{Warning: Hermione bashing starting here and more to come (will explain at end of chapter). I own nothing of J. K. Rowling's.}
"Can I read next?" Shizuka asked raising her hand half-way up. Augusta gave a curt nod before Shizuka got the book by using a simple summoning charm.
Chapter Nine. Lullaby for Your Lives
"That's weird." Barty commented. Everyone else felt the same.
If there was one bully Leo thought twice about facing it was Draco Malfoy. Normally he wouldn't have an issue smacking someone who was bullying Harry or Aries. The only issue he had was that Malfoy did give him a gift.
Sirius frowned at that. Lucius ran his hand down his face.
He wasn't sure what to do.
"Return it?" Remus reasoned.
Malfoy and Harry really dislike each other, but at least they only have Potions together.
"Until later classes." The Slytherins and Gryffindors groaned.
Aries had complained to him about his class with the Slytherins. Apparently Malfoy had his two goonies and a fan girl named Pansy Parkinson.
Narcissa frowned and Lucius groaned. "Didn't you have a fan girl?" Regulus asked his future cousin-in-law. "You mean that heavy girl with all the make up?" Sirius asked. Lucius' eye twitched. "She was a menace." Bellatrix noted. "You weren't the one she demanded to father her children." Lucius said with a nervous twitch in his eye. Narcissa had a dark look cross her face. "What happened to her?" James asked. "I arranged for Lucius to marry Narcissa, and she's currently promised to Crabbe." Abarax said sternly.
"Nice save." Charlus said. "Isn't James in an arranged marriage?" Arcturus asked. Charlus and Dorea shook their heads. "He could marry whoever he wants as long as we approve. Although we could solidify James and Lana if they want." Charlus said looking at the two. "Charlus, let them at least date for a bit first." Dorea said with a playful smile. James and Liliana blushed something fierce.
She was this stony-pug faced girl with a matching personality.
"Ick." Nymphadora said with a scrunched up nose and green hair.
She picks on other girls and Aries and Leo since she thought they were girls too.
"So a new Umbridge?" Barty asked with a grimace.
Velvela said she could care less what Parkinson has to say. She also said Parkinson shouldn't rat on girls when she could easily pass as another one of Malfoy's goons.
"Ooh, burn." Sirius hissed.
Leo and Velvela met up with Aries for breakfast. "You two going to get the twins back?" Velvela asked.
"Do it, do it, do it, do it!" The marauders chanted.
"Nah, 'nother time." Aries said.
The marauders booed.
They walked towards the Gryffindor table and sat with Harry and Ron who looked unhappy. "What's got you upset?"
"That's what I wanna know." Liliana said.
Leo asked failing to steal some bacon off of Harry's plate.
"Is that a common thing for them?" Bellatrix asked.
"Flying lessons with the Slytherins starting Thursday."
"Ah." Everyone chimed.
Ron said brandishing his fork at Velvela who tried to snag a muffin.
"Never get between a Weasley and their food." Septimus said sagely.
"The last thing I need, making a fool of myself in front of Malfoy." Harry said with a frown.
"C'mon Harry, I was a natural at it." James said proudly. "I can't fly." Liliana said deflating James' bubble.
Aries snorted. "At least he isn't trying to get your attention." He said.
All Malfoys groaned.
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "He still thinks you two are girls?" Ron asked with his mouth full. The three nodded.
"Great." Sirius said with a heavy dosing of sarcasm.
That's when the twins came in. "Hullo all." George greeted. "Any wasted food today." Fred asked looking at the two cousins. "Nope." The cousins chorused.
"They did use a lot of food before." Lily pointed out.
"We do need help with a prank though." Leo said. The twins looked curious.
As did the marauders.
"What prank?" Ron asked. Velvela smirked. "They're trying to prank Snape." She said with only a little bit of viciousness.
Lily huffed. "He had it coming." Liliana said glowering at Lily.
The twins shared a smirk. "Oh, what do you two have in mind?" Fred asked with an ominous glint in his eyes.
"Dungbombs." James listed. "Fire crackers." Sirius said. "A good jinx." Remus said.
"We have potions later today and were planning to disrupt it." Leo said.
"But I wanna hear the plan!" Sirius whined. Shizuka looked at him. "I am again reminded I'm older than you." She dead panned.
Velvela rolled her eyes and waved at Neville to come over as the four schemed.
