Harry Potter The Application Process

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#52
Really? I don't see it... how irritating.

Well, since I don't see it, I probably can't correct it by copy-pasting the chapter again, and I don't want to go back and individually correct the quotes, so you'll have to make do with the FF.net version.

<a href='http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8832793/9/The-Application-Process' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8832793/9/The-...ication-Process</a>
 

Innortal

Well-Known Member
#53
zerohour said:
Really? I don't see it... how irritating.

Well, since I don't see it, I probably can't correct it by copy-pasting the chapter again, and I don't want to go back and individually correct the quotes, so you'll have to make do with the FF.net version.

<a href='http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8832793/9/The-Application-Process' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8832793/9/The-...ication-Process</a>
I think they mean how in your latest posting, most if not all, of the quotation marks, were replaced with several characters. I've seen it happen several times also with CaerAzkaban, and it may deal more with what word processor you use, then the internet viewer.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#54
Innortal said:
zerohour said:
Really?? I don't see it... how irritating.

Well, since I don't see it, I probably can't correct it by copy-pasting the chapter again, and I don't want to go back and individually correct the quotes, so you'll have to make do with the FF.net version.

<a href='http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8832793/9/The-Application-Process' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8832793/9/The-...ication-Process</a>
I think they mean how in your latest posting, most if not all, of the quotation marks, were replaced with several characters. I've seen it happen several times also with CaerAzkaban, and it may deal more with what word processor you use, then the internet viewer.
I know, but it doesn't show up in my browser. I'll check again tomorrow, and hopefully it will show up as you guys see it so I can fix it, but until then, FF.net is your best bet.

..Then again, with my luck, it's probably just as bad there...
 

zeebee1

Well-Known Member
#55
I'm pretty sure FF.net destroys all formatting, so it should be safe unless you mess it up on purpose.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#56
Apologies for the inevitable formatting failure. If you have a particular chapter seed you want to see developed, either in this post or previous posts, let me know. Requests for characters in a certain position or teams are also of interest to me.





The Application Process
Hagrid's Horrors



ôHagrid, you know this was meant to be mainly for students, right?ö

ôI know, I just wanted to try myself for a bit of fun.ö Hagrid answered with a smile. The gentle giant looked so happy about being involved, the Twins didn't have the heart to turn him away out of turn.

Fred sighed, ôAlright Hagrid, show us what you've got.

ôI assembled a whole team myself. I didn't think that any of the other professors would be interested, and teamign up with students didn't seem right, so I brought in a couple of old friends.ö

ôFriends?ö George asked, wondering who Hagrid knew outside of Hogwarts.

ôWell, I brought Fluffy fer the Beauty position. He's always had a fine coat of fur, and i Your brother Charlie said he'd let Norbert visit me, so I'll use him fer Brawn, on account of him being a dragon. Me old friend Aragog's been talking about coming to visit Hogwarts again, so he agreed to be the Brains for a bit.ö

ôExcellent, you wouldn't have photos of your team members, would you? I'm afraid we're not familiar with them.ö Fred asked.

ôOf course!ö Hagrid nearly shouted cheerfully, before passing them a handful of photos. ôMy favorite ones are of Fluffy and Norbert. Aragog's always been a bit camera shy, but I managed to get a few pictures of him and his family in there too.ö

Fred's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull, ôIsn't this the dog that was in that room three years ago? The one that Dumbledore said would lead to swift and painful death?ö

ôCertainly looks like itö George said, his face ashen as he paged through the pictures.. ôI can see why he talked to Charlie. This one's a bloody dragon!ö

ôThe last one's a spider, that can't be too bad, can it?ö Fred asked almost hopefully,, not looking too closely at the photo.

ôTake another look. It's big enough to eat a centaur.ö George said, his legs shaking.

ôSo, I guess you would be the boss of your little group?ö Fred shakily put down the photos.

ôYep!ö Hagrid beamed,

ôI assume that you'll be able to keep them under control, right?ö George asked, almost desperately.

ôWell...ö Hagrid considered, ôFluffy's always been well behaved, as long as he's not cooped up too long and gets plenty of attention. Aragog's his own man- er... acromantula, but he promised me he wouldn't eat people since I raised him and got him a wife. As for Norbert, I'm not too sure, I haven't seen the lad since he was a dragonling, but I've been reading up on dragon handling, and your brother sent over a copy of his training manual!ö





ôYou let them into Hogwarts?ö George asked weakly.

ôWell sure, they're old friends with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Why wouldn't I let them spend some time together to catch up?ö Hagrid asked innocently. The Twins didn't waste any more time on their interview, instead sprinting out of the room to either find Dumbledore or take cover.

Applications

ôAll I wanted to do was fly my Firebolt. I didn't need to play Quidditch, I didn't need to pull off acrobatics, I just wanted to have a nice, relaxing fly.ö Harry muttered to himself as he fled from the dragon. Sadly, being Harry Potter meant that things almost never went the way he wanted. To be honest, he wasn't all that surprised that a dragon was chasing him; it was pretty much par for the course in the life of Harry Potter. All he could hope for was that someone would notice there was a dragon terrifying Hogwarts (him in particular) and do something about it.

With a pained groan, Harry reached out and grabbed a goal post, nearly wrenching his arm out of its socket in order to make a near impossible turn. The dragon howled in frustration as its prey vanish from sight; it scoured they skies for any sign of its prey, while Harry frantically put as much distance between them as possible.

With a roar, the dragon renewed it's pursuit of the young Seeker. It's massive wings flapped with exertion as it began to close the gap between them. Harry had moved passed the end of the Quidditch field, and was rapidly approaching the Forbidden Forest. While the trees were bound to provide him with some cover, there were plenty of dangers within it, and he doubted a few very flammable trees would do much to deter his current problem.

Harry sighed, just another typical day in the life of Harry Potter.

With a steep dive, Harry found himself weaving between the closely packed trees. The dragon began to fall behind, as it was too large to pass between them and was forced to plow through them instead. However, it had no such problems with it's breath, and Harry often found himself making sharp turns to avoid sudden flashes of flame. Once, he hurriedly tried to extinguish his broomstick, as a tongue of flame had managed to ignite the bristles. In the back of his head, Harry hoped that he would be able to fix it, before refocusing on his current crisis.

In a flash of inspiration, Harry realized his chance, he made a quick U-turn, and started heading back to Hogwarts. The dragon followed him, which was just what Harry wanted. His goal quickly came into view, and with a last burst of speed, harry emerged from the forest.

Without the trees to slow it down, the dragon quickly began to catch up to him. Harry dodged it's bites and fire breath, knowing that he only had to stay ahead of it for a little bit longer. The Whomping Willow was just a few seconds away, and while it was dangerous, Harry had more than a few encounters with it during his time at Hogwarts, and knew how to avoid the worst of it. The speed and agility of his Firebolt allowed him to avoid the lashing branches, and quickly escape it's grasp.

Seconds behind him, the dragon smashed into the Whomping Willow, but unlike its previous victims, this tree wasn't content to be demolished. It's branches lashed out at the beast, which howled in outrage. Harry was forgotten as a brawl of monstrosities broke out. Harry headed back to the castle, hoping that the rest of the day wouldn't be so stressful.


Applications


ôLa la la la...ö Ron sang carefully, making sure to stay in tune. It had taken several minutes of frantic fleeing from the monstrous dog of his first year before he remembered it would fall asleep to music. Unfortunately, the spot Fluffy had chosen to doze in was the doorway to the classroom Ron had attempted to hide inside. While he managed to put th ebeats to sleep before it could break down the door completely, it was the only visible way out, and as far as Ron knew, there were no secret passages inside.

He sighed to himself, only to immediately begin singing again when Fluffy growled in distaste. His only real option was to wait until someone found him, or Hagrid collected his pet. Ron groaned internally, and hoped that his voice wouldn't give out before someone found him.

Applications

ôOh God.... oh God...ö Hermione stuttered as she attempted to crawl away from the monstrous spider in the middle of her dormitory. She always thought Ron and Harry had exaggerated about it's size in their stories, but after seeing it in the flesh, she realized they hadn't done it justice. None of thair stories had really conveyed the horror of an eight foot tall giant spider. It wasn't hard to see why Ron hated spiders so much.

Hermione began to back up, only to find the door had closed behind her. She tried to open it, but it was coated in spider thread, like the rest of the room. All she managed to do was trap her hand in the sticky web. She begant to frantically search for her wand, before the monstrosity in the middle of the room noticed her.

ôIt is good to finally taste the flesh of man.ö it said to itself, as he backed away from his cocooned meal. His jaws clacked in what she could only assume was delight, before turning to face the bushy haired bookworm. A small part of Hermione remembered that Lavender had come up here to freshen up, and hadn't come back down.

ôSo, you are the one Hagrid told me about. Hermione was it? You are to be my equal? My counterpart for Hagrid's little venture?ö the spider clacked at the terrified girl. Hermioen nodded frantically. If this thing was a friend of Hagrid's maybe it wouldn't hurt her.

ôW-what's your name?ö

ôI am called Aragog. Hagrid once raised me, here in this very tower. Not much has changed since then, I see.ö His voice was rough with age, though that could easily be the unusual shape of its mouth.

ôReducto!ö Hermione screamed. The blast of energy shot towards the spider, bit it did nothing against it's chitinous hide.

Aragog let out a burst of air, the closest he could manage to a sigh. ôI find myself disappointed. Then again, you are nothing but a child. Such spells are nothing against an acromantula's flesh.ö

Again, Hermioen tried to break open the door, but the spider silk was just as magically resistant as its creator. Everythign she tried seemed to result in more and more webbing entrapping her, until she could barely move. Soon, all Hermione could do was watch, terrified, as the monstrous spider slowly approached her.

ôMy dear, I am afraid that escape is quite impossibleö the monstrous spider said to the terrified Gryffindor, ôDo not worry, your fear, like your life, will soon come to an end.ö


BAD END


Chapter Seeds

"Pretty Magical Girl Sevrina?" George asked as he saw the abominable fruits of his brother's labors.

"You would be surprised what you can pull off by mixing a Polyjuice variant with a Personality Potion." Fred answered. "Plus just casting random spells into the mixture seems to have helped.


---


ôMr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, didn't you two already submit a joint application?ö

ôIndeed we did Mr. and Mr. Weasley, but that was for the vulgar position of a brutish thug. We've decided an additional application for the illustrious post of the all knowing Brain position would not be amiss.ö

The Twins stared dumbfounded, having never heard more than a few words from either of the goons before.

