The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

A Rucksack Full of Filibuster's

A Rucksack Full of Filibusters

It took Frank Longbottom, Tobias Shaw, Andy Woodhouse, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black all to carry the sacks full of Filibuster's that they had managed to collect over the course of a single day from the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws. Marlene McKinnon had produced a box full of them. "Who knew Ravenclaws had it in'em? I thought they were all goodie-goodies!" Frank had said when Sirius invited him into the Third Years' dormitory to look over the goods. At quarter past one, Sirius had used a charm to make the map small enough to fit in his palm to conceal it from the Fourth Year boys and by one thirty the troop of the seven of them departed the Gryffindor Common Room carrying seven sacks of Filibuster's Fireworks over their shoulders.

It took some maneuvering to get through the castle without using the tunnels and secret passageways to avoid Filch, but after some time they managed to reach the entrance hall. Sirius motioned for the others to stand guard while he went to the huge, towering doors of the Great Hall, which were shut fast for the night. He stared up at them and reached for the large iron handle, tugging it open with all his might. The door slowly swung forward, surprisingly soundless, and he looked about inside for a moment, at the moonlit enchanted ceiling and real moonlight coming in through tall narrow windows lining both sides of the huge room. It was silent and still. Sirius waved for the others to follow as he stepped inside.

The four long house tables stood below their banners - Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. It felt strange hanging a right in the doors and going toward the Slytherin table. They put down their bags and Sirius untied the top of his, taking out the first of the narrow, colorful firework stalks. He held it in his hand and grinned at the Slytherin table, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Oh bloody hell this is gonna be good," he murmured, and he drew his wand, heading for the table. "Manere," he said, waving his wand over the length of the firework. A gooey, clear substance appeared in the trail of the wand tip, and he bent down, laying over the bench backward so he was looking up at the bottom of the table and stuck the firework to the wood. It stayed very well. "There we are," he whispered, and held his hand out, wiggling his fingers. "Another." Frank Longbottom ran forward and put another firework into Sirius's outstretched hand.

And so it went for almost an hour. Sirius moved now and then to a new location to adhere the fireworks more evenly along the bottom surface of the table, using the gluing charm to stick them on securely, being very careful to keep them far enough to the center of the table so that none of the Slytherins would feel they were there until the time had come. He snickered evilly as he aimed them all different directions.

They ran out of table far before they ran out of fireworks. "And you were afraid we might not have enough!" Sirius said, elbowing James.

"I stand corrected, mate," James said.

Frank collected up the ones they'd unpacked and shoved them into the remaining rucksack. "Now what?" he asked.

Sirius said, "Now we go back to bed and wait. Tomorrow night at dinner..." he waved his hands up over his head with a whistle, then clapped loudly to simulate the explosion.

Normally, Remus would've pointed out how bloody dangerous adhering explosives to the bottom of a table and planning to set them off while people were sitting about it was. Currently, however, his back still ached from the burning salve that Madam Pomfrey had pressed against his skin and he was wearing a jumper that Sirius had tried to throw out because it'd turned green and he really didn't give a damn if a firework blew the bits right off of Evan Rosier, so long as it meant getting back at the Slytherins for the way they'd treated him.