Harry Potter and the Wars of Heaven by Princess Silverstar
Disclaimer: I own nothing of HP & SM
Chapter 5: The Lost Case
This year is going to be another crazy year indeed. With the addition of the three siblings, lives are going to be more confusing and complicated then the year before! Harry sighed as he pondered upon what happened in the Defence against the Dark Arts class. If they could have caused such and uproar over trivial matters such as this why haven't he hear or seen them before? Harry thought to himself as he followed the crowd to the Great Hall for lunch. Once inside, Harry looked up and down the Gryffindor's table for any sign of his friends.
"Harry," a bubbly voice called out, "Over here!" It was Serenity, waving for him to join them.
Harry smiled and walked towards them and took the seat next to Kimberly.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked her.
"Yes," she smiled apologetically. "I must have shocked you from the way I acted,"
"I was surprised," he admitted, "but you were brilliant." Harry said sincerely. She looked at him sceptically.
"I'm serious. I don't think I'd want to make myself look ridiculous in front of the class." He said, "But who was that man the boggart turned into later?" He asked changing the subject and also out of curiosity.
Kimberly's eyes blinked a few times before realising who he meant, she looked away from him and then answered, "He…was a friend but also an enemy," she said sadly, "I'll tell you next time." She chirped with a sudden change of mood.
"Oh, poor Draco," a female Slytherin declared, "Got attacked by that nasty overgrown bird!" She added as the Slytherins crowded around her, looking very solemn.
Everyone, apart from the Slytherins, rolled their eyes at her exaggeration. It serves him right as far as the non Slytherins are concern. He had unwisely provoked a Hippogriff when the professor said not to. Draco Malfoy had been rushed into Madam Pomfrey's office by Hagrid immediately after that.
"I wonder if that git is in the hospital room, wailing like a three year old," Ron said with a snort, earning snorts from his fellow roommates who were close by.
"That and I bet he'll do worst," Andrew said with a low growl of disapproval.
This conversation was not missed by the Slytherins, of course, who immediately lashed out at them and both houses were roused to a fight with only the prefects of the three houses bothered to try to stop the fights, almost reluctantly.
"Silence!" Someone bellowed.
"What is this racket?!" A very red Professor McGonagall shrilled with embarrassment and rage. "Fifty points from both houses!"
The two houses glared at each other as Professor McGonagall deliberately placed herself in the line of fire between the two groups of hot tempered youths and start reprimanding her students while Professor Snape calmed his students by indirectly adding more insults to the lions. Once the students were settled, Professor McGonagall stood by where Harry and his friends sat and whispered to them.
"Mr. Potter," she started with a worried frown, "Words had reached Lucius Malfoy and I believe that, as you do, that he will take action in this matter." She said.
"Is Hagrid gonna get fired?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure about this but in anyway do try to comfort Rebeus. He had been severely anxious about this accident. You are the closest friend that he has in this school, but mind your curfews," she said and walked away from the little group.
They looked constantly to the professors' table and found that the large man had not turn up for lunch.
"This calls for an outing," Kimberly mused as the people filed out of the Great Hall.
"Are we ready?" the Hufflepuff boy, Joseph Marcus, from earlier asked.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to cancel for today. Something had just come up, but I've finished the notes," Kimberly said as she handed him her notes, "I'll be expecting it by dinner." She said as she walked off to another way. To Harry's and Andrew's satisfaction, she either had not noticed the change in the boy's expression or simply ignored it.
"Kim?" Harry called out after effectively hiding a grin, "Hagrid's hut is this way," he pointed to the Great Hall's exit.
"I know," she replied, "But I doubt that he had eaten, so I'm going to the kitchen to get him something. I'm sure the cook wouldn't mind."
"They would be more than happy to give you more than you need," her brother said with a laugh.
"I'll come with you then," Harry said. "They probably pack a whole elephant if you said it's for Hagrid."
"Then, we'll wait right here," Serenity said laughing lightly.
"Okay, we won't be long," she replied.
The visit to Hagrid's hut was not a very encouraging event. Hagrid had been so nervous and anxious about Buckbeak's trial that he had been very clumsy and scattered minded as he blabbered on about the date and rehearsed his testimony.
They offered help to research about the trials on magical creatures so that Hagrid would have something in Buckbeak's defence. They returned to the castle by curfew, feeling rather depressed for Hagrid.
"It will work out somehow…" Kimberly said when they walked through the portrait.
"Can't be too sure though, I bet Lucius Malfoy would threaten the Ministry if things don't go the way he wants." Ron said in disgust feeding their grief.
"Surely it will work out fine," Hermione said feebly, but suddenly fired up, "We'll just have to do our best in our research!"
"But, 'Mione, I don't think we've got the time for all this…" Ron whined, "We can barely finish our homework," he added in his defence and nudged Harry for support who looked away in ignorance to that statement.
"If you would have gotten your lazy bums to plan and finish them early there won't be a problem at all!" Hermione scolded him.
In that week itself, they were forced to find cases and points to help Buckbeak's case while struggling with their homework. However, most of it did not seem to support Buckbeak.
"Poor, Buckbeak," Serenity moaned when she was alone with her sister. "If it was up to our court, he would be free of charge." She declared conviction.
