A/N: thanks for all the wonderful reviews people! And thanks for wishing me May the Force be with you, it helped so far, let's hope it'll help me with my remaining three exams. :)
This chapter is dedicated to Nefertiri who has birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday, my friend!
Chapter 11
The masquerade begins
Daniel awoke in a tidy – perhaps too tidy – room. He blinked, groped around for his glasses and found them on the table standing next to the bed he was lying on. He put them on and realised that he was in the hospital wing.
He glanced to the right and saw another form lying on a nearby bed: the Slytherin Chaser Walter Wimple who had been injured by a Bludger.
He glanced to the left and was surprised to see none other than professor Snape sitting by his bed.
"Finally awake, Potter?" Severus asked.
"Y...yes, sir," Dan gulped, knowing that a thorough dressing-down was about to come: he hadn't managed to give the results Snape had expected from him. "I'm sorry about the lost match, professor..."
"The match wasn't lost, Potter."
"Wasn't?"
"No," Severus shook his head. "After the Snitch mysteriously exploded, no one had any idea what to do – continue the match or stop it? Professor Longbottom said he needed to go to Diagon Alley to Quality Quidditch Supplies to buy a new Snitch for the school, and it wouldn't be wise to keep playing until then, given that the shop won't open until Monday morning. We couldn't expect the players to carry on for two days and nights, after all. So..."
"So?" Dan got rather curious now.
"So Professor Longbottom and the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin – Minerva McGonagall and myself – decided to close the match as it was: a draw."
"A draw?" Dan blinked.
"Yes. Both teams had 30 points at the end," Snape replied. "Never in Hogwarts' history has something like this happened... this was the very first game that ended with a draw... and the very first game in which the Snitch got destroyed," now he gave the boy a piercing look. "Do you have any ideas how it got blown up?"
"No, sir," Daniel said. This was kind of a lie – and still, he was also telling the truth. He half knew the answer, half didn't. Ever since he had become a 'man', he felt that some kind of strange energy was building up in him, searching for a way to burst out of him, and the second before the Snitch exploded, he had actually felt some kind of energy leaving his body. Now, several hours later, he felt the same energy again, although in smaller amounts. As if his body had been refilling itself with this mystical power... a power that he couldn't explain and was afraid to mention to anyone.
So, after all, he knew that he had caused the Snitch to explode, just didn't know why and how... and Snape wasn't the right person to try discussing the question with.
"I guess you have visitors," the Potions Master looked up, seeing faces peering into the infirmary.
"Professor?" Dan called after Snape before he could leave the room.
"Yes?"
"Aren't you disappointed in me, sir?"
Strangely a small smile appeared on Severus' face. "Had I been disappointed in you, Potter, I wouldn't have sat up for you."
With that he left, letting Norbert, Gilda and Lily Potter enter.
"Daniel, oh, Daniel!" Lily flung herself on her brother. "It's so terrible, I knew it would happen!"
"What?"
"I heard when Kevin and the twins were planning to aim two Bludgers at once at the twigs of your broom to make you fall... I wanted to warn you, but..." her voice faltered and she started to sob.
"Shhhh... s'okay, sis," Dan patted her on the hand, suddenly remembering that Lily had tried to talk to him twice – once right before the match, once during it. "You wanted to help, it wasn't your fault..."
"Dan..." Lily looked at her brother with her stunningly green eyes, "Believe it or not, I love you."
"Even after the '300-points-incident'?" the boy grinned.
"To hell with those points, you're my brother and I love you dearly," she squeezed his hands. "I wish our stupid cousins would also come to their senses... but they're too proud... I could kick them."
"I'd like to see you kicking them, sis," Dan smiled. "Um... haven't you seen dad?" he found it rather strange that his sister, best friends and even his head of house visited him, while Harry didn't.
"Oh... he's asleep. Professor Snape sent him to bed sometime at dawn. He had been sitting by your bed all night... he was scared to death when you were brought in, Dan," Lily sniffed. "So was I. You looked so pale... thanks to God that you're okay again. I've got to go now," she leaned forward and kissed her brother on the cheek and left.
"All right? I can't even move my right leg," Dan scowled.
"Because it was broken," Gilda explained. "Madame Pomfrey put an immobilising charm on it so that it will be able to heal quicker. She said she'd take it off in an hour or so."
Dan nodded. He had already broken one leg when he first fell off a broomstick, and it had caused him six years of fear of flying. But he wasn't afraid anymore.
"Don't worry," Norbert replied, "Madame Pomfrey told your dad that you were all right and he didn't need to worry... my, you really should have seen him... I never thought that the great Harry Potter could be this jittery!"
"Norbert!" Gilda gave him a scolding look. "Of course he was nervous... he was worried about his son. All parents would worry about their kids... even my dad, as you saw it. He never really cared for me, but when he almost lost me, he got desperate and couldn't stop crying."
"Yeah, that was some sight... the handsome Gilderoy Lockhart bawling like a baby," young Malfoy grinned, only to get another disapproving look from the girl. "Really, Dan, you should have seen everyone freaking out when you fell!" he continued. "Ted Avery was cursing like hell and called Gilda and me all things you could imagine... you know, because we couldn't defend you from those Bludgers... and I apologise for it, mate."
"Me, too," Gilda added. "I feel so ashamed... I'm a bad Beater."
"No, you are not," Daniel smiled at her and gently tapped her hand. "You're a thumping good one, and so is Norbert. You just didn't know about the twins' plans and they must have acted way too quickly, or I don't know... but don't blame yourselves," now his voice turned very quiet, as though fearing that someone else besides his friends would hear it. "Had I not fallen off my broom, I wouldn't have felt so angry and couldn't have exploded the Snitch."
"What???" Gilda's eyes widened. "You blew it up?"
"I think so," Dan nodded. "Only I have no idea how I did it. I mean... the instant I looked up from the ground and saw that Kevin had almost touched the Snitch, I wished that he'd never catch it... and he didn't. I don't know... as far as I remember, a picture flashed into my mind... a picture about the Snitch exploding, and a second later it did... as if I had imagined it and it came true. Does it make sense?"
"Not much," Norbert shook his head.
Dan waved. "Maybe I just imagined that I imagined it... Forget it, it's stupid, really..."
"No, it's not something we should forget... it might turn out to be important!" Gilda reasoned. "You might have special powers, Dan, without knowing it!"
"Special powers?" the boy laughed. "Me? Then why can't I perform the easiest charms, huh?"
"No idea," she shrugged. "Well, it's breakfast time. Coming, Norbert?"
"Just go, I'll come later."
"Okay. Bye, Dan."
As the door closed behind Miss Lockhart, Daniel looked at his friend with a rather serious expression. "She is right."
"What?"
"Gilda was right... I think this – whatever it is that is happening to me – is important. This is some power I never before possessed and have no idea where it came from... but there's one thing that is sure... and promise me not to tell anyone..."
