In mid-October Dumbledore announced that he and Professor McGonagall would be out of the castle for a week, and that the Hogsmeade visit that weekend would be cancelled.

There was an instant uproar.

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" wailed the Marauders.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" yelled a group of Ravenclaws.

The entire school was shouting.

"All right, all right," said Dumbledore above the noise, his eyes twinkling. "Then I must ask Argus Filch to supervise the visit."

Filch, who had been standing in the shadows, came out and bowed deeply, looking immensely pleased with himself.

James and Sirius exchanged a wicked look.

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Great preparations were going on in the Gryffindor common room next evening.

Unsurprisingly, the Marauders had come up with an elaborate plan of causing havoc and disruption. Edgar and Hestia, Head Boy and Girl, were just as eager in the preparations. They were all charming colourful ribbons which would entangle a person and then make colourful hats and make-up appear on their faces, making them look like a clown.

When the first ribbon was done, Frank called for a volunteer. John Creevery stood up eagerly.

James threw the ribbon close to him.

The spectacle was hilarious. Everyone in the common room fell about laughing. Only Lily was sitting in a corner, studying something with a frown on her face.

"We'll leave these ribbons under each chair of the other three tables," said James.

"And we'll not go down to dinner tomorrow," said Sirius.

"What?" yelled almost all the boys. "And starve for the night?"

"The Marauders will see to it that no Gryffindors shall starve," said James grandly.

All of them pitched in to charm a huge number of ribbons.

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The next evening, the Marauders and Frank, Edgar and their group and the fifth year boys along with Marlene and Alice sneaked out to the Great Hall and positioned their ribbons.

James had the map in his hand. "Use the rear staircase!" he hissed. "Professor Flitwick is passing the main one."

After some time, the Marauders told the others to move on without them.

They had decided to do the thing properly. James and Peter went to the kitchens to wangle food for seventy hungry Gryffindors. Sirius and Remus slipped through the secret passage into Hogsmeade and bought a large number of Butterbeers.

They met in the hallway, laden with food. They were extremely noticeable by anyone pasing, but the wonderful Marauder's Map lived up to its high reputation, and they reached the common room safely.

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Nearly all the food was finished by dinner time. The Gryffindors were unnaturally silent in the common room, but there were frequent outbursts of giggling and hushing.

"Let's go to see what's happening down there," said Sirius suddenly, though it hadn't been part of the plan.

"No," said Lily. "We'll be caught."

"Let's go there, let's go there!" shouted Marlene, getting excited.

The majority voted in favour of Sirius' idea.

Like ignorant innocent children, they trooped in a single file into the Great Hall. Lily had stayed behind alone, seething that Remus and other Prefects and even the Head students had gone.

The sight in the Great Hall was worth seeing for a lifetime. Every Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff looked like a clown. Professor Flitwick was moving around, restoring them to normal.

The Slytherins were howling with rage. When they saw the Gryffindors, they very nearly lost it.

Avery tried to raise his wand and curse the Gryffindors by the door, but he tripped on his ribboned leg and fell, bringing down everyone beside him.

The Gryffindors were paralyzed with laughter. They roared so loudly that anyone in the hall who hadn't yet realized who the source of this trouble was, was no longer in any doubt.

Filch, who was skulking in the shadows, came forward, and the Gryffindors' shouts of laughter increased tenfold. Filch had also been converted into a clown.

"Who did it?" asked many of them; that hadn't been part of the plan.

There was a particularly wicked look on Sirius' face, and everyone realized it had been his doing.

After normalcy had been restored, Filch shouted nastily, "Gryffindors are banned from tomorrow's Hogsmeade visit!"

No one dared to protest; they felt they deserved it.

James and Sirius exchanged another look. They had no intention of not going to Hogsmeade, and neither were they prepared to let the other Gryffindors stay behind.

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The Slytherins, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs kept shooting triumphant glances to the Gryffindors when the latter were forced to return to the common room while the others were going out in high spirits.

The Gryffindors sat in the common room gloomily.

"We're going," declared Sirius loudly. "Not only are we going, so are the first and second years, if they wish to come.

The little children screamed and yelled in excitement.

"Can you really take us?" asked Dirk Cresswell.

"Of course," said James, grinning, pleased to see their excitement.

"Ok, so first we organize ourselves into groups. The first group goes with James and me. First year girls, follow us. Frank, could you look after them there?" said Remus.

"Yes, sure. Alice, come on!"

And with the Marauder's Map, James and Remus took the group of five to the secret passage on the ground floor. With the map, it was easy to escape any teachers coming. At the beginning of the passage, James told Frank to take them to the Hogsmeade.

By the time they returned, Sirius had organized the next group, and he and James left them at the beginning of the passage with Edgar and Hestia.

With the next group, they had to double back once because Filch was passing through the ground floor.

Finally within half an hour, the entire Gryffindor house was out in Hogsmeade. Everyone except Lily Evans, again.

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James, Sirius, Remus, Edgar, Hesia, Alice and Frank looked after the first and second years carefully. The little kids were thrilled beyond words.

They met some people of the other houses in Hogsmeade. They gaped at them in wonder, too amazed to be angry.

It was widely acknowledged as the greatest Hogsmeade visit by the Gryffindors.

"What was that map you used?" asked Marlene curiously, looking at the parchment in James' hand.

"Nothing," said James hastily. He said in a low voice to his friends, "We need a code to wipe it off after use."

The others agreed. "We'll think about it."

When the trip was over, the huge group of Gryffindors trooped in through the main doors. Filch could only stare at them and splutter, "What-how...?"

The Gryffindors were still laughing four hours later in the common room.

Sirius tapped their map with his wand and said with a grin, "Mischief Managed."

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All the other teachers turned a blind eye to Gryffindor's daring feat.

Filch complained to Dumbledore when he came back, but it only seemed to amuse the Headmaster.

"A truly great display of caution and determination," he said to Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall restrained herself from commenting.