CHAPTER 06

For the most part, they avoided punishment.

Mcgonagall had been entirely—for lack of a better term—perplexed by the combination of pranksters that she had caught red-handed at two in the morning. Typically, she explained, in that sharp, Scottish tone of hers, when called out of bed on night duty on the basis of troublemakers perusing the corridors past curfew, she expected the Marauders. It was commonplace by then. At least two of them, perhaps three, perhaps all four (if she was entirely unlucky).

"But two Marauders," she said bitterly, giving them a glare that Piper was sure could have killed a small child, "and a Head Girl.... Well, this is unprecedented, I must say."

Of course, Piper immediately burst into apologetic mumbles, casting her wide eyes down to Mcgonagall's slipper-clad feet to properly express her embarrassment.

"Oh, it's alright, Piper," Sirius claimed, nudging her in the side. He was smiling at Mcgonagall in a challenging sort of way, his grey eyes somehow alight with the same intensity he always wore on his sleeve. He tipped his chin. "Minnie won't be too cross with us. She never is."

Before Piper could hiss the word Minnie in a horrified repetition of Sirius's nickname for their Head of House, she found a sense of warmth washing over her face as Mcgonagall's glowering face was cast unto Sirius, her thin lips twitching with impatience.

"It is one o'clock in the morning," she said sharply, as though the three of them had been unaware of the timeframe they found themselves out of bed within. "And, if I'm to presume correctly, you three aren't the only students out of bed."

"Well, probably," James admitted, shrugging rather innocently. "We don't exactly know whether they've actually gone on without us or were just calling our bluff."

"It's likely they were only calling our bluff," Sirius put in with a nod.

Mcgonagall didn't say anything for a moment, her lips pressed together in a straight line. Piper got the feeling Sirius's input on the matter was not helping their situation.

"Also," he said after the pause, clearly not picking up on the same feeling that Piper had, "it's a quarter 'til two. Not exactly one in the morning."

"One forty-six, now," James added, and rather seriously at that.

"If you three are still in my office when the clock behind me reads one forty-seven," said Mcgonagall, looking very much like her patience had run thin and she no longer had the energy to deal with James and Sirius's antics, "then I will be giving all of you a week's detentions. Go."

James and Sirius stared up at the witch as though she had hung the stars; their eyes lit up and they scrambled out of their seats without a second thought. Piper took a moment of nudging and tugging to get out of her chair, baffled into a trance, entirely lost by the fact that the Professor Mcgonagall had let off three students she caught out of bed past curfew. But James took her arm and pulled her out of the office, and the three of them went rushing down the hall.

Probably it was a good thing that they hadn't been in Mcgonagall's office when the clock struck one forty-seven; the giant squid decided for that moment to be its grand debut, aptly settling on The Beach Boys to throw its name in lights.

Piper couldn't stop herself from laughing in utter disbelief and exhilaration as she, James, and Sirius hurried up the moving staircases to the Gryffindor dormitories, while somewhere to their left, the Slytherin students were being serenaded by an enchanted giant squid to the oddly American tune of Wouldn't It Be Nice.

This, of course, was the talk of the town the following morning, everyone badgering James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus on what they had possibly managed to do this time. Each of them replied with an airy shrug and vague mutter of something along the same lines: "Who knows, really, who could have done such a thing..."

It was clear that the enchantment of the squid had been a Marauders ploy, but with no proof, confirmation, or any sort of evidence, nobody was able to point fingers. Dumbledore opened breakfast with a weak speech requesting that whosoever placed the hex should come forward to avoid harsher punishment. Piper happened to glance to the end of the staff table and caught Mcgonagall very pointedly avoiding casting her eyes to the Gryffindor benches.

It really was the perfect prank, Piper finally came to realize. Nobody had seen them cast the spell. Nobody had caught them out of bed (or, apparently, nobody that was going to bring this point to light, anyhow). Nobody could figure out any counter-curse since Peter had found the spell in such an unknown sort of book.

In retrospect, Piper could appreciate it. But not while she was following Professor Mcgonagall down the dark, empty Hogwarts corridors to her office because she had been caught out of bed after hours.

"But it went over smoothly, didn't it?" James insisted in a loud voice, waving off Piper's consternation with how things could have gone. "You focus too much on the past, Finn. It all ended up alright. No need to worry anymore."

Sirius swallowed a thick gulp of oats, then waved his spoon around to add to the point. "Yeah, really, Piper. Take a look around and see what good this prank has done to the Hogwarts people."

