Chapter 18
It was later, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the library, the next day that the thoughts of familiarity about the hawk clicked in Harry's brain. Marron, the name of the hawk, meant red, therefore speaking of the bird's brightly red feathers, and that hawk.. seemed so familiar, that was because it was the same one he had seen nights before. Honestly though, Harry did not see these connections leading to anything really crucial that could possibly solve the mystery growing at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it just cleared up the puzzlement in his mind.
Harry looked to his friends, currently Ron was nodding off (he was rather tired from the long detention the night before) while Hermione was diligently working on a paper for Magic History class and flipping through a book on birds of prey. Harry looked down to his paper, he had only just written his name on the parchment.
Harry asked, "Umm. what do you think Meredith was 'jeopardizing' about her position at the school?"
Ron did not reply, his head was resting on folded arms and he was dozing. Hermione looked up, "Well.. maybe she finally got in trouble for being so nasty.."
Harry frowned, "Malfoy's never gotten in any serious trouble for what he's done.."
"They both deserve to.." Hermione said simply, Harry could tell that her feelings were still hurt from the other times.
Harry opened his mouth to say something else, but he really didn't want to press it. He sighed and went back to pondering his semi-blank parchment.
Hermione spoke up, ended the silence. "We have a preliminary duel this evening.."
At the word 'duel' Ron immediately perked up, scrounging around his papers to retrieve his copy of the Duelist Schedule. He studied it a moment and then laid it out across the table, pointing to today's listing. "Tonight the houses that are playing are Gryffindor 6th year.. Ravenclaw 5th year and Hufflepuff 7th year.."
Hermione grinned, "We'll get to see how Katherine duels, I hear that she's pretty good."
Ron laughed, and slapped Harry on the back making him spill a bit of ink on the almost blank parchment, Harry looked at Ron puzzled. "Harry'll top anyone in that competition!" Ron boasted.
Harry pushed his glasses up a bit, "I don't figure we'll be dueling against any other houses tonight besides our own."
"What do you mean?" Ron asked and studied the schedule.
Harry plucked the schedule out of Ron's hands. "See here." Harry said pointing to the block that contained today's listing. Ron leaned over. "Gryffindor 6th years Vs. Gryffindor 6th years." Harry read aloud.
Ron slumped back into the chair, "That means we may duel against each other."
Harry smiled, "But we'll have fun at it, right?"
Ron perked up a little, grinning, "Guess so! I'd best be flipping through that advanced spells book that Hermione got us, right?"
Hermione smirked gently, "You best be getting your paper done, it is after all due tomorrow, and I don't think you'll be able to write much after the duels, we'll probably be exhausted."
Ron grinned and leaned over the table sneakily trying to steal away the paper that Hermione had just finished. Hermione swatted his hand, and Ron jerked it back wincing, "Please 'Mione? Just to get me started?"
Harry sat down his quill, "Umm yeah Hermione that sounds like a good plan.. You always have such good openings.." Hermione sighed, "Fine just copy it quickly, and we'd better not get caught." Though Hermione knew well that they had been copying papers for years and no teacher had complained so far. She passed the paper across the table and went back to her book on birds of prey.
Ron grinned "Wicked!" and started to scribble down what had been written, word for word, well except for the name at the top.
Harry started to copy it down as well, glad to get the work out of the way so that their evening would be free to duel and then study some advanced spells. After all, they'd probably eventually have to face against the older students.
Hermione's lips moved as she read the words of the book, "Seems like hawk training isn't uncommon."
Harry looked up, "What?"
"Well it says here that hawks were used for game hunting, like rabbits and pheasants, but.. it doesn't seem to say anything about scouting.." Hermione explained as she searched.
"Well, you know, Hedwig is pretty smart for a bird, maybe it is the same sort of training?" Harry suggested going back to copying the paper.
"But.. since when is a bird able to know how to find a certain plant so quickly and with so little instruction?" Hermione mused.
