Fixing to Fly
Chapter Eleven
Author's Note: This chapter, in all fairness, has very little to do with the advancement of the plot, but it was fun for me to write (and hopefully will be fun for you to read) and should tide you over until I can finish a very eventful Chapter Twelve. I want to thank again all my beautiful reviewers, and a quick response to two things in particular:
*Josie ~ This story is being slowly peeled, chapter by chapter, from the depths of my mind. It's being written as I go along, so everything you read is what I've just finished writing. I do, though, have the basic plot and events I want to happen planned out in my mind, so my writing's not totally random.
*WannabeHobbit ~ You're right, the first Harry Potter book indicates that not only was Wood Quidditch captain his fourth year, but Fred and George were both on the House team, not just reserve players. But for the sake of my story, I twisted things about. Hopefully you and all my other wonderful readers will kindly overlook this and continue to enjoy my story…
Last but certainly not least, I want to encourage everyone reading this to check out a wonderful gem of a story called 'This Game of Love We Play' by Kat Hallowell. It really is an exciting and intelligently written story that is not getting the attention it deserves. If you're ever in search of a good read, I highly recommend this fic.
Hmm, I've been rather chatty in my last few chapters… Alas, I'll not hold you up any longer. Chapter Eleven, anyone?
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"It's been a good day," remarked Keely, nodding with satisfaction as she and Darcy walked out of the Great Hall after lunch.
The blonde laughed. "You say that every day they serve stuffing." She led the way as the two girls descended into the dungeon for their third and last class of the day, Potions. "I think the horsemen of the Apocalypse could ride up to the front door of Hogwarts and knock, and you'd still say it was a good day, so long as they served stuffing."
With a shrug, Keely agreed, "You're probably right."
Darcy laughed again, and held the door open for her friend as they passed into the Potions classroom. Icy cool, dark, and foul-smelling as ever, the room was only half full of students as they entered, allowing them to snag a fairly secluded table in the back. As the Seeker began to unpack her cauldron and various ingredients, she heard Keely muse, "I wonder where Kotter is? I haven't seen him since the meeting this morning…"
A sickening, unpleasant feeling suddenly settled into Darcy's stomach, as she tried to remember the last time she'd seen her boyfriend. "He wasn't at breakfast?"
The Scottish girl gave her friend a skeptical sideways glance. "Um, no. That was Oliver sitting beside you," she reminded, then feigned a sigh of disgust. "I know you have a whole legion of sexy guys at your beck and call, but try and remember which one you're currently dating, okay? It makes us poor, single idiots feel bad."
Sapphire eyes rolled skyward as Darcy replied, "Oh, bite it, Beater Girl. Besides, it's not my job to keep track of the comings and goings of Kotter. He's a big boy."
"Who has apparently chosen to skip class today," Keely said as the bell rang, and still no sign of the Gryffindor Chaser.
At this, the blonde's gut gave another unsettling lurch. No matter his other faults, Kotter made a habit of always attending class, even when he was sick. She couldn't help but remember the spiteful look on his face when she'd last spied him in the common room, and how his most evil of glares had been turned upon Oliver. Darcy found it suddenly very important to know just where her boyfriend was.
She'd begun to contemplate slipping quickly out and skipping class herself when a slimy voice right beside her ear uttered, "Going somewhere, Miss Reed?"
Darcy started and nearly toppled off her stool as she spun to face none other than Professor Snape, who had somehow snuck upon the two girls without their notice. Daring a quick glance at Keely, the blonde found her friend as startled as she as the potions master loomed over them in all his greasy, black-cloaked glory.
"Where would I have to go, sir?" replied Darcy when she finally found her voice.
"You tell me," was the professor's response, and for another disturbingly long moment, he held her gaze, as though daring her to answer. When it became apparent her lips were sealed, he finally added, "I see Mr. Baines has chosen not to grace us with his presence this afternoon. Perhaps I best have a word with Professor McGonagall about the attendance of her students… though that, of course, is a matter that the Gryffindor Prefect should be handling."
Darcy contemplated a response, then thought better of it, and maintained her silence until a sickly smile finally slithered its way across Snape's face.
"Well then. Despite your comrade's absence, I believe you both still owe me a four-foot essay on Aging Potions?" he said, gazing expectantly between the two Gryffindor girls.
Immediately the blonde produced her essay, an elegantly written piece of work that spanned a full five feet in length. She had full confidence in the essay's near-perfection, though hardly expected a perfect grade, as Snape always seemed to find something wrong with even her best written reports. Her concerns instead laid with Keely, a self-professed failure when it came to essays. But the Scot looked exceptionally pleased with herself as she produced a roll of parchment from her bag.
