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Hellooooo, lovely readers! There was a horrible storm that hit TO and Southern Ontario yesterday, which toppled multiple trees, so I couldn't update yesterday, due to the power outage. But here it is!

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"Why are you walking away? Was it something I did? Did I make a mistake, cause I'm trying to deal with the pain, I don't understand this, it this how it is?" ~A Trophy Father's Trophy Son (Sleeping With Sirens)

Chapter 25

"Lovers' attack special."

"Check."

"Leviating lollipops."

"Check."

"Fragrant flatulators."

"Check." After a couple seconds pause, a gleeful snicker sounded out.

"Sirius, did you put our newest invention in the dungeon?"

"It's possible."

"Even when we haven't tested them out a third time?"

"Well, it's a perfect opportunity to test them out here and now, since we're given such a wonderful chance." Sirius smirked, as James rolled his eyes and continued scanning down his list.

"We armed the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff corridors as well, right?" James muttered, glancing sideways at Sirius, who nodded and stretched out on the plush couch. He rubbed his cheek against the soft material.

"Yes, yes, we did."

James got up, and paced back and fro, "Remus is setting up the dungbombs on all the staircases, right?" He asked, and Sirius glared at him suspiciously.

"Why are you so nervous? Chill off, mate. And yes, I saw him with Evergreen. I think he might've told her a part of the plan, but since he's getting the job done, why not let him enjoy the company of that marvelous redhead."

"Why not?" James agreed absentmindedly, and went over his list two more time. He then scrambled and shoved it under the loveseat he was seated ago a few minutes before, and headed out the door. "Come on, mate, we gotta cast the charm together, and Remus needs to activate the dungbombs."

Sirius grumbled into his pillow, embracing the last feeling of warmth, and throwing away his long and everlasting thoughts of Hermione White aside, as he headed after his friend.

For some reason, that girl drew him crazy. He would never get angry at her, although he pretended to be. In truth, he was never angry at her, and if he was, it would be because she wasn't officially his. He never had trouble with girls, and now he was having the most simplistically annoying conflict, which completely messed him up. He became even more lazy, sarcastic, and significantly grumbly than he was before.

When the two boys jumped down the final steps of the Grand Staircase, they walked towards the great oak doors leading to the Great Hall. Through the small crack between the two doors, they saw food and drink being lobbed and projectile thrown into different people or general areas. Both boys gapped and exclaimed simultaneously.

"Not fair!" Sirius whined, and hit his head against the door, "Why did we miss the only food fight we've seen in the last two years?" He groaned, as James smacked him on the head.

"We should've stayed a little longer."

Just as Sirius was going to cuss and express himself very creatively in a matter of cussing, James pushed him out of the way, as the first people, laughing and picking food off of themselves headed towards the doors.

"Let's go!" He pulled him back, and the two of them took their spots in front of the staircase. At the same time, Ginny and Remus ran out of the dungeons, and nodded eagerly, giving a thumbs up and then high fiving each other.

James hummed some muggle tune and glanced at his watch, a courtesy of his respect for muggle utilities. 7:59. Immediately, he turned to Sirius, winked and cast sonorus with his wand.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, you will be the blessed witnesses of the Marauders' official Halloween prank. We are sure that nobody has a chance of being severely injured, but minor injuries may be possible. Do not fear, for we have a lovely and devoted nurse, who will stop at nothing to mend you up." James said in a formal talk-show voice.

"Which may include tying you up in bed for a month." Sirius pulled James' wand over to himself, so that his voice was too projected to everyone surrounding them.

"But not to worry, we all know she is a wonderful person." James grinned, and continued, "Now just a few rules. You will be immune to the dungbombs set up at various locations, only if you eat one of our specially prepared candies. The dungbombs are placed all over the school in various locations, so they may come off without warning."

"When eating the candies, you become immune to the stink, and disgusting effects and stains of the bombs, so you have a good five minutes to take a leap of faith and sprint to your Common Room out of harm's way." Sirius smirked, "Be prepared for the event of your lives!"

