Hogwarts' Next Top Witch

Hogwarts' Next Top Witch

By Mariposa

Chapter 6: The Girl Who Is Too Curious About Hagrid's Parents

Just as Harry had predicted (and feared), Mr. and Mrs. Weasley found out about him being in The Daily Prophet in no time. That same morning, they walked in, Mrs. Weasley with a stern look on her face, the newspaper rolled up in her hand. Mr. Weasley was behind her with an amused expression on his face.

Mrs. Weasley marched over to where Ron was sitting and thwacked him over the head with the newspaper.

"Ow!" exclaimed Ron, covering his head in protection as Fred and George snickered.

"Young man, what were you thinking?" she demanded. "I know it was your idea to go to that despicable club and now look at what happened to poor Harry!" She slammed the paper down, the page opened to the infamous photo of Harry and the girls. "Now, Harry, dear, I know you didn't do anything with my daughter or any of the other girls," her voice had toned down as it usually did when she addressed Harry.

"No, of course not," Harry said quickly.

"Harry, my lad, if you weren't an honorary Weasley already, you certainly are now," Mr. Weasley said with a chuckle. "The Weasley men have always had a way with the ladies and it looks like you're no exception."

Mrs. Weasley turned to face him, hands on her hips. "Arthur, you are NOT helping."

Ron, Fred, and George were all trying to stifle laughs.

"And did you see what your daughter was wearing, or not wearing, I should say?"

"Oh, Molly, I hear that's what Muggle girls wear."

"And you're using that as an excuse?"

"Well, no, I just, uh," Mr. Weasley stammered. He looked at his three sons and Harry for help, but they just shrugged.

Mrs. Weasley gave a little harrumph.

* * *

"Thank you for being a friend, travel down the road and back again," Cho sang as the fourth episode of The Golden Girls started on the Lifetime Channel's Golden Girls marathon.

"Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant," Hermione sang with a giggle.

Ginny, Luna, and Lavender all joined in: "And if you threw a party, invited everyone you knew, you would see the biggest gift would be from me and the card attached would say-"

"Thank you for being a friend!" all five girls screamed at the top of their lungs and collapsed into a fit of giggles.

It was moments like these Hermione loved most. Even thought there was still some tension between the girls, most of it had seemed to die down now that they were a much smaller group and there were rare moments, like now, when they could all have a good laugh together and just have fun without worrying about the competition. That didn't last long however as there was a knock on the door during a commercial.

Cho opened it to reveal Fleur. "Allo!" she said brightly. "I 'ave come een person to tell you about your next task!"

"So soon?" said Lavender as she switched off the TV. "We just had the last one yesterday!"

"Your next mission won't be until tomorrow," Fleur explained. "I just wanted to ask eef anyone eese aware of what a Weetch-See eese?"

The other girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"A Witch-See?" Luna repeated.

"Oui, zat eese going to be your next task. And seeing as nobody eese aware of what eet eese, I shall explain it to you. Tomorrow we weel be going to 'Ogwarts. Some of ze professors 'ave been so kind as to return as well to 'elp weeth ze task. You weel 'ave one 'our to go to as many of ze following subjects: Transfiguration, Potions, Divinations, Muggle Studies, 'Isotry of Magic, Arithmancy, 'Erbology, Charms, and Care of Magical Creatures. Een each class, you weel spend about ten minutes weeth ze professor and zey will ask you to perform your abilities een zat field of study or zey will ask you to do a particular zing. Only one girl eese allowed een one class at a time and at ze end of one 'our you weel be expected to return to ze Great Hall."

"So we're just showing our skills in the classes you mentioned?" Cho asked.

Fleur nodded. "Precisely."

* * *

Because they were going back to their school, the girls were given back their wands and were wearing their school robes.

"And here I was thinking that I'd never again have to wear these robes or set foot in that school," Cho sighed as the Knight Bus took them to their destination. "Not that I don't mind, of course, but seven years is an awfully long time."

Hermione was feeling particularly confident. Seeing as she always did well in every class, she figured she was going to finish the fastest.

