A/N: sorry that there's been a wait, I had two french speaking assessments ):
This chapter is for Christopher Riddle again because he really helped me write it. The formatting might be a bit off again so I apologise in advance.
Chapter 3: Snape's Hair Grease
-xoxox-
The afternoon had been spent writing back to my Mum, explaining where I'd gone and that I had 'just forgotten' that I had been 'invited round' to my friend's house (I didn't feel the need to specify that it was Roger's house.) Then he'd convinced me to send a letter to Cho, insisting that she go to Diagon Alley with me the next day. Davies had buggered off upstairs so at 5:01 precisely I was to be found sitting at the dining table with my Firebolt on the table and broom maintenance kit out.
-xoxox-
I'd been warned but I still jumped when, after the fireplace had roared with flames, Roger's mum stepped out of the dining room fire. She was a tall, willowy woman with fine features and high cheekbones. Resplendent in long navy blue robes which emphasised her height and contrasted with her long straight hair that seemed bronze in colour.
I sprang up from my perch on one of the chairs, I'd been polishing my broom, and went around the table.
"Hello." she said, a smile curling her lips as she looked at me. She seemed serenely in control, not even surprised by my presence in her dining room.
"Er, um...I'm Isobel." Merlin, I sounded so common next to her smooth RP. She paused a moment and placed a large stack of multicoloured papers on the table, she caught sight of my broom and fixed me with her deep blue eyes.
"Ah, the chaser, Yes?" I nodded fervently. "Roger's told us all about you."
"Um hm." I confirmed, I must have looked worried because she stepped closer and held out her hand.
"Only good things." She reassured. We shook hands.
"I'm Valerie, but Roger seems to prefer it if his friends call me Mrs Davies." she elegantly shrugged her shoulders. Valerie motioned for me to sit down again and I picked up the cloth and continued polishing. After the silence became unbearable I spoke up, it was more of a squeak than actual words.
"So-so which department do you work for?" Mrs Davies had taken her wand out and was sending the papers this way and that, they flew into a variety of colour coded files on the dresser at the side.
"Well, I'm the head of the office for the International Magical Office of Law which is part of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. What a mouthful?"
"Oh, you might know my Dad then, Demetrius Chambers, Department of Magical Games and Sports, he used to work for the Trading Standards Body though." She looked apologetic, my stomach plummeted, now she must think I'm common.
"No, sorry. DIMC is large though." I looked down again at my broom, pretending to find a misplaced twig to fiddle with. After the papers had dispersed she summoned a quill and scrawled a reply on a sickly pink post-it note.
"Ugh, Umbridge's taste is foul." she muttered, as she held up the little piece of paper for me to see. It had a tiny cat prowling back and forth along the bottom and occasionally stopping to mew loudly at the reader.
"What's that?" I wondered aloud.
"Oh it's nothing important, the Undersecretary has been trying to get me to tweak a few laws. Terribly boring I'm afraid. You know, I swore when I took that job that I wouldn't let it follow me home, and look at me now." She paused for a moment, as if deep in thought.
"Zeus" she called and a large eagle owl swooped in from the kitchen.
"Zeus?" I laughed, thinking that it was a very grandiose, not to mention pretentious, name for an owl, not that it didn't fit.
"That's what you get if you let a nine year old name your owl...speaking of." she looked towards the door. Roger was standing there, mouth slightly open like he had been about to speak but had forgotten what to say.
"Hello Mother." His eyes flicked back and forth between us. "Father's not back then?"
"No, I'd hoped that he would have picked up Bella by now," for my benefit she leaned in. "She's a crup."
"Ah." I nodded remembering what I'd read about in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. They are little, intelligent and fiercely protective magical dogs, they also look like jack russel terriers.
Then I started to feel a bit non-lucid, tired wasn't the right word, I was conscious but only just. Fear swelled in my stomach, I quickly stood up, my chair made a horrible screeching noise as it was pushed back.
"Going-up-now." Was all I managed to get out as I staggered out of the room. Well actually 'staggered' is a bit over the top but it illustrates how I felt.
I twisted the doorknob and virtually fell through it. I closed my eyes. This was really not a great time for a vision.
I argued internally for a while but then decided to fight it, I had no idea how long it would last (my longest vision had been a bit over seven minutes) whereas using the techniques I'd been taught by Dumbledore I could be sure that I'd be fine again in a few minutes.
A street materialised in front of my eyes, where the darkness of my eyelids had been. I breathed deeply, focusing on the feeling of the air flowing over my tongue. The longer I spent looking around the more detailed the street got. People, muggles, were walking around, all in suits of drab grey, blue and black. One was smoking, leant up against a lamp post, a woman was clacking along in heels with a phone pressed to her ear.
I took another breath, raised one hand to my neck and grabbed my little silver locket, it had belonged to my grandmother. I ran my thumb over the surface, recalling the pattern of laurel leaves engraved into it. I forced myself to make a mental image of the locket and clung to it like it was a lifeline.
Slowly the scene around me began to fade. The trick was to force yourself to remember that the vision wasn't real, you had to focus on something, waver and the vision would pull you under like the turbulent currents in the ocean. I took a few settling breaths and gingerly opened my eyes.
