Project Prank

[Rudolf Lagowski]

The Christmas holidays had been a blast. Phoebe had stayed over for two whole weeks, and Rudolf had even been given the new writing set he'd asked for. With a fresh quill and over a hundred sheets of blank parchment stowed away in his trunk, there was nothing that could go wrong this term. Well, almost nothing.

It was a bright morning. The sky was a vivid sheet of blue that stretched across the Hogwarts grounds as far as the eye could see. Sunlight filtered through the tall windows of the great hall, illuminating the students as they devoured their breakfasts of toast, oatmeal, eggs and orange juice. Rudolf, who had risen early to cram in a bit of studying before classes resumed, was absent mindedly chewing a piece of dry toast and poring over a herbology book he'd found in the library. With so many new lessons to study for, the curly haired Gryffindor was beginning to worry that he wouldn't find enough hours in the day for it all. Especially not with Reuben forever pestering him.

"What do you want?" Rudolf whined irritably to his twin, who had been tapping his shoulder repeatedly for the last five minutes. The Gyrffindor shrugged away his hand and scowled. "The Hufflepuff table is behind you."

 

[Reuben Pendleton]

Reuben couldn't believe the holidays were over already. Even with Phoebe stinking up the house with her girliness, the days had flown by like they'd been tied to the back of a jumbo jet. Still, much to his Mother's discontent, his Father had bought him a skiving snackbox from the joke shop for Christmas, and Reuben had almost prioritised packing it over his school robes. Perhaps this term wouldn't be so bad after all.

It was a dull morning. Rudolf was busy studying - as usual - and Reuben had nothing to do. Despite his boredom, he certainly didn't intend on reading dusty old books at the breakfast table. He was desperate, but he wasn't that desperate. After tapping Rudolf on the shoulder for what seemed like hours, Reuben finally caught his brother's attention. He brightened at once, the comments falling away like water off a duck's feathers. "You've been studying for ages," he said pointedly, grabbing the herbology book and slamming it closed. The whole table shuddered with its force. "Can we pleeaase do something together? I promise it'll be way more fun than this. Please?" Holding the book closed with his arms, Reuben pulled an innocent face and fluttered his eyelids.

 

[Rudolf Lagowski]

Rudolf sighed as the book was whisked out of his reach. Maybe Reuben was right. He had been doing an awful lot of studying recently, and it hadn't left much time for having fun with his twin. They'd barely played a single game of centaurs vs werewolves all year. One morning spent with Reuben wouldn't be the end of the world, would it?

After pretending to be irritated by the Hufflepuff's pathetic face, Rudolf shook his head and smiled. "All right. What do you want to do?" he asked. Knowing Reuben, he'd already devised a list of three hundred different games they could play with one pack of exploding cards. If only he'd put some of that hard work into studying, Rudolf was sure he'd pass all his exams with flying colors.

A guilty flush appeared on the Gryffindor's cheeks. Couldn't he stop thinking about studying for five seconds? Come to think of it, how had he even let himself get so carried away? Poor Reuben had been practically neglected. Rudolf sat up straight and opened his ears, fully prepared to tag along in whatever misadventures Reuben had planned for him.

 

[Reuben Pendleton]

Reuben almost had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. After nearly four months of begging and pleading his twin to come around, he'd finally done it. Once the shock had worn off he settled into the bench and produced from his pocket a handful of very special candy. "You know what these are?" he asked. When Rudolf shook his head, he continued with a grin. "Puking pastilles. I got them from the snackbox Dad gave me for Christmas. You're supposed to use them to skive off of lessons, but I reckon I'd rather use fever fudge for that." The Hufflepuff stuffed the sweets back in his pocket before anyone around him could see them and huddled closer to Rudolf. "I was thinking - what if we bake the crushed up orange halves into some cupcakes and then leave them lying around?"

By the time the plan had come into fruition, it was nearly lunch time. In the corner of the entrance hall a sign hung over a small table reading 'FREE CAKE!'. Reuben and Rudolf, who had decided they probably ought to hang around nearby to administer the purple halves of the candy when necessary, were loitering as innocently as possible near the door to the great hall. They wouldn't have wanted to hang around too nearby, after all.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

The Christmas holidays had come to an end which meant more studying and exam preparations for Charlotte. She hadn't realised just how busy Hogwarts was until now and watched as student after student entered the great hall doors for lunch that afternoon. She hadn't really noticed it before but Hogwarts had to be big for a reason and that was to keep all of the students contained. She wasn't sure how the headmaster could handle it.

