The Seers' Truth: A Broken Beginning

Chapter 25

Choosing Sides and Family Ties

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***

Parvati's dream began ordinarily enough. Like dreams, it was a little disjointed and confused. It had no feel of a prophecy. It wasn't orderly enough to be a prophecy. Parvati was standing at the door of the Gryffindor Tower and Harry Potter was standing in front of her. She remembered the moment. It wasn't a prophecy.

"Parvati--wannacometotheballwithme?" Harry spat out in one breath.

She hesitated. If he were anyone else--not a Champion--she would have said no. She wondered why she found herself saying yes.

"Okay, then."

Well, she knew the reason. She would open the dance. Pity it was with Harry. She would have preferred Cedric. Not that she didn't like Harry--it was just that he was always with Hermione and she was such a know-it-all. Besides, Harry was so serious all of the time. He never laughed at their jokes. He hardly even smiled or had fun. She and Lavender had laughed at loads of jokes from Fred and George's antics to some Slytherin getting some well-needed comeuppance, but Harry had no sense of humor.

She considered him marginally good looking. Hopefully, he could do something with his hair--she wondered if she should ask if he wanted a spell--but he was a champion in the Tri Wizard Tournament and in his fight against You-Know-Who.

Harry Potter smiled and then he pushed bravely on--you had to admire that--bravery. Someone for Ron? He must be kidding!

"What about Hermione?" Parvati asked.

Parvati wracked her brain. Who owed her? Well, there was her sister in Ravenclaw. She never got her nose out of her books long enough to notice if she was going to the Ball with a troll or not--not that Ron was a Troll. He was just--well, Ron. And then she was saying she'd ask her sister.

The dream skipped ahead as dreams do: Alvin Nott asked her to go to the Yule Ball. He was darkly exciting and wickedly handsome. He was a little thin for her tastes, but it didn't matter. She had already committed to going with Harry. She told Alvin 'no'. She hadn't told anyone that the Slytherin had asked her. In truth, she had forgotten about it until just now.

Christmas day came and Parvati had to admit that Harry looked great, unlike Ron in his dress robes. When they danced, Harry let her lead. Amazing that he realized that this was something she did better than him and unlike most boys he let her do it. He even managed to avoid stepping on her feet--most of the time.

As they danced, she felt his breath, warm on her cheek. She could feel the racing of her heart. Why? Because she was in his arms? Because of the dance? Because--something was not right? She turned her body, just a little to settle herself a little closer against him. She knew he wouldn't push her away. She turned her head so she could snuggle a little with her head on his chest, listening to his heart. She moved her head again, just a little bit so that her cheek brushed against his lips. She turned her face up to him, her lips, just a breath away from his. She knew he would kiss her. But he didn't. He was looking across the room. The music stopped. All was silent. Deadly silent.

***

Drenched in sweat, she awakened and sat up, automatically reaching for her dream journal. "Harry?" she thought. "Little, rumpled haired Harry?"

"No," she decided, "this wasn't a prophecy. It was just a stupid dream. It's important for a Seer to be able to tell the difference," she thought as she put the dream journal, unopened, back on the nightstand. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

===

It was impossible. Ginny, in a fetal position, had wrapped herself around her blankets, and was moaning softly. She seemed to be trying to get away from whatever was in the blanket, but at the same time, she clung to it. Her muttered, incomprehensible sounds, along with her thrashing about, finally drove Parvati to pull the pillow and blanket off of her bed and move to the Gryffindor common room in the hopes of getting a few more hours of sleep before it was time for class.

Parvati froze as she noted the raging fire in the Common room fireplace, her eyes unfocused as she sank down onto the sofa and stared at the fire.

***

She found herself back at the Yule Ball. She had already left Harry and was sitting at the Beauxbatons table when Alvin Nott came and asked her to dance. She realized, unlike Harry, he was leading, his arms possessively around her. She stepped the wrong way and she tripped. Suddenly, she felt his arms tighten around her, keeping her upright. She looked up to see his dark, unfathomable eyes. A Death Eater mask hid the rest of his face.

