Authors Note: Hallo!!!! I'm not sorry for not doing a chapter, I have been really busy with work at school so it is something which isn't my fault J (for once) Anyway I hope there are still some people who want to read my story!!! I will do my thank you's first, as is tradition.
Mrs Grim- I would never ever forget about you!!!! Even if it seems like I have, oops! I feel very sorry for your brother mind! Has he forgiven you far shouting at him yet? Anyway here is the next chapter and I am sooooo sorry about the long wait!!!
Mrs Black- Thank you very much, I look forward to another review! Lol, I'm cheeky
Sapphireskies- Thankyou! If I knew what non-sensical meant I would reply to what you said but I am thick, lol. Thanx!!!
DarkFire57- Your right I do love Orlando Bloom, but not as much as I love Elijah Wood!!!!!! Lol, I am such a geek, I find him absolutely gorgeous
Heraclas- R u still with that guy Brett??? Cool if you are, that means you won your bet!!!!!! Omg, have you seen the two towers yet!!!! It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo amazing, I swear to you it is so good. It is really funny as well, Especially when Gimli and Legolas are talking behind Helms Deep. I still love Elijah, lol, what about you? Anyhow, I better go, thanx for review(s) See yaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
Princess Gin-Gin- Wow, you related to Sirius!!!! Well I suppose I would be slightly annoyed at first, but I think he shudda said sorry quicker and when he said that she was like her father, that was low! (what the hell am I talking about, I bloody wrote it) I'm sorry this has taken so long to upload and I hope you still review it when it's up!!!
InvisibleInk- Hiya Lauren! You have a nice xmas???? Good, I'm glad you did. Thank you for reviewing hunni, see you at school!!!!!!!
Dimantrien- Omg!!!!! That has just reminded me, I am going to review your story right now!!!! I am sooooo sorry, I haven't reviewed the last chapter!!!!!! Thanx 4 the review!
Faye- Hiya!!!!!!!!! You had a good xmas? I have, lol. I got a massive Lord of the Rings poster off Gav! I was soooooo pleased!!!! Thanx 4 reviewing!
Taraancaiel- Wow your name is so cool!! Even if I can't pronounce it! Thankyou very very much for reviewing. It's really cool writing a story about MWPP cos you can basically create the characters from scratch because JK Rowling has hardly touched them. I hope you review the next chapter!
DeadSEXY- I have just got contact lenses really recently!!! It's amazing, I can see everything (I nevva used to wear my glasses see) Thank you for reviewing!!!!
Gryffcat- Well it isn't soon, but here it is! Thanx for the review!
Wolvesaremylife1- It's okay, however long I take to update I will never leave this story unfinished, however much I wanna move on to another project! When I have finished this one I am going to write a story about Harry's time, with a Slytherin girl in it. Thanx 4 the review xxx
Luke- Why thankyou, that is sooooooo kind!!!!! Thanx 4 the review!!!
HERE IT IS, IT ISN'T AMAZING OR ANYTHING, JUST A NORMAL CHAPTER. I KNOW IT'S BEEN A LONG WAIT BUT, OH WELL. IT'S HERE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12. Halloween Challenges
The next morning at breakfast the Marauders and the girls were sat at the Gryffindor table in absolute silence. The marauders, being the clever pranksters that they were, set all of the pranks for eight am. Which was why they made sure that they were all ready and down at breakfast for ten to. It was a Ravenclaw that started off the fun. The little blonde pigtailed first year walked into the hall, and then fell flat on her backside. Some people laughed, but some went to help her. On getting out of their seats though, they all fell on their backsides too. After this show an even more amusing thing happened.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Shrieked Professor Trelawney, running into the hall, where she was rarely ever seen. "Professor Dumbledore," she wailed hysterically, "I've seen the Grim!! Ohhhh, I have nothing left to live for!" Professor McGonagall was trying to keep her face straight, but she was failing, really badly.
"It was probably a stray dog, Professor," she said. "Ask Mr Filch to look for it, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."
Chaos ensued in the next few minutes. Streamers came from the ceiling, the Beatles were being played very loudly into the hall and food was smeared on the faces of the Slytherins. Narcissa's platinum blonde hair was covered in baked beans and Snape had a fried egg splattered on his face. The food trick had worked. To Sirius' further amusement though, it turned out that James had charmed the Teachers plates to do the same thing. With the gold and red streamers coming from the ceiling, it was obvious who had thought up the pranks.
"Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew!" shouted Professor McGonagall, "You are in DEEP trouble!"
"I don't know what you mean Professor, we haven't done anything wrong. It could have been anyone!" Sirius said, sounding surprisingly convincing.
"When I get proof of this, you will be in detention for the whole year!" she shouted. "Finite Incantatem!"
