AN: Thank you again for the reviews, it means a lot. Thank you for reading!
Enjoy the shenanigans in this chapter!
The Marauders sit in their dorm working on schoolwork. James had his parents send a radio two days ago so they could listen to music off Wizarding Wireless Network while up in their dorm. A rock song from the wizarding band Hippogriffs Flight is playing and Sirius can't focus on the potions book in front of him.
"How come it's two weeks into the school year and we are already so boring?" He asks. "We are either doing school work or sleeping. We haven't even went looking for secret passages again. I need something fun to distract me from thinking about Regulus all the time." He does need the distraction from his brother, and he needs the distraction from the crazy thought running through his head about Remus being a werewolf.
James grins, "How about a prank? Something Remus and Peter can participate in this time. They didn't get to see everyone's faces last year in the Great Hall."
"Got anything on your mind?" Remus asks.
"I was just reading about a swamp spell." James says, pulling his book forward. "What's it called, the one that turns any body of water into a swamp."
"Agvaltos?" Remus asks.
"That's a third year spell." Peter adds.
"But it was mentioned in the subtext of our Transfigurations book." James says, flipping the book around to point it out. "Because different animals live in different habitats and it may be important to transform water into a swamp when transforming amphibians."
"You read the subtext?" Sirius asks.
"What? I like Transfiguration." James laughs in defense.
"What does this have to do with a prank?" Remus asks.
"Well it's easy to flood a room, any amateur can do that. But we could turn a room into a swamp." James says.
"What about the Prefect bathroom?" Sirius asks, leaning forward, interested in the idea.
"Why?" Remus asks.
"Because the Prefects don't think anything can get past them." Sirius explains. "Imagine their faces when they realize their bathroom is now a swamp."
"That'd be hard to do." Peter says. "Isn't there a password to get in?"
Sirius shrugs "I know it."
Remus raises an eyebrow "Really now? How?"
"Andromeda." Sirius explains, "She had a password written on her palm. What else would it be for?"
"The Slytherin Common Room?" James suggest.
"The password is 'Cherry Blossom'. Does that sound like a Slytherin password to you?" Sirius smirks.
"When do we do it?" Peter asks, "How do we know a Prefect won't be there?"
"We do it at night." James grins, gesturing toward the Invisibility Cloak draped over a chair.
During the next couple days the Marauders practice the Agvaltos spell. All of them are thrilled when they find out they'll be practicing Aguamenti in Charms class.
Each student is given a large glass bowl. Their assignment is to completely fill a glass bowl with water. It comes easier to the Marauders than the other students because they've already been practicing a spell related to water. Remus is the first to fill his bowl completely, earning ten points for Gryffindor.
A Slytherin girl fills her next, earning ten points for Slytherin. This making Sirius mad because he was almost finished filling his. Nearing the end of class almost everyone has filled their bowl completely with water. James and Remus help Peter, who managed to fill his bowl three quarters of the way but then couldn't make the spell work again.
Sirius nudges James and nods toward Severus, who has less water in his bowl than Peter does. "He's helpless." Sirius laughs quietly. James gets a wicked grin as a thought occurs to him.
He glances around and sees that everyone is focused on filling their bowl or helping their classmates who haven't yet. Professor Flitwick is on the other side of the room talking with a Slytherin student. Lily and Severus are together but neither looking James's direction, Lily is showing Severus the correct wand movement again.
James points his wand at Severus's bowl and whispers "Agvaltos."
The clear water in Severus's glass bowl turns to brown and green sludge. Severus frowns down at his bowl, looking very confused. Professor Flitwick turns and sees the swampy water in Severus's bowl.
"Oh my." He says, walking over to Severus. "It seems something has gone wrong. What charm are you reciting."
"Aguamenti." Severus snarls. "I wasn't even casting the charm when this happened."
Sirius and James are suppressing laughter and trying to stay focused on Peter's bowl, but they keep looking over at the frustrated Severus, which results in them letting out short snickers. Remus grins but is able to contain his laughter better than the other two boys and shoots them warning looks not to be too loud.
"Extra practice is needed, Mr. Snape." Professor Flitwick squeaks. "Perhaps you should come by this evening before dinner."
"I'm busy then." Severus says.
"With classwork?" Professor Flitwick asks.
"Well no, but-"
"Then I do believe you should be able to reschedule. I'll be seeing you before dinner." Professor Flitwick says merrily. James and Sirius are unable to hide their laughter any longer.
"Boys please stay focused." Professor Flitwick says to them. "We don't need anymore swamp water."
Leaving class James rushes to catch up with Severus.
"Oi, Snivellus." He calls.
Severus turns and frowns at him, "What did you call-?"
James cuts him off, "I get it now. You're always turning water swampy. That's why it looks like you never bathe."
"Shove off, Potter." Severus says as he walks away.
"See ya later, Snivellus!" James calls down the hallway. Severus storms off. He's angry because he doesn't need the extra practice. He doesn't know what happened to the water in his bowl, but he knows he didn't do it. And what was that ridiculous name Potter had called him? Snivellus? It was dumb and made Severus even more angry.
Down in the Greenhouses Severus can't focus. Other students are laughing at him for his failure in Charms. Luckily it's a lecture day, so all he has to do is pretend he's taking notes. But his mind wanders, and eventually he comes to a realization. Potter changed his water into a swamp. It's the only explanation.
After Herbology Severus follows the other Slytherins to the Great Hall from the Greenhouse. The boy who makes his life miserable isn't there yet, so Severus watches for him and the other three to walk into the hall. Halfway through lunch he realizes they aren't coming, and wonders just what they are up too.
