Ch 10
Harry gulped three glasses of water quickly and poured a fourth. The house-elves attempted to look busy so that Harry and Ginny wouldn't notice that they were actually just standing around staring at them.
"Has Mister Potter gone crazy?" one of them asked quietly, washing a clean bowl.
"I think so." His friend replied, drying the now extremely clean bowl.
"Careful." Ginny warned. "If you drink too much too fast you'll throw up."
"We need a plan." Harry said, putting the half-full glass down on a counter.
"Here's my plan. We wait until Hermione comes up with a plan." Ron said.
Ginny glanced up at the clock. "Eight hours till dinner."
"Great. Because I react so well to a deadline." Harry said, picking up his water glass again.
A door slammed somewhere nearby, making them all jump. Heavy footsteps came towards them.
Harry put his hand over Ginny's and squeezed it comfortingly, but his face was nervous, as if he expected Professor Riddle to burst in and kill them all.
Instead it was Draco.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"I had an attack of conscience, which is weird because I didn't know I had one. I've come to help fight the good fight." Draco said. "So where do I sign? Is there a uniform?"
One uniform, coming right up!" the Weasley twins appeared. Fred was carrying a large cardboard box and George held a clipboard.
"Today just keeps getting weirder." Ron muttered.
Fred dropped the box on a table and pulled out a stack of white hats. Written on the front of each hat was
-Good Guy- in permanent marker.
"That's subtle." Harry said, accepting the hat they gave him.
"What are you two doing here?" Ginny asked.
"Well, we were cutting Potions, because we have a test. After breakfast we just went straight back to the tower to test our new line of trick cosmetics..." George began.
"They're great. They look like sensible pastels when they're in the packet, but they change to really loud, garish colours as soon as they come into contact with the skin." Fred interrupted. "And if the wearer looks into the mirror, they won't be able to see that the colour has changed."
"But who did we see leaving the Gryffindor tower? None other than Draco Malfoy, the sneakiest Slytherin of them all." George continued.
"The only way to stop them from tipping me out of a third floor window was to explain exactly what was going on." Draco concluded.
"And I have to say, me and George-" George started.
"I'm Fred you idiot. You're George." Fred corrected.
"Oh. Me and Fred were deeply offended that you were going to save the world without inviting us."
"Well, you're not exactly great at dueling..." Ron explained.
"That's true. That's why we've enlisted the help of some people who are." Fred said. George read from his clipboard. "Oliver, Seamus, Dean, Padma, Darla, Pansy, Charlie, Anita, Sally-Anne..."
" Jae, Nick, Kilna, Paris, Marie, Stevie, Michella..." Fred continued.
"When did you make these hats?" Ron asked, inspecting his carefully.
"I made them while George was off recruiting good guys. We already had the hats because we bought a whole carton of them for a trick. By the way, they might spontaneously combust."
Harry calmly removed his hat and tossed it into a nearby sink. The house elf, watching them instead of his work, picked it up absent-mindedly and began to scrub it with the dishcloth.
"Well, me and George had better go and hand out these hats." Fred said.
"I'd better go find Hermione." Ron said.
"I'll come with you." Draco volunteered.
Hermione was sitting in a hallway, a book in her lap. The pages kept trying to turn themselves to annoy her, so she had her hands pressed firmly on the edge of the page to keep them in place.
"How is it that in this gigantic school we've managed to locate each other four or five times now without knowing where the others will be?" Draco asked.
"Divine intervention." Hermione said, looking up from her book and giving Draco a puzzled look. The book took advantage on her lapse in vigilance to slam closed on her hand. "Ow!" she shrieked. "It bit me! I hate these stupid living books!" she slammed it against the wall a few times to get it to let go. Once it had, she slammed it against the wall one last time just because she hated it.
"Found anything?" Ron asked.
"I've found lots of things. None of them are even remotely useful. This would be much easier if it would stop being so stubborn and let me look at the index or table of contents."
"Of course it won't show you. The table of contents and index is a very private thing for a book. A conscious book letting you see them is like you stripping down to your underwear and dancing round the Great Hall yelling "Look at me, I've got girly bits!"" Draco explained.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that isn't a fantasy of yours Malfoy."
"It is, but it doesn't involve you. What are you looking for?"
"At the moment, time travel." Hermione said.
Draco pulled out his wand and tapped the book with it. "Tocio."
The pages began to flip back and forth quickly before eventually coming to a stop on page 952. The pages lay obediently still.
"Wow." Hermione said. "I'm impressed."
"I have many skills." Draco said smugly.
"Okay. Time travel- methods of, identification of, rules and regulations of, pitfalls of, reversal of damage caused by. That's it."
"Okay. So we learn the spell, go to Riddle's office, do the spell, then go have lunch." Ron said.
