Harry's gleeful smirk the next morning slightly scared Ron and Hermione, even though he quickly hid it as soon as others started to appear from both sets of stairs. That specific smirk, which they only saw for a moment, was one they always saw when he managed to pull off a large prank without anyone knowing at all, even them or the house elves.
"Looking forward to the book today?" Hermione asked left the common room, glancing at the purple and red book in his arms. Harry grinned, turning the book so she could see the title, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
"Yep. Last one until they find out about Siri. And the calmest year."
"Yes, because having a mass murderer after you and dementors stationed around the school all year is what most people would call a calm year," Ron said dryly. Harry and Hermione laughed.
"Since when is Harry most people?" Hermione asked.
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, before shrugging. "Actually, yeah, that's fair. Anyway, least eventful and least likely to stress the others out then. Or at least, least likely to stress them out until everything that happened in the shack and afterwards."
"Did anyone ever actually tell your family about what happened in the shack? I mean, I know they know Sirius is innocent, but do they know about the rat?" Hermione asked as they ducked through a tapestry that would cut off half the floor they were on.
"I don't think so. I didn't at least, and I didn't hear mum freak out about housing a fugitive for 12 years. I just kept with the story of Scabbers being eaten after that year, and I don't think Dumbledore or anyone else told her otherwise after fourth year," Ron replied.
"Those reactions will be fun. How loud do you think she'll get?" Hermione asked. Ron shrugged. They continued walking before Harry stopped. Ron and Hermione turned back to look at him and saw a smirk grow on his face and they were glad that they were the only ones in the small passage, since his smirk was slightly scary due to how much chaos it promised.
"The twins are going to find out who the Marauders are," he said gleefully, trying to imagine their reactions. Hermione and Ron's expressions changed to match Harry's, their thoughts immediately going to the reactions.
"Oh, that will be amazing," Hermione said.
"When they find out they were taught by a Marauder and lived with another," Ron said.
"This gives so much opportunity for a prank war," Harry breathed.
"None of them will start a prank war though. Remus, no matter how playful he can be, has shown he is too mature to start a prank war," Hermione said.
"Well, maybe not that mature. Remember the boggart? But the twins wouldn't prank their literal idols," Ron said.
"Yes, but Rogue is so good at mimicking the twins' style and the Marauders' style with personal touches. I could easily just remove the personal touches," Harry said.
"That will be bloody awesome mate," Ron said, grinning.
"As long as none of them suspect you," Hermione said.
"What do you take me for?" Harry asked, pretending to be offended. "Now come on, I want to see others appreciating my hard work." He continued walking then, leaving his friends to exchange glances, wondering what he had been up to last night, before they hurried to catch up to him as he left the passageway and headed down the stairs, all of them making sure to skip over the trick step and the jinxed step, which would send whoever stepped on it back to wherever they were two minutes ago.
"You two do know that the twins will hate us for not telling them about who the Marauders are, don't you?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, but they won't prank us if they know what's good for them," Harry replied.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't do anything. Well, I may have given the twins my Triwizard winnings to go towards their joke shop and extracted a promise from them that no one would know I gave them the money and that they wouldn't target me. If they prank me, I may just let slip where they got the money to Mrs Weasley," Harry said with a shrug.
"You know mum would kill you as much as them, right?" Ron said.
"Oh, I know. I'm not going to actually tell her. They don't need to know that though," Harry said, grinning.
"I get scared by how Slytherin you are sometimes Harry," Hermione deadpanned.
"Thank you," Harry said with a grin, knowing that she meant that as a compliment; all of them used the houses as compliments with each other.
It didn't take them much longer to reach the Great Hall and they all stopped at the doorway; Ron and Hermione in shock, and Harry in a way that would make it seem like he was shocked, so as to not implicate himself. The four House tables and the Head table were all on the enchanted roof, the legs of the tables all standing on the clouds that were swirling like the clouds were outside, and everyone in the hall was sitting upside down as if it were completely normal. Many of the teachers were looking either resigned or annoyed, while Snape still had his custom scowl settled on his face, even as many of the students enjoyed the experience, with the first and second years seeming thrilled at the opportunity to basically sit in the clouds.
"How do we get up there?" Hermione asked; she wasn't that surprised about the anti-gravity aspect, since there had been the low gravity affect the day before, but she was honestly confused how everything was completely upside down, and how all the people ended up there as well. And she was pleased to see that the affect seemed to influence everything, so that none of the people with long hair had it hanging down and those who wore skirts had their skirts sitting normally. Harry and Ron shrugged.
