A/N: Thursday again! I hope you guys enjoy the unveiling of the prank! It might seem a bit grown up for students who have been at Hogwarts for two months, but I did look up charms they would learn in first year and most of them are meant to be smart and adept for their age. Like, the Marauders alone, what they achieved at school, I think some simple charms would have been a breeze! Also, I was worried I was making the characters sound more grown up than the eleven years they're meant to be; I wrote this seven years ago but even at seventeen I couldn't remember being eleven; but I've just been watching Freaks and Geeks, and although Sam and his friends are three years older it didn't seem to be too much to have my characters sound like they do!
Anyway, enjoy and review! Thank you for reading.
The Prank
"Right, let's go through it one last time," James said.
"The Great Prank," Sirius declared dramatically.
"Yes, The Great Prank…"
"Ooh, what a great name!" Mackenzey squealed excitedly.
"All right, keep your voice down," Troy muttered, though she didn't hide her grin.
Mackenzey grinned back at her. "Shup, Troy,"
"Okay," James held up his hands effectively silencing the group. "Troy's already completed phase one-"
"If that alone was phase one how many phases are there?" Alice asked in disbelief.
"I don't know," James replied impatiently. "A few,"
Alice, seeing the look on his face, didn't question him any further.
James carried on, unperturbed. "We have nothing to do during the day today, until two hours before the feast. Then we meet up there, and sneak in-"
"I swear that's not how we planned it," This time it was Sirius who interrupted. Sirius was one of the few people who did not mind an irritable James, which was good as that was exactly where James was headed.
"Well, if you know better, then why don't you go over the plan?" James snapped, leaning back in his chair stiffly.
Sirius mock saluted him. "Right, well, as we all know Troy completed phase one, lifting the colour charms in the Slytherin common room, but they won't be activated until later this evening," Troy nodded in affirmation. "Just after lunch we have to sneak back into the Hall, or even better never leave, and-"
"How are we going to manage that, Sirius?" James asked snidely, obviously put out that Sirius was apparently doing a better job of this leader thing than James.
"Well, didn't we decide that we'd stay as late as possible? And today's a Hogsmeade visit so most of the older students will be out anyway,"
The rest of the group, bar James, who was looking increasingly disgruntled, nodded. Sirius looked at James. "Happy?"
James glared back, not bothering to answer. Sirius grinned at his envious friend.
"So, as it's a Saturday too, it'll be easier for us to still be eating after everyone else, and the professors can't let us starve! Then, when we're mostly alone, Lily, Alice, Frank and Remus have a table each, lifting the colour charms on them, whilst Ruby-Jane, Peter, Chris and Mackenzey have the easier task of changing the house banners. Meanwhile James, Hunter and I have the difficult task of altering the head table whilst Troy and Kerris keep watch. Then Remus, Lily and Mackenzey, being the charmers of the group," Sirius grinned, "will set a time code whilst Kerris attempts to charm the ceiling. Hopefully, if it works, the banners will all change to a prowling red lion on a gold background, the sky will be red with a lion walking over it, then one by one the tables will slowly change to a bright red, starting with Slytherin, and eventually a giant lion will emerge and walk the table before fading away. On the Gryffindor table students will then be dyed red faced, with a lion emblazoned across their cheeks, the Hufflepuffs gold with red lines, the Ravenclaws red with gold lines and the Slytherins," Sirius grinned evilly, "will have red and gold horizontal streaks throughout their hair and face, and every bit of available skin,"
"Isn't that a little extreme?" Lily asked nervously.
"Maybe," Remus conceded. He didn't elaborate though, and no one else seemed to share Lily's concerns.
"But we'll get in such trouble!" Lily fretted. "And not just with the professors," she added seeing James' look and sensing his comment about being a teacher's pet.
James closed his mouth. He opened it again to say, "We can handle it. Plus, we could always say it was the second years…" He grinned sheepishly.
"You won't blame anyone else, James Potter!" Remus chided. "If we get caught we take sole responsibility,"
"Sole responsibility is a bit hard with thirteen people," Peter grinned.
"Sole responsibility as first years, friends, students," Remus amended.
"Well, now that's sorted, can we go get some lunch!?" Chris said, listening to his tummy rumbling loudly at the thought of food.
