Author's note: Once again, I have to say sorry about the wait (what was it, seven months this time?). For anyone interested in my excuse, I was waiting for a new plot bunny to come hopping along, and then one did, but I put off dealing with it for awhile. It's still nailed to my wall, but it's starting to decay, so I guess it's time to get writing. It should turn up in either this chapter or the next. All I'm saying is I'm going back to the song: "I'm warning you, don't ever do those crazy, messed-up things that you do, if you ever do, I promise you, I'll be the first to crucify you..."To any of you weirdos who have been following this from the beginning (are there actually people who read my stuff religiously? If so, I have two things to say - numbr one, scary! and number two, neat! Leave me a review if you do, my ego could use the boost) thanks, and don't give up on me (I'm about to come alive - er, sorry. Way too much Train for Emmie.)
Disclaimer: They're not mine and I'm broke anyway, so leave me alone.
***
Call and Answer - Chapter 6
***
"This bites," Ron grumbled as he, Harry, Hermione and Draco made their way across the grounds to Care of Magical Creatures. "We're invisible and we still have to go to class..."
"And you had something better to do?" Hermione asked him.
"Well...no...but that isn't the point!" he replied begrudgingly. Harry and Draco met each others' eyes behind Ron and Hermione's backs. Harry was quite certain Draco was thinking along the same lines he was: they could find much better things to do than attending Care of Magical Creatures. Snape, however, had insisted that while there was no way to tell how long the potion would take to wear off, it would not cause any lasting damage and there was no reason for them to miss class. Potions had, of course, been cancelled, as it would have been rather difficult to hold lessons in an invisible dungeon, but by the time everything had been sorted out, it had been nearly time for the next class to start anyway.
They reached Hagrid's hut to find him setting out several large brown crates on the grass. Harry, Ron and Hermione shared a meaningful look as they moved cautiously toward the crates, sure that they probably wouldn't like whatever was inside. The crates, however, were filled not with some new magical creatures but with a very thick, pink, pulpy-looking liquid that smelled quite like rotting fish.
"Ugh," Harry said in disgust. "What *is* that stuff?" Hagrid, who had just been setting down another crate of it, jumped in surprise and some of the pink liquid sloshed onto the grass where it landed with a very heavy *splat*.
"Harry?" Hagrid said, looking around. His eyes finally landed a few feet to Harry's right. "Er...right. Professor Dumbledore's told me all about what happened. Ron, Hermione, you here too?"
"Yeah," they replied together, then Harry added, "And Mal - er, Draco." Hagrid raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak, but Harry didn't feel like explaining at the moment. "So," he asked again, "what's in the crates?"
"Fermented squid entrails," Hagrid replied. Hermione, who had been about to prod the entrails with a finger, snatched her hand back very quickly.
"Uh...what are they for?" Ron asked, eyeing the crate nearest him with even more disgust than before.
"For your new project," Hagrid replied, smiling. Again Harry, Hermione and Ron glanced worriedly at each other. "You're going to be raising - oh, here comes the rest of the class. Might as well wait for them to explain." The rest of the class was indeed headed toward them. Harry saw Parvati and Lavendar, their heads together, giggling over something. Crabbe and Goyle were at the very back of the group, looking rather lost and alone. As the class gathered around the crates of squid guts, eyeing them warily, Harry half expected Draco to go join his friends, but he stayed where he was.
Hagrid began explaining about the new magical creatures that the class was going to be raising as a project - Keghls, creatures that looked something like fish with legs. Their bodies were flat, with two eyes and what appeared to be a small fin on top. Four legs protruded from under the flat bodies, with what could have been either a fifth leg or a fish's tail in the back. The Keghls, Hagrid explained, could live either on land or in water, and they ate - he gestured toward the crates - fermented squid innards. Harry had a nast feeling he knew what was coming next.
"Right," Hagrid said. "Break up into groups of three or four - you three can work on this tank - " he pushed the tank of Keghls he had bean showing the class toward Dean, Seamus and Neville, "and I'll go get the rest. Just lower the squid entrails into the tank, if they like you, they might even eat right out of your hand."
He disappeared around the side of his hut and returned with several more tanks, each containing either three or four Keghls. Ron was watching Seamus dip his hand into one of the crates of innards, which squelched loudly at the touch. "You know," he said quietly, "I've just realized that the best part of being invisible is that no one actually *knows* if you're in class or not..." he started back toward the castle. "You coming?"
"No," Hermione said, selecting a tank with four Keghls, "and neither are you. You heard Snape, the potion could wear off anytime. Now grab some guts and get over here." Making a face, Ron scooped up some of the squid guts and lowered them into the tank, which contained a fairly deep pool of murky water on one side and several moss-covered rocks on the other. One Keghl continued swimming around the tank and Hermione was busy with two others, but the fourth one, a greenish creature with black spots, immediately began sucking the entrails directly from Ron's hand with a mouth that was apparently on the bottom of its flat body. Ron somehow managed to look both rather pleased and extremely disgusted at the same time. Harry was just reaching for a handful himself when Draco leaned over to him.
"You know," he said, grinning, "they're both right. This potion could wear off at any time. But until it does, there's no reason we have to actually *participate* in class..."
"Good point," Harry replied. Dropping the entrails back into the crate with a squish, they moved off to the side, out of the way of the class but close enough that they could still see what was going on. Not that it mattered, because within a few minutes they were so wrapped up in their own little world, they didn't have a clue what was going on around them. So wrapped up, in fact, that they didn't even notice when everything begin to spin around them. Ron and Hermione did, though. Hermione opened her mouth to call out to them, but at that moment, the spinning stopped, and everyone's eyes were immediately directed to the two of them, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, and then to Harry and Draco, who were leaned up against a tree only a few feet away, tongue-wrestling. The few people who could do more than gape in shock broke into giggles, and only then did the two of them come up for air to find everyone in the class staring at them. It took only a second to realize the invisibility potion had worn off at possibly the most unfortunate time possible...
