Disclaimer: Harry Potter, plot and all her characters belong to JKR and her publishing companies, which's names I don't know. No copyright infringement intended. Don't bother suing, my "fortune" isn't worth the trouble. I only own the idea to this story.
Timeline: In their fifth year, 1995/1996
Rating: R for strong language
Chapter: 5/15
Pairings: A bit Blaise Zabini/Neville, Hermione/Ron
Summary: Harry, Ron and Hermione play Slytherin *and* Gryffindor a prank, the new Quidditch team is announced.
Silver Snake
By Artemis (Artemis1000@gmx.net)
Chapter five: Pranks - Tuesday and Friday
Harry stalked angrily to the Slytherin table, not even noticing that for the first time he immediately went to the right table. "What did you do that for, Malfoy?!", he demanded.
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about, Potter."
"You put a dead rat into my bed and I want a very good explanation for that!"
"Or what…? You will go to Professor Snape and cry that I'm such mean?"
Harry frowned angrily at his blonde housemate. "Point taken. But I don't see why I shouldn't just put something equally nasty into your bed while you sleep."
"You can try."
"Where were you anyway last night?"
"Getting the dead rat, what else should I've done?"
"And since when are rats flying? I heard when you fetched your broom."
"Yes, Blaise and me flew last night. Didn't you ever flew at night?"
"I never put dead rats into the beds of my roommates when I came back."
"I didn't either."
"Yes, you did. Who else should've done it?"
"The dorm door usually isn't locked, Gryffindors sneaked before into our dungeons, so everyone else will be also able to. Maybe it was just an accident." It's obvious that Draco didn't cared the least bit. He's way more interested in his waffles with hot cherries, vanilla and chocolate sauce.
"I don't believe you."
"I don't give a fuck, Potter."
"Then let's make a deal. You tell me honestly who put the rat into my bed and I'll answer you one question."
"I'm not interested."
"Oookay." Harry now also turned to his waffles. If Draco Malfoy voluntarily refused a perfect opportunity to humiliate him, he really didn't knew. Or he was the culprit. "I'll anyway find out. And if you did it, then I'll take revenge. Keep in mind that I don't have to be nice and good any longer, I'm as much of a Slytherin as you."
"No, you aren't. Slytherins are evil, but we're not stupid. You are a stupid goody-goody doer."
Angrily Harry stood up and took his breakfast. "Fine! If you want to
pick a fight, Malfoy, do it with someone else. I'm not interested."
Ron entered the Great Hall to find his girlfriend not here yet - or already gone - and a morose Harry sitting alone at one end of the Slytherin table. Since Malfoy was also having breakfast, but at the other end of the table, he thought of this as very odd.
"Hey Harry! How's the weather in the dungeons?"
"Thunderstorm, Ron."
"Fighting with Malfoy, eh?"
"Not exactly fights… rather not-fights. I don't talk anymore with him."
"So bad?", asked Ron compassionate. It's rather a rhetorical question since he couldn't imagine Malfoy being anything but unbearable.
"I thought he put a dead rat into my bed last night and I overreacted when he denied it. But the worst thing is that I'm sure I won't be on the Quidditch team this year. After that argument I can't imagine that he would still take me."
"You're the best, he would be stupid to loose you, Harry."
"Thanks, but nobody in Slytherin agrees with you obviously. I don't understand how I could let him get to me like that. Maybe it's just the tiredness from Quidditch yesterday or because I had to control myself all the time, I don't know. I had done such a good job at shrugging the Slytherins insults off so that he won't have any excuse…!"
"Everyone makes mistakes."
"He's not at the infirmary now, so it can't have been that bad. How about you come after breakfast to the Gryffindor Common Room?"
"I appreciate the offer, but I have to keep my end of the bargain with Malfoy or he'll additionally to putting dead rats into my bed also boss me around. This morning I promised some first years a big tour through Hogwarts."
"That's OK. Uh… how are you getting along with the other Slytherin?"
"Zabini is nice, I haven't really had much contact with the others. There are some pretty good chess and Exploding Snap players, but otherwise…"
"…it's just not the same as before the resorting."
"Yeah."
