"Ow! Ohmigosh, I'm sorry!" I exclaimed, holding my head where I had
hit it. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," said the boy. For some reason, he looked really familiar. "A little sore, but I'm fine."
"Honestly, Emerald," said a voice teasingly. I turned and saw Harry, arms crossed, and a grin on his face.
"Stuff it, Harry," I shot back, sticking out my tongue. Standing up, I helped whoever it was I had hit pick up his books.
"Thanks," he said. Suddenly, as his clear hazel eyes met mine, I knew who he was.
"Luke?" I said. He paused and surveyed me.
"Do I know you?" he asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, it's me, Emerald," I said. "You know, Emerald Destiny?"
"Oh, yeah," Luke said, his expression clearing. "I guess I've just been so busy I forgot I knew you."
"That's ok," I said, looking back at Harry. He was leaning on the stone wall, talking to Ron and Hermione. I "ahem"ed loudly. They looked up at me.
"What?" Ron asked innocently. "We were just waiting for you to introduce us."
"Oh, yeah, huh," I said sheepishly. "This is Luke Wyte. Harry and I met him a couple weeks ago in Dumbledore's office. Luke, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."
"Hi," Luke said. Hermione eyed him warily.
"I haven't seen you before," she said matter-of-factly. "Are you another transfer student?"
"Hermione," I said through gritted teethe, knowing where this would lead to.
"In- a way," said Luke.
"Oh," said Hermione. "What school did you transfer from?"
"I was home-schooled." Luke's voice was getting uncomfortable.
"What made your parents--"
"Ok, enough questions for today," I interrupted. Luke shot me a grateful glance. "Let's head down to dinner, shall we?"
"Ok," said Hermione slowly. The five of us walked towards the Great Hall, and uncomfortable silence hanging over us like a blanket. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I headed for the Gryffindor table while Luke headed towards the Ravenclaw table. I watched him sit down next to a very pretty Asian girl and put his arm around her.
"Cho's found a new boyfriend," I whispered to myself. Resolving to keep this to myself, I loaded my plate with creamy mashed potatoes, saucy pot roast, and a few honey-roasted peanuts. After all, I thought, chewing slowly, Harry hasn't mentioned her yet, so I won't, either. "Emerald," said Hermione, "why wouldn't you let me ask Luke any more questions?" "Because," I said. "Because. well, those questions were leading to a touchy subject with Luke." "Which is." prompted Harry. "It's not my place to tell you," I said. As Soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew why D.C. wouldn't answer any of my questions.
"You sound like a parent," muttered Ron.
"I heard that, young man," I said sternly, trying not to laugh. "No dessert for you."
"But Mum," whined Ron, playing along. I whapped him lightly on the head and continued eating.
That night when I visited D.C, I apologized for the way I'd been acting.
"It's alright," D.C. assured me.
"Really?"
"Really." I was quiet for a moment, then realized something.
"D.C, will I ever get to see you in human form?" I asked.
"Maybe," was the answer.
"Let me guess; when I'm ready," I said, rolling my eyes.
"That's what he told me." I looked behind me and saw Lily materialize.
"You're back! It's been forever," I said.
"I got... delayed," she said. "But now I'm here, and you can ask your questions."
"Ok," I said. "You know how James said I'd changed sine you last saw me?"
"Yes."
"Does that mean you knew me as a baby?"
"Yes, it does... for him. I knew you before you were born," said Lily slowly.
"Huh?"
"Well, you know I had the Dream Crystal last, right? When I was in my seventh year, I started to have dreams including you."
"Me?"
"Yes. You were wearing the Dream Crystal, and that's why I decided to leave it to you when you were born, instead of Harry."
"What do you mean, 'leave it' to me?"
"There are only two ways to get the Dream Crystal. The first one is to decide to leave it to someone. You can't change your mind unless the person you leave it to dies before you. The second is to find out who the current owner is leaving the Dream Crystal to, kill that person, then kill the current owner of the Dream Crystal before they leave it to someone else." Here, Lily's voice softened, and her gaze became unfocused.
"Wow," I whispered, fingering the Dream Crystal. Then an idea hit me. "Did Voldemort know you had the Dream Crystal?"
"Yes," whispered Lily. "When Harry was born, he assumed I would leave it to him. Voldemort knew that the power of the Dream Crystal combined with the power of Gryffindor that already flowed in Harry's veins would be unstoppable."
