Saturday 1st April 1978

Great Hall, 08:00

Severus hadn't felt this excited in a long time. Which was odd, considering what he was doing. He was actually helping the Marauders pull off a prank. Him. Severus Snape. Yes. He couldn't believe it either. An April Fool's Day one too, of all things. One of the most moronic days in the calendar in his opinion.

But the Marauders didn't think like that. They loved for pranks and half a day dedicated to them? There was no way they were going to pass that up. And they had wanted him to help out.

It had been weird but they had wanted to make their last April Fool's Day prank to be the best ever and they had been bouncing around ideas in the Head Boy and Girl Suite. Even Lily had been offering up ideas but none of them had been considered spectacular enough.

That's where Severus had come in. It had only been an offhand remark. Not something he had expected them to take seriously at all.

But they had taken him seriously and this was the result. The result that was partly his fault. Um, whoops?

All he had said, not even fully participating in the conversation the previous evening, was, "What if you did nothing?"

Because they always did something for April Fool's, didn't they? The whole school expected it by now. As they should as it had been seven years, after all. Even the Hufflepuffs weren't that stupid. So, what would be better than having the whole school waiting with bated breath for something that was never going to happen?

The Marauders apparently thought that there was nothing better and went with it. They did absolutely nothing this morning. Not even something small. They even stepped it up a notch and exchanged knowing looks and nods that looked like signals for something. Severus had never seen everyone so on edge.

And it was going to get worse as the day went on and the Marauders did absolutely nothing. Severus couldn't wait. Even now all the Professors were giving them wary looks.

The four of them caught up with him as he left the Hall.

"That was a brilliant idea," Sirius told him.

"Amazing," James agreed.

"It was so funny!" Peter squeaked, like, actually squeaked in his excitement.

It was silly but Severus puffed up with pride. He had given the Marauders a good, no, an excellent idea for a prank! Wonders would never cease.

"Wait until later," Remus said, grinning in anticipation. "Everyone will think we've got something big planned, I'll bet."

"I still say you should have a nickname or something to add to ours when we do the finish." James told him.

Severus shook his head. No. Public displays like that were not for him. And it definitely wouldn't go down well in Slytherin House. Sure, it would be a nickname or something made up instead of his name but people would realise that it was him. He had been hanging out with the Marauders a lot this year. Blatant acknowledgement of this would not go down well in Slytherin. It just wouldn't.

"Just let me stick to the shadows," Severus replied. "Anyway, I didn't do anything."

"It was your idea!"

James and Sirius looked completely baffled by the idea of him not wanting to take any credit for this. He almost made a scathing remark. Almost. Yes, James and Sirius liked showing off and admiration from their peers but that in no way made them brainless. Just like him preferring very little attention on himself did not make him superior. They were just different types of people.

"You were the one who told us to do nothing!"

"Yeah, but you added all the extra bits so people think you're doing something."

"It was a team effort," James said.

They all agreed with that. Because it was.

"Go team!" Sirius cheered.

Severus groaned at the cheesiness as several students turned to see what was happening.

"I'm going to class," Severus announced.

"Don't give the game away," James told him.

"As if."

And he didn't. None of them did despite all the questioning looks and sidelong glances. All the Professors were as jumpy as anything and got worse as the day went on. Definitely amusing. Especially when the Marauders decided to whisper and the pointedly stop when a Professor walked past them. The whole school ended up being on edge by lunchtime. It was hilarious. Even thought it was last twelve, everyone still seemed to expect the Marauders to do something.

And they finally did. Sort of. Just not the thing that the school expected them to. All four of them, not even bothering to hide themselves, stood up and raised their wands. Before they even did anything there were some squeals from people and Severus saw some students actually duck under their tables.

But the Marauders weren't going to cast any spells, despite what their identical smirks implied. Severus leaned forwards in anticipation. They hadn't told him exactly how they were going to do this bit.

