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The Adventures of Harriet Potter: Year Two - Ch13*

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Chapter 13

     

The Plan

     

“It is true the best-laid plans often do go wrong. Just remember that means they will often go wrong for your opponents as well.”

General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk

     

If Scott felt apprehensive about using Polyjuice Potion, it was nothing compared to how Ronnie felt about it when Harriet and Hermione told her the plan in full.

“No way,” Ronnie declared. “There is no way I’m taking some mental potion that turns me into a Slytherin. Notta chance!”

“You won’t be a Slytherin,” Hermione retorted. “You’ll just look like one; you’ll still be you.”

“Oh yeah, that’s just a million times better, isn’t it?”

“Well, what other plan do we have?” Harriet tried to reason.

“We have Dora!” Ronnie retorted. “Why can’t she snoop around?”

“Yes, because Dora and the rest of the Slytherins are all such pals, aren’t they?” Hermione grumbled.

“But what if one of us gets stuck looking like some ugly Slytherin git for the rest of their lives!?” Ronnie asked, showing just how strong her opposition to using the potion was.

“If brewed right, the potion wears off after exactly one hour,” Hermione explained.

Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, if.”

Hermione glowered. “We’ll have me, Scott, Kieran, Harriet, and Dora working on it and we’re tops in the year in Potions. If the five of us can’t work out how to make the potion—”

“Alright, alright,” Ronnie said throwing up her hands.

“And besides, I don’t think we’ll all have to take the potion, it would probably be too obvious if we all tried to do it,” Harriet said. “Maybe only three or four of us at the most.”

Ronnie started to look a little less opposed now. “Well, alright, how are we going to get the book with the instructions? You said it was in the restricted section…”

“Tomorrow we’re going to trick Lockhart into signing the permission form for us to check the book out,” Harriet explained.

“Oh, well that’ll be easy enough,” Ronnie said simply.

Harriet almost laughed at how readily Ronnie accepted the idea that they could trick Lockhart. Hermione merely pursed her lips and didn’t say anything.

They stopped talking and looked up as the door to the room opened, and AJ stepped in. She paused at the sight of them, looking uncertain.

“Oh, sorry, not interruptin’ am I?” she asked taking a step backwards to leave.

“Oh no, of course not,” Harriet said doing her best to look warm and welcoming. “It’s your room too!”

AJ blushed but gave a rare smile and walked over to her bed. Harriet watched her in thought and finally made up her mind.

“Hey, AJ, I just… I wanted to—”

“Oh, not you all too!” AJ said spinning around and glaring. “We’ve all been done near blown up, burned up, cursed, fled in the middle of the night, shipped thousands of miles over here just to get blamed for—”

“NO! No, no!” Harriet said putting up her hands, cutting AJ off. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry this has happened, and people are turning on you all like this, it’s unfair…”

AJ’s face fell from a glare of anger to shame. “I… sorry Harriet… Yer right, we’re all just a little on edge and…”

“We know,” Ronnie said and got up and crossed the room to hug AJ.

AJ returned it but looked as though she felt she didn’t deserve it.

“Thank you guys; it’s just so hard on all of us. We don’t know no one here, and just as we’re getting’ started to fit in this all happens,” she said in a quiet voice.

Hermione and Harriet got up too and headed over.

“It’s alright, dear,” Hermione said in an oddly motherly tone. “But, I did want to ask you something, not related to the Chamber and all that rubbish.”

Harriet, AJ and Ronnie all looked at Hermione.

“Well, I just, ever since that History of Magic lesson with Tori’s mother, I’ve wanted to know what got you so upset? I mean… if it’s something you still don’t want to talk about, that’s okay…”

Harriet couldn’t read AJ’s expression as she looked at Hermione. It might have been resentment, or anger, or sadness, or all of them at once.

“I guess,” AJ started, sounding like she was thinking hard to find the right words. “I just always grew up hearin’ stories about how hard it was tryin’ to get settled and making homes back in the settlin’ days.”

“What stories?” Ronnie asked

“Indian attacks, attackin’ homesteads and stuff, guess I just… never really heard another side of the story and it was… well… a lot to take in at once,” AJ explained.

“Yeah, I could see that,” Harriet said. Harriet had experienced enough mind-blowing revelations in the past two years alone to last a lifetime.

“I still don’ really know how tah feel about it,” AJ went on and sighed. “I mean, didn’t my family have a right to live somewhere too? I can’t believe we was all just out to kill Indians…”

None of the other three responded. Harriet, Hermione and Ronnie all simply looked at each other. Harriet certainly couldn’t think of a response to that.

AJ sighed again but smiled. “Thanks, fer listenin’ though you guys if there’s anythin’ I can do for ya too?” she asked, finally looking more cheerful.

“Well, just keep being strong and don’t let people get to you like that,” Harriet said, smiling. “Professor Dumbledore told me that last year. It’s not your fault; you didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

At the mention of Dumbledore’s name, AJ smiled fully. “Yeah, he would say somethin’ like that; he sure is somethin’, isn’t he?”

“Sure is,” Ronnie agreed squeezing AJ around the shoulders.

“And one favour you could do us is let Tori and Rachel know we don’t think any of you opened the Chamber either or attacked Mrs Norris,” Hermione said with a warm smile.

AJ smiled more. “Alright, yeah, I’ll do that. Good to know you three are on our side anyway. We kinda got the other impression from Lavender and Parvati.”

Again Harriet felt a little uncomfortable. She’d never quite got on as well with Lavender and Parvati as with Hermione and Ronnie, but she didn’t think they would believe fellow Gryffindors would open the Chamber of Secrets and try to expel all Muggleborns from the school, even if they did come from far away.

“Well, anyway, I’d just come in here to get a book to take down and study with Tori and Rachel,” AJ said getting up.

