Chapter 5:
The next morning was the coldest morning of Christine's life. The windows were covered in frost, and the walls of the castle seemed to keep the cold locked inside. When Christine woke up, she dressed quickly, and met Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the common room before heading down to breakfast.
"Morning," she smiled to Hermione and Ron as she walked up and gently kissed Harry on the cheek.
"Hey," Hermione replied acting as though Christine and Harry had done this every morning, Ron on the other hand was silent, he couldn't believe what he had just seen.
"What's going on?" Ron whispered to Hermione out of the corner of his mouth and smiling at Christine.
"I'll tell you later," Hermione muttered in response. The group of friends walked down the spiraling staircases and into the Great Hall, which was half full with students, and took their seats at the Gryffindor table.
"What should we do today guys?" Harry asked, shoveling a eggs and bacon onto his plate.
"Why don't we go for a walk down to the lake?" Christine suggested, while buttering herself a piece of toast.
"Um, no thanks," Hermione answered, "I have to finish some stuff. Ron's coming with me," she added quickly, before Ron could say any thing.
"Okay, if you're sure," Christine said, and that was the end of that idea. The mail arrived and soon Christine was chatting away with Hermione, while the boys were engulfed in Quidditch. After breakfast, Hermione and Ron headed off to do what ever it was they had to do. Christine and Harry however, started to walk down to the lake hand in hand.
"Sure has been cold lately," Christine stated with a shiver.
"Here," Harry said handing her his sweatshirt, "We can go back if you want."
"No, I like it when it's cold," she continued as they stopped at the water's edge. There was silence again and Christine sat down in the cold snow, Harry following her example.
"Quidditch tryouts next week," Harry blurted out trying to start a conversation.
"Yeah, I know. Who do you think will go out for the team?" Christine sighed.
"I really don't know," Harry replied, "but when the season starts you will come to watch every match, won't you?"
"Hopefully not," she muttered under her breath so he couldn't hear her.
"What?" Harry asked, trying to make out her words.
"Of course I will," she replied, thinking of how surprised he would be if he found out what she was up to. They sat out there for about half an hour before getting so cold that they had to go inside. They walked back up to the common room and sat down to play a game of Wizard's chess.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked Christine who had just started to shiver and was walking over to get a blanket.
"I-It's s-so c-cold," she stammered, wrapping the blanket tightly around her body.
"Why don't we move..." Harry's voice trailed off as he looked at the mantel above the fireplace. There, sitting in the vase, were two roses that had been a deep blood red, and now they were almost white, with a faint trace of pink around the middle. They were forming ice crystals on their once soft petals, and were now shrinking where they had once been full.
"What happened?" Christine said only loud enough for Harry to hear, "The last time I saw something like that happen –"
"Dementors were circling the school," Harry finished, "But why am I not feeling all the happiness drain out of me?"
"I think we need to talk to Professor Twopenny," Christine said as she headed for the portrait hole.
"Good idea, let's go," Harry agreed as he followed through the portrait and down the corridor. They walked down the the chilled corridor to the professor's office and knocked on the door. No answer. Harry looked back at Christine with a puzzled look on his face and tried again. Still, no answer.
"That's strange. He's usually in there," Harry said knocking again. As he was about to knock for the fourth time, Professor McGonagall walked by.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Davet, may I help you with something?" she asked her students raising an eyebrow.
"Um, yeah. Could you tell us where we might find Professor Twopenny? We had a question to ask him," Christine said quickly trying not to look too anxious.
"I'm sorry, but Professor Twopenny has been temporarily called away from Hogwarts on a matter of personal importance. Maybe I can be of service?" Professor McGonagall suggested.
"Um this was just a technical question on one of the assignments, thanks anyway Professor," she answered, while slipping her arm through Harry's.
"Well, then I will be on my way, as should you two," McGonagall replied, walking past her two students. Christine and Harry headed in the opposite direction, back towards the common room.
"Why didn't you just tell her that we know about Twopenny?" Harry asked when he was sure they couldn't be over heard.
"I don't know," Christine said in a panic, moving away from Harry and beginning to pace. "I didn't think we should tell her yet, something's going on, come on we need to tell the others." Harry nodded in agreement, took her hand and began walking back towards the common room in silence. When they arrived, they found Ron and Hermione sitting around the fireplace, talking with Ginny, Lavender, Parvati, Seamus and Dean.
"Great, now what are we going to do?" Harry asked Christine, only loud enough for her to hear.
"Just play along," she replied, smiling at the group before standing behind the old couch.
"Um, Hermione can I talk to you for a moment?" Christine requested, not giving Hermione time to respond before grabbing her arm and leading her up the staircase that led to the dormitories. When Harry began to follow the girls, Christine elbowed him in the stomach gently and nodded her head to Ron. Harry finally realizing what he was supposed to do, walked back to the group and smiled.
"Ron, can I talk to you?" Harry recited. Ron gave didn't know what was going on, but shrugged and followed Harry up the stairs.
