Harry looked around his dorm to see whether or not anyone else was up after he rubbed the remaining sleep from his eyes. Terry was tangled up in his sheets, which were in a terrible state from a night's worth of tossing and turning. Eric looked like he was about a minute away from falling off of his bed entirely. Gary seemed to be dreaming about something strange, as he would occasionally bat at thin air. Solieyu, Harry noted, wasn't in bed.
Wondering where on earth his friend could possibly be at six in the morning, Harry quietly left the dorm and headed down to the common room. As he walked, Harry thought about his pale friend a bit more than he had since meeting him. There was no doubt that the boy looked a bit shy of ill, though he never seemed to show any signs of sickness. Harry knew that his health certainly wasn't as good as any of the other students - Solieyu himself had said that at one point.
He had looked quite full of energy the previous day in History of
Magic, though. But, Harry concluded, Solieyu HAD gone to see Madam
Pomfrey before class had started. There was something decidedly
awkward about his friend, though he wasn't quite sure what it was.
The boy seemed to shy away from public places, choosing to study
on his own up in the dorm than to stay in the common room with
everyone else. Even after Tonks had asked him to hang around and
play a game of Exploding Snap - something that had intrigued Harry
quite a bit...until he wound up with a face full of soot - Solieyu
had excused himself.
Running a hand back through his hair, Harry figured he'd ask Tonks what she thought the next chance that he got. Maybe she had been able to get some information out of Solieyu. Harry wasn't even sure why he was so bugged by his friend's behavior - for all he knew, Solieyu just had a bad immune system or something. But bug him it did, and he wanted to put to rest the tiny voice in the back of his mind that kept throwing questions out.
Not surprisingly, the common room was empty when he arrived. Walking over to one of the room's few windows, Harry gazed outside. The sun was up, though only just, casting vibrant hues of orange and yellow across the school grounds. Harry wished that he could have gone and relaxed out by the lake instead of being forced down into the dungeons for a class that included Draco Malfoy. But fate was fate, and it seemed to enjoy toying with him.
Figuring to get an early start on breakfast, Harry headed through the arched entrance to the common room and bid a good morning to Walter. The portrait swung open lazily, allowing Harry to walk on out and greet the old wizard properly. "I hope I didn't wake you up..." Harry said, watching Walter let out a long yawn.
The wizard waved an old hand dismissively, offering Harry a somewhat sleepy smile. "Not at all, not at all. I'm surprised to see you up at this hour, though."
"Couldn't sleep. My first Potions class is today... and from all of the rumors I've heard, Professor Snape isn't exactly the cheerful type." Harry explained.
"Ah, yes... I'm afraid that Severus has always been that way. Before I was moved to this position, my portrait hung in the hospital wing.Sadly enough, Severus seemed to show up more than his fair share." Walter said, stroking his long beard slowly. "But I'm sure I've said a bit too much. Shall I assume you're going down to eat?"
Before Harry could say anything, however, his stomach let out a low growl. Both Harry and Walter looked at the boy's misection for a moment before Harry smiled apologetically. "I guess I am headed there, then..." He said. "Will you let Tonks know? Oh, and Leon, if you see him?"
"Of course." Walter said, stretching and wincing a bit as various bones popped and cracked. "Though it's been a good three hours since I let Mister Reinhardt out..."
"Three?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow. "What did he want out at three in the morning for?"
"Ahh, I believe he said that he was feeling a bit under the weather and was wanting to go see Madam Pomfrey." Walter said, tilting his head slightly in thought. "Perhaps whatever she gave to him helped him get back to sleep... in any case, I'll be sure to tell your friends where you've gone."
"Thanks." Harry said, smiling crookedly. "Have a good day, Walter!"
"And to you as well, Mister Potter." Said the portrait.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
As Harry headed for the main stairway, his brain returned to wondering what was wrong with his friend. He had hoped to put the thoughts to rest - at least until his Potions class was out of the way and he had some time to relax. But they didn't want to stay away. What Walter had said seemed interesting to Harry. Maybe the reason that his friend always seemed to sickly was due to a simple lack of sleep. Harry had once fell ill after a particularly painful happening back at Number Four... he hadn't been able to sleep properly for days. It had left him looking rather drained and kept him moving slugishly.
