Disclaimer: The characters you recognise belong to J.K and the ones you don't recognise came from my twisted mind.
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I love you guys! Honestly, the more reviews I get the faster I write so keep them coming.
The first half of this chapter takes place straight after they find the map. I didn't quite know how they would discover it was a map. I actually had to use my imagination! gasp I hope it makes sense anyway. Ok, I was going to make all three girls find out about the map but in the third book Angelina expresses her surprise when the twins show up with sweets. So it's only Alicia and I'm assuming Lee knows. My research paid off!
Chapter 5
It was Saturday afternoon and Alicia and Katie were reading 'Witch Weekly' and Angelina and Lee were playing chess.
"Hi, guys."
Percy, Oliver and Matt approached them. Alicia looked up and dropped the magazine. She was always dropping things or tripping over around Oliver.
"Hi. And, Lee - checkmate. " Angelina smiled and winked at him.
"Where are the twins?" Percy asked.
"They're still asleep."
"Asleep? At three o'clock in the afternoon?" Oliver raised his eyebrows.
"What did they get up to last night?" Percy eyed Lee.
"Hey, don't look at me, I have no idea."
"Alicia? Do you know?"
"No," she croaked.
"You'd tell me if they were getting up to mischief, wouldn't you?"
Unexpectedly, Matt came to Alicia's rescue. "Oh, stop giving her the third degree, Perce."
"Sorry, Alicia, I'll go wake the boys now." Percy scurried off looking slightly abashed.
"So are you guys coming to the game this weekend?" Oliver asked as he sat on the lounge next to Alicia.
"Yes," she squeaked.
She mentally kicked herself. Great conversationalist you are. Come on, Spinnet, he's just a boy. You can handle boys. The fact that he's a particularly good-looking boy doesn't mean a thing…
"Alicia?" Oliver nudged her.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"
"I was just wondering if you played Quidditch."
"A little."
"She's just being modest," another voice joined the conversation.
Alicia turned around. Great. It was George. He was sure to embarrass her.
"What position?" Oliver asked.
Alicia opened her mouth to answer but much to her distress George beat her to it.
"You should see this girl with a Quaffle. She's unstoppable, really."
"Shut up," Alicia said quietly and blushed.
"You shouldn't be ashamed. Chaser is quite a hard position to play. Well, we better get to training, Prima gets angry if we're late."
Everyone said good-bye to Oliver and Matt except Alicia. She just nodded and glared at George.
She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the back of the common room. "What'd you do that for?"
"You obviously like him and I thought I'd help you out." He shrugged.
"I do not like him!"
"I'm not blind."
Alicia failed to come up with a reply to this so she just poked her tongue out at him and stomped up the girls' stairs.
"Helping? Stupid prat is trying to ruin my life!" she fumed.
In the corridor she ran into his tousle haired counterpart.
"Fred? What the hell are you doing up here?"
"Looking for you. I need your help."
"With what?" Alicia sighed irritably.
"With this damn parchment. It has to do something!"
"How am I supposed to help with that?" Alicia walked into her room and Fred followed.
"Well, you're moderately smart."
"Gee, thanks, Freddie."
"You're welcome, Leeshy. Now, I thought something could have been written in invisible ink. I need your help with the revealing spell."
"Ok, I'll look through my text book."
Fred lay down on the floor on his stomach with the parchment in front of him. Alicia lay on her back on her bed.
"Ok, try this one," Alicia said after awhile. She handed the book to Fred.
Fred read briefly then dropped the book and pulled out his wand. He proceeded to tap the parchment three times and say, "Aparecium!"
Much to their disappointment, nothing happened. Alicia sighed and went back to searching the book for anymore helpful spells.
"Why won't you do anything?" Fred angrily hit the parchment with his wand.
"Don't do that, you'll make it burst into flames or something," Alicia mumbled absently.
"At least that would be something. Stupid thing!" Fred whacked the parchment with his wand.
"I told you to stop hitting it. Don't make me use middle names!"
Fred was about to reply with a witty comeback but something astonishing stopped him. Words were appearing on the parchment right before his eyes. It was as if an invisible hand was writing on it.
Mr Padfoot must ask you not to do that again, sir.
"Sorry," Fred stuttered.
Alicia thought he had apologised to her, so she continued reading, oblivious to the active parchment.
Mr. Prongs would like to know your name, good sir.
"Uh - Fred Weasley."
Good day, Mr Weasley. Mr Moony wishes to know how you came across this parchment.
"Well…I stole it from a drawer of dangerous, confiscated things."
"Fred? Who are you talking to?"
"I'm talking to the parchment."
