AUTHORS NOTE :P
Hey guys :) here's the next chapter!
Now I shall answer some reviews...
SevLoverKat: all shall be revealed ;)
Arkell26: I've read all the Max Ride books, like, 10 times and I cannot remember Max hating Maxie, or anyone else calling her Maxie, but I guess because it's Harry, she doesn't really mind.
AnikaandAj: Find out what? What did I lie about? I'm confused... But yeah, Fang and Iggy get back to the senses much faster than Ron, so nothing to worry about there. and thank you!
Annie Bell: In the first one, I said that Max was left handed when she was getting her wand, so Max is left handed, like me!
florafan199914: Well, Iggy and Fang were more upset that Harry never told them that he was going to enter, and they never really thought about the fact that he didn't put his name in, but after listening to Ron and Harry, they both realized that he didn't put his name in. Ron was just jealous, but they were upset he never told them. Sorry, I should of made that way more clear.
Now on with the chapter!
-Rach ;)
Max's POV
When I woke up the next morning, it took me a few seconds to remember why I was feeling so worried and miserable. Then everything that happened last night came rushing back.
I sat up, rubbing my eyes, then got slowly out of bed and changed. At weekends, you were allowed to wear your own clothes, but you had to wear the school robes over them.
I looked over at Hermione's bed and saw that she was sitting in her bed, already dressed, waiting for me. "Hey Max, I'm sorry about last night. I should of at least talked to you when you came in, but-"
"Don't worry about it, Hermione. Let's just go to breakfast," I said. She smiled, and we walked down to the Great Hall together, and I was looking out for Harry, or any of the other boys, but I didn't see any of them in the common room, or on the way to the Great Hall.
When we walked into the Great Hall, everyone turned to look at us. When we walked quickly towards the Gryffindor table, people shouted at us, "Hey, where's Potter?"
"Is the cheater too scared to how his face?"
"I bet he's going to be too chicken to even do the tasks!"
Hermione grabbed my hand when I opened my mouth to shout back at them and said, "Ignore them, Max. There aren't worth it." She dragged me over to the Gryffindor table, where we saw Ron, Fang and Iggy sitting away from everyone else. Me and Hermione sat down beside them, but none of them said anything.
"Hi guys," I said, a bit more forcefully then I intended. The three of them stared at me, seemingly shocked at my attitude. "Hey Max," they said together, frowning.
"That's better," I said, piling toast onto my plate. "Have you guys seen Harry?"
Ron blushed, and looked away. Fang, however, said, "He was still asleep when we left. I suppose he'll be down soon." I noticed that both Fang and Iggy seemed to be in greater moods then last night, but Ron still seemed sour. After about ten minutes of sitting with them, and with Ron glaring at nothing in particular.
"What's your problem?" I asked, not being able to take it anymore.
"What?" he asked.
"What's your deal? You've been moody all morning, not to mention last night."
"That's none of your business," Ron spat. Immediately after saying, Ron looked guilty. After finishing my toast, and after seeing that Hermione had finished her eggs, I grabbed a napkin, a few slices of buttered toast, and said, "Hermione, let's go find Harry. I doubt he's going to want to have breakfast here." I glared at Ron before walking out of the Hall, who still looked sorry about what he said, but he still looked grumpy.
"Don't mind Ron, Max, he's just being difficult. He'll come around... I hope," Hermione said as we walked to Gryffindor tower. I huffed but didn't answer her.
"You're really worried about Harry, aren't you?" she asked.
"What was your fist clue?" I said.
"Oh, come on Max, he'll be fine. Harry's been through worse," Hermione said. "I know he has, but people have died in this tournament, Hermione, and he's up against people much more educated and stronger than him."
"Don't worry about him. Harry is braver and smarter then the rest of them, and you know that. Harry will be fine," Hermione smiled. I let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, I know."
We reached the entrance to to the common room, and just as I opened my mouth to give the Fat Lady the password, the portrait hole opened, and we came face-to-face with Harry.