Sighing, Harry pushed the thoughts away. He had reached the main stairway and was descending, the thought of breakfast forcing his brain to prioritize things a bit more efficiently. When he entered the Great Hall, he saw that he was one of only a handful of people there. Professor Dumbledore was sitting at the staff table, looking over an important-looking document as he chatted away with a witch that Harry had only seen once before during the start-of-term feast. There were a pair of Hufflepuff students - fifth or sixth years from the look of it - at their table, and a single Gryffindor was taking up the space of a couple people as he stretched his legs out.
Though there wasn't food on the tables yet, the smell of breakfast seemed to be coming from somewhere. Taking it into account and filing the detail away, Harry walked to the Ravenclaw table and took his usual spot toward the end of it. For the next half hour, Harry was alone with his thoughts. The only sounds came from the two Hufflepuffs, who seemed to be talking about Quidditch.
As seven creeped closer, food began magically appearing across the various tables in the Great Hall. Students were soon drifting in, as well. Some looking half-asleep, some looking nervous, and some looking outright cranky. A lanky, sixth year Ravenclaw boy came striding in after holding the door open for a pair of first year Gryffindor girls. Harry recognized him as Ray Gainsborough, the Keeper for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Steven Lynch, who was the head Chaser for the team, had introduced Harry to the other team members the previous night after everyone had returned from dinner and various late-night classes. It was nice putting faces to the names that the team captain had told Harry shortly after meeting him.
"Mornin' Harry." Ray said in a polite tone as he passed. Harry nodded and smiled to him, watching as he picked a spot further up the table to sit. There were three girls and four boys on their team, including him. Steven had gathered them all together, insisting that the common room be as close to empty as possible before letting everyone in on the secret. Though shocked, the other members of the Quidditch team had slowly began sizing Harry up as Steven explained why he would be playing for them.
Ellie Shott, one of the two Beaters, had seemed to pay the least attention to Steven, instead choosing to gaze at the teen throughout most of his speech. Harry couldn't shake the feeling that she fancied him. The other Beater was the chunky boy who had thrown a roll at him the previous night, a fourth year by the name of Timothy Ratchett. He helped Steven sell the story of how keen Harry's reflexes were.
The two other Chasers on the team were a pair of girls - a sixth year named Carol Allenby and a fourth year named Melissa Tracer. The former had wildly unkempt brown hair, making it look as if she and Harry went to the same barber shop. Melissa, on the other hand, seemed almost shy to be introduced to Harry, who had just nodded to everyone as Steven pointed them out. And then Ray was their Keeper and was a quiet, yet quite polite sixth year who was quite possibly the tallest person in the whole of Ravenclaw.
As Harry began filling his poor, empty stomach, more of the Quidditch team members filed in, each greeting Harry quickly as they passed by. After awhile, an almost disheveled-looking Tonks came wandering into the Great Hall, her hair long and pink this morning. She flopped down beside Harry and began mumbling about needing something sweet to wake her up properly. Harry rolled his eyes and helped her get food onto her plate without knocking anything over. Tonks seemed to vary between being a morning person and being the type that's completely useless before they get food into them. Harry wasn't quite sure why.
Toward the end of breakfast, when Tonks had finally gotten herself
fully awake, Solieyu slipped in. Sitting down opposite Harry and Tonks,
he
looked at Harry and murmured, "Keep a close eye on Malfoy today, Harry.
I caught him bragging to a couple of older Slytherins on my
way down."
"So what else is new?" Tonks grumbled through a mouthful of egg.
"He seems to think he's superior to you since you didn't show up for the duel he challenged you to." Solieyu explained.
Harry rolled his eyes. "He thinks he's superior to everyone. I don't care what the idiot says."
"Yes, well... just the same, keep your eyes open." Solieyu said, looking around before taking a goblet and peering at its contents for a moment. Almost in a trance for a moment, he finally looked back to Harry and added, "You were up early this morning."
"Huh? How'd you know?" Harry asked, patting Tonks on the back after a gulp of pumpkin juice went down the wrong way.
"Walter told me." Solieyu said simply, taking a more sensible drink.
"You're one to talk." Harry said as Tonks recovered. "He said you went out at three."
"Mm..." Solieyu replied, gazing down at the table. Harry followed his gaze and found it resting on a rather sizable bit of ham, which was cut into slices of varying thicknesses.
"Hungry?" Harry asked.
