Death's Manager

Courtesy of SilverWolf7007

Chapter Twelve –Prank Planning and Redecoration

Or, Who Said We Couldn't Have Our Own Christmas?

As the only present individual who had witnessed Sylvan's first (and thankfully only) attempt at redecorating, Damon felt completely justified in being worried.

He also wasn't reassured by Harry also having taken up a crayon and joining in.

Tom, on the other hand, had been offering suggestions, and no one had missed that every so often his hand twitched in the direction of the closest crayon.

James, Sirius and Remus had grabbed their own sheet of paper, as well as the red, yellow and black crayons (corresponding with their beanbags), and were leaning over it planning the pranks that were to be pulled on Death and the others.

Lily and Cedric, while not actually writing anything down, were discussing the same thing.

It was about then that Damon realised that he had nothing to do.

He sighed.

There was a sudden movement from the desk, but just before he could turn and look something smacked him in the head.

Hard.

"Ow! What the bloody hell – " He glanced down into his lap and recognised the notepad that he and Sylvan had been using earlier. "Sylvan, you prat! That hurt!"

The blond vampire smiled innocently and threw a green crayon, which Damon managed to catch. "Get over it and start scribbling some ideas. I know the way your mind works, kid. You've got some damned good pranks floating around in there."

Damon rolled his eyes, but flipped the notepad open to a new page and tried to write.

This became much easier when he turned the crayon around so the pointy end was touching the paper.

Again, he sighed.

From the Notepad of Damon

Operation: Prank Death

(AKA Operation: Deathwish)

Idea One – Robe

Taking a wild guess, and looking at the pictures on the wall, shows that Death wears a black robe as mythology predicts. Colour change, anyone? Perhaps take page out of Dumbles' book, stars and moons? Glitter? Animated clowns?

Idea Two – Scythe

Perhaps not a good idea to actually alter Death's scythe, but hiding and replacing it? Maybe with glowing plastic trident…or plastic battery operated glowing light sabre?

Idea Three – Paintings on Wall

Every office needs paintings, surely? Is it unreasonable of me to imagine putting some up? Again with clowns, bunnies, ducklings…

Special Note – Can we put some rubber ducks on the ceiling?

From the Paper of Moony, Padfoot and Prongs

The Plan – To Maraud in Death's Office

J – Flying paper cranes in flashing colours ought to brighten the place up.

S – Dye the carpet? What time of year is it? Halloween? Christmas?

R – Shouldn't you have been paying attention to this sort of thing?

S – Stop being a prat, Moony, and answer the damned question.

R – Yeah yeah yeah… Unfortunately, Paddy, it's nearing the end of April. You've missed them both.

S – Bollocks.

R – I agree. That could have been a spectacular idea.

J – Who actually ever said that it had to be Halloween or Christmas for us to decorate in the spirit of one holiday or the other?

R – Should I answer that?

J – No.

S – In that case, can I write it, can I can I can I?

R – Oh all right…

S – Phase One: Bring Christmas to Death's Office.

J – Phase Two?

From the Discussions of Lily and Cedric

Cedric: I think we've got a tough job here, Lily.

Lily: What makes you say that?

Cedric: Well, you heard Sylvan; apparently Damon has good prank ideas. And we both know that the Marauders are experts. What we need to do is think up something that none of them will… That way, our ideas stand out and we actually get to carry off our plans.

Lily: You're definitely right there. Damon, I think, is likely to go after Death himself. As for the others…well, if I know James, Sirius and Remus – and believe me, I do – then they'll begin with redecorating. Er, that is, over the redecorating that Harry, Sylvan and Tom are cooking up…

Cedric: Which leaves us… Which leaves us what? I mean, there are still Kyra, the Tooth Fairy and the Fairy Godfather. Should we focus on them?

Lily: Hm…not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all…

Cedric: Yay for me. I had a good idea. But what shall we do to them?

Lily: Ah, now that is the question!

From the Paper of Tom, Harry and Sylvan

-Half of the sheet is taken up by a square labelled 'Death's Office' in orange crayon. In this square is one rectangle and a circle (labelled 'Tom's desk' and 'Tom's chair' respectively), and seven more circles labelled as beanbags. The other half of the page is taken up with notes, with occasional arrows pointing to various parts of the 'office' square-

S – Right, so, walls (arrow) with floral wallpaper, pale pink, tiny green and blue flowers. Very 'delicate' looking.

H – That sounds immensely scary. Well done. The door (arrow) shall be dark purple with teeny tiny orange stars.

T – Oh I give in. I'm helping now. Curtains (arrow) are to be lace and cream. With silver glitter.

S – I needed you two around when I did my original decorating…want to help me do the White House when we're done?

H – No. Because Jimmy would kill me.

S – Aw, he won't care…

H – Yes. He will. And he'll get annoyed and lock you out of the Void again and you'll have to crash on my couch and by then I'll be back at the Dursley's and you'll end up being sat on by Dudley. What do you say?

S – Meep.

H – Good answer.

Harry, Tom and Sylvan were the first to stop plotting, and after finishing the colouring in of the illustration of their plan, Tom and Sylvan sat on the desk and watched Harry work.

Occasionally glancing back at their plans, Harry waved his hand several times, concentrating carefully.