"Hello," Hermione said. She pointed to the stack of toast I was holding and said, "We brought you this. Want to go for a walk?"
"Great idea," Harry said, smiling gratefully.
We went downstairs, crossed the entrance hall quickly without looking into the Great Hall, and we were soon striding across the lawn towards the lake, where the Durmstrang boat was moored, reflected blackly in the water. It was a chilly morning and we kept moving, munching on toast, as Harry told me and Hermione exactly what happened last night and what was said. He seemed really relieved when Hermione accepted his story too.
"Well, I knew you never put your name in yourself," Hermione said. "The look on your face when Dumbledore said your name! But, the question is, who did put it in? Because I think Moody's right...I don't think any student could have done it... they'd never be able to fool the goblet, or get over Dumbledore's-"
"Have you seen Ron, Fang and Iggy?" Harry interrupted.
Hermione looked at me, and I said, "Erm...yeah, they were at breakfast," I said.
"Do they still think I entered myself?"
"Well, no, I don't think so...not really," Hermione said awkwardly.
"What's that supposed to mean `not really'?"
"Oh, Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said, "Ron is jealous!"
"Jealous?" Harry said incredulously, "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he? And what about Fang and Iggy?"
"Well, they both seemed grand this morning, so I'm guessing Fang and Iggy got over themselves. They were probably just upset that you didn't tell them you entered the tournament- not that you did enter the tournament, but they thought you did. But they're fine now, I think."
Harry nodded, then asked again, "But what is Ron jealous about?"
"Look," Hermione said patiently, "it's always you who get's the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault," Hermione added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously. "I know you don't ask for it...but- well- you know, Ron has all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous- he's always shunted away to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just gone too far..."
"Great," Harry said bitterly, "Really great. Tell him for me that I'd gladly swap places with him any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to my life. People gawking at your forehead everywhere I go..."
"We aren't telling him anything," I said. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this thing out."
"I'm not going to run around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe that I'm not enjoying myself once I've nearly broken my neck or-"
"That isn't funny," I said sternly. "Not funny at all, so shut up." I hoped I didn't look too anxious.
"Harry, I've been thinking- you know what you have to do, don't you? Straight away, when we get back to the castle?"
"Yeah, give Ron a big kick up the-"
"Write to Sirius. You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts...It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill with me-" I stared at Hermione, my eyes wide. Hermione knew what Sirius would do if he found out that that someone had entered Harry into the Triwizard Tournament.
"Come off it," Harry said, coming to the same conclusion as me, "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting into the castle if I tell him someone's entered my into the Triwizard Tournament."
"He'd want you to tell him," Hermione said. "He's going to find out soon anyway."
"How?"
"Harry, this isn't going to be kept quiet," Hermione said, very sternly. "This tournament's famous, and you're famous. I'll be really surprised if there isn't something in the Daily Prophet about you competing... You're already in half the books about You-Know-Who, you know... And Sirius would rather hear it from you then reading about it. And if you don't write to him, I'll get Max to do it."
"Hey, I never agreed to any of this!" I said. I still thought it would be better if no one wrote to Sirius.
"Fine, I'll write to him," Harry said, ignoring me and throwing his last piece of toast into the lake. The three of us stood and watched it floating on the water for a minute, before a large tentacle rose from the water and scooped in beneath the surface. Then we returned to the castle.
"Who's owl am I going to use?" Harry asked as we climbed the stairs. "Sirius said not to use Hedwig again."
"Ask Ron if you can use-"
"I'm not asking Ron for anything," Harry said flatly.
"Use Grenade. Iggy won't mind," I said. Iggy's owl Grenade was a light grey barn owl, so he wouldn't attract too much attention. We went up to the Owlery. Hermione gave Harry the parchment, quill, and a bottle of ink, then the two of us started walking around the owlery looking for Grenade while Harry sat down against a wall and wrote his letter.