"What was that all about?" Hermione demanded as Harry and Ron met the girls at the top of the stairs.
"Something's not right," Christine led off, "Professor Twopenny is gone." Hermione didn't say anything, but she opened her mouth in amazement and looked at Harry, as if he was going to confirm it. Ron's eyebrows were immediately raised, and he wasn't sure if he had heard Christine right.
"And that's not the worst of it," Harry continued, "Do you remember when the dementors were here looking for Sirius?"
"Yeah, 'course we do," Ron answered, not sure what that had to do with anything now.
"We think they are around here somewhere, and the ministry doesn't know about it," Christine continued.
"What makes you think that?" Hermione sputtered.
"Look at this," Christine indicated as she walked halfway down the stairs, just so they could see the top of the fireplace. "See the flowers? They were blood red earlier when Harry and I were playing chess, now they are almost white."
"Icicles are forming on the petals too," Harry continued, "And the last time that happened was when the dementors were here."
"Oh no! It can't be!" Ron said, suddenly going white.
"Oh get over it Ron, this only means that we have to tell Dumbledore what we've seen," Hermione stated firmly and calmly. Apparently the initial shock of Harry and Christine had worn off and now Hermione was no longer over enthusiastic about anything.
"Then it's settled, we'll go and tell Dumbledore everything, even about Twopenny," Harry added just before Ron could open his mouth to argue.
The next day the four of them seemed to be a little uneasy during classes. Christine kept thinking of possible ways they could tell Dumbledore what they had discovered and decided it was a job for Hermione. The end of their last class, Transfiguration, came and went. After class, the four of them stayed behind to ask Professor McGonagall if they could talk to Professor Dumbledore.
"Why do you need to talk to the headmaster?" Professor McGonagall asked as if there was something extremely wrong with students talking to him.
"We have something very important to tell him about Professor Twopenny," Ron blurted out; tact was obviously not a word in his vocabulary.
"Well there goes that secret," Hermione muttered to Christine under her breath. Christine had to fake a cough in order to hide her giggling.
"What on earth are you talking about Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall asked suspiciously.
"You might as well tell her now Ronald," Hermione snapped throwing her arms up in aggravation.
"Fine! I will!" Ron answered back, a hint of venom in his tone, "Professor we know who Professor Twopenny really is. We have some information to tell Professor Dumbledore, it's very urgent."
"Follow me," Professor McGonagall commanded as she got up and left the room. The students had to almost had to break into a sprint in order to keep up with her, as they made their way to the headmaster's office. When they got there, McGonagall murmured the password, and the statue began to spiral up to the office. They arrived in the office and found the headmaster looking over some papers.
"Ah, Professor McGonagall, what can I help you with?" Dumbledore inquired in his very polite accent.
"Professor, Potter and his friends have something to tell you," she replied.
"I see, well then what can I help you with?" Professor Dumbledore repeated as he turned his attention to his students. When they were silent for a moment, Hermione answered him.
"Professor, we found out that Professor Twopenny is Kingsley Shackelbolt and that he is working for the order under cover."
"Clearly Ron isn't the only one who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," Harry whispered in Christine's ear. She gave him a disapproving look and he knew that this wasn't anything to laugh about.
"I see," Dumbledore said standing up and walking in front of his desk. "Well once again, it seems that I have underestimated the intelligence of these two witches and these two wizards," Dumbledore chuckled to the portraits of the previous headmasters and headmistresses in his office. "However, I am sorry that I cannot tell you anymore than you already know." He was very firm, and though his eyes were still bright and shining, his tone of voice was firm and determined. It was clear that he would not be persuaded to give any information, so a disappointed Christine, left the office with her friends right behind her. They knew that Dumbledore had his reasons for keeping the 'secret' from them, but they were still bothered that they didn't know what was going on.
A few days passed without anything interesting happening. Neville had been yelled at a few times, Snape had taken points away from every house except Slytherin, and they had been assigned loads of homework. The only thing that some Gryffindors had to look forward to, was Quidditch tryouts. Christine had decided that after all, she was going to try out for the chaser position, but she didn't want to tell anyone until the day of tryouts. So after dinner on Thursday night, Christine slipped up to her room, changed her robes, and quickly made her way out of the castle and down to the pitch.
She had never seen the pitch so still. The stands were empty and silent and reminded her of the sad feeling she got after a big party was over and everyone had gone home. The pitch itself seemed to be even more desolate than the stands without all the players zooming around in the air, even though there were about twenty people gathered in the center of the field. The whole team was there, waiting for tryouts to begin as well, as they were to help evaluate each 'rookie.' When Christine got her number, seven, she flew to the line that was forming in the sky and hovered over the ground waiting for Alayna Brayden, the Gryffindor captain.
Alayna was from a family of pureblood witches and wizards, but they were a lot like the Weasley family. She was tall and slender, with short blonde hair, that was currently pulled back into a pony tail with a ribbon. She had a pretty face, with small sapphire blue eyes that seemed like they could look right through you. If you didn't know her, you would think that she was one of the most stuck up girls you could ever meet, but she was in fact one of the sweetest girls you could ever meet.