With four identical wand movements a massive, horizon scroll appeared over the doors to the hall. It unfurled itself to display one line of text in very elegant looking text. Typical. They used Sirius' handwriting again.

'ENJOYED LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER TODAY? HOPE IT WAS FUN, WE CERTIANLY THOUGHT SO!' It read, causing whispers to break out across the tables. All the Professors were frowning at it, realising that they'd all been had.

"I knew nothing was going to happen today," Severus heard Avery brag.

He had to hide a smile, knowing that Avery had actually been the jumpiest of everyone today. That was even including the first years!

Then the scroll dissolved into a puff of smoke, leaving behind another set of text, this time in gold ribbon.

'Courtesy of the Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs'.

There were groans and sound of annoyance as the whole school came to realise that the prank was that there was no prank. Many a dirty look was cast at the Marauders. What fools. What gullible fools.

The Marauders looked very pleased with themselves. As they should. They had everyone fooled. Well, maybe except for Lily, who Severus noticed was doing that fond head shake she always did at James. But she didn't look too surprised at the turn of events. Severus wondered if James had told Lily what was happening, he seemed to be incapable of keeping anything from her.

Well, Severus couldn't linger over lunch forever and he didn't exactly want to be near Avery or Mulc9ber for any longer than necessary. Oh, and classes, there were classes to get to. Something everyone seemed to have forgotten about in the aftermath of the prank.

The Marauders caught up with him as he left the Hall.

"What did you think?" James asked eagerly with a big grin on his face.

"It was good, wasn't it?" Sirius added.

"It was hilarious," Severus confirmed.

"We added shadows to the writing," Peter said proudly. "For you."

"Because you like to stick to the shadows, like you said earlier," Sirius added.

"And this way you're included in the Marauders without anyone knowing," James finished.

That... that was oddly touching and incredibly sappy but Severus was coming to expect that from these boys. It was ridiculous. In the best way possible but still ridiculous.

"Do you like it?" Sirius asked hopefully.

Severus felt something stir inside him.

"Yeah, it's great," he choked out.

Tuesday 4th April 1978

Hogwarts Grounds, 16:00

Now that Easter was over it felt like exams were nearly on them and the school year was nearly over. Their time at Hogwarts was nearly over. Lily wasn't sure how she felt about that. Everything was starting to become a bit more real and looming to her. It was nearly the end of the year. The end of her Seventh Year. Her final year at Hogwarts.

Lily did not feel ready for that. She just didn't. There was no way that she was going to be a proper adult in less than three months. It just didn't seem right. There was no way that was right.

It was weird. It didn't feel like she was in any way done with school. Done with Hogwarts. How did it feel like she had done so much but at the same time done so little?

She had had seven years here. That was a lot of time but such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things. Seven years of working hard and playing hard, she was glad to say. Lily thought she had pretty much experienced everything. There were her classes - all of which she did well in, her friends (who were excellent), then the was choir (even if it did fizzle out, it had been fun) and let's not forget just the whole dream of learning magic coming true. How many girls could actually say that? Girls who were brought up as magical, of course. Very few. And she was one of them.

And now that was all coming to an end. So, yes, she was already looking at Hogwarts with a sense of nostalgia. She just couldn't help it. So much had happened in here over the past seven years. She had made new friends, learned magic, nearly lost a friend, fallen in what she thought was love and gained even more friends. Everything was, mostly, thought of with happiness. Which was something she was glad of. It would be horrid if all she could think of were bad times.

And there were going to be good times coming ahead. She was sure of it. Just because something was ending didn't mean it was the end. No, as cliché as it sounded, it was a new beginning. They were going to enter the world. Be productive. James and Sirius were going to become Marauders. So was Marlene. She had accepted her apprenticeship for her Mastery in Charms with Flitwick in conjunction with the Department of Mysteries. Well, verbally, she still needed the official contract. But that involved a meeting with all protested that would have to wait when school was out. So, Lily had done all she could on that front. Now all she had to do was focus on her exams.

