This Chapter is Dedicated to our Beta, the incomperable Evil Percussionist - We would suck without you to fix our over excited bad spelling and poor grammar - We love you hun.
Chapter Six: Never Judge aBook...
She was in her favorite black jumper, sitting on the fallen tree branch in the moonlight. Justine was just beginning her fifth year at Hogwarts and it was a beautiful clear night. Draco would be here soon, and she couldn't wait to see him. She smiled to herself and started humming the tune she had just heard as she walked past the choir room.
Hearing footsteps coming up behind her, Justine was delighted as she recognized the even, proud footfall of her boyfriend.
"You bitch." A voice whispered from behind her.
Justine turned around to see Draco standing there, she had half expected someone else his tone was so inhuman. "Pardon?" She said, not understanding, was he toying with her? "Draco what took you so long? I almost thought you weren't coming," she asked a little fearfully. He had this look in his eyes, pure malice.
It scared her.
"There was a present waiting for me in my room, a Pensieve. It's quite interesting what other people see, how could you do it?"
"Draco I don't understand what you're talking about, I haven't done anything wrong."
Draco suddenly flew into a rage, "You BITCH! Pensieves don't fucking LIE!"
Justine had been so scared she had fallen backwards off the log, clambering back onto her feet. "Draco, I don't bloody understand but next time you call me a bitch I'm walking away. What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Don't act all innocent, I know all about you and your filthy behaviour. To think I wasted my time on you." He raised his arm and slapped her.
Justine had stood there just staring, "Draco..." he slapped her again, and she had run.
But he had followed her to the Gryffindor tower that night...
Justine screamed and sat up in her bed. She had been having the nightmare; she had been having nightmares about that night since it happened. Pushing her hair out of her eyes and swinging off the bed, she moved to her dresser to grab a bottle of water.
Her door suddenly swung open to reveal Kris, dressed only in his boxers. "Bunny, you're awake. Don't worry we dealt with Malfoy. Your uncle fixed your head up, and then Alyson and Tegan put you to bed," Kris put an arm around the shaking girl, "Severus didn't look too impressed with Malfoy, but he said that he was in no position to punish Malfoy for running into you. He also put a weak sleeping charm on you, so you would get some sleep."
"Thanks, how did I get down here?" Justine mumbled burying her face into Kris's shoulder.
"I got to act all heroic and carry you, of course Ax wanted to, to make an impression on all the chicks, so I calmly had to point out that he had swished his sword around twice, his image needed no buffering. Oh and yes, myself and Ax did get into a fat bitch fight with Malfoy before you hear it from others."
"You did?"
"Well he was in the way of the door," Kris added by way of explanation, "and being the shit stirring little wench Alexander is, he got into a slandering match with Draco."
"It wasn't much of a match, really, I just got to tell him what I thought of him. Again." Ax was standing in the doorway in long black silk pajama bottoms. He walked over to the bed and yawning dramatically flopped onto it. "C'mon, it's four a.m. We need a little more sleep. I'll stay with Justine and keep the nightmares away."
"I have a better idea. I propose a midnight munchies raid," Justine said with a little of her old spirit back.
"Yeah, I'm up for one, do you want me to go grab some things from the galley?" Kris asked.
"I have a better idea. I think we should go to the castle kitchens and be pampered by the house-elves. I can remember the way to them, and myself and Ax were once told how to open the door." Justine was already looking out the window for a clear path.
"I'm off for warmer couture then, after all, it is freezing off the boat," Ax said, "Meet you up on the deck in three minutes okay?"
Justine smiled to the boys as they left the room, reaching into her bag to grab a floor length black cloak to cover her rose pink satin pants and matching spaghetti strapped top. Dashing up the stairs to the deck she threw the fur-lined hood up over her hair. She smiled to the boys and giggled as they took off dashing over the grounds. Kris had thrown on a black turtleneck and black jeans, and Ax had put on a thick woolen jumper. As they approached the castle they stealthily climbed the stairs and glanced into the entrance hall.
"I wonder if old Filchy is still around," Ax whispered into Justine's ear.
"I don't doubt it. If we get caught does he have any jurisdiction over us?" Justine whispered back conversationally, glancing behind them to make sure the creepy Hogwarts caretaker wasn't in the Entrance hall. As they approached the painting of the fruit bowl, Ax reached out and tickled a pear, which jiggled and turned into a handle.
"Wicked..." Kris said, "Bring on the food!"
As they stealthily entered the kitchens, six or seven house elves presented themselves in a flurry, bringing Kris's every whim and serving Ax like a deity.
Justine turned to walk over to the fire in an effort to warm her feet. "Next time, I'm bringing shoes..." She muttered. As she moved closer to the fire, she unexpectedly tripped over something by the fire that the dim light hadn't allowed her to see.
Something small, warm and smelling entirely of Butterbeer was covered by what looked like a heap of dirty dishtowels. Justine let her curiosity get the better of her as she uncovered a small, dirty, obviously drunk house-elf. "What the hell," Justine muttered, shaking the house-elf in an attempt to wake her up. "Wake up, are you okay?" She asked the half conscious elf.
"Winky is just needing another drink, an' then some sleep," The elf muttered as she looked down the neck of an empty bottle, one of her big brown eyes squinting. "Who is you to be caring, nosy little foreigner..."
"Winky, did you say your name was? Why have you let yourself slip into such a condition?" Justine tried to pick something to say to dissuade the elf from getting another bottle. "What would your master say if he saw you?"
Suddenly without warning the elf began to wail and scream in the middle of the floor, causing two other elves to come over and push her back into the corner, then down into the pile of dishcloths. "I is sorry little miss," one of the elves was apologetic, "Winky was given... clothes a few years back and she isn't recovered, she is a disgrace," he shook his head and walked away.
Justine looked down at the elf as Ax threw an arm around her. "It's horrible when they get clothes. Want some cake Bunny?" he gestured to the cheesecake he and Kris were happily consuming.
"No thanks, I think I'll just have some of those cookies in a sec, I have an idea." Justine walked over to the hiccupping pile of rags. "Winky, go to sleep. Master's orders. And stop drinking. And umm... be happy." Justine hoped this would knock the elf into sobriety, but she just began to snore.
"It was worth a try," said Kris as she joined the table, "Do you want to put some of these cupcakes in your cloak pocket for the trip back? My pockets are full."
The next morning Colin Creevey edged up to the first of the three massive horses that had just arrived. Why had he been assigned to Kallaix? These horses were at least twice his size! He was avoiding the big black one though; there was something... dark about that one. He moved cautiously towards the pretty white one.
"Hey there girl... I'm Colin, and I promise I won't hurt you." Quick as a flash he fastened a rope around her neck, in an effort to capture her long enough to put on her halter. To his dismay the white horse began to rear and neigh in distress. Colin was so absorbed in trying to calm the beautiful horse he didn't see the massive black stallion racing for him with thunder in his eyes...
Harry stood in the room of Requirement, hands on hips and wand in one of them, looking challengingly around the room.
"What? No takers? Come on! Someone must want to learn this new curse…"
"It's not that we don't want to learn it Harry," Draco drawled, "It's more that no one is interested in being a sacrifice so the rest of us can see how it's done. I certainly don't have any suicidal tendencies, and I really don't think anyone else here does either. Although I'm sure if he was here, Creevey would be more than happy to let you kill him – I'll never understand your little fans."
"Harry snorted disgustedly. "Fine! Well, I can only demonstrate this on people, so until someone volunteers, none of us are going to be doing anything but standing around. So you might as well just do so!"
Draco shuddered delicately, "No thank you, I've seen what this spell does," he replied.
"Oh come on, it's not that dangerous!"
"But it's you, anything is dangerous if your involved with it," Neville piped up, grinning at Harry. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Honestly, I'm not that good!"
