Chapter 30 April Fools Pranks and letter

"Okay lads, tomorrow's April Fool's day, the most sacred holiday amongst marauders." James said to Remus, Sirius, and Peter. "So, we must do something huge, unforgettable, and hilarious."

Remus, who was studying out of his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook looked up with bloodshot eyes and said "Bloody hell, I am not doing any pranks! I have to study for the big test tomorrow."

"Why are you studying for Defense Against the Dark Arts? You're the best in the class." Sirius said as he stole his textbook.

"Was. I was the best in the class. But do you know what Professor Malfoy graded me for that duel on last Friday?" Remus said panicked. The boys shook their heads. "A 10 out of 50! That's 20%. That's beyond failing."

"Stupid Malfoy. That was totally unfair. You were hardly walking that day." Sirius said.

"Yeah. It dropped my grade from a 100% to a 74%." Remus said.

"Lucky! My grade's a 72%!" Peter whined.

"No. Not Lucky. I've never gotten anything below a 92%. So, I have to work my arse off the rest of the year to raise it. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to the library for the next 6 hours." Remus said.

"Remus, just remember for tomorrow. If you're not the cat, you're the mouse. Are you sure you don't want to join us?" James warned.

"Positive." Remus said as he stormed out, his head still buried in his textbook. What did I just do?

Remus woke up still in the library at 7am. I must have pulled an all nighter. Remus thought as he yawned. I have to go change, eat, and then I should study again.

In his dormitory, Remus grabbed the rest of his school supplies and opened his wardrobe for his school clothes. Suddenly his clothes bursts out of the wardrobe dancing. His trousers were doing an Irish jig, his shirt and sweater were doing a tango together, his socks were leaping in a ballet fashion, and his shoes were doing a tap dance. Remus, in his briefs, lunged trying to catch all his clothes, but they swiftly moved away from him and slid out of his grasp. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw his school robe open the door to Gryffindor common room.

"Oh no you don't." Remus said and he ran and tackled the robe to the ground, but the door was wide open and the remainder of his clothes escaped outside. Remus slide on his school robe, his bare knobby knees stuck out of the bottom, and chased the clothes into the common room. There he saw James, Sirius, and Peter watching in anticipation along with Brian, Gan Chang, and about 15 other Gryffindors from all years. They all began laughing hysterically. Remus stood like a deer with his wand in his hand, unsure what to do. He looked to James and saw his smirk and it infuriated him. He watched his clothes weave through the teenagers in the crowd, still dancing. He had an idea.

He clapped his hands four times and shouted "1-2-3- and 4!" and waved his wand. His clothes suddenly came in front of Remus and formed one outfit standing up. Remus waved his wand and it began dancing a quick salsa. The Gryffindors stopped laughing and began applauding Remus.

He turned to James and he looked shocked and a bit disappointed. Remus gave a sinister grin as he had a marauding idea. He waved his wand again and the salsaing clothes turned to James and grabbed his hands. It began salsaing with James and James couldn't pull away, it was too strong. Gryffindors laughed as James was twisted and turned and lifted into the air. James screamed to Remus to make it stop. Remus twirled his wand and prepared for the big finish. The body of clothes spun James around in about ten small circles, threw him into the air, and it did the splits and held out it's arms as James landed in it's cradle.

The room burst in applause. Remus released the body and it collapsed into a pile of clothes and James tumbled to the ground. Remus walked over to the pile of clothes and winked to James while smiling. James grabbed his arm and said "You think you can beat me at my own game, well Remus Lupin, the war is on. It's only 8:00am, we have all day. May the best Marauder win."

Remus shook his hand and grabbed his clothes and changed in the bathroom. He looked into the mirror at his exhausted reflection. Oh Merlin, what did I get myself into this time. I have to take that test in four hours and now I have to worry about a prank war as well? I should just avoid all interaction with James until after the test, then I can win the war.

Remus decided to skip breakfast and to return to the library for the remainder of the morning. The first years now had a free period in the morning in the absence of astronomy. Dumbledore was trying to find a replacement for Professor Estrella, but was having difficulty. Remus figured the library would be the last place James would ever want to go.

