Ch 4 the big prank

There plans were made, a map was drawn and James had everything they needed in his bag.

"Ok, so, if this work, we will go down as the best prankers in Hogwarts History!" said Sirius, "But if this goes horribly wrong, I'm blaming you James."

"It was your idea to pull a prank, so I'm blaming you."

"Fine, we blame each other." said Sirius, laughing that bark like laugh of his.

"Deal," said James. "Now, let's go over the plan. Remus, you will be?"

"Waiting by the tree for Snivellus to come out."

"Right, and Peter, you will be?"

"By the fountain, waiting with the bag and Remus's signal."

"Exactly, and Sirius and I will be?"

"Waiting to prank Snivellus!"

"And let's hope we do, I can't stand seeing him and Lily together anymore."

"Mate, how many times have I told you to just let her go? She's a muggle born after all."

"Muggle borns, half blood, pure blood. They're just labels. They mean nothing. It's the person-."

"James, you're starting to sound like a witch there. Careful what you say. Now, it's almost eleven, and lunch starts to be served at twelve thirty, so we have an hour and a half. Let's go."

The boys set off, down the marble staircase and out the doors. Remus walked towards the willow tree by the lake, Peter to the fountain not far from the tree. James and Sirius stopped right outside the door and pretended to talk. Their plan was to make it look like they were having a conversation and up to nothing at all.

Students started to walk out. Some after a very late breakfast, others having a study break. James turned to Sirius.

"Were you able to find a good spell?"

"Yea and this one is better than we thought. I was spying on Snivellus while I was in the library, and I found out he was making up his own spells. This one that I found is one of his, it will be perfect."

"Great, now wait for peter to drop his wand and search for it before casting it. It will distract Snivellus."

"Yea, I know. Wait, I think that's him. Remus better see him." Sure enough, when Sirius looked over at Remus, he was singling Peter, who, on command, dropped his wand and started screaming, "MY WAND, WHERE'S MY WAND." Remus ran over to Peter to help him look. Just as planned Severus was watching them, with a sick smile on his face.

"Lily, where are you going?"

"To help him find his wand." She said as she ran over to Peter and Remus. Severus looked sad, and continued slowly towards the boys and Lily.

"Now," whispered James to Sirius.

"Levicorpous." Whispered Sirius and with a flick of his wand, Severus flew up into the air, hoisted by his ankle.

"Wha-? Who?" he looked over and saw Sirius and James roaring with laughter.

"Peter had the bag."

"No, he forgot it, I've got it right here." Said James, and he opened it up. First he drew out a water bottle and took the cap off.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" said James and the bottle rose into the air. James shot it towards Severus and dumped it on his head.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" said Sirius and the shampoo went out of the bag and some landed on Severus's head.

With another wave of his wand, James sent the other water bottle off to Severus's head and dumped it.

"Look, Snivellus had had his yearly shower!" yelled Sirius and James.

The rest of the school yard started to laugh except for Lily.

"Sev, are you ok?" Lily asked.

"Get, Potter and Black!" was all Severus could manage to say, while the blood rushed to his head.

Lily started to walk towards James and Sirius. Sirius nudged James.

"Your girlfriend is coming," he muttered.

"Evans, so what do you think of our little prank?"

"Potter, if you don't let him down, I'll-."

"What? Kiss me?" said James, a hopeful smile on his face.

"I wouldn't kiss you if it was the choice between you and a toad!"

James lost concentration and so did Sirius.

"Let him down!"

"Afraid I can't. Don't know the counter spell."

"Sev!" Lily said, turning her head towards Severus.

"Potter, Black. What do you think you are doing?" McGonagall had showed up.

"We didn't do anything-." Started James but Lily broke is.

"They hoisted Severus into the air, washed his hair but now they can't get him down."

McGonagall waved her wand and Severus floated to the ground unharmed.

"Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin. Will the four of you follow me, now?!" said McGonagall and the boys followed her back into the castle and up to her office in silence.

"I don't know what you four were thinking, but it is unacceptable to use a spell like that. Where did you learn that?"

"I read it off of Snivellus's book."

"Snivellus?"

