Nov. 12th, 1994
The week has been very quiet so far. Yesterday evening I told Cho that I missed flying, and she promptly offered to get a spare broom for me and to show me round the grounds. So we agreed to meet today after lunch, as we both happened to have a free afternoon.
When I came up the steps to the castle gates, she was already waiting for me. She was wearing a dark blue cloak, had her hair tied in a knot at the back of her head and was carrying two broomsticks.
"Here you are," she said, handing me one of the brooms. "You can have mine, it's not the newest model, to be sure, a Nimbus 1805, but you know how expensive these are ... "
I felt embarrassed, thinking of my own top model CdF 2002 back home.
"That's really very kind of you," I replied, "what's that other one?"
"Oh, it's not much, just one of those ancient Cleansweep Sevens that hundreds of first years have had their first flying lessons on. Of course, players usually have more advanced models, but they'd never part with their pet brooms."
"It's mostly a boys' thing, right?" I said, smiling at her.
"I suppose it is. They'd rather lend each other their girlfriends than their brooms," she agreed with a wry grin. "Anyway, it will just do."
"No," I said firmly, " I won't have it. I mean, I appreciate your generous offer, but that old school broom will be good enough for me. I wouldn't dream of borrowing your boyfriend, either," I added grinning at her.
"If you insist... but I told you it was a boys' thing," she laughed and handed me the other broom.
Presently, we kicked off. It really WAS an old clumsy broom, but nevertheless, the feeling of freedom once I was up in the air was as exhilarating as ever. The air rushing into my face, - well, not actually rushing, what with the 'speed' it developed, to be honest, more of a gentle breeze, - raised my spirits no end.
Soon we were lazily cruising above the castle, and Cho pointed out the most important things to me, like the various towers, - unlike Beauxbatons, each House here has its own tower, - and especially the Astronomy Tower which is the highest, and where they have their Astronomy lessons at midnight.
"That's the Forbidden Forest," she told me. "It's full of all sorts of creatures. Most are dangerous, to be sure, like werewolves or giant spiders, but there are also centaurs and they say there is also a unicorn or two …"
"Are you sure? It doesn't look big enough for all those creatures to live in."
"Funny, I never thought of that, but now you mention it – possibly there's some magic involved. You know, like those travelling trunks that are quite small on the outside but can hold tons of things."
"What muggles call a tesseract, yes, must be something like that. Does anyone ever go into the forest?"
"Hagrid, of course, he's our gamekeeper."
"Hagrid?"
"You're sure to have seen him, in fact," she added, grinning, "It's quite impossible NOT to see him, he's the – "
"He's that enormous hairy man who has a soft spot for our Madame Maxime!"
"That's the one. And he has a soft spot for her?"
"Seems so indeed," and I told her about the various times during the last two weeks that we had watched the two of them walking in the grounds.
Cho giggled.
"Really? Just imagine the children they'd have together!"
"I'd rather not – But you were going to tell me who else goes into that forest."
"Who indeed? The great mystery guy who gets to do all the fabulous stuff; has, in fact, been doing it since he was a baby - "
"Harry Potter?"
"Clever girl! Yes, he was in that forest in his first year, just imagine, and then again in his second. I'm not sure about last year, but I'd be greatly surprised if he hadn't. Everybody else'd get into an awful lot of trouble, but him? Not the Boy-who-lived!"
"Are you jealous?"
"What? Merlin, no; he does get into the most frightful scrapes to be sure, and I'm definitely not asking for any of it. Seems You-know-who considers his year wasted if he doesn't have a go at Harry. And I'm sure Harry doesn't ask for any of it. He doesn't even talk about his adventures in there."
"But how do you know about it, then?"
"Nothing remains a secret here," she grinned at me. "Muggles may claim that nothing moves faster than light, but at Hogwarts, at least, rumours move a lot faster."
"So probably most of it won't even be true... "
"Probably; but I'm pretty sure the stuff about You-know-who is basically true, and it makes good sense, too, what with Harry causing his downfall in the first place."