Snape took the two essays and, eyeing Keely maliciously, he unrolled the brunette's report. He studied her parchment for a moment, then shook his head, as though disappointed. "A bit short, Miss Merath," he chided. "By at least a foot."
"What?" A shadow of panic touched the girl's face as she snatched her paper from his hands, but it soon faded into a relieved smile. "Ohh. No wonder. This is my Charms essay." She retrieved a second, much longer paper and handed it to the professor. "Here's the right one."
Studying the new essay, Snape scowled. "Five points from Gryffindor for your lack of organization, Miss Merath," he snapped, "and five more for the class time I have been forced to waste on your foolishness. I had better see a superb effort from both of you today, unless you desire to lose additional points." That said, he stalked away to the front of the room.
Jaw clenched tightly in an effort to remain silent, Darcy glanced over at Keely.
The Scot's liquid brown eyes glittered with anger and hurt. "Don't know what I ever bloody did to him," she murmured, then smiled apologetically at the Prefect. "Sorry I lost us points."
Unconcernedly, she waved away her friend's concerns. "Don't even worry about it. Ten points is nothing. We'll make it up and then some when we beat the jesus out of Slytherin in Quidditch," she said, and offered the brunette a winning grin. "Just make sure you bust some heads with that Beater's club of yours, huh?"
"You don't have to ask me twice," laughed Keely, then quickly busied herself with writing in her notebook as Snape sent a glare their way. In a low voice, she said, "We best get to work."
Darcy nodded in agreement, and the two poured their full focus into the preparation and concoction of the day's potion. Through the entire class period, Snape circled them like a hawk, finding something to criticize about every aspect of their work, from the size of the flame beneath their cauldron to the way Keely sliced her bat wings. By the time the dismissal bell finally rang, both Gryffindor girls were in exceedingly low spirits, and were the first two to push their way hurriedly out of the dungeons.
"Well, it had been a good day," the Scot muttered, shoulders hunched.
Taking in her friend's downtrodden expression, the Quidditch captain wracked her mind for something cheerful to say—when a mischievous grin stole suddenly over her features. "You know what I think we need to do?"
"What's that?" Keely replied, still disheartened.
Conspiratorially, Darcy lowered her voice, and leaning very close to the brunette, she whispered, "I think Sniffy and Sneaky need to make a trip to the kitchens tonight."
Keely's face instantly lit up as she shared her friend's grin. "That, my dearest DC, sounds like a fabulous idea…"
* * *
Midnight found the Hogwarts castle blanketed in moonlit silence, with a light autumn breeze to stir the torches still burning in the deserted Entrance Hall. Only soft shadows roamed the marble floors of the hall… until a smallish black nose poked around the corner of a staircase. Two wide, startlingly blue eyes gleamed out of the darkness to examine the surroundings for a long moment, before their owner finally emerged into the flickering firelight.
Trotting along low to the ground on short, webbed feet came an otter with thick, glistening fur the color of gold. In the midst of the hall, the creature stopped, turned its long body around to gaze back into the empty darkness, and seemed to wait there for something. Suddenly the otter emitted a low, protesting bark, and from empty air came a whispered voice, "Oops. Sorry, DC. I can barely see you!"
The otter rolled its eyes in a disturbingly human fashion.
Then the voice from nowhere muttered with irritation, "Oh, the hell with it. Nobody's here, anyway!" and in a flourish of cloth, a pajama-clad Keely Merath appeared in the Entrance Hall and began to fold up the Invisibility Cloak that had, until that point, been concealing her body. She glanced down at the otter. "C'mon, you too. If I'm going to get caught, so are you."
With a snort of disapproval, the gold-furred beast glared up at the human, and in the time it took Keely to blink, the otter had morphed in the shapely form of Darcy Reed. The blonde wore a tank top and boxer shorts beneath a flowing white silk kimono.
"You stepped on my tail," Darcy protested bitterly, itching at her nose where she'd previously had whiskers.
"That's your fault," the Beater replied, resisting the urge to gawk at her now-human friend. In the seemingly hundreds of times she'd watched Darcy shift in and out of her animagus form, the process still fascinated Keely. She distracted herself by telling the blonde, "You'd better stay human now, by the way, so you can help me carry the food back up to the dorm."
Darcy suspiciously eyed the folded cloak. "That thing big enough for two?"
"Four," the Scottish girl scoffed, and nodded her head toward a staircase that led down away from the Entrance Hall. "C'mon, we'd better get going. The longer we stand here, the greater chance we have of being—"
"Shh!" Darcy hissed suddenly, attention drawn to a nearby tapestry.