"We can't all go at once," Alice pointed out. "It'd be obvious if we all left now but stayed after everyone else to "finish eating" when we arrived early,"
Kerris nodded. "It is rather early for lunch, Chris," she eyed him disapprovingly. "Maybe we should do some homework or something?"
"Booorrrriiinnnggg," Sirius rolled his eyes.
Kerris glared at him. "I happen to think it's a good idea," Frank reiterated.
This time James rolled his eyes.
"Well, I for one, have two essays to finish," Lily said.
"Yeah, I have a Charms essay," Mackenzey sighed.
"Ergh. I have Charms and Potions still!" Ruby-Jane added.
"Transfiguration, still," Alice said, ignoring Lily's accusatory look.
"I have some Transfiguration, too, from when I was off," Remus chimed in. "Fancy some help, Alice?"
"Sure," Alice grinned back at Remus. "By help, you mean do it for me?"
"What else?" Remus grinned back.
Troy felt a twinge. Remus was her best friend, not Alice's. What was she doing, digging her way in like that?
"Frank, what do you have to finish?" Troy asked him sweetly.
Frank looked surprised. "Err, some Charms, I think,"
"Oh, so do I. Care to join me?" In her slightly envious state Troy didn't notice the change in her demeanour, but Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey, as her best friends, did. They glanced at each other, offering questioning glances.
"Yeah… Okay," Frank replied hesitantly.
Troy smiled broadly. She glanced at Remus and Alice and frowned to see them deep in conversation and apparently not having noticed her and Frank's exchange.
"Meet you back here in ten?" Troy asked Frank. He stuck his thumb up and they disappeared from the library together.
Alice looked up as they left. "Where're they going?" she asked.
"Gone to get Charms homework," Mackenzey replied, a light frown still evident on her face.
"Ahh, wicked," Alice replied, shrugging and turning back to Remus. Both had brought their work with them to breakfast, determined to get some work done, prank or no prank.
An hour later found Alice and Remus comparing notes, trying to work out if they had missed anything in their essays, which were due on Monday, and everyone else, including James and Sirius, had already finished them (Remus had not done his because of the full moon, and Alice because she had missed the essay in her homework plan).
Next to them on the table Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey were still slogging over half-finished Charms essays, Lily joining them when she needed to check a fact as Troy and Frank were sat on the far side of the table and were ignoring anyone who spoke to them, mostly Troy, who seemed determined to make Alice and Remus notice, but to no succession.
Chris and Kerris were sitting at a nearby table with Peter and Hunter, all of them hard at work on completing Ruby-Jane's same Potions essay. Incidentally Kerris' was due after the others, but being a Ravenclaw she didn't mind doing it early, especially when she had her friends to compare with then.
Finally James and Sirius were sprawled across another table, surrounded by pieces of parchment in various stages of paper plane stature. They both, however, had appeared to have given up and were instead flicking through their text books, glancing at a page briefly and then claiming to whoever would listen that they'd read the book.
Hunter looked up at them. "I think this must be some sort of record for them," he said, jerking his head in the two Gryffindor boys direction.
Peter also looked up and laughed. "I think so! Not that they're doing anything productive,"
Not long after the first year's observation, Lily, Ruby and Mackenzey packed away their things and sidled over to the other table.
"What are they like?" Mackenzey sighed, dropping into a seat opposite Kerris, rolling her eyes in James and Sirius' general direction.
Ruby-Jane looked over at them and studied them closely. "Half grown apes," she declared, pulling out the seat next to Hunter. Lily was slightly uncomfortable in this group, but took a seat near Mackenzey and Kerris.
"How're your essays going?" she asked the others, after the initial laugh from Ruby-Jane's comment had died down.
"Ergh, don't ask!" Chris said disgustedly, staring at his parchment with something close to pure loathing.
Kerris patted his on the back. "Here, let me have a look," she offered, reaching over and bringing the essay to her. Ruby-Jane watched her absentmindedly. Kerris scoured the page quickly, crossing out little and smiling. "It's good," she told Chris, "You just need some more detail here," she pointed out the problem and grinned at his groan.
