Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Thanks to Jereni, and Meli, and Sauda,
and Shenizzy, and Lunarian Amethyst! It makes me feel soooo
loved.....teehee!! Laterz, bunnie :P
Disclaimer: Nothing but Cassandra Takachi and the plot is mine. All of it belongs to that glorious genius, J.K. Rowling! If you don't know by now, then you're really lost......
************************************************************************ Chapter 10
Over the next few weeks, Harry found himself looking over his shoulder constantly and being frightened of every little thing......such as Cassie and Ginny. It may seem ridiculous for a boy of 15 to be scared of two little girls, but whenever he turned around, something tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump three feet in the air and whip out his wand, prepared for an attack. Yet, it would always be either Cassie or Ginny, giggling uncontrollably as Harry searched the hall for his would-be attacker.
Harry was, of course, less than pleased with the hi-jinks of his two friends, but even less pleased that Ron and Hermione seemed to never be around to chastise the partners in crime. They were now caught up with loads of "Prefect business," as Hermione would always say. After every class, both she and Ron had to meet up with Professor McGonagall about something or other. The only time Harry got to see Ron was in the late afternoon, when he attempted to teach Ron how to be a Keeper. Otherwise, he was left with Cassie most of the day, and she was getting pretty annoying with all her dirty tricks that she played on him.
There were some fun times with her, Harry had to admit. For instance, Cassie made it her job to play a trick on Malfoy at least once a week. One time, she put an exploding whoopee cushion (courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) on his chair during Defense Against the Dark Arts. It exploded, sending Malfoy flying into Professor Brendaster, or rather through her. The phantom teacher didn't even notice as she continued to lecture about some magical creatures to look out for.
It seemed that now three classes were working together, because Professor Brendaster was now teaching her classes about the Venus Fairies, the same fairies that were being grown in Herbology and cared for in Care of Magical Creatures. It turns out that if the wizard or witch doesn't take care of their fairy properly, the little buggers turn nasty and turn to playing tricks rather than granting wishes. The girls gasped in unison at this, as some of the boys plotted to disregard their fairies and see what happens. Much to the surprise of many, Cassie actually didn't want her fairy to play pranks, and paid apt attention in Care of Magical Creatures to find out how to prevent hers from going bad.
Pretty soon, the first month of school came to a close, and the tryouts for a new Gryffindor Keeper for Quidditch was upon them. Harry had already announced the search for a new player a couple of weeks before, and stood prepared on the Quidditch pitch as several other students entered, carrying their own broomsticks. Harry sighed and processed down the long line, with a clipboard in hand.
"Name? Year? House?" he asked the eager players. Harry thought the "year, house" part was unnecessary, just something McGonagall wanted him to do that was pointless. But, he was astonished to find several of the young people to be first years, and a couple of them not even belonging to his house. Harry dismissed them, and was left with roughly most of his own classmates. Written on his clipboard was: Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey and his little brother (A/N: Can anyone tell me his name? I forgot it, and I don't feel like looking it up...) and some others that he didn't know very well. Neville, Parvati, Lavender, and the Creevey Brothers were immediately ruled out. Neville was too haphazard on the broom, Parvati and Lavender were afraid of breaking nails, and said they only wanted to be on the team for Harry, and Colin and his brother would only take snapshots. They would have been good photographers, but were really bad at catching the Quaffle.
Harry had narrowed it down to four people. Seamus was pretty good, as was Ron, thanks to those practice sessions with Harry. Then, there were two others that Harry didn't know, a 4th year girl and a 6th year boy. So, Harry sent Hermione, who was watching and waiting with Ginny and Cassie, to go fetch Angelina Johnson. She did and came back lickety split, and Harry had his Chaser try to score on each of the Keepers. Harry watched as they cycled through each person, but each one of them couldn't stop the speedy Angelina.
In the stands, as said before, watched Hermione, Ginny, and Cassie. Since Ron had taken Fred's broomstick, Ginny decided to take George's with her as she watched. Hermione had binoculars and was staring up at the sky. She handed them to Cassie.
