Plot: The infamous Marauders weren't alone in their love for pranking. In fact, they often had their butts kicked by a bunch of girls. Now, this is it. Seventh year. Four girls, four boys. Two opposing pranking teams. One hell of a battle to be won.
Disclaimer: Sad as it may be, I am not J.K. Rowling in disguise, and therefore I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters or themes involved. (I do, however, own Jamie, Hannah and Regan and most elements of this specific plot—so I'd appreciate it if no poaching occurred. Thanks.)
WARNING (please read): This is the unedited version, meaning I wrote it a few years ago when my skill level sucked and I had no idea how to properly structure a story. So if you'll please ignore the terrible grammar, dodgy sentence structure, OOC-ness, plot holes, canonical inconsistencies and general immaturity of this whole chapter while I plough my way through all this editing work, that would be greatly appreciated. :) I'm in the process of fixing up all the chapters right now, but you'll have to be patient, because (as you can probably tell just by reading a couple of sentences below) fixing this stuff up takes a lot of time and effort.
Chapter 6 – Mummy's Boy
"Wake up Lily!"
"Just one more minute…"
Lily groaned and rolled over, not entirely aware of her senses until her pillow was tugged straight out from underneath her and she received a heavy blow on the head. Groggily, she turned around and saw a frustrated Hannah standing next to her bed with a pillow in her hands. The girl was already dressed in her robes and her hair was tied neatly back into a ponytail. She looked just as bright as the morning with her eyes wide and her face twisted into a 'what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you' sort of smile.
"Honestly," Lily said in a tired voice. "I don't know how you do it, Hannah,"
"Do what?" Hannah tossed the pillow back onto Lily's head with a shrug.
"Wake up so early!" Lily gave a wide yawn and swung her legs around, placing her feet gingerly on the cold wooden floor.
"It's not that bad," Hannah laughed. "You know, you really should get used to it too,"
"No thanks," Lily said, and stepped out of bed, stretching out her arms.
"Calling all Rogues!" Hannah expelled a loud announcement, causing Lily to flinch at the volume. Several figures in the semi-darkness fidgeted, indicating that Jamie and Regan had been awakened by Hannah's call.
"Keep it down, would you?" a voice came from the bed belonging to Rosalie Williams, the sixth Gryffindor girl in seventh year, and a friend of Alice Hanby. Rosalie was generally a very warm-hearted person, but as Lily understood very well, everyone could be a bit moody in the early hours of the morning.
Lily looked at Jamie's bed, where the girl was sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She ran over to her friend and tugged on her arm. "Get up, lazy bones!" she said, and pulled her off of the mattress. Jamie groaned and slumped down onto the ground, her eyelids threatening to shut from fatigue. She leaned against the side of her bed and said,
"Just one more minute,"
"You're not even in bed anymore! It can't be that hard to get up now!" Lily said, shaking her head. Because of the forceful volume she used to say this, it resulted in another scolding whisper from Rosalie.
After much persuasion, Jamie finally got to her feet. Satisfied with their success, Hannah and Lily now turned their attention to Regan; the girl was, as expected, nowhere to be seen - she was huddled so deep under her covers that not an inch of her was in sight.
"REGAN!" Hannah exclaimed.
"Would you two keep it down?"
"Sorry, Alice," Lily said with a small, apologetic smile in the girl's direction.
She looked back at Hannah, who was standing with her arms folded as the lump of covers fidgeted uneasily.
"Maybe we should just leave her," Lily suggested, knowing with utmost certainty that dragging Regan out of bed would not be an easy feat.
"Not an option," Hannah said defiantly, and took a step closer to Regan's bed. "Besides, I've got a plan. She's not going to like it, but it'll do the trick,"
Lily watched with interest, anxious to know what exactly this 'plan' entailed. Her inquiries were answered in an instant as Hannah drew her wand, pointed it in Regan's direction and uttered an incantation.
"Aguamenti!" she said. At once, a stream of water erupted from the tip of her wand. It shot through the air and came down on Regan's head, splashing onto her face and causing her to flinch.