"Stop fishing for compliments," Draco muttered, "You know damn well you're the strongest wizard at Hogwarts – and I'm including Dumbledore in that – even if I don't have to like it."
"You jealous?" Harry teased him.
"No," Draco said, but Harry could hear something in his voice so he dropped it. Draco was used to having powers in any given situation, and he hated implying that he was anything less than perfect, so Harry didn't want to rub in that he was stronger with Magai power, or let any one in the room realize how meaningful the statements were.
"Still, until the Hunt is over I'm not moving onto any other spells. You guys need to learn this! And none of you already know it, so I cant ask anyone else to demonstrate at this time. Will someone realize I wont hurt you and come forward please?" Harry demanded again.
For almost half an hour they all stood there chatting and looking at one another, with Harry waiting calmly for someone to volunteer. Finally Draco stood and spoke up, "Hey anyone for a duel?" And leaving behind an annoyed Harry, the group went of for sword dueling sessions with Draco and Leon.
After a widely yummy breakfast the schools were all sent out on various duties to prepare for that day's events; the Quidditch was starting at noon and the first round of the Conference was that night.
Justine and Tanya were just leaving the Great Hall when Justine heard the roar, "Anubis, shit!" she screamed, running through the Entrance Hall, followed closely by the rest of the Australian girls.
As they all emerged into the front courtyard, Justine chucked a quick left, moving off towards the forest at almost a flat-out run. Tanya noticed that the stable area had been set up on the edge of the forest, and a small crowd had gathered around the unloading area.
"What's going on?" Tanya said to Alyson who was running right next to her. The roars seemed to be getting deeper "What's upset Anubis like this? I've never even seen him angry."
"I'd say some stupid fool didn't recognize them as Llysanyins, Dragon-horses!" Alyson fretted as they followed Justine through the newly parted crowds.
"How does she do that without a wand?" Tanya wondered.
Anubis, the massive, solid looking black stallion was standing over a cowering young boy, one of his massive front hooves resting on the boy's stomach, his head down. A distinctive growl was emanating from the horses chest. Anubis had lowered his massive head, the horn on the end of his nose dangerously close to the boy's throat.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Anubis?" Justine said in an angry and dangerous voice. Anubis's head shot up and he immediately removed his foot as Justine stalked him across the clearing, still looking angry. "You have probably scared the shit out of this poor little boy! I know he's a boy, but for Christ's sake you little shit! What did he do to you hmmm? You had better have a reason."
It was unexpectedly Alyson who spoke up in Anubis's defense, gesturing to her horse Isis, "It looks like the boy tried to put a halter on Isis: the freaks have assigned us a male stable hand, and Anubis was trying to protect her," Alyson said, "The poor boy probably didn't know what a Llysanyin was."
Justine turned back to her horse that had come over and was nuzzling her shoulder with the side of his head. It was quite funny to watch, as Anubis was so big, and almost knocked Justine over several times. "Poor baby, did the nasty boy touch your girls? Tegan, where's Loki?"
Tegan's horse was a pretty chestnut mare with bay patches, mane and tail. She was named after the Norse god of mischief, and hated it when people thought she was a boy for this fact. "She was still in the crate, seems she tripped anyone over who came near her." Tegan emerged with said horse following her.
"Move on people, nothing to see here..." Tanya started to yell. "What is it with us, do we cause a scene in everything we do?"
"No, we got through breakfast with no mishaps, probably cause Saul was on his best behavior I'll admit..." Jacque drawled as she moved off back towards the boat.
"Colin?" Justine said to the boy, "I think I remember you, you're in Gryffindor right?"
The boy clambered to his feet and nodded, "I remember you too," he stammered.
"Colin, come here," Justine said, ignoring Colin's squeak. "Anubis won't hurt you, he just got angry when you tried to put the halter on Isis. Our horses are of a special breed, Colin; they're called Llysanyins, and are draconic by genealogy. Anubis is a beautiful example of a purebred male, and Isis and Loki his females, his herd. If they get hurt or distressed he will lash out with draconic rage. They also hate male humans, unless they have been introduced by someone female that they trust." Anubis, who was enjoying the compliments, was enjoying a good scratch from Tanya.
"The Llysanyins are intelligent Colin, so don't try and order them around. We will have to get a female stable hand. Who gave you this job?"
Colin squeaked, "Daphne," and fled, as Anubis glared at him disdainfully.
"Can we go for a ride?" Alyson asked, "I'm not dealing with sleeping on the boat too well, the unicorn in me is going quite nuts."
"Yeah, let's. They need to get some exercise after being in the crate anyway." Tanya said.
In the end, Justine rode Anubis, Alyson changed into her animal form, Tanya rode Isis and Tegan, after making her swear she was on her best behavior, rode Loki.
"OK, now that the horses are fine, I'm gonna go find Daphne and … arrange a new stable hand," Justine said, smiling dangerously.
"Why am I getting the feeling that there will be more than just 'arranging' going on?" Tanya asked.
"Quite simply, I know she's going to cause a scene … and she's just almost gotten another student killed, you know what Nubie's like," Justine replied. "And I made sure I told Hogwarts we rode Llysanyins."
"Mind if I come along?" Tegan asked, "I'd like to see the bitch get it from you … yet again."
"I hope Pansy's there," Alyson agreed wistfully. "I might come too, just in case."
"Can I come?" Tanya asked, still not completely understanding the enmity, but wanting to see what would happen anyway – she hadn't gotten a particularly good impression of Hogwarts students (with the exception of Leon, who was Australian anyway), and it would be fun to watch yet another of them get put in place.
They went back to the ship to change into uniform. All were wearing their house color jumper, but Justine and Alyson were wearing pleated white minis, Tegan was wearing white pants and Tanya was wearing a knee-length A-line skirt.
As the group made their way up to the castle, the boys settled themselves in for a 'warm-up' for the Quidditch, which basically meant Adam and Jeffery conjured treadmills to run on beside the pool, while Saul swam laps. Kris and Ax lounged on the deckchairs, drinking Pina-coladas.
"I've noticed," Kris began, "That your argument about our school's uniform being dowdy hence the need for the hot-pants was entirely bullshit." He gestured around to the different uniforms. "Current interpretations of ours are damn close to indecent. We have a lot of scope for imagination."
"Well you can't blame me for trying," Ax returned, "Imagine how hot our chicks would be in hot-pants."
"So what's the deal with you and fair Tanya?" Jeffery asked conversationally.
"There is no deal," shot back Ax, "Seems she was just hot for me, as are all the chicks." He settled down for a nice smug stretch.
"You are so full of yourself, you asshole." came the unanticipated reply from the pool, as Saul launched himself back into his strokes.
Ax felt distinctly uncomfortable, so he poured himself another drink, topping up Kris's as well.
"Should we be getting drunk before the Quidditch game in two hours?" Kris asked him. "We have to play the Beauxbatons team according to the schedule."
"Unfortunately for you, dear Kris, you will indeed be playing your guts out in two hours but I will be cheering, and my philosophy is that the more I drink, the better I'll cheer."
"Here, here!" chink
She had been told that they would find Daphne in the Dining Hall, helping set the room up for the first round of the conference that was to be held that night. When Justine and the others entered the room she didn't quite know what to make of what she was seeing. Hermione Granger, 'little miss goody two shoes' yelling at Daphne.
"You stuck up cow, house elves are not just here to be your target practice! They deserve a little respect!" Hermione looked as though she was going to cry, standing in front of a cowering house elf that was covered in cuts and bruises, with her arms outstretched.
"Winky is sorry..." The elf mumbled.
Daphne just smirked, "Bugger off Granger, how I treat the elf is none of your business," As if by cue, Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy came and physically pulled Hermione out of the way. Then, while Millicent held Hermione in place, Pansy and Daphne took great pleasure in throwing some particularly nasty hexes at poor Winky.
