CHAPTER 21: FANCY THAT
O'Bannon remembered when he was eight and his parents took him to a Boston Bruins playoff game. They had beaten the Buffalo Sabres, and everyone around him had been euphoric.
That was nothing compared to the way the Gryffindors acted as they headed out of the stadium.
They screamed, they danced, they embraced, they fired brightly-colored sparks from their wand, some of them spelling out "Harry Potter" or "Go Go Gryffindor!" Half-a-dozen girls O'Bannon didn't even know hugged him. He also got hugged by Parvati Patil, whom he probably hadn't said more than five words to since coming to Hogwarts.
Not that he was going to complain.
That last thought sent a jolt of guilt through him as Mireet's face formed in his mind's eye.
"Party in the common room!" Fred shouted.
"Must celebrate properly!" George added. He then shot sparks from his wand that formed the Gryffindor lion, which let out a roar. "And must let the world know that Gryffindor is number one!"
That caused another outbreak of cheers. O'Bannon noticed several Hufflepuffs nearby look over. Some frowned, some glared. One or two moved their lips. Because of the distance and the cheering around him, he couldn't hear what they said, but he doubted it was complementary of Gryffindor.
Too damn bad. As a Boston sports fan, he'd gone through plenty of big-game losses. You just had to get over it and move on.
Eventually.
Sometimes.
His thoughts were interrupted by the Creevey brothers, who bounced in front of him singing - off key – "Harry Potter did it! Harry Potter did it!"
"Hell yeah he did!" O'Bannon's fists shot into the air. He then high-fived the Creeveys, who sang even louder as they hopped away from him. That's when he spotted Katie and Alicia a few feet away. He rushed over to them, wrapped an arm around each of their waists, and squeezed.
"Was that friggin' awesome or what?"
Alicia let out a choked gasp. "Jimmy, you're crushing us."
"Sorry." He let go.
"Bloody hell, you really don't know your own strength, do you?" Alicia took a breath, then flashed him a smile.
He glanced over at Katie. She avoided eye contact with him. Was she blushing?
"Hey look! There's Charlie!" George blurted behind him. "Oy, Charlie!"
O'Bannon looked past the crowd of Gryffindors. A large, solidly built young man with blazing red hair and a mass of freckles on his face stood with his muscular arms folded, grinning in their direction.
"So, enjoy the first task?" asked Charlie Weasley.
"You bloody git!" Fred marched up to his older brother and whacked him on the arm. Charlie looked like he didn't feel it.
"You knew about this all along and didn't tell us, your own brothers." Fred gave Charlie a faux glare, as did George.
Charlie just grinned wider. "What, and spoil the surprise? Besides, I told you back at Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters this was all hush-hush."
"We wouldn't have told anyone," said Fred.
"Honest," George added.
"HA!" Charlie barked out a laugh. "There are girls who are better at keeping secrets than you two."
"Get stuffed, you sexist pig." Alicia narrowed her eyes at him.
"And I suppose you're an aspiring Secret Keeper, eh, Spinnet?"
Alicia looked even angrier, but said nothing.
"Oy, Charlie," Fred said. "Someone you must meet over here. This is our friend from across the pond, Jimmy O'Bannon. Jimmy, this is our brother Charlie."
"Nice to meet you." O'Bannon took Charlie's very large hand.
"Likewise. That's pretty interesting what you've done here, getting wizards and witches to play a Muggle sport. Dad was practically bouncing out of his chair last night at dinner talking about it. Loves Muggle stuff, he does."
"Thanks. So, um, if you don't mind me asking, what made you wanna work with dragons?"
"Are you kidding?" Charlie's entire face lit up. "They're dragons. All that strength and power. How deadly they are. The way they fly. The horns, the scales, the different colors. How can anyone not love dragons?"
O'Bannon stared at him for a few silent seconds before muttering, "Uh-huh." With all that exuberance talking about an animal, Charlie reminded him of that crazy Australian guy on TV who loved to play with crocodiles and poisonous snakes.
Better them than me. O'Bannon couldn't imagine what would ever make him want to deal with deadly creatures, be they from the Wizarding or Muggle Worlds.
"Wish I could chat longer," said Charlie, "but must get back and help get the dragons ready for transport back to the preserve. Nice meeting you, Jimmy. Take care, everyone."
Charlie sprinted off toward the woods, faster than O'Bannon expected for someone his size.
The sun started to dip into the horizon by the time they made it back to the castle. When the Gryffindors reached their common room, none of them went upstairs to their rooms, save for Quincy Questor.
Two hours without studying, it's probably driving him crazy.