"Gerfffff mmmm!" her words dissolved into gibberish as the plummeted down on her. Lily gave a small laugh as she watched the scene before her; Hannah wearing a sly smile, Regan's expression distorted in agony as she tossed and turned to avoid the water pouring onto her face.
By the time Regan gave in and leapt out of bed, she was soaked from head to toe. "Don't you ever do that again, Hannah Milton!" All the while, Hannah simply folded her arms and laughed, taking no note of her friend's annoyance.
"Come on," Hannah said, gesturing to their left. Following her lead, the others clambered onto her bed. They drew the curtains shut, closing off the area entirely, and arranged themselves comfortably on the neatly made comforter.
"Muffliato!" Lily said, then explained to the others, "I just thought we should keep the noise down, so that we don't aggravate Alice and Rosalie more than we already have,"
"Good thinking," Jamie said with a yawn. Lily suspected she may have been kicking herself for not having thought of such an idea before Lily did.
Suddenly, Hannah cleared her throat, and three heads turned immediately in her direction. She sat upright, her legs crossed beneath her and her hands wrapped around her ankles while she bounced up and down with excitement. "Well," she said in an upbeat manner. "I figured that, since it's the first day of school and all, we should hold our first Rogue meeting of the year,"
Lily nodded, as did the others.
Ever since a few weeks into first year, it had been a tradition for the Rogues to hold a group meeting once a week, as well as on any occasion when discussion was required. They spoke mainly about their planned pranks, and worked on future hijacks. They also sorted other issues concerning any of them, and spent quite a while talking and joking around (Regan had always argued that this was 'bonding time', and insisted that this was crucial for their teamwork, but Lily considered it to be simply an excuse to escape the seriousness of the meeting). The first meeting of the year was by far the most important, as it gave them a chance to figure out their plan of attack, and to talk about things that applied to that particular year. Approaching the seventh and final leg of the practical joke war, the meeting seemed more exciting than ever, despite the general bleariness in the area.
"So," Lily said, fidgeting anxiously. "Where should we begin?"
Hannah replied first, as if she had planned this out prior to the meeting. "I thought we could start by writing down everything that's going on this year. I suppose like a list of events?"
"Sounds good to me," Jamie responded. Regan gave a meek nod and shrugged.
The Rogues leaned in over the sheet of parchment that Hannah had drawn out from underneath her bed, tossing in comments as Jamie scribbled them down, her hand moving swiftly across the page. When they finished the list, they had included things such as the Halloween feast, the Christmas holidays and, of course, their NEWTs. They left spaces in between each event, allowing room for unforeseen occasions.
"What next?" said Jamie eagerly, taking a second piece of parchment from Hannah as she spoke.
"We should think about that truce," said Regan, causing unease amongst the others the moment she said these words. "I mean, do we really plan on holding back when we could be swindling them right now?"
"I was starting to wonder that myself," Hannah said, nodding with vigour. "Personally, I don't think we should waste our time abiding to this stupid truce. And since when do we play fair?"
"The Marauders seemed pretty serious about it," Jamie said, her eyebrows raised in concern.
"Only one of them was really Sirius, though," Regan said blandly, evidently attempting to sound casual as she offered up this dull humour.
"Shut up, Regan," Hannah groaned, tossing a pillow at her friend.
"Jamie," Lily said, ignoring the others. "Are we just going to wait for them to make the first move?"
"I suppose you're right," replied Jamie thoughtfully. "But it would be nice to have a little peace for a while,"
"True," Hannah put a hand to her chin, as if weighing up the possibilities.
"Well, I think we should vote," Lily said, folding her arms resolutely.
"Good idea," Regan agreed. The others nodded in reply. And so the four of them cast their votes, finishing with a result that could not have been more certain; there was full support of their first option – breaking the truce and beginning their pranks as soon as possible.
"Now," Hannah said, with mischief evident in her chocolate-coloured eyes. "Where shall we go from here?"
"How about a list of possible pranks?" suggested Lily.
There was a simultaneous buzz of enthusiasm as the other girls immediately began to offer ideas. Jamie frantically noted each idea as it came about, struggling to keep up with the constant flow of creativity. Regan, at long last, perked up and was almost shouting as she expressed her thoughts to the others. Lily listened attentively, taking in every last detail and throwing in an idea here and there. In the end, it was Hannah who came up with the most suggestions, clearly in a more alert state of mind than the others.
