It was now a common occurrence to see Regulus Black alongside Snape, Lestrange, Crouch, Rosier, and Macnair.
It didn't help Sirius' mood; if anything, it made it worse.
Snape was hexed a total of six times (four by Sirius and twice by James, who claimed that Snape was making Sirius miserable, and as Sirius' best mate he had to do something) before the other Marauders took it into their own hands.
"Mate," James said one night in the dormitory at the prompting of Peter, "You've been in a mood for the past week. You're not up for anything, you're grades are plummeting-"
"Did Remus put you up to that one?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, I did," Remus said.
"I get that Snivellus has been a git and done some things that he shouldn't have," James continued, "but you can't keep hexing him in the open like that; you'll get expelled. What I suggest, instead of hexing him, is a prank of sorts."
"In true Marauder fashion," Peter added.
"Like what?" Sirius said.
"Something diabolical," James said, and the planning began.
The plan involved a total of four parts.
The first part required a distraction, the second involved some sneaking, the third was the setup, and finally was the prank itself.
"Alright," James whispered. "Begin Phase One."
"What was Phase One again?" Peter asked, shifting the large box he was holding to get a better grip on it.
"The distraction," Remus said.
"Oh yeah, right."
"Sirius, you've got the fireworks?" James checked.
Sirius grinned his usual, mischievous grin. "Never doubt the great Sirius Black."
"Of course not, unless you doubt the incredible James Potter."
"How could I? I doubt that-"
"This prank isn't going to happen unless you start the distraction," Remus reminded the others.
"That rhymed really well," James noted. "What was that phrase you used? Author and you don't-"
"Poet and you didn't know it. The prank?" Remus prompted.
"Right. Unleash the chaos."
Crouched behind the banister, Sirius prodded the fireworks with his wand, lighting them. He tossed them into the air above the corridor below them.
Showers of scarlet and gold stars fell upon the crowd gathered below.
They looked up at the fireworks, jumping at their loud bangs and flashes, though they stayed to watch. People from nearby corridors began peering around corners, trying to find the source of the pandemonium.
"Let's go," James said, and the four disappeared beneath the invisibility cloak.
They managed to sneak across the castle relatively quickly for being under the cloak, arriving in the main corridor by the Great Hall to find it empty.
"You brought that stuff from the Room of Requirement, right Peter?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah," Peter said, setting down the box in the empty corridor.
"Brilliant," James said. He pulled the cloak off them, opened the box, then cylindrical container with the label 'Silly String.' Pulling out and pointing his wand at the container, he muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa," and the can began to rise.
The can floated toward the high ceiling in the corridor.
"Now," James said.
"Affigo," Sirius said, pointing his wand at the floating can.
The can hit the ceiling with a soft clank, sticking.
"It works," James said. He and Sirius began working on the next one at the same time Peter and Remus began theirs.
Peter had the job of levitating.
Remus was the one to place the sticking charm, which was just as effective as Sirius'.
The process of levitating and sticking the cans was tedious as they had to be evenly placed, but it got done quickly enough.
"Now the hard part," Sirius said. "How were we going to activate them again?"
"The timer, when it's time for dinner," Remus said.
"And we've got those refilling charms on the cans?"
"Yeah. It should be all set."
"Positive?"
"Yeah."
The trap was set, and the Marauders waited anxiously for dinner.
At about seven o'clock, they made their way down to the corridor outside the Great Hall to find the place in disarray.
An odd, foamy, stringy substance covered the students and much of the floor in the corridor. It fell in colorful waves from the ceiling, dousing the people in the string.
There was a fraction of the people covered in the string who were playing around with it, sneaking up behind friends and dumping the stuff on their heads.
Those who were attacked seemed to do one of two things; retaliate or yelp.
The Marauders walked into the line of fire, getting covered in the stringy substance.
"This 'Silly String' stuff is brilliant," Sirius decided happily.
"And it's messing up your hair," James said.
It was true. Sirius' hair was now covered in a variety of foamy colors.
"What? Not brilliant!" He tried pulling the string out of his hair without any luck. "James!"
Sirius wasn't the only one shrieking about his hair; there was a cluster of girls trying to use textbooks to keep the foam out of their locks.
"It's not glitter," James said smugly.
"I thought we were friends!"
"Friends screw with each other's hair. That's how it works."
"You vile betrayer! I'm never speaking to you again! Neither is Remus or Peter!"
"Don't pull me into this," Remus said.
"Too late, Moony. You're on my side now."
"Well," James said, looking up, "I think we pulled it off. What do you say to dinner?" Looking up had made a mistake. He began heading towards the direction of the Great Hall, running straight into Peter, who fell into the accumulation of Silly String.
"He's got it on his glasses," Remus said.
"Yeah, sorry, Remus-"
"You ran Peter over, I'm fine."
"Oh. Sorry, Peter."
"It's fine. This stuff is really soft, actually," Peter said.
"Brilliant," Sirius said. "That'll get me in less trouble."
"I don't think the softness of the Silly String is going to keep Minnie from giving us detentions if she figures out that it was us," Remus pointed out.
"I know. But it'll get me in less trouble for doing this." Sirius calmly picked up a handful of the string and threw it at James, hitting him in the nose.
"Oi!" James said.
"That was for ruining my hair," Sirius said.
In retaliation, James picked up a handful of his own string and threw it where he thought Sirius had been. He hit Lily Evans instead.
"Potter," she said, turning from where she had been talking with Marlene.
"Hi, Evans," James said. "Enjoying yourself?"
