A Siriusly Good Prank (Marauders/Jily/Wolfstar)

10-Put That On Your F***ing Pins

"What the hell?"

James groaned and rolled over. It was way too early, especially as he had been up until four in the morning.

Then he sat up, remembering. Lily agreed to go out with me!

"James?" Sirius's voice cracked with bitterness. "Did you do this?"

"Huh?" James fumbled for his glasses. "Do what?"

"This." With loathing in his voice, Sirius lifted a scarf with two fingers. A Slytherin scarf.

"Oh!" James sat up. "Hell yeah, I did that! Ten points, right, Moony?"

"Remus?" Sirius turned, a surprisingly angry expression on his face. "You helped with this?"

"No," Remus mumbled, still half-asleep. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"James," Sirius said, biting off the words, "has replaced all of my ties and scarves with ones of Slytherin House."

"I got Lily to help me," James said, oblivious to Sirius's temper. "She said—"

"Why would you do that?"

Surprised, James looked at his friend. "What? We can get your stuff back—"

"That's not what I mean." Dumping the clothes unceremoniously on the floor, Sirius stormed out of the room.

Bemused, James glanced at Remus. "What did I do?"

"I don't want to know." Remus's face remained firmly buried in his pillow.

Peter sat up, scanning the room. "Where'd Padfoot go?"

"I don't know," James sighed, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, shivering at the burst of cold air. "Someone shut the damn window, I'm going to go talk to him."

In the common room, Sirius was sitting in front of the fire, staring into the flames.

"Padfoot," James said. "What's going on? Tell me what I did."

Sirius just looked at him.

"We can get your stuff back," James said. "It's a prank, Padfoot."

"It's a sight more than that," Sirius finally said. "James...seeing all that Slytherin stuff this morning, it was like my worst nightmare, the one where I wind up just like my family."

James stiffened. "Oh, Merlin. Sirius, I didn't mean it like—"

"I know you didn't," Sirius said quietly.

"The thing is," James said. "The reason it's a prank—is because you're the complete opposite of a Slytherin."

Sirius didn't move, but his eyes flicked to James beneath his curtain of dark hair. James pressed on.

"And—the fact is, Severus Snape is going to wake up in the morning with the same predicament; staring at a closet full of Gryffindor clothes, and it's the complete opposite of him, because it's you."

Sirius finally glanced up. 

"That's cleverer than I'm going to give you credit for," Sirius said. "He'll probably be apoplectic—"

"POTTER!"

James cringed at the sound coming from outside the portrait-hole. Sirius's face spread into a wide grin.

"POTTER, OPEN THIS DOOR, RIGHT NOW."

James stood up, stretched, and casually made his way over to the portrait hole. "Bit early to pronounce your undying love to me, Snivellus," he called. "But by all means, go for it."

"You scum," Severus hissed as the portrait hole cracked open. "Take your disgusting Gryffindor clothes—take them—"

"What's going on?"

James turned as Lily, wearing a thin, heather-gray sweater and jeans, hair in a high ponytail, approached the portrait-hole.

"Do you see this?" Severus spat. "Do you see what this imbecile—this disgusting filth—"

"Yes," Lily said. "And I helped with it."

Severus stiffened. "You did what?"

Lily reached into her back pocket and pulled something out. James gasped as it flashed in the sunlight and he realized what it was—one of the pins from last night.

"This was pinned to your robes," Lily said conversationally. "But tell me again how sorry you are that you called me a Mudblood."

Severus went pale, and was gaping like a fish. "I—Lily—how can you help him—when—"

"Sev, save it," Lily said, and she looked as surprised as James was that the nickname slipped out. "Cease your worthless apologies; I know they mean nothing."

Without saying another word, Severus turned and headed down the hallway.

"Oh, and I'm going out with him!" Lily shouted after him. "Put that on your fucking pins!"

"You're what?" Sirius asked, astonished. "When were you going to tell me this, Prongs?"

James grinned. "Right before you stormed out."

Lily sighed. "Sorry about the Slytherin thing," she said. "James's idea."

"I had better get ten points for it," James said.

Sirius squinted. "You know...instead of sneaking into the Slytherin dorms, you could have just...charmed my stuff to look like Slytherin stuff."

"I couldn't pass up the chance to piss off Snivellus," James said. "Lily said no, but I knew she'd come around."

"You jerk," Lily said. "You made me sneak out of Gryffindor Tower at one o'clock in the morning—"

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that."

Remus appeared downstairs, wearing robes but still looking as rumpled as if he'd just rolled out of bed. "Have we all finished arguing?"

"We have," James said. "Now, where are my ten points? I should get bonus points for managing to get into the Slytherin dorms."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Twelve points."

"And twenty Galleons," James added, quickly sliding his hand into Lily's.

Remus groaned. "Lily, how could you betray me like that?"

Lily shrugged. "Sorry. I tried."

"Two more weeks left of Pranktober," Sirius said. "Lily, you've got until Halloween to change your mind. Don't let us down."

"We'll see," Lily said. "Come on. Let's get breakfast."