There was much exchanging of roguish smiles as they made their way down to the Great Hall a little later, all dressed in their robes and ready for a day of classes. However, they all knew that there was much more in store than just lessons.
As they reached the large stone archway that granted access to the hall, Jamie flicked a feather from the collar of her robes. The girls had just returned from the Owlery, where they had made preparations for their first practical joke of the year.
A few moments later, the four Rogues were seated, two on each side of the table, sipping pumpkin juice from their goblets and devouring bacon, eggs and numerous slices of toast. Every now and then, they shot each other sly grins, although they tried to keep this to a minimum in order to appear casual to onlookers. At last, the sound they had been waiting for emerged from a window high on the walls of the Great Hall. Every head turned as the screeching of owls filled the room. The feathered creatures fluttered into the open, each one clutching an envelope or parcel in its talons.
"There it is," Jamie whispered, pointing to a snowy owl that stood out amongst the cloud of brown and grey birds. In its claws it was holding a medium sized package, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a bow that was bright pink. The moment they spotted it, they looked away, returning instantaneously to their previous activities of eating, drinking and exchanging quiet conversation. Occasionally, they glanced up at the bird to keep track of its progress, and continued to do so until it finally landed not far from them in front of a boy at the Gryffindor table. It was Peter Pettigrew.
At this point, the girls could not hold back any longer. Without hesitation, all four of them fixed their eyes upon Peter, who was looking, confused, at the package in front of him and beginning to read the tag that was attached to it. The rest of the Marauders leaned in to him; Remus looked suspicious, while James and Sirius laughed and nudged Peter playfully in the arms.
"It says: 'Peter, darling. Have this. From Mother'" The girls could scarcely here these words, but they knew very well what was written on the tag.
"Ooh!" Sirius said loudly. "A present from Mommy? Go on! Open it!"
Peter blushed and cautiously began to remove the brown paper from the parcel. Lily's eyes widened and her heart beat fast with anticipation as she watched the events unfold in front of her.
After removing the last scrap of wrapping from the package, Peter picked up the object and held it up to look at. It was a pink and white bonnet, complete with lace and ribbons. The overall image of it was rather comical, and the idea of Peter wearing such a thing made the girls erupt into laughter. Fortunately, the snickers that came from many other Gryffindor students masked this from the Marauders, and so no attention was drawn to them.
"Mother sent me this?" Peter said incredulously, dropping the hideous thing onto the table as if it were red hot.
"Put it on!" said James, picking it up and throwing it at Peter. The boy said nothing, but simply put it back onto the table and took a large swig from his pumpkin juice. Although this was a ploy to detract from the attention that was currently focused on him, it did nothing, for as soon as he drank from his goblet, he began to choke and splutter, his face turning redder by the moment. Even the Marauders – including Remus – were laughing at this point. It was too hysterical for anybody to turn a blind eye to it. When Peter finally recovered from his coughing fit, he straightened himself and sat still, his jaw clenched and his eyes downcast with embarrassment.
"Oi, Marauders!" Hannah sang out. The Rogues were on their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts when they spotted the four boys just up ahead of them. Peter was clutching his books and staring at the ground, walking at a considerably fast pace for somebody of his stature. Lily could see a piece of the bonnet sticking out of his bag, which caused her to assume that he had stuffed it in there, worried that his mother might reprimand him should he throw it away. This triggered a slight pang of pity for the boy, but it also made her laugh quietly to herself.
At Hannah's exclamation, the four boys turned, and Lily felt James's gaze upon her. She looked up and their eyes met for a split second, but she dropped his gaze almost immediately. It was a rare case indeed if she or one of the others were to feel at all guilty about a prank that they had pulled on the Marauders, but for the strangest reason – one that she couldn't quite comprehend – she found herself avoiding James's eye. Of course, she reminded herself, it wasn't at all weird, not wanting to look at somebody as infuriating as James Potter. But lately he had seemed so... mature, if such a thing could be said about him. And the thought of this little change affecting his approach to the practical joke war meant that Lily was beginning to have doubts about their decision to break the truce that had been made on the train the previous day. Now that she thought about it, it seemed awfully soon to do this, and the Marauders had seemed quite genuine about it...
