*(A/N)* Hey everyone, thanks for reviewing Chapter Six!!! Here's Chapter Seven, and Eight and Nine will probably be out soon, as I'll be home all week from sports due to an injury ::sighs::. Ah well, I love writing the Chloe stories, and I've got a short term plot worked out, so it won't take too long! So, here we are, CHAPTER SEVEN!!!!
Chloe Patil at Hogwarts: Chapter Seven
Regardless of the fact that she had already decided to try out for the Quidditch team, Chloe found herself in the Great Hall at 6:00 that night, attending the Cheerleading meeting. She hadn't intended on going, but Roz had been so persistent that she'd finally given in. Upon entering the hall, they sat down at the Slytherin table and waited for it to start. Chloe wondered who was running the meeting.
After a few minutes time, her question was answered. Who should stand up but Pavarti, alongside the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Pixtar. After everyone quieted down, the Professor began to speak.
"Welcome everyone! I'm Professor Pixtar, as some of you know. I hope I'll have the pleasure of teaching you all at one time or another, but, for now, I'm here to help you out in forming your house cheerleading squads." She smiled and continued. "I, myself, have come from a muggle family, and my sisters were all cheerleaders. Also, during summers, I've taken some muggle dance classes, and learned some things that I'm sure will come in handy. Seperate House tryouts will be held within the next couple of weeks, where I will decide on a captain and co-captain for each squad. Those two will then decide on who they will take on their squad. For now, I'm going to teach you some stretches and things that will help you prepare for tryouts, making you more flexible, and making it easier for you to do each of the cheers."
She beckoned for them all to stand up, and, after they had done so, moved the house tables to the side with a flick of her wand. She then had them do a couple laps around the hall "As a warm-up." She explained. After they were done, and the few stragglers that were unable to keep up had finished, she put them into a circle, and showed them a couple stretches. They practiced each, then did them on their own. As they stretched, Pixtar circled around, giving them instructions.
"No, no, you want opposite arm and foot working while doing that stretch," she told a girl with blond pigtails.
She moved towards a girl with flowing black hair, who was busy chatting with another girl in mid-stretch.
"Ms. Chang," the Professor called out to the girl with the black hair, "I was under the impression that you played Quidditch." she continued questionably.
"Oh, I do," the girl began, "but I've decided to check out this cheerleading thing, see if I like it more."
Professor Pixtar nodded, then said to her,
"Cho, if you shift your foot slightly to the left, you'll feel the stretch more readily."
Cho nodded, and followed her instructions.
Finally, after about a half hour, the Professor dismissed them, advising them to bring shorts and tshirts to the next meeting, which would take place in a month.
The girls exited the hall, discussing excitedly how much they like the Professor, and how much fun they'd had. Chloe remained silent, and she noticed that Ashley was unusually silent also. She'd been one of the stragglers while running, and Chloe guessed that she wasn't too keen on cheerleading anymore.
"What did you think Chloe? Your being so quiet!" Roz exclaimed.
"I dunno." Chloe began, "It was alright, I hope it gets more interesting."
"Oh, of course it will!" Jessika assured her.
"You're coming to the next one, aren't you?" Sara questioned.
"Yeah, probably, we'll see." Chloe answered. The girls just shrugged, and continued their discussion on cheerleading. Upon reaching the common room, they continued up the stairs to their dorm, with plans of retrieving their homework, and going back down to do it. They all had plenty of Divination homework to keep them busy, except for Sara, who wasn't taking the course. On top of that, Jessika and Chloe had to figure out what their egg held from Care of Magical Creatures. After finishing Divination, the two of them gazed through the pages and pages of eggs, looking for a dark blue one with yellow and green spots. Finally, at around 10 o' clock, Jessika found it.
"LOOK!" she exclaimed, "I've found it!" She and Chloe both sighed with relief. Then, looking at what it held, they both gasped in amazement.
"A UNICORN egg?" Jessika exclaimed breathlessly. "They're SO beautiful. We saw a couple up close last year, the babies are so cute, pure gold!"
Chloe nodded, she'd never seen a unicorn up close, but she'd seen pictures.
The two girls were both deeply satisfied with their egg.
"Do I know how to pick them or what?" Jessika said smugly. Chloe grinned at her and nodded. Then they both remembered that they had to write an essay about what their egg held.
"That shouldn't be too hard." Jessika began, "What with all the unicorn's magical properties and all. We don't have Care of Magical Creatures until Friday, let's do it tomorrow." Chloe nodded in agreement, she was tired. The two of them left their books on the table and headed up to bed. Chloe fell asleep immediately, dreaming, once again, of flying.
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Several weeks had passed since Chloe had come to school. She enjoyed most of her classes, but found Transfiguration and Charms, usually her favorites, to be quite boring. She knew all the material they were teaching already, it wasn't the challenge she usually enjoyed. Potions was alright, she took it with the Hufflepuffs. She felt sorry for them, as Snape seemed to pick on them quite a bit, and was relieved to be in Slytherin, as he seemed to favor the students from his house.
She did, to her amazement, like Herbology. It had to be one of her favorite subjects. Professor Sprout was a dumpy little witch who knew her stuff, and made it interesting. She also enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid had praised her and Jessika on their essay on Unicorns, and gave them top marks, much to their enjoyment.
Her favorite subject, however, was Defence Against the Dark Arts. They hardly ever used their books, and instead enjoyed hands on experiences with curses and creatures. Professor Pixtar seemed to like her.