James muttered the counter-spell and they two of them awaited for the crowd to pour out of the Great Hall. Just as the first person, a second year Hufflepuff, exited into the halls, the suits of armour exploded, and out cascaded a rainbow waterfall of various coloured candies, toffees, and other sweets in colourful wrappers, containing unknown side-effects.

Everyone seemed surprised by the amount of sweets flying in every direction, bouncing down the stairs, creating a rainbow of colours both in the air and in the floor. But the greater tension was deciding what to choose for the rite of passage. Everyone knew that the Marauders weren't stupid. In fact, they were somewhere on the level of genius for all their pranks, spell work and potions. They were funny, charming, and at the tops of their classes. They were admired, but feared at the same time. They could have the power to make an enormous change or overthrow the world.

Sirius' bad mood immediately disappeared, as he saw a Slytherin prefect scowl and strut towards the staircase leading to the dungeons, when all of the sudden, half a dozen dungbombs appeared and dropped down right in front of her, emitting a nauseating smell, and disgusting pieces splattered all over the place, making wizards in the pictures evacuate their frames.

He watched with amusement, as a Gryffindor first year heroically popped a candy in his mouth. No wonder he was a Gryffindor. After a mere five seconds, he suddenly lifted off the ground, and as swiftly and elegantly as possible, he floated into the air.

"Woah! Guys, look! I'm flying!" He exclaimed, waving his arms, and looking around at his gapping friend.

"Bon voyage, mon ami!" James saluted him from the staircase, at the first year waved back excitedly, as a wind current swept him up and carried him in the direction of the Gryffindor Common room.

Slowly, everyone was deducting that there would be no way to return to their dormitories without trying the Marauders' inventions, so each tried a single sweet, which resulted in students running around at an incredibly fast speed, farting continuously, sweating a river, turning a different colour, or growing an extra or mutilated body part.

He looked around the room to see Lily screeching at James, who was explaining to her how much skill and preparation in took him to make this prank happen. She yelled something back on the basis of 'you could've taken another round of prefect duty' and 'you could've helped me brainstorm ideas for the ball'!

Luna also tried one, as she suddenly grew large Pegasus wings and flew up into the air happily, as Severus stood near her, his eyes widening both in confusion and exasperation. "Poor bloke." Sirius sighed, shaking his head somberly. "They're meant for each other." He deducted in his mind, as he continued scanning the room for victims of the prank.

Still not completely over Hermione White's harsh words, all he could do was smirk meanly when he saw her standing, with a shocked expression near the entrance of the Great Hall. Without meaning it, or without intentionally opening his mouth, he shouted over to her, "Alright, White?"

She looked around, looking for the source of the voice, and when she finally noticed who it was, her face turned stony. "I'm decent." She shouted back with the same amount of anger.

"How d'you like the little surprise?"

"Very unexpected." She replied dryly, as he strolled over, and tried to stare her down, but she wouldn't give in.

"That's the definition of surprise, love."

"I am aware; my vocabulary isn't the length of a first year potion textbook, unlike some of ours. Don't call me love, by the way." She snapped at him, while looking away.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. Feisty. Let's see what she gets here. "You're too chicken to try one, aren't you?"

"At this moment, I'm thinking somewhere along the lines that I do not want to end up in the Hospital Wing, getting lectured by Madam Pomfrey about playing Quidditch and being in danger of harm and mortal peril." Hermione drawled and rolled her eyes. "I'd rather skip."

"You're not a Gryffindor then. Maybe you should've been put into Slytherin, since you clearly don't belong." Sirius narrowed his eyes. He knew he was playing with fire, but he liked it, and didn't care whether he would get burned or not. Hermione was explosive and took huge risks, but Sirius Black liked his girls fiery.

Hermione had fire in her eyes. They were burning with hatred and annoyance at the boy standing and smirking at her so pathetically. "Bite me." She growled through her teeth, and walked over to a huge pile of candy, and picked in a tinted wrapper. She walked over to Sirius and pointedly waved it in his face.