A thought struck me. "What do YOU think about this business of Harry Potter turning out as the FOURTH champion? Did he cheat the Goblet of Fire and enter his own name?"
She frowned.
"I'm not sure, really. I would seem the obvious explanation. But it doesn't go with Harry's personality. I mean, the only motive for him could have been fame, and as I see it, the last thing he wants is any MORE fame than he has already. On the other hand, how else could you explain it?"
"Well, after what you've told me about Vous-savez-qui, I shouldn't be surprised -"
"But WHY, in Morgaine's name? What's the point?"
"Have you ever heard about the history of the Tournament? Some of those tasks were pretty dangerous and perhaps..."
"Perhaps, whoever entered Harry's name thought something would happen to him in the Tournament. And as it's what they call a binding magical contract, he can't get out of it and has to compete."
"Yes, and he's only - what was it? - fourth year, so he is far from being an accomplished wizard yet; and I can tell you some of those tasks are hard nuts to crack, even for experts. - But I suppose he can always just fail the tasks on purpose and so avoid most dangers. That contract doesn't require you do the very best you can, does it?"
"You have no idea of Harry Potter!" Cho seemed torn between anger and amusement. "Once he's got himself into something, willingly or not, he'll do his utmost to succeed. No, believe me, he'll be trying to get through as honourably as he can, he's not the cheating type! He'll probably even have a go at winning the bloody thing, whatever his odds!"
"You'd never think it; I mean, he's just a skinny boy, and half of his magical education still missing! How could he ever seriously imagine he's got a chance against seventh year students? He'll be lucky if he gets out of this unhurt!"
Cho said nothing for a minute, looking at me with a frown. Then she said suddenly:
"What colour are his eyes?"
"What? Why - Wait a minute - green! His eyes are green! Why are you asking?"
She grinned at my confusion.
"See? You've only met him for those few moments, after all your names had come out of the Goblet, and I dare say you had something else on your mind then, not a 'skinny boy' you'd never seen before. Still, you remember the colour of his eyes! I'm telling you, Fleur, there's something about that boy..."
We swerved our brooms away from the Forest, over to the dark lake, where the black Durmstrang ship was gently rocking on the waves. The sails were rolled up on the beams, the deck was deserted, and there was no pennant or flag, or any other spot of colour. A sinister aura emanated from it.
"Let's go back," I said, my voice an involuntary whisper.
"Yes, let's," Cho replied. "It gives me the creeps, too."
A bit later we landed. I thanked her for the nice afternoon and promised I would try to get Maxime to allow me to show her around our place.
xxx
After what Cho had told me, I decided to watch Harry Potter more closely while we were having dinner this evening. This was not hard to do, as he was sitting perhaps four metres away at the Gryffindor table. To his left, there was that girl who had glared at me so furiously the first evening (and who still rarely passes me in the corridors without giving me the evil eye), and on his right the red-haired freckled boy, who had made such an utter fool of himself when I'd asked him to pass the bouillabaisse. This evening, our eyes met for a short moment, and again his face turned almost the colour of his hair, he choked on his food and turned away hurriedly.
Seeing his friend choking, Harry started patting him on the back, and while doing this, he happened to look over towards me.
I don't know what I expected. The familiar lecherous glint, probably, perhaps mixed with guilt or embarrassment, a blushing face, a quickly averted, embarrassed glance.
There was nothing like that in those green eyes. That look was open and good-natured, and I believe there was an amused smile playing on his lips when he turned his attention back to his red-haired friend.
It was actually the first time that a boy (or man, for that matter) had ever looked at me like that. Yes, Cho Chang was absolutely right. There definitely IS something about Harry Potter!
+++++++++++++++
A/N: See why I believe this is quite an important part, although (or perhaps because) it is NOT in canon? And it would have got too long if I'd included the wand weighing, of course. Tell me what you think. And I'd appreciate something more than just the old "good story, keep going". I mean, a nice review is – well, nice, - but I'd like to learn ho to make things better!
Oh yes, for those who are wondering: CdF, Fleur's broom, is for "Coup de Foudre" – what a coincidence (hehe)