A/N: I really don't like this chapter. It has got to be the worst written, worst plotted, worst everything ever written. Sorry!

Halloween had arrived. The time was right. Everything was going to plan. Hopefully. So much hung on the evening going to plan that none of them stopped to think what would happen if it all went wrong, which, obviously, it was about to…

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

With her head stuck down a toilet, Lily could neither see who entered the bathroom nor care. She was too busy to care who heard her sharing herself with the porcelain god and, truth be told, even if she wasn't in the middle of throwing up, she wouldn't much have cared anyway. It was none of her business who was in the bathroom and for what purposes, just as it was none of theirs as to why she was in there. That didn't stop them asking though.

"Are you alright in there?" It was Alex's voice, this at least comforted Lily. It wasn't a nosey stranger butting into her business.

"Als," she whined, her voice muffled slightly.

"Lily, is that you?"

She let out a little whimper as Alex opened the stall door. She didn't look up to see her; she didn't need to as Alex placed a soothing hand on her back. "You not well?" She asked stupidly.

Lily shook her head as another feeling of sick rushed through her. She retched a couple of times before answering. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I just woke up and came in here to wash up but the minute I got out of bed I felt sick. I had to run to get here in time."

"You poor thing," Alex consoled, rubbing her back. "Just stay here until you think you can walk and I'll take you to the infirmière."

"No," Lily whimpered as another wave of vomit left her mouth.

Alex chose to ignore it and, fifteen minutes later, was guiding Lily to the infirmary. When she opened the door the school nurse was immediately upon them.

"Oui?"

"My friend here, she's not well, can't stop throwing up."

"Oh," the nurse wrinkled her nose slightly and motioned for Alex to take Lily to a bed and handed her a basin before disappearing into a cupboard.

Alex watched Lily, whose was sat crossed legged on a bed, her head bent down, hair falling in front of her face as she emptied the contents of her stomach. Alex couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face at the sight. She dropped it back to a concerned look the minute she heard the nurse coming book with a cup of something steaming.

Moving the hair from in front of Lily's face, the nurse held the cup in front of her. "Drink this," the nurse instructed.

Lily shook her head. "Can't." But the nurse ignored her, telling Alex to tip Lily's head back.

Alex did as was instructed and watched as the nurse forced lily's mouth open and poured the steaming liquid down her throat. Lily choked a little and made small gagging noises before she turned oddly quiet.

"There," the nurse smiled happily at Alex. "All better."

Alex looked from the nurse to Lily and frowned. "Is she supposed to do that?"

The nurse looked at Lily in horror. Her face was turning a blue-purple colour that was rapidly spreading through her brother. Her eyes became bloodshot and seemed to be bulging out of her skull and her teeth were chattering together furiously.

"You didn't tell me she was allergic!" the nurse wailed, horrified at such a stupid mistake.

"I didn't know," Alex spat back at her.

"You must leave, I must sort her out. She won't be ready to be released for a week now."

"But we had plans!"

"Cancel them," the nurse said coldly, pushing Alex out of the room and locking the door behind her.

Alex glared at the door for a few minutes before the realisation of what had happened hit her. If Lily wouldn't be released for a week then she wouldn't be attending the dance with Alex tonight, the plan was ruined. " Narcissa's going to kill me."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

James leant against the wall, his leg jiggling up and down nervously, every-so-often his hand would run through his hair. "Come on," he muttered to himself. "It doesn't take that long. I knew I should have gone instead of that mad idiot."

Just as he said this the portrait swung open and the 'mad idiot' himself entered with Remus and peter.

"About bloody time, Sir," James muttered before giving the signal to Frank and heading up to the dormitories.

"Be back in a minute guys, I just got to run upstairs for a quill," Sirius told Remus and Peter before turning away.

"You can use mine if you want?" Remus suggested.

"Actually," Sirius turned back to face them. "It was yours I was using anyway, I borrowed it before but left it upstairs."

"Oh," Remus frowned, he could have sworn he'd been using it a couple of hours ago. "Alright, well, we'll come with you."

"No!" Sirius cried quickly, making Remus' frown deepen. "What I mean is, Longbottom wants you."

