Chapter 4
By Ordinaryguy2
November 1, 1994
Room of Requirement
Xander laughed as he fiddled with the controls that the room had provided for him. "Oh, man, Andrew would probably sell his soul to have had a chance run this!"
On the other side of the crystal wall, Harry was swinging on a webline with one hand and slashing out with his adamantium claws, managing to shorten two of Dr. Octopus' metal tentacles. Higher in the city street, Hermione transformed more fully into her amalgam of Starfire, fly while firing starbolts at the Green Goblin and the Vulture.
Xander tisked before speaking into the microphone. "Hermione, your actions are too rigid. You need to relax and accept the natural reflexes of your avatar."
Hermione ducked another pumpkin bomb tossed at her by the Green Goblin, then swerved downward to avoid the sharp wings of the cackling Vulture who was leering at her.
"It's not as easy as you think!" she snapped.
She pulled herself up short as a dark-haired man with a large knife leap off a ledge to tackle her midair.
In the blink of an eye, Harry intercepted Kraven the Hunter, delivering a blow to the side of the villain's head even as he knocked him out of the way.
"And… pause!" Xander said, his words being transmitted into the other room, making all of the villains freeze in whatever position they were in.
Hermione's adrenalin fought against her indecision, only fueling her Tamaranean rage. "What? Why did you do that? I could have taken him!" she raged at Harry, then turned to Xander. "And you, why did you turn off the simulation? I would have had them in a minute!"
Harry stared in bewilderment. Xander, on the other hand, had an idea of what was going on. If anything, training groups of Slayers reminded him of the hot-blooded Tamaraneans, which he had learned to deal with over time.
"Hermione, transform back to your usual self and I will explain."
Hermione glowered for a moment, then transformed. It took just over a second to do so. Her hair shorted and darkened. It also became less curly, thus the large body of hair dwindled in mass. Her skin lost the orange coloring and resume a pale pink tone. Her eyes, totally green, morphed back to her chocolate irises. Her clothes, which she considered an alien bathing suit, returned to the normal Hogwarts robes she usually wore.
She felt an almost immediate drop in her mood. "What? What was that?"
Xander created a loveseat behind her, which a confused Harry helped her to sit down on. "Starfire's race is one of warriors. They are hardwired to fight. Not to mention the fact that they can be very hotheaded. That is why you were lashing out at us. As for why you froze in battle… Hermione, you are fighting Starfire's instincts to battle the enemies in front of her. Until you come to accept her more, and trust her, you will probably keep having troubles."
Hermione frowned and looked down. "So, you are saying I made the wrong choice in selecting Starfire as my avatar?"
Xander shook his head. "Not at all, my padawan. You would probably have some issues with any avatar. Starfire has an innate Tamaranean fighting spirit. It can overwhelm you if you are not careful. Maybe even if you are careful. Just be careful."
Harry nodded. "I think I can feel that with my Wolverine side," Harry nodded. "I think my Spider-Man half is helping me with that though."
Hermione twirled a segment of her hair. "I didn't think I was all that bad."
"Not this time," admitted Xander. "But that is one of the reasons we do training exercises; so we can work things out before they do become bad and overwhelm us. Trust me, I've seen it happen. Your main problem, young lady, is you want to be in control; you don't trust in the new abilities and instincts of your avatars. My uncle Rory tried out a new Nintendo game I got for Christmas. He had actually bought it for me. He bought all my video games, because my parents didn't spend their money on such things, but I digress. Rory was a lousy player, not because he wasn't trying, but because he tried too hard. He fought the controls to the game. Several times he actually broke the controls, which he would apologize for, and replace within a week. It took him a long time, but he would finally master the game. I would have gone onto several other games by then, but Rory," Xander chucked. "He was persistent until he had it all worked out."
She glanced at Harry sitting next to her. "Why isn't Harry having any troubles with his two avatars?" she asked, almost accusingly.
Harry sighed. "Hermione, remember my first time on a broom? I was acting purely on instinct. I trusted the abilities of the broom. I think you need to try and trust Starfire. I know you don't like to give up control-"
"I hate giving up control!" she growled, folding her arms over her chest.
"This is more like sharing control," Harry amended, hoping the new tactic might work for her. "When I am on my broom, I work with my broom. I lean to the side to help compensate for a turn. I fold down to lower wind resistance so the broom can move faster." He turned to Xander hoping he had come up with a better analogy.