"You do have a point," Mary said thoughtfully, as her deep brown eyes danced around the Great Hall; all over, students were chittering on about the festivities of the night, how disorienting it had been to wake up to the giant squid, of all things, serenading them. But with its focus on the Slytherin common room, other Houses were far enough from the performance that they could return to bed as they pleased—while the snakes, fuming and frustrated for the better half of the night, glowered at everyone who dared laugh at their misery over a plate of toast.

Even Remus couldn't hinder a smile. "Snivellus seems particularly peeved, I think. Although I once heard the seventh year boys' dorm is closest to the squid's habitat."

"And we're just to assume that wasn't planned to a T," Lily said, feigning a look of unimpressed silence, while the boys cackled at their own genius.

"Of course it was," James admitted, holding his stomach. Piper thought he nearly had tears in his eyes. "Really the best part of the entire thing, in my mind!"

"Maybe we can get it to sing waltzing tracks for the ball," Remus suggested.

"It honestly couldn't have gone better," agreed Peter with a cheeky grin. "How often do you lot think the big lug will be impelled to sing?"

"Well, you're the one who found the spell," Sirius reminded him, and Piper came to the familiar understanding that the conversation was drifting to one that would prove to be repetitive and argumentative, much like many of the conversations Piper found herself sitting between on daily bases.

She rested her chin in her palm, using her other hand to distastefully mix her oats around in the ceramic bowl, wondering if they would taste any better with a sprinkle of cinnamon added into them—thoughts of nothing, really, thoughts that were there just to fill empty spaces in her mind—when Marlene nudged her in the side.

"Ahem," she said, and Piper lifted her head from her hand to give her a caught redhanded sort of look. But Marlene wasn't bothered by Piper's disinterest in the conversation—she was glancing between Piper and a visitor to the Gryffindor table, someone standing over Piper's shoulder and waiting patiently for her attention.

Piper knit her brow and turned behind herself, then broke into a grin at the sight of Rhys Corner.

Rhys, the bespectacled lad whom Piper had been seated next to in their first year of Muggle Studies, was the lanky sort of boy you'd find lingering in classrooms after lectures were already over just because he had extra questions on the material that professors had forgotten to go over in class. He was the sort of boy Piper always thought would get on well with her sister (if she hadn't already been engaged to Ansel (yes, the very same from all those years ago))—someone who'd much rather keep their nose in a book than anyone else's business.

He had dark skin and a kind smile, and his eyes twinkled with the glint that told anyone he interacted with that he knew more than them. He was a good chunk of a person taller than Piper, too, even when they were sitting in class together—but now, with her sitting on the bench of the Gryffindor table and him standing over her, she had to crane her neck up to just meet his eyes.

"Rhys," she said, all thoughts of oatmeal and cinnamon abandoning her. She swung her legs over the bench and took to her feet, slinging her bag over her shoulder without a second glance. "Have you started on the homework for Ancient Studies yet? I gave my best, but—"

"Who's that?" came a loud voice, and Piper paused, catching in the corner of her eye as the Gryffindor table turned to face herself and Rhys at the same time. James was the voice who'd originally asked, but Sirius narrowed his eyes like an outsider was encroaching and he did not appreciate it one bit.

"I know you," he said in a suspicious sort of tone. "You were in my Charms class.. what, three years ago? I didn't know you still went here."

Remus scrunched his face, muttering, "Where else would he..." but, overall, dropped the thought.

Piper blinked. "You never looked past yourself and your friends, then, Sirius?"

He paused, fell silent for a moment in what looked like genuine thought, then frowned. "Guess not. Anyway, that's that Corner boy."

"Rhys," Lily corrected, and she gave the visitor a polite smile. "Doing alright, Rhys? Hardly see you around these parts, usually."

He gave the entire table a once-over, trying not to smile. "Well, it is a bit intimidating, if this is the screening process for any newcomer to the Gryffindor table."

Piper smiled. "Only for the ones they thought went to a different school, apparently."

Rhys laughed and raised his shoulders, and neither he nor Piper really noticed that none of the rest of the conversationists were laughing with them.

"What's he want with Piper?" James asked in a voice that Piper thought was supposed to have been a whisper—he leaned over to Peter when he asked it, though his eyes stayed on Rhys.

"We have almost our full schedule together," Piper clarified, giving an awkward sort of nod of assent. She pursed her lips rather unpleasantly. "Any further questions, or can Rhys and I get on?"

"Get what on?" Sirius asked, narrowing his eyes once again, but thankfully Remus drew the line there and thwacked him over the head.

"We'll see you later," Mary suggested to Piper, and she tugged Marlene on the shoulder to turn around and hopefully end the conversation there.