Attempting to cheer his best friend up, Ron suggested, "how about we play the Slytherins a prank? Like in the good old times."
"I can hardly play myself a prank, can I?"
"Oh. But we could still do something harmless… like painting the walls of the Slytherin Common Room red and golden."
At this Harry winced, "sorry, Ron, but that is one thing I won't do. I'm grateful to Pansy that our Common Room doesn't looks anymore like a mausoleum and I won't give Malfoy an excuse to turn it back into one. Besides, if our Common Room were be green, white, silver, brown, orange, blue, black, scarlet and gold everyone would go colour-blind."
"I for my part want to see that", smirked Ron maliciously.
"And *I* for my part live there…!", reminded Harry sternly.
"Oh. Right. I forgot about that. Any ideas?"
"How about we make a prank both ways? We redecorate my Common Room with lion statues, red-golden ticker tape, festoons and Gryffindor streamers, then we do the same to your Common Room with Slytherin stuff. The best thing is that the teachers will think Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are playing us off against each other, we're safe."
"Cool! We can conjure the stuff when we need it. You pick me - and Hermione if she wants to join in - at ten with your invisibility cloak before the portrait hole up?"
"There's someone till midnight at the Common Room, sometimes longer
… let's start with the Gryffindor Common Room."
The prank had already one of the desired effects before it's even put into action.
Harry was too busy working out how they could fastest attach the decorations, making a note to self with all the magical party deco he wanted to conjure up, pondered if he should put a sleeping spell on his roommates and painting drafts for the Slytherin decorations to be miserable. Let alone had he the time to wonder if he would be on the team.
But his sudden good mood unsettled the other Slytherins - including the other former Gryffindors - greatly. Either he'd finally cracked or he was planning something very, very devious…
"Hello." Neville sat, still in his Quidditch robes, at Blaise's bed down.
He received only an almost imperceptible nod in return. Blaise was absorbed in the sports part of the Daily Prophet. "You want politics or culture?"
"No, thanks. Do you know what's going on with Harry? He's been strange the whole day."
"He doesn't talks anymore with Draco. And he's always been weird. Didn't you noticed?"
"That's very mean of you, Blaise. He's not weird. He's just… Harry. And frankly I don't think his daily fight with Malfoy would get him such badly off the rails. What are you reading?"
"About some puppy Quidditch star. Maybe it's the Weasel, I saw them talk at breakfast and yesterday he wasn't strange, was he?"
"His name is Ron *Weasley*. But that could be the cause. I saw him reading a book about sleeping spells in the Common Room - without Hermione threatening to curse him if he doesn't studies! - maybe they're working on a prank. Do you think he would do that, playing a prank on Slytherins? Now that he's one himself?"
"Potter can try. Professor Snape will get him expelled or at the very least cautioned for that, he's now his Head of House, after all", the Slytherin said careless.
"I'm so excited! I hope that I will be at least on the junior team. Have you already decided about the players?"
"We worked the whole night on the senior team and this morning Draco brought the list to Professor Snape. With a bit of luck we'll hand the junior team list this evening in. But Draco and me agreed on telling no one anything."
"Of course. Do you feel like putting that newspaper aside and taking a walk?"
"At any time!"
The whole day Harry had been busy and after dinner it's time for the second part of the preparations.
As soon as he returned from supper he went to bed, excusing it with being still tired from the Quidditch try-outs. In truth he wanted to get some sleep before he sneaked upstairs.
A quarter to ten Harry left, thankfully running into no one he knew. When he's through the entry he slipped the invisibility cloak on and took the Marauder's map out. Now his trip to the Gryffindor tower shouldn't turn out too difficult. He'd plenty experience in avoiding Filch and Mrs. Norris, a bigger problem would've been if the Slytherins became suspicious.
Harry wasn't surprised when he found both Ron and Hermione waiting in front of the portrait hole. "Hey! Were you waiting for a long time? I had troubles finding the right corridor, that's the first time I'm back to Gryffindor tower."
"No problem, 'Mione and me kept ourselves busy. We transformed already a tapestry into a gigantic Slytherin flag."
"Cool!"
"Let's get started, we're wasting precious study time."
