Chapter 1 – They met on the train
As the Hogwarts Express chugged through the rural English countryside, the eye of the beholder zooms into one of the compartments. There were three boys sitting there. one had light brown hair, chocolate brown eyes that smiled all the time and a kind of boyish charm that left him able to make friends easily, his name was Michael. sitting in the compartment with him were a pair of twins, whose names were Adam and Nick. Both had wiry brown hair, though one had his shaved short while the other had his grown into an impressive frizz, both were handsome in a chubby-cheeked sort of way and both had startling Green eyes.
They were sitting on the train, discussing the Giants appalling season, when a young girl walked in. this girl was quite short, had curly hair swept back across her head, wore glasses, she had big blue eyes and had a big friendly grin on her face
"Hi, my name's Claire, can I sit here? There's no other room"
"Sure you can," replied Nick "but watch out, Brock here has got herpes"
"SHUT UP Jimbo!"
"Herpes?"
"Yeah he caught it off a sheep we found in Wales"
"You can shut up too Chad"
Both twins seem to also have a vulgar sort of wit
"You guys are joking right?"
"Yeah, we joke around too much. Let me introduce myself, I'm Michael, but my friends call me Brock"
"Go Brock, I'm Adam, most people call me Chad"
"Oh yeah, and I'm nick, call me Jimbo, unfortunately I was cursed at birth"
Claire gasped "Cursed at birth? How?"
"I'm related to that," Nick pointed at Adam
Michael, Nick and Claire laughed at this.
"Ha, real nice"
"So anyway, what house do you think you'll be in?" enquired Claire
"I don't know, what are the houses?" asked Nick
"You don't know?" said Claire "you must be muggle-born"
"What's that?" said Adam, narrowing his eyes
"A muggle is a non-magical person, dumb arse," said Michael
"Shut it Brock" Adam said irritably" yeah we all are muggle born, so please tell us, what are the houses?"
"Well there are four; Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Slytherin is supposed to be for purebloods only, so I doubt you'll be put in there. Ravenclaw is for really smart students, so again I doubt you'll be put in there-"
"-Hey how do you know we aren't really smart?" Adam said angrily
"Because she took one look at your face Chad" said Michael, lightening the tone a little
"Look, do you want me to continue or what?"
"Yes continue, ignore my mentally challenged friends" said Nick airily
"Good. Where was I? Oh yes, Gryffindor. To be in Gryffindor you need to show courage and bravery. And finally Hufflepuff, to be a Hufflepuff you need to be a hard worker, which I can tell you three don't want to be."
"So which do you want to be in Claire?" asked Adam
"Gryffindor sounds by far the best."
"Well I hope we're in there then"
At this point there came an announcement saying that the train was only a few minutes away from Hogwarts
"Come on, we better change into our robes" Claire advised the three boys "do you want me to leave while you change?"
"Nah" said Adam "we'll just put the robes on top of our normal clothes"
"How do you three know each other then?"
"Well me and Adam are twins, and Mike lives along the road from us and we've been friends since play-school"
"Did the owl come as a surprise?"
"Yes it bloody well did, it was banging on my window for half an hour before I was awake enough to let it in. Then mum and dad were surprised by the letter, luckily my sisters are to young to understand what was going on"
"What about you Mich...Brock I mean, what did your parents say?"
"well they were shocked to start with, but they calmed down after a while. luckily I had sense enough to keep hold of the owl"
"why?"
"well" Adam said, looking embarrassed "we accidentally let our owl go"
Claire thought this was hilarious, Adam and Nick didn't look as impressed
"well when we phoned Mike to tell him about our letter" Adam explained "and the word flabbergasted wouldn't aptly describe how we felt when mike told me he got a letter too, so we ran over to his house and used that owl for our acceptance letters"
"that was lucky" said Claire
Then the magical announce; 'will all students please dis-embark from the train in an orderly fashion'
"that's us" said Michael as they got off the train
A huge booming voice fairly shouted "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"
"guys, I think we should be over there" Michael said
"what makes you think that, you fool? maybe it's the huge man shouting 'Firs' years! Firs' years over here!' that gave it away?"
"oh shush it nick, you need to turn off the sarcasm dude"
The quartet fell silent as they saw the fleet of small boats gently rocking on the midnight black water of the lake.
As the small fleet of vessels sat waiting there was a booming voice
"Righ' you lot, in the boats"
"In the boats" quavered a small redheaded boy
"Yer, its the only way yer get to Hogwarts in the firs' year"
At this the group of new friends all climbed into a boat and set off for the castle. After a short period of time they came within view of the castle. All were quite as they stared up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they approached the cliff upon which the castle stood.
"Ever' one duck" shouted the giant of a man as the first boats reached the cliff. At this moment the ivy hanging from the cliff lifted. The ivy had hidden a wide, dark tunnel. The boats carried them through this tunnel until they reached a wide underground harbour, where they clambered out onto the cold rocks and pebbles.
"Where do you think we are" Adam whispered
"We must be right under the castle" answered Michael
"Do you know what this reminds me of?" Continued Adam
"Oh yeah, when we ransomed our headmistress' cat" replied Nick
"You what?" exclaimed Claire
"We stole our headmistress' cat last year"
"Why?"
"Well" said Michael "Adam and Nick convinced me it was a good leaving present for her"
Claire laughed at this
"You may think its funny now, but we had to go back and clean the school over the summer." explained Adam
"Why did you have to do that?" Asked Claire
"Because she found out and phoned our parents, my mum went mental. She started throwing frozen waffles at the wall, she broke the light-switch"
Claire giggled at this point
"And you know who's idea it was?" asked Michael
"Let me guess..........." hazarded Claire
"...Nick" chorused Michael, Adam and Claire
"There's a fine line between genius and insanity" said Nick, looking hurt
The huge man interrupted their conversation at this point; he had just knocked on a large wooden door. He did so twice more.
The door swung open almost at once. A tall black haired witch in deep crimson robes stood there. She had a very stern face
"Ah, Hagrid, you may go" said the witch
"I'll be seein' you Professor Mcgonagall" said the newly named giant, Hagrid
"You're not going to the feast? It would be a shame for the 'Care of Magical creatures' seat to go empty" said Mcgonagall, sounding concerned
"Its alrigh' professor, I'll be along in a mo'. I got some kelpies givin' me some problems down by the lake" was all he replied, at this he walked through the door
"Welcome to Hogwarts" Professor Mcgonagall said "The start of term banquet is about to begin, but before this happens you need to be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is an important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you becomes a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you wait."
At this she looked down at Adam and Nicks robes and frowned.
A short, black haired witch in dark make-up came up to the four friends
"She seemed a bit annoyed with you didn't she?"
"Yeah" said Adam "she doesn't seem to realise why I look like this"
"Why's that?" asked the girl
"Well" explained nick "we couldn't be arsed to look good, while on the other hand you look spectacular"
The girl laughed at this, but blushed all the same
"Nick" said Michael "we've had this conversation before, and what did I say? I said behave"
The girl giggled
"that's ok," said the girl, smiling at nick " I can take a compliment." she stuck her hand out to Nick "my names Sacha, Sacha Brinkley"
Nick took her hand and kissed it, smiling in a devilish way.
Sacha blushed again.
Michael slapped him upside the head and muttered ''Easy, Romeo. Its not Christmas yet''
Nick looked slightly confused ''Christmas?''
''Yeah''
''Why Christmas?''
''No reason, but you stopped being romantic and soppy, I prefer it when your sarcastic''
At this point Mcgonagall walked back into the room.
"The Sorting is about to start, please follow me.
"Follow me please, the sorting is about to begin" With that, Professor McGonagall turned on her heel - pausing slightly to frown again at Adam and Nick - then lead the way to the doors of the Main Hall. Again she stopped, rather abruptly, causing a small boy with straight brown hair to walk into the back of her, and said "I am going to fetch the Sorting Hat, wait here momentarily" She walked off into a room adjoining the Entrance Hall, and returned moments later with a grubby old hat sitting on a three-legged stool.
With a reproving look at the mousy boy who had walked into her, she led the way into the Main Hall. She motioned for the first years to wait in the eves, then placed the stool in the centre of the cavernous room and took a roll of parchment out of the sleeve of her robe. "When I call your name, go the Sorting Hat and place it on your head." McGonagall seemed to be waiting for something, and she was not kept long. Shortly after she finished, the Sorting Hat burst into song.
"A thousand years or more ago,
When I was newly sewn,
There lived four wizards of renown,
Whose names are still well known:
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,
Shrew Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,
They hatched a daring plan
To educate young sorcerers
Thus Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders
Formed their own house, for each
Did value different virtues
In the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, Hard workers were
Most worthy of admission
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide
Their favourites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones
When they were dead and gone?
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
The founders put some brains in me
So I could chose instead!
