Chapter Four: In the Blood
It had been nearly two weeks since the school year started, and things haven't changed for the worse. Though, they hadn't changed for the better either.
"Eye of rabbit, harp string's hum, turn this water into rum!"
Harry glanced to the side, and watched as Seamus tapped his wand at the air over his goblet for a moment, then rise up out of his seat to check it for a brief moment.
"At it again?" Riley asked, pausing in his meal.
Harry nodded, as they watched Seamus try again with the same incantation.
"What's Seamus trying to do to that glass of water?" he asked, turning to Ron.
"Turn it into rum." Ron replied, nodding at Seamus. "Actually managed to make tea yesterday,...before-"
Suddenly, the redhead was interrupted by a loud explosion that caused many of the people to jump out of pure shock. Seamus had done it once again. His goblet now began smoking, as did the poor boy's hair, and his face and the front of his hair looked slightly singed. The students around him began laughing, while Hermione fanned the smoke away with her hand.
"How does he keep doing that?" Riley asked, shaking his head at Seamus.
"That's a question I don't have the answer to." replied Hermione.
Suddenly the sounds of owls screeching filled the air, as everyone began looking up. Many owls had flown into the windows, carrying letters, newspapers, or even packages. They flew around the Main Hall, dropping their deliveries into the hands of their recipients. Hermione and Ron had caught their parcels just as a two packages dropped onto Riley's head, making him fall backwards out of his seat. Harry and Ron rose up out of their seats to glance down at their fallen friend, while Hermione got up to help Riley up, as the latter rubbed the aching spot on his forehead.
"You okay?" asked Ron.
"A little bruised, but I'm good." replied Riley.
He picked up his fallen packages, and saw that there was an envelope attached to one of them. He opened it, and took out a letter.
"Cool, mom finally sent me my books." the young Gryffindor student announced. "She finally found the box that had them."
Hermione curiously looked at the books contained in the packages Riley had just unwrapped. There were "Shiloh", "The Outsiders", "A Prayer for Owen Meany", "Matilda", "Howl's Moving Castle", and "The Indian and the Cupboard".
"What are those?" asked Ron.
"They're books." replied Hermione.
"I know that they're books, know-it-all, but I don't recognize any of them."
"They're Muggle books, some of the most popular books written in the Muggle world."
Hermione then turned to Riley.
"Can I read one of them?" she asked.
"Go for it." replied Riley.
Hermione smiled and picked up the book titled "Howl's Moving Castle", and opened it. While she did this, Ron looked at the letter he was sent, and Harry began reading the newspaper that Ron allowed him to look at. Beside Ron, Neville had opened his package and took out a small glass sphere with a golden band encircling the middle of it. As he studied the object, Dean looked up to see what his dormmate had gotten.
"Hey, look!" he said. "Neville's got a Remembrall!"
"A what?" asked Riley.
"I've read about those," Hermione explained, staring in surprise. "When the smoke turns red, it means you forgot something."
She, Riley, Dean, Neville, and a few other Gryffindors nearby watched as red smoke began to fill the inside of the glass ball.
"The only problem is I can't remember what I've forgotten." said Neville.
"Your toad again, maybe?" Riley suggested.
Almost immediately after that was said, Neville's eyes widened in shock, and he bolted out of his seat, taking off like the wind. Most of his housemates watched until Neville was out of sight, then returned to what they were doing. Meanwhile, Harry's eyes narrowed upon reading an article in the newspaper Ron had let him read called the "Daily Prophet".
"Hey, Ron," he said, nudging his friend. "Somebody broke into Gringotts."
His words grabbed the attention of both Riley and Hermione, who leaned in a little, curiously, while Harry began to read.
"'Believed to be the work of Dark wizards and witches unknown, Gringotts goblins were acknowledging the breach, and says nothing was taken.'" he read. "'The vault in question, number 713, had in fact been emptied earlier that very same day.'"
Harry paused, his face screwed up in confusion.
"That's odd." he muttered to his three friends. "That's the vault Hagrid and I went to."
The four Gryffindors looked at one another, many questions going through their heads. That was very interesting indeed.
