Harry Potter and the Cookie of 1942

Chapter 3: Lunch and a Surprise

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"Hey, who are you guys?" A tall boy with curly brown hair was looking curiously at Harry and Neville, who were both lost in dark thoughts of killing the sixteen-year-old Lord Voldemort. They looked nervously up at him, then at each other, and stood up hastily. Neville decided to let Harry take the lead.

"Hi, I'm Harry Evans, and this is Neville Franklin. And you are?" Neville envied how confident and easygoing Harry sounded. The boy shook their hands, smiled, and introduced himself as Benjy Fenwick. "But my friends call me Grub. Haven't seen you two around, but you're in Gryffindor?" He nodded at their red and gold ties.

"Oh, yeah. We're new. Just transfered from Durmstrang. Our parents are British though, so that's why we don't sound Bulgarian or anything. We're both sixth years. Looks like you're in Gryffindor too" Benjy nodded. "Yeah, I'm in sixth year too. Good thing you've already been sorted. Why don't you come meet my friends. We're eating lunch by the lake."

The three boys walked together toward the lake, the two from 1996 giving as little information about themselves as possible without being unfriendly. Benjy, however, was perfectly willing to keep up a continuous babble.

"My friends and I have these silly names we made up for each other. Like code names, only most everyone knows them. Here's Ice," he stated as they reached the lakeside. Two girls and two other boys were sitting with an impressive picnic spread, all arguing loudly about whether or not there was a squid living in the lake.

"You don't get it," said a very pretty girl with dark hair and long eyelashes. "I've SEEN the squid in there. I think it lives on goldfish and grindylows."

"Come on, Mouse," said a boy who was wearing a silly (Neville thought) green felt hat on his yellow-blond hair. "How could a squid possibly get into Hogwarts' lake? They're deep-sea animals. The lake is freshwater."

The girl called Ice, who had blue eyes and light brown hair, broke in. "My sister said she saw SOMETHING big in there, and it almost tipped her over when she was going to be Sorted."

"Hey, people! Can you stop the discussion for a second? This is Harry and Neville. They're new here, transfered from Durmstrang, but completely British. New guys, this is the gang. Ice, who enjoys using her Freezing charm on people. Elfin, who is much too attached to that stupid hat. Mouse, the pretty girl who reads too much. And this is Zippy, who is more obsessed with Quidditch than is healthy." Neville was disappointed that he didn't know any of these people, but quickly started eating. He noticed that Harry was openly staring at the girl called Mouse, and grinned to himself.

"Hey, where did you get that scar, man?" asked Zippy, a tall boy with straight black hair and grey eyes. Harry, right? It's pretty cool looking." Harry just shrugged.

"Don't like to talk about it. So do you play Quidditch on the Gryffindor team?"

"Oh yeah. I'm a chaser. Do you guys like Quidditch?"

Harry was staring dreamily at Mouse again, so Neville answered. "Well, I like to watch it, but I'm not much of a flyer. Harry's a seeker, though. He was the best at our old school. Played on the team since first year."

"Really?" asked Mouse shyly, who had noticed Harry's obvious interest and started giving him flirtatious glances. "That's pretty impressive. I'm the Gryffindor seeker right now." Harry moved closer to her and they started discussing seeker moves.

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After finishing their lunch, the group split up, and Mouse, Ice, and Elfin went to seventh year Charms. Harry and Neville walked with Benjy and Zippy to sixth year Potions, but stopped when they got to the library. "Hey, we're not completely registered for Potions yet, so we'll just go study for this period," Harry told the others.

Benjy looked envious. "Wish we didn't have to go to Potions.Slughorn's a nuisance."

Once they were gone, Neville laughingly mentioned Harry's preoccupation with Mouse. "Isn't she pretty, though?" asked the black-haired boy wistfully. Neville grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"Harry, you know it wouldn't work, don't you?" Harry looked defensive. Neville sat down at a table and looked Harry in the eye. "We're in 1942, Harry. Which means in our time she'd beabout 70 years old, if she hasn't died. You don't even know her real name. And seriously, we need to figure out what to do about You-Know-Who"

Harry sighed wistfully, but pulled a piece of parchment, his quill, and ink from his bag. "You're right, Neville. I really like her, but I need to keep my mind on the important things. Like the murderer living in this school."

Both boys jumped as a cold voice behind them said, "Who are you two and what do you know about a murderer living in the school?"

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Author note: I hope you liked Benjy, Ice, Elfin, Mouse, and Zippy. These are NOT original characters! They are all people who have been mentioned in book 5. I will reveal their true identities in time... Hint: most of them are or have been members of the Order of the Phoenix!