AN: sorry for the wait, this is a kind of rough chapter. And to let you know ahead so you don't get your expectations up, chapters will be up very slow… although I'll try not to make you wait two months like before.
Also, the next few chapters are going to be slow, you have been forewarned!
Answers to some questions at the end, no individual thanks this time around due to time constraints, but thanks as always to all of those who took the time to review, greatly appreciated!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JKR, I'm just playing in her sandbox!
~*~
Ron and Hermione had taken Harry's tale well, and completely understood that the tale could not leave the trio. Being accustomed to keeping secrets, that was not a problem, although both of them really wished to visit the other world. Of course, the matter had to be discussed with Dumbledore. Harry was glad that Ron was not jealous of Harry for being able to travel to a different dimension, but was happy that Harry could see his family. Harry felt that this sudden instance of maturity stemmed from Harry's ordeal in the Triwizard Tournament, and was happy for it.
The weekend had been spent in high spirits as students celebrated the two last days they could slack off without worrying about homework, although Hermione spent a lot of her time over this years text books, while scolding Harry and Ron for not doing the same. Ron and Hermione attended their first Prefect meetings, which Harry was pleased to hear from Ron that it was boring, although they could to drink some butterbeer and eat candies.
After getting his brief check-ups with Madam Pomfrey, Harry spent the night times talking with his other-dimension mother and younger sister. Magnolia had been eager to tell Harry about what mischief she got up to while oHarry was back at Hogwarts, and Lily had happily discussed anything and everything with Harry. Harry found that Lily could really make him talk.
Monday morning proved to be a bright morning. Harry was the first to wake, and quickly showered and got dressed. He was trying to brush his unkempt hair down while walking out of the bathroom.
"Morning Harry!" Dean said with a stretch.
"Oh, morning Dean," Harry smiled as Dean went over to shake Seamus awake. Neville jumped up as his toad croaked in his face, a useful alternative for an alarm clock, Harry thought.
"Wake up Ron! You'll miss breakfast!"
Harry was certain the thought of impending classes without breakfast would wake up his sleepy friend. And surely enough, Ron unwillingly opened his eyes and yawned.
"Geez, mate. What time is it?" Ron couldn't help yawning again. He closed his eyes again then opened one eye briefly to see the sunny day outside, and groaned.
"Five minutes until breakfast, hurry up!" Harry was still getting dressed. Although he was tired, ten years of waking up early to cook breakfast was ingrained in his body clock, and he had no problem waking up early.
Giving the outside sunny day a look of disgust, Ron sat up and made his way to the bathroom, red hair sticking up everywhere and pajama top twisted around his body.
Harry went down to the common room and saw the twins looking at the notice board, whispering to each other.
"Anything important?" he asked as he walked up to them.
"Morning Harry!" They both greeted in unison.
"Upon close observation of the notice board," George began.
"We see a message that is of utmost importance," Fred continued.
"It concerns you too, my friend," George stepped aside for Harry to have a look.
To members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team,
There will be a meeting tonight in your common room at 8:00pm to decide who the Captain of the team will be. At the meeting the try-outs will also be discussed. Please let all your teammates know.
Minnerva McGonagall
Fred sighed, "it'll be such a hard decision to make."
"All our members are too good, how do we decide?" George agreed with an exaggerated disturbed sigh.
"Uh, guys? I don't think being merely good is the deciding factor. You need the responsibility, the drive…" Harry began.
"Spoken like a true captain!" Fred exclaimed, and Harry blushed, "however, it is much easier to decide after we have been revitalised by our morning meal," Fred said, and grinned, "see you, Harry!"
Waving his goodbyes, Harry quickly scanned the rest of the board to see if there was anything else important. Neville had lost his Remembrall, already, again. A sixth year was offering help to students who needed counseling. Fred and George had tacked on an advertisement for their Weasley Wizarding Wheeze® products, which Harry was sure Hermione would take off once she saw.
"Harry, let's go!" Ron appeared from the dorm, and they headed towards the exit.
"Anything interesting?" Ron asked as he stepped out of the portrait hole first.
