Michael Brown

I left the dorm filled with cold fury.

Because of my carelessness Tom, my dear comrade and ally, was currently missing, worst case scenario kidnapped or killed by the Ministry. Throughout the entire week I was doing my best to avoid trouble, but it turned out all my caution was meaningless, as I couldn't even predict that someone would strike during my sleep! It was so obvious and yet I missed it! I was just a naive fool, going through life without worries and I paid the price! But no more!

After entering Ravenclaw common room, I started walking towards my classmates, who were still sitting there, watching me with certain anticipation. Oh, they probably felt quite good about themselves, didn't they? They distracted me with their bed prank, while their real goal was actually to rob me. Maybe their original plan was to steal tom in the first place. Did they think I would just let them?!

"Where is my stuff?" I asked, doing my best to keep my voice under control, glaring at the group with furious gaze. My reaction only seemed to amuse them further though, as they started grinning upon hearing me.

"What's the matter, Brown? You didn't expect us to prank you like that? Quite careless of you" declared Marcus smugly, sitting comfortably on the chair in the middle of the group. Was he the leader of this pathetic gathering? Fine. I ignored the rest and walked towards him, directing my glare at him.

"I will ask once again" I replied, my voice carefully steady " . ?"

"We scattered it all over the castle, Brown. Good luck finding your things" Marcus grinned, looking at me with victory in his eyes. What? Did I hear him right? Did he just say they threw Tom away, like he was some sort of trash?! "Now, if you want us to stop pranking you, I expect you to…"

"You steal from me and you think you can demand anything from me?" I asked, my voice full of cold fury. They fucking threw Tom away! For all I knew he was currently either in Dumbledore's office, tortured into giving all information about me, or on the bottom of the lake, where he would grow mad from the isolation! And they dared to blackmail me?! When my comrade's life was in danger?! Hearing my words made Marcus' grin fade a little, as if he wasn't expecting such a reaction "I want you to gather all my things and bring them back to me, right now!"

"Yeah, and what will you do if we won't do that?" He asked after looking around himself, no doubt feeling quite safe while surrounded by his allies. He would learn that it meant nothing.

The next week became quite a legend among Ravenclaws. Younger students would talk about it in hushed tones, while older ones would treat it like one of the darkest pages in their house's long history. Many names were given to this unusual time, many quite grand, but survivors of this event would use a much simpler name. They would call it 'That time when we made Michael Brown really angry and he made our life a living hell'.

"Diana, do you think Brown will really do something? He sounded quite serious yesterday" asked Isabella, entering the bathroom. Professor Sprout was making the entire class plant wormwood into new pots, so after the class was over, she and Diana immediately went to the girls' bathroom to wash their hands, currently covered by earth.

"No way" replied Diana with a loud scoff, ugly sneer visible on her face "The only thing Brown is good at is running away. He wouldn't be able to do anything even if he tried"

"I guess you are right" Isabella stated, a little embarrassed she was worrying about something so silly.

Both girls were passing bathroom's stalls, intending to use the sink on the other side of the room to wash their hands, when something odd happened. Suddenly, when they were halfway to the sink, doors to all the stalls opened, revealing fully loaded spiky bushes placed in every one of them. They were all pointed in their directions, their pots placed on toilets so that they wouldn't be seen by people entering the bathroom. The girls stared at the scene for several seconds, confused.

"…or maybe you are wrong" Whispered Isabella, finally comprehending what she was seeing. Diana was just looking at the plants blankly, shaking a little. The bushes weren't shooting so far, so maybe they would be able to avoid the worst "Okay, let's stay calm. We just have to move very slowly to the exit and…"

At that moment the door to the bathroom opened and someone threw a firecracker at their feet, making both girls jump in surprise. The spiky bushes started shooting.

"Damn it! Did we lose him?" shouted Kevin, looking around himself. He and Robert were currently in the forest, following Brown who escaped there. Despite everyone's disbelief it turned out he was serious about his threats, already getting Isabella and Diana the day before. Wanting some payback, He and Robert decided to chase him after the transfiguration class, but unfortunately that little twerp ran into the forest, eventually making them lose sight of him.

No, he left footprints in the mud, see?" Robert said, pointing at the ground. There were visible footprints there, a fortunate effect of the recent rain. Kevin grinned. Brown probably thought he was safe, but he wouldn't be able to get away this time. Encouraged by their findings, they continued the hunt.

It took them a few minutes, but eventually the trail led them to the small clearing, located quite deep into the forest. It was completely empty, with only a pair of shoes laying in the middle. Were they Brown's shoes?

"What in Merlin's name?" exclaimed Kevin, surprised by this unexpected development. "Do you think he lost them while running away from us?"

