The Almost Prank
Chapter 12
moonys-witch: Thanks for the great review. I like that you like the fic.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Linda Potter looked at her future daughter-in-law with nothing short of admiration. Lily had wondered to one of the tables after the men had left and put her head down on the table. "She must be exhausted," Linda thought to herself. Lily's blondish red hair had draped over her face so Linda did not see the tears that were running down her face. Wanting to give Lily some privacy Linda decided to go down to the Great Hall to grab a bite to eat. However as she reached the door to the corridor she stopped when she heard Lily shift her position.
"Sorry," Lily muttered raising her tear stained face. "This is not how I wanted to meet you. I had hoped they would act better."
"Don't apologize for them," Linda exclaimed. "If anyone should apologize it should be them. Don't worry about them they are bumbling idiots. Dear, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"There is more to me then you now," Lily replied in a soft voice. "Since I viewed your husbands mind I feel that I should tell you about my past."
"Alright," Linda muttered conjuring tea, ham sandwiches, soup and pumpkin juice. "Why don't we have a light dinner while we have this dinner."
"When I was nine years old my uncle started coming over to my parents house drunk," Lily whispered taking a drink of pumpkin juice. Lily continued to explain the abuse that she had suffered at the hands of her uncle. The two women continued to talk about this for an hour. The more that Lily talked the more she cried and the more horrified Linda got about what Lily had experienced.
Meanwhile down by the lake James and Richard were having their own heart to heart. "Now, James," Richard Potter started. "We need to have a little talk about your future wife. When she was exploring my mind it somewhat backfired."
"What do you mean, Dad?" James asked his dad turning to face him.
"You have one special person there," Richard replied. "How much do you know about her?"
"I know a lot, dad," James muttered. "I know more then I care to share."
"Dad you know about her past? When she was doing Ligilamacy on me she gave me some of her memories."
"Like what? Anything about her uncle?"
"Yes. Also what her uncle did to her. You have to take care of her James. Be there for her and support her. Don't talk about anything unless she wants to."
"I know dad. So you know why I invited her to come and stay with us. Just do me a favor and don't tell her that you know."
"One more thing, James. Why did you fall in her lap during the Quidditch finals?"
"You got that memory too," James stormed. "What didn't she share with you? The fact that I'm going to be wearing her clothes tomorrow."
"You're what?" Richard exploded laughing.
"I lost a bet so I have to wear her clothes tomorrow," James explained.
"Next your going to tell me that she is wearing your clothes." Richard was still laughing when he said this.
"Actually, she was until I bought her some of her own yesterday. She has refused to go into the girls dorm for the last month."
"So where has she been sleeping for the last month? Don't tell me that she has been sleeping with you."
"OK dad I won't," James said with a smirk.
"She has hasn't she."
"You told me not to tell you. So I didn't. I'm just following your orders. So how about the weather?"
"James Harry Potter, do not change the subject. I want to know..."
"Know what?" James asked in an innocent tone.
"Is she pregnant?"
"We haven't gone that far yet. Although she does have a child that she was forced to give up. I told her that I would help her find it she wanted. I might need help with that though. The baby is either her uncles or one of his friends. She got beat when her uncle found out that she was pregnant."
"What did her parents do about all of this?"
"They ignored it. They were more concerned with her sister."
"Poor child. You have our full support in this matter. By the way I look forward to seeing you in her clothes tomorrow. Your mum and I are staying for the exams. It seems Albus had to late cancelations. Since we know have an Engagement Ball and an extra graduation party to plan for we can use the time for planning. Plus we have to figure out how we are going to find this baby."
"Don't worry, James, we will make things right with her. I think we should go find our women." With that James and Richard started walking back to the castle.
"Those were perfectly good magazines," Remus stormed in the Room of Requirements. "She didn't have to burn them up."
"I know, Moony," Sirius said. "She really didn't have to burn them. That was uncalled for."
"We simply have to do something to get back at her," Remus muttered deep in thought. "Tomorrow we will get our revenge on her. I am not sure what we are going to do but we will do something. Come on you to think."
"Do I have to, Moony?" Peter whined. "All I know is I'm not going to be the one to cast the spell. I might hit someone else."