ôDear me, it seems that our unusual verbosity has stunned the good sirs into silence.ö

ôIndeed. They seem to be caught unaware of the immediate effects of a simple loquaciousness potion as well as a cognitive enhancement potion.ö

ôYou would be remiss if you failed to mention th elong term benefits of continual consumption as well.ö

ôQuite right my good chum.ö

---

I was thinking of a follow up to the previous chapter where Ron and Lavender receive their punishment, and have to teach sex ed to the younger students so no one else repeats their rather public performance.

Potential outcomes
A: Standard awkward Sex Ed
B: They repeat their Hogsmead performance
C: They attempt to seduce McGonagall
D: They succeed in seducing McGonagall
 

rukia8492

Well-Known Member
#57
i vote all 4
 

Ordieth117

Well-Known Member
#58
Option D might allow for Minerva to join the fun and games herself as well. Potentially as a Boss, but otherwise as any of the other positions. Definitely Beauty if she got to have more fun with Ronald-licious and Lavender.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#59
rukia8492 said:
i vote all 4
Yes, but I can only do one at a time. Looks like option D is the first one up, once I get my current plot bunny taken care of.

Unless...

Unless this newest bit of insanity takes root instead...


ôDOBBY RANGERS, ASSEMBLE!!!ö

ôOh God.ö

ôDOBBY RED!!!ö The apparent leader exclaimed. In all likelihood, this was the odd House Elf Harry had mentioned.

ôDOBBY GREEN!ö

ôDobby Black.ö A third elf sneered.

ôD- Dobby BLUE-HOO-HOO-HOOö A fourth elf sobbed, tears leaking out of its helmet.

ôDOBBY PINK!!!ö The final member of the team shouted, wielding a wash bin, of all things.


Red: Dobby
Black: Kreacher
Blue: Winky
Green: Unknown
Pink: Unknown

Suggestions for elf personas are welcome. Join me in my madness.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#61
Honestly, I'm not all that happy with this chapter. There aren't too many older developed older students to put into the story, and given how Cedric is a Hufflepuff and likely to bring in a large number of supporters given Harry status as "stealing" his glory, it would have necessitated creating a significant number of OCs, which I didn't want to do. I managed to only create one and gloss over the rest of them but I;m still not particularly happy with it.

Maybe a good night's sleep will help me figure out a way to fix it. Too bad I have work first...



Cedric Diggory wasn't sure what to make of recent events. Being selected as the Champion for Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament was an immense honor, but the sudden addition of Harry Potter to the original trio

Cedric wasn't sure what to make of Harry. He had always been a good opponent in Quidditch, and seemed soft spoken most of the time, but he did have a tendency to get involved in major events like this.

As the Hufflepuff champion tried to figure out what role Harry would be playing, he found himself waylaid by the infamous Gryffindor troublemakers, Fred and george. They all but dragged him into an empty classroom, despite his protests. Cedric eyed them warily, making sure his wand was close at hand. They had never been malicious before, but given what was at stake in the tournament...

ôCedric my boy, as one Quidditch player to another, you could use some help.ö One of them declared with a grin.

ôShouldn't you be helping your own champion?ö Cedric asked pointedly, looking around for any signs of a classic Twins' trap.

ôWe already did.ö

ôDidn't you notice the big assembly earlier in the year? When everyone was turning in applications?ö

ôWell, yes, but what does that have to do with me?ö

ôAs a Hogwarts Champion, all eyes are going to be on you, much like they all too often have been on our young friend Harry, who was unfortunate enough to join your ranks. It's only natural that we extend our services to you as well.ö

ôYour... services?ö Cedric asked.

ôYou, Krum, and the dishy Beauxbaton's champion.ö

ôCan't be showing favoritism at this stage. That'll have to wait until later.ö

ôWait, what in the world are you two babbling about?ö

ôYou, my dear Cedric, need to round up a posse.ö

ôA posse?!ö

ôA team, a crew, a gang, choose whatever terms suits you best. Harry has his support network in place.ö

ôMostly.ö George amended.

ôWe've eliminated a few candidates, at least. So you need to play catch up and establish your own group.ö


ôHufflepuff is an obvious choice for your crew, but judging by how the other houses are reacting to our young friend's entry, you could probably have your pick of Ravenclaw and Slytherin too. Even a few Gryffindor's might be interested, but you'll have to work at that.ö

ôHouse unity and all that.ö

Cedric looked back and forth, trying to keep up with their rapid fire exchange. The Twins stopped, allowing him to process what they had been saying, before handing him something. Cedric stared in mild befuddlement at the piece of folded paper they passed to him.

ôDon't worry, it's all written up in this pamphlet.ö

ôRounding up a Posse, the Weasley Way?ö Cedric asked the now departed twins, before, with s deep sense of foreboding, flipping through it.

Cedric spent the rest of the night looking through the pamphlet the Twins had given him, and considering just what they wanted him to do.

To be honest, while the Twins were suspect, their little pamphlet contained a simple, concise explanation of the entire concept of their four man band, and the roles each member would play. Cedric, as the center for the group, would apparently play the role of the Boss, and be responsible for determining their goals as well as maintaining order within the group. The other roles were equally fascinating, and reminded Cedric of Hufflepuff philosophy. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts, and bringing out the full potential of his team was an idea Cedric couldn't get enough of.

Cedric went to sleep, still considering the benefits and drawbacks of dozens of potential teammates.

Applications

ôHey Cho, could we talk?ö Cedric said somewhat nervously. His fellow seeker blushed, before waving off her friends.

ôWhat is it?ö She asked,

ôWell, Fred and George stopped me yesterday for a talk. You know how they devised some sort of group for Harry Potter earlier this year, right?ö

ôYes...ö Cho replied, frowning slightly in confusion.

ôWell, since he was chosen as a Champion, they decided I should have something similar set up.ö

ôOh?ö

ôAt first I wasn't too keen on the idea, but considering how difficult the tournament is going to be, I'm starting to come around to it. Having a dedicated group to help me out started to sound like a solid plan.ö

ôWell, you are in Hufflepuff.ö Cho mused, ôOf course you're going to think it's a good idea.ö

Cedric chuckled.

ôSo what does this have to do with me?ö

ôWell, the two of us have always gotten along, even though we're rivals on the Quidditch Field.ö Cedric began, studiously looking away from the Ravenclaw, ôAnd I know how smart you are, so I was wondering, if maybe you would like to be one of them?ö

ôWellö

ôThe three roles the Twins; described were Brains, Beauty, and Brawn. I'm not too sure about that last one, but you certainly could be either of the first two.ö Cedric blushed.

ôI doubt I'd be too much use in a fight, so I think Brains or Beauty would be best. Which one, depends on how to answer my next question.ö Cho said, a teasing tone in her voice.

ôAnd what would that question be?ö

ôWould you like to spend the next Hogsmead weekend with me?ö The Ravenclaw seeker asked boldly. Never let it be said that only Gryffindors had courage.

ôS- sure.ö Cedric managed to say without choking.

Cho flushed, and gave him one of the largest smiles he had even seen. ôThen I guess you have your Beauty.ö

Applications

Cedric wasn't sure that having most of his close friends act as his Brawn was what the Twins had intended, but judging by the number of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students, having a few extra wands available couldn't hurt. Most of his dorm mates had volunteered, and in addition to providing twenty four hour support, they were among his closest friends.

In the back of his mind, Cedric wished that Professor Lockhart's dueling club had lasted a bit longer. Hufflepuff's weren't known for their desire to start a fight, and while his friends were certainly willing to step up to the plate, knowing how to win a fight would have been valuable information.

Cedric sighed. Considering how much work he had to do for the tournament, training with his roommates was probably a good idea. Forging them into a well oiled fighting machine was exactly the type of thing that needed to be done.

Cedric absently made a note to start up a training regimen for all of them. The sooner they started, the better off they would be.

Applications

Cedric hadn't been sure who would fit best for the Brains, but he decided to go with a Slytherin. By including a Slytherin, he managed to secure support from all three houses outside Gryffindor. His father always said that it was never too early to start building connections, and being tripartisan was a solid move.

The issue was which one to choose. The majority of Slytherins were more interested in their own agendas than focusing on Cedric's concerns, and those few who were amiable to the idea generally weren'y as skilled as Cedric would like for his team. Finally, after much internal deliberation, he settled on his fellow Sixth year, Carl.

Carl probably should have been in Ravenclaw. He never seemed to pay attention to anyone else and always had his nose buried in one book or another. He hadn't been difficult to find, but getting him to look up and listen was trying, and getting him to agree even more so. Cedric wasn't too sure how useful his fellow sixth year was going to be, but his grades were consistently the best in the year, and his knowledge of spellwork was impressive to say the least.

The additional support he would gain from Slytherin was just an added bonus.

Applications

Cedric looked over his assembled team. It was a bit larger than he had intended, and his recruitment efforts had drawn the attention of his entire house, all of whom wanted to join in whatever form he would allow. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to call them Team Hufflepuff.

ôI must say, this is a rather impressive list of team members.ö

ôI hope you don't mind the creation of an associate position. The rest of the 'Puffs were a bit... enthusiastic when they found out about your little plan.ö

ôHope you don't mind taking a team photo?ö The Creevey brothers asked. Cedric stared blankly at the m for a moment, before agreeing.

It took nearly a week to organize everyone. With such support, it was difficult to find a time when no one needed to attend class, had detention, or was finishing up an essay for one teacher or another. They finally managed to gather everyone into the Great Hall for the photo.

The hustle and bustle as everyone jockeyed to get a good position was entertaining, and it filled Cedric with pride that so many people would go so far to help and support him. As he took the center position, he couldn't get rid of the massive grin on his face.

ôAlright everyone, say: Diggory!ö Colin called.

ôDIGGORY!!!ö The booming voice of Cedric supporters echoed through the hall, as the brilliant flash of the camera captured the moment.
 

zeebee1

Well-Known Member
#62
Did you just make his entire house the Brawn?

Also the Weasley way of rounding up a posse tend to involve getting a woman pregnant and hoping the don't become squib accountants.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#63
The Twins were pouring over a huge pile of papers. As students, one might expect they were laboring away at a homework problem, perhaps a massive arithmancy equation, or a lengthy transfiguration essay.

As the Twins, one might expect that they were plans for a new invention, or a devastating prank. Most likely on Slytherin students, but just as easily on one of the other rival houses, or even Gryffindor.