After that night marauding, Serena had never felt better. She had all her friends' back and she wasn't keeping any secrets from them. For the first time, in a long time Serena couldn't feel a heavy weight on her shoulders. Not everything was back to normal though, because of the fiasco with Filch, Lily and James weren't talking, and when Lily was angry about something, she wouldn't let it go.
"Strutting around like he's the king of the world! He thinks he's sooooo much better than everyone," Lily said angrily in the girls' dormitories. "He thinks the whole female Hogwarts population has a thing for him!"
"And aren't you one of them that has a 'thing for him'?" Serena asked cheekily, at this Lily walked away from Serena in a huff. "Ohh Lily, you know I was only playing with you! Sorry?" Lily who was obviously not amused slammed the door shut. Alaine laughed at the apologetic look on Serena's face.
"You were supposed to think before you said that!" she laughed, Serena smiled at her. Alaine was a quiet girl to those who didn't know her, but when she began to trust you, she was quite bubbly and loud. "Why is she still arguing with him anyway? It can't be because he took her the wrong way when they were trying to find the Common Room, that's just stupid!"
"You're telling me! I reckon something else happened while they were out pranking, I mean Lily wouldn't get that upset over Filch now, would she? I really don't understand it."
"Maybe he came on to her, that might be why she's angry with him!" Alaine said excitedly.
"Nah, if he'd have tried to kiss her or anything, she wouldn't be mad, she'd be ecstatic," Serena and Alaine laughed, just as Lily walked into the room. She had a far out look on her face, as though she wasn't quite with the others. Serena didn't find this unusual, as Lily was always going off into her own little world.
"Lily," said Alaine, trying to be as innocent as she could be, "What exactly happened when you went pranking with James? ''Cos you seem a bit...erm...hostile towards him." Serena let out a relieved sigh, at least she didn't say anything that could make Lily get angry with her. Lily bit into her lip and her forehead creased with an agonising sort of worry.
"We had an argument, about the argument that Serena and Sirius had," she said, casting a glance at Serena, "I asked him why he took Sirius' side when he knew that he was wrong. He said all this stuff about loyalty and I got a bit angry. I told him that he shouldn't have taken sides. Then he started shouting at me, telling me I shouldn't either! But that isn't right! The only reason I took your side Serena, was because you were in the right!"
"Wait a minute, I'm really confused," Serena said, "Why are you arguing now, what is the point in arguing over something that has already been sorted out, and has nothing to do with you and James! If you don't go over to that dorm now and make friends with him, I swear I will do it for you! And believe me, I might not be as considerate about it as you are."
Lily shook head laughingly, gave Serena a small smile and walked out of the dorm. Alaine looked at Serena, a wide and impressed grin spread on her face.
"Well I never thought you had it in you!" she said laughing
"Ahh you learn something new everyday" Serena said, before lying down on her bed, continuing to read her muggle storybook, Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
The next day was what everyone had been waiting for, Halloween. It was always a special occasion at Hogwarts and this year was no exception. Professor Dumbledore had turned the Great Hall into what looked like a Gothic Castle. The golden fittings were now black and rusty bronze. The tables had been completely modified, they were now black marble, shiny to touch. There were also many ugly gargoyles that were really alive and snarled at the students as they passed. The students had been told that they were allowed to wear a costume instead of their usual robes. Lily wore an outfit that made her look like an angel. She had also performed a tricky little charm to make a halo of light shine above her head all night. Alaine was dressed as Cleopatra, she was very self-conscious of this though. She had never worn an outfit so revealing before but because she had friends that would stick up for her she didn't care. Serena dressed as Eliza Doolittle in the Embassy Ball Scene, she wore a very delicate cream dress with pearls and diamonds all over it. It belonged to Lily but she had lent her it. The boys, who might I add, have no imagination, wore varying colours of Vampire costumes.
"Well that was clever," Alaine said sarcastically to Sirius, "and the Irish lads haven't come up with anything better either!" she pointed this out as Aiden, Roy and Ryan all came downstairs, wearing Vampire outfits.
When all the fifth years were gathered downstairs, they walked down towards the Great Hall together laughing about everything and anything. Then Sirius brought up a subject that usually everyone liked to forget.
"So Serena, have you had any run-ins with Narcissa lately?" he asked, everyone's faces blanched. No one was quite sure how Serena would take this remark, but luckily for Sirius, she answered it perfectly normally.
"No I haven't actually, I didn't realise it but the last run-in we had was at the ball! Doesn't matter though, you've probably jinxed me now Sirius, I bet she says something tonight. She's bound to say something about my costume, 'who do you think you are, the Queen?' I can blame Lily over that though, she lent it to me." She smiled at Lily when she said this, she would trust Lily with her life. So naturally, she trusted her with her wardrobe.
