The Favour?
I woke up at ten o clock the next morning in an incredibly good mood. The weekend had finally arrived and I wouldn't have to put up with any of the Marauders until Monday.
I could only presume that Marlene had told Sally and Dorcas who I really was after I'd admitted it to her in my Charms lesson earlier that afternoon, because Sally had let it slip that night that 'we would get the Marauders back for the way they'd treated me'.
But I didn't actually mind Marlene telling them both; it would save me the future awkwardness.
The way they were all acting so casual about it now made my days of trying hard not to let it slip that the Marauders used to call me 'the Beaver' seem completely ridiculous and unnecessary.
I pulled back the drapes surrounding my bed and the eager chatter of my fellow Dorm-mates hit my ears before my eyes could even process them.
There seemed to be moving bodies everywhere.
Excited teenage girls scatted around the room getting ready for the day ahead, occasionally stopping briefly to comb their hair or give their teeth a perfunctory brush.
The general mood of the room was a lot different to that of a weekday. It was actually lively. I could already feel everyone else's energy rubbing off on me. I was so ready for this day to start.
After breakfast we all made our way down to the lake- Marlene, Sally, Dorcas and I.
Lily had got up early this morning, and for some reason I hadn't so much as passed her in the corridor since the day before.
But it was one of those rare days of sunshine in late September so the rest of us were determined to make the most of it.
Leaving our unneeded wands safely in our bedroom we made our way down to the Great Lake for a much needed relax session in the comfortably warm sun. It had to be around thirty degrees, which for Scottish weather was practically oven hot.
The plan was to paddle for a while, and just generally waste our time outside for a few hours. After a hard first weeks worth of lessons, the prospect of doing as little as possible was extremely appealing.
We took our shoes off, stretching out our feet on the warm grass as we strolled over to the lake. The water felt nice and cool against the skin of my legs and feet.
We'd all worn skirts especially for the purpose of wading out as far as possible without having to take any clothes off.
The water level reached to my knee before we were forced to stop. Marlene and Dorcas were quite a bit shorter than the rest of us, and they could go no further.
"Guess what we're doing tonight, Mori?"
I looked over at Marlene's rather sudden announcement, surprised to find her talking to me.
"Mori?" I asked, wondering what she meant.
She looked at me as if I'd missed the point.
"Mori, because your surname is Morland," she said as if it were obvious. "Now, go on, guess!"
I took a second to decide whether or not I liked the new name development, and Marlene seemed to grow impatient for my answer to her question. Unable to wait any longer, she exclaimed, "Dorm party, baby!"
That got my attention.
A party? Now I came to think on it, she had mentioned something of the sort on our first night. It was one of those things that I presumed would just be forgotten.
But apparently Marlene wasn't the type to forget anything that had the potential to be fun.
"Sally is going to join our room for the night, aren't you Sal?"
Sally nodded.
"I've loads of sweets I bought with me that I haven't even started on yet, too," she grinned.
But... "Wait," I said slowly, "Does Lily know about this?"
Lily shared our room and something told me a late night Dormitory party had to be breaking some form of Prefect rule.
But Sally just beamed at me, "As long as we don't have alcohol, Lily's completely fine with it fine. In fact, she's promised to join in. Mary has too."
I had to suppress a grimace at the mention that our other roommate Mary would be joining us.
I didn't get chance to ponder the horror that was Mary's scowling face, however, because for some reason Marlene had just dived head first into the lake's surface.
Sally, Dorcas and I all looked at one another in disbelief. One minute we'd been talking, the next minute she was under the water.
In a beat Sally's eyes were torn from ours when she too landed head first into the water. I watched as her knees buckled and she was submerged, again seeming to disregard the fact that she was still fully-clothed.
It was just Dorcas and me left now.
No, scratch that. Dorcas was the last of my friends to plummet herself into the water.
I stared at the ripples their unexpected movements had left behind, as if searching the waters fidgety surface for some kind of answer for their behaviour. Words failed me.
