Foreign Exchange
Chapter 8
I wish I owned this
Vince opened his eyes and looked out the window. It was raining, but for some reason, it didn't seem to bother Vince. He pulled on his jeans and shirt. He grabbed his socks and shoes and pulled on his robe. He walked over to the sink. He straightened his hair and brushed his teeth. Today was going to be a good day.
Vince was walking down the halls of Hogwarts. There was a slight spring in his step. He was feeling pretty damn good. After two short weeks, he was doing well in all of his classes (except potions,) people thought he was cool, and things were going swimmingly with Luna. Vince had woken up with a tremendous feeling of joy at his present situation.
He entered the Great Hall and was about to join Luna for breakfast, when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. He turned and saw Professor Snape. The joy quickly dissipated. It showed, too. "Oh don't look so thrilled, Scott," said Snape, very sarcastically. "The Headmaster wishes to see you at his table." He pointed up the room to the other side. "When would he like me to stop by?" asked Vince. "Immediately," said Snape. And with a quick turn, he walked towards the dungeons. No doubt preparing for Vince's class.
Vince walked over to the Ravenclaw table and grabbed a piece of toast to eat on his way to the table. Luna looked confused as Vince gave her a peck on the cheek. "Dumbledore business," said Vince, pointing up at the Staff Table. She smiled and waved and it gave Vince a boost of confidence. The walk up to the table was a bit daunting. Vince reached the Staff Table and Dumbledore surveyed him over his half-moon glasses.
"So," began Dumbledore. Vince gulped. Are they going to send me back? Was I like a trial run or something? Oh God, they found out about the pot. "You've been here for two weeks and I hope you are prepared for the task I set forth to you at the beginning of the term." What task? "Today, I would like you to prepare your tryouts for the first ever Interhouse Quodpot Tournament." Oh, thank Christ. "I would like you to give flyers to the heads of houses by the end of the day and have your tryouts planned for Friday. It will be the last class of the day."
Vince nodded and walked back to rejoin Luna at the table. "Thank you, Professor," he said as he turned to walk away. He sat back down and Luna turned to face him. "What did Professor Dumbledore want?" asked Luna. "He wanted me to make flyers for Quodpot tryouts on Friday. I have to give them to the Heads of Houses by the end of the day." Luna smiled. "Well that sounds fun. Would you like my help?" she asked. "You're so great," he replied, giving her another kiss on the cheek. "We'll design them at lunch, okay?" Luna nodded. "Sounds excellent," she said. This girl is wonderful, thought Vince. The bell rang. "Have fun at your classes," said Luna, waving as she walked off in a different direction. Vince grumbled. Snape was his first class.
Harry, Ron, Vince, and Hermione came back from their morning classes to have lunch. "I'm gonna join Luna. She's helping with the Quodpot tryout flyers," said Vince, leaving the Gryffindor section. "Good luck," said Harry. Vince walked over to Luna at the Ravenclaw table. She already had sheets of parchment out, making rough drafts of the flyers. Vince chuckled to himself. "You don't have to go to such trouble," he said. Luna shook her head. "It's no trouble, really," she said. "How were your classes?" she asked. "Well, it's no surprise that I wish Snape nothing but the swiftest death on him," he said with bitterness in his tone. "Herbology was okay too. We worked with these flowers whose pods were used as ingredients in all sorts of curative elixirs. But the damn thing smelled like rotten fish. We all had to wear nose plugs and our protective gloves because for some reason, they decided to make the petals feel acidic to the touch." Luna chuckled. "I bet you'd like to forget the morning happened, eh?" she asked. Vince sighed. "Boy would I," he answered, thinking of his pot upstairs.
They designed the flyers until the bell rang. Vince took them from Luna. "I have pretty easygoing teachers next. I'll be able to finish these. No problem." She gave him a little kiss and he blushed, slightly. He walked back to Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They were all looking at him with amused expressions on their faces. "Screw off. At least I'm dating someone," he said, a little bit miffed, as the others were laughing. They walked down to the edge of the forest where Hagrid's hut was. Vince wondered what was in store for their class this time. He also wondered how he would finish these flyers by dinnertime.
"Got a real treat for yeh," a booming voice called as they reached the hut. Hagrid was standing in front of his door with his enormous dog, Fang. They walked down to an enclosure not too far away from Hagrid's hut. Inside the pen were creatures Vincent and many of the others had never seen before. It reminded Vince of a bull, except it was scaly. Big, thick scales like a pangolin. It had a thick tuft of fur that drooped over its bloodshot eyes. "Everybody grab a mask," said Hagrid, dispersing surgical masks to all of the students. They also noticed Hagrid was wearing protective gloves and decided to follow suit.
