(and the consequences therof (translation: and what happened after))
Disclaimer: No, I have not bought the rights to the Harry Potter series in the couple weeks since my last fic. Except for Harria Crystal and Nicole White, I don't own these characters.... *sob* The passing mention of John Cleese, well, in case you're wondering, he is part of Monty Python and is by no means mine. The little song Nicole sings is part of "Bohiemian Rapsody" and it is owned by Queen. Also, the song Nicole sings to summon the pixie back is an Ent song from Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and is NOT mine. Thanx to Spamwarrior for letting me use a couple of her ideas and for being my constant friend.
=) A/N: Okay, this is REALLY weird. I'm warning you now, because if you don't like extremely bizarre fan fiction, you should NOT read this. Get out of here while you still can. I am not kidding. However, if you're not disturbed by insane stories and wacko plots, then go ahead and read it. It contains some language, but not that much. I recommed you be at least 12 years old, but you can decide.
Introducing...... Professor Crystal!
Crystal was trying to scrub a portrait but it was burying its face in the frame and refusing to come out. It was just as Professor McGonagall entered the corridor that she lost her temper.
"That's it!" she stormed. "I'm not messing with you any longer!" She pulled her wand from the belt of her loose blue robe and pointed it at the painting.
"Scourio!" The portrait howled with anger, pulling his face out of the wood, and glared at the professor.
His pink, raw face wrinkled. "That was the roughest scouring charm I've ever undergone," he informed her. "You should practice on things that can't feel it."
"As if," Crystal muttered, turning to oil a suit of armor. It avoided her oiling can and she ended up squirting oil on a window.
"Oh, for the love of-" she cursed. "Here, you, stop that." The coat of armor ignored her. "I mean it, stop it!"
Once again, the armor payed her no attention. "Okay, don't say I didn't warn you," she threatened, grabbing her wand once more and waving it in the general direction of the suit of armor. Gauntlets, shinguards, shoulder pieces and various bits of plaster from the wall rolled everywhere.
"Um, Harria, do you mind?" Professor McGonagall hid her smile. "I'd reassemble it myself, but I don't happen to have my wand with me." "He deserved to be taken apart," she grumbled. Then, McGonagall's words registered. "Minerva, where is your wand? Do you really think that's wise? I mean, it's Hogwarts and all that, but......."
"Harria, you're the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, of course you're not supposed to approve. Now, the armor."
"Oh, all right." Once again she waved her wand in the area of the armor. The armor flew together and soon the suit was reassembled, and wheezing with laughter. "Shut it, you," she said, banging its visor.
Just then, Filch's voice came from the stairwell. "Professor Crystal," he called. "Excuse me, I need your help. There's a boggart in the teacher's closet."
"The call of duty," said Crystal, glaring at the armor, which was still laughing. "Must go."
She strode around the armor, giving it an astonishingly high kick as she did so. The helmet flew off and rolled down the corridor as she waltzed out the doorway. Professor McGonagall sighed, picked up the headgear, and replaced it into its proper place.
Harria Crystal was a wonderful professor and got excellent marks in her teacher's exams, but she did tend to get- annoyed easily by the magical objects in the castle.
New Girl at the Castle... Name of- Nicole??
A tall, thin witch with black hair and violet eyes, wearing a short silver skirt and a black shirt stepped in and looked around. Harry had never seen her before, which was odd, because she looked to be about a 5th year, and he knew all the others by sight, if not by name.
"Anyone parking it there?" she asked. She had an odd accent and used a figure of speech Harry had never heard before.
"Come again?" he said, not having the faintest idea what the girl was talking about.
"Is anyone sitting there?" she said, exasperated. "You guys never heard American slang before?"
"No, I've never- what? American?"
"Yes, that's right. Something wrong with your ears? I'm an exchange student."
"What? Why are you here? I didn't know Hogwarts excepted exchanges." Harry was astonished. "What did you get exchanged for?"
"We-ell," she said, drawing out the word with long relish and a wicked smile. "The offical word was 'inadequate facilities', but the real reason was I was to much of a troublemaker. So they said "Hey, let's exchange her and let someone else deal with our problem" and here I am."
At this moment the door slid open and Ron and Hermione walked in. They both stopped, staring at the American girl.
"Exchange student," she said cheerfully. "Have a seat and I'll tell ya all about if, if you like."
Hermione nodded keenly, and even Ron looked interested. So the girl told the story again, and Hermione looked shocked. "They exchanged you just to get rid of you?" she asked in horror. "What school was that?"
"New York's 'Broadway Magic Institute'," replied the girl proudly. "The scummiest school possible.... all sorts of slummers there for students."
"What's a slummer?"
"A cheapskate..... a cheat who'll steal if they can."
"Who was the head-" but Hermione never got to finish. The question seemed to trigger something in the American girl's mind, for she slapped her forehead.
"I don't believe it! I haven't even introduced myself! Nicole White, at your despence, disposal, and service."
"Hermione Granger," Hermione muttered.
"Ron Weasely," Ron told Nicole, blushing slightly.
"Harry Potter," said Harry. Incredibly, Nicole didn't seemed phazed at all by the name. She simply raised an eyebrow.
"What house are you guys in?" inquired Nicole, quite interested.
"Gryffindor," they chorused.
"I hope I'm in Gryffindor too," she grinned. "I'll have to get sorted with the little eleven-year olds then, I guess."
"Yeah," said Ron, peering into his trunk. "Ah, no, I don't believe it! I fogot my fireworks!"
"But we were going to rig the Slytherin common room," said Harry desperately. "But we can't if we don't have enough...."
"Don't worry," Nicole giggled. "Here, use some of mine...... I've heard about the Slytherins...... Always happy to assist." She pulled a box of fireworks out of her trunk and tossed them to Ron. As she did so, her long hair shifted and Harry caught a glimpse of her ears. One was normal, without even an earring. The other was loaded with about fifteen silver hoops and studs, and when she closed her luggage, he saw a case of bangle bracelets, which jangled as she pushed down the lid.
Suddenly a nasal voice echoed through the train. "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, as it will be taken up to the school seperately."
The four of them kicked open the their bags and trunks and grabbed robes. Tugging his on, Harry saw that Nicole's robes were of a slightly different sort from his. They were very long, dragged heavily on the floor, and were open to show the skirt and shirt she wore underneath. She also had put on her bangles, and her wrists had seven each.
"Um, isn't that uncomfortable?" he asked awkwardly.
"Hey, where I come from, if it's impratical, then it's got to be fashionable."
They stepped out onto the platform. It had stopped raining and the stars were quite beautiful, illuminating the castle some distance away. Harry glanced at Nicole to see if she was impressed, but she seemed as cool and level-headed as ever, not even commenting on its beauty. The one comment she did make was extremely obvious. "It's big," she remarked tonelessly as they climbed out of the carriages and up into the entrance hall. "It's also a lot cleaner than Broadway Magic," she yelled over her shoulder at them, trying to fight her way through the crowd to get to Professor McGonagall, who was rounding up first years. As McGonagall ushered her through the doorway into a small side chamber, a voice called out, "Well look, boys, isn't it the stupid little New Yorker transefer. What a bitch." Harry recognized Draco Malfoy's drawling tones.
"Damn straight," Nicole yelled calmly back. "But if you're a Slytherin, I wouldn't be calling the grass green."
The other houses sniggered heartily, and there were a few whistles. Professor McGonagall looked scandalized and quickly herded Nicole into the side chamber. Ron looked amazed. "Imagine using language like that, right in front of McGonagall! Can you believe it? How cool is Nicole?"
"Words cannot describe," said Fred Weasely poetically, who was standing beside Lee Jordan and George Weasely, right in front them.
"Fresh as a rosebud in spring," quipped George.
"Fresh mouthed, you mean," Lee Jordan snickered as they filed into the packed Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Professor McGonagall, still looking slightly disaproving, carried in the stool and set the Sorting Hat upon it, and the hat sang,
There were many wizards of great power,
But the ones that we remember most:
Brave Gryffindor, from wild moors,
Loyal Hufflepuff, from valleys still in flower,
Sly Slytherin, from dale and fen,
Sharp Ravenclaw from streamside glen
And midst the forest bower,
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,
And decades they did toil,
To build this castle as a haven,
Far from Muggles' prying eyes,
And now they're considered with respect,
And thought of with renown,
Indeed I am, who took their place to sort,
Worth to be worn royal!
You need never argue with me,
When you put me on your head,
You need never be sarcastic,
Indeed, I would advise you not,
If you have any apprecaition, you'll refrain,
I get that kind of thing a lot!
"Well, of course it's going to have some bad songs," Fred told her impatiently. "It must have thought up thousands of songs already."
Nicole was the last to be sorted. Almost a full minute after she sat down, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and she came to sit with them. The table was tumultous with applause. Nicole had put down Malfoy, and now they would automatically give her there wholehearted support.
The feast had gone on for a while when Nicole left. "Be back in a minute," she told them, disappearing behind the Slytherin table.
"What she doing?" asked Ron in puzzlement. "The bathrooms are that way." Harry shrugged.
In a few minutes Nicole was back, taking her seat hurriedly at the Gryffindor table. "Where were-" began Ron, but he never got to finish. A huge platter of food had exploded over at the Slytherin table, plastering everyone with peas and other commestibles. Next to go was a turkey, then, quite suddenly, a bowl of gravy was blow to smithereens by a powerful explosion that seemed to come from within the dish itself. An enormous, three-layered cake followed shortly after.
The Slytherins were lived with anger by now, but Dumbledore seemed to be trying to hid a smile. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Harry noticed, was making no such polite effort. The grin broadened, if that was possible, when a large jug when beserk at the teacher's table and shattered, spraying everyone within a 30 foot radius with pumpkin juice. Snape, especially, caught a faceful and choked. Another jug went, also of pumpkin juice. There were more minor explosions as some of the teacher's goblets splattered drinks all over the place. Snape again was liberally drenched in the sticky liquid.
All of the tables, even the Slytherins, were laughing. Harry glanced over at Nicole, who had on a totally deadpan expression. "Terrible thing to happen at the opening feast, don't you agree?" she inquired, lips twitching sporadically.
Harry didn't even bother replying...... Professor McGonagall had just stood up. She was probably the only person at the table who had had the sense to duck under the table after the first of the explosions and was relatively dry. "Who ever did this," she said, lips quivering in either anger or amusment. "Certainly knows how to play a joke." The whole hall stared at her in amazement. They had never heard her talk like this. "But that was NO excuse to ruin the opening feast," she hurried on. "As such, if I find out who did it, they will be given an hours' worth of detention. I will be running a spell which detects the most common types of explosives to help me find out. If the person who did it comes to me tonight, it will be only a half an hours' worth."
The students filed out of the hall. As soon as the Gryffindors were back in the tower, Dean Thomas shouted out, "Way to go, Nicole!" The whole house closed in around her, asking her how she did it. She replied by plunging a hand into her robes.
"This is my own patented explosive," she told them, holding up a white pill. "McGonagall will never find it. Disolves instantly in liquid and is timed to explode a minutes after dropped. Works just as well disolved, too. Great stuff....... Don't put them anywhere near a plant though. I don't know why, but it seems to have an allergic reaction around vegetation. Makes an exploision ten times as powerful and goes of twenty minutes later. Must get that bug fixed soon."
Lessons, encounters, and a- normal day?
Defense Against the Dark Arts was interesting, as Professor Crystal brought along a huge cageful of Welsh Pixies. Unlike the Cornish variety, these would sit on your shoulder and rub against you. Several of the class asked if they could keep theirs. "Sorry, guys," said Professor Crystal at the end of the lesson. "They're in cahoots with the Welsh dragons, actually. They may not seem like it, but unless you can control them, they'll bring a Welsh Green down on your head. Can't risk it.... Dumbledore'd have my head if I did. I mean, the school's not exactly equipped to handle Welsh Greens, is it?"
