Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

The Prank

Vernon Dursley had never been more glad than he was right now after that horrid giant man left his family.

Throughout their entire walk, that man had glared at them - As if they were the ones who were different and freakish! - and flexed his muscles intimidatingly. Vernon could swear that he heard the giant grumbling darkly about feeding his perfect normal family to some animals-with-strange-names. However, he was completely certain that those animals were poisonous and very dangerous beasts.

Finally, the man left, leaving them in peace. His dear wife regained her composure, and sniffed disdainfully at their room that they were going to have to sleep in. It was quite large, bigger than their room and Dudley's combined. There were three beds, one bathroom, tables and chairs. Few pictures - Thankfully unmoving. These people and their crazy imaginations were absolutely ridiculous. Moving portraits! - were there, too, but other than that, it was rather plain.

"Wizards." Petunia sneered. "They could have at least tried to give us a clean and decent room."

"I know, Pet. That boy had ruined our life again. But don't worry, dear, I won't let them do anything to us."

Vernon declared with utter confidence, and Petunia smiled sweetly at her husband. Dudley shuffled towards one of the beds, trying to decide which one was the most comfortable one. The right one, he decided, and moved towards it, only to let out a loud scream when a living brown frog leaped up from the bed.

"What in the world-?"

Vernon spluttered in confusion when four more frogs hopped into the room, announcing their existence. Petunia shrieked in horror when dozens of more frogs appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and clinged tightly on to her husband and son.

"Get it off! Get it off!"

Dudley wailed, running back and forth, flinging his arms wildly. Seven frogs had reached his pants and three very skilled frogs at jumping manged to land on his head. One of them was croaking triumphantly on his nose. Petunia screeched hysterically as frogs crawled up her clothes, paralyzed with fear as she stood, rooted to the ground.

"Petunia! Dudders!"

Vernon tried to avoid the sea of brown disgusting slimy amphibians while trying to go near his wife and son, but his reward was getting showered with frogs. Roaring in anger, he started stomping forward, no longer caring if he stepped on them or not. He was surprised to discover that they seemed to crack, and blood was nowhere to be seem.

"Is that...chocolate?"

Petunia asked weakly, pausing briefly from trying to shake off the frogs. Dudley regarded the one sitting one his nose carefully and grabbed it before it had a chance to escape. After a moment of hesitation, he threw it into his mouth and started munching.

"It is chocolate. I think it's one of those Chocolate Frogs that was mentioned in the book." Dudley answered his mother while stuffing as many frogs as he could into his mouth. "And there's even some kind of candies inside it."

"Don't eat these kind of stuff, Dudley." Vernon said gruffly, scowling down at his chocolate-stained clothes."You never know what they'll do to you."

"But they are tasty, though." Dudley argued, still picking up the chocolates which were frantically trying to get away from him. "Besides, Potter and his friends ate it in the book, didn't they? And the book never mentioned anything happening to them."

"Oh my gods! Dudley!" Petunia shrieked, terrified at the sight before her. In front of her very eyes, his precious son was morphing into...something. "What, what's happening?"

Indeed, Dudley was quickly transforming into something that they had yet to know. His head became rounder and more pink and his nose became larger and more flat. His arms grew longer and hairier, while feathers appeared all over his body. His feet was green and webbed, and it ripped the shoes Dudley was wearing as it grew bigger. He also had a long pink tail. He looked like a mixture of pig, monkey, bird, frog and rat.

"Dudley!" Vernon roared in rage, but his shout changed into scream of horror. With a loud bang, smoke enveloped Vernon, and when the smoke disappeared, he was left wearing a very poofy dress. It was white and rather long, reaching the ground. It was fairly beautiful, but Vernon somehow managed to make it look horrible. It was a miracle that it didn't get ripped because of his size.

"Oh, no, Vernon!" Petunia shrieked again, terrified at the sight before her. Dudley gave a high pitched squeal that sounded like mixture of pig's squeak and frog's croak. Finally getting out of her shock, Petunia searched for some clothes for her husband to wear other than that horrendous dress, but with no such luck. She whimpered pitifully, having no idea what to do. Suddenly, a pie appeared on the table, and the Dursley family eyed it distrustfully. After what happened to them just now, they could no longer trust anything.

