Chapter 14
Tim Becker
Hermione ignored Ron and Harry for the next two days, and only spoke to them when she needed them to pass the jar of marmalade during breakfast one day. The weather kept on changing, but one particular morning, Harry woke up on a snow day. Ron, and Harry quickly put on their cloaks and dashed outside, finding almost everyone awake playing in the snow. Everyone forgot about the attack on Halloween; they were now playing joyfully in the snow. Having snowball fights, making snowmen, and snow angels. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, even Professor Dumbledore couldn't resist and came out of the teacher's cabin to play in the snow; everyone except Hermione. Neither Harry nor Ron has seen Hermione for the past 4 days. "What do you think she's up to"? Harry suddenly asked at dinner that day. "I don't know, and I don't care"! Ron snapped. Ron seemed to snap at anyone who mentions Hermione. He was in a pretty bad mood with her. Finally, the last day of the month, November. Hermione finally showed herself near the lake scribbling down some stuff in a notebook. Harry and Ron finally decided to talk to her. "What do you want"? Hermione asked curiously without looking up from her notebook. "Nothing, just wondering what your up to", Harry asked nervously. Hermione finally looked up and glanced at Harry and Ron and broke into a smile. "Listen guys, I'm so sorry about.you know.", Hermione stammered. "It's alright, we want to apologize too", Harry smiled. "I'm sorry that I've been really nosy lately", Hermione finally finished. Ron nodded and smiled at Hermione and Hermione smiled back.
"Harry, can you pass the mashed potatoes? I'm starving"! Ron exclaimed. It was dinnertime, and they were having dinner in their cabins. Plates full of food appeared in front of the common room. Harry passed the mashed potatoes to Ron. As he did, Ginny walked into the room and sat down beside Hermione. "Hey guys", Ginny said cheerfully, but blushed when she said "hi" to Harry separately. Harry grinned at Ginny, which made her blush even harder. She then excused herself and left. Later on, when everyone was in the middle of desert, Professor McGonagall opened the door and stepped in. "Silence"! Professor McGonagall yelled over all the chattering. "I would like to introduce you all to one of the scientists that have been working up at the castle. Please give a warm welcome to Mr. Becker"! The same small bald man Harry and Ron saw last night stepped out from behind Professor McGonagall. He was a head shorter then Professor McGonagall, and was wearing a blue suit with an orange tie. The thick brown glasses he was wearing covered his small blue eyes. At the sight of him, made Ron drop his fork. Harry took a quick glance at Ron and saw that his mouth was hanging open, and his eyes were huge. Harry was the same too, but Hermione wasn't. Hermione didn't know whom Harry and Ron saw last night, if she did, she wouldn't be gazing dreamily at Mr. Becker. "Hello kids! As you know my name is Mr. Becker, but you all can call me Tim. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate and ask me. You all should know by now that you all will have your castle back after winter vacations"? Tim said merrily as many kids nodded their heads. "Great! Great! Well hope your enjoying yourselves out here"! As soon as Professor McGonagall and Tim left, the room filled up with chattering and whispers. "Who was that"? "Kind of weird looking if you ask me". "Did you see his suit"? "Yeah, it was weird"! "Oh my gosh! He's a scientist"! Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "Do you think he knows anything about the Crystal Ball of Fire he might tell us? I mean, of course he knows about the Crystal, but do you think he'll be nice enough to tell us any information? I sure hope so, he looks nice". "Isn't that the guy we saw yesterday Harry"? Ron whispered while Hermione kept on going on and on, on how nice Tim looked. "Yeah, he was that mad guy talking to himself wasn't he"? Harry said. "What are you two whispering about? We got to go ask Tim about the Crystal, I have a feeling that he'll tell us anything we need to know"! Hermione continued. "But then.I don't think we're allowed to go out this late". "Hermione, it's only 7:00. I'm sure McGonagall wont mind", Ron said while checking Harry's watch. "Do you guys want to go then"? Hermione asked. "Yeah sure why not. Oh, I forgot! While we're at it, I need to send a letter to Sirius, telling him what happened", Harry whispered to Ron. "How could I forget something as important as this"? "Oh just get writing, and Hermione and I will wait for you here", Ron said. "Oh no I can't stay out HERE, I got to go get ready! Fix my hair, maybe put a bit of make-up on, but my parents wont allow me to put any make-up. But their not here so this is my chance to put some on, oh this is so exciting"! With that, Hermione dashed off into her room. Ron shrugged and followed Harry to their room. Harry sat down on his bed with Ron beside him. He got out a piece of parchment, inkbottle, and a quill and started thinking. "How should I tell him"? Harry asked. "Well start by telling him what happened on Halloween", Ron suggested. Harry nodded, dipped his quill into the inkbottle and started to write. After a few minutes, he finally finished his letter. "Okay, how about this", Harry asked as he put his leftover parchment back in his trunk. He left his quill and inkbottle on the small table beside his bed, just in case if he might need it some other time.
