CAN:Hello once again, little 'un's! I do realize that there was a long delay in between chapters, and once again it is all my fault. My (valid) excuse is that I had serious editors block. Editors, you know what I'm talking about. Please, for God's sake, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!really don't care if it's only one word, just review! I love you all, dearies. Enjoy!

Authors note: I'm about ready to cry. I'm tired, I'm hungry, I need coffee, I still have at least 2 hours of homework left, and it's 9:18pm right now, not to mention I need a shower.

BUT HEY! At least this is FINALLY done!

ENJOY

Chapter Ten: A Very Important Date

For the next two weeks, Hermione heard in her head bits and pieces of the conversation she'd had with herself playing like a broken record.

You know, at heart Severus is a good person, he just needs a bit of urging to make the right choices….pity his parents won't help him with that," said 'Hermione'' with a sly smile.

"Is that a hint?" asked Hermione incredulously.

It drove her insane. She went to bed every night with her own voice talking her to sleep, still repeating that fateful conversation. Actually, she entertained the notion that she had already passed well beyond the realm of madness, but instinct told her this wasn't the case. Then again, the insane never seemed to think of themselves as insane, so how would she know?

I have to do something, Hermione thought every single day. This has to end; I'm losing sleep over this. I know what I have to do. Why don't I just do it?

In all honesty, Hermione dreaded talking to Severus. She knew he was described as a, "Slimy git up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts". And no matter how many times she told herself that perhaps he was merely misunderstood, she couldn't help but have doubts as to her ability to help Severus.

"No," Hermione told herself aloud (when she was alone, of course). "It is absolutely possible and even likely that you will succeed." After saying things like this, she would often think about how she sounded so much like Remus.

She took to sitting long hours in the library as close to Severus as she could, attempting to pluck up the courage to talk to him. She was somewhat nervous, because she certainly remembered Snape's somewhat…edgy manner.

After a week of just watching him, she decided she couldn't take it anymore. The September Hogsmeade weekend was coming up, and she promised herself that she would talk to Snape before that date came upon her.

On one of her library expeditions, she noticed that Severus' head was bent low over a book, his long hair framing his face. As he scribbled frantically in its margins, she recognized it almost instantly from her sixth year at Hogwarts.

Memories flooded through Hermione's mind, flashing before her eyes. Harry performing nonverbal 'levicorpus', Harry after the Sectumsempra incident, and more importantly, Harry's complete awe and admiration for the Half-Blood Prince.

Filled with sudden bravery, Hermione walked over and sat down across from him, waiting for him to acknowledge her presence.

After several minutes of Severus' continued frenzied scrawling, Hermione became slightly impatient, and tapped him on the shoulder.

Snape recoiled as if Hermione had some kind of fatal disease spread instantaneously by the tapping of shoulders. "What do you want?" he asked sharply, quickly slamming the book shut and throwing it haphazardly into his battered looking school bag.

"Well, I actually wanted to talk to y-" but Hermione was interrupted by Sirius, who walked in and, as usual, started to seriously beat on Severus. Normally, Hermione could've distracted him by herself, but she knew it was no good when she spotted James, Peter, and Remus, who had walked in just behind Sirius. All of them had their attention fixed soundly on Severus, and he them.

"Hey, Snivelly, Madam Pince isn't here, are you scared?" said Sirius with a smirk. Hermione was shocked to see not his usual, good-natured smirk crossing his face, but a malicious, cruel one.

Snape immediately stepped up. "No, but you seem to be rather hesitant about coming here without three of your bum boys behind you, so I'd say you probably are."

"Hmm, now you see, I asked them to stay behind but they decided to come along anyway, because that's what friends do. Oh, sorry, how could I forget? You don't actually have any friends, do you?"

"Actually, I have more important things I could be doing than talking to you," Severus said, putting a heinous emphases on the word, "you".

Hermione gave an irritated sigh at the Marauders' behavior. How could they be so immature? She waited for this situation to die down, but unfortunately it didn't She could see the devilish look in Sirius' eyes. He waved his wand, and suddenly, Severus was in the air.

Hermione lost it.

"SIRIUS! PUT HIM DOWN!" she screamed angrily, drawing herself up to her full height. If looks could kill...well, Sirius would be in for it.

"Ah, come on, he's just Snivelly, why do you care?" Sirius replied, while happily waving Severus around in the air by moving his wand in exaggerated arcs, not really caring that Severus was banging into the bookshelves and ceiling.