"Yeah," Remus added. "Not to mention us."
"We have to be careful," Sirius stated. "I do not want to get on James bad side. Not to mention his mum and dads."
The three boys sat and thought about what they were going to do for revenge. Sirius who could never sit still started pacing the room wanting to hit something, anything. He hated when they needed a prank and couldn't think of one.
"I got it," Remus suddenly exclaimed. "Tonight when we go to bed I will change her appearance. We have to make sure that James is a sleep before we do this. Or it won't work. We need a light sleeping potion to put in James Pumpkin juice at dinner. By the time we get back to the Gryffindor tower he'll be so tired that he'll fall right to sleep. I'll keep Lily down studying until late. When everyone else leaves the Common Room we'll go upstairs. After she falls asleep I will charm her hair to change colors with her mood. I have found a charm that will last two weeks. There is no counter charm. The best part is that she won't even realize that her hair is a different color until day three. That way we will be in the clear."
"You've been holding out on us," Sirius stormed. "But we'll do it. I like it. But we all have to agree never to tell James who did it. With any luck he'll think it was Snivillous."
"Alright, Sirius, go lift some potion," Remus muttered. "At supper I want you to distract Lily. Peter and I will write James a howler. When the howler gets delivered that is when you, Sirius, distract Lil. If of course Peter who will of course be doing what he does best when a howler comes. When you have them distracted I'll put some of the potion in his pumpkin juice." Remus who could throw voice wrote the howler. As Remus was writing the howler a vial of modified sleeping drought appeared.
"Hey, Moony," Sirius started. "We have the potion. It just appeared." With potion and howler in hand the three friends left for the Owlery. At the Owlery they found James owl and arranged for it to deliver the letter at dinner instead of at breakfast.
That night at dinner Dumbledore looked to be in a very foul mood from earlier that day. Linda Potter, who was sitting next to him, however had a very satisfied and proud look on her face. Richard Potter sitting next to his wife had a very concerned look and kept glancing at the Gryffindor table. The rest of the Great Hall however was in a very talkative mood. Suddenly James owl came swooping in through a window with a red envelope, it was flying straight for James at top speed.
The owl dropped it's package into James soup and flew off not wanting to stick around to hear the howler. Peter dove under the table on cue (for once) and started to scream. When Peter started to scream Lily joined him underneath the table and tried to comfort him. James, who had a puzzled look on his face picked up the howler and opened it. "James Harry Potter, how dare you look at those magazines. I thought Lily got rid of them. I'm going to come up there and search the dormitory. If I find one magazine I am going to smack you so hard your future children are going to feel it. When I am done your mum is going to smack you. After she is done your future wife is going to smack you. The worse your children are going to do is steal a flying car or something. But that is going to be alright because they are not going to be looking at magazines like you. You are in so much trouble, James Harry Potter. Nothing you could do could be as bad as this. Do I have put a magical leash on you or something. Your almost as bad as your..." When James opened the howler Remus poured the sleeping potion into James pumpkin juice.
Dumbledore rose from the staff table and yelled, "Silencio," immediately the howler fell silent. "This is why I do not like howlers at dinner. They ruin ones appetite. Peter, you and Lily may come out from under the table. It is all over you are safe now."
After everyone finished dinner James was starting to get sleepy so he got up with Lily and headed to the tower whispering in her ear. The other three boys were following close behind them with evil smirks on their faces. As James started to stumble Remus innocently asked, "Do you need some help there,Prongs?" Sirius and Peter had the hardest time trying not to laugh.
"I think the drought was a little too strong," Sirius whispered to Peter who just smirked. After the five friends entered the Gryffindor Common Room James said he was going up to the dorm to go to sleep. Remus raised three fingers at Peter and Sirius signaling that phases one, two and three of their plan was done. Now all they had to do was wait for everyone to go to bed.
"I better go make sure he is alright," Lily muttered starting for the stairs.
Oh great they had not planned for this. "Great plans of mice and men," Remus thought. "Where in the world had that thought come from. I must be losing it." As these thoughts were running through his head Remus quickly pulled out his Ruins book. "Lily, I thought we could study for our Ruins test," Remus muttered. "I am having a little trouble with some of it."