"Hm? Oh, no... no, I haven't been feeling well this morning... it's why I was out in the middle of the night." Solieyu said, pulling his gaze away from the meat with a grimace. With a barely audible sigh, he took a sip of pumpkin juice. "Madam Pomfrey tricked me into taking a sleeping potion. I suppose I should be glad that I was able to go and get my supplies for Potions and get down here before breakfast was over..."
Filing away the strange look on his friend's face a moment before, Harry nodded. "I didn't sleep well for awhile a few years ago. It made me all pale and weak and stuff for a few days... hope you get to feeling better."
Solieyu offered up a faint smile in return, though Harry was running over various things in his mind even as he spoke. He was looking at a puzzle that was missing most of its pieces... he didn't like that.
"Not feeling up to eating anything?" Tonks asked, being slightly more careful with her food and drink now.
"I ate up in the hospital wing..." Solieyu said offhandedly.
"Didn't know Madam Pomfrey let students eat up there." Tonks said, an eyebrow raised.
"Eh? Oh, I... I mean she gave me a couple of potions to take to help ward off the effects of the sleeping potion. Unfortunately, one of the side effects was to kill my already meager appetite... I'm sorry, I guess I'm still not altogether here today..." Solieyu said with what could have been a scowl.
"Ahh..." Said Tonks, finishing off a piece of toast. "Oi, Harry, what were you doin' up so early? Walter said you left around daybreak.
What on earth wouldja wanna crawl outta bed that early for?"
Harry shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Too busy wondering whether all of the rumors about Professor Snape are true of not..."
"Well, he's certainly not gonna run up an' give ya a welcoming hug, if that's whatcha mean." Tonks said, glancing up at the staff table for a brief moment. At some point, Snape had slipped in and was quietly eating, casting the occasional glare toward Professor Quirrell, who looked as nervous as he ever did.
"I'd turn and run if he tried." Harry said with a chuckle.
"Yes, you seem quite good at running." Came an annoyingly familiar voice from nearby. "I see that you still had the nerve to show up after backing out of our duel last night, Potter."
"And a good morning to you too, Malfoy." Harry said, dryly. "I've got better things to do than wander all over the castle in the dead of night, looking for you."
"Cowering in your common room, were you?" Said Draco Malfoy, looking cockier than ever. "I can't say as I blame you, though... I AM a force to be reckoned with..."
Crabbe and Goyle, who were flanking their leader as usual, let out dumb laughs at this. Draco flashed them, then the Slytherin table a grin.
"I don't cower, Malfoy." Harry said. Looking briefly to Tonks, he grinned and added, "Not anymore. Now, if you'll be so kind as to find your own table, I'd like to get back to eating. You do know the way, don't you? I can get a professor to help guide you, if you'd like..."
As Tonks flushed slightly, Malfoy seemed to as well. Narrowing his eyes, the blonde growled, "You ought to watch your mouth, Potter. If my father were here..."
"He'd what? Protecting his ickle Drakiekins from big, bad Harry Potter?" Tonks said, clasping her hands together and batting her eyelashes as she fell into a sickeningly-accurate imitation of Draco (right down to hairstyle and eyecolor) as she whimpered, "Daddy! Harry Potter's smarter than I am, go beat him uuuuuup!"
Of course, her voice was loud enough that the better portion of the general area could overhear. As Tonks changed her hair and eyes back to what they had been upon her entrance, she smirked as a smattering of hushed laughter filled the air. If looks could kill, Tonks would have been dead on the spot. Instead choosing to hiss out a warning to watch her back, Malfoy turned and tried to casually saunter over toward the Slytherin table. Of course, this only made several students snicker louder.
"Git." Harry murmured. "Honestly, what's he trying to do? Defeat me by trying to hurt my feelings?"
"It wouldn't hurt to pay attention to his warning, though." Solieyu said softly. "His father is rather powerful... as he could very well be."
"Oh, don't worry. He couldn't hurt a fly if his pathetic life depended on it. He went down from one punch - what's he gonna do? Bleed on us?" Tonks said, shivering as she took a drink of pumpkin juice. "And while I'm on the subject, if I ever feel like changing my looks to match his, smack me or somethin'..."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Whatever Harry was preparing himself for, it wasn't enough. As he, Tonks, and Solieyu had made their way down into the dungeons, the air turned quite clammy. It was a very uncomfortable place to be in and Harry couldn't help but wonder how the Slytherins got on down in such a place.