"Let's just keep practicing a few times a day," Xander stated. "Short practices," he added, when he saw her look of concern. "So as to not overwhelm you, and give you a chance to… familiarize yourself with Starfire and her abilities."
She looked relieved and annoyed over the matter. "Fine," she muttered.
"You two had better get going to lunch," Xander said, pointing to a clock inside his cell. "There are probably quite a few people who want to talk to you after your escapade with Marietta and her bunch."
Harry frowned. "We could just eat lunch here. The vast majority of them have made their opinion on me very clear already." He glanced over at Hermione he put a consoling hand on his shoulder.
"True," said Xander. "I was often the butt of many back at Sunnydale High, so I can sympathize with you. However, if people keep having trouble finding you, won't they just look harder until they know where you are. And not just the annoying classmates, but the teachers and ol' Dumbles."
Hermione shared Harry's glum look. "He's right. Plus, Neville and Luna are probably being overwhelmed by people trying to learn what happened with Edgecombe. They could probably use some help."
The teen sighed, then looked up over to Xander. "About Neville…"
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THE GREAT HALL
Neville was well aware of all the curious eyes following him as he went to the Gryffindor table. It didn't help that Luna Lovegood was following him. The Third Year Ravenclaw had not left his side since he had carried her to the Hospital Wing that morning. He hadn't minded it; he knew that she had been through a rather traumatic experience from Edgecombe and her gang. He supposed it was rather natural for her to feel that she could feel safe around him. He wasn't looking forward to her realizing that he was probably one of the worst people to protect someone.
Seeing an open spot at the table, Neville took a seat. Luna almost immediately took the spot to his right.
"Um, are students allowed to sit at a different house table?" Neville asked.
Luna gave him a shy smile. "Hogwarts students are only required to sit at their designated house tables during the Opening Feast of the school year, holiday feasts, and the morning of the first school day so students can receive their class curriculum from their Head of House."
"Oh." Neville was uncertain of what to say, so instead scooped up some mashed potatoes onto his plate, and then offered Luna some as well.
"I like mashed potatoes," she said. "Sometimes I pretend they are pudding which is my favorite. Also, if the mashed potatoes are the right consistence, I can use them to build castles before eating them." She began to use her fork to check the consistency of the mashed potatoes.
Neville stared for a moment, then broke out in a chuckle. "I've always wanted to make a castle with mashed potatoes, but, I was afraid of what my gran would say."
"Celery can be used to make a drawbridge. And I prefer partially squished peas for the lily pads in the moat."
Neville watched for a few moments, before taking up his own fork and began shaping the mashed potatoes on his plate into something more like a stout rook tower. "I think I may need more mashed potatoes."
Luna smiled but did not take her eyes off her own plate. "Careful not to use too much; buildings of mashed potatoes won't go very high unless you incorporate magic. The problem with that is it could make the food inedible to anyone who is not Ron Weasley."
"Now what is this?" came a voice.
"Looks like a sculpting class," came an answer.
"And we weren't invited," they declared in unison.
It had taken Neville a few years to get used to the Weasley twins' antics. He knew that they were behind the retaliatory strikes against the Slytherins whenever they had targeted him. Except for Malfoy and his goons, the majority of Slytherins now considered Neville off limits. "If you want to ask how to build mashed potato castles, you will have to consult the expert here: Miss Luna Lovegood." He nodded towards the young Ravenclaw who was now using her knife and fork to plaster up a wall that seemed to retain its shape unusually well.
Both twins exchanged a grin and began to pile 'building materials' on their plates. Fred began working on outer walls while George concentrated on trying to make a single tall tower on the middle of his plate.
Fred began talking with an awful German accent, stressing his desire to expand his territories. George responded in a bad French accent insisting that his people will resist any invasion attempts by their German neighbors.
"Hey!" Ginny said to everyone as she sat down, putting her books down hard on the table, nearly knocking Luna's castle walls down. "What's going on?"
"We're building castles," Luna answered serenely while smoothing a wall with a butter knife.
Ginny frowned. "No, I meant this morning. I heard there was a big altercation on the main stairs this morning. And Harry came and rescued you," she said, not realizing how much she had exaggerated Harry's name.
The others had heard how she said his name, and all but Luna raised an eye to look at her. (Luna had her tongue stuck out and was biting it as she carefully carved out some windows in her castle.)