Ron turned to the portrait of the fat lady, "the password is "sparrow kittens". Come in, everyone's asleep already."
"Harry, please lay the Marauder's map where we can always keep an eye
on it. We can't let ourselves be surprised by Professor McGonagall hanging
*Slytherin* banners up. Ron, you start with the ticker tape, Harry makes
the festoons and I the banners."
Two hours and an almost-discovery by Lavender later, the transformation of the Gryffindor Common Room was complete.
"It looks like the headquarters of the Slytherin fan club", remarked Ron doubtful. He's not so sure anymore that the prank was a good idea. But having again an adventure with Harry and Hermione was worth it.
"Hermione, you should get Colin to make pictures of the Common Rooms before the decoration is taken off, that's yearbook-worthy."
"I will." And if only to annoy Ron with showing the picture around when he refused to study next time.
"I can't wait to see a picture of the Slytherin Common Room in red and gold in our next annals", said Ron gleefully. If their second redecoration of the night would only be half as good as this it would be the ultimate humiliation! In fact, it was a prank worth of Fred and George. Pity, really, that they couldn't enjoy the fame.
"Harry, if someone is still in your Common Room, what are you going to tell them?"
"The truth."
"But…"
"It's so unlikely that they won't believe me. And even if they did, they won't say anything to the teachers. First of all they seem to be pretty loyal to their own housemates and they would only get themselves into trouble for not stopping us."
"I can't say I agree about the Slytherins being loyal part, but you're
right, they would be punished as well", agreed Hermione. "We should go
now, while Filch is still at the Astronomy Tower."
Their hard work had been worth it - they caused even more of a stir than they'd expected.
When the first Slytherins went through the Common Room around eight o'clock at their way to the Great Hall, they believed they were hallucinating and instead went to Madam Pomfrey. It's just impossible that Gryffindors had redecorated the whole room without anyone noticing it, it'd to have taken them hours.
The Gryffindors slept longer, but when they saw what'd happened to their Common Room they didn't doubted their eyes. Instead, 20 minutes later the whole House Gryffindor was awake. The whole House but Ron, who'd been just impossible to wake up.
So the confrontation in the Great Hall around ten, when both - rudely by their shocked housemates awakened - Houses went to breakfast was inevitable.
"I can't believe the bloody Slytherin cowards did that to our Common Room!", heard Harry Lavender complaining who was before him pushing her way into the Great Hall. Odd cause he thought he himself was late, but maybe it took her longer to decide if she wanted to look like a blueberry or a cherry today, he thought wryly.
"What are you smirking at, Slytherin?", she demanded then.
It took Harry a long time to realize that he was meant, but when he did his dumbfounded face was priceless. "Huh?"
"Well, you are a Slytherin, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am, Lavender. It's funny that both of our Houses became victims of a prank at the same time, isn't it?" Not even a lie.
"Excuse me?"
"I overheard that something happened to your Common Room. Ours was "redecorated" last night in the Gryffindor colours."
"But you… But… Who was it then?"
Harry shrugged, not wanting to lie into Lavender's face, "just remember next time to give your suspect the chance to defend themselves before you form a judgement. Most Slytherin believe that the Gryffindors sneaked last night into our Common Room and did all this." Having that said, the Boy Who Lived walked past her to the Slytherin table.
Seamus was animatedly defending his ex House, "…never Gryffindor! You can trust me with that, they couldn't have gotten into our Common Room anyway. Maybe that a few Gryffindors did that, but the rest of the House won't have known about it, Professor McGonagall would never support such a thing. Take a seat, Harry, who do *you* think is responsible?"
"No idea, Seamus."
"But you do believe it's possible a Gryffindor was involved, don't you?"
"There's no way to know such a thing for sure unless you're involved. I mean, Zabini, the Gryffindors seem to be in the same mess and why should they decorate their own Common Room with Slytherin stuff when they just want to annoy us?"
"To make themselves inconspicuous?", suggested Draco.
"That's not Gryffindor-ish."
"No, it's not. But maybe they actually got some people with brains through the resorting."
"Oh just shut up, Malfoy!"
Seamus, Neville and Blaise shared a knowing, relieved grin. It's good that their friends talked again. Even them only exchanging insults - like in the old times - was better than the uncomfortable silence from yesterday.
