Voices (HP Fanfic)

Chapter 9: The Half-Blood Prince

"You've always had the power my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself." -Glenda, Wizard of Oz

Chapter 9: The Half-Blood Prince

Penelope's POV:

I woke up the next morning in my dorm in the Ravenclaw tower. I felt tingling sensations go through me as I remembered the night before. I looked over at Cho's bed and found that the girl was already up. I then looked to see if Luna was in bed. And of course she was up too. I sighed and threw the covers off of me and sat up.

"What have you done to me?" I whispered lightly touching my lips, before getting up and getting dressed in my robes. I quickly walked out of my dorm and down in the common room.

"Penelope!" Belby squeaked as I literally ran into him.

"Sorry Belby." I called over my shoulder and walking out of the common room.

Third Person POV:

Harry and Ron met Hermione in the common room before breakfast next morning. Hoping for some support for his theory, Harry lost no time in telling Hermione what he had overheard Malfoy saying on the Hogwarts Express.

"But he was obviously showing off for Parkinson, wasn't he?" Ron interjected quickly, before Hermione could say anything.

"Well," she said uncertainly, "I don't know. . . . It would be like Malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is . . . but that's a big lie to tell. . . ."

"Exactly," said Harry, but he could not press the point, because so many people were trying to listen in to his conversation, not to mention staring at him and whispering behind their hands.

"It's rude to point," Ron snapped at a particularly minuscule first-year boy as they joined the queue to climb out of the portrait hole. The boy, who had been muttering something about Harry behind his hand to his friend, promptly turned scarlet and toppled out of the hole in alarm. Ron sniggered.

"I love being a sixth year. And we're going to be getting free time this year. Whole periods when we can just sit up here and relax."

"We're going to need that time for studying, Ron!" Hermione said, as they set off down the corridor.

"Don't be a drag, Granger!" Penelope smiled as she caught up with them.

"What are you so happy this morning?" Ron asked.

"No reason." Penelope shrugged.

"Yeah, but not today," Ron said. "Today's going to be a real doss, I reckon."

"Hold it!" Hermione said, throwing out an arm and halting a passing fourth year, who was attempting to push past her with a lime-green disk clutched tightly in his hand. "Fanged Frisbees are banned, hand it over," she told him sternly. The scowling boy handed over the snarling Frisbee, ducked under her arm, and took off after his friends. Ron waited for him to vanish, then tugged the Frisbee from Hermione's grip.

"Excellent, I've always wanted one of these."

Hermione's remonstration was drowned by a loud giggle; Lavender Brown had apparently found Ron's remark highly amusing. She continued to laugh as she passed them, glancing back at Ron over her shoulder. Ron looked rather pleased with himself. The ceiling of the Great Hall was serenely blue and streaked with frail, wispy clouds, just like the squares of sky visible through the high mullioned windows. While they tucked into porridge and eggs and bacon, Harry and Ron told Hermione about their embarrassing conversation with Hagrid the previous evening.