The very last things on the Marauders minds as they drifted off to sleep that night, were the consequences of blaming Peeves for the poem about Snape, which by that time every student in the school had heard, and so had a fair few of the teachers, too. However, if there was one thing they should have been worrying about: it was exactly that. For Peeves was not one to be severely scolded for something he, for once, didn't do, and take it lying down- the moment he had been reprimanded for the offence, and told it was James Potter and Sirius Black that had 'supposedly' seen him doing it, Peeves instantly knew that revenge was in order.

Revenge of the naughtiest, evilest, most devious kind.

If there was someone in the school aside from the Marauders, who would take any excuse to cause some trouble, it was Peeves.

And so as they awoke on Thursday 29th March, Day 4 of their string of practical jokes- neither Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black nor James Potter had any idea what the Hogwarts Poltergeist had in store for them. They weren't to know at that time, that there was about to be a little 'assisted' prank backfiring- of a very unpleasant nature.

Still in their Gryffindor dressings gowns, the Marauders assembled around their dormitory whilst James searched under his bed for the list they had made.

"I think its brilliant that Peeves'll now be getting the blame for all of this," said Sirius with a casual, and rather conceited flick of his hair. "I mean, now whatever we do the teacher's will just think its him!"

"And what do you think Peeves will think of this?" queried Remus, crossing his arms.

Sirius gave a careless shrug. "He won't care- he's always doing this kind of thing. He's probably honoured that everyone thinks he wrote the poem, and did all that other stuff too,"

"If you think about it, its really awfully good of us to give him that pleasure," said James, sounding muffled from under the bed. "You know, letting him steal our thunder and all. He'll be getting the praise we rightly deserve,"

"He'll also be getting the ear-bashing from the teachers we rightly deserve," Remus pointed out.

"Maybe you should talk to Peeves?" Peter suggested as James crawled out, triumphantly holding the list. "Like, sort things out?"

"Wormtail," said Sirius, closing his eyes. "We're Marauders. Not diplomats. We cause trouble, not make peace. Understand?"

Peter nodded but still didn't look entirely defeated. "B-but- if you just let him know that-that we didn't mean any harm, you know, by-by framing him and all-"

"Peter, he doesn't care!" cried James exasperatedly, brandishing the rolled up piece of parchment in Peter's face. "He'd take the blame for anything! We could rob every galleon from Gringotts and blame him, and he still probably wouldn't care! What can they possibly do to him? He's a spirit- which is practically the same as a ghost! They can't expel him or anything- I'm sure people blame things on him all the time- he probably gets a kick out of it!"

"In fact," said Sirius. "I won't be surprised if next time we see him, he congratulates us!"

"Let me guess- are you going to make him an honorary 5th Marauder?" asked Remus with a dry smile.

"Brilliant!" Sirius' face had lit up. "Top thinking, Rem- we'd be unstoppable with a Poltergeist on our side!"

Remus looked worried. "I was being sarcastic," he said. James unrolled the list and looked through it, eyes narrowed in thought.

"These are all fairly basic," he said slowly. "We've done that one…that one…ah, here we go-"

"Lets see, Prongs!" Sirius scooted around so as he too could read what had caught James' attention. He gave a gasp. "Oh that's just too good,"

James had suddenly acquired a manic grin that Remus didn't like the look of.

"What is it?" he asked nervously.

James threw the list aside and darted over to his bed, where he swept down to his school supplies and began shuffling around- within no time at all, he drew out a large piece of blank parchment, which he spread out on the floor. He grabbed his quill and ink, dipped it in, then feverishly began to scribble an elaborate diagram that made no sense whatsoever to Remus and Peter.

"Sheer geniuses, we are," muttered Sirius to himself. "If this isn't the best bloody prank we've done so far, then I'll dance naked down Diagon Alley!"

Peter giggled uncontrollably at this.

"Don't encourage him, Peter," said Remus with a disapproving look.

"And try not to look so excited by it, either, Wormtail, or I'll start to seriously worry about you," said James, still immersed in his drawing.

