Through the Barrier

"Sort of like Robin Hood!" Emily said cheerfully.

"Okay you lot, listen up! For those of you who didn't know it, I'm Harry Potter."

"People like you shouldn't be allowed to have girlfriends," Hermione commented.

"Oh, go drown yourself somewhere, Malfoy." Hermione called back.

"Don't you dare!" Ginny hissed.

Chapter 8.

Well back in the common room, and receiving a few curious glances from a couple of third-years staying up late, the group sat down in the couches and armchairs surrounding the fireplace.

It took a while before someone spoke. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be Helen.

"So... that was weird. Does your Headmaster do those things often?"

"No," Hermione answered. "I have never heard or read anything like it before."

"Then it doesn't exist," Ron said. "Then she would know about it." He put his arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"Was that a compliment?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I think it seems like a good idea, this necklace-thing," Ginny said. "It'll certainly make me feel safer."

"Definitely," Neville agreed. "I liked the way Professor Dumbledore said that we should look out for each other. But I don't get this, are we supposed to be nice and so with the Slytherins too?"

"I think that in Blaise's case, we have to be careful," Harry said. "I suspect that he will get into hell if he's discovered socialising with Gryffindors. But partly, yes. And take care of the younger students, not only the ones with necklaces."

"Sort of like Robin Hood!" Emily said cheerfully.

"Emily, Robin Hood took from the rich and gave to the poor," Hermione said, looking at her with doubt. "He doesn't have anything to do with this."

"I know, but not that part! He conquered the evil dudes and protected the weak in King Richard's name. Dumbledore is King Richard, Harry is Robin, Ron is Little John..."

"I'm Maid Marion!" Ginny decided.

"What about me?" Hermione asked. "Who am I?"

"You're..." Emily thought. "Friar Tuck!"

"Gee, thanks..."

"And the rest of us?" Neville asked.

"Robin's merry men."

"Whatever," Helen said. "Anyway, we should be going to bed. Thanks to someone," she threw Harry a glance, "we woke up really early, and have had a long day. And it's Quidditch tryouts tomorrow, and I need my rest."

"You're right," Harry agreed. "I should be off too. Ron?"

"Me too."

"Girls?"

"Yeah."

"Goodnight everyone."

"Goodnight."

The next day at the Quidditch tryouts.

"Okay you lot, listen up! For those of you who didn't know it, I'm Harry Potter."

This caused a nervous giggle along the line of students that had gathered on the Quidditch-pitch in hope of being chosen to join the Gryffindor team. They all stood on a line in front of Harry, broomsticks in hand. Harry himself was walking back and forth along the line, like a general inspecting his troops. The rest of the team (well, Ron and Andrew) stood a couple of feet behind Harry, eyeing the group with interest.

Hermione and Emily sat on the stands, also watching, and doing their Transfiguration homework at the same time, a big essay on Animagi and its dangers.

There had to be almost thirty candidates out there on the field, and among them Ginny and Helen, who were the only ones not looking super-nervous.

"I'm looking for three Chasers and one Beater," Harry continued. "And only the best will make the team. We will begin with a couple of group-exercises..."

"Poor kids," Hermione commented to Emily. "They don't know what they have gotten themselves into."

"What do you mean?"

"Do the books mention Oliver Wood?"

"Yes." Emily smiled. "Mr super-fanatic. He's mentioned the last time in book 4, at the Quidditch World Cup. If I'm not wrong, on your way to the water tap."

"That's so scary that you know that without actually being there."

"I can guess. Oh, and by the way, what was so funny about Archie's desire to have a breeze around his private parts?" Emily grinned.

Hermione blushed. "Oh, knock it off! Well, anyway, I think that Harry will probably be even worse than Oliver was. He certainly shows the tendencies." She nodded towards him.

"No you moron, you're supposed to hit the Bludger AWAY from the Chasers, not AT them!" He tore the bat away from the small second-year and hit the Bludger just as it was going to hit Andrew (who was playing Chaser at the moment, to help out) in the head. Again. "You're useless! All of you!"

Hermione sighed. "See what I mean?"

"Oh, dear. Poor Potter seems to have his hands full," drawled a voice.

Hermione didn't budge. "Go away, Malfoy."

"My, my, if it isn't Mudblood Granger and Mudblood Williams. How nice."