All in all, Chloe liked her new school and classes. She hardly ever got into trouble (much to her dissapointment, she loved playing tricks on people, but Roz, Jessika, Aerika, Ashley and Sara weren't too keen on it. She was dissapointed by this, as playing tricks on people wasn't nearly as fun if you had noone to celebrate it with.) This was why she was surprised to, once again, be called up to Professor McGonagall's desk one day during Transfiguration. She wondered if it was because she'd turned Sara's hair fluorescent pink. Sara was sitting in front of her, and snapping her gum loudly, annoying Chloe. Finally, after one snap too many, Chloe lost her temper and charmed the other girls' hair. So far noone had noticed, (How Chloe didn't know, she supposed they were all working too hard, plus they were in the back of the class.) But Chloe knew it would be a matter of minutes before someone commented on it.
Coming up to the desk, Chloe discovered that it wasn't Sara's hair that the Professor wanted to talk about at all. She did, instead, give her instructions on how to get to Professor Dumbledore's office, and the password (Fizzing Whizzbee). Chloe was rather worried, and must have looked it too.
"Don't worry, I don't know what it's about, but your not in trouble." The Professor said briskly, although she was annoyed that she didn't know what Professor Dumbledore wanted from Chloe. Chloe nodded and exited the class. Upon closing the door, she heard a gasp and a shriek. She guessed that Sara had noticed that her hair was pink, and Chloe began walking faster, thankful that she wasn't in the class while this was happening. She did get a twinge of satisfaction from this though. It wasn't anything McGonagall couldn't fix, and it was quite funny really. She could just imagine Sara's face, and giggled at this image.
She finally reached the Gargoyle statue that Professor McGonagall had mentioned.
"Fizzing Whizzbee" she whispered. The statue hopped aside immediately. Chloe peered inside the opening curiously before entering. A winding staircase, leading to Dumbledore's office, she supposed, could be seen. She stepped onto it tentatively, and began to climb. She heard a thump behind her, which she assumed to be the statue hopping back into place. She began to climb at a faster pace, her footsteps echoing. Finally, she reached a large door. She knocked.
"Come in." a voice (Dumbledore, she supposed) answered. She opened the door, and stepped lightly inside.
"Chloe, welcome!" Said Dumbledore jovially, standing up from behind a beautiful desk. Chloe smiled at him, and gazed around his circular office. The walls were covered with portraits of former headmasters and mistresses, all snoozing lightly in their frames. A beautiful bird sat upon a perch, and Chloe longed to go and touch it's gold and red plumage. She didn't however, and instead sat down in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, as he was beckoning for her to do.
"Professor McGonagall has brought it to my attention," he began, "that you are quite bored in your classes." Chloe didn't know how to respond to this. "Is this true?" he asked, gazing into her eyes with his light blue ones. Chloe looked down.
"Well, kind of," she admitted. "It's just that I know most of the things that they're teaching already, I dunno, there's not really anything we can do about it though."
Dumbledore chuckled, "Well, yes there is. Under special, and you must understand that it is done only very rarely, we can advance some students up to a different level."
Chloe gazed at him in amazement. "You mean, I can skip a year?"
Dumbledore smiled again, "Well, yes, in a way. Professor McGonagall said she has tested you, and you appear to be at a fifth year level, I will, however, warn you. Going up a level will mean that you will have to work extra hard on all the classes that you are not advanced in. Although I'm sure you can do it." he assured her.
Chole smiled at him. Going up a level would be neat, but she wasn't sure about it. What would happen with all of her friends, would be have to move dorms?
Dumbledore, as if able to read her mind, told her,
"You won't have to leave your friends in the Fourth Year Slytherin dorm, I believe your well established there?"
Chloe nodded her head, relieved. She needed some time to think. She didn't want to discuss this with Roz, as she felt it was something she should decide on her own, but, she still wasn't sure. Dumbledore (she was sure he could read her mind) told her,
"I'll leave you now for a few minutes to think, I believe there is a situation with Mr. Filch I should attend to. Please excuse me, I'll be back in a few minutes." and with that he left, robes whipping around the corner of his door. Chloe could hear his footsteps echoing down the hall, as she gazed once again around the office. She stood up, and wandered around, pausing in front of the bird. She stroked him lovingly.
"My, my, aren't you a pretty thing!" she cooed softly. The bird began to sing the most beautiful song she'd ever heard. It gave her hope, and, suddenly, remembering how bored she'd been in Transfiguration earlier, she decided to try out 5th year classes. She went back to her chair, and waited silently for Dumbledore.
A few minutes later, he returned, sighing. "Some poor girl...." he muttered "hair turned bright pink.....cursed everything in sight......in hysterics....." He sat down once again, and smiled at Chloe, who was grinning, however horrible the incident had been, it sounded kind of funny. What was even funnier was that she'd started it!
"So then," Dumbledore began, "Have you made a decision?"
Chloe nodded, she'd already come up with something in her head. "Yes, I think so." she began. "Would it be possible for me to try out a week in 5th year classes, and then, if I find it too hard,"
"You can go back." Dumbledore finished. "That, my dear, is an excellent idea." Chloe grinned. Then Dumbledore quickly scrawled a note. "Please, take this to Professor McGonagall will you? I believe you have Trasfiguration?" Chloe nodded, curious about what was on the note. She bid the Headmaster goodbye, and scurried down the steps. However curious she was, however, she didn't read the note.