Chapter 4
A Sirius Matter
Disclaimer- Nope, I still don't own HP, Tom Clancy or even anime (having no relation to this story, but I thought I'd mention it). Please don't look at me like that, I can't steal anything (well if/when I did whatever I stole would run away. My luck's just like that). I won't even mention plot. I'm really not making anything off this, and my parents don't really appreciate it, so don't hassle me about the nonsense that follows. Everyone's subject to their emotions, right? Well, my emotions are insane.
Emma Malfoy- (sniffles) you..... you love it too? OMG! I feel so appreciated. I could kiss you! (Emma runs away)
Sorry! I promise I won't! Come back!
ILuvSiriusBlack- (sniff) thanks very much to you too! Reviews make me feel so special! ^^
person w/no name- I'm really sorry I made u review because I took so long. Thank u every1,I feel so loved.
"'It was I dreary night in November....'
"Think of the cool rain drenching you. Sounds nice, huh?" Came the dull monotone, similar to a wizarding telemarketer, if wizards had such monsters as well.
"Shut up Chris" Kate yelled at her brother, starring glumly out the window. It was still sweltering out there. Dean reentered the living room looking relatively refreshed.
"Stick your head in the fridge again?" Amy questioned. Dean nodded, too warm and too cool to say anything. Lauren laughed scornfully. Or tried to. In the end she just sounded amused and slightly jealous, which she was. Amy shook her head.
"Give it up. It's too hot to be mean." Lauren nodded her agreement.
Kate sighed. Hogsmeade had been in the grip of an oppressive heat wave since summer vacation had started, and it was getting late in July. Not that the heat had been this bad when school let out. Or if it had, they had enjoyed the high temperatures much more. The nights where no better than the days and every day mashed into the day before and after with the numbing sameness. Even sitting and relishing in the lack of homework had lost it's glitter.
Chris pushed out of the mold of sameness that was suffocating them all and spoke.
"Do you think it's possible for heat alone to drive someone insane?" He sounded genuinely curious, a speck of shade on canvas. But one abnormality inspires others, the stark reds love company. Snuffles growled and Kate said
"You could. At this rate, we'll all be crazy in an hour." Dean rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to do my homework."
Silence reigned, and the colors where lost.
Kate continued starring out the window, trying to clear her mind of all thought. It didn't seem to be working, or it just didn't matter, because she was still bored. Not just any bored, but the bored that comes to the easily obsessed. The kind of bored that seeps into your blood and seems like it will never leave.
She had already redone her Potions homework and hid it in a safe place so no-one would steal it again. It didn't really bother her that the essay had gone missing. Any distraction was welcome, no matter how tedious. Besides, now it was better than her original, and Kate, like the average Gryffindor, could always use a little help in potions.
The chaser had asked herself many times but she couldn't figure out who would bother stealing her homework. There was no plausible explanation. Chris wouldn't dream of it, Dean was more than likely trying to avoid thinking about homework altogether, and she didn't think the twins would do something like that. Kate hated to doubt her sisters, but she couldn't think of anyone else who would steal homework, or pull some mean prank like that.
"Hey Snuffles. You wouldn't steal my homework, would you?" Kate asked, still gazing out the window. A pity, because if she had been facing her furry companion she would have seen him stop dead and look hopefully towards and exit. She did, however, turn slowly. Kate saw her dog wagging his tail and looking innocent. This would have been fine, because after all it was a dog, but Snuffles had never wagged his tail, ever, and his eyes never changed from their bemused expression.
"Oh Merlin. You did, didn't you? That's just sad." A stab in the dark and highly unlikely to be sure, but Kate reminded herself this wasn't a normal dog like the ones muggle-borns told stories about. Snuffles was a wizarding dog, and subject to different rules. Kate's suspicions were confirmed when Snuffles froze before continuing his 'innocent' act with fervor.
"Boy I hope you didn't eat it." Kate grumbled, grouchy. The large black dog narrowed his eyes and growled. Kate instantly brightened.
"So you admit your guilt." Kate said, grinning triumphantly at her pet. The dog walked away. The blonde smiled.
"You can't win them all." She called after the animigi's receding figure
Kate blinked and realized she was all alone in the living room, having annoyed away the only other occupant.
'What should I do now?' She wondered.
Kate turned to the indoor/outdoor temperature spell and was startled by what she saw. Within the half-hour the temp. would drop to around 27 degrees!
"Freedom at last!" She shouted and snatched her broom. Snuffles peaked his head around the doorway (it was an open doorway, without a door at all). Kate smiled at him and said;
"I'm going flying!" Joy about the cool weather nearing clear on her face, Kate simply smiled at her dog, this time without any hint of sarcasm. Having missed the future dramatic weather change, the dog shook his head in disgust. He was still quite sore about having been found out. It had been a great many years since someone had read his expressions so well. Having been around so few humans to hide his pranks from had made his emotions show plainly on his face.
