Having to Explain

There are times where you'd rather be somewhere else, anywhere but where you're standing (or sitting, crouching, walking, crawling) at the moment. An extremely tedious, boring class would be one of those times when you'd like to be in a sunny Hawaiian-esque island paradise being waited on hand and foot (perhaps a drink with an umbrella in your hand). Then there are the bad times, that, thought they may not be very life threatening situations, you'd still rather be between the jaws of a fiery dragon than there. Harry was having one of those times.

"Harry, I'm having trouble believing that a spider pushed you into the closet," Hermione said.

"Well believe what you want to, I'm sticking to my story." Harry said.

"Harry, friends don't lie to eachother," Hermione said. "And I thought we were friends," Oh great, thought Harry, another club code to remember.

"Yeah, what's really going on with you?" Ron asked. "It has something to do with that funny pumpkin juice, doesn't it? I knew it!" he said.

"It's nothing!" Harry said. "I swear! Just forget about it!" he looked around for a distraction. "Hey, there's Hagrid! I'm going to ask him a question," he said.

"Fine," Hermione said. "But this isn't over--"

"Hagrid!" Harry yelled. "Hagrid!" he ran up to Hagrid.

"Oh, hello Harry," Hagrid said.

"What're those books for?" Harry asked, looking at the books Hagrid had in his hands. "Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland? From Egg to Inferno, a Dragon Keeper's Guide?" he asked.

"Nothing," Hagrid said, putting the books in his other hand. "So, how've you been Harry?" he asked.

"Fine, you?" Harry asked.

"A'right," Hagrid said. "So, I'd better get going. Got...erm...I've got things to do,"

"Okay then," Harry said. He watched as his only distraction walked away.

"So what did he say?" Hermione asked. Harry spun around, surprised.

"Erm... he said yeah," Harry said. "He was carrying books about dragons though, isn't that strange?" he asked. Hermione nodded and looked to the left.

"Who's that girl over there?" she asked. "I've never seen her around?" Harry turned around and saw Marlaina looking around. Did all of the Fianna have an off day today or what?

"Probably a Ravenclaw or something," Harry said. "So where's Ron?" he asked.

"He went to dinner," Hermione said. "We're supposed to meet him there." she said.

"Actually, I have something to do," Harry said. "I think I've got a bit of a fever, you know?" he asked. Hermione nodded.

"Sure," she said stiffly. She walked off to the Great Hall and Harry watched her round the corner. He was in trouble now.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv (yes this is a line, get used to it)

"Ohh, you're in trouble now," Fi said. She dropped the pencil and blew on her fingers for a second, before picking it back up and making several lines on a piece of paper.

"You've thought of ways to get me out of things before," Harry said. Fi nodded.

"I have," she said, still concentrating on what she was drawing.

"So you think you can help?" Harry asked. Fi shrugged.

"Well, I've really got nothing better to do with my somber Imbolc," she said. When Harry had returned to the caves, he found all of the tribe gone. Save for Fi, who was in the nursery watching the babies. Then he remembered it was Imbolc, and Fi told him that earlier that week Trey had kicked her kneecap in during a fight, rendering her unable to walk.

"So what do you think I should do?" he asked.

"Pray to the heathen gods and hope they forget," she said.

"I'm serious!" Harry said. Fi sighed.

"The only way you're going to get out of this is to tell them. You're wizard friends aren't dumb, they're going to realize when you're trying to drop the subject and pester you even more about it, Harry." She said.

"I hate it when you're right," Harry said. "Can I lie?" he asked.

"Lying isn't nice," Fi said. Harry sighed.

"This is too hard," he said.

"Just...keep away from the subject as long as possible, and then when you really have to tell them, make them promise that they won't tell anyone." Fi said.

"Like that'll stop them," Harry said.

"It will if they're truely Gryffindors," she said. "Anyways, I'm hungry. Have you got anything on you?" she asked. Harry dug in his pocket and took out a half-eaten Mars Bar.

"Enjoy," he said, tossing it to her.

