"Black?"

"Granger?"

"Come with me."

Hermione shut the door of the abandoned class room as Harry rubbed his arm, scowling at her from underneath his fringe.

"Where'd you get so bloody strong?"

"I spend two nights a week throwing things. It helps build up muscle. Besides your kinda scrawny."

Harry bristled.

"I'm not scrawny, I'm just slim. Seekers need to be fast you know."

"Uh huh."

"Anyway why did you drag me in here? Sirius warned me about girls like you, you know. Aren't you a bit young for snogging in cupboards?" Harry teased, eyes sparkling.

"What? Oh shut up Harry. Anyway..." Hermione raked a hand through her hair charging the curls with static. "I'm a year older than you."

She paused and frowned.

"And this is a classroom."

Harry just grinned unrepentantly and hugged her tightly. Hermione froze for a second before returning the gesture.

"How have you been?" He murmured, resting his head on her shoulder. "We've hardly seen you in the last few months."

"I'm fine Harry, just listen..."

Harry held her at arms length and looked her over, scowling slightly.

"You've become a library hermit. You almost live in there. The twins have been going spare. They can't go in there until Madam Pince releases them from their ban..."

"Harry?"

"And I can just tell they're dying to drag you out of there and force you to go to meals." Harry frowned and glared at her. "You have been eating right."

"Yes. Harry..."

"Not enough by the look of you. If it wasn't for Quidditch I don't think you'd leave the castle."

"Harry!"

"Fred and George have been doing my nut in. You've barely been focusing in classes."

"My grades are still higher than yours. But Harry if you'll just listen to me..."

"And don't get me started on how late you stay up..."

"HARRY!"

A pair of considerably unimpressed emerald eyes stared at her.

"Yes Hermione?"

"Your impossible. If you'll just be quiet for a moment I've got something important to tell you."

"It can't be that important if your wasting this much time in tell me. Come on just spit it out."

"I'm wasting time?" Hermione parroted indignantly. "It's you being this stu..."

Harry covered her mouth with his hand. Her hair began to spark and somehow he got zapped with static electricity. Harry jerked his hand back as Hermione grinned innocently.

"How did you do that?" He asked nursing his fingers.

"No idea."

"But...?"

"Now whose time wasting." Harry stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes. "Anyway as I was trying to ask you. Do you know what day it is on Saturday?"

"Yes." Harry said decisively.

"What?"

"Saturday."

Hermione rubbed her temples.

"Idiots. I am surrounded by idiots."

Harry chuckled and dragged her over to a bench by the wall.

"It's okay Twist. Saturday is the first of April."

Hermione breathed through her nose and seemed to gather her patience.

"Yes. April Fool's day. Otherwise known as..."

"The Weasley Twins Birthday."

Hermione made fireworks shoot from her wand tip.

"Finally he gets it."

"No need to be sarcastic."

"I thoroughly disagree."

"Maybe this is why Snape likes you so much. Your vicious sense of humour."

"Focus Black."

"Sorry. So what's the plan?"

"Lee's throwing a party in the common room. We're helping."

Harry smiled slightly.

"Translation: Hermione's throwing a party and Lee's doing what he's told. Ow!"

Hermione arched an eyebrow at him.

"Okay I'm in."

"Good. So I need you to..."

April Fools day is traditionally a muggle holiday, similar to Valentines day which wizards had also adopted. For many years the first of April was a normal teaching day for the staff at Hogwarts and this remained so until the arrival of the Marauders. After seven years they left and the castle relaxed around the muggle day of pranking. This lasted until the arrival of Fred and George Weasley, who on their 12th birthday managed to steal the hats from all members of staff and somehow fitted them to the top of the chandeliers in the entrance hall. Needless to say that was the tamest of their pranks. When Miss Granger arrived things only got worse.

"You two sure about this one?" Hermione whispered as they crouched behind a tapestry of a centaur next to the entrance to the dungeons. "He'll kill you."
Fred shrugged.

"He's wanted to do that since first year. Don't worry Amazon."

Hermione snorted.

"Don't mistake contempt for your idiocy for actually worry. I'll leave that to Oliver. He'll be heartbroken if he loses you two."

George chuckled quietly.

"You're such a nice person Hermione."

"Red haired buffoon." She shot back.

