A/N: It's my first A/N! Thanks to every1 who has reviewed! ( (( So here's
another chapter! Enjoy!
CHAPTER 21
"Come on or you'll miss the train!" Mrs Weasley called up the stairs the next morning. They trudged down; to find that it was just Mrs Weasley in the kitchen. "The others are at the ministry." She said.
"How are we getting there?" Ron asked. "Where're Fred and George?"
"We're getting there the same way we got back. Fred and George have gone to find Bagman I think."
"They're a bit silly." Hermione said. "To have time off when Hogwarts students are in diagonally, then go back when Hogwarts students are at school."
"Yes, well that's what they're talking to Bagman about." Said Mrs Weasley. "Well I really didn't think a joke shop could get so much money! Oh look at the time! We'd better be off!"
So an hour later they arrived at platform 9 ¾ to find the scarlet steam train ready to board. They managed to find a compartment to themselves and settled themselves down there, waving to Mrs Weasley as the train began to move five minutes later. There was a knock on the compartment door and a girl with long blond curly hair came in. "Hi," she smiled. "Can we sit here?" She was with a small girl and boy with the same blond hair.
"Yeah, sure." Said Harry and the two girls entered.
"Oh hello Scarlett!" Ginny said as she came in.
"Hi." Smiled the girl. "This is my brother Timothy, and my sister Verisa." She gestured at the boy and girl she was with.
"I'm in Ravenclaw." She said catching Harry and Ron's puzzled looks. "Fifth year." She added.
"Oh you must be with Luna Lovegood then," Ron said.
"Yes, I am." Said the girl. "I'm not too fond of her, but she's alright. You should see what the others do to her! They're always taking her stuff and hiding it. It's just because she's odd. They're not very kind."
"That's true." Said Ginny. "I do feel sorry for her."
There was another tap on the compartment door and another small girl came. First year by the look of her. She had dark brown hair and very dark eyes. "Hello, is Verisa here?"
"Hello!" Squealed Scarlett's sister Verisa. The girl with dark hair came in and sat down. Ron coughed loudly, but the two girls started chatting about their Christmas.
There was another knock and a third girl entered; this one had reddish blond curly hair not unlike Marietta Edgecomb's. "Hello?" She said, "I'm Mandy Edgecomb. "Oh hello Verisa, hello Angela!" She came in uninvited and sat down. Ron groaned loudly. Scarlett looked over at him apologetically, then bend down to whisper something in her sister's ear.
"Oh Scarlett, I don't want to go away!" She moaned.
Scarlett had a prefect badge shining on her robes. It seemed her sister had caught sight of this, because she and her friends left the compartment. "So that's Marietta's sister?" Hermione asked Scarlett.
"Yes," said Scarlett. "She's friends with Verisa." Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny talked to Scarlett until the train screeched to a halt at Hogsmeade, and they travelled back to the castle. Harry could not see Ingrid or her brother though.
Luna Lovegood glided over to great them. "Hello. Nice day isn't it?" It wasn't really. There was still some frost on the grass, but it was bitterly cold and windy. "I didn't feel it at all." She said.
"Er, what?" Harry asked stupidly before he realised she was talking about the dreams a lot of the wizarding world's population had been having over Christmas. "Oh, right. Did you have a good Christmas?"
"No, not really." She replied. "I actually preferred it at home last year. We went to Iceland." She shrugged and walked off. Harry watched her pause under an apple tree; he remembered what Hermione had told him about talking to her.
Ron came galloping over. "Hey Luna! Why didn't you tell us you were a Skelthirophus?"
"Who said I was?" Luna inquired glaring at Ron.
"Anna Chang." Said Ron.
"Oh." Said Luna. "I wouldn't believe a word she says if I were you."
"Why?" Harry, Ron and Hermione asked her.
"Just don't trust her."
Scarlett had just arrived and was watching the conversation with interest. "My sister knows her and she told me she's really weird."
"Oh I wouldn't say that." Said Hermione gazing over at Anna. "But there is something odd about her. I would say she's getting odder. You know, when you look at her carefully, she doesn't look at all like Sirius."
