AN: Hello! Anybody still reading this? Sorry for the wait, and to make a long story short, examslaze=no update. Also, for the coming months, homeworklaze=slow update, so please bear with me!
This chapter is dedicated to Rocky235, who updated a lot of my chapters on the same day and flattered me greatly! To Sailor Sol, who correctly guessed who Plum really is, and to risi for your thoughtful reviews!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and co. belongs to JKR, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros., and various other companies. I only own the plot!
Chapter 17
It was a Saturday afternoon two weeks into the school year. Harry waited on the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, arms crossed across his chest to stave off the cold wind. Harry had posted a message on the board regarding the Quidditch try-outs (the note was posted where Fred and George's advertisement vacated, thanks to Professor McGonagall), and he had also managed to persuade the Hufflepuff Keeper to help them with the try-out process.
Professor Plum, who was watching over the try-outs, let out a whoop each time more Gryffindor's turned up. He was on a school broom and was circling above, sometimes doing a loop or a dive. Hagrid was sitting in the stands, with Hermione beside him. Neville was sitting beside Hermione. Harry still hadn't found out what Hagrid's mysterious job over the summer was, and Hagrid hadn't been generous with the facts. Hermione was talking with Hagrid, and Harry hoped that Hermione could find out something about Hagrid's summer.
Soon there were over twenty students huddled together, looking around nervously. Ron was among them, trying not to look at his brothers, who had plastered evil grins on their faces just to scare their little brother.
It seemed as though no one else was coming, so Harry decided to begin.
"Thank you everyone for expressing an interest in our House Quidditch team. Those of you who are interested in the Keeper position please…" Harry began, and then saw the Creevey brothers stumbling towards them.
"Sorry we're late!" Colin squeaked, looking strangely bare without his camera around his neck.
"Peeves wouldn't let us through the Entrance Hall, so we had to climb through a window," Dennis explained, leaning on his older brother as he explained.
"And then Dennis ran into my broom…" Colin was saying, as some of the Gryffindors chuckled.
"Okay," Harry began again once everyone was settled, "we will run try-outs for the Keeper position first. Those interested, please line up here…"
Ron was third in line, after a nervous looking Seamus and visibly shaking Dennis. There were five people who wanted to try-out for the Keeper position.
"You will each try to block ten shots from our Chasers, you will be assessed on both your style and the amount of shots you manage to block." Harry said loudly. He lifted off with Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. As he passed them, he heard Hermione ask Hagrid where he had been during the holidays, to which he replied, "look there, Hermione, Harry's flying!" He grinned as he imagined Hermione rolling her eyes at the obvious change of subject.
Fred and George were watching from the stands, Fred with a clipboard in his arms and making scribbles on the board, the twins grinned at each other when they saw that the first person to try out was Dennis.
Dennis managed to block three goals, although Harry wasn't sure if he fluked the third save. With the last shot, the Quaffle hit the tails of the broom and Dennis fell from the broom. He fell but several metres before he was saved by Professor Plum, who had dived to catch him. Dennis awkwardly smiled a thanks, and was given a pat on the head by the Professor.
"Keep a good grip on that broom, kiddo!" He grinned. The rest of the team just stared at the Professor with newfound respect; it had been a spectacular dive from where Plum had originally been.
Harry gave Ron a thumbs up as his turn came, and looked on in pride as Ron made his best effort to block the Quaffle, saving seven out of ten goals. Plum was floating beside Harry, pointing out everyone's bad flying habits and good flying skills. Harry was actually glad that Plum was pointing these things out; he was a good flier, but he'd never gone and studied proper flying theory and tactics like Oliver Wood would have done.
The process was quite efficient, and the end of the Keeper try-outs approached quickly.
Only three people tried out for the Seeker position, so that came and went in about half an hour.
The Beater try-outs went quite well too; most people came in pairs to try out for the position. Those who weren't in pairs were paired up. Five blue balls and five yellow ones were charmed to float around acting as two teams, while the Beater's had to go against Fred and George to see who could hit the other team the most ("Ginny, you're supposed to hit the balls, not us!" Fred exclaimed, while Ginny grinned evilly and passed the Bludger to her partner Dean. "Looks like there's some Beater blood in me after all"). Plum had to duck a Bludger that Dean accidentally sent towards him ("sorry, Professor!").
