A/N - JKR owns everything familiar. Me --- not so much.
A/N -Sako - I'm sorry. I wasn't singling you out - otherwise I wouldn't have answered your question. I should have been clearer; I was just trying to explain why I ignored most of them.
A/N - Lady - Fair question. I know exactly how it's going to end. Besides that I have a laundry list of things that need to happen before then but basically I'm winging it trying to cross things off my checklist. Work/school takes up much time lately - sorry for longest ever delay.
Chapter 49
Dark Dreams
At lunch that day, every face in the Great Hall showed various levels of emotions as Dumbledore once again stood in front of the students to announce that, "all Potions classes are temporarily cancelled until further notice but at least for the rest of this week."
"Bloody brilliant!"
"Huzzah!"
"Hoorah!"
Many gleeful shouts erupted from the four house tables. Harry was slightly surprised but nevertheless pleased to notice that many of the Slytherins were joining in the celebration. Fortunately for them, the thundering applause and shouts in the Great Hall was so loud that the Weasley twins drew no attention to themselves. Only Harry and Lee, one who knew of the twins' guilt and the other who immediately suspected them, overheard their conversation.
"George, don't celebrate too soon."
"Why not?"
"Classes were cancelled last time and we didn't get it right then."
"Don't worry about it - I'm sure we got it this time. Besides, last time we were the first to know that it didn't work."
Harry narrowed his eyes. "What did you two do?" Harry looked from one twin to the other trying to read their expressions.
"Us?" the twins asked simultaneously both wearing an innocent look that hadn't fooled anybody since they turned six years old.
Harry's question had attracted the attention of both Ron and Hermione. Hermione wasn't in the least bit interested in the conversation. Harry knew that she was probably trying to figure out how much extra studying she would have to do for the OWLs to make up for any missed Potions lessons. Ron, on the other hand, was extremely interested.
"Tell us," he practically pleaded with his older brothers. "What's the fun of a prank if no one knows what you did?"
The twins laughed heartily. "Don't worry Ronnikins," Fred began. "I'm sure if the prank went right - whoever did it - that everyone will find out shortly what it was."
George was grinning from ear to ear. "I wonder where Snape is?"
His twin answered, "Yeah, I'd like to see the look on his face right about now." This thought caused Lee and the twins to howl with laughter once again.
Since Potions was cancelled the Gryffindor's found themselves with extra time throughout the week. Harry decided to use the time for extra Quidditch practices. Even though the practices were getting more intense by the day, no one was complaining. They all knew that if they beat Hufflepuff then the Quidditch Cup would be theirs for the taking. They would be the only team to go undefeated.
The rest of the week brought very few surprises. On Saturday most of the school made their way down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the second to the last game of the year. Syltherin trounced Ravenclaw in their last game of their season. The Gryffindor's knew that that put Slytherin in second place. Not that the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team needed any extra incentive to practice hard, but if they did ensuring Slytherin didn't win the Cup sure provided it.
At dinner that night in the Great Hall Harry, Ron and Hermione started commenting on things they had been noticing all week.
Hermione started with a comment about Draco. "I know he doesn't have many friends in Slytherin any more but it seems like they're getting more and more hostile towards him." This comment caused Ron and Harry to look over to the Slytherin table. Draco was sitting by himself at the end of the table nearest to the staff. Harry couldn't help but to wonder if Draco purposely chose that seat for the extra protection the staff offered him. Harry also remembered the dream he had a week ago. Harry was eying the older members of Slytherin wondering if any of them had already become Death Eaters. Harry made a mental note to talk to Draco about his dream soon.
Ron was the one to mention how rare it was for Snape to take his meals with the rest of the staff and students lately. And indeed, as he had been so often this week, Snape was nowhere to be found. Potions' classes were still cancelled but the trio still didn't know why. The twins refused to say anything and Lee deferred to the twins whenever anyone asked him what he knew about the Snape mystery. The trio lingered in the Great Hall musing about what Ron's brothers had done. They had a good time discussing the possibilities until Hermione turned the conversation towards the OWLs and how much father behind they would be now.