"Hey, Ruby, is any particular reason why you are staring at Kerris in such an odd manner?" Mackenzey asked, suddenly noticing her friend's weird object of sight.
Ruby-Jane shook herself. "Sorry, what?"
"I just asked why you were staring at Kerris."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Ruby-Jane smiled apologetically at Kerris. "I was just thinking about Troy and her weird reaction earlier," she finished, lowering her voice.
"What weird reaction?" Hunter asked, confused.
"When Remus offered to help Alice…" Mackenzey replied, rubbing her arm.
"Ooh," Hunter said, "I didn't notice,"
Mackenzey was about to say how could he not notice when Lily beat him to it.
"You mean to say you didn't notice Troy ask Frank almost flirtatiously if he wanted to study with her, and then her leave with him. And her glance at Remus and Alice to see if they'd seen it? And now, studying, her not talking to anyone but Frank, probably in the hope that either Alice or Remus will notice," Lily said knowingly.
"Err, no?" Hunter said shrugging his shoulders.
"Boys," Lily and Ruby-Jane muttered simultaneously, smiling slightly at each other as they realised what they'd done.
Chris leaned over the table, conspiringly. "What's up with that, then?" he asked, in a hushed whisper.
"You're not in the bloody FBI, Chris," Kerris said, pulling him back to his chair and setting his essay in front of him.
"FBI?" Hunter asked, looking between Chris, Kerris and Lily, who obviously also knew what it meant.
"Never mind, some other time," Kerris said, waving the question away with her hand.
"Okay, right. But seriously, what's up with that?"
"Troy's rather attached to the people she cares about, and she doesn't like being threatened," Ruby-Jane grudgingly told the Muggleborns. "I think she feels that Remus is her best mate and study partner and she feels like Alice has no place taking what seems to be hers…"
"That makes sense," Lily said.
"Are you sure that's it?" Chris winked at the girls. Kerris hit him on the arm.
"I'm sure," Ruby-Jane said firmly. "Troy's not the type to fall in love after two months; she's just created a bond with a best friend. I mean, she thinks of us," Ruby-Jane nodded to Mackenzey, Peter and Hunter, "as her best friends, but all for different reasons, Remus is just another one. But with him it's slightly different because it's a bond only the two of them share, not the whole group, like us lot,"
Chris nodded in understanding. "Fair enough,"
"Mm, but it's still odd. It's like she's not just feeling replaced, she's jealous," Mackenzey mused, a frown marring her small forehead.
"And that's not like her?" Kerris asked.
"Not really, no. She's usually very introverted about how she feels," Hunter said. "But it's not a bad thing, usually, because she doesn't let things bother her,"
"Until now," Ruby-Jane added.
"Someone talk to Alice or Remus?"
"And poor Frank," Lily said, "Bless him, he doesn't know what's going on,"
"I will," Ruby-Jane said resignedly. She got up and went over to Remus and Alice. The others saw her bend down and whisper to them, trying not to draw either Frank or Troy's attention to herself. They saw Remus nod first, then Alice, though a flicker of emotions crossed her face. Finally Ruby-Jane came back and sat heavily in her seat.
"Well?" Chris prompted. "What did you say?"
"You're a nosey gossip, Christopher Foxx," Mackenzey scolded him, before turning to Ruby-Jane bright eyed.
"Hypocrite," Kerris laughed, doing the same.
"Hark, who's talking!" Mackenzey laughed back.
Ruby-Jane rolled her eyes. "Do you want to know or not?"
They all nodded eagerly.
"I just said that in case they hadn't noticed, Troy was being off with them, because she was slightly put out Remus had ditched her without a second thought for Alice,"
"You said that?" Lily gasped.
"Subtlety was never my strong point," Ruby-Jane shrugged.
"I can tell," Lily said dryly.
"You really said that?" Kerris asked looking slightly gob smacked.
Ruby-Jane shrugged again. "Yeah,"
Hunter winced slightly. "I can see how that could come across as the wrong way,"
"Damn. And I was trying so hard to be nice," Ruby-Jane said sarcastically.
"I was just saying!" Hunter said defensively.
"Well, to be honest, he shouldn't have just ditched her anyway,"
"He didn't," Lily said coolly.