It was so obvious now. That was the only way they could think of to get rid of me. My unpopularity was happening all over again and there was nothing I could do about it. It was all the Marauders fault.
I was just starting to wonder if I should make my way back to dry land, when I felt something strong grip itself around my ankle and tug hard.
Before I knew what was happening I found myself thrown ungracefully down into the water.
.o.
Whatever it was thankfully let me go as soon as I'd lost my footing, and after a brief moment of panic under the water I managed to find my feet again and pushed myself up gasping to the surface.
I smoothed my now dripping wet hair back from my face, retching; I'd swallowed an obscene amount of water on the way down and I couldn't help but think of the potential squid pee.
As I squinted my eyes open I found three other faces looking back at me. It was the girls. Obviously the same thing had tugged them down. I cringed inwardly at my original paranoia.
We all just stared at one another's soaked clothes, speechless.
Marlene looked suspiciously into the water. Her light blue eyes were narrowed, trying to discern the culprit.
It was no use. The surface of the lake had become cloudy from where we'd kicked at the floor in our attempts to resurface.
Glancing down despairingly at my wet clothes, I almost did a double take when I saw my white muslin blouse. I could practically make out the colour of my skin underneath. The material of my top had become almost see-through with the water.
My favourite colourful bra - that I'd worn to match my good mood this morning - was now highly visible. I felt the blood flare to my face.
Movement around me brought me out of my mortifying distraction momentarily. Marlene had started to head back towards land and was beckoning for us to do the same.
I found myself rooted to the spot. Couldn't we just stay here for a bit? Surely we'd dry naturally in a few… hours… or so.
Our dripping wet clothes were sure to be met with curious stares from the large crowds of students lounging on the grass, and me and my visible bra'ed self were not about to walk straight into that.
From the horrified look on Sally's face as she examined her now see-through skirt, I could tell I wasn't alone in my reluctance to head to dry land.
We were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Or rather, the nosy students and the creature infested lake.
I started to become increasingly aware that whatever had dragged us down in the first place was probably still close by.
The thought made me shiver, and after a moment's deliberation we decided we had no choice but to follow Marlene and start wading back to the waters edge. If there really was something lurking in the waters depths, it was probably best to put as much distance between ourselves and it as possible.
The very second we stepped out onto the grass though, it was just as I'd feared; all eyes seemed to be on us.
It was as though the other students had some kind of in-built radar for humiliation. Maybe they could feel the vast amounts of heat radiating from my face.
I supposed I could hardly blame them for staring. Our clinging soaked outfits left nothing to the imagination. And weren't people supposed to take their clothes off before they went swimming? …Not to mention the hygiene factors of submerging in the Great Lake.
I tried not to focus on the scrutinizing eyes as I put one dripping foot in front of the other.
Trying my best to follow Marlene's example and be utterly shameless about it, we had managed just a few feet before we were stopped in our tracks by three smirking boys.
Potter stood there and stared at us as we dripping water from every extremity in front of him, and I could tell from his twitching mouth that he was dying to laugh, but he quickly turned it into a coughing fit.
Directly to his right, I saw Black smirk before lightly tapping his friends back once. Potter stopped 'choking' immediately and grinned.
"What's, erm- what's happened to- to you lot then?" he asked, his sentence interrupted every time a tell-tale twitch pulled at the corner of his lips.
He cleared his throat again and furrowed his brow seriously, trying to stop himself from laughing right in our faces.
I was distracted from Potter's maddening twitches however when I happened to glance at Black again.
He seemed strangely preoccupied on something, staring with dark, focused eyes.
Black missing a chance to goad at my misfortune?
I followed his eye line curiously and felt myself go hot and cold when I saw where it had rested.
Sure enough my embarrassingly bright red bra was still visible through my drenched blouse. Every part of it was as clear as day to anyone who wanted to see, which for some inexplicable reason included Black.