"Good job, sweetheart." He smirked at her, earning a smack. He grit his teeth, but stood and didn't react.

She unwrapped it slowly and carefully, being the perfectionist that she always was. Sirius rolled his eyes and peered to see what treat she picked up, but she wasn't revealing it to him.

"Two can play this game." Hermione smirked, and, covering the candy, popped it in her mouth. Sirius stomped his foot like a child who didn't receive his toy.

Goddamn this girl. Some potions had disastrous effects, which needed to be avoided at all costs, while other had no effect, and even leered in any surrounding people. It was a smart game White was playing.

She stood around for a good five seconds, looking around and chewing, and then she finally swallowed, but the spiked sweet did not have an effect on her. Then, suddenly, her eyes closed, and she opened them, looking completely lost and dazed. Sirius knew the effects of this potion, and just as he opened his mouth to call her name, someone beat him to it.

"Hermione!"

Immediately, she spun around, and Sirius smacked himself. The effects of one of their newest instantly kicked in. Murphy's law. Bloody hell. Sirius thought, as anguish crossed his face, as he glared at incoming Logan Bell. This ought to be bloody great.

"Logan!" She exclaimed. Logan came closer to her, but stopped a few metres away to look at her suspiciously.

"Hermione, are you okay?" He asked, slowly studying her facial expression. Logan seemed pretty freaked out, because Hermione was staring at him lovingly, her cheeks were all red, and her eyes were gleaming with adoration.

"Yes!" She giggled girlishly, very much unlike she usually laughed. "I'm more than fine, actually, since you're here with me." She spun around and giggled, while cautiously approaching Logan from the side, who took the initiative to back away.

He studied her carefully, until he realized that she was holding a wrapper in one of her hands. "Hermione, did you eat something?" He asked seriously, as she shimmied towards him, putting her arms around his middle.

"I might've." She remarked thoughtfully. "But I can't remember now. Actually, I can't remember anything. I think it's just a side effect of you being with me. You're such a great influence. Plus, I think that we would be amazing together. Like you're so loving, and caring, and so cute too!"

Logan took a moment to blush a little, but rolled his eyes, until he suddenly caught view of Sirius. "Did you make her eat a candy?" he demanded.

"Enjoy it while you can, mate." Sirius drawled and leaned on the wall. "But yeah, she did eat one of them."

"What are the side effects?"

Sirius guffawed, and shook his head, "Well, as you can see, she's mildly obsessed with you, enjoys your presence, can't get anywhere away from you. Now deduct from that, what do you think she just ate?"

"Don't tell me you spiked it with a love potion." Logan asked cautiously. When Sirius shrugged, Logan's eyes nearly popped out. "Really, Black? Aren't love potions banned?"

"Not by the school policy." Sirius replied dryly.

Again, Logan grimaced, and glanced at the girl who was hanging on his arm at that moment. "How long until it wears off?" he asked firmly.

The Marauder considered thoughtfully, as he tried to remember what the results were, "The potion was meant to have her chronically obsessed with the first male she saw, and for it to go away, you have to kiss her." He stroked his chin and remarked bitterly.

The blond Quidditch player stared at him, with a mildly horrified expression on his face, "I hope you're kidding."

"For once, I'm actually not." Sirius shot back, glaring angrily.

"Hey, no need to get angry, I wasn't the one who asked for this mess." Logan growled back, as Hermione started playing with his hair. He swatted her hand away playfully, throwing her a grin, which made her melt into a puddle of giggles.

"Well, stop flirting with her then!" Sirius crossed his arms over his chest, and tapped his foot on the ground.

"You can barely call this flirting!" Logan exclaimed exasperatedly, while nodding towards her. "She's not even in the right mind, and you refer to it as flirting? I doubt she'll remember a thing. The amount of potion you must've spiked in that candy had to be more an enough." He noted, as Sirius shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes.

"Well, come on. Give her it and get it over with." The Marauder harrumphed, flicking his gorgeous hair out of the way.

"You're saying this as if I'm committing murder." Logan shook his head, smirking.