Now slip me snug about your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell where you belong!"
The hall erupted into applause, including those waiting in the eves
"You just have to put the hat on!" whispered the mousy haired boy "My brother kept going of about battling a chimera!" He looked quite relieved
It was only now that McGonagall unfurled the roll of parchment in her hands, and she began to read.
"Ackerly, Stewart!" McGonagall called out
"Ravenclaw!" shouted the Hat
At these words the Ravenclaw table started to clap and cheer
"Baddock, Malcolm!"
"Slytherin!"
The Slytherin table clapped Malcolm as he sat down
"Branstone, Eleanor!"
"Hufflepuff!" The Hufflepuff table fairly exploded
"Brinkley, Sacha!" Sacha walked out and sat on the stool, put the hat on and waited. A voice in her ear said, "Where should I put you? Choices, choices Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?" Not Slytherin! Sacha shouted in her mind "not Slytherin eh? Well you have the right qualities for both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, which shall it be? Sacha thought Gryffindor on a impulse. "OK then, Gryffindor!" shouted the hat. Sacha went and sat down at the Gryffindor table
"Byrne, Michelle!"
"Slytherin!"
"Cauldwell, Owen!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Charman, Adam!" At these words Adam strode out into the hall and tried to keep the panic off of his face. He sat down on the stool and put the hat on his head, he could feel the eyes of the hall on him as a voice said in his ear
"Now where should we put you? Hufflepuff? No, too lazy and too mischievous. Oh my there's bravery in you, and courage. Better be Gryffindor!" the hat shouted the last word, and the Gryffindor table exploded. Adam wandered over to the Gryffindor table and sat in an empty seat next to Sacha.
"Congratulations Adam" Sacha said to Adam and grinned
"The same to you" said Adam, and grinned back at her
"Charman, Nick!" Shouted McGonagall, oh no, not more twins! And these two look worse than the Weasleys! She thought
At this Nick stalked up to the stool, sat down and put the hat on, then to his complete surprise, a voice next to his ear said
"Ah, another Charman. You're mischievous like your brother, but cynical. You have the same courage and bravery. But a cynic I see, well...that can lead to a lonely life, you better go in Gryffindor!" Nick then ambled over towards the Gryffindor table and moved to sit next to Sacha giving her a wink as he sat down. She blushed
"I seem to make you blush a lot don't I?" He enquired, with a grin "Sign of a perfect relationship - My stunning good looks and rapier-like wit, and your intelligent conversation"
Sacha giggled, and was about to reply when Adam hissed something about Claire. Nick was too busy looking at Sacha to notice this, but he looked up and made an absent comment about Claire, and said a cheery hello to a girl with long limbs and pointed ears
"Nick Charman, Comical Genius, at your service" Taking his eyes off Sacha to say to the Elfish girl.
"Fiona Crees, shy and retiring, at yours" and Nick laughed
"Gudgeon, Claire" Came McGonagall's voice interrupted their thoughts
Adam looked on with apprehension, hoping that Claire would be sorted into Gryffindor, And after a small pause, the Sorting Hat shouted Gryffindor. To himself, he cheered the hardest, and looked happy when Claire came and sat across from him.
Nick interrupted his thoughts by saying "All that's left is Brock, hope he gets in"
"Not getting monosyllabic on us are we, Nick?" Chided Adam
"Hush, Chad, otherwise it's a rendition of Mr. Boot"
"Mr Boot?" Enquired Fiona
"It's where Adam squeals 'Oh no, Mr. Boot! Why are you heading towards my bottom at high speed?'"
Everyone laughed at this, then looked back towards the sorting as 'Shawe, Michael' was called. Looking extremely apprehensive, Michael walked up and put the Sorting Hat on his head. A second later, Michael was sorted into Gryffindor
"Way to go, Brockface!" shouted Sacha
"Brockface? Har de har. She's turning into you Jimbo. Now, onto more important things; where is the food?"
"Standing around looking like you need new panties is hungry work isn't it Brock? Whoop, I'm not supposed to mention the panties thing am I? I'm a bad, bad man"
Michael made a face and mumbled something that sounded like 'Yid!'
Nick did a good impression of looking innocent "I'll pretend I didn't hear that, Brockface"
He paused.
"Where is the food?" Turning around for a moment to wink at a couple of Ravenclaw first years, he was surprised when Fiona said
"Right in front of you"
"It is?" he put on a highly fake British accent and gleefully shouted "jolly good show old chap!" The hall went quiet for a moment while everyone looked at him, until he stood on his chair and waved, then most people laughed and went back to eating.
"Jimbo?" asked Michael
"Yes, mon ami?" replied Nick
"I know you're a bit of an idiot, but try not to show it on the first night at school. Otherwise what are you going to do tomorrow?"
"Good point, me lad" This time aping a broad Yorkshire accent.
Sacha, Claire and Fiona laughed, Michael and Adam were trying to pretend they didn't know Nick, which made Nick grin and tweak Michael's cheeks
"Awe, is little Mikey missing being called handsome?"
"I'm ashamed to call you my brother" put in Adam, smiling
"True, but mistake at birth can be rectified" Nick flashed a smile that made him look like a shark.
Adam made a theatrical gulp.
When they had finished their meals, and in the case of Michael and Nick, the rest of anything uneaten, Professor Dumbledore called for the Prefects to take the First Years and the rest of the other houses to their dormitories. So it was with a glad heart that Nick, Adam and Michael climbed up the staircases to the Gryffindor Tower with their new friends, discussing what lessons sounded the best, and what pranks they could pull on prefects.
End of Chapter
Chapter Two - Owl Droppings
A pillow burst through the mist that was keeping Adam swimming in a giant pitcher of liquid chocolate and hit him full on the head, bringing him into groggy acceptance that yes, the sun was shining, and yes, he was awake.
"Wake up Chad! Its 6 am and a beautiful day!" Words that made his stomach turn, Adam glared at Michael.
"6 am on a Saturday you sugar crazed maniac" he muttered
"I thought we could coast the place out, find our way around, sort of thing" Michael was prone to stupid things like this.
"It's a good idea, though...wake up Jimbo will you?"
Nick was treated to the same procedure
"All right, I'm up. Have you two noticed something?"
"What's that?" Adam and Michael asked at the same time
"I haven't been up at 6 am on a Saturday in six years. I don't think this is a good time to start. It's not appreciated" He glared at Michael as well
"Wait until you get homework"
"I can't wait!" He said in a sarcastic voice "And someone turn that -" He pointed out of the window "- light off. It offends me" He affected highly regal tones while saying this.
They stopped when they heard laughter from across the room, it was coming from the other two boys in their dormitory. Michael was first to offer his name, to the mousy haired boy who had walked into the back of McGonagall the night before, who turned out to be called Ryan Kelly.
"Nicely done last night, Kelly" said Nick
"You mean walking into McGonagall?" He asked
"Yeah. That. Awfully good of you, old bean" Nick returned to the Patrician accent
Michael moaned in abject horror.
"What is it?" Asked the other boy, who was called Tom Mansfield, looking concerned
"Nothing, I just realised something"
"What's that?" Asked Ryan, who looked equally concerned
"Just that Nick is going to make it his personal duty to annoy seven shades of crap out of McGonagall for the next seven years"
"You've got that right" Said Nick, flashing his trademark shark grin
Everyone laughed, except Michael, who was looking slightly pale
"You don't understand" Michael continued "It was like this when we were at Muggle school, Nick drove our Headmistress round the bend. McGonagall is going to go grey early"
"With a little help from you and me, Brock" Adam put in "Don't forget you agree to take part in his half-mad schemes and ideas"
Looking like this was the highest compliment possible, Nick grinned and said "If I wasn't around, you two would be bored out of your skulls, I mean that"
Tom and Ryan looked at each other, bemused, then Tom put in; "This is going to be an interesting year"
Meanwhile in the Girls dormitory, the same scene was being played out. Except in this case, not because of the whims of a sugar-crazed maniac, but of their own violation.
There were yawns and groans coming from the beds, until the curtains were thrown back and a voice, which was way to cheerful for 6 am, exclaimed
"Good morning everyone, how about a spot of breakfast?"
Sacha sat up and asked "what time is it Fiona?"
"6 am" she replied
"6 am, a wonderful time of the morning, the birds are singing and the sun is shining. We should be glad we're alive" a sarcastic voice put in
"Calm down it's not her fault she's hyper" Claire said, finally joining the conversation
"Anyway, my name's Diana. I don't think we met last night"
"Hey, my names Claire, this is Sacha and this is Fiona"
"Back to the important things" Diana said "lets go get some breakfast"
"You know something Diana" Sacha said thoughtfully "I know someone who you'd like to meet"
With this they got dressed and went down into the common room.
