Jessica Black- Hehe I actually considered switching from French to Spanish, but I thought it was a bit too late to do that… I don't care whatcha say about Mamo-baka, as long as you don't insult me
SilverSickle17- Wasn't it, though? BECAUSE THEY WERE, AMI NO BAKA! Hehehee sorry, still a bit hyper… about Neville's Pensieve, just because I don't know when I'll get the next part out: I've always had it in me, it just
didn't seem like it. Thank you for reading it, Ami-chan!
Bunni Winner- maybe! I'm not one hundred percent certain right now, because I don't want it to get old and stale. We'll see!
Stefanie- I was planning on it! Thanks.
Kawaii Tenshi- ::pouts:: THAT WAS NOT NICE! Hehe… there is, and you might. We'll see, we twill we twill!
Moon Venus-chan- If you're reading this, you obviously know what I'm telling you: Luna came in later… I had her searching Japan before, and then she finally figured out she had to be in England. And thanks!
Hp fan- maybe! We'll see.
Anonymous- okay!
DevilsDarling- Hm… you were gone? Just joking… I was thinking, maybe I'd completely switch it? but maybe not… Good demons… ::backs away s-l-o-w-l-y:: AHH!!! ::goes poof::
Es-When I wrote that part, I'd been quoting Star Wars all day, and was super duper hyper… it just ended up in there :-D Actually, this chapter was basically inside jokes (like the whole middle section) but it will be fairly important,
I've decided, but maybe not in the near future
Bunni V- well, I had a thesis paper for LA on Sobibór, and I've been working on a poster for Helium, and… those are the biggest things. Hehe poor you! Thanks, and… I personally don't like sandwiches that much. Me bro is the couch 'comote' in our house… ::sweatdrops:: he doesn't even get himself spoons and stuff…
Kc- that's always nice! Why do you want to kill me? If you kill me, I can't put out the rest!
Cheska-you'll find out why she was ignored… and any ways, at least now she doesn't have to deal with a super huge amount of attention. You'll see the prank when you read this chappie… I think. Hehehe we'll see.
Yukiro***Lily Child- Sometimes. There was a day when I fell twice (once down a flight of stairs) and yet school hadn't been canceled… you'll see what they're going to do. I accept your vote ;-)
MarsMoonStar- 'tis okay… here's more!
Goddess Selene- I hope you were able to wait. I got grounded
for a while…
3rd-year-spanish-student- Thanks! I take French, and my friend only gives me pronunciations.
Sailor Star Scream- Thanks! We'll see if it's Lee!
Tauros- most likely, but I have to come up with things for Mamoru and Usagi to do
Moon Venus-chan- hehe you're actually right ;-) I think it's something you can only do if you're really hyped-up and think a bit like I do… either that, or you just have to be able to do it. Or else VAT? I said,
or else VAT? Hehehee sorry, I think that's from Cool Runnings…
Cloud Dragon- I'll try, thanks!
Roninchica- I think she is, too… um, I'll probably name them from some of my random sayings, and those WERE some of my weird little sayings… I know they weren't completely grammatically correct, but I take French! And I don't know cool things like that in French…
Kibou_no_megami- You'll see eventually, and thanks very much! Hehee that wasn't quite right…
Lady Chang- oh? And how would you kill me? Hmm… maybe I'll try it and see ;-) We'll find out soon whether I want her to be with Lee or not.
Silent Angel of Time-thanks!
Adb-obviously, if you're reading this, you're reading more hehehee and... I will, and thanks!
OoklaTheMok- I had no way of contacting Kelly while I was writing that… she orally instructs me, and only occasionally helps me spelling it. She also isn't quite as far as framing sentences like that, so thank you for your help! I fixed it ;-D
Anneleise- I'll try to read some of your fics, and here's the next chapter. So sorry for the wait!
Ali-chan-It's supposed to be a mystery, although some people have found it obvious... you'll find out for certain eventually.
SerenaSaturn- Here's the next one, sorry for the wait!
Lilsaturnprincess- Lots of stuff! Homework, groundings, things like crying (which I'm doing right now) because I didn't make it into select chorus... you get the picture!
Hey y'all! So sorry this took so long! I know people hate excuses, but I was kicked off the computer for a week. Thanks to OoklaTheMonk for helping me with a sticky spot of Spanish in the last chapter!
*** *** *** *** ***
Harry was gaping, openmouthed, at the giant flagpole. It wasn't the flagpole that was bothering him, or even the location, just what was on top of it.
"Nice boxers, Potty!" Malfoy sneered form across the hall.
"Where'd those come from, Harry?" Ron asked, grinning slightly. The boxers were obviously wizarding ones, from Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, or something along those lines. They were a bright, fluorescent pink with glowing purple polka dots on them, and a large tag was attached to them. Property of Harry Potter.
