Chapter 4: Lochlows and Lollyloots
The
next morning while Harry Ron and Hermione were eating breakfast the mail
arrived. An owl swooped down to Harrys
plate and dropped a note in his sausage-It was from Hagrid:
Harry-
Hey I haven seen yeh in a while! How have yeh bin? If yeh look on yer schedule yehll see that yeh have me firs'
period! Well cya later.
Hagrid
"Yeah he's
right, said Hermione, "we have Care of Magical Creature first…with the
Slytherins…oh not again!"
"I
know- we also have Potions with them," interrupted Ron. "Ya know I think Snape
does that just to torcher us!"
"I
know!" Said Harry now also examining his schedule, "hey look, we have Defense
against The Dark Arts 2nd Period…I still cant believe Fudge let him
come back to teach.
"Probably
because he was the only one who actually knew how to teach DADA," remarked Fred
as he and George sat down across form Harry.
"Well
we gotta go-classes are going to start soon and I want to run upstairs and Grab
something." Said Harry getting up from the table.
'"Cya,"
said Fred and George.
"Bye"
"So Harry, what did you need to get?"
asked Ron while walking up to the dorms.
"Oh,
nothing- just a book I forgot to put in my bag," lied Harry. He really wanted
to get Sirius' letter so he could show Professor Lupin after class.
Later
in Care of magical Creatures class Hagrid was teaching The Gryffindors and
Slytherins about Lochlows-small platypus-like creatures that were hot pink, had
suction cups on their feet and could melt things with there eyes…
"Hagrid
are you sure these are safe?" asked Hermione," I mean they're cute enough and
all, but they can melt things with their eyes…don't you think there is a slight
possibility that some body could get…um…liquefied?"
"Nah," replied Hagrid," Just as long as
we keep our eyes on Malfoy, I think we'll be all right."
"Good
one Hagrid."
Later on during the beginning of 2nd
period, Professor Lupin made a sort of speech about him being a werewolf…
"As
you all know- I am a werewolf; now I know this might frightening to some of
you, but I assure you that I am perfectly capable of keeping my transformation
under control; after all if it took most of you the whole year to figure out
what I was then I think I am more than under control. Now on to the lesson!"
"Now in today's
lesson," Lupin began, "we will learn about Lollyloots- now can anybody tell me
what a lollyloot is?…how about you Mr. Longbottem?"
Neville,
extremely startled at hearing Professor Lupin say his name, gave a small squeak
and fell out of his chair.
"Oh
dear! Are you all right?" asked Lupin struggling to keep a straight face while
everybody around him including Harry, Ron and even Hermione were laughing.
"Yes I'm fine, no really I'm okay,"
insisted a very red faced Neville as he emerged from below his desk.
"Well
I take it you don't know what a lollyloot is, Huh?"
Neville shook his head no and Professor
Lupin asked if anybody else knew.
"Ah,
Hermione, I can always count on you for an answer!" said Lupin making Hermione
blush.
"A
lollyloot is a small lollypop shaped shape shifter that is sort of like a
Muggle pickpocket, they normally hang around busy cities and steal peoples
money and other valuables." Recited Hermione in her dictionary like voice.
"Very
good Hermione take ten points for Gryffindor!" replied Lupin.
"Now
I have a lollyloot and Ill need a volunteer so I can let him demonstrate his
'technique'…anybody wanna go?"
"Harry! Great come on up here!"
As
Harry got up Professor Lupin retrieved a large cage from behind his desk. The
class noticed that wherever the lollyloot went it changed the color of the
background behind it. Lupin opened the cage and let it out. The lollyloot
hopped over to his desk and turned into a wastebasket.
"Now
Harry take this," said Lupin handing him a large gold coin, "and put it in your
pocket." Harry did as he was told. "Now walk by my desk very casually . . ."
"Good!
Now check your pocket and you'll notice the coins not there and the lollyloot
is nowhere to be seen . . . or is he? Can anybody tell me the only way to
identify a lollyloot when it in "hidden form?"
As
usual Hermione raised her hand.
"OK
Hermione—give it a
whirl"
"A
lollyloot," she began going in to dictionary mode again, "has only one weakness
in its hidden form; a sort of 'branding mark' that looks like a lollyloots
original form similar to a lollypop. The way to get back what the lollyloot
stole from you is to point your wand at its 'branding mark' and say the
summoning charm: accio."
"Thank
you Hermione that's exactly right! Now I suppose your all wondering how the
lollyloot took Harry's coin. Well it's quite simple actually; he just used an
advanced form of a summoning charm. Now I want all of you to try it."