Tanya looked at Justine. She would never forget the look of pure hatred on Justine's face. As Justine began walking a wine glass on a nearby table smashed. Tegan naturally fell into step to one side of Justine as she stalked towards the girls, ignoring the other DA members who were scattered around the room. Tanya caught Tegan give Justine a look, and Justine nodded.
Quite stealthily, Tegan slipped out her wand, but Justine just raised a hand, and both girls yelled in unison, "Expelliarmus". Daphne's wand shot into Justine's hand, and Alyson deftly caught Pansy's as she walked to Tegan's side in front of the angry Hogwarts girls. Tanya fell in beside Justine.
"How dare you treat another living creature so badly? These elves clean, cook and generally look after your sorry ass and you have the unashamed gall to treat one as if she is a simple amusement to you?" Justine said venomously as she threw down Daphne's wand, and raising her hands up at her sides, used her Magai powers to lift both Daphne and Pansy from the ground.
Tanya turned to Justine, whose hands had begun to spark and shimmer with power, "This explains a lot..." she thought, "I must have a word with our Justine."
Justine, in the meantime, smashed Pansy and Daphne together mid-air then threw them down to the ground and inquired, "How does it feel to be experimented on, you bitch?"
Tegan turned her wand on Millicent. "Let her go, or you'll be pulling cactus spines out of your ass for a month," at Millicent's hesitation she lost her temper and growled, "You don't believe me? TRY ME!"
Hermione pulled free of Millicent and ran for the now cowering Winky as she tried to make herself invisible under a bench. Daphne, always a poor loser, seemed not be able to miss this opportunity when it was placed in front of her and she quite viciously, in a fit of temper kicked Hermione in the side.
From nowhere, or so it would seem, Harry came pelting out of the crowd to kneel beside Hermione, who was gasping for breath. "Daphne, Pansy, get to the DA meeting room, now." he said in a tone which intimidated even Tegan, who was now gently picking up the unconscious elf.
"Looks like the poor little thing fainted from a mixture of fear and pain," Tanya said, checking if Winky had a fever.
"I know how she feels," Justine said softly as she took off her jumper to put over the elf. "I tend to faint when I get shocked. Take her back to the ship."
"There's no need," Hermione said, standing up leaning heavily on Harry. "I can take her to the kitchens to be cared for. It was really good of you to do that...thing... to help me." She smiled at Justine and the others, who smiled back.
"No need," Alyson said, turning to follow Tegan and Tanya out of the hall. "This will give me a chance to practice my medic-aid."
Justine was the only one left. "Hermione, I just want to say that... well back in fourth year I always really respected the way you stood up for the house elves. I would have joined, but... well… someone told me it was inappropriate. Winky will be fine, I met her the other night, Kallaix will take care of her. They may be noisy, but my friends have all got hearts of gold." with that she smiled and left the hall.
"I'm sorry Harry, but I still like that girl." Hermione looked up at Harry.
"It seems it's rather hard not to, just don't mention her to Draco." Harry looked down at his girlfriend.
"Harry, she did wandless magic. She's a Magai, like you..."
Harry looked at the closed door considering, "So I saw."
Justine looked down at the sleeping house-elf. Winky had slept straight through the mending of her cuts and bruises, and even the setting of her brutally broken arm. "Is she going to be okay if we leave her here?" she asked Kris, as she tucked the blanket tighter around the sleeping elf, "What if she wakes up and gets scared, or if she gets drunk and trashes the place…"
Kris smiled gently, something he only ever did in private. Justine was like a kitten, soft and adorable, but the minute someone or something threatened something she cared about, she was like a lioness; she had a temper a mile wide. "We have to go to Quidditch. She'll be fine Bunny, you can write her a letter and I'll charm it so it floats over to her when she wakes up."
Justine turned her sunshine smile on Kris, "Oh! You sweetie, why didn't I think of that? Accio Stationery!" Justine's heavy cream paper stationery came though the air and landed on her outstretched hand. Kris grinned and pointed to her wand that was still in her pocket. "Oh, shut up! I forgot."
She settled down on the couch to write:
Dear Winky,
You are safe on this boat; no one can harm you, or find you. My name is Justine and we have met before, although I doubt you will remember. Stay put until my Quidditch game has ended, and we can check on your injuries, most of which we think we've already healed.
Justine
When the letter was finished she handed it to Kris, who whispered his charm, then propped it on the vase of flowers on the coffee table. "C'mon hon, lets go kick some French Quidditch ass!"
"I thought you didn't like movement?" Ax said, watching as Tanya prepared for the Quidditch match. "I know you hate boats and stuff. For that matter, you didn't look too bad on the train coming to school this year."
"I hate movement in enclosed spaces," Tanya replied calmly, "Boats are just nasty, but flying is cool. And you might remember that the compartment in the train is proportional, and was very big – that was probably because I was there."
"Oh."
"OK, everyone who isn't on the team, get out into the stands," Adam called, "we're nearly on now, I'm sure."
"How many of us are there, anyway? Is anyone coming from school?" Ax asked.
"No, it's just us three," Tegan replied, walking over with Alyson to join him. "And I'm thinking the Hogwarts students will be cheering for Beauxbatons – they really don't seem to like us much."
"Understatement of the year," Alyson remarked.
"We could always cast Sonorus, that would make us really loud," Tegan offered a suggestion.
"Hey, there's a good idea!" Ax agreed, a familiar glint entering his eyes.
"Be afraid, be very afraid," Justine remarked, she knew that look – it was the look that Ax and Kris both got when they were planning something funny … or dangerous … or illegal … or, more often, a nasty combination of all three.
"What?" Kris asked innocently, "We've been planning this all morning – it's all good."
"Bugger being afraid, now is the time for absolute terror," Justine muttered.
"Hey!"
"What? I'm telling the truth!" Justine cried.
"Out!" Adam yelled.
"And CHEER!" Tanya roared after their retreating forms.
There was a sudden roar from the pitch to the left. "Looks like the first game's over. That means we're up!" Kris remarked, prancing happily around the room.
"Screw this, you're stealing my role," Saul added. "So you'd better bloody stop!"
Adam raised his hand in the air, silently calling his team to gather around him. Once they were in a circle around him, he lowered his hand until it was parallel with the floor. Starting with his fellow Chasers, Saul and Kris, then the Beaters, Justine and Jeffery, the Keeper, Jacque and the Seeker, Tanya all laid their hands over his.
"OK team. We are the best. We will thrash them. Let's go," Adam said, and the team roared their approval, throwing their hands into the air.
"Short, sweet and to the point – I like it," Jacque said. "I would have said almost exactly the same thing in your place." All of them went to grab their brooms.
Kallaix Academy had supplied their team with the latest model of broom from Southern Cross Ltd – the leading broom producers in Australia. The Silverstar was made of Silver Oak wood, with sterling silver trimmings, and was the best broom on the Australian market – a match for Britain's Firebolt Brooms Ltd, though the Thunderbolt, the latest model, both came close in both performance and speed.
The door opened, and Severus Snape entered the change room. He looked around at the Kallaix students. "Very … white," he remarked. The Kallaix students looked over themselves – with cream robes and white brooms, he did have a point.
"Mate, we're from Aussie, it's hot there – think cricket," Kris called.
Severus smiled slightly, "Of course," he agreed calmly. He liked most of the Australian contingent, and this Kris was no exception … except that he kept reading that he was Justine's boyfriend … a great downside, but oh well.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Yeah, we'll thrash 'em easy," Adam replied with a slight shrug.
"Are you not the Kallaix knights? The most respected and revered Quidditch team on the Australian circuit? These are the French. You will not 'thrash' them. Try destroy, ruin, decimate, annihilate, obliterate. This is your new vocabulary. Losing is just not acceptable... quite apart from the fact that I would feel your shame; I would have to pay that oaf Hagrid ten galleons, which is completely unacceptable. No money of mine will be spent by a drunken lout on beer."
"What's wrong with beer?" Saul demanded.