Hermione gave him the death glare once again. "All right, I'll put him down," he said in an overly-casual voice, and suddenly Severus was flying from the high ceiling of the library to the floor fifty feet below him. Thinking fast, Hermione pulled out her wand and, with some very quick nonverbal spells, Severus ended up sitting unscathed on a conjured cushion in the middle of the floor.

Sirius, James, and Peter were all trying to contain their glee at Severus; near-death experience. Finally, their unsuccessfully contained laughter was released. However, what really sent Hermione over the edge was the sight of Remus laughing along with them.

Snape got up, shaking in rage. "Sectumsem-" he began to hiss menacingly, when he was cut off by a silencing charm from Hermione, who was striding quickly towards the Marauders.

Slap!

Remus stopped laughing to clutch his face. She stepped up to all the Marauders, hitting them harder than she had ever hit anybody. She turned back to Remus and smacked him again, mainly because she expected better of him especially. He seemed a little indignant at her prejudice, but she figured he'd get over it.

"Sirius, you could have killed him!" She said in outrage.

"So?" Sirius replied nonchalantly. She responded with a hard kick to the groin. Sirius bent over, eyes watering in pain.

"I EXPECTED BETTER OF YOU! I CAN'T EVEN LOOK AT YOU RIGHT NOW! GET OUT!"

They didn't exactly leave, they just kind of dragged Sirius to the table next to where Severus and Hermione were sitting.

"I am so, so sorry, Severus. Are you all right?"

It wasn't so much that she actually cared whether Severus was perfectly all right personally, but that she cared about people in general and she couldn't stand Sirius' unprovoked attack on Snape.

"I'm fine, thank you," Severus said in a somewhat stiff and uncomfortable manner, "I appreciate you not, err, letting me fall to my death."

"Oh, you're quite welcome. I just can't STAND motiveless attacks like that, it's disgusting. I believe that's something you and I have in common, eh?…" She replied, shaking her head in disappointment with her friends.

"Yes, we do have that in common, I suppose…and, Erm…well, err…" Severus sputtered. Hermione looked at him in a concerned matter.

"Yes?" Hermione asked in worried tones.

"WouldyouliketogotoHogsmeadewithme?" He said quickly, not daring to look at Hermione.

"What did you say?"

"W-would y-y-you like to go t-to Hogsmeade with m-me," He stuttered, still staring pointedly at the table, as if some fascinating relic had appeared there.

Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter hadn't left the table next to theirs, and all of them had their mouths open in shock.

WHAT DID HE JUST ASK HER? Remus thought furiously, his face reddening and his gray eyes darkening a shade. Surely she's not going to accept! I mean...it's Snivelly!

Remus walked over.

"She isn't interested," he said over Hermione's shoulder threateningly.

Hermione glared at him, shook her head, and then replied to Severus.

"I'd love to. I'll meet you outside the Hog's Head at nine.

Hermione picked up her things and flounced off; leaving not only James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus speechless, but Severus was also speechless with his mouth dropped open.

That'll show them! She thought happily to herself once she was far away from the library. She then froze and dropped her bag as the thought hit her. Shit. I just accepted a date with Severus. Shitshitshitshitshit what am I going to do? Oh no, oh no, oh shit, fuck, shit. No, I'm going to have to tell him I just meant as a friend, oh no, oh no.

Suddenly, Hermione found her life flashing before her eyes. That was when she realized: SHE HAD PASSED INTO THE REALM OF MADNESS!

It was a second later that she became conscious of the fact that she hadn't talked to Severus about the Death Eaters yet. She kicked herself mentally as she picked up her bag, and walked in a much less flouncing style to the Fat Lady, where she muttered the password, walked up to her dormitory, and threw herself onto her bed, her intentions to lay there for a while and think about the best way to shatter Severus' hopes and dreams of one day having a Mrs. Hermione Snape to come home to.

Her moping was interrupted after several minutes by Lily rushing frantically up the dormitory stairs. Hermione heard her trip several times while running up the stairs, banging into the closed door in her rush to see Hermione. Upon entering the dormitory, she immediately jumped onto Hermione's bed, inhaling deeply.

"Hermione, I just saw Remus, and he told me, that you talked to Snivel-I mean Snape, and you, and he, and, and…" she said hurriedly and in one breath.

"What?" asked Hermione tiredly, not bothering to look up at her, knowing what was coming.

"Well, is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Don't play dumb, did you really accept Severus' offer, you know, are you going to Hogsmeade with him?" asked Lily in a voice that said all too clearly that she prayed that this wasn't the truth.

Hermione lifted her head and nodded.

