The Fifth House
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything that seems familiar from the books. But I do find it extremely odd that the fifth book has had similarities to my story. Not really huge, major similarities, but very strange all the same…if you get what I'm saying.
Author's Note: Oh my goshness, the fifth book was so good! I finished it in one minute short of 24 hours. Go me! Some of the time, I was sleeping, though. I was freaking out when I was reading page 67, because of that thing that's kind of the same as this story, but I'm better now, because the plots are very different. I'm not saying anything exact about the fifth book, because I don't want to spoil it for people that haven't finished it yet.
I'm going to continue this story as if the characters that died in the fifth book didn't die, and the things that happened in the fifth book didn't happen, because I am not yet sure if I can make this story for Harry's sixth year or not, yet. I'd have to change the dates, and I really have to think about this.
Anyway, it will remain a fifth year story for this chapter at least.
Read.
Review.
Retrospective!
Curtains Up!
Chapter Twenty-Five
Draco Malfoy was reading the list off of people who had made the Slytherin Quidditch team in the common room the next morning.
"Janelle Leclerc, you didn't make the team. Kenneth Greystone, you made reserve chaser. Craig Tardiff, I certainly hope you don't think you could have made the team. Kylie D'Alessandro, you made team beater. Nicholaus Wales, you did not make the team for obvious reasons. Blake Powers, you made team chaser. And everyone else, you did not make the team, and most of you failed miserably at the tryouts, but I hope you're not too disappointed. For those of you that did make it, as well as reserve team members, and everyone who's already on the team, our first practice is tonight at 7 o'clock."
"That was very mean," Kylie said to him when people started leaving.
"What? You made the team!" Draco said.
"You weren't mean to me, you were mean to everyone else. I thought Craig was gonna have a panic attack…" Kylie said; looking around for the boy she was talking about.
"That's not my problem," Draco said nonchalantly.
"Why can't you ever be nice to people?" Kylie asked.
"I'm somewhat nice to you," he said.
"But you are terrible to everyone else. Why is that?" Kylie asked; looking genuinely interested.
"Why should it matter to you?" Draco said, looking at her suspiciously.
"Because I'm the only person you're nice too, so I should be nice back, and if I don't really care I should at least pretend to care," Kylie explained.
"So, do you really care, or are you pretending to care?" Draco asked.
"Somewhat," Kylie said.
"Of which one?" Draco asked, looking confused.
"Both."
"How so?" he asked.
"Because I do care, but I have to pretend I'm pretending to care, because, think about it, how would you react if someone cared?" Kylie said.
"Wow."
"Wow what?" Kylie asked.
"That makes no sense at all."
"Are you telling the truth or pretending to tell the truth?" Kylie demanded.
"Somewhat."
"Of both?"
"Yes."
"How so?" Kylie asked.
"I didn't really get most of that, except the last part. I do not know how I would react if someone really cared," Draco explained.
"I do," Kylie said.
"How do you know?" Draco said.
"Because I just told you that I cared, and this is your reaction," Kylie said matter-of-factly.
Draco just looked at her.
"You know what you need, Draco?" Kylie asked.
"God, what?" he said.
"You need a friend," Kylie said. "I will go find you a friend!"
"If you must, but I doubt I will like this person."
"I'll bet you ten galleons you'll hate this person," Kylie said.
"You're on," Draco said. Kylie ran from the room.
It took Draco a few moments, but eventually he realized that in order to get the galleons, he must at least somewhat like this 'friend'.
* * * *
"Hey Harry, can I talk to you for a second?" Kylie asked Harry after dinner the next night.
"Sure," Harry said, and followed her out of the Great Hall.
"Wait her for one second, I need one more person," Kylie said. Harry nodded yes, and wondered what she was up to.
In the Great Hall, Kylie was jogging to the Slytherin table.
"Draco, I found you a friend!" Kylie said.
"Oh no…" Draco had completely forgotten.
"Oh yes, come on, you have to meet him!" Kylie said as she pulled him out of the Great Hall.
"You've got to be kidding me," Draco said when he saw Harry.
