Ron left Harry and headed toward the main entrance of Hogwarts so he could get to the greenhouse where Herbology class was held. He reckoned that most students would be focusing their attention on the rooms within Hogwarts first, so he might be able to get to Herbology and pick out those clues before anyone else got to them.
The day was bright and Ron squinted as he walked out on the lawn, seeing in the distance the Beauxbatons chariot as he headed toward the greenhouse. He figured that Dumbledore must be feeling really guilty about the rest of the students not getting a chance to contribute to the Triwizard tournament and that's why he was holding this "Mystery at Hogwarts" contest. It really was quite extensive, but then Ron didn't mind having a chance to uppercut his friends in a competition and get some recognition himself.
Just as he expected, the greenhouse was completely deserted. There weren't even any other students heading that way, they were probably too engulfed in the chaos inside. At least Peeves wouldn't be able to stop him out here. Inside, Ron could see different colored envelopes strategically placed throughout the greenhouse. He kept his eye out out for purple colored ones, his designated team color. He had just come upon one and was about to open it up when he heard a rustling from ahead of him, and Ron looked up, a bit startled, keeping a firm grip on the clue and walking forward. "Hello, anyone there? Surely not..Peeves? Is that you?"
Ahead of him Ron saw a girl bending over a huge bouquet of Arythmian Orchids, which had the interesting effect of changing colors depending on the mood of the person smelling them. Ron approached the figure, who had long powder blue robes on and stunningly beautiful silver white hair. "Excuse me?"
The girl looked up from the flowers just as an annoying buzz zipped by Ron's ear. He slapped the insect away and when he was looking at the girl again he realized who it was.
"Zoh...I know ou," the girl said, tossing her long hair behind her onto her back.
Ron was speechless, and all he could do was stutter once he found any words to say at all. "Oh...uh...um..er..hi."
"Ron wvight?" the girl said, smiling now and walking in Ron's direction, since he had all but stopped, glued to the spot.
"R..right."
"Silly boy...I am Fleur, one of the Triwizard champions, do 'ou not know me?" Her eyes were practically piercing him now and Ron just felt like his legs would give out at any second.
"I..I know. Er..what are you doing ...here, I mean..in the greenhouse?" Ron could feel what was left of his jello legs melting.
"Vhy I needed to get away from that silly activity at 'Ogwarts. Ve foreign schools do not vant to interfere. It was quiet out 'ere"
"Well it is now but there will..will be people coming, "Ron gulped, his hands were now clammy and the clue envelope was suffering as he practically crumpled it up in his nervousness.
"Ou vant thee purple?" Fleur said, coming closer and taking the envelope from Ron's hand. It practically ripped in half when he couldn't decide whether he wanted to hold onto it or let her have it. "I'm not in zee contest, I can help 'ou." Fleur smiled again, those eyes finally doing their job and causing Ron to lose his balance and topple into some Slumberwhip seedlings. He embarrassedly tried to get back up, but knew that he was under the Veela's spell, even if she was only PART Veela.
"Oh der..." Fleur exclaimed, trying to help him with his balance while opening the purple clue at the same time. "Here..," she said, handing it to him. "It says "Ron Weasley", that is 'our name, is it not?."
Ron had finally managed to halfway compose himself. "Yeah...me. That means that..," he smiled broadly, "I'm not the culprit. I guess this game is starting out really well so far." He pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote the information down on it. "Thank you so much ...Fleur," he said, and he noticed that she was practically in his face, looking over his shoulder at the card.
"Moi! vewy good!" Fleur said, taking the card from Ron and giving him a peck on the mouth. "Good luck," she winked, patting his shoulder.
Ron couldn't believe his good fortune, he just stood there absolutely dumbfounded for a few seconds staring at her and not believing that his crush had actually kissed him. After about 5 minutes staring stupidly at her with a dazed look, Fleur finally had to go over to shake him out of it. "Vell..shouldn't 'ou be going?"
Ron jumped. "Oh! Right...uh..thank you Fleur..and um...good luck with the rest of the tournament."
Fleur winked and then giggled as Ron now hurried out of the greenhouse, just in time to see other students headed there. He was in seventh heaven and was now more positive than ever that he'd win this game. "What a woman..." he said dreamily as he made his way back toward the school.
