Sweet Misery
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The Great Hall was filled with applause as Curtis Zuba took his seat at the Hufflepuff table.
"Students, may I have your attention please," announced Professor Dumbledore, standing up. The applause died down and he continued, "I am sad to say that Professor Murphy has resigned from the position of teaching Transfiguration. To fill his position is Professor McGonagall. I hope you'll will make her feel very welcome here and not cause her too much trouble." Dumbledore shot a look over at James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, who all pretended to be shocked when they saw him looking at them. "Now a reminder to our returning students and a warning to our new students. The Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. Many dangers lie beyond the forest entrance. With that said, let the feast begin!"
The plates filled with delicious foods and the students helped themselves to hearty portions.
"Okay, we'd better lay off on pranks on that new teacher," Remus said.
"Yeah," James agreed. "Dumbledore will be expecting us to do something."
"S-so n-no p-prank-ks," stuttered Peter.
"They didn't say that," Sirius said pointing his fork at Peter.
"Whatcha guys doin'?" Chase said, leaning in closer to his brother.
"Chase go away!" Remus shouted. "Go make your own friends and leave me alone!"
"Are you cranky because the mo-" Chase stopped when Remus quickly elbowed him hard in the ribs. Chase lost his balance and fell backwards off the bench. "Ow!" he shouted rubbing his side.
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"Dumbledore will be expecting us to do something."
"Did you hear that?" Lauren asked, turning to Lily and Gwynn.
"No," Gwynn replied, shaking her head.
"Neither did I," said Lily, "but we weren't eave's dropping on other people's conversations."
"I wasn't eave's dropping," Lauren said quickly. "I just happened to over hear."
"What's your idea this time?" Gwynn asked.
"We pull a prank on that new teacher, McGonagall."
"Lauren, I don't think that's a good idea," said Lily.
"Lily, come on!" Lauren pleaded.
"We'll get detentions!"
"That's only if we get caught and we won't! Who gets the blame? Certainly not us! We're good students. Never caught out after hours, do all our homework; did very well on our exams last year… Does that sound like trouble makers to you?"
"No, not really."
"Now who do we know that's caught out after hours al the time, always pulling pranks, and currently holds the detention record?"
"James, Sirius, and Remus," replied Gwynn.
"And Peter, but he'll get blamed by association," added Lily.
"So, you guys up for it?" inquired Lauren.
"Sure," replied Gwynn and Lily.
"But," added Lily, "not right away."
"Want to establish that 'good girl' act do we?" Gwynn asked teasingly.
"Well, if we do get caught, I just don't want to be associated as one of those kids you have to keep a close eye on," explained Lily. "If we're daring enough to pull a prank in the beginning of the school year on a professor, she'll think we're going to give her a hard time all year."
"Yes, but if we get caught doing the prank early in the year, she won't remember us, so she won't make that association," Lauren contradicted.
"I hate it when you're right," said Lily.
"So tomorrow we'll head to the library and search for some really good spells," Gwynn said.
"Yeah," agreed Lauren.
"What are you all planning?" Sirius asked, looking over and seeing the girls huddled closely.
"Nothing much," replied Gwynn. "Just something that includes you and duct tape."
Sirius glared at her while Gwynn smiled innocently and Lily and Lauren fought back giggles. Sirius went back to talking with his friends. No doubt the first question out of their mouths was "What's this with you and duct tape?"
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The students finished eating and followed their house Prefects up to their houses. After receiving their password, the group of second years went straight up to their dorms.
"Best meal I've had since I left here," said Lily dropping onto her bed.
"Bad cooks?" Lauren asked.
"Nope, family issues."
"Ah, well, I have those here as well as home," said Gwynn.
"The down side to having siblings," said Lauren.
"Older are the worst," stated Lily. "They act as if they rule you. To them you're their slave to send on commando missions."
"No no no no, dear friend of mine," said Gwynn. "Twins are the worst. You all think their great because you always have someone who understand you, but that's not true. They can be your worst enemy for that. They know everything about you"
"Good point."
