Feeling angry, humiliated and just plain disgusting, the four Marauders traipsed their way to the bathrooms to clean themselves up. In fact, they were feeling so sorry for themselves that they scarcely noticed they were missing out on their lessons, until Remus remembered that they had 2 rolls of parchment on the making of the Draft of Peace due in Potions, which they were supposed to be in. Sirius snarled that Quinn could stick her rolls of parchment somewhere unpleasant, and then continued his ranting about Peeves, calling him all the insulting things he could think of.

"He's gone too far," fumed Sirius, wiping the last of the slime out of his hair. "We were just having a bit of fun, and he had to go and spoil everything. I mean, spilling the rats tails in Hagrid's shed, that was ok-" (Peter looked offended, obviously not agreeing) "-but then going and ruining our whole set up by sludging all of us!"

James replaced his now clean glasses. "He won't bother us again," he said. "He's had his revenge, fine. Now he'll leave us alone. We're equal,"

"Equal?" Sirius shouted. "I don't think its equal! We gave him a popularity boost and he embarrassed us in front of the whole school! Didn't you hear everyone laughing at us? All the girls? My reputation is in freefall as we speak!"

"Sirius," said Remus tiredly, leaning against the wall. "Just calm down. Getting worked up about it won't help,"

Sirius scowled and threw his towel into the sink.

Peter spoke up, somewhat nervously. "You don't reckon Lily is angry at us, do you?"

"If she's got any sense she'll be angry at that little-"

Sirius went off on a rude tangent about Peeves again. His abusive raving must have somehow alerted the mischievous Hogwarts Poltergeist, as just then a chilly breeze whistled through the bathroom and quite suddenly, Peeves himself appeared with a pop, sitting cross-legged on top of one of the toilet cubicle doors. He was beaming cheekily.

"Shouldn't say nasty things about Peeves!" he taunted. "Oh, no- not very nice! Nasty 5th years!"

"Sod off, Peeves, you little rotter!" Sirius howled, grabbing a bar of soap from the sink and throwing it at Peeves.

Peeves disappeared before it could hit, and reappeared behind them floating upside down.

"Its not Peeves that's a rotter, oh no, its Potter!" he sang. "Potter the rotter, Potter the rotter! A right old rotter is Jamesy Potter!"

James groaned, knowing it would be impossible to have an intelligent with him conversation now.

"Peeves, stop that," said Remus sincerely. "Look, can you just-"

"Loony, Loopy Lupin!" Peeves chanted. "Potter the rotter and Loony Lupin!"

"Peeves!" Sirius yelled, pointing an accusing finger. "You apologise for what you did to us and we'll never bother you again! All right?"

Peeves considered this for a moment, still hanging upside down.

"Nasty 5th years dob on Peevesy for something he didn't do, AND throw soap at his head, and they want him to say sorry?"

The Marauders exchanged glances, waiting for Peeves' answer. They knew it wasn't going to be the one they wanted when a dreadfully wicked grin spread across his face.

"Shan't!" he cried, and disappeared with a bang, his cackles fading into the distance.

"Oi! Peeves! Get back here!" demanded Sirius.

Peeves responded by pelting the bar of soap at the back of Sirius' head. Needless to say, Sirius was not happy at this.

The Marauders were still sulking by the time lunch came around- none of them were surprised to find they weren't very hungry (just the sight of minced rats tails was enough to make one lose ones appetite, let alone having some dumped on ones head), and so they moodily retreated to the dormitories instead.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Peter.

"Perhaps we'd better just go back to lessons after lunch," sighed Remus. "I think we've done our dash. No more pranks this week. Please,"

Silence reigned for a moment, and the only sound they could hear was the soft pattering of rain hitting the windows on the outside.

But James, however, was looking dramatic.

"Now just hold on," he said. "Just hold on a second. Who are we?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "James, don't start-"

James overrode him. "I'll tell you who we are. We're the Marauders. And we don't give up, do we? We don't accept defeat. We don't let one good trouncing by a Poltergeist let us lose the will to keep on pranking! Do we?"

"No! No, we bloody don't!" agreed Sirius heartily. "We're only on Day Four! We've got loads more to do!"