"Hey, whatever floats his boat!" said Sirius evenly.

James threw down his quill and pushed his messy hair back out of his face. "Gentlemen," he said grandly, holding up the parchment. "I give you: the slime bucket,"

"The what?" asked Remus flatly. James spread the diagram of dotted lines and little symbols back on the floor again and signalled for them all to come over. They knelt down in a circle around the picture and James launched into an explanation.

"This is the second floor corridor, near the History of Magic room," he said, pointing frenetically at the parchment. "Near the classroom, there's this archway- see it? A huge, tall, wide archway- you know the one I mean? A lot of people are going to come through this at recess time,"

"S-so?" asked Peter looking eager. "What are we going to do, James?"

"Patience, Petey. Look, here," he pointed to a little cluster of stick figures on the diagram. "This is us, right?"

"Yeah, and here's Snivellus- with his underpants on his head," said Sirius, grabbing the quill and doodling a rather insulting picture of Snape in the corner. Peter slumped forwards, snorting with laughter.

"Someone woke up in a very mature today," commented Remus airily, as Sirius scrawled a derogatory message underneath his little cartoon of Snape, causing Peter to howl and redouble his giggles.

"Ok," said James. "So here's us, here's Snape- thankyou Sirius- and here-" he pointed above the arch, "is the slime bucket!"

Peter gawped at James as if it were something superbly sacred.

James continued. "Basically, we fill the bucket up with a whole load of disgusting goopy stuff, and don't worry, I know exactly where we can get some of that. We position it here, above the arc, cast that nifty little sensing charm Flitwick so kindly taught us- so as the second someone passes directly underneath it…"

"Splat?" asked Sirius, wearing a very deranged grin on his face.

"Yes," established James, also grinning. "Splat,"

"Gadzooks, James! We've done it! Its foolproof!" cried Sirius (who was now adding a few speech bubbles coming from his Snape caricature, reading things such as "Professor Quinn turns me on," and "I do odd things to kneazles when no one's watching"). "Oh! And we can hide behind that Godric Gryffindor statue, with your invisibility cloak, and watch the whole thing!"

A thrilled gasp from Peter told them he was obviously happy with the plan. A frustrated sigh from Remus told them he wasn't.

"Problem, Moony?" queried James, sweetly.

"I don't quite know when exactly you're planning to do all this," said Remus. "You may have forgotten, but we're in school. We have lessons to go to. Speaking of which, I've barely had time to do any homework lately because of you-"

"Don't you worry yourself about that, Rem," said Sirius carelessly. "The more time we spend disobeying the rules now, the more time we'll have to obey them later!"

Remus looked back at him, perplexed. "That doesn't make any sense at all!" he retaliated.

But 'making sense' was not on the cards for James and Sirius, in their current state- they were looking more hyped than ever, ready and raring to go. James hurriedly rolled up his diagram and list, and stuffed them back behind his bed, out of sight. He turned to his friends, glowing with enthusiasm.

"Are we ready?"

"Oh, we're ready all right, Prongsy!" said Sirius, clapping his hands together. "Time to officially begin Day Four!"

James swiped up his Invisibility cloak from where it was hanging on his bed post, and left the dormitory, with Peter scampering close behind him. Remus clearly wasn't as keen as his friends were for Day Four to start, and he stood shaking his head until Sirius grabbed his wrist and dragged him unwillingly out of the door.

In the now empty dormitory, a familiar cackle floated through the air, and with a sudden 'pop', the Hogwarts Poltergeist appeared, hovering where the four Marauders had stood moments before.

"Well, well, well! Naughty 5th years planning to cause some more trouble!" he hissed, a grin spreading across his wickedly cheeky face. "Time for Peevesy to teach thems a lesson!"

