The next prank will tell you about happened at the end of the Wizard Prank Wars. After the Slytherins had cheated during the key Quidditch match, they had earned themselves over a hundred house points, thus overtook Gryffindor in the House Championship.

We could not leave things like that and plotted the destruction of their triumph. With their cheating, they had earned to be the target of our final and greatest prank.

We all knew that Slytherin would win the House Cup now because they had a lead of 40 points, which we could not catch up in time. The mood of Gryffindor house was, as one might expect, not very good. The other houses, except Slytherin, joined in the mood because nobody wanted the cunning house to win.

The Slytherins, on the opposite, were cheering since they had won the match. Whenever a Gryffindor passed them, they made disparaging remarks and made fun of them.

It was enough to make us crazy!

So, after the Marauders and I had walked past another Slytherin, we decided to preserve Gryffindors dignity and respect.

For some time, we came up with the most incredible ideas to humiliate the house of snakes. Unfortunately, none of them was possible to be completed in time.

Because the days went by and it was not much time left until the end-of-term Feast, we bunked off a few lessons to get the prank in time. It was a wonder no one else did because the Wizard Prank Wars was not yet over and this Slytherin-situation was perfect for an end prank.

When we sat in the library, trying to procure books that would help us in this situation, Remus had a stroke of genius (more genius than normally).

"Guys! I've got it! I've found a way!"

The four of us, who had not have been that intelligent, turned and looked at Remus in excitement. In moments like this, you once again see why Remus is unbelievably important for us. He made up half of our pranks.

We all came rushing for him and sat down at the table he was sitting at. Our eyes were probably wide, and we all leaned over the table so we wouldn't miss a single word of his plan.

"Okay, our goal is to preserve Gryffindor's respect, right?" he said to everybody around already knowing the answer. We nodded dutifully and waited for him to go on.

"So, why don't we make the other houses cheer for us?"

That caused confusion between us because none of us understood what Moony was saying. 

"But Moony, even if we get Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff to do that, Slytherin wouldn't. And they're our target. It doesn't make sense," Padfoot replied.

"Because you've not understood it by now. We can colour their robes red and gold, change the banners of Slytherin, that are supposed to be hung. Maybe we even get to decorate the Great Hall in our colours!" Moony looked really pleased with himself and I could tell that he had a good plan, I just didn't understand it by now.

But time went by and the plan got intelligible to me.

We planned everything in minute detail and got the gear we needed to conduct our plan.

***

The night before the end-of-term Feast had come, and I lay in my bed, listening for the regular breaths of my roommates to make sure they were asleep. When I knew that I got up and tiptoed downstairs as silent as possible.

Then I stood there in the Common Room, shaking with excitement, and waiting for the Marauders to appear. By the time they appeared, I had already feared something had gotten wrong. Unfortunately, we were running low on time and had to hurry.

Prongs had brought the Marauders' Map and his Invisibility Cloak, which sadly just covered three of us. As we were five, Sirius and I offered to walk exposed. I did this because, even though they were my friends, I wasn't wild about being that close to two boys at once. Sirius probably just doesn't have that risk limit, which keeps other people from doing something. 

Sirius and I slipped on our balaclavas, which I had bought for the boys and me in a Muggle shop, so nobody would recognize us, even if they saw us.

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, and she called a few times.

"Oi, it's in the middle of the night! Ever heard of curfew? Sirius Black, I bet that's you and your friends! Come back here, you're not allowed outside!"

We all chuckled a bit. It was always funny when the Fat Lady tried to command you to something.

The first thing we did was sneaking down to the Great Hall, opening the big doors with great caution. The banners were already hung and everything was coloured green and silver. We paired and soared each other up, using a hover charm.

When James and I were up, we unbagged spray cans out of our backpacks. With them, we sprayed the Slytherin banners with red and gold. After being done with that, we proceeded with redyeing the table decoration, though mainly at the Slytherins table because the cans were empty after that.

Then we unrolled a large banner I had made, on which it says "Gryffindor rules!" We stationed it right magically above the teacher's table.

After that we were done with the Great Hall, so we went on to the Dungeons. We entered the Slytherin Common Room easily. We had found out about where it was in our first year and Sirius had found out the password in no time, though I do not support his methods. He had hooked up with any Slytherin girl, who had given him the password opposition less, probably because of Sirius' explanation, that he could come to her no more often. After that, the girl hadn't seen Sirius again.

We sneaked into the dormitories and painted their faces and robes in our colours, writing "Gryffindor" or "Gryffindor rules". The time passed way too fast, and we had to leave so we wouldn't get caught.

We barely did anything before the feast. We went back to our dormitories, to change and so we wouldn't arouse suspicion. After that, we really couldn't concentrate on anything, out of excitement. Traditionally, nobody had entered the hall before it that day (except for us) and it was a surprise for all when they entered. 

The Marauders and I hurried, so we would see everyone's countenance. They were all good, the student's mouths opened to a slight o-form in surprise, their eyes widened and some of them even dropped what they had been carrying, but it just was a few, because most of the students weren't even carrying anything to the feast.

Because we were there that early, we could even see the teachers reactions. They weren't different from the student's but way funnier, because they were teachers.

But the best faces by far had the Slytherins. It was a mixture of surprise, recognition and anger. But by the time they sat down, they all had their faces under control and looked nothing but furious. Also good were the things we had painted on their skin. They tried to rub it off, you could tell by their slightly red skin, but it didn't work, so many of them tried to cover it with their hair or clothes.

Finally, the whispering had worn off and Dumbledore stood up.

"Dear students, as you all can see, there has been some changing in our decoration. Even though they nearly perfectly hid, it was possible for us to identify the perpetrators. Mr Black, Mr Potter, Mr Lupin, Mr Pettigrew and Miss Andersen," where he had to pause for a while because the whole Gryffindor table and some of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs erupted in cheers.

"Of course, they have broken rules with this action, that go past curfew, but house pride like this is remarkable. As regard for their commitment to their house, I reward each of them ten points."

That was when the total chaos overtook the Great Hall. The Gryffindors cheered to a fare-thee-well, many of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs joined them and the Slytherin table booed as loud as they could.

Because Gryffindor had overtaken Slytherin in the House Cup!

This was one of our greatest pranks, especially because we won our house the House Cup with it and ruined the Slytherin's holidays.

We never got punished for the rules we had broken and a picture of the Great Hall was hung up in Hogwarts.

It was like the best end prank imaginable. Nearly every participant in the Prank Wars celebrated us and even the ones who didn't approve the competition before were now psyched. Except for the Slytherins, of course.

***

Word count: 1491

That was, I think, my favourite chapter, I liked it, though Dumbledore has a bit of an unfair way to reward points, don't you think?

Which house are you proud of?

xoxo,

Tonks