There's Another Riddle? (Harry Potter) ON HOLD

Chapter 14 What Fluffy Has Been Guarding

Chapter 14

I spent the rest of my break practicing new spells and potions. It was too cold to go out on my Nimbus Two Thousand, so I didn't. 

 Hermione, who came back the day before term started, was torn between horror at the idea of Harry and myself being out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row (“If Filch had caught you!”), and disappointment that he hadn’t at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was. 

Blaise also came back the day before term started. We had written each other over the break, but I still missed him goofiness. We hung out together, talking about our breaks and what we each got. It was a lot of fun to just hangout with him.

Once term had started we had almost given up at finding Flamel. Harry, Ron, and Hermione kept looking at books in between their classes, but I felt it was a dead end. They were still looking in newer wizards, but what if Flamel was much older. I mean he knew Dumbledore obviously, so he had to be a bit older.

While the others spent their free-time on Nicholas Flamel I had been learning new spells and facts. I became the top of all my classes due to my skills. Most of the teachers(Except Binns) began giving me harder work to do, which I still finished first.

Therefore I was bumped up a grade, woohoo! I had the same classes as before, but just a harder difficulty. They were easy as pie still, but I couldn't skip two years in one year it would be rude to the teachers so I didn't complain.

I hung out with my age group during breaks and meals though.  One day in the common Room they told me that Snape would be refereeing the next Quiditch game and that they were worried he was going to do something or another.

"Come on!" I screeched in frustration. "We have discussed this. SNAPE IS NOT OUT TO GET YOU! Now please can we drop the subject?"

At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone’s guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what I recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower. 

  Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione and myself, we leapt up simultaneously, but Hermione  performed the countercurse first. Neville’s legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling.

“What happened?” Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Harry and Ron. 

  “Malfoy,” said Neville shakily. “I met him outside the library. He said he’d been looking for someone to practice that on.”  

 “Go to Professor McGonagall!” Hermione urged Neville. “Report him!” 

"Yeah Neville!" I agreed. "You have to do something."

 Neville shook his head.   “I don’t want more trouble,” he mumbled. 

  “You’ve got to stand up to him, Neville!” said Ron. “He’s used to walking all over people, but  that’s no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier.” 

  “There’s no need to tell me I’m not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy’s already done that,” Neville choked out.  

"Aww, Neville." I cried out. I went up to Neville and gave him a ginormous hug, holding on until he cleared his throat for me to get off. "Sorry."

 Harry gave poor Neville a chocolate frog, because he looked like he was going to cry. 

  “You’re worth twelve of Malfoy,” Harry said. “The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn’t  it? And where’s Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin.”