Severus sighed in disgust, shaking his head slightly, exasperated. This one was special, he was.
"I take it back," Jacque remarked, "His speech was good."
"I thought you said you liked my speech!" Adam cried, pretending to be hurt.
"I said I took that back."
"I'll be watching," he assured Justine quietly.
Ax watched as Severus Snape walked into the change rooms where the Kallaix students were currently located. They'd be out soon and then the game would begin
He wasn't at all worried – he knew it would be an easy match. Kallaix Academy had had two workshops the year before, one with the Thundelarra Thunderers, and then so as not to be outdone by their rivals, the Woolongong Warriors had done another. The Kallaix Knights were the best team of any of the Australian schools – as they proved by winning the Australian Tournament year after year.
"And here we have the Beauxbatons Bleus! I give you LeCourt, Vedas, Nichols, Dupont, LeCourt, Savant, Porter and Jestour!!!" Called the announcer – a former Hogwarts student named Lee Jordan, who Ax didn't trust. He looked like someone who played favourites. The French zoomed onto the pitch in blue uniforms.
"And now, the KALLAIX KNIGHTS" Lee bellowed, "CHASERS BLAKE, CROMPTON AND THORPE-TOWNSEND!" Adam, Kris and Saul zoomed out onto the pitch in perfect 'v' formation. "KEEPER QUAINE" Jacque pelted for her goal, then circled back to join the formation. "BEATERS CAMPBELL AND SNAPE" Justine and Jeffery shot straight up, soaring into the air, then death dropped, spiraling around one another, snapping back into formation at the last moment. "AAAND BUSSA!" Tanya sped into her place at the back of the formation.
Ax was glad that he was right about Jordan playing favourites, and he had picked the right team. Smiling smugly to himself, between Severus and Tegan, he prepared to implicate, 'The Plan'.
"Tegan, Alyson," he whispered, then murmured, "Sonorus," being a sword mage, he did not require a wand, all he needed was part of his flesh touching his sword – and with his hand on the hilt of his weapon, that was no problem.
Tegan and Alyson immediately followed his example, though both used their wands. Severus arched a questioning eyebrow.
Ax grinned, "GO THE AUSSIES!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, with Tegan and Alyson following his example, their voices cutting through the ton of Hogwarts support for the French.
Ax paused thoughtfully, noting out of the corner of his eye that Severus had calmly conjured earmuffs, and just as calmly put them on. He also noted that the Hogwarts students were turning to stare at him and his friends. He smiled.
"We aren't loud enough," he murmured to Tegan and Alyson. "You can only just hear us. Multipletius!" his words had come out at a shout, and the next time he spoke, it sounded as if he was speaking from seven different positions throughout the pitch, and was much more effective. "GO THE AUSSIES! Perfect."
"Surround sound? You're good," Severus noted with satisfaction. The Irish-turned-Australian was just as good as Justine had said he was … he was coming close to earning Severus' respect … something very hard to do. The only man who was still alive and had Severus' respect was Albus Dumbledore, and perhaps the Potter boy – but that was respect for actions, not personality, and Potter personally had none of Severus' loyalty. The only other person was Justine, and she was family. But perhaps Ax, and the other boy, Kris, might get there. Not the Joker – he was just annoying, if occasionally amusing.
"Well, I try," Ax shrugged – evidently the earmuffs weren't too strong, and his spell could still be heard through them. All the better.
The balls were out, the team was rising – the Aussies a helluva lot faster than the Frenchies. This match would be a breeze.
Adam grabbed the ball, and Ax vaguely heard the Lee Jordan fellow begin the commentary. He didn't listen too much – just making sure the bastard wasn't dissing his team.
Kris dove under the rest of the players, zipping up the field, and suddenly leveling up just to the left of the hoops. Adam hoiked the ball to Saul, who was hovering above, Saul flew to the opposite side of the hoops to Kris, went as if to score, the Keeper hurried to defend that hoop, and Saul tossed the ball to Kris, who stuck it through his hoop with embarrassing ease.
Justine and Jeffery floated lazily around the center of pitch, watching the game. The French Beaters were moving in on one of the Bludgers, but as yet, the Australian beaters weren't too concerned – their players were moving way too fast anyway.
Ax watched as the second Bludger headed towards Jacque, but he wasn't worried about it at all – Justine and Jeffery were already moving. They flew out away from each other, and circled in on the violent black ball, both hitting simultaneously in the direction of the other team.
"Looks like the Aussie' aims are off," Lee Jordan called, as the ball was going nowhere near the actual players. Justine and Jeffery smiled secretively at each other. Ax smiled – the other Australian teams were well used to this maneuver by now, and it never actually fooled them, but Britain had never seen the Kallaix Knights in action before. They were completely unaware of impending doom.
"YOU'RE A FEW CENTIMETRES LOW!" He yelled at them, "BUT I SAY AGAIN, GO THE AUSSIES!"
The Hogwarts students wondered what he was talking about, but then there was a sudden silence, followed by one pained (and delightful) French scream. The Bludger hit by Justine and Jeffery had actually hit the other Bludger mid air, and the immense power of the double swing sent both of them hurtling for French players – one of them struck a Chaser, the other went off sideways, as the angle hadn't been quite right.
Justine was already moving – the crowd, who'd been looking at the two Bludgers, had not seen her move and took a second to locate her – towards the errant Bludger, which was going after Tanya.
Ax saw her pause to speak for a moment with the Seeker, but was too far away to hear what was said, though he expected it was a bet of some sort, since they both shook hands over the broomsticks. Justine knocked the Bludger once again straight at its partner. There was a loud renting noise that silenced the stadium, and the second Bludger cracked down the centre, falling sadly in two pieces towards the ground. There was no malice in that broken thing.
There was a sudden, sharp whistle. Oliver Wood, the games Referee, with Madam Hooch on the other side. "OK, guys, I'm respecting your Doppelganger Defence, but that was blatant Blatching!"
Adam soared over and glared back at the ref, "Blatching is flying with the deliberate intent on knocking into a player of the opposing team," he informed Oliver. "This was two Bludgers hitting each other – I fail to see a) how two players were involved or b) how that was against the rules!"
"Hmph," the Irish man muttered, thoughtfully. "I suppose that's true," he decided. "I read somewhere that that was against the rules. Especially breaking the ball."
Justine flew over – Bludgers were her business, after all. "I'm sorry," she said to Oliver, "I guess Britain doesn't put reinforcing charms on the Bludgers. Australian balls aren't nearly so easy to break, though it can be done. I'm a little disappointed it only broke in two though, I thought the first break would come in three, but Tanya guessed two, so she won the bet."
"You've broken balls before?"
"Every match," Justine replied sheepishly. "I have yet to fail to break one of the balls, but i'm tryingI swear!"
"One of?" Oliver sounded weary.
"They broke the Snitch once," Tanya put in cheerily.
"It got in my way," Justine said cheerfully.
Ax broke out into loud laughter; he remembered that day! His laugh echoed from ten different positions around the pitch, and was magically magnified. There was no other sound to block it out, and many people raised their hands to cover their ears. Everyone had stopped talking to hear what the ref had to say – most of them had been hoping the Australians would get a penalty for something.
The French ended up with a penalty, which they scored on, taking their score to twenty.
Play resumed. Tanya circled cheerfully above the game – while everyone had been looking at breaking Bludgers the Chasers had scored another five goals, and the ref had been forced to admit that the Australians hadn't broken any rules after all. The score was sitting on Twenty - Sixty. This was shaping out to be a good match.
The French had the ball now, and their lead Chaser, a pale skinned, blonde haired boy was flying towards the goal, Quaffle held securely with one hand. Coming to a halt in front of the hoops, he readied the ball to throw. Tanya could just see what was going to happen – another famous Kallaix move.
Jacque raised one hand, palm out, and spoke. "Stop," she commanded.