But things were changing for Sirius. Perhaps it was living in a happy family, where healing emotions washed through the house like water, or maybe he had been out of Azkaban low enough for it's fool shadow to fade from his life, but for whatever the reason, Sirius decided this meant it was time to start retraining. Never would a child in this house be free of his pranks again! Or maybe, it was because Kate said one more thing before walking out the door, well-used broom in hand.
"Yeah, and I love you too, crazy dog."
The Bell family had a huge backyard.
Well, technically, the magic woodland known in Hogwarts as the Forbidden Forest wasn't the Bell's property, but it had claimed the hearts of everyone in Hogsmeade, and residents of all ages called it their backyard. The forest wasn't as treacherous as the area around the school (Hogwarts had been built in the thick of the forest for magical reasons as well as for protection) but it was swamped with magical creatures. For this reason wizarding Realtors couldn't touch the forest, whether the barrier was unpleasant childhood memories or ancestral fear left over from the dark ages (it was not uncommon for wizards to disappear without a trace in medieval times). In fact, some of the more outrageous rumors claimed the citizens of Hogsmeade could talk to animals. Although it was true several of the wizarding laws protecting magical creatures had been proposed by permanent Hogsmeade residents in the past, the village claimed it was all a matter of preferring to walk in the woodland than concoct potions in someone's basement. Besides, such rumors were never mentioned in polite company.
Whatever their ulterior motives, all the citizens of the wizarding Hogsmeade called the outskirts our their backyard. And for all intents and purposes, it was. Some families planted gardens deeper in the forest, adults practiced rusty Quidditch skills in the numerous fields peppering the woodland and a handful of researchers who lived in the village practiced their art only a few miles from their house.
Unfortunately, there were few children living in Hogsmeade. So the Bell clan turned to the forest. A healthy number of tree houses graced the trees near the Bell house. Tree houses provided excellent cover for over-ambitious children to practice spells. They had to be very careful of the power of there spells, lest the magic attract some of the less pleasant inhabitants of the forest, or so their parents had told them, and the centaurs warmed Chris personally. He had decided to practice spells at a much younger age, before Fey and Liam could warm him.
Right now Kate was headed toward one of her favorite forts. She had gone to the muggle side of Hogsmeade to find some planks of wood. Wood was not the only thing she found, and the younger Kate had soon learned to wear shoes anywhere muggles might have left trash. After hauling the planks to a safe place (where the twins wouldn't stumble upon them). Kate had built a lean-to against a large tree. Then came the hard part. It had been a tricky bit of magic, but Kate had transfigured the wood to a living tree. It had been a painstaking few weeks until she had finally figured out the secret.
After several weeks of leaving wood transfigured to the tree to return the next morning to find the tree pushing the plank out. At first she thought it needed more magic. Kate's parents had taught all the Bell children about changing the amount of magic used in a spell, and all the children automatically used the smallest amount of magic in the forest. They could hear werewolves and other creatures howl in the night, and they never stopped being a little afraid of what lived in the forest.
Kate used more and more magic, but the planks kept getting rejected. The chaser was rapidly depleting her store of wood, and becoming more desperate with each failed attempt. Finally Kate left several pieces of oak pulled off the same tree, desperately hoping they would grow. Low and behold, the next day the tree hadn't rejected the wood. The transfigured pieces had started growing together and the growth was sprouting a green branch.
That's when it hit the blonde. It wasn't enough for the wood to be real wood, or even the same species of tree, it had to be *alive* Otherwise she might as well have been 'planting' a twig in the mud. Kate wondered if one of the forest creatures had pulled off the branches for her and she wished she could repay them. So when she finished growing her fort (as long as the wood was alive and green everything worked) she left out some bread (her mother sometimes liked to make bread for the fun of it) and the snidgets ate it. The birds liked her mother's bread so much that some of them set up nests in her tree. Fat birds.
As Kate reached her fort, she viewed her handiwork with growing pride. Minus the noisy snidgets it was quite impressive. A little bumpy and lopsided, but was defiantly a tree-house. The chaser carefully hid her broom before getting too close to her fort. The magical birds would be absolutely unbearable if they saw her Nimbus.
"And on the positive outlook, this Gosh-forsaken heat wave is expected to come to an end with this big storm. Lots of Bum and Bang heading our way. Keep the kiddies inside and away from the tellie, parents, 'cause this is gonna be a big one!" Said an enthusiastic voice.
