I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date. No time to say "Hello, Goodbye". I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. (See you at the end of the chapter!)
Chapter 9: Gryffindor & Slytherin Alliance?
As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost.
Meissa - not one to care about the Quidditch season - had to listen to her cousin complain and moan about the fact that Potter had gotten into the Quidditch team. The fact that Harry was a first year often rankled for her cousin. Meissa, on the other hand, couldn't care less that Harry was even on the team, she was simply tired of listening to Draco whine about it.
Despite not caring about the Quidditch matches at all, Meissa was convinced to join the others in watching the first match of the season: Gryffindor versus Slytherin.
It was Friday, the day before the first match, Meissa was invited to join Hermione and her newfound friends in the Fountain Courtyard. The boys were still cold towards her but they came to realize - after Hermione told them the reason why she had been there in the first place - that she was someone who could be trusted at the very least.
She still wasn't happy with the redhead about his attitude towards Hermione but if the girl in question was willing to forgive Weasley for his less than stellar behavior then he has a temporary pardon from her.
As it was Meissa was more than a bit grateful for the bit of warmth Hermione managed to conjure up. The bright blue fire, safely stored inside a jam jar of all things, was more than enough keep their backs warm.
Meissa was studying a chapter in one of the textbooks assigned to them when she heard them hiss a warning. Confused as to what could be bothering them she looks up to see that Snape was crossing the courtyard. At once she noticed that he was with a limp and she couldn't remember if he had it the last time she had seen him. Then again, she hadn't seen him since Halloween night.
It was like the sight of seeing Snape had prompted the trio to behave as if they had a secret, closing ranks in an effort to hide away the blue fire in a jar. And it was if the mere act summoned the professor over to them.
She was curious as to why he had a limp in the first place but she saw that he wouldn't look at her in the eye, choosing instead to focus on the Gryffindors next to her.
"What's that you got there, Potter?"
Meissa glances over to find that he was holding a text, the Quidditch Through the Ages.
"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," Snape all but sneered, "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."
"He's just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as the potion master limped away. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"
"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," Ron muttered bitterly.
"Weasley, did you happen to forget that I'm here?" the Slytherin inquires, leaning forward to peer at the boy from around Hermione. She enjoyed the way his face paled before turning bright red from indignity.
Laughing Meissa leans back so that the jar was warm against her back, ignoring the pointed look Hermione gave her. Could she really be faulted for finding some amusement in this?
"Why didn't he bother you? Or was it because you're a Slytherin?" Hermione asks quietly.
"Mostly because I'm a Slytherin," Meissa remarks, glancing up for a moment from her book. "But in part, it's because you are Gryffindors."
"So, he picks on us because we are Gryffindors?" Hermione asks.
"Well, I did mention that he went to Hogwarts, right?" Hermione nods her head. "Let's just say that a group of Gryffindors may have picked on him a lot."
"That's awful," Hermione whispers.
"I bet he got what he deserved," Ron pipes up, prompting Meissa to roll her eyes.
"Sure, Weasley, please go on thinking that way," Meissa sneered, standing. "Go on believing that a person can deserve being tormented. Perhaps, then, if I follow your logic, I should allow you to be tormented just for insulting the wrong person."
"Meissa!" Hermione protests, standing up to follow the Slytherin girl." He didn't mean that."
"That's where you're wrong, Mione. He meant it," the Black heiress shakes her head. "That boy isn't worth having as a friend. I'm sorry but I can't stand to be around him because I will hex him one way or another."
Hermione frowns and grips the other girl's elbow. "I'm sorry," she mutters to the Slytherin. "See you tomorrow at the match?"
"Promise not to hate the other for whoever house wins the match?" Meissa asks cheekily.
"Yes. Now get going," Hermione laughs, shaking her head in amusement as the Slytherin walks away.
"See you in the morning!" Meissa calls over her shoulder before she turned around to walk towards the Grand staircase.
~MJB~
Saturday was turning out to be very cold and very bright. Meissa was already supporting a pretty bad headache by the time breakfast rolled around - the Slytherins were loud and boisterous. Flint was a firm believer that the Gryffindor team - having Potter as Seeker - was destined to fail.
Meissa had no care for any of it but she did remember Hermione telling her that Harry was a natural flier. She could vaguely remember the incident that led to him being placed onto the Gryffindor team. So naturally she thought that Flint maybe underestimating the newest addition to their rival's team.
Her headache was getting steadily worse until finally Meissa was forced to return to the dormitory to get one of the migraine potions. She was grateful that her godfather had finally restocked her potions but he gave her a stern lecture that she was to ration out her potions instead of consuming the whole of the vials.
