Cursed Detention
Harry and Ron both woke early the next morning. They sneaked out and walked up to the Owlery, where they tied the note they'd written to Sirius the night before to Hedwig's leg. She flew off out the window. Harry and Ron then went back to the Common room, where they met Hermione. Together, they walked down to the Great Hall. They sat down, looking at the timetables that had just been handed out and trying to eat their bacon at the same time without making much of a mess.
"Damn!" Ron cursed. "We've still got Potions with Slytherin. Hey, we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts this morning. That should be good- and oh no! Double potions this afternoon with Lockhart and Snape!"
Harry groaned, just as the familiar rush of wings came from above. Hundreds of owls swooped down, dropping parcels on the laps of the people sitting down. Hermione, surprisingly, got two; an owl bearing the Daily Prophet logo (she subscribed to it, as it was 'very interesting' to keep up with the wizard world). The other bird, however, was the weirdest looking thing that Harry and Ron had ever seen; it looked like a vulture, dark and vulgar looking. Hermione, just as curious as Harry and Ron, took the letter off the birds extended leg. As she read the note, she blushed a deep crimson red.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"It's from Victor," she cried. Harry and Ron both stared at each other blankly before they realised who she was talking about.
"Krum?" Ron exclaimed. "What did he say?"
Hermione appeared extremely embarrassed at this request, yet read it out anyway.
" Dear Hermione,
Well, it has been long time since we last saw each other. I've been missing you a lot and I hope that you have been missing me too. I feel that this school has lost its bad reputation, now that Kakaroff has run off somewhere; the new headmaster, Professor Hydole, does not seem as enthusiastic as Kakaroff was on emphasising the teaching of Dark Arts here at Durmstrang.
It was too bad that you were unable to make it over here during the holidays; at first, I thought that it might've been that Harry Potter, or Ron Weebly, but then I thought, no, of course not.
I wish that I could see you soon. How do you like my beautiful bird, Dosinia? He is part vulture and part eagle, a very rare breed, much better than that white owl, wouldn't you say?
Well, I'm sure that I'll see you soon. I hope that you are having a great time at Hogwarts.
Yours,
Victor.
P.S. Did I tell you that you looked very beautiful on the night of the-"
Hermione stopped at this. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who'd been eavesdropping, giggled, causing Hermione to blush an even deeper red. Ron and Harry did not know what to say. Thankfully, Neville Longbottom broke the awkward silence by opening a Howler from his grandmother.
"YOU'VE FORGOTTEN YOUR MITTENS AGAIN NEVILLE, NOT TO MENTION YOUR BRAND NEW SET OF QUILLS! AND I'VE JUST FOUND YOUR REMEMBRALL, HOW COULD YOU FORGET THAT? -"
The tirade went on and on, listing all the things that Neville had forgotten. Neville's cheeks went a deep pink as all the people in the hall stared at him as his grandmother went on about his underwear. Finally, it stopped, with Neville's face taking on an extremely grateful look.
Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, walked over to the Gryffindor table, stopping in front of Neville.
"And why'd you take the blue underwear when I layed out the pink ones for you," he mimicked in a high-pitched tone. Neville looked close to tears.
"Bit rich coming from you, Malfoy. Fancy you having a dressing gown with Draco stitched in pink on your pocket," Harry jumped to Neville's defence.
The tips of Draco's ears went pink and he walked away.
Neville smiled at Harry.
"Thanks."
*
The class sat expectantly, anticipating the arrival of Arianna Dumbledore. It was their first lesson; they had their books out, quills ready. Harry, Ron and Hermione had barged in, grabbing the front seats. The door banged open and in walked the pretty teacher. She smiled at them all, placing her books on the table.
"Hello," she smiled, showing straight white teeth. "I'm Professor Dumbledore's daughter, as most of you would know. I'd like you to call me Professor Jones, as it'll be easier than having two Professor Dumbledore's racing around."
She sat down and began to call the roll. She stopped when she reached Harry's name and she opened her mouth to speak.
"Now, why does that name sound familiar? Harry Potter, Harry Potter. Yes, I know. He's the one that defeated Voldemort." The whole class, except Harry, shuddered. Harry sat open-mouthed. He felt strange; he was so used to having everyone gazing at him and his scar that it felt weird. Not bad weird, but good weird. He felt a rush of gratitude at her naivety towards him.
She continued marking the roll.