Keeping my head tilted downwards for longer than necessary, I scrunched my eyes shut from the sheer mortification of it all, feeling my face burning.
When I finally forced myself to raise my head again I was dismayed to find him still looking at me.
He'd obviously been waiting to catch my eye, a knowing smirk now plastered on his face as if I should feel ashamed for wearing anything but a plain white bra, which, strangely enough, I did.
Once his eyes locked on mine I could see the smirk widen slightly until a few of his perfect teeth were bared and he raised his one eyebrow, biting down on his lower lip.
Wishing Marlene would just stop bantering with Potter and Pettigrew so we could all just get out of there, I had to resist the impulse to put a protective arm over my chest.
"You lot had something to do with this, didn't you?" Marelen accused, gesturing to our wet clothes. "Admit it!"
I was pleased to hear she had reached the same conclusion.
Marlene had a threatening finger pointed at Potter's chest. But he just grabbed it and pushed it to one side calmly, a expression on his face that clearly said, 'prove it'.
It was only then that I noticed Pettigrew.
The smaller boy's face looked strained at Marlene's accusation, and his podgy face had started to resemble a beetroot in colour.
"It was the Grindylows!" he blurted out finally, seemingly unable to hold his silence any longer. Potter shot him a warning look, but Pettigrew couldn't seem to stop himself.
"I saw them myself," he insisted. "They grabbed you. All of you. There are loads in the lake. You have to believe us!"
He was such a bad liar, it was almost funny. From the corner of my eye I glimpsed Black snicker at his friend's weak excuse.
At least now I knew why Remus wasn't there.
I just couldn't understand how they could've pulled us into the lake without us seeing them do it.
It wasn't as if they had an invisibility cloak.
And surely this wasn't the extent of their big retaliatory prank? Dunking us in water? Frankly, it seemed a little pathetic.
Seeing we weren't going to be convinced, Potter stepped in.
"Listen, do you want us to help you or not?" he asked bluntly.
"Help us?" Sally said incredulously. "How could you help us?"
"We could help you get out of those wet clothes for a start," Black stated, his lascivious eyes wandering back to my shirt.
Marlene let her mouth drop.
"Perverts!" she exclaimed, though she flashed him a flirtatious grin.
Black just shook his head.
"What a one-track mind you have, McKinnon." he said reproachfully. "What I actually meant was, we know of some spare clothes you can put on."
Sally shook her head. "We have our own clothes in our dormitory, thanks," she said, starting to walk towards the castle.
When Dorcas went to follow her, Potter quickly stepped in front of them.
"Ah, now, you see Sparrow, there's a problem with that particular plan." He was clearly thinking on his feet. "Be-cause, no-one can actually get near the common room at this moment in time…"
Sally gave him a look of disbelief, but he continued undeterred.
"You see, Peeves has decided to take up residence outside the entrance, and has a stash of loo roll ready to chuck at anyone foolish enough to try and get past," he said.
"-And it's been used," Black added, obviously enjoying his friend's tall-tale.
I caught Sally's eye and we exchanged a dubious look, both of us almost certain the boys were talking utter rubbish.
Yet at the same time what if for once in their lives they were actually telling the truth?
Granted, it was a long shot, but they'd never let us live it down if we got used lavatory roll on our heads, especially not after they'd specifically warned us.
Sally sighed resignedly, "Where are the spare clothes kept?"
Potter grinned. "There we go, wasn't so hard to have a bit of trust in your fellow man now was it?"
Sally just grimaced. "It's called desperation."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, because I have a feeling it would've offended Padfoot's delicate nature. This way ladies," he said, starting to lead us away.
I repressed a shiver. It was getting cold.
With no other choice, we followed him in silence.
"I must admit I never had you down as a naughty underwear kind of girl." I turned to find Black walking alongside me, an amused expression on his face.
With Sally on my other side talking conspiratorially to Marlene and Dorcas, and the other boys up in front, no one seemed to be aware of our exchange.
