Since this is the last time that I'm updating before Christmas (next update: end of next week), I'd like to wish you all very happy holidays, and lots of Harry Potter presents (if you like the HP merchandising at all :) Here's my little Christmas Card for you: since I couldn't create a link here (dunno why, but it didn't work), paste this into your browser and you'll see it: http://www.gryffindortower.net/Gallery/Agi%20Vega/merryxmas.jpg
This is likely to be the chapter that can be described as the 'most build-up' chapter of all. Not exciting at all, just a bridge. But you have to cross this bridge to get to the other side of the river where adventures await the characters… Chapter 8
The day after
For the first time since the Sorting, Daniel had a reason to feel a little bit happy to be in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor; still, he felt nothing but bitterness. Had he been in Gryffindor, he also would have gone into the forest with the others, and Gryffindor would have lost 400 points instead of 300. On the other hand, if he had gone into the forest with the Weasleys, then there would have been no one to run to Snape (given that the map was in Daniel's possession) and Gryffindor wouldn't have lost any points. But of course, all the Weasleys and Dan could have been killed by some horrid forest creature.
No matter how many times he thought the events over, the outcome was always the fact that he had caused Gryffindor to lose so many points. This thought didn't make him happy at all. He was a Slytherin, thus he should have been delighted to see the rival house lose so many points, but as Gryffindor had lost those points, so had Daniel lost his friends.
He spent the whole night after the unicorn-adventure wide awake, tossing and turning, his cousins' angry voices echoing in his mind. Abu, his pet monkey, tried to calm him down a bit by snuggling into his arms, but now not even he could console the broken-down boy.
Plans about getting his cousins' friendship back kept chasing each other in his mind, but none of them seemed accomplishable.
*Why did I listen to Norbert to go to Snape?* he thought bitterly, looking at the flames of a torch on the dungeon wall filtering a bit through the green velvet material of his four-poster. The other four Slytherin boys in his dorm were fast asleep, Donald Rookwood snoring aloud. Dan wished he could sleep just as peacefully as they did, but his guilty conscience did not let him. *Guilt?* he mused. *Is it right for me to feel guilty at all?* Norbert's words came to his mind – Norbert's words telling him that Kevin and the twins didn't deserve his friendship if they hated him for wanting to save their lives. *Norbert is right...* the boy thought, *I wanted to help them by sacrificing the map and all they could say as thanks was 'you idiot, you are not my friend anymore!' I should not feel pangs of remorse... if someone should feel guilty, then it's Kevin, Viv and Val. If they don't see that I did it with good intentions, then... then just let them think whatever they want!* with that, he furiously punched his pillow, imagining punching Kevin's face instead. His sudden move woke Abu who started to squeak angrily (who knows, he might have been dreaming about a pretty female monkey).
"Make that damn furball shut up!" Jerry Travers growled from the other end of the dorm.
Before Dan could reply that Abu was not a 'damn furball', the curtain of his bed opened and young Malfoy climbed in.
"Cannot sleep, eh?" he whispered, seating himself next to Dan.
"Not really." Dan sighed, pulling himself up to a sitting position.
"It was not your fault. How many times do I have to tell you?"
"You don't need to tell me any more times... I have realised it myself. My cousins are utterly stupid and from now on I won't give a damn about their opinion," Daniel replied in a low voice.
"That's more like it!" Norbert slapped him in the back in a friendly way. "A game of wizard chess? I don't think I could go back to sleep now."
"All right," Dan shrugged, reaching for his glasses. "Lumos," the little flame appeared at once at the tip of his wand and he shot his friend a triumphant grin.
"I see you have perfectly mastered it, just like the spark-conjuring charm. Don't worry, Dan, you're gonna be okay at Charms."
"With your help, maybe," young Potter nodded. "I still fear, though, how I will perform at Transfiguration. First lesson today."
"We'll see," Norbert shrugged. "But you heard McGonagall yesterday, pouring her heart out to the headmaster... she is playing the tough lady, but deep down she has feelings. She won't snap your head off if you can't turn a toothpick into a needle right away."
"I hope so," Dan smiled, thankful for his friend's encouragement. Maybe, with Norbert at his side, he'd manage to keep going, even with his three cousins' looking daggers at him all the time... because he was sure that Kevin and the twins could turn into just as terrible enemies as great friends they had been.
Instead of succumbing to lethargy caused by these thoughts, Daniel grabbed the chessboard handed to him by Norbert, and ordered his pawn to move to D5.
* * * * *
As he and Norbert went down to have breakfast that morning, they saw several Gryffindors gathering around the huge hourglasses showing the house points, madly shouting and waving their balled fists. Dan also managed to hear some Gryffindor students murmur the name Weasley, then one of them pointed at Daniel and yelled: "He told Snape! The Weasleys said you betrayed them! You sneak!"
"Come on," Norbert pulled his friend away from the hourglasses and the furious Gryffindors. Over breakfast the two friends received several murderous glances sending them the promise 'you'll pay for this, filthy Slytherins!', and Dan decided not to open any letters he happened to get in the near future – under the current circumstances, he could well imagine receiving curses in envelopes.
While the Gryffindors seemed to hate him (even Lily diverted her stare when he looked at her), the other Slytherins were very grateful and kept slapping him and Norbert in the back, yelling 'Well done!'
His housemates suddenly seemed to have accepted him, but it still didn't cheer Dan up. He would gladly have given up the other Slytherins' friendship if he could make up with Kevin, Viviane and Valentine.
Their first Transfiguration lesson proved to be even more unpleasant than Daniel had expected. McGonagall kept sending the two Slytherin boys piercing glances. Dan supposed it was because of the previous evening's events.
Norbert had been right: their first task at Transfiguration was to turn a toothpick into a needle. Daniel didn't manage to cope with it, but to his great relief most of the students had problems as well. Lavinia Flint turned the toothpick pink, and it was still the greatest achievement of all the Slytherins.
To everyone's – especially McGonagall's – surprise it was Julie Dumbledore of Hufflepuff who first managed to make a perfect needle. She gave Minerva a timid smile. The professor rewarded her success with ten points to Hufflepuff, but she did not praise Julie at all. As if the transformation had been accomplished by Hufflepuff house, not Julie.