"Dean. I don't care about your Muggle Studies homework. I *cannot* *take* this crazy man any longer!" Amy looked amazed at her sister. Lauren's voice had steadily risen from calm and cold to the ferocity of a caged bear. And her sister was supposed to be the quiet one. Dean nodded in relief.
"Awful isn't it? Professor gave us spelled radios tuned to three radio stations. I'm just glad we only have to listen to each of them once." Dean explained. He quickly leaned over to turn the radio off. Amy spoke up
"Spelled for what?" She asked. Dean never looked up from the radio, he was staring at it with something akin to fear in his eyes.
"So we have to return them to school, or they explode and we have to buy new ones." Amy nodded. Dean gave up study in favor of experimentation, but he only succeeded in changing the station.
"-This storm is bringing long-awaited rain with thunder and lighting. Expected to hit Cullsmeade area in 10 minutes. Strong wind and heavy precipitation. Please remain inside for the duration-" A monotone voice said before being cut off.
The twins glared at Dean, who had ceased hiding his fear of the muggle device.
"What? How was I supposed to know it'd be a button with a circle and a line through it. Muggles." Amy sighed.
"Well, at least he got the thing off." Lauren hurmpfed.
"And just when he found a forecaster who wasn't living off cheering charms." Amy sighed. Lauren looked thoughtful and was about to speak when their pet started barking frantically at the door. Lauren raised her eyebrow in annoyance and amusement, two emotions that seemed tied together in the twins eyes. As she walked out of the room, Amy pounced Dean, who was muttering to himself about crazy forecasters. Amy's face lit up with a sadistic grin that should have sent Dean running for cover, however currently he was too busy muttering to notice.
Amy pondered what to say. Destroying Hufflepuff work may by amusing, but in the heart of every Slytherin there was a desire to break Gryffindors. It was encouraged in school and had become one of Amy's more enjoyable hobbies.
"Hey Dean." Dean looked up from the parchment he had written his summer vacation homework assignments on.
"Hmm?" Dean considered putting down his parchment and sprinting in another direction. Eventually he decided against it; he would never get the parchment back.
"You thought that muggle forecaster was really annoying, huh?" Dean smiled, that was an easy question. His 'conversations to avoid' radar had gone off only because Amy was still mad at the forecaster with too much coffee, not because there had been a hint of sadism in her voice that meant she was going to slaughter him and use his entrails in a ceremony for the Dark Lord.
"He near drove me insane! How can the muggles stand him?" Dean looked relived *someone* agreed with him. Amy looked confused. The other Gryffindors she tortured would have viciously fought against her about how annoying the muggle was. They would claim he was fine, why did she have a problem with him, was it because she was a Slytherin?
"B-but..You're a Gryffindor! Full of all that 'protect the muggles' nonsense! You aren't supposed to hate muggles!" Amy blinked. Any plan to taunt Dean about his stereotypical beliefs had gone horribly awry. Besides, Amy had said *exactly* what she felt. Now she was waiting for everyone to start laughing. It was Dean, the Gyffindork extraordinare and buddy-buddy of the Golden Boy. But he sounded...normal. Like some of the friendlier Ravenclaws. Amy paused and wondered how she could have missed so much about her brother.
Dean himself was a little shell-shocked by Amy's outburst. Nevertheless, he felt compelled to answer his sister. She had, perhaps on accident, lost the steel grip on her tongue. She didn't do that a lot, and the only other time he could remember her doing something like this was when Lauren had talked about the twin's parents. If that had never happened Dean would probably just ignored his sister, but he had been thinking along much the same lines at his sister, although less insulting. Maybe Amy would even listen.
"Gyrffindork?" He said questioningly. He was well aware of what the Slytherins called Gryffindors, either behind their backs or to their faces. So maybe he wasn't going to be really nice about this... Amy blushed.
"Sorry." She said softly. Dean blinked. Amy must really care. Dean felt his new beliefs were being tested. He'd be nicer to his sister.
"You're right about what you said earlier, thought. A lot of Gryffindors fit the 'protect the muggles, talk trash about the Slytherins' stuff. But it's not that simple for the rest of us." Amy nodded absently, not really understanding, not really interested now that she knew Dean wasn't going to insult her.
"Like you?"
"...Like me." Dean nodded. Amy snorted. This was safe ground for taunting, Dean was boasting.
"What makes you different?" Her tone was amused, but Amy never quite insulted Dean, and he noticed.
"You heard me before. Muggles are people, not objects to simply protect. They're not all the same, or that's what I'm learning in Muggles Studies. I joined because I wanted to understand what they are. I'm getting a pen pal next year." Amy contemplated. This was an arguement...so she was allowed to listen closely to what Dean said and find the weak points.