Lily gasped.

"NO!"

Hermione nodded again.

"Why? WHY?" Lily screamed at her.

"I don't know, Sirius came in and was trying to get a rise out of Severus, and levitated him and dropped him, and almost killed him, so I was really mad at Remus and Sirius and James and Peter, so when he asked and Remus came up and said 'she isn't interested' so I accepted just to show him I could make my own decisions, and then I realized that I'd just accepted a date with SEVERUS and WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?" Hermione rambled.

"Calm down. Breathe in….Breath out…" said Lily, who moved herself closer to Hermione's end of the bed.

After Hermione had figured out the whole breathing thing, Lily began to speak again.

"Now, why don't you just tell him tomorrow in Potions that you'd just like to go as friends?"

"BUT HOW!" screeched Hermione, who began to hyperventilate again.

"Stop hyperventilating. You'll figure out a way, I know you will. And quite honestly, I think that you should try to be his friend, I mean, he doesn't really have any, and I'm not proud to say that it's James' fault, I mean, him and his friends are always picking on Snape, always humiliating him. He'd probably be nicer if he had some friends, or just someone to talk to."

Hermione thought about Lily's words, and realized that she probably could figure out a way to tell Severus she meant just as 'friends'. He might not be so disappointed, she thought. It's not as though he has any friends, and he hasn't said anything to me about being muggle-born, so maybe he doesn't know.

"I know what you mean. Anyway, I'm still mad at James and them, and I don't want to spend the entire day with him...we could meet up somewhere."

"Sure. After your big date, let's get tea at Madame Puddifoot's."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but agreed. Lily promised to yell at the Marauders when she next saw them, and Hermione and Lily skipped dinner to help each other study for the Defense Against the Dark Arts test on Monday.

…………………………………….

Hermione woke up the next day, still angry at the Marauders for bullying Severus unprovoked. Honestly, I don't know what runs through their minds when they're torturing him. It's horrid.

She declined the seat that had been saved for her by Remus in favor of breakfasting alone. She took a seat at a deserted end of the table, grabbed a crumpet and buttered it, and used the extra half hour to study for Potions.

Remus came and sat down in front of her, interrupting her studying.

"Why aren't you speaking to me, and the Marauders?" he asked, his beautiful gray eyes flashing.

Hermione gave a disgruntled snort and replied, "Well, it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Sirius almost KILLED Snape, and you laughed at it, now, would it?"

"Okay, I can understand that, but why do you have to go on a date with Snivelly-I mean Snape, isn't that just outside of the bounds of reality? And why did you hit me twice?"

"Well, I hit you twice because I really thought you were better than that. I guess I was wrong. Remus, leave me alone, please. I won't stay mad at you forever, just go away for right now," she said softly.

Remus looked at her as though he was mortally wounded, got up, and left to go sit with James, Sirius, and Peter. Ugh, now I've disappointed her. I mean...the way she looked at me! I swear, I am never getting mixed up in torturing Snivel- Snape again. Never. I just hope I can make it up to her.

Lily joined Hermione at the table after yelling at Sirius and James about not killing people and then they enjoyed a good discussion about the many faults of the opposite sex.

The bell rang, and Lily and Hermione headed down to potions. Hermione began to feel very sick at having to tell Snape that she meant to go to Hogsmeade with him as friends, not as a real date.

She was very thankful when Slughorn told them to break off in threes, and Hermione dragged Lily with her to go work with Snape, who normally did just fine alone despite Slughorn's instructions to break off in twos or threes every class.

"Can Lily and I work with you, Snape?" Hermione asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Severus nodded, and began to work on the Invigoration Draught they had been assigned to make,

Hermione was so jumpy that she couldn't pay attention to what was on the board, and on more than one occasion, she found Snape grabbing her arms in desperate attempts to stop her from adding the wrong ingredients.

"Hermione, you don't add six CUPS of peppermint, you add six ounces! Listen; let me add the ingredients from now on, alright?" He hissed in a bizarrely gentle manner.

Hermione received a kick from Lily, who mouthed at her "YOU'RE JUST FRIENDS! YOU NEED TO TELL HIM THAT!"

Hermione cleared her throat and started.

"Severus, erm, you know how you asked me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Severus didn't even look up from the potion which he was carefully stirring as he replied.

"Allow me to guess: You want to ditch me, perhaps someone better looking asked you, perhaps you just don't like me, I understand, I suppose I won't see you there."