"Grenade," I said when I found him and I stretched out my arm. He gave a happy, cheerful hoot then flew down and landed on my arm. A few minutes later, Harry said, "Finished." I went over to him with Grenade on my shoulder and read the letter.
Dear Sirius,
You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes - I don't know if you've heard, but the Triwizard Tournament's happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don't who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn't. The other Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff.
Hope you're okay, and Buckbeak,
- Harry
When I handed the letter back to Harry, Hedwig flew down onto his shoulder and held out her leg. "I can't use you," Harry said sadly, "I'm going to have to use Grenade."
Hedwig gave a very loud hoot and took off very fast and hard from Harry's shoulder. He winced slightly. I looked up at Hedwig as Harry tied the letter onto Grenade's leg, who was still on my shoulder. She kept her back to Harry the whole time.
When I threw Grenade out of the window, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Harry reached out to stroke Hedwig, but she clicked her beak furiously and soared up into the rafters out of reach.
"First Ron, now you," Harry said angrily, "This isn't my fault!"
For some reason I believed that things would improve, especially for Harry, but the next day showed me how mistaken I was. Harry couldn't avoid the rest of the school once we were back in lessons- and it was very obvious that the rest of the school, like the Gryffindors, believed that Harry had entered himself. Unlike the Gryffindors, however, the rest of the school wasn't as impressed.
The Hufflepuffs, who usually got along so well with Gryffindors, had turned cold toward a lot of us. Only one Herbology lesson was enough to make that obvious. It was clear that the Hufflepuffs thought Harry had stolen their champions glory; a feeling fueled by the fact that Hufflepuff House barely ever got any glory to start with. It was always Slytherin and Gryffindor, and sometimes Ravenclaw. Cedric was the only one who had ever given them any bit of glory, having already beaten Gryffindor at Quidditch. Ernie Macmillian and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who we normally get on very well with, completely ignored me and Harry when the four of us were repotting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray- although they did laugh when one of the Bouncing Bulbs managed to slip through Harry's hands and smack him in the face. Ron wasn't talking to Harry either. The rest of us sat between them, making forced conversation. While they both answered normally, they never looked each other in the eyes. I noticed even Professor Sprout seemed a bit distant from us- but she was Head of Hufflepuff House.
On normal circumstances, I would of been looking forward to seeing Hagrid, but Care of Magical Creatures class also meant that the Slytherins would be there too. I could see it in Harry's face that he was dreading this too.
Predictably, Malfoy arrived at Hagrid's cabin with his familiar sneer on his pale face.
"Ah, look boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment they got in earshot of Harry. "Got your autograph books ready? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he'll be around much longer... Half the Triwizard champions have died." I ducked my head, making it look like I was trying to get something in my bag, so no one could see my cringe.
"How long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task is my bet," Malfoy said.
Crabbe and Goyle guffawed, but Malfoy had to stop there, because Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin, balancing a teetering tower of crates, each one containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt. To the classes horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain why the Skrewts had been killing each other was because of pent-up energy, and the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this was that it distracted Malfoy completely.
"Take those things for a walk?" he repeated in disgust, staring at one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we meant to put the leash? Around the blasting end, or the sucker?"
"Round the middle," Hagrid answered, demonstrating. "Er- yeh might want ter put on yer dragon-hide gloves, jus' as an extra precaution. Harry- you come here an' help me with this big one..."
As Harry walked over to Hagrid (and it was obvious that Hagrid had only called on Harry so that they could talk about him becoming champion) the rest of the class busied themselves trying to get a leash around a skrewt. I got the leash around mine easily enough, but when I started walking it, I had trouble not falling over. The skrewts were now over three feet long, and extremely powerful. They were not longer shell-less and colorless, they had developed a thick, grey shiny armor. They looked like a cross between giant scorpions and elongated crabs- but they still didn't have any recognizable heads or eyes. They were very strong and hard to control.