At 1:45, Remus left for Defense Against the Dark Arts. He took his assigned seat and waited for his test and special anti-cheating quill to be passed out. He was feeling confident that he knew the material - he must have studied for this exam for over 32 hours. He looked across the room to James and James gave a snicker as they made eye contact. Remus gulped, terrified of what pranks James had in store for him. Professor Malfoy approached Remus and handed him the test and quill before he moved on, he whispered. "I do hope that you don't miserably fail this test like the last assessment."

"Trust me, I won't." Remus whispered back.

"No talking! 10 points from Gryffindor!" the Professor said. Remus squinted his eyes and his face became red with anger.

"You may begin." The professor said as he took a seat behind his fancy silver desk.

Remus turned his attention to his test. He flew through the questions like a hummingbird. None of the questions stumped him and he finished the hour long test in 25 minutes. He got up and turned his paper on the professor's desk.

He watched as the smug professor took his red quill and carefully examined each answer. The professor sighed and frowned as he finished and wrote 100/100 on the top of the exam. He looked up at Remus and looked furious. Remus smiled and the professor gave an angry shooing motion with his pale hand. Remus returned to his desk and noticed that Malfoy was only on the second page. Remus smiled and returned to his desk and waited for the remainder of the class to finish.

Once the class was over, Remus took a stroll outside in the foggy springtime and laid on the grass of the courtyard, proud of his accomplishments. He set his wand down next to him in the grass and closed his eyes when he felt a strange sensation. He opened his eyes and saw that the walls of Hogwarts were getting huge, growing 100 times bigger. And the grass beside him was growing large as well.

No, everything isn't growing. I'm shrinking! He stood up and realized he was now only a few centimeters taller than the grass beside him. James! I must only be 15 cm. It's okay. I know the counter curse for this shrinking charm. He reached in his tiny pocket for his wand and remembered that his wand was beside him. He walked across a bit of grass and saw his wand lying in his grass. It's about twice as big as I am! How am I going to reverse this without a wand?

Remus's heart stopped as he heard huge thumps in the earth coming to him. He looked up at the three huge figures and recognized them as his friends.

"There you are! We were afraid we would have lost you." James boomed. Remus grabbed his ears, pained by his large voice.

"Aren't as tough without your magic, are you?" Sirius said as he picked up Remus's wand from the ground.

"Very funny guys. Now turn me back!" Remus shouted, but the boys couldn't understand him.

"I think he's talking." Peter said. He was a bit concerned.

"Just a second, Remus." James said as he knelt down. "Come here" He said as he reached out his hand to grab him. He picked him up by the waist and Remus screamed.

"Put me down, James!" Remus yelled as he hit his thumb.

"No, you deserve this after all, you agreed to a prank war, so here it is." James said.

"Fine, you win, you win." Remus said.

"What was that?" Sirius asked, though he could hear.

"James won the war. He's the best marauder. I have no idea how you were able to do this, but I am impressed. Now turn me back!" Remus screamed.

"Fine, fine. You're no fun." James said as he set Remus down on a bench. James grabbed his wand and twirled it between his fingers. "But before I turn you back, you have to promise me something first."

"What?!" Remus asked.

"You have to always be up to marauding." James said.

"But…." Remus pouted.

"Fine, have fun being eaten by an owl. I think Vladimir is eyeing you up." Sirius added.

"Fine. I'll always be up to marauding with you." Remus said. James smiled and waved the magic wand as he spoke the counter incantation. Remus's small body quickly grew and soon he was sitting on the bench in normal size. He stood up and grabbed his wand from Sirius's hand. James eyed him confused.

"Are you taller now?" James asked.

"I guess I do feel taller." Remus said as he looked to his skinny legs. He now looked James at eye level - he used to look up to him. "That's what you get for shrinking me." Remus said. James shrugged. "Oh, I got an A+ on that exam!" Remus stated.

"Good, so your grade is rising?" Peter asked.

"Yep, it's already up to a B+. Malfoy wasn't happy about it at all." Remus said. "And I'm ready to crush his nephew in our next duel."

"Good. I can't wait to see that twat defeated and crying." Sirius said.

"Yeah, and you and I can defeat him in the upcoming Quidditch tournament." James added. "Can you believe there are only three games left of the season?" James asked.

"It's sad to think about." Sirius said.

"Come on, we can't be late to herbology." Remus said. The three followed him, happy with their day of marauding.