"Wow, a bit too serious today, aren't we?" Norbert smirked, seeing Daniel's stern expression. "All right, all right, my lips are sealed. So, what is sure?"
"That... that I have possessed this energy ever since I..." Dan turned red.
"Since?"
"Since I first had a..." he leaned closer to his friend and whispered something into Norbert's ear.
Young Malfoy started to chuckle, his chuckling quickly turning into a loud guffaw. "Daniel, oh, Daniel! You needn't have whispered... there's no one here besides us... except Wimple, but he's under the effect of a strong sleeping draught."
"You may never know," Dan smiled sheepishly. "Ghosts can turn invisible and some people have invisibility cloaks and..."
"Dan. There's no one in here besides the two of us and an unconscious guy. So you can say in peace that you had a hard-on."
"Shhh!" Dan looked in the direction of the door to see whether someone was standing there, but to his relief the door was closed. Walter Wimple also seemed to be asleep.
"And tell me... was it Liu Chang?" Norbert asked impishly.
"No," young Potter blushed again. "Although it should have been her. I don't understand why... but it was Gilda."
"Are you out of your mind, mate?" his friend gasped. "Gilda's no girl at all! At least... I never counted her as a girl!"
"Neither did I, just... I don't know. Drop the topic, shall we?"
"All right," Norbert agreed. "But if something weird happens to you – for instance you imagine Snape wearing a pink tutu and it comes true, then just tell me that you did it."
"I will," Dan grinned, but the grin faded from his face as he spotted Jamie Lupin's head peering into the infirmary.
"Hullo, Dan! I've come to visit you!" the little boy chirped. "Your friend can now go to have breakfast, I'll stay here and keep you company!" he stated in a manner that suggested that Daniel should feel utterly grateful to him.
"Well, mate, I'm leaving, then. I'll be back soon," Norbert smirked.
"Don't leave me alone with him!" Dan mouthed to his friend, but young Malfoy had already left, exposing Dan to little James.
"Tell me, Daniel, why did you fall off your broomstick? And how did the Snitch explode? Did you really break your leg? What is your opinion about the draw? It's quite unusual for a Quidditch match to end in a draw, isn't it? Are you happy that Kevin Weasley couldn't catch the Snitch? Will you ask your parents for a new broomstick?"
Daniel slumped back into his pillow, closing his eyes, but he couldn't close his ears and shut out young Lupin's tirade. For the time being he thought that Snape wasn't that terrible a person after all... not half as terrible as Jamie.
* * * * *
"Lily?" Valentine called out to her cousin.
"What is it?" young Miss Potter knitted her eyebrows, clearly mad at the twins for having caused her brother to fall off his broom.
"Lil, I... we… we are sorry," said Viviane.
"Sorry?" Lily glowered at them.
"Yeah… it was a stupid idea to knock Dan off his broom… a stupid and dangerous idea. We shouldn't have listened to Kevin, it was his idea… but we feel just as faulty as him."
"You are faulty," Lily pointed out.
"We know. We just wanted you to know that we weren't planning to harm your brother anymore," said Val. "We only wanted to teach him a lesson, but apparently we have overstepped the mark. We didn't want him to get seriously injured, honestly. We are really sorry."
"Why don't tell him in person?" Lily asked.
The twins shrugged, looking embarrassed. "We are sorry… but we cannot face him now and tell him that we are sorry. Later on, maybe, but not now. And please, don't mention this to Kevin, he'd be mad at us."
Lily nodded, feeling a bit relieved. So, his beloved little brother wasn't in any danger from the twins… but she had no idea what to think about Kevin.
* * * * *
The next two weeks were spent in the fervour of preparing for the Halloween masquerade. Everyone wanted to earn a hundred points for their house by wearing the best costume. Daniel's original idea was to wear an orb with a ring around it – saying that he was Saturn - but he thought it would attract Liu's attention too much and he didn't really feel like running off to a toilet to relieve himself during the ball. He wanted to enjoy every second of it, even if he didn't win. So finally he chose to dress up as Merlin – that was not a difficult outfit to make: you just needed some dark blue robes with stars on it and a long, white beard. The latter could be produced of straw painted white.
Dan only had a bit of a problem with the stars he wanted to place onto his robes, but he found a suitable charm in a library book. It took him a whole week to master it, but he was determined to learn it, so he kept exercising as long as he needed. Finally, he did not only magic glittering stars onto his robes and pointed wizard hat, but – with the use of an exact star chart – he also magicked constellations onto the ceiling of his four-poster, so every time he went to bed he could fall asleep under a thousand twinkling stars. It was a bit like the ceiling of the Great Hall, yet it provided star-light even when the sky outside was cloudy.
Naturally, the education went on as though there had been no ball approaching, and most teachers kept giving the students as much homework as usual. Professor Binns, after his very first class on general history of magic, kept lecturing the children about goblin revolutions, nothing else.
Snape – though he never seemed to have grown to like Dan – at least wasn't nasty to him anymore. Remus was downright friendly with him, although he wasn't the most talented student in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sometimes he felt that he was the clumsiest of all, but Professor Lupin still appreciated his efforts. His wife, Professor Sinistra, was also very satisfied with the boy – given that he showed a great interest in Astronomy (while trying to keep the also Astronomy-obsessed Liu as far from himself as possible).
After the first lesson Daniel quitted Flying, since he proved to be good enough and didn't need more lessons. Quidditch trials and P.E. classes were quite enough of a movement for him. To his greatest regret, Professor Lockhart had become really fond of him since he had saved Gilda, and kept favouring him in P.E. Although Kevin and the twins were just as good at rope climbing and push-ups as Daniel, Gilderoy only praised Dan and gave points to Slytherin, and never praised the Weasley children, neither did he give points to Gryffindor. Not that this bothered the Weasleys too much – they were angry with Dan for another reason: they were pretty sure that he had something to do with exploding the Snitch. They just couldn't prove it.
The two classes that Daniel hated the most were Charms and Transfiguration, for several reasons. The first reason was that both subjects needed a lot of magical talent – something that he didn't possess.
The second reason for hating Charms was that it was held by his father and he felt miserable whenever he saw a flash of disappointment in Harry's eyes because of his bungling. The second reason for hating Transfiguration was that it was held by McGonagall, who seemed to despise him. She clearly hadn't forgiven him for the '300-points-incident', and Dan supposed that she'd never ever forgive him for that. Minerva seemed to have got into the habit of sending the boy various belittling glances when he didn't manage to turn a certain object into another.
"I don't understand you," Norbert told him every time he screwed up a charm. "Why don't you just imagine the beetles turning into coat buttons?"
"I have tried, all right?" Dan snapped. "You have no idea how many times I pictured these beetles looking like buttons, and the little bastards just wouldn't transfigure! I'm not sure about this imagining-stuff anymore... maybe it wasn't even me who blew up the Snitch... I just imagined it, while someone else sent a jinx onto it and it exploded. Mere coincidence."
