There was an addition Vera had made to the Hogwarts bucket list, one that she had been wanting to do since her first year because it was a mildly annoying prank, but it would still hit a couple of different people instead of just being targeted at one. And it was harmless, truly, which were the best types of pranks. She didn't ever want to hurt someone.

So here she was, having tried to take advantage of the final countdown before the job fair to mean none of the Professors would notice her as she ever so carefully made her way into the laundry room.

Once safely inside, it was then just a matter of selecting her targets as she perused the labeled bins. Fourth year Ravenclaw boys was promising... But for someone reason, so was a randomly selected bin of Slytherin. Perhaps it was just her slight revival of the ages old feud between the two houses.

Maybe she could split it up and affect both? This was an important decision, and she paused in her movements in order to just stand in the middle of the room. Maybe the best way was to actually go the tried and true method.

"Eenie, meenie, miney, mo..."

There was no actual reason that Aurora had found herself in the laundry room other than the fact that she had never actually been there before and therefore was curious as to what was hidden behind the door. Imagine her disappointment when she discovered that it was just a load of buckets and washboards and sticks and clothes magically washing themselves and NOT some secret hidden passageway that led to another part of the castle. The slightly scrunched up nose was evidence enough that she had no intentions of staying until she spotted Vera with her back to the Ravenclaw playing a game of Eenie Meenie between piles of washing.

She snuck over to the Gryffindors side quietly before rising up on her tiptoes to attempt to peer over her shoulder. “Whatcha doing?” she asked curiously. She clearly wasn’t here to do her washing otherwise she would’ve had a pile of clothes in her arms which meant that Vera was up to something and the second year wanted to be involved.

Plus she was no snitch so she could be trusted.

..mostly.

..if she could keep her mouth shut anyway.

She was so wrapped up in her nursery rhyme decision making that someone else entering the room had gone entirely unnoticed by Vera. At least, that was until the presence spoke right behind her. The Gryffindor gave a small jump before whirling around and preparing her picture of innocence. No Professors, wasn't doing anything suspicious. Just lost her favorite jumper.... Super far away from the fourth year Gryffindor's bin of washing.

Would that actually make it worse for her?

Thankfully, the girl would never have to know, because eyes fell upon the familiar smol blond. Her face quickly shifted to her usual grin and she waggled her fingers at Aurora. What was she doing? "Mischief. Want to join me?" Aurora and Anna both reminded her a lot of little Scooter, so she had a special fondness for the pair. And also no preservation skills for if anyone DID want to squeal on her. Pranking always came with the threat of being caught. She certainly was not a stranger to detention because of that.

Turning back towards the bins, Vera gestured at them all with one arm. "Pick a bin! Any that isn't my dorm or yours!" And then she could share with her what they were up to.

There was nothing to fear Vera, this Ravenclaw was perfectly happy to keep your secret and to join in with the mischief too. That was of course dependent on whether it was a harmless prank and that she would remain unable to be caught. Aurora really didn’t fancy detention, it didn’t sound like much fun and everyone knew how difficult it was for Aurora to keep still and her mouth remain shut. That was unless she was given detention with Anna in which case the supervising Professor would probably get so annoyed by their constant chatting and giggling and eagerness despite being punished that they would probably let them go early.

The second year pretended to gasp in shock as Vera confessed she was getting up to mischief but the audible giggle afterwards was a giveaway that she was only joking. “What kind of mischief?” she asked glancing between the piles of washing and her Gryffindor friend. But then Vera was instructing her to pick a pile containing a year and a house and a dorm.

She walked beside the clothes bins thinking about which to choose. She could pick Ravenclaw 6th year girls in which case it would be her sister. Or perhaps third year Hufflepuff girls which would include Anna. The only problem being that she adored those two and if something were to go wrong she wouldn’t be able to deal with their disappointed faces. Vera was a Gryffindor so that only left.. “Slytherin!” she grinned cheekily. “Definitely the boys.” They deserved it. As for the year? Solly was a third year and would probably take the joke after a brief instance of sulking but she did also value her friendship with him. They were after all ASA, their nickname for the trio. “You pick the year,” she concluded not wanting to be responsible for the last decision.

Harmless was always the way to go. The worst it would do was ruin some clothing, but certainly not cause injury or even (probably) any type of consequence other than minor annoyance. She could promise she never set up with the intention to be MEAN, just.. have some fun. How boring would life be if they didn't?

Aurora's reaction got a giggle from the older girl. Was it truly any surprise that was her goal here in the laundry room would be anything but? She knew that it was invited for students to do their own laundry if desired but..... who desired that?? Certainly not this girl. She just smiled in response at the question for what type of mischief, giving her a small wink. "The fun kind." Promise you would know very soon, Squirrel Girl.