"seems that way" Robert agreed. Then he grinned "Should we take them away before he gets back for them? He will have to return to the castle barefoot"

Excited about that plan, they approached the pair of shoes, intending to take it with them. However, before they were able to reach it, a net appeared under their feet, snatching them into the air. Before they were able to understand what was happening, they were hanging in the air in the huge net, trapped and humiliated.

"Okay, you have to admit it was quite clever" stated Robert, currently entangled with Kevin in the net. Before Kevin was able to respond cuttingly, he saw Brown coming out from behind one of the trees. He was holding several balloons in his hands, approaching them with an emotionless face. He was still wearing shoes on his feet, which meant the pair they had found was just a trap. "Okay, listen Brown. We…"

His next words were stopped by the balloon hitting him right in the face, followed by several more thrown at them. Upon hitting them balloons burst, covering both Kevin and Robert in some weird, sticky brown substance. Finished with his task, Brown left the clearing without saying a word. What a creep.

"What the hell did he cover us with?!" Kevin shouted confused, looking at the substance currently covering his entire body. He didn't know what exactly it was, but he noticed that there was something mixed with it, something small and round. What was that? He grabbed one of these objects with his hand and brought it to his face "Is that…a seed? Why?"

"…Kevin" Whispered Robert, his voice shaking a little. When Kevin turned around (a task difficult when trapped in the net), he saw Robert looking at the trees with a scared gaze.

Following his eyes, Kevin noticed that the clearing wasn't as empty as he initially assumed. He could see countless jobberknolls resting on the branches of the trees, watching both boys with hungry eyes, already starting to flap their wings.

"well, crap" Kevin stated.

Danny Simmons woke up. It was quite weird, as he didn't remember going asleep.

The last thing he remembered was encountering Michael Brown in the corridor. For some reason the boy was wearing earmuffs on his head and holding some potted plant in his hands. Danny was about to retreat, knowing how other claws ended, when Brown pulled said plant sharply out of the pot and…

Danny hurriedly opened his eyes, finally remembering what happened. To his surprise, he saw that he was no longer in the corridor, but in one of the Hogwarts' classrooms. He tried to move, but he quickly learned he was unable to do that, as his body was for some reason firmly taped to the desk, making it impossible for him to leave. Danny started to panic, as he didn't know what was going on. Why did Brown do this?!

"Calm down, students. Calm down" Danny heard someone's voice. Turning his head he saw professor Binns phasing through the class' wall, as always unaware of his undead status "Let's begin our lesson, shall we? Today's subject, goblin rebellions"

No…

Danny started thrashing around, doing his best to tear the tape, but it held strong, making it impossible for him to escape. He felt horror filling him completely. He realized that he was trapped with Binns, forced to listen to his lecture, without even being able to rest his head on the desk! No sane person would enter the classroom for hours, so there would be no rescue coming!

In the following hours Danny learned much about the accents of various goblin leaders, though the price was high. When other ravenclaws found him, he was already babbling to himself about History of Magic trivia, completely catatonic.

Charles Wattkins shrieked as he barely dodged an iron ball flying into his face, tenth time in the last minute.

Fearing vengeful lunatic's retaliation, he decided to spend the day outside the castle, where he wouldn't have to deal with any messed up pranks. He was passing a quidditch pitch when he felt someone colliding with him.

"What the…" He started, but the voice stopped in his throat, when he noticed that the person he collided with was Michael Brown himself. He was about to scream, terrified of what would come next, but instead of pranking him Brown just nodded and went on his way.

"What was that?" exclaimed Danny, quite confused. Was he not going to prank him? At that moment he felt something tugging at his pants.

Turning around, he noticed that his pants were for some reason linked with the rope. Following it, his eyes landed on the bludger levitating nearby, connected to the rope as well.

Charles spent the next few minutes desperately dodging a small iron ball, which was relentlessly trying to bash his head in. He tried to unlink the rope several times, but it was quite hard to do that while dodging a lethal projectile constantly trying to hit him.

He was doing fine for a while, but eventually he made a mistake and the metal ball hit him squarely in the chest. It was at that moment that he learned Brown cast a softening charm on the bludger, making it completely harmless.

Charles was quite relieved, though he wished he learned that before pissing his pants out of fear.

At the beginning of potions class Mindy Greengrass found out that her potions textbook was replaced by The Monster Book of Monsters.

Professor Snape was only a little amused by her screams.

When they were finally able to free David from the room he was locked in, he didn't even thank them, instead silently walking out of the room with wide eyes. It was quite weird, but one look at the room he was in, filled almost to the brim with severed fish heads, stopped them from asking any questions.