Anyone superstitious would have said that the thunderstorms and drizzly rain that started to fall over Hogwarts that morning was a bad omen that things were about to go wrong for the Marauders. However, no amount of depressing rain or black clouds could dampen their spirits. James and Sirius were so enthused about their plans that they found they had to turn down the happiness a tad (particularly when they passed Professor Quinn in the Great Hall, and she demanded to know what they were so pleased about) in order to avoid suspicion. They barely needed to, though- the talk amongst the students was that Peeves had been caught and reprimanded as the offender, for not only writing the poem, but also for a number of other mischievous deeds that had occurred in the castle over the past few days. This put the two in even higher spirits, and it made James so happy that he almost marched himself straight over to Lily Evans to ask her out- on the other hand, he knew she would take some winning over before agreeing. The two of them weren't exactly best friends, so he decided against it, for the time being.

With a great amount of tact- namely, Remus lying to Professor Flitwick that he felt ill again- the four Marauders managed to get out of Charms second lesson to do some arranging in time for recess. James had lead them all out into the cold, where waves of misty rain were falling down over the grounds, chilling them all to the bone. They began to follow him down towards Hagrid's Hut, hoping he knew what he was doing.

"Step One:" said James, obviously not phased by the drizzle, which had already soaked through his hair, plastering it to his forehead. "Find some sludgy stuff,"

"I wish that excited me as much as it excites you two," said Remus in a rather deadpan voice, hugging his robes around him tightly. "James, this is ridiculous, we're all going to catch colds being out here-"

"Its only a bit of rain!" exclaimed Sirius, raising his arms to the sky. His now soaking wet black hair looked even blacker. "All this will be worth it just to see someone falling into our trap at recess time, believe me Remus,"

"Really. Well…well I don't want you to make me lie to Professor Flitwick again,"

"Relax, Moony! He doesn't suspect a thing!"

"Yeah, excellent fibbing there," said James, sounding impressed. "You could use that excuse to him every day and he wouldn't think you were up to anything. You're really handy, you know?" he added with a warm smile.

Remus looked impatient. "I'm just one big excuse to you, aren't I?"

There was a squeak and an audible squelch from behind them- Peter had slipped over and landed gracelessly on his backside in the mud. He smiled painfully up at his friends.

"Pratt," muttered Sirius.

Luckily for them, Hagrid didn't seem to be around his hut, and was probably out around the grounds, so James suggested. He beckoned for them all to follow him around to the back of the hut, where there was a small adjoined section with an old wooden door. James pushed it open to reveal a musty little shed of sorts, with several shelves and supplies stored away inside.

Soaking wet and shivering, this little shelter suddenly seemed very inviting to the Marauders, and after checking once more that Hagrid was not about to spring them, they stepped inside.

It had the smell of a mixture of oats and rotten cabbage, but nevertheless it was warm and dry, and they were glad to get out of the rain.

"What's this place?" asked Peter.

"Hagrid's supply shed," said James, glancing around. "Its where he keeps all of his supplies. You know, food for those weird creatures he's got,"

"Got the bucket, James," called Sirius, holding up an large, wooden pail. "What're we gonna put in first?"

"The most disgusting things we can find," leered James. His eyes fell on a large overflowing bucket of something black and gunky on a nearby shelf. The label read, in Hagrid's untidy scrawl: 'Bat Spleens'

James pointed to his recent discovery. "Some of that, for sure,"

Peter eagerly lifted the bucket of sloppy bats spleens and tipped a fair amount of them into the wooden collecting one.

"Frog brains!" cried Sirius happily, taking a smaller container off another shelf and emptying its contents also into their wooden bucket- the greyish brains fell amongst the bat spleens with revolting slopping sounds.

James took a wide tin of what looked like slug segments, and without hesitation, emptied those in too.

Remus winced in revulsion. "What sort of animals or creatures would want to eat this sort of thing is beyond me," he commented.

"H-hey, look up there!" said Peter, pointing tentatively up to a high shelf. "Does-does that say 'Minced Rats Tails'?"

James and Sirius looked up to the container Peter was pointing to.

