The Marauders were in the library when the Gryffindor girls came in looking for some peace and quiet; the O.W.L.s were coming up for fifth year students and the Gryffindor prefects were in such foul moods that they had been giving out detentions if anyone dared to so much as sneeze in the common room and disturb their studying. James was helping Peter study for a big test coming up in Transfiguration and Remus was going looking up different spells, making sure he had them all memorized. Sirius was absently paging through a large book looking of pranks.
Krissy Miller led her little group over to the table the Marauders were sitting at. "Do you boys mind if we join you?" she asked.
The boys looked up. Sirius grinned at her and motioned for them to pull up some chairs while his three friends looked slightly uncomfortable. Sirius and Krissy had been going out long enough that they were used to her presence, but having all the girls there at once still made them slightly nervous; Sirius had the feeling that for Remus and James, it was the presence of Lily and Lindy, respectively that made them act like fools. The girls sat down and took out their books.
"So what are you looking at?" Krissy asked Sirius. She leaned over him to see what the book was about. "Curses? Shouldn't you be studying for Transfig?"
"Sirius and I have a bet on that he can't ace all McGonagall's tests without studying." James broke in.
"McGonagall gives practical exams. It'll be the easiest fifteen Galleons I've ever made." Sirius said dismissively.
Lily Evans rolled her eyes. "You'll fail the End of Term Exams," she told him, "then you won't be able to come back for second year." Sirius just raised an eyebrow challengingly. Lily suddenly squealed as her chair transformed into a huge white stallion and began pawing the ground and snorting.
"Sirius!" James scolded as he offered a hand to help Lily of the horse as it began to rear.
Sirius laughed as Lily shrieked and grabbed James's hand. She slid off the horse and nearly lost her balance, but James caught her.
"I give you a great excuse for holding Evans, and you bitch at me." Sirius tutted at his best friend as he turned the great white horse back into a chair.
It was hard to tell who looked more furious; James or Lily, but their responses were cut of by Madam Hooch swooping down on them.
"Mr. Black!" she screeched, "What in the name of Merlin do you think you're doing! This is a library, not a zoo. Get out and I don't want to see you back in here for the rest of the year! Move!" with that she turned on her heel and stomped away.
Sirius fought back a grin and turned to Krissy.
"Wanna find something more interesting to do?" his eyes sparkled devilishly, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind just what he wanted to do. "I'll help you out with the Transfiguration crap later."
She smiled impishly at him. "I'm sure we could find something to do if you're bored."
Everyone groaned. "Get a room, you two." James said. Sirius just winked as he and Krissy walked toward the door.
A few hours later he sauntered into their dorm with a cocky grin and threw himself down on his bed, ignoring the inquiring stares of his best friends. Finally curiosity got the best of them, and James broke the silence.
"So where'd you go, you didn't spend this whole time in the Astronomy Tower, did you?"
"Nah, went to Hogsmeade" Sirius shrugged.
"WHAT?"
"Don't worry, she's not the type to tell on us for sneaking out of the castle."
James considered and finally seemed to decide his friend was right.
"So what did you do?" Remus asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Showed her the town, introduced her to Madam Rosemerta, found a place to make out, you know, the usual." Again his was unable to keep his voice casual as he fought the grin trying to spread across his handsome face.
Remus rolled his eyes. "I swear one of these days you're going to have a girlfriend who doesn't like it when you kiss and tell."
Sirius just shrugged again. "That's their problem, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Gryffindor lost in their last Quidditch match versus Slytherin, which gave Slytherin the Cup for the sixth year in a row. The entire school was in low spirits that day, except for the Slytherins who paraded around as though they owned the place; picking on younger students and starting fights. Sirius was so mad about loosing the Cup that he almost wanted to go find Bellatrix and wipe the smirk of her face, but other than at meal times, he hadn't seen Bellatrix since McGonagall caught them fighting on the stairs up to Gryffindor Tower. She had obviously realized that if she were to stand any chance of being made Head Girl in two years (she had the highest marks of any girl in her year) she couldn't afford getting caught dueling in the halls with younger students.
She wasn't above sending others to do her dirty work, though and before they could get back to Gryffindor Tower from the Quidditch Pitch, Malfloy showed up flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. The satisfied sneer on his face nearly made Sirius attack him before he had opened his mouth. It was only a restraining hand on his arm that stopped him from launching himself at the blonde boy.
