Disclaimer: There was a girl named IcyPanther. EieI-O! She wished she owned Harry Potter. EieI-O! With a wish for Draco and a wish for Harry. There a wish, here a wish, every where a wish-wish. IcyPanther doesn’t own Harry Potter, EieI-O!
CONTEST RESULTS!
The winner of the contest was Choice A with a 33 votes! Congrats to Luckygirly for her winning entry! Choice B came in second place with 15 votes, submitted by Knivesgirl346! And in a close third was Choice C with 13 votes, written by TsuirakuMitsukai! Congrats to you all! Below are some comments to each of you from me. Think of it as helpful criticism. But first…
-hands Luckygirly Ballerina Snape Plushie- Congrats, you earned it!
Luckygirly- You definitely have a good idea of what you wanted to make as your story line. I quite liked all of the interaction you had with the other characters (namely Dobby) and the little bit with Harry and the chocolate cake was very touching. One thing I would have to comment on was it was sort of cliché. Not the baking the cake idea, but the finding the calendar with the date. Many people often use diaries or calendars to discover a secret of the character. And the ending, to me, was a bit odd when both switched to surnames. I didn’t quite get why that was put in. But other then that, nice entry and good luck with your writing!
Knivesgirl346- Very original idea. I loved all of the bickering between Mione and Draco. Especially when Harry intervened and told Draco to give it back before Hermione did anything. Smart words. :P I didn’t mind the book you chose to use, although I can’t really see Hermione ever using it. The one thing I would discourage though would be the use of actors (or actresses or other celebs). It appears that you like Brad Pitt, but other readers may not and then find the story less enjoyable. I try to not go into that area, especially when looks are concerned. Try not to let personal opinions get in the way would be my advice. But very nice entry, keep up the good work.
TsuirakuMitsukai- First off, kudos to you for writing about two of the not so major characters! I loved how Terry got frightened when Pansy retaliated. I loved her line of ‘I’ll kick you so hard you won’t even remember your name’ or something like that. :P The ending was good too…poor Snape. I’ll assume this is when he gets bitten? At least he gets a hug later. XD The one piece of criticism is also, don’t let personal opinions get in the way. In your case, I mean the semi-bashing of Cho. That part wasn’t really needed in the story and some readers might like Cho and then not really like your story anymore. Just keep that in mind next time you write. Keep writing!
And once more, a huge thank you to the writers and the voters!
Parenting Class
The Invasion of…Gred and Forge?
Hermione’s face suddenly relaxed amongst the screaming and she sat down and began to finish her lunch, quite calmly. “What are you doing?” Draco exclaimed, keeping his wand aimed at the door. “We’re under attack here!”
“No…we’re not. Listen carefully to the screams. Does that sound like people are being hurt?”
Draco tilted his head towards the doors, a thoughtful expression on his face. “It’s…cheering,” he said softly. “Very loud cheering. But for who?”
“Maybe Umbridge came back and the students are torturing her,” grinned Ginny. “I think I’ll go join in the fun.” Just as the girl was about to rise, the double doors of the Hall burst open and in strode two tall, lanky redheads, identical down to the freckle.
“Ginny,” the chorused, rushing towards the girl and squeezing her between them.
“It’s so good to see you darling sister.”
“It must have been years since our last meeting!”
“How are you doing?”
“Splendidly well we hope.”
“Are you two mad?” Ginny hissed, grabbing the twins by their ties and dragging them down so their faces were level with hers.
“We have been called crazy at times.”
“But we know that people always in fact mean-”
“Talented.”
“Unique.”
“Brilliant.”
“Dashing.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” chuckled Hermione.
Both feigned looks of hurt. “You mean you don’t think we’re handsome?” asked Fred, taking Hermione’s hand in his and planting a kiss on it. “Mademoiselle, you must know, we’re think your beauty is truly stunning.” Hermione blushed and looked down at her feet.
“Cut that out,” snapped Ginny, swatting both on the back of their heads. “She’s already got a boyfriend.”
“I do?”
“You do? Oh, marvelous! Who’s the lucky chap?”
“But I don-”
“We must meet him! Want to make sure he’s the best for our adopted little sister.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend!”
Fred and George gasped. “But Ginny said you did! Surely she wouldn’t lie…”
“Well, she did.”
