By the time Remus woke up the next morning, James, Peter, and Sirius had already left for breakfast. Remus hadn't heard them come back to the dorm at night. Actually, he hadn't even heard them getting ready or leaving the dorm that morning. Part of Remus was relieved. As much as he loved his friends after overhearing their discussion last night, he was apprehensive about seeing them this morning. Remus took his time getting dressed, grabbed his books for class, and eventually made his way down into the Great Hall. He took a deep breath before entering and bracing himself for whatever was to come.

James looked up from his plate when Remus entered and smiled, "Morning Remus."

"Morning." Remus replied as he took a seat next to Peter, who was eating like he hadn't seen food in months, and he couldn't help but crack a smile. "Easy there, Pete; no one is going to take it from you."

Peter looked up and grinned. "With them two around," he said, pointing his fork towards James and then Sirius, "anything can happen."

Sirius smirked at that as he patted James on the back. "It's about time someone recognized our talent."

Remus was relieved when the conversation turned towards the classes of the day, and nothing more was said about his injuries, at least until it was time for Potions Class. While Remus was grateful since it was the last class of the day, it was also his worst subject. On top of that, Gryffindor shared the class with Slytherin, which meant that he would have to keep an eye on his friends. It was hard work keeping them out of trouble. Especially around their Slytherin rivals and especially with Sirius, who took the words stubborn and mischievous to a whole new level.

They had hardly been in the Potions classroom for a minute when he heard the drawling voice of Severus Snape: "Why, Lupin, you look like something I scrapped off of the bottom of my cauldron." This got a few chuckles from the Slytherin students nearby.

Remus saw Sirius tense and quickly grabbed Sirius's arm to prevent him from hexing Snape. Then he calmly turned toward Snape and smiled politely. "I appreciate that you are concerned about me, Severus, but I can assure you that I am fine."

Snape opened his mouth to reply just as Professor Slughorn called for the classes' attention, and the four boys quickly took their seats. Thankfully, the rest of the class passed without incident. Even though James and Sirius kept glaring at the back of Snape's head,.

"Can you believe that slimy git?" Sirius started to rant once they were out in the hall, "as if he were good-looking or something."

James laughed. "Snivellius could be called many things, but good-looking is not one of them."

Remus was surprised by this. James actually seemed to be showing some restraint when talking about Snape. But Remus soon understood when he looked over his shoulder and noticed Lily was walking right behind them. Now it was Remus's turn to laugh. If there was anyone in the wizarding world who would cause James Potter to change his behavior, it was Lily Evans. Lily was one of, if not, the brightest girls in their year and she was brilliant at potions. And while Lily could be incredibly kind she wouldn't take any nonsense from anyone, especially James Potter. Which he knew left James at a loss as how to approach her. The fact that she was friends with Severus Snape only added another layer of complexity to it. Lily caught Remus's glance and smiled at him. Remus returned the smile but was quickly drawn back into the conversation by James.

"Okay, Remus, that's the plan then."

Remus turned his attention back to his friends, confused, he looked from James to Sirius and then to Peter. "What?"

Sirius shook his head and sighed. "The plan to get back at Snape," he clapped Remus on the shoulder. "Don't worry, mate, you sit back at dinner and just enjoy the show. Not knowing works in your favor, plausible deniability and all."

"Plausible deniability," Remus repeated slowly, "sounds like a term a Muggle lawyer would use."

Peter laughed. "The way Sirius is going, he might need one one day. He might as well learn all the fancy words he can now so he can use them to talk his way out of jail. Ah!" Peter rubbed his shoulder where Sirius had playfully punched him.

"Very funny, Pete. Just remember, if they come after me, I am taking you down with me." He said it, punctuated with his barking laugh. "Besides, do you really think a Muggle jail could hold me?"

"I guess not." Peter answered thoughtfully as he imagined how easy it would be for a wizard to escape prison.

James laughed at the two of them. "Look, if no one gets caught, then no one gets in trouble. That's the goal, right? No detention, or future jail time?" He grinned.

"That's the plan." Sirius agreed.

They entered the Great Hall for dinner and took their seats at the Gryffindor table while making sure that Remus and Sirius were facing the Slytherin table. They didn't have to wait long for Severus to come in for dinner and take his seat with his classmates.

