Ok, here's Chapter 3! This is where all the Mary-sueness goes straight down the toilet.
PS: This is not copying Amethyst's story "Generic fanfic author and the magic portal" or whatever it was called. (I love that story!) But though this one has some similarities (like the Quidditch tryouts) I didn't copy! I've had this fic planned out in my head for months! OK!
Chapter Three:
Strange Happenings
Raven was strange. There was no doubt about it. Or perhaps "different" was a better word for it. But Harry knew the minute he had touched her hand earlier that day something was weird.
Maybe it hadn't really been hot- maybe it was just an electric shock. But Harry was beginning to think that Raven might be some magical oddity like a veela or a siren. Yet the odd thing was, Harry was the only one affected by her. Ron commented on his behavior at dinner that day.
"Harry, you've been acting strange ever since that weirdo showed up," he said, raising an eyebrow at Raven, who was practically yelling over to the other side of the room where Malfoy sat.
"He's right, you know," commented Hermione, her mouth full of steak. She shoveled spoonfuls of potatoes in as well.
"Will you ever stop eating, woman?!" Ron asked, now staring at the girl to his left. Hermione simply gave him a grin through her full mouth.
"Well, what about Malfoy? What in the world does she see in him?" Harry complained, more to himself than to his friends.
"Oooohhhh" said Ron, elbowing Harry in the ribs and clicking his teeth. "You like her, don't you, huh?"
Harry felt his face turn what he knew must have been a horrible shade of red. He sensed that a round of "Harry and Raven, sittin' in a tree" was coming on, so, avoiding Ron's teasing gaze, Harry turned to stare enviously at Raven and Malfoy. The two seemed to be having quite a pleasant conversation even though they had to yell. Harry gritted his teeth and willed himself not to run across the room and strangle Malfoy; he just couldn't stand the oily seduction in his voice.
Harry did not turn around until Malfoy got up and left the Slytherin table, Crabbe and Goyle slouching behind him like a pair of hunchbacks.
Raven gave a happy sigh and turned back around to face the trio. "He's such a nice boy," she said happily. "Very handsome."
Ron snorted indignantly into his half empty plate.
"What?" said Raven, looking around confused.
"Oh," Ron answered sarcastically, "It's just when Lucious Malfoy finds out his son is dating a Gryffindor-"
"LUCIOUS MALFOY?!" Raven practically screamed, cutting Ron off in mid-sentence,
"Yes, why?" he asked meekly after Raven's explosion.
"Malfoy! I knew I had heard the name somewhere, but I never thoughtif he's Lucious' son! I've touched him!" she screeched, quickly rubbing the "Malfoy cooties" off the sleeve of her robes and onto Harry (which he was actually quite happy about). She didn't stop there. "Lucious Malfoy is the lowest of the low, a snake in the grass, a disgusting, inconsiderate, foolish, horrible, pig!" she cried and continued on to say, "And any son of his is not talking to me, touching me, or coming within five feet of me!!!" And with a final "Humph!" she crossed her arms, sat firmly into her seat, and realized that everyone was staring at her.
Ron pointed a thumb at Raven and said, "I like this girl!"
"So how do you know Lucious Malfoy?" Hermione asked Raven that night in the girls' dormitory. Soft snoring could be heard from Lavender and Parvati's four-poster beds and Raven and Hermione sat across from each other on the floor.
Brushing her dark glistening hair away from her face with a hand, she averted her eyes and answered, "Well, um, he was a school governor, wasn't he?" After a short nod from Hermione, she continued on. "I met him. I dealt with him when I was switching schools once. I switched a lot," she ended as if those three sentences explained everything.
Hermione cautiously pressed further. "But how did you know he was such a weasel?"
Raven again avoided Hermione's eyes and said, "Well, he kept saying cruel things to meabout being a half-bloodthat my mother was a disgusting mugglestuff like that."
Hermione smiled inside. She had dug a bit more information out of Raven and she was proud of it.
"Come on!" shouted Ron. "We're all doing it, why not you? Well, Hermione's not, but Harry and I are!"
He had been trying to convince Raven to come to Quidditch tryouts for the past week, insisting that she would like it.
"I hate sports! And I can't even fly!" had been her rebuttal in the debate.
Ron's eyes pleaded with Raven's, but she just looked away and stared in that distant world she seemed to often visit. Ron went to tap her, but Hermione grabbed his hand, saying, "Leave her be."
Harry noticed something about Raven and Quidditch. Her eyes lit up and glittered and sparkled every time the subject came up, but she pulled away from the conversation so quickly that he couldn't tell if she actually liked it or if it was hatred in her eyes.
Raven came to the tryouts, but still refused to participate at all. She sat on the cool, fresh-cut grass of the pitch, leaning on one of the huge golden goalposts with a pad of paper in her lap, drawing. Drawing seemed to be the only thing Raven did enjoy.
Each house had their own reserved section of the gigantic field. About fifteen people from each house were trying out, though Gryffindor had a few more ambitious kids than the other houses.
Harry, who was the captain of the Gryffindor team, shouted out loud commands to all the prospective Quidditch players trying out. Raven appeared to be sketching his every move; her pencil moved extremely quickly across the paper. Hermione trudged over to her and gazed over her shoulder.
"You're good!" she shouted in disbelief.
A tinge of red appeared on Raven's cheeks as she said thank you and continued to work.
