Thanks for the reviews and praise! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying reading this fanfic, and in turn I enjoy writing it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This is just for fun.
Rain pounded hard on the windows while an eerie wind whistled, signaling the coming of a storm. The weather forecasts were pretty grim. The dying summer was conjuring up one last storm before it faded into fall. Harry sat on his bed, resting his chin on his knees. The stormy weather soothed him. The wet, moist weather made him want to crawl back into bed and sleep all day. Well, he would have slept more if it wasn't for Ron's incessant snoring.
A nervous pain shot through his stomach. The events of last night seemed unreal, and he truly wished they were only a dream. He never expected Snape to stoop that low. And that was really saying something. He couldn't understand why he would pull something so bold like that. If he was going to get even Harry expected him to do something discreet and sneaky like the true slytherin he was. And to pull something like that in front of the entire Order? No doubt he aimed at humiliating Sirius, but now the Order trusted him even less. Lupin, Arthur, and Moody taste tested all the food in the house to make sure nothing else was tainted.
Poor Sirius, Harry thought. He heard him blubbering in pain all night long. His face was so swollen and all they could do was ice it. The only person with the proper potion supplies for treating him was Snape, and giving anything to Sirius made by Snape would be a disaster. And since he was in hiding, there was no way he could get medical treatment. Harry was so angry. This threw any plans of getting them to respect each other out the window. Obviously, Snape refused to grow up and turn the other cheek. Harry couldn't wait for Dumbledore to return. As soon as he did, Harry would let him know of Snape's treachery and that awful git would be good as gone.
Ron started to stir in his bed. He sat up and pushed his ginger hair out of his face.
"Mornin' Harry." He said groggily. Harry nodded. "Good Morning." He replied sleepily.
Ron stretched. "You know, I had a nightmare last night. I was back at home in my bathtub and this little spider floated up to the surface. I tried to kill it, but it grew bigger and bigger and then it accused me of killing its brother.."
"Ron, as interesting as that sounds, I'm really not in the mood." Harry said.
"Well, sorry mate. But it was down right creepy."
Harry and Ron dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. They had slept in pretty late and it was almost eleven o'clock. The Order members were lounging around as usual. They greeted everyone good morning. Well, everyone except Fred and George. Where were they? They didn't show up for dinner last night and no one had seen them since. The chaos last night distracted everyone from their absence.
"Ron, where are Fred and George?" Harry asked.
Ron shrugged. "Probably plotting something somewhere. Although it is unlike them to disappear for so long."
The kitchen door swung open and out walked Sirius, followed closely by Lupin.
"Sirius, the moon's coming. I can feel it. Soon it'll be that time of the month and I'll need a potion. If he messes with it or refuses to make it, someone could get hurt." Remus whispered.
"He'll make it Remus. If he messes with it we'll just have to have a repeat of sixth year, only the mad dog attacking him won't be a wolf." Sirius replied.
Sirius and Remus saw Harry and Ron staring at them.
"Thank you for your reassurance Sirus. It's always good to talk to you." Lupin said.
"No problem. That's what friends are for right? Now go into the study we can talk there in privacy." Sirius said. Remus walked away down the hall.
Sirius turned his attention to Harry. It was then that Harry got a full view of Sirius's face. The swelling had gone down for the most part, but his ears were distorted and pointed. His face resembled a bright red cherry.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked.
"I'm doing better than I was last night."
Harry paused. "Is Lupin going to be okay?"
Sirius sighed. "I believe so. You see, the full moon's coming and he's all out of potion. Usually, he would go to that greasy lunatic for some. But after last night, we all know he cannot be trusted." Sirius said in a low voice, glancing around to see if anyone was around.
"Frankly, Lupin doesn't know what to do. Without that potion he'll turn into a man-eating monster. If that happens we can't keep him here, and we most definitely cannot allow him outside. He could hurt someone, and this storm is going to be pretty bad. He's just desperate, that's all. But don't you worry. Everything will be alright." Sirius winked.
Something about Sirius's winks always comforted Harry. Harry winked back. It was their way of saying okay. Sirius patted Harry on the shoulder and walked into the study, closing the door tightly behind him.
"Bloody Hell." Ron said. "To think, any time now we might have a raving beast tearing us apart in here."
"Sirius will work something out. And if he can't we have everyone else to help. Surely one of them can brew the potion." Harry answered. "I'm really not that hungry Ron. Can we go find Hermione?"
Ron nodded.
As Harry and Ron walked down the hall, Harry caught sight of Snape passing by. In a moment of anger and bravery, Harry grabbed onto Snapes arm hard. Snape turned around and eyed him, surprised that anyone had the nerve to get that close to him.
"Potter, what is the meaning of…"
Harry turned and looked Snape in the eye. Harry gave him the most deathly glance he could muster, which Snape matched with one of deep hatred.
"How dare you do that to Sirius. We all trusted you. I can't wait for Dumbledore to return, because when he does I'm going to tell him everything. I'm going to tell him what you really are." The tone in which Harry said this was completely out of character.
Ron stared at him gaping, wondering what had gotten into his best friend. Snape was not amused.
"As much as I would like to take credit for Black's little mishap, I did not make that cake. You can tell Dumbledore all the lies you can think of you nasty little boy. As if he would believe you." Snape leaned in and lowered his voice. "If you ever, ever put your hands on me again I'll show you indeed how nasty I can be."