Neville frowned. He had been developing a bit of a crush on the redhead girl since last year, but her fixation on Harry was quite off-putting. Neville couldn't help but to glance over to Luna, who he actually felt closer to after this morning's adventure, despite not knowing her very well. "I think Harry had to go see the headmaster."
"That was earlier today," Ginny insisted. "Besides, I asked McGonagall, and she said the headmaster had left to deal with some things at the ministry."
"Dumbledore's probably going to see how the DMLE is going to deal with Edgecombe and her cronies," Neville responded coldly. Dumbledore was handling everything badly as far as Neville could see. The headmaster had been trying to convince Neville to not press changes against Edgecombe and her group when Neville's grandmother had stormed into the hospital wing causing her vulture-topped hat to bob up and down dangerously. All of the headmaster's efforts were mote when Neville handed his gran the smashed remains of his father's wand.
"Hmm, that still doesn't tell me where Harry is now," Ginny said, pointedly.
"I believe," Luna began with her head still down as she examined her turrets, "that with the lowering volume in the Great Hall, Harry Potter has most likely just entered. That, or there is a pandemic of wrackspurts beginning to infect the students."
Ginny turned to look hopefully toward the main entrance only to see Harry with Hermione arm in arm. Ginny's lip curled in disdain at the sight of anyone else on Harry's arm.
"Why do you even care about Harry?" Neville said, with an edge in his voice. "You were one of those that sided with Ron saying that Harry was a disgrace to Gryffindor."
Ginny turned to scowl at Neville, but noted the dark looks she was getting from her twin brothers. "I thought better of it over the night. I am sure Harry has a very good reason for putting his name into the Goblet of Fire."
"Except Harry didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire," Luna said serenely as she make a small moat.
"Well, yeah, that's what he has to tell everyone," Ginny rationalized. "But I am sure it is all a part of his plan. He'll probably feel he can explain it to us after he wins the tournament."
"Ginny,-" began one of the twins.
"You should-"
"-really reconsider that-"
"-line of thought."
"Harry isn't-"
"-a grandstander."
Ginny, used to the twins' antics, rolled her eyes. "You have obviously never paid attention to Harry after winning a quidditch game," she said, snidely.
"Harry's excitement after a game of quidditch is because he was part of a winning team," groused Neville. He was seeing a whole new side of Ginny this year, and he wasn't liking it. The crush he had started to have for Ginny at the end of the last school year had been mostly smothered out last night when he had seen Ginny side with Ron about Harry. Talking with her now was just finalizing his resolve to have little to do with the youngest Weasley. "He loves being part of the group effort. He hates being singled out. How can you not know this?"
"Oh, please! Harry loves attention," Ginny said in exasperation. "Besides, Ron is Harry's best friend. I think my brother would know Harry best."
"Ron is no longer a friend of mine," Harry said right behind Ginny, causing the redhead to jump just a bit as she turned to look behind her.
She gaped as her eyes went over Harry. "What? Y-your hair? What did you do to your hair?" was all she could get out. The normally out-of-control hair was now stylized more like that seen on Wolverine, with a trace of brown hair mixed in from Peter Parker – not that any of the witches and wizards looking at him would know that.
Ignoring Ginny, Harry and Hermione moved past Ginny and Luna, finally sitting on the other side of Neville.
"What's going on here? Has Hogwarts started a modelling clay class?" Harry asked.
"Luna's showing us how to make castles out of food," Neville explained.
"Broccoli is best used as trees for a finishing touch," Luna advised while mixing a bluish-grey paste with a spoon in a teacup. "Blueberries, when mashed properly, make a nice glaze over the mashed potatoes. It makes the walls have a stonier-look."
Harry gave the blond a grin. "I'll give it a try. But, I think I will try for a house, instead of a castle. What about you, Hermione? Do you want to try?"
Hermione bit her lip and glanced over to the teachers' table. Realizing what she was doing, she turned back to Harry and nodded. "I think I'll make a backyard to go to your house, if that is ok with you?"
"Brilliant!" Harry beamed.
"What do you think of a koi pond?"
"I've heard of them," Harry responded, "but never seen one. I heard they are lovely."
"My grandparents think so," Hermione said. "It can be a great place to just sit and read, while glancing down at the koi swimming about in the pond. Crookshanks likes to spend hours staring down at them when we visit."