As far as Daniel could tell, Minerva was deliberately cold towards the little girl. Could she really be jealous of her?
McGonagall ordered the children to keep trying the transformation in the rest of the class. Around the half of the lesson, Norbert proudly showed his friend a pretty needle – all the problem with it was that its pin-point was missing.
Ten minutes before the end of the lesson Gilda Lockhart nudged Daniel.
"What?" the boy scowled at her furiously – she had interrupted his new attempt at turning his toothpick into a needle. He felt he was close to transforming wood into metal at last when she disturbed him in concentration.
Gilda reached into her robes and pulled out something familiar, pushing it into Dan's hands. "Here."
"How...?" the boy gaped at the girl.
Gilda shrugged. "I heard Snape telling you off because you allegedly stole this from somewhere, then I heard your cousins yell at you because you 'lost' it. I thought it must mean a lot to you, so I stole it back."
"But... how? It was in Snape's room, wasn't it?" Dan asked, clutching at the map as though he never wanted to let it out of his hands again.
"This morning I pretended to be interested in a fur-growing potion and asked for Snape's help," she said. "While he gave me a couple of instructions and mentioned books I should check out of the library, I 'accidentally' picked up this thing from his table. He wasn't looking at me right then and I happened to replace it with a blank parchment so that he surely wouldn't find out who the culprit was... he left for a lesson right when I exited his study, so he will not notice the change for a while..." she gave the boys an impish grin. "And even if he does, it doesn't matter – anyone could have broken into his room during this lesson and I can't be suspected – I was here all along at Transfiguration, McGonagall could attest to it."
"Gilda..." Dan started admiringly. "I could kiss you!"
"Don't, if you don't want me to beat you up again," she replied. "Anyway, I did not do this out of mere good will – I want to know why this parchment is so important."
Daniel glanced up at McGonagall to see that she was writing their homework on the blackboard then he turned to Gilda again:
"Do you want to come to Honeydukes tonight?"
"Dan!" Norbert hissed at him. "You don't want her to..."
"Potter, Malfoy!" McGonagall's voice made Dan realise that they were still at Transfiguration. "Twenty points from Slytherin for not paying attention in my class. Class dismissed."
"She's picking on us!" Norbert fumed as they left the classroom.
"Of course she is picking on us! We made her house lose 300 points!" Daniel replied. "I'd hate us if I were in her place."
"So, what about this Honeydukes business?" Gilda cut in, joining the boys as they trotted downstairs, out into the park where Gilderoy Lockhart was already waiting for them to begin the very first P.E. lesson of their lives.
* * * * *
As long as the weather didn't turn too chilly, the students were supposed to have P.E. outdoors on the same part of the park where Madame Hooch – and now professor Longbottom – had the Flying lessons.
After the previous day's storm the sky was wonderfully bright as though the rain had washed it clear. Its light aquamarine colour was here and there dotted with small, frilly clouds that kept swimming lazily across it.
All in all: the weather was very favouring for an outdoor class.
As they approached the place appointed for the lesson, Daniel saw Aberforth Dumbledore feeding Angel, the baby unicorn, with sugar lumps. Aberforth waved at the boy from Hagrid's house. Dan supposed that the Care of Magical Creatures class was still held around the former groundkeeper's hut, even with Hagrid living in France for about a decade now.
Daniel wanted to talk Norbert into going and visiting Angel before their next class started, but changed his mind immediately when he saw the third year Gryffindors approaching Aberforth. Lily was also among them, sending her brother a rather dark glance, then turning to talk to Christopher Wood.
"Even she hates me," Dan pouted and followed Norbert to join the other firsties and a jovially waving Gilderoy Lockhart.
P.E. was the only class that all the four houses had together. Dan wasn't too happy about this and tried to get as far away from his Gryffindor cousins – and professor Lockhart – as possible.
To their surprise, Gilda Lockhart also moved to stand behind the other Slytherins, looking as though she was hiding from her father.
Professor Lockhart had dropped his robes for the occasion and strutted in front of the children wearing a pair of tight-fitting trousers and even more tight-fitting vest, trainers and a band of pink silk tied around his head that made him resemble Rambo in a Valentine Day's attire. His arms (and a remarkable part of his chest) were bare, making the present female students heave deep, dreamy sighs.
Daniel was furious to notice that Liu Chang – who stood rather close to him (or rather: to whom he had deliberately stood very close) – was eyeing the professor with a misty glance, not even noticing Dan. Dan cleared his throat to draw the girl's attention to himself.
"Oh, hello, Daniel," she gave him a quick smile, then turned back to Gilderoy who started to explain the importance of P.E. to the students (his speech in a nutshell: physical education makes you healthier, and if you are healthy, then you look good. P.E. gives you muscles and if you have muscles, you look good. P.E. helps you keep fit, gives you stamina, and stamina is exactly what you need to continue looking good.)
"Hello, Liu," the boy replied, trying to engage her attention again. "Pretty interesting this P.E., huh?"
"Very," she nodded eagerly and dropped her robes on professor Lockhart's advice (you can move much more freely without those).
"Put your eyes back into their sockets," Norbert whispered into his friend's ear, because Daniel was gaping at Ms. Chang's curves that were revealed without her robes. She must have early developed because her figure already looked like that of a sixteen-year-old.
Fortunately Liu didn't notice the boy's unabashed stare, because she was too absorbed in doing sit-ups. In thought, Daniel compared Liu's figure to that of his sister Lily and drew the conclusion that Lily – even though two years older than Liu – had only half as 'curvy' a body as the Ravenclaw girl.
Dan, being a twelve-year-old boy, had not much idea about female sexual development, periods and stuff, but during the last summer he had found a book in Lily's room called 'What to do when you turn adolescent – a young witch's guide to becoming a woman'. Lily must have been reading it in secret, but Daniel had the bad habit of rummaging around in his big sister's room in her absence, and he had happened to open that book where a bookmark was sticking out of it. The chapter Lily had been reading was titled 'When your body changes' and Dan, having dipped into the book just for fun, had realised that Lily's body hadn't changed at all – it looked just like it did in her childhood. All that had changed was her temper: Dan thought she was turning more and more annoying. When the book had started to go into explaining the Libressus Invisiblus charm, Daniel had hastily closed it and decided to read something manlier to re-establish his equilibrium. He had sneaked into his parents' room to pick 'The bloody Gringotts robbery' off the shelf, when his glance had fallen on another book called 'Kama Sutra'. Curious, he had pulled it off the shelf and opened it – then had wished he hadn't done so. It was a book full of disgusting pictures... now that he was watching Liu, those pictures came to his mind and Norbert had to ask him why he had turned as red as the setting sun.
