The Marauders stood outside in the main hallway, waiting to be let into their Transfiguration class on a breezy Monday morning in March. The scoreboard above their heads read 380-380, heightened only by the last minute bout of reviews that came from viewers of the pranks on Valentine's Day.
"It's weird." Sirius said, looking around suspiciously. "Two weeks, and not a sign from the Marauderesses. Huh, maybe they have finally given up."
"While that could be possible," Remus mused, "I doubt they would just fizzle out. The Marauderesses, if they are going to forfeit, are going to go out with a bang."
"What do you think, James?" Peter asked, watching James with his watery eyes.
James, leaning against the wall and staring off into space, just shrugged, a normal bout of speech for him these days. For the last two weeks he had been pretty much lifeless. The only moments when he showed any other emotion besides boredom were when Lily was in the room with Davies. Then he usually tensed up, and glared furiously at anyone who chanced to look at him. The girls (Emma, Gracie and Lily) weren't exactly that friendly.
Sirius shrugged, "I think they've given up. I mean, what else is there in this bloody school to prank?"
"Padfoot," Remus began, mock hurt in his voice, "I'm ashamed that you would actually think that we have nothing left to prank. Where's your spirit?"
"Oh, that's easy," Sirius jerked his finger towards James, "This one sucked it out of me with his constant moping."
James didn't even reply.
"The thing is," Sirius said, brushing off his sleeve, "We have no clue what the Marauderesses are up to, so we don't even know what we're going to do. I think-
But Sirius never got to elaborate on what he thought, because at that moment he was knocked over by a small body.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
It was a second year, no more than four and a half feet tall, but in such a hurry that they were able to send the six foot three Sirius toppling over.
"What the hell?" Sirius leaped up and glared at the screaming second year. "Oi! No need to scream and run in here!"
"IT'S COMING! RUN!" Another student, this time a first year, came running past them.
A whole group of first and second years sprinted past, screaming. James could have sworn that one was frothing at the mouth in its fear, but whatever.
"What's going on?" Remus whipped out his wand, switching it from one hand to the next.
"Dunno." James and Sirius pulled out their wands as well. Peter had apparently forgotten his wand in the dormitory.
And then they heard it.
BOOM.
The entire castle shook as someone, something, took a giant step.
BOOM.
The second years continued screaming and running in circles hysterically.
BOOM.
A foot as big as a small muggle car stepped into the large corridor.
BOOM.
Another foot. The Marauders squinted, trying to make out the shape of them through the throngs of running students.
CRASH.
Whatever it was had obviously pushed its way through the wall into the corridor, which James was sure Filch would be absolutely livid about until it was put together again. Nevertheless, the crash most certainly did not calm anyone down.
"Maybe we should stun the young students?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow at the still hysterical first and second years.
James shook his head. "Wait. I have a feeling what's going on."
The hunch was proved correct as a giant creature moved from the rubble of the caved in walls. Fifty feet or so in height, big, with sharp teeth, tail and all. It was most certainly not a dragon, nor was it anything ever seen in the wizarding world before.
"A tyrannosaurus rex." Remus blurted, answering everyone's silent question.
"A who?"
"It's a muggle reptile that hasn't existed on earth for millions of years."
"Oh." Sirius looked uneasily at the scaled animal, who was watching him with a beady green eye. "Is it...carnivorous?"
"Usually." Remus answered.
"Wait...." James looked at it some more. "What's that around its neck?"
It was a banner, with pink and purple writing in that familiar script, Courtesy of the Marauderesses.
The four boys gaped as the dinosaur just stood their, looking curiously but not menacingly at the students below him.
"Its name is Rexy." Peter suddenly piped up.
The other Marauders whipped around. "What are you on, Wormtail?" Sirius asked.
"It says so in the letter." Peter held forth a small piece of parchment.
James snatched it, muttering a curse under his breath as he saw the same penmanship on the letter that was on the banner around 'Rexy's' neck.
Dear Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,
Salutations and good morning to you.