Sunday 9th April 1978

Hogwarts Grounds, 12:00

Oh, how glad Tonks was to get outside. The weather had been absolutely horrible for the last few days. Never mind April Showers, more like April... Flooding? Okay, that didn't have quite the same ring to it but still. You got her point. It had been wet. Very wet. So wet, in fact, that despite it being sunny for the last two days, the ground was still damp. And downright sodden down by the Greenhouses. Thankfully, she didn't have Herbology until Tuesday. Hopefully it would be dried out by then or else Tonks could guarantee that she'd be sitting in class covered in mud. She always seemed to find the most slippery patch.

But it was still the weekend so Tonks banished all thoughts of school from her mind. She and Chryssie were making the most of the sunshine, even if it was still a bit chilly. Just because it was Spring didn't mean it was starting to get warm. This was Scotland, after all. Sometimes they still got snow at this time of year.

"How many towers does Hogwarts even have?" Chryssie asked.

They were talking about the castle; in case you hadn't realised. Well, more like it played havoc with your perspective. Tonks was still convinced that the towers moved. There's other reason why the towers looked so different from a different angle.

"Ravenclaw Tower, Gryffindor, the Astronomy and the Headmaster's, right?" Tonks counted off. "That's four." She looked at the castle. "Wait, there's six. Oh, the North Tower. Divination."

"And the Owlery," Chryssie reminded her.

"Oh yeah. That's that closest one, isn't it?"

"Pretty sure that's Gryffindor Tower. Because it's opposite Ravenclaw Tower."

Tonks squinted up at the castle, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Which one even is Ravenclaw Tower?" she asked.

Was it bad she didn't know that? It was confusing trying to map the inside of the castle from the outside and all the towers were pretty much identical. The only reason why she knew which one the Astronomy Tower was Gryffindor the fact that it looked over Hagrid's hut. Though, she supposed from a distance they all overlooked his hut? Oh, now she was even more confused.

"It's the tallest one of course," Chryssie replied like she was stupid or something.

Remember how each of the towers were identical? Yeah, that because they were the same height!

"What are you two up to?" James asked, suddenly appearing from behind them and making them jump. "Something mischievous?"

"As if, Potter," Chryssie scoffed.

"We're trying to figure out which tower is which," said Tonks.

"What do you mean?"

"Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Tower are basically identical," Chryssie explained. "I was just telling Dora here that Ravenclaw Tower is the taller one."

"Ravenclaw Tower isn't the tallest tower," James scoffed. "Gryffindor Tower is."

"No," Chryssie said forcibly. "It's Ravenclaw Tower. We're associated with the air and eagles, of course we'd have the tallest tower. Reach for the sky and all that."

"No, Gryffindor Tower is the tallest because we're the boldest."

Tonks watched them go back and forth in amusement. She wasn't sure if she should point out that she was pretty sure they were exactly the same height. Actually, it looked like all of the towers were the same height.

The rest of the Marauders chose this moment to catch up to James.

"What's going on?" Peter asked, panting slightly.

Tonks just pointed at the pair.

"Ravenclaw Tower is taller."

"No, it's not!"

"It so is."

"I'm pretty sure both towers are the same height," Remus interjected, figuring out what was going on.

"No, Gryffindor is taller!" James insisted. "Because it's the best House."

"As if," Chryssie scoffed.

"It is!"

"Now you're just spouting rubbish."

"It's a fact."

"Fiction."

"Fact."

And Lily came to join the party because why not. Tonks wasn't even sure where she came from but oh well. All they needed was Marlene and Snape to round out the group.

"What on earth is going on?" Lily asked in exasperation when her boyfriend was too distracted by an argument to greet her properly.

"Your sister here thinks that Ravenclaw Tower," he spat out the house name like it was something disgusting. "Is the tallest Tower."

Lily blinked at him. "And?"

"Tell her she's wrong!"