"So that's why he wanted to kill Harry," I murmured. Suddenly I felt a cold wind from somewhere, and my eyes snapped open.
Peeves was floating next to my bed, blowing on my ear.
"PEEVES!" I whisper-yelled, not wanting to wake up the rest of my dormitory. He cackled and bobbed through the wall.
Sighing, I looked at my watch; 5:13. With a jolt, I realized Quidditch try-outs were at six; it had been Ron's idea to hold them so early. He was convinced that anyone who wanted badly to be on the team would show up.
Next to me, Hermione yawned, grumbled something about transfiguring a frog, and rolled over. I walked over to her and shook her lightly. She opened her eyes very slowly.
"Wha' is it?" she asked groggily.
"Quidditch try-outs in forty-five," I said, moving away to get dressed. Hermione rolled out of bed.
"I bet Ron or Harry aren't up yet," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"Then let's go wake them up," I said, grinning. Hermione grinned back.
After we got dressed, we snuck up to the fifth year boys dorm and opened the door a crack. No one was up yet.
"You take Ron, and I'll take Harry," I whispered. Hermione nodded, and we crept into the dorm. Silently, we opened the hangings on Ron's and Harry's four-posters.
"One," whispered Hermione, "two, three!"
We jumped onto the beds and began to bounce around, jolting Ron and Harry awake. I had to clamp a hand over Harry's mouth to keep him from yelling and waking the whole tower.
"Rise and shine, cap'n," I said. "Try-outs are in forty."
Before they could say anything, Hermione and I slipped out of their dorm and back down to the common room, giggling.
Soon, Harry and Ron joined us, Harry grumbling about being up so early. Ron, though dreary eyed, looked more awake than any of us.
"Ron, if I weren't so tired right now, I'd kill you," I said, yawning.
"I'm just lucky, I guess," said Ron.
"Oh, you," sighed Hermione.
"Let's just go down before I fall asleep on the armchair," mumbled Harry.
"Alright," I sighed. We made our way down the lightening corridors and out onto the deserted grounds. The grass sparkled with early morning dew, and the sun had just barely risen over the horizon. For a brief moment, I was reminded of the sunset I watched with Harry on Privet Drive. Then, Harry shoved me lightly, shaking me out of my thoughts.
"Race you to the Quidditch field," he said.
"You sure?" I said, shoving him back. "I was one of the fastest track members at my old school."
"Three words: eat my dust!" said Harry, taking off. I ran after him, the dew-ridden grass crunching crisply under my feet. Soon, I caught up with Harry.
"See you at the Quidditch field," I said, running ahead of Harry.
"Hey, no fair!" yelled Harry. "You're not supposed to catch up!"
"Then run faster!" I laughed.
"Or," panted Harry, "I could just do this."
He grabbed a stand of my hair and pulled. I fell back, holding the spot where it hurt.
"Ow!" I complained, punching Harry. He grabbed my arm, and we both fell over, Harry landing on top of me.
"This feels familiar," said Harry.
"Oh, God," I said, rolling my eyes. "You know, if I were an anime character, I'd have a humongous sweatdrop right about now."
Someone coughed loudly nearby. I looked around and saw Ron and Hermione standing a few yards away, arms crossed, and amused expression on their faces.
"Are you lovers too busy to go to the Quidditch try-outs?" teased Ron. Going a furious shade of red, Harry stood and helped me up.
"Just you wait," said Harry softly to Ron as we passed him. "I'll find you and Hermione doing something you shouldn't be, and then we'll see who's 'busy'."
Ron shoved Harry, and we continued towards the Quidditch field. When we arrived, there was a small amount of Gryffindors wandering around. As soon as they say Harry, they ran over and grouped around us. Most of them were yawning terribly and swaying on their feet, about to fall asleep. I nudged Harry.
"Hurry up before they collapse," I whispered. Harry nodded and cleared his throat.
"Well... er... thanks for coming. I know it's early, so we'll go as quickly as possible," he said. "Er... we'll start with the Keeper. If you're trying out for that position, go get a broom from the broom shed and come back here."
A few Gryffindors, including Ron, left the circle, returning shortly with battered old school brooms.
"Ok," said Harry. "So... who'd like to go first?"
