Chapter 51

"Dad, Sirius. I declare a prank war."

"Oh no," muttered Molly, Arthur, and Lily together.

"This is going to be a disaster," said Lily. Molly and Arthur silently agreed but in the background they head the children cheering and they shared a slight smile. James and Sirius popped their heads out of the foliage with identical grins. Lily just shook her head and bent in to whisper to Molly.

"Deal! Are we teaming up or shall it be a free for all?" asked James.

"Hold it!" shouted Molly. Everyone turned to see her and Lily walking over. George, James, and Sirius all groaned out loud.

"Lily and I worked very hard on making a great dinner for all of you so you will sit down and eat it with no pranks ruining our hard work." Everyone groaned and Harry sputtered.

"But-but…look what they did to me! They deserve pay back!" he said.

"I agree with you Harry," said Lily.

"But it's not…wait, did you say you agreed with me?" asked Harry.

"Yes. But while I do agree with you, Molly and I came up with some ground rules." Lily and Molly looked at each other and both grew nearly identical stern looks on their faces.

"Rule one, no nudity," said Lily glaring at Sirius.

"Rule two, no innocent bystanders can be harmed or pranked," said Molly looking at George.

"Rule three, all teams must have the same number of players to ensure equality," Lily said.

"Rule four, if things get out of hand Lily and I have right to call it a draw at any time. If we call it a draw all teams or players will cease fire immediately and dismantle any pre-existing pranks that have not gone off. We also claim the right to add rules at any time as well."

"And rule five," Lily started.

"No pranks at the dinner table," the two women finished simultaneously as they pointed to the table. "Right now is dinner time, so go and eat," finished Molly.

Everyone smiled and started towards the table. James and Sirius hopped out of the tree and found themselves face to face with Harry.

"My wand," he said firmly. They shared a glance and Sirius pulled it out of his pocket slowly and handed it to his godson. Once it hit Harry's hand the two took off towards the table and sat on either side of Lily. Harry started to wave his wand around to remove the dress, heels, jewellery and makeup but had no luck.

"Sorry, son, it'll wear off in an hour unless Sirius and I remove it personally. You can consider that first blood, er, prank," James called over his shoulder. Harry glared at his father and made his way to the table. He sat next to Ginny and across from Ron and Hermione. George was next to Ron and Bill was next to Ginny.

"Okay first thing first, teams. Who's in?" asked Harry.

"You know you act so solemn but it's hard to take you seriously in lipstick Harry," said George who then coughed. To Harry his cough sounded mysteriously like 'etta'. He glared at the prankster.

"We need to figure out our teams so that we can get them back as soon as dinner is done. I think me, George, and Hermione should be one team. That just leaves—"

"Hey! What about me?" Ron shouted.

"And me?" asked Ginny slightly quieter.

"We can't all work together, who else would my dad and Sirius work with? The teams have to be equal. I figured Dad would ask Bill or maybe Arthur to be their third, but…" Harry trailed off with a puzzled look.

"Er, Harry," Bill leaned over Ginny. "I don't mind working with your dad and Sirius in a Prank war, but I think if you were to suggest that you already had a team of five people it would force your dad and Sirius to find more people and that could give you leverage and some extra time to plan a prank."

Harry, George and the others just stared at Bill.

"I hope you don't think that because you gave us a good idea we'll go easy on you later," said George gravely.

"No," Bill chuckled. "In all honesty I can't wait to get a little dirty and play rough. So, let me put it this way, my helpful hint was a way to guarantee I'm a member of a team in this war." Bill smirked at the teenagers faces. Harry nodded.

"That's pretty…sneaky of you Bill. But you know now you can't sit at this end of the table, right?" said Harry.

"I know. I'm going to go over and give the news to your father and Sirius and sit over there." Bill stood up and brought his plate to the other side of the table and had everyone scoot down as he sat next to Sirius.

"James, I've got some bad news for you. Harry already has a team of five and since mum and Lily stipulated that the teams had to be equal you need to find some teammates," he said loud enough for that half of the table to hear. James and Sirius both cursed under their breath. "I have a suggestion, if you'd like," Bill added.

"Hold on, let me switch places with my husband, I'd rather not be a part of this," said Lily. At the same time Percy stood up and had his mother and Andromeda scoot down the table a place.

