Chapter 20: The Legendary Prank War

January 1972

The next month flew by. Severus ignored Sirius. Sirius both found and lost the nerve to apologize to Snape on several occasions. The four boys tirelessly prepared pranks for the next month, juggling their homework load as they did. It had come off as a surprise to both James and Sirius when Remus and Peter offered to help. "You can't possibly do it all by yourselves." Peter had told them.

Sirius had to admit, that first week had been horrible. Neither James nor Sirius had gotten enough sleep. After the group decided to work together, the boys devised a schedule in which everyone got adequate sleep and time to work on homework. By the time that February came around the boys were exhausted, but the thought of their legendary prank war kept them up all night.

February 1, 1972

"Hey Alice! Do you know where I put my jumper?" Marlene asked as she ran around the room.

"I think it's in your trunk." Lily replied as she straightened her tie.

"Thanks Lily. You're a lifesaver." Marlene's voice came out muffled as she pulled the sweater over her head.

"You wouldn't need your life saved so often if you took care of your things better." Alice muttered dryly. Scowling, Marlene pouted before sticking her tongue out. Lily smiled at her friend's antics.

"Come on. Let's go. I'm starving." Lily said and the girls headed downstairs.

"Good morning ladies." James said as the trio came down. Lily's face immediately darkened at the sight of Potter. Leave it to him to spoil my day she thought glumly. Ignoring him she made her way to the portrait hole. "Oy, Lily-flower." James caught up to her. She refrained from groaning out loud. "You could at least say good morning." He pouted. Exasperated, Lily turned, put on a fake smile, and greeted him in an overly cheerful voice.

"Morning!" She smiled widely. Then she gave him her best I'm-annoyed-leave-me-alone face. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like some peace and quiet." She turned and stormed away before he could say anything else.

"It's okay Potter." James turned to find his red headed competitors. "She'll fall for you eventually." James blinked confused before understanding.

"You've got the wrong idea." James shook his head. He didn't love Lily. Ewww. He just wanted to be friends. She seemed like a nice person, except for the fact that she seemed to hate him for some reason. He couldn't fathom why, I mean he was pretty incredible. Sure he could be arrogant sometimes, but he wasn't mean or anything. Plus, he wasn't super nasty like Snape or Malfoy or anything. But that wasn't important right now. "You ready?" He asked the twins. Fabian and Gideon looked at each other and grinned confidently.

"We were born ready." Gideon winked at James. "Be prepared to be amazed."

"Don't be so full of yourselves. We've got a few surprised up our sleeves as well." James threw his head back and looked up with confidence.

"Well, then. I'm looking forward to being impressed." Fabian pronounced.

"Good luck." Gideon waved as they turned.

"We won't be needing it." James countered as the twins walked away. He grinned. It had been a long time since he'd pranked someone. And this time, he was doing it with all his new friends.

"What did they want?" Remus asked.

"Just wanted to wish us good luck." James answered vaguely.

"As if we'd need it." Sirius snorted. James turned and winked.

"That's what I told them."

"Still, we should be careful. They are older than us." Peter said worriedly.

"Yeah, but there are only two of them and four of us." James looked at his friends and grinned.

"True." Remus agreed. "Plus, even if we don't win. At least we know that we did it together."

"Uhh… We're still winning." Sirius replied as they walked into the Great Hall.

"Of course we are." James stated confidently as they sat down.

"I wonder what their prank is though." Peter wondered out loud.

"Shhh…" Sirius and James put their hands over their friends mouth.

"Don't be so loud. No one is supposed to know!" James whispered. Wide eyed Peter nodded.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be in the Great Hall." Remus observed as he looked around. "There aren't sticky notes on the walls. There isn't any sticky liquid dripping from the ceiling."

"Wizarding pranks don't have to be like that." James explained. "They can be super subtle."

"They could've easily slipped something into the pumpkin juice or something." Sirius pointed out. At that, Peter slowly pushed away his goblet or juice.

"I'm not very hungry anymore." Peter remarked. Sirius shrugged, taking the goblet and gulping down the liquid. His friends stared at him incredulously.

"What's life without a little fun?" He asked. James laughed and followed suit.

Malfoy slipped next to Severus, a slight grin on his face. "You seem more cheerful than usual." Severus noted.

"Is it that noticeable?" Malfoy asked. Severus nodded and suddenly Malfoys features hardened considerably.

"What happened?" Severus asked.

"Do I need to tell you?" Malfoy questioned.

"No, I'm asking out of curiosity." Severus answered truthfully.

"No, you're asking out of necessity." Malfoy replied smoothly. "That is how you should act. If the issue were more serious, people could use your curiosity to their advantage." Severus nodded. Still, he could tell that Malfoy couldn't wait to tell him, couldn't that be used in my favor as well Severus thought. As he predicted, Malfoy told him how he'd asked Narcissa Black to go out with him. Severus nodded politely although he couldn't be bothered by the details. He zoned in and out of the conversation as he picked at his breakfast. Sirius hadn't spoken to him once since the Potions class a month ago. Angrily, Severus stabbed his piece of sausage. He hadn't even apologized. Whatever Severus thought, it's not like I wanted him to know. Still, it would have been nice if he…. If he what? Severus questioned himself. A scream broke his stream of thoughts.

