It was that peculiar time when the moon had set, but the sun hadn't yet risen, and everything was bathed in an eerie grey light. Professor Dumbledore noted this through one of the gothic arch shaped windows in his study as he paced up and down, contemplating great matters to do with the impending war. Whether it was because he was thinking over such a serious subject, or because his eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be, or maybe a mixture of both, he failed to notice the unusual activities that were occurring outside. First of all, in response to a summoning charm, a school broom somehow made its way out of the usually locked broom shed. Someone had either forgotten to lock it the night before, or perhaps someone had gone down afterwards and unlocked it, in anticipation of the mornings activities. Ten minutes later the broom passed by the window again, but this time it had a rider, dressed all in black, who seemed to be levitating a four poster bed - whose occupant was still asleep - before them. Once this mysterious person had dropped the bed off somewhere, they made their way back. They repeated this process another three times, until they had brought four beds down. All was quiet for half an hour before the dark clothed person, framed by the now rising sun, passed by Dumbledore's window for the final time, heading back in the direction they had originally come from.

As Marlene awoke slowly, confusion clouded her mind. She could hear the slightly crackly sound of the radio that was kept on the window sill, and someone was singing along to it. This was very unusual in the girls 5th year dorm, as even though Evans and MacDonald were early risers, no one woke up at six fifteen in the morning when lessons didn't start until nine. The other girls in the dorm obviously felt the same way, as Marlene didn't even need to open her eyes to hear their groans. She ripped her curtains open, about to shout at whoever had interrupted her beauty sleep, but the sight in front of her confused her even more that all she could say was;

'Huh?'

The girl in question, the one who had woken them all up over an hour earlier than usual with her slightly off tune singing, was none other than Noa Prewett. The girl who had had to be forcefully woken up every morning with threats, had actually got up before everyone else!

Noa was sitting cross legged on her bed, reading a long letter with a smile on her face. The scattered remains of wrapping paper surrounded her, along with a cake tin and a knitted oversized beanie that was rapidly changing colours. Marlene was even more surprised to see that Noa had already gotten dressed and ready for the day; she was wearing a black tank top with a skull on it, navy blue jeggings, a bright green letterman jacket with a white and black stripe around the collar and wrists, and her favourite pair of leather biker boots. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun with couple of loose strands framing her face, and there was a black bandana tied around her head. She was wearing large hoop earrings and her trademark bright lips were quirked up in a smile as she saw her best friend gaping at her.

'You're catching flies!' Noa said in a sing song voice.

'I swear, if it wasn't your birthday today-' Marlene was cut off as a pillow hit her square in the face, and she could hear laughter that sounded suspiciously like Noa's. She resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to be getting back to sleep so she got up, went to sit next to her best friend and picked up the beanie.

'Who's this from?' As soon as she touched it, it changed to a red that was exactly the same shade as the curtains on all four of the beds.

'That, oh Molly and Arthur sent it to me. It changes colour depending on what the person who's touching it is thinking of. Molly knitted it and Arthur charmed it.'

Marlene closed her eyes and concentrated for a second, and when she opened them again the beanie had become a sunshine yellow.

'That is so cool!'

'I know right! Now, down to business; we need to be down at the Great Hall at seven sharp, so you should probably start getting ready now since you always take so loooooong!'

'Me? There's a reason why you're nicknamed the bathroom hogger! And why do we need to be down to breakfast two hours before lessons?'

But Noa simply winked, and pushed Marlene off of the bed and in the direction of the bathroom. She waited a few seconds later until she heard the bathroom door lock, before going back to her letter.

Half an hour later Noa marched into the bathroom and dragged Marlene out, despite the fact that her friend 'hadn't finished putting on her makeup'. The girls left their dorm for the first time that year before Evans and MacDonald, although there weren't many other people around to acknowledge this shocking fact. Noa still refused to tell Marlene what was going on until the dark haired girl forcibly stopped her half way along a deserted corridor. Noa smiled wickedly and, after looking around herself furtively, leaned towards Marlene and said four words.

'I pranked the unprankable!'

Before Marlene could ask any more questions, Noa was off again down the corridor. Marlene followed slowly behind, a worried look on her face as she put two and two together and came up with four.

