A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the delay, my exams aren't finished but the worse is now in the past. Thanks for wishing me luck, I'm sure it helped. And thanks to everyone who reviews, and even to the ones who don't (you and I are going to have a serious talk one of this days, guys!)
Harry had no idea how long he had slept or what time it was as he woke up the next morning and stumbled from the empty dorm to the equally empty common room. The only person there was Hermione, sitting with her Arithmancy book on her lap and waiting for him to appear.
"It's almost one. Ron has gone to get some food," she informed him.
Harry failed to notice the uneasy look she gave him as he let himself sink in a chair and closed his eyes. His night trip to Dumbledore's office and then across Hogwarts grounds had completely exhausted him. He heard Hermione stand up from her own chair and come closer to him.
"Harry, Sirius he may be in tight position." She started cautiously. "He was seen yesterday; Hit wizards almost arrested him and the strangest of all… well… the way the Daily Prophet made it sound, he and Lucius Malfoy had some business together."
The implications of Hermione's anxious words finally pierced Harry's sleepy mind.
"I know," he answered, suppressing a yawn. "He only wanted to incriminate Malfoy that way. A rather complicated way to do it, but it seems to have worked."
"You knew of it?" Hermione asked, incredulously.
"He escaped by coming back here, you know, through the Portkey to the Phoenix room. McGonagall was furious and Dumbledore gave him a good telling-off, but I don't think they minded it that much. They stayed in Dumbledore's office forever, talking about the Order. You can't begin to imagine how mistaken we were. They know everything… "
Only then did Harry realize that Hermione wasn't all that interested in the duties of the Order of Phoenix but rather in his own nightly wanderings.
"You went after the book, didn't you?" Hermione's trembling voice was full of anger, sounding very much like that of Professor McGonagall. "After you promised to stay away! How could you?"
At just that moment, Ron's red head appeared through the portrait hole, followed by the rest of his body and the numerous packages of food he was carrying. Hermione turned to him for support.
"Can you imagine? He went right after that stupid book, and got caught by Dumbledore in the way!"
"You went there without us?" Ron let his parcels fall to the table.
"I didn't get caught by Dumbledore. It was okay. Nobody even asked a question."
Only the anxiety about Sirius' fate this morning let Harry's friends dismiss his night-time absence. Now that they knew Sirius was okay, they were fuming. Hermione couldn't believe that Harry had done something so stupid. Ron was just upset because Harry seemed to have got into yet another great adventure without him.
"We came here after the feast and you weren't anywhere! We were worried sick!" Hermione went on. "The only reason we didn't call Professor McGonagall was because we thought you may have done something like that."
"Good thinking." Harry answered laconically. Last night McGonagall had sort of accepted that he was there with Sirius. Nobody seemed to realize that he got there not to see his godfather but with the criminal intent of getting the Book of Phoenix in his hands. He didn't want to imagine what could have happened if Professor McGonagall had started to make deeper investigations into his nightly whereabouts.
"Good thinking? You really find it great that after giving your friends a solemn promise they find it completely logical that you would break it at the first chance?"
Harry didn't find it great. He had felt guilty before, when he got past the gargoyle and after realizing how serious Sirius was about staying away from the Order. The problem was that it was difficult to stay that way for long. He was developing a taste for adventure, and the fact that he had always succeeded before added fire to his excitement. Ashamed and now fully awake Harry proceeded to tell his friends everything he heard the night before.
"Is he mad?" was the unanimous reaction after he finished his tale. Harry was quite sure to whom it referred, but not so much about the part of Sirius' actions his friends meant. "He can't go anywhere near Azkaban again. There's no such thing as getting accustomed to the Dementors; it can only get worse, and for him they won't even call the authorities, just kiss him, end of story."
"He seemed quite sure he could do it," Harry protested weakly. He wished Hermione hadn't voiced his deepest worries. He also avoided reading whatever crazy theories the article about Sirius contained. It was enough that Hermione had informed him that Lucius Malfoy, six equally well-known political figures and one member of the Ministry had been held all night for interrogation.