Carol was so scared of being pranked that she passed out immediately after noticing Brown approach her. Not really expecting that, he just used a marker to draw a fake mustache on her face and walked away.

Luna Lovegood

She was in the middle of the game, strawberry-themed socks in her hands, when she heard someone shouting nearby.

"No! Please, no! Stay away!" a frightened female voice came from around the corner. After a few seconds Mindy Greengrass, one of Ravenclaw first years, appeared in the corridor, running at full speed, face full of terror "I wasn't the one stealing your things, so please just leave me alone!"

Mindy passed Luna without even noticing her, sprinting through the corridor and disappearing behind another corner. Luna's suspicions about the reason for Mindy's fear were confirmed when Michael entered the corridor after a few seconds, his face betraying no emotions. However, when he noticed Luna, he smiled and approached her.

"Hi Luna. I didn't expect to see you there" He said with a smile. They didn't interact much outside of classes during the last two weeks, with Michael being busy playing with other Ravenclaws, so she wasn't surprised. Not that she was holding it against him, as she was just happy he was finally being passionate about something. Not to mention, she was playing with other Ravenclaws too.

"Hi Michael, nice to see you!" Luna said, giving him a small smile. She was happy to talk with him, but wasn't he currently spending time with Mindy? She decided it would be prudent to ask "Don't you have to follow Mindy?"

"Nah, I already made her run exactly where I wanted her to run" Michael replied dismissively, waving his hand. At that moment they both heard a loud terrified scream coming from the direction of where Mindy had fled. Ignoring the scream, Michael continued "What are you doing here, anyway? Searching for nargles?"

"Oh, not at all. You were probably busy with your own game, so you don't know, but I am playing with others too" Luna stated, giving Michael a pure smile. Seeing that he didn't understand what she was saying, she decided to explain the situation "Some of our housemates hid my things somewhere in the school, so I am currently looking for them. I was even able to find some of my socks already, see?" She bragged, showing him strawberry-themed socks she was currently holding in her hands.

Michael's smile faded, replaced by a heavy frown.

"…Luna, you know they are not playing…right?" He asked, looking at her with worry in his eyes. What was he talking about? It was a treasure hunt.

"What do you mean? It's quite fun for me. You know, I think I am very close to finding my books. I have a feeling they hid them somewhere in the south wing" She exclaimed, her voice quite excited. For some reason Michael didn't like her answer though, as his frown only deepened. Was he really worried? It was quite nice of him. She should reassure him "You have nothing to worry about, really. It's just a fun game. They even gave me a nickname, you know? Loony Lovegood. It sounds quite nice"

Luna, they are bullying you because they are unable to get me! And they are doing all of that just because of some meaningless points" He angrily replied "They are just willingly ignorant sheep, blindly following whatever the Ministry wants them to follow!"

Luna frowned, as what Michael was saying was a little unfair.

"You can't expect others to behave like us. They don't know the truth, so it wouldn't be fair to hold them to our standards" stated Luna. She knew Michael meant well, but it was also important to respect others' beliefs. If they didn't want to know the truth, they shouldn't be treated differently because of that.

"They…" Michael started, but he stopped before saying anything further. After a few seconds he continued, sounding like he came to some sad realization "…They don't know, do they? They are just children behaving like they were told to behave"

He gave Luna a sad smile. She didn't know what exactly Michael realized but she returned it, trying to act reassuring.

"I acted like I was some sort of big rebel, yet I didn't even try to share my knowledge with others, instead just looking at them with contempt, even though they were only following the only path they knew" Michael stated, leaning on corridor's wall, looking quite tired for some reason "I always justified staying silent by telling myself that Ministry would kill me for sharing my knowledge, but it's just an excuse. The Ministry already knows that I know that they know about me knowing about them, so telling others the truth wouldn't change anything. And I thought I was worthy of working with Tom? What a joke"

Michael sighed before his face changed, full of some newfound determination.

"Because of my stupidity everything went wrong. You being bullied, other Ravenclaws being angry, Tom being…" He coughed into his hand, as if he realized he said something he shouldn't have. After a second, he continued "The point is, things went bad because of my stupidity and I am sorry. I promise I will fix everything"

"I see. And what do you plan to do, Michael?" Asked Luna, quite curious about that. She still wasn't entirely sure why Michael apologized to her or why he was planning to 'fix' things, as nothing wrong was going on, but she decided to support him in his endeavours. Michael was her friend, so she would try to help him however she could.

"First I will free Mindy from the room full of pixies" Declared Michael, his voice determined "Then I will finally end this stupid conflict, once and for all"

"Do you know about the secret, buried deep below the castle? Would you like to learn about it?"

Next up, the end of the prank war and the plot kicking in.