Okay, author's notes are going up here today because I've done SO MUCH editing. I went and annotated my copy of CoS, re-wrote all of the chapters, and now everything is cannon-compliant. I've also added some cute stuff with Andi and Oliver, and introduced some OC's from her and Oliver's year, along with the other players on the quidditch team, i.e. the new chaser and the alternate seeker. I would go back and read stuff if you're interested, but you by no means have to. I'm just improving this for my own peace of mind. I'd like to thank LolBookWorm, 12. purple. pink. 21, and gossamermouse101 for the reviews! You guys really made my day. Thanks to all of you followers and favourites, you're keeping me going. I hope this chapter is good… this is where the CoS stuff really gets started.
All the best,
Your pal,
~Kit~
"More information on the Yule Ball will be available in the coming weeks," continued McGonagall. "Don't forget that the Hallowe'en feat is on Sunday. So is the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. That is all."
"Well I for one didn't want to have to look at Jordan's face anyways," said Angelina, taking a bite of shepherd's pie. Lee rolled his eyes and charmed the silver bowl of peas to fall in Angelina's lap. She glowered at him.
"We could go to Hogsmeade. I know you haven't been before," said Oliver, not quite meeting Andi's gaze.
"That sounds great," said Andi. She was beyond excited to go to Hogsmeade.
"Well team, early to bed tonight! Tomorrow is our first practice and it's early!" said Oliver, putting on his captain's face. George and Fred groaned.
"Katie! Katie wake up!" said Andi, shaking her friend. They only had a few minutes left to get downstairs in time to meet the team and get down to practice.
"I'm up, I'm up!" cried Katie, practically jumping out of bed. Andi charmed her hair into a tight braid and then changed into her quidditch robes as fast as she could.
"Alright, Angelina's in the toilet, you're getting up, I'm going downstairs. I'll see you on the pitch!" called Andi, rushing down the spiral staircase. She practically fell on top of Oliver on the landing.
"I was just getting Harry. Where're Katie and Angelina?" Unlike Andi, he looked totally awake.
"They'll meet us on the pitch. I'll have to borrow a broom from the school closet for practice. I wrote my parents, but neither of them have brooms anymore. Do you have a key to the broom cupboard?" she said. She didn't want to tell him that her parents couldn't afford to buy her a broom. Oliver scratched the back of his neck.
"I don't have a key, but I had my parents send me my spare broom so you don't have to ride the school ones during practice," he said. Andi hugged him so hard she nearly knocked him off his feet.
"That is so nice of you Oliver," she said. He turned down the stairs as she pulled away so that she wouldn't see him blush.
When Andi and Oliver got to the pitch, they stopped by his captain's office. He pulled out the broom he always used, a SevenStar100 model 4. Andi loved the finish package he'd got on it– Gold trim on sustainably grown mahogany. From behind the desk, Oliver produced another broom. It was also a SevenStar100, but it was a model 2. From Andi's research, it was a fast and reliable broom. Not Harry's Nimbus2000 by any stretch, but it would certainly be better than the twins' Cleansweeps or the Flyte and Barker school brooms she'd been using. It was a similar finish to Oliver's usual broom, but it was a pale, stripped down birch wood.
"Thanks again Oliver. I've never ridden a SevenStar broom before," she said as he handed it to her. He looked at the floor.
"I… If you wouldn't mention to the team that it's mine… I just don't want anyone to think I play favourites or anything," he mumbled. Andi put an arm around him.
"This is the nicest thing anyone's done for me at Hogwarts. You're fantastic!" she said, beaming. He smiled as they walked down the hallway to the change rooms.
Fred, George, Angelina, Katie, and Jack Bowles were sitting on the bench on the far side. As Andi sat down and Oliver rolled out his diagram, Jay Prusty, a third year, came in. Oliver shot him a look for being late. Just as Oliver was about to begin, little Harry Potter rushed into the room.
"There you are, Harry, what kept you?" said Oliver. Harry shrunk in his seat next to Jay.
"Now I wanted a quick talk without all before we actually get onto the pitch, because I spent the summer devising a whole new training programme, which I really think will make all the difference…"
Andi stifled a laugh as Fred pretended to fall asleep on Katie's shoulder. Oliver poked his wand at Fred, who yelped as sparks shot at him.
