Being The-Boy-Who-Lived
In all of his years, Harry had never met someone he really didn't like. This all changed when he got to know Draco Malfoy. Luckily, first-year Gryffindors only had potions with the Slytherins, so he didn't have to see Malfoy much. That was until they saw a notice in the common room. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday, and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together. This was one of those times where Harry really wanted to use one of those new words he learned.
"Great," Harry said, "exactly what I've been wanting to do. Make a fool of myself on a broom in front of Malfoy." Really, he wanted to learn how to fly, just not with the Slytherins there.
"How do you know that you'll make a fool of yourself?" Ron asked. "Malfoy's probably all talk about how good he is anyways," And Malfoy did talk a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting brooms, and told long bragging stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly avoiding Muggles in helicopters. In fact, everyone (even Ron) seemed to have been on a broomstick at one point in time, except for Neville, who had never been near a broom. Privately, Harry thought that this was a good thing.
Hermione Granger was as nervous as Neville was about flying. This was something that you couldn't learn out of a book, not that she didn't try.
On Thursday, a barn owl brought Neville a package from his grandmother. He opened it and showed them a glass ball the size of a marble, full of white smoke.
"It's a Rememberall!" he said. "Gran knows I forget things-- this tells you if you've forgotten something when you squeeze it tight-- like this...oh.." his face fell as the Rememberall suddenly glowed red. He was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who just happened to be passing Gryffindor table, snatched the Rememberall from his hand.
Harry and Ron sprung to their feet, half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professer McGonagall was there in a second.
"What's going on here?" Neville quickly explained to the professor, and Malfoy dropped the Rememberall on the table.
"Just looking," he said in a bored voice, as he walked away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him. It was then that Hedwig landed in the middle of Harry's toast and dropped a letter in his lap. Harry gave her a piece of his toast and Hedwig flew away as he tore open the letter.
"Who's that from?" Ron asked.
"A friend," Harry answered, reading the letter through.
Salutations Potter,
I was overjoyed to hear from you. Always nice to hear from a friend. That's great that you've been having a pretty good week, as everything has totally gone to hell here. Katerina lost her job, again. They found a better person suited for Closet World, so she's sitting on the sofa currently indulging in box of chocolates. Hope she doesn't gain too much weight...
Maggie (that friend you referred to in the last letter) is fine. She told me to tell you that Mark actually picked Olivia and Kate and Ivonna "comforted" each other. And, no, you can't know what that means until you're older.
If you haven't figured it out yet, this is me, Dymphna. In an explanation (answer) to your query (question), I'll try to explain this whole issue to you in one letter.
There was this really no good person, a bit of a sociopath (person without a soul, really) too. His name was Voldi Voldemort. Anyways, as I said, he was a really bad person and didn't like half-breeds, or any person with muggle blood in them. So he massacred them in a very Adolf Hitler style, except that he wasn't Jewish (though he did kill the Jewish too). And then one night he tried to kill you, (he'd already succeeded in eliminating your parents, have I ever told you how sorry I am about that?) but, well you didn't die. That much is obvious, then he kind of...died. Okay, I know I'm not making much sense here, but you made him be expelled (kind of) or destroyed him or something. So, that's why you're such a hero, you killed the Lord Voldemort.
I'm realize that it would have been a bit easier if I'd told you in person, but I'm forgetful. I need a dayplanner. Anyways, off of this sticky subject, have you made friends?
Dymphna,
PS: You have very nice handwriting. You girl.
Harry skimmed past the whole letter, then re-read it to make sure he had read it right.
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed, knocking over his goblet of pumpkin juice. "How could he? That bastard!"
"What?" Ron asked, taking a look at the letter.
"Mark chose Olivia!" Harry said. He lowered his voice. "Oh well, it's okay, it's obviously just a phase until he finally realizes his true feelings Kate and goes back to her, leaving that-" (he said something that he had heard Dymphna use[1]) "to go find someone else." he finished. Ron raised his eyebrows.
"That's quite impressive," he said. Harry folded the letter up and stuffed it in his pocket.
"Okay, ready to go to class?"
At three-thirty that afternoon, the Gryffindor first-years scurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their flying lesson. Harry thought he heard a familiar barking laugh as they made their way down the smooth, flat lawn where the Slytherins were already waiting, along with twenty brooms in neat lines on the ground.
Madam Hooch arrived a few minutes later.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" she yelled. "Everyone stick out your right hand over your broom, and say 'Up'!"