However, right now, they were working on their pet project, which meant that they were pouring over applications for Harry's companion. In this particular case, for all of those who were applying to be the brains of the operation.

“We have about twenty Ravenclaws lined up for interviews later this week, and more of them are signing up by the hour.” Fred sighed in irritation. “That's not even counting the candidates from the other Houses who think they can outshine Hermione.”

“We can't spend that much time interviewing them!” George exclaimed, “Even if we did manage that, most of them will be able to pass it without any problems, so we'll still have the same problem.”

“We need to come up with some way to thin the herd, or flock in this case.” Fred mused.

“How about a trial? A series of puzzles so that only the best can make it through?” George suggested.

“That might be our only option. Let's get cooking on it.”

The Twins labored for several days, formulating and discarding mental challenges several times, seeking to create a series of puzzles and challenges. It was after this long, intense period of brainstorming, that one of them finally settled on a challenge they thought would be appropriate.

“Alright, I think we've gotten everything we need.” George declared, sitting back in accomplishment. Fred glanced over at his work, before turning to his brother.

“You don't think it's too obvious?” he asked.

“If it is, and too many of them pick up on it, then we'll just say they got it wrong. Otherwise, I think it will be perfect for eliminating the more bird brained students. At least it will buy us some time.”

Fred nodded in agreement,“The Brains tend to spend too much time buried in a book, instead of watching the world around them. Plus as Hermione has said in the past, most wizards don't have an ounce of common sense or logic.”

“Exactly.”

“Of course, this is only step one in the process.”

“Well, we've gotten a decent head start on that with all of this brainstorming we've been doing.”

“We just need to knock it up a notch.”

“Bam.” George answered, “I think we've got our next challenge right here.”

Fred glanced over at the paper his brother had been working on, “Oh, that is a nice one, isn't it. I especially like the knives.”

“Thank you brother.” George grinned, and the two of them once again set to work in earnest.

Applications

Over a week later, the Twins had completed their research. Once their work was done, the Twins sent out a call, and assembled the large number of potential Brains in a secluded tower of the castle. They gazed out at the assembled crowd, composed of the best and brightest (or so they claimed.) With a shared grin, they addressed the crowd.

With a theatrical bow, Fred began to speak. “Welcome, to all you candidates applying for the Brains position in Harry's team. This will be the first of many trials to determine which of you is most fit to fulfill the position. The name of this trial is...”

“The Gauntlet!” George shouted, casting a quick spell to fill the room with the sound of thunder.

“The gauntlet consists of a number of intellectual challenges and puzzles we have spent weeks devising. We have researched countless forbidden tomes, and even consulted with the most devious minds of our time to craft and select the challenges within. Only the greatest of minds have even a hope of passing through them, and even for them, survival is not a certainty.”

“Your goal is to reach us as quickly as possible. Be warned, that the gauntlet we have constructed contains a countless number of puzzles and challenges. You'll need to use all of the knowledge you've gained through your experience at Hogwarts in order to pass them all.”

“We shall await the swiftest of you. Good luck.”

With a theatrical bow, the Twins exited through a door to the right, awaiting the arrival of the best and brightest.

The majority of the participants immediately moved into the gauntlet. They moved with speed rarely seen in Hogwarts to start surmounting the obstacles set up by the most devious minds in Hogwarts in recent memory.

Within seconds, the room was mostly deserted, leaving behind a scant few, who simply looked around in bewilderment.

“It can't be that simple, can it?” Padma asked, the gears in her mind turning as she began looking dubiously at the door the Twins had used. She exchanged looks with Hermione, neither of them willing to be the first to risk embarrassment at being wrong.

“Why not?” Another asked.

Luna didn't bother to respond, simply walking through the door without a care in the world. A few moments later, with the uncertainty broken, the rest of them followed. They stepped into the nearly empty room, and saw the Twins casually sitting at a table, passing a bottle of Fire whiskey between them.

“That's against school rules.” Hermione said reflexively.

“You've known us for years Hermione, do you really think that we care about rules?”

Hermione flushed, and the Twins looked over the significantly smaller group.

“Anyone else behind you?” They shook their heads.

“Alright George, we'll accept the first two or three who make it through the gauntlet, but after that, it looks like we can eliminate the rest of those blokes.”

“Eliminate them?” Hermione asked in surprise, “But they're running the gauntlet! Surely that's a better judge for who the most intelligent are!”

“If you think so, then why didn't you run it with them?” Fred asked. Hermione looked down in response, only glancing back up once George began to speak.

“We didn't tell them to run the gauntlet. We told them to get to us as quickly as possible. They're just a bit too smart for their own good.”

“Very true brother mine. It doesn't matter how smart you are if you can't read between the lines and see the solution right in front of you.” The brothers grinned at each other, before clinking their glasses together, and glancing back at the still surprised participants.

George's grin widened, “Fancy a drink?”
 

Prince Charon

Well-Known Member
#64
:D:snigger: Nice!
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#65
A rough draft for the next chapter that I managed to salvage after my computer's meltdown. I'll probably go back and edit this over the next couple of days, so any comments you can offer or errors you can point out would be greatly appreciated.



The Application Process

“Rocks?” Harry asked skeptically.

“Intelligent Rocks, Harry. That's one of the important qualities they have.” Fred grinned.

'Wouldn't be interesting if they were just regular rocks, now would it?' George added, with an identical smile on his face.

“But still... rocks?” Harry asked again, still not convinced.

Fred sighed, “Listen Harry. You have no idea how hard we worked on this.”

“Really. Took us hours of research and enchanting.” George said.

“Poured our blood, sweat, and tears into it.” Fred nodded.

“And you're just going to reject it out of hand?” George asked Harry.

“Alright, alright! I'll give it a shot.” Harry surrendered, causing the twins to grin.

“Great to hear it Harry, now you'll need to be the one to activate them. They're designed to attune to whoever turns them on first, and no one else.”

“Wait, how do you know they only work for whoever turns them on?” Harry asked out of curiosity.

“We tested a couple of prototypes.”

“They... didn't work out so well.” Fred admitted, surreptitiously covering a few burn marks.

"But this one is fine!"

"Not finished, but fine."

"It's not going to explode, at any rate."

"Probably."

Harry looked at the pile of rocks before him uneasily, the Twins' assurances doing nothing to calm his rising trepidation.

“So how many of these did you make?” Harry asked, looking around for anything lurking in the corners.

“Just this one.”

“Really? You normally have three candidates for this sort of thing.”

“Well, we decided to go for quality over quantity.”

“We combined all three archetypes, Brain, Beauty, and Brawn into one package.”

"It took a bit more work, but once we get everything finished, I think the final product will be much more impressive."

"Alright, so what do I do?"

"Just point your wand at it, give it a jab, and say: 'Activos.'"

Harry gave them a look, before dutifully doing as he was told.

"Nothing happened." he said flatly.

"Well, it's still in its test mode. We didn't want it flying off on it's own. But now that's its attuned, we can show what we have so far."

"Flying?" Harry asked, before noticing the gleam in their eyes, ""No, wait!"

“Combine!” Fred shouted, and the rocks leaped towards Harry. The young wizard flinched, but his fears went unrealized, as the rocks swirled around him, before slowly falling into place, creating a protective suit around him. Harry's arms were forcibly lifted up, as more rocks flew towards the newly exposed flesh. Within seconds, Harry was completely cloaked in rocks, save for his head.

“Looks like we're a few rocks short for the head.” George noted.

“We need to look into a few more enchantments so he can see and hear through the rocks first.” Fred answered.

Right, right. Well, it is a work in progress. Just wanted to show Harry what we had so far.”

“Of course, brother.”

“Anyways Harry, in this form, the rocks act as a protective suit against attacks. They also augment your strength and speed.”

“You're fast enough to catch a pixie, and strong enough to lay out a giant. It will take some time to adjust to it, but I think you'll enjoy the final results.”

Harry attempted to moved, only to find himself stumbling.

“It will take some time to get used to how it moves. Until then, you'll probably be a mite clumsier than you're used to.”

“It feels like trying to walk through water.” Harry said as he just barely kept from tripping.

“Not a bad way to think of it. It's trying to decide if it should move with or against you right now. That's why sometime it will fight against you, and other times it will overcompensate and overdo it. Don't worry. We've got some more work we need to do with it, which should smooth things out a bit.” Fred said.

“Alright, so you've seen the Brawn, how about the Beauty?” George said, as the rocks fell away from Harry. Harry nodded in agreement, and the Twin waved their wands.

Harry watched silently as the rocks joined together and began to warp. Their rough edges smoothed, the gaps between them were filled, and slowly, a humanoid form began to take shape.

Harry stared, as the large collection of rocks Fred and George had given to him took the form of a girl. An extremely attractive, naked girl.

“She's not fully functioning yet. We still need to do a bit more enchanting for that, but she can walk around, talk a bit, and is strong enough to wrestle a hippogriff.” George listed off some of the features of this mode, heedless of Harry's shocked state.

“S-she's naked!” Harry nearly shouted.

“Harry, don't be such a prude.”

“It's a statue. Like the Venus de Milo. Or David. No need to be so uptight about it.”

Harry didn't reply, merely turning red as he glanced over at the nude statue, which smiled at him, and winked. "

"That's just the bare bones persona we designed for it. It can't do much more than smile, walk around, and say a few words, but it's better than just standing around like a statue."

"But it is a statue!" Harry protested.

"Harry, you'll hurt her feelings!" George exclaimed.

“She may be a statue, but she's still a person!” Fred joined his brother, and the Beauty form of their latest project drooped as she gave Harry a tearful look.

“S-sorry!” Harry said, uncertain what the proper way to react was, nervously bowing his head in apology to the animated statue. His contriteness seemed to satisfy her, and she smiled, before bounding forward to wrap him in a hug.

Harry froze up. The very small part of his mind that remained functioning noted that her body didn't feel anything like stone.

“Alright, that's enough. You'll have plenty of time with Harry later.” George said. The statue pouted at him for a moment, but released the dark haired wizard, much to his relief.

“Well, there isn't much more to show you about this mode, so I think it best that we move on.” Fred said.

Harry let out an audible sigh of relief as the naked female returned to a pile of rocks.

“Alright, you showed me the Beauty and the Brawn. I'm not sure I should be asking this, but what about the Brains?” Harry said, worriedly glancing between the twins and the rocks. After seeing the Beauty they had crafted, he wasn't sure what to expect for the Brains.

The twins shared an uneasy glance with each other.

“Well, we're still working out the details for that.” George admitted.

