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!).

I hope you won't kill me when I introduce a new nickname…but it really does fit, please believe me!

And I did tell you that the action started to pick up a bit. However, considering that Trent is loosely based on myself, I didn't find it terribly easy to do what I did to him…even knowing how it all turns out.

Chapter 20 – The Art Of Pranking; By Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

"So, how are we going to do this, Padfoot? Who should we put in charge of organising it?" James asked, a few days after the Hogsmeade weekend. The four of them were all still quite sombre and hadn't really felt like studying for their upcoming NEWT's, hence the discussion had quickly turned to their final prank.

"Simple, we have a prank war."

"Against who?"

"Each other, Moony" Sirius replied.

"Are you serious!"

Sirius grinned in reply while Remus and Peter just rolled their eyes at James' question.

"But how are we going to judge this? Trent would've been the most obvious."

"Good point, Prongs. Maybe we can get Dumbledore or something."

"Why don't we just get all the Professors to judge it?"

"How so, Peter?" Remus enquired.

"Well, depending on what spells or potions we choose to use. Then the Professor who would most understand it can judge its effects."

"Brilliant idea, Wormtail! So, are we in?"

"Oh yes, I'm not missing out on this!" James answered with a grin.

"So, whoever wins gets to plan the leaving feast prank?"

Sirius nodded. "Exactly Moony."

"Alright, I'm game" Remus said with a smile.

Peter shrugged. "Well, if you three are in, then who am I to argue. We've got just under two months to sort this out, so how are we going to know who goes first?"

Sirius scratched his head. "Well, I've thought about that. We could write our names on a piece of parchment and mix them up. Then maybe Lily can choose the order. We'll then each have one full day to perform the prank on the rest. It has to be done to all three, and at the same time. Once we're done, we'll gather the final votes, and see who scored the highest. The one with the highest score gets to plan the leaving prank."

"You reckon the Professors will agree to this?" Remus asked.

"Of course they will. Once we tell them that we're only pranking each other and not anyone else" James replied.

The Professors and Lily had all agreed and the day came for the first Marauder to strut their stuff. The four of them didn't know what the order was, but were eyeing each other very carefully. They settled down at the table and started to help themselves to lunch.

No sooner had Peter, Sirius and James taken a sip of their pumpkin juice, their eyes bulged as they realised it had been spiked. Remus raised his glass in mock salute and watched as the three of them disappeared behind a cloud of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, the three wizards were staring at each other in horror. Their robes had been transfigured into very revealing dresses, before they each began to dance. The three of them turned bright red as they performed several risqué moves, before leaping down the Gryffindor table and pulling people up to dance with them.

The three unlucky 'victims' were horrified by the exotic moves the Marauders were using, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, even the Slytherins appeared amused with their antics.

By the time the dance came to an end the whole school was laughing loudly at the three embarrassed students, who all made a very hasty exit. Remus then stood up and accepted the accolades from everyone before deciding it might be best to stay in the hall until lunch was finished.

Day two started with a bang. No sooner had the four of them arrived in the Hall for breakfast, Peter smiled and pulled out an umbrella he'd borrowed from Lily. The other three looked up as a loud explosion caught their attention before they were rained on by some foul smelling potion that appeared to stick to their robes. To make matters worse, dead rose petals then showered down on them for a full two minutes. Once it had subsided, Peter could scarcely hide his laughter as his three friends blinked at him in surprise.

He managed to say "you lot always do come out smelling like roses!" before bolting from the hall, leaving his three stunned friends left to face the roaring laughter of everyone else in the hall.

The third day of the 'Marauder War' saw the first non-Hall prank. As they arrived for their Herbology class, Remus, Peter and Sirius were smothered by a quite passive plant, which had been charmed to kiss them quite savagely. The three of them arrived at lunch with mysterious shaped love bites all over their faces, making the rest of Hogwarts avoid them at all costs, thinking they had contracted something contagious. James, though, found the whole thing quite hilarious, and was in stitches all day from laughing too much.

By the last day, everyone else had figured out what was going on, and were eagerly waiting to see what was going to happen today. Breakfast and lunch came and went, with nothing happening, which only heightened the anticipation for what dinner would hold. Sirius would not let them down.