Most of the students were either laughing at the boxers or the funny sight going on beneath.
"Finite Incantatem!" McGonagall was shrieking, pounding the pole with her wand. It completely refused to budge. "Who put this up?" the Transfiguration professor shouted over the din, clearly having given up.
One of the goody-goody Gryffindor first years remembered hearing Usagi's voice bellowing for Kelly, and she said, "I think it was Weasley, Weasley, Jordan, Tsukino and Schussler, professor!"
The five mentioned glared at the girl, swearing to wreck their vengeance on her later. "Little prat," "Tiny git," "Rotten first year," and "Bloody idiot," was heard issuing from their mouths as the professor called them up to the high table.
"'Morning, Bumblebee, Minnie," Usagi said brightly. "What was it you wanted us for?"
"Yes, we're missing our lovely gruel," Lee put in.
"You surely can't think that we did this, can you, Minnie McMuffin?" the twins said in unison.
"What is it you-" Kelly broke off to yawn, "wanted? We didn't do-" another yawn, "nothing. Oopsies, I meant anything..."
"I demand you take down this despicable display, now!" Minnie McMuffin- no, Minerva McGonagall, snapped.
"Sorry, professor dearest, but that is quite impossible," Usagi said.
"Yes, with all humblyness, your honor, we didn't put it up..." George began.
"So we obviously can't take it down," Fred said, completing the thought.
"Anyways, who would want to take down this most lovely relic?" Lee said, with what he thought was great charm.
Kelly yawned, "What was the-" yawn, "question again?-" yet another yawn, "I need sugar.... sugar sugar sugar sugar sugar..." completed with a super long yawn.
"Here you go, Kel Z!" Usagi said cheerily, waving her hand.
McGonagall stared. "Where did you learn to do that? I've never seen such magic!"
"Thanks, Usa," Kelly said, after eating about half of the jar of sugar that had appeared in her hands.
"Go AWAY! ALL of you!" McGonagall screamed, completely forgetting the reason she had called them to the table in the first place. "I never will talk to them all at the same time, ever again," she muttered under her breath as they skipped back to the Gryffindor table. Well, Kelly and Usagi skipped, but Fred, George and Lee sprinted.
"NO! ALL THE BACON IS GONE!" Lee moaned. "Who ate the last bit?" he said in a dangerously quiet voice.
The table was silent for a moment, then a little squeak came. "It was me," the annoying first year said.
"Name?"
"E-ezma Belizna Dalton?" was the timid reply.
"Come here, Ezma," Lee said in a suddenly kind voice.
"Hey, can I handle this?" Usagi whispered to Lee.
"All right, then," he said grudgingly.
"Ezma, you know, you should never finish the bacon when we Mischief Makers haven't had any yet," she said sweetly to the trembling first year, "because this is what you'll get!" She muttered something, and the girl found herself pinned to the ceiling by... cookies? Chocolate chip, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies... you name it, it was there.
"How long should we leave her there?" Usagi said loudly to her fellow Mischief Makers and Kelly.
"An hour." That was Kelly.
"Two hours." Lee.
"Three!" Fred.
"Thirty seven!" George.
"I vote for twelve," Usagi said.
"All right, then," the rest agreed, somewhat disappointed with the shortness. They had decided thirty seven was the best, but twelve was better than nothing.
Precisely twelve hours later, the first year fell from the high ceiling and landed in a great pudding that had mysteriously appeared on the Gryffindor table.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Harry wasn't sure what he should do... he'd just found out what the first task was going to be, and seen Maxime and
Karkaroff near the dragons as well. Obviously, Fleur and Victor will know what it is soon... Mamoru will probably get that Rei girl to do a fire reading, and Usagi will find some way. Certainly Hagrid will tell her! So that leaves...
Cedric. I guess I'll have to tell him.
Most of Harry's predictions were right. Mamoru had persuaded Rei to do a fire-reading, and discovered he'd be facing a dragon, and Fleur and Victor had been informed by their headmasters. That left Usagi. She had no idea what she was facing, but was too wrapped up in being, well, over-energetic and playing pranks to realize that she had no idea what she would be up against.
In that way, she wasn't afraid, until it was announced at breakfast one day that the champions were to go to a certain tent.
"What for?" she pondered out loud.
"Didn't you remember? The first task!" Kelly said, as if she had been asked the stupidest question in the world. Which she had.
"OH!" Usagi suddenly exclaimed. "I wonder what it will be?"
All that she knew was that she was very, very nervous, and that she needed to become... hyper! Yes, that was it... sugar and chocolate makes the nervousness disappear.