"It's always the quiet ones isn't it?" he commented.
"Keep your eyes off my underwear," I warned him in disgust.
But he just snorted, "It's hard to miss it," he replied. "In fact, you might want to cover up. Here let me help." Holding his arm out in front of me, he pretended to shield my modesty.
I pushed him away furiously, walking around to the other side of Dorcas, putting as much distance as I could between us as he laughed in the background.
.o.
Leading us up an unfamiliar corridor, Potter took us to a small room, the walls of which were covered in floor to ceiling cupboards.
Sure enough it had a sign on the front of the wooden door that read 'Lost and Found'.
I supposed second hand clothes were better than none at all.
Watching as Black opened one of the far cupboard doors and reached up to the top shelf, he pulled down a large, heavy looking box labelled 'girls clothes and oddbits'.
He slammed it unceremoniously onto the table in front of us, raising an eyebrow at the clearly unfashionable clothes on top before gesturing at it and muttering something to us that sounded like, "Go wild".
As he turned his back on us, Sally finally voiced the all important question I had been wondering since Potter had told us about the spare clothes, but couldn't seem to bring myself to ask aloud.
"Why are you doing this for us?"
Black paused for a second before turning around to face us. He just shrugged, an amused expression on his face, "Because we're good people." He started to walk backwards slowly.
"Besides, " he continued, for some reason looking at me now, "we can't let Morland go around displaying her 'assets' to all the school's male population. It would only make our Remmy jealous." He smirked at my horrified face.
Sure enough Marlene's head whipped around to me immediately, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly ajar.
I shook my head at her, "There's nothing going on between me and Remus," I assured her for the second time.
Black let out a barking laugh at this. I knew he was doing it on purpose to stir things up and I shot him a dirty look.
Remus probably hated me now because of that idiot constantly teasing him about liking me, when in actual fact we'd barely spoken properly above once. It was embarrassing, like I thought I would be good enough for Remus.
"We'll leave you girls to it," Potter said as he was already exiting the room, Pettigrew quickly tailing after him.
Black started to back out of the room, closing the door slowly, but just before his face disappeared completely he cocked his finger like a gun and fired it at us. "See you later," he said, skipping his eyebrows, putting a weird emphasis on the word 'see'.
I blinked. I could swear that last part had been for my benefit.
I shook my head a little at my own paranoia; I was reading way too deeply into things. Those weird grey eyes of his could've been focused on any one of us, for any number of reasons.
Sally caught my eye and shook her head, "Sirius likes to think he's such a charmer."
I nodded briefly in agreement, "He just does it to make me feel uncomfortable," I muttered.
Despite being fairly slim, I'd never liked undressing in public so I tried to de-robe as discreetly as possible, pulling my new skirt on underneath my old one before taking it off.
Marlene and Sally didn't seem to be bothered though. Even Dorcas was comfortable enough to just stand there in her bra and pants while she sorted her new outfit out and it started to make me wonder if I was too self-conscious for my own good.
We had each chosen a basic skirt and blouse from the lost and found box and mine looked like it would have felt at home in wartime Britain. But we were just grateful for any rescue from the wet clothes that were presently clinging to our bodies.
I fumbled around with the fastenings on my wet blouse clumsily. The water had made the material expand and the cloth button refused to come out of its hole.
I was briefly interrupted from my struggle, however, by the sound of a small gasp from somewhere in front of me.
I looked up questioningly at Sally, but found she had her back to me as she walked slowly over to the disused fireplace on the opposite wall. It looked as though she was examining something on its mantle closely.
Intrigued now, I called over to her.
Sally turned around abruptly, a little startled by my voice. She furrowed her eyebrows and held up what had her so absorbed for me to see.
"A mirror?" I asked. What was so fascinating about a plain old mirror?
Sally looked back at it, "I swear I saw a glimpse of something move across it when I was pulling my top on, but by the time I could look properly… it was gone."