"Quiet!" Fred hissed. He, Hermione and George peered around the tapestry, watching as Professor Snape advanced down the corridor, black robes billowing behind him.

"On three?" George murmured.

Hermione and Fred nodded quietly. Snape drew level with the tapestry and as one they fired three different hexes. Snape stiffened as the magic hit him, but they didn't wait to see if he turned to investigate. As soon as they were sure the spells had reached their target, they sped off down the secret corridor.

Hermione and the twins made sure they had a good seat for that evenings dinner. Harry, unusually, sat beside Hermione with the twins on either side of them.

"So explain it to me again?"

Hermione sighed and gestured to Fred to take up the explanation.

"Well it's like this. We've been wanting to pull a prank on Snape for years but we lacked the manpower..."

"And intelligence." Hermione muttered. Fred rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"So we figured after what happened with the troll we could probably combine spells and increase the potency of them if we, George, Hermione and myself, cast at the same time. So we practised."

Harry chuckled.

"Which explains why Malfoy was sporting some very interesting boils."

George grinned.

" A perfect cocktail of colouring and swelling charm added to a boiling hex. Thing of beauty."

"Malfoy's face made me want to vomit."

"Yes well, our art isn't to everyone's tastes."

Hermione rolled her eyes and nodded towards the teachers table.

"Timing charms about to wear off." She muttered.

Professor Snape was leaning back in his chair, glaring at his portion of chicken stew as though it had caused him personal offence.

Hermione began to count down, one eye fixed on the nearest watch.

"Five, four..."

"Three.." muttered Fred gleefully.

"Two..." added George.

The last of their countdown was lost in the chaos as Professor Snape was engulfed in pink smoke, emitting a loud squeak of surprise. The Hall burst into laughter as the teachers desperately tried to evade the fumes.

"And that would be the fabric charm." Fred murmured.

The smoke cleared revealing Snape, dressed in sunshine yellow robes, embroidered with flowers. He had a large cone perched on his head, like the sort medieval princesses were supposed to wear. It had streamers coming from the top.

They were pink.

Harry snorted with laughter, as certain members of staff, namely McGonagall, tried to stifle their giggles. The rest of the students had no such problem. Howling laughter burst out from three tables, along with no small amount of applause.

Harry frowned suddenly.

"I only count two spells. Timing and Fabric. What's the third?"

"Wait for it." Hermione muttered.

Snape had given up his attempts to return his robes to their former prince-of-evil glory and instead turned his glare on the Great Hall. Although it's effect was marred slightly by the black eyes being framed by sparkly pink streamers, it still remained terrifying. The hall quietened down pretty quickly.

"When I find out who did this?" He growled threateningly. Or at least that was Harry's assumption because what actually came out was a high pitched voice which really should have belonged on a three year old girl. It certainly shouldn't have been loud enough to reverberate around the whole castle.

This time the laughter couldn't be stifled and even some of the Slytherins joined in, although they did try and hide the faces from their furious head of house.

"WEASLEY!" He screamed.

Fred and George assumed expressions of total innocence as the irate potions master strode over to them.

"Oh honestly Severus." McGonagall chastised. "They were sitting on the other side of the hall. We would have seen them casting those spells. They cannot be responsible and you cannot prove that they were involved. I suggest you get yourself back to your office and change."
Professor Snape seemed about to open his mouth to argue when he remembered the charms, and simply settled for glaring at the offending Gryffindors before he swept out of the hall. The canary yellow robes and streamers billowing behind him.

McGonagall cornered them after dinner as they were heading back to Gryffindor Tower for the party.

"Granger, Weasley, Weasley and Black. A word please." She ushered them into a nearby classroom and glared at them.

"The only reason you are not facing serious losses of house points and detentions is because you were incredibly sneaky about this but..."

"I didn't know you could lose detention?" Fred whispered in an awed tone.

"Wish we'd known that in first year."

McGonagall rolled her eyes.

"Honestly. I'd say not to let it happen again but I am aware who I'm talking to. It's like the Marauders all over again." She added rubbing her forehead. "Just go you lot."

They dutifully trudged over to the door, trying to look remorseful, which was hard because Fred was making funny faces at them.

"I do have one question though?" They paused and waited.

"Why yellow?"

"No self respecting Gryffindor would dare use yellow as a pranking colour. It's a Hufflepuff colour."

