Harry Potter and the Fantastic Beasts, a harry potter fanfic

FFC: Harry Potter and the Fantastic Beasts

Author: LadyBrannon

Number of Words: 4,594

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor am I affiliated with any person(s) or company(s) that has rights to the Harry Potter world. I am not receiving any type of payment for this story. I am merely playing with characters that I enjoy by an author that I respect.

Harry Potter woke to the sounds of his fellow sixth year dorm mates talking in hushed tones. The first thing that his sleep muddled brain noticed was that the voices seemed close, perhaps as close as the end of his bed. The next thing that seeped into his awakening mind was that he could hear an underlying sense of urgency and even concern in their voices. This caused a shot of adrenaline to fire from somewhere in his abdomen area straight to his brain; causing his mind to become wide awake.

Grabbing the sheets and brocade coverlet with one hand, he gave them a fling. They landed with a somewhat muffled thump on the far side of the bed, and he noticed that the hushed tones ceased immediately. He grabbed his glasses.

"Harry, that you, mate?" a voice that sounded like Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend, called.

Harry rolled up onto his knees and pulled the curtain string that had drawn the bed curtains around his bed the night before.

"Yeah," his sleep roughened voice parched out, as the curtains opened to reveal him kneeling at the end of his bed, a mere half meter from his dorm mates.

"Look, Harry," an obviously excited Neville responded, his finger directing Harry to a garishly decorated cardboard box sitting on Harry's school trunk just below him.

"What is it?" Harry asked, his face turning to look quizzically at Ron who was standing to the left of the box.

"We dunno," Ron responded with a shrug, his hand carelessly waving towards the box, "But it's making noises. Probably ought to take a look."

Harry grinned and nodded. He drew his legs out from underneath him and slipped off a side of the bed. He walked over to the box and gave it a long look. He reached out to touch it, hesitated, and then withdrew his hand.

"Harry?" Ron questioned.

"What if it is something bad? A portkey or something."

"Blimey, Harry, you sound like Hermione!" Seamus Finnegan exclaimed to the amusement of everyone in the room, including Harry.

Harry nodded in agreement with Seamus and picked up the tackily decorated box. Being that he hadn't received many gifts in his sixteen years, he found that sometimes he liked to savor opening them. He brought the box to his ear and listened for any sounds. He was surprised to hear very little, just a slight scratching noise on the bottom of the box. Perplexed, Harry put the box back on the trunk and lifted the lid off.

"Well, what is it, Harry?" Dean Thomas asked while trying to look over Seamus Finnegan's shoulder.

"Flobberworms," Harry replied.

"Flobberworms?" Dean echoed, confusion evident in his tone.

'Flobberworms," Ron confirmed for them all.

"Why would someone send you flobberworms, Harry?" Seamus asked.

"I dunno," he said as he reached into the box. "Maybe this note will tell me more."

The boys gathered closer around Harry as he untied and unrolled the parchment.

It read:

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Beasts are loveable

And so are you!

"You have an admirer, Harry!" Neville exclaimed. "Of course, they sent you flobberworms, but still, you have an admirer!"

"Ummm, Ron, you don't think this was sent by Ginny, do you?" Harry hesitantly asked, remembering an episode on Valentine's during his third year.

"I don't think so, but I can ask," Ron answered.

"No, that's all right. I guess we better get ready for breakfast. Classes start soon and we don't want to be late; we've got potion with the Slytherins." Heads nodded in hasty agreement and the gift was forgotten for a bit as pajamas were exchanged for Hogwarts' uniforms.

With a grab for their books, Harry and Ron ran down the stairs to the common room and met Hermione Granger.

"Morning," she greeted as she looked up from the heavy tome she was reading.

"Morning," the two boys greeted back, waiting for her to stuff the book in her bag and catch up with them at the portrait to head down to the Great Hall. On the way, Ron told her about the gift on Harry's trunk, what had been inside, and the cryptic note that it contained.

"I don't like it, Harry," she whispered as they sat down. "What if it is from Voldemort?" Rolling her eyes in exasperation as Ron gasped aloud.

