Ugh, I'm so sorry the chapter's so late. Life caught up with me, and my computer was having problems with Spyware and stuff like that. Everything's pretty much fixed, except the printer, but I'm just emailing everything to my buds to print out, so it's all good.

BTW: Thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed. I truly appreciated it and was very upset when my update got delayed, because you guys are just awesome.

Alright, so here's chapter TEN! Brilliant that I've gotten this far.

This is last chapter of Year One. Year Two will be posted sometime before December. Enjoy!

Chapter Ten:

Ending the Year With a Bang

By PotterScar

The hall was still for a minute after McGonagall stormed out, before a flurry of whispers began at the Slytherin table.

Severus Snape was one of the only Slytherins who were silent. He listened to the conversations around him; it seemed like every Slytherin wanted to be the one to turn in the pranksters as payback.

Severus thought that making the Slytherins' hair red-and-gold was a stupid idea on the prankster's parts – it just pointed to the fact that they were Gryffindors. Silently, he began to scan the Gryffindor table.

Of course. He should have known. His lip curled into an unpleasant sneer as he laid eyes on the Black heir, the only person in the hall with normal colored hair. He was laughing with his ridiculous friends and had a self-satisfied look on his face.

Silently, Severus stood and swept out of the hall, unnoticed by the rest of his peers.

Five minutes later, Severus was standing at McGonagall's office door. He could hear the teacher inside, thumping around and viciously stuffing papers in her desk. Severus couldn't help but smirk; oh, that Black boy was going to get it.

All his mother could ever talk about, while Severus was a child, was that Black boy. She'd compare Severus to Black; how better looking Black was, how smarter Black was, how Black's blood was pure. Never mind that it was her fault her son had impure blood.

Of course, now that Black was a Gryffindor...

Severus paused, his hand poised to knock. Then, as if someone else was controlling him, he firmly rapped on the door, smirking.

There was a pause of noise inside, for footsteps coming towards the door. McGonagall opened the door, looking down on young Severus.

"Yes, Mr. Snape?"

Severus felt a bit of unease come into him as he looked up at the stern looking witch, before his bravery returned to him. "Professor, you requested information on the pranksters from tonight's dinner... I think I may know who preformed the prank."

McGonagall looked down at her beak-like nose at Severus, looking interested. "Oh, really? Dear boy, do tell..."

Five minutes after Severus Snape reported his suspicions, he and Professor McGonagall went back down to the hall to confirm them. Sure enough, Sirius Black was the only student without colored hair, and he and his three best friends looked rather smug.

"Messrs. Black, Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew, report to my office immediately!" she said, striding up to the four boys as Severus slipped away, though not unnoticed; Sirius sighted him and glowered silently.

"Yes, ma'am," Remus answered softly, as the four first year boys stood and traipsed after her quietly, Sirius scowling over at the Slytherin table; at a greasy-haired first year in particular.

"Snape ratted us out," Sirius muttered in James' ear as they slowed, falling behind Remus, Peter, and McGonagall. James looked at McGonagall to see if she was listening; she was occupied muttering to herself. He turned back to his best friend.

"How do you know?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "He was with McGonagall, stupid," he replied in a whisper. "Before she came over to us, he came in the Hall with her."

"Stop chattering back there, and hurry up," McGonagall tossed over her shoulder, glaring at the two black-haired boys, who shut their mouths and sped up slightly, James casting an annoyed look back behind him at the (gone) Slytherin table.

"I do not believe I have ever had first year students that were so bold that they would play pranks on their teachers, much less their Headmaster." McGonagall was pacing in front of the four boys. Their reactions to the lecture were very different; Remus looked ashamed, Peter looked close to tears, James looked slightly bored, and Sirius... well, Sirius was asleep. McGonagall stopped her back-and-forth pacing, glaring at Sirius' dozing forms, before transfiguring his wand into a wooden ruler and rapping Sirius hard on the head with it. The boy awoke with a yelp.

The Professor looked absolutely livid as she glared down her nose at Sirius, who was rubbing the back of his head and wincing. "Geez, Professor, were you a Beater in your day?" Sirius mumbled, peering up at the woman. James expected her to hit Sirius again, but the Professor seemed to hold in the urge to do so, and instead rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Black, it seems you have the attention span of a rather stupid dog, so listen to me and listen closely; I will not tolerate foolish behavior from you boys. I don't care if 'pranking is what Marauders do best' or junk like that, you will behave while you are enrolled in Hogwarts. I hope you have outgrown your desire to cause trouble by the time you graduate, but Merlin can only preform so many miracles..." She sighed. Remus looked slightly startled; what about the punishments?