In a way she understood why he didn't want her consuming a month's ration in a few weeks - the migraine potion was expensive to brew for one but it also had a potential to be an addictive.
By the time she made her way back to the first floor it was close to time for the first match to start. Daphne, thankfully, was waiting for her by the path and together they went to the Quidditch pitch. Daphne nearly shared the same opinion as Meissa in regards of the Quidditch game but Meissa had been talked into going by her cousin and Daphne had been convinced to come along at Meissa's behalf.
The climb up to the seats was more than a little bit ridiculous but the view. The view was more than enough to make up for the work out though. The only problem was that only one of them had binoculars and Draco wasn't willing to share his precious binoculars.
"Does anyone know how to use the Doubling charm?" Meissa asks, pulling her wand out of its' holster.
"How do you even know of that spell?" Daphne questions as Meissa was trying to remember the incantation.
"Family spell tomes," Draco suggests unsurely.
"Ah!" the Black heiress snaps her fingers suddenly, startling Draco and Daphne. "Geminio!" (1)
The binocular replicates itself once, twice before she flicks her wand to the side to end the spell.
"This won't last for too long," Meissa remarks as she hands the copy off to Daphne and the original to her cousin. "But for our purpose, it'll do."
"Sometimes you scare me," Daphne comments, "Knowing all these spells long before we're supposed to know them."
"Mother said Aunt Bellatrix believed in being prepared for anything," Draco chips in as he eyes the events happening down near the ground. The match was yet to begin and he was eager for it to start - not wanting to miss one second of it.
Meissa was looking around when she spotted the Gryffindor's towers. Curious she studied the thing that was flapping in the air, peering through the binoculars for a better look. She squints through the binoculars and it takes her a moment to realize what it was she was seeing. It was a large banner that said 'Potter for President' with a large Gryffindor lion painted underneath the words.
The paint was also flashing different colors. When she focused on the Gryffindors behind it, securing it to the posts, she saw that Hermione was there. She was there, scarf and all, with Ron, the Longbottom boy, the half-blood Finnigan boy, and another boy she couldn't recognize. She couldn't help but find herself amused by their antics.
"It's starting!" she hears Draco calls out in the midst of cheers and looks down to see that the Slytherin team had finally flown out onto the field. The Gryffindor team soon joined them and formed a circle around Madam Hooch, the referee, who stood there broom in hand.
Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle.
Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air.
"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too -"
"JORDAN!" Meissa laughs at the indignant and stern shout Professor McGonagall was able of.
"Sorry, Professor."
And it continued, with Jordan commenting on the process, and Meissa watching the game absent-mindedly. She was hardly listening when suddenly she heard Jordan shout, "GRYFFINDORS SCORE BY ANGELINA JOHNSON!"
The sound of the Gryffindors cheering was loud in the air while the howls and moans of the Slytherins filled her ears.
Meissa ignored them and kept an eye on Harry, watching him glide high above everyone else, his movements suggesting that he was on the lookout for the Golden Snitch. Someone had hit a Bludger his way once but he was able to dodge out of the way and one of the Weasley twins - the Gryffindor's beaters - came chasing after it.
"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying, "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the - wait a moment - was that the Snitch?"
"Blurt it out why don't you," Meissa mutters quietly though she did enjoy a laugh at Pucey dropping the Quaffle. She had no doubt that Flint will be on him about that after the match.
Harry had seen it. Meissa gripped the wood in front of her as she watched him dive down after the streak of gold. Her eyes just barely following the streak itself.
She was so focused on watching the streak that she never saw Flint blocking Harry on purpose, causing him to spin off course with the Seeker holding on for dear life.
The Gryffindors roar with outrage while Meissa growls - silently vowing to get the Sixth Year for this.
She was so busy plotting her attack that she didn't hear Daphne calling her name until someone touched her elbow. Jolting her out of her thoughts and into the present.
"Daphne?"
"Are you okay?" the girl asks worriedly, "You weren't responding."
"Um… sorry, I was thinking," the Black heiress excuses, glancing down at the field to find that Madam Hooch was speaking angrily to Flint.
"What were you thinking about?"
"… What I might need to do to make our dear captain pay for his… indiscretions," Meissa remarks darkly.
"You are aware it's a Quidditch match, correct?"
Meissa waves off her comments and focused instead on the free shot that was given to the Gryffindor team as a result, glancing up to where Harry was still flying.
Meissa was barely listening to Jordan at all but she did tune in to him commenting about Flint's actions.
