Discovering Fan Fiction
The First of the First Book
Disclaimer: I do what the voices tell me. Therefore, it's all either J.K.'s, some other fanfic, or else the voices'. Mostly J. K.'s though… Now, leave me alone! *gets into fetal position, hands over ears*
A/N: Yes, there will be major spoilers for every book from now on. Too bad. Or good. Whatever, really. Also, I've changed a good many things. Live with it, don't flame me for it. You have been warned.
Dang, how much longer is this going to be!?!? Let's see…probably 4-5 more chapters after this one…one for each book, and possibly more, for the movie? I don't know. What have I gotten myself into?? I don't know…..
Yay, almost 100 reviews!! Keep 'em coming!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeze!!! (Luv you all!!!) I'm even on some favorites lists! *tear*
"Right…" Hermione said cautiously, surveying the books they had checked out of the library. 24 books. 24 books all related in some way or other to Harry Potter, Hogwarts, to magic at all. And in each book, everyone currently present at Hermione's house was mentioned.
"Where…. Where should we start?" Ron asked, just as cautiously. They all looked to Harry for guidance; he had the right to make the decision.
"I… I guess with this one?" He said nervously, holding up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Silence reined supreme for a few heartbeats as everyone took in the cover, looking at the large gold lettering spelling out Harry's name with a flourish. They looked at the picture on the front, the Weasleys amazed that it didn't move. With a slightly trembling hand, Harry opened the front cover. The rest all gathered around him in a circle on the floor of Hermione's living room. They had only checked out one of each book, and had agreed that they'd read them aloud, taking turns.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive…" Harry began, astounded to see that this author knew of the Dursleys.
Harry's tremulous reading was met with an electric silence, the air filled with tension between words or sentences.
When Harry got to the part about Hagrid on Sirius Black's motorcycle, there were gasps from Fred, George, and Ginny. Hermione and Ron (who, Harry noticed, had unconsciously clasped hands rather tightly) were sitting with their mouths seemingly stuck into an "o" shape.
"McGonagall and Dumbledore gave you to them? On purpose??" Ron asked, incredulous that his hero would willingly turn his best friend over to those wretched, cruel people.
"I guess so…" Harry paused a moment, then continued with the last sentence of the first chapter, "…He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!""
This declaration was met with a stunned silence. Ginny shifted uncomfortably, Ron and Hermione seemed to realize their hands were entwined, Harry was looking at the ceiling with a closed expression, and Fred and George's mouths were now stuck in the "o" shape.
"Why…why don't we take a break? I could do with some juice…" Hermione said. The general population murmured assent, but Harry picked up the book he had dropped down a moment ago and cleared his throat. Five half-standing figures sat back down.
"Chapter two, The Vanishing Glass." Harry read. "Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on their front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all…."
Another few words, and any thoughts of juice were completely forgotten as they listened to Harry's life at Privet Drive. Every couple sentences, Harry stopped and looked mysteriously at the book, as though daring it to tell him how it knew all of this. Other times, he said loudly, "that never happened."
"Honestly, I never slept in the broom cupboard. I always had that little bedroom. Dudley put his stuff in there anyway… My presence there never seemed to deter that… There were spiders in the room, but a broom cupboard? Really…." Harry looked half disgusted with the book by the time they reached the end of the second chapter.
"Do you want me to read it?" Hermione asked.
"That's all right. I… It's about me, so I guess I will." Harry said in a tone that clearly said "if you ask me again, I'll let you."
"All right…"
"But, how about that juice now?" Harry obviously wanted a break from this book, even though he was only two chapters in.
"Sounds excellent."
As one, all six teenagers rose to their feet and trooped to the kitchen. When Hermione took the carton of orange-strawberry-banana juice from the refrigerator, Ron's already astonished face reached a new peak of astonishment.
"Wow," he managed. Hermione shot him a look. He closed his mouth, then immediately reopened it when Hermione gave him the first glass. "That's good!" He managed, dribbling a bit of juice down his chin.
