TW: SWEARING
It was finally the night before Halloween, and the Marauders were as enthusiastic as could be. Peter turned out to be pretty good with needles and thread, and had helped them all make their costumes.
"Dungbombs all over the castle, living pumpkins, Boggarts in every classroom, dancing goblins in the corridor, and we'll switch every painting. Is that all?" Remus read off a paper, then looked around at his friends.
"It's perfect!" James wiped a fake tear from his eye.
"Mind if we join?" Fabien grinned, walking over to the Marauders.
"Yeah, I think we'd make a great addition!" Gideon nodded, walking alongside his twin.
"You're proposing that we join forces?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed we are," Gideon smiled widely.
"Don't you think a competition would be best?" Clara piped up. "If we compete, we're bound to come up with better ideas, and more disaster occurs!"
Remus nodded, "that's smart,"
Clara grinned mischievously, "Fabien? Gideon?" She looked at them in order.
Fabien stuck his hand out, "it's a deal."
They shook hands. Let the competition begin.
The next day, at around 2 am, Clara woke up, ready to scare some First Years. She snuck out of her dorm, and into the boys dorm.
"Awaken, my students, we shall now wake the dead!" Clara exclaimed walking into their dorm.
The curtains were closed around all their beds.
"Ah, you're trying to sleep aren't you? Well, I'm afraid not a soul sleeps well on Halloween!" Clara attempted to scare James by suddenly whipping open the curtains around his bed. But he wasn't there.
She opened the rest of the curtains, and all she found on their beds were stains of blood, and claw marks. Clara gasped as she heard the sound of the floorboard behind her creaking. She urged herself not to turn around, but it was too late, she was knocked off her feet, and hit the ground with a thump.
In front of her, four frightening figures began approaching her. It was hard to see in the dark, but she could make out long nails, and weird capes. Clara screamed as one of them jumped at her.
The next thing she knew, the lights turned on, and she found James on the ground, dying from laughter. Sirius was wheezing and trying to catch his breath. Remus was banging the floor with his fist, laughing like a madman. Finally, Peter was giggling furiously as he pointed at James, it seemed as though he was more amused with James's laughter, then with Clara's screams.
"I hate you guys so much!" Clara fumed, but one look at James caused her to break into laughs immediately.
"You don't hate us, you love us!" Sirius sang, pirouetting around the room.
"Oi, stop that!" Clara rolled her eyes at Sirius's silly antics.
James finally stopped laughing and Remus's mouth began hurting.
"Shall we get on with our mischief, then?" Clara raised an eyebrow, and stood up.
"Indeed we shall, o' Lady Vixen!" James stood up, and made a little bow.
"Then let us ready our troops, soldiers, and scare the living hell out of the 'ickle Firs' Years!" Clara announced dramatically, and the boys stood in line like soldiers.
"How are the new paintings looking, Wormtail?"
"Ah, they're splendid!"
"And the pumpkins, V?"
"Absolutely beautiful!"
"The goblins, Prongs?"
"Delightfully disgusting!"
"Perfect! Moony should be done with the Boggarts in a few minutes!"
"Padfoot, how're we going to make all the dungbombs set off at the same time?" Clara raised an eyebrow. She had just finished casting the last living pumpkin, enabling it to chase passersby at an amazingly quick speed.
"Moony taught me a spell last night, don't worry," Sirius smiled as he carefully placed down another dungbomb.
"All right. Good. Should we do something else though?" Clara tensed, looking down at Sirius who was sitting on the floor, and casting a spell on the dungbomb he had just placed.
"I can't think of anything else, but if you do, feel free!" Sirius said, and chuckled to himself.
Clara nodded silently. "I'll go fetch Remus,"
"Don't worry about him. You finished with the pumpkins?" Sirius shrugged.
"Mhm. Need any help with the dungbombs?" Clara said and yawned boredly.
"I've got it covered. Rough night?" Sirius fixed his hair nonchalantly.
