the quiddich cup and the house cup. When Hary boarded the Hogwarts Express at the end of the school year, his only regret was that he did not become friends with Hermione.
The full moons during the summer were July 14th and August 13th. The Weasleys were scheduled to spend two weeks with Sirius from July 22nd until August 5th. This way, they could have their prank war without the moon interfering. Of course, that wasn't what Sirius told Mrs. Weasley. He said that he wants to celebrate Harry's birthday for two weeks in order to make up for the nine birthdays he missed, and of course, Harry would love to have his good friends, Ron, Fred, and George there. Mrs. Weasley asked if Draco will be there. Sirius assured her that he won't be, and that the Daily Prophet is not the most reliable newspaper.
Harry was really excited on July 22nd when his friends came. Remus came over too, having agreed to spend two weeks on the prank war. They agreed that they wouldn't start pranks until the next morning in order to give them time to prepare. Harry was really nervous, knowing what Sirius is capable of. He knew Fred and George had brilliant inventions, but they didn't make them for a few more years. After establishing some basic rules, each side went to a different end of the house to plan.
Harry sat in his bedroom with Fred, George, and Ron.
"What pranks can we do?" Harry asked. "We didn't learn that much magic yet."
"Do you know any pranks at all?" George asked.
Harry thought about all of Fred's and George's inventions, but knew he couldn't tell them about it.
"I know muggle pranks, like the bucket of water on the door. How can we make it magical?"
"Maybe a potion?" asked Fred.
"What should it do?" Ron wanted to know.
"We're Gryffindors," Fred suggested. "Let's make them Gryffindor colors."
"We could use my cloak for the element of surprise," Harry said. "Just how will we do it?"
"Is there a potion lab in this huge house?" George wanted to know.
"I don't know what's in it, but there is one," Harry told him.
"Let's check it out," Fred said.
They headed to the potion lab and checked to see what supplies there were. As they were searching, Kreacher came in.
"Does Master Harry need help with anything?" Kreacher wanted to know.
"Did Sirius tell you about our prank war?" Harry asked.
"He did, and I don't think it is befitting in the ancient and noble house of Black. What do you need help with?"
"We're trying to figure out how to make a potion that will change skin and hair color," Harry explained.
"Why must it be a potion?" Kreacher asked.
"Do you know another way to do it?" asked Harry.
"When do you want it done?" Kreacher asked.
"When they wake up tomorrow morning," Harry told him.
"I'll take care of it," offered Kreacher. "Are there any colors you want?"
"Gryffindor colors are red and gold, so we should probably do those," George said.
"Slytherin colors are silver and green," Kreacher responded. "That may be a better prank."
The boys laughed.
"Thank you so much, Kreacher," Harry said. "You may have just saved us from burning the house down."
"How cool is that?" Fred asked. "We just need to think of a prank, and Kreacher is willing to help us out."
"Now we can go play quiddich for a while, since we don't start until tomorrow," George said.
The next morning, Harry was surprised to see his friends were red and gold. Upon looking in the mirror, he saw he was also red and gold.
"Hey, we're identical," Fred and George said together.
When they went down to the kitchen, they saw Sirius and Remus sitting at the table, with silver and green skin.
"We have better colors!" Fred cheered.
"This is very suspicious," Harry said. "Where's Kreacher?"
"Is Master Harry angry?" Kreacher asked.
"No," Harry said. "Just curious."
"When Master Sirius heard you boys in the potion lab, he asked me to help you," Kreacher explained. "But then he said to match the prank with yours being slightly better."
"Cheater!" Harry said, playfully punching Sirius on the arm.
"Hey, no violence!" Sirius retorted, shooting a tickling hex at Harry.
Harry tried unsuccessfully to dodge the hex. When he saw he couldn't, he did levicorpus on Sirius. Harry stood up and grinned at the upside down Sirius.
"Let me down," Sirius said. "No hexes."
"You hexed me," Harry said.
"That was a fun one," Sirius answered.
"I didn't think so," Harry told him.
"Sorry," Sirius said. "I thought it was fun."
Harry let Sirius down.
"I thought we can't do magic out of school," Ron said.
"If you live with muggles, you'll get in trouble with the ministry for it," explained Harry. "If you live in a wizard home, it's up to your parents to discipline you, and we all know Sirius won't discipline me."
"Oh, no," Sirius teased.
Harry found himself hanging upside down from his ankle.
"Payback," Sirius said, smiling.
"What would your muggle relatives do if you did magic?" Ron wanted to know.
"They would lock me up," Harry said, while trying to at least pull his head the right way.
"In the cupboard?" Remus asked quietly.
Sirius lowered Harry and threw his arms around him.
"Did they feed you when you were locked up?" he whispered.
"Not much," Harry said.
"Now you know why I can't punish you," Sirius told him.
"Let's go outside," Harry told his friends. "We need to plan our next prank."
"First turn us back to our regular colors," Remus said. "We look ridiculous."
"Kreacher would like to take a picture before changing you back," Kreacher said.
They posed for a picture and breathed a sigh of relief when their skin changed back to regular colors.
"Now, what?" Harry asked once the four boys were outside.
"We changed their skin already," Fred started.
"Let's change their hair next," Geroge suggested.
"How do we do that?" asked Ron.
"We need a transfiguration book," George said.
The four boys raced to the library and looked up hair changing spells.
"What should we change it to?" asked Fred.
"Maybe long with pigtails," suggested George.
It took until lunchtime for the boys to figure it out. When they came back to the kitchen, Fred and George quickly did their spells. The boys laughed when they saw Sirius and Remus with long pigtails. Both men immediately drew their wands. Harry looked at his friends and saw they were all wearing frilly pink dresses. He looked down and saw he was wearing one too.
"One minute, I need to fix your hair," Remus said.
With a flick of his wand, Harry's hair turned red.
"He looks like Lilly now," Sirius commented.
Harry looked in a mirror and stared.
"Kreacher would like to take a picture," Kreacher said.
They posed for pictures before eating lunch. After lunch, they removed the spells and tried to plan their next prank.
"What now?" Harry asked, somewhat uninspired.
"I have some dungbombs," George said.
"One day you'll invent much better pranks," Harry said.
"We actually have some ideas," Fred told him. "We just don't have all the skills yet."
"What's so great about dungbombs anyway?" asked Harry.
"They smell horrible," George said.
"We would have to smell them too," complained Harry.
"Not if it's in their bedrooms," Fred said mischievously.
"Hey, Remus has chocolate in his room!" Ron said.
They all ran in and grabbed a handful, stuffing some in their mouths. Immediately, they all started spluttering and spitting out dirt.
"One day you guys will improve this fake candy business," Harry told them.
The two weeks of pranks continued in the same fashion. None of the pranks were extremely impressive. Harry couldn't tell Fred and George about their future inventions, while Sirius and Remus were holding back so as not to traumatize the kids. They took a break for Harry's birthday where Sirius went a little overboard with cakes and presents.
Finally, on August fifth, Mrs. Weasley came to escort her children home. When she invited Harry to come spend the next two weeks with them, he eagerly agreed.