"I'm supposed to be here with Malfoy?" Harry said.
"Yes. I have told both of you that you need to get along. I have told one of you, I can't remember who, that next time I see both of you I'd make you shake hands. So, shake hands."
"No," said Malfoy.
"Why?" said Harry.
"Because you guys are constantly fighting, and it's getting a bit annoying," Kylie said. "If you shake hands really quickly, I'll never say a word about it."
"Fine."
It was hard to tell exactly what Draco was mumbling.
Harry held out his hand first, rather reluctantly, but still. Draco quickly shook his hand.
Very quickly, Kylie pulled a camera out from her robes and took a picture.
Draco and Harry dropped each other's hands and stared at her.
"Give me the camera," Draco said.
"I don't think I will, but I should be going, have to get this back to Colin Creevey, I expect he'll want a copy…" Kylie said. Then, she ran down the hall, camera in hand.
"KYLIE!" Draco yelled and ran after her.
Harry wasn't as mad as Draco was; he found it quite amusing.
But he followed them anyway.
He caught up with Draco at a fork in the corridors.
"Which way did she go?" Harry asked.
"Don't know. I'll take this way," Draco said, and ran off down the corridor on the left. Harry walked down the corridor on the right.
It was a hallway where Harry'd never been before.
He didn't see any signs of her until he got to a dead end.
The camera she'd borrowed off Colin Creevey was lying in the hallway, against the wall.
Harry picked it up, and pulled out the picture. It wasn't him and Draco, that was for sure. It was mostly red, and blurry, and it looked like…
"Blood!" a voice called from the hallway where Harry had just come.
Harry turned around, and he saw Professor McGonagall walking toward him.
"Potter, what's going on?" she demanded in a don't-mess-with-me tone.
"I was looking for Kylie, and I found her camera, and this picture, which was taken of blood," Harry couldn't explain where the picture could have been taken.
"So it was taken of that picture, then, I suppose?" said McGonagall, pointing to a portrait.
Harry spun around to look at it.
It seemed to be a portrait of an old Headmistress, and it was splashed with blood.
"Why is it always you who shows up in the wrong place at the wrong times?" McGonagall said. "Come with me, Potter. You're going to talk to the Headmaster."
"But I didn't do anything!" Harry protested.
"Oh, I know that, Potter, but it would be wise for you to stay in one place where people can prove you haven't done anything else."
"What are you talking about, Professor?" Harry asked.
"I'm talking about the fact that seven other portraits have been vandalized today! Seven! I should think that you would feel better telling your story directly to the headmaster quickly, so that you are not suspected, as I assume you will be.
People always seem to think you cause most of the trouble. And, it isn't as though you don't, it's just that normally when you do, it is not destruction," McGonagall said. She began walking. "I'll take the camera."
"Have you seen Kylie?" Harry asked her; trying to catch up.
"I came here to see if I could find Kylie, Draco Malfoy had said something about looking for her also, when I caught him running in the halls. Is there any reason I should be suspicious about this?" she asked Harry.
"No, well, she made me and Malfoy shake hands, and she took a picture of us, but she had promised not to tell anyone," Harry explained.
"If there is one thing I've heard about that girl, it's that she never breaks a promise," McGonagall said.
"But she ran off with the picture to show someone…"
"To show them; not to actually tell them. Do you understand? She never makes a deal unless she has a surefire way to get out of it, should she have to."
"Oh."
"Yes, she's quite a person to gamble with, I imagine…" McGonagall started.
"She gambles?" Harry asked. He was very confused now.
"No, but she'd always win if she did. Not like she needs the money, anyway. But, I should not be discussing this with you, you are a student, and I am not supposed to discuss the financial situations of other students with you," she said quickly. Harry smiled.
By this time they had reached Dumbledore's office. Professor McGonagall said, "Fizzing Whizbee" and the gargoyles sprung to life and jumped out of place, making way for her and Harry.
"I've been expecting you, Harry," Albus Dumbledore said, smiling.
"I will go now, and see what has happened to miss D'Alessandro," Professor McGonagall said, and walked out.