Dear Sirius, Sorry it took me so long to tell you this. I'm not sure whether Dumbledore have already told you, but I'm going to tell you anyways. On Halloween night, someone had the words "Voldemort is Back" set up on the sky. No one knows who did this. It was a disaster! Everyone was panicking and rushing towards the Forbidden Forest, and Ron's sister, Ginny, was attacked. Dumbledore tried to ask her who and what she saw, but all she could manage was cry and said there was a pair of red eyes. Do you think its Voldemort? And just last night, Ron and I sneaked into the castle to get a book from the library on the Crystal Ball of Fire. I know! We shouldn't have, we could have gotten attacked, or something bad might have happened. But we came back into our cabins untouched. But on our way back, we saw this guy. He was a short bald man, and just today we found out his name was Tim Becker. He was a scientist and he's working in the castle with the other scientists. It was so weird, since today he seemed perfectly normal and was very cheerful indeed, but yesterday night when Ron and I saw him, we thought he has gone mad or something! He kept on saying he was late for something, and there was no time left. It was really weird. Well, hope your well!
Harry
P.S. Say Hi to Buckbeak for me.
"What do you think"? Harry asked after Ron finished reading. "Perfect"! Ron grinned. Hermione came rushing into the boy's room, her face covered in make up. She had pink eye shadow on, lots of blush, lots sparkly lip-gloss applied on her lips, and she had time to sleek her hair down and had it put into a ponytail. "Took me a long time, but now I'm done"! Hermione said while sitting beside Ron, who was looking amazed at Hermione. "H-H-Hermione"! Ron said surprised. "Y-You looking d-different". "Well of course, I put make-up on. Do you think I put on too much? I don't want to make it look like I'm trying to impress Mr. Becker". "You should do this everyday", Ron said still very surprised. Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ron then turned to Harry. "What's that"? Hermione asked pointing to the letter Harry wrote. Not wanting to tell Hermione that he and Ron seen Tim already, Harry put it in his pocket, and quickly thought of an excuse. "Essay due last year, I forgot to hand it in to Professor McGonagall", Harry lied. Hermione looked quite shocked but didn't lecture Harry on how important it is to hand your homework in on time. "Well, we better get going then"! Hermione chirped. "Let me get my invisibility cloak first, you know, just in case if we need it", Harry lied. In fact, he was going to use the cloak to get up to the owlery. Harry quickly ran into his room to get the cloak, then the three left the cabin. "Boy, it sure gets dark fast", Ron shivered. "Your not scared of the dark too are you"? Hermione sighed. "Course not"! Ron muttered. Hermione shrugged and the three continued to walk. They only needed to walk about 3 minutes, for Tim was talking to Professor Snape quietly beside the lake. The two seemed to be arguing. "Guys, get behind that bush over there"! Harry instructed. The three quickly crept behind the bush and listened closely to Snape's conversation with Tim. "Did you find the Crystal yet, Tim"? Snape asked curiously. "No, I think it'll take us a while to find the Crystal. It's a very complicated theory", Tim muttered. "Well, you better find it soon, your master's waiting", Snape said slyly. Harry could see Tim was glaring at Snape. "What.master"? Tim said curiously. "You know, your beloved master. You should know, boy, would he get mad as soon as he finds out that his faithful pal servant forgot about him. Maybe you should bring a picture of him along with you wherever you go, maybe that way you'll remember him", Snape continued. With a swish of Snape's cloak, he walked away leaving Tim looking confused. This was the chance where Harry, Ron and Hermione could question Tim without anyone around. As silently as possible, they