Oh goodness, finals sure did suck. But I'm done, and I now have time to write my story. Hurrah! But then of course, I get writers' block. Boo! So this is a short chapter, as I'm not entirely sure what the prank will be, but I have a few good ideas. I hope to have chapter ten up after Christmas, if not before. Have fun reading, and happy holidays everyone!

Chpt. 9- Plans and Preparation

"You're mad," Iona pleaded, as her two best friends went through their prank checklist.

It had taken almost a month to plan their prank and get all of the supplies, and Iona had given them the same speech everyday since she heard the plan. Meanwhile, Snape had continued to humiliate Lyric at least twice a week, and Trelawney had again foretold Lyric of her future treacherous lover. Lyric had tried to ignore the destiny, but felt like it was imminent that she must fall for her cruel professor.

"No, we're not." Lyric defended.

"Well, I am a little mad, I'll admit," Tristan said, grinning his boyish grin.

"You're about to pull an incredibly cruel prank on one of your professors. You will be caught. You will be expelled," Iona was frustrated with her two best friends. "I'm going to be royally pissed if I lose both of my best friends in my last year at school. If I have to spend the rest of the year with only Amarantha and Amaryllis to talk to, I'll likely go mad myself."

"We aren't going anywhere, because we're not going to get caught," Lyric said. "I don't want to get kicked out of school anymore than you do. This is full-proof."

"I'm sorry," cried Iona, "I missed the part where your plan is full-proof. There is a ton of evidence in Tristan's room, not to mention he's the only student in this school with access to the potions you're using. And of course, you stole the Invisibility Cloak out of your uncle's office, it's not like many students around here are running around with a cloak like that in their possession. Lyric, you're supposed to be the level-headed, reasonable one. Why are you doing this?"

Lyric was ready to defend her actions, but Tristan jumped in.

"Iona," Tristan began, "there is nothing to worry about. These potions were extras in my father's Apothecary shop, but no one knows about them, because my father thought they had all been spilled last year, after Tallula began practicing ballet in his storeroom. And we'll return the Invisibility Cloak the second we're done with it. It's not like Dumbledore will miss it, he had is all locked up and label J.P. It's not even his cloak. So stop worrying."

"And what about you're camera," Iona asked, "a simple spell, and it'll show the headmaster exactly what pictures you took."

"Ah, well, that's where the sacrifice comes in," Tristan said glumly, "I will be sacrificing my camera to the God of Practical Jokes. After we take the pictures, we'll develop them, stomp on the camera, burn the pieces, and spread the ashes out in the lake. We thought of everything Iona, we cannot get caught for this."

"Famous last words," Iona said bitterly, but she soon gave up trying to reason with her friends. She knew she'd never talk them out of it.