Sorry it took so long!

Ch.14, Prank Wars

The next day, it was the day before April Fools. People were starting to wonder if The Marauders and their girlfriends had had an argument, because they were hardly ever seen together. But this was just a precaution to make sure the other did see prank plans. But the girls weren't working on pranks. No, at the moment they were working on homework. They already had a ton of pranks ready. Melissa was an expert at Transfig, so half the morning was all set. The girls laughed as they saw the Marauders bragging about how they are going to win the bet. They'll think differently on the day.

The Marauders were very confident that they would win. So, they were so caught up in ideas about how to take out Len, they had forgotten that Lily and Melissa were also her friends, and were bound to have a fallback plan incase something happened.

The day finally came, and the beginning was horrible for James, Sirius and Remus. At about six am, three birds swooped into the dorms. They were a phoenix, an owl, and a raven. Each carried a small bucket of freezing cold lake water. The birds were laughing themselves silly as they slowly tipped each bucket onto their boyfriends' beds.

"Holy ----!" Sirius shouted as he jumped out of bed. The others followed suit. Then each boy was hit with a bucket above their heads. They barely saw the birds swoop out of the window, but the witting on the buckets was proof enough.

Morning boys! Hope you had a nice sleep!

The Birds

"Wh-what? They got us?" Sirius stuttered. The others stared at the writing on the bucket. They were then interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Um, guys? There's something downstairs you should see." Their roommate said from the door.

The Marauders rushed downstairs to see that Lily had charmed a piece of parchment to act as a scoreboard. It hung above the fireplace.

The Marauders: 0.

The Birds:1.

This chart represents the number of pranks pulled on the other team by one team. Active on April Fools Day only.

The common room stared. Someone had challenged the Marauders to a prank-off? Were they crazy? But James recognized the handwriting as Lily's.

"They want a prank-off? Then we'll give them one. Well Remus, looks like you were right. We cant go easy on them. Sirius, go up to our dorm and get a Ready-to-go-prank class B." James instructed.

Sirius just looked confused. " A what-to-go-what class what?" he said.

James sighed. "go and get one of the pranks we have ready. Something to do with breakfast." he replied.

"Ohhh, okay." he said as he ran upstairs. He came down with a small bottle. It was the same thing that Remus had sent Len. He warned that she would know what it was. They didn't care. So, they headed to the great hall and sat in their regular seats. They tipped three drops of the liquid into each girls glass. they didn't see that they were not at their regular seat as usual, but were sitting in the very front. Then the girls got up and left the great hall. That's when Sirius saw them.

"Oi, girls! Aren't you eating anything?" he shouted.

"Oh don't worry Sirius, we just ate with Barbara. Sorry we didn't sit in our regular spots!" Melissa shouted back, with a smile that said do-you-really-think-we'd-eat-with-you-while-we-have-a-prank-war?.

Sirius stared. He then asked "How did they know we'd try something at meals?" he said in a complaining voice.

"Len and Lily are very practical. They'll probably be taking safety precautions all day!" Remus said with realization.

James buried his head in his hands. "And we all know that when Lily and Len become safety conscious, nothing will work on them." he said.

"We've been focusing to much on getting Len out of the game. But if you look at it one way, if we do that, we still have trouble. Sure, Len may be the one with all the ideas, but Lily is the school expert on taking precautions. And Melissa isn't afraid of getting in trouble. We have all that, except we Aren't nearly as good with precautions." Sirius said.

"Come on, we'll be late for Transfig." Remus said as he got up.

"Yeah, alright. Come on Padfoot. We can think of ideas there." Sirius said as he too got up.

The Marauders trudged to transfig, and took their quills and wands out of their bags. They didn't like the fact that the girls had seated themselves at the very back when they came in.

"Be careful guys. Their right behin-aargh!"

Right as they sat down, their chairs turned into chickens. The class stared, then broke into fits of uncontrollable laughter. But the chickens didn't like being sat on, so before the boys could un-transfigure them, they were racing around the classroom, and clucking loudly. Then, everybody tried to stop laughing immediately as Professor McGonnagle came in. She stared, and angrily shouted (after she had changed the chickens back to chairs) "Potter, Black and Lupin, stay after class to arrange detention times. I knew I should've called in sick on April Fools day..."

Only then did they realize that their reputation wasn't going to help them. In fact, it would probably hinder them. As the class went on, they began working on turning parrots into parchment. As the boys transfigured them lazily, they were discussing ideas for pranks. They had a pretty good one when they left. They separated as Sirius and James headed for Potions, and Remus for Muggle studies. They found seats at the opposite end of the room than the girls, and checked their chairs before they sat down. Then Professor Slughorn came in and started talking about Polyjiuce potions.