When they walked into the common room, they were greeted by what seemed to be a five-man submission match; Ryan was squealing; Nick was giggling and shouting at the top of his voice 'stop it! Its not Christmas!'; Adam and Tom were poking Michael in the kidneys; who in turn was ruffling the hair of both. They stopped when they realised that they had an audience. Everyone but Nick and Ryan blushed and looked away, but Nick and Ryan asked at the same time if the girls wanted to join. All nine laughed.
This prompted Diana to say "No thanks, I'd rather have breakfast" Michael looked up at this, and gave Diana a funny look.
"Don't you mean your name is D-licous?" asked Michael. Diana blushed and giggled.
"Brock, lets just go get breakfast before I gag" Nick put in.
All nine trooped down to breakfast.
After being fed and watered on toast and crumpets, The Nine, as they had decided to call themselves, started to explore the castle.
"This place is a maze" remarked Adam
"Tell me about it" replied Tom
"I am" was all he said
"Oh hush, you two" chided Nick in his grandfatherly voice "Go and play like good children"
They laughed, but their laugh was interrupted by an argument going on just outside the library. A tall red haired 5th Gryffindor year was telling a silver haired 5th year Slytherin to shove off.
Nick looked at Adam and showed his shark grin. They both looked at Michael.
"Don't" said Michael said, but in a voice that showed that he wouldn't stop Nick from doing what he was planning to do.
"Don't what?" asked Tom
"I know what Nick and Adam are planning, sit back and enjoy the show, so to speak" he replied
Nick flashed the shark grin, and walked up to the Slytherin, and tapped him on the arm. He looked around and down at the small first year, giving him a look that suggested that they were dirt on his robes 'What do you want?'
Nick continued tapping his arm and said "Excuse me, but do you have something on your head?"
The Slytherin reached up, and felt the top of his head "No I don't, should I have?" He sneered back
"Oh, nothing"
The three fifth year Gryffindor's were looking quite bemused at this strange behaviour.
At that moment, Adam wandered over, he pointed at the Slytherin's head and asked "What's that on his head?"
"He says he doesn't have anything on his head"
"Oh"
Michael wandered over. "Why does he have owl crap on his head?"
The three fifth Gryffindor's looked even more confused.
The Slytherin was looking lost for words, shocked at the audacity of these first years.
"I think that's his natural hair colour" supplied Nick
"Oh" Michael answered, then turned to the Slytherin "Have you thought of hair dye? A black stripe up the middle would make it look like a skunk, instead of it smelling like one"
When he said this, The Nine laughed loudly, joined by the three Gryffindor fifth years. The Slytherin flushed, then stalked off casting a murderous glance at Michael, Nick and Adam. Nick flashed his shark grin at the Slytherin's retreating back.
"Who are you?" Asked the brown haired girl "Not that I mind who you are, just that I've never seen one, let alone three, first years make a Slytherin look like a complete fool"
"We're-" started Nick
"-Triplets-" supplied Adam
"-He's-" Nick said, pointing at Michael
"-Adopted" Finished Michael
The three fifth year Gryffindor's laughed.
"Seriously, who are you guys?" Asked the tall red-haired boy
"I'm Nick, this is Adam" He pointed at Adam "And this Michael. We're not triplets, that's just what we tell people. No offence meant, but who are you?"
"I'm Hermione Granger" She pointed at the red-haired boy "this is Ron Weasley" She pointed at the black haired boy "And this is Harry Potter" Harry seemed to be waiting for something from the three boys.
When he didn't get it, he said "It's nice to meet people who don't stare at my scar constantly"
"What scar?" Asked Adam
Harry moved his fringe aside, revealing a thin scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his forehead
"Cool!" exclaimed Adam, Nick and Michael "How did you get it?" asked Nick
"You don't know?" Asked a surprised Hermione
"Nope, we're Muggle-born" Replied Nick
"Anyway," Said Harry, interrupting Hermione "It's a Curse Scar"
"I've got a scar shaped like a knob on my knee" Supplied Nick. He flashed a smile that suggested he wasn't talking about doorknobs.
"Trust Nick to lower the tone of the conversation" Said Michael
"Hush, Brock, otherwise Mr. Boot will visit" Replied Nick
Adam laughed.
"You guys are in Gryffindor right?" Asked Ron
"And proud of it" Chorused Adam, Nick and Michael
"Cool, but watch out for Malfoy" Seeing the puzzled looks facing him "He's the bloke you just humiliated"
"Why?" Asked Michael
"His dad is a Death Eater, and I bet he is too"
"Nifty. But we can look after ourselves. We have to go, our friends are starting to get twitchy" Nick gestured over to the rest of The Nine, and winked at Sacha, she smiled back
"See you sometime" Said Harry, as Adam, Nick and Michael walked over to The Nine. Harry, Hermione and Ron walked off.
"Slytherin humiliated, made new friends. Winked at pretty girl. Got smiled at. My job is done"
"Where to next?" Asked Ryan
"uhh...we could explore the grounds?" Asked Sacha
"Sounds like a good idea to me" Put in Nick
Claire gave a false cough that sounded a lot like "Suck up!"
"don't worry about it" Adam said, putting an arm around Claire "Now, can anyone remember where the entrance hall is?"
End of Chapter
Chapter Three – Flipendo
As it was Adam's turn to wake up Nick on Monday, he thought the best way was to lick his finger and insert it into Nick's ear.
It worked like a charm.
Tom and Ryan awoke to Nick screaming about a tentacle in his ear, and asked groggily what was trying to kill somebody. By this time, Nick had realised that there was no tentacle nibbling on his ear, and was eagerly looking forward to breakfast. Tom, on the other hand, was looking forward to their first lesson at Hogwarts. Typical.
Pulling on their robes, the five boys went down to breakfast, chattering about what their first lesson would be. As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Claire and the rest of the Gryffindor girls, who were also wondering what their first lesson would be, joined them. They were laughing at Michael and Nick, who were flicking bits of toast at Adam, when they were interrupted by a flight of owls dropping a piece of parchment in front of all the new Gryffindor's.
"Timetables!" Exclaimed Tom, who was the first to look at his parchment
"What's our first lesson?" Asked Adam, craning over to look at Tom's timetable
"Why not look at yours?" Said Nick in a sarcastic tone of voice "It's right in front of you"
Adam, who was trying to rip the piece of parchment out of Tom's hands, halted in mid-motion and looked at his timetable as if seeing it for the first time, which from the look on his face, it was. "Oh yeah." Was all he said, and promptly fell asleep in his breakfast.
"Look's like he isn't a morning type of person" Remarked Diana
"Yeah" Replied Nick "I on the other hand, was made for mornings"
Michael snorted.
Nick looked over at him and said "What?"
"Made for morning's my arse" He laughed "I have to slap you with a towel most mornings"
Nick looked affronted "How dare you!" He shook a finger at Michael's face, then smiled "I know"
Fiona frowned and asked "But you didn't know each other before Hogwarts. No-one did"
Michael had the answer "But we did, I pretty much lived round their house" He pointed at the prostrate Adam, who was being given a jam moustache by Nick "I slept in their spare bedroom a lot, and most mornings I was awake before they were"
Nick was going about painting the jam moustache like it was an art form, but he paused to say "It's true you know, but it was all good, He's" he pointed at Michael with his knife "A good cook. But never eat his scrambled eggs"
"Why?" Asked Ryan
Nick flashed his shark grin and said "You don't want to know"
Michael snorted into his scrambled eggs again
"What is it now?" Said Nick
"Sorry. I just remembered the time you made naked snow angels in next door's garden"
Nick laughed too, and looked down with false modesty "See? I'm famous. He took pictures and they 'accidentally' found their way into our Muggle School's newspaper. Very funny"
Tom looked at his watch and remarked that they should be heading towards their first lesson, which would be Defence Against Dark Arts. He looked excited
As they left the Hall, Nick poked him in the kidney and teased "Calm down, or you'll strain something"
The Gryffindor's were anxiously waiting outside the Defence classroom on the third floor for their teacher.
"Who is our teacher, anyway? If he's not here in fifteen minutes I vote we leave" said Nick
"That would not be appreciated, Mr....?" Said the professor, as he came round the corner
"Charman, sir. Bet you can't tell which one is which" he replied with an impish grin
"I can see what you mean, Mr. Charman" he had obviously noticed Adam and smiled "If you would all be so kind as to move inside the classroom? Filch will probably be around in a minute moaning about messy first years cluttering up his corridors"
As they moved into the classroom, Adam noticed through his half sleepy haze that the Professor looked gaunt and sleep-deprived. Thoughts about sleepy teachers were banished from his head when he noticed a large cage with a tablecloth over it
The Gryffindor's all sat behind desks and started to get their parchment, books and quills out
"You won't be needing those, today is a practical lesson" he waited until after the students had got up and were standing at the rear of the classroom before gesturing and sweeping the tables and chairs against the wall. "My name is Professor Lupin, and I will be teaching Defence Against Dark Arts this year, as the name is that obvious, I won't give you a description of the course as it is outlined in the front of your textbooks. A measure of fun might be included in this lesson, but only if you master the necessary spell required, so I expect you will be doing that tomorrow"
The Gryffindor's looked excited
"Now, today you will be practising the Flipendo Charm. The Flipendo spell is a very basic combination of a freezing and banishing charm. It is extremely useful against small Dark creatures, and I will expect you to be able to tell me which by tomorrow's lesson."
