Oh, hi. Yes, I'm alive. :D Okay, so it's been like, what, two weeks and a day? So it's not that bad, eh? Eh? School is punishing my lack of attention (as in I tend to discuss Harry Potter and Star Wars instead of doing anything productive) with Danish essays about boring books and all that junk. So it wasn't till yesterday that I remembered I had a fic to update - so I only spent two days creating this update, and yet it took me a lot of time to actually update. And I can't even say 'but this chappie's sooooo long so you can't hate me now mk' because it's like, the shortest of them all or something :P
Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Just enjoy the chappie (or don't, Idk lol :D) and I'll be back for more rambling at the end :D
- CHAPPIE 12: NOT AGAIN! -
The Christmas holidays were rather uninteresting. And yet there was a lot of talk in the corridors, the library, the common rooms – everywhere in Hogwarts, because almost everyone was staying and they were all discussng the events of the talent show over and over again. Those who hadn't been in the Great Hall when Bob, Dobby and the Author had 'saved the day' knew a story which wasn't quite matching the one Harry, Ron and Hermione knew. Some of those who actually had been in the Great Hall hadn't been able to see properly, either because they hadn't been close enough to the happenings or because they had been too scared to watch. This was proved when they heard Terry Boot of Ravenclaw and Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff discussing what Ernie MacMillan, also of Hufflepuff, had told them about Voldemort having been beaten by a giant flying elephant, which had then proceeded to turn into a lion and chase him out the hall. How Ernie, who had been one of those too scared to watch, had managed to convince himself of this, they did not know.
However, everyone was now aware that mr Tromedlov had actually been Voldemort, and that the Trio, Luna, Bob and 'that skating Author girl' had been involved – it wasn't a good idea to bring the Author up in front of Ron though. He was still incredibly angry that she kept escaping him, and now that she had saved everyone from Voldemort, it was quite obvious that nobody else disliked her – except for Snape, and those Slytherins who were Voldemort fans (which would be pretty much all of them) of course. But of course Ron couldn't team up with them, as he hated them just as much. Or, well, almost as much.
When the holidays ended, everything went back to normal. Well, almost normal. There was still something rather strange about having a llama with unusual abilities living in your dormitory, but the lessons returned and people had less time to talk about the events at the talent show.
Hermione had also had her llama parts removed. But if Harry and Ron had thought this would make Bob sad, they were wrong. Bob was so proud of his achievements at the talent show that he didn't even notice. He was still wearing the red Superman cape, and nobody was able to get it off him. If they tried they would just get a kick in the stomach and some Gryffindor student's homework right in their face.
On a Saturday, nearly a month after the holidays had ended, the Trio was sitting in the Gryffindor common room in front of the fire. Not in their usual chairs though – they were actually sitting on the floor, as Bob had been bouncing all around the common room a week earlier while everyone had been at dinner and had broken pretty much every piece of furniture. Nobody really cared how he had escaped the dormitory, as that happened almost every day, except for Ron, convinced it was the Author again and trying to get anybody who would listen to hate her as he did. But, as Ron had discovered, it did not work.
"I hate sitting on the floor like this," said Ron grumpily.
"It's not my fault, is it?" snapped Hermione.
"Did I say it was?"
"If you think I don't know you'd--"
"Guys, just drop it," said Harry tiredly. This had no effect whatsoever on Ron and Hermione's arguing, as it rarely did when no dark lords were in sight.
"But he's accusing me--"
"I'm not accusing you of anything!"
"But you were about to!"
"I was not!"
"Yes you were!"
"How would you know?"
Harry sighed. Somehow they were managing to fight almost twice as much as usual ever since Bob's 'bouncing incident'. He wished they would just realise why they were constantly arguing and get it over with but it did not look like that would be happening anytime soon.
Harry's train of thoughts was cut off by a sudden scream.
"AARGH!"
The common room went dead quiet.
"What was that?" whispered Hermione.
Everybody was listening hard but there were no more screams.
"Didn't it come from the boys' dormitory?" asked Parvarti Patil.
People nodded. It had definitely come from that direction.
"It'll probably be our dormitory then," said Dean.
"But we're all here," said Neville, looking rather pale as he pointed to himself, Dean, Seamus, Ron and Harry.
"Maybe Bob scared a lost first-year?" suggested Ron.
"We should go check," said Harry.
He, Ron, Hermione, Dean, Seamus and a slightly reluctant Neville got up and headed for the dormitory in question.
Harry opened the door just enough to get his head inside the room and looked around for signs of life. Neville whimpered. But there was nothing to fear. The domitory was completely empty. With the exception of beds and such. But there was nothing unusal. Nothing at all. Not even the one unusual thing that was supposed to be there.
Harry opened the door and they all stepped into the room.
"Where's Bob?" asked Ron. There was no sign of him.
"Well, not here," said Harry.
They started looking more closely for any sign of any unusual activity.
"How could he just escape without anyone noticing?" asked Hermione.
"No idea," said Seamus.
"He could've been kidnapped or something," suggested Harry.
"But how would they get him out of here without anyone noticing?" asked Hermione.
"I dunno, maybe they've got an invisibility cloak or--"
"Guys?" said Dean. "The window's open."
(Commercial break)
(BUY WASHING POWDER!)
(Commercial break over)
They all looked up at him.
"Did anybody open the window?" asked Harry.
"No, I was up here about ten minutes ago to get me Charms homework and it was closed then," said Seamus. "Nobody's been up here since, have they?"