"Peter and I will go check on James," Sirius added dragging Peter after him up the stairs. "Come on Peter."
"Oh, yeah sure," Peter stumbled being drug by Sirius. "We'll just go and stay with James."
As Peter and Sirius went up the stairs Lily went to help Remus. "What is with the three of you?" Lily asked sitting next to Remus on the couch in front of the fire. "You guys seem a little off."
"Nothing," Remus began. "Must be end of year jitters. So I just don't get this dialect."
"You got it in class," Lily said in amazement. "What changed?"
"Nothing, I just forgot it." The two worked on the dialect for about two hours. Remus was doing his best to pretend that he did not get the dialect which he had a strong grasp on. Finally the Common Room was empty except for the two of them. "I think I have it know," Remus remarked. "Thanks for the help."
"No problem," Lily murmured. "I'm going to bed now. Unless you need help with something else."
"Nope," Remus replied. "I got everything else figured out. Thanks again. See you in a few." As he started putting his books in his bag Remus watched Lily head up the stairs to the boys dorm. The hardest part of the prank was over. Now all he had to do was wait half an hour before he could go up and preform the charm. After waiting for an hour Remus went up to the boys dorm and found Lily sound a sleep curled in to James. Silently Remus performed the mood hair changing charm before he got into bed to get some sleep.
The next morning when Remus a woke he noticed that Lily's hair was a nice shade of green. Not wanting to wake James or Lily he went over to Sirius bed and gentle prodded him to get up. As Sirius stirred awake Remus put his hand over Sirius mouth so he wouldn't talk. As Sirius opened his eyes Remus pointed over to Lily and James bed. Lily's hair had now turned to a dark shade of blue and she had started to twitch in bed. "We better go downstairs," Sirius muttered trying hard not to laugh as Lily's hair kept getting a darker shade of blue. "Leave Wormtail sleep."
When the two boys got to the Common Room they collapsed into fits of laughter. As they laughed Peter came down to the Common Room with a smile on his face. "Did you see her?" Peter asked joining his friends.
"Yes..." Remus mumbled between laughs. "She... didn't... suspect... anything."
"Good job, Moony," Sirius who had finally stopped laughing replied. "Now, are we still on for breakfast."
Just then James came down with a confused look on his face. "Hey, why are you three up so early?"
"Just couldn't sleep," Remus quickly stated casting glares at Sirius and Peter to keep them quiet.
"Miss Evans snoring kept us up," Peter added.
"So how come I didn't hear her snoring?" James demanded with a furious look on his face.
"We silenced her," Sirius deadpanned. "Don't worry it will only last until she wakes up."
"By the way," Peter piped in. "Weren't you suppose to wear Lily's clothes today?"
"You're right," James replied. "But I don't know where she hid them. She has this crazy idea I'll wear them tomorrow too. Just to irritate my parents. Besides she wants to pick them out."
A first year girl comes running down from the girls dormitory screaming, "It's... horrible... it's ... horrible..." Shortly she was followed by the rest of the first year girls who were all screaming. They all saw the four boys sitting and talking.
"Please... help... it's... horrible," another girl gasped running over to James. "It's... in... our... room."
"What is it?" James asked with an amused smile on his face not rising from his chair by the fire.
"Please... help," the other girls stammered going over to help their friend and started to pull James to a standing position. With all of the girls working together they were able to get James into a standing position and started pushing and pulling him to the stairs.
"Hey, what are you doing," James muttered. "I didn't agree to anything. Besides I can't get up there. There is a charm on the stairs. The girls however where not listening and were still pushing and pulling James up the stairs. Without even realizing it James was soon outside the door of the first year girls dormitory. By this time he was a lone, the girls had all gone back down the stairs. James looked around the girls dormitory and mumbled to himself, "So this is what it looks in here." Suddenly he saw it. A furious Lily was advancing on him. He quickly pulled out his wand and yelled, "Riddikulus." Instantly the boggart turned into Snape in Lily's clothes drinking a cup of coffee. James could tell it wasn't tea because of the aroma it gave off. James laughed so hard that he was able to get the boggart into a container and carry it down to the Common Room.
