A/N: Okay... I can't help it! It's fun killing these people off. ::smirls:: me am feeling morbid...
In all honesty... you won't see the rest of Harriet until I finish drawing it. That is how I generally figure out how things like that should go. I started out that way with HP AK. I will continue to do that with all my HP fanfiction.
Poll Time! List your top five favorite scenes from POT, SRL, OT. (Phoenix Order Times, Soul Reaver's Light, Omega Time) (list five from each)
Chapter Twenty-One
The Hufflepuffs were all avoiding Astra at all costs. When she walked down the hallway, they all ran the opposite direction. It was starting to irritate her.
She met up with Draco in the great hall and led him to the Gryffindor table. When she passed the Hufflepuff table, she caught part of a conversation. "--goes again with that Malfoy..."
Astra paused to hear more, but Draco tugged her away. When they sat down, Ron made his usual remark to Draco. "The Slytherin is turning into a Gryffindor..."
"No... I'm still a Slytherin.... though why you care, I don't know why..." Draco shot back. "Truth be told, I don't know how you got into Gryffindor when you obviously belong in Hufflepuff."
"That isn't a compliment right now, Draco...." said Harry nonchalantly.
"I wasn't intending it to be..."
Astra munched on a muffin as she turned around to listen to the Hufflepuffs. They were being a lot quieter than usual. It probably had something to do with one of their own dying the past week. It was hard for her to hear what they were talking abut through the rest of the din.
"Astra? What's wrong?" asked Nevaeh from across the table.
Astra snapped out of her reverie and turned around. "Nothing much, Nev... I just can't figure out why those Hufflepuffs are avoiding me like the black plague. And just when I was walking past them, I overheard one of them say something like.... there she goes with that Malfoy..."
"Yer kidding me...." Nevaeh said as she nearly dropped her fork.
"Why do they care that you are with me?" Draco said with a bored yawn.
Harry looked angry, but he was staring past Astra. "They think that you put the message up on the wall..." He said in a flat tone.
Astra raised an eyebrow. "I already told that one girl that it wasn't me...."
"It didn't seem to matter when Harry, Hermione and I were found by the message about the Chamber Of Secrets...." Ron said. "When they found out Harry was a parselmouth... that just solidified it...."
"Haven't these people ever heard of Loyalty?! Good Lord! I thought that one trait was part of being a Hufflepuff!" Astra said.
"Most of them are loyal.... just a couple of them that are the ringleaders in the rumor mill." Harry said. Then, he pointed toward a bulky seventh year boy. "Ernie McMillen is the main pain in my backside..."
"Looks like he should be taught a lesson in intelligence..." Nevaeh said with a smirk.
"He looks rather mean, if you ask me...." Kennedy said.
Harry looked to Avalon next to Kennedy from across the table. She was silently eating, not even glancing around at anyone. Her long black hair was pulled back in a braid that fell down her back.
Harry's anger was increasing. He remembered them accusing Avalon as being a spy. He knew better. All of Gryffindor knew better. "They accused Vee as being a spy..."
Avalon looked up at him with her black eyes. They didn't drive into his with the same intensity. She looked scared. Kennedy wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. "She isn't..." he said in a warning tone.
"The whole of Gryffindor knows that, but Ernie was saying that he didn't trust her because she barely talks." Harry said.
Kennedy was about to say something when Avalon put her hand up to silence him. Then, she stood up and walked away from the Gryffindor table. She walked over to the Hufflepuff able as Harry and Kennedy walked over with her.
She tapped Ernie on his shoulder. He turned around and all the color drained from his face. "Y-yes?"
"You dare to call me a spy when you yourself can't find your own soul.... You dare to say that I am giving away information when you sit here acting as a traitor...." Then, she got in his face. Harry was afraid that she would hurt him, though a little pain for him would not be such a bad thing. "Don't trifle with fire, Ernie....", she said in a calm, angry voice that barely went above a whisper, "I know you.... I know everything there is about you.... I know your secrets.... I know your past... and I can tell you this... if you dare to accuse me or my sister of being anything that you are.... I will turn you to ash...."
Then, she let go of him and stood up. Harry stayed behind and glared down at Ernie, who looked as white as a sheet. Harry didn't need to say anything. All that needed to be said had already been said by Avalon.
