Chapter 9 :
Authors note: I slept at two am the previous night, woke up at seven for my debate training which lasted ten solid hours, and came home at seven. I am down with a flu and an unmistakable flu. I cant prep for my next motion and yet I'm the 2nd speaker. I have a splitting headache, and the guys at the debate center are KILLING me. Especially the bimbo's who are flirting. I am in for another ten hours of training tomorrow. On top of that I have get my tuition homework done. I am fricking busy trying to prepare TWELVE speeches by Saturday. So pardon my late updates and have some pity on this soon-to-be extinct debater. OK BACK TO BUSINESS.
She was dancing with the grey eyed boy, entranced by his eyes, she did not notice everyone pointing and staring. She soon asked who he was, curious to know who this mysterious person was. Not receiving a single answer, she stopped dancing and reached out her hand to his mask… Prying the simple mask from his face, she expected to see a handsome face… But instead she saw the face of a cruel man…The man who had murdered her mother when she was twelve… Those lively grey eyes had turned from entrancing to cruel and empty eyes, devoid of any feelings. She stumbled back on her dress train, falling to the floor… Everything around her suddenly swirled into a haze which eventually formulated into her house front yard… She looked around at the man again, relieved to see that his attention was diverted to torturing a woman who was painfully writhing on the garden soil… Recognizing the woman as her mother, she reached out, shouting at the man, pleading for him to stop. She reached for her own wand, only to realize that it was not with her. Then the horrible screaming stopped. The woman was dead, then the man turned towards her with a look of hunger in his eyes…Pointing his wand at her… Screaming "CRUCIO"…
Christine screamed and jolted from her nightmare, panting. Her shirt was saturated in cold sweat and her face was streaked with tears.
"Wha' happened?" asked a drowsy Hermione.
"No…Nothing…Just a bad dream…Get back to sleep…" She said, stammering.
She stayed awake for the rest of the night, unable to sleep for the next two hours. The annoying ringing sound of her alarm clock rang in her ear after what seemed like one second. Her head was tormented by a terrible pain. It felt as if someone had whacked her on the head with a mallet. The noise made her headache worse. Annoyed, she slowly took her wand from her bedside table and lazily pointed it at the clock, causing it to blow into small bits. She fell asleep again, waking up later on at two in the afternoon.
She got up just in time for lunch, too drowsy to notice the rumours and gossips around her. She sat by herself and leaned her head into her hand as she picked at her lunch : Peas, mashed potatoes, and steak. She kept on thinking about the harrowing nightmare. Was that how her mother died? After all, her father never said how her mother died.
Tammy came running to her from the RAVENCLAW table, slapping her hard on the back, asking "Were you that mysterious girl in that pink dress last night?", looking Christine hard in her eyes.
"Ehh? No… I was at Hogsmead till' eight, then I went back to the common room and fell asleep early," . She said, her well planned lie coming into action.
"Huh? Then why are there eyebags under your eyes?" Tammy asked quizzically.
"Oh I had err…A restless sleep…" she said rather unconvincingly, causing Tammy to arch an eyebrow.
"So tell me more about this mysterious girl," Christine said exasperatedly, trying to divert Tammy's attention.
This had given Tammy the opportunity to launch into a full speech. To look polite, Christine looked at Tammy, pretending to drink in every detail of the dance.
"…blah blah…Largest turkey in my…blah blah blah….I went with Brook Mcblah…Ginny Weasly went with Seamus Finniblah…Cedric Diggory your arch nemeblah went with blah Chang…blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahbla…and Cedric Diggory was the one who blah-ed with that mysterious girl…and Celestina blah-beck was here to sing last night…"
"WHAT!"
"I said, that Celestina Warbeck was here to sing last night. Too bad you missed it though…" Tammy said impatiently.
"No no! Back track! Cedric Diggory danced with WHO!"
"With that mysterious girl," Tammy said, before leaning in close to her ear, whispering "Many people suspect you. After all, that girl didn't seem to have a specific partner, and you don't have one. Cho Chang was fuming mad after Cedric danced with her…" she said.
"Oh damn…" Christine whispered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! Erm, I have some er, work, to finish, at the library, see you!" she said, half shouting due to the shock Christine had received on hearing this piece of unexpected news.
While she ran out of the hall, Tammy shouted "BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS! WE DON'T HAVE HOMEWORK! Well…DO WE!" she asked, apparently confused.
Christine sprinted up the dormitory. She was about to get rid of the evidence lying under her bed (her dress) when she burst in, only to see Ginny standing alone, holding up the dress with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Err…Christine…What's this dress doing under your bed?"
"Its not mine! I have never seen it before!" Christina choked out.
"I was prodding around underneath your bed, I mean I saw a lot of shimmering stuff and I thought it was a nest of fairy eggs. I thought that was odd, I mean, fairy eggs can only be found in tree holes…So I reached in and I found this…" she said.
