Ship: Lily/James
Name/Pen Name: Julie/LadyAkako
Word Count: 1,871
Theme #/Theme: #2/ Pranks
Challenge count: 1/7 finished
Content: PG
Spoilers: None
Warnings: One or two questionable words and a reference to er-- getting it on
Summary: At their wedding reception, James decides it's time to introduce Lily as his new partner in crime and he does it in ghostly fashion.
Purely for fun, so don't be critical.-----------------------
James sat down at the table with a sigh and looked around the almost deserted hall tiredly. I watched with a smile as he ran his hand through his tousled hair that still flopped stubbornly even through what I was sure was at least a gallon of Sleakeasy’s hair gel that he had put in this morning. I appreciated the effort for such a special occasion but it hardly made a difference. I reached across the table and pushed hair away from his face, cupping it gently.
“Do you realize we made it all the way through our wedding without a single one of your friends trying some ill-conceived attempt at a prank?” I asked with a grin as I thought of his usually unruly companions on their best behavior.
Sirius had even managed to stand still during the ceremony which was reason to celebrate in and of itself. The man was usually so eager to socialize he forgot to have the proper dignity. However, because of his constant want to entertain one had to constantly be on the watch for pranks.
“That’s because I told them not to,” James replied with a self-satisfied smile. He stretched back in his chair and took my hand away from his face to hold in his hand. He rubbed the diamond on my finger lovingly, staring down at it as if amazed to see it there. I scooted my chair closer to his and rested my head on his shoulder.
“And since when does you telling them not to do something stop them?” I asked with a yawn. It was approaching two in the morning and after a long night of dancing, I was tired beyond belief. “Usually it only encourages them.”
“Maybe they just realized that today wasn’t the day for it.” James shrugged and adjusted to better accommodate my head on his shoulder. I looked around the hall we had chosen for the reception and smiled inwardly at the ruined decorations that Sarah, my best friend from Hogwarts, had worked so hard to make perfect. There were only about fifteen people left of the congregation that had crowded in for our wedding. Of course, the three Marauders that were usually James’s constant companions were still dancing and cavorting around the floor. James and I were the only ones in the far end of the hall where we had retreated to after what seemed like two eternities of being the center of everyone’s attention.
James suddenly shifted and out of the corner of my eye, I could see him studying the figures on the dance floor carefully. He leaned down to me and whispered, “Come on, I have an idea.” He tugged me out of the chair and we slipped out the hall without catching anyone’s eye.
In the corridor that we had run into, I couldn’t help but giggle as James jerked me to a stop. He pinned me against a wall and kissed me lingeringly. We shared a series of short, tender kisses before he cleared his throat and pulled away, biting his lip in thought. I recognized the look immediately from our Hogwarts years. It was the look he got when he was planning an epic prank.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked, slipping down the wall to sit down. I looked up at him as he leaned against the wall and he smiled mischievously. At that moment I could have sworn he was the eleven year old twit I had met ten years ago instead of the full grown handsome man I had married only hours earlier.
“Well…” he started and then moved to sit down across from me in a cross-legged pose, “I was thinking that we need to show them that just because we’re married doesn’t mean we’ve lost our edge for pranking.”
“You mean show them that you haven’t lost your edge…I never had one,” I teased, secretly pleased he was trying to include me in one of his favorite activities. He grinned back at me and tugged at my hair that had come loose of the bun it had been arranged in.
“Well then we’ll show them what a nice, sharp edge you’ve developed in the four hours that we have been married,” he suggested and raised his eyebrows in jest. His hazel brown eyes danced with devilish humor and his hands in my hair felt heavenly. “And I think I’ve got the perfect prank.”
“Do you?” I asked in exaggerated interest. I leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips before allowing him to continue. He smiled against my lips and leaned his forehead against mine seeming to have lost his thought track for a moment. After a minute of silence, I prompted him softly with, “Tell me about it.”
“You up for listening to a little screaming?” James questioned me solemnly. His face was set with serious lines that were hardly ever seen on his countenance and his eyes were swept clean of any emotion at all. If I hadn’t known we were talking about a prank to play on our friends I would have thought someone had just died. Little did I know, that’s exactly what he had in mind.
“Sure…” I agreed cautiously. I had learned the hard way to be wary when he got serious.