They left the food Ron had brought on the table and went downstairs to have lunch. Excited whispers about the scandalous relationship of the father of one of the students with one of the most dangerous Dark Lord supporters was already running rampant throughout the Great Hall. Ron disappeared for a minute and came back with a letter from home in one hand and his owl Pig in another, beamingly announcing that his father has been appointed to conduct a search of the Malfoy Manor and immediately gathering a crowd of delighted Gryffindors around him.
Harry used this moment of his friend's glory to finish eating and discretely disappear from the room. He found no pleasure in ruminating over the matter and, more than anything, he wanted to avoid Draco Malfoy as much as possible. He realised (and most of the Gryffindors reminded him constantly about it) that he had a priceless opportunity to gloat as much as he wanted about his foe, but couldn't avoid thinking that no matter how difficult the things for Lucius Malfoy were, they were a hundred times worse for Sirius Black.
"The Halloween Raid," as the media had christened it, remained the main topic of conversation at Hogwarts for a long period of time to be slowly substituted by the OWLs as the Christmas came nearer. Almost all teachers announced that they were doing partial tests before holidays. Failing them meant loads of homework and obligatory lessons starting in January. Nobody admitted to being worried, but more and more fifth-years were to be seen studying in the library or the common room during the wee hours of the night.
The lectures were becoming more difficult and time-consuming than ever before. Professor McGonagall hadn't wasted time with praises the day they finally mastered the basics of Materialization and managed to make a sample of sand disappear from the table and materialize a drop of water in its place. She immediately gave each of them a set containing a chunk of wood, a stone and a needle and instructed to produce an object they'd want to take to a desert with them. Ron and Harry were still discussing what it should be by the end of the class, while Hermione kept waiving her wand over something that was slowly donning the form of a compass.
Much to everybody's disappointment they weren't studying wandless charms with Professor Flitwick anymore. Next on their Charms programme were Repairing and Conserving spells. They spent class after class enchanting bottles not to break, putting together broken porcelain teacups and sealing jars so that its contents would stay fresh for years longer.
Nothing, however, could be compared to the torture that their Defence Against the Dark Arts class was becoming. Snape seemed to have switched all his anti- Gryffindor activity to his own favourite subject and spent class after class coming up with new excuses to take some points from any member of the house in general and Harry in particular. Oddly, Harry continued to be fond of the subject that at first Remus Lupin and later the false Mad-Eye Moody had brought him to love. Apart from the first day fiasco he was able to easily block every dark curse Snape or anyone else happened to send in his direction.
Suddenly Christmas was only one week away, and outside the castle everything was draped in a soft blanket of snow. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, doing homework, as per usual. The parchment in front of Harry read: "Strangling Curses: Peculiarities, Uses and Ways of Defence." Snape happened to be quite fond of written essays, and there weren't many things worse than a written essay for Snape. The book laying open on the table discerned between at least ten different ways to strangle someone, mostly depending on how slowly and painfully you wanted the victim to die. Harry turned the page that featured a didactic scheme of human airways and read the next paragraph the Auto- Underlining quill he got from Hermione chose for him:
"The most common choke hex has a yellowish trail and can therefore be distinguished from the more elaborated obstructive curses that tend to feature a thin white line."
Harry gave his quill a suspicious look and turned to see what Hermione's roll had to say on the matter. Much to his dismay she seemed to have copied the whole sentence plus some more:
"It's important to remember, however, that the humidity of the air and the outdoor temperature can influence the readings."
Harry turned to Ron and was relieved to see that his essay didn't contain any mention on the colour of curse trails. When he pointed that flaw out to his friend Ron only shrugged his shoulders.
"All curses we learn about are yellow or white or pink. I have never heard of a blue one, and the only one that's green is Avada Kedavra."
Harry had to agree that he was right but copied the paragraph down anyway. One could never been too careful with Snape. He had to admit one thing about the teacher: the man knew even more about Dark Arts than he knew about potions. Harry only hoped that knowledge extended to the defence against them, too.