"Are you meaning that you like it when semi-conscious girls hang off of your shoulders?" Sirius remarked disgustedly.

"Well you certainly do." Logan shot back, glancing over at Cassie McKiddie whose shrieking voice was suddenly replaced with the sound of chicken squawking. "How many times have you gotten her sloshed, and brought into the dormitories?" He glared coldly, his blue eyes locking with Sirius' grey ones. "Yeah, that's what I thought." He remarked, after the Marauder gave him no answer.

Deciding whether or not to kill the sixth year on the spot, or to wring his neck, Sirius huffed and walked away. "Ponce." He muttered under his breath, although somewhere deep inside he knew that Logan had been partially, if not completely right.

"Logan, why are you so sad?" Hermione hung off of his, as she stuck out her bottom lip, making puppy-dog eyes at him.

"I dunno, I think I was a little harsh on Sirius." He said thoughtfully, not even realizing to whom he was speaking. "I'm not usually a mean guy, but this time it just sort of came out." He shook his head and exhaled.

"Well, we don't need Sirius do we?" She giggled, as Logan grabbed her wrists, and spun her to face him.

"Listen, Hermione." He said straightforwardly. "This isn't real. You're not in love with me, and we aren't having a secret type of relationship, or anything on the basis."

She opened her mouth to protest, "But—"

Logan pointed at her sternly. "Let me finish." He raised his eyebrows. "Weren't you taught that it's rude to interrupt others when they're in the middle of saying something?" He looked into her eyes, as she twirled a strand of hair between her fingers.

"Yes, but who follows that rules?" She exclaimed, flipping her hands in the air, "I don't and we don't have to, if we wanna be together forever." Hermione winked at Logan, who rolled his eyes.

"I think you're kind of missing my drift." He stated firmly. "You don't remember anything. You were sort of brainwashed, because you were either dared of provoked by Sirius to eat a candy, which relates to their prank." Hermione gasped dramatically, as Logan rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yes, shocking, I know. Now you fell in this obsession trance with the first person you saw. Me."

"You?" Her eyes widened and filled with mirth.

"Yes, me. And the only way to get you out of this trance is to kiss you." He looked around awkwardly, and smiled sheepishly. "So, can I—er kiss you?" He asked, an embarrassed look crossing his face.

"Yes, of course!" She smiled, like a new porcelain doll, but Logan knew it was fake. He sighed heartedly, and leaned down and pecked her on the lips in a very civilized manner. Then he drew back and examined her face.

Hermione was slowly coming to realize what had just happened. Her eyes widened even more than they already were, which threatened the chance that her eyes were going to pop out of her sockets, and her loopy, foolish smile disappeared. She stared right at Logan, and her facial expression suddenly turned to horrified.

"Logan?" She whispered, almost trembling.

"Yes?"

"What just happened?" She asked, looking around her, noticing the awkward looks and deformations on people.

"Long story short, and short story even shorter, the prank the Marauders played involved different candy being scattered, and you ate one, spiked with love potion. It caused you to obsess over the first person you saw, and they had to kiss you to get it over with."

Hermione blinked in realization. "And you were that person."

"Yeah…" Logan muttered embarrassedly, his cheeks turning pink.

"Well thank you," Hermione finally realized what happened and what might've happened. "Actually, thank you very much!" She exclaimed and threw her arms around his shoulders.

Logan's eyes narrowed in confusion as she patted her on the back. "Er—no problem. What for is the 'thank you'?"

Hermione took a step back, and looked at everyone around her, almost in a different light. "Merlin, can you believe what would've happened if I was accidentally spotted by some Slytherin, or if I fell in love with one of them? No one knows what would happen to me!" she exclaimed, and whispered with a grin, "And frankly,I'd rather be killed by a crumbling tower, than in the dungeons."

Logan chortled and nearly doubled over, nodding in agreement. "I don't doubt it. I don't think anyone would fancy a late night killing spree in the Slytherin common room.

