The Fifth House
Disclaimer: I own the plot, some characters, and basically anything that isn't in the books.
Author's Note: I'm so sorry, I was so busy with school, and sports, and everything else that I totally forgot to update! I left you guys at the cliffiest of all cliffhangers, too! But guess what? Exactly one month- and counting down- from today until my summer hols. That means much more updating. Plus the fifth book is coming out soon, too. It's coming out on my friend's birthday.
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Curtains up!
Chapter Twenty-One
Harry ran back to the entrance hall.
"What happened? Who screamed?" he asked.
Ray and Kylie were there too. Ellie was nowhere to be seen. The sound of bickering could be heard from somewhere, but Harry couldn't tell where.
"Where's Ellie?" Kylie asked.
"I-I don't know. She was just here…?" Ray said, trailing off in a puzzled tone.
"Maybe we should look around a bit," Harry suggested.
The three went off in different directions. It had been about five minutes when Harry heard someone yell.
"You guys! Come here, I found her!" Kylie yelled.
Ray and Harry ran over to where Kylie was standing at the entrance to a hallway. She was talking to a closet.
Harry saw that Ellie indeed had been found, but she could not be helped.
What Kylie had actually found was a book. It was open to a page near the end, where Kylie had seen a picture of two people bickering. The book had been thrown into the hall closet.
"Ellie?" Kylie asked.
"Oh, hi Kylie. Hold on, one second…" Ellie muttered some sort of incantation, and she climbed from the pages of the book. She slowly grew back to her normal size.
"Sorry I screamed. I'd needed to set something straight with one of my relatives. The book- it's a family tree kind of thing. I screamed because someone picked the book up and threw it, and I didn't know who it was," Ellie said.
The other three were giving her very strange looks.
"My family was a bunch of Seers, if you must know. Besides Seeing, a Seer has powers to go into books and see what's happening. It's just a weird power that goes along with it, like a side effect, almost," Ellie explained.
"Okay, so why would someone throw a book into a closet?" Kylie asked.
"I don't know. But at least it didn't get in the library, it would be kind of strange to have to crawl out of a book with a lot of people around like that,' Ellie said.
They were all silent for a moment.
"D'you think it was…?" Ray started.
Ellie looked at him seriously. "I was hoping it wasn't. But it could have been." All four of them knew that they were talking about Terces.
"Oh well, I'll just ask Mundungus next time," Ellie said. "I think we should all go now, it's getting late."
They all waved to each other as they left, except for Kylie, who saluted.
Harry was walking along the corridor when he saw a rather interesting painting on the wall. It showed a forest, with a waterfall, and flowers, and lots of paths. He had never seen it before.
"That's weird," he thought to himself as he continued won the corridor.
* * * *
Kylie walked into the Slytherin common room exhausted. She was so exhausted that she just lied down on the couch and fell fast asleep.
She didn't know that she was being watched.
* * * *
Harry could barely stay awake during Defense Against the Dark Arts the next day.
It wasn't even a boring lesson. Mrs. Figg had brought in her book about poisonous potions.
"Professor Snape, good as his intentions are, only teaches you how to brew potions, but you have never been taught how to identify an evil one. For the next few lessons, we'll be studying how you can tell if a potion is evil or not by looking at it and touching the liquid, and you will also learn how to use simple magic to transfer an evil or deadly potion into a delightfully tasty drink without the brewer noticing," Mrs. Figg had said.
Harry and Ron had been working together to figure out the poison level of a certain potion.
"What were the levels again?" Ron asked Harry as he examined the crystal phial.
Harry scanned his notes. "A poisonous potion is based on the following levels: Harmless, Slightly Dangerous, Illness, Incurable Peril, and Fatal."
"Why don't we just get someone to drink it? Then we'll know," Ron said.
"What if it turns out to be a fatal one?" Harry asked.
"Well, we could get Malfoy to test it," Ron said.
"What makes you so sure that Malfoy would drink anything we give him?" Harry countered.
"Good point. But we could threaten him by, by…" Ron trailed off, deep in thought.
"By messing up his hair?" Harry offered.
"Would that work?" Ron asked, somewhat amused.
"It worked for Kylie," Harry said, laying his head down on the desk from tiredness.
"So, do we have an answer yet?" Mrs. Figg asked as she popped up next to Ron.
"Well, we really don't know . . ." Ron said.
"Here, let me help. Ron, you tell me what color this potion is," Mrs. Figg said.
"Green," said Ron looking slightly suspicious.
"Yes, and Harry, touch the liquid for me, would you?" she asked Harry.
Harry dipped touched a finger to the surface of the potion. He withdrew his hand quickly. "It burns," he said.
