All right... Next chapter!!! I'm really having fun writing this, I hope that you are all having as much fun reading. Just curious, but where do you think this is going? Do you think Kelly is good, evil or a mixture of both? Also, does anyone have any suggestions? Any characters that anyone would like to see back? I'm very curious as to what everyone's thoughts/opinions are. Please submit questions/comments/spelling errors in a review... they are what I use to fix and make my story better. (And eventually I will get around to fixing some of the atrocious mistakes in chapter one... :)
Thanks a million and three times to everyone who has reviewed... all the support means so much.
Disclaimer: I have managed to get a hold of the rights to Adele... but it's virtually impossible to control Kelly.... don't think I'm even going to try. I'll probably wind up hurting myself. *Kelly grins* yeah, yeah. You win.... for now.
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Harry Potter and the Fire Hawk
by Hollie
The morning after the sorting was bright and cold. The students in the Great Hall ate their breakfasts greedily, thanking the warmth the house elves had added to the meal. Everyone was eating rather lazily, wanting to stretch out breakfast rather than go to class. The air was so calm and relaxed that the disturbance seemed to be twice what it actually was when the doors burst open. A strawberry blonde girl skidded into the hall, then skipped gleefully over to the Gryffindor table. She plopped down on the bench between Fred and Ginny, chugged down an entire glass of orange juice, and then proceeded to load a slice of toast with butter.
"Great way to start the school year, eh?" she asked, noticing the curious looks she was getting at the table. "First I sleep late, then I get lost," casting a sideways grin at Fred, she continued, "guess it's not a very good idea to take directions from that ghost with the bowtie."
Fred, and George sitting next to him, almost choked on their sausages. "You took directions from Peeves?" George asked incredulously. "Oi, he's about the worst one to ask. Better off asking Snape why he's such a..." he trailed off, noticing that his younger sister was listening, "er, git."
"Yeah," Fred agreed, "you might as well just start walking in a circle, taking directions from that ghost. Save your breath."
Ginny reached over and smacked both of the twins lightly, "honestly, like she could have known that! She just got here!" Turning to Kelly, she added, "I'll teach you the do's and don'ts of Hogwart's later. But first," she directed the girl's attention to the sheets of parchment that were now being passed around, "schedules!"
Kelly looked down at the sheet in her hands, reading the fancy script.
Per. 1- History of Magic
Per. 2- Charms
Per. 3- Defense Against the Dark Arts
Per. 4- Potions
Lunch
Per. 5- Transfiguration
Per. 6- Care of Magical Creatures
Per. 7- Herbology
Per. 8- Divination
(A/N: I don't know what a Hogwart's schedule really looks like, this is my best guess.)
Kelly suddenly sensed a figure leaning over her shoulder.
"Looks like you have the same classes as the rest of us. I was wondering if you would, sense you transferred her and all. That's good though, they put you in with the rest of the fifth years." Kelly turned to see Ron reading her schedule.
"Oh, so I'll be in the same classes with you, Harry and Hermione?"
He nodded, "except 'Mione doesn't take Divination, doesn't believe in all that. And she takes some extra classes too. Don't know how she manages it all."
"Well, that doesn't surprise me, she seems to be the type that would load up her plate with studies."
Ron stood for a moment, and when he spoke, Kelly thought that it was more to himself than anything else, "She's always been like that. She's really brilliant, you know. If you've got a question, Hermione's got the answer. She's so..." he suddenly stopped, realizing that he had been speaking aloud. His cheeks turned a red to rival his hair, and muttering a quick good-bye, he returned to where he had been sitting with Harry and Hermione.
Chuckling, Kelly turned to Ginny. "So... What's the deal with Ron and Hermy over there? Are they an item?"
"An item?"
"You know... like, are they dating?"
Ginny shook her head, "No, and it's best to not bring that up around them. It's a very testy subject." As an afterthought, she added, "and don't mention Viktor Krum either, especially to Ron." Kelly could tell that there was definitely some bits of information that Ginny was withholding, but she let it be, at least for the moment. She lapsed into thoughtful silence, trying to think how she could bring the conversation over to Harry. "After all, I need more information on him," she thought. Then, remembering the train ride the day before, an idea struck her mind.
"What about you Ginny? Got a boyfriend?"
The younger girl blushed, "no," was the quiet response.
"Why on earth not? A girl like you? Geeze, I thought for sure, you and Harry..." Ginny's cheeks went, if possible, a crimson darker than her brother's. Shaking her head frantically, "No one like him would ever like someone like me."
"Someone like him? What do you mean?" "I should have been an actress," was her unsaid thought as the love struck girl spilled all. Everything the famous boy had ever done in the past four years was recounted (and perhaps a bit exaggerated) in as much detail as Ginny was aware of. Some of the things Kelly already knew about, but much of it was news. Very little of it was helpful though, with the exception of Harry's seeming love for rule breaking. "That will undoubtedly aid me," she realized with a smile. "I knew he'd be the one."
She was about to question Ginny, see what else the girl would divulge, when a shriek from the Hufflepuff table roused her senses. A plump blonde girl, whose rosy face had gone pale, pointed up to the ceiling, where owls had been swooping to and fro, delivering packages and letters to their owners. All the students and the faculty as well looked up to see what the cause of alarm was, when they saw It.
A huge hawk, much larger than that species was supposed to be, with fiery red eyes and glinting gold beak and talons swooped around the room. It suddenly went into a dive, curving upwards at the last second, and landing with a "thump!" on the table in front of Kelly. She reached out to stroke the glossy black feathers, and one of the razor sharp feet handed her a small letter that she quickly stuffed into a pocket.
Ginny, Fred, George and the rest of the witches and wizards stared in shock and amazement at how causally she dealt with the monstrous creature. Kelly pretended to not notice the stares she was receiving, and offered the bird some of her breakfast.
