[A/N. This chapter is going to be a little shorter than most of my other
chapters, simply because the next one might be a little longer. Anyway
you'll see.]
CHAPTER NINETEEN: Alforth plays a trick!
I sighed, and shifted in my seat. If there was anything more boring than one of Snape's lectures on his own experience with the dark arts I had yet to find it. I had to bite my lip to keep from telling him that my own father had more experience with the dark arts than he did! Besides I was thinking about what we had learnt that morning from Moaning Myrtle!
The bell rang to end the torture session and we all began to gather up our things.
"Hold on a moment!" Snape called. "Before you all go barreling out of here I've done some marking and if anyone wants to actually pass DADA this year you might want to consider doing this extra credit assignment. And this even includes little miss-know all Weasley!" The Slytherins chuckled at this. "Your assignment topic is thus: the most influential witch or wizard in the dark arts in modern times. But if you've been studying for your end- of-year exams in a month this shouldn't be too much trouble!"
We all groaned and made our way out of the classroom. Alforth was holding court outside with a bunch of Slytherins hanging off his every word. "Clearly I am going to write my essay on Voldemort. Who else could hold the entire wizarding world in such a grip of fear?"
Martin snorted. "I reckon the entire wizarding world might be pretty scared if they see you first thing in the morning, with your hair all messed up, and those li-"
"I've had enough I can take of you Simms!" Alforth yelled, and before any of us could react he had his wand out and was pointing it at Martin.
Martin raised an eyebrow, and tried to look cocky, but I knew he was frightened. After all it isn't every day you get a wand pointed at you by a young wizard who hates you is it?
"Don't be silly Alforth. You'll get expelled." I said to him.
He turned to me, a look of contempt on his face. "And you! You think your so damn great because your Dad was the famous Harry Potter! Going round speaking about him and all!"
"I don't go round speaking about him." I protested. "Anyway, put your wand away before we get into trouble."
"Trouble?" Alforth scoffed. "Scared Potter?"
"Not at all." I replied, and then I did something incredibly stupid-I turned my back on him to walk off. I wasn't going to go round waving my wand about and getting into trouble. I had barely taken two steps before I felt some kind of hot blast at my back. A moment later I was on the floor in hysterical laughter. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop laughing. Even Jenny and Martin's concerned faces near me didn't stop me.
"We better get him to the hospital." Jenny suggested. "Bloody Alforth's put a laughing spell on him."
They helped me to my feet and we started down the corridor. "If your so brave Potter meet me in the Great Hall tonight at midnight and we can see who is the better wizard." Alforth called.
"It's a date!" I called back, through my laughter. Despite the fact that I found this anything but funny I was unable to stop laughing.
"Sam!" Jenny said. "We can't go wandering around at night-we'll get into trouble."
"We?" I managed.
"Do you really think I'm going to let you go and meet Alforth by yourself?" Jenny replied.
When we got to the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey took one look at me and then nodded. "Laughing spell?" She asked.
I nodded.
"Come here then." She said leading me over to the bed. "Honestly why won't first year wizards learn that they are not good enough wizards to put spells on people all the time?"
"This one worked pretty good." I laughed.
"That's what you think!" Madame Pomfrey replied. "If I can stop you laughing in a few hours I'll be doing well!"
A few hours? That sounded bad! But that just made me laugh. From one of the other beds in the hospital Henry watched me curiously. Which just made me laugh even more.
*****
All the Gryffindoors were in the common room when I returned there that night. I'd missed dinner whilst in the hospital wing and as a consequence my stomach had yet to stop growling.
"SAM!" Francine cried spotting me. "Are you alright?"
"Sure am." I said, a little giggle escaping. Madame Pomfrey had warned me that this might happen from time to time for the next few hours.
"Alforth is such a moron." Greg said. "Maybe I should teach the little git some new spells!"
"Not worth it." Francine said. "It's really not worth getting expelled from Hogwarts for Alforth is it?"
"I guess not, but I still think Alforth needs to be taken down a peg or two." Greg replied with a frown.
Paul frowned as well, as he looked up from his homework. "Greg don't go doing anything stupid. With you being the cousin of a prefect and all it wouldn't look all that good, would it?"
Greg snorted. "Don't worry Paul the Pain I won't do anything to ruin your chances of becoming head boy in the future!"
That reminded me about the meeting with Alforth in the Great Hall that night! I hurried over to Jenny and whispered to her "I need a hex to put on Alforth."
