Avian Anarchy
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling or Disney, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, magically powerful Harry. Dumbledore/Weasley bashing.
'Silver moon drops!' Severus stared at Harry Potter, wide-eyed. His suspicion intensified, when the boy properly prepared the ingredient and added the correct amount to his concoction right after the birch powder. 'Lily!' he thought, knowing that no one but his former best friend and him were aware of their improvement to the recipe.
His expression remained blank, while he pondered what to do. If he recalled correctly, the boy had asked him for a wizard's oath right after coming to Hogwarts in September. 'Perhaps, it's time to give in to that request. I want to hear what's the matter with that phoenix. Could it be Lily? A phoenix can't die. On the other hand, she was a dove Animagus, not a phoenix.'
His thoughts went haywire, and his mind only returned to the situation at hand, when Tracey Davis hissed at Dudley Evans, "Counter clockwise!"
When most of the students were finished, he instructed them to bottle a sample, before he headed to Potter's workspace, sniffed at his cauldron and put the concoction under a stasis charm, deciding, 'It seems correct, and with the silver moon drops inserted, we could use it in the hospital wing.'
"Potter, detention at seven o'clock sharp tonight for using an ingredient that was not in the recipe," he said, conversationally, avoiding the boy's look.
HP
Harry stared at the professor's back in disbelief.
'Don't worry. Apparently, he's put your potion under a stasis charm for further use, because it's correctly brewed. I don't think it's a real detention. Perhaps, I've given myself out by telling you about the silver moon drops, and he is finally willing to swear you that oath.'
'All right.' Harry slowly packed his bag and followed his friends out of the classroom. 'It's about time.'
'Exactly.' Somehow, the phoenix seemed pleased about it, while Harry found that he did not really mind. 'I hope it's just that though and not a real detention, as I'm not in the mood of cleaning cauldrons,' he thought to himself.
"Harry, are you not going to clean up your workspace?" someone asked, who from the voice and the content of the question could only be Hermione.
"No," he replied, shortly, not even bothering to look back at the girl. Merely Paws growled at her for a moment, before he swiftly followed Harry and his friends to dash ahead to the Charms classroom.
HP
A few hours later, when Minerva readied herself for dinner, she decided, 'Tonight, I'm going to use the twins' prank potion on Poppy and Rolanda. In case it has far-reaching consequences, at least most of the students are going to return home for Easter tomorrow.' She fetched the two small phials from the shelf in her bedroom and eyed the light pink liquid with suspicion. 'I wonder what they're going to do. It can't be so bad though, considering that the twins gave them to me for Christmas.' She handed the phials to Malcolm, her personal house-elf, with the instruction to put them into Poppy's and Rolanda's drinks at dinner. Setting up the strictest teacher's face she could muster, she made her way to the Great Hall, where she took her seat between Severus and Poppy.
"Is everything all right? You look extremely annoyed tonight." Minerva had to admit not only that Severus was very observing but also that she had to have perfectly succeeded at hiding her childish excitement over a prank.
"Yes, everything is fine. I am looking forward to two quiet weeks." She cast her Slytherin colleague and good friend a smirk.
"Absolutely," he agreed, quirking an eyebrow in silent question, which she chose to ignore.
Albus tapped his wand against the table, which reminded Minerva once again that he had lost the Elder Wand a few weeks ago. 'He should really try harder to find a professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts,' she thought, grimly.
She only looked up again, when all of her colleagues as well as the students began to laugh aloud. Glancing at Poppy and Rolanda, she could not help rolling her eyes. 'Ahhh, Weasley and Weasley, this is not the last we've heard about this,' she thought in annoyance.
Her two best friends were dressed in baby jumpsuits. As soon as they opened their mouths to speak, only bubbles came out, and both of them had a pink balloon tied to their right arm that said in letters big enough for everyone in the Great Hall to decipher, 'Minnie pranked me'.
Albus leaned over from Severus' other side. "Well done, Minerva."
"Albus." Minerva rolled her eyes at the old wizard. "That was not me. That was the Weasley twins."
The headmaster smoothed out his beard. "Messrs. Weasley, one hundred points to Gryffindor for a well-done prank."
Minerva glared at the boys, who jumped from their seats and mock bowed towards the headmaster.
HP
When Harry entered the Potions Master's office for his detention in the evening, the professor instructed him to take a seat opposite of him in front of his desk.
"Professor, I am sorry for inserting silver moon drops," Harry said in an attempt to take the wind out of his sails. "My phoenix told me that the potion would be more efficient that way."
Snape let out a deep sigh, before he raised his wand. Only the presence of his familiars reassured Harry to not quickly hide behind the desk. However, the professor did not cast magic at him.
"I swear on my magic to keep the secret of Harry Potter's familiars. So mote it be."
A golden glow surrounded the professor, which Harry observed with interest.