Everyone holding a broom raised their hand slightly. I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing.
"Do we form a line?" yawned a short fourth year.
"No," said Harry. "Does anyone have a quill and a piece of parchment?"
Hermione produced a worn quill from her pocket, and I gave Harry a wrinkled piece of parchment. He scribbled something on the parchment, then tore the top part off and into five little pieces.
"Draw," he said, holding the hand with the pieces of parchment in it above everyone's head. Everyone drew their numbers; Ron got third.
The first person to try out for the Keeper position was the short fourth year who had asked if they would have to form a line. He was a fairly good Keeper; three of the seven attempts to "score" got past him.
"That was good," said Harry. "What's your name?"
"Terrence Walker," said the fourth year. Harry jotted his name down on the parchment and his number of blocks out of seven.
"Okay," said Harry. "Who's next?"
The next person to try out was a tall sixth year. She only blocked three of the seven attempts. Harry wrote her name down (Lisa Hardy) and her number of blocks. Then it was Ron's turn.
Ron was wonderful. Only one shot made it past him, and that was only because Ron had caught the previous shot in his stomach. He had still been holding his gut when the next shot was fired.
It got worse from there. The fourth person to try out blocked only one, and the last didn't block any at all.
"Ok, thanks for trying out," said Harry. "The results will be posted tomorrow morning on the common room bulletin. If you'd like, you can go back to the castle or stick around and watch the rest of the try-outs."
Only Ron stayed.
The progress of the try-outs was very slow. After the Keeper try-outs were the replacement Beater try-outs. The two who were the best were Andreia Taylor and Zack Hunter.
Hermione did wonderfully in the replacement Chaser try-outs. She, Nicole Woodard, and Scarlett Appleby were obviously the best out of all ten that tried out.
By the time the replacement Seeker try-outs started, the sun had risen fairly high into the sky, and only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the people trying out for the last position remained. I was extremely nervous by now, chewing on my nails and bouncing up and down on my feet. All we had to do was dodge the apples thrown at us and catch the gold ball, but I was still jittery. I had no idea why; I hadn't even wanted to try out.
Harry held up his hand with the numbers in them. I drew number six; last.
"Just my luck," I mumbled.
I didn't really pay attention to the first five people; I was too absorbed in my own thoughts. What if I make a fool of myself? Harry's gonna DIE if I do; he's the one who convinced me to try out in the first place. Oh, God, it's my turn!
Breathing a little faster than normal, I mounted my broom when Harry told me to. Then, I kicked off into the air and was instantly attacked by apples. Swatting them away with my right hand, I looked around the mass of red and green for a flash of white. I saw it high above the apples, rising, rising, then falling. I dove after it, ignoring the small sting of pain whenever an apple hit me. The golf ball was going to reach the ground before I did; the broom was too slow. Pressing myself as flat as I could against the broom handle, I reached my hand out, and... I caught iy. I was so amazed at myself that I didn't notice the ground creeping up on me, and I crashed, head first, into it.
"Are you okay?" asked Harry, kneeling beside me. Blinking furiously to get the dizziness to subside, I raised myself to a sitting position.
"I'm fine," I mumbled, holding my head. "Looks like you're not the only one with a tendency for injuries."
Ron, Hermione, and Harry laughed. Everyone else had already gone back inside the castle.
"Let's go," said Harry, putting an arm around my waist and helping me up. "I need some breakfast."
"We all do," yawned Hermione. We made our way into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, piling our plates with eggs, pancakes, bacon, scones, and other wonderful Hogwarts food.
"Tell me again, when are you posting the results?" asked Ron, biting into a pancake.
"Tomorrow morning," said Harry. "And don't try to get me to tell you who made it."
Ron tried to push his tongue through his mouthful of syrup and pancake, but all he winded up doing was showing us the mashed up mess on his tongue.
"Eww," said Hermione, covering her eyes. "That's disgusting, Ron."
We spent the rest of that Saturday in the common room, sprawled on the comfortable sofas and armchairs, playing wizard's chess or Exploding Snap. It wasn't until three in the afternoon that I remembered the Runes essay that had been assigned on Friday. Groaning, I rose from my seat and went to the dorm, returning with my Runes book, parchment, quills, and an ink bottle. Hermione spotted me, gasped, and ran up the stairs, coming down with the same supplies.
