Hogwarts Easter Egg Hunt

by Mykerinos

A/N: Apparently I do not own the Harry Potter verse. In fact, I do not even own this plot! This was written in response to a WIKTT challenge that expired a year and a day ago. But good ideas don't expire, I say, and I haven't written fanfic for so long, so here we go.

-

"Anyone can see that it is not chocolate!" Ron said loudly, his nose almost touching the moving picture on the wall. An entire group of at least fourty students had gathered around the novelty in the hallway, all wanting to know what was on the piece of parchment.

"Hogwarts' Easter Egg Hunt", it read in large letters, and then in smaller letters under the picture: "In light of the annual Easter festivities--" "What do they mean by 'annual'? There haven't been Easter festivities for the past six years, really," Harry commented. "-- the C.H.A.T. (Council of Hogwarts for Absurd Thoughts) has organised a large and exciting activity to stimulate the interaction between students, and students and their teachers. In the four weeks preceding Easter, various eggs, in all colours, forms and varieties, will be hidden all throughout the castle and on the castle grounds. Both students and teachers are encouraged to seek them and report them upon finding. Depending on the kind of egg, students will receive certain amounts of house points for every egg they find. All found eggs may be kept by the discoverer."

"Of course it is not chocolate, that would make the entire search quite ridiculous, now wouldn't it?" Hermione said matter-of-factly.

Neville, who was standing behind them on his toes, trying to see but hardly succeeding, squeaked in a small voice: "What's wrong with chocolate?"

"Besides," Hermione continued, ignoring Neville. "it says that there are eggs in all colours, forms and varieties, so that must mean that there will be chocolate eggs amongst other kinds,"

"It sounds like fun," Ron said, finally backing away to look at Harry. "Do you reckon they'll have golden eggs as well, like the ones from the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Yes, you would like that now, wouldn't you Weasley?" an unpleasant voice rose from the back. People from the crowd were shoved aside by Crabbe and Goyle, who now apart from looked, also acted like two bulldozers, so that Malfoy could walk up to the trio. "We'll have to keep watch that your whole family doesn't come over to Hogwarts to search as well, desperate as they are – it clearly says only students are allowed to participate... Not that they'd stand a chance, of course."

Ron's face turned an ugly shade of red, but before he could jump for Malfoy, Hermione had stepped forward. "I've heard that the biggest prize is hidden in the Forbidden Forest," she bluffed, her face straight. "Would you care to join me on my hunt there?"

She could hardly suppress a smile as Malfoy's smirk disappeared and his face turned whiter. "I don't do business with mudbloods," he muttered, trying to sound insulting, but he was so obviously unnerved that it hardly had any effect. Reminding him of his first-year-encounter with the Forest somehow always seemed to do the trick: if he hadn't been such a prat, she might've been worried about him suffering from post-traumatic stress.

She glanced at Ron, who still looked angry, but at least his face had chosen to take on a more natural colour again. "I want to beat his ass in this Egg game, no matter what," he spat, looking fierce. "I want to beat him in every game,"

Hermione gave a shrug as her eyes drifted back to the parchment. Whoever had come up with this, had to be pretty twisted in the head. "Well, go ahead, but I'm not going to spend my time on such a silly game. The exams are coming up already, there's no time to sit around and search for eggs in whatever form or colour!"

Harry no longer even stared at her and Ron didn't even point her out that it was only March: they just shrugged. They'd long gotten used to her priorities and Hermione was glad that they no longer tried to convince her otherwise.

"I hope Ginny wants to help though," she heard Ron whisper as she walked away. "After all, we need someone to search the girls bathroom for us."

-

Meanwhile, the C.H.A.T. was holding a meeting in one of the darker rooms of the castle, far away from places where any student would ever dare to come. The fact that there was hardly any illumination in the stone, nearly empty room and the sound of something leaking in the background both added to the feel of being in a cave. Although the name might suggest a crazy group of people with party hats and cow bells, coming up with ridiculous ideas over a bottle of Ms. Bumble's Rum, the Council of Hogwarts for Absurd Thoughts was a partly strange, partly serious and partly reluctant group. Professor Dumbledore, the initiative taker, was the strange, though brilliant one, Professor McGonagall was the serious one, and Professor Snape obviously the most reluctant one.

"Why am I in this Council again?" Snape sighed in annoyance as he massaged his temples and sat down in a large, half-broken chair.

