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Chapter 11
The Prank
Harry and Ron looked at each other and raced out of the Head's Office, racing towards the noise. They reached the Great Hall in record time, hearing laughter from inside. Both of the Gryffindors looked at each other, as if almost scared of what they Marauders were doing. They finally shrugged and walked into the Great Hall, where they found a site that even they had to laugh at as well.
James and Sirius were leaning against the wall, Remus not too far them, their wands out and waving. In the air above everyone, were brooms, around six or seven of them, being controlled by the Marauders. The Marauders would each take turns making one or two of the flying brooms swoop down and pick up Slytherins by their robes, and bringing them into the air and flying them around for a bit, before dropping them on a table, landing in the mashed potatoes or soup bowls that were out for lunch. Snape, who was trying his hardest to stop them, was getting repeatedly whacked by a Comet Two-Sixty, James being the one with the pleasure to control that certain broom.
"Harry! Ron! Mates! You came just in time to see the show!" Sirius said with a mischievous grin as he just picked up Crabbe, requiring to use two brooms at the same time to lift him into the air. Slytherins were now going to any means necessary to escape the attacks, most trying to run through the doors but were usually picked up or hit by a broom before they could. Most were now resorting to hiding under the table.
Ron laughed some. "This is bloody brilliant," he said with a smile, walking over to the Marauders with Harry, both of them watching the Slytherins who looked scared out of their minds.
"Normally, I wouldn't go along with these things, but when Malfoy's son started to make snide comments about my older self's teaching methods a few minutes ago, it seemed like the perfect thing to do," Remus said with a satisfied smile as he gave Malfoy a big whack to the back of the head with a Shooting Star.
Harry started to laugh until he heard a familiar shreik coming from the Great Hall doors. "Jake Porter! What do you think you're doing!"
All movement of brooms and everyone stopped and turned to the doors, the silence deafening. There stood Lily Evans, her hands on her hips and her green eyes furious, narrowing in on James. Next to her, was Hermione, glaring at Harry and Ron, blaming them for this because of not stopping them.
"Why Evanson, how nice of you to grace us with your presence," James said with a grin as he looked at her.
"Don't you Evanson me. You know what you're doing is wrong!" Lily said angrily, storming over to him.
"Miss Evanson, I think I can handle is from here," Dumbledore said with a half smile, placing a hand on her shoulder as she was halfway towards reaching James. Lily nearly jumped from shock, not expecting the Headmaster to be right there. Others seemed to gasp as well, as if he appeared from nowhere, just like always.
"Yes Professor Dumbledore," Lily said obligingly, stopping where she was but still shooting death glares at James.
"Harry Potter! Why didn't you stop them! You know that terrorizing students is against the rules!" Hermione said angrily, walking over to them furious.
"Hermione, why would we want to stop something like that? Malfoy was hiding scared under a table! It was a priceless moment," Ron said, smiling some at the memory that he would forever remember.
"Ronald, it's still wrong and just because it was amusing doesn't mean it should be done," Hermione instructed.
"Listen, Hermione, we got here about two seconds before you did. Even if I wanted to stop them, I wouldn't be able to because by the time I would of done it, you would have been here already and done it yourself," Harry said to Hermione, looking at her with honest eyes.
Hermione sighed, looking back at him. "Fine, just try harder next time to stop them," she said reluctantly.
Harry smiled. "Thanks Hermione," he said softly to her, as Hermione found herself smiling back at him. (A/N: Ha! Take that Bavis! DraMione my ass!…oh, sorry, lol. Inside jokes…hehe)
There small moment was broken by McGonagall walking over as well, looking at the three Marauders with some disappointment, though a flicker of humor was present in her sharp eyes. "You three will be serving detention tonight and a deduction of twenty house points will be in order," she said
"Aww, Minnie, detention and 20 points?" James asked, smirking as he looked at her, ruffling up his hair.
