Arduous Desire

Taunting through the second year

Warning: this is a long one. So get cozy, get some snacks, maybe some butterbeer ;), and enjoy!

"Morning everyone!" Prof. Sprout says, tapping her wand on a nearby pot. "Good morning Professor Sprout." the class replies. "Welcome to greenhouse three, second years. Today we are going to re-pot Mandrakes. Who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?" She asks. Hermione raises her hand. "Yes, Ms. Granger." She says. "Mandrake or Mandragora are used to restore those who have been petrified, to their original state." Hermione says. Prof. Sprout nods in agreement. "It's also quite dangerous, Mandrakes cry is fatal to anyone that hears it." Hermione adds. "Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now as our Mandrakes are still only seedlings, their cries wont kill you yet but will knock you out for several hours which is why I have given you all a pair of earmuffs for protection. Come along right away." Prof. Sprout says. She motions for us to put on the earmuffs. We do as she says and slide them over our ears.

"Grasp your Mandrake firmly, and pull it out of the pot." As she does this, her Mandrake let's out a terrible screech. We all wince at the noise. "Got it.. and now dunk down to the other pot and sprinkle it with soil." She says. I hear a thud beside me and look down to see Neville, passed out on the floor. Prof. Sprout sighs. "Longbottom's been neglecting his earmuffs." She says. "No ma'am. He's just fainted." Seamus says, looking down at Neville. "Yes well, just leave him there. Right, on we go." She says. "Plenty of pots to go around. Now grab a Mandrake and pull." As we all pull our Mandrakes up, each of them let out a loud whine. I struggle to get mine in it's pot because the noise is so unbearable. Draco's Mandrake bites his finger and I stifle a laugh as he glares at me.

That afternoon in the great hall, I join Ron, Harry and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. Ron finishes taping up his broken wand. A first year comes up to Harry and snaps a picture of him. "Hi harry, I'm Colin Creevey. I'm a Gryffindor too!" He says excitedly. "Hi Colin, it's nice to meet you." Harry says politely, struggling to open his eyes from the bright flash of Colin's camera.

"Ron? Is that your owl?" Dean Thomas asks. We look up to see an owl swoop down and crash into a bowl of food. The Slytherin table breaks out into laughter. Ron cringes.  "Bloody birds a menace." Ron delicately picks a red envelope from the owls beak, and the owl gets up and flies away. "Oh no." Ron says. "Look everyone, Weasley's got himself a howler." Seamus says. The Slytherin table laughs again. "Go on Ron, I ignored one from my gran once, it was horrible." Neville says. Ron opens it up and the letter begins to screech at him. "Ronald Weasley! How dare you steal that car! I am absolutely disgusted! Your father's now facing an inquiry at work! And it's entirely your fault! If you put even a toe out of line, we'll send you straight home! Oh and Ginny dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." And with that, the letter tears itself into shreds.

Draco was making my life miserable. Any chance he got he would, taunt me, laugh at me, trip me, mess with me in class, make me lose house points, etc.

Out of everyone in the school, he chose to focus his cruelty on me. Why? I don't know.

The first Quidditch game of the year and it's Gryffindor against Slytherin.

I fly across the field and a Slytherin boy bumps into me, trying to knock me off coarse. I push past him and toss the Quaffle into nearest hoop, scoring us 10 points. We're 50 behind Slytherin.

One of the Slytherin chasers shoots past our keeper and sends the Quaffle through our hoop. Scoring 10 points. We're now 60 points behind them. The Slytherin towers applaud their team.

Draco pulls down next to Harry and shouts "Alright there scarhead?"
Harry ducks as a Bludger just barely misses him. "Watch yourself Harry!" Oliver says. "Wood, look out!" Harry yells, but it's too late. The Bludger comes flying back their direction and hits the end of Oliver'a broom stick. He goes spinning down towards the ground. The Bludger then proceeds to fly towards Harry yet again. Harry ducks out of the way and it begins chasing after him. It's been charmed. Harry flies as fast as he can to get away from it. "Blimey! Harry's got emself' a rogue Bludger! That's been tampered with that has!" Hagrid yells. The Bludger tears through the towers, still chasing after Harry. "Training for the ballet Potter?" Draco says tauntingly. Both him and Draco catch sight of the stitch and begin to go after it. "You'll never catch me Potter!" Draco says. Unfortunately for them, the Bludger still hasn't given up. All of the sudden Draco comes flying up and falls off his broom. He rolls across the ground and lands on his ass.