"When do you think they'll be finished?" Hermione asked the other two girls. They just shook their heads as they squinted to see the miniature figures flying around.
"Ron's not doing so well," Cassie said, handing the binoculars to Ginny.
"Neither's my friend, Anna," Ginny said as she saw the fourth year girl miss the Quaffle several times. Ginny then directed the binoculars far away from the players.
"What are you staring at, Gin?" Cassie said as she stared in the direction. Ginny seemed frozen on the spot as Cassie too saw what was coming. "DUCK!" she screamed, pulling down the other girls. Hermione felt a breeze as a Bludger rushed passed them.
Hermione got back up. "I, I don't understand.... The Bludger's not supposed to do that!" Ginny still had the binoculars glued to her eyes. Suddenly, she threw them down, picked up the broomstick in front of her, and flew off. Hermione was still stuttering, "It's not even supposed to go out! And, I read in that Quidditch book that the bloody iron ball's supposed to be enchanted to stay away from the stands!"
"Mione! Look!" Cassie said, pointing to the sky. Hermione watched on with awe, still reasoning out why the Bludger shouldn't have gone after them.
Harry was still watching, as each of the Keepers failed against Angelina. Angelina soared over, not even breaking a sweat. "Should I go easier on them?" she asked, tossing him the Quaffle. Harry shook his head.
"You can go now. Sorry to bother you!" he said sadly as he motioned for her leave. Angelina gave him a nod, and was about to sail down, when her eyes widened.
She pointed to something behind Harry, stuttering something incoherent. "H-h-h......Bl-bludger!" she managed to get out as a whistling sound came to Harry's ear. He looked behind him as the Bludger came hurtling towards him, and was just about to get out of the way, when something red zoomed in front of him, receiving the full blow of the iron ball. It turned out to be a person, and the person turned around to reveal Ginny Weasley, struggling to hold on to the Bludger. Ginny was being pulled this way and that by the ball in her arms, and Angelina hurried to summon the chest that held the game balls to her. She, Harry, and Ginny wrestled the indignant ball back in its place while they were still in midair. Angelina then flew towards the stands to send Hermione on another errand.
Harry marvelled at Ginny as she rubbed her arms. "How did you do that?" he asked, smiling. She grew bright red, and smiled down at her broomstick.
"It was really nothing, nothing at all," said Ginny, as her brother and the others flew over. Ron pulled up right next to Ginny.
He put his arm around her shoulders, asking with concern, "Are you sure you're alright? I mean, I would have thought that bloody would have killed you!" She moved away his arm and looked up at her brother, showing him eyes that said she was fine. Angelina flew back.
"Should I go now?" she asked. Harry shook his head, a good idea popping into his head.
"Ginny, go guard the goal posts, okay?" he said to the little red head. "Angelina," he said, turning to the older girl. "Don't go so easy on her. I want to see what she can do." He threw the Quaffle he was holding to Angelina as her face cracked into a wicked smile. Angelina tried over and over again to score on the youngest Weasley, but over and over again, she was unsuccessful. Ginny was just too fast.
Angelina flew back panting. "My God, she's like Speedy Gonzales! She can catch anything I throw her!" Harry grinned, and flew to where a confused Ginny was waiting. He shook her hand.
"Welcome to the team, Keeper!" he congratulated her. Ron's jaw dropped to the ground, but Ginny could only smile as she accepted the task.
"What broomstick will you get?" Cassie asked excitedly as she and Ginny perused a catalog in the corner of the common room that night. She was so interested in the sport, and never had the chance to learn about it. Harry watched them for a short while from the other end of the room, while he was waiting for Ron to make his move in chess. Harry noticed Hermione was still missing, and hoped he was talking to Dumbledore about another attempt to take his life. Somehow, he was getting tired of worrying all the time though, and went back to concentrating on the game. He turned back around in his chair to watch Ron, who was scratching his chin as he was deciding what to do.
"Hmm," Ron mused. He then quickly moved one of his pieces, a knight. "Checkmate," he announced. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back in his chair, accepting defeat.
