"So Polyjuice potion," Vincent said, "that"s how you guys get Malfoy to talk?""I mean, how else are we going to do it?" Hermione asked him as they walked to their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.
Many students stared at the duo as they walked down the corridors. Vincent sighed.
"Why am I so d.a.m.n popular," he muttered.
Hermione had her eye twitch as she glared at Vincent, "Let"s see, fighting Snape, making food on the level of the G.o.ds themselves as well as a potion that could very well kill them. All this, while being a muggle who shouldn"t even be here in the first place. Tell me, if that doesn"t make you popular, then what does?"
"I really don"t know," Vincent said weakly under Hermione"s barrage.
"Hey, we could just beat the answer out of Malfoy," Vincent said hoping to change the topic.
A book slapped the top of Vincent"s head. Hermione glared at him.
"I deserved that," Vincent chuckled causing her to roll her eyes, "but seriously, we would need to get the recipe from the restricted section. To do that a teachers permission slip is required. No teacher would be dumb enough to—oh wait, there is one isn"t there."
They reached the cla.s.sroom to find Lockhart role playing one of the many deeds he"s done in his books. Vincent spotted Harry acting as a werewolf. He looked to Vincent for help which was replied with a shrug.
Vincent and Hermione sat down next to Ron as they listened and watched this joke of a lesson.
"Ah, Miss Granger and," Lockhart"s face twitched as he spotted Vincent, that destruction was etched into his memory giving him a slight fear of the boy, "Mr Wong."
"Sorry we were late sir," Hermione said, "we were just grabbing something we left in the library, please forgive us."
"Not a problem at all Miss Granger," Lockhart said cheerfully, "now come, watch as you see a demonstration of how I took down the Wagga Wagga Werewolf!"
"Oh boy," Vincent thought to himself as he watched Harry follow Lockhart"s commands unwillingly, "this will be fun."
...
"You think Hermione"s got it?" Ron asked watching the bushy haired girl nervously talk to Lockhart
"She"ll be fine," Vincent rea.s.sured, "look she"s got the signature, he didn"t even look at it!"
Hermione nodded to the three indicating that it was time to go.
"Ah Harry, tomorrow is the first Quidditch match of season, I believe? Gryffindor against Slytherin—"
"Goodbye Professor!" Vincent said as he dragged Harry out, not wanting to hear another one of the man"s ridiculous feats.
"Moste Potente Potions?" Madam Pince, the librarian confirmed suspiciously
She took the signature from Hermione"s hands before studying it for any signs of forgery. She walked away before coming back with a large and mouldy-looking book.
"You indeed fit your t.i.tle as the Mad Scientist Mr Wong," she said, "only those that are insane or mad would try half of the potions in this book."
"I"M NOT MAD!" It took all of Vincent"s will power not to yell that out as Vincent was handed the book instead of Hermione.
Vincent noticed the other three start to laugh as he walked out with a dark face.
"I"m not mad," they heard him mutter, "your mad, everyone"s mad!"
"I think his losing it," whispered Ron causing Hermione to giggle.
"Don"t worry," Hermione said trying not to laugh at Vincent"s depressed face, "I"ll make sure to tell Madam Pince that I borrowed it for myself. It"ll clear up the misunderstanding."
Vincent"s eyes shined as he hugged Hermione by surprise, "Hermione, I love you!"
SMACK
Vincent rubbed a painful b.u.mp on his head as he stared at Hermione"s back as she stormed off. He chuckled to himself while Harry and Ron looked at him like an idiot. Neither of the boys noticed the furious blush and silly smile on the bushy haired girl"s face.
Moments later, they settled in one of the stalls in Moaning Myrtle"s bathroom due to Hermione saying that it was the perfect spot to secretly prepare a potion.
"The ability to transform into any person," Vincent"s inner Mad Scientist thought as the other three were discussing the potion, "wonder what kind of combinations would happen if I messed with recipe."
"I can get the ingredients," Vincent said drawing attention, "but since the fluxweed has to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one day, the earliest we could make it would be a month, not to mention Christmas is coming up."
"What"s Christmas got to do with this?" Hermione asked
"I"m heading back to London for the holidays," he said, "I"ll get the ingredients ready in case you guys plan to do it without me."
Vincent continued talking, "you guys would also have to get something with their DNA, hair perhaps? Hm, you alright Hermione?"
