DISCLAIMER – No, I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters in this
story. There is an original character, but it's not my fault Hogwarts goes
through so many Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers.
A/N – ::cough:: NoIcouldnotcomeupwithabettertitle ::cough:: Thank you, Sets, for beta reading! (Her stories can be found under Eternal Setsuna Meioh) This story has nothing to do with "Order of the Phoenix" so I'm avoiding it like the plague. It's their sixth year, not fifth.
/emphasis/ - in case the formatting doesn't stick this is the same as italics.
1
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Harry Potter was finally back at Hogwarts. The summer and formalities of the previous day were over. The feast had been good (the elves work so hard to make people happy) and the new students were already adjusting to peculiarities of the old castle. Although a few familiar faces were gone from the table, such as the Weasley twins who had graduated the year before, there were several new faces to replace them.
The morning sun shown through the tall windows flanking either side of the Great Hall. This morning was extra clear because of the rainstorm from the other night. Harry walked over to the Griffindor table, sat down, and was joined by his friend Ron who sat down next to him. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon and juice, but Harry couldn't see it because a bright light shown in his eye.
"Hermione," said Harry, "Could you please move your prefect badge? The light is getting in my eyes."
"Oh sorry," said Hermione she took it off and placed it on the table.
"Did you put 'Patina's Wizard's Gloss' on it so everyone would notice your status?" teased Ron.
"No you git, the sun's light reflected off the badge." said Hermione.
"But I bet you thought it was a marvelous idea." Ron smirked.
"Are you jealous or something?" said Hermione giving him an arched look.
And with that remark a standard, routine fight started between Ron and Hermione. As usual they cast jibes back and forth, although sometimes Ron would throw bits of egg and bacon out of his mouth in an attempt to insult and chew at the same time.
Harry smiled. Everything was normal, for Hogwarts anyway, term was about to start, he had his schedule already, the sun was shining, and the breakfast was delicious. Harry had a feeling this was going to be a good day.
However it would not be. (*grin*)
A few moments later owls started streaming into the Great Hall through the windows. Hundreds of owls flew over the tables. In next to no time Hedwig landed on his shoulder with a letter in her beak, which she placed in front of his face.
"Thanks Hedwig." He said as he took the letter. Hedwig hooted happily upon a successful delivery.
"Harry?" asked Neville.
"Yeah?" Harry had started to open the letter.
"Your owl is supposed to be white, right?" Neville sounded concerned.
"Yeah?" Harry was confused by the strange question.
"Then why is it yellow?"
"What? Yellow…" said Harry as he turned his head to look at his owl who was about to make a move on his pumpkin juice.
Now a few students at the table were staring at Hedwig.
"How the-?" started Harry, he didn't get to finish because Hermione interrupted him.
"Someone must have dyed her feathers!" Hermione stated the obvious.
"Who would pull a prank like that?" wondered Neville.
"I have a spell that will fix that," she said as she reached the other side of the table. Hermione took out her wand and looked Hedwig over a bit. Hermione performed her cleansing spell. Hedwig turned orange.
Those who had been watching burst out laughing, which caused other people to look towards the source and see Harry's orange owl. The Slytherins were all smirking while Malfoy laughed raucously.
"That sure helped." Ron said.
"Shut-up Ron." said Hermione absently as she pondered, "Maybe a stronger one." She performed another spell. Hedwig turned green. Even though Hedwig couldn't see her new coloring she knew the attention was focused on her and hooted questioningly.
"Hey Potter! I thought your owl was a Snowy Owl, not a Springy Owl!" taunted Malfoy.
"Geez, you'd think he'd come up with something better than that." said Ron loud enough for Malfoy to hear.
"Let me try another one Harry. I'm sure this one will work," said Hermione. "This is the best one I know." She said as she rolled up her sleeves.
"Then why didn't you try it in the first place?" asked Ron.
"I don't see you making an effort to help and pending your decision to offer your services shut-up!" said Hermione.
"I must have gotten her really mad, she's using big words." Ron whispered to Harry.
Hermione concentrated a moment and performed another spell that covered Hedwig in white sparkles. When the sparkles went away Hedwig had a lovely plaid coloring: red, black, blue and yellow lines crisscrossed their way around Hedwig's feathery body.
The whole Slytherin table erupted in laughter. Malfoy was clutching his stomach and nearly fell off the bench since he was laughing so hard. Others who had been watching the drama unfold were laughing as well. Even fellow Griffindors were laughing at the plight of Harry's owl.
There was a flash of light. "I've never seen a plaid owl before!" exclaimed Colin Creevy.
"Colin!" yelled a surprised Harry.
Colin took another picture. He was about to take yet another when Harry stood up suddenly, so suddenly he accidentally bumped into Hermione, who was trying to block Hedwig from the view of Colin's camera, knocking her off balance and causing her to fall into Colin as Ron was reaching for more eggs which where knocked from his hand when Colin hit him and /that/ caused the eggs to fly across the table and hit Pavarti Patil in the face. Harry stood alone amidst the chaos. Hedwig hooted unhappily. The room burst out laughing again. Harry sighed as he helped his friends to their feet as Ron was trying to apologize to Miss. Patil while she screamed and screeched at him.
"Come on, let's go see Hagrid." said Harry to Hermione and Ron.
"Okay." said Hermione.
"What?" asked Ron as he picked up his bag and followed the two towards the exit.
The trio quickly exited the castle through the large front doors. They had time to go see Hagrid before breakfast ended, especially since they didn't get to each much. Even with the time given they still had to be quick about it and not dawdle. The wet ground wasn't helping either.
"So why are we seeing Hagrid?" asked Ron as he rubbed his ears.