"This is what I was thinking. I'd like to be a part of your team and I think Percy and my dad would be good assets as well. It could be the adults versus the kids," said Bill. James and Sirius smiled. Arthur had a grin too. He'd spent too many years being either the butt of the joke or breaking up the pranks the twins laid down. He was eager to show his mischievous side.

"Why me?" asked Percy.

"Well, they have Hermione as their intelligent one, so you'd be our intelligent thinker or planner. Besides, mum and Lily can't participate as they're the referees and we need another member of the team. They're the ones who are making sure nothing gets out of hand and Andromeda probably isn't into the whole prank war idea. Who else is there?" asked Bill.

"Oh, so I'm the fifth member by default? I think I'll pass," Percy said angrily.

"Perce, come on. You know that's not what I meant. We need your smarts to help come up with ideas that will fool George-"

"-and Harry, don't forget that snake prank he played on us at his party," added Arthur.

"Right! Please Percy?" asked Bill.

"Alright," Percy sighed. James and Sirius high fived while Bill leaned back on the bench and shouted down the row.

"Harry!"

"Yeah?" Harry shouted back as he mimicked Bill's posture.

"We're on! We got five," Bill called out.

"Okay," Harry said back and then leaned back into the table.

Both groups spend the next half an hour planning their first pranks against the other team at the same time as eating dinner. While the ten pranksters were planning Molly, Fleur, Lily, and Andromeda leaned their heads in and talked.

"How are they going to keep score?" asked Andromeda. She and Molly were sitting with little Teddy between them. The little boy was fast asleep with a muffling charm around his carrier seat.

"I have an idea. I remember once in school the boys, or Marauders, had an internal prank war amongst themselves and they created a score board that they hung in the common room. I believe it takes a hair from each person and a specific spell to link the person to the hair in the board. It kept a neutral score for them. And if remember quickly it was Remus who won in the end," Lily said with a sad smile. She turned to James and asked if he remembered the spell.

"I'm surprised you remember that, it was in our third year, and you wanted nothing to do with me then," he said as he wrote the spell on a paper napkin.

"You'd be surprised how much I remember from our school years, Mr. Accidently-Turned-My-Friend-into-a-block-of-Limburger-Cheese," she said. James started at her with a flabbergasted expression.

"That was first year and it happened at two in the morning and you weren't even there!" he said.

"Who did you turn into cheese?" asked Sirius in confusion.

"You never told them?" Lily asked in shock and laughed.

"It was Peter, and I honestly don't think even he remembered after it happened as he was sleeping in the armchair when I did it...on accident. The only person who knew about that was Frank Longbottom and the Head Boy Oliver Augustine. How did you find out?" asked James.

Lily laughed for a few moments before responding. "When Frank became Alice's boyfriend he asked me if you were still having problems with Charms. I asked him what he meant and he told me the whole story."

James shook his head and turned back to the plan session to his right.

"Where do you think we should we keep the score board? Sirius' place?" asked Lily.

"Is it tamper proof?" asked Molly. Lily nodded so Molly continued. "Then yes. Everyone is over there for the most part in the evenings. We could make two and leave one here and one there," she suggested. Lily shook her head.

"I don't think it'll work with two."

The table was unusually quiet for a garden dinner at the Burrow with ten of the fifteen people huddled in groups and whispering occasionally looking around for eavesdroppers. The four women in the middle of the tables were chatting and talking about Teddy and future grandchildren and the dinner hour passed quickly.

Molly and Lily stood and started levitating plates, platters, and bowls towards the house. Molly called back that she wanted Ginny and Ron to help bring out the desserts so the two groaned and stood up to follow.

Soon several plates of biscuits, tarts, and a cake came floating outside while Ginny and Ron carried the plates and silverware and bottles of mead and Butterbeer. Arthur had everyone stand up and he detached the tables and shrunk one down to hold just the plates and dishes. Everyone brought their chairs to a specific area and gathered around the table.

"Before we begin the desserts I'd like to make a toast, so everyone get a glass," said Arthur. Ginny and Ron passed out glasses to everyone for the toast surreptitiously giving each other a glance, mead for the adults and Butterbeer for the younger people.

"Today is a day for celebrating. The war is over, and while we lost a few of our friends and family we know that life goes on. We move on from our grief into happier times knowing that our loved ones look down on us with smiles and joy. The world is safe again and we can enjoy our days having fun with prank wars and making babies and starting new families, but let us not forget our past lest it repeat itself. I love you all and I hope from this day forward we all are able to not just survive but really live life to its fullest. To Life!" Arthur finished and took a sip of his drink. Everyone else cried "To Life!" before they also took a drink.