"Hey, you're right," said James. "Good spotting Wormtail- Sirius, we've just got to get some of those,"

"But look how high it is, Jamesy!" Sirius moaned. "I bet only Hagrid could reach up there…he hasn't even got a ladder lying around. It'd be too risky to levitate them down, I don't wanna end up covered in them or anything,"

James paused for a moment, thinking.

"I know," he said. "We'll do it the Muggle way, without magic. Remus, stand on Sirius' shoulders and get the minced rats tails down for us,"

Remus blinked, looking puzzled. "What?"

"You're probably the lightest, just get on his shoulders and see if you can reach it,"

"No, James, this is just getting silly- I'm not doing it,"

"Please?"

Remus peered into the vile mixture the bucket now held, with utmost disgust. "I don't think you need to add anything else," he said. "Its revolting enough as it- hey!"

Before he could do any more frantic refusing, Remus found himself being forced to clamber up onto Sirius' shoulders. Within seconds, they had formed a rather precarious looking two person tower. While Sirius held onto his ankles- his own legs trembling under the weight- Remus balanced on his shoulders, gripping onto the shelves for support.

"The things I do for you," said Remus hotly. "All this for a bucket of rats tails," He paused, then added. "They'd better be good,"

"You hear that James?" panted Sirius. "I think Remus' inner miscreant has finally broken free again!"

"I always knew it would," said James proudly. "Told you everyone has one!"

"Inner miscreant?" repeated Remus. "Oh, now I've heard it all!"

"In the nicest possible terms, Moony- can you please hurry up?" pleaded Sirius, staggering sideways a little, causing Remus to grab the shelves in a panic. "Can you reach them?"

Remus stretched as high as he could, and just managed to pull the tub of minced rats tails towards him.

"I think I've got them,"

"Here, Remus!" said Peter, bouncing up and down, eager to help. "Throw them down to me!"

Remus was just about to pass them down to Peter, when suddenly, the shed door banged open behind them, and a gust of icy wind blew in with incredible force. Sirius stumbled in shock, his knees buckling. Both he and Remus swayed violently for a moment before they both came crashing to the ground. The bucket of rats tails went flying- its mushy brown contents splattered out, all over Peter, who shrieked in disgust- and was then promptly silenced as the bucket from which they came landed perfectly on his head with a painful sounding thwack.

"What happened?" gasped James, moving over to the doorway and looking out. "Where did that breeze come from?"

An evil cackle drifted back in reply- one that all four of the Marauders recognized.

"Its Peeves," groaned Sirius, slowly getting to his feet, and helping Remus up.

"Peeves? What's he doing out here?" demanded James. "And why did he just do that? We could've been hurt!"

Peter removed the bucket from his head, looking a bit dazed with minced rat tails sliding down his face.

"He must have followed us down here," said Remus, brushing his robes off. "He's probably a little angry about you two blaming him for all the trouble you've caused,"

"What? Nahh," said Sirius. "I shouldn't think its anything personal. He's probably just bored,"

"Yeah, and didn't know we were in here…balancing on each others shoulders…stealing Hagrid's supplies," said James casually. He gave a shrug and turned to Peter. "You all right there, Wormtail?"

"Yeah," said Peter miserably, through the brownish grey sludge. "I…think so,"

"Good," concluded James. He picked up their wooden pail of bat spleens, slug segments and frog brains and handed it to Peter. "Here- if you're going to be dripping sludgy rats tails everywhere- try to drip them into the bucket, we need all the gross stuff we can get,"

"It had to happen to you anyway, Pete," said Sirius, as they left the shed and stepped out into the rain again. "Its my 'wrong place, wrong time' theory all over again. Anyway, that bloody Poltergeist won't be back now, he's had his fun,"

"I'd be a bit more careful what you say, if I were you," warned Remus. "I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Peeves today,"

It rained heavily on the boys as they made their way back, which was good for Peter, as this rinsed any of the remaining rats tails off, which he was very glad about (he would much rather have been soaking wet that covered with something as gross as that). So aside from the rain and Peeves' brief appearance, it all went smoothly, and the Marauders managed to smuggle the bucket of goop back into Hogwarts castle without a hitch. They headed straight for the second floor corridor archway and began to set up. Sirius cast a replenishing charm on the sludge, which ensured that it would refill almost the second the bucket was emptied and stood upright again ("After all," he explained to Remus. "You didn't expect us to just do it once did you?"). James, meanwhile, cast the sensing spell they had learned from Flitwick in Charms, so it would magically tip out its contents on the first poor unsuspecting soul to walk underneath it. With extreme care, they hid the bucket atop the high, stone archway, out of sight, and took their positions behind the Godric Gryffindor statue nearby.