About to head into the great hall herself, Charlotte noticed a table in the corner of the entrance hall that had a sign that said "FREE CAKE". All food at Hogwarts was free but something told her that she had to go over and try one. Just one couldn't hurt, right? The worst that could happen is that she wouldn't like it and it tasted horrible.

Skipping over to the table, Charlotte looked around to see if she could find anyone that might be responsible for the placing of free cupcakes before taking one. She wasn't exactly sure if she should eat one as it seemed quite suspicious but quickly shoved one into her mouth before she could convince herself not to.

She wasn't sure if it was the taste of the cupcakes or just a sudden tendency to be sick that made her vomit all over the floor. It just kept coming and coming and Charlotte couldn't help herself. She had fallen into someone’s trick and was definitely extremely angry at herself. It was the second time in a year that Charlotte had been fooled and she desperately wanted to slap herself for it.

 

[Damide Snow]

"This is a terrible idea," said Damide audibly, standing directly in front of the fold-up table with the crudely scribbled sign. "This is clearly a trap." He stood next to a Slytherin first year who had also gravitated to the cupcakes like a fly to honey, and neither of them spoke to each other as they considered the cakes. Damide had commented more to himself than anyone else, but it was clear that their stomachs weren't to be dissuaded. The cakes even had icing on it! Icing!

In unison, both students took a treat and bit in, and it wasn't long before the Slytherin was looking as green as her house colours. Damide was still chewing as he rushed forward, but somehow A failed to connect to B in his mind.
"Merlin's knickers!" cried Dami, stuffing the rest of his cupcake in his mouth and swallowing so he could help the girl. "Are you alright?"
Huaaaah, was the only answer he got, and the Ravenclaw was starting to panic when he felt a rather peculiar sensation in his stomach. Lord, all her puking must have been making him sick, too. Or was it because she was pretty? No, girls had only ever grossed him out up to a point, not this sudden and overwhelming urge to- "Huaaaah!"
Damide staggered away from the girl to chunder. The cupcake had barely gone in before it had come out again! An echo of lament rang in his head for the lost cake as well as emphasizing the stupidity of taking suspicious treats. Worse yet, the vomiting didn't seem to be stopping even after there was nothing left of his breakfast, cupcake and snacks. Where was it all coming from?! They'd been cursed!​

 

[Rudolf Lagowski]

The closer the students got to the table, the harder it became for Rudolf to stifle his giggles. By the time they'd stuffed the cupcakes in their mouths his sides had almost split from trying to hold in his laughter. Not even the fact they'd accidentally pranked a girl could dampen the joy of the twins' success. They gave each other a subtle high five and pressed themselves as far behind the door frame as they could. Rudolf didn't know how powerful the pastilles were, but he wasn't going to take chances. These shoes were brand new last semester!

The Slytherin went first. The speed and velocity of her puke was really something to be admired - if also a little disgusted by. Before Rudolf could dart out of his hiding place and give her the antidote, the Ravenclaw's breakfast had made a swift reappearance as well. The corner of the entrance hall had quickly become a spectacular geyser of vomit, and it didn't look as if it was going to let up without assistance. "Er, Reuben, we didn't think this through," said Rudolf, who was pointing to the door and plugging his nose to avoid gagging himself. As students exited the great hall from lunch, they were greeted by a sight and smell so repulsive it was turning their stomachs.

Before the situation could get any worse, Rudolf tiptoed across the hall towards the first years. Standing as far back as he possibly could from the ever-increasing pools of vomit, he stretched out his arms and thrust two purple candies into their hands. "Eat these!" he told them, hurrying back to Reuben to escape the stench and praying that he hadn't just caused a very messy chain reaction.

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy had had a quiet Christmas holidays with her parents and grandparents. She hadn't exactly missed home after the first semester, but it did feel good to see her family again after weeks of not seeing them. She would have to get used to that, after all she did have six years and a half left of school. She was grateful that she had a twin, at least they went to school together at the same time. Amy was having a nice breakfast with her brother at the Slytherin table and she had tried to ignore the looks coming her way, the raised eyebrows and the smirks. Amy had stared and raised her eyebrows back at them. She was not going to be judged by people she didn't know. Besides, she liked to spend time with Dan, and she would have breakfast with him if she wanted to.