His friend shrugged. "If you say so. But... don't you feel that weird energy nowadays?"
Young Potter made a grimace. "That's exactly it. I do. I feel it... just can't use it."
"You should ask an adult wizard," Gilda cut in, having eavesdropped on their discussion.
"Who? My father?" Dan snorted, imagining himself entering Harry's study and asking: 'Hey, dad, do all boys have mystical energies that allow them to blow up things by merely thinking of it, after their first erection?' It sounded stupid, even in thought.
"No. He might not know the answer," Gilda shook her head. "He's way too young and not so experienced... ask Dumbledore."
"No way," Daniel replied. He wouldn't walk up to the headmaster and say: 'Professor Dumbledore, imagine, a month ago I had my first hard-on and it gave me powers to explode things!' Stupid, stupid, stupid!
So, he kept this little secret to himself, trying to concentrate on the upcoming masquerade.
* * * * *
On the day of Halloween the whole castle seemed to have woken up early and the air was practically tingling with excitement and anticipation. As Dumbledore had told in advance, a huge, magically heated, orange coloured tent was set up on the Hogwarts grounds – a tent three times bigger than the Great Hall, big enough for three thousand people. No students were allowed to enter till 8 p.m., because a group of architect wizards were working on the tent throughout the day. The children could only guess what all those funny noises coming from the tent could be, but they assumed that the architect wizards were decorating a bit loudly.
Since Halloween was a Monday, all students had to attend classes, but none of these classes were taken seriously – even the strictest professors like Snape knew that there was no point in trying to teach that day – the children wouldn't pay attention.
Daniel had to sit through a very boring History of Magic class, discussing with Norbert and Gilda the list of people they and the other students and teachers invited.
"I didn't invite anyone... I would have invited my triplet siblings, but they are only ten years old, thus not old enough to come," Dan said. "Besides them, many of my friends and relatives will be here."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Dad invited mum, of course. Aunt Hermione invited Uncle Ron. Dad wanted to invite Sirius at first, but Professor Lupin had already done so, so dad could invite an old friend called... Dennis Creevey and his wife Mileta. I know that's three people and one is allowed to invite only two, but it's not taken that seriously, according to dad. As far as I know, that Mileta is the famous Viktor Krum's sister," Dan said. "I heard my cousin Lancelot invited his parents and Kevin invited his fathers, Uncle Fred and George. My grandparents won't be here because they took on to take care of their grandchildren who are not yet eleven. And even my cousin Yvette's Aunt Gabrielle is going to be here. Well, what about your relatives?"
"Well…" Gilda spoke up as professor Binns started to go into details of the life of Sammy the Smelly. "My dad invited my mum, of course... and my Egyptian grandpa too. And you, Norbert?"
"I haven't invited anyone," young Malfoy said bitterly.
"Why? What about your parents? And your brother?" the girl knitted her eyebrows.
"My parents are abroad on some stupid Ministry of Magic mission... and I'd never ever invite my brother to anywhere," Norbert said sullenly. "Anyway, he'll still be here... he wrote me a mocking letter telling me that even if I didn't invite him, he asked Snape to invite him and Snape was more than happy to comply..."
"Why do you hate your brother so much?" Daniel asked.
"Because he never liked me. Not even when I was a small and cute baby," Norbert grimaced. "He was miffed that the family heritage would be divided into two parts just because I was born... he never considered me as his brother, so I don't consider him as my brother. Period."
"Well then... what about your costume, Gilda?" Dan started a new topic while Binns explained why Sammy the Smelly never took a bath.
"I'm not telling in advance! You'll see!" she smiled.
Dan couldn't get her to tell him her costume idea, though he was trying all the way through Herbology. Finally, he gave up.
"It's good, though," Norbert said as they were dressing up for the ball in their dormitory hours later, "that this isn't the Yule-ball type ball."
"What do you mean?" Daniel asked as he fixed his magnificent white beard onto his chin.
"We didn't need to get a date," his friend grinned. "Imagine that... who would you have asked? Liu? Or... Gilda?"
"Oh, come off it, Norb!" Dan laughed.
"I wouldn't laugh so light-heartedly if I were you," Norbert remarked. "You may never know what skimpy dresses the girls are going to wear... Good for me that I'm no 'man' yet, but you my friend... you might be running into the men's room every fifteen minutes!"
"Ha-ha, very funny," Daniel adjusted his pointed wizard hat with several magical stars on it. "Just to inform you, that problem has been solved."
"Have you become impotent?" his friend joked.
"No. But dad gave me a spell to take care of... embarrassing situations."
"What spell?"
"It's called Deminuo and you just have to point your wand at... well, you know what. Dad said it's very effective and he had escaped several awkward situations with its help."
"And you actually managed to master the spell?" Norbert raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you think I joined you at breakfast always so late during the last week?" Dan grinned. "I've been practicing, and the best time for it was the morning... you know why."
Norbert's mouth stuck into a smirk. "Dannie... you utter the name of Voldemort without any fear and you keep calling other things 'you-know-what' and 'you-know-why'... a bit odd, isn't it?"
"No," Dan stepped before a mirror to examine himself as Merlin. "Voldemort is long dead, rotting in hell, not being able to harm anyone, while uttering words in connection with sex can still get you into embarrassing situations. Okay," he smiled at his reflection, "Presentable."
"Me too," Norbert grinned into the mirror, adjusting his two huge fake incisors and sleeking back his hair to which he had applied liberal amounts of shiny grease. "I'm the best Dracula ever."
In front of the huge orange tent there was a temporary fountain that kept pouring lilac and golden sparks instead of water, but had the same tranquil splashing sound as the normal fountains. Daniel found it particularly pretty.
At the entrance all students got a number that they had to plaster to their costumes – these numbers would make the teachers' work easier at voting for the best costume.
While waiting to get a number, the boys met Gilda – she seemed to be wearing some kind of mustard coloured, tight-fitting suit that had four paw-looking things attached to her cuffs and ankles. Her blue eyes that were enhanced by eyeliner and mascara seemed to look almond-shaped, like that of the ancient Egyptians. She wore some kind of cap – or was it a shawl with a rather peculiar design? The boys had no idea.
"Um... what are you supposed to be?" Dan mused, tugging at his beard.
"Haven't you taken a Care of Magical Creatures book into your hands?" the girl asked, miffed by the fact that the boys didn't recognise her outfit.
"Why should we have?" Norbert said. "We are only in first year!"
"I'm a sphinx, you dunderheads!" Gilda snapped. "An ancient Egyptian magical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman with Egyptian head-dress! Look, I even have a tail!" she pointed at something thin and long dangling from her butt.
Dan fought with his facial muscles not to laugh. And he had been afraid of getting a hard-on from Gilda's costume? Rubbish! This outfit was as non-sexy as possible!
"You know... I have actually seen sphinxes on Muggle pictures," he said, still ogling the girl's strange costume, "but those sphinxes always had... um... tits."