got up and walked towards Tim. "Hello Tim", Hermione chirped. That made Tim jump. He wasn't excepting someone to come talk to him. "Well, what's your name young lady"? Tim said smiling. "My name is Hermione Granger", Hermione said in one of her snotty voices. Harry and Ron sniggered. They remember the first time they met Hermione on the train. She had the exact same snotty voice on. "Hermione, that's a very interesting name. Quite lovely may I add"? Tim chuckled, which made Hermione blush, and Ron flush red with anger. "And who are these two young men? Aren't you a bit too young to have two boyfriends at the exact same time"? Tim joked which Hermione gave a quick fake laugh. "That's Ron and Harry", Hermione explained. "Harry? Harry Potter"? Tim asked. Harry could feel Tim's eyes looking at his forehead. Why does people always have to look at the forehead? Harry thought. "Err.yes I am", Harry said. "Interesting! Well, now what brings you three here"? Tim asked taking his eyes off of Harry. "We were wondering if you could tell us anything about the Crystal Ball of Fire", Hermione said sweetly. "Hmm.well you should know by now that the Crystal can bring the dead back to life", Tim said, while the three nodded. "How about that the Crystal can only be used once. And only once. As soon as it's been used, the Crystal will no longer contain the magic in bringing the dead back to life". "That we didn't know.is there anything else", Ron asked. "Hmm.well, there's really nothing else, there's little data dated on this substance. But if I find out anything else, you three will be the first I come to", Tim smiled. "Well now, I got to run, there's so much things to do. See you"! With that, Tim walked away. "Too bad it can only be used once huh"? Ron spoke up. "Listen you guys, I have to go give this let-err.essay to Professor McGonagall, she's expecting this. See you guys later"! Harry said. He waited until Hermione and Ron walked away then he quickly put on his invisibility cloak, and started off towards the owlery. It didn't take him long to get there, and didn't take him too long to find Hedwig, for she was the only snowy owl in the owlery. He attached the letter to Hedwig's leg and watched her fly off into the dark blue sky. The stars were shining at him, as if they were winking. If only Harry knew more about the Crystal ball of Fire.
Tim Becker
Hermione ignored Ron and Harry for the next two days, and only spoke to them when she needed them to pass the jar of marmalade during breakfast one day. The weather kept on changing, but one particular morning, Harry woke up on a snow day. Ron, and Harry quickly put on their cloaks and dashed outside, finding almost everyone awake playing in the snow. Everyone forgot about the attack on Halloween; they were now playing joyfully in the snow. Having snowball fights, making snowmen, and snow angels. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, even Professor Dumbledore couldn't resist and came out of the teacher's cabin to play in the snow; everyone except Hermione. Neither Harry nor Ron has seen Hermione for the past 4 days. "What do you think she's up to"? Harry suddenly asked at dinner that day. "I don't know, and I don't care"! Ron snapped. Ron seemed to snap at anyone who mentions Hermione. He was in a pretty bad mood with her. Finally, the last day of the month, November. Hermione finally showed herself near the lake scribbling down some stuff in a notebook. Harry and Ron finally decided to talk to her. "What do you want"? Hermione asked curiously without looking up from her notebook. "Nothing, just wondering what your up to", Harry asked nervously. Hermione finally looked up and glanced at Harry and Ron and broke into a smile. "Listen guys, I'm so sorry about.you know.", Hermione stammered. "It's alright, we want to apologize too", Harry smiled. "I'm sorry that I've been really nosy lately", Hermione finally finished. Ron nodded and smiled at Hermione and Hermione smiled back.
