Pabbay

Disclaimer: Look at the name of this website. I do not own any of the copyrighted stuff. But Kerynn and Tally and Arabella (Jr.) are mine, as are the interpretations of James, Peter, Remus, Sirius, Lily et al.

Author's Note: The title of this fic is from Douglas Adams and John Lloyd's book 'The Meaning of Liff', and refers to something I hope we'll get to see at least once later on ;-D And thank you to Darcy and Padmez, my first two reviewers (for this version!).

Chapter 2: Morning Mists Roll In
The next morning the four girls came down from their dorms yawning, and when they saw Sirius they all glared at him.
"SISSY!" Talibeth roared, striding over to her brother. "You little... critter! I don't believe you went through with it!"
"I sang it, Tally, you should have known I'd do it," Sirius countered.
"I still don't know how you got the snow in here- or out. Charms aren't exactly your strong point."
"But it was Transfiguration! You transfigure the roof to be full of holes, then transfigure the rain into snow- the House Elves must have cleared it up."
"Listen, you, we got no sleep last night! Not even Lily could master the Silence charm before you'd stopped!" Arabella stormed.
"Well, we did stop before midnight," James reasoned, the wide grin on his face cancelling out the sincerity in his voice.
"Two minutes before midnight!" Lily cried crossly. "I nearly had it, too," she mused aloud.
"Transfiguration after breakfast," Peter said, changing the subject.
"Yup!" Sirius and James agreed happily.
"Then it's... Potions then lunch then History of Magic then free period, am I right?" Kerynn asked Lily who had whipped out her timetable.
"Yeah, you've got it Wren," Lily congratulated her.
"You learnt your timetable whilst we were #Singing, and dancing in the snow-oh?#" Sirius asked, trying to sound incredulous as he sang the last part of the sentence, resulting in a rather odd sound that was neither pleasing to the ear nor remotely incredulous.
Kerynn shrugged self-consciously. "Nothing better to do."
"It's a good plan," Remus said, having come down from the dorm later than the other boys and joining them as they left the room via the portrait hole. "Couldn't find my textbook," he explained. "D' you know all the rooms?" he asked Kerynn.
"Er- they're not numbered; the corridors are named though, but I don't know where most of them are. Potions is down in the dungeons, I know that much," Kerynn offered her information, and tried to figure out where she might have seen Remus before- his face didn't seem familiar, but there was something about him that made her almost sure that she should recognise him.
"This way?" Lily asked, pointing down a corridor she thought would lead to the route back to the Great Hall.
"Yep, and first staircase on your right," James said. "Then right again, left, left, straight on, right, and it's on your... left."
The girls and Remus looked at him questioningly, but James just smiled mysteriously.
"Photographic memory," Peter informed them as James led the way.

Nothing much happened during the rest of September and first half of October, except for James, Sirius and Peter teaming up with Remus to plan their first series of pranks, scheduled for the week leading up to Halloween; while Tallibeth began to plan her own pranks, aided enthusiastically by Arabella, and slightly reluctantly by Lily and Kerynn.
"C'mon you two, if Sissy thinks he's gonna get away with excluding me- I mean us- from his prank-pulling clique, we'll have to prove him wrong and show him that he'd rather have us with him than against him. I know more than a few effective tricks that Sirius hasn't managed to get his grubby paws on- he'll swear all his pranks are original, but just ask him what Llonolang Potion really is, and he won't have a clue: it's the key ingredient to one of my prank tools Sissy nicked from under my bed whilst I was at camp. He knows what it does, 'cos he gave some to Anna in her porridge the day before I left, but he has no idea what's in it or how it works. Anyway, what I mean is I- I mean we- have to show Sirius we're at least as good as he and his friends are at pulling pranks, and then- maybe- we'll allow them to team up with us. Together we'd go down in Hogwarts history! Not that we couldn't without them, but he is my twin after all, and if I show him up in front of the whole school he'll be unbearable during the holidays." Talibeth explained the situation the Lily and Kerynn.
