Harry Potter and the Test

Chapter Three





"I'm liking this robe thing."

"The what?" Ron asked.

"The robes, and the crest," I explained. "I've never worn something so cool. Makes me feel.bad."

"How is that bad?" Harry inquired.

"No, no, bad like good." They both gave me odd looks.

"It's an American term."

"Oh," the both echoed, returning their eyes to the plates of food before them.

"Like the breakfasts here?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I do. Interesting items, but I never knew pumpkin juice could be so good. To tell you the truth, pumpkins kind of gross me out," I admitted.

"How so?" Ron said, finishing a mouthful.

"I guess the.the.guts inside. They smell.odd?"

"You're kind of odd sometimes," Harry joked, causing Ron to chuckle. Even I couldn't help but smile.

All around the hall, you could hear fork and spoons clanking against the metal plates. The food was spread down the entire length of the tables. Bowls overflowed with exotic fruits; loaves of bread were stacked in a pyramid fashion at some points. Among the food, a constant chatter flowed among the tables; almost a wall of sound surrounded us, forever unceasing.

Lights, floating in mid-air, filled the room, gracing every corner of the massive hall with rich, warm, yellow rays. However, they weren't light bulbs, as I could see the brilliant flames lapping into the air, above the bowls which held them. Looking down the aisle, I could see a girl approaching us. Smiling and chatting as she went, stopping occasionally, I guessed she was a Gryffindor student.

"Who's she?" I asked Ron, who was sitting next to me.

"Oh, that's Hermione. You haven't met her yet?" Ron asked, almost shocked.

"Nope."

"Well, here she comes..."

She approached our area, and took notice of me. Smiling, she offered a hand.

"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger."

With great pleasure, I stood up to meet her and was immediately taken aback. She was beautiful. Her thick, brown hair, slightly wavy, tumbled down the back of her robes. To accompany this trait, her eyes were a magnificently deep, rich brown. Her entire face glowed with beauty and her personality matched it. Her voice was gentle and soothing. However, in taking in these features, I forget about my part of the introduction.

Still shaking hands, she peered at me, wondering if I was still with her.

"Ah.yes..Adam.er..Adam Barrowton."

Sparing her from any more contact with my sweaty palm, I smiled and let go. She grinned slightly, as if to be understanding and took a seat on the other side of Ron. Even as I picked up my fork again, the color had not left my cheeks. Cautiously, I looked up from my food and caught Harry glancing at me. Silently, he laughed to himself.

"Did you get that History of Transfiguration homework done?" Ron asked her.

"Um.no. I was stuck on how to connect the Wizard of Turfington to what happened in Belfast," she said, wearing a long face. The defeat clearly left her depressed.

I paused, my mouth this full. With all the reading I had been doing, I knew I had read something on that event. After pondering it for a few moments, I made my move.

"Ron, are you referring to the Cazhdew event, where the rocks were transformed in to dragons by the League of Irish Wizards back in 1304 to act as a defense against goblins?"

"Er.yeah. That is.how did you know that?" Ron asked, genuinely astonished. I could see Hermione peaking over his shoulder, studying me carefully.

"With all the reading, I would have hoped to have retained some of it," I said, trying to be humorous.

"So you're doing okay?" Harry inquired.

"Yeah. I'm surviving," I answered, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Well, if you need any help, Hermione is the one you want to go to," Ron said, gesturing to her with a nod of his head. She smiled at the thought.

"I'm doing good for now. I'll keep the offer in mind, though."

"Okay, okay, now go back to homework." Ron implored.







I picked a desk on the right side of the room. It was the one closest to the window, giving me the best spot to gaze out of it and curse the fact that I was inside on such a day. However, there was an added bonus to the empty spot.

Hermione sat just to the left.

Setting my books on the desk, I slipped in to the seat. Our eyes met, but little else. She smiled shyly and tuned back to looking at the front of the class. The teacher made his way up to the front and began shuffling his papers.