The Potions classroom didn't help. Cauldrons seemed to be everywhere and Harry could have sworn to have seen something's eyeballs in a jar as they entered. The trio sat near one another, with Tonks being in between both Harry and Solieyu. Harry wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to let Tonks take the aisle seat.
When Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins entered not long after, he felt himself tense up slightly. Though he tried to put on an air of indifference in front of his friends, Harry made sure not to take anyone too lightly. After all, he was just figuring out what magic really was. Malfoy could have been taught loads of things, coming from a wizarding family and all.
Professor Snape seemed to almost glide into the room, his movement was so smooth. Though he wouldn't win an award for gracefulness from anyone, the man did know how to move about. The room had gone deathly quiet upon his arrival, which seemed to be the correct thing to do. As Snape turned to survey the new group of students, he sneered.
After he snatched the the list of students from his desk, he began taking the roll, just as Professor Flitwick had done. But unlike his head of house, when Snape got to Harry's name, a very different conversation took place.
"Ah, yes... Harry Potter. Our new...celebrity." Snape said, his voice soft. "Let me explain something to you... no matter how you are treated by the other members of staff, you will get no special treatment from me."
Harry's eyes quickly locked with Tonks' after this exchange took place, Snape continuing down the roll. It seemed as if the rumors were not only true, but they were lacking quite a bit. Snape didn't seem to just be unsociable, he seemed to be out and out hateful.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making..." Snape began, pacing slowly in front of his desk as his eyes wandered across various students. "There will be no simple flicks of the wrist or incantation memorizing here...and I don't expect many of you to understand the true beauty of what you have come here to try and learn...
"In fact, I doubt many of you will be good at this subject at all. Call it a...hunch..." Snape continued, looking directly at Harry as he said this. From across the room, Malfoy snickered. If Snape heard him, he didn't say anything. Instead, the professor continued, "But if you somehow turn out not to be a bunch of simpering idiots, there is much to be learned...I can teach you how to bottle fame...brew glory... even stopper death... but I will not waste my time on those who have no capacity for learning."
Silence followed the end of Snape's introductory speech. Suddenly, the professor turned on Harry and, in a voice that made everyone jump, said "Potter! What would I get if I were to mix powdered Manticore horns with the crushed roots of a withering elm?"
Harry briefly wondered what Snape was playing at. Surely, the professor knew of his background - that he could hardly know the answer. Especially when suddenly asked during his very first Potions class. With a one-shouldered shrug, he said, "I don't know, sir." Adding the 'sir' took more than a bit of effort as he heard Malfoy begin snickering again.
"Clearly," Snape said, the ghost of a smirk on his face, "fame isn't everything... now, let us try again... Where would you look if I asked you to find me a Stolas' foot?"
"At the end of a Stolas, sir?" Harry offered.
Snape narrowed his eyes. "I suggest you begin taking things a bit more seriously, Potter. You never know when you might find yourself in a position where you need to actually use whatever passes for a brain..."
Harry
bit back a snort. Whatever Snape had lodged up his backside, it wasn't
going to force Harry to back down from that gaze of his.
There was something about defiantly staring back into Snape's black
eyes that made him uncomfortable... but he wasn't about to lose
face in front of the Slytherins. No more than he was forced to, anyway.
"What is the effect of garlic on a vampire, Potter?" Snape said, trying yet again.
"Same effect on any other creature?" Harry suggested.
Though Snape twitched, he pressed on. "And that would be?"
"Bad breath." Harry said. Tonks let out a snort, but tried to hide it in a cough. She certainly didn't want Snape glaring in her direction.
"Ten points from Ravenclaw for smarting off." Snape said, cooly. "For your information, powdered Manticore horns and the crushed roots of a withering elm come together to form a rather deadly poison that eats away at the drinker's internal organs... the Stolas keeps mostly to northern Romania and only comes out during the full moon... and garlic has the distinct property of being able to ward a vampire away due to the scent being as good as poison to the vampire's unique body chemistry."
Snape paused, then turned to face the students as a whole and snapped, "Well? Why aren't you all copying this down?"
Things didn't seem to improve any after the introductions were over with, either. If anything, they seemed to get worse. The class was sorted into pairs and began working on a simple potion that cured acne. Harry got paired up with Tonks, but Solieyu got stuck working with a beefy-looking Slytherin boy.