The two of them laughed heartily until Hermione felt someone glaring at them from afar. Up on the staircase, she saw a tall, muscular someone, with very nice hair and dashing silvery eyes disappear behind a tapestry.

"What's up with him?" She inquired, looking questionably at Sirius.

"We had sort of a row. He really fancies you." Logan remarked, with a small smile, but Hermione shook her head.

"He's so annoying. Are you up for a bit of Quidditch?"

"Quidditch?" Logan remarked confusedly, although his eyes glistered with a significant amount of interest.

"Yeah, late night Quidditch?" Hermione grinned at him. "Since Sirius is probably going to drag some girl in, James and Lily are going to be arguing and nobody's going to be physically able to fall asleep."

"You are aware that we have classes tomorrow?" Logan raised his eyebrows.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Oh come on. Don't tell me that you're not interested in a little bit of fun. I know you; you're always up for an adventure. Don't deny it." She laughed, looking at him sincerely, until he grinned and gave in.

"Alright, I guess you have a point." The two of them headed down to the pitch, retrieving their brooms from the shed, but were a bit surprised to see that two others were already flying around the pitch.

Hermione squinted and widened her eyes when she realized who it was. "Ginny! Remus!" She shouted. At first, the pair didn't hear. Ginny continued mercilessly shooting quaffles at Remus, who was a decent keeper, but with Ginny's hard shots, he was failing miserably. After another shout at them, they finally turned around and zoomed to the ground.

"Hey you guys!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, with a mix of happiness and confusion added on to her voice. "What are you two doing here?"

"I don't know, probably the same thing as you two?" Hermione asked sarcastically, watching Logan and Remus smile at each other warmly, and shake hands. "Do you want to play two on two? Put Remus here out of his misery?" she grinned, as Remus explained.

"Oh, it wasn't all that bad. She's just a really good chaser."

"And you're a decent keeper." Ginny grinned at him, as he laughed contently and shook his head, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"No, Ginny, you know that's a lie. In fact, I'm a terrible keeper, and I wouldn't mind playing chaser for once. So I agree to this proposal." He raised his hand up, and looked around.

"I don't mind." Logan agreed, and in the end, they played an hour or two worth of Quidditch, but it was definitely worth it. It was much more interesting than the school practices when James bossed everyone around and wanted everything to work his way.

After a while, Ginny and Remus left, and just as Logan was about to take a shot at her, Hermione saw them get closer together and hold hands. She watched them out of the corner of her eye, not that she wanted to be creepy. But after a while of hushed conversation, she saw the silhouettes of the two mould – they were finally together.

She grinned, and missed her name being called out, which resulted in her getting hit in the face with the Quaffle.

~OoOoO~

"Are you sure you're okay?" Logan interrogated her, as they quietly walked down the halls. His face had an expression of pity, sadness and definite guilt growing out.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Hermione assured him, but it didn't seem to work.

"No you're not, you just got a quaffle to the face!" He whispered in a hushed tone, but Hermione shook her head.

"I swear, it doesn't hurt. If anything, I'll cover it up tomorrow morning. Don't worry." She patted Logan on the back, as they made their way up the stairs.

"I can't believe I hurt you." She heard him mumble. Hermione rolled her eyes and spun around.

"Logan, stop talking. It's okay. Honestly, I've experienced worse. Just don't worry. Let's talk about something else." She suggested, nodding her head, as the exasperated boy sighed beside her.

"Alright, what do you want to talk about?" He asked, his voice still filled with worry, but he minimized it to a minimum, although it was still evident to Hermione. She sighed and tried to think of a conversation starter.

"How about, what's your favourite colour?" She asked him, as he considered for a moment and after five seconds answered.

"Blue." He remarked, as Hermione nodded her head slowly. "Are you sure you're—"

Hermione cut him off, "Yes, I'm fine. Ask me a question." She directed him sternly, as he mock-bowed to her, and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Umm, alright, if you had a child, what would you name him or her?" He asked her, as Hermione raised her eyebrows in an amazed way.