"Thank you, Minerva," Dumbledore said after her.
Then he turned his attention to Harry.
"Hello Harry, would you like a lemon drop?" Albus said.
Harry took a yellow candy. He was sure nothing he took from Dumbledore would be as risky as taking something from anyone else {who knows what Fred and George Weasley could have put in their candy?}.
"I suppose you are wondering why I requested a chat with you?" Dumbledore asked, smiling behind his half-moon glasses.
"Yes."
"Well, there is nothing the matter, except that eight portraits of school headmasters and headmistresses have been vandalized, and generally whenever anything happens, your fellow students always seem to think you as the culprit. You don't have much respect for the rules, but you've never destroyed anything," the old wizard said.
"So, by me coming to your office, people won't get suspicious?" Harry asked.
"No, of course they'll be suspicious. Most of the school has seen at least one vandalized portrait today. If I address the school later asking if anyone has information about who did it, they will remember how you have already been here, and realize that it is not you."
"Isn't that a lot to go through, just to make sure people don't get suspicious?" Harry asked.
"Well, I had to give Minerva a reason to bring you to my office without her getting suspicious," Dumbledore said.
"So, why am I really here?" Harry asked.
"Because I wanted to know if you know anything about who did it. There have been strange goings on in this school. Stranger than normal. I don't mean to accuse you, but do you have anything to do with it?" Dumbledore asked.
"Do you mean the things about, like Halloween? And, about the Quidditch pitch, and all that stuff? Because I don't have anything to do with that, really I don't-" Harry said.
"Do you know anything about it? Or, do you know anyone who would know anything about it? I'm concerned for the school's safety, that's all," the wizard said.
"I don't know anything," Harry said.
"Alright, you may go. Take another lemon drop for the trip, if you'd like," Dumbledore said smiling.
"Thanks,' Harry said, taking a lemon drop as he left.
* * * *
Harry didn't have anything to do for the rest of the evening, so he took the scenic route back to the dorms.
This meant that he would pass by the hospital wing.
As he was passing by, he checked in briefly, just to see if he was friends with anyone there. Usually there was no one.
But not today.
He looked in and saw the person he'd been looking for the whole time. Kylie was in one of the hospital beds, sleeping.
"What happened to Kylie?" he asked Madame Pomfrey.
"Oh, it's you. What have you done to yourself this time?" Madame Pomfrey asked him. Usually Harry was in the hospital wing once or twice a year, most often for doing something dangerous.
"I was just passing by…" Harry said.
"Then you can keep passing by. You're disturbing my patients," Madame Pomfrey said, as she was giving a cup of tea to a boy Harry didn't know, who appeared to have come down with an illness.
"But I want to know what happened to my friend..." Harry said.
"Fine. Which one's your friend?" the nurse asked; finally giving in.
"Kylie," Harry said, nodding towards his friend.
"Oh, her. Well, she had some sort of panic attack a few corridors down. It was very odd; she managed to walk all the way here by herself. She looked really sick; she was very pale and kind of dragging herself along," Harry noticed that Madame Pomfrey seemed to be restricting what she was telling him.
"Oh yes, and she had a message for you. Well, she said it was for you or That Malfoy boy, whoever came first. She wanted someone to find her camera."
"Well, Professor McGonagall has her camera. Did she just drop everything?" Harry asked.
"No, she was holding a picture when she came," Madame Pomfrey pointed to a picture on Kylie's bedside table. Harry looked at it. It was the picture of him and Draco shaking hands.
"Is that all?" the witch asked in an annoyed tone.
Harry nodded, thanked her, and walked back to Gryffindor tower.
* * * *
"What?" Hermione said.
"Wow," said Ron.
Harry had just told them what had happened to Kylie.
"So, she dropped everything and left, only she made sure she had some picture?" Ron asked. Harry nodded.
"Smart move," said Ron.
"That's very rare though, that someone can drag themselves that far after having a-what did she say it was?" Hermione said.
"Pomfrey said it was some sort of panic attack," Harry explained.