"S,stay back!" Petunia demanded, her voice quivering slightly from fear. Other than her, no one else were in condition to say anything as they were unable to make a proper communication (Dudley) and was literally dying from embarrassment and anger (Vernon). The pie inched forward. "I said, stay back!"

It didn't even occur to Petunia that talking to an object that clearly wasn't alive was very abnormal and the fact that she detested anything that was not normal. But at the moment, she couldn't care less as she was going crazy with fear at the possibility of something happening to her like it did with the rest of her family. Unfortunately for her, the pie didn't disappoint her worries.

"ARGHHHH!"

She screamed as the pie lurched itself forward at her, landing squarely on her face. More pies appeared and started propelling themselves at the Dursleys, who were busy trying to avoid as much pies as possible. Somehow, majority of the pies managed to hit their faces or any parts of their bodies.

"Let's get out of here!"

Vernon screamed, at last finding his voice back. They headed for the door, but it was locked. They pounded at the door, yelling and screaming, even begging to be let out until Vernon decided to break the door. He stumbled backwards - not even tripping once which was amazing seeing how he was still wearing a dress with pies flying everywhere - and ran towards the door, aiming his shoulder to crash into the door...

...and just then, the door opened.

"Gah!"

Vernon, not being able to stop himself, crashed head-first into the wall. Abruptly, flapping of wings and hoots of owls could be heard. Hundreds of owls, their eyes locked only on the Dursleys, emerged from the end of the corridor. A beautiful white owl, who was the fastest and was leading the army of owls, reached them first and she flung something that she was carrying with her beak towards Vernon.

"What the-?"

It turns out that 'something' was a firecracker, and it exploded in front of Vernon's face. Giant dragon-shaped fire erupted out of it, and roared, fire coming out of its mouth. The spark from it caught on his beard, and a second later, fire burned merrily on Vernon's face.

"ARGHHHHHH!"

Vernon, his entire face covered in soot, was instantly on his feet, running for his dear life with rest of his family right behind him. The owls followed, scratching and pecking them that they were bleeding. Had they turned back and saw carefully through the sea of wings, they would have saw group of teenagers laughing so hard that they were nearly crying.

"That. Was. Totally. Awesome!" Ginny gasped out through her laughter, clutching her side that was hurting because of laughing for full five minutes non-stop.

"I know!" George and Fred exclaimed at the same time, their faces red. "Did you see their faces? It was hillarious!"

"It was a pity I had to give up that pretty dress, but oh well. It was so worth it."

Hermione tried to control her hysterical giggling, but with no success. "How did you guys do that? I mean, I know how the pie thing worked. I was the one to charm it, after all. But what did you do to Dudley? He looked like he had a terrible transfiguration accident or something."

"Oh, that? It's an Transformation Toffee. We invented it." The twins puffed up their chests, obviously feeling proud for themselves. "It transforms you into a particular animal for one toffee. We put some inside the Chocolate Frogs and since the pig ate way too much, he became the combination of the animals. It will wear off in couple of hours but considering the amount that he ate, we are pretty sure it would last through tomorrow. Anyways, we are glad it worked. We couldn't test it properly because we might get caught by mom."

"That was bloody brilliant. Do you think we can sneak some in his food again?" Ron asked eagerly, happily dreaming about their next prank. Neville rolled his eyes at his friend's childishness, but faint smile was tugging on his lips.

"Hey, Colin. Did you get some nice pictures?"

"Yes! They are all perfect. All we need to do now is put it in some potion and it will move!" Colin chattered on excitedly, waving his camera wildly. The group chuckled at the pictures as they headed towards Gryffindor Tower, itching to deliver the news to the rest of the people. Not all people could come to witness the prank since that would make them more likely to be discovered, so they agreed for hearing their tale and examining the pictures that Colin would take at tomorrow morning.

