Hogwarts had had many pranksters within her halls over the years since her creation and she would admit to being partial to each and every one of them. She loved all the children who passed through her halls, but the pranksters held a special place within her stone heart. She had seen many throughout the years, and she had helped to guide and nurture their prankish nature, giving each generation of pranksters something to help them on their path of mischief and mayhem.
The newest pranksters to her halls were a twin set, the youngest so far of their line to enter her halls. These two, unlike their elder siblings, three older boys, held promise. They were getting in trouble and causing mischief within minutes of crossing her threshold, convincing the other first years that they had to face a troll to be sorted into a house. The others seemed completely convinced that they were going to be set as a group upon a troll and their response and reaction in dealing with the troll would determine the House that they were then sorted into. Those who rushed straight into battle would go into Gryffindor, those who tried to plan an attack into Ravenclaw, those who approached as a group or team would be the future Hufflepuffs and those who watched and waited to see how the other’s faired before taking their own shot would be the Slytherins.
Hogwarts was amused, she had not seen a large scale con like that pulled off successfully in years, these twins definitely had potential to be great. They could definitely become legends within her halls like the Marauders had done before them. That was why she decided to give them a large boon early in their Hogwarts career in the form of the Marauder’s Map. She knew their nature; they were curious, inquisitive, mischievous and opportunistic. She knew that given the opportunity to be alone in the caretaker’s office they would search through the confiscated items there. All she had to do was provide a distraction, something that Peeves was always willing to help her with, and cast a small compulsion on the map that made the twins want it. Her plan worked like a charm and before long the twins left Filch’s office with what they believed to be an old piece of parchment, wondering why of everything they had taken that.
While she was helpful towards her pranksters she also felt that they needed to learn and prove their own worth so she left them alone with the parchment for a week to see if they could crack the mystery of it themselves. They were close in cracking its secrets, but they were only first years and they had yet to learn a lot in the way of magic, so she gave them a little helping hand and as such gave them access to many of her secrets that were shown on the map.
She watched as the two pranksters grew, becoming more creative with their pranks, and creating many prank products in preparation for their future. They wanted to devote their future to pranks, something that made her stone heart sing, her halls would be filled with more laughter in the future. Not many of her pranksters in the past had gone on to create such wonderful things, many leaving the mischievous and pranking ways behind when they left her halls. These two though, they intended to open a prank shop, filling it with wonderful products that children would buy and bring into her halls.
Hogwarts eagerly awaited the day were in the future everyone liked to play pranks and be mischievous, it had already started to pick up with the sale of some of her twins products within the school. The teacher’s weren’t too happy about the increase in pranks, but Hogwarts was ecstatic, the laughter of the children rejuvenating her and adding to her wards and protections. What was unknown was that some of her wards were bolstered by emotions and happiness and amusement powered her wards immensely. It had been something that Salazar had suggested at the beginning, use the students’ happiness to strengthen the wards, the students felt no adverse effects and the happiness was available for the taking. Emotional wards were one of the strongest forms of warding as the wards are alive; it was part of what made her sentient.
It was something that all the founders had agreed upon, as they all believed that the school should be full of the children’s laughter between classes. They had believed that pranks should be played on others as not only was it fun and entertaining, but it was also a learning opportunity. Students often used what they learnt in classes, or studied harder on their own to come up with a prank. Back in the time of the founders they used to have school wide prank wars, house against house; it was how the house rivalry originated.
Hogwarts thought about the gift that the twins were giving her by filling her halls with laughter again and what she had given them. They had passed on the gift she had given them in the map, but she couldn’t really blame them. The younger one had more need of the map and he was the rightful heir to the Marauder’s legacy, so she had no objections to their actions. The twins though, they were something special and deserved something just as special, they were the best pranksters to have attended the school in her eyes. The only better prankster was her herself, after all it wasn’t the founders who had decided on moving staircases and trick steps, that had all been her idea, her prank on the founders and the students and staff to follow. The twins though they were almost as good as she was, good enough to be her heirs. That was it, Fred and George Weasley, Heirs of Hogwarts School of Pranks and Mischief.