"Okay, I'm in," Lily relented.
"Kerry?"
"Yeah, sure. Thanks."
"Great!"
"And the girls have a full team to take on the boys in this season's starter match, starting in just three, count them, three days! Round one, the Halloween Howler and season opener; a weeklong prank bonanza, Gryffindor vs. Gryffindor, first years vs. first years, boys vs. girls, the most breath-taking and nail-biting prank contest to be held at Hogwarts in living memory! Roll up, roll up; get your tickets here! Bets accepted at the booth in the corner by Mr. Pettigrew, give us a wave there Peter! Thank you! And now, let me introduce the teams!"
"SISSY!"
"BETH!"
The twins glared at each other.
"70-30 split, winner takes more?" Tally asked, smiling innocently at here brother.
"But of course," Sirius replied, smiling back, and the pair shook hands. "T'was nice doing business with you, fair lady."
"T'was a pleasure on my part also, kind gentleman," Tally said with a curtsey.
Lily and James shook their heads at their friends, wearing almost identical expressions of amusement- this sort of behaviour between the twins had already become the norm, and rarely a night went by in the Gryffindor common room when they didn't cause as scene.
"Daft as a fruitcake," James pronounced.
"Nutty as a... brush?" Peter asked, confused.
"Exactly my friend!" Sirius cried. "One pack short of a picnic!"
"And a sandwich short of a six pack... I think..."
"Right you are, Remus!" Sirius slapped his friend on the back jovially.
"Time for Charms, everyone," Kerynn said, looking at her watch, and looking through her bag to check she had the right books with her.
"You on for tonight, Kerr?" James asked her.
"Huh?"
"Oh, yeah, you were talking to Corbie- Pyjama Party tonight in the Gryffindor common room, first year Gryffs only, you in?"
"Sure, I guess so. Who else is coming?"
"Me, Sirius, Peter, Remus... you..."
"You mean the other girls aren't coming? I don't think-"
"Well... they're still thinking about it. You'll talk to them, right?"
"Okay..."
"It should be fun. See you later."
Kerynn put her books down on the second row, while James spread his across the back four desks to reserve them for him and his friends. The others entered together, the Hufflepuffs close behind. Arabella sat down next to Kerynn, and Lily and Tally joined them.
"So are you going to this thing tonight?" Kerynn asked them.
Tally groaned. "Tell me you didn't say yes, Kerynn, please!"
Kerynn looked at her guiltily. "Was that wrong?"
"Sirius. James. Us. Common room. Night. They may have aced Transfiguration the other day, but they couldn't do a charm to save their lives. I'd say it was bad, silencing charms are second year-standard, and that's the simplest sort for something like a birdcage. We'd get caught by a prefect for making too much noise at the least!" Tally explained.
"Oh. Whoops. Lily?" Kerynn asked, pleadingly.
"I could do it. Just the common room, right?"
"Yep! You're the best, Lils!"
"I'm in then," Arabella replied eagerly. "PJ Parties are groovy!"
"Um, hello? Earth to Bella, Earth to Kerry, my brother and his friends will be there!"
"So? I have pyjamas!" Arabella.
"I can just transfigure my nightdress," Lily reasoned.
"That's not what I meant," Tally said under her breath as their Charms teacher, Professor Philips entered.
Prof. Philips was a tall, averagely built man with ginger hair and green-grey eyes.
"Alright, class, settle down. Today I will be teaching you the lumination charm."
"This ought to be interesting, we could use this one for that prank on the 28th," James whispered.
"Potter! Come up here, you just volunteered yourself for my demonstration!"
"But sir-"
"No 'buts', James. Front of the class, if you don't mind."

"TRUTH OR DARE!!!" James crowed as soon as all the girls had arrived in the common room and Lily had completed the Silencing charm. "Who wants to go first?"
"I will," Arabella volunteered readily.
"Bell..." Tally hissed at her, warningly.
"I can handle anything they throw at me," Arabella replied reassuringly.
"Truth or dare, Bella?" James asked.
"Dare!"
