Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Please don't sue.
"What are we going to do about beaters?" Ron asked, for at least the hundredth time that day.
"I don't know!" Harry said, exasperated. He was frankly tired of hearing Ron talk about the teams, and he was still a little preoccupied with Vector's first lecture.
"Should we go with Dean and Seamus?" Ron asked, apparently oblivious to Harry's annoyance, "You know, as a temporary solution for the year? Or should we get some young talent, that can spend several years as beaters, like Fred and George did?"
Harry was fed up, and finally said, "Why don't you get Parvati and Lavender to do it?"
Ron looked at him and actually seemed to be considering his suggestion. Harry hit his forehead in frustration, and walked across the pitch.
"Calm down, Harry," Ginny said, soothingly, "You know how much he cares about Quidditch. Just let him have his fun."
Harry nodded, and decided to just wait Ron out. Sure enough, Ron eventually decided upon the Dean and Seamus as the new beaters. "I'm sure they'll accept," Ron gushed, "and it's just a temporary measure. The captain next year can worry about getting more permanent replacements."
Harry nodded again, and said, "Well, make sure you train them up. In fact, you might consider having some practices just for them, before you throw them up in the air with the rest of us."
Ron smiled and said, "This is going to be the best season ever!"
"I've got a surprise for you all," Flitwick crowed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaned forward in their seats. Hopefully, Harry thought, Charms will be better than the Arithmancy class yesterday.
"As Dumbledore told you," Flitwick called squeakily, "each class is doing a co-op for a week. And I've decided that ours will be with… The Weasley Wizard Wheezes!"
Ron, Harry, Seamus, and Dean immediately cheered. Hermione looked neutral, but Lavender and Parvati looked a little disappointed.
Flitwick continued in his high pitched voice, "Now, before we go, there is one additional branch of charms we must learn: chain effect spells. Can I have a volunteer?" Everyone looked at Harry, who thought Why am I always the class guinea pig?
"Fine," Harry relented, "I'll help."
Flitwick smiled, held up a small candy, and said, "Can you eat this, please?"
Harry blocked out all the thoughts warning him against eating unknown foods, and ate the custard. A few seconds later, he turned into a canary.
As the class burst into laughter, Harry heard through his new bird ears, "Yes, that was one of the Weasley's Canary Creames. But how does it work?"
Ron eagerly said, "It casts a partial transfiguration on the eater."
Flitwick smiled and said, "It?"
Ron looked confused, and said, "The candy."
"No, Weasley," Flitwick replied, "The candy didn't cast anything. It's a chain effect spell. You see, your brothers cast it, but it only takes place when a condition is met – in this case, someone eating it. How about this?" Flitwick then held up what all the Gryffindors recognized as a dungbomb. Several of them groaned.
"That's a dungbomb," Harry answered, finally molting.
"Correct, but how does it work?" Flitwick asked.
Hermione said, "It conjures a foul smelling gas." She saw the look Flitwick was giving her, and hastened, "I mean, a spell was cast to conjure foul smelling gas, when the bomb was let off."
"Exactly! 5 points to Gryffindor," beamed Flitwick, who then explained, "Chain effect spells are a little tricky, since you need to think of two things at once. First, you must know the incantation. This is the simple part – all you have to do is precede your words with Commoror. The difficult part is to think clearly inside your mind what a person has to do to set off the spell. In the Canary Creames, the Weasleys imagined eating something."
"Now, were going to try it out," Flitwick said, handing out some small sticks, "by making these twigs levitate themselves. I want you each to think up a code word, and when someone says it, the stick will rise in the air. What will your incantation be?"
"Commoror Ramus Leviosa," chorused a few students.
"And you'll be thinking about?" Flitwick asked.
"People saying our password," several other students replied. Flitwick beamed, and the students began working on their branches.
Harry smiled, and tried to think of a password. Hmmm… how about, 'Voldemort'? Nobody else will use that. Or better! 'Who hates Voldemort'? Soon after, Harry had successfully charmed his stick, and was amused as the twig would rise every time he asked his question. Harry looked over; Ron and Hermione were not amused by his code phrase. Ron especially, since Ron absolutely detested anyone saying you-know-who's name.
"You know," Harry whispered to the two, "I can really see how Fred and George like doing this." Ron smiled and nodded back.
