Pink-ified Ghosts
James’ POV
James walked into the common room, spotting Remus lying on the couch with a book in his hands. Mary was sprawled across him, humming a song James didn’t recognize.
“Hey,” James quietly stepped over to the two. “Remus, we have to- to go,” he trailed off and tried to gesture with his hands.
Remus looked up at him, an eyebrow raised, “What?”
“The thing, with Peter,” James looked at him expectantly trying to show his words with his eyes.
The other boy sat there a moment, putting the pieces together. “Oh! The- yeah, no, ok!”
Mary looked at James curiously as she readjusted herself to allow Remus to get up. “It's so late, what are you three even getting up to at this hour?”
“You’ll see,” James shot her a mischievous grin as Remus walked over to his side.
Mary rolled her eyes and huffed as they walked away, up to the dorms. Peter was waiting outside of their room with the invisibility cloak and map. When he saw them he quickly unfolded the cloak to allow them all inside. Per usual, he had to become Wormtail.
“It’s not exactly fair, is it?” He whined as he handed the map off to James.
“Well, Wormy, one day you’ll learn that nothing in life is truly fair,” James said, earning a scoff from Peter.
Remus took the cloak and scooped Wormtail up and onto his shoulder. Him and James barely managed to fit and they carefully shuffled downstairs. Mary was still on the couch, humming the same song from earlier. She had picked up Remus’ book which he’d forgotten on the sofa.
After they made their way past her they attempted to open the portrait hole quietly, but didn’t particularly succeed in that. Luckily for them, however, Mary seemed too tired to care about the odd noise from the hall.
James whispered to Remus, “Start here, shall we?”
“S’pose so,” he responded as he took out his wand and showed James through the motions of his carefully developed spell. When they had finished up with the paintings near the Gryffindor common room, they moved to the staircase chamber and went about switching up the paintings.
They had received complaints from about half of the portraits, but managed to get them to quiet down when they explained that it would wear off in a few days. However, they didn’t know if that was even true, they just hoped it would be. Getting to the dorms would be a hassle if all of the paintings they’d altered were yelling at them, and there would be imminent detention; no chance of getting away with it.
James and Remus had only one place left to cover, which was the dungeons. They’d been at this prank for hours, getting squeaked at a few times by Wormy when they thought they’d covered everything. They rushed through the cold stony halls, taking the cloak off to try to cover more ground.
It wasn’t smart to separate or to ditch the cloak, but they did it nonetheless. James and Remus were exhausted and truly not thinking straight. James had been assigned to go right, which would lead him to the Slytherin dorms. He’d also been given the cloak so that if any Slytherin were awake, they’d miss him.
When James reached the entrance to the dorms, however, he realized he didn’t actually know the password. So instead, he sat there, hoping someone would pass by. He’d been there ten minutes or so when he heard footsteps clicking their way down the hall.
It didn’t sound like Remus, but it could’ve been. Although, they had said to meet back at the stairs. When the person rounded the corner James saw that it was Regulus Black. His cloak billowed behind him in a dramatic fashion as he hurried down the hall, straight towards James.
The Gryffindor boy pushed himself against one of the walls closest to the Slytherin entrance. He waited for Regulus to stand in front of the door before inching forward to wait behind him.
“Vermillion,” Regulus said, pushing the entrance open.
James hurried inside, closing the door as quickly as he could. No one else was in the common room, so he stood back, waiting for Regulus to leave. The other boy, however, made himself comfortable on one of the large, dark green sofas in front of the unlit fireplace.
James held back an annoyed sigh as he looked around the common room, taking in the coldness of the place. It wasn’t his first time sneaking in, but it was always so odd to walk into the dark, stony room. It was stark in contrast to the Gryffindor common room which was cozy and welcoming. This, however, was grim and uninviting.
Regulus threw his head back on the couch, letting out a long breath. He ran a hand down his face as he shut his eyes and took slow breaths. It almost seemed as though he was counting them, but James couldn’t quite tell.
The other boy stood awkwardly, waiting for him to leave or fall asleep. James soon decided, though, that he wouldn’t be going anywhere. He went to stand behind the couch, trying to get a good angle to hit the painting. Once he was content with his placement, he carefully pulled his wand from the cloak and followed the movement Remus had shown him.
Under his breath James muttered the spell and watched as the serpent morphed into a skeleton, practically just a spine. It looked pretty sick, James decided, as it slithered about and hissed in confusion. Regulus opened his eyes when he heard the noise from the snake, and froze when he saw it had changed.
“What the fuck,” he said under his breath, although loud enough for James to hear.
The other boy snickered as he backed away, watching Regulus’ face turn from confusion to annoyance.