"A glimpse of what?" Marlene interjected sharply, paying sudden attention to our conversation.
Sally shook her head, "I dunno, just something dark seemed to move in it. It was hazy though."
She propped it back on the fireplace again, a visible shiver running through her body.
"It was probably just one of our reflections or something," I reasoned, trying to make her feel better. She seemed genuinely shaken by it.
"Yeah…" Sally said, sounded unconvinced.
Without warning her hand darted out and flipped the piece of glass face down.
"Something about it just gives me the creeps."
Once we were dressed, we bundled up our clothes and headed out of the room back towards our common room.
It had been about half an hour since the boys had told us Peeves had taken up residence there, so hopefully he would've moved on by now.
Sure enough there was no tell-tale woops or howls. It was actually oddly quiet.
I couldn't help but wonder if the poltergeist had ever been there in the first place, or if it was just another of the Marauders tricks.
As if he had been sent with the sole purpose of proving my suspicion wrong, a small, timid looking first year boy came up behind us as we walked to the portrait hole.
"Is it safe to come through yet?" he asked uncertainly. "Has Peeves gone?"
I nodded once at him as Marlene said the password.
Maybe the Marauders were more trustworthy than I'd given them credit for after all.
.o.
The second we stepped through the doorway into the common room my eardrums were bombarded by the intimidating noise of cheers, whoops and wolf-whistling.
I instantly froze wondering what on earth was going on. It was a little surreal.
Looking reluctantly into the large noisy crowd that had gathered in the middle of the room, I realised with some unease that all eyes appeared to be on us.
One glance across at the rest of the girls told me they were just as clueless as I was to see the group of at least twenty Gryffindor boys now catcalling at us.
But Sally's bemused gaze seemed to focus somewhat, her eyes narrowing down to slits as she glared right into the heart of the clapping gang.
I followed her eyeline somewhat apprehensively and sure enough there sat the Marauders. All four of them.
Of course.
Of course dunking us in water hadn't been the extent of the prank. Of course there would be more. I just had no clue what this was all about. Wasit part of the prank?
It was only then that I noticed something shiny lying abandoned in Black's lap.
On closer inspection it looked like a small sheet of glass, or a mirror of some kind...
That sentence rang a bell.
The realisation of the seemingly impossible hit me like a ton of bricks. No. It couldn't be. Even they wouldn't-
I prayed that this was all some sort of terrible misunderstanding, but something about the satisfied expression on Black's face told me otherwise.
.o.
As I began to feel a little light headed, I came to realised my fight or flight instinct had kicked in the very second I'd realised what they'd done.
I didn't know how they managed it, but I knew damn well that they'd been spying on us while we were dressing, and I had more than a inkling that the creepy mirror Sally had noticed back in the Lost and Found room had played a part in it.
It was almost identical to the one now lying apparently innocently in Black's lap.
Was that the reason for this crowd? They hadn't honestly allowed anyone who'd wanted to watch us…?
They didn't seriously believe that this was an appropriate response to Dungbombs.
I felt dirty.
My eyes locked briefly with Remus's before he looked quickly away and out of the window as if he'd never seen me. I couldn't believe he'd been in on it. He'd been watching us get changed just like all the other sickos.
It embarrassed me that I'd ever thought I could trust him.
This was the reason I hadn't had a boyfriend since I was eleven.
They were all the same, and just when you thought you could trust one he had to go and take advantage.
Right at that moment I was mentally willing them to come within reaching distance, because my right hand was practically begging to make contact with each and every one of their stupid, smirking faces.
Without another second's thought I walked quickly back out of the common room. I had to move somewhere, staying still was no longer an option.
I needed some outward sign of my annoyance and storming away seemed preferable to what I knew would happen if I stayed in that room a moment longer. I didn't want to be expelled for causing the untimely death of another student, no matter how much that student really deserved it.
I could vaguely hear my three friends shouting my name from behind me, and after a brief hesitation I stopped and allowed them to catch up.