Sirius smiled as Snape sat down with his back to them. He looked around to make sure none of the professors were watching him, then raised his wand and took aim at Snape. He muttered something that Remus couldn't quite make out and then quickly pocketed his wand again.

Nothing happened at first, but then Remus's eyes widened as he noticed Severus's hair slowly changing. The length remained the same, but the color slowly shifted, getting lighter and brighter in color.

"Hot pink!" Sirius beamed with pride. "His hair has never looked so good."

Other students slowly started to notice Snape's hair, and laughter slowly spread through the Great Hall; even some of the Slytherin students were amused by it.

Once Snape realized what had happened, his head whipped around as he immediately searched for the four troublesome Gryffindors. Only they would be so bold and so foolish. "You!" he bellowed at Sirius.

Sirius pointed to himself, feigning shock and innocence. "Me?"

Snape started storming over to the Gryffindor table, but he was intercepted by Professor McGonagall. She looked from Severus's hair over to Sirius and gave him a stern look. "Come along, Black, to my office, now."

Sirius was used to this routine by now and knew there was no point in trying to deny anything with her. He got up from his seat and led the way with a smile. "See you lot later." He called over his shoulder to his friends cheerfully.

Remus could only watch in disbelief. On the one hand, he was grateful that he had friends willing to defend him. But on the other hand, he knew this would draw more attention to them from Snape and his classmate. Which was never a good thing.

Sirius walked into the dorm later that evening, and all three boys looked up from their homework. "Well?" James asked expectantly as he put his Transfiguration book down.

"Well, what?" Sirius asked as he jumped onto his bed.

"Well, what punishment did you get?" Peter chimed in.

"Oh, just a day of detention, for every day Snivellus's hair is pink," Sirius said with obvious pride. "McGonagall couldn't find the right charm to undo it without making it worse. So it will have to go naturally. Godric knows it's worth it, though."

Remus sighed and shook his head. "You shouldn't have done that, Sirius."

Sirius looked at Remus, stunned. "You are joking, right?" He said obviously taken a back. "First off, that was bloody brilliant on my part. Second, how about a thank you?"

Remus answered in a sarcastic tone, "Thank you for getting yourself into trouble." He saw the disheartened look on Sirius's face and instantly felt guilty and sighed. "Look, thank you for trying to help me, but I can take care of myself, you know?"

"Then why don't you?" Sirius countered sharply as he got up from the bed. "Why do you let everyone walk all over you then?"

Remus put his books into his trunk and answered without looking at Sirius, "Because not everything has to be a fight, Sirius. Sometimes it's better... in the long run to just let things go." Remus knew that, deep down, his reason for ignoring remarks like Snape's was because he didn't need to draw attention to himself. After Sirius's actions in the Great Hall, he worried about what kind of retaliation Severus would have in store. While he was afraid of anyone discovering the truth about what he truly was, he knew it would be far worse if Snape or his friends were the ones to find out. And regardless of what James and Sirius said about him, Remus knew that Snape was no fool.

"No, it's not! Things only get worse if you ignore them, Remus." Sirius shouted angrily as he walked over to him.

James and Peter exchanged a glance, and James got up and placed a hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Maybe Remus is right. It was hilarious Sirius but it's not like he physically did anything to hurt Remus. It was just Snape being a prat, which is nothing new."

Sirius pulled his arm away from James and gave him a dirty look. "Did Evans talk to you? Are you going to be pals with Snivy too? You didn't have any issues with it when we made the plans to prank him."

Remus rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Sirius, we aren't upset; it was funny. I just wish you would let me handle my own issues."

Sirius shook his head and locked eyes with Remus. "I can't do that, mate. We're friends, and friends help one another when they have a problem. No matter what that problem is and no matter the cost."

A knot tightened in Remus's chest upon hearing those words, and he couldn't help but think that although it was a beautiful sentiment, it didn't apply to someone like him. Instead of continuing to argue with Sirius, Remus just gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Sirius."

"Now that's more like it." Sirius grinned in reply, happy to have gotten through to him. "Don't mention it. After all, what are friends for?" Sirius clapped his hands together. "Now we know the Slytherins are going to come up with something to get us back, so let's start planning our countermeasures." Sirius took a seat on Remus's bed then James and Peter joined them. The disagreement was quickly forgotten as the four friends sat there in a circle, plotting against their rivals late into the night.