The rest of the evening was spent in their Common Room. Harry had already decided to send Hedwig to Draco tomorrow so he could tell him about his dream last week. Hermione was, of course, studying. Ron and Harry were playing Exploding Snap. After Ron got his eyebrows singed for the third time, Harry stood up and declared he was going up to bed.
Harry lay awake for hours. He heard each one of his roommates come in and get ready for bed. He could tell when each of them fell asleep. He could even tell whenever one them was dreaming. He smiled to himself when he heard Neville mumble in his sleep, "Take that Snape, and that, and that." It was hours before Harry fell asleep. And just like the previous weekend, it was not a peaceful sleep.
His dream began with Voldemort talking to the Lestranges'. "It's been one week my faithful servants. How is your plan coming along?"
"Things are proceeding well, My Lord." She paused allowing her husband to continue.
"We are going to test our plan tomorrow, My Lord."
"Tell me how you are planning on doing that."
"Well My Lord," the wife answered first. "The Death Eater at Hogwarts is going to help us. He's going to be alone all day tomorrow and we're going to test our plan by trying to kidnap him."
The Lestranges stood with their heads bowed. They anxiously awaited Voldemort's reaction to their plan.
"I like it. You two have once again pleased me." Voldemort muttered some incantation and although Harry couldn't see and results he did notice that the couple both broke into wide smiles and offered their thanks. Voldemort dismissed them and began speaking to his pet snake. Harry understood every word of the evil wizard's hissing and spitting.
"Nagini, the time is drawing near. This time our deeds will be so great that Muggles and those who refuse to join us will be remembering my last rise with longing and fondness. No one will escape. And Harry Potter will finally meet his parents."
Harry's screams woke not only himself but also every single last male Gryffindor. Ron refused to leave Harry's side. He put Dean and Seamus in charge of sending the other Gryffindor's back to their own rooms.
"Nightmare" was the only response the fifth year boys would give when yet another groggy Gryffindor would stumble to their door asking what was going on.
Ron thought an eternity had passed before Harry was finally able to sit up. "What did you dream about this time mate?"
Harry only shook his head. "I'll tell you tomorrow. I don't want to have to tell it twice, once to you and then once to Hermione."
"You mean three times, right? You have to tell Dumbledore."
Harry didn't want to fight right now so he just shrugged and told Ron he was going to try to go back to sleep. In reality, he didn't sleep. He didn't even try to sleep. Although the dream had given him more than one thing to think about, he constantly found his thoughts returning to the Death Eater they kept mentioning at Hogwarts. Snape had shown his true colors at Christmas. Surely he couldn't talk his way out of that one with Voldemort. But if it wasn't Snape, then there really was a Death Eater in the school. But who?
Harry realized that he must have finally drifted off to sleep because he woke up when he heard Ron getting dressed for breakfast. Harry told Ron to wait for him down in the Common Room. Ron was not the least little bit surprised to find Hermione already down there studying. Twenty minutes later the three friends went down to breakfast together.
Ron and Harry were careful to steer themselves to seats far away from anyone else so that they could talk freely. They were barely seated when Ron started in on Harry. "Spill it mate. What did you dream about last night?"
Hermione's jaw was hanging open. She recovered enough to start asking questions. "Harry, was it about Voldemort?"
Harry nodded.
Ron and Hermione both paled visibly. Harry was trying not to look at them. He started poking at his food and looking around the Great Hall. When he glanced up at the staff table he noticed that the headmaster was watching him. Harry found himself unable to hold the old wizard's gaze. He turned his attention back to his breakfast, which was turning cold.
After a little prodding, Harry told his two friends about both of his dreams.
Hermione was the first one to find her voice. "Harry, you have to tell Dumbledore." Ron was nodding his approval of her suggestion.
"No."
"No?"
"No. At least not yet. Dumbledore always keeps things from me but expects me to be forward and honest with him. I'm going to figure out what's going on."
They argued for another ten minutes about whether or not Harry should go to Dumbledore but Ron and Hermione eventually gave up sensing that they could not convince Harry to change his mind. Ron started on a different tactic.
"How are we going to find out what your dreams mean Harry?"