"Taking a dive into the deep end, are we?" She laughed quietly, as they reached the common room, and mumbled the password. The two of them walked in and she considered, "I think a significant name – something after a hero from a book, or something Greek Mythological-based." Then, she stated in wonder, "I didn't even think about it a lot yet. What about you?"

Logan considered, then said thoughtfully, "I think I'd call my child Katie. It sounds good, you know? Katie Bell. It's just an available option." He smiled at her, as she grinned back. Only then did they notice Remus and Ginny cuddled on the couch. Hermione inwardly grinned. So Ginny and Remus were meant to be together.

With one last fleeing smile, Logan and Hermione separated and parted ways at the staircases leading to the different dormitories.

~OoOoO~

The next morning, Hermione was so upset to find out that dreadful James Potter reserved practice for the Gryffindor team at six thirty in the morning! Morning practices were always the worst type of murder method anyone could ever think of.

After barely crawling out of bed, and waking up Ginny, who probably came in the middle of the night, the two headed down to the pitch with knocked-dead expressions on their faces. When Ginny saw Remus, she smiled in a way, which could start just a little bit of suspicious. Hermione locked eye contact with Logan, as the two watched Ginny and Remus' minimal un-platonic exchanges.

The rest of the Marauders were bound to find out at some time, but it seemed like Remus wanted to avoid any conflicts or any gossip at that moment. The girls had enough time later that night to gossip about the newly developed relationship between Ginny Evergreen and Remus Lupin. Even Lily agreed that the two made a very cute couple.

Sirius didn't look at Hermione the whole day. In fact, he didn't look at her for weeks. Once or twice he tried to approach her, but coincidentally at the same moment, she bumped into Logan Bell and they started intently discussing Charms. Sirius was extremely jealous of the sixth year. He didn't even know how to express his anger, because by that time he wasn't even in the mood to flirt with other girls.

Events for James and Remus passed along chaotically as well – James was asked out by Jessica Lowsley, a member of the dreadfully unforgivable Ravenclaw trio.

Lowsley, just as indicated in her name, was a very… free spirit. It seemed like she already went out with more than half of Hogwarts' male population, just by flicking her sleek black hair, containing pink streaks, and flashing her brown eyes at every passerby. But James, being the man of his word kindly declined her offer, which left the girl in tears, as she escaped to the Ravenclaw common room, leaving a beaming Lily and an amused Marauder.

As for that, the friendship between Lily and James developed even more and more. It seemed that working on the project of the ball improved their friendship. Remus and Ginny's relationship evolved as well, from a small sprout, to a beautiful plant: they were the cutest couple ever to be seen in Hogwarts' history, and they were blooming in each others' presence. Remus also got asked out in Charms class by the second third of the Ravenclaw trio – Sam Williamson.

She tried to seduce him in Charms, but he firmly refused, stating that he was already taken, which spilled his and Ginny's secret, but neither of them complained about it.

Everything was going great – the ball was coming up soon, and everybody was getting ready. Ginny, Luna, Lily and Hermione were planning to go to Hogsmeade a couple days before the ball. They happily discussed their expectations, but Lily swore that she wouldn't spill any secrets or information.

The ball was specifically for fourth years and over, which meant that every single girl had already chosen her dress, shoes, and hairdo, when the four Gryffindor girls didn't have anything. Lily and Hermione called the method 'disinterest in shopping', while the other two called it simply, 'procrastination'. There was a reason that they were Gryffindors.

Little did they know that behind their backs a small group of people was planning something wicked for the date of the ball. And wicked in a bad way. Their plan was strategic, which contradicted their usual behaviour. But the worst part – the group wasn't even from Slytherin house, and only Slytherins went against Gryffindors.

Thanks for reading!

I write without a beta or an editor, so this is all completely mine, and I love when people give suggestions, and correct me in some parts! I strive to make this story as great as possible with your imputed help!

So leave a review to help me how I did, and inspire me for future voyages with Sirius, Hermione, Remus, Ginny, James, Lily, Luna, Severus and all the rest! Thank you once again! You're amazing!xxxx

GirlxMarauder