Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter or Harry Potter related copyrights

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter or Harry Potter related copyrights.

Although they had hardly gotten any sleep for the past three nights because they were up late planning and setting up pranks, on the morning of April first, all four Marauders were up an hour before breakfast started. As much as they tried to hide their excitement, anyone who entered the Gryffindor common room that morning, hoping to get down to breakfast before the Marauders and thus escape unscathed, couldn't help but notice and cringe at the giddy grins on their housemates' faces.

After they had intimidated enough of their housemates, the four boys headed down to the Great Hall for the start of breakfast. Outside of the doors all of the early-bird students were milling around at the entrance waiting for an innocent first year to walk by so they could push him through the doorway to see what would happen to him. Then they would decide it if was worth it to eat breakfast, or just resign themselves to the fact that they wouldn't be eating that day. When they saw the Marauders they all instinctively stopped talking and started looking for an alcove to hide in.

"Good morning fellow Hogwarts students," boomed Sirius joyfully.

"And what a wonderful morning it is," added James.

"Does anyone know what morning this is?" asked Peter.

"Why it's April Fool's Day!" stated Remus.

"Say Sirius, do you know how I like to start off April Fool's Day?" asked James loudly.

"No, James, I don't," said Sirius with obvious sarcasm.

"With a hearty breakfast prepared by our good friends and accomplices the House Elves," answered James.

"Well let's go in then, shall we?" said Sirius as he and the other Marauders crossed the threshold into the Great Hall.

As they entered the room there were four enormous lion roars that echoed throughout the Great Hall and the surrounding corridors.

"It worked!" said Peter gleefully as the boys took their seats at the far end of the Gryffindor table so they could survey their hard work.

Still wary of what would happen, the students didn't enter the Great Hall very quickly; they all just hovered around the doors. Then someone pushed a Hufflepuff into the room to see what would happen.

As the Hufflepuff entered the room a brief shower of sprinkles fell from the ceiling. The Hufflepuff smiled in relief as he saw the light coating of colored confections covering the floor, tables, and breakfast foods.

"I'm okay!" he shouted as he turned around to his audience in the doorway.

The Hogwarts students cheered and then rushed through the doors towards breakfast. As each Hufflepuff passed underneath the large stone archway more sprinkles fell from the sky. For each Ravenclaw feathers drifted down, and when the Slytherins entered the Great Hall cold oatmeal rained down. The Marauders had certainly matured and refraining from targeting Slytherins only, but some prejudices just don't die.

Within a half hour the entire Great Hall was glaring at the Slytherins because the oatmeal didn't just fall on Slytherins, it coated everyone; feathers and sprinkles they could handle, and even that roar wasn't so bad when you got used to it, but cold oatmeal was just disgusting.

About an hour into breakfast, Lily, Marlene and Alice showed up for breakfast, along with every Gryffindor that hadn't yet entered the Great Hall. As would be expected the roar that ensued when they crossed the threshold was nearly deafening.

"Interesting prank," noted Lily as she sat down next to James and kissed him good morning.

"Why thank you," answered James. "There is much more to come I assure you."

"How thrilling," muttered Marlene darkly as she plunked herself down between Sirius and James.

"Morning love," Sirius greeted his girlfriend with a smile. He and everyone else knew that Marlene was a night owl and definitely not a morning person.

"Oh shut up," she grumbled in an endearing fashion.

"So is there any reason why most of Gryffindor House has joined us for breakfast?" asked Remus as he looked up from the Daily Prophet to see that a third of their house was occupying a very small space directly around the Marauders and their female friends.

"They think that since Lily is dating James and Marlene is dating Sirius and I'm their best friend we won't be pranked by you guys and that if they stay close enough to us that they won't get pranked either," explained Alice as she dug into the scrambled eggs.

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you," said Peter.

Many forks with eggs on them froze in midair at that statement.

"That's exactly what Alice was talking about. We have an entourage because they think we have insider information," said Lily as if the large group wasn't within earshot.

"It's bloody annoying if you ask me," said Marlene loudly.

Sensing one of Marlene's violent morning outbursts approaching Alice addressed the crowd, "We don't know any more than…"

She was cut off by a shower of cold oatmeal.