Hermione didn't need any prodding to jump on the bandwagon. "Yes. How are we going to figure out who the Death Eater is?"
Now it was Harry's turn to be in shock. "You mean you two are still willing to help me?"
"Don't be daft mate. Just because we think you should tell Dumbledore doesn't mean that we're not going to help you."
Harry looked to Hermione for confirmation. She smiled and asked, "So what's our plan?"
Harry smiled at his two friends and finally delved into his breakfast. They spent the rest of breakfast trying to develop a plan for the day. They decided that it probably wasn't a student because they wouldn't be as sure of their schedule as the staff would be. Even though Hermione defended Snape fervently, Harry and Ron insisting on seeing him today just to be sure it wasn't him.
"Honestly, won't you two ever trust him? Dumbledore trusts him after all."
Ron was shaking his head. "Hermione, think about how perfect it would be if Snape was a Death Eater. What if Voldemort told him to fight on our side during the Christmas attack to ensure he had Dumbledore's trust? What if he's not really a double agent but just pretending to be one? Don't you think it's odd that Voldemort knows almost everything but he doesn't know about Snape? He's not what you would call sentimental - doesn't it strike you as odd that he hasn't killed Snape just in case?"
Hermione was still shaking her head. She turned to Harry. "What do you think?"
"Ron," Harry said while wearing a half smiling, half astonished look on his face. "You said the name."
Ron looked resolved. "I told you before. I've had it. If he wants to kill me then he can kill me but we're not living in fear of that monster any longer. Now let's go find Snape."
Hermione and Harry were more than slightly surprised as they stood up and followed Ron out of the Great Hall. They had almost caught up to Ron when the headmaster moved to block their path.
"Harry, I'd like a word with you if you please."
Harry looked over at Hermione. "Catch up with Ron and wait for me in the Great Hall. I won't be long." Hermione nodded and went to catch up to Ron.
Harry silently followed Dumbledore up to his office. After greeting Fawkes Harry took his customary seat in front of the Headmaster's desk. Harry knew what was coming but he was going to stick to his resolve.
"Harry," the Headmaster began. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"
Harry didn't miss a beat. "No."
"I see." Harry wasn't looking at his Headmaster. However he was sure that Dumbledore was giving him a piercing stare and strongly doubted that, if he chose to look, he would find any twinkle in the familiar blue eyes.
"Harry, I need to be sure you understand how important it is that we share information. Although we will win, defeating Voldemort won't be easy. We have to work together. All of us."
Dumbledore paused but Harry remained silent so he continued.
"Now I know that at times it seems like I'm not telling you things but please believe that I share everything I can with you."
Once again, Harry felt almost certain that Dumbledore could read minds. Harry found his resolve to stay silent weakening. He knew it was almost too late so he simply asked, "Is that all?"
Dumbledore continued to study Harry's face. Harry thought he almost looked sad when he finally nodded indicating Harry could go.
It took him next to no time to find Ron and Hermione. It was agreed that they would go find Snape just to put an end to that argument before trying to find the rest of the staff one at a time. As they made their way down to the dungeons they decided that if they found Snape they would ask a question about their latest Potions essay.
None of the three were ready for what they found down in the dungeons.
The Potions lab was gone!
"I don't understand," Hermione was the first one to comment.
"Where did it go?" Ron asked.
"Maybe we took a wrong turn," Harry suggested.
"Harry," Hermione began in a tone suggesting a lecture was coming. "We've had class down here for five years. I think we know the way."
"Fine then, you suggest something better."
"I've got it!" Ron shouted.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Come on." Ron said as he started running back the way they came. Ron wouldn't answer any questions that Harry and Hermione shouted at them. He just kept running. He ran all the way back to the Common Room.
Once inside he scanned the room while Harry and Hermione stood behind him catching their breath. Ron spotted what he was looking for and led his friends over to one of the corners.
"Hello Fred, George. Guess what just happened to us?"
Fred and George looked liked they were going to burst. Apparently they had been waiting none to patiently for someone to discover their secret.
As understanding slowly dawned on Harry, the look on his face became one of total awe. "Did you two do that?"