"That's another year that your precious Gryffindor has lost to Slytherin, Black. How does it feel? Now who do you think is stronger?" Malfloy taunted.
"Gryffindor will always be stronger, Malfloy, because we take only the best wizards and don't worry about their backgrounds." Sirius growled.
Malfloy just laughed coolly. "Oh, but Sirius, even in Gryffindor all of Slytherin's beliefs are proved right. All your bright, strong wizards come from wizard families, and the Mudbloods" he sneered at Peter, "are bumbling fools like this one."
He hardly had gotten the words out when three bodies launched themselves at him. Crabbe and Goyle just blinked stupidly for a moment as Malfloy disappeared under a flurry of punches. They glanced from Remus, Sirius and James on top of Malfloy to Peter, alone looking scared and decided to go after the small, defenseless boy. Peter squealed as the two huge third years approached him, drawing the attention of James and Remus, who went to help their friend as Sirius continued to pummel Malfloy.
Crabbe had a hold of Peter's collar with one hand and his other was cocked back to punch, when Remus got to him. Remus was as tall as Crabbe, but only about a third as wide, but he had the strength of a wolf on his side. He grabbed Crabbe's fist and used it to yank him backwards away from Peter. Crabbe was so startled by being treated the same way he treated younger kids, that he released Peter.
James slipped between his small friend and Goyle, who was looking confused by the latest turn of events. Neither of Malfoy's bodyguards could be considered intelligent, and they were virtually unable to think on their feet. Without Malfloy telling him what to do, Goyle could only try to use his sheer size to achieve whatever he wanted, which was little help when James used a Stunning Spell on him.
Malfloy was currently cowering and whimpering under Sirius's blows, but Sirius was in a rage. He released years of pent up anger at his family and the people they associated with on the boy he had been told by his parents to look up to. He didn't notice the professor running up behind him, yelling for him to get off Malfloy, but suddenly he found himself flying through the air.
He landed on his feet and spun around, and found himself staring at little Professor Flitwick. He almost laughed out loud in relief, if McGonagall had caught him fighting with Slytherins again… then he caught what Flitwick was saying and his heart fell.
"Detentions with Mr. Filch until he decides that you have learned your lessons!"
"But Professor, we'll be there until we graduate!" James argued.
"You should have thought about that before starting another fight at school, Mr. Potter." James and Sirius just grumbled, but Remus spoke up.
"Professor Flitwick, Peter wasn't fighting. He shouldn't get detention, too." Peter looked slightly surprised; after all the fight had been about him, even if he wasn't involved.
Sirius and James nodded their agreement. "Malfloy was insulting Peter's family and we attacked him. Peter didn't do anything." Sirius added.
"Very well, the six of you have detentions, Mr. Pettigrew is free to go."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sirius Black and James Potter sat in the back of the Transfiguration classroom, their heads bent together as they studied off a small piece of parchment. These notes were not from any of their classes, nor was the spell they were about to perform something that their professors would approve of. It was very advanced magic, and if they pulled it off they would probably be spending the last week before the end-of-year exams waxing every surface in the entire castle, but that was what made the prospect so amusing. Exams started in two days and they wanted to squeeze in one last trick.
This prank was to be their best so far; the biggest troublemakers Hogwarts had ever known had to go out with a bang. Since it was Sirius's idea he got the honor of performing the actual spell, but he wouldn't have been able to do it without his partners in crime. Remus had logged many long hours in the library over the last few weeks looking up the spell, in addition to studying for exams and finishing all the homework he had missed at the last full moon, because neither Sirius nor James had the patience to look at a book for that amount of time.
James got the job of ensuring that the rest of the school found out about their prank, and Peter would cause a distraction so that Sirius and James could pull off their parts right under McGonagall's nose. It had taken over a month of practice and preparation and it was going to be the culmination of everything they had done all year. They had chosen McGonagall's class because of its central location in the castle and because Sirius loved nothing more than to push her buttons; McGonagall was the strictest teacher at the school, and it made her the target of many of their stunts.
Sirius looked over his notes one last time to make sure they were fully memorized (this was the first time since arriving at Hogwarts that he had ever bothered to memorize anything) before incinerating them with a simple spell. He nodded at Peter who was looking slightly nervous.
Peter took his cue and began whispering loud enough for McGonagall to overhear. "Hey guys, did you see that pet tarantula Jason Marks had yesterday? It was huge!" he said the first thing that came to his mind.