“As we already mentioned, the speech function isn't quite finished, so it can't communicate what it knows to you effectively.” Fred said.

“Of course, the real problem is getting it to learn the information that you could use. Created intelligences tend to be... not so intelligent. At least for the first few iterations. We're doing what we can, and the fact that it isn't really 'alive' makes things a bit easier, but it's going to take some time before we work out all of the bugs.” George continued.

"We'll probably finish up the Beauty aspect first, and use that as a baseline for the Brains persona."

"You like the sexy librarian look, right Harry?"

“Well, he certainly enjoyed the sexy part of it.”

“At least the Brawn is fully functional.” George said brightly, before gesturing with his wand. The rocks quickly flew back to Harry, once again girding him for battle.

"Before we go any further, I have to ask, how do I get this off?" Harry said, looking down at the suit of armor they had crafted, “I can't just go looking for you whenever I need to take this on or off, can I?

“Excellent point Harry!” George exclaimed.

"Just say 'Dea Culpex.'" Fred answered.

“Dea Culpex!” Harry repeated, and the rocks immediately fell down around him, before moving back into a pile.

"Right. Now you just need to say. 'Activos' to get it to activate in Brawn Mode."

"If you want it to activate in Brains, say: 'Activos Intelligos'. For Beauty: 'Activos Attravos.' Switching over to Brawn mode requires you to say: 'Sledgios.' Switching to Brain or Beauty, you just say the second word in the activation phrase."

Harry nodded, and began testing the phrases, watching as the rocks rose up, took a form, then collapsed, before rising up again in a new form.

As the twins watched him test out their latest experiment, Fred spoke up, "We're still working on the range of it, but as long as you can see it, it shouldn't be a problem."

“So, what are all those bells and whistles you were talking about?” Harry asked, as the rocks reformed into the large, apparently harmless pile between them.

“Well, obviously we want to improve it's ability to communicate. It's not much use as Brain or Beauty when it can't talk. We're also working on a color changing function so the Beauty can look a bit more realistic instead of just gray.” George said.

“As for Brawn mode, we want to add a helmet in for you, so you'll have full protection.”

“Probably a way to use magic without your wand as well. I don't see it standing up too well against the added strength we gave you. If we can't get that to work, some sort of energy blast is possible.”

“Maybe a flight function? And the morphic properties of the Beauty to smooth it out a bit? Make it looks a bit more intimidating?” Fred asked his brother.

“We could probably adapt the color shifting we've been planning for the Beauty form to it too. He looks pretty drab in all that gray.” George said thoughtfully.

“Gryffindor colors? Red and gold?”

“Sounds good, but we should probably add in a camouflage function as well. We don't want Harry getting killed because he was too flamboyant.”

"Good thinking."

"Brains is where we have to most work to do. It's difficult to crate something intelligent using magic, unless you spend years researching the subtle nuances of the mind and studying the thought patterns of people or whatever creature you want to emulate."

"We're going to try and give it a magical dictionary and encyclopedia, and allow the persona we're crafting to access it freely. Once we get that working, we'll try to add in some spellbooks to give"

"We'll probably have to give it some way of casting its own spells as well. As much as I like Harry, even he would have difficulty casting a spell he just learned in the middle of a fight."

"True. The Brains is the most complicated part of the whole project, so it's going to take a lot more work before we get everything working right, and that's not even factoring in how it would interact with the other aspects."

“So, what do you call it?” Harry asked, watching as the rocks reform into an innocuous pile. The twins pulled out their own wands, and levitated them, moving them back into the bag they had brought them in.

“Well we haven't decided on a name just yet.” Fred said, checking that they hadn't missed any of the rocks.

“We figured you would want to be the one to name it, since it's going to be your pile of rocks after all.” George continued, tying the bag shut and hefting it over his shoulder.

“But in the mean time, we've been calling it Vera.”
 

Innortal

Well-Known Member
#66
This can either be very humorous, or very bad for Harry.
 

alucard964

Well-Known Member
#67
so basically the twins created a stone iron man suit with a few extra functions for harry. im gonna say this could be hilarious.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#68
Just finished a quick pass, and wanted to share it with you guys tonight. Let me know if there are any major erros that I missed, so I can fix them quickly.

Enjoy!

The Application Process
The Incredibly Angry Redhead

"Are you sure about this?" Ron asked his older brothers as they handed him a well worn tome.

"Of course Ron. While we do do our best to have fun, you're still family, so the least we could do is give you a fighting chance." George said with an easy smile.

"Really, it's our fault for not giving you advanced notice." Fred apologized.

"Hermione got some after all, since she helped organize this project, and we can't be showing favoritism like that." George continued.

"So consider this book a bit of a boost towards keeping your position."

"It's titled 'Effective, but Dangerous. Deadly Draughts Your Enemies Would Fear to Use. for the' " Ron said, fighting the urge to put the book down and run.

"Well, if it was something that everyone would use, then it wouldn't be much of an advantage, now would it Ron?"

"I guess, but couldn't you have given me something without Deadly in the title?"

“Ron, you've gone to face You-Know-Who twice. I think you can handle a little deadly.”

Ron opened his mouth to protest, but the twins were already well on their way, leaving him holding the heavy book.







Ron read through the book carefully, especially the lengthy disclaimer stating the author was not liable for any injuries or damages caused by failing to follow the procedures outlined in the recipes. It was nearly as long as the one absolving them of any quilt for following the direction precisely. While it did fill him with some degree of trepidation, he realized that h didn't have time to play it safe and go research something else. With a deep sigh, Ron resigned himself to his fate as he browsed through the book, hoping to find something useful.

"Red Potion of Wrath. First of the Seven Sins Collection..." Ron murmured to himself, glancing over the effects of the potion. He hesitated, before checking to see what ingredients he had available at the moment. Realizing he had most of them, he decided to go grab his cauldron. There was supposed to be a brief visit to Hogsmead, and if he timed it right, the cauldron would be ready to boil by the time he got back from picking up the last few ingredients.

Of course, there was still the problem of where to get the cash...

"Listen, I need a few galleons for potion ingredients." Ron said, as he entered the Gryffindor common room.

“No.” George answered immediately, not even looking up from the pile of papers in front of him.

"But you don't understand! It's for that application process of yours!"

“We already gave you enough help with that. You're on your own now.” Fred said.

"Oh, I see how it is. You're willing to 'help' me by giving me something that's far more likely to get me killed, but when I ask for a few galleons to make it actually happen, you show your true colors."

"Ron, that's not the way it is..."

"No, that's exactly how it is. It's the same way it's always been. You pretend to lend me a hand just so I fall harder. "

"Ron..."

"Don't deny it!" on nearly shouted, causing the Twins to take a step back.

"Alright! Here's a few galleons, if it will get you off our back!" one of them said, fishing in his pocket.

"Are we square now?" The other asked.

"It's a start. Just stop jerking me around all the time." Ron said, quickly grabbing the coins before stalking off, leaving his somewhat upset brothers behind him.

As Ron walked away, he suppressed a grin. While he might not be the most cunning of the Weasley Clan, he could still manipulate his family on occasion. He waited until he was sure the portrait had closed behind him and he was out of their hearing range, and began whistling to himself he headed towards the carriages, and then it was off to Hogsmead. He knew it was only a matter of time before they regained their steam and realized they had been played, but in the meantime, he enjoyed the rare feeling of one upping his older brothers.

Applications

The process of acquiring ingredients didn't take to long, so Ron spent most of the Hogsmead visit relaxing with his friends. However, as soon as they made their way back to Hogwarts, he sequestered himself with the book, his cauldron, and his potion ingredients.

The brewing process didn't take too long. The instructions were fairly simple compared to some of the recipes Snape had given them. Ron quickly found himself in possession of a small vial of nuclear red potion. He gave it a quick sniff, and the stench of burning hair and rotten eggs filled his nose.

Ron winced, but raised the still bubbling concoction to his lips, before downing it in a single gulp. He tensed up, bracing himself for the effects it had detailed. Idly, he was glad that he had chosen such a secluded room in the castle, so that he wouldn't cause too much trouble if it worked the way it was supposed to, turnign him into a juggernaut of destruction.

Though a part of him wished he remembered where the bathroom was.

A minute passed, then two, then five, and nothing happened.

"Hm... I don't think it worked." Ron said to himself, somewhat disappointed. "I guess I'll look for another potion..." he groaned to himself, before packign his things up and heading back toward the Gryffindor Common Room. The night promised to pass peacefully, and he had elected to spend it searching for a new potion to prepare him for his application, but two of his fellow Gryffindors had other plans.

“Working hard Ron? That's something new.” Seamus commented as he and Dean walked over to join him.

“Worried about losing you place in Harry's crew? I can understand that.”

"Don't worry Ron, I'll be a good friend to Harry. Probably even better than you were." Seamus said, a big grin on his face.

"Not that you set the bar too high." Dean sniggered.

Ron turned red. The crimson coloring started from the roots of his hair, and spread down his face, then through his body. Seeing his new coloring his roommates only laughed harder. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. The red permeated Ron's very being, interacting with the latent potential of the Potion of Wrath to cause an incredible transformation.

Ron's body began to contort, as muscles he never had before formed within seconds, stretching his skin painfully tight. Blood pumped furiously through his veins, even as the arteries leading to his head constricted, shutting down his higher brain functions. His bones swelled up, greatly increasing his height until he was hunched over, back pressed against the ceiling. In his mind, everything ceased to exist, replaced with a red fog of rage.

In essence, Ron was gone. His Ego and Superego suppressed leaving nothing but the furious rage of his id, in a body perfectly designed to vent that rage on the world around him. He looked around the suddenly smaller room, before his gaze settled on the two boys he had been talking to.

Seamus and Dean stared in fear and horror at the angry monster in front of them. As the creature that used to be Ron advanced towards them, their minds raced to try and figure a way out.

"Listen Ron, you know we were just joking around." Dean tried to backpedal. Seamus didn't waste any time trying to soothe the savage beats, instead sprinting for the portrait frame. The beastly boy attemtped to catch him, but his increased heigth made pursuit difficult. Seamus made it, ba

“Seamus, how could you, you bastard!” Deam shouted at the back of the portrait.

“Good luck buddy!” came the muffled reply.

“Traitor!!!”

"GRARRGH!!!" Ron howled, redirecting his attention to the only remaining target. Dean immediately saw his life flash before his eyes, and began praying as his eyes desperately searched for an escape.

