"What happened?" Sasha, Kara, and the Marauders cornered James and Lily when they entered the common room the next day with ripped clothes and bruises, bags tattered and gripped firmly in their hands after a day of trying to get back to Hogwarts after a lot of the transport lines had been cut off or were too scared to leave due to the attacks.
"What do you think happened" James grimaced as he picked up the copy of the newspaper off the table and briefly looked over the front page.
Fifty Muggles Dead After Horrific Attack
Yesterday, on the bank of the Thames, dark wizards lead by 'he who must not be named' stormed the streets in an attempt to break into the ministry through a blocked back entrance. Three wizards have been taken hostage and another five are missing. Martha Jones, Peter Jones, Mark Hilson, James Potter, and Lily Evans were all in the area at the time of the attack and are yet to be seen.
"We were so worried! Sirius had been threatening to go after you, we've had to lock him in your room" Remus ran over to James, hugged him, and checked him over for serious injuries.
"Dumbledore found us outside the gates, it's ok we're fine" Lily assured. That's when they heard the splintering of wood and the pounding of feet on the stairs.
"PRONGS!" Sirius leapt on top of James, throwing him the the floor and leaving him unable to get up as Sirius clutched him in a bear hug "I THOUGHT YOU'D GONE"
"Nope, I may be about to suffocate though" He wheezed, getting up with Sirius still on him.
"That's a shame because I'm never going to let you go again" Sirius muttered into his shoulder.
"Sirius are you crying?" James resisted the natural reflex to pat his head after hugging Lily. Sirius backed away rubbing his eyes.
"Seriously Prongs I thought you were gone forever" after shaking his head he slapped James' shoulder "I didn't know what I'd do"
"Muurrghhflllagmmnn" Remus and Peter groaned as James and Sirius jumped on top of them the week after.
"Get up out of bed now!" Sirius shouted whilst pelting them in the face with 'Bertie botts every Flavour Beans', Remus just rolled over, throwing one up and catching it in his mouth.
"You're lucky that was toffee" He moaned. "Sirius. It's Saturday... GET OFF ME" Sirius had resorted to licking his face in an attempt to wake him up.
"But we haven't had a Marauders day in aaaggeessss" He pouted.
"Ok then, here's an idea, if you want me to like you, don't lick my face!" Remus grudgingly got out of bed after a long night of prefect meetings and doing rounds.
"Great you're up, throw this on and meet us in the Great Hall!" James and Sirius skipped out the room giggling.
"Well at least they seem better?" Peter rubbed his eyes and looked over at Remus.
"It would have been better if they'd had got better a bit later than five in the morning" Remus sighed before throwing on a shirt and pouring a glass of water onto Peter to make him get up "Now come on or I'm worried about what they'll do next"
Just before we leave I need to just do this" James quickly scrawled something onto a piece of paper, then waving his wand over the top of it. The paper neatly folded into a beautiful dove that glided up the steps of the girls bedrooms.
"Wow, always good to know I haven't lost you to the girls Prongs" Sirius rolled his eyes at the cheesy gesture.
"Do you want a Marauders day Sirius?" He nodded apologetically "Come on then, it's gonna get craaazzyyyy"
"Then let's go! I bet I can get the house elves to make us a massive fudge sundae"
"Pads, it's early in the morning"
"It's as if you don't even know me" he smirked and they galloped down to the Great Hall.
"Winnie?" Sirius called as he slid down the bench.
"Master Sirius" A quiet voice chirped from behind the teacher's table as she laid out place mats.
"Ah Winnie! How are you today?" Sirius beamed at her. Winnie was the Marauder's favourite house elf.
"Quite all right, master" she smiled walking over to them "What can Winnie do to help Master Sirius and Master James?"
"Could we have four massive triple chocolate fudge sundaes with cherries?"
"Of course, master, right away" she then quickly ran out of the hall.
"Right then, what's the plan?" James asked looking keenly at Sirius.
"Well, considering this is the first official Marauder day for, like, six months, we need to do everything" he said excitedly "I'm thinking we down these sundaes, set up a prank for the Slytherins, then get down to Hogsmeade for my surprise"
"Great" James needed something fun to take his mind off everything that had happened. At that point Remus and Peter shuffled into the hall rubbing their eyes.
"Ahh, Moony and Wormy, come on we've got a massive day ahead of us" Sirius babbled smiling wieldy.
"As long as it doesn't end like the last one, you know Sev…" Remus started.
"Shhh Moony!" James quickly butted in "You know we don't speak about what happened that day" Peter mimed zipping his mouth shut before Sirius and James got into a game of tig until Winnie came shuffling into the Great Hall with three other house elves, each carrying a massive bowl of ice cream.
"Ice cream competition?" Sirius suggested, they all nodded excitedly and dived into the massive bowls.
"Don't you think this might be going slightly too far?" Peter muttered as James, Remus, and Sirius laid down the honey.
