Harry Potter and the Aurors Club

Chapter four: Pollocks Rocket Is Not A Slut

Chapter Track: Out of the Way by the Vines

Log number 07, Ruth Dolt's Reporter Diaries.

    Today is not going well. I went halfway across the country to visit the Weasley family in their home and when I got there Mrs. Weasley told me to get off her property or feel the wrath of Errol. I'm not sure whether that's a guard dog or some sort of loopy god they believe in, but I didn't stick around to find out.

    Now I'm standing outside the Leaky Cauldron, patiently waiting for a possible interview to walk by...

    

    The morning Rory was to leave for school was an unseasonably nice one. The sky was a clear blue and a cool breeze swept steadily through the Malfoy mansion, disturbed only by a small figure dashing up staircases and through hallways.

    Rory was in a frenzy. After successfully packing all of her school supplies that her loyal house elf had obediently purchased, Rory had checked the list again to find that she had forgotten one thing- an owl.

    Now the fifteen year-old was making her way to the room where the Malfoys keep their post owls.

    She had a painful stitch in her side as she climbed the last spiral staircase and opened the heavy oak door. What she saw inside made her jump back and nearly fall head first down the stairs.

    Standing by an open window was Julius Malfoy, already fully dressed in dark blue robes. In his hand was a sealed envelope, which he quickly slipped into his front pocket before addressing Rory.

    "Need help standing, Aurora?" he scoffed, turning to poke a fluffy gray owl in the head.

    "You startled me," Rory defended herself breathlessly. "I didn't expect anyone else to be up here.."

    Rory looked around at the many owls staring blankly at her and shuddered. She had never liked owls, with their big glassy eyes and round heads. They were like shiny marbles pushed into their faces, and they gave her the creeps.

    Julius walked over to a chubby brown one and patted it's head.

    "I need an owl for school," blurted Rory.

    "Well, let's see," Julius started. "Gryffie's mine, you can't have her. Jenkins.. no, definitely not. Pokie's mine, and Crazy Legs and Bumble are also mine.. They're all mine. Sorry, you'll have to get your own owl."

    "But school starts today!" Rory whined.

    "You can help yourself to your mother's owl," Julius suggested heartlessly. "Esmerelda. It's sitting right over there, in the corner."

    Rory glanced over at a pathetic orangy- brown owl. Hearing it's name the creature raised it's head hopefully.

    "I'm not taking Esmerelda," Rory said. "She bites."

    "That makes you owless, then," Julius said with a shrug.

    Rory felt like screaming in frustration. Julius Malfoy paid no attention, but absently straightened his business robes.

    "Fine," Rory said sulkily. "Be a great owl hog, then. I'll just go to school and won't be able to receive any mail. Nope. None at all."

    "It's better for you," Julius said with a sly grin. "I don't plan on writing to you anyway, and now your mother won't be able to send you three pages of complaints about me every month. It's a win- win situation, actually."

    Rory turned around huffily and started toward the door when Julius called her back.

    "Catch," he said, and tossed her an orange, cylindrical object.

    Before Rory could get her arm up the orange thing hit her head with a rattling noise and fell to the floor.

    "You'd make an excellent pylon," Julius remarked, stroking a white owl with one finger.

    Rory made a face at him and bent down to pick up the object, which turned out to be a small plastic pill bottle filled with bright orange capsules.

    "I know you don't think I'm clever," Rory said to her father while reading the prescription on the case. "But honestly, I don't have Kenneth Pharmaceuticals."

    "Kenneth Pharmaceuticals is where they're from," Julius explained. Rory's eyes went back to the label. "And they aren't for you, they're for Pollocks."

    Rory blinked at him.

    "I have this friend in the States," Rory's father went on, carelessly stroking the owl's feathers backwards. "His name's George and he's got a son about your age who's going to Hogwarts this year, too. His name is Pollocks."

    

    Rory opened the pill jar and shook the contents around, already disinterested with her father's story.

    "I told George's wife, Trisha, that I'd get you to sort of buddy up with her kid and feed him his meds every eight hours or so."

    Rory looked up, shocked.

    "You're volunteering me to look after some stranger with-" Rory checked the label again. "With add? Is that contagious?"

