Regardless of the outcome of the match, Hogwarts was undoubtedly in a good mood. The weather had begun to warm, and classes suddenly seemed more enjoyable.

"You know what?" James said one morning, looking out across the grounds from the dormitory window.

"What?" Sirius said.

"We've never had a prank outside," James said.

Peter shrugged. "Well, there was the time when-"

"That time didn't count," James said. "We've never done a proper prank outside."

"You have an idea?" Remus said, glancing up from his partially done essay.

"Yeah," James nodded.

"What is it?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"I'll reveal it at breakfast," James announced. "Come on, we've got to get down there before classes start, we have twenty minutes."

"Just let me finish this section here," Remus said.

"That one isn't due until next week, you've got time," Sirius said.

"Yeah, he's right, let's go," James said.

A few minutes later they were in the Great Hall. Sirius helped himself to some eggs as he waited for James to explain his plan.

"So you guys know that game Marco Polo?" James said.

"No," Remus said, though he was grinning.

"You don't know Marco Polo?" Peter said.

"No, I know Marco Polo, but James, that's absolutely insane. There's no way-"

"He's not finished," Sirius said. "Let him explain."

"Anyway, what if we did a magical version of that in the lake?" James finished excitedly.

"Yes!" Sirius agreed. "I'm in!"

"You're forgetting that the lake is freezing," Remus said. "You'd give everyone hypothermia."

"Warming charms," James said.

"And drying charms," Sirius added.

"Those one-piece thermal swimsuit things," Peter offered.

"Where are we going to get a bunch of those from?" James said.

"Let's stick with the warming and drying charms," Sirius decided.

"We've got it all planned out," James said.

"Alright," Remus said. "I'm in."

They spent History of Magic working out the details.

"We can use a spell like we did for Operation Moving Staircase last year," Remus said. "If we put it on a few feet of flooring on the way into the Great Hall, everyone would be caught and forced to play."

"And we can do shield charms around the lake so that no one can get out until the game ends," Sirius suggested.

"What about the people who can't swim?" Peter asked. "Shouldn't they have a way to get out?"

"We'll put rafts in the lake, they can float around on those," Sirius said.

"There's a floating charm that we could look up," Remus said.

"Brilliant, Remus, you're in charge of that. How long is the game going to last?"

"An hour," James said. "That's reasonable, right?"

"And it'll get us out of History of Magic," Sirius nodded.

"We should do it on a weekend-" Remus began.

"No, we're doing it on a normal day," Sirius said determinedly.

"Actually-"

"No arguing, Moony. We can spare History of Magic."

They spent between classes discussing the plan. By dinner, a number of people had noticed that the Marauders were plotting something, and the formerly carefree atmosphere became somewhat speculative, though it retained most of its cheerfulness.

After dinner had finished, Remus made his way to the library to look for a floating charm, as well as a few other enchantments that would prove useful for the prank.

The others headed to the dorm and got a start on the homework they had been assigned, without much success.

"Why twelve inches?" Sirius moaned.

"I don't know, but it's better than two rolls, I don't know what Flitwick was thinking…" James said.

"On engorgement charms? That'll be easy," Sirius said. "Just write really big and say it was the effect of the charm."

"Good idea, don't let me forget that."

"Alright."

There was a lull in conversation until James said, "You know what? This is impossible to do without food. I'm going to the kitchens."

"Me too," Sirius volunteered.

"And me," Peter said quickly.

"Brilliant. Let's go," James said.

They slipped out of the dormitory leaving the essays abandoned.

Twenty minutes later they returned, arms laden with bakery and other goods.

"The biscuits are mine, don't even think about eating them," Sirius said.

"Wasn't planning on it," James assured him.

"So back to that essay. What was the incantation for an engorgement charm?" Sirius asked.

"You know what this food would be good for?" James said wisely, "A game of Wizards Chess."

"Peter, grab the board, James is right," Sirius instructed, but Peter was already on it.

"Oi, Sirius," James said. "Bet I can beat you in a game."

Sirius grinned. "You're on."

When Remus returned later with a stack of books under his arm, he found Sirius with hair turned bubblegum pink, James with green eyebrows, and Peter, who was holding both of the boys wands. Sirius and James were both glaring at each other as James instructed one of his pieces to move.

"It got intense," Peter explained.

Remus simply nodded.

Needless to say, it was not a productive night.

They made up for their loss of work in full the next morning. Breakfast and History of Magic were spent writing rushed papers, including one about engorgement charms.

Flitwick gave the boys an odd look when Sirius turned in his hundred word essay with letters each the size of a small apple, but said nothing.

When classes had let out, the Marauders gathered in the Common Room.

"These are the instructions for a floating charm," Remus said, showing James, Sirius, and Peter a book he had taken out of the library. "And here's the instructions for a drying charm. We'll have to be careful with that one, though. If we do it wrong we could end up drying out the lake."

"Let's not kill the Giant Squid," Sirius said appreciatively.

"I don't know," James mused. "Evans said she'd rather go out with it. Maybe if it was gone, then she'd consider-"

"She's a lost cause, mate. She didn't even check in on you when you were in the Hospital Wing," Sirius said.

"She loves me," James said surely.

"Well, point being, we aren't killing the Squid," Remus said. "I didn't find a shield charm of the scale we need, but I think we could hypothetically ask Minnie. If she doesn't know anything, I can go to Flitwick and talk with him."