“Potter,” he turned to the general area in which James was standing. His eyes searched the room for some sign of the boy, and when he couldn’t find one, he stood. “If you’re doing this to fuck with me then piss off.”
James held his breath and backed up into a wall, almost knocking over a candelabra which stood to the side. Regulus looked about the common room, seeming unsure of his claim from earlier. When he got near James, an idea flashed through the Gryffindors mind. A goofy sort of grin fell onto his face as he waited for Regulus to pass.
Once the boy was a few feet past James, he snuck up behind him, pulled off the cloak, and grabbed the Slytherins shoulders. “Boo!”
Regulus jumped forward, arms crossing over his chest in defense as he swiftly turned around. His wand was in his hand before he’d come to a full stop and he glared at James like a crazed killer. “Piss off, Potter!”
James grinned as he took a step back. “I didn’t think you were so jumpy, Reg.”
“Stop calling me that,” Regulus scoffed.
“Never,” James’ grin grew wider as Regulus took a step towards him.
Anger seethed through the fifth year as he raised his wand slightly, debating whether or not to hex James. He landed on the latter and threw his head back, groaning. “I have had such a long day, so if you would just leave me alone,” Regulus didn’t finish.
“You’re so fun to bother, though,” James whined and forced a mock frown onto his face.
Regulus sighed, waved a hand at James and turned around, heading for the dorms.
“Reg, where are you going?” James chased him across the room.
“To bed.”
“Without me?” The Gryffindor managed puppy eyes as Regulus stopped and turned. His mouth was slightly agape and his eyes were telling James that he might just kill him.
“What?” He blinked at James, shock filling his expression.
James tilted his head, trying to force back a smile. “Are you really going to bed without me?”
Regulus’ mouth shut, opened again, and then shut once more as he tried to form a response. James noticed the slightest color enter his face, making him have to bite the inside of his lip to stop from smiling. Regulus lifted a finger, as if telling him to be quiet, and barely managed “Stop.”
“Stop what?” James tried to seem innocent and unknowing, but his face finally gave in and the smile which filled it gave it away. Not like it wasn't obvious already.
“Flirting or whatever the fuck this is,” Regulus slipped his wand into his pocket and framed his face with both hands as he put pressure on the sides of his head.
James laughed then, watching Regulus’ face heat even more.
“Merlin, Potter! I mean it,” Regulus threw his hands down.
“Sorry,” James breathed out, still laughing. “I’ll leave you alone for now, Reg.”
Regulus rolled his eyes and turned around. He continued walking toward the dorms as James tried to control his laughter. “It’s Regulus, not Reg,” he spat as he opened the door and left James alone in the Slytherin common room.
“Sure, Reg,” he said quietly, although the boy was long gone by then. He wished he’d not bothered the boy and had instead watched him in peace, left him to process whatever it was that was going on alone. But it was too late now, and he’d at least allowed himself a laugh.
James went back to where he had left the cloak and threw it back on before leaving the room. He’d forgotten one painting in there, but that would be a problem for someone else, maybe even future him. At the time, James didn't quite care. All he cared for was the look on Regulus’ face and the blush which filled it as he flirted with the boy.
James made it to the stairs, finding Remus waiting at the bottom, talking with Peter. “What took you so long?” Remus stopped mid-sentence as Peter turned to their friend. He glared at the blonde boy, but said nothing.
“Rather hard to get into the Slytherin commons when you don’t know the passcode, isn’t it?” James said as he held the cloak for Remus to step under.
“Fair,” Peter said before morphing back into his animagus.
“How’d you get in there anyway?” Remus whispered to him as they crept back up the stairs.
“Some kid was sneaking back in, I just followed behind him,” James replied.
“Oh, who was it?”
“Dunno,” James lied, not wanting to say he’d spoken with Regulus. He was unsure of why he wanted to hide it, maybe he liked the idea of something personal, something secret with Regulus. There was a thrill to hiding their interactions and James couldn’t figure out why.
“Shame,” Remus said before the two fell into silence as they made their way back to the dorms. They didn’t run into any teachers on the way, somehow managing to steer clear of Filch and his cat. This was mainly surprising since they had forgotten to check the map on their way back.
James quickly whispered the password to the now skeletal fat lady and ushered him and his friends inside. Mary had gone to her room since they’d last been there, and no one else had taken up a place in the common room.
The three shed the cloak and Peter morphed from his animagus. They went upstairs, waving to Remus as he made his way to the girls' dorms. Ever since the incident with Sirius he’d been sleeping in Mary, Marlene, and Lily's dorm. Peter and James had never quite figured out how he was able to get to the girls' dorms, when it was supposedly impossible, but hadn't put too much thought into it anyway.