"So, the school nurse doesn't even know what happened to her? What kind of nurse is that? It just sounded like Kylie fainted or something!" Ron said.
"Thank you, Doctor Ron," Harry said grinning.
Ron's ears went slightly pink.
"He has a point though, unless there was something about her symptoms Madame Pomfrey didn't tell you, it sounds like Kylie fainted," Hermione said.
"She did seem kind of like she wasn't telling me something," Harry said, thinking back to earlier that evening.
"Oh well, we'll just have to ask Kylie when we see her later, then," Hermione said.
"Did you talk to her at all?" Ron asked Harry.
"No, she was asleep the whole time," Harry said.
"Darn!" Hermione said.
"Well, she probably needed to sleep, Hermione," Harry said.
"No, not that. I was just looking at our schedule. We have History of Magic, double potions, and Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow!" Hermione said.
Ron groaned.
Harry groaned.
"It could be worse,' Hermione said. 'It could be History of magic, double potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination."
"That wouldn't be any worse for you, Hermione, you dropped Divination," Ron pointed out.
"But at least we do get to see Hagrid," Harry said.
"Yeah, we get to see Hagrid, and some dangerous, life threatening monsters, and Malfoy, and all of his Slytherins buddies," Ron said.
The trio sighed in sync, and continued the conversation before eventually going to bed.
* * * *
"Longbottom, do you have any idea what the definition of 'potion' is? Because if you look it up, you will find that whatever it is in your cauldron looks nothing like it," Professor Snape said in Potions class the next day.
Neville Longbottom blushed deeply, and with the help of Hermione, made his potion a little better.
"Ah, yes. Potter, do you know the difference between dust of anthracite and powder of sandstone? Obviously, Potter, you must not, because your potion is red, whereas Malfoy here, who has used the correct ingredients, has a green potion. Fix it," Snape said, before moving on to criticize another student's potion.
"Hermione, how d'you take an ingredient out of a potion?" Harry asked her.
"Oh, it's very simple, you just say 'Extratus' and then collect the ingredient in a phial," Hermione explained.
Harry got a phial ready, and said, "Extratus!" The powder of sandstone was attached to the end of his wand like a cord, and Harry just had to pick it up and drop it into the phial, where it returned to it's normal shape, as a fine powder. Harry looked around for some dust of anthracite, and when he found some, he poured it into his potion, and stirred it three times counter-clockwise, so that it became green.
He sighed.
"I see, Potter, that you have finally managed to make a satisfactory Memory Potion. Maybe you won't turn out to be such a failure after all. But maybe not," Snape said, looking down at Harry from his hooked nose.
"I hate him so much!" Harry said after class.
"Don't let him get to you, he's just trying to psych you out or something," Ron said.
"Ron! He's a teacher!" Hermione said.
"Yeah, but you said that about Quirrel, too, and look what happened there," Ron pointed out.
* * * *
Kylie was out of the Hospital Wing in time for Care of Magical Creatures class.
"Hi guys," she said as they were walking down the hill to Hagrid's hut.
"Kylie! Are you okay? We heard what happened!" Hermione said.
"Yeah, but we didn't see the picture," Ron muttered. He'd really wanted proof that Harry and Malfoy had shaken hands.
"I'm not showing that to anyone, that'd be mean," Kylie said.
"You didn't want to be mean? Really? You seemed fixed on showing Colin Creevey that picture yesterday," Harry said.
"I did?" Kylie said.
"Yeah. Don't you remember?" Harry asked her.
"No, I can't remember anything that happened yesterday from the morning until I woke up in the Hospital Wing. I didn't forget much that's important, I think… Except, I had a test in Charms this morning. I couldn't remember anything Flitwick said yesterday," Kylie said, frowning.
"That's too bad, maybe he'll let you retake it?" Hermione suggested.
"I don't really care too much, I do well in Charms, so it'll all balance out. I'll just ace the next test, I guess…" Kylie said.
"So, if you were in Charms this morning, why weren't you in Potions?" Ron asked.
"I needed to go get medicine from the Hospital Wing, and Madame Pomfrey asked me a million questions, so it took forever," Kylie said, rolling her eyes.