"I can't believe I forgot about the essay!" she exclaimed, dumping her stuff on the table next to mine. "What with the Quidditch try-outs so early..."
"Hmm," I said, trying to figure out how I was going to write two feet on how to translate modern English into Ancient Gremlin. For the rest of the afternoon, Hermione and I worked on our essays while Harry and Ron lased around nearby.
"Don't you have any Divination homework?" asked Hermione.
"Already done," said Ron. Hermione grumbled something about making up the answers and continued working on her essay.
Finally, ten minutes before we went down for dinner, we finished. I had managed to get two feet with medium-sized handwriting, but Hermione had two and a half feet with extremely small handwriting.
"How do you do it?" I marveled, sweeping all my stuff into my arms. Hermione shrugged and followed me up the stairs into our dorm. I dumped everything into my trunk and was about to head down when I saw a scarlet envelope on my pillow. Curiously, I slit it open and red the letter inside, eyes widening as I did so.
Dear Ms. Destiny~
There will be an emergency meeting tonight of the Order. Please come to my office as soon as you finish eating dinner.
Sincerely,
Professor Dumbledore
I ran down the stairs with the letter clamped in my hand and met Harry, who was at the bottom of the staircase.
"Did you-"
"Yeah," he said, holding up the same letter. "What do you suppose could have gone wrong?"
"You don't think the Dementors joined him, do you?" I asked frantically as we headed down for dinner.
"I don't know, but let's hurry and eat," said Harry. I nodded, and we almost ran to the Gryffindor table. We filled our plates quickly and began to inhale the food.
"What is it?" asked Hermione.
"We have to be somewhere," I said lamely, taking one last drink of pumpkin juice. "You done, Harry?"
"Yeah, let's go." We stood up and walked as quickly as possible towards the entrance to the Great Hall, where we were joined by Luke.
"Any idea of what's happened?" he asked as we made our way towards Dumbledore's office.
"No," I said. When we arrived in front of the stone gargoyle, Harry gave the password, and we stepped onto the moving staircase. It seemed to take forever to get to the top. Harry hesitated a bit, then knocked on the big oaken doors and pushed them open.
"Yeah," said the boy. For some reason, he looked really familiar. "A little sore, but I'm fine."
"Honestly, Emerald," said a voice teasingly. I turned and saw Harry, arms crossed, and a grin on his face.
"Stuff it, Harry," I shot back, sticking out my tongue. Standing up, I helped whoever it was I had hit pick up his books.
"Thanks," he said. Suddenly, as his clear hazel eyes met mine, I knew who he was.
"Luke?" I said. He paused and surveyed me.
"Do I know you?" he asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, it's me, Emerald," I said. "You know, Emerald Destiny?"
"Oh, yeah," Luke said, his expression clearing. "I guess I've just been so busy I forgot I knew you."
"That's ok," I said, looking back at Harry. He was leaning on the stone wall, talking to Ron and Hermione. I "ahem"ed loudly. They looked up at me.
"What?" Ron asked innocently. "We were just waiting for you to introduce us."
"Oh, yeah, huh," I said sheepishly. "This is Luke Wyte. Harry and I met him a couple weeks ago in Dumbledore's office. Luke, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."
"Hi," Luke said. Hermione eyed him warily.
"I haven't seen you before," she said matter-of-factly. "Are you another transfer student?"
"Hermione," I said through gritted teethe, knowing where this would lead to.
"In- a way," said Luke.
"Oh," said Hermione. "What school did you transfer from?"
"I was home-schooled." Luke's voice was getting uncomfortable.
"What made your parents--"
"Ok, enough questions for today," I interrupted. Luke shot me a grateful glance. "Let's head down to dinner, shall we?"
"Ok," said Hermione slowly. The five of us walked towards the Great Hall, and uncomfortable silence hanging over us like a blanket. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I headed for the Gryffindor table while Luke headed towards the Ravenclaw table. I watched him sit down next to a very pretty Asian girl and put his arm around her.
