American Arrival
Disclaimer: Any ideas or characters that you recognize from the Harry Potter books don't belong to me. The stuff you don't recognize, you can safely assume it does belong to me.
I'd like to thank the following for chapter three:
Patchlover08: I've gotten that response from most people about Reuven and Emily. I might have to look into it. Thanks for reviewing!
Danny Frank: I'm glad you've enjoyed my story so far, and I hope not to disappoint you or anyone else in future chapters.
Lady of Masbolle: Well, I'm glad you think my story is great, and once again, thank-you for reviewing every chapter so far!
I'd also like to say thanks to the people who reviewed chapter four so far:
Molleh: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad that you also liked the part where Amanda punched James in the nose. It was one of my favorite parts, even though I love James. I'm glad that you've liked my story so far. I haven't seen you since school let out! We have to get together soon.
PatchLover08: Thank-you so much for reviewing! You have reviewed all of my chapters so far. You are one of my favorite reviewers, and I look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Chapter 5: A Little Slice of Revenge
It was late one afternoon, about a week from the Marauders' prank on the girls. Lily, Amanda, Sandra, Emily, and Reuven sat in the first year girls' dormitory, discussing a prank idea that Reuven had come up with, that would blow the past pranks of the Marauders away.
"I can't wait to see the looks on their faces after we prank them. I'll bet they won't even see it coming," Amanda said.
"I think they might have some suspicions that you are going to do something. They keep asking me if I have noticed any strange behavior, or plotting going on. Of course I tell them, no I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Maybe you are all just becoming paranoid. We need to finish the plans for this prank as quickly as possible. Lily, have you found all of the charms that we are going to need?" Reuven asked.
"Yeah, I can use simple glamour spells, with a twist of course," Lily replied.
"Good. We should be able to pull it off by tomorrow night," Reuven said. "Remember, I will pretend to be asleep, so that if you have any problems, you can come over and get me."
"I'm so excited! It will be so much fun," Sandra said happily.
"We'd better head down to dinner. It'll be starting soon, and you'll probably want to meet up with the Marauders and eat with them, until we pull the prank. Tell them that you've forgiven them for pranking us, so that tomorrow, they won't suspect you," Emily said.
Reuven nodded, and they got up and left for the Great Hall.
"Hey guys," Reuven said to the Marauders, as he sat down next to Remus.
"Hi," they chorused.
"Are you still mad at us?" Peter asked.
"No. I guess I'm not, and I missed talking to you guys. I've only been talking to the girls for the past week. I mean, I like talking to them, but it is a little bit different from talking with the guys," Reuven said.
"Welcome back," Sirius said.
When they finished eating, they went back to the common room, and hung out and did their homework, before going to bed.
The next morning went as usual, and none of the marauders suspected that anything unusual would happen that night.
"Since it is Friday, and we get a half day today, do you guys want to go visit Hagrid? He sent an owl inviting us for tea anytime we had a moment," James asked.
"Sure," Peter and Reuven replied.
"What about you Sirius?" James asked.
"I have detention from that prank that I pulled on that annoying, greasy-haired git, Snape, in potions. I think it was the one where I put the filibuster firework in his cauldron, when we were making that shrinking potion. It was really funny though. It is a good thing that he is good in potions, because when the cauldron exploded, everyone who got hit with the potion started shrinking. It was hilarious, and well worth an afternoon of scrubbing out cauldrons with the Professor Brewer," Sirius said.
"I don't know about that," Remus replied. Professor Brewer, the potions professor had a nasty attitude, that he especially showed to the Gryffindors, since he was head of Slytherin.
"Yeah, you're probably right. It will be torture, but I don't mind. I've decided to break the school's record of most detentions served in the seven years. The current record is 987. I've already gotten 27. I figure that it is a start," Sirius said.
"That is a really stupid goal Sirius," Remus said.
"Oh well, let him have his fun," James said.
The school day continued on as normal, and soon four of the five boys were outside on their way to Hagrid's hut.
"Come on girls, the Marauders are spending the day at Hagrid's so we should be able to use the library for a little last minute research. Then we can head up to the dorms and cast the spells before they get back," Reuven told Emily, Lily, Sandra, and Amanda.
"I'm so excited! This is going to be so much fun. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces once they realize what happened. They'll be the laughing stock of the whole school," Amanda said happily.
"Well, let's head on down to the library. We still have a lot of work to do," Lily said.