"He mean's Snape."

"Snape taught you that spell?"

"No, I stole it from him!"

"Well, that'll be detention again boys. My offices, five O'clock. Now, to the great hall for lunch. Then you're to stay in your common room until dinner, and then it's my office. Understood?"

"Yes professor," they muttered and walked out of her office.

"Now, seeing as it's the two of your first offence, you will be in here writing lines. As for you two,"

McGonagall said, "I've never seen two first years so determined to make trouble. Since lines didn't work for you, you'll each be separated and put to cleaning with Filch.

"Potter, I want you to clean trophies in the trophy room while Black, you will be polishing armour. They will shine or you won't be allowed special privileges later in the school year or Hogwarts life.

Is that understood? That goes for all of you."

"Yes professor."

"Now, get too it. Filch is here to escort you to your jobs gentlemen. Pettigrew, Lupin, take a seat here and start writing lines."

The boys set off with Filch.

"Now, lucky for you, these suits of armour are goblin made. Shouldn't take long to polish them. I want all of them on this floor done Black. If you don't finish by midnight, you will continue tomorrow until you finish.

Potter," Filch continued, as Sirius scrawled, "The trophies will take a lot longer. I want them to shine like I've never seen them shine before. Same rules go towards you. Midnight, or continue tomorrow. I'll be in to check every hour." Filch waked away.

"Listen…take this mirror. We can talk to each other, the teachers don't know about it. It's a one of a kind. Don't let Filch or his cat see it."

"Black, follow me."

Sirius gave James a promising look then turned and followed down the corridor to the first suit of armour. James took the mirror.

"This will never work," he muttered to himself and set to work. Picking up the first trophy, this happened to be a list of Prefects. James looked down the list to see if he recognized anyone. He saw a few uncles from generations ago. As he finished cleaning the prefect's trophy, he heard his name whispered.

"Whose there?" he asked. No one answered. Then he heard his name again. It seemed to be coming from the floor. James looked down and saw Sirius in the mirror.

"Whoa, mate, you scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry, but I told you these would work. Now, no matter where we are, we can talk."

"Even in class?"

"Well, that may be a bit harder. May not be able to hide the mirrors, but during detentions, or if one of us is sick, or even over breaks, we can talk."

"Where did you get these?" asked James, examining the mirror.

"My uncle. When he died, he left me a fair bit of gold, and these mirrors. My mother wasn't too happy about the gold, but she never found out about these mirrors. Mu uncle invented them himself and she'd give anything to have them. For all she knew, they smashed when he was killed."

"How'd he die?" asked James, picking up another trophy, the Head Boy and Girl one to be exact.

"Well, no one knows for sure. My suspicion was Death Eaters, but we never exactly found out."

"Well, those Death Eaters are a nasty bit of business."

"Couldn't agree more. Hold it, Filch arrives." said Sirius. He dropped his mirror into his pocket and started to polish the armour. For the rest of the night, the boys chatted to each other, stopping only when Filch came from monitoring the halls every hour. James found when he could be distracted, he performed better and both he and Sirius were able to finish their work before midnight.

"Did you see Filch's face when I showed him the trophies were completed?"

"That's something I'll never forget. Brilliant of you to aim the mirror precisely with out him seeing it."

"Well, that was so I was able to see his reaction to you finishing all the armour. There's got to be, what 10 suits on the floor?"

"Not to mention the animals," said Sirius, "they are a lot harder. Especially when you try to clean-. Never mind. Let's just say, they aren't too friendly."

"Well, the point is, we are detention free. Lets head back to the common room and see if Peter and Remus are finished."

The boys hurried towards the Fat Lady, gave the password and enter to find Peter and Remus exhausted but finished their detention as well.

"I hate lines," muttered Peter, "Worse then homework and note taking."

"I found it quiet simple. Just follow instructions and write. No different the class."

Sirius gave a sceptical look towards Remus.

"Well, it's true. But, how were your detentions. McGonagall said you were most likely have it tomorrow as well."

"Finished it easily. Filch was pretty angry though."

"You should have seen his face. Won't see anything like it again. He was in such disbelief."

