HP Year 5: When Worlds Collide
Chapter 11

“A problem?” Harry echoed. Obviously, he knew something was wrong, but from the way Dumbledore was looking at him he got the feeling the Headmaster knew some of the specifics that Harry didn’t.

“Take a seat, Harry,” Dumbledore advised him, still with that gentle smile of his. Glancing at Snape, who was still wearing that odd expression, Harry took the empty seat beside Remus.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked after a moment of silence.

“It seems,” Dumbledore said mildly, “that whilst attempting to complete a task for Voldemort, Professor Snape has managed to lose his memory. He cannot remember anything beyond your first year.”

“But…” Harry’s brows furrowed. “He must remember some stuff. He knew he had to teach me Occlumency, for once,” Harry checked it off on his fingers. “And he wasn’t surprised that everyone who was a first year is suddenly a fifth year…”

“Indeed, it is a rather confusing matter,” Dumbledore agreed. “What I think has happened is that Professor Snape’s mind has created false memories to fill the gaps. They lack in detail, but are enough to paint a clear picture of the past four years.”

“Is it… can it be fixed, sir?” Harry asked.

“I think so, yes,” Dumbledore nodded. “But I’ll need your help.”

“Mine?” Harry repeated, confused. “But, sir, what can I do?”

“You underestimate yourself, Harry,” Dumbledore told him, eyes twinkling. “To fix what has gone wrong, we need to enter Professor Snape’s mind and correct it ourselves. However, I cannot do it alone, and there are very few people his mind trusts. You are one of those people; anybody else would be forced back out of his mind before they could do anything remotely helpful.”

Harry nodded, slowly. He still wasn’t sure what Dumbledore expected him to do, but he would do whatever he could to help.

“Come here, Harry,” Dumbledore gestured him over. “I am going to cast a spell that will allow to me to essentially piggyback your conscience into Professor Snape’s mind. Once there, we need to find his real memories and break them free of the barriers holding them back. I’m hoping that if we can break free enough of his real memories, the rest will automatically be freed as they will conflict too much with the fake ones. Are you ready, Harry?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry nodded. He sat perfectly still as Dumbledore cast an awkward-looking spell and it was only mere seconds later he felt himself being pulled along to somewhere he did not belong.

.

When Harry opened his eyes (not aware that he’d ever closed them) he found himself standing next to his Headmaster in a very dark place. All he could see for miles around him were dirt plains and a dark, cloudy sky. Is this what his mind looked like when Snape did his Legilimency on him?

“Now, concentrate, Harry,” Dumbledore instructed. Harry turned to face him. “You need to focus very strongly on any memories you have with Professor Snape from the last four years. Doing so will pull you towards them. They are likely, I think, to be surrounded by a physical barrier of some sort, which you will have to break by sheer force. You still have your wand,” he pointed to the wooden stick in Harry’s pocket. “Do not be afraid to be brutal. Attacking the barriers will not hurt Professor Snape.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry nodded nervously, showing he understood.

“When you are done, think of this place,” Dumbledore continued. “This field. When I am done I, too, will come back here and lead you out. Good luck, Harry.”

And with that, Dumbledore faded away, leaving Harry standing on his own.

“Focus, Harry,” Harry mumbled to himself. Feeling silly, he closed his eyes, and thought of the time he had saved Malfoy from the Grindylows. That had been the start of his relationship with Snape, really; without that incident, he didn’t think Snape would ever have agreed to train him. An odd sensation filled Harry, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself surrounded by bubbles. A closer look told him that the bubbles held memories; mini movies and pictures were reflecting from inside them. Some he recognised, and some he didn’t, but none looked to be surrounded by a barrier. Harry strolled slowly around the bubbles, glancing in at them as he passed. None of them held any real interest to him. Where were the memories he needed? Deciding that perhaps he hadn’t focused strongly enough, Harry stopped and closed his eyes, filling his mind with thoughts of that day.

It was cold, and Harry shivered, wishing he’d thought to bring his jacket before heading out of the castle. He was going to visit Hagrid, who he hadn’t talked to in awhile. He wasn’t paying much attention to where he was going, too busy thinking about his annoying new Defence teacher and the creepy voice that only he seemed to be able to hear - but when he heard a yell of pain, his head snapped up. It came again, from the lake, and before he knew what he was doing, Harry was running towards it.

“Malfoy?” Harry asked incredulously as he found the blonde boy struggling in the lake.

“Help me,” Malfoy moaned. He didn’t both making any snide remarks to Harry, and it only took Harry a moment to realise why. Something was attacking Malfoy. Before he had a chance to talk himself out of it, Harry jumped into the lake, completely forgetting about his inability to swim. Instinct kicked in. He cast a quick ‘Winguardium Leviosa!’ on himself to prevent himself from sinking, and then threw himself at the creepy little creatures that had a hold of Malfoy’s legs.