The last pair of Gryffindors were trying out for the Beater positions when the Hufflepuff Keeper turned up; he was a tall blond boy with an upturned nose, and he made his way to the top of the stands. Harry indicated for the girls to keep a watch on the try-outs while Harry went to greet the Hufflepuff on the stands.
"Hello, Smith! Thank you for helping us with the try-outs," Harry smiled appreciatively.
Zacharias Smith took Harry's outstretched hand and shook it, "no probs, as your team will be helping with our try-outs too. We need to find a new Seeker and all…"
Harry avoided eye-contact; he didn't like this boy's tone of voice. Colin, who was standing to the side, heard what Zacharias said and piped up, "whoever your new Seeker will be, they won't beat Harry, he's the best!"
"Colin!" Harry said sharply, "no need for that, he's here to help us."
Zacharias looked at Colin disdainfully, "we had a good Seeker, until last year…"
"Now, Mr. Smith, there is no need for that!" Plum had come up behind Harry and placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder, which Harry was surprised to find he didn't mind.
Harry's shallowly buried guilt was being dug up again; it was his fault that Cedric died, that Cedric had taken the cup, that Voldemort came back… at that moment, Fred and George landed with the two other Gryffindors, and went up to them.
"Hey Smith! How's it going?" Fred grinned.
"Well, you need to get up there in a mo mate," George looked to Harry, "gonna try out the Chasers now, Harry?"
At the mention of his name, Harry snapped back to reality.
"Uh, yeah," Harry said quietly, and then turned towards the Gryffindors seated in the stands and said more loudly, "everyone, this is Zacharias Smith, Keeper of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. He will be helping with the try-out for the Chaser positions. You will be chasing against our current Chasers and trying to get as many goals as you can past Zacharias in ten minutes. Our current Chasers will be trying to keep the Quaffle from you and get as many goals as they can past Fred Weasley. Now, our first group…"
The Chaser try-outs took longer than the others, mostly because they were really trying out three people at a time, and that it was very hard for the newcomers against the seasoned Gryffindor Chasers, even though they were going relatively easy on them. One or two of the Chaser try-outs were very good, and got a lot of goals past Zacharias Smith. On the other hand, some obviously had never played Quidditch before and hardly got any goals, but they had good style.
It was early evening when the gruelling process of try-outs were completed. Zacharias excused himself as soon as his feet touched the ground, Fred mimicking his straight-backed walk for a few metres before Harry told him to come back. The Gryffindors all gathered in a group, and Harry cleared his throat.
"We will discuss your try-outs amongst ourselves first, and we will announce the results tonight after dinner. Thank you all again for coming and trying out!"
"How do you think I went?" Ron asked Harry nervously as Harry was packing the balls away.
Harry shrugged, "I think you did fairly well, you saved twice as many balls as Dennis did…"
Ron looked disheartened, "how can you compare me to him!?" He looked at Colin walking back to the castle with Dennis, the two boys smacking each other on the backs and laughing as they talked. Dennis replayed his fall from the broom for his brother, who was acting as Professor Plum, and the two of them tripped over their brooms and laughed.
"At least you're better than someone at all, little bro," George said, patting Ron on the shoulder.
"I can assure you that Dennis did not make the Keeper position," Fred laughed.
Harry grinned, "don't be so sure yet, we need to discuss it first."
"Neville, why didn't you try out as well?" Hermione asked, as Hagrid congratulated everyone and seemed to make a quick getaway to avoid questions.
"You saw me flying in first year, Hermione!" He said, face flushing.
"Give him a break, Hermione, why didn't you try out?" Ron said.
It was Hermione's turn to flush, "I, unlike you, find that time is better spent studying. It's an important year this year…"
"Yeah, yeah. We'll see you back in the common room later?" Ron turned to Harry.
"Yeah, see you!"
"Good bye Ronniekins!" Fred called in a baby voice.
"Itty bitty brother Ronnie didn't save enough goalies!" George called.
"Cut it out you guys, Ron did quite well…" Harry began.
"Look at that, our gentle captain!" Fred exclaimed, patting Harry on the back, "he doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings!"
Harry rolled his eyes and waved to Ron, Hermione, and Neville.
"So, what did you think?" Harry turned to the other members of the team. Katie leaned over the clipboard that Angelina was holding, eyes scanning the notes that the other team members made throughout the tryouts.
"Well, these people showed some potential…" Katie began.
"Need a hand there, Mr. Potter?" Harry turned around and smiled at Professor Plum.