"What is your problem with my tits?" she hissed.
"You mean your lack of tits?" Norbert grinned, pinning his number to his pitch-black Dracula cloak. "Nothing, silly. Come in or you'll catch a cold."
Gilda gave both boys a withering glance and trotted into the tent.
As Dan entered after the girl, he had the impression that he had landed in a fairy tale – or at least a wizarding Disneyland. There were not only huge jack-o'-lanters swimming in the air, but also several garlands with huge red clabbert bladders shining on them. The tent's ceiling had been bewitched to show never-ending fireworks, while a couple of small comets had been conjured to occasionally course through the tent and make the ladies scream when it almost clashed with them (but the comets were enchanted in a way to make sure that they'd always change course in the last instant before collision – they were just good for scaring the guests). Even the usual bats flying around were enchanted to be fluorescent and shine in all colours of the rainbow.
There was a huge dance floor, several small tables to sit down to and twenty huge tables laden with all kinds of meals the guests could choose from. It seemed that the house-elves had worked terribly lot with preparing the meals, but the headmaster didn't expect them to cook for three thousand people a'la carte. It was much easier for them to prepare various dishes and let the guests serve themselves from the buffet.
There was a table for wizard roulette, an area for bowling (equipped with anti-cheating charms), there was even a stand for playing tombola and another for dice. There was a smaller tent at a corner with the script 'Sybill's nook – come and let me unveil your future', and another stand with the text 'Wizard biscuits telling your future' on it – the latter two must have been quite a competition for each other.
At the end of the tent there was a dais with several music instruments on them, awaiting the evening's guests stars, the SPEW, who arrived at eight and started to play their most famous song, the 'We are the champions, my elves'.
"Wow," was all Daniel could comment on the decoration.
He and his two friends immediately headed for the huge tables laden with exotic meals, grabbed plates and forks and started to pile all kinds of curious-looking stuff onto their plates, not really caring what those were or whether they'd cause them to have a serious indigestion. On Daniel's plate was a bit of spaghetti ala Bolognese that he had sprinkled with a bit of chilly sauce, a slice of onion-flavoured cake with blue icing, some funny Chinese chicken-balls and into his glass he poured something that smelled wonderful.
"Ah, the Hungarian goulash!" Harry looked admiringly at Dan's glass, into which Dan spilt soup by mistake, clearly not knowing what it was. Harry grabbed a peppermint-filled croissant. "I ate some of that at the Yule ball in my fourth year. Really good, that stuff."
"Dad..." Daniel's glance travelled from Harry's head to his toes, wondering why he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt . "Where's your costume?"
"Don't you see it? I'm a Muggle tonight," he winked and left to find Ginny who was talking to Gabrielle Delacour.
"So, you are running Fleur's florists shop while she is abroad with Bill?" Ginny asked the pretty part-veela.
"Yes, and I'm enjoying it vairy much. I only wish it 'ad been a bit closer to ze bank..."
Ginny was just about to ask why Gabrielle wanted to be closer to the bank when Draco Malfoy stepped to them.
"Good evening, ladies," he bowed slightly.
"Good evening, Draco," Ginny gave him a cold smile.
"'ello, Draco... Long time, no see," Miss Delacour mumbled, turning as red as the setting sun.
"Long time?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I saw you just the other day."
"I meant it was a long time ago zat we last talked to each uzzer," she replied, still blushing.
"Oh..." he grinned. "You mean when you proposed to me eleven years ago?"
"I did not phropose to you!" she snapped.
"Well, but you almost did. You said you'd marry me."
"I never thought you 'ad such a good memory," Gabrielle straightened her back, trying to look as haughty as possible. She was no more blushing, but rather looking like a formidably beautiful and proud veela. "I'd like to remind you zat I was a silly fourhteen-year-old girl back zen wiz no more sense zan a pixie. Now I'd nevehr say such rideeculous zings."
"No, you probably wouldn't say them," Draco smirked. "You'd just think about them."
"I wouldn't even zink about... getting marrhied to someone like you!" she replied angrily.
"Really?" Draco pretended to look hurt. "So you'd say no if I proposed to you?"
"Dhefinitely."
"Okay. Will you marry me?"
"Escuse moi?" Gabrielle blinked, blood rushing back into her face. "I..."
"Gotcha! I tricked you!" Malfoy laughed. "You gave yourself away! You still want to marry me!"
"Rheally? And what do you say to zis?" Gabrielle lifted her hand and gracefully poured her champagne onto Draco's head, then pushed her glass into his hand and left.
"You deserved it," Ginny remarked, giggling. "You are still as stuck-up as you had been when you thought that you could get me."
"I almost got you," he reminded her, wiping champagne off his silvery blond locks. "Ah, I hate these festivities, because I always end up cleaning myself..." he had indeed been spilled with onion sauce and mint humbugs at Harry and Ginny's wedding.
"You don't need to remind me of our little agreement," she said. "I'll never forget that. It was possibly the worst period of my life... believing Harry to be dead..." she shook her head, as if trying to shake those bad memories out of it at least for the duration of the party. "But thanks to God he was alive and I won our bet... and since then I have been the happiest woman on Earth."
"Well, congratulations," Draco grimaced. "You must be really happy with all those six kids."
"Seven... well, almost," she smiled, gently caressing her flat stomach.
"Oh. Another. Congrats. What an achievement," the young wizard wrinkled his nose. "How many more are you two planning?"
"We weren't planning this one," Ginny said. "He just... happened. And we are very happy about it. We are also moving to Hogsmeade. We have bought Honeydukes and are going to re-open it in two weeks. Harry and I have already chosen a house here at the village..."
"Really? Which one?" Draco asked, gulping a bit of butterbeer.
"The Sanders house," she replied coolly, only to see him spit out his drink.
"The Sanders house?" he gasped. "You don't mean it!"
"Oh, but yes, we do," came a voice from behind him and he turned around to see Harry standing there with a wide smirk. "Grin and bear it, neighbour."
With a long face, Draco turned on his heels and disappeared into the crowd.
"He took it quite well, hasn't he?" Harry smiled and pulled Ginny to himself.
* * * * *
Daniel, Norbert and Gilda decided to buy future-telling biscuits from the stand next to Trelawney's. On their way there they met Fred and George, who – as always – seemed to be the centre of attention, entertaining everyone around them with their jokes. Kevin the Robin Hood was also standing in the circle of his fathers' admirers and gave Dan and his friends a withering glance as they passed by.
Percy was standing in a corner, adjusting his son's outfit. Lancelot seemed to be a bit annoyed by his father's fussing, but he didn't complain with a word. He still looked relieved when his father left to dance with his wife, Penelope.
"Oi, Lance! What are you supposed to be?" Dan shouted.
"I'm Lancelot, of course!" his cousin said smugly, drawing himself up, tapping a sword-looking thing at his side. His costume strongly reminded of an old Muggle armour with a bright red cloak over it. "Sir Lancelot, to be correct."
