First and foremost, I would like to thank T.H, Quiet One and Fawksnflame, who have been most helpful by giving me suggestions for the DADA teacher. I really like all of them (and T.H., I thought that your reasoning behind your suggestion was very clever too!) If I could, I would have used them all... but I couldn't. I've gone back and fourth between the three, but just last night, I got this idea (sort of) and I kind of made my decision. I've decided that another teaching position will be opened, and Fawksnflame, I'd like to have Filly take that position, if you don't mind sparing her.
thanks a milion time to everyone who has reviewed!!!!!!! u r all the best!!!!!!!!
okay okay, I know, I babble a lot. I just like to make sure that everyone knows how appreciative I am of you all!
Disclaimer: *sigh* I don't own this stuff. I created Kelly, my friend created Adele, I modified her, I invented the Halcons (at least, I think I did....)erm... if u see anything else that u dont recognize, chances are I created it. However, that in no way means I have the ownership of it/them. My OC's don't like to give me control... *walks off grumbling about evil OC's*
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Harry Potter and the Fire Hawk
by Hollie
Kelly sauntered into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, followed closely by Hermione and Ron, with Harry bringing up the lead.
The four looked around the classroom, taking in some of the unusual decorations that adorned the walls. There were maps and artifacts that looked thousands of years old, and pictures of strange creatures in cracked frames. Kelly, Ron and Hermione made their way to four empty seats in the front of the room, unaware that Harry stood frozen in the doorway.
"Mrs. Figg?" Kelly whirled around to see Harry standing dumbstruck, eyes glued to the ancient witch that stood at the head of the classroom, behind a sturdy oak desk. Flyaway gray hair and skin that was deep-set with wrinkles met Kelly's glance, and if it weren't for the piercing brown-black eyes, Kelly would have been sure that the woman was merely a statue.
Ron and Hermione had also noticed the woman.
"How'd we miss her as we came in?" Ron breathed softly, just within Kelly's earshot.
"Arabella has her ways," was the girl's soft reply.
"What's that?" Hermione suddenly interjected.
Kelly's eyes widened as she realized that her thought had been aloud. She swore inwardly, then turned to Hermione with a fake smile plastered on her face. "What was what?" she asked sweetly. Hermione realized the game, and smiled back just as kindly.
"Oh, I must just be hearing things."
"Yes, it looks like it." Both girls forced large smiles at one another, Ron standing utterly confused between them.
"That little witch," Hermione thought. "If she thinks that I'm some stupid prat who can't put two and two together, oh won't she be surprised. If I could only figure out what her game is!!!" At the desk behind her, Kelly was having similar thoughts.
"That little prat... why can't she just mind her own business and stay clueless like the rest of them! She'll see though. Oh, I'll make sure that she knows not to mess with Ra... I mean," she let a quiet snicker escape her lips, "with Kelly Banson."
The two females had become so wrapped up with their own differences, that they had forgotten entirely the issue between Harry and the new teacher. Professor and student hadn't though.
The old woman smiled, the movement causing slight cracks on her dry, chapped lips.
"Harry," she said, with a surprisingly loud voice, "how good to see you again. Won't you come in?" She spoke to him as a grandmother speaks to a grandson, as if she was inviting him in for tea and cookies or something. She motioned with a wrinkled hand for him to enter the room and join the other students, who were now looking curiously between their resident celebrity and their newest teacher. Slowly, Harry stepped into the room, his eyes locked with Arabella's the entire time. He made it to his seat beside Kelly and sat, bewilderment etched in his face.
"I don't understand this.... You're a... I mean, you can't be a..."
"Harry," she looked gently down at him, "I'm a witch. Plain and simple. What, do you think that it was an accident that I looked after you every time those rotten Dursely's went on vacation? That was Albus's doing, if you haven't guessed that by now. He arranged everything." Harry still looked perplexed, and he shook his head several times. Mrs. Figg smiled warmly up at the rest of the class.
"For those of you who haven't put two and two together yet, Harry and I have known each other for quite some time... But he didn't know that I happened to be a witch. Now, let's get on with today's lesson..." Her tone was brisk, slightly reminiscent of Professor McGonagall, except for the soft edge.
The remainder of the lesson was fairly uneventful. Professor Figg discussed the topics they would cover during the year and what the class expectations would be. The class was excited to learn that there would be many "hands on" lessons. Professor Figg seemed to be a very confident and accomplished witch, not like the phony who had taught them second year.
When the bell rang signaling the end of the class, the Gryffindors were loath to leave. Not only because their teacher was so kindly and interesting, but because the next class on the schedule was Potions.
"Great," Ron moaned as they descended into the dungeons, "now we get to go see Snape. How fun." Harry nodded his head in agreement; Potions was definitely his least favorite class. It was everyone's least favorite class, except for some of the Slytherins. Harry looked around the dank classroom and noticed that the callous group was short their very snide leader.