She picked up her Potions book and was just heading to the door when Harriet had another brainwave.

“Oh, AJ?” Harriet asked stopping her.

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you have Tori and Rachel come up too? We can all study together?”

AJ smiled and nodded. “Yeah, yeah I’ll do that Harriet, that’d be great.” AJ’s smile brightened even more, and she finally left the room.

“Those poor kids,” Ronnie said after AJ left, chewing her lip.

“They’re not a bad lot, really,” Harriet agreed.

“Definitely,” Hermione said looking purposeful. “You know, we should try and get closer to them… ones from other houses too… We could probably learn a lot about this situation if we do…”

Harriet blinked. “You don’t seriously think any of them are behind it—”

“Oh of course not!” Hermione said in a sharp, slightly wounded voice. “You heard Professor Binns; the most learned minds in the magical world have looked for the Chamber for years and failed. Not even Dumbledore found it, and he’s been here at Hogwarts for over fifty years. I doubt even the Heir, whoever it is, would be able to find it in only a few months, or even a few years. It's either an older student who’s had a lot more time to search for it or a student who comes from a family that knows the location.”

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, that makes sense,” Harriet agreed.

“Meaning it’s probably a family with a long lineage of being in Slytherin House…” Ronnie said. “You know who that probably means?”

“Okay,” Hermione said. “Yes, I’ll admit the chances are high Malfoy is at least involved. But Malfoy is far from the only student here with a long Slytherin lineage, and it could be a girl just as well as a boy,” Hermione went on.

“That’s a good point,” Harriet said. “Maybe we should do two groups, a guy or two to question Malfoy and a couple of us to investigate Slytherin girls?”

“That’s a good idea,” Hermione agreed.

Harriet thought more. “But… going back a bit, how could the refugees help?” Harriet asked.

“Spies,” Hermione said simply. “They might be able to hear things around here others can’t.”

“How do you figure?” Ronnie asked.

“Because they do seem to know a lot more about the secret passages of the castle than most other students,” Hermione explained. “They get to classes faster than anyone, if they only knew we thought they were innocent…”

“We’ll have to get the word out somehow,” Harriet said. “But we’ll have to be secretive about it…”

“Right, if people know we’re trying to have the refugees spy for us it’ll make everyone trust them even less,” Ronnie agreed.

“We’ll have to think of something, and quick… or the next attack might not be an animal…” Hermione said ominously.

They all stopped talking once more as the three refugees finally came back through the door with all their books. Harriet smiled warmly around at them all. It made her feel good to be taking these steps to welcome the new students when so many others were pushing them away. She pulled out her Potions book, flipped open to the chapter that Professor Snape had assigned them, and started to read.

* * * *


The following day, they finally began to put their plan into action. Phase one was getting Moste Potente Potions. Unfortunately, it involved Harriet and Marcus taking one for the team. After the fiasco with the pixies, instead of bringing live creatures to class, Lockhart would call up students to play roles in re-enactments of scenes from his book.

His favourite target was Marcus. Marcus, in his campaign against Lockhart, had taken to grilling the professor hard on every point in class he tried to make and every story he told. In response, Lockhart had taken to using Marcus in his re-enactments, often making him take on the roles of monsters who couldn’t speak. Harriet on the other hand usually had to play varying roles of “damsels” during Lockhart’s re-enactments.

Today was no different. Marcus was playing the role of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf and Harriet was the young witch Lockhart supposedly saved from the beast. Harriet found these characters all the more pointless because she never actually did anything but pretend to be in peril as Lockhart “saved the day.” Indeed, the only thing she had done today was cower and give off an unenthusiastic shriek as Marcus the werewolf bore down on her.

However much she resented the role, Harriet knew this was even harder on Marcus than usual, having grown up in Australia not too far from the town of Wagga Wagga. Marcus said he was sure he had read about the Wagga Wagga Werewolf shortly after learning he was a wizard back in Australia. However, he insisted quite confidently that during his readings, he had never heard Lockhart’s name once in the report.

“Now give us a howl, Marcus, nice and loud there! Now, he sprang at me, and I slammed the doors of the phone booth shut just in time, and he bounced right over onto his back!”

Marcus pretended to howl and grunt before falling onto his back, glaring at the ceiling.

“And then, rather than flee, I knew what had to be done. I leapt upon the stunned beast, grabbing him hard by the throat—”

Marcus grunted as Lockhart pushed him back down and stuck his wand into Marcus’ throat.

“I then pointed my wand and using every last bit of my strength and mental capacity I performed the complex and difficult Homorphus Charm, which immediately began to reverse the transformation. He let out a loud, pitiful moan—”

Marcus fought off a glare and gave out a satisfactory ‘pitiful moan.’

“—and then, charm successfully performed, the fur, teeth, and even his body began to shrink. And just like that, he turned back into a human, and the offender finally identified, the town of Wagga Wagga will forever remember me as the man who saved them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks.”

Mercifully, the bell finally rang, and Lockhart sprang to his feet.

“Your homework!” He called over the clamour of students putting away their books. “I want you all to compose a poem detailing my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf. A signed copy of Magical Me will be given to the composer of the very best poem!”

Harriet looked with some jealousy at the other students who were leaving. Despite being part of their plan, Marcus didn’t stay behind with them, and instead, he threw his bag up over his shoulder and stormed from the room. Harriet didn’t blame him. Ronnie bit her lip watching him go.

“Hey,” she said in an undertone to Harriet, Hermione and Kieran, “think I’m gonna… you know.” She went on nodding after Marcus.

“Good idea,” Harriet said, and Ronnie headed off after Marcus.

