As soon as their classes ended for the day, the marauders made their way to the grounds without bothering to change from their school robes. They walked to the end of the grounds, where the forbidden forest began. Beside, at the edge of the forest was a small wooden hut. In a small place close to the hut was a patch filled with pumpkins the size of large boulders.

James grinned at the sight.

'See, I wasn't wrong about the giant pumpkins.' Peter said.

James nodded ,'Good job, Pete. Lets go visit Hagrid first,'

'So you are going to take his permission to steal his pumpkins?'

'Don't be thick, Peter.' Sirius said ,'Ofcourse not.'

'But Hagrid's a friend.' James added.

'I cant believe I'll be helping you steal something.' Remus said unbelievingly.

James laughed, 'This is nothing. You have a lot to learn from me and Sirius.'

They made their way to the front of the hut and James knocked on the door. He could hear voices of someone singing in a not-very-good way which James suspected was Hagrid. The singing stopped as soon as he knocked on the door.

The wooden door flew open to reveal the giant of a man with wild black hair and beard. His beetle-like eyes crinkled as he spotted them.

'Ah, James-an' fellow troublemakers. Come teh see me atlast, yeh lot.'

'Well, considering you know only two of us-'

'Who says? Ofcou'se I know Lupin, and yeh professors are always talking 'bout the four troublemakers.'

'Well Hagrid.' Sirius said, 'Where are your manners? Wont you call us in?'

'ah, yes. Cm'in, you four.'

They entered the wooden hut to enter a room lit only by the flames in the fireplace at the far end of the room. There were a couple of hams hanging from the ceiling which James carefully ducked. In the corner was a massive bed with a patchwork quilt. At the other end was a huge table with huge mugs and saucers. Beside the door lay a pink umbrella and a crossbow.

James almost didn't see it, but he noticed something shaking under the table.

'What's that Hagrid?' he asked pointing under the table.

Hagrid moved over to cover the front of the table, 'Don't know wat yer talkin' 'bout.'

James glanced at Sirius, who nodded understandingly.

'Nice place,' James said looking around and walking to the back of the table.

'yes, I'd like to have one once I leave Hogwarts.' Sirius said following him.

'Stop!' Hagrid said realizing what they were about to do. 'dats not safe-'

But it was too late. James and Sirius had leaped under the table and pulled out a big wooden box from under it. James jumped back looking inside.

The box was filled with rodent-like creatures with a long snout and a coat of black, fluffy fur. They were jumping around the box, but thankfully didn't seem to want to jump out.

Just as James thought this, one of them jumped out and grabbed hold of Peter's watch. Peter shrieked and began shaking his hand wildly to get rid of it.

Hagrid hurried up and pulled the creature away and put it back in the box, covering the box with a massive sized plate, 'I told yeh teh not do it.'

'But what is that?' James asked taken aback

'It's a niffler.' Sirius said ,'I know, I've seen it before.'

'Niffer? What is a niffer?' Peter asked still not over the shock of having a rodent like creature jump at his hand.

'Niffler, Peter. They are creatures native to Britain, who usually live in burrows. Nifflers are attracted to shiny objects, so they come in handy while searching treasures but they cause a lot of havoc when let loose. So it isn't really advisable to keep them as pets.' Remus said matter-of-factly ,'Why do you have them Hagrid?'

Hagrid sighed,'I've bin tryna train them since last month. This box is sorta trained but I've got other one' inside which need a bit more…practice.'

'So they cause havoc…' James smirked.

Remus who seemed to have realized what James was thinking turned to him, 'James-'

'How do you control nifflers, Hagrid?' he asked interrupting Remus.

'Well, they can't be controlled, not exactly, but jus' summat affection in my opinion.'

James nodded. He glanced at the kettle on the fireplace and turned to Hagrid ,'Could you get us all some tea?'

'oh yes. Forgot', jus' wait a min- tea is me speciality.'

Hagrid walked to the fireplace and began making his 'special tea'.

James turned to his friends ,'Niffler.' He whispered ,'I know what to do with them. We are taking this box.'

'You heard hagrid.' Remus said ,'They cant be controlled, its dangerous.'

'We'll handle it somehow. But we are taking them. Besides, Hagrid's got more boxes of these that he can train up. And maybe, after we're done- we'll return it back too.'

'I don't like nifflers.' Peter murmured

'Don't worry, Pete. We wont let them take your watch.' Sirius said ,'How are we taking them? Im pretty sure Hagrid wont let us by himself.'

'Of course.' James grinned ,'I still have my cloak.'

Sirius beamed ,'This is gonna be fun.'

'Uh, Hagrid?' James called. ,'Can i push this box back under the table? Its making Peter panic.'

