Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't even own Dudley.
Harry sat there in Transfiguration, looking at Professor McGonagall…
Haha, just kidding. I got some reviews!
Harry and Ron finally got their orb assignment back. Ordinarily, they wouldn't have cared what they got for a grade in divination, except they found orbs much more fascinating than the rest of the stuff Trelawney gave them to do.
"What! I could swear that the reddish-brown crystal was Onyx," muttered Ron.
"Ron, you prat, Onyx is black," Harry said.
"It is? Are you sure? I think you're thinking of Obsidian," retorted Ron.
"Ron, both Obsidian and Onyx are black," stated Harry.
"Oh. Well, at least I got the Zircon, Ruby, and Aventurine right. What was the apple green one? I couldn't find any stones that color that blocked spells," asked Ron.
"Actually, I missed that one too, along with the ruby," admitted Harry.
"What? You missed the ruby one? C'mon, it was faceted and set like a jewel! Anyway, what was that reddish-brown one?" Ron asked.
"Oh, you mean onyx?" Harry asked gleefully, "No, that was something called Sard."
"Sard?"
"I've never heard of it, either, but it's supposed to provide protection against sorcery and incantations," Harry explained. As they were walking back to the commons, they noticed a sign in the Great Hall, outlining this year's quidditch schedule.
Great, the first game is against Cho, Harry thought, then immediately corrected himself, No! The first game is against Ravenclaw, not Cho.
Ron seemed to notice Harry's attention flagging, and asked, "Do you want to go down and see Hagrid after charms? We can visit the faeries while we're there." Harry agreed, and they both made their way into Flitwick's class.
"Today," announced Professor Flitwick, "We're going to work on conjuring. Can anyone tell me the difference between summoning and conjuring?"
As if on cue, every head in the Charms class turned towards Hermione. Hermione, as unaware as during the first Care of Magic Creatures class, raised her hand and answered, "Summoning brings an object that already exists to you. Conjuring creates an object out of nothing."
"Excellent! 5 points for Gryffindor," Flitwick congratulated.
"That's the same thing as Hagrid and Fleur said. Can't there be a class where Hermione doesn't earn five points!" Ron whispered to Harry.
"What do you think Potions is for?" Harry whispered back. Fortunately for Harry, conjuring charms turned out to be remarkably like summoning charms. Within 5 minutes, Harry was able to duplicate his 'Accio Firebolt' in 'Elicio Firebolt', which produced an exact duplicate of his Firebolt. "Up," he commanded, but the pseudo-firebolt remained laying on the floor. Too bad the conjured broomstick didn't fly, Harry thought.
Flitwick's voice rose over the class, "As Harry has discovered, conjured objects cannot be magical. When Harry conjured a firebolt, it came out an ordinary broomstick that cannot fly." Harry, after making a pile of 30 firebolts, decided to move on to something else. 15 minutes later he was knee deep in a pile of plastic pink flamingos, old-fashioned black telephones, and orange kazoos. Hmmm, he thought, what should I do next? Maybe green bean-bags? Flitwick looked over at him, and addressed the class, "Ok, I think now would be a good time to show you how to destroy conjured objects. Simply clear your mind, and cast 'Abeo' on it. Harry looked around, cleared his head, and was no longer half buried. His antics were starting to annoy Hermione, though, who was still working to consistently conjure her starting item (a red rubber ball).
Harry looked over at Ron, and decided to have some fun. Concentrating hard on the image of a giant tarantula, which Harry remembered seeing in a zoo once, and muttered 'Elicio Arachnae' while pointing at Ron's shoulder. Suddenly, a 6 inch long hairy spider was creeping up Ron's shoulders. Ron didn't notice it at first; he was engrossed in trying to conjure a quidditch quafle. But the tarantula put one of its legs on Ron's cheek. Ron slowly looked over, and let out a horrible high-pitch scream. Ron's body looked like it was under a live wire, and his face was completely white. All of Ron's screaming and hysterics threw the spider well clear of him, and Harry discretely 'Abeo'ed it out of existence.
Ron, when he finally calmed down enough to think coherently, seemed to realize Harry had done it.
"HARRY!" Ron screamed. Harry was alarmed; he never imagined Ron would be so upset. "HARRY! DID YOU DO THAT?!" Instead of white, Ron's face was entirely purple now.
"No, er, why would you get an idea like that?" Harry stammered. Fortunately, Harry was saved from Ron's wrath when Neville accidently conjured an amazingly stinky, orange colored mist, which flooded the classroom. The smell was so bad, that no one was able to clear their mind enough to eliminate it with Abeo, and everyone was forced to evacuate the class.
"So, you ready to go to Hagrid's yet?" asked Harry.
"Yes, but," Ron sputtered angrily.