"Shh!" Kimberly shushed her. "Stop saying things so carelessly."
"What do you mean by that?" Someone said from behind them. They turned in surprised only to find Harry looking at them confused. They sighed in relief.
"It's only you, Harry," Serenity said in relief. "I was only complaining that if we had had our way, Buckbeak would be free,"
"I suppose," Harry said as he took a seat in front of them. Harry grabbed one of the books the girls had picked out and started to flip through the pages, feeling nervous for some reason he had yet to acknowledge.
Sensing his distracted mood, Serenity announced, "Ah, I forgot something in the dorm. I'll go get them. I'll see you both in class." She said as she gave Harry a wink as she passed by behind her sister, making him even more nervous being alone with the girl.
Kimberly looked up from the book she was reading when she heard Serenity's sly voice and gave her a puzzled look and watched her retreat. She then shrugged and returned to her book. About two minutes later, she frowned and flipped to a few page back.
"Any luck?" Harry asked in attempt to make a conversation.
"No," she said with a small smile, "We might as well as plan a flawless escape for Buckbeak, but I doubt that he'll want to fly too far from Hagrid."
"That's a brilliant plan!" Harry exclaimed, "Why didn't we think of it?"
"Wrong, Harry. It's stupid and unpredictable." She said. "Buckbeak is a proud creature and in his own terms, he doesn't find hurting Malfoy is wrong. And I've said earlier, he wouldn't want to leave his herd and Hagrid."
"Then, what are we going to do?" Harry asked as she shrugged in response.
"Hey, I thought I would find you here," Joseph Marcus said cheerfully as he appeared from one of the shelves and sat in the seat Serenity previously occupied, "Mind if I join you?"
Harry hid a scowl but didn't say anything and Kimberly just gave a slightly forced smile.
"What are you reading?" he asked as he picked some of the books to read its titles. "I don't think that these are in our syllabus," he commented in puzzlement.
"No, it's not," Kimberly answered as she skimmed through the titles of the page she was reading and flipped to the next page with an expressionless mask. "I just want to read them," she said curtly and Harry cocked a brow at her.
"Interesting," he commented without feel, "Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he asked, "If you are, maybe we can go together," he said and Kimberly turned to look at him, "As a friend," he added quickly and flashed a smile at her. She appeared to be considering the offer and suddenly turned to stare at Harry as he was sitting opposite her.
"No, I suppose, I can't," she declined and she returned to her book, "I have plans on that day," Harry mimicked her actions in attempt to hide his smile and a frown of displeasure of Joseph.
"Well, the next time, then," Joseph said and didn't bother to hide his disappointment.
"Hey, Marcus," a boy came up to them. It was one of the Hufflepuff's perfect, Cedric Diggory. "Professor Sprout was looking for you," he said.
"Oh, okay thanks, Cedric," Joseph acknowledged but didn't move from his position.
"I meant, now, Marcus," the tall boy said giving him a stern look. Joseph grumbled unintelligently as he pushed himself up from the seat and walked away. Cedric waited for his junior to leave the library before turning towards the duo at the table with a gleeful smile.
"Tell me it's not my brother's doing," Kimberly said exasperatedly.
"I won't, then. Hi, Harry." Cedric said and gave her a grin as he propped himself on the elbow and bent down so that he rest his head on his folded arms. The three of them ignored the muffled squeals around them. "Aren't you gonna thank me?" he said.
"Thank you," she said with an amused smile, "but seriously, was it Andrew who told you to do this?" she said and then groaned when he grinned in response.
"I didn't tell you anything," Cedric said but was in away indicating a yes at her.
"Shut up," she retorted jokingly as she threw her quill at him.
"Your brother have a serious case of a sister complex," he commented grin and saluted her brother.
"Tell me about it," she rolled her eyes.
"What are you doing?" he asked curiously at the pile of books on the table, to which he'd noticed, had nothing to do with their school work. "These looks a little complicate for a third year," he commented as he flipped through some of the books.
"It's for Professor Hagrid and Buckbeak," she said with a tired sigh.
"The hippogriff?" Cedric asked confused and she nodded. "Did you find anything?" he said with a sceptical look.
She groaned tiredly, "As expected, no, unfortunately. I might think I went crazy if the Ministry would give a fair trial to an animal. It's a lost case before anyone can fight it." She said with a thoughtful expression, "Unless, of course…" she said thoughtfully.
"What?" the two boys asked in curiosity.
"Well, I don't know, but time will tell," she said with a smile.
"You know something," Cedric accused, "Your brother does almost the same thing sometimes."
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, "I just have a feeling that Buckbeak will be fine no matter what happened. Say, Harry, are you going to the Hogsmeade visit this weekend?"
"Er…I don't know…" Harry said as he thought back to his unsigned form, but he didn't want to admit it to her. So he said cheekily, "It depends on what you have in mind?"
"Um…I was just thinking if you would like to meet my parents. I mean, I know that they would love to meet you since you are the son of their best friends and maybe…" she blabbered, well aware of how weird and probably how inappropriate this sounds.
"I'd love to," Harry said over her voice, earning the attention of the occupants of the library and a stern glance from the librarian.