"Okay! Listen up!" Alayna barked out as she joined the group. "We are going to be evaluating you in agility, arm strength, accuracy and passing abilities. Don't be nervous, just show us what you can do. Now, you've been divided into four groups of five and each group has been assigned a number. Group one will go to station one and so on. My teammates and I will be scattered around at each station watching you." And with that, everybody dispersed and took their places at each station.
Christine flew over to station number four, and was met by the Gryffindor beaters, Brent and Eric Quinlan. The first drill was to test her accuracy; she did reasonably well on it, but thought that she could do better. That's how she felt when she left the next three drills. She had finished the last drill and was waiting for Alayna , but re-capped on the way her tryout went. She thought it went well, but as always, thought of all her mistakes more than her achievements. Finally, Alayna called them all together as the rest of the Gryffindor team joined her. Harry had watched Christine through the whole thing, but never looked him in the face. In fact, she had tried to avoid him as much as possible.
"Thank you all for trying out tonight. We have made our decision and will be in contact with all of you by the end of the night," Alayna shouted with a smile.
Christine landed back on the ground seconds later, deciding she would like to walk, rather than fly, back to the castle. She was closely followed by Harry and his shouts.
"Hey! Christine, wait up!" he yelled, racing to catch up with her. Christine stopped, turned to face him and and smiled.
"Hi," she said sweetly and kissed him on the cheek.
"Oh, so you're talking to me now," Harry stated with a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"Why wouldn't I?" Christine giggled to herself as she knew what was coming.
"I don't know! That's the whole problem!" Harry barked back at her. She knew he was angry about her not talking to him, but couldn't help laughing at him. "I'm glad this is so amusing to you. Would you mind letting me in on the joke?" he was trying to keep himself calm through the conversation.
"Harry, I'm not mad at you," she smiled taking his hand in hers, as they began walking back towards the castle. "I just didn't want you to influence the team, so that I would make the team. I wanted to make the team on my own, without any, help."
"So you're not mad at me?" Harry asked hesitantly. Christine stopped and looked him in the eyes.
"No, I'm not mad at you, I never was," she replied. A smile of relief came over Harry's face as she started back towards the castle.
That night, Christine and Harry sat at a table in the Gryffindor common room finishing their charms homework, when Alayna walked up and sat down with them.
"Hi," she began cheerfully as she sat down across from Christine.
"Hey," Christine replied while finishing the paragraph of her essay and not looking up at Alayna .
"Harry, did you tell her yet?" Alayna muttered while she waited for Christine's attention.
"No," he whispered back, as Christine finally looked up and smiled at Alayna . A moment or two passed without any words from anyone. Christine looked at Alayna expectantly, and was about to go back to her essay when Alayna spoke up.
"Christine, about the tryouts today. Um, I wanted to tell you that you did a great job –" she was suddenly cut off by laughter from a group of first and second years at a nearby table. "Like I was saying, you did a great job at tryouts today, and I just wanted to tell you that we are very excited to have you on the team."
"I made it! Oh my lord! I can't believe this!" Christine squealed as she hugged Harry.
"Practices are from six o'clock to eight thirty on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And I can't wait to see you Tuesday," Alayna reported with a smile. "Oh yeah, and just a heads up, our first match of the year is in two weeks, October 30," Alayna finished. Christine had totally forgotten that it was only October; she had been referring the season as winter as it was so cold outside. She was brought back to her senses when Alayna began to say, "And guess who we play?"
"Don't say it. Please!" Christine already knew the answer just by the way Alayna asked the question; they were playing Slytherin. "My first Quidditch match has to be against them," she stated in a disappointed tone.
"Look on the bright side, at least you will be able to kick their butts without getting in trouble," Harry joked. Christine laughed at Harry's joke, before gathering her stuff and getting up from the table.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she giggled. She kissed Harry goodnight, said goodbye to Alayna and went up to bed.
The next two weeks went by faster than anyone could have expected, especially for Christine. Classes weren't at all that tough and there wasn't that much homework assigned, but when you added it to the Quidditch practices at night, it gets to be a lot. She was so exhausted by the end of the day, that she only had enough energy to sit in the armchair next to the fire.
"Hey how are you feeling?" Harry asked as he sat on the couch closest to her.
"Tired," she replied with a yawn.
"Are you sure you're not nervous?"
"No, not really, I just hope that I will be able to stay awake throughout the entire thing."
"Well, that's good. I remember my first Quidditch match. It went smoothly, you'll be fine," he smiled at her.
"Thanks Harry, but I'm going to go up to bed. Night," she said sweetly as he walked her to the staircase and kissed her.
"Night."
Thanks guys for the fourteen of you who reviewed...lol...well sry this one took so long to get up, but here it is...
Angelbmo: thanks brenn...ur my new beta...and always make sure that im consistent with my story...cant wait til ur back!
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belle amia