Sure enough, many of the eggs were slowly cracking open. Harry watched
it anxious, and even Pansy didn't conceal her excitement.
"Draco, let me hold it! You're going kill it!" Hermione was yelling,
frustrated as Draco squeezed it tightly.
Harry watched as a little blue head with big black eyes came slowly
out. The drazard was downright cute.
"He's so tiny." Pansy cooed, and then caught herself, and kept her
stoic expression.
Harry watched as it came out, and helped it pull the egg remnants
off its scaley blue skin.
"What do you think, Harry?" Hagrid asked, grinning widely under his
bushy beard.
"I like them." Harry said, unable to stop smiling as it looked up at
him and blinked.
"Great!! Well, you and Pansy think of a name for him, and then-"
"We're not naming him that!!" Hermione looked appalled as Draco smiled
mischievously.
"Hold on then…" Hagrid dashed off to Neville who had dropped his very
puny egg and looked very upset. His partner was practically in tears.
"Well, what do you want to name him?" Harry asked Pansy.
"Little Pansy." She suggested, looking lovingly at the adorable
drazard. This was very odd to watch.
"No! He's not a girl!"
"How do you know?" Pansy raised her eyebrows defiantly.
"He…he just isn't, okay? Let's name him Firebolt!" Harry knew that was
kind of cheesy, but it seemed fitting since he had defeated a dragon
on his Firebolt, the best broom in the world, last year.
Pansy rolled her eyes.
"Got any better ideas?" He challenged.
"Fine, fine. Firebolt it is. That's still really stupid, though."
Harry looked at the little drazard who was yawning widely. A little
flicker of fire came out his very tiny mouth.
"Firebolt…" Harry murmured, putting the drazard in his palm.
It curled up and fell right asleep. Harry really liked the drazards,
and Pansy wasn't so bad. He looked over at Hermione and felt really
sorry for her. Ron and Crabbe seemed to be getting along just fine.
Ron was slowly saying, "What…do…you…want….to….name…him?" Crabbe just
smiled and grunted stupidly.
As Harry was watching the drazard's stomach rise and fall as it slept,
the bell rang that signaled the end of class. Fleur and Hagrid collected
the drazards and put them back in their boxes on little pillows Fleur
had summoned up. Pansy hurried off to join Draco, and Ron and Hermione
walked over to Harry. Hermione was fuming.
"Honestly! Of all the rotten coincidences, I get stuck with Draco
Malfoy! I swear he's going to kill that thing and we're both going to
fail! And besides, I kind of like them!"
It was time for their first Potions lesson with the Hufflepuffs. They
all came into class, anxious to see what Professor Capstone would be
like.
He was sitting at his desk, scribbling something furiously down on a
piece of paper. When students started to enter, he looked up and
stuffed it into a drawer.
"Welcome everyone to Potions! You lot are the fifth years, right?"
"Yes." A few people chorused.
"All right, everyone please take your seats. I'm Professor Capstone
by the way, for those of you who don't remember. I believe we'll start
on a fairly complicated potion today that cures most common stomaches."
He handed out the ingredients and told them to turn to page 14 in
their Potions textbook.
It showed instructions that nearly took up the entire page (and in
very small print). Neville groaned, staring despairingly at Dean and
Seamus, who were sitting with him.
Hermione looked excited.
"Finally, something that actually requires a little work!!" She said,
her eyes sparkling.
"You're happy about this?" Ron looked incredulous.
Harry looked over the list himself. This looked really hard. Best to
leave these things up to Hermione.
He looked over at her. She was already happily cutting up their frog
liver. Ron, with a huge sigh, got to work on heating up the water in
the cauldron. Harry started sorting the fish eggs into little groups
of ten. Only thirty were needed for this potion.
Professor Capstone was working furiously on whatever he had been
writing down when they came in.
"What do you suppose he's doing?" Ron asked Harry quietly as he
dropped in shredded mandrake leaves.
Harry was quite keen to find this out himself. Pretending to knock
over their vial of lizard blood, he acted shocked and hurried to put
it right side up. Hearing the tinkering of glass hitting the table,
Neville quickly looked down to see what he had knocked over. When he
saw it was Harry, a big relieved smile spread across his face.
Harry took the vial and walked quietly up to Professor Capstone's
desk. The paper was covered with an almost unintelligible mess of
writing.
"Can I help you, er…" Professor Capstone had no idea what his name was.
"Harry Potter." Harry said somewhat reluctantly. He watched the
Professor's eyes perform the familiar flick up to his forehead.