Snape shook Harry off and disappeared into the gloomy hallway. Harry stared after him, his face twisted in disgust.
"Are you barking mad Harry?" Ron asked.
"Shut up Ron." Harry snapped, his temper flaring up.
Harry walked off to cool down, leaving Ron alone in the hallway.
"Merlin's beard, being cooped up in here has turned him into a madman." Ron pulled out a bag of every flavor bean and groped around for a good flavor. He pulled out a bright green bean. "Yum, sour apple." He popped it into his mouth to discover it was a very different flavor. His eyes started to water from the awful flavor and he eagerly spit out the bean.
"Uggg, goblin piss." He cried.
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Hermione had ate her breakfast while reading a fascinating account of the hidden lives of giants. She was headed downstairs to put away her plate when she passed by a broom closet and heard a weak little voice.
"Negative 120 bottles of butterbeer on the wall, negative 120 bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, negative 121 bottles of butterbeer on the wall…"
'That's odd.' She thought. No one else was up here, or so she thought.
"Hello, is anyone there?"
She heard scuffling from behind the closet door.
"Fred! Fred! Someone's out there!" There was a clamor of falling buckets and then another voice called out.
"Help! Get us out of here! We're in the broom closet!"
Hermione recognized the voices. Why were Fred and George locked in a broom closet? She opened the door and saw a dust covered pair of twins, blinking in the light.
"Umm, are you two…okay?"
Fred and George jumped out. "Ah, your our savior Hermione!" Fred cried.
"Thanks! But the cake Fred the cake! Hurry before someone eats it!" George yelped as he headed for the stairs.
A light bulb went off in Hermione's head. The cake was Fred and George's doing!
"Wait! You two made that awful cake?"
The twins stopped in their tracks. Their faces turned white.
"How do you know about the cake!" They said simultaneously.
"Snape found it in the study and brought it into the kitchen. Everyone thought that he made it. Sirius teased him about it and then he slapped the cake in his face. Sirius turned bright red and then… fireworks."
Fred and George gaped and looked at each other.
"We're in deep brother." Fred said.
"Why did you two make the cake?"
"We were trying to make up for the dragon fart prank by well, pranking ourselves. We were supposed to eat the cake. We wanted to make everyone else laugh, not harm anyone." George explained.
"It's true Hermione. We were going to prank ourselves and then we got locked in the closet and I guess things got out of hand." Fred added.
"You two have to come clean! Everyone blamed Snape for it!" Hermione said.
"It's causing tension in the Order, you have to do something!"
"Ummm… I'd rather not take a scolding from mum. We'll help out in another way." George said.
"Yeah, lets go figure something out. We really feel terrible Hermione but… leave it up to us!" Fred said as he and George raced off.
"No, listen you two.." Hermione called after them as they ran off, obviously plotting another disaster.
Hermione sighed. She went off to find Harry and Ron. They weren't going to believe their ears. Not to mention that now she felt responsible for clearing things up now that she knew the truth. Plan A didn't work. Plan B had to be better.
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Fred and George returned to their room. Maybe the cake wasn't such a good idea after all. After much brainstorming, they came up with the most outrageous, risky, and childish solution. And that's why it was so perfect.
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A little later on, Hermione was sitting next to Ron and Harry. She had found Ron earlier, wandering around aimlessly. We went on about Harry threatening Snape and then walking off in a rage. The two had found Harry sitting alone in his room. He had blown off his steam and was himself again.
Hermione explained what had happened to Fred and George, about the cake, and how the time had come for them to intervene again.
"Hermione, I believe you and all, but if Fred and George won't admit it no one's going to believe us. Besides, the truth will come out tonight at the candlelight meeting." Ron said.
"Candlelight meeting?" Said Harry and Hermione.
"Yeah. Haven't you heard? Moody's been angry as Hell after last night and he wants to get to the bottom of it. He's demanded that everyone gather in the living room and figure out whose responsible."
"I doubt that'll do anthing." Harry scoffed. "People were iffy about trusting Snape in the first place, and now all that trust is lost. Quite personally, I don't care what happens to him."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well then I'll think of a plan to help myself." She rested her chin in her hands and stared at the wall, annoyed at Harry's indifference.
As Hermione sat pondering a plan to reveal the truth, Ron continued on about his dream.
"As I was saying, the spider got huge and was accusing me of stepping on his brother. I kept telling him no, and then her pulled out this bottle and shoved it in my mouth. He must've given me some kind of truth serum because I started babbling on about how I stepped…"
"That's it!" Hermione cried. "That's perfect Ron! Oh why didn't I think of it before?"
"What are you going on about?" Ron asked.
"You said it yourself Ron! The spider gave you truth serum to get the truth out right? We could do the same with veritus truth serum!"
"Where are you going to get that?" Harry asked.
"I'll have to do some snooping. Then, tonight at the meeting, I can slip it into Sirius's and Snape's drinks. Not only can we get the truth out, but we can mend some trust issues between the two." Hermione explained. "I need your help though, Harry."
Harry sighed. "Fine. But just for your sake Hermione."
Hermione grinned widely. "Get your invisibility cloak Harry. We have no time to waste."