"If you've got a hand to spare, yeah," Harry answered. They had decided on the new members of the Quidditch team, and the others had changed and headed back to the castle on Harry's insistence that he could handle taking the balls back to the school broom shed. Professor Plum had offered to stay behind, as Professor Dumbledore had stated that students should stay in groups or have some teacher supervision.
"Allow me," Plum said, and levitated the box. They walked towards the broom shed.
"Thanks," Harry said.
"You did very well today, Mr. Potter," Plum said. "You make a very good captain."
"Thank you," Harry said, then grinned, "and you gave me some very good advice, Mr. Potter."
Professor Plum grinned back, "I was wondering how long you'd take to figure me out!"
Harry laughed, "well, there were several clues, I just didn't put them together until today."
"Really? Care to elaborate?"
"Well, Snape really hates you…"
"He hates a lot of people though, so I wouldn't really call that a hint…"
"Professor Dumbledore trusted you enough to tell you about my, uh, history here…"
James laughed, "oh yes, I am one to be trusted!"
"Seeing as your wife knew about computers, I assumed she was a Muggle or a Muggleborn…"
"Bless her, my Lily!" James spelled the box into the shed, and locked it. The two of them turned and made their way to the change rooms.
"And she told me to keep an eye on you!"
"Did she? Did she think I was going to hurt my son?"
"And you fly really well…"
"It's in our blood!"
"And when Dennis Creevey almost got Zac in his, uh, sensitive parts, I saw you do a loop out of the corner of my eye, and that loop I've only seen once, back in your world…"
"As a Professor I should show more care for my students, but what that boy said before was out of line!"
Harry sighed, "were you going to tell me who you were if I didn't figure it out? Were you just going to leave me in the dark?" Harry quickly changed back into his school robes, his back turned to James. He didn't want James to see how upset he was.
James came up behind him and patted his head, "of course not! I mean, Dumbledore told me you and your friends had a knack for figuring things out. But if you hadn't, I would have told you eventually."
"Eventually?"
"Yeah, I would have surprised you, one day while you're wondering the corridors by your lonesome, I'll threaten a detention, and kaboom! You find out my true identity!"
When Harry stayed silent, James continued, "no, really, I wouldn't have kept you in the dark! I intended to tell you on Halloween, as a surprise! Ask Lily if you don't believe me!"
Harry slowly smiled, "I believe you, but why on Halloween? Why not earlier?"
"Well, we needed you to get into the routine of treating me as just a Professor, can't have you expecting favours. And we've had quite a lot to do since I've joined this universe, so I didn't want you worrying." James hugged Harry.
"Okay, I understand," Harry let go, and the two of them made their way out of the change rooms towards the castle, "so what are oSirius and oRemus doing anyway? And oSnape? What is this 'Order business' you've gone on, anyway?"
"Ah, my son, nothing for you to worry your pretty head about! Just us trying to settle into this different environment!"
Harry knew from the tone of voice he wouldn't get any answers if he pushed, so he changed the subject, "so are you going to do a duelling club?"
James twirled his wand, and smiled, "I have spoken to Dumbledore about it, he has agreed to let me run a duelling club. I'm not sure when we'll start, there are some things that need to be sorted, like who will run it with me and what sort of spells to do."
Harry chuckled, "Lockhart and Snape showed us the Expelliarmus, then he tried to show a shield, which he couldn't manage. Honestly, the only spell that that man could do properly was a memory charm."
"And maybe something to make his teeth shiny and his hair so wavy," James added.
There was a definite tension in the Gryffindor common room that night after dinner. Dinner had been a silent affair as Ron tried to avoid looking at anyone in the Quidditch team, silently stuffing the roast potatoes in his mouth and staring at his plate. None of the other team members shared the results, waiting for after dinner, in a hopes that the people who didn't get in the team could sleep off the disappointment of not making it onto the team.
There was a hushed silence as Harry walked into the common room. He made his way over to the students sitting in front of the fire, and cleared his throat.
"Okay, I will now announce the new members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and the reserve team."
Ron was still avoiding eye contact with everyone as he sat in silence. Hermione sat next to him, squeezing his hand in support. Even Fred and George respected everyone's nervousness and promised to stay quiet until the results have been announced.
The silence was thick, and tried Harry ignored everyone's stares as he continued, "our reserve Seeker is Natalie McDonald!"
The second year student gasped in surprised, then squealed and hugged her friend.
