Harry Potter and the Chalice of the Enchanter
Chapter Nine
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In late October, the first scheduled visit to Hogsmeade was held. Each and every eligible student brought as much money as they saw fit to spend on candy, jokes and—In Rachel and Jill's cases—Quidditch supplies.
Rachel, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Jill were standing outside the Three Broomsticks, making plans. They only had two hours to spend in this utopia; so they had to plan well. "I am going to send a card to Viktor." Hermione announced to the others. "I'll be back in ten minutes." She strode off towards the owlry and the others continued scheduling their short reprieve from school.
"Jill and I need to buy brooms!" Rachel declared. She and Jill started giggling as they remembered the mishaps from last week's practices. Even Harry had to laugh at their childish antics. The previous Wednesday, the whole team participated in a Bludger-blocking drill. The Weasley twins would beat the Bludgers towards their teammates, who were flying around the pitch, and the rest of the team would try to avoid the onslaught.
As most people know, Cleansweep Sevens are, to say the least, slow brooms. These brooms also handle turning very poorly, especially quick, sharp turns. Jill and Rachel were both listening to Lee Jordan tell jokes over the magical microphone. They hadn't been paying attention to their flying and, before their brooms responded to the commands to turn, they crashed. To make matters worse, as they tumbled to the ground, both Bludgers smashed into them.
Both girls came out relatively unscathed, after Madame Pomfrey had healed their broken arms and sprained ankles. They had been released from the infirmary on Friday and were banned from playing Quidditch for five days, as ordered by Madame Pomfrey.
The two brooms fared much worse. Bristles and splinters from the handles were strewn all about the pitch. Angelina had ordered both girls to buy new brooms, immediately. She had mentioned that the school's Quidditch funs would pay for a percentage because the Cleansweeps—though technically not theirs—had been broken by a Bludger accident (Or so Harry said to Madame Hooch. After all, it was partially true).
Jill and Rachel skipped off to the Quidditch supply store and left Ron and Harry standing in the middle of the shopping center. "Well, we haven't really been to Zonko's in a while." Harry mused, sneaking a sly glance at Ron.
Ron gave him the thumbs-up. "Dungbombs rule!" he shouted, a little too loudly. The entire crowd in the streets looked at them for an awkward minute. Harry smiled nervously at the crowd and, with Ron, ducked into Zonko's.
***
There were so many brooms to choose from! Rachel and Jill had an incredibly hard time deciding. Rachel had her heart set on the Firebolt, until she saw the price tag. Finally the girls decided on Snitch Snatchers, the newest model by Flyte and Barker. After the purchases, their purses were fifty Galleons lighter.
"Can you believe the prices on those brooms? I could have bought a thousand butterbeers for the cost of a Firebolt!" Jill cried in dismay. Rachel, who, coming from America, was more used to price inflation than her British friend, merely replied.
"I've seen worse. You should come to the sporting stores in America. Out there, you'd be better off having someone rob you blind then purchase a broom in the stores. In the end, both situations have the same result."
Jill laughed and replied, lightheartedly. "You don't think that I would put myself at risk like that! I think I'll stay to shopping in Britain. Now come," she said, in a more serious tone, "I would like to purchase a few books." She grabbed Rachel's wrist and pulled her into the nearby bookstore.
***
Hermione stood at the counter in the owlry and added the last sentence to her letter. Looking satisfied, she read it once over to the owl that would be delivering it.
Dear Viktor,
It has been so long since I have seen you; too long, in fact. I miss your strong accent and the companionship you provided. I am not totally without you, though. I follow your Quidditch career via the Daily Prophet. Please write back to me as soon as you find time.
Love Always,
Your Devoted Hermione
"How's that?" she asked the owl. He replied with the flick of his talons. Taking that as a good sign, Hermione kissed the paper by her signature and rolled the parchment into a scroll. She tied the scroll with her hair ribbon and proceeded to instruct the owl on the precise location of Durmstrang, for though the location is secret, Viktor had disclosed this information to her before he left.