"No, no, not that at all. I wanted to thank you for asking me. It's just that, well, I barely know you, I'd like to get to know you as a friend first, you know what I mean? And what better way to do that then to meet in Hogsmeade and spend a few hours together, eh?" she said all this very fast, not meeting Severus' eyes at all for fear of a vicious outburst on the part of Severus.

On the contrary, Snape merely raised his eyebrows and agreed that, yes, it would be best to be friends first and yes, he would still be happy to meet her in Hogsmeade at nine outside the Hog's Head.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with a trip to Hogsmeade with Hermione Granger. I would say I love you, but I'm far too manly. Yep, that's me...Severus Snape, soon-to-be suitor of Hermione Granger Snape thought with a barely concealed grin.

Hermione had expected this conversation to go a whole lot worse than it did. Severus actually seemed rather happy that she hadn't backed out entirely with meeting him in Hogsmeade on a date-like event. In fact, she actually saw him smile when he thought no one was watching.

He really must be unfamiliar with having anybody even consider being his comrade, his matey, his chummy, his pal, his buddy, his sidekick, his second in command, his homie-G, his lil' dawg, his piemaster, his frito-lay, his...

SHUT UP BRAIN!

They all turned their potions in. Hermione walked out feeling a lot better, and Snape walked out with a secret grin lighting up his face.

……………………………………..

Hermione was extremely, extremely jittery the day of the Hogsmeade trip.

Skipping breakfast, she took the secret passageway into Hogsmeade through Honeyduke's early in the morning and took a walk to the cave where Harry, Ron, and she had spoken to Snuffles in her fifth year, enjoying the scenery. She sat on the edge of the cave, looking over Hogsmeade, admiring the view of Hogwarts in the backdrop, in front of the beautiful snowcapped mountains.

Hermione checked her watch, and, noting that she had five minutes to get to the Hog's Head, she walked briskly out the winding road leading from the mouth of the cave into the heart of the village.

Hermione found him waiting patiently at the Hog's Head with a small bouquet of orchids in hand.

"Severus, I thought we agreed this wasn't a date!" she said, accepting the flowers and sniffing them deeply.

"Yes, I know, but I figured there'd be no harm." He replied with an almost...shy look in his eye that Hermione would never think possible of him. She almost giggled aloud at how embarrassed he'd be in the future.

"Well, thank you, Severus," she replied, shrinking the flowers and putting them in her pocket. She promised she'd put them in a vase with some water when she got back to the castle, and they set off.

Severus took her up to the Shrieking Shack and gave her the complete history surrounding the myths of its haunting, which Hermione was only too happy to listen to. He then took her down to Eylops Owl Emporium and shared the history of its name, which was another Hermione didn't know. The fact that she knew so little about Hogsmeade startled her, and she vowed to do some serious reading when she got back to the castle.

"Shall we head down to the Three Broomsticks?" Snape asked as they wound through the cobblestone streets of the village. Hermione nodded in agreement, and they stepped inside, Snape insisting upon buying her a drink while she got a table.

Meandering slowly to the scrubbed wooden tables in the back of the crowded pub, Hermione let her thoughts float randomly through her head, just for a moment.

He is so weirdly polite…it's almost awkward being around him…I wonder why he wasn't in Gryffindor, the hat said in my first year that Gryffindors were chivalrous, and Snape is certainly refined enough to be considered chivalrous…I wonder what happened to him in the future to make him so mean…Oh, here he comes…BUTTERBEER!

Hermione smiled as Snape handed her a Butterbeer, and settled down with some mulled mead for himself.

"Hermione, before the Marauders came and, err, attempted to kill me, you said you needed to talk to me," he said, taking a sip of his mead.

Hermione suddenly remembered. How could she have forgotten in the first place?

"Yes, I totally forgot! I'm not sure how I did, but I did! Thank you for reminding me!" She replied. Without warning, she reached across the table, grabbed his left sleeve and pulled it up.

Looking relieved, she saw that there was no tattoo, yet.

Severus withdrew his arm quickly as though Hermione's touch burned him.

"Excuse me?" He asked in a suddenly chilly tone of voice.

"I'll tell you something if you promise to believe me, and to heed every piece of advice I give you."

She had rehearsed this many times, which is why it surprised her that she had forgotten. Her plan was to get him just interested enough to want to hear, and not just blurt it out with him not paying attention.

"Alright, I promise." He replied skeptically.

"What would you be willing to swear on?"

"I'll swear on…my potions book."

"That's an important possession, then?" Hermione replied, knowing all too well why he'd swear on it.

"It has secrets in it."