* * *
Meanwhile, during Ron's rendevous in the greenhouse, the rest of Hogwarts was bustling with activity. Students were so thick in the halls that it was a wonder Peeves could block them anymore than they did themselves. Hermione was in the library, flitting around among the stacks in intense concentration and acting a bit put off that there were so many people in there along with her. She thought this was HER place, and it was quite a nerve that it took something like a contest to get more people into the place that was a valuable resources for practically ANYTHING...but then she knew that she was the only one who seemed to realize how great the library was. The purple envelope was sticking out of "Hogwarts, A History," just as she thought it would be. She smirked, thinking that the others in her group would be hard pressed to figure out from the clues that this was where the envelope was hidden and even if they did, they'd have to go to the card catalog to find out where it was on the shelves unlike herself, who had it memorized. She had thus saved very valuable time. She opened the envelope and saw that it revealed "The Library" itself as not being the room the crime was committed in. "Thank God for that," Hermione sighed with relief, and she wrote down on her parchment the revelation and then conspicously put the envelope back in the book and slid it on the shelf. She then shuffled off, quite satisfied with herself, back out into the hallway where the stack of books she was carrying was suddenly and mercilessly knocked out of her hands and thrown into a wall.
Hermione gasped with shock and angrily went to pick up her books. "Peeves! Stop that, it's not funny!"
"They're only books," Peeves laughed insanely, pulling them from her hands again and slamming them onto the floor, ruffling the pages violently as Hermione looked on with horror.
"ONLY books...how can you say that?" she snapped, obviously not realizing that telling a ghost that was like talking to a brick wall. Peeves had absolutely no need for books, to him they were just another plaything to torture students with. But Peeves had a very short attention span, like that of a child, and he had now moved off to try to bother and annoy other students, blocking their entrances to the rooms. Hermione had just started picking the books up again when she was rudely pushed from behind. It was Malfoy, and although Peeves had moved on, trading one for the other was definitely not going to make things any easier.
"God you're STILL here? I've already been in two rooms, " Malfoy sneered. "Figures that a know- it -all bookworm would get sidetracked by inconsequential things like useless textbooks. No doubt you'll lose."
"Oh be quiet Malfoy, for your information it was Peeves that held me up, I knew right where to look in there to get the clue, which is more than I can say for you."
"Sure, whatever, "Malfoy shrugged, pushing his way past other students into the library.
Hermione sighed in disgust and headed toward the next nearest room, Filch's Office. She wasn't crazy about going there, but since it was part of the game, she knew he couldn't protest. She did wish she had brought Crookshanks along though, he could have kept Mrs. Norris at bay.
* * *
Harry stared around the Great Hall which was now being emptied of the breakfast dishes. He actually felt pretty strange everytime he came in here, the memory now very vivid of his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. He pushed those feelings aside though for now, he didn't really want to think about the Triwizard tournament, he had a purple envelope to find. He read over the parchment with the clues on it again and just stared around the room. He was terrible at riddles, but knew if nothing else he could just look under every table in the place till he found the envelope. Just then, he heard a bit of commotion across the room and saw a couple of house elves carrying a tray with multicolored plates on it. He didn't remember having those at breakfast, so he approached the elves and asked them what they were doing.
"It being our duty sir," said a female elf, who just thrust the tray out at Harry. He looked down and saw that she had about 8 different plates on there, each with a matching colored envelope on top. "Ohhh," Harry smiled. Uh...what colors does your companion have?" Harry asked the elf, who looked over at the other elf, a male, with a look of confusion.
"Sir wanting another plate?" asked the second elf, who now held his tray up in front of Harry. Sure enough, there was a purple plate with a purple envelope, and Harry gladly took it. "Thank you," he said, smiling at the elves who just shrugged as if they didn't have any idea what was going on besides the duty they were supposed to perform.
The envelope contained a card saying "Great Hall" and Harry smirked a bit. "Isn't that interesting..like this room doesn't want to be the culprit."
"Sir?" said the female elf, curtsying but looking a bit uncertain.
"Nothing. Thank you very much for the information." Harry began to walk out, but the male elf came over and grabbed onto his leg.
"Is purple sir?"
"Huh?" Harry asked, surprised.
The elf pointed to the same plate which now had a second envelope on it. Harry looked at it uncertainly and then picked it up, opening it and finding a card that said he should hold onto it and whenever he ran into anyone else from his team, they had to tell him all of the spells they had discovered. "Wow," Harry said excitedly.