Again, Ron's size worked against him, making it difficult for him to walk around the room. The furniture also served to slow him, allowing Dean enough time to scamper up the stairs, which were fortunately too narrow for the transformed Ron to follow him up. Ron clawed fruitlessly at the staircase for a few moments, before giving up in frustration.

Denied any living targets, the beast turned upon the inanimate furniture of the Gryffindor Common Room.

Applications

"You feeling alright mate?" Ron moaned as a disembodied voice floated through his head. He struggled to open his eyes, and after several long, blurry moments, he recognized the concerned face of his friend, Harry.

"Ugh... yeah, though you would not believe the headache I've got." Ron groaned as he struggled to his feet.

"Must have been some party last night."

"There wasn't a party." Hermione said flatly.

"No party? Then why is the Common Room trashed, and I can't remember anything?" Ron asked, rubbing his temples in a futile effort to dispel the raging pain in his skull.

"Well, as far as we can tell, you kind of lost it last night." Harry said.

"What!?" Ron shouted, immediately wincing at the increased pain the loud noise caused.

“According to Dean, you transformed into a raging red monster and tried to kill him. When he got away you took it out on the common room.” Hermione said.

“But that's crazy. I mean, I won't deny I've got a temper, but turning into a monster?” Ron asked, before suddenly paling.

“Ron...” Hermione began, recognizing the look of dawning horror on his face.

“You'd best get your story straight, mate. Lavender already went running off to find McGonagall. I'd guess you have about five minutes.” Harry said, oblivious ot the furiosu look in Hermione's eye bseide him.

“I... may have... tried a potion out that could have these effects...” Ron admitted slowly.

“Ronald!”

“I should probably go to the Hospital Wing...” Ron said, “I think I drank something I really shouldn't have...”

“We'll go with you. Just let me grab my claok and we should eb able to get by McGonagall.” harry said, already walking up to the boy's dormitory.

It wasn't too difficult to avoid McGonagall or anyone else on their trip to the Hospital Wing. They quickly hid Ron under Harry's invisibility cloak, and used the Marauder's Map to avoid McGongall, the other teachers, and prefects. It wasn't exactly easy, but it was done in short order. That only left one remaining trial.

Explaining what he had doen to Madame Pomphrey.

Applications

“Honestly, Mister Weasley, I don't know what was going through your head when you drank a potion as dubious as that!” Madame Pomphrey lectured the young red head.

“Sorry. Is there anything you can do to fix it?” Ron asked.

“Fix it? I'm not even sure what it does! I can't find a record of this book anywhere in the library! Where on earth did you acquire something like this?”

“I got it from my brothers. I think they might have picked it up a few years back in Egypt.” Ron admitted, wincing as the witch turned bright red, and glared at him.

“Wonderful, not only using a book you've never seen before, but one that comes from the place known for their twisted magics. You are to give me this book immediately, so I can begin to see if there is any type of solution for this condition of yours!”

“Yes ma'am.” Ron said meekly. Pomphrey watched him like a hawk as

“Well, off to class with you, while I try to figure out away to fix this mess you cooked up for yourself.”

“Yes ma'am.” Ron said, before quickly making his way out of the hospital wing.

“And for heavens sake, keep your temper in check!” She shouted after him.

Applications

Fortunately, the day went rather placidly for the most part. The Gryffindors did their level best to avoid bothering Ron, the carnage of the common room still fresh in their minds. The classes with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, the other students followed their example. Some had already heard the rumors, and other just didn't have any reason to upset Ron.

However, the last class of the day was Potions.

“Mr. Weasley, you're late.” Snape sneered, barely glancing away from the blackboard, “Five points from Gryffindor.”

Ron began to protest, but a warning look from Hermione silenced him. Instead, he contented himself with a glare at Snape's back, before he took a seat beside Harry.

The class proceeded in a similar fashion. Snape would continually pick at Ron's foul mood, which provoked the young Weasley, only for Harry or Hermione to calm him down before he could do something foolish. Each time, it took longer, and it was harder to keep control of himself.

Finally, he reached the breaking point.

“Ten points for your appalling attempt at a potion, Mr. Weasley.” Snape said with a sneer, completely oblivious to the mental state of the unstable Gryffindor.

“GRAAARGH!!!” Ron roared in response, bodily picking up their desk, cauldrons and all, and hurling it at the Slytherin Head of House. Snape barely had time to erect a feeble shield spell before he was knocked back. While he was, for the most port, unharmed, he was now trapped beneath the desk, and out of sight of the raging redhead.

“RRAAGH!!!” Ron screamed. His primary target for his rage vanished form sight, Ron turned to the next readily available target. Harry, having some experience with Ron's new “anger management” issues, had already made good his escape, as had a number of Gryffindors. This left the Slytherins in a very dire situation.

Ron, blinded by his insatiable rage, turned on them. There was a brief moment, where everything crystalized in complete comprehension and understanding. In this fraction of a second, the Slytheins realized that now was the tiem for Fight or Flight.

“STUPEFY!” Malfoy shouted, but the stunner had no effect on the furious wizard merely serving to give him a clear target. The seething mass of fury hurled itself at the unfortunate Slytherin, who only had time to let out a terrified squeak before he was seized and used as an inpomtptu bludgeoning device. However foolish the action was, it bought the rest of his house precious seconds to get out of the line of fire, and into the relative safety of the hallway. Those few who decided to remain so close to the killzone were treated to a highly entertaining, destructive show as Ron rampaged through the classroom, knocking over scalding hot cauldrons which only served to fuel his fury. Eventually, he broke down the door to Snape's office, and the potion ingredients within. As the countless jars were shattered and haphazardly mixed together, they rapidly combined into several volatile compounds, each of them exploding in turn and showering him with their still potent ingredients.

Needless to say, in addition to whatever effects such extreme exposure would have on a person, this did not improve his mood in the slightest.

Outside of the classroom,most of the remaining students noticed that Ron was rapidly running out of things to destroy, and quickly moved far away from the only way out of the classroom.

Most of them.

The fools were fortunately spared when Ron ignored the doorway, instead choosing to crash his way thought eh solid stone wall, into the thankfully empty classroom beyond. Ron continued to tear through Hogwarts, heedless of the ever increasing damage he was inflicting to its structural integrity. With each wall, Hogwrats inched closer the th epoint of no return, when the walls would fail to upport the massive weigth and come crashing down, crushing anyoen unfortunate enough to be within, including the entire student body.

Fortunately, before he could do any permanent damage, his fury hran its course, and the now completely exhausted redhead collapsed unconscious, as his body attempted to recover from the extreme activity.

Again, Ron emerged from his violent episode with only a vague idea of what had happened. Despite the congratulations a number of his housemates gave him, once he was informed of what it was he had done, Ron had the grace to be embarrassed and ashamed.

Sadly, this quickly proved to be the norm of Ron's new life. Every time he transformed, his fuse got shorter and shorter, until even the slightest of inconveniences, such as stubbing his toe, was enough to send him into a potion fueled tantrum. It quickly reached the point where he was exempt form class, while Madam Pomphrey tried to come up with a cure for his new condition.

As the nurse struggled to cure something completely outside of her purview, the instigators of the problem convened to come up with their own solution.

Applications

“We really can't have him rampaging around the school.” George stated the obvious.

“It was funny the first couple of times, especially when he got Snape, but now it's just causing problems.” Fred agreed with his other half.

“The only issue is finding a way to keep him from having another episode. Pomphrey's looking into the usual books for a solution, so any idea for an unusual solution?”

“Nothing comes to mind right now. I'd say the same book we gave him, but Pomphrey's aloready looking for solutions in that.”

“Thanks to Bagman, we don't have any money to go buying books at ranomd”

“The Restricted Section?” Fred suggested.

“Pince won't even let us in the library after our last joke at her expense.”

“She's always been overprotective of her books. Loves them more than life itself.”

“So how are we going to keep him calm?” George wondered, “We can't have him flipping out like this at the drop of a hat.”

“The same way people have always kept their calm.” Fred answered, “Firewhiskey.”

“You want to make him a lush? Why not Occlumency or something like that?”

“You think he'll have the patience to learn something like that? This isn't a long term solution, just something to keep him from going berserk while we try to figure out a solution.”

George sighed in resignation, as he nodded in agreement, “Firewhiskey it is then. I just hope he doesn't turn out to be an angry drunk.”

Fred gulped, “Well, at least his aim won't be as good...”
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#69
Dang, it's been two years since I worked on this? For somethign i was supposed to update every week, I really failed at it, didn't I?


Oh well, breaking this out again because it's fun. Current one is Magical Girl!Hermione, and I was hoping to get some suggestions for her personality/powers. The magical transformation item she is using ins a Magical Girl wand her father picked up at a convention, which could color her transformation, depending on the source material. Could range from conventional magical girls, to Nanoha levels destruction, or H-game protagonists.
 

Shirotsume

Not The Goddamn @dmin
#70
This is TFF, so of course my vote is for H-game protagonist. With Harry, preferably.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#72
Well, it had been up for about two years, but I'm still glad you enjoyed it!

Anyways, here we go with Magical Girl Hermione.  Please point out any spelling or grammar errors you see, I would greatly appreciate it!

Hermione's initial reaction when she found out the Twins were holding auditions to replace her was fury. She had stood by Harry for years, even when he didn't appreciate it. It was only due to a quick explanation that the Twins were spared her justified wrath, as the managed to calm the irate witch before something unpleasant could happen.



Hermione left the cowering fifth years, while she got her own thoughts in order. It was reassuring that they weren't going to force her away from her friend, not that they could if they tried, but the idea that she might not be what he needed to get through the Triwizard Tournament stuck in her mind.


--- --- ---


Hermione quickly walked towards the library, her go to location to find the answers to her problems. She had spent more time here than any other two students combined, and knew the selves almost as well as Madame Pince. As she browsed through the countless books, she began to think.


She had always been the one to use her brain, but did she really want to be known only for that? The girl who got high marks and was always hanging out with Harry? This was an opportunity to become something beside the bookworm everyone thought she was. It was a chance to reinvent herself into the person she wanted to be.


With that thought in mind, Hermione continued to browse the bookshelves. She spent what must have been hours searching the shelves, picking up various books, skimming them, and either replacing them or putting them into her book bag. Eventually, she moved to a table, and began reading her selected literature with gusto, searching for the perfect spell to redefine herself.


Eventually, she found it. In a book title “Rituals of Power” she found the perfect solution. This ritual she chose would enchant a channeling device, most often a wand, but almost anything would do, and draw out the full potential of her magic, shaping it into a number of powerful abilities until the effect was dismissed.