"Professor!" Nicole White called. "Mine is weird.... it has this little mark beside it's ear."
Professor Crystal laughed. "Little bugger, that one'll call the worst kinda dragon. A Large Hybridean of Romania, more commonly know as the Blue Diamond or the Purple Star. Awful, just awful.... from far away they be mistaken as bluish or purplish hillsides. Big enough to destroy this castle."
Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas traded nevous looks. Nicole, however, seemed extremely excited. "Professor," she said, raising her hand. "Do those reside anywhere else but Romania?"
Ron frowned quizzically as Crystal replied, "Well, there have been reports of them in... other places.... probably higly fictious, of course. The Hybredian is most commonly associated with those who pratice dark magic, or those who have high amounts of power. Voldemort-" the class gasped "- himself was rumored to have destroyed a town with the aid of a Hybredian... probably just a rumor."
"Professor," asked Ron, "What do you mean, 'attracted to'?"
"Supposedly, those of great power or strong dark magic were occasionally supposed to be a sort of magnet for a Romanian Hybredian. Legend has it that the dragon will come to them, and threaten to destroy what the caller loves most, and the caller will then find the strength to control and befriend the dragon. In doing so, however, the thing which the caller loves most is in danger. I have done extensive research on the subject."
The rest of the lesson was spent discussing pixies. At the end, Professor Crysal informed them they would soon be studying 'Rose Warriors'. No one had any idea what those were, but it sure sounded neat.
Harry, Ron and Nicole (Hermione had pointed out it would be to obvious if four of them left the hall) skipped dinner the next night so they could rig the Slytherin common room. Hurrying down into the dungeons, they located the wall that was the entrance to the passage to the common room. Harry and Ron had found it three years before, and they knew the password. Or, at least they thought they did. "Why don't we just booby trap the hallway?" suggested Nicole, when the boys were becoming tired and frustrated. "Good idea!" Ron was overjoyed. "We'll still get to-"
"Put away the things," Nicole hissed suddenly, grabbing the boxes of jokes and cramming her pockets with them. "Quick!!"
Harry and Ron, mystified, did so. And not a moment to soon, for, just as they were stuffing the last package into their robes, Snape rounded the corner. "What are you all doing here? Potter, Weasely, and White. What an interesting combination." His eyes swept the passage, checking keenly for any sign of disturbances. "Why are you down this way, Potter?"
But it was Nicole who stepped forward. "We forgot our homework, Professor," she said, a biting edge to her voice. "And here I was hoping to have that Ensnaring Venoms paper finished by tonight, like you said..... I'll have to hustle now, and I may not get it done. But I'll have a chance if I don't waste anymore time," she added coldly. Being so tall, she was almost on an eye level with Snape, and looked levelly, even cooly, back at him, seemingly completely relaxed and detached, almost bored.
"Show some respect when you're talking to a teacher," Snape warned dangerously. "I do not stand for insubordination."
"Oh, really," Nicole smiled grimly. "We're your subordiantes, your underlings, then. That's news to me."
"I will NOT stand for-" Snape began again, but Nicole cut him off.
"Well, get used to it, Professor Snape, because insubordination is my first name..... Nicole comes in second."
She turned on her heel and, with a swish of her robe, rounded the corner and was gone. Harry and Ron hurried after her, and, as Harry glanced back at Snape, he saw he was glaring after them with something akin to extreme hatred. But he did not call him back, and for that, Harry was grateful.
As they rounded a turn, however, they came face-to-face with a group of sixth year Slytherins, who were coming back from dinner. One of them stepped forward with a rather nasty grin.
"Ah, Potter, Weasely, and White. Just the ones we've been looking for. Nothing to worry about, just a little chat.... step this way please."
Nicole did not budge, of course. She stood solidly before them, legs planted firmly and steadily, arms crossed. With the merest half glance in Harry and Ron's direction, she asked them to back her up. Almost automatically, they shifted untill they were standing almost on either side of her, blocking the passage. "Whatever's to be said can be said right here," she told them coldly. "What is it?"
A minutes pause, then, "We don't like the way you've been acting!" That opened the door.
"Yeah, you're an upstart!" and other complaints could be heard among the general angry voices of the mob.
"We don't like upstarts, is the point," the tall Slytherin in the front said menancingly.
Nicole raised a critical eyebrow. "Must be hard not hating yourself, then."
The corner's of a few Slytherin's mouths began to twitch. The girl in front looked angry and very embarassed. "Watch your mouth," she snarled.
"Oh, I'm watching it, my friend," Nicole grinned. "Be glad you cannot hear what I am thinking."
Someone in the back actually laughed. Nicole grinned wider, and suddenly most people were smiling. It seemed her smile had a glee-inducing affect on all houses, not just the Gryffindors. However, this earned her an exceptionally nasty look from the girl. "You're gonna pay for that," she hissed. It seemed that having her own house laughing at her was too much for her to handle. She pulled out her wand..... but instead of aiming it at Nicole, she pointed it straight at Harry. Reflexively, he ducked and felt the spell's jet of blue light whiz over his head. Nicole was no longer smiling, and had her wand in her hand. "Annoying and attacking me is one thing," her violet eyes blazed. "But my friends is another. I get very angry when people do that." She pointed her wand at the girl. "Humorious congrationus!" she snarled, and suddenly the girl in front erupted into sporadic laughs. The Slythrins behind her grinned in a bemused sort of way.
Muttering something about jerks, Nicole pushed past them -none too gently. Amazingly, not one of the Slytherins tryed to stop her. Harry and Ron hurried to follow; the spell was begining to wear off, as a few Slytherins' mouths clicked shut in unison.
They hurried around another corner and out of sight.
A great idea and a secret
When Hermione heard about the exploit (they were back in the common room) she was horrified. "Really, Nicole," she scolded. "You can't insult Snape! I'm surprised you weren't expelled..... and using an advanced Cheering Charm on a bunch of senior Slytherins and right under Snape's nose...... you're as bad as Sirius!"
"NO one is as bad as Sirius," Nicole said cheerfully.
Harry gaped, open-mouthed. Hermione's jaw dropped in amazement. Ron looked to stunned to speak. When Hermione had accidentally slipped up and mentioned Sirius, they all expected her to ask how the heck they knew Sirius Black. Instead, she took it in stride. In fact, she seemed almost to know Sirius...........
Nicole smirked at their astonished faces. "Yes, I know Sirius Black. In fact, my mother...... well, my mother is Trina Moren. She's orginally British, but then she went to Paris. Finally, she moved to America. She never married, but some amatuer had messed with a birth-control spell, trying to revise it..... and my mother happened to annoy him. He used the spell on her without thinking, but it went awry. I was the result...... but the point is, my mother was Sirius' girlfriend in school. He came to our house this summer and explained everything. I think he knew she'd believe him. I didn't think he could be trusted, but Mom insisted.......... and now I know the whole tangled story. Even the whole Marauder thing."
Harry's mouth did not close. Sirius had not told Harry where he was hiding, but Harry had always assumed that he was not anywhere that was inhabited by witches or wizards. Finally, he managed to croak out, "But my letters; they were delivered by tropical birds. Why were they, if Sirius was in America?"
"Oh, that," Nicole rolled her eyes. "Well, the birds are my mom's pets. She always said they were Sirius' favorite and she kept them to remember him by. Anyway, they work just as well as owls."
"I'm glad you know," replied Harry wearily. "About Sirius, I mean..... it would've been hard, explaining everything again."
The little group fell silent as Nicole quietly sang a song to herself:
"Take me where the wind blows, Doesn't really matter, to me....... to me........"
Without realizing it, Harry fell asleep.
When he woke the next morning, sunlight was streaming through the windows and Ron was snoring beside him. Hermione was already up, stretching as her back worked itself out of the knots of sleep. She had pushed back the curtains, and the sky was a brillant blue. Nicole was no where in sight.
Harry got up and stretched too, readjusted his glasses, then went over to Ron and shook him gently. "Ron! Ron! Time to wake up!" Ron sat up and looked around groggily. "Wha? Where is everybody? Have we missed classes?"
"No, no," Hermione told him, "not at all. It's Saturday, and everyone is at breakfast. We fell asleep here accidentally. Where's Nicole?"
"Dunno," said Ron, pulling himself out of his chair. Hermione's great orange cat, Crookshanks, slid out of the shadows and twined around Hermione's feet. Harry was just remarking on the pretty orange leaves outside when the potrait hole swung open and Nicole slid in, much like Crookshanks. "Hello," she said. "I brought you some breakfast." She held up a stack of toast. "What do you say to doing a little exploring today? There's a storage room I want to poke around in."
Hermione smiled. "Sounds like fun," she said, dreamily, staring up at the ceiling at she ate her toast. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. They had never seen Hermione like this, it was almost as if- Harry couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Hey," said Nicole, shooting a puzzled glance at Harry. "What's up?"
"Oh, just thinking, about what would happen if you hooked a Portkey into a Heart's Mirror......" Hermione closed her eyes briefly. "It'd be great.... the Portkey could take you into the scene you were looking at."
"What's a Heart's Mirror?" asked Harry, bewildered.
"It shows you your true love, whether the love is a person, place, or thing. If you hooked it into a Portkey, then the Portkey would take you to that scene. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Uh, okay," said Harry, completely in the dark.
"No, it would be terrible," Nicole corrected. "The Portkey's backup system would sense that you're not going to a place, but into an object. It would malfunction, probably dropping you into a cross-world while trying to restore your physical appearance in the room you left. You'd have to design a special Portkey."
"But if you did-" Hermione broke off. "Now you've lost me. What's a cross-world?"
"A divisionary barrier between realms. It holds the key to other worlds, usually in the form of portals. Considered highly fictious by most, however, they do exist. Only the greatest wizards, such as Merlin and Dumbledore, have ever been able to use them, because access is so limited. But anyone can make the crossing; you just have to know how to get there." Nicole sounded as though she had swallowed a textbook.
Harry jumped to his feet. "I've got a great idea!" he said stupidly, as though expecting to be praised for having an idea at all. "I've heard Portkeys are easy to build, right?"
Nicole nodded slowly. "Any ameteur can build one. A Heart's Mirrior isn't complicated either."
"Whoa!" exclaimed Ron. "I see where this is goin'. If it's not hard to build on, then it shouldn't be hard to alter one, right?"
"Correct," Nicole grinned. "We could combine the two! Hook two different Portkeys into a Heart's Mirror, then you could use the altered Portkey to jump into the Mirror, or, you could use the normal one to get to a cross-world!"
"How would we get back?" asked Hermione excitedly. "And we'd have to build our own. We don't have any innocent reason for needing a Heart's Mirror or two Portkeys."
"Well, I think we could build our own," said Nicole slowly. "And to get back, we could just use attach a normal Portkey and set it to the place you wanted to get back to, like our dormitories!" "There's one minor flaw," interrupted Hermione. "Where in the world are we going to get the stuff to build it?"
"Easy," Nicole could hardly contain her glee. "I said there was a storage room, right? Well, it's huge and most of the stuff is broken down magical equipment and gimmicks. We should be able to pick it apart fairly easily."
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Ron jumped up. "Let's get started!"
"Why not?" asked Nicole rhetorically. "Get your wands, guys!" Harry raced upstairs to grab his wand and was back down in the common room in a flash, Ron at his heels. Hermione already had hers, as did Nicole. They climbed out of the portrait hole and Nicole led them towards the dungeons.