It wasn't long before he was done, and the door, walls and curtains had been changed to fit the specifications of the plan.

"Nice," Tom said quietly as Harry perched next to him. "Death will hate it. And Kyra is liable to pass out from horror."

Harry smirked. "Wonderful. Now, time to relax…" He slid off the desk and collapsed back into his beanbag.

Shrugging, Tom and Sylvan followed suit.

Finally, Damon looked up from his notes. His jaw dropped. "Holy shit, this place is hideous!"

"Language!" Lily scolded. Damon looked sheepish, but his and Lily's exclamations had the effect of drawing the attention of Cedric and the Marauders to the redecoration.

"I'm with Damon on this one," Cedric said weakly.

Sirius glanced from James to Remus and back again. "It's perfect. And it'll clash horribly with what we have in mind."

With that, the three men pulled out their wands and began casting spells.

The first change was the carpet. Previously a dark grey, it was now Slytherin green.

Sirius winced. "Moony…"

"I know, I know. But it fits with the other stuff."

"Oh, all right…"

The carpet was soon joined by a large green pine tree in the corner.

"Is that random, or is it just me?" Harry asked the room in general.

"It's random," Tom told him.

"Actually, it's just you two," James corrected. He waved his wand and a strand of lights wound around the tree, followed by Moony's tinsel and Sirius's coloured balls.

Seeing where this was going, Harry beat them to the star, which ended up being silver, glittery and glowing.

James shrugged. "Not bad, kid."

"Thanks…I think."

Eventually, they added tinsel around the door, garlands around the windows and Remus conjured a stuffed bear wearing a scarf and Santa hat to sit on Tom's desk.

There was silence.

"A bear, Moony?" James asked finally.

Cedric had stood up and was eyeing the bear with a grin. He reached out…and squeezed its arm.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," the bear sand. "Toys in every store. But the prettiest sight to see, is the holly that will be, on your own…front…door! Merry Christmas!"

Silence again descended upon the group.

"He's so cute!" Lily exclaimed suddenly.

"Er, Prongs?"

"Yes Padfoot?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

James looked confused. "Uh…no?"

Remus pulled out their Plan and pointed to the first line.

"Oh. Oops."

With a wave of James' wand, the room was filled with paper cranes flying around, flashing from red and silver to green and gold and other combinations of the four colours.

"Ooooh, pretty…"

"Why thank you, Harry."

It was at this point that Damon cleared his throat. "Does anyone mind if I add a thing or two?"

No one did.

He quickly added a few picture frames with paintings of clowns, fluffy bunnies, one of a puppy and a kitten playing with a red ball…and one of a baby dragon playing with a unicorn foal.

"They fit in with the wallpaper," Tom commended with an approving nod.

"I know," Damon agreed. He grinned and pointed at the ceiling before leaning back in his beanbag with a satisfied smirk.

As one, the others looked up.

Yet again, there was utter silence.

Eventually, Harry broke it. "Damon?"

"Yes Harry?"

"There are rubber ducks on the ceiling."

"Yes Harry."

"Yellow rubber ducks."

"Yes Harry."

"And they're upside down."

"Yes Harry."

"And one of them is wearing lipstick."

"Yes Harry."

"Damon?"

"Yes Harry?"

"That was insanely brilliant."

"Thank you, Harry."

They shared a grin as everyone got comfortable in their beanbags.

"Has everyone got their prank ideas ready for use tomorrow morning?" Harry asked as soon as everyone was looking at him attentively. He received nods from them all. "Good. This means we get to talk about getting rid of Dumbledore now."

"Yay!" Cedric burst out. They all looked at him. "What? If he'd known he had an impostor on his staff, I wouldn't be dead. And nothing against you all, but I miss life on occasion."

"Anyway," Harry broke in. "The first thing I would like to address is the SKIDAS. I'd like for you all to join."

"SKIDAS?" James repeated. "What does that stand for?"

Harry and Remus both smirked and answered as one. "The Society for Kicking that Infernal Dumbledore's Arse Skywards."

The decision to join was unanimous.

This chapter was entirely fun, once I managed to write it. You know that saying; third time's a charm? It certainly proved true for this story. I started the chapter once and got stuck after a couple of paragraphs. Then it happened again. And then finally I started the chapter, kept writing the chapter, and eventually finished the chapter. Yay for that. ISC – Certainly sounds like a good combo, though the yellow sounds less so. And I've never had nailpolish in my teeth, though I tend to scrape it off and get it all over my clothes. I skipped the silver for the formal when I bought a really nifty bright pink earlier in the day and wore that instead. I still have traces of that, as I've been far too busy goofing off with my holidays to do my nails. That's one thing I'll be doing this weekend, if not before. Ooh, sounds good, though I don't have a yellow. I've kept an eye out, but it's as difficult to find as green. Glad you liked the chapter! And I did have a happy Thursday, as it was two days after my exams were over. I spent the entire day on the Internet and chatted with my friends. Though skipping lunch left me hungry, I wasn't allowed food in the library. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

Another thanks to you all for reviewing!

And as it's vaguely near that time of year, let me wish you happy holidays of all kinds, lengths and weather.

Oh! And another note, the bear Moony conjured currently exists in my lounge room. Mum's first foray into the world of singing stuffed critters. We now have four.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

S. Wolf