A/N: Here's the next chapter of Harry Hadrian Snape and the Chamber of Secrets. I tried to keep mistakes minimal and will repost any corrections once my Beta, S gets back to me. I'm sorry for the wait and thank every one who's been reading and reviewing for your patience. This chapter has humor in it and some fluff between Harry, the twins, and Lee. Well, I hope this chapter makes up for my lack of updates.
To my TMNT readers, I'm working on that other chapter. A new job is taking some time to get used to, but I hope to try and get it up, either this week or next. Thanks again every one and I hope you enjoy this chapter. R&R!
Chapter 10: April
It was breakfast, and the atmosphere was tensed and thrumming with nervous energy. Most of the teachers and older year students had their focus on a pair of twins sitting at the Gryffindor table. The other teachers were keeping their eyes on James Potter, his reputation from when he was in school preceeding him, despite his not having done anything such as that in many, many years. The students uneasily picked at their breakfasts, while the teachers didn't touch theirs. The oldest of the students couldn't help but feel sorry and envy for the unsuspecting younger year students, happily, but confusedly eating their breakfasts.
It was closer towards the end of the meal that the students jumped, startled by the owls arriving. Eyes were eyeing packages and envelopes dis-trustfully. Things were normal, as the owls disappeared out of the great hall, only for a new owl of red feathers swooped in, dropping a black orb in mid-air before dis-appearing out the great hall. The orb exploded in a sweep of black smoke. The students were panicked as the teachers tried to clear it away. It was only two minutes later that the hall cleared of the smoke.
Eyes looked around in confusion, nothing seeming to be out of the ordinary. Then their was a scream of out-rage and horror. Heads whipped towards the Gryffindor Table where the sound came from. All of the Gryffindors were wearing robes of silver and green. Looking around caused other gasps of surprise. Slytherins now sported yellow and black robes, Ravenclaws sported red and gold ones while the Hufflepuffs wore blue and bronze robes. While it was mostly the Gryffindors freaking out about the robe change, there were a few from other houses growling at their robe colors.
A didgusted cry from the teachers table caused heads to turn, expecting it to be the Potters or even Lockhart. Instead, it had been McGonagall and Dumbledore who had made the disgusted noises. Dumbledore, known for his love of brightly and strangely patterned robes, was now sporting a plain black robe with some accents of red, green, yellow, and blue on the hems and sleeves. It was so normal, people had to do a double take, to be sure it wasn't their imagination.
McGonagall also had them shocked. Her robes were a bright pink and purple color, and the disgust so pronounced on her face was more emotion than they had ever seen. Then there was Snape. Oh Merlin, some one was going to be killed. Severus who wore just black robes now sported red and gold on them. The look on his face was the most emotion any one had ever seen. If looks could kill, and they probably could with some spells, many of the students would be dead. As it was, many were close to fainting at his and McGonagalls looks of pure rage and fury.
Prof. Sprout was laughing, with no sense of self-perservation as she pointed at her fellow teachers in mirth. Her robes were blue and bronze, not that she minded. Flitwick, who was next to her, was trying to keep his giggles under control, his own robes were yellow and black. The Potters were glaring at their robes of green and silver, and Lockhart was currently fleeing the great hall, his brown robes with orange puff balls flying behind him. All over, students and teachers were trying to remove the spell on their clothing, eyes glancing up when a large eagle swooped in, dropping a howler that activated in mid-air. No one recognized the voice that came from it.
"To the staff and students of Hogwarts...April Fools Day has begun! There are pranks laying all over the castle, they can not be removed. The spell on your robes also, can not be removed. The effects of the spell and the traps will go away after curfew. Be careful around school, and enjoy the rest of your day!" the message ended and the howler erupted into a series of fire crackers.
The day continued full of tension and un-ease. Even the teachers were so paranoid that they could barely concentrait on their own lessons. Students were running around the school with brightly colored hair-Liam Potter was going around with bright pink hair- or animal parts, such as dog ears, elephant trunks, or even tails. A couple of rather unfortunate students, such as Ginny Weasley and Liam Potter had gotten their school robes switched. Liam embarrasingly ran around in the girls' uniform, keeping it covered with his detested Slytherin robes, and Ginny went around in the boys' uniform. No one was all surprised when Harry Snape's robes got magically replaced with the girls' uniform. After two years of cross-dressing for Halloween, he wasn't very bothered, though his father and Draco demanded he keep his robe over it to keep it hidden.
It was during a free hour that Harry, Lee, and the twins silently made their way to a secret passage the older trio had found years ago. Other students had already given the twins birthday wishes, leaving Lee and Harry as the only ones not to do so yet. "Happy Birthday!" they told the twins, showing the passage had been decorated with gold and silver balloons, and a beautiful cake. The cake was a double layer, chocolate and strawberry one that Harry had made from scratch.
"Thanks you guys." Fred and George told their pranking buddies and honestly, best firends.
"It's not a problem." Lee told them, while Harry opened up some butterbeers for the group. The group enjoyed their food before the twins were bestowed with gifts. Fred got some of the rarer needed ingrediants for some of their more complex potions, from Harry. He also got a new book from Lee for him and George to write down their new recipes and plans. George had obtained a new prank bag, filled with an almost endless supply of new prank gadgets from Harry, while Lee had gotten him a journal as well for his own ideas. The twins were also given small, velvet boxes from both of them.
"What's this?" Fred asked in awe, opening the box to find a beautiful, silver bracelet with a smooth sapphire hanging from it, with a clear raven symbol. George's was a silver bracelet aswell, only he had a smooth ruby on it with a clear fox symbol. They looked at their friends in confusion as the duo held up their wrists to show that they also possessed a bracelet each.