"And you don't mess with Hufflepuff."

"Hmmm." McGonagall frowned slightly.

"Besides.." Hermione added. "Yellow goes lovely with the daffodils. Looks so much better than crimson."

McGonagall waited until she was sure they had left before chuckling quietly.

The party was in full swing. Hermione had convinced the house elves to bake a birthday cake, and supply drinks and food. Lee had done the decorations, and the Common Room was festooned with with ribbons and balloons, not to mention the occasional Filibuster Firework. Hermione wasn't sure how Lee had managed to get a hold of muggle helium balloons but the twins were having an excellent time inhaling the stuff.

"Frog Hermione?"

"What?" Hermione looked up to see Neville and adjusted her scowl to a slight smile. "Oh hi Neville."

He held out a boxed chocolate frog to her.

"Want one?"

Hermione shrugged.

"Sure."

After ruthlessly biting the head off her frog, she slipped the card out of the packaging and scowled slightly.

Albus Dumbledore,

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragons blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner,Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten-pin bowling.

Hermione froze and reread it. Then without any warning she barreled off to her dormitory, leaving the party behind her.

"I found it." Hermione grinned over the jug of orange juice.

"Brilliant." George beamed at her. "I have no idea what your talking about."

"Nicholas Flamel."

"Oh."

"Well technically you found him." Fred spooned some porridge into his mouth. "But lets not quibble over technicalities, little firstie."

Fred's porridge exploded, splattering his face and robes, with creamy oats.

"How do you keep doing that?" George demanded as Fred wiped his face on the table cloth.

"Doing what?"

"Accidental magic."

Hermione shrugged.

"Happens when I get annoyed."

"Yeah but it shouldn't." Harry frowned. "You've got a wand. That usually stops it."

"Does it really matter?"

"Does if I'm going to have to keep picking breakfast out of my hair." Fred mumbled.

"Then don't annoy me. Anyway..." Hermione rummaged in her bag, before tugging out a large leather bound book. She opened it and propped it against a juice jug.

"Listen to this. Nicholas Flamel is the only known creator of the Philosophers Stone." Then it goes on about his wife and him. The stone grants immortality. Flamel uses the stone to create an Elixir which has extended his life by several centuries. A normal wizard only usually lives to a hundred and fifty."

"Okay. But why has Dumbledore hidden it at Hogwarts? Wouldn't Gringotts be a better choice?"

"Well I thought about that and it's logic really. Obviously to stone is being hidden from something which isn't worried by the security arrangements at Gringotts, but who is significantly worried by the presence of Albus Dumbledore."

George chewed thoughtfully.

"Well that narrows it down to only a few people."

"Actually it narrows it down to one." Harry sighed.

"You-know-who."

Fred nodded.

"Anyone care to explain?" Hermione snapped, hating being left out of the loop.

"Well it's a well known fact. The only person Voldemort was ever scared of was Dumbledore. It's the reason Hogwarts was considered so safe."

Hermione snorted.

"That's an excellent theory but isn't Voldemort dead?" George interjected.

"Yeah." Harry added, rubbing his forehead under his fringe. "Didn't that Harry Potter bloke defeat him or something?"

"Something like that." Fred grinned.

"Why is that all people ever say?" George asked. He rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward.

"What?"

"It's always Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord failed in his attempt... yada yada. But it never says he's dead. Defeated and dead are two different things."

"I think it's just assumed Georgie."

"No. Because Dumbledore defeated Grindlewald and all that means is that he's locked up in some prison. Where he has been for the last fifty years or so. That's what defeated means."

"So your saying that Voldemort is alive somewhere?" Harry hissed, suddenly very pale.

"I'm saying it's possible."

Hermione moved suddenly and wrapped her arms around George, in a bone crushing hug.

"You bloody genius." She blushed slightly and released him,but continued to beam at them. "We can't talk here. C'mon lets go upstairs."

It wasn't until they were safely ensconced in the twins dormitory that Hermione spoke again.

"Well it makes sense now doesn't it?"

"What does?"

"The troll."

"What troll? As in our troll?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yes Fred, our troll. What causes a better distraction that a twelve foot mountain troll? Someone got it into the castle for a reason. What if it was to get everyone away from the third floor corridor and Fluffy?"