“But she does have her eye set on someone special,” the girl grinned. But her face turned into a death wish for her brothers a second later. “What do you think you’re doing here?” she growled softly.
“Why visiting our loving little sister and brother, what else?”
“Earth to the idiots,” she snarled, rapping them both on top of their heads. “Remember the project going on here?”
“Oh yes!”
“We certainly do!”
“And where’s Draco? Such a wonderful prankster.”
“I’m right here,” the Slytherin said calmly, Harry sitting on his lap and looking at the twins wide-eyed.
“Oh…but you’re not…”
“That’s right,” Ginny whispered. “And guess who’s little now and expect you guys to only be about seven?”
“Ronniekins?”
“That’s right. So you two had bet-”
“Hey!” The small group turned to see a redheaded child storming across the Hall with Lavender and Terry following. “Who are you?” he demanded, pointing at the twins.
“Ron, use your manners,” chided Lavender.
“Why, I’m Forge,” Fred exclaimed.
“And I’m Gred,” his twin said.
“So you’re not Fred and George?”
“Nope. We’re Forge and Gred,” George said, loud enough for the people around them to hear. Seeing him wink, students nodded and began to pass the message along so no one would call them by their real names.
“Forge and Gred,” Ron repeated. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” they grinned.
“Now that that’s settled,” Lavender announced, scooping Ron into her arms, “it’s time for you to go lie down.”
“But I feel fine,” Ron whined. Not paying his protests the slightest heed, Lavender exited with Ron over her shoulder, thumping his fists against her back and Terry being careful to not get hit.
“So what are you really doing here?” asked Ginny, relieved that Ron hadn’t pressed the issue.
“Do we need an excuse to see our little sister?” asked George. “And we were expecting to see two of our favorite trouble makers, but alas, it looks like they’ve grown up.”
“Gred,” Hermione said warningly. “Anyways,” she smiled, “this is Harry. Harry, meet Gred and Forge.”
“Hello,” Harry said shyly.
“And hello to you too, Harry,” Fred smiled. “How are you liking Hogwarts?”
“It’s nice….and Dobby is really funny!”
“Why aren’t you at your shop?” asked Hermione, taking another bite of her breakfast.
“Closed for the day. We wanted to test several of our new products.”
“So then why aren’t you testing them?” asked Ginny, now quite confused.
“Because we’re having the students test them,” George grinned. “We set them up all over the school with some little recorders so we can watch the results. Don’t worry,” he said quickly, noticing Hermione’s glare, “none of them are dangerous! We just want to see what the students think of them before we sell them.”
“And where are these pranks?” Draco asked warily.
Both twins looked at the Slytherin, as if deciding if they should be truthful or lie. Images of the child Draco, so sweet and clumsy came to mind and they realized they weren’t dealing with anyone dangerous who could be considered in league to the Dark Lord.
“Oh…you’ll see,” Fred said evasively. “Just watch out all around you. That’s our warning. Ta!” In a brilliant puff of red smoke, both vanished.
“Where’d they go?” asked Ginny, turning wildly around and looking for her brothers.
“We’re right here,” George said, his voice near but him no where in sight.
“This is one of the tricks we did test,” Fred smiled. “We managed to get some hair from a Demiguise and multiply it so we don’t waste all of our earnings on it. Very expensive stuff you know.”
“And then we made it into a potion form that we hold in little capsules. When you pop the top off, smoke will cover you and then you’ll be invisible.”
“But why?” asked Ginny.
“Because Demiguise hair is what Invisibility Cloaks are made out of,” Hermione clarified. “The Demiguise is found in far East Asia but is very hard to find since it can make itself invisible at will and can only be seen by wizards who were taught to find it. The hair on them is used to make the cloaks…and I presume your new potion.”
“Can I get a free one being your loveable little sister?” smirked Ginny, having finally located Fred and was hugging the invisible boy. “Please?”
“Later. We’ll send you some for Christmas. Oh wait, you’re coming home, right?”
“Yup, so I’ll raid your supply when I get there.”
“Don’t you dare,” threatened George, appearing behind Ginny. “Or we won’t hesitate to turn you into…a monkey!”
“A monkey?” she snorted. “For one, you two don’t know how to do animal transformations. And two, I would never be that stupid to fall into a trap of yours.”
