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-The Prank-
Lily was startled from her peaceful sleep by a piercing scream. Her eyes snapped open and she quickly sat up. Another blood curdling shriek and Lily's head was poking out of the curtains.
She gasped, dropped her grasp on the curtains, and covered her mouth a split second before she let out a horrified shriek herself.
The dormitory had been completely torn to shreds. The floor was carpeted with shredded papers and clothing. By now Lily had let out a total of three loud shrieks, and every girl in the room was awake and screaming. Alice Cambridge was running around the room, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Alice!" yelled Lily, carefully crawling from her bed and stepping cautiously over towards her. "Alice, calm down!" Lily shouted. Alice stopped just long enough to point at her pillow, her mouth covered by her hand, and a horrified look on her face. Her pillow appeared to be ripping itself apart. Lily's eyes widened immensely.
"A monster!" cried Alice, "It woke me up-it was gnawing on my earring!" At these words every girl in the dormitory, Lily included, ran for the door all at once. Amanda Blomquist, being the most agile and athletic, reached the door first and made it safely down the steps into the common room.
The rest of the girls reached the door at the same time, wedging themselves into the doorway. Katie began to scream repeatedly, and everyone was fighting to be free of the doorway. Melinda Hobbs, being extremely skinny, wriggled through first, loosening the entire group and allowing them to move freely again. Lily ran for her life down to the common room.
·:·:.:·:·
James glided down the staircase to the common room as if he was on a fashion walk; stopping to pose or wave, blow a kiss to a group of particularly giggly girls. By the time he had fully descended the stairs, the other 3 marauders were waiting angrily next to the portrait hole.
"Oy! Prongs! Hurry up already!" Sirius whined. "We want food!" At this particular word the other two boys perked up considerably (Remus and Peter).
James made one last move; he bowed deeply to the inhabitants of the common room and turned. Half of the common room exploded with cheers. He was stopped dead in his tracks by a piercing scream. The cheers immediately stopped. As if that scream had set off a bomb, the girls' stairway exploded with more similar cries.
A stout girl with long brown hair came dashing down the stairs, still dressed in her nightgown.
"There's a monster up there! It's tearing everything apart!" A stream of vulgar wording flowed from her mouth as she paced in front of the fire. A rush of girls in nightgowns came flooding down the stairs behind her, all shrieking at the top of their lungs. They continued screaming and scurrying jumpily around the common room, like chickens with their heads cut off.
A sixth year prefect named Cortney, with extremely long, dark brown hair sprinted the length of the stairs and straight into the 5th year girl's dormitory.
"I'd better stay behind and help," said Remus, smothering his grin with a sigh. He was the 5th year boy's prefect.
"Well, nothing we can do...that we haven't already mates," Sirius said to the remaining two. The three boys filed uniformly out of the portrait hole.
·:·:.:·:·
Lily, Amanda, Katie, Melinda, Alice, and Kirsten all sat together on one of the large sofas in the bustling common room. Each one feeling bits of anger, embarrassment, and stupidity.
Upon arriving inside their dorm, Cortney, a 6th year girl prefect, had found a niffler tearing the room apart. Being quite skilled in Transfiguration, she conjured a temporary cage and levitated the niffler into it. Unfortunately, a majority of the girls' possessions had been destroyed, evidence that the niffler had been in their dorm since the night before.
They all stared sullenly at the ground, before them, everyone who had helped them now leaving for breakfast, none of them wanting to talk. Lily closed her eyes tightly, hoping to open them and find that it was all a dream.
Suddenly, Katie jumped to her feet and said, "Well, no point in crying over spilled potion. I dunno about the rest of you, but I am quite hungry, and I don't want to waste such a beautiful day sulking," she clapped her hands together and grinned, staring pointedly out the window. She bounded up the stairs towards their ruined dormitory.
Professor McGonagall had been by and fixed the few things that she could, but most of their possessions were hopelessly beyond repair.
Lily reluctantly pulled herself to her feet and followed Katie, but with much less enthusiasm. She could hear the other girls following behind her. Luckily Lily had closed her trunk tightly the night before, so none of her clothing had been damaged. Melinda however, wasn't as fortunate. Lily had to lend her a pair of her spare robes for the day.
Katie led the way to the great hall, rather cheerfully considering the circumstances. Lily and Amanda followed behind in her wake.