"Guess we'll find out," Ron said, stepping into the hall. As soon as his whole body was in the Great Hall, he was shifted to the ceiling, standing upside down just like everyone else who was already in the Hall. Hermione and Harry stared at Ron for a moment before exchanging looks and following him into the Hall, both of them being transported to the ceiling just like Ron had. They headed over to the Gryffindor table, where the rest of their group were already sitting, including Luna, since she had apparently decided to join them.
"Morning all," they said together as they took their seats.
"What are you doing here Luna?" Hermione asked. It wasn't that she was unhappy with Luna being there since she really was starting to grow on the whole trio. It was the fact that she wasn't a Gryffindor and was sitting at the Gryffindor table.
"There's no rules saying I can't sit here. The only rules about the house tables are that you have to sit at your house table for the feasts," Luna said, pouring syrup all over her stack of pancakes.
"Really?" Fred asked eagerly.
"Think of all the possibilities," George said.
"Don't even think about it, you two," Mrs Weasley said. The twins pouted.
"You take the fun out of everything," they muttered, before they grinned again; they could always use that after she left; after all, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her, or them.
"How will this book go on our nerves?" Mr Weasley asked while buttering his toast. The trio exchanged looks, thinking back to what they'd just talked about.
"The later chapters, probably stressful, but not as bad the last two books," Ron said slowly.
"Third year was the quietest year though, up until the last few chapters," Harry added.
"And I shudder to think how the twins will react to some of the things we find out during the end of the year," Hermione added. The twins perked up at that.
"What do you mean?" George asked.
"What do you find out?" Fred asked. Harry conveniently chose that time to take his potion, making it so he couldn't answer, while Ron suddenly found that he had a mouthful and Hermione was fully immersed in the conversation Luna and Ginny were having. The twins looked slightly put out that the trio were dodging the questions, but let it go, knowing they would find out from the book anyway.
"So, how many from the list did you accomplish in third year?" Tonks asked.
"We know you did five in second year, and four in your first year," Remus added.
"Oh, it's nowhere near as eventful," Hermione said with a shrug.
"So only three," Ron said slowly as he tried to mentally count of what they had done from the list.
"Only three?" Tonks asked incredulously, emphasising only.
"Yeah. As I said, it was a quiet year," Harry said.
"You do know that that list was a list of things we didn't think we'd read about you doing, right? Things that we thought would be impossible, or at least extremely improbable," Tonks checked.
"Yeah," Harry said, nodding.
"But this is Harry we're talking about," Hermione said.
"You need to think about the Potter Luck," Ron said.
"However, on that note, we should probably look over the chapter titles," Hermione added thoughtfully.
"Yeah, probably. At least this year they shouldn't need as many calming draughts," Ron said.
"I guess so," Harry said, at the same time that he signed, with the dementors and Siri running around, plus the revelation of the rat, I wouldn't bet on that, under the table so that none of the others knew they were talking; by now, their group had figured out that they talked about things they wanted to keep secret using their hands, but most of them hadn't figured out that it was just British and American sign-language.
"Yeah," Hermione agreed, even while glancing down so they knew she was replying to the silent message rather than the spoken one.
"Well, let's do it then," Harry said, clearing enough room on the table to place the book, open to the contents page, while Hermione placed a sheet of parchment on the table as well, quickly copying down the chapter titles so that Harry could close the book and put it back in his lap.
"So, what are we thinking?" Harry asked after a few moments of the three of them reading through the chapter titles.
"I'm thinking that I'm really looking forward to chapter seven," Ron said, his shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh at the memory. Hermione and Harry both looked at the title of chapter seven, before they started laughing, Ron's laughter joining them.
"That was brilliant. Snuffles will probably enjoy that chapter. But what about in regard to calming draughts," Hermione said once they had calmed down, the three of them ignoring the questioning looks they got from those around them at their sudden laughing fit.
"The one about Marge. She has some pretty nasty insults," Harry said. "And the first one about those foul creatures." He didn't want to mention that one of the chapters was literally called The Dementor because not everyone in the room knew that they had come up close and personal to any dementors, let alone multiple times, or on the train.
"Totally agree with that second one. The other one with them in the title probably as well," Ron said. Hermione and Harry quickly glanced at each other, both of them remembering how close they had come to being Kissed that night, before nodding as one as Hermione wrote it down.
"Defeat should. I mean, we all needed one when it happened," Hermione said.
"The second Quidditch game as well, at least around the end of that chapter or the start of the next one. It was that night that I woke everyone up, after all," Ron said after a moment.
"All the chapters after, and including Trelawny, happen on the same night. They probably should be read in one sitting. Based on the other two books, we'll have to have a break for the night during this one because it's that bit longer," Harry said.
"That's true. I'll make a note but be sure to mention that to the Professors when you take the book up. I'd recommend draught every second chapter with that one as well. It heats up quickly," Hermione agreed.