"He's the Care of Magical Creatures teacher. He'll know what to do." said Hermione.
"Since you didn't." added Ron.
"You did nothing to help!" yelled Hermione.
"Not so loud!" Ron pleaded, covering his ears.
"My feet are soaked already," commented Hermione to herself as she looked dejectedly at her wet shoes.
"What was in your letter?" asked Ron coming up behind Harry.
"Oh," said Harry as he opened the letter, "I didn't get a chance to read it." Harry stared at the parchment. He flipped it over to see the back then turned back to the inside.
"So what's it say?" urged Hermione.
"It says nothing," replied Harry, "It's just rainbow colored paper."
Ron looked over Harry's shoulder, "Weird" he said.
"Let me see it," demanded Hermione. Harry handed over the paper. "I bet whoever sent this also dyed Hedwig's feathers."
"No shit Sherlock," said Ron.
"RON!" Hermione yelled indignantly.
"Not so loud!" Ron cowered as his covered his ears.
When they reached Hagrid's hut Harry knocked on the door. There was loud barking heard from within and a plaintive "Back Fang, back." and then "Who is it?"
"It's Harry, and Hermione and Ron are with me," replied Harry. "We've got a problem."
Hagrid opened the door, he was looking a bit tired. "So early in the year? It's 'nly the first day." Hagrid's face was impassive, almost a frown, but his eyes were filled with mirth.
"I didn't start it," said Harry, "but somebody's done something to Hedwig."
"I see." said Hagrid, trying to hide a smile (which wasn't hard considering his beard). "Bring 'er in and we'll 'ave a look at 'er"
Harry and company entered the hut. It hadn't changed much in the six years he'd been there. There were still the herbs hanging from the ceiling, the great fire in the hearth, and the oversized furniture to handle Hagrid's bulk. It was one of those things you would never expect to change and hoped it never did.
"Gimme yer owl Harry," said Hagrid. Harry complied and handed over a sullen looking Hedwig. "This is some powerful magic to change 'er feathers." Hagrid pondered as he looked at the former snowy owl. "And yeh don' know what 'appened to 'er?"
"She was yellow, but when Hermione tried to change her back Hedwing turned orange, then green, and finally plaid. I don't know what started it." Harry told Hagrid.
Ron muttered something about Hermione, fiddles and wands. Hermione gave him a /look/. Ron quieted quickly.
Hagrid patted Hedwig's feathers affectionately. "Let me keep 'er for now. Me an' Dumbledore can figure somethin out."
"Dumbledore?" asked Harry, confused.
"He's a great bird lover don' yeh know." said Hagrid proudly.
"Harry, we'd better get going, or we'll be late for class," said Hermione after looking at her watch.
"Yeah," said Harry and then he turned back to Hagrid, "Thanks for the help."
"No problem," said Hagrid, "Now off yeh go and don' be late." Hagrid led the group to the door and saw them out. "We'll sort this out, don' worry."
"We'll be back later!" Harry said at they all waved good-bye to Hagrid.
"We're going to have to take a short cut if we want to get to class on time." said Ron as he led them around the back of the green houses.
"I hope Hagrid and Dumbledore can help Hedwig," said Harry sorrowfully as he followed behind Ron.
Hermione quickened her pace and came up beside Harry, "I'm sure they will Ha-IEE!" Hermione slipped from view.
"Hermione!" exclaimed Ron and Harry.
"Ugg….eek!" Hermione realized she was sitting in mud.
"You okay Hermione?" asked Ron.
"Obviously not! Help me up, please!" Hermione cried. Her whole backside was in the mud the rest of her clothes and her hair were flecked with glops of it. Her bag sank slowly into the brown ooze.
There were several muttered curses as the three of them struggled to get Hermione out of the mud. It was very slippery so it was difficult to get a footing and Ron and Harry soon had almost as much mud on their robes as Hermione did.
Harry rubbed his muddy hands on his school robes, "We'd better hurry up," Ron and Hermione nodded as they wiped mud off their clothes, "What's our first class, Ron?" asked Harry.
Ron tried to get some more mud off before he reached into his bag to remove his schedule. He frowned, "Potions with Snape and the Slytherins."
"Just great." Harry grumbled.
"The sooner we get there the sooner it's over," said Hermione as she tried to get the mud out of her hair.
"This is not turning out to be a very good day," said Ron with a frown.
Things were about to get worse. When the three entered the Potions classroom deep within the castle the grins on the faces of the Slytherins grew wider.
"Trying some all-natural cures?" asked Malfoy.
Harry clenched his fists and sat down next to Ron. Thoughts along the lines of "Must-not-strangle-Malfoy" streamed through his head. Harry looked over at Ron, it seemed he was having similar thoughts. Next he took out his quill and other school supplies and as Malfoy leaned over towards Hermione.
"Granger, you wouldn't have any cuts, by chance?" asked Malfoy in a conversational tone.
"Why?", she spat, though she didn't really want to know.
"Because it would give a whole new meaning to the word 'mudblood'." he said, a nasty grin playing across his face. The Slytherins sniggered at Malfoy's joke while Ron and Harry started to their feet, both ready to pound Malfoy into pulp. However, at that moment Professor Snape stalked into the classroom.
"Take your seats everyone!" Snape commanded and Harry and Ron sat stiffly in their chairs. All thought was gone from Harry's mind and he was left with a faint buzz. Forget about strangling Malfoy, Harry was now concocting ways to send him to the Infirmary in pieces. Although that odd smell that was wafting around the room was rather distracting as it was...
Snape smirked as he walked past Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts, "said Snape when he'd reached the front of the classroom, "I trust you all have done your summer assignments." Snape's eyes swept the room. "Potter! What is the essential ingredient of the Wambana potion?"
