Looking Through Emerald Eyes

Chapter Three: The Last of the Beginning Year Pranks

"Due to the atrocious weather outside the first years won't be able to cross the lake until tomorrow evening at the latest. So I'll save the usual speeches until tomorrow evening. However that doesn't mean that you don't have to follow the rules," Dumbledore said, darting his eyes at the Marauders. The hall erupted with laughter when they all jumped up and shouted, "Yes, sir" and gave a salute.

Lily looked at Dumbledore and saw a faint twinkle in his eyes. All of a sudden she felt angry, Dumbledore was the headmaster, and he was supposed to be angry at rule breakers. He wasn't supposed to LIKE them. As if reading her mind, Marietta spoke up.

"Oh honestly, he's the headmaster for goodness sakes! You can tell he enjoys their pranks!" she spoke angrily.

"Just like everyone else in this GREAT school, all Marauder fans. It makes me sick!" Melanie said out of nowhere.

"Yeah but it's not like we can do anything about it, at least not yet," Lily responded, causing them all to grin.

"Now tuck in," Dumbledore said at last. Lily prepared herself for the usual oohs and ahhhs but they did not come. Instead came gasps from the students around the hall.

"What????" Lily asked, confused at what everyone was gasping at.

"Lily for heaven sakes look at the ceiling!" Melanie gasped back in answer.

Lily looked up at the enchanted sky and realized REAL rain clouds were hanging ABOVE the house tables. Instantly in a loud crack rain issued, its rain hurtling towards the surprised students. Students instantly fled underneath their tables in an effort to not get rained upon. That is everyone except Lily, Melanie, Marietta, and the Marauders. In a loud crack the rain turned into brilliantly colored confetti. They glistened as they fell onto the tables. The students in the hall began laughing at their stupidity. If they hadn't been laughing before they were definitely laughing now, what happened next was priceless. The Slytherin's rain, unlike the other house tables, had not turned into confetti but into black, slimy mud. Several screams issued from the Slytherins. Lily turned her head to look at the Marauders who were laughing harder than anyone else.

"Sirius (gasp) do (laugh) it (gasp) now before (laugh) I die from (gasp) laughter," James croaked bitterly.

Raising his wand Sirius mumbled a spell and instantly the pieces of confetti rose into the air and like a jigsaw puzzle fitted themselves together in front of the hall. They formed into a banner and in a croaky voice the banner said, "Just a welcome present from..."

And gasping for air the Marauders managed to stand up and say, "From the Marauders!" With that last word they erupted into laughter with the entire hall laughing with them, which is all except three girls who were only slightly grinning. Each of their faces containing a secret that no one would ever know, at least that's what they thought.

"Ugh I can not believe I have to share a common room with James! What was Dumbledore thinking when he made James Head Boy?" Lily asked as they left the Great Hall later that evening.

"He was thinking nonsense," Melanie and Marietta spat at once.

"Nonsense? Do Jamesy-boy and I have anything to do with the topic you are discussing right now?" Sirius Black asked walking behind them.

"Of course Sirius, they are over obsessed with us just like everyone else is at this school," Remus responded sarcastically.

"Wait, I thought these three were the only ones that disliked us despite the Slytherins," Peter blubbered on thickly.

"Wormy, won't you ever learn? Moony was JOKING!" James said while rolling his eyes.

"I was um... just joking too," Peter responded, looking a little flushed from James pointing out that he didn't get a joke.

"Oh honestly, we're NOT obsessed with YOU four. We're not obsessed with anyone or anything at all. In fact I believe that we all agree that you're selfish, evil, bullying prats who don't care whose feeling you hurt," Melanie told disgusted.

"No way my Lily flower thinks that. Do you, my Lily, believe what she just said?" James queried, smirking. Lily nodded her head, James faked a hurt face, and then said out of nowhere, "So, my Lily want to go on a date with me next Hogsmeade visit? It would only be natural that we go out. Every Head Boy and Girl so far has dated in the history of Hogwarts."

Lily gave him an evil look and then responded much to his surprise, "Then it looks like I'm going to change history." Furthermore with that remark she and her friends walked faster and far away from the Marauders.

But not before Lily heard Sirius shout, "At least we're good looking!"