In essence, it exchanged the versatility of a wand and spells for something far less flexible, but considerably more powerful. It was terrifying to think of it, but within the restrictions of imposed upon her, Hermione might even be able to outmatch Dumbledore. With that in mind, Hermione considered it. The spell work to create the effect wasn't too difficult, merely time consuming, but she judged the end results would be well worth the effort. She just needed to think of the perfect object to enchant.


She wasn't willing to risk her wand, and didn't have enough spare pocket money to afford a spare or any other devices the ritual recommended. She ended up writing to her mother asking for her advice. It was silly to expect her mother to know a solution to magical problems, but they had always been close, and habit compelled her to ask.


Hermione was surprised when a few days later, her mother sent her a rather large package. Opening it revealed an oversized pink wand with a number of symbols covering it. The note inside revealed that her father had picked this up some time ago after a night out drinking with some old college friends, and it had been languishing in their basement every since. She wasn't sure if it would help Hermione much, but couldn't pass up a chance to start cleaning out the basement of the junk that had accumulated over the years. She promised to send Hermione anything else she thought would be useful, and to write back if there was anything she wanted to have saved from disposal.


Hermione decided to give it a chance. Her mother had been nice enough to send it to her, and even if it didn't work, it wouldn't cost her anything. Curiosity also played a part in her decision, as she was curious was effect an entirely mundane object would have on the ritual.


It didn't take too much work to prepare the ritual to enchant the wand her mother had sent her. Hermione felt a bit silly picking up such a gaudy thing, but managed to push her doubts aside, focusing on the ritual instead of its implements.


The entire process wasn't particularly impressive. Though it did take a significant amount of time and effort, she accomplished it without any major mishaps, progressing far faster than the estimated time line the book had given her.


All too soon, the preparations for the ritual was completed. Hermione examined her work, inspecting it for flaws and errors. Finding none, she took a deep breath, drawing on all of her magical potential, and began.


She could feel the ritual pulling her magic into the wand before her. She wasn't skilled enough to determine exactly what it was doing to her magic, but she could feel patterns of power being drawn and reinforced using the wand as a medium. It felt like hours passed as her magic flowed into her nascent artifact, constantly improving the channels of power etched into it, enforcing its purpose until Hermione had nothing left to pour into to.


Finally the ritual was completed. Hermione fell to the ground in exhaustion, though it didn't keep her from grinning. It had worked. She could feel the power pulsing through her newly crafted artifact, just waiting for her to draw upon its power. Though it was tempting, exhaustion won out, and she decided to wait until tomorrow.


--- --- ---


The next day, Hermione stood alone in her room, eying her new wand critically. It seemed that everything was in order, and after rereading the book for the fifth time, Hermione was satisfied everything had gone perfectly. She picked up the wand, and could feel the power thrumming inside of it. It was strange and unfamiliar, but at the same time, felt like something that had been missing for her entire life. She drew in a deep breath, and spoke the simple word she had chosen to trigger its power.


“Transform!”


A flash of light filled the room, and the girl who had been standing there was no more.


--- --- ---


“You know, I haven't seen Hermione for some time.” Fred commented idly as he and his twin continued to page through the various applications in front of them.


“Given how she reacted last time we saw her, I'd say that's a good thing.” his brother replied. “I'm sure she'll come by to drop off her application when she's ready. You know how much she loves revising her work before turning it it.”


“I suppose you're right.” Fred said, “She'll be by in her own time, and there's still plenty of it left before the deadline.”


Further conversation was interrupted as a blast of light and sound surged through the Twin's impromptu office. They dove for cover as a sizable portion of the wall vaporized, replaced by all manner of strange, colorful objects. It was almost like a rainbow had exploded.


As the two redheads tried to understand what was happening, a voice rang out.


“The avatar of Peace and Love stands alone against the forces of evil! Where ignorance and hate take root, I will be there to exterminate them! Nothing can stand against the power of love!!!”


A figure appeared in the dust of the explosion, hopping joyfully forward. The Twins scrambled to grab their wands against this intruder, but something, some unknowable compulsion, kept them from casting their hexes. Something held them back until this ritual, as strange as it was, was completed.


“It's Magical Girl Hermione!!!” a bouncy voice cried out, causing the terrified twins to peer out form behind their desk.


It was Hermione. Or at least, it looked really similar to Hermione. Neither of them could really picture the young woman wearing a skirt that short, or joyfully waving around something so pink and sparkly. The hat seemed to be the same as the students were required to wear, but the fluffy white bunny ears poking out of it certainly weren't. A pair of ethereal wings, like you would expect to see on a fairy, flapped idly behind her.


Hermione(?) jumped down, her wings vanishing as she reached the ground. She smile,d and winked at the Twins, while striking a pose.


“I'm here to bring peace, love, and knowledge to the world!”


Fred and George stared mindlessly, unresponsive to her, or any other stimuli. For once, the two of them had no idea what they were supposed to say. Fortunately for them, it seemed stopping by to introduce herself was just a formality, as the strangely clad girl quickly hopped off to pursue… whatever it was girls like her did.


---- ---


Professor Snape sneered as he graded the papers before him. Of course, there was no one to sneer at, but that was no excuse to avoid sneering. He always felt that sneering while he graded the papers of his students was imbued upon the papers themselves. Even if they couldn't actually see him sneer, they could feel it when they saw the grades they earned.


His dark, spiteful thoughts were abruptly interrupted as inexplicable rainbows filled his office. He barely had time to process this new development before one of the walls collapsed in a brilliant technicolor display!


“Never fear, Hermione's here!” an all too familiar voice called out, causing Snape's face to grimace. Compared to that Potter buy and his Weasley friend, the Granger girl was almost tolerable. He should have known that it was only a matter of time before the boys' influence corrupted her as well.


While he would be reluctant to admit it, she was a fine, upstanding student, for a Gryffindor anyways, who always turned her homework in on time, and it was rare to find even a single error in her reports. She kept her head down and her mouth shut, at least when she wasn't being a know it all anyways.


This… was completely unexpected. For one, her skirt was far shorter than even the most forward of the female students. Not that he paid any attention to such things of course, but being exposed to such… deviancy on a daily basis meant that he was all too aware of what was and was not acceptable apparel for the Hogwarts students.


Snape's surprise at the deviance of the Granger girl. It was this surprise that made him hesitate, certainly not anything else. After all, seeing such a well behaved girl put herself on display like that was bound to shock people, and not generate any other type of reaction. As he stared it what he would certainly protest could only be called disgust, she happily twirled a massive pink wand. This incredulous display made him hesitate in drawing his wand and puttign the young girl in her place.


It was this delay that kept him from drawing his wand in time, as she pointed it straight at him, and a technicolor barrage enveloped him.


He couldn't remember what happened after that. When he came to, everything just seemed so… wonderful. A manic, almost insane grin refused to leave his face. Despite the fact that he wanted nothing more to find the Granger girl and tan her hide, he just couldn't bring himself to do it, or anything like it. In fact, he couldn't even bring himself to mark down Neville Longbottom's paper, despite the numerous spelling errors and rather rambling tone of his scroll.


He had to get to the bottom of this, and so, with a grin and a jaunty whistle, Severus Snape skipped out of the dungeons and headed towards the infirmary to see in Madame Pomphrey had any idea on what had happened to him.


--- --- ---


Draco walked through the halls of Hogwarts, sneering casually at those who were below him. No one but him could possibly be a match for Potter, no matter what those blasted Twins said. He was going to prove that by assembling the greatest team imaginable. Crabbe and Goyle would probably have to go, and it was unlikely that the Durstrang students would assist him without some form of compensation, but he couldn't let such petty concerns get in the way of the pride of the Malfoys.


As he stalked onwards, plotting his devious scheme, he was suddenly ambushed by a colorful blur. Whatever it was, sent him sprawling across the hall.


Draco glared at whoever would be foolish enough to attack him so blatantly. If the teachers had been around, he might have let them off with a sneer and promise of revenge, but here in the empty corridor, they would receive no such mercy.


For a moment, he hesitated, as he took in Hemione's new appearance, but he quickly struggled to his feet and put it out of his mind. Potter and his weasel weren't around to protect her this time, so he would finally get to show the mudblood exactly where she stood.


“Draco Malfoy, you're an enemy to peace, love, and knowledge, and as such, you need to be punished!” Hermione pouted, brandishing her wand the same way a serial killer might wave a chainsaw.,


Draco sneered at her. What could a Mudblood like her do? He reached for his wand, intent on finally teaching her where she belonged. Sadly, much like his Head of House, Draco was too slow on the draw, and Hermione struck first.


“Love-Love Laser!!!” The attack resembled a wave more than a laser, but Draco didn't have time to comment on it before it engulfed him.


It didn't hurt, he was surprised to note. As the pink blast surged over him, it actually felt rather pleasant, like standing in the summer sun. Despite being the teacher's pet, it seemed she couldn't even cast a proper hex!


“Squeak!” he shouted, unimpressed with her failed attempt to harm a pure blooded scion such as himself. It took him a second to realize that while it hadn't harmed him, it certainly hadn't left him unchanged.


He was a ferret. Again. A small part of him hoped this wasn't an indicator of where his life was heading, while the majority of him decided to bite her.


He scurried over to her, intent on ravaging her leg as best he could until she turned him back, but instead found himself rubbing against her and… purring?


“Silly Draco, right now, you couldn't hurt a fly, even if you wanted to!” Hermione smiled at him, picking him up and rubbing him against her cheek. This lead to a number of curses directed at bother her and her family, but they came out as a series of adorable squeaks instead, much to Draco's irritation.


“You'll be stuck like that until you can find enough love in your heart to overcome it!” Hermione said cheerfully, already skipping away. Draco sat on the floor, having absolutely no idea how to proceed from here.


--- --- ---


Harry and Ron were heading towards the Quiddicth pitch when they encountered Hermione.






“I'm Magical Girl Hermione! Te Protctor of Peace, Love and Books!” she proclaimed happily. It seemed her mood was actually bouying her into the air, before the boys notice a pair of ethereal wings flapping gently behind her.




“So… Hermione, just what are you going to do as the protector of love?” Harry asked, completely unprepared for what was unfolding in front of him.




Hermioen opened her mouth to launch into an excessively long sopeech about just what it was she intended to do, but instead, her face flushed a brilliant red as she locked eyes with Harry. He had always been one of the most important people in her life, but now, filled with the power of love, her feeling took on a decidedly more amorous note.