Suddenly, James and Sirius both turned into donkeys and everyone burst out laughing.

"EE-haw!" said the donkey that was Sirius.

At the sound Sirius had made Harry bent at the middle and clutched his stomach he was laughing so hard. The others in Harry's team were laughing as well and giving each other high fives. Bill, Percy, and Arthur were laughing as well, but giving their glasses a wary look.

"Don't worry; we only tampered with James' and Sirius' glasses. Harry wanted to get those two first for their earlier prank," said Ginny.

"Yep, lucky for them it only lasts half an hour. Poor Harrietta here has to suffer for another ten minutes," said Ron. Harry slapped him upside the head.

"I'd like to make a suggestion," said Hermione. She's been fairly quiet all night simply listening and answering direct questions. "I know we're all eager to start, but I think we should put a time limit on how long this war should last. I'd say no more than a week. That way some of the pranks can be more creative than just turning each other into animals or changing each other into different colours."

Harry, George, and Ron all nodded their agreement while Ginny, Bill and the donkeys looked a little doubtful.

"I have a way to monitor the pranks that are successful. A scoreboard that uses a hair from everyone involved will mark who has been pranked and how many times, and each team will have a number that says how many times they successfully pranked the other team," said Lily as she waved her wand. A large black, green, and orange board hovered in the air in front of her. Across the top said Team 1 and Team 2 in green and each had a large box underneath. Under it in bright orange said Prank War and beneath the orange words was two clusters of five squares each and above each small square were initials indicating the ten people involved.

"I just need two hairs from each of you and let's do it one at a time," finished Lily.

The two teams lined up and each handed her two hairs, one which went in their own box at the bottom and the other went into their teams' box. Once they were done each team box had a number one, and Harry's, James, and Sirius' boxes each had a one in them.

"Wait! That's not fair! I pranked both of them, how come it only says their team was pranked once?" said Ginny.

"Since the pranks occurred at the same time, it only counts as one. Sorry, Ginny," said Lily.

Harry wrapped his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Ginny! When did you start playing for the other team? You must introduce me to your new girlfriend!" asked George with a grin. Ginny turned around and shot George a smirk before turning back and wrapping her arms around Harry's neck and kissing him in front of the whole yard.

"Alright, that's enough you two. We've got to break up into our teams and start planning," said Hermione.

"Wait, two of our members can't talk, how is that fair if we're starting our planning right now?" asked Percy. Harry and Ginny smirked.

"Aw, that's too bad Perce. Don't worry; it'll wear off in about twenty-five minutes. Then you can start planning," said Harry and everyone turned to head for their side of the yard.

"Wait again! I have an idea; we need names for our teams instead of just one and two. I say we should be the Old Farts and the New Generation Jokesters," George said proudly.

"Nah, that's too long, you youngsters will be the Toddlers," said Bill with a grin. Lily smirked as she changed the names from Team 1 to the Toddlers, and Team 2 to the Old Farts. Everyone chuckled.

The two groups went off in their own directions and started planning their next pranks. Officially the Prank War would start the next day and last seven days. The winning team would be the one who successfully pranked the other team the most.

When Harry suddenly changed back into his uniform and trainers he leaned over and kissed Ginny until Hermione had to clear her throat. George and Ron had covered their eyes with their hands and peeked out.

"What? I couldn't just let my girlfriend's last kiss be to a female version of me. I had to kiss her while I looked like a guy so she wouldn't forget and switch on me," Harry said with a grin. Ginny rolled her eyes and went back to her plans.

"Okay so I think the first thing we should do is this…" George whispered to the others. A few moments later they all cackled with joy.

"This is going to be brilliant!" said Ron.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garden, "Okay, then the Odorous Charm goes where?" asked Bill.

"We confine it to the…" James said before beginning to whisper.

"Father?" began Percy.

"Hmm?" asked Arthur, who was distracted with trying to hear James' whispers.

"Do you really think this is okay? Isn't a prank war a bit juvenile?" Percy whispered to his father. Sirius shot him a frown but ignored him and turned back to James and Bill.

"Percy, I know that…you know what, when everyone goes home we'll have a chat okay? But right now, I need to listen to my part of the plan," Arthur said quietly. Percy nodded slightly but continued to listen.