"My, you must have needed a lot of imagination to come up with this," Norbert remarked in a derisive tone.
"Shut up, you filthy Slytherin!" Lancelot snapped, jerking his sword out of its scabbard, pointing it at Norbert.
"As you wish," young Malfoy replied, pointing his wand at Lancelot's sword, muttering the heating spell that he had learned at Charms. In an instant the sword started to glow red and turned so hot that Lancelot dropped it, howling, massaging his burnt palm.
"What's happening here?" Viviane and Valentine – both dressed up as angels with white wings and sparkling halos magicked around their heads – ran up to the crying Lance.
"They did it to me!" the boy pointed at the Slytherins. "They burnt my hand!"
"Daniel!" Valentine's eyes narrowed, her face looking as far from angelic as possible. "How dare you?"
"It wasn't him, I did it," Norbert said. "Don't blame him for everything."
"He is your friend. And a Slytherin," Viviane replied. "That's enough for us to blame him." she turned to Daniel. "Now listen to me, Danniekins. If you come any close to poor Lancelot in the future..."
"...then what?" Gilda cut in. "Will you cast him out of Heaven?" she gave an amused glance to the twins' outfit. "Really... where did you get the idea to dress up as angels? You should be dressed up as little devils."
"We might be little devils, but the angel costumes still look better on us than this... this... whatever costume you are wearing!" Viviane spat. "What are you supposed to be at all?"
"A sphinx," Dan and Norbert replied in unison.
"C'mon, guys, leave the little angels... maybe they'll protect the heroic Sir Lancelot next time," said Gilda.
The three friends bought future-telling biscuits and started to break them open when Lily Potter stepped to them, dressed up as an Indian, with feathers in her hair and battle paint on her cheeks. "Hi, nice beard, Dan. I barely recognised you."
"Thanks, sis," the boy pulled the small white parchment out of the broken biscuit and read it. "Hm... it says I'm going to fall in love. What does yours say, Gilda?"
"The same," she replied. "Stupid biscuits."
"And yours, Norbert? Don't say that you are also going to fall in love!"
"No," young Malfoy shook his head. "It says I'm going to confront my brother."
"Poor Mr. Malfoy," Lily smiled. "By the way, haven't you seen Chris Wood?"
"But of course we have," Dan replied. "He's dressed up as a cowboy. The last time we saw him he was dancing with Yvette who looks like a pink butterfly. There they are! That shocking pink thingie over there! They aren't easy to miss!"
With a forced smile Lily left.
"Poor one. Head over heels in love with Chris Wood," Dan whispered to Gilda.
"And what about you, you poor one?" she whispered back. "You're head over heels in love with Liu Chang."
"How do you know?" the boy blushed.
"You boys think we girls are blind... but we are not," she replied. "And here's your little princess coming..."
Indeed, Liu stepped to them with an older, but still very pretty woman in tow.
"Hullo. May I introduce my mother?" she smiled sweetly. Daniel needed all his willpower to stay indifferent as he seized up the girl, who looked like a geisha. "Mother, this is Daniel Potter, my friend."
"Hello, Daniel," the woman, who Dan supposed was that certain Cho, shook his hand with a smile identical to Liu's. Now at least Dan understood why his father had had a crush on this woman – for the same reason he had a crush on her daughter.
"Good evening, Mrs. Chang."
"Just Miss Chang," Cho smiled. "And you may call me Cho. Well, take care of my daughter, will you?" with that she walked away.
"Wow... your mum is pretty," Dan said. "Like you."
Liu giggled and blushed, Gilda rolled her eyes and left.
"Hey, lover boy, I'm off to greet that git of a brother I have... I hope I can leave you two alone..." Norbert said with a wink. "And don't forget Deminuo, Dan!"
"Deminuo?" Liu raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Dan blushed. "Shall we dance?"
* * * * *
Around nine o' clock, Cornelius Fudge arrived to say a couple of words about the importance of the event, though nobody really listened.
Albus Dumbledore was rather occupied with Mrs. Figg who – despite her age – looked really pretty tonight. To everyone's great amusement, the headmaster had dressed up as a house-elf with huge, bat-like ears. His brother Aberforth chose a yeti costume, though not many people besides McGonagall knew why he was so fond of yetis. Minerva herself discarded her usual green robes and hat for the occasion and wore braids and a cheerful yellow dress, looking like a girl in the elementary school (a girl with a couple of wrinkles). Aberforth found her downright endearing, and that was all that counted for her. She seemed to have forgiven her husband for not telling her about his former marriage, but she was still giving Julie Dumbledore surreptitious glances, and no one – not even Aberforth – knew what she was thinking of the little girl. Tonight, however, it wasn't surprising that McGonagall was stealing glances at Julie, because so was everyone else – the little blonde Hufflepuff girl wore a fabulous golden galleon costume, attracting huge attention.
Sirius was having fun talking to Remus who had ironically dressed up as a full Moon, and Neville – in a toad costume – was enthusiastically talking to his parents. He still couldn't fathom the grace of life that he had got them back – although it had happened thirteen years earlier.
Everyone's favourite was Gilderoy Lockhart, who decided to dress up like Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame. Harry shed tears of laughter when he spotted the 'beautiful' Lockhart being so terribly ugly. He still remembered what Gilderoy had told him about an ugly Armenian warlock who had saved a village from werewolves. "No dress sense at all!" Now as he looked at 'Quasimodo', he felt like saying the same, but he refrained from it. Gilderoy, however, seemed to be enjoying himself as Quasimodo, and was in the firm belief that he'd win the teacher's costume-competition. 'You know, if I turned myself ugly for this competition, I have to win!' – he had told Harry. 'You have no idea how HARD it was for me to become ugly!'
While Ron took Ginny to dance, Harry decided to go out and breathe some fresh air, because it was getting rather hot in the tent.
He welcomed the relative coolness of the night air and the fresh fragrance of the trees and the dewy grass – the tent was way too much filled with the heavy smell of the exotic meals and the ladies' perfumes.
"Beautiful evening, isn't it?" came a voice from the magical fountain.
"Yes, Cho, beautiful," Harry sighed inwardly. She was the last person he wanted to talk to now.
"Come, sit down next to me," she patted the rim. Harry sat down, though not too close to her. "You are deliberately keeping your distance," she perceived, pouting.
"Am not," he said, but didn't sit closer. "I've seen that you have opened your McRice at Hogsmeade. Is it running well?"
"Very well, thank you," she replied. "But you are deliberately changing the topic. You are still mad at me because I told you that I had loved you, right?"
"No," he looked at her. "Yes. A bit."
"I'm really sorry, Harry," she sighed. "Had I known that I'd hurt you with the truth, I wouldn't have revealed it."
"It's okay, Cho... I was just... surprised that you had actually loved me."