"Now, I've been speaking to Professor Dumbledore and a previous teacher of yours, and I've decided that it is time for you to learn about the fiercer things that you may need to defend yourself again in years to come. So, the first topic will be on dragons."
Everyone gasped at this point and Harry, Ron and Hermione both looked at each other, smiling secretly. They already knew a lot about dragons. In their first year, Hagrid had bought a dragon's egg, which gave them Norbet. In the end, because of all the hassles that he cause them, they'd had to give him to Charlie, who was fighting dragons in Rumania, much to the despair of Hagrid.
"Now, to start off, the first step in defending yourself against dragons is knowing how to identify them; there is no use, for example, performing a Confusement charm on a Norwegian Ridgeback, when the only dragons that can be confused of Blue Forgens…"
*
"That was great," Ron commented an hour later. "She's right up there at the top with Lupin and Moody."
They'd spent the lesson identifying different dragons. She'd given out figurines of different dragons and their homework was to find out what dragon it was. It seemed as if she believed in rewarding people for good work and had promised a Honeyduke's peanut crunch bar to all the people who got their answer right.
They happiness was soon dampened, though, as soon as they made their way down to the dungeons for double Potions. They entered the room, full of dread. Sitting at his desk, looking absolutely furious was Snape. Lockhart was prancing around the room, placing portraits of him around the room.
"Yes, I think that a bit of blue in this place would do it the world of good, wouldn't you say? Ah- here's Harry, we can ask him." Lockhart faced Harry and was just about to bombard Harry with questions about the interior of the dungeons when a voice came drawling behind them.
"So, sucking up to Krum now, Hermione? Trying to get a few pointers off him, to pass on to Harry? I always knew you were a user, you stupid Mudblood-"
Both Harry and Ron took out their wands in unison, both shouting out.
"Reducio," Harry yelled, just as Ron bellowed out "Engorgio."
Both spells hit Draco; Harry's on his face and Ron's on his body. Malfoy's body swelled up until it resembled a trolls, thick and tall. His head, however, shrank down til it was the size of a marble. He squeaked and, upon seeing himself, screamed before fainting.
Snape jumped up, furious. He grabbed both Harry and Ron both by the arm and marched away with them. He led them up to Filch's office, where he dumped them.
"Detention for both of them for the rest of the double period."
He marched off, swirling his coat around furiously.
Harry and Ron both turned to stare at Filch, who was grinning widely.
"Just the people I want. You two can do a very special job for me." He led them down to a room not far from the Gryffindor common room. Opening it, Harry and Ron nearly choked on the thick dust that wafted out to greet them. Obviously, the room hadn't been used for a long, long time.
"I want you to clean out this whole room. Everything must be spic and span. If you don't finish by the end of the double period, you can finish at lunch," he ordered. He stormed off.
Both Harry and Ron groaned. Harry got out a broom and started sweeping the dust away. They'd been working for the best part of an hour when Harry heard Ron call him from across the room.
He was scrubbing the old desks that had been abandoned years ago. Engraved on one of the desks, in a childish scrawl were six words.
'Wormtail,
Moony,
Padfoot
And
Prongs
Rule!'
Harry's breathing increased. He felt excited. The thought that his father had once sat in this room was so exhilarating that he could barely breathe. He gazed at the words and felt so sad that he thought he would cry.
He continued his work, the engraving on the desk on his mind the whole time. He was sifting through some old parchment, when he noticed the words on one of them. He read on.
…I am the sea that is carrying you onwards,
…I am the sky that brings you forward.
…I am the friend you come towards,
…I am the lover you desire.
…I am all that you need,
…I am all that you want.
…I am waiting for you to come.
…Waiting for you to return home.
The words were queer, strange. He read them over and over in his mind, trying to figure out what made them so welcoming, so warm.
"Hey Ron, listen to this:
'…I am the sea that is carrying you onwards,
…I am the sky that brings you forward.
…I am the friend you come towards,
…I am the lover you desire.
…I am all that you need,
…I am all that you want.
…I am waiting for you to come.
…Waiting for you to return home.'"
At that exact moment, the room began to swirl around. They seemed to be getting sucked into some sort of warp; they were pulled along as if an invisible giants hand grabbing them around the waist and pulling them. It seemed like forever that they went on like this. Finally, they stopped.
After the dizziness faded away, Harry noticed that they were in a house. It was an ordinary wizard house, like the Weasley's. They stood there astonished. What on earth had just happened? They didn't have long to wait to find out; Harry and Ron could hear the voices of two men coming towards the kitchen they were standing in.
