This chapter features Fleur and Emily having a second dinner with the group and learning about the group. The text of the chapter should be thought of as an excerpt of their conversations at the meal.
On the evening of Friday, October 7th, 1994, Fleur, and Emily once again joined Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Lily at dinner.
This time around, they enjoyed a meal of hamburgers with mustard, ketchup, and pickles with a side of curly fries and Coca Cola Classic to wash it down with and apple pie for dessert.
On Monday, Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Lily had learned about Fleur and Emily. Tonight, Fleur and Emily would learn about Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Lily.
While Fleur and Emily had told Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Lily about French culture, there was no need for Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Lily to tell Fleur and Emily about Hogwarts culture as they'd already learned about Hogwarts and its culture from other groups they'd eaten meals with. The focus would be on Fleur and Emily learning about Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Lily as individuals.
"I love flying on broomsticks, " said Harry fondly, "I proved to be a natural at flying in our first flying lesson in our first year and went on to become the youngest house team Quidditch player at Hogwarts in a century, as a Seeker no less."
"We ad breakfast wiz most of your teammates zis morning," revealed Fleur, "Zey, all say you are a great Seeker and the second best player zey ave ever played wiz."
"I'm five and one in matches I've actually played in, " said Harry proudly, "The Seeker position carries the most weight owning to the Golden Snitch being worth one hundred and fifty points."
"I'm not much of a sports fan," admitted Emily, "But I did learn in Quidditch Through the Ages that the Golden Snitch was created to replace the Golden Snidget in Quidditch when the Golden Snidget became an endangered species."
Luna's face darkened and she was suddenly serious.
"Killing and destroying beautiful birds for sport is as reprehensible as having sex!" exclaimed Luna angrily, "Snidget hunting was allowed to go on for far too long and it is a terrible blight on wizarding history."
"Luna loves animals," explained Harry patiently, "That's why this topic always sets her nerves on fire whenever it comes up."
"I don't blame her there," said Emily in understanding, "It's also worth noting that Snidget Hunting, which was often done in broad daylight, attracted more muggle attention than any wizarding pursuit at a time when maintaining our underground status was critical to our survival."
"The man who invented the Golden Snitch was Bowman Wright and he was from Godric's Hallow, where my parents lived before, they died, " replied Harry with a tent of pride in his voice, "Bowman Wright is one of my favorite chocolate frog cards because of his connections to my parents' home village and my favorite sport."
"Do you want to play Professional Quidditch like Oliver Wood?" inquired Emily.
"No," said Harry matter of factly, "I want to do something more important. I wish to become an Auror."
"Ow are your Defense Against ze Dark Arts grades, zen?" asked Fleur.
"I'm an O student in Defense Against the Dark Arts and I'm the top student in my class in the subject, " answered Harry.
"Good luck, Arry, "beamed Fleur, "I respect you for coosing a career zat you can make a difference in our world in."
"I'm the real academic here though, " interjected Hermione, "I'm sadly only an E student in Defense Against the Dark Arts but I'm an O student in everything else. My favorite subject is Transfiguration and in my first class in first year I was the only student in the class who could turn a match into a needle."
"I turned a match into a needle successfully in my first Transfiguration class at Beauxbatons," said Emily, sounding noticeably humbler than Hermione."
"My best subject is Charms," said Hermione with a voice tone that oozed lofty pride, "I'm a master with a wand in my hand. There are few in the world better at magic than me."
Emily frowned. Hermione's boasting about her magical skill was reminding Emily a bit too much of Fleur's boasting about her looks for her liking. Emily was a very big proponent of humility.
Sensing an awkward pause, Luna chimed in, "I want to be a wizarding naturalist. I love animals and creatures, I love the outdoors, and I love traveling."
"Zen being a naturalist will be rigt up your alley, " said Fleur simply.
"My favorite thing in the world is sewing," said Lily warmly, thinking of her mother, "My mom taught me how to sew in the summer between kindergarten and first grade. I have sewn with her many times as well as having sewn on my own quite often. I also like singing and I'm in the Hogwarts choir. But singing is more Ginny's passion."
"So, you have a strong bond with your mom over a common love of sewing?" smiled Emily, "That's awesome. It's a truly beautiful tribute to friendship how Harry saved that."