"Okay... if we may confer?"
"Go ahead."
The four boys formed a huddle, then sat back down in the circle grinning widely. Arabella appeared unfazed.
"Nothing unsuitable, boys," Tally said sternly, glaring in particular at her brother.
"Why, whatever do you mean?" Sirius replied, an extremely false- looking expression of innocence on his face. Talibeth just rolled her eyes.
"Hop around the circle backwards..." James began.
All four girls exchanged fake yawns.
"So original," Tally complimented James sarcastically.
"I'm not finished. Hop around the circle backwards, whilst singing 'In The Summertime' by Mungo Jerry, and wearing these slippers."
Remus handed James a pair of slippers, which he held up before handing them to Arabella.
"What's the hex?" she asked conversationally, pulling her own fluffy cat-shaped slippers off her feet.
"Nothing dangerous," was the cryptic answer from Peter.
"It better not be," Tally muttered.
Arabella pulled on the slippers, stood up, and composed herself. She hopped on the spot a few times to get a feel for it, and then set off.
"#In the summertime, when the weather is high, you can stretch right up, and touch the sky# -ah!" Arabella let out a cry of surprise, because the moment she had sang the word 'sky' she had suddenly found herself bounding up towards the ceiling.
The four boys burst into fits of laughter, and Arabella soon joined them from where she had landed on the common room floor. Tally was glaring murderously at her brother, and was about to say something when Arabella spoke up, sensing her friend's mood.
"Tally, I'm fine! It's okay, cushioning charms!"
"Charms?" Talibeth asked, intrigued, looking expectantly at the boys.
Remus raised his hand uncertainly. "That'd be me."
Tally put her head in her hands and groaned. "Great, a Charms expert in the gang. Here I was thinking we'd be at least somewhat safe in our beds at night- okay, maybe we'd find our socks had been transfigured into gloves, or our robes had been transfigured to be sparkly pink, but now we could wake up to find ourselves floating in the middle of the Entrance Hall! With green hair and colour-changing eyebrows! And robes full of holes and dung bombs hidden in the seams! Combining transfiguration, charms and J, S and Co can spell only one thing for this world- doom! Dooooooooooom!!!"
"Are they really that bad?" Kerynn asked her.
"Worse. Trust me. I've known Sirius all my life, and James almost as long. Peter moved into the neighbourhood when he was eight. The Terrible Trio wreaked havoc wherever they went. Now, with Remus, they can go to previously unforeseen lengths to make our lives hell for the next seven years."
"Can I take offence at this point?" Remus asked.
"Let my join you, Remi," Sirius agreed. "I must protest to these falsehoods my sister is sprouting about me."
"'Sprouting'?" Tally asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Ah, it sounded good in my head."
"Yes, Remus, I grant you the right to appeal. You, however, Sirius, have no rights at all other than to remain silent- you cannot protest my remarks because they are all true."
"No they're not! Before Peter came, me and James were the Terrible Twosome; after Peter arrived we were the Troublesome Trio!"
Talibeth chose to ignore her twin's statement and turned to face the newest member of the 'gang'. "Remus?"
"I'm just offended that you think we would make your lives hell."
"Yeah, you're not the only available target now, Beth; there are Slytherins here, and teachers, and Prefects... the list goes on," James reasoned.
"We had to practise our pranks on someone, or they'd never have reached the standard they have," Sirius reasoned.
"Yeah, well, you owe me for more than 'co-operating' with your prank- tests, Sissy."
"Will you stop calling me that?"
"Not while you refuse to act your name."
Sirius glowered at her.
"What do you mean, about us owing you more?" Peter asked.
"Well now, that's the question, isn't it? Why don't you tell them, Sirius?" Tallibeth challenged.
"Err..." Sirius faltered.
"Okay, okay, I see you're not ready to come clean. What about you just tell them about the Llonolang potion?"
"It's a secret recipe, you know that Tally," James objected.
"Only because Sirius doesn't know the recipe, because Sirius didn't invent the potion, did you, Sissy?"