When they had arrived at Hogwarts, Fleur said, "Okay, remember, you all 'ave one 'our to go to as many classes as you can. You 'ave your checklist, oui?"

The five girls nodded and showed her the piece of paper with all the classes listed. When each girl had passed a class, the professor was supposed to initial the box next to the class name.

"Good. And remember to report back to ze Great Hall when you are done. Bonne Chance!"

The girls split up.

* * *

Hermione had already gone to History of Magic (she figured she would start there since nobody else would be rushing to it - she was right. After reciting important dates in the Goblin Rebellion, Professor Binns had "signed" his name by breathing heavily onto the square box so a misty substance showed up); Muggle Studies (Professor Belding had her identify all the components of a computer - piece of cake!); Potions (Slughorn was more than delighted with her Pepperup Potion); Charms, and Arithmancy.

Glancing down at her parchment, she decided Transfiguration would be her next destination. Hagrid's hut and the Herbology greenhouse were too far away and she didn't really feel like dealing with Professor Trelawney.

As she hurried to Professor McGonagall's class, she soon found out that Lavender had the same idea because as Hermione rounded the corner, Lavender was at the other end of the corridor. The door to the Transfiguration classroom was directly in the middle. Both girls looked at each other, than at the door, which seemed to be beckoning both of them.

Both girls had their wands by their sides. Slowly Lavender lifted hers and pointed it at Hermione.

"Bitch, you wouldn't even dare-"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Lavender screamed.

But Hermione was too quick for her. She blocked the purple jet of ligh that shot out of Lavender's wand and screamed, "RICTUSEMPRA!"

The red sparks hit Lavender and she began to giggle uncontrollably, more so than usual. As she bended over with laughter, Hermione dashed to the classroom. She opened the door and Professor McGonagall smiled when she saw Hermione. "Ah, Miss Granger..."

* * *

Luna had already gotten signatures from Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. She was just about to go to Muggle Studies, but Lavender had beaten her to it and she was giggling like mad. Shrugging, Luna decided to head for Hagrid's hut. Most of the girls seemed to be staying in the castle, so she felt sure nobody else would be there. Besides, there was something she had always wanted to ask Hagrid.

"Come on in!" called Hagrid's gruff voice when Luna knocked on his door.

Luna opened it to find Hagrid sitting at his table, a large bowl of soup in front of him. His boarhound, Fang, was curled up on the rug, asleep.

"Hiya, Luna." Hagrid nodded at her. "You're the first one to see me. I'm supposed to show yeh a few animals and see what you know 'bout 'em -"

"Is that cabbage soup?" Luna asked. "It sure smells good. Can I have some? I'm starved!"

"Sure yeh can!" Hagrid said eagerly and ladled up a bowl for Luna who sat down next to him.

"Hagrid, you're half human and half giant, right?" Luna asked.

"I sure am!" Hagrid replied proudly. "Me dad was a wizard and me mum was a giant!"

Luna blinked her large silver eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, how were you, uh, created?"

"Well, you see, Luna," Hagrid said looking quite uncomfortable, "when two people love each other very much, they -"

"I know all about that!" Luna said quickly. "I'm not that thick. No, I just wanted to know how is it physically possible with a human and a giant? Don't giants grow to be anywhere from twenty to twenty-five feet and I'm guessing your dad was maybe a little taller than six feet. My dad is six four."

"Me dad was a couple inches higher than six feet," Hagrid replied.

"Okay, so how is that possible?" Luna asked after taking another bite of stew.

Hagrid frowned.

"Isn't this something you've ever wondered?" Luna questioned. "Hey, do you have anything to drink?"

Hagrid got up to pour her some tea. "Well I'm sure me dad made himself a potion to drink so he could be the same size as my mum," he said as he handed the cup to Luna.

"Hagrid, you know there's nobody more open-minded than me," Luna said as she took a sip of her tea. "In fact, if I were any more open-minded, my brain would probably fall out, but I must say I don't understand how your father could fall in love with your mother. Giants aren't known to be the most friendly or articulate of creatures. And they're also not very attractive. Now I know people say that I could take better care of my hair, but let's face it, appearance is very important when it comes to relationships."

