"Oh Lord, Theresa, what have you done now?"

Face frozen in a clenched expression of utter disgust, Lily stepped backwards, observing (and nearly puking over) the soft red gunk squidged between her toes. Hopping on one foot, she made her way over to her bedside table, where she ripped half a dozen tissues from a box, and at the same time yelling, "SARA!"

A jaunty 'meeeow' was all that came in reply, and Lily looked up in time to see the white and ginger tail of Theresa the cat disappear through the door. She grimaced, closing her eyes as she threw the blood stained wad of tissues in the waste-paper basket with a thud, then gingerly peeled her toes apart to check her skin was now completely mouse-gut free.

"I swear," she mumbled, "That cat has to be the most violent creature I've ever come across." She felt her stomach heave as her eyes strayed to where the murdered ex-mouse lay with most of its internal organs hanging inside out. "She can't just kill them, no. She can't even just bring them back here in one piece. No, she has to rip them up. In the middle of the floor. Ugh." She shuddered, silently vowing to never own a cat for as long as she lived.

Satisfied her foot was clean, Lily stood up and walked across her empty dormitory, giving the 'mess' a wide berth. Well, why should she clean it up? It wasn't her cat that was the spawn of Satan, after all. Pulling on her shoes with a snort of contempt, Lily strode out the door, thoughtfully leaving it open to warn anyone of what they might tread in if they walked through that door any time soon. She passed Theresa on her way down the spiral stair-case, who gave a threatening hiss as she walked by.

"Fsssss! To you too," muttered Lily, glaring at the cat as she went down the next loop. Voices were coming up to her from the common room now. She paused for a moment, peering downwards with a small frown on her forehead. It was lunchtime. Everyone was supposed to be in the Great Hall. She herself had only come back to pick up her Transfiguration homework which she needed for next lesson. To find people standing around talking in hushed voices in the common room when it was lunch time…well. Curiosity peaked, Lily edged down several more steps, straining her ears.

"…ready as we'll ever be…"

"…the spell? Sure it's right? Well…"

Someone burst into loud laughter, making her start in surprise. "Pig-grunting noises! Oh, this has to be the best trick we've ever pulled..."

"Shut up!" Lily could just make out the top of someone's black haired head, bobbing in and out of her vision as the person supposedly danced in excitement. "Walls have ears and all that. Anyone could be listening…"

No matter how curious she felt at that moment, Lily felt a sudden twinge of guilt. She was eavesdropping, no denying it. But she simply couldn't plug her ears against their excited voices, whoever they were. Hastily she dropped down on one knee, thinking she could simply pretend to be tying her shoe-lace if they chanced to look up.

"Come on, now's the perfect time. Lets go." There was a march of feet, some more boyish laughter, then a snap as the portrait closed. All was silent.

Lily let out a sigh of relief, then got to her feet and ran down the remainder of the stairs. After checking she still had her transfiguration homework, she too climbed out the portrait hole and made her way to lunch.

He couldn't believe he was doing this.

"I am not doing this," muttered Remus to himself as the four of them made their way into the Hall. "I can not be doing this."

"S'up, Remmy?" Sirius was grinning eagerly at him. "Ready to see your first ever prank pulled off?"

No, I'm not.

Remus felt his stomach lurch as he looked over at the staff table and spotted McGonagall talking serenely to Dumbledore. In half an hour, she would no longer to be able to talk. In half an hour, Professor McGonagall would be making alarmingly loud impressions of a pig.

So why, even though his stomach was riddled with nerves, did he feel so strangely…excited?

He had loved planning the prank. That was true. It had been enormously satisfying to know that their trick would have failed if it hadn't been for his idea. Then there had been the actual research, and trying out the spell on each of them to make sure it worked on everyone, and making the delightful discovery that if you combined one spell with another you could turn the volume up by 50. They had been kicked out and banned from the library after that incident, but it had been worth it.

He hadn't laughed so much since Sirius mixed up their Pig-sound spell with the jelly legs curse; causing James to wobble round the room with a deep scowl on his face until they had all stopped laughing enough to take the spell off him.

Pouring over details such as times and places over cakes in the kitchens had been great too. For the first time he was actually talking with them, not just sitting on the sidelines and listening.

But now…

James checked his watch as they all sat down, this time at the end of the table nearest the Professor's. "Twenty minutes," he muttered out the corner of his mouth, then began nonchalantly helping himself to some peas.

Twenty minutes!

"D'you remember the spell, Sirius?" James whispered under the pretext of reaching for the salt. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Of course I do. We only practised it half a billion times, James."