The five Gryffindors made their way to the library where they spent the better part of two hours reading up on the various spells that they would need to accomplish their prank.
Once they had decided that they had made enough notes, Emily, Lily, Sandra, and Amanda followed Reuven to the first year boys' dormitory.
"Oh my gosh, what is that smell? It is awful," Sandra said while holding her nose.
"It smells like someone died in here. I think I'm going to be sick," Lily said.
"It always smells like that in here. Actually, it smells better than it normally does. I guess the house elves finally found the piles of dirty clothes under James and Sirius's beds. Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Reuven said offhandedly.
"I think it would worry me more if I did get used to the smell," Emily said, "Come on, we don't have much time. We should have left the library sooner than this. Reuven, can you watch out the window and let us know when the other guys leave Hagrid's?"
"Sure. You girls need to get busy. It will be time for dinner soon, and you know that Sirius isn't likely to miss a meal. Peter may be the only person in the world who eats more than him."
They spent the next half hour putting up various charms and spells around all of the beds except for Reuven's.
"Hurry girls, they are leaving now," Reuven warned.
"Just one more spell and we'll be finished," Lily said.
"Okay, let's go," Emily said.
They left the dormitory and plopped down on a couple of sofas and chairs in the common room. About five minutes later, the Marauders entered the common room and joined their circle.
"When's dinner?" Peter asked.
"The same time it always is mate," James answered from his place next to Lily.
"But I'm starving. I'll absolutely die if I don't get some food in me soon," Sirius whined as he took a seat next to Emily. Sirius then dramatically put a hand to his forehead and fainted so that his head was on Emily's shoulder.
"Oh quit being such a drama queen Sirius. You could afford to skip a meal or two you know," Emily said jokingly while prodding him in the stomach.
"Are you calling me fat?" Sirius asked, offended.
"No, of course not. I'm sure the couple of pounds that you've gained while you've been here can be worked off in no time," Emily said before she erupted in a fit of giggles as Sirius began spluttering.
"I'll have you know I have not gained a single pound since I've been here thank-you very much," Sirius said as he made a pouty face and crossed his arms.
"You do realize you are acting like a little kid, right?" Emily pointed out.
"I can act like whatever I want to act like," Sirius said.
"Um, if I may interrupt your highly amusing conversation, it is time for dinner," Reuven said.
"Yay! We get to go eat FOOD now!" Sirius exclaimed happily before he bounced, literally, down to the Great Hall.
The rest of the first year Gryffindors laughed at Sirius and followed him to the Great Hall.
"Emily, can we talk to you for a second?" Lily, Sandra, and Amanda asked.
"Sure, we'll catch up to you in the hall guys," Emily called.
They turned left and walked into an abandoned classroom. "What did ya'll want to talk to me about?" Emily asked.
"Well, did you happen to notice how upset Reuven was when you were talking to Sirius?" Amanda asked.
"What are you talking about? We were just talking, and why would Reuven get mad? I can be friends with whoever I want to," Emily said.
"It looked to the rest of us like you two were flirting. I mean, you kept poking him in the stomach and making little jokes with him, and he had his head on your shoulder and was responding to the jokes. It looked like Reuven got a little jealous," Lily said cautiously.
"I highly doubt that Reuven was jealous. I'm sure he doesn't like me, and I was just play flirting. It is fun to do, and I'm sure Sirius was just playing along. It meant nothing. Sirius flirts with anything that will flirt back. You all know that, and Reuven knows it too," Emily replied. "Why don't we go eat now? I'm starving, and I want to go talk with the guys."
"Okay, if you are sure there is nothing going on."
With that, the girls headed down for dinner.
"Where have ya'll been?" Sirius asked around a mouthful of baked potato.
"Eww Sirius. That is so gross. Don't talk with your mouth full. Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?" Amanda asked.
"Of course she taught me manners. For instance, always open the door for a lady and don't ever eat salad with a dinner fork, unless you want to completely offend your host," Sirius said. "Come on James, let's show them what two years of training by Madame Fancypants did for us. Our parents made us take etiquette courses from her when we were younger. They said that once we were old enough to go to the balls and all of the high society parties that they go to regularly, we would need to actually know this stuff. Quite a waste of time if you ask me, though I do believe James had a crush on Madame Fancypants," Sirius sniggered the last part as James whacked him on the back of the head.