"Hey, dontcha talk 'bout me mum like that!" Hagrid said, angrily taking away Luna's bowl of stew.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!"

"I think it's time yeh go, young girl. Yeh asking me too many questions!"

"But I haven't identified the creatures you wanted!" Luna sputtered. "And I didn't mean to upset you, I was just curious!"

"Yeh, well, yeh can go be curious somewhere else!" Hagrid said curtly.

Before Hagrid could get any more angry, Luna slipped out of his hut and headed for the Greenhouse.

* * *

Ginny glanced at the Marauder's Map. She knew it might be considered cheating, so she always stuffed it into her pocket when she came across one of the other girls (which the map came in handy for). Harry had given her the map on the train ride back from Hogwarts' last summer and told her how to use it. He said since it was likely he wouldn't be returning, he wanted her to have it. Ginny was going to ask him why he just didn't give it to Ron or Hermione, but she knew, as well as he did, that they would be joining him on his quest.

She was sitting at the bottom of a staircase. She saw that Hermione was headed for the North Tower, Lavender was in the dungeon, Luna was way out by Hagrid's hut, and it looked like Cho was heading for Charms, a class she still needed. If she ran really fast there was a chance she could beat Cho to it.

"Mischief managed," Ginny muttered, pointing the wand at the map and stuffing it back into her pocket. She got up and sprinted down the hall, running faster as her robes billowed behind her and her hair whipped in the air. She was just rounding the corner - almost in slow motion - when she saw Cho strolling nonchalantly towards the Charms classroom. Cho, widening her eyes at seeing Ginny had picked up the pace, but it was no use, Ginny had beaten her. She was running so fast that she ran headlong into the door.

"Ow!" Ginny rubbed her forehead. She gave Cho a quick smile and entered the room.

* * *

"Um, could you hurry up please?" Hermione asked as politely as she could, glancing at her watch. "I have to be back at the Great Hall in ten minutes."

"Omm...omm....ommm..." Professor Trelawney was hovering over her crystal ball. "You will soon meet a new friend, my dear!"

"Yeah, that's great." Hermione yawned. She was beginning to regret coming here in the first place. She knew she should have tried going to Hagrid's or the Greenhouse instead.

"Oh!" Professor Trelawney gasped in horror.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, irritably.

"Your new friend - you must warn her about the mayor! I see a giant snake!"

"What?" Hermione asked thoroughly confused. "Mayor? Snake?"

"Omm...ommm." Professor Trelawney had her eyes closed.

"Listen, if you could just sign this box and I'll be on my way."

* * *

Harry and Ron were heading to Ginny's room to clean her pygmy puff's cage because Mrs. Weasley had asked them (or rather, demanded as she was still a little peeved over the photo) since the stench was getting quite bad.

"Ugh, it smells worse than dragon dung in here!" Ron exclaimed as they entered her room.

"Maybe not as bad," Harry replied as he stepped over Hermione's stuff to open the window. "But pretty close."

Ron plugged his nose with one hand and scooped out Arnold with the other and handed him to Harry who placed him on the bed. Arnold's small nose twitched as he sniffed around his new surroundings.

Ron pointed his wand at the cage and said "Scougify!" Instantly the cage was cleaned. Ron filled the water and food bowls and Harry moved the exercise wheel.

Ron stared at him. "What are you doing, Harry?"

"I thought he might want a change of scenery."

Ron rolled his eyes. "It's a pygmy puff, Harry!"

"Shhh!" Harry hissed and held up a hand. He could hear music from down the hall. It appeared Fred and George were still using Hermione's portable CD player.

"Listen up everybody, if you wanna take a chance,

Just get on the floor and do the New Kids dance."

"The hell?" Harry said. "Are they listening to New Kids on the Block? Ugh, I thought they had disappeared back in the early '90s. I feel like I'm reliving a nightmare."

Ron frowned. "New Kids on the Block?"