Harry saw how right he had been in being worried two days later. At the end of the class Snape went through the rows of tables, giving back the corrected essays with words of praise for Slytherins and sharp comments for the Gryffindor part of the room.
"Mr. Weasley, if you had made your essay just a little shorter the only part worth reading would be the title. This isn't kindergarten. You are expected to produce full-length compositions with a content worth reading. A six, and you should consider yourself extremely lucky."
He moved to Hermione, blissfully missing Ron's killing stare.
"Ms. Granger, if you think you can get a better mark by writing oversized essays you are very mistaken. A poor version of British Encyclopedia isn't what I asked for." Hermione looked positively miserable. Never before had her extensive preparation of the homework been considered a flaw.
"Ahhh, and here we finally have something worth noticing." Every head in the room turned in his direction. "Not too much information and yet without excessive synthesis. Very complete and just the adequate length."
With a feeling of unreality coming upon him Harry realised that Snape had come to stand right in front of his table. Slowly he looked from his desk up at the teacher and was greeted with what could vaguely be regarded as a smile spreading slowly across Snape's pale face. "The ideal middle-point, Potter. You have a five."
Harry's heart stopped. Some students giggled. Snape let his essay slip on the table and dismissed everybody with the announcement that the next lesson they would be having a practical exam, possibly on Strangling and Burning curses.
Harry heard the sound of books closing around him and steps leaving the room but didn't move until Ron shook him on the shoulder. He grabbed the ill- fated roll and stormed out of the classroom. He couldn't let Snape see him loose the control. "Grades aren't all that important," he repeated to himself. "It isn't about grades at all." It was a war, something between him and Snape alone, except maybe for a part about his father and Sirius… Padfoot and Prongs…
Harry stopped dead on his track, hit by the idea that suddenly started to form in his head. He had completely forgotten… Could it really be so easy? So simple and perfect. He opened his bag and started to look for his timetable. The rest of his class walked around and past him to the main gate of the castle, heading outside to Care of Magical Creatures. He was left alone in the middle of the entrance hall until first Ron and then Hermione noticed his absence and came running back.
"Harry, we do have Care of Magical Creatures now, believe me!" Ron called impatiently. Harry ignored his words, closing his bag. His timetable didn't say anything about seventh-years classes.
"Do you know where Fred and George can be right now?"
"Why?"
"I have business with them."
"What kind of business?" Hermione came near.
"To help me get vengeance on Snape." It seemed even better when he said it aloud. Silence reigned in the room until Ron found his voice and whispered urgently, looking around to check if somebody had overheard Harry's words.
"Are you crazy?"
"A five? Crabbe and Goyle both have a six! It isn't just favouritism anymore!" Harry shouted, ignoring his friend's silent plea to keep his voice low. "He's taking points off Gryffindor for everything except maybe for breathing. Do you really think he'll give us a chance tomorrow at the exam?"
"You'll play right into his hands by getting expelled. Playing tricks on him won't help."
"Depends on the trick." Harry answered quizzically. His idea was also perfect in that aspect, if he could pull it off this time. He had almost failed once before, that's why he wanted Fred and George's help this time.
"If I show you something do you swear you won't tell anyone even if you don't like it?" He saw Ron nod eagerly, but his question was addressed to Hermione. He supposed he should feel guilty about doubting her loyalty, but everything was too perfect to let her good intentions ruin it.
"I swear I won't tell anyone if it doesn't involve going after Voldemort, or leaving the castle, or something just plain dangerous." She tried to sound strict, but Harry only grinned.
"Where could your brothers be right now?" He asked Ron once more. The answer was that they probably were heading to Advanced Transformation.
"Get them to skip the lesson. I'll meet you near the classroom."
"But Harry!"
"The classes end tomorrow. Our exam with Snape is tomorrow. We will start planning it today. Now."