"So not every muggle is the same. Great. Why does that make any difference?" Dean looked disappointed. Wasn't that enough for her? Amy smiled. It had been nonsense after all.
Silence reigned, Lauren still absent.
"Because I like muggles. Not because they're muggles, that doesn't matter to me. Magic is nothing compared to all the things muggles invent-" Amy cut him off.
"So magic is just a talent not everyone has?" Dean considered.
"I..I think so. I mean, they're the same as us, just without magic. I've read some of their history books, they have Voldemort's just like us. If I have to, I'll protect muggles the same way I would other wizards. With respect for the things they can do better than me and complementing them." Amy paused to absorb this.
"So...muggles are the same as us...but different just like magic folk are different." Dean nodded. Amy said wonderingly
"Muggles are...people." Dean nodded. Amy stiffened and glared icily at her brother.
"I've had enough of this nonsense." She said and walked out. And even when she glared at Dean, he wasn't effected by the cold in her eyes anymore.
"Well, nothing changed." Kate sighed. She was still really bored. That awful kind of boredom that seeps into your bones and *stays* there.
Resisting the urge to tap her foot, Kate remembered the reason she had left the house in the first place.
"Of course! How could I be so silly?" The blonde practically exploded out of her tree house in her strategically positioned broomstick. Needless to say her sudden (and sloppy) actions brought a great many squawks of indignation from her feathered friends. Kate took to the sky, in a mass of complaining birds.
Outside the Bell house, a dog was pacing. He looked at the overcast sky above and growled.
'Where did she go?' Sirius was absolutely furious. He had known there was a storm brewing (with his abilities as a dog) and still allowed the Bell girl to fly off into the heart of it. She couldn't recognize the smells and feelings associated with storms and would never realize the danger she was in till she was caught in the middle of a potentially dangerous storm without hope of escape. And because she flew so high he could never catch her sent. Without his wand he couldn't even perform a finding spell.
"I love you too, crazy mutt." She had said. And he couldn't even protect her just like his godson. He could never do anything.
The dog howled up at the pending storm. What could he do? 'What about....no!' He couldn't do that. They would never listen...unless...maybe it would work...
And the black dog ran off.
Kate looked around her, the sky a strange green color.
"This is creepy." She tried to look out further in the sky, but the snidgets continue to follow her through the sky. Well, she had flown into the sky right by her 'fort'. It's had been risky, with the trees all around her, but it had freed Kate of her boredom. Flying was like coming home to a home she could never really stay in. The birds noises grew loader.
"If the broom scares you, go back to your nest, dumb birds." Kate muttered. She tried to fly even higher, to get above all the fuzzy bodies, but this agrivates the birds more.
"What's wrong with you?" The girl wonders. Feeling carefree, dispite the eerily green sky, Kate leads the birds on a merry chase, using all her Quidditch moves to evade the small bodies. But they always manage to end up above her, and she doesn't have the heart to push through their self-built barricade.
Kate flew fratically towards the ground and saw the snidgets were following her. Quickly she pulled out of her dive, scraping the tops of the tree. What she saw parilized her. Ahead was a gigantic thunderhead, heading towards Hogsmeade with her between the two.
"Oh shit."
Kate flew towards her village, hoping to reach it before the storm cloud. She already knew she could never make it in time, and she would probably be hit by lightning and fall to her death. The snidget's angry twittering was lost in a roll of thunder that shook Kate in the sky, whether with the sound waves or because the chaser was shivering.
TBC
A/n- (Gulps) Sorry everyone about the cliffhanger. I really didn't expect the chapter to end like this...It just happened. And as for what Sirius is doing...Sadly, he hasn't me a whole lot. All you good fans (waves at her two schoolmates who she forced to read this story) out there I'll try to be faster, but until school ends (looks longingly towards horizon) this updating speed is probably going to be the norm.
Yes, I know the corniness of the title is just plain pathetic, but the evil little plot bunny attached itself to my brain and I couldn't think up another name. By the way, the first line (quoted by Chris) was from page one of Frankenstein. It caught my eye in computers class. For all of those who don't use the metric system, 27C is about 80F. I don't like anywhere near England, so I'm not sure if this is too warn of cool. Whatever the normal temp. in England, it's a major temperature drop from the heat wave. And about the thermometer, it is magical after all, and no wizard listens to radio forecasts (I had to make them listen to wizarding music) the thermometer spell is a miniature forecast. Wow, my notes just keeping getting longer. I shudder to think about the next chapter's note. I love all of you for reading this and actually paying attention, see you soon. Feel free to talk to me on AIM, I'm Sakanosan06 (it's on my profile). Any questions or comments would be appreciated.