“Just you wait Ginny,” Fred smirked.
“I think I’ll stay here for the rest of the day,” announced Draco. “Since I know you haven’t had time to plant anything where I’m sitting, I’m perfectly safe.”
“Don’t be so sure,” George winked. “You don’t know how sneaky we can be.”
“You can’t top a Slytherin when it comes to sneaking,” Draco retorted. “We’re the absolute best.”
“You’ve never faced us before,” grinned Fred. “Just you wait, Draco Malfoy. You’ll see who’s the best.”
Fred and George departed once more with their vanishing potion a second later, leaving a very wary group behind them.
“What do you reckon their new tricks are?” asked Ginny, fingering her red braid nervously.
“Probably harmless pranks,” said Hermione, scooping Harry off of Draco’s lap and placing him on her hip. “Come on, we’ve got History of Magic.”
The class passed very uneventfully with only about a third of the students falling asleep this time, as many were too nervous about the rumors going around that there were traps all over the school. Draco was one of that third, and Hermione let him know how she felt about it as they headed down to the lake for their free period.
“It’s an important class, Draco. You have to pay attention!”
“And why would I even need to know about wars with Dragons? It has nothing to due with my career.”
“You told me you haven’t chosen a career yet!”
“I haven’t…but I know it won’t deal with history.”
Their spat was broken off as two grinning redheads made their way over to the trio. “And what are you three up to?” asked Fred, pulling Harry out of Hermione’s arms and placing the child on his shoulders.
“Just heading down to the lake. It’s a rather nice day today and I thought we’d do some of our homework outside.”
“WHAT!” Draco screeched. “You never said anything about homework. We’re supposed to enjoy a free period; not work during it. I’ll see you and Harry later then.” Draco turned his back and began to walk back up to the castle.
Lesson number one: Never turn your back on a Weasley twin.
A split second later, Draco lay on the ground, his face landing conveniently in a large mud puddle. As the Slytherin started to rise, a frog jumped on top of his head and gave a loud croak. Hermione giggled and snapped a picture.
Shaking his head, the boy stood up and the frog hopped off and down to the lake. “What was that?” Draco asked dangerously, his entire face covered in mud and grass.
“Mud splat,” George announced cheerfully. “See this?” he asked, holding up a small, brown pebble. “You throw it at the person you want to trip and it’ll form a mud puddle in front of them as they fall. Nice, isn’t it?”
Draco’s eyebrow twitched and Hermione burst out laughing, the expression so angry but his appearance so comical. Then, Fred and George started to laugh and Harry joined in. Draco sighed, knowing he couldn’t yell since obviously he’d upset Harry. Wiping off his face with his sleeve, he grimaced at the amount of grime left on the black cloth.
“Sorry bout that,” Fred apologized, seeing how the Slytherin was trying his best not to blow up. “But Hermione’s right, it’s time for homework!”
“Like you’re one to talk?” Draco grumbled, plodding back over to the small group.
“We passed with the very-”
“-best marks of our entire class!”
“We never had to study-”
“-since we’re so smart.”
“You two are the worst liars,” Hermione sighed. “You didn’t even graduate, you skipped out.”
Both shrugged. “Same thing. We were just so smart that-”
“-that great toad of a woman said-”
“-we no longer needed further education-”
“-from beneath her. And so, we left for the real world.”
“Here,” said George, placing a Mud Splat pebble in Draco’s hand. “Use that when you feel like it. Our way of apologizing.” With waves, the twins started off, only for a small rock to bounce off of Fred’s back. Seconds later, he was face first in the mud and George howling in laughter next to his twin.
Lesson number two: Never turn your back to Draco when he’s upset with you.
The homework session by the lake passed without incident. Hermione managed to finish all of her homework she’d been assigned and had then taken Harry down to the shore and both had gone wading, both of their jeans rolled up to their knees and shoes and socks on the sand.
Bored to tears, Draco tore his eyes away from the paper they were supposed to be writing for Herbology on the three most deadly types of poisonous flowers and looked down at the water from his perch on a nice, large sun-warmed rock. He gave a start as he recognized two people creeping over to the shoes cast on the ground, Hermione and Harry oblivious.