Before they could even speak I was muttering, "I can't believe what they've done." The heat pooled to my face to even think about it.
None of them answered, so I glanced at Marlene. Her face just looked blank.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "You do realise what they've done, don't you?" I clarified.
She looked far too calm. She must've not have figured it out yet.
But Marlene nodded, "Yeah."
She looked at me a little worriedly and I imagined that if my expression reflected the way I felt inside at all it would be absolutely livid.
It both amazed and annoyed me how casual she was being about it.
"Don't worry, Mori," she assured sympathetically, "we'll get them back for it."
I paused to look at her. "I don't care it we get them back!" I exclaimed, trying to fight the rising hysteria in my voice. "They went way too far Marlene, can't you see that?"
Half the population of the Gryffindor males had seen us in our underwear, what part of that didn't she understand?
My speech was becoming gradually louder. I wasn't really angry at Marlene, but I couldn't seem to reign myself in. She was just too calm. It was infuriating.
Sally put a hand on my shoulder now, "They shouldn't have done what they did Cheryl, you're right. But I'm not surprised by it. This is the Marauders we're talking about"
They were starting to make me feel as if I was completely overreacting.
But I didn't think I was, and for once in my life I felt strongly enough not to back down. They had acted like we were nothing more than objects.
Well, at least their sudden kindness in finding us some dry clothes had been explained. Pah.
Potter and Black picked that moment to undergo an ill-timed jog towards us, looking far too pleased with themselves.
I glared at them, utterly disgusted.
I felt so angry that I didn't care what happened. I had to voice what I felt or I'd explode.
"I can't believe you did that," I said seriously.
Potter seemed a little taken aback by my reaction, like that was the last thing he had been expecting. "Merlin, take a joke-" he started.
"It was completely disrespectful!" I exclaimed, feeling my temper rise. "I can't believe you would go that far."
Black just looked at me as if he didn't quite know what to make of my reaction.
I pointed an accusing finger at James, shaking my head, "I was actually starting to think you could be alright as well."
It was true, ever since he'd stopped Mike from going to McGonagall about our Dungbomb stunt, I had been toying with the idea that he wasn't as bad as I'd thought. But now-
I let out a breath of disbelief as I thought again of what they had done.
"Calm down, Morland," Black said finally.
Calm down?
"Calm down?" I said angrily.
"Yes," Black uttered, eyeing me incredulously. "You're going completely over the top."
I looked at him dangerously, trying to control my breathing. I could hear the sound of my pulse thumping in my ear and my hand was twitching with the now overwhelming impulse to slap his stupid, smug, patronising face.
"I am so going to get you back for this," I promised him vehemently, jabbing my finger into his chest. He grasped it to make it stop, holding it at a safe distance from his body, looking at me as though I were a wild animal or something.
"Just wait," I promised, snatching my hand away. He had it coming to him.
Before he could reply and secure the last word as he always did, I looked to Marlene and the girls to let them know none of my anger was directed toward them, perhaps despite first appearances.
"I'll see you later," I muttered before walking quickly away.
I knew I needed to calm down, and then I needed to think through what had happened. My friends calm reactions were disconcerting. I had to make sure I hadn't overreacted.
After that, I knew I wouldn't be at ease until I'd secured a plan of action in my mind about where to go from there. At that moment I felt like leaving the school altogether was my only option. I never wanted to have to face any of those leering boys ever again. It was more than I could bear.
Since the common room was effectively out of bounds I headed outside towards the oak tree I had used as a sanctuary of sorts during third year.
The thought of having to have a dorm party in our room later that night gave me a feeling of dread. Black had managed to kill any excitement for it stone dead.
.o.
Looking silently out at the sunset, I found myself trapped in my own thoughts.
Half an hour had passed since I had first sat there and the quiet scenery had managed to calm my temper, but not my treacherous thoughts.
I kept getting horrifying flashbacks of the Gryffindor boys jeering faces.