Instantly Keely unrolled the Invisibility Cloak and began to cover them both when the Quidditch captain halted her with an upraised hand. "What are you—" The Scot fell silent as she received a threatening glare from her friend. Instead, she cocked her head toward the tapestry, trying to detect what had piqued Darcy's interest, when a low murmur finally reached her ears and the tapestry gave a slight but noticeable quiver.
"On three," directed Darcy, who'd crept forward and was reaching for the tapestry. As Keely joined her, she counted in a low whisper, "One, two, three…!"
The Gryffindor girls gave the tapestry a fierce tug—and revealed twin freckled faces, huddled back together in a small hidden alcove. For a moment, both parties stared at each other, until Keely and Darcy growled simultaneously, "Weasleys!"
Stepping out into the soft glow of the Entrance Hall, Fred and George produced identical disarming smiles for the seventh-year females, as the former said, "Good evening, most lovely and kind Ladies Merath and Reed! Out for a stroll?"
Trading glances with Keely, the Gryffindor Prefect studied her two younger Housemates with suspicion. "And do I dare ask what heinous prank brings you out of bed at this time of night?" she mused, setting hands on lithe hips in a look of mock sternness. "You know, technically, I could bust you both for breaking curfew."
"We could bust you, too!" protested George, though he did not look at all pleased with possibility of being revealed.
"Ah, but as a Prefect, I'm allowed to be out of the dorm after curfew, and since Keely's with me, so is she," said Darcy, which was of course a perfect lie, but the twins didn't know this. Duplicate sets of soft green eyes were sending her disappointed and apprehensive looks. "Why don't you just tell me what you guys were doing and maybe I won't turn you in." She reached out to touch either brother on the arm, something only Keely seemed to take notice of with mild interest.
George sighed. "We were planting timed dungbombs in the Slytherin common room," he admitted, looking beaten.
"Told you we had something good in store for Marcus Flint," added Fred with a grin.
Keely glanced at Darcy, who appeared to be intensely focused on something far in the distance. Lightly the Scot touched the blonde, and suddenly Darcy's eyes flickered back into focus. The thoughts of the twins, which had been scrolling through her mind, faded away until she was alone in her head once more. To the brunette, she announced, "I'm pretty sure they're telling the truth."
Glancing suspiciously from blonde, to redheads, back to blonde, Keely demanded, "How can you ever be sure with these two?"
"I resent that!" protested Fred.
Darcy only flashed a mysterious smile at her female friend. "Oh, I trust the twins. Actually, they've never lied to me before," she replied honestly, grinning at Fred and George who had now sidled up on either side of her, arms folded as they glared at Keely.
The brunette raised a curious eyebrow. "So what are going to do with them?"
"What do you mean, do with us?" George demanded, offended.
"Where were you two headed off to anyway?" added Fred playfully as he jabbed a tickling finger into Darcy's ribcage.
Batting away his hand, the seventh-year glanced over at her best female friend and stated, "I don't know, Keely, what do you think? We could take them with us. I imagine they'll find the way themselves eventually, anyway, and it'll give us two extra sets of hands to carry things with." She glanced at the Invisibility Cloak. "You said that thing fits four."
Though still wary, Keely finally relented. "All right. Let's go then," she said, and started down the marble staircase that led eventually to the Hufflepuff common room. At the bottom of the steps, they were presented with two doorways, one leading into a corridor that twisted off in another direction and one that revealed yet another staircase, this one of stone. Keely took the latter, with Fred, Darcy, and George following after her, the twins goggling at their new surroundings.
They finally stepped out into a wide corridor, and from the flickering gold torchlight that illuminated the area, numerous paintings could be seen lining the walls, most displaying food or feasts of some sort.
"Where are we?" queried George, who'd taken Darcy's left arm as though to escort her. Fred was covering the right and nodded his fervent agreement to the question.
"Somewhere below and adjacent to the Great Hall, I'd guess," came Keely's voice, echoing up the hall. She'd stopped before a large painting of fruit and was contemplating it with frustration. As Darcy and the twins joined her, she muttered, "DC, is it the orange or the pear? I can never remember…"
Slipping her hand free of Fred, the Quidditch captain reached out and wordlessly ran her fingertips over the portrayed green pear which, to the amazement of the boys, began to giggle before turning into a doorknob. As she reached for the handle and swung the portrait open, she remarked, "Think green, for go." With that, she stepped into the room beyond.
Keely rolled her eyes. "You're a prat," she told Darcy, and followed her in.