He ran all the way up to the dorm, his heart beating wildly in his chest, and not only because he was running. "Your father would have been disappointed if you never had played a prank in your Hogwarts years." It wasn't exactly what Professor Lupin had said to him, but close enough. And it wasn't going to be a pointless joke. Snape was going to pay Gryffindor the due respect, he'd see to it. He opened his trunk and reached to the bottom. Sirius' birthday present was exactly where he had left it. Harry grabbed the Voluntariatum gem and ran downstairs.
Fred and George didn't have any objection to skipping a class with Professor McGonagall in favour of the promised adventure, as they had already completed their examinations. They waved at him as he turned around corner into the Transformations corridor and motioned for him to follow. Ron and Hermione went past them, not looking very convinced. The five of them strolled along the empty passageway until they reached a painting Harry had seen hundreds of times and never given a second thought. Fred counted three bricks to the right and at his touch a hole in the wall appeared.
"Privacy," commented George, "is the mother of every successful prank."
The opening was so small they had to crawl to get inside. On the other side was a room enough to accommodate two people, but barely able to contain a party of five.
Everyone looked at Harry in expectation. He opened his fist to reveal his precious possession. "It's called voluntariatum." He explained. "When added to a drink it makes the person who drinks it carry out any petition and… hm… be nice to other people." The truth was he wasn't sure how exactly it was supposed to work. He guessed he just had to trust Sirius on that. "The idea is to give it to Snape and see what happens, preferably before he fails the entire Gryffindor house in Potions and Dark Arts."
Not much of a plan really, but that's what the twins were for. Their reaction was exactly like he expected it to be.
"Brilliant."
"But risky."
"Where did you get this, er… thing?" That was, naturally, Hermione. Harry bit his lip in hesitation. Nobody deserved to discover the real identity of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs more than the Weasley twins, but mentioning anything about Sirius could easily cost him his life and somehow he doubted Professor Lupin would appreciate that kind of fame.
"From someone who loves Snape so much he sends him personal Howlers." He finally offered, receiving surprised looks from Ron and Hermione. "It wasn't planned for him, though." He added quickly. "It was for the Dursleys, to make them nicer for my birthday."
He was almost sorry for torturing Fred and George that way. Almost. Ron was enjoying immensely.
"You have your secrets and never tell me." He paid no attention to their wounded looks. "Now we have ours."
"All we need is to put this in Snape's drink." Harry reminded.
The twins exchanged looks and switched to a business mode. "The teacher's room is too risky, we'll have to get into his dungeon. If we do it this night, will the effect hold until tomorrow?"
Harry nodded. "Do you know where Snape's dungeon is?" He asked in return.
"Isn't that what the Marauder's map is for?" At that point Harry had to confess to the loss of the precious possession. The twin's disappointed faces didn't last for long.
"We told you we know the map by heart. The entrance is in the corridor next to the Potions dungeon. Which will suffer some spectacular explosion this night. You wait for Snape to open the door and come out before getting in, we won't know the passwords anyway."
After discussing the details and checking the corridor for indiscrete eyes they crept through the hole one by one and went in opposite directions. Fred and George disappeared after saying something about needing supplies and telling Harry to meet them near Potions dungeon at eleven. Apparently, they didn't need an Invisibility Cloak to wander around the school late at night.
"Breaking in Snape's dungeon has to be the craziest and the most dangerous thing we ever did here." Ron said while they went up the stairs.
"And the most pointless." Hermione added.
Harry didn't like the way this sounded. It was supposed to be his little private vengeance, his friends had nothing to do with it. The way he saw it, the twins would set up some explosions and disappear and he would be the one to go in and out. He had to take the risk.
"I'm not sure that the cloak can hide the three of us anymore." He said carefully. "You have grown a lot this summer." He pointed to Ron.
"We'll have to manage. We still have almost three years here." Ron dismissed the idea at first, but that he looked at Harry with suspicion. "Didn't you call Fred and George so that they'd make the distraction and we could all go in?"
Harry knew Ron had been angry with him before for going after the book of Phoenix without him, though he never told so directly. Poisoning Snape was another wonderful adventure Harry wanted to have without him.
