Author's Note: I did not write Hagrid's vernacular. I tried several times and I couldn't get it right, so I give up. I plead artistic license!
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Chapter 11: Hide and Seek
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It was chilly, dull gray morning when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Adrienne headed out to the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid's cabin looked rather inviting in the quickly approaching winter weather, and Harry wished that they could spend the morning drinking tea instead of freezing outside. The weather was unseasonably cold, especially for Adrienne, who had never been in such a climate.
"Doesn't it ever get warmer" she asked, rubbing her hands together and blowing on them.
"Adrienne, it isn't even November yet, it's only going to get colder," said Hermione as they neared the familiar wooden cabin.
Adrienne sighed. "It isn't this cold at Salem," she muttered, mentally criticizing herself for not bringing any gloves with her when she left. She had left the possessions, however few they may be, that she didn't think she would need with Professor Hartel for safe keeping. Now she wished she had researched England's climate before she departed.
The Slytherins had arrived ahead of them and Adrienne followed Hermione's lead and dodged a kick aimed at the passing Gryffindors, her eyes catching the dragon-hide gloves in Hermione's bag.
"Why didn't I think of that?" she asked amazed and reached into her own bag and pulled out her gloves. She slid her numb hands into them. "Perfect."
Hagrid closed the door to his cabin and sauntered over towards his class, giving them a cheery smile under his gruff beard.
"We all ready?" he asked as he stopped in front of the group.
No one answered: Hagrid had told them earlier that he'd have a surprise in store for them all, and like a domino-effect, images of Blast-Ended Skrewts flooded everyone's minds. Now all the students stood very apprehensively, casting weary glances at one another.
"No need to look so worried, I got something you might all enjoy, kind of a game," he said, his black beetle eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Has anyone heard of a Kraybel?"
Like always, Hermione's hand shot into the air. Everyone else remained motionless.
"Hermione?" asked Hagrid.
"A Kraybel is a magical animal that resembles a small house cat. They are used as Muggles use hounds to search out missing or hiding people," she said, congratulating herself on actually reading the Monster Book of Monsters.
"Right, and I just happen to have me a Kraybel." Hagrid pulled out of one of his overlarge pockets, a small silver cat with long floppy ears and dragon-like wings. "And since their specialty is seekin out the hidden, I thought we'd give this little girl something to seek." Hagrid looked around at all the students, the majority of which still looked quite skeptical.
"You are all to hide anywhere on the grounds besides in the Forbidden Forest and inside the castle. You will have five minutes to find your spot, and then I'll let the Kraybel loose. If she finds you, you're out. The last person to be found will receive five points to their house." Hagrid shot a glance at Malfoy, "And I'll be followin the Kraybel to make sure no one tries to hide again after being found. Ok, hide!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione tore off in all directions, but Adrienne stayed put, standing silently and looking at the Kraybel. She tilted her head and stared at the bundle of fur in Hagrid's arms.
"You going to hide Miss Miles?" asked Hagrid, curiously, struggling to keep a hold of the little creature now attempting to follow the students as they left to hide.
Adrienne smiled at the Kraybel. "Yeah, just wanted to look at it. How do you tell it to start finding things?" she asked.
"Just let it go," replied Hagrid, not seeing what could be so intriguing about how it knew to start looking.
"You don't help it at all? You don't point out something you see? We only get caught if the Kraybel finds us, not if you, Hagrid, find us?"
"Yep, just the Kraybel. What exactly are you getting at?" asked Hagrid, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Just curious." Adrienne turned and walked slowly away, heading towards the Quidditch pitch. "They only look for things that are hidden," she mumbled, "If I don't hide, it won't pay any attention to me."
Adrienne walked towards the middle of the pitch and sat down cross-legged and waited.
* * * * *
Harry raised his wand once he had reached the other side of the castle.
"Accio Firebolt," he whispered, realizing how easy the Summoning Charm had become for him since the previous year. Harry had noticed a definite increase in his magical abilities. He was struggling less and less this year. He even had surpassed Hermione in Transfiguration, beating her to finishing several assignments. It almost seemed as if the limits on his magical powers were slowly disappearing. He had once felt insecure with his wand, wondering whether he'd be capable of completing an assignment or successfully mastering a spell. Now it seemed as if he only had to worry about not looking like a know-it-all.
Harry's Firebolt zoomed towards him, stopping in front of him, waiting for him to mount. Harry flew up into the air and started circling the grounds. Hagrid had said the Kraybel looks for hidden things; if he positioned himself out in the open, then the Kraybel would probably overlook him. Harry cast a quick glance down at Hagrid, who was just setting the Kraybel onto the ground.