"Harry, can you pass the mashed potatoes? I'm starving"! Ron exclaimed. It was dinnertime, and they were having dinner in their cabins. Plates full of food appeared in front of the common room. Harry passed the mashed potatoes to Ron. As he did, Ginny walked into the room and sat down beside Hermione. "Hey guys", Ginny said cheerfully, but blushed when she said "hi" to Harry separately. Harry grinned at Ginny, which made her blush even harder. She then excused herself and left. Later on, when everyone was in the middle of desert, Professor McGonagall opened the door and stepped in. "Silence"! Professor McGonagall yelled over all the chattering. "I would like to introduce you all to one of the scientists that have been working up at the castle. Please give a warm welcome to Mr. Becker"! The same small bald man Harry and Ron saw last night stepped out from behind Professor McGonagall. He was a head shorter then Professor McGonagall, and was wearing a blue suit with an orange tie. The thick brown glasses he was wearing covered his small blue eyes. At the sight of him, made Ron drop his fork. Harry took a quick glance at Ron and saw that his mouth was hanging open, and his eyes were huge. Harry was the same too, but Hermione wasn't. Hermione didn't know whom Harry and Ron saw last night, if she did, she wouldn't be gazing dreamily at Mr. Becker. "Hello kids! As you know my name is Mr. Becker, but you all can call me Tim. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate and ask me. You all should know by now that you all will have your castle back after winter vacations"? Tim said merrily as many kids nodded their heads. "Great! Great! Well hope your enjoying yourselves out here"! As soon as Professor McGonagall and Tim left, the room filled up with chattering and whispers. "Who was that"? "Kind of weird looking if you ask me". "Did you see his suit"? "Yeah, it was weird"! "Oh my gosh! He's a scientist"! Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "Do you think he knows anything about the Crystal Ball of Fire he might tell us? I mean, of course he knows about the Crystal, but do you think he'll be nice enough to tell us any information? I sure hope so, he looks nice". "Isn't that the guy we saw yesterday Harry"? Ron whispered while Hermione kept on going on and on, on how nice Tim looked. "Yeah, he was that mad guy talking to himself wasn't he"? Harry said. "What are you two whispering about? We got to go ask Tim about the Crystal, I have a feeling that he'll tell us anything we need to know"! Hermione continued. "But then.I don't think we're allowed to go out this late". "Hermione, it's only 7:00. I'm sure McGonagall wont mind", Ron said while checking Harry's watch. "Do you guys want to go then"? Hermione asked. "Yeah sure why not. Oh, I forgot! While we're at it, I need to send a letter to Sirius, telling him what happened", Harry whispered to Ron. "How could I forget something as important as this"? "Oh just get writing, and Hermione and I will wait for you here", Ron said. "Oh no I can't stay out HERE, I got to go get ready! Fix my hair, maybe put a bit of make-up on, but my parents wont allow me to put any make-up. But their not here so this is my chance to put some on, oh this is so exciting"! With that, Hermione dashed off into her room. Ron shrugged and followed Harry to their room. Harry sat down on his bed with Ron beside him. He got out a piece of parchment, inkbottle, and a quill and started thinking. "How should I tell him"? Harry asked. "Well start by telling him what happened on Halloween", Ron suggested. Harry nodded, dipped his quill into the inkbottle and started to write. After a few minutes, he finally finished his letter. "Okay, how about this", Harry asked as he put his leftover parchment back in his trunk. He left his quill and inkbottle on the small table beside his bed, just in case if he might need it some other time.
Dear Sirius, Sorry it took me so long to tell you this. I'm not sure whether Dumbledore have already told you, but I'm going to tell you anyways. On Halloween night, someone had the words "Voldemort is Back" set up on the sky. No one knows who did this. It was a disaster! Everyone was panicking and rushing towards the Forbidden Forest, and Ron's sister, Ginny, was attacked. Dumbledore tried to ask her who and what she saw, but all she could manage was cry and said there was a pair of red eyes. Do you think its Voldemort? And just last night, Ron and I sneaked into the castle to get a book from the library on the Crystal Ball of Fire. I know! We shouldn't have, we could have gotten attacked, or something bad might have happened. But we came back into our cabins untouched. But on our way back, we saw this guy. He was a short bald man, and just today we found out his name was Tim Becker. He was a scientist and he's working in the castle with the other scientists. It was so weird, since today he seemed perfectly normal and was very cheerful indeed, but yesterday night when Ron and I saw him, we thought he has gone mad or something! He kept on saying he was late for something, and there was no time left. It was really weird. Well, hope your well!
Harry
P.S. Say Hi to Buckbeak for me.