"What a pleasure!" Capstone looked very excited at the realization of
who was standing in front of him.
"I was just wondering if we could have a bit more lizard blood. I
spilled a little bit of ours."
"Oh, but of course, Mr. Potter. Just a moment." Capstone still looked
extremely enthused.
After giving him a touch more of lizard blood, Harry returned to his
seat.
"What was he writing?" Ron muttered, measuring out their crocodile
scales.
Hermione was listening too as she mixed everything together perfectly.
"I have no idea. I couldn't read it, it just looked like a lot of
scribbling." He replied quietly.
Ron added the crocodile scales, and Hermione got to stirring. A
wide smile crossed her face as it turned the desired purple and let
off a cloud of smoke. Professor Capstone looked up.
"Well done you three! You completed that in about five minutes, and
were the first today to do so, so five points to Gryffindor!"
Hermione beamed at them. Harry and Ron were pleased as well. Neither
could remember a time when, in Potions, Snape had given points to
Gryffindor rather than taken them away.
The class came to an end just as most groups completed the potion.
Neville, Seamus and Dean's had turned a sickening green.
"Neville, did you put in the lizard blood before the crocodile scales?" Dean asked, frustarated.
Looking at his feet, Neville shook his head.
Harry felt a slight twinge of pity. He had just discovered last year
about Neville's parents. They were both locked up in an insane asylum
after being tortured by Voldemort. They didn't even recognize their
son and he had to live with his very strict grandmother.
"Yes! Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Ron looked thrilled as they
headed for the classroom.
Harry's heart leapt as he walked in and saw Professor Lupin sitting at
his desk, smiling widely. The Ravenclaws were walking in, talking
amongst themselves. Harry recognized a few of them. Padma Patil smiled
sweetly at Ron as she walked in and Ron got pink around the ears again.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
He saw a boy named Terry Boot who he had talked to a few times and a
girl named Mandy Brocklehurst who was joining the Ravenclaw Quidditch
team as their new Chaser. (One of their Chasers had quit just last
night, Fred had told him at breakfast) Mandy was very pretty and Ron
was watching her intently from his desk. Hermione was getting extremely
agitated.
They all sat down at a desk in the very front. Professor Lupin got up,
holding a stack of papers.
" Now most of you will find this assignment exciting, a little
dangerous perhaps. But you are fifth years now and more is expected
of you."
The whole class was silent with anticipation.
"Once you pair yourselves up," there was a scuffling of chairs as
everyone moved around. Hermione scooted over to Neville's table and
Ron pushed his chair to the other side of the table so that he and
Harry were facing each other, "I'll give one of you a list of ten
curses. None fatal or too harmful, of course. You can split up the
list however you'd like. But basically, the one who performs the
curse will look up the countercurse in their Defense Against the
Dark Arts textbook and fix your partner up. Countercurses are very
important and will make up a large part of your O.W.L.'s this year.
Also, if you find the countercurse is not effective, I'll be happy
to help you straighten things out."
Ron and Harry looked at each other, excited. This was going to be
fun! Harry glanced over at Hermione. She had turned slightly green.
After having a run-in with a curse that caused her front teeth to
grow past her chin last year, she was a little wary of them.
Especially with Neville as a partner.
Lupin was handing out the lists to each of the pairs. Ron and Harry
scanned their list.
"You want to go first?" Ron asked Harry.
"Sure." Harry picked up his wand and read out the first curse.
"Blindus Totalis!" Harry called out, watching Ron anxiously.
To his horror, Ron's eyes went completely white.
"Harry, I can't see anything!" He said in a panicked voice.
Harry was flipping through his book to the section on countercurses.
He scanned the long list, finally coming to the one he wanted.
"Here it is, Ron. Blindus Totalis. And the countercurse is- Oponus!"
Ron's pupils returned and he let a long, low whistle.
"Wow, Harry that was really…weird."
"Your turn." Harry said, his voice shaking a little bit.
But really, the rest of the curses weren't near as bad. Some were
sort of funny: Ron growing donkey ears, Harry unable to stop
muttering gibberish until the countercurse was performed. They were
both laughing until tears were streaming down their faces by the end
of class.
Hermione performed all her curses and countercurses perfectly. Neville
didn't have such a good time at it. By the end of class, Hermione
was as blind as a bat and had webbed hands. Neville was looking at
the list, confused.
Professor Lupin hurried over to a distressed Hermione and fixed her
up. Neville was looking depressed. He wasn't having a very good day.
As the end of class bell rang, Hermione hurried over, rubbing her eyes.
"Wasn't that weird?" Ron asked her.