The remaining three all gave each other bolstering looks before they looked up towards Lockhart’s desk. It was now or never. They made their way slowly up to Lockhart. Hermione led the way, Harriet and Kieran hanging back a little bit. This was both over their mutual distaste for Lockhart, and the fact that as thick as Lockhart was they didn’t want to seem suspicious by seeming too interested in the book.

“Excuse me, Professor Lockhart, sir,” Hermione said a little breathless. While Harriet was sure Hermione’s faith in Lockhart’s greatness was slipping, she had not lost all the vestiges of hero-worship yet.

“Oh yes, Miss Granger, how may I be of service?” Lockhart said giving Hermione a wink and toothy grin that made Hermione flush and Harriet gag.

“Well, I… I was wondering… I wanted to get a book from the library, but it’s in the Restricted Section, and so I need a teacher to sign for it… I… I wanted it for some background reading. I’m interested in slow-acting venoms after reading Gadding with Ghouls—”

Gadding with Ghouls, eh?” Lockhart asked excitedly. “Possibly my favourite out of all my works! How did you enjoy it?”

“Oh, I did, Professor!” Hermione replied. “It was so clever of you to use a tea-strainer to trap that last one!”

Professor Lockhart beamed toothily and drew out a three-foot-long peacock feather quill from his desk and took Hermione’s piece of paper.

“I don’t think anyone will hold it against me, giving the very best student in the year a little extra leg-up, eh?” Lockhart said and quickly signed the paper with a flourish.

Hermione smiled taking it back, and they were just about to leave when Lockhart stopped them again.

“Oh, Harriet, first Quidditch match this weekend eh?”

Harriet gritted her teeth and forced a smile on her face.

“Oh, yes Professor,” she replied.

“Gryffindor versus Slytherin, is it? From what I hear you play Seeker?”

“Yes, Professor,” Harriet replied, trying to keep her answers short as she did not want to remain much longer.

“Good on you; heard good things about your playing from the rest of the staff. I was a Seeker too back in my day. In fact, they asked me to play for the National Squad, but I knew my calling was helping defeat the Dark Arts in the world.”

“Mm,” Harriet replied not caring to sound interested.

“Come on, Harriet, we’re gonna be late for lunch,” Kieran said quickly.

“Oh yes, off with you lot now,” Lockhart said in a cheery tone.

Harriet and the rest didn’t hesitate. They hurried from the room but instead of down the stairs towards the Great Hall; they went up towards the Library.

“Thanks,” Harriet muttered to Kieran as they headed up the hall.

Kieran laughed. “Well you looked like you needed to be saved for once,” he said barely containing a grin and a snigger from Hermione.

Harriet rolled her eyes, and they entered the ominous silence of the Hogwarts library. They nervously made their way to Madame Pince, the librarian, who was severe in both her looks and her demeanour. She ruled the library with an iron-fist.

Moste Potente Potions,” Madame Pince asked as she took the note from Hermione.

She cast them a doubting look as she inspected the note, holding it up to the light. Finally satisfied that the note was legitimate, Madame Pince stalked off towards the Restricted Section and returned a few minutes later holding an ancient, mouldy tome. Hermione took it, almost reverently and put it gently into her bag. This tender treatment of the book seemed to satisfy Madame Pince further, and she wished them a good day as they made their way as casually as they could back out of the library into the hall.

“Okay, well that all went easily enough,” Hermione said,

“Let’s get back down to the Great Hall and find the others,” Harriet said feeling relieved.

“We’ll need to think up a place to work on the potion too,” Kieran said thoughtfully as they headed towards the Great Hall.

“Oh I have the perfect place in mind,” Hermione said enigmatically.

To Harriet’s dismay as much as everyone else’s, ten minutes later they found themselves in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Even worse, they were all crammed around the very same stall where Harriet had almost been crushed to death by a troll last year. Hermione had picked this location because of how rarely other students used it because of Moaning Myrtle.

Myrtle herself was in the stall next to them wailing away miserably. The group was ignoring her, and Myrtle herself seemed perfectly happy to ignore them in return. Harriet wasn’t overly fond of ghosts, but she did enjoy Nearly-Headless Nick and the Fat Friar. However, when it came to Myrtle, Harriet was finding her to be another ghost whose presence she could do without.

Hermione gingerly pulled Moste Potente Potions from her bag, and they all leaned over awkwardly to read.

Scott whistled. “Okay, think I see why they restrict this book,” he said.

Harriet thought he had a point. The illustrations that went along with many of the potions were particularly horrible, and the fact the illustrations moved didn’t help. One featured a wizard being turned inside out, and another showed a witch who was sprouting extra arms out of her head.

Hermione looked relieved as they finally reached the page for the Polyjuice Potion.

“Here we are,” she said.

Scott whistled once more. “Okay… that’s the most complex potion I’ve ever seen, full-stop,” he said.

The rest of the group all murmured agreements.

“Well, most of the ingredients should be easy enough to get,” Dora said, running a finger down the list. “Most of these, like lacewings, we can get in the student store cupboard in Potions.”

“Yeah,” Harriet agreed. “Except maybe the bicorn horn, that’s not in our student stores,” she said.

“No, but probably in Snape’s private storage,” Dora said. “Same with the boomslang skins.”

“What?!” Ronnie said jabbing a finger at the bottom of the ingredients list. “A sample of the person you’re transforming into?”

“Yeah,” Scott said knowledgeably. “Nothing bad though, just like a strand of hair, that’s all.”

Ronnie didn’t look entirely relieved. Kieran was also starting to look a little sceptical.

“I don’t know about this you lot,” Kieran said. “I mean not the potion,” he went on under the glare Hermione gave him. “I mean, I know we can make the potion, I just… even if he doesn’t figure out it’s us, isn’t Snape going to notice these ingredients missing?”

“Well, as long as he doesn’t know it’s us we should be fine,” Hermione said, though she was starting to look nervous too. “I don’t want to break all these rules, and it is a lot of risk but…”

“Yeah, the best plan we have,” Scott finished.