As the students took their seats and Professor Snape began to take role, it became apparent that Draco Malfoy had not made it to class. The more surprising part of it all, however, was not that Malfoy was missing the class, but that Snape didn't even comment about it. As he called "Malfoy, Draco" and found that there was no answer, he just continued on with role.
Ron leaned over to Harry and in a furious whisper said, "If it were one of us, he would have us in detention 'til we're 80!"
"Yeah, I wonder what's going on."
"That slimy git is playing favorites, that's what it is. He always has, always will." Suddenly, Ron and Harry both became aware of a looming presence behind them.
"What, pray tell, is so interesting that you two must discus it in my class?" an icy voice asked. The two boys turned around slowly, finding themselves almost nose to nose with the greasy haired Severus Snape. There were dark circles under his beetle black eyes and his sallow skin was drawn tightly. "Detention," he breathed, "and ten points from Gryffindor if you two disrupt my class again." He turned on his heel, returning to his place at the front of the dark room. Ron's hand clenched and unclenched several times, and he looked as if he was about to say something, when a gentle hand rested on his shoulder. Ron turned to see Hermione give him a reassuring smile, one that he returned. They stayed in that position for several moments, until a slight cough from one of the Slytherins brought them back to the real world. Hermione removed her hand quickly, her cheeks reddening. Ron's ears and face went scarlet, and he pretended to be taking note on whatever Snape was lecturing about.
The students were more than happy when the bell rang and they could escape Snape's wrath. Not only did Harry and Ron have detention, but Neville and Dean would be joining them as well. They had also lost a total of twenty points from Gryffindor after failing to answer several of Snape's unreasonable questions.
"That bloody git," Ron fumed as they fled the dungeons.
"Who shoved a boot up his butt?" Kelly asked, shaking her head in disgust. For once, Hermione discovered that she agreed with the girl. Snape had seemed particularly moody today, but he gave no indication as to why.
The Gryffindors and Slytherins coming from the dungeons filed into the throng of students pushing their way into the Great Hall, all starving after the morning classes.
Kelly left the company of Ron, Harry and Hermione as she saw Ginny sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table. She slid into the seat beside the young redhead, grabbing a sandwich as the food appeared on the tables.
"So, how's your day going so far?" she asked.
"I've had better," was Ginny's dispirited reply. "Potions was a bear this morning!"
"Tell me about it. I just came from there. Is he always like that?"
"Well, he's been a git for as long as anyone can remember, but he seemed especially cranky today. He gave a boy in my year detention for breathing too loud!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I really don't know what's wrong with him."
"I can take a guess," Kelly thought.
Fred and George suddenly bounced over to the end of the table where Ginny and Kelly sat and plopped themselves down across from the two girls.
"Hullo ladies!" Fred said with a grin.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" George asked, also grinning.
Ginny groaned, "what did you two do?"
The twins pretended to look hurt. "Why sister dear, what ever would give you that impression?" George asked in mock offense. Kelly rolled her eyes.
"I've known you two for not even a full day and I can tell that you're up to something. Spill."
"You cut us to the quick," Fred exclaimed, pressing his hand to his heart. The girl's laughed at the twins' poor acting skills.
"Fine, don't tell us what you're up to. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough anyway." Ginny finished her sandwich, drained her glass of cider and began to gather her books.
"Where are you going, we still have a couple minutes left before lunch ends." Kelly asked.
"I have Divination next class, and it takes forever to get up to the tower. See you at diner!" Ginny waved to Ron, Harry and Hermione, who were eating their meal at the opposite end of the table. Hermione was already annoyed that they had sat with Kelly in their classes; there was no way that she would eat with the girl as well.
Having finished her lunch, Kelly pulled out her schedule to study it.
"Hmm... Let's see. I have Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology and Divination. That's not too bad. Divination will be a snooze, but that's not news to me. Transfiguration should be satisfactory though, it always was my favorite." She stood, deciding that she might as well get to class early, having no better way to spend her time.
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"Oh please Harry, there's no way that Iceland can take France, they have absolutely no decent chasers."
"Yeah, but their keeper, Ivorek, nothing can get past him."
"Well, we'll see about that when they play. His formation is good I suppose, but the chasers for France are unstoppable. Nothing compared the Cannons, but I admit, they are good."
Hermione rolled her eyes as she listened to the endless Quidditch debate between her two best friends. They boys were just discussing who was most likely to make it to the World Cup as they entered the Transfiguration classroom. The room was entirely empty, save for one. Kelly sat in the front row of the desks, polishing her long mahogany wand with her robes. The boys waved to her and took the seats she had saved for them, asking her opinion in the never-ending Quidditch debate. Surprisingly, Kelly was quite interested and readily shared her views. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why don't they just stick a sign on her that says 'perfect' and be done with it! Honestly, does she think that she's..." Hermione paused her silent rant as a thought struck her. "She was here before we were. And she was the only one here, which means that she found her way to the classroom by herself... What is going on here? Oh, I knew something was fishy, but if only I could know what that something was! Well, at least I have proof now that there's more than meets the eye with this girl, Harry and Ron will have to listen to me now!" She smiled broadly as she watched the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws stream into the classroom.
