Blah blah. The characters etc. belong to J.K.Rowling and I am getting nothing out of this story except a headache and personal enjoyment (although these aren't connected...). Climbing Up The Walls is a title of a Radiohead song, and Judith is a character of my own invention. Warning: here be slash implications. Blahblah.
Ta very much Sunshineglow, and to everyone else, where have you gone? Surely I'm not so bad I don't deserve a review? Argargarg...
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All nine of them held on to the Portkey, and Judith felt an odd jerk in her stomach almost instantly. She blinked, and missed the change.
When she opened her eyes, she was in a tiny office lined from floor to ceiling with books. The office was not designed for nine, and, despite being hardly able to breathe, Judith was amused to see Ron actually standing on the desk with his head and shoulders hunched over where he reached the ceiling because there was no room for him on the floor.
"Ron, you're standing on someone's essay!" Hermione protested anxiously. "Get down!"
"I can't," Ron pointed out reasonably.
Hermione sighed, and somehow managed to squeeze open the door. She promptly fell through into the corridor outside along with Neville and Seamus. Judith took a relieved breath, and looked around some more. The now open door had a small sign proclaiming 'Professor Granger, Arithmancy' on it, and the books all had titles like 'Pythagoras' Contribution to Arithmancy' and 'The Arithmancers of Ancient Egypt'.
"Come on," said Hermione, and those who were still in the office wandered slowly out. Hermione led them down stone corridors and up and down stairs, speaking passwords every so often. Eventually, they stood in front of a door that seemed to be Dumbledore's office.
Hermione knocked twice. "Come in!" a friendly voice shouted from inside.
She opened the door and everyone filed in. Dumbledore raised a surprised eyebrow at the number of people Hermione had brought, but didn't comment on it.
"What can I do for you, Professor Granger...everyone? I'm afraid I don't know this young lady," he added apologetically.
"This is Judith Davis," Draco said. "She saved my life yesterday."
"Oh dear," said Dumbledore. "I hoped this was just a social visit, but I see it's more serious. What happened?"
"Crabbe," Draco said shortly, and explained what Judith had done.
Dumbledore raised both eyebrows. "That was brave of you, Judith," he said in surprise. "I'm impressed, but why?"
"I don't know...would sheer niceness be a good enough reason?"
Dumbledore smiled. "You'd make a good Gryffindor," he said.
"Don't insult her," Draco protested in mock annoyance.
"What I'm worried about," Dumbledore continued, and Judith would have thought he hadn't heard Draco's comment if she hadn't seen the twinkle in his eye, "is these books. More to the point, how this person managed to convincingly write four years of Harry's life from his point of view without him knowing."
"Me too," said Harry. "But what I'm more worried about is someone from the wizarding world getting hold of the later books, when they're written. If Voldemort gets hold of some of the stuff we discovered in my seventh year..."
"Quite," said Dumbledore. "Are these books popular with Muggles, Judith?"
"Very," she replied. "In this country at least, everyone knows what you mean when you mention Harry Potter, even if it's just to laugh at us for reading childrens' books."
"Why haven't any wizards noticed?" Dean asked. "Surely people would notice first years from Muggle families knowing more than they ought to?"
"Because even if they did, people would just write it off as Harry's fame and fortune getting back to Muggles via other Muggle-born wizards," Percy replied. "Pride. That's why I left the Ministry."
"Bill's not like that," Ron protested.
"I left before he was elected, Ron," Percy reminded him gently. "But it's still like that. Bill would take it seriously, but he's unlikely to find out because they'll all think it's not worth telling him."
"We should go and see him, then," Ron said.
"I have a better idea," said Dumbledore. "We should stay here for lunch, and meet Bill when he comes to see me today."
"Oh, goodness! I've got the Ravenclaw third years in two minutes," said Hermione suddenly, staring at the clock on Dumbledore's desk in horror. "Sorry..." her voice drifted back as she dashed out of the room.
They had three hours to kill until Bill was due to arrive, so Ron, Seamus and Dean decided to give Judith a guided tour of the school while Neville insisted on going with Percy to see Professor Sprout and Harry and Draco wandered down to the Quidditch pitch.
Ron, Seamus and Dean were in surprisingly high spirits for such an early time of morning. Most of the lessons in the school were subjected to the four of them 'accidentally' wandering into the classrooms and annoying the teachers, except one, where Ron heard Hermione's voice and stopped Seamus from opening the door.
"No, she won't speak to me for weeks," he warned, and led them quietly away.