"Only checking." James absently sprinkled salt on his all but empty plate. He glanced at his watch again. "18 minutes."

"Deary me, where does the time go?" snorted Sirius, his voice dripping sarcasm. "A whole two minutes since you last looked at your watch, James!"

Peter shifted uncomfortably in his seat, nibbling at his thumb. His eye-muscle was twitching, Remus noted with interest. So that meant he wasn't the only one who was nervous.

He looked over at James pushing his peas around his plate. Definitely not the only one.

Somehow, this was surprisingly reassuring.

Out the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red.

"Remus!"

He looked round, wondering why that voice sounded so familiar, then smiled as he realised who was walking towards him. Lily Evans had her vivid hair free of any restraints today, letting it gleam even brighter as the sun shone in though the enchanted ceiling, explaining what the glimpse of red he had seen was.

She smiled back, then came right over to the empty seat beside him and sat down. The other boys stiffened, looking her up and down, recognising this intruder.

Lily took no notice.

"Remus," she said, "I've been looking for you. You know those essays we did together ages ago? Well, I think we got a little mixed up with the stationary. It only occurred to me yesterday that I didn't actually own an eagle-feather quill…" With that, she pulled from her bag a rather battered looking quill, which Remus instantly recognized as his own. He flushed a little, embarrassed at the pens general tatty-ness.

"I…didn't actually notice," he mumbled truthfully, accepting the quill. "I've been using my other one. I'm sorry. Did I take anything of yours?"

Lily sat still for a moment, thinking. Opposite her, James ran an impatient hand though his hair, then pointedly checked his watch.

"I think I might have left a pencil behind, but that doesn't really matter. I have heaps of pencils."

"Great," said James loudly, making her jump, "That's all very nice, Evans, but, no offence, can you go now?"

Lily didn't move. Her eyes were narrowed, and there was tiny frown on her face. She stared at James for a moment, then shook herself out of her reverie. Bidding them all a formal and slightly chilly goodbye, she slung her bag over her head then left without a word.

"Whee-ow," said Sirius, doing his best angry-cat impression, "What was that all about? Did you see the way she looked at you?"

"Daft cow," snorted James, looking down at his plate, "Who does she think she is, barging in like that? We only have twelve minutes to go now."

And, from the disgruntled look on his face, it was clearly all Lily's fault.

Professor McGonagall sighed slightly to herself, turning away from Albus to heap a pile of runner beans onto her plate. As she arranged them carefully next to her carrots, she let her eyes run over the chattering students before her, and felt her heart soften slightly. It had been a weary day, that was for certain, but just seeing them all there, as she had once been, enjoying their dinner…well, call her an old softie, but it did make her smile.

"Albus," she said gently, turning back to the elder man, suddenly in the mood to be generous, "You know, even though I've only been teaching here five years now I still feel as though these students are the closest thing to a family as they could g-"

An enormous BANG echoed through the Great Hall, making the entire student population scream and simultaneously dive under their chairs. Minerva sat frozen in shock, then leapt to her feet in outrage.

"WHO DID THAT?" she tried to roar, but to her utmost surprise and hilarity of the children, all that came out was a loud, undignified snort.

She stood stock still for a moment, and then tried again. "What on earth?" A loud, rumbling series of oink's sounded like a shockwave throughout the Hall. Laughter began to mount, and in desperation she turned to the Headmaster.

"Albus!" she foolishly attempted to cry, which only resulted in such a spectacular oink that soon Albus himself had tears running down his cheeks. Minerva stood still, gripping her wand, utter confusion rioting inside her as everyone else wet themselves laughing.

Come on, Minerva, no-one just starts imitating pigs in the middle of dinner. Think!

Suspicion rose up inside her. Narrowing her eyes, she stared round at the students rolling around in their seats. No-one looked particularly incriminating…

Ah-ha. There. Potter and Black had just high-fived each other under her own nose.

Her nostrils flared. Now Pettigrew had joined in their celebrations, flinging one arm around Potter shoulders and…Lupin?

Lupin. She stared grimly at him. So he was the werewolf boy Albus had insisted on having. Funny, he had always been so quiet in class. Not that she didn't blame him…

Sweeping round, she stormed out the Great Hall, leaving the gales of laughter behind her. Already in her head the beginnings of revenge were starting to plan out…

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Oooh! Only two reviews away until we hit the big 5-0! Wow, I suddenly feel so old. Thank you so much for getting me this far with all those lovely reviews. They make me feel happy. So keep 'em coming! They all encourage me so much.

Until next time, everyone

Mooncheese xxx

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Love you all lots xxx