"Ooh, chocolate," Fi cooed, grabbing the bar and unwrapping the rest of it.

"Did Marlaina go to Hogwarts yesterday?" Harry asked. Fi shrugged.

"I'll ask Dee," she said. "Why?" she asked, suddenly suspicious.

"I saw her," Harry said.

"Well then apparently she was there. Dunno why though," Fi said.

"Yeah, well, thanks for the advice," Harry said.

"You're just going to leave me here?" Fi asked. "Stay! I'm bloody bored sitting by me onesy!" she growled.

"Fine, fine," Harry said. "But only until the others come back, okay?" he asked. Fi nodded.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Harry woke up in the nursery a few hours later. He looked around groggily but didn't see anyone.

"Oh, hi Harry," someone said. Harry turned to see Lorilla, a fostern, holding one of the babies. "Fancy seeing you here,"

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Almost noon," she said.

"Noon?!" he yelled. "I've got to get back to school!" he said. Harry jumped up and ran out of the room outside. Several people were milling about, most of them clutching their heads and grimacing painfully.

"Oh, hello Harry. Thought you'd already left," Harry saw Felan walking up to him with a small tabby cat in his hands.

"Felan, is it really noon?" Harry asked.

"Just about, yeah," Felan said. "I'm sure you could still make it to your classes if you run,"

"I don't know, what if someone sees me coming out of the forest?" Harry asked. "And...what's with the cat?"

"Oh, this?" Felan asked. "Saw 'er walking around in the clearing, thought it'd make a nice 'I'm sorry' present for Fi... though I'm still not exactly sure why she got so mad," he said.

"It's a girl thing," Harry said. "Anyways, I thought it was Marlaina who liked cats,"

"It is, but I thought that was a girl thing too." Felan said. "Anyways, I've got to go teach cat here how to meow on cue so Fi won't be able to give her back. She's always a sucker for things like that," he said.

"Good luck," Harry said. Felan nodded and walked off into one of the caves. Harry sat down against one of the cave walls. "What am I going to do?" he said outloud.

"About what?" asked a voice. Harry looked up and saw Mafalda, much older than last time he saw her, but still it was her. "Howya Harry,"

"You're good at giving advice right?" he asked. Mafalda shrugged.

"Am I?" she asked. Yes, yes she was.

"Sit," Harry said. Mafalda sat down next to him.

"So, what'cher problem?" she asked.

"My... other two friends are on the very edge of finding out I'm a werewolf, and I slept too much and ended up missing class. I can't go back because someone might see me coming out of the forest," he explained.

"Hm... about your two friends, I'd say you'd just have to tell them the truth sooner rather than later. And about you skiving off--"

"I did not skive off!" Harry said.

"Right, so about that. I'd say that you live it up while your here and return at sunrise," Mafalda said. "By the way, what color are my eyes?" she asked.

"Green,"

"Thought so," she said. "What color are Felan's eyes?"

"Blue," Harry said.

"Explains it. And Dubheasa?" she asked. Harry thought for a moment, he hadn't seen Felan's mum in a while but her eyes were a really different color.

"Sort of a greenish hazel," Harry said.

"What's hazel?" Mafalda asked.

"Like a brownish sorta," Harry said.

"And Blair's?" Mafalda asked.

"His're blue too," Harry said. There was silence for a few moments before Harry broke it. "Were you at Imbolc?" he asked. Mafalda nodded.

"Sure I couldn't see anything, but it was fun," she said. "I heard that Maeve got mad at Bryon and broke his arm,"

"She does tend to get mad a lot," Harry said. "So, how've you been?" he asked.

"Fine. Aibhlin was being such a mary hick about me coming to the black forest again," Aibhlin was Felan's aunt, but not Mafalda's mother. Harry learned never to try and understand exactly how that family worked. For example, Felan's uncle was not Mafalda's uncle, but a very distant cousin of hers; and Dubheasa, Felan's mother, was Aibhlin's cousin by blood, but not related to Mafalda or any of the other Caolaidhes.

"Mary hick?" Harry asked.