"I won't let you fall," he whispered. "I'll protect you." But his arms were not the skinny little Alvin Nott arms. They were strong arms--a man's arms.

"Say nothing," he whispered and it was not Alvin Nott's voice. It was a man's voice. A man she knew. Snape.

"Dance!" he hissed in her ear.

She looked around wildly as the room filled with Death Eaters. People around her were dying. She had to help them. She started to struggle. She saw the Death Eaters coming--reaching out--their bare arms poking out of their robes--and around each arm was a snake. She wanted to close her eyes to shut out the sight, but she couldn't. Some morbid fascination made her continue to look. She could feel their hands on her. She could smell burning flesh. It was hot. So hot.

"Ignore them. Dance!" Snape's voice spoke in her ear. "You cannot help them unless you are strong."

She couldn't do it. She couldn't take her eyes off of the scene around her. How could she ignore them? They were her friends. The Death Eaters were moving through the dance floor pronouncing curses and killing Durmstrang students as well as Hogwarts' students. While she watched, several of the Durmstrang students calmly got up from where they were sitting at the Slytherin table and went to join the Death Eaters. She blinked and there were Death Eaters sitting among the Slytherins--among the Ravenclaws--among the Gryffindors--and even among the Hufflepuffs. Was no where safe? 'Where were the teachers?' screamed her frenzied brain. Why was no one here to help them?

The Beauxbatons' table exploded in a rush of flames! "No!" Her legs would no longer dance. They would no longer hold her. She crumpled, the flames moving in, but Snape wrapped his cloak around her and picked her up.

A part of her recoiled, but another part listened to his intense instructions.

"They must not know who you are," he said. "Tell no one. Do you understand? Do you understand how important you are? Do you understand?"

"Yes," she whispered as she buried her face against his shoulder, "I understand."

***

And she awoke. She was drenched in sweat and was shaking and she understood nothing. She stared stupidly at the roaring fire in the Common Room fireplace for several seconds before she even understood what she was seeing.

She rubbed her hands against her nightgown as if to wipe off the sweat. She had been dancing with Snape. She had her arms around his neck when he picked her up. Her fingers were in his hair--his greasy stringy hair. She shuddered with disgust and then raced to the girl's room to be sick because Snape was the best thing about the vision.

Afterwards she rinsed out her mouth and wiped her face. She wished disparately that she had planned a midnight lesson with Dean. She wanted his arms around her to wipe away the feeling of fear and violation that clung to her.

Instead, she took her wand down to the Common Room and extinguished the fire. Then she took her dream journal and slipped out of the Common Room to begin the long climb to Professor Trelawney's rooms.

While she climbed she thought it was probably for the best. She needed to tell Professor Trelawney, not Dean. The last time she had told Dean one of her visions had been in second year when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. She had dreamed that Snape gave He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a recipe for a potion to raise the Dark Lord from his near death state. Dean had nightmares about severed body parts for a whole year afterwards, especially the severed hand that stirred the potion. Actually, she had forgotten about it until Professor Lupin's class with the boggart. That's when she decided not to tell Dean any more of her dreams.

Parvati was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't see Snape until she practically ran into him. What was he doing on the seventh floor--? He was supposed to be in his dungeon!

"Who were you meeting tonight, Miss Patil?" he growled at her. Without waiting for an answer, he said, "20 points from Gryffindor and you will have detention tomorrow evening. Get back to your dormitory immediately."

"I have to see Professor Trelawney," she whispered. "I've had a vision."