What am I talking about? Lily thought to herself, shaking these thoughts from her head. Potter isn't capable of being serious about anything. She had to stifle a small laugh as she imagined Regan's response to this accidental, Sirius-related pun.
"What do you want, Milton?" Lily now tuned into Sirius's exclamation. "Did you come to make an offer on Wormtail's bonnet? 'Cause if you did, I'm all for it. I think it'd suit you wonderfully."
Hannah scowled, folded her arms and raised her eyebrows defiantly. "Actually, I came to complimentold Wormbutt on his lovely gift." Lily saw Peter's face redden at this snide remark, but the rest of the Marauders, it seemed, were unable to contain their laughter.
"So you do like it then!" Sirius said, clapping his hands together in mock delight and speaking in a tone that was disturbingly girly.
"Not particularly," Hannah put on an expression of pure disgust. "But I hope Petey Poo does. You know Mummy won't be very pleased if you don't wear it."
It rather pained Lily to watch the realization fall across Peter's plump face. He had always been the least spiteful of the four, and he hardly deserved the torture that the Rogues often inflicted on him. But on the other hand, Lily remembered, he was the weakest link in the chain; the Achilles Heel of the group and by far the easiest to pick on.
"It... it was you!" he stuttered, his expression stiff, his hands curling into tight fists.
"Took your time," Regan laughed. As Peter glanced accusingly at each of the Rogues in turn, he dodged Regan's eyes with such obviousness that Lily had to raise her eyebrows. Although puzzled, she quickly forgot about this, distracted by everything else that was going on.
"Ah," James was smirking now, and Lily listened keenly to his reaction. "We've decided to play it on individual targets already, have we?"
"I think you'll find that we're a little more unpredictable than last year." Jamie said, savouring the words as if extremely proud of herself for speaking up at all.
"The Rogues? Unpredictable? I never would have guessed." Remus spoke a little awkwardly and Jamie blushed. Lily thought she picked up on the same quality in Remus's voice that she had in Jamie's; it was a lot to ask for anybody expected muck talk from these two. And, as it seemed, it was a little too much to ask, for they both fell silent after Hannah took over.
"I think that's kind of the point of being unpredictable."
"Don't be such a smart Alec, Milton!" Sirius shot darkly at her, and all at once, they launched into a full-blown, all too familiar Hannah-Sirius blow out.
"Just 'cause you don't have a brain, Black!"
"And what would you know about my internal organs?"
"Well they must be pretty revolting if what's on the outside is anything to go by."
"Ha! You want to work with that argument? Good luck!"
"You're so pig-headed, did you know that?"
"At least I don't look like a pig!"
"Talk about weak arguments!"
"Shut up, you blabbermouth! Can't you keep your mouth shut just for one second?"
"Why don't you just go jump off a cliff? Nobody wan-"
"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!"
Lily's head snapped up at the sound of this new voice, and realized with surprise that it was James who spoke, placing himself strategically between Sirius and Hannah. The arguing pair had gradually moved out into the open space between the groups and stood facing each other, both red-faced and ready to lash out at any moment. Thankfully, the argument had not advanced to the point of drawing wands – Lily shuddered at the bank of memories she had stored from the numerous occasions when it had gone that far. If it wasn't for James, standing furiously between the pair and holding up both hands to stop them yelling at each other, they would have begun cursing each other by now, and it wouldn't be pretty.
"You two really need to stop ripping each others' heads off!" James said in a firm tone that was surprisingly full of authority. "We all know that you two have your differences to sort out, but you can save that for another time. Now can we please just shut up and get to class?"
After this, nobody spoke. Lily was quite shocked at his willingness to reprimand his own friend. But what was even more of a surprise was the sudden emptiness of the corridors. They had all been so engrossed in their bickering that they had failed to notice the students quietly filing off to their first classes.