Ve followed along after the petite blonde, looking at each of the bins that they passed that were not chosen. You were all lucky Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. The younger girl held their shirt's fates in their hand and had graciously chosen to spare you. Slytherin boys was it? She could certainly work with that. When Aurora kicked the year back to her, Vera walked in front of the line of the years and scanned through them. First years it was just too mean, so she opted to spare them. Second years.... maybe still too young. But third years and above seemed fair game. Did she go for a year in which she knew someone... or didn't? Fourth would be fun, but only because pranking Daxon sounded like a good time. But she'd never see the result of that AND he'd probably discarded of all of his clothing before anyone else did either. Fifth year stood out to her too, because apparently she could hold a grudge and there WAS that boy that had bumped into her at Hogsmeade the year before and never apologized... (the petty was strong). "Let's do fifth year. Maybe a bit of fun will be a welcome reprieve from all of the studying they've had to do." Or it wouldn't. Sorry in advance, SharkFynn.

Now with the intended targets selected, she DID promise to tell Aurora what they were up to. Opening her bag, she pulled out a couple of bright red clothing items - freshly dyed and unwashed. "It's truly harmless mischief. We're just going to 'accidentally' change the color of majority of their clothes. And it's nothing that won't be fixable with magic." Maybe not right away considering another ingredient she'd purchased and was going to add but... after about 24 hours. "Don't you think they'd all look lovely with pink and green robes for a day instead of white?"

See! Totally harmless.

Was there a non-fun kind of mischief? Aurora assumed that the point of getting into mischief was because it was fun as long as it was harmless to others. Vera wasn’t giving too much away right now but the Ravenclaw could only assume that it would involve doing something to the other students clothes. She looked at her companion curiously but chose not to press the matter any further as she was sure the answer would come in time.

Picking the boys had been easy. Boys were more likely to prank the girls and therefore wouldn’t expect it as much. The boys would also care a little less if they were the victim. Choosing Slytherin house was purely because they seemed like the easiest targets to wind up and because her boy bestie was in that house. Vera picked the fifth years and Aurora couldn’t help but giggle. “That’s so mean! Picking on the boys who are studying for their OWLs she teased.” She wasn’t sure if she knew anyone from that dorm apart from Fynn who she was related to somewhere in her family tree. They were second cousins once removed or something. Either way they weren’t close despite the familial relation and therefore she wouldn’t get into trouble with her family for being involved.

Considering the uniform consisted of crisp white shirts and blouses underneath their jumpers, there was quite a lot to be affected by the running colour. “So you’re going to make the boys walk around in PINK shirts all day?” If it was her she’d be delighted to have her uniform a perfect shade of pink for it was her favourite colour. “What do you want me to do?” she glanced up at her friend with a mischievous grin. She could mix up the dye although it would be extremely likely that she’d stain her own clothes and skin as she wasn’t exactly the cleanest when it came to doing activities.

The ice cream, flour and sprinkle covered kitchen had been evidence of that.

Well, there was the type of mischief in which you 100% were going to get caught. Which wasn't always fun, but most of the time those instances were still worth it. And there was also the type of mischief in which someone else accidentally got hurt - which always sucked all of the fun out of an idea. But THIS idea there was like a 50/50 chance of success and the odds of someone getting hurt was really super minimal.

So.. yes. FUN mischief.

Vera certainly would have found the Ravenclaw's logic to be sound. Although, with Aurora being a Ravenclaw she also just would ASSUME the logic was sound without actually hearing what it was. So when she had picked two of the three victim components, there was no questions from the Gryffindor. She grinned at the younger girl when she giggled, giving the smallest shrug of her shoulders. "is it mean, or am I actually being considerate and shaking up their current monotony of studying?" She could easily come up with an argument that this was FOR the boys and not for her own purely selfish amusement. Did she believe any of it? Not a chance.

This would have been more prime of a prank for Valentine's day, and she made note of that for the next year if this worked, but in the mean time this would do for now. "That is exactly what I'm going to do!" Hopefully the boys wouldn't be docked points for their house because of their incorrect uniforms. Except... it was Slytherin and not her own house, so maybe it was fine if they did. Another thought perhaps for re-using later on Hufflepuff if that ended up being the outcome. As for what to do? Vera handed her own of the now bright red shirts while she grabbed a dress as well. Thankfully, the clothes were currently sitting in a bit of water now - soaking, she assumed. "Let's each add one of these first and try to stir it and see if we like the color. Or if we need deeper." She left Aurora briefly to begin that process, as she scoured the area for something to stir with. She spotted a broom and determined to just use the non-bristled side, rejoining the younger girl with her find in tow. "I wonder if Professors will try to use some type of magical forensics on this." She commented, glancing at the broom before deciding juuuust in case, perhaps she should be the only one who handled it.