"There's time enough for that nonsense in the morning," he snapped. "Likely that's just an excuse to get you out of trouble. Well, it won't work with me. Now, get back to your dormitory, and if I see you wondering about these halls at night again it will be 30 points and a weeks detention. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

His face was inches from hers and all she could think of is that he smelled exactly like he did in her vision--like smoke and some spicy potion ingredients that she couldn't place. Suddenly she remembered those eyes surrounded by a Death Eater's mask, and she turned and ran back to Gryffindor Tower.

"No running in the corridors!" Snape called after her.

===

Harry nodded as Hermione joined them. Beatrice moved down the table to where Samara was sitting. Ginny looked from one to the other, but eventually came over and sat next to Ron who was writing his final copy of his Defense Paper.

"You know," Ginny said. "You guys really hurt Samara's feelings yesterday."

"You can't say you agree with her kissing Malfoy!" said Ron, looking up from his work.

"No, but she has a right to pick her friends."

"Yep," said Ron. "And so do we."

"How can she understand what Slytherins are like if we don't tell her?" asked Ginny.

"We tried to tell her yesterday," said Harry. "She wouldn't listen."

"You know," said Hermione, "I'm not taking Samara's side on this, but she doesn't know Malfoy. He can fool the casual observer. I'm thinking he probably is using her to get back at her for the curse she gave him last week or just to get to you, Harry. You shouldn't let it bother you. Don't give him the satisfaction."

"By not talking to her, you're driving her right back to Malfoy," said Ginny.

"Who cares where she goes," said Ron. "We've go along just fine without her for the past four years--"

Ginny sighed, but didn't say anything else about the argument to Ron.

Edward, who came in a few minutes later, looked from one group to the other, and chose to sit with Samara and Beatrice.

===

"You know," said Hermione. "I've been looking over those papers you copied at the library again."

Just then, a late flying owl flew to Hermione and deposited an envelope on top of her breakfast.

"Is that from Viktor?" asked Harry.

She shook her head, puzzled, as she opened it. "I don't think so-- It's only been five days since I owled him." A look of bemusement crossed her face as she read aloud the letter she received:

Congratulations!

You have won! You are invited for a 3-day, 4-night holiday in Sunny Florida, at Disney World USA--the Real Magic Kingdom. Walk our private, Muggle-free beach. Free cruise to the Bermuda Triangle. Only 99 galleons. Free Portkey and Floo Passage.

"Let's send Snape," said Ron, who was trying to finish his Defense Paper and eat at the same time.

"Honestly, Ron," said Hermione. "Why didn't you finish that over the weekend?"

"Because I still have today," said Ron, scribbling frantically.

Ginny chuckled over an image in her mind of Snape's pale form on the beach, in undoubtedly black swim trunks--or perhaps breakfast with the Mouse--

Still laughing, she shared her imaginings with a curious Hermione and Ron just as Joe, Lou and Neville joined them at the table.

Ron didn't look up from his homework parchment as he shoveled food into his mouth. "Tha's nice," he muttered distractedly.

"Ron," Harry interrupted. "Why don't you either eat or do Defense? You're going to get food on your parchment."

Ron looked up. "Wait. It's Monday, isn't it? We have Divination first."

"Yeah," said Harry. "So?"

"Whew. I can eat," he said, rolling up his parchment. "I'll finish this in Divination."

"Ron!" said Hermione.

"Just forget it, Hermione," advised Harry. "You've always said Divination is a waste of time anyway."

"But it's still a class," said Hermione. "Ron, you should--"

"Anything interesting in the Daily Prophet?" asked Harry, trying to change the subject.

"Well," said Hermione. "Speaking of Disney--there's an article in the Daily Prophet about a Muggle threat to bomb Euro Disney."

"Bomb?" asked Harry. "Are we talking about Muggle bombs?"

"Actually, yes," said Hermione. "Apparently, the Aurors didn't find it because there was no evidence of magic, but the Muggle police who disarmed it couldn't figure out how the bomb got in place. Eventually, Aurors realized that a Portkey was used--an old Disney souvenir cup. It says that the bomb was entirely Muggle, but placed by magic."

