Half-Blood Means Two Things || Marauders Era | Percy Jackson ||

|| 24 - I'll Probably Be Banned From Quidditch, Too ||

Pranks are my life. Always have been, always will be.

And before Hogwarts, training and campfires had been the other two parts of my life.

Now my life while still dominated by pranks was ruled by schoolwork and tests.

However, even though I was swarmed with an unusual amount of homework, I still found time to prank people.

In DADA, still taught by Professor Binns, I changed Lady Leach's hair every chance I got. She knew without a doubt it was me, but I had mastered the talent of seeming innocent, and Binns wasn't going to condemn me to detention on Leach's screeches and accusations.

After our Halloween prank, dubbed the Sticks Visit or The Victory of the Challenge of Halloween Night (the latter was said by the Ravenclaws who had all taken their victory quite to the heart), I had done my best to seem innocent of every accusation. And there were a lot.

Surprisingly, there were a ton of benefits to the Marauders-me-Peeves prank.

For one, Peeves had now accepted the Marauders and I into his little group, and while he still tormented us while we were in public, he came to us if he needed a pair of human hands for a prank and we went to him if we needed someone who locked doors couldn't stop... or walls. It was a precarious alliance, but I was just glad that there was at least one spirit at Hogwarts who didn't despise me because of my dad.

Another gain from the epic prank, the girls had finally accepted me!!! Thea still didn't like me, but Rowan had hinted that it wasn't because of me specifically. I was also informed that spitting pumpkin juice on her on the first day of school was not the source of hatred. Part of me wondered if it was my family. I'd heard a rumor that something terrible had happened to Thea's mom and that they hadn't caught the culprit. Sound familiar?

The girls obviously didn't know that I had helped with the Halloween prank, and as long as I lived, they'd never know. Emilia had never really apologized, but considering she didn't dump freezing water on my face to wake me up anymore, I figured we were good.

And possibly the best benefit of the whole prank? The Marauders had stopped bothering me! They admired me, even. Black, who had choked on his pumpkin juice when Dumbledore had mentioned my alias was completely convinced that I had tricked both Leach, Filch, and Dumbledore. When in reality, I had totally been caught, but Dumbledore had kept that to himself. Did he feel guilty for sending me to detention knowing I might die? Maybe. Or maybe he just liked good ol' pranks.

In any case, the Marauders now praised me for my parts in the Sticks Visit prank, and now, if I needed a certain blonde pair of twins pranked while I had a rock-solid alibi... well, the Marauders had my back. But of course, when I hung out with the girls, they still teased us. We have reputations to uphold!

While Black admired my nonexistent trickery over Dumbledore, that didn't mean he liked me. He still disliked me from all the insults I'd thrown at him and I didn't think he'd even forgive me for sticking gum in his precious hair, but we could now tolerate each other if we were within three feet. And he even let me make fun of his hair once without threatening to hex me until I couldn't walk straight.

James and Remus were probably my closest guy friends other than Castro, but he was starting to get a little annoyed whenever I mentioned the Marauders. Castro was one of the only ones that knew I was pranking pals with the Marauders. If Emilia ever found out... well I'd be sleeping in the Owlery for the rest of the school year. I knew Castro didn't like the Marauders, though he refused to tell me why, so in a petty way, I made sure to mention whatever latest prank I'd pulled. In fact, Castro's dislike of Black was the whole reason we were friends. He'd come to me so I could train him to duel a certain arrogant Gryffindor boy in DADA... but that was back when Vega had been teaching it.