She nodded, still looking a bit shaken.
Harry hurried through his dinner. It was almost time for the Quidditch
meeting. Quickly saying good-bye, he hurried out the doors of the
Great Hall and headed for the Quidditch field. He had finally gotten
a new watch for his birthday from Hermione. It was 5:51.
He felt a little uneasy as he walked across the slowly darkening
ground by himself. Voldemort has spies everywhere….he thought to
himself, his arm getting goose bumps. Walking much faster, he arrived
at the field in the next few minutes. Angelina, Alicia and Katie
were already there and Fred and George were just coming towards the
field.
It was so great to be with the team again. They all had brooms in
hand for a quick practice after they elected a new captain.
"Professor McGongall said a few people said they were interested in
playing Keeper. She told them to show up tonight so we could see how
well they do. Most of them probably won't show up, though. The Keeper's
one of the most important players, but there's not as much glory in
it then if you were, say, the Seeker." Fred grinned at Harry as he
finished.
6:00 came and went. No one had showed up. Just as they were about to
start taking ballots for captain instead, they heard quiet footsteps
approaching. Everyone turned to see a very tall girl approaching.
It was Christine. Her long dark hair was in a ponytail on top of her
head. She was holding a broom tightly in one hand and had a wide,
nervous smile on her face.
"Hello, there!" George called, excited to see that someone had come.
"Hello, I'm Christine Hartsook. I know I'm just a first year, but I'm
pretty good and I'd like to have a try at it, at least."
Suddenly, Harry realized what broom she was holding. A Firebolt.
Everyone else seemed to notice this at about the same time.
"A Firebolt!! Blimey, two on one team!! We'd be practically
unbeatable!" Fred yelled, clapping Christine hard on the back.
"Wait a second, Fred. We've got to see how you play, of course. Here,
Angelina, Katie, take the Quaffle and we'll see how many we can get
past her." Alicia said, handing Angelina the large red ball.
Harry watched the color drain from Christine's face. He thought that
was a little rude of Alicia. He would have been horrified if three
sixth years had played against him in his very first practice.
But she had a determined look on her face, and mounted her newly
polished broom. Shooting expertly into the air, she spun around in an
upward spiral and ended up right in front of the goal post.
The three Chasers also mounted their brooms and, Angelina with the
Quaffle in hand, shot up into the air. Harry was really, really
hoping she'd do all right.
Angelina did a tricky pass to Katie who sent it flying fast as a
bullet towards the goal post. Christine had been watching carefully
and reacted at the exact right moment, catching the Quaffle with one
hand.
Fred and George clapped loudly. Harry mounted his broom so he could
see better and shot about forty feet in the air. Harry could see
that Christine was very pleased with herself. She grinned broadly
at him, tossing the Quaffle back to the Chasers. Christine continued to block ten consecutive, very difficultly thrown Quaffles.
Everyone came back to the ground, Christine flushed and sweaty, but
very happy.
"Well, looks like we've got a new Keeper, everyone!" George looked
thrilled to have found such a good player so quickly.
Harry, Fred and the three Chasers had no objections.
"How do you know how to play so well?" Angelina asked, amazed.
"Well, I've kind of grown up on my broomstick, if you know what
I mean. We lived out in the country, so no Muggles could ever see me
practicing ever since I could get up on one. My dad taught me the
rules when I was old enough to understand them, and I've gone to
every World Cup since I was five years old."
"Wow." Katie looked impressed.
"That's ruddy good and all, but we still have a captain to elect!"
George cut in.
"Any nominations?" Alicia asked.
"I nominate Angelina." Fred said, grinning at her.
She smiled sweetly back, looking a little embarrassed.
"Here, here!" Alicia chimed in.
"All here who want Angelina as your Gryffindor Quidditch captain,
raise your hands." Fred said, putting his own hand in the air.
Harry put his hand up as well. He had always liked Angelina, she was
very nice, very good at Quidditch and very organized. Alicia and
Katie didn't look angry at all, they both confidently rose their hands.
George rose his hand also, and everyone turned to look at Christine.
She shrugged, raising her hand. Angelina now looked very embarrassed
but also very happy.
"May we present our new Quidditch captain-Miss Angelina Johnson!" Fred
said dramatically and clapping harder than anyone when she stood up.
After that, everyone else had a quick practice. The new team member
and captain seemed to recapture everyone's passion for playing. Harry
caught the Snitch within a matter of minutes, Fred and George hurled
the Bludgers straight at their targets (the other team's goalposts),
and Christine never let the Quaffle pass her. Angelina kept barking
instructions at everyone, seemingly enjoying her new role very much.