When Harry got back to his seat, he smiled thankfully at Avalon. "Good job, Vee... I think he's thoroughly frightened of you now...."
She looked beyond angry. Her eyes were like lasers burning holes into Harry's eyes. "He is an instigator that needed to be grounded..." Then, she stuffed the rest of her food into her mouth.
"Three cheers for Vee!" Astra shouted cheerfully. "Hip-hip!"
"Horay!"
"Hip-hip!"
"Horay!"
"Hip-hip!"
"Horay!" went everyone around Avalon. She blushed and leaned closer to Kennedy, who had joined in the celebrating.
When breakfast was over, the next class was Divination. Harry, Ron and Astra went up to the tower and opened the door on the ceiling to the classroom. They climbed up the ladder and entered.
Professor Trelawny had her long, dark hair swirling around her as she walked around. She wore her usual bangles and shawl, with a wrap around skirt that swirled with her hair as she floated around the room. "I knew you two would come first..." she said without looking up.
"Ma'am... there are three of us here..." Astra said as she pointed to herself.
Professor Trelawny looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Yes... I meant you three.."
"Riiiiight..."
Harry sat down at a table with three chairs. Ron sat to his left and Astra sat down on his right. "So what are we doing today?" said Ron.
Astra put her hands up to her brow in a manner emulating a mind reader. "I predict that we are going to be studying Alectromancy...."
"You are correct, Miss Knight... I brought in a few roosters to use.. And a lot of grain... even brought in the letter boards..." Professor Trelawny said in her misty voice.
Astra went white and looked as though she was choking on something. "Yer kidding me... I was being sarcastic!"
"I don't think that matters now, Astra..." said Harry as he stifled a laugh.
"What is Alectromancy anyway...." Ron said.
"You take a board with the alphabet and numbers put into a circle. Then, you set a piece of bird seed or grain on each letter and number. Then, you set a rooster in the center and interpret a message from the grain he eats." Astra explained.
"You're joking, right? You've got to be... there isn't any way that that could be real! It's too stupid!" Ron said.
"Tell that to the good Professor..." Harry said.
The trap door opened up. "Eh... Here come the wanna-be trelawny crew..." Astra said.
Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil showed up and stood wondering where they should sit. Each wore the same bangles as Professor Trelawny. Parvati had her long dark hair pulled back in a braid laced with gold ribbon. Lavender had a couple of small braids laced with gold ribbon around her face.
"If they weren't so pretty...." Ron said softly.
"If you weren't practically engaged...." Harry said. Ron glared at Harry and Harry stifled his laughter. "Come on, Ron... It isn't that bad..."
Ron smiled and laughed. "Yeah... It's not that bad being with the brainiest girl in the whole of Hogwarts... you know... she's quite sexy when she's sitting there--"
"We don't need to know when she looks sexy to you, hormone boy...." Astra said with her head on the table and her hands on top of her head. "We can figure out that she's sexy to you if she's BREATHING."
Harry put his fist in his mouth to keep himself from laughing. The result was him falling off his chair and shaking on the ground in silent laughter. "Oh you think this is funny, eh Harry? No need to figure out what you find sexy..." said Ron flatly.
Harry was still sniggering when he lifted himself off of the floor. "And wh-what do you suppose that is?" Harry gasped through his laughter.
"Need I remind you of Cho, the mistress of mystery?" Ron smirked down at Harry. "Last I recall, she said that you reminded her of her brother...."
"I forget... does she have a brother? I don't recall there being anything about him here..." Astra said as she lifted her head up from the table.
"I don't think she does...." Ron said. "Maybe ickle Harry is her long lost brother?"
"Shut up, Weasley... or I might have to set Ginny on you...." Harry said with a smirk.
Ron went pale. Astra snickered. "Never underestimate the sweet nature of a Weasley girl... she turns mean in under two seconds...."
When the rest of the class came in, Harry went to work with his rooster. Ron kept the grain supply beside him. Astra kept a record of the letters. "This is like an ouiji board..."
"Might as well ask what is going to happen in your future, Harry..." said Ron.