"Yup."
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron was amazed at his brothers.
"So where is it?" Harry asked.
Fred and George looked at each other before Fred answered.
"We don't know."
"What are you all talking about?" Hermione wasn't following the conversation. Her mind didn't focus on rule breaking as much as her compatriots. Harry doubted she could easily comprehend an act as subversive as what Fred and George had apparently pulled off. He couldn't help chuckling to himself, which earned him a glare from Hermione.
Ron turned back to his brothers. "Come on you two. Out with it. Tell us everything."
The twins' didn't need much goading. Harry could tell that they were anxious to brag about their prank.
George started. "We enchanted Snape's classroom to move to a different location inside the castle on the hour, every hour."
Ron, Hermione and Harry were all stunned. Ron and Harry wore identical awe- struck expressions.
Hermione, however, was not as impressed. "How will we get ready for our OWLs? Is that even safe? What if ---" Four voices all shouting "Hermione!" successfully cut off her train of thought.
Fred continued the tale. "We've been working on this for a very long time. In fact we even tried it once before."
Harry thought he knew exactly when. "You mean it was you two that caused all those animals to appear a while back?" Harry was nearly doubled over with laughter remembering back to when he was "summoned" to the dungeon in his animagus form.
The five friends spent a little bit longer talking about the wondrous feat that the twins pulled off. Eventually Ron, Harry and Hermione made their way back outside the Common Room trying to figure out what they were going to do now that they didn't know if they could ever find Snape and his classroom. Harry also had to admit that he didn't know when the test was going to take place so just because they saw one person in the afternoon didn't mean that that wasn't the Death Eater who was going to be "kidnapped" in the evening.
Ron commented on how glad he was now that they hadn't found Snape. "Could you imagine how much nastier he probably is now? I think Dumbledore cancelled Potions for our safety more than anything else."
Hermione broke into their thoughts. "What do we do now?"
Accepting that he was at a loss, Harry finally decided to go to Dumbledore. As he opened the door to the Headmaster's office, he found himself unprepared for the sight that greeted him.
A/N -Sako - I'm sorry. I wasn't singling you out - otherwise I wouldn't have answered your question. I should have been clearer; I was just trying to explain why I ignored most of them.
A/N - Lady - Fair question. I know exactly how it's going to end. Besides that I have a laundry list of things that need to happen before then but basically I'm winging it trying to cross things off my checklist. Work/school takes up much time lately - sorry for longest ever delay.
Chapter 49
Dark Dreams
At lunch that day, every face in the Great Hall showed various levels of emotions as Dumbledore once again stood in front of the students to announce that, "all Potions classes are temporarily cancelled until further notice but at least for the rest of this week."
"Bloody brilliant!"
"Huzzah!"
"Hoorah!"
Many gleeful shouts erupted from the four house tables. Harry was slightly surprised but nevertheless pleased to notice that many of the Slytherins were joining in the celebration. Fortunately for them, the thundering applause and shouts in the Great Hall was so loud that the Weasley twins drew no attention to themselves. Only Harry and Lee, one who knew of the twins' guilt and the other who immediately suspected them, overheard their conversation.
"George, don't celebrate too soon."
"Why not?"
"Classes were cancelled last time and we didn't get it right then."
"Don't worry about it - I'm sure we got it this time. Besides, last time we were the first to know that it didn't work."
Harry narrowed his eyes. "What did you two do?" Harry looked from one twin to the other trying to read their expressions.
"Us?" the twins asked simultaneously both wearing an innocent look that hadn't fooled anybody since they turned six years old.
Harry's question had attracted the attention of both Ron and Hermione. Hermione wasn't in the least bit interested in the conversation. Harry knew that she was probably trying to figure out how much extra studying she would have to do for the OWLs to make up for any missed Potions lessons. Ron, on the other hand, was extremely interested.
"Tell us," he practically pleaded with his older brothers. "What's the fun of a prank if no one knows what you did?"
The twins laughed heartily. "Don't worry Ronnikins," Fred began. "I'm sure if the prank went right - whoever did it - that everyone will find out shortly what it was."