Lily wiped her face off and said, "See we're just as at risk as you are. We don't have special protective charms or advance notice of nasty things like cold oatmeal falling from the sky. So please just give us some space."

Many were still doubtful and didn't move, so Marlene shouted angrily, "That means move you lot!"

That got them moving, but many didn't stray too far away, just in case the girls did know something and might let that information slip.

"So… sprinkles?" asked Lily finally. The seventh year Gryffindors were having trouble starting normal conversations with so many people listening in.

"Yup," said James and Sirius in unison.

"And feathers," said Alice in disgust as she pulled one out of her juice.

"Has McGonagall handed out detentions to you guys yet?" asked Marlene, who was slowly becoming her normal perky self.

"She doesn't have any proof it was us," said Peter.

"I think everyone here knows it was you guys," said Lily.

"But no one can prove it was us," James pointed out. "And where would we all be if teachers could just hand out detentions based on beliefs and assumptions?"

"Well, Lily, Alice and I would still be here but I think you four would be bums on the streets of London because you were expelled and your parents disowned you," said Marlene, who didn't notice the slight stiffening of her boyfriend at the part about being disowned.

"We wouldn't be bums," said James, who had noticed his best friend's subtle discomfort. "We could just hide in some remote part of my house and my parents would never know."

"So what's everyone doing for the Spring holiday?" asked Remus.

"I'm off to Paris with my parents and brother," said Marlene.

"My family and I are visiting relatives in Surrey," said Alice.

"I'm stuck at home with my gram while my parents go on a cruise in the Mediterranean," said Peter glumly.

"For the first week Prongs and I are hanging at his house and then we'll meet up with Remus and we'll all be off to the Potter manor in Italy for the second week," said Sirius gleefully.

"You're welcome to come too Peter," said James kindly.

"I wish I could, but you know my gram," he said sullenly.

"She won't let him out of her sight," Remus informed the girls.

"Just offer to get some groceries for her or something and then head over to James' instead. And a few hours later just grab some stuff out of James' pantry and go home," suggested Marlene.

"Tried it; she figured that I got lost because I took so long and now she insists on escorting me to the shops and back," explained Peter.

"You haven't tried slipping her a sleeping draught yet," said Sirius.

Peter's response to that was drowned out by an abnormally large amount of owls flying into the Great Hall to deliver the morning mail. The Marauders looked excited; everyone else looked worried. One hundred or so school owls circling the hall started dropping slips of paper which slowly fell to the students below.

Lily was lucky enough to grab one and as she read it she was overcome by laughter. "Are you serious?" she asked the Marauders through her giggles.

"Let me see," said Marlene as she snatched the paper out of Lily's hands.

Marlene too succumbed to laughter as she handed the parchment over to Alice.

"I can't believe you guys," said Alice with a chuckle.

"Hmmm…" said Lily as she surveyed another parchment that the fifth year boy next to her had handed over. "Whom shall I vote for?"

"Wait! You aren't going to vote for me?" asked James in surprise.

"Ha!" shouted Sirius. "I told you I was the better kisser and even your girlfriend knew it! I told you so!"

"Who are you voting for Marlene?" asked Lily as if the boys weren't even there.

"Dunno, but It does say who is the best kisser in Hogwarts so I'm thinking of writing in Tim Jorkins," replied Marlene.

"What?!" spluttered Sirius and James at the same time. "Tim Jorkins?!"

"I can't believe you would vote for that loser Hufflepuff over me!" Sirius continued in disbelief. "There's just no way!"

"Excuse me," said a bold Ravenclaw sixth year as she tapped James on the shoulder.

"What's up Amy?" asked James brightly as he turned around to face the girl.

"It's just that… well…" and then suddenly Amy bent down and kissed James, even though Lily was sitting right next to him and watching.

James, as well as his friends and girlfriend were dumbstruck. Their shock only increased when Amy seized the moment and kissed Sirius next.

"Just had to make an educated vote," said Amy as she circled one of the names on the sheet and handed it to Remus as the paper instructed. "Bye!"

"I can't believe she did that," said Alice in shock.

"Who did she vote for?" asked Sirius as his surprise ebbed.

"Not telling," said Remus as he put the parchment into his book bag.

"I'm going to hex her," said Marlene as she started to get up.