The boy froze just before he threw the ball, and looked questioningly at Jacque. "Do not throw that ball," the Australian keeper said, as if giving a friendly warning.
The French boy looked confused. Tanya wondered if he even spoke English.
"Why not throw ball?" he questioned, French accent annoyingly strong.
"Because I told you not to," Jacque was clearly enjoying herself.
"Who are you to tell me to stop!" He was getting annoyed, but not nearly annoyed as he was when Jeffery aimed the Bludger point blank from only a few meters away at the Quaffle. It was knocked neatly out of the boy's hands, and Adam caught it underneath the boy, at whom Jacque blew a kiss.
"I think we're making more enemies," she commented to her boyfriend.
"Do we care?" Jeffery shot back, grinning and flying off "Call me if you need me."
Ax's attention was momentarily diverted from the game by the arrival of new people. His eyes narrowed as he recognised Draco Malfoy, then Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and a few others. This must be the Hogwarts Quidditch team. Bastards. "Draco Malfoy sucks," he muttered, and of course his message was spoken all around the pitch. The beauty of this was that one of the places the charm activated from was … right beside the sucking one.
The annoying blonde looked around, trying to find him. Ax smirked. Draco's eyes suddenly met his, across the pitch. Ax glared back, raised an eyebrow then muttered, "Yeah, I'm talking to you."
Draco looked confused. "AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!" Ax roared as Kris tucked the ball away yet again. "GO KRIS! YOU DA MAN!"
Draco, Harry and the rest of the other Quidditch team hurried conjured their own earmuffs – Ax's voice was painfully loud.
Kris looked down, hearing Ax's voice over the wave of groans from Hogwarts students, "Who's your daddy?" he screamed as loudly as he could, and was just heard over the rest of the noise.
"SAUL'S YOUR DADDY!" Ax yelled, as the man in question flew over and gave Kris a high five, most likely repeating Ax's message in first person form.
"That bastard," Draco muttered, scowling across the pitch. "Why is Snape is not doing anything? Why is he not making that Irish Imbecile – sorry Seamus – stop insulting me? Snape is supposed to like me."
"I think he likes the Aussies more," Harry remarked. "After all – she – is on the team."
Suddenly Draco yelped as the remaining Bludger came hurtling towards him. Justine was looking the other way and miming whistling innocently as she swung her Beaters club.
Draco grabbed for his own club, raising it just in time to deflect the Bludger. "It pays to keep equipment close by," Harry observed.
"Yes. Yes it does."
On the pitch, Oliver Wood had blown his whistle almost seventeen times in quick succession. "Geez ref, calm down," Saul yelled. "You've never been to a Thunderer-Warrior game have you? You should have seen that time that the Warrior captain's wife came to the game, oi Justine, remember that?"
Justine grinned, "Bedlam. Quite inspirational. I'm surprised she survived honestly – how many times that Bludger hit her?"
"Seven," Jeffery replied, flying down to join her. "And we never even saw that last one. I mean, hitting a man while he's down is supposed to be nasty, but hitting a woman being carried out in a stretcher? That's just … I don't have the words."
Tanya remarked. "Oh, by the way – ref? I caught this three minutes ago? Just before you blew the whistle the first time?" She waved the Snitch under Oliver's nose. "So that penalty really isn't necessary."
"Why did you think I hit in then? I'm not British," Justine muttered, then looked at her uncle with an expression like her favourite pet just died, "I'M SORRY SEVERUS!"
"For what?" her uncle called back, striding onto the pitch.
"That you weren't born an Aussie. Know this – while you were not born in my homeland, no insult I direct at the British is in any way reflecting on you. I believe I speak for the whole Australian Contingent in saying that you are, and will always be, an Aussie at heart, and one of the group!"
"Oh yeah!" Saul screamed, "Go the Brit-turn-Aussie!"
"Yes, thank you Saul," Severus said coolly.
Oliver suddenly turned to look at Tanya, "Hey! You've got the Snitch!" he cried.
"Yes, five minutes ago I told you I caught the Snitch three minutes before that – are we remembering this conversation? Déjà vu gone nuts."
"I didn't even see her catch that!" Harry cried, eyes wide with astonishment. "How could she catch that without me noticing it? I was watching her all along – trying to figure out her technique," he added quickly when Hermione glared at him.
"Good, I was starting to wonder if that article we saw was coming to life in front of my eyes – golden girl, honestly."
"Harry wouldn't fall for the enemy," Ron said firmly. "Harry doesn't go gallivanting off with members of the opposition … but I'm remembering someone else doing so once …"
"Oh shut up about Victor – I was fourteen!" Hermione yelled.
"You still call him Victor? Harry, I'd be worried," Ron said.
"Ron," most of the Quidditch pitch, plus Ginny with her wand out, growled at the red-haired boy.
"Shutting up now," Ron muttered, ducking his head.
"Stay that way," his sister warned.
"Hey, why was there only one Bludger? I'm not complaining or anything, because otherwise she might have hit both of them at me, but there were definitely two in our game. I hit them both."
Ginny gave him a worried look, "You probably don't want to hear this …"
"What?" Draco's eyes narrowed to dangerous silver slits.
"Well, they did this Doppelganger Defence, but they hit the two bludgers together … and then Justine hit the Bludgers together on her own … and she smashed one of them in half. Apparently she's put one into thirds before."
Draco looked at Ginny. "She broke a Bludger?" he repeated disbelievingly.
Ginny pointed wordlessly to where all of the Aussies were all landing. There was a glint of broken metal, and Justine kicked half of a Bludger out of her way with an expression of contempt. Oliver Wood flew down and grabbed the half, giving Justine an unnoticed grieved look.
"Shit."
"She's got a damn good swing, that girl. She hit me once and I was seeing stars for a week afterwards," Ron muttered.
"Why would Justine hit you?" Draco demanded.
"When I was arguing with her about why she dumped me for yo- forget I said that. I did not say anything just then." Ron hastily clambered to his feet and raced off.
Draco spun around to the only other Weasley in the immediate vicinity. Draco looked at her, and Ginny raised her hands, palms out, "Hey, my brother's love life is not my business. Or yours, for that matter … but it happened, yes," She then followed her brother's example, but made a far more collected job of it. At least she didn't nearly trip over her feet five times on the stairs.
Ax arrived down on the pitch and pushed his way through the crowds to try and find his team. Spotting the back of Adam's streaked head above the crowds, standing next to who he guessed was Saul and next to him was the back of Tanya's pretty little head. As he broke through he saw Justine riding around on Kris's back, one arm in the air holding her club. Alyson had their brooms and was laughing, leaning on Adam. Tegan, Jacque and Jeffery were pushing through toward the Lake, and Kris was beginning to head that way.
He turned, expecting Tanya to be standing next to Adam, but instead saw that she was walking away. He ran over to Adam clapping him on the back. "Congrats my comrade." He said laughing. "Knew you could do it."
Adam smiled in his bashful little way. "Those were our Warrior moves, we have yet to use the Thunderer techniques."
Ax just grinned some more and tried to locate everyone again, just to be sure.
The yelling contingent had arrived at the lake and was moving towards the wharves. Adam, Saul and Alyson were right behind them. Where was Tanya?
Looking around he spotted a fiery head down by the water, quite near the group, but away from them. Was she okay? Ax jogged over and called, "Hey, hon! What you doing?"
Ginny Weasley spun around, shamefaced at being caught staring at the Kallaix Boat. And it got worse, she had just been sprung by Alexander Kidson, sex on legs. Was this boy ever self-conscious? "Uh... Nothing, just walking."
The situation got worse. Seems that wasn't the answer he was looking for. "Where," he asked her, "Is Tanya?"
"The seeker?" Ginny asked, quite confused. "I haven't seen her, she was on the pitch after the game talking to ... hey!"
Ax had grabbed her arm and was trotting her towards the wharves. "KRIS!" He bellowed towards the boat.