"With all due respect, and all effectiveness, he kind of did," Ruby-Jane replied. "He didn't even notice her all over Frank,"
"Neither did Alice,"
Ruby-Jane was not perturbed. "She was engulfed by her feelings. He was distracted by Alice, slight difference,"
The five other occupants of the table looked between the two agitated girls.
"Look, I have nothing against Alice, all right? I can just see where Troy's coming from, and sort of agree that what Remus did is hurtful,"
"I know you don't," Lily agreed. "And so can I, but being short with them is hardly going to fix things,"
"Things don't need fixing, do they?" Ruby-Jane questioned.
"Maybe,"
"Damn,"
"Hey, I'm sure it'll all be fine. After all, Alice is rather attached to Frank; they have quite a bit in common. And from what I've seen Remus is as friendly with Troy as she is with him. It's just a small misunderstanding we'll have forgotten about by seventh year,"
"Mm, maybe you're right. I just don't like seeing my friends upset, especially Troy. With her, it's unnerving,"
"I can hazard a guess,"
All through this Peter had been silently sitting in the corner near Hunter. He suddenly looked up, a small crease in his forehead. "Troy's more upset that Remus hasn't noticed her actions with Frank than his studying with Alice," he acknowledged. "Her reasoning is that if he cared, he'd notice,"
"He's a boy," Kerris noted dryly. "No chance,"
"Hey!" Both Chris and Hunter protested. Before they had a chance to defend their manhood, James and Sirius had dawdled over from their table, not bothering to clear up after themselves.
"What y'all doing?" The fake American drawl announced Sirius' arrival at the table.
"Nothing," Mackenzey sighed, placing her hands on the table in order to stand up.
"Well, we want food," Sirius whined, patting his flat stomach.
James nodded vigorously, his glasses almost flying off.
"All right, we'll go have some lunch soon," Ruby-Jane told them, feeling very much like a mother hen.
"No! Now!" James complained.
Mackenzey looked at her watch. "It is lunchtime," she said.
"Oh, all right then. Can't see why you couldn't go down on your own," Ruby-Jane grumbled, also standing up from the table.
"I haven't finished my essay!" Chris exclaimed, suddenly looking down at his parchment in dismay.
"Your own fault, gossiper," Kerris also stood from the table, joined by Lily and Peter.
Muttering to himself, Chris packed his work away and followed the others to Frank, Alice, Remus and Troy's table.
"Hey, you lot," Peter greeted
His hello was received with a dismal response. Troy didn't even look up, and Frank barely had time to lift his head before continuing scribbling down what Troy had just read from a textbook. Remus waved a hand in a half-hearted hello, and Alice flashed a brief smile at them, intent on finishing her essay.
"We were just going to get some lunch," Hunter said, poking Troy in the shoulder. A moment later he was almost sorry he had, for she had slapped his hand away with such force it stung red raw.
"Geez, Troy, anger management much?"
Troy smirked, bent down over her essay. Mackenzey waved a hand in front of her face.
"Earth to Troy, do you want some lunch?"
"What about the others?" For the moment she had forgotten about Remus. Then she spotted Remus and Alice bent over a book at the other end of the table and she scowled.
"Yeah, well the apes over there," Ruby-Jane ignored James and Sirius' cries of outrage at being called apes, "wanted feeding, and as it's lunchtime we figured it's late enough to need to stay late, without arousing suspicion,"
Troy nodded. "Okay. Frank, you coming?"
"Err, no, you go ahead, Troy. I'll wait for Alice and Remus,"
Troy scowl deepened at the mere mention of the names.
"Fine," she snapped, grabbing her books and stalking out of the library. Mackenzey hurried after her with Hunter.
"What's up with her?" Frank asked puzzlement evident on his face.
"Ergh, don't ask," Ruby-Jane sighed, "Just a certain couple at the other end of the table,"
"Ooh, that'd make sense…"
"Indeed," Ruby-Jane said dryly.
Frank grinned. "It'll all work out,"
"Funny, that's what Lily said,"
"Lily's barely wrong," Frank pointed out.
Ruby-Jane shrugged nonchalantly.
"Food!" Sirius cried, drawing everyone's attention, including Alice, Remus and the irate librarian's, to him. Quickly they all grabbed their stuff and left the library before she came over and lectured them on proper library rules, as James so kindly put it.
