Disclaimer: I would love to write a book some day about Draco Malfoy, but unfortunately the protagonist of this series Harry Potter does not belong to me, and sadly neither does his Hogwarts nemesis. They all belong to J.K.Rowling only.
american-born-confused-desi: Thank you for your review! Hope you continue to like it :)
"Blimey, what's wrong with you, Harry? It's that ruddy cat that's being insane, not Mickey!"
Harry shrugged his shoulders and grinned. They had just finished Quidditch practice and the moment Harry had come out of the shower, there was the usual bickering between his two good friends over their pets. He hadn't said anything after Hermione's accusation that Ron was ill-treating Crookshanks, merely raising an eyebrow – leading to Ron's immediate hasty generalisation. Hermione gave a groan. "And blimey you, who names his pet rat Mickey like he's been watching cartoons his whole life? And Crookshanks has done absolutely nothing to your rat, he's only been playing with string, it's just that cats aren't that good at seeing things, he probably mistook your rat's tail for a string."
"And you said Crookshanks did nothing?! What's your perception of things eh? And what the hell are cartoons?!" Ron was fast becoming the colour of his flaming red hair. Harry choked back a laugh.
Hermione rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "You're the son of a Minister who works in the Muggle Artefacts department, who's crazy over Muggle things and yet you don't know what cartoons are?"
"Do I look like I involve myself in Muggle things? Well yes, maybe, but not stupid things like cartoons! What are they?!"
Harry and Hermione exchanged looks, then suddenly burst out into incredible bouts of laughter. "Oh no..." Hermione held her sides, tears of mirth running down her cheeks, gasping. "I...I think he looks like...he looks like Daffy Duck, tongue sticking out and spitting all over with that big mouth of his..." Harry roared with laughter at that image – he had often sneaked into Dudley's room to watch cartoons when he was younger – so he was fully aware of cartoons all right. Unlike Ron, who was turning purple this time because he had no idea what the two were laughing so ridiculously about and that made him really mad.
"I swear – I..."
What Ron swore nobody ever knew because at that moment, the Gryffindor common room door was flung open violently by a very, very furious Naomi Whittington. Naomi was the newest Captain for Gryffindor Quidditch, given the position after Angelina Johnson had completed her seventh and final year in Hogwarts. There were no capable sixth years in the Gryffindor Quidditch team the previous year during Angelina's leadership because those who were covering for the banned Fred & George Weasley, as well as Harry, were in fact, rather incompetent, only Ginny Weasley proving her mettle as a Seeker. Naomi had never really wanted to try out for Quidditch, but it was only last year when Angelina launched a plea for interested Chasers that she tried out and showed marvellous skill in her broom manoeuvring.
It turned out Naomi Whittington had exactly the same hot temper Angelina Johnson had.
"I don't KNOW what the school is thinking about!!"
There were a few first years in the common room who immediately dispersed when they heard the loud voice of Naomi's. Hermione rolled her eyes again while Ron and Harry exchanged perplexed looks.
"I swear it's those Slytherins' work!" huffed and puffed Naomi. "They must have been complaining to the school authorities unnecessarily and landing us in predicaments that they themselves would have struggled big time if they were stuck in them!"
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I think I don't really have to be here," but Harry motioned for her to stay. Hermione just sighed and plopped back onto the couch. Ron went a little red. "Now Naomi, if you don't explain what just happened, nothing you're saying now is going to make sense."
Naomi turned her blazing eyes towards Ron. "Explain? What's there to explain? I explained a whole lot of rubbish to Dumbledore and McGonagall and they seemed to have nothing left to defend us any more! What happened to the upright nature of Gryffindor? Just gonna be smashed to pieces just because some tell-tale silver greenhead whacked us off?"
Then she stormed off towards the girls' dormitories, muttering a string of curses.
"Silver greenhead?" Harry frowned. "Sounds like some old friend of ours."
Ron turned purple again. "That ferret-face..." and punched the air imaginarily. "I'd just like to know what he's done to our team and I swear I'll get him for it!"
Hermione remained silent as Harry's eyebrows knotted together heavily. It seemed just a while ago since that particular "silver greenhead" had been in the library annoying her immensely and being a nuisance. If only he was still there...
"And can someone tell me what the hell cartoons are?!!"