03. The Underwater Quidditch Game - Part B

Disclaimer: None of the Book/Movie/TV show quotes Fred and George use are mine. They all belong to their respective authors. The opening song is Sonnet No 92 by William Shakespeare and the ending song is Iron Fist by Motörhead.

Author's Notes: More cookies for my wonderful betas Notsosaintly, Ellie and Arsinyk, my creative artist Ebilein and all of my readers and reviewers. :-) And some extra chocolate frogs for my new beta, Mind_over_Matter.

***

Amicus Draconis - 1st Cycle: Cycle of the Badger - Part 3: The Underwater Quidditch Game

"I wonder, I wonder, do you know what I wonder?"

"What?"

"Say what?"

"Five, six, seven, eight!"

Ka boom boom jonk! Ka boom boom jonk!

Hekki hekki hekki hekki! Hekki hekki hekki hekki!

Bong badabong! Bong badabong!

Yoh yoh yoh yoh! Yoh yoh yoh yoh!

"There was a young Weasley named Fred

Who kept chocolate frogs in his bed.

One day they got pulped

And poor mother gulped,

Grasping her nose as she fled."

Ka boom boom jonk! Ka boom boom jonk!

Taterang bang bang! Taterang bang bang!

Kch ptping bing! Kch ptping bing!

Aweeeeeeeeeeee! Aweeeeeeeeeeee!

"There was a young Weasley named George

Who fake chocolate froggies did forge.

Tasting like dung,

They jumped on his tongue

Until they got stuck in his gorge."

Ka boom boom jonk! Ka boom boom jonk!

Yoh yoh yoh yoh! Yoh yoh yoh yoh!

Dsh dsh honk dsh dsh honk honk! Dsh dsh honk dsh dsh honk honk!

Bong badabong bang! Bong badabong bang!

"There once was a fic named AD.

'Twas odd beyond any degree.

It mixed George and Fred,

And any who read

Right into its weird potpourri."

Ka boom boom jonk! Ka boom boom jonk!

Klonk!

Pling!

"Hey, you prat, now you broke it!"

Amicus Draconis - 1. Zyklus: Zyklus des Dachses - Part 3: Quidditch unter Wasser

***

Gradually, the evening merged into night, and at some point or other, the students either became bored with working or left for bed. Around midnight, Lisa and Hermione were the only ones left in the Orange Blossom Room; Lisa was drawing, and Hermione was using different charms on the artworks to make them water resistant or let their colours flash in different lights. Since Lisa had worked all day long, Ravenclaw now ranked highest in terms of the quantity of flags, banners, pennants, and rosettes they now possessed.

"Something bothering you, Lisa?" Hermione suddenly broke the silence, concern showing on her face as she tried to give the other girl an encouraging smile.

That question confused Lisa. "Why would you think something like that?" she replied a little defensively. "I'm fine."

Hermione was still smiling at her. "I always plunge into work like that when I don't feel well. It keeps me from brooding."

"There's too much to brood about right now," Lisa sighed, "but it wouldn't get us anywhere, so..."

They fell silent, refocusing their concentration onto their work again. For a long while, the rustle of paper and the scratch of quill remained the only sounds in the room. Neither one of the young women was particularly keen on discussing their current situation.

Lisa was surprised that Hermione had noticed anything was wrong. They got along well enough, preferring to spend their time with a good book instead of gossiping away about boys and make-up. Nevertheless, they hadn't become close friends; at least not close enough to share their secrets. So she hesitated at first. Should she tell Hermione about what happened with Terry?

No, better not. She didn't feel comfortable talking about such things anyway.

"Imagine," she began cautiously, despite herself, "imagine there's a boy you've known for a long time. A close friend, perhaps; maybe even your best one. You've known each other since childhood and you always felt comfortable around him, even when you two were fighting. And then, suddenly, everything changes. You develop feelings for him, strange feelings that haven't been there before ... What do you do?"

'How childish am I?' she wondered as she told Hermione this. 'I sound like a silly little school girl with her first crush.'

