And here's the third chapter! Thanks for Kalavinka for the lovely review and Kalavinka, JustAGirlWriting and Infernalbooks for favouriting and following.

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Mischief Managed

9th March, 1972

"Ready?" Sirius asked his three friends, carefully cradling the goods he was carrying.

"Yeah, let's do this!" James said with a mischievous grin.

"Are you sure about this?" Remus spoke up, his quiet, composed voice full of uncertainty. He was eyeing Peter who was standing beside him, looking every inch a very nervous little boy.

"Come on, Lupin, don't be such a spoilsport now," James said with a dramatic eye-roll.

"Of course we are sure of this," Sirius replied. "Aren't we, Peter?"

"Y-yes, of course," Peter agreed immediately, although he looked anything but that. Remus sighed, but recognising defeat in the matter, kept quiet.

The Marauders (name chosen by Messrs James Potter and Sirius Black in a moment of boyish excitement) were at the moment huddled round a corner close to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. Their weapons included a host of dungbombs (borrowed from third years, more specifically, the Prewett twins, who were allowed Hogsmeade visits and had no objection in letting their fellow students attempt at some odd joke), some muggle glitter, and a bucket full of water, which was at the moment being levitated high in the air by James.

"All remember the plan?" Sirius looked around.

"Yep!" James grinned back.

"We do," Remus sighed, probably wondering how he got roped into this.

"Aye aye, captain!" Peter said cheerfully enough despite his nervousness.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard from across the corner. Footsteps that were approaching them.

"Now's the time!" James urged in a whisper as the sound came closer and closer. "All ready now — one, two, and three!"

At 'three', James removed the levitating charm from the bucket, Remus threw the packet of glitter, and Sirius and Peter chucked a dungbomb each at the approaching individual.

Sirius couldn't help smile as he saw the pandemonium break out and heard the shriek of shock. The prank had been perfect. Now they only had to wait until the cloud of glitter moved away, allowing them to see their victim's face.

"Mischief mana—" he began to say, but the word stuck in his throat as the person came into view.

In front of them was, drenched to the skin, covered with glitter (and the stench of the dungbombs could be smelt even from where he stood) — Marlene McKinnon.

He looked around at his friends. All of them wore identically horrified expressions.

"Marlene — I —" he began, unsure what he was going to say. The girl stared at them in shock, covered in glitter and cold water, her face slowly turning red with anger.

"You — you —" her voice shook with anger, and as the few people who had walked up to them by then began snickering at her looks and wrinkling their noses at the noisome smell, she whipped around and rushed away, a tear slipping from her eye, her face red with mortification.

"Merlin," Sirius murmured, hitting his forehead with his palm, "That sure went well."

-o0o-

The Marauders sat in the Gryffindor common room in awkward silence. All four were thinking about their prank-gone-wrong.

"We should apologize." Finally Remus spoke out their thoughts with a heavy sigh.

"We should," James agreed, all his swagger blown out of him as he wondered just how mad his old friend (and the best friend of Evans) would be at them. Peter and Sirius nodded too, and as one unsure and (for once) nervous group they shuffled out of their chairs towards the girls' staircase.

"Uh, guys, we can't get up there," Peter pointed out, the first one to voice the obvious problem.

Thankfully, they were saved from the trouble of waiting all the time at the base of the staircase by the appearance of Emmeline Vance, a girl in their year.

"Hey Emmeline!" Sirius called as she proceeded to climb up the stairs after flashing them a small smile. "Could you call Marlene for us?"

"Okay," Emmeline returned with a nod and disappeared up the tower, before reappearing moments later.

"She says she doesn't want to see you," she informed them. "What did you guys do now?"

"Uh, we..." None of them could bring themselves to narrate the incident.

"Call her, please," Remus begged. "Tell her we want to say sorry."

After two very long minutes, Marlene McKinnon came down the stairs. Her hair was messy and her skin raw and red, as if she had spent a long time scrubbing herself. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"What do you want?" she asked tonelessly, not meeting their eyes.

"We are sorry, Marlene," Remus began, always the most tactful one. "We never intended to prank you. We're so sorry. Aren't we, guys?" He looked pointedly at his friends, James and Sirius in particular, because while they had acknowledged their mistakes, the two had a massive ego.

"Yes, yes, of course," James said quickly.

"We are very sorry, Marlene," Sirius agreed.

"Forgive us, please?" Peter's quiet voice came in the end. Marlene sighed.

"Very well. It's okay... Just don't do it again, please," she said half-heartedly. Her eyes remained hard.

All four nodded earnestly.