"Well, we need to decide who should be the Captain for the Quidditch team," Harry said, "I think I'll be going for one of the girls, probably Angelina. I really can't imagine either of your brothers taking on such a role, no offence or anything. Although it may be amusing."
"Most of you are good though, it'll be difficult to choose who should be the Captain," Ron said.
Harry rolled his eyes, "that's what your brothers said too, although I don't think I can be the Captain. I don't imagine myself getting everyone up at ungodly hours, or yelling at the others if they don't fly well or were doing something wrong," Harry smiled, "we'll also discuss try-outs for the Keeper position. Are you interested?"
Ron beamed, "of course I am!" but then he frowned, "but I've never had much practice in that position."
"That's okay!" Harry laughed, "I never had much practice in the Seeker position either before I was chosen to go on the team."
"But you're a natural!" Ron exclaimed as they reached the doors to the Great Hall.
"And if you're not, you can be trained to become a good Keeper. Practice makes perfect," Harry opened the doors and the two of them made their way to the Gryffindor table.
As they reached their normal seats, Hermione scowled at them.
"Ron, you're late!" She scolded.
"Yeah, well…"
"You're not setting a very good example for the first years!"
Ron rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Hermione, I don't think it'll affect our studies if we're late for breakfast. Besides, we had a late night last night, what with all patrolling the corridors during the night."
Hermione sighed. It seemed as though Prefect duties were already taking their toll on Ron, "okay, you have a point. Here are some timetables to give out."
Ron grumbled that breakfast should come before timetables, but took the pile out of Hermione's hand anyway. He went up and down the Gryffindor table to hand out the timetables.
When Harry got his, he groaned. Just as luck would have it, Potions was first, with the Slytherins. And to add to his luck, double Potions was last on Friday, just the perfect start to the weekend. Ron sat down gratefully next to Harry after he had handed out the last timetable, and looked at his own timetable. He groaned even more passionately than Harry had.
"Potions, first thing! What have I done to deserve this? And with the Slytherins!" Ron complained, stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth to make him feel better.
"Then charms, then Care of Magical Creatures…" Harry looked at the day's schedule, while reaching for some more eggs. He loved Hagrid, he was a great friend, but was dreading what dangerous creatures they were going to handle the coming school year.
"We don't have DADA until tomorrow, I was looking forward to seeing what the new Professor was like," Ron said.
"Weren't we all?" Harry said, "Dumbledore seems to like him, Snape seems to hate him, so he can't be too bad."
"Look, double Arithmancy tomorrow morning! I read so much about the stuff we're doing this year, it'll be so exciting!" Hermione exclaimed from across from Harry and Ron, as the boys both rolled their eyes. Ginny, who was sitting next to Hermione, laughed at their expressions.
"Yeah, double Divination tomorrow morning, lots of fun," Harry sighed.
"I understand, I'm doing Divination as well. I think the subject itself is quite intriguing, but it's just that Professor Trelawny is not a very good Professor," Ginny said. She reached for her pumpkin juice, looking warily at the plate of toasts in front of Neville. Her eyes then flew to Fred and George, who were sitting further down the table. Harry followed her eyes, and then looked anxiously at Neville, feeling sorry for whatever was about to behold him.
The owl post came then; hundreds of owls flying in the air, dropping letters and parcels everywhere. Harry looked at the sky, wondering if he would get any mail that day. Some Hufflepuffs were squealing at some parcel they got, there were some first years looking horrified at the mass of owls descending upon them, and Harry couldn't help noticing that Malfoy got a big parcel, most probably a gift from his parents. Hedwig glided in smoothly and landed on the edge of the desk with a letter. Harry took it from her excitedly, feeding her the rest of the toast he was eating, and opened the letter.
Hi Snitch!
All goes well with us, regardless of having to see Greaseball and Slimeball regularly.
We hear that you had some problems yesterday. Let us know if there's anything wrong.
Stay out of trouble! Did we just write that? The writing suddenly changed. No, that's Prongs. Padfoot tells you to give Snape hell!
Prongs & Padfoot
Harry could only assume that Greaseball and Slimeball were Snape and oSnape, and wondered which was which; it didn't matter anyway, they were both as awful as the other. He grinned to himself. He was getting mail! He was so happy! Harry heard Neville hiccuping, and realised that that was what Fred and George had done to the toast.