Even Liu turned to him with a worried expression.
"Are you all right, Daniel?" she stopped doing sit-ups and pressed her hand on the boy's forehead. Feeling the girl's soft, cool hand on his skin, Dan turned even pinker.
"No, your temperature is normal," she said. "You must have overworked a bit. You aren't used to such hard physical work, are you?"
"No, I just..." Dan mumbled, turning even more crimson with embarrassment.
"Oh, Potter has overworked?" came the mocking voice of Kevin Weasley from the group of Gryffindors. "Or have you been tired out by running to teachers and telling on your classmates?"
"Oh, shut up!" Gilda yelled at Kevin.
"What happened?" professor Lockhart asked with a flashy smile, showing all his thirty-two teeth. "Is something amiss, kids?"
"Daniel is sick, professor," Liu Chang replied willingly, making the boy hide his face into his palms, hearing the Gryffindors' malicious laughter.
"Are you, Daniel?" the teacher crouched down next to the boy. "Should we take you up to the infirmary?"
"No! I'm fine!" Dan replied angrily. "Really."
"Are you sure?" Gilderoy asked, worried. "I don't want any students to get sick in my class. But if you don't want to go to Madame Pomfrey, then I guess I could give you a simple boosting charm."
"No, no, thank you, professor!" Dan protested, having heard enough of Lockhart's famous charms. He did not feel like ending up growing his ribs back after an unfortunate de-boning a' la Lockhart.
"Then I suggest you go down into your dorm and have a rest. You seem to need it, boy."
Having no better idea to escape from the Weasleys' teasing and everyone else's curious glances, young Potter decided to go inside and never ever think of Kama Sutra at P.E. in the future.
"See you at lunchtime," he murmured to Norbert and left. As he passed by the Gryffindors on his way up to the castle, he heard several voices hissing 'loser' and 'weakling'.
* * * * *
After entering the castle, the first person he met was his father, wearing a rather austere expression.
"May I ask what you are doing in here instead of being at Professor Lockhart's class?" Harry asked. The previously always so impish and cheerful 'daddy' was gone and Daniel stated in himself that he had barely seen Harry this morose before.
"You too are blaming me, aren't you?" the boy burst out, nearing a nervous breakdown. "It was not my fault, all right? I was worried about my stupid cousins and Snape was the first teacher we could find to help them! I'm terribly sorry that your precious Gryffindor lost so many points, but I thought that their damn lives were more important! And if you allow me now, I'm off to meet the caretaker and start my detention!"
"Daniel..." Harry gaped at the boy, who had turned on his heels and ran away.
Dan hoped that his father wouldn't follow him and raced down the corridor. In fact, he had not the slightest intention of starting his detention with Mr. Bradley right now. He'd have plenty of time for that in the afternoon or evening. All he wanted now was a bit of peace.
No such luck.
When he had almost reached the staircase leading into the dungeons and thought that nothing bad could happen to him for a while, he caught a glimpse of a small boy madly waving at him.
"Daniel! Oi, Daniel!" it was James Lupin, Remus and Stella Sinistra Lupin's only child. He was about three years younger than Dan, but he was the most outgoing little guy Dan had ever known. He was even more talkative than all the Weasley and Potter children put together, which was saying something. There was practically not a single second when he kept his mouth shut, except maybe for sleeping.
Daniel had met James about four or five times before, when the Lupins had visited the Potters at Black Manor, and every time they met, he had the expression that Jimmie's parents should seriously consider placing a muzzle charm on their son. Young Lupin's over-talkativeness hadn't been that much of a problem for Daniel, if Jimmie would have divided his attention among the Potter family-members and would have tortured all of his siblings equally. However, Jim Lupin's attention always seemed to be focused on Daniel only. When Dan complained about this to his father, Harry waved and told his son about a boy named Colin Creevey, whose behaviour strongly reminded at that of James Lupin. Back then Daniel had asked Harry incredulously: 'If that Colin Creevey kept following you around because you were famous, The Boy Who Lived, then why does Jimmie follow me around? I'm no hero like you were... uh are,' he had corrected himself to get rewarded by a grin from his dad. 'I mean... really. There's nothing special about me. I don't even have a scar. Then why doesn't he leave me alone? Or why doesn't he persecute my siblings as well?' Harry hadn't been able to answer, because he had had no idea.
So, after all those years of their acquaintanceship, Daniel had never found out why James had decided to reward him with his special attention.
"Daniel, oh, Daniel!" Jim clasped his hands in delight. "I'm so happy I'm seeing you again! I heard you were sorted into Slytherin, how is that possible, Daniel? And I heard you made Gryffindor lose 300 points! How did you do it? I mean, it's such a great achievement, no one at Hogwarts has ever managed to make a rival house lose this many points! Of course I should be rooting for Gryffindor, since my dad was in there, but I can't help admiring Slytherin's cleverness! Up till now I have always wanted to be a Gryffindor, but now that you're in Slytherin, I'm not sure anymore. I guess I'd be really happy to get into your house, Daniel!..." and it continued like this, words pouring out of young Lupin's mouth as though he had been a tap turned on.
After about five minutes of patient waiting Daniel was more than grateful to Abu for appearing out of nowhere and dropping a vase on Jimmie's head.
As the boy lay on the floor, massaging his aching head, Daniel escaped from him with the promise of sending Madame Pomfrey to put him right.
"Quite good aiming from your furry little friend! I've grown to like him!" Peeves appeared in front of him, cackling, and followed Dan towards the dungeons, not caring at all that the last thing Dan needed was his company. Abu had jumped into his arms, giving mischievous glances to Peeves. Those two must have befriended each other. "You know what, Danniekins?" the poltergeist said, "I've grown to like you, too! Those Gryffindor gits have long been annoying me, and I'm delighted that finally someone showed them where they belong! Minus 275 points!" he laughed, delighted.