Having Scott on board seemed to increase Kieran’s confidence, which in turn seemed to improve everyone else’s.

“The real hard part,” Hermione said, reading to the end of the potion “will be keeping it secret for so long…”

“How long?” Ronnie asked.

“Uh, probably a month,” Hermione said.

“A month?!” Ronnie repeated looking stunned.

“Well, the lacewings have to stew for twenty-one days, and the fluxweed has to be picked at the full moon.”

“But… a month… that’s plenty of time for someone else to get attacked!” Ronnie exclaimed.

“Well if you have a better plan, I’m all ears!” Hermione asked in a doubting tone.

Ronnie looked a little wounded and Hermione quickly backtracked.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean, just, well, I guess being a… you know… Muggle-born I guess it has me a bit more on edge…”

Ronnie grimaced. “You’re right, Hermione, okay, let’s do it.”

Hermione smiled.

* * * *


As always in the week leading up to a Quidditch match, time seemed to speed up indecently. Harriet felt extra nervous that Saturday morning after she woke and breakfasted with the rest of the team. The Slytherin team was also eating breakfast, and seemed particularly pleased to gloat over the Gryffindor team about their superior brooms. Harriet was sure the fireworks incident did not help the animosity the Slytherins were showing the Gryffindors, and the fact Fred and George both got off scot-free.

That wasn’t the only reason Harriet was nervous. It would be her first time flying against Malfoy, and she felt sick to her stomach watching from across the hall as Pansy and Pixie fawned over Malfoy, his Nimbus 2001 propped beside him as though it were a knight’s sword.

“Little git,” Fred muttered as he poured Harriet a glass of milk.

“You’ll show him, Harriet,” George said giving Harriet an encouraging smile.

Harriet returned the smile and felt even better as the rest of her Gryffindor friends grinned at her.

At eleven, the entire school began filing out into the grounds and on towards the Quidditch pitch. There was a distant roll of thunder and Harriet shivered in the cold, damp air. Her friends walked her as far as the changing rooms, giving her hugs and pats on the back before they moved on to the stadium. Dora received more than a few jeers from a passing group of Slytherins as she wished Harriet good luck. Harriet was quite sure she was going to end up sitting with Hermione, Ronnie, Marcus, Kieran and Scott instead of the other Slytherins.

Harriet quickly changed and sat on the bench with the rest of the team, ready for Wood’s traditional pre-match briefings.

“Okay, now I know there’s no denying it. As equipment goes, Slytherin has the edge in this match,” Wood said sounding as though the admission cost him a great deal. “But we have the edge when it comes to players. We’ve been training harder in all weathers than they have—”

“All weathers?” George asked incredulously. “It’s been raining non-stop since September!”

Wood glared. “Well then, we’re going to be perfectly prepared for today if it does rain then won’t we?” he asked.

George looked mollified.

“Honestly, though we seem like the underdog, we have the advantage. The only thing they’re counting on is the speed of their brooms. Just like Harriet showed us against Hufflepuff last year, speed isn’t everything.”

Harriet blushed and gave a little smile.

“Long story short, I think we’re going to win. Remember our training, work together, and show them there’s more to playing Quidditch than a broomstick.”

Wood turned to Harriet now. Harriet felt her smile falter under the hard stare that Wood gave her, the kind of stare that made her insides turn to jelly.

“Harriet, this is going to be true for you. Malfoy will have the speed advantage, but I don’t need to tell you Snitches do more than fly fast. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy, or die trying, you got me? This is the first match of the season, this is the big one,” Wood said in his usual cliché. “This’ll set the pace for the rest of the season.”

Harriet nodded seriously.

“No pressure then,” Fred said patting Harriet’s knee.

The team got up and grabbed their broomsticks before making their way out onto the pitch. They were greeted mostly by cheers, but the Slytherins made their presence known. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, fortunately, were also cheering Gryffindor, as the entire school was anxious to see Slytherin’s Quidditch Cup streak come to an end.

Madame Hooch had Flint and Wood shake hands. Harriet noted the tradition of Slytherin and Gryffindor captains trying to break each other’s hands had not died as the two shook. Harriet swung her leg over her trusty Nimbus Two-Thousand as Madame Hooch counted down and finally blew the whistle.

Harriet kicked off and accelerated as hard as she could, rocketing up fifty feet in the air before she began circling the pitch, her eyes peeled for the Snitch. The new glasses indeed were an asset. As she had noticed in practices, they gave no sign of wanting to fly off in the wind, and she could see much more clearly than with her old pair.

Harriet just managed to dodge aside as Malfoy clipped past her.

“Out the way there, Potter,” he called over his shoulder as he passed.

Harriet opened her mouth to call a retort after him but couldn’t as the black streak of a Bludger raced towards her. Harriet ducked and felt it tug her ponytail as it rocketed past.

“Watch it there, Harriet,” George called as he chased after it. George hit it hard towards Adrien Pucey, but instead of continuing, it curved in a long arch and shot straight back at Harriet.

Harriet ducked the Bludger again and streaked off as fast as she could. George was still hot on its trail and this time knocked it towards Malfoy. However, before it even got close to Malfoy, the Bludger began to turn once more towards Harriet. Harriet tried to pull away, but it didn’t take long before she could hear the Bludger whistling along as it bore down on her.

Harriet looked over her shoulder at it in confusion. Bludgers didn’t act this way; they were supposed to go after whatever player was closest to them, not lock on and chase a single player all over the pitch.

Harriet saw Fred pull up and wave to her, his bat at the ready. Harriet shot towards him, and he whacked the black ball as hard as he could. The Bludger seemed like it was heading towards another Slytherin player now and Fred pumped his fist victoriously. However, Fred gaped in shock as once more the Bludger turned and shot straight back for Harriet. Harriet ducked it again and raced off in the other direction. She couldn’t watch for the Snitch like this. To make matters worse, it had started to rain.

