The Diary

Chapter Eight - The Halt

"So how, again, do we know that Wood changed out essays?" Sirius whispered. It was the following night, and he and James were hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, making their way to Flitwick's office.

"I told you, I promised to conceal their identity! Just trust me," James replied, somewhat annoyed. He raised a hand to signal a stop, straining to listen to the sounds of Garrett Stoddard, the caretaker who lived for catching students out of bed. Hearing nothing, the two continued on their quest.

Upon arriving at their destination, James stepped aside. No explanation was necessary; they had worked together long enough to know what was expected.

Sirius fished around in his pocket and extracted a pocketknife. Pulling out the blade, he ran the knife down the crack of the door. There was a faint click and the door swung open.

"Does it even matter if we get detention for this essay stunt?" Sirius asked.

"It's the principle - we can't let Wood win!" James responded in hushed tones. "Plus, Remus is still ill from full moon; he won't want to come back just serve a detention he didn't earn. Now stop complaining, you're a Marauder! You're supposed to like being out after curfew." They grinned at each other and split up to find the essays.

After a few minutes of discrete rifling, James called out, "Here!" Sirius joined his companion, and they searched through the stack until they found their essays. Or rather, the essays with their names on them.

"Would you like to do the honours, Mr Black?" James offered Sirius' essay forward.

"Why, it would be my pleasure, Mr Potter." He cleared his throat and read, "Banishing Spells, by Sirius Black. Professor Flitwick is a short, silly man that needs to use an Engorgement Charm on his legs in order to walk around. Also, I, Sirius I-forget-my-middle-name Black, need to trim my hair, as it is much too long. Additionally, I often times have no idea what I'm talking about, especially when it comes to the opposite sex." Sirius paused and looked at James. "Do you think I have a problem talking to girls?"

They both burst out laughing. "So, how are we getting even with Wood?" James asked.

Sirius' eyes lit up. "I think History of Magic might be a little dull tomorrow. What do you say we liven things up?"

Mirroring Sirius' smile, James transfigured the essays back to normal and put them back in their proper place. "I say capital idea, Mr Black."

0 0 0

Lily was having an above average Wednesday, she'd decided. In Potions, Professor Slughorn had loudly stated that if she didn't get an O on her OWL next year, he would personally call the Minister of Magic to complain.

Unfortunately, her next lesson was History of Magic. Lily thought the subject was fascinating; Professor Binns, on the other hand, was most certainly not. Regardless, Lily took dutiful notes, refusing to let the ghost ruin her marks. She sat hunched over her desk, listening attentively, when she was distracted by an unexpected gasp from her right.

Lily looked up from her notes and over to the source of the noise: Emily. Before she could whisper anything, however, her vision was suddenly obscured, and there was the sensation of something foreign running down her head.

"Potter!" she yelled instinctively, wiping the substance away from her eyes. Lily examined her glistening obsidian hands; a quick check showed her clothing to be similarly drenched. She whipped her head around, spraying the liquid across the room. "What have you done this time?!" she hissed at the three grinning boys located a few seats behind her.

Potter merely raised his eyebrows and replied arrogantly, "Why Evans, one would think with all the notes you take, you could use some more ink. I was simply doing you a favour." Sirius and Peter snickered, prompting Potter to give his trademark cocky grin.

There was the sound of a chairs scraping across the floor as Emily and Lily stood up and marched over to the boys' desks. "I swear to God, Potter, you are the most insufferable prat I have ever had the misfortune of coming across!" Resisting the urge to slap him across the face, Lily stormed out of the room, with Emily at her side.

0 0 0

"Argh!" Lily cried out, exasperated. "What's their problem?" She sank down into one of the armchairs in front of the common room fireplace.

It had taken her a good hour and a half to remove all of the ink from her hair and clothing, along with the strongest cleaning charms they could create. Luckily for Lily, Charms was her forte.

"I know! I prank them, they get you," Emily replied, grabbing the chair next to Lily.

"Why would they do that?" Lily wondered out loud. The duo sat in silence for a moment, pondering this. "Maybe they're scared of you," Lily suggested.

Emily shook her head. "No, if they were, they'd know better than to prank you. We all know you refuse to do anything to them - a mistake, in my opinion - and that I have absolutely no problem with a little revenge. They're not completely dense."

Lily nodded her head, taking Emily's thoughts into consideration. "What else could it be? Some sort of mind game?"

"Maybe..." Emily furrowed her eyebrows. After a moment, her face lit up. "Oh!"

"What?"

Emily leapt up from her seat. "Don't you see? Whenever I prank them, they just get back at you, right?" Lily nodded hesitantly. "They're trying to stop me from getting them! They think I won't prank them anymore because they'll only take it out on you!"

"Well you won't, will you?" interrupted Lily.

Emily was momentarily stunned. "Wait, what?"

Lily gave her a hard look. "You're going to stop this, right? So they'll leave me alone?"

Emily fell back down into the chair. "But if we stop, they win. We can't let them do that."

Lily sighed. "I honestly don't care who wins. I just don't want to have to worry about whether my food has been spiked with Belching Powder."

"That's not a bad idea..." Emily stopped her train of thought once she caught sight of the daggers Lily was shooting at her. "But there's got to be a way to beat them!"

"Emily, I'm trying to be mature about this, difficult as it is," Lily said seriously, "I'm asking you, as a friend, to leave me out of this. The only way to do that is to stop."

"But we're fifteen! We're supposed to be silly and have prank wars!"

"But if we don't do something, this will only escalate - it will never end. So we can be dignified and be the adults in this situation."