The boys took out their wands and quietly levitated a jar of frog guts over to the girls. Each one shrieked as lungs, hearts and livers fell on their heads. Slughorn looked straight at the Marauders after the girls cleaned themselves off amid laughter in the room.

"Well, Potter,Black,and Lupin. Isn't it a little despicable to attack your girlfriends? Stay after class for detention times. And 20 points from Griffindor." he said. They now had two detentions.

"Oh, but was it ever worth it to see the look on their faces!" Sirius exclaimed as they walked out of Potions, late for lunch. They got there and saw that the girls were blushing as the people they sat with re-told the guts prank. James then sat down with his friends, and tested their food. To their surprise, it was fine. the boys began eating, and then the large but old and probably would not survive another year warning clock went off. This told students that they had 5 minutes before lunch was over. As the boys got up, they felt everyone's eyes on them. Then the school erupted with laughter. Even the teachers were laughing.

Then Melissa shouted from down the table very loudly "What, couldn't you guys make it to the bathroom?" This caused another roar of laughter. The boys looked down in horror on their seats, and saw that the seat part had been re-painted a dark brown. On the back of each chair, in gold letters, writing was appearing.

The bathrooms are just down the hall.

Signed, The Birds.

Then the Marauders looked down with horror at their own behinds. Dark brown paint was there, making it look like the boys had indeed missed the bathroom. All three boys went red, which was something rare from a Marauder, and left the hall, going straight to the common room. They saw the scoreboard had been magically updated.

The Marauders:1

The Birds:3

PS. We did the chicken prank.

Please note that this contest only lasts until twelve midnight tonight. After that, the Birds will no longer be publicly pranking.

The boys ignored the sign and cleaned themselves off. Or, at least, tried to. Lily and the others had obviously gotten a hold of some non-removable paint. So the boys had to change their robes, and by then they had were terribly late for COMC. So they ran down the halls, ignoring the sniggers of the pictures, made it passed Peaves, and raced through the grounds. The boys reached the paddock, panting, and entered.

"Well, it seems that some people have finally decided to join us. Take a seat boys, and for being late you each will have an extra 3 inches on tonights essay. Now, as I was saying before Potter and his friends interrupted, the behavior of a phoenix is..."

The girls tuned him out as they started saying in loud whispers "They must have been getting on a fresh pair of robes." and the girls they were sitting with giggled.

As the girls walked back to the castle for their separate classes, they had to go near the lake. The boys were behind them, with their wands out, and started to levitate the girls ( I don't know if you can really do that, but it suits the story). The girls panicked as they neared the lake. People stared as they were dropped in, bags and all.

The boys had to admit, this prank had a double advantage. When the girls had swam back and left the cold water, their robes stuck to them. They dried themselves off, and Professor Kettleburn came up to them.

"Are you girls alright? Good. Now that water is very cold, so if you feel sick today I want you all to go straight to the Hospital Wing." and with that he turned to the Marauders.

"Tossing your girlfriends in the lake, that's just rotten! All three of you have detentions. Come to my office now to arrange times. And an extra 5 inches on your essay!" he shouted. He walked away and the Marauders followed grudgingly. By the time they got out of the Professor's grasp, they each had classes. Remus headed off to Arithmancy, and James and Sirius for Divination. Their classes were boring, and the girls had gone to the HW with cold symptoms, and returned near the end of the classes. The teacher eased up on their homework, and sent them to the Common room where the notice had been updated.

The Marauders:2

The Birds:3

PS. Haha, we are still winning!

The girls laughed at the score and went to their room to drop off their books. They really wished that they hadn't though, as three banana cream pies that were floating around the room saw their targets. Before they could react, each one had a face full of cream. The girls cleaned themselves off and knew that the score would be a tie now.

Melissa found out through the rumor mill that there were now bets in place as to who would win the prank-off. Most were still on the Marauders, but more and more were on the Birds.

As dinner came around, the teachers found a very nice letter on the Heads table

To: All the teachers entering the Great Hall for supper time.

We sincerely ask that you not get rid of the large T.V. in the Hall. As you all know, April Fools Day is normally a day when The Marauders prank everyone in sight. This year, the Marauders challenged us to a prank-off the night before. We prefer to remain annonimus. Please do not rip from the students the opportunity to embarrass the Marauders. We sincerely hope you will consider our request.