"As for your punishment... I believe a night of detention for every prank should be fair." She strode to her desk, shuffling through papers. "... Nineteen. That means every Friday and Saturday night for the next eight weeks will be spent with me, copying lines."

Peter sighed, James looked rather put-upon, Remus looked sad, and Sirius looked nothing short of horrified. "E-Eight weeks?" he stuttered, looking at McGonagall with a shocked expression.

"Yes, Mr. Black, eight weeks. And you had better be here for every single one of your detentions. For every detention you miss, two more will be added. You four may leave." With that, she turned back to her desk, sorting through some papers, and the four Marauders left.

Somehow, within several hours, the entirety of Hogwarts knew that the Marauders that they awed and loved were – first years. The Gryffindors were beyond proud of their prodigies, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were slightly jealous, but then relieved - they didn't have a pranksters among their ranks, lowering their chances of them being pranked. The Slytherins were angry - the Marauders that had gotten the better of them time after time were first years?

The Slytherins considered Severus Snape a hero for all of about a week, before, once again, he was thrust into shadow as Lucius Malfoy regained control of the House, holding the Slytherins under his finger. Severus in particular scorned the Malfoy boy; Severus' mother, Eileen Prince-Snape, had always told her son that Slytherins were leaders, not followers, but his entire house followed Malfoy's every move; if Malfoy had long hair, long hair was the "trend" of the Slytherins. Of course, Severus could always appreciate the Gryffindor's rebellion – when long hair was the trend among Slytherin, close-cut and cropped hair was popular in Gryffindor.

Sirius hadn't yet gotten over his grudge against Snape. He hadn't liked the boy to begin with; he'd met Snape when he was younger, as Severus' mother was a Prince – a highly respected pureblood family, marred when Prince ran off with a Muggle, Tobias Snape, and had that greaseball, Severus. Nobody had understood why she'd done it; at twenty-three years, Eileen was engaged to a good-looking, rich, pureblooded man, and merely weeks before her fabulous, expensive wedding, she'd run off with a greasy-haired Muggle. And he wasn't even good looking!

Soon, the commotion raised when the pranksters of the schools were uncovered died down, and things returned to normal. Well, as normal as they'd ever be at Hogwarts. April was blurring away into May, and teachers were pressuring them to study for their exams in a month. Fifth and seventh year students were beginning to prepare for their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, and the common room seemed to be a lot quieter in the evenings; Peter and Remus were always studying nowadays (Peter needed the help, and Remus was... Remus), and James and Sirius became increasingly fidgety. Having both Molly Prewett and Arthur Weasley, the Head Boy and Girl, in Gryffindor didn't help either; they were both taking N.E.W.T.s and could enforce some rather... erm... extreme rules. Sirius and James racked up nearly a month and a half worth of detention that just barely finished by the time school was out. McGonagall, not wanting to spend every evening of the rest of the year with the two rambunctious boys, dispelled the detentions.

As they say, life goes on. May seemed to zoom by at the speed of light, and before James or the other Marauders knew it, it was June, and there was only a half-month left of their first year. The Marauders savored the next eighteen days (well, except the twelfth through the fourteenth, as those were exam days). They played pranks galore and planned a "special" end-of-the year prank for the entire school, but they weren't going to execute it until dinner of the eighteenth, as that was their last dinner – the end of the year Feast.

They received exam scores on the sixteenth. Remus, of course, got perfect scores in everything except Herbology (a Devil's Snare nearly strangled him and Remus, panicking and not knowing what to do, gave it a rather nasty burn with his wand). Peter flunked Potions, but managed to pass everything else (just barely) except Herbology, funnily enough, which he received a perfect score on. Sirius and James passed with ease – Sirius had a little trouble with turning his hand mirror into a mouse in Transfiguration, and James seemed to have difficulties with his Cheering Potion, but they both passed.

The two first years that were granted honors with having the highest scores in the year were Lily Evans and Remus. Lily had trouble with the same thing as Sirius, but her amazing Potions and Charms grades made up for it.