    Julius rolled his eyes.

    "It's called A.D.D. I know George very well. He's a nice guy, loyal and wealthy. And an animal in bed."

    Rory's jaw dropped.

    "Well," Julius grinned. "His wife is, anyway."

    Rory shook her head in disgust. She wanted nothing else than to chuck that pill container to hit Julius right square between the eyes. Instead, she pocketed the jar and raised her chin.

    "You want to know what my idea of a win-win situation is?" she asked her father. "A win-win for me would be if all these owls swooped down and ate you, then died from food poisoning."

    With that she opened the door and descended the staircase.

    "Have fun at school," she heard Julius yell down at her in the most insincere of tones. "I love you!"

                    The Train

    Rory felt more nervous than she ever had in her life as she boarded the crimson steam engine and looked around.

    The train was full of noise. There were older kids laughing and chatting, girls greeting each other with screams and hugs, and younger kids running around chasing others.

    Rory walked past compartments to find most of them full. She thought of looking for Harry, then remembered that Ron would most probably be in the same car. Damn that Ron Weasley, she thought bitterly. Thinks he has a license to hate me, does he?

    

    "He hasn't even seen what I can do yet," she muttered as she strode down the car.

    "Is that an invitation?" came a smooth, masculine voice from behind her.

    Rory twirled around and stared, horrified, at the figure before her.

    It was none other than the good-looking boy from the photo shoot. He was leaning casually in the door frame of a compartment, his dark red hair slightly mussed up and his mouth twisted into a devilish grin. Rory felt herself go red in the face.

    "I thought you were Ferret Boy for a second," the boy told her, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes flitted to her feet and back up again. "I've got to say, love, I'm really not all that disappointed."

    "Heh-heh," was all Rory could say.

    "My name's Dante Foxx, in case you were curious," Dante told her.

    "I'm Rory Malfoy," Rory replied. She prepared to curtsy when the train started up with a jolt that sent her falling into Dante, arms flailing.

    "Whoa," Dante said, catching her in his arms with reflexes that lived up to his name. Rory raised her head and found she was looking into his eyes, their noses only about two inches apart. She noticed a cigarette resting behind his ear.

    "I realize this is our second meeting," said Dante. "But I suppose if you're this eager we can have a tumble in my compartment."

    "Ah!" Rory said, scrambling to get out of his more-than-friendly grip. "I mean- no, thank you. I don't tumble."

    She blushed ever harder after saying this. Rory wanted nothing more than to leave that car right away. She started to slowly walk backwards.

    "I don't think I even know how to tumble," she blurted out, biting her tongue right after.

    "S' all right," Dante said, his tone laughing. He pulled the ciggie from behind his ear and slipped the end of it between his lips. "You've got all year."

    

    As soon as Rory escaped Dante Foxx she found herself facing her original dilemma- finding a few kids willing to share their cozy little car with her. I suppose I could sit in the aisle, she thought to herself. It would be terribly pathetic, I'd be looked down on and probably kicked. Rory sniffed and worked hard to control the bubble of melodramatic sadness growing inside of her. She had started to search for a comfortable- looking piece of carpeting when familiar voices floated through a compartment door.

    "Ron, if Snuffles was fine he would have sent me an owl be now."

    "Remember how skinny he was last time we saw him Harry?" came Ron's voice. "If I were him I'd eat the owl."

    "Ron!" exclaimed Hermione. "That's awful!"

    Rory took a deep breath an slid open the compartment door. A second later her disheartened bubble was burst by a flash of red hair and a strong fist smacking her right in the nose.

    She staggered backwards as Hermione gasped.

    "Ron," she said breathlessly. "You hit Rory!"

    "I- I didn't mean to hit her," Ron said, pale and sincerely shocked. "I thought she was Malfoy! Honestly, I would never hit a girl, you know that, right Harry?"

    Harry got up from his seat and ushered Rory into the compartment.

    "You look just like Malfoy," Ron explained.

    Rory gave him a venomous look.

    "There," Ron said. "See the resemblance, Harry?"

    "Ron," Harry told his friend firmly. "Why don't you go to the front of the train and ask for some ice?"

