I own nothing. Sorry for the delay! Enjoy!
"Happy Halloween!" James shrieked flying towards Remus and Peter with a maniacal grin.
"Mate, you are a little bit off, It's October 1st." Sirius said joining them in the common room. Sirius glanced at his best friend with a bemused expression. James was now trying to carve a small pumpkin that had made its way into their common room. He continued to poke at the orange fruit with a slightly smoldering wand that didn't seem to be affecting the pumpkin.
"Halloween..is..a..month…long….event…" James grunted while still struggling with the pumpkin. "There!" James pushed the finished gourd towards Remus with a satisfied smirk. The pumpkin was glowing slightly and GRYFFINDOR was embellished on the surface in haphazardly-formed capital letters. Remus examined it curiously.
"What spell did you use? It smells like it is burning?" He asked poking the pumpkin curiously. As soon as Remus jabbed the pumpkin it exploded into a copious amount of orange goo. Remus and Peter were entirely coated in it. James leapt back and missed the substance entirely, while, Sirius had a large glob of pumpkin dripping from the tip of his nose.
Peter was the quickest to recover. He fumbled quickly in his cloak pockets grimacing as his hand grasped yet more pungent pumpkin goo. Peter finally pulled out his chestnut wand and cast "Tarantellegra" shouting the words loudly.
James began to dance wildly. His feet bounced across the floor as he started a demented sort of tap dance. Remus and Sirius high-fived Peter and cheered wildly as the boy responsible for their current attire danced a complicated jig. People hurried to move out of his way as the curse swept James in circles around the common room. Even Lily laughed good-naturedly, when the curse was slowly wearing off. James stood in the middle of the room with random dance steps occurring every 20-30 seconds and took long dramatic bows.
Remus and Peter attacked him to make sure that the boy did not escape without a heavy layer of pumpkin. Later, the boys trouped upstairs to remove the pumpkin goo that felt like it was seeping into their pores.
James demanded "So what did we learn from that?"
"Um.. Peter doesn't like to be covered in pumpkin?" Remus guessed with small smile on his face as he replayed the events in his mind.
"No! We learned that we can make pumpkins explode annnnd Pete knows an excellent jinx to use on the Slytherins. We need to start planning for Halloween now!" James answered as though he was explaining a very simple math problem to a struggling child. "We need to practice. The School is counting on us to provide quality entertainment on Halloween in the form of the prank. We can't let them down."
"Um, James, the school isn't really counting on us for anything. They don't know who we are." Remus interjected. He was trying to stop James from getting to carried away.
"They might not know who we are, but that doesn't stop them from wanting us." Sirius said slinging an arm around James. Remus sighed. It was clear that Sirius was just going to encourage James. Peter grinned mischievously.
"It would be kind of fun to see the Slytherins covered in goo." Pete said relishing the thought. Remus gave in to the plans to practice for a large Halloween prank. They planned several smaller exploding pumpkin pranks around the school to make sure that they would be well prepared for the big night. James continued to insist that this was the most important exam they would have this year.
Remus was enjoying himself thoroughly until he realized when the first pumpkin was planned to detonate.
"Monday? Wouldn't Thursday or Friday be better? It would give us more time." He queried the other boys. Remus had been trying to forget all week that the full moon was looming on the coming Monday. He had almost succeeded, he thought ruefully, but it never lasted long when he forgot himself.
"Nah, I don't want to wait around to slime the Slytherins. Let's do it Monday." Sirius proclaimed with an evil-sounding laught.
Remus wearily agreed. He knew that he would have to slip out Monday because of the moon, but it would be ok if he missed one prank. He started to think about cover stories, unfortunately, he had picked three of the brightest boys in school to be his friends. He probably should have distanced himself from them for his safety and their own, but James' arm was casually thrown about his shoulder as they discussed all of the applications of exploding pumpkins, and, indeed, other vegetables. Remus couldn't bring himself to be sorry that he had befriended them after all.
On Sunday morning, Remus was again the last to wake up. Peter pushed him experimentally when it looked like he might sleep through breakfast. He grumbled, but drug himself out of bed to go eat with the boys. He couldn't have them suspect that he was unwell. He grumbled some more when he saw his appearance in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken and his skin was so much paler than normal. Maybe he could get one of the Gryffindor girls to show him the charm they used to cover up their complexions.
"Remus, you alright mate?" Sirius asked while shoveling eggs into his mouth. His eyes flicked over the small boy.
"I'm fine, why?" Remus asked feigning innocence. He hadn't touched his breakfast yet.
"You just look a bit peaky." It was James this time. Remus could feel the attention of all three boys now. He had to get a handle on this. He knew he could only stay at Hogwarts as long as his secret stayed safe. The Great Hall seemed suffocating, and his nausea from the moon doubled.
"I'm great! You should try the spell on that egg, James" Remus said with fake enthusiasm. He hoped that a change in subject would put the matter out of everyone's minds. It seemed to work. James went after the hard-boiled eggs with gusto watching as they grew and began to slightly glow.
Soon, they all had to flee the Great Hall. Alice, another Gryffindor, was chasing after them while bits of egg covered her hair. Peter pulled them all into a nearby broom closet, and they snickered while she paced around looking for them with fire in her eyes.
They trooped back to the dorm reliving the moment happily in their minds. Remus found himself struggling to match the other's pace, and he knew that they were slowing down for him. He had to get himself out of there soon.
"I forgot my bag in the Great Hall. I'll catch up to you guys." Remus said while darting away. Sirius looked perplexed by the sudden departure. Remus hadn't brought a bag to breakfast he was almost sure of it. He was even more confused when 20 minutes later, Remus appeared in the common room without his backpack.
"Bad news guys, My grandmother died. I'm going home to be with my family and go to the funeral. I'll be back in a couple of days." Remus' voice shook as he told the boys. He wondered if they knew he was lying. His previous oddities seemed to be forgotten though as they all jumped up to express their condolences and pat him on the back.
Remus felt bad about lying about the death. Both of his grandmothers had died years ago though so he excused the lie. He really needed to come up with a regular excuse he thought as he began the trek towards the Hospital Wing. His friends already asked way too many questions.