A little ways away Molly, Lily, Fleur, and Andromeda sat and passed little Teddy between them while they had a friendly chat.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen the Burrow this quiet," said Andromeda.

"Eets very quiet in ze autumn when all ze kids go back to 'Ogwarts. Eet can get very peaceful 'ere," said Fleur as she tickled Teddy's tummy.

"I just don't know how to keep everyone straight. I know everyone but once in a while a name slips my mind," Lily laughed. "I'm learning, but this is really only the second time I've met everyone."

"Oh, you get used to it dear. It was even harder with poor Fred. He and George were so fond of their switching trick, since they were so identical," said Molly with a sad smile. "It was even harder for new people to remember names when they came here with those two switching around," she trailed off sadly. "I just can't wait for grandchildren now that the world is safe again," she added with a smile towards Fleur, who blushed.

"How about you, Lily? Are you and James planning on having any more now that it's safe again? I'm sure Harry would be an amazing big brother," asked Andromeda. She could see the wistful expression on Lily's face as she took the baby in her arms.

"Oh, I don't know. James and I talked about it briefly a few nights ago, but we both agree that we need to get to know Harry before we have more. We don't want him to think we're replacing him. I would love another child, or a few. I always wanted a large, loving family," she said with a sad smile. She made cooing sounds at Teddy who yawned and changed his eyes to green. His hair was already black after he glanced over to his grandmother. Lily gasped at the sudden likeness to her own baby from seventeen years before and tears filled her eyes.

Molly and the others saw this and each moved to take the baby from Lily, but Lily leaned over and hugged Teddy close as she rocked him. The other women all sat back looking anxious but Lily sat back up and smiled at Teddy before handing him to Molly.

"Sorry about that, he just caught me a bit off guard there," she said wiping a tear away.

"It's okay dear; I should have known he might change like that. He really has no control over his morphing until about the age of four, and until then he mimics the appearance of those around him or a favourite colour," said Andromeda.

"It's okay really. I'm fine," Lily said with a slight sniffle. The others shared a worried glance but gave it up for another topic.

"So how far along has Harry gotten in his life story?" asked Molly.

"He just finished his third year. I was hoping to get some of his fourth year tonight but I think he's going to need his sleep before work tomorrow. He wasn't allowed in the physical practice today because of the Doxy bites but he's eager to get back to work," she said.

"'Arry's fourth year is when I met 'im. We competed in ze Tri-Wizard Tournament togezer," said Fleur. "Are you really seeing 'is memories in a Pensieve?" she asked. Lily nodded.

"Tri-Wizard Tournament? What is that?" she asked. Fleur looked sheepish for a moment before answering.

"Eet is a competition between my school Beauxbatons, 'Ogwarts, and Durmstrang. Each school gets one contestant and they compete in tree tasks. Ze winner gets a trophy for zere school and one thouzand Galleons prize money. 'Arry 'as not told you zis yet?" she asked. Lily weakly shook her head.

"What kind of tasks?" she asked.

"I should not tell you zat. I will let 'Arry tell you zis story, but I would very much like to watch wit you," Fleur said. Lily nodded blankly wondering what mischief Harry had gotten into during the Tournament.

The women talked for a little while longer before Teddy dozed off in Fleur's arms.

"I should get the little tyke home and in his cot. I'll see you later, Molly, Fleur, Lily," Andromeda said as she picked her grandson up. She pulled a nappy bag up on her shoulder and pulled a string around and put it in Teddy's sleeping hand before walking over to Harry.

"We're going home now, Harry dear. Will you still be able to watch Teddy this weekend?"

"Of course! You want to leave him with me Friday night still?" asked Harry as he leaned over and gave his godson a light kiss on the forehead.

"Yes, and pick him up Sunday night. Thank you for doing this. I've had this weekend planned for months and I just can't take him with me," she said.

"I don't have a problem taking care of him. If I'm lucky mum and dad will fall in love with him and decide to have some more kids," he laughed lightly. Andromeda gave him a knowing look and smiled.

"Well then we will see you Friday night. I'll owl you a list of things you should have ready for a weekend with a child. Good night," she said. She took hold of the string and said, "Tonks Abode," to the Portkey. They popped out of sight and Harry sat back down.

"A whole weekend with a baby? You're not going to be able to do any of the pranks with us," exclaimed Ron.