"Mon-" Harry was cut off.
"Stand up Potter, so everyone can hear you." Snape sneered.
Grudgingly Harry stood up. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room focused on him. "Montela, Professor." said Harry through gritted teeth. Very few people enjoy standing in front of a group of people covered in odd smelling mud, and Harry wasn't one of them.
The Slytherins were practically laughing out loud while the Griffindors were glaring at Snape, but they threw questioning looks at Harry who was covered in mud.
"It is pronounced Mentella, Mr. Potter, five points from Griffindor." Snape was having a good time. (It's spanish, the two 'll's are pronounces like a 'y')
Harry was about to sit down when Snape spoke to him in an oily voice, "I didn't tell you that you could sit down Mr. Potter."
Harry stood back up. His eyes were as hard and cold as agates.
"Now you may sit." Snape said with a smirk.
Harry let gravity carry him to his chair, which was not a good idea because some of the mud clinging to his clothes came loose and fell onto his bag and the floor. He was madder than ever. The day had been so promising but now it was hellish. The lesson continued with Snape explaining how to concoct complex potions to cure some of the strangest ailments Harry had heard of, such as growing extra limbs and loosing your voice, literally. These were not from curses, they were from rare wizarding diseases. The whole class was furiously writing notes until there was an explosion. All eyes turned towards the source of the sound.
Hermione was covered in ink from her quill. She was quite startled and Neville waved his hand in front of her eyes.
"W-What?" croaked Hermione. She looked around the classroom, dazed, while the Slytherins laughed. She blinked a few times and came to her senses. "AH! My notes!" she cried. "They're ruined!" Her face paled considerably.
Malfoy coughed, it sounded oddly like "Ink-blood". A few Slytherins sniggered.
"I trust you will clean that up," said Snape as he looked down his nose at Hermione.
Neville tried to help clean up Hermione but the ink was everywhere. Neville suggested she go change her clothes but Snape wouldn't let her leave since she was not physically hurt. Though even if Snape had let her leave she probably wouldn't have, knowing Hermione she was true to form: cleaning up the mess made by the exploding quill and taking notes with a different quill at the same time.
Harry was absolutely furious. This was one hundred times worse than that visit from Aunt Marge over the summer of his third year. He concentrated on his notes because he didn't trust himself to do anything else. The thoughts about not dumping his cauldron over Malfoy's head and treating it as a drum were now replaced with "Must-not-hex-Snape". He felt so bad for Hermione, and that there was so little he could really do for her, when his pen exploded. His glasses were entirely blacked out, meaning he was covered in black ink and he couldn't see a thing.
All the Slytherins burst out laughing immediately. Harry couldn't see Malfoy fall onto Goyle from laughing so hard since he was completely covered in ink from the waist up.
Ron was so startled by the explosion and the ink that came flying in his direction that his pen skidded across his parchment and exploded as well. Ron got half the ink from his pen on him and Harry got the rest. They both sat there stunned while the Slytherins laughed. The other Griffindors in the room were looking at their pens with suspicion.
"I trust you will clean that up as well," smirked Snape.
"Yes" Ron replied numbly.
Harry rubbed his glasses on a clean part of his robes and muttered a yes.
When class ended Ron, Harry and Hermione were still cleaning up the mess in their bags and on themselves. Harry noticed that Malfoy was quicker to leave the classroom than usual, it seemed he didn't want to risk an encounter, at least not yet. The trio dashed to their next class after getting the last bit of ink and mud off the seats. It had taken some of the more advanced scowering charms to remove the last of the mud and ink from the potions lab.
"What's our next class?" asked Harry.
"Herbology" Ron replied, "Lucky us, we're already dirty."
Harry laughed a little while Hermione continued her futile attempt to get the mud out of her hair. "Why is this stuff so impossible?" she cried in exasperation.
"Maybe you're a mud-magnet," snarked Ron.
Hermione threw a bit of mud from her hair at Ron.
"Hey!" he yelled and picked some mud off himself and threw it at her. By the time they arrived at Herbology they were neither less muddy nor more so.
Upon seeing a furious Professor Sprout at the front of the room the trio quickly and quietly sat at the nearest table. The normally cheerful Professor Sprout was in a menacingly stance, her feet shoulder width apart, arms crossed at her chest and a look of pure fury upon her face as she stood at the front of the room. When the entire class was seated Professor Sprout took a few moments to give each and every one of them a piercing glare. "So..." she began, drumming the fingers of her left hand on her right arm. "I am not going to waste any more of the class time than is necessary." She said crisply, "I want to know right now, this instant, if any of you were behind the green houses anytime since your arrival or know of some one who has. Because whoever it was has ruined my patch of dragon dung that I had laid out the night before for today's lesson." Professor Sprout continued to glare around the room.
Harry looked at Ron, Ron looked at Harry and then Hermione while Hermione looked at Harry. "So that was the strange smell," she mouthed at the two of them. It also explained why they were having a hard time getting it off: dragons have strong magic. Glumly they nodded. It was almost in unison that the trio's shoulders slumped. This was not a good day at all. Meekly Hermione raised her hand into the air.
"Err...Professor," she started.
"Yes Hermione?" Professor Sprout responded tersely.
"I...I believe we may have been the people to upset your fertilizer," Hermione said quietly, unable to look at the Professor.
Professor Sprout blinked.
"We didn't realize what it was," Hermione continued, desperate to explain that it wasn't intentional, "We thought we were walking through some mud."
Professor Sprout seemly slightly less angry, "Thank you for telling me. Please see me after class," she gave each of them the /look/, "all three of you." She turned away from the trio and began the lesson, "Now please turn your text books to page forty-five, we will be looking at Lily-Dragons today."