Instead of thinking it over again, James and his friend went to their own dorm quietly, trying their best not to wake Sirius. They’d have to wake up in just a few hours anyway to go around and enchant the ghosts before breakfast.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-
James had gotten only a thirty minute nap that night and hurried to wake Peter as the sun began to rise. They would be leaving Remus out of this portion, since they weren’t able to get into the girls dormitories and he definitely needed the sleep with the full moon being in a week.
He hurried over to Peter’s bed and threw back the curtains, following his usual wake up routine for the boy. “Rise and shine Petey!” He shouted as he shook his friend awake.
“Piss of!” Peter yelled back as he rolled about, trying to find the blanket which James had stolen.
“We’ve got work to do, my friend!”
Peter stopped, sat up, and looked at him with bright eyes. “Oh yeah,” he smiled and willingly got up.
“Oh my god,” James gaped. “This is history, I’m witnessing a historical event! Peter Pettigrew, waking up early by choice?” He gasped mockingly following Peter around as he hurried to get ready.
“Shut up, Prongs,” Peter pushed him playfully.
James laughed, turning away to give Peter some privacy as he changed. “Alright then, what’s this wonderful, pink-ifying spell of yours?”
“Well, I’m not sure how to explain it,” Peter said as he pulled a jumper over his head.
“You could just show me, I’m sure I’d pick it up pretty quickly.”
“Someone ought to knock your ego down a notch or two,” Peter walked to his nightstand, pulling out his wand and the map.
“I think my ego is just fine, thank you very much,” James said in mock offense.
Peter rolled his eyes, smiling. He showed James the steps and helped him learn to pronounce the spell as they slowly left the dorm. When they’d made it to the common room they saw Frank Longbottom passed out on the couch.
James turned to Peter with a horrible grin plastered on his face. He snuck up to the boy and cast the spell, just to make sure he had it down. Frank’s skin slowly blotched with a bright fuchsia pink as it spread across his skin, enveloping him. James giggled while Peter gaped at him.
“James!” Peter whisper-yelled, trying not to wake the boy.
“It’ll be alright, Pete,” he waved him off as they left the common room.
“That’s just cruel, turning poor Frank pink,” Peter shook his head with disappointment.
“Bit dramatic don't you think?” James held a hand out for Peter to leave before him. “Either way, you know the counter-spell, don’t you?”
Peter furrowed his brows. “Last time I checked there wasn’t a counter-spell.”
“Oh,” James tightened his lips. “That’s my bad, then.”
“James!” Peter gasped. “What if poor Frank gets blamed for the prank?”
“Why would he be blamed if it happened to him?”
“You know his magic, always backfiring on him and what-not. Bet the teachers would assume he messed up while switching about the ghosts.”
“Surely not,” James said, although unsure.
“We’re gonna have to own up for this one, aren’t we?” Peter asked worriedly.
James contemplated it for a moment, trying to weigh the pros and cons of them owning up to it. If they said it was them who turned the ghosts pink, they’d easily be blamed for everything else. To be fair, though, Mcgonagall at the very least would know it was all them no matter what. Would Frank really be blamed though?
“I think it’ll be ok,” James decided. “We’ll confess if Frank gets accused, otherwise I’d leave it be.”
“Alright then,” Peter said with hesitation. “If you say so.”
The two continued walking a short while, before James realized they had no idea where any of the ghosts were. “Pete, check the map, will you? We can’t do this prank if we can’t even find the ghosts.”
“Oh, right!” Peter grabbed the map from a pocket in his robes, muttering the password as it revealed the positions of those in the castle. He immediately spotted several of the ghosts congregating in the kitchens. “Guess we’ll be meeting the elves first.”
“They’re in the kitchens?” James looked over his shoulder.
“That they are, Prongs,” and Peter closed up the map as they made their way downstairs.
When the portrait hole opened for them, several of the house elves ran over offering up different things which they’d begun to make for breakfast. James politely declined them and asked if the ghosts were still here, delighted to find that they were.
One of the house elves, who introduced himself as Victy, led them to the group of ghosts. They greeted the boys and offered for them to sit.
“No, that’s fine,” James said as he gave Peter a look.
Peter furrowed his eyebrows and looked between him and the ghosts before mouthing ‘oh’ and pulling out his wand. They waited as the ghosts fell back into conversation, making gossip about some Hufflepuffs they’d seen the other day. James nodded to his friend and they both cast the spell as quietly as they could.
A few of the ghosts had been hit, while two others were still pale as ever. They watched in horror as they saw the others get colored in different bright shades of pink, and were even more horrified when they themselves were shot with the spell.
