Disclaimer: If you recognize it, then it isn't mine.

Halloween

"Wow," breathed Lily as she entered the great hall, "this is absolutely amazing."

The great hall had been decorated for Halloween, and it would have been hard for anyone, even a pureblood, to say that it was not spectacular. For Lily, who had never seen wizarding decorations before, it was even more amazing. There were small pumpkins above the tables, some of them carved into faces, some of them left plain, loads of candles, and even a few bats flapping around, up near the very top. The most noticeable decorations were the giant pumpkins floating near the enchanted ceiling.

As the girls walked in and sat down they were chatting excitedly.

"Wow, Emily, you really did a great job on these robes," said Lily gratefully. The changes were all small, however when you looked at the whole thing it was far more elegant than the normal uniform.

"I'm glad that you like them, they really fun to make." Emily had spent all afternoon altering everyone's robes until they met her requirements. Lily's were the most changed, but all the girls had had at least one alteration. Emily had explained that she liked sewing, and, although this was the first time that she had tried it, she found working with fabric using magic to be fascinating.

The girls seated themselves as far from the Marauders as they could, hoping that for tonight at least, they could simply enjoy themselves, without the boys getting in the way. Since the start of term it seemed that not so much as a week had gone by without the Marauders causing some sort of trouble.

A few minutes after they had gotten settled the dishes appeared. There was a huge selection of food; among other things Lily could see roast beef, several types of potatoes, sausages, vegetables, roast chicken, and Yorkshire puddings.

The whole table suddenly started to grab for food all at once. It was clear that, even by wizarding standards, this was an amazing meal.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The Marauders were perfectly happy to be sitting a bit apart from their housemates. They looked around, checking to see if they could talk safely. When they were sure that they wouldn't be overheard they began to go over their plans.

"Okay," said Remus, who was sort of unofficially in charge of planning, "Peter, you stay here, so that you can give the signal to the others when I wave at you. James, you go to the far end of the hall," he pointed, "and Sirius, you go to that corner. I will go near to the head table, so that I can signal Peter, who will then signal everyone to do their spells. Any questions?"

Sirius nodded, and asked, "When is it going to happen?"

"Right as dinner is being cleared away. That way we should attract the most attention."

"We'll need to move fast, men," said James, in what he clearly considered to be a very mature voice. The others clearly disagreed; they broke out laughing. After glaring at them for a moment, James could no longer contain himself, and he joined them, all four boys rolling around on the benches.

When they had finally gotten themselves under control they returned to their food, then quietly slipped off one by one.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Dinner was drawing to a close, and Lily looked up happily from her plate, having eaten her fill. "I'm really surprised that the boys haven't tried anything. I thought that there was sure to be something."

"Well," replied Emma, "they were rolling all over the place laughing earlier, but that's not bad at all. At least for them."

Suddenly there was a whooshing noise above them. The girls looked up to see that a thousand bats had just popped out of the pumpkins. They flew around the hall, and then came down to land on people.

There was pandemonium. Girls (and a few boys, although they would later deny it) were screaming in terror, and other who were not afraid of the bats were also rather unhappy.

Lily looked down at her lap, seeing that a bat had knocked food all over her when she was distracted. She looked at her friends (or, more specifically at the twins, Marlene and Alice being among those who were frightened). They all seemed to pass information between them, despite the fact that they did not speak. It was obvious that they knew who had committed the crime, and they were going to go see them. And they were not planning on discussing the weather. They all walked down the table to where the Marauders had returned to their seats. As they walked they fell into step, so that by the time they reached the Marauders they were walking shoulder to shoulder. Despite the fact that they were covered in food, they managed to look very intimidating.

The three girls looked at the boys angrily, then Emily started talking, "What, on the face of this earth possessed you to do that? What on earth were you thinking? Did you guys say to each other 'hey, you know what? I'm really bored. Why don't we ruin everyone's Halloween?' What a great idea!"

"Yeah, it was brilliant!" replied Sirius cheekily. "But, you know, you should give Remus most of the credit. He came up with the idea!"

"Calm down," said Remus cheerfully. "It was just a bit of holiday fun!" It was clear that none of the boys felt the least bit guilty.

Emma looked at Remus incredulously, "Fun? It was just fun? You don't think, do you? You didn't stop to think of the mess this would make did you? Or of the fact that for people who are afraid of bats, having them attack the people might be just a little bit scary? You people are so STUPID!" Emma was angrier than anyone had seen her before, and the boys cowered away from her.

Then, appearing to believe that the yelling was over James stepped forward and looked at Lily. Then he said hopefully, "Hey, Evans, wanna go out with me? You know, you could say yes in honor of the holiday!"

Lily looked at him, a look of pure disgust on her face. Then she said, "You really want my answer? Here it is. I'll use little words, and make it simple, so that even you can understand. Hey, Potter, wanna die?"

Author's note: I finished it. I'm sorry that it took so long, but it is finally done. Please review, and tell me if you liked it or not. I promise to respond to all reviews.