"It was her," Sirius muttered, glowering at his twin sister. "And so were four of the other prank ideas. That's why she got so mad sometimes when we pranked her, 'cos she'd spent so long working on the pranks and I just took them."
"Sirius!" James cried. "Please, just tell me she didn't think up the Cascade prank."
"Oh no, that one I took from him. If I do say so myself, it's quite a prank- but it did need a few... additions and alterations. Here." Talibeth handed Sirius a piece of parchment. "Oh, and don't worry- we're not using it in the Halloween Howler, you can do that. Just think of it as an apology for that time when I dropped that dung bomb in the car and let you take the blame."
"Thanks sis," Sirius breathed, staring at the piece of parchment in wonder. "This is brilliant!"
"Anything for my favourite brother," Tally said, hugging him.
"My turn?" Lily asked. "For the truth or dare?"
"Oh yeah! Truth or dare, Lils?" Arabella asked.
"Dare," she replied, after some thought. James looked at her surprised.
"I thought you'd pick truth," he blurted out.
"Shows how well you know me," Lily countered with a smile.
"Got it! You have to sing the chorus of 'Even The Bad Times Are Good' whilst running around in a circle, blindfold!" Arabella announced.
"Okay! #Even the bad times are good, soon as I get to you bay-bee! You just gotta hold me, and even the bad times are good... even the bad times are good, soon as I get to you bay-bee! You just gotta kiss me, and even the bad times are good...! La, la-la la-la la la la, la! La, la-la la-la la la la, la! Even the bad times are good! Soon as I get to you bay-bee! #" The hysterical laughter of the others finally got to her, and Lily finally collapsed, laughing, on the ground, which was spinning violently beneath her. "I am so dizzy," she stated un-necessarily, lying on the ground and holding on the rug as though for dear life. When she had recovered enough to stand up, with Kerynn's help, she made her way back over to the circle, weaving as though she was blind drunk, and sat down quickly in her place. Her eyes focussed on the person on her right, and she grinned.
"Peter, mate! Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Okay... um... what's your biggest fear?"
"You-Know-Who."
"Err... sorry, I don't."
"He Who Must Not Be Named," Peter clarified.
"Oh, him! Right. Sorry."
"S' okay."
"Why?" Arabella asked curiously, and characteristically to the point.
"He killed my dad. I was eight years old."
"I'm sorry, Peter," Arabella replied immediately, reaching over Lily to give him a comforting hug.
"It's okay," he replied again, awkwardly. "Tally, you're turn."
"I never knew. Three years, and I never even asked. I'm sorry, Pete."
"Stop it, it's fine, really," he replied embarrassed as Tally gave him a hug. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
Sirius stared at his sister.
"What? I fancied a change, I always pick dare!"
"Okay..."
"Favourite Quidditch team," Lily mouthed.
"What's your favourite Quidditch team?" Peter asked.
"Moutohora Macaws." Talibeth replied immediately.
"TRAITOR!" Sirius cried. "How could you? You know who the best Quidditch team is! The Blacks have supported them for generations! The Montrose Magpies!"
"Well, they're both M 'n' Ms," Tally reasoned.
"But the Macaws are in Kiwi-land, you can't even see them play!"
"Sissy, get over it, I don't like the Magpies!" Talibeth snapped. "Kerynn, your go- truth or dare?"
"Er... truth," she replied finally.
"Okay, say one or two words to describe each person here, the first word that pops into your head."
"Okay." Kerynn turned to look at Tally consideringly. "Carefree." She turned to Peter. "Loyal [A/N: yes, I know, the irony- but in future chapters you'll see why]." She turned to Lily. "Free spirit." She turned to Arabella. "Wacky." Everyone chuckled at this, and Arabella smiled happily. Kerynn turned to James. "Joker." She turned to Sirius. "Rash." Everyone but Kerynn and Sirius laughed even harder at this, while Kerynn turned to face Remus. "Mysterious." Everyone stopped laughing and looked at Kerynn curiously.