"Uh, what's to keep Snape from finding us?" asked Harry nervously as Nicole ducked into a tiny, twisting corridor, far from their Potions classroom.
"Very simple," said Nicole mysteriously. She pushed open a heavy, creaking door that revealed a room, completely empty. "Like this." She went over to one wall and pushed lightly on a small dent in the stone. A panel slid open, revealing a large dusty room full of junk, with several more passages leading off it. "I don't think Snape knows about this, or Filch. The only reason I know about is that Sirius told me. Let's get started."
She went around the room, tapping old, dried torches with her wand. They burst into flame and lighted the whole room. Casting around, she found a box of several more and put them to one side, along with a tarnished candelabra.
"The first think to do is find a mirror," Nicole told them. "Start looking... preferably a small, round hand held one with ornaments that can be pried loose."
Harry hunted around the room, peering into corners and boxes while the others took some torches and explored the other passageways, finding yet more useless pieces of magical trash. Finally, he found the perfect thing, a hand-held mirror that had decorative faux jems and a real diamond, as well as a small rose set in the middle. Made of sturdy silver, the rose was held only by pinnings, which could be worked loose if you had nimble fingers. It was the ideal object to make a Heart's Mirror. "You know, this is safer than you think," Nicole told them as she appraised Harry's find. "Cross-traveling, I mean. We don't even have to be the ones to go first. We can send something else through and watch its progress through the mirror."
"I don't understand," said Ron, frowning. "How is it that you can see through the mirror and see what's happening on the other side, yet hold the mirror in the mirror so you can get back?"
"I don't know. Probably inter-dimensional side effects from the potion, or an ability to move because of the Portkeys, but we won't get into theory. I would bore you all to death........ to one who has not done a extensive search for cross-worlds, it means nothing."
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared. Nicole sounded like some arcane professor, not at all like the smart-alec American witch they had come to know. Harry had always thought, that, after almost three months of knowing a person, you would know them inside and out, but it appeared there was more to Nicole than met the casual eye.
Nicole completely ruined the effect, though, by studying the ceiling and humming snatches of various songs; it seemed she didn't mind letting them look their fill. Finally, she grew impatient and broke the silence.
"Well, let's go. We need to brew a special love potion to enchant the mirror, you know." She went to corner and hauled out a rusty old cauldron.
"Hermione, the honors," Nicole swept a mock bow and stood back. Hermione scoured the cauldron clean with her wand and cleared away the chips of rust with another wave.
"Now we need the book," she said impatiently. "And the ingredients...... the book's probably in the Restricted Section and the ingredients are going to be next to impossible."
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it," sighed Nicole. "And let me handle the Restricted thingee. Luckily, I know just which book. Follow me, please."
She pressed a panel in the wall and the door slid open. "We're gonna see Professor Crystal," she explained, leading them out into the corridor, after a quick scan for Snape or Filch.
"Professor Crystal," said Hermione, frowning. "I don't understand. Why is going to see Professor Crystal going to help us get the book?"
"Trust me," Nicole smiled confidently. "I know what I'm doing. I hope."
"Oh, come on," said Ron, rolling his eyes. "She'd have to be really stupid to fall for this....."
Nicole rapped sharply on Professor Crystal's office door. It opened almost immediately. "Oh, hello, White, Potter, Granger....." she ran her fingers through her hair distractedly. "Come in, will you? I'm just trying to clean the statue of Wilda the Wild in there........ beastly time I'm having too."
She ushered them into the room. The statue of Wilda the Wild was in one corner, muttering something about stuffing a can of Cheez Whiz down Harria Crystal's throat when she wasn't expecting it; apparently, it was quite annoyed with her.
"Professor, I heard love potions are banned at Hogwarts," Nicole said bluntly. "Is that true? I mean, at our school in America, they weren't banned at all. In fact, we had to brew them once in Potions...... but I also heard the British ones are stronger. Are they really?"
Crystal smiled at Nicole's wide-eyed eagerness. "Yes, it's true they're banned at Hogwarts. It is, indeed, a fact that the British potions are stronger. Different ingredients, I believe."
"Really?" Nicole was fascinated. "What kind of differences? Do you have any books you can recommend?"
"Well, I can't think of any just offhand," Crystal's eyes narrowed in concentration. "No......"
"What about Love Enchantments: a Guide to All Kinds of Matchmaking and Bewitching by Magic?" Nicole inquired. "Professor Snape mentioned that one..... but no, it's probably in the Restricted Section. Love Potions, you know."
"Oh, that's not a problem," Crystal told her. "If you're just interested in theory......" She took a quill and a scrap of parchment and scrawled a note, signing it in a small, plain signature and handed to Nicole. "Run along now," she said kindly. "I've got to finish my cleaning."
"Well, there you have it," Nicole said with finality. "Duped into giving us a signature." They had just gone to the library and retrieved the book.
"I can't believe it!" Ron looked almost crestfallen. "I never thought she was dumb!"
"Oh, she's not," Nicole assured him. "She's just never had to deal with me before. You've got to admit, I pulled one in there that woulda had McGonagall stumped. Now, let's head back to...... uh, what are we supposed to call it?"
"The storage room?" Harry suggested helpfully.
"No, no, it has to be something dramatic," said Nicole, with a theatrical wave of her hand. "Any ideas?"
"How about....... Gryphon's Tower?" Hermione pursed her lips. "No, it's not a tower. How about, um, Dragon's Cave? No? What about just 'The Cave'? How about Magic Lair? How about 'The Dragon's Egg?'"
"For heaven sakes, Hermione," Nicole rolled her eyes, exasperated. "It's supposed to be a magical lab, not a pub. The best one you've come up with so far is 'The Cave'. Hmmm. Interesting. I wouldn't say charming, and I certainly wouldn't say dramatic. But has anyone got a better idea?"
Harry and Ron shook their heads as Ron mouthed, "Must be a girl thing."
They were back in 'The Cave', as Nicole and Hermione called it, and, as Harry was hunting for loose pieces of masonry to build a small fireplace and Ron hunted for some of the more common potion ingredients that might be in one of the big cabinets on the chamber's walls, Hermione and Nicole secured the door, then sat down and thumbed through the book.
"Anything so far?" asked Ron, brushing a cobweb away from his face as he poked about in one of the cupboards.
"Nada," replied Nicole, looking up from the page she and Hermione were poring over. Seeing Ron's frown, she explained, "Nada means nothing in Spanish. Sheesh, have you guys never taken Spanish before?"
Ron shook his head, still looking sligthtly mystified. "These damn cobwebs," he finally burst out. "They're all over me."
"Cobwebs?" Nicole sprung to her feet. "Where?"
"Right here," said Ron, pointing. "Why?"
"The door doesn't even have hairline cracks," Nicole said, excited. "So spiders couldn't get in here unless there was another way in." Her fingers explored anxiously into every crack and cranny in the woodwork. Hermione didn't even look up from her book. "Aha!" she exclaimed; there was a small click and the whole back panel slid away, revealing a room full of dusty jars and books. A large desk occupied the center of it.
Harry came into the room, carrying an armful of stonework. "Here's your-" he stopped short. "What is that?"
"Dunno," said Nicole casually. "First things first, however. We've gotta get that fireplace built, and then we can explore."
The boys grumbled a bit as they were assigned building a safe fireplace while Nicole explained everything to Hermione, (who still hadn't looked up from her book) and told them she had to go check something.
"What, again?" asked Ron grumpily. "Why?"
"I need to know where our airsorce comes from," said Nicole importantly. "And if we have enough to burn a fire." She left, striding into one of the underground passageways as Harry placed a stone in the wall of the fireplace.
The last stone had long since crowned the new structure when she returned. "As I suspected," she announced. "There's numerous vents that hook directly up into the school's ventilation system. Good job on the fireplace, guys. Hermione, did you find what we're looking for?"
"I think so," said Hermione, looking up, using her finger as a bookmark. "'Potion to enchant various love objects'..... yes, there's a list, and Heart's Mirrors are at the top, along with Heart's Lockets. Oooh, but the ingredients are gonna be tricky!! Rat's tails, that's easy enough, ebony, knotgrass, blue rose petals, hippopotamus oil, hen's teeth, three drops of dragon's blood, unicorn hair and horn, and powdered skin of a liger. Oh, this is going to be difficult."
"Well, I've got the rattails, knotgrass, and ebony. One of the little junk figures is partially ebony. Oh, and the unicorn tail hair. It's pretty common stuff," Ron said dejectedly. "I don't know how we're going to get the rest. It's not in the cabinets."
"Easy," Nicole said, beaming. "Remember all the jars in the secret room? We'll check those." She strode over to the cabinet and undid the secret door. "Here we are."
The three walked over to the shelves. Nicole was the first to find anything. "Look! Unicorn horn! We can cross that off now."
They worked in silence for a bit more, then Hermione held up a jar trimuphantly. "Hippopotamus oil. I'll take them both back to our workspace." She tramped through the passage and set the jars down on one of the cupboards sideboards.
"I don't believe it," said Ron incredulously. "Blue rose petals!" He set the dusty old cloth bag down on the battered desk.
"Powdered skin of a liger," Nicole called a few minutes later. "That's supposed to be really rare." She plunked the glass bottle down on the desk for Hermione to take back. The dragon's blood and hen's teeth were more difficult. Harry found a fat brown cobwebby jar labeled 'Hen's Teeth' in plain writing on the top of a very tall shelf, but it was almost empty.
They looked and looked for the dragon's blood. Hermione finally stuck her hand behind a row of thick gray bottles and came out with a little vial full of a curious red liquid thats cork read 'dragon blood' in minute writing; it was half full and had plenty more than they'd need.
Hermione was inspecting the old books when Nicole gave a shout. "Look!" She was pointing at the wastebasket, where a few solitary pieces of crumpled paper layed.
"My God," said Hermione involuntarily. "That looks just like- just like- a Marauder's Map........."
"I think we know who stocked this room," Nicole looked a little shaken. "Our old friends...... Padfoot, Prongs, Moony.... and Wormtail. They must have stolen the potion ingredients. I'll bet there's more maps in there, ones that have gone wrong."
Harry didn't know how to feel. The thought of his dad, and Sirius, and Lupin, and Pettigrew, in this very room, designing the first Marauder's Maps.....
"Well, I guess we're kinda their successors," Nicole smiled bravely, regaining her composture. "Let's see where that door leads to." She pointed to a small door in the corner of the room.
"Yes, let's," said Hermione, walking over to it and running her fingers down the sides. "It's very old," she said finally. Nicole sighed.
"Of course it's old! It was probably built when Hogwarts was." She pulled it open, to reveal a low stone passageway. "Come on."
They bent and went through. There was another door on the other side. Nicole pushed on it; it gave a groan, but moved. The other side was simply more passageway. Harry light his wand and followed after Nicole. These walls looked almost like.......
"Stop!" said Harry, laughing. "I know where we are!"
Nicole turned to scowl at him. "Where?"
"This is the passage to Honeyduke's," he explained. "I used it the year before last quite a bit. Now that we know, can we go get started on the potion?"
"Of course." Nicole turned around, for some reason, looking disappointed. Hermione noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, it's just I feel kinda stupid..... I was hoping this would be a totally new passageway that no one had ever discovered or something so I could tell Sirius something he didn't know when I go home for the summer."
"Oh," said Harry, not understanding in the slightest.
Soon they were back in the storage room, but this time, they left the passageway into the study open so Hermione could go back and forth, checking lists and ingredients, and occasionally flipping through a book. In a few minutes, they were ready.
"First ingredient," said Nicole, pushing the cauldron over to the fireplace and hoisting it up on top.
"Dragon's blood." Harry poured three drops into the cauldron. They fizzed and hissed at they hit the iron.
