Chapter Number: 19
Chapter Name: Button Chicken and Quill Bread
When Alicia collided with Harry she completely lost balance, which was rather unusual since chasers usually had an absurd amount of balance. It came in very handy when they had to grab the Quaffle in mid air. Fortunately, Harry was quick enough to grab a hold of her. Before he had a chance to see to whom he had collided with, Harry panicked when he heard the unmistakable sound of the posse of girls chasing him, coming down the corridor. The girls thought of Harry's polite refusal as a challenge that they intended to win. Harry wanting to avoid the girls, quickly shoved Alicia and himself into the closest empty classroom. He locked the door physically and then started to pace. He couldn't think what to do when he remembered a spell he had seen in one of Hermione's personal collection of books.
" benito actrony".
Harry wasn't sure if the spell would work but knew for a fact that the spell could not be broken by a simple unlocking spell. To his enormous relief the door started to blaze in a light blue fire and then the door turned into a wall. It was quite a transformation and Harry was brought out of his trance of watching it when he heard Alicia gasp.
When he turned around he saw Alicia was watching him intently. " I'm sorry... Those girls have been following me around since launch and-" he looked at his watch, " Blime!. It's almost time for dinner-" Harry then stopped his ramblings as he remembered she had something to tell him. " Hey! Didn't you want to talk to me about something?"
Alicia finally stopped staring at him and said, " Well you know Wood is gone this year and the rest of the team suggested that I be the Captain."
" I know... I remember you telling me this in the morning. Congratulations!" said Harry as he went and quickly hugged Alicia. When he let go her cheeks were slightly pink and she had focused her eyes on a particular tile on the floor.
When Harry had first joined the team, that was the first year that Alicia had been out of the reserves and into the playing team. Since that year, she had impressed everyone with her ability as a chaser. She also helped Oliver with the strategies, when he was their captain. She already knew most of the strategies and was probably the best one in the team fit to be captain. So it really didn't come as a surprise for Harry to hear that she had become the captain.
" Well, I've decided that since I'm leaving next year, I'll teach you the ropes. That way you'll be ready to take over when I leave. That means you're now as involved in this as I am. Well... That's if you want it..." She looked up to see Harry smiling broadly at her.
" Okay." said Harry, " I really don't have any other choice do it -I mean I'm going to be the most experienced player in the team next year...er...What do I have to do?"
" Not much right now. You're going to help me decide on strategies and co-ordinate the practice sessions with me. I had a talk with Madam Hooch and we already sorted out when we have the Quidditch field for our training. The next thing is choosing the new keeper. The trials are next weekend. After that we have practices ev -" She stopped talking when Harry interrupted her.
" Can I suggest something?"
" What?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
" Well... may be we should audition for all the positions." Alicia was a bit surprised at the suggestion so she asked, why he thought that.
" Except for me and possibly the new keeper we have to replace the entire squad next year anyway. The reserve team is going to leave at the end of the year, if we scout out this year we'll be able to have a squad that'll be more experienced. When we train we take them along as well as the reserve side. Maybe after the practice we separate out into two teams and play against each other and then when WE (the main team) have to practice they can practice with the reserve side. This way we'll be able to get some real game type practices."
Alicia was beaming at Harry when he finished, " I knew I made the right decision when I chose you to be the co-captain. Well...maybe we should head out."
Harry looked at the door once and said, " The girls are still there..."
" How do you know?"
" The spell on the door... wait I might be able to channel it to you." Harry stood up and pointed his wand at his left palm and said something that Alicia couldn't hear even though she was very close. A thin red beam hit his palm making it glow with a small red tint.
He presented his hand to her and said, " take it."
Though Alicia was apprehensive to see Harry perform unknown magic, she didn't hesitate to take his hand. As soon as she did, she felt like someone had pulled the world away from her. She felt that way for a second, since everything went black for that period of time. Then everything came back to normal... well not really normal since everything was a bit more focused and colorful.