We happened to be feeling a bit under the weather today, so we thought that we'd give you guys a little gift and let you all know that we have not given up, as much as you would like to think so. As you know, exams are nearing and we're making sure to remain the top students in our class, so it was hard to put it together, but here it is, our prank. His name is Rexy, and he doesn't like eating meat. He enjoys waffles.
The only question now is, where do we go from here, boys? Will you have a responding prank?
Hoping you are well.
Sincerely,
The Marauderesses
Midnight, Freckles and Frown
"I can't believe this." James shook his head. "Where the bloody hell did they manage to get a dinosaur and fit it in the school? HOW DID THEY DO IT?"
"Beats me." Sirius shrugged, walking forward. He stood happily in front of the t-rex with a smile. "Hey Rexy!"
The dinosaur brought its giant head down to Sirius' level, making the younger students cower again.
"Want some waffles?" Sirius asked in a goo-goo voice.
The dinosaur, instead of snapping up Sirius like a morning snack, touched its big nose to Sirius' head.
"Hey!" He shouted gleefully. "It likes me!"
And that it did. The dinosaur seemed quite fond of humans just as any other domesticated animal would. Ten minutes after it appeared, children were climbing all over it, seeing as it had made itself comfortable by taking a seat in the middle of the corridor. The Marauders were in the middle of an attempt to slide down its back when Professor McGonagall came storming out into the hallway.
"Why isn't anyone in my class?" She shrieked. "I don't have enough time to let you all go....oh." She caught sight of the dinosaur and visibly wilted in all of her anger.
"Hey McGonagall!" Sirius cried, sliding down the back of Rexy. "You have got to try this out!"
McGonagall's hawk-like eyes went from the dinosaur, to Sirius, to the banner on Rexy's neck in a matter of two seconds before narrowing dangerously.
"No thank you, Mr. Black." She sniffed. "But you can all kindly get off that dinosaur."
"It doesn't eat meat." Remus said happily, having just slid down the dragon himself.
"Nevertheless," McGonagall said through gritted teeth, "Get. Off."
All students got off at those two words mixed in with a very threatening tone.
"We'll get to the bottom of this." She said. "EVERYONE GO BACK TO YOUR CLASSES!"
"You see, that's the thing, professor." James said slowly, stepping forward from the crowd of students. "This dinosaur has half the school blocked off from us, meaning none of the students can get to class."
McGonagall blinked once, twice, at all the students crowded in the hallway. The she suddenly looked very tired.
"Fine." She said. "You will stay right here. I am going to get Dumbledore."
Professor McGonagall walked off, and to some it may have actually looked like she was laughing.
Classes were cancelled for the day as the teachers all tried to figure a way to get rid of the dinosaur and Filch practically cried himself to sleep over the mess of rubble left in the main corridor.
Instead of heading outside like they would on any off-day for a game of quidditch, the Marauders found themselves in the library.
"There has to be SOMETHING we can do," Sirius said frantically, flipping through a book titled 'Universal Pranks'. "I mean, we can't be out of ideas, because....well...we just can't!"
"Relax." James snapped. "We'll be fine." Today was one of the first days that James had actually started to show vigor in anything, but maybe that was just because they had to win this prankwar or bust. But whatever it was that was inspiring him to work doubly hard at everything, his friends didn't want it to go away ever.
"Hey, Moony," James started, "How's the letter going?"
"To the Marauderesses?"
James nodded.
Remus sighed, amber eyes scanning his parchment. "Alright. But the fact that we have to bluff and pretend that we have an idea is pretty pathetic, you know that, right?"
Sirius snorted, "We can't let those condescending demons know that we don't have a plan. The Marauders always have a plan."
It was Peter's time to snort, "Since when?"
Sirius didn't answer, merely punching Peter in the shoulder.
"Whatever the reasons, we need to bluff and assure everyone that we know what to do." James said, taking the book Sirius was looking at himself. "I wish we had an idea, because having NO IDEAS certainly sucks arse."
"They need a distraction." Sirius stated simply.
"Like waffles!" Peter jumped up excitedly. Madame Pince shushed him.
"Something that will have them entertained or something that might throw them off course."
