Harry Potter and the Year of Surprises by erinpotter

Stealing From Severus

Harry’s idea worked. Ginny had got a letter for the book from Erin. He had a sneaky suspicion that she knew Ginny was lying, but they got the note anyway. When they read about the potion, all four were extremely disappointed. They had to make a potion which was to be perfectly brewed at midnight on Halloween night. They were lucky that it was only a month till October. Harry and Ron still sneaked into Hogsmeade to get the lockets and all the pictures had been taken. In Ginny’s locket, there was a picture of Ron hugging Hermione, which was taken when they weren’t looking so it was perfectly natural. On the other side of her locket, there was a picture Hermione had taken of Harry. It had been after their last match against Slytherin when he was coming off his broomstick. They won 540 - 10 and Harry looked completely ecstatic.

In Ron's locket there was a picture of Hermione blowing him a kiss and on the other side was a picture a picture of Harry and Ginny holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes. Ron said the picture was way too mushy for him but Hermione insisted on it.

In Hermione's locket, the same picture of Harry and Ginny took the place of one side. On the other side, Hermione had sneakily taken a natural picture of Ron while Harry had told him a joke. Hermione looked at it all the time and was keeping it in her purse until Halloween. She said Ron looked ‘cute’.

Now, when Harry had been reading about the potion, it said that the charm would work better if the three people were alive and with him most of the time, so he asked Ron, Hermione and Ginny if they would make one for him. They agreed right away and in his locket, there was a picture of Hermione and Ginny putting on fake poses and another of Ron looking really confused. Harry couldn’t stop laughing at it.

When Harry and Ron were in Hogsmeade, Hermione and Ginny set about getting the ingredients. They could get most of them, but one was in Snape’s private store and there was no way they could get it unless they stole it during an experiment in school. They would just have to wait.

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Harry and Hermione were very busy on the run up to Halloween. They had to organise the feast and the trips into Hogsmeade for the third years and above. They had to make sure everyone had their permission slip and that they came back to school with everyone else.

Hermione put Harry in charge of picking the food for the feast and taking the order down to the kitchens. Harry was happy about that arrangement. He could steal some food and have a little chat with Dobby. Harry chose all his favourite foods and a couple of the traditional Halloween specials that everyone loved. He put in a few extras (black pudding) and instead of pumpkin juice, they would have Shloer, which was a non alcoholic wine.

Harry took Ron down to the kitchens with him. Ron was so excited. This time, it would be legal to be there, although it wasn’t exactly legal to take some food, it would be rude to refuse the gifts that the house elves would undoubtedly try to give them.

Ron was right. As soon as he and Harry stepped into the kitchens, the elves were running about, offering them trays of food and drinks. Harry called Dobby over.

‘Hi Dobby. How are you?’

‘Dobby is fine, sir. And much better for seeing Harry Potter, sir.’ Dobby smiled.

‘Please Dobby. You don't have to call me sir. I'm your friend.’

‘Thank you Harry Potter. You is most kind.’

‘No problem Dobby. You might have heard that I'm head boy now.’ Harry said.

‘Oh yes, Mister Harry. Dobby heard. I was so happy for you, sir. Sorry, friend.’