Fred looked up and waved to Draco and then put a finger to his lips. The blond watched with interest as George poured something into Hermione’s shoes and then they both took off, neither in the lake noticing them. A little while later, Draco now back to his boring essay, Hermione and Harry trudged up, their shoes in hand.
“Ready to go?” the Gryffindor asked, sitting down on the rock and pulling on her socks and then her shoes. “What’s wrong?” she asked when Draco didn’t answer, simply staring at her shoes.
“Hmmm? Oh, nothing. Come on, we’d better head back. Dinner will be ready soon.”
Hermione nodded and jumped off the rock onto the ground. But as soon as she’d landed, she shot back up, sailing up…
And up.
And up.
And up.
And so high up that she was a mere speck in the sky, her scream echoing down to the earth.
“What happened?” asked Harry timidly, looking at the shrinking dot.
Draco shrugged and continued to look at the sky, watching as Hermione slowly began to get bigger and the screams louder. Instead of speeding towards the ground though, she gently landed on the dirt and immediately clutched onto the rock.
“What just happened?” she gasped. When Draco looked down at his feet, a smirk growing on his face, she knew something was up. “Tell me right now,” she demanded.
“Let’s say a certain set of twins tampered with your shoes.” The next thing Draco saw were stars as Hermione slapped him across his face, her eyes burning embers.
Lesson number three: Don’t keep secrets from Hermione.
The trio made their way back up to the castle, Draco nursing his stinging cheek from Hermione’s hit and Harry walking tentatively next to Draco, giving worried glances behind him at the livid Hermione. “What exactly did you do to make her so upset?” he whispered.
“I didn’t tell her those bloody twins put something in her shoes,” Draco snorted. “And it wasn’t really even my fault.”
When the three entered the Great Hall, they realized they’d gotten off easy. McGonagall was running around the hall with an alligator chasing her and several students had been turned into incredibly tall evergreen trees. Huge, mirage holes covered the floor and students continued to run around them in panic, fearing they might fall in.
The famous fireworks of the twins were going off in random places around the hall, and many students were running away from them. On the benches, fellow classmates were turning into different animals after eating something off of the plates that happened to have a little of one of Fred and George’s experiments.
“They’ve gone mad!” cried a small, red and black lemur, running over to Hermione.
“Ginny?” the girl asked incredulously. “Is that you?”
“What do you think? Yes! They turned me into a blasted monkey!”
“I thought you were too smart to actually fall for one of their tricks,” teased Draco.
“I did not fall for it,” the lemur sniffed. “I flew for it.”
All three gave her rather puzzled expressions. “They tossed poor Neville in the air and I tried to catch him, seeing as Pansy and Blaise are tied up at the moment.” Everyone looked towards the Slytherin table, and sure enough, the accident prone boy’s guardians were bound hand and foot with rope. “I jumped off of the table and did catch him…but they’d sprinkled his clothes with some of their newest product…lemur powder. And as soon as I touched it…well, you can see.”
Lesson number four: Under no circumstance, try to catch Neville when the Weasley twins are in the room.
“And they got Draco too,” Hermione grinned. “He got the privilege of getting acquainted wit a mud puddle and a frog.”
“I wouldn’t be laughing. You were the one flying over two hundred feet in the air.”
“At least nothing has happened to Harry,” Hermione said thankfully, hugging the child. “Should we go get something to eat?”
“I wouldn’t touch that food if I were you,” Ginny advised, scampering up Draco’s leg and settling herself comfortably on his shoulder. “Almost every other piece has one of their tricks in it.”
“And the teachers all look quite busy,” remarked Draco, as Flitwick ran by with mushrooms for legs and more of the toadstools chasing him. “Should we maybe tell them to stop?”
“I’m not going near them,” Ginny shuddered, looking at her brothers, who were standing on top of the head table and overseeing their tricks.
“Why not? You’re already a monkey. What else could they do?”
“Many things. And preferably, I’d rather not find out.”
“Why don’t you go up, Draco?” Hermione asked, giving him a push forward. “You’re not scared, are you?”
Draco glared at the girl. “And why don’t you? Gryffindors are the brave ones.”
“I’d rather stay here and watch you turn into a tree.”
“That’s such a comforting thought.” Giving Hermione one last evil look, Draco started off for the twins, dodging and weaving around the students. “Oy! You two!” Draco called, stopping a good five feet from the table.
