A Different Story

Chapter 8

Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside.

“Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?” Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?

But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick’s class looking confused.

“Follow me, you two,” said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry.

“In here.”

Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom that was empty Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.

“Wood I’ve found you a Seeker.”

**********

“You’re joking.”
It was dinner time. Harry had just finished telling his friends what had happened when he’d left the grounds with Professor McGonagall.
“Seeker?” Damian said. “you must be the youngest player in about —”
“— a century,” said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. “Wood told me.”

"Oh, wait until mom and dad learn about it." Arcturus chuckled as he spoke. "Dad is going to be ecstatic." Damian smiled warmly as he said.

"Its logical don't you think it is, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a puzzled expression. while Arcturus swiftly assisted her with the books she was carrying.

"Thank you, Arcturus, but as I said, I assumed you knew. Anyway, James Potter was Gryffindor's best seeker at that time, and it is logical that his son would be as good as him." Hermione explained as she sat next to the group.

"Well, when you put it that way, then yeah , I guess it is quite logical," Damian said.

“Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to your blood-traitorous family?” Malfoy asked with a satisfied smile.

“You’re a lot braver now that you’re back on the ground and you’ve got your little friends with you,” said Harry coolly. There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.

“I’d take you on anytime on my own,” said Malfoy. “Tonight, if you want. Wizard’s duel. Wands only no contact. What do you say?

“I’m his second, who’s yours?” Arcturus said Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. “Crabbe,” he said. “Midnight all right? We’ll meet you in the trophy room; that’s always unlocked.”

**********

At midnight, Harry, Arcturus, Damian, and Hermione meet each other. They were all on their way to the trophy room. When, all of a sudden, the stairs started to move.

They held on for dear life. "Whoa, what's going on." Damian panickily asked, "The stairs are moving." Hermione said with clear annoyance. "Well, we have to go. We can't stand here. Someone could catch us." Harry said. So they all went up the stairs to the third floor, and they kept walking. "Does anyone feel like we shouldn't be here?" Damian asked slowly. "That's because we shouldn't. It's the third floor corridor; it's forbidden." Hermione said, with a scared look on her face.

They kept on walking down the corridor until they came across a cat, not just any cat, but Finch's cat.

They started to run until they came across a room. "Come on, let's go hide in there," Damian said, and tried to open the door. But it was locked.

"Oh, move over." Hermione says, and she opens the door with a spell, and they run inside it . "Why was the door locked?" Hermione asked, annoyed. "I think it was for a very good reason." Harry said softly, and he looked more pale than Malfoy. They all turned around, and there before them stood a giant three-headed dog, just staring at them. Then it started to growl. They all screamed and ran out of the room.

They ran as fast as their legs could. They ran without looking back. Finally, after running for more than ten minutes, they stopped.

"What was that?" Arcturus yelled as soon as they put a good amount of distance between them and the three-headed dog. "It's a Cerberus, but I don't know what it was doing there." Damian said.

"Are you all really that daft? Didn't you see what it was standing on?" Hermione asked, annoyed.

"What was it standing on? I apologise, Miss Rowena Ravenclaw reborn. I was a little too focused on its heads to notice that it was standing on something. Also, in case you missed it, it has three heads." Damian hissed at the brown haired girl.

"No, she's right, it was standing on a trap door, which means it was most likely guarding something." Arcturus said, with a calculating look on his face.

"What could it possibly be hiding?" Harry muttered with furrowed brows. Hermione sniffed and rolled her eyes.

"I don't know, but I'm going to bed before any of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed, or worse, expelled." When Hermione finished speaking, the group was still standing in the hallway, staring at her as if she was some strange animal they had never seen before. She swiftly turned on her heels and left.

"She needs to get her priorities straight." Damian said, in disbelief, while trying to fix his hair.