"I for my part think House Hufflepuff did it", quipped suddenly someone behind them up. "Don't you know that we are the most evil girls?"
Pansy gave - the utterly flustered - Draco and Blaise a hug as greeting, Harry a polite greeting, told them she's doing fine at Hufflepuff and happy. Then she noticed that the two other boys looked rather uncomfortable. "Oh, don't worry, Finnegan, Longbottom, I won't hex you or anything. I'm not even allowed to as a good little Hufflepuff."
"R…really?"
"Really, Longbottom."
"Not that I would be complaining, Pansy, but what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I wanted to see how you guys are doing. Especially now after someone played a prank on you. I hope you don't get yourself into trouble because of it with the Gryffindors, some of them aren't such bad, you know? Blaise, I trust you to restrain Draco…"
"I don't need a baby-sitter!"
"Yes, you do. I'll not leave him out of my eyes, Pansy, promised." Wryly he added, "and if he gets nasty to the Gryffindors I'll put the banners and festoons *on him*."
"Blaise, if you try that you're dead."
"I did worse to you and still you never killed me. Pansy, you never told us if you stay for Christmas."
"I'll go home. Mum, dad and me will visit our grandparents this year. Grandma is out of the hospital."
"That's great. All of us will stay and train for the game against Ravenclaw."
"Oh yes, nasty thing. Do you think you'll get the new broom this year, Blaise?"
At this point Harry stopped listening to the conversation, wanting to
leave them some privacy. With half of the people at their table chatting
excited about the new Quiddtch team and the other half still being scandalised
about their prank, Harry's own nervousness returned. He really hoped he
was on the team, even if it meant playing against Gryffindor. No matter
which position, which team, if they lost or won - he just hoped he's able
to fly.
Time was crawling. Every hour seemed longer than the last to Harry Potter.
After he returned from lunch he even sat down in front of the bulletin board with a chess board and played against himself.
When Ron and Hermione visited - they knew the password from last night - he still refused to go away from the black board. But while Hermione was ready to call Madam Pomfrey, Ron understood how important a place on the Quidditch team was for him. The Gryffindor even offered to stay and play chess with him, not once complaining that this was the Slytherin Common Room.
"Ron, I can't bear this any longer. I'm going to ask Malfoy."
"If you're on the team or when the list is published?"
"Both."
Seamus joined them, shaking his head. "You can save your breath, Harry, I asked and he said we would just have to wait and find out for ourselves."
"What a brat!"
"You only noticed that now?", snorted Ron. He wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy didn't published the list at all before tomorrow and only told his own fan club the results, so that the rest would be off the team again because they didn't came to the training.
"Don't, Ron, someone could hear…" Just then he caught sight of Draco entering the Common Room with a sheet of paper. "I think he has the results!"
"Yes, he has. Move, Potter, I can't reach the black board." While he fastened the sheet to the board, standing so that nobody could read the results, he muttered, "is Gryffindors Common Room so rotten that you have to stay here, Weasley? Maybe you can't afford new furniture…?"
"It's much better than your seedy shack!", shot Ron back.
Harry knew that the argument wouldn't stop anytime soon and was anyway too curious about the Quidditch team to care. So he pushed Draco away from the black board and scanned the names for his own. When he finally found it he gasped in surprise…
Slytherin senior team
Team captain: Draco Malfoy
Attwood, Sarah: Chaser
Finnegan, Seamus: Chaser
Longbottom, Neville: Beater
Malfoy, Draco: Beater
Mitchell, Jane: Chaser
Potter, Harry: Seeker
Zabini, Blaise: Keeper
"Seeker? I'm really Seeker? Malfoy, are you kidding?"
"No, I'm serious about the team list. I wanted to try Beater for a long time, but I'd no replacement as Seeker until you joined."
"And you really don't mind?"
"No, I don't. Anything else, Potter? I still have to write my DADA paper and I don't fancy getting detention just because of you."
"Thank you."
tbc…
Jane Mitchell and Sarah Attwood were just added because I needed another two Chasers and some girls on the team.
The next part will be the weekend. Again Quidditch and a truth or dare game.