The owl nodded, indicating that, yes, he knew where Durmstrang was. The girls smiled and the owl flew from his perch into the azure sky.
***
In the bookstore, Rachel and Jill were waiting in line to be checked out. Each girl had chosen several novels to read during downtime and a reference book. Jill had selected Quidditch Through the Ages while Rachel had quietly picked The Ultimate Guide to Omnimages: Everything You Need to Know and Even Stuff You Don't. When Jill had looked at her quizzically Rachel had quickly created a lied, saying that she was doing an extra credit assignment for Professor Stapf. Jill had looked at her dubiously, but kept her mouth shut.
Rachel had been quite mysterious lately and had parried any questions directed towards her. Her friends had accepted this; Rachel was just a little eccentric, they thought. Harry, of course, knew her secret and guarded it well. In fact, Hermione, Ron and Jill would know a lot more about Rachel's abilities if it had not been for Harry's constant defense of his friend. Now, Jill just played the usual game of ask and duck. She didn't even press Rachel for the real answer.
At the checkout counter, the man looked at their selections. "That'll be 10 galleons. You bought ten books, so you get the discount." He said this in a blasé tone, as if every customer had bought ten books. Disregarding his attitude, each girl placed five galleons on the counter and took the sack the books had been thrown into.
"He didn't even take off the security tags?" Rachel said incredulously. "In America, if we were to walk out the door, the alarm system would be beeping quite loudly." She looked at Jill matter-of-factly, and then added, "I wonder what would happen if someone were to shoplift?"
"I don't know. I'll admit that." Jill answered, shrugging. The boy in front of them stepped over the threshold of the store and into the street. The book that was concealed under his robes began shrieking "I BELONG TO THE HOGSMEADE BOOK NOOK!" repeatedly.
"Well," said Rachel, with an ironic smile, "I guess we know the answer to that." They laughed and stepped around the boy who was begrudgingly writing out a check to the storeowner.
When both girls were in the sunny street, Rachel checked her watch. "We have to meet the guys in a half hour, but I say we surprise them now. If we were guys—which we're not—where would we go?" The silliness of the question set in and both girls, without saying a word, headed off to Zonko's.
***
Friday was the first Quidditch match of the year, and of course, the first game was between the two main rivals, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Rachel was all prepared; she had done fabulous at the last few practices, even playing Seeker when a Bludger knocked Harry off his broom. He said that he "just hadn't seen it." Ron, who witnessed the accident, later told Rachel that Harry had been distracted; he had been staring at her!
Though the match was big, neither Katie nor Angelina appeared to be the slightest bit nervous. The called a team meeting that morning in the middle of the pitch and talked strategy. Katie had mentioned that lately, Draco couldn't see as well (he needed glasses, but refused to submit to his doctor's orders—for fear of looking "like a nerd") and Harry would have the advantage as Seeker. Then Angelina had talked about Gryffindor having tighter defense and that she had been to a Slytherin practice recently (Though she never said how she snuck in, the glint in Harry's eyes let everyone believe that somehow, the invisibility cloak had been involved.)
So Friday came around, and Rachel was ready. She didn't have to prepare much; being a substitute only required her to sit on a bench and make sure no one from her team was injured. She would also help to keep track of how many points each person scored. It was a relatively easy job.
Professor McGonagall had led Rachel into the commentary box, where Lee Jordan would narrate the match. He was a fairly handsome guy with a great sense of humor, and he was dedicated to this sport. Rachel had smiled at the Weasley twins' friend and sat down next to him, slowly extending her hand to be shaken. Lee had, with a dashing look upon her face, taken her hand in his own and lowered his face to it, kissing it lightly. Rachel, with a bout of flirtatious energy, had blushed and giggled.
The stadium was filled with fans that didn't want to miss the first Quidditch match of the year. Rachel felt a pang of homesickness as she watched the crowd. Some of the parents had come to watch. She knew that hers wouldn't be there. She hadn't even told them that she made the team. In fact, unless Aunt Megan had sent them an owl, they didn't even know she was at Hogwarts.