"Yes, I did love you," she nodded sadly. "And I still left you... that's something I'll never forgive myself. After I left, all I did was look for you in every man... I was looking for your eyes, your hair... your soul and kindness... and once I thought I had found it," she pulled her wallet out of her pocket to show him a picture in it. There was a man in the picture – a man that resembled Harry a bit. He also had green eyes and black hair... he could have been Harry's brother.
"Who's the guy?" he asked.
"Liu's father," she replied with a sad smile. "See... I was looking for you in every man and once I thought that I found you in him... I gave myself to him. Poor Ross never understood why I left him so suddenly... to Liu I said that he had left us… it was easier for me this way… I didn't want her to believe that I was a scarlet woman who had just played with a man whom she didn't love… I really didn't love Ross. For a while I tried to persuade myself that I did… to no avail. One day I realised that he was nothing like you. No one ever could be like you," she lifted her face to glare directly into his eyes.
"Don't... don't look at me like that, Cho, please," he breathed.
"But I can't look at you otherwise. Don't you understand, Harry?" her voice was imploring.
"I wish I didn't understand!" he jumped up angrily, scaring two people out of a nearby bush: his son and Liu. The two youngsters landed on the grass, Liu in Dan's lap. "May I ask what you two were doing in there? Eavesdropping?"
"Noooo, dad," Dan blushed, his blush quite visible, since he wasn't wearing his beard anymore. He tried to wipe his mouth – but he couldn't make the smudges of lipstick vanish quick enough.
"So, this is how you take care of my daughter?" Cho gave him an impish grin. "You should sometimes check on your son, Harry. Well, I'm going back. I don't want to miss the awarding ceremony!"
"I'm coming too, mum!" Liu called after her and vanished into the tent.
"So," Harry crossed his arms, looking at Daniel who seemed rather occupied with trying to put his beard back into place. "It seems that you and Miss Chang hit it off pretty well."
"No, dad, it's just, er... she doesn't really like me, she just wanted to try what it is like to kiss someone and I came in handy..."
"Aha... so you volunteered to help the lady. How gallant of you, Daniel," Harry's voice sounded sarcastic. "Just let me ask you something, son: do not make me a grandfather any time soon, okay?"
"But... I'm just twelve, dad! How could you think...?" Dan looked up at Harry to see that he was grinning. "You were joking!?!"
"Of course I was," Harry smiled. "However, there is always the risk, I mean... you would be capable... and she looks quite early-developed, too. Promise me not to do anything silly, son."
"I'm just twelve, dad. Really. I wouldn't. You know I wouldn't."
"I thought the same of myself... that I wouldn't. And Lily came along. True that I was five years older than you, still... like father like son. I would like you to be more sensible than I was."
"You don't need to worry, dad. In third year we are going to have sex ed and I don't think I'd do anything until then..."
"All right, I trust you, son. May you be cleverer than your father…"The winner of the hundred house points was to be announced at ten o' clock sharp, but every teacher had to vote until then. Harry had seen quite many costumes and he found it rather regrettable that teachers couldn't vote for each other's costumes, because his very favourite outfit was Sybill Trelawney's belly dancer dress. On the other hand he would never have voted for Trelawney who had given him so many disturbing dreams with her idiotic predictions. He still didn't know why Sybill had foretold him 'shock after shock and grief after grief' at the opening-of-term feast... nothing really bad had happened up till now – with the exception of Dan getting into Slytherin. *Silly old rook!* Harry thought, looking at the Divination professor, who was definitely the funniest-looking one of all the staff-members: she was at least eighty years old, yet wearing a skimpy pink dress that left her belly visible. She had even attached a see-through veil to her face, just like an Arab woman. Yes, she really would have deserved to get the award for the best costume – or for the most ridiculous costume? Harry couldn't decide.
Trelawney had tried to lure him to herself for a bit of palmistry, but he politely turned her down saying that he had just spotted Oliver Wood and had some urgent Quidditch-stuff to discuss with him. Although he didn't let Sybill predict anything to him, he bought a future-telling biscuit that had the following line in it: 'You are going to lose something important tonight.' He hastily dug his hand into his pocket and was relieved that his wand was still there. What else could he lose?
He helped himself to a glass of champagne when he heard a familiar voice calling to him.
"Hi, Dennis!" he greeted the old friend, putting his champagne down to shake hands with him. "Mileta, nice to see you."
Dennis Creevey's wife blushed a bit – she had once been very taken with Harry and had even tried everything to take him to bed – with not much success. "Nice to see you, too. You haven't changed a bit since we last met, Harry."
"Not a bit? I don't think so," Harry smiled. "I have gained three kilos, for example. And yesterday I counted thirteen grey hairs!"
"Oh, you poor one, aging so quickly!" she laughed. "Really, you look good. I've been wondering how much you could have changed during the last eleven years, but you haven't changed... you could still say you were just twenty five..."
"Tell your wife not to try and turn my head again!" Harry grinned at Dennis.
"Oh, I wouldn't try, now, would I?" Mileta smiled and snuggled into her husband's embrace. "I have Dennis, and I wouldn't exchange him for anyone!"
"Good to see that you two are so happy together," Harry said. "What about the family? Good old Viktor? Has he married yet?"
"No," Mileta shook her head. "He's still hopelessly in love with your sister-in-law."
"Oh, what a pity. And Colin?"
"He's fine, working as a coach for an Irish Quidditch team," Dennis replied. "Oh, let me show you a picture."
"Is she...?" Harry looked at the wizard picture showing a happily giggling little girl. "Is she your daughter?"
"Yes," Mileta replied proudly. "Her name is Edelweiss."
"Awwww. What a perfect choice of name," Harry smiled. "You two were brought together by that Edelweiss, eh?"
"Well, kind of," the young mother replied. "Dennis saved me from the yeti during the first task and after that I slowly realised that he was the one for me. A bit too slowly, though," she added with a sheepish grin. "I hope you are no more angry with me for trying to seduce you all the time."
"Oh, no! Of course not…" Harry laughed, picking up his glass of champagne again and emptying it at one gulp. "Brrr… how can champagne be this sweet?" he shuddered, his glance falling on the entrance of the tent. He thought his eyes were playing a trick on him. "Impossible!" he mumbled, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and put them back again. *Too much champagne... sure... that must be it.* he thought, staring at the figures standing at the 'door': a very fat and a very slim one – a man and a woman – two people whom he least expected ever seeing at Hogwarts...
Vernon and Petunia Dursley.
