alohomora : a harry potter story

i. one : alex

Everyone hated Harry Potter. Well, that was perhaps an exaggeration. In any case, more people hated Harry Potter than you'd think. Everyone in Gryffindor worshipped him, but they would, Gryffindors are all so hero-based. They need to have a hero – either in themselves or someone else – to survive. All the other houses, we didn't see the fuss. Of course, all the Slytherins hated him, but many people in my year – yes, the same year as harry potter, because apparently everything is relative to the golden boy – saw him as a nuisance, to be perfectly honest. He would cause all this chaos, every year, without fail, and everything that came with the Boy Who Lived also came with a kind of hysteria I could only describe as Harry-Hysteria. This was an in-joke with all my Ravenclaw friends, actually (we are quite witty).

Even though he 'saved the school' every year (the trouble wouldn't have been there if he wasn't there in the first place – but that's too controversial to say, so it's in parentheses), he was arrogant, high-headed, and generally too focused on himself to be sympathetic with anyone outside the Golden Trio. A little bit of pity here and there for Neville Longbottom, some for Ron Weasley's sister Ginny, and Hagrid.

I think I could have counted (not on my hands but by tally on a very long piece of parchment) the number of raised eyebrows when potter's name came out of the goblet of fire. The next day, I spoke to Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff friend of mine, and she shared my astonishment, if with a higher degree of anger.

'Potter can't take Cedric's glory for himself! It's ridiculous! We have to do something about it!'

The Hufflepuffs looked at the Ravenclaws at the table, and the Slytherins, who had come closer after hearing this, started stomping around in their usual Slytherin fashion, until the much-awaited arrival of his royal highness Draco Malfoy, who made sure to oversee all bullying of Harry Potter.

'I say we intimidate him into pulling out of the tournament,' he said, in his usual snarl.

'What about some merchandise we could charm into displaying a slogan or something like that?,' I suggested.

'Alex! You truly are a genius. We're so daft for not thinking of that,' exclaimed Hannah.

'OK, let's do it on badges. How do we do that, Ravenclaw girl?,' said Malfoy, staring at me.

'My name's Alex. It's simple, you take the badges you've drawn on, and cast an illusory charm on them. I can do it, if you want,' I replied.

'Great. Meet me outside the Slytherin common room after lessons. You too, Abbott,' and with that, off he trotted.

***

Draco Malfoy was another person who many people hated at Hogwarts. He was no different to Harry Potter, in fact, us Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs often write them off as the Arrogant Pair. It was funny because they also hated each other. There was a lot of hate in Hogwarts. Then again, in that respect, it was just a school like any other. 

'What an asshole! He knows your name,' said Am, my best friend, when I told her what had happened later in the common room, 'he has Potions, Charms, and Ancient Runes with us! And Care of Magical Creatures! Do you remember last year, when he got injured because he went up to that hippogriff and insulted it, and then whined about it for weeks and made a big deal out of that little graze on his shin? Unbelievable. Are you going then, this evening, with Hannah?'

'Yeah I guess so. It'll be fun to make those badges. See how Potter reacts.'

'What a bore. Why do you care about Potter anyway? I just ignore him.'

'Yeah, you just ignore him and spend your days and nights listening to Muggle bands on your non-magical magic music-player thingy.'

'It's called a Walkman!'

'Whatever. I've seen those posters of those bands on your wall... What are they called, Shouting Heads? And Kate Tree?'

She looked at me, dead serious. 

'Talking Heads and Kate Bush! I don't understand why you won't let me show you their music. David Byrne, the singer from Talking Heads, is an actual poet. I'm so sad the band broke up a few years ago. I can only imagine what their style would have evolved into ...'

At this point in the conversation, usually I zone out, and stare through the arched windows of the Ravenclaw Tower, but that day I was thinking about how Potter would react to the badges.