Hi there again!! Finally after like a whole year I decided to continue writing!! lol but It's not really my fault (I've been so busy with school and all). Umm Thanks to you all who have been reading....I received your reviews!! So without further adieu....I bring you the next chappie!!
Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and I don't claim any of her characters.....etc. etc. etc.
Chapter 12: Things Mended
One mid-October morning, Harry, Ron and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were out on the pitch for their first practice of the year. As they walked out further into the field, the dew that clinged to each blade of grass began to slowly soak through their socks and inbetween their toes. Ron's eyes looked around with much excitement, but Harry noticed that Ron also seemed a bit nervous. Afterall, this was Ron's first practice as captain and Harry knew that Ron wanted nothing more than to show the whole school that he was capable of leading Gryffindor to victory.
"Well, are we ready?" Ron asked his teammates.
Ron had already gone over some new game plans with the team in the dressing room previous to this moment. He and Harry had come up with them the few nights before with Hermione's constant bickering, telling them to finish their homework in the background. To the both of them, being ready for their first game was a lot more important than finishing a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay.
Using Harry's birthday present from Ron (the miniature Quidditch playing field, complete with little players) as a visual aid, they both came up with manageable moves, that could possible help the team win this years Quidditch cup.
"You bet we're ready!" called out Ginny from behind little Annabelle, who stood there, holding her new Nimbus 2002 which she recieved from her brother as a gift for making the team. Annabelle was probabaly more excited than everyone else standing there--Harry could tell from the glint in her eyes and the smile on her face. He too felt the same way during his first year at Hogwarts. To him, it seemed like only yesterday that Oliver Wood was explaining to him the rules of the game. Harry was just remembering the first time he held the Snitch in his hand (how it felt cold and smooth, with its wings brushing against his palm) when Ron began speaking to the team.
"Alright," Ron said. "Our first match is against Slytherin (the team booed).......I know it will be a challenging match, but we can do it!" When Ron said this, everyone cheered and as the moise settled down, Ron spoke again. "Okay, so let's go up there and do it just like I showed you in the dressing room!"
Ron slowly walked over to a rather large, wooden chest, unlocked the hinges and released two balls into the air--the Bludger and Quaffle, while Harry took care of the Snitch. At Ron's command, the team kicked off and began soaring high above the ground.
Since it was pointless to practice with the rest of the team, Harry flew off into his own section of the pitch. While the others were working on their moves, Harry and released the small, golden ball from his hand. The Snitch quickly sped off into the distance and out of Harry's view. As Harry floated in mid-air, he listened intently and watched for the Snitch. Suddenly, there it was--metres away from the closest goal post. Instantly, Harry dove after it, and seconds later, the ball was within Harry's tight grasp. After doing this several times, Harry felt that he had enough practice and descended to the ground, and about half an hour later, the rest of the team joined Harry, feeling rather pleased with their performance.
"Good practice!" Harry called out to the rest of his team mates. "You guys were great up there." And Harry meant it. From only one practice, Harry could tell that the team would do a lot better than last year. Even Ron's goal keeping skills were shaping up. He was no longer a clumsy mess on a broomstick.
Looking at his team mates, Harry noticed that Ron was not amongst them but searching through the stadiums, apparently looking for something or someone.
"Ron, what on earth are you looking for?" Harry asked.
"Oh, um.......where is Hermione?" his ears were turning a shade of pink. "She said she would come and watch us, didn't she?"
"Well, maybe she had something important to do.....I mean, you know Hermione.....she's probably studying or something. Anyways, we'll see her later, she promised that we would all go visit Hagrid together after lunch." Harry assured his friend and began wondering to himself, 'Was Ron acting like this because he really had feelings for Hermione?'
Once changed, Harry and Ron made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. To their surprise, Hermione was already seated at the Gryffindor table. Immediately, Ron rushed over to get the empty seat across from her, leaving Harry, chasing him from behind.
"Oh that's right......you had practice today.......I completely forgot." Hermione was talking to Annabelle as Harry and Ron arrived at the table. "Did you enjoy--"
"So what have you been up to this morning, Hermione?" Ron inturrupted their converstaion as he sat down.
"Oh......hi guys," Hermione greeted Harry and Ron. "Nothing really," she replied. "I was just in the library."
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "What have you been doing in there!!......You just missed our first Quidditch practice."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked with a shocked and somewhat hurt expression. "I have NOT been in the library that much!" she said defensively.
"Um.......Hermione," Harry began. "That's not really true you know.........last night, you were in there for an hour........and at lunch a few days ago.........and--"
"Oh alright, I suppose you're right."
"Well, me and Ron just want to know what you have been doing in there." Harry said.
"Fine, I'll tell you." Hermione took a deep breath as if revealing some deep secret. "The reason I have been in the library is because I have been with Artemis......."
"You WHAT?" Ron blurted out.
"You didn't let me finish, Ron........I've been helping him with some Transfiguration homework........that's all."
"And what exactly does a Katherine Cackles student need help with? They're supposed to be the smartest students in all of England!" Ron questioned, seeming a little irritated.
"Well, you should know! Or don't tell me you're not finding Transfiguation much more difficult this year! He just asked me to help him out a little......and why should you two care?.....I Help you out all the time!"
Ron opened his mouth as if to continue the arguement, but thought otherwise. "Okay, fine," Ron said. He began eating, yet Harry noticed that both Ron and Hermione didn't speak to each other that much for the remainder of the meal and left Harry to do most of the talking.
Upon finishing lunch, the trio exited the Great Hall and was now walking through the castle grounds towards Hagrid's hut, with Ron still rather quiet. As they approached the large hut, they saw that the giant pumpkins Hagrid was growing were even bigger now. Harry knocked on the front door and from within all three of them heard a loud crash.