Katie and Alicia were practicing a very complicated behind the back
pass and got it down just as it was getting too dark to practice any
longer. Everyone landed back on the ground and walked back up to the
Gryffindor common room together. The three Chasers were giggling about
something Katie whispered to them as they walked in front. Fred and
George were talking about how Gryffindor still had the "best ruddy
team in the school" and Christine and Harry walked behind everyone
else.
They were eagerly discussing how wonderful it was to ride a Firebolt.
"How'd you get yours?" Harry asked her.
She fell silent.
"Er…it was a gift." Her whole face was strangely pale, and he decided
to change the subject.
"How do you like Hogwarts so far?" He asked.
"Oh, I love it. I had heard so much about Professor Snape, so glad to
see he's not joining us this year. I was also really hoping I'd be in
Gryffindor; I was so nervous about being sorted. But it's just that…"
She stopped suddenly.
"What?" Harry asked her.
"It's just that my mother died when I was so young and I never
even knew my father. And I know she was in Gryffindor, and I just
really wanted to be in the same house as her, you know. I didn't even
really know her either." Christine's voice broke and her dark eyes
filled with tears.
Harry stared at her, shocked.
"I don't know why I told you that." She said, looking down at her feet,
her face red.
"No, it's just, you know, my parents died when I was a really little,
too." Her face suddenly presented an expression Harry couldn't quite
read.
"Oh, well, Harry, we mustn't dwell on the past." Christine said in
an abnormally high-pitched voice.
They stepped through the portrait hole after telling the Fat Lady
the password. Standing in the deserted common room, neither quite
sure what to say, was extremely awkward.
"Christine, is there something you want to tell me?" Harry asked,
still trying to figure out the odd expression on her face.
"No...nothing." Christine's eyes welled up with tears, and she
hurriedly brushed them off her face, dashing up to the girl's
dormitory.
Harry stood alone, dumbfounded. Finally, he headed up to his room.
Ron was still awake, sitting cross-legged on his bed.
"So, what happened? Who's your new Keeper?" Ron excited face fell
when he saw Harry's expression.
"What's wrong?" Ron looked concerned.
"Christine Hartsook is our new Keeper and Angelina's our captain."
Harry mumbled, pulling on his pajamas.
"Christine Hartsook…you mean that girl from the Sorting?" Ron asked,
wide-eyed.
"Yeah." Harry fell into bed, very confused.
"Harry, what's wrong?" He asked again, more firmly.
"I'm going to bed." Harry said into his pillow, pulling the curtain
shut around his bed.
He was left in semi-darkness. Thoughts were racing through his mind,
making his head hurt. He could've done with Dumbledore's Pensieve
about now. Feeling confused and exhausted, he wearily shut his eyes
and drifted off into a fitful sleep.
*************************************************************************
It was a very dark, long forgotten house. No one had lived there for
thirteen years. But now, past the overgrown weeds and cracked windows,
someone was there. Two people, in fact. Two people and a snake.
"How can we still not have gotten to him?" One man banged his fist
down on the table, spinning his chair around.
Pettigrew had been serving Lord Voldemort for months now, but the
sight of his face still frightened him. The pale skin, the red snake
eyes, and the evil smile. Voldemort had been growing stronger all
summer.
"Killing the Mudbloods is losing its appeal, Peter. I will never be
satisfied until his blood is on my hands! How can we not have gotten
to him?" That horrible, cold voice echoed cruelly throught the room.
"I am sorry, master, I have been looking! You know I have sent the
Death Eaters everywhere! And I'm sure we will have him in no time!
No time at all!" Peter was babbling stupidly.
"Silence, you fool! Leave me! There is much to be done, many more
deaths before Harry Potter is mine. But, mark my words, if you destroy
my plan, if you make one mistake, your services will be-" Voldemort
clasped his hands, smiling maliciously, "terminated."
***********************************************************************
Dun, dun, DAAA! That Voldemort, he's always up to no good. So, has
anyone figured out how Christine is? No, she's not just some random
character, it actually makes sense, but I don't think you have
enough information to guess right yet. The next part is one the
way is this part gets a few good reviews. Lots of hinted at H/G in
the next part, so if you're interested, give me some good reviews!
And also--a Quidditch match coming up! I tried to write it like it
is in the books, just with a very exciting twist at the end. All of
this and more coming up. Review this and tell me what you think and
if I should keep posting! Thanks to everybody who reviewed Part One,
you rock. Thanks for reading this, now go review! Ciao, everyone!
it anxious, and even Pansy didn't conceal her excitement.