Much to Tonks' amusement, he even added a foot stomp.

Lily looked between her sulking boyfriend and her indignant sister and shook her head.

"I am not getting involved in this."

"Lily!" James and Chryssie shouted after her as she walked away.

"She agrees with me!" They turned and said to each other.

"I think I'm going with Lily," Remus decided.

"Coward!" James shouted after him only to get the finger in response.

Then he turned a hopeful gaze on Tonks, Peter and Sirius.

"Oh, no," Peter said shaking his head. "I'm not getting involved. "Moony, wait up!"

With that he also jogged off.

"Hmpf," said James, not looking happy with this turn of events. "I'll show them."

"You mean I will," Chryssie corrected him, pointing to herself.

"No. What I said was right."

"No, it isn't."

"You'll see," James turned to Chryssie. "Gryffindor has the bigger tower."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Chryssie scoffed.

Tuesday 11th April 1978

Dungeons, 23:30

"Too bad we don't have proper masks," Mulciber grumbled as he put on his robes.

Not his school robes, his proper ones. The ones given to them to attend meetings in.

"Regulus does," Avery said, giving him a nudge.

Regulus just gave him a look. Of course, he wouldn't be wearing his actual mask around Hogwarts. And give Dumbledore himself on a silver platter? No thank you. The Dark Lord required his followers to be a bit smarter than that. More cunning. Not idiotic, like Mulciber was trying very hard to be.

But even Mulciber's stupidity could dampen his high spirits. Regulus couldn't help but grin in his excitement. Yes, he knew it was unseemly but he couldn't help it. They had a job to do. A job given to them by the Dark Lord himself. Who wouldn't be proud and excited about that?

And he was going to do this well. Prove that he could carry out the Dark Lord's will. Sure, some people might think of this as a piddling task. Not worth anything at all. But Regulus saw it as a stepping stone for bigger and better things. If he couldn't be trusted to do this then he could be trusted to do something a bit bigger and then bigger again and so on. It was a process. One Regulus was very happy to be a part of.

"Do you all know the spells?" He hissed.

There was no point in doing this if it was going to go wrong, after all. Actually, it needed to go perfectly right.

The insulted looks je got in return weren't enough for him. Regulus did not need anybody's stupid pride messing this up. This was something that the Dark Lord instructed them to do. There was no room for error.

"Well?" He demanded when he got no response.

"Yes."

"Of course."

"Show me!"

He really wasn't going to take any chances. So, what if that annoyed them? So, what if they resented the idea that he thought they were stupid (they really weren't that bright but Regulus was never going to say that out loud). Again, no mistakes were going to be allowed here. They were going tondo this correctly and they were going to do it well.

Thank Merlin he did ask because everyone had something wrong with how they did it. What was with Mulciber and his big arm movements? And really, was it that difficult for Avery to pronounce things right for all the syllables? Apparently, it was.

It was several corrections later before Regulus was happy with everyone's capabilities. They were now producing paint. Right, that should be enough. The night wasn't getting any younger here.

They stuck to the shadows even though it was too late for any Prefect to be out roaming the Dungeons. Not that any Slytherin Prefect would stop them if they knew what was good for them.

"Let's start here," Regulus hissed as they approached the corridor that led to the Potions classroom. Everyone would walk past here. It was a good spot.

"We'll have to do it by the Charms Corridor or something as well of we don't want to lead the Professors right to Slytherin," Avery grumbled.

"I know that," Regulus replied, irritated that they weren't happy with his orders.

Despite the brief grumbling, his friends did do as they were told. Soon wands were out and raised, spell being cast. Regulus, of course, made sure to go first.

The spells were a success and Regulus watched with satisfaction as marks began to appear on the Dungeon walls. Then he frowned at the lopsided shape. Maybe they should have practiced somewhere first.

It was definitely a skull. And there was definitely a snake coming out of its mouth. Sort of. It was more of a rectangle with a tail.