"Sod off, Peeves! And you behave yourself next time, Abu!" the boy growled at him and decided to learn that muzzle charm from his father to use it on Peeves - then he remembered that Harry was quite angry with him for the time being.
"Daniel?" another voice called from behind his back.
"What is it?" he burst out, then turned around to see Hermione. "Oh, sorry, Aunt Hermione... er, Professor Weasley," he hung his head. "I did not want to..."
"Don't apologise, Dan... and just call me Aunt Hermione," she smiled. "I think you have been under great pressure lately. Come, let's talk."
She guided the boy (and his monkey) into her nearby study and motioned him to sit down.
"If you also want to tell me off for making Gryffindor lose those points..." he began, but she waved to silence him.
"I do not want to tell you off for anything. I do not blame you for anything. On the contrary: I believe you did the right thing. You wanted to save my children and Kevin, and for that I'm thankful to you."
Daniel looked up from the floor he had been examining and gaped at his aunt in a surprised way. "You don't...?"
"No, I don't blame you," she shook her head. "I know it must be hard for you now to deal with all the Gryffindor's dislike..."
"Hatred, you mean," he corrected her, stroking Abu who was lying in his lap.
"Hatred, then," she nodded. "I still remember what it felt like to feel so many people's despise. I went through the same in my first year when your father, Professor Longbottom and me lost Gryffindor 150 points."
"My father..." Daniel grunted. "Even he is treating me like..." he looked away from his aunt, searching for the right words. "...he is... I mean... he wanted to tell me off again. I have barely arrived at Hogwarts and he is following me around, wherever I go..." he remembered his case with the Mirror of Erised only too well. "He is treating me as though I could not take care of myself..."
"I take you find him a bit... annoying," Hermione perceived with eyes glinting in a friendly way.
"Not annoying, but..." Dan's voice trailed off. "All right, annoying, then."
"...and it is totally natural," she said. "All adolescent kids find their parents annoying... mines, too. They believe Ron and I are meddling with their lives too much. But parents don't do it in order to annoy their children... they do it out of love, having their children's best interests at heart. Your father is also doing it out of love. In his case this might be twice as strong as in other people' case, since he had no parents. Throughout his childhood he craved for a mother and a father to love him and care for him... I'm sure he wouldn't have minded to have a bit over-protective parents... he would have been glad to have a father at all," Hermione gave Dan a look that made him have the feeling that she could see into the depths of his soul. "You are a very lucky boy, Daniel, to have a father like Harry."
"I know... I guess... It's just that now even he hates me."
Hermione gave him a scolding stare – so did Abu. "How could you suppose that he hated you?"
"How could my cousins suppose that I betrayed them?" he retorted. "Anyway... I saw dad's face. I've just met him and his expression told me everything. He is angry. He is blaming me."
"I don't think he is. He is angry, but not with you. He has just had a nasty row with Professor Snape," seeing the boy's interest, she carried on. "I happened to be in the bathroom twenty minutes ago when I heard two voices quarrelling in front of the door. Your father was questioning Snape's decision of taking 300 points from Gryffindor and Snape replied that your father should not poke his nose into other people's business. He even remarked that Harry had no word in this school, being a new teacher, while he had been teaching here for twenty-five years. Harry retorted that the amount of years taught here did not seem to be in parallel with the ability of making wise decisions. Snape closed their debate by shouting that Harry was still that insolent kid he used to teach and Harry replied that Snape was still that heartless old rook who used to teach him," Hermione finished the story with a grin that made Daniel also allow himself a smile. So, the reason for his father's moroseness was not that he was angry with his son, but his nasty row with good old Severus. "Damn," he breathed," I have shouted at him like that... I didn't even let him tell me what he wanted... Now he really has a reason to be mad at me!"
"Then maybe you should look for him and apologise," she suggested.
Dan nodded and stood up. "Thanks for understanding me, you're a cool aunt, really."
"Why, thank you," she smiled.
* * * * *
The house-elves had made steak with mashed potatoes for lunch and Daniel devoured it happily. For the first time since the previous evening he felt a bit better - a bit relieved. His second discussion with his father turned out to be all right and he got to know that Harry really wasn't blaming him. Harry only seemed to be mad at Snape and called the Potions teacher things that Dan had only heard from Sirius before. Dan made a mental note to use these expressions in the future, but also promised his father not to tell anyone that he had heard them from him. The relationship between father and son was back to normal. All Harry was a bit upset about was the loss of the Marauder's Map - Snape had gloated to him about having burnt it. Daniel pretended to be very broken-down by it and decided not to mention to his dad that he got back the map and the parchment burnt by Snape was not the map at all but a 'decoy-parchment' that Gilda had replaced the map with. This way Harry wouldn't need to lie to anyone about his son being a Marauder - he could say with good conscience that Daniel had no such map at all.
Since the Slytherins had no classes in the afternoon, Dan, Norbert and Gilda planned a visit into Honeydukes before dinner. They were supposed to meet in the Slytherin common room at four p.m. and until then Dan had lots of time to spend in detention, helping the caretaker.
Bert Bradley turned out to be a nice man with a good sense of humour, and he didn't give the boy too much work to do. Dan only had to clean the floor of Mr Bradley's room, but - since it was a small room - he was ready with it soon. While tidying the room he couldn't not notice the books piled on the caretaker's desk: all of them seemed to be dealing with Potions. The boy remembered his first Potions class in which Mr. Bradley had admonished him that he was using wrong and dangerous ingredients for his potion. Dan also remembered how surprised Snape was to get to know someone who actually understood a bit of his subject.
Back then, Bert admitted having taught Chemistry at a Muggle school and being a Muggle himself.
"Mr. Bradley?" Dan asked before leaving.
"Yes?"
"If you are a Muggle, then how did you know about Hogwarts? Or are you a squib?"
"No, Mr. Potter," the caretaker shook his head. "I'm no squib, I'm a full-blooded Muggle. My brother, however, is a Muggle-born wizard. He even played at Whimbourne Wasps together with Mr Longbottom."
"Oh, I see..." the boy nodded. "But... what gave you the idea to come and work at Hogwarts?"
