Chapter 29: The Major Itch
"All these practicing are driving me nuts!!" Lily exclaimed as she plopped onto James' fluffy cloud-like bed, pushing him off. The girls, once again, were hanging out in the newly transfigured boys' dormitory.
"My brain is fizzing!!" Arabella complained as she lied down on Sirius' fire-like bed, rubbing her temples a little.
"I'm very very very tired!!" Stefanie closed her eyes, gave a yawn, as she enjoyed the watery feeling on Remus' waterbed.
"At least you girls don't have Quidditch training on Tuesdays and Thursdays." James complained as he sat on the floor beside his bed. Lily had occupied his bed because she thought the fluffy cloud-like bed looked comfortable.
"At least now there're no more Quidditch trainings for us." Sirius said as he settled on an armchair, which looked like a monster grabbing onto the person who sat on it.
"At least we had weekends off to Hogsmeade and for homework. Dumbledore could kill us before we get killed by Voldemort." Remus sighed as he lay on the carpet grass patch in the center of the dormitory.
"School is coming to an end soon." Peter added quietly as he hid himself in his tent-like bed. The boys had transfigured the normal third-year boys' dormitory to something rather absurd. But this time there was no theme to the dormitory. Nothing had matched.
James wanted the heavenly and angelic kind of theme because he wanted his dormitory to be tranquil and welcoming. The Quidditch trainings and practices had worn him out all day; he could only seek solace in his sleep. So he made his section of the room into his imagination of heaven.
Sirius found heaven and angel too sissy for a boys' dormitory. So he went for the complete opposite. He made his portion of the room to be hellish. His tyrannosaurus-like wardrobe with opening at the stomach, and his other dinosaur-like table and chair matched his devilish theme.
Remus wanted something closed to nature. The waterbed made him felt like he was floating in the water. The starry ceiling at his segment of the room made him looked like he was sleeping under the night sky. The carpet and furnishings around his bed were grassy and shrubby.
Peter was indecisive and he took the previous idea of forest theme for his part of the room.
"I'm really itching for some major prank actually." Lily spoke her thoughts so suddenly.
"Our last prank was just this morning, making Slytherins dressed like the muggle superman. With their underwear worn outside their pants and their cloaks soaring behind them." James added as he started polishing his most hatred accessory.
"That wasn't major enough. We all had a good morning laugh, that's all. We're laughing at the Slytherins' humiliation at least once a week. The fun had kinda worn off over time." Lily pointed out. She did found it funny this morning on the appearance of the Slytherins, but it was not as funny as to the younger students.
"Perhaps we can prank on the professors next time." Sirius suggested with a wicked glint in his eyes. Arabella shot him a look from his bed.
"I personally wouldn't want to prank on Dumbledore nor McGonagall. But I think the one who deserved to be pranked is still Porky. Or Trelawny. The rest of the professors were quite normal. You guys could try Binns but I think he's poor thing enough." Lily said, listing out the professors.
"We should prank Porky. But how is the question. Charming their clothes or slipping potions into his drinks is near impossible." Remus said, laughing at the thought of Professor Porky being the first staff victim.
"Hey, don't tickle my leg. It's itchy!!" Lily shrieked as James conjured a feather to tickle Lily's leg, which was sticking out from the clouds.
"Itchy." James repeated the word as he tried to create a prank from there.
"We could make itchy potion and slip into Slytherins' drinks. Or charm their clothes to itchiness??" Sirius added suggestively.
"Wait a minute. I think I've got a bottle of itchy powder somewhere in my trunk." Remus exclaimed and went to dig his trunk for a particular bottle.
"What is it anyway??" James asked curiously.
"Itchy powder is a type of powder that makes your skin itchy. It looked like normal powder until you touch it." Lily explained. Arabella, Stefanie and Peter's light snores could be heard in the dormitory.
"Hey, I think we can pour these itchy powder onto the Slytherins' clothes." James said excitedly.
"We can charm their clothes too!! Maybe make the wearer dance or sing or something??" Sirius added eagerly.
"What do you include in your 'something'??" Lily asked. The Slytherins had countless dances and sang numerous numbers of songs in their last three years.
