Now that Grace thought about it, the 'three of us walk ahead and check if the coast is clear' plan had one major flaw: they could easily be approached from behind and never know.
"Can I ask why the five of you up to at this hour?" Professor McGonagall asked, seemingly unfazed by the fact that James, Peter and Sirius had just appeared out of thin air. She no doubt already knew of the Invisibility Cloak's existence, however it made Grace wonder why she hadn't confiscated it by now.
"We, were just....uh..."
"We needed to..."
"We were hungry," Remus offered.
"Yes! And we needed to go to the kitchens," Grace added, with a smile.
"We missed dinner, you see, because..."
"Peter accidentally cast Engorgio Skullus, the one that makes your head really big, on himself..."
"And we need to take him to the Hospital Wing because we couldn't remember the counter curse," Remus finished.
"Whether that story is true or not, Mr Lupin and Miss Thorne, students are still not allowed to be be out of their dorms at this time! The five of you will be joining be for a detention next Saturday, understood?"
"Yes professor," they all replied, in synchronisation.
"Now, I'll be escorting you all back to your dorms," McGonagall said, sternly. "We can't have you five marauding around the school."
---
"Hey Moony?" Peter asked as he flopped down onto his bed. "What does marooding mean?"
"Marauding?" Remus corrected, closing the book he had been reading. "Roaming around, up to mischief, that kind of thing."
"I like that word. Does that make us marauders?" James wondered out loud. The four boys were currently residing inside of their dormitory, and Grace in her own, preparing to go to sleep. "James the Marauder... hmm..."
"How does she sneak up on us like that? It's like she's got some kind of sixth sense and just knows when we're out 'marauding' or whatever," Sirius said, pulling up the sheets to cover him. "If only we had some kind of way to just see where she when she's right behind us. Like a special, I dunno, badge that screeches when there's a teacher nearby or something."
"But then the teacher would be able to hear said screech and know where we are anyway. Or maybe it could...." James trailed off, deep in thought.
"I can't believe we have a detention on Saturday," Remus grumbled, running a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, no thanks to you," Peter retorted.
"How on Earth is it my fault? I only came along because you lot told me that your plan was 'absolutely fool proof'."
"Correction. You only came along because Grace promised that she'd give you some of her chocolates if you stopped being a huge party pooper," Sirius said, causing Remus to go red with anger and embarrassment. "Besides, we put the worms in, didn't we? The plan was a success. I mean, we did get a detention, but who cares. It will all be worth it tomorrow morning."
"She offered you some of her Changing Chocolates!?" Peter cried. Changing Chocolates were small, marble sized balls of chocolate that changed flavour the longer you sucked on them. One minute your mouth would be filled with a creamy milk chocolate and a hint of popcorn, the next a swirling dark chocolate and caramel combination. They were simply delectable, however they were only sold in Australia, which meant they were rather hard to get your hands on. Grace's aunt Belinda, Paula's sister, had sent over a large package of them during the holidays, as they were Grace's favourite.
"Uh... yeah... I mean... she said she'd give me a few..." Remus trailed off, even redder than before.
"She doesn't share those things with anyone!" Sirius exclaimed, sitting up in his bed. "Maybe I should try being a party pooper..." He then paused for a moment, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hi, my names Remus party poopin' Lupin, and I don't think that pranking is a good idea. I mean, someone could get hurt!" he grumbled, causing Peter and James to burst into fits of laughter.
Remus, on the other hand, was not impressed. "I do not sound like that!"
"Yes you do!" they replied in unison.
---
A map.
That is what they'd come up with.
A map of the whole entire Hogwarts grounds that showed the location of every single teacher in the school, so that they wouldn't need to worry about being caught.
"And prefects as well. You know that McGonagall has told them all to watch out for us," James suggested.
In anticipation for the prank they had set up the previous night, the five 'Marauders', as they had begun calling themselves, had come down extra early to the great hall. They came down so early, in fact, that breakfast hadn't even appeared on the tables yet. Whilst waiting for their prank to come into action, they were brainstorming ideas for their new invention that would hopefully help them steer clear of McGonagall and anyone else that may happen to stumble upon them during their midnight mischief sessions.
"How about everyone in the school, just to be safe?" Peter asked, writing it down. Surprisingly, Peter had the neatest had writing in the group.
"What about-"
Grace's suggestion was cut off by an ear piercing screech.
"What is that thing!?" Ella Graham, the nasty Gryffindor girl that Grace had been unfortunate enough to be placed in the same door with, leapt out of her seat, along with a few of her other equally nasty friends sitting around her.
"It's moving!"
"Did I eat one? I think I ate one!"
"No, my bacon!"
Professor Slughorn, who happened to be making his way towards the staff table, approached them.
"Girls, what on Earth is the matter?"
"There are these.... things! In the bacon!"
And sure enough, Slughorn picked up the plate of bacon that was sitting in the middle of them all to find that it had become home to five fat Flobberworms. The Great Hall burst into a ruckus as all of the other students tried to figure out what was going on.
"Don't worry everyone, they're just Flobberworms. Completely harmless, I believe," Slughorn announced them, glancing up at a grinning professor A Thorne for reassurance.
"They're disgusting!" shrieked Ella one last time, before her and her posse left the Great Hall.
Sirius and James high-fived.
---
So I actually updated again what is this.
I don't like the ending of this chapter but I don't know what to do about it.
In fact, I don't like this whole book but I don't know what to do about it.
I swear these author's notes things have just became a space for me to be negative about my writing. I really need to stop.
Is there such thing as liking your writing? Like, do professional authors write things and say 'yes, I'm happy with that' or is it normal to have a gigantic cringe attack every time you read something that you've written.
Does anyone even read these things anymore? I'm sorry.
- Grace