I'm not upset that you lied to me; I'm upset that from now on I cannot believe you

~Freidrich Nietzsche

Chapter Fourteen

Pranksters Gonna Prank

Peter had been counting down the days, hours, and minutes until he could finally be reunited with his friends. His mother he loved, absolutely and completely. That was why he returned home over Christmas. He wanted to spend time with her, and make sure that she was okay and not being too mistreated by his father. But, despite his love for his mother, he still couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts, to be back I Gryffindor dorm, to be back with his friends. His father did that.

Now, he was back, sitting on the Hogwarts Express, mere hours from returning to the school that was rapidly becoming his home. He was sitting, talking and joking amongst his three best friends. The past two weeks, all the stress and terror he'd experienced over Christmas break, melted away. He was finally back where he belonged.

"Okay, so first trying to come up with dirt on Severus and then getting bogged down by school work has put us behind in our general havoc-wreaking. We were too concerned about pulling something big on Snivellus that we haven't been tormenting him enough. He's been cooling his heels and walking around with far too much confidence. As soon as we get back to Hogwarts, we have to do all we can to rectify that situation," James spoke, a shinning gleam in his eyes that was only ever present when he was scheming and plotting.

"I'm so glad you said that, Jamesy. I think I've got the perfect plan to take our dear friend down a few pegs," Sirius responded. Peter, eager to hear Sirius' always-ingenious plan, leaned in closer. James and Remus did the same. In whispered, conspiratorial tones, Sirius laid out his plan.

Peter was right. His plan was ingenious. Snivellus was going to get exactly what he deserved. Now, more than ever, the mousy boy couldn't wait to step foot back on the castle grounds.

"Today we will be learning the reduction and enlargement charms. For now, we will focus on objects, but in fifth year you will begin to work with living beings," Professor Flitwick, the charms professor and head of Ravenclaw, spoke from his small dais at the front of the classroom. He paced a little as he spoke and Peter found himself slightly entranced.

From his left side, Peter could feel the excitement emanating from James. The messy haired boy loved learning new spells, especially ones that lent themselves so nicely to pranking. Shrinking and enlarging could lead to a lot of chaos and mayhem. Peter focused in on Professor Flitwick's words, determined to lean the spell so he could perform it to help James and Sirius with their pranking.

"While the two charms are linked, they are both their own unique charms that come with their own incantations and wand work. Because of this, we will start with the reduction, or shrinking charm.

"The incantation spoke clearly and precisely, is reducio. As you say the word, picture in your minds eye your desired object getting smaller, and wave your wand like this." Professor Flitwick then moved his wand in an intricate way that Peter found very hard to follow. Hopefully, watching James would help him with that. After a few more minutes of instruction, Professor Flitwick dismissed the class to practice their shrinking charms.

As soon as they were free, Sirius who was sitting on Peter's right, turned to the other three, "So, I think this afternoon once classes are done, we get right to work o our plan to tear Snivellus off his high horse. I think we need to get it out there as soon as possible so we don't have to deal with Mr. High and Mighty any longer than is absolutely necessary so – reducio!" The circulating of Professor Flitwick momentarily interrupted Sirius' plotting. Surprisingly, despite his lack of focus only moments before casting the spell, Sirius managed to shrink his large textbook to a more convenient pocket size version.

"Good work, Mr. Black," Professor Flitwick cheered before quickly moving on. The boys quickly returned focus to each other.

"I say we meet in the common room, at our table, with your best quills and your nicest ink, and we get started on everything right after dinner," James responded, taking up the mantle of planning Sirius had been forced to drop moments before by Professor Flitwick. The other boys nodded their agreement, quickly coming to consensus. That being agreed upon, they all turned back to their task at hand, practicing their shrinking charms. But Peter was far too distracted to make anything smaller. His brain was much too full with visions of tearing Snape down. He couldn't wait to get started on their plan.

The rest of the day passed agonizingly slow. Peter couldn't focus on the lectures or the schoolwork he was required to do. Luckily, Peter's previous lack of work ability masked his distraction. All his professors simply wrote off his lost-in-thought expression as typical Peter. Then finally, classes let out and Peter and his friends were free.

They momentarily parted ways, each heading off to gather their own ingredients and supplies. James and Sirius hurried off to their down room to collect their quills, paper, and ink. Remus headed off to the library to see if there were any volumes that could help them with their havoc wreaking. Peter, always one to think of his stomach, headed to the kitchens to procure snacks and food. These prank planning sessions could sometimes go late into the night and James ad Sirius were not good at breaking for meals.

Just as the clock was striking four in the afternoon, the quartet settled into their typical corner of the Gryffindor common room. Remus had managed to find a few books on calligraphy and poster making that he placed in the middle of their table. He'd also found a copying spell that would cut their workload down significantly. Last but not least, Peter filled whatever spaces were left with the sweets and goodies he had procured from the ever-helpful house elves.