It wasn't her parents that really pulled on her heartstrings; it was Aunt Megan and Morgan. Rachel hadn't seen her parents in over ten years. They were always on an assignment for the Ministry. Now, as much as she tried, she couldn't even remember them. Sure, she had pictures, but she couldn't recall the sounds of their voices or the way they laughed. All she could remember was that they were always gone. Aunt Megan, on the other hand, had been there all Rachel's life. She had been the one to teach Rachel how to read and to cast her first spell. It was Aunt Megan, with help from Morgan, who had taught Rachel to fly on a broom. Her aunt and sister had been closer to her than her parents, even when she was an infant.
Morgan had always told Rachel how, on the day she was born, their parents had left aunt Megan with the two girls and gone to Transylvania on a Ministry Assignment, to come back three years later. Rachel was never sure if this was true, but it would explain why there were no pictures of Rachel with her parents until she was three. And anyways, Morgan wouldn't make up a story like that if she knew it would hurt Rachel, which it had.
Rachel was awakened from her thoughts by the protests of Lee Jordan to Madame Hooch over a bad call. The game had started and Rachel hadn't even noticed! She sat on the bench, watching her teammates fly through the air, scoring goals and whacking Bludgers towards the Slytherins.
The game seemed to go on for quite a while. Though Angelina had been right about Gryffindor having better defense (and offense, for that matter), Slytherin played dirty. They passed by no chance to try and injure Gryffindor. At some times, Rachel even hoped that someone on her team would be injured so that she could play in their stead. The score was 30-10 Slytherin; it didn't look good for Gryffindor. Madame Hooch had blown her whistle so many times on the Slytherin team that they didn't even pay attention anymore. The match had turned from semi-friendly competition to a ruthless battle for victory. Rachel's mouth dropped open as she watched Malfoy dive at Angelina with a glint of malice in his eyes.
"Watch out Angelina!" Lee shouted into the microphone. Angelina looked up just in time to swerve sideways. Lee turned to Rachel and covered the microphone with his hand. "I'm glad you're not playing in this one. It' s the most dangerous match I've seen in years." He grimaced as Katie Bell was hit with a Bludger. The Chaser gave Madame Hooch the thumbs-up signal to indicate that she was okay.
"I agree. As mush I would love to play in a game, it's just to overwhelming right now. I think I would like to attend a few more practices before diving into this." Lee laughed at Rachel's honesty.
"Well, at least you didn't lie like the rest of the team does when they're nervous or anxious about a match." Lee turned back to the microphone and started yelling, "Potter caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!"
***
Hermione and Rachel sat in the library, holding their report cards in font of them. Hermione had a calm smile on her face, as she stared at the columns on A+'s that graced the page. Rachel's expression, however, was more of astonishment.
"What's wrong? You don't look very happy, and I know for a fact that you got at least five A's." Hermione wasn't sure if she cared what her friend's grades were, ad long as they were not as high as her own. She was not about to give her role as the smartest Gryffindor away, especially to Rachel, who seemed to have it all anyway.
"Muggle Studies." Rachel groaned, glaring at the parchment. "C+. That's the worst grade I've ever gotten in my life, and it's in Muggle Studies! Why didn't I take Divination! It's so simple. In fact, anything that's remotely magical is simple. However, as soon as I try something that's not magic-related, I fail miserably." She quickly brushed away a tear that had fallen onto her cheek.
"Is that the worst grade?" Hermione was feeling a little sorry now. A C+ was pretty bad for such a simple class.
"Yes, it's the worst. The rest are A's and a few B's." She sighed, once again glaring at the offending grade.
"Well, Muggle Studies is an easy class, maybe you just need to focus more. I mean, I do great in that class because I pay attention and listen to every detail." Hermione said, matter-of-factly. Rachel glared at her.
"You're Muggle-born, for goodness sake. The lifestyle we study in that class is what is in your own home! You watch the telly at night, you use the Internet, you cook with a macrowave oven…"
"Microwave oven." Hermione interrupted.