"Its not that easy." Hermione said. "There are five different spells, depending on what method Voldemort used to go back in time."
Harry sat in silence. Ginny was tapping her fingers on the table nervously to fill in the silence. The house elf was still pretending to wash dishes, even though all the dishes were gone and the water had drained out of the sink. He was just standing there with his hands in the empty sink staring at them.
"You've stopped blushing." Harry blurted out suddenly.
"What?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows.
"I meant, you just seem so much more confident all of a sudden." He explained. He was blushing now, and wishing that he hadn't opened his mouth.
Ginny shrugged. "I haven't had time to be shy."
They fell silent again and she resumed tapping her fingernails on the tabletop. She had nice fingernails, she thought. They were fairly long and well shaped. She couldn't really afford quality nail polish, so she just covered them in a cheap clear varnish.
"What are your parents like?" she asked, desperate to break the awkward silence.
Harry smiled. "They're the best parents I know. Dad still plays the funniest pranks on everyone, and Mum is so sweet, always trying to make other people happy..." his voice trailed off sadly.
Ginny quietly kicked herself. Of all the topics, she had to bring up his parents.
Harry searched the folds of his robes for a second then he pulled out a worn leather wallet. He opened it and pushed it across the table.
The picture in it was slightly fuzzy, but it was unmistakably the Potter family. Ginny began to chuckle.
"What's funny?" Harry asked.
"Well, your parents have to be at least thirty-five in this picture. There's a photo back home of my parents in exactly the same pose. Except in that picture my parents are fifteen."
Harry grinned and took the picture back. "My parents never really grew up." He said. The picture was on a beach. They had their back to the water. James was carrying Lily on his back. She had her arms around his neck and her chin resting on his shoulder. His head was tilted to look into her eyes instead of at the camera. It was a muggle photograph, so they were frozen in that pose, which Ginny thought was rather cruel.
Ginny moved closer to harry and put a hand on his shoulder a bit uncertainly. He was crying now, and she'd never seen a boy cry. Except Ron once, when the twins set fire to Mr Wopsy, his toy bunny rabbit.
"We're going to lose so much if we fix this." He said.
"We're going to lose just as much if we don't." she replied, knowing that she wasn't being any help at all.
"Damned if we do, damned if we don't." Harry said, placing his hand over hers on his shoulder.
......................................................................................................................................
A/N - I personally think that this chapter's a bit stupid, but I've been on holidays and my brain has rotted. So flame away.
Harry gulped three glasses of water quickly and poured a fourth. The house-elves attempted to look busy so that Harry and Ginny wouldn't notice that they were actually just standing around staring at them.
"Has Mister Potter gone crazy?" one of them asked quietly, washing a clean bowl.
"I think so." His friend replied, drying the now extremely clean bowl.
"Careful." Ginny warned. "If you drink too much too fast you'll throw up."
"We need a plan." Harry said, putting the half-full glass down on a counter.
"Here's my plan. We wait until Hermione comes up with a plan." Ron said.
Ginny glanced up at the clock. "Eight hours till dinner."
"Great. Because I react so well to a deadline." Harry said, picking up his water glass again.
A door slammed somewhere nearby, making them all jump. Heavy footsteps came towards them.
Harry put his hand over Ginny's and squeezed it comfortingly, but his face was nervous, as if he expected Professor Riddle to burst in and kill them all.
Instead it was Draco.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"I had an attack of conscience, which is weird because I didn't know I had one. I've come to help fight the good fight." Draco said. "So where do I sign? Is there a uniform?"
One uniform, coming right up!" the Weasley twins appeared. Fred was carrying a large cardboard box and George held a clipboard.
"Today just keeps getting weirder." Ron muttered.
Fred dropped the box on a table and pulled out a stack of white hats. Written on the front of each hat was
-Good Guy- in permanent marker.
"That's subtle." Harry said, accepting the hat they gave him.
"What are you two doing here?" Ginny asked.
"Well, we were cutting Potions, because we have a test. After breakfast we just went straight back to the tower to test our new line of trick cosmetics..." George began.
"They're great. They look like sensible pastels when they're in the packet, but they change to really loud, garish colours as soon as they come into contact with the skin." Fred interrupted. "And if the wearer looks into the mirror, they won't be able to see that the colour has changed."
"But who did we see leaving the Gryffindor tower? None other than Draco Malfoy, the sneakiest Slytherin of them all." George continued.
"The only way to stop them from tipping me out of a third floor window was to explain exactly what was going on." Draco concluded.
"And I have to say, me and George-" George started.
"I'm Fred you idiot. You're George." Fred corrected.
"Oh. Me and Fred were deeply offended that you were going to save the world without inviting us."
"Well, you're not exactly great at dueling..." Ron explained.