As they approached the boat Kris came out and yelled, "Ax, Tanya! Join the party dudes," then did a double take, "Who's this... Ax are you bringing home strays now? You're not allowed to keep her, no matter how cute she may be..." Kris slipped his dark sunnies up onto his head. "Hey, I'm Kris."
"Ginny..." She managed to stammer.
"Is Tanya here?" Ax asked, quite annoyed, they had made a deal to all return to the boat directly after every task.
"No, I haven't seen her since we landed," Kris said turning serious.
Ax gestured for Ginny to walk ahead of him onto the boat. Up on deck there was the most beautiful patio like setting where a tall guy with little boyish charm was sitting looking through a book called "Quidditch Rules: The Revised Text." next to another guy who was lounging on a deck chair with 'Boby 2' scrawled on the cushion. Neither of them thought it out of place for her to be on the boat.
Up on the top deck above the wheelhouse, a couple was sitting polishing their brooms, laughing as they read a newspaper called the 'Australian Wizarding Times'. "Hey Kris," called down the guy, "This reporter claims that last night you and Justine had a romantic dinner in Hogsmeade."
Kris broke out laughing, "If only those geniuses knew last night I shared dinner with you idiots and Sevie!"
Ginny choked, were they talking about Snape? What the hell? "Are you talking about Professor Snape?" she asked.
Every head snapped her way. "Good lord, it's an interloper. Are we kidnapping the British now?" asked the girl with the newspaper.
Ax just said, "Tanya's missing."
Justine flew up onto the deck, with Tegan and Alyson in hot pursuit. "Oh my god - they've got her, don't they?" Justine glared at Ginny Weasley. "Give me the Gryffindor tower code now, or you do not want to see what I'll do to you," she threatened.
Ginny looked at her, "What are you talking about?"
"If it was easy enough to mistake you for Tanya, we can just imagine where Tanya is, can't we?"
"I saw her walking off with the Gryffindor team," Alyson put in, "But I thought that was you, like we all did," she aimed this at Ginny, rather than at Justine, as the Head Girl already knew.
"Oh," Ginny said. "So why don't I just come up with you and get you in?"
"Easy," Kris stepped in front of her, taking hold of her arm. "Let's just say it's a matter of … leverage."
"Let me go!" Ginny protested.
Ax, who had until now dealt with the alleged kidnapping of his supposed crush rather well seemed to, with this comment, finally flip his little Irish lid. "Let you go! They might be torturing her for our secrets as we speak!"
Justine took a quick assessment of the situation. A) Ax was about to kill anyone in his path to the tower. B) Kris was a slut. C) It was true she had no idea what was happening to poor Tanya.
"Ax, breath OK, leave Ginny alone, she had nothing to do with this because obviously we have her Her brother, part of the golden trio on the other hand will pay. Ginny give me the codes before I have to do something really nasty. You do remember I command that there dragon."
Ginny glanced out to the lake, where said dragon had been playing around in the water. Now it was coming towards the boat, and it wasn't looking particularly happy.
Ginny didn't say anything, just stared at the dragon. "I think she's afraid of dragons," Alyson remarked in a quiet aside to Justine. "Here they seem to think all dragons are a dangerous species or something."
"They are not!" Tegan yelled, overhearing the last comment.
"I was saying someone thought they were, not that they actually were Tegan, calm down," Alyson smiled.
"Who thinks dragons are dangerous? Let me at them!"
"We were talking about the British as a whole," Alyson replied. "You can hardly go and convince every person in this country that dragons aren't in fact dangerous at all … unless you upset them," Alyson said soothingly.
"I can try," Tegan muttered.
"Some other time love," Justine advised. "Now we have to go and get Tanya back."
The McEwan dragon came up to the deck, wondering what was going on to make her children upset. She looked around to check that they were all there. There were her children, the funny one with brown hair and the kind-hearted werewolf.
There were the school children, the temperamental black haired girl and the sport-obsessed blue eyed Captain.
Then there were Steelwell's children, both of whom were on the topmost deck. The Wentworth ones – the honest unicorn and the boy who loved to fly. There was the flirty, sword-wielding one and the quiet – not Kallaix child!
On deck, everyone watched as the dragon noted all of the people on board, and when she came to Ginny, who should have been Tanya, she did a double take, then hissed quietly.
"Where is the flame haired child of Petersen?" she demanded of Justine, though not everyone could hear what was being said.
"Well, there's the thing," Saul stepped in, as everyone else shuffled in front of Ginny. "She's gone … visiting, with some –uh- friends in the school. Um, Ginny was, uh, about to … like … tell us how to, um … get there. Yeah."
Justine glanced at Ginny and arched an eyebrow, silently telling her she should hurry up with the codes.
"She's mindspeaking you, isn't she?" Ginny demanded. "I know she is – my brother Charlie works with dragons, and he hasn't stopped talking about yours since he heard about them."
"Yes, she's mindspeaking me," Justine said. "Now, tell me the codes so we can go and get Tanya and calm her the fuck down!"
The dragon roared and Ginny quailed.
Kris stepped forward. "Bunny, calm the hell down. Gin, come here love," he said, pulling her over, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and then waved the McEwan dragon over. "McEwey, mate, this here is Gin. She's like an honorary Australian. You'll be seeing her loads from now on. She's real cool, mate, real cool. You noticed how much she looks like Tanya does, so we're going to go and get Tanya, and then bring her back here, just so we know exactly how much they look alike, so we'll be able to tell them apart in future. Gin is going to stay here and have a nice little swim. The situation is completely under control, so why don't you go and do your … water dragon things, you know, go for a bit of a swim, tease the giant squid … you could take some letters home for us if you get bored, you know, the normal stuff."
Ginny looked at him, "I'm going for a swim?"
"You're going for a swim."
"Bring the flame haired child back. The other one does not leave until all my children are safe," the dragon informed him, then dove away, resurfacing not far away, and swam in lazy circles around the boat, clearly guarding it.
"She ain't gonna let you leave until we have Tanya back," Saul said cheerily. "So I guess you're stuck here … until you give us the damn codes."
"Sirius Major," Ginny blurted.
"Thank you!" Justine called over her shoulder, as she, Ax, Tegan and Adam started towards the dock. "Saul! Go swim with the dragon, keep her happy, OK? Alyson, go check on Winky, make sure she's happy, Jeffery and Jacque …" Justine looked for them, and found them snogging on the top deck. "Stay there," she called, "Kris, baby-sit Ginny!"
"We'll go swimming," Kris replied.
"She's the same size as Tanya!" Ax called over his shoulder.
"You've been looking at Tanya's body?" Justine demanded.
"Can't get my eyes off it," was the cheerful reply.
"You've been looking at Ginny's body?"
"I thought she was Tanya … for a minute."
"We will discuss this … later."
Up in the Gryffindor the entire Hogwarts Quidditch team was gathered. This was no longer a strange scene, despite the fact that quite a bit of the team was in different houses. They were discussing the tactics that they would have to use to get past the Kallaix team.
Tanya let her hair fall carefully in front of her face so that they wouldn't guess she wasn't actually Ginny. She was really good at being invisible, and this could come in handy later.
She was somewhat startled when Ron Weasley walked up to her and pressed a cup of hot chocolate into her hands. "Sorry about putting you on the spot earlier, with the whole me and Justine thing," he muttered softly into her ear.
You learn something new about that girl every day … Justine Weasley? It just doesn't sound right, Tanya thought, nodding her thanks (and supposed acceptance of the apology) to Ron.
"Now, getting past their Beaters is really going to be tricky. If that girl can break a Bludger, she can break a bone," Harry said.
Tanya barely refrained from informing that Justine didn't break bones, she broke brooms. It was her policy not to actually injure the other team … unless she happened to particularly dislike one of them. Come to think of it, with Draco Malfoy on the team, Hogwarts was in trouble…
"So, to get past them we have to have Malcolm and Draco hold onto…" Harry was cut off as the portrait suddenly slammed violently open, with the Fat Lady protesting loudly at such treatment.
