Words: 1562

Description: Remus gets bullied by the Slytherins so Sirius, James, and Peter (maybe even Lily) come up with the best revenge prank of all time. Prank ideas crafted by Hpstorywriter @james-is-just-joking Pluto_Childddd

Story:

Remus walked through the halls with his head down. He always wished desperately that there was a secret passage down this hallway, but if there was, they hadn't found it yet.

Remus was on his way to Arithmancy, the only class he didn't share with his friends. Lily took it too, but she was coming from the other direction so he always had to walk by himself.

The Slytherins were ruthless when he was alone. It was the only time they dared approach him. Remus had almost asked James for the invisibility cloak, but that would've raised suspicions and Remus didn't want Sirius and James to freak out and do something rash on his behalf.

So he dealt with it.

They always called him terrible names and said things that made him ache inside. He used to be able to ignore them, but they had figured out his biggest insecurities and that's what they picked on.

And boy was Remus terribly insecure whether he would admit it or not.

But they hadn't ever been physical with him. Not until that day. He'd thought it was a little suspicious when he didn't see them right away on his walk.

He'd opted to walk as fast as he could on his aching knees, head down. His heart leaped a little in his chest when he almost got to the classroom, but he yelped in surprise when he was suddenly pulled into a side hallway.

He knew he wasn't far from the Arithmancy classroom and he knew Lily liked to get there early, so he cried out for help but found he couldn't. Mulciber had thought ahead (shocking) and cast a quick silencio before Remus could get a word out.

And Remus was on the floor before he could even think about defending himself. Some of them sent curses at him, while others resorted to fists and feet.

They only stopped when the bell rang through the halls signaling the start of class. They ran off laughing to themselves, leaving Remus alone in the dark.

He sat up slowly, arms shaking and used his wand to cast a silent finite incantatum to restore his voice and then an episky to fix his broken nose. He grabbed his handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it to his face to stop the blood pouring from his nose.

He pressed his hand to his ribs to gauge the pain and couldn't stop the whimper that escaped his lips and he opted to skip Arithmancy and he curled up into a ball and cried.

He was ashamed for crying, he was sixteen for Merlin's sake! But he felt so incredibly sad and miserable that he just cried and cried.

He spent most of the class hour in that dark hallway before he forced himself to get up and get back to Gryffindor Tower before the hallways were full of students.

So he made his way slowly but surely and when he got to his bed, he closed the curtains around himself and buried his face in his pillow.

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Lunch was directly after Arithmancy for Lily and Remus, and Muggle Studies for James and Sirius and Peter.

The three boys usually arrived at the Great Hall before Remus and Lily did. As soon as Lily entered the hall, she singled them out and walked over.

"Have you lot seen Remus? He didn't show to Arithmancy."

James and Sirius exchanged a look. Remus never skipped class unless they made him.

"Well let's go get the map than, and we'll see where he's at. It's in the dorm."

They nodded and each grabbed a sandwich for the trip and the four of them started up the stairs.

Sirius kicked the door open dramatically and was about to go digging through Remus's trunk to find the map when he realized Remus's curtains were closed. The other three filed in behind him.

Lily and James quickly came to the same conclusion as he had, but Peter continued his rambling about his old Wizarding Chess set that he'd gotten from one of his uncles. James elbowed him lightly to get him to shut up.

"Remus? Why'd you skip class?" Sirius asked gently.

"Go away," came a muffled reply.

Lily bit her lip and exchanged a look with James.

"Rey, honey, what's wrong," Lily asked.

"I just feel ill, that's all."

They shared another look among them. "But the moon was last week," James said.

Remus was quiet. Sirius huffed and pulled back the curtain. "Will you just talk to—"

He froze. Remus was curled up facing them, looking anywhere but at their faces as they collectively gasped.

Remus was sporting a black eye, blood dried under his nose. His clothes were rumpled and his eyes were red and puffy.

Sirius was already fuming. "I'm gonna—"

"Please don't," Remus interrupted in a broken whisper.

Sirius's anger was stopped in its tracks and instead he sat next to Remus on the bed and pulled his head up into his lap. James, Lily, and Peter left the room and the two of them sat in silence as Sirius carded his fingers through Remus's hair and they both pretended Remus wasn't crying.

Sirius silently vowed his revenge.

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Later that night, after Remus had fallen asleep, the Marauders and Lily met in the common room to plan the greatest revenge prank Hogwarts had ever seen.

"Those Bloody Snakes will never see it coming," Sirius said, rubbing his hands together.

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Monday morning of the next week, the Marauders sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast as they normally would. After the incident the the week before, James had taken to lending Remus his invisibility cloak and Sirius would try to walk him to class whenever he could, even if it meant being late to Muggle Studies.

Breakfast started as it normally did and it was pretty quiet in the hall. And then students began to realize that it was so quiet because the entire Slytherin table was empty.

James and Sirius giggled to themselves as chatter started up. Half way through breakfast, the Slytherins finally showed up, looking a little worse for wear.

Remus was just as confused as the rest of the school, but he had a sinking suspicion that his friends had something to do with it.

Of course, only James, Sirius, Lily, and Peter knew what struggles had befallen the Slytherins that morning.

They had set the charms that made it so difficult for the Slytherins to catch their clothes that morning. They could only imagine the chaos that ensued when they couldn't get dressed. The Slytherins literally could not catch their clothes.

Lily and Peter shared a secret high five when they overheard professors docking points for their lateness.

And when they finally did show up, they found that they couldn't get through the open door way. It was as if a shield was blocking them out.

"What the— Marauders! Let us in!" Evan Rosier shouted, face beet red and wearing his robes backwards.

"What's the password!" Sirius yelled, standing on the table.

Students around the hall started to giggle as the Slytherins spluttered.

"Say something nice to Remus and we'll let you in!" Sirius shouted. Remus flushed and stared hard at his plate.

Nobody noticed that James had slipped away from the table under the invisibility cloak, potion in hand.

It took quite awhile for the Slytherins to swallow their pride enough to mutter quiet compliments to enter the Great Hall. By that point even the Slytherins not involved with the bullying knew what the prank was about.

The Slytherins, embarrassed and flustered, sat at their table with sighs of relief. They were quite glad that the prank was over.

They started eating their breakfast quick so as not to be late for classes. As the other students went back to minding their own business, James slipped back onto the bench unnoticed.

Remus narrowed his eyes at him. "What did you do?" His face was still flushed from embarrassment.

James shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, nothing. Isn't that right, Evans?" He asked.

Lily looked up from where she, along with the other boys, was staring at the Slytherin table in anticipation. "Nothing at all."

Remus narrowed his eyes further and directed his attention to the Slytherin table as well, as the students drank their juices and started to transform.

Sirius cackled evilly has the Slytherins shrieked in terror as their skin grew scales and their tongues split. Some of them hissed as fangs grew in their mouths, while others flopped to the floor, their arms and legs plastering to their sides.

They were transforming into snakes.

Sirius stood on the table once more as chaos erupted and teachers hurried to transport the Slytherins along to Madam Pomfrey.

"IF ANY OF YOU EVER BULLY REMUS LUPIN AGAIN, YOU'LL BE FACING A LOT WORSE THAN THIS!"

"Mr. Black!" McGonagall shouted, hurrying over to assign him detention.

"MARK MY WORDS!"

Remus felt guilty for the appreciation he felt for his friends. He was so bloody grateful for the way they loved him and the lengths they would go to protect him.

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