* * * * *
As it turned out, Harry and Adrienne had been the only ones to outsmart the Kraybel. On several occasions, the little winged-cat walked right by Adrienne, who was lying on her stomach, without doing anything. Hagrid raised an eyebrow but continued walking after the Kraybel. Eventually the Kraybel took to the air, Hagrid running underneath it, trying to keep up. Despite a near collision between a very red-faced, upside-down Harry, the little Kraybel kept flying, obviously thinking that someone on a broomstick in the open sky was not trying to hide.
Hermione had fared the best after Harry and Adrienne. She had made her way over to the Whomping Willow, pushed the hidden knot, and then hid herself strategically next to the trunk so she wouldn't get pummeled when the button wore off. The Kraybel walked past the wild tree several times, thinking no one in their right mind would hide in there, but eventually, after she had found all the other students, the Kraybel snuck up to the tree and declared Hermione's position with a loud screeching dog-like howl.
* * * * *
The four made their way to the Dueling classroom the following day, Harry still with quite a headache from spending an hour upside down; Adrienne with ant bites all over her legs from lying in the grass; Hermione with a large bruise on her left arm, a trophy from her attempt to exit her hiding place; and Ron, with a limp, the result of falling from the Quidditch stands when the Kraybel startled him.
"Falling apart at the ripe old age of 15 are we?" asked Professor Lycé as the four traipsed through the classroom door. No one answered. Lycé smiled and motioned them to take a seat.
"Always early you are," she began, walking behind her desk, "Well, there's no harm in that. Anyway, since you're here, perhaps you'd like to discuss the Gryffindor Dueling Team?"
"You've decided the team?" asked Hermione, hoping dearly that she made it; dueling, like flying and Divination, was not something she could learn from a book and, thus, had not excelled as well as she did in her other courses.
"Would you like to know who made the Primary Team?" asked Professor Lycé mysteriously. Ron leaned forward in his chair eagerly. "Well, all of you made the Primary, along with Lee Jordan, Rodney Nells, and Samantha Henderson. Seven people. You might be interested to know, Mr. Weasley, that your sister made the Secondary Team Captain. She is quite good at dueling; with a little more training she could make quite the name for herself."
"We all made it?" said Harry, extremely happy that no one would be left out.
"Yes, and I daresay Professor McGonagall will want to discuss practices with you all soon if you want to be prepared for the first tournament in December."
Adrienne looked up quickly from her wand, which she had been wiping down.
"What do you mean McGonagall ? She's going to be our coach? How come you can't?" asked Adrienne, incredulously.
"Miss Miles, there is only one of me, and I can't coach all the houses. As it turns out, all the Heads are quite versed in dueling and each will coach their own house," said Professor Lycé, taking off her hat and beginning to braid her hair. "Are you worried McGonagall won't be able to teach you anything you don't already know, Adrienne?"
Adrienne shook her head. "No… I just don't think McGonagall likes me all too much… what, with sliming her classroom and all."
* * * * *
That evening Adrienne, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way, along with the other members of the Primary Gryffindor team, down to the Transfiguration classroom. Professor McGonagall was there waiting for them; she had pushed back all the desks and had transfigured the floor to resemble the dueling ring in the Dueling classroom.
"Congratulations on making the team," she said as they walked into the room, "I've heard wonderful things about all of you from Professor Lycé and I'm eager to see you in action. She said you each have your own particular strengths and weaknesses, and I hope that through these practices we'll accentuate those strengths."
Professor McGonagall seemed to be in an awfully good mood; which she was. She stood, staring at the seven students, eager to begin a lesson where every single student would be seriously paying attention.
"Now I haven't seen any of you duel. Today we'll just do that so I can get a feel for your abilities." She looked around the room, surveying each student, trying to decide who should go first.
"How about you, Miss Granger, and you, Miss Miles? Why don't you two begin," she said.
Hermione swallowed hard, not looking forward to making a fool of herself. The two saluted themselves into the ring. They bowed to each other and waited for McGonagall to signal them to start. Unfortunately for Hermione, Adrienne shot an Immobility Curse at her straight off, gluing Hermione to the ground and before Hermione could attack Adrienne or perform the countercurse, Adrienne had disarmed her.
