“Do I look good?” Lily asked trying her best not to laugh. Holden snorted. Lily’s brand new dress robes were covered in mud and plastered in dead grass and leaves. Even her face was covered in grime.
“Grandmum will just clear it off with a simple spell,” Cedric said smirking at his sister.
“Normally, yes. This time, she can’t,” Lily said. “It doesn’t come off. Uncle Fred and George helped me invent it.”
“Where are Sirius, Albus and Reese?” Holden asked as James walked up to the other three.
“Front room…are you two ready to serenade the aunts?”
“Yup…we’ve chosen a special arrangement…” Cedric started.
“This time. It will have them for at least five minutes thinking ‘how sweet those boys are’…” Holden continued as he mocked his aunts’ future facial expressions.
“It’ll be good.” Cedric finished. “What about you? How are you getting the key?”
“Don’t worry about me…I’m…prepared,” James said as he turned back towards the Burrow.
“Come on…Weasley Entertainment is about to begin,” Lily said as she followed her brother.
Cedric and Holden grinned as they ran off towards the dining room and watched James and Lily disappear into the kitchen.
“Hey everyone…” Sirius yelled to the roomful of cousins. “Granmum sent out snacks!” He placed a tray full of homemade fudge and pumpkin juice on the coffee table. Albus, Sirius and Reese were the oldest kids in the room, meaning that everyone who was older then them were currently at Hogwarts. Kids squealed and pushed past each other to get to the tray first. The three boys grinned as they watched the kids finish off the tray.
***
The front room burst into a roaring laughter and Mrs. Weasley heard someone shout “PILLOW FIGHT!!!” Molly rolled her eyes at Ginny who had been standing closest to her, scrubbing potatoes by hand.
“HARRY!!!” Ginny shouted out the window to the large group of Weasleys (and Harry).
“FRED!” “CHARLES!” “ARTHUR!!” were simultaneously cried out.
“We’ve got it,” Ron yelled back through the window as they ran into the front room.
Ginny heard a giggle and snapped around just in time to get a face full of green goo. “James!” Ginny exasperated as she pulled her wand out and chased after her son.
A loud explosion was heard from the dining room causing all of the women in the kitchen to run towards the door with their wands out.
“Grandmum,” Lily cried catching her grandmother’s attention before she disappeared.
“Oh, Lily, what did you do to your new dress robes?” Molly cooed as Lily forced a tear down her cheek.
“I fell,” Lily cried rubbing her red-stained knee, at the same time one of the large pots full of food screamed and spat it’s contents at the ceiling.
“GINNY!” Molly screamed for her daughter who had just come back from the bathroom with green goo still in her hair from her earlier encounter with James. Molly scooped her eldest granddaughter up and walked towards the bathroom that Ginny had just left, while Ginny gasped and ran towards the stove.
More explosions sounded from the next room over quickly followed by two voices.
“Have a very happy birthday
Filled with sunshine everywhere
May the year bring joy and gladness
And the love of friends who care
Have a most exciting birthday
Share a smile with someone new
Say a kind word to your neighbor
Let him know a happy you
Have a very special birthday
Add a candle, blow it out
Share your cake and share your friendship
That’s what birthdays are about.”
SPLAT!
Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “James,” she said with clenched teeth. She turned and looked at her back and unsurprisingly found more green goo over her entire backside.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry…” James repeated as he ran to his mother and wiped the goo around. “Sorry mum, sorry…” he said as he pulled something out of her back pocket while he continued to wipe at the sticky goo.
“James stop!” she exclaimed as she grabbed his hands to prevent him from rubbing it in more. “Just… go play with your cousins,” she said quietly as she turned towards the bathroom again.
“I’m fine now, thanks grandmum,” Lily cried as she bolted out of the bathroom and yanked James out the back door with her.
“That was priceless!” Albus said as the two joined the group behind a rather large tree.
“Did you hear Cedric and Holden?” he continued. “They should sing more… James! What’s all over your hands?”
“Goo,” James said as he opened his hands to reveal a rusted old key firmly glued to the stuff all over his hands.
“Wicked,” Reese exclaimed as he peeled the key off his cousin’s hand.
“Hey Ced, Hold, over here,” Lily yelled. “Nice singing…you should consider doing it for a living,” she mocked.
“Ha ha, Lily--” Cedric mumbled.
“That’s what the aunts think to,” Holden added. “They were still talking about it when we left.”
“Did we get the key?” Cedric asked.
“No,” Lily said sadly looking at the ground.
“YES!!!” Cedric and Holden yelled as they jumped into the air at the same time slapping their hands together. “Let’s go flying!”
“We can’t,” Albus interrupted while Lily rolled her eyes. “We have to wait until after lunch or else everyone will suspect us.”
“How?” James asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Think about it…we started a riot, Lily tricked grandmum, Cedric and Holden distracted the aunts, and you attacked mum with green goo and now a key is missing! A key that goes to the broom shed…” Albus said simply. “It all adds up James.”
James and Sirius groaned and they all turned to head back inside.
“Wait…we should hide the key first,” Reese said quickly.
“I think we should unlock the broom shed first…just in case they find the key,” Lily added.
“Then we can return the key to mum. Then she would be less suspicious of us,” James said.
“NO!” the other six said simultaneously.
“I don’t want to come up with another plan just to return the key!” Cedric cried.
“It won’t be hard,” James said smirking. “Mum must have changed her clothes…I covered them in goo…so we’ll just find where she’s keeping the dirty jeans and slip the key back in the pocket.”
Lily pointed at James and opened her mouth. She glared at him and then said, “Brilliant!”
The Marauders' Trademark by LexiGirl
Chapter Notes: Alright... let's try this one more time. I'm sorry it's taking so long, it's just not seeming to do so well in queue. I kind of wish they would have told me BOTH the problems in the chapter the first time it was rejected instead of rejecting it twice for two reasons that were both their from the beginning. I'm sorry it's such a short chapter and it's been such a long wait, but I hope you all enjoy it anyways and please leave a review?