George jumped down from the table and landed in front of Draco. “What did you think of our Flight Gel? Did Hermione have fun?”
“She’s scared of heights. So I can’t say she enjoyed it very much.”
“Oops,” he grinned. “Looks like we forgot that small detail. Do you need something?”
“By request of the lemur, I’m here to ask you to stop the tricks.”
George pouted. “But we’re just getting started. Isn’t it a beautiful sight? Ah, look at Snape. Such a fitting picture.” Draco did look and then he almost fell over in shock. The man was dressed in a Medieval style ball gown, complete with purse and a fan. “That’s my godfather,” Draco growled.
“Well, he shouldn’t have eaten one of our Medieval Marshmallows…but he’ll change back to normal in a few minutes,” he said quickly. At that second, Snape did change back to his ordinary self, back in his black robes and a very dangerous scowl on his face as he headed for the twins. “Forge! We have a problem!” shouted George, pointing at the livid Potions master.
Both began to run across the hall, never once looking back. Bad mistake.
Lesson number five: Never, ever, put Snape in a dress and try to get away with it.
“ACCIO WEASLEY TWINS!” Snape bellowed, flicking his wand at the retreating forms. Instantly, their feet left the floor and they flew backwards, landing on the ground at Snape’s feet.
“Errr, hello?” George grinned cheekily.
“We’ll just be going now…”
“I don’t think so,” Snape grinned evilly. “Time to try some of your own treats.”
Lesson number six: What goes around comes around.
Minutes later, too very embarrassed twins has been glued to the ground with one of their products and both had on beautiful dresses like Snape had been wearing, Fred in blue and George in a pastel green. Long, red beards hung from their chins all the way to their knees and a handlebar mustache hung beneath each of their noses.
The hall had now stopped panicking, as most of the tricks lost effect and everyone was snapping pictures of the twins, both of whom were curtsying and giving very feminine like waves to the crowd. Ginny had fallen off of Hermione’s shoulder (she’d hopped off Draco’s as soon as he headed for the twins) and was rolling around on the floor, now in human form.
“Nice one, Uncle Sev,” Draco complimented, snapping a picture of Fred and George.
“Thank you,” the man smirked. “I think it quite does them justice.”
As soon as the charms had worn off, Fred and George made a formal announcement. “Thank you Hogwarts,” Fred shouted to loud cheering.
“We truly appreciated your cooperation-”
“-in the testing of our new products.”
“A list of new items is posted in every-”
“-Common Room and we hope you’ll visit us soon.”
In puffs of smoke, both twins once more disappeared, wanting to make a quick exit and not be hoarded by their adoring fans.
Once the Hall was quiet once more, students eating and talking, Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. “I’m sure you all quite enjoyed seeing our old students back again. But I must remind you to not attempt to use the tricks on teachers or staff. And by the order of Mr. Filch, no Mud Splats are allowed inside of Hogwarts.” A collective groan rose and Dumbledore simply smiled. “Tonight, I also advise you stay within the castle…a large storm is heading this way. Nothing as bad as the last one we had, I can assure, you, but still quite strong.”
Hermione looked over at Draco, who had suddenly gone slightly paler. “Are you ready?” she asked, reaching over Harry and giving his hand a small squeeze.
“No,” he muttered. “Do we have to?”
“Yes. We made a deal.”
“Well…who’s going to watch Harry?”
Hermione turned to Ginny. “Hey Gin? Do you think you could watch Harry tonight? Draco and I have something to do.”
“Something to do?” the girl asked raising an eyebrow. “Is this anything you don’t want Harry to see?”
“Oh no,” Hermione exclaimed, thankful Draco was talking to Terry and hadn’t heard Ginny. “We’re going outside to sit in the storm and I don’t really think Harry should be out…it’ll be way past his bedtime.”
“I’m sorry, Mione,” Ginny apologized. “I have a huge essay to do for McGonagall and I really need to concentrate on it.”
“That’s all right.” In her head, Hermione went over other possible babysitters. Blaise and Pansy? No, they had retired to their rooms already and might be asleep. Lavender and Terry? Nope, Ron was out sick and she didn’t want Harry to catch anything. So who could watch Harry?
“I have someone in mind,” smirked Draco, noticing the thoughtful look on Hermione’s face.
“Who?”
He grinned devilishly. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
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