A/N: in case you don't remember the Deminuo spell from TGSaWCS (where Harry kept using it), it's Latin and means something like 'to make something flaccid', if you get what I mean ;)
The author has a similar ceiling to Daniel's – my bedroom ceiling in our weekend house has a 'star chart' of fluorescent stars and it glows for about 15 minutes after I switch off the lights. It's fun, really. And beautiful. Even when it rains outside and the sky is clouded, I still have stars in my room :)
For reference on clabberts, see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Dilemi Ann: yes, HP is better in Hungarian than in English. JKR wrote it wonderfully, but the translation is even better. Don't believe it if you don't want to, you don't seem to believe anything I say, anyway. You said I was criticising Rowling often. I can't remember when I did so. I tend to criticise the movies, but not the books. Rowling is kind of a goddess to me and everything she writes is fabulous. About me being stuck-up: if you knew me, you'd know that I belong to the very few people who would never in their lives become stuck-up. You said I thought I was better than Rowling. What gives you that idea? I'm totally aware that I'm not the hundredth of what she is. About the story that got 1000 reviews for four chapters… it might be either wonderful or a slashfic (slashfics tend to be more popular than het fics, I don't understand why). But you made me very curious, so I'd like to read it. Could you please tell me its author and title? Thanks. Just one more thing about the number of reviews: I never wanted to beat anyone with reviews, and I don't think that the number of reviews necessarily shows the quality of a fic. I have read dozens of brilliant stories (really brilliant ones, that I thought were way better than mines) that had very few reviews. So everything you assumed about me and the number of reviews is wrong. Sorry. Finally, if you dislike my fics so much, then please, stop reading – read only the canon, because, as you said (and I agreed), Rowling is a thousand times better.
Bucky: perhaps I could… won't disappoint you, I promise.
Lady Schezar: sorry, but Slytherin couldn't win this time. First I wanted Gryffindor to win and make Slytherin miserable (to add to Daniel's misery), but then I thought that Gryffindor had won way too many matches in the first three canon books. Then I wanted Slytherin to win, but I decided against it. A draw seemed to be the right choice.
Kit Cloudkicker: I mentioned in chapter two that Circe was Amos Diggory's daughter – born four years after Cedric's death.
Tyleet: no, sorry, no more kids for R/Hr. But lots of Draco/Gabrielle coming soon. Yes, I took the Bill/Fleur idea from book four when she was looking at him :)
gillian: Harry is 31, Ginny is 30.
reviewer: no, I'm not planning to become a real author. Not yet, anyway. I don't teach English or anything else, and no, I'm no journalist (though in RPGs I love playing Rita Skeeter :) The baby has something to do with the plot, but surely not the way you'd think (hmmm… that was obscure enough, huh? ;)
Desiree: the first cliffie in chapter 10? Hm… much worse cliffies are coming soon, so be prepared.
Molto Bella: yeah, stupid Gryffindor! :)) I love Slytherin more. In fact some friends of mine decided to make the first Hungarian Slytherin-supporter website, and I'll be helping them :)
Black Ice: sorry, but I didn't want to kick anyone out of any teams.
seashell: well, Olivia Ollivander is either Ollivander's granddaughter, or great-granddaughter. Dunno, decide it yourself :) Aha, so Orlando Bloom is Legolas! Well, of course I've seen the first LotR movie, and I found him really hot, I just didn't know the name of the actor who played him. Of the whole LotR cast I only know the names of Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen and Liv Tyler (and now Orlando Bloom), that's all.
goldenstar555: I'm glad you found it intriguing.
RedHot911: thanks :)
C-chan: I'll have to re-read the third Hitchhiker's book, then. Aragorn/Sam? What a weird pairing! But the Ron/Draco is also weird! :)
SiriDragon: I'm happy you liked the Quidditch match, I was kind of afraid that it'd suck – I'm not good at writing action-scenes, you know.
Katrina: so, you think you know Lily? *enigmatic smile* you'll see that you don't. Thanks for the good-luck wish! (better late than never, right? :))
Aimee: glad you liked Myrtle, she's so much fun, I think she belongs to the most interesting characters or Rowling's!
Houou: Obnoxious Myrtle? I don't think she's obnoxious… I like her. But what could you expect from someone who likes idiots like Lockhart? Dunno why, but I always tend to love the idiotic characters or the total weirdos.
Myr Halcyon: I agree, the match in the CoS movie wasn't that good, I liked the one in the first film much better. Harry and Draco chasing the Snitch outside in that… don't know what to call that part of the Quidditch stadium, was a bit… dunno. I wasn't taken with it. I only liked one thing in that part: that the Bludger almost ran into Colin when he was taking photos.
Princess Ginny: I understand you, I don't like going to school either. But I like exams even less.
Altec: about 11-year-olds being too young to have full figures: I had a classmate in the primary school who had large tits at the age of 11 (and I remember I envied her :). About 12-year old having nocturnal emissions – years ago I heard in the news that in America an 11-year-old boy got a 15-year old girl pregnant. There was quite a scandal, and the girl said that she had no idea that the boy was only 11, she thought him to be 14. This made me think that the boy must have had nocturnal emissions in order to be 'able' to get her pregnant, don't you think? And Dan's one year older than this boy, so he could be a 'man' already. It's a bit early, that's true, but the possibility cannot be closed out. And of course I needed to make him become a 'man' for plot reasons. About Snape and Bradley – I'm not saying no… but I'm not saying yes either ;)
ruffled owl: I'd also like to read HP in other languages, but first I'll have to learn more languages :)
Lana Riddle: well, you have your answer about the Snitch, don't you? :)
2Coolio: did you write long stories?
Tap Dancing Widow: I'm glad you finally made it to my present fic! And thank you very much for all those reviews for the previous two! Exactly, the next child does have something to do with the nasty things happening to Harry. Yes, of course I named Rupert after Grint! :))
Laina: Snape and Bradley: yes and no. It's Gabrielle, not Gabbriel :)
Wood's secret lover: the caretaker blowing up the Snitch? That's gross! He's a Muggle, he cannot do magic! Swapping identities? Whew, you have some weird ideas, but no, nothing like that happens. I answered your review for chapter 9 in an email the same day I uploaded chapter 10. Did you get that mail?
Inken: the triplets won't necessarily do anything to Draco, Harry just played with the thought. But don't worry, you'll see enough funny things happening between the neighbours!
Alexander Phoenix: yellow houses can be nice, if they are painted a very pale yellow. The 'nearly R rated stuff' comes up once in a while, but not often, so not to worry. 90% of the fic is a simple PG-13.
Lupin's Angel: thanks for the link, it's interesting. I haven't heard of this Michael Gambon, too.
Justin: no, I'm not planning a sequel for this one, but I might write other stories that have nothing to do with this series. I have written one chapter of a totally different H/G fic but didn't continue because I had to concentrate on this one. Perhaps I'll continue it after I'm done with my exams.
Nefertiri: well, the twins regretted it, didn't they? Snape and Bradley: yes and no.
Bamboo Anime: Tamora Pierce sounds cool, I might read it if it comes out here in Hungary. MT. Dew is the same as Mountain Dew? Silly me, I didn't realise! Of course I know Mountain Dew, I tasted it once but didn't like it. Thanks for the scarf-link! :) Ahhh, thanks Yoghurt, I love the Schwartz! :)) And Lord Helmet rulez!
