Irretitius Sub An Bestia Tergum (A Harry Potter Love Story)

"Get outta here, shrimp!"

The 4th year Gryffindor slammed the door in my face.

Shrimp, I scoffed. I'm in 6th year and you call me shrimp. Hyacinth ruffled her feathers in disgust. "Well, there's one more compartment to try," I told her reasurringly. Hyacinth squaked disapprovingly, beating her wings against the cage lightly.

A Slytherin 6th year shoved me out of the way, snickering as I said sarcastically, "Thanks."

Slouching over to the last compartment hopefully, I yanked open the door and asked quickly, "Can I sit here?" Without waiting for an answer, I quickly walked into the room and accidentally plopped myself down on somebody's lap.

"Er...okay?"

"OH MY GOD." I jumped about a foot into the air and scrambled back. Hyacinth shrieked in protest as her cage was flung backwards into the air. Harry watched me with a twisted smile. I mumbled apologies, groping back for the compartment door handle. "Sorry, I'll just go now..." Shoot! Now I have nowhere to sit!

"Hey, is that you, Adalise?" Sofia asked. "Come back, sit down!"

"No, it's alright, Sofia, I'll just sit in the corridor---I mean other compartment---" I lied quickly. Sofia raised an eyebrow.

With a mischievous face, she pointed at the seat next to Harry. "Come on!"

My face burning, I scooted to the seat and sat down, edging away from Harry as I did. I placed Hyacinth's cage below my seat and she hooted angrily.

"You're Adalise Liatris, right?" he asked, in attempt to create a friendly conversation. A little flattered that he actually bothered to remember me, I nodded.

Just then, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom burst into the room. "Sorry, no compartment, can we--" blustered Neville. Luna had her Spectrespecs on, so her eyes looked like enlarged swirls of rainbow. We couldn't tell where she was looking when she said, "Hello, everyone." In her fist was a crumpled-up newspaper.

Neville spotted me and held out a pudgy hand for me to shake. "Hi, I'm Neville Longbottom...who're you?"

"Adalise Liatris," I muttered, glancing at the floor when I shook his hand. Luna floated to the seat next to me and sat down. "Hello, Adalise. I'm--" she began.

"--Luna Lovegood," I finished with a grin. "Nice Spectrespecs."

Luna looked delighted. "You read the Quibbler? That's great! Remember what Daddy said about Fudge abusing the goblins and baking them into pies?"

Harry stuffed his fist into his mouth to stifle a laugh as I nodded. Nervously I ran my fingers through my tangled-up, dark brown hair. I wished I could look even half as pretty as Luna. No one wanted to sit next to ugly Adalise except for her. Skimpy Adalise. Shrimpy Adalise. Stupid Adalise (though that nickname was hardly true, I was as smart as Hermione Granger).

"Um, excuse me?" asked a Hufflepuff fifth-year as she slid into the compartment. "I have a message for Harry Potter, Sofia Potter, Neville Longbottom, and Adalise Liatris...It's from Professor Slughorn." The Hufflepuff smiled and left after passing us the roll of parchement.

"Blimey, lunch with Slughorn?" said Harry incredulously.

"Why does he want me?" I asked aloud. Luna scoffed. "Sorry, Luna," I said, patting her on the shoulder. "I'll come back as soon as I can." She beamed at me and flipped The Quibbler upside-down again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Er...Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry about sitting on you," I muttered, flushing deeply red and looking down at my shoes.

Harry laughed. "Seriously, Adalise, if twenty of you sat on me I still wouldn't feel a thing." I managed a nervous smile as we approached Professor Slughorn's lunch compartment.

"Ah! Harry! And Sofia! And of course Neville Longbottom and..." Slughorn's gaze drifted to me. "Who are you?"

I fought to keep tears back. The teacher who invited me didn't even know what I looked like. "A...Adalise Liatris, Professor."

"Oh." Slughorn smiled. I could tell that it was forced. "So, Belby..." he said, and the conversation launched into Belby's uncle, who created the Wolfsbane Potion. Ginny shot me a confused glance from across the table. Sofia patted my hand. "It's okay," she whispered.

"Mmhmm," I muttered, not convinced. Not convinced at all.