But then, this was her first crush. Or her first time in love. Or whatever....

"Talk to him, of course," Hermione replied without hesitation. "That way you can find out whether he fancies you, too, or whether the whole thing is pointless." A frown crossed her forehead as she continued. "Or, if you knew that the whole thing was pointless from the beginning, don't talk to him and drop the matter. Rejection is painful enough but losing a friend is a risk I wouldn't be willing to take."

With her last words she had lowered her wand, gazing absentmindedly at the Gryffindor rosette lying on the table. "No, you should talk to him," she concluded, defiantly raising her head to give Lisa a weak smile. "If you don't, you'll have to deal with these repressed feelings all the time, and things will only end up getting more complicated."

"Thanks." Lisa closed the colour jars and started to clean her quills and brushes. "I think I'll go to bed now ... it's getting really late."

It was only when she was lying awake in her dormitory that she realized she had possibly been a little rude towards Hermione. The Head Girl had listened to her whining and had actually given her some honest advice, and she had simply rushed out on her...

It seemed that Hermione was rather familiar with the situation herself. But why? Did it have anything to do with Harry? He was Hermione's best friend after all; maybe she had finally developed some more-than-friendly feelings for him. After all, the endless rumours about them never seemed to die down. Maybe there was some grain of truth to them....

Not that this was any of her concern. Her sole concern was Mandy, the girl whom Terry admired for being such a skilled flier and Quidditch player.

Lisa smiled. It was not a good kind of smile. Would Terry still admire Mandy if she made a fool of herself at the Quidditch game?

***

"Hey, Harry, wait up!"

Harry Potter paused in his steps to let Terry catch up with him. "Ron just told me you and Hermione are going to fly out later to get some more Gillyweed for the game, is that right?" he asked the Head Boy all in one breath.

Harry nodded. "It's about time we did. The game's tomorrow after all."

"Mind if Mandy and I tag along?"

"Not at all. We planned on taking some more people anyway. The swamps aren't exactly the safest of places; it would be too risky if just the two of us went. What about Lisa? Is she coming too?"

"No, but you and Hermione can open the hideout, so we don't need her," Terry explained, hopelessly failing at trying to sound casual. "And Ernie and Hannah are staying here, so we've got two Prefects in the hideout. They finished putting up the loops, and they won't put up decorations 'til tomorrow morning so the stuff doesn't get soaked over night." He broke off as he realized he was babbling. Hopefully Harry hadn't noticed.

It appeared that he had, and now he looked slightly apprehensive. "It sounds like you've got it all planned out. Terry, what's going on?"

Terry took a look around to make sure no one was listening before he turned back to the other boy. He needed Harry's support in this and he knew he would have to spill the beans to get it. "Listen, mate, all I want is a chance to talk to Mandy on her own. That's why I want to take her along and that's why I didn't tell Lisa. You see, in here it's really difficult. There's people everywhere and no privacy, and I don't want everyone to know that I'm going to ask her out. But once we're outside, digging for Gillyweed in the mud...not that that sounds very romantic...I'm sure, there's a chance that you and Hermione could choose a different spot to ... err ... dig in the mud."

"Well..." Harry was still frowning; he didn't seem entirely convinced. "OK, but you need to stay within sight. Like I said, the swamps are a dangerous place. They're the home of the Water Widows, and we don't know what else lurks down in the mud. The one we'll be digging in."

"Don't worry, we'll be careful," Terry promised. "I know it's Mandy's first time out there, but I've collected Gillyweed before. I know the dangers."

He gave Harry a wink. "Just because I'm a hormone driven teenage boy who's madly in love doesn't automatically mean I'm going to risk all our lives over a bit of romance."

"No, of course not," Harry said stiffly. His eyes narrowed for a moment, but when they focused on Terry again, they retained a perfectly neutral expression. "I suppose you'd better go get your broom, then."

