The Christmas Prank Chapter 23:

If the Bad Touch Trio had thought Hogwarts loved Halloween, it was nothing against Christmas. It was almost too bad that they weren't going to be there for the Christmas Holidays. Luckily, they knew that the days before they went home for the holidays, would be memorable.

And it would all start on Thursday the 17th of November.

Due to the incident on Halloween, especially since there had been whispered rumours about an upcoming prank involving them, the teachers checked the banners for any magical tampering. Satisfied that they seemed to be the normal magical banners that always hung there, the (Deputy) Headmistress, Professor Weasley, started the pre-Christmas Feast, not as impressive as the Christmas Feast itself, but not everyone would be at Hogwarts for Christmas.

As the post owls came flying, however, there was colour explosions, on the banners. And just like on Halloween, the banners started singing.

'We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!'

'And now for something special!' It wasn't the banners, anyone of the students, teachers or ghosts, who said this.

No, it was the suit of armour that no one had noticed entering the Great Hall.

'Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen! Something truly special is on its way! I hope you will join my esteemed colleagues,', it pointed to each of the banners, 'as they sing "12 Days of Christmas".'

The Kirkland brothers, sans Arthur, was a little disappointed that singing was all that seemed to be happening.

True, it had been brilliant on Halloween, but the same joke two times in a row?

That was almost pathetically done by the pranksters, because the trace of magic was obviously the same one as it'd been on Halloween.

So, they were pleased when there were more to come; each time the banners (and the suit of armour, whom kept dodging the Professors, prefects, head boys and girls, and the Headmasters attempts at stopping or at least deciphering whom was responsible for the prank) sang about an animal or an object, i.e. "Five Golden Rings" or "Two Turtledoves", an image of said thing, or animal(s), came flying down from the banners in a magic light, that occasionally swatted at the people sitting underneath it. But only on those who didn't sing along, so people quickly learnt to do that. Even the ghosts.

They would disappear at every "And a Partridge in a Pear Tree", but at the beginning of the next verse, they would appear again. And, at the last verse, the images stayed; from the "Twelve Drummers" to the "And a Partridge in a Pear Tree". They flickered a little, before flying down and hitting the people they had previously swatted. At each hit, a note was played.

The note wasn't the only thing that happened; every single one, but only the living, probably because there's almost no magic or anything that works on ghosts, which had been swatted, got a new haircut and hair colour. Each different from the other.

As this happened, the suit of armour jumped at Ivan Braginsky, who immediately hit it with a Reductor Curse.

Although none of the Professors could blame Ivan for doing so, even if they hadn't been slightly afraid of him, they were rather disappointed that the results were that it was basically impossible to determine the perpetrators of the prank.

After a moment of silence, the meal continued, even for the people with new haircuts and colours.

When Elizaveta, Gilbert, Francis and Antonio, each with their own letters, were halfway to the owlery, Elizaveta, knowing they were alone, and no one would overhear, spoke up,

'There shouldn't be singing in the pranks anymore.'

'I thought that was your favourite part of those singing pranks.', Antonio said confused.

'Yes, they are. But it's not only starting to get old, it will also soon make it impossible for people who deals with music, whether it's those who study Music or Muggle Music, or are part of the Frog Choir or the Orchestra. Not to mentions those who just likes to listen to music without being suspected of having something to do with those pranks, me included. And that would be such a shame with so many good songs around, especially the Retro ones.'

'What's the difference between Retro songs, and songs that are being covered?', Gilbert asked curiously.

'The Retro ones are sung in the same tone and rhythm as the songs were originally sung, plus they've to be at least from ten years earlier to be designated Retro. Songs that are being covered, however, is sung in the tone and rhythm the singers that cover the song normally use and are used to, and they can be from any date.', she explained.

'Francis, you're awfully quiet. Is everything alright?', Antonio asked, a little concerned for his friend.

'Alright? Alright?! Look at my hair! It's turned into an unfashionable bob! And it's bright scarlet! How can anything be alright?!', he wailed.

The other three just rolled their eyes.

Author's notes:

In the next chapter:

One of the biggest challenges in determining the pranksters, was that Hogwarts had more than one group of pranksters roaming about, pranking.