Ron gaped as Hermione swept Harry off his feet, before locking lips with the stunned boy. As the kiss progressed, he got the distinct impression that he was the only reason things weren't becoming a bit more adult oriented. After several long, uncomfortable minutes, he awkwardly cleared his throat, causing Hermione to jump, dropping the bespectacled boy she had been snogging on the floor with an audible crack.


“Tee hee! I guess I got a little carried away there! I wish I could stick around but evil won't wait for love! Magical Girl Hermione, AWAY!!!” She shouted, before flying away, trailing sparkles and rainbows behind her.


“You alright mate?” Ron asked the catatonic harry.


“I… don't know. What just happened?” Harry asked, his mind unable to fully comprehend what had just happened.


“Your guess is as good as mine.” Ron said as Harry struggled dazedly to his feet.


--- --- ---


Ron decided to skip the Quidditch pitch after their encounter with Hermione. He couldn't help but feeling a sensation of dread after seeing Hermione's new looks. Her proclomation of protecting peace, love, and especially books sent a chill down his spine. After talking to a few other students who had witnessed the new Hermione, especially her acts of Love, Peace, and Books, he decided to give her a wide, wide berth.


He had never been the most dedicated student, and Hermione had never had any qualms about telling him so, but it had always been something she had been willing to tolerate. Now, with her new attitude, and more importantly, her new firepower, he wasn't so sure she would be as willing to put up with him.


Sadly, before he managed to escape upt ot eh boys' dormitory, Hermione found him. She began to introduce herself and her purpose, but Ron, unlike her previous victims, tried to sneak away while she was distracted. Choosing pragmatism over propriety, she promptly pointed her wand at the unfortunate redhead and cut loose.


“Book Blaster!”


Ron winced as a massive pile of books appeared above him, before crashing down atop him. He heard Hermione giggle, before she rushed off somewhere else, hopefully to wreak havoc on Slytherin House.


In a way, he was glad it was all over. At least he might be able to get some pea- some quiet at least. All thinsg considered, being buried in books was far less painful or humiliating than what had happened to other people she had targeted. Ron attempted to push the books off of himself, only to find that her couldn't move. Some magical force was holding him in place, preventing him from moving.


Before he could puzzle out why Hermione would trap him like this, a book floated free of the pile, and hovered in front of his face. It opened up, showing the first page to Ron, and a disembodied voice began to read it to him.




“The sky is blue.” Ron sighed. He knew Hermione's opinion of him was low, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.


“The ocean is blue.”


Another groan followed this inane statement, as Ron was forced to endured the most asinine of statements, all of them relating to the color blue. It almost made him want to study, simply to save himself from enduring this horrible fate in the future.


Almost.


--- --- ---


“Well, after another successful day of spreading peace, love and knowledge, it's time for bed!” Hermione cheered to herself, raising her wand above her head. “Transform!”


As the brilliant light show accompanied her transformations faded away, a mortified girl stood in the middle of her room, remembering each and every embarrassing and over the top action her alter ego had perpetuated over the course of the day. There was no way she could ever show her face again in public. Even leaving her dorm seemed impossible. She quickly shoved her ill conceived magical wand out of sight, before burying herself under her covers.


Perhaps it wasn't as bad as she thought it was. After all, it wasn't like this was the craziest thing to happen over the last few weeks. People were going beyond the impossible in an effort to impress the twins, so her own ill conceived attempt didn't really stand out that much.


It wasn't like one of her roommates was an insufferable gossip who would spend the day interrogating her or spreading wild rumors all over the school, or that anyone close to Harry was likely to be plastered all over the news by that Skeeter woman for even a single toe out of place. It wasn't like there was international attention focused upon the school that could ruin her reputation across all of Europe.


She shook her head, trying to dispel those thoughts. Maybe she was thinking about this the wrong way. Maybe the school would be attacked by a rampaging dragon, and she would die horribly before anyone could talk to her tomorrow.


Yeah, that was thinking positive.
 

Innortal

Well-Known Member
#73
Not bad, just a few errors.

The twins are Sixth Years, not Fifth.
Shelves, not selves.
When the Snape scene started, and Hermione entered, you need to change 'Potter buy' to 'Potter boy'.
You may want to add hyphens to 'know-it-all'.
You may want to reword this:
Snape's surprise at the deviance of the Granger girl. It was this surprise that made him hesitate,
Sadly, before he managed to escape upt ot eh boys' dormitory
up to the

Overall, a good addition, and looking forward to more.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#74
The twins looked up at the next applicant, a rather nervous looking Neville Longbottom. They glanced down at his application, then at each other, then back at him.




"So, Neville my boy, what brings you here today?"



"Well, I-I was hoping to be part of Harry's group." Neville stuttered slightly, before taking a deep breath and drawing himself up, squaring his shoulders and stepping forward purposefully. This was his chance to stop being the person everyone saw him as, the idiot, the screw up, and he was going to put everything he had into it, no matter what.



"I see you left your position open. Do you have any preference? Brains, Beauty, Brawn..." Fred asked.



"No, I thought I would leave that up to you." Neville said.



"Not the strongest application we've seen. Decent grades for the most part, horrendous at potions, but more than made up by your Herbology."



"I've always liked plants." Neville said with a small smile, the tension draining out of him a bit as they moved to familiar ground.



"Still, not exactly something that comes up very often. Can't remember the last time that the world was saved because someone knew the properties of stinkweed sap." George said.



Neville flinched a bit, but held his place, unwilling to back down.



"Still, overall it's a very average application, not bad, but not really great either, just a solid good. Tell me Neville, why should we consider you? Harry can't afford to have someone who is merely good or competent. He needs the special and exceptional to stand against the best the other champions are going to bring to bear. What could bring you up to this level?"



Neville remained quiet for several seconds, reflecting on what the Twins had said. He thought back to all the times he had screwed up in the past, all the times people had laughed at him, and wondered if there was anything he could really do to change all that.



"Nothing."



"I beg your pardon?"



"Nothing could bring me up to that level. I'm not the strongest person, physically or magically. I'm certainly not the smartest, and I doubt that I'm the most handsome person in the school either. I really don't qualify for any of the positions, now that I think about it."



"So, are you withdrawing your candidacy?" Fred asked, looking at the younger boy before him.



"It's sounds like a very compelling case for why you shouldn't be involved in this." George agreed.



"No. I'm not giving up. If anything, I'm even more motivated to try."



"Really? " And why is that?



"I'm tired of being the tag along, the person who just watches from the sidelines. I'm tired of being made fun of by people like Malfoy, and pitied by my housemates. I'm going to join Harry's team, no matter what it takes. Even if I have to spend weeks in the library to become smarter. Even if I need to train from dawn to dusk to get stronger. Even if I don't make the team, I'm going to stand by him and help however I can, because I'm not going to give up."



Neville looked up at them, fire burning in his eyes.



"So go ahead, say whatever you need to say, but no matter what, this isn't over, not by a long shot."



He didn't wait for them to reply, simply turning and walking away, his steps filled with a purpose they had lacked when he walked in. Even if he was turned down, Neville was a changed man, a better man than he had been before, and he wasn't going to let his new found conviction gutter out, no matter what anyone said or did. Harry was his friend, and he was going to do everything he could to help him out.
Applications


Despite his new found convictions, Neville wasn't sure where to go from here. Harry already had Hermione helping him with research, and Ron with… Ron wasn't speaking to Harry at the moment.


Neither was most of Gryffindor House, now that Neville thought about it. He was so used to Harry being with Ron and Hermione, or hanging with the rest of the Quidditch team, that the idea of him being alone didn't really hit him until he thought of it just now.


Maybe Harry just needed a friend right now? Sure, Hermione was there, but she was probably more concerned with keeping Harry alive at the moment. Everyone else… they seemed to keep their distance, to put it politely. That meant that Harry, for all injtents and purposes, was all by himself.
Remembering what it was like to be persona non grata in Gryffindor, Neville realized what he needed to do.


His mind made up, Neville resolved to do something he hadn't done since first year.


Applications


“Hey Harry, up for some Quidditch?”


“You play Neville?” Harry blinked in surprise.


“Well, not really, but it seems most people aren't giving you the time of day right now, and I thought it might help you blow off some steam.”


“Well, thanks for the offer, but I'm really fine Neville.” Harry brushed him off and began to walk away. Neville hesitated for a moment, before screwing up all his courage and speaking up again.


“Are you Harry?”


Harry stopped and turned around.


“If you say it again, I'll believe you, but it seems that you're having a rough time. You're in a tournament you didn't enter, a tournament meant for students years ahead of you that has killed plenty of participants already. Slytherin House has always given you trouble, but now Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are against you because they think you cheated, and even most of Gryffindor doesn't seem to be supporting you because they think you're hogging the spotlight. Now you've got people like Rita Skeeter stalking your every action and writing outrageous stories, and it's probably only going to get worse from here, so tell me Harry, are you really okay?”


Harry remained silent for a moment, before saying, “You know, you're the first person besides Hermione to think I didn't enter.”


“You've never struck me as a glory seeker Harry. Whenever you get involved in something crazy like this tournament, it's always because it's the right thing to do, or it just falls into your lap.”


Harry cracked a sickly grin, “Yeah, that does happen a lot to me, doesn't it?”


“So, do you want to go and play some Quidditch?”


“That would be great.”


Applications


“You sure about this Neville? You seem a bit unsteady on your broom today.”


“Actually, this is the first time I've been on one since first year.” Neville admitted as he wobbled precariously through the air.


“Really?”


“After losing control like that, I never really had the stomach to get back on.” Neville admitted, as he cautiously ascended a bit, before nearly slipping off his broom.


“You know, we can do something else.” harry said.


Neville flashed Harry a sickly grin, before hurriedly returning his attention to his shaky broom, “Being a Gryffindor is all about facing your fears and being brave. If you could do all those insane things you've done over the years, then I can fly a broom.”


“You know, it's really not all that hard, I wouldn't mind showing you a few tricks to improve your skill.” Harry offered.


“You sure? I don't mind playing Quidditch, you know.” Neville said, trying to keep the relief out of his voice.


“No offense Neville, but unless we improve your flying, it won't be much of a game.” Harry said with a slight grin.




Neville chuckled self consciously, as what had meant to be a quick game of Quidditch, turned into a flying lesson. Still, Harry seemed happy, and for the moment, that was really all that mattered.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#75
Fleur stalked through the halls of Hogwarts, furious at her schoolmates. None of them had been willing to join her team, cattily saying that if she was really qualified to be champion, she wouldn't need their help. She should have expected this. Her veela blood set her apart from the rest of them, and being named as the champion only exacerbated the problem. She had her own cadre o friends, but none of them had been selected for the tournament, which meant that she was on her own for the moment.



