All right. After that fire-alarm prank - which was good, I admit it - we knew we had to do something. Coming up with a counter prank was hard. And that's how it happened:

"Sirius! Sirius, come one now. Wake up!" I said, shaking his shoulder. The black-haired mess groaned and moved. He rose his hand, sought with it for my face - without opening his eyes - and held it against my mouth.

"Ugh, we've got to remember to get that slide for girls like their dormitories have it, James," he said into his pillow. Sleep had tousled his hair, wrinkled his clothes and made one side of his face very red and squashed. I got him to sit up and talk to me.

We woke the others and agreed we would not let any amateur steal our crown by messing up our plans last minute. The five of us sat on Sirius' bed until dawn and tried to figure out a good last prank. Not even for my exams, I spent as much consecutive time thinking about a matter. We came up with several ideas, but most of them proved the early hours of the morning to not be our most productive time.

I could save us from more embarrassing ideas. I jumped up; the plan forming more and more concrete in my head. After the boys had helped, we completed the planning phase. Pages of notes lay in front of Remus; half of them were useless, though not stupid. I put them to the other optional ideas in my folder.

For hours, we prepared. Remus sat in the dormitory and Owlery for hours. James, Peter, Sirius and I took turns in the Great Hall, dormitory and Owlery. It would be suspicious if we hung around busy all day. I found that matter unfortunate, but copying the papers or distracting the teachers was also fun. Professor McGonagall disliked seeing Sirius and me have a water balloon fight. Just that we'd filled the balloons with ink.

We could "damage precious school's material". At least that's what she said and why she dragged us to Dumbledore. That was no surprise though, we'd counted on our headmaster not to give away any punishment. And we'd gambled well. We escaped with only a short lecture.

I don't know how they decorate the Hall for the End-of-Term feast, but I guess it's the house-elves. The teachers didn't cramp the Great Hall, at least. They were busy spoiling everybody's fun by giving away these no-magic-in-the-holidays notes.

We weren't done when the first kids entered the Great Hall. After we'd given the last owl its Daily Prophet, we snuck to the impatiently waiting students. Nobody noticed it and we, The Marauders, could maliciously wait and enjoy the spectacle.

Everybody entered the Hall and sat down at their House table - nothing happened. Siris and I had won Scissors, paper, Stone, so we could sit with our faces toward the crowd. Remus, James and Peter could not turn before it started. Fidgety, they sat on their seats, grinning from one ear to the other when every they looked at us. You would have thought, by now, we were better at concealing our joy but that thrill of pranking just never faded.

The feast began like every other feast began - Dumbledore arose and spoke in his hoarse voice. Though he talked quietly, everybody in the hall could understand him. Nobody talked, but some, especially the Slytherins looked very grumpy sitting underneath the bright red banner no which a lion roared.

After Dumbledore, dressed in an unpleasantly strong green colour, had once again pointed out Gryffindor's win in the House Cup and some had enthusiastically clapped, the food finally appeared. The five of us stuffed ourselves with the delicious meals on the table.

There were chips and beans, steak-and-kidney-pudding, noodles, boiled potatoes, lamb chops, bacon, roast chicken, roast beef, pork chops, peas, roast potatoes, carrots, salad, everything you could wish for on the dishes.

The meat smelled amazing and took in a great part of the food. I watched the others take pieces of it on their plates and knew I should feel guilty. I didn't.

Sirius and James enjoyed the whole thing, the anticipation, as well, while Remus looked a little worried. Peter's expression was, as usual, impossible to understand.

We were in the middle of the meal when the owls started swooping in. They weren't coming all at once this time, we'd made it look like the fastest owls arrived first. Surprised, everybody looked up. Even the teachers at the High Table whispered. Whoever possessed one of the first owls ripped the package they bran open. I leaned forward in my seat; I couldn'T wait for it to happen. Friends watched and grouped around the one with the owl.

It took the students a few minutes to collectively panic. The article we'd send them as Breaking News by the Daily Prophet had been read and its information about poisoned meat spread over the ouse Tables.

Students jolted up yelling, cried, choked out their last bites. Except for us, of course. We watched Gryffindors furiously discussing with Ravenclaws if their though ways would save them from the food poisoning the Slytherins were definitely going to get. Hufflepuffs sat at their table crying while others supported devastated students.

Slytherins fought with Gryffindors who'd stay sick the longest. A Ravenclaw in between, patiently told them it had nothing to do with their nature of blood status. And a Hufflepuff offering sweets.

I laughed full heartedly, my stomach already hurt. Sirius next to me did the same. Tears ran down his cheeks. Remus laughed with that unbelievably nerdy chuckle, James hit on the table laughing and eyed Lily's reaction. Peter had fallen down on the floor laughing.