***

The evenings were still sunny, but October had brought with it chilly winds and a wave of cold. The four teenagers flew in silence as they crossed the lake, enjoying the sun and the fresh air...a rare, precious taste of freedom. Usually when they got outside, they were either rescuing somebody or fleeing from somebody else.

They enjoyed the ride, but afraid of feeling overconfident, they kept a close eye on their surroundings. Moving in silence, they avoided loud noises or reckless flight manoeuvres to make sure they didn't draw unnecessary attention to themselves. The Forbidden Forest had eyes and ears and they were well aware of it.

Where the shallows of the lake seemed to lead directly into the woods, the swamps began; only the tree roots stretching out into the lake held the muddy ground together. Tiny rills were drawing like cobwebs through the moist earth, collecting the water in dirty pools. It was not safe to walk on foot here, because you never knew where the ground would still support your weight and where it would give way to the horrors beneath. Hungry creatures and poisonous plants were lurking, waiting for unsuspecting victims they could pull into the depths of the earth to devour them. To be safe, the students rarely left their brooms while cutting Gillyweed, and they made sure that someone always kept watch.

"Harry, over here!" Terry saw Hermione approach a small pond where tentacle-like branches protruded from the greenish surface of the water. With one last glance back, Harry followed her.

Terry gave him a roguish wink to show him that everything was all right and turned to Mandy. "We'll look over here, OK? You coming?"

"We'll have to be careful though. Didn't you see the cobwebs?" As she followed Terry, Mandy pulled a small bag out of the pockets of her robes. With the help of some lavender powder, it was possible to make the huge webs of the Water Widows more visible so you wouldn't accidentally brush against the sticky threads. As long as their webs weren't touched, the giant spiders would not attack; it was not in their nature.

When all the cobwebs around them glistened in pale purple, Terry pulled a knife from his pocket and started cutting off the slimy sprouts of the plant. "This would be so much easier with a Summoning Charm," he sighed.

Mandy shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose so, but we'd rip the roots out, too. We would've used it all up in a few short weeks, and since Gillyweed isn't even natural to this climate, it's not like we could get more of it anywhere else. So..."

Dispirited, she lowered her eyes. "And who knows how long we'll have to stay underwater...."

If Terry had looked at her, he'd probably have realized that this would have been a perfect moment for a comforting move, perhaps a smile or even an arm around the girl's shoulders. He was busy, however, peeking past her to make sure that Harry and Hermione were out of hearing range. "Uhm ... Mandy, listen, I..."

"What is it?" She steered her broom sideways to dodge a long black tentacle suddenly lashing out from between the greenish-grey weeds. Since the sun hadn't sunk yet, the Devil's Snare pulled back immediately; it could not bear sunlight. Mandy gave a breath of relief and turned back to Terry.

"Mandy ... uhm ... I ... I wanted to ask you something."

"Fire away." She smiled, trying to appear more confident than she actually was.

"I ... uhm ... don't object to you, you know?"

Mandy's cheeks flushed scarlet as she mumbled something too softly for Terry to make out. Terry's face reddened as well, and he dropped his glance, staring at the bundle of Gillyweed he was holding in his hands. 'Words,' Terry thought with some annoyance, 'have an irritating habit of vanishing right when you need them most; after all the cheeky comments that bubbled up at the most inopportune times, surely it wouldn't be too much to ask that they be present the one time I truly need them. But apparently, it is.'

"I like you, too, you know." Mandy's heroic attempt to rescue him from his speechlessness went unnoticed.

"I ... uhm ...." Terry mumbled.

"Watch out!" Terry hadn't paid attention and was hovering close to the spider's web, his arm almost touching one of the glistening threads. Unfortunately Mandy's shriek caused him to jump and accidentally brush against it. He struggled to get free again, but his arm was stuck.

"Hurry, the spider's coming!" Mandy leaned forward and reached for Terry, trying to pull him away by the speed of her broom. Only her broom didn't want to pick up speed. Instead it made a sudden, unexpected leap. She managed to grab hold of it, but didn't release Terry soon enough; he was pulled off his broom and fell headfirst into the Water Widow's web.