"I said, go away," Hermione said in a cold voice. "Are you deaf, Malfoy?"

"As it happens, no I'm not. And I think I'm going to stick around for a while. I haven't had my daily dose of amusement yet." He sat down a row above the girls.

As he moved, Hermione and Emily could see a girl, standing about twenty feet away, watching Draco's every move. She was blonde, petite and very cute, wearing an open Slytherin robe over a light blue jumper and black trousers. When she noticed that Draco had sat down, she also did so, still twenty feet away.

"Who's the girl?" Emily asked. "Is she with you?"

"Yes." He didn't even look at her. "That's my recent girlfriend, Julia. She's 5^th year, Ravenclaw, and good for my image."

Hermione snorted. "What happened to Pansy?"

"I got bored. Too much pink. Ouch! That has got to hurt!"

He had caught sight of Harry receiving a Bludger in the back of his head and was now smirking. "It's a sad lot Gryffindor has got this year, with some exceptions. The Weasley girl is good, and the teacher kid... What's her name again?"

"Helen."

"Yeah, right. She's fairly good too, but about the rest are a disaster. I on the other hand, have gathered a very strong team this year."

"You?" Hermione looked sharply at him.

"Yes. I am the captain this year, Granger, didn't you know? And this year, finally, we're going to beat your dear Gryffindor team. Which, judging by the look of those over there, won't be very difficult."

"Keep that little dream of yours, Draco, because it's not going to last very long," Emily said, trying to defend her house. "You are no match to Harry, and you know it."

"Am I really? And how would you know? You have only been here for a month, Williams, and there hasn't been any Quidditch-matches yet."

He caught Emily off-guard with his comment. "I'm... eh..."

Hermione came to her rescue. "And you think it would go a month without Ron and Harry bragging and talking about Quidditch? Please, Malfoy, don't appear dumber than you already are."

Draco eyed the girls suspiciously, but was interrupted by someone gently touching his shoulder. He spun around, but relaxed when he realised it was only Julia.

"Draco, I'm going back to the castle, are you coming?"

"No."

"Why not?" She was starting to look impatient.

"Because I don't want to. Go yourself, I'll see you later." And with that he turned away and began watching the action on the Quidditch-pitch.

"Draco..."

"I told you to go away, Julia, didn't you hear me?"

"Humpf!" Julia walked away briskly, her robe filling with air and looking like a big black sail fluttering behind her as she walked.

"Funny," Hermione said. "I thought I told you the exact same thing when you arrived, but you didn't listen."

"Of course not. I don't take orders from anyone, and that includes you, Granger. Julia, on the other hand, has no integrity, and does everything I tell her to."

"So why are you dating her at all?" Emily asked.

Draco held up three fingers. "One; she's cute, two; she's blonde, three; she's good for my image and keeps Pansy away."

"Blonde?" Emily said. "That's a good reason?! What, you like, only date blonde girls?"

"For the time being, yes. They're like puppies. Daft as sheep and only need a pat now and then to keep satisfied."

"People like you shouldn't be allowed to have girlfriends," Hermione commented.

"That might be true. Oh, I think you're needed down at the field, Granger, your boyfriend is waiving."

"What?" Hermione looked down at the field, and indeed, there was Ron, waiving frenetically at them. He was standing next to a girl who was laying down on the ground. "Oh, dear! Come on Emily, we'd better get down there and see what we can do to help."

"Okay."

"Bye, bye girls!" Draco called after them in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh, go drown yourself somewhere, Malfoy." Hermione called back.

Down at the field, they hurried towards Ron and the girl. The others were standing a bit off, being yelled at by Harry.

"What's wrong?" Emily panted as they reached there.

"Someone hit her off her broom," Ron explained. "I think she's hurt."

"Of course she's hurt!" Hermione said angrily. "This sport is too dangerous, I'm telling you! She is unconscious, bleeding, and has very likely broken an arm! Enervate."

The girl stirred, winced in pain and started crying. Hermione glared at Ron even more, as if it had been his fault.

"Come on, sweetie, let's get up. You fell off your broom, and your arm might be broken. We're going to help you to get to the infirmary. Here we go."

Emily and Hermione heaved girl to her feet.

"What's your name?" Emily asked when they started walking towards the castle.

"Natalie Whitby. I'm in second year," she whispered.