"UP!" everyone shouted. Harry's broom jumped right into his hand. Distantly, in his head, he heard shouting and applause; wait, that wasn't in his head! He focused his hearing passed all of the kids still saying 'up!', and he heard them.
"GO HARRY!"
"WOOHOO!!" more whistles and laughter. Harry looked around, but saw no one, he did see that Hermione was also looking around though. He looked back to his broom and heard it again.
"Harry got the broom! Happy dance!" someone yelled. Harry looked at the tower above them, but there was nothing there.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, hover for a few moments, then straight back down. On my whistle, three---two---" Neville, nervous and jittery (reminding Harry of that rabbit Felan saved from Fi once) pushed off before the whistle blew. Madam Hooch yelled for him to come back, but Neville was rising too fast into the air. When he was at least twenty feet up, Harry saw him slip sideways off of the broom and...
CRACK-- Neville hit the ground. The broomstick still rose higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the Forbidden Forest. Harry heard hearty guffawing, but saw that no one in the class was laughing.
"Just a broken wrist, come, I'll take you to the infirmary," Madam Hooch said, cradling Neville's wrist. "If I see even one person in the air, you'll be kicked out before you can say 'Quidditch'!" she barked at them. No sooner than they were out of earshot, the Slytherins burst out in laughter."Did you see his face?" Malfoy asked. He picked up the Rememberall that Neville had dropped in his landing. "Maybe if he'd given this a squeeze, he'd remember to fall on his fat arse!"
"Shut up, Malfoy!" Parvati Patil said. The Slytherins just laughed more.
"Give it here, Malfoy!" Harry said. Malfoy looked as if he were contemplating this.
"I don't think I will, actually. I think I'll leave it for him to find," Malfoy leapt on his broom and zoomed up. Hovering at by the top of a tower he called out, "Come and get it, Potter!" Harry grabbed his broom but Hermione Granger caught him before he could get on.
"No! Madam Hooch told us not to move or we'll get expelled!" Harry shrugged her off and mounted the broom, he kicked off and rose higher and higher off the ground until he was level with Malfoy. This was pretty easy. He whipped around sharply to face Malfoy, who looked stunned.
"Give it here or I'll knock you off your broom!" Harry yelled."Oh, yeah?" Malfoy asked, trying to look smug but instead looking worried. Harry gripped the broom tightly, his nails digging into the wood, and he leaned forward. The broom shot forward towards Malfoy, who only got out of the way in time. Malfoy smirked. "Have it your way then!" he shouted. He threw the glass ball high into the air and raced back to ground.
Harry smirked and raced forward, catching the ball in midair. Wind whistled in his ears, along with the screams of his spectators. He landed on the ground with the Rememberall clutched safely in his fist. He had to admit, he'd met Children of Gaia with a better arm than Malfoy's.
"HARRY POTTER!" Harry turned to see Professor McGonagall running toward him. He backed up one step and looked towards the forest. Well this had been shortlived, time to go back to the Fianna.
"Never in all my time at Hogwarts..." Professor McGonagall seemed speechless with shock. "You might have broken your neck!" she sighed, "Follow me, Potter." Harry caught sight of Malfoy's triumphant face as he walked numbly behind Professor McGonagall as she strode towards the castle. Professor McGonagall didn't stay a word to him as she marched along in front of him, with Harry following miserably behind.
A thousand thoughts ran through Harry's mind as he walked after her. What would his friends think? No doubt Felan had already told most of the Get of Fenris cliaths that his best friend, Harry Potter had gone to magic school (and if he didn't, he'd probably be telling them very soon), and they had told their friends and their friends told their friends. And then Marlaina, she probably told all of her Black Fury girlfriends about it. Fi'd probably bragged to Keavy's Child of Gaia sister about it. What would they say when he got back?
Professor McGonagall stopped outside Professer Flitwick's classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside.
"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick? Could I borrow Wood for a moment?"
Wood? They were going to beat him with a stick? Maybe not a stick, she called it Wood so it must be a very big stick. Don't be confused, he'd been beaten by sticks before, but it was just a drawback to playing "Sticks Race" with Holden and Barbara, two Wendigo kids... Of course that was fair, they were just trying to cheat by hitting him in...certain spots, with the sticks (and one fairly shaped stone), but to be beaten with a stick for breaking the rules? That was just downright crazy! The worst Harry had ever gotten for breaking the rules was a hit on the head or a talking down to.
Wood turned out to be a person. A fifth-year boy who came out of the classroom looking very confused.
