6th April 1996

Harry came back to consciousness with a jolt.

He groaned and lifted a hand to his head, and then groaned again when he realised what he’d just done.

“It didn’t work, did it?” he asked, glumly, without opening his eyes.

“On the contrary, Mr Potter,” said Snape’s voice – from the opposite side of Harry from where he normally was.

Harry’s eyes snapped open, and his head whipped round. Hermione was lying on the bed next to his, and Snape was standing between them, arms folded over his chest and looking unbearably smug.

“We did it? I mean—” Harry corrected hastily as Snape’s expression began to change “—you did it, sir? We’re not in the same day anymore?”

“Yes, I did, and no, we are not,” agreed Snape, his face going back to smugness. “And now that we are back to normal . . . 20 points from Gryffindor for not keeping a better eye on your partner, Miss Granger. 50 points from Gryffindor for not paying attention and endangering the entire class, Mr Potter. And detention, every night this week. With Filch,” he added, before spinning on his heel and stalking towards the Hospital Wing doors.

Harry groaned.

“Look on the bright side, Harry,” Hermione piped up from where she was reposing. “It’s a brand new day!”

Harry began to perk up, but then remembered just what exactly they had done the day before. “Um, we may not want to start celebrating just yet,” he said, cautiously.

Hermione frowned at him, puzzled. “Why not?” she asked.

Harry began ticking items off on his fingers. “You gate-crashed Divination, no doubt skipping your own class; we both made fun of Trelawney by pretending we had the ‘inner eye’; then we both walked out of the class. We caused Professor Flitwick to give everyone a surprise quiz in Charms. We were the only people to not get injured by Hagrid’s new ‘babies’. We stood up and recited Binns’ lecture right along with him. We were the top students in everything. You went flying on my broom in front of the entire Quidditch team. We gave catnip-soaked salmon to Mrs Norris, and I think Professor McGonagall got a bit of it, too.”

Hermione’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Merlin!” she moaned, burying her face in her hands. “We are going to be in so much trouble!”

“Well, there is a bright side,” Harry said.

“What?” asked Hermione, peering through her fingers at him.

“At least this way, we’ll get to practice Memory Charms. A lot!”