Good thing that there were plenty of walls in the castle.

Wednesday 12th April 1978

Potions Lab, Dungeons, 18:00

"I can't believe it."

"It's awful," Lily agreed.

"I mean, right here in Hogwarts!" James added, pacing up and down the lab.

"Yes, they have some nerve but-"

"Under Dumbledore's nose! Did they really think they were going to get away with it?"

"James, we should really-"

"I can't believe students here could support such a disgusting, foul..."

Lily sighed and gave up trying to interrupt her boyfriend. He obviously needed to rant so she would let him rant. Brewing a complicated potion when he was that worked up wouldn't be a good idea anyway. And what happened last night really was disgusting. Lily couldn't believe it happened either.

Someone in Hogwarts had daubed disgusting pro-Voldemort propaganda on several walls inside either castle. Of course, they didn't refer to the man as 'Voldemort'. They never did. He was their Lord or something. Lily thought that was ridiculous but their views certainly weren't. They were dangerous.

'Blood will out'

'Dark Lord gives you power'

'Muggleborns don't belong'

'Keep Hogwarts Pure'

Those slogans were related over and over again. On the walls and by students discussing what had happened. What was even worse was Lily was pretty sure she heard some people agree with them. Just what was Hogwarts becoming?

"Do they think they'll get away with it?" James seethed. "Dumbledore doesn't stand this sort of thing!"

Speaking of their Headmaster, he had looked unusually stern this morning as he informed the school of what had happened. Apparently, the vandals had used paint or something that was difficult to remove. You know, so everyone could enjoy their work. Which, Lily was happy to see, very few did. And the ones who did Lily wasn't really surprised by, to be honest. They were the worst of her year and the year below. Swaggering bullies that hated everyone who wasn't their standard of normal. Which was quite a few people, as you could imagine.

Lily wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones behind the vandalism. They being Mv9ber and Avery. They weren't exactly subtle about their so-called allegiances. She was also sure that Black Minor (Regulus? Something like that, Sirius had said his name before) was also behind it but he wasn't quite as obvious about the things he was involved in.

Oh, and James was still ranting. She understood why he felt the need to but was it really necessary to go on for so long? Not in her opinion.

"Then do something about it!" Lily exploded, finally fed up with him. "Don't just sit around and complain!"

James stopped, gobsmacked at her.

"But I-"

"Sure, you can't investigate or fight someone," Lily brush off his unspoken objections. "But do something you can do! Work towards becoming an Auror, show them that this sort of attitude is unacceptable!"

"I am!" James retorted.

"Then stop complaining and start doing! Brew this Potion so you get a higher grade in Potions. Get into the Auror Academy!"

James stared at her again and then nodded. "Okay."

"And- wait, what?"

James nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" Had she heard that right?

He picked up his cauldron and tapped his wand to ignite the flames underneath. "Okay. Let's do this. Amortensia."

Now it was her turn to blink.

"Yes. Amortensia."

It was several hours later when Sirius and the rest of the Marauders eventually found them.

"They're in here, guys!" He called behind him from his position at the cracked open door.

"I told you," came Severus' disgruntled voice.

"Well, sorry for not believing that my friend who doesn't brew Potions when he doesn't have to would be in the Potions Lab."

"Shh!" hissed Lily and James.

"We're nearly done!"

"Don't wreck it!"

Sirius gave them an amused look but thankfully kept quiet.

James stirred the potion again and shook his head.

"I'm telling you, Lily, I've brewed this wrong."

"There's no way you did. I've been watching you this while time and you've done every step right this time."

"Are you sure? You aren't even looking at the textbook."

"From all the times we've brewed this, trust me, I know this recipe back to front and upside down."

"Well, maybe you left something out."

"I'm not the one brewing the potion and you have been following your textbook."

"Well, something's not right," James insisted. "And you know it."

"Well, there shouldn't be."

"Maybe if you weren't wearing so much perfume, I would have been able to concentrate better. That's probably why I left out a step or something!"