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Are you still planning on going tonight then?" She asked.
"I have to!" I insisted. "Can you imagine Alforth if I chicken out? I'd never hear the end of it!"
"Sam do you really care what that weasel thinks about you?" Jenny asked. "Like Francine just told Greg-Alforth is not worth getting expelled for is he?"
"You just don't understand!" I argued.
She looked at me for a moment without saying anything, and then she nodded. "Fine, come here, I've got a good one which should be fairly simple..."
*****
I was surprised to see both Martin and Jenny waiting downstairs when I snuck out about quarter to twelve.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Did you really think we'd let you go and meet that slime all alone?" Martin asked. "We're coming to make sure he doesn't do something to you!"
I was touched. "Thanks guys, but we better get going or he might think we're not coming."
The fat lady was, as usual, not too impressed with us waking her up. "Between you and those ghosts floating about I can see I am not going to get much sleep tonight." She grumbled.
We hurried down to the Great Hall, trying our best not to make any noise. When we reached the Great Hall it was silent and dark. Jenny whipped out her wand and said "lumos" so we could see better.
"Alforth's not here yet." Martin said surprised. "And it's only a few minutes until midnight!"
"That is strange." I agreed. "I thought he would have made it a point to be here first to prove that he was not scared about the whole thing."
Jenny sighed. "Well we could practise that hex I taught you earlier then Sam." She said.
I pulled my wand out to practice the snorting hex Jenny had been teaching me. If it worked properly Alforth would spend the next 24 hours walking around snorting like a pig, something which I thought very suitable indeed!
But before I could practice the large clock outside the hall chimed twelve loudly, and the doors of the hall flew open with a bang.
"Typical Alforth-always dramatic!" I started to say, but the last word died on my lips.
It wasn't Alforth or any of his little cronies who stood in the doorway. It was a ghost. A ghost dressed in long flowing robes, and a tall pointy hat. A ghost with a huge beard and a malevolent glint in his eyes.
"So," He said. "I see you came then. The boy did his job."
Jenny, Martin and I exchanged looks. Did his job? Alforth had played a trick on us then?
"Please allow me to introduce myself children. My name is Merlin, although I am more commonly known in the muggle world as Merlin the Magician."
I felt my heart begin to race. What did Merlin want with us? The look in his eye told me we were definitely not being invited to have tea with him!
CHAPTER NINETEEN: Alforth plays a trick!
I sighed, and shifted in my seat. If there was anything more boring than one of Snape's lectures on his own experience with the dark arts I had yet to find it. I had to bite my lip to keep from telling him that my own father had more experience with the dark arts than he did! Besides I was thinking about what we had learnt that morning from Moaning Myrtle!
The bell rang to end the torture session and we all began to gather up our things.
"Hold on a moment!" Snape called. "Before you all go barreling out of here I've done some marking and if anyone wants to actually pass DADA this year you might want to consider doing this extra credit assignment. And this even includes little miss-know all Weasley!" The Slytherins chuckled at this. "Your assignment topic is thus: the most influential witch or wizard in the dark arts in modern times. But if you've been studying for your end- of-year exams in a month this shouldn't be too much trouble!"
We all groaned and made our way out of the classroom. Alforth was holding court outside with a bunch of Slytherins hanging off his every word. "Clearly I am going to write my essay on Voldemort. Who else could hold the entire wizarding world in such a grip of fear?"
Martin snorted. "I reckon the entire wizarding world might be pretty scared if they see you first thing in the morning, with your hair all messed up, and those li-"
"I've had enough I can take of you Simms!" Alforth yelled, and before any of us could react he had his wand out and was pointing it at Martin.
Martin raised an eyebrow, and tried to look cocky, but I knew he was frightened. After all it isn't every day you get a wand pointed at you by a young wizard who hates you is it?
"Don't be silly Alforth. You'll get expelled." I said to him.
He turned to me, a look of contempt on his face. "And you! You think your so damn great because your Dad was the famous Harry Potter! Going round speaking about him and all!"
"I don't go round speaking about him." I protested. "Anyway, put your wand away before we get into trouble."
"Trouble?" Alforth scoffed. "Scared Potter?"
"Not at all." I replied, and then I did something incredibly stupid-I turned my back on him to walk off. I wasn't going to go round waving my wand about and getting into trouble. I had barely taken two steps before I felt some kind of hot blast at my back. A moment later I was on the floor in hysterical laughter. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop laughing. Even Jenny and Martin's concerned faces near me didn't stop me.