Justine Snape was really showing the family resemblance, with a scowl on her face that would have really made her uncle proud. Behind her was Ax, hand on hilt and looking murderous, and Tegan, who was actually growling. Behind them was Adam, who was looking almost … pleasant?
"What the hell are you doing here?" Draco demanded, staring at Justine.
"Well, for starters, I have as much right to be here as you … Slytherin Pig, as I was once in Gryffindor, unlike you, who are a wannabe member – or so the rumours say," Justine sneered back at him. "Ronald, have you noticed that you are missing someone lately? Or do you pay so little attention to your younger sister that you have KIDNAPPED OUR SEEKER!" the last was said at a roar which set everyone quivering – a mad Snape was not a good thing, and this was starting to really remind a lot of the Gryffindors of Potions classes. Behind them the Fire roared high in the fire place.
"Dammit Justine," Tanya stood up, chucking back the last of the hot chocolate, "They were just about to discuss how they were going to get passed your defence with the Bludgers – they are so clueless, but yeah …"
"Ginny?" Ron asked, looking at Tanya.
"For god's sake, does you sister really have an Australian accent?" Tanya demanded, blue eyes sparking dangerously.
"And there's the proof, ladies and gentlemen – though I use the term very loosely – the eyes are blue, not brown, the voice is Australian, not British, she can catch a Snitch … have we ever seen Gin play Quidditch?"
"No," Adam replied. "But we can try out for the team, since McEwey thinks she's an Aussie now."
"Why are you calling her Gin, where is she, and who, exactly, is 'McEwey'?"
"Are you dissing my dragon?" Tegan demanded.
"McEwey is Saul's name for the McEwan House Dragon – you may have noticed the big blue water dragon swimming around lately. Imbeciles," Justine muttered disgustedly.
"YOU TOOK MY SISTER NEAR A DRAGON?" Ron screamed.
"YOU KIDNAPPED OUR SEEKER! UNLESS YOU IDIOTS HAVE YET TO NOTICE, KIDNAPPING IS A CRIME! INTRODUCTIONS TO THE DRAGON WERE JUST PLEASANTRY!" Justine thundered back.
"Introductions?"
"Well, we had to introduce to the dragon, otherwise she might have been killed for stepping onto the boat. McEwey is a little … overprotective of her children."
"I always thought that you looked somewhat serpentine," some anonymous voice muttered from the background. "I guess it's just draconic nature to be uncontrollable."
"Oh that's it! I'm gonna kick all your asses in the hunt! You just wait and see!" Justine drew back her hand and punched Ron straight in the eye – just for good measure, then turned and was about to stalk out of the common room in disgust when Hermione came over.
"Where exactly is Ginny?" she asked, "You have your Seeker back now, we would like our house mate."
"She's on the boat … with KRIS!" Justine looked at Ax, Ax looked at Justine.
"Oh shit," they said together, then Ax looked at his watch. "It's only been ten minutes, he can't have done anything too bad."
The pair of them took off at a run. Tegan shrugged slightly and wondered after them, and Adam went over to throw an arm over Tanya's shoulder and lead her from the room.
The Gryffindors all looked at each other, "If my sister's been hurt, I'll …" Ron said.
Tanya looked over her shoulder, "If you can't tell her apart from me, you aren't in any position to make threats … even if you do make a kick ass hot chocolate," she pulled the portrait gently closed behind her, and they heard the Fat Lady muttering something about some people being considerate.
"Who's going down there with me?" Ron demanded, clearly not ready to face a dragon on his own, even for his sister.
"I will," Draco said immediately.
"No," Hermione replied. "You'll just make Justine angry, and we are trying to keep the dragon calm, remember? I'll go."
"I should come to then," Harry decided.
"Let's go already!" Ron replied, and pulled the portrait roughly open.
"You should take lessons in portrait care from that nice Australian girl," the Fat Lady informed him huffily.
Justine and Ax skidded down the wharf and leapt onto the boat. The McEwan dragon, swimming with Saul, looked up with interest, and headed over, with Saul struggling to keep up.
"Ginny?" Justine called out hopefully.
"In the pool!" Kris yelled back.
"He might be drowning her!" Ax cried, and raced over, just the Hogwarts students, along with Tanya and Adam came down the stairs of Hogwarts and headed for the boat also, Harry and Ron in the lead, with Hermione a little way behind – she didn't think the Australians would actually hurt anyone. Adam and Tanya were walking slowly, probably discussing Quidditch tactics.
When the Hogwarts people tried to get onto the cruiser, the McEwan dragon rose up out of the water, growling deep in her throat, determined not to let them pass.
"We need to get onto the boat," Hermione told the dragon clearly, speaking as if to a child. The dragon did not take kindly to this, and growled louder. The three of them backed away.
"My sister's on the boat," Ron tried this tactic.
Had anyone been able to understand the dragon's speech, they would have heard, "My child was in your castle. You didn't see me coming up and demanding entrance like I owned the place." But no one could.
"McEwey, it's ok – they just came to see me back and get Gin," Tanya walked up to the dragon without any fear at all.
"How can you not be afraid of that thing?" Ron demanded.
"If anyone was around to translate for her, I'm sure she'd be telling you that she is a 'being', not a thing."
Justine turned up on the boat, looking down at them, "Yeah, and after that, she says that Ginny is one of her children now, and you can't have her."
Hermione sighed, "Back away guys. If a dragon declares a human it's child, well, that person is pretty much protected for life."
"Yeah, and we have six dragons declaring our whole school their children," Tanya remarked, "And Kris and Justine command all of them, well to the extent that being heads of our school allows. The rest of us can only request the services of our house dragons, since we're prefects. All students can hear the mind speak of their house dragon, and all students can hear the school dragons, Aiden and Rhiannon."
"Remind me not to mess with you outside of the Hunt," Harry said, "That's a lot of dragons."
"Wait till you meet them," Justine advised, "Aiden and Rhiannon are completely unforgettable in the draconic world."
"Can we please have my sister back? Or at least come aboard?" Ron asked.
"McEwey, these nice people are going to come aboard the boat. Just this once though – if they try and sneak on in future, you can do your little thing and hurt them bad for all I care," Justine decided, then smiled brightly, "Welcome aboard!"
"I take it Ginny is fine," Tanya added.
"See for yourself, she's in the pool," Justine replied.
The group made their way to the back of cruiser. "You have your own pool, on a boat," Hermione asked.
"Well we can hardly have one in the lake now can we," Tegan called out cheerily. Tegan headed up to where Jacque and Jeffery had been making out previously – they had stopped to watch something at the other end of the boat, however. Tegan joined them with a newspaper, and read the headline, "Justine, Mark is going to propose at a romantic dinner tonight!'
"Really? I'll have to find something nice to wear then," Justine drawled, then did a backtrack, "Hey, didn't I accept Kris's proposal yesterday?"
"No, you were undecided," Jacque called back, "You said you needed a couple of days to decide."
"Oh," Justine said thoughtfully, "That's right, I forgot about that. Well, I'll have to make a big decision between my two big brothers … and I don't really want to marry either of them just yet, if ever."
"I know – these tabloids are just way out. Any minute now they'll have Ax proposing … or Saul."
"Oh, that's just nasty," Justine remarked, "Nothing against them either, but the idea of marrying either of them is just nasty."
"Justine, pages three to ten are about the Hunt and how well you'll do," Tegan put in.
"How many articles on us are in this newspaper?" Justine asked.
"Only seven, they're calming down," Tegan called back.
"Finally, by the end of the hunt we might be down to three again," Justine muttered.
"You mean, all those articles in the photo album were real?" Hermione blurted.
"What photo album?" Justine demanded.