"Draco, let me hold it! You're going kill it!" Hermione was yelling,
frustrated as Draco squeezed it tightly.
Harry watched as a little blue head with big black eyes came slowly
out. The drazard was downright cute.
"He's so tiny." Pansy cooed, and then caught herself, and kept her
stoic expression.
Harry watched as it came out, and helped it pull the egg remnants
off its scaley blue skin.
"What do you think, Harry?" Hagrid asked, grinning widely under his
bushy beard.
"I like them." Harry said, unable to stop smiling as it looked up at
him and blinked.
"Great!! Well, you and Pansy think of a name for him, and then-"
"We're not naming him that!!" Hermione looked appalled as Draco smiled
mischievously.
"Hold on then…" Hagrid dashed off to Neville who had dropped his very
puny egg and looked very upset. His partner was practically in tears.
"Well, what do you want to name him?" Harry asked Pansy.
"Little Pansy." She suggested, looking lovingly at the adorable
drazard. This was very odd to watch.
"No! He's not a girl!"
"How do you know?" Pansy raised her eyebrows defiantly.
"He…he just isn't, okay? Let's name him Firebolt!" Harry knew that was
kind of cheesy, but it seemed fitting since he had defeated a dragon
on his Firebolt, the best broom in the world, last year.
Pansy rolled her eyes.
"Got any better ideas?" He challenged.
"Fine, fine. Firebolt it is. That's still really stupid, though."
Harry looked at the little drazard who was yawning widely. A little
flicker of fire came out his very tiny mouth.
"Firebolt…" Harry murmured, putting the drazard in his palm.
It curled up and fell right asleep. Harry really liked the drazards,
and Pansy wasn't so bad. He looked over at Hermione and felt really
sorry for her. Ron and Crabbe seemed to be getting along just fine.
Ron was slowly saying, "What…do…you…want….to….name…him?" Crabbe just
smiled and grunted stupidly.
As Harry was watching the drazard's stomach rise and fall as it slept,
the bell rang that signaled the end of class. Fleur and Hagrid collected
the drazards and put them back in their boxes on little pillows Fleur
had summoned up. Pansy hurried off to join Draco, and Ron and Hermione
walked over to Harry. Hermione was fuming.
"Honestly! Of all the rotten coincidences, I get stuck with Draco
Malfoy! I swear he's going to kill that thing and we're both going to
fail! And besides, I kind of like them!"
It was time for their first Potions lesson with the Hufflepuffs. They
all came into class, anxious to see what Professor Capstone would be
like.
He was sitting at his desk, scribbling something furiously down on a
piece of paper. When students started to enter, he looked up and
stuffed it into a drawer.
"Welcome everyone to Potions! You lot are the fifth years, right?"
"Yes." A few people chorused.
"All right, everyone please take your seats. I'm Professor Capstone
by the way, for those of you who don't remember. I believe we'll start
on a fairly complicated potion today that cures most common stomaches."
He handed out the ingredients and told them to turn to page 14 in
their Potions textbook.
It showed instructions that nearly took up the entire page (and in
very small print). Neville groaned, staring despairingly at Dean and
Seamus, who were sitting with him.
Hermione looked excited.
"Finally, something that actually requires a little work!!" She said,
her eyes sparkling.
"You're happy about this?" Ron looked incredulous.
Harry looked over the list himself. This looked really hard. Best to
leave these things up to Hermione.
He looked over at her. She was already happily cutting up their frog
liver. Ron, with a huge sigh, got to work on heating up the water in
the cauldron. Harry started sorting the fish eggs into little groups
of ten. Only thirty were needed for this potion.
Professor Capstone was working furiously on whatever he had been
writing down when they came in.
"What do you suppose he's doing?" Ron asked Harry quietly as he
dropped in shredded mandrake leaves.
Harry was quite keen to find this out himself. Pretending to knock
over their vial of lizard blood, he acted shocked and hurried to put
it right side up. Hearing the tinkering of glass hitting the table,
Neville quickly looked down to see what he had knocked over. When he
saw it was Harry, a big relieved smile spread across his face.
Harry took the vial and walked quietly up to Professor Capstone's
desk. The paper was covered with an almost unintelligible mess of
writing.
"Can I help you, er…" Professor Capstone had no idea what his name was.
"Harry Potter." Harry said somewhat reluctantly. He watched the
Professor's eyes perform the familiar flick up to his forehead.
"What a pleasure!" Capstone looked very excited at the realization of
who was standing in front of him.