"I can't get up!" A girl screamed from the Ravenclaw table. "I'm stuck to the table!"

"I can't either!" A boy yelled from the Hufflepuff table. Immediately people from all the houses tried to get up. Severus put his hands on the table and tried to push himself up.

"It's a sticking charm!" Lucius hissed before glaring at the Gryffindor table. "Those barbaric twins." He spat. Severus looked over to see Lily struggling to get up.

"Who?" he mouthed. She shrugged hopelessly. Severus looked over at the staff table to find the teachers in the same predicament as the teachers.

"I'm guessing the twins aren't here?" Remus sighed as he put his head on the table. Sirius scanned the table.

"Nope." He answered as he craned his neck.

"Guess it was in the Great Hall after all." Peter muttered weakly. Remus laughed and nodded.

"Yeah." Remus nodded. Sirius looked across the room to spot Andy glaring at him.

"It wasn't us." Sirius mouthed to her. A look of confusion crossed her face. Sirius shrugged helplessly through the chaos of the Great Hall.

"Look at the headmaster." James pointed. Sirius turned to find the old man smiling at a furious looking McGonagall.

"He looks happy." Peter looked at Dumbledore bewildered. Sirius watched as the professors talked amongst themselves. Dumbledore raised his wand to his throat.

"Students!" Dumbledore's voice boomed throughout the Great Hall. Immediately the students fell quiet. "Your teacher and I are currently thinking up a solution, till then you may enjoy your breakfast a little longer." His blue eyes twinkled mischievously as he put his wand down.

"How is he so so calm?" Lily asked in awe as he watched the teachers converse.

"Who knows?" Marlene shrugged.

"Well, he did battle Grindelwald." Alice pointed out. Marlene nodded.

"Who?" Lily questioned.

"Oh, right, you don't know." Alice remembered.

"Well, his name seems familiar." Lily thought as she racked her brains.

"I'm guessing Severus told you about him?" Marlene guessed.

"Yeah, he did. Wasn't he some dark wizard?" Lily questioned.

"Only the darkest wizard of modern wizarding history!" Marlene exclaimed. Lily's mouth formed an o.

"We'll tell you later." Alice assured Lily.

"Do you reckon we should help them out?" Gideon questioned his twin. The two sat on top of the astronomy tower, enjoying their breakfast in peace.

"Nah, they'll be fine." Fabian waved away his twin's concerns. "They have Dumbledore."

"True." Gideon acknowledged. "Plus, we might not have classes today." He grinned happily.

"I wonder what the first years are going to do tomorrow." Fabian wondered.

"Yeah. They seem pretty confident." Gideon thought out loud.

"If they do well, we can at least pass on our knowledge to worthy pranksters." Fabian pointed out.

"That's only if they make it." Gideon responded.

"I bet a galleon that they'll make it." Fabian looked at his twin. Gideon grinned.

"You're on."

"I swear if Sirius…" Narcissa muttered darkly.

"It wasn't Sirius." Andy replied. At least thirty minutes had passed and the teachers had already performed a few spells, only to fail.

"So, it's those idiot twins then?" Narcissa spat. Andy refrained from rolling her eyes and looked over at a blond that was starting to irritate her. Idiotic Malfoy. Ever since he showed up my life's gone from bad to worse. Why did he have to bring up the stupid marriage proposal?

"It's not like they targeted you alone." Andy snapped. A flash of hurt passed across Narcissa's face. Andy felt a twinge of guilt, and she closed her eyes. "Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well lately." It wasn't technically a lie. She had been staying up, worrying about how she was going to break the news to her family. Would she tell them she'd fallen in love and then run? Or would she just leave without a word? They wouldn't let her marry Ted, not of their own free will. And even if she told her parents, her father wouldn't care. But what about Bella? What about Cissa?

No thanks to their parents cold treatment, the three sisters had gotten extremely close. Maybe if I told Bella… no, she wouldn't understand Andy thought hopelessly. But what about Cissa? She watched her younger sister stare at Malfoy. Clearly she's in love, or something like it Andy thought hopefully. Perhaps she'll understand. Andy sighed and looked at her younger cousin at the Gryffindor table. He was talking and laughing with his friends. At least you told him she thought as she looked at her cousin.

"Andy?" Narcissa stated softly. She looked at her sister with hidden concern. Over the past few years, both her sisters had slowly been drifting away. Bella got married and grew up and Andy put distance between herself and her family. It seemed as if her family was slowly splitting at the seams. Her older sister turned towards her. Narcissa shook her head. "Nothing." she muttered as she turned away, pushing her concerns deep into her consciousness. She's a Black Narcissa reassured herself. And Blacks never give up on their family.

AN: Sorry for not updating. The last month school has been tough. So to make up for it we posted 3 chaps today. Enjoy and review!