"So your saying it was one of the staff?"

Harry groaned.

"I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. I swear she's been rubbing off on you two."

Fred cast Harry an amused glance and explained.

"There is only one way to get that troll into the castle and that, my darling Harry, is through the wards." He winked at Hermione. "I'm not just a pretty face you know. Furthermore no student could open the wards. In fact no ordinary wizard could. They are coded to only accept manipulation by a member of staff. So that narrows down our list of suspects."

"I think we can safely rule out a few though. McGonagall and Flitwick. Definitely Professor Sprout. Woman wouldn't hurt a Vampire Mosp." George sighed at Hermione's confusion. "Wizarding term. Sorry."

"I can't really picture any of the staff members attempting to aid the return of Voldemort." Hermione tugged on her plait, causing several curls to spring free. "But then people do the strangest things."

Harry grunted.

"Well actually that's not true." They turned to look at him in surprise. "Sirius told me before I left for Hogwarts to watch out for Professor Snape. Not only was Sirius mean to him at school but apparently he was one of Voldemorts followers. He switched sides before he was defeated though. Became Dumbledore's right hand man."

There was a pause while they digested that.

"Yeah." Fred nodded slowly. "I can see that. The whole evil aura thing."

"But Dumbledore trusts him," George pointed out.

"Dumbledore trusts a lot of people." Hermione sighed slightly. "In fact he trust every member of staff. If he didn't he wouldn't employ them. But obviously he's wrong about somebody."

"Still the stone is safe right?" Hermione cocked her head to the side and watched Harry. "As long as the Headmaster is in Hogwarts, whoever it is won't make an attempt to get the stone."

Hermione nodded.

"So we wait until he's left the castle."

"Wait for what?"

"Well if Snape or whoever it is decides to go after the stone, someone will need to stop them."

"Someone being the key word in that sentence. It doesn't need to be us. Perhaps," and here George drew in a shuddering breath as though the very idea was horrifying to him, "we should tell a member of staff about this. What could we really do to stop him anyway?"

"Anything is possible, so long as you've got enough nerve." Fred whispered, earning him a glare from his brother.

"Who would believe us?" Harry pointed out. "For one thing having you two on our side is hardly going to help. No one believe you two. And Hermione and I are just first years. No one would touch our story with a Merlin's staff."

"How about this?" Hermione offered. "We wait and see. Dumbledore may stay here until the end of term and then it won't be our problem. So we wait and if, and only if, he leaves the castle, we go to the teachers."

"And if they don't believe us?"

"Well I always thought that writing certain death on something was just asking for them to break in. Don't you?"

Apparently the following months were filled with tension for our group of friends. Under Hermione's insistence (and several strongly worded letters from Molly Weasley), they threw themselves into their end of term exams. It was with some relief that Professor Dumbledore didn't leave the castle, until June was upon them and their exams were the only thing on their minds.

Hermione cracked her neck to work out the kinks she'd acquired in her transfiguration exam. Before long Fred and George appeared at her elbows, both grinning with relief.

"I'm glad that's over." Fred grinned. "How'd you do little know-it-all?"

"Doesn't really matter." Hermione led them into lunch and nabbed a copy of the Daily Prophet which had been lying on the table.

"Doesn't it?"

"Good grades don't stop you from being a freak." She muttered.

"Hmmm. Wait. What?"

"Nothing. Here look at this." Hermione spread the paper out in front of them and scowled.

The section in question was in the middle of the paper, under the heading of Ministry Affairs.

Wizengamot Meeting Tonight!

The Wizengamot of Great Britain will be in session today from 4pm until late. It should be noted that all members must attend and failure to do so will in a fine.

The agenda for this evening includes;

-The placement for the Quidditch World Cup Stadium

-Goblin Restriction Laws

-Minuets of the last meeting

As one they turned and looked at the teachers table. The large carved throne-like chair was empty, it's usual occupant obviously missing.

A/N

I'm a sorry about this. I have been writing this story. Just not necessarily in the right order. Hate filler chapters.

Please review. I love hearing from you.

And thank you to Danny-Shells, for jumping on my flamer. I'll admit it put me off a bit but then I realised all their problems were because they hadn't read the story properly.

I'll have the next one up soon.

Probably :)

Hood Out.