The Rooster squawked suddenly. The rooster started pecking out letters frantically. Ron and Astra had to keep up with the bird. "A... R...I...T...H...M...A...C...Y...." Astra spelled out when the bird stopped.
"Arithmacy..." said Harry. He was confused. "That's a course Hermione takes..."
"Maybe the powers that be say that you will end up being tutored by Hermione." said Ron with a smile. "I wonder what job you're going to attempt in the distant future..."
The rooster started pecking at the bird seed quickly. "A... U...R...O....R..."
"Auror... I would never become an auror... it's too much of a job..." Harry said with a grimace.
"Hey... let's see who I'm going to marry..." Ron said with excitement.
"Oh hush up... everyone knows that yer going to marry Hermione..." Astra said with giggle.
Harry noticed Astra was fiddling with something around her neck. "What's that you're wearing..." he said.
She looked up at him in a surprised manner. Then, she looked down at her hand. "My necklace... when the two stone's meshed together... they made this..." The pendent that she was holding up was a red stone star.
"Interesting..." The rooster started pecking again. "Watch it!"
"E...N....D... G....A...M...E..." Astra read off the letters as the rooster pecked them out. "Endgame... What the hell is that supposed to mean."
"That's what the finishing move is called in chess... The endgame... the final blow... checkmate...." Ron said. "That's just an odd way of calling it, though..."
"What would a bird know about chess?" Harry said.
The rooster started pecking letters out. When it was finished, Astra read the message. "Don't knock it, till you try it..."
"Great... of all the dumb birds, we get the smartass chicken..." Ron said.
After divination, Harry, Ron and Astra met up with Hermione and Ginny. After lunch, Draco met up with them and they all went outside. Draco stayed on Astra's side of the group. Avalon and Kennedy showed up a little later and they all sat outside on the grass.
"Listen everyone... I finally figured out what the letters mean..." Hermione said. She took out a chart of numbers on top and letters on the bottom.
"What's this, Hermione?" said Harry.
"It's my arithmacy chart... You-know-who is using an arithmacy chart to convey something to us...."
"What?" Harry said as he stared at the chart.
"E N W...." Hermione read off.
Harry found where the E was on the chart. He found an N and then a W underneath it. They were all situated underneath the number five.
"DMV."
Harry glanced over and found that four had a D, M, and a V under it.
"CLU...."
Harry found the letters underneath the number three. "BKT..." Harry was beginning to get a sick feeling.
"It's all a game... He's giving us a countdown..." Hermione said.
Something hit Harry like a lightning bolt to his head. He saw a flash of something. Avalon in a swirling mass of hair. He slapped himself back into reality. "A countdown... a countdown to what?!" Ron said.
"What happens when he kills the last person..." Kennedy said.
"The question is who is the last person on his sick little list..." Astra said.
"Wait a minute... what about Professor Sprout..." Ginny said. "She was found dead around Justin..."
"But she wasn't mutilated like the others...." Harry said. "It had to have been an accident... not in his plan... She must've seen Justin getting tortured and came to help, but got killed."
"Then, who is the last person..." Ron said.
"Think... part of the people killed knew me and are tied in some way together." Harry said.
"Collin worshiped you and he was annoying and he was attacked in his first year..." Hermione said.
"Susan knew you.... and wasn't annoying...." said Astra.
"Fred was a good friend and a major prankster. " said Ginny.
"And Justin was an idiot who knew you and was attacked in our second year..." Ron said. "The first two were attacked by the basilisk...."
"The second two were not." Ginny said.
"Why were they attacked?" asked Astra.
"Because they---" Harry suddenly got an idea. "Because they were muggleborn..." He said in realization. Astra stared at Harry in confusion. "Voldemort was muggleborn and he hates muggles because his father left him when he was born when he found out that Voldemort's mother was a witch. His mother died soon after he was born."
"He hates muggles...." Astra said as if she was just realizing something. "Susan's grandparents were muggles and Voldemort killed them..."
"And the Weasleys are a bunch of muggle sympathizers." Draco said.
"He's targeting the muggleborns and the muggle sympathizers that know Harry..." said Hermione. "That's just perfect... how many of those are there?!"
"Oh about two hundred of them..." Ron said. Hermione growled in frustration.