It seemed to take forever for the morning recess bell to sound, but when it did, all four Marauders took a deep breath and dived under the Invisibility cloak to wait.

"Any minute now," mumbled James, watching keenly. "Just…wait…"

"The suspense is killing me," groaned Sirius.

Remus was surely panicking by now. "What if you get a teacher?" he asked.

"I don't care who we get!" said James. "I just want to see it work!"

James' prayers were soon answered, as their first victim came around the corner. However, it was not a student, nor a teacher: It was Filch's mangy old cat Scraggles.

Peter's reaction was instant- he let out a whimper and started to tremble, forgetting momentarily that he was a human, not a rat lie he was the previous day when Scraggles had tried to swallow him.

"Cut it out, Wormtail," hushed James. He was intently watching Scraggles skulk closer and closer to the danger zone, and looked as if he wanted desperately to start egging him on.

"Almost there," whispered Sirius as Scraggles padded closer still. "Yes…come on, kitty,"

Scraggles sniffed the ground hesitantly, pausing mere inches from the centre of the archway- exactly where the Marauders wanted him.

"Why isn't it working, James?" asked Peter.

James adjusted his glasses and peered past the statue at Scraggles. "He's not directly under the bucket," he said quietly. "The sensing charm won't work until someone stands in the exact centre,"

"Stupid cat," spat Sirius, leaning around Peter to get a closer look. "Do you think it knows?"

Before anyone could answer, something purely delightful happened- better than Scraggles setting off the sensing charm. The cat's owner, Argus Filch, came slouching around the corner looking particularly moody. He saw his cat sniffing around on the ground and started towards him.

James and Sirius tensed, manic grins spreading across their faces.

"Oh, thankyou," Sirius breathed, passionately.

Cold dread washed over Remus.

"Oh no," he uttered, horrified. "No, no- not Filch! No, James- please- stop it, you can't-"

Even if James and Sirius had wanted to stop, it was too late. Filch crossed to Scraggles and scooped him up with his knobbly hands. Completely oblivious as to what was about to happen, he took a step forwards. It only took this one small movement to set things in motion.

The Marauders held their breath- all four pairs of eyes shot to the top of the arch where the bucket stood. They were soon assured that the charm had worked. It was as if it were all happening in slow motion: the wooden bucket tipped, and the horrid concoction it had been holding spilled out. In a matter of seconds, Filch and Scraggles were suddenly both doused in a cold shower of greyish goop. Scraggles let out a startled yowl as if someone had trodden on his matted tail, and leapt from Filch's arms, tearing off, looking half drowned and dripping with the revolting grey sludge. Filch himself stood still as the last of the bats spleens and segmented slugs dribbled onto his head, with a look of absolute shock on his pouchy face.

Sirius doubled over in silent laughter and James clung to the cold, stone form of Godric Gryffindor, shoulders heaving. Remus sharply elbowed Peter when he started to titter out loud.

Sadly, Filch didn't find being suddenly drenched in sludge to be very funny at all- in fact, he was livid. His eyes were practically popping out if their sockets in his rage, and he was quivering, his fists clenched. However, there was no one in sight to yell at, apart from a group of Hufflepuffs who had paused to giggle at this spectacle- and so with frog brains oozing down his face, and a vein throbbing in his forehead, Filch stormed off after Scraggles, muttering angrily and leaving a trail of mush behind him.

"I can't breathe," wheezed Sirius, clutching his stomach and trying to stop himself laughing. "Oh, Merlin- that was fantastic!"