“Let go!” Harry tried to yell, but all that came out his mouth were a furious stream of bubbles, since he had had to duck underwater to see what was attacking the Slytherin. A gasp of pain escaped his lips when one of the creatures latched themselves onto Harry’s leg, cutting into the skin. Not knowing what else to do, Harry poked it with his wand, hard. Red sparks shot out of the end of his wand, and the creature let go instantly. Turning his attention back to Malfoy, who was kicking furiously now in an attempt to get the creatures off him, Harry prodded at the rest of the creatures, grateful that red sparks continued to shoot out and scare them away. Finally, they were free, and Harry wasted no time in pulling Malfoy towards the land.

Opening his eyes, Harry let out a sigh of relief when he found a bubble that had chains wrapped around it. The memory of that day. Harry hesitated for only a moment before lifting his wand and making a slashing movement at the chains. The cutting hex worked; the chains slipped away, falling to the floor with a clunk and fading away.

Suddenly, a thought came to Harry. Severus knew my parents! Without even meaning to, Harry’s head filled with thoughts about his parents, and what Snape might know about them, and what he might know about that night, due to him being a Death Eater, and as suddenly as the thought came, Harry was surrounded by different bubbles. One in particular caught his eye, and unable to resist, he let the memory pull him in.

Severus was young, barely in his early twenties, fresh out of Hogwarts and already under the Dark Lord’s command. Eager to prove his worth to his master, he had instantly seized his chance when he saw Albus Dumbledore entering into a small pub.

Up the stairs he had gone, following Dumbledore as inconspicuously as possible. Surprise flitted across his face when he realised the Headmaster of Hogwarts was meeting with a Seer, but he didn’t let it deter him and merely crept up to the door, putting his excellent eavesdropping skills to work. When the woman in the room started speaking of a prophecy, Severus couldn’t believe his ears.

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies - ”

And then, without warning, the door was open and Severus found himself staring into the blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore. Wasting no time on the old fool, Severus fled. His master would want to hear this.

Harry felt himself pulled out of the bubble as the short memory ended, and although guilt instantly engulfed him, so too did curiosity. Was that prophecy about him? Glancing round at the surrounding bubbles, common sense took a hold, and Harry instantly forced the memory of his mind, for now, so that he could help free his Uncle’s trapped memories.

Harry worked as quickly as he could, focusing on memories of training sessions he had had with Sev, remembering how every week that he went to the Potions master, there were less and less snide remarks. Training memories done, Harry allowed himself a quick break as he tried to figure out what other memories to find and free, before continuing on.

By the time Harry felt he had got all the required memories free, he felt exhausted. He wasn’t sure why; it wasn’t like he was here physically, so why should it tire him? Deciding to ask that after he got out of his Uncle’s head – it was really kind of creepy, to think he was inside someone’s head, even if he ought to have been used to the idea now after being in Voldemort’s so often – Harry closed his eyes and focused on being back in the field, where he found Dumbledore waiting on him.

“Finished, Harry?” Dumbledore asked with a kind smile.

“I think so, sir,” Harry told his Headmaster, licking his lips nervously. “What happens if I didn’t get them all?”

“As long as you freed the majority, I believe his mind will automatically free the rest after we leave.”

“And if I didn’t get the majority…?”

“Then we will simply have to come back at a later date and try again. I doubt a second try will be required, however. Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry nodded after a brief pause.

“Then hold on tight, Harry,” Dumbledore instructed, holding out his arm. Harry took a grip of his professor’s arm as instructed, then waited while the Headmaster concentrated very hard on something. Then, everything went black.

.

When Harry woke up, he found himself lying in his bed in the Marauder Quarters. Not wanting to waste any time bothering to change out of his pyjamas into robes, he hurried out his room and was grateful to find both Sirius and Remus sitting together, talking quietly about something.

“Did it work?” he asked when his guardians noticed him.

“He can’t remember anything that happened since the accident,” Remus answered. “But apart from that, all his memories are back in place, that we know of.”

“Good,” Harry said, sighing in relief.

“You alright?” Sirius asked. “You gave us quite a fright when you collapsed like that.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Harry assured him.

“Sure?” Sirius pushed on suspiciously, all too aware of the fact that Harry tended to lie about how he felt.

“I’m fine, Sirius,” Harry repeated. “I was just tired, I think.”

“Alright then, Harry,” Remus smiled at him, not giving Sirius the chance to become overprotective again. “I think Ron and Hermione were looking for you.”

“Great, I’ll go find them then,” Harry said brightly, happy to escape from Sirius. He went back to his bedroom and quickly changed before grabbing the Marauders Map, and then left to find his two friends.

.

A quick glance at the map as Harry left showed him that Hermione, Ron and Ginny were all sitting outside, near the lake. He took his time walking there, feeling relaxed for the first time all week, but when he finally did reach them, he was a bit confused.