"Oh leave her alone Marlene, hex Sirius instead," said Lily as she took a small bite out of her toast and avoided James' gaze.

Sensing his girlfriend's sour mood, James said quietly, "You know that kiss meant nothing to me right?"

"Yeah," said Lily unconvincingly as she rummaged in her book bag and tried to ignore the uncomfortable feelings that were washing over her.

"Lily," said James seriously as he put his arms around her and stilled her hands by covering them with his own.

"What?" she asked as she turned her head to finally look at her boyfriend.

"I love you."

Lily smiled and said, "I love you too, and I'm sorry I'm being such a paranoid ninny."

"S'all right," said James as he rested his forehead against hers. "So you were just joking before, right? You really are going to vote for me."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Lily teased him as quickly ducked out from under his arms, grabbed her bag and fled the Great Hall laughing all the way. James was soon on her heels chuckling as he sidestepped a fourth year and jumped over rogue bags.

Up at the staff table Minerva McGonagall shook her head as she finally got her hands on one of the mysterious messages. "But Albus, surely we can punish them for this!"

"Minerva, at this point what point would punishment serve?" asked Dumbledore as he smiled when he saw that the floor of the hallways outside the Great Hall had just been enchanted to be extremely slippery and his students were sliding all over the place. "They are graduating in only a few months and a few more detentions certainly won't make much of an impact on them now."

"But we have to set an example of punishment so that the younger students won't take up this nasty tradition once they're gone," said McGonagall tiredly.

"There is so much darkness in the world today; look around at the students. They cringe when the post arrives, fearing that a black envelope will come for them. They don't even bother to open the paper anymore knowing that they won't receive any hope from its dismal articles. They are all much too serious and burdened for children. These pranks help Minerva, if only for a moment.

"When pancakes sing and sprinkles fall from the ceiling it makes them remember that magic isn't just for the bad things the reporters talk about, but for good things too. It helps them to see the good things in life and be more like children again. Look at how preoccupied everyone is at wondering what prank will happen next instead of which relative of theirs will die next. That is how life should be. Instead of looking at this as rule breaking, think of it as a service to the school," concluded Albus with a serene smile on his face.

"Alright Albus," sighed Minerva as she contemplated all of the headaches she was sure to endure on this day, her least favorite out of the whole school year.

"I'm just sorry that I will miss the grand finale this evening. I would much rather be here than at my Mugwumps meeting," sighed Albus.

"Would you like to switch places?" asked Minerva hopefully.

Albus just laughed jollily.

--

"I must say mates this day is going fabulously," said Sirius from his position stuck to a wall in a little used corridor on the fifth floor.

"You know I could have sworn we didn't charm this wall to be sticky," said James. He would have been running a free hand through his hair as he said this, but as it was both hands were stuck to the wall along with the rest of James.

"Do you think anyone will find us anytime soon?" asked Peter.

Peter was in the worst position. While the boys were running to their next class they came across the slippery floors. Sirius, who had been in the lead, hit the charmed section first. He skidded but maintained some semblance of balance and hit the wall with his back and remained in a standing position.

James was not so graceful. He slipped almost immediately and slid across the floor on his stomach. He would have survived to help Sirius escape from the sticky wall if Remus hadn't tripped over him and sent them both careening across the floor and then Peter came along and made it all worse by stumbling and sending all three of them crashing into a wall.

Peter's palms were stuck to one wall and his feet were stuck to the opposite side. Underneath him Remus was lying on his back while his entire right side, including the pocket where he kept his wand, was stuck to the wall. James had somehow gotten flipped upwards and his entire front side was stuck to the wall above Remus but underneath Peter's stretched torso.

Remus sighed. "Probably not. The people that aren't stuck to walls or looking for their shoes which mysteriously disappeared when they stepped into the Transfiguration classroom…"

"That shoe thing was sheer brilliance on my part," interrupted Sirius as he wiggled his socked toes. "Makes the slippery floors so much more slippery."

"Like I was saying," Remus continued. "Those that haven't been pranked probably wouldn't dare to come into this very narrow, dark, and abandoned corridor that doesn't lead anywhere unless you know of the secret passage that leads directly to the classroom nearest the Great Hall that is behind one of the hundred landscape paintings on the walls."

"You sound a little angry Moony," Sirius commented after a brief pause.