"So, what have you and Hermione been up to?" Harry said slyly as he set up his side of the chessboard again. Ron grew slightly red.
"Nothing.....just Prefect business...." he replied shiftily.
"Ah, come now. You can tell me what's been going on between you two!"
"Nothing, Harry!"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Fine! You really want to know?" Ron motioned for Harry to lean in. He whispered, covering his mouth with one hand, "We're having a Christmas Pageant."
"A what?!" Harry said loudly. Ron got a horrified look on his face and gestured for Harry to be quiet and listen again.
"McGonagall and the other teachers want to impress the parents and convince them that we're safer here," he whispered.
"And just how is a Christmas Pageant going to accomplish that?"
"Don't ask me! I was against it! But, Mione was all for it....She and I were assigned to be directors."
Harry smiled a little bit. But then, a horrifying thought occurred to him. He stated to Ron, "You're not going to make me be in it, are you?!" Ron grimaced, and nodded slowly. "Ron!" Harry said harshly, ready to slap his best friend.
"Well, I tried to get you the smallest part. You're just going to raise and lower the curtains, okay?" Harry rolled his eyes, and agreed to do it. At least he didn't have to actually play an onstage part.
Harry was also lucked out the next school day. As he was eating breakfast, Cho Chang came over to talk to him. He was just munching on some cereal when she strolled over.
"Harry?" she said. Harry looked up and was taken aback to see her there. "Harry? You're doing the curtains for the Pageant, right? Well, I'm the writer, so I need to confer with you an when to open and close them." With that, she plopped down right next to him. She gave him a smile that absolutely made him melt inside. He heart beat faster and there was a distinct roaring in his ears as Cho jabbered on about "curtains this" and "curtains that". But, she seemed much happier that usual. Harry didn't care though, as he was just excited to have her near him.
"Thanks for your time Harry," she said with a wink. She got up from the bench. "Oh, and thanks for being so nice to my little cousin!" Then, Cho was gone, just like that. Harry blinked a few times, and ran his fingers through his hair again, heaving a huge sigh. Cassie interrupted his thoughts.
"I think my cousin has a soft spot for you," Cassie said as she pointed out Cho. Harry saw that she was stealing glances at him every now and then. Cassie looked down at her own bowl, then to the Slytherin table across the Great Hall. She smiled an evil smile, which made Harry suspicious. He was beginning to actually feel sorry for Malfoy, who was the butt of all of Cassie's jokes. Harry got up, intending to go tell Malfoy that there may just be something amiss, when he felt something pulling him back.
"Don't!" Cassie pleaded. She continued to tug on his arm. Harry noticed she was freakishly strong for her size, and sat back down. He gave her a menacing look, and she winced. "I'm sorry.....I know that what I'm doing is mean, and I won't do it anymore...."
"Well, what about now?"
"Oh, Harry, it's just one more trick! No big deal!" Harry, worried, looked back to the Slytherin table at Malfoy, who was just eating cereal like he was. He watched as Malfoy lifted a spoon to his mouth, when something hopped out of the bowl. He watched as that something shook itself a little bit, and saw Malfoy's face distort in disgust. And he watched as the something, which looked remarkably like a frog, hopped onto Malfoy and kissed him right on the lips.
"ARRGH! GET IT OFF ME!!!" was heard throughout the hall. There was a "poof!" and a cloud of smoke, and suddenly, Malfoy was lying on the ground, being squished by a huge, beautiful girl in a tiara.
"iAy dios mio! iGracias! iGracias, Senor!" squealed the princess. "iOh! iTu eres muy guapo!" she said, kissing him on the face over and over again.
"What did she say?" Harry asked. "I believe she said, 'Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you, mister! Oh! You are very handsome!'" Cassie replied very matter-of-factly.
Harry turned to face Cassie. "Where did you find that, that thing?!"
"This pond in the forest......I knew something was wrong with it when I heard it speaking Spanish instead of saying, 'Ribbit!'"