Later on that day, several first year students gathered in the field for their flying lessons. As they stood waiting beside their brooms, Harry, Ron, and Hermione noticed that Riley appeared to be very pale, as he looked down at the ground. Draco, too, noticed this and smirked.
"Hey, Cross!" he called. "What's the matter? Afraid of heights?"
Most of the non-Gryffindor students laughed at the Muggleborn wizard, who now looked pink in the face. Tony scowled at Draco for a moment, then suddenly he broke into an evil smile.
"At least he didn't flip out over a fake centipede crawling around his pillow." he shot back, loudly.
Now it was the Gryffindors and Tony's turn to laugh, while Draco's face flushed red with embarrassment and anger. The laughter lasted until the flight instructor was seen marching towards them. She was dressed in robes similar to the ones the students wore, and had short gray hair with piercing, hawk-like yellow eyes.
"Good afternoon, class." the woman greeted, as she passed the rows of students.
"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch." the students chorused.
After making her way to the other side of the two rows, Madam Hooch turned to face her students.
"Welcome to your first flying lesson." she announced, smiling. "Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone, step up to the left side of your broomstick. Come on, hurry up."
The students quickly moved forward to where they were supposed to be, then waited for their next instruction. Madam Hooch then raised her right hand in front of her.
"Stick your right hand over the broom, and say 'up!'" she told them.
The students did so, and all began shouting "up". Harry's broomstick jumped up into his hand instantly, much to Hermione's surprise. After a few more tries, Draco's broom jumped into his hand. Madam Hooch told her students to try with feeling, and watched as several more brooms flew up into students' hands. While Riley had finally gotten his broomstick into his hand, Hermione was still trying to get her broom into her hand. All it did though was roll around onto the ground.
"It's not a dog, Hermione." Riley told her.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw Ron's broom jumping up to smack him in the face. She, Harry, Riley, Dean, and Neville had seen this and burst into quiet laughter. Ron rubbed at his face where the broom hit him, and then glared at Harry.
"Shut up, Harry." he grumbled.
After the rest of the students had finally gotten their brooms into their hands, Madam Hooch moved onto the next part of the lesson.
"Once you got a hold of your broom, I want you to mount it." she instructed, walking back down between the two rows. "Grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end."
The students obediently climbed onto their brooms, and gripped them tightly.
"When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground hard," Madam Hooch continued, walking back up again. "Keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward slightly, and touch back down. On my whistle,...three, two,..."
She blew her whistle, and a whimper of fear alerted the others to Neville, who was floating off the ground on his broom. The others looked up at him, and Madam Hooch called for him, while Neville was beginning to fly off. While Madam Hooch continued to call him back down, several of the students behind her watched in horror as Neville began flying through the air, swerving and crashing into the wall a few times.
"Can't we do anything to help him?!" asked Riley.
"Not to worry, I can get him down." the flight instructor replied, taking out her wand. "Mr. Longbottom,-"
Before she could do anything though, Neville now shot at them like a rocket.
"Look out!" Tony shouted, running to the side.
The others parted so that the flying student wouldn't hit anyone. Neville flew through a doorway, and then curved up into the air until his robes were caught by the sharp, pointed accessory of a statue on top of a tower. The broom flew off without him, leaving him dangling above the crowd of students, who were all waiting below him. Neville then heard a tearing sound, his robes tore, and he dropped with his robes now caught on the torch. Tony nudged Riley, getting his attention, and nodded at Neville.
"Come on." he muttered.
They rushed forward until they were underneath the frightened Gryffindor.
"Don't worry, buddy!" shouted Tony. "We've got you!"
After a brief moment, Neville slipped out from his school robes and fell onto the two boys, all three crashing to the ground.
"Everyone out of the way!" Madam Hooch shouted, rushing towards them.
Neville sat up first, still appearing to be shaken up, while Riley rubbed the top of his head, groaning in pain. Tony, however, was having the most trouble getting up.
"You alright, boy?" asked Madam Hooch.
"Yeah, I'm okay." lied Tony.