    "Ice?" Ron repeated. "I should have known that was a Malfoy's favorite food."

    "It's for her nose, Ron," said Harry.

    "Forget it!" Rory cried. "I don't want ice, I just wanted to say hullo, Harry, and then leave. So- hullo, Harry. I have a nice spot reserved in the corridor, see you all at school."

    Rory got up from the chair when something crashed into the door on the other side. The four teens exchanged baffled looks before Hermione stepped forward and slid open the door.

    Like water, a slim boy with thick brown hair and large square glasses slinked from a sitting position on the floor to lying half inside their compartment. He lay on his back, blinking uncertainly.

    Rory looked up to see a tall boy with silvery blonde hair and a malicious smirk standing above the knocked-out kid.

    "Draco!" she exclaimed. "We do not hit other students!"

    Draco fixed his pale gaze on her and he grinned.

    "I'll do good to remember that, little miss etiquette," he said. "As for him," Draco kicked the bespectacled boy in the knee. "I was just teaching him that no one insults a Malfoy unless they want a souvenir that'll turn different shades of blue over the next week."

    "Ron's already got that policy," Rory told him.

    Draco looked from Rory to the other occupants of the car.

    "Rory, why are you hanging around with these do-gooders?"

    "She can sit wherever she wants, Malfoy," Harry growled, his wand at the ready. "Now get out before I try some of the animal Transfiguration I studied all summer. Three guesses which one you'll turn into."

    "Potter," Draco drawled. "Could you give those ferret jokes a rest? They're about as dead as your parents."

    There was a loud bang and a flash of light was emitted by Harry's wand, but the curse merely struck the wall of the car and Rory saw the unscathed end of Draco's cloak disappear down the hall.

    "Are you okay?" Hermione asked the brown-haired boy. He slowly got up from the ground, wincing slightly.

    "I think my seventh vertebrae might be bruised," said the boy in a quick, hurried voice. "But I'll live."

    Rory immediately noted he had an American accent, and she reached into her pocket for the container of orange pills.

    "Are you new to the school?" Hermione asked.

    "Yes," the boy replied. "My name's Pollocks Rocket. I'm in f-fifth year."

    "Here," Rory said, holding the jar out to him. "These belong to you."

    Pollocks looked from the container to Rory and reached for them before quickly withdrawing his hand.

    "You're supposed to keep them," he said, his voice a bit shaky, but determined. "Or else I- I eat them all at once. Look, I've got a watch with alarms set to go off three times a day."

    

    Rory retracted her arm, stared at him a second, then held the pill contained out to him again.

    "No," Harry said suddenly. He put his hand on Rory's wrist and lowered her arm. "I think you'd better keep them, Ror."

    Rory felt a tide of warmth pass over her face that she was certain hadn't come from her battered nose. No one had ever called her 'Ror' before. Especially not a boy. Especially not Harry Potter-"

    "Is that a badge?" Pollocks Rocket blurted at Hermione.

    "Why yes," Hermione said in a satisfied tone. "I'm a fifth-year Prefect."

    "She's the cleverest witch in our year," said Ron, a hint of pride in his voice.

    "Oh Ron," Hermione gushed. "You're exaggerating."

    "You shouldn't get too comfortable," Pollocks said, his hands behind his back. "I think your administrators will want to give me one of those badges right away. I have an I.Q of one-hundred and forty-nine."

    "Excuse me?" Hermione glowered.

    Rory was distracted enough to hear an unwelcome voice shout from outside the compartment.

    "OH! MY NARDS!"

    Rory cautiously looked around the corner to see Dante, backed against the wall in obvious pain, and the trolley witch bustling over to tend to him.

    "What happened?"

    Rory jumped when Harry's voice sounded by her ear; she hadn't known he was there.

    "It's Dante Foxx," Rory giggled softly. "The trolley hit him where he deserves it the most."

    "I assume you've met him already then," Harry said, grinning.

    Dante recovered and pushed past the witch. Rory panicked when she saw he was headed toward her compartment.

    "I've got to get out of here!" she told Harry urgently.

    "Why?" Harry asked.

    "Because I really, really don't want to talk to Dante Foxx," Rory said while scanning the car for a possible escape route. She saw salvation in the form of a smallish size storage space in the ceiling of the car that looked like it ran through into the next compartment.