'Is she mad at me?'

I tried to get an emotional read on her from the side. She appeared to possess a natural disposition to have a slightly dejected face, so I left it at that and gave up on reading further into it.

'Am I sitting to close?'

I slid over to the right a little further, just for safety's sake. However, the previous distance between us didn't seem to be too small; I wasn't invading her space.

'Hmmm..is it my face?'

I put my hand to my chin. I hadn't shaved since I came. My five o'clock shadow had become a forty-eight hour one. I doubted it was that, since my facial hair grew in pretty fair. Often, no one would notice if I hadn't shaved for a week.

'I doubt it's that. Maybe I came on to strong earlier.'

Then, I broke into a sweat.

'What if she already has a boyfriend?'

My mind decided to bite the hand which fed it and made my innards turns to mush. Nervousness caused me to tense up in every muscle of my body. Clearly, I was rushing into things. All I knew was her name, after all. Besides, I had bigger things to worry about; class, for instance.

The teacher had begun his lecture while I ran over all of these suspicions and worries. This was my third full day at Hogwarts' and I was definitely adjusting, for the most part. I was enjoying the lessons and the thought of having power. It was as if I was discovering myself all over again. All along I thought I was simply Adam; not that I hated that. However, now at Hogwarts', I found that everything had changed.

All of these cosmetic changes aside, the most disturbing one was that weird feeling I got when Harry was around. It would happen when we ate breakfast, studied or did anything in which we were in close quarters. While that itself wasn't horrid, the fact that I had no idea what was causing such a feeling was. For the past two nights, I would lie awake and try to decipher it. Even then, I was affected by the feeling since he slept in the bunk just across the room from me. How long it would haunt me was the question I kept asking myself.

'The faster I figure it out, the better.'

I still hadn't mentioned it to anyone, although.

I shifted my eyes slightly to the left.

'Hermione?'

"Mister Barrowton?"

I froze. In a jerky fashion, I shifted my body to directly face the front. It was then that I realized that every set of eyes in the classroom was focused on me, waiting for what I guessed to be some response to a question. The professor wore a look of disdain and impatience. I was clearly in the hot seat.

"I'm sorry; could you repeat the question, please?"

Professor Pitwick sign gruffly, but obliged my request.

"The first law governing the use of transfiguration. Can you describe why such a law was passed by the Council?" Eyes remained, waiting for me to sputter out some senseless answer and write my own failing grade.

"Well," I began, taking in enough air to last me, "while the law did pass, it was none the less highly controversial. The controversy lied in the fact that it questioned for perhaps the first time the use of transfiguration by any wizard. Originally, it had been an unwritten law that only the most experienced wizard were permitted to practice such a feat. However, as more and more younger, less prepared wizards began to take on the task of attempting to transfigure objects, the council felt it necessary to monitor and restrict the its use. Even with the serious objections of the experienced wizards worldwide, the council went ahead and enacted said legislation."

My piece said, I remained standing, waiting for assessment. Silence hung in the air for a few seconds.

"Well done, Mister Barrowton; well done," the professor said, sounding almost disappointed that he wasn't able to catch a newcomer in a moment of weakness. With a slightly smug grin gracing my lips, I took my seat.

"Very nice, Adam," Neville Longbottom said, turning around in his chair to congratulate me.

"Neville!" the professor exclaimed, his voice booming. Turning white, Neville quickly turned back around and faced the front once again.

"Professor?" Hermione asked, almost too sweetly.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"I must disagree with Adam. Although this legislation was highly controversial, the reasons he gave for its passage are quite invalid."

"How is that?" Pitwick inquired, obviously wondering where this was going.

"Yeah, how is that?" I repeated, curious why she was doing this to me.

"Mister Barrowton, Miss Granger has the floor. Please continue."