She didn't believe him. The flight instructor helped him up and saw that his ankle was twisted, and then checked on the other two, before looking at each of the other students.
"Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Gabriel to the hospital wing, understand?" Madam Hooch ordered the other students.
She marched off, warning that if she sees a single broom in the air, the rider would be expelled before they could say "Quidditch". Riley and Neville walked back to rejoin their friends, who looked relieved that they were alright.
"Told you Tony was still okay." Harry whispered to Ron.
"Okay, okay, I was wrong." Ron whispered back, apologetically.
The peace was then broken when Draco opened his mouth.
"Hey, Longbottom!" he called, smiling nastily. "Lose something?"
To the anger of the other Gryffindors, the Slytherin student was holding up Neville's Remembrall. Neville made to take it back, but Draco held it out of reach.
"Maybe if you gave this thing a fat squeeze, you'll remember how to actually ride a broom." he continued. "And you wouldn't have crushed Gabriel's wrist with your fat arse."
Most of the other Slytherin began laughing, while Neville looked a little hurt. Harry had had enough, he stepped forward, glaring at Draco.
"Give it here, Malfoy." he demanded.
Draco looked at him, and frowned.
"No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." he responded.
He tossed the small glass ball up into the air a little, then caught it again as he stepped onto his broom. Riley made to charge at him, but the broom suddenly floated away with Draco on top of it. He climbed onto it completely and flew around, going between the students again.
"How about on the roof?" the latter taunted.
The others watched as the Slytherin flew higher and higher, until he turned to face the group of students, but more particularly Harry.
"What's the matter, Potter?" he asked. "Bit beyond your reach?"
Harry glared at him in response, then climbed onto his own broom. Hermione watched this, and stepped toward him.
"Harry, no way!" she told him. "You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly!"
Harry ignored her, and kicked off the ground hard, flying into the air.
"What an idiot." sighed Hermione.
Meanwhile, up in the air, Harry was sailing towards Draco, and stopped a little ways in front of him.
"Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" shouted Harry.
"Is that so?" asked Draco.
He tosses the Remembrall up and down in his hand a few times, then Harry rushed at him. Draco did a sort of barrel roll on his broom, dodging Harry's charge. Harry turned back to see Draco holding up the Remembrall, smiling tauntingly at him.
"Have it your way then." he said.
Harry watched as the Remembrall was thrown into the air, and flew forward quickly in an attempt to catch it. He flew faster and faster until he stopped in front of a tower and turned around to catch the small object in the nick of time. Harry tossed the ball up in his hand and caught it with the other, quickly grabbing onto the broom again when he nearly lost his grip, then began flying back to the others. Many of the students cheered, amazed at what Harry did, and they hurried towards him, congratulating him. Harry, upon landing, gave a grateful Neville back his Remembrall.
"Thanks, Harry!" he said.
Riley patted Harry on the back, grinning excitedly, until he caught sight of Prof. McGonagall coming towards them.
"Uh, guys?" he alerted his fellow Gryffindors.
Only Hermione heard him, and followed his gaze.
"Harry Potter!" Prof. McGonagall called out.
The cheering stopped when the other students saw her walking over to them. Harry noticeably gulped.
"Follow me." the Gryffindor head commanded.
The other students watched as Harry followed after her into the school, with his broomstick still in his hands. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, along with a few other Slytherins laughed quietly as they watched Harry being led away from the group, causing Riley to jab the blond-haired boy in the gut with the end of his broom, knocking him on his back with a grunt. Riley saw Hermione shooting him a scolding glare and shrugged helplessly in response.
"What?" he asked. "Am I the only one who wanted to do that?"
"Actually, I wanted to hit him over the head with mine." Ron admitted, smiling.
Sometime later in the afternoon, news of Harry being the new Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team spread like wildfire. While many were excited about this bit of news, others either couldn't care less, or...
"Come on, Hermione, you have to admit this is cool." said Riley.
He sat outside in the courtyard with Hermione, reading one of the books he had received earlier. Hermione, who was checking her homework yet again, paused to look up at him.
"Harry could've gotten himself expelled." she reminded her friend. "Have you forgotten about that part?"
