Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.

It was a cold Sunday morning in mid-November, and Harry was sitting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall for breakfast. 'Severus, may I brew a joke potion together with the twins and Teddy?' he thought to his father.

'Only if you show me the recipe in advance.'

Harry inwardly groaned. 'May we show it to Cicero, please? I think they intend to prank the teachers, and I wanted to ask him and Misty if it is harmless for Regina and Felix anyway.'

'All right. Please have Misty confirm that it's not dangerous for pregnant witches. This does not only concern your mother but also Miranda.'

'Miranda and Remus are going to have a baby?' Harry thought back in delight, causing Regina to lean over to his father and whisper something to him.

'Yes son, but please keep this bit of information to yourself, until they decide to tell you. Their baby is only due a few months after ours.'

'I won't speak with them about it,' Harry replied, indignantly. 'Thanks for telling me though.'

HP

Harry and Teddy prepared the ingredients according to George's instructions, before George guided Fred through the brewing process, and thirty minutes later, an almost colourless liquid was bubbling in the cauldron in front of them.

"That's it," George stated, seemingly contented, as he sniffed the potion and instructed his twin brother to bottle it in two large phials.

"Two?" Harry enquired.

"Well, we will give one to Charlie…"

"… to have some fun at home over Christmas."

"Are you not going to return home for Christmas?"

"We will…"

"… but only for two days…"

"… over Christmas…"

"… as our Mum…"

"… is a little overbearing…"

"… and we prefer to study for our Potions NEWT…"

"… together with you, little bro…"

"… over having to de-gnome the garden."

Harry smiled. "All right. I am always happy to have you here and brew together. Now, I'm going to call Cicero and Misty to confirm that the potion is harmless and not dangerous for unborn babies."

Lucy showed him two red heads bob up and down in confirmation, while Teddy swiftly called his parents, whom Harry had already telepathically informed in advance.

While Cicero approved the potion as correctly brewed and harmless, Misty disagreed. "It could harm the babies. Harry, you must tell your mother and godmother about it and tell them not to drink anything during lunch. I will prepare a beverage for them and ask Poppy to deliver it to them under the guise of a health drink."

Harry nodded in understanding and profusely thanked Misty, while Lucy showed him an image of the twins bowing in front of the elf.

"Don't bow to me," Misty mumbled, shaking her head in apparent annoyance.

"Where did you get this recipe?" Cicero suddenly asked. "If it is your own invention, I shall have to commend you greatly. It is well thought out in spite of being very complicated."

The twins grinned broadly and profusely thanked the elf, who had been Severus' house-elf for a long time and was proficient at brewing himself.

"Mummy, may I attend lunch together with Harry and the twins?" Teddy jumped up and down on both feet like he often did, when he was excited.

"You can't have lunch at one of the house-tables."

"Why not?" Harry spoke up. "The students will have to get used to it, as I'm going to put up a fight so Teddy can attend Hogwarts classes together with me in any case."

"He won't be allowed to attend, and we can't pay the fees anyway." Cicero's voice was firm; however, Harry did not like it at all.

"As I am the owner of Hogwarts, if necessary, I can force the headmaster to allow elves to attend, and I have enough money from the Order of Merlin and the wolvescure potion to pay the school fees for him."

"Thank you, Harry. We will see," Cicero replied, and Harry was glad that the elf did not outright refuse the option for his son.

"I can remain invisible at the house-table," Teddy offered.

"There is no need…"

"… to remain invisible…"

"… Just simply sit between us…"

"… and Harry…"

"… and enjoy the spectacle."

"May I? Please?" Teddy asked, pleadingly, and his parents reluctantly agreed.

"Will the two of you join us…"

"… in the common room for a while?" the twins asked, once Misty and Cicero had popped away taking one of the phials with them.

"No, I need to return home and inform Regina. Perhaps, she can tell Miranda, as I am not supposed to know about her pregnancy," Harry replied, sheepishly. "I'll see you at lunchtime. Thanks so much for allowing Teddy and me to brew together with you."

"Always," the twins replied, grinning broadly.

HP

"Thank you for being so thoughtful," Regina replied, carefully pulling him into a gentle hug. "I will floo call Miranda and inform her."

"Thank you," Harry breathed in relief, as he had worried how to warn his godmother in spite of feigning being unaware of her pregnancy. "Would you mind me playing on the Suikan for a while? I think Felix might love it."

"Yes please. He really enjoys it when you play."

HP

A few hours later, Harry and Teddy took their seats between the twins at the Slytherin table with Lucy nestled on Harry's feet, occasionally banging her head against one of Teddy's legs, which were dangling in the air due to the elf's small size.

'Let the fun begin,' Teddy thought to Harry in apparent excitement, completely ignoring Lucy's doing for the time being.

"Lulu, please see to it that I won't miss any single moment of it," Harry whispered to the canine, who returned a comforting =Woof.=

After what seemed to be a long time to him, food popped up on the tables, and he purposefully turned his head away from the high table facing Teddy. Soon, a commotion began at the teachers' table. To Harry's disbelief, all the teachers except for Regina and Miranda, who both had some pinkish drink next to their plate, began to behave as if they were drunk – at least that was how Harry expected a drunk person to behave.

All students watched in apparent amazement how the professors were shouting, bawling, dancing around the table and finally settled down singing what the twins told him were Irish drinking songs together, followed by Christmas carols, although it was only the middle of November.

"It's going to wear off…"

"… after about thirty minutes," the twins informed those sitting nearby, who then relayed the information that soon spread around the Great Hall.

HP

Regina observed her husband and his colleagues behave like what she knew as muggle hooligans. Knowing that it was a prank potion, she was not concerned but rather enjoyed watching together with Miranda and the whole student body.

After what seemed to be ages but in fact was only about half an hour, the teachers seemed to slowly return to their usual selves.

"What happened?" Severus asked her, narrowing his eyes upon realising that all students were staring at the high table with open mouths.

"You may watch my memory later on," she promised, grinning broadly. "Just telepathically tell Harry and the twins that they did extremely well with their prank potion."

tbc tomorrow...

Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. I appreciate it very much, and my muse really needs the feedback. Thank you.