They all shook their heads.
"Was Bob here then?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah, he tried to eat me Charms homework so I fed him Neville's Transfiguration essay instead ..."
"What?!" said Neville. Everybody else ignored this.
"But how come the window's open now, then?" asked Hermione.
"Okay Hermione, new rule," said Ron. "You don't get to ask questions because you're supposed to know everything, and when you ask questions, no one can answer!"
"But Ron, that's ridiculous!"
"No it's not, it's a perfectly reasonable rule!"
"How is that reasonable?"
"That was a question. Now you have to pay me two sickles."
"Oh, you're just so childish, Ron. Anyway," she pressed on as Ron opened his mouth to argue, "he can't have escaped through the window, can he? It's a very long way down!"
"Well, if Luna was right--" started Harry jokingly.
"Oh, don't even go there," said Hermione.
"Guys, look at this," said Dean, standing by the window and looking down.
They all went over to the window and looked down. They gasped.
Hanging all the way from the windowsill to the ground, all tied together, was a whole bunch of bedsheets.
"Somebody climbed down all the way from here?" said Neville.
"Must be raving," said Ron. "But yeah, it seems like it."
"But why?
"Well," said Hermione slowly, "perhaps somebody did kidnap Bob."
There was silence for a long moment in which everybody stared at Hermione. Then Ron spoke.
"Why would anyone want to kidnap Bob?"
"Well, he has proved himself to be a bit ... unusual ..." said Hermione. "And some people might think he's got some kind of special powers ..."
"Yeah, but--" Ron broke off in mid-sentence. "Of course – I'll bet it's her!"
"Who?" asked Dean, but Harry was pretty sure he already knew.
"The Author!" said Ron excitedly. He didn't even seem to mind that everyone rolled their eyes at him – he just seemed excited to have a chance to finally get the Author out of the way.
"Ron, you think everything is the Author's fault," said Hermione.
"Well, she's the Author, Hermione," said Harry. "Wouldn't it actually be her fault in ... some weird way?"
"I ... well ... I ... but you ... I-- oh, forget it!" said Hermione angrily.
"It was the Author those other times!" said Ron.
"That doesn't necessarily mean it's her this time!"
"Look, guys," said Harry, hurrying to speak before they started arguing, "no matter who took Bob, or why, we'll probably be able to find them if we follow the signs."
"What, you-- you mean we should climb down the window, too?" said Ron, looking unnerved.
"No Ron," said Harry sarcastically, "I was thinking that if we just stayed here, Bob would just burst in the door to our dor--"
But just then the door burst open – and Bob bounced in, his Superman cape flying behind him.
"--mitory," finished Harry, staring at Bob.
"Bob!" said Ron, hurrying over to the llama. "Where have you been?"
But Bob, being a llama, couldn't answer. Instead he kept bouncing in the doorway, nodding his head pointedly towards the stairs.
"I think he wants us to follow him!" said Hermione.
Bob bounced more enthusiastically at this, his cape fluttering wildly around him. It hit him in the face so he couldn't see and he started bouncing left and right in an attempt to shake it off. After a moment where they all just stared at the llama struggling with the cape, Ron approached Bob cautiously and, though it wasn't easy as Bob was kept bouncing madly around, removed the cape from Bob's face.
"You want us to come with you?" Ron asked Bob. The llama started chewing on his hair. "Argh – get off! I'll take that as a yes!"
He turned to look at the others, one hand preventing Bob from eating his hair.
"What d'you say?"
"I'm coming," said Harry.
"Me too," said Hermione.
"Er ..."
Neville seemed less enthusiastic.
"It might be a good idea for someone to stay here," said Hermione wisely. "You know, as a look out, in case anyone turned up."
"I'll do it!" said Neville quickly.
"Alright Neville, just ... just, I dunno, send a couple of first-years if anything happens," said Harry.
But this seemed to have a bad effect on Neville.
"What if someone dangerous turns up? And-- and I get hurt or--"
"Then we'll pay for the flowers at your funeral," said Ron cheerfully. "You coming too?" he asked Seamus and Dean, completely ignoring how Neville's face seemed to turn from pale to ghostly white.
"Sure, but ..."
Dean glanced to Neville.
"Oh, he'll be fine," said Hermione in a low voice so that Neville, now muttering to himself, couldn't hear. "I really doubt whoever jumped out the window's going to come back after making such an effort to get out without being seen."
"Alright then," said Harry. "Let's go."
They headed for the door.
"Take care, Neville!" said Ron. Neville didn't respond, he merely nodded and muttered something about defensive spells.
And they followed Bob down the stairs, past the Gryffindor students in the common room and out of Gryffindor Tower.
Eheheh. Don't you just love Neville? :D 333333 he's my one and only. Except for Ron, of course. Ima kill Hermione and Hannah :(
K, so, I hope you liked zee chappie (seriously, I should have Fleur in this story. French accents are so much fun) and you will review and be happy because I FINALLY updated. :P
And oui oui, it was Bob who escaped again :D 10 points to everyone who guessed it :D I hope you liked this chappie, despite its shortness. I can also inform you, dear readers, that we are nearing the end. :(:( 3 chappies and a small epilogue to go. But don't let that keep you from reviewing! Please review, folks! Gotta love reviews! And ready yourselves for the next chappie - Chappie 13: What's With All These Surprises? (you can't do nothing but love my chappie titles).
REVIEEEEEEEEW!