Cassandra Anthemyst: no, Gilda doesn't sneak into the match, because the boys will be called to duel by their names, and the jury would realise that Gilda's name isn't on their list (and I think she isn't the type to knock a boy unconscious to play instead of him, using his name.)
Ice Kitten: where does your dad live? I hope you had a great time with him.
FireBolt9000: sorry, but they might. Are you rooting for Liu?
TaMaraR: glad you think so :)
Rab: Lucius and Narcissa still live in a private mansion, but since Draco has his bank in Hogsmeade, so he bought a house in Hogsmeade. Of course he could apparate twice every day, but it's simpler and more convenient without apparating.
VegaKeep: hey, interesting name you've got there ;) Don't worry, you'll get a lot of Draco/Gabie later.
jasper: glad that I could make you laugh :))
apple-pie: you said that chapter 10 was the best so far? Well, it's no nearly as good as the rest :)
Autumn Dreams: I'm glad that I could make you laugh :)) I hoped that people would find Daniel's predicament hilarious, but it seems that YOU found it the most hilarious :)
Katie Bell: I don't think that chapter 10 was 'definitely R-rated' as you said. It was a strong PG-13, bordering on R. Just look around on ffnet, and you'll see dozens of R-rated fics that are rather NC-17. The Daniel's adolescence part was very far from those "R-rated" things. Btw, are you the same Katie Bell who niffled my fics on fictionalley? If yes, than thanks a lot! A friend told me that my fics got recommended on that site and I just had to read it – and the recommending person (you?) wrote things that made me blush :) I was also pleasantly surprised to see that webba commented that she agreed with Katie Bell :)
Kamatazi Yumi: you wrote: "suddenly has a mental image of the various Hogwarts people in a deodorant commercial" – I was rotfl when I read this! :))
star queen: yes, I have a half-brother, but he doesn't live with me, I see him once in every two weeks, so I didn't copy his 'adolescence' to describe Dan's. In fact I feared that the whole Dan-having-a-first-hard-on part would suck because I knew nothing about male adolescence… I made it up pretty much, hoping that it wouldn't be too silly.
amazing typo: thanks for standing up to the flamer, it made me happy :) My friends told me to ignore people like this who take pleasure in offending others by telling evil lies… and they're right. My friends know what kind of person I am and that I'd never in my life be conceited. So, the flamers can say whatever they want, as long as I know that they're wrong, they cannot affect me! :D
Keila: have I really managed to make the match as interesting in the books? Wow, never thought, never even hoped I could. Your comment made me very happy!
heavenly182angel: well, Kevin didn't get the Snitch, since it exploded. I didn't want either Gryffindor or Slytherin win. I tried to be like Harry: impartial :))
CandyGurl83: yes, Lily's sweet, isn't she? She wouldn't hurt her lil brother, no matter what.
Any last requests: you wrote: "I do feel sorry for the house elves having to constantly be cleaning Dan's sheets" – oh, you have no idea how much I laughed when I read this!!! If I imagine the elves doing that… hilarious. But Dan surely will learn some cleaning charm – and he already knows Deminuo ;)
HP Blone Crazy Chick: I hate algebra, too. What is ipc? And what exactly is a Church retreat? Does it mean that you go off to some place where you can be alone and pray? My dad sometimes goes off to do that, but what you mentioned might be something totally different. Yes, I'm sure that my exams are worse than yours :(
PepsiAngel: yes, there'll be a lot about Draco and Gabrielle, and you don't have to wait long for it. About Dan and Gilda being a bad couple… why? Are you rooting for Liu Chang? Glad you liked Myrtle :)
rebkos: thanks a lot :D
Novalee and Josh: no, I don't have a schedule for updating. With my previous two fics I had, but not with this one, sorry. However, you can expect one chapter a week.
romina: give me your email address and I'll send you a list of worth-of-reading fanfics :) (you might already have written me your address, but I can't find it anywhere, silly me). I've collected a very nice, long list for you.
Harrysgirl: welcome back, I'm happy to see you again! :)) Glad you found Daniel's predicament funny.
Belle: your friends also like my fics? Glad to hear! Has any of them reviewed so far? If yes, under what name? I'm curious…
Zenon Lee: you asked how Dan's erection would affect his future life. You have no idea… but it'll have a HUGE effect on his life (and NOT the way you'd think, it has nothing to do with sex). You'll find out in chapter 13.
LilGinny: what kinds of stores do we have here in Hungary? Well, we have Tesco, for example. And lots of huge shopping centres that even have waterfalls in them :) You said Hallmark sold cards and merchandise of all kinds. Well, we also have similar shops, they're called Happy Box shops. And of course we have all the famous trademark shops like Adidas, Nike, Benetton, etc.
megamick: hi! Imagine, when I read your review, I thought that your name was very familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. Then I checked back and you turned out to have written one single review for the 9th chapter of the first story in November 2001 – more than a year ago. So I guess I have a very good memory to find your name familiar after that! :)) Glad you liked Dan's early development.
candycaneOgram: both Harry and Daniel will have to face nasty things, but Harry will suffer the most. Poor dear Harry, I'm always torturing him. No, Astronomy won't be important because of the centaurs, but because of something else. And yes, you'll see the centaurs again, right in the next chapter.
Toby Haine: I was glad when I saw that you reviewed at last, I thought you had forgotten about this fic :) Can't wait for the end of your play.
PrincezzShortie: well, I explained everything in connection with the Snitch, didn't I? :))
Chakotaya/Lady Nagini: does your name have anything to do with the Star Trek Voyager Chatkotay? Just wondering… (I love Voyager!) Abortion spell? No, it wasn't a spell, it was a potion, mentioned in Snape's first class. And why don't H and G use it? Well… why would they? They want this baby. They didn't plan it, but they still want it.
X-Tow-Naga: good luck with your exams! And yes, you are right, the Force should be there in everyone.
Jade Tsukinomoto: I understand what you mean, I also save the chapters of the fics I want to read and read them offline, because spending much time online is quite expensive here in Hungary. Is it expensive in Brazil as well? Glad you like my chapter titles, I always try to make them sound funny or interesting. And thanks for the May the Force be with you in Portuguese! :D
Punky Poet: you couldn't tell your family what you were laughing at, eh? Hm… I kind of understand if I imagine you saying: "er, you know mum… the character in this story has um… just had a… er…" ;)
Missy: glad you found it hilarious :)
Red Ridding Hood: good luck with your test. Yes, there'll be some Norbert/Draco scenes. I heard about Gary Oldman playing Sirius and I'm not happy. I have to think of him in Air Force One (he played a Russian terrorist in it) and The Fifth Element (he played another sadist there). So I can only imagine him being evil, I don't want him to be Sirius.
Philip: thank you very much, glad you like my fics. Do they sound believable? That makes me really happy! :)
Sky: *grins* glad you found it hilarious. Hopefully you'll find the Vernon/Petunia at Hogwarts parts also hilarious.