As James reached the Common Room the first year girls ran up to him yelling, "Thank you, thank you."
The three other Marauders were all looking on with stunned expressions on their face. "Sure he gets Evans and a whole bunch of first years too," Sirius mumbled dejectedly.
Back in the boys dorm Lily who had still been sleeping was a woken by all the noise from the Common Room. "What is going on down there?" Lily mumbled getting out of bed. "I better go see what is going on." As she descended the stairs she saw the first year girls surrounding James who was holding a small brown ornate chest. "James Potter," Lily screamed now completely a wake. "Are you flirting with other girls. I think they are a bit young for you."
James startled by Lily's scream turned around to see a now black haired Lily standing right in front of him. Startled by her hair color he dropped the box containing the boggert and it landed right at her feet. The box opened immediately and the boggart turned into Lily's uncle. Startled the first year girls ran screaming over to the other three Marauders. Lily who was not ready for the boggart took a couple of steps back and pulled out her wand. With a shaky voice she exclaimed,"Riddikulus." Immediately the boggart took on the form of a blond haired man but Lily was still shaking. Seeing that Lily was still upset James pushed her out of the way and again turned the boggart into Snape in Lily's clothes.
The other Marauders who were desperately trying to get a way from the first year girls noticed this and started laughing while they approached James to offer their help. After a short time they were able to confuse the boggert and destroy it. "Good one, Prongs," Sirius said. "Making Snivillous wear Lily's clothes. That has to be the greatest."
James who was trying to comfort a now white haired Lily just nodded at his friends who left to go and talk to one of the other teachers and report the boggart. "We should probable go and get dressed for breakfast, dear," James said to Lily. "You still have to pick out my clothes for the day."
This had the desired effect of cheering Lily up and with a smile the two went up to the dorm. In the dorm Lily dressed in a pink miniskirt and an off white short sleeved blouse with pink hearts on it. She then gave James an off white miniskirt and a light pink short sleeved blouse with white hearts on it. "Do I have to wear this, Lil?" James asked meekly examining the outfit.
"Yes," Lily responded. "And if you don't behave I'll make you wear something worse. Besides we will be matching. Plus you lost the bet."
James with a ticked look on his face, "Yeah well we're not completely matching. So there." With that James stuck his tongue out at Lily like an immature first year. At this Lily smiled and walked out of the room. James mumbled to himself, "What in the world has gotten into her? I haven't done anything to her... yet. Not for lack of trying."
When James joined Lily in the Common Room a short time later he noticed that she had been crying. Going over to her he pulled her into his arms and started hugging her. "We should probably go to breakfast," James murmured softly to Lily. "I am sure the others have informed Dumbledore by now and are waiting for us to join them. Besides we need energy for the exams." This had the desired effect and Lily rose and walked hand in hand with James to the Great Hall.
In the Great Hall they noticed the three Marauders still surrounded by the hero worshipping first year girls. With a smile on their faces James and Lily walked over to their friends and sat down. "You ready," James muttered to Peter seeing Snape sit at the Slytherin table with his back to them. "You only have one shot at this. So make it count."
"Alright," Peter muttered pulling out his wand and swishing it in the air sending a silent charm toward Snape.
As if on cue Snape spit out what was suppose to be his tea and roared, "What is this poison? It is not tea."
A first year at the Slytherin table walked over to Snape took the cup. After smelling it and taking a sip exclaimed, "It is coffee. My mum drinks it all the time." With that he drank the whole cup in one gulp. "It is very good when you add sugar and cream. Do you have more?"
Snape just rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Moronic imbecilic git."
At the Gryffindor table the four boys who were laughing at the result of the prank suddenly sobered and Serius exclaimed, "Why you two American Snobs."
"Yeap," the first year said proudly looking for more coffee. Unable to find more coffee he tried turning his tea into coffee. However the tea would not turn into coffee for him instead it exploded soaking Snape with scolding hot tea.
"Snape, Snape, Snape," Sirius muttered shaking his head. "If you wanted more coffee you should have just asked."
The first year ran over to the Gryffindor table holding out his cup and begged, "Please, please, please."
As James refilled the cup he looked at Snape and said, "See all you have to do is ask and the five of us will be happy to help."
