Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. I am only borrowing her toys. The story is mine though.
The fun of it all
The exam season was almost upon them with only a couple of weeks to spare. Unlike her friends, Jilliana and her sister had not gone home during the Easter Holidays. Their Daddy was on tour for a Quidditch tournament and her Mum was traveling along with him. The girls wanted to prepare for the examinations. Teddy and Ember had asked Jill to loosen up a little bit but Jill wasn't like them. Teddy and Ember were naturally gifted students but Jill actually had to work to get good scores.
The Easter Holidays were dry inside the castle but breathtakingly beautiful outside. The hills, the lake, the forest, the grass, even the Whomping Willow seemed to be happier in this season.
The Hogwarts Gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, had planted some knozzleknaves which he said were special food for his heard of Hippogrifs & Unicorns. It was a nasty looking knife-like plant but apparently "Very nutritious." Jill & Gen along with Rupert visited Hagrid every evening. They didn't like the Rockcakes he made but they really like him.
The three of them spent most of their time together. Spending so much time with Rupert had altered Jill's feelings towards the boy. They were not best friends but she had begun to think better of him than she used to.
The three of them had been hammering their heads with books and keeping tabs of the House Points- Gryffindor was leading for the House Cup by most House points after their Quidditch Cup win, Ravenlaw & Hufflepuff were tied second and Slytherin was a close third. When Ember & Teddy came back from the Holidays, the atmosphere lightened up a little bit and there was just a little more laughter.
Ember claimed to be really behind in his studies but Jill knew him better than to believe that.
It was the middle of May when Teddy told them about the end-of-the-year prank idea he had been planning over the Holidays. Apparently, he and Rupert had constantly been exchanging notes on this, even Ember seemed slightly surprised by this revelation.
"So what do you have in mind Lupin? Gen asked cheekily.
"You can't be agreeing with this?" Jilll asked flaberghasted.
"Well, I want to know what he has been thinking; agreeing or not agreeing with him comes later" Gen said cockily. "So, tell us what you have in mind"
Teddy looked at Rupert & Ember, smirked and began to speak.
"So I did my fair bit of research after you told me what you had in mind. The spell you came up with is fine but it will not be efficiently effective for our plans of such large scale implementation" Geneveive finished, full business-like.
Ember and Jill exchanged looks. Gen had taken the whole prank more seriously than they had anticipated. Even Teddy was a little surprised by her dedication.
"What is the spell you have in mind?" Rupert asked revising his transfiguration notes for the upcoming class test.
Gen closed her eyes and whispered "mutatione chromata ad wi"
"That's a big spell" Jill countered
"And sounds very advanced too..." Ember said scratching his chin.
"It sort of is. I came across it while researching. It is very powerful, that's why I disregarded it. Unlike the previous charm it only needs to be casted once... This charm will save us time and effort" Teddy finished.
"But again... It sounds too advanced for 1st years'" Ember countered.
"Nothing is too advanced Em! It maybe a powerful spell but it is only a household spell" Rupert said putting his notes in the bag and getting up.
"I agree, I've seen Dad use it a lot of times. We need a bit of practice though, just to be safe" Jill said following suit.
"Why are you both standing up?" Gen asked.
"Hufflepuffs & Ravenclaws' have Defence now.
"And we got Transfiguration"
"A problem though, we need a little practice, where do we practice?" Ember asked as they walked back to the castle from the grounds.
"How about the Kitchens?" Jill said smirking at Teddy.
"PERFECT!" Teddy said his eyes gleaming.
It had taken Teddy a little while to coax Kreacher into their plans and let them practice in the Kitchens without being telltale. All the other House-elves thought that these first years' were only playing around and trying to make the Kitchens look pretty. A few of them even requested to have certain designs on the walls. Kreacher disapproved of all of it but said nothing to no one. He couldn't. Teddy was his master and he was bound to keep Teddy's secrets. He could tell Harry but they both knew Kreacher wasn't going to and so our protagonists practised their spell.
Exams had begun, they were working hard, even Teddy had restrained his penchant for distraction and was studying hard and practising spells.
Each day after lunch they would spend a few hours in the grounds- fooling around- in the kitchens- mastering their spell- and later retire to their respective Common Rooms for hard on studying.
Ember found a good study partner in Joseph Lynchh. Jill & Teddy mostly studied together in the Hufflepuff Common Room and Gen & Rupert ususally retired to the library.
Their exams occured with a one day gap; first three hours for theory and last one hour for practicals. They all assented that the theory was mostly good but in the practials, everyone had their fair share of debacles. According to Professor Flitwik, Jill's Tickle Charm wasn't ticklish enough. Gen's pin coushion which she was supposed to turn to porcupine was still more coushion than porcupine in the end. Rupert became allergic to the Forpumes- a type of healing plant which cured skin infections. Ember knocked off a fellow student in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Teddy exploded his couldron in Potions.
"I think all of our mistakes happened because we were either too fast or too slow with our actions. We need to find balance" Jill said and they all nodded in assent.
The First years' & Second years' were done with their exams. The older students had at least two more days of tests. Our protagonists decided that they will carry out their prank on the last day of exams. When everyone was at lunch, the five of them sneaked up to their respective Common Rooms and started working. It took them nearly 15 minutes to finish their job. Ember was particularly satisfied with what he had accomplished. Since, they hadn't been gone too long, nobody really noticed their absence.
Ten minutes after they got back, the Ravenclaw Prefect along with Slytherin's Prefect and a few 6th and 7th years rushed to the Headmistress and whispered something in her ear. She looked a little struck by the information she received. She along with a few teachers rushed out of the Great Hall.