"Okay," James began, "I'm not sure how many posters we will need to make. Enough to plaster around the places that Snape typically gives."

"We also need to consider word getting back to Snape. If too many people who know the truth see the posters, they could ruin everything by letting Snape in on the secret." Sirius jumped in. Peter agreed that was a good point and one that he definitely hadn't considered.

"But in order for Snape to be told, people have to want to help him. One piece of information that I was able to gather about Snape was that he isn't really liked amongst the Slytherins. He's definitely on the outs, so he might not find out that this is all a joke, even in the others come across the posters," James reasoned. His logic seemed sound and no one had any counterpoints, so they moved on with their planning.

It took a little discussion to decide what exactly the posters would say and what they would look like, but once that had been established, the four boys got down to work. Remus carefully wrote out the first few posters. James and Sirius perused the book Remus had found on copying spells and quickly learned one of the more simpler spells. Peter helped keep everything organized and made sure that they were all taking time to eat. It was a pretty slick system and, by the time the prefects were calling for lights out, the four second year boys had managed to make or copy 100 posters.

Peter couldn't wait to see Snape's face.

Over the next week, Peter, Remus, James, and Sirius carefully and meticulously put up their posters. They made sure to cover all the places Snape frequented and were also careful that they kept the minimum amount of outside eyes from seeing the posters. Despite their belief that people wouldn't likely leak the truth of their plan to Snivellus, they didn't want to press their luck. You could never be too sure when the human element was involved.

Over and over again, Snape was bombarded by the message that Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter wanted him to read. The fact that the posters kept disappearing and reappearing from different locations only added to the validity of the message.

Attention Slytherins

For their eyes only

Secret Quidditch announcement

In an attempt to better our team, and ensure Slytherin's victory in the Quidditch cup this year, Slytherin is replacing certain members of the team. Some players have not been pulling their weight and so we are seeking talent to fill their place.

Keep this a secret, as we don't want the other houses finding out about our problems and using them against us. Also, not all members of the team have been made aware of the changes and it is best they are not told until it is too late for them to do anything about the decisions.

If you think you have talent and are willing to work extremely hard, then meet down at the pitch this Saturday at 7:00 am. Tell no one or you won't even be considered.

On Friday morning, James and Sirius felt that Snivellus had been bombarded with their message enough. They removed all their posters, burning them in the Gryffindor fireplace to ensure they didn't fall into the wrong hands. Then, all they had left to do was wait.

Peter was a little worried that Snape wouldn't be enticed by tryouts and the chance to be on the Slytherin team. After all, the greasy haired boy hadn't really expressed any interest in playing Quidditch. James, however, assured the mousy boy that Snape would go for it, that he had a strong desire to play on the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Plus," James added at dinner on Friday, "Snivellus is on the outside looking in with the Slytherins. Anything he can do to get even a toe on the inside would be hard to pass up. Possibly getting on the Quidditch team, the ultimate in-crowd, will be like catnip to him," Peter was still a little unsure about it all, but allowed James' confidence to become his own. He enjoyed his Friday night, ignoring the little voice of doubt in the back of his mind.

The quartet woke early on Saturday. They'd told Snape to be at the Quidditch pitch at 7:00 am and had a few last minute pieces of their prank puzzles to put into place before Snape got there. First, they needed to spread a rumour for people to head down to the pitch to enjoy Snape's humiliation. A poster tacked to the Gryffindor common room notice board and a sly comment to the resident Hogwarts busybody was enough to do the trick.

Second, they snuck down to the pitch, into the broom storage room. Then, once they were done those two steps, Peter, Remus, James, and Sirius took a place in the stands to wait. Slowly, they began to fill with people and their curious chatter. Peter felt the anticipation growing.

Finally, the clock struck 7:00 in the morning. Knowing the pre-appointed time had arrived, the crowd quieted down and waited. After about three minutes, a hunched figure carefully, and slightly apprehensively, made his or her way onto the pitch. Though Peter couldn't see his face, the mousy boy was almost positive that it was Snape.

When Snape made it to the middle of the pitch, the havoc began. It started with a slow rumbling. Knowing what was coming, a self-satisfied smile crossed Peter's face. Seconds later, the question of what was making the rumbling sound was answered. From the direction of the team change rooms came a veritable stampede of brooms. The animated objects honed in on their target and attacked.

Snape was whacked by the bristles and hit by the handles. Some brooms flew under his flailing arms, lifted him a few feet into the air, the dropped him back to the earth. It wasn't a high enough fall to do any serious damage, but it would have left some bruises. Then, as a finale of sorts, a broom flew between his legs, lifted him up into the air, and flew the panicking boy around the pitch.

Those gathered in the stands laughed and cheered throughout the whole ordeal. As the broom flew Snivellus around the pitch, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter stood and bowed, acknowledging their hardwork and taking in the happy sounds of those around them.

It felt good to be back.