When James said this Lily exploded and slapped him across the face, "How dare you included me in this... this... immature prank."
"But Lily," Peter said in an innocent tone. "You agreed to this yourself."
"When did I?" Lily demanded smacking Peter.
"Why last night," Remus responded receiving a smack from Lily.
"I most certainly did not," Lily replied turning to leave. "I can't believe you guys."
" But, Lil," Remus simpered. "We went over to James bed last night. When we asked if you were you said yes. So we asked if you wanted to be involved in the prank and again you said yes."
"We also asked if we could burn all your books," Sirius added.
"You what?" Lily exploded red faced ready to smack Sirius.
"You said no," Peter quickly added.
"You have the worst timing, mate," James said to Sirius. "Have you not learned that when Lil is upset you do not keep pushing her."
"I don't believe you guys," Lily screamed smacking all five boys. "You are the inconsiderate gits I have ever met. I can't believe you."
"But that is why you love us," James muttered getting smacked from Lily yet again.
"Evans, that will be enough hitting," McGonagall yelled from the teachers table. "Detention. Tonight. My office."
"See what you guys have done," Lily roared turning back to them.
"Lil, I'm so proud of you," James murmured wrapping his arms around her.
"You got detention with out us," Sirius added joining the hug. "Come on you two group hug." Sirius muttered over Lily's shoulder to Remus and Peter. As Sirius pulled Peter and Remus into the hug Snape came to the group to demand that James fix his cloak which was dripping wet and scorching his skin. Snape did not want to get his wand out of his scorching hot pocket.
"Potter, fix this," Snape demanded.
"Group hug," Sirius exclaimed pulling Snape into the hug. "It so nice that you love us."
"What about me?" The first year muttered looking at the group.
"Come on our little friend," James said with a smile.
"My name isn't little one," the first year replied. "It is John."
"See, Minnie," Dumbledore said watching the group hug. "They are hugging. You can't give her detention for that. Besides she brought the Gryffindor and Slytherin together. Which is not a small feat. Besides they took out that Boggart for us this morning."
"I don't trust that group:" McGonagall stated as if this was all the evidence she needed.
"My son is in that group," Linda Potter muttered to McGonagall.
"I know and he is the worst one," McGonagall replied. "He has caused nothing but problems since he started school here."
"Oh yeah," Linda persisted. "I haven't sent any howlers this year. Except one and that was only because he announced he was getting married. Just look at them their sweet little angels."
"Now ladies," Dumbledore pleaded going over to the group. "We do not need to fight."
"Come join the group hug," Remus said pulling Dumbledore into the hug. "The more the merrier."
"Albus," Linda said rising from the table. "Control yourself."
"Come and join us," Dumbledore exclaimed with a twinkle in his eyes. "This will soon be your family." Resigned to the inevitable Linda and Richard left the staff table and joined the group hug. As the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students rose and started going over to the group Richard waved his wand and moved the tables out of the way to make more room. Soon the Slytherin table and the rest of the staff excluding McGonagall joined the hug. After all who could resist the high spirit in the Great Hall.
"Fine," McGonagall finally muttered going over to the group. "I won't give her detention."
Just then the door to the Great Hall burst open revealing a very old grey haired witch. The witch surveyed her surroundings with obvious pride and merriment.
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a/n: We are at that precarious point when we have to decide do we write the next chapter as thirteen or fourteen. On of us is old school and realize many people do not like that double digit number composed of a 1 and 3 so... We have decided to just add a note for 13 and continue the story in chapter 14. If any of you have a prob. We will apologize now instead of saying the obvious sucks to be you. Well maybe it does. However both chapters will be up loaded at the same time. So maybe it just sucks to be us. Also please check out our other stories. Maybe you can give us some ideas we are having some writers block that happens to all. Thanks in advance for any and all help and reviews you give. We also took off We Fight Together as we were not happy with how slow it was progressing and the fact that we were not getting any reviews. In short we guess we are saying that the more you review the faster we write. We don't even care if you review and say it sucks.
a-full-metel-war says review now or else we won't post and we will remove. So again the saying sucks to be you, sucks to be us is appropriate