"It doesn't take three people to drop something in a glass of water," he tried as casually as he could.
"Do you know what the teacher's quarters look like?" Hermione joined in, and not exactly to help Harry. "I have been in Professor McGonagall's rooms, and there're at least three false passages there. The dungeons are bound to be much worse. You alone won't have time to find his dormitory, less alone sabotage his drink!"
At that point Harry had to surrender.
"Gee, Snape's bedroom. The idea alone gives me creeps." Ron laughed before entering the common room and starting to explain their absence to the rest of their class.
Shortly before eleven they made their way down to the dungeons of the castle, the voluntariatum safe in Harry's pocket. Ron suggested they get there early and gave his brothers a shock but Hermione insisted they played a prank a day and kept it as low as possible. The twins were already working in the Potions dungeon.
"What are you planning?" Harry asked curiously when they emerged from the classroom after leaving a big package under the teacher's table and a couple of smaller ones near the cupboard with ingredients.
"Don't worry. When it starts working you'll hear it alright." George smirked. "You can hide behind the statue at the end of the corridor and wait till a very distraught Snape opens his door. We'll give you five minutes to get there."
Without loosing time Harry, Ron and Hermione squeezed into the tight space between the statue and the wall, pausing only to tighten the cloak around themselves and checking if any part of their bodies was visible. Harry had been right; they were having much more trouble staying under the cloak this year. The darkness was complete, and not a sound reached their ears. The five minutes seemed to go on forever.
"Do you think it's time," started Hermione when a loud voice of a very angry Professor McGonagall pierced the air.
"Weasley and Weasley! What do you think you are doing here? Missing classes right before the partials, and now sneaking into the dungeons. Or did you skip the class because you were planning something here?"
They didn't hear the answer because suddenly a part of the stone wall opened with a hiss and Snape's figure appeared in the brightly lit doorframe. A movement of his hand lit the torches along the corridor, nearly causing Harry to jump. Snape looked around without noticing them and walked quickly in the direction of the voices.
It wasn't the distraction they had expected, but Harry decided it served their needs. If Ron and Hermione had any objection they didn't voice it, and after Harry started moving in the direction of the door they were forced to follow or be discovered. In less than a second they were inside.
Harry dived from under the cloak and examined the dungeon. Hermione had been right; the place had at least six passages. She herself suddenly appeared from under the cloak and wordlessly headed for the first door she saw. It opened, and she disappeared inside. Ron's invisible hand touched Harry's shoulder.
"Gonna stay and watch," whispered a voice from where his head was supposed to be.
The first door he tried led Harry to what looked like a working office, with dry crocodile hanging from the ceiling and the biggest cauldron he had ever seen. The second one was a storage, and the next didn't open at all. At that point of Harry's exploring Hermione appeared again and, taking his hand and muttering "I told you so" dragged him to one of the doors on his right.
One look was enough to see that that was what they were looking for. The room was as dark and cold as any of the others, with a low ceiling and torches on the walls, but unlike the others featured several niches on the sides. One of them was occupied by a massive table covered in dark stains; in another stood a bed that looked as though it had never been slept in. All in all it seemed more personal than anything else they had seen thus far. A solitary half-filled glass stood on the table near a green bottle covered in spider webs.
In two steps Harry was near the table, with another movement the tiny ball appeared in his hand, when...
"Harry, you said it was for your relatives; that's three people..."
Plop. It was already inside. Hermione's remark, whilst important and worthy of deeper consideration, came moments too late. They both stood there, watching the pearly gem sink to the bottom of the glass, the solid cover dissolve itself and the silver whirl break free. It moved around the glass until the liquid swirled and the glass vibrated, and then suddenly it was completely quiet. Hermione let out the breath she had been holding.
Without even looking at one another they made their way back. Two feet appeared shortly in front of them and disappeared again. It was Ron's way of letting them know his location. Again under the cloak they hurried back to the entrance.
