Chapter 9 - Reminder from Hagrid
by Zero Star
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"Harry? Harry! Wake up mate!" Ron tugged and Harry's pajamas.
It must have been sometime just before dawn when Harry was finally able to send himself back to sleep. Haunting images of darkness plagued him, until gray morning broke. Then everything had gone black.
"Wu?" A most intelligent reply.
"Harry, you are going to miss breakfast if you don't get up now. I know you have had trouble sleeping, but it's time to get up." Ron was the most passionate about letting Harry sleep. No doubt because he loved it so much himself.
"Rrrrruuuummmbbbbbbbbbllllllaaaaaagggggggggg." Harry yawned and stretched, his voice clouded in sleep. "Okay, I'll be down in a jiff..."
"Sure." Ron looked him over. "But you don't look up to a jiff!"
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At the breakfast table, Harry grabbed some of everything, Hermione grabbed a lot of one thing, and Ron grabbed at anything that wasn't currently moving.
Hermione eyed the schedule for the day. She was apprehensive about Defense Against the Dark Arts being in the evening. It was a frightening class as it was, facing monsters and learning about a wizards natural enemies. But at night, something would give it a sinister feel. Who was the new teacher? Could they help Harry? Why did they always need a new one?
"Stop thinking so hard for just a second. Let the gears rest before they explode. Please? It will save your precious House Elves a spot of cleaning." Ron had begun on his insults extra-early that day.
Hermione continued to ignore him as the owl post arrived.
Owls of every size and description charged and screeched dropping their little packages onto their owner. Harry couldn't help but notice an especially large owl was having trouble flying. The poor thing was burdened with no less than 4 packages of equal shape and size. However, it's color added to a certain comic value in the struggling bird. Someone had hexed the owl to a bright purple color with green spots. After dropping one box off at each of the house tables, into the lap of a young blonde girl. The bird fluttered away, with out much grace and many lost feathers.
In Harry's distraction, he hadn't noticed his own letter delivered, via Hedwig. It landed on his plate and splattered scrambled eggs into his lap. Hegwig circled briefly before following it, only landing on Harry's shoulder instead of his breakfast.
"Hello, Hedwig." He offered her a piece of toast, which she gratefully nibbled.
Harry turned the letter over, wiping off a bit of egg he could see large rough handwriting. It could only be from Hagrid.
Ron was looking at the letter as well. "What's it say?"
Harry read the letter aloud:
- "Harry,
I thought I told you to come visit me as soon as you can.
I still mean it. We've got a lot to talk about,
bring your little friends and we'll have a cuppa tea.
Hargid"
Hermione turned the schedule over, thinking hard.
"There she goes again!" Ron gave a theatrical sigh.
"We have Astronomy tonight, and Potions isn't until next week. DADA is tomorrow. We can go right after History of Magic." Hermione frowned instantly at a groan from Ron and Harry.
They hated that class. Everyone did, save for Hermione. Ron would rather have been in Potions and Harry would have rather been chased by a rouge bludger for the rest of the school year.
Turning the note over, Harry scratched a quick reply:
-
Sorry Hagrid,
We'll be able to visit right after lunch today.
Harry
He gave the letter to Hedwig, who traded it for an affectionate nip on his ear. She hooted happily and carried off the rest of Harry's uneaten toast with the letter safely in her claws.
----
The morning was slow, filled with much sighing and irritated mutters from Ron and quick countermands from Hermione. The trio sat in the library getting a jump on whatever homework they had left to do, mostly at Hermione's demanding suggestions.
Harry stared down at several blank pages before him, debating if his dreams put to words would still seem as frightening as they did while he slept. Ron moved between napping and grumpiness. Hermione did her best to keep Ron inline and still copy various notes from a list of unnecessary books.
Harry restrained an irritated sigh. The other two were doing enough for the entire Gryffindor house. This was frustrating...
He let his eyes wander over to a large window in the library wall. A Ravenclaw student sat happily in the deep window sill, reading. As Harry gazed, he realized it was the Ravenclaw first year Snape had seemed so interested in. He vaguely wondered what she was reading with so much interest.
"OW! That wasn't funny this time, Hermione!" Ron glared at her threateningly. "You kick me again - OW!"
Hermione kicked Ron without hesitation the moment he started to make trouble. If this kept up, the three would be tossed out of the Library and Madam Pince would have them banned forever.
"I think we'll be late to class, if we keep this up." Harry interrupted.
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sorry this chapter is so short...
I'm starting to think this story is being inspired
by my own sleeping problems... Insomnia sucks.
11-09-02