"Well," said Sirius, grinning, "We aren't complaining at all about your costume. Congratulations Lily I say!" Serena blushed and put her head down, she still wasn't used to compliments, especially from Sirius. The party reached the Great Hall and sat down in their usual places. Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his announcement.
"Hello students! My you look so colourful, it's great to see you out of those boring black uniforms. Tonight I will make an announcements so bare with me. The Quidditch season will take place a little bit later this year, " James and Sirius groaned dramatically, "This is because freak weather has been predicted by our Divination teacher Professor Trelawney." Most of the students laughed out loud at this comment, Sibyll Trelawney was never right. "The season will begin at the beginning of January. Now that that is over with, I think we should have some food," Professor Dumbledore snapped his fingers and the delicious feast materialised in front of the students. After eating their delicious feast (and starting a food fight against the Slytherins) the Gryffindors set off to their common room, but the way was blocked by Narcissa and her friends.
"What do you want?" said Rose, one of the Irish girls. Like the original Gryffindors she had grown to dislike the Slytherins. If looks could kill, Rose would have been dead.
"Actually, I have a proposition for you all." At this she looked at Serena in particular, "We, the Slytherins, have decided it has been a long time since our Quidditch teams have had anyone to cheer them on properly. So we are starting a cheer leading squad. But then I thought to my self, it wouldn't really be fair for Slytherin to have a team if the other houses didn't. We've already asked the other two houses, Hufflepuff are up for it and so are Ravenclaw. So, what do you reckon?"
Serena looked into Narcissa's eyes. They were filled with a nasty sort of mischief. As if she knew something that they didn't. "What do you get out of it?" Serena asked sharply.
"Why? Don't you trust me?" asked Narcissa sweetly.
"About as far as we can throw you!" Lily said angrily.
"Well you know, if you want to chicken out of it, that's fine with me, but you will be the only house not doing it. The only house not supporting your team," with this she winked at James and Sirius. This seemed to flare Lily's temper.
"Fine we'll do it...and...er.... Serena will be our Captain!" Serena looked at Lily with her eyes wide open. She turned to Narcissa who was smiling happily.
"Well Riddle, it looks like we're rivals, doesn't it? Oh, did I also mention to you that most Gryffindors have this silly sort of problem?"
Serena looked at her curiously, "What do you mean, problem?"
"Well you see, there used to be cheerleading teams at Hogwarts quite a few years ago. There was even a contest. Slytherin won it every year, they were the best. This is one thing you won't beat us at. This is one thing you won't beat me at," this last comment was directed at Serena.
"Erm.... no offence or anything Narcissa, but I think you're mistaken. You see, I know I can dance, I know Serena can dance, she used to take lessons. Reemi can dance as well, we won't make anything easy for you," Lily said this with a happy glint in her eye.
"Well I don't care if you can all dance. You aren't gonna look better than us on that pitch. We are the best, and after this season is over, you'll realise that, okay?"
Nobody answered her, instead they just barged passed her to get to their common room. Serena waited for Sirius who was having an argument with Snape. She watched with interest as she saw Sirius' temper flare like she had never seen it before. Serena edged closer to hear what they were talking about.
"Are you going to leave her alone, or am I going to have to make you?" Sirius said venomously.
"Like I'd do what you asked me to, she doesn't belong to you so you have no rule over what happens in her life," Serena saw that they were both getting very angered, so she decided to step in.
"Come on Sirius we have to go.... do...some Charms homework," Sirius didn't seem to hear her but he followed, not taking his eyes off Severus. The two of them had got half way down the hallway when curiosity got the better of Serena.
"What on earth was all that about? Is he hurting someone? Who should he stay away form?" she asked, looking at his angered face with worry.
"Nobody Serena, it doesn't matter," she didn't push it any further; he didn't look like he was in the mood for questions. The two of them reached the common room, which was filled with chatter about the Cheer Leading Squad. As Serena came in she was bombarded with questions, to make a quick getaway she shouted for quiet and started talking.
"Tomorrow we will hold tryouts for the squad. Anybody in fourth year and above can try out." This remark received a lot of groans but Serena did not care. All she cared about at the moment was giving Lily a piece of her mind. She walked up to the chair where Lily was sat and gave her a look of disbelief.
"I can't believe you said I would be Captain when you didn't even consult me! It's going to make the rift between Narcissa and I even worse now!" she said.
"Serena, the rift between you and Narcissa can't possibly get any worse, so don't worry about that. I only put you up for the job 'cause I reckoned you might want to have a go at beating her. Anyway don't worry, you can dance so what's the problem?" she said smiling as though she had done nothing wrong.
Serena gave her an exasperated sigh, "If all this goes pear shaped I swear down I am blaming you, you got that?"
"Yes Sir!" Serena slapped her around the head playfully.
"Now get down and give me twenty!"
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