Harriet had no idea what was going on. Fred and George were now doing their best to fly alongside her, working hard to keep the Bludger off her. Harriet had no idea how the game was going until she heard Lee Jordan announce the score, sixty to zero, Slytherin lead.

Harriet gritted her teeth. No matter what Wood had said, it was apparent that the Slytherin’s faster brooms were doing the trick. Harriet felt her irritation growing at Fred and George as well. Harriet was sure she could out-fly the Bludger, but with Fred and George hounding her trying to keep the Bludger off of her she was too distracted to focus on either the Bludger or the Snitch.

“Have Wood call a time-out,” Harriet said to Fred and George.

George nodded and broke formation enough to signal to Wood who called the time-out. Even after Madame Hooch blew the whistle, the Bludger continued to chase Harriet all the way to the ground.

“Where the hell have you two been?” Wood asked Fred and George angrily. “Angelina would have scored had you stopped that Bludger!”

“We were trying to stop the other Bludger from killing Harriet!” George growled, pointing up at it. The Bludger wasn’t attacking, but it was still circling the Gryffindor team menacingly.

“Someone has to have fixed it,” Fred added, looking equally disgruntled. “It’s only been going after Harriet the entire match! It must have been the Slytherins somehow!”

“Can’t have been,” Wood said. “Madame Hooch keeps the balls locked up in her office, and we were the last to practice with them before the match!”

Harriet gritted her teeth. She knew what had to be done to win the game.

“Oliver,” Harriet said. “We’re never gonna win with Fred and George just focused on me. You two,” she said turning her attention to the twins. “Go back to the rest of the game so our chasers can score. I’ll deal with this crazy rogue one; I can dodge it better on my own.”

Fred and George looked at Harriet doubting but seemed to soften under the glare she gave them.

“Harriet, with the way that Bludger’s been after you, if it hits you at speed that high off the ground…” Fred said sounding concerned.

“Why don’t we just call for an inquiry?” Alicia said.

“We’d have to forfeit the match,” Harriet fired back. “I’m not going to just hand Slytherin a victory like that.”

“This is your fault,” George thundered at Wood. “Get the Snitch or die trying!”

“Ready to resume?” Madame Hooch asked as she stepped up to the Gryffindor team.

Harriet gave Wood her most determined look. Wood chewed his tongue, thinking hard.

“Alright, you two, let Harriet deal with the mad Bludger. We can have Madame Hooch inspect it after we win.”

Harriet felt her chest swell and more butterflies in her stomach. Despite the deficit in the score, Wood still had that much faith that Harriet was going to win the match for them. Fred and George both looked apprehensive, but Wood had spoken.

Finally, they all mounted their brooms and kicked off as Madame Hooch blew her whistle once more. Almost the moment Harriet was airborne the Bludger dive-bombed her again. Harriet took advantage of the Bludger’s trajectory to shoot off in the opposite direction.

The rain was coming down hard now, and Harriet was having a harder and harder time seeing. She did her best to keep dodging the Bludger as it chased after her. She gritted her teeth, zigging and zagging, climbing and diving, but as ever the Bludger followed her every move.

Fortunately, Harriet was starting to work out a pattern. The Bludger couldn’t turn as fast as she could, and so instead of dancing around dodging it, Harriet would let it build up speed, jink out of the way just in time, and shoot off to the other end of the pitch, looking for the Snitch as the Bludger corrected its course. It was then that the strangest thing Harriet had ever seen happened.

She had just dived to dodge the Bludger once more when Malfoy shot past yet again.

“Should be in the ballet, Potter, it’s where girls like you belong,” Malfoy shouted as he passed.

Harriet glared at Malfoy who was smirking back at her when it happened. The Golden Snitch flew right in between them. Harriet looked at it and glanced at Malfoy, whose eyes had gone wide, almost as if horrified, and he was turning hard. Malfoy had seen it too.

Harriet leaned forward hard and accelerated as fast as her Nimbus 2000 could go towards the Snitch. It was heading towards Malfoy who had finally turned and was heading straight towards Harriet. Harriet gritted her teeth and stretched out her hand towards the Snitch. Malfoy loomed in her vision. They were about to collide.

Harriet swiped hard at the Snitch and closed her eyes. She felt her hand close on the Snitch and she braced for impact. It never came. Instead, there was a loud whack from close behind her, and a great gasp went up in the crowd below. Harriet looked around, holding up her hand. She was all alone in the air, neither Malfoy nor the Bludger was anywhere to be seen.

Madame Hooch’s whistle blew, and Harriet looked down, and to her horror, she realised what had happened. Malfoy was spiralling towards the ground on his broomstick, clutching his shoulder. The Bludger was careening off, trying to recover. The Bludger had hit Malfoy instead of her. Harriet just stared for a few moments before she had to duck once more as the Bludger shot back towards her again. Harriet dove straight towards the ground, and Fred and George finally flew back into formation with her to ward off the Bludger as it continued to give chase.

Harriet landed and skidded on the muddy ground as Fred and George both caught the Bludger, struggling hard to contain it as they landed.

“That’s got you, you jinxed little—” Fred muttered as he and George did their best to keep their grip on it as they awkwardly dismounted their brooms.

“That’s my girl!” Wood was shouting as he landed next to Harriet and lifted her off the ground in a rib-cracking bear hug.

The crowd was on their feet, the combined might of the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs all drowning out the boos and jeers of the Slytherins.

“You did it!” Angelina cheered as she hugged Harriet too.

“That was a fantastic job, Harriet! You beat that Bludger and Malfoy!” Alicia Spinnet cried as she and Katie joined in the group hug.

