Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Ninety-Three - School's Out

Author's Note: Hey everyone! I can't believe we're here already! The end of Book One!!! It's been quite a journey and I really hope y'all have enjoyed it as much as I have! I also really hope that everyone enjoys Book Two just as much! It's already out!

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Then it was Friday. Herbology was the last class of the day for the first year Gryffindors, then they had the entire afternoon ahead of them before the feast... before BounceIt. Remus felt rather jittery as the time grew closer, still excited, also very nervous. Peter was rather twitchy while Sirius kept running his fingers through his hair. Only James seemed confident they wouldn't get caught. This wasn't as fun a prank as the bat-bogey one but... hopefully it'd be their biggest one. If they could get away with the bat-bogey one and the Valentine's prank, James said, they could get away with this one.

The Great Hall was decked out in yellow and black, and Dumbledore announced that Hufflepuff had won the House Cup. The badgers all cheered wildly while most the lions glared at James and Sirius who pretended like they didn't care.

"We definitely could have won if it wasn't for you two," Inkwood said rather darkly.

"Honestly!" Lily agreed. "You two lost us the cup."

"La dee da!" James retorted while Sirius gave a two finger salute along with a raspberry. "There are more important things than points. Like, having fun. Which I had in aboundance this year, thank you very much!" He gave a nod then bent in close to Remus whispering, "Did I use that word right?"

"Er, almost," replied Remus. "It's abundance."

"Ooh, right, yeah."

About fifteen minutes before Dumbledore would make his final speech, James and Peter set off the rockets. They whizzed through the air, exploding over the high table. Remus and Sirius quickly slipped out the door as quietly as they could, hoping nobody would notice them. Immediately they began working. Remus shot out the webbing spell all over the ceiling and walls, while Sirius worked on spongifying the floor. They worked hard and fast, getting quite sweaty before heading back in. The rockets were still going off so most the attention was on there. They got back into their seats, giving low fives to each other.

Once the rockets died down Dumbledore gave a small speech about another year gone, how he hoped everyone enjoyed their time there, congratulated all the seventh years on their graduation, then the feast was over.

The results weren't as spectacular as the four had hoped, but they were still pretty great. Almost immediately there were shrieks from outside the doors which made more students hurry to go see what was going on, which meant more shrieking. Too many students hung back, not really joining in on the bouncing fun, but there were plenty who did go out. The four Marauders hopped up, trying to look. They caught a glimpse of a couple students stuck up on the ceiling in the webbing. James covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. They could hear students bouncing, yelping as they went, some cursing.

Then Sirius gave a gasp. He yanked the other three close, telling them his idea, then he and Pete began grabbing stuff off the nearest table. Because of the crowd nobody really saw them as they put various dishes down on the ground where James and Remus promptly began transfiguring them into mice which promptly took off into the crowd.

There were screams of surprise and some fear, then a surge towards the door, pushing more students out into BounceIt. That was about as much as the Marauders could take as they finally gave in to their laughter.

"Remus?" Lily pushed her way over. "Is this their fault?!"

"Why must you think the worst of us all the time?" James asked, adjusting his glasses.