Chapter 9
Once they finished eating, Harry and Hermione left the Great Hall early and headed to the Gryffindor Tower to get their books, leaving Ron behind to walk with Callista later.
When they reached the Common Room, they sat alone in two chairs and Harry waited for Hermione to speak. She didn't say anything for a moment, so he prodded:
"So, Hermione, you said you'd tell me-"
"Um, Harry," she interrupted quickly, and Harry got a feeling she was trying to avoid it, "There's something you have to tell me first, okay?"
"Okay, I guess. Shoot," he said, wondering what she was trying to get at.
"Well, I know this is personal, but you have to tell me before I tell you... the new girl, Callista. Do you like her? I mean, as a friend and all. Cuz I know she's cool, and pretty, and very nice to everyone, and she seems to be a really good person over all. And the way she's nice, it's like... it's like she's not even the irritating kind of perfect that some people are, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, so she's perfect, what are you trying to say?"
"I guess what I'm asking is... do you like her?"
"How could I not? Didn't you just list her every fabulous attribute?"
"But is there maybe just the teeniest smidgen of you that feels, I don't know, just a little..."
"Suspicious?" suggested Harry.
"Well, yeah. I know that sounds absolutely terrible, especially after she's so nice to me, but-"
"I feel the same way. She kind of creeps me out, you know, with her eyes and all-"
"And doesn't it seem just a little bit weird that her father got a job here and she was accepted as an exchange-student? And there's never even been an exchange-student here before, right?"
"Yeah, I've been feeling the same way, but it makes me feel bad. Her family seems really nice and all, not to mention her,"
"Anyway, thanks for admitting it, cuz I couldn't tell you this without making sure you're not totally in love with her like everyone else. You can't mention this to anyone, okay? Not even Ron."
"Sure."
"Well, when I first saw her eyes, with the weird little gold circles, I thought I had seen that somewhere before, in a book or something."
"Yeah?"
"So I looked through some of our new textbooks for this year, but found nothing, then I thought about that Rare Magical Conditions book, and it turns out that those weird gold circles around her pupils are a condition of a Medolocrict."
"Medol-what?"
"A shape-shifter."
Harry gasped. There was a small silence.
"But Harry, that does not mean she is one. In fact, I'm 100% sure she is not one. Really. First of all, if she was, Dumbledore would know, and not let her into the school, right?"
"I don't know, he let Lupin when he knew he was a werewolf-"
"It's definitely not the same thing. Shape-shifters are the most dangerous creatures in the Wizarding World, Harry! You have no idea! You think werewolves are scary? A shape-shifter could become a werewolf in a matter of seconds. Same with any creature... or human. Shape-shifters are very rare now, possibly non-existent. But what makes me suspicious is that even though she's not a shape-shifter, she could easily be a descendant of one, and that means she does not have very good ancestors. See, a Shape-shifter is never a nice creature, even in their original shape. That's another condition of Shape-shifters, they're really nasty to other people. You could hardly accuse Calli of that, right?"
"Yeah. But it means she could be a descendant of... what?"
"Well, I've been reading up on history of Shape-shifters, and their background is... not good. All of them have been murderers, all involved with Dark Arts, and natural allies with You-Know-Who. And so if any are caught, they are executed. They even imprison their immediate family if possible, because there's always the risk that they, too, are dangerous. Are you getting what I mean?"
"Um...."
"Think, Harry. What has she told us about any of her family?"
"Not much. Just that her sister Marie is in Slytherin, her father got a job here, she's an exchange student, and that her mother is... her mother is dead."
"Since-?" said Hermione.
"Since she was little."
"Exactly," said Hermione pointedly.
"I think I might be catching on..." said Harry. "Wait, no, I'm not."
Hermione giggled for a second, then explained, "Harry, Harry. When Callista was a baby, her mother died. What was also going on at this time?"
"Voldemort had just disappeared, I guess, and all the Death Eaters were attempting to turn back to the good side so as not to be imprisoned or... executed. If Shape-shifters were allies with Voldemort... and Callista's mother was a Shape-shifter, she too would be executed."
"You finally got it. Congrats. Now it looks as if You-Know-Who's back, correct? There's tighter restrictions, more Aurors in action trying to catch people involved with the Dark Arts. If Callista's family, even though they're innocent, think they might get in trouble for being related to her mother, they're gonna want to escape from wherever they could be located at so as not to get caught up with His return."
"And so they came here!"
"Right. But Harry, let's not get carried away, this is just an idea, that could probably not be possible-"
"But it is a good point."
"Yeah."
"Maybe we should mention it to someone,"
"Maybe not. I don't want to get Calli in trouble now, it wouldn't be her fault if her mother was a shape shifter. We should help protect her, if we found out that this was indeed true. Besides, Ron would freak out. He'd never get over it."
They both laughed, and cleared out of the room with their books before all the others would crowd the tower. They met Ron, Callista, and some others outside of the entrance.