Alicia nodded abstractly. "Oh, ok." Then she realised the absurdity of his answer. Talking to the parchment? She jumped off her bed and joined him on the floor. She looked on in awe as words appeared across the once blank parchment.
Mr Padfoot congratulates you and would like to know the name of your pretty little friend.
"Me? My name's Alicia Spinnet."
Alicia felt like an absolute tosser. She didn't make a habit of talking to inanimate objects. Now she was conversing with a piece of old parchment.
May Mr Wormtail just say that you are looking very nice today, Ms Spinnet.
Hmm. Now it appeared to be complimenting her!
Mr Prongs wants to know if Mr Weasley and his girlfriend are trustworthy.
"She's not my girlfriend, but yes, we are trustworthy." Fred's eyes were practically popping out of his head with anticipation.
Say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' and touch the parchment with your wand. Now Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs bid you good day and only ask that you use this treasure wisely.
Alicia and Fred stared as all the writing slowly disappeared. Then they looked at each other. Alicia grinned widely and nodded.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Fred recited and touched the parchment with his wand.
Almost immediately, ink lines began to spread across the parchment from where Fred's wand had touched it. The lines crawled around like tiny caterpillars. The lines joined, intersected and formed what looked like the blueprint of a building.
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present The Marauder's Map," Alicia read from the top of the parchment.
"A map?" Fred said, slightly disappointed. He was expecting something a little more…well, exciting.
Alicia studied it closely as tiny dots moved around the map. Then she gasped. "This is a map of Hogwarts! Look, it even shows Professor Dumbledore's office!"
"Hogwarts?" Fred peered at it more closely. He noticed a dot labelled Severus Snape moving around in the dungeons.
"Holy crap! It's us!" Alicia pointed to Gryffindor tower. In the room labelled First Year Girls two black dots were identified as Alicia Spinnet and Fred Weasley.
"I have to get George!" Fred scrambled up, tripped in his excitement and scrambled up again.
Alicia followed Fred's dot as it wiggled into the common room. A second later she saw another dot labeled George Weasley join him.
"What is so urgent that you had to drag me into the girls' room?" George demanded as the boys entered.
"This!" Fred snatched the map from Alicia.
George rolled his eyes. "Not that stupid bit of parchment again."
"This is the answer to all our prayers! This is a map of Hogwarts and it even shows the people as dots moving around!"
Fred shoved it under George's nose and he studied it. He swore so badly that Alicia smacked him on the arm.
"Ow. How did you work out how to do this?" George asked as he watched Mrs. Norris prowling around the third floors corridors.
Fred told the whole unusual yet entertaining story to his twin.
"I'm not too sure about it though. You remember what your dad always says?" Alicia said uneasily.
"Don't take pictures of Percy in the shower?"
"No, you git. He always told us to never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps it brains."
"Well, we trust you anyway," Fred said cheekily.
"I have a brain and it is in my head thank you very much! Don't you listen to what your dad says?"
"He collects plugs, Leesh, what do you reckon?"
"Who collects plugs?" a voice asked from the doorway.
The trio turned to see Angelina, Katie and Lee standing at the door.
"Our dad does," George said as he shoved the map under his robes.
"Come on, Lee, we have something to show you." Fred grabbed George and pulled him from the room. Lee followed, looking more than a little confused.
"What was going on in here?" Angelina asked as she searched under her bed for hidden Dungbombs the boys may have planted.
Alicia thought of telling them but decided it wasn't her secret to reveal in the first place so she made up a story about helping the boys with schoolwork.
That night at dinner was particularly quiet because the troublesome trio was still in their room. The girls returned to Gryffindor Tower and there was still no sign of them.
"What are they up to?" Katie wondered as the girls entered the common room.
"Don't question it, just enjoy the peace and quiet," Angelina advised.
But she had spoken too soon. All three of them came bouncing down the stairs. They smiled at the girls and headed to the back of the room.
"Uh-oh. I know that look," Alicia groaned.
"What look?"
"The we're-gonna-blow-something-up look. It means trouble."
"They've actually blown stuff up before?" Katie asked with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"They blew the head off one of my dolls a couple of years ago."
"What did you do to get them back?" Angelina asked.
"Oh, I stabbed George in the thigh with a plastic fork. I think he still has the scar."
Katie and Angelina just stared at her.
"You stabbed him with a plastic fork?"
"Yeah, we used to play pranks on each other all the time. But that was before I, you know, grew up." Alicia smiled as she recalled 'the good old days'. They were fun at the time and quite amusing to look back on.
"What's the worst thing they've ever done to you?" Katie asked curiously.
