Story 13 – Ch. 2
Hermione Granger pushed back a strand of her bushy hair and bit her lip. Tonight was the night of the Halloween Ball. It would also be the first time that the four Preliminaries would meet face-to-face.
They would each wear something special … to represent themselves. This did not in any way mean that she would dress as a phoenix. In fact, it was just the opposite. As the Flaming Phoenix, her decoy would dress as much like a phoenix as possible. She, on the other hand, would wear the exact opposite of a phoenix … an ice sprite.
It wasn't like ice sprites were real. They were just figments of human imaginations. But the idea was sound enough.
Hermione eyed herself once more in the mirror. Her brown hair had been magically dyed with and tastefully streaked ice blue. There were not magic spells that turned her eyes the shade of ice blue she wanted, but a simple letter to her parents rewarded her with contact lenses that were the exact shade she wanted.
She wore ice blue robes that were decorated with small icicles. She looked into the mirror. A simple spell on her wand trailed icicles wherever she wished. Her eyebrows were adorned with icicles, and her eyelashes would have been, too, but she got rid of those after her eyes refused to open and close with icicles dangling from there.
She smiled, and examined her perfectly manicured pale blue fingernails. Her hand reached up to her throat. She smiled. Despite the fact that she was an ~ice~ sprite, as the Flaming Phoenix, she was required to wear a unique trinket to signal the others who she was. She had a necklace made with plain black string with a vial hanging from it. In the vial, was one of the most important and expensive ingredients in the world …the everlasting phoenix flame.
She gulped, and closed her eyes. This would be the first time she would actually ~meet~ the other Pre-Aurors. She closed her eyes and remembered.
~The Lone Unicorn shall be disguised as a black centaur. She shall have, with her, a unicorn's horn disguised as a cornucopia. The Black Dragon shall be disguised as a grindylow. He shall have, with him, a pair of dragon fangs, sported on a necklace he shall be wearing. The Fairy Elf shall be disguised as babbling demon pixie, and part of her disguise will be the gauzy fairy wings that shall be sprouting from her back.~
Harry and Ron were talking. They weren't talking about any old thing… they were talking about the best way to get into Hermione's good graces again. It wasn't that they believed they were in her bad graces because of her whim. No, the thing was, Hermione had been so sad lately … she had been completely avoiding them! How were they supposed to properly apologize to her if they never got a chance to talk to her?
After Angelina's epidemic of flu, Quidditch matches had been canceled (to the chagrin of Fred and George, who complained that each time Gryffindor had the perfect team and was about to win, they would either their star player or matches would be canceled.) Professor Dumbledore had promised, however, that Quidditch games would resume soon. So Harry and Ron haven't seen Hermione around at all.
Now in Fifth Year, she had absolutely no classes with them. Even in the required classes, she was advanced, so she never saw them. If you could call them classes. With half the teachers dead or gone to fight Voldemort, most of the time, students goofed off or did homework from other classes. As Ron had pointed out when trying to cheer up Fred and George, at least Gryffindor had one game (victorious) under its belt, considering the fact that they were lucky to be playing at all with Voldemort loose.
Of course, this didn't exactly have the desired effect. They had launched into depression again, worried about whether Dumbledore would permanently stop Quidditch because of the crisis going on outside. In the end, Ron had given up.
Anyways, Harry was just convincing Ron that sneaking into the Girls' Dormitories to apologize to Hermione was not the best thing to do, when his attention was caught by a group of people. Curious, he nudged Ron, who turned around.
Out on the dance floor, were four gaudily dressed people. One had lots of red and yellow on, looking to Harry like a somewhat misshapen phoenix. "It" was actually a guy who was stumbling around, trying to fall from the weight of his costume. Another one, a girl this time, was dressed in a large black outfit.
"What's she supposed to be?" Ron asked.
"Who?" Harry asked. "Her? I think she's supposed to be a dragon."
A girl was dressed as something white with a horn on her head. She looked like a very upset and disheveled unicorn. The last boy looked somewhat silly dressed like a chubby fairy, reminding Harry oddly of the fairy godmother in a Disney movie the Dursleys had watched one night when Dudley had brought his girlfriend over. His girlfriend hadn't been impressed by Cinderella or his taking up all of the couch, and had dumped him the next day.