    "Give me a boost, will you?" she asked Harry.

    "Ouch!" Harry hissed as she accidentally stepped on his head.

    She had climbed into the cramped storage compartment when a high-pitched, fairly annoying beeping filled the car.

    "Rory?" Pollocks whined. "Rory, where are you? I need my medication!"

    "Shh!" Rory whispered, discovering at the same time that every sound she made in there came out ten times it's original volume.

    There were scrambling sounds as Pollocks climbed into the vent-like space, forcing Rory to move down.

    "I need my-"

    He didn't finish, because at that moment Rory held up her hand to silence him.

    "Hello there, Potter." Dante's voice was unmistakable. "Weasley, Granger. Hey.. Prefect, huh? Badgelicious."

    Slowly, Rory began to crawl her way down the vent-like space on her hands and knees when a hand wrapped itself around her ankle. She twisted her neck to get a closer look at the American boy behind her.

    Pollocks' electric blue eyes glinted at her behind his large, square glasses. His thick brown hair was brushing against the top of their escape tunnel. Rory realized she really didn't want much to do with this Pollocks Rocket, and returned his gaze as well as she could in her uncomfortable position.

    "Let go of my foot," Rory's words came out barely above a whisper.

    "Give me my pills," Pollocks demanded, matching her volume.

    Rory rolled her eyes and turned back around, pulling her leg out of Pollocks' grip. She had hoped the other boy would be too big to follow, but another glance backward proved her wrong. Rory stopped moving when eye-level with a thick band of light coming from a new compartment. She heard a voice and pressed her face against the break and looked through, ignoring Pollocks' annoying taps on her elbow.

    "I don't see how we can hide it anymore, Dean," said a sandy-blond haired boy with an Irish accent. "We're perfect together."

    "I know," replied a dark-skinned boy obviously named Dean. "I really want to.."

    "It's the right time, too," said the first boy. "The beginning of the year, I mean."

    "Fine," said the second. "We'll go tell Harry and the others right now and make it public. We'll just say, everyone-we want to be on the Quidditch team."

    "Rory!"

    Rory jumped and bumped her head painfully on the ceiling of the small storage compartment. She froze and peered out the little slit, but the compartment was empty. Rory felt a tiny flash of guilt before the throbbing in her head started up. She had never eavesdropped on any conversation like that before. She rubbed her head and turned to Pollocks.

    "How many do you want?" she demanded.

    "Two please," Pollocks answered sulkily. Rory took the pill jar out of her pocket and pryed at the ridiculously frustrating cap. She ripped it off and half the little orange capsules went flying down the length of the space in front of her.

    "Fool!" Pollocks snapped. Rory shoved two pills into his palm and he popped them into his mouth and crunched them greedily.

    "Thank you," he said meekly, nervous of being trapped with Rory, who looked as if she were ready to explode. Rory didn't answer, but began to collect the scattered pills.

    "Don't put those back in the bottle," Pollocks told her, shocked. "They're covered in germs, I don't want to get sick."

    "You are sick!" Rory yelled, brandishing the small pill container. Her voice bouncing off the close walls and reverberating painfully in her own ears. Pollocks lowered his head and stared at the darkness. Rory turned around again and continued onwards.

    They didn't talk to each other for the next five minutes, and Rory didn't bother to stop at any other compartments until she caught a female voice utter Harry's name.

    "I'm not so sure that's such a good idea..." said an Oriental girl with very shiny hair.

    "Oh, come on!" exclaimed another girl that Rory couldn't see. "You know he has the biggest crush on you."

    "Yes," laughed the girl with the shiny hair, which, Rory noticed, had many other attractive features as well. "That's true.. but I mean, Harry Potter?"

    Rory gave her a scowl that was never received. How could Harry like this girl? She was clearly too old.

    "Just go down the train and talk to him," urged the other girl. "He'll be thrilled."

    "What if things are different now? After Cedric..." she trailed off while Rory sent her silent, spiteful brain waves. Pollocks yawned.

    "Oh, all right," the pretty girl said finally. "I'll say hi."

    Rory watched them get up and leave the compartment. She turned to Pollocks and said,

    "Go back! Go back!"

