{1} The Marauders and the Whomping Willow ✔️

Chapter 7: The First Prank

The four boys sat on Sirius's bed stuffing their faces with the treacle tart that Mrs. Potter had sent James that morning. They we poring over Remus's simple and almost flawless plan for exacting revenge on the Slytherin House for insulting Sirius. Eleven year old boys it seems are either extremely petty or noble to a fault.

"So let me get this straight?" asked Sirius. "You want me to sneak to the laundries and cover the Slytherin's underwear in itching powder?"

"Yes!"

"All of them? Even the girls?" 

"Yes Sirius all of them..."

"What you scared Sirius?" asked James laughing.

"Shut up James! I don't see you being any braver!"

Indeed James had almost choked on his treacle tart when he was told he had to go into the Great Hall again after dinner and bewitch the green banners to turn bright pink and change the snake emblem of Slytherin to a baboon. Remus had noted that James was particularly gifted in charms and transfiguration.

Peter was to accompany Sirius while Remus was to be with James.

That aspect of the Operation was simple enough. The route they were to be taking was a little complicated as well as the timing. After all they shared a room with another boy and simply couldn't get caught. The decided to do this just after dinner.

"Wait?" started Peter. "Where will we get the itching powder?"

Remus grinned at him mischievously his green eyes lighting up with a devilish glint a produced a packet of itching powder from his trunk.

"Can't let my Dad know I was behind the itch in his pants. He knows I'm behind most pranks at home but to this day he swears it had something to do with his underwear."

As he walked out of the room to go to the toilet James looked at Sirius and Peter and exclaimed:

"I thought he was a nice kid."

"Nah mate, he's evil." concluded Sirius. "And I like it."

-----

After dinner that night Sirius and Peter went up to the castle laundress, a young woman by the name of Eumachia Falkov, and tried to persuade her into letting them into the laundry.

"Please m'am?" said Sirius in voice honey sweet and a smile that won over almost every woman, sometimes even his mother on a good day. "My friend Peter thinks he may have forgotten his Rememberall in the pocket of his robes. Could we go look for it?"

Looking down at Sirius's pleading grey eyes and angelic face as well as Peter's red eyed look of utter devastation (he was apparently a great actor as Sirius soon discovered) Eumachia conceded.

"Alright but you best be back to your dorms before I come, I have to deliver the the Hufflepuff laundry to the house elves and I dont want Professor McGonagall to blame me if you're late to your dorms."

"Yes thank you m'am!" Excalimed Sirius.

Peter let out a small sniffle of gratitude as they scuttled into the laundry. 

Peter gripped the pocket of his robes and took out the itching powder. His once devastated features broke into a grin.

"Where do you think their underwear would be?" he asked Sirius who scanned the laundry before looking up at a gilded basket with Slytherin written on it. Inside their was various underwear. and briefly Sirius wondered how the house-elves sorted them out for each individual.

Something caught Sirius attention in the basket. He pulled out a strange device of cloth with two cotton cups connected by various straps.

"What are these?" he asked raising them.

He looked at Peter who was bashful and reluctant to answer. This merely amplified his confusion.

"They're like female undergarments to hold up their you know..." said Peter quickly. 

"Oh my mother wears a corset."

"A corset? That was in fashion a century ago!"

"Oh..." said Sirius quietly replacing the the strange contraption back in the basket. "Do you want to put in the powder?"

"Sure." 

With a grin Peter dumped the contents of the powder in the basket. The shook it making to make sure the powder was evenly distributed. They then rushed out of the laundry trying to control a fit of giggles.

-----

James and Remus walked quietly under the invisibility cloak waiting for the last of the house elves to clear the table.

"Don't they get tired and angry doing all the work here?" whispered Remus.

"Nah they apparently love it." said James.

"That's weird."

"They're a bit bonkers really." said James. "Mum and Dad never kept a house elf, they say it's terrible for their mental health especially since most come from bad households anyway."

"Wow..."

"Yeah...it's pretty bad."

They watched the the last house elf leave with a stack of dirty plates before entering the hall and taking off the invisibility cloak. The darkness amplified the dark corners of the hall making seem more terrifying than usual.

Remus got up and stood atop the Slytherin table, pointed his wand towards the banners.

"Colovaria Rosea!" he exclaimed.

The banners fluttered slightly and were soon enough bright pink. He got off the table and gestured to James to follow suite. James got atop the table and a pointed his wand at the banners.

"Insigne Mutatio!" he exclaimed.

The snake emblem turned into that a baboon who was doing a rather obscene sort of dance. Remus and James giggled slightly before they heard footsteps coming their way.

Quickly James pulled the invisibility cloak over them as they slowly tip-toed away from the table. Professor Slughorn peered into the hall with a puzzled look before shrugging his shoulders and leaving, seemingly convinced he must of imagined the noise.

Both Remus and James didn't realise they were holding in their breath until they released it. Looking at each other under the cloak they grinned and made their way back to their dorm.

Once they arrived in the common room, which was deserted by most Gryffindors they were met by a laughing Peter and Sirius.

"WE DID IT!" cried James practically tackling the other three boys with a fierce hug. This was met with various responses from Remus's "Get off you git!"  to joyous laughter from Peter and Sirius.

Once the excitement subsided a little the four boys decided to go to bed before anyone became suspicious.

----

The next morning the hall was alive with laughter from most students and the maddened itching from the Slytherin table that matched the dancing baboon on their banner. None laughed harder than Sirius, James, Peter and Remus who eventually complained of busted guts.

The taste of rebellion and pranking soon filled them and when they looked at each other again they knew this was the first of a series of pranks to come.