Ron quickly scanned the letter he received from his parents after Pig had landed in Hermione's pumpkin juice in his excitement, and continued, "'Not a very good Professor' is an understatement. She is a shocking Professor! Did you hear about that famous seer?" Ron asked.
"Oh yes, I read about that in the Daily Prophet I got delivered to my home during the holidays. Apparently, she was a descendant of a famous seer," Hermione said.
"I think I saw it briefly…" Harry thought back to that day so long ago when he woke up in the hospital wing and there was a copy of the Daily Prophet lying on his bedside table. There were some loud gasps, and Harry looked down the table to see Fred and George, both with looks of uncharacteristic surprise on their faces. They were staring at a letter, and next to Hermione, Harry heard Ginny giggle. So did Ron and Hermione, who both looked at her in awe.
"Anyway, not only do people think she was murdered, but a lot of things were missing from her place," Hermione said, turning back to their conversation, while Ron laughed outright at what Ginny had done to Fred and George.
"What makes people think that she was murdered?" Harry said confused.
"Well, I think it looked like suicide," Hermione explained, "but the murder could have been set up that way to try to confuse us. The case is quite confusing, and we aren't given all of the details."
"Did she have a lot of precious things?" Harry asked.
"Did they take her crystal ball and her tea set?" Ron put in, after calming himself down. Ginny had her face down on her arms to wipe her tears, and Harry saw Fred and George looking and pointing at her with frowns on their faces.
"I think she had a lot of magical items, passed down from generation to generation. Half her shelves were empty when they got there," Hermione picked up a piece of fruit and began to peel it.
"Why do people think she was murdered?" The case was really intriguing Harry. Did she make an important prophecy?
Hermione shrugged, "they could only make guesses as to why she was murdered. I think she knew she was going to die…"
"Why?"
"From what the paper says, there was no sign of a struggle. Cassandra had even left a will and transferred all the money in her Gringotts account to her relatives."
"Wouldn't that look more like suicide than murder then?" Harry said.
Hermione shrugged, "according to her friends and relatives, she never had any suicidal tendencies, and that's what made people think she could have been murdered."
"Why wouldn't she do something to avoid it then?" Ron asked.
"Ron, you're the one who's doing Divination, you should know this!" Hermione exclaimed, "but I'm not surprised you don't. You see, I read this in 'Understanding the Future' when I was still planning to do Divination…"
"Just get on with it!" Ron was getting impatient.
Hermione frowned, "the book said that with some prophecies, you see outcomes that no matter what you do you can't avoid. With some other prophecies, you see possible outcomes that depends on what you do in between. It depends on how advanced the seer is to determine which sort of prophecy they are observing."
Harry nodded, "that makes sense. If she saw her death, she probably realised that doing something was just like doing nothing, she was going to die anyway." Harry felt sorry for the lady that he never met; to have to see your own death before experiencing it!
"So the prophecy that Trelawny made in my third year would be fitted into the first category," Harry pondered aloud, "I mean, he's a rat, it's so easy for him to get away…" he picked at the piece of bacon on his plate.
"Cheer up mate," Ron said sadly, patting Harry on the back, "we'll get him one day!"
Harry smiled at his best friend, "yeah, and justice will be served, and Snuffles will be free…"
~*~
"I heard you almost died the other night, Potter," Malfoy drawled. The Slytherin group were already waiting outside the classroom door. Crabbe and Goyle nodded along to whatever Malfoy said, and Pansy Parkinson smiled maliciously at them.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you Malfoy," Harry sighed, still disturbed himself at what happened on the Hogwarts Express. Perhaps he would ask Dumbledore, who seemed to know almost everything.
Malfoy sneered, "it's a pity you didn't die. At least then you might have spared a few more lives…"
Before Ron could retort, Snape suddenly appeared behind the Gryffindor trio, making them jump.
"Students, inside!" Neville cried out in surprise, and Malfoy chuckled.
Everyone shuffled inside, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting at the back behind Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Parvati and Lavender was in front of Neville, Dean and Seamus. All the Slytherin's seated themselves near the front.