It was later, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the library, the next day that the thoughts of familiarity about the hawk clicked in Harry's brain. Marron, the name of the hawk, meant red, therefore speaking of the bird's brightly red feathers, and that hawk.. seemed so familiar, that was because it was the same one he had seen nights before. Honestly though, Harry did not see these connections leading to anything really crucial that could possibly solve the mystery growing at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it just cleared up the puzzlement in his mind.
Harry looked to his friends, currently Ron was nodding off (he was rather tired from the long detention the night before) while Hermione was diligently working on a paper for Magic History class and flipping through a book on birds of prey. Harry looked down to his paper, he had only just written his name on the parchment.
Harry asked, "Umm. what do you think Meredith was 'jeopardizing' about her position at the school?"
Ron did not reply, his head was resting on folded arms and he was dozing. Hermione looked up, "Well.. maybe she finally got in trouble for being so nasty.."
Harry frowned, "Malfoy's never gotten in any serious trouble for what he's done.."
"They both deserve to.." Hermione said simply, Harry could tell that her feelings were still hurt from the other times.
Harry opened his mouth to say something else, but he really didn't want to press it. He sighed and went back to pondering his semi-blank parchment.
Hermione spoke up, ended the silence. "We have a preliminary duel this evening.."
At the word 'duel' Ron immediately perked up, scrounging around his papers to retrieve his copy of the Duelist Schedule. He studied it a moment and then laid it out across the table, pointing to today's listing. "Tonight the houses that are playing are Gryffindor 6th year.. Ravenclaw 5th year and Hufflepuff 7th year.."
Hermione grinned, "We'll get to see how Katherine duels, I hear that she's pretty good."
Ron laughed, and slapped Harry on the back making him spill a bit of ink on the almost blank parchment, Harry looked at Ron puzzled. "Harry'll top anyone in that competition!" Ron boasted.
Harry pushed his glasses up a bit, "I don't figure we'll be dueling against any other houses tonight besides our own."
"What do you mean?" Ron asked and studied the schedule.
Harry plucked the schedule out of Ron's hands. "See here." Harry said pointing to the block that contained today's listing. Ron leaned over. "Gryffindor 6th years Vs. Gryffindor 6th years." Harry read aloud.
Ron slumped back into the chair, "That means we may duel against each other."
Harry smiled, "But we'll have fun at it, right?"
Ron perked up a little, grinning, "Guess so! I'd best be flipping through that advanced spells book that Hermione got us, right?"
Hermione smirked gently, "You best be getting your paper done, it is after all due tomorrow, and I don't think you'll be able to write much after the duels, we'll probably be exhausted."
Ron grinned and leaned over the table sneakily trying to steal away the paper that Hermione had just finished. Hermione swatted his hand, and Ron jerked it back wincing, "Please 'Mione? Just to get me started?"
Harry sat down his quill, "Umm yeah Hermione that sounds like a good plan.. You always have such good openings.." Hermione sighed, "Fine just copy it quickly, and we'd better not get caught." Though Hermione knew well that they had been copying papers for years and no teacher had complained so far. She passed the paper across the table and went back to her book on birds of prey.
Ron grinned "Wicked!" and started to scribble down what had been written, word for word, well except for the name at the top.
Harry started to copy it down as well, glad to get the work out of the way so that their evening would be free to duel and then study some advanced spells. After all, they'd probably eventually have to face against the older students.
Hermione's lips moved as she read the words of the book, "Seems like hawk training isn't uncommon."
Harry looked up, "What?"
"Well it says here that hawks were used for game hunting, like rabbits and pheasants, but.. it doesn't seem to say anything about scouting.." Hermione explained as she searched.
"Well, you know, Hedwig is pretty smart for a bird, maybe it is the same sort of training?" Harry suggested going back to copying the paper.
"But.. since when is a bird able to know how to find a certain plant so quickly and with so little instruction?" Hermione mused.