She looked at where the door was and saw right through it. There were several girls that somehow had managed to find out that Harry was behind that wall and were camping outside the door. They were happily eating food and talking when suddenly everything went back to normal and she could only see the wall.
" What was that? I mean... Can you see through walls?" She asked amazed at whatever Harry had done and partly a combination fear and self-conscious that Harry might be seeing right through her dress.
" No!" Harry laughed a little and then said, " The spell I did on the door -well it let's the caster see through the door. All I did after that was just let you see what I saw. I picked it up in Morocco...." Harry didn't want to be dragged into a conversation about his experiences in Morocco so he changed topic.
" Do you want something to eat?"
Alicia laughed... no giggled a little before saying, " Yes! I'm hungry but I don't think you'll make it past the girls there."
Harry wondered how the girls knew Harry was in the room, but he remembered that seventh years knew a lot more magic and it really would not surprise him if there was something like the marauders map out there. Though he doubted that anything as complicated as the Marauders map was out there. He knew it could not be too hard to hard to bewitch a normal school map to show where a person is, as simple searching spell would reveal where Harry is and since he was not in a secret chamber, his whereabouts must be pretty easy to locate.
" Who says we have to?" Harry waved his wand as he whispered some incantations and two silver plates along with accompanying cutlery shimmered into existence.
" I can only make three things using magic. An Ice Cream Sundae, Roasted bits of chicken and bread. Do you think you'll be able to live on that... Or do you wanna get out of here..."
" You can cook... using a wand?" asked Alicia, surprised at the bit of information.
" What do you think I survived on in the desert?"
" WOW! I can get a look in then?" Alicia in her seven years in the Wizarding world had never seen a meal cooked with a wand alone and now she was going to see the boy who lived cook it. For her. She only hoped it didn't taste like what her muggle father used to make when her mother was out of town on business. Alicia was surprised to see how good Harry was in transfiguration. Considering he had transfigured one of her spare buttons from her cloak into frozen chicken. The seasonings mysteriously appeared out of thin air put themselves on the chicken bits and then disappeared.
She had known that this type of magic was possible but it takes a few months of dedicated study before a person can do this. The ice cream actually just came out of the wand. The bread was a quill that Harry had in his pocket. Once all finished, they sat down on the table that Alicia transfigured from two smaller tables.
" It's not going to taste like buttons and quills is it?" she asked afraid of the answer.
" No! You'll like it. I promise." Alicia had to admit it was better than what her father could cook but it was a far cry from what the house elves make. As if he heard her say those things in her mind Harry startled her by saying, " I know it's not that good but I promise I'll get you the real food when we get out of here."
By the time the food was finished the posse had abandoned hope of getting Harry Potter and went back to their respective common rooms. When the room was back to the way it was Harry lifted the spell on the door and they made their way to the common room to. On their way back they stopped by the kitchen to get some proper food.
When they entered the kitchen a swarm of house elves approached them. Alicia had never been to the kitchen before so she was surprised to see the sheer number of house elves in there. " Is there always this many here?"
" Nope" answered Harry. " Usually there are three times as many working here."
This is when Dobby approached Harry. " 'Arry Potter. You is here to see me?"
" Yes, Dobby. How are you doing? Where's Winky, by the way?"
" I is happy sir. Dumbledore make me head elf." Dobby said as he pointed at the shiny silver badge on his chest. It was upside down. " Winky no here... she be run away."
" Why did she run away?" asked Harry.
" She be upset sir. She be back soon... she always runs away and be back two days."
" Dobby could you tell me when she is back the next time?"
" Yes sir... why?" asked a curious Dobby.
" I have my reasons. I was wondering could me and Alicia here, get some food. We missed our dinner."
Dobby looked at Alicia, saucer eyes, and then at Harry. " Harry Potter found a new honey?"
" Honey?" asked Alicia and Harry both at the same time as to what that really meant.