Snape turned from the blackboard.
"This will be my last year teaching most of you," he began in his silky voice, and he looked directly at Neville, who gulped. "Only those of you who achieve high passes on your OWLS can be accepted into my NEWTS class…"
Snape rounded on Harry, and Harry was no longer surprised at this. He was only worried about what trivial question he would be asked.
"Mr. Potter, what mark is required for the continuation of Potions?" Snape asked.
In all honesty, Harry had no idea. He had never bothered himself with getting high marks in order to continue with a subject, as he had never known what he wanted to do, "Um, a pass?" Harry ventured a guess.
"Are you answering my question with a question?" Snape asked. Malfoy and his bunch were looking at Harry with a look of glee, and Harry frowned at this.
He didn't want to play these games with Snape, "Yes, because I am not sure of the answer to your question," Harry said. Seamus gave him a thumbs up, and Harry smiled slightly at this.
Snape gave him a hard look, "Potter, your special entrance the other day may have you thinking you can answer my question with a question. I will only accept the right answer, not a question. The scoring system for your OWLS differ to that used in the usual class environment, and the level required if you wish to further your studies in potions is an O," Harry had no idea what the scoring system was for OWLS, "five points from Gryffindor."
Again, Harry was not surprised at this. But he was still seething inside. Malfoy was looking at Harry with triumph, as Harry took care to take deep breaths.
"Our first few weeks will comprise of studying quick potions to look at the direct affect of ingredients on the desired outcomes. We have done this for the past four years, so it should not be too difficult for most of you. We will then look at more complex and useful potions such as healing potions. After the Christmas season, we will be looking at the more difficult potions which may take several lessons to complete. Two weeks before your OWLS we will simply be doing revision for your OWLS…" at the mention of OWLS, Hermione looked positively delighted. Harry knew she would be revising before the revision time anyway.
"Today we will be looking at a simple," he stressed the word, again looking at Neville, "healing balm, capable of healing bruises and some shallow cuts." He turned around with a billowing of cloak, and began to write the ingredients on the board. The students all shuffled to get their notebooks out and copy the notes.
"How high is O?" Harry asked Hermione quietly, obviously confused.
"I think that O is the highest, and then E, but I'm not quite sure myself. O is for Outstanding, E is for Exceeds Expectations."
"Oh," Harry then turned to Ron, "what do you want to do in the future?" he whispered to Ron.
"I don't know," Ron whispered back, "but whatever it is hopefully doesn't require the completion of Potions at NEWT level."
"I can relate to that," Harry agreed.
There were a lot of ingredients in the potion, but the process of making this potion itself was quick as there wasn't a lot of boiling and waiting required, but the preparation would take some time.
"As there are a lot of ingredients to prepare, I will allow you to work in groups of two or three…" Snape began, and this suited Harry fine, "and I shall be choosing your groups for you." Harry groaned.
As luck would have it, Harry ended up with Crabbe and Goyle; it looked like Harry would be practically doing this by himself. Snape was mixing up Slytherins and Gryffindors, why though Harry didn't know. Ron was with Pansy Parkinson and Lavender, Hermione had Neville and Malfoy. Harry couldn't decide whether or not he was luckier than Hermione.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Neville was stuck with Hermione and Malfoy. Harry begrudgingly admitted to himself that Malfoy wasn't bad at potions, although not as good as Snape says all of the time, and at least having both Hermione and Malfoy, Neville could avoid blowing anything up.
Being stuck with Crabbe and Goyle, two gorillas in human clothing, Harry had to do most of the work himself. There was definitely no sense of group work as Harry cut all of the ingredients and mixed them together. And he was annoyed with Snape always swooping down on him and telling him to work faster.
"You guys, we could get this done quicker if you helped," Harry finally said to them.
"Why should we help?" Crabbe asked, obviously confused at the fact he was communicating with Harry Potter himself without Malfoy's guidance.
"You do want to pass, don't you?"
The two big boys nodded their heads vigorously.
Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, confused, then back at Harry, "what can we do?"
