AN: Hey all! Ignis here, finally back! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in so long, but I've been going through quite the writer's block and this is the only chapter I have written for any story. As always, thanks to Puppy for betaing this chapter.

And a big thank you, too, to all of you favoriting, following and reviewing, it means a lot!

Now...ON WITH THE STORY!

"Who're you writing to, Harry?" Asked Hermione that afternoon while the first and third-year Gryffindors were sitting in the common room after their classes.

Today had been their first real day of school, yesterday didn't count since the only thing they did was the Feast, and she had to admit that Harry's family were great teachers. The ones they had met today taught the theory incredibly well, but quickly moved on to the practice. Something that Professor James had said stuck with her, "Doesn't matter if you can say exactly how to turn a book into an umbrella. If you can't actually do it and it starts to rain, you will end up soaked wet anyway!"

"Uncle Sirius," she heard her friend's answer, bringing her back to the present, "I need some supplies for something I'm planning, Nott won't know what hit him." He told them, the last nothing more than a little mutter.

The raven-haired boy stood up and walked towards one of the windows, letter in hand. Opening it, in came his beautiful snowy owl, extending her leg so her human could tie the letter.

"To uncle Sirius, girl," he told Hedwig, firmly tying the parchment to her leg, "wait for an answer before coming back, ok?" He said, scratching her chin, "now go!"

The snowy owl bobbed her head once and sped out the window. Once she couldn't be seen anymore, Harry turned around and walked back towards the rest, sitting down again.

"What is it that you're planning, Harrykins?" Asked Fred, a grin on his face.

"Oh, just a little project to bring Nott back down to Earth, anyone want to help?" Answered the young metamorphmagus, returning the grin.

"We're in!" Said the twins in their typical stereo, "what do you want to do? Change his hair colour? Make his skin green? Vanish his hair?..." Added Fred.

"Make him sing instead of talking? Walk funny? Pee angry bees?" Continued George.

"Guys, wait a bit, let's see if the others…" Started Harry, trailing off as he registered that last one, "wait, 'pee angry bees'? Doesn't matter, anyone else want to help?" He asked, looking around.

One by one, the rest of the group of friends answered in the affirmative, until only Hermione was left.

"Hermione?" Harry asked softly, coming closer to the bushy-haired girl, "will you help?"

"I don't know." She muttered, averting her eyes, her cheeks sporting a light dusting of pink.

Inside the girl's mind, a heated debate was taking place.

'SAY YES! HE'S GIVING YOU AN OPENING TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME WITH HIM!' Shouted her conscience.

'But it's against the rules! What if we get in trouble?' Retorted her logical side.

'Screw the rules! His parents were pranksters in their school days, and now both are Professors!' Her conscience argued, 'Now go and accept! Do you want him for yourself or not?!'

"Look at it this way," her friend's voice brought her back to the real world, a knee-melting grin on his face, "to make this plan work, we will need to research quite a bit into the interactions between different potion ingredients, and how to brew pretty complex potions with them. Also, we will need to learn some Transfiguration and Charms, maybe even some simple Runes to make sure everything works as expected." He told her.

She looked around her before giving her answer.

"Okay," she sighed, a small smile on her face, her cheeks still flushed from Harry's grin "I'm in."

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

It was the next morning that Hedwig delivered a package for Harry during breakfast. After Potions, their last class of the day, Professor Petunia asked him to stay behind, her eyes widening a bit when she noticed the rest of the Gryffindor first years waiting for him.

"I saw the package you received this morning," she started, pausing to let the other first years sweat, she knew that Harry knew that he wasn't actually in trouble.

'It's over, she caught us, Harry's in trouble…' Hermione kept repeating in her mind like a mantra, so it came as a surprise when she heard her professor's next words.

"...did you make sure that it couldn't be traced back to you?" Tuni asked, a hint of mischief coming into her voice.

"The package was just potion ingredients bought in the apothecary by uncle Sirius, don't worry, you taught me better than that," Harry answered with a smirk.

"Huh? Wait, we aren't in trouble?" Asked Lavender, her eyes wide.

"Why would you? You haven't done anything yet, and if you can't be caught, or it can't be proven that it was you, well, a prankster doesn't mess with other pranksters." The professor said, a mischievous glint in her eyes and a smirk on her face.

"Wait, what?" Hermione asked, dumbfounded.

Tuni chuckled a bit before curtseying, "Madame Sphinx of the Marauders, at your services." She told them before straightening up again.

"So we aren't in trouble?" Asked Seamus, he wanted to make sure of that.

"As I said, you haven't done anything yet," Petunia shrugged, "now, as a professor, I shouldn't help you with a prank. But, that doesn't mean that if a group of students asked me about how some ingredients may react together, or what ingredients can give a certain result, I wouldn't answer." She told them with a wink.

With that, and after the kids had asked her a couple of questions, she let them go.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

The group of friends met in the library after that, a pile of books on different topics in front of them.