Amy was just getting up from the table after saying a quick goodbye to her brother, telling him she'll see him later in the afternoon, when as she reached the entrance hall a smell so bad and disgusting filled her nostrils. She just ate breakfast! This was so not ideal for a full stomach. She held in her breath until she got past the smell and let it out once she couldn't smell the worst of it any longer. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Only then did she see the sign for free cupcakes. Clearly this had to be a joke. Whoever put those cupcakes there was the same person that made sure those cupcakes made them puke up whatever portion of those cakes they ate. She saw what a revolting mess it had become and she narrowed her eyes. Amy was not going to fall for this lame joke. It could've turned out to be funny, if you got over the smell and the puke all over the floor.

She spun around to see who was responsible, but there didn't seem to be anyone relatively close to the cupcakes. She was about to call her brother so that they'd be moving on with their lives but at the last moment, she heard someone say that he and whoever he mentioned didn't think it through. She was close enough to slap them, but she resisted the urge. Instead, she muttered "Of course you didn't," hopefully loud enough for them to hear. Clearly this prank had gone too far and Amy sighed. She turned to whoever had spoken and raised her eyebrows. It was the Lagowski twins. Naturally. Amy rolled her eyes. "Obviously you guys are responsible," she said mostly to herself, not expecting for them to hear her. She glanced at the two poor victims. Maybe the sweets she saw the twins give them would help. She went back to the Lagowski brothers. "If you think I'm gonna tell on you, I'm not. As long as you don't make me the victim of any of your pranks." She laughed at the thought of her brother hearing she was a target for a prank. He'd go completely mad. "You might want to get out of here before it's too late though." Amy honestly had enough today.

 

[Damide Snow]

"Why- bleeeurgh- Are you not helping?" wailed Damide to the Hufflepuff girl who'd taken it upon herself to pop on over for a chat whilst they were hurling their guts up. As for the twins; Those two, snarled Damide inwardly; they could bugger right off with their pretty purple pastille. He couldn't imagine what other nasty things it would do to him, but he was having none of it. His stomach was starting to really hurt with the forced evacuation of its contents, and it didn't take long before he gave in and swept up the sweet, trying to shove it into his mouth past the cascade. Something had to help. Dami choked it down eventually, and as soon as the pastille hit his stomach, the hurling abruptly stopped. Not a curse, then, he thought, slumping to the floor in the only non-vomited upon spot. Rather clever, actually, if they'd made it themselves. Doubt it, though. The cupcakes, on the other hand ... Mmm ...

Well, they were in a right mess, to be sure. Damide was worried that the purple end of the sweet was only a temporary reprieve from the vileness as his stomach roiled again, but it was only reacting to the sight and smell around him. Eventually he staggered to his feet and snatched the second pastille from the Gryffindor twin (not that he could tell the difference between the two), giving them quite a glare as he marched manfully through the muck towards Charlotte. Damide patted her bent-over back comfortingly and placed the pastille in her hand.
"I'd take it, if I were you. It works; luckily for them." He supported her with his spare arm while he turned his head to the Rosemary girl. "If you're just there to gawp, you can go do something useful and get the custodian!" She thought she was in a mood. Well, Damide had just had cupcakes ruined for him. Oh, those twins were going to get it ...​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte turned around and noticed a Ravenclaw boy standing behind her that was also vomiting from the sickening treat. She was thankful for the fact that she wasn't the only one that was tricked and was almost taken aback when a Gryffindor boy had ran up to them both and shoved something purple into their hands, telling them to eat it. The Ravenclaw encouraged her to eat it after he ate it and she quickly shoved it into her mouth, glad that she wasn't going to keep vomiting for the rest of her life.

After shoving the purple thing into her mouth by no time she was back to normal, not feeling sick at all (unless you're talking about the smell, then yes, she did feel a little sick) and looked around at all the people who were looking at the scene. If it wasn't for the fact that people were flooding the entrance hall then she would have slapped the Gryffindor for his actions and ran away but due to the amount of people around her, she ignored it and watched as a Hufflepuff had told him and his twin off instead.

