Normalcy
Meeting with Amelia Bones, after the task - Harry has just declared Sirius' innocence as he retold the events from his third year.
"You're sure, Mr Potter?" Amelia asked him, looking stern. "You're completely sure Sirius Black is innocent and didn't receive a trial?"
"Completely." Harry said. "I saw Pettigrew with my own eyes, heard his confession."
"In that case." She said, frowning, "I can check the records from the year he was arrested under the guise of trying to find out where he might be hiding. When I happen to stumble across the fact he had no trial, I can propose to the Minister we invite him to court for a fair trial. You are in contact with him, correct?" Harry nodded. "In that case, you can inform him that he is safe to accept the offer of a trial. We'll use veritaserum, and I'll need your memories. Do you know what a pensieve is, Mr Potter?"
"No."
"It looks a bit like a font. However, you can use a spell to remove a copy of memories from your mind and use a pensieve to view them. It's very clever magic, and incredibly useful in court."
"So what will I need to do?"
"Nothing yet. You will be summoned to the Ministry the day of the trial to testify. They will explain the process to you then. Remus, I'd prefer it if you stayed at the castle until the trial date, as an extra precaution." Amelia eyed the dog knowingly. Remus nodded.
"Of course. I'm sure the Headmaster will have no objections." The mere mention of Dumbledore made Padfoot growl and Remus' eyes flash amber. Even McGonagall scowled. Harry smirked. Now the truth was out there, the adults he trusted most now hated the headmaster as much as he did, if not more.
Present Day
Harry grinned as he read the letter Hedwig had unceremoniously dropped in his lap, the owl herself now perched comfortably on Draco's head. The blonde was unimpressed, but didn't bother to try and move her. The first time he had shoved her off, and she had attacked him so viciously that Madam Pomfrey thought he'd been attacked by a hippogriff again. Now, whenever Hedwig came near him, Draco had to put up with it out of fear of being attacked again.
Hedwig hooted smugly. Ginny snickered.
"Who's that from?" Hermione asked Harry as she sat down, pouring herself a coffee.
"Madame Bones. She said she's arranged a trial for Sirius, and a hearing for a change in my magical guardian shortly afterwards so I never have to live with the Dursleys again." Harry whispered, only loud enough for his friends to hear.
"Oh, that's brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, hugging Harry tightly.
"Do you know what's even better?" Harry said with a grin.
"What?"
"He's here with Remus in the castle. Amelia said they have to stay until further notice. Think of all the fun we can have!" Harry said brightly.
Hermione groaned, but the others all smirked. The next few days were going to be fun.
To all of his friends' surprise, Harry remained quite sane for the first half of the day. However, they missed one important reason as to why.
Snape.
Harry had realized Snape was watching him like a hawk from the moment he stepped into the Great Hall that morning. Harry resisted the urge to wave at him and instead acted like he hadn't even noticed the Professor at all.
Snape had narrowed his eyes at this. Almost every morning since Potter had spiralled into this chaos, Snape had been presented with some odd gift, bowed to, had his hand shaken or some other action intended to rile him up. If it wasn't Potter himself, it was one of the Weasleys. So Snape was instantly on alert when Potter did nothing out of the ordinary.
"What is that boy up to?" He muttered to Minerva, who was sat next to him.
"Who, Potter? Nothing, as usual. Why would he be up to something?" Minerva responded, looking confused.
"What are you talking about? Potter hasn't not been up to something for weeks!" Severus hissed back.
"What on earth do you mean? Except being a little stressed about the tournament, the boy has been doing nothing but his best to continue life as normal. He is worn out though, poor lad."
"But-"
"Are you feeling alright, Severus?" Minerva said, looking concerned. "You've gone rather pale."
"Gah!" Severus stood and stormed out o the hall. Harry turned his head to hide his muffle laughter in Ron's shoulder as he passed by their table. Once he'd gone, he looked up at McGonagall, who winked at him.
"Are you sure this is the best idea?" Hermione asked, biting her lip. Whilst she was adjusting well to Harry's chaos, she still had her reservations about purposefully riling up the potions master.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked her innocently. "We aren't doing anything wrong."
"That's the point!"
"Hermione Granger, are you saying we should prank Snape?" Harry gasped, hands on hips.
"What? No - But I- ugh!" She groaned, frustrated. "Let's just go to charms."
The Gryffindors parted ways with their Slytherin friends and Luna and Ginny as they made their way to charms class. The lesson passed quickly with little drama, as did Herbology.
Harry did allow himself a little fun in Divination.
"I had a strange dream last night, Professor." Harry said to Trelawney.
"Oh? Do share it with us all, dear boy, there may be a hidden message!" She leaned forward, suddenly interested.
"Well, I was fighting a dragon-"
"Ah yes, fighting the traumas of your past, in dragon form." She analysed.
"Or he had literally fought a dragon the same day." Dean whispered. Seamus and Ron snickered.
"- Anyway, all of a sudden this frog appeared."
"A - A frog? Again?"
"Yeah. It started croaking the ghostbusters theme tune, and then the strangest thing happened." Harry said, looking completely serious.
"What? What happened next?" Ron asked, feigning excitement.
"Well, all of these different cats suddenly came bursting in, there must have been hundreds of them! One was wearing glasses just like yours Professor, and one had a tartan skirt. Another was the spitting image of Hagrid, they could've been twins. Anyway, these cats all started meowing really, really loudly, and then the frog exploded!"
Trelawney blinked. Opened her mouth. Closed it again. Blinked once more.
