A/N: Thanks to KarenBloody for the wonderful review. I swear you ppl r giving me an ego almost as big as James's! Haha, and I just realized that the last like 4 chapters have had very little plot other than a few pranks, but then again I doubt there was anything vitally important that went on during the Marauders school years, and I don't feel like rewriting it. Hope u like. ^_^
Professor McGonagall walked down the rows of desks, watching sternly as her students attempted to turn tea cups into tortoises. "Very good, Miss Evans. Try saying the spell a bit louder, Miss Thompson, and with more confidence. Like this." she demonstrated the spell for a petite girl with black hair.
The sound of breaking china caught her attention and she spun around to face Peter, who had broken his tea cup by hitting it too hard with his wand. "Mr. Pettigrew! You clumsy boy, how many times have I told you to be more careful??!! You do not need to hit the cup as hard as you can! A gentle tap will suffice." she stormed.
"S-sorry Professor." Peter stuttered, cowering under McGonagall's anger.
Sirius muffled a snigger in his hand, and she whirled on him. "I suppose you find this funny, Mr. Black." she glared at Sirius's tortoise, whose shell was white with floral-patterned tea cups on it, just like the one the tortoise had been a few minutes before.
Sirius, blinked innocently at the angry teacher. "I know you said no flowers, Professor, but are tea cups ok?" his big blue eyes formed an adorable puppy dog expression that could cause just about any teacher to forgive him. Except McGonagall.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she turned to James and Remus who were struggling valiantly not to laugh. James had been miffed at her for giving him a pink tea cup instead of the Gryffindor scarlet one, so he had made his tortoise pink also. Remus's tortoise looked perfectly normal, but he had just been muttering some kind of spell over it.
"You three think that just because you're very skilled wizards you don't need to follow the same rules that govern your peers. If you disrupt my class again trying to be amusing, I will give you a week of detentions with Mr. Filch. Are we clear?"
"But Professor McGonagall, I haven't done anything!" Remus gasped, sounding shocked that she would even suggest such a thing, and giving her his best innocent look. Remus seemed to be the only one whose charm had any effect on Professor McGonagall.
She pursed her lips into a very thin line, but said "No, I suppose you haven't, this time at least."
She had hardly turned her back when Remus's tortoise opened its mouth, allowing a stream of hot tea to pour from it. Remus's innocent look immediately turned impish as his friends glared at him for getting out of trouble.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The first clear weekend of the year found the Marauders out of doors, sitting under a beech tree and discussing their latest illegal trip to Hogsmeade. Sirius was surveying the grounds with a superior, bored look that made most girls giggle and say that he was 'soooo hott!' Sirius couldn't stand sitting still and he got bored quicker than anyone his friends had ever met, unless he was pulling a prank that needed lots of planning. Then he could become so wrapped up in his scheming that nothing but his growling stomach could disturb him.
Suddenly his crystal blue eyes lit up, and a grin spread slowly across his face. "Who's up for a bet?" he interrupted Peter who was babbling excitedly about all the sweets he had bought at Honeydukes.
James's eyes lit up. "What's the bet, mate?"
"I bet I can get closer to the trunk of that Whomping Willow than any of you can." Sirius responded, smiling impishly.
"You're on, we both know I have better reflexes." James said, jumping to his feet and heading off toward the Willow.
"Just because I think there are better positions to play than Seeker, does NOT mean you are faster than me, James, my boy." Sirius disagreed as he sprang to his feet and chased after is best friend.
Remus rolled his eyes. "They're both completely psychotic." he muttered more to himself than Peter as they followed the two black-haired boys at a more dignified pace.
"Pool the cash." James told them as the two less enthusiastic boys reached them. He and Sirius immediately began emptying their pockets onto the ground.
Remus raised an eyebrow as he dug into his own pockets for the change he had won from James in their last bet. "Sir, as much as we love you, I don't think anyone wants your old Droobles Blowing Gum or the feathers off your quill."
Sirius made a face at him as he continued to dump all the trash in his pockets in the pile. "Well then I guess you don't want these left-over Dungbombs, either." he teased as he pulled a few Zonko's products out of his pockets.
By the time Sirius finished searching his pockets, they had attracted quite a crowd and other boys were adding to the pile, some even wanted to join them in trying to win it.
"Ok" James called. "On three; one… two… three!"
The boys all darted forward. Peter tripped over his own feet and fell flat on his face, nearly avoiding a blow to the head from the tree. A few kids received glancing blows as they dodged too late, and one Ravenclaw doubled over as he took a hit directly in the stomach. Remus, James, Sirius, and two other boys were still dancing around dodging the Willow's branches when a furious voice behind them yelled for them to get away from the tree.
The students turned to find Professor Hilda, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, running toward them. "Did you not hear the Headmaster's warning when you first arrived?" she shrieked. "That tree could kill you! Back in the castle, all of you! And you know gambling is illegal at Hogwarts, so whoever that belongs to, I suggest you make it disappear from my sight immediately." she motioned to the large pile of money on the ground.
James stepped forward and used a banishing spell on the money. "We'll divide it up later." he whispered to the other two boys who were still in the running, and the group dispersed.
After splitting up the money and finding themselves, except for Peter, a good deal richer than they had been earlier in the day, the Marauders were wandering the school grounds looking for more trouble to get into when Sirius's eyes lit up mischievously. He elbowed James in the ribs and pointed at a lone figure walking toward the castle. It was Severus Snape, his uncommonly large nose glued to what appeared to be an advanced book on the dark arts. He was alone for once instead of shadowing Lucius Malfloy and his gang.
James's dark eyes began to gleam roguishly. Sirius and James were often mistaken for brothers, but not because of looks; the only physical feature they had in common was their jet black hair (even that wasn't very similar because James's hair stood up wildly in every direction, while Sirius seemed to roll out of bed with his hair perfect). Their impish grins and the merry twinkle in their eyes showed how much they were alike under the skin, though.
"What do you boys say we go pay Snape back for that comment about Muggle-borns he made in Potions the other day." James asked, a wicked grin appearing on his face.
"Come on you guys, don't sink to his level." Remus said.
"Oh don't worry about us, we're all in Gryffindor, remember? We could never sink as low as a Slytherin." Sirius assured him.
"Besides, we won't hurt him, we're just gonna have a little fun." James added.
They headed off in the direction Snape had gone and caught up to him just outside the marble doors. James took out his wand and murmured an incantation. Green and sliver ribbons swirled out of his wand onto Snape's back, forming into words that read: BOYCOTT THE EVIL CREATION KNOWN AS THE SHOWER!!
The Marauders, even Remus, sniggered uncontrollably, but Snape was so interested in his book that he didn't notice. As he walked, people from the other three houses stopped to laugh at the sallow-faced and greasy-haired Slytherin.