"What?" Remus asked, confused.

"Yeah, I do," Frank spoke up suddenly, startling them, they hadn't realised he was right in front of them. "I needed to ask you something…"

While Remus and Peter were occupied with Frank, Sirius made his getaway upstairs. He entered his dorm to find it in a greater state of chaos than usual, with James at the centre of it all, looking for something.

"I can't find it," James said with a quick glance at Sirius.

"Well, no, not if you're doing it the muggle way," Sirius rolled his eyes and took out his wand. "Accio snitch," he said but nothing happened. He tried again but there was still no response. "Remus must be keeping it on him."

"Well, how are we going to get it now?"

"Easy," Sirius answered leaving the room.

Halfway down the stairs he stopped. He was out of sight but could see Peter and Remus still talking to Frank. "Accio snitch," Sirius tried for a final time. He could feel the pull as the object began to fly out of Peter's robe pocket. It was nearly out when Peter let out a startled cry and slapped his hand around the snitch.

Remus turned to look at his friend and smiled. "Nice try boys," he said loudly. "You almost managed it then but looks like we're better than you after all."

"No way," James cried, stepping out from their hiding place. "Just because you got there first doesn't mean you're better. I bet you used the front door to get it."

"Well, yeah, what else was I going to do?" Remus asked in an obvious way. "Climb through the window."

James just smiled, though it faded when he saw the snitch glistening in Peter's hand. Its wings were flapping wildly and it was making a real effort to fly away. "Look," James pointed to snitch. "It doesn't even want to be with you two. Let it go, see who it goes to."

"It's a snitch, James, not a pet. It's not going to go to anyone, it's going to fly around until someone catches it."

"I have an idea," Frank interrupted what was showing signs of the beginning of an argument. Why don't the four of you go to the Quidditch pitch and let it loose? The first one to catch it is…whatever you lot are arguing about."

They stared at Frank for a moment, look of contemplation on their faces then, as one, their thoughts turned to anticipation. "Frank, that is a brilliant idea!" Sirius announced. "Peter, give the snitch to Longbottom. He can release it, make it fair."

And so the five boys, and everyone who'd been in the common room to hear the conversation, made their way out to the Quidditch pitch for the race.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Narcissa winced as Lucius released her after dragging her into the alcove in which he stood. The force with which he had grabbed her was sure to bruise.

"What?" She snapped at him, eyes blazing.

Lucius' lips twisted into a smirk. "Now, now 'Cissie, don't get your knickers in a twist. I just thought I'd check up on your end of the plans for tonight. Is everything still alright?"

"Yes," she nodded, ignoring his superior sneer. "Alex has made sure that the mudblood will be there, the school is having a dance there tonight so they'll all be got at once."

"Good," Lucius smiled a cold smile, his lips twisting oddly as he did. "Everything's set for here, too. I suggest you stay away from the Great Hall at dinnertime tonight."

"Tonight? Why?"

Lucius just gave her a condescending glance before stepping out of the alcove and sweeping away down the corridor. Narcissa watched him go before stepping out herself, walking the same way he had gone, turning right instead of left and going to Gryffindor common room.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Four boys zoomed through the sky searching for that small glimmer of gold that would put them on their way to earning them the title they were all looking to claim; Sneakiest Pranker Ever.

James concentrated on the upper left portion of the field. He had, in all the games he'd played, found that the snitch enjoyed frequenting this side of the pitch. Of course, he still had yet to see it. Sirius was opposite James diagonally, mirroring all his moves. He had no skill as a seeker and no idea patience to look around for it. He found that by mirroring James' moves he would , eventually, get close to the snitch, too. Remus was circling above them, never stopping moving. He figured he would see more of the pitch this way and so would have better chance of seeing and getting to the snitch. From his point high in the sky he could see Peter far below him, just feet from the ground, doing some sort of zigzag pattern across the field. Remus shrugged, to each his own he supposed. In actual fact, Peter was doing this pattern simply because he couldn't seem to control his broom

The crowd around them were cheering excitedly, more and more students had become a part of the screaming horde, interested in seeing the outcome of this rather odd competition. An hour later the snitch still hadn't been spotted and the crowd just seemed to be growing. Cheers of "Go James" and "Come on Sirius" came loudly through the screaming. Slightly quieter were chants of "Remus Remus" and quietest, but still distinguishable, were the "You can do it Peter"s that helped make the atmosphere all the more tense.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So everyone knows the plan, right?" Lucius addressed the group of fifteen Slytherin's before him.