"That means some of the other Muggle terrorists may have been helped by magic," said Lou.

"That doesn't seem like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," said Neville. "He has no use for Muggles."

"That's true," said Joe.

"I think he has a use for anyone who does his dirty work," said Lou. "Muggles killing Muggles is a bonus."

"Less for his Death Eaters to do, I guess," said Harry thoughtfully as the group began to gather their things for class.

"We'll see you at lunch, Joe," said Ron, as the first years headed out to the grounds for flying and the older students went to Divination and Arithmancy.

Professor McGonagall had separated some of the first years out and put some of them with the Second Year Hufflepuffs, since classes were so small. She left Samara and Edward and Beatrice with the Gryffindors since they were older, and Lou stayed because he seemed to know the work even though he was younger, but the other first years had been removed from their classes. Ginny, Colin and Eloise also stayed because McGonagall said there was no point in moving them into the Fourth year Ravenclaw class. The Fourth year Ravenclaws were nearly at the same point as the Fifth Year Gryffindors.

Hermione was incensed. "How could Professor McGonagall let that happen?" she exclaimed. "We need to work harder to catch up."

"The Ravenclaws need to work slower," said Ron.

"Oh no," cried Neville. "We can't work faster. If we do, Professor McGonagall will probably move me too, and with my luck, she'd put me with the Fourth Year Slytherins!"

"Don't be silly, Neville. She wouldn't do that," said Hermione, although Harry wasn't too sure. If the enrollment kept dropping, all of the houses might get switched around.

As they passed the Second floor girl's bathroom, they paused. Several inches of water covered the floor.

"Oh no," said Harry. "Not again."

"I wonder what's wrong with her," Hermione said.

"We have time," said Harry. "Should we stop and see?"

"Oh I don't want to," replied Hermione.

Ginny said nothing.

"But don't you want to know who the new ghost is?" asked Ron.

"I guess. Come on, then," said Hermione, pushing the bathroom door open.

"We can't go in there," protested Neville. "It's a girl's bathroom!"

"No one uses it," Hermione explained. But before they got to the door, they heard the shouting.

"It's MY bathroom! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!" Myrtle shrieked.

Hermione peeked in. Neville and Ginny stood in the doorway.

"Oh, hi Hermione. And Harry! You can come into my bathroom anytime," she purred in her nasal voice. "BUT NOT HER!" Mrytle pointed at the other ghost.

"Hi Myrtle," said Ron. "This is Neville and Ginny." Neville looked worried at peeking into a girl's bathroom. He was blushing.

"I know Ginny," said Myrtle slyly, but the other ghost interrupted her.

"I liked it at Hogwarts," said an older ghost who was wearing an elegant business dress and a neat coif of ghostly hair was piled on top of her head. She perched on the edge of the sink with the broken faucet.

Unconsciously, Ginny's eyes were drawn to the golden snakes etched on the faucets.

"And I'm staying," the ghost continued.

"No you're not!" cried Myrtle.

"Who are you?" asked Hermione.

"Olive Hornby," said the ghost haughtily peering at them through narrowed eyes. "Go Away."

"Olive Hornby!" shouted Harry. "I thought you died ages--um--er--You didn't just die, did you?"

"No," said Olive. "But I didn't want to be known as the ghost who haunts the empty lot on the hill."

"Lot?" said Ron. "What happened to your house?"

"Muggles tore down my house." Her lip curled as she spoke, "To build a place that makes E-Lek-tris-itee. The disgusting, rotten vermin, I'd like to tear them limb from limb. If I had my wand, they wouldn't have torn it down!"

Hermione was staring at Olive. "You're a Slytherin," she breathed.

Suddenly Olive flew straight into Hermione's face. "And you're a Mudblood!" she shouted. "What about it, Gryffin Dung!" Harry could smell her putrid breath from several feet away. Hermione put her sleeve over her nose and tried to push Olive away. All she succeeded in doing is running her hand through Olive's cold ghostly form.