The eighteenth rolled around, and Sirius found himself, instead of excited like the other students, sad at returning home. His mood put a damper on the other Marauders, who told him that he could stay with any of them. Peter and Remus were both lying, really, as Peter didn't have room and Remus didn't have money, but neither of them admitted. It was decided that Sirius would go to James', an the others would meet up there during the summer days.

Sirius' mood was uplifted significantly, and he plotted with the others so that their plan for the Feast would be full-proof.

The students flooded into the Great Hall that night. Floating candles illuminated the faces of excited students as they chattered among themselves, sitting at their tables. Students cast quick glances down at the Marauders, trying to read their expressions, but their faces were blank; all there was, was a spark of excitement in each of their eyes.

Within about ten minutes, the entire school's student population had filed into the Great Hall and were seated at their House tables, waiting in excitement for a prank and for the end of the year to finally come. Many students were looking forward to parties in their common rooms, but were also anxiously awaiting the result of the House Cup; it had been a close ending between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

The Marauder's desperately hoped Gryffindor won: if they didn't, they wouldn't be able to pull off their prank.

The excited chatter buzzed through the hall until McGonagall impatiently began to tap on her goblet with her spoon. When the students showed no sign of letting up, she tapped harder and harder, and soon the glass shattered as she glared at the students furiously. Dumbledore stifled a laugh, standing up. The second he got on his feet, the students were silenced, and McGonagall huffed quietly at his side.

"Another year," he said, looking around at his students. "Some of you will be coming back... some of you... won't." The students knew he wasn't just talking about the seventh years graduating.

"Our seventh years are leaving us, and we are sad to see them go. I would like to thank Molly Prewett and Arthur Weasley for being fantastic Heads, and all of our seventh year Prefects. Also, I would like to congratulate Mr. Weasley on successfully getting a job at the Ministry of Magic; he is the youngest person to get a job there at seventeen." The Gryffindors cheered enthusiastically for the blushing Weasley; Malfoy looked positively livid.

"I'm sure all of you are anxiously waiting to hear the winners of this year's House Cup – I daresay it was rather close – and the magnificent Feast, of course." Here Dumbledore paused, letting the room fill silently with suspense.

"The winners of the House Cup, with six hundred and thirty three points is... Gryffindor!" Dumbledore waited while the Gryffindors celebrated exuberantly.

Sirius slapped James five. "I knew getting those five points in Charms would win us the cup!" he shouted happily. Soon, the hubbub died down, and Dumbledore announced second place.

"In second is Slytherin, with six hundred and thirty points, then Ravenclaw with six hundred and six points, and in fourth, Hufflepuff, with five hundred and ninety two." There was scattered applause, with the Slytherins looking sullen, and Remus whispered, "Now!"

Sirius and James waved their wands, pointing them at the ceiling. Carefully placed fireworks attached to the rafters (they'd levitated Peter up to the rafters to attach them, and Sirius had had a little... fun, as he was the one doing the levitating) went off as Sirius and James released them, creating the message:

TAKE THAT, YOU SLIMY SERPENTS!
FANTASTIC SUMMER TO YOU ALL,
THE MARAUDERS
P.S. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, PROFESSOR McGONAGALL!

McGonagall groaned loudly as the students laughed uproariously, with the Slytherins scowling at each other. Malfoy looked positively horrified, and his face turned the same colors as the crimson and gold decorations adorning the Hall.

Dumbledore looked impressed, and he was later heard saying, "Those are the only students I've ever seen through this school that would climb onto the ceiling to preform a prank!"

Gryffindors congratulated the boys all the way through the Feast and up to the Tower, and through the party that the Tower hosted for its students. Somebody had snuck up food and crates of Butterbeer to the Tower (the Marauders vowed to find out who, and where they got it) and Peter had his first sip of the warm, foamy golden stuff, being Muggleborn and all.

The party continued well into the night. Professor McGonagall didn't come storming into the Tower at one in the morning like Sirius expected her to – probably because it was the last day and they would be all out of her hair soon enough.

All good things must end, though, and so did the party (around two in the morning). The four Marauders, exhausted from their long day, silently trudged to their dorm, changed, and plopped into bed, falling asleep immediately.

Sirius was awoken by Remus yelling that they were going to miss the train if they didn't get up.