Ginny came over as well. "Look behind you." She hissed in Harry's ear. Harry turned to see Professor McGonnagal come sweeping over to him, holding down her hat to stop it blowing off her head.
"Oh there you are Potter." She said.
Harry thought he knew what was coming. "Professor, it was an emergency! If I hadn't she might have been really hurt..."
"Oh, we're not pressing charges for that magic you used over the holidays." She smiled. "No, I wanted to talk to you about that dream. You too." She said looking at Luna.
"Oh, I don't think you need to..." Began Luna.
"Yes, it's important." Said Professor McGonnagal. Harry could see the group of students behind her. "I'm talking to everyone. Come on." So the group of students followed her up to the castle. Harry caught sight of Neville and made his way over to him.
"Oh hello Harry." Said Neville. "This is a bit like those thestral things isn't it? It only happened if you've seen someone die."
"Yeah, that's true." Said Harry, but he was scanning the crowd for faces he recognised. He was surprised to see that Anna Chang was not amongst them. He caught sight of her over by a large toadstool, fingering the blue spots. "Anna!" He called. "Why aren't you..."
"Oh, I never liked Regulus." Said Anna quickly. "So I didn't have that dream."
Harry smiled at her. But as they reached a spare classroom, he realised how odd this was. Anna had never mentioned her real father before to Harry. Was it possible that she knew what Harry had found out over Christmas?
"Well, I believe you were all affected by..." Professor McGonnagal began.
"Not me." Luna announced.
"Well, it affected some of us more than others." Continued Professor McGonnagal, looking rather annoyed by the interruption. "And, yes what is it?" She was glaring at Ingrid who had her hand up.
"How come I was affected by it, but my brother wasn't?
"I've just answered that question from Miss Lovegood. So, what we must make sure, is..."
"Why did it happen though?" Inquired Terry Boot, a sixth year Ravenclaw at the back of the classroom.
"Well, what Professor Dumbledore believes, is that... he who must not be named caused it. Why, we have no idea."
"But you must have some idea!" Called Terry Boot again.
"Well we don't." Snapped Professor McGonnagal. "But, we need to be prepared in case it happens again. It can be fatal, and someone almost died from it..."
"Who?" Asked a bunch of seventh years.
"If I am interrupted again I will deduct house points! But, if it does happen again, you all must remember that it is just your imagination. You must not dwell on it, which is what he wants to happen. I repeat, it is your imagination. You may go. Dumbledore is doing all he can to prevent it happening again."
They left the classroom, everyone talking about the dream, and discussing why Voldermort would want to do it. Harry caught sight of Piers, with his head down, and working his way through the crowd. With Luna close behind him, he pushed through the gaggle of students to Piers. "I wouldn't push them like that. You might ruin your hair." Said Luna coldly.
Piers looked up. Before he could reply, Harry spoke. "Who did you see die?" He asked quickly.
Piers drew his eyes from Luna to stare at Harry. He said nothing and continued walking.
He entered the common room that night to find it almost empty, it was getting late. Harry got into bed, looking over at Hagrid's cabin. He felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't visited him yet that day. He closed his eyes and found himself thinking about Firenze. Was he still at Hogwarts? Professor Trelawny had her job back, so the chances of that were unlikely. But could he be in the forest? He'd try and find out tomorrow.
Harry had completely forgotten about this over the next few days, with their Quidditch match against Hufflepuff rapidly approaching, on top of all their homework. He woke on Thursday morning to find that Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus were already up and in the process of getting dressed. Dennis Creevey's head appeared from the doorway. "Come on!" He squealed. Harry frowned. What? Was there a new quidditch match Harry didn't know about? Dumbledore was out for the day, so probably not. He too got dressed descended the stairs to the common room. He had got a quarter of the way down however, when the stairs melted to form a red slide, exactly the same as the one Fred and George had put in Grimmauld Place.