"So - after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-."
"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.
"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-."
"Jordan, I'm warning you -"
Meissa starts snickering, enjoying the commentary, before she looks up towards Harry. She ignores the action again in favor of focusing on Harry. She watched him dodge a Bludger that went dangerously close to his head.
That's when she saw something.
Harry's broom suddenly lurched, causing Meissa to grab the railing underneath her hands. She bites her thumb as she curse softly to herself. Harry's broom was starting to buck and turn uncontrollably, each violent move nearly unseating the Seeker.
"What's going on?" Daphne asks, following her gaze to the Seeker.
"I don't know," Meissa mutters quietly, tense as she watched Harry struggled to stay on the broom. "But whatever it is, it isn't good." He was raising steadily higher, away from the game.
Suddenly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.
"Harry…"
Draco was pointing to the Gryffindor in question, "What's up with him now?"
"Whatever it is, it has to be Dark Magic," Meissa mutters tensely, "Nothing else could compromise a broom like this."
"Again you worry me," Daphne comments as she peers up at the seeker in trouble.
The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as the Weasleys flew up to try and pull Harry safely onto one of their brooms, but it was no good - every time they got near him, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled beneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he fell.
"Bloody hell," Meissa curses as she struggled to keep herself from intervening.
The broom tossed and turned a few more time before stilling enough for Harry to swing himself back onto his broom.
"He's safe!" Daphne grabs Meissa's arm, shaking her a few time as she laughs in relief. Meissa, feeling the same way, laughed with her while Draco rolled his eyes at their antics.
Meissa was laughing when she cuts herself off, realizing that Harry had gone into a dive.
"Look!" she points out what he was doing.
He and the Slytherin Seeker were racing head to head towards the ground and when Meissa looked ahead of them she saw that they were chasing the snitch. The Slytherin seeker was first to back out and as Meissa held her breath Harry pulls out of the dive at the last possible second. Avoiding a collision with the ground and he was still on the tail of the snitch!
She watched as he stood on his broom, precariously balancing himself as he reached for the snitch. Meissa grabs the binoculars and peered through them.
"No, you idiot, you're going too far!" she mutters lowly to herself, watching him inch his way forward on his broom. Just like she predicted he topples off his broom, tumbling onto the ground.
He gets up and lurches.
The crowd gasps as Meissa stares in disbelief. "That didn't just happen," she mutters out loud to herself.
"He looks like he's going to ralph!" Daphne comments, lowering her binoculars - she was unsure if she wanted to be sick or not.
Harry lurches and the Snitch pops out of his mouth. It lands in his hands.
"He's got the Snitch! Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!"
"Gryffindor win!" Madam Hooch proclaims with a blast of her whistle.
"No!" Draco exclaims in disbelief while Meissa laughs out loud at what just occurred.
"Well, that was an unexpected twist," she laughs, shaking her head in disbelief.
"I'll say," Daphne agrees as she slides a hand into Meissa's, startling the other girl, and pulled her through the crowd so that they could reach the ground before they could be swamped by the other students.
It was once when they were on the grounds that Meissa yanked free her hand with a barely suppressed shudder. Daphne saw this and despite how much she wanted to she didn't say a word about it.
"Meissa!" They suddenly heard someone calling out.
The Slytherins paused in their walking to look for the person. It was Hermione and she was hurrying along to them with Ron trudging along reluctantly.
"Meissa!" the Gryffindor girl calls, gripping the Black heiress' hands. "Meissa, there's something I need to talk to you about."
"What is it?" the girl asks worriedly, glancing over her shoulder at Daphne.
Hermione followed her gaze to the blonde, before frowning. "Can she be trusted?"
"Daphne? Of course."
Meissa didn't see her but Daphne was smiling gratefully at the raven-haired girl.
"Okay, come with me. Both of you. I think you should hear this."
With that Hermione was rushing off towards a small cottage near the Forbidden Forest.
"What are we doing?" Daphne asks quietly.
"Apparently we're going to the groundkeeper's cottage," Meissa remarks drily before she follows after the Gryffindor.
"Yeah but why? What could she possibly want with us?"
"We'll see when we get there I suppose."
"That does not reassure me at all."
"I don't think I meant for it to."
Daphne huffs and smacks Meissa on the shoulder, causing the other girl to burst into laughter.
"Well, come on then, let's go see what Granger wants with us," Daphne mutters, squaring her shoulders and looking every bit of a person who was preparing to go to war.
"You don't have to look that severe," Meissa cackles, shaking her head at the blonde.
"For all you know this is exactly what I have to look like."