"Oh," Hermione gave a forced smile, "I"m fine, it"s the best plan we have, so let"s go with it. If Malfoy stays over the holidays, we"ll do it then. Don"t worry about us Vincent."
Vincent looked at the somewhat moody aura around Hermione and raised an eyebrow. He didn"t understand what made her so upset, but if she didn"t want to talk about it then he probably shouldn"t push it.
While Hermione was checking that the coast was clear for them to leave the bathroom, Ron muttered to Harry, "It"ll be a lot less ha.s.sle if you can just knock Malfoy off his broom tomorrow."
...
Harry woke up early on Sat.u.r.day morning. After an hour of lying in bed to calm his nerves for the big game, he went to eat breakfast, but noticed that one bed was empty.
"Hm, where"s Vincent?" Harry thought curiously before shaking the thought off, "Maybe he went to train Neville?"
But that thought was brushed off as soon as he saw Neville snoring loudly. Harry walked downstairs to meet the rest of the Gryffindor team all looking just as nervous. They were all feeling pressured by the fact that Slytherin all had far better brooms then them. Despite that, they were all determined to win.
The moment the clock hit eleven, the whole school had started making their way down to the stadium. Harry had just met up with Ron and Hermione before they all felt that something was very off. Harry sniffed the air, getting a whiff of a delicious fragrance. He stood confused before his face morphed into one of pure shock as he exchanged glances with Ron and Hermione who both realised the same thing.
"Check the stands, now!" Harry said before heading to the Gryffindor lockers
It wasn"t only the three of them that noticed either. Half of the school had noticed the wondrous smell in the air and started climbing the stands to investigate what the source was. Hermione and Ron made it up there later only to stared slack jawed at the scene before them.
...
"Whatever is that smell?" Dumbledore thought as he sat in his stand, "Hmm? Why are all the students gathered in the Gryffindor stands?"
He, along with the other teachers, used a spell that allowed them to see what was causing the commotion. Snape in particular used a Microscopic potion that Vincent had made to take a closer look at the stands. His face slackened as he saw what was getting their attention.
Professor McGonagall watched Lee Jordan, who was the Quidditch commentator, come up to the stand a little later holding a package of sorts.
"What"s going on?" McGonagall asked, noticing the commotion in the stands.
"Well you see," Lee said as he unwrapped what looked like—
"Food?" she thought before her eyes widened at Lee"s explanation, "HE WHAT?!"
"What does that boy think his doing?!" Snape thought furiously.
"Ha, ha," Dumbledore chuckled, "that boy sure likes to make a commotion doesn"t he?"
"He"s mad," Ron said hollowly to Hermione, "He really is b.l.o.o.d.y mad!"
As the teams walked out, they noticed that a majority of the cheers came from the Gryffindor stands. They felt puzzled seeing the lack of people on the other three stands. They were soon snapped out of thought by Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher who asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.
"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three... two... one..."
The moment Harry rose from the ground he saw what caused the commotion and put his head in his hands.
"So that"s where he"s been all morning," he thought.
All of the other players all stopped in mid-air to see a certain person cooking for all the spectators.
"Three sickles each!" Vincent yelled as he cooked what looked like small grilled pizzas, "Vegetarian on the left and the normal ones in the middle! A pixie will go around collecting your money and serving food!"
Vincent had about three different grills going on all filled with small pizzas. Nyx was rushing around handing out pizzas and getting money in return to which she deposited inside a small bag.
He had woken up extremely early, having to set up all his equipment at the stadium. He prepared a majority of uncooked pizzas beforehand so that he could cook them on the fly. The normal pizzas contained onions, small cuts of beef seasoned with spices and grilled vegetables which he did beforehand. He then covered it with cheese leaving it ready to grill. The result was a nicely grilled pizza with melted golden cheese encompa.s.sing the whole pizza dough.
For the vegetarian, he had tossed in broccoli, corn, red onion, cherry tomatoes and basil. All of this were well seasoned beforehand with olive oil, salt and pepper. After it was grilled he had drizzled some more of the cream over it before finishing it with red pepper flakes.
"How the h.e.l.l does he have that much ingredients?" Ron asked Hermione
"A while ago, he received a bag from his guardian, Sister An," Hermione said watching Vincent hand out pizzas, "The inside of the bag has enough to fit five cars, or so Vincent claimed. That"s some high-level magic."
"And he crammed it with cooking materials and ingredients?!" Ron asked in horror.
"Probably," Hermione said shrugging slightly.
Vincent noticed the players in the air looking at him, "Ok Nyx, open the banners!"
