And the Hippogriff Jumped Over the Moon - MsMorgan's EEFFD thread - Sa9+

[emjay]

“Doo fink datsnu fins gans ar eecher?”

“Huh?” Harry grimaced and Hermione rolled her eyes as she let out an audible sigh. They were used to Ron stuffing his mouth full with food and trying to speak, but they still found it rather revolting.

Ron took a big gulp as he swallowed his breakfast and tried again. “Do you think that’s the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?” he said while gesturing to a very attractive woman sitting at the Head Table. “She must be a veela!” he exclaimed, eyes wide.

“Honestly, Ron!” Hermione huffed as Harry tried to suppress a giggle. They were also used to Ron thinking every pretty girl must be a veela.

However, Ron was right about one thing. The woman sitting at the Head Table next to Snape – who was giving her sneering, sidelong glances – was, in fact, their new DADA teacher. Or at least substitute teacher. It turned out that Dumbledore was starting to get a little edgy about Lupin’s monthly absences due to his “furry little problem” and wanted to have a more “permanent” substitute to fill in a couple days a month rather than having Snape begrudgingly take over while complaining of neglecting his potions.

The Gryffs had DADA right after breakfast and filed into the classroom only to find the Slytherins – and new teacher - already there.

“Hello my little honeybees. I am Professor Klum and I will be your teacher for the next few days while Professor Lupin is recovering from an illness.”

Hermione looked rather scandalized at being addressed in the same manner one would a four year old, but none of the boys – all of whom were quite suspiciously sitting at the front of the class – seemed to mind. In fact they were all on the edge of their seats, hanging on to every word as the professor continued.

“I have an exciting new project for you all to work on over the next few weeks. We will be designing new fashions for the wizarding world and we will unveil our fabulous new creations at the end of this month during the Yule Ball! Everyone will be assigned a partner and this assignment will be worth half your DADA grade for the year. Remember, kids, style plus creativity equals success!”

Professor Klum’s announcement was met with several audible groans and grumblings about what designing clothes had to do with DADA, while a few people glanced over at a very smug-looking Blaise Zambini. Everyone knew he was quite the fashionista at Hogwarts and was sure to produce a winning design . . .

[3uzz3ee]

Ooh this is fantablous!! Can't wait to see what you have next!

[Paris Lilac]

Very Good!

[emjay]

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys! I'll post more tomorrow.

[hpfan99]

Awesome!

[emjay]

“Half our grade?” exclaimed Harry to Ron and Hermione in the corridors after class was over. “I mean, how can she do that, she’s only a substitute here for a few days and what’s with the whole designing clothes nonsense? How can that possibly be a requirement in this class?” Ron nodded sympathetically to Harry’s rant.

“Well, actually,” said Hermione, with a knowing look to both of them, “it’s not as unheard of as you might think.” Harry and Ron, both taken aback, stopped and turned to Hermione, waiting for her to continue.

“I read all about a similar class assignment in Hogwarts, A History . . .”

At the sound of those all-too-familiar words, much like a Pavlov’s dog’s response, Harry’s and Ron’s eyes glazed over and they tuned out the rest of what Hermione had to say on the subject as they walked back to the common room.

“ . . . and that’s where a lot of the robes that we wear today come from,” Hermione finished as the trio came to the Fat Lady’s portrait.

Ron gave the password “I don’t like Spam!” and, as the portrait swung forward, Hermione chattered on while they climbed through the portrait hole.

“I just can’t believe how lucky Millicent was to get paired with Blaise, while I get stuck with Neville. He has the fashion sense of a bag of rocks. Well, at least you get to work with Lavender, Ron. She always keeps up with the latest trends in Witch Weekly.”

Ron blushed. “I just hope she doesn’t want to get too crazy with glitter. You know how she loves her glitter.”

“Yeah, but not as much as Parvati loves the color pink,” groaned Harry. “I don’t want to be modeling anything pink at the Yule Ball.”

And on it went as the three of them went off to find their partners, Harry relentlessly complaining about the silliness of the assignment while Ron, shrugging, quickly accepted the fact that the project must be completed to pass DADA this year. A few of the girls sought out back issues of Witch Weekly to help with their research and brainstorming. (Hermione set out Hogwarts, A History, just in case.)

The next few days found the Gryffs and Slyths working tirelessly on their new wizarding fashions at every spare moment, while the rest of the school buzzed with excitement over the upcoming fashion show at the Yule Ball. Everyone, that is, except for Harry. He was still whining about the DADA assignment and trying to avoid Parvati who followed Harry around the castle, flinging lace and buttons at him. Harry thought perhaps Professor Lupin would be able to put a stop to the nonsense once he returned as their regular DADA teacher.

stay tuned kids, more to come . . .

[hpfan99]

I like the password to get in the commen room.
Can't wait to hear more!

[Paris Lilac]

Very Interesting. It really has the feel of a Harry Potter story!