"Like waffles!" Peter huffed.
Sirius punched him again.
"We don't need a distraction," Remus began, writing more on the letter, "What we need is a way to find out who the Marauderesses are. We need to gain information."
"That's ridiculous, no one would--" James stopped, an idea dawning on him.
It was clear that the same idea donned on the rest of his friends, for they all started whispering excitedly.
Across the room, Gracie Harlow leaned over and asked, "Emma, what do you think they're whispering about?"
"Probably another prank, I don't know." Emma bent over her essay questions. "They're up to something, Grae, they always are."
Lily didn't add any thought on the subject, remaining engrossed in her book.
"Well," Gracie leaned her head on her hand, "I've been doing some eavesdropping and have reason to believe that we are very much liked today."
Lily smiled, tucking some red hair behind her head, "How so?"
"Oh, nothing," Said Gracie airily, "Only something about how the Marauderesses have the most kick arse pranks in the whole school."
"That we do, that we do." Lily laughed. She had been rather distant for the last two weeks, even if it was a little ridiculous of her to be so, what with her new boyfriend and all. Gracie and Emma never confronted Lily about it, because the furtive and often wistful glances she would sometimes cast in the Marauders direction said it all.
"I'm in a rather good mood today." Gracie announced, leaning back in her chair, folding her hands behind her head. "I can't believe that we're doing so well with the prankwar."
"Even if it was a last minute idea." Emma smiled, sweeping a hand through her dark hair.
"Now we wait for the Marauders to make their move." Lily said quietly.
At the word 'Marauders' the table got quiet. Gracie looked down, glaring at her book. Emma blushed. Lily cringed.
Suddenly, James and the rest of his group stood up and yelled, "HEY! COULD WE PLEASE HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION?"
Of course, as always the case when the Marauders asked for attention, the students in the library gave it.
"Thank you." James smiled goofy. "We'd like to announce that we are holding a booth outside on the grounds. Anyone with free information about the Marauderesses can come, give it, and then receive a free kiss from Marauder of their choice, or they can get a galleon."
The girl population of the library (minus Lily, Gracie and Emma) all started giggling and muttering amongst each other, clearly overjoyed by the opportunity to kiss the hottest boys in the school.
"We'll be outside...so be free to follow!" James grinned.
It was clear to everyone that this was important, so a loud line of jabbering students lined up after the Marauders to leave the library, ignoring Madame Pince's angry screeches.
The three girls sat in there seats, looking a little more than shocked than normal.
"Should we follow?" Lily looked too eager and too uneasy at the same time.
Emma nodded slowly. "It'll good to get behind enemy lines, to make sure that nothing is going wrong and that no one is turning in actually valid information."
Behind enemy lines.
It sounded ominous just thinking about it, yet the Marauderesses walked out of the library all the same.
"I saw the Marauderesses." Some fifth year hufflepuff said, giggling madly.
"What did they look like?" Sirius asked sternly, writing down the information on a notepad.
The girl froze, looking a little confused. "They...er...they had long hair....and they were girls...and they were carrying wands." She paused, smiling. "Can I have my kiss now?"
Sirius gritted his teeth and pressed a pick to the girl's lips, after which she squealed and ran away to go squeal some more with her friends.
"Anything helpful?" Remus asked tiredly.
"Yep." His tone was very sarcastic. "According to her, they're girls, they have long hair, and they carry wands. I never even knew." Sirius sat with a huffy sigh beside his friend.
"This is hopeless."
"No it's not." James said forcefully, still standing and listening to everyone's reports with eager ears.
"Yes, it is." Sirius said flatly, sitting up a little straighter.
James glared. "You only say that because the only girls you've ever gotten information from were fifth year and under."
Sirius shrugged. "Maybe our attempts are useless. I have a feeling that these Marauderesses may even be good at the game they play."
"What do you mean?" Asked Peter, his mouth full of chocolate covered pretzels from Honeydukes.
It was three or so in the afternoon, and people had been lined up at the Marauderess-Ransom booth for hours. Yet the Marauders them selves had gained about a thimbleful of useful information. James hated to admit it to himself, but it was pretty useless to do this.