Fate was on Harry's side. Hermione caught up with them, and asked, "Are you two going down to see Hagrid? I'm coming too." Immediately, Ron's expression softened, and he couldn't remember why he was angry at Harry. The three made their way to Hagrid's hut, Harry sniggering all the way.
"I was wonderin' if you three forgot all about me," boomed Hagrid. After declining some of Hagrid's cooking, Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat down.
"We just came by to visit you. But are ok? You seemed a bit put off yesterday in class," Hermione asked Hagrid.
"Well, it was the centaurs. Actin' a little strange lately. Wouldn't worry abou' it, though." Harry thought the centaurs always acted strangely, but Hagrid knew them far better than he did. The four of them talked awhile longer, eventually coming to the subject of Snape.
"That's Professor Snape," corrected Hagrid, who grew tired of Harry referring to his professor without his honorific.
"Harry's been more than tolerant, Hagrid," Hermione spoke up, "His first lecture, he basically accused Harry of killing Cedric last year."
"Yeah, and each lecture it's gotten worse," Harry added grimly.
"Now, 'ave you forgotten 'ow he saved your life your first year here?" Hagrid pointed out.
But as they left, Ron whispered to Harry, "Yeah, but don't forget, he also tried to kill your godfather last year…"
Voldemort sat in his chamber. Certainly Lucius wouldn't be much longer. At least, not if he were wise…
Fortunately for the Malfoy family, Lucius arrived shortly, followed by his son.
"Draco," Voldemort hissed, "I need your help with something." Draco was clearly puzzled, but Voldemort interrupted his thoughts, "'Of course, most people would've thought you'd change after causing Cedric to die. But of course, you don't care about anybody but yourself' Do those words sound familiar?" Voldemort asked.
Draco searched his memory, then answered, "I believe Professor Snape said that to Potter during our first potions class this year."
"And at the end of last year, did you meet Potter on the Hogwarts Express?" Voldemort asked.
Draco answered yes, and hoped that he wouldn't have to reveal that he was hexed unconscious for several hours. Unfortuately for poor Draco, that was precisely what Voldemort asked him to do. "Well," Malfoy started, "it was the ride back from Hogwarts. You had just risen, and Cedric was dead. I, along with Crabbe and Goyle, met up with Potter and his gang. I told him he should've been careful about which side he picked, and that he'd end up the same way as his mudblood friend and those Weasleys."
"You angered him. Then what happened?" Voldemort prodded, almost gently.
"He cursed me. I woke up with hexed a bit, and they were all gone," Draco finished hesitantly.
Voldemort was putting the pieces together. Snape told him that he caused Cedric's death. Not completely true, but I bet it made him extremely angry. And Malfoy had angered him on the train. Interesting. Soon, Voldemort's thoughts grew dim, What if this tie goes both ways? I feel the glorious emotion of anger far more frequently and strongly than he does. How much does he know?
Voldemort's mind raced. How can I combat this? Suddenly, he smiled, and summoned Wormtail over. Over his pleading, Voldemort tapped Wormtail's dark mark with his wand. Voldemort watched with malicious glee as it turned black. Soon the rest of his death eaters would be with him.
"Malfoy," Voldemort commanded, "I have a task for you." He laughed as Lucius stepped forward, and cackled, "It's not for you, Lucius. Young Draco, I have your first assignment for you. Are you ready?" Draco nodded; he was waiting for the day he'd first prove himself to his lord.
"Draco, your task is to make Mr. Potter as angry as you can, as frequently as you can. I should think you'd enjoy this assignment, given to what he subjected you to on the train," Voldemort hissed.
"Thank you, my lord," whispered Draco, and he exited the chambers, through the increasing numbers of death eaters apparating in.
"If you will wait a moment, I believe Severus will be here shortly," Voldemort addressed. A little later, Severus Apparated in, breathing heavy. "Ah, Severus, I see that Hogwarts blockage of Apparation doesn't stop you. You ran? Good for you, it's nice to see someone willing to sacrifice for their lord." Severus had indeed run as fast as he could off the Hogwarts grounds, and apparated to the chambers.
"I do not wish to arouse suspicion by requiring your absence for long. I just have one important message for all of you. You must not say anything in my presence when I'm angry. At any sign of anger, every one of you is to become quiet until I say you may speak again. If you disobey, the consequences will be most, unfortunate," Voldemort let the last word trail off. A few of the death eaters gulped. "That is all. You may go," Voldemort dismissed them.
Snape played Voldemort's words over in his mind, but couldn't decipher what Voldemort was up to.
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Well, this chapter was a bit shorter than the rest, so I'm making chapter 8, and uploading it at the same time.
Thanks to LakerGurl and 'Avid Reader' for reviewing! Thanks to them Harry and McGonagall were saved from each other! lol