"We're late for Defense Against the Dark Arts." she urgently reminded the others, glancing over at James after she finished speaking to her friends. He had a hand on Sirius's back and was ushering him along the corridor, both of them with their heads down; Remus and Peter were quiet at their heels.
"Let's go." Jamie was already on the move, flicking a strand of luxurious hair over her shoulder to make room for the strap of her book bag.
Regan lagged behind. "Ugh," she groaned. "DADA, can't we just skip?"
"Absolutely not!" Lily did a fairly accurate impersonation of Professor Marsh, the incredibly dull and excruciatingly old-fashioned Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who had delivered uncountable boring lessons to her students over the years.
Regan simply responded with a a laugh and came along reluctantly when Lily grabbed her by the wrist and attempted to drag her.
What was more interesting even than Regan's pleas to get out of class was something quiet but puzzling – Hannah remained silent the whole time.
"Who can tell me what determines the form of a wizard's Patronus?"
Lily sighed and lifted her hand slowly and instinctively to respond to the Professor's monotone voice. She had been alert for the first ten minutes of the lesson, but her energy had long since depleted, and her attention was now somewhat withdrawn. She had only vaguely heard the outline of the most recent question, but it was far to simple to require any more attentiveness that Lily was currently willing to dish out.
"Yes, Miss Evans?" Professor Marsh looked to Lily, her beady grey eyes giving a cold, emotionless stare, her thin lips pursed into a dry frown.
"The Patronus of a wizard or witch takes on the shape of an animal that the spell-user relates to a happy memory or feeling." she recited, quoting her textbook almost exactly.
"Good," Marsh grunted. "And why is this?"
It took a moment for Lily to realize that the teacher was still looking to her for answers.
"Because the strength of this joy combined with the happy memory inside the wizard's head is powerful enough to repel the gloom of the dementor." Lily continued, easily remembering every line she had read and not really paying attention to a word she was saying.
"Very well," said the Professor, clearly unimpressed.
Lily heard a snigger from beside her, on her left. A quick glance in that direction reminded her of the terrible seating arrangement that Professor Marsh had allocated. Lily had been placed next to none other than James Potter. As if working alongside him to keep the school in order wasn't agony enough, she would now be forced to work next to him in class, too.
"You've been reading." he laughed quietly, his words sounding neither insulting, nor satirical, but simply like a casual comment. Lily felt her cheeks burn instantly.
"Shut up, Potter." she shot back defensively.
To her surprise, James fell silent and didn't bother her again. This made her wonder if perhaps he had merely meant it as a friendly comment. But Potter? Friendly? The thought of it was unconceivable.
As the Professor lapsed into a long-winded description of Azkaban's "top-notch" security and its exact location – neither of which were directly associated with the subject she was supposed to be teaching them – Lily looked around at her classmates. Jamie sat a few feet away, paired with Frank Longbottom. The poor girl was very obviously trying to dodge his gaze, clearly uneasy about getting back to him on the inquiry he had made on the train. The even more unfortunate boy was looking hopefully at the back of her head, evidently trying to catch her eye. Over to Lily's right sat Regan, tossing tiny morsels of parchment into the hair of oblivious Peter Pettigrew, who sat next to her at the desk. And finally, at the very front of the classroom, where the teacher could easily keep a keen eye on them, Hannah and Sirius were seated, having edged so far away from each other that it appeared they weren't even sharing a table. Evidently, this morning's squabble had had significant aftermath on these two.
All of her friends seemed very unsettled in their seats – which were, it seemed, very poorly thought out by the teacher – and yet here was Lily, sitting next to James Potter, the very person she had detested for more than six years. Sitting next to him without anything beyond the slightest disturbance. The Potter she knew would be scribbling on the corner of her notes by now, or at least begging her to go out with him as he had done an unbearable number of times in the past. But this was nothing like that. James was listening – listening – to the teacher, without bugging Lily at all.
Now, despite her doubts from before, Lily could safely answer the question that had been constantly nagging her since they stepped onto the Hogwarts Express; yes, James had certainly changed. But what would come of it, Lily had yet to find out.
A/N: And that's all for now... I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave a review and tell me what you think, but it's not obligatory (obviously). In any case, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! There's still much more to come. ;)