"I reckon we should dump our books in the common room first," Lily suggested, hauling her bag over her shoulder. "They'd only get in the way,"
The others all agreed and they hurried to the Gryffindor common room before they missed lunch altogether.
The ten other first years found Hunter and Mackenzey sitting with an unwilling Troy at the Gryffindor table, nothing on their plates and exasperated expressions on both Hunter and Mackenzey's faces.
Remus made to sit next to her, oblivious to the extent of her fury, a little startled when she pulled the nearest person to her, who happened to be James, down into the space Remus was about to occupy.
"Why, hello there!" James squawked, holding out his arms to envelope Troy in a hug. She didn't resist when he put his arms round her, and even went so far as to put her hands gingerly on his back in a half-hearted hug.
Remus just shrugged and moved to sit next to Mackenzey. At least it's not Alice, Troy thought relieved.
The thirteen ate slowly, not enough to attract attention, but enough for reason enough for them all still to be there when everyone else had drifted off.
"Please, Professor, we arrived late, and we didn't eat much breakfast," Sirius said, beseechingly staring up at Professor McGonagall as she approached the table.
"Indeed, Mr Black," she replied, dryly. "I just came to say you can stay for another half an hour, before the house elves really must get the table to prepare it for the feast tonight,"
"Table?" asked James dumbly.
"Yes, Mr Potter, table," she indicated the three tables sinking.
"But we might want to use something on them!" Sirius cringed at his lame excuse.
McGonagall eyed them. "Well, I suppose I can't object, you are all in the different houses." The tables reappeared and Sirius looked especially relieved.
"Thanks, Minnie!" he yelled. When her suspicious eyes swung round to him, he pointed at the Hufflepuff table. "Leftover pumpkin pie, we don't have any left on the Gryffindor table," he said, quickly shoving a pumpkin pie under the table.
As McGonagall left the Hall, Lily muttered, "Great, now she's going to know it's us,"
"Yeah, you could have been a bit more inconspicuous," Alice sighed.
"We could modify her memory?" Sirius suggested; earning James a kick under the table as Ruby-Jane caught him and not Sirius.
"Modify whose memory?" The first years jumped as Jack's voice joined the conversation.
Troy whipped round. "Jack, don't sneak up on people!" she cried.
"Sorry, sister," he replied grinning, ruffling her hair.
"Whose memory?" Alixx asked, putting her arms around Peter's neck in a welcome hug.
"McGonagall's," Ruby-Jane answered grudgingly.
"Why?" Alixx look intrigued.
Ruby-Jane looked up at her sister, and decided to trust her. "We're planning a prank for tonight-"
"And we need the tables," Peter added.
"And McGonagall might suspect something 'cause we were in here last and making a fuss over the tables being left so we could nick some leftovers, and then tonight they're all charmed…"
"So, it was obviously us," Peter finished.
"I see your predicament," Jack grinned, not offering to help in the slightest.
Alixx rolled her eyes. "I'll see what I can do," she suggested.
"Aw, thanks, Al!" Ruby-Jane screamed.
Sirius next to her winced and rubbed his ear. "Not so loud!" he complained.
"Sorry," Ruby-Jane grinned sheepishly.
"No problem," Alixx said, letting go of Peter and waving at them.
Jack stopped flinging leftover peas at Hunter and Mackenzey to run after Alixx. The younger students could see him waving his arms around at Alixx, trying to get her to change her mind. Alixx shook her head determinedly and walked around him and out the hall. Jack stared after her, until he came to his senses and set off out of the Hall too.
Ruby-Jane turned back round to her friends. "Well, that's sorted,"
"Yeah! Did I ever mention how much I love your sister?" Chris laughed.
The others just looked at him. "I wasn't being serious…" he added.
"Let's get to it!" James cried, interrupting the silence that ensued after Chris's statement.
At once Lily, Alice, Frank and Remus spread out between the tables, Lily taking the Slytherin table as she was the most adept at Charms, Remus taking Hufflepuff, Frank Ravenclaw and Alice Gryffindor.