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"I can't believe this! First day back and we already have detention!" Ron complained angrily.
"Detention is better than some other forms of punishment," said Hermione.
"We weren't going to get expelled for stepping in dragon dung, Hermione." Ron fumed.
"Worry about it later Ron," Harry interrupted the flow of the argument, "What class do we have next?"
"Double Transfiguration" replied Ron.
"And we're going to be late if we don't hurry" said Hermione.
Professor McGonagal met the three of them outside the classroom where she was about to close the door. "What happened to you?" demanded McGonagal as she held her nose.
Hermione gave an abridged version of the day's events.
"Go and get cleaned up quickly," she let them go to the bathroom and attempt to freshen up a little before class. The fact that the trio now smelled like a litter box greatly influenced this decision.
Within ten minutes all three of them were back in the Tranfiguration classroom. Ron and Harry couldn't get rid of the smell entirely so an aroma of sulfur wafted around the classroom. Hermione was no more successful in ridding herself of the stench so she decided to mask it with perfume. Once you got within three feet of her you would be overwhelmed by the scent of apple blossoms. McGonagal took little notice of their late arrive and the trio found the nearest empty seats. The other Griffindors were happy to help them out with glimpses at their notes, even though their noses crinkled at the stench. Hermione ran her eyes over Lavendar and Seamus's notes as she began taking her own. Ron and Harry wound up in the row in front of Hermione and were not lucky enough to sit next to generous Griffindors. However, they both knew they could get the notes off Hermione later.
"Now," said McGonagal as she wrapped up her lecture, "You have worked on turning objects into other objects for six years now. This time, however, you will be turning plastics, a muggle invention, into a living creature. Those of you who take muggle studies know that this skill will be useful in the muggle world where they have begun to use inorganic materials." She held up a cube of grey plastic, "You will each come to the front and get a cube of plastic then returned to your desk." Everyone did as she asked promptly. "Good, now you may all begin transfiguring that cube into a rabbit."
Everyone in the room was concentrating on the cube in front of them. It was tricky to turn plastic into a rabbit, their magic consisted of things from nature but this time they were using a synthetic cube. (This transfiguration lesson was part of a week long review.) Hermione and Dean's cubes were changing the fastest. Theirs had ears, tails, and part of the face wiggled curiously. The rest of the class wasn't far behind, except for Neville. Neville's hadn't changed at all. Hermione gave him some tips and told him not to give up. He smiled briefly at her (the blush stayed a while longer) before putting his full concentration on the cube. All his magical skill and knowledge focused on the synthetic material that was melted and molded to create the block in front of him. Still nothing happened…to the cube at least.
At that moment Harry had been comparing his notes to Ron's when he looked up to see if Ron was listening. "Ron!" Harry exclaimed.
"Not so loud!" Ron hissed, pulling his hands up to cover his ears. He froze at this point, something wasn't right. Ron ran his fingers up and down his ears. They were long and furry.
Hermione noticed Ron's ears shortly after Harry's outburst. In next to no time the whole room was focused on Ron's long red rabbit ears.
"How?" was all Ron could manage as whiskers began to grow near his nose. His eyes went cross-eyed as he stared at them.
Hermione nudged Neville who hadn't noticed a thing. He seemed to snap out of when she poked him, but instead of gawking at Ron as he should have he looked dejectedly at his block of plastic. "Still nothing happened," he groused and turned to face Hermione. He then noticed Ron's ears wiggling in an agitated manner. Neville was absolutely speechless and his eyebrows disappeared into his bangs.
Finally Professor McGonagal looked up from her desk at Neville and Ron. "Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom, please come here," she commanded. "The rest of you keep working."
Neville approached the teacher's desk nervously as Ron followed close behind, his ears twitching like mad. McGonagal put their fears to rest (everyone figured this because Ron's ears stopped twitching) and set things right. Ron walked back to his seat with his face red from neck to forehead (and possibly scalp, you really couldn't tell because his whole head was the same color: red). Neville followed behind, grabbed his block and returned to the front of the room where McGonagal was going to demonstrate the spell again for him. Once again, however, the plastic stayed plastic, but McGonagal's ink well became a handsome black rabbit.
Five minutes before the end of class everyone was ordered put their rabbits into a cage in the back of the room to worked with later. It is much harder to transfigure organics into synthetics so that would be saved for another lesson. Soon after that the magical bells sounded throughout the castle announcing lunch.
---
Off in a place far, far away stood a man who hardly looked like a man. This man hardly looked like anything resembling a man except that fact that he was a biped. Actually, we can only assume he is a biped since his long, black robes cover his entire body except for his head and hands but since his posterior doesn't stick out too far behind him we can guess he has two legs (he may have three). Never the less he was standing above a large basin of water with a look on his face that one can only presume is a gruel smirk. The basin was not full of clear water but instead it seemed to shift in color and context as if it were a television.
"This is going to be much fun. Don't you agree Wormtail?" the biped asked without turning away from the images in the basin.
"Yes, master," Wormtail replied with his head bowed as he set the lunch tray on the table beside the basin.
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A/N – It's taken me forever, but I've finally completed the first chapter (Long story short, I've had a bunch of "technical difficulties" with this story ::big neon-light arrows are placed above the Harry Potter books and her computer::) but I don't think I'll have as much trouble with the rest of the chapters…I hope.
Big "thank you"s to Marie who helped me corner Hedwig and dye her feathers. That plaid coloring charm rocks! I originally meant to do the whole first day in the first chapter but it was becoming too long (11 pages is getting to be too long for me ^^;;). So the afternoon classes will be in chapter two, right after lunch. ::steals a sandwich from Voldie's tray and munches happily::
You came this far, could you please leave a review? It only takes a few seconds but it means a lot. ^.^ Thanks.