"Now the blue rose petals."
He added those. The potion fizzed again and turned a brownish purple.
"Hippopotamus oil." Now it looked more like a potion; nice and soupy.
"Ebony," "Check," Harry said, dusting the wood shavings off his palm.
"Hen's teeth."
"Check."
"Unicorn hair."
"How many?"
"Three strands."
"Check."
"Rattails, four."
"Check."
"Unicorn horn."
"Check."
"Skin of a liger."
"Check."
"Knotgrass."
"Check."
"That's it. Now we wait." Nicole closed her book and peered at the cauldron. It was more of a thick, chunky paste, but when the object was smeared with it, it would magically absorb it nicely.
"Are you done?" Hermione had just walked in.
"Yeah," said Nicole, reaching into her robe pocket.
"Really?" asked Hermione suspiciously; Nicole was a little too casual.
"Yes, really." Nicole pulled out a long paper tube and bit off the end, spitting the paper cap neatly into the fire. She then commenced to tip her head back and pour something that looked like potion powder into her mouth. Closing her eyes; her face a picture of bliss, she savored her weird substance.
"What is that?" Harry inquired, pointing at the tube.
"Pixy Stix. The highest level of sugar possible for that size of space. Stress relief, you know."
"I thought sugar made you hyper," Ron frowned.
"It does. But you also have a tendency to let go, or relieve yourself of stress and/or responsibilty.... it comes with the hyper act. Good stuff. And it doesn't kill you either. It doesn't hurt you in the slightest. The danger is when the sugar charge hits you. Want one?"
"Uh, sure," said Hermione uncertainly. Nicole fished out another and handed it over. Hermione tore off the strip of paper and took a tiny taste. "Tastes like sweet vitamin C tablets," she commented, taking a larger swallow. "Pretty good."
"Harry?" asked Nicole, offering him one.
"Okay."
Hermione was right. The Pixy Stix were sweet and slightly tangy, but he could taste the sinister sugar charge lurking beneath the surface. Nicole held one out to Ron, who refused.
"Oh," said Nicole, grinning. "I'm sorry, I forgot to mention they are also slightly addictive."
"What?" Hermione and Harry gaped at her.
"Oh, not physically addicting," Nicole suppressed a wicked grin. "Mentally. If you stop, you don't have any bodily symptoms, but that's not that big a deal, because you can't stop. I mean, you can; in fact, I did once, but it's not as much fun. You see life better when you're on a sugar high."
"Uh, right," said Ron, looking as though his friends had just publically annouced they were being jointly insane for the rest of the year. Nicole gave him a look, as though she knew what he was thinking.
"The potion's about done," said Hermione hastily. "Are we ready? Harry, do you have the mirror?"
"Right here." Harry fished the mirror out of a cabinet. "Now what?"
"This." Nicole plunged her hand into the cauldron, scooping out a blob of goo and applying it liberally to the mirror. Some of it dripped off her hands and splattered onto the floor, where it vanished. Wherever it had touched, the stone turned red or green.
"Neat," exclaimed Nicole, flicking her fingers and sending globs of the stuff onto the walls. "Night-lights!"
"Uh, Nicole, the mirror," said Hermione pointedly.
"Oh. Right you are, then. Now it (and the stone) is saturated, we wait again. It takes five to ten minutes to activate. In the mean time, let's clean up."
She picked up the small cauldron, emptying the remaining potion in the brass bowl Harry held out to her.
"I need to wash my hands," she announced.
To Harry's astonishment, she did not head for the door, as he had expected, but rather for one of the side passages. Farther and farther underground they went, until Nicole stopped.
"Hear that?"
It was the sound of running water. Seconds later, they emerged into a low, wide cavern, almost completely taken up by a running river. Its source was a natural spring which welled up from one of the walls.
"This is the lake's source, I think," said Nicole, her whisper bouncing off the walls and echoing in far corners. "We can wash up here. I found it when I went exploring for the air vents."
She knelt, dipping her hands in the running water. When she pulled them out, her teeth were chattering. "It's stone cold," she told them. "It feels like it carries a lot of minerals too."
Hermione stuck a finger in the water. "Brr," she said. "I wouldn't want to bathe in that!"
"If you're lucky, you won't have to," Ron pointed out. "Are we done? I want to see if that mirror works."
Hermione led them back up the passage and handed the mirror to Nicole with a bow. "Care to do the honors? You're the one who's responsible for this mess, you know."
For a moment, Nicole simply stared into hungrily into the mirror, then she blushed and let her arm drop. "It works," she said, her blush fading.
"What did you see?" asked Ron eagerly.
"Honestly, Ron, that's none of your business," Hermione snapped. "I know I wouldn't want people knowing what I most loved."
"What time is it?" Harry suddenly realized how long they had been in the Cave.
"Oh no," moaned Ron, checking his watch. "We've got only fifteen minutes until dinner starts! I am SO hungry."
Harry too had only just noticed his gnawing hunger. All he'd had since breakfast was a Pixy Stick, and he was also incredibly thirsty.
"We've been in here almost six hours," said Nicole, flipping back the sleeve of her robe to check her watch. "Not counting the time we talked to Professor Crystal and got that book."
"I need to use the bathroom," announced Ron proudly.
"Let's get outta here," agreed Nicole. She pushed on the wall and walked into the classroom.
Ron headed for the nearest bathroom as Harry dove for the water fountain. Nicole and Hermione continued placidly on their way to dinner; but Nicole dug out two more Pixy Stix and handed one to Hermione as they rounded the turn.
Harry finished his drink and jogged after them. Nicole was right, Pixy Stix really were addicting; now he wanted one too.
At dinner that night, Harry recieved many curious looks and many "Where were you?"s. He explained all away by saying he took a long walk and then went to the library to finish all the homework, then claiming he lost track of time. Harry himself thought this was bit of a thin disguise, but most seemed to accept it. The only skeptic was, amazingly, Neville; Harry was quite astonished: he'd always assumed that Neville would accept his every word.
Neville watched them, though, all through dinner and whispered to Seamus Finnigan suspiciously.
But he was not the only one. Hermione was watching something..... but no one could figure out what. She was throwing glances in the general direction of the Slytherin table, but as there was also the Ravenclaw table, the Hufflepuff table in that area too, there was no way of knowing what she was looking at. Nicole was suppressing a smile and looking wryly at Hermione, as if she knew, or guessed, what Hermione was gazing at through her hair.
"Draco Malfoy is such an evil git," Ron was telling Nicole, who responded dryly, "Tell me something I don't know."
"Whatcha lookin' at, Herm?" The interested query came from Nicole.
"Uh, nothing in paticular," said Hermione, jerking her head up and re-applying herself to shepard's pie. "Nothing at all....."
"Oh, come on," Nicole shot a what's-up-with-her glance at Harry and Ron and continued. "I see you slipping glances over there." She waved her fork in the general direction of the Slytherins.
Hermione leaned over and whispered something in Nicole's ear. Nicole looked astonished, smirked, then gave a shriek of laughter. "WHAT???" she whisper-screamed. "You WHAT????"
"SHHH!!!!" Hermione glanced around and whispered something that sounded like, "Don't tell ANYONE!!! It's so embarrassing!"
"What about Harry and Ron?" inquired Nicole, grinning. "Do they get to know?"
"Know what?!" Ron was getting fed up with all the girl's teasing little whispers.
"If the time is right, you can tell them," Hermione confided softly. "But not otherwise: this is to good an opportunity to miss."
Nicole nodded in silent agreement and turned to face the boys. "Just a girl thing," she said casually. "Nothing important...."
"Riiiight," said Ron skeptically. "And I'm a cheerleader for the West Ham soccer team. What is it?"
"I think he'd make a cute cheerleader." Nicole scrutinized Ron, then proclaimed, "I think he'd make a sexy girl too."
"Good lord, no!!" yelled Ron, looking horrified. "I don't want to know whatever it was you guys were talking about! Just keep me male!!"
"Oh Ron, I was kidding." However, Nicole looked crestfallen at his lack of enthusiasm for the idea. "But there IS a charm...." She let the end of the sentance trail off cruelly.
"Ha ha ha," said Ron sarcastically. "Very funny."
"I know who'd make the perfect girl!" Nicole went into a fit of giggles. "Draco Malfoy!!"
At this, both girls went off into laughing hysterics. Nicole almost choked; Harry had to whack her on the back to get her to stop coughing.
Harry himself didn't see what was so funny. The idea of Malfoy as a girl was, of course, amusing, but not enough to send him into hysterics. It was a question for him to ponder on a rainy afternoon.
The next day was Sunday. Harry awoke feeling refreshed, and remembered what day it was. They had 24 hours to test the mirror and make the portkeys. He yawned and turned over, then glanced at his alarm clock. Nine! He'd best get up, or he'd miss breakfast.
Pulling off the covers, he went into the bathroom, took a shower, and yanked clean robes on over his head. After he'd found his socks and shoes, he went down the staircase to the common room. Nicole and Hermione were already there, in the corner, whispering together. As soon as she saw him come in, Nicole bit her lip, muttered something, and poked Hermione. Then she got up and greeted him with a disgustingly cheerful "Good Morning!" Harry grunted in reply, not feeling like talking in the least.
Ron half-tumbled, half-walked down the stairs and fell onto a couch. "What's up?" asked Nicole, looking down at him with concern.
"No sleep," mumbled Ron. "Bad dreams...."
Hermione looked sympathetic. "I know how it is," she told him. "I had bad thoughts... d'you realize our O.W.L.s are only three-quarters of a year away?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Hermione... you worry about the slightest little things.... they're only O.W.L.s!"
"But we HAVE to pass them." Hermione rolled her eyes right back. "Or we don't get into sixth year!"
"Oh, wouldn't that be a shame," Ron muttered sarcastically. "Sleeping in every morning...."
Hermione was about to reply, but Nicole ended the argument. "Portkeys today," she reminded them cheefully. "And this time, we'll eat lunch."
"Portkey finished, Nicole," called Harry. They were back in the cave and had started producing Portkeys.
Nicole walked over. "Good work! Which one is this?"
"The return one."
"Excellent! That's the last. Now we can test them."
"On what?" asked Hermione. "Certainly not a human.... and there's no rats or anything around here."
"I'll be right back," Nicole yelled over her shoulder, starting for the door. "Don't move an inch!"
Soon she was back, lugging a heavy crate. The contents buzzed irately and hammered on the door with tiny fists.
"What is THAT?" Hermione stooped to peer through the bars.
"Welsh Pixies," said Nicole proudly. "I smuggled them out of Professor Crystals Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She had plenty of extras. Watch."
She pulled out a pixie and arranged its tiny fist around the Heart's Mirror. Then, pointing to the modified Portkey, that would take into the mirror, she commanded, "Touch that!"
The pixie obeyed. It shimmered, winked, re-solidified, then blinked out of existance in that room. Nicole leaned forward. "Look! You can see it in the mirror."
Sure enough, a pixie was buzzing confusedly over a land of trees and flowers. Other pixies could be heard, playing, and occasionally a small bird drifted by.
"Can it hear us?" asked Ron excitedly.
"Only if we rhyme or sing it. It has to realize we want it to come back." Nicole frowned in concentration. "How about this: Come back to me, come back to me, and say my land is fair."
Harry gaped at her. The voice coming from Nicole sounded like nothing he'd ever heard; it was husky, soft and sweet. Finally, he croaked, "Where'd you learn to sing like that? And what were those lines from?"
"The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's an Ent song. I've always liked singing; my mother is friends with Celestina Warbeck, the singing sorceress. Now, hush. Let's see if the pixie gets it."