Alice and Frank shared a grin and Augusta looked intently at the book.
"Hiya guys." Neville greeted before joining them. "Hi Neville." Harry greeted. "What do you think about flying?" He asked. Neville looked nervous.
"He is a bit accident prone." Frank said. "I hope he grows out of it." Alice said mildly nervous. "I'm sure he'll be fine." McGonagall said. "I wonder if he's a late bloomer." Augusta said thoughtfully.
"I'm worried. I tend to be accident prone." He admitted. Ron snorted. "Don't worry. You just need to toughen up a bit." The red head said. Neville looked a bit down.
"Ron could have worded that better." Septimus said.
"At least everyone you meet doesn't confuse you for a girl." Leo whined. "Malfoy thinks I'm a girl." He added.
"And I finally forgot about that." Sirius whined.
Neville looked surprised. "Tough luck." He said to Leo.
"No shit." James said.
"All that talk about flying's probably a lie too." Ron added.
Everyone casted a look at Lucius. "Shut up." He said before anyone could compare him to his son.
The mail came in then. Harry hadn't gotten a letter since Hagrid's note, something Malfoy was quick to notice.
James frowned. "When he gets there I'll send him seven letters a day." Liliana said with conviction. James cracked a smile at her.
He gloated about all the sweets his mother sent with an eagle owl from the Slytherin table.
Everyone looked at Narcissa. "That's sweet of you Cissa." Andromeda noted.
Parkinson would gush at him. Aries rolled his eyes and Leo mimed gagging.
Everyone laughed at Aries and Leo's antics.
A barn owl came and delivered something for Neville. "Oh, my Gran sent me a remembrall." Neville said.
"Does he forget things often?" The future grandmother asked. "Why aren't Frank and I sending him anything?" Alice asked with a frown. Everyone looked surprised and then worried. Three people in the room were dead by the second chapter, what happened to the future Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom?
"A what?" Aries asked looking closely at the glass ball full of white smoke that went scarlet.
"What did he forget?" Frank wondered aloud.
"A remembrall, I've read about those." Hermione said looking up from her book on how to ride a broom.
"Where did she materialize from?" Regulus asked.
"The smoke turns red when you forget something. Rather useless since it doesn't tell you what you've forgotten." She said.
"That's the point." Arcturus said.
"It's supposed to help people jog their memory." Fred said. "Yeah. That way they remember it on their own." George added.
Septimus nodded.
Hermione ignored them. She looked at Leo, Aries and Velvela sternly. "Shouldn't you three be at your own tables?" She asked stiffly.
"They should be." Lily said.
"I don't recall a rule where we had to be separated." Aries said.
"True." Arcturus said with a slow nod.
"But we get sorted for a reason." Hermione pointed out. "Yeah, to choose where we live. Where we eat and hang out is up to us." Aries tossed back at her.
"Aries does make a good point." James said. "Wouldn't eating together help with the inter-house-relationship Dumbledore always say he wants?" Remus asked. Many people nodded. "So how about when we get out of here, we eat together from time to time?" Alice offered. "It would do more than Dumbledore's preaching." Xenophilius said of all people.
Leo gulped. The last time that look was on his face, the narrowed eyes that could freeze a desert while talking to someone he sent a group of older girls crying across the school yard.
"So he got Reggie's death stare." Sirius said. "Which he got from Orion and me." Arcturus pointed out.
"But no one else is doing it." She said looking as frazzled as her bushy brown hair.
"At a glance." Moody growled.
"As far as you can tell." Aries said. He's seen older students eat together.
"Dating." Everyone chimed in.
"Even the founders spent time together. Why shouldn't we?"
"Excellent point." McGonagall said
Aries said before taking a waffle.
People snorted.
Hermione huffed and moved away from them.
"She tends to stick her nose in other people's business doesn't she?" Liliana asked.
As if breakfast could get any worse Malfoy decided to show up and take Neville's remembrall.
"My son's a brat." Lucius said falling back into his chair. "I know." Narcissa said with a frown.
Harry and Ron jumped up when Professor McGonagall strides over to them.
"She knows…" Sirius said ominously causing many to laugh.
"What's going on here?" She asked sternly. "Malfoy's got my remembrall, Professor." Neville said. "Just looking." Malfoy said putting the remembrall back on the table. McGonagall left and Malfoy left to meet up with his two thugs.