"Well, maybe if you weren't wearing so much cologne, I would have been able to see if you mess up a step." Lily retorted; arms folded. "Seriously, James. I can't even stand near you, it's so strong."

"Should I tell them, or should you?" Remus asked Sirius in a whisper.

"Want to share your comments with the class?" Lily asked sharply.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. Well, somebody was tired and snappy.

"Sirius would like to," Remis said, pushing him forwards.

"What? No, I don't!" He dragged Remus in front of him. "You do it."

Both James and Lily were now standing in front of them, hand on their hips and looking very intimidating.

"Just tell us," James said impatiently.

"Uh, well," Sirius coughed. "Shadow?"

"Don't call me that," Severus grumbled. "And I don't know what you're talking about."

"Because we have superior noses."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Remis said loudly in an effort to be heard over them but ended up being too loud and everyone was now staring at him. "It means," he repeated in a more normal tone of voice. "That we can smell that you," he pointed at Lily, "Aren't wearing perfume. And you," he pointed at James now, "are defined not wearing cologne."

"He means you're very sweaty," Sirius said unprompted, which earned him a glare.

"That doesn't make any sense," James complained. "That's all I can smell."

"Same here," Lily agreed, nodding.

"Well, we can't smell it," Sirius told them. "I smell a musty smell, chocolate, broomstick oil and the smell of freshly dug earth."

"And I smell leather, coffee, bubble-gum and a sort of fresh perfume," Remus said with a shrug.

"Lily's?" James asked hopefully.

Remus shook his head. "Hers is more floral. And she isn't wearing any."

"I don't wear any when I know I'm going to brew," she explained. "It messes with how I know certain reactions have happened."

"Well, I'm not wearing my cologne." James denied. "It ran out a few days ago. It's coming by owl order tomorrow, hopefully.

"Then how come I can smell it?"

Severus made an exasperated noise.

"Both or you are supposed to be good at Potions."

"That doesn't stop them being oblivious," Sirius told him.

"Oh, I think they've got it now," Remus said, watching as both James and Lily turned a lovely shade of pink.

Sunday 16th April 1978

Library, 11:30

"I still don't know how we're going to go about this," Remus said quietly as they entered the Library.

"Neither do I," James agreed.

"What do you mean, you don't know? You said you were going to come up with a plan!"

"I was but nothing came to me."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Remus demanded.

James shrugged. "Just wing it?"

Remus gaped at him. "Wing it? Just wing it? And how well do you expect that to go over?"

"I don't know! But I don't know how they would react to even a well thought out plan!"

"Because you haven't thought of one!"

"Well, we can't predict their reactions!"

"We could if any of us was any good at Divination," Peter piped up.

James dismissed that as a load of rubbish.

"You either have the gift or you don't. You can't be trained in it, you know."

"Gift of what?" Lily asked, startling them as she came up from behind them.

Sirius shrieked like a little girl, much to everyone's amusement.

"Nice noise, Black," Severus sniggered.

"Shhh!"

"What did you want to talk to us about?" Marlene asked, bringing up the rear.

Yeah, she was being included in this discussion as well because apparently Remus had told her about him?

"Come over here," James said, leading them to the very back of the Library.

Surprisingly, no one was there despite exams being right around the corner.

"Want to not be disturbed?" Severus offered.

"Please."

Severus quickly waved his wand. "Mufflaito."

Such a useful spell. It Lily had come up with in her spell-crafting class for her coursework. It made everyone around them get a buzzing noise in their ears if they tried to listen in on them.

"Well?" Lily asked expectantly.

"Uh."

Now that they were all together, James wasn't exactly sure where to start. Maybe he should have planned this.

"Winging it doesn't seem such a good idea now, does it?" Remus muttered in his ear.

"Shut up," James said weakly, elbowing him.

Lily coughed pointedly.

"Oh, er. Yes. Right."

