A Carrot a Day Keeps the Bagpipes Away

Sirius, James, Remus and Peter, aka, The Marauders, arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast to the sound of bagpipes accompanied by singing. The melody had been following them around for a few days now, and Sirius was nearing his breaking point.

“Where is that racket coming from?” he grouched, stretching his long legs out under the table.

“I seem to remember you commenting that we needed to get some theme music,” James quipped, grinning at his mate’s discomfort.

“But bagpipes, Prongs? Bagpipes?” Sirius frowned, “the singing I can handle, but the pipes will drive me mad.”

“We are in Scotland,” Remus put in reasonably.

“It doesn’t mean we have to listen to their music,” Sirius countered. “I think it is a plot against me,” his eyes narrowed shrewdly; “I think Snivellus is behind it.”

James laughed aloud, “So what you are saying is that ‘ole Snape concocted a plan to drive you mad by sending an invisible bagpipe player to follow you around?”

The eyes of all four boys swept to the Slytherin table where the aforementioned Snivellus was sitting alone. Or nearly alone, anyway, as Kazz was never too far away, nor was Emma who was stealing glances and seemed to be taking notes on his breakfast selections for a news article.

“Well who else could it be?” Sirius asked irritably, “only someone who overheard us talking about theme music would annoy me this way.”

“Well that narrows it down,” James rolled his eyes, as Sirius was famous for having stalkers. “Besides, what makes you think this is directed at you, Padfoot? Conceited much?” he teased.

“Well you could consider other possibilities, before assuming it’s Snape,” Remus spoke up again attempting to prevent a conflict between the friends.

Once more, the boys looked around the Great Hall for the usual suspects. At the Hufflepuff table sat stalker Tina, her eyes taking in everything that went on in the Hall. Sirius looked away from the girl’s steady gaze, as she always seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

At the Ravenclaw table, sat Lissy and Erin, who strangely enough seemed to be eating cupcakes for breakfast. The girls looked up from their pink icing and waved cheerfully. Peter nibbled harder on his carrot in response, and Remus made a show of buttering his toast, the girls made him uncomfortable.

At the Gryffindor table, Katy (or was it Jen?), was lurking in plain site, a pretty red haired girl sitting across from her. At the sight of them, James ruffled his hair and shot them his most winning smile.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Sirius exclaimed, as the sound of the bagpipes and the ghostly singer seemed to get louder. “Peter! What is with you and those carrots?” he turned his ire on something he could see.

Peter jumped and paused from his nibbling and perusal of the girls with the cupcakes, “my mum said I should eat better,” he stammered.

“Well, I’ve lost my appetite,” Sirius declared, getting up from the table and storming out of the Hall, the sound of bagpipes trailing behind him. James tore his eyes from the red haired girl and followed suit. Remus sighed, abandoned his toast and was on James’ heels. Peter gave once last longing look at the cupcakes, munched his carrot and tagged along with his friends.


***


Unfortunately, the day did not improve for the Marauders, as the music followed them everywhere. In every class, out by the lake, even the Gryffindor Common Room (though it was mostly the singing there) and outside the boy’s lavatory.

"At least... that's what we THINK happened..." Remus was explaining to Peter in the hallway after History of Magic class, being the only one who could concentrate on schoolwork.

Sirius, who could tolerate the annoying bagpipes no longer, shouted in frustration to all students still assembled after class, “I’ll give anything to the person who can stop this noise!”

Tina, who was stalking nearby, stopped dead in her tracks, a big grin on her face. Katy and Lily paused from their discussion with interest. Lissy and Erin looked over in astonishment at the mad Gryffindor pulling his hair out in front of the school. But suddenly, Erin, catching sight of a trace of movement over Sirius’ shoulder sprang into action. A cupcake appeared in her hand which she threw with great force at her target. Misunderstanding the gesture, Peter reached up to catch the flying pastry which in turn hit his hand and sent the carrot soaring instead.

Sirius swung around only to find himself connecting with something hard behind him. A bagpipe appeared from nowhere and there was a loud “fwump” and a sickening gurgle as the flying carrot landed directly into one of it’s pipes. An invisibility cloak fell away to reveal Kris playing the pipes and Jan singing into a hairbrush.

“Snape followers!” someone shouted as the thwarted pranksters dropped their instruments and took off at a run.

“Aren’t you going to follow them?” James asked Sirius who was looking on in amusement.

“Too much trouble,” Sirius waved the idea off and picked up the bagpipes from the floor, “we’ll be ready for them next time, and I told you Snivellus was behind this." He pulled the carrot out from the pipe and offered it back to Peter. “It looks like eating better did save the day,” he quipped.



The Dare:

*Someone must say "At least... that's what we THINK happened..."
*A carrot must somehow save the day.
*You must mention at least three other SS members by name in your fic
*Marauder madness, please
*Someone must sing into a hairbrush, accompanied by someone on the bagpipes.