"That, Mr Potter, only concerns the headmaster and me. Thank you for your help. I'll be expecting you tomorrow."
Dan nodded, understanding that the caretaker did not want to answer his question. Well, he must have his reasons, the boy thought and headed for his common room to meet the other two Marauders and begin their very first adventure.
* * * * *
The trio started down the corridor, Daniel keeping one eye on the Map all the time - just like his father had suggested him in the purple room last Friday. They met Professor Lockhart on their way (Dan quickly pocketed the parchment) - the P.E. teacher immediately asked the boy about his condition. Daniel hastily assured him that he was totally all right and there was no need to worry about him. Gilderoy slapped him in the back, gave him and Norbert a wide grin and left.
"He didn't even greet you," Norbert turned to Gilda.
The girl shrugged.
"He didn't even smile at you," Dan added.
"Why would he?" she snapped. "It is enough for him that I'm the way I am!"
"Now wait a minute!" Dan cut in. "You mean... he does not love you?"
She shook her head. "Maybe he loves me. Mum says he does... but even if he does, he can hide it pretty well."
"But... why?"
"I guess he always wanted to have a son, but my mother could only give him a daughter... and a daughter as different from him as possible."
"Oh... so he'd be glad if you had blonde curly locks and a liking for everything that is pink?" Norbert asked.
"Well... about," Gilda nodded. "But it's not just that... it's more that I take after my Egyptian ancestors who were all warriors. Tough warriors."
"So that's why you love beating the crap out of people," Daniel grinned.
"Yeah... I guess so," she grinned back. "Okay, are we going anywhere or stay here and discuss my rebellious blood and lack of blonde locks?"
Dan nodded, realising that they were supposed to be going to Honeydukes. He pulled the map out of his robe pocket again just to freeze in horror. There was a dot very close, approaching way too quickly.
"Snape!" he whispered, pointing in the left direction.
"Come!" Norbert opened a nearby door, pushed Dan and Gilda through it and shut it behind themselves.
The dot labelled 'Severus Snape' walked down the corridor, not suspecting that the three Marauders were so close.
"Whew!" Dan wiped his forehead, relieved. "That was a close one. He would have questioned us why we were here instead of writing homework in our common room."
"Harry?" a voice spoke up behind them.
The children turned around to see the ghost of a sullen teenage girl hovering above a tap. They had obviously run into a bathroom.
"Oh, you are not him," the ghost pouted. "But you look awfully lot like him."
"I'm his son, that's why," Daniel replied. "And you are...?"
"Oh, of course you don't know me!" she cried. "I heard from Headless Nick that you recognised him the first time you met him, surely because your parents had told you about him! But of course they didn't tell you about me!" the ghost-girl wailed, her eyes full of tears behind her pearly glasses. "Naturally, they did not think Moaning Myrtle was important or interesting enough to tell about!"
"Er..." Dan had no idea what to reply. He did not want to hurt the ghost's feelings even more by admitting that he had never heard of her. "Er... you are wrong. My father did tell me about you."
The ghost's expression immediately changed from morose to interested, vivid and even cheerful. "Oh, did he? And what did he tell you about me?"
"Er... he said you were the one who..." Dan was at his wit's end. "The one who..."
"The one who helped him find the Chamber of Secrets! The one who helped him solve the egg's riddle! The one who helped him in the lake!" Myrtle shouted angrily. "The one who witnessed your sister's conception! It's obvious that you haven't been told about meeeee!" she hid her face into her hands, sobbing aloud.
"Witnessed... witnessed my sister's conception?" Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Wow, tell me about it!"
Both Myrtle and Gilda shot the boy a scolding look.
Dan shrugged. "All right... it was pleasure getting to know you, Myrtle. I might come back later and then you can tell me about..."
"Dan!" Gilda hissed. "You aren't supposed to come here again... this is a girl's bathroom, if you haven't noticed."
"Well, given the lack of urinals, it must be," Norbert smirked. "C'mon, guys, or we'll never get to Honeydukes."
* * * * *
The three children made sure that no one was around when they reached the One-Eyed Witch's statue.
"So, what do we do now?" Norbert asked.
"I guess there is some kind of an incantation to open the secret passage here. Dad told me about it - the hunchback of the witch is supposed to open if you say..." he looked at the Marauder's Map to see a small bubble appear above the three dots labelled 'Daniel Potter', 'Norbert D. Malfoy' and 'Gilda Lockhart'. "Dissendium!
"What?"
Dan pointed his wand at the statue and repeated the incantation. To his surprise, the spell worked for him. There had been barely any charms that he managed to perform at the first try.
A small opening appeared on the statue - an opening just big enough for a thin person.
The trio climbed into the opening and slid down on a chute into a dark underground corridor.
"Lumos!" all three of them said and started down the path.
"I'm really going to visit this Myrtle again," Dan spoke up after a while. "She could tell me interesting things... I always knew mum and dad conceived Lily here at school, but I never asked the details... and I don't think they'd tell me, even if I asked..."
"And probably this Myrtle could tell you about your own conception as well?" Norbert gave him a mischievous grin (or at least Dan supposed that his friend was grinning, because he couldn't make out his features in the dark.)
"Were you... were you also conceived here?" Gilda asked incredulously. "I never thought that Harry Potter had such..."
"...low morals?" Dan laughed, starting to climb some stairs. "Yeah, very likely I was conceived here. If I count backwards, I come to the conclusion that it had to happen in November of 1998. And in November of 1998 my parents were definitely still studying here at Hogwarts. My mischievous mummy and daddy... ouch!" he massaged the top of his head that he had knocked into something solid.
"We've arrived. Dan has just run into the trapdoor," Norbert perceived.
"Well, let's open it, then," Gilda said and carefully pushed it upwards.
They climbed out of the tunnel to find themselves in Honeydukes' cellar. The cellar was filled with crates - the shop had only been closed two weeks earlier and the owners seemed to have left some stocks they couldn't sell before the set date for closing.
"Yummy!" Norbert's mouth watered as he opened a nearby crate that contained liquorice wands and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. Of course only non-perishable (or not so quickly perishable) sweets were stored in there (the owners might have eaten the leftover of the perishable goods such as ice mice and chocolate mousses).
The boys opened crate after crate and stuffed their pockets full with sweets. Only Gilda looked a bit worried.
