A/N : Wow, thank you very much for the interest and kind comments. There are a few critics too, and I really appreciate it. I hope that they can help me improve my writing. Also, someone had put the story in a community. Thank you very much! It's a great honor for me and the story. On with the story, I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 25
In which Thomas discovered that he absolutely despised blood.
The first week of October ended with the Ravenclaw's Quidditch Draft, in which all students in the House from second years up had to go through Flying, Chasing, Keeping, Beating and Seeking tests to see if they would be drafted to the team.
"It's been like this every year." Penelope Clearwater, whom Harriet had gotten close to, stated as she shook her head in exasperation when yet another upperclassmen came to her with a fake injury or illness.
She was being drafted by Melinda Jones, on her second and last row as the Quidditch Captain to be a referee, along with Melinda herself and Roger Davies, her Vice Captain because Penelope was apparently an accident hazard on the brooms.
Apart from the few Quidditch enthusiasts, all of the participants looked a cross between grumpy and fearful. Personally, Harriet found flying relaxing enough, but not that much when she had to avoid other players, Bludgers buzzing around and Quaffles being passed between the Chaser candidates.
Idly, she caught the buzzing snitches that were flying past her. Just for the sake of entertainment, she zoomed past a group of chaser candidates, breaking their routines, and put the Nimbus 2000 to its maximum speed, breaking directions in every odd angle. On her 27th snitch, the broom smoked, so she started her descent to keep from falling. When she arrived back to where the referees were, she handed the snitches and the broom to Penelope.
"The broom is smoking. I'd rather not be on the team than falling to my death." she'd rather not be on the team, period.
Penelope's eyes were as wide as a saucer.
Melinda was very excited. "You're on the team. No question about it."
Harriet sighed. "I only caught 27 Snitches, though, aren't there candidates that are better than me?"
Roger laughed incredulously. "Only 27, she says…" he shook his head and pointed to the board beside him, showing the scores of each student in each test.
Harriet closed her eyes in exasperation. She was the record holder without even trying, though Cho was closing in, and considering that she's still up there, she'd surpass her soon. She was actually counting on it.
After the test ended, she joined Su Li and Padma on their trek back to their dorms.
"Congratulations on making the team, Harriet." her two friends said. Both of them were more successful in their efforts to avoid being drafted.
"I wasn't aiming to, though. Merlin, this is going to be awkward." she muttered under her breath.
"Why, though?" Megan Jones, a fellow second year, Melinda's sister and newly minted starting chaser, asked.
"Cousin Draco said that he's on the team as a seeker for Slytherin. He'll be insufferable if he loses, and he'll equally be insufferable if he wins. Either way, I lose. It's annoying, really. Say, Megan,do you care to mention to your sister to do something for team building? She drafted Wellington and Brahms as beaters, and you know how they are without supervision." She drawled.
Wellington and Brahms were fourth year Ravenclaws that absolutely hated each other. They argued in Breakfast, Classes, Lunch, and almost all days. On a bad day, they would have progressed to brawls by dinner. Penelope had been asking her about the spell for the hex she's been using on Ronald Weasley on occasions, the one to stick someone on the wall until she saw fit to release them.
"Harriet, Congratulations on making the team!" Cho Chang called as she jogged to catch them. The fourth year was drafted as a backup seeker.
"It should have been you, though," Harriet answered mournfully.
"Of course not. You quit in the middle because your broom is smoking, but you fly amazingly, and those maneuvers!" she said with starry eyes.
Great, another Quidditch enthusiast. Harriet rolled her eyes.
Between lessons,Quidditch practice, or what accounted as practice in Ravenclaw team (read : observe plays and read books), and her various projects, it was no wonder that Thomas was put on the way, way faraway side of her mind. She didn't forget him, for he is not quite a forgettable person since he was posing as a teacher, but their date had been postponed again and again until Thomas finally had enough of it and issued her a detention on Halloween.
"This is the one sure way for me to spend time with you uninterrupted. Why on earth are you so busy anyways? You're just in your second year. If you don't make time for yourself, you'll burn out by the time you're in fourth year. Trust me. That's not the way to spend your school experience." He said in exasperation.
"Why are you joining the Quidditch team anyways? I thought you're not fond of the game?" He asked as he led her to the second floor girl's toilet.