The many students in the common room cheered as Harry got to his feet at the bottom. Hermione was in the corner, looking very disapproving. "It's so dangerous!" She snapped. "I told her not too, but..."
Ingrid came over to them. "Hi." She smiled. "They're good aren't they?" Two second years had just come down the girls one. "I was going to put them in the entrance hall, but I thought Professor McGonnagal would... Oh look!"
A seventh year prefect came down, frowning and dusting his robes as he got to his feet. Harry grinned as he looked down at his robes and let out a yell. "My badge! My badge! It's scratched!" The seventh year stormed out. "Wait till McGonnagal hears!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione spent so much time in the common room, they completely forgot that potions started five minutes ago. So Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to the potions classroom to find that it was in full swing. "You're late." Snape said coldly.
"It was a slide-" Harry began but Snape ignore him.
"But it was." Came Parvati's voice. "There's a big red slide in the common room."
"It appears, story telling runs in Gryffindor house." Snape hissed as Malfoy and Piers turned in their seats to smirk at Harry. "Today we will be doing a colouring draft." He turned and began writing on the board.
Harry's colouring draft was not the shimmering colour changing liquid that Hermione had produced, but he had scraped an E on his homework, which boosted his spirits. "Harry!" Hissed Hermione. "What are you doing?"
Harry stared at her; he was in the process of cutting up daisy roots. "Oh, yeah." He pushed the daisy roots aside and turned to his salamander skin.
"Potter?" Said Snape. "What on earth is this?"
Harry glared and said nothing. Snape did this every potions lesson. "A useless mess." Harry muttered, loosing his temper. Unfortunately, Snape heard him.
"You might as well start this again." Snape snapped. "And I want another essay on a colouring draft from you." He swept down to Malfoy and Piers. "Oh excellent!" He drawled and Malfoy smirked.
Harry was furious. "It wasn't as bad as last time!" He snapped glaring at his empty cauldron as though it were the source of his distress.
Hermione however, smiled. "Here," she said, ladling some of her own potion into his cauldron and putting an enlargement charm on it.
Harry grinned at her. "Thanks Hermione." He said.
CHAPTER 21
"Come on or you'll miss the train!" Mrs Weasley called up the stairs the next morning. They trudged down; to find that it was just Mrs Weasley in the kitchen. "The others are at the ministry." She said.
"How are we getting there?" Ron asked. "Where're Fred and George?"
"We're getting there the same way we got back. Fred and George have gone to find Bagman I think."
"They're a bit silly." Hermione said. "To have time off when Hogwarts students are in diagonally, then go back when Hogwarts students are at school."
"Yes, well that's what they're talking to Bagman about." Said Mrs Weasley. "Well I really didn't think a joke shop could get so much money! Oh look at the time! We'd better be off!"
So an hour later they arrived at platform 9 ¾ to find the scarlet steam train ready to board. They managed to find a compartment to themselves and settled themselves down there, waving to Mrs Weasley as the train began to move five minutes later. There was a knock on the compartment door and a girl with long blond curly hair came in. "Hi," she smiled. "Can we sit here?" She was with a small girl and boy with the same blond hair.
"Yeah, sure." Said Harry and the two girls entered.
"Oh hello Scarlett!" Ginny said as she came in.
"Hi." Smiled the girl. "This is my brother Timothy, and my sister Verisa." She gestured at the boy and girl she was with.
"I'm in Ravenclaw." She said catching Harry and Ron's puzzled looks. "Fifth year." She added.
"Oh you must be with Luna Lovegood then," Ron said.
"Yes, I am." Said the girl. "I'm not too fond of her, but she's alright. You should see what the others do to her! They're always taking her stuff and hiding it. It's just because she's odd. They're not very kind."
"That's true." Said Ginny. "I do feel sorry for her."
There was another tap on the compartment door and another small girl came. First year by the look of her. She had dark brown hair and very dark eyes. "Hello, is Verisa here?"
"Hello!" Squealed Scarlett's sister Verisa. The girl with dark hair came in and sat down. Ron coughed loudly, but the two girls started chatting about their Christmas.