The excited looks turned downcast at the mention of homework. Professor Lupin merely smiled.
"Now, to successfully cast the Flipendo Charm, you have to fix you mind on a specific shape, and say Flipendo. This is not as easy as it seems, as you have to maintain concentration on the aforementioned shape for a number of seconds. This is the shape needed to perform the spell" he muttered something under his breath and traced his wand in a swirl shape. The classed 'oohed' "Now, you try. Remember; focus on the shape, keep in the mind-set"
"The Gryffindor's looked a little dubious, but determined nonetheless. They all took out their wands and were soon shouting 'FLIPENDO!' as loudly as possible. As it turned out, Tom was the first one to succeed, sending a burst of bright gold cloud out of the tip of his wand. He received a mock-glare from Nick, whose wand was only fizzing gold .
"Well done! What is your name again?" Lupin asked Tom
"Tom Mansfield, Professor" Tom replied
"5 points to Gryffindor, Mr. Mansfield" Tom glowed with pride
Soon, the whole class was sending streams of gold cloud out of their wand tips, and Lupin announced that he was going to demonstrate the effect that the Flipendo Charm had on small Dark Creatures.
"Now watch carefully, class" Lupin muttered something, and levitated the tablecloth off of the cage, revealing a short stocky creature greatly resembling a potato. "This is a Gnome, pay attention, because I just helped you with your homework."
"Good" muttered Nick to Michael "I don't want to read the book"
Lupin shot red sparks at the lock of the cage, releasing the Gnome in a tumble on the floor. It got up, noticed Lupin and immediately scampered towards him with the air of something about to go about the business of chewing someone's leg. Lupin waited until it was within three feet before saying Flipendo in a bored voice. The effect was immediate, the Gnome froze in mid-stride and flew back against the wall.
"Cool!" exclaimed Ryan, as the rest of the class cheered.
"That ends today's lesson, you are dismissed."
End of Chapter
Chapter Four - Medusa and Redhead
The next day, contrary to popular belief, Nick had done his Defence homework, and was triumphantly listing the small dark creatures to Ryan. This was okay until he had finished, and Ryan told him he hadn't done his homework.
"What have we got first this morning?" asked Adam, who was looking a lot more awake than was thought possible
"Double potions with Slytherin" Tom promptly put in
Nick gave Tom an accusing glare "Have you memorised your timetable?"
"Yes" Tom looked unashamed at this.
"Oh hush you two, Potions starts in a minute" chided Sacha
Nick stuck his tongue out at her, but got up all the same. "Which way to Potions? Lead the way, mon ami" he motioned for Tom to lead the way, and headed towards the dungeons
Professor Snape strode into the dungeon in a whirl of his black robes. The quiet chatter that was filling the room before his arrival vanished immediately.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he spoke in barely more than a whisper, and his black eyes roamed the room, making it looked like he was picking targets from the students. The class was silent with bated breath as he spoke "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach"
Silence followed this little speech, and Nick exchanged amused looks with Michael, while Tom looked so eager to prove he was in no way a dunderhead that he was about to erupt upwards as if on a rocket.
"Now, in today's lesson you will be learning how to mix a simple Correction Potion. Turn to page 12 in your textbooks, where you will find the ingredients list and instructions for making the potion. Ingredients are at the front of the classroom. Two to a cauldron" Snape looked around "Well? What are you waiting for?" he snapped.
As the class divided into pairs, Snape commented "Incidentally, I expect a roll of parchment on the uses of Correction Potions by our next lesson"
The class groaned.
"One point from Gryffindor for impudent behaviour. Be quiet and be glad that isn't more. Get on with your potion"
The Slytherin's sniggered, Adam noticed two girls laughing the hardest. One was quite short, with shocking red hair, the other slightly bigger than her friend, both stared back at him with expressions of disdain.
"You see those two girls over there?" Adam whispered to Michael over the cauldron
"Yeah" Michael replied "What about them?"
"I don't like the look of them, they're looking at me as if I was a stain on their robes"
"You are. Anyway, what are we going to do about it, we can't just go up to them an ask them to stop"
"We can go one better"
"Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of this"
"You will, I'll be needing help, we can ask the others over lunch"
"Ask them what?"
"You'll see"
Nick leaned over "What are you to whispering about"
"Adam's going to do something stupid" replied Michael
"Oh good! It was getting boring in here" exclaimed Nick
"Not now you moron, later when Snape can't take points off of us" whispered Adam hotly "Get back to your potion before you get us into trouble"
"Moi?" Nick tried to look innocent, and failed, but went back to work with on his potion with Sacha anyway
When they had finished Potions, and headed off to the library for break. Digging into his bag for his Defence textbook, Nick spoke around a mouthful of quill to ask "So what were you two scheming about in Potions? I notice your potion wasn't up to scratch, unlike mine" he looked smug
"It wasn't you that made the potion, it was Sacha who did that potion, so don't act all superior" retorted Ryan, who was listening to their conversation.
Nick looked hurt "I can't help the way I was made, I am superior!"
"Oh come on, you were doing everything she said" Put in Adam
"True" he looked unashamed. Everyone turned back to reading "So what were you talking about?"
"You know those two girls that were looking at me like I'm slime on the bottom of their robes"
"You are" interrupted Nick
"That's what I said" laughed Michael
"Hush up you two" he scolded "What was I talking about?"
"How insignificant you are" said Michael
"Yeah" agreed Nick
"No I wasn't. Anyway, I was saying that we should take those two down a peg or two"
A decidedly mischievous look crept into Nick's eyes when Adam said this, but was interrupted by Tom saying that they had to go to Defence Against Dark Arts. Michael sighed as they got up
"You have done your homework haven't you?" he asked Nick
"Of course I have! I always do my homework" Nick said
"Yeah yeah, you could have fooled me" replied Michael
"You lack of faith disturbs me" Nick started to breath deeply "Michael . . . I am your father"
"Oh shut up" but he laughed anyway. "lets move a little faster shall we? The lesson is about to start"
"Welcome back to Defence Against Dark Arts" he paused "I trust you have all done your homework?"
A chorus of 'Yes, Professor's greeted him
"Good! Would someone like to tell me about Knarl's?" Tom's hand shot up straight away, but others, such as Ryan's were much more tentative. Nick looked like he was trying to be invisible, so far it wasn't working "Mr. Charman looks like he is attempting to dig his way out of the room using only his shoulder blades. Perhaps he would care to enlighten us" It wasn't a question. Obviously he didn't like those who neglected his homework
"The Knarl is found in northern Europe and America, and is usually mistaken for a hedgehog by Muggles. The two are indeed indistinguishable except for one important behavioural difference: if food is left out in the garden for a hedgehog, it will accept and enjoy the gift: if food is left out for a Knarl, on the other hand, it will assume that the householder is attempting to lure it into a trap and savage the householders garden plants and ornaments." Nick's voice was unemotional, and it sounded like he was quoting from somewhere
"Well done Mr. Charman, 10 points to Gryffindor; the Knarl isn't listed in the textbook. Although next time could you put your hand up?" he smiled at the class
Nick looked smug and flashed his shark grin.
"Perhaps you could tell us about Gnomes Mr. Kelly?"
The rest of the class covered the other creatures
"Now, I asked about Knarl's for two reason's" he smiled at the class again "One, they weren't listed in the text book. Two, you will be using Flipendo on them" a murmur of excitement ran through the class "Knarl's are relatively harmless, which is why you will be practising on them today" Ryan, who was looking apprehensive, gave a sigh of relief "It's OK Mr. Kelly, they won't hurt you. Just remember the spell and everything will be fine" it was clear that he was trying to make Ryan feel better. "Now, lets try Flipendo one last time before I let the Knarl's out, after me class" He took out his wand
"Flipendo!" Roared the class, and 9 streams of gold incandescence erupted out of the tips of 9 wands, vanishing in little pops as they hit the wall
"Very good class, 5 points for Gryffindor" he paused "I will be releasing the Knarl's now"
He pointed at the cage in the corner with his wand, the locked the door on the cage sprang open and nine small hedgehog-like creatures popped out. They look bemusedly about until they all spotted the students they got a look of hatred in their eyes and starting shuffling towards them.