"Shh!" James tried to silence him, still trembling from laughter himself. "Quick, someone else is coming!"

He flicked his wand and the bucket set itself upright again where it sat above the arc. A tiny burst of white sparks signalled the replenishing charm doing its job, and refilling the bucket with the exact same sludgy muck they had started with.

Emmeline Vance- fresh from the Hospital Wing- and 5th year Ravenclaw Ella Ackerly came sauntering around the corner. The Marauders barely had time to recover from the first round when the two girls crossed the magical sensor, and the bucket tilted- the slimy brew sloshed down over the two girls with a splatter. They both shrieked in horror as it poured down on them, slicking even Ella's rebellious curly hair flat down to her head.

Emmeline was panting and groaning in horror, and Ella had turned pale with disgust and looked as if she was going to be sick.

"Oh, you're cruel," said Remus coldly, covering his face with his hands as James, Sirius and Peter struggled to contain their laughter. James did his best to reset the bucket as Emmeline and Ella staggered off, saturated in goop.

No sooner had their second set of victims exited the scene, more students began to filter through the corridor. A few had just stopped to look at the unusual grey sludge splattered on the floor when a tall, thin 4th year boy with sandy hair passed under the arch, and he too was instantly drenched in the mush.

The surrounding students roared with laughter. The sandy haired boy- who's hair was now anything but sandy- angrily brushed a few frog brains from his robes and stormed off, positively fuming.

They were still laughing when a bunch of timid looking first years rounded the corner and approached the target area.

"Quickly, James, the bucket!" said Sirius weakly, tears of laughter leaking down his cheeks as he held onto Peter for support.

James waved his wand and once again, the bucket stood itself the right way up, just in time for the first years to pass underneath. The refilled bucket tipped and a waterfall of innards and sludge descended on the unsuspecting group, who screamed and tried in vain to cover their heads.

Back under the invisibility cloak, Remus was one of the only ones (apart from the victims) in the hallway who wasn't laughing.

"James," he tried. "James, come on, this is mean…"

"Moony we're just having some fun!" choked James. "Look, they're all enjoying themselves!"

He gestured to all of the students watching the sludge showers and laughing heartily. The recently soaked first years looked like they were about to cry as they left, wiping gunk out of their eyes.

"Its harmless," he concluded, flicking his wand once more to reset the wooden bucket.

Their first glimpse of the next person walking around the corner was just too much for the Marauders. Of all the people in Hogwarts they would have liked to have slimed; the greasy Slytherin approaching the arch at that moment was their number one choice.

Severus Snape.

"Look, its Snivellus!" said Peter, totally unnecessarily. "This is great!"

"Be quiet, Peter! I'm going to enjoy this!" grinned James.

Snape certainly didn't keep them waiting long- sparing the laughing students around him a contemptuous glance as he passed them, he headed straight down the middle of the corridor, and consequently directly under the centre of the archway.

Sirius and James watched, enraptured, as their wooden bucket of gloopy goodness once again tilted and tipped out its contents.

All over Snape.

His black eyes widened as the cold brownish grey mush poured down from the archway and covered him. If he wasn't already the laughing stock of the school because of the poem from the previous day, he certainly was now. The growing crowd laughed hardest of all at seeing Snape of all people drenched in the revolting substance, and three out of the four Marauders were aching with laughter. Snape blinked through the muck in utter shock.

A random student commenting with "Aw, Snapey's washed his hair!" just about sent James and Sirius into crippling hysterics, but they held it together enough to be able to reset the bucket once more.

"This is what its all about, Marauders!" wept James, wiping his streaming eyes under his glasses. "These are the moments you strive for!"

Snape assumed a rather unconcerned look on his face and marched off, head held high, as if the sloppy bat spleens and frog brains dripping down his face simply weren't a problem.

Still laughing, the Marauders looked eagerly to the corner beyond the arch to see who would be next.