McGonagall shot him an annoyed look. "Don't be such a bore, Severus. Doing something for the students is part of being a teacher, whether you like it or not. Last year all the teachers helped preparing the Yule Ball, be it by depositing ideas or by actually setting up the thing – except you. It's about time,"

"I, unlike all the other teachers, have better things to do than to organise something as pointless as a Ball," Snape retorted, glaring back at the older woman with at least as much venom in his eyes. "There's nothing more disgusting then students and teachers alike getting drunk and making fools out of themselves,"

McGonagall rolled her eyes and gave a deep sigh that said more than any reply could have done: it was clear she thought she was the wiser one and did not intend to carry the argument on any further.

Dumbledore smiled as he watched his two colleagues bicker, his eyes twinkling brightly from under a large purple hat that seemed to dance on his head. He looked at Severus. "You are here because everything discussed in this Council is supposed to be kept secret. And though you may lack a certain enthusiasm for the job, I know that the things here will be more than safe with you. Apart from that, you are also the one who needs to prepare the main prize in our special event."

"Ah," Snape replied, looking as if he'd just received fly poo soup instead of the chiabatta with salmon and lettuce he'd ordered. He wondered if perhaps he had to cook a really large boiled egg. It seemed just like the type of crazy thing Dumbledore would want.

"And it's also just formypersonalamusement," Dumbledore said so quickly that only half of it registered in Snape's mind.

"What?" he asked, blinking a few times at the older man.

Dumbledore suddenly appeared to be really interested in the piece of parchment in his hands, though a large smile crept across his face. He quickly changed the subject, paying no attention to Snape's confusion. "On our agenda today are two things," he announced in a voice loud enough to fill the entire Great Hall. "First, the potion. Is it ready yet, Severus?"

Snape narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore. He didn't like the look on Dumbledore's face at all, that look like he was up to something, along with that hint in his voice that suggested something he didn't like at all either. "Yes, it is. But surely you don't mean to use..."

"A small dose of Felix Felicis will be the grand prize in the Easter Egg Hunt," Dumbledore said contently, stroking his long beard. McGonagall nodded approvingly.

Snape's fingers curled up into a fist. He need not lose his cool, he had to stay calm... "Albus, do you have any idea what it took for me to make that potion?" Though it had a question mark at the end, it was not actually a question. He tried to keep his voice as casual and flat as he could, but it was as difficult as it was for a goblin to look pretty. "Surely you aren't going to tell me that I went through all that trouble just to make a prize in this silly game?"

"You don't think that's a worthy cause?" Dumbledore asked, staring so intently at the other man that he almost seemed to burn holes in Snape's black robes. In fact, he did begin to smell something funny.

Of course it was perfectly clear that Snape didn't think an Egg Hunt was a worthy cause for weeks of intensive potion-brewing – a wooden plank would've been able to tell that -- but Dumbledore being the man that he was, his mere stare made Snape swallow his intial response. It had been exactly this stare that had also made him join in on this Council in the first place. Mentally cursing himself, he replied in a monotonous drawl: "How can it not be?", sarcasm dripping from it in slimy strings.

"Good!" Dumbledore said cheerfully, turning the piece of parchment with a snap. "Then our final point of today: Minerva unfortunately has to leave for the largest period of the fesitivities," he said, glancing at the stern woman over his half-moon spectacles. "Have you marked all the eggs and prepared them for hiding?"

McGonagall nodded. "All you have to do is give them the order," she said.

"Perfect!" Dumbledore beamed, as if the mere idea already gave him great joy. He turned to Severus. "With Minerva gone, you will be the sole confidant of the eggs and their hiding places, apart from me. Do you think you can handle such pressure?"

He looked so serious that Snape for a moment contemplated shouting at him that it was all just a game, but he decided against it. "I think I am, headmaster," he said through clenched teeth. "After all, this being a top secret society, nobody'll know who set it up, now would they?" If Snape had glared at a bunny the way he did at Dumbledore right then, it would have instantly died. Luckily Dumbledore wasn't made of bunny.

"Exactly," the headmaster said, an unusual twinkle appearing in his eyes. "nobody will know,"

The words suddenly sounded so ominous that McGonagall and Snape looked at each other, their mutual disliking forgotten for a split second, and simultaneously shuddered.