"Then why didn't it portkey me somewhere or worse? Besides, I already thought about that myself. No, I think it is just some secret admirer." Harry said between bites of bangers. Ron helped to prove Harry's point by nodding randomly in agreement because his mouth was too full to do anything else.

Hermione caught Harry's eyes and said, "Harry, this is far from over, you mark my words."

Ron took a visible swallow, gave a hearty chuckle, and said, "Well of course it isn't over, someone is trying to make Harry like them. There's going to be more gifts because that's the whole point! Hmmm, I wonder what will be next? A new broom? A collection of sweets from Honeydukes, maybe? Some new gags from Zonko's? The ideas are endless!"

Hermione snorted and took a bite out of a piece of toast, munching a bit too harsh to be normal.

A few long, silent moments later, the trio got up and headed to potions. The day continued as breakfast had ended, silently. The trio finished up the day by completing their homework in Gryffindor's common room.

Before heading off to the dormitories Ron and Harry decided to play a game of chess. Ten minutes later after an unusually quick and vicious clobbering, Harry decided to give Ginny an opportunity to avenge him to her brother. Ginny put up a valiant effort, but, as usual, Ron was victorious once again. Upon failing to find a third opponent, Ron, Harry and Ginny all headed up to bed at a decent hour.

Harry, after changing into his pajamas, fed the flobberworms, which he had moved to sit by his bed. Drawing the curtains, he called a goodnight to his dorm mates and settled in to sleep. Hugging his pillow, he drifted off to sleep.

"Harry, that you, mate?" a voice that sounded like Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend, called.

Harry rolled up onto his knees and almost pulled the curtain string that had drawn the curtains around his bed the night before, but stopped. This felt strangely familiar, too familiar.

"Yeah…Why?" Harry asked hesitantly from behind the curtains of his bed.

"Why don't you come out here," Ron almost coyly said.

"Why would I want to do that?" Harry inquired, already dreading the response.

"We want to show you something," Seamus Finnegan said.

"No, I don't think so." Harry sternly replied.

"Yes, I think so," Harry heard Ron say as Harry's bed curtains fell open to reveal Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Ron standing around the end of his bed again.

Harry sighed, crawled to his hands and knees, and looked to the top of his school trunk. Just like the day before, there was a gaily colored box resting on the trunk. Harry dropped his head to the bed, wrapped his arms around it, and viciously kicked his legs into the bed causing his dorm mates to laugh.

"Well, Harry, don't keep us in suspense, let's see what the admirer has sent you today!" Dean Thomas said, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

Harry lifted his head and shot Dean a long, hard glare. Drawing his feet out from under him, he dropped to the floor and picked up the box. This time the box had a bit of weight to it, and Harry refrained from bringing the box to his ear. He carefully sat it back down on the trunk and lifted the lid.

Inside was the saddest looking bird Harry had ever seen. It was very small, and seemed to be a mixture of black and green in color. It was underfed and looked to be hiding in the small nest it was resting in.

"What is that thing?" Dean Thomas inquired, a hint of disgust in his voice.

"Don't you remember? Professor Grubbly-Plank went over them the beginning of last year! That is an Augurey. It's a bird that is used to determine when it is going to rain because it will make a loud wailing noise."

"A loud wailing noise? Every time it rains? In Scotland?" Harry said incredulously. Ron sniggered; then hid it behind his hand when Harry threw him a nasty glare.

Dean asked, "Harry, is there a note like yesterday?"

Harry peered further into the box, to the discomfort of the bird, and found a small piece of parchment. Carefully reaching in, he took out the parchment and opened it.

It read:

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Birds Can Soar

And So Can You!

Ron was sniggering again.

The rest of the morning played out the pretty much the same as the previous morning until they sat down for breakfast. That was when Hermione could not hold her opinions in any longer.

"Harry," she began, "I don't like this. This could be serious. Have you thought that the creatures are getting more dangerous?"

"Dangerous?" Ron drawled, "Yes, Hermione, flobberworms and a shy, wailing bird are so dangerous."

Hermione's eyes became very hard and she snarled back, "And your judgment has been so solid in the past, Ron! Harry, I really think you should take this Dumbledore." With that said, she grabbed her satchel and stormed off.