"Whatever! That's your life! It's not mine. I'm going to drop it and take Divination." She started to walk off but Hermione grabbed her arm.
"You don't have to drop the class, I can help you."
"I just don't get Muggle Studies. It's not like I'm stupid, or anything. It's just that… there's a wall there." Rachel looked at her friend, daring her to comment. Hermione took up the challenge.
"No, of course you're not stupid. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here. You just have an Achilles heel. Basically, you're not a goddess. But, I can help you. Over Christmas break, if you want, you can come over to my house and I'll give you a live demonstration. Okay?" Hermione looked at Rachel's sad face. She pitied a girl who didn't even know what the Internet was. Rachel would love email.
"Really? You mean it? Would your parents mind?" Rachel inquired.
"My parents already said it was okay for me to invite friends over Christmas break, I asked them about a month ago. I'm going to invite Harry and Ron, too. We'll stay at my house for a few days and then come back here a few days before classes start again. Harry can definitely come, he's not welcome at his home, and Ron can come, too. The only question I have is with your parents. Whom do I send the owl to?"
Rachel fidgeted with her hands and looked at the table. "Um, well, my parents don't even know I'm at Hogwarts. I haven't seen them since I was…" she scrunched her nose, thinking, "five. I live with my Aunt Megan, on my dad's side. She's twenty-seven, do it's really just one big party at our house. Oh, yes. You can send it to Megan Witt 125 Millbrook Lane, Andover, MA 01810. She should reply within a few days." Rachel had deliberately made only a brief mention of her parents. She didn't want Hermione pitying her. After all, it wasn't liker her parents were dead, like Harry's. She didn't deserve the pity.
"I'm sorry about your parents. You must miss them a lot."
"Don't be. I hardly remember them. Aunt Megan and my sister Morgan are my family. Well, along with my owl, Merlin and you guys." Rachel whispered the last few words. This was getting too emotional. The only time she had allowed herself to be this open was with Harry, and that's the way she wanted it. She considered Harry her boyfriend, and boyfriends were supposed to know everything about you, regular friends weren't.
***
Hermione rapped her spoon against her milk goblet at breakfast. "I have to tell you guys something significant." She took a deep breath. "Viktor and I broke up." She started sobbing into her pancakes. Rachel patted Hermione on the shoulder.
"Oh, Hermione, pull yourself together. You never get so emotional."
Hermione wiped her eyes and took another deep breath. "You're right. I shouldn't get so worked up just because I broke up with my first boyfriend." She started bawling again.
Ron snorted. "He was just your boyfriend. It's not like you married him or anything. And anyways, if you broke up with him, instead of the other way around, then he couldn't have been all that great." Leave it to boys to be insensitive.
Rachel glared at Ron, as Hermione's sobs grew louder. Then she stopped and wiped her eyes again. "Okay. I'm fine now. I'll tell you what happened. Remember how I sent him a letter when we went to Hogsmeade?" The three friends nodded, how could they forget, it had only been two weeks ago. "Well, he wrote me back and…" She broke off the sentence with more wailing and handed Rachel a piece of parchment. Rachel began to read it.
Dear Hermione,
I did not expect to hear from you. I cannot say that I am not pleased, but I certainly am surprised. Your letter was written with devotion and whilst I wish I could do the same, it is not possible. You see, Hermione, I have completed my seven years at Durmstrang and I have decided that it is no longer appropriate for us to be seeing each other. I hope you understand and that we can always remain friends.
Your Dearest Friend,
Viktor Krum
When Rachel had finished reading the letter and had passed it on to Harry and Ron, Hermione spoke again. "I thought we would be together forever. I had forgotten that he was in his seventh year when I met him!" she wailed.
"I am so sorry, Hermione. This is terrible, and he wrote it so eloquently!" Harry, who had finished reading it, nodded in agreement,
"He really let you down hard, didn't he?"
Ron, looking sheepish, muttered, "Oh, so really, he dumped you. I'm sorry."
