Sydney Dadzie-Granger and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 9 - Pomona Sprout, The Lake, and Chicken Legs

Sydney's POV:

The next morning, I headed down to breakfast with Hannah, Susan, Meg, and Justin. As we were about to enter the Great Hall, I noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione approaching from the opposite direction. Waving to my fellow Hufflepuffs, I went to speak to the trio.

"Hey Sydney," said Hermione, giving me a big hug. "Want to join us for breakfast? The three of us want to talk to you."

"Yeah, sure," I answered, following them to the Gryffindor table.

As we sat down, Ron and Harry immediately started helping themselves to everything within reach, while Hermione and I were both a little slower to fill up our plates.

"That was really cool what you did last night," said Harry in an undertone, looking around cautiously. "How you blasted the troll through the wall."

"The funny thing was that I didn't ever actually hear you cast a spell, even though you said you cast Stupefy," said Ron in between bites. "Non-verbal magic is supposed to be really hard. How did you do it?"

"I don't really know," I answered honestly. "I'm going to talk to Professor Sprout about it soon. Let's just keep what really happened to ourselves, okay?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and I turned to Hermione with a slightly raised eyebrow. Knowing what I meant, she sighed.

"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other," she admitted. "Knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."

"Uh huh," I snickered, before delving into my breakfast.

Twenty minutes later, I had finished and bid good-bye to the trio before heading out of the Great Hall, before being intercepted by the Weasley twins once again as I left the Hall.

"Good to see you, oh-great troll defeater," said Fred.

"If we'd known you were going to battle a troll, we would have tagged along!" said George with enthusiasm.

"I just acted instinctively," I answered honestly with a small smirk. "Quick, random question - what is one thing that your brother Ron really loves?"

"Chicken," the twins chorused immediately.

My smirk grew, and I waved to both of them before heading out to Herbology, noticing the two exchange confused glances behind me.

I was the first one in the greenhouse and saw Professor Sprout setting up for the class.

"Hi Professor, do you need a hand?" I asked, setting down my bag on a nearby stool.

"Miss Granger, I'm glad to see you are alright," Sprout said with a smile, turning to me. "I'm just about finished here, but thank you. I heard about your adventure last night - how are you feeling?"

"Tired," I answered honestly with some uncertainty. "And a bit confused about everything. Professor, would it be okay if we found a time to talk privately?"

"How about after class today?" Sprout suggested.

I nodded in agreement as the doors opened and the rest of my classmates entered the room.

* * * * *

Despite being a double class, the time flew and before I knew it, we were each packing up our books.

"Hey, you want to go walk around the grounds for a bit?" invited Meg.

"Sorry Meg," I answered. "I'm meeting with Professor Sprout right now. Maybe when everyone else goes to flying class?"