The Marauders spend lunch practicing the Agvaltos spell in one of the boys bathroom. Remus puts a charm on the door so others can't open it while Sirius and James clog the sinks so they can fill them with water. There are four sinks, perfect for the four boys.
"Alright," James says, taking his spot in front of a sink. "Once we can each transform the water into a swamp five times without messing up, we know we are ready."
Remus breaks their record at four, but fails the fifth time. Peter can only change the water twice before failing, and Sirius and James each tie at three times.
"I don't get it!" James huffs looking down at the perfectly clear water in front of him "What are we doing wrong?"
"It's a third year spell." Peter says again.
"That means nothing." Sirius waves the comment off. "I think we are trying too hard. Putting too much pressure on ourselves to get it right every single time."
"But if we can't transform a sink filled with water into a swamp perfectly how are we suppose to transform a flooded bathroom into a swamp?" James asks. Sirius shrugs.
At night the Marauders sneak into the Gryffindor bathroom to practice again, finally Remus is able to transform the water not five time, but seven, in a row.
"Way to go Remus!" James shouts, clapping his friend on the back a little too roughly. It takes another fifteen minutes, but finally James transforms the water five times as well. "One more night and we'll be ready." James grins as they walk back up the stairs to their beds.
James was right, the next night Sirius is able to transform the water several times, and Peter finally reaches five times perfectly. Sirius is elated, and is ready to go transform the Prefect bathroom that night, but Remus points out it's already really late. With much complaining from James and Sirius, they wait just one more night for their prank.
The next day drags by slowly, Sirius can't wait to transform the Prefect's bathroom. He's happy for the distraction, because he doesn't think about Regulus or the werewolf idea all day, his mind is only focused on the prank.
When the sun sets the Marauders wait for everyone else to leave the Common Room, which is close to midnight thanks to a group of fifth years hanging out near the fire. Once past the portrait hole they slide the cloak on, all standing very close together. As they walk down the stairs the cloak flips up a little too high and revels their ankles, but as they pass a ghost he doesn't notice the four pair of shoes walking down the stairs. Then, on the sixth floor they huddle in a corner and stand perfectly still as Filch passes by them.
Once on the fifth floor they open and close every door they can. If a door is locked they attempt using the password.
"Ouch! Sirius you stepped on my foot." Remus complains as they pass a statue of Boris the Bewildered.
"Walk faster." Sirius protest.
"I can only walk as fast as you."
"I wouldn't step on your foot if you were walking as fast as me." Sirius hisses.
"You could at least apologize."
"Can you two stop?" James asks, "We have more important things to do than bicker. Come on, lets try these doors."
Finally, four doors down from the statue James gives the password to the locked door and it opens.
"Yes!" James says, attempting to thrust a fist in the air from victory but getting held up in the cloak. Once inside the Prefect's bathroom they take the cloak off and look around.
"Wow." Sirius says, "This is going to be easier than I thought." He walks toward the pool like bathtub and grins, "Looks perfect for making a swamp."
They get to work stuffing the drains with towels and turning on all the faucets. There are hundreds of faucets, and they quickly find out some are for soap as they rush around the tub turning all the knobs. They step back and wait for the tub to fill, it starts to overflow and once there is a puddle on the floor around the tub they quickly run back around it and turn the faucets off.
"My pants are wet." Peter complains, looking down at the water spot around his ankles from splashing around in puddles. But the other three boys ignore him as they step back and admire the overflown tub.
"Right, now we all have to do the spell perfectly." James says. They all step back toward the door and pull out their wands and point them toward the tub. "On three. One, two, three."
"Agvaltos." The four boys say in unison. The water slowly starts to bubble and turn to brown, then suddenly muddy swampy water explodes from the center of the water and washes down across the enter floor within the matter of seconds. The Marauders are left standing in ankle deep swamp water.
"Gross!" Peter says.
"Yeah." Sirius laughs, picking up his foot out of the water and watching it drain from his shoe.
"I think it worked." Remus laughs.
"This place is definitely a swamp." James says, looking around at the swampy water as it oozes up under the toilet stalls.
"Let's get out of here." Peter says. James grabs the Invisibility Cloak off a towel rack he hung it on, thankful now that he didn't simply drop it on the floor, and opens the door. Water rushes out into the fifth floor corridor and Remus quickly slams the door closed behind him. Sirius laughs as he looks around at the puddles of slimy brown and green water in the hallways.
"Who's there?" The Marauders turn toward the voice coming around the corner.
"It's Filch." James whispers. The four of them quickly get under the cloak and back away from the door. Filch comes around the corner and splashes in the swampy water.
He grumbles under his breath and looks around, angry that the students who did this got away. He walks toward the Marauders and they scuffle back toward a wall out of his way. As he passes them they can hear him muttering "Little brats. They'll pay."
They stand perfectly still for a full minute, and once it seems safe they relax and laugh. They slip off their socks and shoes and carry them so they won't leave puddles behind and quickly run back up to the Gryffindor Tower to clean themselves up and go to bed. Once in their dorm they talk loudly and excitedly.
"Oh man! He was so angry!" James laughs.
"The Prefects will go mad." Sirius says as he hangs his pants to dry by the furnace.
"The best part is they won't have any idea who did it, because only a small group of students have access to the bathroom." Remus points out.
"They'll be blaming each other!" James laughs.
The conversation carries on for another thirty minutes as they boys hang their clothes to dry and change into PJs. They realize as they lay down in bed it's a little past 2AM; and even though it's a Saturday and they could sleep in they want to be in the Great Hall early to hear what people have to say about their prank.