It was a beautiful, sunny morning in May. The students chatted and ate, the teachers watched from the high table, and the owls fluttered around with messages and packages for their owners. All was normal. That is, all was normal until two of the infamous Gryffindor Marauders walked in.
Immediately heads started to turn, astonished laughter broke out, and more than one student choked on their breakfast. This was because one of the boys was dressed as a pink flamingo. A very realistic looking pink flamingo.
“I’m going to kill James for this!” Remus Lupin muttered under his breath to his companion.
“Never bet James Potter that he won’t be able to hijack a broomstick from the Slytherin Quidditch team, fly around the Great Hall, and throw water balloons at everyone while screaming madly. He will. He will also somehow manage to talk his way out of trouble, as he has every time he pulls off a prank. His only regret is that he can’t be here to see you today.” Sirius Black grinned. “Some annoying Head Boy and Girl meeting in Dumbledore’s office.”
“But why should I have to do something crazy too? He takes suggestions for Friday’s weekly prank every night in the common room and never takes revenge on any of those people.”
“Well, you did refuse to let him copy your Herbology paper last Wednesday, but it’s really Lily’s fault. She did give James the idea.”
“You’re right,” Remus fumed. “I’m going to kill Lily for this.”
“You can never tell with Lily,” continued Sirius. “Sometimes she just laughs things off; sometimes she glares at you; sometimes she takes revenge because she’s mad; sometimes she comes up with what would be the most embarrassing thing in the world to you, just because she can. She has a talent for it.”
By the time this speech was over, the youth and bird had reached the Gryffindor table and taken seats. Sirius immediately struck up the Gryffindors’ favorite topic: reliving their personal favorite of the weekly pranks. They had started the first Friday after the Easter holidays. It was James Potter’s way of sending out his last term at Hogwarts with style. Memories of the caretaker’s cat painted green, the Slytherins panicking as James transformed their goblets into rats, and fifty rabbits set loose in the Great Hall with James chasing them around on the groundskeeper’s huge potbelly pig soon filled the air, along with a lot of laughter.
Remus wasn’t listening. He was off in another world, planning his revenge on Lily Evans. If any of the other Gryffindors had been watching him, they would have known the exact moment when the brilliant idea struck him. His eyes lit up and his mouth stretched into an evil grin.
“Hey, Sirius!”
“What?” Sirius was obviously reluctant to come away from the crowded table where he had been entertaining a group of three very attractive Gryffindor girls with tales of his heroic bravery that summer holiday, where he had apparently battled a mountain troll singlehandedly.
“I’ve got the perfect plan of revenge for Lily!”
“Great, have fun with it.” Sirius tried to go back to the female trio.
“No, listen to me.” He began to relay his brilliant brainchild to Sirius in hushed whispers. The dark haired seventh-year sat back and looked at Remus.
“Hey, you never hold with any kind of pranks. You never helped me and James plan any of ours, and you would only participate when we forced you to. Now Lily embarrasses you once and you immediately come up with this brilliant prank! Where has this side of you been all these years?”
“She made me dress like a pink flamingo.” Remus said, as if this explained everything.
“Well, whatever makes you come up with brilliant idea like this, I want some of it. Now, let’s work out the details so we can put it into action as soon as possible.”
The duo put their heads together. If anyone had been standing behind them, they would have overheard things like: “Adrianne… ring…Three Broomsticks…Sleeping Draught…“
Finally the two separated, smiling knowingly at each other.
“All right, you talk to Adrianne about the plan after Charms,” instructed Remus. “I’ll get to work on our potion needs in class this afternoon. Professor Slughorn is letting us do whatever we want as long as it’s complex, so the Sleeping Draught should be acceptable.”
“Excellent. Adrianne’s a good sport who loves a good laugh, so I’m sure she’ll be game.” Sirius looked at Remus with marveling eyes. “Moony,” he said, “you should have gotten into the prank business with me and James years ago!”
Remus ignored him. “One other thing. Do we let Peter in on our brilliant ‘revenge on Lily’ plot?”
Sirius made a face. “Nah. Wormtail will give it away within two hours, probably sooner. Anyway, I’ll bet you a Galleon that he can’t figure it what’s going on once we get it started.”
“You’re on! If he hasn’t figured it out by the time that Lily does, I’ll pay up. What about James?”
“He can’t know either, at least not yet. He might think it’s a great idea, but it’s more likely that he’ll forcibly restrain us from ever pranking his beloved Lily.”
“That’s true,” Remus laughed, as he pulled out his pocket-watch. After glancing at it, he announced, ‘I have to go or I’ll be late for Arthimancy. I’ll report my progress to you at dinner tonight if you will too.”
He then stood up from the table. This was no easy feat, since his large pink wings kept getting in the way.
“Sure thing, mate. I’ll charm Adrianne into our plan so quick you’ll think she had been hit with the Imperious Curse. Oh, by the way, be sure to tell anyone you meet and everyone who asks that the costume came from an all-nighter of excellent magic by James Potter and Sirius Black, who can duplicate it if the price is right.” He grinned cheekily and waved. “Bye bye.”
Remus scowled.
The Ultimate Prank by Midnight_Unicorn
Story Notes:
My first fanfiction. Yeah!
Chapter Notes: This is my first fan fic. I hope that you like it. Many thanks to my wonderful beta Aurenna!
Chapter Endnotes: Well, there it is. I hope that you enjoyed it. I'm currently working on Chapter Two with my beta, which should hopefully appear here soon. In the mean time leave my a review to tell me what you think.