"Exactly!" cried James, leaping up onto his bed and striking a heroic pose. "We're not quitters! We're Marauders! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs forever! Purveyors of Magical Mayhem! Through rain or shine-"

"-Or sludge-"

"Yes, or sludge- we will NOT give in! Agreed?"

"Agreed!" hooted Sirius, punching the air.

"I agree too, James!" said Peter eagerly. "I won't give in either!"

Remus pushed his hair out of his eyes in annoyance. "That's all very touching, Prongs, but-"

"There's always a 'but' with you Moony isn't there?" chirped Sirius, much recovered from his angry outburst about Peeves. "Just cheer up! Go with the flow!"

"You three are impossible," said Remus, watching in dismay as James dug behind his four poster bed for the dreaded list. "Don't you think its time to heed the warnings? With Snape raging mad, the teachers suspicious and Peeves as our arch enemy, we're already in over our heads!"

ButRemus' three friends were hell bent on redeeming themselves, and his words of wisdom flew straight over the top of their heads and out of the window.

James produced the list with reinforced glee. He unrolled it and read closely, with Peter and Sirius on either side. Remus sat down on his bed with his head in his hands as the others started scheming, determined to restore their pride. He caught the odd word, such as 'dungbomb' and 'bowtruckle' as James muttered to himself, scanning through the list.

James eyes widened suddenly.

"Hey, here we go!" he said, pointing a finger decisively at one particular option.

"Leech Juice?" Sirius cried as he read over James' shoulder. "Now there are just endless possibilities with that one, Prongs!"

Peter leaned in to get a look at the list too. "Where are you going to get leech juice?" he asked eagerly, eyes darting from Sirius to James. "A-and what are you going to do with it?"

"Maybe we could feed it to Scraggles?" suggested Sirius, looking dreamy.

"Maybe we could feed it to Filch?" said James, in the same tone of voice. He grinned in a dastardly manner. "We could slip it into his tea, he'd never notice…until he drank it, of course,"

Peter was starting to laugh hysterically again.

Remus didn't seem to think the leech juice tea plan was very wise. He raised his head, his brow knit with concern. "You really should leave Filch alone. You've been giving him a hard time all week, he'll be on his guard more than ever now- or have you forgotten how angry he looked when you slimed him this morning?"

"Yeah," said Sirius, sympathetically. "You're absolutely right, Remus- he wasn't too happy, was he? You know? I think what he might need is a nice cup of tea-"

"Cut it out, I'm serious!"

"No you're not, he is!" said James pointing to Sirius with a grin.

Remus gave a furious groan, while Sirius and Peter laughed. "That's so old, and so completely pathetic," he muttered. "I mean it, James- we'll be expelled if we're caught,"

"Right-o. Note to self: don't get caught. Happy with that, lads?"

"Absolutely, Prongs!" Sirius declared. "Nothing can stop us now! We can get the leech juice from the dungeons- that'll be easy…oh, and already I've got a few ideas about 'The Big Ones' for April Fools Day!"

"Oh, no," groaned Remus.

"Excellent, Padfoot," said James. "This ones going to be good, I can tell. Come on, lunch is nearly over, we'd better get to 5th lesson. After that, we head to the dungeons, get what we need, find Filch…then strike…"

However, if the poor Marauders had any idea what Peeves was going to do to them that afternoon, then they'd definitely have changed their plans…

After waiting patiently all afternoon for the chance to sneak down to the dungeons to pilfer a bottle of leech juice, the Marauders were glad when Transfiguration finally came to an end. It seemed to go forever, as it was yet another boring theory lesson spent doing quiet revision. Professor Kettleburn obviously wasn't in the mood to be holding any more practicals while McGonagall was away (he gave an involuntary twitch every time someone mentioned the word 'cup', in any context).

The bell finally rang at around half past 2, signalling the beginning of their final lesson. Luckily, for Remus, Sirius, Peter and James, this was a study lesson- or in other words- free time to get down to some serious pranking.

"I can't wait to see the look on Filch's face when he realises he's drinking leech juice!" Sirius chuckled as the four boys slung their bags over their shoulders and left the classroom. "He's going to be furious!"

"He'll get over it," said James lightly.