"We are taking these things without paying! Isn't that... theft?"
"No," Dan shook his head. "The shop will soon belong to my parents and they'll surely pay the current owner for the leftover stocks as well. So, if we take it, then it is the same as nicking cookies from mummy's kitchen jars. No big deal."
"If you say so..." she said somewhat insecurely. "But I don't want to steal from your parents, either."
"Oh, come off it, Gilda! What kind of Slyhterin are you if you are so concerned about morals?" Norbert growled.
"Even Slytherins can have a conscience, you know," she retorted.
"Anyway, we aren't taking more than twenty sickles in value..." Dan replied. Seeing Gilda's expression he let out a sigh. "Oh, all right. We'll pay them," he reached into his robes and pulled out a couple of coins - he had bought quite a lot of sweets from the trolley-witch on the Hogwarts Express and forgot to empty the remainder of the money out of his pockets. He counted 20 sickles and headed upstairs.
"Where are you going?" Norbert scowled.
"To the cash-register. I'm going to put the money into it."
Gilda shot Daniel a grateful stare combined with an 'I-knew-you'd-never-steal'-look.
The trio entered the empty shop, careful to make sure that no one could see them from the street. Hiding behind the counter, they sneaked to the cash-register and opened it. Naturally it was empty - the owners might have been trusting people, but not this trusting.
Daniel dropped the coins into it then froze. There were two figures approaching the shop. Harry, and a woman unknown to the children.
"Hurry!" Norbert waved, they crouched down and ran to the staircase leading into the cellar. They raced down and hid behind a huge crate.
"Why not go into the tunnel right away?" Gilda whispered as the front door of Honeydukes opened.
"They'd hear the trapdoor creak and we'd be caught!" Dan whispered back.
Voices were coming from upstairs:
"So, when is your family going to move into Hogsmeade? And where are you going to live? The flat above the shop isn't big enough for so many children, is it?"
"I have seen a couple of houses that are up for sale," Harry's voice replied. "Ginny and I will choose one soon."
"Oh, the joys of having money..." the female laughed. "You can talk so easily about buying the shop and a family house."
"Not that you can complain, Cho," came the answer. "With all those restaurants you own, you are probably a hundred times richer than me."
"Yeah, very likely," the woman chuckled. "How came you already have keys to the shop?"
"Yesterday evening, Ginny and I met the owners and signed a contract in which we obliged ourselves to buy Honeydukes. The owners gave us the keys to come here and inspect our future property. So here I am."
"I'm lucky I managed to catch you in the village. I wanted to talk to you," the woman said, her tone different this time.
"About what?"
"Lots of things. For example... the way we parted."
A long pause followed.
"I don't understand why you want to talk to me about that," Harry replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I perfectly remember how we parted. You told me that I was a... how exactly did you formulate it...? Oh, yeah... you said I was a cute little fellow but you could never feel the same way about me as you felt about Cedric. You kissed me on the cheek and left."
"I could not do otherwise, Harry. Things were way too confused... I was still so much under the effect of Ced's death..."
"Even two years after he passed away?" came a bit miffed reply.
"Yes. Maybe. I don't know... I didn't know it back then. I was really confused about my feelings... He was the great love of my life, but I lost him. I thought I'd never get over his death, then I got to know you better… but I thought I still loved Ced… I might have been wrong. I guess I used this delusion to escape from reality... to deny that it was you whom I liked."
"Liked... or loved?"
"Loved."
"Great," Harry snorted derisively. "Why, Cho? Why didn't you tell me?" he asked as if accusing her. "I remember watching you at the end of my sixth year holding your diploma in your hand and walking away... walking out of my life. I felt my heart break... then came Ginny and put its pieces back together. Made me forget you, and I was happy to have forgotten you. So why... why on earth have you brought up these old memories? Why have you told me that you loved me after all these years?"
"I thought you deserved to know the truth."
"Then tell me. If you have started, then tell me the whole truth, Cho. Why didn't you want to love me?"
"Because... I was scared," she replied, her voice wavering. "Because there was You-Know-Who at your heels... I feared that loving you would get... get me and my family..."
"...into trouble?" he finished the sentence.
"Yeah," she sighed. "I was afraid. I was a coward. And I'm terribly... terribly sorry about that."
"You don't need to be sorry about being afraid. Those times were horrible. I was afraid, too. Everyone was afraid. I understand and I can't blame you for being scared. However, I cannot forgive you for lying to me. For having robbed me of the hope to have you some day. You broke my heart... and the fact that it was just a lie... is unacceptable. I'm sorry, Cho... I'm sorry for having to say this, but I wish you had never told me the truth at all."
"I understand," her voice trailed off. "I'm sorry. Could we... could we be friends at least?"
"That is all we could be," Harry answered seriously.
"Okay... I guess I should be going now. Forgive me for upsetting you, I... I just had to tell you. If I hadn't, then... it would have suffocated me. I managed to bury this feeling for years, but after I met you again, it resurfaced. Do you know the feeling when you need to tell someone something so badly that you feel you'd die if you didn't?"
"I know," answered a bit calmer voice.
"Then you understand me. Good bye, Harry."
"Good bye, Cho."
* * * * *
Half an hour later the front door of the shop creaked again, indicating that Harry had left.
The children climbed out from behind the crate and opened the trapdoor.
"I never knew my dad had loved another woman before my mum," Dan said quietly. He felt a bit embarrassed, having overheard a dialogue like that.
"Maybe he even slept with her?" Norbert guessed.
"No. Definitely not," young Potter shook his head. "My mum was his first..." he turned a bit pink, and was grateful that his expression couldn't be seen in the dark tunnel. "I... asked him once. Out of mere curiosity... and he told me that mum was his first."
"His first..." Norbert mused, "...and his only as well?"
"Of course! He loves mum and he'd never have..." Dan snapped. The mere assumption made him outraged. He had heard of his father's Durmstrang adventure, but only parts of it. He knew about the goldfish in the lake, he knew about Aberforth and his reindeers, but he never ever heard of Tatyana Fiodrovna because Harry and Ginny agreed to keep it a secret from their children. It was a finished chapter of Harry's life and the best way he could forget it was if he never even mentioned it.
