Mischief Managed
Chapter 1:
"I don't care. Always strutting around like you own the castle, showing off that stupid Snitch. Ruffling your hair because you think it makes you look cool. You make me SICK, Potter." And with that Lily Evans whipped around, her hair blowing in the cool wind, and stormed off. People looked uneasily at James who was dumbfounded with his mouth hanging wide open. Sirius chuckled uneasily and Peter backed away slowly from James, as if he were waiting for him to explode in anger and take it out on some unsuspecting person. The wind blew again, snapping James out of his reverie and he said in exasperation,
"What is her problem?" Sirius shrugged and said,
"Barking mad if you ask me, mate." James shrugged and said with an even voice,
"Right." There was another flash of light and Snape was into the air again, his ankle suspended in air as if by an invisible wire. "Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's underpants?" The crowd circling around them cheered and a stern voice called out,
"Potter!" James turned around to see the Head of Gryffindor House storming towards them with a fuming Lily Evans behind her, wearing a satisfied smirk. Behind Lily was her best friend, Crystal Brookes, staring at Snape with a grin on her face. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Teaching Snivellus a lesson, Professor." Someone in the crowd, most likely Sirius, laughed and Professor McGonagall gave him a withering look, to which he sobered and stopped laughing immediately.
"Put your wand away, Mr. Potter. Twenty points from Gryffindor and week of detention for both you and Black, Mr. Potter." James shrugged nonchalantly and put his wand away. Professor McGonagall then looked at James expectantly and he sighed and pulled his wand out. He twitched his wand downwards and Snape landed in a disheveled heap on the ground, his robes over his head. The crowd dispersed and James, Sirius and Peter walked dejectedly back over to where Remus was sitting under their tree. He was pointedly looking at his book and looked up at James, who was silently fuming.
"Let me guess, you think we deserve it, right?" Remus set his book down and said quietly,
"I wish McGonagall wouldn't have taken points from Gryffindor, but yes, she was right. I've told you time and time again to not mess with Snape but, as you see, you disregard everything I say." Sirius sighed and said,
"Whatever, Moony. The greasy git deserves everything we throw at him. And Evans-." He stopped there, looking uneasily at James. James, however, was lost in his own world again, and was not paying attention. He normally would have jumped into the conversation at the mere mention of Lily's name, but it seemed as though he did not really care about anything that was said about Evans so Sirius continued,
"Like I was saying, Evans, going to McGonagall about every little thing. If it not were respect for Prongs, I would suggest her as the next victim for our pranks." James seemed to be listening to this part and nodded his head eagerly, ready for revenge against Lily. Remus sighed and said,
"I thought you would have learned your lesson by now, especially you, James. Sirius, I can understand, seeing as he hasn't matured a bit since first year-."
"You know I resent that, right, Moony?" Remus smirked and continued,
"But you, James, I thought would have known better." James clucked his tongue impatiently at Remus and said,
"Oh well, seems as though our friend with the furry little problem won't be joining us in our scheming this time." Remus raised his eyebrows so that they were hiding under his brown bangs,
"Says who?" James gaped at Remus and recovered saying,
"Never mind then, seems as though he will be joining us for this prank. Sirius, what do you have in mind?" Sirius's gray eyes gleamed with mischievousness and he said,
"Seeing as if Evans loves protecting Snivellus so much," here James visibly flinched and his eyes darkened at the mention of Snape, "I propose we show her exactly the kind of git he really is." Remus nodded in acceptance of this plan and said,
"And how exactly do we do that?" Sirius looked around to make sure they were not being heard, smiled and said,
"Do you remember that Polyjuice Potion that old Sluggy's got in the storing cabinets?"
***
The next morning, the Marauders went down to breakfast quite ready for the plan to be put into action. Peter was to obtain the hairs from Snivellus, Remus was in charge of planning the scene and obtaining, he did not like to think that he was stealing, the Polyjuice Potion, Sirius was going to be the one to actually transform into Snape, and James was going to be the 'innocent' victim.
"Now, are you sure this is going to work?" Remus whispered as Peter hurried back from the Slytherin table, his face triumphant. Peter handed Remus the hairs and Sirius and James backed away, saying,
"Don't want to get greasy." Remus smirked and said,
"Oh well, to bad, Sirius, seeing as you're the one who is going to have to drink the potion." Sirius gagged on the sausage he had just put into his mouth and James thumped on the back. "But really, are you sure this is going to work?" James nodded and looked over at the other end of the table where Lily was having a heated discussion with her friend, Katie Alling. Katie seemed to think that it was none of the Marauders fault that Snape had called Lily a 'Mudblood', a highly offensive term for a witch or wizard of Muggle heritage. Lily, however, disagreed, and put all the blame on James and his cronies.
"Isn't that funny, how James ended up with a gash on his face, and Snape gets off, as if he's the innocent one?" Sirius said, evident anger in his voice. He trailed off, muttering things like 'greasy git' and 'needs to wash his hair.' James looked at Sirius in amusement and said,
"You know, Padfoot. You have got to be the most loyal friend I've ever known. Besides Moony and Wormtail, of course," he added, not wanting his friends to think that he did not think them loyal. Peter practically glowed at this comment and slightly puffed his chest out. Sirius, however, gave his usual bark like laughter clapped his hand on James's back, saying,
"Well. I think we should begin Operation Snivellus." James looked up from his bowl of porridge and said with amusement,
"I don't remember naming it Operation Snivellus, but it does sound kind of fitting, don't you think, Moony, Wormtail?" Moony nodded once and continued eating as Peter nodded eagerly. Sirius stood from the table and said loudly, his voice carrying towards the other end of the table where Lily and Katie were arguing,
"Well, gentleman, fellow Marauders, you will have to excuse me for my unnatural control of my bladder, as of right now I have to use the loo." Sirius smirked as Crystal rolled her eyes impatiently at him. James, Remus, and Peter sniggered and over at the Hufflepuff table, a girl practically swooned and fainted. With a small frown on his face after looking over at the Hufflepuff table, Sirius proceeded to walk out of the hallway, in what he presumed was an elegant strut.
"Bloody git." Crystal said. Her eyes were narrowed in dislike and even Alice rolled her eyes.
"He's really not that bad of a person as you make him out to be, Crystal." Alice said quietly. Her friends turned to gawk at her, not used to that many words coming out of the shy blonde's mouth. Crystal muttered,
"Whatever." And continued to glare at Sirius's retreating form. Sirius, feeling her eyes upon him, turned and looked directly at her and mock bowed and blew kisses at her. It seemed he knew that this would immediately anger her and walked quicker than normal as Crystal screamed bloody murder and chased after him. Sirius was not known as a Marauder for no reason, though. He immediately went through a tapestry that he knew was a door that led directly to the dungeons. Crystal stared around and, not finding a Sirius to kill, turned around and walked back to the table where she sat and fumed, Lily, Alice, and Katie looking at her amusedly.
***
Author's Note:
Well, what do you think about this latest addition to the story. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but, as I stated on the SS/AN/D page, I am trying to produce chapters on a minimum of three days. I am behind on that schedule and I promise to update the next chapter as quickly as possible. Be sure the Review and tell me what you think about the story. I will put up the POLL for the James dating as I add this chapter to the story. Thank you for being patient.