"I will too. Don't forget Ron, I live with two of the enemy. It'll be fine," he reassured Ron.

The rest of the next hour and a half was spent with the two groups planning and bursting into laughter causing the other team to look up with worried frowns before turning back to their own plans. The three neutral women finally went inside to talk because all the maniacal laughing was driving them crazy.

Finally, Lily walked outside and dragged Harry, James and Sirius into the house to Floo back home. Fleur was a bit more subtle and simply called for Bill out the window while the others admitted that it was getting chilly and dark out so they also returned to the light of the house. Hermione gave Ron a kiss goodnight and Flooed back to Grimmauld Place.

Arthur pulled Percy into the living room and asked that the others give them some time alone.

"Now, Percy, you asked if this war was juvenile, right?" asked Arthur.

"Yes," Percy nodded. "I just don't understand why mature adults would spend their time doing something like this. It just seems very childish to me."

"I can understand why it would seem that way to you, son. You've always been the upstanding proper child of mine. Not that it's a bad thing. I just want you to understand, son, that sometimes a little immaturity can be fun as long as it doesn't get out of hand. Luckily for us we have your mum and Lily to keep us all in line," he added with a chuckle.

"I understand that a little gaiety is a good thing, all work and no play etcetera, etcetera. But a whole week of this nonsense? I hated it when Fred and George targeted me, and now I'm willingly allowing George free reign to prank me at any given time for a whole week? This just goes against all my…my common sense," Percy said with a huff.

"But this time Percy you have all the ability in the world to get him back. Now I usually don't advocate the 'eye for an eye' philosophy, but for this week, you have the chance to get George back for all those pranks the two played on you. You are an intelligent young man, I'm sure you can think of a few things to do to George that would be funny and might embarrass him a little. Think of this war as a way to remember Fred, to honour his memory by acting like him for a week," Arthur said. Percy looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, okay, maybe not act like him at all times, but be devious and sneaky when working on your pranks. Think back Percy, when was the last time you saw George have a genuine smile on his face or laugh a real, hearty, stomach-clenching laugh like he did tonight? He needs this. I think we all need this," Arthur finished sadly. Percy sighed.

"Alright, father, I can see what you mean. I'll work on some ideas tonight and share them with you tomorrow at lunch, okay? I'll say goodnight to mother before I head home. Goodnight father," Percy stood and bowed his head slightly towards Arthur who smiled and bid his son goodnight as well.

"Merlin, I hope this loosens him up a bit," Arthur muttered with a roll of his eyes and a smile before heading to his own bed.

A/n: Okay well, I know the Prank war didn't officially start on the One year anniversary, but I hope you all enjoy the chapter! It's been such a good/strange year! I've improved my writing greatly, made some good friends in a few reviewers, got a great beta, my little sister got married, I finished an associates degree in school, changed schools and rooms (which affected my writing if you don't believe it), and so much other things.

I would really appreciate it if everyone who has me on alerts or has been following my story would review and let me know what their favorite part to the story is. I know I've got many more people reading than there are reviews! and average of about 11 reviews a chapter versus 295 people on my alert list, I know you're all out there! Don't Lurk! Not today! Make my one year commitment to this story even more special! I'm at 678 reviews right now, and I would absolutely LOVE to be over 700 before I post the next chapter! If all the lurkers come out of hiding, we should be able to make it! I also want to thank everyone who has sent ideas to me, and helped out with my own thoughts, Pari and Teufel1987, you both have been awesome!

Now two last things. 1: I've posted a Poll on my profile. It asks who you think would win the Prank war, and I would love it of everyone would go vote! I have an idea of who I think should win and why, but I'd like to know the majority's opinion also! and 2: If you all have ideas for pranks, let me hear them! If I like them i'll use them in the story and post your name for credit in the a/n, just keep in mind I can't use all the pranks I get so if you want yours to be used, make it elaborate or really sneaky!

Thanks again everyone for your support and please REVEW! It what keeps me going on this story for a whole year and more!

Author Update 8-9-2010: I changed two things in this chapter. I took out the rule that limits all pranks to one hour because it was...too limiting, lol. The second thing was Fleur and Bill's baby. I'm a year or so too soon for it to work with the time line so I took it out. The edits weren't beta'd so if you see any discrepancies PLEASE let me know in a review or PM so I can fix them again.