"I just wish I had some siblings to complain about," Lauren said climbing into bed.
"You're a loony," Lily and Gwynn said simultaneously.
"You say that because you have no idea what it's like to be an only child."
"What's so bad about being an only child?" Lily asked.
"You have no one to confide secrets in, you've got no one to pass blame on, you've got no one to look up to or have anyone to be a role model to.'
The girls sat silently for a moment.
"Okay, you win," Gwynn said tossing a small candy to her. "I nearly won this round, but you pulled ahead at the last moment."
"How do you do it?" Lily asked.
"It's a talent," shrugged Lauren.
"Let's get some sleep, we've got a lot of research to do tomorrow," Gwynn said pulling back the sheets of her bed.
"Night," the three of them said at once. They all settled in their beds and shut the drapes to their four posters.
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Early the next morning, Lauren, Gwynn, and Lily were sitting in the back of the Charms section of the library, around a table piled with books. They weren't having too much luck with the books they had chosen at random from the stacks. They continued flipping through books when they heard footsteps approaching. They looked up and saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter come out of the stacks with a large pile of books.
"What are you doing at our table?" James asked.
"Who said it was your table?" replied Lauren.
"We always sit here," said Sirius.
"You go into libraries?!" Gwynn said in a tone of mock surprise.
"Let's just find another table," suggested Remus.
"Wait, what are you three doing?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"Getting a head start on classes," Lily said.
"What are you doing?" Lauren asked.
"W-we w-were j-just ge-get-tting some b-books," stammered Peter.
"Just to prepare for classes," said Remus.
"Well, we don't want to hold you up by talking," Gwynn said.
"Neither do we," James agreed.
"Well, bye," said Lauren.
"Bye," Sirius said. The guys left to find a different table.
"They're hiding something," James said, looking back in the direction of the girls.
"Probably planning a prank," said Sirius.
"Ag-gainst u-us?" asked Peter.
"No, they wouldn't do that," replied Remus.
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"Who do you suppose their planning against?" pondered Lauren.
"Let's see, who do they hate more that anything?" Gwynn said sarcastically.
"Snape of course," Lily said.
"Malfoy too," added Lauren.
"Let's get back to work, we need this to be big," said Gwynn. "The Marauders are always 'go big, or forget it.' "
"Marauders?" Lily and Lauren asked puzzled.
"James and Sirius came up with it over the holidays," answered Gwynn. "I thought it was rather odd too, but hey, if they want to be morons, it's up to them."
"Well, that sounds…" Lily said looking for a word, "–nice."
The girls went back to their reading. They found plenty of good spells, especially concealing spells. They copied the spells down on to parchment they had brought with them and went up to their dorm to practice them.
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"When will we put this all into action?" Lily asked Lauren.
"The night classes start," she replied. "Barely time to associate our faces with names."
"We'll just make sure to not wear our school robes so we won't be connected with Gryffindor. We could say we're from Slytherin if we get caught. Lily, you'll be Emma Chang. Lauren, you're Lindsey Sommers. I'll be Narcissa Black."
The door opened to their dorm and another girl in their year and was about to walk in.
"Trisha! Stop!" the three of them shouted. Trisha looked at them questioningly. Lily picked up her wand from her bed and said, "Finite incantadum."
"Okay, you can walk in now," said Gwynn.
"Practicing spells?" Trisha asked.
"Yeah," replied Lauren.
"Thanks for warning me," she said. Trisha grabbed a book from her trunk and walked out.
"So, we do it Monday at 11:00, okay?" Lauren said.
"Right." Lily and Gwynn replied.
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On Monday, their first class was Transfiguration with the new professor. The Gryffindors were standing around or sitting on the desks talking when the bell rang signaling the beginning of class.
"Students, please take your seats," Professor McGonagall said, but wasn't heard over the chatter or the students. They didn't even seem to notice she was there. "Students!" Still no reaction what so ever. The professor took out her wand and transfigured a quill on her desk into a large wooden meter stick. She picked it up and whacked it down on her desk. The students jumped and ran to a seat.