"Well I'm Emily, and this is Hermione. We're sixth-years."

"Now I can't be on the team, can I?"

"You don't know that. You'll have to see when the results are posted."

"What happened here?!" Madam Pomfrey demanded when they entered the infirmary.

"Quidditch-tryouts," Hermione answered. "She fell off her broom."

"Madness, that sport is," Madam Pomfrey muttered as she fixed Natalie's arm in the blink of an eye. Natalie only stared at her arm, completely bewildered.

"You'll have to stay here for a bit, darling, and I'll heal those cuts of yours. You two, on the other hand, can go."

"Alright. Take care of yourself, Natalie," Emily said.

"I will."

"So..." Emily said as they left the Hospital Wing, "do you think we should tell Harry about Draco being the captain this year?"

"Yes. He won't like it, but he better hear it from us than from rumours." Hermione shook her head. "He won't like it at all..."

Big understatement.

"WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING!?" Harry was already in a bad mood after the tryouts, and this didn't exactly improve. He threw himself on one of the couches in the common room, exhausted and now, in desperation. "I had hoped that Snape would have picked someone else..."

"Well, I'm not surprised," Ron exclaimed while being massaged by Hermione. "We knew that Malfoy was Snape's little lap-dog already. This only proves it further. And besides, his family probably paid Snape to pick him."

"Oh, Ron, don't," Hermione said. "Who would he had picked otherwise? Crabbe or Goyle? Do you really think they've got what it takes to run a team ?"

"Well it would be much easier to beat Slytherin with them in the lead," Harry put in. "I'm not looking forward to the first match of the year. Hopefully we've got the better team."

"Yeah, about that, who are you going to pick?" Emily asked curiously.

"We're going to discuss it later with Andrew," Harry answered. "First, I'm going to take a shower. Are you coming Ron?"

"Just a sec," Ron mumbled. He was enjoying the massage too much to want to get up and leave.

"I'm leaving too," Helen said. "I need a shower. I'm exhausted, all thanks to you, Harry. Are you usually this bossy?

"Always." Ginny grinned.

"Fine. Well, I'm going. I'll see you guys later." Helen rose and walked up the stairs.

Emily changed the subject.

"Did you see the new note on the board?" she said.

"No, what?"

"About the dance."

"What dance?" Ron sounded suspicious.

"The Halloween-dance. McGonagall put the note up today, Lavender told me. It's going to be a dance with a Muggle theme. We're going to be dressed in muggle clothes. It's from 4^th year and up, and the younger students will have small parties in the common rooms."

"Great." Ron threw his hands up in the air. "Now my evening is spoiled. I'm going to take a shower. I'll see you later."

He left.

"So, are you excited about the dance?" Emily asked Hermione.

"Well, this time, I can at least count on Ron taking me. I guess you've heard about last time, haven't you?"

"Yes." She smiled.

Ginny looked questioning at the two and mentally, Emily slapped herself. She had to be more careful about what she said.

"So, Gin," she said to get Ginny's mind of her weird answer, "who are you going to go with?"

It did the trick. Ginny flushed.

"Well... I...."

"Come on," Hermione encouraged. "It's just us. You can tell, we won't tell anyone."

Ginny flushed even more, but then pulled herself together and leaned forward. Hermione and Emily did the same.

"I'm kind of hoping that... that Harry will ask..."

"Good for you!" Hermione smiled. "I'm sure that you have a chance there. He's no idiot, a bit daft, yes, but no idiot. He only need a bit of pressure, I wonder..."

"Don't you dare!" Ginny hissed.

"No, of course not..."

"I need to owl mum and get her to send me a dress," Emily suddenly said. "How are you going to get yours?"

"Well, there's a shop in Hogsmeade which sells Muggle clothes, we could go there next weekend and check it out," Ginny suggested.

"Good idea, then I'll wait to owl mum. It's always fun to have something new. What will you do, Hermione?"

"The same, I guess. I've got clothes at home too, but I can always come along."

"Great! I can't wait! This is going to be fun!"

Emily was proud over herself for managing to divert the unwanted attention her lack of thought had created. She had to get a bit more careful with what she said, that would take her through this year at Hogwarts without anyone discovering the truth. But that wouldn't be that hard. She was having the time of her life and nothing was going to change any time soon.

She didn't know how utterly wrong she was.