Do I really need to say this again? J K Rowling IS Harry Potter. If you recognise anything from any movie, TV show, book or whatever else, it's probably because it is from them. If you want my 'full' warning, you can check out either 'Dormant Power' or 'Beginning of the End'.

If you've read both those fics, then you know how my version of it ends…but how did it begin? Again, only some names are mine, everything else is not! I've based this from the Marauders perspective so…well you'll know the story when something happens to a certain someone, even though I don't write about it in this one! Also check out 'The Apprentice', it has some info you won't find in my other two stories (wink, wink!).

Well, he had to get them back really, besides I said this in Dormant Power! If you're clever, you'll probably figure out what happens in this chapter just by the title.

Chapter 6 – Mischief Malady

As Remus, Peter, Sirius and James were making their way back from their third consecutive night of detention with McGonagall, they were still trying to figure out what happened.

"I don't understand it. If we get caught, it's always been after the prank, not before!" James exclaimed.

Peter nodded in agreement. "Yeah I know. Did you see the way everyone was looking at us? It was creepy, kind of like they knew exactly what we were planning."

"I agree, Peter. Someone must have found out what we were doing" Sirius added.

"How could that happen though? I mean we hadn't really discussed anything until the feast, remember" Remus argued.

As they walked in silence they came across a familiar figure walking in the opposite direction.

"Evening gentlemen. Bit late to be strutting around the halls isn't it?"

"'lo Trent. Just back from detention, that's all" James replied.

"Ah, I see. Before or after?"

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked the Auror.

"The prank. Were you caught before or after it?"

"How did you know about the prank?" Remus asked somewhat accusingly.

Trent smirked, "let me think. Why would all four of you be put in detention for? Hmm, nope can't think of any other reason! Oh, and I was also there."

James grimaced, "fine, we get your point. It was before the prank, we'd only just started to plan it."

Trent let out a low whistle, "talk about a rough break. Oh well, I'm sure you'll come up with something else."

The four young wizards nodded, and Trent continued on his way. Just before he rounded the corner, the students heard him call out, "it's amazing what one can do with a mass silencing charm, isn't it."

All four faces dawned in realisation.

James just shook his head, "oh that's it. No one pranks us and gets away with it! He's so dead!"

"Oh, I'm just so angry! How could he do that to us!?" Sirius nearly yelled as they entered the Head Students' common room.

"You don't think he figured out it was us who pranked him at the starting feast, do you?"

"If he has, Moony, he certainly waited for his moment. Good thing the map always tell us where he is!" James replied.

"So what should we do?" Peter asked

"I think we should do this the old-fashioned way. Maybe if you guys distract him from one of his patrols, I might be able to come up with something" James answered.

Remus looked concerned, "what if he takes it the wrong way? He is an Auror, he might arrest us or something!"

"Quit worrying about it, Moony. Trent wouldn't do that to us. He'll see the funny side…eventually. Any idea what we can do to get him back?"

Sirius, Peter and Remus all shook their heads, before deciding to think about it later.

"Now I shall hand you over to one of the Aurors posted around the school. Some of you may know him already. Please welcome Mr Trent Fuller."

Polite applause filled the classroom as Trent made his way to the front of the room.

"Thank you, Professor Flitwick. Now the reason I have been asked to take this class, is that you will be learning about the Patronus charm. I shall begin…yes, Mr Lupin, you have a question?"

Remus nodded, "well sir, we got taught about that charm last year in Defence class. Why are we going over it again, and why in this class?"

Trent smiled, "you said it yourself. You got taught about the charm. You haven't actually cast it before. Am I correct?"

The young werewolf nodded as he understood what Trent was saying.

"All right then. As to why I'm going over this in Charms, and not Defence, your Headmaster decided that. He didn't mind which class it was taught in, only that he preferred it to be taught before the holidays. Since you have all studied the charm before, you should be able to tell me the most obvious reason this charm is being taught."

Lily raised her hand, along with Remus. Trent nodded at Lily to speak.

"It's the only spell that can nullify the effects of Dementors and Lethifolds."

Sirius glanced over at Lily and muttered "show-off" under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Trent heard him

"True. Mr Black, perhaps you'd like to elaborate?"

"Ah, well…"

"Or maybe in future you'd like to keep quiet. Mr Lupin, help him out please."

"Since the Dementors aren't under the Ministry's control anymore, we're being taught how to cast it so we can defend ourselves" Remus said, and glanced somewhat sheepishly at Sirius.