"What do you think"? Harry asked after Ron finished reading. "Perfect"! Ron grinned. Hermione came rushing into the boy's room, her face covered in make up. She had pink eye shadow on, lots of blush, lots sparkly lip-gloss applied on her lips, and she had time to sleek her hair down and had it put into a ponytail. "Took me a long time, but now I'm done"! Hermione said while sitting beside Ron, who was looking amazed at Hermione. "H-H-Hermione"! Ron said surprised. "Y-You looking d-different". "Well of course, I put make-up on. Do you think I put on too much? I don't want to make it look like I'm trying to impress Mr. Becker". "You should do this everyday", Ron said still very surprised. Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ron then turned to Harry. "What's that"? Hermione asked pointing to the letter Harry wrote. Not wanting to tell Hermione that he and Ron seen Tim already, Harry put it in his pocket, and quickly thought of an excuse. "Essay due last year, I forgot to hand it in to Professor McGonagall", Harry lied. Hermione looked quite shocked but didn't lecture Harry on how important it is to hand your homework in on time. "Well, we better get going then"! Hermione chirped. "Let me get my invisibility cloak first, you know, just in case if we need it", Harry lied. In fact, he was going to use the cloak to get up to the owlery. Harry quickly ran into his room to get the cloak, then the three left the cabin. "Boy, it sure gets dark fast", Ron shivered. "Your not scared of the dark too are you"? Hermione sighed. "Course not"! Ron muttered. Hermione shrugged and the three continued to walk. They only needed to walk about 3 minutes, for Tim was talking to Professor Snape quietly beside the lake. The two seemed to be arguing. "Guys, get behind that bush over there"! Harry instructed. The three quickly crept behind the bush and listened closely to Snape's conversation with Tim. "Did you find the Crystal yet, Tim"? Snape asked curiously. "No, I think it'll take us a while to find the Crystal. It's a very complicated theory", Tim muttered. "Well, you better find it soon, your master's waiting", Snape said slyly. Harry could see Tim was glaring at Snape. "What.master"? Tim said curiously. "You know, your beloved master. You should know, boy, would he get mad as soon as he finds out that his faithful pal servant forgot about him. Maybe you should bring a picture of him along with you wherever you go, maybe that way you'll remember him", Snape continued. With a swish of Snape's cloak, he walked away leaving Tim looking confused. This was the chance where Harry, Ron and Hermione could question Tim without anyone around. As silently as possible, they got up and walked towards Tim. "Hello Tim", Hermione chirped. That made Tim jump. He wasn't excepting someone to come talk to him. "Well, what's your name young lady"? Tim said smiling. "My name is Hermione Granger", Hermione said in one of her snotty voices. Harry and Ron sniggered. They remember the first time they met Hermione on the train. She had the exact same snotty voice on. "Hermione, that's a very interesting name. Quite lovely may I add"? Tim chuckled, which made Hermione blush, and Ron flush red with anger. "And who are these two young men? Aren't you a bit too young to have two boyfriends at the exact same time"? Tim joked which Hermione gave a quick fake laugh. "That's Ron and Harry", Hermione explained. "Harry? Harry Potter"? Tim asked. Harry could feel Tim's eyes looking at his forehead. Why does people always have to look at the forehead? Harry thought. "Err.yes I am", Harry said. "Interesting! Well, now what brings you three here"? Tim asked taking his eyes off of Harry. "We were wondering if you could tell us anything about the Crystal Ball of Fire", Hermione said sweetly. "Hmm.well you should know by now that the Crystal can bring the dead back to life", Tim said, while the three nodded. "How about that the Crystal can only be used once. And only once. As soon as it's been used, the Crystal will no longer contain the magic in bringing the dead back to life". "That we didn't know.is there anything else", Ron asked. "Hmm.well, there's really nothing else, there's little data dated on this substance. But if I find out anything else, you three will be the first I come to", Tim smiled. "Well now, I got to run, there's so much things to do. See you"! With that, Tim walked away. "Too bad it can only be used once huh"? Ron spoke up. "Listen you guys, I have to go give this let-err.essay to Professor McGonagall, she's expecting this. See you guys later"! Harry said. He waited until Hermione and Ron walked away then he quickly put on his invisibility cloak, and started off towards the owlery. It didn't take him long to get there, and didn't take him too long to find Hedwig, for she was the only snowy owl in the owlery. He attached the letter to Hedwig's leg and watched her fly off into the dark blue sky. The stars were shining at him, as if they were winking. If only Harry knew more about the Crystal ball of Fire.