"You may be keeping that one sir," the male elf said, stepping back.
"Ok, thank you again," Harry said and, smiling, he ran out of the Great Hall.
to be cont...
The day was bright and Ron squinted as he walked out on the lawn, seeing in the distance the Beauxbatons chariot as he headed toward the greenhouse. He figured that Dumbledore must be feeling really guilty about the rest of the students not getting a chance to contribute to the Triwizard tournament and that's why he was holding this "Mystery at Hogwarts" contest. It really was quite extensive, but then Ron didn't mind having a chance to uppercut his friends in a competition and get some recognition himself.
Just as he expected, the greenhouse was completely deserted. There weren't even any other students heading that way, they were probably too engulfed in the chaos inside. At least Peeves wouldn't be able to stop him out here. Inside, Ron could see different colored envelopes strategically placed throughout the greenhouse. He kept his eye out out for purple colored ones, his designated team color. He had just come upon one and was about to open it up when he heard a rustling from ahead of him, and Ron looked up, a bit startled, keeping a firm grip on the clue and walking forward. "Hello, anyone there? Surely not..Peeves? Is that you?"
Ahead of him Ron saw a girl bending over a huge bouquet of Arythmian Orchids, which had the interesting effect of changing colors depending on the mood of the person smelling them. Ron approached the figure, who had long powder blue robes on and stunningly beautiful silver white hair. "Excuse me?"
The girl looked up from the flowers just as an annoying buzz zipped by Ron's ear. He slapped the insect away and when he was looking at the girl again he realized who it was.
"Zoh...I know ou," the girl said, tossing her long hair behind her onto her back.
Ron was speechless, and all he could do was stutter once he found any words to say at all. "Oh...uh...um..er..hi."
"Ron wvight?" the girl said, smiling now and walking in Ron's direction, since he had all but stopped, glued to the spot.
"R..right."
"Silly boy...I am Fleur, one of the Triwizard champions, do 'ou not know me?" Her eyes were practically piercing him now and Ron just felt like his legs would give out at any second.
"I..I know. Er..what are you doing ...here, I mean..in the greenhouse?" Ron could feel what was left of his jello legs melting.
"Vhy I needed to get away from that silly activity at 'Ogwarts. Ve foreign schools do not vant to interfere. It was quiet out 'ere"
"Well it is now but there will..will be people coming, "Ron gulped, his hands were now clammy and the clue envelope was suffering as he practically crumpled it up in his nervousness.
"Ou vant thee purple?" Fleur said, coming closer and taking the envelope from Ron's hand. It practically ripped in half when he couldn't decide whether he wanted to hold onto it or let her have it. "I'm not in zee contest, I can help 'ou." Fleur smiled again, those eyes finally doing their job and causing Ron to lose his balance and topple into some Slumberwhip seedlings. He embarrassedly tried to get back up, but knew that he was under the Veela's spell, even if she was only PART Veela.
"Oh der..." Fleur exclaimed, trying to help him with his balance while opening the purple clue at the same time. "Here..," she said, handing it to him. "It says "Ron Weasley", that is 'our name, is it not?."
Ron had finally managed to halfway compose himself. "Yeah...me. That means that..," he smiled broadly, "I'm not the culprit. I guess this game is starting out really well so far." He pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote the information down on it. "Thank you so much ...Fleur," he said, and he noticed that she was practically in his face, looking over his shoulder at the card.
"Moi! vewy good!" Fleur said, taking the card from Ron and giving him a peck on the mouth. "Good luck," she winked, patting his shoulder.
Ron couldn't believe his good fortune, he just stood there absolutely dumbfounded for a few seconds staring at her and not believing that his crush had actually kissed him. After about 5 minutes staring stupidly at her with a dazed look, Fleur finally had to go over to shake him out of it. "Vell..shouldn't 'ou be going?"
Ron jumped. "Oh! Right...uh..thank you Fleur..and um...good luck with the rest of the tournament."
Fleur winked and then giggled as Ron now hurried out of the greenhouse, just in time to see other students headed there. He was in seventh heaven and was now more positive than ever that he'd win this game. "What a woman..." he said dreamily as he made his way back toward the school.