Most of the teacher just looked at them in annoyance, until they reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, where a tall man with black hair and a shorter, frailer-looking man with light brown hair who had to be Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stopped their demonstration on a Boggart and both grinned.
"Harry here?" Sirius asked,
"Everyone," Seamus replied, grinning back.
"We'll be seeing you later, then," Remus said, looking amused.
"Indeed," said Seamus, and Judith wasn't as surprised as she would have thought she would have been at the look that passed between them that implied something more than friendship.
"Oy," Dean said, poking Seamus in the back. "Aren't I invited?"
Remus merely raised an eyebrow. "We'll see," said Sirius expansively, and turned back to the bemused first years. Ron rolled his eyes at Judith as he closed the door behind them.
The other most interesting visit was to a certain classroom in the dungeons.
"Oh, so sorry, Professor Snape," Ron said with mock over-sincerity. "Our apologies, dear second years, for disturbing your favourite lesson."
There followed much nervous tittering from the class, amused but not quite daring to laugh out loud.
"What do you want, Weasley?" Snape asked, looking very annoyed. "Oh, I see, brought Thomas and Finnegan too, have you?"
"Merely showing Judith around our favourite part of the school," Dean said.
Judith, meanwhile, had just finished ogling Snape and was staring in surprise at a short, dark-haired girl who was most definetely her cousin, Helen. Helen was staring in equal amazement back, and waved shyly. Judith grinned and waved back. "Talk later," she mouthed.
"Davis, don't gawp," Snape snapped at her. Judith turned an angry glare on him, and at the same time, an empty bottle toppled off a high shelf and broke heavily on Snape's head.
"Be seeing ya, Professor Snape," Seamus said, and quickly shut the door. All four of them hurried along the corridor outside, and burst into uncontrollable laughter as soon as they judged they were out of earshot.
Eventually, they calmed down, and Seamus insisted they visit the Quidditch pitch.
"Why is it the worst ones are always the good looking ones?" Judith heard Dean mutter to Seamus before Ron spoke to her.
"I think Hermione's right," Ron said to her. "That bottle was really steady until he snapped at that girl. Who was she, by the way?"
"My cousin. I didn't know she came here, so we were both surprised," Judith explained. "I'd like not to believe you, but Hermione's nearly always right, isn't she?"
"Usually," said Ron. "I didn't believe her 'til just then, though."
They met Draco and Harry at the Quidditch pitch, flying around on some old Cleansweeps and laughing at each other. It was about lunchtime when they arrived there, so they collected Percy and Neville from a greenhouse and made their way to the Great Hall.
Bill Weasley, Minister for Magic, was already sitting at the staff table between Dumbledore and a row of empty seats. Judith found herself sitting somewhere in the middle of the empty seats, noticing Ron next to his oldest brother at one end, and Seamus next to Sirius at the other end. As pupils began to arrive in the room, there were mutters and glances as they recognised not only the Minister for Magic, but Harry Potter as well, and is that Professor Granger's boyfriend, and knowing looks from some of the older pupils at Seamus, Dean, Sirius and Remus. Judith smiled and waved to Helen, accidentally earning her cousin instant fame.
There was no mention of the incident with Crabbe or the books during lunch. Judith was grateful, as it gave her a change to watch everyone else. Harry and Draco were exchanging glares with Snape, while Seamus had an odd look on his face that could well have been related to the fact that Sirius only had one hand visible above the table. At various points during the meal, four different Seekers came up to talk to Harry. Dean also had a visitor, who he loudly and surprisedly proclaimed to be a fan of their band ("Seamus, look, we've got a fan! Someone's heard of us!""), and autographed a record cover in astonishment. Near the end of the meal, Helen shyly wandered up to Judith.
"I didn't know you came here," Judith told her.
"I know you didn't. I didn't know you knew this place existed," Helen replied. You didn't come here, did you?"
"Nope," Judith replied. "I walked into Draco Malfoy the other day though, and I kind of had everything jump on me at once. It's a long story."
"You'll have to tell me sometime," Helen said. "When all you walked into Potions, we nearly died laughing."
Helen drifted off with her friends, and Judith made a mental note to investigate that branch of the family more closely when (if?) things got back to normal. Soon after, Dumbledore led them up to his office, which had somehow grown since that morning.
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That's it for the moment, dear reader (assuming you haven't deserted me). I make no apologies for Snape-worship contained herein...