A/N – ::cough:: NoIcouldnotcomeupwithabettertitle ::cough:: Thank you, Sets, for beta reading! (Her stories can be found under Eternal Setsuna Meioh) This story has nothing to do with "Order of the Phoenix" so I'm avoiding it like the plague. It's their sixth year, not fifth.
/emphasis/ - in case the formatting doesn't stick this is the same as italics.
1
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Harry Potter was finally back at Hogwarts. The summer and formalities of the previous day were over. The feast had been good (the elves work so hard to make people happy) and the new students were already adjusting to peculiarities of the old castle. Although a few familiar faces were gone from the table, such as the Weasley twins who had graduated the year before, there were several new faces to replace them.
The morning sun shown through the tall windows flanking either side of the Great Hall. This morning was extra clear because of the rainstorm from the other night. Harry walked over to the Griffindor table, sat down, and was joined by his friend Ron who sat down next to him. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon and juice, but Harry couldn't see it because a bright light shown in his eye.
"Hermione," said Harry, "Could you please move your prefect badge? The light is getting in my eyes."
"Oh sorry," said Hermione she took it off and placed it on the table.
"Did you put 'Patina's Wizard's Gloss' on it so everyone would notice your status?" teased Ron.
"No you git, the sun's light reflected off the badge." said Hermione.
"But I bet you thought it was a marvelous idea." Ron smirked.
"Are you jealous or something?" said Hermione giving him an arched look.
And with that remark a standard, routine fight started between Ron and Hermione. As usual they cast jibes back and forth, although sometimes Ron would throw bits of egg and bacon out of his mouth in an attempt to insult and chew at the same time.
Harry smiled. Everything was normal, for Hogwarts anyway, term was about to start, he had his schedule already, the sun was shining, and the breakfast was delicious. Harry had a feeling this was going to be a good day.
However it would not be. (*grin*)
A few moments later owls started streaming into the Great Hall through the windows. Hundreds of owls flew over the tables. In next to no time Hedwig landed on his shoulder with a letter in her beak, which she placed in front of his face.
"Thanks Hedwig." He said as he took the letter. Hedwig hooted happily upon a successful delivery.
"Harry?" asked Neville.
"Yeah?" Harry had started to open the letter.
"Your owl is supposed to be white, right?" Neville sounded concerned.
"Yeah?" Harry was confused by the strange question.
"Then why is it yellow?"
"What? Yellow…" said Harry as he turned his head to look at his owl who was about to make a move on his pumpkin juice.
Now a few students at the table were staring at Hedwig.
"How the-?" started Harry, he didn't get to finish because Hermione interrupted him.
"Someone must have dyed her feathers!" Hermione stated the obvious.
"Who would pull a prank like that?" wondered Neville.
"I have a spell that will fix that," she said as she reached the other side of the table. Hermione took out her wand and looked Hedwig over a bit. Hermione performed her cleansing spell. Hedwig turned orange.
Those who had been watching burst out laughing, which caused other people to look towards the source and see Harry's orange owl. The Slytherins were all smirking while Malfoy laughed raucously.
"That sure helped." Ron said.
"Shut-up Ron." said Hermione absently as she pondered, "Maybe a stronger one." She performed another spell. Hedwig turned green. Even though Hedwig couldn't see her new coloring she knew the attention was focused on her and hooted questioningly.
"Hey Potter! I thought your owl was a Snowy Owl, not a Springy Owl!" taunted Malfoy.
"Geez, you'd think he'd come up with something better than that." said Ron loud enough for Malfoy to hear.
"Let me try another one Harry. I'm sure this one will work," said Hermione. "This is the best one I know." She said as she rolled up her sleeves.
"Then why didn't you try it in the first place?" asked Ron.
"I don't see you making an effort to help and pending your decision to offer your services shut-up!" said Hermione.
"I must have gotten her really mad, she's using big words." Ron whispered to Harry.
Hermione concentrated a moment and performed another spell that covered Hedwig in white sparkles. When the sparkles went away Hedwig had a lovely plaid coloring: red, black, blue and yellow lines crisscrossed their way around Hedwig's feathery body.
The whole Slytherin table erupted in laughter. Malfoy was clutching his stomach and nearly fell off the bench since he was laughing so hard. Others who had been watching the drama unfold were laughing as well. Even fellow Griffindors were laughing at the plight of Harry's owl.
There was a flash of light. "I've never seen a plaid owl before!" exclaimed Colin Creevy.
"Colin!" yelled a surprised Harry.
Colin took another picture. He was about to take yet another when Harry stood up suddenly, so suddenly he accidentally bumped into Hermione, who was trying to block Hedwig from the view of Colin's camera, knocking her off balance and causing her to fall into Colin as Ron was reaching for more eggs which where knocked from his hand when Colin hit him and /that/ caused the eggs to fly across the table and hit Pavarti Patil in the face. Harry stood alone amidst the chaos. Hedwig hooted unhappily. The room burst out laughing again. Harry sighed as he helped his friends to their feet as Ron was trying to apologize to Miss. Patil while she screamed and screeched at him.
"Come on, let's go see Hagrid." said Harry to Hermione and Ron.
"Okay." said Hermione.
"What?" asked Ron as he picked up his bag and followed the two towards the exit.
The trio quickly exited the castle through the large front doors. They had time to go see Hagrid before breakfast ended, especially since they didn't get to each much. Even with the time given they still had to be quick about it and not dawdle. The wet ground wasn't helping either.
"So why are we seeing Hagrid?" asked Ron as he rubbed his ears.
"He's the Care of Magical Creatures teacher. He'll know what to do." said Hermione.