"Terry!" Mandy yelled. She wanted to reach for her wand, but her broom bucked violently like a horse in panic, and she had to cling to it with both of her hands. She had no clue what was wrong with the bloody thing: it wouldn't obey any commands; it skipped and bounced and spun as if it was trying to throw her off on purpose. For one moment, she wondered whether she should just jump off, but there were spiders' webs beneath her, and if she got caught in there as well, Harry and Hermione would have to rescue them both.

The mud smacked and gargled as the giant Water Widow worked her way out of it, her huge black mouth pincers clicking threateningly. Terry screamed and tried to wrestle his arms free from the sticky threads, but they were as tough as they were elastic.

Just like monstrous rubber bands....

From the corner of her eye, Mandy saw Harry and Hermione speeding through the air; luckily, both of them were keeping their cool. Their wands were already out, and they attacked the spider together, trying to keep her away from Terry

"Watch out," Terry shouted from below. "There's a Devil's... "

A giant black tentacle darted upwards from the mud, wrapping itself around Harry's arm. The fading daylight was no longer strong enough to keep the dangerous plant at bay.

Mandy did not see what happened next. Her broom shot straight down, and the only thing her eyes could make out was the dark ground lined with purplish threads. Coming closer and closer....

The world went flashy and sticky and black.

***

"Say, Padma, have you seen Hermione by any chance?" In the Orange Blossom Room, Lisa was sitting with a group of other girls, stowing away her quills and brushes. "I just wanted to let her know that I'm finished with tomorrow's decorations."

Padma shook her head. "No idea where she could be. Did you check the Gryffindor Common Room?"

Officially, there still was a Common Room for each House, but no one kept to their own any more; too many friendships and relationships had been formed between members of different Houses. Since they all had to trust each other in their current situation, they had done away with the passwords as well.

"All set for tomorrow?" The sliding door opened just far enough to let a red-haired head poke in. Ron took his duties as Quidditch organizer very seriously; he was constantly dashing around and checking in with everyone involved in the preparations. So far, he had successfully made sure that everything was running smoothly.

Lisa and Padma nodded at his question and Lisa added: "You haven't, by any chance, seen Hermione?"

"I couldn't have," Ron explained. "She's left for the Gillyweed swamps with Harry, Terry and Mandy. I would've gone along as well, if I didn't have so many important..."

"Mandy, too?" Lisa interrupted him, hand flying involuntarily to her mouth in horror. "Ron, please, where are Ernie and Hannah?"

Ron only shrugged, but a few girls giggled, among them Hannah's friend Susan. "You can't talk to them right now," she said blushing. "They ... uhm ... retired for a little while."

Lisa practically stormed from the room. Ernie and Hannah would either be in the seventh year boys' or girls' dormitory, so she raced down the corridor with the Hufflepuff dormitories. Reaching the girls' one first, she scraped at the door, almost ripping the paper. As she shouted Hannah's name, a muffled voice replied, and a few moments later the Hufflepuff girl appeared in the doorway, her blond hair tousled over the morning robes she had hastily thrown over. "What happened, Lisa?" she asked, concerned.

"I don't have time to explain right now," Lisa shouted desperately. "Please, you have to open the hideout at once. Mandy's out there collecting Gillyweed, and her broom's not working right ... Please, you have to hurry!"

"We'll be out in just a moment." Luckily, Hannah didn't waste any precious time with questions. She and Ernie threw on some clothes while Lisa Summoned their brooms, and only a few minutes later, all three of them flew upwards to the cloud holding the entrance of their hideout.

"You have to take someone with you," Ernie demanded. "We can't leave, you know that, but you shouldn't be out there alone...."

"Please, we don't have time!" Lisa urged. It would take precious minutes to fly back down and find someone of age, minutes which...for all she knew...Mandy did not have. It was a risk she just couldn't take.

"We'll send a couple of people after you," Hannah suggested, reaching for her golden key. "The Gillyweed swamps, right?"

Lisa nodded and spun her broom around, ready to race.