"Cho's found a new boyfriend," I whispered to myself. Resolving to keep this to myself, I loaded my plate with creamy mashed potatoes, saucy pot roast, and a few honey-roasted peanuts. After all, I thought, chewing slowly, Harry hasn't mentioned her yet, so I won't, either. "Emerald," said Hermione, "why wouldn't you let me ask Luke any more questions?" "Because," I said. "Because. well, those questions were leading to a touchy subject with Luke." "Which is." prompted Harry. "It's not my place to tell you," I said. As Soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew why D.C. wouldn't answer any of my questions.
"You sound like a parent," muttered Ron.
"I heard that, young man," I said sternly, trying not to laugh. "No dessert for you."
"But Mum," whined Ron, playing along. I whapped him lightly on the head and continued eating.
That night when I visited D.C, I apologized for the way I'd been acting.
"It's alright," D.C. assured me.
"Really?"
"Really." I was quiet for a moment, then realized something.
"D.C, will I ever get to see you in human form?" I asked.
"Maybe," was the answer.
"Let me guess; when I'm ready," I said, rolling my eyes.
"That's what he told me." I looked behind me and saw Lily materialize.
"You're back! It's been forever," I said.
"I got... delayed," she said. "But now I'm here, and you can ask your questions."
"Ok," I said. "You know how James said I'd changed sine you last saw me?"
"Yes."
"Does that mean you knew me as a baby?"
"Yes, it does... for him. I knew you before you were born," said Lily slowly.
"Huh?"
"Well, you know I had the Dream Crystal last, right? When I was in my seventh year, I started to have dreams including you."
"Me?"
"Yes. You were wearing the Dream Crystal, and that's why I decided to leave it to you when you were born, instead of Harry."
"What do you mean, 'leave it' to me?"
"There are only two ways to get the Dream Crystal. The first one is to decide to leave it to someone. You can't change your mind unless the person you leave it to dies before you. The second is to find out who the current owner is leaving the Dream Crystal to, kill that person, then kill the current owner of the Dream Crystal before they leave it to someone else." Here, Lily's voice softened, and her gaze became unfocused.
"Wow," I whispered, fingering the Dream Crystal. Then an idea hit me. "Did Voldemort know you had the Dream Crystal?"
"Yes," whispered Lily. "When Harry was born, he assumed I would leave it to him. Voldemort knew that the power of the Dream Crystal combined with the power of Gryffindor that already flowed in Harry's veins would be unstoppable."
"So that's why he wanted to kill Harry," I murmured. Suddenly I felt a cold wind from somewhere, and my eyes snapped open.
Peeves was floating next to my bed, blowing on my ear.
"PEEVES!" I whisper-yelled, not wanting to wake up the rest of my dormitory. He cackled and bobbed through the wall.
Sighing, I looked at my watch; 5:13. With a jolt, I realized Quidditch try-outs were at six; it had been Ron's idea to hold them so early. He was convinced that anyone who wanted badly to be on the team would show up.
Next to me, Hermione yawned, grumbled something about transfiguring a frog, and rolled over. I walked over to her and shook her lightly. She opened her eyes very slowly.
"Wha' is it?" she asked groggily.
"Quidditch try-outs in forty-five," I said, moving away to get dressed. Hermione rolled out of bed.
"I bet Ron or Harry aren't up yet," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"Then let's go wake them up," I said, grinning. Hermione grinned back.
After we got dressed, we snuck up to the fifth year boys dorm and opened the door a crack. No one was up yet.
"You take Ron, and I'll take Harry," I whispered. Hermione nodded, and we crept into the dorm. Silently, we opened the hangings on Ron's and Harry's four-posters.
"One," whispered Hermione, "two, three!"
We jumped onto the beds and began to bounce around, jolting Ron and Harry awake. I had to clamp a hand over Harry's mouth to keep him from yelling and waking the whole tower.
"Rise and shine, cap'n," I said. "Try-outs are in forty."
Before they could say anything, Hermione and I slipped out of their dorm and back down to the common room, giggling.
Soon, Harry and Ron joined us, Harry grumbling about being up so early. Ron, though dreary eyed, looked more awake than any of us.
"Ron, if I weren't so tired right now, I'd kill you," I said, yawning.
"I'm just lucky, I guess," said Ron.
"Oh, you," sighed Hermione.
"Let's just go down before I fall asleep on the armchair," mumbled Harry.