"But that's not who I'm talking about," Harry said, brushing it aside. He pointed to a dark table in a far corner. They crept over, keeping out of the way of the fairy lights, trying to see who they were.
There was a girl dressed as an ice sprite, a boy dressed as a grindylow, a girl dressed as a centaur, and a girl dressed as a demon pixie. They were speaking in low tones, and could not be heard.
"Notice something strange about them?" Ron noted curiously.
"What?" Harry asked.
"The ice sprite has a vial of expensive phoenix flame," Ron pointed out.
"…"
Hearing no response from Harry, Ron groaned. "Sorry. Forgot you came from a Muggle family. Anyways, phoenixes and ice sprites are enemies."
"Weird," Harry said.
"And the grindylow has a thing of dragon scales."
"So?"
"Ugh. Do I have to tell you everything? Grindylows and dragon scales … are opposites. They live on different terrain, so they don't meet, but grindylows are generally associated with water, and dragons with fire."
"Weird."
"And that demon pixie has wings!"
"Umm…"
"Demon pixies and fairies are basically two clans. If you put them together, they'll kill each other. Demon pixies are smarter and stronger, but fairies have wings! A demon pixie would never have wings!"
"Okay."
"And that centaur has a unicorn horn instead of a cornucopia. First of all, centaurs don't have cornucopias. Telescopes, maybe, but not cornucopias. Second of all, centaurs and unicorns-"
"I know, I know," Harry interrupted. "They have an aversion for each other. So … is there a reason for this, or are these just four Muggles kids who don't pay attention in class?"
"Let's ask them and see," Ron said, standing up, effectively ending the conversation.
Four pairs of eyes stared at Ron and Harry. Finally, the grindylow stood up. "Potter. Weasley. How pleasant to meet you here. You weren't listening in us perchance, were you?" The voice was dripping with venom.
Harry stared at the grindylow in shock. "Malfoy?" he asked. "Is that you? Why are you dressed as a grindylow?"
Does anyone remember who the grindylow is?
Hermione Granger pushed back a strand of her bushy hair and bit her lip. Tonight was the night of the Halloween Ball. It would also be the first time that the four Preliminaries would meet face-to-face.
They would each wear something special … to represent themselves. This did not in any way mean that she would dress as a phoenix. In fact, it was just the opposite. As the Flaming Phoenix, her decoy would dress as much like a phoenix as possible. She, on the other hand, would wear the exact opposite of a phoenix … an ice sprite.
It wasn't like ice sprites were real. They were just figments of human imaginations. But the idea was sound enough.
Hermione eyed herself once more in the mirror. Her brown hair had been magically dyed with and tastefully streaked ice blue. There were not magic spells that turned her eyes the shade of ice blue she wanted, but a simple letter to her parents rewarded her with contact lenses that were the exact shade she wanted.
She wore ice blue robes that were decorated with small icicles. She looked into the mirror. A simple spell on her wand trailed icicles wherever she wished. Her eyebrows were adorned with icicles, and her eyelashes would have been, too, but she got rid of those after her eyes refused to open and close with icicles dangling from there.
She smiled, and examined her perfectly manicured pale blue fingernails. Her hand reached up to her throat. She smiled. Despite the fact that she was an ~ice~ sprite, as the Flaming Phoenix, she was required to wear a unique trinket to signal the others who she was. She had a necklace made with plain black string with a vial hanging from it. In the vial, was one of the most important and expensive ingredients in the world …the everlasting phoenix flame.
She gulped, and closed her eyes. This would be the first time she would actually ~meet~ the other Pre-Aurors. She closed her eyes and remembered.
~The Lone Unicorn shall be disguised as a black centaur. She shall have, with her, a unicorn's horn disguised as a cornucopia. The Black Dragon shall be disguised as a grindylow. He shall have, with him, a pair of dragon fangs, sported on a necklace he shall be wearing. The Fairy Elf shall be disguised as babbling demon pixie, and part of her disguise will be the gauzy fairy wings that shall be sprouting from her back.~
Harry and Ron were talking. They weren't talking about any old thing… they were talking about the best way to get into Hermione's good graces again. It wasn't that they believed they were in her bad graces because of her whim. No, the thing was, Hermione had been so sad lately … she had been completely avoiding them! How were they supposed to properly apologize to her if they never got a chance to talk to her?