For everyone else, school work was the furthest thing from their minds. Dozens of conversations rippled through the common room, almost all of them about Harry's awesome flying. Fred, George and Lee raided the kitchen, coming away with armfuls of food and drink. Dean Thomas showed off his art skills again with several impressive magically drawn banners. One showed Harry flying around the Hungarian Horntail dodging bites and jets of fire. Another one displayed Cedric Diggory running around the stadium with his hair ablaze.
"Brilliant, Dean!" Seamus laughed and slapped his best friend on the shoulder. "Bloody brilliant!"
O'Bannon shook with laughter as he watched the illustrated version of Cedric Diggory running back and forth, flailing his arms as the flames on his hair grew bigger.
I can't resist.
He bounded over to the banner and stood under Cedric's distressed and fiery image.
"Oh no, my hair," he said in a tacky British accent. "I'm not pretty any more."
A collective howl of laughter engulfed the common room.
"Good one, Jimmy Boy!" Lee half-shouted, half-laughed.
O'Bannon laughed along with everyone else. Two months ago he never imagined being part of a scene like this. Times like this, he was amazed how far he'd come from when he first set foot inside Hogwarts, when nobody here would give him the time of day.
"Harry!"
That sounded like Ginny's voice. O'Bannon looked over the crowd of Gryffindors and spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione emerging from the portrait hole. Everyone exploded in cheers and yells. Lee Jordan set off some Filibuster's Fireworks. Blazing stars and comets and other shapes filled the air above them. The Gryffindors mobbed Harry, hugging him or slapping his back or mussing his already mussed black hair.
"You were marvelous, Harry!" Lavender Brown threw her arms around him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. Harry swallowed and blushed.
"That was some really cool flying, Harry." Neville Longbottom shook his hand.
O'Bannon gave Harry a high-five so hard it made him wince. "Dude, you are the friggin' man! Viktor Krum's got nothin' on you!"
"Thank, Jimmy." Harry smiled and rubbed his hand.
Once everyone got their congratulations in, Harry grabbed all sorts of food and devoured it. O'Bannon figured taking on a dragon would burn up a ton of calories. He also noticed Harry and Ron sat together on one of the couches, talking like a pair of buddies would.
I guess all is forgiven.
"Blimey, this is heavy." Lee hefted Harry's golden egg. "Open it, Harry. Go on! Let's just see what's inside."
"He's supposed to work out the clue on his own," Hermione said swiftly. "It's in the tournament rules."
Harry whispered something to Hermione. O'Bannon couldn't hear what it was, but it resulted in a guilty expression on Hermione's face.
"Yeah, go on, Harry!" Seamus hollered. "Open it!"
More Gryffindors echoed Seamus' request. Lee handed over the egg to Harry, who dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it.
O'Bannon stood on tip-toes, looking over shoulders and heads. He focused on the egg as Harry worked to pry it open. What could be in it? A note? A map? Some kind of creature? The anticipation swelled inside him.
The egg clicked open.
A loud, horrible screech burst from it. Everybody slapped their hands over their ears, O'Bannon included. Not that it helped. The screech drilled through his ears and into his brain. His knees buckled. He began to sink to the floor.
"Shut it!" He barely heard Fred over the screech.
A grimacing Harry managed to slam the egg shut. The noise stopped immediately.
"What was that?" Seamus asked as he lowered his hands from his ears.
"Holy friggin' crap!" O'Bannon rubbed his ears. "Man, I went to a Deadly Curses concert over the summer, and even they weren't this loud. And they're the loudest band in the Wizarding World."
"That sounded like a banshee," Seamus pointed out. "Maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry."
"It was someone being tortured," said Neville, who had gone very white and spilled sausage rolls all over the floor. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"
Now Neville began to shake. O'Bannon wondered why he seemed so terrified. It was as though he'd been hit with the Cruciatus Curse sometime in his life. But he doubted that could have happened.
"Don't be a prat, Neville," said George. "That's illegal. They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions. I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing. Maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower."
Several Gryffindors chuckled. O'Bannon turned to find Katie Bell next to him. He leaned closer to her. "Yo, Bell."
She turned to him. "Um, yes."
"Just curious. Fred and George seem to rip on their brother Percy a lot. Is he really that bad?"
"Yes. Yes, he is." She nodded.
O'Bannon stared at her, expecting her to say something else. Instead Katie looked down at the floor.
He was about to say something when a quick pop caught his attention. He turned to the right and saw a large canary standing in the middle of the common room. "Oh, sorry, Neville," Fred shouted over the laughing Gryffindors. "I forgot, it was the custard creams we hexed."