McGonagall turned to glare at Peter. "Mr. Pettigrew, do you have something you would like to share with the class?" she asked stiffly.
"Er, no ma'am." Peter squeaked.
"I am tired of you four disrupting my class. You will sit here for the rest of the term." She flicked her wand and an empty seat appeared in the far corner of the classroom. Peter slowly gathered up his supplies and tried to look disappointed about being separated from his friends, but he had to fight back a smile. Things couldn't be going more perfectly.
In order to really distract McGonagall, he had to be far enough away from Sirius that she couldn't see the black-haired boy while talking to Peter. A few minutes later they had received the feathers that they were supposed to turn into a ball of yarn. Peter pointed his wand at the feather and muttered something; he had been practicing the spell with Remus, and the feather immediately caught fire.
Peter pretended to panic and drug his sleeve through the fire in a fake attempt to put it out. The baggy sleeves of his robes caught fire and he yelped as the flames licked his skin. Suddenly the heat vanished and the pain turned into a pleasant tickling sensation. He continued to squeal in pretend pain, throwing a thankful look at Remus who was trying to look surprised and worried while murmuring the incantation for a Flame Freezing spell under his breath.
Sirius had already taken advantage of the momentary chaos; by the time Professor McGonagall reached Peter and put the fire out, he had transformed her desk into a raging bull. The animal charged around the room for a moment until it caught sight of James who had turned his robes red and was wearing a long billowing cape. The red cape infuriated the bull and it turned to charge at James, but the messy-haired youth had already ran out the door.
With the bull racing after him, James dashed up the corridor, yelling and laughing as loud as he could. Up and down the hall, doors opened and teachers poked their heads out to see what all the commotion was about. Students leapt out of their seats and crowded behind their professors to see what was going on. When they saw James Potter being chased down the hall by a crazed bull, no one was surprised. People laughed and rolled their eyes and some even cheered him on; everyone at Hogwarts knew of the four crazy first years that called themselves the Marauders and lived to drive their teachers insane.
By the time James had reached the end of the hallway, Professor McGonagall was running after him and the other teachers seemed to overcome their surprise to realize that the boy would be in serious danger if he was caught by the angry bull.
James was fast, but the bull was gaining quickly and the hall was only so long. Just when the bystanders though James had cornered himself, he leapt over the railing- and landed on a staircase that was in the process of moving up to join their floor. He hit the steps running and was already on the first landing when the top of the staircase connected with the hall.
With James no longer running before him, the bull began to loose interest and looked around for other targets, so James took off his cloak and waved it toward the large animal, yelling to get its attention. The bull charged again, but stopped nervously at the top stair.
"Toro, toro!" James taunted, using something he had seen on a Muggle television once.
Just as he'd seen on the TV, the bull became enraged and it decided to bypass the steps and just jump onto the landing. James was about to turn and run down the stairs, when the bull suddenly changed back into a desk in mid-leap.
James looked up at the top of the stairs to see a very red-faced Professor McGonagall staring down at him, looking more outraged than James had ever seen her. The students who were still watching the chase broke into applause, and James grinned. Wrong move; McGonagall's lips became so thin they seemed to have been drawn on her face by a pencil and her eyes narrowed dangerously. James climbed the stairs apprehensively, and as soon as he was within reach, McGonagall grabbed him roughly by the ear.
"What in the name of Merlin were you thinking?" she bellowed. "You could have been killed! Some innocent student could have been injured! BLACK!"
Sirius stepped forward from the group of Gryffindor students standing in front of the Transfiguration room, slipping his wand back into his robes. He's had it trained on the bull since the moment it chased James out the door, ready to perform the counter-spell if it got too close to his best friend. He was grinning from ear to ear, which further infuriated Professor McGonagall.
"You gotta admit, Professor it was pretty impressive magic." He said, flashing his million-dollar smile that could make any girl in the room swoon and most professors let him off the hook.
It didn't work on McGonagall, though, and his smile turned into a slight grimace of pain as she grabbed his ear and twisted it harshly.
"Don't you tell me what I have to do, young man." she growled.
He looked over at James who winked, and his grin reappeared. This seemed to frustrate Professor McGonagall who dragged the two boys off down the hall, to the continued applause of their fellow students.
As they were hauled past the other two Marauders, Remus winked at them. "See you guys in Herbology." he said, sounding extremely amused that he and Peter were getting off the hook.
"Thanks, Moony." James said sarcastically. He quickly shut up as McGonagall gave his ear a painful twist.