That wasn't a problem for the majority of the year. After all, the Triwizard tournament was meant to be a competition for individuals, but those blasted Twins had turned it into something else. Fleur repressed the urge to blow something up, it wouldn't be proper for a lady of her standing, and vowed to never give a member of their extended family the time of day.


She heard a sigh, and suppressed a sigh of irritation. Ever since she reached her teens, and her allure had begun to manifest, she heard such lovestruck sighs on a regular basis. She whirled around, and just as she had expected, there was a boy standing there, a slightly glazed expression in his eyes.


She almost lashed out at him, an angry tirade already prepared to shame him enough that he would hide away for at least a week, but then she stopped. If her schoolmates wouldn't help her, than she was going to have to get creative about this.


As the lovestruck young lad gazed at her in adoration, Fleur considered her options. She could lead the boy on, letting his imagination and desire drive him. She had no intention of fulfilling his fantasies, but they could be a powerful motivation. Helen of Troy had launched a thousand ships, and she had just been a Muggle, so who knows what she could accomplish with the same approach?


She could also approach him as a delicate maiden, one who was in over her head, and needed his help. It was completely untrue, but boys so loved to play the knight in shining armor. She could already envision the lengths he would be willing to go to just to ensure that she was safe and happy. It was probably one of the easier ploys she could use against him, but that left a bad taste in her mouth. She was a champion, and Fleur would be damned if she played the part of a weakling after being selected for the most prestigious tournament in wizarding Europe.


No, the best way for her to take advantage of him was just to be herself. Her usual, demanding, commanding self. Perhpas there would be a bit of kindness thrown in there, if he proved to be more useful than she expected, but Fleur always preferred to use the stick instead of the carrot when dealing with the idiocy of young men.


Better to establish who was in charge from the start, and never give him a chance to protest it.


“You, follow me!” she commanded. The young boy stared at her with an absent smile, his mind not quite all there thanks to her allure. “Now!”


Nodding frantically, Neville Longbottom fell into step behind the french champion. He wasn't quite sure what was happening, but the allure still had him in its grip, and more importanrly, he was well conditioned to follow the orders of demanding women.


Fleur stalked down the hallways, constantly shouting at the hapless Gryffindor, never giving him a chance to do anything besides simply follow after her. Once she was certain that they were alone, and that there was no one around to spy on them, she looked at him. Taking a few minutes to see what she had to work with.


“Not particularly impressive, are you?” She said, more to herself than to Neville, as she circled around him, taking him in from all angles. “Too short for my tastes, but you're still young. Perhaps you'll grow a bit, lose that baby fat, and gain a bit of muscle.”


She spoke like she was studying a show dog, completely unconcerned with Neville's response. She was fortunate that the young Gryffindor was far too embarassed to say anything, not that she would have listened to anythign he had to say in the first place.


“You're not impressive, but you came from the same house as that little boy.” Fleur said with distaste, still wondering how the blasted boy managed to outwit an artifact like the Goblet of Fire. “Perhaps you have some hidden depths to you. Best if you show me now.”


Neville looked at her, uncomprehending of her meaning, before Fleur allowed herself an irritated sigh.


“Show me what you can do. Now.” She order him.


“What I can do?' Neville squeaked, his face turning red. Fleur gave him a puzzled look, before she remembered how the mind of adolscent boys worked. Her eyes narrowed, as her look quickly morphed into a glare.


“With your wand, you fool.”


Neville gulped, before cautiously pulling out his wand. For several long seconds, he stood there, just holding it, before another glare from the striking young woman pushed him into action.


He cast the first spell that came to mind, a full body bind. While it splashed harmlessly on an unoccupied chair, Fleur did not look happy with his choice.


“Is that all you can do? Something that any second year child could manage? Again, and try to put some real effort into it this time.”


Neville groaned, a mental image of his grandmother appearing, scolding him in almost exactly the same manner. Not wanting to disappoint the french girl in front of him, he tried again, managing a decent attempt at the blasting curse.


Fleur sniffed, clearly not impressed, and the unfortunate young man tried again, trying to meet her still unvoiced expectations.


Hours later, Fleur was far from happy with her initial choice, but refused to admit it to anyone, especially her unfortunate victim. At this point she was invested, and she was far too stubborn and prideful to allow him to wallow in mediocrity.


Instead she had loaded the poor boy down with a number of books, ordering him to study them. The hapless boy had no other choice, finding himself staying up late practicing the spells, motivated by a strange combination of desire to impress the french champion, and fear what she would do if he failed.


Neville spent endless hours practicing, begging tips from Hermione and his other housemates when he had the chance. His schoolwork might have suffered a bit, but Snape never gave him a chance in the first place, and a small part of him felt a sense of vindication when he simply ignored the blasted old bat.


The week passed faster than he would have liked. While he could see he had improved, Neville worried that it wouldn't be enough. Fleur had made it very clear that she expected nothing but the best, and while he was sure he was good, the best was probably Harry. Neville did his best to put the pressure out of his mind, and tried to focus on something else instead.


Maybe this was how Harry felt all the time, with all the craziness in his life, it was a wonder he hadn't gone mad somewhere along the way. He would have to buy Harry a drink next Hogsmeade weekend. It was the least that Neville could do, and Harry was sure to appreciate it.


Finally, he arrived. No one else was around, but that didn't make the disdainful expression on Fleur's face any less worrying.


“Well?” She asked, giving him a harsh look.


Neville resisted the urge to shake when he saw Fleur, before taking a deep breath. He focused on his studies over the last week, and began to cast.


While his performance was far form exceptional, it was a notable improvement from before. Fleur continued to glare at him, before giving him a grudging nod. “I suppose, that your efforts are adequate, for the moment at least.”


Neville's face lit up, but before his excitement could find a way to express itself, the young champion cut him down to size.


“Do not think this means I am happy with your skills!” Fleur said, “You are only barely capable at this point, nowhere near where you should be at your point in your education. You will continue to practice every night until I deem your skills to be appropriate for assisting a champion such as myself.”


“Assisting?” Neville asked. A small part of him noted that he had never been told exactly what it was that Fleur wanted him for.


“That is correct, those boys” she emphasized that word in particular. “decided to make my life more trying than it already is. I suppose that's something of a quality in you english folk. That Potter boy is exactly the same.”


“You mean Harry?”


“Honestly, this country is nothing but irritating. Why the tournament couldn't have been held in France, I'll never know. Now follow me.”


Neville still wasn't quite sure what was happpening, but he had been listening to her already, and following her commands was starting to become second nature. He had already given her a qweek, what was a few minutes more?


They walked through the halls, and when he saw the Twins behind their desk, he realized exactly what she had in mind. He opened his mouth to say something, but a scathing look from the young champion made him hold his tongue.


“Ah, Ms. Delacour, how can we help you on this fine day?” Fred asked with a grin.


“Anythign at all, you just name it, and the Weasley Twins will do their utmost to ensure that your needs are met.” George confirmed, his expression mirroring his brothers.


“Need more styling gel? We've got it. Dance lessons? A trivial thing. Enemies slain? Easy as pie.”


“Only thing we can't do is... well, there's nothing we can't do, really.”


“As long as we have a reasonable amount of time to prepare,”


“Or a time turner,” George interjected.


“Then even the impossible should be a breeze!” Fred finished with a flourish, offering Fleur a slight bow.


Fleur merely sniffed at them, not wanting to encourage their antics, and realizing that complaints would only drive them to greater heights of idiocy. She waited until they finished their little game, before she spoke up.


“This boy shall be mine.”


Fred and George shared a glance between themselves, before deciding to pass on the odd turn of phrase she had used. “You sure about that?”


“Are you questioning me?” she asked with an acidic tone in her voice.


“How about you Nev? You sure you want to participate in this? It's not going be as tough as the real tournament, but we're not going to pull any punches either.”


“I'm not sure I have much choice...” Neville muttered to himself, before a scathing look from Fleur stopped his complaint, “O-of course I'm sure!”


“Well, alright, if you're really sure, we can put him in as your brawn for the moment, unless you had another position in mind?”


“That will do just fine.” Fleur said with a smile, before seizing Neville by the arm and dragging him out.


Neville found himself dragged helplessly down the corridors of Hogwarts, realizing that this would most likely be a standard part of his life now that Fleur had all but drafted him onto her team. He still wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but after years living with Harry, his friends,a nd the weirdness that seemed to follow them, he was more than willing to just go with the flow and let things sort themselves out.


“We will need at least two more members for our team, a brain, and a beauty.” Fleur stated, heedless of Neville's fruitless efforts to keep track of what was happening.


“We do?” Neville said. Immediately, worry began to creep its way up his spine. If he was meant to be the brwn for Fleur's team, he wondered who she had in mind for the other two positions.


“Yes, now do you have any suggestions?” Fleur demanded, completely ignoring his concerned expression.


“Well...” Neville trailed off. The smartest witch he knew was Hermione, but she was doubtlessly going to be on Harry's side. As for beauty, an image of Ginny Weasley flashed in his mind, causing the young boy to flush red.


“Do you have any suggestion or not?” Fleur asked again, her voice carrying the edge of a threat in it.


“I'm not too sure on brains right now, but Ginny Weasley is quite pretty.” Neville blurted out, not wanting to see what Fleur did when she was angry.


“Weasley? Is she related to those blasted Twins?”


“Yes, she's their younger sister.”


Fleur let out an irate sigh. She had planned to have as little to do with that family as she could, but she didn't know the rest of the school as well as Neville. Waiting for him to decide on another suitable candidate would probably be an exercise in futility. Without her constant direction, she was certain that he would lapse back into his previous methods, sinking into the background and being utterly average. Waiting for him to be anything else would be a waste of time. It would be better to simply take what she could and shape her to her purpose. A small part of her, some would call it her vindictive side, thought that this Ginny would be the perfect way to get some small measure of revenge on the accursed twins. If she could get some use out of her, so much the better.


“Hm... you will point her out to me.” she finally decided.


“How can I do that? I'll be sitting at the Gryffindor table.” Neville asked.


“Don't be silly. You are part of my team now, and you will sit with me for the duration of this competition.” Neville moved to protest, but another glare silenced him. With a weary sigh, Neville nodded in defeat, already aware of exactly how his year was going to turn out.
 
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