The next day Ron burst into the dining hall looking scared and shocked. He collapsed when he reached Harry, who raised him to his feet and passed him his glass of pumpkin juice.
"Now, what's the matter Ron?" Harry said gently.
"Malfoy and Peeves!" he wheezed. "Plotting. Against you. Heard. Them. Talking. You're in trouble!"
"Why should today be different? Malfoy can do what he wants, I can take anything he throws at me. Wait? Peeves AND Malfoy? This creates a slight problem."
"Put the mischievous poltergeist and the boy who loathes you more than any other person together and you get big trouble. Poor you Harry." Hermione deduced.
"I don't care! I don't give a monkeys arse about what they are doing." But he did care. He hated himself for this, but he was a little scared. What was he saying? He as Harry Potter, he didn't get scared, especially not of Peeves and Malfoy. Stop this nonsense, he told himself.
He was careful not to show what he was feeling in his face as he did not want his friends to know that he had felt fear. Hermione saw it though and noted that he was more like his father since the holidays. Damn Sirius! He wanted James back and since Harry looked so much like his father Harry was obviously the one Sirius had chosen. Damn him!
"Harry, you are so much like your father now, but I wonder if you are exactly like him. From what Lupin has told me, James fancied Lily for several years before he worked up the courage to ask her out. Tell me, if you are determined to be so much like your father, who is your Lily?" Hermione asked with a coy smile and sensing that she either already knew the answer, or that she would not like the answer when it came, if indeed it ever did.
"Oh yes I am indeed very similar to my father, and you have Sirius and Remus to thank for that. And just like daddy I do indeed have a certain lady in mind but you shall not find out her name until I am perfectly certain of her, or if I need help or advice from my master Agony Aunt." And he inclined his head towards her in acknowledgement that he appreciated her advice.
She smirked and then screamed and pointed at Harry's hair. It was going silver with green streaks through it.
At his perplexed look Hermione passed him a spoon and he saw his new hairdo. He didn't seem fazed.
Slowly, very carefully he picked up his glass of pumpkin juice. Hermione swore she saw him mutter something before he took a sip.
For a moment nothing happened.
Then the Slytherin table erupted into screams and a few laughs came from the Hufflepuff table which was nearest it.
The whole hall turned as one to stare at them. And what thy saw brought forth cheers and laughter.
Malfoy had swollen, in very much the same way Harry's Aunt Marge had done four years previously. He was now rising in the air and he started bouncing on peoples heads and some of the Slytherins were staring to play volleyball with him across the table.
Harry joined in the laughing and Hermione thought she saw a smug look come into his face. Of course it was him that did it. This spell was as much a part of him as the Bat Bogey Hex was Ginny's particular speciality. That explained the mutter. She was sitting next to him and now she edged a bit closer to him.
"How'd you do it then?" she muttered under cover of the laughter.
He watched Malfoy soar high in the air and then laughed at the look on his face as he headed back down towards the middle of the table.
"Will power. I didn't need a wand because of the will power I have to see him fall. You focus your mind on the person and then all you need to do is mutter the spell you want and it will get done." He said out of the corner of his mouth.
The Slytherins were now treating Malfoy like a balloon and were playing keepy-uppy with him. Then Crabbe got a little over enthusiastic and, clearly thinking that they were still playing volleyball, he hit Malfoy across the hall. He landed in the dividing isle between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables.
Incidentally he landed at Harry's feet. Harry nudged him with his toe so that he was facing him.
"Having fun Malfoy?" he said with that smug look still firmly in place.
"Nice hair, Potter." Malfoy snarled back.
"Admiring your handiwork are you? You must be cold lying there on the hard floor, let me help you up." Harry grabbed the front of Malfoy's robes and heaved him into the air. "Bon Voyage!" he said cheerily as he released him.