George was grinning from ear to ear. "I wonder where Snape is?"
His twin answered, "Yeah, I'd like to see the look on his face right about now." This thought caused Lee and the twins to howl with laughter once again.
Since Potions was cancelled the Gryffindor's found themselves with extra time throughout the week. Harry decided to use the time for extra Quidditch practices. Even though the practices were getting more intense by the day, no one was complaining. They all knew that if they beat Hufflepuff then the Quidditch Cup would be theirs for the taking. They would be the only team to go undefeated.
The rest of the week brought very few surprises. On Saturday most of the school made their way down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the second to the last game of the year. Syltherin trounced Ravenclaw in their last game of their season. The Gryffindor's knew that that put Slytherin in second place. Not that the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team needed any extra incentive to practice hard, but if they did ensuring Slytherin didn't win the Cup sure provided it.
At dinner that night in the Great Hall Harry, Ron and Hermione started commenting on things they had been noticing all week.
Hermione started with a comment about Draco. "I know he doesn't have many friends in Slytherin any more but it seems like they're getting more and more hostile towards him." This comment caused Ron and Harry to look over to the Slytherin table. Draco was sitting by himself at the end of the table nearest to the staff. Harry couldn't help but to wonder if Draco purposely chose that seat for the extra protection the staff offered him. Harry also remembered the dream he had a week ago. Harry was eying the older members of Slytherin wondering if any of them had already become Death Eaters. Harry made a mental note to talk to Draco about his dream soon.
Ron was the one to mention how rare it was for Snape to take his meals with the rest of the staff and students lately. And indeed, as he had been so often this week, Snape was nowhere to be found. Potions' classes were still cancelled but the trio still didn't know why. The twins refused to say anything and Lee deferred to the twins whenever anyone asked him what he knew about the Snape mystery. The trio lingered in the Great Hall musing about what Ron's brothers had done. They had a good time discussing the possibilities until Hermione turned the conversation towards the OWLs and how much father behind they would be now.
The rest of the evening was spent in their Common Room. Harry had already decided to send Hedwig to Draco tomorrow so he could tell him about his dream last week. Hermione was, of course, studying. Ron and Harry were playing Exploding Snap. After Ron got his eyebrows singed for the third time, Harry stood up and declared he was going up to bed.
Harry lay awake for hours. He heard each one of his roommates come in and get ready for bed. He could tell when each of them fell asleep. He could even tell whenever one them was dreaming. He smiled to himself when he heard Neville mumble in his sleep, "Take that Snape, and that, and that." It was hours before Harry fell asleep. And just like the previous weekend, it was not a peaceful sleep.
His dream began with Voldemort talking to the Lestranges'. "It's been one week my faithful servants. How is your plan coming along?"
"Things are proceeding well, My Lord." She paused allowing her husband to continue.
"We are going to test our plan tomorrow, My Lord."
"Tell me how you are planning on doing that."
"Well My Lord," the wife answered first. "The Death Eater at Hogwarts is going to help us. He's going to be alone all day tomorrow and we're going to test our plan by trying to kidnap him."
The Lestranges stood with their heads bowed. They anxiously awaited Voldemort's reaction to their plan.
"I like it. You two have once again pleased me." Voldemort muttered some incantation and although Harry couldn't see and results he did notice that the couple both broke into wide smiles and offered their thanks. Voldemort dismissed them and began speaking to his pet snake. Harry understood every word of the evil wizard's hissing and spitting.
"Nagini, the time is drawing near. This time our deeds will be so great that Muggles and those who refuse to join us will be remembering my last rise with longing and fondness. No one will escape. And Harry Potter will finally meet his parents."
Harry's screams woke not only himself but also every single last male Gryffindor. Ron refused to leave Harry's side. He put Dean and Seamus in charge of sending the other Gryffindor's back to their own rooms.
"Nightmare" was the only response the fifth year boys would give when yet another groggy Gryffindor would stumble to their door asking what was going on.
Ron thought an eternity had passed before Harry was finally able to sit up. "What did you dream about this time mate?"