"Why do they always follow someone?" Shizuka asked. "Because they're as dumb as a ton of bricks." Every student said as one.
They went through they're classes normally. Then their potions lesson came.
The marauders perked up in interest for what the boys were going to do.
Velvela didn't want any part of it.
The marauders scoffed. Others rolled their eyes.
Aries and Leo were sharing a smirk. They owed Fred and George after this was done.
"Ooh, never put yourself in a debt." Charlus said. All the other heads of families nodded.
Snape sneered at everyone, particularly at the two Blacks.
People frowned at the memory of the removed Slytherin.
When he turned to write on his chalk board Leo's eyes closed and he opened them to see the strange color around them.
Many people look interested in what Leo's aura reading showed.
Many of the students were blue, white or gray. Snape however was an ugly shade of red, with a black squiggle on his arm.
Shizuka paused and looked contemplative. Why did the colors mean?
Aries shook him and he blinked his vision back to normal, ignoring the duller pain than before. Leo looked at him questioningly. Aries motioned towards his eyes. Leo frowned. Did they turn silver again?
"I would guess so." McGonagall said.
When Snape was done writing his instructions down, he began his usual prowl through the classroom.
"It's potion lessons, not a prison." Frank groaned.
Aries whistled swiftly as he began to work, giving Leo the signal.
"That's a good signal." Remus said.
Leo pulled several marbles from his sleeve and quietly slid them in front of Snape's feet. Snape slipped back, knocking a halfway completed babbling potion onto him.
People laughed at that. Some winced at that.
When Snape was crouched and trying to wipe the concoction out of his eyes, Aries muttered a quick "Accio marbles." Under his breath causing the marbles to fly into their hands.
"Nice." James praised. Regulus had conflicted look on his face. "I guess that spell was what they owed the twins." Barty deduced.
They managed to get them all back into Leo's bag. His first six attempts before the lesson weren't as smooth.
People snickered. McGonagall looked thoughtful about her future students.
Snape growled at all the nearby students. He opened his mouth to most likely scare a confession out of them, but all that came out was "Runturg hunamina hoh ee oh ah ah ting tang wadda wadda bing bang shabalaba ding dong rhubarb lada dee da di hulu waka."
Everyone laughed uncontrollably at that.
Everyone laughed wholly at that.
Dorea was still wiping the tears of laughter off of her face.
Aries and Leo had to support each other. Snape glared at all of them before spelling the chalk to say 'Finish the potions, then take notes' on the chalk board. He stormed off, probably to Madam Pomfrey's. When Snape slammed the door behind him, Aries and Leo stood in their seats and gave deep sweeping bows to the applauding classmates.
The marauders applauded the boys.
During lunch Aries and Leo raced each other to the Gryffindor table.
"Leo, Leo, Leo Leo!" Sirius chanted.
Leo beat Aries there
"Yes!" Sirius said as he fist pumped.
and couldn't keep his grin off of his face. "Harry you'll never believe it!" Leo said in a pant. "Guys, guess what?" Harry asked at the same time.
"What happened?" James asked excitedly.
"What is it Harr?" Aries asked. "I just made Gryffindor seeker." Harry said with a smile.
Everyone was dumbfounded. James meanwhile was doing a victory dance at how awesome his son was. When he sat back down his friends gave him shrewd looks. "Never do that again." Remus said. "Ditto." Sirius said. James stuck his tongue out at them.
Aries and Leo were dumbfounded.
"Not the only ones." Bellatrix said.
"But first years never make the team." Leo said in surprise. "We aren't even allowed a broom. How'd you do it?" Aries asked.
"Excellent questions." Moody said.
"During flying lessons Neville lost control of the broom, so Madam Hooch took Neville to Madam Pomfrey." Harry started.
Frank looked worried and Alice looked sorrowful.
Leo winced. He hoped Neville was okay. "He should be fine." Ron said with a full mouth.
A not fell from the ceiling in the shape of a ball. It was only a broken wrist. That made the Longbottoms and Alice loosen up.
"So Malfoy took Neville's remembrall and flew off.
Lucius looked abashedly at Frank and Alice. Narcissa nervously bit her lip.
I went after him. Malfoy threw the remembrall and I caught it in a fifty foot dive. McGonagall saw it and made me seeker." Harry said taking a bite of his potatoes.
"Minnie!" The marauders cheered. The adults sent looks to McGonagall. "WHAT!?" Liliana fretted. "Harry's fine." Andromeda assured the Italian witch.