Once they were all tired of juice, Harry suggested that they take a break from the book. They all agreed, silently hoping that when they returned, they'd find the books gone, left only in their imaginations.
"I wonder…" Fred began mysteriously. No one had a chance to ask what he wondered about, because right after he closed his mouth, he took off around to the back of the house and to the garden.
By the time everyone else had reached the garden, Fred was nowhere in sight.
"Guess not…" They heard from high above them.
"Fred!" Ginny yelled, in a tone that implied her brother was a complete dolt. "The tree again!?"
"Just wanted to know if I could get out this time…by daylight, you know? Guess not, though. Where…. Where's the ladder?" He sounded about as apologetic as either of the twins could ever manage to sound.
"George, go get it," Hermione said. "The car's gone, it shouldn't cause a problem this time."
"No."
"What?"
"No. I say we leave him," George said, grinning broadly.
"George!!" Fred yelled from high above.
"Fred!!" George mimicked his brother.
"Both of you!" Hermione said, exasperated. "Ron, would you…?"
"Sure," Ron replied, ears turning pink as he turned towards the garage.
"It can't be that hard, Fred." George said, ignoring the fact that Ron was getting a ladder.
"You try it then, genius." Fred called.
"Fine!" And before anyone could stop him, or even open their mouths, George dashed up the tree. Silence…
"Hey, he's right."
"Hermione!" Ron was back, empty-handed. "The, uh, ladder's gone. And, your parents are home." Ron was out of breath.
"It's only five!" Hermione screeched, checking her watch.
"Hey! We're still up here!" Two voices sounded as one from the tree.
"Well… Well! That's your own fault, isn't it?" Hermione said severely, looking toward the barely visible garage. Gravel was now heard crunching under tires that obviously belonged to the station wagon.
"Inside, everyone!" Hermione hissed, herding Ginny, Harry, and Ron back into the kitchen.
They had just barely gotten inside before they heard, "Honey! Kids!" from Mrs. Granger.
"In the kitchen, mum!" Hermione called, trying desperately to look normal.
"Hello. Things went so smoothly at the office that we managed to get out of there early! Isn't that lovely?" Mr. Granger had joined his wife in the kitchen.
"Where are Fred and George, dear?" Mrs. Granger asked, peering at the four kids in front of her.
"Crookshanks ran up the tree, Mrs. Granger. They both went to try and get him down, but we couldn't find the ladder to get them down. Crookshanks is fine, though." If anything, Harry was good at lying under pressure to get people out of trouble.
"Oh, the ladder. I saw it in the garage before we left. It was all dented, so I took it to the dump on the way to work. Wonder what happened to it…" Mr. Granger told them.
"Well, the twins are up in the tree in the garden presently." Ginny said.
"Why don't I just go borrow the Fischer's ladder, then? 'Mione, want to come?" Mr. Granger said, ushering his daughter off towards the neighbor's house.
"What did you kids do today, aside from rescuing Crookshanks from the tree? How'd he get out, anyway? I thought we'd locked him in the basement…" Mrs. Granger asked them kindly.
"George wanted to see the washing machine. Crookshanks darted up, between his legs, and ran outside." Ron finally contributed to the intricate web of fully believable lies.
"Oh."
"We went to the library." Ginny told her, eager to get the subject off the innocent cat.
"That's nice."
"It's a very nice library." Harry said.
"I always liked to go there when I was Hermione's age, too. Peaceful, no?" Mrs. Granger was warming up to the conversation, which was just what Harry, Ron, and Ginny didn't want. They wanted nothing more than to go to the living room, collect 24 books, and sprint upstairs to hide them. Mrs. Granger did not seem inclined to let them out of her sight.
"Very."
"Lovely."
"It was, er, nice."
"I thought so…" Mrs. Granger now had a far-off look in her eyes, the same any parent gets when reminiscing back to childhood.
Seeing their opportunity, the three immediately seized it.
"We checked out a few books, we should probably go clean them up, take them upstairs…" Harry said, looking perfectly innocent.