***

Damn, how could she have let this happen? If something happened to Mandy out there, it was her fault and her fault alone.

It was only when she realized she couldn't breathe that she realized she hadn't had any Gillyweed herself. In all this haste she had completely forgotten about it. For one brief second she considered a Bubble Head Charm, but she didn't know whether it would work underwater, and if she muttered an incantation she wouldn't have any breath left. If she tried and failed, she would drown for sure.

Instead, she made desperate attempts to race even faster, the force of the water pounding against her body, almost ripping her off her broom. Locking her fingers around the handle, she clung onto it; she needed to reach the surface before she fainted, or it would be all over. Damn, why couldn't this stupid thing go faster! Just a little bit!

Her lungs felt like fire; she started coughing and choking and grasping for air. Somehow the water around her seemed brighter; was she finally getting close to the surface, or was she losing consciousness? Why couldn't this stupid broom...

The world around her seemed to fade just as her broom finally broke through the surface of the lake, wonderful fresh air filling her lungs. Her hands, however, finally slipped off the handle and she was thrown back into the lake. Her empty broom rose in the air a bit before it fell back down in the water, luckily not too far away from her. Trying to stay on the surface, she realized how icy the water was and how heavily her wet clothes pulled her down. She would catch a cold for sure.

But this was all her fault....

Nevertheless, she managed to reach her broom, the wind pulling her wet clothes as she started racing through the air. Her body stiffened with all the cold, but she didn't even notice. 'Please, please, Mandy, be all right,' she prayed silently.

What if Mandy wasn't? What if something had happened to her?

What if she came too late?

The sounds of battle greeted her as she reached the swamps. From afar she could hear voices shouting incantations, the sizzling and rustling of spells and the thunder of an explosion.

Voices, yes.

But not Mandy's....

Below her, Terry hung inside the giant cobweb of a Water Widow. Hermione attacked the spider with Stunning Spells, which couldn't penetrate the creature's thick body armour, but kept her distracted, buying Harry enough time to cut Terry free. Some ripped plant parts lay on the ground below them; it looked as if there had been additional trouble with a Devil's Snare.

Anyhow, they would be OK. Terry was almost free from the sticky threads.

But where was Mandy?

Lisa's eyes darted left and right; there was no sign of the other Ravenclaw girl. A second spider sat in her web, but she was too far away to pose any immediate danger.

No, wait! The spider was chewing on something. Her giant pincers were moving.

There was a loud crunching sound....

Please, no! Oh, please, that couldn't happen!

Lisa raced downwards, stopping dead just over the giant animal and kicking at its head hard. The Widow straightened, looking up at the disturbance. Pincers reached for Lisa, but she had been expecting that, so she had no trouble sideflying them.

As she looked downwards she could make out what the spider was doing; broken pieces of broomstick tumbled from her mouth tools as they opened and closed lazily. The spider took no notice of them. Hard substances like wood weren't edible to her; she needed something softer. So she turned away to focus her attention on something else.

Lisa had not been able to see Mandy at first, because the other girl had lain beneath the Widow's hind body, hidden by the creature's massive form. Only as the spider moved, the Ravenclaw could spot her classmate's lifeless form.

There was a trickle of blood on her cropped hair and some more on one of the tree roots supporting the web. If she had hit her head on that root, it meant that she was only unconscious, didn't it? She would be all right.

Please, she had to be all right!

Lisa drew her wand, but her hands, stiff with all the cold, couldn't hold onto it. It slipped through her fingers, dropping down into the sticky substance of the web. The spider didn't mind the tiny piece of wood; she was busy with something else. As she loomed over her prey, she used her front legs to turn the girl on her back.

Lisa didn't waste any time. She shot downwards, attacking the creature with her bare hands. It could only be seconds until Harry and the others were here to help her; all she had to do was keep the spider away from Mandy just a little longer.