"We've got to find the last person and fast...", Harry said, "Before anything worse happens..."
In all honesty... you won't see the rest of Harriet until I finish drawing it. That is how I generally figure out how things like that should go. I started out that way with HP AK. I will continue to do that with all my HP fanfiction.
Poll Time! List your top five favorite scenes from POT, SRL, OT. (Phoenix Order Times, Soul Reaver's Light, Omega Time) (list five from each)
Chapter Twenty-One
The Hufflepuffs were all avoiding Astra at all costs. When she walked down the hallway, they all ran the opposite direction. It was starting to irritate her.
She met up with Draco in the great hall and led him to the Gryffindor table. When she passed the Hufflepuff table, she caught part of a conversation. "--goes again with that Malfoy..."
Astra paused to hear more, but Draco tugged her away. When they sat down, Ron made his usual remark to Draco. "The Slytherin is turning into a Gryffindor..."
"No... I'm still a Slytherin.... though why you care, I don't know why..." Draco shot back. "Truth be told, I don't know how you got into Gryffindor when you obviously belong in Hufflepuff."
"That isn't a compliment right now, Draco...." said Harry nonchalantly.
"I wasn't intending it to be..."
Astra munched on a muffin as she turned around to listen to the Hufflepuffs. They were being a lot quieter than usual. It probably had something to do with one of their own dying the past week. It was hard for her to hear what they were talking abut through the rest of the din.
"Astra? What's wrong?" asked Nevaeh from across the table.
Astra snapped out of her reverie and turned around. "Nothing much, Nev... I just can't figure out why those Hufflepuffs are avoiding me like the black plague. And just when I was walking past them, I overheard one of them say something like.... there she goes with that Malfoy..."
"Yer kidding me...." Nevaeh said as she nearly dropped her fork.
"Why do they care that you are with me?" Draco said with a bored yawn.
Harry looked angry, but he was staring past Astra. "They think that you put the message up on the wall..." He said in a flat tone.
Astra raised an eyebrow. "I already told that one girl that it wasn't me...."
"It didn't seem to matter when Harry, Hermione and I were found by the message about the Chamber Of Secrets...." Ron said. "When they found out Harry was a parselmouth... that just solidified it...."
"Haven't these people ever heard of Loyalty?! Good Lord! I thought that one trait was part of being a Hufflepuff!" Astra said.
"Most of them are loyal.... just a couple of them that are the ringleaders in the rumor mill." Harry said. Then, he pointed toward a bulky seventh year boy. "Ernie McMillen is the main pain in my backside..."
"Looks like he should be taught a lesson in intelligence..." Nevaeh said with a smirk.
"He looks rather mean, if you ask me...." Kennedy said.
Harry looked to Avalon next to Kennedy from across the table. She was silently eating, not even glancing around at anyone. Her long black hair was pulled back in a braid that fell down her back.
Harry's anger was increasing. He remembered them accusing Avalon as being a spy. He knew better. All of Gryffindor knew better. "They accused Vee as being a spy..."
Avalon looked up at him with her black eyes. They didn't drive into his with the same intensity. She looked scared. Kennedy wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. "She isn't..." he said in a warning tone.
"The whole of Gryffindor knows that, but Ernie was saying that he didn't trust her because she barely talks." Harry said.
Kennedy was about to say something when Avalon put her hand up to silence him. Then, she stood up and walked away from the Gryffindor table. She walked over to the Hufflepuff able as Harry and Kennedy walked over with her.
She tapped Ernie on his shoulder. He turned around and all the color drained from his face. "Y-yes?"
"You dare to call me a spy when you yourself can't find your own soul.... You dare to say that I am giving away information when you sit here acting as a traitor...." Then, she got in his face. Harry was afraid that she would hurt him, though a little pain for him would not be such a bad thing. "Don't trifle with fire, Ernie....", she said in a calm, angry voice that barely went above a whisper, "I know you.... I know everything there is about you.... I know your secrets.... I know your past... and I can tell you this... if you dare to accuse me or my sister of being anything that you are.... I will turn you to ash...."
Then, she let go of him and stood up. Harry stayed behind and glared down at Ernie, who looked as white as a sheet. Harry didn't need to say anything. All that needed to be said had already been said by Avalon.