"Well, we should get some sleep. Classes start early."

"Remus, you really need to learn to be less school active and more a rebel."

"Maybe, but it all depends on this first term. My parents and I have made a bet, you see. If I get excellent marks in all my classes, then they will buy me new robes, wand and an owl."

Sirius gave a look as if to say what's so great about that but before he could say anything, Remus walked up the stairs to the dorms, Peter and James following. Sirius gave up and followed, ready for a good nights sleep.

When the boys woke up the next morning and entered the common room, they were applauded. They all seemed to think the prank was brilliant. There was only one person who wasn't too happy about it, Lily Evans.

"Why would you go and do that to Sev?" she demanded, walking up to James and Sirius, a very cold and serious look on her face.

"Well, we wanted to show the school who we are, Evans, you know, so when the seventh years graduate, they won't forget us and so everyone knows our names." said Sirius. He looked at James, who got the picture.

"Yea, we wanted to make a name for ourselves."

"Potter, if you think pulling pranks on innocent people will give you a name…"

"Look around, Evans, everyone loves us," said James.

"Yea, watch." Said Sirius, then "Anyone who thinks that prank was brilliant, speak now or forever hold your peace!" he bellowed. The whole common room lit up with cheers and laughter.

"I'd say we did ourselves good, wouldn't you, Sirius?" asked James.

"That we did James that we did. So, Evans, why don't you run along to your little friend and comfort him while you can." And Lily stalked off.

"I think I've finally gotten over her, mate. I mean if she didn't think that prank was brilliant, then obviously there's something wrong with her, right?"

"James, I think it's best for you not to hold on to her. You're only eleven after all, there's plenty of time for you to get a girl."

"True, but have you notice how the girls look at you?"

"Well, I don't plan on looking at them yet. I think I'm going to focus on pranking, before I worry about girls."

"Sirius, you really are mental, aren't you." said James, laughingly.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast." And they headed down to the Great Hall.

When the boys entered, there were even more cheers. Sirius smiled, waving in acknowledgment and James nodded his head. Peter, who seemed never to have this much attention before, was waving and Remus seemed not to notice anything as he took his seat at the Gryffindor table. All throughout breakfast, the boys had people coming up to them. The only table that seemed not to enjoy this was Slytherin.

"It was all James and I really," Sirius was saying, "I came up with the plan but James was the one who really pulled it together, finding the spell and everything."

"What was the spell anyways? I've never seen anything like it." Asked a third year boy, names Ernie Towlesmeth.

"Well it was-." started James, but was cut off by a sneer right behind him.

Everyone turned around, no one seemed to notice Severus Snape approach the table.

"Why, here's the man of the hour, Potter." said Snape.

"Now, Snivellus don't make us get out the shampoo again." Sirius said, to a roar of laughter.

"Black, I don't expect you to know one end from the other of the bottle. From what I hear, Lupin was the brains of the combat and you just gave orders."

"Snivellus, let's drop the child games. We beat you. We pulled the prank of the year!" James retorted, but Snape wasn't going to let it end there.

"Potter, you think you're so cool. Hanging with Black, when we all know, if he wasn't here, you wouldn't have any friends at all."

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" James asked. "Cause if it was, you need to get some new ones."

"Potter, the best you could come up with is the same old greasy haired jokes. They are seriously getting old." Lily had approached.

"Evans, how nice to see you again. Seeing as how you're hanging out with the chief greasy ball, I wouldn't expect you to understand how it works."

"Snivellus, having a girl defend your battles is pretty bad." Sirius stated.

"I'll take you on any time, any day."

"Fine, let's see how you do when no teachers are around. We'll meet up by the lake, and cast protection charms-."

"Sirius, are you forgetting we are first years and don't know the first thing about protection charms…"

"James, we have a ton of supporters who could cast the, I'm sure everyone would want to see this slime ball go down." There was a cheer at this.

"So, at lunch, Saturday. Big tree by the lake. Anyone who wants to see the duel be there. We need those charms to keep the teachers away."

"Black, Potter, you're not gonna know what hit you." And Snape and Lily walked away.

