Disclaimer: Remus, Snape, Dumbledore and Hogwarts all belong to the wondrous lady we all treasure: JK Rowling. Blue, Arty and Loki are mine, sorta.

Author's Notes: Um. :blush: Well...see...I'm a romantic at heart...even if I won't admit it. And um...I want to try that prank. xD Anyway, this really doesn't further the story in the least, terribly sorry, I'll try to make another chapter that does. But hey! I finally made a new chapter! lol


A soft smile from the boy in front of him. Blue returned the smile, shyly. They shouldn't be doing this. This was completely insane. Worse than anything they'd done before. They'd surely be expelled.

Arty put his arm around the other boy, whispering a bit of encouragement, and Blue couldn't help but smile, giggle even.

Loki stood on the other side of the two, staring, speculating. This was supposed to be something between three of them, not two. But Arty and Blue had started to grow closer in a way that almost scared Loki. He decided to interrupt.

"Aherrr-m," he coughed loudly. "Knock on wood boys, we're getting howlers tomorrow morning."

All three boys snickered and knocked on the large wooden doors in front of them, then they pushed them open, ready to make their entrance. As all three of them pranced in, feathery masks held to their eyes, gasps, giggles, and yelps followed them.

Blue blushed under his mask, glancing up at Arty, who was grinning madly, cheeks only slightly colored…No! Not those ones…Blue tore his eyes away from the nude form of his best friend, which wasn't to say he and Loki weren't in the complete same situation. And all of this, in the middle of the Halloween Ball.

Loki broke away from the group, leaping onto the snack table, immediately taking on the entire attention of the crowd. "Ladies and gentleboys, I show you exactly what you want! Freedom in the truest form! Lose those restricting bodices and ties! This-" in which he preformed a one-handed cartwheel, just barely missing the punchbowl, "-is the naked truth!"

Snickers followed them as they were all three hauled out of the ball by professors who'd gotten over their initial shock.

Snape glared at the three outside the ball, who were now holding tablecloths around their waists, masks up on their heads, while trying to suppress massive gales of laughter that threatened to leave their throats. "You three…are in an extreme amount of trouble…" he growled in his usual monotone voice.

"Now, Severus, there is no reason to frighten them…A stunt such as this caused little harm, other than to those eyes who were truly offended," an elderly voice sounded behind him. Professor Dumbledore to the rescue! Blue almost laughed he was so relieved. As long as Professor Dumbledore found it amusing, then they weren't in half as much trouble as they'd originally thought. "I suppose, thirty point, ten from each boy, is necessary to hold them back from trying such a thing again, however, I don't believe any more punishment is required."

"Surely not! They violated countless school rules and…"

"And so did you, Severus, in your school days. Many of which I overlooked."

"Snivelly got it good! You should've seen him! And we, might I add most charming and devilishly handsome of all the Hogwarts boys, got away scot-free, with only an innocent smile between us and the howlers!" James laughed at Sirius' retelling.

Remus sighed and shook his head. "I don't know why you tell me these things. Now that I'm a prefect, I'm supposed to turn you in for such silly stupid pranks. Someone could get hurt!"

"Like Snivelly? Who really cares if he does?" James sniffed.

"Remus…oi…you feeling-"

"…all right?" Arty asked softly, as he looked into Blue's face from his own kneeling position. "You kinda started to wobble a little."

"Wobble…?" Blue muttered, putting a hand to his head. Eyes glancing to Snape, then back to Arty, he could swear he saw two forms of worry etched in two different ways.

"Perhaps it would be best to transport Mr. Potter back to the dorms, where he is bound to be a bit…warmer," Dumbledore murmured, then turned to Snape, "I believe we both have other duties to attend to."

Arty didn't spare the question of carrying before he picked up his smaller friend, under protests to be sure. "Arty! I can walk! Put me down! Truly you are annoying!" Blue grumbled and pouted, and even beat on Arty's chest and shoulders, however the bigger boy was unwavering. He sighed softly, giving up and settling into the other boy's arms.

Loki again got the feeling he was being left out of something a lot more important than carrying his friend upstairs…not that he was entirely certain he could. Shrugging slightly, he followed the others up the staircases, still holding onto his tablecloth.