"Potter," Professor McGonagall started, "this is Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor team. Wood, I've found you a Seeker!" she said, smiling with delight. Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to happiness.
"You serious, Professor?" he asked.
Professor McGonagall said a word that Harry didn't completely understand. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?" she asked. Harry nodded. He didn't seem to be getting expelled so the feeling started coming back to his legs.
"He caught that thing in his hand a second after it left the other boy's hand!" Professor McGonagall boasted. "It didn't drop a foot, Wood. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it!" Wood now looked as if he were told there was a free bag of Mallomars waiting for him outside. Well, at least that's how he looked to Harry.
"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked.
That was my first time on a broom, you twit, what do you think? Harry said inwardly. He shook his head.
"No," he said. Wood looked at Harry from all angles.
"He's got the right build for a Seeker too. Light, speedy-- we'll have to get him a good broom though, Professor. A Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven?" Wood said.
"I'll speak to Professor Dumbledore about it, see if we can't bend the first year rule." Professor McGonagall said. She looked at him sternly. "I want to hear you're training hard, Potter. Or I may change my mind about punishing you," Harry gulped. Train hard, no beating with a stick. He got it. "Your father would have been so proud, he was and excellent Quidditch player himself."
--------------
"You must be kidding!" Felan said, lounging on Harry's bed with a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in hand. "Only you would have that luck, Potter!" He sniffed a jelly bean before popping it into his mouth. "Hm, lemony..."
"If I'd broken the rules like that, I'd be booted!" Fi said.
"Well, I actually thought I would be beaten by a stick called 'Wood!'" Harry said.
"Oh please, you would never be beaten by a stick," Felan said. It was now Friday, and Harry had been walking up to his dormitory for a mid-day snack of stored Mars Bars and other chocolate candies when he found Felan, looking through his trunk and Fi, watching Ron's Chudley Cannons poster with wide eyes.
"What do you mean I would never be beaten by a stick?" Harry asked. "I have been beaten by a stick before."
"Yes but you would never be beaten here." Fi said.
"Why?" Harry asked."You mean you don't know?" Felan asked, getting up off of the bed. "Odyn told us,"
"As in the whole tribe," Fi corrected.
"Right, us." Felan said. "Well, that he told that giant man, Rubeus Hagrid, that if they inflicted any pain on you here, they would have the Red Talons and the Fianna and The Bone Gnawers-- you know, from Dee's family -- and the Get of Fenris-- from my family-- and the Black Furies-- from Marlaina's connections-- enemies of the school. Perhaps even the Glass Walkers too."
"It's the Get of Fenris that probably really got him scared, e'ery one knows they're a force to be reckoned with." Fi said, "They really don't back down easy." Harry raised his eyebrows, but Felan quickly changed the subject.
"So when's your next break, Harry, we've been bored stupid by our lessons. Nothing interesting happens anymore," Felan said. Harry checked his Playboy calender (compliments of Katerina) that he had hidden under his bed. It was now Halloween, so...
"December," Harry said.
"Harry, you know those months make no sense to us." Fi said. "How many...moons?" she asked. Harry consulted the calender again.
"Two, I'm pretty sure." he said. "Are we migrating again this year? Last year was fun,"
"Yep, and this time we're swapping homelands with the Wendigo. They like the cold," Felan said. "And we Fianna get to go to the beach." Harry raised his eyebrows.
"I like the beach," he said.
"Yes, and we get to have ice lollies while we're sitting on the beach relaxing," Fi said, stretching out on Ron's bed. "Hm, whoever sleeps here smells very good," she said.
"Only you would think that, Fi." Felan said. He turned back to Harry. "So tell me more about this Quidditch thing,"
"You get a broom, right?" Fi asked. Harry nodded, and grabbed Ron's copy of Which Broomstick, he turned to the page with the Nimbus Two Thousands and showed them. There was general oohing and aahing.
"Where is it?" Felan asked.
"Broom closet by the Quidditch Pitch," Fi gasped and covered her mouth.
"How much have you two been coming up here?" Harry asked.
"Only every Quidditch practice and occasionally to play tag with the Giant Squid," Felan said.
"Then we have to hightail it back home before the bossman wakes up," Fi said. Harry raised an eyebrow at her choice of words.
Felan turned to Harry. "Did I mention the Glass Walker cliaths finally made an appearence?" Harry shook his head. "Well, Fi's just been around them all day everyday,"
"They taught me this cool way to fold leaves in paper and it makes it feel like your floating on air!" Fi said, making little wing movements with her hands. "So, how's school?" Fi asked.