Peter, Sirius, and James managed to shower, change, and take care of hygiene within fifteen minutes, and were soon racing around the dorm, throwing lost things into their trunks at lightening speed. At one point, James just yelled, "throw everything into your trunk, we'll sort it out on the train!"

That's what ended up happening, and the boys just got out in time. "Thank Merlin," Remus gasped, holding a hand to a stitch in his ribs, as the boys raced onto the train.

James and Sirius leaned out of the windows, waving enthusiastically to Dumbledore and McGonagall. The latter pursed her lips and looked rather like a hawk.

The two boys pulled their heads back in, grinning, though Sirius' smile looked a little forced, and they turned back to the other two Marauders. Remus was curled up on a seat, reading, and Peter was munching on a pack of Chocolate Frogs he'd snuck from the party and reading the cards. James sat down next to him, reading Nicolas Flamel's card over his shoulder. Sirius felt compelled to join them, and he plopped down next to the short blonde boy, reading the card.

Nicolas Flamel

Believed to be one of the greatest alchemists of wizarding history, he invented the Philosopher's Stone in the early 1400's as a way to thwart death. There is only one Stone, which makes the Elixer of Life (a drink that allows the consumer to live forever) and can turn any mineral into gold.

Bored, Sirius turned away from the card, looking at Remus with a raised brow.

"Rem, I dunno if you got the memo, but school's over," he said, emphasizing the last two words. "You don't have to read our Charms textbook."

"I know I don't have to. I want to," Remus said, flipping a page and not even looking up at Sirius, who looked clearly shocked.

James and Peter looked up just in time to see Sirius take the book away from a yelping Remus, then dash out of the compartment, Remus hot on his heels. James and Peter stuck their heads out of the open compartment door, and a minute later, they heard a "No, Sirius!" and a flushing toilet. A minute or two later, Sirius yelped and the toilet flushed again. When Remus and Sirius emerged, Sirius' hair was soaked and plastered to his head and Remus had no book, though the brunette looked satisfied with himself.

"Where did the train ride go?" Sirius sighed as he and James finished a round of Exploding Snap and the train slowed as it traveled into King's Cross Train Station.

"The same place Pete's homework and my hamster ended up," James said with a shrug, looking at Sirius with mild concern. "You okay, mate?"

"Yeah... I'm not looking forward to going home," Sirius said with a sigh and a shrug. Remus looked up with sympathy, and the four boys set about unloading their things and leaving the train.

James looked around, his eyes falling on his parents. He grabbed Sirius' wrist, dragging him over to the Potters.

"James!" Daniel Potter exclaimed, seeing his son. His eyes fell on Sirius, and they were slightly questioning. Michelle Potter, however, smiled warmly at Sirius.

"Oh, you must be Sirius, James has told us so much about you!" she said kindly, and Sirius couldn't help but smile.

Sirius bid James good-bye several minutes later when his mother, father, and younger brother entered the platform. Celena's eyes widened with outrage when she saw his company, and Orion looked peeved. Regulus had his usual sneer on his face, and the three walked over to Sirius, who began to edge away from the Potters.

"Daniel," Orion greeted curtly, and the brown-haired man just nodded in response, watching the eldest Black coldly. "I wasn't aware that Sirius and your son were acquainted," he continued, but Sirius knew that was a lie; Bellatrix and Narcissa would have told his father.

"Well, they must be. Both in Gryffindor, eh? Must've been a nasty shock for you," Daniel replied, his hazel eyes flashing with slightly glee. Orion scowled, a nasty look coming across his face, before he turned and strode, dignified, away from the Potters. Celena and Michelle had a staring match until James made a small noise under his breath and Michelle broke eye contact. Celena huffed, grabbing Sirius and promptly dragging him away, Regulus at her heels and the trunk drifting after the three.

Sirius looked back at James, who waved slightly with a sad look on his face. The eldest Black son then turned his head to look at Remus, who was with his mother and father, who smiled over at him reassuringly. He then turned to Peter, who was standing with his mother and ranting about Hogwarts, bringing a smile to Sirius' face.

He just had to make it through the first month. He'd be with his friends soon enough.

Well, that's the end of Shades of Gray: Year One. I hope I did the first year to your satisfaction! Shades of Gray: Year Two will be published before December.

Until then... good luck with life!

Going to eat Fritos and spread out on the couch,

PotterScar