She kicked at the spider again, aiming for the eyes. They had to be more sensitive than the heavily armoured head, she thought, but her blows didn't even seem to make the spider angry. In a placid, almost lazy move the creature reared up, using one of her pincers to shove her attacker off her broom.

The threads were incredibly sticky. Fortunately, Lisa had kept her calm as she tumbled down into the web, using only one hand to break the fall and keeping the other safely away from it. Her wand had to be close by, and if she had a free hand, she could try to reach for it. Her eyes darted about, feverishly searching for her only weapon. She breathed in deeply as she spotted it only an arm's length away from her, dangling from one of the threads.

She stretched out her arm, trying to reach it. Hopefully, her stiff fingers wouldn't desert her now; she had to grab the damn thing. She had to, or everything would be over. After what seemed like hours, she thought she could feel the hard wood at her fingertips, but she couldn't tell for sure; her hands were too numb.

In the next moment she was thrown roughly onto her back, giant spider's legs pressing her arms and legs to the sticky threads to make sure she couldn't struggle. The creature's weight pinned her down into the web as she desperately threw her head back and forth, the only part of her body she was still able to move.

That was until her chignon loosened and her long dark mane got caught as well.

The glistening green eyes of the creature stared at her coldly as the pincers moved aside to make room for the long, pointy suction tube spiders used for ingestion. Lisa squeezed her eyes shut so she didn't have to see it moving towards her.

Goosebumps raced along her arms and legs and her heartbeat pounded like a drum in her chest as she still saw the image in her mind's eye; the venomously pointed spike moving inexorably towards her belly. Automatically, her body tried to shrink back into the web, but her mind knew it was no use.

She felt a searing pain as the razor-sharp tip pierced her abdomen, and then she knew no more.

***

There was nothing but darkness around her, a complete utter darkness. Only once the features of Padma...or was it Parvati? ...emerged out of the blackness, only to fade back into it a moment later. Or was it hours? She couldn't tell.

She wasn't in pain any more, but she felt sleepy, so very sleepy. The darkness gave way to something else now; she was travelling through a world of strange forms and bizarre sounds.

Tattered images floated past her: the lake, the swamps, those horrible glistening green eyes....

And then the images faded away so that only the green eyes remained.

Yet they were no longer the eyes of a monster, but the friendly eyes of a human gazing down at her.

"Am I dead?" Her voice sounded a bit hoarse, but it was still her voice. Her hands gingerly palmed her stomach, feeling a bandage around it.

"No, not at all," said Harry Potter, smiling. "Thanks to our twins and their impressive healing skills, you're almost completely healed again. You'll be back on your feet soon.

"It was close, however," he added. "If we had come only a few seconds later, your chances would've been less then zero."

"It's so quiet ... where are all the others? Mandy?"

"That's because it's Saturday and everyone else is out in the lake watching the game. Mandy...well, as far as I know, she just snatched the Snitch from the Badgers and chances are good she'll do the same to us. Only Padma and Parvati took turns in checking on you."

"But you ... why are you here?" Utterly bewildered, she stared at him.

"Ron took over my post as referee. I wanted to be with you when you woke up."

"But why ... I mean, Quidditch is so important for you...."

Harry shook his head. "We don't live in a time for games anymore. Of course, sometimes we have to push it all away and just be happy, and that's why we decided not to blow the game off after your accident. Too many people worked too hard for it, and they deserve a little joy with all the terrible things they have to cope with.

"But it's still only a game, and it's not important. What you did was important. You saved Mandy's life by risking your own; that was a very brave thing to do."

"No, it wasn't." Hot tears spilled from her eyes as she continued. "It's all my fault! I jinxed Mandy's broom. I wanted her to screw up during the game so that the others would laugh at her and Terry would stop following her around."

She could feel her voice break into sobs, but the words just kept bubbling out. "I never imagined Mandy would fly her broom outside the hideout before the game. I thought she'd only fly it at the game and under water she wouldn't get hurt, even if she fell down. I never meant for her to get hurt. I never meant ... Oh, Harry, I've been so stupid! So childish. So...."

