That night, when I wanted to go to bed, Hermione asked me something.
"Doesn't Jynx mean, like something evil, like evil spells?"
She almost looked like she was afraid to ask that.
"No, it simply means 'spell' or 'charm' in Latin, it's up to oneself to make that mean something evil. I can assure you, I am not evil. Also, it's written different."
Hermione nodded slowly, and then turned.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
As I wanted to step into my bed, a sharp pain shot through my head. I closed my eyes for a second and suddenly saw the image of a gigantic dog with three heads. I immediately opened my eyes again, and panting, in shock, sat down on my bed. Then I remembered that Harry and Ron would face Malfoy tonight.
Still thinking about the strange vision I had, I silently walked out the door and to the Gryffindor common room. Just when I thought this was crazy and I could better go back to bed, I saw Harry and Ron sneak across the room and to the portrait hole. Then I thought about the fact that Neville still wasn't back from the hospital. What took so long? Couldn't he just be healed with magic?
"Jynx?" Ron suddenly noticed me.
"Sorry, I had this weird- never mind. Can I come along?"
"Sure, but don't let Malfoy notice you. There's not supposed to be two seconds."
I nodded and went after them.
As I stept through the hole in the wall, a lamp went on.
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry," Hermione said, who had appeared behind us. "And you," she turned to me. "Where are you going?"
"I-" I started. "I have a bad feeling. I don't know what it is, but I'm going with them."
"Go back to bed!" Ron said angrily to Hermione. The two argued as we started walking. Hermione had decided to come with us. Still arguing, Harry suddenly shut them up.
"I heard something," he said.
"Mrs Norris?" Ron whispered.
Mrs Norris was the cat of the caretaker, Argus Filch. Filch was always in a bad mood and knew every corner of the school, so if you went out wandering at night, there was a big chance he could catch you.
But it wasn't Mrs Norris. It was Neville.
"Neville, what are you doing out here?" I said to my brother, who had apparently been sleeping on the floor.
"I couldn't remember the new password to get in," he answered.
"It's Pig Snout," Hermione answered.
"How is your arm?" I asked.
"Fine, it was healed in a minute."
"Gosh, Neville, I was getting worried where you were," I sighed.
Neville didn't want to go back alone, so he stayed with us. We didn't cross Filch or his cat, until we were in the trophy room. Then we heard a voice, but it was Filch, not Draco. He was talking to his cat.
We silently went out the room, and heard Filch coming after us. Suddenly, Neville let out a sort of scream and started running.
"Neville, no, stay here!" I whisper-screamed to him.
"Run!" Harry yelled and we ran. We didn't stop until we came in a sort of secret passage. There we tried to catch our breath. We lost Filch, hopefully.
Then a ghost came flying out of a room to us, and squealed at the sight of us.
"Peeves, please shut up, you'll get us caught," I said, giving him a death stare. But Peeves ignored me.
"Wandering around at midnight, ickle firsties? Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."
"Not if you shut up, Peeves," Hermione said.
"Should I tell Filch, I should," Peeves said with a smirk. I broke out in a cold sweat. He was gonna give us away.
"Get out of the way," Ron said, pushing Peeves. That was a bad idea.
"Students out of bed! Students out of bed below the Charms Corridor!" Peeves yelled.
We ran for our lives, until we came to a door. It was locked. Faster than Hermione, I pulled out my wand that I had taken with me, for, well, moments like this.
"Alohomora!" I said, and the door flew open.
We pushed ourselves through and shut the door. Everyone laid the ears against the door and listened.
"Which way did they go, Peeves?" we heard Filch ask. Oh no, he was really going to give us away. We were done for. I felt my heart beating in my head and my hands were clammy.
"Say please," Peeves said.
"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," Peeves said with an annoying singing voice. He was playing with him.
"Alright, please," Filch said, clearly against his will.
"Nothing!" Peeves laughed. "Hahaha! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Hahaha!" I heard Peeves float away and Filch curse.
Neville had been tugging at my arm, while I was trying to listen.
"Neville, what is it?" I said, a bit annoyed.
Then I looked behind me. I had the biggest shock ever. This was it. The vision. The gigantic dog with three heads, that reached up to the ceiling. Suddenly it let out a growl. This was not good.
"Ron, the door," I said whispering, while trying to stay calm, to Ron, who was closest to the door handle. I tried not to look the beast in the eyes, because you know what they say: if you look a dog to long in the eyes, they come after you. So I looked at the floor. Beneath the feet of the dog was a trapdoor.
Ron opened the door as fast as he could and we all fell through. Harry slammed the door shut and we ran again.
"Wasn't that a Cerberus?" I asked Hermione.
"Must be," she said panting.
"Did you see that trapdoor?" I said.
"Yes, thank goodness I'm not the only one."
We didn't stop running until we came to the Fat Lady portrait.
"Where on earth have you been?" she asked us.
"Never mind that," Harry said. "Pig snout, pig snout."
We climbed throught the hole and fell into the chairs in the common room.
We all were silent for a moment. I had put my arm around Neville because he looked worse than when he had fallen of his broomstick.
Then Hermione broke the silence.
"You don't use your eyes, do you?" she asked in a rage. "It seems like Jynx here was the only other who saw it."
"Saw what?" Harry asked.
"The floor," I said. "There was a hatch, a trapdoor."