"Leave them alone," said Myrtle. "They're my friends."

"Gryffindors! Myrtle!" Olive laughed. "You always were such a poor excuse for a Slytherin, but I didn't think even YOU could sink that low. Look at you, Fifty years and you've never left the bathroom. You're disgusting."

"Oh, she's left the bathroom," said Harry.

"Still spying on the Prefects, Myrtle?" Olive cooed.

"Well at least she left this bathroom," said Harry, a blush coloring his face as he remembered Myrtle in the Prefects' Bathroom last year.

"Honestly, Myrtle, look at him. He's hardly out of the cradle. You should be ashamed. You're old enough to be his Grandmother."

"I'm not," Myrtle spat. "You are. I'm preserved as sixteen, forever and ever!"

"Let's go," suggested Hermione. "I don't want to be late for Arithmancy."

The others nodded and backed out of the doorway, as the insults started to escalate.

"Oh Myrtle, grow up!"

"And get wrinkles like you?"

"At least I don't have acne!"

"Liver spots!"

"I never, ever would have believed Mrytle was a Slytherin," said Hermione. "She's so whiny."

"I believe it," said Harry. "I remember her smirking at me in the Prefect's Bathroom last year."

"Smirking?" questioned Ron.

"Smirking," Harry agreed. "And not just at me. Apparently, it's a hobby of hers."

Ron and Ginny looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" demanded Harry.

"Percy," choked Ginny and Ron together.

"Perfect Percy," said Ginny.

"Prefect," croaked Ron.

When they caught their breath, Ginny said, "He'd lock the bathroom door when he brushed his teeth. He'd be so embarrassed."

"And sa--san--sang in the shower, too," said Ron. "I'm sure, Myrtle got quite the show."

Harry and Hermione had to laugh too, but Neville interrupted, "I don't think that was very nice of Myrtle--"

And they all started laughing all over again.

===

After their morning classes, Harry, Ron and Hermione met to walk to the Great Hall for Lunch. Ginny glanced at them as if weighing whether she should walk with Samara and Beatrice or with them.

Samara turned, her eyes meeting Harry's, but he looked pointedly away, and Ginny, with a shrug, caught up with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Edward.

"You know," said Ron, "I didn't think I'd ever wish to have a class with the Slytherins, but I'd have loved to see Malfoy's face when Binns was talking about Slytherin Squibs today. It's a shame we have the class with Ravenclaws."

"Oh, you stayed awake for a change, did you?" said Hermione.

"I hated to miss a chance to learn something I could use against those Slytherin snakes."

"Only took you five years," said Ginny. "Right Ron?"

"Well Binns usually is pretty boring," said Harry, trying to defend his friend from the teasing.

"If you ever paid attention," Hermione continued, "you may have discovered some interesting things about History of Magic before this!"

"Nah--" said Ron. "If it was that interesting, you would have told us."

Hermione gave him a playful push.

"So, anything as interesting as finding out that Slytherin house has more Squibs than any other house?" asked Harry.

"Binns didn't say that," interrupted Edward.

"Edward's right," agreed Lou. "Professor Binns said that continuous pureblood mating over the years caused genetic aberrations."

"Well, what was that supposed to mean?" asked Ron. "I thought that part was specifically for the Ravenclaws."

Hermione shook her head, as if to say, when are you going to learn.

"I really was trying to pay attention," protested Ron. "It's just when they got to the long list of who begot who--

"Whom," corrected Hermione

"And then," continued Ron, "whether the Malfoys were second cousins with the Goyles on the Maternal side or the Paternal side or both--and then, whether or not that Goyle grandfather married some nine year old Crabbe... What really was amazing was the three generations of Malfoys marrying Malfoys. How convenient! They didn't even change their names."

Edward burst out laughing. "Honestly Ron, it wasn't that bad!"