That day was spent in silence too. The one big difference: Hermione didn't sit with them in the common room to do their homework, which means they didn't get to bed at a decent hour.

"Harry, that you, mate?" a voice that sounded like Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend, called.

Harry rolled up onto his knees and almost pulled the curtain string that had drawn the curtains around his bed the night before, but stopped. This felt strangely familiar, too familiar.

"No…" Harry said from behind the curtains of his bed.

"Come on, Harry! Don't play coy. Get out here and take a look at this!" called Dean Thomas.

Harry sighed, pulled the bed curtains viciously back and looked at his school trunk in agitation. There was nothing there.

"Not there, Harry," Neville said, "It's over there." Harry's gaze followed Neville's pointing finger, not that he really needed to point it out. This box was making noises and moving.

"Well, go on, Harry," Ron urged him.

Harry walked over and carefully lifted the box. Underneath was the cutest looking dog Harry had ever seen, although he knew it wasn't really a dog; it was a Crup, and a happy one at that. It ran to Harry, jumped into his arms, and began licking earnestly. Harry couldn't help it, he began laughing!

"Where's the letter?" Seamus asked.

Harry flipped the box over and found a parchment attached to the inside. Harry gently pulled it off and read it:

Roses are red

Violets are Blue

Crups Are Loyal

And So Are You!

Harry shot Ron a glare before he started sniggering, not that it stopped him.

In the Great Hall, Harry sought Hermione out.

"Hermione," he whispered as he sat across from her.

She didn't respond, but he saw the book she had been reading lower slightly.

"Hermione, I just wanted to let you know that I got a harmless Crup this morning."

"Am I allowed to tell you what I think, or do you want me to just nod and agree, Harry," she inquired, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Is there something I am missing?" Harry asked, completely perplexed at what could be dangerous about a Crup. He looked like a cute terrier.

"I think there might be."

"Fine, I'll meet you in the library after classes today, all right?" Harry urgently responded.

"All right," she said and left for classes.

That afternoon, Harry found Hermione sitting in her usual place in the library. He took a seat across from her and waited for Hermione to finish what she was working on. She looked up and gave him a hesitant smile.

"So," Harry started, "Why do you think these gifts are so bad?"

"Because, Harry, they are getting worse in Classification. Flobberworms are X. Augureys are XX. Crups are XXX. That means tomorrow's gift will be a XXXX classified animal, and those are really dangerous, Harry. This could be some kind of trap to lure you in."

"So you're thinking Voldemort or his Death Eaters."

"Possibly or anyone that doesn't like you, really," she responded.

"But why would he or anyone else go to the trouble of putting love letters in them?" he asked her.

"Love letters? You've never mentioned love letters before."

"Yeah, each one has had a love poem with it."

'Do you still have them?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, they are by my bed."

"May I see them?"

Harry nodded again and left the library. He headed for Gryffindor Tower as fast as he could. Through the common room, up the stairs, to his school trunk and there they were. He grabbed he parchments and made for the library. Once settled, he handed them to Hermione.

She read them through. Put them on the table in front of her and began rubbing her quill along her cheek, obviously lost in thought. After a few moments, Harry couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Hermione," he hissed to get her attention and once he had it, he continued, "Well?"

"I'm thinking," she unhelpfully responded and picked the poems back up. She read through them again, sat them down again, and began the thing with the quill again. It was driving Harry mad.

He coughed. She just gave him a pointed look and returned to her pensive stance.

She repeated the process with the poem parchments a few more times and finally turned to Harry, "I've got a few ideas, but nothing concrete. I'll get back to you when I know more. I need to check out a few things, talk to a few people." That said, she gathered her belongings and headed out the library door.

Harry's call of "Hermione" earned him nothing more than a few sour glares from Madam Pince and several Ravenclaw students.

That evening while he and Ron were working on their homework, Harry kept a sharp watch out for Hermione, but he never saw her come into the common room. When at last they finished their homework, Harry felt a tight knot begin to form into his stomach. One, because Hermione wasn't back, what if she had figured something out and had gotten into trouble. And two, what if she was right, and tomorrow he woke up with a Class XXXX beast at the bottom of his bed.

