Sweet Misery
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By the time Easter Holidays came, James, Sirius, and Remus all had met the detention record. During the holidays, when they were supposed to be studying for their exams, they were planning a huge prank for during their History of Magic exam. No one knew exactly what they were going to do, not even the girls, who were always aware of all their pranks.
"What do you think they're planning?" Lily asked, taking a break from studying.
"What ever it is, it's definitely not good," replied Gwynn.
"I can't believe they wouldn't let me help," complained Lauren
"Yeah, they normally do let you in on their plans," commented Lily. "This must be something really secretive."
"Yeah," agreed Lauren. "But even then they let me at least know what's going to happen."
"Quit whining," Gwynn said.
"Quit bossing me around," said Lauren.
"Then don't whine."
"Don't pretend you're not the least bit interested in what's going on over there."
"I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"No, I'm not."
"You just don't want to admit you're dying to know."
"Well I'm not."
"You are dying to know what they're planning and if it's against y-"
"I've got an idea," interrupted Lily.
"What's that?" asked Gwynn and Lauren.
"Let's change the subject or go back to studying," suggested Lily.
"Wow," said Gwynn. "That's the most brilliant thing ever suggested. You should get an award for that idea."
"What," Lily said, "the award for stating and idea that is completely obvious?"
"Yes, we can call it…" Lauren paused for dramatic effect. "The Lily Award."
"We'll award it the person who comes up with the most obvious idea in the world," explained Gwynn.
"There'll be a huge ceremony!"
"With a banquet!"
"We'll get famous people to give out the award!"
"The winner will have their names in the papers!"
"And then," said Lily, "we can drop the subject and get back to studying."
"Sounds good to me," said Lauren.
"Yeah," agreed Gwynn.
The girls went back to reading through their notes that they had taken during their lessons, forgetting about James, Sirius, and Remus and what ever they were planning.
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The day of their History of Magic exams, James, Sirius, and Remus skipped breakfast to set up their prank.
"Why couldn't we at least grab something to eat?" Sirius whined as they broke into the History of Magic room.
"Sirius, we don't have the time," said Remus. "In twenty minutes, a class will be coming and this is the most elaborate prank we've pulled yet."
"Look, I'll run back to the Great Hall and grab us some food," suggested James.
"Better you than him," said Remus glancing at Sirius. "He'd probably never come back."
"Hey!" exclaimed Sirius.
"I'll be back in five minutes," James said before running off.
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As James was walking back with some toast wrapped in a napkin, he spotted a small boy with dirty blonde hair being tormented by two Slytherins who James recognized as Snape and Malfoy.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" James yelled running over to them.
"Or you'll what, Potter?" Malfoy snapped.
"I'll break your face," growled James.
"You wouldn't dare," said Snape.
"Continue picking on him and let's see what happens," James said glaring at them.
Snape and Malfoy sized up their chances they had against James, figuring they had a good chance of killing him, but then the thought of Sirius and Remus standing around the corner or behind a suit of armor popped into their minds.
"Next time you won't be so lucky, Pettigrew," Malfoy said with a look on his face that could scare even James if he hadn't knew that they weren't up to fighting. As soon as Snape and Malfoy disappeared down a corner, James turned back to the boy named Pettigrew.
"You alright?" James asked.
"Y-yeah," he said.
"Don't I know you?" James said, searching his brain for the boy's name.
"P-Peter P-Pettigr-grew," he said. "I wa-was in th-the b-boat wi-with y-you and y-your friends."
"Oh yeah," said James. "You're the guy who switched places with Lily." The boy nodded.
"Why don't you come and hang out with me and my friends," suggested James. "We'll help protect you from Malfoy and Snape." 'And hopefully get rid of that ridiculous stutter, too' James thought.
"Th-thank y-you," Peter stuttered.
James led Peter back to the History of Magic classroom. When he got there, he found Remus and Sirius not working on the prank, but reading the exam questions.
"What are you doing?" James asked.
Remus and Sirius nearly jumped three feet in the air.
"James, you nearly scared me half to death," said Remus.
"And if you must know," said Sirius, "we're reading the exams for History of Magic."
"Great!" exclaimed James. "Let me see."
"Who's that?" Remus said noticing Peter in the doorway.
"Oh, that's Peter," explained James. "I rescued him from Malfoy's and Snape's clutches."
"James, always the hero," teased Sirius.
"Hey Peter," said Remus, holding up one of the tests, "what a jump on the History of Magic exam?"
"S-sure," said Peter walking over and joining them at the teacher's desk.
"I wish I knew a duplicating charm," Sirius said.
"Knowing our professors, they probably have some alarm system rigged on these tests," said James.
"For students like us," added Remus.
"You know, in like five seconds, Professor Binns is probably going to fly through that wall behind us and catch us reading these tests," Sirius joked. They all looked at each other and looked back at the wall behind them. They turned back around and laughed at their stupidity. Though, if they had only watched the wall for a second longer, they probably would've had a chance to hide as Professor Binns glided through the wall talking to Sir Nick. It was a whole twenty seconds before he noticed the four boys crowded around his desk.
"What do you boys think you are doing?" Professor Binns bellowed. The boys froze and slowly turned around.
"Crud…" they said simultaneously.
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"Welcome to class," said Professor Binns when all his students were seated. "As you know, today are your final exams. I was going to give you all the easy test, but four students took it upon themselves to break into my room and read the exams." He glared at James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. "Now, you will all have to complete a four-and-a-half foot essay by the end of the class." The class groaned and some were muttering what they would like to do to those four students. "Oh, don't thank me, thank Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Pettigrew." The whole class turned to them and shot them death glares. "Now, take out some parchment and use the quills on your desks." Professor Binns wrote the essay's topic on the board and watched the students writing their essays.
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A few weeks later, school was finally out and all the students were boarding the Hogwarts Express. Lily, Lauren, Gwynn, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all crammed into a compartment in the middle of the train.
"So," Lily said, "did you guys beat the record?"
"Yep," Remus said.
"Those final detentions from Binns pushed us close to doubling it," added James.
"Really?" asked Lauren. "How much?"
"Forty-seven," said Sirius.
"Off by three," Gwynn said. "I'm so disappointed in you guys."
"Can you believe the school year's over?" Lily asked changing the subject.
"N-no," stuttered Peter.
"It seems like it only started yesterday," said Lauren.
"Well, for you guys it may seem like yesterday, but it feels like forever for me," said Sirius.
"Me too," agreed James.
"Same here," Remus said.
"That's because you guys were in detention for like the whole year," said Gwynn.
A few hours later, the train arrived in Kings Cross Station where the groups went their separate ways. Sirius and Gwynn waited by the train for Liam, Peter found his parents immediately and left, James was going to catch a ride home with the Blacks and Remus and Lily left the platform to meet Lily's dad.
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A/n: Well almost no change in this chapter except for corrected spelling errors. Now that that's done with, I'll get started on chapter 8.
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