"Any questions?" asked Oliver.
"I've got a question," said George. "Why couldn't you have told us this yesterday when we were awake?" Oliver glared at George and launched into a speech about how they were the best team and how they should've won the year before. Andi had heard about Harry and what had happened with You-Know-Who at the end of the last school year. Gryffindor suffered their worst defeat in 500 years.
When they finally got outside and Andi kicked off on Oliver's broom, she was ecstatic. It handled smoothly; it was fast. She raced around the pitch, screaming her delight– until she noticed the conflict happening down on the ground between her team and what looked to be the Slytherins.
"Ah, but I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape," said Marcus Flint as Andi touched down beside Jack. Flint read out the note.
"What's going on?" Jack turned to Andi, motioning her to be quiet.
"You've got a new seeker?" asked Oliver. "Where?" Andi noticed a little blonde boy come out from behind the group of older boys. She noticed there wasn't a single girl on their team. And it was while she was examining their team that she noticed–
"Very latest model," said Flint, brandishing a Nimbus2001. "Only came out last month."
The entire Slytherin team had been outfitted with the new brooms. Andi turned away from the conversation as Fred and George's brother and his friend with the curly hair came running across the pitch. Andi, standing at the back of the group, couldn't quite make out what was being said between Ron and the blonde boy. She muscled her way further forward past Jack just in time to hear the curly haired girl say, "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." Andi smiled and clapped a hand on the girl's shoulder proudly.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," spat the blonde boy. Andi was livid.
"How dare you call her that!" yelled Katie. She, Fred, and George moved to pounce on the little bastard. Marcus Flint dove in front of the younger boy and caught the full brunt of Andi's punch. She got him in the chest seeing as the other boy was much shorter than he was and she'd been aiming for the head.
"You stupid bitch!" he said, raising his wand at her. George bowled into him and knocked his wand from his hand. By this time, young Ron was shouting at the blonde kid and brandishing his wand. Suddenly, there was a bang and flash of green light. Ron was knocked back onto the grass.
"Ron! Ron, are you alright?" asked the curly-haired girl. He opened his mouth, but instead of words, two great, slimy slugs came forth. The Slytherin team began to laugh. Andi slapped Marcus Flint across the face and he shut up. Slowly, he reached over and picked up his wand.
"Just you wait until I get my hands on you. You're worse than she is," he said, pointing to the girl helping Harry to pull Ron towards the Game Keeper's hut. "Both your parents were Mudbloods!" Andi spat right in his face. She put one hand on each of his shoulders and looked him right in the eyes. She tried her very best to reach into his head the way she had with Snape. This time, instead of just looking at memories, she tried to make him do something. As she pulled her hands away, Marcus Flint vomited on the pitch.
"Guess I must be pretty disgusting," said Andi. The Gryffindor team was in shock.
"That's enough!" cried Madam Hooch, running over from her office. "Gryffindor, Slytherin's got the pitch today. Clear off the lot of you."
Angrily, Andi stalked back the changing rooms. Fred and George came up on either side of her to offer congratulations. She shook them off and went right to Oliver's office. She shut the door behind herself and waited for him so she could put the broom away.
"I just wanted to give this back," said Andi as Oliver came in, shutting the door carefully behind himself.
"No, Keeva, you can keep it in your dorm. Use it whenever you like," he said quietly. Andi tried for a smile.
"Thanks." They sat in silence for a moment.
"Did you–"
"Yes, I used my powers to make him throw up," said Andi, cutting him off. Oliver nodded, sinking down onto the couch seat beside her.
"That was pretty–"
"It was horrible. I should never have done that. I wasn't even sure I could. But he talked about my parents, and he was laughing at little Ron Weasley, and he just made me so angry. Poor little Ron's just had the worst luck with the car, and the Howler, and those stupid Cornish pixies, and now his wand. It just made me really mad," she said. There were angry tears sticking in the corners of her eyes. Oliver reached over and dried the tear that started to drip from her green eye.
"Andi, he deserved it," said Oliver. She nodded.
"I know. Doesn't make what I did right." Oliver shrugged.
"Do you want to go get some breakfast?" Andi nodded. Oliver lifted her up off the couch with him and they started back towards the castle.
