The Sword and The Shield- C Diggory

Chapter Three

Hermione announced she was hoping to buy a pet, so the five of them headed to the magical menagerie. Cedric also wanted to pick up some owl treats for his owl. "You do spoil that owl Ced." Elyah teased as they entered, the cool dark building providing relief from the glaring sun. "He's gonna be too fat to fly if you keep giving him treats." Cedric rolled his eyes, giving her a playful shove. S

Inside there wasn't much room- every inch of the wall was hidden by cages, it was smelly and very noisy because of the occupants of those cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing. The witch behind the counter was already advising a wizard on the care of double ended newts so Harry, Ron, Hermione, Elyah and Cedric waited examining the cages.

There were cats of every colour, a noisy cage of ravens, a basket of funny custard coloured fur balls that were humming loudly and on the counter; a cage of sleek black rats which were playing some sort of skipping game using their long bald tails. The double ended new wizard left, so Ron approached the counter. "it's my rat." he told the witch. "he's been a bit off colour ever since I brought him back from Egypt"

"Bang him on the counter" said the witch pulling a pair of heavy black spectacles out of her pocket. Elyah got distracted at this point and started stroking a beautiful snowy owl quite similar to Harry's Hedwig. The witch picked Scabbers up "How old is this rat"

"Dunno" said Ron, "Quite old, he used to belong to my brother."

"What powers does he have?" said the witch examining the rat closely. The truth was that Scabbers had never shown the faintest trace of interesting powers. The witches eyes move from Scabbers's tatted left ear to his front paw which had a toe missing, and tutted loudly. "He's been through the mill this one." She said "An ordinary common or garden right like this can't be expected to live longer than three years. So now if you're looking for something a bit more hard wearing you might like one of thes." She indicated the black rats that promptly started skipping again. Ron muttered "Show offs."

"Well if you don't want a replacement you can try this rat tonic." said the witch reaching under the counter and bringing out a small red bottle. "OK." said Ron. "How much-OUCH!" Ron buckled as something huge and orange came soaring from the top of the highest cage landed on his head and then propelled itself spitting madly at Scabbers. Cedric flung an arm in front of Elyah. "Crookshanks no!" cried the witch but Scabbers shot from between her hands like a bar of soap, landing splay legged on the floor. He scarped out the door, Ron racing after him. Harry followed not far behind.

Hermione had managed to grab the cat, and it seemed to calm down in her arms. She was stroking it, and seemed quite in love. Cedric scratched his head in confusion, paying for his owl treats then the two left. They headed to Flourish and Blotts next to collect their books for the year. "By the way, did you see about Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban? Crazy, right?" Cedric whispered. Elyah flinched slightly. Cedric bit back a curse. Although Sirius Black had no involvement in the death of Elyah's parents, he was still a death eater, so it surely only served as a reminder to the girl of what she had taken from her." God sorry El- I- I didn't think!" She smiled, laying a hand on his arm.

"It's fine Ced. If I keep flinching every time someone mentions a death eater I'm never gonna get very far in life am I!" Cedric frowned.

"I'm not sure that's the takeaway, I know if I'd been through what you had I don't think I'd be able to function." Elyah just gave an awkward shrug in response, before she grabbed a copy of Standard Book Of Spells- Grade 4 from a nearby shelf. "Anyway, lets talk about something more cheerful. Hopefully quidditch season won't be cancelled this year! We finally have a chance!" Cedric's face broke into a boyish grin, and he started excitedly talking about a new move he had practised this summer.

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Elyah smiled as she slid open the compartment door, greeted by all her friends. "Oh my god El six weeks is such a long time I've missed you." Florence Knight gasped, flinging her arms around her doormmate and close friend. Florence had also grown this summer, far from the pudgy geeky girl she had been in second year. Now fourteen, she had started wearing makeup, the light mascara bringing out her soft brown eyes. Her hair was fastened back in two dutch braids, and she had shed a lot of her childlike figure, now standing at 5,6 and having the beginnings of a womanly figure. "Look at you Florrie! How do you look so grown up! I only saw you six weeks ago!" Florence put a hand on her hip and did a slow turn, miming being a model. "I know right! I can't wait to run into George Weasley. She flushed furiously while a dark-haired girl sat down behind her mimed sticking a finger down her throat and gagging. Elyah laughed, squeezing past Florence to fling her arms around the girl. "Hey Katie, I missed you." Katie Bell smiled, showing off her newly fitted braces. The girls oohed over them. Katie didn't have awful teeth, but her canines were rotated giving her the appearance of having fangs.

Elyah looked around as everyone got seated. Besides herself and Florence, Their other Hufflepuff roommate Sarah was also there, as well as the two Gryffindors Katie and Leanne. Leanna and Katie grew up next door to each other, so had been close friends long before Hogwarts. There was a knock at the door, and Cho Chang, Juliet Sykes and Emma Abbott popped their heads in. "Cho! How was your summer?" Elyah squished up against Katie, laughing as they all bunched together tightly to make room for the Ravenclaws to join them. Susan flung her legs over Elyah's lap, who laughed in response, grabbing her calf and miming air guitar. The group burst into giggles.

Cho flung her sleek black hair behind her as she sat down opposite. "My summer was great, thanks. I went to see the The Tornadoes, I even got them to sign my shirt!" She turned around slightly and lifted here shirt off her shoulders so they could clearly see the handwriting across the back. Cho was even more quidditch mad than Katie and Cedric, and that was saying something.