Advance Arrangement
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.


Bobby was just about to drift off to sleep, when he noticed Claws' absence. 'Oh no, I forgot him in the Great Hall,' he thought in annoyance. 'Claws,' he thought to his familiar. 'Where are you?'

'In the common room with Mrs. Norris.'

'What?' Bobby thought in disbelief, however, decided to ignore the canine for the time being and catch up on some sleep. 'The door is ajar, so he can just come to bed if he wants,' he reassured himself, before he drifted off to sleep. He did not notice his familiar joining him a few minutes later, however, instinctively cuddled close to the canine.

HP

When the Slytherin first-years entered the Great Hall in the morning, they noticed immediately that the room was not decorated for Halloween as it was supposed to be. Instead, Christmas decorations were flooding the Great Hall.

"What happened here?" Daphne was the first to speak, causing the others to exchange questioning looks.

"That might have been Claws. He spent the night roaming the castle with Mrs. Norris." Bobby's voice was barely above a whisper.

=Why did you not take me with you?= Paws jumped up at his brother, pulling him in a canine mock fight.

"Paws, Claws, leave it…"

"… not in the Great Hall…"

"… or you're going to lose house points," the twins addressed their familiars in strict voices.

After a double glare at their familiars, the canines made their way back under the house table, where they lay down, cuddled against each other.

"Shall we try to transfigure everything back?" Harry looked around questioningly.

"No, leave it. I think it looks great," one of the sixth-year prefects replied.

HP

The twins observed in amusement how Professors McGonagall and Sprout entered the Great Hall, shaking their heads in apparent annoyance at the untimely decorations.

They observed with mixed feelings how their surrogate grandmother exchanged a few words with their Uncle Severus, who nodded, grimly.

An instant later, his voice penetrated their minds. 'Do we need to teach you some missing primary school knowledge about the seasonal events throughout the year?'

Harry and Bobby glanced up at the high table, unobtrusively shaking their heads.

'He thinks that it was us,' Harry thought to his twin.

'Yeah, sorry. We should ask Merlin or Mum to teach us telepathy.'

'True. Although, I wouldn't want to give Claws away anyway.'

'Thanks, Harry.'

They looked up in surprise, when the headmaster suddenly spoke up.

'I didn't even notice that he came into the Great Hall,' Harry realised, looking at the high table in surprise at the old wizard's words.

"Whoever played that prank, I ask you to reverse it immediately."

Everyone exchanged looks of absolute confusion. Whispered "What happened?" could be heard all over the Great Hall.

McGonagall rose from her chair. "I case you haven't noticed, Professor Dumbledore's chair has vanished overnight."

"This is not funny," Dumbledore added, as he waved his wand and conjured a chair, which resembled his old one. "While this copy will do, my normal chair is an old artefact, which is extremely valuable. I shall give the culprit until the beginning of the Halloween feast tonight to return the chair. Otherwise, the consequences for the student might be dire."

Seemingly angered, he waved his wand around the Great Hall, causing the Christmas decorations to vanish and become replaced by Halloween decorations.

To everyone's surprise, however, the decorations only lasted for about five minutes, before they returned to their previous Christmas' versions.

HP

To Bobby's relief, their first class was History of Magic, so that he had enough time to telepathically discuss the matter with the headmaster's chair with Harry. In the end, the twins decided to feign innocence and not return the chair to the Great Hall.

'I'm certain that no one saw me.'

'Then, we know nothing. Congrats though to a well done prank on the headmaster.'

'Thanks.' Bobby grinned, and the twins resolved to continue playing pranks on the old wizard.

HP

On their way to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast that evening, Mrs. Norris came up to the twins, putting her front paws against Harry's legs in a very canine way.

=Was that you? How dare you play pranks on the headmaster without me?=

Harry swiftly transformed to properly converse with his feline friend. =That wasn't me, even if I know who it was, but I believe that you're responsible for the Christmas decorations together with Claws, are you not?=

=Yes, that was much fun,= Mrs. Norris admitted. =Will you help me with another prank?=

=Of course, although I'm afraid that I'll get into trouble with my parents. According to my mother, the first prank we played together was not harmless at all.=

=Ah, but this one is. Do you know a spell that makes two from one?=

=A duplicating charm?=

The feline fluffed her fur. =Something like that. We need a charm that doesn't end.=

Harry nodded in understanding. =I'll look it up,= he promised. =I'll get back to you once I've found out something. Now, I really need to head to the Great Hall.=

=All right. Bye, Nero.=

HP

Harry swiftly took his seat between Bobby and Draco, just when Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"The culprit who has taken my chair, which is not a prank but a crime, considering that the chair is an old artefact from the time of the founders of Hogwarts, has not been found. I ask all teachers as well as the sixth- and seventh-year prefects to accompany me to search the school. The Halloween feast will be delayed until we have found the chair. Severus, I ask you to remain here and keep an eye on the students. No one is allowed to leave the Great Hall. Please note that the student whose magical signature can be found on the chair will be expelled."

'Thank Merlin Sparkle cleared the chair from my magical signature,' Bobby thought to Harry, noticing that his twin cast him a concerned look.

'Oh, thank Merlin,' Harry replied, wondering aloud, "So, do I understand it correctly that we're not going to have dinner now?"

"Apparently so," Draco replied, sounding as annoyed as the twins felt.

"I'm hungry," Dudley growled.

Harry smirked. 'Sparkle,' he silently called Santa's elf, who appeared invisibly behind the twins.

"Can you please make dinner appear for everyone here in the Great Hall?"

"Okay. Give me a minute."

A faint pop alerted the twins that Sparkle had left, and a moment later, dinner appeared on the house tables as well as the head table.

HP

Dinner was still full underway, and the headmaster and his colleagues had not returned yet, when the doors opened with a loud bang and Professor Quirrell stormed into the Great Hall.

"Troll in the dungeons," he muttered, before he sank to the floor, seemingly unconscious.

Impromptu tumults began, only to end abruptly, when Severus raised his voice. "Quiet! Everyone, return to your seats. You will all remain in the Great Hall. At your house table to be specific. I shall alert the headmaster." He waved his wand, and an instant later, a bluish kind of animal left the tip of his wand and vanished through the wall. Turning to Quirrell, the Potions master uttered, "Enervate."

The whole student body observed how the Defence professor slowly gained consciousness.

"Quirinus, I believe that you must get rid of the troll, considering that it's your job as the current Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Yes, of course." Quirrell grinned, as he stumbled out of the Great Hall.

tbc...

Thank you for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please continue feeding my muse. Any ideas, suggestions or opinions are welcome.