Lily Evans sat in her new common room that she had unfortunately had to share with James. James as usual was hanging out with his friends or perhaps checking out girls in the larger common room that all Gryffindor shared. She looked around the room. As soon as she had entered the room she had made adjustments. Her first adjustment was to split the common room in half. Using complex spells she managed to make a see through wall that no one could go through unless they had her password. She wouldn't have made it see through if James hadn't had all the windows on his side. With every possible spell she knew of Lily put protective anti hearing, lip reading, locking, mind reading, and any other spell she expected James Potter to use against her about the room. All of this took about ten minutes. The real changes Lily made were to her side of the common room itself. Although Lily wasn't as good in Transfiguration as James was she was still pretty good at it and instantly began transfiguring things. She transfigured two out of the five chairs into large bookcases in which she stored her three suitcases of books. Next she changed the carpeting which had a bright color into a duller red color which made the room appear homier. Using difficult spells she changed the color of the walls, and the color of the bricks on the fireplace. Lastly she took out a small doll sized desk and placed it against a wall. Using an enlargement spell she turned the desk into a human sized desk. Finally Lily walked up the shallow steps to her dorm room, where she was to sleep; she didn't feel like waiting up for Potter.

The next morning Lily woke up a little later than usual.

"Five o'clock? Bloody hell! I was supposed to be up a half and hour ago!" she shouted to no one in particular. Jumping out of bed Lily showered, dressed, and made her way to the larger Gryffindor common room to meet her friends. When she arrived Marietta was already there along with Remus.

Yawning and forgetting her usual quietness Lily asked plainly, "How many more minutes 'til Mel comes down?"

"Three minutes, forty five seconds, and thirty three milliseconds to be exact," she responded looking at what appeared to be a muggle watch. Yet Remus knew better, electronic muggle things did not work at Hogwarts, Marietta must have magic ked it. In exactly three minutes forty five seconds and thirty three milliseconds Melanie bounded down the stairs.

"Quick Mel, Potter and Black come down in about two minutes, then Peter about ten seconds after that! Hurry up now!" Marietta rushed.

'I'm (pant) coming!" Melanie breathed restlessly.

"Twenty seconds!" Marietta yelled worriedly.

"Into your usual positions everyone!" Lily reminded furiously. Remus watched dumbfounded as Marietta propped open a book and pretended reading, Melanie started adding swirls to an abstract drawing she had started earlier and chewed on her fingernails as if in deep thought, Lily on the other hand began scribbling feverishly on a piece of parchment appearing that she was writing an essay. Remus's mouth dropped open. Did the girls ALWAYS do this when someone entered the room? In exactly twenty seconds later James and Sirius arrived in the room.

"Moony? What are you gaping at?" Sirius asked who was very irritable in the morning.

No words came out of his mouth. Ten seconds later Peter bounded down the stairs.

"Hello? Moony, are you coming with us to the kitchens with us or not?" James asked.

Nothing came out.

"Come on Moony, you can't exactly have fun and conversations with THESE people. Come on let's go!" James sputtered confusedly.

Melanie sent Remus a death glare out of the corner of her eye. Much to his surprise Remus heard Lily and Marietta whisper, "Go, or they'll question you further!"

Listening to the girls Remus stumbled to his feet and followed his three friends.

"The first years will arrive here later tonight, but for now eat up. Your first day of classes of the year is today," Dumbledore told the Great Hall. Doing as they instructed the students waited for the food to appear on the house tables. They did not. Dumbledore quirked an eyebrow, took his wand out, and said clearly "Filiantay burklackad fendrias!" Food appeared on his plate. The students in the Great Hall did the same but food did not appear for them.

"Phase one is done," Marietta responded watching the hall only slightly amused by the puzzled looks on the students faces, "Now for phase two!"

Joining hands under the table they whispered an enchantment. The hall students tried Dumbledore's spell again and this time they got immediate results, just not what they expected.

All throughout the hall gasps echoed through the room. From the result of the spell the girls cast, that no one knew about, candles flipped over, the room changed to violent colors at dizzying speeds, food fell through the ceiling at alarming speeds but slowed instantly, chocolate puddings fell on students heads but were cleaned up without a trace of pudding on them, that is everyone except the Slytherins. The Slytherin's puddings fell on their faces, their foods fell making earsplitting sounds. Yet the best of this trick was that in a loud jingle the staff's hair turned a vicious shade of pink. The hall erupted with laughter for the second time in two days.

"Detention, Marauders!" McGonagall yelled sharply. The Marauders accepted their fate without hesitation even though it was not their trick. They accepted it because it won popularity, their prankster title, and it would be a shame to their school if it wasn't them. Lily, Marietta, and Melanie looked for the boys wondering faces but they did not come. In each boy's face was an expression that would haunt the girls for the rest of the day. It was that "I know something that you don't know I know," face and boy, was it killer.