'yeah, yeh do dat.' Hagrid said

James took the box, carefully as to not make sound and gave it to Sirius, who had his hands outstretched. After placing the box properly, so it wouldn't fall, James covered it with his cloak. The box vanished out of sight, making Sirius look peculiar with his hand in that angle.

At that moment, Hagrid returned with a tray with four cups of tea. He beamed at them, 'Well, drink the tea-its best when its hot.'

James began to think. He wasn't really in a mood to drink tea. Besides, there was no way Sirius could take the tea cup.

'Yes, sure!' James jumped excitedly to take a cup from Hagrid and purpose-accidently pushed the entire tray out of Hagrid's hands.

'I am sorry!' James huffed ,'I really didn't mean to Hagrid.'

Hagrid stared at the mess on the floor and nodded ,'s'ok James. I'll just make another-'

'No it doesn't matter. I really think its time to leave.'

Remus nodded ,'Yes, Hagrid. We have really got to go.'

'well, al'right then. Come visit me again eh?'

'Sure Hagrid.'

Hagrid turned to Sirius , who seemed to be twitching continuously due to the box of nifflers in his hand,'What's wrong with yeh hands, Sirius?'

Sirius gave a brilliant smile and glanced at his hands ,'My hands?Oh haven't you heard Hagrid? It's the new style. Im pretty sure this pose has increased my charm level by a big measure.'

Hagrid frowned,'Haven' heard of yer style-'

'Yes, you look absolutely stunning, Sirius old pal.' James said interrupting Hagrid. Sirius had just given him a hard kick in the shins and pointed at the door. Ofcourse , he couldn't open it by himself, 'Let me open the door for you, goodbye Hagrid.'

Hagrid nodded in farewell as the four left his hut. However, they stopped right behind it.

'It was pretty clear that you both were acting back inside. Im surprised Hagrid didn't figure out something was wrong.' Remus said.

'Ah, Keep it in Remus, im sure it was spectacular,' James said grinning

Remus raised his eyebrows but otherwise dropped the subject. 'So how are we taking these pumpkins now?'

'Mate, these nifflers are killing me. Find out where we keep these first.' Sirius said frowning at the invisible box in his hands.

'Yeah, about that,' James said ,'First, Sirius, you go keep this in our dormitory, keep it under one of our beds and put a barrier spell so that the nifflers don't run out. Pete-you go with him. Till then we'll think about taking these pumpkins.'

While Sirius and Peter had gone, James paced around the huge pumpkins with Remus thinking how to carry the pumpkins

'We can definitely not carry it ourselves,' Remus said

'Yeah but then…we can leviate it! What say, Remus?' James said excitedly running a finger through his hair

Remus nodded ,'Yes we can. But don't you think it would look peculiar if people see giant pumpkins floating around? Because I do. Besides, the professors are sure to stop us.'

'well, we have my cloak.'

'That can cover only one of these. And James, we are not taking so many rounds.'

'There's gotta be some way…' James said when Sirius and Peter returned.

'Ideas?' Sirius asked

'Sirius, shouldn't we-' Peter began but Sirius cut him ,'Not now Pete.'

'What are you two talking about?' James asked

'We almost got caught,' Sirius said with a impish grin, 'But priorities.'

'Right. So we thought we could maybe leviate these, but Remus says it wouldn't be good if anyone saw these floating pumpkins.'

'I think that would be fun. But is that it?

'Yeah, you have something in mind?'

'ofcourse. We'll just have to follow our regular plan. One keeps the watch while others leviate it.'

'We cant keep a watch around the whole castle, Sirius.' Remus pointed

'Yeah I didn't say we would go all around the castle. Doesn't that passage from the entrance hall lead right across the fat lady's portrait?'

'And what about those inside the Gryffindor common room?'

'Well…I do have a plan in mind. I'll need your help for it, James. But first lets get this through the passage.'

James had taken up the job to keep a watch till the pumpkins were safe in the passage. He thought this would end up smoothly since no teacher had spotted him yet. However, just minutes later, he literally collided with Jose Scleig.

'Oh I AM SO SORRY PROFESSOR SCLEIG,' James shouted hoping his friends took on the message.

Scleig's hair looked disheveled. Despite looking very worked up, he smiled ,'Its quite alright, Mr Potter.'

'Professor are you not feeling well? You look really…well tired.'

Scleig waved the question away and gave a weak smile ,'I'm fine, I suppose. But you know what's happening these days-'

'What's happening these days sir?'

Scleig shook his head ,'Oh-Nothing, nothing. See you in class tomorrow Mr. Potter.'

Scleig walked away weakly. James frowned. He knew a lie when he heard it. He wondered what actually was happening these days when his friends came around the corridor.