Emily pouted. "I don't want to be an adult." Lily's eyes pleaded with Emily, prompting her to add, "But for you, Lily, anything."

"Thanks," Lily replied, relieved.

Emily gave her a lop-sided grin. "When did you get so old?" Lily stuck her chin out defiantly.

"I'm still as young as you are; in fact, you're older than I am. I'm still fourteen." Lily continued before Emily could respond, "I just want to ignore those damn Marauders and pretend like they don't exist."

"How do you know they won't just keep annoying you, even after I stop retaliating?"

Lily shrugged and pulled her legs up underneath her. "I don't, but I doubt they would go through this whole scheme just to get a free reign on pranking me."

"Wouldn't they?"

A pillow was soon flying through the air at Emily's head. "No more Marauder-speak!"

Emily caught the pillow and threw it back at Lily. "You've asked for it now, Lily Evans! You forget who you're dealing with!"

Lily had indeed conveniently forgotten that her friend was a Chaser on the House team, giving her deadly aim. "Oh!" she exclaimed, dodging the pillow.

Needless to say, the pillows in the common room certainly got a workout that afternoon.

0 0 0

That night, Lily started what had become her pre-sleeping ritual of writing in - no, to - her diary.

Hi.

A good evening to you, Lily.

And a good evening to you...

A thought popped into her head.

What do I call you? "Diary" doesn't seem sufficient, as you do much more than Muggle ones.

Hmm. Call me...

0 0 0

James thought quickly; another issue he hadn't prepared for.

Ishmael?

What?

It's a Muggle thing. Seriously, though, what should I address you as? Do you have a name or something?

Er, I suppose you can call me Roscoe.

Roscoe, eh? I like it.

Not that I'm really one to talk, but I am also rather fond of it. Now that we've figured that bit out, though, how was your day?

As much as I hate writing about them, the Marauders got me yet again, even though I've done nothing to them.

Most curious.

Whatever, it doesn't matter. Emily and I talked, and she's not going to prank them back this time.

James grinned evilly. Success!

Why ever not?

I figure this is some sort of mind game to them. If we stop playing, I think they'll leave us alone. Emily disagreed, of course, but I persuaded her to end it. After all, she's not the one being pranked.

What if they don't stop?

I'm not sure; Emily asked me the same thing. It's hard to say with those four.

Truth be told, even James was unsure of the answer. He'd decided to see how the others felt about continuing to torment Evans without fear of retaliation.

Well, I'm sure it will work itself out in the end.

I hope so; I'm sick of this drama.

But then what would we talk about?

If you so much as think the word Hogsmeade, I'll

You'll what? Throw me away?

I hate you, you know that?

So long as you don't stop writing to me, I'm happy.

No one would have to know; it doesn't exactly count as murder.

Ah, but you would miss me, wouldn't you?

... Maybe.

You know you love me...

Oh, quiet, you. I'm going to bed.

Until tomorrow, love!

Don't call me that, it's unnerving coming from a book. Or from anyone, for that matter. Honestly, why I keep writing to you...

0 0 0

Lily shook her head, holding back a laugh. When did her diary- no, Roscoe- start to enjoy teasing her? Although she supposed it was all in good fun. Besides, it was nice being able to discuss things with someone outside of Hogwarts. Roscoe was like a friend of sorts, except for the obvious fact that he was a book. Placing the diary back in its hiding place, Lily wondered if she would ever get a reprieve from the Marauders.

0 0 0

The next morning before breakfast, Sirius, James and Peter set out to visit Remus in the Hospital Wing. A Silencing Charm to Harrison's office later, the three sat down beside (or in Sirius' case, on) Remus' bed.

"So, what news do you bring me from the outside world?" Remus asked wryly.

"Well, turns out Wood transfigured our Charms essays to say very stupid things. Have no fear, James and I have taken care of it," said Sirius.

"We got her back today. We dumped a bucket of ink on Evans during History of Magic," James said with a hint of pride. He paused before adding, "Don't think Binns noticed, though."

Remus chuckled. "So we're still doing the whole prank-Evans thing, then?"

"Yeah, I pretty sure it's working," James answered. "I think she'll catch on quick enough."

Peter nodded. "Wood certainly knows her hexes," he said.

"But what do we do once she stops? Do we keep pranking Evans to taunt Wood, or do we move on?" Sirius asked.

Remus reflected on this for a moment. "I say we stop pranking Evans for the time being, but reserve the right to start up again for any reason." He looked to James for confirmation. "James, this was your idea. It's your call."

James nodded reluctantly. "You're right. We've been neglecting other targets, like first years."

"Or Snivellus," Peter added.

Sirius grinned at the mention of Snape. "Oh, how could we forget Snivelly? Besides," he punched James' arm playfully, "I think if we pushed Evans any further, she'd physically attack Jamesy here."

James grimaced at the nickname. "Ugh, don't call me that."

"So it's agreed then?" Remus asked. The others voiced their approval.

"In that case, there's something else I want to talk about," James said.

"What's that?" Peter asked.

"Just being in the Hospital Wing reminds me of Operation Changeling. We've done a lot of research, admittedly, but we're still not able to complete the transformation. We can't even get some fur or scales to show up."

Remus sat in silence, but Sirius offered his opinion. "True, true. All the books we've looked in fail to mention how much progress we should be making."

"I feel like we're missing something," Peter said.

There was a long pause in the conversation as the quartet contemplated their problem. Remus was the first to speak. "You should get going, class is going to start soon."

The three boys reluctantly left their friend, with the promise to bring him back lots of chocolate later.