"Best make sure to protect your pond from garden gnomes," Luna stated. "They love trying to get fish from small ponds when they have the opportunity. They aren't very good at it since garden gnomes can't swim and dislike bathing, but they still try to get the fish. Or maybe they just like trying to do it. I am not sure. There doesn't seem to be a record of any Garden Gnomes actually catching a fish. Even so, everyone knows Garden Gnomes like to exaggerate their successes." She finished by placing several large sticks of broccoli around her nearly complete castle for a tree affect.
Ginny had been silently fuming, but had had enough. She got up and moved over to Harry. She glanced at Hermione who looked up at her. "Hermione, can you move over. I have to explain something to Harry, and I can't really do it from over there."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "No."
"What?"
"I said, 'no'. After his adventure this morning, I'm not letting Harry out of my sight for the foreseeable future."
"Really?" responded one of the twins, who seemed to have accumulated a few chunks of mashed potatoes in his hair.
"That will make for an-" added the other twin, with mashed potato on his shoulder.
"-eye-opening experience when-"
"-Harry goes to the loo."
Hermione blushed, but Harry managed to shake his head at the twins' antics.
"Look, I really need to explain to Harry," Ginny said coldly, not liking Hermione opposing her, or the bushy-haired witch being so close to the wizard that was actually supposed to belong to Ginny in her opinion.
"I told you 'no', Ginny. I know you haven't heard that a lot from anyone, but I am not leaving Harry's side. If I did, he'd probably end up battling a vampire in the secret library of Ravenclaw or something."
Luna looked up from her work in surprise. "I thought Broderick was a secret. Does everyone know about him?"
"About whom?" Neville asked.
"Does everyone know about Broderick, the vampire guarding the secret library of Rowena Ravenclaw?" she asked, wide-eyed.
Ginny had had enough. Her anger getting a hold of her, she grabbed the back of Hermione's robe and made to pull her down the bench so she could have room to sit next to Harry. "I need to talk with Harry," see insisted.
Hermione responded by reaching back, snagging a handful of Ginny's hair, and pulling hard so that Ginny's head was suddenly brought down hard against the table just between Harry and Hermione.
Ginny cried out even as Fred and George leapt to their feet.
"Oi!" the twins both exclaimed, not trying to twin speak.
Harry held out a hand to indicate they wait a moment to let the girls work it out. The twins stood poised to move to help their sister if they thought she need it.
Meanwhile, Hermione was holding Ginny pinned to the table by the redhead's hair. "First, Ginny, that was just rude. You never force someone to move like that. Second, I am not letting anyone get between my boyfriend and myself. Do you understand that?"
Despite the pain from her pulled hair and the clunk of her head on the table, Ginny heard everything Hermione had said. "B-boyfriend?"
Hermione let the redhead go, and Ginny fell back, but managed to stay on her feet.
"After the fiasco last night, Harry and I spent some time together talking. Somewhere in all that we decided to become boyfriend and girlfriend." Harry and Hermione shared a look and took each others' hand.
Ginny gaped. "But… you couldn't!"
Hermione frowned. "Why not?"
"Because… you… he…"
"I remember Ginny being more articulate, don't you Gred?" commented one of the twins, with a regrettable shake of his head.
"Undoubtedly. But aren't I Gred today? I would have sworn you were to be Forge today."
"Hmm, not sure. We should check our chart after lunch. Course, that would mean we would have to truck all the way up to the dorms."
"Or you could flip a sickle, George." Luna held out a coin to the nearest twin.
George grinned. "One day you are going to have to tell us how you do that."
"Our own mother can't tell which of us is which," Fred said with a shake of his head. "You always seem to know at a glance."
"What the hell is the matter with you two!" Ginny snapped in her harpy tone. "I was just assaulted by this mu- bookworm! And you two are just standing there like nothing happened!"
Fred turned to George. "She's right."
George nodded. "We should really sit down. It is the only polite thing to do." And both twins sat down.
"What the bloody hell!" the youngest Weasley said in outrage, staring at her two brothers.
"What's going on here!" Ron barked, while wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his school robe. He'd been sitting much farther down the table, eating with Seamus and Dean, and hadn't even registered that Harry and Hermione had come into the Great Hall until Ginny exploded. "What had you done now, Potter? Are you trying to get more attention after disgracing Gryffindor and the whole school after illegally entering into the tournament?"
Harry glanced up at Ron, giving him a look like he was somewhat surprised Ron was able to dress himself. "You're an idiot."