So
the class took turns against the lollyloot and right before the end of class
Professor Lupin called Harry over to his desk-
"Harry
I would like to talk to you after class and I have a sneaking suspicion that if
you got a note from…Padfoot, that you have a few things to say to me also."
Harry
nodded and went over to Ron to tell him he had to stay after and discuss
something with Lupin. Then he went back to Professor Lupin and waited for the bell
to ring. Once it did Harry took out Sirius' letter and showed it to Lupin.
"I can't believe he's moving in with
you! I'm happy but I'm worried what if something goes wrong? What if somehow
something went wrong what if Voldiemort
found him?"
"Harry!
Slow down we have taken these things into consideration. Now I think that
Dumbledore would like to speak to you about this also so I have scheduled a
lunch meeting for us, which your 3rd period teacher knows about. So
hurry I think a certain Padfoot would like to see you!"
Chapter 5: Padfoot
"He's
here?" exclaimed Harry.
"Yes but he cant stay long so come on!"
They Hurried up to Professor
Dumbledore's office and when Harry saw Sirius he ran up to him and gave him;
but then noticed everybody was staring at them so he quickly let go.
"Sirius,"
he said, shaking a somewhat surprised Sirius' hand, "good to see you, how have
you been?"
"Not bad now that I have a place to
stay where I don't have to worry about being seen as much. How about you?"
"Alright
my self," replied Harry, "but I'm worried about your um Plan…"
"Everything's under control- there are
so many charms on that house that it would probably be easier to count the
stars than them." Chuckled Dumbledore, "There are also a few charms on Sirius
here including one that makes him look/sound like somebody else to anybody who
still thinks he is the one who killed your parents, and a secret keeper charm
so Voldemort cant see him either."
"Harry,
I don't want you to worry about me, I'm safe," insisted Sirius.
"I
know-I just don't want you to get caught that's all, but if you insist…"
"I
do"
"ok
ok," laughed Harry.
"Ya
know- its almost as though James was here with us-you remind me so much of
him." said Lupin.
"Yeah
I know…" chimed in Sirius in a distant dreamy voice.
"…Well
whose up for some lunch?" said Dumbledore.
Later
that day during Herbology Ron and Hermione asked Harry where he had gone during
lunch. He said he just wanted to discuss Sirius' last letter with Dumbledore
and Lupin and Sirius…
"He's
here?!" Ron Practically shouted- scaring Neville so bad He dropped his Shears
on Hermione's foot.
"Ouch oh ouch oo slight pain in the
general foot area!" said Hermione-hopping on one foot while trying to hold onto
the other one. This is rarely possible so like most people-Hermione fell
over…into a large pot of dirt.
"What
on earth is going on here?!" Asked Professor Sprout- the Herbology teacher.
None
of them could really answer: Harry and Ron were laughing to hard, Neville was frantically
apologizing to Hermione-who was covered in dirt and massaging her foot.
"oh
dear. What am I ever going to do with you kids? Hermione are you all right?"
"Yeah
I think so- but do you think I could go and change?"
"Of
course dear! Now Neville kindly tell me what happened here."
Well
…um…you see," stuttered Neville," Ron scared me-"
"by
accident," interrupted Ron as Professor Sprout shot him a look.
"Yes,
and I-um-well sort of dropped my shears on Hermione's foot and she fell
over-sorry" he added.
"Well
alright," sighed Sprout," but at least get this mess cleaned up…you can help
him Weasley."
"we'll
talk about Padfoot later okay?" whispered Harry to Ron.
The
next day(Saturday) Harry, Ron and Hermione all slept in due to the fact that
they stayed up every late talking about Sirius, that by the time they got down
to the Great Hall there was hardly anybody there.(a/n: sorry about the run on
sentence there).
While
they were eating breakfast a large black owl dropped a Package beside Harry's
plate. He picked it up and on the front of the package there was a stamped
picture of the Dark Mark- a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth.
"Um…guys,"
said Harry a little shakily.
"What…oh
my gosh Harry, open it," said Hermione.
He
opened it and saw what was in it, almost dropping the box as he did. He showed
it to Hermione and Ron and when they saw it Hermione screamed.
In
the box there was a skull and a snake curled up around it.
"Harry
um Harry I think you ought to go see Dumbledore right now!" said Hermione,
"Yeah and were coming with you!"
"Thanks
guys"
So
they headed off for Dumbledores office and whom should they run into…Draco
Malfoy…