Harry only shook his head. "I'll tell you tomorrow. I don't want to have to tell it twice, once to you and then once to Hermione."
"You mean three times, right? You have to tell Dumbledore."
Harry didn't want to fight right now so he just shrugged and told Ron he was going to try to go back to sleep. In reality, he didn't sleep. He didn't even try to sleep. Although the dream had given him more than one thing to think about, he constantly found his thoughts returning to the Death Eater they kept mentioning at Hogwarts. Snape had shown his true colors at Christmas. Surely he couldn't talk his way out of that one with Voldemort. But if it wasn't Snape, then there really was a Death Eater in the school. But who?
Harry realized that he must have finally drifted off to sleep because he woke up when he heard Ron getting dressed for breakfast. Harry told Ron to wait for him down in the Common Room. Ron was not the least little bit surprised to find Hermione already down there studying. Twenty minutes later the three friends went down to breakfast together.
Ron and Harry were careful to steer themselves to seats far away from anyone else so that they could talk freely. They were barely seated when Ron started in on Harry. "Spill it mate. What did you dream about last night?"
Hermione's jaw was hanging open. She recovered enough to start asking questions. "Harry, was it about Voldemort?"
Harry nodded.
Ron and Hermione both paled visibly. Harry was trying not to look at them. He started poking at his food and looking around the Great Hall. When he glanced up at the staff table he noticed that the headmaster was watching him. Harry found himself unable to hold the old wizard's gaze. He turned his attention back to his breakfast, which was turning cold.
After a little prodding, Harry told his two friends about both of his dreams.
Hermione was the first one to find her voice. "Harry, you have to tell Dumbledore." Ron was nodding his approval of her suggestion.
"No."
"No?"
"No. At least not yet. Dumbledore always keeps things from me but expects me to be forward and honest with him. I'm going to figure out what's going on."
They argued for another ten minutes about whether or not Harry should go to Dumbledore but Ron and Hermione eventually gave up sensing that they could not convince Harry to change his mind. Ron started on a different tactic.
"How are we going to find out what your dreams mean Harry?"
Hermione didn't need any prodding to jump on the bandwagon. "Yes. How are we going to figure out who the Death Eater is?"
Now it was Harry's turn to be in shock. "You mean you two are still willing to help me?"
"Don't be daft mate. Just because we think you should tell Dumbledore doesn't mean that we're not going to help you."
Harry looked to Hermione for confirmation. She smiled and asked, "So what's our plan?"
Harry smiled at his two friends and finally delved into his breakfast. They spent the rest of breakfast trying to develop a plan for the day. They decided that it probably wasn't a student because they wouldn't be as sure of their schedule as the staff would be. Even though Hermione defended Snape fervently, Harry and Ron insisting on seeing him today just to be sure it wasn't him.
"Honestly, won't you two ever trust him? Dumbledore trusts him after all."
Ron was shaking his head. "Hermione, think about how perfect it would be if Snape was a Death Eater. What if Voldemort told him to fight on our side during the Christmas attack to ensure he had Dumbledore's trust? What if he's not really a double agent but just pretending to be one? Don't you think it's odd that Voldemort knows almost everything but he doesn't know about Snape? He's not what you would call sentimental - doesn't it strike you as odd that he hasn't killed Snape just in case?"
Hermione was still shaking her head. She turned to Harry. "What do you think?"
"Ron," Harry said while wearing a half smiling, half astonished look on his face. "You said the name."
Ron looked resolved. "I told you before. I've had it. If he wants to kill me then he can kill me but we're not living in fear of that monster any longer. Now let's go find Snape."
Hermione and Harry were more than slightly surprised as they stood up and followed Ron out of the Great Hall. They had almost caught up to Ron when the headmaster moved to block their path.
"Harry, I'd like a word with you if you please."
Harry looked over at Hermione. "Catch up with Ron and wait for me in the Great Hall. I won't be long." Hermione nodded and went to catch up to Ron.
Harry silently followed Dumbledore up to his office. After greeting Fawkes Harry took his customary seat in front of the Headmaster's desk. Harry knew what was coming but he was going to stick to his resolve.