"Stripping or pole dancing??" Sirius added cheekily. Some Slytherins actually had curvaceous and voluptuous figures but were rather brainless. A famous Slytherin who had the looks was Narcissa Clarkee. Tall and slender with a model figure and long wavy blond hair, she was one of the most gorgeous female in third-year Slytherin. As wonderful as she looked physically, her attitude sucks to the core and her intelligence was nearly zero.
"Keep it to dance then." Lily said as she wrinkled her nose. The idea of Malfoy and Snape stripping at breakfast sounds totally nauseating. I don't think I want to witness that.
"Got it." Remus yelled as he stood up holding a metal bottle. "This is the amazing itchy powder I bought from some muggle store. No spells or charm could erase its effect because it wasn't magical to start with."
"Are you sure??" James asked eyeing the normal looking bottle.
"Give me your pinkie finger." Remus instructed and sprinkled a few specks onto James' finger. Immediately he started scratching rather vigorously until it looked horrifying red and swollen.
"This itch is killing me!!" James yelped dramatically. "I can't imagine how it would be if it's all over their body."
"This sounds like a good prank for the Slytherins who think so highly of themselves." Lily agreed nodding. She turned to lie on her stomach and watched the guys playing with the itchy powder.
"We certainly need a Saturday laugh at breakfast. Why not we do it tonight??" James suggested, fishing out his invisibility cloak from his trunk.
"Add this fail-proof charm to their clothes too." Lily said as she 'accio' a quill and parchment to write down the charm to show the guys.
"What does this do??" Remus asked, reading the simple but long charm on the parchment.
"When said correctly to the clothing, it will dictate the wearer to dance professionally. When there was some slight mistake, I meant the slightest mistake, the wearer will dance ridiculously." Lily said, laughing.
"Where did you get charm??" James asked curiously. Lily always managed to find charms for anything and everything.
"Witch weekly. It's a simple joke actually. Just make the wearer dance for twenty-four hours. Tested and proven." Lily said knowingly. The girls had come across the charm on an issue of Witch Weekly the Saturday before. Lily thought it was just a joke and charmed Arabella's clothes. Arabella started ballet dancing in the girls' dormitory and she made Stefanie dance with her. But unfortunately Arabella did not say it correctly and Stefanie started twisting and turning rather ridiculously. In fits, Stefanie charmed Lily's clothes and Lily started hip-hop dancing in an off-form manner. The clothes somehow got stuck and could not be removed. In the end they decided to tune to WWN and danced the day away. The charm wore off as the day passed. It only allowed the wearer to remove the clothes only after twelve hours of continuous dancing.
"This is brilliant. Let's get prepared and head off to the Slytherin tower in fifteen minutes." James instructed as the three guys get prepared for their major prank. They had to drag Peter out of bed for that.
"No way!!"
"Why not??"
"You're kidding."
"I'm not!!"
"This is not looking good."
"I think it's great!!"
"This is not going to happen."
"It is!!"
"Do you know the seriousness of this??"
"I know. I'm Sirius."
"It spells trouble."
"We live for that."
"But this is big trouble."
"Nothing is too great for the Marauders."
"I'm not exactly looking forward for that sight."
"Neither am I."
"It's getting late."
"Let's go to bed."
"I can't wait for tomorrow."
"Me too."
"Me three."
"Me four."
"Not me."
"You'll like it."
"I do."
"But still.."
"No buts."
"Fine."
"Good night."
"Nitey."
"Nite nite."
"What're the Slytherins doing??"
"Dancing??"
"Strip dancing you meant??"
"No, they're scratching."
"Looks obscene."
"Look at Porky."
"What's wrong with him??"
"They're scratching rather violently."
"I wonder what's so itchy."
"Maybe it's a prank from the Marauders??"
"This is interesting though."
"Nice revenge on Porky."
"Nice revenge on Slytherins more like it."
"Whatever it is, it's definitely not an appetizer for breakfast."
"This is nauseating."
"Look at Malfoy in his deformed ballet."
"Snape is funnier in his ballroom dancing with the carrot."
"Porky is hilarious in his tango with the celery!!"
"What a show!!"
"It must be the Marauders."
"Who else could it be??"