Not to be left out, Fred and George were on the girls' heels, though they quickly froze with awe once they saw what waited them. Beyond, the room stretched out farther and wider than the Great Hall, and all around, hundreds of house-elves were fussing over burners, ovens, pots, pans, cutting boards, and various other tasks of food preparation. The whole place seemed to stop as soon as they spotted the visitors.
"Miss Darcy! Miss Keely!" came a barrage of excited cries, and suddenly the quartet was surrounded by house-elves.
"What in the name of Merlin…?" George gaped, unconsciously tugging at Darcy's sleeve.
Fending off two floppy-eared little elves who'd attached themselves to her bare legs, she managed to relate, "Pretty wicked, huh? We found it our second year. This insatiable Scottish beast here—" she indicated Keely with a nod, "—got so hungry one night she dragged me out of bed and made me come looking for the kitchen with her. Voila. This is what we found."
"Miss Darcy and Miss Keely has not visited us in so long!" interrupted a squeaky voice, as one particular female house-elf emerged from among the rest. "We thoughts yous had left us!"
"No, we're still here," said Keely with a weary sigh. "Hey, you guys don't have any of that stuffing left over from lunch, do you? And some pumpkin cheesecake would be great…" At her words, a cadre of elves scurried off, and returned seconds later baring tray after tray of fresh, warm food. A second group arrived with steaming mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows and cinnamon and passed them to the four students.
"How has you been, Miss Darcy?" asked the same female house-elf, pulling gently on the blonde's fingertips and leading her farther into the kitchen. Fred and George stuck closely to the girl, though the plates of food the elves continued to offer Keely had greatly caught their attentions.
Tolerating the tiny creature, Darcy mused, "Not half bad, Eenie. I kept busy most of the summer, but now I'm glad to be back."
"We is very glad to have you back!" agreed the house-elf labeled Eenie, nodding her head so vigorously her big floppy ears flapped like wings. "And you has brought friends! Friends with bright, bright hair! Who does we has the pleasure to serve?"
Nodding at the two respectively, Darcy introduced Fred and George to Eenie the house-elf. "They're only second-years, so you'll probably end up seeing them a lot in the future."
Eenie was nearly dancing in her delight. "We is so happy to has you, Gred and Forge!"
As Fred opened his mouth to correct the elf, the Prefect quickly whispered, "Just let it go, huh? She'll get really upset if she thinks she's offended you, and you won't be able to come down here for weeks without her sobbing all over your robes." To Eenie, she said, "Do you think you could get me some strawberries and cream? And one of those chocolate eclairs, if you've got any." She seemed to notice Fred and George again. "Oh, and whatever these two want."
"Right away!" Eenie squealed, and the kitchen flew into action once more. The four visitors were directed to the immense fireplace at the back of the kitchen, where a table and chairs had been drug in for their convenience. As the house-elves catered to their every wish, Darcy, Keely, Fred, and George sat down and enjoyed a nice midnight snack.
It was sometime after two when Darcy glanced at her watch and announced, "We'd better get back to bed, Keely. We've got Quidditch practice tomorrow at ten."
A chorus of disappointed groans met them as they rose to their feet and prepared to leave. "You is going so soon?" Eenie queried, looking devastated.
"We've got to get up early tomorrow," said Darcy, by way of apology, "otherwise, we'd stay much longer. But we promise to come back sometime soon, and we'll definitely be coming to visit you after we win our first Quidditch match." They started for the door, with a vast trail of house-elves following behind.
When they reached the portrait, Eenie flung herself once more at the blonde, wrapping her skinny arms around the girl's thigh and squeezing until Darcy was certain she'd lost all circulation to her foot. At last the elf let go. "We will misses you!" she said tearfully.
Darcy produced a warm smile, though the others could tell she was withholding laughter. "Good-bye, Eenie. We'll see you soon."
Stepping out one by one into the corridor once more, the four Gryffindors proceeded to all squeeze under Keely's Invisibility Cloak, and together, they slipped back up to their common room completely unnoticed.
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By the way, in case anyone was confused by Darcy's reference to "Sniffy and Sneaky" as she and Keely left Potions, those are the nicknames that they refer to themselves as when the venture out together after curfew. I don't know if I did a good enough job of making that clear. Darcy is Sniffy, named in honor of her childhood stuffed otter Sniffy (anyone remember that from Chapter One?), and with her Invisibility Cloak, Keely is obviously Sneaky. I debated whether or not to make Darcy an animagus in addition to her Ghost Touch powers, but there were just too many fun plot opportunities for me to not want to make her one. Hopefully this won't sour you to the story either by thinking I'm blessing Darcy with too much. Merlin knows she's already got enough on her plate already!
My warmest regards and thanks in advance to all my lovely reviewers ~ Adele