Harry and Ron both woke early the next morning. They sneaked out and walked up to the Owlery, where they tied the note they'd written to Sirius the night before to Hedwig's leg. She flew off out the window. Harry and Ron then went back to the Common room, where they met Hermione. Together, they walked down to the Great Hall. They sat down, looking at the timetables that had just been handed out and trying to eat their bacon at the same time without making much of a mess.
"Damn!" Ron cursed. "We've still got Potions with Slytherin. Hey, we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts this morning. That should be good- and oh no! Double potions this afternoon with Lockhart and Snape!"
Harry groaned, just as the familiar rush of wings came from above. Hundreds of owls swooped down, dropping parcels on the laps of the people sitting down. Hermione, surprisingly, got two; an owl bearing the Daily Prophet logo (she subscribed to it, as it was 'very interesting' to keep up with the wizard world). The other bird, however, was the weirdest looking thing that Harry and Ron had ever seen; it looked like a vulture, dark and vulgar looking. Hermione, just as curious as Harry and Ron, took the letter off the birds extended leg. As she read the note, she blushed a deep crimson red.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"It's from Victor," she cried. Harry and Ron both stared at each other blankly before they realised who she was talking about.
"Krum?" Ron exclaimed. "What did he say?"
Hermione appeared extremely embarrassed at this request, yet read it out anyway.
" Dear Hermione,
Well, it has been long time since we last saw each other. I've been missing you a lot and I hope that you have been missing me too. I feel that this school has lost its bad reputation, now that Kakaroff has run off somewhere; the new headmaster, Professor Hydole, does not seem as enthusiastic as Kakaroff was on emphasising the teaching of Dark Arts here at Durmstrang.
It was too bad that you were unable to make it over here during the holidays; at first, I thought that it might've been that Harry Potter, or Ron Weebly, but then I thought, no, of course not.
I wish that I could see you soon. How do you like my beautiful bird, Dosinia? He is part vulture and part eagle, a very rare breed, much better than that white owl, wouldn't you say?
Well, I'm sure that I'll see you soon. I hope that you are having a great time at Hogwarts.
Yours,
Victor.
P.S. Did I tell you that you looked very beautiful on the night of the-"
Hermione stopped at this. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who'd been eavesdropping, giggled, causing Hermione to blush an even deeper red. Ron and Harry did not know what to say. Thankfully, Neville Longbottom broke the awkward silence by opening a Howler from his grandmother.
"YOU'VE FORGOTTEN YOUR MITTENS AGAIN NEVILLE, NOT TO MENTION YOUR BRAND NEW SET OF QUILLS! AND I'VE JUST FOUND YOUR REMEMBRALL, HOW COULD YOU FORGET THAT? -"
The tirade went on and on, listing all the things that Neville had forgotten. Neville's cheeks went a deep pink as all the people in the hall stared at him as his grandmother went on about his underwear. Finally, it stopped, with Neville's face taking on an extremely grateful look.
Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, walked over to the Gryffindor table, stopping in front of Neville.
"And why'd you take the blue underwear when I layed out the pink ones for you," he mimicked in a high-pitched tone. Neville looked close to tears.
"Bit rich coming from you, Malfoy. Fancy you having a dressing gown with Draco stitched in pink on your pocket," Harry jumped to Neville's defence.
The tips of Draco's ears went pink and he walked away.
Neville smiled at Harry.
"Thanks."
*
The class sat expectantly, anticipating the arrival of Arianna Dumbledore. It was their first lesson; they had their books out, quills ready. Harry, Ron and Hermione had barged in, grabbing the front seats. The door banged open and in walked the pretty teacher. She smiled at them all, placing her books on the table.
"Hello," she smiled, showing straight white teeth. "I'm Professor Dumbledore's daughter, as most of you would know. I'd like you to call me Professor Jones, as it'll be easier than having two Professor Dumbledore's racing around."
She sat down and began to call the roll. She stopped when she reached Harry's name and she opened her mouth to speak.
"Now, why does that name sound familiar? Harry Potter, Harry Potter. Yes, I know. He's the one that defeated Voldemort." The whole class, except Harry, shuddered. Harry sat open-mouthed. He felt strange; he was so used to having everyone gazing at him and his scar that it felt weird. Not bad weird, but good weird. He felt a rush of gratitude at her naivety towards him.
She continued marking the roll.