"But he didn't." Riley told her, for what he felt was the dozenth time. "He stood up to a bully and made a team in the process."
He watched as Hermione shook her head at him before returning to checking her work.
"Come on, what about the look on Malfoy's face when he found out then?" asked Riley.
"Alright, alright, it is nice that Harry's on the Gryffindor team, alright?" Hermione admitted, exasperated. "But I don't condone that he broke the rules and got rewarded for it."
"But you do condone what Malfoy did?"
"Absolutely not! So, what did they say about your friend Tony?"
Riley let out a sigh. He had gone to see how Tony was holding up in the hospital wing and found that Tony would be on a crutch for a while because his ankle was still hurt. While Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, had fixed him up, the Slytherin first year would need a little time to recover still. As the two Gryffindor students resumed what they were doing, a voice broke them away once again.
"...Quidditch is great! Best game there is!" Ron's voice exclaimed. "And you'll be great, too!"
Riley looked up to see Harry and Ron walking past them, and nudged Hermione. The two closed their books and hurried to join them. No doubt the boys were talking about Harry making the team, too, as Harry appeared to be a little nervous.
"But I've never even played Quidditch!" Harry reminded the redhead. "What if I make a fool of myself?"
"Would you really have allowed yourself to take Malfoy's day job?" asked Riley. "You should've seen his face when he heard you became Seeker."
"True, and playing Quidditch is also in Harry's blood." agreed Hermione.
"Yeah, Hermione's right-"
Riley stopped in mid-sentence, and looked at her, confused, as did the other two Gryffindor boys. Hermione then led the three of them down the corridors until they reached the trophy case, and pointed at one award in particular. It was a wooden plaque with three small shield-shaped awards on it. One award in particular had "Seeker" etched on top, and the name "James Potter" written in the middle in a bigger font with "1972" under the surname.
"Whoa!" Ron breathed in awe, at the sight of the name. "Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker, too!"
Riley looked over at Harry, and saw a proud, amazed smile on his face.
"I didn't know." the latter said, quietly.
After another moment of looking at the award, the four Gryffindors decided to head back to the Gryffindor Tower.
"I'm telling you, it's spooky." Ron said, as they climbed up the stairs. "She knows more about you than you do."
"Who doesn't?" asked Harry.
"I don't." Riley pointed out. "Remember, I'm the guy who doesn't stay in one place for too long."
"And the guy who reads books on a man in pajamas whose only weakness is a green rock. What's up with that?"
"Hey, don't knock the Man of Steel, Ron."
The conversation was halted by the staircase swinging suddenly, catching the boys off-guard.
"What's happening?" asked Harry.
"The staircases change, remember?" Hermione reminded him.
Once the staircase had stopped, Harry looked back at his friends.
"Let's go this way." he said, pointing at one door.
"Before the staircase moves again." Ron agreed, as they began moving.
They headed through the door, and saw that they had entered a new corridor. One that they had never seen before.
"Does anybody feel like we shouldn't be here?" asked Ron.
"We're not supposed to be here." replied Hermione. "This is the third floor, it's forbidden."
"Hermione, in all fairness, this whole castle is a maze." Riley defended, waving his arms around the room. "Places like this need a "Keep Out" sign. Or at least a lock."
Suddenly, as they began walking forward in the room, a torch nearby where Harry was standing lit up.
"Let's go." Harry said, taking a step back.
"Can't." said Riley.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to look at him, about to ask why, then they saw why. A familiar, old tabby cat stood in the room, meowing at them. It's red eyes glaring at them.
"It's Filch's cat!" gasped Hermione.
"Run!" Harry shouted, dashing further down the corridor.
The others followed suit, and hurried after him.
"I normally like cats, but I don't think I want to risk it with Filch's cat!" Riley said, as they ran.
"Smart choice!" Ron told him.
The further they ran, the more torches had lit up. Harry looked from side to side, trying to think of something, then he saw a door nearby.
"Quick!" he called to his friends. "Let's hide through that door!"
They made to open it, but found that it was locked.
"It's locked!" Harry said, trying to open the door.