"We decided that since we are the next generation of Mauraders here at Hogwarts, we should have our own group name, and alises." Harry grinned. His bracelt was also silver, with a smooth emerald, and a gray snake symbol. Lee's was silver with a smooth topaz and a pale gray griffin on his.
"The gems, once we make a decision, will have our group's name and our alises on them." Lee explained excitedly.
"The animal charms represent something about you, and the color it turns will be determined on your magical nature, such as light, dark, gray-such as my self- and nuetral-such as Lee." Harry added.
"Each bracelets has a set of charms on them. One that allows only our group to see them. A charm that, when given the right word, will cast a strong disillusionment charm on the wearer. It also repels hexes and jinxes and will warm up if there's poison in your food. It will also go extremely cold if one of the others in the group are in danger. Like if they're hurt or in a tight spot. Like being caught by a teacher." Lee told them with a grin, finishing the explanation of the bracelets functions.
"This is amazing!" Fred said in amazement.
"You said the animal charm repesent something about us?" George began, wondering how to word his question.
"You're wondering why, if you're twins, you have different charms?" Harry asked, understanding the twins. The duo nodded.
"You guys are twins, and despite how alike the two of you are, you're also two seperate people, and it isn't fair to group you together as each other." Lee said.
"And while you do a good job at hiding how much it hurts and upsets you when your family get your names wrong, we still know how you really feel." Harry added, his voice soft and gentle. The twins took this all in, trying to hide the effect their friend's words had on them.
Their whole life, while they loved being twins, they were, as they put it, their own people. It hurt when their own family couldn't tell them apart. But here, with Harry and Lee, their absolute best friends, they felt accepted for themselves. The twins quickly changed subject, so they could keep the tears at bay. "So what do our animals represent about us?" George asked.
"Well, we noticed that while Fred loved to do the pranks, he happens to enjoy the creating of the potions, spells, and ideas more. And while you love making the potions, spells, and coming up with ideas, George, you enjoy the pranking more. So Fred got the Raven, for his love of the craft. And you got the fox, to represent your love of the execution of the craft." Harry and Lee explained. Neither of the boys expected to be tackled by the twins in a large group hug.
"Thank you." the twins said, voices soft and grateful. This. This right here, was all they had ever wanted. For someone to actually know them and who they were. The group of pranksters stayed in their hug for a long time, before they finally seperated. The twins put their bracelets on and were surprised when Fred's turned white, and George's turned black. After that shock wore off, they started discussing names for their group and their names in the group. After that was done, they came up with a plan to introduce their new group at dinner.
Dinner was a tense affair. Everyone was stressed out and tensed. When people noticed how tense the twins and James Potter were, they considered that they had nothing to do with today. Besides, both twins sported bright purple hair, cat ears, and George got caught in the uniform gender changing prank. As did James Potter and Lily Potter. Suddenly, all the lights went out, except for the candles, leaving the great hall in dim lighting. Students clung to each other in fear, teachers stood and raised their wands, out of pure instinct and paranoia.
"You have survived April Fools Day, Hogwarts! But that doesn't mean it's over." a strange voice filled the great hall. A couple of first and second, and even sixth years burst out into tears, including the Potters and Lockhart. "Today is the day that the new era of Mauraders will take over!" several teachers froze and paled, remembering the last group. "Allow us to introduce our selves! We are the 'Wayward Souls'!"
"Ying!"(Fred)
"Yang!"(George)
"Silph!"(Harry)
"Mythic!"(Lee)
"Together, we shall do our part in furthering the education of Hogwart's students! Together, we shall produce chaos, surprise, and the unexpected. So everyone, remain in constant vigillance and expect the unexpected!" with that, the light died out completely as several cracks were heard through out the dinning hall. When the lights slowly came on, every one was shocked to find that the tables were on the roof and the roof's charm for the ceiling was now on the floor, where students were standing and or floating. It was choas as the teachers were all stuck to walls. The head of houses were the first to break out of there binds and immediately, every one felt a flipping motion and things were normal once more. That night, everyone went to bed in shock and feeling ill. Thankfully, the next day was saturday, and they could all sleep in. No one noticed the Wayward Souls grin and mentally congradulate each other on jobs well done.
The rest of the month started out pretty simple. They pruned Abyssinian Figs and even learned the Point-Me charm, which was useful in locating misplaced school books, supplies, and even assignments. Or in a few first years cases, their pets. Things had fallen peaceful for a while, and then, towards the end of April, tradgedy struck again, setting the school into a depression once more. Harry and his fellow second years, being lead by Prof. Sprout were heading towards the Defense room when, turning a corner, they were all shocked by what they saw. Both the Fat Friar and Cedric Diggory were petrified on the floor.
"Cedric!" Harry called, him, Neville, Daphne, and the rest of the Hufflepuffs ran forward, Sprout unable to hold all of them back. The day was full of depression. Classese were canceled as they were all once more taken to the great Hall to mourn another student's petrification and be retold the importance of staying together and with a teacher. The only good side of the month was the Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw quidditch match. Which Slytherin won. Not that it was much of a spirit lifter. The students came close to hexing Lockhart when he went on and on about how poor Cedric would have been safe had he been around. Had he left Lockharts office later. When it was learned that Lockhart had allowed Cedric to leave his office alone, no one was happy.
It was thanks to the Wayward Souls that the students got payback. Lockhart stayed locked up in his office for several days afterwards, and it was the student with the best grade on the class that taught the other students. So when the end of the month came along, and second years had to start chosing their electives for next year, it was difficult to make a decission. Especially since many were wondering if there would even be a next year. With the way things were going, none of them were too sure.
A/N: Here it is. The April chapter. Chapter 11: May is done and will be posted with in the next week or two. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter's humor and fluff. The next chapter has some more excitement and danger in it. R&R please! And thanks for sticking with me for so long.