O'Bannon's eyes widened. He looked down at the piece of candy he'd plucked off a plate a minute ago. Relief swept through him. It was a chocolate cream. He was safe. He popped it in his mouth as Neville molted and returned to normal. The lumpy-looking boy looked around the common room and joined in the laughter.
"Canary Creams!" Fred announced like a vendor at a Red Sox game. "George and I invented them! Seven Sickles each, a bargain!"
O'Bannon shook his head. They really are into this practical joke business, aren't they? He wondered if they could really make a living selling such products.
He turned back to where Katie had been, only to see she had moved on and was talking to another one of her friends, a girl named Leanne.
His brow furrowed. What the heck was goin' on with Katie? She had been one of the first Gryffindors to give him a second chance. Now the normally talkative Fifth Year girl could barely say more than three words around him.
O'Bannon started over to her when he felt a tingling in his nose. He took out his wand and conjured a tissue as the sneeze built and built. He turned away and pressed the tissue over his nose.
The sneeze sounded like a bomb going off. A gusher of snot shot out his nose. The tissue disintegrated in his hand, now covered by a sticky, slimy mass.
The gusher of green ended a few seconds later. O'Bannon grimaced as he stared at the snot covering his hand and staining his robes. Several students stared at him, the female ones emitting sustained, "Ewwws."
One girl, however, screamed in horror.
O'Bannon looked up. Oh crap.
Alicia Spinnet stood ten feet away, completely covered in snot. Her shoulders rose and fell as she checked herself over, and screamed again.
"Oops," said Fred. "I forgot we put out some of our Snot-Rocket Specials. Sorry, Jimmy. Alicia."
Alicia slowly turned to Fred and George. O'Bannon expected a Killing Curse to shoot out of her eyes and strike down the twins.
"You prats! You sick, stupid prats! I'm going to kill you!"
Alicia let out another scream and stormed upstairs to the girls' dormitory.
O'Bannon looked over at Fred and George. "You two nimrods really think you're gonna get rich selling stuff like this?"
George beamed at him and looked around the room. "Snot-Rocket Specials. Five Sickles each. A bargain."
O'Bannon flipped him the middle finger and stalked off to a corner of the common room. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at himself.
"Scourgify!"
The snot vanished from his hand and robes. His lips twisted as he stared at his now clean hand, thinking of the green goop that had been on it mere seconds ago. He wished he was into practical jokes as much as Fred and George. Then he could get those dipsticks back for this.
Grunting, he headed over to one of the tables where several bottles of butterbeer sat. He stopped when he spotted Katie, still talking to her friend Leanne.
What's going on with you, Bell? Why did she seem to clam up around him of late?
He needed to know. Right now. He was about to go up to Katie and ask her point blank about it. But would she tell him, or would she just brush it off with an, "everything's fine?"
All right, then we'll go with Plan B.
O'Bannon scanned the common room until he spotted Angelina Johnson. She'd been good friends with Katie for years. If anyone knew what was bothering Katie, she would.
He wound his way through the mass of Gryffindors until he reached Angelina, who was talking with Lee.
"Hey, Ang. You got a sec?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"Uh . . ." He looked to Lee. "No offense, Lee, but it's something I need to ask in private."
"No problem. I'll talk to you guys later." Lee headed off to rejoin Fred and George.
"What's wrong?" Concern spread over Angelina's face as she stared at O'Bannon.
"Well, it's not me. It's about Katie."
Her brow furrowed. "What about Katie?"
"Well, the last few days she's been acting, I don't know, uncomfortable around me. I try to talk to her and I'm lucky to get three words out of her. I mean, is she pissed at me or something, because I thought we were past the whole, 'everyone hate the American exchange student' thing."
Angelina bit her lip. She took a slow breath and lowered her gaze to the floor.
O'Bannon fought to not roll his eyes. What the hell now?
"Come on." Angelina grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him forward, so hard he thought he'd come out of his shoes. Damn, this girl was strong!
Angelina dragged him over to one of the few deserted spots in the common room. She looked left to right, as though making sure no one was in ear shot. O'Bannon also checked around. No one was nearby. He looked back at Angelina.
"So, do I need top secret clearance to hear this or what?"
Angelina didn't appear to appreciate the wisecrack.
O'Bannon's shoulders sagged. "Look, what's goin' on? What's Katie's problem with me?"
"She doesn't have a problem with you."
"So she's not pissed at me."
"No." Angelina shook her head.
"Okay, then why does she have a problem talking to me?"
"Like I said, Katie isn't talking to you because she's upset with you. It's because she's . . ." Angelina licked her lips and looked away.
"She's what?"
Angelina took a slow breath and turned back to him. "Katie fancies you."
TO BE CONTINUED