"Yes, dears, you do that," Mrs. Granger was now almost totally lost to memories.
Jetting into the living room, the three pairs of arms were soon full of books as they now sprinted upstairs. Dropping the books onto Hermione's bed, they could finally catch their breaths. At once, they all broke into snippets of what they'd thought would happen.
"I thought we were done for-"
"Can't believe they bought that-"
"Crookshanks!"
"They're still up there!"
"Ah!" Though, was the most common sound, as each released the stressful breaths they'd been holding in for far too long.
Harry was in Hermione's room now for the first time (face mask free and able to look around, that is). The walls were a pale pink, with small roses adorning the paint. Where some walls had borders, Hermione's had shelves with books. The nightstand next to her bed had shelves, which held all of her school things. Harry looked at them jealously, wishing he was allowed to keep his school books handy while on summer holiday. The bedspreads on the two twin beds were each pink with roses, complimenting the walls.
Realizing how hot he was, Harry strode across the room and opened the window. Sitting heavily on the window seat he'd had to lean across, he felt the cool wind on his face.
"Yay!" he heard Fred (or George) yell as a clink sounded from below.
Looking out, he saw Mr. Granger supporting a borrowed ladder, Hermione and her mother looking anxiously up into the tree. Fred stepped onto the ladder first and climbed down. George followed, bounding down each step with a decisive "yoink" sound. Mrs. Granger hugged each of them as soon as his feet touched the ground.
Unable to hear what else they said, Harry heard a new sound next to him, a sort of soft clawing on glass. Irritated slightly, he looked to see what it was and couldn't stifle the laughter.
"Harry?" Ginny asked, looking at him as though he'd lost his mind.
"Rita Skeeter!!" Harry managed to yelp amidst his laughter. He pointed a shaking hand (this time, shaking from laughter) at a glass jar supported by a white fluffy teddy bear next to him on the window seat.
The three of them crowded around it, peering into the angry little black beetle eyes of the inhabitant of the jar. The beetle clicked its tiny pincers menacingly, while wiggling its antennae fiercely. That only made them laugh more.
"I thought she said she was going to let it go!" Ron laughed.
"Would you trust her?"
"She's been in there since June!" Ginny said, somewhat alarmed.
"So?" Both Ron and Harry looked at her, sporting matching deadpan expressions.
A moment later, the door burst open and Hermione, Fred, and George entered.
"Good, you've brought up the books! I thought…" Hermione began, trailing off as she saw what Harry was holding.
"I opened the window for a breeze, and this" he jabbed a finger toward Rita the beetle Skeeter "started making noises. Had to see what it was."
"Is that Rita Skeeter??" Fred and George asked as one. Their question was met with three amused nods and Hermione's small, "yes."
"We didn't believe Ron when he told us," George said, breaking into another trademark grin.
"Well, there she is…" Hermione said.
"Excellent!"
"Should we…continue with the books?" Ron voiced the question lingering in everyone's minds.
"Not yet. Tomorrow. With my parents here…" Hermione said, casting a nervous glance toward the closed door of her room.
"Point taken," Ron answered.
It was impossible to tell whether Harry was glad or sad that they wouldn't be continuing reading these tonight.
"Dinner!" Fred yelled, sniffing the air.
"Fish!" George said, also sniffing.
"And…mashed potatoes!" Fred said, eyeing Ron, who grinned sheepishly.
"C'mon!"
And it was a race downstairs.
A/N: Right. So, they'll finish book one in the next chapter……probably. Bwahahaa!!!
I'm really sorry that this is so short, and they only made it two chapters in. My deepest apologies. (-: My turn to grin sheepishly, I suppose…
Just so you know, it may or may not be a while for the next one. It won't be tomorrow. I have driver's ed and showchoir 'til late. Driver's Ed thru Thursday, but I leave for New York on Friday morning, early, for showchoir. So much fun, eh? I hope to get it up before I leave, but ya never know, it all depends on the voices! (and the muse)
REVIEW, please!!!
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