"Reserve Beaters are Seamus Finnegan and Dan Sloper," Seamus and Dan high-fived each other, identical victorious grins on their faces.
"Reserve Chasers are Colin Creevey," somehow, it pained Harry slightly to announce that, "Dean Thomas, and Ginny Weasley. Reserve Keeper is Matthew Green."
At this point, Fred and George wrapped their arms around Ron's shoulders, "sorry little bro."
"Looks like you don't have it in you after all," George sighed, "this is a moment to mourn, a Weasley (apart from Percy) not making the team."
Hermione scowled at them, and opened her mouth to say something, but Harry said, "and our Keeper is Ronald Weasley!"
Ron was still looking crestfallen, obviously living in his Weasley-twins
induced nightmare of being compared to Percy. Harry grinned, while Hermione nudged him, still glaring at the twins.
"Ron, wake up Ron!"
Ron's head suddenly snapped up, as he stammered, "I made the team?"
He was faced with grinning faces, and his face broke into a true grin, "I made the team!"
Harry chuckled at his friend's surprise, and applauded along with everyone else. He then cleared his throat, "practices will be every Tuesday evening from 5 to dinner time, and Sunday afternoons from 12 o'clock. This year we are gonna win!"
Everyone burst into loud applause, while Colin and Dennis fell over doing some victory dance only the two brothers could understand.
"So how was your holiday?"
"Ye've already asked me before!"
"But you didn't tell us what you got up to!"
Hagrid rolled his eyes; three weeks into the school year and still, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had yet to get some answers from him. Any other time they wanted to ask him, he was either busy or they had other work to do, what with Ron and Hermione's Prefect duties, and Harry's Quidditch duties.
It was a cloudy Thursday afternoon. They had just finished their lesson and had a double free period, perfect for trying to get some answers from Hagrid.
"Ye already know more than ye should," Hagrid said, plonking a plate of brownies on the table.
"All we know is that you went to do some stuff for Dumbledore," Ron said, leaning back a little disgustedly as Fang rested his head on Ron's lap.
"And we've assumed that you've done something with Madam Maxime…" Harry put in.
"We think you went to see the giants…" Hermione added, "are you trying to get them to join our side of the war?"
Hagrid chuckled nervously, "do ye want a confirmation from me?" When he was met with three pairs of begging eyes, he sighed, "this is strictly Dumbledore's business. It's not any of yer business if he wants the giants to join us…" he stopped abruptly at the sight of the grinning faces, and put his head in his hands, "not again…"
But for all their efforts, the trio didn't get much more from him after that.
"Hello, Plum pudding!"
"Greetings, dog boy!"
James and Sirius hugged each other, James turned around and saw oSirius. "And if it isn't your canine friend!" He grinned and gave oSirius a hug as well.
"So how have you been enjoying your stay here?" James asked, as the three of them sat down around a rickety wooden table.
"Oh, lovin' it! I get to see portraits of my dear mother everyday, and I can converse with her too!" oSirius said sarcastically.
"And to top it off, oSnape frequents our little hideaway!" Sirius said.
"At least he stays in the furthest bedroom from the rest of the house most of the time."
"And we've found a way to annoy him when he's not in that bedroom!"
"Really?" James sat up excitedly, "how?"
"You'll see…" Sirius smiled mysteriously.
"I still don't understand why we have to stay at this wretched house, we could have used the Hole for headquarters…"
"Because it's better if that place is left for emergencies," Remus said matter-of-factly, walking into the room and plomping himself on the ragged couch in the corner, oRemus following the lead and sitting next to him, "and all the members of the Order know where this place is."
"Nice of you to join us Moonys!" James said amiably, "how's the moon been treating you?"
"I still don't believe you drink those concoctions that old Snivellus brews, you don't know what he puts in them," oSirius sniffed.
"Dumbledore trusts him, and so do I," oRemus said with a shrug, while Remus nodded in agreement.
"Look at our Moony, all grown up and mature," Sirius went over and patted Remus on the head.
Remus grinned, "which is a lot more than I could say about you guys!" Sirius picked up one of the cushions and threw it at him. Remus ducked it and stuck out his tongue.
"I thought oMoony was only staying for a bit?" James asked.
ORemus chuckled, "got some time off of work, but I do need to get back to it soon though. I'm only here for part of the ride…"
"BLACK!"
The Marauders all turned to the door, to see Snape and oSnape, both looking livid.