"Alright," I sighed. We made our way down the lightening corridors and out onto the deserted grounds. The grass sparkled with early morning dew, and the sun had just barely risen over the horizon. For a brief moment, I was reminded of the sunset I watched with Harry on Privet Drive. Then, Harry shoved me lightly, shaking me out of my thoughts.
"Race you to the Quidditch field," he said.
"You sure?" I said, shoving him back. "I was one of the fastest track members at my old school."
"Three words: eat my dust!" said Harry, taking off. I ran after him, the dew-ridden grass crunching crisply under my feet. Soon, I caught up with Harry.
"See you at the Quidditch field," I said, running ahead of Harry.
"Hey, no fair!" yelled Harry. "You're not supposed to catch up!"
"Then run faster!" I laughed.
"Or," panted Harry, "I could just do this."
He grabbed a stand of my hair and pulled. I fell back, holding the spot where it hurt.
"Ow!" I complained, punching Harry. He grabbed my arm, and we both fell over, Harry landing on top of me.
"This feels familiar," said Harry.
"Oh, God," I said, rolling my eyes. "You know, if I were an anime character, I'd have a humongous sweatdrop right about now."
Someone coughed loudly nearby. I looked around and saw Ron and Hermione standing a few yards away, arms crossed, and amused expression on their faces.
"Are you lovers too busy to go to the Quidditch try-outs?" teased Ron. Going a furious shade of red, Harry stood and helped me up.
"Just you wait," said Harry softly to Ron as we passed him. "I'll find you and Hermione doing something you shouldn't be, and then we'll see who's 'busy'."
Ron shoved Harry, and we continued towards the Quidditch field. When we arrived, there was a small amount of Gryffindors wandering around. As soon as they say Harry, they ran over and grouped around us. Most of them were yawning terribly and swaying on their feet, about to fall asleep. I nudged Harry.
"Hurry up before they collapse," I whispered. Harry nodded and cleared his throat.
"Well... er... thanks for coming. I know it's early, so we'll go as quickly as possible," he said. "Er... we'll start with the Keeper. If you're trying out for that position, go get a broom from the broom shed and come back here."
A few Gryffindors, including Ron, left the circle, returning shortly with battered old school brooms.
"Ok," said Harry. "So... who'd like to go first?"
Everyone holding a broom raised their hand slightly. I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing.
"Do we form a line?" yawned a short fourth year.
"No," said Harry. "Does anyone have a quill and a piece of parchment?"
Hermione produced a worn quill from her pocket, and I gave Harry a wrinkled piece of parchment. He scribbled something on the parchment, then tore the top part off and into five little pieces.
"Draw," he said, holding the hand with the pieces of parchment in it above everyone's head. Everyone drew their numbers; Ron got third.
The first person to try out for the Keeper position was the short fourth year who had asked if they would have to form a line. He was a fairly good Keeper; three of the seven attempts to "score" got past him.
"That was good," said Harry. "What's your name?"
"Terrence Walker," said the fourth year. Harry jotted his name down on the parchment and his number of blocks out of seven.
"Okay," said Harry. "Who's next?"
The next person to try out was a tall sixth year. She only blocked three of the seven attempts. Harry wrote her name down (Lisa Hardy) and her number of blocks. Then it was Ron's turn.
Ron was wonderful. Only one shot made it past him, and that was only because Ron had caught the previous shot in his stomach. He had still been holding his gut when the next shot was fired.
It got worse from there. The fourth person to try out blocked only one, and the last didn't block any at all.
"Ok, thanks for trying out," said Harry. "The results will be posted tomorrow morning on the common room bulletin. If you'd like, you can go back to the castle or stick around and watch the rest of the try-outs."
Only Ron stayed.
The progress of the try-outs was very slow. After the Keeper try-outs were the replacement Beater try-outs. The two who were the best were Andreia Taylor and Zack Hunter.
Hermione did wonderfully in the replacement Chaser try-outs. She, Nicole Woodard, and Scarlett Appleby were obviously the best out of all ten that tried out.
By the time the replacement Seeker try-outs started, the sun had risen fairly high into the sky, and only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the people trying out for the last position remained. I was extremely nervous by now, chewing on my nails and bouncing up and down on my feet. All we had to do was dodge the apples thrown at us and catch the gold ball, but I was still jittery. I had no idea why; I hadn't even wanted to try out.
Harry held up his hand with the numbers in them. I drew number six; last.