[hpfan99]

Please delete

[emjay]

Whatever help he thought Lupin might give him, Harry was sadly mistaken. When Harry went to visit the professor in his office on his first day back, he was a bit surprised to find Lupin rubbing his hands together with glee over the thought of the Hogwarts Fashion Extravaganza (as the professor now liked to call it). “Don’t worry, Harry,” said Lupin, with a gleam in his eye. “I may be back to teach the class, but Professor Klum has promised to return for the Yule Ball to judge the clothing designs. I think she may even let me help her with rating the new fashions,” he added with a grin.

Harry certainly wasn’t concerned with that, but, after seeing Lupin’s enthusiasm for Haute Couture, he felt he had no choice but to resign himself to getting the work done with Parvati to get a passing grade. He briefly thought of starting a petition against the absurd assignment as he walked back to the portrait hole (“I don’t like Spam!”), but as he saw all the other students eagerly working on their homework, he knew no one would sign it.

“There you are Harry!” exclaimed Parvati as Harry entered the common room. “We really need to get started on our assignment. There’s only a week left until the Yule Ball and everyone else is nearly finished!”

Harry looked around at the pairs of students huddled around fabric samples and assorted embellishments. Ron and Lavender were busy attaching sequins with crazy glue onto what looked like to be a very low-cut robe. Neville, the Herbologist fanatic, insisted to Hermione that they incorporate puffapods into their project.

“Erm . . . , ok, Neville,” said Hermione, hesitantly. “They might look alright around the hemline . . .”

“Look, what I have!” exclaimed Neville, after they were finished sewing on the puffapod flowers. Hermione looked up and saw Neville holding what appeared to be a decent sized bottle of perfume. “This is Gran’s favorite brand of perfume, Chanel No. 5. I think it would add a nice touch to our project, don’t you think?”

Hermione wasn’t sure how spraying their robes with perfume would help, nor did she want to know why Neville was carrying around a bottle of his Gran’s perfume, so she just timidly nodded as Neville applied the fragrance.

A fight soon broke out among the Gryffs after Seamus accused Ron of trying to copy his light-up hat idea and when Lavender was sure that Hermione was sneaking off with her sequins. Avoiding the conflict, Harry found a quiet corner in the common room and went to work on his assignment with Parvati.

During breakfast the next morning, Dumbledore called for “Silence!” to make a very special announcement. “As you all may have heard, the Weird Sisters had been scheduled to play at the Yule Ball. Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen accident involving a comb, a pair of socks, and a swarm of Billywigs, they’ve had to cancel.” This last statement was met with a loud roar of outrage as the children shouted out their disappointment. The Weird Sisters was the favorite band of wizarding children, after all.

The crowd quieted down as Dumbledore shouted for “Silence!” again. “I do understand your disappointment, but I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that in place of the Weird Sisters, the Rolling Stones will be entertaining us at the Ball!” Dumbledore beamed around at them all but was greeted with looks of bewilderment and murmurs of confusion, as most of the kids had never heard of the band.

Hermione alone clapped her hands together as she grinned and squealed to Lavender, “Oooh, I’m so excited to see the Rolling Stones! My mum and I listen to them all the time. I have such a crush on the singer!” Ron seemed to think this was very funny which caused Hermione to turn a deep shade of pink.

As the Yule Ball approached and the kids finished up their designs, Ron was having a hard time locating Lavender. It turned out that she was in the hospital wing being treated for a particularly nasty case of boils brought on by an advanced furnunculous hex that was proving difficult to cure. When Ron went to visit her, she threw her hands over her face and shrieked, “I can’t go to the Ball looking like this! I can’t model the robes, you’ll have to go with someone else!” And the poor girl burst into tears. Ron tried to be sympathetic but he was also thinking of himself and how he had no one to go to the Yule Ball with (the kids decided their class partners would be their dates – it was just easier that way) nor a partner to model the clothes. Their project happened to be a dress created for a witch and he didn’t want to be the one to wear it in front of the entire school.

Sighing, Ron walked around the corridors, stopping when he heard a familiar, dreamy voice. “Hello, Ronald.”

“Hi, Luna,” Ron said, “So, uh . . . who are you going to the Ball with?”

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought of going,” Luna replied airily. “I’ve been a little busy making sure there were no nargles in the mistletoe hung around the castle. They certainly can be pesky, you know.”

“Oh, right,” hesitated a bemused Ron. “I was hoping you could help me out . . . my design partner is in the hospital and I thought . . . maybe you could take her place and wear the robes we designed?”

“Alright, Ronald,” answered Luna as she floated away leaving Ronald to stare after her, bewildered.

Hopefully one more post, then the dare will be done!

[hpfan99]

Can't wait to hear the last part! I like the part where Neville insists to put the puffapods on their project.

[Paris Lilac]

I can't wait to hear more about Harrys design and I love the Rolling Stones!