For some reason the only clear conclusion I'd managed to come to was the fact I wanted nothing more than to talk to Lily.
Marlene and Sally had been way too calm about it for my liking, and Dorcas hadn't really said anything at all.
I knew Lily would be bound to see it from my point of view.
She was funny about things like respecting people's privacy, plus she already had an intense dislike for Potter, so she was even more likely to agree to help me get them back.
Prefect or no, Lily was always there when a friend needed her, and I really needed her right now. I just didn't have the Marauders inventiveness to think of something myself.
Now that I'd controlled myself, I was actually starting to regret the promise I'd made to Black about making him pay for what he'd done.
In all honesty I wanted nothing more than to just avoid all four boys altogether.
But, a promise was a promise, and I knew I would look weak if I didn't keep it. I'd already sworn to myself that I would never let Black see me looking weak ever again.
It was bad enough he'd seen me in just my bra and knickers…
I felt myself go uncomfortably hot again and found myself wanting nothing more than to develop a bad case of selective amnesia.
.o.
Once back in the dormitory, I sat on my bed re-reading Jane Eyre to take my mind off things until everyone came to bed.
I hadn't been able to track my friends down after my time sitting alone outside, but I didn't really mind. I kind of liked being by myself for a while.
It was getting dark outside now, so I forced myself to get up to light the candles. The soft light made the room seem cosy.
Just as I was settling back into my book, the door to the room burst open loudly allowing Marlene, Sally, Lily, Dorcas and Mary to all come tumbling in.
"There you are!" Sally exclaimed when she spotted me. "Why weren't you at dinner?"
Now I focused I could feel the churning sensation of hunger twist my stomach.
"I completely forgot," I realised. "Crap."
Sally walked over to her bed and felt around underneath until she found whatever it was she was looking for.
"Lucky for you we have a back up then isn't it?" she said, holding up a large bag in victory.
.o.
It was a bin bag full of party food, no exaggeration. And it had all been emptied out onto my bed.
"Help yourself," Sally beamed, clearly not joking when she'd said she'd brought a stash with her.
The other girls all laughed and grabbed a handful of the goods, settling themselves down close by with licorice wands and fizzing whizzbees and cauldron cakes.
"Can't have a party without party food," she sang.
I looked down at it all hungrily, starting to come gradually around to the idea of a dorm party if it meant I had chance to fill my stomach.
But before I could let myself sit and relax with them, I knew I needed to talk to Lily about what had happened.
When I beckoned her into the privacy of the bathroom for a minute, I wasn't really surprised to find that other girls had already told her.
"I completely agree with you Cheryl, they did go too far," she said consolingly. "They had no right to, well, to do what they did. I don't think they can quite grasp the concept of respecting anyone who isn't part of their gang."
I felt the relief wash over me that finally someone agreed with me. Finally someone who didn't think my reaction had been completely over the top.
A part of me wanted to start back on my tirade about them now I had an understanding audience, but this time I managed to stop myself. I needed Lily's help.
Thankfully she took little convincing before she agreed to help me get back at them, and she gave me a brilliant idea on how to do it; completely free from repercussions should they decide to go to a professor, which was particularly attractive.
It was so absurdly simple, and yet there was absolutely no way we could ever get into trouble for doing it. I knew I could rely on Lily to have something up her sleeve.
It was about the only thing that would work on the Marauders; we were going to mess with their minds.
.o.
"I do not fancy bloody Potter!" Lily exclaimed later that night, for what must've been the tenth time.
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much," Marlene teased.
Everyone laughed. It seemed too easy to wind Lily up.
"You two do seem to have a lot of chemistry," I added impishly.
Lily's face was a picture. "Right," she said, "Right. Well in that case, I think you and Black are secretly ardent lovers."
I looked at her incredulously. How could she even joke about that?
She gave me a smug look and pointed a finger at me, "That right there is how I feel when people start saying I fancy toerag Potter. Infuriating, isn't it?"
