Racing with the Enemy
Official disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or The Amazing Race.
A/N: The Amazing Race is used merely as a plot; any of the rules from the program are subjected to change by the authoress (me).
IMPORTANT!!! I have changed the title of this story as it was against copyright rules. It used to be called "The Amazing Race", and now it's "Racing with the Enemy".
Chapter Six – Terry, a GIRL??
"Terry?" a female voice asked tentatively.
Terry turned around. He was surprised to find Hermione standing awkwardly by the path, looking down at him next to the Lake.
He cleared his throat. Damn those Weasley twins!! he thought. "What?" he said just a tad too forcefully.
Hermione was taken aback, not only from the aggressiveness in Terry's tone, but also the high pitchiness of his voice. Not knowing how he would react if she pointed it out, she choice not say anything. Instead, she moved to sit next to him.
"Are you okay?" Hermione enquired.
Terry looked at her with an expression as if saying "Why shouldn't I be?"
Hermione felt uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to come over after all. Maybe he was just feeling happy and was in a 'girly' mood.
"It's just that you don't seem to be that upset with the fact you didn't get into the race."
Terry merely raised an eyebrow.
If Hermione was disturbed by the lack of verbal responses, she did not show it.
An awkward silence fell over the two. Finally, it seemed Hermione could not contain her cool anymore.
"You're not feeling sick are you? Have you lost your voice or something? Do you want me to take you to Madam Promfrey?" Hermione's nervousness was causing her to ask too many questions.
Terry could restrain himself no longer. "Will you just shut up?!" he roared. Or rather, tried to. The slight problem with that was it came out more in a high pitched screech.
Hermione gaped at him. After what seemed like forever to Terry, Hermione asked, "Wh…what happened to your voice?"
Her only reply was of Terry groaning and burying his head into his hands, mumbling something about killing the Weasley twins.
0o0o0o
Harry and Ron were happily enjoying their Draco-free time in the sky when they suddenly heard a shriek coming from the direction of the Lake.
Thinking Terry was doing something horrible to Hermione, they immediately flew over to curse him. Only, to their surprise the sound was not emitting from Hermione's mouth, but rather, from Terry's.
"Hey Harry, is it just me or is that Terry wailing like a…girl?!"
"Mate, I think we've gone insane. We're hearing and seeing things. I mean, Terry acting and sounding like a girl?"
Nevertheless, the two confused Gryffindors flew over to Hermione to see what was going on.
"HERMIONEEEE!" they both yelled. And promptly crashed into an overhanging branch. Well, Ron did. Harry escaped with merely a scratch in the arm.
0o0o0o
Hermione looked up at the sound of her name in time to see Ron crash rather painfully into a tree branch. Harry, being the fantastic flyer he was, swerved just in time, with only a leaf leaving a mark on his arm.
She tried to keep her laughter back as she knew she would seriously injure their pride if she even smiled. Instead, she turned her attention back to Terry, who still had his head buried in his arms.
"Terry, is there any way to fix this uh…predicament you're currently in? Have you been to Madam Promfrey yet?"
Terry just looked up at her with a sad look in his eyes. "I hate the Weasley twins," was all he said before getting up and walking back towards the Castle.
"Hermione!" Two voices called out her name.
Ron landed on the grass in a daze. "Hermione, please tell me Terry was not just screaming like a girl, and said that he hated my brothers."
"I don't exactly know what's going on, but it was Terry sounding like a girl."
A faint sound of a bell ringing caught Hermione's attention. "Oh no, we're going to be late for the meeting! Come on guys, let's go."
0o0o0o
"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, how wonderfully nice of you to join us." Professor Snape drawled. "Now if you don't mind, please don't announce your lateness so loudly next time."
Professor Snape turned his attention back to the rest of the Seventh Years. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," at this point, he turned his gaze onto the three late friends, "the race is by no means an excuse for you to get out of class."
He continued to lecture them, but Harry had tuned out. "I wonder why he's talking to us. Isn't it supposed to be McGonagall's job?"
Ron merely shrugged. He wasn't concerned about trivial things like this. "Maybe she's sick," was all he offered.
All in all, it was a rather pointless meeting, as Professor Snape obviously had no idea what he was talking about. He was evidently not interested in the race, but had to instruct them about the safety rules.
Finally, it was lunch time and the chosen Seventh Years were able to settle down into their respective Houses and eat.
Lunch did not go smoothly though. There was a disruption from the Ravenclaw table where someone was being teased.
Hermione walked over to see what was going on, as it was her duty as a Prefect to do so. She had a slight feeling as to what she was going to see, and was rather surprised it was worse than what she thought. Before her was poor Terry sitting mournfully amongst his mocking Housemates, laughing at his high falsetto voice.
Hermione was about to step in and stop the tormenting, but Ernie blocked her way.
"Have you heard why Terry's voice became high? I was told it was because he cheated in the voting. Instead of putting his name on the paper, he put -" at this, Ernie looked around just in case any one not supposed to know overheard, "- Crabbe of all names down!"
Hermione was in shock. Not over the fact that Terry put down Crabbe's name instead of his own, but because he CHEATED!!
Throughout her life in Hogwarts, she had always regarded Terry as the most trustworthy person. Now, she wasn't so sure.
0o0o0o
"Hey Hermione, Harry, I just got this letter from the twins."
Dear Ronniekins,
We are pleased to inform you that Mission No.1 Change-Terry Boot's-voice-to-falsetto has succeeded. We await your positive feedback from this assignment.
Yours Sincerely,
Gred and Forge Weasley
P.S. Ronnie, send this to the rest of the school, as we had run out of parchment, and we shall give you a 20 percent discount in our shop.
P.P.S. Get rid of the P.S. and the P.P.S. when you send, we don't want flocks of Hogwarts students demanding a 20 percent off discount in our shop.
Hermione was disgusted. "No wonder Terry was muttering things about hating the Wesaley twins."
Ron was not listening. "Just think of it Harry, I could just afford their products now!"
Hermione frowned. "Ron, I hope you're not thinking of sending the letter around. Come to think of it, as prefect, I'm going to confiscate the letter. Hand it over Ron."
But Ron wasn't having it. "Hey, I'm a prefect too, you know. So I can confiscate it as well."
"Well, just make sure you don't take it into your head to send it around the school, or I'll be forced to take it to Dumbledore."
Ron just looked over at Harry and shrugged.
A/N2: Wow, it's been almost a month. I have to admit, it's not that great of a chapter, but I wanted to put something up ASAP. Anyway, I thought there was a lack of humour in this story, so I decided to put in the 'punishment' for cheating in the 'reasons' part (refer to chapter 3 if you have forgotten). So, I hope you like this chapter. Please review.
Thanks to Slinky-and-the-BloodyWands, SilidonsNeville'sGirl4life, and IsInGcAuZeIlUv2 for reviewing!