Disclaimer: I do not own HP.  I repeat, I do NOT own HP.  But, of course, you lot know this, right?  If not, whack yourself repeatedly in the head with a blunt object until you do.

Chapter 4 – Find Our Way Home

It took the two boys (well, literally boy and man) almost a month to figure out how to play out their revenge but they finally did it.  When everyone was a dinner, they crept back up to Gryffindor Tower, slid into the seventh year boy's dormitory, and were sitting in front of the common room fireplace by the time anyone came in.

Later, as Ethan sat alone by the fire in the week hours of the morning, he went over what had happened lately.  Since the botched potion had turned him into a fifteen-year-old, he had found himself becoming closer and closer to the only two Gryffindors who had tried to befriend him.  Every time he had tried to come up with a scathing remark to use on them, it had never worked.  Of course, as a fifteen-year-old the first time around, he hadn't been able to do that to his friends either.

Maybe it was the two teens aura's that stopped him from doing that.  He didn't have that problem with anyone else in the Tower or in the other Houses.  Perhaps Hermione and Harry reminded him of hanging around with a certain Lily Evans, Poppy Pomfrey, and Remus Lupin - two of them Gryffindors and the other a rambunctious Ravenclaw.

Ethan sighed and slammed his head hard against the back of the chair.

"Bullocks!"

Rubbing the back of his head, Ethan glared at the still merrily crackling fire.  Why did being a teenager a second time have to be so damn confusing?

* * * *

"Hey, Ethan.  Ethan, wake up."

"Urgh," groaned Ethan, reaching up to shove the entity shaking him away.

"ETHAN!"

"BLOODY HELL!"

Ethan half-sprang out of the chair in surprise.  Of course, the move didn't work very well as he'd slept in the chair.  All of his muscles cramped and he collapsed.  A giggle to his right made him glare in that direction.

Hermione tried to hide her giggles behind her hands but failed miserably.  Beside her, Harry grinned wryly, his green eyes bright with amusement behind his glasses.

"You two," growled Ethan, glaring at them then remembering McGonagall's words about him and his glares.

"You can't do that anymore either, you know.  If you don't recall, you were rather cute as a child.  ESPECIALLY as a first year.  And glaring only made you cuter."

Which explained the rather incessant giggling of some of the Gryffindor girls (Hermione excluded).

"Yep," said Harry, "us.  Now get up.  Our trick is about to come full circle."

Ethan grinned and got up more slowly this time as Hermione glared up at the two of them, for they were both (the two of them being the same height) a few inches taller than her.

"You two didn't really go through with that PLAN of yours, did you?"

Harry and Ethan grinned helplessly at each other and Hermione gave then a look reminiscent of McGonagall at her sternest.  Ethan blew a lock of green hair out of his eyes as Harry said, "C'mon, Herm.  It's just a bit of fun."

Hermione frowned at him then – curiosity getting the better of her – asked, "What exactly did the two of you do?"

The two dark-haired boys grinned at each other again then said in unison, "You'll just have to see."  The girl huffed and sat down in the chair Ethan had vacated to wait.  Ethan, grinning wryly, took up post in another chair and Harry sat on the arm of Hermione's, his head leaned back to watch the stairs.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS THIS??"

Ethan began to chuckle as Harry turned his head around and softly said, "Sounds like Fred's awake."

"What the…  FRED?"

"GEORGE?"

"AHHHHHH!  SNAKE!  SNAKE!  GIANT SNAAAAAAAAAAKEEEEEEEE!  OH, OH, OH!!"

Hermione looked at the two helplessly laughing boys and said, "SNAKES?"

Harry, tears streaming down his cheeks and his hands clutching his shaking sides, nodded and said, "You'll see, you'll see."

There was suddenly a thump on the stairs and Hermione peered around Harry to see a rather large, black snake coming down the stairs.  The odd thing was, was that its eyes were bright blue and there was a mop of ginger colored hair on its head.  She whirled back to Harry and hissed, "You didn't!"

"We did," replied Harry, taking off his glasses and brushing his hand over his eyes.

"We…need…a…camera," gasped Ethan through his chuckles.

Harry grinned and said, "I'll be right back."

He then sprinted up the stairs past Fred the Snake, leaping over another redheaded, blue-eyed snake that came down the stairs.  They were soon joined by a black-haired snake with dreadlocks and a brown-haired one, all four of them looking around the common room helplessly.  Hermione couldn't help but laugh now, catching the vipers' attention.

"Hermione?" gasped George the Snake.

"You KNEW about THIS?" hissed Fred the Snake.

Hermione shook her head desperately and gasped, "Not until…just now.  Oh you look funny!"

Lee – the black-haired snake – hissed and spat, "This isn't funny!  I'm a snake!"

"Yeah!" echoed the other snake, which had to be Samuel Quirke, the other Gryffindor seventh year.

Hermione turned to Ethan and hissed, "You charmed ALL their beds?"

"Well," said Ethan, brushing laugh-tears from his eyes.  "We couldn't tell who's was who's, so we just charmed all of them."

"INCOMING!"

The snakes ducked as Harry came zipping down the banister, leaping off of it at the bottom and turning to grin up at the snakes.  He held up Colin Creevey's camera and said loudly, "Say 'cheese'!"

"NO!" screamed the four 'snakes' as the camera flashed.  Ethan fell back into helpless laughter as Colin came down the stairs.

"Harry, what did you…SNAKES!!!"

"Easy, Colin," said Harry.  "It's just Fred, George, Lee, and Sam."

"WHAT?"  Colin turned wide eyes on the four 'snakes'.

"Yep.  That's them."

"Harry," hissed Lee the Snake, "how long does this last?"

Harry frowned and turned to look at Ethan.  "Oi, Ethan!  How long does the charm last?"

Ethan, still laughing, cried out, "Five…ha ha…minutes!"

Harry looked at his watch then back at Lee.  He said, "So…you've got about a minute left."

"Well," growled Samuel the Snake.  "You'd better run."

Harry grinned and walked over to Hermione, handing her Colin's camera then turned to Ethan and said, "Ready?"

Ethan, brushing the laugh-tears from his eyes again, sat up and nodded.

"Ready."

Harry looked at his watch, counting down the time.  He then yelled, "NOW!" and the two dark-haired boys tore out of the common room into the corridor.  There was a loud POP from the stairs and then the four seventh years tore after them, still dressed in their pajamas.

Hermione grinned slyly as she handed the camera back to Colin.  Oh, that picture of the Weasley twins in teddy bear pajamas, Lee in mismatched plaid, and Samuel in Quidditch was going to be priceless!