The four of them arrived in the Great Hall, and had just entered when two loud rips were heard as Remus and Peter suddenly developed tails, while James sprouted a large set of antlers on his head. A few muffled laughs were heard as everyone waited to see if anything else would happen.

Sirius just grinned at James before loudly saying, "you know James, Lily always did say that you have a big head!"

This had the desired effect as everyone in the hall burst out laughing, including Remus and Peter, while James' face flushed red with embarrassment before he too joined in the laughter.

"It was unanimous, Padfoot. Moony won it fair and square, everyone said so!" James said.

"I don't care! His was the most embarrassing of the lot!"

"That was the idea, and might I also add it was your idea to begin with!" Remus reminded him.

"Lighten up, Sirius. Maybe if we ask Moony really nicely, he'll let us help him" Peter suggested.

Remus rolled his eyes "that was what I was going to do anyway. But remember, it's not going to be a prank as such..."

"We know. It's going to be a thank-you-for-putting-up-with-us thing," James interrupted before adding "right then, what are we going to do? Moony, since you won it, you can start with any ideas."

"Thanks James. I've got a couple ideas, but I'm not too sure if they're worthy of such a big finale."

"Well, don't just sit there, what are they?" James eagerly asked.

Remus sighed before answering him. "You remember the prank we did to Snape in fourth year?"

"Which one?" Sirius asked with a small smile on his face.

"I think you know which one I mean" Remus replied, as he glanced at his friend.

"Oh, you mean that one!" Peter answered, remembering that day quite clearly.

"Exactly, Peter. Well, tell me what you guys reckon about this…"

Remus then explained his ideas, while James, Sirius and Peter listened in rapt silence, their grins growing with each passing moment.

Their planning suffered quite a bit as their final exams quickly approached. Remus had been given the new nickname of Cho, since he was seen during Class Hours Only. When he wasn't in class, he had spent every waking moment in the library. He hadn't even bothered turning up at the Great Hall for meals, instead electing to go straight to the kitchens whenever he was too hungry to study.

Lily had often joined him in the library, along with several Ravenclaws, but it was Remus who now held the student record of continuous time spent in the library; a full thirty hours. He had accidentally fallen asleep one Saturday night, and Madam Pince had not noticed he was still there when she shut up for the night.

His friends would normally have made fun of him at this, but they were too caught up in their own studying, with both James and Sirius desperate to get into the Auror academy. Both had now dedicated this task of making the grades necessary to Trent, and everything he had helped them with this year. The two of them, along with Peter, could also be found with Remus in the library, where Peter had somehow managed to get lost in the restricted section, much to James and Sirius' amusement.

Defence was the first exam, and on the whole had gone quite well. All the help Remus had given Peter paid off as even he was able to do nearly every spell the examiners asked him to. They finished the exam by having to duel with their examiner, with James and Remus being the only students who managed to beat their opponents. Sirius had come close, but was defeated when he let his guard down and had his wand summoned from his hands, while Peter fell to pieces and had barely managed to block the first spell before he, too, was disarmed.

Transfiguration and Charms went by, with the four of them having enormous smiles on their faces as one of the questions in their Transfiguration exam was to write about animagi, while in Charms, they easily answered the question about the Patronus. Herbology had also gone by quite smoothly, although Remus had complained that he didn't think he had correctly described the effects of Mandrakes. Apparently, he had forgotten all about them being able to stun you when they haven't fully matured. He had been finally silenced when James had threatened to stick a silver cauldron on his head, and locking him in an empty classroom.

Both Sirius and James felt they had done reasonably well in Potions, but knew that the best mark in that class would either go to Lily, or, they begrudgingly admitted, Severus. Remus had Arithmancy instead, and announced that he was very confident of getting through it, while Peter quietly added that his Muggle Studies exam went alright enough.

Exam week finally finished, and the Marauders hadn't wasted any time in letting their hair down. Together they had pulled off some quite amazing pranks in the last few days leading up to the closing feast. Their best thus far had been when they made everyone at the entire Ravenclaw table believe that they were on the ceiling. Once the spell took effect, all the students had started running around the room, yelling their heads off about being upside down. To the rest of the school, however, the sight had been quite hilarious.

Unfortunately for the four of them, Professor McGonagall had decided to call an end to their fun, and after four days of non-stop pranks, she had banned them from pranking any more students for the rest of the year.