"I'm sorry, but I have to agree with you." He Summoned a handkerchief for her to dry her tears and blow her nose. "Under normal circumstances this would have been a school prank, and if we were back in Hogwarts, you would've lost some House points, got a couple of detentions and justice would have been served."

He gazed at her intently, until she lowered her eyes. "You know as well as I do that circumstances aren't normal anymore. You endangered others and you endangered yourself as well...and for what? We can't afford childish pranks like this, Lisa, not when we all need to rely on each other. We can't put our own petty interests before the safety of our classmates and certainly not before the crucial goal we are trying to achieve."

"Forgive me," Lisa sobbed desperately. She turned her head away; she still wasn't able to meet his eyes. "I'm so, so sorry! I can never make up for this!"

"You already did." With a gentle gesture he lifted up her chin so he could look at her face. "Don't try to bury yourself in feelings of guilt now. Talk to Mandy; this is between the two of you. If you want to ask someone's forgiveness, it should be her and not me. Only when things are OK between you and her can we consider this unfortunate matter closed."

"Do you really mean that?" Lisa asked hopefully. "Don't you ... don't you want to punish me or anything?"

Harry shook his head. "This is not about crime and punishment, and I certainly have no right to pass judgment on you. I'm not Dumbledore or some old wise wizard who knows about life. I only know that you took full responsibility for what you did and that you tried everything to repair the damage you caused, even by risking your own life. What more could be expected of you? None of us is perfect; we all make mistakes. So isn't the most important thing how we deal with our mistakes afterwards?"

She could only nod; she was far too moved by his words to find words of her own now. Besides, talking was wearisome, and she felt tired and exhausted from all the crying and brooding. Her health wasn't fully restored yet.

"The others will be here soon," Harry considered. "Maybe a little rest would do you some good, Lisa, especially before the talk with Mandy. I don't suppose it's going to be easy for you."

He stood up, gently smoothing her covers. Not that they really needed smoothing; it was simply a caring gesture.

"It shouldn't be that way," he said softly. "I know it shouldn't. We should be worrying about lessons and grades and love and Quidditch. All the matters important to children and teenagers...."

"There's something else, Harry," she mumbled, growing sleepier with each passing minute. "I want to resign as a Ravenclaw Prefect."

"If that's your decision, we'll accept it. Maybe, since we don't have proper teachers to appoint Prefects, the Ravenclaws could choose a new one by vote."

"OK. And Harry?"

"Yes?"

"I ... I do think that you're wise. Very wise."

"Please don't say things like that." He turned around in the door frame, and as he shook his head, she could see a deep sadness darkening his green eyes. "I've done things far worse and by far more foolish than jinxing a rival's broom."

Then he closed the sliding door and she was on her own.

She wondered what he had meant with his last sentence; he didn't seem the type for foolish things at all. But she was far too tired for mysteries now. She snuggled comfortably into her covers and soon sank into a deep dreamless sleep.

Tsuzuku (...to be continued)

*

Dark night, nothing to see,

Invisible hand in front of me.

Scared to death there's someone near,

Scared to move but you can't stay here.

You know me, evil eye!

You know me, prepare to die!

You know me, the snakebite kiss!

Devil's grip, the Iron Fist!

*

extra Extra EXTRA!!!!

"Aaaah, my dark past is coming back to me. It's all my fault. *sob* I'm going to brood now."

"Wouldn't we like to know what poor Harry-chan did?"

"That's very simple. He had sex, lost his soul and then he killed people."

"No way. He had sex, then he turned into Potterfly and tried to merge with his lover in a beaming box."

"Yes way. He had sex, got brainwashed by an evil alien queen, and then he threw black roses all over the place and broke his lover's new pink moon wand."

"If you know the right answer, call Fred & George's studio and win a rose-shaped music box with a prince and princess in it. A green one, because all the other colours are taken."

"Of course we have to charge you 5000 Galleons for each call, but we aren't telling you that. Americans may pay in 100 dollar bills."

