Beneath the Covers / DRAMIONE (COMPLETE)

Pragmatic (not!) Planning

"Is it dangerous?" George asked, as he, Fred and Professor Snape waited in the hallway of Grimmauld Place.

"Deadly," Severus said seriously. "As much so as the Unbreakable Vow."

And, boy, he knew all about that.

The twins paled drastically. At the moment, Dumbledore popped his head round the door to the living room.

"Come in, Messrs. Weasley, Severus. Your time has come, boys."

"Good luck," Severus told them, smirking.

*

"How many loopholes did you find?" Inquired Severus, looked down at the twins' relieved faces as they stood outside the Great Hall, having Apparated back to fill in some paperwork.

"Give or take... three," answered Fred. "There was the one, obviously, about 'to the best of your abilities'..."

"...And the thing about keeping your fellow members safe from harm – we would try to do that regardless," continued George.

"And then there's the point about never revealing the Order's secrets to anyone," Fred commented. "'Cause there's some sort of hex on us now that means we can't anyway."

"Well done," Severus praised. "You missed the other six, but apart from that_"

"_Six! What were they?"

"Not winding up those boys again, are you Severus?" Dumbledore questioned, giving him a sharp look from the end of the corridor.

"Of course not, Headmaster," Severus replied respectfully.

"In that case, I need you to assist me with something. I'm sure the boys can find something to do in the meantime before you see them out."

The two walked down the corridor, away from the twins, and as they did so, Severus looked round and stated:

"There were nine in mine."

And winked.

*

Fred and George did easily find something to do. They sought out Hermione, Malfoy, Harry and Ginny, and began organising a prank war.

"How did I get into this?" Hermione moaned, watching as Fred scribbled some notes in Ginny's History of Magic textbook. Hermione had refused to give up any of her precious parchment.

"Shh," said Draco, paying close attention to the plan. "We have to go through the details."

Harry seemed to feel nearly as guilty as her.

"Guys, is this really the right thing to do?" He whined.

"No," scoffed Draco. "But it's fun. You've got to hear this."

"So," Fred took charge, "Ginny is going to start off by spreading Peruvian Instant Darkness powder all along here," he ran his finger along a first-floor corridor, "and then M_ Draco will come running from the Slytherin common room in the dungeons, screaming (or something of that sort) about a break-in in the dungeons."

"The Slytherins will go along with it easily," Draco nodded.

"So, Severus, Professor Snape to you lot, will probably go with Draco and see the common room, which will be in a mess because... magic, and then Harry_" The latter groaned. "_will set off a load of Dungbombs on the second-floor. And then Hermione will stop the birds attacking you three (you'll get it later) and so nobody will think it was you guys. Simples!"

"Simples?" Hermione questioned, uneasily. "It sounds like there's an infinite number of things that could go horribly wrong. We could get killed, we could get expelled... yeah, that's worse..."

Harry raised his head from the table where he'd plonked it in frustration.

"If I'm doing it, you're doing it, 'Mione."

"And are you doing it?"

He blinked.

"Does it look like I've got a choice?"

Hermione looked round at Draco, Ginny, Fred and George's exhilarated, determined faces.

"Nope."

*****

A.N. I can't tell whether it's me not taking the fic seriously, or the fic not taking me seriously. Honestly, the first chapter had such dark themes, and look where we are now - 12 chapters away from the end, with a prank war. I'm going to start updating every week, just so that I finish it quicker. Important exams this year!

So, obviously, the prank war will feature next, and so will Remus!

Thank you for reading, comment if you have any ideas, and continue reading till the very end!