Later that week...

"Oi!" Peter shouted as he tried to cover his face with his arms.

Remus just barely had time to hold his books up to shield his face from the mess. James and Sirius weren't so lucky, as they took the hit from the dragon dung manure full force. Laughter erupted from the group of Slytherins on the other side of the Herbology greenhouse.

"Finally, your smell matches your personalities!" Snape said with a sneer as they walked out of the green house.

"Those dirty wankers!" James roared as Remus drew his wand to help him clean up the mess.

"Actually, James, we're the dirty ones at the moment." Sirius said with disgust as he drew his own wand and started to clean himself. He paused and sniffed his robes, then made a face. "Well, the dung is off, but that smell is going to stick around for a while."

Peter cautiously sniffed his own robes and grimaced at the smell.

Sirius pocketed his wand angrily and said, "That's fine; they've made their move. We've planned for this already, right?"

"Right," Peter answered without any conviction in his voice.

"We have Transfiguration next. Do you really want to try this under McGonagall's nose?" Remus questioned as he put his wand away.

James thought for a moment, "No, you're probably right. We have Care of Magical Creatures with them after lunch; we'll get them then."

"We have a plan! Now off to Transfiguration before McGonagall gets mad and uses us as scratching posts." Sirius joked as they quickly grabbed their bags and hurried to Transfiguration class. The class passed quickly, and afterwards Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter raced up to their dorm room to change their robes then spent the rest of their lunch fine tuning their plans.

"Alright, so timing will be key for this," James said, looking around at his friends. "If one of us is too early, it will tip the others off so they can counter the spell."

Sirius chuckled, just thinking about the scheme going through as planned. "This is going to be great. Even if we do get caught, it will be so brilliant it won't matter."

Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus made their way to class and are sure to position themselves behind Snape, Rosier, Goyle, and Crabbe. Midway through the class, Sirius saw their opening when Professor Kettleburn had to return to the school for more supplies. Sirius signaled his friends, and on the count of three, they all drew their wands and whispered, "Asinus Vultus."

As quickly as they could stow their wands, the four Slytherins sprouted donkey ears and tails. Snape happened to turn to look over at his friends and gasped in shock. The other three quickly realized what had happened and, almost in unison, turned and glared at the four boys in back of them.

Sirius smirked, clearly delighted at this: "Your looks finally match your personalities."

Rosier drew his wand and stalked over towards Sirius. "I've had enough of you and your little friends, Black."

Sirius rolled up the sleeves of his robes. "Care to do something about it?"

Rosier laughed, "I believe I will, after all, who better to teach you egotistical Gryffindor a lesson?"

"Yes, who better than an arrogant prat?" James said as he stood next to Sirius, clearly ready for a duel.

Just then, Professor Kettleburn came back from the school. "Alright, break it up. You heard me! Lower your wands." He demands as he steps between the two groups. He looks at the four Slytherin boys. "Mr. Snape, would you care to tell me exactly what happened here?"

"Yes, Sir, we were waiting for you to come back when they," Snape pointed to James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus, "hexed us with this ridiculous charm."

Kettleburn turned towards them and said, "100 points from Gryffindor." Sirius started to open his mouth to say something, but Kettleburn just held up his hooked hand to silence him and spoke over him. You four can also stay after class and help me clean the hippogriff pens." He then turned toward the Slytherin and drew his wand in his remaining hand and made quick work of undoing the donkey ears and tails from the Slytherin.

"Amazing. They still look like a bunch of asses to me." Sirius muttered to his friends, causing James and Peter to laugh. Remus although amused could only watch the the Slytherin boys walk away and wonder what would happen next.

"This way, boys." Kettleburn called to them after class as he led them to several wooden pens at the edge of the woods. "You will each take a stall and clean it...without your wands." Upon hearing that, they all groan in unison and then set to work.

After a few hours of scrubbing the pens, they headed back up to the dorm. Remus looked down at his filthy robes and said, "I can't wait to take a shower. What a day."

"You can say that again." Peter agreed.

"I can't wait to take a shower. What a day." Remus repeated it with a grin.

James and Sirius laughed at that. "How perfect was that though?" Sirius said happily as they headed up the steps. "I only wish Kettleburn took a little longer to show up."

"I only wish we had a camera," James said, beaming at the thought.