Trent nodded. "Exactly. Now there are a couple of reasons why this won't be easy to teach. The first is that not all wizards and witches can produce a Patronus. The second, Mr Snape, would you care to venture a guess?"

"There are no Dementors to practice on" Severus sneered.

"Almost right."

Sirius and James shared a gleeful look as they saw the somewhat shocked look on Snape's face before Trent continued.

"Another reason, anyone?"

No one said a word. Remus and Lily were both concentrating furiously, trying to come up with an answer.

Trent shrugged, "I didn't expect any of you to get it. The other reason is that not everyone's Boggart is that of a Dementor. Therefore not everyone would be able to practice on it."

Trent then looked at Severus before continuing, "so, you see why your answer was nearly correct, Mr Snape? While you were meaning a real Dementor, I am talking about a Boggart-Dementor. Hence it is possible to practice, just not practical."

Severus nodded. Trent then went on to explain how the charm is to be cast, that you have to focus on the happiest memory you can think of. How not everyone can produce a fully-fledged Patronus. Sirius rolled his eyes, and noticed Remus scribbling away frantically on a piece of parchment.

"Psst, Moony! What're you doing?"

"Writing. What does it look like I'm doing, Padfoot!"

"Alright, jeez, no need to snap at me! I was just wondering why, that's all."

"NEWT's, Padfoot. NEWT's."

"Padfoot's right, Moony, they're ages away…" James began.

"And this will most likely be on them! So if you're finished, please let me concentrate!" Remus quietly snapped back.

They were brought back to the class when Trent spoke.

"Mr Potter, would you please come up here."

James stood up and made his way to the front of the classroom.

"Thank you. Now, I want you to focus on your happiest thought please. Then say the incantation."

James nodded. He tried to think of the happiest thing that he could remember. He thought about getting his first broom. Then about the Hogwarts letter. Meeting Sirius, Remus and Peter. He then smiled as he singled out the first time Lily told him that she'd go with him to Hogsmeade.

"Expecto Patronum!" James shouted.

A faint wisp of silver came from his wand, but nothing else. James looked immensely disappointed, but Trent beamed.

"Very good! Wonderful for your first try."

"What do you mean? Nothing happened! How can you say it was very good?!" James replied, frustrated at Trent's cheerfulness.

"You're wrong, Mr Potter. You managed to produce a faint mist, much better than my first ever attempt."

"Well, that's not going to drive anything back!"

"Perhaps not. But in time, you should be able to do this; Expecto Patronum" Trent responded, and a bright silver flash burst from his wand, which quickly formed into…

"A kangaroo! Your Patronus is a kangaroo?!" Lily exclaimed.

"Do you have a problem with that, Miss Evans?" Trent replied, as the silver kangaroo dissipated in a cloud of silver.

Lily shook her head, and kept quiet.

Trent nodded. "Not everyone's Patronus is the same. Each takes the form of something which is very personal to the caster. For all I know, Mr Potter's Patronus might be that of a werewolf!"

Trent chuckled, along with most of the class. The only exceptions were Remus, Sirius, Peter, James, Lily and Severus.

"Now that's all I have time for today. Thank you for listening, and have fun on the weekend!"

"Do you think he knows?" Remus said as they sat around in the Head Students dorm.

"About your furry little problem?"

Remus nodded, while Lily stifled a giggle which Sirius noticed.

"What's so funny, Lily?"

"It's just that the other witches all think that Remus has a pet rabbit whenever James says that" she explained with a small smile on her face, while the Marauders could scarcely contain their laughter.

"How could he know? I mean he's only been here what…two and a bit months?" James reasoned after they had settled down.

"James is right, Remus. No one could figure it out that quickly" Lily added.

Remus nodded, "I know. It's just…there's something about him that doesn't quite make sense."

"What do you mean, Moony?" Peter asked.

The young werewolf looked thoughtful before answering. "I'm not sure. I just feel…I don't know, safe when he's around. It's almost like I can feel his magic or something."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like nothing can harm you when you're around him. Let's just try and forget about it right now. I believe we have some pranks to do" Sirius said, a grin playing on his face.

"Right you are, Padfoot" James grinned back.

"Just don't do anything to Severus though. I don't know what Dumbledore did, but I'm not sure how much it will take before he tells someone about what you get up to every month, Remus" Lily reminded them.

"No worries. We were going to do the whole Slytherin dorm anyway, not just Snivellus!" Sirius remarked.