"Not in a hurry- have you ever tried that stuff? It's one of the most revolting substances in existence," said Sirius, wrinkling his nose and looking as if he'd just been forced to drink some.

"Well, lucky Filch," commented Remus, expressionlessly. "I suppose you want me to keep guard for you, while you creep into Professor Quinn's storeroom again?"

"Well, it would- wait!"

They were just about to exit the hallway to cross the outside courtyard, when James froze, pulling them back inside again. His eyes were fixed on a small group of students standing in the centre.

"James, what?" Peter started to say, but James silenced him.

He dragged his friends behind a wall. Cautiously they peered out, curious to see what or who James was hiding them from.

The group of five consisted of about four Slytherin boys and a Gryffindor girl, which was an extremely odd combination. The four boys were 5th and 6th years, and the Marauders recognised them from the Slytherin Quidditch team- Ian Bode and Claude Zabini were Beaters, Gregory Gwynham, their Seeker, and Hamish Nettles- their thick-set Keeper.

The Gryffindor girl, with her sparkling green eyes and long red hair, was unmistakably Lily Evans.

"Its Evans, James!" whispered Sirius. "What's she doing talking to those Slytherin gits?"

"I don't know," said James, quietly and seriously.

The Marauders stood transfixed and listened closely. Lily was looking uncomfortable, hugging her bag to her protectively, looking around at the four Slytherin's worriedly.

"So come on Lily," Claude Zabini was saying to her in honeyed tones. "You know you can't resist his Slytherin charm- why don't you two give it a go?"

Zabini had pushed Gregory Gwynham forwards- Gwynham staring at Lily rather keenly. Lily shook her head frantically.

"No," she said. "I'm not interested,"

"Aww, Evans!" crooned Ian Bode, moving around to stand next to her. "Gwynham's mad about you- he's had a crush on you since first year! Now you can't deny that you feel the same,"

"Yeah, we've seen you two blowing kisses to each other from across the Great Hall!"

The Slytherins laughed nastily. Lily was now starting to look slightly scared.

"Leave me alone," she said quietly. "I'm not going out with him,"

"Oh, don't be so horrid, Lily," said Zabini. "You'll break his little heart!"

"Yeah," said Bode, placing an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, you know you want him!"

"Don't…touch her," James muttered through gritted teeth.

Lily threw Bode's arm off, glared around at them and stormed off.

"Oooooh!" Zabini hooted. Bode wolf whistled after her and they all laughed.

Sirius let out a string of swear words and started towards them- but Remus grabbed his arm and hauled him back behind the wall.

"Don't, Sirius," he said warningly.

"Remus, did you hear them?" Sirius hissed. "Those bastards need to be taught a lesson! Right James?"

James had silently drawn his wand, his face set.

"Right, Padfoot," he replied calmly. "And I have just the hex that'll do that. Forget the leech juice- I've got something else unpleasantly slimy in mind,"

Sirius whipped out his wand as well, seeming to understand. Without further hesitation James aimed directly at Claude Zabini, breathing hard- Peter shrank back, and Remus winced, not knowing what to expect- James flicked his wand and a flash of green sparks shot out of it, and hit Zabini in the chest, knocking him backwards. The laughter fell from his fellow Slytherin friends faces, as they saw him turning pale.

"Oi Claude, you all right?" asked Hamish Nettles. Zabini hiccuped a few times, put his hands to his stomach and then, with total lack of grace or style- reeled back and threw up several juicy slugs onto cobbles in front of him.

There were gasps of shock and disgust from the other Slytherins. James grinned in utter satisfaction, watching Zabini retch again, more slugs dribbling down his front. Sirius gave his wand a flick too, in Ian Bode's direction. Bode, who was edging towards Zabini to offer some sort of comfort, was suddenly knocked off his feet and to the hard stony ground. He pushed himself up on all fours, panting and was just about to get up when the curse kicked in, and he too burped out an assortment of slugs and slime.

Peter had smothered his hands over his face to stop him laughing out loud. James and Sirius stood up straight, proud of their work- they watched the two Slytherin Beaters staggering around, coughing squelchy fat slugs into their hands and groaning in revulsion.

"Who did this?" yelled Gregory Gwynham to the empty courtyard. Hamish Nettles looked equally confused.