"Thanks for that." Charlotte told the Ravenclaw, giving him a wide grin. If it wasn't for the Ravenclaw boy telling her to eat the antidote then she probably wouldn't trust it at all and would still be vomiting right now in front of all those people. "What's your name?" she asked. Most of the Ravenclaws that Charlotte had met weren't the nicest of people but this guy seemed different and he did save Charlotte's life after all. Also, she was trying to ignore the fact that she was just pranked and mainly asked for the boy's name because she wanted to distract herself from the two annoying twins whom she really wanted to prank back.

 

[Sloane Halliwell]

Sloane had not been the Hufflepuff head of house for very long, in fact it was only a couple of days ago and whilst she had been enjoying the position so far, she was dreading having to punish the first student. They would be the example that others would see, they'd have to be the example she followed. It was easy to see the areas that the other heads fell into. Cyndi liked to see the full story before hand, she was firm but fair. From what she knew of Jonathon, there weren't many problems with his students and they generally seemed to be the best behaved, though his punishments were rather ordinary. Kalif was the big bad, the one no-one wanted to cross except for those brave, or stupid, few who were thrown into a whirlwind of trouble. Though the punishment fit the crime, it was often a massive statement to others not to do it again. Sloane had yet to find her niche, or even to think about what her niche might be. Effie was the calm and kind professor and her students seemed to love her. Sloane could only hope to encompass all of that and more.

Walking into the Entrance hall brought her to a sight she'd not expected to see. Students were corralled around a table that was a stand for what looked lilt cupcakes, but judging by the mess she was currently looking at, they were likely not just cupcakes. She sighed and immediately vanished the table and the cupcakes, looking around the room for whoever it might be to cause the trouble. She scourgified the mess before looking at two students who seemed to be in the centre of things. "None of you move, I want to speak to all of you." She said as she pointed all of them to move away from the doors and into the centre of the entrance way. There was plenty of space for them to stand as well as making room for other to leave the great hall. "The five of you will explain what's going on right now." She wasn't happy to see two Hufflepuffs in the mix and was even more annoyed to realise that were either of them involved, she'd have to be punishing students a lot earlier than she had planned.
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[Reuben Pendleton]

Whilst Rudolf was looking a little peaky, Reuben was having the time of his life as he watched the two first years redecorate the entrance hall with their stomach contents. His own stomach almost hurt from trying to contain his laughter, which manifested itself into loud snorts that rather gave away the twins' subterfuge. He was about to heed to the Hufflepuff's sensible advice when into the hallway stepped no other than Reuben's Head of House. Of all the Professors in the castle! Professor Styx would almost have been a more welcomed sight.

Since at least three of the students knew who the culprits of the prank were, Reuben quickly abandoned any hope of slipping out of the room unnoticed. Though he was quite familiar with being scolded - barely a day at home went by in which the twins didn't get themselves into some sort of mischief - he still hung his head shamefully at getting caught. Perhaps they ought to have planned ahead and chosen somebody to frame for their dirty deeds. Reuben certainly wouldn't have minded watching Silus take the blame every once in a while. After glancing guiltily backwards at Rudolf, Reuben took a bold step towards Professor Stark. "It was me," he said loudly. The number of house points Reuben had earned that year was still in double figures. Rudolf, on the other hand, actually took pride in his contribution towards the Gryffindor house. As such, Reuben felt it his duty to try and take the fall. It was technically his fault, after all. "I put puking pastilles in the cupcakes. Rudolf's only here because I pressured him into helping me. Sorry, Professor." The Hufflepuff hung his head in case his eyes revealed the last two words to be lies. "Do your worst, I guess."

 

[Amy Rosemary]

Amy had wanted to help the two first years who were the victims of the prank, but she had a feeling those sweets the twins gave them helped. She sent a quick apologetic, guilty look their way and was about to disappear out of the great hall to put the morning behind her, but unfortunately today was not Amy's day. She wondered if Dan was going to come and help her stay out of this sticky situation. When her new Head of House came into the scene as expected, somebody was bound to stop all of this either way, Amy felt ashamed of thinking if her brother would save her from this mess. She looked at the ground for a minute while silently scolding herself. He couldn't always save her butt every time she was in the middle of something. She looked back up at her professor she knew was she going to do, after all she had the same instincts of mischief when she was with Daniel. She also realised she had no reason for being guilty, after all she hadn't been involved enough to be blamed for what happened. Sure, she was involved but none of this had really been her fault. Amy hesitated. She couldn't possibly pin all the blame on them, of course it had been entirely them but she felt bad so she quickly spoke up before Professor Stark could hand out punishments. "It wasn't all them, it was also me. I was just watching the scene, not really helping or doing anything. I'm just as guilty. I sort of encouraged them to continue, actually." Some of what she said was true, she had stretched the truth a little but she wasn't going to let the twins always get into trouble.