"Brilliant," Sirius said. "James and Peter can start figuring out how the drying charm will work. I'll come with you to see Minnie." With that, he stood and made for the portrait hole.

"He's excited," James noted.

"He just wants to grab some more biscuits and see Minnie," Remus said. "Here, hold onto these until we get back." After passing the books to Peter, he followed.

"Alright, Peter," James said. "Let's figure this out."

Thursday morning looked as though it would start like any other day. At least, that's what the students of Hogwarts thought.

They were sorely mistaken.

James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were among the first to attempt and enter the Great Hall. Hiding smirks, they stepped onto the trick stone tiles.

Suddenly they were falling; There was blue sky above them, and a wet, cold lake below them.

The Marauders had known that they would end up in the lake. This did nothing, however, to relieve them of the shock of the freezing water.

They fell into the lake with a splash, submerging for only a moment before the floating charms took effect.

"Move, they'll be right on top of us," Sirius said, beginning to swim as far from the center of the lake as he could. "Though I wouldn't complain to James being flattened by another Hufflepuff."

"Hey," James protested as he followed. "That wasn't funny!"

More students began to fall from the sky, shrieking as they fell. Most of the shouts were unintelligible, though there were a few direct phrases.

"My books!" one girl mourned as her book bag was soaked.

"Bloody sodding idiots!" a Ravenclaw yelped.

"I can't swim!" a sixth year screeched.

Soon enough there was about half of the school treading water in the lake, soaked and thoroughly disgruntled. Included in this group was Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Slughorn, all of whom looked unhappy, with the exception of Dumbledore.

This was when the message was set to appear, framed against the clouds:

Welcome to the first ever game of Hogwarts Marco Polo, presented to you by the Marauders.

There was a chorus of shouts, which quickly quieted as the second message appeared.

Hogwarts Marco Polo is the same as the original pool game, only this one takes place in the lake here instead of a pool. For those of you who don't know how to play Marco Polo, it's simple. One person is selected as 'Marco,' who heads to the center of the lake and closes their eyes. They will shout, 'Marco,' (hence the title) and wait for the 'Polo's to respond. That's everyone who isn't 'Marco.' The 'Polo's will respond with the term, 'Polo.' (Again, hence, the name.)

A number of the students exchanged glances.

'Marco' will be one Minnie McGonagall. 'Marco,' please make your way to the center of the lake.

McGonagall did not look happy at this development.

"Go on, Minerva," Dumbledore encouraged.

McGonagall sighed.

"It'll be fun, Minnie!" Sirius called from across the water.

To much surprise, she swam to the center of the lake.

The Marauders grinned at each other.

"If that's not a relationship, I don't know what is," Sirius said proudly.

"Well, one thing's for sure, it's not as much of a delusion as we thought it was," James reasoned.

Hogwarts Marco Polo will begin…

The people around McGonagall began swimming away from him as quickly as they were able.

Now.

"Marco!" McGonagall said.

"Polo!" a few people responded.

"Marco!" McGonagall said.

The cry of "Polo!" was much louder this time.

McGonagall began swimming in the direction of the castle.

A group of Slytherins scrambled to get out of her way.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

McGonagall surged forward, scattering a cluster of Hufflepuffs. "Marco!"

"Polo!"

This time when McGonagall reached out, she managed to tag a nervous first year.

After a bit of urging, the first year made his way to the center.

"Marco?" he said timidly.

"Polo!" everyone replied.

It took a good five minutes before the first year tagged a Ravenclaw. After the Ravenclaw, there were two older Gryffindors, then none other than Dumbledore himself.

This excited everyone immensely. They all muttered among themselves in anticipation as Dumbledore closed his eyes and called, "Marco!"

"Polo!"

Dumbledore began to breaststroke towards a group of students, who immediately hurried away.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

Dumbledore lightly tapped a second year. "You're up now, Jeanne."

The girl nodded, and the game continued.

When the hour had finally passed, there had been a total of thirteen 'Marco's. Susan Adams had just finished her turn when another message was written in the sky.

Thank you for participating in Hogwarts Marco Polo. You are free to return to classes at this time.

A few people began swimming towards the shore, but Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye, "I don't think one more round would hurt."

When the boys returned to classes, they were given a number of glances, though no one spoke until McGonagall told them that they would have a detention that night.

At dinner, Dumbledore addressed what had happened.

"This morning, anyone who tried to enter the Great Hall was transported to the Black Lake for a game of Hogwarts Marco Polo. It disrupted classes for an hour of so, but," he said, "It did involve some of the better wand work I've seen in some time. Not to mention that the game itself was quite enjoyable. For this, I'd like to award the Marauders fifteen points."

Sirius grinned. "Good old Dumbledore. Actually, I think he needs a nickname."

"No, he doesn't," Remus said with a matching grin. "He shouldn't have given us those points, either."

"Don't complain," James said. "We need to get ahead, Ravenclaw is in first."

"However," Dumbledore said, "I would like to put out a reminder that swimming in the lake is against school rules. Now please, enjoy your dinner."

The clatter of forks and knives filled the hall, and Sirius set about the test of giving Dumbledore a nickname.

"There's Dumbles, or Dumbly. Or Dumbledolphin, he's actually a good swimmer," Sirius said. "Or Al. What do you guys think?"

"Dumbles," James said.

"Alright. Dumbles it is," Sirius decided.