·:·:.:·:·
Once they were all out in the hall, and the portrait was securely closed, Sirius and James burst into uncontrollable laughter. After checking the faces of the other two, Peter joined in with a high pitched, strained giggle.
"Did you see the look on their faces?" wheezed Sirius.
"Oh yeah! They were running around like something had crawled up their nightgowns!" coughed James. He suddenly stopped. "What are you laughing for Wormtail, you wouldn't even help us! Even Moony did!"
Peter stopped laughing and squeaked, "It was just so funny," he gulped loudly.
"See, now do you realize what a good idea it was, and that you want to have been in on it?" Sirius asked eagerly.
Peter nodded, exactly the opposite of what he was thinking. Most pranks are lousy… he thought to himself.
By now they had reached the Great Hall. The ceiling was a perfect blue, bright and cloudless. They ambled towards the Gryffindor Table and sat down. Sirius and James immediately began shoveling large amounts of food into their mouths. Peter glanced around him before joining in.
"Well, it turns out a niffler someone got loose in the 5th year girl's dormitory." The three boys turned to find Remus walking briskly towards them. He sat down and began to pile his plate also.
"Hmm…" said Sirius, buttering a piece of toast, "I wonder how that happened?" he said nonchalantly.
"I haven't the slightest idea," said James.
"Nor do I, or any of the others," added Remus.
"Well, that good," Sirius finished casually as small talk, before shoving the entire piece of toast in his mouth at once.
·:·:.:·:·
When the three girls reached the Great Hall, Amanda picked a spot next to Remus Lupin, and Katie and Lily sat across from her, next to Sirius.
"So, pretty terrible, what happened to your dorm," said Sirius casually. "The thing bloody ripped up everything!" Amanda replied savagely. Lily thought she heard the shadow of a snort coming from James's direction, but turned to find him helping himself to bacon.
"I had just finished a long letter to mum and dad last night. I was going to send it this morning!" added Katie exasperatedly. Remus let out a low whistle.
"I'm assuming that…thing destroyed it then," he added half as a statement, half as a question. "Only found bits and pieces of it." Katie scowled. Lily seemed at a loss of words to describe how horrid she thought the person responsible was.
"When I find the person who caused this, I'll hex `em into next week!" Amanda said, wringing her hands.
"Not before they're done with the detentions I give them," Lily added harshly.
James, Sirius, and Remus exchanged closed glances. Lily eyed them suspiciously. "You wouldn't happen to know who was responsible for this prank now would you?" said Lily with the air of wariness. Peter was beginning to turn pink, Remus stared at him across the table. Peter quickly shoved an extremely large amount of food into his mouth, more than usual at least.
"I haven't the slightest idea," said Sirius airily, cutting through a piece of sausage. Lily shot them one last wondering look before turning back to her own breakfast.
·:·:.:·:·
"So, Evans," said James casually.
"What," Lily sighed.
"I was wondering if you were ready to take me up on my offer…"
"No Potter, I wouldn't go out with you if you were the last person on earth," Lily replied monotonously, flipping the page of the book on her lap. She was beginning to become extremely bored with James's nagging.
"Well if you ever change your mind just-"
"I can assure you my answer will stay the same, and if it ever changes I will be sure to inform you." Lily brushed a stray hair out of her face.
They were sitting in the common room, alone. The sun was shining and birds were chirping gaily outside the window. It was after lunch on a Saturday afternoon, and everyone but them had gone outside to enjoy the sunshine.
James frowned and sat down next to Lily. Laughter could be heard ringing outside on the grounds. "You know, I'm really not as bad as you think," said James.
"Oh, I think you are exactly the way I think you are, you are proving it by being here and begging me." Lily looked up from her book, her face scrunched with annoyance.
James smiled, "At least come outside with me, that book looks absolutely dreadful," said James with a coy smile.
"I have a better idea," said Lily, closing her book. "How about I go outside and you stay here." Lily set her book gently on a nearby table and started for the portrait hole.
James jumped to his feet and followed her, she pretended not to notice.
"Lily," James started.
Lily turned around and snapped, "Don't call me that, you've no right to use my first name unless I tell you so. Now get away from me you conceited prat!" Lily was now extremely angry and annoyed.
"Yes ma'am," said James, grinning as he saluted her. Lily let out a grunt of anger and climbed out of the portrait hole, James at her heels.
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!
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