“What happened to your hair?”

“Fred and George happened to my hair,” Ron grumbled, his now-yellow hair blowing a little in the breeze. Hermione and Ginny smiled brightly at him in welcome as Harry joined the three sitting on the grass.

“And you can’t fix it?” Harry asked, raising his eyebrow.

“We’re trying,” Hermione snapped, losing her smile. She obviously didn’t like the fact that something was getting the better of her. Harry smiled sheepishly at her, running a hand through his own messy dark hair. When his guardians and Tonks got into their pranking, they liked to play around with hair colours – and they liked to make the colours nearly impossible to get rid of. Which meant Harry probably knew more about how to fix Ron’s hair than Hermione did…

“Hold still,” Harry commanded, before tapping his wand on Ron’s head three times. The effect was instantaneous, and the blondeness disappeared.

“How did you do that?” Hermione asked, sounding put-out.

“I live with three pranksters, ‘Mione,” Harry reminded her. “Fred and George as good, but not as good as two of the original Marauders. They’ve been giving me pranking lessons, you know. Messing around with hair colours isn’t even that difficult.”

“Brilliant!” Ron grinned. “If you’ve been getting lessons, you can get Fred and George back for me!”

“Err…”

“Come on, Harry!” Ron pleaded.

“I don’t really fancy them unleashing their pranking skills on me in retaliation, Ron…”

“So? You’ve never pranked them before. It’s not like they’re going to have any reason to suspect you.”

“Ron’s right,” Ginny spoke up. “The twins won’t ever suspect you. They’ll blame Lee, or someone else from their year.”

“Or maybe Sirius. They’ve tried to prank him loads of times. They might think it’s Sirius getting his revenge.”

“I’ll think about it,” Harry told them, sighing. It was a waste, he supposed, to get prank lessons from the Marauders and then not put what he learned to use…

.

By night, Harry had come up with a vague idea for a prank. By next morning, he had fine-tuned it, and made sure he was up bright and early so he could catch the twins before they left the common room. When the Weasley twins finally descended the stairs, their half-closed eyes showing off their grogginess, Harry swished his wand at them, forcing his two whoopee cushions to zoom forwards and attach themselves to the bums of the redheads. He had spent a good portion of the previous night huddled over charm books, trying to figure out how to make the cushions do what he wanted. Firstly, they had to remain invisible – that had been easy. Then he had found the 24-hour-sticking charm, to ensure the twins couldn’t get rid of the cushions if they figured out they were there. Then was the charm that made them unnoticeable, so the Weasleys couldn’t feel that something wasn’t quite right on their backside. Finally, and this had taken the longest, he’d had to find a spell to make the cushions cause a horrible smell every time the twins sat, as well as the usual farting sound.

All in all, Harry was quite proud of his work. Just before the twins left the room, Harry quickly swished his wand at them again, giving them bright blonde hair to match the hair they’d given Ron yesterday. At least now they’d know why they’d been pranked.

“What’re you doing up so early?” Ron suddenly asked, and Harry turned to find his best friend yawning at him.

“It’s not early,” Harry said, confused. “Not anymore, anyway. You’re up.”

“I heard you getting up earlier,” Ron told him, poking him over so he could sit beside Harry on the sofa. “Just couldn’t be bothered doing anything about it.”

“Lazy sod,” Harry grinned. “I got up early to make sure I caught the twins before they left.”

“You gonna tell me what you’re doing yet?”

“Already done it. You’ll see. Just don’t go near them, if you value your nose at all.”

“Why won’t you just tell me?” Ron grumbled.

“More fun this way,” Harry told his friend, smirking.

.

When Hermione and Ginny finally got up – an unusual thing, since it was usually Ron everyone had to wait for – the four Gryffindors headed down to the Great Hall. The scene when they arrived made Harry snort, though he tried his best to look more confused than amused as the four approached the Weasley twins who were sat on their own, a very large space between them and the rest of the Gryffindor house. Nobody wanted to sit near them.

“What’s up?” Ginny asked, sitting opposite the twins. Hermione, Ron and Harry copied her, although Harry really didn’t want to sit near the twins either.

“Did you do this?” both the twins shot at Ron, who stared right back at them.

“I can’t change hair colours. You don’t learn that in fifth year.”

“Someone did it,” George grumbled. “Someone in Gryffindor. And it’s not just the hair!”

“Yeah. Ron can’t have done this,” Fred decided. “Someone smart did this. Someone with pranking experience.”

“What do you mean, ‘it’s not just the hair’?” Hermione asked. “I don’t see anything else wrong with you…”

“This,” the twins chorused together, before standing up and thumping back down onto the bench, releasing an extremely foul odour as a loud farting noise ripped through the hall. Instantly, the four younger Gryffindors jumped up, pinching their noses.