However, as she rounded the final corner and came in sight of the Great Hall, her anxious thoughts were forgotten as she took in the sight. Marlene tried to contain it, but couldn't help herself and let out a peal of laughter. She looked over to where Noa was standing, a smug smile firmly in place.

'I know, I'm a genius!'

Just then, both of them heard footsteps coming in their direction. Noa grabbed Marlene and pulled her into a little alcove behind a nearby tapestry, where they both had a great view of the Great Hall and what lay inside.

As James rose back into consciousness he quickly pulled his sheets over his ears, anticipating the usual loud wakeup call from Remus. The studious boy was the only one of the Marauders that could be woken up by an alarm clock, meaning it was his job to wake up the other three, and the methods he used were very inventive. However, instead of the clash of cymbals that had greeted him the previous morning, he heard some loud laughter that sounded very feminine. James opened his eyes abruptly, and his features distorted themselves into a confused frown as he took in the scene around him. The first thing he noticed was that his bed and all his sheets were pink, followed shortly by the realisation that he, along with the other boys, was in the Great Hall. Surrounding their beds were a gaggle of girls, all laughing and whispering to each other - one of them even had their camera out documenting the whole occasion.

James suddenly heard a loud gasp from the bed next to him, and when he rolled over even he couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter. Sirius, Remus and Peter were all wearing what looked like bright pink bunny onsies with matching ears. Opposite him, Remus raised an eyebrow.

'Why don't you take a look at yourself before laughing at the rest of us.'

When James looked down, he saw that he was dressed in an identical outfit to the others.

'Quickly, we've got to get out of here before the whole population of the school sees us!'

James realised that Sirius, for once, was right, and tried to scramble out of his bed. However, as soon as he sat up, the sheets around James grabbed him and pulled him back down.

Their faces getting redder and redder, the boys lay there squirming as the throng around them grew, and with it the sound of laughter until suddenly a burst of red light erupted above their heads accompanied with a bang. Everyone turned as one to see a ferocious looking witch stride in accompanied by an older wizard who, by the twinkle in his eye, found the situation more amusing than his counterpart.

'SILENCE!'

The crowd seemed to melt away as the teens hurried to sit down at their tables, all of them eager not to be caught in the middle of everything and therefore subjected to a detention with Filch.

As if the arrival of Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore was a signal, although some people in hindsight thought it might have more to do with the girl wearing the green letterman jacket and mischievous smile who slipped in after them, a large sign appeared above the boys.

'Looks like 'the professionals' just got pranked! Happy Halloween!'

As McGonagall approached, a look of shock came over her face as she realized who the four boys were.

'Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, what is the meaning of this?!'

'Well, Minny, we really are as clueless as you this time.'

'Minny' glared at Sirius for a second, before focusing on the matter in hand. Realizing that the boys couldn't leave their beds, McGonagall flicked her wand in a complex pattern making the sheets disappear. She opened her mouth to deduct house points from the boys, before reluctantly realising that they were the victims not the protagonists for once.

'Well, you'd better go and change before lessons start, and quickly, I don't want any excuses for you missing the beginning of your first lesson.'

The boys filed out of the Great Hall, their heads bent as they heard the laughter start up all around them again.

'And I was under the impression that it was you guys who did pranks on people, not the other way round.'

Noa had popped up from her seat at the Gryffindor table to walk alongside the boys, munching on a piece of French Toast as she spoke.

'Haha, very funny', James said with a deep scowl.

Remus and Peter's facial expressions matched his, but when Noa turned to taunt Sirius, she saw a look of concentration on his face. Suddenly his jaw dropped alongside the metaphorical penny.

'You!'

'Me?' Noa asked, trying hard to stop herself from grinning.

'You did this - the conversation we had - 'the professionals' - you wanted to prove to us -'

'Now, now Mr Black, I don't think you should start throwing around false accusations; is there a reason why you're still here instead of changing out of this ludicrous outfit?'

Professor McGonagall stood behind the five with a thin eyebrow raised as she looked pointedly at the boys. The Marauders ran off, James and Remus each dragging one of Sirius's arms as he continued to shout, things that sounded like nonsense to everyone else except the person who had caused all the chaos. Noa, meanwhile, sat back down at the Gryffindor table with a secret half smile on her face. Opposite her, Marlene giggled.

'Damn, I wish I'd brought my camera down so I could have taken some pictures of them in their little pink bunny suits!'