"You may cast when you want class" declared Lupin
Ryan, who looked like he wanted to spare the small creatures, cast Flipendo, blasting the Knarl back against the wall
Tom cast his about the same time, with similar effects. Adam and Michael followed his example
Nick waited till his was within two feet and lazily whispered "Flipendo" blasting the Knarl into the air and it landed with a crash on top of the cage, toppling it over
"Well done, 1 point to Gryffindor for each person who cast Flipendo successfully" Lupin smiled at the class before ushering them out "No homework set this week" he added on an afterthought
The Gryffindor's cheered as they left the room and hurried off to lunch
End of Chapter
Chapter Five – Lessons In Lunacy
Nick was laying in bed thinking, he would assure you that this is only because he can't sleep, but he was really trying to think up something to do to those two girls from Potions. Suddenly, he hit upon and idea, and his head hit upon the crossbeam of his bed when he suddenly sat up.
"BUGGER!" he fairly shouted
"Wha'?" came four sleepy replies
"Wake up you lot, we've got work to do"
Michael, who was sufficiently awake for half-hearted conversation asked "What work can we do at one in the morning?"
A strange glow came into Nick's eyes as he breathed "Pranks" although you couldn't see it in the darkness. He was grinning too. But that wasn't obvious to the casual observer
"So what has your insanity thrown up this time?" asked Michael, who was the only other person capable of coherent speech
Nick muttered "Lumos" and light glowed from the tip of his wand "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times.."
"... There's a fine line between genius and insanity. And your three steps to the left" retorted Michael in a bored voice "So what's this prank then Nick? It better be a good one, I won't remind you how early it is"
"You just did! Heh! Uh...anyway...this prank is so good it couldn't wait. Actually, it has to wait because it's pretty complicated, it involves a couple of normal pranks bundled up into one huge super prank"
"whose the target?" Tom asked sleepily, he was obviously he was about ninety times dumber when he was sleepy
"Oh who could it possibly be? I mean who were we going on about yesterday?" Adam sounded irritated at this foolishness
"oh yeah, what are we gonna do?" Tom asked, he seemed to be waking up a little
"This is where my twisted genius comes in. This is how its gonna go down, we do a hair changing potion, a tickling charm ask them their names."
"OK" Michael said "I understand the potion and the charm, but the finding out of their names confuses me"
"Don't worry about what it means, just find out what it means. Time to get the Mojo out" Nick ordered in a highly suspect tone
"Now time for bed, we'll sort it out in the morning"
Next morning they met the rest of The Nine in the common room and went down to breakfast. The two girls were sitting at the Slytherin table and munching on food.
After filling the girls in on the plan Nick declared
"Right people Stage One, Mike you'll be pleased to know that this stage falls entirely upon your shoulders"
"Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of this, what's stage one and what do I have to do?" Michael asked uncertainly
"don't worry" Nick said, as he patted Michael on the back "All you have to do is find out their names"
"Oh" Michael sounded relieved "is that all? Wait, how the hell am I gonna go that?"
"Simple, let out the Mojo" he flashed that trade-mark shark grin
"What's this 'Mojo'?" Diana asked curiously
"You really don't want to know, its a sickening sight" Adam managed to keep a straight face while he said this
"Yeah, but what is it" Sacha asked this time, she sounded a bit annoyed
"hush child, wait and see" Nick said kindly
At this Michael got up and wandered over to the Slytherin table, specifically the red-haired girls seat. The effect was electric; she smiled, blushed a little and seemed very different to the girl who glared at Adam the day before.
Michael came back to the Gryffindor table with a very smug look on his face
"How did it go?" asked Ryan?
"Like a charm. Her name's Michelle, and her friend is called Kim"
"See? I told you it would work!" exclaimed Nick, looking very superior "Stage One completed"
"What's Stage Two?" asked Ryan "And will it be dangerous"
"Dangerous? Moi?! I'm shocked and upset Mr. Kelly, would I put us in danger?"
"Yes" said Michael and Adam at once "You would, so don't try and act innocent" finished Michael "What is Stage Two?"
"You'll have to wait until lunch to find out, I need to find a Potion recipe, so Stage Two will involve Sacha and myself" he turned to Sacha "You up for it?"
"Yes" was all she replied
"Good, come with me to the Library, many hands make light work" he got up, Sacha followed suit "See you guys at lunch" he turned to leave
He stopped.
"Wait ... I've forgotten something ... Ah! That was it! Adam, you'll need to be able to perform the Alohamora Charm by Wednesday you up to it?"
"Yup, if you tell us what this is about"
"No conditions, but I will tell you at lunch. Tom, Fiona??"
"Yes?"
"You're good at defence right?"
"The best" they laughed
"Shush it. Can you try and learn a Stunning Spell?"
"Are you crazy?"
"Yes. I'll see you at lunch" He turned and left, taking a very confused Sacha with him
"What's up with him?" asked a bemused Ryan
"He gets like this when he's about to pull a spectacular prank off, he's just focused at what he's doing" informed Adam "I need to go get my Charm's books. I need to get some more advanced books off of Flitwick" he got up and left as well
"Good thing it's Saturday, otherwise we'd never get this done" remarked Michael
"We might as well do our homework" laughed Diana
"Yeah" He got up "You coming?"
"Okies" the rest of them got up and left the Hall with him.
Sitting next to Sacha in the Library, surrounded by books, Nick paused to remark "I'm going to skip lunch, I still haven't found that potion"
Sacha laughed "Can't make you do that! You'd waste away"
Nick swayed with imaginary pain "I know, wasting away, shattered husk of the boy I once was"
She kept laughing "No need to skip lunch anyway, I've found the potion" scanning the list of ingredients "This is simple, everything we need is in our Potion stores"
"Simple for you maybe, not for us mere mortals" he stuck his tongue out at her "I'll get the book out, meet me down in the Hall in a minute OK?"
"Yup! See you in a minute" She twirled and left the Library
Madam Pince glowered at him and warned that if the book was damaged his head would find its way onto a anvil. He left the Library and headed down to the Hall
Adam waited for a second before knocking on Flitwicks's door
"Come in" the voice was muffled but recognisable as that of Professor Flitwick
Adam opened the door, and said "Hello Professor"
"Ah, Mr. Charman, is there something I can help you with?"
"Uh...yes there is Professor, err...I'm really interested in Charms, and I was wondering if I could have some more advanced books, if that's possible?"
"Of course it is Mr. Charman, I like to encourage those interested in the subject. Perhaps these would be sufficient" He pointed his wand at a stack of three books and levitated them into Adam's waiting hands "Come back if you need more, Good Day Mr. Charman" he went back marking essays
Adam took the books back to his dormitory and started reading through the books. Eventually he found what he wanted and headed down to the Hall
Nick, as it turned out, was the last down to the hall, and The Nine all looked up expectantly when he came in.
"Are you finally going to tell us what this is all about?"
"I can tell you bits of it. I actually haven't figured out all of it." He replied, digging into a sandwich
"What have we got ourselves into?" Adam asked Michael
"Do you want me to tell you or not?" Nick scolded
"Ja, mien fuhrer" replied Michael. Nick told him not to forget to salute next time
"Are you going to tell us, or are we never going to find out?" Asked Sacha
"Yes I am. But first, do you all have what you need? Adam? Tom and Fiona? I already know Sacha does, I've got the book in my dormitory by the way"
"I have" said Adam "I got the books I need off Flitwick"
"We did too, they had 100 hexes and charms to fool your friends in the library, and so we got that"
"Good." He paused and looked at them "This is going to be so great! Anyway, what I planned to do was a number of things: 1) Use Hair Dye Potion" he pointed towards Sacha "A lovely rainbow colouring" everyone laughed "2)Stun some Plimpies and put them in their beds" he pointed towards Fiona and Tom "I can get the Plimpies from the lake tomorrow. It's not too cold so I can dive for them, their found at the bottom of the lake"
"What're Plimpies?" Asked Diana
Nick's voice took on its unemotional texture that it gained when quoting "The Plimpy is a spherical, mottled fish distinguished by its two long legs ending in webbed feet. It inhabits deep lakes where it will prowl the bottom in search of food, preferring water snails. The Plimpy is not particularly dangerous, though it will nibble the feet and clothing of swimmers. It is considered a pest by Merpeople, who deal with it by tying its rubbery legs in a knot; the Plimpy then drifts away, unable to steer, and cannot return until it has untied itself, which may take hours." He paused, and his voice returned to normal "I'm aiming to get a couple of the drifting ones. I know there are Merpeople down there so I think they will have tied a couple up"
"How do you know there are Merpeople down there?" asked a bemused Ryan
"Because I've seen them" he replied "I've already dived into the lake"
"Dive? How did you get down that far?" interrupted Claire, who until that point had been quiet "Won't it be dangerous?"
