Chapter Seven: Payback is Sweet
“It has to be good,” Sirius said.
“It has to cause lasting torture for at least a week,” James added.
“For once, I agree,” Remus said, nodding. Peter didn’t say a word. He hadn’t yet.
“Maybe we should let them be. They might do worse next time,” Peter said.
“Peter… Peter… Peter,” Sirius sighed. “We are the Marauders. Have you forgotten? We do not take pranks lying down. We prank back. We…”
“Okay, okay,” Peter mumbled.
“So, ideas?” Sirius said. Peter looked preoccupied. He wasn’t one to give suggestions in the first place, to be honest. He was a great friend, when it came down to it. At least he had been for the past few weeks. But, he was a bit shy and hard to get to know. He seemed pathetic at first glance, but the other Marauders knew there was something more to him than that.
Remus looked thoughtful as did Sirius and James.
“I can’t think!” Sirius moaned suddenly. “All of my ideas are gone! What will we do? We will die a painful death of non-ideas. People will torture us with pranks while we roll in the mud… We will…”
“Don’t be such a drama queen.” James rolled his eyes.
“Drama king, duh!” Sirius rolled his eyes too.
“Their girls…” Remus said.
“And we thought you were the smart Marauder,” James said, sarcastically.
“What is the thing that is most important to girls?” Remus asked.
“Are we supposed to know that?” James asked after thinking for a short moment.
“Their looks,” Remus said, as if it was obvious. It wasn’t quite as obvious as it should have been. “They way their hair is, their face, you know…”
Sirius and James gave identical evil grins.
~*~*~
“We are dead. We are dead. We are dead,” Christina moaned after the boys had disappeared up the stairs.
“That and PMS?” Lily groaned, clutching her stomach. “Great.”
Rachel smiled sympathetically and Emma sighed.
“What do you think their going to do to us?” she asked, softly.
“Who knows!” Lily said. “I think I’m going to leave my homework for tomorrow. Night.”
She stood up and headed up the stairs.
~*~*~
“They will never mess with us again,” James said confidently the next morning as they headed downstairs. The magic they would use was slightly higher than their level, but James and Sirius were confident that it would work. They were the Marauders, after all. The plan was to curse them until they agreed to not prank them back for the rest of the year. And the curse would be bad all right. James could hardly wait.
And then Lily came downstairs as he hid in the corner under his invisibility cloak. Sirius waited with him. Her red hair was tucked behind her ear as she read off of a piece of parchment and took a seat in front of the fire. Why was she up so early? James wondered. He knew why they were, but…
Lily smiled and started writing on the parchment. He wondered what she was writing. It looked like a letter of some type. He wondered if she would mention him. Wait. Why did he care if she mentioned him? He hated girls. Eww! Gross! But she looked so pretty today.
Sirius elbowed him bringing him out of his thoughts and he bit his lip to keep from groaning as he pointed his wand at her and muttered the curse. It would not show until they had cursed the fourth girl. Nearly twenty minutes later, Rachel came downstairs.
“Lily!” Rachel called her blonde hair flying behind her. “Are you writing a letter to Petunia?”
Petunia, James thought. Was that her sister? What, did Lily’s parents have an obsession with plants or something?
“Yes,” Lily nodded. “She finally wrote me back. She has a boyfriend.”
“A boyfriend?” Rachel grinned. “Oh my goodness. Who?”
“Remember Darren Mitchells.”
Rachel snorted. “The boy who always dressed up as Darth Vader for Halloween?”
“The same,” Lily nodded. James elbowed Sirius, waiting for Sirius to mutter the curse. Sirius smiled sheepishly and pointed his wand.
“Eww…”
“Pet says he’s not weird anymore,” Lily shrugged.
“I was starting to worry that he had a crush on Darth Vader. With all of those shirts and things. Oh my goodness…”
“Uhh…I know.”
“Darth Vader?” Christina came down the steps next. “Who is that?”
“He’s from a Muggle movie,” Rachel answered.
“A movie?”
“Don’t worry about it, Chris,” Lily said, signing her name at the bottom of the parchment as James pointed at the third girl and they backed up towards the door. Emma came down a second later.
“Hey! What do you think those idiot boys are going to do to us?” Emma asked, sitting down by Christina.
Sirius opened his mouth to argue with her, but James shot him a look. Sirius pointed his wand and murmured the curse and then the four boys ran for it as they heard the shrieks of the girls.
“Potter!” Lily yelled. James and Sirius turned at the top of the stairs and had to hold on to the banister to stop from falling. Their hair had been dyed a bright pink and their face was covered with large purple pimples. “Get back down here!” Not to mention that her face was almost as red as her hair normally was. She started heading up towards them. James pushed Sirius hard and they started to run.
“Where are you going?” they heard Rachel ask Lily.
“To kill them,” Lily said, as if it was obvious.
“We’re coming too!” Rachel added.
Sirius and James ran into their room, slammed it shut, and locked it while hiding the invisibility cloak.
“Alohamora,” They heard one of the girls say.
“Did it work?” Remus asked as the door swung open and four angry girls stepped inside. Peter couldn’t help it. He snorted. James bit his lip to keep from laughing. Remus smiled sheepishly and Sirius let out a bark like a dog.
“Fix it now, Potter,” Lily said. Her face had now reached a red that was far brighter than her own hair color normally was, but at the moment it was bright pink. Her green eyes were blazing in anger and her face was covered in large purple pimples. Her lips were pressed so close together that she looked reminiscent of McGonagall. Why did she always yell at him? James wondered. She never spoke to Sirius even when he referred to her as Lily Flower. She never yelled at Remus as he was her friend. And she barely even noticed Peter except to toss him pitying glances. But if he said a word to her, she would end up yelling at him.
A bright light and all eyes turned to Sirius who was holding a camera. “Sorry,” He shrugged, unapologetically. “You all look so funny. I couldn’t help it.”
“Change us back!” Emma said, her normally shy countenance completely gone. “Now!”
“Nagoya!” Sirius grinned. “Didn’t know you could yell like that?”
Christina was studying her hair with a bemused smile. “My hair looks all right pink,” She said. “Although I wouldn’t mind if you got rid of the pimples.”
Rachel looked as if she couldn’t decide whether to scream or laugh.
“Potter. I swear I will kill you if you don’t change me back now,” Lily said, her hands resting on her slim hips.
“No can do,” James said, sitting down on his bed. Sirius shivered under Lily’s angry glare. “The hex will stay until…” he paused.
“Until what?” Emma snapped. “Get rid of it. I don’t care how.”
“You have to swear that you won’t prank back for the rest of the year,” Remus said. “The moment you swear, we will lift the curse. And we’ll be even.”
Lily’s mouth dropped. “I don’t believe you,” she said.
“Fine,” Emma said at the exact same time. “I swear I won’t prank you back.” The moment the words left her mouth, James pointed his wand at her and her hair darkened and her pimples disappeared into nothingness.
“I swear I won’t prank you back,” Rachel mumbled and the process was repeated. Christina repeated the exact same words, but Lily just stood there, staring at James. He grinned. He loved having the upper hand.
“Fine,” she sighed in defeat. “I sweat I won’t prank you back.”
“Payback is sweet,” James said that night after bed as they taped up the pictures of the four girls on the walls in Gryffindor tower. They had already posted them all over the rest of the school.