* * *
Meanwhile, during Ron's rendevous in the greenhouse, the rest of Hogwarts was bustling with activity. Students were so thick in the halls that it was a wonder Peeves could block them anymore than they did themselves. Hermione was in the library, flitting around among the stacks in intense concentration and acting a bit put off that there were so many people in there along with her. She thought this was HER place, and it was quite a nerve that it took something like a contest to get more people into the place that was a valuable resources for practically ANYTHING...but then she knew that she was the only one who seemed to realize how great the library was. The purple envelope was sticking out of "Hogwarts, A History," just as she thought it would be. She smirked, thinking that the others in her group would be hard pressed to figure out from the clues that this was where the envelope was hidden and even if they did, they'd have to go to the card catalog to find out where it was on the shelves unlike herself, who had it memorized. She had thus saved very valuable time. She opened the envelope and saw that it revealed "The Library" itself as not being the room the crime was committed in. "Thank God for that," Hermione sighed with relief, and she wrote down on her parchment the revelation and then conspicously put the envelope back in the book and slid it on the shelf. She then shuffled off, quite satisfied with herself, back out into the hallway where the stack of books she was carrying was suddenly and mercilessly knocked out of her hands and thrown into a wall.
Hermione gasped with shock and angrily went to pick up her books. "Peeves! Stop that, it's not funny!"
"They're only books," Peeves laughed insanely, pulling them from her hands again and slamming them onto the floor, ruffling the pages violently as Hermione looked on with horror.
"ONLY books...how can you say that?" she snapped, obviously not realizing that telling a ghost that was like talking to a brick wall. Peeves had absolutely no need for books, to him they were just another plaything to torture students with. But Peeves had a very short attention span, like that of a child, and he had now moved off to try to bother and annoy other students, blocking their entrances to the rooms. Hermione had just started picking the books up again when she was rudely pushed from behind. It was Malfoy, and although Peeves had moved on, trading one for the other was definitely not going to make things any easier.
"God you're STILL here? I've already been in two rooms, " Malfoy sneered. "Figures that a know- it -all bookworm would get sidetracked by inconsequential things like useless textbooks. No doubt you'll lose."
"Oh be quiet Malfoy, for your information it was Peeves that held me up, I knew right where to look in there to get the clue, which is more than I can say for you."
"Sure, whatever, "Malfoy shrugged, pushing his way past other students into the library.
Hermione sighed in disgust and headed toward the next nearest room, Filch's Office. She wasn't crazy about going there, but since it was part of the game, she knew he couldn't protest. She did wish she had brought Crookshanks along though, he could have kept Mrs. Norris at bay.
* * *
Harry stared around the Great Hall which was now being emptied of the breakfast dishes. He actually felt pretty strange everytime he came in here, the memory now very vivid of his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. He pushed those feelings aside though for now, he didn't really want to think about the Triwizard tournament, he had a purple envelope to find. He read over the parchment with the clues on it again and just stared around the room. He was terrible at riddles, but knew if nothing else he could just look under every table in the place till he found the envelope. Just then, he heard a bit of commotion across the room and saw a couple of house elves carrying a tray with multicolored plates on it. He didn't remember having those at breakfast, so he approached the elves and asked them what they were doing.
"It being our duty sir," said a female elf, who just thrust the tray out at Harry. He looked down and saw that she had about 8 different plates on there, each with a matching colored envelope on top. "Ohhh," Harry smiled. Uh...what colors does your companion have?" Harry asked the elf, who looked over at the other elf, a male, with a look of confusion.
"Sir wanting another plate?" asked the second elf, who now held his tray up in front of Harry. Sure enough, there was a purple plate with a purple envelope, and Harry gladly took it. "Thank you," he said, smiling at the elves who just shrugged as if they didn't have any idea what was going on besides the duty they were supposed to perform.
The envelope contained a card saying "Great Hall" and Harry smirked a bit. "Isn't that interesting..like this room doesn't want to be the culprit."
"Sir?" said the female elf, curtsying but looking a bit uncertain.
"Nothing. Thank you very much for the information." Harry began to walk out, but the male elf came over and grabbed onto his leg.
"Is purple sir?"
"Huh?" Harry asked, surprised.
The elf pointed to the same plate which now had a second envelope on it. Harry looked at it uncertainly and then picked it up, opening it and finding a card that said he should hold onto it and whenever he ran into anyone else from his team, they had to tell him all of the spells they had discovered. "Wow," Harry said excitedly.
"You may be keeping that one sir," the male elf said, stepping back.
"Ok, thank you again," Harry said and, smiling, he ran out of the Great Hall.
to be cont...