"Class dismissed." She sighed. "I must reflect upon Potter's nightmare, and see if I can help him decipher the meaning. We will discuss this next lesson. Of you all go!"
Everyone flooded out of the classroom, sending Harry grateful looks.
"Right, we have 45 minutes to do whatever we like. Any ideas?" Harry said, turning to Neville and Ron. Dean and Seamus were long gone, as they were behind on Potions homework.
"Let's go visit Dobby." Ron said. So they did.
The house elves greeted the three Gryffindor boys jovially, and they stayed in the kitchens for the whole 45 minutes, eating cake and laughing at Dobby's failed attempts to befriend Mopsy, the grumpiest house elf in the castle. 5 minutes before Potions was due to start the boys bid farewell to the elves and headed to the classroom, where Harry quickly pulled his friends aside.
"Remember, I never went crazy, I'm perfectly normal. Hopefully the irrelevant side characters won't get involved and ruin our prank by siding with Snape."
"Harry, you can't refer to our classmates as 'irrelevant side characters', that's rude!" Hermione scolded. Harry ignored her.
"In." Snape said coldly, and the students filed into the classroom. As Harry walked past Snape he said nothing, and sat down quietly at his desk and began taking out his textbooks. He felt Snape's eyes boring into the back of head and smirked, but ignored him and found the right page for that lesson's potion. He snuck a quick glance at Daphne and Draco. They were, as agreed, sat as far away from Harry, Ron and Hermione as possible.
"Oi, scarhead! You're actually alive, I bet my father 10 galleons you'd die in the first five minutes!" Draco taunted.
"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron said through gritted teeth. "I bet your father would've wet himself if he'd come face to face with a dragon!"
"I wasn't talking to you Weasley, so shut your-"
"Enough." Snape said silkily, striding to the front of the room. He didn't know why Potter was being so well behaved all of a sudden, and why Malfoy was taunting him again, but he wanted nothing to do with it. "Turn to page 10 and brew the shrinking solution. You have all lesson. Begin." He watched Potter like a hawk. The boy, however, meekly followed his classmates and selected the ingredients he needed from the store cupboard, and got to work without a word.
"No foolish baking ingredients today Potter?" Snape jibed, unable to help himself. Harry looked up at him, confused.
"No, sir. This is potions, why would I be baking?"
"You tell me, since it's you that does it." Snape retorted, losing his composure slightly. Harry and Ron looked at each other, bewildered. Snape scowled. What the hell was going on?
He prowled around the room, taking his frustration out on the students.
"Stir 3 times, you foolish girl! 4 grams, not 5, idiot boy!" When he reached Potter's desk he slammed his hands down and leaned forwards, eyes sparkling dangerously. Harry jumped and gulped.
"I don't know what you're up to, Potter, but I will sure as Merlin find out." He said softly.
"I- I don't know what you mean, Professor." Harry stuttered nervously.
"Of course you do. You're behaving, which means you're up to something."
"Harry always behaves!" Hermione scoffed. Harry smiled and tapped his foot against hers, grateful she was playing along.
"Quiet Granger, and don't lie to me."
"She isn't!" Neville said hotly. "You're picking on Harry for no reason!"
"20 points from Gryffindor! One more word and I'll make it fifty!" Snape snarled, stalking off to praise Malfoy's potion, as usual.
"50 people points to Neville." Harry whispered. Ron stifled a laugh.
By the end of the lesson, Snape was furious. Malfoy and Potter were at odds with each other again, Potter was being weirdly normal, and no one seemed to have any recollection of his crazy behaviour. He briefly wondered if maybe it was all a fever dream, and Potter genuinely had never gone insane. He had discarded that idea, instead certain the boy was up to something.
This continued for two days. By the third day, Snape had refused to leave his private quarters.
Then, on the fourth day, it was over.
After being forced to leave his quarters by the Headmaster, who looked pretty old these days, Snape had received an owl which dropped a red envelope into his breakfast.
"HA, GET PRANKED YOU GREASY BAT!"A familiar sounding voice crowed. Snape turned to glare at the dog sat at Remus' feet, panting smugly.
"I'm going to kill you, Mutt." He said quietly. Snuffles just barked at him.
No sooner that the howler had torn itself to shreds, another owl flew in. This time dropping several bags of feathers all over the hall before dropping another envelope on Severus' lap, a normal one this time. The feathers had started to try and tickle anyone they touched, and the hall was filled with screeches and laughter and all the students tried to escape. The feathers left the teachers alone. Amidst the chaos and the laughter and screams of the students, Severus opened the letter
Snapey,
Isn't it ironic how my restored insanity returns your sanity? Who knew one day you'd have to rely on my chaos-riddled mind to keep your own mind in good working order.
xo, Harry
Ps- The big black dog has a major crush on you, but he told me not to tell
Pps - I'm joking.... or am I?
Ppps - I am joking, but don't tell Padfoot, I'm getting back at him for turning my tongue orange
Severus scowled, half incredibly annoyed, half amused.
"I didn't know you were in love with me, mutt." He muttered to the dog, who had snuck away from Remus to try to read the letter. Padfoot froze, staring at Snape with horror filled eyes. Severus smirked as the dog growled and whined, desperate to tell him that Harry was lying and then attack the greasy bat, but unable to risk giving away his true identity.
Severus smirked, and Sirius couldn't take it anymore.
Padfoot snarled and sunk his teeth into Severus' leg. The man cursed and kicked the dog away, hurrying out of the great hall so he wouldn't get dragged into clearing the room of extremely persistent feathers.