"That's okay, I know you were just being a boy." Hermione had meant his as an insult, but Ron obviously thought it meant Hermione had accepted his apology.
"Thanks! He said cheerfully and stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth. Hermione and Rachel rolled their eyes and even Harry looked a little appalled.
***
Professor Dumbledore stood up at the teacher's table and waved a piece of parchment in the air. "Attention!" he called, in his surprisingly strong tenor. "May I please have your attention? I have an important announcement to make involving a school dance." The hall went silent. It had been a week since Hermione and Viktor had broken up –Hermione still refused to believe that she had been dumped—so she no longer sobbed during meals.
When Dumbledore was sure that all of the eyes in the room were focused on him, he continued. "This year, we will be having a Harvest Ball. Two weeks after the Halloween Banquet, on the Saturday, we will celebrate this year's good harvest with a feast, dance and festivities. Yes, the dance will be semi-formal so not only do you need to wear something nice, but you are expected to come to the dance as couples," Rachel could have sworn that Dumbledore's eyes flickered in her and Harry's direction, "but it is not necessary. However, you wouldn't want to feel left out on the dance floor. And, of course, the Weird Sisters will be serenading us."
Rachel looked up at Harry, amazed. "They Weird Sisters are coming here?" Harry nodded absently; he was getting sick of the Weird Sister's strange tunes. "Sweet! I haven't seen them live and…"
Ron cut her off, "Well, you're not missing much."
Rachel glared and continued talking. "Last year I got *NSYNC tickets, and I thought that wsa the coolest thing, but the Weird Sister? I just don't believe it!"
Ron looked baffled. "Who's In Sinks?" Now it was Hermione and Rachel's turn to look amazed.
"Who is NSYNC?" Hermione said the words slowly, stressing each syllable. "NSYNC is only the best boy band to ever take the stage."
"I can't believe you've never heard of *NSYNC! Even I've heard of *NSYNC." That was Harry.
Ron looked exasperated. "You guys all live in Muggle households. I've never heard of any Muggle bands!"
Rachel looked at him skeptically. "Firstly, we are all witches in my household, thank you very much. Secondly, don't feel too bad about *NSYNC, I didn't mean to insult you." She looked at him, hoping he would forgive her. She couldn't stand it if one of her friends were mad at her.
"Hi everyone." Rachel jumped in her seat. Jill had snuck up behind them and was smiling brightly. Ron blushed.
"Hi!" Rachel returned the greeting, cheerfully.
"Ron, may I talk to you, in, um… private?" She looked at him hopefully. Ron stood up and walked with her to a cluster of empty chairs at the end of the table. From what Rachel could see, there were a few minutes of nervous conversation followed by Jill asking Ron a question, Ron blushing and then nodding his head vigorously. The two walked back to the table and smiled.
"I'm taking Jill to the Harvest Ball." Ron announced proudly. This time, Jill blushed. Rachel and Harry smiled, but Hermione only gave a half smile before turning back to her breakfast.
"It's not fair!" she whispered to Rachel. "All the guys are taken so quickly!"
Rachel leaned towards her and whispered back, "It's not like you were seriously considering Ron as a potential boyfriend, though. Right?"
"You're right. It's just that I thought he would at least ask me so that we could go as friends, seeing as he didn't have a girlfriend and I don't have a boyfriend. I suppose I was just being silly."
"Of course you were! There are plenty of guys who would like to go to the dance with you, we just have to look harder." Rachel gave Hermione a reassuring look. There was bound to be one guy in this school that would like Hermione. It didn't really matter too much if Hermione didn't like him.
Hermione looked doubtful. "Look at my hair!" she cried, "It's so bushy, I look like a bird's nest gone horribly wrong."
"That's not true, and anyways, one of my aunt's friends owns a beauty salon. I'm sure we could get your hair straightened and relaxed for free."
"Really? You'd help me to find a date?"
"Well, you're helping me learn how to use a macrowave."
"Microwave." Hermione corrected.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Jill, can you believe I managed to sneak your quote from science class in this? (Even more amazing—I finished before 9:00)