Ruby-Jane headed for the Hufflepuff banner, Peter the Gryffindor (animating the lion), Chris the Slytherin and Mackenzey the Ravenclaw. Kerris and Troy had headed to the door to keep watch, carefully listening for anyone approaching the Hall.
James, Sirius and Hunter ran to the Head table and proceeded to flick their wands rapidly over each place setting, grinning at each other down the table.
They then all gathered by the Gryffindor table again, and the others sat down as Remus, Lily and Mackenzey stood to the side, setting a time code and Kerris waved her wand at the ceiling attempting to counteract the charm already on it.
"It worked!" she said, gleefully, staring at her handiwork with joy.
"Yay, the first thing everyone will see tonight is the lion on the ceiling," Sirius said excitedly.
"Done," Remus sighed, sitting down on the bench again and grabbing some pie for himself.
"Thank god, time setting is not easy!" Lily grumbled, leaning against Alice as she sat down.
"No mean feat," Mackenzey added, grinning.
"I think we better get out of here," Troy said suddenly, "Before someone else comes in and sees us," She still wasn't looking at Remus, not that he'd noticed.
"Yeah, we don't want to have to attack another teacher," James grinned, whilst Lily rolled her eyes disapprovingly.
"You mean Alixx," she stated, "And I do hope she knows what she's doing," Lily said worriedly.
"She does," Ruby-Jane confided, "She always put memory modification on mum and dad when they grounded her. She's not a Ravenclaw for nothing,"
"One sassy lady," Sirius winked.
"Oh, Merlin," Ruby-Jane moaned. "Please, please, don't scar me for life by saying that again!" By the look on his face, Peter agreed entirely with this statement.
"Come on!" Alice laughed, yanking Peter up and setting off out the Hall with him, Frank, Hunter, Lily and Mackenzey. Ruby-Jane followed soon after, grabbing a cauldron cake and running away from both James and Sirius as they attempted to hit her with one of their own. Remus grinned at them and shook his head.
"You coming, Troy?" he asked her.
She ignored him and stood up, her back to him. He looked slightly puzzled but turned to Chris instead.
"Chris?"
"Yeah, I'm coming," he replied, "Kerris?"
Kerris looked over at Troy. "I think I'm going to stay with Troy," she murmured. Chris nodded and led Remus out of the room, ignoring Remus' questions about Troy's behaviour.
They met the others in the Entrance Hall, and decided to go outside by the lake. "Might as well enjoy the fresh air whilst it's still quite warm out," Alice said excitedly.
"Where're Troy and Kerris?" Mackenzey asked Remus and Chris.
Chris nodded back to the Hall. "Having a heart to heart. At least, I think that was Kerris' intention,"
"Good luck with that," Ruby-Jane grinned.
"Heart to heart about what?" Remus asked, seriously confused.
Ruby-Jane rolled her eyes at him. She swung her arm around his neck and led him outside. "Troy likes you; you're her best friend, in a nutshell. And earlier you completely blanked her, and now she's blanking you. I told you that in the library!"
"I know," Remus replied, shrugging. "I just thought she'd get over it, she knows she's special to me, too,"
"No, she doesn't!" Ruby said exasperatedly. "You have to tell her, Remus!"
James, Sirius and Peter, who had been play fighting nearby, looked up at Ruby-Jane's agitated voice. They found Ruby and Remus facing each other, Ruby's hands on her hips and a frown on her face, and Remus staring back at her, a mixture of shock, confusion and anger evident in his features.
"Keep your nose out, Pettigrew!"
Ruby was taken aback. "I wouldn't have to stick my nose in if you knew how to treat your friends properly and weren't so damn thick!" she spat back.
Remus, thick? Sirius thought to himself, watching the scene with interest.
"I know how to treat my friends," Remus said quietly.
"Really? Is that why Troy is now ignoring you?" she asked him.
"It was a misunderstanding!" Remus replied.
"Yeah, and I'm trying to help you fix it. God damn it, Lupin, you're unbelievable!"
"And you're irritating," Remus said, trying to keep his anger in check.
Sirius felt a twinge at Remus' comment, and realised he didn't know whose side he was on.
"I know," Ruby-Jane accepted the insult with grace. "But I'm just trying to help you!" she pleaded.
"Well, don't," Remus said shortly.
