Regulus was in Potions class. His partner for the day was Dolores Umbridge, which he was not thrilled about. They were brewing a hair-color potion, which Regulus thought was a waste of time. He had no intentions of using such a potion, but Dolores was excited about it.
"I wonder how I would look with pink hair," she commented as Regulus set the ingredients they would need onto the workstation.
"Awful," he muttered.
"Did you know that pink is my favorite color?" Dolores asked curiously. Regulus rolled his eyes.
"Oh, yes, I am quite aware," he replied. "In fact, I think the whole school knows that your favorite color is pink. Have you ever worn something other than pink? It may be cool to see you wear blue, or maybe purple, red, yellow, black, brown, etc."
"I have never worn a different color before," Dolores snapped. "What? Are you telling me NOT to wear pink?"
"No, not at all. Why would I tell you NOT to?" Regulus asked. "After all, it is your favorite color. But perhaps a little less pink would be nice. Throw in some other colors every now and then, you know?"
Dolores glared at him. "How dare you?!" she shrieked, catching the attention of many in the class. "I think EVERYONE should wear pink! Pink is, after all, the only beautiful color." People were staring at her now.
"Are you mental?" one student asked.
"I am NOT MENTAL!" Dolores screeched, lunging at the student who had dared accuse her of being mental. Regulus grabbed her by the arm before she could cause any damage.
"If you honestly don't want people to think you're mental, you're not doing a very good job at proving them wrong," Regulus said angrily.
"Let go of me, Black!" she screamed. That was when Slughorn stepped in.
"Enough of this," he said firmly, a serious tone he rarely used. "Mr. Black was right to stop you. You almost hurt a student. Thirty points from Slytherin for attempting to harm a student. Now, back to work!" Slughorn went back to his desk, and it looked like he was writing a note. Regulus hoped Dolores was going to get several detentions, or better, a suspension.
"Why haven't you started working on the potion yet?" Dolores asked coolly. Regulus blinked.
"You were the one being a drama queen just a minute ago," he retorted. "I couldn't really start with you causing all that trouble!"
"Then start it!" Dolores snapped.
"Er, this is not MY potion to brew, it's OURS to work on together!" Regulus exclaimed, starting to really get frustrated with Dolores Umbridge. He didn't know how much more of her he could handle. It was going to be a long class.
After class was over, Regulus met up with his brother, who was just coming back from Transfiguration.
"How was Potions?" Sirius asked as they walked to a study room to meet with the other Marauders.
"Dolores Umbridge is a pink nightmare," Regulus stated.
"A pink nightmare?" Sirius asked.
"Oh yes, she started with wondering how her hair would look if it was pink, and I gave her a very honest answer, but of course, she didn't like the honesty," Regulus explained with a sigh. "She even said that her favorite color is pink, and I told her that the whole school already knows that. I told her that she should explore other colors other than pink, and she flipped out like a five-year-old."
Sirius snorted. "That's Dolores for you," he said bitterly. "She's always been a drama queen." He then lowered his voice. "Especially as an adult." He then got an idea. "Let's do a prank on her!"
"Another one?" Regulus asked.
"Yes, but this time, it won't be a spell we're using. It's a potion," Sirius said with a grin. He told Regulus of his idea. The two brothers started planning.
That night, as Sirius and Regulus sat with the other Marauders at the Gryffindor Table, they watched the Slytherin Table closely. It didn't take long for Dolores' hair to turn red.
"Dolores! Are you a Gryffindor now?" Capella called out. Dolores looked confused. "Look at yourself!" Capella continued. Some students from the Slytherin Table started to whisper to her. She spun around, glaring at Capella from across the hall.
"You did this!" she shrieked.
"No, I did not," Capella shot back.
"Yes, you did!" Dolores yelled.
"Alright, show me proof, then," Capella challenged. Dolores stayed silent.
Sirius and Regulus did their best to hide their grins, though Sirius was much better at doing so.
"Who did this?" Professor McGonagall asked angrily.
"Chill... she's not hurt," Sirius said. "It was a harmless prank. Lighten up a bit!"
"Mr. Black," McGonagall began before Sirius and Regulus interrupted.
"Yes?" they both asked at the same time.
McGonagall huffed in annoyance. "You know full well who I am talking to," she said.
"Hey, you didn't say which one of us you were talking to," Sirius pointed out.
"He has a point," Arcturus said.
"Not you too!" McGonagall said with a sigh.
"I think the prank on Miss Umbridge was impressive," Flitwick stated.
"I agree," Slughorn added. "Don't punish them, Minerva. They didn't harm her in any way."
McGonagall hesitated before nodding. "Very well," she said. "But we need to set her hair back to its original color."
"I'd say leave it," Arcturus cut in. "It will fix itself eventually."
Sirius was surprised. This was the first time Arcturus had found a prank funny.
After dinner was over, Sirius went to speak with his grandfather. When he entered the office, he immediately asked, "Since when did you find a prank funny?"
Arcturus chuckled. "I, like you, have always found pranks funny, at least the harmless ones," he informed him. "My brother did not find anything funny."
"Can you tell me about you and Uncle Regulus?" Sirius asked. "You never had the chance to tell me much, because we were interrupted."
"That's right, we did get interrupted," Arcturus said. "Yes, I can tell you more about our childhood, and of course, adding Lycoris in the mix as well."
Sirius was excited. He was about to understand more about the older generations of the Black family.