~Dweia'sDouble
A Sirius Matter
Disclaimer- Nope, I still don't own HP, Tom Clancy or even anime (having no relation to this story, but I thought I'd mention it). Please don't look at me like that, I can't steal anything (well if/when I did whatever I stole would run away. My luck's just like that). I won't even mention plot. I'm really not making anything off this, and my parents don't really appreciate it, so don't hassle me about the nonsense that follows. Everyone's subject to their emotions, right? Well, my emotions are insane.
Emma Malfoy- (sniffles) you..... you love it too? OMG! I feel so appreciated. I could kiss you! (Emma runs away)
Sorry! I promise I won't! Come back!
ILuvSiriusBlack- (sniff) thanks very much to you too! Reviews make me feel so special! ^^
person w/no name- I'm really sorry I made u review because I took so long. Thank u every1,I feel so loved.
"'It was I dreary night in November....'
"Think of the cool rain drenching you. Sounds nice, huh?" Came the dull monotone, similar to a wizarding telemarketer, if wizards had such monsters as well.
"Shut up Chris" Kate yelled at her brother, starring glumly out the window. It was still sweltering out there. Dean reentered the living room looking relatively refreshed.
"Stick your head in the fridge again?" Amy questioned. Dean nodded, too warm and too cool to say anything. Lauren laughed scornfully. Or tried to. In the end she just sounded amused and slightly jealous, which she was. Amy shook her head.
"Give it up. It's too hot to be mean." Lauren nodded her agreement.
Kate sighed. Hogsmeade had been in the grip of an oppressive heat wave since summer vacation had started, and it was getting late in July. Not that the heat had been this bad when school let out. Or if it had, they had enjoyed the high temperatures much more. The nights where no better than the days and every day mashed into the day before and after with the numbing sameness. Even sitting and relishing in the lack of homework had lost it's glitter.
Chris pushed out of the mold of sameness that was suffocating them all and spoke.
"Do you think it's possible for heat alone to drive someone insane?" He sounded genuinely curious, a speck of shade on canvas. But one abnormality inspires others, the stark reds love company. Snuffles growled and Kate said
"You could. At this rate, we'll all be crazy in an hour." Dean rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to do my homework."
Silence reigned, and the colors where lost.
Kate continued starring out the window, trying to clear her mind of all thought. It didn't seem to be working, or it just didn't matter, because she was still bored. Not just any bored, but the bored that comes to the easily obsessed. The kind of bored that seeps into your blood and seems like it will never leave.
She had already redone her Potions homework and hid it in a safe place so no-one would steal it again. It didn't really bother her that the essay had gone missing. Any distraction was welcome, no matter how tedious. Besides, now it was better than her original, and Kate, like the average Gryffindor, could always use a little help in potions.
The chaser had asked herself many times but she couldn't figure out who would bother stealing her homework. There was no plausible explanation. Chris wouldn't dream of it, Dean was more than likely trying to avoid thinking about homework altogether, and she didn't think the twins would do something like that. Kate hated to doubt her sisters, but she couldn't think of anyone else who would steal homework, or pull some mean prank like that.
"Hey Snuffles. You wouldn't steal my homework, would you?" Kate asked, still gazing out the window. A pity, because if she had been facing her furry companion she would have seen him stop dead and look hopefully towards and exit. She did, however, turn slowly. Kate saw her dog wagging his tail and looking innocent. This would have been fine, because after all it was a dog, but Snuffles had never wagged his tail, ever, and his eyes never changed from their bemused expression.
"Oh Merlin. You did, didn't you? That's just sad." A stab in the dark and highly unlikely to be sure, but Kate reminded herself this wasn't a normal dog like the ones muggle-borns told stories about. Snuffles was a wizarding dog, and subject to different rules. Kate's suspicions were confirmed when Snuffles froze before continuing his 'innocent' act with fervor.
"Boy I hope you didn't eat it." Kate grumbled, grouchy. The large black dog narrowed his eyes and growled. Kate instantly brightened.
"So you admit your guilt." Kate said, grinning triumphantly at her pet. The dog walked away. The blonde smiled.
"You can't win them all." She called after the animigi's receding figure
Kate blinked and realized she was all alone in the living room, having annoyed away the only other occupant.
'What should I do now?' She wondered.
Kate turned to the indoor/outdoor temperature spell and was startled by what she saw. Within the half-hour the temp. would drop to around 27 degrees!
"Freedom at last!" She shouted and snatched her broom. Snuffles peaked his head around the doorway (it was an open doorway, without a door at all). Kate smiled at him and said;
"I'm going flying!" Joy about the cool weather nearing clear on her face, Kate simply smiled at her dog, this time without any hint of sarcasm. Having missed the future dramatic weather change, the dog shook his head in disgust. He was still quite sore about having been found out. It had been a great many years since someone had read his expressions so well. Having been around so few humans to hide his pranks from had made his emotions show plainly on his face.