Over Angelina’s shoulder, Harriet saw two odd sights. One was Fred and George wrestling the rogue Bludger into Madame Hooch’s carrying case. Madame Hooch was standing nearby looking at the Bludger incredulously.

“What on earth is wrong with it?” Madame Hooch was asking and shaking her head. “Why didn’t you all call an inquiry?!”

The other odd sight was Malfoy. He was still clutching his arm, looking as though he was nearly passing out in pain. Flint was standing over him, looking furious as Professor Lockhart inspected Malfoy’s arm. They were just near enough for Harriet to overhear what was going on.

“Dammit all, Malfoy, how did you miss that Snitch!?” Flint was thundering. “It was flying straight at you! Next time you try for a Snitch like that and miss you had better die trying!”

Malfoy wasn’t paying attention to Flint, however. He was arguing with Lockhart.

“Get away from me you great oaf! No! I don’t want you to fix my arm! Get that ruddy camera out of my face you scrawny little mud-blood git!”

There was a flash that Harriet recognised instantly as Colin Creevey’s camera.

“Just relax there, Mr Malfoy my lad, I’ve done this a thousand times before.”

“No, you—” Before Malfoy could finish his protest Lockhart’s wand had twirled and jabbed straight at Malfoy’s arm.

However, instead of mending, it looked as though Malfoy’s arm deflated. Lockhart hadn’t mended Malfoy’s broken bone; he’d removed it, along with all the other bones in Malfoy’s arm.

Malfoy took one look at his arm and fainted. The enraged Slytherin team all picked up Malfoy and shoved Lockhart out of the way, carrying Malfoy off towards the Hospital Wing.

At that moment, Harriet’s friends all made it down to her. All except Marcus.

“You were brilliant!” Ronnie shrieked and hugged Harriet almost as hard as Wood had.

“Spectacular flying!” Kieran said giving her a one-armed hug around the shoulder. “We were all biting our nails the whole time!”

Dora gave Harriet a congratulatory hug too but seemed distracted. She kept watching after Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins. Her eyebrows were knotted in deep thought. Harriet thought she knew what it was. Dora was probably contemplating her chances of getting on the Slytherin Quidditch team now that Malfoy was injured.

“Party in the Common Room!” Lee Jordan called, having made his way down from the announcer’s booth. The Gryffindors around them all cheered in agreement, and they all started making their way out of the pitch.

“Where’s Marcus?” Harriet asked looking around.

Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Malfoy’s little fan-club of Parkinson, Fanfarró, Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini all sat behind us to taunt us about your flying,” she said grinning proudly. “Then when Malfoy flew into that Bludger like an idiot, Marcus laughed, and it started a fight with him and Crabbe and Goyle. Seamus and Dean jumped in too. Marcus, Seamus and Zabini all had to go to the Hospital Wing.”

Harriet sighed and shook her head. Poor Marcus, between Percy and Lockhart he was having a hard enough year as it was. They told Fred and George they would be along to the party soon and instead diverted, making off for the Hospital Wing and their friends instead.

* * * *


By eleven o clock that night the party was still going. Marcus and Seamus had returned by nine-o-clock, and each had earned a detention for fighting. However, Marcus didn’t look so upset about it this time. As it had come from such an uneven fight, he seemed to be wearing it as a badge of honour.

Marcus looked even more proud of himself when two burly third-year boys that Harriet had never spoken to before shook his hand after shaking hers.

“What’s your name, mate?” asked one of the boys, interested.

“M-Marcus… uh Van Der Lakk,” Marcus said as he looked up at the much taller boys.

“Chris Jerome,” said the boy who had asked Marcus his name.

“Cormac McClaggen,” said the other boy.

“Good on you in that fight, Cormac and I here were too far away to get over there in time to lend a hand before it was over, but jumping at those two lunk-heads at the same time all by yourself, that took some balls, mate,” Chris said.

“Yeah, tell you what, you ever have a problem with those two again, just find us. We’ll take care of ‘em but good. We’re sick of those two upstart second years, er, no offence, blundering around like they’re the toughest things in the school.”

“Good match again, Potter,” Chris said and shook Harriet’s hand once more. “Same thing, you ever run into any Slytherin problems, you let us know.”

Harriet nodded reluctantly as the two headed back over to the food table.

“I think you might have found yourself your own Crabbe and Goyle,” Hermione teased poking Harriet in the ribs.

“Or I did… not exactly sure what just happened there,” Marcus said blinking.

Harriet laughed.

The Gryffindors were all in such fervour over besting Slytherin two years in a row that they ran out of food just before midnight. Harriet was pleased to see that even the refugees were once more being accepted by the rest of the house and were sharing in the festivities.

“That…was…awesome!” said the little first-year refugee named Katy Tyler. “I so wish I could fly like you, that was just amazing! I can’t fly anymore after the attack cuz it damaged my inner-ear or something or other and so like now if I try and fly I get dizzy, so Madame Pomfrey and Miss Momori won’t let me, but holy cow I so wish I could fly like you!”

“Th-that’s, uh, thanks, Katy,” Harriet said awkwardly “Do you like sports?”

“Do I?!” Rayne asked going wide-eyed. “They’re like the bestest thing ever! I was training to play Quadpot back home, that’s like Quidditch for Americans, but yeah,” she suddenly looked put out. “I can’t anymore…”

“Have you ever thought of football?” Ronnie asked.

Katy blinked. “Like, real football with pads and stuff, or soccer?” she asked.

Ronnie’s eye twitched a little. Harriet put a hand on Ronnie’s arm in a calming way.

“S-soccer,” Ronnie replied, as though saying the name cost her a great deal.

“Ohhhhh, no,” Katy said. “But it looks lotsa fun, do you play it?” she asked sounding very interested, which seemed to disarm Ronnie.