"Yeah, they were this sucky boy band that were really popular with the Muggle girls back in the eighties and early nineties...which I guess would explain why Hermione has one of their CDs." He rolled his eyes. "But honestly, even I thought she'd have better taste in music than that!"

They could now hear Fred and George singing along with the chorus.

"We have to stop your brothers! C'mon!"

Harry ran down the hall with Ron following him. The music was coming from the twin's old room. Harry burst the door open. Fred and George were singing and dancing:

Without hesitation, Harry turned off the music.

"Hey, whatcha do that for?" Fred demanded.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you listen to this atrocity, I just can't," Harry said.

"Fred and I were quite enjoying it, thank you very much," George said in a haughty voice.

"What if I told you the group you're listening to is basically a joke in the Muggle world?" Harry asked. "Hmm?" He raised his eyebrows at the twins.

"This? A joke?" Fred asked, astonished. "But the music is so catchy!"

Harry shook his head. "New Kids on the Block are one of the worst groups ever to exist. If we are all Hermione's true friend, we would break that CD into a million pieces."

"Don't you think you're over reacting a bit?" Ron asked. "It's just music."

Harry turned sharply to his best mate. "Listen, Ron, if you had to endure the pain I did growing up with the Durleys and having to listen to Dudley play his New Kids on the Block cassettes, you'd understand the agony I went through."

Ron frowned. "I thought you said this group was popular with Muggle girls."

"Well, yeah, for the most part, but my cousin is an idiot who listened to crappy music and probably still does." Harry lifted the lid and took the CD out. He then proceeded to break it in half, then broke those halves in halves, threw the four broken pieces on the floor and stomped on them. "Wow, I feel so much better."

Shrugging, George chose another CD to play and Harry and Ron headed back to Ginny's room. Harry was in front of Ron and stopped suddenly in the doorframe making Ron run right into him.

"Ow!" Ron said. "What's wrong?"

"Um, tell me what's wrong with this picture," Harry said and moved to the side so Ron could see.

Crookshanks was sitting on the edge of the bed, purring so loudly that both boys could hear him from where they were standing. Hedwig was situated on the windowsill and hooted happily when she saw Harry.

"Uh, where's Arnold?" Ron asked.

"You tell me. He was on the bed," Harry said. They both approached the bed to closer examine it. "But, uh, he doesn't appear to be anymore."

"Harry, are you a little concerned that Arnold is missing and there's a cat and an owl in the room?"

"Why, yes, Ron, I am, I am quite concerned about that."

"You don't think that-"

"Let's try not to jump to that conclusion just yet. Maybe Arnold went under the covers to hide from Crookshanks." Harry was running his hand over the bedspeard to see if he could feel something small moving underneath, but there was nothing.

Ron was checking under the bed to see if Arnold had somehow gotten down there. Again, nothing.

"Okay, let's not panic, not just yet," Harry said with a wavering voice. "I'm sure Arnold is around here somewhere. He could be anywhere in the house. He's small, so he could have easily fit into any nook or cranny. We'll just keep our eyes peeled for him."

"Why is Crookshanks licking his chops?" Ron asked in a high voice. "Don't cats do that just after they've eaten?"

"You know what, Ron? We may have to pay a visit to your brother's store."

* * *

Having finally gotten Professor Trelawney's initials, Hermione hurried to the Great Hall with just minutes to spare. She had met up with Ginny and they were the first to reach the Great Hall, but Cho and Lavender came in soon afterwards.

"Where's Luna?" asked Hermione.

Luna came hurrying in five minutes after she was supposed to be there. Fleur frowned slightly at her, but took her piece of parchment.

"Okay, everyone, eet ees time to go back," Fleur announced. "I weel be consulting 'ow you did at your Weetch-Sees on ze way 'ome and ze elimination weel take place tonight."

All the girls groaned.

* * *

That evening Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Cho, and Lavender headed for the elimination. When they entered the room, Hermione was not at all pleased with what she saw. Sitting at the judges table were Fleur, Cyra, and Crunk, as usual, but there was also a fourth person: Mervin Crunk, Pervin Crunk's son.

