Chapter 21: Tricksters

February, 1972

"Their prank was awesome!" Peter whispered in the darkness of the Great Hall.

"It won't be as great as ours though." Sirius said. James smirked in agreement and the boys quickly set up their prank in the dark. They quickly snuck away as light streamed through the windows. Tired they all fell asleep quickly with smiles on their faces. They went downstairs the next morning to watch the student body stare at their masterpiece. The Great Hall had been flipped. The tables and floor of the Hall were now substituted the ceiling, and the ceiling had become the floor.

Now, the schools was abuzz with news. What would the next prank be they all wondered. For the next month, they would be greeted with all manner of ridiculous pranks: Slytherins speaking in rhyme, mild love potions in the Ravenclaw goblets, ten feet of snow inside the school, the school being painted hot pink. By the time the pranks ended, the second month had come to an end.

February 29, 1972

"Congratulations first years, you won. Now come join the big boys. Kangaroos In The Cooking Hearth Eat Nothing. More Idiotic Devil Nights In Gryffindor House Tonight…" James read out loud, frowning. "What?"

"Well, we won." Peter said. Remus looked up thoughtfully and reached for the letter. James handed it to him.

"It's a code." Sirius supplied from his spot on the floor.

"No, duh." James rolled his eyes. "But what does it say?"

"Kitchen. Midnight." Remus read from the letter. "You use the capitalized letters." He pointed out.

"That's great, but where is the kitchen?" Sirius asked as he stood up.

"Don't know." James answered as he thought about it for a second.

"We can ask them at breakfast." Peter suggested.

"Yes, because that's exactly why they gave it to us in code." Sirius answered. Peter blushed with shame, and Remus directed a glare at Sirius.

"I think they want us to figure it out Peter." Remus told the shorter boy gently.

"Well, either way… Breakfast first." James said and the boys walked out of the room.

"Do you think they'll figure it out?" Fabian asked as he watched the four boys walk into the Great Hall.

"Figure out what?" The two turned around to find a beautiful brunette staring at them suspiciously.

"Ah… Good morning Isabelle." Gideon gave her a charming smile. "I was just discussing with my brother whether you would figure out that he fancies you." Fabian turned bright red and smacked his brother's head as Isabelle's eyes widened.

"Ignore him. He doesn't know what he's saying." Fabian apologized as he dragged his laughing brother away from the crime scene. "You dolt!" He smacked his brother again.

"Oh, come on. You know I was doing you a favor." Gideon teased as his brothers cheeks turned red again.

"Shut up." Fabian muttered as he piled his plate with breakfast and started eating.

"As for the first year runts, they'll be fine. They seem smart." Gideon gave his brother a reassuring grin.

"You're right. We are smart." Fabian almost choked on his pumpkin juice as James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sat in front of them.

"But, being first years, we have no idea where the Kitchen is." James continued.

"So, we were wondering if you could help us." Remus finished politely.

"Please." Peter added.

"And why" Fabian started.

"Would we" Gideon interrupted.

"Want to"

"Help you?" The two finished together. The first years blinked for two seconds they seemed at a loss.

"We're kidding." Fabian reassured them. "Meet us in the common room at twelve."

"We'll show you the way." The two said grinning before standing up and walking out of the Hall.

"They're…." Peter started.

"Strange? Weird?" Sirius suggested.

"Interesting." Remus settled with. The four grinned and laughed.

So, after having a strange but wonderful breakfast, you'd think the rest of the day went wonderfully, right? Wrong. At least not for Sirius. Defense, which had started of as one of Sirius's favorite classes was a bore. Severus ignored the Black heir, and Sirius reluctantly obliged. So, instead of sarcastically teasing each other, class was spent in tense silence.

"For Friday, I want you and your seat partner to write an essay on a magical marine creature that we've studied thus far." The students moaned and Professors Hylinr raised his voice slightly. "It has to be a minimum of one foot." The bell rang and students streamed out of the classroom.

"I can do it." Severus muttered as he left. Sirius stared after him before quickly deciding to follow. Finally, he found him sitting at a table in the library. Severus didn't look up once, choosing to ignore the older boy.

"You can't possibly do it all by yourself." Sirius sat down next to him, opening his textbook and looking expectantly at Severus.

