CHAPTER 3
A Bored Sirius is a Dangerous Sirius
30th October 1971…..
"I'm bored." Sirius said, lying in his bed, twirling his wand in his hand, huffing every now and then.
"You could complete the Potions essay on antidotes, if you really have nothing to do." Remus pointed out.
"Let's pretend I didn't hear that. James, let's go do something, anything, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon." Sirius pestered, shaking James' arm violently.
"Sirius, I have to finish my Transfiguration essay, it's due after lunch. You could finish yours too." He suggested.
"I've done it, copied it off Adam last night."
"Then sod off, let me do mine." James said shooing him away. Sirius grunted, and resignedly, walked out of the dorm.
Sirius wandered around the Common Room, looking for something, something to trigger his mischief senses. He spotted two forth year girls excitedly talking about something; he quickly crept up behind their sofa to eavesdrop.
"….. I love the floating pumpkin lights, they're so pretty…"
"That's not even the best part of the decorations; I think the floating spooky faces are better."
Hmm. Spooky faces, floating pumpkins…. Sirius's fun would commence now.
31st October, 1971, Halloween Night, Great Hall,
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry….
"I hope everything goes as per planned." James said, rubbing his hands.
"Believe me, if it does, this is going to be the best prank ever done." Sirius mumbled under his breath.
The pumpkin lanterns in the Great Hall burned with a spooky green light, instead of the usual red. No head was paid to it, since it was assumed just as an improvisation in the décor. Little did the others know… though there was an addition that was hard not to notice. Theatrical masks, all laughing evilly, and red smoke billowed out of their mouths as if they were smoking. The smoke would vanish within a fixed few seconds of leaving their mouths.
Sirius eavesdropped a blonde fifth year talking to some bloke "Whoa, these mask things are cool, I wonder who thought of this." "Probably Dumbledore." Muttered the bloke disinterestedly, his eyes fixed on his food.
Halfway through the feast, James muttered the queue, "3, 2, 1… Go!" with a flick of their wands, the pumpkins slowly, inconspicuously, started gathering over the Slytherin table.
"Guys, are you sure about this?" Remus muttered to his friends.
"Absolutely." Sirius and James chorused in unison. Peter just shrugged his shoulders.
In a few minutes all the pumpkins floating in the hall had gathered over the Slytherin table. It went unnoticed by most, but the rest eyed them suspiciously. The pumpkins looked so harmless, yet a bit unnerving. Sirius waved his wand again, and PLACK! All the pumpkins collectively smashed in the air as if each had been smacked with a huge hammer. A green and mucous like substance fell on all the Slytherins, covering them in goo that looked and smelled like troll boogers. Sounds of eww, gross and that was awesome and laughter echoed in the hall. The laughing faces laughed hard and no longer evilly, but amusedly. The trio, James, Sirius and Peter roared with laughter, high-fiving each other. Remus also let out a chuckle.
The Slytherins looked as if they all had eaten an excessively sour candy. A few had rushed out of the hall, take a wild guess where. Most shook off the top layers of their clothes and wiped their exposed flesh with whatever clean cloth they could find. The professors were up on their feet, taking in the spectacle, a few amused, the rest enraged and rushing to the Slytherins.
Jessie eyed James, Sirius and Peter. She knew they obviously had a part in this, but she was suspicious about Remus too. Constructing that goo wouldn't have been too difficult, but seeing that the rest three were rubbish at Potions, it probably would have turned out to be reactive and would have spontaneously combusted had they made it, and would have consumed them as well. She was a bit impressed, and fought the urge to smirk at them, lest they know she had figured out their conspiracy. Slytherins often did trouble her because of her ethnicity, so she didn't mind them being made a spectacle of.
However, she doubted this was it. There was something else as well; she saw the four draw their wands out, while the rest were still laughing, or enjoying the feast. They motioned their wands in a pattern in unison, and the laughing faces came in the formation of a full triangle, each face slowly filling the space within the boundary, right in the centre of the hall. The room grew darker, and the smoke from the faces turned a ghostly blue and didn't disappear anymore, instead it crowded around them like mist. Suddenly, the faces stopped laughing, bringing the volume of sounds in the room down. For a moment, it was going perfect, but the faces started faltering in their formation, a few hardly managed to stay afloat, the rest simply gave up on the smoke. Jessie was enjoying, but the foursome panicked. They desperately tried doing something, but it had little effect. The faces did come back into formation, but the smoke was about to go off. Jessie drew out her wand and as quickly as possible racked her brains for a solid spell. A1s they kept striking her, muttering the spells under her breath, she managed to help bring them smoke back, stronger and bluer. Phew. She thought to herself. The late hours in the library do pay.
A deep, heavy voice boomed from each of the faces, as if a hundred people with same voice were speaking together. "People of Hogwarts, ladies and gentlemen, the beautiful and the ugly, the old and the young, we, the Faces, responsible for the goo," the voice turned casual and said, "Sorry, not sorry," it deepened again, "wish you a Happy Halloween. Remember, something wicked might just be coming your way." Jessie didn't know if it was her imagination or not, but she thought all the faces had winked.
"Silence everybody!" boomed the voice of Albus Dumbledore. The whole school stood mute, staring at their headmaster. "Now, until the culprit behind the act confesses, fifty points a day will be taken from each House." The school was in uproar, voices of disapproval came in from everywhere. Dumbledore motioned for all to be quiet. "I request the prefects to escort the students back to the dormitories."
A/N: I know this is terribly short, but don't worry, the next one comes up soon.