"Or come by and drop us a postcard. Don't be shy! Enter the shadow realm behind the mirrors to listen to our pointless ramblings."

"Or turn back and get out of here as fast as possible. Go, go! Now's your final chance!"

"What my gentle brother is trying to convey with his cautious words of warning: The worst is yet come!"

"Didn't like spiders? Well, try rats next chapter. Didn't like jealous girls bitching at each other? Well, how about some partying Death Eater boys spreading testosterone poisonings with their raging hormones. Didn't like Quidditch games? Watch what happens when the Blood Legion ravages Diagon Alley and the Ghost Riders aren't allowed to play."

"Yep, they're all back next chapter. Mackie Macnair and Toto-chan and the Malfoy ferret."

"Secret Conspiracies. Tempting offers. Mysterious assignments. Smiling schemers. Whispered promises. The forces of darkness return in: "

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Amicus Draconis: 1st Cycle - Cycle of the Badger - Episode 4: Offers and Offerings

Original Airdate: March 2002

Coming soon to a fanfic archive near you....

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Draco Dormiens nunquam titillandus

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Author notes: When we write HP fiction, there are some topics to deal with. Jo gave us a detailed and enchanting world, but she also leaves a lot to our imagination. So we have to plan what our interpretation of the HP universe is going to be like.

In this note I'd like to address the topics of "Books vs. Movies", "Wizard Clothing" and "Same Sex Relationships" and how I decided to deal with them in my HP universe.

Books vs. Movies: The books are my first source of canon, but since Jo supervises the movies herself, I'm okay with them as well. I stick to book reality in terms of dialogues, plot and characters, and all the important issues. When it comes to the question of design, however, I often prefer the movie version, and sometimes I like to create my own, which differs from both the books and the movies.

Here's what I mean by design. An example would be the different clothing the characters wear in the movies, or the different design of the Chamber of Secrets and so on. In a movie you just need some eye candy. Since AD is based on Japanese Anime, the experts on bright colours and flashy images, it needs eye candy, too. So I gave New Hogwarts a shape changing hideout and I let the Ghost Riders thunder through the skies on demonic horses.

Wizard Clothing: What do wizards wear beneath their robes? When James turns Severus upside down, we get a good look at his underwear. But when Draco storms out of Madam Malkin's shop after chucking the green robes away, he's fully clothed. And why does an old-fashioned, pureblood wizard like Sirius' father wear trousers? Aren't those too Muggle for him?

I don't write too much about clothing, because I would bore the reader to death if I was constantly dressing and undressing characters. In general I stick a little more with the movie design, which means you wear your trousers, shirts or dresses beneath a set of robes or a wizarding cloak. In year X your fashion magazine might promote cloaks and open robes and it's okay to show your trousers. In year Y you absolutely have to wear closed robes, because trousers are bad Muggle things. Since fashion bounces back and forth in all Muggle societies, why shouldn't it do so in the wizarding world as well?

As for trousers, skirts, etc, I imagine pureblood wizards to be a little bit archaic. Long dresses for the women, perhaps medieval, Renaissance or Victorian styled, and the matching masculine counterparts for their husbands. Clothes like jeans, mini-skirts and tee shirts would rather be worn by young people, or people with Muggle ancestry.

Same Sex Relationships: Jo doesn't give wizards the same problems as Muggles; she always transforms them into wizarding equivalents. While Fascism in the Muggle world is based on skin colour, religion, or nationality, wizards base it on ancestry. It's no big deal whether your skin's black or white, but it matters greatly whether your father was an accountant or an employee at the Ministry of Magic.

So I've tried a similar approach for relationship issues. In my wizarding world no one cares whether you love a man or a woman, because there are other things to worry about. Can a wizard legally marry a giant? Will the daughter of a wizard and a Mermaid be accepted at Hogwarts? Does the son of a witch and a Centaur get a fair trial, or will he find himself before the Magical Creature's Department?

So, same-sex relationships are an every-day thing in AD. Most characters don't define themselves as straight or gay anyways; they fall in love with someone as a person.