"Remus, did you send the letter to them?"
His friend nodded, closing his eyes and leaning against the birch tree with a sigh.
"Then they should be getting it right now."
Suddenly, Remus and Sirius were sitting bolt upright.
"And opening it." Came the end of James' thought.
In mere seconds they scanned the area of students crowded all over the lawn and around the lake. There was no one reading a letter, nor was there a group of three girls that looked suspicious. But it was obvious that most of the Hogwarts's student body was out here....so where were the Marauderesses?
"Oh My God." Remus gasped, pointing to the other side of the lake.
Sirius and James turned.
"It's another letter." Lily said quietly, taking the parchment out of her pocket where it had appeared.
"Read it, please." Gracie demanded, dipping her feet lightly in the icy lake.
Glancing around slowly, Lily slid her finger up under the envelope seal and unfolded the letter.
"Dear Marauderesses," She began, "It's nice to hear from you. We enjoyed your prank this morning, but have to say that compared to our prank, it's a little below the standard. Our prank is good. Really good. It's the best prank in the world. Have a nice day, and remember to work on your penmanship, because it's always hard for us to read these letters, you know. Sincerely, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs."
"A big prank..." Lily said faintly, scanning over the letter again and biting her lip.
"Not good news, I believe." Gracie said, taking the letter from Lily's hands and reading it herself.
"How big will the prank be, you think?" Lily asked.
"As big as it needs to be." Gracie answered. "Remember, their brains are rather small, so their size perception may be a little off."
Emma stared off at the other side of the lake, as a familiar group of people came running towards them....
"Give me that." She answered, grabbing the letter and the envelope from Gracie's hands.
"Alright! No need to be hasty!" The brunette said testily.
Emma didn't answer, her violet eyes narrowed in concentration as she bent over the parchment. She muttered a few words and the letters on the page suddenly jumped around under the touch of her wand, the shape of the writing changing is well into a more graceful script.
"What are you doing?" Lily hissed.
Emma handed the letter back to Lily and promptly started giggling madly. "Oh Lily, how sweet of him to send that!"
What the hell are you talking about? The question was on the tip of both Gracie and Lily's tongues as they gave Emma a bewildered look, but the words were never voiced.
"Ah ha!" Sirius cried, bounding over to them. "Hand it over, you yellow bellied idjits!"
Gracie and Lily's bewildered look went from Emma to Sirius, who was standing over them with a triumphant smile.
"Hand what over?" Emma asked, innocently looking at him.
"Yellow bellied idjits?" Gracie almost laughed, if she had any idea what was going on.
"You know very well what you need to hand over!" James puffed, coming up beside Sirius with Remus and Peter in tow. "You're the Marauderesses! You're reading the letter we sent you!"
"And now..." Sirius crouched in a battle stance, "Prepare to meet your doom!" He promptly tackled down Gracie, who screamed as they started to tumble off the edge of the earth and into the lake.
"Oh..." Emma burst into another bout of giggling. "We're just looking at the letter that Chase sent Lily."
Lily glanced at the parchment in her hands, which indeed was the letter that Chase had passed her that morning before History of Magic. It told her that he was thinking about her and that she should have dinner with him that night.
"Isn't it just the most romantic thing?" Emma sighed, nudging Lily and trying to get her to work with her. "Sending a love letter to Lily?"
"It was sweet." Lily said, adding an extra blush as she finally caught on to the hoax. "I couldn't believe he would do that."
In the lake, drenched in water, Gracie was attempting to strangle Sirius, cursing him to oblivion.
"Let me see the letter, then." Remus stepped forward and held out his hand. Avoiding his eyes, Emma passed the letter into his hands.
After a minute of reading, Remus nodded. "It's the truth. This is certainly not the letter we sent to the Marauders."
Gracie let out a 'HA!' from where she was and then went back to seeking revenge on Sirius.
James looked at the letter from over Remus' shoulder, giving it a disgusted glance once he read the romantic contents of it. He didn't like the idea of someone else romancing Lily.