***
Dear lord that was bad! But done! Done is good. Oh, one last thing - 10 points to the House of the first person to spot the song reference in this chapter's title.
Disclaimer: They're not mine and I'm broke anyway, so leave me alone.
***
Call and Answer - Chapter 6
***
"This bites," Ron grumbled as he, Harry, Hermione and Draco made their way across the grounds to Care of Magical Creatures. "We're invisible and we still have to go to class..."
"And you had something better to do?" Hermione asked him.
"Well...no...but that isn't the point!" he replied begrudgingly. Harry and Draco met each others' eyes behind Ron and Hermione's backs. Harry was quite certain Draco was thinking along the same lines he was: they could find much better things to do than attending Care of Magical Creatures. Snape, however, had insisted that while there was no way to tell how long the potion would take to wear off, it would not cause any lasting damage and there was no reason for them to miss class. Potions had, of course, been cancelled, as it would have been rather difficult to hold lessons in an invisible dungeon, but by the time everything had been sorted out, it had been nearly time for the next class to start anyway.
They reached Hagrid's hut to find him setting out several large brown crates on the grass. Harry, Ron and Hermione shared a meaningful look as they moved cautiously toward the crates, sure that they probably wouldn't like whatever was inside. The crates, however, were filled not with some new magical creatures but with a very thick, pink, pulpy-looking liquid that smelled quite like rotting fish.
"Ugh," Harry said in disgust. "What *is* that stuff?" Hagrid, who had just been setting down another crate of it, jumped in surprise and some of the pink liquid sloshed onto the grass where it landed with a very heavy *splat*.
"Harry?" Hagrid said, looking around. His eyes finally landed a few feet to Harry's right. "Er...right. Professor Dumbledore's told me all about what happened. Ron, Hermione, you here too?"
"Yeah," they replied together, then Harry added, "And Mal - er, Draco." Hagrid raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak, but Harry didn't feel like explaining at the moment. "So," he asked again, "what's in the crates?"
"Fermented squid entrails," Hagrid replied. Hermione, who had been about to prod the entrails with a finger, snatched her hand back very quickly.
"Uh...what are they for?" Ron asked, eyeing the crate nearest him with even more disgust than before.
"For your new project," Hagrid replied, smiling. Again Harry, Hermione and Ron glanced worriedly at each other. "You're going to be raising - oh, here comes the rest of the class. Might as well wait for them to explain." The rest of the class was indeed headed toward them. Harry saw Parvati and Lavendar, their heads together, giggling over something. Crabbe and Goyle were at the very back of the group, looking rather lost and alone. As the class gathered around the crates of squid guts, eyeing them warily, Harry half expected Draco to go join his friends, but he stayed where he was.
Hagrid began explaining about the new magical creatures that the class was going to be raising as a project - Keghls, creatures that looked something like fish with legs. Their bodies were flat, with two eyes and what appeared to be a small fin on top. Four legs protruded from under the flat bodies, with what could have been either a fifth leg or a fish's tail in the back. The Keghls, Hagrid explained, could live either on land or in water, and they ate - he gestured toward the crates - fermented squid innards. Harry had a nast feeling he knew what was coming next.
"Right," Hagrid said. "Break up into groups of three or four - you three can work on this tank - " he pushed the tank of Keghls he had bean showing the class toward Dean, Seamus and Neville, "and I'll go get the rest. Just lower the squid entrails into the tank, if they like you, they might even eat right out of your hand."
He disappeared around the side of his hut and returned with several more tanks, each containing either three or four Keghls. Ron was watching Seamus dip his hand into one of the crates of innards, which squelched loudly at the touch. "You know," he said quietly, "I've just realized that the best part of being invisible is that no one actually *knows* if you're in class or not..." he started back toward the castle. "You coming?"
"No," Hermione said, selecting a tank with four Keghls, "and neither are you. You heard Snape, the potion could wear off anytime. Now grab some guts and get over here." Making a face, Ron scooped up some of the squid guts and lowered them into the tank, which contained a fairly deep pool of murky water on one side and several moss-covered rocks on the other. One Keghl continued swimming around the tank and Hermione was busy with two others, but the fourth one, a greenish creature with black spots, immediately began sucking the entrails directly from Ron's hand with a mouth that was apparently on the bottom of its flat body. Ron somehow managed to look both rather pleased and extremely disgusted at the same time. Harry was just reaching for a handful himself when Draco leaned over to him.
"You know," he said, grinning, "they're both right. This potion could wear off at any time. But until it does, there's no reason we have to actually *participate* in class..."
"Good point," Harry replied. Dropping the entrails back into the crate with a squish, they moved off to the side, out of the way of the class but close enough that they could still see what was going on. Not that it mattered, because within a few minutes they were so wrapped up in their own little world, they didn't have a clue what was going on around them. So wrapped up, in fact, that they didn't even notice when everything begin to spin around them. Ron and Hermione did, though. Hermione opened her mouth to call out to them, but at that moment, the spinning stopped, and everyone's eyes were immediately directed to the two of them, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, and then to Harry and Draco, who were leaned up against a tree only a few feet away, tongue-wrestling. The few people who could do more than gape in shock broke into giggles, and only then did the two of them come up for air to find everyone in the class staring at them. It took only a second to realize the invisibility potion had worn off at possibly the most unfortunate time possible...
***
Dear lord that was bad! But done! Done is good. Oh, one last thing - 10 points to the House of the first person to spot the song reference in this chapter's title.