"Mr. Creevey? Ms. Granger, Ms. Weasley and Messrs. Weasley? What is the meaning of this?"

Professor McGonagall demanded, who was heading towards the noise to find out the cause of the noise. The Gryffindors paled and stiffened as they faced their strict Head of the House. In their excitement, they forgot how much noise they would be causing and didn't put up a silencing charm. Now they had no idea how they would explain it to her.

"Mr. Creevey, what is that camera for?"

Professor McGonagall shot another question as it was clear that they weren't going to answer her. Surprised and scared, Colin fumbled with his camera which was snatched away by the Transfiguration Professor. Her lips got thinner and thinner as she observed the pictures, but it wasn't from the anger. It was from amusement.

"Well, I assume that you had a very...entertaining evening. Yes?"

The students nodded silently, not knowing how they were going to get out of this mess. Probably they'll be docked off chunks of points and get tons detentions.

"In that case, I...cannot punish you for, ah, having fun, now, can I?"

Their mouths dropped. Whatever they were expecting, it certainly wasn't this. Professor seemed to read their minds, and her eyes twinkled bemusedly, very similar to the Headmaster's eyes.

"But I must request that if after you finish with the pictures, to give me the copy of it. After all, I would love to have some...pictures of Mr. Potter's relatives. What kind of teacher doesn't know the guardians of her student?"

Professor McGonagall said with fake innocence and the Gryffindors' faces split into devilish grins.

"Of course, professor. We will make sure you get one of the copies. We were planning to distribute them anyways." Ginny spoke up.

"Good. Now off you go and five points from each of you for staying past the curfew. You should know better than that Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley as you are prefects." She shooed them away, but they all could swear that they heard her muttering, "And ten points for each of you for doing justice."

The Gryffindors entered their dormitory, satisfied with their success.

Minerva McGonagall was usually very controlled person. She rarely showed any emotions and she was proud to say that she judged her students fairly and showed no obvious favoritism. Normally, faint smile playing around her lips was the biggest amount of emotion she showed, which was why her colleagues were very shocked to find her entering the Headmaster's office laughing hysterically.

"Oh, sorry. Did, did I miss anything?" She managed to control her laughter, but every now and then, a burst of giggles escaped her lips.

"No. But it seems that we are missing something important." The Potions Master drawled. "What is it that made you lose control of yourself so much?" Every pair of eyes trained on the Transfiguration Professor as she let out another stream of giggling.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe what my lions did!" She exclaimed. "They pranked the Dursleys, and I'm sure they clearly got the message not to mess with Harry anymore. I'll be surprised if they don't run away screaming from Harry and his friends and don't treat him with more care than before."

"Which brings us to the reason why we are here." Madam Pomfrey said, brandishing the parchments containing Harry's injuries. "Mr. Potter will not be sent to those horrid people ever again."

"But the blood wards-" Dumbledore tried to explain, but was cut off by furious dog animagi.

"Blood wards my arse, Dumbledore." Sirius growled, his eyes flashing dangerously that made people around him doubt he didn't lose his sanity during his stay in Azkaban. "Harry will not go there and that's final. I don't care if we have to set up every single protection for him to replace the blood wards. I. Don't. Care. He will not go there and I'm sure majority of people in here agree with me."

"Albus, just look at this. Some of his bones got broken. Broken! He once had numerous bruises all over his body and his growth was seriously affected. I don't even want to know the details of his childhood as I'm sure those people made sure he had a miserable life. Even if Harry staying with them will defeat You-Know-Who, I still won't send him. You hear me?" Madam Pomfrey waved the parchments in front of the Headmaster's face.

"Broken bones?" Sirius exploded. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Well, I knew you would react very strongly to that news and I couldn't have my Hospital Wing destroyed. There are numerous injured students that I need to cure everyday. Besides, it's better explaining it only once than saying it over and over." The medi-witch grimaced. "Believe me, I hate it as well. I can't believe I didn't find it out before. That boy got carried to my Hospital Wing more than I can count and it still slipped away from my notice."