“Yeah, I’d like to learn more about it too!” asked another first-year refugee that Harriet remembered from the start of year feast as being named Tory Clooney.

“Great!” Ronnie said, beaming with pride. “Yeah, I love playing. I play in a local summer league.”

“What position?” Tory asked with wide eyes.

“Keeper,” Ronnie beamed back.

“Wow, hey, do you like Holly Cambridge?”

Ronnie’s face hardened a little. “Y-yeah, yeah I do.”

“You know she visited here this summer,” Katy said, and Tory nodded eagerly.

Ronnie blinked. “No… no, I hadn’t heard that.”

“Yeah, well it was all secret and stuff, but she was here to tour schools in case she got picked to play for a team here in Europe,” Katy added, almost beside herself with excitement. “Anyway, could you teach us some stuff?”

Ronnie beamed again. “Well yeah, I can teach you lot all about it tomorrow!”

“Hey, you’re Ginny’s sister right?” Katy’s friend Annie asked.

“Yeah,” Ronnie replied.

“Have you seen her lately?” asked Annie looking curious.

“Not since the match I don’t think,” Ronnie replied.

“Oh, okay, just hadn’t seen her in a while either, that’s all,” Annie said.

Katy beamed and took hold of Ronnie’s arm. “Hey come on, I wanna introduce you to my other friends!”

Harriet laughed watching Katy and Tory pulling Ronnie off through the crowd. She turned to head back to the food table and paused when she saw Fred and George whispering something to Colin Creevey, who shot Harriet a look. At least Harriet thought the look had been at her. She suddenly realised he was looking past her and turned to see he was looking at a very tall, pretty fifth-year girl with long blonde hair. Harriet looked back just in time to see Fred, George and Colin sneaking out of the portrait hole.

Finally, the prefects all raised their hands and called for quiet. The group quieted down only a moment before a wave of mutinous moans went up as the prefects declared it was time to start winding the party down. Harriet looked towards the portrait hole a little concerned. It was now midnight. Fred, George and Colin had been gone a half an hour. She remembered them slipping off for food last year, and it had never taken them this long. She hoped for Colin’s sake they hadn’t run into Filch.

Harriet helped pitch in with everyone else in cleaning up the remnants of the party. She was starting to worry more about the three boys. She kept stealing glances at the portrait hole, waiting for them to return.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Ronnie said as Harriet tried to voice her concern to Ronnie. “They probably went out to do something really big and impressive with Colin for Colin to impress you or something.”

“I don’t know…” Harriet muttered. She wasn’t sure it was her that Colin fancied anymore, but perhaps it had been something for the older girl. Harriet had to admit that whatever they had been up to, it must have been something big indeed if it was going to get a fifth-year like that to notice a first-year like Colin.

Finally, most everyone had drifted off to their dormitories for bed. Harriet and her friends stayed behind under the guise of wanting to do homework. Harriet kept glancing at the clock and biting her lip.

“Relax, Harriet, really,” Ronnie kept saying.

“I can’t,” Harriet said. “I mean… what if they ran into, you know?”

Ronnie was suddenly looking very nervous too.

“Oh goodness!’ Hermione said looking scared now as well. “You don’t think?”

At that very moment, the portrait hole was flung open, and Fred and George both toppled into the room.

“There you are!” Ronnie said running over to them.

However, between the looks of horror on Fred and George’s faces and the fact Colin wasn’t with them, Harriet knew something was very, very wrong.

“Where’s Colin?” She asked immediately as she and the others made their way over to Fred and George.

Fred and George were both trembling, and Fred clutched the front of Harriet’s robes.

“It-it was after us!”

“What was?” Kieran asked.

“Monster, something, we never saw it, but we heard it. Got separated,” George said, his teeth chattering.

“It was horrible… just saw its shadow, and we heard it, this horrible… rasping noise…” Fred added.

“Where’s Colin?” Harried asked again more adamantly.

“I-I don’t know as I said, he got separated from us,” George said.

Harriet gritted her teeth. She darted up the stairs to her dormitory, wrenched the door open, ran to her trunk, flung it open and hauled out her invisibility cloak.

“Harriet? What are you—”

Harriet didn’t stop to see who it was who had spoken. She ran back out the door, down the steps two at a time and ran for the portrait hole.

“Harriet, what are you doing?” Marcus asked as Harriet threw the cloak around her shoulders, her body below her neck vanishing.

“I’m going to find Colin,” she declared boldly. “Where did you two see him last?” Harriet asked.

“Uh, I’d say, it was way down in the dungeons wasn’t it?” Fred asked George.

“Yeah, right when we first heard it. Right in front of the portrait of the bowl of fruit that leads to the kitchens. We told Colin to follow us, and we thought he was right behind us, but we looked back after we got to the Great Hall and he wasn’t there,” George replied.

“And you didn’t go back to look for him?” Harriet asked, hard-pressed to keep some disappointment out of her voice.

“That thing was still after us!” Fred said defensively. “It followed us up at least three floors before we finally lost it!”

“Okay, okay, well I’m going after him,” Harriet said and finally pulled the hood up over her head, making herself invisible.

Before any of the others could say anything, Harriet had pushed her way out of the portrait hole and was running as best she could down the stairs towards the lower levels. She stopped after hearing the sound of feet behind her. As it sounded nothing like the monster Fred and George had described, she stopped. It was Marcus, looking around furiously.

“Harriet, I know you’re here somewhere, I could hear your feet. You’re not running off out here alone!” Marcus hissed, looking around.

Harriet sighed and lifted up the cloak. “Okay, I’m right here, get under and let’s get moving. We have to find him!”

