𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 || 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Chapter 24

Wednesday 1st December, 1976

It was the day of the prank. It had finally arrived, and I was up way earlier than I needed to be, nerves dancing in my stomach. What if something went wrong? What if Regulus didn't show up? What if we got caught? Was this how the marauders felt every time they pulled a prank?

I spent the morning pacing around my dorm, waiting for the minutes to pass until I needed to be at the Great Hall. Eventually I gave up, deciding that being early was better than being late. I left the Gryffindor Common room fully dressed just as the other students started waking up.

When I arrived at the Great Hall, I found Regulus already there, foot tapping on the stone floor impatiently as his eyes looked all over the Hall and the few people awake inside. I walked over to him and nudged my shoulder with his, grabbing his attention.

"You're early," I commented.

"So are you," he replied.

I grinned at him, and surprisingly he grinned back. Usually he only half smiled, or had a small smile, but right now he was full out grinning at me. I liked it.

We chatted for a bit, mostly small talk to pass the time as we were both too nervous to have an actual conversation. When people started arriving at the Great Hall, we hid around a corner close to the entrance and Regulus cast a disillusionment charm, claiming he was better at it then me.

After that we waited for our victims to arrive, trying to stay as still and quiet as possible. The stuff in my hands were heavy, and I hoped that the marauders were going to appear soon because my arms were starting to ache.

Finally, we saw the four troublesome boys enter the Great Hall, laughing with one another rather loudly. I felt Regulus's shoulder nudge mine, and together we crept towards the entrance, peeking our heads out from behind the wall so we had a clear sight of the marauders.

"Ready?" I heard Regulus ask.

"Ready," I confirmed, adrenaline and nerves pumping through my body.

I took a deep breath, briefly closing my eyes as I collected my thoughts. God, I hoped this worked. I opened my eyes with a determination and threw the objects out of my hand, letting them land right where the marauders were sitting.

Instantly, glitter burst out of the bombs, the red and green colours mixing together as they hid the marauders from view. Regulus muttered a spell, his eyes on the cloud of glitter as students and teachers alike in the Great Hall gawked and shrieked.

Regulus and I waited in tense silence for the glitter to disappear, and when it did we were not disappointed with the results. Where the marauders had been standing mere moments ago, four bright pink flamingos stood in their place, squawking and flapping their wings.

The Great Hall erupted into cheers, screams, and laughter as everyone stared, shocked, at the four troublemakers of Hogwarts that were now flamingos. The disillusionment charm on Regulus and I disappeared, and I launched myself at him, enveloping him in a hug.

Regulus froze, his whole-body stiffening against mine, before I found his arms wrapping around me and pulling me closer. We stayed there like that for one blissful second and I inhaled his scent, pine needles and mint. After, I let go, looking down at the ground embarrassedly. Thankfully Regulus didn't seem to notice my flustered state as his eyes darted to the Great Hall where the teachers were now hurrying towards the four boys, which had caused quite a bit of trouble in their short time as flamingos.

The shortest one, Peter, was running around, screeching at random students causing them to shriek and, in one case, fall off their seats altogether. James, the flamingo with the glasses, was stealing random students' food, the students in question too scared to tell him off. Sirius, the most flamboyant of them all with the brightest shade of pink and lushest feathers, was standing on the Gryffindor table and squawking like mad, as if he was giving a speech. Remus, the calmest of them all, was sitting in the seat he had previously been using and was serenely eating his food.