Harry Potter and the Chalice of the Enchanter
Chapter Eight
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The sun swept across the girls' dorm, dancing a well-known waltz. The golden rays rested on Rachel's pillow and trickled over her eyes. The girl awoke, blinking in the sudden brilliance that was the sun. She sat up in the four-poster bed and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Today is Saturday. She thought, sleepily. I have all day to rest. Her brain suddenly snapped into reality. Quidditch tryouts had been yesterday and the results would be posted in -- Rachel looked at the clock, 9:25 – five minutes! She leapt out of bed and quickly brushed her teeth and combed her hair.
The eleven hopefuls stood around the bulletin board that would soon make known the three newest members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Rachel stood amongst the group, trying to remain calm. She desperately wanted to make the team; however, she didn't want her misery revealed if her name did not appear on the list. Acting nonchalant was the only way she could safely go about this.
Angelina Bell walked into the common room and parted the small crowd that had gathered. She was holding the list in her hands. Rachel would soon know whether or not she was worthy of a slot on the team. Angelina glided by Rachel and smiled reassuringly. Rachel's heart leapt just a little. This might mean she had made the team!
The seventh year turned to face the crowd and waved her wand in the air, muttering a charm that Rachel couldn't quite hear. Suddenly, a shrill whistle rang through the hall, a result of Angelina's spell. The congregation all focused on her and waited for Angelina's presumably long speech.
"This year was the hardest of all the tryouts." Angelina began, looking over her attentive audience, "There were so many talented players that came to us. And after last years trauma," the whole hall was silent. Rarely did a student mention Cedric's death, "I didn't think that Quidditch could resume normally; however, the eleven people who tried out proved that we can have a team this year. I am very proud of all of them, whether or not they made the team." With that statement, Angelina hung the short scroll and stepped aside. Rachel rushed up to the front with the ten other Gryffindors and read the parchment.
THE 2001 GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH TEAM
BEATER: Fred Weasley
BEATER: George Weasley
CHASER: Angelina Johnson
CHASER: Katie Bell
CHASER: Jill Broomscuttle
KEEPER: Ginny Weasley
SEEKER: Harry Potter
CAPTAIN: Angelina Johnson & Katie Bell
EQUIPMENT
MANAGER: Daine Numair
Rachel bit her lip to keep back the tears that were bound to come. How could they cut her? She had beat Harry Potter in a race for the Snitch! The least they could have done was let her be equipment manager! Yet, they hadn't even given her that. Life was unfair.
Rachel started to go to her dorm room when Katie Bell stopped her. "Why aren't you in the crowd? I haven't given my speech. No one leaves until that's finished." Katie winked at Rachel and led her back to Harry and Hermione. Ron was with his siblings, congratulating Ginny. Rachel could hear them talking.
"Way to go, Ginny!" That was Fred, or George. Rachel still couldn't tell them apart.
"Mum's going to be so proud." Ron was beaming proudly at his little sister. George, or was it Fred, leaned over to Ginny, and in a falsetto, crooned;
"Mumsie is evew so pwoud of hew wittle Ginny. Wittle Ginny made the big Quidditch team." The twins were laughing mercilessly and Ginny glared at them beneath her curly red coif.
"Very funny." Ginny's glare didn't subside until the twins' laughter died down.
"Oh, all right. We'll send Mum an owl tonight telling her the good news." Ginny looked satisfied and started babbling about how excited she was.
Harry walked over to Rachel and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you alright?" His clear green eyes looked into the teary emerald depths of hers. He looked so concerned for her.
"I'm fine." Rachel replied, quickly wiping away the tears that had fallen on her face. "I'm just disappointed that I didn't make the team." She gazed into Harry's eyes again and felt a little flutter in her chest. He was so sweet, looking out for her like that. Rachel suddenly wished that Harry would hold her hand. She wanted to feel the warmth from his palm in her own.
Katie Bell stepped up to where Angelina had stood a moment ago. "I have an important announcement to make." She spoke calmly, in a commanding tone. No Gryffindor would dare disobey Katie Bell. Rachel brushed away a final tear that had fallen and looked to where the seventh year girl was standing. Harry dropped his hands to his sides and did the same. "Some of you may have noticed that one position is missing from the team. Professor Dumbledore has allowed each house to add a substitute, in case any team member is ill, or unable to attend the match. This player must be skilled in all areas of the game and also must be able to handle the pressure that would be placed on them.
"During tryouts, one girl displayed all of these qualities. She was a superb Keeper, an even better Beater, a fabulous Chaser, and above all, one of the best Seekers that I have ever seen. In fact, this girl beat our own Harry Potter to the Snitch, to create one of the first losses in Harry's career, which is why I am proud to announce that Rachel Witt will be our new Reserve." Katie flicked her wand at the list and the words "RESERVE: Rachel Witt" appeared at the bottom.