There was another knock and a third girl entered; this one had reddish blond curly hair not unlike Marietta Edgecomb's. "Hello?" She said, "I'm Mandy Edgecomb. "Oh hello Verisa, hello Angela!" She came in uninvited and sat down. Ron groaned loudly. Scarlett looked over at him apologetically, then bend down to whisper something in her sister's ear.
"Oh Scarlett, I don't want to go away!" She moaned.
Scarlett had a prefect badge shining on her robes. It seemed her sister had caught sight of this, because she and her friends left the compartment. "So that's Marietta's sister?" Hermione asked Scarlett.
"Yes," said Scarlett. "She's friends with Verisa." Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny talked to Scarlett until the train screeched to a halt at Hogsmeade, and they travelled back to the castle. Harry could not see Ingrid or her brother though.
Luna Lovegood glided over to great them. "Hello. Nice day isn't it?" It wasn't really. There was still some frost on the grass, but it was bitterly cold and windy. "I didn't feel it at all." She said.
"Er, what?" Harry asked stupidly before he realised she was talking about the dreams a lot of the wizarding world's population had been having over Christmas. "Oh, right. Did you have a good Christmas?"
"No, not really." She replied. "I actually preferred it at home last year. We went to Iceland." She shrugged and walked off. Harry watched her pause under an apple tree; he remembered what Hermione had told him about talking to her.
Ron came galloping over. "Hey Luna! Why didn't you tell us you were a Skelthirophus?"
"Who said I was?" Luna inquired glaring at Ron.
"Anna Chang." Said Ron.
"Oh." Said Luna. "I wouldn't believe a word she says if I were you."
"Why?" Harry, Ron and Hermione asked her.
"Just don't trust her."
Scarlett had just arrived and was watching the conversation with interest. "My sister knows her and she told me she's really weird."
"Oh I wouldn't say that." Said Hermione gazing over at Anna. "But there is something odd about her. I would say she's getting odder. You know, when you look at her carefully, she doesn't look at all like Sirius."
Ginny came over as well. "Look behind you." She hissed in Harry's ear. Harry turned to see Professor McGonnagal come sweeping over to him, holding down her hat to stop it blowing off her head.
"Oh there you are Potter." She said.
Harry thought he knew what was coming. "Professor, it was an emergency! If I hadn't she might have been really hurt..."
"Oh, we're not pressing charges for that magic you used over the holidays." She smiled. "No, I wanted to talk to you about that dream. You too." She said looking at Luna.
"Oh, I don't think you need to..." Began Luna.
"Yes, it's important." Said Professor McGonnagal. Harry could see the group of students behind her. "I'm talking to everyone. Come on." So the group of students followed her up to the castle. Harry caught sight of Neville and made his way over to him.
"Oh hello Harry." Said Neville. "This is a bit like those thestral things isn't it? It only happened if you've seen someone die."
"Yeah, that's true." Said Harry, but he was scanning the crowd for faces he recognised. He was surprised to see that Anna Chang was not amongst them. He caught sight of her over by a large toadstool, fingering the blue spots. "Anna!" He called. "Why aren't you..."
"Oh, I never liked Regulus." Said Anna quickly. "So I didn't have that dream."
Harry smiled at her. But as they reached a spare classroom, he realised how odd this was. Anna had never mentioned her real father before to Harry. Was it possible that she knew what Harry had found out over Christmas?
"Well, I believe you were all affected by..." Professor McGonnagal began.
"Not me." Luna announced.
"Well, it affected some of us more than others." Continued Professor McGonnagal, looking rather annoyed by the interruption. "And, yes what is it?" She was glaring at Ingrid who had her hand up.
"How come I was affected by it, but my brother wasn't?
"I've just answered that question from Miss Lovegood. So, what we must make sure, is..."
"Why did it happen though?" Inquired Terry Boot, a sixth year Ravenclaw at the back of the classroom.
"Well, what Professor Dumbledore believes, is that... he who must not be named caused it. Why, we have no idea."