"Oh, why must Kreacher follow these slimy men…" everyone heard in the background. James stifled a laugh.
"Make that wretched house-elf of yours go away!" oSnape said through gritted teeth.
"Ooh, is that a favour? Are you asking me a favour?" Sirius said excitedly. Sirius, James, and Remus still owed oSnape a favour each, and none of them knew what sort of things oSnape had in store for them.
oSnape's eyes widened, "no, it's…"
"Time for our meeting to begin," no one noticed Dumbledore had arrived, standing in the doorway with a gentle smile on his face, "Sirius, please ask Kreacher to leave."
Sirius huffed and did as he was told. Snape sneered at him.
"Will the other members be coming tonight?" oSirius asked. At the other meetings when other members came, oSnape, oSirius, oRemus, and James had to stay in the room nearby to listen in. The only other person who knew of the other-worldly people was Moody, who had in fact seen them and was about to curse them before Dumbledore assured him that they were not Death Eaters. Dumbledore had looked amused, and his former students once again doubted Dumbledore's sanity.
"No, it is just us tonight," Dumbledore said, "tea, anyone? Or perhaps a lemon drop?" Everyone declinded, except oSirius, who excitedly accepted a lemon drop. Dumbledore conjured some sofas and sat in one, looking at everyone else.
"We shall begin with Severus," he stated calmly.
Snape stood up, and glanced around the room, then began, "I am still not sure what plans the Dark Lord has devised, I hardly attend the important meetings any more as he believes my place is in the dungeons with my potions. I know that at this stage he intends to recruit more members, rather than take the offensive. Even though the wizarding world has been alerted of his return, he has not planned to attack anyone yet."
Dumbledore nodded, "yes, he is giving us the false sense of security."
"I also know that Malfoy intends to blackmail some ministry members, whether to pull some strings so that some prisoners in Azkaban could be released, or make access to Dementors easier, I do not know," Snape continued.
"Or maybe he just wants to recruit ministry members as Death Eaters," James thought aloud.
"Yeah, they're stupid enough to follow the stupid Dark Lord," Sirius scoffed.
"But you really need to attend more meetings if we are to find out anything more useful," oRemus said.
"We all attend the meetings, but then the Dark Lord dismisses most of us so that he could continue private meetings," Snape said in a menacing voice.
"What we need is to infiltrate his 'inner circle'," oSnape said.
Dumbledore leaned back and gazed at the ceiling, "who is usually left behind for these meetings?"
Snape thought about it for a moment, "definitely Malfoy, and Avery. Sometimes Nott as well…"
"Hmm, perhaps if we have someone impersonate Lucius Malfoy…" Remus said.
"No one can impersonate that arrogant bastard," James said. "Besides, you need to know exactly how he acts among his Death Eater mates and in front of Voldemort. Not to mention that there's that whole 'pull of the Dark Mark' thing working."
"Ah, but maybe we can pull it off," Dumbledore said, looking at the two Snapes thoughtfully. He turned to oSnape, "you say that you can feel the pull of the Dark Mark?"
oSnape nodded, "yes, but not as much as my counterpart. It is obviously a secondary connection to both my counterpart and the counterpart Dark Lord."
Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. Sirius said, "that's an idea, and it would work for short periods of time, but wouldn't Narcissa realise something's amiss with him? I mean, to live under the same roof, and I doubt that Snape would want to sleep in the same bed as her for who knows how many months…"
James smiled grimly, "then we need to take care of her as well, don't we?"
Narcissa Malfoy was proud of her achievements, and she was reflecting upon these as she looked out at the dark night sky. Her husband was what any witch wanted; an impressive pureblood, and not only that but he was working to rid the world of Muggles and Muggle-lovers. Her son was sorted happily into Slytherin, where true purebloods were sorted, and will no doubt follow in his father's footsteps. The estate she lived in was magnificently rich, with polished wooden floors, velvet curtains, and more rooms than they needed. She had house-elves to use as she felt necessary, and money enough to feed families ten times as big as the Weasley's. She was proud that she had become a woman of such status. Her ego was almost comparable to Lockhart's, almost.