The pixie, apparently, did "get it". It hovered for a moment, then paused in confusion, looking at all the jewels on the mirror's back.
"Right," muttered Nicole. "Now, to tell it is the one on the left, let's try a little "Time Warp" fromThe Rocky Horror Picture Show." She then commenced singing a directionary line: "It's just a jump to the LEFT!"
Putting huge emphasis on the "LEFT!!" part, she got the pixie to understand that she wanted one of the jewels on the left. "Hmmm. Not quite there.... let's see....." She pulled a face. "In my repitoire of songs, I can't think of a single one that would indicate it's the amber drop! Oh well; when in doubt, try a rhyme. Here goes.
I was born in Febuary. I've always worn my birthstone. It's the one that comes from trees often a lone bug would freeze in the sticky sap of the pine. Rap on the gem pixie mine."
"Couldn't you have just said amber?" asked Hermione, looking exasperated.
"Hey! I'm a singer, not a poet!" protested Nicole. "I'm bad with rhymes. And you try rhyming amber with something on the spur of the moment."
"But I don't," Hermione pointed out. "That's why I'M a perfect student and you're not. I don't do silly things like that: they destroy your dignity."
A loud hum filled the room. The pixie had pressed the right jewel and was back, putting an end to Hermione and Nicole's argument. The Welsh Pixie looked badly shaken and dived back into the box when Nicole tugged it open.
"Well, we can't use HIM again." Nicole fished for another Pixie. "We'll use this one." She pulled out a large plump fellow.
"Uh, Nicole," said Harry. "It's got one of those little marks behind it's ear...."
"It shouldn't make any difference." Nicole told him impatiently. "Let's go, you!" She indicated the cross-world Portkey. The pixie hesitated. "GO!!"
It grumbled deep in its throat, but it went. Seconds later, they could see it in the mirror, hovering over a land of grey mist and silver pools.
"Right, now we know it works, let's get it to come back."
Using the same few lines, she got it to realize that she wanted it to come back. Instead of touching the amber drop, however, the pixie shook its head defiantly.
"Come BACK, dammit!" Nicole was getitng frustrated; but the pixie just shook its head again and plunged headfirst into one of the pools. Nicole swore so elaborately that Ron looked at her in awe.
"Great. At least we know it works. Let's go to lunch. I need a break." Still muttering colorful language under her breath, she hurled herself at the wall and stormed up the passageway, clenching her fists and mumbling about the incompetence and disobiedence of Welsh pixies.
At lunch (roast beef and cheese sandwiches) Nicole pointed out Fred and George, who kept throwing sly, suspicious looks at them. "I bet they know about that storage room," she commented once, in a whisper.
After lunch, Harry stood and led them back to the Cave. There, Nicole took over.
"All right, guys. Before we can test the mirror ourselves, we're gonna clean this place up: it's quite a mess. Jars and bottles in the cupboard to the left, books and papers on the shelves to the right. Bowls and cauldrons and other containers over in that corner. Other magical equipment can go in that cabinet. All the other junk put in the room to the left down that passageway."
They did as they were told, Nicole helping, and in a surprisingly short time, all of the mess was cleaned up and put away. Harry was just putting the last of the bottles in the wood cupboard when there was a grating of stone on stone and the door swung open.
Hermione shrieked, Harry whipped out his wand, Ron's jaw dropped. Nicole merely swept a mock bow and proclaimed, "Messers Fred and George Weasly, I presume?"
Sure enough, the twin's freckled faces and flaming hair could be seen from around the corner of the door, peering in curiously.
"Thought we'd find you in here," said George, stepping in. "Used quite a lot at one point ourselves."
"Did you find the Marauder's Office?" asked Fred eagerly.
"The Marauder's what?"
"Office. It's what we call the chamber back there." Fred jerked his thumb in the direction of the secret chamber.
"Uh, yeah," said Harry offhandedly. "But what did you use if for?"
"Well, not much... at one point, we tried to build our own Mirror of Erised, but it didn't really work......" Fred grinned twistedly. "All it would show us were wool socks or marmots ripping Snape to pieces. No matter what we tried it on."
"Speaking of which," George interupted impatiently. "What do you little ones use it for?"
Nicole explained what their idea was and how they'd already tested it. George looked grave, then shook his head. "I bet the ol' Marauders woulda been proud of you," he said seriously. "Whoever they were..."
Hermione and Harry traded nervous glances. They knew who the Marauders were, and it would impede them it they had to watch what they talked about. The best way would be to get Fred and George to go away.
"Can we help?" asked George eagerly. "I'm sure you could use an extra pair of hands or two."
Harry bit his lip. There was no way that the twins could know about the Marauder thing, but Nicole was already asking brightly, "Is that okay, guys?"
Harry nodded reluctantly. It seemed there was no way around it.
"What are we waiting for?" Nicole said excitedly. "We're ready to test it out! Only one person can go into the mirror at once, so let's try the cross-world."
"I'll count," volunteered Fred. "On three, touch the rose in the center. One..... two........ THREE!!"
Harry felt the strangest sensation. Like a giant whirlpool, something was sucking him into the mirror. He suddenly saw many dark passages and tunnels just ahead of him. He started to be pulled down one, but there was a grinding noise and he was suddenly hanging in the foggy air, about six feet from marshy ground.
The support was gone. He plummeted the six feet and landed with a squishy thud! in shallow water. Groggily, he stood up and looked around for the others.
Fred and George were sprawled on top of one another in a patch of reeds. Ron was on his back, his face a nasty greenish color, taking deep, steadying breaths. Hermione and Nicole had faired slightly better. Hermione was swaying a little, but she had apparently landed on her feet. Nicole was crouched like a cat, her knees having absorbed most of the shock of landing. She was holding the mirror.
"Always remember, it's not the falling that hurts. It's the landing," Nicole quipped happily. "And never forget the immortal quote, 'Flying is easy! You just throw yourself at the ground and miss!'"
"Easy for you to say," groaned Ron nearby. "You're the only one who didn't sustain serious injury."
"Yeah," called Fred, his voice muffled. "GEORGE!! Gerroff!" He pulled himself unsteadily to his feet.
"What do we do now?" asked Hermione, looking in confusion at all the pools.
"Well," Nicole drawled. "One of these pools will take us to another dimension."
"Let's go!" George jumped up.
"Just take the mirror with you," added Hermione anxiously.
"Right, right..." Nicole waved her hand airly. "I know, I know.... now, which pool?"
"How about that one?" Harry suggested, pointing into a deep, silvery pool.
"Hold hands," commanded Nicole. "Or we'll lose each other; I've read about it."
"I'll count this time," said Hermione. "One....... God, I don't know about this.... two....... THREE!!"
They jumped.
Harry, instead of feeling pulled and seeing passageways, fell through blackness; impentatrable, never-ending, blackness, completely without light.
Suddenly, there it was. A tiny speck of light, like a star, winking below him. Then there were more; then they fell away again, and one star in particular stood out. It grew larger and larger, until he realized something: it was not a star at all. It was an door, open, with brilliant white light shining through it. Brighter than a thousand stars, the light swelled up to meet him.
Harry dropped, right into the center of it. It was an incredible change from the forbidding dark: this light, this- thing, was friendlier, warmer, comforting.
And now, once again, he could feel the pressure of his friends' hands, clasped tightly around his own.
With an earth-shaking smack! he landed on hard, gritty stone.
He sat up, dazed. The rock underneath his fingers was smooth; it felt like sandstone. A little ways away, Nicole was sitting at the base of a wall, while George helped pull her to her feet. She grimaced.
"I would have to land pratically on top of a wall and have the pleasant experience of sliding down sandstone. Luckily, the mirror's still intact."
With a last heave, George dragged her up to a standing position. Nicole briskly brushed off the grains of sandstone and shook out her robes.
"What's this?" Hermione stood up as well and dusted her rump.
"A building," Ron and Fred chorused dryly.
"I mean, what kind of a building, you dolts!" Hermione went to peer out one of the many windows; a reddish light was streaming into the room.
"There aren't any plants," Hermione remarked. "Only this endless orange stone. And no inhabitants either."
"Brrr! My teeth are chattering," said Ron. "It's very cold."
"Look at the sun!" Harry exclaimed. "That's the red light. It's huge! And not so warm."
Sure enough, the sun outside was dim and cool, instead of the fierce bright heat they remembered from their own world.
A cold, lifeless breeze whipped over the sill, bringing with it no sound of birdcall, no rustling of leaves, no whisper of voices.
Suddenly, the six realized that there was no sound at all. None, execpt the sound of their own voices, and those, although they were not speaking loudly, could have just as well have been a shout. There was something else too.... or a lack of something. None of them could quite put their finger on it, until-
Nicole's nostrils flared. "There aren't any smells."
"What a sad place," remarked Hermione. "It so dreary-"
Down the hall that lay out the door, there was a soft tap. All six froze, and listened. It came again. From around a corner came a lady. She was very beautiful, with golden hair and huge, liquid-looking aqua-marine eyes. She wore a dress of aqua-marine silk that rustled softly and her many bracelets and necklaces of gold and gems clinked gently. She was also wearing elaborate face paint and bright lipstick. The source of the tapping was her mount. She was riding a silver-blue unicorn. "Look," murmured Nicole. "She's a ghost; you can see right through her."
It was true. The woman and the unicorn were transparent, and so were her servants as they materialized around her. Ghostly wedding music played from somewhere. She passed right into the room, seemingly blind to the six figures standing in one corner.
From the other end of the room came a man. He too was dressed richly, but he was riding a flightless griffin. He too had servants arrayed around him, but they were fewer. A bishop came with the lordly figure and stood importantly in front of the two. He gave what Harry supposed was a speech, but it was in low, wild rumbling sounds and he could not understand them. The man had just finished and the bride and groom were saying their pieces when a liveried guard came sprinting into the room and collapsed on the floor in front of them.
From his wild gestures and motions, Harry deduced that he was telling the lord and lady urgent news; Harry supposed that the castle must have been under attack.
The lord looked grave and said a few words to the lady. He then hurried away, presumably to the defenses.
The scene faded, but no one moved. Harry seemed to be caught under a spell: he wanted to move, but he could not. He did not want to see the next act of this tragic play, but he had to.
A picture formed on the wall in front of them. It was of men, warriors, dressed in crimson leather, armed with swords and spears. They stormed the stone city, took it over, crushing resistance brutally. Ranged against them were both men and women outfitted in green, apparently the defenders. They fought bravely with bow and longsword, but were far outnumbered.
The picture faded again, this time to be immediately replaced. This time, it showed the man, the lord of the castle, beside a unicorn, and the lady on the unicorn. The lady was crying, the man was shaking his head stubbornly.
A company of soldiers in green rode up on more unicorns. They escorted the sobbing woman almost out of sight, riding hard. The man watched them go. Suddenly he turned and plunged into battle. A spear from one of the crimson soldiers took him by the shoulder, a sword cut his side; but he went down fighting to the last.
Just as the lord of the castle was swallowed by the crimson dressed legions, the set changed. The lady and her escort were confronted by rearing flames. Unicorns bucked, including hers, but she stayed on and drove it away. Just as she started to relax, the unicorn reared, trumpeting at a grass snake that slithered out in front of it. The lady flew out of her saddle to strike the ground heavily and moved no more.
It was gone.
"How sad," said Hermione. "Like a tragic play. At least they're dead together."
"Come on," said Nicole suddenly. "I want to get out of here. I see it now. This whole place is inhabited by echoes, ghosts, like a replay of a movie! It's an endless circle, it just goes on and on and...." She broke off, sobbing.
"What is it?" asked Ron, alarmed.