"I see. Well, if you are to listen to me, you will believe me and heed every warning and piece of advice I give you, or not only will I be the owner of the Half-Blood Prince's book, but its secrets will be forever lost"

He nodded slowly and they shook.

"Now, tell me, how is it you know about the Half Blood Prince?"

"That's none of your concern. I'd just advise you not to leave it at Hogwarts during summer break. You will take it home, and you will never let it see the light of day again. Okay?"

"Well, I promised I'd observe everything you warned me about; Slytherin's are not without honor," he replied, getting slightly tense at her unbridled knowledge of his doings.

"Well, I'm not sure when you get the offer, but you are invited to join the Death Eater's of the Dark Lord. You may get the proposal tomorrow, in three years, or perhaps you got it last week. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to force you into anything, but I strongly advise you not to join. If you join the Death Eaters, you will have all the power you want, and more. Not for long, though. It all comes crashing down around your feet after a while. Furthermore, this short-lived power comes at a terrible price: you end up killing and torturing hundreds of muggle-borns, wizards who married muggles, muggles, and anyone who disagrees with the Dark Lord's views on muggles. Not only that, but your master's power, and thus your power, ends at the hands of a baby. A baby! You have to bargain to keep yourself out of Azkaban, and you're lucky to escape in the end. You end up being a potion's master for over a decade, a slave to everyone around you except your students. No power, but so much responsibility for all the horrible things you did," she said, hoping against hope he'd take her seriously.

"What do you mean? Aren't muggle-borns substandard? I mean, killing them is probably a bit far, but-"

"Excuse me? May I point out that YOU asked me on a date, and I'm a muggle-born? Certainly you don't find me substandard, do you?"

Severus' eyes widened and he swallowed loudly.

"I didn't mean that, I mean, you're really clever, and erm…well, certainly not substandard in any way. I just…" he growled, very annoyed with himself and for that matter Hermione. Was it too much for her to be a pureblood? Why did she have to be so smart and pretty and kind? Why did he have to be in this position?

"So do you really hate Muggle-borns, or is that just how you were raised?"

He looked down, staring into his mulled mead like it could answer this question for him. I've been asking myself that for years, and I still don't want to answer. I don't want to answer. I don't want to answer. But he knew the truth.

"I take it that you don't find me a poor quality witch then?"

He nodded, still staring deeply into his mead as though expecting it to share with him the secrets of the universe.

"Then you don't really hate Muggles and Muggle-borns, do you?"

"I guess not," He replied, lifting his eyes away from his drink, "but that's not the way I have been brought up at all. Mum has always said you all are worthless scum, but you're a perfect example of why that's not true... I don't want to have to choose."

"It'll work itself out, I promise. You won't be able to convince your mother though; I can assure you of that. She may not be a bad person, but she's used to what you'd call the 'old ways'. And old dogs don't learn new tricks, if you'll pardon my use of the muggle phrase. Some more advice from me to you; don't let it bother you. As a mother, she wants what's best for you, and that's her idea of the best."

Snape merely shook his head.

"So, you aren't going to join the Death Eaters?"

"Well, I promised you I wouldn't, so I guess I can't, can I?"

"You know in the fut- I mean, I've always been under the impression that you're…errrrr…. mean, rude, and hard to talk to. I was actually very nervous about even bringing up the subject of your to-be Death Eater-hood, because you seem so sharp all the time. Obviously from talking to you, this isn't true. So why do you portray yourself as a foul, offensive, snide person?"

Severus shrugged. "I don't think it's prudent to show your heart on the sleeve, like most Gryffindors do. Slytherin's pride themselves on it. I read in a book. I think it's in my dorm if you'd like to borrow it. It's about each house. You know, about the skills each house seems to excel in, what members of each house are likely to fail in, and all about the founders, too!"

Hermione allowed herself to slip into pleasant conversation with someone who she had considered up to then a mortal enemy. She even forgot she had agreed to meet Lily at Madam Puddifoot's for tea.

……………………………………………………………………

"I've told you once; I've told you a thousand times, it wasn't a DATE!" She said to Sirius several days later, after she had finally forgiven him for trying to kill Snape.

"I see, then what would you call going to Hogsmeade then? It is the ULITIMATE date spot, believe me, I know, I'm a pimp daddy-o!" He replied.

"Sirius, it's the only date spot. Besides that, do you know what it's like to have no friends?"

Sirius shook his head.