"Hey Harry, Ron and Hermione! An', wha's yer name?" Hagrid asked Kylie.
Kylie smiled. "Kylie D'Alessandro. You're Hagrid, right?" Kylie asked.
"Yep, tha's it. You like creatures much?' Hagrid asked. Kylie nodded.
"Well, jus' wait 'til yeh see wha' I've got today," Hagrid said, grinning broadly.
"Kylie, how come you didn't meet Hagrid until today?" Ron asked.
"I switched to this class. I used to take Ancient Runes, but it bored me, so I switched," Kylie said.
"I quite like Ancient Runes," Hermione said.
"Well, it's okay for some people, but I just don't like having to translate things too much. I took a hieroglyphics class at my other school, and it nearly killed me," Kylie said.
Harry laughed. Kylie looked at him seriously.
'How could she be serious?' Harry thought to himself. But he hardly had time to think, because Hagrid started talking.
"Alrigh', today I've got some really interestin' stuff fer yeh. Yeh even get ter choose which creature yeh want to work with. Here are yeh choices, yeh could try feedin' flobberworms again, I got some more, cos' I know how much yeh all liked em', or yeh could open yer books an' read abou' Acromantulas, then see if the book tells the truth by actually observin' a real Acromantula. So, wha'll it be?"
The class all wanted to study the Acromantula {"But they're sooo dangerous," said Hermione}, and Hagrid looked somewhat surprised {"I though' yeh all liked 'em"? he'd said}.
"Honestly, why doesn't a creature exist that isn't completely boring, yet not dangerous enough that I have to complain to my father about it?" Draco Malfoy said during the lesson.
"You don't have to tell your father, Malfoy. You can just get over your fear of whatever it is and suck it up," Hermione said to him.
"Shut your mouth, Mudblood, and never mention my father again," Malfoy said, glaring at her.
"Draco!" Kylie said.
"What now?" he asked.
"Don't talk to her like that!" Kylie said.
"Why shouldn't I?" Draco asked her.
"Remember a certain picture I have?" Kylie asked.
Draco looked at her quickly. Kylie raised her eyebrows. "I though that'd shut him up," she said quietly to Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
"I heard that!" Draco said.
"That was my intention,' Kylie countered.
Draco was silent for the rest of the class.
The class had mixed reactions to the giant spider that Hagrid showed them. Some were scared, and screamed. Some were impressed, and talked excitedly to each other. But Harry and Ron had a different reaction.
"Aragog?" they said in unison.
"You know that spider?" Kylie asked them.
"We met him in our second year, when we were in the Forbidden Forest," Harry explained.
"You did?" Hermione said.
"You were petrified," Ron said quickly.
"Well, so you know him, so what?" Hermione said.
"He tried to feed us to his kids!" Ron said. He looked absolutely stricken. His fear of spiders had not at all softened.
"Well, that changes things…" Kylie said.
"I think I'll go, over there, kind of, behind that nice big tree or something. Somewhere where I can't see it, I mean, somewhere it can't find me…" Ron said, stuttering.
Harry just stayed behind a few other kids, since Harry was on the shorter side, and Aragog wouldn't be able to see him.
For the entire rest of the lesson, Ron was huddled behind the tree, hiding out of fear.
Curtains Close!
Author's Note: [PLEASE READ THIS] That was a very long chapter. I'm very happy with it.
Listen, you guys. I've been thinking, I could make this a sixth year story if it's easier for people. I'd have to edit some chapters to make changes, which could take a few days of not updating. But I'd do it for the sake of not confusing people.
So, I'm going to ask you guys your opinion on this. So, in your review, please say if you want me to make it a sixth year story or if I should just leave it. If I were to change it, it would only take a few days, a week at the most, to change it.
So, just put what you think in your review, and I'll love you for it.
Words of Wisdom: "What is this feeling taking over? Thinking no one could open my door. Surprise…its time, to feel what's real,"
~Kelly Clarkson 'Miss Independent'
Please review!
I love you all!
Ciao!
~Starry