"You know very well that I didn't have a crush on Madame Fancypants. She was an old wrinkly witch that had bad breath and frizzy hair. She was also one of the most boring ladies I've ever had to listen to."
"Is her name really Madame Fancypants?" Amanda asked.
"No, but that is what me and Jamesey called her. I can't remember what her real name is, and that was totally uncalled for James," Sirius said as James whacked him again.
"I've told you a million times not to call me Jamesey or any of the other stupid little nicknames you have for me," James said.
"Well, sorry. I won't ever call you another name ever again Jamesey-Poo," Sirius said.
"Don't do that!" James yelled as he hit Sirius yet again. Unfortunately for James, this seemed to have no effect on Sirius who was laughing uncontrollably now.
James turned away mumbling something about wondering how he ever got stuck with such a prat for a friend.
"Aww, you know you love me Jamesey," Sirius cooed.
"Do you want to demonstrate our perfect etiquette or not?"
"Okay, you can be the woman, because I am much more manly than you are," Sirius said.
"In your dreams," James retorted.
James and Sirius stood up next to the table and practiced bowing and curtsying to one another. They greeted each other and continued to act in this manner until Remus made them sit down.
"Back to Sirius's first question. Where were ya'll?" James asked.
"We were talking in an abandoned classroom," Emily said. "It really wasn't a big deal."
"What were ya'll talking about?" Reuven asked.
"That would be none of your business," Lily replied.
"You know, we really should head up to the common room girls. We have all of that potions homework to do because Professor Brewer is a nasty little git," Amanda said.
The other girls agreed, and they headed to the common room, leaving the boys in the Great Hall.
"What is up with them? Amanda usually puts off doing her homework until the last minute. Why did she seem in such a hurry to go do it now?" Sirius asked.
"Maybe because it is the last minute. The essays are due tomorrow, and we have potions first," Remus answered.
"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that essay!" Sirius exclaimed before jumping out of his seat and dashing out of the Great Hall.
"How could he forget that essay? I feel sorry for him. It was a five-footer too," Remus said.
James looked at Remus sheepishly before sprinting out of the Great Hall after Sirius.
"Those two. When will they ever learn to stop putting their work off?" Remus asked.
"I doubt they will ever learn. They'll just continue to copy your homework," Reuven answered, smiling slightly.
"I'm sure they will learn when I stop letting them copy my homework," Remus replied huffily.
"You know that you won't stop allowing them to copy it. They are your best friends, and you are too nice to let them fail."
"Yeah, I guess you are right. I'd feel awful if they failed and I could have done something to prevent it. I am tired of them constantly copying it though. They should at least attempt it on their own."
"Well, you could always talk to them about it," Reuven suggested.
"I think I will. Thanks," Remus said.
They got up and left the Great Hall with Peter following behind.
Once the girls arrived in the common room and finished their homework, Amanda and Sandra started up a game of wizard's chess. Meanwhile, Lily and Emily were reading, waiting for the glorious moment when the Marauders would go to bed. Once they were asleep, Reuven would cast a sleeping charm over them just to make sure that they wouldn't wake up. Then he would send over a signal to let the girls know that they were asleep.
"I think I'm going to turn in. Night guys," Emily said.
"Yeah I think I'll join her," Lily said.
"Can I come too?" Sirius asked.
"I don't think McGonagall would take too kindly to that when she does her rounds to make sure everyone is in bed," Amanda said between giggles.
"Night Emily, Lily," Reuven said.
"Yeah, night girls," Remus and James chorused.
"Are you sure I can't come?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, I'm sure, Sirius. Maybe sometime we could all have a sleepover in the common room. That would be a lot of fun. Let's do it on a night that we don't have school the next morning," Emily suggested.
"Yeah, let's do it. That would be so much fun. Just the first years," James said.
Everyone agreed to have a sleepover in the common room.
"Why don't we go on to bed as well Amanda?" Sandra asked as soon as Emily and Lily had disappeared up the staircase to the first year girls' dormitory.
"Yes, I am quite tired, and tomorrow is sure to be a busy day."
With that, Amanda and Sandra joined Emily and Lily.
"I am so nervous about this whole thing. The guys have been pretty decent to us lately. Do you think we really should do this to them?" Sandra asked.
"Yes, of course we should. Don't forget what they did to us. Even though it wasn't that big of a prank, if we let them get away with it this time, they will prank us many more times in the future and think they can get away with it," Emily said.
