THE MARAUDERS

THE PRANK

After lunch, James and Sirius hurried down to the Slytherin table to execute their plan while Lily, Remus and Peter went back to their dormitories.

"Hey! Severus Snape right?" said Sirius, while sliding a hand around Snape's shoulder.

"Yes. And you are the ones I met at The Hogwarts Express right? You are friends with Lilly, I presume." Snape said while rolling his eyes.

"Yes. YES we are." said James in a grumped tone.

"And by any means if you are still angry on us for the misconception on the train. We are really sorry." said Sirius.

Snapes' eyes glimmered. No one ever had apologized to him. In his muggle school, he was always taunted for his black, greasy hair, but never had any of them apologized to him before.

"So, would you like to come with us to play gobstones?" Asked James.

"Yeah sure! But won't we need two teams? Who's the other player? "

"Oh, um...a friend of ours! Come with us, eh?"

Sirius and James leaded their way. They climbed up the stairs and went into the last classroom of the corridor. It was dark and empty.

"Hey Sirius? Can't we play Gobstones in the Courtyard like the others? Why here?" he asked before they entered the room.

"Oh! You'll notice soon enough" Sirius answered with a smile on his face.

"And is your friend waiti....AHHHHH" before Severus could even finish his sentence, he was picked up by a huge rope and tilted upside down just when he tried to enter the room.

"HAHAHA OH! You poor little Skunk!" Exclaimed James.

"What have you done! I thought you were my friends!" retorted Severus.

"Friends? Seriously? On our first meet 'after' you wet your pants?" Asked Sirius.

"Oh you have played much enough! Now put me down! I do not even have my wand!"
Severus pleaded.

"The show's not over yet my friend" said James and threw over a bucket of water onto him.

Severus was flabberghasted. He did not expect such disturbing behaviour from the two. His mind was swirling in these thoughts and blood was rushing through his skull as he hanged upside down.

Both of them laughed and laughed until someone came in.

"James! Sirius! What have you done!"

Lily came in and quickly untied the ropes that held Snape. Snape's mind was still swirling as he rested his head on the door.

James and Sirius stood still. They were astonished to see Lily as they didn't expect anyone to come by an empty corridor. Lily was so disappointed in them that she did not even talk to them anymore, but helped Severus stand up and leave.

●●●

"Well, that backfired." Sirius said as James laid on his bed.

They didn't talk much. James was waiting for the next class to start. He was upset and tensed for what Lily might have thought him to be. Remus and Peter came in.

"Hello?" Peter attempted to speak to the two 'cool' boys in their year.

"Hey! What happened? I was with Lily, helping her with her homework. But after she came back from the washroom, even she seemed upset and did not want to talk anymore. What's up with you all? Is something wrong? Do I not know something?" Remus sounded tensed.

The bell rang. The next class was supposed to start in five minutes. They ran down to the dungeons for their Potion's class. Then they had their charms and herbology class later that afternoon.

●●●

The day was enjoyable as well as stressful for the first years.

Remus, James, Sirius and Peter were sitting in the common room in front of the fireplace.

"Hey you, shorty! What is up with you? Why do you always follow us everywhere?" Said Sirius

"Hey Sirius! That's rude. This is Peter. He is our roommate. How could you forget him? He is my friend. Try and be nice to him atleast" replied Remus.

"Mate. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. Hello Peter. My name's James Potter and this is Sirius Black"

"Yeah..yes...umm, everyone in here knows you both! You have made quite the impression on your first day! You both are like heroes to me" said Peter in awe.

Both Sirius and James gave each other a look of satisfaction. But suddenly out of nowhere an owl came in from the window nearby and dropped a letter on Sirius. It was a letter from Madam Hooch, reminding them of their detention this evening."

They both went down to meet Filch while Remus and Peter spend their evening with their fellow housemates.

●●●

Chattering of students and professors filled the hall. Lily was describing to Alice and Mary, how the muggles would spend a 'normal' day while the four roommates were lavishly eating the unending delicious food.

"This is the BEST food I have ever had!" said Sirius while munching on the beef roast.

After their marvelous meal, they went upstairs to their dormitory.

"Hey mate! I just realised you haven't told us about the day you got your Hogwarts Letter?" said Remus to James.

"Oh yeah! Come up here. It's a long story."

Simon was snoring. So they all came up to James' bed and listened to his story.

"Well it was a sunny morning when I woke up on my bed realising that an owl had been sitting on the desk beside my bed.

It was carrying my Hogwarts Letter! Ofcourse I knew by the cover. I ran downstairs and showed it to my parents, they were really happy of course.

But all of a sudden my father became a little tensed. His voice became a little more hoarse than usual. He said that he had a very precious gift for me that had been passed on in the Potter family through generations. I became very excited!"

James' voice had now become merely a whisper.
The boys had to lean in to listen.

"He came downstairs with a blanket. I wondered why. He offered it to me. I was a little disappointed. Who would pass on a filthy blanket through generations? But just as I tried covering my body with it, I realised, I had become invisible! My hands and legs weren't visible at all! "

Everybody gasped. Peter called out "It's an invisibility cloak!"

"Yeah! So it had been a great day for me." James concluded.

"Hey! Let's get out of the common room this night and explore the school! It'd be fun!" - Sirius

"Don't be silly Sirius, we'll get caught!" - Remus

"Not under the invisibility cloak!", smirked James

They exchanged looks.

"No. No. No way!" - Remus

"Oh common Remus! See, Peter will also come with us. Let's have some fun!"

After a few minutes of convincing, Remus agreed.