"Yeah that's been under my bed for ages!"
"But isn't this what that girl wore last night?"
"Huh? She might have stolen it from me," Christina said with a shrug.
"Oh well, I was just wondering anyways," Ginny said, handing Christine back her dress before leaving the dormitory.
After Ginny left, Christine sent back the dress, masks, and trinkets back to her father. She hated herself for dancing with Cedric Diggory AND not knowing it. Somehow, she hate and detest for Cedric increased by a hundred fold…
boring border. Please ignore.
She went to the library with an overdue book in hand after she sent the dress back. After returning the book and getting scolded by Madam Pince, she settled in a corner with yet another book and started to feed her hungry appetite for knowledge.
"Err…You must be Christine…" asked a timid third year.
Christine looked up from her book and said "Yeah…What about?"
"Err….Ginny told me to look for you…You see, we have this debate club and for our next motion, we are kinda…erm…."
"Well get on with it!" Christine said, sounding impatient.
"We were wondering if you could take Melinda's place as second speaker!" the third year squeaked.
"Oh," Christine said casually, continuing to read the book.
After several awkward minutes, the third year gathered all her courage and asked "So do you mind, just once, to take her place? Ginny told me you were good at arguments, and besides, we, Gryffindor, are against Hufflepuff's strongest team in the club. So if you just join for this debate, we may have some hope to crush them…"
"Wait…Did you say Hufflepuff?"
"Yes, that Cedric guy is their First speaker. His team is sort of… Undefeatable…"
"I'm in!" Christine said quickly, wanting to crush his "Undefeatable" team to bits.
"Well, your group members, Ginny, who is the third speaker, and Wendy Crenshaw, the first speaker, are going to practice and sort out points later. They will teach you how to format your speech and group your points in the Gryffindor common room. Your Proposition by the way, so you are for the motion " This House Would (THW) Ban All Elf Enslavements". Good luck!" she said, before hurriedly disappearing out of sight.
Christine shelved her book and briskly walked back to common room. She saw Ginny and Wendy seated on the floor by the table and went over to join them. Ginny explained the motion and which side she would be on. After learning that she was on the side which wants to ban the elf enslavements, Ginny helped her plan and organize her substantives (the main points a speaker is speaking on), taught her how to write her speech, and helped to rebut potential points, while Wendy was scribbling her speech hurriedly on pieces of parchment.
"How come you don't have to write your speech?" asked Christine.
"I have done my pre-amble already, besides, the third speaker is mainly supposed to rebut everything the opposition team has said, and wrap up the case,"
"I never knew about this debating society. How long have you guys been around?"
"Oh you'll be surprised. There's even like a Gobstones club around here. Do you get stage fright easily?"
"Not really, why?" asked Christine.
"Well…You'll be speaking in front of thirty people, you know, the people who joined the club?"
On hearing this, Christine's stomach gave a flip.
Ginny saw Christine's expression and said "Don't worry too much. There's this trick, where you actually imagine yourself owning the floor and imagining no one is in the audience listening,"
"Oh…By the way…Who's the judge?"
"You mean the adjudicator? It's normally an experienced seventh or sixth year. Don't worry, you'll be fine!"
"I am not worried," answered Christine softly.
The time came for them to debate. Ginny said that the location was on the third floor in a empty classroom. As they walked, they met their rival : the Hufflepuff team.
"Hey I heard you were debating in place of Melinda as the second!" said Cedric from afar before walking towards them.
"Let's go…Hurry…" Christine muttered to her team mates, tugging them towards the classroom.
Like other girls, Wendy fawned over Cedric (like no one's business), not wanting to go, she said "Yeah, but she's really great,"
You haven't even heard me speak yet you nitwit, Christine thought.
"So err….Good luck then," Cedric said, grinning at Christine.
"I don't need luck to win," She said coolly, before walking ahead of Wendy.
They arrived at the classroom and prepared for the big debate. There were six seats in groups of three, facing opposite each other. The debating floor was in the middle of the platform, whereby the proposition sat on the left, and the opposition sat on the right. Christine took her seat next to Ginny, nervous and afraid that she might ruin the whole case. I guess I shouldn't have been so cocky she thought to herself.
"I call this house into order," drawled a boring sixth year student who was their ajudicator, "The motion is THW ban all elf enslavements, I call upon the Proposition's first speaker to open the case,"
There was much applause from the club as she took her stand at the floor, behind a table specially set up for speakers. Wendy went into a speech, introducing the topic of debate and defining the motion. She introduced what she and Christine would be speaking on, and launched into a full debate, including the overworking of the elves and the ill treatment, starting with their tattered clothes "of enslavement".
"Point mam'!" Cedric said in a loud voice, standing up.
"Yes sir?"
"But you have failed to realize that by taking away their right to work, you are also taking away their livelihood and thousands of years of tradition," Cedric said.