"Smooth, Prongs," Sirius snickered.

"You're a part of this too!"

"We're Animagi!" Peter blurted out and then shrunk back in his seat and James and Sirius glared at him. "Sorry, I couldn't take it anymore!"

Severus and Lily stared at them in shock. Absolutely shock. Marlene looked downright impressed. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

"Why are you telling us this?" Lily demanded. "Why now?"

The Marauders all looked at each other. None of them really wanting to speak.

"Because we trust you," Remus said.

"And trust means you know the full secret," James finished.

"Well, secrets," Peter added. "You know, because Remus is one secret and we're another. Or a few. Three, really."

"And we didn't want to leave you out any longer," James said quickly.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes until-

"Wicked," Marlene breathed.

"Of course, you would think that," Lily said, hand firmly covering her face.

"Because it is."

"It's dangerous, that's what it is."

"But they're fine. And it was for a good cause," Marlene argued, waving a hand at Remus.

"When did you tell her, by the way?" James asked.

Remus shrugged. "Last week. It felt wrong to leave her out."

"And I thought you were all reticent about it," James grumbled good-naturedly.

"It's Marlene. Not the whole school."

"Was it very difficult?" Severus asked interestedly.

Which, of course, opened a whole flood of questions. And more scolding from Lily.

Friday 21st April 1978

Seventh Year Gryffindor Boys Dorm, 16:00

Remus stuck his head out of the window. Yep. There was James, hovering on his broomstick. He knew he had heard swooping noises from outside his window!

"James, what in Merlin's name are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah, and I'm the Queen."

"You're looking very well, Your Majesty," James said with a straight face, giving him a quick bow.

"Oh, shut up." James just flashed a grin at him. "Come on, tell me what you are doing."

"Hey, Prongs, come on," a very familiar voice urged.

"Oh, Padfoot is there too, is he?"

Feet came into his line of vision. As did Sirius' face as he bent down from his broom.

"Hi, Moony."

"Padfoot. Are you going to tell me what in Merlin's name is going on?"

"We're just ensuring something."

"Ensuring what? That you're going to get killed?"

"No, definitely not."

"Is it worth getting killed over?"

"Not of we don't manage it before that!"

"Sirius."

"What? It's important!"

Then Remus noticed something. He frowned. Had James had that in his hand this whole time?

"James, why do you have a yardstick in your hand?"

Remus figured that he was probably going to regret asking that question but it had to be asked.

"You'll see."

"I think I'm going to be seeing you plummet to your death."

"We're not going to fall, Moony."

"Uh huh."

Sirius swooped down so je was level with the window. He was wearing that big grin of his on his face that sometimes made Remus' heart jump.

"We're much too good at flying for that," Sirius bragged.

"Pride comes before a fall."

And he really didn't want it to be literally.

"Well, we're not going to fall."

"Please don't. What is this even for anyway?"

And there was the regret. He really should know by now not to ask any question but he was completely perplexed by them having a yardstick. Why would they need a yardstick?

"To make something taller." James said.

"Three feet taller, to be exact," Sirius added.

"Well, probably just two and a half," James corrected. "We need to fasten it securely, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Sirius nodded.

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. "And why do you need to fasten it to something?"

"You see, it turns out that Ravenclaw Tower and Gryffindor Tower are the exact same height."

"We measured."

Remus shook his head to try and get the image of them using a ridiculously long tape measure out of it.

"And that's a problem, how?"

"Because it means that Gryffindor Tower isn't the tallest!" James said in an outraged tone.

"And that's a problem?"

"Exactly!"

"No, I wasn't agreeing with you. I -"

"So, we're fixing it," Sirius interrupted, gesturing at the yardstick.

Remus opened his mouth and then closed it again. You know what? It wasn't worth the argument. He shook his head.

"Don't gouge yourselves on anything," he told them before resolutely pulling g his head out of the window and slamming it shut behind him.

Idiots. His friends were still idiots even after all these years.