"Colin found it the night of the welcome feast," Harry replied. "There were lots of pictures and newspaper articles."
"Oh, yeah, they were all real articles, we keep them to laugh at – most of them never get anywhere near the truth," Justine replied. "Well, the ones on romances never do anyway."
"Yeah, this is all cool and stuff, but where is my sister?" Ron demanded.
"Hi Ron!" Ginny was balancing on Kris's shoulders, wearing what had to be one of the skimpiest swimsuits he had ever seen, which was sparkling violet. Alyson was balancing on Saul's shoulders and they were apparently having some sort of wrestling/water war type thing.
While Ginny was distracted by her brother's arrival, Alyson seized the moment and shoved. Ginny would have gone sprawling into the water, but Kris threw his hands up over his head and onto her back, pushing her back into place. "You're lucky I usually do this with Justine – she never holds on."
"I do too!" Justine protested immediately.
"You do not," Kris unwisely set himself up for the argument.
"That's it! I'm going for my swimmers!" She headed towards the wheelhouse, passing Ron, Hermione and Harry, who were all looking rather lost, on her way. "Ron, Harry, come with me. Jacque! I need you to deal with Hermione's swimsuit – she's about your size."
"I'm on it," Jacque called back down.
Tanya glanced at Ginny, 'You're lucky I have two swimsuits," she remarked, then stripped off the red robes she'd changed into after Quidditch, revealing a virtual twin of Ginny's swimsuit, just in pale blue, rather than violet, and dove gracefully into the pool.
The rest of the Quidditch team were also stripping off their outer robes and diving into the pool. Ax surfaced beneath Tanya, balancing her on his shoulders, and they joined the war. Tegan just shook her head and stayed where she was, Jeffery waited for his girlfriend to return, apparently unwilling to join the war either. Adam joined them up there, happy to avoid the misfortunes of others.
Hermione and Harry were the first to return, along with Jacque, and while the first two joined the war, Jacque rejoined her boyfriend. Hermione had borrowed one of Jacque's swimsuits, and as all of them were gifts from Jeffery, this was not a good thing – unless you happened to be Harry. She was wearing a black bikini with a mesh tank top over it; kind of punk, very sexy, and Harry was wearing a pair of Kris's board shorts, and had been somehow persuaded (by force) to take of his top.
They just walked around the pool, accustoming themselves to the movements they would need to use.
Justine and Ron came up shortly after, Justine having found Ron some of Adam's shorts, and having changed herself. She looked around the pool then remarked to Ron, "Looks like I'm with you."
"Looks like it," Ron agreed, not sure if this was a good thing, as he was already getting a black eye from earlier. Justine noticed this, and touched a fingertip to his eye. The hurt, and the bruising, disappeared immediately.
"You know my temper," she remarked, "I didn't really mean it."
"Yeah, I know you," he replied, watching her with something in his eyes.
Justine looked uncomfortable for a moment, then dove into the pool, with Ron following a second later.
"Adam, can you do the honours?" Kris called out.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I pronounce thee … at war. I give you leave to blow thy enemies to tiny bits, as they have been naughty in my sight."
"Too much Monty Python is not good for a person," Tegan could be heard commenting, not that anyone was paying attention, as they all plowed into one another rather viciously in some cases.
For a while there, Ron and Justine were doing really well, unseating first Alyson, then Hermione. These two couples then retired to the sidelines to watch.
Kris and Ginny came after Ron and Justine, and after a short battle, managed to unseat Justine, sending them to the sidelines. Now the pool was left to Ax and Tanya against Kris and Ginny, two almost identical girls up against each other.
"Bet you Tanya wins," Justine muttered to Ron.
"Three sickles on Ginny," he replied immediately.
"Your loss," Justine replied, accepting the bet.
"Noble steed! Attack with caution!" Tanya cried.
"Hey, noble steed is over here!" Saul yelled from the comfort of 'Boby 2'.
"I have a new steed now," Tanya replied, as she and Ax headed for Kris and Ginny. "You might be nearly my twin in looks, but I shall prevail against you!" she added to Ginny, evidently having the time of her life.
"We will emerge victorious!" Kris yelled, and ploughed towards his foes, with Ginny clinging to his shoulders. They met halfway across the pool. Ax retreated slightly, with Tanya battling it out with Ginny on his shoulders. Kris tried to jump after him, forgetting that Ginny was on his shoulders, and the pair of them tumbled into the water.
"Ha-ha! Who's emerging victorious now?" Ax cried, "Who's YOUR daddy!"
"I'M NOT YOUR DADDY! I'M KRIS' DADDY!" Saul yelled.
"What is it with that anyway?" Ginny asked.
"It's Kris's line," Ax replied, "and Saul added the last bit on last year … running joke."
"Ah," Ginny replied.
"Hey, we're having a party tomorrow night, you guys wanna come?" Justine invited.
"We can come back?" Ron sounded as if he could hardly believe his good fortune, his eyes on Justine.
"So long as you quit it with the seeker stealing, and don't bring the blonde bastard anywhere near our boat, sure," Ax replied.
"Blond bastard? You mean Draco right?"
"Yeah, blonde bastard," Ax agreed.
Suddenly Severus Snape turned up on deck. Every one of the Hogwarts students froze. The Australian girls launched their dripping, scantily clad forms at the potions master, evidently delighted to see him.
"Another child," the McEwan dragon remarked, popping her head up to make sure that nothing was wrong with the person trying to get onto the cruiser. "The big frowning child," she dove back under the water, satisfied there was no danger.
Justine was babbling about the Quidditch match, Tegan and Tanya were clinging to one arm each, also babbling about the match, and Alyson was hopping from one foot to the other, hoping to get a hug in somewhere.
Severus seemed calm enough to allow this, even if he seemed out of place, even going so far as to listening to the babbling, until he saw the other occupants of the cruiser. He turned to them, smile replaced immediate by a slight frown – though not, everyone noted, a full on glare – "Potter," he sounded astounded, "Granger … Weasleys?"
"We invited them along for a little gathering," Justine said, snuggling under her uncle's arm. "No problem, is it?"
"No - no problem," Severus seemed still a little surprised. "But Justine, we need to talk in the dungeons for a moment, mind if you join me?"
"No, not at all," Justine replied sunnily, and grabbed her cloak, throwing it over her skimpy swimsuit.
"We need to have a very serious talk…"
(There you have it, Chapter Six ofour baby (Princess wipes away a tear and sobs on Gabbies shoulder) my little baby's all growing up cries))
Yay, I (WolfMoon) get to do the thanks again! It's great to hear from you guys, and please keep reading/reviewing! Reviews really make our day!
FreedomStar: There will be some more on the Hogwarts students as time goes on … the Kallaix students aren't 'power crazy', as such, they just like being the best - they are in Australia, and they are used to it.
Dark672: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!
Ava Monroe: You're one of our top reviewers, you'll probably get more chapters dedicated to you as time goes by! Good to know we cleared everything up for you. I'm glad that you are enjoying the original characters. When Princess first told me about the story (she was the one who came up with it), I was a little hesitant about the OC's myself, but as you said, they are lovable and great to work with - I've really enjoyed writing the story, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Not all Australian's use those expressions, although it's always funny when they do. Harry's going to fit in more soon, and it's going to be good.
GodDarkness: Good to know we've got the accent right - if we didn't, we'd have to die in shame -laughs- Leon is pretty cool, yeah, but then, I think that about all of the OC's. Bobby2 rocks - one of my epiphanies. I loved it. We're editing the Snape-ness at the moment, so hopefully you won't have that problem in the future. OI OI OI!!!! (princess grins "OI")
Queen of the Jungle: MATE! (princess runs over for big hugs and grins - "maaate")
PhoenixMan: Don't worry, in those events where Harry takes part (he can't in all of them, of course) he kicks arse, don't worry about that! I love Harry too much to allow to him have anything less, after all.