Rachel smiled and hugged the first person she saw, which happened to be Harry. He stumbled back, a little startled. That didn't faze Rachel at all. She caught both Ron and Hermione in what she affectionately called a "bear hug."
Hermione looked a little indignant. "If it's called a 'bear hug,' why not leave it to the bears?" She brushed imaginary dust off of her perfectly clean Hogwarts robes and took a step back from the three celebrants.
"Oh, come on Hermione. She was just excited. It's not like she ruined your robes, or anything." Harry lightheartedly chastised Hermione and put his arm around Rachel's shoulders.
"We're celebrating the fact that his ego's gotten a bit smaller." Ron said, dodging the ersatz punch that came from Harry.
'Yeah," Rachel said, wrapping an arm around Harry's waist, "I didn't mean anything by it. In America, we just express ourselves very openly. I'm sorry if you are offended." Rachel was sorry for offending Hermione; however, she was too busy feeling the joy of being near Harry to pay much more attention to the girl.
At eleven o'clock, the assembly separated to go to their only class of the day. Fifth year Gryffindors had Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid.
***
Rachel and Harry walked all the way to Care of Magical Creatures hand in hand, followed by Hermione and Ron. Hagrid always made lessons fun and Harry had a feeling that today would be no different. As they walked across the grounds to where Hagrid's hut, and his classroom sat.
Once again, the Gryffindors had Care of Magical Creatures at the sane time as the Slytherins, who had arrived first. Draco Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, was, no doubt, preparing his rude comments. Rachel could see him, a look of disgust on his face, gesticulating wildly and starting every sentence with "My father is very influential on [so and so] board of [so and so]…"
Rachel giggled and pointed at the motley crew when Harry looked puzzled. He ha to stifle a laugh when he saw Malfoy's next exploit. He was clutching his arm; a look of faux anguish plastered to his face, screaming – in a normal voice, so as not to be heard before the presentation – "I'll get you for this! One time was enough, my father will get you fired again."
Hermione walked over to them and tapped Draco on the shoulder. "You're going to have to be a lot more convincing then that if you want to win an Academy Award." she said coldly. "I didn't think that even you would stoop this low, Malfoy." She gave him a dirty look and walked back over to where Rachel, Harry and Ron were standing. Malfoy followed.
"Aw, isn't this sweet. Potter finally got a girlfriend." Malfoy drawled, staring at Harry and Rachel holding hands. "I didn't think that was possible. Of course, her mother's a mudblood, just like yours, Potter." Rachel lunged forward to attack him, but Harry held her back.
"He's not worth it." Harry held Rachel until she finally dropped her arms to her sides and turned in the opposite direction. "He's just being a jerk. I wouldn't even pay attention to him." Harry grasped Rachel's hand and led her to the front of the corral that Hagrid used to showcase his animals. In the middle of the fairly large corral, Hagrid was fumbling with the lock on a covered cage.
"This can't be good. If Hagrid covered the cage, we know something really dangerous is in there." Ron muttered, nervously. Hermione opened a large textbook, entitled The Ministry of Magic's Guide to Magical Creatures. The huge volume was two thousand pages long… at least. Ron eyed it with distaste "Hermione, what are you doing with that?" Hermione looked at Ron like he had a third eye.
"I'm going to find out how dangerous these creatures really are. I asked Percy -- or Weatherby, as he was affectionately called -- to find this book for me. It contains descriptions and pictures of every magical creature known to the Ministry. I'll just ask Hagrid what the beast is and then I'll find an accurate description of it." She motioned for Hagrid to come over.
The giant came over to them and promptly saw Harry and Rachel holding hands. He smiled and winked at Harry. "Atta boy, 'arry." Harry blushed and looked over at Rachel, who was smiling. "So," Hagrid said, addressing Hermione, "what are yeh 'aving trouble with?"
"I was wondering what creatures are being held in that cage." Hermione looked at Hagrid innocently. He wouldn't take it the right way if she told him that she just wanted to know if they were dangerous. Hagrid's definition of "dangerous" was a little hard to go by, anyway.
"Ahh, yeh want ter get a 'ead start? That's my 'ermione, always thinkin'." He looked at her proudly, for Hermione was probably his best student and he couldn't deny her the chance to learn something more. "They're woogs." Hagrid said, pointing at the cage. "Mighty strange little fellas."
"Thank you Hagrid." Hermione smiled sweetly as the giant resumed his work opening the cage. When he was out of earshot, she gasped, exasperated. "He called them strange! Do you know what that means?" She continued, answering her own question, when no one else did. "It means that these are either terribly dangerous or they have habits that are terribly dangerous. Either way, it's not good for us!" She opened the large book to the beginning of the "W" page and proceeded to look for "Woog." "I've got it!" she said, triumphantly, and started reading aloud.