"Now, I've been speaking to Professor Dumbledore and a previous teacher of yours, and I've decided that it is time for you to learn about the fiercer things that you may need to defend yourself again in years to come. So, the first topic will be on dragons."
Everyone gasped at this point and Harry, Ron and Hermione both looked at each other, smiling secretly. They already knew a lot about dragons. In their first year, Hagrid had bought a dragon's egg, which gave them Norbet. In the end, because of all the hassles that he cause them, they'd had to give him to Charlie, who was fighting dragons in Rumania, much to the despair of Hagrid.
"Now, to start off, the first step in defending yourself against dragons is knowing how to identify them; there is no use, for example, performing a Confusement charm on a Norwegian Ridgeback, when the only dragons that can be confused of Blue Forgens…"
*
"That was great," Ron commented an hour later. "She's right up there at the top with Lupin and Moody."
They'd spent the lesson identifying different dragons. She'd given out figurines of different dragons and their homework was to find out what dragon it was. It seemed as if she believed in rewarding people for good work and had promised a Honeyduke's peanut crunch bar to all the people who got their answer right.
They happiness was soon dampened, though, as soon as they made their way down to the dungeons for double Potions. They entered the room, full of dread. Sitting at his desk, looking absolutely furious was Snape. Lockhart was prancing around the room, placing portraits of him around the room.
"Yes, I think that a bit of blue in this place would do it the world of good, wouldn't you say? Ah- here's Harry, we can ask him." Lockhart faced Harry and was just about to bombard Harry with questions about the interior of the dungeons when a voice came drawling behind them.
"So, sucking up to Krum now, Hermione? Trying to get a few pointers off him, to pass on to Harry? I always knew you were a user, you stupid Mudblood-"
Both Harry and Ron took out their wands in unison, both shouting out.
"Reducio," Harry yelled, just as Ron bellowed out "Engorgio."
Both spells hit Draco; Harry's on his face and Ron's on his body. Malfoy's body swelled up until it resembled a trolls, thick and tall. His head, however, shrank down til it was the size of a marble. He squeaked and, upon seeing himself, screamed before fainting.
Snape jumped up, furious. He grabbed both Harry and Ron both by the arm and marched away with them. He led them up to Filch's office, where he dumped them.
"Detention for both of them for the rest of the double period."
He marched off, swirling his coat around furiously.
Harry and Ron both turned to stare at Filch, who was grinning widely.
"Just the people I want. You two can do a very special job for me." He led them down to a room not far from the Gryffindor common room. Opening it, Harry and Ron nearly choked on the thick dust that wafted out to greet them. Obviously, the room hadn't been used for a long, long time.
"I want you to clean out this whole room. Everything must be spic and span. If you don't finish by the end of the double period, you can finish at lunch," he ordered. He stormed off.
Both Harry and Ron groaned. Harry got out a broom and started sweeping the dust away. They'd been working for the best part of an hour when Harry heard Ron call him from across the room.
He was scrubbing the old desks that had been abandoned years ago. Engraved on one of the desks, in a childish scrawl were six words.
'Wormtail,
Moony,
Padfoot
And
Prongs
Rule!'
Harry's breathing increased. He felt excited. The thought that his father had once sat in this room was so exhilarating that he could barely breathe. He gazed at the words and felt so sad that he thought he would cry.
He continued his work, the engraving on the desk on his mind the whole time. He was sifting through some old parchment, when he noticed the words on one of them. He read on.
…I am the sea that is carrying you onwards,
…I am the sky that brings you forward.
…I am the friend you come towards,
…I am the lover you desire.
…I am all that you need,
…I am all that you want.
…I am waiting for you to come.
…Waiting for you to return home.
The words were queer, strange. He read them over and over in his mind, trying to figure out what made them so welcoming, so warm.
"Hey Ron, listen to this:
'…I am the sea that is carrying you onwards,
…I am the sky that brings you forward.
…I am the friend you come towards,
…I am the lover you desire.
…I am all that you need,
…I am all that you want.
…I am waiting for you to come.
…Waiting for you to return home.'"
At that exact moment, the room began to swirl around. They seemed to be getting sucked into some sort of warp; they were pulled along as if an invisible giants hand grabbing them around the waist and pulling them. It seemed like forever that they went on like this. Finally, they stopped.
After the dizziness faded away, Harry noticed that they were in a house. It was an ordinary wizard house, like the Weasley's. They stood there astonished. What on earth had just happened? They didn't have long to wait to find out; Harry and Ron could hear the voices of two men coming towards the kitchen they were standing in.