"That's true. That's why we've enlisted the help of some people who are." Fred said. George read from his clipboard. "Oliver, Seamus, Dean, Padma, Darla, Pansy, Charlie, Anita, Sally-Anne..."
" Jae, Nick, Kilna, Paris, Marie, Stevie, Michella..." Fred continued.
"When did you make these hats?" Ron asked, inspecting his carefully.
"I made them while George was off recruiting good guys. We already had the hats because we bought a whole carton of them for a trick. By the way, they might spontaneously combust."
Harry calmly removed his hat and tossed it into a nearby sink. The house elf, watching them instead of his work, picked it up absent-mindedly and began to scrub it with the dishcloth.
"Well, me and George had better go and hand out these hats." Fred said.
"I'd better go find Hermione." Ron said.
"I'll come with you." Draco volunteered.
Hermione was sitting in a hallway, a book in her lap. The pages kept trying to turn themselves to annoy her, so she had her hands pressed firmly on the edge of the page to keep them in place.
"How is it that in this gigantic school we've managed to locate each other four or five times now without knowing where the others will be?" Draco asked.
"Divine intervention." Hermione said, looking up from her book and giving Draco a puzzled look. The book took advantage on her lapse in vigilance to slam closed on her hand. "Ow!" she shrieked. "It bit me! I hate these stupid living books!" she slammed it against the wall a few times to get it to let go. Once it had, she slammed it against the wall one last time just because she hated it.
"Found anything?" Ron asked.
"I've found lots of things. None of them are even remotely useful. This would be much easier if it would stop being so stubborn and let me look at the index or table of contents."
"Of course it won't show you. The table of contents and index is a very private thing for a book. A conscious book letting you see them is like you stripping down to your underwear and dancing round the Great Hall yelling "Look at me, I've got girly bits!"" Draco explained.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that isn't a fantasy of yours Malfoy."
"It is, but it doesn't involve you. What are you looking for?"
"At the moment, time travel." Hermione said.
Draco pulled out his wand and tapped the book with it. "Tocio."
The pages began to flip back and forth quickly before eventually coming to a stop on page 952. The pages lay obediently still.
"Wow." Hermione said. "I'm impressed."
"I have many skills." Draco said smugly.
"Okay. Time travel- methods of, identification of, rules and regulations of, pitfalls of, reversal of damage caused by. That's it."
"Okay. So we learn the spell, go to Riddle's office, do the spell, then go have lunch." Ron said.
"Its not that easy." Hermione said. "There are five different spells, depending on what method Voldemort used to go back in time."
Harry sat in silence. Ginny was tapping her fingers on the table nervously to fill in the silence. The house elf was still pretending to wash dishes, even though all the dishes were gone and the water had drained out of the sink. He was just standing there with his hands in the empty sink staring at them.
"You've stopped blushing." Harry blurted out suddenly.
"What?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows.
"I meant, you just seem so much more confident all of a sudden." He explained. He was blushing now, and wishing that he hadn't opened his mouth.
Ginny shrugged. "I haven't had time to be shy."
They fell silent again and she resumed tapping her fingernails on the tabletop. She had nice fingernails, she thought. They were fairly long and well shaped. She couldn't really afford quality nail polish, so she just covered them in a cheap clear varnish.
"What are your parents like?" she asked, desperate to break the awkward silence.
Harry smiled. "They're the best parents I know. Dad still plays the funniest pranks on everyone, and Mum is so sweet, always trying to make other people happy..." his voice trailed off sadly.
Ginny quietly kicked herself. Of all the topics, she had to bring up his parents.
Harry searched the folds of his robes for a second then he pulled out a worn leather wallet. He opened it and pushed it across the table.
The picture in it was slightly fuzzy, but it was unmistakably the Potter family. Ginny began to chuckle.
"What's funny?" Harry asked.
"Well, your parents have to be at least thirty-five in this picture. There's a photo back home of my parents in exactly the same pose. Except in that picture my parents are fifteen."
Harry grinned and took the picture back. "My parents never really grew up." He said. The picture was on a beach. They had their back to the water. James was carrying Lily on his back. She had her arms around his neck and her chin resting on his shoulder. His head was tilted to look into her eyes instead of at the camera. It was a muggle photograph, so they were frozen in that pose, which Ginny thought was rather cruel.
Ginny moved closer to harry and put a hand on his shoulder a bit uncertainly. He was crying now, and she'd never seen a boy cry. Except Ron once, when the twins set fire to Mr Wopsy, his toy bunny rabbit.
"We're going to lose so much if we fix this." He said.
"We're going to lose just as much if we don't." she replied, knowing that she wasn't being any help at all.
"Damned if we do, damned if we don't." Harry said, placing his hand over hers on his shoulder.
......................................................................................................................................
A/N - I personally think that this chapter's a bit stupid, but I've been on holidays and my brain has rotted. So flame away.