When Headmistress McGonagall reached the Ravenclaw Common Room, she saw that the entire room along with the furniture, decor, books, everything was dressed in Slytherin colours. Even the bedrooms, bathrooms, sheets, poster beds, belongings were all green and silver. Professor Sprout came running to inform that the entire Hufflepuff House was covered in the colours of blue and bronze. Gryffindor Common Room had turned all yellow and Slytherin was all red now.
"Who did this?" Professor McGonagall asked incredulously.
"We need to reverse it" Professor Longbottom said, smirking.
They tried reversing the spell but the charm was a powerful one. Even with the reversal spells, it would take at least a few days for everything to get back to normal.
Jill had overheard Professor Magnilla Eva, their Potions teacher, poking Professor Zabini into admitting that the whole thing was at least a little funny.
"I am not exactly sure how funny it was but it sure was smart" Professor Soprano, the head of Slytherin House and Astronomy professor, quipped lightly.
"Honestly, I still can't believe that we got away with this" Ember wheezed as he lay on his back on the ground by the Great Lake, enjoying his last day of his first year.
"Me too" Gen said scratching Minnie, the cat's fur who lay on Teddy's chest as the Metamorpagus lay beside Ember.
As they discussed the plan for the millionth time, the cat got off Teddy's chest and was swiftly walking away. Jill made a move to grab it but suddenly the cat wasn't there anymore. Where the cat had been, stood the figure of Headmistress McGonagall, arms crossed and face stern.
"Professor" came the meek voice of Rupert Dolohov.
The five of them had been reprimanded to the Headmistress's office. Their Head of the House were called forth. Ember had a feeling that the teachers' were more amused than angry.
Headmistress McGonagall sternly forbade them from carrying on such actions any further. She asked the Head of the Houses' to award the needed punishmemts. The Teachers discussed among themselves as our protagonists hung back and eyed each other in apprehension.
The only thought that seemed to cross Gen's mind throughout was that she had been scratching the fur of Headmistress McGonagall's animagus form and Professor McGonagall was laying on Teddy's chest and purring lightly. She was slowly losing her mind on it.
The teachers' disbanded and Professor Flitwik spoke in his squeaky voice "All of us have decided that forty points each will be subtracted from all the houses for the indiscipline behaviour of the lot of you and..
"And twenty points each will be awarded to all four of you for the achieving perfection in use of such an advanced spell" Professor Elizabeth Soprano, the head of the Slytherin House, finished with a small smile on her face.
The faces of our protagonists almost lit up.
"What spell did you use?" Professor Sprout asked seeming genuinely curious.
"Mutatione Chromata ad wi" Gen said softly.
"That is an advanced spell" Professor Longbottom said incredulously.
"Er.. Thank you Professors" Ember said awkwardly and Jill nodded hastily at them.
"It won't happen again" Teddy said hurriedly but little did they know that he had his fingers crossed behind his back.
Everyone was at the Great Hall and all anyone could talk about was how stupid, yet brave and rebellious the prank was. They couldn't stop smirking, even Jill had regained her cheerfulness a while after they left the Headmistress's office. The funniest part was when Professor McGonagall held Teddy back and told him not to tell anyone how she had spent time with him as a normal cat. Teddy was in great disbelief and to be fair it seemed that Minerva was finding it harder to believe her words and even more so, her actions. Teddy couldn't stop grinning whenever the thought returned to him.
The year had come to an end and everyone was leaving the magnificent Scottish Castle for their summer holidays. As always, the Hogwarts Kitchens served the best ever food. There was Turkey and ham and chicken and salads and pies and trifles and custards. Nobody served food like Hogwarts did.
Pudding was about to be served when Professor McGonagall rose from her seat and announced that this year, the winner of the HouseCup was—RAVENCLAW! The Ravenclaw table burst into cheers and there was loads of clapping, whistling and hugging. The Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, Theodoris Marshall was the loudest of them all. Even Professor Flitwik was clapping loudly.
Professor McGongall waited for everyone to calm down and started to address them more seriously.
"I feel incredibly sad to announce that our beloved Professor Sprout will be retiring from Hogwarts" Talking began around the Great Hall. "She would like to say a few words"
"Good evening my lovely Children" she began.
"I have taught in this school for the past 38 years. Yes, yes I've taught for that long and it has been quite the most wonderful journey... And like all things, this too must come to an end.."
"But we love you" someone shouted from among the students.
"Yes! Don't go" shouted some other people.
"I understand your feelings my dears but I feel it's time for me to go. However, if you ever need to talk to me, remember, your owls will know where to find me." She smiled warmly and sat down dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.
Almost everyone was out, our friends were waiting by the Great Hall for Teddy. He was gone for twenty minutes now. They were beginning to get irritated when he came running towards them with a large parcel under his arm.
"What's that?" Jill asked.
"A book"
"And where were you?" Ember said.
"I was saying goodbye to Professor Sprout. She had been very kind and supportive of me all through the year. I am going to miss her..." Teddy said wistfully.
"She gave you that?" Gen asked.
"Yes, yes she did."
They were in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express, eating the sweets they bought off the Trolley Lady and Jill were telling them a funny story that Peeves had told her about the Weasley Twins and fireworks when Ember got a little quiet and said "It's strange, isn't it? Going back home.."
"We are not going back home, not really." Teddy smiled
"So you all will write, right?" Rupert asked, awkwardly.
"No" Jill said.
"We will meet" Gen finished.
So, this is where I would like to end this series. I can't be more grateful for the love and support you all have shown me and this series. Thank you for you time and kindness. Although, if you are curious for more, let me know, I might know how to satisfy those curiosities ;)