"It's okay, it's okay, calm down!" Norbert held up his hands. "I apologise, it was a stupid question. Harry Potter is a saint, after all... well, almost."
"Just almost," Dan grinned. "A saint wouldn't have conceived two children while still at school. Neither would a saint have let me keep the Marauder's Map. But really... dad would never cheat on mum."
"I believe you," Norbert smiled in a peculiar way.
"Who is this Cho at all?" Gilda asked.
"No idea," Dan shrugged. "Some tramp whom dad has long forgotten." in thought he added: *At least I hope so.*
*************************************************************************
veronik: you got a bit of the grown-ups :) There'll be a lot of them later, don't worry, this fic isn't solely about the kids.
Wood's secret lover: thank you very much. I was sad about what Moony Lover wrote me, but you made my day by saying that she wasn't right :) She wrote that for chapter 2. I somehow could understand that she didn't find chapter 2 that exciting, but she has no idea how this story will turn out, and now she'll never get to know. I saw the movie for the third time today (this time in English at last!), and I paid attention to that woman you thought to be Rowling. IMHO she only resembled Rowling, but wasn't her.
Sky: I'm glad you liked Angel. I also think that horses are wonderful animals. But unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to learn to ride yet.
Bailey Ballinger: I thought you had stopped. I'm so glad you didn't! :)
Lady Schezar: yes, ex-friends.
jennaration: I was having fun too, when imagining the tomatoes being angry :) There'll be lots of Albus' mischievous side in this fic, I promise. And Aberforth will be just as stupid as always :)
makulit: yes, Kevin is a little bit like Ron, but he's even more vindictive, as you'll see.
Lana Riddle: you're another Slytherin fan? Great!
Alexander Phoenix: perhaps you have the Sight :) I'll try and read your fics as soon as possible, but I cannot promise anything, given that I'm having exams nowadays and for the next one month. But I'll really try. I've already read and reviewed a short one.
Rab: go, tomatoes! :))) Thanks for the link. Peeves looks funny, pity that he got left out of the movie.
Lainy: glad that you liked the movie. Wasn't Lockhart adorable?
Aimee: LOL, everyone seems to love the swearing tomatoes! Angel will appear again, of course. Well, Dan did get the map back :)
SparkleCharm: I got pretty confused when you mentioned that song on gryffindortower.net. I have nothing to do with it. I just sent some arts to the Portrait Gallery there. And actually I sent the first two chapters of TGSoHH there too. I don't know for sure whether Lockhart got into a lunatic asylum, but it seems so that he did. In the scene after the credits he was shown on a poster in a Diagon Alley shop-window. The poster had the following text on it: WHO AM I?, and Lockhart's moving picture was under it, showing him in a straitjacket.
SiriDragon: oh, homework. I hope it wasn't math at least, I hate math.
Kit Cloudkicker: yes, Kevin really overreacted. But Ron also has an attitude of overreacting things and it might run in the Weasley family. On the other hand – I need to have Kevin and Dan as enemies in this fic.
Red Ridding Hood: I haven't heard of the online tournament, which site is that on? But you're right, I'm not going to have time. As for helping you with finishing your stories – send them to me at the end of January. Then I'll have about two weeks free and I'll see what I can do for you. Btw, thanks for the Spanish May the Force be with you, but for some funny reason I know that it's not Que la Fuerza este contigo, but Que la Fuerza te acompane – that's how it was translated in the Spanish version of the movie.
sabby: another Lockhart fan? Glad to hear :))
zzxm: hi, nice to see you again!
Katrina: you're STILL not blaming Kevin and the twins for being so mean?
X-Tow-Naga: okay, no pervert, then :)))
Black Ice: I thought that Julie was a nick for Julia. Thanks for telling me, I had no idea it wasn't. From now on she'll be just Julie. I took the Hogwarts test and it sorted me twice into Hufflepuff, once into Gryffindor, once into Slytherin, but I just couldn't get into Ravenclaw!!!
figgiesblazin: perhaps… at the end? *evil grin*
Allie: as you wish :)
Princess Ginny: I named Lily's stuffed unicorn Angel back in TGSaWCS. Glad you liked the funny mails. Yes, there'll be quite a lot about Lily, in the second half of the story.
Houou: hey, this Willy Wonka sounds fun :)
Fyremoon: it didn't sound dumb at all. I found your review very endearing, and I'm glad that you like my fics.
Amaranta: thanks! Well, I'm kind of the only girl in the family. Why kind of? Because I have two half-siblings (a brother and a sister), but they live with my dad and his wife. So, to my mum I'm an only child.
Ice Kitten: nice try at the German version, but in fact it is the following: "Möge die Macht mit dir sein!" Yes, there'll be a lot of Harry later. There will be chapters mostly about Harry. Ja, Dan und seine Cousin und Kusinen werden miteinander kämpfen. Leider :(
CandyGurl83: and now they even less deserve Dan's friendship, don't you think?
Altec: I wouldn't subject poor Harry or Ginny to such drastic things as a surgery. What if they want a child later? Then it's out of the question! Of course after Lea's birth they decided to stop conceiving, but when they turn 40 and have no more little kids to care for, then they might get bored and might want a new one, so they just didn't have themselves operated. Snape's not that much of a bastard, don't hurt him, I love him! *now you are looking at me, thinking whether to put me into a strait-jacket like Lockhart in the movie* Yay, you also like Spaceballs? :)
Missy: FANFICTIONALLYtastic? Wow, what a word! :) No, the Potters aren't going to have a cat. But they'll have some new pet, later.
Toby Haine: you and flaming? LOL :) I don't think I've ever really flamed anyone. I wrote only constructive criticism.
C-chan: the German translator programme must have been not too good. It is Möge die Macht mit dir sein in German. But thanks for trying :)
K. C. Hunter: I hope you no more want to smack Gilda :)
Bamboo Anime: good luck with your exams! And those pics of Sean got ruined! I'm sorry about them.
Katie Bell: was the last chapter torture for you? Then brace yourself for much, much worse things in the future. That German-translator that you and C-chan used was quite silly, though – but thanks a lot for trying :))
Molto Bella: thanks for the Italian version!
goldenstar555: I speak English and German (besides my native language, of course).