"Boring," Harry answered. "How's Mating Education?" he asked with a smug smile.
"You know, you're going to have to take a cram course when you get back," Fi said.
"Cram course?" Harry asked.
"She means you're going to have to learn it very fast." Felan said.
"They're hanging up decorations in the Great Hall, can we go watch?" Fi asked. Harry shrugged.
"Can you blend in?" he asked.
"Please, we're masters of disguise. And plus, if that fails, we've always got that veil thing." Felan said.
"Very grammatically correct," Fi said.
"You know about grammar but you don't know the months," Harry muttered, "typical."
"Just give us some robes," Fi said. "I want to see the giant pumpkins!" Harry thought that it wouldn't do much harm if they just had a look, so he grabbed two robes out of his trunk and handed them to his friends.
"Hm, interesting," Felan said, feeling the material. "Now why can't they make the pants out of this material?" he asked, "I'm always getting chafed in places that you really don't want to be chafed."
"Just put it on," Fi said, pulling the robe over her shoulders and gathering it in the front. "Ooh, I'm a Gryffindor!" she said. "Grrr..."
"Okay, see that kind of behavior, not allowed in the school." Harry said. Fi rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, sorry."
"What's that thing on your eye?" Harry asked. Fi rubbed her eye.
"Nothing, nothing."
"It's a freckle, or at least that's what it looks like." Felan answered, trying to figure out how to put the robe on. After Harry had gone over some basic rules (no spitting, no fighting, no loud complaining, and no yelling at the teachers, no kicking, no changing and no insults to anyone) they left.
"Why's everything so fancy all of a sudden?" Fi whispered.
"It's Halloween," Harry said.
"What's that?" Felan asked.
"It's like a big Moot, only no raw meat, no revels, no changing, no dancing, no hearings, no chantings and... no moots." Harry said.
"Oh, so it's just food?" Fi asked with a disgusted face."And candy," Harry said. Fi and Felan glanced at eachother.
"We like candy," they both said.
"Well that's good then, because it looks like the feast is starting," Harry said.
"Well you can't really call it a Moot then can you? It's just dinner," Felan said.
"I guess," Harry said.
"HARRY!" Ron ran up to Harry wheezing. "I was trying to find you! I ran up to the tower but you weren't there and then I ran back down and you were here," Ron said. Fi cocked her head and sniffed.
"He's the boy who sleeps in the bed?" she whispered, very low to Harry. He nodded. She looked as if she were about to cough up a furball (even started making the choking noises).
"Who're they?" Ron asked. Harry thought quickly."Second years. That's right, they're second years." he said. "Um..Felan Ca.." he stammered, "Felan Kowley and..." he gestured to Fi.
"Flanna Galway," she said quickly.
"Yes, Flanna Galway." Harry said.
"We'll just go...sit..." Felan said.
"And eat," Fi finished. They walked off leaving Harry standing there with Ron.
"That's strange, I've never heard of them here," Ron said. "Well, we'd better sit down too." he said. Harry nodded and followed Ron to a seat. He cast a look at Felan and Fi and briefly wondered how she came up with that name so fast, but then all was forgotten as the food appeared on the table. He and Ron heard Parvati Patil telling Lavender Brown that Hermione Granger was in the bathrooms, crying. "Why?" Ron asked.
"Maybe she heard you say that no one can stand her?" Harry asked. Ron shrugged and they continued eating.
Harry smiled as he saw Fi pushing away plates of cooked steak and potatoes in disgust and ended up eating only bread, while Felan consumed more and more fish. Harry was helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirell ran into the hall. Everyone stared as he stopped in the middle of the hall and gasped out.
"Troll-- in the dungeon-- thought you ought to know." Then he slumped to the floor in a dead faint.
There was an uproar. Professor Dumbledore finally brought silence by shooting off several purple fireworks. Harry looked over to see how Fi and Felan were taking this. Surprisingly well. Fi was grabbing a bowl of mashed potatoes and Felan was...still eating fish..."Prefects," Professor Dumbledore rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked Ron as they climbed the stairs to the tower. Harry occasionally looked behind him to see if they had gone or were following.
"I don't know, they're supposed to be really stupid," Ron said. They passed different people in different directions as they walked to Gryffindor tower. Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.
"Hermione!" he said.
"What about her?" Ron asked.
"She doesn't know about the troll," Ron bit his lip.