Aries looked shocked. "Fred and George always complain about the school brooms. They don't fly well and they're ancient." Leo said with wide eyes.
"ON A SCHOOL BROOM!?" James asked in disbelief.
Aries looked at Harry. "So you've got to be the youngest seeker in-" "About a century." Harry finished "Wood told me. He's the captain." Leo, Ron and Aries looked awed by that.
"Mt son is awesome." James said. Other future fathers looked like they wanted to disagree, but Shizuka read on before the boys could brag about sons that didn't even exist yet.
Fred and George came by then. "Hiya." George greeted. Fred looked at Aries and Leo. "How'd it go?" He asked.
"Spectacularly for firsties." Sirius praised.
Leo couldn't hide the smirk on his face even if he wanted to.
Remus and James snorted.
"Beautiffuly." He said. "Excellent." The twins chorused.
"Indeed it was." James and Remus said.
"By the way Harry, Wood told us." George said. "Practically skipping. We might finally beat Slytherin's six year record." Fred said.
The Slytherins looked proud at that. The Gryffindors looked appalled. "Six years?" James asked as if pained. "I see why she bent the rules." Charlus said.
Fred and Goerge were on the team too as beaters.
A note in the shape of a snitch flew in front of Septimus. "What's it say?" McGonagall asked. Wood says they're like human bludgers themselves. Septimus read. People snorted at the truth in the statement.
"How did what go?" Ron asked Aries and Leo. "Pranked Snape-The –Dungeon- Creep." Leo sang.
"Not bad." Sirius said solemnly. "Not like Snivellus though." James pointed out. Lily glowered at them both.
"He slipped and got babbling potion on him." Aries chimed in. "Never knew it was us." Leo added. They all laughed.
"That was good." Liliana said.
Harry looked over at the Hufflepuff table. "Where's Velvela?" He asked.
"Where'd she go?" Lucius asked.
Leo looked a bit worried. "She said all the smells in potions made her sick so she went to the Hospital wing." He said.
"That happens from time to time." Remus said scrunching his nose up.
"I'm sure she's fine. The dungeon does stink." Aries said. Leo cheered up a bit.
Shizuka smiled sweetly at her son.
Fred and George left to see if Lee Jordan found the secret passage behind Gregory the Smarmy the twins found in their first year.
"Oh, it took us to second year to find that." Remus intoned.
They just sat around chatting when a familiar drawling voice was heard. "Having a last meal, Potter? When are you returning to the Muggles?" Malfoy sneered.
Abarax pinched the bridge of his nose. "Everything wrong with Draco I blame on Lucius." He said. Lucius spluttered. "I think I'll do that with my grandkids." Arcturus said.
"You're braver now that you've got your friends with you on the ground know." Harry said cooly.
"Burn." James crowed.
Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles. Aries sent a bland look at them.
"Is that all they do?" Alice asked. "They eat, sleep and grunt." Lucius added dryly.
"I can take you on anytime I want." Malfoy said "How about tonight in the trophy room at midnight. A wizards duel – no contact. What's wrong, never heard of a wizard's duel before?" Malfoy asked haughtily.
"Boys." The girls groaned.
"Of course he has." Ron said spinning to face the pale boy. "I'm his second who's your's?"
Septimus face palmed.
Malfoy sized up his to henchmen. "Crabbe. Trophy room's always unlocked." Malfoy said.
"What's he want a duel for?" Augusta asked. Moody grimaced at the possibilities in his head.
"Winner gets Leo." Ron said as Malfoy turned to leave.
Sirius spluttered. "My son isn't a prize!"
Leo hit Ron hard on the shoulder. "Why am I the prize?" He asked indignantly.
"Good question." Moody said.
Aries was trying not to laugh. "So will you be Mrs. Leonarda Potter or Mrs. Leona Malfoy?" He asked snickering.
James and Lucius looked green. "No, just no." Sirius said horrified.
Leo kept hitting his cousin. Harry looked disgusted. "Man, why'd you two have to say those things?" Harry asked in a groan.
"Because people are horrible." Sirius said.
Ron shrugged. "So that when you win, you can rub it in Malfoy's face that's Leo's a bloke." He said.
"That reaction…" James said trailing off in thought.
"Anyway, what's a wizard duel? And what are seconds?" Leo asked after giving his cousin a bruise or three.