"Since you didn't." added Ron.
"You did nothing to help!" yelled Hermione.
"Not so loud!" Ron pleaded, covering his ears.
"My feet are soaked already," commented Hermione to herself as she looked dejectedly at her wet shoes.
"What was in your letter?" asked Ron coming up behind Harry.
"Oh," said Harry as he opened the letter, "I didn't get a chance to read it." Harry stared at the parchment. He flipped it over to see the back then turned back to the inside.
"So what's it say?" urged Hermione.
"It says nothing," replied Harry, "It's just rainbow colored paper."
Ron looked over Harry's shoulder, "Weird" he said.
"Let me see it," demanded Hermione. Harry handed over the paper. "I bet whoever sent this also dyed Hedwig's feathers."
"No shit Sherlock," said Ron.
"RON!" Hermione yelled indignantly.
"Not so loud!" Ron cowered as his covered his ears.
When they reached Hagrid's hut Harry knocked on the door. There was loud barking heard from within and a plaintive "Back Fang, back." and then "Who is it?"
"It's Harry, and Hermione and Ron are with me," replied Harry. "We've got a problem."
Hagrid opened the door, he was looking a bit tired. "So early in the year? It's 'nly the first day." Hagrid's face was impassive, almost a frown, but his eyes were filled with mirth.
"I didn't start it," said Harry, "but somebody's done something to Hedwig."
"I see." said Hagrid, trying to hide a smile (which wasn't hard considering his beard). "Bring 'er in and we'll 'ave a look at 'er"
Harry and company entered the hut. It hadn't changed much in the six years he'd been there. There were still the herbs hanging from the ceiling, the great fire in the hearth, and the oversized furniture to handle Hagrid's bulk. It was one of those things you would never expect to change and hoped it never did.
"Gimme yer owl Harry," said Hagrid. Harry complied and handed over a sullen looking Hedwig. "This is some powerful magic to change 'er feathers." Hagrid pondered as he looked at the former snowy owl. "And yeh don' know what 'appened to 'er?"
"She was yellow, but when Hermione tried to change her back Hedwing turned orange, then green, and finally plaid. I don't know what started it." Harry told Hagrid.
Ron muttered something about Hermione, fiddles and wands. Hermione gave him a /look/. Ron quieted quickly.
Hagrid patted Hedwig's feathers affectionately. "Let me keep 'er for now. Me an' Dumbledore can figure somethin out."
"Dumbledore?" asked Harry, confused.
"He's a great bird lover don' yeh know." said Hagrid proudly.
"Harry, we'd better get going, or we'll be late for class," said Hermione after looking at her watch.
"Yeah," said Harry and then he turned back to Hagrid, "Thanks for the help."
"No problem," said Hagrid, "Now off yeh go and don' be late." Hagrid led the group to the door and saw them out. "We'll sort this out, don' worry."
"We'll be back later!" Harry said at they all waved good-bye to Hagrid.
"We're going to have to take a short cut if we want to get to class on time." said Ron as he led them around the back of the green houses.
"I hope Hagrid and Dumbledore can help Hedwig," said Harry sorrowfully as he followed behind Ron.
Hermione quickened her pace and came up beside Harry, "I'm sure they will Ha-IEE!" Hermione slipped from view.
"Hermione!" exclaimed Ron and Harry.
"Ugg….eek!" Hermione realized she was sitting in mud.
"You okay Hermione?" asked Ron.
"Obviously not! Help me up, please!" Hermione cried. Her whole backside was in the mud the rest of her clothes and her hair were flecked with glops of it. Her bag sank slowly into the brown ooze.
There were several muttered curses as the three of them struggled to get Hermione out of the mud. It was very slippery so it was difficult to get a footing and Ron and Harry soon had almost as much mud on their robes as Hermione did.
Harry rubbed his muddy hands on his school robes, "We'd better hurry up," Ron and Hermione nodded as they wiped mud off their clothes, "What's our first class, Ron?" asked Harry.
Ron tried to get some more mud off before he reached into his bag to remove his schedule. He frowned, "Potions with Snape and the Slytherins."
"Just great." Harry grumbled.
"The sooner we get there the sooner it's over," said Hermione as she tried to get the mud out of her hair.
"This is not turning out to be a very good day," said Ron with a frown.
Things were about to get worse. When the three entered the Potions classroom deep within the castle the grins on the faces of the Slytherins grew wider.
"Trying some all-natural cures?" asked Malfoy.
Harry clenched his fists and sat down next to Ron. Thoughts along the lines of "Must-not-strangle-Malfoy" streamed through his head. Harry looked over at Ron, it seemed he was having similar thoughts. Next he took out his quill and other school supplies and as Malfoy leaned over towards Hermione.
"Granger, you wouldn't have any cuts, by chance?" asked Malfoy in a conversational tone.
"Why?", she spat, though she didn't really want to know.
"Because it would give a whole new meaning to the word 'mudblood'." he said, a nasty grin playing across his face. The Slytherins sniggered at Malfoy's joke while Ron and Harry started to their feet, both ready to pound Malfoy into pulp. However, at that moment Professor Snape stalked into the classroom.
"Take your seats everyone!" Snape commanded and Harry and Ron sat stiffly in their chairs. All thought was gone from Harry's mind and he was left with a faint buzz. Forget about strangling Malfoy, Harry was now concocting ways to send him to the Infirmary in pieces. Although that odd smell that was wafting around the room was rather distracting as it was...
Snape smirked as he walked past Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts, "said Snape when he'd reached the front of the classroom, "I trust you all have done your summer assignments." Snape's eyes swept the room. "Potter! What is the essential ingredient of the Wambana potion?"
"Mon-" Harry was cut off.