"Oh you're just being silly now."
"Meissa, Daphne, hurry up!"
In little time at all they caught up with Hermione who was waiting impatiently by the cottage's door. Not that they were there with her she pushes into the cottage and joins Harry and Ron who was already seated and sipping at the tea Hagrid had given them.
"What are they doing there?" Ron sneers when he saw them.
Meissa wasn't paying him any attention, ignoring him, but behind her Daphne practically bristled at the redhead's tone.
"Ron! I invited them!" Hermione snaps before Daphne could so much say a word.
"They're Slytherins!"
"Ron, enough," Harry interrupts, tired and still waiting for them to tell him why they had to meet at Hagrid's cottage.
"Nice catch of the Snitch, Potter," Meissa compliments with a wicked grin.
"Thanks," Harry replies slowly, prompting a laugh out of Meissa.
Hagrid, having been silent since the Slytherins' arrival, finally got up - towering over the 11 year olds - and asked the duo if they wanted a cup of tea. Daphne declined almost immediately while Meissa accepted the offer but declined the offer of rock cakes.
After everyone has been seated there was still tension in everyone - though it was mostly ignored by Meissa who quite frankly didn't care what Ron and Harry thought of her on most days.
"So, anyone wish to explain to us why we're here?" Meissa asks bluntly. She wasn't in a mood to talk in circles.
"These two have a theory as to why Harry's broom went all crazy," Hagrid clarifies.
"That was scary," Daphne remarks, shuddering at the thought. Meissa glances at her before she shakes her head - looks like she'll have to work double time to convince the blonde to get back on a broom.
"So what's the theory?" Meissa asks before Ron could get a rude remark in.
"It was Snape," the redhead starts, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."
The Slytherins' eyebrows rose at the accusation. Did they really just accuse their head of house?
"Rubbish," said Hagrid." Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"
"I have to agree with Hagrid on this one," Meissa pipes up. "Why would Professor Snape do something that would jeopardize a student's life?" she shakes her head. "He's a lot of things and he might not like students but it doesn't mean he'd hurt one."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another while Meissa and Daphne glance at each other, wondering what their big secret is.
"I found out something about him," he told the group present. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."
"I'm sorry, what?" Meissa exclaims just as Hagrid dropped the teapot. Snape trying to get past a three headed dog and whatever its guarding?
"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid questioned in shock.
"Fluffy?" They chorused. Daphne was just lost - a three headed dog?
Meissa, when she glances at her friend, saw that she was completely and utterly lost and leaned in to explain what had happened a while back.
"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-," Hagrid cuts himself off.
"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.
"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."
"But Snape's trying to steal it."
"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."
Meissa was thinking to herself, trying to figure out what, if any, motive Snape would have to try and bypass a Cerberus. As interested he was in DADA he would know how dangerous the hellhound is.
Though she did have to question Hagrid's naming skills - a huge aggressive Cerberus named Fluffy? Yeah, not intimidating at all.
"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" cried Hermione. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid. I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"
"Wait, wait," Meissa interrupts, catching that last bit. "What makes you so sure he wasn't trying to use a counter-jinx?"
"The broom stopped when I set fire to his robes!"
Meissa thought hard about this particular bit of information. "What if, what if the person who was doing the jinx was in the same tower as him?" she muttered quietly. She looks over at Daphne who seems like she agreed with Meissa's assessment.
"It's plausible sure but I didn't see anyone else!"
"That doesn't mean there wasn't," Daphne remarks.
Harry was silent, watching everyone gathered while Ron was struggling with a rock cake.
"Until we have proof that Snape is innocent I still say he was trying to kill Harry!"
"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly before Meissa could say a word in Snape's defense. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"
"Aha!" said Harry, "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"
Hagrid looked furious with himself.
Meissa just looked impressed and a touch bit concerned - Hagrid was not a very good secret keeper.
Something else was up…
~MJB~
Note: I couldn't resist the reference when I started to type that I was late in updating the story. I honestly meant to update it yesterday buuuuuuut somehow I wasn't notified by my phone. *shrugs* As a note though I'll try my best to stick to the 2nd and 16th for posting. At least for this particular fic. If you happened to read my other fics then you know that I have a different schedule regarding them (in some cases I just need to get off my butt and start writing again.)
Anyway, please leave a review, let me know what you think or if you have questions I'll try to answer them unless answering them means spoilers in which case I'm sorry but you'll have to wait until the point in the story in which the answer you seek will be given. But please ask because sometimes I forget that I need to tie up loose ends.
Translations:
1) Geminio - Doubling Spell