As she looked outside, she wondered what the Dark Lord would ask of her husband. Of course, she was a Death Eater herself, but not as high-ranking as Lucius was, so she was not needed at the meeting that night. She looked lovingly at the reflection she made in the window; her blonde hair flowed down in curly waves down her back, framing her thin and elegant face. Her face could be very expressive, something an actor would envy. She smiled at herself, admiring the beauty in such a simple expression. Out in public, she was usually expressionless to show her distaste of mixing with the lesser wizards. She didn't smile very often, but she had categorised all the types of smiles she could do. She could do the happy smile, the one that had first intrigued Lucius. The evil smile and fake smile she reserved for the house elves and any hapless Muggle crossing her way. The grateful smile and nervous smile was, of course, The Dark Lord's.
After standing there for a long time admiring her own looks, she made her way to the king-sized bed. On the bedside table was her usual glass of wine next to the fragrant flowers that their house elf decorated the house with. She lay back comfortably and took a sip. The red wine was always relaxing to her, made by the finest fruits in their large backyard. She looked at the brilliant red of the wine, swirled the drink, and took another long sip, savouring the tangy feeling on her tongue. She looked at the beautiful flowers on the bedside table; they smelt so beautiful. The wine made her feel tired, and she downed the rest and placed the glass back on the bedside table, rested her head on the large plush pillow, and dozed off.
She didn't notice the almost silent footsteps making their way from her room, and she didn't know that her rest would last longer than the doctor-advised eight hours.
AN: There's your chapter! Sorry it was a bit rushed. Phew, one down, I-don't-know-how-many to go! So now you all know who Professor Plum really is! Good guess Sailor Sol! The plot is now beginning to thicken, a little…
Next chapter should bring a little more action and, perhaps, a murder attempt, or it might be the chapter after that!
Thank you to all those who reviewed the last few chapters, you are all so wonderful!-
etzgo, WittchWay, Mz Runi, hermione21, phoebe666, minnie-mae, gaul1, Toni, Dark-Fox, Tanya J Potter, yache, goddess of darkness3, risi, Kateri1, Abluebird225, Silvercrystal77, Rocky235, Talamh, Reic, Calen, Eric2, Breena8, HyperCaz, princesscutle86, PrOnGs Da GrEaT, Acacia Jules, Acyla, Mystic Winds, Sailor Sol, Romm (I really feel for you and your timetable… ), Sykoticstalker27, fdhrhgrHA, risi, petite sorcieres, Believe, bitten by the kitten, Imaginable, lil kawaii doom, Delphine Pryde, Mordsith Kaylae, minty, sarcastic spastic, Night-Owl123, amyaggie, Realm of darkness, rdufthjhjkgyvftcuh, Marauders-Lover, Sweet A.K, Rhyllen, HarryGryffinGirl, supernova8610, and Stephanie.
I'm sorry if I missed anyone!
Now, to answer some questions:
Regarding Bangers and Mash: sausages and mashed potatoes? Didn't know that, although I was aware it was a type of food, and of course, those two gorillas .
Regarding Harry not waking up: you'll find out why later in the story. Toni, that would've been creepy having a friend with their eyes open but not waking up, never seen that before!
Regarding Draco Malfoy: friend or foe? I have an idea which way I'm leaning towards, but that is not really that central to the story, but I don't believe that he is totally evil.
Regarding oSnape's Dark Mark: I think I answered your question in this chapter, Romm . How did you survive your lab times? I had one-hour lectures at 8 o'clock last semester and barely survived!
Regarding Cluedo: I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but apparently Cluedo is called that everywhere except for America where it's called Clue. I dunno what's the deal with that…
Regarding raw potatoes: hmm, you'd be one of the first people I know of who eats raw potatoes ss, I've only ever eaten them cooked. I might have to try one day… and I know what you mean trying to get sleep without interruption, I sleep in the loungeroom!
Regarding Ginny: I will be following OoTP in this respect and have her dating someone else, a character who is never in the same room as the main character is just not very interesting, if ya get what I mean.
Regarding Snape's past: I'm still undecided about whether it'll be the same as in OoTP, James was a bit of a bastard, wasn't he? But it's not central to this fic, so it may not even be mentioned.
Regarding my exams: thanks to all those who gave me encouragement, I surprisingly did okay in them! But as soon as exams are over, there are the next lot to study for, (sigh). That's not for a few months yet, but as I'm overloading, I'll be pretty busy. A word of wisdom to students out there: don't overload! It's one of the stupidest things I've done!
Regarding my writing: I'm so flattered that everyone is enjoying my writing, and as a beginner, all your reviews have greatly inflated my ego. I hope my style and ideas are still to your liking!
As always, if you have any comments, suggestions, critiques, please leave a review or email , toodles!
ultrasoul
