Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
The students of Hogwarts had been finding letters hidden in peculiar places all day; concealed in their copy of the Daily Prophet, in their potions text books, some even found a letter in their shoes.
The letters were the same, word for word.
Dear Students of Hogwarts,
You're all probably wondering why we are writing to you and the answer is simple, the future of awesome pranks and random conversations is in jeopardy.
Let us explain, since our departure from Hogwarts not one of you have performed a prank and that won't do, so to give you an incentive, we are offering a year supply of our products to the person or persons who complete our list of challenges,
1. Redecorate the potions classroom, in a way that bugs Snape.
How you decorate it is up to you.
2. Walk around barefoot with paint on the soles of your feet.
It'll bug Filch.
3. Use water balloons, dung bombs and spray paint all in one prank.
What you do is up to you, be creative.
4. "Swap houses".
Sit at any house table that isn't your own, wear that house uniform and no matter what, claim you were sorted into that house your first year
5. Hug Professor McGonagall and tell her you love her.
Do this every day for two weeks.
6. Break into Snape's quarters, steal his stuff and then auction it off in potions.
7. Opposite day.
Do the opposite of whatever a Professor tells you to do.
8. Pretend to be injured to get Hagrid to carry you to the castle, when you get to the castle tell Hagrid you were faking it.
More challenges will arrive at a later date.
Sincerely Fred and George Weasley.
It was silently agreed upon by the students that as long as nobody got hurt, no student was embarrassed and the pranks were aimed at the Professors then the letters and the challenge would be kept amongst themselves.
The day after the letters arrived the students were curious to who'd be the first person brave enough to start the challenge; oddly it was a student nobody would've guessed in a million years, Neville Longbottom.
Neville was tired of being seen as the clumsy boy who Snape liked to belittle and wanted to be seen as the Gryffindor he truly was.
Neville chose to do the Swap Houses challenge and the house he chose was Slytherin.
At lunchtime he sat at the Slytherin table, wearing his newly charmed uniform showing the Slytherin emblem and his tie in Slytherin colours.
Knowing it was a prank and being curious about what their head of house would do about a Gryffindor claiming to be a Slytherin, just carried on as if Neville wasn't there.
It took five minutes for both Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall to notice Neville at the Slytherin table, and somehow sensing the Professors observation the students descended in silence and waited to see what was going to happen.
They watched as the Professors got down from the teachers table and walk over to the Slytherin table,
"Mister Longbottom, please explain why you're not sitting at the Gryffindor table?," Professor McGonagall asked, her left eyebrow arched.
"Because I am sitting at my house table," Neville told her, feigning puzzlement at the question.
"Mister Longbottom, you have never been a member of my house, thank Merlin," Professor Snape said, muttering the last two words.
"Um, I think I know what house I was sorted into and that house was Slytherin," Neville said, looking at Snape as if he was crazy, causing restrained laughter from the other students.
"Mister Longbottom, I don't know what is going on here, but you are a member of Gryffindor and you should be proud of that," Professor McGonagall huffed.
"Professor McGonagall, if I were a Gryffindor I'd be proud of it, but I am a Slytherin. I don't understand why, you and Professor Snape keep denying it," Neville said, acting confused.
"Longbottom, you have not nor will you ever be a member of Slytherin," Professor Snape said.
"Ask any student you want, they'll back me up," Neville said, knowing Snape would pick a Slytherin and wanting to test how on board the Slytherins were with the challenge.
"Fine, Mister Malfoy, what house does Mister Longbottom belong to?," Professor Snape asked.
Feeling the glance of every student on him, each expecting him to ruin Neville's prank, Draco Malfoy did the exact opposite,
"Um, Longbottom is a Slytherin, sir," Draco said, shocking himself and everyone else.
"Now, if you don't mind Professors I and my fellow Slytherins want to eat our lunch in peace," Neville said, grinning.
Both Professors looked up at Dumbledore silently asking what to do next, Dumbledore seeing no problem with a Gryffindor sitting at the Slytherin table just shrugged his shoulders, as if to say come back and eat lunch, who cares whether he's a Slytherin or Gryffindor.
As Neville watched his head of house and the potions master walk away he couldn't help, but think, Neville one, everybody else nil.