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"Geeze, the teachers at this school sure do give a lot of homework!" Kelly commented as the fifth year Gryffindors made their way from the Transfiguration classroom outdoors for Care of Magical Creatures.
"Just wait until classes really start," Ron muttered angrily.
"Well, at least we have Care of Magical Creatures, that's a good class."
"So long as we don't do anymore flobberworm studies." The other students chuckled darkly in agreement. Kelly didn't bother to find out what had happened with the flobberworms, she was too tired to bother. The lecture on conduct and curriculum in Transfiguration had nearly put her to sleep, and she had almost missed copying down the homework assignment.
As they walked down the green lawn, Kelly felt new strength returning to her, and suddenly she was rejuvenated. She looked up and was not surprised to see a black outline circle once around her, then fly away over towards the lake. A smile played across her lips. "Thank you Dante," she though, before turning her attention to the quaint cabin and crowd of students in front of her. She stood near Ron who was still rambling along about Quidditch, Harry next to him shaking his head.
Suddenly, a murmur went up among the students, and ever Ron stopped his talking to watch the small group of students saunter down the grassy hill. In the lead was Draco Malfoy, white blonde hair shining, gray eyes emotionless. Behind him were his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, and they seemed to have grown, if possible, even larger over the summer. There was a fourth member to the party, one that was unrecognized by all.
Draco looked with a sneer at his classmates, then stepped back to reveal a dazzling sight; a girl, flaxen hair pulled back, gray eyes fluttering nervously from face to face. Kelly could almost hear Ron's jaw clunk to the ground besides her. Draco sneered again, then spoke in his cold drawl,
"This is Adele Stason... my cousin."
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okay, this chapter was probably totally predictable, sorries. I'm trying really hard, but inspiration really wasn't coming to me tonight. Oh, and I know that this chapter is probably a bit of a surprise, seeing as how I said that I wasn't gonna come back to ff.n until November 10th, but I finished all my stuff, and I figured, what the heck! why not! so, yeah. I don't know, I might take this down... it's not very good, I know. please help me (I need lots of help!) especially with spelling/grammar related stuff... I'm terrible with that.
okay, some more thanks that I just have to put out.....
Quiet One- I really luved that name... Danielle Rousseau. I didn't use her tho because I already have someone from Buexbaxtons..... *hint hint!* thank u bunches for the suggestion though, I really appreciate it!
T.H/J.K.- I'm glad that you've admitted who you really are... and I'm sooooo glad to get a sneak peak on your next book! ~tee hee hee~ anyway, I think that your idea/logic for Mrs. Figg was absolutely brilliant!!! I was reading your review and I was like, geeze, this girl is even more brilliant than I thought!
Your guesses about the good/evil thing were chillingly good.... *grins*
oh, I'm glad that you enjoyed my attempts at humor... I luv reading it but I'm not that good at writing it *g*
Thanks for the spelling bits... today I went back through my entire story and fixed all the errors I could find... but I'm sure that there are still some left! oh well, I've made it a little beta anyways!
Glad also that you liked Dante.... he's my favorite. and you are a very good guesser. *another hint* :)
Tiff- hullo again Tiff! oh come on, you know that you luv the cliffies! ~tee hee hee~ Don't worry though, tonight I plan on working on the next chapter of this story :)
Fawksnflame- Thank you bunches for letting me borrow Filly! (she's coming up very soon!) Thank you also for reviewing!!! You're very helpful! Hey, how's then next chapter of your mauraders book going? the beginning was soo funny... I can't wait for the next installment!
WhetherRose- aw, thanks! I kinda liked the Peeves thing too! glad u enjoyed that also. Yes, I meant meanie... sometimes my fingers jump ahead of my brain though! i've since fixed that though (now he's a git :) and thank you for bringing that to my attention! ooh... like T.H, you are also a wonderful guesser! and oh! do you mean... Sam isn't.... oh!!!!! *hollie jumps up and down in the air* ooh yay! (im assuming that you mean what I'm thinking) oh, I'm so happy now! I really hope that you are feeling better now... and maybe a new chapter is in the works? Thanks again Rose, you have been a really terrific reviewer!
Torrential Zephyr- I'm so glad that you're back! Sorry that I confused you... but that was my intention! (well, not to confuse you in particular.. well, you know what I mean :) I've motivated you to write? Good! I can't wait for the next chapter of Truth, Secrets and Lies.. it is just getting soooooooooooooooooooooooo good! Keep it up!
okay, gotta go.... hope this wasn't too horrible!
luv,
hollie