Marcus nodded and ducked under the cloak with her, and they kept moving down the stairs. They listened hard for any of the rasping sounds the twins said they’d heard, but they couldn’t hear anything other than their own feet and breathing. It wasn’t just a monster they had to look out for either. Filch was sure to be patrolling the halls too. What if Colin hadn’t been caught by the monster, but by Filch instead? Regardless of the trouble he’d be in for being found out of bed, Harriet was hoping that was what had happened.

Finally, they made it to the first floor of the dungeons. It was even eerier in the barely-lit darkness.

“Left or right?” Harriet asked, chewing her lip. Fred and George hadn’t said what direction the portrait was, and Harriet never came down here if she could help it, except for Potions.

Marcus looked back and forth before pointing down the left. “Well, that way leads to Potions, and I’ve never seen a portrait like what Fred and George described down that way.”

“Good point,” Harriet said and looked down the right hallway. “Try that way?”

“Might as well,” Marcus said.

Harriet took another deep breath, and they started off down the corridor. Despite the candle brackets lining the wall, it was very dark this far down and this late at night.

“Should we risk lighting our wands?” Harriet asked.

Marcus nodded. He and Harriet drew their wands, and both muttered “Lumos.” The tips of their wands lit and shone beams of light down the corridor. Almost at once, the beams fell open what looked like a crouched figure in the distance, just out of the wand light. It seemed to turn and look at them before it rose and darted down the corridor away from them.

“Hey, wait!” Harriet called.

“Stop!” Marcus yelled.

They both started off after the figure but stopped after only a few strides as their wand lights fell on something lying on the floor where the figure had been stooping. Even at a distance, Harriet could tell it was a body.

What was worse, after only a few more strides, Harriet could already tell who it was. The figure was lying on its back, and at first, it had looked to be holding its hands in the air, but a glint of shiny black revealed the hands to be holding a camera. Harriet felt her heart sink at the realisation it was Colin.

“Colin,” Harriet said as she whipped the cloak off of herself and knelt at the boy’s side. Marcus pulled it off as well and got down on one knee beside her. Harriet nervously put a hand to his forehead. He was cold to the touch. Did that mean he was dead? Harriet hadn’t felt Mrs Norris, so she didn’t know what all the symptoms of being Petrified were. He certainly did feel solid, which was what Harriet guessed someone petrified would feel like. Harriet couldn’t even get his skin to budge.

“Oh, Colin…” Harriet sniffed, feeling herself becoming overwhelmed a little with emotion.

“We should find a teacher,” Marcus said anxiously. “We have to get help.”

“Yes, that is an excellent idea,” said one of the angriest voices Harriet had ever heard behind her.

She and Marcus jumped to their feet and spun to find themselves almost face to face with the looming form of Professor McGonagall.

“What the devil are you two doing all the way down here at this time of ni—”

Professor McGonagall trailed off, and even in the dim light, Harriet could see her face drain of blood. She had seen Colin.

Professor McGonagall swept past them, kneeling over Colin’s form.

“P-Petrified!” Professor McGonagall gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. “Oh little Colin, how long ago was he missing, Potter?”

Harriet felt quite taken aback by the question. It was not what she was expecting.

“Uh, a half-hour to an hour, I’d say?” Harriet replied nervously.

Professor McGonagall sighed. “Far too long, alright, Van Der Lakk, you take his head. We must get him to the Hospital Wing, and summon the Headmaster.”
Egads! Potions and Quidditch and Monsters, OH MY!!

Cover art by Momagie

Chris Jerome, Kieran O'Brien, Marcus Van De Lakk, and Scott McIntyre are property of :iconnight-miner:

Katy Tyler, Annie Gilberts, Tori Hoffman, and Rachel Kane are property of :iconlittlebityamelie:

Dora Flamel property of me

AJ and Rayne Prismere are property of Hasbro

All others property of J.K. Rowling

Original concept by :iconnight-miner: and :iconlittlebityamelie:

Proof reading/editting by :iconnight-miner:, :iconlittlebityamelie: and :iconh-a-cooke:

Link to Chapter 14: The Adventures of Harriet Potter: Year Two - Ch14
(All characters and locations within belong to J.K. Rowling unless otherwise stated.)
Chapter 14
The Petrification of Colin Creevey
“In times of a troubled mind I often find a simple hot tea, jasmine in particular, is the best cure. However, nothing will speak to a troubled soul more soothingly than the simple power of music.”
General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk
Professor McGonagall drew her wand and pointed it down the hall. Harriet squinted as a blinding flash of white light filled the corridor. She blinked and just got her vision back in time to see a streak of pearly-white light shoot off down the hall and disappear up the stairs.
“Right, that’s the Headmaster notified, he should meet us at the hospital wing,” Professor McGonagall said as she moved to Colin’s feet.
Marcus solemnly stood at Colin’s head and knelt, taking hold of Colin’s shoulders while Professor McGonagall


Link back to Chapter 12: The Adventures of Harriet Potter: Year Two - Ch12
(All characters and locations within belong to J.K. Rowling unless otherwise stated.)
Chapter 12
The Legend of the Chamber
“History must always be remembered in the context of the times in which it happened. That is not to say one cannot judge the past. It is only by reflection on the past and understanding the faults of our forbearers that we can hope to move forward. But one can only understand why events happened the way they did by understanding the times they occurred with a more accepting eye.”
General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk
“I uh… I think we need to get out of here… now…” Ronnie muttered and started pulling on Harriet’s arm.
Harriet couldn’t move. Over and over again the words kept playing in her head; "A terrible plot to make awful things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Harriet finally got control of her feet back and took a
© 2013 - 2024 the-mind-of-kleinnak
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whitelighter5's avatar
Oh no, poor Colin... I always thought he was adorable. 

But Zoinks! He, Fred and George heard the monster following them up three floors?! No wonder they were freaked!