"Let's go find her," he said. "But we better not get caught," Harry looked behind him and saw Felan nodding.
"I wouldn't worry about that," he said. They ducked and joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, and slipped down a corridor. Then hurried off to the girls bathroom. They had just turned a corridor when they heard footsteps behind them. Ron pulled Harry behind a large stone griffin. It was Snape, he crossed the corridor, looked around, then disappeared from view.
"What's he doing?" Harry whispered.
Meanwhile...
"Harry needs us to distract," Felan whispered, yanking Fi from the crowd and going into an empty corridor.
"Distract?" Fi asked. "Oh, he's going on an adventure. I get it," she said. "So, we will distract for him!"
"Attagirl," Felan said. They took off the robes and stuffed them in a broom closet. "So, we follow his scent in case he runs into a teacher, then we-- ugh, what's that smell?"
"Smells like rotten goat piss mixed with rabid calf dung set out to boil under a new moon." she said. Felan turned to her.
"How do you know?" he asked.
"You really don't want to know,"
"I really don't," Felan said. "Let's follow the smell, then." Fi grabbed his arm."You crazy? I'm going to pass out here!" she said.
"Remember the club code," Felan chided.
"Don't make friends with sick dogs?" Fi asked. Felan looked down the corridor.
"Exactly,"
"Felan, that makes no sense--"
"Quiet!" Felan grabbed her and pulled her into the shadows as a man passed by. Fi looked his way."He smells interesting," she whispered.
"Fi, don't!" It was too late, Fi had already ran off after the man to see where he was going. Felan bit his lip, trying to decide whether to go after his friend or not. He finally came to his desicion. "I'm leaving!" he whispered, and ran off the other way.
You see, it all came down to the very last and most important of the club codes: In the event that you should have a choice of helping your friend get out of trouble or saving your own selfish hide; choose the one you think would benefit you the most. And right now, to Felan, it seemed that Fi could save herself.
And now we return to our main protagonists.
Harry and Ron crept down the next corridor as soon as they no longer heard Snape's footsteps.
"Can you smell something?" Harry asked. Ron sniffed and grimaced.
"Smells nasty!" Harry thought idly that it smelled like that foul, mouldy-brown drink that Fi always had to prepare for Keavy. Something about goat's piss boiled under a full moon or something... Then they heard it.
A low grunting and the footfalls of gigantic feet. At the end of the passage something huge moved towards them. It was a monstrous sight. Twelve feet tall, with skin a dull gray, and a fat lumpy body like a boulder with a tiny head that looked like a coconut. Harry almost choked on the smell coming from it. In fact, he did hear someone choke, and it wasn't Ron.
The troll stepped into a room and disappeared from view, dragging it's club after it.
"Look, the key's in the lock!" Harry said. "We can lock it in!"
"Sure," Ron said nervously. They ran to the door and prayed the troll wouldn't chose this moment to come back out. Harry pushed the door shut and Ron locked it with the key.
"Yes!" they both exclaimed. And somewhere in an office in London, Katerina Snodger slammed her hand to her forehead and exclaimed also, "No, no! Those idiots!"----------------------------------
A/N: GAAH! LONG CHAPTER! AND I'M STILL NOT ENTIRELY DONE WITH CHAPTER NINE! EVIL EVIL PLOT BUNNIES (Slaith: Actually, we prefer the term Artistic Muses) (Nori: Plot bunny isn't politically correct). No, I don't think I'll explain the Katerina thing just yet. It's just another one of those things I throw in there to throw you off a bit (Mairi: That was all me, baby!) (Nori: Good God where'd you come from?!). As you can see, the muses are having a little party in my head (Mairi: RAISE THE ROOF! WHOO WHOO!).
I'm planning on doing a sequel, but if you people don't want more of my painful writing then just say so. 4 more information, go to my bio (On the Subject of MoTW).
And, no you will not find out about the Katerina thing until a very long while (probably in the sequel, I'm evil like that). Oh, come on. You knnnnew I just wasn't going to leave Katerina without a twist ( Kitty!). I think it's going to be an interesting part of the story, but, then again, I'm the writer. Tell me if you want to expand more on that.
Oh and the [1] is: What Harry said that he heard Dymphna say many many times....Skanky whore.
COOKIES AND HORCHATA TO ALL REVIEWERS!!!
PS: I'm still crossing my fingers for thirty reviews! Now to start on chapter eleven before I've even uploaded chapter nine! I'm such an overachiever.