Harry Potter and the New Marauders (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Fishing, Flying & Spying

"Because they don't want anything to do with us!" Jack answered, casting again with a bit too much effort. His bobber flew off the line. He threw down his pole. "What'd they do to put you up to this?" He then demanded of Hagrid, which got the attention of several nearby students.

"No one put me up ter nothin'," Hagrid replied gently, as several of the other students looked on. "Just tryin' to cheer you up, is all?"

"Oh," Jack conceded.

"Wha's goin' on?" Freddie asked guiltily, as he, Lee, and Ciaran walked up, knowing they'd been spotted heading for the Forest.

"Wha's it look like?" Teddy retorted, "Just getting' a bit of fresh air and sunshine before it's time to get locked up again, is all!"

Freddie looked shocked. Lee and Ciaran said nothing.

Since he was George Weasley's son, though, Freddie also had some knowledge of Hogwarts, especially in certain areas. "You were in the kitchen this morning!" Freddie gasped, and Teddy nodded.

"I heard what you said, and you know better!" Teddy accused him. "Won't have to worry about it for long, though?" He added, just as his pole gave a jerk and Teddy was pulled right into the water with a great muddy SPLASH!

"Nice, bein' able to do magic legal an' all," Hagrid mused, as he pointed his pink umbrella at the splashing boy and said, "ACCIO, Teddy!" Teddy flew back up onto the bank, his hands still gripping the pole, along with a huge, brightly colored fish that was half his size!

"I didn't think char got that big?" Perry of Hufflepuff asked, as even more students had been attracted by the commotion.

"We grows ‘em big in here!" Hagrid said proudly, "I think I'd have that'un mounted, Teddy?"

There was something about boys and fishing, though, and Teddy's catch of the day somehow smoothed over the conflict with their roomies. It wasn't long before Hagrid was supervising an impromptu class on how to transfigure a stick into a fishing pole. If nothing else, it kept the crowd of boys out of trouble for the rest of the day. For eleven-year-old boys, there was plenty to do around the lake - most of it involving mud.

They were surprised when Michael Flint of Slytherin House asked to join them, though.

"Don't you have anyone else to torment?" Teddy asked him cockily. "Or did Goyle send you to spy on us?"

"I just got tired of listenin' to Goyle's jokes about my teeth," Flint replied, as he moved down the bank to fish alone, muttering something about water voles.

Evening put a stop to the fishing, though. As it was getting on towards dinnertime, the boys trekked back to the castle to clean up, their chatter filled with tales of "the big one that got away."

"It seems to have worked," Harry congratulated Hagrid, as they sat at the high table that night.

At the head of the Gryffindor table, students were even leaning back and turning around to share fish stories with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.

And right there in the middle of them were Teddy and Jack.

"I think it might take more than a day's fishing to solve this problem, though, Potter," Malfoy suggested, as he sat watching the Slytherin table. Of all the other First Year Slytherin boys, only Flint had joined in, and then only marginally. No one was talking to him about fish.

Later that night, Teddy woke up with the shivers and an urgent bladder. When he returned, and was getting back into bed and trying to remind Argos to not shove him out again, he thought he heard something outside. There was little moon to be seen as he looked out the window, but Teddy thought that he could sense something out there in the darkness - something watching. He strained his eyes. Was it just an illusion, or was something moving near the Pitch? Instinctively, his nose twitched.