Ruby-Jane shrugged. "I don't have a choice,"
Remus didn't reply. Gently Ruby-Jane laid a hand on his arm. "Just talk to her, Remus, tell her that you didn't mean anything by it, tell her she's your best friend and that she's irreplaceable, tell her she means everything to you, and mean everything you say,"
Remus turned away from her, but he walked up to the castle and disappeared inside. Ruby-Jane smiled slightly as the door banged shut. Sirius came up to her and hugged her. "Are you all right?" he asked, wiping some hair off her face.
She smiled at him. "Yeah. What he said was true, but I couldn't let him carry on like this with Troy,"
"I know," Sirius comforted, resting his chin on her head. James slapped Sirius on the back. "Is someone being sensitive?" he laughed.
Sirius laughed as well, and let go of Ruby. "Maybe, but I am capable of it, you know!"
"I feel special!" Ruby-Jane laughed along, wrapping an arm around her brother.
"Come on, let's go annoy the others," Peter suggested, twirling his wand between his fingers, grinning impishly.
"You're on," James took the bait, and followed Peter round the back of the tree the rest of their friends were sitting round. Sirius followed at a distance, Ruby-Jane elected to create a diversion.
One diversion, three boys' wands and six spells later the six sitting under the tree were sporting fluorescent hair. James had taken down Lily and Chris, deciding Lily's long, red hair would look better blue, and Chris' white hair would look better pink. Sirius had turned Mackenzey's short, ginger hair green, to go with her eyes, and Frank's dark hair blonde. Finally Peter had tackled Alice's short, blonde hair and Hunter's almost black hair, turning them purple and orange respectively.
The four others sniggered between themselves as they sat down, not letting the others know that anything had changed in their appearances. It wouldn't be until later that any of them would notice, despite them looking at their friends frequently whilst outside.
Back in the Hall, Kerris had approached Troy cautiously. "Are you okay?" she asked tentatively.
Troy looked round at her. "Yeah, really. I just don't handle some things well," she grinned sadly.
"I hadn't noticed," Kerris said softly. She sat herself on the stone step next to Troy.
"You must have been the only one," Troy said, looking a little sad over the statement.
"No, we were talking about it earlier, because we care, not because we like gossip!" Kerris added.
Troy laughed. "I know those lot are gossips, but I know they care, too,"
"Good. Now, do you want to talk about it?"
Troy shook her head. "Not really," she said apologetically.
"That's okay," Kerris smiled back.
After a few minutes silence, Troy spoke. "It's just that I thought we had a solid best friendship, and then he doesn't even notice when he goes off with some other girl and I talk to Frank. Neither of them did,"
"I know," Kerris soothed.
"And then he doesn't even bother asking why I'm not talking to him, he didn't look at me at all in the library, he shrugged it off at lunch and he walked away without question with Chris after lunch,"
Kerris leaned over to hug her. "He'll come around, he's too smart not to,"
Troy scoffed. "He's a boy,"
"Your brother's pretty smart," Kerris pointed out. Troy couldn't argue with that.
"Give him a chance, yeah? He's not a mind reader,"
"I know," Troy sighed, "It just got me so riled and I don't know why,"
"I get it," Kerris said, "Sometimes that's how I feel when Chris spends ages talking to someone else, especially Ruby or Mackenzey,"
Troy looked at her, but then deduced that wasn't expected to be much of a shock.
"It's not jealousy, is it?" Troy said anxiously.
"I don't know," Kerris replied honestly, "I think it's more worried about being replaced; playing on insecurities we didn't know we had…"
"I just hated it, Remus talking to Alice like that,"
"I know, I saw them too, and wow, if Chris had been like that with someone, I'd feel exactly the same,"
Their conversation was stalled as a nervous cough came from their left. They both looked round and were surprised and a bit shocked to see Remus standing there. Kerris looked nervously between them, then stood up quickly and said a hurried 'see you later!' before going to find the others.
Remus shuffled forward, until Troy indicated the step next to her. He stopped short, and a slightly uncomfortable silence fell.
"Troy, I'm sorry," Remus began, his courage failing after the initial apology.
She looked at him. "What for?"