" Your honey" said Dobby, as if telling it twice would make it more clear to Harry. Surprisingly enough it did.
" Who's my honey...." No sooner those words came out of his mouth; Harry realised what Dobby had meant. He had thought that Hermione was his girlfriend -i.e. honey. " You mean Hermione?"
Dobby nodded.
" No she wasn't my honey. I never had a honey" Alicia still didn't get it so
Harry told turned around and told what Dobby had meant. " Dobby thinks Hermione was my girlfriend."
" Why would he think that?" asked Alicia.
" Because whenever I'm here I'm with Ron or Hermione, most of the time with her... anyway now that I'm here with you he thinks that you're my honey -I mean girlfriend."
" Ohhh." She blushed but Harry missed it, since he was now taking the tray full of foods that Dobby and the other house elves gave them. Alicia and Harry sat next to each other near the entrance to the common room and started to eat their food. All the while they talked about their families, friends and Quidditch. After they finished their food, the plates disappeared with all the uneaten and unwanted food.
" OK, We better enter separately..." said Alicia just before she was going to say the password.
" Why?" asked Harry. Alicia's cheek only turned slightly pink in response but they entered the room together anyway, since she really didn't want to tell Harry the reasons. The only two people in the room were Ron and Hermione and they were very busy arguing on the top of their voices to notice either Harry or Alicia had entered the room. When Alicia said good night and left, Harry wished he could talk to her a bit longer. When he was talking to her out side the common room he had found out that they had a lot in common, least of which was the fact that they both loved Quidditch.
They both were orphaned at an early age and raised by relatives. Her mother had died shortly after childbirth and her father had died a few years after that. In her case the relatives were childless, so they raised Alicia as their own. They both had problem getting their relatives to let them come to Hogwarts, though their reasons were different.
Harry's didn't want any "abnormality" in their lives and while, Alicia's didn't want their adoptive daughter to be away for long periods of time. Their favorite class was Defence against Dark Arts and they both hated Potions to the same degree. Harry hated it more since Snape had a grudge against him.
When Harry turned around to Ron and Hermione staring at him. He was perplexed that they had actually stopped fighting. " What?" he asked.
Ron answered, " What were you doing with the, Headgirl?"
Harry looked at Hermione who was also nodding to signal her interest in the topic as well." Well..." he twirled around once with his arms out and said, " You're now looking at the co-captain of the Quidditch team and… no Ron I can't give you a position in the team. But the keeper trials are on next weekend so you better get practicing, if you really want the job. I'll be going to sleep now."
Ron and Hermione both congratulated Harry for his new success, though Ron's felt like only lip service to Harry. He really wished that Ron didn't get jealous of him that easily. The Hogsmede trip day started okay enough until Hermione entered the great hall in the light yellow dress that Harry had seen when she went to his house. Ron was lost for words, but Harry went to her and kneeled in front of her forgetting the promise he had made to himself about not doing anything that might upset Ron.
" My lady" he said with exaggerated poise "... Would you grant me the honor of escorting you to the banquet?" Hermione giggled at this and gave her his hand reluctantly.
" Harry. What the hell are you doing?" she asked, as he got off of his knee and locked his arm with hers.
" Your servant is just worshipping the ground you walk upon, My lady."
" Stop it. You're embarrassing me" there was hints of red in her cheeks.
" We had that huge fight yesterday, because I didn't complement you. Are we going to have another one because, I'm overdoing it? -" he smiled one of his more mischievous smiles. " -'cause I would love to do it again."
This comment from Harry made her blush. The distance from the entrance to the tables was a short one, so they didn't have to have their arms locked for no more than two seconds. Harry guided Hermione next to Ron and then he sat on the other side of Ron.
When they finished eating Harry used his wand to conjure up some ice cream for his two best friends. Some of people on the table were surprised to see Harry could do this and soon everyone from the Gryffindor house had a goblet full of ice cream in front of them.