Then, Harry stood up on his bench, and raised his wand to the air. Then before anyone could stop him, he began to speak loudly and clearly. "I, Harry James Potter, swear upon my magic that I did not enter my name in the Goblet of Fire, nor did I ask anyone else to do so for me. It is also my belief that whoever did enter my name in the Tri-Wizarding Tournament did so with nefarious intentions towards myself. That is my statement. I so swear to it."
He glanced around at the students staring up at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snape about to bellow some scathing remark. Deciding to beat him to the punch, Harry called out "Expecto Patronum!" and aimed his wand towards the Teachers' table.
A large mist poured out of Harry's wand, giving shape not only to a dashing white stag, but also to a large white wolverine and an accompanying four-foot tall white spider. All three patronuses swooped by Ron as they headed towards the Teachers' table. Ron squealed like a terrified three-year-old girl at the sight of the spider rushing near him, causing him to dive under the Gryffindor table, nearly tackling a Sixth-Year girl who was sitting in his way. The three patronuses reached the Head Table, then split, Prongs went to the left, the wolverine to the right, and the spider went straight up to the ceiling where it startled a spying Peeves, who flew away.
Once the three ethereal beings had circled the room, they turned to Harry. Harry, originally looking gob-smacked, now grinned in understanding. He nodded to the three patronuses, and they faded away.
Harry glanced up to the Head Table as if to say 'Well, what do you think of that?'.
Somewhere applause erupted among the students and within seconds nearly all the students were clapping and jumping to their feet. The teachers looked toward the headmaster, but Albus Dumbledore was too busy trying to understand what he saw and what it might all mean. Minerva, seeing that the headmaster was too distracted, started clapping, happy to give one of her cubs the honest adulation he deserves. Hagrid and Flickwick immediately joined her, and were followed by the rest of the staff.
Harry nodded his head to the applause, then hopped down to sit with Hermione again.
"That was a patronus, wasn't it?" George asked.
"I thought you could only have one patronus, yeah?" Fred added.
"Because it's a trick!" snarled a voice as a tall older student sauntered up on Fred and George's side of the table. Cormac McLaggen had a look of disgust on his face. "Somehow, he worded the oath in a way that let him lie yet keep his magic! And the bushy haired bookworm is probably the one to come up with the wording to make it happen!" he spat viciously.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's official. You're an idiot, McLaggen. If you were not an idiot, you would have waited for the Ravenclaws and the teachers to have studied the wording as Harry's oath, which he did spontaneously by the way and with no help from me. Only then, McLaggen, after hearing the results of those taking apart Harry's oath, and only those who are clearly more intelligent than you, you would have been able to know whether you would have grounds to call out Harry's integrity. As it is now, you have knowingly placed yourself against someone who has just demonstrated that he is much more powerful than you could ever dream of becoming. And that shows to the school that you are clearly a fool of nearly the same caliber of Ron Weasley."
She turned to Harry. "We will be talking about that oath later, Harry, and I have a few chapters for you to read about magical oaths that have gone wrong before. Magical oaths are not to be given lightly."
She then returned her ire to McLaggen. "Are you still here? Go, and see if you still have any friends in Ravenclaw that will tell you the results of their examination of Harry oath so you can finally determine just how deep you stepped in the dragon dung." Unbeknownst to her, Hermione's eyes flared green for a moment, causing Cormac to step back. Then standing straight, as if to give the image he was not bothered by anything, he walked away, not realizing that several eyes followed him as he made his way over to the Ravenclaw table. It would take him a while to find someone to collaborate with since his main contacts in Ravenclaw were Marietta Edgecombe, Henrietta Bergiser and Jacqueline Spanner, all of whom were now sitting in a cell in the DMLE.
Harry's mashed potato chimney to his house had collapsed. Seeking a bit of revenge, Harry used a fork to stab it, and then brought it up and ate it.
"I think you are supposed to reform the chimney," Luna commented. "Not eat it, until later."
"Sorry, just hungry. I worked up an appetite earlier." He then bit into a broccoli, before returning to shaping his cottage. "Hermione, dear, how big should I make the library in this home?"
Hermione glanced at his work with a critical eye. "You're going to need a bigger plate."
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AuThOr'S NoTeS: 4/20/2020
Hello, everyone! I'm still here. Just got a lot going on. And a bit of writer's block and stuff. This is mostly a filler chapter, but much of the information here with be relevant in later chapters.
Hope you are all well.