"It wasn't as if I wanted to join, Thomas. Believe me, I wasn't even trying. I just caught the snitches that passed me by. I even quit halfway! But there's a difference between wanting to join and being drafted, you know." she said in irritation.
"And why are we going to the toilets anyways?" she snapped at him.
For some inexplicable reason, Harriet had been in the worst mood since morning, and was curse happy. Draco had the dubious pleasure of his hair being transfigured into a living and breathing snake dreadlock for his thoughtless comment of Harriet's upcoming detention.
Thomas ran a hand down his face. His wife is normally a sweet if cool tempered person, but today, she seemed to have bitten everyone's head for no reason. Might it have something to do with how Severus spat out his morning tea when he told him about the date-slash-detention and told him to reconsider? (the potion master got a crucio for his trouble, but oh, well…)
"Do you remember that we agreed to visit Medusa?" he asked patiently.
"Yes, but does it have to be today?" she grouched.
"Why are you acting like a child?" his patience finally snapped. "If you didn't want to spend the day with me, you should just say so! Don't ruin the day before it begins just because you're annoyed by something!"
"I'm acting like a child?! Well, newsflash! I am a child! And you should know better than asking me to spend today of all days with you! Don't you remember what today is?!" She yelled at him, shocking him enough that she'd gotten a hit to his solar plexus.
Thomas took a deep breath and counted to ten.
"Okay, alright. I'm going to let it go just for today. We've postponed our date several times, I refused to do it further. We are going for tea with Medusa, and we're going to be amicable. Understand? I know you're annoyed, but Medusa is threatening to revolt if we don't visit." He had absolutely no trouble throwing the Basilisk under the Knight Bus. "would you rather she came up and accidentally killed someone?"
Harriet's left eyebrow ticked and Thomas held his breath, waiting for the explosion.
"Besides, wouldn't you like to meet a Basilisk? We have to see if she's willing to relocate to the conservatory, right?"
She sighed in resignation, and Thomas felt like sighing in relief.
"I'm sorry, Thomas, I don't know what came over me. It's just not a good day today. My back ached, and I feel bloated, and everything just irritates me. I also have an inexplicable urge to throw something to your head, but I'm trying really, really hard to reign it in." she finally said.
"So why the toilet?" she asked again.
"Oh, that's because this is the entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, where Medusa lived." Thomas said as he led her to the sink.
"In a girl's toilet?" Harriet asked curiously as she looked around. "And you said Slytherin built the Chamber of Secrets as his office? Is he a pervert?"
"Of course not! It just so happened that this is how Medusa went around back then. It wasn't even a toilet back then. Slytherin built it before they invented plumbing, you know. They were still using chamber pots!" his face screwed in disgust.
Thomas opened the entrance and commanded for stairs in parseltongue, then turned to face an increasingly pale Harriet and frowned.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
At that moment, the scent of blood reached his nostrils and Harriet told him.
"I don't feel so good."
He stared at Harriet and looked down by chance as the scent of blood got stronger.
"Blood!" he cried in alarm. "Harriet, are you hurt? Did you get hexed? How did…hospital! I have to take you to the Hospital Wing!"
He hastily closed the entrance back and picked Harriet up. He ran like a bat out of hell to the Hospital Wing.
"Madame Pomfrey!" he bellowed as he barrelled through the door. "Madame Pomfrey!"
"I'm here, I'm here. Geeze, no need to shout, Professor Higgs. This is a Hospital Wing, not a courtyard. What is the problem?" the elderly matron scolded as she rushed to them.
" She's bleeding. I don't know who cursed or hexed her, so I don't know the counter. It doesn't look like anything I've encountered, but she's really pale! And now she's red. Did you have a fever, Harriet?" he asked worriedly.
Madame Pomfrey looked at the trails of blood in her legs and to a deeply embarrassed Harriet, and raised an eyebrow.
"First time, my dear?" she asked.
Harriet nodded and stole a look at Thomas. He was paler than before, but looked worried as he laid her down the bed Madame Pomfrey showed him.
"I'm sorry, Madame Pomfrey" she said quietly.
The Matron smiled at her kindly.
"It's alright. It is very natural, after all. I will get you something for it, and I daresay that we need to talk. Now, Professor Higgs…" She turned to Thomas.
"I don't feel so good" Thomas swayed, and then crumpled on the floor, unconscious.
Harriet and Madame Pomfrey stared at his unconscious body and shook their heads.
"Men!"