But things were changing for Sirius. Perhaps it was living in a happy family, where healing emotions washed through the house like water, or maybe he had been out of Azkaban low enough for it's fool shadow to fade from his life, but for whatever the reason, Sirius decided this meant it was time to start retraining. Never would a child in this house be free of his pranks again! Or maybe, it was because Kate said one more thing before walking out the door, well-used broom in hand.
"Yeah, and I love you too, crazy dog."
The Bell family had a huge backyard.
Well, technically, the magic woodland known in Hogwarts as the Forbidden Forest wasn't the Bell's property, but it had claimed the hearts of everyone in Hogsmeade, and residents of all ages called it their backyard. The forest wasn't as treacherous as the area around the school (Hogwarts had been built in the thick of the forest for magical reasons as well as for protection) but it was swamped with magical creatures. For this reason wizarding Realtors couldn't touch the forest, whether the barrier was unpleasant childhood memories or ancestral fear left over from the dark ages (it was not uncommon for wizards to disappear without a trace in medieval times). In fact, some of the more outrageous rumors claimed the citizens of Hogsmeade could talk to animals. Although it was true several of the wizarding laws protecting magical creatures had been proposed by permanent Hogsmeade residents in the past, the village claimed it was all a matter of preferring to walk in the woodland than concoct potions in someone's basement. Besides, such rumors were never mentioned in polite company.
Whatever their ulterior motives, all the citizens of the wizarding Hogsmeade called the outskirts our their backyard. And for all intents and purposes, it was. Some families planted gardens deeper in the forest, adults practiced rusty Quidditch skills in the numerous fields peppering the woodland and a handful of researchers who lived in the village practiced their art only a few miles from their house.
Unfortunately, there were few children living in Hogsmeade. So the Bell clan turned to the forest. A healthy number of tree houses graced the trees near the Bell house. Tree houses provided excellent cover for over-ambitious children to practice spells. They had to be very careful of the power of there spells, lest the magic attract some of the less pleasant inhabitants of the forest, or so their parents had told them, and the centaurs warmed Chris personally. He had decided to practice spells at a much younger age, before Fey and Liam could warm him.
Right now Kate was headed toward one of her favorite forts. She had gone to the muggle side of Hogsmeade to find some planks of wood. Wood was not the only thing she found, and the younger Kate had soon learned to wear shoes anywhere muggles might have left trash. After hauling the planks to a safe place (where the twins wouldn't stumble upon them). Kate had built a lean-to against a large tree. Then came the hard part. It had been a tricky bit of magic, but Kate had transfigured the wood to a living tree. It had been a painstaking few weeks until she had finally figured out the secret.
After several weeks of leaving wood transfigured to the tree to return the next morning to find the tree pushing the plank out. At first she thought it needed more magic. Kate's parents had taught all the Bell children about changing the amount of magic used in a spell, and all the children automatically used the smallest amount of magic in the forest. They could hear werewolves and other creatures howl in the night, and they never stopped being a little afraid of what lived in the forest.
Kate used more and more magic, but the planks kept getting rejected. The chaser was rapidly depleting her store of wood, and becoming more desperate with each failed attempt. Finally Kate left several pieces of oak pulled off the same tree, desperately hoping they would grow. Low and behold, the next day the tree hadn't rejected the wood. The transfigured pieces had started growing together and the growth was sprouting a green branch.
That's when it hit the blonde. It wasn't enough for the wood to be real wood, or even the same species of tree, it had to be *alive* Otherwise she might as well have been 'planting' a twig in the mud. Kate wondered if one of the forest creatures had pulled off the branches for her and she wished she could repay them. So when she finished growing her fort (as long as the wood was alive and green everything worked) she left out some bread (her mother sometimes liked to make bread for the fun of it) and the snidgets ate it. The birds liked her mother's bread so much that some of them set up nests in her tree. Fat birds.
As Kate reached her fort, she viewed her handiwork with growing pride. Minus the noisy snidgets it was quite impressive. A little bumpy and lopsided, but was defiantly a tree-house. The chaser carefully hid her broom before getting too close to her fort. The magical birds would be absolutely unbearable if they saw her Nimbus.
"And on the positive outlook, this Gosh-forsaken heat wave is expected to come to an end with this big storm. Lots of Bum and Bang heading our way. Keep the kiddies inside and away from the tellie, parents, 'cause this is gonna be a big one!" Said an enthusiastic voice.