Aurora supposed how ‘mean’ the prank was would depend on how she would feel if she was on the receiving end of it. Of course if her school blouses were ‘accidentally’ dyed pink she would have no qualms about it. Pink was absolutely the Ravenclaws favourite colour and she could see the uniform being brightened up with another colour that wasn’t blue or green or yellow or red. “I guess so” she giggled. “But I guess it depends on whether the fifth year boys are grumpy Slytherins.” There were those who could easily take a joke and then there were those who took themselves entirely too seriously.

Aurora could NEVER take herself too seriously. It wasn’t in her nature.

Maybe by doing this they might actually start a trend and the Headmaster would take note of how GOOD they would look in pink. The second year picked up a shirt from the appropriate pile and dumped it into the bowl of water proceeded by the red dress that Vera had brought along. “How long do you think it will take?” she asked glancing up at her older friend. If it took aaaaaages they might have to leave them there for a while in which case the House Elves might have worked out something was wrong and corrected it by then. The idea that the Professors might use magical forensics to determine the culprits of the prank was enough to cause the Ravenclaw slight alarm. Her eyes widened a little in response, mostly because she didn’t want to be responsible for losing her house any points and therefore causing her compatriots to dislike her for the rest of the year. Aurora had an ingrained need for everyone to like her, she wasn’t sure she would cope if anyone didn’t.

“Are there any gloves?” Gloves wouldn’t cause fingerprints. No fingerprints meant no evidence. No evidence meant that Aurora was innocent of all wrongdoings. She could only imagine the look on her Ma’s face if she found out she’d got into trouble.

Well... her distinction was perhaps a fair one. Considering Vera had intentionally chosen fifth year because there was at least ONE grumpy one she had thought of who probably wouldn't like it... did that perhaps make the prank more mean spirited? Though then she also thought of Fynley who seemed like he could appreciate a good prank and she didn't THINK he'd be too upset by it... but she supposed time would tell. For the moment, she would just convince herself there was no malice intended and this was all for good fun. Because that WAS her primary goal here. She was about 95% certain of that! "If they are, maybe some pink will turn that frown upside down. We might just make someone's whole day!"

Honestly. Imagine not being able to just see the fun in things! That were certainly moments in which Vera could be emotional instead of able to brush things off and laugh, but she truly TRIED to make those far and few between.

As for how long? Vera stood on her tiptoes in order to peer inside at the clothing after Aurora had dumped in the first piece. "Well... I think the longer the better because higher saturation comes with more time." But she certainly did not have the patience to be here ALL evening. "I say though we just go however long we want to and then leave. It might just mean some of the boys are more blessed than others with varying degrees of pink." Maybe someone would even get RED and show a little Gryffindor house pride. Just imagine!

Magical forensics or not, Vera wasn't too concerned about getting in trouble. And if they did get caught, she planned on taking the full fall anyways and saying she bullied the small Ravenclaw into it or something. She was pretty certain the Professor's didn't think she was actually a bully but... maybe they could be convinced! They certainly wouldn't doubt she'd do this. Until Aurora's suggestion anyways. Gloves was GENIUS! Which was also just further proof of why one should always have a Ravenclaw around! Digging into her bag she produced two pairs of dragonhide. Yes, they were for CoMC but... they should certainly do the trick here too. "Excellent idea! Here's a pair!" She bounced over excitedly to the younger student, offering her a pair before slipping her own. Next, time to drop in yet another piece of RED clothing which she proceeded to do with her now gloved hands.

Aurora didn’t have a particularly artistic bone in her body, not because she didn’t enjoy it but because she wasn’t exactly talented in that department but making things look pretty was definitely in her list of activities she enjoyed doing and turning everything pink would fit neatly into that category. She’d also heard of colours creating emotions in others. Yellow was supposedly a happy colour and blue was sad and then there was pink which was the colour of love and fluffy marshmallows and candy floss and cherry blossoms. All of those things made her smile and therefore it made perfect sense that wearing a pink shirt for these boys could turn their frown upside down. “Hmm.. Okay!” she agreed with the Gryffindor with her signature grin.

Only boring people weren’t able to have fun.

Standing here waiting for the dye to saturate didn’t sound like Aurora’s idea of fun. Patience was not something that she had quite achieved yet in her twelve years. Standing still wasn’t either which was why she was wiggling her body a little as she watched the clothing fully submerge below the water line. There was no turning back now. “Just as long as I don’t have to SLEEP here all night. The floor isn’t nearly as comfortable as my bed is.” The bed which she may have jumped up and down on before and whose pillows had been used to create a fortress when there was a loud storm echoing its way through the Scottish mountains.