With hope, The Birds.

As the teachers read the letter and looked at the large screen that took up an entire wall of the Hall. Many teachers had grudges on the Marauders for constantly being a neusence. So, they didn't vanish the T.V. (after the Muggle studies teacher explained what it was) and sat down.

As students flooded in, they asked for an explanation from the Muggle-borns as to what it was. Soon the whole school knew what a T.V. was, but they didn't know what it was for. Rumors were flooding faster than ever. the girls took a seat near the T.V., and everyone was so caught up in their ideas, that they didn't notice Len levitating a video tape into a VCR on the floor. Soon the Marauders came in, and were so caught up in what looked like plans, they subconsciously sat down at their regular seats. Then Dumbledore stood up, and silence fell.

"Today the teachers and I received a letter asking for the large object not to be vanished. Apparently it has something to do with a ' prank off' between two groups of students who call themselves 'The Birds' and 'The Marauders'. The Birds have asked to remain annonimus, and so they shall. Now, I believe we should see what will be so funny." He said with a smile.

The girls smiled. Then Melissa took out a quill, and Lily charmed it over and pressed the 'play' button. Immediately the Marauders tried to leave the room, though they were held back by people who wanted them to see it.

The screen showed an amateur footage, of James and Sirius in swimming trunks, dripping wet, in the middle of February. They were taking off from their brooms. The school laughed themselves silly as the two flew around and landed. The expression on their faces was priceless as they saw it had all been recorded. The recorder backed up, and a tip of Melissa's hair was shown and the screen went fuzzy as the recorder turned of the camcorder and ran.

The Marauders were still trying to escape, Remus not as much though. The students were laughing and pointing as the screen moved on.

Now, it shows the Griffindor Common room, with James and Sirius running around frantically grabbing tapes out of peoples hands. They were still in swimming trunks, and their hair was a mess. Then the two boys saw the recorder, shouted 'Traitor' and ran after the culprit. Before it all went fuzzy, it showed a shaky footage of the recorder backing up, and Len laughing herself silly at the boys. It was hard to tell it was her though, because it was so shaky. Then the screen went blank.

Now the people were bending over, clutching their ribs as the Marauders, finally free from their clutches, ran from the room. Now the people who had actually witnessed those events were starting to get an idea of who the Birds could be. No one saw Lily take the tape out and put it in her pocket. The girls finished eating lunch and went to the common room. There, the notice board had been updated.

The Marauders:3

The Birds:4

PS. I am so glad I kept that tape, Aren't you?

The boys were planning more pranks. The night was still young, and they had plenty of ideas. They went to the common room, hoping the girls were there. Unfortunately they weren't. They asked around and found that they had left to go to the kitchens.

When they arrived at said place, they asked the house elves if anyone had came in. The Marauders were puzzled as the small elf said that a few girls had been here a short while ago, but they had left to go to the grounds to eat. So the boys went to the grounds. There they asked the grounds keeper if the girls had been in the grounds recently. Hagrid said that some girls had gone back to the castle talking about homework and the library. When they got there, with sore feet, they asked the librarian if some girls had come in. She said that some had left a short while ago complaining loudly about forgetting their bags in the Griffindor common room. So they went to the common room, and saw the girls' roommate, Greta, sitting by the fire. They asked her about the girls' whereabouts, and she answered that they had left a few minutes ago with Len saying something about a letter. So, the boys trudged up to the owlery, and because of all the owls there, they didn't see one with solid gold talons fly out the window just as they arrived. After that they didn't have any clues, so the other two persuaded James to consult the Map. They saw the girls walking down the hall that led to the common room. So they closed the Map and trudged to the common room.

When the boys stepped on the rug, they saw the girls on the staircase, laughing enough to wake the house. Which it did. Several people poked their head out of their dorms, and saw that the boys had been stuck to the rug with a Temporary Sticking charm. The boys reversed the charm, and saw the scoreboard had been updated. The boys raced up to their dorm, and Sirius and James fetched their brooms. Remus would distract them. So he went out and called the girls down, and fortunately they all came to the top of the stairs. James and Sirius flew in and charmed the girl's toothpaste to change the colour of their teeth. They had just closed the window behind them as the girls came in. They brushed their teeth and a loud shriek was heard as Lily and Len smiled. Lily grabbed her mirror and looked into it.

" Why that little... I should dump him in the lake, you know?" Lily said as she charmed her teeth white.

"I have a better idea. Come on, we'll need some..." Len said as she led the way to the kitchens.