"Could be. Sacha told me she bought some Gillyweed in Daigon Alley, so I used that to swim down to the bottom"
"Oh ... OK" she seemed satisfied that Nick wouldn't kill himself or anything.
"Is there anything else you want to know? I wanted to go visit Hagrid, he said he would lend me some books"
"Nope, but why do you need books off Hagrid? We don't do Care of Magical Creatures 'til third year" asked Tom
"I know, I'm just really interested in Magical Creatures"
He got up from the table, and repeated his earlier performance, but this time the rest of The Nine followed him
End of Chapter
Chapter Six – When Faith Goes Too Far
Later, when Nick was attempting to do his Potions homework when what looked like a very excited Sacha bounced up and plonked herself in the seat across from Nick
"What're you doing?" she asked happily
"I'm trying to do this Potions essay"
"Oh that, I've already done it"
"Cool. Can I borrow it?"
"Yup. What I really wanted to talk about is the lake" she said in what she obviously thought was a nonchalant tone
"Oh. Yeah"
"Well ... Er ... I was looking through my books, and I decided to go riffle through Tom's book of Hex's"
"And...?"
"And I found a couple of Hex's that only work underwater"
"Really?" asked Nick
"Yeah! And I thought it would be a good idea if we practice those, we don't know what we're going to find down in that lake"
"We? I thought it was just me going into that lake"
"No. I'm not letting you go into that alone"
"Is there enough Gillyweed for both of us?"
"Yeah. I checked" she said
"Oh. OK, where are we going to practice these hexes then?"
"Abandoned girls bathroom on the third floor" she said promptly
Nick arched and eyebrow "You planned this"
Now she was definitely trying to look innocent "I did?"
"Yes. And I know you did, so don't try and look innocent. Shall we go then?"
"You're not objecting?"
"Did you think I would?"
"Well...yes"
"I'm not, I was going to ask you along anyway"
"You were? Oh. It's on the third floor"
"Okies" They got up and left the common room, not bothering to see if anyone had followed them
Adam had his locked chest in a space of floor in the middle of the dormitory, he had his Charm books in front of him, and was busy practising the wand movements necessary for the Alohamora Charm.
Taking a deep breath, he pointed his wand at his trunk he bellowed "ALOHAMORA!" another deep breath and he moved over his trunk to open it
Locked.
"Damn!" he muttered to himself. "Concentrate" and he did.
He tried again. Still locked
It took the rest of the morning before he was able to unlock his trunk every time.
He wondered how the others were doing.
Fiona and Tom were in the girls' dormitory, taking it in turns to Stun Tom's toad, Hector. Things were not going well.
"Stop him!" squealed Fiona as Hector, after another bout of unsuccessful Stunning spells, made an attempt for freedom. Causing Tom to jump on top of him
"Nick better be grateful that we are doing this, I'm getting friction burns" said Tom through gritted teeth
"He better, otherwise we're going to Stun him" replied a very frustrated Fiona
"OK, lets try one more time before we have a break"
"Ooo, a break, I've almost forgotten what one of those is" a dreamy look crept into her eyes
"C'mon, this can't be that hard! Third years do this"
"Yeah" her tone was guileless, they both obviously thought they were beyond third years
"On three, One ... Two ... Three ... STUPEFY!" came their shout
It worked. Dual bolts of obsidian and mithril burst from the tips of their wands, both hitting Hector at exactly the same time
"YES!" they both shouted, doing a little dance
"Lets go downstairs and tell the others, we need a break anyway" suggested Fiona
As Nick and Sacha wandered towards the third floor Girls bathroom, Nick asked
"Why is this bathroom abandoned?" There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice, as if to say 'if there's anything bad in that bathroom I'm going to be angry, I don't know what I'd do, but it will be very nasty'
"Moaning Mrytle lives in there" Sacha replied
"Moaning Mrytle being?" Nick said, waving his hands in emphasis
"Don't be such a scardy cat, she's only a ghost"
"Moi? A scardy cat? Don't be silly"
They fetched up outside a door with a fading 'Girls' sign on it
"Ladies first" Nick said, motioning for her to go through the door
Adam met up Fiona and Tom down in the common room.
"How'd it go?" he asked
"Fine, it took a while to learn it, but we got it down eventually." Tom said "how did it go with you?"
"Oh fine, took a little practise on the wand movement though" Adam looked highly relieved that his wand hand could have a little rest
"What should we do now?" Fiona asked
"Well I still have to do that Potions homework, why don't we go down to the library till lunch"
"Sure" Tom said
"Fine by me" Fiona agreed
They headed down towards the library
Meanwhile down in the third floor bathroom Nick and Sacha had had an educational couple of minutes. Moaning Mrytle, who thought it was hilarious that a boy had come into her bathroom, had surprised them and then the bathroom had flooded.
"Now we know why it's abandoned" Nick said
"Mrytle, please stop the flood" Sacha asked in a pitiful voice
"Oh all right then" Mrytle conceded, and the water level went down "Why are you two in here anyway?"
"We're learning some underwater Hexes and needed somewhere quite to practise, and I thought you could help us with the water part" Sacha explained
"Oh right then, I'll help" Mrytle said, Nick and Sacha brightened slightly "But only if you tell me what your going to use them for"
"We're going into the lake" Nick quickly explained "We need to find some Plimpies"
"Why are you going into the lake?"
"Well we need them for a prank joke we're pulling on a couple of Slytherin's"
"Ooo I hate those Slytherin's, always picking on other people"
They suffered through a five-minute rant on Slytherin's in general until Nick said "Myrtle, can we get on? Its just we have a lot to do and we have to get it done by lunch"
"Oh OK, ask me if you need any help"
Nick and Sacha went and sat in an empty cubicle, Sacha pulled out Toms hex book and they got down too it
After about ten minutes Sacha said "Aha, I think I've got one that will work pretty well down there"
"What is it?" Nick asked
"Relashio"
"How do you do it and what does it do?"
"Its pretty simple, point and out shoots a stream of hot water"
"I've got another, 'Serpensatio' this one sends a snake out of your wand, should be useful as a diversion"
"Right then, lets test them. Mrytle? Can you flood us a little?"
The water level raised and they had a fun 15 minutes trying out the new spells
"Right Nick, I think we should go up to our dormitories and get a change of clothes and them head down to lunch"
"Yeah, bye Myrtle!"
They squelched out of toilet the and headed up to Gryffindor Tower
Adam, Tom and Fiona were all wrestling with their Potions essay when Nick and Sacha walked, or should I say squelched, into the Common Room. All three looked up as Nick bounded through the picture frame and fell to the floor with a splash, closely followed at a more sedate pace by Sacha
Adam waved Sacha and Nick over to where they were sitting
"Did you guys learn anything?"
"Yup" said Sacha. They both grinned
"Definitely yup" put in Nick
"You two are happy" said a bemused Fiona
"More of Yup" replied Sacha
"OK, I have to go get changed, I'm sopping" decided Nick
"Me too"
They left to go up to their respective dormitories
"What's wrong with them?"
"Nothing, by the look of it"
A little later, Nick was reading through Sacha's Potions essay, trying to make sense of it so he could write his, Sacha poked her head round the door to the dormitory
"Nick?" she asked
"Yes?"
"We said we would meet the guys down in the Library ..."
"Oh yeah, I'll be out in a second"
Sacha disappeared, and Nick put the essay on his sideboard before following her example and leaving the Gryffindor Tower.
Nick stalked through the door of the Library, and looked around for his friends, they were in the secluded far corner of the Library, out of sight of Madam Pince's desk, so he made for them straight away
"Hey" he said as he came the greeting when he came into sight
"Are you going to finally tell us what the plan is now?" asked what looked like a very frustrated Diana
"Yup" he replied, Sacha giggled, remembering earlier. This earned a quizzical look from Claire
Nick taking a seat and launching into a long speech interrupted her
"Stage One was to find out their names, Stage Two was to find out the recipe for a Hair Dye Potion, Stage Three was three things; Fiona and Tom learning Stunners, Adam learning Alohamora, and Sacha and myself capturing Plimpies from the lake-"
"I thought it was going to only be you" interrupted Michael
"So did I, but Sach didn't leave me much choice" he paused, and looked around "Stage Three isn't complete yet, well, not completely, I hope. Adam? Tom? Fiona? Have you completed your tasks?"
The all replied with a 'Yes'
"Then all that is left is myself and Sacha getting the Plimpies from the lake" he finished
"Is there a stage four?"
"Yes"
"What is it?"
"I need to finesse the plan slightly" he answered evasively, keeping his face impassive
"Nick!" started Michael furiously "There is a point when faith is pushed too far! Tell us what Stage Four is. Now"
"OK OK, calm down. Stage Four is us sneaking the potion and hair dye into the Slytherin dormitories"
"Is that all?" Ryan said sarcastically
"Sarcasm is unbecoming Mr. Kelly" said Nick
"Then your unbecoming all the..."