After everyone got the hang of the twig raising, they proceeded to more advanced charms, going all the way up to partial transfigurations. Finally, Flitwick called out, "Ok, I think class is about up. There's no homework, and next class we'll be working on multiple chains, so one spell can set off another."
Harry was excited at his classes. He was actually learning a lot, except for Divination, and they had only been back at Hogwarts for three days. However, Arithmancy stuck in his mind, and turned to Hermione in the Great Hall during breakfast.
"Hermione," he asked, "Why is Vector so… nasty?"
Hermione looked at him, and said, "She's not nasty."
"What?" Harry demanded, "She's not nasty? Didn't you see what happened on Monday?"
Hermione chuckled, "She was just toying with you, Harry. Don't worry, you'll develop a thicker skin. It took me awhile to get used to her, too."
Harry still didn't quite believe her, but turned back to his bacon and eggs. His fork was knocked aside as Hedwig delivered a letter.
"Thanks, Hedwig," Harry replied, a little sarcastically. Hedwig gave him a nip on his thumb, and took off with a piece of bacon. Harry shook his head, and opened up the note.
Hi Harry!
It's Steven! Carol and I decided to send you a quick note, telling you we're a little sorry for what happened. Well, not too sorry, since you did manage to escape your relatives because of us (Do the Weasleys know you weren't really attacked?)
Anyway, make sure you come by and say hi to us sometime. When you get better, you can duel Terry, too!
-Steven Boot
Harry laughed out loud. Steven and Carol picked up that the Weasleys came to get him up because of them, but they still didn't know that the 'duel' was staged. "I'll have to go and say hi to them sometime," Harry resolved to himself.
When he looked up from the note, he saw that a large percentage of the hall was looking extremely nervous, and reading several copies of the Daily Prophet. Some were even looking over other's shoulders, trying to see. Harry frowned, and looked over at Hermione.
Hermione was biting her lip, and she handed to paper to Harry.
"HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED IS BACK" read the headline, in giant letters. Harry frowned, and saw the title directly below it, "Mass Muggle Killings, Dark Mark Seen." Harry grimaced and read the article.
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, and yesterday led the worst series of muggle killings since Grindelwald. Towns stretching from Birmingham to London have been razed, and conservative estimates place the total casualties up to 1,900. The Dark Mark has appeared over each town, and even worse, the inscription 'Voldemort has risen' has appeared in fiery letters at the center of each town square. Despite this, the Ministry still denies that Voldemort has returned, although several Auror divisions are preparing for another large scale battle, despite Minister Fudge's orders.
Harry was appalled, but also a little confused. "Why," he asked softly to the Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, "is Voldemort seeking publicity?" Harry suddenly noticed that Parvati, two seats away, was crying silently but uncontrollably. She stood up, and ran quickly from the hall. Harry let out a sigh and said, "Poor woman." He felt sorry for what she had to go through because of her sister.
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Well, the actions starting to heat up. I realize I've posted this chapter before all of you have even had a chance to review. I hope nobody minds… :)
Beefywpac: If I do make a sequel, it will probably take place 10 years after Hogwarts. When I get back after winter break, I will either start the sequel, or begin on another 5th through 7th chain. I've already got a rough idea for the first story's plot, and the tentative name will be 'Harry Potter and the Legion of the Shadow'.
TrueFan: Hehe, I love to get people in trouble!
Seifer: Thanks!
Garina: Yeah, I was a little worried people would associate Barry with 'Barry Potter'. I just needed a name that sounded like Harry, to make it seem like she heard Harry's name before, but just couldn't be bothered to remember it. I didn't mean to tie it to a Potter parody. In retrospect, I probably should've used 'Larry' or 'Henry'.
Ariel: Are you talking about Fleur, Parvati, or Vector? I don't know why I'm asking; I'm not going to tell you if any of them are evil or not. I was just wondering.
TrueFan, Garina, and Penda have all asked for Irish Drinking Songs. Does anyone else have an opinion? I think I've got a decent place to put it, although it probably won't be for several chapters.
To hold you over….
Ohhhh… Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de,
Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di
You went onto the internet
And logged into F-F-Net.
Another chapter's up of
Kevin's story… you bet!
But when you're done, Review!
Give me your raves and vents
As surely as I write this
I want your two cents!
Ohhhh…Aye-de-di-de-di-de…
Please Review!