Malfoy managed to get the large royal off him and marched over to Cassie, who was trying to explain herself to Harry. A fire blazing in his eyes, he took Cassie by the scruff of the neck. "Why? Why did you do that? I'm gonna knock your pretty face in!" He raised a fist to the frightened Japanese transfer as she cringed when Professor Dumbledore intervened.
"No fighting, you two," he said calmly. Malfoy lowered Cassie. "I think I know what's happened...." The Headmaster turned to the Spanish- speaking princess, who had followed Malfoy. "What is your name?"
"Que?" she said, confused.
"Oh, excuse me. Cual es tu nombre?"
"Yo soy Ines Vargas! Soy una princesa de espana!"
"Ah, a princess of Spain? She must be that one lost a long time ago....Oh well, she may stay here for now." Dumbledore then turned to Cassie, Harry, and Malfoy, who were still standing there, bickering. "Harry, I assume you have nothing to do with this?"
"No sir," he replied.
"Ah, then. Miss Takachi, you have committed a great offense by bringing this magical frog in. And Mister Malfoy, I'm afraid you almost took out this dear girl. So, I must give you two several detentions. Be happy that you two weren't expelled." Dumbledore turned to walk away, and Harry noticed how tired he looked lately. Suddenly, he was stopped by Hermione.
"Ah, Miss Granger," he said wearily. "How may I help you?"
"Dumbledore, sir, it would be much easier if Cassie and Malfoy were made to be in our Pageant, because we are short some people..."
"Very well then, they will be in the Pageant instead of detentions. Bye for now." Dumbledore scuttled off to the teachers table to reside over the student body once more.
"Pageant? What Pageant?" Malfoy asked.
Hermione grinned. "Our Christmas Pageant, of course! First practice is in two weeks. See you there!" Malfoy left grumbling about that "stupid Muggle tradition" as Princess Ines followed, bursting with joy.
"iTe quiero, mi amor!" she remarked every five seconds.
"What was that about?" Ron asked from his seat. He had just watched the whole scene.
"Oh nothing. Malfoy just has a new girlfriend that loves him very much!" Cassie bursted with laughter.
Disclaimer: Nothing but Cassandra Takachi and the plot is mine. All of it belongs to that glorious genius, J.K. Rowling! If you don't know by now, then you're really lost......
************************************************************************ Chapter 10
Over the next few weeks, Harry found himself looking over his shoulder constantly and being frightened of every little thing......such as Cassie and Ginny. It may seem ridiculous for a boy of 15 to be scared of two little girls, but whenever he turned around, something tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump three feet in the air and whip out his wand, prepared for an attack. Yet, it would always be either Cassie or Ginny, giggling uncontrollably as Harry searched the hall for his would-be attacker.
Harry was, of course, less than pleased with the hi-jinks of his two friends, but even less pleased that Ron and Hermione seemed to never be around to chastise the partners in crime. They were now caught up with loads of "Prefect business," as Hermione would always say. After every class, both she and Ron had to meet up with Professor McGonagall about something or other. The only time Harry got to see Ron was in the late afternoon, when he attempted to teach Ron how to be a Keeper. Otherwise, he was left with Cassie most of the day, and she was getting pretty annoying with all her dirty tricks that she played on him.
There were some fun times with her, Harry had to admit. For instance, Cassie made it her job to play a trick on Malfoy at least once a week. One time, she put an exploding whoopee cushion (courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) on his chair during Defense Against the Dark Arts. It exploded, sending Malfoy flying into Professor Brendaster, or rather through her. The phantom teacher didn't even notice as she continued to lecture about some magical creatures to look out for.
It seemed that now three classes were working together, because Professor Brendaster was now teaching her classes about the Venus Fairies, the same fairies that were being grown in Herbology and cared for in Care of Magical Creatures. It turns out that if the wizard or witch doesn't take care of their fairy properly, the little buggers turn nasty and turn to playing tricks rather than granting wishes. The girls gasped in unison at this, as some of the boys plotted to disregard their fairies and see what happens. Much to the surprise of many, Cassie actually didn't want her fairy to play pranks, and paid apt attention in Care of Magical Creatures to find out how to prevent hers from going bad.
