Chapter 19 – Sunday's plans
"Hey," Riku greeted, sliding into the seat next to Sora at the Gryffindor table for breakfast on Sunday morning.
"Hey," Sora replied once he'd swallowed his mouthful of toast. "How'd you sleep?"
"Alright. Yourself?"
"Yeah, okay."
Smiling, Riku reached for some breakfast, ignoring the frosty glares from a couple of older students further down the table.
"Ignore them," Hugo advised when he too noticed the glaring and glared back.
The girls quickly looked away.
Albus reached out to pick up some more bacon. "Is Scorpius up yet?"
Riku shrugged. "He wasn't in there when I left."
Al blinked. "That's odd. I wonder what possibly got him up before ten o'clock?"
Shrugging, Riku kept eating.
"Merlin's pants!" Rosie suddenly announced loudly, drawing her cousin and brother's attention as she dropped the Daily Prophet down on the table in surprise.
"What?" Al and Hugo both leaned in to read over her shoulder.
"Read this." Shoving the newspaper in their faces, she pointed to the section they should read, and they did.
When they were done, Al rolled his eyes while Hugo took it in hand and re-read the report again, interest sparking in his clear blue eyes.
"Riku."
Blinking in surprise, everyone at the Gryffindor table looked up, looking warily at the group of Slytherin's that were standing behind Scorpius, who was sliding onto the seat beside the older teen.
James stood up with a scowl, walking down a few seats to stand behind his brother and cross his arms. "What do you want Tracey?"
"Easy Potter," a dark haired Slytherin sneered. "We're here for Valley, not Gryffindor."
Riku focused on Scorpius curiously. "What's up?"
"How good are you on a broom?" Scorpius asked knowingly, a small smug smirk playing in the corners of his mouth.
"Uh… okay, I guess," Riku replied, not seeing where this was going.
"Okay!?" James burst out in surprise. "Man, you're more than okay! You're a bloody natural! It's not just anyone that can outfly both me and Al their first time on a broom."
Scorpius turned to look at the other Slytherin's and they all nodded, turning to leave and head back to their own table.
"Score, what's going on?" Albus asked curiously.
"Okay," Scorpius began, settling himself on the bench properly as he reached for some breakfast of his own. "So McCollen managed to get himself in so much trouble he's in detention for the rest of term and he's been taken off the Quidditch team, so we need another player, and rather than hold tryouts we figured it would be easier to head hunt another player. I suggested you, Riku, seeing as you're the best I've seen on a broom in a long time."
Riku blinked rapidly. "Sorry? Can your repeat that?"
"Riku, that's fantastic!" Al grinned. "You have to do it. If you pass this up now you won't be able to play at all until next year, and even then you may not get on the team."
"I don't know anything about Quidditch," Riku argued.
"I'll lend you my handbook," Al offered, still grinning. "Man, you're so lucky."
"Tracey wants you down at the pitch after breakfast for tryouts. He wants to make sure you're really as good as I say you are," Scorpius informed as he picked up a mug of pumpkin juice.
"Uh… okay." Feeling bewildered, Riku just agreed and went back to his breakfast.
Sora nudged him and smiled when he looked over. "You'll be great. I know it."
"Thanks, I think," Riku breathed out.
LINEBREAK
After breakfast, Scorpius, Riku, Sora, Albus and James all wandered down to the Quidditch pitch.
"Will they let us stay do you think?" Albus asked as he bit his lip anxiously. It was well known that Tracey hated Gryffindor on Slytherin turf as much as he hated Divination, and the man despised Divination.
Scorpius shrugged. "Probably not."
"The least he can do is let us cheer our friend on," James muttered to himself.
Albus fixed his brother with a knowing look.
When they entered the Quidditch pitch, it was to all three balls out and the other Slytherin players speeding around the pitch, the beaters hitting bludgers to each other, and the chasers tossing the quaffle to one another as they practiced high speed throws.
"Come on, let's get you in the air," Scorpius decided and strode over to where his broom and a broom for Riku was leaning against the wall. Grabbing them, he handed one over and prepared to mount it.
"Oi! Potter!"
Blinking and looking up, everyone on the ground focused on Tracey as he flew in to land, glaring at James balefully. "No spies," the Slytherin ground out. "This is a Slytherin practice. You know the rules."
"What, I'm not allowed to stay and cheer a friend on during his first training session?" James huffed as he crossed his arms and glared back.