"Wormtail, it's the Slytherins, nothing will ever be too far" Sirius laughed as he hung up the feathers "Plus we didn't pay that first year all of that chocolate for the password to go lightly you know"
"Yeah, and anyway" James explained as he put a spell on the cans of silly string "This is just payback for all of the things they've done to us, remember when they hexed all of those pies so the more you ate, the longer your nose got? I mean it would have been alright if you'd have stopped after the first one but…" He looked Peter up and down and left it there.
"I suppose so" he murmured and continued to squirt water all over the entrance and freeze it.
"I have to say guys, it's beautiful" Sirius sniffed and wiped away an imaginary tear.
"Wait." James looked around "There's something missing" he examined the ice, honey pools, strung up feathers, silly string cans, and bird seed bags. "Chickens" he announced.
"Oh god, yes!" Sirius grabbed a couple of ornaments off the shelf and transfigured them into chickens before putting them in the cupboard with string attached to the feather net, which was linked to the string attached to the door.
"Well, boys, I think this is a prank to be proud of" James beamed before they heard noises coming from up the stairs.
"Quick, run!" Remus squealed childishly as the four of them charged out, past the painting, and into a nook by the door just as four screaming Slytherins charged past.
"Aww, just some third years" Sirius sighed "Woah, wait a minute"
Just then Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange can running out into the hall covered in feathers, silly string, and with chickens pecking at their feet, the silly string cans still spraying them in the face. But instead of running past them to the toilets they stopped dead in front of the Marauders.
"You" Rodolphus growled glaring at the Marauders.
"QUICK!" Sirius threw down some stink pellets making the two Slytherins reel backwards, the Marauders took the chance to charge past and run out of the main entrance, falling against the stone steps laughing.
"Great start guys" Sirius spluttered, taking out a checklist and ticking 'humiliate Slytherins' "Up to the common room to get changed then we'll sneak off to Hogsmeade.
The Marauders were coming down from their dorm wearing their new honey-free clothes when they ran straight into Lily who was holding the cooing dove paper in her hand.
"James, we had a library day planned for today, you were going to help me help the librarian sort the books!"
"Wow, Lils, as fun as that sounds, this is a dire case of 'Sirius needing a fun day'" Sirius stood in front of Lily and put his hand around her shoulders. "Now you've had James to yourself all week, I haven't seen you apart, could we pwease have Prongsy to ourselves for one day" He did puppy eyes and pouted.
"Fine, I'll just go and suffer in the library on my own" Lily laughed and walked back up the stairs. It might have been seven but it was still too early for her to be bothered to do anything.
Just and the four Marauders were about to sneak through the one eyed witch exit three teachers came and stood right next to the entrance and started talking.
"Great" Sirius sighed "How are we going to leave now?"
"Hang on guys, I have an idea" James quickly ran up to the common room, reached underneath the creaky floorboard next to the fireplace underneath the plant pot and brought out something that shimmered under the light and threw it over his head before running back to the guys.
"God, where's James" Remus sighed as they leaned up against the wall before a had reached out and poked his face.
"Peter, what the hell?" Remus turned and punched him in the arm.
"What?" Peter jumped backwards as someone yanked Sirius' hair.
"Woah, don't touch the hair Wormtail" as he kicked his shin.
"Guys I didn't do anything!" Peter wailed.
"No but I did" a voice came out of no-where before James' face appeared out of no-where.
"Cooooll" Sirius gasped.
"Come on, let's go" The four of the got underneath the cloak and snook past the teachers, then ran down the passage to the basement of Honeydukes.
"Ok, you go look out for the shopkeeper, I'll give the signal for the first two to go, then I'll go and distract the shopkeeper before doing four low whistles giving signal for the other two to run through and out of the door" Sirius' plan was risky and he had spend the whole journey thinking it up.
"Or we could just use the cloak" James lightly slapped him in the head. Before Sirius could argue for his plan they dragged him out of the cellar and into the street.
"Right then Sirius, what do you have planned?" James asked as they strolled up the street, the invisibility cloak shoved into his trouser pocket.
"Sledding" He announced.
"Is that it? Sledding?"
"Not just any sledding, I have been planning this for a while" They arrived at the borderline to the forest next to Honeydukes, and Sirius ran up to a shrub and whistled. The tall horse-like animal emerged from the bushes. "Eh?"
"Sirius there's nothing there" Remus pointed out, looking at the bushes waiting for something to come out.
"No, look, I can ride them" Sirius desperately attempted to show them the animals by jumping onto one of their backs.
"Waw" Remus stood there open mouthed.
"They're amazing aren't they?"
"Sirius you're sat on air" Remus walked over to him and waved his hand underneath him, it hit cold leathery skin. "What on earth…"
"I asked a shop owner what they're called, and I think he said they were something like a festrerl" Sirius attempted to remember a name.
"A thestral?" Remus looked up at him in disbelief.