"Hey, where'd you guys disappear to?" said Ron, "You missed the announcement of today's varying class."
"Oh, what is it?" They asked curiously.
"Mmmmmmm...... I don't know if we should tell them, Callista, what do you think?"
"Hm. I don't know, Ron, maybe they shouldn't have left so early!"
"Oh, come on, Calli-" yelped Hermione. Ron couldn't keep his cool much longer anyway:
"Band. Band! Can you believe it? We're gonna like get together and play instruments! Muggle instruments!"
"Weird," said Harry and Hermione in unison.
"I know!" said Callista. "Come on, Transfiguration now, let's go..."
The day passed fairly quickly. In Transfiguration, they transformed their desk-chairs into badgers. In Charms, they put the Operatis charm on each other, which gave everyone a few good laughs among loud opera singing. In Herbology, they healed Neville's foot fungus with the Bertelates. In divination, they studied the age of death of specific students ("Harry! Oh, I'm sorry! Age 15? What a poor, poor tragedy.... and you haven't even seen the world yet!" "Er, neither have you, Professor, though you might if you ever came out of your tower"). In Care of Magical Creatures, they searched for any signs of hatching Fwoopers ("Oh look! The pink one is starting to brighten! It should hatch tomorrow sometime!").
Band class was by far the most exciting. Professor Dumbledore taught, and he had arranged for the Wicked Wizards of the West to be there to try and find a instrument for every one. Callista had already played an instrument for a year, the bassoon. Every one, except Harry and Hermione, were amazed how many people (mainly the guys) suddenly seemed interested in the odd instrument. Harry was very confused on what to take because he had never been the musical type. he remembered playing with sticks when he was little and playing all different kinds of beats, picking out the ones he liked the most. He still remember some of them, so he headed over to the percussion section and asked to have a go at the drums. The drummer agreed and Harry picked his favorite and played it. "Woah dude, you're a natural at this! did you ever take lessons?" the drummer seemed ecstatic that a 'drummer prodigy' lived at Hogwarts. leaving the percussion stand, harry bumped into Ron who carried a huge tuba that resembled a giant crushed gold can. "Isn't it beauteous?" he whimpered.
"Uh, sure?" said Harry, "But I thought you were gonna play bassoon. I saw you trying out." He elbowed him playfully.
"Ah, well, I was...." he blushed terribly, "I was better at tuba, or so the auditioner said."
"Besides," laughed Callista, joining them, "On the bassoon you sounded like a dying duck with a nasal infection."
Ron blushed further. "Hey! All bassoons sound like that, you know it."
"Not if they have talented players," retorted Callista proudly.
They crossed the room to where they spotted Hermione's bushy hair, and upon approaching her table, they saw her setting down a black electric guitar with red flames up the sides. Harry blinked, wide-eyed, and Ron cracked up.
"Very nice, Herm. So, what'd you decide to play? Clarinet? Flute?"
"Oh, just a little stringed instrument," she said, giggling, walking with them towards the door to head off to Potions.
"Violin?"
"Electric guitar," she said flatly.
"Viola? Cello?"
"No, Ron, ELECTRIC GUITAR."
"Ha ha, Herm, what? I've guessed everything?"
She glared.
"Oh, oops, trumpet, right? No? Saxophone!"
"Ron, listen to me!" By this time Callista was laughing, and Harry was trying hard not to exasperate Hermione further, but couldn't help but chuckle a bit unbelievingly.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, stringed. Um, what...? Oh, BASS!"
"RON! THIS IS NO GUESSING GAME! I HAVE TOLD YOU STRAIGHT OUT! E...LECT....RIC.....GUI....TAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"What?" he stammered, seeing for the first time she was serious. "But... but...."
"What?" said Callista defensively, her laughing ending abruptly, "What, so a girl can't play electric guitar, huh?" She stood tall.
Ron cowered. "Um, no, no, you're reading me all wrong, it's just that, uh, Hermione just isn't, I dunno, the-"
"What, the electric guitar type? Well, Ronald Weasley, I've tried to put up with you lately, but you know what? I think there's gonna be a lot of things that aren't gonna seem my type. But you're gonna have to get over it and grow up some day! Come on, Calli." She and Callista stalked off, Calli, looking sympathetically back at Ron, biting her lip.
Harry stared in their direction. He swatted Ron over the head. Hard. "Ron, you idiot! Why can't you just... get along with her? It's true, she has been putting up with you a lot lately and your stupid jokes!"
"What? Hey, it's not that big of a deal! Don't you think she's over-reacting just a little? I mean, come on! All I did was try and guess what she was playing-"
Harry sighed. "Ron, you know how girls are, with their girl-power stuff and being all defensive-like all the time."
"Yeah, I know, I know. You know Harry? That is a good thing to remember..."
"Uh-oh, Ron," said Harry, seeing the glint in his best friend's eyes, "You agreed with me. About girls. That's not a good sign."