He decided not to go to bed just yet. Making up some lame excuse that he could tell Ron didn't believe but decided to let go, he sat down in a chair and decided to wait a bit longer for Hermione.

Harry woke to the giggling of girls' voices. He slowly opened his eyes. His mind kicking in to the events of the day before and he was almost afraid to see what was before him. He hesitantly cracked one eye open was relieved to see a few second year girls that he recognized. Quickly opening the other eye, he realized he must have fallen asleep waiting for Hermione to return the night before.

Straightening himself in the chair, he gave the girls a quick, shy grin and started to get up. They giggled again. But as he got to his feet, one girl stopped long enough to ask him, "Aren't you going to see what that is?"

He looked at them in confusion, cocking his eyebrow. The dark haired girl that had asked him the question gave a head nod towards a table in the center of the common room. Harry turned his head, and noticed a box, about the size of a shoe box, sitting on the table by the chair he had been asleep in.

His eyes flew to the doorway that led to the girls' side of the dorms, hoping upon hope that Hermione would be there. No such luck. He walked to the box, took a deep breath, and put his hand on the lid of the box. Before he lifted the lid, he happened to glance to the left. On the ground was a rolled piece of parchment that had obviously fallen from the box. Harry bent down, picked it up, unrolled the parchment and read:

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Mermaids Sing

Boxes Can too!

Taking a cleansing, relaxing breath of relief, Harry stuffed the parchment into his pocket and lifted the lid off the box. Inside was a gorgeous silver box. On the top, engraved into the metal, was the image of a crescent moon being crossed by a lightening bolt. These images were set off by two perfect rectangles, following the lines of the box that were also engraved into the metal. Harry reached in and brought the silver container out. The girls gasped as they saw the beautiful box.

The dark haired girl moved the cardboard box out of the way, and Harry put the silver box on the table. He gently pulled open the silver box's lid and jerked back. An ear splitting screech poured from the box, causing the girls to scream and cover their ears. The lid, when Harry jerked back, fell shut, and silence reigned.

Harry felt his face flame red. He grabbed the box, mumbled some incoherent something or other, and ran up the stairs taking them two at a time to his dorm, not looking back. Once there, he sat the silver music box on his bed and thought back to fourth year and the Triwizard Tournament. When Ron returned from the showers, he asked him for the password to the Prefects bath and asked him to tell Professor Flitwick that he was feeling a bit under the weather. Ron, sensing Harry's urgency, quickly told him that the Prefects bath password was 'foxglove' and that he would let Flitwick know that he had a head cold. Harry grabbed his robe, his invisibility cloak, and the silver box. He was out of the room before Ron said, "Goodbye."

Once outside the dorm room, he threw the cloak over him, and began his quick trek to the bath. Half way there, he ran into Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, and found himself wishing for the Marauder's Map, but Mrs. Norris seemed more interested in prey than out of bound students this morning and was soon well out of Harry's way.

Outside the bath, Harry whispered the password, foxglove, and quickly slipped into the room. Dropping the cloak, robe, and silver container onto a side bench, he prepped the large bath, while trying to remember which bubbles he preferred from his last visit. Once the water was perfect, he grabbed the box and slid into the bath. Taking a deep breath, he went underwater and opened the lid to the silver box.

It sang:

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Tomorrow I'll

Come Find You!

Harry pushed himself to the surface and took a breath. Walking to the side closest to his clothes, he set the silver box on the side of the bath and the proceeded to float in the water. For some reason, all fear and concern had left. He no longer was concerned that Voldemort or a Death Eater was doing this. No, he was sure that someone liked him, as in really liked him. He wondered who it could be. It wasn't Hermione. She hadn't liked this from the beginning…Or had that been a red herring?

So was it Ginny Weasley? Goodness knows she had been crushing on him since forever and a day. And she had had the nerve in her first year to send that special Valentine. This might be right up her alley? But where would we she have gotten the money? Of course! Fred and George would have the means and they love anything with a hint of excitement, so much more likely to be Ginny than Hermione.

Could it possibly be anyone else? Cho? No, he had pretty much burned that bridge last year; so, Ginny was still the most likely candidate.

What about Hannah Abbot or Susan Bones from Hufflepuff? Hadn't he caught Susan staring at him at breakfast just last week?

