Card the moon
Chapter 40 – Background noise
…
"Watch where you're going Malfoy!"
"Oops! Didn't see ya there Potter."
"Yeah, I'll bet."
There was only one thing worse than a Slytherin, a bunch of Slytherin.
"Mind your distance Greengrass."
"It's a free hall Weasley, I'll walk where I want."
And the only thing worse than a bunch of Slytherin was a bunch of Slytherin afraid of losing.
"I see you hiding there. Don't even think about it."
Slytherin were bad losers, this was no revelation to anyone who'd spent even a few weeks living in Hogwarts. So it should have come as no surprise, with Gryffindor's victory over Ravenclaw and the scores being what they were, Slytherin was very afraid of losing the next Quidditch match, very afraid indeed. So afraid they were taking every opportunity to sabotage the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but mostly Harry.
They weren't subtle about it either. Running into him in the halls, tripping him, shoving him, it was like Dudley had come to Hogwarts. It got so bad Harry hardly went anywhere without an escort, though that didn't stop them trying, just slowed them down a bit.
"I really just cannot believe," Luna exclaimed one evening while Harry was training. "All this for some silly little game."
"I take it you weren't a sports fan back in the day," Harry commented idly while maintaining concentration on what he was doing.
"No, and what does that have to do with anything?" said the cat.
Harry allowed himself a grin, gently lowering the whittled rod into the corner with the others. "It's not important."
He hated the constant attacks as much as anyone, but he didn't have to think about why they were doing it. He felt just as strongly about winning as they did, the only difference was Gryffindor had an actual moral compass leading it; her name was Minerva McGonagall, and she did not stand for that sort of behavior.
He could only imagine what they'd be like if their house were headed by a Snape. Small wonder Slytherin wasn't worse.
"That's twelve of those now, you think it's enough?"
"Have to be for now," he said. "Pretty sure our hour is almost up."
TIME had made training a whole different experience for Harry and Luna. Preparing ahead, they could have an entire hour in an instant. It made getting caught far less likely and they didn't have to worry so much about people getting suspicious. The map had made that easier too till he'd lost it.
He felt like an idiot for letting Snape get to him that day with the other Luna, yet another thing he really needed to work on. The man knew how to push Harry's buttons, and Harry had a hard time holding his tongue; it's what had gotten him dragged down to Snape's office, his pockets emptied, his map revealed.
It was only lucky Snape had decided to call Lupin to look at the map, otherwise it would have been destroyed then and there, and he wasn't sure he could have faced the twins knowing that. Learning it was created by Sirius Black had almost been worth Lupin's ire.
It was hard not to just tell him. The man was clearly concerned with Harry's safety, what would he think if he really knew what Harry had been up to all semester. Would he be impressed, upset, unable to believe?
He put it out of his mind. Some things just were not worth wondering about since they would absolutely never happen, not if he had anything to say about it.
There was a slight prick when time started up again, and Harry took his dozen small canes and placed them in the empty trunk he was using to store them. "That makes thirty-three total."
"I think you've got this carving spell down. Ready to move on to the next part?"
"I suppose so," said Harry. "If I can make it work, finally be getting something out of that cane."
He wasn't carving replicas of his cane just to master the carving spell, which was from the same school of spells as his cutter, it was all part of a project he was working on to up the combat potential of his cane. His most advanced endeavor to date.
His first enchantment.
He was both excited and nervous at the same time.
"I'll check the hall, follow when you hear me call."
Luna was acting scout, since Harry was being 'guarded' from Slytherin any youma related work had to be done when everyone was asleep. Everyone not including Filch.
"Dobby." The elf appeared with a silent pop. "We're done for the night. Can you put that back?"
The elf nodded and vanished with his trunk of timber. Dobby, much like the map, had been a godsend. Unlike the map, he had no intention of losing his elf friend.
A plaintive 'meow' from the hall signaled all was clear and he went in search of the cat. She was waiting at the foot of a suit of armor. Harry eyed it suspiciously.
"It's not a youma," the cat assured him.
'It' may not be, but far too many of them had been this year. They'd also been completely innocuous pieces of wall which made just walking through Hogwarts a bit unnerving. It had allowed him to develop something of a sense for their unique presence, which was good since he lacked the immunity the sailor scouts had to being drained.
That first time had been a fluke; he'd just nothing for the youma to drain.
"I know this will sound like a stupid question but, just how much longer will we need to do this. I mean, how much longer will they be satisfied with this 'discretion'," discretion being relative of late.
"I wish I knew," said the cat. "I was never trained for this—this sort of guerilla warfare. I was never trained for regular warfare either, it was never my job to fight, just advise."
"This from the cat that attacked a disguised youma to save a poor defenseless Hermione," he said with a grin.
"She told you about that did she?"
Harry nodded.
"Yes, well, basic self-defense was required for all royal attendants. We weren't technically at war with the Earth, but we never dismissed the possibility, and we were in their orbit."
"And now, ten thousand years later, it continues. It's an impressive grudge."
"Sort of makes that silliness between Gryffindor and Slytherin seem rather juvenile in comparison."
Well, when she put it like that, "I'll just be glad when this game is over. Win or lose."
The cat scoffed, "But you'll still try and win though."
"Duh!"
"Wouldn't it just be easier to let them win?"
"Sure, but then we'd never hear the end of it. And after that stunt Malfoy and his cronies pulled at the Ravenclaw game, there's no way I'm letting them walk away from this with the cup." He paused a moment to release the tension he'd built up during his rant. "Just wish we could get it over with already."
"The waiting is always the worst part," said Luna sagely.
"Feels like it," he said, "or it may just be that time of year."
Usually, something was building to a peak by this point, at least in his experience. The basilisk the previous year was an excellent example. All the little clues about the Philosophers stone and Quirrell's attempts to steal it being another. And now there was the whole thing with Sirius Black, which would have felt more pressing if there weren't also youma skulking in every hall. Also…
"Do you hear something?"
Both tilted their heads just so, "It sounds like, sloshing," said Luna.
"Is it getting louder?"
It was. The great wave of bubbles swept past them in the intersecting hall, a youma carried helplessly along squealed its distress.
"Only one?" Harry wondered aloud.
"Help!"
"NOOOOO!"
"Yaaargh!"
"That's better." They were roving in packs now. It would have been weird if there was only one.
"Weeeeeeeeeeee!"
"And there she goes," the cat observed, as the Card captor slid along in their wake.
"At least she's having fun," Harry said with an irresistible grin. "Spose we ought to follow them, deal with those youma."
"Oh, is that the only reason?" the cat teased with a knowing grin; he knew it was knowing because he'd gotten it enough from Professor Lupin and Professor Jade; prats.
"No, no it isn't."
