On the last morning of his first year at Hogwarts, Sirius awoke at the crack of dawn and went about waking his three friends as usual. First he pulled open the curtains of the bed next to his and looked down at James Potter's sleeping face with a wicked grin. He pounced on the sleeping boy who came awake swinging his fists wildly, trying to land a solid punch even before he opened his eyes. After ten months of rooming with Sirius he was used to this unconventional wake-up call.
Sirius laughed as he rolled off of James, dodging his fists, and turned his attention to the bed on the other side of James's. Peter's nasal snores could be heard all the way across the room as Sirius crept toward his unsuspecting victim. He threw open the curtains around the smallest Marauder, but instead of jumping on Peter, he bent close to his ear and screamed at the top of his lungs.
Peter sat upright, screaming his lungs out, fear written on his face until he caught sight of Sirius's gloating grin. "Get's ya every time, Pete." Sirius crowed.
He turned toward the last Marauder. Moony…
"Hey James, wanna help me wake the wolf?"
"Sirius!"
"Aw don't worry, Fred here" he motioned toward the last occupied bed, "could sleep through the ceiling falling on his head."
James grinned. "Guess you're right. So, any ideas on how to wake Moony up without loosing any limbs?"
"Plenty, but they'd all leave us with a pretty pissed off werewolf on our hands once he actually got his lazy ass out of bed."
"Sirius, it's five thirty in the morning, anything you do to Remus is going to piss him off."
"Very true, mate."
"We could just leave him alone 'til he wakes up." Peter piped up nervously; there was nothing that frightened Peter more than his friends' tempers.
"Geese, Pettigrew, how boring can you be?" Sirius asked in annoyance.
"How bout dropping a bucket of water on him?" James suggested, ignoring Peter.
"Then we'd have a sopping wet, angry werewolf. Sounds like a plan." Sirius grinned.
"You know Siri, I think you're suicidal." James stated.
"Nah, I just like to live life on the edge."
They sniggered uncontrollably as a bucket of ice water appeared over Remus's tawny head and dumped itself on the sleeping boy. The pale boy sat up, spluttering in shock.
"What the fuck was that?!" he yelled.
Remus launched himself out of bed at the two black haired boys who were still laughing like maniacs. They dodged him easily and he landed in a heap on Sirius's bed.
"Goddamn pranksters!" he growled as they fell into the nearest empty beds, howling in amusement.
"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!" James snorted when he had gotten a hold of himself.
Remus just growled something deep in his throat, waved a hand to dry himself and stomped off into the shower, to the endless amusement of his friends.
"Only Moony would rant and rave about getting wet and then go take a shower." Sirius chuckled affectionately.
By the time he emerged the shower wrapped in a towel, Remus was in a much better mood.
"So why in Merlin's name did you two wake me up in the middle of the night?" he asked with only the slightest trace of annoyance.
"Moony, it's 5:45; that is not the middle of the night." Sirius chuckled.
"Says the kid who spends most nights wandering the castle looking for secret passages." Remus retorted.
"Yeah, well I've prolly found most of the secret passages in the castle and the map's almost finished." Sirius rejoined.
"And thank Merlin, you let me sleep through most of it, but what's the plan this time?"
"We're going to give Filch a nice wake up call." James said, an evil grin spreading across his face.
"I think about forty of Filibuster's Long-Lasting Fireworks, a handful of Dungbombs and a few overflowing toilets should be nice enough." Sirius added innocently.
Remus grinned. "We're gonna be so dead. Count me in."
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The Marauders were met with applause from their fellow students when they entered the Great Hall; everyone had seen the effects of the prank and knew exactly who was responsible. Much to Remus's amazement, they had managed to set off all their remaining Dungbombs and fireworks in different passages throughout the school and cause all of the toilets in the castle (even the staff restroom on the fifth floor) to overflow, which was made worse by the frog spawn they had put in them first, and all without getting caught.
They'd past Filch, who was busy mopping up water, on their way to the feast and the look on his face told them that he knew just as well as the students who had caused all the mischief, but he had no proof and the Marauders were going to get away Scott-free.
The feast was wonderful; there were mounds of delicious foods and everyone seemed to get their favorite dish. Remus was stuffing himself as though he thought he'd never eat again, Sirius was alternately snogging with his girlfriend Krissy and bragging with James about how brilliant and untouchable they were to have gotten away with their prank. Peter would occasionally throw something into the conversation, but the two best friends would just nod absently and go back to whatever they'd been talking about.
When the feast finally drew to a close Dumbledore stood up to make his end of the year speech.
"Another year has come and gone and I am not getting any younger. I must say that this has been a very entertaining year." he glanced over at the Marauders before continuing. "I hope your minds are somewhat fuller than they were when you arrived here, and I am quite sure that what your teachers spent ten months cramming into your little minds will have fallen out by the start of the next term. I hope you all have wonderful summers. To our departing seventh years; I have enjoyed watching you grow and I will enjoy even more seeing the world strip from you your convictions that you know everything there is to know." his blue eyes were twinkling merrily. "I look forward to seeing life confuse and befuddle until you are quite certain that you know nothing other than that we all walk upside down on our heads and Brussels sprouts are every bit as tasty as treacle tarts, and then you will achieve true wisdom." The seventh years laughed uproariously. "And to our younger students; I look forward to more years of filling your heads with as many things, useful or useless, as possible so that one day you may leave here as clueless as your elders."
There was tumultuous applause and much laughter and pounding on the tables. Everyone said fondly that Dumbledore was completely off his rocker and that he was the greatest wizard who'd ever lived. As soon as the raucous died down, Dumbledore continued his speech.
"Now it is time to award the House Cup. Fourth place goes to Slytherin with 325 points. Third goes to Hufflepuff with 372 points. Second to Ravenclaw with 391 points. And the House Cup goes to Gryffindor with 423 points. Congratulations Gryffindor!"
The cheering from the Gryffindor table was so loud it seemed to shake the enchanted roof, which at the moment was showing the most gorgeous sunny day anyone could wish for. The Marauders were shocked; they'd stopped worrying about House standings ages ago, thinking that there was no chance of Gryffindor winning with all the points they'd lost. They'd been so focused on enjoying their last hours at school that they hadn't even noticed that the Great Hall was decorated in Gryffindor colors with a great golden lion behind the High table.
Krissy noticed their confusion and laughed.
"Didn't you hear? McGonagall, Flitwick and a bunch of other teachers gave points for everyone to get over 100 on their exams. I think they did it just because none of them wanted to see Slytherin win again, but whatever the reason was it got us almost a hundred points." Her eyes glittered at the Marauders. Obviously she knew just who had gotten them those extra points. "And Malfloy lost Slytherin 150 when him, Crabbe, and Goyle got caught picking on a little Ravenclaw first year and calling her a Mudblood." she added.
Sirius looked happier than he had in days. "So you're saying Malfloy won the Cup for us? I'll have to remember to thank him."
The Marauders grinned at each other. It was a perfect end to a wonderful year; they'd won back a few of the points they'd lost with their mischief-making, Malfloy had lost the Cup for Slytherin, and next year Gryffindor would have a chance for the Quidditch Cup, too. It didn't get much better than that.
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A/N: Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! I love u guys. I uploaded the rest of this story cuz I'm going on vacation until school starts so I might not have time later. Hope you like.