“I learned this spell a few months ago that creates a ‘ghost’, if you will, of whoever it’s aimed at,” he started and continued when he saw my skeptical look. “The catch is that the ‘ghost’ you create is only visible to the person the spell is cast on. Therefore, making them look completely insane when they start screaming that they can see their own ghost.”
“Alright.” I nodded and tried not to look doubtful of this plan. There was a strong chance that the rest of the Marauders would catch on to this, but I took heart in knowing the three of them were pissed out of their minds right now.
“Now…you don’t know this, but I happen to have been imparted the knowledge that Peter’s worst fear is a seeing his own ghost,” James justified his plan a little more. “Long story involving a wayward boggart that nearly gave poor Wormtail a heart attack. So…are you in?”
In that moment, I felt like I was ten years old and being picked first for the football team at school. A warm feeling permeated through my whole body and I beamed at my new husband. He always seemed to know exactly what to say to get me to do anything without even thinking. I nodded silently and rose with him as he scrambled to his feet in the haste of a kid who had just been told he could have whatever he wanted at the candy store.
James pulled me along the corridor we had hidden in until we reached a door that peaked into the reception hall. The dancers who we had abandoned had gone on seemingly without interruption and I could see our three targets easily. They had a small gathering of girls around them and were animatedly telling some story. James tugged on my arm and we slipped past the door to the other side where we could get a better angle with his wand.
He taught me the incantation hurriedly and once I was confident enough to try it we positioned ourselves accordingly. I cast the spell without mishap over Remus while James tackled enchanting both Sirius and Peter. All three of them seemed to go pale at once with Peter having the most dramatic action of all and actually beginning to cower with his hands over his head. The party that had gathered around them seemed confused and when Peter began to stutter out an explanation, heads began to turn. I snickered at the scene of startled confusion and James reached over to put a silencing hand over my mouth.
“We’ll wait a few minutes before going in,” he whispered quietly in my ear and we retreated a few steps to be sure we were out of sight. A terrified scream rent the air and the music that had been blaring was stopped. Of what I could see Remus had dodged behind a chair and had gone sheet white while Sirius had taken to downing an excess amount of punch as if that would banish the apparition only he could see. Sirius was also trying in vain to seem calm while Peter trying his best to hide his entire body underneath the table. He had his hands over his head and appeared to be moaning. The entire room had frozen to watch the three in awed horror at their apparent sudden lapse in sanity.
Beside me James cleared his throat and I reluctantly tore my eyes away from the terribly amusing scene to look at him. He squeezed my hand once he saw he had my attention and then threw the doors open in front of us. The second James and strolled in, Sirius’s eyes riveted on us in fury.
“Prongs!” he yelled angrily and started for us before cowering at an invisible spot in the air. James coughed back a laugh before me but I couldn’t hold in my giggles any longer. Sirius gasped at me and seemed to take in large mouthfuls of air to compose himself. “Look what you’ve done to Wormtail! He’s having a nervous breakdown!”
Sirius gestured wildly at the lump in the tablecloth that had been Peter five minutes ago, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was him and not Peter that was having the nervous breakdown. Remus was now sitting quietly away from the scene the other two were making and was staring transfixed at what must have been his ‘ghost’.
“Oh relax, Padfoot, it’s just a joke,” James laughed and the whole room seemed to exhale at the revelation that the three Marauders hadn’t really gone insane. James took out his wand and released the spell from Sirius and Peter and I followed suit for Remus. I giggled and buried my head in James shoulder. I could feel his grin through his entire body as he kissed the top of my head.
“Just a joke?” squeaked a disembodied Peter and my eyes fell on the tablecloth’s lump. Peter’s head slowly emerged from underneath the white cloth and he visibly gulped as he studied the hall fearfully. “A right cruel joke and you know it, Prongs.”
“Ah, well I had to let Lily prove her worth as my new partner in crime,” James explained and I smiled at him, glowing inside at being bestowed such a title. Sirius nodded grudgingly and shook himself and I looked over to Remus who had yet to say a word. He blinked at me and snapped to his senses.
“Where’d you learn how to do that?” he wondered aloud and I looked to James with upraised eyebrows. I had wondered the same thing.
“A little birdy told me,” James replied innocently and tugged me away towards the door. Looking back over his shoulder, he added, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, my wife and I have a wedding night to get on with.”
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