Book: Courage
Chapter 13
Word Count: 2310
Somehow, the story of what had happened had got out. Harry was in the hospital wing, unconscious, and many students of all ages, mainly Gryffindor with some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, would bring up sweets to the hospital wing for Harry when he woke up. Ron, however, had been stealing a lot of them.
"They're for Harry!" Hermione had scolded. Ron had rolled his eyes at her.
"Well, he's not going to eat them all, is he? I'm just helping him out."
Three days later, Ron, Layla, and Hermione were playing exploding snap as a trio when a second year boy ran into the common room, claiming that Harry was awake. Ron, Layla, and Hermione didn't have time to look at each other before they got up and rushed to the hospital wing.
They could hear Harry trying to negotiate with Madam Pomfrey inside.
"Just five minutes," Harry pleaded.
"Absolutely not."
"You let Professor Dumbledore in..."
"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. You need rest."
"I am resting, look, lying down and everything. Oh, go on, Madam Pomfrey..."
"Oh, very well," she said. "But five minutes only."
And she let Ron, Layla, and Hermione in.
"Harry!" Layla looked ready to fling her arms around him again, but decided it against it since Harry must still be sore.
"Oh, Harry, we were sure you were going to — Dumbledore was so worried—" rambled Hermione.
"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?"
Harry told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort. Ron, Layla, and Hermione were a very good audience; they gasped in all the right places, and when Harry told them that Voldemort was hiding under Quirrell's turban, the two sharing one body, Hermione screamed out loud.
"So the Stone's gone?" said Ron finally. "Flamel's just going to die?"
"That's what I said, but Dumbledore thinks that — what was it? — 'to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'"
"I always said he was off his rocker," said Ron, looking quite impressed at how crazy his hero was.
"So what happened to you two?" said Harry.
"Well, I got back all right," said Layla. "I found Ron and Hermione by the Devil's Snare and handed them a broom each so we could all fly up and out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy quickly. We were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him by the entrance hall — he already knew — he just said, 'Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor."
"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"
"Well," Hermione exploded, "if he did — I mean to say that's terrible — you could have been killed."
"No, it isn't," said Harry thoughtfully. "He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could..."
"Yeah, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right," said Ron proudly.
"Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow," said Layla. "The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course — you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrollered by Ravenclaw without you."
"But the food'll be good," said Ron with a wide smile.
At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over.
"You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT!" she said firmly.
The Great Hall was decorated just as it was at the beginning of the year, and above them, the stars were twinkling in a cloudless sky. The only thing that dampened Layla's mood was the emerald snake hangings that hung across the length of the hall.
When Harry came in, a few minutes after Ron, Layla, and Hermione had taken their seats, silence fell over the entire room, before everyone hurriedly started talking at once. Harry practically ran to his seat next to his three best friends, sitting beside Layla. Opposite Layla was Hermione, and opposite Harry was Ron.
Professor Dumbledore turned up seconds later, and everyone's attention turned to him.
"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts. Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, five hundred and twenty-two."
A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table.
"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."
The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.
"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes... first — to Mr Ronald Weasley..."
Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn.
"...for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."
Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"
At last there was silence again.
"Second — to Miss Hermione Granger... for the use of cool intelligence when involving deadly plants, performing an outstanding spell that saved them all, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."
Hermione buried her face in her arms; Layla strongly suspected she had burst into tears, and she grinned proudly at her best friend. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves — they were a hundred points up.
"Third — to Miss Layla Lupin," said Dumbledore. All of the Gryffindors were on the edge of their seats, extremely eager to see their house points rise even more. "For the use of cool logic in the face of fire when it comes to potions of all sorts, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."
Even more cheers erupted. A faint blush appeared across Layla's beautiful, soft features as she hid her face behind her curtain of brunette locks, getting pats on the backs and high-fives from Gryffindors sat near her.
"Fourth — to Mr Harry Potter..." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "For pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."
The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had five hundred and twenty-two points — exactly the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the house cup — if only Dumbledore had given any of them just one more point.
Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.
"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."
Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Layla, Ron, and Hermione all stood up to yell and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before. Harry, still cheering, nudged Layla gently and pointed at Draco, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on him.
"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration."
He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile.
It was the best evening of Layla's life, better than her quite fun adventure down the trapdoor, or Christmas with her dad, or meeting the centaurs in the forest... she would never, ever forget tonight.
Layla had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To their great surprise, both Harry and Ron passed with good marks; Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first years, and Layla did incredible, as well. Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you couldn't have everything in life.
And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.
It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.
"You must come and stay this summer," said Ron, "all of you — I'll send you guys an owl."
"Well, I'll ask my dad, but he'll probably say yes," said Layla with a smile. "I'd love to meet the rest of your family! I will probably end up taking you up on that offer."
People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:
"Bye, Layla!"
"See you, Lupin!"
Due to her friendliness and how easy she found it to make new friends, Layla was pretty popular in school. She'd befriended almost all Gryffindors from her year and the year above, and a bunch of different Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, too. She avoided the Slytherins as much as she could though.
Just before Layla went with Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the gateway, she paused when she noticed a familiar boy stood nearby. Cedric. He caught her looking and grinned at her, waving goodbye. Layla smiled widely back at him in return, waving back, and then rushed through the gateway to catch up with her best friends.
"There he is, Mom, there he is, look!"
It was Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, but she wasn't pointing at Ron.
"Harry Potter!" she squealed. "Look, Mom! I can see—"
"Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point."
Mrs Weasley smiled down at them.
"Busy year?" she said.
"Very," said Harry. "Thanks for the fudge and the sweater, Mrs Weasley."
"Oh, it was nothing, dear," Mrs Weasley smiled. She looked between Harry and Ron, and then noticed Layla stood nearby, awkwardly playing with her hair, as Hermione had always left to go hug her parents. "And who might you be, sweetheart?"
"Layla Lupin, miss. Nice to meet you."
"Lupin?" Mrs Weasley's eyes widened at the last name. "Ah, you must be Remus' daughter. I had left Hogwarts by the time he had joined, but I still had friends there who would owl me with how troublesome and michevous your father and his friends were in school."
"I can imagine," giggled Layla. Mrs Weasley smiled at her, just as Harry's very rude uncle walked over to collect him, the two walking off. Layla giggled again when she saw Ron and Ginny bickering. It looked like Ginny was begging Ron to get her Harry's autograph, and he was telling her to shove off.
Moments later, Remus walked up to them.
"There you are, honey," he smiled down at his daughter before noticing all of the redheads. He smiled at Mrs Weasley. "Ah, Molly. It must have been a few months since I last saw you."
"Yes, right after the Christmas break in this very station, Remus," said Mrs Weasley with a wide smile. "Good to see you!"
"You, as well," Remus replied, his smile widening kindly, before he looked down at Layla again. "Ready to go then, Lay?"
"Yep," smiled Layla, grabbing her father's hand. "Bye, Ron!"
"Bye!" Ron called back before going back to bickering with his younger sister. Layla waved goodbye to Mrs Weasley and then walked off with Remus.
"Did you have a nice time?" asked Remus as they left the station, getting far enough away so that Remus could apparate them home. Layla had gotten used to Remus apparating them places. It was quicker than floo powder.
Layla didn't even need to think about her answer. She looker up at her dad and smiled brightly.
"Yes! It was... an adventure."