The twins and Lee were scribbling down some rune combinations, discussing a bit, trying them and starting the process again while Angelina and Alicia did some Arithmantic calculations, checking the boys' work from time to time and giving them some suggestions.

The first years, for their part, were checking over timed-activated transfiguration and charm spells, and the recipes for the potions they would need, asking the third years when they didn't fully understand what the book meant.

Harry was sitting beside Hermione, a transfiguration book in his hands when he felt a little weight settle on his shoulder. Turning, he felt his cheeks heat up and a small smile stretch across his face.

Hermione was reading a Potions book, taking notes from time to time, and had subconsciously leant on his arm, her head coming to rest on top of his shoulder.

He slowly, shyly, wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders, his blush intensifying and prompting one from the girl, who simply snuggled a bit further into his side.

"When do you think we will be ready?" Asked Neville, looking over his book at the two.

"The potions will take a couple of hours to make and about eight to let simmer after that. That's not taking into account having the rune clusters ready, I would say we will be ready by next week." Said Harry thoughtfully, his blush receding when his focus switched.

"I think sooner, Harrykins," said George, lifting his head from the parchment where they were scribbling the runes, "Fred and I can make one of the potions in our dorm, and the runes are almost ready, we're just working out a few kinks, so at most, this Friday." He told the younger boy with a smirk.

"Oh, I'll go in this Friday and get everything done, then." Said Harry, blushing once again when Hermione snuggled her head in the crook of his neck.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

That Friday afternoon, as they were sitting in the common room after dinner, Harry gave a nod to his friends and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauders' Map from his pockets, leaving the tower.

Pulling the Cloak on and activating the Map, he made his way towards the stairs that led to the Slytherin Dungeon.

Waiting just outside the doorway that led to the stairs were the two people that would help him get inside without problems.

As the son of the future Lord of one of the highest-ranking pureblood families, his family had been invited to multiple balls and parties over the years, parties where he had met some people that, while not as close as Susan and Neville, were still good friends. These two, for example, had taken quite a liking to his little sisters, forging a big sibling bond with them, and that made them alright in his book.

Because of that, he had sent a note with one of the school owls to one of them, asking for both of their help. This morning he had received an affirmative answer from them.

"Harry?" Asked the blonde on the left.

"You there?" Added the brunette on the right.

"Yes." He whispered, brushing their arms with the Cloak.

Both girls nodded and started to lead him down the stairs.

"So, will you tell us why you need our help with getting inside the Dungeons?" Asked the brunette, turning towards where they thought Harry would be.

"Come on, Tracey, you and Daphne know well enough that I'm not one to leave something like what Nott said without punishment." Answered the boy. Both girls could hear the vindictive smirk in his voice.

"I should have known this had something to do with a prank," giggled Daphne, shaking her head, "could we know what you will do?"

"You'll find out tomorrow morning, miss Greengrass." Came Harry's mock-formal answer.

Soon, they found themselves in front of a bare stretch of stone wall. Daphne simply leaned a bit forward and whispered a couple of words, prompting the wall to slide away, revealing a doorway into the Slytherin common room.

Once inside, Harry went to stand in a corner, waiting until he could be sure that Nott and his dorm mates were asleep before making his move.

He spent a couple of hours standing there before starting.

The boy walked towards the room where the Map told him the Slytherin first years, and more importantly, Theodore Nott, were.

"Homenum Statum Revelio." He whispered, aiming his wand towards the room's door and sending a silent thanks to his auntie Amelia when the spell result came back.

'They are all asleep, thank Hekate.' He thought to himself, before silently opening the door and making his way inside.

The first thing he noticed was that, contrary to his own dorm, down here they had each a personal room inside a bigger one.

'This will make my job much easier.' He chuckled, making his way inside the room labelled Nott.

First, he went towards the boy's closet and quickly stitched the runes, making sure not to commit any errors, before casting a timed compulsion spell on them so he would wear them the next morning. Then, he did the same with a pair of shoes, just instead of the runes, he cast a timed transfiguration spell on them.

Once that was done, he went towards the bathroom and emptied the shampoo bottle, replacing the contents with one of the potions, before doing the same with the body soap.

With everything done, he silently made his way out the Slytherin Dungeon and up towards his own dorm.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

The next morning, the group of friends were sitting having breakfast, with Harry sitting so he had a clear view of the Slytherin table. That had the downside that he had to witness Ron Weasley's table manners, but it was a small price to pay for seeing their vict- err, I mean, target.

Soon, he noticed the fruit of their efforts, so he covertly nudged Hermione with his elbow and caught the Slytherin girls' eye, giving them, and the rest of the group in front of himself, an almost imperceptible nod.

First, Nott's hair turned a bright yellow while his skin took a neon green colouration. Then his robes started to cycle through every colour imaginable and his shoes became fish. In short, he looked a mess.