"Or three." Regulus huffed.
"Seconds are in case the dueler dies." Ron said. "But that only happens in proper duels. The most either of you will be able to do is throw sparks. I bet he expected you to refuse."
Septimus looked thoughtful.
"What if I wave my wand and nothing happens?" Harry asked. "Toss it and punch him." Ron and Leo said in unison.
Everyone laughed at that.
"Excuse me." A bossy voice interrupted. They all looked and saw Hermione Granger.
"Again!?" Many people groaned.
"Can't a person eat in peace?" Ron asked. Hermione ignored him and looked at Harry.
Septimus and the Potters frowned.
"I couldn't help but overhear what you and Malfoy were saying"
"Where was she sitting?" Narcissa asked.
"Bet you could." Ron snorted. Aries rolled his eyes at her. Leo was wondering where she sat, he didn't notice her.
"Does that mean she's stalking them?" Frank asked.
"And you could cost Gryffindor a lot of points if you get caught, which you're bound to be. It's awfully selfish of you." She said.
"And you're overly bossy." Sirius said.
"And it's incredibly rude to stick your nose in other people's business." Aries said dryly.
Regulus smirked.
"And this isn't any of your business." Harry said.
James nodded. Liliana agreed.
"Any points lost can be made up." Leo said.
"Too true." Sirius said.
"Good bye." Ron said. They all left.
"Nice handling of that." Arcturus said.
Aires and Leo met up in the trophy room. "Geez, it's cold." Leo said rubbing his arms for warmth. Aries shrugged and kept silent.
"I hope he doesn't catch cold."Shizuka said interrupting herself.
Leo got bored of waiting and went to look at some of the trophies, plaques and badges. He came across a series of Quidditch badges when two names in particular caught his attention.
James and Regulus looked interested.
"Ree!" Leo hissed. "What?" Aries asked looking at his watch. "Your's and Harry's dad played Quidditch!" Leo said in a hushed voice.
"Obsessed." Sirius coughed.
Aries went still before marching over to the crystal glass case. Sure enough on a red pillow was a badge that read:
James Potter
Chaser
Captain
Leo pointed to a green pillow and on it was a similar badge. It said:
Regulus Black
Seeker
"One of the best." James said. Regulus looked shocked at what James had said.
"Was Da a Slytherin?" Aries asked aloud.
"Everyone except Sirius and the boys are." Bellatrix said proudly.
Leo wasn't sure what to say. Gryffindor red, Hufflepuff yellow, Ravenclaw blue and Slytherin green. "Looks like it." Leo muttered. He hoped Aries was okay with it since he didn't get along with Malfoy's group.
"Some aren't like that though." Dorea said. Andromeda nodded quickly..
Then there were the sounds of footsteps. Harry and Ron were there, but so were Velvela, Neville, and Hermione. "Why are they here?" Aries asked.
"Came to see the show?" Barty asked.
"Neville got locked out of Gryffindor Tower; Velvela didn't want to go back alone since they passed the Bloody Baron a couple of times already." Harry said. "Hermione came to stop us but got herself locked out as well." Ron muttered.
"Bad luck." Everyone said.
"I wouldn't be locked out if it wasn't for you two!" She hissed like a vicious goose in her pink bathrobe.
"Yeesh!" James exclaimed. "Reminds me of Molly." Septimus said to himself.
"We said it wasn't your business. If we get in trouble, we get in trouble." Leo said with a frown.
"Amen." The marauders said. Lily frowned.
"But you can't just go and break the rules so recklessly." Hermione said.
"She has a point." Lily said.
"I'm a Ravenclaw who got held back in Muggle School. Nothing is set in stone." Aries said.
Moody nodded.
Hermione looked shocked by Aries' words. "Held back?" She hissed as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.
"Not this time." Regulus said under his breath.
"I found things more important than school to worry about." Aries said crossing his arms.
"He shouldn't have had to deal with that so young." McGonagall said sadly.
"But how'd you get into Ravenclaw if you got held back?" Hermione asked. "Figure it out yourself." Aries said before looking at his watch.
"Rude." Lily huffed. Regulus gave her a questioning look.
"They're late." he said to Harry and Ron. "Maybe they chickened out." Ron said.
"Or not." Moody grumbled.
Then a noise followed by a voice could be heard. "Sniff around my sweet. We'll catch them." Filch said.