"Crap." I muttered. In my blind panic I'd managed to walk into completely the wrong room. The walls were a contemporary smoky blue colour although a sizeable amount of the wall was covered in quidditch posters (mostly Appleby Arrows but with a few England posters up too), and a large Ravenclaw banner was strung up over his wardrobe.
My eyes widened when I saw, tucked amongst the collection of Arrows rosettes, a framed photo of a Quidditch team all in blue. I picked it up and gazed down at the little people smiling and waving from inside the picture. Standing at the back was our old captain, Lizzie McDougal, next to her was Roger and either side were James Barbary and Peter Calamy the beaters. Cho and me were at the front, we were so small back then, standing in front of the chasers and beaters. As I watched Roger grabbed the little photographic, second year version of me and picked me up, I squirmed and giggled as he messed up my hair. Roger had always been tall, even as a third year. I remember when I tried out for chaser in September 1990 as a timid little girl. No one thought I was strong enough to pick up a quaffle never mind throw one, but I proved them all wrong.
I held the photograph close to my chest and continued snooping around Roger's room. There was a desk in front of the window, a bed in one corner a wardrobe in the other and next to it stacks and stacks of muggle CDs and some wizarding records all made out of deep purple vinyl. I set the picture back down and picked up a few, the top most was muggle "All Things Must Pass" by a man with long hair and a beard that I presumed was George Harrison from the title, then there was an EP by a magical band "The Malaclaws" and an album of the "Balenescu Quartet", Muggle, I presumed.
I had just picked up the photo again when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
"Dingbats and gargoyles!" I said under my breath as I physically cringed. Could I hide in the wardrobe? Jump out of the window? Under the bed? I frantically looked around, fell to the floor to look under the bed, heard the doorknob being twisted, sprang up, covered my face in shame and waited.
Roger looked at me, looked away and then looked back again. A perfectly cliche double take, I would have found it funny if I hadn't been so scared.
"Isobel?" he asked, a mix of shock and confusion in his voice.
"UmwellIstartedhavingavisionsoI-" I tried to get it over with quickly but Roger just looked lost.
"Start from the beginning-" I opened my mouth to speak. "Slowly, Isobel, slowly." I nodded, wide eyed.
"I started having a vision so I ran up stairs and I guess I just went into the wrong room. Then I saw this." I held out the photo for his inspection. He dragged a hand through his dark hair and looked down at me, his cheeks were a little redder than usual, he seemed almost embarrassed.
I shook the thought away, Roger, embarrassed, I'd sooner fly to Venus in a cauldron powered by Snape's hair grease than believe Roger could feel that emotion. He pulled up the chair from his desk and sat down. I stood for a few moments, I couldn't decide whether or not to sit down on the bed, he hadn't invited me to but standing whilst he sat just felt weird.
"I have to admit that was one of the happiest moments of my life. You can sit if you like." He stretched out his hand for the picture and grudgingly I gave it to him. He smiled down at all of the team.
"I really thought we were destined to win that year, you know." Roger muttered and set the photo down behind him on the desk. "And two years ago, when I got Captaincy, I mean we flattened Hufflepuff and outstripped Slytherin by miles." I folded my hands in my lap.
"To be honest I'm glad that we didn't win," He shot me a questioning and slightly angry look. "Oliver would've gone insane, I didn't fancy getting hexed into oblivion by a mentally unstable Keeper, thanks." at this Roger laughed dryly, evidently remembering the quidditch mad Gryffindor who'd left in my fourth year.
"In a weird sort of way I think I miss him." I raised my eyebrows, Roger and Wood had a fierce rivalry, well, all the captains did really, but their personalities clashed quite heavily. In contrast Cedric and Davies had been quite good friends up until the end of last year. "He had a wild sort of fanaticism and enthusiasm, you have to respect that."
"Are you joking? The bastard managed to break two of your ribs in '92!" I exclaimed. He guffawed. "Men?!" I sighed exasperatedly. "One of them punches another and they fall in love with each other." My befuddled expression just made him laugh more.
Suppressing his laughter Roger added "He's signed with Puddlemere, you know."
"I heard." I replied in a withered tone.
"That's the dream." He finally seemed serious again, now he was down right pensive. "This year we have to win. Flitwick's owled the quidditch scouts, so we have to be on top form."
"What?!" I gasped. Roger nodded.
"Reps from Portree and the Tornadoes are going to be at our November match."
"Merlin! I didn't know you wanted to get into the League!" I exclaimed having about five different freakouts at once.
"Quidditch is pretty much my life. I don't have much else going on." he gave me another one of those strange sidelong looks.
"Roger, I will do everything I can to help you win the cup." I swore.
"I know." He grinned. "But in the meantime, don't you have your own room to go to?" I smiled sheepishly and left.
-xoxox-
I lay on my own bed, a sheet of parchment on top of my Standard Book of Spells Grade Six (I needed a hard surface to write on). I dragged my quill across the parchment:
All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
Expecto EP - The Malaclaws
Possessed-Balenescu Qartet
-xoxox-
I highly suggest you check out the Balenescu Quartet-Computer Love and George Harrison's Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp, two of my favourite pieces of music, anyway as per usual, reviews are very much appreciated and people who follow or favourite will receive my undying love.