I got my first shock when, with an alarming bang, the skrewt's end exploded and it shoot forward several feet. I screamed in surprise when I was thrown down onto my stomach and dragged along after the skrewt. I stood up on shaky legs when the skrewt finally stopped, and I tried to steady my heart. There was mud and grass stained into my jumper, and my knees were scratched and bleeding slightly.
I looked around me and saw that the others were having the same problem. I looked down at the skrewt, not sure if I was looking at it's face or ass. "I really hate you, you know that right?"
For the rest of the class, every now and then the skrewts' ends exploded and we were thrown onto our stomachs again and again and were dragged for several feet. My uniform was completely destroyed at the end of class, and my knees were bleeding pretty badly.
Before the end of class, my the skrewt I was walking exploded again and I was dragged further away from the rest of my classmates and closer to the Forbidden Forest. I stood up when the skrewt stopped, trying to ignore the pain in my knees. I crouched down and wiped away some of the blood from my legs, and when I straightened up again, I was facing the Forest. Then I froze.
Standing in the trees, staring at me, was an Eraser and a whitecoat. I looked around me, looking for Fang and Iggy, but thankfully they were both back with Harry and Hagrid, out of sight, and Nudge was in the castle in Charms.
I looked back at the Forest, and the Eraser and whitecoat were still there. They hadn't moved, but after a few more seconds, the whitecoat reached into his pocket. I held my breath, prepared to see him pulling out a gun, but instead the whitecoat pulled out a syringe. I clenched my hands, my nails digging into my palms. As I watched, the whitecoat winked at me, then himself and the Eraser walked further into the trees, then slowly they faded out of sight.
I stayed, frozen, in that one spot for a minute, before I felt like I could actually move again. I ran back to Hagrid's cabin, holding onto the leash. The class had just finished, and I was the last person to get back to the cabin. "Ah, Max. What kept yeh?" Hagrid asked when I put the skrewt back into it's box.
"Er- the leash feel off the skrewt and I had to put it back on," I said. Hagrid nodded, cheerful about how the class went, not really paying any attention to how all the students (except for Harry, who didn't do anything for that class) were covered in dirt and bleeding.
When we were walking back to the castle for lunch, Fang asked, "Max, what really happened? When you came back, you looked like you saw a ghost."
I looked around us making sure no one was around, then I said, "There was an Eraser and a whitecoat in the Forbidden Forest."
Harry, Hermione, Fang, Iggy and Ron stared at me. "What?" Iggy asked, his blue eyes wide with concern and worry.
"They were in the Forest," I said, unable to look any of them in the eye.
"Did they do anything to do? Say anything?" Harry asked.
I shook my head. "Nope. The whitecoat took out a syringe, winked at me, then they both left," I muttered.
"Where did they go?" Fang asked, looking even more serious then usual.
"Back into the Forest," I said.
"What are we going to do? We can't just leave them in the Forest. What if there are more of them?" Hermione asked. I knew what she was thinking. She didn't want us taken back to the School, and believe me, I don't want to go back there either.
"We do nothing. It's what they want. They want us going after them, because they have more Eraser's back there, probably some new type of dangerous hybrids, and without the full flock, we most likely don't stand a chance against all of them. They're too coward to come up here, so we just have to stay clear of the Forest," I said, going straight into leader mode.
"And that is why Max is the leader," Iggy said, grinning, although there was still a hint of worry in his eyes. "Well, Max is the leader of the flock, and Harry is the leader of the rest of us, but together they're unstoppable leaders!" We all looked at Iggy, our eyebrows raised, and he shrugged. "What? It's true."
The next few days had to be the worst for Harry. The only time I remember him being treated this way was in second year, when he was being blamed for attacking all the Muggle-borns, even though it was me. But I suppose, back then, Harry did have Ron as a friend, but now Ron won't even say a word to him. Harry started to become very distant with all the dislike and hatred he was getting from all sides.