"You can mix the blue solution in the big tube with the white powder in the beaker," Harry said to Crabbe, pointing to said tube and beaker, and he rounded on Goyle, "while you can help cut up some of these roots." And Harry was more than surprised to see them comply. Maybe it wasn't so bad working with them after all.
Next to him, Harry heard Ron, Lavender, and Pansy arguing.
"You cut those roots up! I've been crushing these seeds up all this time…" Lavender said to Pansy.
"Weasley, you do it! I'm mixing these ingredients!" Pansy hissed, picking up some beakers and pouring one in the other.
"Parkinson, those don't go together…" Ron began, and there was a small explosion. Snape advanced on their group mercilessly.
"Longbottom, you're doing it wrong!" Harry heard Malfoy hiss menacingly to Neville.
"But it says to cut…" Neville began.
"That's okay, Neville. That only meant to cut it into slightly smaller pieces, if you cut it too small it'll react much quicker and we don't want that. We then mix it with some of this solution to precipitate some of the unwanted elements that can't be washed off of it…" Hermione began her potions lecture.
All in all, it was a long lesson for both Slytherins and Gryffindors.
~*~
The rest of the day passed by slowly, with each teacher lecturing them about how important their OWLS were and how it was going to affect their futures.
In the single lesson, Hagrid had gone over all of the previous years' work as a review. He even showed them a few full-grown Blast-Ended-Skrewts, which everyone stood back from, and Flobberworms. A very fun lesson indeed, and Harry did not even get a chance to ask Hagrid about what he was doing over the holidays.
All the teachers made it a point to emphasise the fact that a lot will be asked in the OWLS, and to start them on the right track, gave them a lot of homework.
8:00pm couldn't come any sooner for Harry as he quickly entered the common room after being at the Hospital Wing getting his daily check-up. He waited in front of the fireplace with the rest of the Quidditch team in the common room. Every time someone came through the Portrait Hole, the whole team turned as one to see if it was McGonagall. This scared some of the first years making their way into the common room, and Fred and George was quite enjoying it.
Finally, McGonagall came at five minutes past.
"I apologise for my lateness," she said when she saw the looks on their faces, "now, the meeting tonight is to determine who will be the captain. The process is simple; I want you all to close your eyes, and raise your hand when I call out the name of the person you think should be captain. You may only vote once."
The whole team closed their eyes, and the other Gryffindors in the common room quieted down to look onto the process.
"Katie Bell… Angelina Johnson…" Harry put his hand up for Angelina. He tried to strain to hear if anyone else was putting their hand up, but with the mutterings around the common room he couldn't. "Harry Potter…" he was sure he heard some gasping among the other students.
"Alicia Spinnet… Fred Weasley…" there was some giggling, and McGonagall sounded exasperated as she said, "And George Weasley."
"You may now open your eyes," everyone opened their eyes, looking at one another happily, and then looking at McGonagall expectantly.
"And your new captain is…" the twins began to do a drum-roll on the floor with their feet, "Harry Potter!"
There were cheers, and his teammates patted him on the back. Harry blushed furiously, "but…"
"No buts, mister!" Fred said, "we knew it'd be you! You're responsible, you're good, you're serious about your Quidditch, you're perfect!"
"Besides," Alicia said, "most of us are gone next year…"
"Which means you'll be the only one on the team with the most experience," Angelina finished. Harry had to agree with this.
"Congratulations, Mr. Potter. I also agree that you are worthy of this position. Try-outs will be in two weeks, you are to put a notice on the board, and you may discuss among yourselves how the try-outs will be run," McGonagall smiled at him, "I expect another win this year, students. Good luck." She made her way out of the common room. The other students went back to their game-playing or talking, while the Quidditch Team huddled around the fireplace.
"So Captain, how do we decide who our next Keeper should be?" George asked.
Harry thought about it for a moment, and it didn't take a lot of thinking at all, "well, we'll see who can save the most goals out of, say, ten shots. The person with the best score and/or style gets the position."
"Well thought!" Fred exclaimed.
"And we also need reserves for all the positions. That might be a little harder. The reserve Seeker can be whoever catches the Snitch fastest," Harry said.
"Reserve Chasers can be whoever makes the most goals against our chosen Keeper," Alicia said.