"Rules are rules Potter."
Snarling, James made to stalk forward but Albus stepped in his way. "James, let it go. Let's just go. It's not worth getting into trouble over."
James glared and thought it over for a bit before nodding. Turning, he stormed off, ignoring the gloating noise Tracey made before he focused on Sora.
"You too spikey."
Sora blinked before nodding. "Okay." Walking over to where Riku and Scorpius were standing, he reached up to hug his friend. "Good luck. Come and find us when you get out."
Hugging Sora back, Riku nodded. "Thanks, I will."
Quickly dashing off after the two Potters, he paused when he noticed Riku and Scorpius take to the air, and Tracey met them in mid-air. Smiling, he left again.
"That jerk," James huffed as they walked back up to the castle.
"I don't see why you're annoyed." Al rolled his eyes. "You only came because you were looking to spy on them."
"Yeah, but that's not the point," James grumbled.
"It is actually. You're just sore he called you on it," Al grinned, nudging his brother in the side.
James glared balefully at his brother. "Whose side are you on? Traitor."
Laughing, Al led them back into the castle and into the Great Hall, where the last few stragglers from breakfast were hanging around.
All three of them took a seat and Sora reached over to snag a sausage and pour himself a hot chocolate. "I wonder how Riku will go," he murmured.
"He'll get in," James announced. "He's damn good. With some practice and training he could easily be a pro."
Smiling, Sora took a sip of his hot chocolate, blinking in surprise when a blond with blue eyes slipped into the seat beside James and snagged a piece of toast.
"Hey Louis, where have you been? We haven't seen you in ages," Albus greeted with a grin.
"Oh you know, O.W.L.S. are keeping me busy," the blond replied, focusing on Sora with a smile. Stretching a hand across the table, he offered it to the brunette. "Hi Sora, I'm Louis Weasley. I'm Al and James' cousin."
"Oh, nice to met you," Sora replied with a smile.
"Sorry I haven't introduced myself sooner. Professor Higgs has hit us with all this assessment lately for potions. I've been holed up in the library most of the month."
"It's fine."
Louis looked around again before snagging another couple of pieces of toast. "Hey, listen, do me a favor? If Domi comes looking for me, tell her I died a tragic death. I was trampled to death by centaurs or drowned and ripped apart by grindylows or something equally gruesome."
"Sure," James agreed, his brows creasing in confusion.
"What did you do?" Al asked, his stomach sinking.
Louis grimaced. "I lost her dragonfly hairpin. She doesn't know yet, but she will shortly when she discovers it missing."
Al and James winced.
"Run dude. Run and hide," James intoned sympathetically as he patted his cousin on the shoulder.
"If you need me, I'll be in the library," Louis said and slid out of the bench, quickly heading out of the Great Hall.
"I don't understand," Sora said at their grim faces. "What's so bad about losing this hairpin?"
Al and James exchanged looks. "Dominique and her sister, Victoire, are part veela. And they're both very scary women," Al replied as he put his own mug of hot chocolate down on the table.
James shuddered. "They're vicious, and when they're in a mood, boy do you want to hide your man bits, because neither of them would hesitate to stomp on them."
Sora blinked again. "Just how many family members do you guys have here?"
Al and James both looked at each other and held up their hands to count people off.
"Let's see… there's Rose and Hugo; Louis and Domi," Al began, putting his fingers down as he listed people off.
"There's Molly, Lucy, Fred and Roxanne," James added on, putting down another four.
"If we count Lily that's nine," Al added in.
Sora's eyes widened. "That's all the cousins you have?"
"Merlin, no," Al replied. "There's also Teddy and Victoire, but they've both left Hogwarts."
"And I'm sure we've got a ton of second cousins somewhere along the line too," James shrugged and put his hands down.
"Wow," Sora breathed. His family of three seemed so small in comparison.
"You get used to it," Al replied with a smile.
LINEBREAK
They were in the Gryffindor Common room doing homework when Hugo staggered into the tower and immediately centered in on Al, who was sitting with Sora in front of the fire on a big red couch.
"Rose is going to kill me," Hugo groaned as he staggered over and dropped down onto the couch, his head landing in Al's lap.
Albus looked down at his cousin in amusement, textbook held up awkwardly so he could see his curly haired cousin. Lily looked up from a few meters over where she was sitting with her own friends.
"What's she done this time?" the female Potter asked curiously.