I could understand the Hufflepuffs' attitude, even if I wanted to punch all of them right in the face; they had their own champion to support. I expected nothing less from the Slytherins- Harry had always been unpopular there, having beaten Slytherin so many times in Quidditch and in the Inter-House Championship.
But I was surprised about the Ravenclaws. I was hoping that they would at least try to support Harry as much as Cedric, but most Ravenclaws seemed to believed that Harry was trying to earn himself more fame by tricking the goblet into spitting out his name. Ethan seemed to be the only one I knew that was actually being nice to Harry, for which I was really grateful.
I had to admit, Cedric did seem to look more like a champion than Harry. Exceptionally handsome (not that Harry wasn't very good looking too), with his dark hair and grey eyes, it was hard to see who was getting more attention these days- Cedric or Viktor. One day, when me and Harry were walking back from the Great Hall after dinner, we actually saw the same sixth-year girls who had been so keen to get Krum's autograph begging Cedric to sign their schoolbags.
Meanwhile, there was no reply from Sirius, Hedwig was still avoiding Harry, Professor Trelawney was predicting his death more and more (not really something he, or I, has no listen to) and Harry did so badly at Summoning Charms in that Professor Flitwick gave him extra homework- and he was the only person to get any, except for Neville.
"It's really not that complicated, Harry," Hermione said after Charms class. Easy for her to say because she's been making things zoom across the classroom all lesson, as if she was a magnet. "You just weren't concentrating properly."
"Wonder why that was," Harry said darkly as Cedric walked past, surrounded by a large group of simpering girls, all of whom looked at Harry as if he was a particularly nasty and large Blast-Ended Skrewt. "Still-never mind, eh? Double Potions to look forward to this afternoon..."
Double Potions was always a terrible experience, but it strangely seemed to be even worse these days. Being trapped in a dungeon for an hour and a half with Snape and all the Slytherins, all of whom seemed determined to punish Harry as much as possible for becoming school champion, and not only was it terrible for Harry, but it was terrible on the rest of us too because we had to go through it as well. Hermione sat beside me and Harry for most classes whispering every few seconds, "ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, ignore them..." under her breath, because we were both very close to throwing things at the Slytherins, and I couldn't see how today would be any different.
When me, Harry and Hermione arrived at Snape's dungeon after lunch, we found the Slytherins already waiting outside, and every one of them were wearing a large badge on the front of their robes. For a wild moment, I thought they were S.P.E.W badges- then I saw that they all had the same message, in luminous red letters that seemed to burn brightly in the dimly lit corridor.
SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY- THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!
"Like them, Potter?" Malfoy said loudly as we walked closer. "And this isn't all they do- look!"
He pressed the badge into his chest, and the message on it vanished, and was replaced a second later by another one, that glowed green.
POTTER STINKS!
The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges too, until POTTER STINKS! was shining brightly around in the dungeon. I looked at Harry and saw his face and neck go red.
"Oh, you're all freaking hilarious," I said sarcastically to the Slytherins. "Really witty. I think I'll wet myself, I'm laughing so much."
I looked over at the other side of the dungeon, where Ron, Fang and Iggy were standing with Dean and Seamus. Although Fang and Iggy believed Harry didn't put his name in the goblet, they stopped hanging around with us as much, and stuck beside Ron. They weren't laughing, but they didn't do anything to defend Harry either.
"Want one Granger? Malfoy asked, holding a badge out to Hermione. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."
I growled, and reached into my robes for my wand, but Harry got his before me. I still pulled mine out, and raised it, but not as high as Harry was holding his. People all around us scrambled out of the way, backing down the corridor.
"Harry! Max!" Hermione said warningly.
"Go on then," Malfoy said, staring us both in the eyes and pulling out his own wand, "Moddy isn't around to protect you now- do it, if you've got the guts-"
I looked over at Harry, wondering if he'd actually do something. I'd just rather throw my wand over my shoulder and kick Malfoy where it really hurt. Harry and Malfoy had locked eyes, and while I was watching, they both acted.