Pretty soon, the first month of school came to a close, and the tryouts for a new Gryffindor Keeper for Quidditch was upon them. Harry had already announced the search for a new player a couple of weeks before, and stood prepared on the Quidditch pitch as several other students entered, carrying their own broomsticks. Harry sighed and processed down the long line, with a clipboard in hand.
"Name? Year? House?" he asked the eager players. Harry thought the "year, house" part was unnecessary, just something McGonagall wanted him to do that was pointless. But, he was astonished to find several of the young people to be first years, and a couple of them not even belonging to his house. Harry dismissed them, and was left with roughly most of his own classmates. Written on his clipboard was: Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey and his little brother (A/N: Can anyone tell me his name? I forgot it, and I don't feel like looking it up...) and some others that he didn't know very well. Neville, Parvati, Lavender, and the Creevey Brothers were immediately ruled out. Neville was too haphazard on the broom, Parvati and Lavender were afraid of breaking nails, and said they only wanted to be on the team for Harry, and Colin and his brother would only take snapshots. They would have been good photographers, but were really bad at catching the Quaffle.
Harry had narrowed it down to four people. Seamus was pretty good, as was Ron, thanks to those practice sessions with Harry. Then, there were two others that Harry didn't know, a 4th year girl and a 6th year boy. So, Harry sent Hermione, who was watching and waiting with Ginny and Cassie, to go fetch Angelina Johnson. She did and came back lickety split, and Harry had his Chaser try to score on each of the Keepers. Harry watched as they cycled through each person, but each one of them couldn't stop the speedy Angelina.
In the stands, as said before, watched Hermione, Ginny, and Cassie. Since Ron had taken Fred's broomstick, Ginny decided to take George's with her as she watched. Hermione had binoculars and was staring up at the sky. She handed them to Cassie.
"When do you think they'll be finished?" Hermione asked the other two girls. They just shook their heads as they squinted to see the miniature figures flying around.
"Ron's not doing so well," Cassie said, handing the binoculars to Ginny.
"Neither's my friend, Anna," Ginny said as she saw the fourth year girl miss the Quaffle several times. Ginny then directed the binoculars far away from the players.
"What are you staring at, Gin?" Cassie said as she stared in the direction. Ginny seemed frozen on the spot as Cassie too saw what was coming. "DUCK!" she screamed, pulling down the other girls. Hermione felt a breeze as a Bludger rushed passed them.
Hermione got back up. "I, I don't understand.... The Bludger's not supposed to do that!" Ginny still had the binoculars glued to her eyes. Suddenly, she threw them down, picked up the broomstick in front of her, and flew off. Hermione was still stuttering, "It's not even supposed to go out! And, I read in that Quidditch book that the bloody iron ball's supposed to be enchanted to stay away from the stands!"
"Mione! Look!" Cassie said, pointing to the sky. Hermione watched on with awe, still reasoning out why the Bludger shouldn't have gone after them.
Harry was still watching, as each of the Keepers failed against Angelina. Angelina soared over, not even breaking a sweat. "Should I go easier on them?" she asked, tossing him the Quaffle. Harry shook his head.
"You can go now. Sorry to bother you!" he said sadly as he motioned for her leave. Angelina gave him a nod, and was about to sail down, when her eyes widened.
She pointed to something behind Harry, stuttering something incoherent. "H-h-h......Bl-bludger!" she managed to get out as a whistling sound came to Harry's ear. He looked behind him as the Bludger came hurtling towards him, and was just about to get out of the way, when something red zoomed in front of him, receiving the full blow of the iron ball. It turned out to be a person, and the person turned around to reveal Ginny Weasley, struggling to hold on to the Bludger. Ginny was being pulled this way and that by the ball in her arms, and Angelina hurried to summon the chest that held the game balls to her. She, Harry, and Ginny wrestled the indignant ball back in its place while they were still in midair. Angelina then flew towards the stands to send Hermione on another errand.