Word seemed to spread fast about the duel between Snape and the pranksters. Everywhere James and Sirius went, they were getting congratulated and patted on the back, being told to 'stick it to Snape' and that they had their money on them. It wasn't until they walked into the common room just before lunch that something seemed to bring James to his senses about what they were going to do.

James had just walked through the portrait hole and went to sit on one of the best chairs in the room when he noticed a bunch of girls in a corner. James walked closer to get a better look and noticed Lily crying there.

"Lily, it doesn't matter. You shouldn't be upset about this. I mean, why do you even hang out with him?"

"Mary, don't you get it. Before Sev, I didn't even know what I could do was magic, I'm muggle born remember, and when he told me I was a witch, well-." Lily seemed to break off at this.

"At first, I was sceptical, I mean, me and my sister were at the park and goes and says I'm a witch and I left him, but latter, well, we became friends. Before Sev, all I had was Tunny, now all I have is him when I'm at home."

"Didn't you say you had a sister?"

"Petunia won't even talk to me. She hates me."

"Why would she hate you?"

"Well, the thing is, when she found out I was a witch, she wanted to be one too. Even wrote to Dumbledore, but when she rejected him, nicely I might add, well, she seemed to rethink everything and decided I'm a freak.

"Now, not only have I lost my sister, but I'm going to lose my best friend."

"Lily," Mary started to say, but then Lily noticed James.

"Potter, why'd you have to go and ruin everything?" Lily was screaming at him, "Sev is going to be killed because of you!"

"Evan, you're being over dramatic. It's a friendly little duel between two-."

"Three, mate." Sirius broke in.

"It's a two on one, it's not fair. I offered to help him but he seems to think he can do it on his own. He said he's going to kill you or die trying!"

"So, you think we are going to beat him." Sirius said.

"If you hurt him, I will come after you!" Lily said coldly and ran towards the girls dorms.

"Now that's settled, James, I believe it is time to have a little duel with our friend Snivellus." Sirius had taken out a fancy little pocket watch.

"That's nice," James said. But Sirius gave a look.

"I hate it, you see this," Sirius had turned the watch over, "the black family crescent. Our house is filled with things with it on it. Goblets, dinner ware, everything."

"Well, we better get going." Remus had walked up.

"Yea, the battle starts in a few minutes." Peter squeaked.

"There will be no battle."

The portrait hole swung shut and every head turned in the direction of the voice. They all knew it well. The sternness to it unmistakable.

"Black, Potter, I thought I had warned you against these types of things." McGonagall said.

"Professor, why, I didn't see or hear you come in."

"I heard rumours about a duel and couldn't believe my ears. After the detentions you've had this year, only a little more than a month in, I couldn't believe you'd try anything stupid."

"You see professor, Snivellus actually challenged us."

"Beside the point, Black. The fact that you considered it is a terrible thought. The both of you, and Mr. Snape, will have a weeks worth of detentions for this."

"Professor!"

"Potter, I have warned you more then enough times already. Professor Slughorn is already dealing with Snape and he will join the both of you in detention. Meet in Filch's office, at eight tomorrow evening. Don't be late, or Hagrid will be most disappointed."

As McGonagall turned to leave she looked back, "And if anyone dares try something like this again, the consequences will be severe." And the portrait closed behind her.

There was an instant uproar.

"Potter, I can't believe that. I was really hoping to see that Snape boy go down."

"Thanks, McMillan, but I don't think we are going to have a chance anymore."

"James what we need to do is just lie low until after Christmas holidays. That gives McGonagall a lot of time to believe we've stopped and calmed down."

"Can you hold out for another three months Sirius?"

"I can try. Maybe do a little mischief with you but besides that, we have the holidays to plan another big prank."

"See your point." The boys had lowered their voices and talking privately with Peter and Remus now.

"Can you all meet at my place, some time over the holidays? I know it's a long way away but the sooner we get a plan together, the better it will be."

"James, we'll be there. Don't you worry." said Sirius. "For now, I think we should just concentrate on how to survive detention with Filch and Snivellus."

A/N: I hope you are enjoying this so far… please let me know!