"Mysterious? Remi-J?" Lily asked.
"Hang on, before we go into that, why am I a rash?" Sirius asked, somewhat affronted.
"Not a rash, rash. It means you act first and think later," Tallibeth replied for her, rolling her eyes.
"My turn now, right?" Remus asked, looking at Kerynn with an unreadable expression of his face, as though he was trying to figure something out about her, but Kerynn's expression, although smiling, was just as closed.
"Yep. Truth or dare?" she asked.
"Dare," replied Remus, after some thought.
"Okay. Caeruleus," Kerynn muttered, her wand pointed at Remus' head.
Remus looked up, startled, and the others burst out laughing.
"You have to go around like that for all of tomorrow," Kerynn said, grinning at him.
Remus got up and went over to the mirror near the fireplace, and jumped backwards. His hair was now bright blue.
Slowly a smile spread across his face. "Okay," he agreed, and rejoined the circle. "Your turn, Sirius. Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"Okay!" Remus grinned, and pulled out his wand. "Capillus Slytherin!"
Sirius jumped up and went over to the mirror, whilst the others sniggered. Sirius' hair was now streaked green and silver.
"Whilst on principle I should be outraged, I've got to say I like it! Just for tomorrow, right?"
"Right," Remus agreed.
"Jamie, it's you're turn now! Truth or dare?"
"Hmm... you have to ask?"
"It's tradition, Jim-Lad," Tally said, bored.
"Dare then," James replied.
"The ear-thing! The ear-thing!" Sirius cried enthusiastically. "Auris engorgio et acutus!"
Immediately James' ears grow to three times their usual size and became pointed.
"Sirius, that's the fifth time in a row you've made me do this dare," James complained.
"Nuh-uh! This time you have to stay like that for two days!"
James sighed. "Okay, but you're not allowed to use it as a dare any more, okay?"
"Okay," Sirius replied, satisfied.

"Potter! Lupin! Black! Pettigrew! Detention!" Professor McGonagall screeched as soon as she saw them that morning.
"What did we do?" cried Anna and Talibeth in outrage, standing up at the same time, whilst Sirius remained seated, calmly eating his bacon.
"Not you! Him!" McGonagall stormed over to the Gryffindor table. "Now, I like to think of myself as a reasonable person, but this blatant disregard for school rules will not be tolerated! Detention tonight in the Forest with Filch! You will be collecting fire wood for the school, and don't expect to just be crawling around on the forest floor for it!"
As McGonagall made her way back to the Staff Table, James and Sirius exchanged a high-five.
"Eighteen!" James said with a grin.
"Ten," Peter admitted glumly as his newly-spaniel-like ears flopped about his face.
"I thought you weren't taking part?" Sirius asked him.
"I wasn't! But I might as well, I get enough without even trying!"
"Aw, poor Pete," Tally said sympathetically.
"Well, I beat both of you- twenty six! Three per week for the last nine weeks- I'm good!"
"How did you get that many more than me?" James asked, flabbergasted.
"Easy! I don't have an Invisibility Cloak, do I?"
"Keep your voices down! Do you want it to be confiscated?" Tallibeth hissed.
Suddenly a cry went up from the Ravenclaw table, and there were students standing on their chairs and running out of the Hall.
"Julian? Julian!"
"What's up over there?" Peter asked, and the others shook their heads, except for Arabella.
"Julian Chambers isn't here. He didn't turn up for tea, and no one saw him last night. He never misses breakfast."
"He's a first year, he came into that compartment me and Lily went into on the train a few minutes before we arrived," Lily explained.
"Students, please, remain calm. I'm sure Mr. Chambers will turn up. Make your way to your first lessons as normal, I will have the castle searched. Prefects, Head Students, if you could come with me...?"

##

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you liked the second chapter. Alterations have been made, but not many, and yes the characters will be as they are described in the fifth book to an extent (as I said before) but I'm not going to change my plot. Anna is just Anna; she's not canon and I'm not going to try to make her canon; so please just forget about the family
tree when it comes to her! Kirina