Harry marvelled at Ginny as she rubbed her arms. "How did you do that?" he asked, smiling. She grew bright red, and smiled down at her broomstick.
"It was really nothing, nothing at all," said Ginny, as her brother and the others flew over. Ron pulled up right next to Ginny.
He put his arm around her shoulders, asking with concern, "Are you sure you're alright? I mean, I would have thought that bloody would have killed you!" She moved away his arm and looked up at her brother, showing him eyes that said she was fine. Angelina flew back.
"Should I go now?" she asked. Harry shook his head, a good idea popping into his head.
"Ginny, go guard the goal posts, okay?" he said to the little red head. "Angelina," he said, turning to the older girl. "Don't go so easy on her. I want to see what she can do." He threw the Quaffle he was holding to Angelina as her face cracked into a wicked smile. Angelina tried over and over again to score on the youngest Weasley, but over and over again, she was unsuccessful. Ginny was just too fast.
Angelina flew back panting. "My God, she's like Speedy Gonzales! She can catch anything I throw her!" Harry grinned, and flew to where a confused Ginny was waiting. He shook her hand.
"Welcome to the team, Keeper!" he congratulated her. Ron's jaw dropped to the ground, but Ginny could only smile as she accepted the task.
"What broomstick will you get?" Cassie asked excitedly as she and Ginny perused a catalog in the corner of the common room that night. She was so interested in the sport, and never had the chance to learn about it. Harry watched them for a short while from the other end of the room, while he was waiting for Ron to make his move in chess. Harry noticed Hermione was still missing, and hoped he was talking to Dumbledore about another attempt to take his life. Somehow, he was getting tired of worrying all the time though, and went back to concentrating on the game. He turned back around in his chair to watch Ron, who was scratching his chin as he was deciding what to do.
"Hmm," Ron mused. He then quickly moved one of his pieces, a knight. "Checkmate," he announced. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back in his chair, accepting defeat.
"So, what have you and Hermione been up to?" Harry said slyly as he set up his side of the chessboard again. Ron grew slightly red.
"Nothing.....just Prefect business...." he replied shiftily.
"Ah, come now. You can tell me what's been going on between you two!"
"Nothing, Harry!"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Fine! You really want to know?" Ron motioned for Harry to lean in. He whispered, covering his mouth with one hand, "We're having a Christmas Pageant."
"A what?!" Harry said loudly. Ron got a horrified look on his face and gestured for Harry to be quiet and listen again.
"McGonagall and the other teachers want to impress the parents and convince them that we're safer here," he whispered.
"And just how is a Christmas Pageant going to accomplish that?"
"Don't ask me! I was against it! But, Mione was all for it....She and I were assigned to be directors."
Harry smiled a little bit. But then, a horrifying thought occurred to him. He stated to Ron, "You're not going to make me be in it, are you?!" Ron grimaced, and nodded slowly. "Ron!" Harry said harshly, ready to slap his best friend.
"Well, I tried to get you the smallest part. You're just going to raise and lower the curtains, okay?" Harry rolled his eyes, and agreed to do it. At least he didn't have to actually play an onstage part.
Harry was also lucked out the next school day. As he was eating breakfast, Cho Chang came over to talk to him. He was just munching on some cereal when she strolled over.
"Harry?" she said. Harry looked up and was taken aback to see her there. "Harry? You're doing the curtains for the Pageant, right? Well, I'm the writer, so I need to confer with you an when to open and close them." With that, she plopped down right next to him. She gave him a smile that absolutely made him melt inside. He heart beat faster and there was a distinct roaring in his ears as Cho jabbered on about "curtains this" and "curtains that". But, she seemed much happier that usual. Harry didn't care though, as he was just excited to have her near him.
"Thanks for your time Harry," she said with a wink. She got up from the bench. "Oh, and thanks for being so nice to my little cousin!" Then, Cho was gone, just like that. Harry blinked a few times, and ran his fingers through his hair again, heaving a huge sigh. Cassie interrupted his thoughts.