"That's it!" Ron moaned, fearfully. "We're done for!"
"I have an idea!" Riley declared, standing back. "Clear!"
Harry, Hermione, and Ron watched as he tackled into the door, only to end up hurting his shoulder. Riley limped away, gasping in pain, while holding his shoulder.
"Why did I do that?" he groaned.
"Your hero might be more powerful than a locomotive, but that doesn't mean you are!" Ron told him.
"I tried, didn't I?"
Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance as the two argued, and pushed them aside.
"Oh, move over!" she snapped, taking out her wand. "Alohomora!"
The door suddenly clicked, and Hermione tugged on the knob, pulling it open.
"Get in." she told them.
Harry and Ron hurried through the door, but Hermione stopped Riley from entering and looked at him.
"What did we learn today?" she asked.
"Think before you act?" guessed Riley.
"Good boy."
The two followed their friends inside, and closed the door quickly and quietly.
"'Alohomora'?" Ron repeated, looking at Hermione.
"Standard Book of Spells, chapter seven." explained Hermione.
Riley stared at her for a moment, then walked forward.
"Note to self, study more often." he muttered.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw a great creature resting in front of him. Slowly looking up, Riley saw that this creature was a giant black dog with three heads, with it's fur cleanly trimmed. Riley took a few steps back, and tugged on Harry's sleeve.
"Harry?" he whispered. "Harry, we've got a huge problem."
Harry looked at him, confused.
"What is it?" he asked.
Riley pointed up at the dog, and Harry stared at it, too.
"Oh, no." he breathed.
Behind them, Hermione and Ron were listening by the door to see if Filch had left. After a moment, they started walking towards Harry and Riley.
"Filch is gone." Hermione reported.
"He thinks this door's locked." said Ron.
"It was locked."
"And for good reason." Harry pointed out to them.
Hermione and Ron looked to see where their friends were staring at, and their expressions slowly turned into horror as well. At this moment, the dog started stirring and yawning.
"Just keep calm, and don't look them in the eyes." Riley whispered, calmly. "My mom's a vet, she taught me how to stay on a dog's good side."
"I don't think the dogs your mum cared for had three heads and were this big, Ry." Ron said, as they all started taking steps back.
"Well this one might be friendly."
The dog slowly stood up, growling viciously, as it stared at the four kids. Harry, Hermione, and Ron let out a terrified scream, as they headed for the door, with Hermione dragging Riley behind her. The four of them pushed the door close, and Hermione locked it once again, then they headed back to the stairs. Within moments, they found their way to the Gryffindor Tower and made their way inside.
"What do they think they're doing," asked Ron. "Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?!"
"You don't use your eyes, do you?" Hermione asked, looking at him. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"I wasn't looking at it's feet! I was a bit preoccupied with it's heads, or maybe you didn't notice! There were three!"
The youngest Weasley male stopped and glared at Riley.
"'This one might be friendly' you said!" he snapped. "'Just keep calm' you said."
He began ascending the stairs, with the others following after him.
"And yet I was the only one who could hear me." Riley shot back. "I said 'don't look them in the eyes', dogs don't like it when you stare at them in the eyes." he added, gesturing to his eyes.
"If you two are done, I believe I was explaining something." Hermione interrupted, looking at them. "It was standing on a trap door, it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something."
Harry, Ron, and Riley stopped to look at her, confused.
"'Guarding something'?" asked Harry.
"That's right." answered Hermione. "Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed. Or worse, expelled."
She stormed inside the girl's dormitory, and closed the door behind her.
"Good night." Riley said, as he headed into the boy's dormitory.
"These people need to sort out their priorities." Ron muttered to Harry.
I planned to update before Halloween, but things happened, and I'm trying to figure out something for my Fairly OddParents fanfiction, and I forgot I was supposed to edit an old fanfic series I posted before. My mind works on overdrive, and then starts glitching out, so I'm trying to work out the issues. Well, here you go. Also, screw deadlines for holidays, I'll update whenever I get the chapter finished. You guys ain't getting any younger, right?
Disclaimer: I own the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics or books that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys,...okay, you guys get the picture.