    "Why?" Pollocks asked, a little pathetically.

    "Just go!" Rory ordered. "I have to get to Harry first!" She attempted to change direction in the narrow space and made a lot of noise, but finally managed to turn around. With a burst of speed she shot forward, only to stop herself with a jolt so as not to charge right into Pollocks' head. She glared, his face an inch from hers, his blue eyes wide and iridescent in the semi-light.

    "I c-can't move," Pollocks stuttered. "I'm too big."

    Rory moved forward and Pollocks went in reverse, not taking his shifty eyes off Rory's face.

    "Quickly!" Rory pressed.

    "It's not possible," Pollocks said, shaking his head. "I don't think you have that much to hurry about, anyway. Harry didn't seem all that interested in you."

    Rory snapped. She pushed Pollocks hard enough to send him flying back at least five feet if they had been standing.

    As it happened, they weren't standing, but cramped together in a very small overhead storage space. As a result, Pollocks' arms hit the sides of the space so hard that with one second and a stomach-turning jerk, the whole structure collapsed under them.

    "Ahhhh!" Rory cried as she fell to the floor of a new compartment among broken plaster. Pollocks landed with an equally dull thud beside her. He lay on his back as the powder settled on his glasses, then sneezed loudly. Rory coughed and sat up.

    Half standing on the other side of the compartment, a girl was holding an open copy of CosmoWitch to her chest and staring at Rory and Pollocks with a shocked expression. She had sleek crimson hair that fell to her waist, and a delicate face with clear features. Rory stood up, not able to form proper words.

    "I- um," Rory began, her throat closed and pink splashed across her face.

    The girl's face immediately changed from scared to enraged. Pollocks sat up with a pitiful moan and saw the infuriated girl. Forgetting his pain, Pollocks flushed and stood up sheepishly, never taking his eyes off the attractive girl.

    "Explain yourselves," the girl ordered in a most cool, even voice.

    "I- I'm Pollocks Rocket," Pollocks said breathlessly.

    "Bollocks Rocket?" the girl repeated with watery laughter. She turned to Rory, who still couldn't seem to find her voice. The girl, Rory noticed, had one green eye and one blue eye behind long black lashes, which she now flickered from Rory to her magazine and back again.

    "You're Rory Malfoy?" she asked accusingly. Rory nodded, a bit of plaster falling out of her hair. The girl looked back to her magazine.

    "They must put a lot of make-up on you."

    The door slid open and a tall wizard with very wide shoulders came in carrying a tray filled with sweets from the food trolley. He dropped it quickly as soon as he saw the intruders.

    "It's all right," the girl told him. "They're not dangerous- just very clumsy."

    Rory was annoyed to see Pollocks nod in agreement.

    The bodyguard, what Rory guessed he was, anyway, took them both by the collars and very impolitely threw them out the door. Pollocks hit the wall and he and his long limbs crumpled to the floor. Rory slid down beside him, suddenly exhausted.

    "Don't you want to see Harry?" Pollocks asked softly.

    Rory shook her head and sighed. What chance did she have with competition like that girl and the one she had seen earlier? So far every boy but Dante Foxx seemed to hate her. She looked over at Pollocks, who was staring at the closed door with a far- off look in his eyes. She heard a quiet, slow-beating tune and noticed he was humming.

    "Pollocks," she said.

    "Hm?"

    "You're a horrible hummer."

    Pollocks didn't answer right away. They sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Rory wondered how much longer her train ride could possibly last until he broke her thoughts.

    "I want to go talk to her," he said.

    "Who?"

    "The girl in there," Pollocks pointed to the door in front of them. "I've got a conversation all planned out. I'll tell her that this train was built forty- two years ago, according to A History of Wizarding Transportation. Then I'll see where the discussion goes from there. Wow, I am nervous, though. I think I can feel my liver."

    He was looking at Rory with childish excitement in his eyes. Rory grinned in spite of herself.

    "How can she resist your charm?" she said. "But if I were you I'd wait until we got to school. She didn't look like she wanted to talk."

    Pollocks' face fell and he leaned back against the wall.

    "Hey," Rory smiled. "You've got all year."