"Thank you," Remus said. "We'll never do this again."

They stared at her as she moved to a chair in a corner and sat down.

"Well, that's done," James said, a relieved smile on his face. "Anyone ready to head out to the lake?"

His offer was met with ready affirmatives, and all four headed towards the portrait hole. But as Sirius turned back, his eyes caught Marlene, sitting silently. Something held him back.

"Um... You guys go ahead," he said. "I'll join you in a while."

His words were met with curious looks, but then Remus nodded, and dragged the other two out. As the portrait swung back in place, Sirius went over Marlene.

"Hey," he greeted as he sat down in an armchair beside her.

"Sirius," she acknowledged, no smile lifting her face, unlike always.

"You didn't forgive us, did you?" he asked quietly, the observation only just dawning on him.

"I said it was okay."

"But you didn't mean it, did you? You're still angry."

"Well, of course I am!" she exploded suddenly, making him jump back in shock. "What did you expect? You lot and your stupid prank... Do you have any idea how embarassed I was? Everyone laughed at me, Sirius! They laughed at me. And do you have any idea how much I had to scrub to get all the glitter and that smell off?"

Sirius gaped at her for a few seconds, stunned at this uncharacteristic show of rage.

"It was a mistake," he tried to explain. "We were trying to prank Slytherins. What were you doing down there?"

"I was going to see Slughorn about this week's homework." She crossed her arms over her chest. "And do you realise just how stupid your plan was? Just because you were by the dungeons doesn't mean you will get only Slytherins. You could even have pranked a professor."

At her words, Sirius realised how true they were. That had been the biggest glitch in the plan. How did they not see it? He was suddenly very thankful that it was only Marlene who had got drenched and covered in glitter and stink.

"It was a mistake," he said again. "We're sorry."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Sorry because it was me? What about the other someone who would have got it had he been the victim?"

Sirius stared. "Come on, you can't possibly be supporting the Slytherins?"

"I'm just saying it's not funny, Sirius. Laughing at someone else's expense, it's not nice. Pranks are stupid and annoying, Lily's right about that one. You are annoying idiots, Sirius! All of you."

"That isn't true," he protested, trying to overlook her insult. "Pranks can be played without hurting anyone."

"Yes? Well, show me."

He sighed and got up, staring at her intently. "I will. And for the record, I'm sorry."

-o0o-

When Sirius reached his friends by the Lake, it was all too clear by their expression that he had stayed back longer than 'a while'.

"There's something I wanted to tell you," he said as he dropped down on the grass. "I want another prank. Tonight."

-o0o-

That night at dinner, all the students filled into the Great Hall, completely unaware of the looks and nods and gestures that were being exchanged by the four first year Gryffindor boys. It was when the golden plates appeared, and just before the appearance of the food, that it happened.

With whoops and whistles, a bunch of fireworks shot into the air, and amidst the shocked exclamations of the students and the confused stares of the teachers, burst in a splendour of light and colours.

People whooped as the fireworks sparkled and crackled, emitting an array of colours. But as the display came towards an end, all the colours of the fireworks mingled to form a large rainbow, and their sparks, glittering, rose towards the ceiling, shining brighter than the stars on the enchanted ceiling.

Everyone fell silent as the colours slowly disappeared, staring in open-mouthed awe. Then the applause broke out. Sirius looked up to see even Professor Dumbledore standing, clapping with a smile on his face. Dodging the piercing stare of Professor McGonagall, who was scanning the Great Hall, trying to catch a glimpse of the culprit (whether for a telling off or praise Sirius did not know), he exchanged high-fives with the other three of his friends, who wore equally broad grins at the success of their feat. And then he moved down the Gryffindor table to the person he wanted to talk to.

She was sitting with Lily and the other girls, her eyes still shining with amazement as she stared at the remaining glitters float in the air.

"Well, how was it?" he whispered, squeezing in to sit beside her. She jumped, then turned to look at him with a smile on her face.

"It was great," Marlene admitted. "Thanks for the show."

"So you admit pranks can be harmless?" he grinned.

"Yes, yes," she chuckled. "I was wrong. You all did a good job."

"So we're okay? All forgiven?"

She laughed, and drew him onto a quick hug, taking him by surprise. "Yes, Sirius, we are okay. Just—" she looked him in the eye, "—grow up a bit, please."

"But there's a lot of time left for that!" he exclaimed, feigning horror. "What's the hurry?"

And leaving her chuckling and shaking her head and muttering about him being insufferable, he returned to his friends with a smile on his face.

"Mischief managed," he murmured as he sat down.

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