Except for the Slytherins, none of the tables were close enough to see Harry do it. A small first year Slytherin girl came over to the table.
" Excuse me, sir..." she said is a very low and shaky voice.
' Sir...hmm. Rather formal', thought Harry.
Harry had seen her coming from the Slytherin table, but he smiled at her anyway, remembering that Professor Snape, was a friend of his mothers, when even her own house was filled with people who hated her. " What can I do for you? -Umm, what's your name?"
" Jocelyn Everett, I was wondering..." she was stuttering rather badly, but Harry guessed why she was there when she brought out her rather shaky arm from her back. She was holding out a small golden goblet.
" You want some ice cream?" Harry wanted to be sure. The girl could only nod in response to this. " Sure. Give me your goblet."
After he was done he asked if she wanted something else. She said thanks and ran off to join her friends. Harry could see some of her friends were giggling, but received mostly venomous glances from other Slytherins. Ron along with rest of the people in the hall was looking at him like he had just killed someone. The look of disgust on their faces prompted Harry to ask Ron a question. " What is it Ron?"
" What is it?..." he looked flustered and exasperated. " You gave ice cream to a Slytherin! That's what." There was a trace of bitterness in his voice that Harry didn't like. Harry would have had been very upset with Ron, if it was just him, but the rest of the house wanted to ask the same question. It was just that Ron was the only one who was willing to speak their mind. " And that would be bad.... Because?" Harry feigned ignorance.
" Great jumping Merlin!" Ron exclaimed. " Harry, why the hell did you do it?"
" Not every one in Slytherin is bad. In fact not too long ago, Gryffindors picked on their own." He said, rather testily. " What're you talking about?" asked Alicia who was glaring at Harry for putting down his own house. Harry looked straight in her eyes and said, " When my mom came here she was one of the very first Muggle born witches and wizards to be allowed into Hogwarts after almost two and a half centuries of being banned. On her way to the first class her fellow Gryffindors picked her on. So don't take this high and mighty, Gryffindors can't-do-anything-wrong attitude with me. "
Harry wanted to tell that Snape was one of her few friends, but decided that it was a bit of information that he did not feel comfortable sharing with anyone other than this very close friends - Hermione, mainly.
" If we can pick on our own..." Harry turned towards Ron, " ... being nice is something they can do without too much of a problem and Ron..." he paused for a split second and finished his sentence, " Don't tell me you've forgotten about Wormtail"
Ron shivered at the mention of the name Wormtail. He was an animagus disguised as a rat. For three years he had shared the same bed with this wizard who could assume the form of his pet rat. The same wizard, who was responsible for the death of Harry's parents, as he had betrayed their location to Lord Voldemort, their killer. Wormtail was a Gryffindor, and one of the closest friends with James Potter.
Harry emptied his goblet of ice cream in a big gulp and left without saying anything. Hermione knew of the story from before so she knew how upsetting it was for him. She didn't even bother to finish the rest of her food as she took off after him. " Hey, Harry! Wait up!" she yelled once they were out in the main corridors.
" What?" his voice was curt but then he apologized, " I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" but Hermione interrupted him.
" I know. Let's go to the library. I still have about an hour before the carriages arrive."
After saying those words Hermione proceeded to drag Harry to the library. He could have had easily wrangled himself out of her grip, but decided that he would like to spend some time with one his friend who wasn't jealous of his achievements. Harry had been in the library countless times before but he had never bothered to check out anything other than spells and Quidditch related books. Hermione seemed to know exactly where she wanted to go and Harry let her lead. Well he actually didn't have a choice like he had a few seconds before. As soon as Hermione had entered the library her excitement caused her to grip Harry's hand stronger than before... too strong for Harry to get out of. In fact it surprised Harry to find out how strong a person she really was.
They sat down on a corner table at the back and started to read the same book, 'History of Spells'. Harry finished the huge book in less than forty-five minutes a full ten minutes after Hermione. " You're getting good at this, Harry. I might actually have some competition for marks this year..."