Lily glared, but Sirius ignored her before summoning James' invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map. Once this was done, the four of them left Lily at the table and headed off outside to begin their latest prank.

The four of them were quietly making their way back from just outside the Slytherin common room beneath James' invisibility cloak. Not an easy task for the four of them, but they were managing quite all right.

"C'mon guys, this might be one the best prank we've ever done!"

"Totally agree, Prongs. I can't wait to see Snivellus tomorrow!" Sirius nodded enthusiastically.

"We'd better move a bit quicker. The map says there's an Auror coming our way" Peter urged.

"Who is it, Wormtail?"

"Trent" the small blond-haired student replied.

"Bugger. Well, good thing you have this cloak then, isn't it Prongs!"

"Shut it, Padfoot. It's a bit small now we're in our final year. You should lose some weight, Merlin knows you eat too much!"

"Get nicked, Prongs! You eat nearly as much as me!"

"Quiet you guys! Save it for when we get back to…"

Remus was cut off when Peter tripped on one of the trick stairs and a clatter echoed throughout the stairway as he dropped his wand. The four friends froze, then looked at the map again. The dot labelled 'Trent Fuller' now made its way towards them much quicker than before.

"Accio wand! Quick Moony, erase it!" James urged as Peter's wand came hurtling towards him. He caught it and handed it back to Peter.

Remus nodded and raised his own wand before whispering "mischief managed!"

The map slowly dissolved, and before long looked like any other blank piece of parchment, which Remus hastily stuffed into his robe. They then turned their attention to the bottom of the stairs where Trent now stood, looking around trying to determine what happened.

"He'll never find us!" Sirius grinned.

"I wouldn't count on that, Padfoot. He's not an Auror for nothing" James replied.

"Are you guys trying to get us caught!" Remus softly replied.

They saw Trent shrug his shoulders, before speaking,

"Alright you four, the game's up. You know better than to sneak around at this time of night."

James grinned at the others. He knew that Trent couldn't see through his invisibility cloak, and there was no way any of his friends were going to give away the fact that they were here. He briefly wondered why Trent raised his wand, then looked horrified when Trent turned to exactly where there were hiding and smirked.

"Accio invisibility cloak!"

James felt the cloak fly off towards the Auror and realised they were in big trouble.

"Oh…" James began.

"Crap!" Sirius finished.

"Please sir. I can explain. See…"

"I don't want to hear it, Mr Pettigrew. You should know better than to be wandering the halls at one in the morning. Turn out your pockets" Trent ordered, glaring at the four of them.

James looked at the others and nodded. Slowly the four of them turned out their pockets and Trent snatched the blank piece of parchment from Remus' hands.

"What is this?"

"Spare bit of parchment" Remus answered.

Trent raised an eyebrow, "really. Then you won't mind if I destroy it. After all, I'm sure your friends have plenty of spare parchment you can borrow."

James knew what he was trying to do; Trent wanted to gauge their reactions. James stole a glance towards Peter and inwardly groaned when he saw his friends' eyes widen in horror. Trent smirked as he saw the same thing before talking again,

"So, it's something more than that. I'm going to let you…"

Trent didn't get to finish as a new voice entered the fray,

"Students out of bed, at this time of night? Caught by an Auror as well. My, we are in trouble aren't we."

James closed his eyes in frustration as Filch slowly made his way up to where they were.

Trent turned around and faced the squib.

"Mr Filch, I was just escorting these four back to Gryffindor tower. They asked me for some lessons about what it pertains to be an Auror. Unfortunately, Mr Pettigrew here got caught in one of the trick stairs."

Filch glared at Trent, and was about to reply, but Trent cut him off.

"I know I should have informed you, and I'm sorry. However, I have confiscated something from them, and I trust you to put it away," Trent then turned back to the four students, "where meddling hands can't find it."

James saw Filch's eyes light up, and grimaced as Trent handed over the blank map. Filch then nodded at Trent before making his way back to his office. Trent then turned to the four young wizards.

"Now I don't pretend to know what that parchment was, but I will not cover up for you again. Relieve your friend from his plight, then go straight to your dorms. Mr Potter, I thought that you would know better, being Head Boy and all that. Good night gentlemen. Oh, I believe this belongs to one of you."

Trent handed the cloak to Sirius then spun on his heel and walked off, continuing his patrol. The Marauders could only watch in silence, listening to the echo of Trent's footsteps before slowly making their way back to their beds.