'Don't worry, there'll be plenty of opportunities for you to do that.'

Marlene looked at Noa, her brow furrowed in confusion. Noa, however, just laughed and grabbed a piece of bacon, looking forward to the day ahead.

Opening the door to her dorm room, Noa threw herself onto her bed and stared up at the red drapes above her. She had just come up from dinner, and had immediately been kicked out of the Common Room by the Marauders, who had to 'organise' some things for her party later that evening. She had to hand it to them, after her prank that morning she hadn't thought that they would still be so eager to set up her party for her, but they weren't holding even the slightest grudge. Instead, they had congratulated her and hinted that they'd like her input in future pranks, even after they had realised that their onsies were stuck on them until sundown. Plenty of opportunities for pictures. She had to hand it to them, they had even changed their prank at the last minute to incorporate her own and to simultaneously stop themselves from looking like dorks. She had been expecting a prank from them at dinnertime, but nothing of this scale. The boys had transfigured the floor of the Great Hall to become a grassy trampoline, and there were country flowers dotted here and there. The walls had become blue, and the ceiling had been tricked to show a summer day. Overall, if you squinted slightly, you could be outside in mid-August. The Marauders had then charmed to doorway, so that everyone who passed through it had their clothes change into a bunny onsie in the colour of their house. They had then made it so that nobody, once they had entered, could exit, resulting in pandemonium until Dumbledore sorted it out, with McGonagall following closely behind to dish out detentions by the dozen. Most people, however, had enjoyed bouncing around and Noa could see why the Marauders were popular. As a bonus, they had put another spell on the Slytherins, making their outfits both sparkly and multicoloured. They had then done a complex piece of magic meaning all the Slytherin students had gone around singing love songs and hugging everyone.

Noa shook her head and thought back to the current activity that the boys were immersed in; although she was touched that they were putting so much effort into this, it also worried her, she still didn't really want a huge birthday party. Noa rolled onto her side and checked her clock, noting that she still had just a couple of hours to amuse herself before the party started at nine. Marlene was at the library doing Divination and Care of Magical Creatures homework with some Ravenclaws in her class; but, since Noa didn't share either class with Marlene, she couldn't go and join them. Anyway, she didn't feel like going to the library. Hanging out with the Marauders - or any Gryffindor for that matter - was out of the question since the Common Room was off limits. It was too dark outside for a stroll, and the only other place she could think of going was the kitchens, but she decided against that as well as she had just eaten dinner.

After lying restlessly on her bed for a couple more minutes, Noa sat up again and pulled her trunk out from under the bed. Most of her clothes were folded in her chest of drawers or hung up in her wardrobe, meaning her trunk was quite empty, with just a few of her thicker jumpers and more wintery clothes taking up the better part of it. However, after pushing a thick-knit cardigan to one side, a few dark mahogany boxes came into view. Noa opened the first one, and a black-and-white photo fluttered out and onto the bottom of the trunk. It depicted a woman and a little girl icing cupcakes together, the girl having to stand on a stool to reach the counter, whilst chatting animatedly. As she watched, a man jumped into the photo and grabbed the little girl around the waist, swinging her round as she started to laugh. The woman leaned against the counter and watched them, a fond smile on her face. Suddenly everything went blurry, as Noa's eyes filled up with tears. She could remember this occasion vividly; The cakes had been for Fabian and Gideon, as it was the day before their birthday and Noa and her Mom were just finishing them off before they flooed to her Aunt's house.

Once Noa had wiped away her tears she shoved the photo under her pillow, away from prying eyes, and hastily put the lid back on the box, not feeling up to looking through the rest of its contents. She placed it back in her trunk and took out the next box, identical to the first, and opened it up. It was lined with ruched silk that surrounded a pair of peach-coloured ballet shoes, also made of the finest silk and the real reason why she had opened her trunk in the first place. Not many people, at Beuxbatons or Hogwarts, knew that she had taken ballet lessons since she was four and, for a while, had considered going professional. Dance wasn't the only creative pastime Noa enjoyed; she was also passionate about art, and had decided to take muggle art as a subject at Hogwarts; Noa was also good with a sewing machine, and made some of her own clothes, as well as other trinkets. However, ballet was her first love, and whenever life was getting too much for her she would dance. Noa would dance until her legs ached, until her feet were blistered, until she had forgotten why she started dancing. An outsider might ask why she was getting out her ballet shoes now: she was at an great school, it was her birthday, and she had a close circle of amazing friends who were at this very moment setting up a party where she was the guest of honour. But Noa hadn't taken her shoes out of their box since her father had passed, let alone danced in them. She had put up a good front for everyone, and most of the time she could deal with it, but then there were those mornings when she could barely drag herself out of her bed, and those evenings when all she wanted to do was scream and cry and hit someone. And today, on her first birthday without either of her parents, she just needed to get away from reality.