I'm going on holiday (Skye) in a couple of days, so the next chapter might be even longer in coming, but it will, trust me :o). Of course, the number of reviews I have when I get back will encourage me to write quicker... (bribery? I have no idea what you're talking about.)
Ta very much Sunshineglow, and to everyone else, where have you gone? Surely I'm not so bad I don't deserve a review? Argargarg...
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All nine of them held on to the Portkey, and Judith felt an odd jerk in her stomach almost instantly. She blinked, and missed the change.
When she opened her eyes, she was in a tiny office lined from floor to ceiling with books. The office was not designed for nine, and, despite being hardly able to breathe, Judith was amused to see Ron actually standing on the desk with his head and shoulders hunched over where he reached the ceiling because there was no room for him on the floor.
"Ron, you're standing on someone's essay!" Hermione protested anxiously. "Get down!"
"I can't," Ron pointed out reasonably.
Hermione sighed, and somehow managed to squeeze open the door. She promptly fell through into the corridor outside along with Neville and Seamus. Judith took a relieved breath, and looked around some more. The now open door had a small sign proclaiming 'Professor Granger, Arithmancy' on it, and the books all had titles like 'Pythagoras' Contribution to Arithmancy' and 'The Arithmancers of Ancient Egypt'.
"Come on," said Hermione, and those who were still in the office wandered slowly out. Hermione led them down stone corridors and up and down stairs, speaking passwords every so often. Eventually, they stood in front of a door that seemed to be Dumbledore's office.
Hermione knocked twice. "Come in!" a friendly voice shouted from inside.
She opened the door and everyone filed in. Dumbledore raised a surprised eyebrow at the number of people Hermione had brought, but didn't comment on it.
"What can I do for you, Professor Granger...everyone? I'm afraid I don't know this young lady," he added apologetically.
"This is Judith Davis," Draco said. "She saved my life yesterday."
"Oh dear," said Dumbledore. "I hoped this was just a social visit, but I see it's more serious. What happened?"
"Crabbe," Draco said shortly, and explained what Judith had done.
Dumbledore raised both eyebrows. "That was brave of you, Judith," he said in surprise. "I'm impressed, but why?"
"I don't know...would sheer niceness be a good enough reason?"
Dumbledore smiled. "You'd make a good Gryffindor," he said.
"Don't insult her," Draco protested in mock annoyance.
"What I'm worried about," Dumbledore continued, and Judith would have thought he hadn't heard Draco's comment if she hadn't seen the twinkle in his eye, "is these books. More to the point, how this person managed to convincingly write four years of Harry's life from his point of view without him knowing."
"Me too," said Harry. "But what I'm more worried about is someone from the wizarding world getting hold of the later books, when they're written. If Voldemort gets hold of some of the stuff we discovered in my seventh year..."
"Quite," said Dumbledore. "Are these books popular with Muggles, Judith?"
"Very," she replied. "In this country at least, everyone knows what you mean when you mention Harry Potter, even if it's just to laugh at us for reading childrens' books."
"Why haven't any wizards noticed?" Dean asked. "Surely people would notice first years from Muggle families knowing more than they ought to?"
"Because even if they did, people would just write it off as Harry's fame and fortune getting back to Muggles via other Muggle-born wizards," Percy replied. "Pride. That's why I left the Ministry."
"Bill's not like that," Ron protested.
"I left before he was elected, Ron," Percy reminded him gently. "But it's still like that. Bill would take it seriously, but he's unlikely to find out because they'll all think it's not worth telling him."
"We should go and see him, then," Ron said.
"I have a better idea," said Dumbledore. "We should stay here for lunch, and meet Bill when he comes to see me today."
"Oh, goodness! I've got the Ravenclaw third years in two minutes," said Hermione suddenly, staring at the clock on Dumbledore's desk in horror. "Sorry..." her voice drifted back as she dashed out of the room.
They had three hours to kill until Bill was due to arrive, so Ron, Seamus and Dean decided to give Judith a guided tour of the school while Neville insisted on going with Percy to see Professor Sprout and Harry and Draco wandered down to the Quidditch pitch.
Ron, Seamus and Dean were in surprisingly high spirits for such an early time of morning. Most of the lessons in the school were subjected to the four of them 'accidentally' wandering into the classrooms and annoying the teachers, except one, where Ron heard Hermione's voice and stopped Seamus from opening the door.
"No, she won't speak to me for weeks," he warned, and led them quietly away.
Most of the teacher just looked at them in annoyance, until they reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, where a tall man with black hair and a shorter, frailer-looking man with light brown hair who had to be Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stopped their demonstration on a Boggart and both grinned.