"Yes. Now, a burning sensation means…?" Mrs. Figg asked him. Harry looked down at his notes quickly.
"Er, it means that it's incurable peril?" Harry said. Mrs. Figg didn't answer.
"And Ron," she said, "Green means what and why?"
Ron looked at his notes. "It doesn't list green here… Just red, blue, and yellow."
"Yes, do you know why?"
"Because all of those colors are primary? And they make every other color?"
Mrs. Figg smiled.
"So, green is a mix of blue and yellow. Yellow means Illness, and blue means fatal? So green would be a mix of them. So… is it Incurable Peril?" Ron said.
"Yes! Very good boys!" Mrs. Figg was smiling. She walked away to assist the next pair, Seamus and Neville.
"Hey Hermione, we got it right!" Ron said in a bragging voice.
"Good. I got all of mine right so far, too. I'm on my third." Hermione was working with Hannah, a girl from Hufflepuff, who was almost as smart as Hermione. Ron groaned.
* * * *
"I think we should go into his dorm, in the dead of night, and mess up his hair," Ron said as he, Harry, and Hermione were walking down the hall.
"Why would you want to go into the Slytherin dorm at night?" Hermione said.
"Why would you want to go into the Slytherin dorm at all? Even if it was to mess up Malfoy's hair, you could do that's somewhere else," Harry pointed out.
"Well, I guess. Maybe we could put Kylie up to it!" Ron said.
"She wouldn't. She's Malfoy's friend,' Harry said.
"How does that work?" Ron asked, stopping in the middle of walking just to think.
"How does what work?" Hermione asked.
"How does Malfoy manage to have friends?" Ron said. Harry and Hermione laughed, and Ron looked at them. "Seriously, though. How…?"
"Hi Harry. Here's a notice. See you later. Got to go," Fred Weasley said, running past Harry and shoving a paper in his hand while he passed by.
"What is it? Come on, open it up!" Ron said.
Harry read the notice:
Tryouts for the new Quidditch season will be November 20th, beginning at one o'clock [after lunch]. Returning players should be present to judge all those trying out. Tryouts will go in this order:
Ravenclaw: 1:00
Hufflepuff: 2:00
Gryffindor: 3:00
Slytherin: 4:00
Each team's tryouts should last 45 minutes to an hour. All returning players should wear team Quidditch robes. Bring your broomstick. Thank you in advance for not complaining about this schedule.
Sincerely,
Madame Hooch: Quidditch Director
Fred and George Weasley: Gryffindor Co-Captains
Draco Malfoy: Slytherin Captain
Roger Davies: Ravenclaw Captain
And Susan Bones: Hufflepuff Captain
"So it's basically just about the tryouts, then," Hermione said.
"Malfoy's the captain?!" Ron said.
"Yes, Weasley, I am. Why, thinking about trying out? If you are, be prepared to lose. Because I'm captain this year, and nothing will keep Slytherin from the cup," said a familiar drawl.
"Isn't that what Flint said two years ago? The year that Slytherin lost the cup to Gryffindor?" Hermione said.
"Oh, are you thinking about trying out too, Granger? Sorry I didn't see you before, it's hard to tell a Mudblood from the dirt on the walls," Malfoy said fiercely, and then he walked away.
"Just ignore it, Hermione," Harry said.
Ron was clenching his fists.
"We're going to get him someday. We can all just get his whole family," Ron said.
"He didn't answer the question," Hermione said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"I asked him if he'd repeated what Flint said two years ago, the year that you beat Slytherin for the cup, and he didn't answer. I guess that means he was, then," Hermione said. Although Malfoy had insulted her terribly, she seemed rather satisfied.
* * * *
Somewhere far away, a man was rolling the dice to play the Crevi Game. The number die said a 13, and the picture die showed two people shaking hands.
Before the man could ponder it, a scroll appeared before him, bearing this message:
You move forward thirteen spaces. The space you land on says:
"If you should lose, who did you lose to, and if you win, who did you defeat? To win, however, you must go and other players meet."
You are the seventh player to take your turn.
Out of eight players, eight remain.
~Game Host~
Before the man had enough time to think, or even to complain, he was pulled into the paper and went through it as a portkey to meet another player at Hogwarts School.
Curtains Close!
Author's Note: That was another cliffhanger-almost. I could've left you at a much cliffier spot. So, does anyone think they know who the man is? Does anyone think they know who the Terces sodalises are? Does anyone think they know anything? I should hope so.
Words of Wisdom: "Everyone has brilliance, it's just not appreciated until you discover where yours is hiding."
~James Pendragon
Okay, so remember to review!
I love you all!
Ciao!
~Starry