McGonagall lead dragged them down passageway after passageway, up two flights of stairs, and through a hidden door (one glance at Sirius confirmed James's suspicion that his best friend was carefully memorizing the route and filing it away to add to the Marauders' Map) and finally into a hall that neither of them had been in before, which was saying something.
Professor McGonagall stopped them in front of a large gargoyle statue and said "Fizzing Wizzbee." Sirius and James blinked at each other in surprise, when the gargoyle suddenly moves over to reveal a hidden door. Professor McGonagall strode forward, still holding the two boys by their ears. They climbed a marble staircase and stopped in front of a large wooden door.
Professor McGonagall finally released Sirius to knock on the door, but kept a firm hold of James, who glared at his best friend for getting off easy.
"It's unlocked." called a familiar voice.
The boys looked at each other apprehensively; it was the first time they had been sent to the headmaster's office and neither of them was sure what Dumbledore would do, but on the other hand, it was a great way to end the year. Professor McGonagall pushed the door open and shoved the two boys inside.
"Good afternoon, Minerva." Professor Dumbledore said cheerfully. "What have these two young troublemakers done today?"
Professor McGonagall looked slightly miffed at Dumbledore's light tone, and she answered rather stiffly. "They seemed to think it amusing to transfigure my desk into a raging bull and have it chase Mr. Potter around the corridor."
Dumbledore's face was serious, but his blue eyes were twinkling merrily, which the boys took to be a good sign. "Transfigured your desk, did you say? That's very impressive."
James and Sirius broke into huge grins, but Professor McGonagall's lips pursed together.
"I'll be the first to admit that these boys are very advanced for their age, but that does not excuse such behavior. Someone could have been hurt!"
"We were careful, Professor, honest." Sirius broke in.
"That's enough, Mr. Black!" Professor McGonagall cut him off.
"Now, Minerva, if we want to find an appropriate punishment, I think we need to hear their side of the story." Dumbledore chided softly.
James thought it best to let Sirius handle the explanation and hope that his natural charm worked better on Dumbledore than McGonagall.
"Well, sir," Sirius began. "I was really impressed when Professor McGonagall turned her desk into a pig on the first day of school, and I really wanted to learn how to do that instead of transfiguring feathers into rats and stuff like that, so me and James looked up the spell…"
The Marauders had a pact that if one of them every got caught they wouldn't turn in the others, so Sirius would leave Remus and Peter's parts out.
"and we thought that turning it into a bull would be a bit more, um, entertaining than a pig. With the exams so close, everyone is really tense, so we thought it would be nice to have some comic relief. Anyways, we've been practicing for a long time and we finally got the spell right, so we decided to perform it today. We both know the reversal spell, and if it got too close to James, we were going to turn it back into a bull, but we wanted to give everyone a good laugh first." Sirius looked expectantly at Dumbledore, his big blue eyes looking innocent, and flashing his winning smile.
"Well, it sounds like there was very little danger," he turned to Professor McGonagall, "and I'm sure you do not want them expelled for such a silly joke, especially when they have the best marks in their year, and since I've heard they are both very talented on the Quidditch pitch." His eyes were definitely sparkling now. "We both know Gryffindor could use some good players; six years without the Cup…"
Professor McGonagall was looking extremely peeved, but seemed to agree with the part about the Quidditch team. McGonagall was the head of Gryffindor House, and wasn't without a health sense of competition.
"Of course not, Albus, but I've tried everything I can think of as far as punishments go and nothing has worked." she said.
"Yes, I see the point. Well as long as no one is hurt in their pranks, and they don't mind spending all their spare time in detention, a little excitement is good for Hogwarts." he said, blue eyes glittering merrily.
McGonagall looked shocked. "But Professor!"
"I'm sorry, Minerva, but I don't know what else to tell you… unless you'd like to hand them over to Filch and see if his ideas of discipline work, but I'm sure that would result in some very angry letters from parents."
"Of course not, but there must be some measures taken. These two are completely uncontrollable!"
"And two of the brightest students Gryffindor has known in a long time." Dumbledore added, causing Sirius and James to blush slightly. It was one thing to know they were very smart for their ages, but quite another to be told by one of the greatest wizards of the age.
"That's as it may be. Very well, I guess they will just get another week of detentions. I believe you will be going three weeks into next term."
James and Sirius grinned at each other; they'd gotten off the hook again!