"Ho, pal, I just thought of a bloody brilliant way to make us rich, smart, and popular with the girls!"
Harry groaned and put his head in his hands as they entered the dark potions room and sat down. Ron sat next to him.
"No, no, it's a good idea! We write a book."
"A what?" exclaimed Harry, wondering what in the world would inspire his friend to actually do something involving thought, or work.
"A book! And we'd call it..." He stared at some invisible object, placing his hands in the shape of a rectangle in front of him, "How To Understand Women."
Harry stared. That was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard of, and yet somehow... somehow....
"Ron! You're right!" He jumped up and stood up in his seat, shouting, "That is bloody brilliant!!!!" Then he realized what he was doing, glanced around quickly at the staring eyes in his direction, especially at the four angry eyes of Hermione and Callista, and sat back down, blushing furiously. Great, he thought, now they're mad at me, too. Oh well! I'm rich! I'm brilliant! It's genius!!
"I'm rich! I'm brilliant! It's genius!" exclaimed Ron excitedly, "Wadda you think?"
"It should be easy! I mean, we hang out with that girl-" he gestured toward her, and she glared further from across the room, "-well, those girls now, I guess, so much, that it should be a snap! Let's get started!"
Ron grinned and grabbed a piece of parchment. Then frowned.
"Hey, Harry, you know, we're gonna have to make friends with them again, though, if we're gonna write this-"
Harry slapped him over the head again. "Ron, you really can be rude sometimes! Of course you're gonna have to make friends with them, and not just for the book! Ron, we're best friends with Hermione, remember?" He conked him on the head a few more times before pulling the parchment towards himself, sucking on the end of his quill. He put his pen to the paper, but just then, Mrs. Everett strolled in.
Wait a minute, that wasn't right, thought Harry, she strolled? He and Ron stared as she strolled happily up to the front, and called role in the sweetest voice that could rival a kindergarten teacher on her first day. She didn't have a problem with everyone chatting today, they all fell into complete silence when they saw her behave the way she did. When all was done, she took out a piece of parchment, apparently with the seating arrangement on it.
"Okay, everyone," she said excitedly, "Do you know what we get to do now?" Silence. "Class? Well, I'll tell you, then! We get to..." she did a little drum roll with her hand on her desk, "Duh-duh-duh-duuuuh!" she sang in that "Here it is!" sort of tune, "The SEATING ARRANGEMENT!" She looked exuberantly around the class, evidently expecting some sort of excited outburst. There was none, only Ron exchanging glances with Harry. What was with their new previously-corrupt teacher? What was with this little kid's act, as if they were pre-schoolers? And the little voice was getting really tiresome by now. She placed them all in their seats by touching their shoulders, pulling them up, and leading them to their new seats by force. This took quite a while, as she didn't know any of their names and she had to say, "Which one of you little darlings is Hermione?" each time she moved someone. By the time she was finished, class was almost over. Harry just happened to be behind Hermione, but in front of Draco. This, of course, could be a bad position, if Draco ever decided his frog guts could use a little tossing about and Harry was just perfectly positioned.
"Now," she said, "I'd like you to talk amongst yourselves in inside voices," she put her finger to her mouth, "And, you know, get to know your neighbor a little. First everyone say 'Howdy neighbor!' to your new partner. Everybody?" There was a weak 'Howdy neighbor' among a few members of the class, most of them still staring in awe, many not knowing what howdy was supposed to mean. "Now," she said, "Chat!"
No problem. Harry turned to Seamus who was next to him. "Howdy, neighbor," he drawled in a Western accent.
"How's it goin', pardner?"
"Juuuust fine."
"Well that's mighty beauteous."
Class was over. Ron, apparently hoping to get a move-on with his book, hurried to walk with Hermione, Harry and Callista keeping their safe distance behind.
"Hey, Herm," he said, shyly. She turned and glared at him, then sped up the pace. He kept up. "Hey, Hermione, I just wanted to say how sorry I am for... for not treating you in a desirable fashion-" You could almost sense the smirk lying directly behind that scowl of Hermione's. Desirable fashion? "I know to my full understanding that women are just as equally capable-"
"More," muttered Hermione, apparently beginning to accept the apology.
"Hm?"
"More. We're more-"
"Oh, yes, yes, you're more equal. Uh, I mean capable of- of-" Harry's jaw practically brushed the floor. What was going on? He was nervous! Ron, who was practically Hermione's brother, was nervous talking to her! And Herm? She was just accepting the apology, no sweat?
"-capable of... everything. And especially totally rad musical instruments that I... I was jealous that you got to play. And were good at-"
"Amazing."
"Oh, um, yes, amazing."
"Good. Apology accepted." She grinned. "You are messed up, Ron Weasley."
"And proud of it."
Harry could hardly believe it. "Oh, how sweet!" whispered Callista into his ear, "They're friends again!"
"Yeah, yeah, okay..." they walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts class eager for a new lesson.