"You don't have a plan for Stage Four do you?" interrupted Michael
"Well, no" he said "But I will do"
"You will do?"
"Have faith Brock. I will"
"Better do"
"I've said I will, so I will, end of discussion"
"Stop arguing, this isn't getting us anywhere" Said Adam. Michael closed his mouth on what he was about to say. He turned to Nick "When are you planning to go down to the Lake?"
"At one" Nick turned to look at Sacha "Is that OK with you?"
"Yup" Nick grinned
"Will you two be all right down there?" asked Tom?
"Yeah, we borrowed your 100 Hex's and they had some cool spell's in there, so we went to Moaning Myrtle's bog on the Third Floor"
"Your a braver man than I" laughed Diana
Ryan turned to her "Your a man?"
She glared at him "Hush"
"More importantly, did you get my book wet?" asked a concerned Tom
"We didn't get your book, it's back in your chest" soothed Sacha
"How did you get in my chest? It's locked"
Sacha pointed at Adam, who grinned
Nick looked at his watch "It's 5, we better get some sleep, Sach, I doubt if we'll get any tonight"
"Okies" She replied, and got up to leave with him
"Do you think they will be OK?" Michael asked the air
No one answered
Nick lay in bed, watching the hour hand crawl round his watch-face. He drifted in and out of sleep, all he could hear was the wind sighing outside the window, and all he could feel were the butterflies in his stomach. He wondered if Sacha was feeling like this, probably.
At about midnight he Michael whisper "Nick?"
"What?" he whispered back
"How were you planning to get to the lake?"
"Wait until it's too dark to see anything"
"Oh" a pause, then "Nick?"
he said "What?" again
"Look out the window"
he turned and looked out the window and saw... "A full moon. Bugger"
"All is not lost"
"Yes it is"
"Isn't"
"What are you babbling about?" asked an irritable Nick
"I'm not babbling. Remember when we went to Daigon Alley to get our school stuff?"
"Yes..."
"Well Dad said I could get something..." he sounded like he was waiting for Nick to elaborate
"And your parents are loaded... So what did you get?"
"There was this little shop that no-one was looking at, and I wondered why not, so I looked inside..."
Nick was starting to get really irritated "What did you get?" he asked again
"An Invisibility Cloak"
Nick sat straight up in bed "A what?!"
Michael was no-nonsense, even at Midnight "An Invisibility Cloak"
"What does it do?" breathed Nick
"The obvious, dummy" he stopped, as if wrestling with himself whether to go on or not, he did. "It makes the wearer invisible"
"OH! I read about those"
"Be quiet you idiot! Do you want everyone to know?" he hissed angrily
"Don't you?"
"Well, no"
"Oh, well this could really help us. I don't want to have to wait 'til tomorrow"
"Today" he interrupted
"What?"
"Today, check your watch. Its Monday"
"Oh yeah. Well thanks Michael, this means a lot you know."
"Yeah, I'll tell the others about it tomorrow"
Nick rested back onto his pillow "Thanks Michael" he repeated. From the sound of it, Michael had gone back to sleep. Nick closed his eyes and knew no more
Sacha tiptoed into the boys' dormitory, walked over to Nick's bed and prodded him in the side.
Within a second he had her wrist with one hand, and her neck with the other.
"Nick!" she gasped
He let go of her slowly "Sorry, instinct" he blushed and looked abashed
"What made you need that as an instinct?" she wondered
"Don't ask" from his tone it was obvious that this was a no-go area of conversation
"Nick, it's half past One"
"We should be going then"
"Nick?"
He got out of bed and said "Yes?"
"It's full moon, how are we going to get down to the lake?"
"Leave it to me, have you got the Gillyweed?"
"Yes, how are we going to get to the lake?" she asked again
"Invisibility Cloak" he grunted
Sacha would have stopped in shock, but he was already out of the door, a silvery Cloak under his arm, so she followed
It was chilly out in the Grounds, and under the Invisibility Cloak, Sacha could barely see where she was going.
"Did you bring spare robes? Have you got your wand?" Nick asked two questions at once. He must be nervous
"Yes"
"Good. We're almost there"
They reached the Lake, and they could see the Giant squid across the Lake. After she had thrown the Cloak off of herself, Sacha took the two bags of Gillyweed out of her pocket and handed one to Nick. They both waded out into the lake far enough for the water to reach waist-height.
They both started chewing the Gillyweed, although nothing was happening.
Nick turned to Sacha, as if to say something along the lines of 'Are you sure this works?' when he cut himself off.
He couldn't breath.
Suddenly he felt a piercing pain on both sides of his neck -
Nick clapped his hands around his neck - out of the corner of his eye he could see Sacha do the same thing - and felt two large slits just below his ears.
He had gills.
Without thinking, he shoved his head beneath the water, and he dimly noticed that Sacha had followed his example. He took two large gulps of water, and felt them pass smoothly through his gills, sending oxygen back to his brain. He stretched his hands in front of him and saw that his hands were webbed. He twisted around to look at his feet, and sure enough his toes were webbed too, they looked like flippers.
He looked over at Sacha through the water, they nodded to each other and set off.
End of Chapter
Chapter Seven - Into the Deep
The silence felt almost like a presence pushing in on Nick's ears as he swam deeper and deeper into the lake. He turned his head and stared at Sacha, who was swimming a few feet over, he noticed again the ghostly green tone of her skin, the gills visible on her neck, and her webbed hands and feet.
She looked over at him, and her eyes widened with shock. Nick didn't need to guess that she had noticed the same thing for the first time on him.
Nick waved his hand to gain her attention, then motioned further deeper into the inky darkness. They speeded up.
They continued at that speed for what must have been fifteen minutes, when out of the black water loomed the rocky side of the lake, covered in leafy moulds of fresh-water kelp. Nick motioned to Sacha that this was where they had to search. She nodded her assent, and they both angled towards the eerie looking underwater trees. He was hugging the rock when he entered the kelp-forest.
He felt an impact on his back, and sagged against the lichen lining the rock
Sacha saw Nick enter the eerie forest, saw the shadow pass behind him, saw the shadow strike, and saw Nick sag against the rock. The strange shadow hovered over him, readying to feast. It was so dark that she couldn't see what it was.
She was frozen on the spot.
She tried to move forward to help him, but was frozen with fear. Silent tears seeped out of her eyes as she saw more indistinct shadows move towards the prone figure. She law them leap down onto him.
Her limbs unfroze.
She gave a mighty kick, freeing her wand as she shot forward. She angled herself so that she approached from Nick's left side. As she got closer, she was more able to discern the shape of the things attacking Nick. If she didn't know better, she would have said that they were a school of fish ... except these fish were huge. Bigger than a sea bass, they swirled around Nick's prostrate form, darting down every now and then to bite at his body, he was already covered in bites, bleeding freely. This was the last straw for Sacha, she could feel the rage boiling up inside her.
She pointed her wand at the fish and screamed "Serpensatio!" except that all that came from her mouth was one big bubble, but her wand worked perfectly underwater. A massive black snake erupted from the tip of her wand, and arrowed towards the school of spindly fish. It entered the globe of wheeling fish, and a split second before it passed out the other side, it twisted and bit one of fish in half. The school broke up in panic, some darting away in search of safety, some reforming the school farther away, others turning and attacking the snake.
It was what Sacha had been waiting for, she kicked forward again, and headed quickly for Nick. She got one arm around Nick, before she noticed movement out of the corner out of her eye. A dozen fish were heading for her.
She brought her wand around, parted her lips and desperately tried to think of a spell that could get rid of a dozen giant spiny fish.
She readied herself. "Relashio!"
Nick dimly felt a huge shockwave explode past his head, and managed to crack his eyes open. He immediately shut them again.
He risked another look.
He wished he hadn't. Right in front of him, a dozen spiky fish were milling about. Well, some were. Eight were still heading towards them, but four were on their sides, smoking.
He brought his wand around, and shouted "Ferula!" twice. Two sets of bandages shot out of the tip of his wand, over Sacha's shoulder and bound themselves around the fins of two of the large fish. Sacha whirled around and looked at Nick with wide eyes. He managed a wan smile. Nick flicked his wand and bellowed "Wingardium Leviosa!" he flicked his wrist again, smashing another of the fish against the rocky side of the lake. Exhausted, he slumped back against the rock, closing his eyes for just a few seconds ...
Sacha seemed to be holding her own, he thought, as he opened his eyes again. She had smoked another three with the relashio spell, and caught another in bandages. The remaining fish had swam off, looking as scared as it is possible for a fish to look.
