The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

The Spirit of a Prankster

"Excuse me?" McGonagall asked, "What does that have to do with anything, Mr. Black?"

Sirius shrugged. "You asked if we had any questions."

"I meant about Transfiguration," she emphasized.

"Ohhhh." Sirius grinned and leaned back again, returning his feet to the table, "Well, then. See that does make a difference, doesn't it? You didn't specify the first time. I thought perhaps we could ask something to get to know you on a more personal level."

She closed her eyes and forced herself to count to ten.

"What's your favorite colour, Professor Minney?" Sirius asked. "Mine's yellow."

McGonagall stared at him, her jaw firm, her nerves grinding. "It is green," she said, "Spruce green. Now. Are you quite through?" she asked.

Sirius nodded, grinning in amusement that he'd gotten an actual answer. "Yes, Professor."

"Okay. Then today we'll be turning to page 753 to continue our discussion about the --- What, Mr. Black?"

Sirius had raised his hand again. He smiled as she acknowledged him. "I swear this one's to do with Transfiguration," he reassured her.

"What is it?" her tone was clipped.

"Say... say you wanted to transfigure something...and make it... into something else..."

"That is the definition of Transfiguration, Mr. Black, yes, but I thought we covered that three years ago?" Professor McGonagall said.

Sirius grinned, "Well say that something was a person - specifically a Slytherin - and the something else was a -- I dunno -- a goat... what sort of punishment might that bring upon a lad?"

"Mr. Black," McGonagall stared at him. "You are not to transfigure anyone into a goat."

"Okay."

"Or any other barnyard animal," she added.

Sirius nodded slowly and started to open his mouth to say something, so McGonagall quickly cut him off, "Or any plant or mineral!" She glowered at him, trying to think if she'd covered all her bases. Then, "Or any inanimate objects. Earthbound or celestial. Mr. Black, don't transfigure anybody into anything. Are we clear?"

"What about --" Sirius began, but Lily cut him off.

"Will you shut up being a pain and let Professor McGonagall teach us the lesson already?!" she cried.

Sirius grinned and sighed, relenting, "Alright fine. Go on with your lesson then, Minnie."

James looked over at Sirius as McGonagall turned to write on the board. "You know she's going to know you've done it now when you do whatever it is you're doing.. yeah?."

Sirius leaned back, rocking on the back two legs of his chair, "Yeah. I know." He looked quite proud of himself.

James shook his head, "I think you like having detention," he whispered.

"When else am I supposed to do my homework?" Sirius asked. "Besides. She didn't specifically bar off what I had in mind..." he grinned.

"She didn't?" James laughed, "She literally named everything."

"Not particularly everything..." Sirius replied.

That night in the Great Hall, there was a brilliant commotion at the Slytherin table. Evan Rosier had taken a sip of his pumpkin juice only to instantly sprout a beard as white as the snow that blew against the windows. "What the hell?!??!" he panicked, shrieking and grabbing at the whiskers that had come shooting out his chin with alarming speed. His arms were flailing about. But it wasn't just Evan whose face was suddenly aged approximately seventy-three years. No instead it was nearly all the Slytherin boys - Snape, McNair, Avery, Mulciber, Goyle, Crabbe, the Carrows, Horan...

Sirius clutched his sides as he looked over at the Slytherin table. Everyone who was not a Slytherin in the hall started laughing and the Slytherins all fell over one another trying to help the inflicted by trying to magick away the whiskers. Laughter doubled all about the hall as the rescuers learned that any whiskers they cut off the inflicted grew up on their own chins!

"That's some good pranking spirits," James said, raising a high-five to Sirius as Remus looked on in horror at the waving, sprouting beards and the panicked eyes on the Slytherins faces as Professors Slughorn and Veigler hastened to help them end the spell. "I readily worship your prankster gods," James hooted.

Sirius grinned, quite pleased with himself.