Professor Slughorn finally addressed me. "Adalise! Adalise, Adalise, Adalise. You certainly weren't what I expected you too look--" he stopped himself. Then he cleared his throat uneasily.

Wasn't what he expected me to look like.

Of course, no professor in their right mind would ask a wispy-haired, crooked-toothed, thin, small, ugly, pale girl to come in and have lunch with them. No one wanted Adalise around, Adalise Liatris, whose parents were famous and beautiful, whereas she was unpopular and ugly...Adalise Liatris, who didn't even hit her growth spurt yet...wimpy Adalise...wretched Adalise...

"..terrible accident, that was," said Slughorn.

I jolted out of my trance. "W-what?"

"I said, tragic that your father had been killed in a potion explosion. He was one of my favorite students...officially made the Draught of Peace..."

Horace Slughorn chatted happily about my father while I venomously ripped roasted pheasant meat from a drumstick. Now Harry was staring at me sympathetically, exactly the opposite of what I wanted him to do. As if he had heard my thoughts, he turned away and sipped his pumpkin juice.

Lastly, vanilla cakes stuffed with chocolate filling were passed around. After that, I strode towards the exit, until Zabini shoved me aside, muttering, "Shove off, weird girl."
Rage flared inside of me, and, turning around, I pulled out my wand and performed the Jelly-Legs Jinx on him, airily and seemingly without a care in the world, surprising even myself. Nervously looking around at Slughorn, I found him staring at me with newfound respect. Harry, Neville, and Ginny followed me out the door. Zabini shrieked profanity at me as his legs crumpled into rubber-like material underneath his weight.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Blimey, you're good," said Neville inside of the compartment, awestruck.

"Nah, that was the first time I did it," I said, discomfort vanishing as I grinned proudly.

Sofia whispered something into Harry's ear. He nodded, stood up, and promptly went out the door.

"What's this all about?" I muttered to Sofia.

"Harry's gone to spy on the Slytherins," she muttered back. "He'll be here soon. He's wearing his Invisibility Cloak.

Not entirely reassured, I sat back and looked out of the window, chewing on a toast-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Snap.

"That's from my father, Potter. I won't be seeing you around soon."

When Malfoy left the room, I shoved him against a wall. "You foul, filthy, disgustable--" I hissed.

"Oh yeah," Malfoy said, his eyes gleaming with maniacal energy. "Yeah, he deserved it."

Furious, I pulled out my wand first and yelled, "Stupefy!"

Malfoy was blasted backwards by a jet of red light and lay on the ground, motionless.

I hurried into the compartment. "Harry? Harry, where are--oops--"

I accidentally stepped on his ear--which hurt quite a lot, I suspected--and pulled off his Invisibility Cloak.

"Finite Incatatem!" I cried, pointing at him.

Harry instantly staggered up, panting. His shirt was a mess, splattered with blood, wrinkled and torn.

"Thanks," he panted, holding up a hand for me to grasp.

Unfortunately, I was so weak that I didn't even manage to pull him up more than an inch.

"Sorry," I said, watching him chuckle and heave himself off the ground.

"It's nothing. Ow--"

He fingered his nose and winced.

"Here, let me ...Episkey!"

Harry's head jerked back as the spell took effect. After a few seconds, his nose returned to normal. He stared at me strangely. I shifted and asked, "What's wrong?"

He laughed and said, "How do you know that many spells? I doubt even if Hermione could..."

He shook his head, still laughing.

"Well, we better go, Harry," I said, leading the way to Hogwarts. "Filch'll be livid, and Snape's probably going to tell us off...'Fifty points from Gryffindor,'", I mimicked.

"Adalise?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for saving me from the train." He grinned sheepishly. "Thanks a lot."

My face burned, and I kept on looking forward, muttering, "No problem," as I approached the Hogwarts gates.

Harry Potter finally spoke to me, I thought, trying to hide a triumphant smirk.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~Phew! Lots to write! Well, thank you for reading, everyone--next chapter's from May! Give her support! Thank you! Comment rate favorite you know the drill thank you so much goodbye peeps Harry Potter Forever! xD~

.~*Friee*~.