"Thank you. Even though a number of young wizards began to partake in transfiguration, they by no means abused the use of it. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, it was a young wizard, Albin Tupildown, which was the main proponent behind the so-called legislation. It was only upon the strong and hasty reaction of the powerful, older wizards which led the council to consider such a law. They became suspicious that too much power lied in the hands of the elder practitioners of transfiguration, and passed the law for this reason; it wasn't to prevent anyone from practicing it, but to limit its use and weaken the former restrictions, which only permitted the most experienced wizards to use such a type of spell."

Once again, silence was the word of choice for the moment.

"Very true, and a very insightful perspective on the issue, as well, Miss Granger. Ten points for Gryffindor," Proffesor Pitwick said, and that was that.

Wearing a smile that would make most people sick to their stomachs, she sat down, not even giving me a glance. I looked at her, hoping for a response.

"What the hell did you do that for?" I whispered to her.

"What are you talking about?" she whispered back, not breaking her gaze from the Professor who had resumed his lecture.

"Showing me up like that!"

"I didn't show you up; I simply answered the question."

Her words made my blood curdle and my cheeks became hot with anger. I wasn't going to say anything else for fear of overstepping a line I didn't wish to breach. Stewing in my own frustration and irritation, I focused on my notes and gave up on trying to communicate with her for the time being.







"Sorry!" I shouted to Harry, whizzing by him. The bludger had almost hit him, me arriving with the paddle just in time.

It was the second and final scrimmage game of the pre-season. We had played against Hufflepuff and lost, although the closeness of the game made it a moral victory. We did manage to get one hundred and twenty points from our chasers, but it wasn't enough. The opposing team's seeker managed to grab the Golden Snitch in heavy traffic. Harry was close, but close wasn't good enough. The game ended with a dejected team and a very frustrated Mister Potter. Wanting to rebound, we all were taking this match more seriously, especially Harry.

This made sense, since we were playing Slytherin.

It was sixty to forty, their advantage, but it was much closer than then scoreboard showed. With Harry as our seeker, and Malfoy as theirs, what the students came to watch was whether the game could proceed without the teams coming to blows.

The first night at Hogwarts', Harry and Ron explained the way Slytherin and the 'henchmen' associated with it worked. Although I listened and believed the two, I never realized how horrid Malfoy was until I met him on the way to breakfast the next morning. As the three of us passed him and his two thugs, Crabbe and Goyle, he glared at us, shooting daggers. For some reason, he seemed to single me out, something I took offence to. Returning the favor, we moved on without incident. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to preserve the peace for so long. I wasn't one put up with crap.

The game was proceeding without too much animosity, although the tension between the two seekers was so thick I could feel it in the air, making it hard to concentrate on flying.

I had improved over the first scrimmage. In that game, there was actually one I missed, even though I felt my fellow beater, Melton, a third- year student, should have had it. Taking the heat, I practiced for hours with Harry, with Ron looking on as usual. Hermione even showed up, but didn't wait around for me to say anything before she took off; it had been a week since the incident in class and she hadn't said much to me since besides the usual salutations.

Melton and I had pretty much been following one bludger each during the match. In my view, it caused less confusion and therefore, fewer injuries.

Mine seemed to be set on going after Harry, a matter which wasn't out of the ordinary, but made my job more difficult since he had a faster broom than I did at the time. For now, I had to do with the school-provided equipment until I could get down to Diagon Alley for a Nimbus.

High above the other, Malfoy and Harry zipped every which way, each trying to get a good vantage point. Five feet to his right, I beat back the bludger which tried for Harry again. Sticking close to his side, we neared Malfoy who was coming at us in the opposite direction. I tried get further over to the left, in an attempt to give the junior Draco room to pass. Ignoring my attempts to be courteous, though, he inched closer to us as he approached. Two feet now between us, I gave up and moved higher, decided to fly over Harry, hopefully thwarting Malfoy's plans to cause trouble.

Below, I saw him shift even further to the right, narrowly missing Harry. The inches that separated them weren't even enough to prevent their capes from brushing together. Harry wasn't shaken, but his balance was tampered with, and he swayed for a minute, trying to get it back. I could see the look on his face, but he did nothing else, didn't even say a thing.