"Just my luck," I mumbled.
I didn't really pay attention to the first five people; I was too absorbed in my own thoughts. What if I make a fool of myself? Harry's gonna DIE if I do; he's the one who convinced me to try out in the first place. Oh, God, it's my turn!
Breathing a little faster than normal, I mounted my broom when Harry told me to. Then, I kicked off into the air and was instantly attacked by apples. Swatting them away with my right hand, I looked around the mass of red and green for a flash of white. I saw it high above the apples, rising, rising, then falling. I dove after it, ignoring the small sting of pain whenever an apple hit me. The golf ball was going to reach the ground before I did; the broom was too slow. Pressing myself as flat as I could against the broom handle, I reached my hand out, and... I caught iy. I was so amazed at myself that I didn't notice the ground creeping up on me, and I crashed, head first, into it.
"Are you okay?" asked Harry, kneeling beside me. Blinking furiously to get the dizziness to subside, I raised myself to a sitting position.
"I'm fine," I mumbled, holding my head. "Looks like you're not the only one with a tendency for injuries."
Ron, Hermione, and Harry laughed. Everyone else had already gone back inside the castle.
"Let's go," said Harry, putting an arm around my waist and helping me up. "I need some breakfast."
"We all do," yawned Hermione. We made our way into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, piling our plates with eggs, pancakes, bacon, scones, and other wonderful Hogwarts food.
"Tell me again, when are you posting the results?" asked Ron, biting into a pancake.
"Tomorrow morning," said Harry. "And don't try to get me to tell you who made it."
Ron tried to push his tongue through his mouthful of syrup and pancake, but all he winded up doing was showing us the mashed up mess on his tongue.
"Eww," said Hermione, covering her eyes. "That's disgusting, Ron."
We spent the rest of that Saturday in the common room, sprawled on the comfortable sofas and armchairs, playing wizard's chess or Exploding Snap. It wasn't until three in the afternoon that I remembered the Runes essay that had been assigned on Friday. Groaning, I rose from my seat and went to the dorm, returning with my Runes book, parchment, quills, and an ink bottle. Hermione spotted me, gasped, and ran up the stairs, coming down with the same supplies.
"I can't believe I forgot about the essay!" she exclaimed, dumping her stuff on the table next to mine. "What with the Quidditch try-outs so early..."
"Hmm," I said, trying to figure out how I was going to write two feet on how to translate modern English into Ancient Gremlin. For the rest of the afternoon, Hermione and I worked on our essays while Harry and Ron lased around nearby.
"Don't you have any Divination homework?" asked Hermione.
"Already done," said Ron. Hermione grumbled something about making up the answers and continued working on her essay.
Finally, ten minutes before we went down for dinner, we finished. I had managed to get two feet with medium-sized handwriting, but Hermione had two and a half feet with extremely small handwriting.
"How do you do it?" I marveled, sweeping all my stuff into my arms. Hermione shrugged and followed me up the stairs into our dorm. I dumped everything into my trunk and was about to head down when I saw a scarlet envelope on my pillow. Curiously, I slit it open and red the letter inside, eyes widening as I did so.
Dear Ms. Destiny~
There will be an emergency meeting tonight of the Order. Please come to my office as soon as you finish eating dinner.
Sincerely,
Professor Dumbledore
I ran down the stairs with the letter clamped in my hand and met Harry, who was at the bottom of the staircase.
"Did you-"
"Yeah," he said, holding up the same letter. "What do you suppose could have gone wrong?"
"You don't think the Dementors joined him, do you?" I asked frantically as we headed down for dinner.
"I don't know, but let's hurry and eat," said Harry. I nodded, and we almost ran to the Gryffindor table. We filled our plates quickly and began to inhale the food.
"What is it?" asked Hermione.
"We have to be somewhere," I said lamely, taking one last drink of pumpkin juice. "You done, Harry?"
"Yeah, let's go." We stood up and walked as quickly as possible towards the entrance to the Great Hall, where we were joined by Luke.
"Any idea of what's happened?" he asked as we made our way towards Dumbledore's office.
"No," I said. When we arrived in front of the stone gargoyle, Harry gave the password, and we stepped onto the moving staircase. It seemed to take forever to get to the top. Harry hesitated a bit, then knocked on the big oaken doors and pushed them open.