"Oh, I have been doing just fine without a the heir the Noble House of Black picking up after me." Severus sarcastically commented.

"I beg to differ." Sirius shot back.

"Think so?" Severus's voice took on a dangerous edge."I did not see this concern when you punched me in the ribs. You do not need to worry about your grade. I will do it." he said with finality. Sirius inhaled sharply.

"It's not my grade I'm worried about." Sirius muttered softly. "I'm sorry." Severus blinked, surprised by the apology.

"So, the great and magnificent heir of Black offers an apology? How shocking?" Severus drawled. Sirius looked down at the textbook, silent. "Instead of moping, you could help me research you know? It would be a better use of our time."

Sirius eyes, alight with hope, shot up. The two worked silently, but amicably after that: passing each other books, pointing out important facts, and jotting down notes on a scrap piece of parchment. In a few hours, there in between them sat a finished essay with two different sets of handwriting on it. "Do you think he'll mark us down on handwriting?" Sirius asked at the end.

"Only yours." Severus snorted as he looked at the Sirius's "messy" handwriting. But that was a lie, the Black heir had impeccable cursive that reflected years of calligraphy practice and shouted "pureblood snob".

"What?!" Sirius faked a hurt expression. "And here I thought it looked beautiful."

"It does." Severus admitted softly. Quickly, he gathered his things and mumbled, "I've other things to do Black." before walking out of the library.

March 1, 1972, Midnight

"Peter...Pete!" Remus and Sirius yelled as James tried to shake Peter awake. Bleary-eyed Peter slowly opened his eyes, muttered incoherently, and closed his eyes shut.

"Should we just leave him?" Sirius asked.

"No. He is our friend, we can't just abandon him!" James replied with a hopeless look.

"We are going to be late. I agree with Sirius...we can show him the kitchen later." Remus calmly stated his views.

James sighed before nodding as Sirius led the way down to the common room.

"Hello, young pranksters!" two voices chorused.

"Good morning, Fabian and Gideon!" greeted James with a large grin.

"Let's meet your friends properly. Fabian Prewett, and this is my brother Gideon." extending his hand towards Remus.

"Remus Lupin."

Sirius also extended his hand, "Sirius…"

"Black. Good to see that a good egg came from that nest." Gideon interrupted with a small smile.

"I thought there was another one in your group...the short boy." Fabian said.

"Yeah, Peter...he didn't wake up." Remus supplied.

"Ah...Well follow us and be quite. The Hogwarts Kitchen is by the Hufflepuff Common Room."

Quietly, the group made their way into the Kitchens. The twins smiled as they watched the first years eyes widen as the house elves surrounded them asked them what they wanted. Pretty soon, they were sitting down with a platter of various desserts in front of them.

"This is amazing." James remarked as he took a bite of treacle tart.

"When did you find it?" Sirius asked.

"First year." Gideon replied. "But we didn't come here…"

"To show you this." Fabian finished. The twins stood and gestured for the trio to follow them deeper into the basement.

Remus, Sirius, and James watched in confusion as the older students stopped in front of a blank stone wall. "They aren't going crazy are they?" James asked. Remus and Sirius shrugged. Suddenly, the stone started to chip away revealing a wooden door.

"Welcome to our prank room." Gideon said grandly as he opened the door.

"This is amazing!" James exclaimed as he stared at the room. The walls were covered in diagrams of the school, plans for pranks, and other drawings. A desk in the middle of the room was strewn with numerous objects and textbooks. Lights everywhere lit the room brightly. A small couch sat against a wall, a blanket was thrown on it messily.

"Why are you showing this to us?" Remus asked as he observed the room.

"We were hoping you would continue pranking people." Fabian answered.

"Our OWLs are this year and we want to become Aurors so we are planning on focusing on our studies. We just wanted to pass on our legacy."

"Cool!" James spun around in a circle, facing his friends. "It's like we have a home base!"

"It's like a club room." Remus added softly. The two boys looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah it is." Sirius agreed.

"The Trickster Club, where you can prank people to your heart's content." James laughed.

"The rebels in the House of rebels." Sirius added.

"The Marauders." Remus said.

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