Lee Jordan was quite good at distracting his opponent, lowering their defenses just enough to get in his attacks. Ron seemed to manipulate his opponents like on a chessboard, tricking them into a false sense of security and then, like in chess, 'checkmate.' Sixth year, Samantha Henderson was good at blocking, even if her knowledge of attacks was quite limited. Fourth Year Rodney Wells was the opposite of Henderson, and McGonagall made a mental note to develop exercises to help him with his horrendous blocking. Hermione, except for against Adrienne, held up pretty well, using her vast knowledge of curses and hexes - no doubt gained from the previous year - to win, even if she wasn't quite that confident in the ring.
Of them all, as expected, Harry and Adrienne stood out. McGonagall noticed that Harry seemed as if he was in complete control both mentally and physically. He couldn't be distracted, nor did he lose concentration when he missed a block. Adrienne on the other hand, seemed almost as if she wasn't even trying. She flicked her wand here and there, and on several occasions, McGonagall could have sworn that the spell shot from her wand a second before Adrienne even finished saying the incantation.
* * * * *
That night Harry crawled into his bed exhausted. Just as Professor Dumbledore had told his granddaughter, Harry and Adrienne had been made co-Captains. Harry winced as he rolled over. He was quite sore from dueling with Adrienne. She had had quite a time trying to disarm him, so she decided to focus on cursing him until he tired. Harry didn't like dueling Adrienne; as a matter of fact, he hated it. Every time he entered that ring and faced her, he felt such a sense of foreboding. He felt as if no matter what he did, no matter what spell he cast her way, Adrienne would just brush it aside. It didn't make him feel any better that when dueling her earlier, he could have sworn his wand was already out of his hand before she finished saying "expelliarmus." Harry shook his ahead and closed his eyes. In a matter of minutes, his wonderings about Adrienne's dueling ability were replaced with a dream, that come the next morning, he wouldn't remember.
* * * * *
"Lily, they have your eyes," said James quietly, crawling into the hospital bed with his wife, cradling a little bundle in his arms.
Lily put her head on his shoulder. "Good, I like my eyes better than yours anyway," she said, smiling down at the little girl in her arms.
"Hey, I think I have quite handsome eyes," said James a little defensively.
Lily just smiled. "And they have your hair, or at least he does," she said, her eyes flipping towards the little boy with a head of black hair, sleeping in her husband's arms.
"Yes, and our daughter is bald," said James smirking slightly.
Lily give her daughter a kiss. "Don't listen to your daddy, we'll love you even if you don't grow any hair," she whispered.
"You know what, Lily, we still haven't named them yet," said James thoughtfully, stroking his son's tiny hand.
"I know, I know, it's just so hard to decide."
"Well, we could call her Lily, after you," suggested James.
"That would be too confusing, then we'd never know which Lily people were talking to," she said, turning her gaze to her husband.
"Ok, let's make her middle name Lily."
"Only if we make his middle name James."
James laughed. "Ok. Now only the first names," he sighed.
Lily stared into space for a while, thinking about all the male names she had ever heard. "I know, what about Harry, after your Grandfather," she said after a minute.
James looked down at the little boy and tilted his head, contemplating. "Well, I guess it would be appropriate considering he has to have the most hair any newborn has ever had." Lily laughed in reply. "Harry James Potter, I like it. What about you, boy? What do you think about that name?" asked James. Harry wrinkled his face as if he was beginning to wake up.
"We'll take that as a yes," said James. The two turned their attention to their little girl. "One down and one to go, Lily."
Lily smiled contently at her daughter.
"What about Petunia, after your sister; you know, kind of like a peace offering?" suggested James.
Lily elbowed him hard. "Are you out of your mind?"
"I was only joking," muttered James, realizing that after 23 hours of labor, Lily probably wasn't in a joking mood.
"What about Rose?" he asked.
Lily shook her head. "Then both of her names would be flowers."
"Ok, how about . . ." James looked around the room, his gaze falling on a nearby magazine. On the front was a scholarly looking woman, Adrienne McArthur, the new American Ambassador. "What about Adrienne, after Ambassador McArthur. That's a strong name, and it'll always be associated with success now."
Lily looked down at her daughter. "Adrienne Lily Potter," she whispered. "I like it. Harry and Adrienne Potter."
"I like it too," whispered James, kissing his wife on the cheek.
Across the hall, Dr. Matthew Jacobs handed a little girl to a nurse.
"Her mother named her Adrienne Lily Miles," he said quietly. The nurse nodded and carried the little girl from the room. Dr. Jacobs turned back to the lifeless young mother lying on the hospital bed.
"Time of death . . ."