"Time to high tail it." Alice said nervously.
"Run!" Velvela hissed. They all took off down the corridor through passages and the like. It was going smoothly until Neville crashed himself and Harry into a suit of armor.
Their parents winced.
They neared the Charms classroom when they all stopped to catch their breaths. "I—told—you—so." Hermione kept repeating.
"Of all times-" "Chill Reg." "Shut it Siri. Why're you so calm?" "I have Evans in my house." "HEY!"
Aries cursed, and kicked at the air. "Malfoy tricked us. He told Filch hoping Harry and Ron got in trouble." He muttered angrily.
"Always prepare for a trap." Moody growled.
"I didn't think he'd do that with him thinking Leo's a girl." Ron said. "I figured he'd try to 'impress' him again." Ron said using air quotations.
"That's a decent strategy." Moody praised.
Leo grumbled and Velvela was checking with Neville.
Many people grumbled.
"Unless he wanted to get rid of you two as 'rivals'." Aries said also using air quotations. "Stop talking, I might get sick." Leo said.
"Me too." Sirius said.
"Now you know how it feels." Aries said with a frown. Leo sighed knowing he meant the kids at Privet Drive.
"I actually forgot about that." Regulus admitted.
"Let's g—Peeves!" Velvela hissed. Sure enough Peeves was there cackling at them.
Everyone groaned at their bad luck.
"Please don't rat on us Peeves." Velvela said. Peeves just cackled. "Ooh, naughty naughty will get caughty." He said. "Shut up." Ron said taking a swing at Peeves.
The marauders winced.
"STUDENTS IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!" Peeves bellowed at the top of his lungs "STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" They all took off running to the right end of the corridor. They reached a door. It was locked.
"Perfecto (perfect)." Liliana drawled sarcastically.
"This is it." Ron moaned "We're done for!" Ron said as he, Leo, Harry and Velvela tried to pull open the door. "Move over!" Hermione said but she got shoved back by Velvela.
James was wondering why Harry didn't have his cloak with him.
"Harry, Alohamora!" Aries said quickly. Harry pulled his wand out. "Alohamora." The door unlocked with a dull click and they all piled inside before shutting the door.
"But he shouldn't be able to do that yet." McGonagall said with wide eyes.
They all put their ears close to the door and listened.
"Déjà vu." Many choired.
"Where'd they go Peeves?" Filch asked in a wheeze. "Won't say nothing if you don't say please." Peeves said. "Alright, please." "Nothing. HA!" Peeves cackled. "I told you I'd tell you nothing if you said please." Filch cursed and left in a huff as Peeves whooshed away.
"Peeves is supposed to help protect the students." McGonagall said in a huff. "What does that say about his opinion of Filch then?" Abarax drawled. Many looked shocked at the implication.
"Filch thinks the door is locked." Harry said quietly. Neville was grabbing at his bathrobe. Leo turned around and was terrified. They were in the forbidden corridor and he now understood why it was forbidden. "Uh, guys." He said in a shaky voice. "What?" Harry asked. Everyone else turned around.
Shizuka went pale and rigid at the next line. "Shizu?" Sirius asked in concern.
In front of them was a three headed dog as big as the corridor. It had coarse black fur and yellow fangs about the size of Aires arm.
"WHY THE HELL IS THERE A CERBERUS IN THE SCHOOL!?" Dorea demanded. Many started to pale, panic, hyperventilate or a combination of the three. McGonagall went pale. A simple unlocking charm could lead to that corridor. So many students could be hurt.
Harry was trying to open the door, but everyone else kept blocking him as they all tried to get a grasp of the knob as the dog's chorus of growls grew louder.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" The parents bellowed in fear.
Aries unsteadily stood forward and kept the dog's six eyes on him.
Regulus looked like he might have a panic attack.
Then, to Leo's disbelief he started to sing to it.
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
"Music soothes the savage beast." Xenophilius said airly.
Then the dog actually started to sleep. No one moved however in complete shock.
"Move. Run. GET OUT OF THERE!" Sirius said in hysterics.
Aries shot them a glare when the dog started to wake up again. So to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little star he sang:
Hurry hurry open door
Music played makes it snore
If you don't we'll soon all die
Eaten like a silly pie
Hurry hurry open door
Music played makes it snore
"Not bad for improve." James joked weakly.