"Whoever it is, they're not finished yet," whispered James, flicking his wand at Gwynham with glee. The jet of green sparks hit the Seeker in the gut with incredibly force. Gwynham barely had time to utter the word "No!" when he too began to gag revoltingly, choking back slugs.

"Get Nettles too, Sirius!" giggled James. "Quickly!"

"Can't we just get out of here, James?" implored Remus, watching the scene in disgust. "This is horrible,"

Alas, the other three Marauders were far too amused by the sight before them, and ignored him. Sirius raised his wand once more.

"Ooh! I'll do it, James!" Peter piped up, thoroughly enthused, and with his own wand at the ready. "Can I have a shot? Please?"

"Whatever!" said Sirius hastily pushing Peter in front of him. "Just don't screw it up, Pete!"

Peter excitedly flicked his wand and issued a jet of green sparks towards the panic-stricken Hamish Nettles.

What happened then wasn't as a result of Peter messing up, as it usually was. For once, Peter had produced a perfect jinx, and James and Sirius would have been incredibly happy with him- had the spell actually reached Nettles.

However, it didn't.

The sequence of events that followed all happened within the blink of an eye. As the sparks hurtled towards Nettles, there was a cheeky cackle, a brief 'pop', and suddenly an unusual apparition appeared halfway between the Slytherins and the Marauders. It was Peeves, and he was now floating boldly in mid-air between the two, his wicked eyes glinting. With a devilish grin he wriggled his fingers, reversing the spell- it ricocheted off him like a rock hitting a wall, except with twice the speed, and with an impressive shower of green sparks. The Slug hex was now shooting back towards its caster- Peter however did not have time to avoid this unexpected reversal, and it hit him square in the stomach, throwing him backwards into the opposite wall of the corridor.

Peeves disappeared as quickly as he had come, leaving the Slytherins still burping slugs, Nettles to run for his life, looking bewildered, and the Marauders to tend to their friend.

"Oh no," groaned James, as he and the other two dashed over to kneel down next to Peter, who was panting, his back leaned against the wall he had hit. "Hey Wormtail- you ok?"

Peter's round face had gone rather pale- he looked ill and didn't seem to be able to answer, as if he was fighting the urge to keep something down.

"Pete?" asked Sirius worriedly. "Hey, Pete- talk to us!"

Remus knelt down in front of the non-responsive Peter. "Perhaps he's just stunned?" he suggested.

Peter gave a nauseating belch and heaved a mass of slimy, fat slugs all over the front of Remus' robes. It was hard to tell who looked sicker at that moment- Peter, who was gulping air trying and trying desperately not to do it again, or Remus who was simply blinking down at his robes in shock and repulsion.

"Perhaps not?" said Sirius, trying not to laugh at Remus' horrified expression.

"…sorry," Peter offered hoarsely.

"You really are quite dim aren't you Wormtail?" stated James in a very general manner.

Peter looked up at him apologetically, gagging into his own hands.

"I should have known you'd mess up,"

"I don't think it was Peter's fault, James," said Remus, as he brushed the slugs off his robes, and slime off his Prefect badge. "Spells don't just stop in mid-air and reverse,"

"How did it happen then?"

Sirius watched Peter splutter out a few large leopard slugs and shrugged. "It all happened so fast," he said. "Again, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Wormtail, as per usual,"

Peter hurled another wave of slugs and Remus jumped back out of the way this time.

"It was more like the right place at the right time for you, Padfoot," James pointed out as he took one of Peter's arms and dragged him to his feet. "If Peter hadn't been standing there it would be you hacking up slugs at the moment. You were right behind him!"

"My little human shield," said Sirius fondly. He patted Peter a little too heartily on the back, causing him to belch forcefully, and for several more slugs to come dribbling out of his mouth.

"We have to get him out of here," said Remus briskly. "He needs to get to the Hospital Wing!"

"Are you mad? We can't go to the Hospital Wing! Madam Pomfrey'll murder us!"

"Sirius, that's a very extreme thing to say,"

"Oh you know what I mean!"

"The Hospital Wing is out of the question," James confirmed. Peter looked disappointed at this- the one place he wanted to go his friends weren't going to let him. "Madam Pomfrey'll go ballistic as soon as Sirius and I set foot back in there. I don't think we're in her good books since our little fog fiasco yesterday,"

Peter coughed rather squelchily and more slugs leaked out of his open mouth. Remus regarded him sympathetically.