'He is very powerful, just like you.' Harry nodded at Hedwig in understanding. "Hedwig?"
#Teach him the spell that makes him understand me.#
Snape merely quirked an eyebrow in silent question, and Harry quickly taught him the spell.
"Your phoenix' magic must be very strong to make me understand her with that simple spell," the professor said in apparent surprise, before he complied, looking from Harry to the phoenix in clear expectation.
#Hello Severus. In my former life, I was Lily Potter,# Hedwig informed her former best friend and told him everything that had happened to her, after Voldemort had killed her.
Snape's expression stretched to a sneer. "How do I know that all of this is true?" He cast Hedwig a challenging look.
#Is the matter with the silver moon drops not self-explanatory? Ask me anything you wish that only you and me know. If I remember correctly, there are plenty of things.#
"That's true." Snape nodded in confirmation.
#You're too stubborn for your own good. I already wanted to tell you back in September.#
"I'm sorry, but you must understand that I am not willing to swear an oath to a first-year, let alone one that is the spitting image of my childhood nemesis."
#Harry is also my son, and he has more traits from me than from James.#
The professor suddenly sat even more upright if that was at all possible. "That was you then," he blurted out. "You destroyed the Elder Wand."
#Yes that was me.# Hedwig let out a few trills of pure pleasure.
"Well done," Snape muttered with a small smile playing on his lips.
'Snape smiles,' Harry thought in disbelief. "My mother has some anarchistic tendencies," he quipped.
"Has she?" Snape quirked an eyebrow, as he reconsidered any occurrences during the last nine months, as Hedwig had admitted to have known about her past for that period of time.
"The death of Professor Quirrell?"
"No, that was Paws, because Quirrell tried to kill me, but in case you know about it, the explosion at my relatives' place last summer…" Harry slowly trailed off.
#If Paws hadn't killed him, I would have, especially as the headmaster didn't do anything.# Hedwig's voice expressed pure anger.
"I understand that, but I thought all Potters worshipped the ground Albus walks on?" Snape looked questioningly at Hedwig.
#He failed my son badly, and ever since we have come to Hogwarts, I've seen what he is doing to you. When Harry and his friends decided to work against Dumbledore, even if they're still first-years, Paws and I decided to support them.#
Snape let out a scoff. He leaned forward coming closer to Harry's face. "Your friends as in the silver octet?"
Harry cast him an incredulous look. "The silver octet?"
Snape rolled his eyes. "The whole school is talking about the eight of you. Potter, Malfoy, Longbottom, Evans, Greengrass, Davis, Weasley and Evans."
"Yes sir." Harry nodded, giving him a questioning look.
"Unfortunately, while I might support you whenever I will be able to do so unobtrusively, I can't tell you anything." He seemed remorseful.
#Do you have any advice?#
Snape remained pensive for a moment, before he slowly nodded his head. "Speak with Aberforth Dumbledore if you have the chance. I know that it's difficult, as Harry is still a first-year. He might be able and willing to tell you the truth about Albus and the Dark Lord."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "The truth? Other than that he killed my parents?"
Snape shook his head. "As I said, I cannot tell you anything."
#Probably because of an oath.#
The professor nodded faintly at Hedwig's explanation.
"Thank you for telling us as much, sir." Harry smiled at the older wizard in understanding.
"Do you have any explanation as to why these twins go by the name Evans? And why the girl is the spitting image of Petunia, while her brother looks completely different?"
Harry and Hedwig exchanged a glance, before Hedwig finally explained the truth, apparently knowing that she could trust him to keep their secrets.
Surprise was clearly written in the older wizard's face, before he schooled it back to a blank expression. "Annika is Petunia herself? How much does she know?"
#She as well as Harry and Dudley know to a certain extent, however, not everything. I believe that she at least remembers everything until the point, where the two of us left for Hogwarts.#
HP
By the time Harry returned to the common room with Paws in tow, while Hedwig remained with the professor to catch up on some things, curfew was just about to begin, and his friends, who were gathered in Draco's and his room, gave him pitying looks.
"What did he make you do?" Ginny was the first to enquire.
Harry shrugged. "Nothing. We only talked. He swore me a wizard's oath to keep Hedwig's secret, and we told him the truth."
"Hedwig's secret? I knew that there was some secret involved." Daphne gave him a curious look. "Where is she, by the way?"
"Are you willing to swear me an oath to keep her secret, too?"
Everyone agreed and gave their oaths with Draco and Neville helping Annika, Ginny and Dudley.
'Annika and Dudley didn't have to swear that oath at all. They know everything anyway,' Paws informed him, causing Harry to nod in annoyance.
'You're right. I forgot about that,' he thought back, before he began to explain.
"In her former life, Hedwig was my mother Lily. That's why she knows so much. Anyway, apparently, she and Professor Snape were best friends during their own time at Hogwarts, and Hedwig stayed for a bit longer to catch up with him."
