Prompt: Carrying out a practical joke together. (O 64)

This drabble is an A/U where Harry embraces his marauder side and pulls pranks with Ginny. Here they create a potion to prank the houses who wore Malfoy's 'Support Cedric Diggory' buttons. This drabble is rated K+.

Note: this prompt is not on my bingo card.

"Do you think this is going to work?"

Harry looked up from the cauldron he was attending to in the abandoned classroom they had found, giving his partner-in-crime, Ginny, a lopsided grin. "Of course it's going to work. You doubt my Potions skills?"

Ginny shifted closer to the edge of the desk she was sitting on as she watched him add powdered ginger root to the cauldron. "It's not so much that I doubt them, but Snape is always talking about your 'rather dismal' potioneering skills."

Harry's grin widened. "All the better to throw him off our scent. If Snape knew of my real talent for Potions, he'd be on our tail more when we pull pranks that involve the need for potions. We're just lucky right now that he still suspects Fred and George for all of our pranks."

"Too bad next year is their last year and then we lose our decoys. Then we're going to be on our own for your sixth year, my fifth year."

Harry added the finely sliced dandelion root to the cauldron and stirred it counterclockwise twenty times. They watched as the potion went from a rusty brown color to a vibrant reddish-orange. Satisfied with the way the potion looked, he reduced the heat of the fire and set a stopwatch for five minutes.

"Now we just let it simmer a few minutes and we can give it to Dobby to add to the Slytherin's and Ravenclaw's pumpkin juice in the morning." Harry started cleaning up the desk, making sure not to leave any trace of the ingredients he used, least someone suspecting something found any remnants.

"It'll serve Malfoy and the others right for those buttons he made of you. Let them deal with turning bright green with yellow spots and only being able to croak and hop like a frog the rest of the day."

Harry let out a laugh at Ginny's revengeful glee of their upcoming prank. "Remind me again to never get on your bad side."

He walked the few feet from the cauldron to the desk she was sitting on. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her close to him.

"Thank you for helping me and believing me when not a lot of people have, Gin." Harry whispered into ear.

The hug ended and Ginny gave him a blinding smile. "What are best friends and partners-in-crime for?"

The loud beeping of the stopwatch drew their attention back to the cauldron. Harry walked back over to it and snuffed the fire out. "Well, five more stirs clockwise and it's done."

After the final stirs to the potion, Harry pulled a large flask and a small ladle out from his book bag. Ginny hopped off the desk, walking over and taking the flask from him. She held it steady as he ladled the finished potion out of the cauldron and into the flask.

Once the potion was fully contained within the flask and stoppered, Harry called out, "Dobby!"

Crack!

"Harry Potter and his Wheezy has called for Dobby?" The excited house elf asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of Harry and Ginny.

Ginny bent down in front of Dobby, flask in hand.

"Dobby, we need your help with another prank. See, Malfoy created some not-so-nice buttons of Harry and we want to get back at him and the Slytherins and Ravenclaws who wore the buttons. Can you help us by adding this potion to the Slytherin's and Ravenclaw's pumpkin juice at breakfast tomorrow morning?"

They watched as Dobby stood tall and squared his shoulders, taking the flask from Ginny. "Young Malfoy is bad person! It would be Dobby's honour to help the great Harry Potter and his Wheezy get back at Young Malfoy and those other nasties!"

"Thank you, Dobby, Ginny and I appreciate this."

"Anything for Harry Potter!" And with that and another loud Crack! Dobby was gone.

Harry and Ginny finished cleaning up the rest of their tools and supplies before heading back to the Common Room.

They entered through the portrait hole, only to be greeted with a scowling Ron playing a game of chess with Seamus in a far corner of the room upon seeing the two together. Harry and Ginny ignored him and made their way over to a vacant couch in front of the fire. Sitting down, Harry could still feel Ron's eyes boring into the back of his head.

Ginny leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear, "Maybe we should have told Dobby to give Ron some of our potion too."

Harry chucked. "As funny as that would be, it might be a bit too obvious, especially as he'd be the only Gryffindor affected by the potion."

"He'd just think it's the twins getting back at him for being such a prat."

"Ron can be thick at times, but he's also now learning the difference between the twins pranking him and us pranking him. He doesn't know it's us yet, but he knows the twins MO and our MO are different from each other."

Ginny sighed. "No, you're right. But I would love to see him be a frog for a day. Serves the prat right."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something to get back at him." Harry threw his arm around her, giving her a side hug.

A keen smile came to her face. "Don't worry, I'm already working out the finer details as to exactly what I want to do to him. And I'm going to need you, dear partner-in-crime, to help brew up another potion. Up for a challenge?"

Harry met her smile with one of his own. "For you? Always."

"I know, I know why it has to stay on. Merlin, I'd love to give him a reason not to just floo over without asking."