 

[Damide Snow]

Damide couldn't help but look a little peaky seeing the Slytherin grin at him after puking so spectacularly. Girls were weirdly inappropriate sometimes. He patted her on the back again and muttered an awkward "I'm Damide," before the 'party' was busted wide open at the introduction of a professor. Not just any professor, though; the Hufflepuff head of house.
You're gonna get it, thought the boy in evil delight towards Reuben. Surprisingly he always felt that he could tell the twins apart, although he was sure that most people probably thought they were the same person. They both indulged in an equal amount of bravado, however, so at this point it didn't mater which was which. His scowl grew as his fellow first year starting spinning a little web to make it look like it was all the Hufflepuff's idea. Cute, thought Dami sarcastically, turning the incredulous look to Professor Stark. 'Do you believe this muppet?' his face practically screamed.

Things got a little weirder when the Rosemary girl 'fessed up' to 'not helping'. He didn't like to subscribe to stereotypes, but these Puff's were a bunch of self-sacrificing walnuts, and he was getting rather cross standing there with his empty, breakfast-less belly in a sea of puke while the students talked their way into detentions.
"It was just someone's idea of a 'fun prank'," Damide piped up after the platitudes died down, eyeing the twins severely. "It was stupid to play it, and stupid of this girl and I," he said, indicating Charlotte, "To fall for it. If it's alright, Professor Stark, can we just go to breakfast? No one got hurt." Merlin, he didn't think of himself as any smarter as a Ravenclaw, but somehow he'd gotten lumped in with a bunch of students that were thicker than a bowl of oatmeal.​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

The boy introduced himself as Damide but before Charlotte could respond, she noticed a professor walking towards them. She recognised her as the Hufflepuff Head of House and Charlotte smirked, knowing that the two pranksters were going to get what they deserved. For some reason, Charlotte found it amusing when others had fallen themselves into trouble and stepped back as she watched one of the twins admit that it was him. The other girl also piped up, saying that it was also all her fault for just watching it unfold. It almost seemed like she didn't want the twins to get into trouble. Hufflepuffs were always so honest and it reminded Charlotte of her mother and how honest she'd always be no matter the situation.

Charlotte nodded when Damide suggested that they should all just be let free and get their breakfast for the morning. "Yeah, I'm hungry and I don't want to have to waste my morning dealing with all of this." she said angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. "It was just a prank and both Damide and I foolishly fell for it so there's no reason to keep us here. Just punish the boys and let us go." Her anger was firing up and she just wanted to get the situation over and done with before she exploded.

 

[Sloane Halliwell]

Sloane looked at each of them in turn and was more than a little miffed. She sighed when they all began taking blame and pointing fingers, she should have known that this would happen, but she was especially miffed at the young Slytherin and the young Ravenclaw who seemed to think they could tell her how to do her job. She looked at the twins. "I know it was not only one of you involved, I have heard of the both of you. I will not do my worst, because you would not survive my worst. However I do not appreciate you assuming that pressuring your brother is okay." She said. Even if it was true, peer pressure was no reason to agree to anything. "Gryffindor is losing ten points for listening to your brother and you," she looked at her own student. "You're losing twenty points. Ten for doing it and ten for admitting to pressuring your brother." She gestured for them to leave, scowling at the both of them as they went. She moved along the line, next looking at another young Hufflepuff. "I'm disappointed in all of you, but especially you, considering what I said at the meeting." She sighed. "Five points for admitting to not helping and encouraging them. Anything else you want to admit to for me to take points away?"

Lastly she looked at the Slytherin and the Ravenclaw. "You two, I am most displeased with. Firstly you try to down play what was happening here and then you deliberately go and try to tell me how to do my job." She said, hands on her hips. "Five points from Ravenclaw for assuming you know better than I do and five points from Slytherin for them same thing." She turned to leave before looking back at the Slytherin. "I'm taking a further five points for being rude. I do not tolerate rudeness."
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