"Thank you," said Professor McGonagall rather annoyed. "I don't expect to have to do that at the beginning of every class, so I hope you all are in a seat, I don't care where, by the time that bell rings and silent. Now, I'm going to do a quick roll call"
After she took roll, she lectured them on her classroom procedures and rules. She seemed to have a million class rules. Many of the students were spacing out and doodling on parchment. The Marauders were sleeping in the back of the class.
"Watch this," Gwynn whispered to Lily and Lauren. She crumpled up a piece of parchment and tossed at Sirius's head. When it hit him, he woke up and saw the ball of parchment on his desk. He looked at Gwynn who grinned maliciously. He picked up the ball of parchment and threw it back at her, but she dodged it and the ball hit Professor McGonagall.
"Who threw that?" she asked.
"It was Mr. Black, Professor McGonagall," replied Lauren, pointing back at Sirius.
"She set me up!" Sirius said, pointing at Gwynn. Gwynn look completely shocked.
"How could you say that?" she asked. "I certainly did not set you up! I was sitting here avidly listening to the class rules and procedures when I reach down to get something from my bag and a ball of parchment flies past my head!"
"You lying little–" Sirius started but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall.
"I'm not going to give you a detention, Mr. Black, just a warning. If I catch you misbehaving or bothering another student, I will give you a detention. And someone wake up those three up."
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As they were on to their next class, Sirius walked up to Gwynn.
"Thanks much," he said sarcastically.
"Oh you're so welcome," Gwynn replied.
"What'd you do that for?" he asked.
"Just a bit of fun, and a chance to work on my acting skills."
"Quit using me as a chance to work on your acting skills."
"You're no fun anymore."
Sirius shook his head and caught up to the other Marauders.
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That night at 11:00, Lily, Lauren, and Gwynn snuck out of the Gryffindor common room dressed in muggle clothing so if McGonagall caught them, they'd be able to lie about their house. They cautiously crept down the corridors and used a mirror to check around corners for the caretaker and Peeves. Once reaching the Transfiguration room, they took out their wands and carefully placed the spells around the room.
"Wait, we forgot the most important spell!" Lauren hissed, as they were about to duck out of the room.
"Hurry up and cast it!" Gwynn whispered. "I'm not going to get caught because you had to cast your stupid spell!"
"Yeah, well, if we get caught, I'm blaming you."
"Me?! It's your fault!"
"I didn't say it was your fault, I just said I was going to blame you."
"Well I'm blaming you both if we get caught," muttered Lily.
Lauren muttered the spell and turned to join Lily and Gwynn and head out but stopped.
"Lauren, what is it?" asked Lily.
"We're in trouble," she replied looking over Gwynn's and Lily's heads.
"Yes, we are," said a voice they knew all too well. Lily and Gwynn turned around and saw Professor Turco standing in the doorway. "Now what could you three possibly be doing in Professor McGonagall's classroom at 11:30 at night?" Lily, Gwynn, and Lauren all just stared silently at her. Professor Turco took out her wand and said, "Finite incantadum! You three will all be serving detentions for this. Fifty points from Gryffindor. Now, back to your common room!"
The girls walked past Professor Turco and went straight up to Gryffindor Tower, where they found the Marauders standing outside the empty portrait of the Fat Lady.
"What are you three doing out?" Sirius asked.
"Getting caught by Professor Turco," replied Lily.
"You too?" Remus said.
"Busy person, she is," said Lauren.
"Where's Peter?" Gwynn asked.
"Broke his nose," answered James, "right after dinner."
The Fat Lady returned to her portrait and spotted the six students.
"You all shouldn't be out of bed," she said.
"We know," they replied.
"Phoenix tears," Lauren said. The portrait swung open, allowing them inside.
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A/n: Lala… nothing new! Hurrah hooray. p|-|34r |\/|y L4c| 0f c|-|4|\|g3! :: blink blink :: Thank you Megatokyo…
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