"Fine. It's real." James glared obstinately at the ground, even when Lily tried to catch his eye. "Let's go back inside and close up the booth."
"By the way," Emma said, "Good luck with finding them. The Marauderesses, I mean."
"DIE, SIRIUS, DIE!" Gracie screamed as she dunked her victims head repeatedly in the Black Lake. She was sitting on top of him, and the way he was sitting below her, it was impossible that he would actually be drowning anytime soon.
"For you," Sirius gasped, "I'd die thousand deaths."
Gracie suddenly stopped and gave him an odd look. "Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Stop acting like the valiant lover." She snapped, jumping off him and stepping out of the lake.
He stood too, and she pushed him down back into the water. "You prat! I'm soaked now! I'm going to die of the flu!"
"Oh, get over it." He tried to sound irritated as well, but there was no mistaking the smile on his face.
Lily and Emma raised their eyebrows at Gracie and Sirius as James and Remus poured over the letter some more.
"It's a fake, for sure." Remus sighed, defeat written in his voice.
"Now, can I have my letter back please?" Lily asked politely, holding out her hand expectantly.
"Here." Remus handed it back to Lily with a smile as James simply glared. "We'll see you later. C'mon Sirius, quit playing around."
With a wolfish grin, Sirius mussed up Gracie's hair, ducked her punch, and followed his friends, who were already walking off.
Lily looked at the letter and smiled at Emma once the Marauders had left. "Brilliant spell work, Em. And quick thinking."
"Thanks." Emma smiled lightly. "I'm just happy we weren't caught."
"So am I." Gracie said grumpily, wrapping her arms around herself as she shivered violently.
Lily laughed, standing up and offering her jacket to Gracie. "Let's go get you changed, Frown."
Gracie smiled, despite her rather spoiled mood. "Right-O, Freckles."
"I can't believe she did that with him." Emma gasped. "Talk about a girl with no brains and no morals."
"I agree." Gracie nodded, happily clothed in her pajamas and not caring if it wasn't dress code.
"But you'd think that they would have done it someplace else then in the bloody library!" Lily laughed incredulously, spooning some soup into her mouth.
James glanced between the three of them and then looked his friends. "Do you guys have any idea what they're talking about?" He was in no mood to ask the girls themselves, seeing as that would mean facing Lily.
"Nope." Sirius answered bouncily. "I never try to understand the gibbering of the female sex."
Gracie, hearing that purposefully loud sentence, flicked a hunk of rice at his head.
"It's just sad." Lily continued. "I think that girls are too prone to debauchery. It's too easy to get seduced what with these sex-crazed boys."
"Debauchery?" James raised an eyebrow
"Excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures." Lily snapped, a little too much edge to her voice.
James sat still for a moment and then jumped up, leaping like a hyper five year old. "I've got it!"
"Got what?" Lily asked.
"Got milk?" Sirius piped up.
"NO!" James bellowed. He grabbed the sleeves of his three partners in pranking and yanked them out of the great hall, just as dinner began to start.
"I know what we're going to do for a prank!" He said excitedly as the four of them ended up in the hallway.
"What?" Remus asked, trying to get James to calm down from his spazz attack.
"We're going to create our form of debauchery!" He laughed.
Remus, Peter and Sirius stared blankly at James.
"C'mon you guys, don't you get it?!" James yelled in their faces, eyes glowing with excitement.
"Er...no, not really." Peter answered.
"Ugh." James ran an agitated hand through his hair. "Well, I'll explain on the way."
He grabbed their sleeves and yanked them after him again.
"On the way to where?!" Sirius yelped.
James gave his friends a rather mad smile and answered, "The potions lab. We're going to dip a little bit into Slughorn's stash of supplies."
Still not understanding, Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail followed Prongs, wondering if this was going too far.
Because you really never could tell exact sanity level of James Potter, you know.