After Angelina's epidemic of flu, Quidditch matches had been canceled (to the chagrin of Fred and George, who complained that each time Gryffindor had the perfect team and was about to win, they would either their star player or matches would be canceled.) Professor Dumbledore had promised, however, that Quidditch games would resume soon. So Harry and Ron haven't seen Hermione around at all.
Now in Fifth Year, she had absolutely no classes with them. Even in the required classes, she was advanced, so she never saw them. If you could call them classes. With half the teachers dead or gone to fight Voldemort, most of the time, students goofed off or did homework from other classes. As Ron had pointed out when trying to cheer up Fred and George, at least Gryffindor had one game (victorious) under its belt, considering the fact that they were lucky to be playing at all with Voldemort loose.
Of course, this didn't exactly have the desired effect. They had launched into depression again, worried about whether Dumbledore would permanently stop Quidditch because of the crisis going on outside. In the end, Ron had given up.
Anyways, Harry was just convincing Ron that sneaking into the Girls' Dormitories to apologize to Hermione was not the best thing to do, when his attention was caught by a group of people. Curious, he nudged Ron, who turned around.
Out on the dance floor, were four gaudily dressed people. One had lots of red and yellow on, looking to Harry like a somewhat misshapen phoenix. "It" was actually a guy who was stumbling around, trying to fall from the weight of his costume. Another one, a girl this time, was dressed in a large black outfit.
"What's she supposed to be?" Ron asked.
"Who?" Harry asked. "Her? I think she's supposed to be a dragon."
A girl was dressed as something white with a horn on her head. She looked like a very upset and disheveled unicorn. The last boy looked somewhat silly dressed like a chubby fairy, reminding Harry oddly of the fairy godmother in a Disney movie the Dursleys had watched one night when Dudley had brought his girlfriend over. His girlfriend hadn't been impressed by Cinderella or his taking up all of the couch, and had dumped him the next day.
"But that's not who I'm talking about," Harry said, brushing it aside. He pointed to a dark table in a far corner. They crept over, keeping out of the way of the fairy lights, trying to see who they were.
There was a girl dressed as an ice sprite, a boy dressed as a grindylow, a girl dressed as a centaur, and a girl dressed as a demon pixie. They were speaking in low tones, and could not be heard.
"Notice something strange about them?" Ron noted curiously.
"What?" Harry asked.
"The ice sprite has a vial of expensive phoenix flame," Ron pointed out.
"…"
Hearing no response from Harry, Ron groaned. "Sorry. Forgot you came from a Muggle family. Anyways, phoenixes and ice sprites are enemies."
"Weird," Harry said.
"And the grindylow has a thing of dragon scales."
"So?"
"Ugh. Do I have to tell you everything? Grindylows and dragon scales … are opposites. They live on different terrain, so they don't meet, but grindylows are generally associated with water, and dragons with fire."
"Weird."
"And that demon pixie has wings!"
"Umm…"
"Demon pixies and fairies are basically two clans. If you put them together, they'll kill each other. Demon pixies are smarter and stronger, but fairies have wings! A demon pixie would never have wings!"
"Okay."
"And that centaur has a unicorn horn instead of a cornucopia. First of all, centaurs don't have cornucopias. Telescopes, maybe, but not cornucopias. Second of all, centaurs and unicorns-"
"I know, I know," Harry interrupted. "They have an aversion for each other. So … is there a reason for this, or are these just four Muggles kids who don't pay attention in class?"
"Let's ask them and see," Ron said, standing up, effectively ending the conversation.
Four pairs of eyes stared at Ron and Harry. Finally, the grindylow stood up. "Potter. Weasley. How pleasant to meet you here. You weren't listening in us perchance, were you?" The voice was dripping with venom.
Harry stared at the grindylow in shock. "Malfoy?" he asked. "Is that you? Why are you dressed as a grindylow?"
Does anyone remember who the grindylow is?