Chapter 12 might take a while to post...my classes are starting tomorrow! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

- Chapter 11 -

Goblin Mischief Managed

Severus Snape woke up to find large eyes staring back at him. "Smithers…get off of me before I hex you." Severus muttered gruffly. The little goblin obliged while mumbling something about grumpy wizards in the morning. The little creature jumped off the bed and landed on the floor of the Potions Master's quarters. Soon Severus was up and off the bed as well and preparing for the day.

As much as he was looking forward to it…with no Death Easter meetings…no classes full of dunderheads because it was summer…the Order had their instructions already… Severus Snape just wasn't a morning person.

He muttered this sentiment to the goblin who was trailing after him like a puppy.

"You don't seem like a night person either." Smithers responded to it.

The little goblin sat on top of the bathroom counter as Severus brushed his teeth.

"You don't seem like a pet person…"

The little imp was jumping on his bed as Severus left the bathroom dressed in his black robes.

"You don't seem like a sweets person…"

Smithers was lifting the lids of cauldrons as Severus checked up on certain potions in his lab.

"You don't seem like a—" CRASH.

Severus only felt a little guilty at kicking the little goblin but that feeling soon went away when the little thing stood back up and completely ignored it. He guessed that the Goblin King did that sort of thing to them often in his castle.

Next, the man stepped through his fireplace and flooed to Grimmauld Place to help Smithers fulfill his 'task'. The litte goblin was already there when he stepped through, eyeing Molly Weasley who was dusting a shelf.

'Doesn't the woman have other means of relieving stress?'

Severus shook his head so the goblin knew not to mess with the Weasley mother. He was pretty sure that she would not appreciate being the victim to goblin trickery at the moment. Or ever.

The youngest Weasley boy walked into the room and was first greeted by Severus's scowl before safely retreating to his mother's side. "Mum, it's getting pretty stuffy in here. Can we open the windows? Or at least let the fan go on?" asked Ron.

"Ronald, I'm dusting first, the fan will have all these allergens flying through the air! Let me tell you now, I do not want Nymphadora sneezing her hair to different shades!"

"How about after you're finished dusting?"

Molly Weasley swept the feather duster over another shelf and all the dust disappeared. Sighing she agreed and the boy scampered off saying he'd return with Hermione and Ginny to do their homework with him.

Already Smithers was jumping up and down invisibly even though Severus could see the joyful creature.

Soon, Moody stormed into the same room grumbling to himself. "Where's yer husband? I want 'im to confirm some news from my Ministry spy."

"He's in the kitchen, Alastor." said Molly. She didn't even bother to look up or stop her feather duster waving.

Severus pretended to read in the corner as Ron, Hermione and Ginny entered the room with armfuls of textbooks and parchment. Soon Arthur came into the room talking calmly with a fuming Mad-eye Moody behind him.

Severus watched as Smithers was scampering about the room trying shoelaces together and floating to the ceiling fan with the canister of a special formula Severus had given him. The mischievous creature generously slathered the stuff onto the fan panels as Molly put down her feather duster with a satisfied look.

"Alright already, Mum, it's clean! Ginny, flip the fan switch, wouldya?" said Ron irritably.

'Okay, so maybe, Molly wouldn't be spared from the goblin's prank.' thought Severus as he discreetly made his way into the hallway through a door. He was would be happy to watch from the doorway.

"Say please, Ron!" Ginny said as she got to the switch.

"Ugh…" Ron groaned as he slapped his forehead. "Fine. Please. Happy?"

Severus watched with satisfaction as the youngest Weasley sibling flipped the switch as she rolled her eyes. The gel that had been resting on the fan panels flew outwards from the centripetal force. The goo soared through the air, evenly distributing itself over the room. Molly, Hermione and Ginny all cried out as splotches made contact on them while Ron stood as he noticed the liquid assault. This position allowed more of his body to be covered as he was standing at a perfect angle to the fan blades.

Arthur and Moody were caught off guard, Moody whipping out his wand and Arthur ran to his frantic wife.

"FRED! GEORGE!" Molly bellowed almost by instinct. She blinked twice in confusion.

The Weasley twins were in Diagon Alley that day.

"ACHOO!" the two twins sneezed in unison.

"That was..."

"...strange."

"I believe, dear brother--"

"--a prank is at work!"

"How wonderful!"

Ginny ran back to the fan switch and turned it off. She touched her hand to the goop in her hair and noticed Hermione staring at her with her eyes wide. "What?"

"…blue."

Ginny ran past Severus who was watching by the door and he heard a shriek from the first floor bathroom. He noticed that the gel had turned the Weasley members' hair electric blue while the Granger girl's was pink and Moody's was neon yellow. A bit of the solution was dribbling off his spinning fake eye.

"Alastor, you best wash out your eye." Arthur suggested. He made no move to help the man as he was now rubbing his wife's arms soothingly as her shoulders were tensed high.

Severus could feel Smithers climbing up his robes and he smiled at the squeaking whispers in his ear. Tthe goblin had come up with another plan. Severus made a slight nod and retreated to the kitchen…

There was an excited gasp from one of the doors.

Tonks froze at the sight of the room. Completely ignoring the state of the uncleanliness, she strode in beaming at Ron's electric blue follicles. Soon hers was the same shade. "That's wicked!" she cried. "We must have a picture of this!"

Molly, Ginny and Ron looked ghastly.

"BLAST!" roared Moody from the hallway.

The room turned in the direction of the hallway and Moody stormed in to find the room laughing hysterically at him as soon as he stepped through the threshold, even the furious Molly Weasley. Severus smirked from his doorway as he returned to the funky-haired group, Smithers bouncing invisibly by his leg.

In his eye socket was a plump green olive, the dark pit of it acting as a pupil and turning towards each occupant of the room. Ron was on the floor holding his side and yelling "It hurts! It hurts!" in between his laughing.

Hermione frowned at him as Arthur waved his wand so their school books became clean again. Molly was holding a lock of her electric blue hair and studying it.

Smithers smiled gleefully as he suppressed his giggles.

'At least they have their minds off Potter,' mused Severus.

Arthur had left the room and returned with the fake magical eye which was swiveling in between the Weasley father's thumb and forefinger.

The pupil landed on Smithers.

"BLOODY HELL! What's THAT?" Moody yelled suddenly as he turned to face in Severus's direction.

"Uh-oh!" Smithers squeaked. In a blink he was gone from Severus's side.

"What are you blabbing on about, Moody?" Severus sneered.

"I saw something THERE!" he roared at the Potions Master.

"You're getting too old, Mad-Eye." was his cool reply.

Moody growled threateningly at Severus as he popped his fake eye into its socket with the olive grasped in the other.

"How pleasant!"

Everyone turned to see Albus Dumbledore beaming at them as he stepped to Severus's side.

"Severus, I'd like to thank you for your last report. Well done!" Albus continued with his smile, eyes flashing with a knowing look at the dark haired man.

"Just doing my job, Headmaster," Severus replied before he swept away. Smithers popped back to his side and trailed after him once they were alone in the hallway. "Go back to your King, Smithers. Tell him: Mission accomplished."

"Yes, Sire!" Another second and the little goblin was gone.

Professor Dumbledore chuckled fondly as he looked at the Weasley family, Hermione, Tonks and Moody.

"Alastor?"

"Yeah?" grumbled Moody as he turned to the Headmaster.

"Pop that olive back in. I want a picture."

A/N: Reviews are like candy! And I love candy!