A Potion Induced Advent's Time
by Healer Pomfrey

Please refer to the content/warnings/disclaimer note above page 1.

December 10

During the weekend, Harry and the two children spent much time out in the snow. With the help of the Weasley twins, they built a huge snowman, whereby the building process was interrupted by several snowball fights, which the toddlers and the three students enjoyed immensely. Although Harry would not have admitted this to anyone, he felt very relieved to have the twins around instead of being solely responsible for the children. On Sunday morning, Harry had another brain storming session with Minerva, while the twins took Severus with them to the Potions classroom for a discussion about their classes.

'I just hope they won't allow him to brew something dangerous, while they're in the dungeons,' Harry worried. However, all of his concerns became put aside, when Minerva asked, "Can we go fying?"

"Oh that's a good idea, now that Severus is otherwise occupied," Harry agreed immediately. "Let's do that."

Harry and Minerva spent the remainder of the morning flying in the snow, until Severus' thoughts penetrated Harry's mind.

'Am I supposed to have lunch together with the Gryffindors, or are we going to eat together in our rooms?'

'Oh no,' Harry thought, terrified. 'The poor boy. I completely lost track of time.' He quickly flew over to where Minerva was happily trying to catch her Snitch and said, "I'm very sorry, Minerva, but Severus told me that he was hungry. We need to go back to our rooms for lunch."

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In the evening, however, Minerva convinced Harry and Severus to take dinner in the Great Hall. While she had been flying earlier, she had seen Hagrid carry the large Christmas tree into the Great Hall, which seemed extremely huge and interesting to her two-year-old self.

"Hawwy, we can decate de twee," she said, bursting with excitement, causing Harry to look at her in surprise.

"I thought Professor Flitwick was the one, who always decorates the tree," he said in confusion.

"I can do, too," she said proudly, looking at Severus with an upset expression, when he began to laugh.

"I will decate de twee," he announced, smirking.

'Just like his older self,' Harry thought and couldn't help grinning. "All right, we will ask Professor Flitwick if we can help decorating the tree," he finally gave in and agreed to have dinner together with the children at the Head table. 'Thank Merlin the twins are here as well,' he thought, somehow feeling very uncomfortable to sit at the teachers' table. However, he didn't have much time to ponder the matter, because Professor Flitwick pulled him into a long conversation about House points, telling him to feel free to award and take House points, whenever he deemed it adequate.

"I am sorry, I completely forgot to award points," Harry said, wondering how such a thing could have completely slipped his mind. "May I just add one hundred points to each of the Houses to make up for it?"

"One hundred points equally?" Professor Sprout threw in, looking at him in surprise.

However, before Harry could confirm his intention, a huge collective gasp made him turn his eyes to the Christmas tree, which Hagrid had put up to the right hand side of the Head table. From the needles of the still undecorated tree, Bertie Bott's beans were leaking out in a fast speed, slightly similar to how the chocolate frogs had jumped out of the cauldrons on the tree at Diagon Alley a few days before. 'Severus,' Harry thought grimly, glaring at the boy, who merely raised an eyebrow at him and looked very much contented.

While Harry was still pondering how to handle the situation, hundreds of colourful beans began to flood the Great Hall. Within minutes, the floor of the Great Hall was completely covered with sweets. The thought 'Professor Dumbledore would have liked this prank. He would have secretly awarded House points' came to Harry's mind, and he decided to not scold Severus or tell anyone that he knew who the culprit was but to play along.

By the time the beans began to spread in the entrance hall as well, Professor Flitwick realised that all his wand waving did not work on the Charm that someone seemed to have cast at the tree. He instructed everyone to leave the Hall and return to their common rooms. "Go back to your common rooms as long as you can pass the corridors. All evening activities are cancelled for the time being. We will inform you when the problem is solved. I suggest that the person responsible for this come to me and inform me of the spell they used in order to prevent the beans from spreading further through the castle. Trust me, if we find out who it was later on, you will be punished accordingly."

"Are you happy now?" Harry asked, chuckling, when they reached their rooms, quirking an eyebrow at Severus.

"Sevvie?" Minerva blurted out in shock.

"Lub it," Severus replied, smirking.

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In spite of all efforts, the teachers were unable to prevent the Christmas tree from spitting out further beans, and by Monday morning, the whole castle was flooded, except for certain areas, which were secured by special wards like the four Houses, the teachers' quarters and the hospital wing.

tbc...