"The Cerberus was obviously guarding something," Hermione said. She stood up.
"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. Now, I'm going to bed. Before anyone of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed or worse, expelled."
With that she left. I sighed, stood up, and went after her to our dorms. I didn't have any more visions, so I fell asleep. But only with the thought that the dog was indeed guarding something. But what?
~
The next day, at breakfast, Harry's owl dropped a large package and a letter. He let Ron read the letter and then silently gave it to me. I read it. He had got a Nimbus Two Thousand, a broomstick for his own for Quidditch. Hagrid had sent the letter and asked him not to let everyone know.
"Nice," I said silently with a smile. He and Ron left to open the package somewhere else so he wouldn't be dragging attention. Apparently this broomstick was something everyone would want.
On Halloween, during the Charms class, we had to practice a spell to make things float. We had to work in pairs, and I was (luckily) seated next to Neville, so I could make sure he wouldn't make other things float than the feather we were given.
"Remember, swish and flick," Professor Flitwick said.
I concentrated on the feather, put all else out of my mind and swished and flicked my wand while saying "Wingardium Leviosa." The feather left the table and followed my wand a few inches in the air.
"Good job," Professor Flitwick said. "You are rather good with charms and spells."
"Guess it's in my name," I chuckled to Neville.
At the other table I heard Hermione speak angrily to Ron that he was doing it wrong. She was still upset to him and Harry.
After class I wanted to say something to Hermione, but she had her face covered with her hands and ran through the crowd. I was a bit confused. Did I do something wrong? When I got out of the crowd I saw Harry and Ron with frowned faces.
"What going on with Hermione?" I asked.
"I might have said something," Ron said with an uncomfortable face. "But it's not my fault that she always tries to be miss know-it-all."
I agreed in my head, but was what Ron said so offensive that it made her cry?
The rest of the day we didn't see her anywhere.
I went to the bathroom at the end of the day, and heard someone cry silently. I frowned and checked the empty toilets. No one.
"Hermione?" I asked carefully. "Are you there?"
"Leave me alone," was the answer.
"I'm sure Ron didn't mean it like that," I tried. "Maybe he was just in a bad mood."
I heard the door slowly unlock and Hermione came out, her eyes red of crying.
Juat as she opened her mouth to say something, the door of the bathroom broke open. Something bigger than the door pushed itself through. It was a troll. It was just as large as the three-headed dog but it looked way more stupid. It was especially the the wooden club that made it scary. It was bald and grey-skinned, and it slowly came towards us. It held its club high and knocked it down on the toilets, and they started to collapse. Hermione and I walked backwards, but the troll had already seen us. He lifted his club and let it fall down just a few inches from Hermione. She screamed and I pulled her away to the sinks.
But the troll didn't stop. He knocked his club down again near us and now I started screaming too. We started running from the troll underneath the sinks, which he destroyed immediately.
Hermione screamed again as we pushed ourselves almost into the wall, and the troll came nearer and nearer.
"I did NOT have a vision about this!" I said in fear.
Hermione looked at me with a confused face for a second.
"Never mind," I said, when I realized I had not told anyone about my vision yet.
Then we focused on the troll again.
When I thought this was the end, Harry and Ron came running through the cracked open door, and Ron yelled: "Oy, pea-brain!" and threw a metal pipe at the troll. It hit him, but he didn't even seemed to care. I tried to get Hermione to walk and to the door, but she couldn't move our of fear.
Then Harry ran, jumped and held on to the troll's neck.
"Harry, what are you doing?" I whispered to myself, scared now that we could all die. Then he stuck his wand through the nostril of the troll. The troll screamed in pain and started to swing his club around. Harry almost flew off, but seemed to get to the ground safely.
Ron took his wand and yelled: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
I was confused. Was he trying to lift the troll or something? But he didn't lift the troll. He lift the club, and let it fall on the head of the troll with a crack. He fell down instantly.
"Is it...dead?" Hermione said with a trembling voice.
"I don't think so," Harry said, who had only just stood up again. "I think it's just knocked out." He pulled his wand out of the troll's nose and wiped the snot, that looked like disgusting, thick, grey glue on the troll's pants.
I stood up, slightly panting from the shock and the fact that I just almost died. I helped Hermione up, when loud footsteps made the four of us look up to the door.
Professor McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell had burst into the room that once was supposed to look like a girls' bathroom. McGonagall was very angry at Ron and Harry (who knew apparently about the troll and came in here while they were supposed to follow Percy safely to the common room).
Then Hermione interrupted them.
"Please Professor, they were looking for me. I went looking for the troll because I thought I could deal with it on my own. You know, because I've read all about them."
I stared at Hermione with my eyebrows raised. She lied for the first time in her life? To a teacher?
Then she told what exactly happened after the two boys had arrived.
McGonagall was angry at Hermione, but then she turned to me.
"And, miss Black, what were you doing here?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Hermione was first.
"She was with the boys and helped them save me."
"It's true," I said softly, while hanging my head. It wasn't. Ron and Harry saved us both, but it didn't matter now.
McGonagall took five points from Hermione, but earned me and the boys each five points. I was kind of shocked. I just earned points I didn't even deserve.
Then we went back to our rooms, and Hermione didn't seem to hate me, Ron and Harry so much anymore. You might even say we had all become friends.
Guess they dont hate each other anymore. For now lol