Ignoring the Ahhs and Ohhs from his friends, Harry remembered something from his earlier conversation with their head of house. "Dumbledore must have done something to Snape, by the way, but Snape had to swear him an oath, so he couldn't talk about it. He advised us to speak with Aberforth Dumbledore. According to him, he could tell us a secret between Dumbledore and the Dark Lord."
"Aberforth Dumbledore is Dumbledore's brother and the owner of the Hogshead in Hogsmeade," Tracey explained.
"Ah right, that's why he said that it was difficult to talk to him considering that we're first-years" Harry said in understanding.
"We'll do so during the summer holidays at the latest." Draco cast Harry a look of pure determination, and everyone agreed.
=Is he an Animagus? If so, maybe I'll be able to communicate with him, and I could easily get away to go to Hogsmeade.=
"I'm not sure if he only keeps a goat, or if he is a goat Animagus," Ginny said, chuckling. "I heard the twins talk about it the other day, when they went to Hogsmeade."
'Perhaps, we could all travel to my home on the North Pole and look for Aberforth Dumbledore on the screen. If there was anything he did together with the headmaster, we'd probably know,' Harry thought and pensively cleared his throat.
"I know we said that we'd stay here over the holidays, but perhaps I should go home for a few days," he hesitantly spoke up. "Santa has a screen, where we can watch any place on the Earth, and I could watch Aberforth for a few days. Maybe, I'll get to know something. Would anyone be interested in coming with me, provided that your parents are all right with it?"
To his surprise, each of his friends agreed, and everyone but Annika and Dudley immediately set to write to their parents.
'Hedwig, would you be willing to deliver five letters?' Harry thought to the phoenix, who immediately returned home and flashed away to deliver the letters to the Malfoys, the Greengrass, the Davis, Augusta Longbottom, Arthur Weasley and Santa and Claire.
As soon as at breakfast the following morning, the five friends received positive responses from their parents, and the eight friends headed towards the high table to inform their head of house of their absence during the first week of the Easter holidays.
"If you want to return home, you must hurry to catch the Hogwarts Express," Dumbledore said, pointing out that all students, who were supposed to leave for the holidays, had already left.
"That will not be necessary, as my phoenix can take us all home," Harry replied in a firm voice, knowing from Santa's letter that Holly was going to collect them by sleigh in the early afternoon.
'Mum, do you want to invite Snape to join us?'
'I'd like that, but don't you think your friends would mind?'
Once they were back in Slytherin, Harry ushered them into Draco's and his room. "My Mum would like to invite Professor Snape to join us. What do you think?"
To his surprise, Annika was the first to react. "I think he's quite cute. Maybe it would be nice to interact with him outside of class."
"Cute?" Neville stared at the girl in apparent shock. "To me, he is rather frightening than cute."
"He's my godfather, and he's really all right out of school. The question is if he'll be willing to abandon his lab for a week."
Rolling his eyes at Draco, Harry said, "We have a brilliant lab on the North Pole, but I'll go and ask him."
HP
Together with Annika, Hedwig and Paws, Harry went to the professor's office and invited them to join them on the North Pole for a week.
"Thank you, Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, but I have a long list of potions to brew for Madam Pomfrey. I can't simply take a week off."
"We have a brilliant lab on the North Pole, and one of our elves studied under Salazar Slytherin. She has been teaching the Weasley twins and me during the summer and Christmas holidays. She might be willing to assist, and maybe some of us could assist as well, at least sometimes."
"Are you certain that I am welcome on the North Pole? Hedwig, you should know the reason for my scepsis."
#It's no problem at all.#
In the end, Snape agreed to accompany the group to the North Pole.
At lunchtime, he informed Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore that he was going to accompany the group for the week.
"Harry, may I ask where you are living? Do you have so much space to house all of your friends and Professor Snape?" The headmaster cast him a look of pure curiosity.
"No and yes."
"Mr. Potter," McGonagall lightly scolded him.
"No, you may not ask where I am living, and yes, we have enough space to accommodate my friends and the professor. Professor McGonagall, you're also very welcome to accompany us, perhaps during the summer holidays."
To confirm his invitation, Paws rose from Harry's feet and walked under the table to the cat professor as he used to call her and gently licked her hands.
"Thank you, Harry and Paws." Harry noticed in surprise that a rare smile played on the Gryffindor head's lips.
Right after lunch, the silver octet and their professor headed out onto the grounds, where a beautifully decorated sleigh that absolutely did not match the expected Easter decorations was waiting for them. Hedwig and Paws were the first to greet Holly and board the sleigh in apparent excitement.
'I'm looking forward to going home,' Harry thought, as he slowly trailed behind his friends. 'I hope we'll be able to find out something about Aberforth Dumbledore.'
tbc...
Thank you so much for the many kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you thought about this one and what you expect from this story.
Next chapter: "The Blue Ghost".