Harry Potter and the Book of Souls

>Chapter 5 - Prank Wars>

Throughout the meal, Harry had noticed Fred and George in a deep conversation of hushed tones and suspicious gestures, with a grin plastered on each of their identical freckled faces. Harry suspected that they were caught up in their own mischievous world once more as he saw them glancing surreptitiously at the partygoers. Harry's attention was averted just as he was about to question their thoughts by a loud knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Ron announced loudly as he leapt from his chair with sugar from the cookies coursing ever faster through his veins. He attempted to grab Harry by the arm and pull him to the door with him, but in his hurry, he missed and got only Harry's sleeve. Before he could stop himself, Ron had pulled Harry out of his chair and had dragged him halfway across the kitchen floor by his sleeve.

"Ron! Ron! Stop, you'll rip me in two, you prick!" Mrs. Weasley was torn between glaring at Harry's use of language and Ron's overexcited behavior.

"Oops! Sorry, mate." Ron helped Harry up and brushed the dust from his shirt with a sheepish grin.

"Remind me never to give you anything with sugar again," said Harry with a raised eyebrow and a mock glare as the two proceeded to the front door, which had just been knocked impatiently again.

"We're coming! Hold on!" shouted Ron as he opened the door with a frown. His anger melted away as he saw the impatient form of Hermione, who had her hands on her hips and was tapping her foot irritably on the welcome mat.

"Honestly, Ron! Don't you even know how to get the door? And what in the name of Merlin happened to you, Harry? You look as if you were dragged half way across the living room! Oh, and happy birthday, by the way" Hermione smiled pleasantly at the dark stares her friends were giving her.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Hermione!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley as she came up from behind the boys, "you're just in time for Harry's birthday party. How was your summer, dear?"

Hermione took off the heavy backpack from her slumped shoulders with a thud. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley. We had to cut our holiday on the Continent short because mum got a bad fever in Italy and lost her voice in Lithuania."

"Oh, my!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, putting her hand over her mouth. Ron rolled his eyes behind his mother.

"It's alright, Mrs. Weasley. She's feeling much better now that we're home, and she's seen an excellent doctor for counsel." Hermione smiled warmly for extra measure to keep Mrs. Weasley from another spell of irreversible worry. Mrs. Weasley seemed satisfied and led Hermione into the kitchen. Ron and Harry, whom Mrs. Weasley seemed to have forgotten, followed closely without being able to get a word in edgewise to Hermione. Ron offered her a Technicolor cookie the moment Mrs. Weasley left her side.

"Careful, 'Mione. She can keep up a conversation for hours," cautioned Ron wearily. "We were just about to cut the cake. Come have some!" The trio ran back to the table.

Hermione took a chair from the other side of the room, wishing that she could summon it to her outside Hogwarts. She joined the table between Harry and Ron and found three of the cookies piled onto her plate. She turned to Ron, who was grinning wildly, but thought the better of commenting and sighed before turning her attention back to Harry.

Harry sunk the knife into the cake, which oozed dark melted chocolate like blood upon contact with the blade. Hermione's eyes got wide; even though her parents were dentists, chocolate was one of her favorite treats. Harry smiled as he placed a rather large chunk of the cake onto her plate and handed it to her. He handed out cake to the Weasleys before serving himself a small slice. Although Hermione was the quintessence of etiquette at all times, her cake was gone before Ron even got the chance to taste his.

"Blimey, Hermione, what happened to your cake!?" asked Ron incredulously. Hermione responded only with a large grin. She dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin innocently even though there were no vestiges of chocolate anywhere on her face. Ron stared at her for a moment, then turned to his own cake and began to attempt the same, devouring it in only a few bites. Rather than eating the cake, though, most of it ended up on his face. Hermione gave him a reprimanding glare and handed him a tissue with disgust.

She then noticed the meager slice Harry served himself and proceeded to cut a piece twice as large as any others, including her own, and slopped it onto his plate. He stared at her in disbelief as though to say, "You expect me to eat all that!?" She smiled sweetly as he continued to gawk at her.

After everyone had finished, Harry stood to collect all of the plates, only to be stopped by Mrs. Weasley, "Oh no, dear. Don't worry about it. This is your day, you don't need to do any chores here!" Harry sat back down unsure of what to do next, when a loud bang rang through the room. The next moment, he caught sight of Sirius on the floor, clutching his stomach, which sounded suspiciously like it was bubbling. A pop resounded the room as, to everyone's surprise, Harry's godfather was replaced by what seemed to be a small stuffed puppy.

It barked a few times in a high squealing voice before saying, "Hi, I'm Poochie! Will you be my friend?!"

The kitchen exploded with laughter, with the exception of Mrs. Weasley who simply glared at the twins who were smiling innocently in the corner of the room.

"I see you've lost your touch there, Padfoot!" Lupin exclaimed between outbursts of laughter. He wiped a tear from his eye while struggling to hold himself upright at the table. The puppy turned and growled slightly in its high-pitched voice, looking at the former professor with icy eyes.

"FINITE INCANTATEM!" yelled Mrs. Weasley pointing her wand at the cute little puppy. There was a flash of light before the now disheveled looking Sirius reappeared. He silently returned to his seat, casting evil glares upon everyone, especially the twins who were smirking furtively back.

"Oh shut it, Moony!" said Sirius scathingly. "At least I didn't laugh at you when Prongs turned your hair pink for a month in the middle of Potions class. The sight of a pink werewolf running around the Forbidden Forest even scared all the acromantulas away!"

At this, Remus quieted down, blushing furiously before turning to the twins. "You'd better be careful from now on, boys. You don't know who you're meddling with! Before this day is done, you'll be begging mercy from him!"

The twins looked at each other in disbelief before turning to Sirius and Lupin and calling out together, "Did you say, Padfoot, Moony, and Prongs?!?! The Famous Marauders?! The gods of mischief-making?!"

Remus and Sirius stood from their chairs and bowed deeply with much twirling of their hands, announcing "Messrs. Moony and Padfoot, at your service."

Fred and George smirked a little before sharing identical Cheshire-cat grins on their faces. "Well, dear Marauders, your time of head mischief makers is at an end, for we are Gred and Forge, the masters of Weasley Wizard Wheezes!" The two then mimicked their older counterparts by bowing extravagantly with flourish.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that!"

The four stormed out of the room, each pair going their separate ways to plan more havoc on the other.

"This should be good," Ron leaned back in his chair before grabbing another cookie.