"You look nice," said Oliver, linking his arm through Andi's as they walked off the school grounds towards Hogsmeade. Andi pulled out her wand and used it to flip up her hood as rain started to fall.
"Thanks," she answered. She flicked Oliver's hood on over his eyes. "You look nice too." He laughed.
"Butterbeer?"
"Butterbeer," Andi replied, as they came into Hogsmeade. It was beautiful. Even in the pouring rain, the little town was bustling with students. The row of shops all had Hallowe'en decorations.
"Bloody Brits can't even spell Hallowe'en right," groaned Andi, pulling up a stool next to Oliver at the bar. The Three Broomsticks had a "Happy Halloween!" banner flying around the room like a mis-spelled, deranged ghost.
"How would you spell it Irish girl?" asked Oliver. Andi pulled out her wand and quickly spelled it out in gold.
"There's an apostrophe. You know, the Irish invented Hallowe'en," she said, frustrated. Oliver laughed and she elbowed him. She muttered, "Kekenteng," under her breath. An apostrophe appeared on the banner.
"Butterbeer, Mr. Wood?" asked the bartender.
"Two please, Madam Rosmerta," he replied, obviously impressed that she remembered his name from the year before. Andi nudged him.
"She's got half the boys at Hogwarts after her and she remembered your name," said Andi, pretending to swoon. Oliver huffed.
"Lay off," he grumbled. Andi said a quick thanks to Rosmerta for the butterbeer. She took a sip and smiled, foam sticking to her upper lip.
"This is so good!" she said. Oliver looked at her and couldn't help but smile.
"I'm glad you like it." He reached out and slowly wiped the foam from Andi's mouth with a cautious thumb. His fingers lingered over her lips and she quickly took another sip of her drink to avoid looking at him. Her heart pounded in her ears. She drank the entire pint.
"If– if you're done, we can go exploring," he said. She nodded without saying anything and followed him out of the pub. She put her hood back up, but once they were in the street, Oliver turned her to face him.
"Andi– I… I was wondering if you'd like to go to Zonko's next?" Andi released the breath that'd caught in her throat.
"That sounds wonderful," she said.
In Zonko's Andi bought Filibuster's Fireworks and a trick quill that turned into a rat. Oliver was quite quiet for the rest of the rest of their outing, but they enjoyed themselves. She bought a whole set of chocolates for her sister when they went into Honeyduke's. She bought a bag of Cauldron Cakes that she and Oliver shared on the bench looking out over the Shrieking Shack. The sun was setting when they finally got back to the castle.
"Do you want to go right in to the feast or change out of these wet clothes?" asked Oliver. Andi grinned.
"Siccesco," she said quietly. She twirled her wand and put it back into the pocket of her now perfectly dry denim dress.
"That's pretty cool," said Oliver.
"Thanks."
The Hallowe'en Feast was beyond anything that Andi could have dreamed up. There were bats flying around in droves. There were giant pumpkins that had carved into jack o'lanterns, both classic and scary. Some of them were enchanted to jump or bite at students who walked past. The usual white candles floating around the room had been replaced with black ones. There were cobwebs straddling the room, with real spiders in them.
The food was also in keeping with the theme. There were fried batwings and pumpkin soup. The main course was fingers made of ground meat. There was tomato paste on them to make them look bloody. The fingernails were made of onion. Andi thought they were her favourite food. She couldn't have asked for a better Hallowe'en.
"You like the batwings?" asked Jack Bowles incredulously. Andi nodded.
"They're de-boned… tastes just like gizzard!" she replied, crunching down on a meat finger. Jack shook his head as dessert appeared: Sugar-spun cobweb cookies, pumpkin pie, and huge bowls of muggle Hallowe'en candy.
"I've never seen candy like this before," said Jack.
"Some North American muggles give it out at Hallowe'en," said Andi. Jack nodded and stared at the candy in awe.
Suddenly there were screams coming from the corridor. Andi thought she heard Harry's name. Rushing through the growing crowd in the hallway, Andi came to a halt beside Fred and Oliver. She could just see the tip of Dumbledore's pointy hat over the heads of the other students.
"What's going on? Is Harry alright?" asked Andi.
"Filch's cat's been frozen looks like. And someone's written on the wall…" said Fred.
"In blood," Oliver added solemnly. "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."