Lily threw her own handful of string at him.
"What was that for?" he complained.
"For throwing stuff at me," Lily said matter-of-factly.
"I threw it at Sirius!"
"Well, it hit me."
"Sirius, how could you?"
Sirius shrugged. "Not my fault your aim's wonky," he said innocently.
James grabbed some more string and attempted to throw it at Sirius, missing again.
"Nice try- Oi!"
This time James' aim had been accurate. The wad of foam hit Sirius in the mouth.
He sputtered as he tried to spit it out. "That tastes like salty rubber. Is that even a thing?"
"Probably," Remus said.
"James, I officially hate you."
"You too, mate," James said smugly.
It took ten minutes for the combined abilities of the Hogwarts teachers to vanish the Silly String cans. Then Filch got to work, grumbling about students and the horrors of his job.
"It worked," Remus said lightly, looking back at the multicolored, stringy corridor as the teachers began clearing the area.
"Yeah," James said. "And I think the prank not only helped with the decor, but was also just fun."
"Pranks are always fun," Sirius said, "Unless you're the one being pranked."
"Agreed," James said.
"So," Peter said, "What next?"
"The kitchens," Sirius said decisively. "I think we need to celebrate our victory."
May began with warming weather. Heading outdoors to lounge by the lake and look for the Giant Squid or peer curiously into the Forbidden Forest were only dreams, however. Teachers were piling homework on everyone due to the rapid approach of exams.
"Six Inches due tomorrow!" Sirius moaned one day. "How am I supposed to do that?"
"Write really big," James offered.
"No, I can do that, but I still have to start Potions from Monday, and Transfiguration from Friday," Sirius said.
"This is why you keep on top of your assignments," Remus said from where he was reading.
"You know I can't do that, it would ruin my reputation!" Sirius said. "I can't be punk rock and-"
"Punk rock?" Peter asked.
"Since when have you been set in being punk rock?" Remus said.
"You wore a pink shirt to bed last night," James pointed out. "Explain how that's punk rock."
"Pink is a very punk rock color," Sirius said.
"Pink reminds me of flamingos."
"Flamingos are also punk rock."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Positive. Back to me deciding to not do the assignment-"
"You're doing the assignment," Remus said.
"They're overworking us, I'm going on Strike-"
"It's six inches, that's barely anything, and it's their job to teach us-"
"They're enslaving us! I refuse to allow that any longer. Why are you still on their side?"
Remus sighed, "We've had this conversation before, Sirius, and you know my reasoning."
"Join the revolution anyway. James, Peter, will you join my noble cause?"
"Sure…." Peter said unsurely.
"Of course!" James said.
There was another sigh from Remus. "Well, whatever your plan for this 'noble cause' is, it had better not interfere with homework."
"What homework?" Sirius said. "We're on Strike. Strikes know no homework."
Breakfast Wednesday morning was an unusual affair.
It started normally, like breakfast always did. Sirius reminded Peter that he wasn't supposed to steal his eggs, Peter protested, James attempted to talk to Lily, Lily ignored him and talked to Remus instead, and before talking with Lily, Remus made sure everyone had their homework for the day finished. (Despite Sirius' claim to be on Strike, he still did the assignments.)
Then, through the large doors of the Great Hall strode a portly presented man.
Whispered broke out among the hall as people began to whisper.
"That's the Minister!"
"The Minister of Magic?"
"What's he doing here?"
"He must be here to see Dumbledore."
"About what?"
"That thing in the Prophet, I bet."
"What thing in the Prophet?" James said, hurried snatching a copy off the table.
"I don't know, I haven't heard anything," Sirius said.
"He's talking with Dumbledore," Peter said, watching the Minister carefully.
The Minister looked quite worried as he whispered in Dumbledore's ear.
Dumbledore nodded, then left the Great Hall, the Minister quick in tow.
"Anything?" Sirius asked, trying to peer over James' shoulder and read the Prophet.
"New release of a Comet, some murder in Haverhill, a disappearance in Liverpool, some outbreak of dragon pox in Wales, reported sightings of nargles in Newfoundland-"
"What are nargles?" Sirius said.
"No idea," James said. "Remus?"
"No idea either," Remus said.
"But it doesn't look like anything the Minister would be involved in," James said.
"There's probably something that's not in the news," Remus said. "Or the whole story wasn't printed and one of these things is a bigger deal than what they're letting on."
"Maybe," James said, studying the Prophet more carefully.
They were quiet for a moment before Sirius said quietly, "We should follow them. If we use the cloak, they won't be able to tell that we're there."
"We can't, it's not our business," Remus said.
"What if it is?"
"What if it's not?"
"But what if it is?"
"If it is, they'll tell us soon enough," Remus reasoned.
"You can't just let them go off and talk privately," Sirius said.
"Yes, we can," Remus said.
"James, a little help?"
"Sorry, mate, but if the Minister's involved…. We should probably stay out of it," James said hesitantly.
"We're that Marauders. That means that we go off uncovering secrets and stuff like that-"
"Being the Marauders, we also know where we shouldn't stick our noses," Remus said.
"You three are no fun," Sirius grumbled.
"Of course we are," James said. "We're just sensible."
"More like Remus is sensible and he's using his Public Menace-ness to convince you to listen to him," Sirius said.
"That would be a fair point," Remus said, "If I was a Public Menace."
"You are too!"
"I definitely am not."
"Yes, you are-"
"No-"
"They're never going to let that go, are they?" James said.
"Probably not," Peter agreed.