"Gimme a second," came Hagrid's voice from within.
"I wonder what that noise was," Harry asked his friends, and they both shrugged their shoulders to show that they didn't know.
Finally, Hagrid opened the door and welcomed the three of them. "Er, sorry 'bout that--Would you two stop breaking things!!" Hagrid turned his head and spoke to something in the other direction, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione confused. "Well, come on in," Hagrid said and each of them entered Hagrid's large house hold.
"Hargid," Hermione began, as she took a seat. "What was that loud crash?"
"Oh, that..... well I seem to have picked up a couple o' visitors. They jus' appeared one day searchin' through my garbage."
A familiar light struck Harry's mind and he glanced at Hermione. Even Ron broke out of his quiet state and minutes later, they found out why. "Look!" Ron exclaimed.
Harry and Hermione both turned their heads in the direction that Ron was pointing. There they saw two small creatures with blue hair--both identical. "Geminus and Gemellus!" Harry shouted.
"You know 'em?" Hagrid asked surprised.
"Yes, we met them in the summer!" Hermione added.
Both the twins were on the floor, appearing to be putting broken pieces of a large plate back together--the plate that had caused the large crash.
Hagrid continued speaking, "I jus' found 'em one day lookin' through my hut, makin' this big mess......I let 'em stay for a while.........They're funny little creatures eh?.....I wanna show them to my third year students"
"They might enjoy that," Harry said remembering his past experiences with Hagrid's class--Blast-ended Skrewts, Hippogriffs, and so on.
"Why hello again kind humans!" came a squeaky voice. "We meet again." Geminus smiled at Harry while Gemillus handed Hagrid the plate.
"But....Hagrid--the plate--its......Fixed" Ron said, surprised.
"O' course it's fixed!....these two seem to have some sort of magic in 'em.....they've been breaking and fixing things ever since they got here."
"That's right," Hermione said. "Remember how they fixed that broken picture frame in your room at Grimmauld Place?"
Harry, like Ron had forgotten that up till now and like a bolt of lightning, it hit him. Harry reached into his robe pocket and carefully took out the broken pieces of Sirius' mirror. Would these two creatures be able to fix the mirror?
"And how has Mr. Harry Potter been since we've seen him last?" the twins asked.
"Um.....I've been all right i guess," Harry said. "I was wondering.....would you two be able to fix this mirror that I broke?" He laid the shards of glass on the floor for the twins to examine.
Right away, the two creatures walked over to the spot where the glass lay. They looked at the broken mirror and smiled. "We shall try just for Mr. Harry," they said brightly.
The two started working meticulously on the mirror, yet Harry didn't see them making any progress. The mirror was still broken into four pieces. 'I knew it wouldn't work' Harry thought to himself. Harry was just about to give up on it all when a flash of bright blue light--brighter than the two creatures' hair--began emanating from the mirror. "Wh-what's going on?" Harry asked.
"Shhh," Hermione whispered and pointed towards the light.
Harry looked to find the pieces of glass were glowing now, brighter than ever and one by one began to float slightly, about two feet above the floor. It was an amazing sight, as slowly the pieces began forming together. Once the mirror became whole, it gave one last burst of blue light before slowly coming back to the floor and landing gently with a soft thud.
Quickly, Harry rushed over to the floor where the mirror lay. He couldn't believe it as he carefully picked up the mirror. It was fixed, as if never broken. Turning to Geminus and Gemellus , Harry began to speak. "I--I can't believe you fixed it!.....I mean, we tried everthing and nothing worked, but now.....you did it!"
The two looked at Harry, proud of their efforts, smiling. "Why, anything for Mr. Potter and his friends!.....and now we believe our debt to you has been repayed and we must be leaving you, kind Haggy!"
"What did they call you?" Ron asked almost laughing at the strange name given to Hagrid..
"Oh never mind that," Hagrid replied brushing off the subject. "What do yeh mean yer leavin'? I thought yeh wanted to stay." Hagrid seemed hurt that they didn't wish to stay any longer.
"Well, we only came to Hogwarts to find Mr. Harry and his friends....we needed to repay them for the beans, before returning back home.....now that we have found them, we can leave."
"Oh, well if yer sure you don't want to stay," Hagrid began. "Then it's best you be off." Yet Harry knew that Hagrid wanted more than anything for the twins to stay. Hagrid had always took a shining to strange creatures--no matter what they were.
"Good bye then every one......until we meet again!" and with that the two creatures waved their small arms and scurried out the back door--out of view and out of Harry's life forever.
That night in his room, Harry, Ron and Hermione examined the mirror. Harry could not believe that within seconds, he would be able to communicate to Lupin.
"Well, here it goes," Harry took a deep breath and spoke into the mirror. "Um...can I speak to Remus Lupin.....please."
"I think it's working," Harry exclaimed as the image of his face in the mirror became blurry and soon, he was no longer looking back at his reflection, but what appeared to be a ceiling. From this, Harry could tell that Lupin's mirror was lying on a table, face-up. "Is anybody there?" Harry spoke. There was no answer and after a few idyll minutes, the ceiling blurred and Harry's reflection returned. "Well, I guess he wasn't there."
"At least we know that it works Harry," Hermione said.
"That's true," Ron added. "You can try again later."
Harry smiled at Ron, yet he was disappointed. In his heart, he really wished to speak to Lupin. He needed to know if there was any more news on Voldemort. Was Harry still safe at Hogwarts or was Voldemort getting closer to Harry's defeat?
Well....that's it for now i guess. Sorry if it's not really good....I'm still trying to get back into the whole writing thing lol....Please Review it!....If you have any ideas, I'm always open to the suggestion!....Thanks again!