"What hasn't she done?" Hugo moaned. "I'm so sore I feel like I can't lift another book because my arms are going to fall off!"
Sora blinked in surprise as Al just shook his head and dropped his textbook on his cousin's face gently. "Your own fault for letting her catch you."
Hugo whined but let the book rest there, instead turning his head to the side so the spine wasn't digging into his nose and eyes.
The portrait opened, and Sora grinned when he spotted is two favourite Slytherin's enter the Tower.
"Hey, how'd you go?" Al asked with a grin.
Riku dropped down onto the small couch beside Sora with a smile. "I'm in."
"Congratulations!" Sora squealed and tackled the other keyblade bearer in a hug. "I knew you'd be great!"
"Well done," Al replied with a smile. "We knew you'd get in. They'd be stupid to turn you down."
"Thanks. I'm going to need to borrow that rule book," Riku replied as he wrapped an arm around Sora, who snuggled up to his side.
"No worries. I'll get it for you when Hugo stops treating my lap like a pillow."
"I'll stop treating your lap as a pillow once I can move again and my limbs aren't going to fall off," Hugo moaned pitifully.
Scorpius perched on the arm of the chair and gave Albus a curious look.
"Rosie got to him," Al replied.
"What did she make you do this time?" Scorpius asked curiously.
"What didn't she make me do? She made me help her pull three whole bookcases apart in the library and re-shelve them! Three! Those things are huge!"
"Why?" Riku asked.
"Because someone kept filing the books in the wrong order," Hugo grumbled.
"Couldn't she just report it to the librarian?" Sora asked.
"She did, twice," Scorpius, Albus, Hugo and Lily all replied at the same time.
They all looked at each other and giggled.
The portrait to the Tower opened and a dark haired female stormed into the tower, scanned the common room, and focused in on the group near the fire. Marching over to them, she smiled sweetly, rage flowing through her. "Hello Hugo," she began sweetly.
Hugo blinked and looked at her from underneath Albus' book. "Uh… hi Domi. What's up?"
Albus lifted his textbook off his cousin's face, wisely staying quiet.
"Have you seen Louis?"
Hugo blinked and sat up, giving her a wary look. "Domi, have you met Sora and Riku?" He gestured at the two other-worlders.
"Nice to meet you," Sora said with a smile, squeaking and plastering himself to Riku's side when he was glared at. This woman was scary!
"No I haven't," Dominique replied acidly. "Hugo, where's Louis?"
"What makes you think I'd know?"
"You always know."
"Right. Uh... have you checked the Greenhouses? Last I think I saw him he was heading down there with Uncle Nev."
Dominique's eyes narrowed, though the sweet smile stayed where it was. "Hugo, I hope you know that if I find out you lied to me I will sever your balls from your dick, fry them up and eat them for desert tonight. Now, are you sure Louis is in the green house?"
"Uh huh," Hugo squeaked, his hands flying to his genitals for protection.
"Fine." Turning on her heel, Dominique swept from the Gryffindor Tower.
Lily stared at Hugo with wide eyes, as did Albus. "Did you just… lie to Domi?" Lily asked quietly.
"Uh huh…" Hugo nodded, going into mild shock.
Albus shook his head in disbelief. "I suggest you run and hide Cous, preferably where she won't find you."
"Agreed," Hugo breathed and jumped up off the couch and headed up to his room to pack.
"She's scary," Sora whimpered.
"You haven't met her sister," Scorpius replied sympathetically, his own face a little pale. "She's worse."
Sora went white.
LINEBREAK
That night after dinner, screams of outrage filled the halls of Hogwarts, and even Peeves steered clear of the raging Dominique Weasley as she chased Hugo Weasley through the stone halls screaming obscenities.
Hugo just ran, figuring she'd tire out eventually, and then he would be able to outrun her what with him being a good two feet taller than his part veela cousin. He had longer legs, and he was in pretty good shape if he did say so himself, so that put his chances of outrunning Domi in his favor he figured. He ducked a curse that shot over his shoulder and just grazed his ear. It hit a wall and acid ate away the bricks with a hiss as he passed.
Hugo gulped. He'd survive, yes, if she didn't curse him to a pulp first…
~TBC
So, here's chapter 19 guys. :) Hope you enjoyed it. ^_^ Happy New Year! If for some reason I don't post the next chapter before then due to Sherlock suspense. *Grins* If you haven't seen the BBC version of Sherlock, YOU MUST. It is AMAZING.
Vex