A huge spread of sweets and chocolate appeared before her in the air, and she walked out of the hall munching on
everything. A few minutes later, she skipped into the tent to see five gloomy, resigned faces, and one happily beaming face.
"Well! Now I can tell you the task! Reach into this bag, and pull out a figurine! Ladies first," he said, holding the bag out to Fleur.
Fleur reached in and drew out a dragon with a number tied around its neck. Usagi would have started going ballistic had she not been so darn hyper. Instead, she gestured for the boys to have a go first.
Victor pulled out another dragon, and Harry another, and Cedric yet a different one, each with a tag around its neck. Mamoru pulled out a very pretty one, one that Usagi remembered as an Antipodean Opaleye. It had no pupils, and was a glistening, iridescent color, like the inside of a shell. A number five was tied around its neck.
Instead of anxiously placing her hand slowly into the bag, Usagi jammed it in eagerly (what DOES sugar do to your system?) and then screeched, "OUCH! IT BIT ME!" She slowly drew her hand out with a model tinier than the others attached to her hand, fangs sunk in deep. It was a copper color, with short horns and black ridges along its back.
"Ah, I see you have drawn out the Peruvian Vipertooth!" Ludo Bagman said happily. "Well, just wait until the bell rings, and then come out in order! You are to retrieve the golden egg." He waved cheerily before disappearing through the tent flap.
While the others sat dumbly, paced anxiously, or did other nervous things, Usagi skipped around the tent singing at the top of her lungs. Maybe she'd had a bit too much sugar earlier. She should NOT be so happy and energetic when she was about to meet a dragon, with no idea of how to defeat it. Suddenly, she realized the tent was empty, and heard a gong.
"Oh! It's my go, isn't it?" she exclaimed, skipping out of the tent.
Everyone stared at the skipping blond. Who in their right minds would be skipping out to get past a dragon? Oh, it was Usagi. She definitely wasn't in her right mind.
It was only until she was right before the dragon that she realized that she had no idea how to retrieve the golden egg glistening among the others. She saw the small feet, and then slowly raised her eyes to meet the gaze of a small dragon, about fifteen feet in length. It seemed to grin at her, revealing long, pointed fangs, which were practically dripping with venom.
"Hello!" Usagi said happily, waving at the dragon. "I need to grab that egg right there," she said, pointing at the golden one nestled with the others.
The dragon bared its fangs again.
"It is NOT yours," Usagi said, stamping her foot, "and don't you dare say it is! You know very well that they," she jerked her thumb towards the panel of judges, "placed it there, and that I am supposed to get it. Now, let me past!"
The dragon growled a bit.
"Oh, so now you're saying that I'm a silly, hyperactive human? Well, you're right, but it's not very polite to point that out. Can I please have the egg?"
The dragon purred a bit.
"Come on, Caliope. I know that the egg is bothering you. Just because the stupid wizards said you're not supposed to let me have it, doesn't mean you can't give it to me."
Grudgingly, the dragon nudged the golden egg towards Usagi.
"Thank you! May your eggs hatch well and flourish wonderfully!" Usagi said, skipping off holding the golden egg.
The crowd was stunned. How had Usagi simply talked to the people-eating, vicious Vipertooth to make it give her the egg? And she'd done it the quickest of anyone! They scores were shot up, and they all craned around to look. Full marks from all except Karkaroff. Typical.
Suddenly, the crowd swarmed down for the stands and made for the medical tents. Harry and Ron were standing, concealed in the shadows, with Hermione hovering nervously around. It looked as if they had made up with each other.
"How did you pull off getting that darn egg without any injury?" Harry said, mock-glaring at his twin.
"My secret that you should know the answer to," Usagi said primly. "Let's get back to the tent. How did Mamoru get past his dragon?"
"He barely made it… tried to use some sort of water spell, but it just made the dragon mad. So then he tried transfiguring himself into a sheep and sending some other animal off in the opposite direction. Of course, Opaleyes love to eat sheep, so he just barely made it back in time. He snatched the egg and made for the medical tents with blood all over the place," Harry said, grinning. "It was pretty funny, actually. He didn't get very high marks."
"Hm. Sounds like he could do without any more embarrassment… wonder what I could do to him?" Usagi said, grinning evilly. Harry just groaned.
*** *** *** *** ***
I'll stop there… I'm tired and it's a school night. What d'ya all think? So sorry about the wait again, but I have a vacation coming up! I'll stop chattering and post this now…
Oh, in case you'd forgotten, Usagi can talk to animals, and dragons are animals ;-D
And the two newer dragons were from the wonderful book, Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them. Great reference material, ne?
Yes, it was short, but I liked her screaming at her dragon…
R&R!
Rini