"Don't you see? The dead have no rest! Something's holding them in that circle! It must go on and on even if we're not here. But what? No, I was wrong to say I wanted to leave. I want to stay and break the circle."
"She babbling nonsense," Fred said, looking concerned.
"No she's not," said Hermione quietly. "I see it now. Outside, in the courtyard, look. See them? The ghostly figures of warriors, clashing in battle exactly like the day the castle fell. Something was left uncompleted. Something is not done. To break the never-ending circle, we must find and do it." "I feel it now." Nicole spoke, suddenly, clearly. "Over here......" she walked to a large slab of stone. "Help me, you guys," she grunted, trying to wrestle it out of place.
Harry and Hermione came over to help, and soon the slab was falling, with a loud boom! that raised echoes on the ceiling. Behind the slab was a little golden bell.
Nicole looked at it. Engraved at the bottom, in perfect English, were the words
Let the dead come home
Guide our fallen by the tone
Let the bell sing when all is lost
Let the dead have different breath
Guide our fallen to come back
Let the bell sing for a death
Let the bell sing when all is lost....
"Right here."
"All right. As soon as I hit the bell, George, you count. On three, we touch the amber drop. It'll get us back to our own world, and we need to get back; there's no telling what the bell will do." Leaning forward, Nicole tapped the bell with a finger nail. A small, clear note rang out, but did not die. It grew and faded randomly as Fred started counting.
"One..... two-" he never finished. Something like an explosion occurred. Thousands of ghosts, shrieking their joy and thanks, streaked for the ceiling. Most took out chunks in their eagerness to reach the sky.
"GO!" yelled Nicole.
There was a whirl of wind and darkness enclosed them.
Harry shut his eyes and willed himself to faint rather than see the spinning, perpetual darkness. Just before he did, there was a sharp pain on the top of his head.
When he woke up, he was lying on the floor of the storage room and Nicole was kneeling beside him, her wand out, chanting something. She stopped as his eyelids fluttered open and he tried to sit up.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Lay back down. You got hit on the head by a chunk of rock just as we were blinking out. You've got a sizable lump, but you're gonna be okay. I was reciting an incantation to revive you, before you ask."
"Mmm," said Harry uncertainly. "Ouch!!" Fred had just come over and "accidentally" stepped on his finger.
"Yup! You're awake."
"Hey! Was that on purpose?"
"Uh, no!"
Harry sat up farther and asked, "What time is it?"
"Almost time for dinner, if you can make it."
"Yeah, I think I can," Harry grunted, trying to pull himself up by the wall. Two pairs of arms slipped under his shoulders and set him on his feet: George and Nicole had seen his problem. "I can't believe it. We were actually in another dimesion!" Hermione was grinning with pride. "We did it!"
"I'm hungry," announced Ron. "REALLY hungry. As in, I'm gonna start biting some throats if I don't get food soon."
"Let's go, then." Hermione led the way out.
Harry felt much better after dinner. His head stopped pounding and the lump wasn't as tender. There was one extremely annoying thing, however, that did not have to do with him being cracked on the head by a lump of rock; Hermione and Nicole were giggling ceaselessly.
"What is so funny?" Harry demanded after nearly fifteen minutes.
"Well, Hermione? Should we tell them? It's your 'social affair', as you so eleoquently put it a few minutes ago."
"Ahh, what the hell. I guess it won't hurt anything.. just don't yell at me or anything....."
"Spit it out, Hermione." Fred and George had joined their little clique since the incident with the mirror.
"Well," said Hermione, with a huge grin on her face, "I have-" giggles-" a crush-" suppressed laughter- "on- " guffaws- "Draco Malfoy!"
Reactions, persuasion, other diplomacies and a newspaper article
"PTHELTHELLTHTTTHH!!!!" Harry spit pumpkin juice all over Fred's robes.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" Nicole shook with laughter.
"WHAT??!?!?!" George whisper-yelled.
Fred simply looked astonished. Finally he croaked, "But WHAT THE HECK possessed you to do something like THAT???"
"Well, at first it was pity..." Hermione's eyes danced wickedly. "And then it was curiosity... and then I actually got to know him. Did you know he doesn't like Crabbe and Goyle, and that his dad MAKES him have those goons around because they 'uphold the name of Malfoy forcefully'? Isn't that pathetic? And Draco's actually really nice if he's your friend. He's always been schooled that the Weasley's are horrible wizards, and he doesn't really like Dumbledore, but other than that he's okay. He's a pretty good Seeker too."
"Hermione! This is stupid, ignorant..... PERSON that tried to get Hagrid kicked out and you slapped the year before last!"
"I know, I know... but I didn't know him then."
"Isn't it romantic?" asked Nicole, half-sarcastic, half-serious. "Blood enemies, from opposite houses... this should be a Broadway play."
"A what?"
"Nothing.... Anyway, it's a done deal. Hermione has a crush on Draco Malfoy and that's that." "Not if I have anything to do about it," began Ron, but Nicole cut him off.
"Oh, grow up, Ron. It's not as though Hermione can't decide for herself. I think he's hot, but that's me."
Fred, George, Ron and Harry simply gaped at the two girls, who, while waiting for them to pull their jaws up, launched into a disscusion about some rare book.
"Hey, Harry," called Seamus Finnigan. "Did I hear you say something about the evil git with blonde hair and a mean disposition who's a disgrace to the name Malfoy which is amazing because the Malfoys are some of worse pure-bloods around and no decent person could disgrace their name if they tried let alone naturally?"
"Excellent, Seamus," congratulated Dean Thomas. "You beat my run-on sentence by three words."
Days passed by peacefully. Professor Crystal's classes were getting more difficult and interesting; McGonagall had them transfiguring small pieces of furniture; Flitwick trained them all in advanced levitation; Snape seemed a little less vindictive than usual; Trelawney hadn't predicted Harry's death more than three times.
"It's a record breaker," Harry said one afternoon over his Divination homework. "I just don't believe it! Sir Cadogan isn't being a pain the bum every time we walk by either."
Nicole and George, who seemed to stick pretty close to each other, chuckled.
They continued to use the mirror on weekends and in the evenings if they had time. Each got a chance to go into the mirror itself, but when Nicole, the last person to go, almost didn't make it back because the Portkey gave out, they decided they'd better not try that anymore; and they stuck with the cross-worlds.
They found many strange and new realms, including a place populated entirely by three horned mauve aliens with six legs and eyes all the way around their heads. The six were regarded as freaks and had had to pull out of that dimension pretty fast. Another example of the weird and bizzare worlds was one inhabited only by plants..... and giant, two footed lizards. These gentle giants were very intelligent and were plant eaters. They made several friends and promised to come back, if they could. Fred marked the pool that led them to that one with a stick.
Soon, it was weeks that were passing by. They made regular schedules and fell into the routine of studying, sleeping, classes, meals and cross-world capering. Fred and George helped Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Nicole with the studying for their O.W.L.s.
"I swear," said George in wonder, staring at Nicole's precise handwriting, "you're gonna be the best out of the fourth years if you keep this up."
"What about me?" asked Hermione, looking offended.
"And you," George reassured her.
"You're a given know-it-all," commented Fred from where he was helping Ron review the names of Mars' major craters.
"I'm sick of working," Ron moaned, glaring at the picture of Mount Olymus in The Pratical Wizard's Guide to the Planets vol. 1.
"It's life, dear," Nicole told him absently. "Get used to it."
About two months later, Hermione found something odd in her copy of The Daily Prophet. "Look," she said, showing them. "Didn't we know her?"
Harry glanced at the cover and read:
One Fleur Delacour
Tall, blonde hair and blue eyes
Has not been seen since last October
Last reportedly seen in Albainia
Possibly kiddnapped from her home in Paris
If seen, owl Mr. Ruddick Banksday
"Albainia," murmured Nicole thoughtfully. "Why does that stike a chord?"
"Voldemort," said Harry dully. "After, he, you know, regained his form, he supposedly went to Albainia to gather his forces."
"Yes.... Albainia..." Nicole seemed distant. "Voldemort...."
Ron shivered. "Stop saying that!"
"Why?"
Nicole seemed genuinely surprised. "Back in America, everyone was scared, but my friends got used to it. They had to. Here's why: VOLDEMORT!"
"Haha," said Ron sarcastically, "very funny..."
George, who was sitting next to Nicole, bit his lip as his mouth twisted; it looked as if he were hiding a grin.
"What, Ron, scared of a little name?"
"Shut up," Ron snapped, turning red. "You know perfectly well that's how we were raised."
"Touchy," Nicole observed, pulling her head away from Ron as if he might bite. "Very touchy." Ron turned even redder, but held his silence wisely.
Christmas break rolled around before Harry even realized it. A Christmas Hogsmead visit was welcome, since Harry had almost run out of Dungbombs. Nicole enjoyed it immensely because she had never been there before; and it was more enjoyable for Fred, George, Harry, Ron and Hermoine too, since they got to show Nicole around.
"I'm hungry." Nicole eyed a cheap diner. "Maybe I'll grab a bite.... anyone want to come?"
George instantly agreed, but the rest declined. Nicole tried to persuade them.
"Oh, come on, this is your only chance for dinner!"
"How do you figure?" asked Hermione suspiciously. "There's dinner tonight in the Great Hall."
"I know, but we're gonna use the mirror tonight," said Nicole, "as we can't do it tomorrow night; it's Christmas."
"Um," began Harry, but Hermione gripped his arm and gave him the Evil Eye, shaking her head just slightly.
"We'll be fine, thanks," she said, glaring at Ron and Fred as though daring them to disagree.
"If you say so," Nicole shrugged, and entered the restaraunt with George behind her. As soon as the door swung shut, Harry shook his arm free of Hermione's grip and asked crossly "What was that all about?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"No! I was hungry."
"We'll go there." Hermione gestured to the Three Broomsticks. "They serve food."
"You still haven't told me-" Harry started.
"Oh!" said Ron, cottoning on. "I get it!"
"It is kinda obvious," Fred snickered. "And I can't say I'm not jealous as hell, but...."
"What?" Harry was getting fed up.
"You seriously haven't noticed?" Hermione asked delightedly.
"NO I have- wait.... you mean?"
"Yup.."
"Okay, I get it now. So? George has a crush on Nicole and vice-versa. So what's the big deal? Why'd you stop me?"
"Think Harry," said Hermione, exasperated. "Even if it hurts. If you were going into a diner with your girlfriend, would you really want a big group of friends tagging along, even if they were your close friends?"
"Point taken."
"Good." Hermione started off towards the Three Broomsticks. "I'm hungry too." They ordered ham sandwiches, steaming bowls of chicken soup and mugs of hot frothy butterbeer.
"Is it a requirement that Madam Rosemerta has to wear green?" Hermione joked, leaning back into her chair as she sipped butterbeer. "I mean, it looks good, even with her red hair and all, but every time I see her, she's wearing green."
"No," said a voice. "That's just her favorite color." Madam Rosemerta come up upon them unawares, the hum of voices drowning out the click of her high-heels. "You're James and Lily's son, right?" This last was directed at Harry.
"Uh, yeah," said Harry offhandedly.
"Know who you to are, of course," Madam Rosemerta nodded at Fred and Ron. "You're Weasleys.... great family, that. In fact, my aunt married a Weasley."
"Great-Auntie Marie," said Fred knowingly. "Yes, we heard she was a Circe."
"Why does that name sound familar...." Harry frowned into his bowl of soup.
"The Circes were famous at one point for fighting the Dark Arts. A Circe was one of Dumbledore's best spies when he was fighting the Dark Wizard Grindelwall in 1945," said Hermione briskly.
"Only one person could spout that on the spot," said Madam Rosemerta, smiling. "I'm guessing, but I'd bet you're Hermoine Granger. Minerva- Professor McGonagall to you- talks about you quite a lot. But what I came over here to ask you was, do you have everything you need?"