"Thank you," he said, after eating his fill.
This was simply too much for one fourth year Gryffindor to handle.
"It talks?!" Ginny asked in complete and total shock.
"Well of course 'It' talks," the great bird ruffled his feathers in annoyance, addressing the tiny girl. "Humans," he thought with contempt. Kelly sensed trouble brewing; she knew that her friend could get quite testy when insulted. Leaning up to where Ginny could only assume was the bird's ear, Kelly whispered something to him, and he nodded.
"I'll be there tonight then," he answered, the deep baritone voice clear and calm. With that, he spread his wings and took to the air, soaring out of the Great Hall with tremendous speed and agility.
Kelly returned to her half eaten bowl of fruit, removing a long black feather from the table and shoving it into her pocket.
Ginny blinked several times before she could speak, "Kelly, what was that?" she asked, her voice shaking.
Kelly grinned, "What, you've never seen a hawk before? Well, actually, he's more than a hawk, he's my best friend, truth be told. That was Dante, one of the last of the Halcons," noticing the confused look on Ginny's face, she elaborated. "The Halcons were once a fast growing race of magical birds that thrived on earth, until the coming of the wizards. Evil wizards imprisoned the birds and put them to work their schemes. But what the wizards didn't know was how vast the Halcons' power really was. They escaped and lived in hiding for thousands of years; mistrustful of those that go on two legs and use wands. My mother worked with them for years, studying a small family of Halcons. Dante was just a baby then, when his parents were killed by some of Vol... um, You-Know-Who's followers. My mother rescued Dante, and she healed the wounds he had from the fight. When she died, I was placed with his charge." She smiled, remembering the past, before all the darkness had come. "He takes care of me more than I do of him though," Kelly added with a laugh.
"Wow," a male voice interjected. Kelly turned to see the twins listening intently. To be honest, she had forgotten that they were there.
"Some story," Fred added, letting out a low whistle.
"No wonder that thing looked like he wanted to eat us all," George commented, "I would too if my parents had been murdered by wizards."
"Well, you don't have to worry about Dante eating any of you, he's a vegetarian. Halcons don't take well to meat."
"He got that big from eating fruits and veggies?"
"Actually, he's relatively small for a..." Kelly was interrupted by Ron, who had, unnoticed by Kelly, Ginny and the twins, been standing behind them for about a minute.
"This is getting really interesting, truly, but if we don't get a move on soon, we're going to be late for History of Magic."
Kelly jumped up from her seat, grabbing her books. "You're right, I can't believe I lost track of time like that! Let's get a move on, shall we?" She followed after Ron, and they met up with Harry and Hermione who were waiting by the doors.
The four scooted into the large room just as Professor Binns began role call. He gave them a disapproving look, but that was all. Kelly grinned sheepishly as she slid into a seat beside a nervous looking boy named Neville. She took out a piece of parchment and a quill, preparing to take notes.
As she had thought, the professor began with the lecture almost as soon as he had completed role. The dry, monotone voice was enough to put anyone to sleep, and soon only Hermione and Kelly were paying attention. Well, Kelly wasn't actually paying attention, just pretending to. She knew that she would never need to know about the Great Bog War of 1812, but she pretended just the same.
The class dragged on, and eventually, even Kelly's mind had begun to wander. She was trying to decide if it would be wise to break into the library that night, or wait for a few weeks, when the bell rang.
"An essay on the Bog War, at least two feet in length, due tomorrow," Professor Binns called out over the noise of students rushing to leave.
"Two feet!" Ron grumbled as the Gryffindors made their way to their next class, Charms. "It's our first day back, you'd think they would give us a bit of a break, ease us into the work, you know?"
Kelly laughed, "this is nothing compared to what they..." she trailed off, realizing what she had almost said, "to what they gave us at Salem," she finished hurriedly. Hermione eyed her suspiciously, but said nothing because of her promise to Ron. "She's up to something, I know it! Why can't they see it too?" Hermione thought. Walking beside her, Harry was having similar thoughts.
"Something's not right here, but what? My scar doesn't hurt or anything... Maybe I'm just being paranoid. That's probably it," he decided.
They entered the Charms room before anything else unusual happened, a fact that Kelly was grateful for. She had been berating herself since the near slip and the pleasant atmosphere of the Charms classroom was a nice change to the tension.
The period flew by, as Professor Flitwick had them review charms they had learned in the past years. He was pleased to see that Kelly was quite caught up in her charms work; he wouldn't need to take extra time to teach her things her old school might not have taught.
When the bell rang, all the students were reluctant to go.
"Please read chapter one in your charms book, and practice some of the exercises. Tomorrow, we will begin some more complex charms, but I want you to all be comfortable with the first chapter before we move on. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Harry asked as they filed out of the classroom, "Why can't we have more professors like Flitwick?" Ron nodded his head, "there's a teacher who understands his students."
"Speaking of teachers," Hermione cut in, "I wonder who our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be."
The boys nodded their heads in agreement.
"Hope it's not another Lockhart," Harry mumbled.
Hermione blushed, "He wasn't that bad," she mumbled.
Ron was about to comment, when Kelly suddenly pointed out that they had reached the classroom.
"Suppose this will put an end to debate," she said.
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calling all DADA teachers.... I'm looking to hire!!
I have about as much clue as Ron, Harry, Herm and Kelly do as to who the next teacher will be to get the unlucky job. so.... I need the help of my wonderful reviewers! who should it be? it can be a character we already know, or an original one, you decide. if its original, please give me a description of that character (name, age, looks, personality, likes, dislikes, the whole shebang.) give me as much info as u can... the more detailed, the better. please please please help me out here... and soon. I can't continue this story till I have the DADA teacher.
thanks bunches,
hollie