When Harry got back to his seat, he smiled thankfully at Avalon. "Good job, Vee... I think he's thoroughly frightened of you now...."
She looked beyond angry. Her eyes were like lasers burning holes into Harry's eyes. "He is an instigator that needed to be grounded..." Then, she stuffed the rest of her food into her mouth.
"Three cheers for Vee!" Astra shouted cheerfully. "Hip-hip!"
"Horay!"
"Hip-hip!"
"Horay!"
"Hip-hip!"
"Horay!" went everyone around Avalon. She blushed and leaned closer to Kennedy, who had joined in the celebrating.
When breakfast was over, the next class was Divination. Harry, Ron and Astra went up to the tower and opened the door on the ceiling to the classroom. They climbed up the ladder and entered.
Professor Trelawny had her long, dark hair swirling around her as she walked around. She wore her usual bangles and shawl, with a wrap around skirt that swirled with her hair as she floated around the room. "I knew you two would come first..." she said without looking up.
"Ma'am... there are three of us here..." Astra said as she pointed to herself.
Professor Trelawny looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Yes... I meant you three.."
"Riiiiight..."
Harry sat down at a table with three chairs. Ron sat to his left and Astra sat down on his right. "So what are we doing today?" said Ron.
Astra put her hands up to her brow in a manner emulating a mind reader. "I predict that we are going to be studying Alectromancy...."
"You are correct, Miss Knight... I brought in a few roosters to use.. And a lot of grain... even brought in the letter boards..." Professor Trelawny said in her misty voice.
Astra went white and looked as though she was choking on something. "Yer kidding me... I was being sarcastic!"
"I don't think that matters now, Astra..." said Harry as he stifled a laugh.
"What is Alectromancy anyway...." Ron said.
"You take a board with the alphabet and numbers put into a circle. Then, you set a piece of bird seed or grain on each letter and number. Then, you set a rooster in the center and interpret a message from the grain he eats." Astra explained.
"You're joking, right? You've got to be... there isn't any way that that could be real! It's too stupid!" Ron said.
"Tell that to the good Professor..." Harry said.
The trap door opened up. "Eh... Here come the wanna-be trelawny crew..." Astra said.
Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil showed up and stood wondering where they should sit. Each wore the same bangles as Professor Trelawny. Parvati had her long dark hair pulled back in a braid laced with gold ribbon. Lavender had a couple of small braids laced with gold ribbon around her face.
"If they weren't so pretty...." Ron said softly.
"If you weren't practically engaged...." Harry said. Ron glared at Harry and Harry stifled his laughter. "Come on, Ron... It isn't that bad..."
Ron smiled and laughed. "Yeah... It's not that bad being with the brainiest girl in the whole of Hogwarts... you know... she's quite sexy when she's sitting there--"
"We don't need to know when she looks sexy to you, hormone boy...." Astra said with her head on the table and her hands on top of her head. "We can figure out that she's sexy to you if she's BREATHING."
Harry put his fist in his mouth to keep himself from laughing. The result was him falling off his chair and shaking on the ground in silent laughter. "Oh you think this is funny, eh Harry? No need to figure out what you find sexy..." said Ron flatly.
Harry was still sniggering when he lifted himself off of the floor. "And wh-what do you suppose that is?" Harry gasped through his laughter.
"Need I remind you of Cho, the mistress of mystery?" Ron smirked down at Harry. "Last I recall, she said that you reminded her of her brother...."
"I forget... does she have a brother? I don't recall there being anything about him here..." Astra said as she lifted her head up from the table.
"I don't think she does...." Ron said. "Maybe ickle Harry is her long lost brother?"
"Shut up, Weasley... or I might have to set Ginny on you...." Harry said with a smirk.
Ron went pale. Astra snickered. "Never underestimate the sweet nature of a Weasley girl... she turns mean in under two seconds...."
When the rest of the class came in, Harry went to work with his rooster. Ron kept the grain supply beside him. Astra kept a record of the letters. "This is like an ouiji board..."
"Might as well ask what is going to happen in your future, Harry..." said Ron.
The Rooster squawked suddenly. The rooster started pecking out letters frantically. Ron and Astra had to keep up with the bird. "A... R...I...T...H...M...A...C...Y...." Astra spelled out when the bird stopped.