"We are lucky that we were able to get in there earlier today. We got most of it done. Now all we need is the potion and the final incantation and we'll be finished. I hope it works. It will be so funny tomorrow when they wake up as…"
"Oh look, that is the signal. They are asleep," Amanda interrupted.
The girls crept out of their room and into the boys' dorm. They each took a bed. Lily got James, Amanda got Peter, Sandra got Remus, and Emily got Sirius. They took out the vials of the potion that Lily had concocted earlier that day and poured it on the sleeping boys.
"Now for the incantation," Emily whispered.
They pointed their wands at each of the boys and muttered the incantation that would finish the prank.
Once it was finished, they crept back to their beds, anxiously awaiting the results the next day would bring.
Amanda woke first and proceeded to wake everyone else up.
"Get up! We have to go see if the prank worked!" Amanda said.
This woke all of the girls quickly and they got ready as fast as they could before heading to the common room to wait for the guys.
Ten minutes later, the Marauders came down the stairs, followed by Reuven who could barely contain his laughter.
When they entered, the busy common room become completely silent. Then all at once, everyone burst out laughing.
"What is their problem?" Sirius asked. "Do I look funny or something?"
"No, do I?" James asked.
"No, none of us do," Sirius replied. "So what is so funny?"
Reuven walked calmly over to the girls and said, "It worked brilliantly! They don't notice a thing, and they won't until someone says something about it. Hopefully it will be Snape or Malfoy. That would be hilarious."
The Marauders were still exchanging confused glances as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
As soon as they entered, they noticed that the same thing happened that happened in the common room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and started laughing.
"May I get the door for you ma'am?" some Ravenclaw 3rd year boy asked Sirius.
"Who do you think you are calling ma'am?" Sirius replied hotly.
This made the boy burst out laughing before walking the rest of the way into the Great Hall.
"What the heck was he talking about?" Sirius asked.
He received shrugs from the other Marauders.
At that moment, Lucius Malfoy strolled over with Snape following close behind as was per usual.
"You know Black, you make a pretty girl. You should stay that way all the time. Potter and Lupin don't look too bad either. I'd take any of you to my room to have a little fun. Pettigrew on the other hand, if it is possible, you look worse as a girl than you do as a boy," Lucius said before sniggering and motioning for his cronies to follow him out of the hall.
"What was he talking about?" Sirius asked, turning to James before his eyes grew huge and he gasped audibly.
James was doing about the same as Sirius. Remus was blushing horribly as he figured that he was in the same predicament as his friends, and Peter just tried to hide out of site behind Sirius.
"James mate, you look like a girl. Your hair is longer and you are wearing make-up. Plus, I think there may be a few additions to your anatomy, if you know what I mean," Sirius said.
"Same for you mate," James said, before the four of them bolted from the Great Hall.
They continued running until they were in their dormitory again.
"What happened to us?" Peter asked. "I don't want to look like a girl. Get it off!" he exclaimed while rubbing furiously at the make-up.
"I believe we have been pranked by someone," Remus said logically.
"No, really? I thought we just magically transformed into girls overnight," Sirius said.
"Um Sirius mate, we did magically transform into girls overnight," James pointed out.
" You know what I meant!" Sirius shouted. "Who would do this to us?"
"It might be easier to figure out who wouldn't do this to us," Remus said, massaging his temples.
"Well, it had to be a Gryffindor. No one else has our password," James pointed out.
"Do you think Reuven was involved? He might act nice to other people, but we all know he has a devilish mind when it comes to thinking up pranks," Sirius said.
"Yeah, but why would he do this? I thought we were becoming really good friends with him," James said.
"But we pranked Emily. There is probably something going on between them. I know he isn't telling us anything about it, but it is sort of obvious that they fancy each other," Remus said.
"You don't think Emily really fancies him do you? I don't. I think she only likes him as a friend," Sirius said.
"Um, okay. Whatever you say Sirius," James said, giving him a curious glance.
"Let's get back to thinking of who did this to us so we can make them reverse it," Peter said.
"It was probably the girls. They could come up with something like this and figure out how to pull it off easily. The magic isn't that advanced. Some of it is 2nd and 3rd year stuff, but with Lily and Emily, that wouldn't be a problem. Amanda and Sandra aren't exactly stupid either," Remus said.
"Are you sure it was the girls?"
"No," Remus said, "but we can still talk to them about it anyway."
Reuven entered the dorm at that moment, receiving icy glares from his four roommates.