"I hate creepy crawly things so they filled my bed with cockroaches once. Then there was this one time when we were in Diagon Alley and they met some boy and they told him I fancied him. The stupid boy followed me around everywhere and kept trying to kiss me. I had to hit him with a book to get him to leave me alone."
Angelina and Katie laughed hysterically for a few minutes. Even Alicia laughed at the memory of the boys puckering his lips and running after her.
"So what's the worst thing you've ever done to them?" Angelina finally asked.
"Apart from attacking George with cutlery? Well, I once convinced Fred he'd fly if he jumped off his roof. Mind you his house is multi-storeyed. He landed in a garden bed and that broke his fall a little. He broke like every bone in his leg though."
"You really do have a bad streak," Angelina said as she wiped tears from her eyes.
"What can I say? They bring out the best in me."
"Have you ever introduced them to any of your Muggle friends?" Katie asked as she clutched at the stitch she had got from all the laughing.
"All my Muggle friends are boys. I had a female friend once but I made the mistake of introducing her to the twins. The poor girl was traumatised. Needless to say, she never spoke to me again."
"What did they do that was so bad?"
"They turned her hair blue then dropped Percy's rat Scabbers down the back of her shirt, to make it worse she was allergic."
"How do you put up with them?" Angelina asked seriously.
"Well, they're an acquired taste, but they do start to grow on you."
"I'll never get used to them," Angelina stated.
Alicia smiled to herself. She didn't dare to tell Angelina, but she had noticed Fred watching her a lot. It was probably nothing, but Alicia knew Fred could be quite lovable when he wanted to be. He'd eventually wear Angelina down.
"Do you think it's got something to do with their Halloween prank?" Katie asked as they watched the boys whispering excitedly.
Alicia gasped. The prank! The map should have the kitchen labeled!
"Sorry, girls, I just remembered something." Alicia leapt up and raced to the back of the room.
"Hide it!" Fred ordered and George shoved something under his robes.
"It's only Alicia," Lee said with relief.
"Could you not come running over here like that?" George put the map back on to the table and smoothed it out.
"Sorry," she mumbled and took a seat beside him. "I just realised we should be able to locate the kitchen on the map."
"Way ahead of ya, baby. We've already identified the safest route." George traced his finger across the map smugly.
"George has even started making the potion," Fred said excitedly. He was bouncing in his seat and his eyes were wide and sparkling.
"Can I see it?"
"How could we deny the Princess of Pranks?"
Angelina and Katie watched curiously as Alicia followed the boys up their stairs. Angelina frowned. "Do you ever get the feeling she isn't telling us something?"
Upstairs, Alicia was waiting expectantly as George ducked into his wardrobe and dragged his cauldron out. A smell that was similar to rotten eggs filled the room.
"What on earth is that smell?" Alicia said, in between coughing and choking.
Lee scrunched his nose up in disgust. "The potion."
"Is it supposed to smell that bad?" Alicia peered inside the cauldron. It was a bright magenta and it swirled and bubbled.
"That's what the book says. The smell is supposed to wear off soon though. Hopefully very soon," George said with his hand clamped over his nose.
"You going to help us put it in the juice?" Fred asked as George shoved the stinky potion back into his wardrobe.
"I'll help you finish it but it'll be my last prank, after my near escape from Filch I've decided to retire. Sorry, boys, but my pranking days are officially over."
"That's cool but I hope you realise that won't stop us from playing pranks on you."
"Well, George, just let that scar on your leg be a lasting reminder of what happened the last time you messed with me." She grinned at him then left the room.
"Scar? What scar?" Lee asked.
"She attacked me with a fork. I'm off to have a shower and try to get rid of this smell," George disappeared into the adjoining bathroom.
"A fork?" Lee questioned Fred.
"Don't ask."
So, the prank was going ahead thanks to the Marauder's Map. Late Halloween afternoon, Alicia and the boys were creeping through the corridors.
"Oh, great, Filch is coming. Detour," Fred groaned and ducked behind a tapestry.
Alicia followed him through and they crouched silently and waited for Filch to pass. She was starting to get annoyed after five minutes of being cramped in a small passage with three smelly boys.
"Ok, he's gone - no, wait…he's coming back."
"Please remind me why I'm doing this," Alicia sighed quietly.
"Because you love us," George whispered and put his head on her shoulder.
"Get off me. You smell."
It took ten minutes for Filch to move on. They finally left the passage and continued their pilgrimage to the kitchen. But when they got there the kitchen wasn't actually there.
"It's supposed to be right here," Fred looked up at a painting of a bowl of fruit.
Lee shrugged. "Well, it must be behind the picture."
"Do you think we need a password?" Alicia asked as she examined the painting carefully.
