Halloween was drawing near. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, who were already becoming famous as the school's biggest troublemakers, were determined to cause a major upset, worthy of the great Halloween feast.
As evening set in, and the last preparations had been done by Sirius and Peter, they went to tell the others. They found James in the common room.
"Where's Remus?" asked Sirius.
"I don't know—wasn't he with you?" asked James.
"No...let's look in the dorm," suggested Peter.
Remus was not in the dorm. The three of them set out in search of Remus, but he was not to be found.
"Don't say he has chickened out at the last moment," groaned James.
"He hasn't," assured Sirius. "He never ditches us at the last moment. He'll turn up."
But Remus didn't appear even for the feast. Reluctantly, the others decided to continue their plan. Midway across the feast, James pulled the string in his hand.
Little golden missiles shot into the air from all corners of the room, Sirius and Peter having carefully arranged them. The missiles were accompanied by a fearful screeching noise—a charm taught by Remus.
Everyone in the hall looked around to see the source of noise. The missiles spun round and round, looking like golden butterflies.
Till then it wasn't so bad, but after a while all the missiles made a beeline for the Slytherin table, screeching and cackling. There was a huge rush at the Slytherin table as people tried to get out of the way.
The missiles landed on the table and on the students' heads. A chaos ensued; Slytherins screamed, pushed each other and fell over.
Finally the missiles crumbled to dust. Just as the chaos started to subside, with Gideon and Fabian Prewett leading, the Gryffindor table started to clap and stamp their feet, shortly joined by Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables too.
James, Sirius and Peter clapped and laughed too, thrilled at the success of their first major prank.
In the end, Professor Dumbledore stood up and called for silence. But he didn't look remotestly angry—in fact, if anything, he looked amused.
"Whichever student—or students—planned this prank, I must tell you, though this was an ingenious and carefully done event and is being appreciated now—another upset like this will not be appreciated," said the Headmaster, glancing at the Gryffindor table. "Now, let us continue our feast!" The Slytherin table was refilled with food.
Suddenly, the students noticed a tall thin strangely dressed woman entering the hall.
"Who is she?" asked James, to the table in general.
"That's Professor Cassendra," said Fabian, snorting. "Our Divination teacher. She's a complete fraud. You should hear Professor McGonagall speaking to her. Look—here she comes."
Sue enough, Professor McGonagall had come down from the teachers' table to Professor Cassendra. "What brings you here tonight, Mabel?" she asked.
"The Inner eye showed myself sitting here at Halloween feast. Who am I to deny the biddings of fate? I hastened at once to come here tonight," said Professor Cassendra, in a misty affected voice.
"Quite," said Professor McGonagall. "Come up to our table."
"Ten years from this day," said Professor Cassendra in a harsh voice suddenly. "Terrible things will happen. Terrible—and great—which will change the world forever."
Before anybody realized, she was standing beside the Gryffindor table.
"Great—and terrible," she said again, looking directly at James.
"Ten years," she repeated, and this time she looked directly at Lily.
Then her eyes rolled into her head and she swayed. Professor McGonagall caught her.
"Yes, Minerva, what was I saying?" said Professor Cassendra in her former misty voice.
"Nothing," said Professor McGonagall curtly. "Come to our table."
As they went away, James laughed uncomfortably.
"She's a fraud, I told you," said Fabian.
"Maybe she likes to shock us," suggested Marlene. She smacked Lily, who looked rather white, on her back.
"Of course it doesn't mean anything," said Sirius, in a matter of fact way.
"But maybe it does," whispered Lily.
A/N: Ten years later means 31st October 1981😫
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