"I was just wondering if we could have a bit more lizard blood. I
spilled a little bit of ours."
"Oh, but of course, Mr. Potter. Just a moment." Capstone still looked
extremely enthused.
After giving him a touch more of lizard blood, Harry returned to his
seat.
"What was he writing?" Ron muttered, measuring out their crocodile
scales.
Hermione was listening too as she mixed everything together perfectly.
"I have no idea. I couldn't read it, it just looked like a lot of
scribbling." He replied quietly.
Ron added the crocodile scales, and Hermione got to stirring. A
wide smile crossed her face as it turned the desired purple and let
off a cloud of smoke. Professor Capstone looked up.
"Well done you three! You completed that in about five minutes, and
were the first today to do so, so five points to Gryffindor!"
Hermione beamed at them. Harry and Ron were pleased as well. Neither
could remember a time when, in Potions, Snape had given points to
Gryffindor rather than taken them away.
The class came to an end just as most groups completed the potion.
Neville, Seamus and Dean's had turned a sickening green.
"Neville, did you put in the lizard blood before the crocodile scales?" Dean asked, frustarated.
Looking at his feet, Neville shook his head.
Harry felt a slight twinge of pity. He had just discovered last year
about Neville's parents. They were both locked up in an insane asylum
after being tortured by Voldemort. They didn't even recognize their
son and he had to live with his very strict grandmother.
"Yes! Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Ron looked thrilled as they
headed for the classroom.
Harry's heart leapt as he walked in and saw Professor Lupin sitting at
his desk, smiling widely. The Ravenclaws were walking in, talking
amongst themselves. Harry recognized a few of them. Padma Patil smiled
sweetly at Ron as she walked in and Ron got pink around the ears again.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
He saw a boy named Terry Boot who he had talked to a few times and a
girl named Mandy Brocklehurst who was joining the Ravenclaw Quidditch
team as their new Chaser. (One of their Chasers had quit just last
night, Fred had told him at breakfast) Mandy was very pretty and Ron
was watching her intently from his desk. Hermione was getting extremely
agitated.
They all sat down at a desk in the very front. Professor Lupin got up,
holding a stack of papers.
" Now most of you will find this assignment exciting, a little
dangerous perhaps. But you are fifth years now and more is expected
of you."
The whole class was silent with anticipation.
"Once you pair yourselves up," there was a scuffling of chairs as
everyone moved around. Hermione scooted over to Neville's table and
Ron pushed his chair to the other side of the table so that he and
Harry were facing each other, "I'll give one of you a list of ten
curses. None fatal or too harmful, of course. You can split up the
list however you'd like. But basically, the one who performs the
curse will look up the countercurse in their Defense Against the
Dark Arts textbook and fix your partner up. Countercurses are very
important and will make up a large part of your O.W.L.'s this year.
Also, if you find the countercurse is not effective, I'll be happy
to help you straighten things out."
Ron and Harry looked at each other, excited. This was going to be
fun! Harry glanced over at Hermione. She had turned slightly green.
After having a run-in with a curse that caused her front teeth to
grow past her chin last year, she was a little wary of them.
Especially with Neville as a partner.
Lupin was handing out the lists to each of the pairs. Ron and Harry
scanned their list.
"You want to go first?" Ron asked Harry.
"Sure." Harry picked up his wand and read out the first curse.
"Blindus Totalis!" Harry called out, watching Ron anxiously.
To his horror, Ron's eyes went completely white.
"Harry, I can't see anything!" He said in a panicked voice.
Harry was flipping through his book to the section on countercurses.
He scanned the long list, finally coming to the one he wanted.
"Here it is, Ron. Blindus Totalis. And the countercurse is- Oponus!"
Ron's pupils returned and he let a long, low whistle.
"Wow, Harry that was really…weird."
"Your turn." Harry said, his voice shaking a little bit.
But really, the rest of the curses weren't near as bad. Some were
sort of funny: Ron growing donkey ears, Harry unable to stop
muttering gibberish until the countercurse was performed. They were
both laughing until tears were streaming down their faces by the end
of class.
Hermione performed all her curses and countercurses perfectly. Neville
didn't have such a good time at it. By the end of class, Hermione
was as blind as a bat and had webbed hands. Neville was looking at
the list, confused.
Professor Lupin hurried over to a distressed Hermione and fixed her
up. Neville was looking depressed. He wasn't having a very good day.
As the end of class bell rang, Hermione hurried over, rubbing her eyes.
"Wasn't that weird?" Ron asked her.