"You know, it reminds me of Dudley's Aunt Marge," said Harry.

"Why? Did she marry some nine year old, too?" joked Edward.

"No. She breeds bulldogs. She's always talking about inbreeding and how certain traits can be kept in the dog by breeding it back to the brother or the sire, but sometimes temperament suffers."

"Well, the Slytherins aren't that bad, anyway," said Hermione. "Not many cases of incest."

"Not that Binns mentioned," corrected Harry. "And I don't know. I think Malfoy's temperament has definitely suffered!"

They all laughed.

"I think you've got it, Harry," said Hermione. "In the case of dogs, Aunt Marge says temperament suffers. In the case of Slytherins, magic suffers, thus the Squibs."

"Wonder what they do with the magical misfits?" said Ron.

"Drown them?" suggested Lou.

"Nah," said Ron. "Malfoy is still alive."

They dissolved into laughter.

"Is your Aunt Marge the Aunt that you live with, Harry?" asked Edward.

"No," said Harry. "I live in Surrey, with my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon."

"Is that where you were born?" asked Edward. "Surrey?"

"No," said Harry thoughtfully. "I don't know where I was born."

"Godric's Hollow?" suggested Ron.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Aunt Marge really isn't my Aunt. She's Uncle Vernon's sister and my mother was sisters with Aunt Petunia."

"They're all monsters," said Ron. "They had bars on his windows! They were trying to starve him!"

"Ron!" said Harry warningly.

"Well, my grandmother used to lock me and my brother up--but--because--" Edward broke off, biting his lip.

"It wasn't like our house was always a picnic," Ginny interrupted. "Do you remember the summer Fred and George tried to burn it down?"

"What!" shouted Harry.

"Yeah, let's see," said Ginny. "I must have been 2, Ron was 3, the twins were 5--"

"They were five!" said Edward.

"No, six," said Ron. "It was the year Bill went to Hogwarts, remember, Ginny? -- The twins had just turned 6 in April. Percy was 7, Charlie was 10 and Bill was 11 and finally going to Hogwarts. Mum was so glad to send one of us off--"

"She wished it was Charlie though," said Ginny. "Just to get him away from the twins. They were like triplets."

"Yeah," said Ron. "Triple the trouble. It was the year from hell. Fred and George used Bill's new wand to Incendio my bedroom curtains."

"They were bad enough before they got wands," added Ginny.

"Didn't the accidental magical reversal squad show up to stop it?" asked Harry.

"Oh, no," said Ron. "They gave up on us before Ginny was born. Dad said they would joke about us at the Ministry. They'd say, 'there's another accident at your house, Arthur' and Dad would say, 'Molly has it under control.'"

"I don't know," said Ginny, "the next summer was pretty bad too. Remember, Charlie and the twins tried to teach Percy how to fly on a REAL broomstick."

"Not a toy," added Ron.

"Which happened to be Bill's brand new Comet 260," said Ginny.

"Last new broom in the family," Ron moaned.

"And Percy never wanted to go any higher than a toy broomstick anyway--"

"Even when he was 15," laughed Ron.

"That's because the last time he rode a broomstick higher than that was when the three of them pushed him off of the roof. They thought he needed a head start."

"Poor Bill, he never got to take his new broom to Hogwarts."

"Was Percy hurt?" asked Hermione concerned.

"Nah," said Ron. "He fell on his head."

They all laughed.

"Seriously, he was on a broom," said Ginny. "He didn't fall too fast--"

"Yeah," said Ron. "Not as fast as a rock."

"I remember the first time I rode a broom," said Edward. "I was three."

They all turned to listen, and Edward got self-conscious. He shrugged. "Not much to tell," he said.

"Come on," said Ginny. "You were flying at three. You said you slept with your wand under your pillow. So what's your story? What happened with your brother?"