"I think my cousin has a soft spot for you," Cassie said as she pointed out Cho. Harry saw that she was stealing glances at him every now and then. Cassie looked down at her own bowl, then to the Slytherin table across the Great Hall. She smiled an evil smile, which made Harry suspicious. He was beginning to actually feel sorry for Malfoy, who was the butt of all of Cassie's jokes. Harry got up, intending to go tell Malfoy that there may just be something amiss, when he felt something pulling him back.
"Don't!" Cassie pleaded. She continued to tug on his arm. Harry noticed she was freakishly strong for her size, and sat back down. He gave her a menacing look, and she winced. "I'm sorry.....I know that what I'm doing is mean, and I won't do it anymore...."
"Well, what about now?"
"Oh, Harry, it's just one more trick! No big deal!" Harry, worried, looked back to the Slytherin table at Malfoy, who was just eating cereal like he was. He watched as Malfoy lifted a spoon to his mouth, when something hopped out of the bowl. He watched as that something shook itself a little bit, and saw Malfoy's face distort in disgust. And he watched as the something, which looked remarkably like a frog, hopped onto Malfoy and kissed him right on the lips.
"ARRGH! GET IT OFF ME!!!" was heard throughout the hall. There was a "poof!" and a cloud of smoke, and suddenly, Malfoy was lying on the ground, being squished by a huge, beautiful girl in a tiara.
"iAy dios mio! iGracias! iGracias, Senor!" squealed the princess. "iOh! iTu eres muy guapo!" she said, kissing him on the face over and over again.
"What did she say?" Harry asked. "I believe she said, 'Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you, mister! Oh! You are very handsome!'" Cassie replied very matter-of-factly.
Harry turned to face Cassie. "Where did you find that, that thing?!"
"This pond in the forest......I knew something was wrong with it when I heard it speaking Spanish instead of saying, 'Ribbit!'"
Malfoy managed to get the large royal off him and marched over to Cassie, who was trying to explain herself to Harry. A fire blazing in his eyes, he took Cassie by the scruff of the neck. "Why? Why did you do that? I'm gonna knock your pretty face in!" He raised a fist to the frightened Japanese transfer as she cringed when Professor Dumbledore intervened.
"No fighting, you two," he said calmly. Malfoy lowered Cassie. "I think I know what's happened...." The Headmaster turned to the Spanish- speaking princess, who had followed Malfoy. "What is your name?"
"Que?" she said, confused.
"Oh, excuse me. Cual es tu nombre?"
"Yo soy Ines Vargas! Soy una princesa de espana!"
"Ah, a princess of Spain? She must be that one lost a long time ago....Oh well, she may stay here for now." Dumbledore then turned to Cassie, Harry, and Malfoy, who were still standing there, bickering. "Harry, I assume you have nothing to do with this?"
"No sir," he replied.
"Ah, then. Miss Takachi, you have committed a great offense by bringing this magical frog in. And Mister Malfoy, I'm afraid you almost took out this dear girl. So, I must give you two several detentions. Be happy that you two weren't expelled." Dumbledore turned to walk away, and Harry noticed how tired he looked lately. Suddenly, he was stopped by Hermione.
"Ah, Miss Granger," he said wearily. "How may I help you?"
"Dumbledore, sir, it would be much easier if Cassie and Malfoy were made to be in our Pageant, because we are short some people..."
"Very well then, they will be in the Pageant instead of detentions. Bye for now." Dumbledore scuttled off to the teachers table to reside over the student body once more.
"Pageant? What Pageant?" Malfoy asked.
Hermione grinned. "Our Christmas Pageant, of course! First practice is in two weeks. See you there!" Malfoy left grumbling about that "stupid Muggle tradition" as Princess Ines followed, bursting with joy.
"iTe quiero, mi amor!" she remarked every five seconds.
"What was that about?" Ron asked from his seat. He had just watched the whole scene.
"Oh nothing. Malfoy just has a new girlfriend that loves him very much!" Cassie bursted with laughter.