"Okay, okay," I said, laughing despite myself, though still not completely convinced mine and Black's relationship was quite the same. Potter blatantly fancied Lily even through all of his jibes towards her.
Dorcas pulled a face at our bantering and stood up. Walking over to the large wooden chest at the base of her bed, she lifted the heavy-set lid and started rummaging through its contents.
Eventually she pulled out a huge trombone shaped object.
"What are you going to do-" Sally laughed when she brandished the weird object at us, "play us a ditty on your trumpet?"
Dorcas giggled and shook her head.
"Just wait," she said ambiguously, setting it on her bedside table and fiddling around with the parts.
Mary looked up from her bed for the first time that night. I needn't have worried about her scowling presence, because she was doing her best to avoid us altogether.
"Is that what I think it is?" she asked warily.
"Probably." Dorcas smiled absentmindedly, still involved in setting it up. Mary raised her eyebrows, but went back to her book.
"There!" Dorcas exclaimed after a couple of minutes. She took a step back. Now that it was all arranged I recognised what it was immediately.
"Isn't it a bit late to start playing music?" I asked uncertainly.
Dorcas shook her head, "We'll just put a silencing charm on the walls."
Marlene's mouth dropped now, "Music?" she said excitedly. She rushed over to Dorcas to examine the scaled down gramophone.
I got up and walked over to it, "What records do you have?"
Dorcas beamed at me and held them all up like a fan.
.o.
"Feel the beat of the tambourine, oh yeah! You can dance, you can ji-ve-"
We were all stood on our beds, using random objects as microphones as we sang along to Dorcas's cheesy pop songs.
Needing to catch my breath, I flopped down onto my bed and used the time to sit back to watch the others.
Even Mary had finally given up on her self-induced solitude and had joined in with us within the first ten minutes of watching us singing and dancing around the room like madwomen. Perhaps despite first appearances I was sort of starting to warm up to her. She could be ok when she let herself be.
I grinned uncontrollably at the effort I saw Lily was putting into her singing. She actually had a really good voice, but her intense expression was making me laugh.
"Go for it, Lily!" I called.
Marlene cut me off mid-snigger when she leaped suddenly from her bed to mine, practically diving at me.
We both rolled and crashed to the floor with a loud bump.
I struggled to scramble from the hard floorboards.
"You complete oaf!" I exclaimed over the sound of her laughter.
Instinctively grabbing my pillow from my bed, I threw it at her head.
It thwacked her in the face before falling limply to the floor.
We both looked briefly at the somewhat pitiful pillow lying crumpled at her feet, before we cracked up, and she bent over and held her stomach.
"Ouch," she breathed through her laughter, "stomach cramp."
From the corner of my eye I vaguely saw a rogue pillow sailing its way towards us from Sally's side of the room, and that was the point at which all hell broke loose.
By the time we had finished smacking one another silly with our bedding, there were feathers everywhere.
We all collapsed onto the beds, panting slightly while the music from the forgotten gramophone continued to tootle away in the background comically.
Once Sally's pillow had hit Marlene's shoulder, she had seemed to snap out of her laughing fit and immediately taken up a determined look in her bright blus eyes.
Sally didn't seem to know what had hit her when Marlene hurtled at her with a beaded bolster.
After that everyone else had seemed to take it as their cue to join in.
Mary and I had made the most of the general air of confusion -caused by random pillows flying to and fro- by throwing the odd cushion at one another when we thought the other wasn't looking. It had started to become funny after a while.
After Lily had cast a thorough cleaning charm on the room we all collapsed, exhausted, onto our beds.
All the negative thoughts about the Lost and Found room were all but forgotten. Besides, now I had a brilliant plan of action to get the idiot perverts back.
A/N: For anyone who's thinking I'm taking the Marauders too far, just think about Snape's worst memory...Snivellus's stained underpants, anyone? Besides, they'll see the error of their ways...eventually...hopefully!