disclaimer: J. owns rights to Harry Potter and characters, this is just a fic by a fan, no prophet whatsoever, except the pleasure of reading. This is my Disclaimer for the whole story too, taking a leaf out of my friend's book and going to just do one on the first chapter from now on.

Poker and Prongs's Plan

- Part 1 -

"Call it Moony," Sirius said between bites of his cauldron cake. Lupin picked up some cards and placed them in the middle of the group.

"Two Ravenclaws and one Humphrey Boggart."

James swallowed the rest of his chocolate frog and then placed his bet.

"3 Humphrey Boggarts, and 1 Nicholas Flamel."

"Flamel. Someone's feeling over confident." Lupin observed.

"Nope. Just like seeing you sweat from the pressure Moony."

"Alright already, Wormtail." Sirius interrupted them, looking to the youngest member of their group. Peter sighed and popped a handful of Bertie Bott Beans into his mouth.

"Fold."

"Wuss."

"Wet-nosed mutt."

"Beady-eyed rodent."

"Sirius," James said. "Place your bet."

"Fine. 3 Ravenclaws and 2 Flamels."

"Ouch. Too rich for my blood." Lupin said tossing his hand down.

"Well Prongs, it's up to you." Sirius turned his attentions to his best friend.

"Put your hand where your foot is my friend."

"Royal Flush, Spades." Sirius laid his hand down with a giant smirk.

"What the newt!?" Peter exclaimed looking at the cards. James shook his head and turned around tossing his cards over his shoulder.

"Nice bluff Pads." Lupin remarked standing up and stretching. He went to the window and looked up at the night sky. It was a clear night, he could see the stars clearly but it was still really dark since it was a new moon. Lupin's favorite.

"I'm so glad we came up with this game. Using money is just boring, plus it gives us something to do with all the extra chocolate frog cards."

"Yeah, it sure beats wizard's chess." James agreed plopping down in the sofa, waving his wand at the fire place to make it warmer.

"Wonder if it will continue to catch on," Sirius mussed collecting his card winnings and stacking them in with the rest of his.

"What do you mean, we're the only ones playing it." Lupin said.

"Nope, actually we taught Professor Flitwick and McGonagall in detention last week." James corrected him folding his hands behind his head.

"Your deal Wormtail." Sirius said tossing the deck of playing cards to Peter. Peter stared at him from the corner of his eyes as he began shuffling.

"Besides some of the younger Gryffindors saw us playing after the Quidditch game of Slytherin and Hufflepuff and want to learn to play." Sirius added, as he ate another cauldron cake.

"We should really leave instructions behind for future generations of Gryffindors. Make a Hogwarts tradition out of it." James suggested.

"You mean another one, I thought making Filtch's life miserable, helping peeves pranking first years, and most detentions ever were enough for you."

"Nah, just the icing on the Marauder cake." James smiled.

"I guess we could write the instructions down on some parchment with a fire resistant charm on it and place it behind that loose brick above the fireplace." Lupin suggested turning around from the window.

"Ready." Peter interrupted.

"Deal em out."

James, Sirius and Lupin walked over and sat back down in the circle as Peter dealt the cards out in their spots.

"Are we going to teach the rest of Gryffindor then?" Lupin asked as he organized his hand.

"Why not?" Sirius and James responded at the same time.

"Don't start that again!" Peter whined.

"Shut it Wormtail." they said together.

"We could go get them right now. It's Friday night so it's not like we have classes tomorrow." James suggested hopping up. "Come on. Wormtail, Moony, you two go get the boys and Padfoot and I'll go get the girls."

Peter and Lupin exchanged looks but didn't say anything. They proceeded to get up while Sirius followed James to the girls dormitory stairs.

There was a loud thud and Remus and Peter quickly turned their heads back towards the common room just in time to see Sirius and James fly back through the air and crash into a sofa, falling down backwards with it. They were too stunned to say anything.

James and Sirius pushed themselves up from their backs with their elbows.

"Whoa, what a rush." Sirius said as he grabbed his head with his left hand. James carefully stretched his neck from side to side as he waited for his eyes to finish refocusing.

"What was that?" Peter asked looking to Remus for the answer. Remus shock his head, his eyes still on his two friends sprawled on the back of the sofa that now was resting on the floor.

"You two alright?" he asked Sirius and James. They each looked at each other and then back at him.

"Lived through worse I suppose," James replied pulling himself up. He then offered his hand to Sirius.

"I won't be jumping at the chance to try that again any time soon." he said rubbing the back of his head and neck. "Bloody hell that hurt." he muttered.

There was a loud clamor of footsteps from the stairs, accompanied by giggles and excited conversation.

"Who was that?" / "Did a boy really try to get up here?" / "Wonder who it was, don't you?"/ "Who would even dare try?"

The boys all looked at each other with confused looks on their faces as the Gryffindor girls slowly joined them in the common room.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" one girl squealed. "JAMES POTTER!" another girl squealed. Others joined her in pointing them out. Some gave him and James questioning glances and others seemed to notice that Peter and Remus were in the room as well.

"What were you two doing trying to get up to our dorm?" a seventh year asked them suspiciously. The younger first and second years giggled madly.

"Ugh, we were...ugh..." Sirius began, he looked to James for help. James opened his mouth to give his answer just as another voice came shouting down from the stairwell.

"What boy would be dumb enough to try and get past the enchantment to our dorm!" Lily Evans came into the room and took one look at James and Sirius and then crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I should have known. What are you two up to now?" she demanded.

"Nothing." Sirius replied honestly. "Honestly." James added. No one seemed to believe this.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Remus broke into the conversation as he walked over and joined Sirius and James in the middle of the room. "But did you say something about an enchantment?" he asked the girls curiously.

"There's one to keep boys out of the girl's dormitory. It's in each house tower, been in place since the schools founding." the seventh year who spoke up earlier explained. More girls broke into fits of laughter around her.

"But girls have come up to ours before." Peter said.

"The founder's trusted that girls would be responsible enough not to try I guess."

The Marauders looked at one another. Sirius seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, Remus was obviously perplexed, James was on the verge of excitement, and Peter was staring blankly with thoughts of how much longer till breakfast.

"Sorry for waking you up ladies." James said finally. He gave an awkward wave and turned trying to hide the wide grin he couldn't stop from forming across his face. He walked past Peter and up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.

Sirius gave a wink at the girls and then ran after them. This seemed enough for the girls so they too turned and went back up to bed, giggling more now than when they had come down.

Remus waved his wand around the room, cleaning their snacks up, standing the sofa back up, and collecting their piles of spare chocolate cards before he turned and joined Sirius in walking up to their room.

Peter followed behind them after he gathered the deck of playing cards staring from the cards down in his hands to the back of Sirius head all the way up the stairs. They were very quiet as they entered their dorm rooms and got ready for bed, each shooting the occasional glance to their door as they changed into their pajamas.

"Tomorrow." James said in a determined voice as they all lay down. The Marauders closed their eyes and welcomed the darkness, letting their thoughts drift and ebb as the each sunk within the depths of their own dreamland.