Woog
Danger Rating: None (These creatures are too mild to require one)
Woogs are rather furry creatures, found mostly in the Australian outback. They grow to be the size of a basketball and sprout a thick coat of long fur. There are many varieties of woog, all following the same eating and living patterns. Woogs lack magical abilities.
Woogs have an extremely limited vocabulary. The only word they have been known to speak is "woog," hence the species name. Though woogs are docile creatures, a feral woog may be hard to tame.
The average woog lives to the age of fifteen; however, woogs have been known to live as long as twenty-five. This is rare and should not be considered normal. Woogs eat fruits and vegetables, so long as they are slices into pieces the size of grapes.
Ron laughed after Hermione finished reading, only to be silenced by her glare. "Well, how was I supposed to know that Hagrid would come to his senses and pick a normal animal for us to study!" She looked at the now-open cage and laughed, in spite of her anger at Ron. There were about ten furry balls that came stumbling out on short legs.
Rachel gasped with delight as she saw the little woogs playing amongst themselves. Hagrid started speaking to the assembled class. "These are woogs. They're completely 'armless and 'ard to domesticate. Yer assignment fer the next two weeks will be ter domesticate one of these little beauties." Hagrid picked one up and made baby noises at it. "These woogs are a few weeks old, so they aren't used ter 'umans. Yer gonna work in groups of two ter make sure these guys acclimate properly. That means yer all gonna be actin' as their parents. We 'ave an odd number, so one group will 'ave three people."
Rachel and Harry were already holding hands, so Hermione and Ron went up tp Hagrid and got their woog. The little fur ball cooed and then squealed "Woog!" Both Gryffindors burst out laughing, which puzzled the little creature.
Everyone now had a partner, except a girl who Rachel didn't know. She was easily 5'10" – one inch taller than Rachel and two shorter than Harry – and had dark brown, shoulder-length hair. The other girl walked over to Rachel and Harry and smiled shyly. "Hi." she said. "I'm Jill Broomscuttle. May I work with you two, please?" She looked at them reproachfully.
Harry smiled warmly; he had seen this girl around over the past few years. She was shy and had a few friends, but they had never officially met. "Sure you can work with us! I'm Harry Potter, and this is Rachel Witt."
"Thank you! Sorry to dump myself on you, but friend is sick today, she's allergic to nuts, and didn't realize that there were nuts in the muffins this morning."
Rachel was a little peeved that she and Harry wouldn't be working alone, but maybe she could use this opportunity to make more friends. "I'm sorry to hear about your friend, I hope she's better soon."
"She's fine now. She only needed to swallow some potion Snape brewed for her, but you know how Madame Pomfrey is."
Rachel laughed at this and smiled at the memory of Madame Pomfrey pouring medicine after medicine into Rachel's mouth after she had passed out a few weeks ago. The woman has no sense of control she thought to herself.
The three students went up to Hagrid and received the small Woog. "The runt." Hagrid said wistfully. "No one wanted him."
Rachel took the squirming creature in her arms. "What should we name him?"
"How about Harry." Said Ron, wickedly. He had snuck up behind them as they were talking with Hagrid. Rachel giggled as Harry playfully punched Ron in the shoulder. Jill was politely trying to hide a smile behind her hand.
"That's enough." Rachel laughed when the bantering continued. "We have to name this little guy! Ron, go back with Hermione. She's getting impatient."
"Yes, mother." Ron said, feigning insult. Rachel glared and Ron flashed her a smile and jogged back to where Hermione was waiting irritably. Rachel giggled as she watched Hermione chastise Ron.
"How about Newton." suggested Jill. "This is a handsome woog, and I think the name fits him."
Rachel thought about it, and agreed. "Harry, unless you have an objection, his name is Newton."
"That's cool." Harry could care less what they named the woog, so long as he was able to work with Rachel.
Rachel started babbling to the creature. "Hello, Newton. You are a very special woog. You are very lucky because you have Harry and Jill and I to take care of you." Harry and Jill were staring at her strangely. "What? I was just talking to him."
"Do you have any idea what you were saying?" Jill looked at Rachel strangely. "You were just saying 'woog' in different pitches and rhythms. It sounded like woog-speak." She smiled at Rachel nervously; this American was crazy. No one talked to animals like that, except for parseltongues, but this wasn't a snake. "Rachel, you sounded like you knew what you were saying. It's almost like you were parseltongue – only with woogs."
Harry glanced at Rachel quickly, signaling her to play along. "How could she know what she was saying? I'm sure she was just imitating woog talk to make our Newton feel comfortable."