"Old fashioned," Mafalda explained. "She doesn't like me taking the boat here because she says it's too far," she said. "Anyways, I'm going in for some cha, want to come?" she asked.

"Tea? No," Harry said. He'd never been a big fan of tea, even though everyday at about four o' clock for the past six years, Dubheasa had force-fed him tea and crumpets.

"Okay then," Mafalda said. She was about to walk away when she stopped. "Harry," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe before you go, you should try to figure out what you've been trying to figure out. It's a better use of your time than sitting there like an eejit and foostering," she said.

"What?" Harry asked. He didn't exactly know what an 'eejit' was, or what 'foostering' meant, but he sure it was something bad. "Try to figure out what I've been trying to?" he asked himself. Of course that would be, why would Snape steal the Philosopher's Stone, but how could he try to figure out that? And it was then that Hedwig landed in front of Harry with a package, giving him an idea.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Fi!" Harry ran into the cave. "Do you have a school box?" he asked. Fi grabbed a metal box from beside her and threw it at Harry without looking up from what she was drawing. Luckily, Harry caught it before it hit his face. "Thanks," he said.

"Bye," she said distantly. Harry ran back out from the room and opened the school box, it was full of papers (half of them were pages full of handwriting practice), worn down pencils and a small red sharpener. Harry took out a blank paper and a pencil and started to write the letter.

Dymphna,

If you had the chance to get the Philosopher's stone, why would you get it? Why would anyone want to steal it?

Harry.

PS: Thanks for the Mars Bars.

He put the pencil back into the box and gave the letter to Hedwig.

"Make sure it gets to Dymphna, all right?" he asked. Hedwig hooted and flew off. Harry looked back at the box and opened it again, he took out one of the pages that Fi had written on and looked at it. She never was a good handwriter, she didn't even know which hand the pencil went in. So then why was she so concentrated on drawing?

"Harry," Harry looked up to see Fi. "I need my box," she said.

"Oh," Harry handed Fi the metal box and she hopped back into the cave. A few seconds later she hopped back over to where he was sitting.

"By the way, there's still some fairy brew in the storage if your thirsty," Fi said.

"It's okay, I'm fine," Harry said. Fi shrugged.

"Your choice," she said, and went back in. Actually, now that he thought about it, Harry hadn't had a good drink in a long time. But, he had to figure out why Snape wanted the stone. Yes, the stone, that was the primary thought here.

"Hey, Harry, want to see the cat do a flip?" Felan asked, running up to Harry with the small tabby cat in his hands. The stone could wait.

vvvvvvvvvvvvv

A/N: And that's where the chapter's going to end for now. Sorry! Anyways, since I've got about ten minutes until I have to go and upload this, I'll give you this little tidbit of a future chapter, not the NEXT chapter, but a future chapter... (PS: the '...'s mean there's something after that part but you can't see it until the actual chapter comes out).

Over the next few months, several odd things happened around Hogwarts. Some of them horrible, but most just odd.

Firstly, Harry began to see...

A few days after that, a series of robberies occured. Several robes, vests, trousers and trainers were reported missing in Gryffindor tower. Harry found a pair of Nikes gone from his own trunk. McGonagall warned the students that whoever was doing this would be punished unless they came forward with their loot....

Several students reported fights, but when a teacher went to see, there was nothing there. These students got detentions and points off.

It was rumored that it was simply a large influx of new ghosts; slightly violent, fun-loving wraiths that snipped people's hair off and played with the ... And then the bad things started to happen, all of the owls... Norbert got... and somebody started messing with the portraits. The best thing out of all of this, was that someone ransacked Snape's office and classroom, forcing all of the students to skip Potions for two weeks as he tried to get everything in order again.

And then Harry figured out what was going on.

PS: Sorry about those 'vvvvv's, FF just isn't working with my format right now so until I find a less annoying solution, you'll be seeing those in the scene/time/thingy changes. Okay?

PLEASE REVIEW!!! No chapter until...55 reviews, that should be pretty easy.