Harry James Potter fucked up big time. He had been living with Snape for 9 years now, and he had never done anything as bad as this. It was a simple prank, or so he thought. Just sometimes to give a laugh, but his poor potions skills ended up screwing him over in the end.
His plan was to make a potion that could remove Snape's memories for the day, so that he would be as ditzy as Lockheart. He still remembered the cruel grin that eclipsed his face when Ron's wand backfired on his poor professor and wiped his memories clean. Ron and him laughed for hours about it until Snape swooped in and threatened to spank them both if they didn't cut the laughter, because to him all they did was put their lives in danger, even if in the end, they saved a lot of lives.
Well, a few days ago Harry decided that no matter the consequences, he was going to make a potion that would create this effect, so that he would forever remember the prank of the century pulled by him. He cracked open a text book and turned from page to page looking for a reasonable solution to make. He found one, "The Forget Me Not Potion". This potion was guaranteed to cause the drinker of the potion to forget how to do most things/forget memories for a period of 24 hours. The potion would even place the unneeded memories in the nearest pensieve to be put back in the person mind the following day. All you needed was some wolfsbane, essence of a firelilly, a hair or bodily fluid from the person for which the potions is made for, and some crushed up slugs. This seems easy enough, thought Harry.
Harry cracked his knuckles over the cauldron in Snape's private laboratory. He was never suppose to enter this room, but what Snape didn't know won't hurt him. He followed the directions carefully, checking back and forth between the book and his hands, making sure that he was doing each step with care. He didn't want Snape to be hurt, just wanted to have a story to tell Ron and Hermione when he got back to Hogwarts. It was his second to last year, and he wanted to make it a good one filled with memories. It always seemed like gloom and doom to him everywhere he looked. He knew that someday he was going to have to face Voldemort. Someday. But for this summer, he wanted to be a normal teenager. He leaned over the cauldron as he thought more and more about his future. He scratched his head as the memory of Sirius's death eclipsed him.
Seeing Sirius die in his head through him into a crying fit, as he mixed the ingredients together forming a paste like consistency. The final touch was a hair from Snape. Luckily, yesterday, he managed to find one in the shower drain. It was long and black with a certain greasy shine to it. It most certainly belonged to Snape. Harry was bound and determined to get this potion to work. He mixed up the ingredients one final time, and he was off. He poured the drink into a teacup and took it into his room, ready for the next morning to arrive.
Morning arrived quicker than expected. Harry stretched his arms up and yawned loudly up into the sky. It was 6 AM, much earlier than he was used to getting up. In order for this plan to work, he had to be sneaky. Snape always put his morning tea on the kettle at precisely 6:15 AM and went and took a 10 minute shower. Snape was on a tight schedule. He ran like clockwork, so Harry had to do the timing right.
He snuck out of his room with his teacup tight in his hands, listening closely for the shower to be running. He heard footsteps heading up the stairs and Harry darted to the supply closet making sure not to make a sound.
"Five bloody minutes ahead of schedule. This is going to be a good day," Snape whispered to himself.
Yes it will, Dad. Yes, it will, thought Harry, trying to not giggle to himself. Harry put his ear to the door, listening carefully for the waterfall of water to erupt from the bathroom. A few minutes later, it sizzled to life. He carefully, opened the door and gently closed it behind him, tip toeing down the stairs. He gripped the teacup in his hands tighter as he entered the kitchen.
"There is no turning back now. I have to do this. I have to. I will have a good laugh this summer before I go back to the seriousness of the real world," Harry muttered to himself as he approached the kettle.
Harry undid the kettle lid as he sighed loudly. No turning back now, chanted in his head. He turned the teacup over and let the sludge hit the dark brown tea water. He took a spoon and mixed up the sludge making it a more uniformed liquid. This is actually going to work. He put the kettle lid back on the kettle, making sure to make it look like nobody had touched it.
Harry went to the nearby couch and sat down, waiting for his genius to unfold. About 8 minutes later, Snape came trudging down the stairs with his wet hair flowing left to right as he moved. Snape made eye contact with Harry.
"What are you doing up? It is summer, you are never up this early. You must be up to something," Snape said suspiciously
"I couldn't sleep. Don't worry, I have not done anything. I just wanted to be downstairs for a bit. It is too claustrophobic in my room." Harry croaked, hoping that Snape would not catch on to anything that he was doing.
"Says the boy that I rescued from living in a cupboard under the stairs." Snape joked.
"Yeah yeah yeah. Just drink your damn tea, you old man." Harry uttered.
"Watch the language, Harry." Snape said while pouring a cup of tea into his glass. "Do you want some?"
"Nope, I could use without your gross tea. Too strong for me. I will stick with pumpkin juice" Harry said disgustingly, while trying not to laugh.
"Your lose." Snape shrugged while walking to the table that sat adjacent to the couch, sitting his tea down for it to cool down.
Harry eyeballed the tea, hoping to get the suspense over with. He just wanted his prank to go into effect so he could see Snape desperately try to recall anything before the day before yesterday, that wasn't important of course. The potion did say that he would remember important things, just not the little details. If everything worked out, maybe he would forget how to grade homework for a day, or how to boss him around. Maybe all he could do is eat and shit like a baby. Whatever happens, this would be a fun 24 hours. He could even look at Snape's past memories in the pensieve maybe. Hopefully, this time, ones that don't put his dad in a bad light again.
Snape gripped his cup again and pulled it up to his mouth. Time was moving almost in slow motion as Harry stared deeply into Snape's glass. Work Please. Work Please. Work Please. Snape put the cup to his lips and drank. Suddenly the room became blurry to both Snape and Harry and they both fell to the floor with a flop.