Many wrinkles later, Harry got out of the bath and dried off with the provided towels, slipped into his robe and tossed his pajamas over his arm. Grabbing the silver box in the other arm, he threw the invisibility cloak over himself and left the bath.

Once back in dorm room, he put away the silver box and invisibility cloak in his trunk. After putting away the other items, he dressed for classes and grabbed his books for the rest of the day. Looking at the time, he realized he was almost late for lunch. He set off for the Great Hall.

The rest of the day, with the exception of Hermione continually asking him if he felt all right, passed pretty quietly. He went to bed that night with his homework done and a knot of tense excitement writhing in his gut. Sleep, while not quick, was deep.

The next morning, he woke and listened for the hushed tones of his dorm mates, only to hear none. He quietly threw back his covers and turned an ear to the end of the bed, straining to hear their voices, and again he heard nothing. A bit disappointed, he reached up and drew his bed curtains back to see what was at the end of his bed to reveal the identity of his secret admirer…Although, he was still pretty sure it was Ginny Weasley.

Hastily grabbing his glasses and crawling to the edge of the bed, he looked over and saw nothing. He looked to the corners and still saw nothing. He looked all around the room and nothing seemed out of order, and he also noticed that the bed curtains were still drawn on the beds of his roommates.

Harry felt an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach and realized that it was a burning disappointment. He had been looking forward to learning who his secret admirer was. He paid some attention to his previous gifts, fed them, and then decided to get ready. Grabbing his shower items, he headed to the showers to get ready for the day of classes.

By the time he returned to his room, it was a flurry of activity and soon everyone was ready to head to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry and Ron grabbed their satchels and went to meet Hermione in the common room.

They walked to the Great Hall and sat down in their usual places: Ron and Hermione facing the large wooden doors and Harry across from them. It was as Harry was placing the third banger on his plate that the commotion began.

Hermione leaned across the table and said, "Harry, I know who has been sending you those gifts. It is…"

But her last words were cut off by the banging open of the large doors of the Great Hall. Harry tried to recapture Hermione's attention to learn who had been sending him the beasts, but all hope for that was lost when Ron yelled, "I don't like spiders!" and jumped into Hermione's lap.

There was great chaos all around Harry and he finally realized that something serious must be behind him, especially from the disbelieving look on Hermione's face. It took a lot to make Hermione look like that.

He almost became frightened when he realized that Ron was repeating, "I don't like spiders!" over and over. And now, Hermione was loudly whispering over and over, "That isn't possible!"

Slowly looking to his left and right, Harry further became aware that the entire Great Hall was in a state of shock…even the professors. This could not be good, now he felt fear. Was Voldemort behind him? Should he have heeded Hermione's concern?

Taking a deep breath, he turned around and felt his mouth drop open.

There on the top of a nearly full grown acromantula was Loony Luna Lovegood and she was most definitely gazing dreamily at him.

"Hullo, Harry!" she called down to him.

"Ummm, hello," he called back.

"Did you like your gifts?" she asked.

"Ummm, yeah," he responded.

"Great! Come on, this is the last one! He's a lot of fun to ride on!"

"Ummm, Luna, acromantulas are not safe; they aren't trainable."

"That's nonsense! My dad and I met a man in Borneo this summer that has been training them for hundreds of years. Doesn't he look trained?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," he hesitantly answered.

"So, come on." She reached a hand down to lift him onto the back of the spider.

He looked over to Hermione and Ron who both vigorously shook their heads 'no.' Looking back up at Luna and then back at Ron and Hermione, he shrugged and grabbed Luna's hand. After settling himself behind Luna, she turned the acromantula around and they headed out the Great Hall and rode out into the sunset…

Not really.

They rode down to the lake where Luna had prepared breakfast. She had Spam™ sandwiches waiting for them.

They talked for a while, they laughed, and, in the end, Harry gently told her that while he liked her, he really just wanted to 'be friends.'

She gave him a dreamy smile and then winked conspiratorially at him. She leaned over and said, "That's okay, I'm just using you to make Ron jealous!"

She then got up, threw him a wave over her shoulder, and walked back into the school.