She nodded, still looking a bit shaken.
Harry hurried through his dinner. It was almost time for the Quidditch
meeting. Quickly saying good-bye, he hurried out the doors of the
Great Hall and headed for the Quidditch field. He had finally gotten
a new watch for his birthday from Hermione. It was 5:51.
He felt a little uneasy as he walked across the slowly darkening
ground by himself. Voldemort has spies everywhere….he thought to
himself, his arm getting goose bumps. Walking much faster, he arrived
at the field in the next few minutes. Angelina, Alicia and Katie
were already there and Fred and George were just coming towards the
field.
It was so great to be with the team again. They all had brooms in
hand for a quick practice after they elected a new captain.
"Professor McGongall said a few people said they were interested in
playing Keeper. She told them to show up tonight so we could see how
well they do. Most of them probably won't show up, though. The Keeper's
one of the most important players, but there's not as much glory in
it then if you were, say, the Seeker." Fred grinned at Harry as he
finished.
6:00 came and went. No one had showed up. Just as they were about to
start taking ballots for captain instead, they heard quiet footsteps
approaching. Everyone turned to see a very tall girl approaching.
It was Christine. Her long dark hair was in a ponytail on top of her
head. She was holding a broom tightly in one hand and had a wide,
nervous smile on her face.
"Hello, there!" George called, excited to see that someone had come.
"Hello, I'm Christine Hartsook. I know I'm just a first year, but I'm
pretty good and I'd like to have a try at it, at least."
Suddenly, Harry realized what broom she was holding. A Firebolt.
Everyone else seemed to notice this at about the same time.
"A Firebolt!! Blimey, two on one team!! We'd be practically
unbeatable!" Fred yelled, clapping Christine hard on the back.
"Wait a second, Fred. We've got to see how you play, of course. Here,
Angelina, Katie, take the Quaffle and we'll see how many we can get
past her." Alicia said, handing Angelina the large red ball.
Harry watched the color drain from Christine's face. He thought that
was a little rude of Alicia. He would have been horrified if three
sixth years had played against him in his very first practice.
But she had a determined look on her face, and mounted her newly
polished broom. Shooting expertly into the air, she spun around in an
upward spiral and ended up right in front of the goal post.
The three Chasers also mounted their brooms and, Angelina with the
Quaffle in hand, shot up into the air. Harry was really, really
hoping she'd do all right.
Angelina did a tricky pass to Katie who sent it flying fast as a
bullet towards the goal post. Christine had been watching carefully
and reacted at the exact right moment, catching the Quaffle with one
hand.
Fred and George clapped loudly. Harry mounted his broom so he could
see better and shot about forty feet in the air. Harry could see
that Christine was very pleased with herself. She grinned broadly
at him, tossing the Quaffle back to the Chasers. Christine continued to block ten consecutive, very difficultly thrown Quaffles.
Everyone came back to the ground, Christine flushed and sweaty, but
very happy.
"Well, looks like we've got a new Keeper, everyone!" George looked
thrilled to have found such a good player so quickly.
Harry, Fred and the three Chasers had no objections.
"How do you know how to play so well?" Angelina asked, amazed.
"Well, I've kind of grown up on my broomstick, if you know what
I mean. We lived out in the country, so no Muggles could ever see me
practicing ever since I could get up on one. My dad taught me the
rules when I was old enough to understand them, and I've gone to
every World Cup since I was five years old."
"Wow." Katie looked impressed.
"That's ruddy good and all, but we still have a captain to elect!"
George cut in.
"Any nominations?" Alicia asked.
"I nominate Angelina." Fred said, grinning at her.
She smiled sweetly back, looking a little embarrassed.
"Here, here!" Alicia chimed in.
"All here who want Angelina as your Gryffindor Quidditch captain,
raise your hands." Fred said, putting his own hand in the air.
Harry put his hand up as well. He had always liked Angelina, she was
very nice, very good at Quidditch and very organized. Alicia and
Katie didn't look angry at all, they both confidently rose their hands.
George rose his hand also, and everyone turned to look at Christine.
She shrugged, raising her hand. Angelina now looked very embarrassed
but also very happy.
"May we present our new Quidditch captain-Miss Angelina Johnson!" Fred
said dramatically and clapping harder than anyone when she stood up.
After that, everyone else had a quick practice. The new team member
and captain seemed to recapture everyone's passion for playing. Harry
caught the Snitch within a matter of minutes, Fred and George hurled
the Bludgers straight at their targets (the other team's goalposts),
and Christine never let the Quaffle pass her. Angelina kept barking
instructions at everyone, seemingly enjoying her new role very much.