Nyx stopped handing out pizzas before grabbing on to a ribbon of sorts. She flew around, causing it to unfurl as the not-so decorative words unfurled.
FREE FOOD FOR THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM IF YOU WIN
The whole stadium fell silent as they saw the banner flutter above the Gryffindor stands. They turned to see Vincent a thumbs up to Harry before going back to his cooking.
For some reason, all of Harry"s nerves vanished. In the end, he and the whole Gryffindor team started laughing.
"Thanks Vince," Harry thought as he returned the gesture.
"Well played," George said hefting his budging rod as he admired the banner.
"We"ve got to win now!" Fred said laughing.
"C"mon you lot!" Wood yelled, "let"s show these Slytherin"s what we"re made of! For the foo—I mean, for the Cup!"
The whole team cheered before the whistle blew, indicating the start of the match.
Vincent looked up curiously as he watched the match. He"s never seen a Quidditch match before, so he was interested in how a sport played on broomsticks played out. Ron did explain to him the rules.
There were four b.a.l.l.s. The Quaffle is a red ball the size of a basketball and the three chasers on each team must pa.s.s the ball through one of the three rings on either side of the field to earn points. There"s the Bludger, a smaller black ball that tries to knock players off their broomsticks. There are two of them and it is the two Beater"s job on each team to keep them away or aim them at the opposing team. Then there"s the snitch, the most important thing in the game. It"s a tiny gold ball that zips around the field. Once caught by the Seeker, which was Harry, the team gets a grand total of one hundred and fifty points ending the game.
"Are you b.l.o.o.d.y mad?!" Ron came up to Vincent, "This is what you spent all morning doing?"
"Woke up at six," Vincent said, "just because you don"t want to get out of bed, doesn"t mean others feel the same."
Ron scratched his head in embarra.s.sment while Hermione giggled.
"Nyx, can you handle it?" Vincent said indicating to the finished pile of grilled pizzas. Nyx nodded and gave a salute, "Thanks, here, you two can have these for free."
Hermione and Ron"s eyes lit up as they munched on their snacks. Vincent smiled before looking towards the field and frowned, "I may be new to Quidditch, but Bludger"s aren"t meant to act like that right?"
Hermione and Ron looked at Harry as he dodged a Bludger that came right at him only for it to come back at him. Fred smacked the Bludger at another Slytherin before it did a one eighty degree turn right back at Harry.
"Someone"s tampered with the Bludger!" Ron yelled out in anger.
It was starting to rain slightly when the Gryffindor team signalled for a time out. Fred and George were busy trying to keep the Bludger away from Harry as they talked.
"Hermione, cast a spell to keep my stall dry," Vincent said as he made his way for the stairs.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"I"m going to stop that Bludger from killing Harry!" Vincent called out before disappearing.
...
Harry was having a difficult time avoiding the Bludger. No matter what he did, it always seemed to shoot straight for him.
"I told Fred and George that I"ll be fine, so they don"t need to defend me," Harry thought as he dived to avoid the iron ball, "I hope that wasn"t a mistake."
"All right there, Scarhead?" Malfoy yelled causing Harry to look over in anger before freezing. Hovering inches above Malfoy"s left ear was the Golden Snitch.
Harry took too long to think. The Bludger smashed into his elbow, breaking his arm. Harry winced before resolve filled his eyes.
Malfoy"s sneering face widened in fear as Harry zoomed towards him. He thought that Harry was attacking him. He dodged to the side in panic.
Harry took his only arm of the broomstick leaving his broken arm dangling and his legs gripping the broom for dear life. He felt his hand close around the Snitch and smiled before seeing the ground come up to him. He braced for impact before feeling someone catch him sending them both sprawling.
"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l Harry," Harry opened his eyes to see Vincent sprawled on the ground next to him, "Couldn"t have crashed any lighter?"
"My bad," Harry smiled wryly and winced as he nursed his broken arm, "thanks for the save."
"No problem," Vincent returned the smile before freezing, "Harry watch out!"
"Wha—?!" Harry barely managed to duck as the Bludger crashed into the ground next to him, "That thing"s still going?!"
Before the Bludger could attack again, Vincent"s foot crashed into it sending it flying. Harry"s eyes widened in amazement at the power before seeing the empty potion vial on the ground.
"Leg Strengthening potion?" he thought, remembering Vincent mentioning it at some point.