"We're going to miss lunch," grumbled Remus.

"And all of the lunch festivities," added Peter.

"Unless someone rescues us," said James optimistically.

"Like that will happen anytime soon," responded Peter.

"So how's the poll going Moony?" asked Sirius.

"Much more fairly than if you were allowed to take and tally the votes," remarked Remus.

"But who's winning?" asked James.

"I'm not telling you until tomorrow," responded Remus.

"If I could I would kick you right now," muttered James.

"So what now?" asked Peter after a very long silence.

"We could yell and hope someone hears us," suggested Sirius.

Remus pondered some other possibilities and ultimately asked Peter, "Can you reach into James' pocket to get his wand?"

Peter sarcastically replied, "With what appendage?"

"Right," sighed Remus.

"Can you reach into Wormtail's pocket Moony?" asked James. "Isn't your left arm free?"

"I'll try," said Remus.

He stretched his arm as much as he could and eventually he was able to grab Peter's wand.

"Yes!" cheered Sirius who was able to watch the whole thing since he was stuck to the wall opposite James, Remus and Peter.

"What?!" asked James excitedly. Since half of his face was stuck to the wall, he wasn't able to see Remus' victory.

Instead of telling his friend of the development, Remus decided to show him. However, he didn't fully think about the consequences of saying the counter-spell to the sticky charms on the walls. Sirius laughed as James and Peter both landed on Remus the second they were no longer bound to the wall.

"Get off you great prats," wheezed Remus.

"Not your smartest moment Moony," commented Peter as he scrambled off.

"Let's just get to lunch before the shock wears off," said James as he stretched. "I really want to see everyone's faces."

As the trio walked away Sirius called, "Hey what about me?! Mates! Hello!"

After they got to the end of the corridor, without turning around Remus waved his wand and Sirius fell face forward onto the stone floor. He slid for a while on his face and then jumped up to follow his friends, but instantly slipped and fell back down.

"Why is it that you guys can handle this but I can't?" asked Sirius from his position on the floor.

"Try skating," suggested James. "Just slide one foot in front of the other."

"It's not that hard Padfoot," said Peter.

"Ah ha! Padfoot!" shouted Sirius.

He looked around and then turned into his animagus form. His dog form didn't increase his grace. His paws slipped out from under him and he landed on his belly. Sirius turned back to human form and pouted.

"Here," said Remus as he conjured a rope and threw it to Sirius. "We'll pull you."

Sirius grabbed the rope but when his friends tried to pull him, they slipped backwards and fell on their rears.

Ultimately Sirius just settled for sliding himself on his stomach. Once he reached his friends, they somehow pulled him to his feet and then they all skated and slid to the passageway.

"Where have you guys been?" asked Lily as the boys took their usual seats.

"Just took a minor detour," said Sirius with a smile.

"You sure flew out of Charms," commented Marlene as she stared mournfully at her empty plate.

"Did you really have to make lunch so disgusting?" asked Alice as she gazed at the various bowls filled with strangely colored glop and platters of weird globs.

"What's disgusting about it?" asked Peter as he helped himself to another spoonful of purple slime. "Tastes okay to me."

All three girls and the rest of the Hogwarts student body looked revolted as the Marauders dug into the gross lunch dishes enthusiastically.

Finally it dawned on a bright Gryffindor not far from the Marauders.

"It's just an illusion, another prank," the fifth year proclaimed. "The green stuff tastes just like chicken."

Warily the students took tastes of the colorful dishes and soon dived in whole-heartedly once they realized that the food would not make them gag or poison them.

Instead of talking among themselves, the Marauders stayed quiet so they could listen to what their peers were saying about the day so far.

"My favorite was the look on McGonagall's face when she saw that none of us had shoes," said one Hufflepuff who had had Transfiguration first thing that morning.

Several others laughed as they remembered the start of their class and they wiggled their still shoeless toes.

"Where do you think our shoes went?" asked one of the Hufflepuffs.

"Dunno," said another. "But it was some really cool magic."

"I want to be a Marauder when I grow up," proclaimed a second year proudly.

Lily, Marlene and Alice could almost visibly see the boys' egos inflate.

"I loved it when there was a snowstorm in the middle of History," said a Ravenclaw fifth year girl.