One hour later, there was a strange contraption outside the boy's dorm room. Then, Len shouted up "Oh BOYS! We want to discuss terms of surrender!" The room shook as she had magically magnified her voice. All three boys poked their heads out in surprise. Lily was right. Their egos would lead them to not thinking straight. All three boys were then hit with a bucket of lake water mixed with glue. Then, a bag of white feathers rained down on their heads. the boys were still standing there while the girls made clucking sounds. Everyone else who had seen laughed at the look on the Marauder's voice. The scoreboard now read:

The Marauders:4

The Birds:6

PS. Cluck Cluck Cluck!

Three hours until the contest is over, and so far the Birds are winning!

The Marauders went into their room and cleaned themselves off. After a little planning, the girls (who had been non-officially revealed as "The Birds") were the target of laughter as their hair turn orange. They tapped their heads with their wands, and saw the scoreboard go one up for the Marauders.

"Greta, what are the odds of The Birds winning the prank-off?" Melissa asked.

"Well, 56 of the students who have placed bets have one on the Birds winning. 44 are still on the Marauders. Probably their fan clubs." Greta explained.

"Hey, that's pretty good! Put 10 sickles on the Birds winning for me okay?" Melissa said.

"Sure thing. What about you two?" Greta asked.

"Five sickles on the Birds winning please." Lily added.

"I don't usually bet... but what the heck. Five sickles for me too." Len added.

"Thank you for your patronage. All proceeds go to the new joke shop in Hogsmead, Zonko's." Greta said happily as she collected the money.

"Well, we should be getting to the library. Bye Greta!" Lily said as she got up. The girls barely avoided the Marauders as they headed for North Tower. There they transformed and flew out the window.

"Okay Len, your our spy!" Melissa shouted to Len in birdian. (Like I said, I don't know if its a language, but all conversations when they are in animagus form will be in it.)

"I'm on it!" Len shouted back as she swooped down to the boy's dorm window. She made sure that she wasn't visible, and heard bits of what they said.

"One more small prank will set us on an even footing. Then all it takes is one more, and we win! Start thinking about what you want for lunch boys!" James said gleefully.

"That's assuming that they don't get us again." Remus pointed out.

"Oh why be such a spoil sport Moony? I think I'll have a nice roast sandwich..." Sirius said.

"So we just stay in here all night since our pranks are already set up and..." James was going on and on. Len took the opportunity to fly away when they all had their backs turned. She came back to the tree the others were hiding in, and reported her findings.

"It would be safest for us to stay out here until midnight Lils." Len suggested.

"Yeah right! I say you swoop in there and dump them in the lake, one by one!" Melissa added.

"Sorry Len, but I like Mel's idea better. You guys go make sure that they're window is open. Just James though. I have a feeling that I can only take one at a time, and if I go in they'll know it was me and be ready next time. Okay, let's dump'm." she said joyfully.

So Len and Melissa flew over and signaled that the window was still open. They heard a snippet of conversation.

"Prongs, where are they now?" Remus asked.

He took out the map and looked. "Oh s---"

But he didn't get time to finish his sentence, as a red phoenix flew in and grabbed James by the collar. She then hauled James out, who had already dropped the map, and flew out to the lake. Len saw that the others were staring out the window, and she hooted a greeting. But this greeting signaled that you had beter get out there. Both boys ran from the room, and the people who had stayed awake to see the victor, assumed that there had been another prank.

Out at the lake, James was attempting to negotiate.

"Come on Lily! Let me go, please?" He pleaded.

The phoenix snorted. It flew low over the lake and dumped the pleading boy into the shallow lake water. As James met the freezing water, the other Marauders had reached the lake by means of many secret passages. They couldn't help but laugh themselves silly as James came to shore, soaked and scowling. Then, a black raven came and dumped another bucket of feathers on the poor boy. The scoreboard would read:

The Marauders:5

The Birds:7

PS. Cold enough James? I told you I'd dump you in the lake!

And so the night continued, with the girls following Len's suggestion about staying out 'till midnight. As the girls entered the common room at quarter to twelve, they were met with a classic pie-in-the-face. The score was now 6-7. the girls turned right around and left the room. At the kitchens, they were met with their chairs turning into... pies! So now the score was tied, and midnight struck just as the girls entered the common room to play a prank. Practically everyone had stayed up to see the victor. They all cheered as midnight struck.

Sorry it took so long! And there is a nice sentimental bit coming up in the next chapie, just to warn those crazy people who don't like that stuff.