Sacha was tapping him on the shoulder with one hand, and motioning towards her watch with the other. Nick, in response, looked at his and immediately realised that they had been in the lake for 57 minutes. Had it been that long? He paused, seeing some movement on the edge of his vision, and realised that the small rubbery golf ball-like fish waddling on two hands he was seeing were the Plimpies he was searching for. He followed Sacha straight upwards, thinking that he could tell her when he got to the surface. As he rose, ever keeping Sacha in sight, he found it increasingly difficult to draw breath. His legs ached with fatigue, his lungs burnt for oxygen. He broke the surface. Finally! He took deep, grasping breaths, re-supplying himself with oxygen.
Sacha, who had been getting more breath than Nick had, asked "What were those things?"
"Shrakes" he answered between gasps for air
"O-K, what are they?"
"Shrakes. Big ones"
"I noticed" she answered dryly
"Well done. Shrakes are ocean dwelling fish, so I don't know why they are in the lake, they are thought to have been bred by wizards in the 1800's" he paused for breath "As a revenge on muggle fishermen who extracted the Michael of said wizards"
"Oh. OK. Nick?" she asked
"Yes?"
"What book are you quoting from when you quote?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you knew what Knarl's are in Defence, and what Plimpies are, and what those fish things"
"Shrakes" He interrupted
"Shrakes are. See what I mean?" she finished
"Well ... yeah. If you must know, it's all from Fantastic Beasts & Where to find them" he answered
"Oh." A long pause ensued.
"Guess what I saw just before we came up for air" he said finally, after getting his breath back.
"What?" asked Sacha
"Plimpies" he stated, with a glint in his eye. "Have you got anymore Gillyweed?"
"Yes, we won't need as much this time. One strand should do it"
"OK"
They ate the Gillyweed, went back under the water. And resurfaced later triumphantly clutching an oilskin bag full of wriggling Plimpies.
"Yes!" exclaimed Sacha and Nick together.
Next morning a grinning Nick came down into the common room, he was greeted by a happy yell, and as he moved off of the cool grey stone of the stairs, he noticed both Michael and Sacha seated in large, comfortable looking chairs. He moved onto the carpet, relishing the feeling of the thick carpet on his sock-clad feet. While on his way over to the pair, he noticed that Sacha seemed to be bursting to tell the story of the previous night, and Michael look frustrated for some reason. It must be because I asked Sacha not to tell anyone, he thought, with a smile creasing his lips.
"There you are!" Michael exclaimed "We've been waiting half an hour and Sacha won't say a word" he leaned forward in his chair expectantly "How did it go?"
Another smile flashed across the unemotional mask that Nick seemed to be wearing. This is going to be fun "I don't know if I can tell you"
Sacha flashed him a look of disbelief as he said this, but luckily Michael couldn't see it, because of the orientation of his body put Sacha just out of his peripheral vision. Michael, on the other hand, looked like he had just been sentenced to 15 years hard labour "You can't not tell me!"
Nick leaned back in the chair he had appropriated, enjoying its comfy confines "Yes I can"
Michael turned to look at Sacha, who had long realised that Nick was playing with him, and Nick flashed her a small smile. "Will you tell me then?" Michael asked.
"Of course not" She did her best to imitate Nick in his lack of betraying emotion
Michael turned back to Nick, and gave him a despairing look "Tell me . . . please" He didn't make it a request, but a plea. "Go on. I'm getting a backache from all this twisting"
Nick leaned forward in his chair and raised his left hand to his chin to stroke an imaginary goatee. "I don't know" he appeared to pause to think "Should we?" He raised an eyebrow at Sacha, indicating that he required her thoughts
She waited a few seconds, laughing inside at the obvious discomfort of Michael "We could, but maybe we should wait until break, so we only have to tell the story once"
Michael Groaned.
Nick finally allowed a smile to dominate his features "We were joking about not telling you, obviously"
Michael finally relaxed into his chair. "Well hurry up, the suspense is killing me"
Sacha pulled herself out of her chair with obvious reluctance. She looked at both of them "Are you coming down to breakfast? I know it's early but I'm half starved"
Michael immediately leaped up from his chair, showing none of the reluctance that Sacha had exhibited at the mention of food "Try and hold me back!" He whooped
Sacha looked over at Nick "You coming, short stuff?"
"Who are you calling short?" He stuck his tongue out at her "Nope, I want to sit here for a bit first, I'll catch you later"
Michael and Sacha moved across the carpeted floor, crooning "Fooooooood, sustenaaaaaance" To no particular tune
The Gryffindor table at breakfast times was always a hectic wall of noise, but after the silence of the lake the night before, it seemed louder than before.
As he headed towards his usual place, he saw Michael hitting Tom over the head with a croissant, and Ryan flicking bits of cheese at Diana. He sat down with a sigh, and pulled the plate of bacon towards him. Michael, noticing his presence, shot him an enquiring look.
Nick saw the direction of his gaze. "Not yet." Shaking his head. Sacha looked up at his words, and stifled a giggle.
Finally, after a five-minute wait, the rest of the group noticed his presence.
"Well? How did it go?" Ryan was the first to ask
"How did what go?" Nick said, managing to keep a straight face while shovelling bacon into his mouth with his fork.
"You know" Ryan lowered his voice at this "Stage three"
"Oh that. It went fine" Nick waved his hand vaguely "Piece of cake"
Sacha snorted "I would hardly say it went fine"
"What happened?" a concerned Diana asked
"We had a little trouble with some Shrakes" Nick shot her a glare plainly telling her what he thought about Shrakes
"...and they are?"
Nick went slightly cross-eyed "Shrakes are ocean dwelling fish, so I don't know why they are in the lake, they are thought to have been bred by wizards in the 1800's" He paused for breath "As a revenge on muggle fishermen who extracted the Michael of said wizards"
"Yeah...did you get the Plimpies?"
"Yup"
"Good" Michael said "What's stage four?
"You'll see..."
The corridors seemed to move in a blur as they headed up to Astronomy, later that day.
"This isn't going to work" Stated Michael
"You always say that. Get some optimism" Nick retorted
"It never works. Ever"
"Your exaggerating, it always works!"
"Name me one time one of your 'plans' has worked"
"Uh...um-''
"-Exactly! It never works" Michael poked Nick in the ribs to get his attention "Listen, this isn't going to work"
Nick, who was running his fingers along the cool stone of the wall, murmured "Why not?"
"It's too complicated. It always is with you" He waved his hand in the air "First, we have to get into the Slytherin common room - no mean feat in itself, then, we have to turn the feathers in their pillows into egg yolks, can I do that?"
"Yes." Nick had stopped distracting himself now, and listened intently
"Glad someone has some confidence. Right ... then we put the Plimpies in their beds, and while we're doing this, we have to Stun Red and Medusa. You think this is going to be easy?"
"I do. Lighten up ... we're not going to get caught, I promise."
"Your promises mean jack, right now." He paused, then looked more serious "We could get suspended"
Nick's face lost all trace of jocularity "I know. But it will work, and it's going to be worth it to see the looks on those Slytherin's faces. Besides, if we get caught, you can blame it on me"
Michael finally let some amusement seep into his face as he snorted "Like that has ever worked before"
"Hey! Enderby almost believed that it was just me that stole her precious pet." Nick exclaimed
"True-''
"Then you started laughing, yeah" He giggled "That was pretty damn funny"
"Yeah..." He sighed "We better start looking like serious students, we're almost there"
"You? Me? Serious? I think not."
The made the final turn up the spiral staircase, and emerged onto the landing outside the imposing Oak door that was the entrance to the Astronomy room. They joined the queue outside and waited for their teacher to arrive.
At the back of the History of Magic classroom, there was a hushed conversation in progress. Not that anyone noticed, they were all asleep.
"Shhhh" Hissed Sacha "You'll get Binns on us"
"No I won't" Scoffed Adam "He wouldn't notice if I started tap-dancing on the table"
"Even if you were wearing a tutu" Giggled Claire "I bet-''
Tom interrupted her "How is your vaunted plan going to work anyway?"
"It's not just a simple plan, it's a Plan"
"Oh. Sorry" He didn't look sorry
"Michael is going to explain it, I told him on the way to Astronomy yesterday"
"I am?" The slightly younger boy looked surprised "Oh well"
He paused.
"Right...Ok...Um-''
"Are you going to tell us anything anytime soon? This lesson finishes in an hour" Prodded Diana
"Very funny. Do you take lessons? Uh ... anyway, the plan goes like this. We get into the Slytherin Common Room - I trust Nick knows where it is - then we turn the feathers in their pillows into egg yolks, then we put the Plimpies in their beds - did I miss anything out?" He asked Nick
"Yes." He took a deep breath "We have to stun Medusa and Redhead while we're doing all that"
"Are you crazy?" They all breathed
"Yes" He said simply