Piper pulled the same idea with Rhys and the two of them took off at a brisk stride down the Great Hall, back to an uninterrupted conversation on the basis of the Ancient Studies homework that had been assigned the day prior.

Probably, everyone's mind shot to the same conclusion that James's and Sirius's must have. But the truth—to lay it bare, real and honest—was that Piper and Rhys were absolutely nothing past proper colleagues, two students who had similar academic minds and schedules, and just happened to be of different sexes. Of course, to the immature mind such as Potter and Black seemed to be, this automatically deemed Piper and Rhys as romantically involved.

They weren't. Though for some reason Piper wasn't enthusiastic to shoot down the rumor—in fact, the thought of James scowling in indignation at Piper's walkaway with Rhys brought a satisfied smile to her face, and she even threw a cursory glance back over her shoulder to catch him in the act.

His eyes darted away quicker than a Golden Snitch, but they both knew he'd been staring. And that was enough for Piper.

It was while Piper and Rhys were bickering over the result of an Ancient Runes long-answer question that the giant squid chose to break into its third anthem of the day, and Piper was coming to understand that it sang every five hours on the hour—once around two in the morning, then again at seven, then again at noon—and she was beginning to think that maybe the prank had run its course by then.

But Rhys's head shot up at the first chord of the song—tis one, the squid had selected from the Wicked Sisters' debut record—and he broke into a grin.

"Bloody genius," he said of the prank, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Whosever idea that was... hell, I'd like to give him a pat on the back."

Piper simpered, having to keep her head down so she didn't give away the truth. She checked off an answer choice on the Runes homework. "I think choice C for this question, don't you?"

"Oi, come on, Baird," Rhys challenged with a laugh, leaning his head in. "What do you know about it?"

"Nothing," she insisted, offering him an innocent shrug, keeping her eyes on her parchment. "I know nothing except that this is due next class period, Rhys. You ought to finish up."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Come on."

"I don't know anything."

He tipped his head and leaned back in his chair, splaying his arms across the desk behind him to press his weight against. When Piper glanced up, he was smiling, and, like always, he had that same look: Like he knew more than she did.

"You're not going to get it out of me," she finally admitted, turning back to her paper with a smile. "I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Fine," he said, relenting on his challenging posture, coming back to the desk before him. "If you say you don't know anything, then you don't."

"Thank you."

They settled in silence once again, only the sounds of hovering books slotting themselves back into places on the library bookshelves and the scratches of Piper's quill against her parchment sounding.

Then Rhys drew in a breath, with a curious sort of syllable. He looked up from his assignment. "It wouldn't have to do with that Potter bloke, would it?"

Piper's hand stopped writing only for a beat, then carried on as though nothing had happened. She shrugged. "No. Why? Looking for tips?"

"Of course not," he scoffed. "I'm only wondering. Is he planning to get the squid going for the ball?"

Again, Piper shrugged. She'd learned over the years that it was the only safe response when it came to being questioned about the Marauders—ignorance was key.

"Possibly," she said. "I don't see why you care. I didn't think you were going, ever since dates were required."

"I don't prefer it," admitted Rhys, his voice lowering, "but it's my seventh year, and in the middle of this war, I just feel like... it's the last time any of us will get to do something like this for a long time."

Piper stopped in her tracks, lifting her eyes to meet his. She searched for any clue that he was merely stretching the truth, trying to make it seem worse than it really was, but for once he looked entirely honest. He looked frightened, even.

Piper felt something deep inside her give a pang of worry, not for the first time since the war had begun brewing.

She lowered her voice, too. "I wish you could bring her."

He turned down, but not before Piper could catch the faraway look in his eyes. "Yeah, well, I can't. I've had a lot of wishes regarding this war, you know."

"I know," she said, trying to ignore a thick wretch of sadness that had thrown itself into the forefront of her mind. "But I think you're right. I think we should make the most of this, yeah? Have fun. For once."

Finally, Rhys glanced back up, a smile playing at his lips. "For once, she says, as though the Gryffindors aren't up to something new every other day."

Piper smiled fondly, still unable to erase the downpour that had overcome her in the last few moments. She merely pushed it aside for now, to come back later and take hold of her again.

"What can I say," she said, and there wasn't much conviction behind her tone. "We love our fun."

Via Chatter!!!!

sorry if the last scene makes no sense.... something is coming and unfortunately this is how it has to play out..... but trust in me and you will not be strayed

anyway hello Rhys thank you for joining us i seriously love this guy so much he's so funny and sexy and NOT involved with Piper Baird one bit so if i see one rhysper ship comment i'm taking this whole fic down

i love you all also don't forget about the squid it will somehow had to the angst later you seriously just have to trust me on this