"Funnunculas!" Harry yelled.
"Densaugeo!" Malfoy shouted.
Bright jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles- I watched as Harry's hit Goyle in the face, then I turned my head and saw Malfoy's spell flying straight for my face. I ducked low, feeling my hair moving on my head as the spell passed over me. I looked up, and saw that when I ducked, the spell had hit Hermione right in the face.
I looked around and saw Goyle bellow and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils had sprung up. Hermione was whimpering in panic, clutching her mouth.
"Hermione!"
Ron had hurried forward to see what was wrong with her, followed by Fang and Iggy, who stood beside me. "Are you alright?" Fang asked. I nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. Didn't hit me."
I turned and saw Ron dragging Hermione's hand away from her face. It wasn't a pretty sight.
Hermione's front teeth- already larger then average- were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth grew past her bottom lip, toward her chin- panic stricken, she felt them and let out a terrified cry.
I hurried up to her and grabbed her hands, so she wouldn't be feeling her teeth. "Don't worry about it Hermione. Madam Pomfrey can fix it up in a heartbeat, you know that. There's nothing to worry about, everything will be fine. Alright?" I said. Hermione stared at me, her eyes wide with panic, but she nodded. She pulled one of her hands out of mine to cover her teeth, which was now growing past her chin.
"And what is all the noise about?" said a deadly, soft voice.
Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamored to give their explanations; Snape pointed a long yellow finger (ew) at Malfoy and said, "Explain."
"Potter attacked me, sir-"
"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.
"- and he hit Goyle, sir, look-"
Snape examined Goyle, who had scrunched his face up in what was meant to look like pain, but it really only made him look constipated. His face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.
"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.
"Malfoy got Hermione!" I said angrily, "Look!"
I forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth- she was doing her best to hide her teeth from view, but it was getting difficult now because her teeth had grown past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back.
Snape looked coldly at Hermione. "I see no difference."
Hermione let out a whimper, her eyes filled with tears and she turned on her heel and ran all the way up to the corridor and out of sight. I turned around and glared at Snape, who glared right back at me, then I turned and sprinted as fast as I could after Hermione. As I was running, I could hear Harry, Ron, Fang and Iggy shouting at Snape.
I didn't know where I should be looking for Hermione, but I wasn't looking for too long before I found her crouched behind a suit of armor, sobbing with her head in her hands.
"Hermione, why didn't you go to the hospital wing?" I asked, sitting down beside her. She raised her head, wiping her tears from her face and shrugged, looking ashamed. Clearly, it was too awkward to talk with her teeth almost reaching her chest. i stood up and said, "Well, let's go there now, before your teeth reach your ass." I smiled at her to let her know I was joking. She grinned and stood up.
We walked to the hospital wing in silence, seeing as Hermione couldn't talk, and we walked as fast as we could. When we finally arrived at the hospital wing, we saw that it was empty except for Madam Pomfrey and Goyle, who was lying in a bed with his face covered in a sick green paste.
"Oh, Miss Ride, don't tell me that you're hurt once again," Madam Pomfrey said, looking up from where she was applying more of the paste to Goyle's face. "Not me this time, unfortunately Madam Pomfrey," I said, "Malfoy's spell hit Hermione when Harry's hit Goyle."
"Dear, dear, dear. Well, what else do you expect from frighting?" Madam Pomfrey said, coming up and looking at Hermione. She managed to get Hermione's hands away from her face, and she started examining her teeth. "I have just the thing, dear," she said, leading Hermione to a bed, well away from the one Goyle was in.
I sat down in the chair that was beside Hermione's bed. She was fingering her teeth gently, as if she was afraid they would break. She still looked panicky and upset, but at least she wasn't crying anymore. After another few minutes, Madam Pomfrey came back with a potion. She handed it to Hermione, who looked confused. She didn't know how she was meant to drink it. Madam Pomfrey took it back off Hermione, and with her help, Hermione was able to drink it.
