Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

A Bag of Tricks

Harry dropped by Snape's office early the next morning on the pretence of returning a library book. He'd gotten a note from Snape on his bed, courtesy of Hedwig.

"I have a job for you," Snape said, bustling around his office, tossing papers into his briefcase for classes that day. His tie wasn't done up yet, and he was looking quite haggard.

Harry sat down obediently, waiting patiently.

"I need to keep the staff away from the Hogwarts kitchens, and laundry," Snape said, rummaging through his desk drawer. "Half of Hogwarts' house elves decided to help, which is great, but we need to stop Dumbledore or any of the staff from noticing where they went."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Pranks. Lots of them."

Dizzy excitement hit Harry as he took a moment to comprehend the statement.  "So, pranks to stop them from going down to the kitchens? So like, on the way?"

"I'll have a few last line defences set up, but in general, keep the pranks as far away from the kitchens and laundry as possible to draw staff away. Keep them too busy and confused to notice that the classrooms are not being cleaned as much as they usually are and that laundry is taking longer."

Harry grinned. "What should I do, though? I don't know a lot of good spells for pranks. Not like Fred and George."

"Happy Christmas," Severus said brusquely, shoving a bag at Harry and starting to tie his tie. "Invented some of it myself as a student. I unearthed whatever recipes I could brew short notice. There's descriptions of what they do. Should be enough to last you a while if you pull one off every day. See me for more."

Harry took the bag, and opened it. It was so small, but it wasn't as it seemed. His jaw dropped when he opened it, as it was at least the size of a rucksack on the inside, stuffed full.

"Undetectable extension charm. Now get out of here before someone gets suspicious."

"Thanks sir!" Harry said.

"Do not get caught, do you hear me? Use the cloak."

"Yes, sir."

Snape looked almost anxious to Harry, his fingers stopping tying for a moment. It was like Snape was concerned, or something.

"Well, get to breakfast," Snape snapped, and Harry, sensing not to test his mood, ran off to the Great Hall.

Harry had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Snape, designating him official Holiday Prankster. Awesome. He wished he could brag to Ron.

He checked his watch. Fifteen minutes until the doors opened for breakfast.

Perfect.

 He had time. It would be discovered just in time for classes. McGonagall's office was nowhere near the Transfiguration classroom, that was for sure.

In an abandoned classroom, Harry sifted through the prank material.

"Snape made this?" Harry said in awe. He could tell by the fancier labels which ones were bought, and which ones were Snape's. Most of them were his, potions and bottles of compounds labelled carefully.

"Instant Blizzard?" Harry muttered, grinning.

Lasts two days. Resistant to every known cancellation spell. Storm has 120 metre diameter if given room to spread. Instructions: pour on floor. Run. Activates in sixty seconds. Will fill corridor or area sixty metres on each side of where poured.

Harry threw the cloak on, pocketing the right bottle and stuffing the bag of tricks in his rucksack. He went into the Transfiguration corridor, which was thankfully empty. The classrooms were still locked, no lights on beneath the door. Harry went to the centre of the corridor, uncapped the bottle, and poured. It was like a strange sort of glittering gel, and it soaked into the stone like the floor was a sponge.

He capped the bottle, put it in his pocket, and then sprinted, the cloak flapping around him. Once he was at the very end of the corridor, he could see it starting. A cloud of white was frothing from the floor, rising up in a swirling, howling mass. He wanted to watch it fill the corridor, but Transfiguration was second period, and he would see it later. He walked slowly and casually toward the Great Hall, taking off the cloak. This way he wasn't hot and didn't look like he'd been running.

He arrived at breakfast a minute after the doors opened, and was able to save a spot for Ron and Hermione. His heart hammered wildly from excitement.

Nobody had noticed a thing. There was no murmuring in the hall, no rumours or news. Just people discussing the Great Hall prank the previous day. It filled Harry with great pleasure to hear everyone referring to it as the best prank all year. He had a feeling he might trump that as he dug into his oatmeal, considering all the things he would be able to pull off in the next few days.

It would only be a matter of time before the first Transfiguration class arrived, and the first prank would be known. By Harry's class, the news would surely have spread over the school.

The magic from that blizzard potion was way too complicated. No place sold this stuff either. Harry was starting to see why Snape had given him what he did. Nobody would suspect a second year of being able to create product of that complicated all by themselves. And with his dad's cloak, how could he possibly get caught?