"Arithmacy..." said Harry. He was confused. "That's a course Hermione takes..."
"Maybe the powers that be say that you will end up being tutored by Hermione." said Ron with a smile. "I wonder what job you're going to attempt in the distant future..."
The rooster started pecking at the bird seed quickly. "A... U...R...O....R..."
"Auror... I would never become an auror... it's too much of a job..." Harry said with a grimace.
"Hey... let's see who I'm going to marry..." Ron said with excitement.
"Oh hush up... everyone knows that yer going to marry Hermione..." Astra said with giggle.
Harry noticed Astra was fiddling with something around her neck. "What's that you're wearing..." he said.
She looked up at him in a surprised manner. Then, she looked down at her hand. "My necklace... when the two stone's meshed together... they made this..." The pendent that she was holding up was a red stone star.
"Interesting..." The rooster started pecking again. "Watch it!"
"E...N....D... G....A...M...E..." Astra read off the letters as the rooster pecked them out. "Endgame... What the hell is that supposed to mean."
"That's what the finishing move is called in chess... The endgame... the final blow... checkmate...." Ron said. "That's just an odd way of calling it, though..."
"What would a bird know about chess?" Harry said.
The rooster started pecking letters out. When it was finished, Astra read the message. "Don't knock it, till you try it..."
"Great... of all the dumb birds, we get the smartass chicken..." Ron said.
After divination, Harry, Ron and Astra met up with Hermione and Ginny. After lunch, Draco met up with them and they all went outside. Draco stayed on Astra's side of the group. Avalon and Kennedy showed up a little later and they all sat outside on the grass.
"Listen everyone... I finally figured out what the letters mean..." Hermione said. She took out a chart of numbers on top and letters on the bottom.
"What's this, Hermione?" said Harry.
"It's my arithmacy chart... You-know-who is using an arithmacy chart to convey something to us...."
"What?" Harry said as he stared at the chart.
"E N W...." Hermione read off.
Harry found where the E was on the chart. He found an N and then a W underneath it. They were all situated underneath the number five.
"DMV."
Harry glanced over and found that four had a D, M, and a V under it.
"CLU...."
Harry found the letters underneath the number three. "BKT..." Harry was beginning to get a sick feeling.
"It's all a game... He's giving us a countdown..." Hermione said.
Something hit Harry like a lightning bolt to his head. He saw a flash of something. Avalon in a swirling mass of hair. He slapped himself back into reality. "A countdown... a countdown to what?!" Ron said.
"What happens when he kills the last person..." Kennedy said.
"The question is who is the last person on his sick little list..." Astra said.
"Wait a minute... what about Professor Sprout..." Ginny said. "She was found dead around Justin..."
"But she wasn't mutilated like the others...." Harry said. "It had to have been an accident... not in his plan... She must've seen Justin getting tortured and came to help, but got killed."
"Then, who is the last person..." Ron said.
"Think... part of the people killed knew me and are tied in some way together." Harry said.
"Collin worshiped you and he was annoying and he was attacked in his first year..." Hermione said.
"Susan knew you.... and wasn't annoying...." said Astra.
"Fred was a good friend and a major prankster. " said Ginny.
"And Justin was an idiot who knew you and was attacked in our second year..." Ron said. "The first two were attacked by the basilisk...."
"The second two were not." Ginny said.
"Why were they attacked?" asked Astra.
"Because they---" Harry suddenly got an idea. "Because they were muggleborn..." He said in realization. Astra stared at Harry in confusion. "Voldemort was muggleborn and he hates muggles because his father left him when he was born when he found out that Voldemort's mother was a witch. His mother died soon after he was born."
"He hates muggles...." Astra said as if she was just realizing something. "Susan's grandparents were muggles and Voldemort killed them..."
"And the Weasleys are a bunch of muggle sympathizers." Draco said.
"He's targeting the muggleborns and the muggle sympathizers that know Harry..." said Hermione. "That's just perfect... how many of those are there?!"
"Oh about two hundred of them..." Ron said. Hermione growled in frustration.
"We've got to find the last person and fast...", Harry said, "Before anything worse happens..."