"Of course! I have no idea whether or not I actually said anything to him in his own language. I was just trying to be friendly." Rachel bit her lip. She really had been speaking woog! That was just too strange. And she couldn't help but notice the way Harry cringed when Jill had mentioned parseltongues. Did she and Harry have another thing in common, the ability to speak with animals?
"I feel like Dr. Doolittle." She admitted to her friends. "Only I have no idea what I said and in the books (and movie), he did. Oh, well."
***
At the first Quidditch practice, Rachel clung to Harry like a bur. She was incredibly nervous. What if the team changed their minds about her and said she couldn't play with them anymore? She would be heartbroken. Quidditch was one of her connections to Harry. They could talk about the different strategies and matches together. If she weren't on the team, she would lose that link.
"Rachel, hi!" Jill came jogging up to her while Harry was polishing his Firebolt. That was the other thing she was nervous about; she didn't have a broom. "You don't have a broom? Neither do I. Katie says that for now, we can borrow the old Cleansweep Sevens, but we'll need to have our own by the first match."
"Hi. How did you know that I don't have a broom?" This girl seemed to know everything!
"Um, you're not carrying one and we're supposed to bring our own brooms to the Quidditch practices. Are you feeling okay?"
"Oh. I'm fine, just a bit tired." Rachel stammered. She was being paranoid now, assuming that everyone knew her secret. She had to relax or people would suspect something.
"Okay. Let's go to the equipment closet and get some brooms! When we go into Hogsmeade, we can get our own brooms." Jill was so perky! It almost annoyed Rachel, but then she realized that she was just tired.
I'd better watch out what I say to people she thought. I don't want to lose a friend because I'm so uptight about this whole omnimagus thing. Rachel followed Jill into the closet and picked put a broom. It was worn, but looked sturdy enough for a few practices.
"I've got one." She told Jill, waiting for the other girl. "Me too!" Was the answer that followed. Both girls headed onto the Quidditch pitch to begin their first practice.
***
Quidditch practice had been more than fun. Since it was their first practice, Katie and Angelina had set all four balls loose and proclaimed "Every man for him-self!" They had a fabulous time scoring with the Quaffle and beating Bludgers towards one another. In the end, only two people had caught the Snitch, Rachel and Harry.
After practice, Rachel had pulled Harry aside in the Library; a place that she knew they wouldn't be bothered in. People rarely came into the library (aside from Hermione) and when they did come, they stayed for only a few minutes, selecting the book(s) they need and then leaving. She chose a small table in the back and sat down. Harry followed her example. She rested her chin on her elbow, looked Harry square in the eyes and simply stated, "I talked to a woog."
"I know." Harry seemed lost for a moment, as if thinking about other things.
"No. I thought I was speaking English; however, Jill tells me differently. I'm a freak!" She leaned back in her chair and hung her head.
Harry lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "You are not a freak. I'm sure talking to animals is just another part of being an omnimagus."
"No." she said flatly. "She compared me to a parseltongue! Parseltongues are shunned by all! If anyone found out and made the connection, I would be considered lower than, than… Oh, I don't know!" A single tear fell from her eye and trickled down her cheek. From what she had learned at P.S.E.M, parseltongues were associated with the Dark Arts. That was the last thing she wanted to be linked to.
Harry wiped the tear from her cheek and let out a sigh. She was really stressed about this and he didn't know how to make her feel better. The only thing he could do was to tell her his own previously revealed secret. "I am a parseltongue." Harry smiled a little at Rachel's shocked gasp. "That's right. In my second year, when the basilisk wreaked havoc, there was a dueling club. Draco set a snake loose to try and scare me; only it almost attacked another boy. When I tried to call it off, the students thought I was commanding it. Without knowing it, I was speaking snake. Anyways, people thought I was Slytherin's heir for a while, but that soon died down when people who were close to me—namely Hermione—were attacked."
Rachel shuddered a little and looked at her friend. He was telling the truth, she could see that in his eyes. They held a pained look that could not be feigned. "What happened?"
"Well, the taunting was ephemeral, but the reputation was lingering. It took a while for people to fully trust me again, but I'm fine. See, parseltongues aren't all bad."
"No, I guess they're not." Rachel smiled, a devilish glint in her eyes. "And some of them are pretty cute!" She tapped Harry on the nose with her index finger and started running towards the door.
"Not so fast!" Harry called as he grabbed her around the waist. "Evidently your feet are not so quick as your wit." He remarked playfully.
She laughed, turning around to face him. Her face became somber. "Thank you for being such a good friend." She brushed away another tear and hugged Harry tightly.
***
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Jill, how can you not love this chapter? (If only Liz and Lindsey could read it!) Please review with your not-so-humble opinion.
To everyone out there, thanks for the nice reviews! :) I really appreciate them! I'm open to suggestions, too. So if you have an idea for the story, let me know!