"Stand up Potter, so everyone can hear you." Snape sneered.
Grudgingly Harry stood up. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room focused on him. "Montela, Professor." said Harry through gritted teeth. Very few people enjoy standing in front of a group of people covered in odd smelling mud, and Harry wasn't one of them.
The Slytherins were practically laughing out loud while the Griffindors were glaring at Snape, but they threw questioning looks at Harry who was covered in mud.
"It is pronounced Mentella, Mr. Potter, five points from Griffindor." Snape was having a good time. (It's spanish, the two 'll's are pronounces like a 'y')
Harry was about to sit down when Snape spoke to him in an oily voice, "I didn't tell you that you could sit down Mr. Potter."
Harry stood back up. His eyes were as hard and cold as agates.
"Now you may sit." Snape said with a smirk.
Harry let gravity carry him to his chair, which was not a good idea because some of the mud clinging to his clothes came loose and fell onto his bag and the floor. He was madder than ever. The day had been so promising but now it was hellish. The lesson continued with Snape explaining how to concoct complex potions to cure some of the strangest ailments Harry had heard of, such as growing extra limbs and loosing your voice, literally. These were not from curses, they were from rare wizarding diseases. The whole class was furiously writing notes until there was an explosion. All eyes turned towards the source of the sound.
Hermione was covered in ink from her quill. She was quite startled and Neville waved his hand in front of her eyes.
"W-What?" croaked Hermione. She looked around the classroom, dazed, while the Slytherins laughed. She blinked a few times and came to her senses. "AH! My notes!" she cried. "They're ruined!" Her face paled considerably.
Malfoy coughed, it sounded oddly like "Ink-blood". A few Slytherins sniggered.
"I trust you will clean that up," said Snape as he looked down his nose at Hermione.
Neville tried to help clean up Hermione but the ink was everywhere. Neville suggested she go change her clothes but Snape wouldn't let her leave since she was not physically hurt. Though even if Snape had let her leave she probably wouldn't have, knowing Hermione she was true to form: cleaning up the mess made by the exploding quill and taking notes with a different quill at the same time.
Harry was absolutely furious. This was one hundred times worse than that visit from Aunt Marge over the summer of his third year. He concentrated on his notes because he didn't trust himself to do anything else. The thoughts about not dumping his cauldron over Malfoy's head and treating it as a drum were now replaced with "Must-not-hex-Snape". He felt so bad for Hermione, and that there was so little he could really do for her, when his pen exploded. His glasses were entirely blacked out, meaning he was covered in black ink and he couldn't see a thing.
All the Slytherins burst out laughing immediately. Harry couldn't see Malfoy fall onto Goyle from laughing so hard since he was completely covered in ink from the waist up.
Ron was so startled by the explosion and the ink that came flying in his direction that his pen skidded across his parchment and exploded as well. Ron got half the ink from his pen on him and Harry got the rest. They both sat there stunned while the Slytherins laughed. The other Griffindors in the room were looking at their pens with suspicion.
"I trust you will clean that up as well," smirked Snape.
"Yes" Ron replied numbly.
Harry rubbed his glasses on a clean part of his robes and muttered a yes.
When class ended Ron, Harry and Hermione were still cleaning up the mess in their bags and on themselves. Harry noticed that Malfoy was quicker to leave the classroom than usual, it seemed he didn't want to risk an encounter, at least not yet. The trio dashed to their next class after getting the last bit of ink and mud off the seats. It had taken some of the more advanced scowering charms to remove the last of the mud and ink from the potions lab.
"What's our next class?" asked Harry.
"Herbology" Ron replied, "Lucky us, we're already dirty."
Harry laughed a little while Hermione continued her futile attempt to get the mud out of her hair. "Why is this stuff so impossible?" she cried in exasperation.
"Maybe you're a mud-magnet," snarked Ron.
Hermione threw a bit of mud from her hair at Ron.
"Hey!" he yelled and picked some mud off himself and threw it at her. By the time they arrived at Herbology they were neither less muddy nor more so.
Upon seeing a furious Professor Sprout at the front of the room the trio quickly and quietly sat at the nearest table. The normally cheerful Professor Sprout was in a menacingly stance, her feet shoulder width apart, arms crossed at her chest and a look of pure fury upon her face as she stood at the front of the room. When the entire class was seated Professor Sprout took a few moments to give each and every one of them a piercing glare. "So..." she began, drumming the fingers of her left hand on her right arm. "I am not going to waste any more of the class time than is necessary." She said crisply, "I want to know right now, this instant, if any of you were behind the green houses anytime since your arrival or know of some one who has. Because whoever it was has ruined my patch of dragon dung that I had laid out the night before for today's lesson." Professor Sprout continued to glare around the room.
Harry looked at Ron, Ron looked at Harry and then Hermione while Hermione looked at Harry. "So that was the strange smell," she mouthed at the two of them. It also explained why they were having a hard time getting it off: dragons have strong magic. Glumly they nodded. It was almost in unison that the trio's shoulders slumped. This was not a good day at all. Meekly Hermione raised her hand into the air.
"Err...Professor," she started.
"Yes Hermione?" Professor Sprout responded tersely.
"I...I believe we may have been the people to upset your fertilizer," Hermione said quietly, unable to look at the Professor.
Professor Sprout blinked.
"We didn't realize what it was," Hermione continued, desperate to explain that it wasn't intentional, "We thought we were walking through some mud."
Professor Sprout seemly slightly less angry, "Thank you for telling me. Please see me after class," she gave each of them the /look/, "all three of you." She turned away from the trio and began the lesson, "Now please turn your text books to page forty-five, we will be looking at Lily-Dragons today."
-----
"I can't believe this! First day back and we already have detention!" Ron complained angrily.