“Ew,” Ginny said. “That’s just… ew.”

“At least it’ll keep the little snakes away from us,” Fred suddenly grinned.

“We could sit near Filch,” George said thoughtfully. “I wonder if we can make it smell worse.”

“Not without knowing what’s causing it,” Fred shook his head. “Time to find Lee?”

“Definitely,” George nodded.

“Later,” the twins chorused, quickly leaving the hall, talking excitedly with each other.

“Trust them to be happy about being pranked,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, they are pranksters,” Harry shrugged. “If Sirius or Remus gets pranked, they act grouchy and get the best revenge they can, but still, you can tell they love it.”

.

Harry and Ron headed out to the Quidditch pitch after breakfast to practice together for a bit, only to find the Slytherin team zooming around it.

“The pitch wasn’t booked for them,” Ron muttered, glaring at the blurry green figures. “Not for today. It was free.”

“Leave it, Ron,” Harry sighed, since the redhead looked ready to storm out into the pitch and hex the Slytherins. “We don’t need to give them any more of a reason to attack us than they already have.”

“Attack you, you mean,” Ron corrected, turning away from the pitch. “They’ve never attacked the rest of us.”

“They attacked Luna last year!”

“That was different,” Ron shrugged. “Don’t give me that look!” he added when Harry glared at him. “You know I like her. But others don’t. They didn’t start on her for being your friend, they started on her for being Luna.”

“Either way, last year, Voldemort wasn’t back,” Harry continued, ignoring his friend as he flinched at the name. “Now he is, and Malfoy’s dad is one of the top Death Eaters, remember? They’re going to feel a lot more confident now he thinks the big Dark Lord is behind him. They won’t just attack me. Not anymore.”

“You don’t know that,” Ron protested, although it was half-hearted, and Harry knew he had got through to him.

“Anyway,” Harry shrugged. “It’s not like they’ll be there all day. We’ll come back later. Or…”

“What?” Ron asked.

“Room of Requirement,” Harry said slowly. “I’ll bet we could turn that into a pitch…”

“Brilliant!” Ron exclaimed, already rushing to the castle.

.

It was a tired and hungry but happy pair of Gryffindors that joined Hermione, Ginny, and the still-pranked twins at dinner that night.

“Good practice?” Ginny asked as Ron and Harry piled food onto their plates.

“Yeah,” Ron said around a mouthful of food.

“Couldn’t do it on the pitch though,” Harry added, trying to stab his fork into the food on his plate. It took him a minute to realise that the food was moving every time he put the cutlery near it, as though repelled by it. “Slytherins were on it. Didn’t book it,” Harry explained at Ginny’s look. “So we did it in the Room of Requirements. And what the hell is up with my food?”

“Payback, Potter,” Fred suddenly piped up with a grin. “Although, don’t think you’re getting off that lightly.”

“Yeah, we’ve got more tricks up our sleeves,” George added.

“How-” Harry’s mouth gaped open in shock. “How did you…?”

“We have our ways,” Fred said mysteriously, tapping his nose.

“You might want to avoid them for a bit,” Ginny advised Harry as he continued chasing food around his plate with his fork.

“It’s the twins, Gin,” Harry groaned. “I’m doomed.”

Chapter 11 (:

See, I did say that with less distractions I'd produce a bit more. Still a shorter chapter than I'd like, but they'll build up in length again as I ease back into writing. As it is, I'm flicking through chapters of year 4 and what's posted of year 5 almost constantly, trying to remember what I've written, and what was actually written by other people... honestly, my head's just full of all different snippets from Harry Potter stories lately.

Anyway. For next chapter, if you'd be so kind, any prank ideas? It's going to be an all-out war between Harry and the twins now (I do recall making a promise sometime for more light-hearted, fun chapters!) and honestly, I'm not sure what to do, aside from the usual things like embarassing hair colours, or making Harry grow boobs or... well, you get the picture.

And, one final thing before I go. Have you all seen the new Harry Potter film? Pretty good if you ask me! Better than the last two, anyway - they missed out less this time than they did in the other two films (in my opinion, at least). Ending wasn't perfect since they didn't make as big of a fuss about the fake locket as they should have, but all in all... good film! The added chase scene at the Burrow... yeah, it wasn't in the book, but it added a nice touch. I think it was one of my favourite scenes in the film, actually! The whole cinema jumped when the hand appeared in the water - that was simply hilarious! And there were so many sniffles in the room at his death... all in all, fab experience!

18th July 09: Quick note. The reviews seem a tad messed up now, due to my deleting a previous authors note chapter... it was taking up space, not to mention being against the rules (or so I was told before?), but now the reviews have all been pushed around and gah! I've no idea how to fix it, so if the site doesn't let you review, send me a PM? A couple of people already have, and I want to say a big thanks to them for putting in that extra effort to let me know what they thought of the chapter!