Chapter 25

Welcome Home

"So what are we going to do now?" James asked. It was Saturday, and their first full day back from Christmas break. They were lying in their dorm, Peter was finishing his homework and the rest of them were bored.

Sirius sat up. "I think The Marauders need to welcome everyone back." He smirked and James sat up, with a similar smirk on his face.

"What are we going to do this time?"

"We should use our new toys to our advantage." Sirius returned pulling out the book James got him.

"I thought you weren't planning on using any of those." James asked walking over, Remus and Peter walked over as well.

"I'm not. There is a cool spell in here we can use." He answered turning to a marked page. "You cast the spell on any object ant then when you recite the spell again the object you put it on explodes."

"It isn't dangerous is it?" Remus asked, sometime he felt he was the only one that was cared if someone got hurt.

"No I used it on the dungbombs in Filtch's pocket he didn't even feel it." Sirius laughed. "But he sure smelled it."

"What do we cast it on?" James asked pacing again.

"The pictures?" Peter suggested, probably the best idea he'd had all year. It still wasn't very good though.

"To many of them, it would take forever." James said after a little thought.

"I have an idea!" Remus said surprising them. "What if we do it on the food. "We can go to the kitchen and put the charm on it then."

Sirius beamed and gave Remus a one armed hug. "That is an excellent idea! I'm so proud of you Remmy!" Remus rolled his eyes.

James laughed. "I'm going to have to get used to you being so involved in this."

"Yes, yes you are." Remus smiled.

"Do you think they will be working on lunch yet?" Peter asked.

"Definitely, there is only an hour till it starts." Remus answered. "How are we going to keep the house-elves from seeing us?"

"I brought the cloak!" James said proudly and pulled it out.

"Only problem with that is there is no way it will fit all four of us." Remus said. "Should just one of us go?"

"That's probably a good idea." James said to Remus and handed it over to him."It was your idea." Remus nodded and pulled on the cloak, read the spell in the book a few times, then went into the kitchen.

"James, Sirius, and Peter stood outside waiting for him to come back.

"Are we going to leave a note?" James broke the short silence between them.

"If we don't how will they know it was the Marauders who did it?" Sirius answered with a question.

"What will we write it with?" They thought about it for a while, and James began to pace. "I should have got some paint during the break."

"Oh! Flitwick has some paint. The third years use it to test their levitation balance." Peter said remembering something the teacher had told him during his first detention.

"Perfect!" Sirius exclaimed running off.

"How does he intend to get some of it?" Peter asked James who shrugged.

"I have no idea."

When Remus came out they went to find Sirius. They found him carrying a small jug of green paint.

"How did you get it without him seeing?" Peter asked amazed.

"I didn't, I brought it to me." He showed them by levitating the bucket.

"Green?" James asked, noticing the bright neon green color of the paint.

"It was either that or bright pink. I refuse to be associated with the color pink." Sirius shrugged and stuffed the jug in his pocket.

"I don't think that will be enough." Remus added.

"I reduced the size of it, when I undo it the rest will fill it back up. I'll do that under the table." He explained as they waked towards the Great Hall.

They were glad to see the Great Hall full for lunch. It was the perfect setting for the Marauders. Dumbledore stood to talk to the students. Sirius hid the paint and levitated the brush to an area far away from them, still keeping it hidden.

"If I could have everyone's attention please." Dumbledore began. "I hope that everyone had an excellent holiday. I am afraid I have to tell you that the Hogwarts caretaker Filtch, has felt the need to add a new item to the banned list. Fanged Frisbees are no longer allowed within the school." Sirius and James laughed loudly. Remus hid his face in his hands.

"Now I hope that is the last of the bad news we have to hear..." Dumbledore's voice trailed off as he read what was now written on the wall

And That is where our opinions differ then.

To the Marauders enjoyment McGonagall slammed her head into her palm. Dumbledore kept a straight face, but there was humor in his voice.

"Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

Sirius whispered to Remus. "Ready?" Remus nodded.

"I'll tell you when." James told Remus, James had a good view of the entire room, while Remus and Sirius's had their back to most of the students.

Sirius began to write his next response, choosing to ignore Dumbledore's rhetorical statement.

The Marauders would like to welcome the students home.

Sirius paused for a moment, and James whispered.

"Now."

Remus recited the spell and was a very loud bang and many of the students screamed. There was food everywhere. Remus was sure that there was some on the enchanted ceiling. Sirius pretended to freeze in shock as he finished the conversation between Dumbledore and the Marauders.

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Present.

Sirius dropped the brush and id hit the ground unnoticed. James looked around while trying to get pudding off of his glasses. Most of the girls seemed thoroughly disgusted, quite a few of them were crying over a ruined shirt. Some of the boys seemed to be contemplating a food fight, but McGonagall was giving detentions to anyone she saw anywhere near throwing food.

The Marauders jumped when Sirius screamed loudly. He was covered head to toe in food. His hair was dripping with some strange mixture of pudding and pumpkin juice. The entire school began laughing at him.

"Si, are you ok?" James asked surprised by Sirius' reaction.

"I have pudding in my hair!" Sirius yelled. No one could hold in their laughter, even the girls that had been acting the same way. James and Peter were laughing just as loud as they were. Remus was attempting to hide it, failing miserably.

Sirius ran out of the room. James managed to calm down enough to suggest following him and they walked to the dorm knowing Sirius wouldn't get out of the shower for at least an hour.

When they got back to the dorm they sat and waited for him to get out. To their surprise it only took him half an hour. He smiled at them when he saw them.

"What was that?" James asked smirking.

"I felt like making a scene." Sirius laughed.

"So you did that just for attention?" Remus asked. He was confused, weren't there better ways of getting attention.

"Yes." He said smiling hugely.

"Everyone thinks you're a prat now." James said smirking.

Sirius just shrugged. "They can think what they want."

"Hey if nothing else no one will ever suspect that you are one of the Marauders, which means we are all safe." James sat on his bed.

"Umm, Ya let's pretend that is why I did it." Sirius said and laughed. The Marauders laughed. They were glad to be back together.

A/N) I am so sorry for taking so long to update. I have horrible writers block, I have no idea what is going to happen to them from, now to the end of the year. I welcome ideas, but it will probably be a long time before I can update again. I am so sorry.