"Yeah, Binns didn't even notice!" remarked another Ravenclaw.

"Now the weather charms themselves aren't incredibly complicated," began a sixth year Ravenclaw boy who was trying to impress the younger girls. "In fact they are covered in any advanced charms textbook."

"But," interrupted a sixth year girl. "The timing charms were ingenious and incredibly difficult. The same thing with the walls and floors, those charms weren't activated until everyone was in the Great Hall. And, the charms are working on and off. When I went to Charms this morning the floors were fine, but I was coming to lunch through the same hallway and slid down the whole corridor."

"I'm so glad that they put some cushioning charms on the floors," commented another Ravenclaw. "I've fallen nine times already today."

The Marauders high-fived each other; their egos were growing by the moment.

"The cushioning was my idea," Peter informed his female friends. "I fell after we put the charms down and nearly broke my nose."

"We thought that Poppy would not appreciate it if we sent half the school to her with concussions and broken bodies," said Remus.

"So we added on a few of the charms that Mrs. Potter used to cast on the whole house when we went home for the holidays," said Sirius. "She never cast them for our well-being though; she always said that it was so she and the house elves wouldn't have to spend so much time repairing the many priceless family heirlooms that we constantly knocked down when we rode our brooms in the house and ran around."

"Shhh," James hushed his friend as he tried to listen to some young Gryffindors near-by.

"Do you think they set up stuff for when we go back into the common room?" one kid asked his friend.

"Probably," the friend replied. "Remember last year when there was a monster doll that popped out at everyone who went through the portrait hole?"

"Yeah Cindy nearly wet herself."

"Who are you kidding? You were nearly in tears," teased the friend.

"So you think we should see if my brother will let us crash in his room in the Hufflepuff dorm?"

"Wait, James Potter is Head Boy; he probably knows how to get into all of the dorms."

"You're right; I bet they set traps for every common room."

"Those guys are so brilliant."

"Yeah, so brilliant that now I'm so afraid that the second I walk into any of the common rooms in the castle I'll be submerged in slime, lose my trousers, or turn blue, that I will probably sleep in the Quidditch pitch."

"You won't be any safer there," James called down the table.

The two fourth years looked up in shock when they realized that one of the Marauders had been eavesdropping on them. They were also very scared by the wide grin on James' face; it was a grin that told them nowhere was safe.

It was true; even though the boys had only had a few days to set everything up, they had been planning their seventh year pranking bonanza for years and had managed to set up pranks in almost every corner of the castle.

After lunch various magical creatures, ranging from flobberworms to armadillos to jarvies wandered the corridors. There were also Cornish pixies causing havoc in the History of Magic classroom, knarls being irksome in the Transfiguration classroom, and mokes were running amuck in the Potions rooms in the dungeons. There were also rabbits hopping around the Ancient Runes classroom, owls nesting in the Divination tower, and bowtruckles being obnoxious in Arithmancy classes.

The impressive part of this prank was that the Marauders had placed imperturbable charms on all of the creatures so that they couldn't be touched or moved. They had also put a charm on the animals that prevented them from being effected by any spells. Thus, all of the Hogwarts professors were at their wits' end only a half hour into the class period after lunch. Acting in Professor Dumbledore's place, McGonagall announced that classes for the rest of the day were canceled.

When she saw the elation on her students faces at her announcement, for the first time that day, Minerva realized that what Albus had said to her earlier that moment was true. Her students were far too serious for children and did deserve some fun. For the first time in seven years, Minerva appreciated the Marauder's antics.

Finally it was time for dinner and the Marauders were very excited for their next few pranks.

The students sat down on the benches at their house tables, excitedly whispering to one another about what might happen next. Some students cautiously poked their eating utensils, remembering when the forks turned into salamanders back in the Marauders' fifth year; others conjured umbrellas, expecting things to fall from the ceiling.

Finally the prank was revealed. Instead of chicken or steak and vegetables, ice cream of various flavors, and a wide variety of toppings appeared in the large serving bowls. The students cheered as they cast aside their forks and dinner knives in favor of their spoons. There were many calls of praise and gratitude shouted the Marauders' way as the kids and teens dug into their "dinner" with enthusiasm.

However the happiness was not long lasting. Only twenty minutes into the meal something went terribly wrong.