'What are you waiting for Jamie-boy?' Sirius asked

James shuddered, 'Uh, nothing. Lets go. And do tell me about your plan, Sirius. We're almost near the passageway.'

'Oh yes,' Sirius said smirking ,'You will have a…interesting role to play in after all.'

Minutes later, James was cursing his best friend as Remus put a long dark green robe over him. Peter was trying to get hold of James' extremely untidy hair into a bun.

'You still need to get a bit taller,' Remus said

'Yes, but I don't think it will matter. For one no one's going to notice that when I'm lying down. Besides its just a matter of time.'

Peter wheezed happily having succeeded in getting James' hair into a bun.

James shook his head ,'There's no doubt I still look amazing, but…why me?'

'Cause you're the tallest one among us,' Remus grinned, 'Now the glasses.' He took out his wand and pointed it at James' glasses. With a spell, the round glasses turned square.

'So this is it?' James asked

'I'm afraid no.' Remus said amused ,'Your hair gives it away. Besides the face needs some work too. I think we should follow Sirius' idea itself and use some spells,'

'Oh no-' James cursed ,'By all means, go on. I'm willing to do this for our prank'

Remus laughed, 'Typical.'

Meanwhile, Sirius was running to the Gryffindor common room. He stopped outside the portrait hall and grinned ,'Merlin, this is going to be fun- Patrioca,' Sirius said to the fat lady, who nodded and opened into the Gryffindor common room. He sprinted inside rapidly with a panicked face ,'My fellow Gryffindors!' he screamed dramatically

Many of the students jumped up. Some fell off the chairs while some stared at him. Billie Jordan came forward ,'What's up, Sirius?'

'Oh what can I say? Its terrible. I bring terrible-terrible news!'

'What?'

Sirius turned to all the Gryffindors ,'Professor McGonagall has fallen!'

The girls shrieked. Frank Longbottom walked up to Sirius

'What are you saying?'

'Professor McGonagall!' Sirius repeated ,'I was talking to her when all of a sudden she fainted-she just fell! Oh Merlin, ' Sirius buried his face in his hands

'We should go see.' Billie said firmly ,'First only me and-'

'No!' said a fifth year guy ,'Jordan, we need to see McGonagall too. We all have got to go.'

Billie turned to Sirius , 'Honestly Sirius, if this is a prank-'

Sirius screeched ,'You think I would joke about this? Fine, don't listen to me. But im going!'

Sirius marched out of the portrait hole dramatically. Naturally, as he'd anticipated, everyone in the common room followed him. He chuckled , 'I hope you are ready, James,' he whispered to himself.

After letting James lie down in his disguised look in the great hall, Remus and Peter left to take care of the pumpkins.

James still thought his wasn't actually needed. So what if the Gryffindors saw the pumpkins? They would most probably mind their own business. But he had to admit- this would definitely be fun.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, he closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious. He felt someone fall to their knees in front of his face. He didn't need to open his eyes to know who.

'Oh Professor Minnie, please open you beautiful eyes!' Sirius cried.

Following him were many more footsteps. James could hear the hushed whispers of the Gryffindors-Merlin, they had actually fallen for this! Well, they obviously would. How could anyone ever not fall for the marauders' pranks?

'Let me see,' said Billie

Sirius snapped his fingers on James' hand, which meant this was it.

Grinning, James suddenly sat up, fluttering his eyes open.

James burst out laughing immediately. He would never forget the expressions on his fellow Gryffindors faces. Four of five higher year students who had been leaning forward to see James' head (McGonagall's head?') had jumped up so bad that they fell on the floor. The others, had all screamed. Some girls grabbed for their friends' hands.

'James!' Billie said angrily

'Merlin's Pants!' James snorted ,'This was fun.'

He turned to Sirius who was doubled up laughing, occasionally slapping James with his uncontrollable laughter

Billie turned to Sirius with a death glare, 'Sirius Black! I told you-'

'Oh Billie! ' Sirius said finally having stopped laughing ,'You sound just like old McGonagall now.'

Billie's nostrils flared. Arthur Weasley, a sixth year prefect edged closer to James and Sirius ,'You might want to run away while you can.'

Later, James realized how right Weasley was. Billie started on an everlasting speech backed with a tirade of insults. She began from the first day at Hogwarts and how, since then, they had never got over their antics and had continuously been breaking numerous rules and losing their points.

'I didn't expect this.' James muttered

'Yeah. What do you say? Dungbombs can help us right now. Shall we?' Sirius muttered back

'If it was someone else, maybe. But Billie's a good sort and I think we actually terrified here. But there's that tunnel right behind her.'

'Tunnel it is.'

Ignoring the head girl's lecture, the two black haired boys sprinted to the tunnel and within seconds, disappeared from the group of annoyed Gryffindors.