Snape walked around the classroom, watching the students crush muddleweed and chop up what seemed to be an oversized rooster's wattle. They were to add the wattle bits after the muddleweed, right at the point where the potion turned green and began to boil. If everything went correctly, they would wind up with a slightly-pink brew that smelled strongly of apricots.
Harry and Tonks' potion ended up being rather purple and had the distinct smell of a drainage ditch.
Snape took one look at their result and glared, ordering that they start over and do things properly this time. They did so, though Tonks kept muttering darkly under their breath at having to handle the giant wattle again. It felt like a cold, sweaty hand with no bones.
From somewhere on the Slytherin's side of the room, a loud BANG resounded, causing everyone to look up. Crabbe and Goyle were covered in a yellow goop that seemed to be slowly eating away at whatever it touched. Snape quickly swept over and banished the ooze with a flick of his wand, then spun around and glared at Harry. "You, Potter! Why didn't you warn them not to stick the muddleweed in last! Five more points from Ravenclaw..."
By now, Harry felt outraged. How could Snape have possibly have expected him to keep track of everyone's cauldrons at the same time as his? As far as he was concerned, Snape didn't just seem to dislike him. For whatever reason, Snape seemed to outright HATE him. Any small thing that went wrong for the rest of the class, Harry got called on for not being able to prevent. Every so often, Snape would throw another ingredients question out to Harry, who would try and politely state that he didn't know. He had lost his house enough points for one class.
When it had finally ended, Harry's group was the first to exit. Once they were away from the Potions classroom, Tonks had erupted into a tirade about what an unfair, slimy, greasy git Snape was.Harry was inclined to agree. Solieyu seemed strangely quiet, though he did chime in once, saying that he thought that Snape might be jealous of Harry's fame.
"I didn't ask for it." Harry grumbled as they headed back up to Ravenclaw Tower to deposit their books and supplies. "The rumors weren't accurate enough. He's as bad as Malfoy. I wonder if we could get the twins to prank him a time or two..."
Tonks looked at him for a moment before asking, "Number Eighty-Two?"
"Number Eighty-Two." Harry confirmed.
"What," Solieyu asked after a moment of silence, "is Number Eighty-Two, praytell?"
"You remember how Fred and George turned Malfoy into a clown? That was one of the things on our Anti-Malfoy list. Number Eighty-Two involves a hungry alleycat, a tin of tuna, a rubber balloon, and five gallons of paint."
Solieyu opened his mouth, quite clearly not following his friends' line of reasoning, but closed it. The less he heard, he figured, the better.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"I told you to get to work!"
A bruise formed on his cheek.
"Now get busy! If I have to warn you one more time..."
A vase shattered and he landed in the pieces, cutting his arm in several places.
"WHAT HAVE WE TOLD YOU ABOUT ASKING QUESTIONS?"
A pair of ribs had been bruised after that.
"GET IN THERE! HOW DARE YOU ASK US TO TAKE YOU TO A DOCTOR!"
One black eye, another cracked rib, and a twisted knee had been the result that time. In addition, sleep hadn't come well for him until his flu had passed. He didn't eat for almost three days.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Harry's eyes snapped open and he sat up in bed quickly. Taking in where he was, he let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding in. Swallowing hard, he forced himself to stop shaking long enough to get out of bed and get dressed. Before leaving the dorm room, he grabbed his Charms book for some light reading.
Carefully, Harry opened the door and slipped out, closing it just as quietly. Letting out a louder sigh this time, he headed downstairs. For the second time in as many days, he was up around sunrise. It was something he hoped wouldn't become a regular occurance. Peeking into the common room, he found it was empty. Not surprising, really, he thought as he walked over to a secluded chair and sat.
Flipping open his Charms book to one of the later chapters, he let his eyes glance over the pages. He hadn't really had a spare moment by himself that he could just sit and read in. If he wasn't in classes, he was hanging out with Tonks and Solieyu. Usually they spent their time down by the lake, though they had wandered about the castle a little. The previous evening, Terry Boot had tried once again to wrangle him into coming with he and Gary on their exploration of the third floor's off-limits corridor. He was unsuccessful.
To Harry, it all still felt like a wonderful dream; something he
might wake up from at any given time. It had all happened so quickly,
as well. It had only been a few short months since he and Tonks had
met in the park, after all. And now here he was - at a beautiful
castle that taught magic. The Dursleys wouldn't treat him poorly
any longer. In fact, Harry often wondered if he would ever have to
see Number Four, Privet Drive ever again. Both of the Tonks women
seemed perfectly happy having him around. And they didn't care that
he was famous... that was important to him.