Another day went by, and Lily did not go un-noticing of the Marauders odd behavior. At least one of them excused themselves from class about three times every class to 'go to the bathroom' when clearly, they had emptied their bladders enough. She didn't voice her observations of their odd behavior to Gracie or Emma, because Gracie was still seething about getting tackled into the lake by Sirius and Emma would never truly listen.
The Marauders didn't even show up to breakfast or lunch that day, something that both concerned and worried Lily, and she sat at the table with Chase, trying to stick a convincing smile on her face that could fool him.
The four boys finally did turn up for dinner, and Lily's face practically lit up the whole room, much to her friend's smug knowledge.
"Sorry we're late." Remus slid in his seat next to Lily. "Homework."
The red head raised an eyebrow but otherwise said nothing.
"Let me guess, working on your prank?" Emma smiled knowingly.
"Of course not." Sirius scoffed, wedging himself between Lily and Gracie. "We've had that down for a while, but we've been waiting for the right moment."
"Like now?" Emma asked coolly.
"Possibly, Em." James smiled at her.
The girls shared a glance. "Should we avoid the food?"
"Unless you're a boy, there's no reason to." James answered soothingly.
Another suspicious glance and they went back to their food. James flicked his hazel eyes over to Lily, who was purposefully staring at her fork with fascinated interest. He stared at her for longer than necessary and when she looked up to meet his eyes, the moment lasted too long to go unnoticed by both of their friends. But no one said a word.
"Here we go...." Sirius said.
About a millisecond later, several people rose from the Slytherin table across the hall. Severus Snape walked ahead of them, headed straight for the teacher's table. He walked down the table, ignoring the teacher's faces of shock, and stopped in front of Professor McGonagall's table.
"Minerva!" He cried in a voice much too loud and boisterous for everyone in the hall NOT to hear. "MINERVA! Be mine! I love you Minerva!"
Professor McGonagall just blinked, astounded, at Severus before spluttering, "S-snape, what are you talking about? Go back to your seat before I take away house points."
But it was too late, the damage was clearly done, whatever the damage was.
Lucius Malfoy skipped gaily over to Lily, got down on one knee and cried, "Lily Evans, be my heart and soul. Marry Me!"
Lily gaped for a few minutes, shared a quick glance with her friends and the Marauders, and burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard that tears poured down her face.
"You've got to be kidding me," She wheezed, "You got the Slytherins to all fall in love?"
"Hey," Sirius said defensively, "Those Slytherin's hearts are hard to melt. We spent all day on that potion."
Bryce Bullstrode ran to Emma and cried her name, "Take me on the floor, Emmaline! I love you so much!"
It was then that the remainder of the Slytherin boys got up to serenade a girl of their choice in the Hall. And all the girls just laughed in their faces. A few people stood up and shouted, "Nice job, Marauders!"
James smiled and shouted back, "Thanks!"
It was clear who was going to have that weeks lead in the prankwar. The dinosaur may have been inventive, but it was nothing compared to having all the Slytherins attempting to seduce someone. It was sheer genius.
But when Snape leaned over the Teacher's table and tried to kiss McGonagall on the lips, the fun was over. She pulled out her wand in a flash and stunned everyone in the room that was attempting to seduce someone else. She then transported the knocked out Slytherins to the Hospital Wing, looking nothing less than livid as she passed the Marauders, who waved nervously.
"We're dead." James laughed to himself. "We may win the prankwar with that beautiful prank, but as soon as it's over, we're dead."
Lily looked over, giving James a smile that made his heart throb just a little in his chest. But as soon as he was just starting to enjoy it, it was gone, and she was talking to her friends again.
Lily climbed in her bed in the Girls Dorm. It had been a while since she had slept in the Head's Room, that being because she liked being away from James so he wouldn't conflict her.
"I think we could have done better." She sighed. Lily didn't like having a prank that didn't measure up to the Marauders. She felt rather sick about the fact that they were sure to lose that week's round of pranking.
"I think it was fine." Emma said softly, seating herself on her own bed. "We have other obligations you know, Lils. Homework. Head's Duties."
Lily cringed. Head's Duties had been a nightmare, what with her and James' silences.