"How did you?" began Harry, "OOH, Lily must have told you the story when you joined her, Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria for a meal!"
"Yes," chorused Fleur and Emily.
"We ate lunch with them just today!" revealed Emily.
"I'm the luckiest girl in Hogwarts to be part of two different wonderful friendship groups," cooed Lily.
Without warning, Ginny burst into song.
"Here's a whale of a tale of the tail of Dickie Dragon.
Who was born not much bigger than a mouse;
But his tail grew in size 'till he had to realize
That his tail was growing right out of the house.
It's a whale of a tale of the tail of Dickie Dragon.
But the long and the short of it is true;
And if you should doubt what this song is all about,
Then I feel sorry for you.
Every hour it grew 'bout a hundred miles or two
'Till he woke up and found himself one day
With his knife and his fork having breakfast in New York While his tail swam in San Francisco Bay.
It's a whale of a tale of the tail of Dickie Dragon.
But the long and the short of it is true;
And if you should doubt what this song is all about,
Then I feel sorry for you.
Cross the ocean it went over every continent,
It just kept on growing at a lightning pitch;
And if you think a quake is what made Alaska shake,
It was really Dickie's tail that had an itch.
It's a whale of a tale of the tail of Dickie Dragon.
But the long and the short of it is true;
And if you should doubt what this song is all about,
Then I feel sorry for you.
When it ran out of ground, then it started upward bound,
Yet it took off like a runaway balloon;
And before long it got higher than an astronaut,
Dickie's tail was first to land upon the moon.
It's a whale of a tale of the tail of Dickie Dragon.
But the long and the short of it is true;
And if you should doubt what this song is all about,
Then I feel sorry for you.
'Cause my friend for what it's worth, there is nothing on this Earth
That'll take you where imagination will;
For with dreams in your eyes you can reach up to the skies
Where you'll find that Dickie's tail is growing still.
It's a whale of a tale of the tail of Dickie Dragon.
But the long and the short of it is true;
And if you should doubt what this song is all about,
Then I feel sorry for you."
"Ginny, zat was beautiful," said Fleur appreciatively when Ginny had finished.
"You were a no brainer to make the school choir," added Emily.
"The Hogwarts choir only exists because of Harry," said Ginny honestly, and she told Fleur and Emily the whole story of the choir's creation.
"So,'" said Emily in admiration, "Harry saves Lily's mom's life by providing the needed funds for her surgery AND has the idea for the Hogwarts choir because he wanted Ginny to have that opportunity? That's beautiful."
"You are sweet and kind, Harry Potter, " cooed Lily.
"Yes, e is," agreed Fleur.
"What a wonderful friend to have," added Emily.
"I always preferred Dickie Dragon over Puff the Magic Dragon," said Ginny clearly, "My heart just can't bear Jackie Paper's death in Puff."
"I'm an oddball," said Susan slowly, "I'm the niece of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones, and I'm always worried about my Aunt Amelia. You'd think then that I'm a super serious person. But I love pranking people."
Colin and Ginny both recounted the stories of how Susan had pranked them on their birthday before giving them their actual gifts.
"It actually makes all the sense in the world, " said Emily thoughtfully, "Susan, you need to have a sense of humor."
"Umor elps people cope wiz ze day to day difficulties of life, " said Fleur clearly, "Umor is your friend."
"I lost my mom when I was nine, " said Luna sadly, "She was quite an extraordinary witch but she did like to experiment and one day one of her spells went badly wrong. I saw it happen before my eyes too. Though my outlet was always more imagination than humor."
"Whatever helps you, " said Emily seriously.
"I recently lost my home, " explained Luna, telling them the story, "But Amelia agreed to take in daddy and me."
"More beautiful friendship stories, " smiled Emily.
"Dennis and I are just bundles of energy with a zest for life," said Colin joyfully.
"We are the happy go lucky types," agreed Dennis, "And we love bright colors, especially yellow."
"You boz seem very hyper," observed Fleur.
"We also love food because our mom is an awesome cook," added Colin, proudly.
"My mom's a great cook too," piped up Ginny.
"Tina Creevey and Molly Weasley are equally great cooks!" grinned Harry.
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