They nodded.

"What is it?" He tested them trying not to let any wariness he felt show.

"We go in there and either grab all the mud and half bloods or keep the professors occupied. You'll make an example of the mudbloods in front of the others in the name of the Dark Lord."

Lucius nodded, satisfied. "And don't forget to keep your hoods up and masks on. Our bumbling headmaster thought it would be fun to have everyone to turn up to the feast in costume, nobody will know it's us."

Lucius led the way into the great hall followed by the Slytherin's behind him. He stopped dead just five steps into the room. No one was there, well, almost no one. There were a handful of people on each table and all the teachers were sat at their table, everyone looked rather annoyed.

"Where is everyone?" Lucius hissed, as he looked around bewildered.

"We were wondering just the same thing," McGonagall answered irritably.

"Sit down, Minerva," Dumbledore smiled, a twinkle in his eyes. "They're probably off just having a little fun, you can't begrudge them that."

McGonagall looked at the old headmaster like he was crazy. "Albus, you notice who is missing, I trust? They're up to something again."

"They're young boys, they're supposed to be 'up to something'."

"They're ruining the feast, I'm going to find them."

Just as she said this around thirty students filtered into the hall but no one else came in.

"Where have you been?" McGonagall's cool tone asked them sharply.

No one answered at first but a trembling first year stepped forward, as McGonagall's gaze seemed to be focussed on him. "There are some boys playing on the Quidditch field, we were watching them."

"I knew it!" McGonagall cried, turning to face Dumbledore. "Unsupervised and without permission! Who knows what state they're in now," and with that she stormed out of the Great Hall, heading straight for the Quidditch pitch.

Lucius, who had watched the whole scene with fascination, was sent back to his miserableness when it ended. By the time McGonagall had sorted out whatever was going on outside and everyone came back into the Great Hall it would be too late for their plan to go ahead. The Dark lord would be angry with this and Lucius would surely be punished.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Most of the school were sat in the Quidditch stands, watching the Marauders as they intently looked for the snitch. As time went by and there was still no sign of the golden ball, the crowd began to lose interest and dwindle away. Their evening meal was getting closer and all the students were starting to get hungry, the Marauders, who had skipped lunch, especially.

"This bloody thing better come so…ooh, there" James exclaimed as he began flying towards the glimmer of gold half a pitch away from him.

"He's seen it, Potter's spotted the snitch" A voice shouted from the remaining crowd. All those who had been drifting away turned and ran back to see as the four boys began flying to the centre of the pitch, seeming about to crash into one another. They watched as Peter, already having problems on his broom, realised a collision was inevitable, got scared and let go of his broom, falling the 50 foot drop to the ground. Sirius realised what was happening first and began the descent after his friend, Remus spotted him next and, seeing Sirius was on his way to help, whipped his wand out and cast a spell on Peter to slow his descent and make it easier for Sirius to catch him. James wasn't oblivious to what was going on around him; he had stopped to watch and was unsure what else he could do. He watched as Sirius made sure Peter was safe on his broom before flying the two of them back up to where he was before he went after Peter. The four boys looked at each other.

"We going to finish this?" Sirius asked, a grin on his face.

"Come on!" Voices in the crowd shouted. "Get a move on boys!"

Remus laughed, "Sounds like we have to," they looked to where the snitch was hovering just feet away. "On three."

"One," James said.

"Two," Remus counted.

"Three," Peter finished excited and the three brooms were moving once more.

"What is going on here?" A stern voice roared up to them, making them all jump and lose their concentration.

Remus and James flew into each other, Sirius swerved to avoid them, nearly dropping Peter from his broom as he did. The four boys regained themselves enough to steer their own brooms back to the ground to meet the firm look on Professor McGonagall's face.