"Your teeth won't actually start going back to their normal size until you drink it a few more times. I'll give you one every hour, and your teeth should be back to normal around dinner time," Madam Pomfrey said, and Hermione did her best to give Madam Pomfrey a grateful smile, but it turned out more like a grimace. "Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," I said. Madam Pomfrey nodded and walked back into her office.
It was a few hours later, and it was finally time for Madam Pomfrey to perform the spell to fix Hermione's teeth. "Here you go, so you can tell me when to stop," Madam Pomfrey said, handing Hermione a mirror. Hermione straightened in her bed and held the mirror in front of her face. The potion had already reduced the size of her teeth slightly, and stopped them from growing anymore, and now here teeth were just at her above her chin.
Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and whispered a series of complicated words, and right before my eyes Hermione's teeth started shrinking. It was slow, but finally her teeth were back to there slightly larger then usual size. But Hermione didn't tell Madam Pomfrey to stop. I stared at her, my eyebrow raised, and Hermione blushed and looked back at the mirror. When her front teeth were at a normal size, Hermione smiled and said, "That's perfect, Madam Pomfrey. Thank you."
"Not a problem, dear," Madam Pomfrey smiled. She pulled back the sleeve of her robes and looked at her watch. "Dinner is over. I can give you dinner here if you want, because you won't get food anywhere else this time. Then you can leave and go back to your common room."
We ate our dinner in the hospital wing, then walked back to Gryffindor tower.
"Why did you let Madam Pomfrey put your teeth smaller then they were?" I asked.
"Well because I hated my teeth before. I always had to wear that brace going to sleep... I've been trying to convince Mum and Dad to let me magic my teeth smaller, but they wanted me to do it the normal way, with the brace. I saw the opportunity and I took it. Do they look really weird now?" she said, and she smiled. Her smile was even more pretty then before.
"It doesn't look weird, Hermione. It looks great, but it also looked great before," I said.
"Thanks Max. For staying with me," Hermione said.
"Not a problem. I'm going to kick Malfoy all the way to next Thursday next time I see him," I said, scowling.
"Oh don't. There's no need to get into trouble over that ferret," Hermione said, and we both laughed.
We entered Gryffindor tower, and just before we went up the stairs to our dormitory, Harry came racing down the stairs from his own dormitory, a letter in his hands.
"Hey, Max, Hermione," he said, hurrying over to us. "I'm really sorry about what happened, Hermione."
"Oh, don't be," Hermione said, "It was Malfoy's fault, not yours." She smiled, probably hoping that he'd notice her teeth. Being a boy, he didn't.
"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the letter in his hands.
"Sirius finally wrote back," he said, handing us the letter.
Harry - I can't say everything I would like to in a letter, it's too risky in case the owl is intercepted - we need to talk face-to-face. Can you ensure that you and Max are alone by the fire in Gryffindor Tower at one o'clock in the morning on the 22nd of November?
I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself, Harry, and while you're around Dumbledore and Moody I don't think anyone will be able to hurt you. However, someone seems to be having a good try. Entering you in that tournament would have been very risky, especially right under Dumbkdore's nose.
And Max, I know you're annoyed I couldn't answer your question. But trust me, I will tell you. Just not now. And not on the 22nd of November, either. I'm sorry, but you will understand soon. Please don't do anything reckless sweetheart, and keep your eyes open.
Be on the watch, Harry. I still want to hear about anything unusual. Let me know about the 22nd of November as quickly as you can.
-Sirius.
And there you have it! The next chapter! It is a lot longer then the last one, and hopefully a lot better :)
I love the legend of korra now! Not as much as Avatar: The last Airbender, but it's still awesome! I love Bolin, but I think Korra and Mako are better for each other. Bolin just reminds me of Sokka so much! :) he's adorable.
Anyway, you know the drill. Review and you get cookies and butterbeer :) so...
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LoVe YoU! :*
-Rach ;)