Clara paused, then sat on the ground, looking at the floor. "I kept waking up,"
Sirius nodded, "understandable, not a soul sleeps well on Halloween,"
"Clara, will you help with the paintings; there are so many!" Peter called over, removing a painting from the wall.
"How dare you remove my portrait!" The knight in the painting cried.
"Ah, Sir Cadogan!" James grinned, "always have been my favorite,"
"Go on and catch up on a bit of sleep, V, you'll need energy for the rest of the day." Sirius instructed, slipping his wand back into his pocket.
"Nonsense, Padfoot, I'll get used to being awake in a bit," Clara smiled wearily.
"Go on, Vixen. Sirius has a point," James agreed, turning his head to Clara before continuing his conversation with Sir Cadogan.
Clara rolled her eyes, and sighed heavily. "I'm fine, guys," she said.
James tutted - a very familiar tut his mother had. "You'll never listen, will you?"
"Never," Clara shook her head, a grin on her face.
James muttered something, and shook his head disapprovingly.
Remus came into site, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "'Ello, guys," he smiled, looking around at his friends.
"Ah, Moony! Did the Boggarts work?" James chuckled, jogging over to Remus.
"Indeed they did, Prongs." Remus nodded excitedly. "Padfoot,"
"Uh-huh?"
"Does the spell I taught you work?"
"Mhm!"
"Cheers!"
Clara watched the three boys with a smile. They may have been seventeen years old, but their souls hadn't aged a minute.
"What are you staring at, V?" Sirius said, snapping Clara out of her thoughts. She turned red, and Sirius chuckled, "ah, we may have broken up ages ago, but my looks were never ruined. Yeah?"
"Piss off, before I hex you into tomorrow," Clara muttered, rolling her eyes.
"The paintings are done!" Peter announced.
They had finally managed to successfully switch all the paintings with framed photos of varies kinds. Such as: pictures students had secretly taken of Dumbledore in the past ten years, children's drawing, the Marauders and other students, and finally, creepy paintings that were bewitched to actually come alive at will; having the ability to walk around Hogwarts - had it been a person in the painting - and pull students into the frames.
"We are so getting detention for this!" Clara exclaimed excitedly.
"We already have detention all year round. But hey, why not add a couple to the table!" James smirked.
"Nice job, guys. We will go down in history." Remus smirked.
Clara smiled. Things were perfect. She and Sirius hadn't fought in quite some time, and there wasn't any tension between them. She hadn't been having any nightmares for almost a year now. Peter was around them more often than usual. James had gotten the relationship he wanted with Lily. Remus's full moons hadn't been so bad recently. Sirius had gotten away from his wretched family at last.
"AHHHHH! THERE'S A SODDING PUMPKIN CHASING ME!" A third-year Gryffindor screamed as he ran past the hall. "HELP!"
The five Marauders were hiding in a corner, and laughing their heads off.
"Couldn't have done it better myself, Vixen!" James high-fived Clara.
"No one could've!" Clara grinned. "Look! More of them are getting chased!"
"When should we active the Dungbombs?" Sirius questioned the rest.
"We can make a dramatic scene in the Great Hall, like in the Muggle movies," Clara suggested.
"...THE PAINTING IS GRABBING ME-" James high-fived Peter, "-HELP! AHHHH! THE SODDING THING-"
Professor Flitwick ran over to the helpless Ravenclaw that was practically getting absorbed by the painting of a horribly drawn man.
"Do you still have the oxygen masks from last time?" Remus asked Clara.
"Uh-huh!" Clara nodded. "What're you thinking?"
"Like you said, Muggle movies." Remus said, and then fell deep into thought.
"Most of the Dungbombs are in the Great Hall anyways," Sirius added.
A goblin began chasing a very familiar-looking person.
"That's Jazz!" Clara exclaimed, then broke into a fit of high-pitched laughter.
"I guess I'll just have to high-five myself," James sulked, and proceeded to try high-fiving himself, and making a fool out of himself at that.