Leo quickly opened the door and they bolted out of there before locking shut. "Between Filch and death, I'll take Filch." Harry said in a pant.
"Good idea." Everyone agreed.
Filch wasn't anywhere nearby, probably to look for them elsewhere. Not that anyone cared at the moment. "That dog needs to lose some pounds. It was HUGE." Ron said.
"Damn."
Neville sniffled and shivered.
Alice looked like she wanted to comfort her son.
Harry helped Neville up from the ground as he fell when they ran for their lives. "Y' okay, Neville?" Harry asked. Neville nodded but still shook badly.
"There's some Gryffindor shining." Charlus said with a weak smile.
"We should go back to our common rooms before you get us all killed. Or worse expelled." Hermione said already going to the Gryffindor tower.
"She needs to straighten out her priorities." Barty said. "How is being dead worse than being expelled?" Many asked in shock.
Aires and Leo shared disturbed looks. What the hell was she thinking!? They wondered.
"She needs a life." Ted said.
"Why don't Aries, Leo and Vela come with us?" Neville asked.
Many of the occupants smiled. "But won't they get in trouble?" Lily asked with a frown.
Harry and Ron smiled weakly. Hermione frowned. "Because they're not Gryffindors." She said. Leo snorted. "I saw a Gryffindor sneak into the Hufflepuff dorm to see the girl he was dating." He said.
"We saw a Ravenclaw do that." Sirius added. "I caught Charlus and Dorea once." Septimus said. James went green and his parents blushed.
Hermione huffed and ignored them, before marching up to the tower. "C'mon, it'll be nice." Harry said.
Dorea coughed and scratched the back of her neck. When people sent confused looks at her Charlus explained "That's what I told her." "DAD!"
The three uneasily followed their Gryffindor friends into the tower. The Pink Lady was back in her frame. "Where on earth did you go?" She asked. "Never mind. Pig snout." Harry said.
"I think the weirdest password we had was Stewed slugs." Septimus added.
Her frame swung open, and they clambered into the empty common room. Neville, Harry and Ron went up into their dorm after giving their goodnights. Velvela took a seat on a plushy couch. Aries and Leo sat on both sides of her. Aries and Velvela drifted into sleep, but Leo was still awake.
Sirius looked worried.
He pulled out a letter he got a while ago. A letter from a family friend named Remus Lupin, and he wanted to meet Leo.
Remus and his best friend ssmiled widely.
He folded the letter back up again before drifting into a dreamless sleep.
"Done." Shizuka said before closing the book.
{(Oh God, this will turn into a short essay.) Now, I generally am okay with Hermione's character. She has a unique personality, with some flaws making her seem like a more believable character. She's highly intelligent studious, brave, caring and has a lot of skill, plus things she isn't good at which make her more human in the views of the readers.
However she does make me feel a bit put off with her character. She's very opinionated and logic based. Because of that, she could be very callous towards others which frankly at times seemed to sociopathic at times (ex. setting Snape on fire. While hilarious she just set a man on FIRE. What eleven-twelve year old purposefully sets a man on fire? )
Such as when Lavender's bunny died, Hermione used it to prove that Divination was useless, disregarding Lavender's loss entirely. Going behind her two best friend's backs on a single hunch without even talking to them during the whole Firebolt fiasco. She could have at least mentioned it to Harry ("Harry it could be cursed or something, you should have a Professor make sure it's safe"). But nope, she thought she knew better than them and went behind their backs, like any concerned friend would (note the sarcasm).
She also did the whole S.P.E.W. thing without any contact with any house-elves, and even going so far as to offend so many of them since she based it off of her own feelings and that of a single house-elf who had it really bad. It's a wizard version of Uncle Tom's Cabin (U.S. Civil war reference: basically it painted the image of slavery as inhumanely grotesque as you might imagine at the time in a book called Uncle Tom's Cabin, from a single account of a slave who had an especially cruel master, yet not all Southern slavers were as cruel as that one causing more tension between the two sides, North and South when the book was published).
To cut it short, Hermione is a good, developed character. I just don't like her as much as some others though. She just pushes my buttons the wrong way too much. I don't like a good portion of her decisions and actions (which can show a lot about how a person truly is) and I question her dynamic in the canon trio. She was the nerd who got prettier over time, not bad in and of itself. But her actual part in the canon raised a lot of questions I'll address later.
Holy shit that was a lot of explaining. Sorry for boring you with that.}