"What about Hagrid? Perhaps he'd know what to do?"

James ogled at Remus as if this suggestion was even more absurd than the last. "Hagrid? No way! Rem, we've just stolen several bucket loads of spleens, brains and rats tails from him! Do you really expect us to go back there now and face up to him?"

Peter groaned and heaved another wave of slugs.

"Well, what do you suggest then?" asked Remus tetchily. "We can't just take him back to lessons with us. If you hadn't caused so much trouble over the past few days then maybe we wouldn't have so many enemies, and maybe we'd be able to get some help for Peter!"

Like a valley breeze, a mischievous cackle drifted through the courtyard and through the corridor they were standing in.

"Peeves," growled James. "I knew it! I just knew it was him!"

Remus glanced around the hallway.

"Peeves, please show yourself, we want a word!" he called.

"I'll bloody well give him a word or two," mumbled Sirius, instinctively rolling up his sleeves. "Right, come on!"

Peeves appeared before them looking awfully pleased with himself. He clapped beady eyes on Peter, who was starting to sob as more slugs unstoppably oozed from his mouth.

"Oooooh!" he crooned. "Ickle Pettigrew doesn't look well!"

"Oh, don't play stupid with us, Peeves, its your fault he's like this!" Sirius snapped.

"Black, Black, he's such a twat!" sang Peeves. "He's such a twat and that is that!"

"Ok Peeves," said James, laying down the ultimatum. "Lift the curse from Peter, or you'll really be sorry you messed with us!"

Peeves didn't look in the slightest bit threatened by this warning.

"Got to be quick if you want to catch Peeves!" the Poltergeist teased.

"Yeah?" challenged Sirius. "Well we've had enough of you, mate!"

"But has Peeves had enough of you?" he grinned, flipping upside down and blowing a raspberry.

"You'd better have," said James. "Or we'll put the slug curse on you!"

Peeves seemed to find this insanely funny. The Marauders eyed each other as the Poltergiest laughed wildly, clutching his sides.

"Peevesy knows all about Slug hexes!" he said, flipping right side up again. "Does ickle Potter and his friends want one?"

"No," said Sirius, watching Peeves a little worriedly. "No, of course we don't,"

Peeves raised his hands and they glowed with green sparks- exactly like the ones seen with a Slug curse.

"Sure?" asked Peeves sweetly, a wicked grin filling his face.

The three so far un-slugged Marauders now looked at Peeves quite differently- seeing he was on the verge of rendering them all with Slug curses, a deep fear was now flickering in their eyes.

James Potter, in his time at Hogwarts, had many clever ideas- however, the one he came up with as Peeves advanced on them was not one of his wittiest.

"RUN!" he bellowed.

The other Marauders didn't have time to argue with this- they took off after James at high speed, Remus and Sirius dragging Peter by his arms- Peeves cackling manically, zooming after them.

Sirius gasped as he felt a rush of magic whoosh past him- Peeves had narrowly missed him with a Slug curse. The bolt of green light hit the castle wall and disintegrated. Peeves didn't stop there: still hot on their trail as they dashed down the corridor, he sent several more jinxes hurtling towards them.

"Look out, Moony!" Sirius cried. Remus ducked as one of Peeves' Slug hexes shot over his head, and another met the floor with an explosion of green sparks just behind them.

James skidded to a stop at the end of the corridor, cried "Follow me!" and took the left path which lead outside, just as Peeves sent another hex towards him, still laughing like a loony. Remus and Sirius followed with Peter, running for their lives, none of them daring to look back.

"He's insane!" roared Sirius. "How do we stop him?"

"I don't know!" moaned James, as they hared down towards the lake. "Just don't stop running!"

Sirius yelped as another jet of green sparks shot over his right shoulder and collided with a pine tree.

"Slugs, slugs, gloooooorious slugs!" Peeves sang from not far behind them, in a voice as off-tune and horrible as a scratchy old record. "There's nothing quite like them for shooting at naughty 5th years! Ahahahahaha!"

"Stop it Peeves!" Remus yelled back. "You'll be in so much trouble for doing this, you know!"