"Well, Granny didn't want to spend money on toy broomsticks, so she just bought us real ones, but we couldn't fly too much. It wasn't a good neighborhood."

"So, where did you live?" asked Ron.

"Well, we moved around a lot," said Edward.

"Hey, don't feel embarrassed," said Ginny. "You're not in Slytherin, you know. Can't get too much worse than our neighborhood--I think we have the number one gnome infested garden in all of England!"

"I can attest to that," said Harry, laughing.

"Nasty creatures, gnomes," said Ron.

"The only thing that infests my parent's garden are potato bugs," said Hermione.

"So are you going to tell us where you were born or not?" Ginny asked Edward.

"Sure," he said brightly. "Azkaban."

"Right," quipped Ginny, laughing. "And your garden's infested with dementors."

"Sure beats potato bugs," said Hermione.

"Oh no," said Harry. "A Patronus can get rid of dementors. Nothing gets rid of potato bugs."

The group giggled at the comparison.

"We all have some quirks in our family," said Hermione lightly. "Do you know that the first time I tasted chocolate, I thought it was a medicine?"

"What!" said Ginny.

"Yeah," said Hermione. "My parents are dentists, remember? The first chocolate I ever ate was on the Hogwarts' Express. Remember Harry? Lupin gave us some after the dementors. And then I discovered Best Blowing Bubblegum. It's a wonder I wasn't a pushover for canary creams."

Edward dug in his pocket and pulled out a cream candy. "Here you go, Hermione."

"No thanks," she said. "Rots my teeth."

They all laughed.

Still laughing they headed into the great hall for lunch and ran headlong into the Weasley twins.

"Fred!"

"George!"

"You're back!" cried Ginny and Ron together as they hugged their brothers fiercely.

"How did the 'field trip' go?" asked Harry anxiously.

The twins seemed strangely quiet after their time out in the 'real world' with Lupin and Sirius.

"Well, well, well," drawled a familiar voice. "If it isn't the Weasley litter, mauling each other."

For once, Ron didn't even answer Draco's taunt. He just looked at Harry and Hermione, and the whole class about the Slytherin inbreeding came flooding back to all of them. They burst out laughing.

Edward, still holding the cream candy, said, "Do you think the twins could charm these to be dogs instead of canaries? We could call them Puppy Puffs," he sputtered.

"Puppy puffs?" said George.

"Why's that?" asked Fred, realizing that he was missing some sort of joke.

Edward started to explain.

With a sneer, Draco headed over to Slytherin table.

===

Ginny was still smiling as she walked over to the end of the Gryffindor table where Beatrice and Samara were sitting.

"So how's your Patronus coming along?" asked Samara as she sat down with them.

"It's coming," said Ginny.

"So what is it?"

"I'm not sure. It just looks like a little string right now. I hope it gets better."

"Maybe it's a flubberworm," Samara joked.

"How horrible!" said Ginny. "What about yours?"

"Mine IS a flubberworm," said Samara straight-faced. "Or maybe it will grow into a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

"You!" Ginny laughed.

"Seriously, I can't get anything that looks like anything. It's just a stream of smoke. All the work I've done on this, it should be turning into something," complained Samara. "So, tell me yours is better, Beatrice. Someone has to show Snape we can do this."

"Oh, well, my Blob got whiskers. It's probably a bunny rabbit."

Ginny started to laugh. "Have you ever seen a dementor?" she asked Samara.

"No."

"Me neither," said Beatrice.

"I have," said Edward as he joined the girls. "Nasty creatures."

"Well," continued Ginny, "I just had this picture in my head of a sweet little bunny rabbit hopping after this huge, hooded monstrosity that can suck out your soul." Ginny continued to laugh, and Edward joined in with a loud guffaw.

"Let's just hope it's a BIG bunny!" he added between gasps of laughter.

Samara and Beatrice looked at each other. Suddenly, their Patroni didn't seem so funny to them.

<<<===>>>