The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 18

Before Anna knew it, September and October had flown by, and Halloween had approached. Anna's favorite class by far had been Transfiguration. DADA was good too, but Anna still couldn't shake the feeling she got whenever she was around Professor Quirrel. There was something off about him, but Anna just didn't know what it was.  Anna had been looking for Hermione all day, but she couldn't find her anywhere. When she talked to Harry and Ron about it, however, she noticed how Ron fidgeted in a nervous and guilty manner. "What did you do?" She growled, and Ron gulped nervously. "A-Anna, n-now don't get mad at me, b-but I may have said something about h-how annoying she was and how i-it was no wonder that she didn't have any friends-"
"YOU WHAT?!" Anna shouted, and Ron yelped as she began smacking his arms and chest. "I didn't know she was right behind me!" He protested as he shielded himself from her attacks.
"Anna-" Harry tried to protest, but she shut his mouth when his sister sent him a death glare. "Don't make me smack you too! Honestly, how could you two be so bloody stupid?!" She hissed before storming off.
"Where are you going?" Harry called after her.
"To find my friend and fix the damage that you two bloody idiots caused!"

After an hour and a half of searching, Anna finally found Hermione in one of the girls bathrooms. "Mione?"
"Go away!" Hermione sniffled from inside one of the stalls, and Anna sighed. She was glad that she wasnt in Myrtle's bathroom, she didn't think she could deal with two wailing girls. "I heard what Ron said to you. You just have to ignore the bloody prick."
"But he was right." Hermione came out of one of the stalls, her eyes puffy and her cheeks tear-stained. "Besides you, I don't have any friends."
"That's not your fault." Anna enveloped the girl in a hug. "People just don't see how great you are."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You're a great friend, and if they can't see that, then that's their fault. I-" Suddenly the door to the bathroom was ripped off its hinges, and the girls screamed as a troll lumbered into the room. How the hell had a troll gotten into Hogwarts?! Anna quickly pushed Hermione behind her as she whipped out her wand. "Expelliarmus!" She shouted, and the club that the troll had been holding flew out of his hand. The troll yelled in rage and Anna screamed as he grabbed her. He flung her at the wall, and the last thing that Anna saw before blacking out was Harry and Ron running in. Harry shouted Anna's name, and then the world went dark.

Anna groaned as she woke up, and she immediately recognized the hospital wing. Her arm was in a sling, and her head felt like it was on fire.
"Anna!" Harry cried out as he jumped out of a mahogany chair that had been by her bedside, and Anna  winced at how loud he was. "Sorry." He said, immediately lowering his voice. "How you feeling?"
"Like hell." She slowly sat up. "What happened? I remember the troll barging into the bathroom, but nothing after that."
Harry explained how they had found her unconcious, and how he and Ron had fought off the troll. Anna laughed when Harry told her how Quirrel had fainting after announcing the troll's presence.
"Harry," Anna said after they had finished laughing their heads off. "What do you think of Professor Quirrel?" Harry thought for a minute. "He's alright." He said finally. "A bit odd though. Why?" Anna shrugged. "I don't know, I just have an bad feeling about him."
"You also had a bad feeling about Mr. Howell down the street." Harry pointed out, and Anna groaned in embarrassment. "Oh god, don't remind me."
Mr. Howell had been one of their neighbors at Privet Drive. Anna had been convinced that he was a serial killer because he was always digging in his backyard at all hours of the night. It had turned out that he just had insomnia and was doing some midnight gardening. "In my defense, I was only seven."
"Always quick with those excuses, aren't you?" Harry laughed and Anna glared at him. "Don't make me dye your hair green, Potter."
"You do that and I'll give you a pig's tail, Potter."
"Please." Anna scoffed. "You're so clumsy that you would probably give yourself a tail in the process." The twins shared a laugh before Madame Pomfrey came and shooed Harry out. "Miss Potter needs rest, and you're preventing her from doing that."

Anna was kept in the hospital wing for three days. Ron and Hermione visited, and Anna was pleased to learn that she was now friends with Ron and her brother. Naturally Hermione gave Anna her homework that she had missed. Cedric visited also, as did the twins and Lee. Parvati and Lavender came, although Anna got the feeling that Lavender only came because it gave her the opportunity of possibly seeing Ron. Needless to say, Anna was only all too glad when Madame Pomfrey announced that she could leave the hospital wing. Cedric had been visiting when Pomfrey had given her the good news, and he told Anna that he would walk her back to her common room, as that was the gentlemanly thing to do. "Cedric..." Anna said as they walked. "Did you know that everyone says that we're dating?" Even though Hagrid had said that people would stop talking about the two of them, the story had been dramatized even further, to the point where they had broken up, gotten back together again, and Cedric was now cheating on Anna with Penelope Clearwater.
"I'm sorry about that," Cedric said. "I didn't mean for you to get all of this attention when you became friends with me."
"It's all right." Anna insisted. "I've learned to ignore them for the most part." When she walked inside the common room, Fred and George tackled her in a hug. "We missed you!"
"You literally just saw me yesterday!" Anna laughed as they helped her up.
"Yes, well that was a whole twenty four hours ago." George replied. "We have to get our Potter fill." Fred added. "And Harry just isn't cutting it."
"Aw, were you two missing me?"
"They're making me feel like chopped liver," Lee called from across the room, causing Anna to laugh again. "You poor thing." She giggled as Lee pouted. "I didn't think that I would be losing them to girls this quickly."
Anna groaned as she sat on one of the comfortable, red couches. "Don't get me started. It's bad enough that people think that I'm with Cedric. It's like I can't be friends with a guy without people automatically assuming that I'm dating him."
"It doesn't help your case when you hang out with him every day." Fred pointed out and Anna stared at him in exasperation. "I hang out with you guys every day and no one ever says anything!"
"It's because people think that George and I won't ever settle down."
Anna shook her head. "I just want to be able to have a normal childhood, what's left of it anyways."
"We're wizards, we've never exactly been normal."
"You know what I mean." Anna then stood, declaring that she was going to bed.  She walked upstairs and collapsed on her bed, falling asleep before her head even touched her pillow.