 

 

***

 

"Class, please, I have an announcement," Flitwick said nervously in charms, standing upon his pile of books.

Harry looked up, trying to hide the fluttering excitement in his stomach.

Ron stopped prodding his snail with his wand, and looked at Harry. "What's got into him?"

 The class fell into quiet muttering, and Flitwick made his announcement.  "Second period Transfiguration has been cancelled for today, due to ... a blizzard."

"But it isn't snowing outside," said Seamus.

"Well spotted, Mr Finnegan," Flitwick said. "However, it appears as though a blizzard has arisen in the Transfiguration corridor. It has gotten too severe for class. Relocation will likely occur for the next class if the matter is not dealt with."

Gleeful shouting broke out. The uproar was glorious, and Harry felt like he was walking on a cloud.

"A blizzard, seriously?" Harry said, allowing his happiness to finally show through.

"We have to go see," Ron said. "You don't think Fred and George did it?"

"Sounds like them, doesn't it?" Harry said.

Hermione sniffed.

"Yeah, I know," Ron said, "interfering with class should be a capital offence, but come on, Hermione, just accept it as a Christmas Miracle."

"I'm with Ron here," Harry said.

"Well, I suppose the spell work must be excellent if they've started a blizzard indoors, Hermione said stiffly.

"Great, let's go," Ron said, the bell ringing.

Harry followed Ron gladly.

They arrived in the Transfiguration corridor, and it appeared to be like one enormous whiteout. At the mouth of the corridor there was a sheer wall of blowing snow, howling. Harry reached his hand forward to stick his finger into the storm. It disrupted the wind ever so slightly so bits of snow flew out at him. Ron was toeing the snowdrifts that were coming out from the opaque mass, slowly making their way into the warm intersection of the corridors where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood. McGonagall and Dumbledore were there too, staring into the storm. They had been there when the trio arrived, surveying the damage.

"Professor McGonagall, when will classes be resumed?" asked Hermione anxiously while Harry and Ron tried not to look too pleased.

"Goodness knows," said McGonagall. "Whoever did this was an expert prankster. I am thinking, Miss Granger, given the strength of the blizzard the next class shall have to be held elsewhere."

"I hope Severus hasn't gotten lost in there," said Dumbledore, frowning.

"Snape's in there?" Harry asked, shocked.

"Yes, we sent him in to look for traces of potion residue. If we can determine if this is spellwork or potions expertise, we may have a clue as to how to end it."

A shadow moved slightly behind the snow, and Harry squinted to make it out. Just then, a figure covered head to toe in snow and bundled up warmly stumbled out of the white, snow-drift strewn space.

"Potter! Shouldn't you be in class? Do I have to give you another detention?" Snape barked as well he could through the scarf he'd wound around his head. He stamped his feet, and uncovered his face with the scarf, scowling deeply.

Harry could almost see the twinkle in his eye, the mischievous look Harry had learned to see.

"No sir!" Harry said, shaking his head vigorously.

"Severus, really, transfiguration was cancelled," said McGonagall, crossing her arms. "He is not skipping class."

"Well then you three should be doing the homework I assigned yesterday with your free time," he sneered, glaring at them.

"Come on," Hermione said to Harry and Ron, grabbing the back of their robes, "Before we get points taken for getting in the way."

"Excellent idea, Granger," Snape said distastefully, watching them as they rounded the corner and went out of sight.

"Wait, my shoe's loose," Harry said, bending down to retie it. Hermione crossed her arms, an indication that she knew very well he was eavesdropping.

"- is indeed potions residue somewhere near the centre of the storm," Snape was saying, his voice hard to make out over the sound of the storm. "It is nothing I have seen before, however. It must be a new product, or worse, probably something created by an upper year student -"

Harry, unable to stall any longer, allowed Hermione to drag him and Ron away from the scene.

Harry ended up letting Hermione convince him to do homework with her in the library, out of sheer glee that the prank had gone off well.

He flipped through his book, pretending to read as Hermione scribbled feverishly. In reality, he was doing nothing of the sort, instead going over all the possible uses he could find for the contents of the bag of tricks.

There was no doubt in Harry's mind that this was going to be the best Christmas ever.

 


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