Just as the Bludger came flying right back, Vincent drew a rod before throwing it at the flying orb of death. The collision sent both objects flying as Vincent caught the rod while the ball fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
"What, how?" Harry asked.
"Magic negating," Vincent said, "remember my rods can negate most magic attacks?"
Harry nodded as he stared at the Bludger to make sure it wasn"t moving. Vincent sat on the cold wet ground beside Harry before pulling out a small package that miraculously remained clean.
"Want some?" Harry looked at the grilled pizza Vincent was holding out.
With a blank face Harry took the opened pizza with his good arm before chomping down on it. It felt incredibly strange to eat food after what just transpired, but at this point, Harry didn"t really care.
By the time Harry finished his meal, a crowd of concerned Gryffindor"s had gathered around the two of them.
"You alright Harry?" Wood asked as he looked at Harry"s broken arm, "That was one h.e.l.l of a blow you took."
Before Harry had time to answer, Lockhart appeared before him causing his face to pale.
"Oh, no, not you," he moaned.
"Doesn"t know what he"s saying," said Lockhart loudly to the anxious crowd of Gryffindors pressing around them. "Not to worry, Harry. I"m about to fix your arm."
"No!" said Harry. "I"ll keep it like this, thanks."
"Professor Lockhart, I do think Harry would be fine," Vincent began before being ignored by Lockhart.
"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It"s a simple charm I"ve used countless times—"
Vincent had to hold himself back from kicking the man since the Leg Strengthening potion still hadn"t worn off. If he kicked him like this, Lockhart would most certainly die.
"No, don"t," said Harry, but Lockhart was twirling his wand and a second later had directed it straight at Harry"s arm.
Vincent"s eyes widened as he watched Harry"s already mangled arm turn absolutely limp. Harry tried moving it only for it to bend in strange directions without any sign on pain. That idiotic teacher had removed all of his arms bones.
"No one will miss him right?" Vincent thought, he was seriously considering killing the teacher right now.
Lockhart felt cold sweat on flow down his back as he tried to avoid Vincent"s murderous glare.
"Ah, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort Harry to the hospital wing," Lockhart said quickly.
"I"ll just pack my stuff up before joining you guys," Vincent said earning a nod from Harry.
On the way back, Vincent noticed Malfoy getting chewed out by his captain Markus Flint. He overheard something about the Snitch being on top of his head and not noticing, but he brushed it aside as he went to collect his equipment.
Just as he re-entered the stands, he was greeted by the teachers who were all glaring at him, except Dumbledore who was just happily smiling. Snape in particular looked like he wanted to punish Vincent for his actions but didn"t seem to find any reason too.
"It wasn"t against the rules right?" Vincent thought before Dumbledore spoke.
"I"d like to order some of that pizza if you will Mr. Wong," Dumbledore said.
Everyone there just stared blankly as the Headmaster happily munched on his food.
...
"So, you didn"t get into trouble right?" asked Ron as he ate the leftover food that Vincent prepared for the Gryffindor team.
"Just telling me to give them a heads up if I decide to do that again," Vincent said as he finished counting the money he received, "Huh, what do you know? I"ve made a grand total of a thousand and seven hundred galleons and today."
"WHAT?!" Ron choked on his food.
"Maybe I shouldn"t have said that," Vincent thought as he watched Ron mumble lifelessly about becoming a cook over and over again.
Vincent visited Harry just as Madam Pomfey was kicking everyone else out. Later that night, the Gryffindor team were treated to Vincent"s G.o.dly cooking skills. The Gryffindor team all ate their fill before heading to bed, not forgetting to thank Vincent for the meal. Fred and George even gave him a clap on the back.
Soon it was just Vincent left alone in the Common Room as everyone else had gone to bed. He decided to do some late-night reading with Nyx sleeping on his knee. He yawned as he was finishing up before noticing someone sneaking out of the room. He frowned as he woke Nyx up.
"Nyx you go back to the dorms," Vincent said, "I"m just going to check something out."
Nyx gave a nod as she flew away.
"Who the h.e.l.l is sneaking out?" Vincent thought as he trailed the figure, "Hm, is that Colin?"
Colin Creevey tiptoed his way to the hospital wing with his camera and a bunch of grapes in his hands.
"What are you doing Colin?" He jumped and turned to see Vincent with his arms folded.
"Oh Vincent!" Colin breathed a sigh of relief, "I was just going to see Harry."
Vincent sighed at the boy who was wryly chuckling as if he was caught stealing candy. Vincent actually was sort of fond of the boy as he reminded him of the children of the orphanage.