"But you must have some idea!" Called Terry Boot again.
"Well we don't." Snapped Professor McGonnagal. "But, we need to be prepared in case it happens again. It can be fatal, and someone almost died from it..."
"Who?" Asked a bunch of seventh years.
"If I am interrupted again I will deduct house points! But, if it does happen again, you all must remember that it is just your imagination. You must not dwell on it, which is what he wants to happen. I repeat, it is your imagination. You may go. Dumbledore is doing all he can to prevent it happening again."
They left the classroom, everyone talking about the dream, and discussing why Voldermort would want to do it. Harry caught sight of Piers, with his head down, and working his way through the crowd. With Luna close behind him, he pushed through the gaggle of students to Piers. "I wouldn't push them like that. You might ruin your hair." Said Luna coldly.
Piers looked up. Before he could reply, Harry spoke. "Who did you see die?" He asked quickly.
Piers drew his eyes from Luna to stare at Harry. He said nothing and continued walking.
He entered the common room that night to find it almost empty, it was getting late. Harry got into bed, looking over at Hagrid's cabin. He felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't visited him yet that day. He closed his eyes and found himself thinking about Firenze. Was he still at Hogwarts? Professor Trelawny had her job back, so the chances of that were unlikely. But could he be in the forest? He'd try and find out tomorrow.
Harry had completely forgotten about this over the next few days, with their Quidditch match against Hufflepuff rapidly approaching, on top of all their homework. He woke on Thursday morning to find that Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus were already up and in the process of getting dressed. Dennis Creevey's head appeared from the doorway. "Come on!" He squealed. Harry frowned. What? Was there a new quidditch match Harry didn't know about? Dumbledore was out for the day, so probably not. He too got dressed descended the stairs to the common room. He had got a quarter of the way down however, when the stairs melted to form a red slide, exactly the same as the one Fred and George had put in Grimmauld Place.
The many students in the common room cheered as Harry got to his feet at the bottom. Hermione was in the corner, looking very disapproving. "It's so dangerous!" She snapped. "I told her not too, but..."
Ingrid came over to them. "Hi." She smiled. "They're good aren't they?" Two second years had just come down the girls one. "I was going to put them in the entrance hall, but I thought Professor McGonnagal would... Oh look!"
A seventh year prefect came down, frowning and dusting his robes as he got to his feet. Harry grinned as he looked down at his robes and let out a yell. "My badge! My badge! It's scratched!" The seventh year stormed out. "Wait till McGonnagal hears!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione spent so much time in the common room, they completely forgot that potions started five minutes ago. So Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to the potions classroom to find that it was in full swing. "You're late." Snape said coldly.
"It was a slide-" Harry began but Snape ignore him.
"But it was." Came Parvati's voice. "There's a big red slide in the common room."
"It appears, story telling runs in Gryffindor house." Snape hissed as Malfoy and Piers turned in their seats to smirk at Harry. "Today we will be doing a colouring draft." He turned and began writing on the board.
Harry's colouring draft was not the shimmering colour changing liquid that Hermione had produced, but he had scraped an E on his homework, which boosted his spirits. "Harry!" Hissed Hermione. "What are you doing?"
Harry stared at her; he was in the process of cutting up daisy roots. "Oh, yeah." He pushed the daisy roots aside and turned to his salamander skin.
"Potter?" Said Snape. "What on earth is this?"
Harry glared and said nothing. Snape did this every potions lesson. "A useless mess." Harry muttered, loosing his temper. Unfortunately, Snape heard him.
"You might as well start this again." Snape snapped. "And I want another essay on a colouring draft from you." He swept down to Malfoy and Piers. "Oh excellent!" He drawled and Malfoy smirked.
Harry was furious. "It wasn't as bad as last time!" He snapped glaring at his empty cauldron as though it were the source of his distress.
Hermione however, smiled. "Here," she said, ladling some of her own potion into his cauldron and putting an enlargement charm on it.
Harry grinned at her. "Thanks Hermione." He said.