"You needed four parchments? That's much longer than his parents' injuries combined!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed, completely shocked. Others were also gaping at the parchment as if it was the biggest wonder in the world.

"I don't want to explain every single injuries he got as it would take ages. But he needs to drink all three nutrition potions after every meal, get checked by me regularly so I can see whether his health is improving or not, and I will see if I can find a healer for his eyesight." Madam Pomfrey shot all people in the room a stern glare. "I expect from every one of you to watch him carefully and give him help if he needs it. Yes, and that includes you, Severus. I don't care if you think he's an arrogant and spoiled boy - which, by the way, is not true as you should know by now."

The Head of the Syltherin scowled and looked way from her. Others nodded earnestly, ready to help the Harry Potter.

Flash of green light, and Cedric was falling, his eyes frozen with shock and disbelief that will be there forever. His body fell to the ground with soft thud, never to rise again. Harry screamed, trying to reach for him, only to be bounded and gagged. Wormtail, the traitor, used the bone of Voldemort's father, cut his own arm and Harry's. A cruel laughter filled the air and all he felt was pain...

The dream changed.

He was running through the corridors. There, at last, he could see the door. An insane urge to open the door and find out what was in it overwhelmed him, and he reached for it. Few more seconds, and he would reach it... His pale fingers nearly brushed against the handle...

Harry bolted awake, his mouth open in silent scream. His scar hurt, and it was swollen and was bleeding. Again. Harry grimaced as he gingerly touched the tender area. Oh well. Good thing he thought about casting the silencing charm. Otherwise, he would have woke at least half of the castle screaming bloody murder.

After quickly tending his scar, Harry quietly sneaked into the common room. He sat on his usual spot, staring at the fire. Whenever he woke up from his not-so-peaceful-sleep, he learned that watching the fire helped him relax and sometimes he even managed some hours of sleep. None of his friends knew it, of course, as they would always worry and lecture him about having a healthy amount of sleep.

"Harry?"

The raven-haired teen jumped, his hand halfway from reaching his wand, when he realized it was Sirius.

"Sirius? What are you doing here? What if someone sees you? You'll be scentenced to a Dementor's Kiss!"

"Whoa, slow down, pup, will you? As for you're questions, I'm here to see my godson and I have Notice-Me-Not charm and many others to ensure that no one can see me except for you and few selected others. So unless I don't do anything idiotic like running in the hallways with my hair dyed neon pink and screaming 'Slytherins are awsome!', no one will notice me." Sirius made a face at the thought. "Anyways, aren't you glad to see me? How about some hug?"

Finally Harry relaxed and embraced the older man who was his father figure. He was really glad to see him. It felt so good, knowing there was someone out there who cared for him. Of course, there were his friends, too, but they didn't really understand. How it felt when your own family hated you and how it felt when people accused you of something you weren't.

"So, pup, as much as I'd love to chat all day long with you, I must ask. Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Couldn't sleep." Harry told him half-truth. "What about you? Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Well, we had this Order meeting that was really boring. Oh, and by the way, Pomfrey says when she's going to contact a healer for your eyes. I begged, pleaded, yelled, and did all sort of things until I got the permission to meet you. Moony helped. But I still have to stay as a dog when we go outside the Gryffindor Tower and when we are in presence of another people. As if I don't know that." Sirius muttered the last part to himself, but Harry heard him anyways. "So, you wanna go out? It's early, but it's better than sitting here doing nothing."

"Wait, what time is it?"

"Four in the morning."

"Oh, I stayed up that long?" Harry blushed. "Oops."

"It's okay, kiddo. Come on, I'm itching to enjoy this freedom." Sirius grinned, and turned into a grim. Harry flashed a grin of his own and opened the door to go out to the ground. The black dog barked happily, chasing butterflies and running all around. Harry leaned against the tree, watching Sirius. Right now, he could almost believe that he was just a normal teenager with slightly immature godfather and forgot all about his guilt, crazy killing-obessed Dark Lord and his life being read to the entire Wizarding World.