“Oh Merlin!” One of them shrieked as they turned to the two boys, holding their hands in front of them. “What have you done?”
The ghosts all turned on them as they ran from the kitchens, confused house elves watching the commotion. The boys tried to outrun them but failed to do so as the ghosts flew through them, sending shivers down their spines and an eerie cold through their body. Peter shouted in horror while James just laughed, terribly amused.
“That, Wormy! Now that was fun!” James hurried to his, still shell-shocked, friend. “Check the map, where are the others?”
Peter reluctantly grabbed the map and opened it, showing James where the next batch of ghosts was, and the two began the trip again. They repeated this a few times before moving to the lonesome ghosts. By the time they’d finished, there were around ten minutes before breakfast would start.
The two boys hurried to the Gryffindor common room to grab Remus, hoping to see the first of the reactions. Most of the people who made it to breakfast early were Hufflepuffs, who they knew would be thinking they were still high from the other night. Maybe even assume someone slipped shrooms into their food. Either way it’d be a shit show, with someone probably outing their drug use to the teachers.
They were glad to see Remus up, however groggy, and in the common room. He waved slightly to them, holding back a yawn as they ran in. “It went well, I presume?”
“Oh Moony!” James grabbed his friends shoulders and planted a kiss on his cheek. “If only you were there!”
Remus stared at him, face blank and void of emotion. “What.”
“The reactions from the ghosts? Magnificent! Peters screaming? Even better!” James spun around as Peter covered his face in embarrassment.
“Fuck off,” Peter said, although not truly mad.
Remus smiled a bit as he walked with the two to the portrait hole, both of them going on about how exciting the whole ordeal was and how eccentric each reaction had been.
They continued to talk like this, shouting over the other, as they made their way to the great hall. Inside were a few teachers, Mcgonagall and Slughorn, while the tables contained several Hufflepuffs who looked at the ghosts in horror, and a few Ravenclaws. One Slytherin had made their way in so far and they were the first Gryffindors to enter for breakfast.
Mcgonagall glared at them from her seat at the teachers table, clearly aware of their schemes. Some of the ghosts shrieked when they walked in, yelling over each other incoherently.
James smiled and waved, as if they were praising him for making it as a quidditch star or writing the next biggest hit in the Wizarding world. Peter, of course, cowered from them, which made Remus laugh quite a bit.
The three sat in their usual spot, watching as more students filled the hall, gasping in shock at the new development. Every time it would make James laugh, which would in turn make Remus laugh, and make Peter try to cover himself even further.
Regulus walked into the hall around an hour in, and unfortunately didn’t react at all. James frowned when the boy rolled his eyes as a ghost screamed past him, crying about how salmon was the worst shade of pink. He’d hoped to get a reaction from most people, and knew some wouldn’t care, but it was practically devastating to find that Regulus didn’t care at all.
“He sucks,” James pouted as he leaned his head on his hand.
“Tell me about it,” Remus rolled his eyes.
“Who?” Peter looked between them, confused.
“Regulus,” James said in the same moment Remus said “Sirius.”
They looked between each other, Remus glancing at the Slytherin table and James watching the approaching Black. Peter furrowed his brows, not having heard what either boy had said.
Sirius said nothing as he approached the group and sat down. James suspected he was offended at the prospect of them committing pranks without him, which was sort of a good thing. He felt as though it told the boy ‘You’re lucky we haven’t totally dropped you’.
Although they’d gotten pretty close.
Remus diverted his attention from the boy and continued to watch the doors, picking at his food. James shot Peter a worried look, who just shrugged in return, and followed Remus’ gaze.
He let it go for now and watched with them as more people filled into the great hall. Dumbledore’s entrance had probably been the best. Although he’d entered from the door in the back, rather than the main entrance, they all turned when they heard him laugh rather loudly. It was hearty, and almost reminded them of the classic ‘ho ho ho’ of Santa clause, not very fitting for the holiday.
“Never thought he’d be so into one of our pranks,” Peter observed.
“When has he not been?” James asked.
Peter thought about it a moment, and nodded. “I guess he has always found them funny. ‘Cept for that one with the spiders.”
“He’s not gonna like dinner too much, then, will he?” Remus said.
“No, he won’t,” James said. “But it’s alright, not like it’ll make the punishment any worse.”
“Wouldn’t be too sure of that, Prongs,” Remus said when he had finished chewing some sausage.
“Just have to hope, won’t we,” Peter said as they turned back to the door.
The trio continued to watch, and couldn’t help but overhear conversation of the skeletal paintings. They’d been rather proud of that and were glad to hear it ahd scared the shit out of some of the kids. Someone even claimed they’d seen a Slytherin practically run for their life when a painting greeted them, bones cracking as it spoke.