Suddenly the perfect location to practice popped into Noa's mind. She hurried into the bathroom and wiped off all the day's makeup, before going to change her clothes into some more suitable for ballet. She put on a backless black leotard and paired it with some aubergine-coloured leg warmers so she didn't freeze. Still feeling a little cool, Noa pulled on a finely-knitted off-the-shoulder red jumper over her leotard. She slipped her feet into a pair of black pumps, put her ballet shoes into her currently empty school bag and covered herself with her Hogwarts robes, as she felt to walk around in nothing but a leotard and jumper would be somewhat inappropriate if a teacher saw her.

She snuck through the common room, shielding her eyes with her hand so that she didn't mess up the surprises that Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were planning. Then, trusting her instincts, she made her way to a place that she had only visited a few times so far during her stay at Hogwarts, the Astronomy Tower. She transfigured a crumpled piece of paper found in the pocket of her robes into a barre, and then sat down to put on her shoes. She stepped towards the bar and went en pointe using the relevé method and rolling up on the foot with both feet. It was harder and more painful than usual, and Noa realised that a couple of months break from ballet meant she was a few steps behind normal, and she was going to have to start with some exercises to strengthen the muscles in her legs and feet before she could start to properly dance. She put one had on the barre and placed her feet in first position. Plié, en pointe, plié. Then to second position. Plié, en pointe, plié.

By the time the door opened quietly behind her, just over an hour later, Noa was so immersed in the dance that she didn't hear it. Sirius stood behind her, his hand still on the door, entranced by the scene in front of him. Sirius didn't appreciate classical dance, especially ballet. His parents had dragged him to a performance every Christmas to show off their expensive clothing and accessories, despite the fact the dancers were muggle, and Sirius loathed it. But this, this was something else. There was no music, but he could hear in his head what it would be like. He watched Noa's body flow into different positions, executing each move perfectly. Something stirred inside Sirius, a foreign emotion. As he continued to watch, Noa pirouetted and as she came down her jumper slipped down her arms some more, revealing her shoulder blades and, in-between them, a tattoo Sirius never knew she had. It was a floating feather, only a few inches in length, and inked in black-and-white. Before he was able to recognise what bird it was from, Noa moved again, and the tattoo was once again hidden. Eyes closed, she then slowly sank to the floor, and Sirius realised she had finished. He slipped back into the shadows, not ready to announce his presence, and continued to watch her. She pulled her legs up to her chest, and her body started to shake as a tear trickled down her cheek. A wave of emotion engulfed Sirius, and suddenly he couldn't stay there anymore. His heart beating madly, he quickly left the tower and started to run, not caring where he was going. Finally Sirius stopped, and sat down, his head in his hands. Lost, confused, scared, he stayed that way for a long time.

A/N: I know, I know, I haven't updated in forever and I am truly sorry for that. There are a bunch of reasons why, but I won't bore you with them now, and I hope this chapter makes up for my absence.

This was originally going to be one long chapter including the party, but the word count was past 7,000 so I decided to split it into two chapters, which means you'll be getting another one very soon!

I would really appreciate it if each and every one of you could write a review after reading this, as this is the fourth chapter and I've only got one review, which makes me feel a bit down. Is there something wrong with the story? Too much of something, too little of something? Something I could change to make it better? If you write a review, I can improve it or at least understand what you guys are feeling as you read this; even if it's 'Noa's breakfast really made me want French Toast and bacon!'. Reviews motivate me to write faster and upload faster, so it's a win-win situation!

Sooooooooo...thoughts? Was the prank okay? (You'll be seeing the Marauders' prank next chapter!) It gets a bit sombre at the end, did you enjoy that? Did I write it well, and convey the emotion Noa was feeling? And what about Sirius at the very end, what is up with him?

I love you guys, and hope you enjoyed.

Please review XX