"Harry," the Headmaster began. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"
Harry didn't miss a beat. "No."
"I see." Harry wasn't looking at his Headmaster. However he was sure that Dumbledore was giving him a piercing stare and strongly doubted that, if he chose to look, he would find any twinkle in the familiar blue eyes.
"Harry, I need to be sure you understand how important it is that we share information. Although we will win, defeating Voldemort won't be easy. We have to work together. All of us."
Dumbledore paused but Harry remained silent so he continued.
"Now I know that at times it seems like I'm not telling you things but please believe that I share everything I can with you."
Once again, Harry felt almost certain that Dumbledore could read minds. Harry found his resolve to stay silent weakening. He knew it was almost too late so he simply asked, "Is that all?"
Dumbledore continued to study Harry's face. Harry thought he almost looked sad when he finally nodded indicating Harry could go.
It took him next to no time to find Ron and Hermione. It was agreed that they would go find Snape just to put an end to that argument before trying to find the rest of the staff one at a time. As they made their way down to the dungeons they decided that if they found Snape they would ask a question about their latest Potions essay.
None of the three were ready for what they found down in the dungeons.
The Potions lab was gone!
"I don't understand," Hermione was the first one to comment.
"Where did it go?" Ron asked.
"Maybe we took a wrong turn," Harry suggested.
"Harry," Hermione began in a tone suggesting a lecture was coming. "We've had class down here for five years. I think we know the way."
"Fine then, you suggest something better."
"I've got it!" Ron shouted.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Come on." Ron said as he started running back the way they came. Ron wouldn't answer any questions that Harry and Hermione shouted at them. He just kept running. He ran all the way back to the Common Room.
Once inside he scanned the room while Harry and Hermione stood behind him catching their breath. Ron spotted what he was looking for and led his friends over to one of the corners.
"Hello Fred, George. Guess what just happened to us?"
Fred and George looked liked they were going to burst. Apparently they had been waiting none to patiently for someone to discover their secret.
As understanding slowly dawned on Harry, the look on his face became one of total awe. "Did you two do that?"
"Yup."
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron was amazed at his brothers.
"So where is it?" Harry asked.
Fred and George looked at each other before Fred answered.
"We don't know."
"What are you all talking about?" Hermione wasn't following the conversation. Her mind didn't focus on rule breaking as much as her compatriots. Harry doubted she could easily comprehend an act as subversive as what Fred and George had apparently pulled off. He couldn't help chuckling to himself, which earned him a glare from Hermione.
Ron turned back to his brothers. "Come on you two. Out with it. Tell us everything."
The twins' didn't need much goading. Harry could tell that they were anxious to brag about their prank.
George started. "We enchanted Snape's classroom to move to a different location inside the castle on the hour, every hour."
Ron, Hermione and Harry were all stunned. Ron and Harry wore identical awe- struck expressions.
Hermione, however, was not as impressed. "How will we get ready for our OWLs? Is that even safe? What if ---" Four voices all shouting "Hermione!" successfully cut off her train of thought.
Fred continued the tale. "We've been working on this for a very long time. In fact we even tried it once before."
Harry thought he knew exactly when. "You mean it was you two that caused all those animals to appear a while back?" Harry was nearly doubled over with laughter remembering back to when he was "summoned" to the dungeon in his animagus form.
The five friends spent a little bit longer talking about the wondrous feat that the twins pulled off. Eventually Ron, Harry and Hermione made their way back outside the Common Room trying to figure out what they were going to do now that they didn't know if they could ever find Snape and his classroom. Harry also had to admit that he didn't know when the test was going to take place so just because they saw one person in the afternoon didn't mean that that wasn't the Death Eater who was going to be "kidnapped" in the evening.
Ron commented on how glad he was now that they hadn't found Snape. "Could you imagine how much nastier he probably is now? I think Dumbledore cancelled Potions for our safety more than anything else."
Hermione broke into their thoughts. "What do we do now?"
Accepting that he was at a loss, Harry finally decided to go to Dumbledore. As he opened the door to the Headmaster's office, he found himself unprepared for the sight that greeted him.