Katie and Alicia were practicing a very complicated behind the back
pass and got it down just as it was getting too dark to practice any
longer. Everyone landed back on the ground and walked back up to the
Gryffindor common room together. The three Chasers were giggling about
something Katie whispered to them as they walked in front. Fred and
George were talking about how Gryffindor still had the "best ruddy
team in the school" and Christine and Harry walked behind everyone
else.
They were eagerly discussing how wonderful it was to ride a Firebolt.
"How'd you get yours?" Harry asked her.
She fell silent.
"Er…it was a gift." Her whole face was strangely pale, and he decided
to change the subject.
"How do you like Hogwarts so far?" He asked.
"Oh, I love it. I had heard so much about Professor Snape, so glad to
see he's not joining us this year. I was also really hoping I'd be in
Gryffindor; I was so nervous about being sorted. But it's just that…"
She stopped suddenly.
"What?" Harry asked her.
"It's just that my mother died when I was so young and I never
even knew my father. And I know she was in Gryffindor, and I just
really wanted to be in the same house as her, you know. I didn't even
really know her either." Christine's voice broke and her dark eyes
filled with tears.
Harry stared at her, shocked.
"I don't know why I told you that." She said, looking down at her feet,
her face red.
"No, it's just, you know, my parents died when I was a really little,
too." Her face suddenly presented an expression Harry couldn't quite
read.
"Oh, well, Harry, we mustn't dwell on the past." Christine said in
an abnormally high-pitched voice.
They stepped through the portrait hole after telling the Fat Lady
the password. Standing in the deserted common room, neither quite
sure what to say, was extremely awkward.
"Christine, is there something you want to tell me?" Harry asked,
still trying to figure out the odd expression on her face.
"No...nothing." Christine's eyes welled up with tears, and she
hurriedly brushed them off her face, dashing up to the girl's
dormitory.
Harry stood alone, dumbfounded. Finally, he headed up to his room.
Ron was still awake, sitting cross-legged on his bed.
"So, what happened? Who's your new Keeper?" Ron excited face fell
when he saw Harry's expression.
"What's wrong?" Ron looked concerned.
"Christine Hartsook is our new Keeper and Angelina's our captain."
Harry mumbled, pulling on his pajamas.
"Christine Hartsook…you mean that girl from the Sorting?" Ron asked,
wide-eyed.
"Yeah." Harry fell into bed, very confused.
"Harry, what's wrong?" He asked again, more firmly.
"I'm going to bed." Harry said into his pillow, pulling the curtain
shut around his bed.
He was left in semi-darkness. Thoughts were racing through his mind,
making his head hurt. He could've done with Dumbledore's Pensieve
about now. Feeling confused and exhausted, he wearily shut his eyes
and drifted off into a fitful sleep.
*************************************************************************
It was a very dark, long forgotten house. No one had lived there for
thirteen years. But now, past the overgrown weeds and cracked windows,
someone was there. Two people, in fact. Two people and a snake.
"How can we still not have gotten to him?" One man banged his fist
down on the table, spinning his chair around.
Pettigrew had been serving Lord Voldemort for months now, but the
sight of his face still frightened him. The pale skin, the red snake
eyes, and the evil smile. Voldemort had been growing stronger all
summer.
"Killing the Mudbloods is losing its appeal, Peter. I will never be
satisfied until his blood is on my hands! How can we not have gotten
to him?" That horrible, cold voice echoed cruelly throught the room.
"I am sorry, master, I have been looking! You know I have sent the
Death Eaters everywhere! And I'm sure we will have him in no time!
No time at all!" Peter was babbling stupidly.
"Silence, you fool! Leave me! There is much to be done, many more
deaths before Harry Potter is mine. But, mark my words, if you destroy
my plan, if you make one mistake, your services will be-" Voldemort
clasped his hands, smiling maliciously, "terminated."
***********************************************************************
Dun, dun, DAAA! That Voldemort, he's always up to no good. So, has
anyone figured out how Christine is? No, she's not just some random
character, it actually makes sense, but I don't think you have
enough information to guess right yet. The next part is one the
way is this part gets a few good reviews. Lots of hinted at H/G in
the next part, so if you're interested, give me some good reviews!
And also--a Quidditch match coming up! I tried to write it like it
is in the books, just with a very exciting twist at the end. All of
this and more coming up. Review this and tell me what you think and
if I should keep posting! Thanks to everybody who reviewed Part One,
you rock. Thanks for reading this, now go review! Ciao, everyone!