"Dean. I don't care about your Muggle Studies homework. I *cannot* *take* this crazy man any longer!" Amy looked amazed at her sister. Lauren's voice had steadily risen from calm and cold to the ferocity of a caged bear. And her sister was supposed to be the quiet one. Dean nodded in relief.
"Awful isn't it? Professor gave us spelled radios tuned to three radio stations. I'm just glad we only have to listen to each of them once." Dean explained. He quickly leaned over to turn the radio off. Amy spoke up
"Spelled for what?" She asked. Dean never looked up from the radio, he was staring at it with something akin to fear in his eyes.
"So we have to return them to school, or they explode and we have to buy new ones." Amy nodded. Dean gave up study in favor of experimentation, but he only succeeded in changing the station.
"-This storm is bringing long-awaited rain with thunder and lighting. Expected to hit Cullsmeade area in 10 minutes. Strong wind and heavy precipitation. Please remain inside for the duration-" A monotone voice said before being cut off.
The twins glared at Dean, who had ceased hiding his fear of the muggle device.
"What? How was I supposed to know it'd be a button with a circle and a line through it. Muggles." Amy sighed.
"Well, at least he got the thing off." Lauren hurmpfed.
"And just when he found a forecaster who wasn't living off cheering charms." Amy sighed. Lauren looked thoughtful and was about to speak when their pet started barking frantically at the door. Lauren raised her eyebrow in annoyance and amusement, two emotions that seemed tied together in the twins eyes. As she walked out of the room, Amy pounced Dean, who was muttering to himself about crazy forecasters. Amy's face lit up with a sadistic grin that should have sent Dean running for cover, however currently he was too busy muttering to notice.
Amy pondered what to say. Destroying Hufflepuff work may by amusing, but in the heart of every Slytherin there was a desire to break Gryffindors. It was encouraged in school and had become one of Amy's more enjoyable hobbies.
"Hey Dean." Dean looked up from the parchment he had written his summer vacation homework assignments on.
"Hmm?" Dean considered putting down his parchment and sprinting in another direction. Eventually he decided against it; he would never get the parchment back.
"You thought that muggle forecaster was really annoying, huh?" Dean smiled, that was an easy question. His 'conversations to avoid' radar had gone off only because Amy was still mad at the forecaster with too much coffee, not because there had been a hint of sadism in her voice that meant she was going to slaughter him and use his entrails in a ceremony for the Dark Lord.
"He near drove me insane! How can the muggles stand him?" Dean looked relived *someone* agreed with him. Amy looked confused. The other Gryffindors she tortured would have viciously fought against her about how annoying the muggle was. They would claim he was fine, why did she have a problem with him, was it because she was a Slytherin?
"B-but..You're a Gryffindor! Full of all that 'protect the muggles' nonsense! You aren't supposed to hate muggles!" Amy blinked. Any plan to taunt Dean about his stereotypical beliefs had gone horribly awry. Besides, Amy had said *exactly* what she felt. Now she was waiting for everyone to start laughing. It was Dean, the Gyffindork extraordinare and buddy-buddy of the Golden Boy. But he sounded...normal. Like some of the friendlier Ravenclaws. Amy paused and wondered how she could have missed so much about her brother.
Dean himself was a little shell-shocked by Amy's outburst. Nevertheless, he felt compelled to answer his sister. She had, perhaps on accident, lost the steel grip on her tongue. She didn't do that a lot, and the only other time he could remember her doing something like this was when Lauren had talked about the twin's parents. If that had never happened Dean would probably just ignored his sister, but he had been thinking along much the same lines at his sister, although less insulting. Maybe Amy would even listen.
"Gyrffindork?" He said questioningly. He was well aware of what the Slytherins called Gryffindors, either behind their backs or to their faces. So maybe he wasn't going to be really nice about this... Amy blushed.
"Sorry." She said softly. Dean blinked. Amy must really care. Dean felt his new beliefs were being tested. He'd be nicer to his sister.
"You're right about what you said earlier, thought. A lot of Gryffindors fit the 'protect the muggles, talk trash about the Slytherins' stuff. But it's not that simple for the rest of us." Amy nodded absently, not really understanding, not really interested now that she knew Dean wasn't going to insult her.
"Like you?"
"...Like me." Dean nodded. Amy snorted. This was safe ground for taunting, Dean was boasting.
"What makes you different?" Her tone was amused, but Amy never quite insulted Dean, and he noticed.
"You heard me before. Muggles are people, not objects to simply protect. They're not all the same, or that's what I'm learning in Muggles Studies. I joined because I wanted to understand what they are. I'm getting a pen pal next year." Amy contemplated. This was an arguement...so she was allowed to listen closely to what Dean said and find the weak points.