"Harry here?" Sirius asked,
"Everyone," Seamus replied, grinning back.
"We'll be seeing you later, then," Remus said, looking amused.
"Indeed," said Seamus, and Judith wasn't as surprised as she would have thought she would have been at the look that passed between them that implied something more than friendship.
"Oy," Dean said, poking Seamus in the back. "Aren't I invited?"
Remus merely raised an eyebrow. "We'll see," said Sirius expansively, and turned back to the bemused first years. Ron rolled his eyes at Judith as he closed the door behind them.
The other most interesting visit was to a certain classroom in the dungeons.
"Oh, so sorry, Professor Snape," Ron said with mock over-sincerity. "Our apologies, dear second years, for disturbing your favourite lesson."
There followed much nervous tittering from the class, amused but not quite daring to laugh out loud.
"What do you want, Weasley?" Snape asked, looking very annoyed. "Oh, I see, brought Thomas and Finnegan too, have you?"
"Merely showing Judith around our favourite part of the school," Dean said.
Judith, meanwhile, had just finished ogling Snape and was staring in surprise at a short, dark-haired girl who was most definetely her cousin, Helen. Helen was staring in equal amazement back, and waved shyly. Judith grinned and waved back. "Talk later," she mouthed.
"Davis, don't gawp," Snape snapped at her. Judith turned an angry glare on him, and at the same time, an empty bottle toppled off a high shelf and broke heavily on Snape's head.
"Be seeing ya, Professor Snape," Seamus said, and quickly shut the door. All four of them hurried along the corridor outside, and burst into uncontrollable laughter as soon as they judged they were out of earshot.
Eventually, they calmed down, and Seamus insisted they visit the Quidditch pitch.
"Why is it the worst ones are always the good looking ones?" Judith heard Dean mutter to Seamus before Ron spoke to her.
"I think Hermione's right," Ron said to her. "That bottle was really steady until he snapped at that girl. Who was she, by the way?"
"My cousin. I didn't know she came here, so we were both surprised," Judith explained. "I'd like not to believe you, but Hermione's nearly always right, isn't she?"
"Usually," said Ron. "I didn't believe her 'til just then, though."
They met Draco and Harry at the Quidditch pitch, flying around on some old Cleansweeps and laughing at each other. It was about lunchtime when they arrived there, so they collected Percy and Neville from a greenhouse and made their way to the Great Hall.
Bill Weasley, Minister for Magic, was already sitting at the staff table between Dumbledore and a row of empty seats. Judith found herself sitting somewhere in the middle of the empty seats, noticing Ron next to his oldest brother at one end, and Seamus next to Sirius at the other end. As pupils began to arrive in the room, there were mutters and glances as they recognised not only the Minister for Magic, but Harry Potter as well, and is that Professor Granger's boyfriend, and knowing looks from some of the older pupils at Seamus, Dean, Sirius and Remus. Judith smiled and waved to Helen, accidentally earning her cousin instant fame.
There was no mention of the incident with Crabbe or the books during lunch. Judith was grateful, as it gave her a change to watch everyone else. Harry and Draco were exchanging glares with Snape, while Seamus had an odd look on his face that could well have been related to the fact that Sirius only had one hand visible above the table. At various points during the meal, four different Seekers came up to talk to Harry. Dean also had a visitor, who he loudly and surprisedly proclaimed to be a fan of their band ("Seamus, look, we've got a fan! Someone's heard of us!""), and autographed a record cover in astonishment. Near the end of the meal, Helen shyly wandered up to Judith.
"I didn't know you came here," Judith told her.
"I know you didn't. I didn't know you knew this place existed," Helen replied. You didn't come here, did you?"
"Nope," Judith replied. "I walked into Draco Malfoy the other day though, and I kind of had everything jump on me at once. It's a long story."
"You'll have to tell me sometime," Helen said. "When all you walked into Potions, we nearly died laughing."
Helen drifted off with her friends, and Judith made a mental note to investigate that branch of the family more closely when (if?) things got back to normal. Soon after, Dumbledore led them up to his office, which had somehow grown since that morning.
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That's it for the moment, dear reader (assuming you haven't deserted me). I make no apologies for Snape-worship contained herein...
I'm going on holiday (Skye) in a couple of days, so the next chapter might be even longer in coming, but it will, trust me :o). Of course, the number of reviews I have when I get back will encourage me to write quicker... (bribery? I have no idea what you're talking about.)