"Yeah," Harry replied, running his hand through his hair as Hermione made a mark for a draught on every second chapter, working back from The Dementor's Kiss to Professor Trelawny's Prediction. In total, they had an estimate of 7 chapters that would need a calming draught.
"That looks about right," Ron said after studying the list once Hermione had stopped writing.
"Yeah. I'll take it up now," Harry agreed, letting Hermione copy the list before standing and taking the copy and the book in each hand. He walked through the isle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, taking note of how weird it was to walk through the clouds; they felt as soft as they looked, but also as firm and solid as the ground was.
"Are you enjoying the view Professors?" Harry asked cheekily.
"I have been admiring the spell work that was put in to this prank. The complex level of charms that would have been needed, and the large variety of charms that would have been used, is simply outstanding, especially from a student. I have seen some Charms Masters and Mistresses struggle to achieve such complex layering of charms," Flitwick said, beaming. Harry fiercely fought down a blush at that, not wanting to give himself away.
Something that many people didn't realise was how much work and effort had to be put into each prank that a prankster did, and not many thought about the complexity behind the charms, transfiguration, or potions behind the pranks; he knew that the twins used arithmancy and runes in their pranks as well – the only reason he didn't was because he didn't know how, and it would probably be suspicious if anyone saw him reading any of Hermione's textbooks about those subjects. It was why he gave the twins the money for their shop; not only were they extremely set on it and had the talent for it, but they had the drive and the work ethic to put in to creating each prank and prank product, so he knew they would be brilliant at owning a prank shop.
"I'm sure that whoever Rogue is, would be flattered by your praise Professor," he said; he wasn't lying either, he really was flattered.
"Anyway, here's the next book, and a list of the chapters we recommend a calming draught for, in relation to those in our group at least," Harry said, handing the list to McGonagall and the book to Flitwick.
"Thank you, Mr Potter. What is this line between The Quidditch Final, and Professor Trelawny's Prediction, for?" McGonagall said.
"That's our recommendation that we stop for the day between those chapters. Professor Trelawny's Prediction is the first chapter in a chain of events that all happen on the same day, and we really shouldn't take a big break, like a break overnight between. And we figured that there's too many chapters to read all in one day," Harry explained.
"What happens in those last few chapters?" Flitwick asked.
"A lot of old secrets come out and things get stressful and slightly crazy. In Hermione's word, 'it heats up quickly'." The two Professors didn't seem to fully understand but nodded anyway and he gave them a smile before heading back to his spot at the end of the Gryffindor table.
It wasn't much longer before everyone was standing, and the tables were vanished, and the comfortable seating had reappeared. The only problem was that the comfortable seating had appeared on the floor of the Great Hall, rather than the ceiling, which was where everyone still was.
"Well, that may be a problem," Remus muttered.
"Just a bit," Tonks agreed. Fred, George, and Lee didn't seem to see the problem, or had worked out a solution, as the three of them were all grinning.
"What do you know?" Neville asked.
"Better question. What did you do?" Ginny corrected.
"We didn't do anything," Fred said.
"This was all the work of the lovely Rogue," George agreed.
"We simply worked out a solution," Lee added.
"What?"
"Well, outside the Great Hall, you're on the ground," George began.
"And the seating is on the ground," Fred continued.
"Rogue would have made it so we could get back to the ground outside the hall."
"Since none of the other rooms are on the ceiling."
"So leaving the hall should put you back on the ground," Lee finished.
"That does make sense," Bill agreed.
"Couldn't hurt to try," Charlie agreed. The group all headed towards the door to try out the theory, the trio making sure to walk at the back of the group, while the rest of the hall tried to work out how to fix things. Ron nudged Harry shoulder and Hermione bumped her hand against his. Harry let his hand grasp Hermione's for a second, before letting go and returning Ron's playful nudge, letting them know that the twins and Lee were right.
As soon as each person in the group crossed the doorway out of the hall, they were flipped back around so they were standing on the ground, just like when they had first entered the hall and were flipped to the ceiling. Once the whole group were outside the hall, they calmly walked in again, this time remaining on the floor of the Great Hall.
Everyone else in the hall had noticed that they were on the floor again and silence spread through the hall as everyone tried to work out how they had done it before someone broke it to actually asked.
"Simple really," George said.
"Just leave the hall," Fred agreed. Everyone seemed to rush to leave the hall before entering the hall, this time on the floor, and taking seats around the hall. Once everyone was back on the floor and seated comfortably, Flitwick stood.
"The next book is about Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts and is called Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," he announced.
"Or as I call it. The year of Sirius' dramatic entrance," Harry said, causing those in their group who had heard to snort or chuckle, while Snuffles puffed up slightly and barked. Flitwick cast the spell that they had been using to read the books and the title of the first chapter was read out.
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