"I think so," said Ron. "But thank you."
"Just give me a yell if you need anything. You can call me Rosie." She walked away.
"Hurry up, Harry," urged Fred. "Nicole and George are probably done by now."
Harry finished his soup and Hermione left a tip on the table. They left the pub and walked across the street, waiting for George and Nicole. A few minutes later, they emerged from the alley that led to the Shrieking Shack, laughing and talking. George's arm was around Nicole's shoulders; Hermione gave Harry a smug I-told-you-so look; Fred looked at the arm and half-smiled, half-jealously glared at it.
"Are we ready to go?" asked Nicole, checking her watch. "We've got to get back to the carriges and it's almost five 'til seven."
As they climbed into the carriges that would take them back up to the castle, Nicole turned to Harry.
"Who's that?" She gestured towards a short, black-haired girl in the carrige beside them.
Harry squinted at the figure through the gathering darkness. "That's Cho Chang."
"Whom you almost got to go to the Yule Ball with last year." Ron grinned evilly, remembering. "You were so jealous that she went with- with Cedric....." He fell silent as everyone looked at the floor sadly (even Nicole had heard the story of the Triwizard Tournament) in a sort of honor-the-dead way. "So, are you guys, like, hooked up?" asked Nicole after a moment. She looked sad, even though she'd never met Cedric Diggory.
"Wha?" said Harry blankly. "Are you- is she your girlfriend? In America, 'hooked up' is slang for a girlfriend/boyfriend relationship."
"Harry wishes," remarked Hermione wickedly, "but no, not as such."
"Shut up, Hermione," gritted Harry, turning red.
"Hey, Harry, don't forget.... when it comes to love interest, for taste, you've got her beat," Ron suppressed a twisted smile. "She has a crush on Draco Malfoy."
"Don't remind me," mumbled Harry.
"So, Nicole," said Ron. "In your own words, 'So, are you guys, like, hooked up?' "
"Me and who?"
"George. DUH!! Who else?"
"Uh, okay.... if you say so." Nicole was deliberately avoiding the question.
"Seriously, Nicole. Really. I'm not gonna beat the snot out of him even if I am 'Jealous as hell' as Fred put it."
"YAY!!" Nicole imitated a little girl voice and bounced up and down in her seat as though she were five or six.
"Sheesh, Nicole! Either you're WAY too mature or so immature that it could make your teeth hurt. Make up your mind," Harry told her. At this point, the carrige rolled to a stop. Nicole was the last to climb out. As the twins emerged from the carrige in front, Nicole walked straight up to George and said teasingly, "I've got something to tell you."
Hermione elbowed Harry so hard in the ribs that he winced in pain; Fred clapped a hand on Ron's shoulder and whispered, "I told you so,"; the entire Gryffindor house looked on. Nicole stood on tiptoe (she was tall, but George was even taller), grinning, and kissed George on the lips. The Gryffindors around them cheered, as well as a few Ravenclaws who knew Nicole well. Ron grinned; Harry smiled; Fred looked a little jealous; Hermione's eyes sparkled mischeviously. George burst out laughing. "S-sorry," he gasped, "but here's the entire house and everything...... you'd think she pick a more private time to do it, wouldn't you?" he asked Fred, who was glaring jealously at him.
"Yeah," said Fred. "I also think she'd pick a more private to tell you that she made a mistake: she meant to kiss me." Fred's wicked remark forced him to duck a slap from Nicole. The force of it carried her around (she probably could have stopped, but she didn't want to) and just as Fred was coming up from the dodge, the follow-up hit him square on the temple with a loud smack!!
Fred's eyes rolled up and he collapsed. The Gryffindors were roaring with laughter. Nicole bent over Fred and smacked him again, lighter this time, to bring him around.
Fred's protest was audible even over the noise of the crowd: "Ow!! Hey, I was only faking!" "I thought so," said Nicole calmly. "Shall we go?"
As they were walking over the path to the castle, Nicole, who was in the lead, stumbled and fell with a cry of pain.
"Where the hell did that come from?"
"What?" Harry hurried forward.
"This." Nicole showed him a large, flat white stone which was tilted upward at an angle that was perfect for people to twist their ankles on. Dead white in color, it blended with the moonlight flawlessly.
"Can you walk?" asked George with concern.
"I don't know," said Nicole, wincing as she probed her ankle with a fingertip. "Badly twisted," they heard her mutter, then she looked up. "No. I can't walk; it's to badly sprained. If I had my wand, I could repair it in an instant, but as it is......"
"I guess I'll have to carry you," George said, grinning. He leaned down and picked up Nicole. "Oof! How much do you weigh?"
"A lot," Nicole confided. "I just don't show it around the waist." It was very strange to see George, dressed in his normal black Hogwarts robes with a simple grey turtleneck under it, carrying a violet-eyed, black-haired, clearly American witch who was wearing silver bangles and silver earrings that marched up one ear alone. On top of that, her robes flopped open to reveal horrible, clashing pink and black plaid pants, platform shoes, a leather belt with a huge buckle, and a tight black t-shirt. "A very colorful picture," Ron commented to Harry, who nodded.
"Here we are." Nicole struggled to get out of George's arms, but he grinned and said, "I thought you couldn't walk."
"Evil git, aren't you?" asked Nicole amiably. "I refuse to be carried into the Great Hall with everyone watching by ANY Weasley. For that matter, any boy."
"Looks like you don't have a choice, doesn't it?" George inquired blandly as they went up the steps to the entrance hall.
"You know, sometimes a big mouth isn't such a good thing," said Nicole, "and in your case, it isn't."
"Thank you," said George. As they entered the Great Hall, everyone saw Nicole in George's arms. A whisper swept like a light wind through the hall; but slowly it died away. That is, until, George set her in a chair and promptly kissed her. This started the whisper up again, but Nicole didn't seem to mind and so it went down again.
Over dinner, however, there was some spectulation over (as Ernie McMillan put it) just why the HECK Nicole had fallen for George. One person in particular, a Ravenclaw named Terry Boot, seemed especially jealous.
"Let's go," said Nicole, standing up; she had been in the dormitory and she had healed her ankle. "Ready when you are," said George, jumping to his feet. The rest followed them out of the hall and down into the dungeons.
Nicole dragged out the mirror. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"
A Pixie, a dragon, and Nicole
A small green shape struggled out of a silver pool far from Hogwarts. Muttering things to itself, it looked unhappy. It's mutterings sounded something like: "Still noo dragoon, noo, noo, 'till noo dragoon, muzt tree neext poool. Yiss, yiss, tree neext poool! Mayerbe a dragoon in zis one... yiss yiss.."
It hauled its weary body up onto the bank and crawled to the next pool. Slowly, it slipped into the water. "Get back by magik, mayerbe... yiss yiss!"
As soon as it came out in the other world, it knew it found what it had been looking for. A huge cave streched before it; a heap of old junk was collected there. Rare, out of print books, ancient computers, old, far-out-of-fashion clothes. Hammering away delicately on one of the computers was- a dragon.
A Romanian Hybredian, to be precise.
"Little squeaker, what do you want?" The dragon had a low, rumbling voice and sounded annoyed. "I'm compiling the works of the great draconian writer, 'Drakesphere' right now. Then I'm going to de-fragment my computer...."
The 'little squeaker' clambered up to where the dragon was perched and shrilled angrily. "You say these humans tortured you?" The dragon cocked its head.
"Oooh, yiss, yiss, yiss!! Purple eyed one and brown-haired one; it be alla their ideas, yiss yiss!! And dat - oooh! Wazz 'er name? Rock.... glass.. no... -Crystal! Yiss, that be it. She capatured mee and taken me to ze beeg place- ze castle! 'Ogywarts, that 'un wuz ze name of the castle."
The dragon started. "Hogwarts? I've heard that name before! My mother was-" the dragon shook in fury "- there's no other word for it- used, enslaved by Voldemort years gone to destroy the village of Nournby. That's it.... is the purple eyed one in league with Voldemort?"
"Oh yiss yiss," said the pixie, nodding vigorously. In actuality, it had no idea whether Nicole supported Voldemort or not, but it wanted revenge. "Quite so! And the Crystal woman- she smell funny. Smell like magic- like badly magic, magic that uses, or enslaves, other thingz. Brown haired one friend of Purple Eyes."
"That blows it." The dragon saved its work and began shutting down the computer. "We've got to see about this. Hop on."
The pixie climbed up the dragon and perched on its rather large blue crest. "Let's goo!!" Soon they were engulfed in a whirl of wind and darkness.
"Here we are," said Nicole cheerily, pulling herself up out of a patch of reeds and gazing over the misty landscape of the cross-world. "Cheery, isn't it? This place is getting to be quite familar-" Her words were cut off by a rumbling sound and then a giant-
CRACK!! SPLASH!!! A huge form had just fallen out of nowhere into a large field of reeds. The splash had been it landing in the shallow water of the marsh. "What the heck was that?!" Nicole asked in wonder. She sloshed over to the reedpile, but retreated quickly, a shaken look on her face. "We've got to get out of here," she told the others urgently. "On three-"
"What was it?" asked Harry quickly. "A dragon. Just take my word for it," Nicole said when Fred looked disbelieving and would have gone to look.
"One-" but Nicole never got any farther. The dragon blasted out of the reeds; the pixie perched on its back.
"That's them," it squeaked. Nicole swore fluently. "I knew it," she cursed. "That damn pixie, I'm gonna kick it's butt-"
"Nicole, just go!" George yelled.
Once again, Harry found himself landing with a flumph! on the hard floor. Nicole was sitting up. "I am gonna pluck out that pixie's scales one by one! I'm gonna pickle its fingers in brine! Words cannot describe the pain it will be in- Oh my God. I just thought of something."
"What?" asked Ron. Surely nothing could go much more wrong.
"Yikes," said Hermione, sitting down again. "Once a pixie and a Romanian Hybredian team up, they always find their victims. It'll be here in a couple of hours...."
"Oh no," moaned Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron. "And that thing could easily destroy Hogwarts...."
"This requires immediate action," Nicole said, severely shaken. "Harry and Hermione will go talk to Professor Dumbledore- tell him everything mind you, even how we constructed the mirror; the rest of you come with me."
"Right," said Harry, "let's go, Hermione." They left. "Fred, George, come with me. Ron, get your sister and explain what's happened: we're gonna need all the help we can get."
"Right," said Ron, and exited.
The twins and Nicole headed for Professor Crystal's office. Luckily, she was there. "Why, Nicole, George, Fred, how nice to see you! Won't you come in?"
"Professor, we've got a serious problem," said Nicole. "A dragon is going to attack Hogwarts in a few hours."
Professor Crystal did not seem surprised. "How did that happen? Come in and tell me." Nicole explained everything. When she was finished, Crystal said, "I should probably take some points or something away for even building the mirror, but in the light of the crisis before us, it seems trivial. But the big question is, what do you want me to do?"
"These are my own, patented explosives," said Nicole. "And they're timed to explode ten minutes after planted. I must find something to help me time them differently; and quickly. I was wondering if you could help."
"A basic timing control spell would work," said Crystal, frowning. "I could perform it, if you'd like."
"The timing would then be in your control," Nicole pointed out. "If it's so basic, I could perform it myself."
"Of course," said Crystal; but for some reason, she seemed almost disapointed.
After Nicole perform the spell, she gave the explosives to Fred. "George, find Ron and Ginny. Fred, wait for them with these in the entrance hall. When they get there, give them some and put the explosives near plants. They must be near plants. In plant pots would work fine.
