A prank war is all it takes for a wild and carefree Gryffindor to change an isolated Hufflepuff's perspective on life and teach her that they are more alike than she thinks.
Companion books:
- Other Eyes (Ginny Weasley)
- Gravity (Percy Weasley)
...
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It had been a few days since the "Official Prank War Code of Conduct" had been active, and Maxine had the slightest suspicion that either the ladies or the gentleman were not going to follow it. She was going to try her best, as she didn't want anyone to get hurt or have grudges be held.
Tuesday afternoon sunlight streamed through the Great Hall windows, scattering gold light over long tables now cleared of meals and cluttered with textbooks. Students sat in groups, chatting, scribbling, and studying. With only a few months between the now and the OWLs, the Great Hall was consistently filled with students studying after a day of classes.
At the far end of the Hufflepuff table, Maxine, Tamsin, and Heidi were hunched over a mess of parchment. They had given up working on their school work, but to anyone walking by it would have appeared that they were in a study session. In reality, they were plotting.
"Alright," Heidi whispered, glancing around to make sure no professors were within earshot. "We need something elegant. Clever. Embarrassing enough to sting but of enough to get us in detention."
"I liked the idea of making their robes shrink," Maxine said.
"I think that would be most funny if we did that in class," Tamsin told her. "That way they have to sit throughout an entire lesson squirming."
"No pranks in class," Maxine reminded her. "We would have to find a time when we weren't in class."
"Ugh," Tamsin groaned, her eyes rolling back. "You take the fun out of everything."
Maxine smiled faintly. Though she had Tamsin had technically made up after their argument, things felt tense. Every word, every exchange seemed to have an edge to it. But Maxine ignored it. Nothing was going to change.
Heidi leaned forward. "Okay, what's the worst thing that we can do to the Weasley's without breaking the rules?"
"No hexes. No crying. No physical harm," Maxine recited the codes of conduct. "It will have to be something that we can do subtly.
Then, Heidi snapped her fingers. "What if we charmed their quills?"
"How?" Maxine frowned.
Heidi grinned, her eyes glinting. "Every time they're writing, their quills sing."
Tamsin's smile spread slow and wicked. "That's brilliant."
"It's idiotic," Maxine said, though she was already smiling too. "And it's completely harmless."
It took two hours in the library to get the charm right -- two hours of muffled laughter and ink spells, and then frantic silencing spells whenever a test quill burst into song. The last time it happened, Madam Pince swooped down on them like a bat, eyes wide with rage.
By the time the girls slipped into the Great Hall on Thursday afternoon, they were ready. Heidi and Maxine had subtly swapped their quills during their last class that day, ensuring that the bewitched quills had looked identical to the ones Fred, George, and Lee owned.