Dauphin: detest the Weasleys MORE? Don't you like them? I like them in Rowling's books.
apple-pie: another tomato-fan? LOL :)
Nefertiri: yes, Angel will be around. Not too often, but she'll appear once in a while. I'm not going to write a sequel, because with this fic the story is quite finished. I might write outtakes with love-scenes (only R, not NC-17), but I'm not sure yet. And yes, probably I'll write a totally new fic. In fact I wrote the first chapter of a new fic about half a year ago, but I stopped it, because I had to concentrate on this one. I might continue that one after my exams (end of January). It's also H/G, of course and PG-13, so nothing to worry about :)
Inken: wow, du scheinst die einzige hier sein, die wirklich Deutsch sprechen kann! :))
2Coolio: aha. I see. But I didn't want Dan to sound hypocritical. Well, doesn't matter.
rebkos: perhaps. But did you really think I'd tell you? ;)
SheedRicolan: wow, I never thought that Kevin was like Draco. But you might have a point.
AmandaPanda: yes, the Snape scene was reminiscent of the one in the Philosopher's Stone, but in the real book it was McGonagall who took points away, and she took 50 per person, while Snape took 100 per person. Snape is much meaner than McGonagall, you know :)
Cassandra Anthemyst: everything will be resolved by the end. You have my word. But before I resolve things, I'm going to confuse them a lot – but that's something you have already got used to when reading my fics, right? :)
ruffled owl: *blushes* thanks a lot! Glad you like them.
Moony Lover: danke sehr. Obwohl ich dachte, dass du meine neue Story nie mehr ließt. Wie hast du denn gemerkt, dass ich eine Deutschprüfung hatte?
Joyce: I loved the movie. It's by far not as good as the book, but still much better than the first movie. And I thought that Branagh wasn't a bad Lockhart at all. Perhaps Hugh Grant would have been even better, dunno. I was satisfied with Branagh.
Lupin's Angel: congrats on your wonderful Latin results! :) I wish my German exam had been that good. But I hope I still passed.
Zenon Lee: no, concerning the greatest enemy you're on the wrong track. Sorry if you don't like the sex-references, but they'll keep appearing, since the kids are teenagers, and thinking/fantasising about sex is a part of their being teenagers (like you have seen in this chapter). However, I don't think I should change the rating to R. R-rated fics include sex-descriptions, while I'm carefully avoiding those. I refer to the fact that people actually had sex, but never go into details, and it will remain that way. So, PG-13 is the proper rating for my fics. You said you'd like to see how Dan would handle the greatest enemy. But have I ever said that Dan would have to handle the enemy? No, I haven't. Snape has always been biased, but the reason why he didn't punish Norbert was that Norbert hadn't done anything wrong this time. It was obviously Daniel who had nicked the map, and not Norbert. So, why would Snape have to punish him? I don't think Harry would die. If Rowling dared kill him off, she'd lose the love of millions of fans. Fans would turn on her, hate her and Rowling wouldn't want that. No one in their right mind would want that. The once so popular Harry Potter would find himself in second-hand bookshops and the fans wouldn't want to re-read book 7 for a dozen times like they did with the other books. I for one am sure that I wouldn't re-read a book in which Harry dies. And I'd definitely hate Rowling if she killed our dear boy wizard. Now she's my favourite author, but she'd all of a sudden become my most hated author if she did that. And I'm absolutely sure that I'm not the only one who feels like this. So Harry must survive. Perhaps Albus and Snape would die fighting Voldemort, but Harry will live. (Phew, that was long! Sorry!)
Kamatazi Yumi: I have seen at least three film-versions of The Count of Monte Cristo and all of them sucked. They were much worse book-adaptations than the Potter movies. You should read the Monte Cristo book, it's so much better than any of the movies made out of it!
mazipoto: thanks. I hope you'll do well at your exams. I'm going to have loads of it in January :(
ShadowChild: thank you, glad you liked it.
Myr Halcyon: I'm glad you're back. Yes, Norbert does have a lot of potential. What is a voice recital? Well, whatever it is, I'm glad you did well at it.
star queen: I'm glad you liked Albus being mischievous.
FireBolt900: Diablo 2? Never heard of it. Is that a movie, or a book, or a computer game? I have really never heard of it, so you can believe me when I tell you that I DIDN'T take Devilsmoor from there.
LilGinny: yes, of course we have Christmas trees in Hungary. But lights on houses isn't that common here. There are some of those little lamps on houses on some huge downtown roads, but it hasn't become popular yet. I hope it will someday, because it looks so cool. Every time I watch Home Alone (and I've seen it at least 10 times), I envy the Americans for having all those fancy lights on their houses. Is your sister feeling better? I hope so.
Areda Helline: Snape's face looks a bit pudgy in movie two, IMHO. Yes, I knew that Richard Harris died. May he rest in peace. I've heard some funny news though: that in movie three there will be a CGI Dumbledore. I think that's ridiculous. I don't really care who plays Albus, as long as it's a normal, living, breathing person. About the Ron/Hermione relationship: I think that Rowling might have told Chris Columbus about the future of the characters, so that he knew that Ron and Herm would get together. For example Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) said that Rowling had told him everything about Hagrid's future, so she might as well have told the director about the future events. And as far as I know, Coltrane signed up for playing in five movies – that makes me think that Hagrid will die in book five. Sorry, but I'm NOT saying that the Ron/Hermione shippers are wrong. I pretty much believe that they are right. At least I hope so.
WolfEyes: Angel will be around. Not exactly important, but she'll appear once in a while. I hope you didn't catch a cold when falling into the lake! I also love skating.
aerdna: I cannot promise anything, but I guess you won't be too disappointed with Daniel :) Correction: Star Wars is the SECOND best. Harry Potter is THE best :)))))
pudadinging: how old is that friend of yours who is reading my fics now? (the no-romance, no H/G reader?) Just wondering… it always makes me happy to know that boys also read my stories.
Autumn Dreams: yes, that was really mean of me :) But I'm glad you still liked it.
Isis The Goddess of Life: is this your penname as well? Because then I'll try and read your fic as soon as possible.
Any last requests: glad you liked reliving Harry's experiences.
Vanilla: I'm glad that you liked my arts. My personal favourite it the Yule ball :)