"This is a catoblepas. They live around Greece. They're heads are so heavy they always have their heads down. This is fortunate 'because their stare has the power to kill on contact. They eat poisonous plants which causes their breath to be highly toxic and potentially lethal. If they feel threatened, they will let out a great sigh and yeh best run." Vince looked exasperated. "Why don't we just set each other on fire?" he asked the others.
"Today, I want yeh to feed 'em a variety of poisonous plants and see what they like best." Everyone put on their dragonhide gloves. There were several bags of toxic flora and people grabbed different plants for the catoblepas. Vince recognized things like poison oak, sumac, and ivy. There were also several varieties of mushrooms which he was sure were toxic. He grabbed a handful and walked over to the nearest creature, careful not to meet its gaze. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were feeding the catoblepas as well.
"Any ideas for the tryouts?" asked Harry. Vince thought for a moment as the catoblepas was eating some poison ivy. "Well I hope that you guys will try out for the team," he said. They all nodded excitedly, except Hermione. "Flying is not my cup of tea." Vince looked shocked. "You actually suck at something?" Hermione reddened. "What? Nobody's perfect," she said as she was taking notes as to what plant the catoblepas liked and disliked. "Anyway," Vince continued. "I want to see if all the people trying out can handle passing back and forth. This isn't Quidditch, I mean. It's very much like American football or basketball. The eleven players on each team are trying to get the quod into the cauldron at the other end before it blows up. There's a lot of strategy involved."
"You know what you're doing right?" asked Ron, a little skittish from the catoblepas. "I'm captain of Washington House at Liberty Academy. We didn't win the school tournament three years running out of sheer luck." Ron clapped Harry on the back. "You'll definitely want this bloke on your team, then. He's the youngest school Quidditch player in a century." Harry blushed. Vince took out an ink and quill and began making the flyers while Hagrid wasn't looking.
Tryouts for the first ever Interhouse Quodpot Tournament
Will be held Friday after during the last class of the day
Each team needs eleven skilled fliers
Hand-eye coordination is a plus
Contact Vincent Scott (Gryffindor) for more info
He prettied it up with pictures of goalposts with cauldrons floating in front of them. Hermione came over and took out her wand. "This will make things much easier," she said. She pointed her wand to the parchment and muttered, "Libro Multiplicito." Another copy appeared. She did this twice more and Vince had an awed expression on his face. He also noticed this look on Ron's face. He was sure the look was on his face for a completely different reason. "Thanks Hermione," Vince said, patting her on the back.
After class was over they washed off their gloves so the poison wouldn't contaminate their school things. They walked back up to the school for Defense Against the Dark Arts. When they arrived to the classroom they noticed that all of the desks were pushed up against the wall. There was a large chest in the middle of the room. Professor Billings was sitting at his desk writing something. "Oh good, you guys are here!" he said, looking up. He walked over to the chest in the center of the room. "I know you guys have already done this, but there was a boggart up in the bell towers and I decided to have fun with you guys today. Plus, I kind of didn't have any lesson plans ready today." He motioned at his desk which was cluttered with papers. Some of the kids snickered.
"Now, you all know what to do. Think of what terrifies you the most and the boggart will manifest itself in that form. You say Riddikulus to repel it and the next person comes forward. Why don't we start with Vince?" He motioned Vince forward. Vince looked a little nervous. He had a feeling he was the only one who had never dealt with a boggart before. Billings leaned over the chest. "Ready?" he asked. Vince gulped and nodded.
The chest opened and out came a dead beagle. Sally. "Riddikulus!" Vince cried, a little choked up. Dead Claire. Dead Lucy. Dead Colin. One by one, Vince was being subjected to the horrible visions of his family dead before him. But what it took form of next shook him to his core. A dead girl about his age⦠with long blonde hair, and protuberant eyes, even in death. Vince started to shake violently and collapsed on the floor, sobbing. Billings intervened and as he approached, the boggart took the form of a fiery airplane, but he was too preoccupied with Vince to care. "Everyone continue with the boggart," he said as he led Vince to the side of the room. Vince was shaking as the teacher gave him some chocolate. "You okay?" he asked Vince. Vince nodded. "I take it you have a soft spot for that Lovegood girl, huh?" he asked. "I've never felt that way about anyone before," Vince answered shakily. Billings smiled. "You got hit by Cupid and hit hard. Don't worry about the boggart. Everyone chokes up their first time." Vince looked up at his teacher. "What happens with you?" he asked with a mouth full of chocolate. "I see an airplane on fire, but it turns into a paper airplane that crumples when it hits the wall."
Vince sat back the rest of the class. He and his teacher watched the rest of the students having fun and he felt like a loser for crying like a baby when he saw those horrible things. When class had ended he walked to dinner in the Great Hall. Before he settled himself with some food, he went up to the staff table. "Thank you Vince. Good luck on Friday." Vince nodded and went to go sit down. After what he just saw, he did not have much of an appetite, though. Personally, he just wanted to sit with Luna. But she wasn't there. He sighed and went to join Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