McGonagall found herself turning a slight shade of pink at the old nickname James used back in his old school days, and even after school. The name, which she used to resent, now made her look at James sadly and even become a bit fond of hearing him say the name again. "Yes, Mr. Porter. Detention and 20 house points. You should be most familiar with that," she said.
"Professor McGonagall," Hermione said, a bit tentatively, "Detention would probably draw more attention to the boys than needed, and may cause some students to remember stories their parents told them about a group of troublemakers they went to school with…" she said, glancing over at the three Marauders, looking very grateful towards her.
"Miss Granger has a point, Minerva," Dumbledore said, smiling some as he looked over at the transfiguration teacher.
McGonagall sighed, shaking her head. "Fine, no detention, but you three will still lose your house points and have to put the brooms back where they belong," she ordered strictly, and walking away swiftly, a bit angry with herself for being let tricked into letting the three get away.
"Well, you six better go back to Gryffindor Tower. And try and control yourselves better," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling as he looked over at the three boys. He gave them all a small nod and walked away, leaving the Great Hall. The students started to forget about the commotion going on and Slytherins slowly came out of hiding and started to sit down at their table and eat again.
"Well, I say that went well," Sirius said with a satisfied smile, looking around the Great Hall. His eyes landed on Snape, who was having an angry discussion with Professor Lupin, though neither of them raising their voices loud enough for anyone other than each other to be heard.
"Snape's not happy with what just happened," Ron said with an amused smile on his face as he watched them.
"Eh, he had it coming," Sirius said with a shrug. He ran his hand through his hair, making a few girls at the Hufflepuff Table giggle as they watched him. Sirius turned to them and started to smile at them, causing them to giggle more.
James chuckled some and then turned to Hermione. "Hey, Hermione, how come you saved our necks with McGonagall? You're just as strict with the rules as Evanson," he said, glancing at Lily before going back to Hermione.
Hermione's cheeks turned a light shade of pink before answering. "Well, I know Harry wanted to spend time with you all before you had to return back to your time, and he couldn't do that with you guys spending a night of two in detention," she said, trying to keep her reasons as simple as possible.
Harry smiled a bit gratefully at her. "Thanks, Hermione, really," he said, looking at her.
Hermione smiled back at him. "It was nothing, really," she said to him.
Lily smiled some watching them but James Potter caught her eye, and she immediately turned back to him. "Jake Porter, what was the reason for that?" Lily asked angrily
James shrugged. "They insulted Moony. They deserved it," he said simply, pulling Sirius away from the flirting girls as he started to walk past Lily, Remus following him and the Trio next.
Lily sighed. "You shouldn't of hurt everyone though," she said, following them.
"Come on, Evanson, you know you enjoyed it some to see the Slytherins looking scared like that," James said with a smirk, walking out with everyone.
"No, it was wrong," Lily said, unwilling to agree with James
"Whatever you say," James said with a grin, starting to up the stairs.
Harry watched his parents for a few seconds, smiling slightly to himself. He glanced over and saw Hermione walking next to him. He couldn't control it anymore! "Hermione, can I talk to you for a second," he blurted out.
Hermione looked over him, half surprised, half curious. "Yeah," she said with a nod, and stopped walking, Ron stopping too.
"Go on, Ron, we'll catch up in a minute," Harry said to him. Ron nodded, confused, and continued walking with the rest of the group, James and Lily still arguing. Harry sighed some and looked over at Hermione, unable to say what he wanted.
"Harry, what is it? Is everything alright?" Hermione asked, worried, as she looked back at him.
Harry took a deep breath. "Hermione, will you go to the ball with me?" he asked her quickly.
(A/N: Hey! Probably all of you hate me now. I know I haven't updated in a while, but I had no inspiration and I got bad writers block, but with some motivation, mostly from all your wonderful reviews that made me want to finish this, and from Bavis and Mister Moony, I got this chapter done. I know it was short, but its better than no update at all, right? Lol. Well, Im going to stick with this story again, hopefully a weekly update. Please Review. They really do help me write the chapters faster, lol.)