"Very Head-boy of you, don't you think?" Remus chuckled fondly.
James rolled his eyes playfully, and smiled.
"You know, your birthday's coming up, Padfoot," Clara began, and Sirius nodded eagerly. "Are we not going to hold a party? Or sneak off somewhere?"
Sirius shrugged, "I'm sure we'll think of something," he muttered.
"You're turning eighteen, Padfoot!" James exclaimed, squeezing Sirius tightly.
"Yeah, no shit."
Bang! "That's McGonagall! Quick, the cloak!" Remus instructed, and the four pulled James's invisibility cloak over them, crouching on the floor, and trying their best to keep their mouths shut.
"Gerosbolt shrieked, and ran faster than lightning!" Remus informed the lot as they walked excitedly towards the Great Hall entrance.
"Lorelei told me that she would punch you in the face if she saw you," Clara smiled, and looked at her watch.
Remus waved his hand dismissively, "she won't catch me,"
"Oooh! Moony is slick and sly!" Sirius mused, and chuckled.
"Slick and sly mean the same thing, Padfoot," Peter grinned, and Sirius shrugged.
The five stopped right before the Great Hall, and Sirius nodded to confirm that he was ready to activate the Dungbombs.
"Let's do this."
The doors flung open, but instead of a bunch of Dungbombs going off, buckets of red paint appeared magically, and threw paint onto the Marauders.
"AARGH!" Clara screamed, covering her face and attempting to duck the flying paint.
"MERLIN'S BO-" Sirius was cut off immediately by the empty paint bucket whacking him in the face.
"AHHH!" James exclaimed, and was splashed in the face with bright red paint.
"PREWETT!" Remus boomed, wiping his face, and helping Peter off the ground.
The redheaded twins fell into a fit of giggles, pointing at the five paint drenched teenagers.
Clara quickly opened her backpack, and pulled out five oxygen masks. "Boys!" She tossed each Marauder a mask, and wore her own.
Fabien nudged Gideon, and they quickly covered each others noses.
When McGonagall finally realized what was happening, it was too late.
Sirius hurriedly got his wand out, and drew a certain shape in the air; setting off all the Dungbombs at once. They exploded with loud bangs from every corner and from under every table.
"HUMOROUS!" Fabien boomed, his voice slightly altered due to his nose being closed.
"MR. BLACK!" McGonagall screeched, and the five burst into laughter.
Clara noticed the faint outline of Dumbledore standing up, and holding his wand out. With just a flick of the wrist, Dumbledore was able to get rid of the smell from the Dungbombs.
"Totally accidental, Professor!" Sirius insisted as McGonagall's stern face approached him.
"I would like to believe so, Mr. Black, But due to your previous behavior, I cannot bring myself to do so!" McGonagall snapped.
"You see, Professor, I was alarmed by the Prewett's sudden ambush! It was only an act of defense!" Sirius held his hands up in surrender, making huge effort to hide his grin.
"Quite likely!" McGonagall exclaimed. "Mr. Black, I won't be seeing you on the Quidditch pitch anymore-" Sirius gasped. "-Mr. Potter, your title of Quidditch Captain will be taken for two weeks-" James's eyes widened. "-Miss Potter, I will be taking your broom for four weeks-" Clara gaped. "-Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew, you two are hereby banned from all Hogsmeade trips until Christmas!" McGonagall finally decided.
"But Professor, that's totally unfair!" Sirius complained.
"It was all my idea, Professor!" Clara objected. "I should be kicked off the team, not Sirius!"
"You may join him, Miss Potter,"
"You can't ban Sirius from Quidditch!" Remus whined.
"It's not fair, Professor! Quidditch is all Sirius has!" James shouted in protest.
"Please, Professor, oh please!" Peter pleaded, practically on his knees.
McGonagall simply turned around and began walking away, leaving the five students to beg.
"You have punishments too, Prewetts!" McGonagall regarded the twins, their faces sad and ashamed.