"Could you start herding everyone out into the Forbidden Forest, or at least on the edge of it?"
"Sure."
"Thanks."
"Let's go, Fred," said George. Nicole strode off in the direction of Dumbledore's office, while George headed for the Great Hall and Fred to the Entrance Hall.
About halfway there, Nicole bumped into Professor Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione. "Professor," she said, not wasting time. "Could you get the prefects and teachers to get everyone but George, Fred, Harry, Hermione and myself out onto the edge of the Forbidden Forest? You'd better go yourself too. "
"Certainly, Nicole. What's your plan?"
"You'll see in an hour. Hermione, come with me. Harry go the entrance hall, please. You'll find Ron, Fred and Ginny waiting. Help them."
Nicole stationed Hermione in the Great Hall. "Come get me at the first sign of the dragon," she said seriously. "And then get out. Things are going to be very dangerous around here for a while." She said the same thing to Ginny, Fred, George, Ron and Harry.
Nicole checked all the classrooms and got prefects to make sure everyone was out. Then she sent them off to the Forrbidden Forest. Harria Crystal refused to leave.
"Not while there's students in here," she said shortly. "Absolutely not." Nicole eventually gave in.
Soon everyone heard a roar: the dragon was circling the castle; it had gotten through the cross-world barrier. Nicole rushed around and told George, Fred, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry to get out immediately. She herself was the last to leave the castle.
As they dashed under the cover of some trees, Nicole glanced back. The dragon was circling lower, apparently convinced that they were all still inside the castle.
"Stand back," said Nicole, and pulled out her wand. "Polliwoggs!!"
"Polliwoggs??" said Harry in puzzlement.
"In approximately 30 seconds, the explosives will blow," said Hermione importantly. "Nicole wanted a trigger word that wouldn't come up in ordinary conversation."
The dragon circled still lower. It breathed a lick of flame, melting two windows in the Gryffindor tower with the immense heat.
Slowly it lowered itself onto the Ravenclaws' tower-
KABOOM!!!
The whole of Hogwarts exploded with a flash of diamond white light.
The Truth at Last
"Flumph!!" The dragon, unconcious, flopped onto the pile of rubble and stone blocks that had once been Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
A cheer set up from the Forbidden Forest, but it was mingled with shouts of "Hogwarts! What's that girl done to it?"
"Oh no," said Harry, paling. "I just thought of something...."
"What?" Nicole demanded.
"Professor Crystal! She didn't give a signal- she's still trapped in there!"
Nicole began to run to the pile of stone. "Stay there," she yelled at Harry and the others huddled under the trees. She climbed to the very top of the stones nimbly, while Hermione clutched Harry's sleeve. "What the heck is she doing? She can't move those slabs all by herself!"
"I don't know," said Harry anxiously.
Nicole began to use her wand to shift the slabs aside. But a voice issued from the stones on her right.
"Fools! Do you really think a bit of stone will stop me?"
The voice was female and menacing. Stone slabs began to shift, rolling down towards the lake. A figure, glowing softly, climbed with inhuman speed to the highest point of the rocks. Nicole struggled to follow.
"Nothing can stop the mistress of Lord Voldemort!"
Nicole gasped- it was Professor Crystal. "Very funny," she said dryly. "You had me going for a minute. Now, quit joking, Professor Crystal."
"I am not Harria Crystal," the figure hissed. "There is no Harria Crystal.... I invented my own past. Human transfiguration works well for a disguise if you know how to do it. Better than Polyjuice Potion, as my master's last agent used. He was a fool! Only I can truly be a helpful servant to my lord.....Voldemort's mistress knows all!"
"If you're not Harria Crystal, then who are you?" asked Nicole. She slowly inched her way up the rock slabs until on a level with Voldemort's mistress.
"Many of you know me," said the woman slyly. "You have seen me many times... indeed, my master's old servant stunned me once, but that was before I saw the good I could achieve by serving Voldemort. Before I realized there is no right and wrong, there is no good and evil; there is only power, and those to weak to seek it. Those who do not seek it are a blemish to this Earth; they must be destroyed. "Indeed, you all know me, even you, Nicole of the Violet Eyes. You saw me in a newspaper article your friend pointed out to you several months ago."
"Fleur Delacour," said Nicole grimly.
Crystal's shape changed, her robes became blue silk, her black hair blonde; her coal eyes changed to a light blue.
"Strange, the way the world turns, isn't it?" asked Fleur sweetly. "No one ever told you I was a skilled Divinator, did they?" --(back in the trees, Hermione, who could hear everything, snorted. "No, but I could have guessed," she whispered to Harry: she had never had a very high opinion of Divination.)-- "I foresaw all the events up to this point in the year and devised a plan to get into Hogwarts- that is one reason why I am so useful to my lord. He has very few Divination skills. "And now, my dear, I'm afraid I must kill you and take over the dragon."
Nicole's eyes widened, she stared in concentration at Fleur. "No-" she said brokenly. But Harry could detect a note in her voice, of something deeper than fear. Suddenly Nicole passed a hand over her eyes and narrowed them to slits. A purple light blazed out of them and lanced at Fleur.
"Aaargh!!" Fleur cried out in pain, just as Nicole did too. A sudden flood of knowledge hit Nicole like a tide and Harry and the others huddled under the trees caught some of it; linked by their bond of friendship, they were almost telepathic.
A Gate of Evil is the only way to summon him-- image of swirling lines and stars imprinted on sand -- ...... take the violet eyed one and use..... power from friendship bond -image of a golden cord-- turn to hate. --Image of a black and red cord-- Power enough to enslave dragons...... power.... must have....... "Do NOT fail me..." Must not fail....
Harry and the others all screamed; the knowledge was so painful and raw it was almost pure power. It burned their minds and hearts as Nicole, Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Hermione slowly filled with a white light. Sluggishly, Nicole's voice echoed in their minds.
"Find the core!" Quickly, Harry caught on and began searching, discarding the power that was simply power. Finally, he caught sight of six differently colored threads. He could sense each one of his friends in the threads.
"Spin them," ordered Nicole calmly in their minds.
Hermione deftly gathered the threads and gave them to Ron to hold. She fashioned a drop spindle out of white light and twisted on the threads. Slowly, easily, she spun them into one tight length of yarn.
Once it was completed, Nicole was able to draw the strength from her friends to finally break away from Fleur's gaze. Unfortunately, the purple beams did not dissipate and the thing her eyes finally came to rest on was the dragon. The pain woke it up.
The dragon reared, pulling itself up and snorted in disgust. "I smell evil!" it shrieked. "I smell the stench-taint Voldemort on you, human! Now I will have revenge for what you made my mother do!"
The dragon took to the air. Beating its huge wings, it began to stir up dustclouds. "You must pay!" the dragon crowed. "You are evil, and you will pay!!"
Nicole hit the dirt as the dragon swooped down on Fleur and grabbed her in its forepaw. Screaming, Fleur was carried farther and farther away. Just before it went out of hearing range, the dragon called, "Thank you for rescuing me!"
A blue-violet spark gleamed in the slowly lightening sky, then was gone.
"Ahem," called Dumbledore, standing on a crudely erected podium, trying to speak. No one paid any attention. Over the babble of the crowds, Nicole yelled something.
"If you can hear my voice clap once," she shouted.
A few people clapped. "If you can hear my voice, clap twice," she shouted again. More people clapped. "If you can hear my voice, clap three times!" Nearly everyone clapped.
"Thank you," called Nicole. "Now, please, be silent and pay attention to the fabulously handsome man standing on the podium."
"Thank you, Nicole," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "Now, we have some business to attend to, I believe.
"First, to Nicole White, for astonishing resourcefulness and bravery, I award 50 points to Gryffindor- as soon as it is rebuilt."
A ripple of laughter went around the crowd. "Secondly, to Misses Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, I award 50 points each, as their friendship and brains helped save us all. "Third, to Messers Ron Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, as well as Harry Potter, I award 50 points each, for the same reason. "Now, for the rest of the school year, the teachers will build Hogwarts back together again, after our little- adventure. Those who wish, may, of course, go home, but those who would prefer not to may stay here and help the teachers." Dumbledore's eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins, and he hastily added "As long as they are not an extreme nusiance. "Many of you may be asking yourselves, 'But what about the students who destroyed Hogwarts? What about them? Why aren't they getting punished? "The answer to that is, they shall stay and help rebuild Hogwarts School until it is finished. Actually, I'm sure some of them will quite enjoy it."
As the crowd dispersed, some to go home, others to help put up lodgings for workers, Harry fought his way throught the madhouse to Professor Dumbledore.
"Um, Professor?"
"Yes, Harry?" Dumbledore smiled.
"What about the school supplies- wands and books and that sort of nonsense?"
"Thanks to your friend Nicole's timely warning, we were able to pack up most of it and hide it in the forest. The art and statues are protected with an Unbreakable charm. Most of them will have nicks and dents, but those can be restored."
"And the house-elves?" asked Harry anxiously: he had a friend that happened to be a house-elf. "Do you think I would let them stay? They are all safe."
"Thank you, Professor."
Later that year in August, Nicole surveyed the completed Hogwarts. "Um... needs something...." she mumbled. "Aha!! Professor Dumbledore, can I do some gardens?"
"Certainly, Nicole. Perhaps Harry would like to help you."
Nicole found Harry struggling with a small pixie on the North side of Hogwarts.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Nicole pleasantly.
"The very same."
"I am gonna kick its little green ass," said Nicole amiably.
"Noo!! Squeedgee noo get urrs ass kicked," cried the pixie in distress. "Oooh NOO!!" Nicole laughed. "Maybe not," she agreed. "No more dragons, okay? I mean, without you, Fleur's plan just might have worked..."
"Noooo! Nooo more dragoon! Noo more, yiss yiss! I'lla bee a thankin' oo, marm!" The pixie bowed its head. Suddenly it looked up. "If Ia chase all dragoons away, will oo let mee stay??"
"Sure. But you must keep all the dragons away." A long, long, way away, a blue-violet dragon watched in a scrying mirror. It would certainly stay away.
A single golden leaf drifted outside Hogwarts castle, dancing in the wind, spiralling. The happy sounds of laughter and singing drifted downwind like the leaf, causing a tear to slip down a red-haired angel's cheek.
"I'm glad they're happy, James," she said to the tall black-haired man beside her.
He slipped an arm around her shoulders. "We all are, Lily. As long as they've got us to make sure they don't burn down Hogwarts next year."
"So much for resting in peace, eh?"
A/N: Strange, wasn't it? I hope you've enjoyed my little opus more now that I've formatted it. PLEASE REVIEW!! You would not believe how much fun I had writing this down here in our cold basement in shorts and a t-shirt. My muse (you know her; her name is Nicole) is bugging me to work out the plot of the sequel. She's also bugging me to write her favorite quote somewhere, so I will:
Honor is my sword
Laughter is my shield
Humor is my armor
- A fencing shirt my fencing teacher wears
There. Satistfied, oh extremely annoying but creative muse?? Hope so!
-Lizyrd
PS. Notice: I DID NOT have a spell check when I wrote this-- so 'scuse my spelling mistakes, pleez.
Visit my site at http://www.angelfire.com/folk/hogwarts
Oh, and since a whole, whole bunch of peeps have asked, YES, I *did* steal the bell and the cross-world from Narnia. Yes, I was influenced by Circle of Magic, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, J.R.R. Tolkien, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which, if you haven't, you should read. It's hilarious.) And yes, I am a Hermione/Draco shipper. Or a Draco/Ginny shipper. I don't know... Okay, actually, I'm a Lizyrd/Draco shipper, but we'll not go there. (Thank you, Cassie Claire, for making me drool over the Pale Dragon in Leather!)