"Well, it's horrible. No one deserves that, Sirius, not even 'Snivellus'. And just as a hint, or perhaps more of a threat, he hates Harry and treats him badly not only because he has no friends, but because Harry's father and his three best friends ensured it. Now, if you keep treating him badly, you're going to feel the effects of your action very unpleasantly. Perhaps not now, but you just wait, you just wait."

Sirius and James both got very quiet.

Attempting to lighten the mood after this troubling proclamation, Peter began to fill the Great Hall with balloon animals until Dumbledore finally caught on and asked him to please stop.

……………………………………………………………..

TIME PASSES
NOVEMBER

"Peter, it's 'Oviad' not 'Oliad'. 'Oliad' will result in your subject being turned into a teacup, not cause their hair to go curly." Hermione said, head in her hands as she looked at the china teacup in front of her.

Not that James and Sirius weren't a fine pair of teacups; it just wasn't how they were meant to be.

It was kind of funny how they looked so much like Chip from Beauty and the Beast, but Hermione didn't feel that Professor McGonagall would appreciate that at the moment, if she even knew what Beauty and the Beast was.

"Peter, Peter, Peter. What happened? They're…teacups." Professor McGonagall sighed, looking down at the cups.

"Erm, I'm not really sure…" Peter replied, staring pointedly over McGonagall's shoulder, not making eye contact with her.

"Hermione, Remus, take the teacups to the Hospital Wing. Peter, just leave and practice that for homework. I really don't want to deal with this. Class dismissed," McGonagall said, pocketing her wand and rubbing her temples with one hand. "Oh, and if you all tell Professor Dumbledore I let you out early, which is against regulations, I will kill you. Personally."

"Wow, McGonagall dismissed class early! We should turn into teacups more often," laughed the teacup James.

The teacups looked rather odd. The one that was James was bright pink with a frilly pattern around the rim, and Sirius was a steely black, shining and with no pattern. Remus and Hermione both felt very silly walking to the hospital wing with two teacups and talking to them.

"Madam Pom-poms," yelled teacup Sirius, "We're teacups! Help us!"

Madam Pomfrey bustled over. With one look, she sent them onto Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his two most trouble making students turned into frilly-patterned teacups.

"I suppose you want me to fix this?" He said with a small smile on his face.

The teacups both shouted, "YES!" and with a flick of his wand James and Sirius were transfigured back into people.

With much bowing on the part of James and Sirius and once all thank-you's had been said, the five left Dumbledore's office.

"Well, it isn't everyday you get turned into a teacup…" said James, still moving his arms about crazily, still getting used to the feeling of having human appendages again.

"We have tons of unfinished business, you realize that we've gone through almost all of November and still haven't picked prank teams for the Annual Prank-Off or gone down to Hogsmeade! It's blasphemous!"

"Do you even know what 'blasphemous' means, Sirius?"

"No. Why do you ask, Remmy-poo?"

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius, but agreed that they probably should at least pick teams.

Remus and Hermione paired off in the prank war, and Sirius took James and Peter. They all agreed that they'd play 'Rock-Paper-Scissors' for the Marauders Map closer to the date of the pranking, and that whoever didn't get the map got the cloak. As usual, you had to prank a teacher and a Slytherin. Remus and Hermione called dibs on the Room of Requirement for planning, and Sirius, James, and Peter went to the common room to make loose strategies for their prank.

After walking back and forth thinking of a room that would help them make the best plans possible, they opened a large metal door into a room with two chairs over a table with a map of Hogwarts as the top. There were small baskets of miniature flags organized by color to pin on the map for location strategizing, and large amounts of parchment were stacked up neatly with quills and ink laid to the side. The walls were bookshelves with all kinds of books on transfiguration, charms, potions, and other random spells that could help them with the prank.

"Well, this is incredibly nice," said Hermione, looking around the room in awe.

"No time, we need to get plotting!"

They discussed pranking for a long while. One idea Remus had really appealed to Hermione; turn a Slytherin into a large, pink giraffe. Hermione jotted it down, and they worked on a way to get a Slytherin, deciding on mixing a spell to slow reaction time and a spell to transfigure a person temporarily into a giraffe. A convenient path for use of capturing a Slytherin from their dorm was drawn on the map, thought out for use in the dead of night so no teachers would spot them. They practiced on a large dummy that had been laying in corner. Remus had to consult his copy of, "Invent Your Own Spells, Grade Six: A Masters Course" before they finally got it right, and it was a long time before they got the slow-acting element of the spell to work properly. But it was all worth it. The completely forgot to go to any of their other classes, or even to go to dinner as they planned the absolutely perfect prank for use on a teacher.

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