"Harry, you okay?" I asked. I could see that I was more pissed than he was over the matter.

"Yeah, I'm fine.bludger.."

Without looking, I smacked it back, sending it across the field.

"You shouldn't put up with it, Harry."

"Adam, I'm not one to start something. Usually when I do, it ends up being a mess."

"From what I hear, I believe it."

He turned to me, giving me a glance which said 'Thanks' in the most dry and sarcastic way possible. I simply guffawed.

Then, without hesitation, I saw him take off. Falling towards the Earth, I couldn't see what he was chasing after, but with Malfoy close behind him, I could easily guess what it was. The Golden Snitch had entered the stadium.

The two zoomed around the stadium, hugging the ground closely. Meanwhile, above their heads and below mine, Gryffindor managed to but twenty more points on the board, typing the game up. Good efforts aside, the points mattered little now; what mattered was capturing that golden sphere and ending the game.

I began to descend as well, seeing my bludger beginning to follow Harry once again. A few feet above him, almost hovering over the chase, I smacked the ball back. My aim was perfect and just missed the one of the other team's beaters. Giving him a smile and a friendly wave, I looked back just in time to see Harry grasp the Snitch within his hand. To the roar of the crowd, Harry landed, triumphantly displaying the closed fist which held the prized possession.

While we began to file off the field, I saw the beater for Slytherin that I nearly hit talking with Malfoy, a very dejected Malfoy at that. He pointed a threatening finger directly at me. A few of his cronies on the team sneered, sending a message I didn't like.

"Harry, come on."

"What?" he asked, still reveling in his catch. The game was over and the fans had begun to leave, but he still was happy at the turn around that had taken place during the game.

"Come on," I repeated.

I began to stalk across the field, towards Malfoy, Harry a few footsteps behind, not quite understanding what was going on.

"What's your problem?" I shouted at him as we got within a few feet.

Malfoy merely let of a frosty, venomous chuckle.

"And who the hell do you think you are?"

"You can call me whatever you want because you're gonna be hearing my name a lot," I stated, walking up to with in a few inches of him, two of his teammates moving closer to their seeker. "People will shout it, warning you every time I come after your sorry ass."

"Amazing, they let some muggle into this school and you have the balls to threaten me?"

"Oh, I do," I responded.

"Adam, relax," I heard Harry whisper behind my back. I easily ignored him.

"You should watch what you say. Words often cause trouble of all sorts, just as with your little shot earlier at our beater," Malfoy said in a very cocky fashion. The very beater he was speaking of stood just to his left, his arms folded, fists clenched.

"Don't mess with Potter, Malfoy. I may not be a pure-blood but I do have the gonads to take you down, so help me God." I nearly spoke the final few words though barred teeth, and pointed a finger right back at him, nearly poking him in the chest. With a snide laugh and a glare, he and his teammates stormed off the field, checking over their backs every so often.

That finished, I turned and began to walk off the field as well, Harry tagging along once again.

"Adam, what was that?"

"What was what?" I asked, innocently. The steam let off, most of my hostility was gone.

"That!" he responded dramatically, using his hand to gesture to the spot where the frank exchange of ideas took place.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I just won't put up with people messing with me." I rested the broom on my shoulder as we headed towards an exit of the stadium.

"But it wasn't over you! It involved only me!"

"Does that bother you that I stood up for you?" I asked in a sincere fashion.

"Well, no, not really. But I don't see why you had to."

"I.I." I stammered. I couldn't explain why I did it. I knew that it arose from that feeling I had inside, but to try and explain a sentiment I didn't even understand would have only complicated matters. It was why I had defended him, I knew that, but that was all I did know.

"I just felt like messing with their heads a little, making sure they stay on their toes."

"Well, looks like you managed to do that," he said, allowing himself to smile. I did as well.