"What is HE doing here?" Hermione demanded.

"Hermione, my sweet wittle English pie tart!" Mervin cried as he got up from his chair. Hermione thought it was a miracle he hadn't already broken it because he wasn't what you would exactly call "light." She was sure Fleur or Cyra must have been an unbreakable charm on the chair.

Pervin chuckled as Mervin rushed to the other side of the table. "You lovely ladies remember my handsome and intelligent son, Mervin, I am sure? He is visiting me from his summer boarding school and I have allowed him to be a guest judge for today's elimination. Mervin is quite smooth with the ladies."

Lavender gave a loud snort.

"When he said "handsome and intelligent," did he really mean to say repulsive and idiotic?" Cho muttered under her breath.

Mervin was now in front of the girls. He reached for Hermione's hand and tried to kiss it, but Hermione slapped him across the face. "Don't touch me, you bastard!" she screamed at him.

"Hermione, my love, how can you talk to me like that?" Mervin lower lip trembled. "You're not dating that redhead, are you? I can give you so much more pleasure than he ever could."

"Ugh, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth," Hermione gagged.

"And who are you?" Mervin had now turned to Ginny who was looking at him with wary eyes. "Why aren't you Weasley's little sister? My, you sure have grown up quite nicely." He was obviously looking her up and down and even stepped behind her to stare at her butt.

"Ewww! You are such a pervert!" Ginny turned and kicked him in the shins.

"OWWWWWWW!" Mervin yelped. "What is it with you Weasley's? First Ron beats me up, now you?"

"You should've aimed higher, Gin," Lavender snerked.

"Honestly, Mervin, you are such a disgusting pig," Hermione huffed. "I can't believe you would -"

"Oh, don't worry, my dear, I still only have eyes for you," Mervin replied.

"Ahem," said Fleur. "Can we please begin ze elimination now?" She frowned at Pervin, she was obviously not happy he had brought his son.

"Mervin, come back and sit, son," said Pervin.

Once Mervin was back in his chair, still massaging his fresh bruise, Fleur stood up. "For ze most part, you all did very well at ze Weetch-Sees. Ze winner of zis task eese 'Ermione. She got ze most top marks een Potions, Charms, Transfigurations, Divinations, Muggle Studies, 'Istory of Magic, and Arithmancy. Congratulations, 'Ermione, you are steel een ze running to become 'Ogwarts Next Top Weetch."

"Yeah, go Hermione!" Mervin clapped loudly. "That's my sexy little witch!"

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed scathingly at him.

"Cho, you managed to visit ze following six classes: Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Potions, and 'Erbology. You are also steel een ze running to become 'Ogwarts' Next Top Weetch." Fleur waited until Cho had stepped over beside Hermione before continuing. "Ginny, congratulations, you are steel in ze running to become 'Ogwarts' Next Top Weetch weeth getting marks een ze following five classes: Charms, Transfigurations, Muggle Studies, Potions, and Arithmancy."

Lavender was now shuffling nervously.

"Weel Lavender and Luna please step forward?" Fleur requested solemnly. "You two both visited ze least amount of classes. Lavender, you only got to Charms, Divinations, Muggle Studies, and Potions. Luna, you only managed to visit Charms, Transfigurations, and 'Erbology een an 'our. 'Owever, you were five minutes past ze meeting time. Lavender, congratulations, you are steel een ze running to be 'Ogwarts' Next Top Weetch."

Lavender let out an audible breath she had been holding in as she stepped over to join Hermione, Ginny, and Cho. Luna hugged everyone good-bye and wished them all good luck. She didn't seem to sad that she had been eliminated. If anything, she couldn't wait to get home and tell her dad about her experience in a Muggle hotel.

After Luna had left, Fleur turned to the remaining girls and said, "Congratulations on making ze final four! You should all be proud of yourselves for making eet zis far. Eet eese now time for you all to return to ze suite and pack your bags because en a few 'ours you weel all be going to -"

Four girls remain....WHO will be Hogwarts' Next Top Witch?