"What did you boys think you were doing?" She asked, and edge of anger in her voice. "Flying up there unsupervised and without permission. It's dangerous!"

The boys answered at once, a muddled tale about Quidditch practice, new tricks and, somehow, leprechauns.

McGonagall huffed at their excuses. "Enough that will be twenty-five points from Gryffindor each and detention for a week for all of you and don't give me that look Potter, it's your own fault. Now, get inside and eat, all of you," she said this last bit loudly as she turned to address the crowd as well.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The colour change had been reversed and the eye bulging turned back to normal but the teeth chattering remained and the sickness came back so, between bouts of throwing up, Lily found herself shaking uncontrollably for the furiousness of teeth. As wretched as she felt at that moment, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved. She hadn't much been looking forward to crashing the dance and something in the way Alex had been persistently trying to convince her to attend the dance made Lily nervous. Sure, they were friends now but something seemed off about Alex, something that made Lily nervous.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Alex scribbled her note down furiously and gave it to the school owl, hoping it would reach Narcissa in time. With it now on its way, Alex sat on the bed in her dorm, arms around her knees and chin resting on them as she thought about what she had done. She had ruined the plans, Narcissa would be angry and Lucius probably more so. Merlin could only help Narcissa now.

Alex watched her clock, watched as it got closer and closer to seven o'clock, closer and closer to the start of their plan. She hoped Narcissa had got her letter, hoped that it wouldn't still go ahead but as the clock turned 7.01 she felt an increasing sense of dread. She got up from her bed and headed down to the dining hall, halfway there she heard the first scream. The first terror-filled scream that was only the beginning of what was to come that night.

Alex paled, her hands were clammy and she felt sick to her stomach, she ran back to her dorm, locking her door behind her. In the safety of her own room she let out her own muffled scream before tears began to fall. What had she done?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Narcissa read the letter with an increasing sense of dread. Note clutched in her hand she walked quickly to the Great Hall, expecting to hear panic and terror when she opened the doors. Instead, her ears were assaulted with sounds of laughter and cheer. Realization that the plan hadn't gone as it was supposed to just served to make Narcissa more agitated as she headed to the Slytherin table, or rather to Lucius.

Lucius Malfoy's sneer seemed more prominent than usual, the look of distaste and anger on his face more obvious than usual. Narcissa knew he was in a bad mood, this would only make him worse.

"Malfoy, can I have a word outside, please?" She asked cautiously feeling several pairs of eyes watching her curiously.

Lucius didn't answer; he did stand up and begin the walk out of the room though. "What?" He demanded once they were outside.

"Read this," Narcissa handed him the note that Alex had sent her.

His eyes glanced over it before he turned to her. "So?"

"So? Call them off!"

"It's too late," he drawled, a sinister smile appearing on his already menacing features. "And besides, I don't know if you noticed but the plan here went more than a little wrong thanks to your bloody cousin and his friends. The rest must go to plan so the word gets out. So what if one mudblood gets left out? We can get her next time?"

"Next time?" Narcissa asked with a shudder at his cold tone. "You can't seriously be thinking of doing this again."

Lucius grabbed Narcissa's arm, squeezing it tightly. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do," he sneered at her. "I do what the Dark lord wants and asks of me, he is the only one with power of me. Do you understand?"

Narcissa, who was wincing at the pain in her arm and was fairly certain he was cutting off the blood flow, looked up at him with wide fearful eyes and nodded. "I understand Lucius."

"Good," he said, releasing her arm. "Now burn that letter and get to the feast, no doubt your cousin has noticed your non-appearance."

Narcissa nodded, looking once more at the letter as Lucius entered the Great Hall.

Narcissa, things have gone wrong. Evans is confined to the hospital wing and won't be released for a week; she won't be attending the feast. Get them to call it off, there's no point in doing it if she won't be there. A xx

She put it in her pocket and slipped into the Great Hall herself, trying to go unnoticed but being spotted by Sirius and James who ended up involving her in a debate they were having over how big Snape's nose really was.