"The opposition team has not been listening to my speech at all ladies and gentlemen. I have said that because of the lack of education and the brainwash their "masters" and "mistresses" have put them through, making them think that they are supposed to help, making them think that they were born to serve, making them think that serving wizards and witches are their livelihood…Now back to my speech…"
Although Wendy answered well, Cedric's two other members, Zacharias Smith and Ernie Mcmillian smirked, triumphant over the fact that their team member scored extra points for a good Point Of Information, which made Christine force herself not to get up their and give them a slap on their face.
"Remember Christine, debate is all about a diplomatic argument. You must have control andyou can only insult their speeches and not the speaker himself," Ginny said in an undertone.
"Wadever, they are going to pay," Christine said through gritted teeth.
"…and therefore this motion must and will stand, thank you"
BIG APPLAUSE (from the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws)
Cedric came up, looking confident and launched into a full rebuttal of what Wendy had just spoken on. Saying that she had painted them a picture that elves wanted to be set free, saying that she had been blind to such circumstances whereby elves were treated badly…saying that she had-
"POINT SIR!" Christine yelled, standing up with too much force.
"No thank you madam,"
Feeling pissed at being rejected, she began scribbling down her rebuttals on a separate piece of parchment with the help of Ginny, rephrasing all her vulgarities into polite accusations.
"The elves have enjoyed doing work and serving wizards and witches for over ten centuries and the wizards and witches have provided these elves with the pleasure of letting these elves work for them-"
"Point sir!" Christine said.
"Yes madam?"
"But sir…How can you say that being hit constantly by the wizards and witches who are their "masters" and "mistresses" is a form of pleasure?"
"How many cases of elves being ill treated and abused do you see in the Daily Prophet everyday?" he replied with a tone which implied that Christine was "stupid".
He wrapped up his speech in the next minute with a "…Go with the opposition team". They waited for another five minutes for the ajudicator to scribble down his scores before Christine was allowed to speak. She got up feeling nervous.
"You'll be fine!" Ginny whispered.
"Yeah, try not to freak out," Wendy said.
She walked onto the debate floor and shot a nervous glance at her team mates who gave her thumbs up. She then looked at the Hufflepuff team whose members were all smirking at her (except for Cedric who had a worried look on his face). She looked at the audience and tried to open her mouth to speak.
"La……nd Gentlemen….theopposition….err….." Christine mumbled, plucking up all her courage, she then said in a loud and half confident voice "Ladies and Gentlemen. The opposition team has come up here today and audaciously fed us with "brilliant" stories that elves actually enjoy being hit, being physically abused by their masters and mistresses, which, is included in their daily life of "slaving" for their masters and mistresses,"
"Point mam'!" Zacharias Smith said, standing up.
"Your Point Of Information is not valid sir I suggest you sit down," (POI's are generally not allowed during the first minute of the speech) Christine said forcefully which caused Ginny and Wendy to smirk with pleasure.
Christine went on rebutting all of Cedric's points and claims which lasted two and a half minutes, before proceeding on to her substantives. She was POI-ed by Zacharias Smith and Ernie Macmillian many times (but only accepted one which she answered well). She got so annoyed with him she asked him to-
"Stop barracking sir!" (something she learnt from Wendy)
-which caused Zacharias to be extremely mad and started scribbling furiously on his parchment. Looking supremely unconcerned, she carried on with her speech. When she came to an end to her substantives, she faltered, trying to think of something to end her speech. Oh damn… Wendy ended hers as "this is why this motion must and will stand", maybe I should do the same.
"This is why this motion must and should stand!" she faltered briefly before saying "thank you".
"You did pretty well for your first time, I remember how I threw up after my speech the first time I spoke," Wendy muttered while Ginny was furiously adding notes to her parchment full of rebuttals.
Zacharias spoke first, condemning what Christine spoke of and stated his points which were in total contradiction of hers. After Zacharias spoke, Ginny went up and summarized what her team members have spoken on, and rebutted on what Zacharias Smith had said. Ernie was the last to speak. He sounded over-confident and pompous (as always), presenting his rebuttals well.
"We're gonna die…We're gonna die…We're gonna die…" Wendy muttered over and over again.
"Will you shut up!" Ginny said in an angry voice.
"Why no-"
"I call the house into order," the boring sixth year drawled, " Results first or the debrief first?"
"RESULTS!" Christine shouted, forgetting herself.
Arching her eyebrows, the ajudicator said "Okay, I give the win today to the Hufflepuff team, who won by three points,"
Ok I'd just like to let all of you know that I wrote this over like…I think three or four days. I'm seriously ill, I have a sore throat, and I dunno how im gonna debate this Saturday. And yes, I got the idea of this whole thing from my debate competition. I hope it was interesting, I'm not sure if debating is viewed as a boring thing for you guys. Oh well. Enjoy (: btw, im going to japan next week. So I will try to update once more. Toodles