"Did you have anything to do with this?" James asked.
"No. Why would I prank you guys?"
"Well, maybe because we pranked Emily and the other girls," Sirius said.
"I didn't have anything to do with it," Reuven said again.
"Well, will you tell the girls to come up here? We'd like to have a word with them," James said.
"Sure, I think they are in the common room. Let me go get them."
Reuven walked out of the dorm and headed to the common room. "The guys want a word with ya'll. Remember, I had nothing to do with it," Reuven told the girls.
"Don't worry, we won't tell about your part."
The girls took their time walking up to the boys' room. When they arrived at the door, they knocked before entering.
"Reuven said you wanted to talk to us," Amanda said innocently.
"Did you girls have anything to do with this prank?" Remus asked.
"Of course we did," Sandra said.
The other girls whipped around to look at her incredulously.
"Why did you tell them that?" Lily asked.
"I thought they were supposed to know so that they would learn a lesson," Sandra replied.
"No, they were supposed to figure it out on their own. Jeez, I can't believe you told them!" Emily exclaimed.
"Change us back now!" Sirius shouted.
"Um, no. I don't think we will," Sandra said.
"It is a little bit too late for that now," Lily said. "We would have said that if they had figured it out on their own." With that, Lily muttered a spell, and the boys were returned to normal.
"Thank-you. Now get out," James said coldly.
"You aren't seriously mad at us are you? Guys? Come on. It wasn't that big of a deal, and we did turn you back," Amanda said.
"The only reason we did it in the first place was to get back at ya'll for the prank that ya'll pulled on us. We figured that we could call a truce," Emily said.
"Well ya'll figured wrong," Sirius said, mimicking Emily's accent. "You know, that little accent is really starting to annoy me. No wonder all of those kids used to make fun of you. It is quite understandable," Sirius said
Emily glared at him. He knew that her accent was a sore spot as she wanted to fit in, but her accent made her stand out.
"Fine then," Emily said before she turned around and stormed out.
She made her way through the common room and up to her dorm. She was so upset that she didn't hear Reuven calling out to her.
Reuven followed Emily up to her room. He knocked softly on the door. When he received no answer, he turned the doorknob slowly before he cracked open the door and peered in.
"Emily?" Reuven called.
"Come in," was the reply that he received. He opened the door wider and went in, closing the door behind him.
"What happened?" he asked when he saw that she was sitting on her bed with tears running slowly down her face.
He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. "Will you tell me?"
"It seems kind of stupid. I shouldn't be that upset over it. Really, it isn't a big deal. I guess I'm just a little bit emotional at the moment."
"I'm sure it isn't stupid. Why don't you tell me?" Reuven asked.
"Well, we were in your room and after Sandra ruined the prank by telling the boys that we were the ones that did it, Lily took the spell off. They were all really mad, and I tried to explain that we just did it so that we could get revenge for the prank they pulled on us. I asked if they were really mad at us, and Sirius was a real prat. He mimicked my accent and he said that it was understandable how people would make fun of me. He knows how bad I hate my accent, and how bad it bothers me. We were sitting in the common room one night when everyone else was in bed. I couldn't sleep, and he had just come back from raiding the kitchens. We were sitting on one of the sofas, and we were talking about things that bother us, things we don't like about ourselves, random stories, etc. I told him that story I told you about the kids who used to make fun of me for my accent, and how when I moved to England, it became much worse. Tons of kids made fun of me. Not just because of my accent, but because I was the new kid and I was different. I hate being different. He used that against me in front of everyone. I can't believe he did that. See, it really wasn't that big of a deal, but it still hurt my feelings. He'd seemed so sympathetic and sweet that night. I thought we were becoming friends, but I guess not."
"Emily, that is not stupid. That was cruel of him to use something that you had told him against you." With that, Reuven pulled Emily into a hug and rocked her slightly until she stopped crying.
As soon as Reuven left Emily's room, he ran straight to his to find Sirius.
"Sirius! Where are you?" Reuven yelled.
"I'm right here. You don't have to yell," Sirius answered walking out of the bathroom.
Once Sirius was in range, Reuven punched him in the face, hard. "How could you do that to Emily? She told you about how she feels about people making fun of her accent, and how she wants to fit in with everyone else. How could you use that against her? You are such a bastard."
Reuven turned and left the room, Sirius still lying on the ground with a steadily blackening eye.