"Yeah, that's the one, a thestral" Sirius slapped the side of the thestral he was sat on in triumph.
"You do know that thestrals can only be seen by people who have seen death" Remus looked at him concerned.
"Oh, ur, no I didn't" He stuttered as he leapt down off the thestral
"Got something you want to tell us Pads?" James looked puzzled.
"No, no, of course not, er, let's just forget about that little fact and CONTINUE WITH THE FUN" Sirius attempted to put that thought to the back of his head and lead each of the Marauders to a thestral. Being a part of the Black family had meant he saw a lot of messed up crap, and he wasn't having his friends knowing that.
"THIS IS THE WIERDEST THING I'VE EVER DONE!" James screamed as they flew down the hills on what he saw to be complete thin air.
"I KNOW, RIGHT?" Remus wooped from behind him.
"WE REALLY SHOULD DO THIS AG…" James was interrupted by the cloak in his black pocket unlodging itself and fluttering back towards the village. "GUYS, EMERGENCY!" He yelled whilst desperately kicking the side of the thestral until it stopped, then going on to charge towards the town, the rest of the Marauders quick on his heels.
"Oh God, no" James gasped as he looked over at where the cloak had landed. A tall wizard wearing black robes trod on it whilst in deep conversation with another intimidating man.
"James, this is probably the only invisibility cloak that fully works in the whole world, you're going to get it back"
"Shit." Was all James said before timidly walking up to the massive figure.
"Urr, excuse me?" James squeaked as he stared up and the muscular wizard. He just grunted in return. "I was just wondering if you would pass me back that cloak you're stood on" He got no response. "Well, I just thought…" James was about to make a stupid comment about the importance of the cloak before Sirius ran up behind the man and jumped on his back, Remus then proceeded to kick him in the shins right before Peter mustered up the courage to let out a battle cry and head butted him in the stomach so hard he leapt backwards and off the cloak before lading on the floor.
"Well that went well" Sirius said through the silence just as the man started to get up.
"Uh, time to run?" James suggested.
"Yup" dragging Peter off the man's chest the Marauder's slipped into the forest.
"DON'T FORGET TO LOOK OUT FOR THE..." Sirius' warnings were too late before the other three ran straight into the thestrals and lay sprawled in the snow "Thestrals" Sirius muttered to himself, running back to drag them up.
"Get on!" Sirius jumped on one and watched in amusement as the others shuffled around trying to mount thin air before finally finding their thestral and chasing after Sirius until they were in the clearing around the Shrieking Shack. Even the daunting wizard backed off when he saw four kids floating towards the most haunted building in England.
"Ok, forget what I said, we're never doing that again" James panted as they threw the cloak off once they were safely inside Hogwarts.
"I dunno, I think that went quite well" Sirius attempted to convince James.
"How about no? So what's next on your list?"
"Oh you're going to like this one" Sirius beamed down at his list and dragged the three of them down to the Quidditch pitch where muffins were hovering everywhere.
"How on earth did these get here?" James stared around in wonder and the hovering treats.
"When you have five second years that owe you a favor anything is possible" He grinned passing them all a broomstick. "Now, we're doing this game because it involves skill, determination, co-ordination, plus I really like cake" The other Marauders groaned "SO, you must put on the blindfolds and retrieve as many cakes as possible. The first person to get back and eat them all is the winner. GO"
A lot of bruises, several head clashes, and Peter throwing up threw eating too much cake the game was over, and the Marauders lay in a circle in the middle of the grass groaning out of the effort.
"Did you really need to add in the eating part?" Remus moaned.
"Moony, this was the best excuse I could think of for eating cake, of course the eating was important"
"How's about next time just sitting at a table and eating cakes then"
"Fine, if you want the EASY way"
Before Remus could make a retort three blue spots appeared in the sky and were rapidly getting closer.
"Hey, do you know what the..." The giant water balloons collided with their faces at a colossal speed.
"Slytherins!" James was quick to yell.
"Nope, just girls looking for revenge for ditching them" Sasha laughed from her broomstick wobbling slightly.
"Hey! You can't take flying AND pranking from us!" Sirius leapt up and attempted to throw the balloon remains into the sky and failing miserably.
"Well if you get a girls day out..." Lily began to shout.
"Hey!" James protested.
"We get a pra-pranking day" Lily hated flying and that was the first time she'd actually looked down. She thought she'd regained her grip when the broom suddenly jolted towards the ground and she came tumbling off.
"LILY!" James yelped as he charged to the spot on the ground below her. She came bellowing down straight into his arms and the two of them crashed down onto the floor.
"I can't help but notice you're falling for me Lily Evans" He grinned.
Author's Note:
You know, you'd think that this would be quite a fun chapter to write but it's taken too long – why did I do so much in the last one? I've also got to stop staying up late to post these, totally messing with my sleeping patterns. Until the next almost-midnight that's
-Mischief Managed