"I think that we deserve a chance to pull a bad prank." Gracie sighed. "We've been working like dogs these last two weeks to get that dinosaur perfect."
"But it wasn't good enough!" Lily cried. "There was no reason we shouldn't have come up with a prank that was better than his."
"Do you hear yourself, Lily?!" Emma asked, her voice rising. Whether her voice was rising because she was actually angry or because she was trying to drown out the Marauder's celebration partying next door, the red head wasn't sure. "We don't need to let this prank war drive us crazy, and you know that!"
"No, I don't know that!"Lily cried, standing up. "All I know is that I need to win this so I can quit looking at James Potter and worrying what his team is up to!"
"Here you go about James again!" Gracie yelled, standing up as well. "Why can't you just admit that you like him and quit being such an emotionally blocked ninny?"
"What about you?" Lily poked Gracie in the shoulder. "Everyone knows that you didn't just kiss Sirius to spite yourself on Christmas. You're the one who's emotionally blocked, Grace!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"SHUT UP!" Emma screamed, making the two of them jump. "Just stop talking, both of you. This isn't any of our faults directly. We're all to blame together."
Gracie and Lily didn't answer.
"Look at us," Emma said, "We're falling apart over nothing."
Lily rolled her eyes, "Emma, no over dramatic speeches, please."
"Yes, Lily," Emma grinned, "Over dramatic speeches are necessary right now."
Suddenly, the school intercom crackled to life and McGonagall's voice rang over the school. "I think that everyone is aware of the Hogwarts Prankwar that is occurring right now. This message is to the Marauderesses: as soon as this war is over, you and the Marauders will spend the remaining amount of Sundays in detention, understood? Since you are unwilling to turn yourselves in, detention for the rest of the year is inevitable. That is all."
The intercom went silent. The Marauders partied louder.
"Now," Emma continued, "Lack of communication is the only reason that this isn't working. Look, we need to start telling each other things again. Okay?"
Lily nodded, and then sighed. "I think I might love James Potter."
Gracie snorted, "No surprises there." Emma shot her a warning look.
The brunette sighed. "I kissed Sirius because I wanted to know what all those slags were talking about when they said he was an excellent kisser." She gulped. "They were, unfortunately, right."
Emma smiled at Gracie and then blurted. "I went on a date with Remus Lupin, we kissed, but it was really awkward and I figured I only liked him as a friend."
The three girls stood there staring at each other.
"Wow." Lily said. "I feel like a crappy friend."
"Well, we'll just pay more attention to each other, shall we?" Gracie grinned.
"One question remains." Emma sighed. "Do we keep it up? The prankwar? Clearly, we'll need more than two measly weeks to study for N.E.W.T.S."
The Marauderesses stood for a moment, thinking quietly.
"I think we should." Lily said, smiling slightly. "We're sort of a symbol of hope for girls right now. We can't let them down."
"Nor can we let the boys think we're weak." Gracie added, gritting her teeth.
"Then that's settled." Emma said. "Marauderesses now, Marauderesses forever."
She put her hand out in the middle. "And as an end to my over dramatic speech, I think we need to have a handshake."
Gracie added her hand, rolling her eyes. "Of course, Midnight."
Lily smiled hugely and placed her hand on top. "I agree."
They threw their hands up in the air, and for a moment, the mood lightened. But then a bunch of cheers from next door wiped the grins off the girls' faces.
"Well, there's no use in staying up late to plan next weeks prank. Let's just hit the sack." Gracie yawned, glaring at the wall that stood between her and the partying Marauders.
"Alright."
The girls climbed into their beds. The yelling and hooting continued for several more minutes. Gracie sighed and stood.
"Shall we go and knock them out with some stunners?" She asked, wondering if her friends were even awake.
"Sure, why not?" Emma and Lily answered.
Gracie smiled bigger than ever. "Oh yes, the Maraudereses are most definitely back."
And with that, Midnight, Freckles and Frown left the dorm to take care of their obnoxious, partying opponents.
A/N: Sorry for the wait on this chapter! Only three chapters left to write! Please review this chapter and vote! And check out my profile poll!