Soon, the snickering started from around Nott, it quickly spread over the Great Hall and evolved into chuckling, then full-blown laughter echoed throughout the hall. The first years had some idea as to why this had happened to Nott, and most decided that it wouldn't be in their best interest to mess with one Harry Potter in the future.

Professor Flitwick was pretty sure of what had happened too, but he also knew that Harry would have covered his tracks extremely well, so the chances of him being punished were slim to none.

"POTTER!" Came the shout from the Slytherin table, "how dare you do this to me, you dirty half-blood?!"

The laughter ceased at once, the insulting interruption being heard by all in the hall.

"Those are some pretty heavy accusations you're throwing around, Nott," Harry said, his voice an icy whisper, "I hope you do have proof? Because that was a pretty strong insult you just used against me."

"I agree with Mister Potter on that, Mister Nott," said Minerva from the head table, "and no matter if you do or not, that will be 25 points from Slytherin for the blood-insult against Mister Potter."

"Just check his wand!" Nott snarled, pointing at the taller, leaner boy.

"Mister Potter?" Asked Minerva, looking at Harry.

"No problem, headmistress." He answered, walking towards the head table and unpocketing his wand, presenting it to the teachers.

"Priori Incantatem." Flitwick said, pointing his wand at the boy's, nodding when the spell was done. "I only see some levitation charms and a couple of simple transfigurations, I guess that's what your classes have been about?" He asked, looking at James and Lily.

"Yes, professor," nodded Harry, "I have been practising them with the help of some of the older students." He told them.

"Very well," nodded Flitwick, handing the boy his wand back, "now, let's see what we can do about Mister Nott's erm, condition." He said, walking towards the green boy.

"Finite." He said, pointing his wand at Nott, but he didn't expect the effect the spell had.

Instead of turning Nott's clothes back to their normal black, the hidden runes inside the robes did their second job, enlarging them and accelerating the colour cycling. And when it came to his skin, it turned bright red while his hair took his skin's prior green colour. The fish on his feet were the only things that turned back to normal.

This was enough for the laughter to resume, and for Flitwick to walk away from the boy. He didn't know what Harry had done, but it definitely wasn't charms work.

"The hair and skin look like potions," whispered James to the rest of the older Marauders at the head table, "Sphinx?"

"They are," confirmed Petunia, "he asked Padfoot to buy the ingredients at the apothecary, and most of them were common for a first-year."

"I suspected as much, what about the clothes?" Asked Bella.

"I guess compulsion charms so he would wear them, and runes in the robes so a finite wouldn't have the normal effect. But how did he get into the Dungeons?" Wondered Narcissa from her seat beside Septima Vector.

"Greengrass and Davis," said Lily, "they are friends with Harry, remember? I wouldn't be surprised if either they let him in, or he told them what to do." She told them, looking at the two laughing girls with a small smile, they reminded her a lot of Tuni and Bella back in the day.

"No matter how it was achieved, it was a very well done prank, don't you think so?" Said Remus, coming to stand behind his wife from his seat beside Hagrid and Kettleburn, giving Cissy a kiss on top of her head.

The whole group of Marauders nodded, James making a mental note to send Sirius, Amelia and Regulus a copy of the memory to watch. He may even ask Harry for a memory of how he did it over the Christmas break.

Hermione was leaning against Harry, her head resting on his shoulder and tears streaming down her face, her sides hurt from laughing so much. She knew what they had done was against the rules, but seeing the fruit of their work, and knowing just how the blood purists thought of her and Harry, it was hard to care much about it.

Harry was looking down at the girl at his side, a small smile on his face, before leaning down close to her head. "Told you it would be fun." He whispered in her ear, eliciting a small shiver from the still laughing girl.

"And you were right Harry, thank you." She answered between giggles, calming herself enough to give the boy a kiss on the cheek, eliciting a blush from him.

The first prank of the year, if you don't count the Hat letting a sword fall on Harry's head as a prank, had been made and the seeds of friendship between the Gryffindor first years had taken root.

'Yes,' thought Harry looking at his laughing friends, his blush still coming full force, 'this year is definitely going to be awesome.'

AN: So, how was it? Good? Bad? Let me know in the reviews! Also, if you spot any mistakes, don't worry about letting me know! It's the only way I'll know where to improve after all!

Now, before completely closing this chapter I want to ask you guys and gals reading this, what do you want to come next? Let me explain.

As the ones reading this story the longest know, I started this as a one-shot, and as such, I don't really have a plot pre-planned for this, and really, we all have read first-year fics and we all know how they go most of the time, so I want to know what are you interested in reading, more so than me just going with all the clichés. Let me know that in the reviews too.

Also, for those of you reading Heroes Never Die, I'm sorry to say that I literally don't know what to write for it, I'm still stuck at 420 words for the Christmas chapter and have no idea how to continue it, but I will someday come back to it, so please be patient!

Well, that's all from me, so I'll see you in my next chapter or story!