" Well not really..."said Harry before teasing her by saying, " I'll be wiping the floor with you. "
" We'll see... We'll see" she imitated Harry's smile. Just then, Ron wandered into the library. Ron apologized for being so stupid at breakfast. " It's fine, Ron. You couldn't help it" said Hermione. The trio burst into laughter at Hermione's joke. It was the first time either Harry or Ron had laughed at a joke that Hermione had said.
When Hermione left they both said good bye. An awkward silence between Harry and Ron fell over. Harry was the first to break it. " I've dropped divination."
" Why?... I mean we're both very good at it and it gives three owls just for sitting through the test." said Ron.
" I'm sick and tired of doing that stupid subject. I've changed to Runes and dead languages... The reason I'm telling you this is because I don't want you to drop the subject."
" What? Why? -No if you change I'll change too" said Ron rather reluctantly.
" Face it -you love the subject. I've seen how you love coming up with new ways to die -Oh that reminds me." Harry started to search for something in his pocket. He took out a small green book from his shirt pocket (weekend so he was wearing muggle clothes) and handed it to Ron. "Hermione gave me that as a birthday present. I won't be using it anymore." Ron took a look at the title '66666 muggle and magical ways You can die' and for a moment looked as though he might actually cry.
" It's still my book -I'm just lending it to you." Ron then said a genuine thank you that Harry took as a sign of them mending their friendship.
After this the pair talked for about two hours about Quidditch before Ron veered off topic and started about Hermione and Victor. After about two hours of Ron making a list as to why Hermione should not be with Victor, Harry just snapped. " Ron you moron! If you thought for one moment I didn't see how feel about Hermione, you're wrong. If you don't have the guts to tell her or at least do the decent thing and be honest with yourself. Stop venting your frustration on me. You don't see me going around moping because of Cedric dying and that's a hell of thing to carry around with you. I am dealing with it. By myself."
Harry left the library without saying one more word. The rest of the day Harry made sure the first and the second years didn't get themselves into trouble. There were very few Slytherins this year so that meant that Harry had to stop his house members from picking on them. Harry actually gave three of the Gryffindors detentions for the next weekend and took off a point each from his own house for starting a fight with the Slytherins. Harry didn't know it but that day he made some Slytherin friends that he'll need in upcoming years.
At lunchtime, Crabbe and Goyle wanted to show off their magical prowess by showing that they could make ice cream come out of their wand as well. Unfortunately they didn't listen to the stern warnings that Malfoy had given them. Malfoy knew that his goons, barely qualified to be at Hogwarts and what they were attempting to do would require them to be a lot better in magic then they were. Even better than himself.
By the end of the lunchtime, half the Slytherin table was covered with flour, milk, cream, sugar and a variety of other materials. When Professor McGonagall arrived she saw Malfoy yelling at the goons. She thought it wad Malfoy who was at the source of the trouble and his two goons were aiding him. Before Malfoy could protest, his house had lost five points.
If Harry wasn't so distracted by what had happened at the Library with Ron, he might have had heard all the commotion behind him and Malfoy getting punished for doing something that he didn't do. No one in the hall said anything to defend him. Malfoy had done plenty of things, which saw innocent people get in trouble for what he had done and most people saw it as revenge from above.
Ron wasn't there at lunchtime... but then again Harry didn't really want to talk to Ron. At seven in the afternoon Hermione showed up with Ron in the common room. Ron apologized for his behavior towards Harry and said that he'll try to get the matter sorted. Hermione was oblivious to the fact that she was the reason the friends had the outburst and neither of them would tell her why they had fought.
" Well, I hope you guys did all you school homework because tomorrow we have school" said Hermione, as her eyes glazed over. Before Ron could open his mouth to say something he thought was funny, Harry grabbed Ron's mouth shut. He didn't want to be in the middle of a row between Ron and Hermione. Not tonight after Hermione had helped him so.
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END OF CHAPTER
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