Snape and Professor McGonagall were coming back already. Only a couple of seconds more and they would have been late. Harry, going in the head of the procession, took a step toward the safety of the hollow near the statue. Ron, being the last one and seeing Snape right in front of Harry, instinctively took a step back. Hermione in the middle grabbed them both, trying to avoid splitting up. The time was lost. They were staying in front of the door leading outside of the dungeon, and the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin houses were advancing through the entrance, looking right through their students and chatting pleasantly among themselves.
In the shock of the situation the three of them came to the same conclusion and began to walk backwards without making the tiniest of noises. It led them back to the Snape's living room, Harry bumping into Hermione who gritted her teeth to avoid making any sound. All he could do was to silently thank the twins for their wise advise to take their shoes off. Their steps on the stone floor were completely inaudible.
They stood frozen right in the middle of the room, not knowing where Snape or McGonagall were heading and pleading it wasn't any of the cabinets behind their backs. It was a small relief when the teachers stopped near the table. Snape offered Professor McGonagall a chair and leaned on the wall beside her.
"If I heard correctly you didn't take any points from either of the young delinquents, Minerva."
Professor McGonagall let out a sad sigh. "What are ten points in a school competition, Severus? They are only children. It's their last year, they have fun and think they own the school and the whole world. In less than a year they'll go out and figure that the life isn't as safe as they had thought it to be and find out that instead of peace and quiet there's death and suffering outside these walls. Do you know how many applications we received from the students to stay over the Christmas holiday? More than half aren't going home. That hasn't happened since You-Know-Who was in power."
Silence was the only answer to her solemn soliloquy. Snape's face was in shadow as he turned away to pour another glass of wine which he then offered Minerva. He had his own glass in his left hand. They both drank silently. Harry held his breath. He could feel Hermione shaking a little under the cloak.
"I'm worried about tomorrow." Professor McGonagall continued after a while.
"That's why you came here?" Snape's voice was so low Harry couldn't decide if it was mocking or serious.
"I'm worried about the moral rightness of what we are about to do."
"It's not like I'm going to use the Unforgivables." Snape returned with a snort. "I have no love lost for Avery, but I know the headmaster's views on the ethics of action. The only thing we're going to do is to talk."
"I'm worried about you." Professor McGonagall added tiredly.
Snape only shook his head and, emptying the glass, got up. "Nothing to be worried about. There's not one variable in the plan that has not been discussed at least five times."
They talked a little more before Snape accompanied Professor McGonagall outside. They wished each other good-night near the entrance to the Potions dungeon while Harry and company quivered in a hidden spot behind their backs and couldn't wait for them to disappear. As soon as Snape went past them to back to his dungeon and McGonagall's steps died behind the corner the three of them broke into running, not caring that if Snape happened to look back he would see three pair of bare feet speeding away.
They remembered about Fred and George only after running right into them on the stairs leading up to the surface. The twins were waiting for them.
"We were afraid we'd have to make yet another distraction if you didn't come right after McGonagall left."
"We became so concentrated on blowing up the stocks of that stinky brew we always use for healing potions we didn't hear her come."
"Did it work?" George asked.
"I don't know. He didn't seem to notice it at all." Harry answered tiredly.
"It had to work. Most of the really powerful potions are tasteless, that's one way to know you did it right. It just needs more time before taking effect." Hermione informed them, sounding none too happy about the success of their mission.
"McGonagall didn't even take any points from us!" The twins informed them excitedly, not noticing the gloomy mood around them. Harry preferred not to inform them on the reasons she had chosen not to punish them. Every time he thought on their adventure something heavy and cold pressed in his chest and Snape's words replayed in his head: "There's not one variable in the plan that had not been discussed at least five times." Now there was one.
"We shouldn't have done it." Hermione looked at him for a long moment before turning away and heading up the steps.
Thanks for reading! Please review, or you won't tell you what terrible consequences Harry's innocent joke has for everyone involved (including Harry himself and Sirius).
Hm… Not very convincing, but at least I tried.