There were surely some doubts among the students when they heard the ridiculous answers that the second year came up with in lessons sometimes that she truly belonged in Ravenclaw. Aurora might not have been traditionally book smart but she was curious and thoughtful and (sometimes) came up with bright ideas to shock everyone. “Thanks!” She beamed accepting the gloves and pulling them onto her hands. “They’re a bit big” she giggled holding them up to look at the fingers flopping over where her tiny hands only took up half the space. Her parents had to buy her a new pair after she launched hers at some Gnomes last year. She was extremely disappointed that her Ma wouldn’t charm them to be pastel pink as it wasn’t regulation for the school uniform. She did argue that it would make her even more interested in Herbology but that fell on deaf ears.

Well, Vera would have to agree there that sleeping here ALL night wouldn't be the most particularly comfortable thing in the world. But as she looked around the room, she could see potential too though for this being a great spot for a slumber party. Or a game of hide and seek but that's not what they were currently discussing. "It might not be as comfy as our four posters BUT... imagine the type of fort we could make with everything down here? They have some of the clean pillows and blankets and people's jumpers! We could make the biggest most comfortable fort, probably EVER." And that idea actually sounded really enticing to her the more time she thought about it. Perhaps she ought to add it to the Gryffindor bucket list? She'd do that when she returned to her dormitory later on.

Vera didn't have any doubts at all. Maybe perhaps because it wasn't her place to doubt anyways where anyone was sorted, but also because she knew one of the Ravenclaw words of import was 'learning'. A Ravenclaw didn't have to be immediately the smartest person in a room to fit the bill for their house. They were all children, so would that have even been feasible to begin with?? No. But Aurora had a curiosity to her. She wanted to know EVERYTHING and had a lot of questions prepared in order to do so. She also had an imagination, which Vera was pretty certain was a strong indicator of wit. Aurora being a Ravenclaw made perfect sense. "Do you want me to shrink them to fit your hands?"

NOW she could be tempted.

Pillow forts and sleepovers were her kryptonite. She had spent many a night in her sisters room at home building forts and telling stories and giggling until 2am when her Ma Layla would grumpily come in and ask them to be quiet. “We could turn the whole room into a giant blanket cave” she gasped excitedly. It would be even better if they could sneak their mattresses, pillows and duvets down the stairs but considering they were both located up in the towers it seemed like a very unlikely option. “Although I’m not sure the House Elves would like it much.” They would probably get in the way, the students that was, the Elves were wonderful in every which way possible.

Should Aurora have been a legilimens and therefore able to hear Vera’s inner thoughts, she would’ve been absolutely thrilled to hear how much the older girl believed she fit the bill for her house. She herself thought the Sorting Hat had only chosen her because she asked, practically begged, to be where her parents had been. It was true that Aurora’s imagination could run wild, that she was curious and inquisitive and that instead of asking one question she would ask twenty at a time even if they didn’t make perfect sense. She had also been stuck outside the Ravenclaw Common Room on several occasions due to over-complicating the answers to the riddles awaiting an older student to latch onto. But when she was able to answer them straight away her little heart sang and she felt like the most clever thing ever.

What she also lacked was an encyclopaedic knowledge of spells however this was one that she had only learned recently and so was still somewhat fresh in her mind. “No I can do this one” she bounced pulling the gloves off one finger at a time and setting them down on the table. She would’ve tried the shrinking charm whilst they were still on her hands but it was likely to go wrong and she’d end up in the hospital ward with one hand much smaller than the other. Withdrawing her wand from her holster and pointing it towards the gloves, the second year spoke Reducio very clearly (because not being clear had got her into a world of trouble before) and the gloves shrank to petite Aurora size before her eyes.

The house elves portion was a VERY good point and Vera considered that point for a moment, before the easiest answer was what popped into her head. Why not just ask?? "I bet if we asked them nicely and assured we'd clean everything up they'd be okay with it!" The house elves were the nicest beings in existence. It was only because of that she wouldn't disregard the inconvenience it would cause them and just... do whatever she wanted. "Or if they don't like it, what we COULD do is host a massive fort party in the Room of Requirement next term. Maybe like... a welcome back to Hogwarts type of shindig!" And if they did it on a weekend during non-curfew hours, they wouldn't even have to get permission from ANYONE. Just.. make some cookies and bring some crisps or something and they had themselves an event!

Had Aurora ever indicated to Vera that she felt at times misplaced, she would have gladly told her everything she thought of the young girl and how she'd been put in the PERFECT house. But thankfully for most, she also was not actually a legilimens either. Maybe that was something that could be put on her bucket list later in life too. Though... truthfully she'd rather learn occlumency and protect her own thoughts first.

Vera was very confident in Aurora's confidence to do the spell herself, but she still observed the girl for a moment to make sure gloves were now comfortable before turning back to her bag. They were well protected now - but she was also already running out of patience. Which clearly meant the only thing to do now... was dump ALL the clothes. Pulling out the remainder of the freshly dyed reds, she offered half a pile towards Aurora. "Shall we finish the job together and put in the rest??" She asked with a wide grin, already stepping closer.