"But they must have good team-work too. Maybe we can try-out one Chaser at a time with two of us, or have the Chasers choose their own groups of friends to Chase with," Angelina said.
"That goes with Beaters as well," George agreed, "a lot of team-work is required. Maybe the try-outters can choose their partners and groups among themselves, then we try them out."
Harry nodded, "that sounds good. Maybe we can ask Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw if they'd like to help play against our team with our reserves. As for practice, well, I'm no Oliver, so for now I'll try to organise practices weekly, and then we'll work up to several practices a week, nothing too early in the morning though, hopefully. But if that's the only time available, I apologise beforehand."
"Spoken like a true captain!" The twins both cried in delight, and Harry rolled his eyes.
"I'll put a notice on the board regarding try-outs and practice," Harry concluded. The meeting was over, and Fred and George hurried out of the Portrait Hole. At this time of the night, Harry could only assume they were going to do some rule-breaking. Angelina and Katie went to play some Wizards Chess, while Alicia got some books out to study. Harry stayed where he was in front of the comfortable fire. Ron and Hermione went over and sat with him.
"Well done Harry!" Hermione said, putting her books down carefully, before enveloping him in a hug. She let go with a huge smile, and then picked up her books again, turning to the page she had been reading.
"Yeah, mate, congratulations!" Ron agreed, patting him enthusiastically on the shoulder.
"Thanks, you guys. I didn't really expect it…" Harry grinned.
"I'm surprised you didn't, the whole team voted for you!" Ron exclaimed.
"They did?" Harry was surprised. Harry never really thought about being the team captain.
"Yeah, even though Fred and George voted for themselves as well," Ron grinned.
"I have a feeling they discussed it beforehand," Hermione said, not looking up from her book, "that's what's good about this team; there's a sense of unity. Besides, what they said made sense, about you being the only one left of the original team next year."
"They sure surprised me," Harry said, sinking further into the couch, "I never thought about being Captain, but now that I am, I'm starting to really feel like I can fit into that role."
"I know," Ron said, "we saw you, starting to make all the decisions for the team…"
"Well, I think it'll be a good year. We are going to win!"
~*~
Meanwhile…
"You have nothing to complain about, that boy is nothing compared to what I have to face in my world!"
"Nothing to complain about!? I am sure you noticed his arrogance, he thinks himself above the rest of the student body and expects special treatment for it…"
"At least he doesn't throw Dung Bombs at you during class…"
"He would throw it in another students' cauldron instead to make himself look good…"
"And you don't have to watch your back all of the time…"
"Walking around with a big head, trying to get out of deserved punishments…"
A door slammed open, and two figures stood silhouetted against the bright corridor.
"What were you saying, Slimeballs?" Two angry voices said.
Terror ensued.
~*~
AN: Look, no cliffie, sorta. I'm sure you figured out what that last bit was all about anyway.
I never knew Cluedo was called anything else, that's what they call it here in Aus! If anyone knows if that's what they call it in English, please let me know!
Plum is gonna be an interesting character, you'll just have to wait to see what he's all about! Don't wanna spoil it for you now, do I?
I'm sure there were other questions, but I don't have them at my disposal at the moment, sorry!
I thought I should mention what I think of the future and the reading of it; from the book, the prophecies seem to be unavoidable. There was this other book I read before (sorry, can't recall it, I think it was a children's fantasy with a yellow cover, doesn't help much, does it?) where this wizard owned a book that contained a lot of possible outcomes, depending on what the main character chose to do. So I just thought I'd use that idea too, not to mention I'm not to fond of the idea of the fates controlling us and not the other way around.
My trusty calendar tells me that when Harry was in fifth year, 2nd September fell on a Friday, so correct me if I'm wrong.
I understand totally how frustrating it is to have a bad subject on Monday morning and Friday afternoon. Not that physics was that bad a subject, but it just got so boring sometimes, so it's never a good start or end to the week. I thought I'd give Harry a hard time ^_^.
As always, if you have any criticisms, comments, or suggestions, please leave them in a review or email them to tonderumushi@yahoo.com.au, until then!
~ultrasoul