"Maybe, but it could be anything…hang on a second." George peered closely at the map. He let out a small laugh.
"What does it say?" Alicia looked over his shoulder. She could see their dots congregated outside the kitchens. The strange thing was that the words Tickle the pear were in bracket near dots.
"Tickle the pear?" George looked from the map back up to the picture.
"Worth a try I guess." Fred shrugged and ran his finger along the large, green pear.
They watched with anticipation as the pear giggled and shivered. Then suddenly it turned into a big, green door handle.
"Wicked!"
"Ok, Leesh, you stay out here and keep watch, we'll do the deed." George shoved the map towards Alicia.
"I want to come in, too!" she protested.
"But someone has to keep an eye out for Filch and we nominate you," Fred said cheerfully as he grabbed the door handle and pulled.
"We'll only be a minute or so," then they disappeared through the door
"Bloody typical boys…make the girl do the boring job…I ought to let Filch catch them…bloody boys," Alicia muttered murderously to herself as she waited in the corridor.
She peered down at the map in her hands. She was searching for a particular dot. There he was. Oliver Wood. He was out on the Quidditch pitch by himself, as usual. Alicia smiled to herself.
"Done!"
Alicia jumped and whirled around in one frantic movement. "Is all the shouting really necessary?"
"Sorry, we're a little excited - our first major prank at Hogwarts," George sighed contentedly.
"The first of many to come."
"Let's sit here, we'll have a good view of the Slytherin table," Lee said.
Alicia slid in beside him and George was next to her.
"Wouldn't you rather sit on this side?" Angelina eyed Alicia. She was sitting across the table next to Katie.
"I'm fine here, thanks," Alicia said as she watched the Slytherins intently.
"They're drinking!" Lee said excitedly.
Alicia watched as several students, including the first years, drank deeply from their goblets. Nothing happened though.
"How long till it works?" she whispered to George.
"About ten minutes. That gives the others a chance to drink before they start sprouting."
"That's it! I want to know what's going on, right this second!" Angelina slammed her fist on the table.
"We slipped a potion into the Slytherin's pumpkin juice," Fred whispered to her.
"You what?" Angelina and Katie shrieked.
"Keep your damn voices down!" Lee hissed.
"Sorry. So what does this potion do?"
"It makes them grow fur."
"Fur? This I have to see!" Angelina and Katie turned around in their seats.
They completely ignored their food and instead watched the Slytherins as they drank, ate and laughed happily.
"Any minute now…"
The first sign they got was a loud scream. They searched the table and saw Michelle Orlen jump to her feet. A thick layer of black fur was spreading across her face.
All eyes in the Hall turned to her. She was practically hysterical as the fur appeared all over her body. Slowly, more people began to scream and jump up.
"Brilliant!" George laughed.
Dumbledore rose and turned to the table of furry students. "What is going on?"
"I'm turning into a dog!" Michelle squealed.
"Turning into one. She already was one," Alicia giggled.
The prank had worked perfectly. It was near pandemonium on the Slytherin table. They screamed and spilt food and drink all over themselves in their panic.
"So how long does this last?" Angelina asked as she watched them in amusement.
"Uh, I'm not sure actually," George admitted.
Alicia hit him on the arm. "George! You mean they could be like that for six months?"
"It's possible I guess."
"Cool." She nodded approvingly and settled back to watch the show.
"Follow me to the dungeons and I'll find a cure!" Snape left his table and led the distressed Slytherins out of the Hall.
The rest of the students laughed and pointed as they streamed out of the Hall. They resembled half-transformed werewolves. Some were crying about their beautiful faces and others were swearing.
Justin Campbell pointed at the Gryffindor first years as he followed the procession of deformed students. "I know you lot had something to do with this."
"Got any proof?" Angelina asked sweetly.
"No."
"Well, I'm no lawyer, but I don't think you have a case."
He glared at her then followed his furry friends away from the laughter.
The Feast was pretty much over. No one was game enough to eat anything so they just sat there laughing about the Slytherins.
Katie giggled and went back to her dinner. "I have to admit it was a pretty good one."
"The Princes of Pranks strike again."
A/N: Well there was the prank. Sorry I had to delay the first Quidditch match until next chapter. I estimate that there will only be about two more chapters for their first year.
Just one last thing, I haven't actually made a recommendation in a while and I'd like to take this chance to let you know about a great story. The one I strongly suggest is Interrupted by Fireworks by lil azn mystikal girl. The story is G/A and I helped with it a bit. It is really good, especially considering the author is only very young!
I will probably have more stories next chapter. Also I've broken 50 reviews so hugs and kisses to Meredith for being number 50.
See you all next chapter!