It was Lily Evans, a vision of pure innocence, with her hair neatly brushed, robes perfectly straight and a very calm expression on her face. Not the sort of person who would enjoy having a bucketful of sludge dumped on her head.

Their smiles immediately faltered. James panicked.

"Oh God no! Lift the sensing charm! Quick!" he cried, throwing the invisibility cloak off his head and stumbling out. Sirius fumbled for his wand and gave it a forceful flick, destroying the sensing charm just as Lily entered the archway and James raced up to her.

Unfortunately, Lily wasn't the only one to arrive on the scene at that moment. No one had noticed yet, but Peeves the Poltergeist had appeared with a faint 'pop', and was now floating above the archway next to the bucket, rubbing his little hands together with glee.

"Hey Evans!" said James as he approached Lily. "All right, are we?"

Lily gave him an odd look.

"Since when do you care about how anyone but yourself is, Potter?" she asked. "Where's Sirius?"

"Oh, he's around," said James, glad that the others had successfully lifted the sensing charm. "So…"

But James didn't have the time to say anything else- he was silenced as he and Lily were hit by a deluge of slimy grey sludge from above. Lily screamed and James let out a confused cry. He was barely aware of the roaring of laughter from all around them as the glut of cold slop poured over his head and down his neck. It was truly the most disgusting thing he had ever felt.

He smeared his hands over his face and behind his glasses, trying to wipe it all away so he could see again and looked blearily around. Lily was spluttering in disgust, wringing out her robes and brushing off a few sticky black spleen-shaped globs.

"Wh-wh- but, I don't understand- the sensing charm!" James stuttered. "That-that shouldn't have happened!"

"What?" snapped Lily, quite hysterically. "What are you talking about James! Did you just do that?"

"Me?" exclaimed James. "I-I-no! No, no, L-Lily, its not like that, it-"

He shot an angry glance back at the Godric Gryffindor statue.

"Uh-oh," Sirius muttered. "Come on,"
The three remaining Marauders left the safety of the Invisibility cloak behind the statue, and made their way over to James and Lily, who were still dripping with sludge.

"What happened, Prongs?" Sirius hissed.

"You tell me," retorted James.

"I lifted the charm, I swear! Look, mate, you've got to believe me! Really! It wasn't our fault!"

"James, Sirius is telling the truth," said Remus quietly so as Lily couldn't hear. "Peter and I both saw him do the counter-charm, someone else must have interfered,"

"Someone else?" spluttered James as Peter nodded fervently. "Who else would-"

Realisation dawned on all four Marauders as an evil cackle sounded from above them.

"Do the dirty little 5th years need a wash?" sang Peeves, hovering next to their re-filled bucket.

All four Marauders and Lily slowly looked upwards with dread, just as Peeves wiggled his toes and giggled, and the bucket started to tip one last time. Before they knew it they were being showered in the disgusting, chunky sludge they had seen being poured onto all of the victims before them, and they knew exactly how they must have felt.

Peeves paused only to grin, satisfied at what he had done before somersaulting in mid-air and then disappearing with a 'pop', leaving the Marauders and Lily Evans dripping, coughing and wiping the vile slime out of their eyes (Lily and James looking particularly angry for being gooped twice).

The Marauders looked around at each other sorrowfully as the laughter of fellow students washed over them, just like the horrible sludge had moments before. None of them seemed to be able to speak, too embarrassed, and too furious with Peeves.

James miserably picked frog brain out of his hair and threw it at the ground. It landed with a splat.

"That didn't go too well…did it?" said Peter, testily.

"No, Pete," mumbled Sirius, gunk sliding down his face. "Not one of our best,"

Remus, looking pale, mopped some slime off his Prefect badge with his robe sleeve.

"So," he said bitterly. "Will you be dancing naked down Diagon Alley then, Sirius?"

Sirius hurled a bat spleen at Remus in response.

"No!"

Apologies for the delay in updating, I've had a fair bit going on over the past week or so. But the next chapter is already half written, so expect that soon. Its going to feature something just as disgusting as this one, so stay tuned! Thanks to my reviewers, you lot are the best!