"That one really looks like Harry," Hermione commented, crouching down next to Raven. "His eyes. I can see them in that drawing."
Raven couldn't help but smile to herself, gazing out at Harry on the Quidditch pitch, laughing and joking with Ron.
Suddenly, Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, echoing over the entire vast field. Pulling out the purple megaphone used at Quidditch matches, she spoke into it, "The tryouts are about to begin! Would all non-participants please take a seat in the bleachers, if you don't mind! Remember, stay in your own House area that has been designated to you!"
Raven and Hermione quickly scrambled to the bleachers as the rest of the people that weren't trying out joined them. There were three openings on the Gryffindor team. The position of Keeper had been filled by a large fourth year by the name of Donnie Ratkins the previous year.
The players first warmed up, then the whole group performed tricks and maneuvers at Harry's command. Finally, each player got an individual turn. Raven and Hermione giggled in the bleachers at Ron's feeble attempt at one of Harry's spectacular dives. It didn't look like Ron would be making the Quidditch team.
Madam Hooch once again blew her whistle and signaled for the students trying out to come off the field. They all picked up their brooms and started to walk towards the broom shed while the captains concentrated on wrestling the bludgers back into their crates. Harry finished quickly, however, and was speeding up and down Gryffindor's quarter of the pitch. Malfoy, who was (inevitably) the Slytherin captain, sneered menacingly from the other side of the field.
Suddenly, everyone turned their heads to see where a loud yell had just come from.
"Sorry Potter!" called Malfoy unconvincingly.
He had sent a bludger zooming straight at Harry, who was currently hanging by one hand off his broom, seventy-five feet from the ground. The bludger had knocked his glasses off his face and they plummeted to the earth with a clatter. Harry, who could hardly see, couldn't get himself back on the broom after being hit by the bludger.
The entire pitch was silent. One hundred breaths were being held all over the field; one hundred bodies remained motionless, waiting to see what happened.
Harry's hand was beginning to sweat. He grabbed for the handle of the Firebolt with his free hand, but he missed due to his blurred vision.
Then one voice spoke.
"Give me that!" shouted Raven at a second year who was holding a broom next her. She snatched the broom from his hands, straddled it, and took off.
Either Raven did not know she was good, or she had lied when she told Ron that she couldn't fly. Her precision in the sky could match Hermione's in homework. The old rickety school broom moved at her lightest touch as she rocketed upward to Harry.
"Faster, faster!" Raven yelled, urging the broom forward.
And just as Harry let go and prepared himself for a crash, Raven grabbed him around the middle and sat him on the broom behind her (with much difficulty), and it sagged under the weight of two people.
Below, the crowd that had gathered erupted into cheers. Raven looked back, smiling, into Harry's amazed face.
"I thought you said-" Harry started.
"I guess I was wrong," Raven interrupted shortly. "But that's not the end of our troubleslook!"
Raven pointed at the bludger, which had turned around and was now hurtling at them swiftly. Raven jerked the broom around quickly and turned the handle down into a dive.
"What're you doing?" Harry hollered. "The weight's too much! We'll crash!"
"Shut up! I have it under control!" Raven answered through gritted teeth.
The broom was tilted almost vertical. Harry's stomach twirled madly; he felt sick. Yet that thrill he got from a dive was still present. He turned to see that the bludger was gaining on them and it was not going to give up. But Raven continued on, gaining speed.
"Hold on tight!" she yelled.
The ground was nearing them. Twenty feetten feetfive feet
"Raven!" Harry screeched.
A mere two feet from the ground, Raven pulled up on the broom's handle, jerking Harry and herself forward uncomfortably. But her trick worked. The heavy bludger, unable to stop, smashed into the ground with a pleasant crash. Spinning the broom around once more, Raven alighted softly on the ground as if nothing at all had happened. She had just saved Harry's life.
Raven was often seen with the "Potter trio" after the Quidditch incident. Harry couldn't stop babbling his thanks to her every chance he could, but he was absolutely confounded by the whole situation. More strange events involving Raven had been taking place in the past few days.
Snape was still being particularly kind to Raven and Harry was getting the feeling it wasn't because she was a new student. Lupin hadn't yet explained to them his relation to Raven, either. In fact, he seemed to be avoiding Harry, Hermione, and Ron altogether.
Harry noticed something else about Raven. She always seemed to know where all the trick staircases were. For a new student, she adjusted to the school very quickly. She even knew shortcuts that Fred and George had never mentioned. Something strange was definitely going on with Raven.
That night, when everyone except for Ron and Hermione had gone to bed, Harry sat in one of the purple armchairs, carefully studying the Marauder's Map. He was searching for some passage that had allowed Raven to avoid Sir Cadogan on the way to Divination. Ron and Hermione sat in front of the fire, chatting softly.
Harry suddenly whirled around, feeling a pair of eyes peering over his shoulder.
"Raven!" he gasped, trying desperately to shove the Map underneath the chair.
"Oh my God" Raven whispered softly, reaching for the map before Harry could get it out of her sight. "It's still here!"
Harry buried his face in his hands, moaning. Hermione and Ron had leapt to their feet. Ron tried to grab the map away from Raven, but she swiftly wound through the chairs to avoid him. Ron eventually gave up, realizing that Harry had at least managed to wipe the precious Map clean.
But Raven was not to be stopped. Pointing her wand to the center of the parchment, she said excitedly, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good!"