The Rainy Day

It was a wet, rainy day in April, and the four Marauders had nothing to do. Why? Because that's how all horrifically funny adventures start. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were sitting around the fire in the Gryffindor common room; James and Remus were studying while Sirius and Peter played exploding snap. It was quiet in the Gryffindor tower, even though the room was loaded with wearisome students. There had been a Quidditch game earlier that day, and all of the students were cold and exhausted- well, all of the students except for the Marauders. It seemed that they had tireless energy, and they always had another prank up their sleeves. But for once, they were as bored as everyone else, but full of their usual energy. Especially James- he always got a rush after Quidditch matches. None of them could sit still, and they were all fidgeting in their seats.

As Sirius was putting the last card on the card tower he and Peter had made, the whole thing detonated and set the table on fire- again.

"Need some help?" Lily Evans asked as she put down her book The Top Fifty Most Useful Charms of the Twentieth Century by Alabaster Higgins. It seemed as if Lily was always the one to put an end to the Marauders' chaos.

"No, me and Peter are capable of-" Sirius started, but he didn't have a chance to finish because Lily has already whipped out her wand and muttered aquiteritus. And as she did, water sprayed out of her wand, putting out the fire and soaking Peter at the same time. Sirius and Remus couldn't stop laughing.

"Peter, you should have seen the look on your face!" Remus sniggered. "It was classic!" Lily blushed and looked down at the floor.

"Sorry Peter," she mumbled.

"Yeah, keep on apologizing," Sirius said in between his outbursts of laughter. "Watch how you use that bloody wand!"

"Sirius, shut up," James growled at his friend. But, being Sirius, he wasn't known for obeying his best friends' orders. Remus and Sirius kept on laughing, and Lily trudged away looking forlorn.

"Idiots," he murmured before he sprayed his friends with water.

"Hey!" they yelped in unison. James shook his head. The whole lot of them were so half-witted.

"I really thought that staying inside today instead of fooling around in the rain would keep me dry," Remus sighed, shaking the water out of his hair. "But when James Potter is feeling warm and fuzzy due to the fact that a certain girl is in the room, one never knows." James hit his friend in the arm.

"You guys, it was an accident, okay?" Peter said, trying to make James feel better. "Go easy on Prongs. He can't help the fact that he fancies Lily Evans."

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Don't!"

"Do!"

"Don't!"

"Erm, what say we go for a 'stroll' around the castle?" Remus suggested, desperately trying to change the subject. "Because there's no way we're going to convince Sirius to study."

"Well, it never helped me before and it's not going to now," Sirius grinned.

"I am pretty tired of hanging around here all day," Peter agreed. "Why don't we try something new?" He had a glint of mischief in his eyes, which was rarely a good thing- at least, not a good thing for whoever was the victim of one of their pranks.

"You mean after we apologize to Lily?" James asked.

"Apologize for what?" Sirius asked. "She's the one who mauled Wormtail here with a possessed stream of H2O."

"Sirius, you're crazy," Remus said flatly. Sirius just smiled pleasantly at Moony's incredibly obvious observation. James just shook his head at the poignancy of it all.

"I say we sneak into the Slytherin common room," Peter whispered. "We've never even tried- what kind of stupid morons are we?"

"We?" Sirius laughed. "I tried once in my second year, but as soon as I figured out where it was Professor Limogue caught me." Professor Limogue was the head of Slytherin house, and he hated the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Strangely enough, he tolerated the Ravenclaws and sometimes even gave their house points.

"Well, we won't get caught," James snapped. He was still a little annoyed about how his friends had treated Lily.

"I don't know, guys," he sighed. "When I meant take a 'stroll' I was referring to raiding the kitchens, not getting kicked out of Hogwarts."

"Come on, we won't get caught," Sirius assured him. "Jamsie here has his cloak, after all." Remus still wouldn't give in. After what seemed like endless minutes of bribing and nagging, he finally gave in. Sirius finally convinced Remus by telling him that he would get his cousin Percephone to go on a date with Moony.

As soon as they had things figured out, the four boys bolted up to their dormitory, looking more than a little suspicious. They rummaged through their belongings to find the essentials they would need. James grabbed his invisibility cloak, Remus snatched up the famous map they had created a few weeks before, and Peter, well, he just sort of sat around and watched. Sirius, who was supposed to be getting his wizard camera, came out of the bathroom wearing a midnight black cloak and dark sunglasses.

"What is with the James Bond getup?" Remus asked. His mother always did say he watched too much muggle television- his favorite show had always been Bewitched.

"What, these?" Sirius asked, taking off the shades. "I don't know, I just like sunglasses."

"Uh, sure," James said, rolling his eyes. Secretly, he wished he could be talking to Lily, but he figured that terrorizing the Slytherins was the next best thing.

"Wait, we have a problem here," Peter sighed. He liked it when he sounded important. His friends turned around.

"We forgot the wedgie cream?" Sirius exclaimed and ran back into the bathroom.

"Er, no Sirius, we won't be the ones needing the wedgie cream when this is over," Peter replied. "What I meant was that we have a big problem. If you didn't notice, there are four of us, and one invisibility cloak." His friends stared at him blankly. "My goodness, what kind of bloody prefects are you two?" Moony and Prongs looked at each other, and Sirius laughed at Peter's outburst.

"We won't all fit under the cloak," Sirius finally stated. Peter nodded impatiently. "Someone has to go separate."

"Peter," said James. Wormtail looked shocked.

"Ratface," Sirius sniggered.

"What did you call me?"

"Nothing"

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Did so."

"Did not!"

"Shut it, Rodent. You too, Grim," James hushed them. Remus couldn't help but laugh. "No one will notice Peter in rat form, and, being a rat, he won't stand out in the Slytherin common room. Oh, how I can't wait to get some dirt on Snape!"

"I bet he's got a teddy bear," Remus laughed.

"So, Peter, you lead the way and Remus'll stand in the middle of the cloak, with me and Padfoot on either side of him," James explained. "If anyone's coming 'round the corner, he'll warn Wormtail by coughing." The other Marauders nodded.

"How the heck do you do that?" Sirius asked James.

"Do what?"

"Nevermind."

After figuring everything out, the Marauders quickly and quietly exited their dormitory and snuck out of the portrait hole without anyone noticing them. And so the real adventure begins...