"Detention is better than some other forms of punishment," said Hermione.
"We weren't going to get expelled for stepping in dragon dung, Hermione." Ron fumed.
"Worry about it later Ron," Harry interrupted the flow of the argument, "What class do we have next?"
"Double Transfiguration" replied Ron.
"And we're going to be late if we don't hurry" said Hermione.
Professor McGonagal met the three of them outside the classroom where she was about to close the door. "What happened to you?" demanded McGonagal as she held her nose.
Hermione gave an abridged version of the day's events.
"Go and get cleaned up quickly," she let them go to the bathroom and attempt to freshen up a little before class. The fact that the trio now smelled like a litter box greatly influenced this decision.
Within ten minutes all three of them were back in the Tranfiguration classroom. Ron and Harry couldn't get rid of the smell entirely so an aroma of sulfur wafted around the classroom. Hermione was no more successful in ridding herself of the stench so she decided to mask it with perfume. Once you got within three feet of her you would be overwhelmed by the scent of apple blossoms. McGonagal took little notice of their late arrive and the trio found the nearest empty seats. The other Griffindors were happy to help them out with glimpses at their notes, even though their noses crinkled at the stench. Hermione ran her eyes over Lavendar and Seamus's notes as she began taking her own. Ron and Harry wound up in the row in front of Hermione and were not lucky enough to sit next to generous Griffindors. However, they both knew they could get the notes off Hermione later.
"Now," said McGonagal as she wrapped up her lecture, "You have worked on turning objects into other objects for six years now. This time, however, you will be turning plastics, a muggle invention, into a living creature. Those of you who take muggle studies know that this skill will be useful in the muggle world where they have begun to use inorganic materials." She held up a cube of grey plastic, "You will each come to the front and get a cube of plastic then returned to your desk." Everyone did as she asked promptly. "Good, now you may all begin transfiguring that cube into a rabbit."
Everyone in the room was concentrating on the cube in front of them. It was tricky to turn plastic into a rabbit, their magic consisted of things from nature but this time they were using a synthetic cube. (This transfiguration lesson was part of a week long review.) Hermione and Dean's cubes were changing the fastest. Theirs had ears, tails, and part of the face wiggled curiously. The rest of the class wasn't far behind, except for Neville. Neville's hadn't changed at all. Hermione gave him some tips and told him not to give up. He smiled briefly at her (the blush stayed a while longer) before putting his full concentration on the cube. All his magical skill and knowledge focused on the synthetic material that was melted and molded to create the block in front of him. Still nothing happened…to the cube at least.
At that moment Harry had been comparing his notes to Ron's when he looked up to see if Ron was listening. "Ron!" Harry exclaimed.
"Not so loud!" Ron hissed, pulling his hands up to cover his ears. He froze at this point, something wasn't right. Ron ran his fingers up and down his ears. They were long and furry.
Hermione noticed Ron's ears shortly after Harry's outburst. In next to no time the whole room was focused on Ron's long red rabbit ears.
"How?" was all Ron could manage as whiskers began to grow near his nose. His eyes went cross-eyed as he stared at them.
Hermione nudged Neville who hadn't noticed a thing. He seemed to snap out of when she poked him, but instead of gawking at Ron as he should have he looked dejectedly at his block of plastic. "Still nothing happened," he groused and turned to face Hermione. He then noticed Ron's ears wiggling in an agitated manner. Neville was absolutely speechless and his eyebrows disappeared into his bangs.
Finally Professor McGonagal looked up from her desk at Neville and Ron. "Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom, please come here," she commanded. "The rest of you keep working."
Neville approached the teacher's desk nervously as Ron followed close behind, his ears twitching like mad. McGonagal put their fears to rest (everyone figured this because Ron's ears stopped twitching) and set things right. Ron walked back to his seat with his face red from neck to forehead (and possibly scalp, you really couldn't tell because his whole head was the same color: red). Neville followed behind, grabbed his block and returned to the front of the room where McGonagal was going to demonstrate the spell again for him. Once again, however, the plastic stayed plastic, but McGonagal's ink well became a handsome black rabbit.
Five minutes before the end of class everyone was ordered put their rabbits into a cage in the back of the room to worked with later. It is much harder to transfigure organics into synthetics so that would be saved for another lesson. Soon after that the magical bells sounded throughout the castle announcing lunch.
---
Off in a place far, far away stood a man who hardly looked like a man. This man hardly looked like anything resembling a man except that fact that he was a biped. Actually, we can only assume he is a biped since his long, black robes cover his entire body except for his head and hands but since his posterior doesn't stick out too far behind him we can guess he has two legs (he may have three). Never the less he was standing above a large basin of water with a look on his face that one can only presume is a gruel smirk. The basin was not full of clear water but instead it seemed to shift in color and context as if it were a television.
"This is going to be much fun. Don't you agree Wormtail?" the biped asked without turning away from the images in the basin.
"Yes, master," Wormtail replied with his head bowed as he set the lunch tray on the table beside the basin.
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A/N – It's taken me forever, but I've finally completed the first chapter (Long story short, I've had a bunch of "technical difficulties" with this story ::big neon-light arrows are placed above the Harry Potter books and her computer::) but I don't think I'll have as much trouble with the rest of the chapters…I hope.
Big "thank you"s to Marie who helped me corner Hedwig and dye her feathers. That plaid coloring charm rocks! I originally meant to do the whole first day in the first chapter but it was becoming too long (11 pages is getting to be too long for me ^^;;). So the afternoon classes will be in chapter two, right after lunch. ::steals a sandwich from Voldie's tray and munches happily::
You came this far, could you please leave a review? It only takes a few seconds but it means a lot. ^.^ Thanks.