Chapter 25: Pranking Already.

Too say our group were slightly tired the next morning was an understatement. We were exhausted but that was kind of our fault to be fair. Let's just say that we may or may not of stayed up most of the night bagging us some early points for the House Rivalry event. Our house prefects wasn't happy to find out that we stayed up all night but they accepted the prank none the less which would give us an early lead into the competition.

We wasn't caught during the process either which helped the matter. It seemed as if all the professors went to bed early on purpose (except Filch, we used James' invisibility cloak to get passed him and Mrs Norris) so we wasn't on minus two points and none of us had a punishment to get already. After all, no one could beat Sirius' record for getting a detention within mere seconds of entering the school. It was thanks to the charms Remus and I learned during the holiday that made this plan work. Everyone would think it's a nice morning with no prank waiting for them on the first day but they were wrong. Very, very wrong.

Early the next morning (and when I say early, I mean at seven in the morning kind of early) we were all seated at the Gryffindor table within the empty hall. Not even any of the staff had arrived yet as they were presumably still getting up and/or checking their lesson plans for the first term of lessons. I was excited for lessons to say the least, I'd always loved magic even before coming to Hogwarts and the fact that we could now learn new spells excited me. I was also one year closer to taking Care of Magical Creatures as a lesson which I was really looking forward too. I had known since I was at an extremely young age that I wanted to work with animals and creatures so having the opportunity open up next September thrilled me.

A dig in the ribs breaks me out of my thoughts and the group all laughed at how much I jumped. I glare at James and kick him in the shins under the table. "What was that for?" I ask taking another bite of toast.

"I just wanted to get your head out of the clouds. What were you thinking about?" He asked back. Everyone did seem genuinely interested in what I had to say so the least I could do was tell them the truth. I spilled my thought to them and they all agreed that they were looking forward to taking Care of Magical Creatures. It turns out that all of them but Naomi planned to take it anyway but as for the other girl she hadn't really decided. Since I began to properly speak with her back in first year, she did seem a little distant with any sort of animal or creature but then again, they aren't for everyone I suppose. After a while, she didn't seem to mind Lynx as much but still seemed a little distant.

Half an hour of just chatting about nothing but everything later, the entire school showed up for breakfast. It had seemed as our diversion had worked so everyone would have to enter the hall at the same time including the professors too. To be completely honest, no one was supposed to turn up for another ten minutes but I guess the teachers knew the counter curse so they just got rid of out spell before we had planned for it to be undone. It didn't matter though because the charm was still on the entrance so the other houses would know how it feels to be trailing behind us lions as we destroyed everyone in the event.

All in their friend groups, students and teachers trickle into the Great Hall, each of their clothes changing ever so slightly. The Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins that came in all had the hood and crest on their robes turn into a deep scarlet and lions replaced the badgers, ravens and snakes on their house crest. As for the professors, their robes had changed entirely from their usual colours to a deep scarlet with streaks of gold through it. McGonagall was the last professor to walk in (surprisingly) and so far no one had noticed a change... until Sirius opened his big mouth.

"Hey nice robes everyone" He shouted out with a smirk. Shrieks echoed throughout the hall whereas some houses (mainly Gryffindor's but there was some people in the other houses) laughed about the prank. With a wave of the headmaster's wand, he added five points to the Gryffindor timer -identical to the ones based on our regular house points- and sent a smile in our direction. Around the hall, people were still trying to get rid of the charm on their clothes but fortunately, Remus and I had messed the spell up slightly so there was no way of getting rid of it until the spell wore off in twenty four hours.

Today was going to get confusing.

* * *

"Good morning class, to start of this term of potions we will be starting off with the Swelling Solution. A curious little potion if I do say so myself. Now to start off let's see what you all know about this type of potion. Can anyone name any ingredients needed to brew the potion and I' recommend you take notes of these. Ah yes miss-" Slughorn began his class in first period. I was getting bored already just from his voice and that's saying something. I really did enjoy taking potions but they can at least hire a decent teacher who doesn't send you to sleep. Or was that just my fault for not sleeping last night. Probably both to be fair.

"Haynes sir" the Ravenclaw girl responded. "Bat spleens, dried nettles and puffer fish eyes are the three main ingredients". I write down the ingredients although I knew them already practically off by heart, it wouldn't hurt to use a little ink though.

"Excellent miss Haynes, ten points to Gryffindor, I mean Hufflepuff. What house are you?" Slughorn struggled making the class laugh uncontrollably like we had drank a laugh-inducing potions. The potions master sighs and continued the lesson when he had found out miss Haynes' real house. For the rest of the lesson, he didn't ask any more questions to the students that could earn them house points probably so he wouldn't make a fool of himself but James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, Naomi and I still giggled quietly.

* * *

"I honestly didn't expect for this to go as well as it did" Sirius laughed that evening in the common room. It was no secret that all the professors got messed up with the houses of each of the students and they were all very annoyed by lunch time but that was what meant the prank went so well. We had only intended for it to be a little inconvenience but that obviously that didn't happen. Not even in the slightest.

"Tell me about it, from what I heard Minnie was pissed about it" James chuckled flopping down on one of the couches in between Peter and Remus. I was stuck in between Sirius and Naomi on the other couch with many students hanging around the common room so there was a lot of noise. The male prefect of our house quickly made his way through the crowd and approached our group.

"Nice work today guys, I honestly didn't think you had it in you. Nice work. I would try and get some sleep if I was you guys though" he congratulated us before his eyes landed on Naomi. "I know your not in Gryffindor. What are you doing here? Get out of our common room or I will report you to Dumbledore!"

"No Felix, she's allowed in here" the female prefect called over from the notice board right by the entrance. "Dumbledore moved her dorm over to here but she still has to be in Slytherin though" she informed Felix.

He nodded and said how that was fair enough until he had a thought. "Does that make you part of the Slytherins in the House War?" he asked.

"Technically yes. However last time I checked, there was nothing in the rules saying you can't help the other houses and be a spy" Naomi smirked. Both of the prefects quickly agreed with her plan and left to go wander around the halls. We still had astronomy next though unfortunately as we were all exhausted as it was from staying up all night. Sirius had already proposed the idea of bunking but Remus refused quickly and had said he was more than happy to stay up for the class. We didn't like the idea of staying up and drawing stupid stars when frankly none of us cared but we still let Remus drag us along.

* * *

"As you can all see class, just to the left of your telescopes you can see the star Vega which may be plotting onto your star chart and..." Professor Sinistra droned on late into the night as our group were falling asleep against our telescopes in the Astronomy Tower. I wasn't precise with any of my plotting of stars but I didn't care, I was tired. Very tired to say the least.

"Can we sleep yet?" Sirius mumbled before letting out a loud yawn.

"Unfortunately not" I muttered back changing my position so I was leaning up against the boy's left side. I could feel the boy tense up slightly but I don't think any of us cared at the moment as we were both falling asleep right there. As if to wake us up the teacher asked a 'Gryffindor' a question which they responded to correctly.

"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor, no Slytherin, sorry I meant Ravenclaw" they stuttered. The entire tower erupted into a loud laughter although most of the students were already asleep by now but no one really cared if we accidentally woke them up. From laughing so much, my sides hurt but then again at least it woke us up, and gained us some points in the event.