Mischief Managed

Jealousy

The Wizard Prank Wars wasn't easy for anyone. But we had something planned. We were the Marauders. 

Our first prank happened a few weeks ago. And its target was, not surprisingly, Severus Snape.

The five of us sat under a great oak, to let its shadow shelter us from the heat. The blazing sun caused everybody to swim in the Great Lake or go to Hogsmeade and buy some ice cream.

Unfortunately, we couldn't do either. James was in a bad mood since he had asked Lily out for the Hogsmeade weekend, but she refused with the reason of already having plans. About an hour ago, we found out that these plans were Snivellus. They were going to the tiny town together.

Since that, James had his brows contracted and replied to our attempts to cheer him up just with a grunt. So there we sat.

Nearly an hour later, none of us had moved. Out of solidarity to James, we didn't amuse ourselves in the Great Lake. Suddenly, Sirius jumped to his feet.

"Let's prank Snivellus! We need a great entrance for the Wars anyway, and it's getting time now! Pranking Snivellus is tradition what would there be to enter the competition better?"

James turned and finally, his brows were back to normal. He had a glint in his eyes and there was a mischievous grin playing upon his lips. I could tell that he was hooked by the idea.

"Oh, come on guys! You're always going on about him. - Moreover, you're not getting more popular at Lily's, if you just keep bullying Snivellus."

All of them looked at me and I threw up my hands in resignation.

"Go on, do whatever you want! I warned you," and with those words, I stood up and left. I wasn't going to help them teasing Snivellus even more. I mean, I don't like him, too, and he really is weird, but that is no reason to make his life hell.

I spent the rest of the day in the Gryffindor Common Room or the Library, trying to handle the tons of homework we had got. But time went by and I realized that I would not have been able to get here without Remus. I mean, I was in my sixth year now, and without him, I probably wouldn't have passed the O.W.L.s.

When the sun set, the boys entered the room and found me behind a pile of books, all opened and then put away. They didn't tell me about their plan and I was sure that they weren't ready by now, but they still looked very pleased with themselves, except for Peter, he just looked anxious, like always.

***

The boys spent the next nights working on their plan and I got more and more curious, what it was. Normally, it didn't take them that long. Sure, they had to maintain at a high level and it was important and elaborate to prepare an ironclad plan, but what took them so long?

Finally, I pocketed my pride and went on to ask them about their plan.

"So guys, what do you want to do?" I asked them when they were consulting about their plan again. But instead of answering me, James grabbed the blueprint and rolled it up.

"Um, I don't know if we should tell you...," Sirius smirked. He was obviously enjoying this. "Remember? That is all a very bad idea, blah blah blah. If we tell you, you're an accessory."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "You're mean. I just want to know what you plan is," I said, and did my best begging look, "Please! I mean, were in this competition as a team. You can't just ignore me!"

But the boys didn't take the bite, just Peter looked a bit precarious. Sadly, the boys knew their weakest link and Sirius pushed Peter upstairs into their dormitory.

My eyes darkened and I turned on my heel.

***

The following days I waited and waited. I waited for their prank to happen. It just didn't. It was as if they did it on purpose to tease me, though I wanted to believe they just needed the time to prepare their prank.

I was alone now often. The boys frequently disappeared after lessons and were nowhere to be found until they showed up in the Common Room late.

***

Then, the day had finally come. They didn't tell me, but I could fell the tension between them when we went down to breakfast. I joined them with their excitement and couldn't suppress a smile.

We entered the Great Hall and sat down for breakfast as normal as possible. Awkwardly, the boys were way better in hiding their excitement than I was, and I didn't even know the prank.

All I knew was their target: Snape, so I didn't lift my eyes from the entrance. Lily wanted to start a conversation a few times and also asked one or two things, but I just nodded in agreement with everything she said and she soon gave up.

After some time, Snivellus entered. He sat down at his house's table and I could barely sit still then.

First, nothing happened and Snivellus had breakfast normally. And then it worked.

Starting unremarkable, his hair turned pink. Within minutes, his long oily hair took on a neon pink colour, shining through the whole hall.

More and more people noticed and whispers started, fingers were pointed at him and students slapped hands with the Marauders. Even though they tried to act normal, when Snape was played a prank, you had a possibility of 99% that the Marauders had done it.

I have to say, seeing Snivellus with that pink hair, his face going as red as a beetroot was probably one of the funniest things I've seen in my entire life, and I've known the Marauders a long time now.

But I also have to admit, that it was pretty mean, humiliating him in front of the whole school. And when I saw Lily's face, I did feel a bit guilty, and I didn't even do anything.

***

A week had passed and the garish colour still didn't fade. Snape had tried to cover it with black, but that had just made things worse. Now he was wearing a hood all day, even in the classrooms. For his situation, the teacher made an excuse.

Now the prank is some time ago and the colour has almost disappeared. Just a cast of pink is left in Snivellus hair. And some people still call him names about it or make fun of the prank, but except for that, the prank was almost forgotten.

James, Remus, Sirius and Peter hadn't got detention. Everybody knew it had been them, but nobody could prove it, so they got away without punishment. But as I said, Lily just liked James even less (if that was possible) and ignored him for weeks.

None of us knew which score we got for the prank, the badges didn't reveal it until after the Tournament. But they shined when you had done a prank and it shined pretty bright at ours.

After the prank, the boys explained to me why it had taken them so long. To colour Snivellus' hair, they used a potion that couldn't be magically removed so the colour would stay long. First, they looked up a potion like that for hours and then it took them eternities to concoct the potion. Then they had bribed one of the elves in the kitchen to put it into Snivellus' pumpkin juice.

***

Word count: 1281

I hope you liked it!

I do have to say, the Marauders were pretty mean to Snape. What do you think about it? 

Love,

Tonks