"Porky is going to scream."
"He'll do more than just scream."
"He'll flip??"
"He's against the Marauders"
"Maybe even expulsion."
"I doubt so."
"James Potter is the son of Minister of Magic."
"Porky is just.. Porky??"
"Look at Malfoy and Snape and his two Cronies." James said, laughing hysterically with the rest of the students in the Great Hall. Lucius, Severus and the rest of the Slytherin guys were dancing ridiculously on their house table, and scratching away at the same time.
"You think they'll realize that it's their clothes that is controlling them??" Lily said in between laughter. She started scratching her hand rather automatically as though scratching was contagious.
"Not so soon. They aren't exactly smart." Sirius commented as he laughed. Lucius was trying to some break dance on the table but somehow had rolled off the table instead.
"I can't believe you guys did it on Porky as well." Arabella said, laughing at the sight of Professor Porky scratching himself all over and doing some odd form of dancing as well. Professor Porky was now scratching his toe with one hand and back with the other. At the same time he was shaking his butt like he was dancing.
"He just happened to be there. We didn't mean to do it on him. I thought we told you already." Remus said, laughing with the rest of the student population.
"Yeah, he deserved that for treating us in that manner." Stefanie said, laughing in an amused manner at a couple Slytherin girls scratching themselves and dancing not as wildly at the Slytherin table.
"Why are there girls dancing and scratching?? I thought you guys only did it on the guys??" Lily asked quizzically.
"We sprinkled powder on all the cloaks and all over the Slytherin common room. On the couches and chairs and floor too. Just for maximum effect." James explained while laughing at Severus who was now tiptoeing for a ballet dance, looking as if he would topple any moment.
The night before, the four guys had followed some first-year Slytherins into their common room and waited until most of them had gone to bed before starting their prank. They had charmed and powdered every single cloak in the common room then they headed towards the third-year boys' dormitory. Unable to resist their temptations, they had done it on all the Slytherins boys instead. They had wanted to prank of the Slytherin girls but Remus had stopped them. Just at the point when they were about to leave, they caught Professor Porky dozing off in a corner of the Slytherin common room and had conveniently charmed and powdered his clothes before they sneaked back to the Gryffindor tower.
"I don't think Porky is going to let you guys off so easily." Lily said. Professor Porky is now trying desperately to dance ballet on the staff table and scratch his hands and legs.
"He won't know that was our doing. We had destroyed the container and any trace of evidence. Even though he knows, he had no proof against us." James replied proud of his flawless plan.
"Pranking on a staff is considered serious. But heck, it was Porky anyway." Lily said. Sirius, Arabella, Stefanie, Remus and Peter were watching the dances with interest like the rest of the population in the Great Hall to be bothered with breakfast.
"I believe McGonagall would be here within five minutes. She usually appears around fifteen minutes after the beginning of the prank. It's a great pity that we can never witness our entire hard work." James said, eating his breakfast corn cereals.
"Since she disliked Porky, she probably wants him to suffer longer." Lily replied jokingly. No one seemed to offer help to the poor Slytherins who looked rather horrified at their own actions.
After half an hour of watching the Slytherins and Professor Porky, most students and staff had grown tired and continued eating their breakfast while the Slytherins continued their tabletop dance. The usual Saturday morning chattering was unusually loud with the Marauders spicing things up a little.
"McGonagall is not bugging us for detention today??" James asked after they finished their breakfast in unexpected peace.
"She probably fainted from all the laughing." Sirius joked.
"I don't think that could be possible. I mean that was hilariously funny but how can anyone faint from laughing??" Lily added reasonably.
"This would be our first major prank without getting any detention." Remus grinned at them.
"I doubt so. McGonagall heading our way now." Stefanie commented. They all turned to look at an expressionless Professor McGonagall walking towards them.
"She probably wanted Porky to suffer longer." Arabella said as she studied Professor McGonagall's expression. She usually had a furious look but today she looked as if she was trying not to laugh.
James mouthed five, four, three, two, and one.
"Potter!! Black!! Lupin!! Pettigrew!! In my office NOW!!" James, Sirus and Remus mouthed the exact words that Professor McGonagall was shouting at them.