It was hilarious. Even the teachers seemed worried, they had sent for Madam Pomfrey.

We'd agreed that laughing was all right, you just couldn't savour a prank without it., I'm sure I wouldn't have been able not to do it, anyway. Also, the students were too caught up with themselves to notice us. The girl next to me didn't. They had jolted up, were crying, yelling, running around. But they didn't notice us.

Dumbledore didn't seem convinced of the problem the school was facing. He walked around between the House Tables. He apparently looked for one article. However, sobbing first-years asked him if they would be fine. Even a few seventh-years looked anxious because of our joke.

After Dumbledore had fought off a blond girl who cried she'd look horrible if she got sick - hilarious, if you ask me- our headmaster found one article.

He skimmed it, checking the Daily Prophet logo and the paper. But we weren't as foolish to get our prank busted like that.

Instead, we'd left a little note at the bottom of the text that appeared just now. Judging by his eyes' movement, Dumbledore read it multiple times. I could not make meaning of his expression if he was amused or in a terrible mood about it. Whatever it was, he'd read the flashing 'Just kidding' beneath the text and strode forward to the High Table to announce it. He stood in front of his stool and raised his arms. It took a minute, but even in such a situation of distress and worry, every student went quiet for Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid we've been the subject of another prank."

"Yes, you have. And a freaking good one I dare say." Sirius high-fived with James and we continued listening to Dumbledore.

"Whoever has an edition of the article near them may check at the bottom of the text," said Dumbledore. Students murmured and there was a great rush to find the nearest article. More murmuring as the crowd realized what we had done to them. Many looked angry, others relieved, and a few appeared amused.

"Now, I hope the knowledge one of our students made this up calms you down. This may have been a successful prank, but I do not encourage any of you to follow the example they set." Dumbledore looked more sternly down on his students. "Hogwarts is and will forever be a place of learning. I do not want this spirit and attitude destroyed by immature jokes. - though I must admit this one was done impressively."

We all laughed, more concealed now. Most students had sat down. Many looked around for the causer of mischief. Few googled at us.

Sirius, Peter, James, Remus and I went up to pack right after the feast. We should have done it before and had little time to do so.

It still took long, standing at the gate, waiting for the Hogwarts Express to arrive. We'd have the Prank King or Queen crowned on the train since no teachers would attend. Many students had taken out their badges and wore them proudly in honor of the occasion. All over the platform you could listen to people talking about the prank that got them disqualified.

Only a few were still in the game. I suspect many disqualified themselves during that fire alarm prank and our last one.

I fidgeted all over the platform, an amused Sirius by my side. The school year had ended and we couldn't get disqualified anymore. I enjoyed walking around and talking to whoever stood near.

When the scarlet steam engine arrived, everybody got themselves a seat, and we departed. The whole school had gathered around the few people with blue badges.

The four of us waited, then the others came. Some random guy who said he'd slept through the fire alert and missed feast today and the Prewett twins came.

I was a little sad about that. I liked the twins and wouldn't enjoy triumphing over them much. However, I was still looking forward to the announcement of the badges.

The train crossed a bridge and all of us stood there, waiting, and doubt grew in me. The first row of students looked curiously. Were we even going to win this?

I bit my lower lip as the full hour drew nearer. I saw Sirius clench his hand into a first in his pocket. One boy in the crowd yelled out, "It's got to happen any second now!"

And the badges changed colour. I felt it get warm on my chest and closed my eyes. The students cheered. Too afraid to look downward, curiosity had to get the best of me. I couldn't hold back a scream when I saw the golden badge fixed to my clothes. Screeching, I hugged James and Sirius tightly.

I was serious when I thanked Gideon and Fabian for the competition because I thought they deserved that respect.

The crowd quickly scattered. They had, I guess, only hoped for someone to beat us the way they hoped for people like Lily to get a worse grade than theirs.

We, however, had very much fun celebrating our win. We ate and drank merrily and even Lily came to our compartment to congratulate 'us'. She mainly looked at James.

I still keep the gold badge in a box of school memories. It reminds me of the grand time the boys and I had together.

Now, this is it with the Marauders memoirs. You've now heard everything about the Prank Wars there is to tell. I hope you enjoyed the stories and will live on to appreciate the Marauders.

Mischief Managed.

***

Aand... cut. The story's over. I know it took long and I apologize for that.

I hope you enjoyed it anyway, and if you did, please consider leaving a vote or comment. I love hearing from my readers. ;)

If you want to ask questions or make a little remark about the story, go ahead.

Which prank did you like best? And how freaking sad is the Prewetts' death, please?

That's it. :)

-Cal