A Potion Induced Advent's Time
by Healer Pomfrey

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


December 11

Harry woke to Misty shaking his shoulder. "Master Harry, you must get up. Professor Flitwick is waiting in Madam Pomfrey's office and wants to talk with you," the small house-elf told him in a soft voice, promising, "I will watch the children, while you're away, Master Harry."

When Harry had taken a quick shower and was dressed, he hurried into Poppy's office, where Professor Flitwick was waiting for him.

"Good morning my boy. I am sorry to disturb you this early in the morning, but as the Transfiguration teacher, you are required to fulfil the position of the Gryffindor Head of House," the professor told him and handed him a book.

'Head of Gryffindor?' Harry thought in shock. During the whole week, he hadn't even thought about the fact that Gryffindor was missing a Head of House. 'Magic Through the Ages,' he deciphered the title, which was written in slightly old looking letters. He looked at the Charms professor in confusion.

Flitwick cleared his throat, before he explained in his high, childish voice, which sounded even more excited than usual, "Since no one can walk through the corridors, the students will have to remain in their Houses and study today. The elves have distributed this book to each student with the information that they must completely read it today, while classes are cancelled for the time being, and that we will have a test about the content of this book tomorrow. Please make sure to check on the students and answer possible questions, while I will prepare the test. The meals for the students will be served in the common rooms; however, I'd like to ask you to come to the Great Hall at lunchtime, so that we can try together to cancel the Charm that someone has cast on the Christmas tree."

'Oh no,' Harry thought, wondering how he could convince Severus to teach him how to counter the Charm before lunchtime.

However, he soon noticed that the matter was going to become a problem for him much earlier. When he spoke with the portrait of a medieval Healer, which Poppy had provided for their entrance door that led out into the halls, the portrait refused to open, because the corridor was full of beans that were piled so high that they were completely covering her portrait from the outside.

'Oh that's cool,' Harry thought. 'I can't leave through the corridor, I can't take the Floo network, because I'm not a real teacher. How am I supposed to get to Gryffindor?' he wondered as he absentmindedly watched the Giant Squid play with the snow that was lying on the shore of the lake. 'I'd rather play in the snow,' he thought in exasperation. 'Now that Voldemort is gone, I was looking forward to a really quiet school year with just homework and Quidditch, lots of Quidditch.' Suddenly, he realised, 'Oh, that's it. I need to fly to Gryffindor.' He fetched his broom and opened a window in the small corridor behind Poppy's office, before he mounted his broom and flew out into the snow. He flew straight to the windows of the Gryffindor common room and hovered in front of the window, only to notice that the room was completely deserted. A huge breakfast buffet was prepared on a long table at the far side of the room; however, it looked as if it was still untouched.

'Oh cool; everyone, who is not in the hospital wing, is still asleep,' he realised, resolving to fly around to his dormitory. 'Hopefully, I find an open window,' he thought.

Unfortunately, luck seemed to be elsewhere on this cold December morning, and the windows of all boys' dormitories were closed. Sighing in annoyance, Harry landed on the ground and made a snowball, unable to hold more in his left hand, while the right directed his broom back up the tower. To his relief, the twins heard him, when he threw the snowball against the window, and immediately let him in.

"Harry, you just come to the right time..."

"... Do you have an idea how we can get to the dungeons?"

"Professor Flitwick instructed us..."

"... to check on the Slytherins," the twins asked, looking at him in expectation.

'Oh right, flying won't be possible,' Harry thought and suggested, "Call Dobby and ask him to take you there," wondering why he had not thought to ask the friendly elf to help him earlier. He called Malcolm, Minerva's personal house-elf and asked him to wake up the girls and instruct them to gather in the common room, while he went to rouse the boys.

"I'd rather try to get into the castle and make a Bertie Bott's bean fight," Ron Weasley, who had returned to Gryffindor the previous day, commented in an upset voice.

Harry inwardly groaned, wishing that the twins or at least Hermione or Neville were there with him. However, his best friends were still stuck in the hospital wing.

"Well it's up to you, but you're all going to have a Charms test tomorrow," he replied firmly and took a step towards the nearest window, readying himself for the flight back to his current rooms.

"You think you're something better now, being Snape's and McGonagall's daddy and the Transfiguration teacher, but you aren't. You suck," Ron gave back, towering over Harry as if he wanted to attack him the Muggle way.

"Shut up Ron," Ginny threw in, pulling her brother away.

Harry cast her a grateful look, before Ron replied, "No, he deserves..."

"Twenty points from Gryffindor," Harry interrupted the boy, who had been his friend for so many years. "Ginny, please close the window behind me." With that he mounted his broom and flew back to the still open window in the hospital wing. 'Ron and his jealousy,' he thought, shaking his head in annoyance that only intensified, when he entered their rooms, where Misty and a tear-stricken Severus were having a heated discussion. However, he could barely hide a grin, when he saw what Severus was doing.

tbc...

Sorry if this chapter was not very Christmas-like and a bit lame... Thank you for your kind reviews, especially to those, who were so kind and reviewed both chapters, which I posted yesterday.

I am now reaching the point, at which I stopped writing in Summer; however, I intend to try hard to pull through with my daily postings in spite of my RL problems. Content-wise the story is already completely planned out; however, if you have anything, which you would like to have included in this story, feel free to tell me and I'll see if it fits into my plot.