Peeves simply shot some more curses at them in reply- Sirius and Remus hit the grass with Peter as three curses simultaneously blasted over their heads. James ducked behind a large rock as another headed towards him.

"Stop it Peeves, you'll be in sooooo much trouble for doing this, you know!" Peeves mimicked in a high voice. "But I'm having fun! Wheee!"

"Over here!" James panted, darting over towards a small cluster of trees. "Quickly!"

Sirius and Remus hauled Peter to his feet and stumbled after James, scrambling into the thicket of trees and bushes, oblivious to the sharp twigs scratching at their faces and robes as they struggled through.

The four of them stood in the middle of the little copse, panting, looking around them wildly. Peeves had gone silent, and none of them could see him.

"Surely he's not that thick to have lost sight of us going in here?" whispered Sirius.

"One can only hope," breathed James. "How's Wormtail?"

Peter looked extremely worse for wear- he nodded tiredly, then belched a rather large slug onto the ground before him.

"I don't wanna end up like that!" wailed Sirius, watching Peter in fear. "Why's Peeves got it in for us?"

"You know why he's got it in for us," said Remus, pulling a few leaves from his hair. "Because you treated him unfairly! Now he's upset about it- and with good reason, too!"

"He's taking it WAY too seriously," said James fervidly, pacing in what little space they had amongst the bushes.

"I can hear you!"

All four Marauders gasped, looking around- Peeves appeared with a pop in front of them, causing them all to cry out in alarm- he looked around at them wickedly, wiggling his fingers, readying himself to curse them all. Sirius and James braced themselves for the worst, and Peter cowered back into the bushes in fear of being doubly-hexed.

"Stop!" said Remus suddenly.

Peeves stopped, looking down on him. Remus exhaled, thankful that he had caught his attention before it was too late.

"Peeves," he continued on quietly. "I want you to stop cursing, and start listening for the moment. No sillyness, just…hear us out,"

Peeves' cheeky face twisted into a grumpy sort of frown.

Remus went on. "James and Sirius here have something they want to say to you, and I want you to take them seriously. All right?"

James and Sirius, still looking petrified, shot Remus fervent glances. He nodded encouragingly at them.

"Peevesy's waaaait-ing," the Poltergiest sang.

James cleared his throat and proceeded with some difficulty.

"We're, um…" he faltered, searching for the right words. "We're…Peeves; we're sorry. Really sorry,"

"We didn't want to get you in trouble, we just wanted…to get ourselves out of trouble, heh," Sirius offered. Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' attempt to make things sound better. "That was selfish…" Sirius continued. "So…we're sorry,"

Peeves looked to be giving this serious thought- something no one saw him doing often. The only thing that broke the silence was Peter hiccuping a few slugs into his hands.

"So, uh," said James. "Do you…forgive us - er - by any chance?"

Peeves began to grin.

"Peeves will forgive the naughty 5th years on one condition," he said. "You're not to blame him for things ever again!"

"Oh, no, no, no!" gushed Sirius. "Never! No, rest assured, we won't be doing that again, no. We'll even make sure Dumbledore and the other teachers know its not you! Think of it as a sort of 'Troublemakers code' between us, eh?"

Peeves assumed a rather satisfied look on his face and nodded.

The Marauders let out sighs of relief- there were happy faces all round. Even Peter, who was still a bit pale, managed a smile.

"Thankyou Peeves," said Remus sincerely. "We promise we won't ever bother you again,"

"Unless…" said Sirius slowly, with a shrewd smile. "Unless…you'd like to help us out…"

Remus froze, as did Peter. James and Sirius were looking at each other knowingly, and Peeves had acquired a devilishly naughty look.

"You see, we're doing a bit of pranking this week," explained James. "We could always use a little help from someone as experienced as you,"

"Oh, yes," agreed Sirius. "We could make you an honorary 5th Marauder, if you'd like,"

"Peeves would like nothing better!" he declared, puffing himself up.

"Oh brilliant…" Remus groaned, as he along with James, Sirius, Peter and Peeves left the trees, now as a team- the Marauders wondering what Day 5 would have in store for them, now they were in league with the Hogwarts Poltergiest.

Things were just getting started.