Harry was thankful that most of the pointing and whispering had begun
to peter out. He really didn't think of himself as someone important.
He
was just Harry - someone who had been little more than a beaten, poorly
fed slave up until a few months ago. Suddenly realizing that
he had lost himself in thought, Harry blinked a few times to try and
clear his head. He looked back down at his Charms book and started
flipping through the pages, stopping briefly whenever something caught
his eye.
"Lesse... a charm for making flowers appear. Might be interesting to
see Malfoy show up to breakfast with a dozen pink posies in his hair.
...A charm for conjuring an apple? Guess it's useful for between-meal
snacking..." He murmured quietly as his eyes scanned the pages.
His stomach growling, Harry looked back at the book. "Well... it couldn't hurt to try."
Harry took his wand out and read over the instructions to the charm careful. There was a moving diagram of how the wrist movement should look like. Holding his left hand out in hopes of catching any falling fruit, Harry concentrated hard on the proper motion and gave his wand a pair of sharp flicks. An apple core with a worm curled around it fell into his left hand. Harry scowled.
"Right, let's try that again..."
A good hour later, other students began groggily working their way
into the common room, only to be greeted by a rather perculiar sight.
Harry
Potter was sitting in a corner of the common room with no fewer
than two dozen apple parts surrounding the chair he was in. Some were
nothing but cores. Some looked to be nothing but the skin of an apple.
There were a number of detatched stems, and one student thought she
saw a worm wriggling its way across the room.
Harry, paying little attention to anything else that was going on, was just trying to get his stomach to shut up now. He had tried to get the spell to work, but he wasn't exactly being successful. At one point, he had pondered cutting his loses and bodging the various bits and pieces together to, in effect, form a single apple. But he had quickly dismissed the thought as he didn't have any utensils and wasn't about to try slicing things magically. Especially when he couldn't conjure a proper apple TO slice.
"Ah, no, you're doing it wrong..." Came a voice from beside his chair. Looking up, he saw a seventh year girl he wasn't familiar with. He blinked at her once, then nodded down at the open book on his lap. "I'm doing it just like he is!" Harry protested, frowning a little.
"No, no, look closer. See how he's wiggling the tip of his wand just
a bit right at the very end? You didn't look like you were doing that"
Said the girl.
Harry looked back down at the diagram and, watching very closely, did
notice that the wizard in it wiggled the end of his wand at the end.
But it was so faint, he hadn't ever noticed it before. Feeling more
than a little annoyed, Harry tried one last time to produce an apple.
At the very least, he'd have something to nosh on while making his
way down for breakfast.
He flicked his wand twice, then wiggled the tip of it just slightly. This time, a slightly small, but entirely whole apple appeared in his left hand. Harry smile, then looked up and thanked the seventh year, who grinned at him before joining her friends again.
"Here's to hoping there isn't another worm in it." Harry said to no one in particular as he went to put his book away. As he walked back up to the first year dorm, he took a big bite out of the apple he had produced.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Notes: Well, I originally planned to make this one a BIT longer. But writer's block struck me dead around Friday night. I'd hoped to get this out before Sunday the 5th was over...I guess I kinda did, since I'm shipping this off to my beta tonight... but it still counts as Monday. I had intended for the weekend prank to be pulled off... but I changed my mind as I changed my chapter guide a bit. I've already broken away from it by combining one chapter into two... So the total looks like it's gonna be a bit shorter than the 31 chapters I'd originally planned. Then again, I didn't plan to be writing such LONG chapters, either. Saa na, it can't be helped, I guess. At least I can get started on Chapter 14 tonight, though. Rarely will I go over a full week without getting a chapter out.
Since I didn't have the Midnight Duel take place, a few chapters went out the window. Namely the introduction of Fluffy and the trip into the forest, which was set to be a two-parter.
Instead, I think I'll throw in a bit of filler to flesh out the characters a bit more. I've got an idea for having one chapter per book dedicated to those around Harry, noticing how he changes and acts as he grows. Good idea? Bad idea? Anyway, as you may have noticed, Harry's done a lot of thinking in this way. Very quick to notice that his friend doesn't seem quite right. But then, he isn't in Ravenclaw for anything. Under that poor, abused exterior lies a true thinker. I just need to bring it out.