"We better get him to the hospital." Jenny suggested. "Bloody Alforth's put a laughing spell on him."
They helped me to my feet and we started down the corridor. "If your so brave Potter meet me in the Great Hall tonight at midnight and we can see who is the better wizard." Alforth called.
"It's a date!" I called back, through my laughter. Despite the fact that I found this anything but funny I was unable to stop laughing.
"Sam!" Jenny said. "We can't go wandering around at night-we'll get into trouble."
"We?" I managed.
"Do you really think I'm going to let you go and meet Alforth by yourself?" Jenny replied.
When we got to the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey took one look at me and then nodded. "Laughing spell?" She asked.
I nodded.
"Come here then." She said leading me over to the bed. "Honestly why won't first year wizards learn that they are not good enough wizards to put spells on people all the time?"
"This one worked pretty good." I laughed.
"That's what you think!" Madame Pomfrey replied. "If I can stop you laughing in a few hours I'll be doing well!"
A few hours? That sounded bad! But that just made me laugh. From one of the other beds in the hospital Henry watched me curiously. Which just made me laugh even more.
*****
All the Gryffindoors were in the common room when I returned there that night. I'd missed dinner whilst in the hospital wing and as a consequence my stomach had yet to stop growling.
"SAM!" Francine cried spotting me. "Are you alright?"
"Sure am." I said, a little giggle escaping. Madame Pomfrey had warned me that this might happen from time to time for the next few hours.
"Alforth is such a moron." Greg said. "Maybe I should teach the little git some new spells!"
"Not worth it." Francine said. "It's really not worth getting expelled from Hogwarts for Alforth is it?"
"I guess not, but I still think Alforth needs to be taken down a peg or two." Greg replied with a frown.
Paul frowned as well, as he looked up from his homework. "Greg don't go doing anything stupid. With you being the cousin of a prefect and all it wouldn't look all that good, would it?"
Greg snorted. "Don't worry Paul the Pain I won't do anything to ruin your chances of becoming head boy in the future!"
That reminded me about the meeting with Alforth in the Great Hall that night! I hurried over to Jenny and whispered to her "I need a hex to put on Alforth."
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Are you still planning on going tonight then?" She asked.
"I have to!" I insisted. "Can you imagine Alforth if I chicken out? I'd never hear the end of it!"
"Sam do you really care what that weasel thinks about you?" Jenny asked. "Like Francine just told Greg-Alforth is not worth getting expelled for is he?"
"You just don't understand!" I argued.
She looked at me for a moment without saying anything, and then she nodded. "Fine, come here, I've got a good one which should be fairly simple..."
*****
I was surprised to see both Martin and Jenny waiting downstairs when I snuck out about quarter to twelve.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Did you really think we'd let you go and meet that slime all alone?" Martin asked. "We're coming to make sure he doesn't do something to you!"
I was touched. "Thanks guys, but we better get going or he might think we're not coming."
The fat lady was, as usual, not too impressed with us waking her up. "Between you and those ghosts floating about I can see I am not going to get much sleep tonight." She grumbled.
We hurried down to the Great Hall, trying our best not to make any noise. When we reached the Great Hall it was silent and dark. Jenny whipped out her wand and said "lumos" so we could see better.
"Alforth's not here yet." Martin said surprised. "And it's only a few minutes until midnight!"
"That is strange." I agreed. "I thought he would have made it a point to be here first to prove that he was not scared about the whole thing."
Jenny sighed. "Well we could practise that hex I taught you earlier then Sam." She said.
I pulled my wand out to practice the snorting hex Jenny had been teaching me. If it worked properly Alforth would spend the next 24 hours walking around snorting like a pig, something which I thought very suitable indeed!
But before I could practice the large clock outside the hall chimed twelve loudly, and the doors of the hall flew open with a bang.
"Typical Alforth-always dramatic!" I started to say, but the last word died on my lips.
It wasn't Alforth or any of his little cronies who stood in the doorway. It was a ghost. A ghost dressed in long flowing robes, and a tall pointy hat. A ghost with a huge beard and a malevolent glint in his eyes.
"So," He said. "I see you came then. The boy did his job."
Jenny, Martin and I exchanged looks. Did his job? Alforth had played a trick on us then?
"Please allow me to introduce myself children. My name is Merlin, although I am more commonly known in the muggle world as Merlin the Magician."
I felt my heart begin to race. What did Merlin want with us? The look in his eye told me we were definitely not being invited to have tea with him!