"I don"t think now"s a good time to go—?" Vincent began before pausing, "did you hear something?"
Colin furrowed his eyebrows and was about to ask what before Vincent put a hand to it.
"Listen," Vincent whispered, "we"re not alone."
They both heard faint sounds something sliding across the concrete floors.
"Collin, stay behind me," Vincent said seriously as he pulled his rods out.
Colin nodded fearfully as he hid behind Vincent. He didn"t know any actual spells that could help in battle so all he could do was stay out of Vincent"s way.
"Where is it?" Vincent thought grimly as he looked at his surroundings.
Colin, unsure of what to do, took his camera out. He took several pictures with the flash before spotting two yellow looking eyes above him through his lens.
"Vincent above—!" Colin yelled before falling to the ground like a statue.
"Colin!" Vincent looked at the statue figure of Collin, "he said above—!"
Vincent"s instincts kicked in as he grabbed the statue like Colin before jumping away from his spot. A large shadow swooped right past him, barely missing him.
"d.a.m.n it," Vincent thought as he put Colin to the side of the stairs, "Colin only looked at it and was petrified. Do I really have to fight with my eyes closed?"
Vincent threw a potion vial backwards before running up the stairs with Colin. Moments later, there was a small explosion before he heard a hiss of pain. He sat there on the steps, straining his ears for any signs of the monster coming back.
"Good thing I bottled one vial of Thunderbolt potion," Vincent thought grimly.
He heard a sound behind him, causing him to swing his rod before stopping it at Dumbledore"s neck. They both looked at each other with Dumbledore looking gravely at Colin.
"Headmaster, what on earth—?!" Professor McGonagall ran down the stairs before noticing Colin frozen in Vincent"s arms.
"Minerva, a.s.sist me in helping Mr Creevey to the hospital wing." Dumbledore said before turning to Vincent, "Vincent, go with Professor McGonagall, I need to check if the monster is still here."
"Yes sir," Vincent said as he sheathed his rods before helping McGonagall carry Colin. For some reason she couldn"t levitate the boy.
They both walked in silence towards the hospital wing before placing Colin on a bed. Vincent took a glance at Harry"s bed and could instantly tell that he was pretending to sleep. Vincent sighed as he turned back to Colin who still had his camera up, if it wasn"t for the boy sacrificing himself, then Vincent probably would have ended up the same.
Moments later, Dumbledore strolled in with Madam Promfrey who was in her nightgown with a cardigan pulled over it.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.
"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva and I found him on the stairs with Mr. Wong here."
The three teachers turned to Vincent who was still looking at the boy.
"Would you tell us what happened?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"I was doing some late-night reading when I noticed Colin sneaking out to visit Harry," Vincent noticed Harry twitch at the corner of his eye, "I managed to catch him by the stairs when the monster attacked. Colin managed to alert me to the monsters presence, but not before being petrified. I managed escape thanks to that potion I made yesterday. I had taken one vial for study purposes. It was then that I ran into Professor Dumbledore."
"Did you see the monster?" McGonagall asked hurriedly.
"Colin was petrified right after spotting it," Vincent explained, "I didn"t want to take the risk. So, I avoided looking at it. If it was true that the monster can petrify people at a glance, then Colin here saved me."
The four of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin"s rigid grip.
"You don"t think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall eagerly.
Dumbledore opened the back of the camera.
"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey.
Vincent winced as he saw the steam rise out of the camera. The smell of burnt plastic was definitely not pleasant.
"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted..."
"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.
"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."
Vincent frowned at Dumbledore"s words as the other two teachers looked extremely unsettled.
"Again, he said again," thought Vincent, "what happened last time?"
"I would advise that Mr Wong remain in the hospital wing tonight if that"s ok with you Madam Promfey." Dumbledore asked.
"That"s all good with me."
Vincent found himself on a bed next to Harry"s.
"Vince, you alright?" Harry asked worriedly.
"Yeah all good," Vincent said.
They stayed silent till Harry saw Vincent smack the side table breaking the corner.
"d.a.m.n it, I couldn"t save him," Harry heard Vincent say.
"It wasn"t your fault," Harry said earning silence from Vincent, "and don"t worry, Colin was saved because of you, he"s still alive right?"
There was a long silence before Vincent spoke.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Harry soon heard Vincent"s snores. He then closed his own eyes, heading to his own world of dreams.