This seemed to be all Remus needed to proceed. "I'm sorry I effectively ignored you, I'm sorry I spent so much time with Alice, I'm sorry I didn't realise you were so upset and I'm sorry I made you feel so bad. You're a real spesh girl, Troy, and I'd be an idiot to not apologise, I know that now,"
She blushed slightly. "How much did you hear?" she asked.
"The end," Remus admitted, "Though I don't know how long you were talking…"
"Not long," Troy said, feeling a little tension leave the air around them.
"And I was talking to Ruby," Remus added, shrugging slightly.
"Oh,"
"Actually, we more like argued… But she made me realise exactly what I'd done, and why I needed to apologise,"
Troy looked up at him still standing. "Ruby's always been a bit protective of her friends and her beliefs…"
"I'd gathered,"
There was another silence. "So, are we okay now?" Remus asked.
Troy was silent for a moment. Then she nodded. "I'll try to be more understanding in future. I honestly don't know what came over me,"
"It's fine," Remus grinned. "Come on, let's go find the others. The Prank is going to be good,"
"Not amazing?" Troy asked jokingly.
"Got to start small," Remus replied. They left the hall together laughing.
Down in the grounds, Kerris had spotted her friends and looked at them, confused. Then she realised that four of the ten didn't have fluorescent hair, therefore they must be guilty of the prank. She had grinned, deciding not to mention it for now.
The group spent the afternoon lazing on the ground under the tree they had claimed as theirs at the beginning of the year. Joined by Remus and Troy about fifteen minutes after Kerris, the majority of the group smiled to see them getting along again.
Soon enough it was time for the feast, and the first years climbed to the castle in great excitement. If everything was planned right the charms would be set off ten minutes into the feast. As planned, Dippet spoke a short speech, and as soon as he sat down the charms were activated.
Alixx gave her siblings a thumb up, meaning she had managed to modify McGonagall's memory, they were safe.
Slowly all the banners started to morph at once, blazing scarlet and gold when finished, each with a proud lion marching across it. As the students got over the shock the Slytherin table started to change colour and soon it was the same colour as the banners. Some of the students got a shock when they looked at the table and a lion was prowling down it. Moments after, the same thing happened with the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, then the Head Table. Poor Professor Flitwick fell off his chair in surprise at seeing a fully grown lion standing in front of him.
Finally the lion materialised on the Gryffindor table, and the students cheered for their mascot. The students then turned back to their friends, and were surprised to see their faces painted in red and gold. The spells had counteracted the previous charms the four friends had earlier placed on their classmates, disappointing them until they spotted the Slytherins, who were outraged that even their hair had been dyed. An excited chatter broke out, and most of the thirteen responsible were looking smug.
Even Lily had to admire the artwork of the dye on people's faces and hair. She even grinned a little, being careful to not let Alice notice, for she'd never hear the end of it.
Most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were laughing heartily at the prank, and Jack on the Slytherin table was trying to contain his laughter at seeing his friends painted red and gold.
After a few minutes Dippet waved his wand and everything was back to normal, apart from the Slytherins and Gryffindor's face paint. The Slytherins just to annoy them, as they knew it would, and the Gryffindors because there was nothing wrong with it.
"Who performed the sticking charm?" Lily hissed across the table.
"We knew you wouldn't approve, so we just didn't tell you," Sirius said, clapping with everyone else at the ingenious prank.
Finally, everyone settled down, bar the Slytherins, half of whom had scurried out of the room intent on washing off the paint. Lily was silently seething, having been told by Alice to take a chill pill.
"That was amazing!" Mackenzey announced.
"It was better than I expected," Kerris agreed.
"Pretty good," Troy grinned.
"Why, thank you," Sirius bowed.
"It wasn't just you, Sirius!"
"Or you lot, James!"
"We'll all take credit," Frank said.
"Shh! Keep your voice down, otherwise someone will tell and we'll get punished after all!" Alice whispered, looking around nervously, not wanting a detention, especially with McGonagall.
"Sorry!" Frank apologised.
Through all the hustle and bustle the thirteen friends left the Great Hall and departed to bed. They'd been up late the night before and they'd worn themselves out with the prank.
Settling into their beds, each one of them grinned, even Lily.
In Slytherin, Troy was closing her eyes contentedly. Yes, she thought, it had been an ingenious idea.