"So not every muggle is the same. Great. Why does that make any difference?" Dean looked disappointed. Wasn't that enough for her? Amy smiled. It had been nonsense after all.
Silence reigned, Lauren still absent.
"Because I like muggles. Not because they're muggles, that doesn't matter to me. Magic is nothing compared to all the things muggles invent-" Amy cut him off.
"So magic is just a talent not everyone has?" Dean considered.
"I..I think so. I mean, they're the same as us, just without magic. I've read some of their history books, they have Voldemort's just like us. If I have to, I'll protect muggles the same way I would other wizards. With respect for the things they can do better than me and complementing them." Amy paused to absorb this.
"So...muggles are the same as us...but different just like magic folk are different." Dean nodded. Amy said wonderingly
"Muggles are...people." Dean nodded. Amy stiffened and glared icily at her brother.
"I've had enough of this nonsense." She said and walked out. And even when she glared at Dean, he wasn't effected by the cold in her eyes anymore.
"Well, nothing changed." Kate sighed. She was still really bored. That awful kind of boredom that seeps into your bones and *stays* there.
Resisting the urge to tap her foot, Kate remembered the reason she had left the house in the first place.
"Of course! How could I be so silly?" The blonde practically exploded out of her tree house in her strategically positioned broomstick. Needless to say her sudden (and sloppy) actions brought a great many squawks of indignation from her feathered friends. Kate took to the sky, in a mass of complaining birds.
Outside the Bell house, a dog was pacing. He looked at the overcast sky above and growled.
'Where did she go?' Sirius was absolutely furious. He had known there was a storm brewing (with his abilities as a dog) and still allowed the Bell girl to fly off into the heart of it. She couldn't recognize the smells and feelings associated with storms and would never realize the danger she was in till she was caught in the middle of a potentially dangerous storm without hope of escape. And because she flew so high he could never catch her sent. Without his wand he couldn't even perform a finding spell.
"I love you too, crazy mutt." She had said. And he couldn't even protect her just like his godson. He could never do anything.
The dog howled up at the pending storm. What could he do? 'What about....no!' He couldn't do that. They would never listen...unless...maybe it would work...
And the black dog ran off.
Kate looked around her, the sky a strange green color.
"This is creepy." She tried to look out further in the sky, but the snidgets continue to follow her through the sky. Well, she had flown into the sky right by her 'fort'. It's had been risky, with the trees all around her, but it had freed Kate of her boredom. Flying was like coming home to a home she could never really stay in. The birds noises grew loader.
"If the broom scares you, go back to your nest, dumb birds." Kate muttered. She tried to fly even higher, to get above all the fuzzy bodies, but this agrivates the birds more.
"What's wrong with you?" The girl wonders. Feeling carefree, dispite the eerily green sky, Kate leads the birds on a merry chase, using all her Quidditch moves to evade the small bodies. But they always manage to end up above her, and she doesn't have the heart to push through their self-built barricade.
Kate flew fratically towards the ground and saw the snidgets were following her. Quickly she pulled out of her dive, scraping the tops of the tree. What she saw parilized her. Ahead was a gigantic thunderhead, heading towards Hogsmeade with her between the two.
"Oh shit."
Kate flew towards her village, hoping to reach it before the storm cloud. She already knew she could never make it in time, and she would probably be hit by lightning and fall to her death. The snidget's angry twittering was lost in a roll of thunder that shook Kate in the sky, whether with the sound waves or because the chaser was shivering.
TBC
A/n- (Gulps) Sorry everyone about the cliffhanger. I really didn't expect the chapter to end like this...It just happened. And as for what Sirius is doing...Sadly, he hasn't me a whole lot. All you good fans (waves at her two schoolmates who she forced to read this story) out there I'll try to be faster, but until school ends (looks longingly towards horizon) this updating speed is probably going to be the norm.
Yes, I know the corniness of the title is just plain pathetic, but the evil little plot bunny attached itself to my brain and I couldn't think up another name. By the way, the first line (quoted by Chris) was from page one of Frankenstein. It caught my eye in computers class. For all of those who don't use the metric system, 27C is about 80F. I don't like anywhere near England, so I'm not sure if this is too warn of cool. Whatever the normal temp. in England, it's a major temperature drop from the heat wave. And about the thermometer, it is magical after all, and no wizard listens to radio forecasts (I had to make them listen to wizarding music) the thermometer spell is a miniature forecast. Wow, my notes just keeping getting longer. I shudder to think about the next chapter's note. I love all of you for reading this and actually paying attention, see you soon. Feel free to talk to me on AIM, I'm Sakanosan06 (it's on my profile). Any questions or comments would be appreciated.
~Dweia'sDouble