"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered, his eyes not leaving the hyperactive broom.
"Can't have. Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic -- no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand," Hagrid replied shakily, not paying any heed to Hermione as she snatched his binoculars and turned the lenses onto the crowd.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked critically, giving her a puzzled look.
Amisty kept silent, knowing that Hermione had to know something was up. She was too brilliant to do that randomly.
"I knew it, Snape -- look," She whispered, pointing at the Potions Master, eyes wide and pale-faced.
Ron grabbed the binoculars, his own gasp leaving his lips.
With a small tug, Amisty dragged them away so she could see for herself. There he was, staring down her friend and whispering something repeatedly.
"He's doing something -- jinxing the broom," Hermione gasped, her voice shaking with the realization.
"What should we do," Amisty asked, perched on the edge of her seat like a bird preparing to take flight.
"Leave it to me," The brown-eyed girl replied, before taking off into the crowd, robes billowing around her.
Amisty's gaze followed her as she made her way through the masses, eyes shooting up to Harry every few seconds.
A glare formed on her face as Flint scored five times with the quaffle, talk about bad sportsmanship.
"Come on, Hermione," Ron muttered, not letting his gaze falter from Harry.
She watched as Hermione raced through the students, accidentally knocking Quirrell to the ground in the process, and crouching down once she reached Snape.
Pulling out his wand, she whispered a spell, and a spray of bright blue flames caught light on his robes.
Amisty, though if the situation were different she would've laughed, let out a breath of relief. Hermione withdrew a jar from her pocket, collected the fire, and reappeared back to her side.
The raven-haired girl's eyes shot back up to Harry, glad to see that he was steadily climbing back onto his broom.
"Neville, you can look!" Ron exclaimed, tapping the crying boy on the shoulder with a relieved grin on his face.
The split-second Neville had looked back up again, Harry was racing to the ground, his hand clamped to his mouth.
Biting her lip, Amisty couldn't look away as he rolled off his broom last minute and coughed something into his hand.
A flash of gold caught her vision, and a strangled laugh left her throat as he got to his feet grinning.
"I've got the Snitch!" He yelled, throwing up his hand in victory.
The small, struggling golden ball fluttered its wings as if it could escape his grasp.
A wave of confusion fell over the crowd until the Gryffindor side rose to their feet in a collective cheer.
"Gryffindor has won by ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY TWO POINTS TO SIXTY!" Lee hollered into the microphone, leading the crowd to be even more ecstatic.
"WE WON, WE WON, WE WON!" Amisty pumped her fist into the air, only to be dragged off to Hagrid's cottage by Hermione and Ron.
Her hands clasped around a warm mug of tea, she listened in to the conversation, slightly disappointed at the sudden change of tone.
"It was Snape, we all saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you," Ron explained, his tone bitter.
"Rubbish. Why would Snape do somethin' like that?" Hagrid argued, completely oblivious to the conversation that had occurred moments before.
Amisty traded glances with the rest of the group, giving a slight nod to Harry.
"I found out something about him. He tried to get past that three-headed-dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding." He turned his green gaze onto Hagrid, his tone harboring no hint of deceit.
"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked, the teapot clanging on the ground as it slipped from his grasp.
"Fluffy?" The quartet gasped, each with varying expressions.
Harry's was of shock, Ron confusion, Hermione concerned, and Amisty amused.
"It's a killer three-headed-dog but it's name is Fluffy. Fluffy!" She thought to herself, biting her tongue to keep from laughing.
Something told her that it wasn't the appropriate time to be giggling.
Hagrid scratched his head as he grabbed the pot from the floor, examining the dent, "Yeah -- he's mine -- bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year -- I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the --"
"Yes?" Harry butted in, eyes bright.
"Now, don't ask me anymore. That's top secret, that is," Hagrid replied roughly, looking up at them with his eyes narrowed slightly.
"But Snape's trying to steal it," Amisty protested, taking another sip of her tea before coughing at the strength.
"Rubbish. Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort," Hagrid argued, patting her on the back gently.
Well, as gently as he could. The shock of the impact still jolted her, and she had to take a moment to recover.
"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" Hermione insisted, slamming her hands on the table as she got to her feet, eyes narrowed. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"
Clearly her viewpoint on Snape had shifted from the recent events.
Hagrid got to his feet as well, towering over the four of them, "I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong! I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh -- yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's gaurdin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel --"
"Aha, so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?" Harry exclaimed, victory all on his face.
Hagrid sat down, clearly furious with his slip up.
-=+=-
Christmas was just around the corner, only emphasized by the bitterly cold classrooms and hallways.
When Amisty woke that morning, she was shivering underneath her covers, only to grin in excitement as she caught sight of the snow.
"It snowed last night?" She whirled around to a half-awake Hermione, who nodded slowly, rubbing her eyes.
With a little more investigation she found the lake to be frozen and the twins were being punished for bewitched snowballs to torment Professor Quirrell.
The common room was warm and toasty with roaring fires, as well as the Great Hall. It didn't do much good to help the cold outside of them, but it was a brief point of relief.
Now the two girls were sitting in Potions, their arms covered in goosebumps.
"I do feel so sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home," Draco's drawl reached her ears, and Amisty clenched the edge of her cauldron, not letting her gaze shift upwards and instead watching her fingers turn white.
Hermione sent her a supportive look from beside her, pouring an ingredient into her own cauldron. Crabbe and Goyle's cruel chuckles echoed around in her head, and as much as she tried to hide it, she knew that Malfoy knew his words affected her.
This Christmas she would be staying at Hogwarts, to her delight, of course.
Why would she want to go back to her camp, especially with the cold?
Even though Hermione would be off with her parents, Harry and Ron would be staying, as well as Ron's brothers. When their lesson finished, Hermione and Amisty took their time in cleaning up.
It was mainly Hermione, as she was hoping that Draco would have left by the time they would leave. 0
Unfortunately, Amisty had urged her along too quickly. They walked together to the corridor, only to find it blocked by a fir tree with legs.
"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, waving through the branches of the tree's to their friend.
"Nah, I'm alright, thanks, Ron," Hagrid replied good naturedly, winking back at them.
Amisty grinned, until an all too familiar voice sounded in her ear.
"Trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose - that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what you're used to." The raven haired girl stiffened at the jab and turned around to face the speaker.
As expected, Malfoy and his goon stood smirking behind them. Ron flew toward the blonde-haired boy, his face as red as his hair in fury.
Amisty gasped in horror as Snape came up the stairs, "WEASLEY!"
Of course it was Professor Snape. Who else could it have been? Just Ron's god damn luck.
Amisty bit her lip as she watched the exchange go down, Ron immediately let go of Malfoy's robes the second the Professor opened his mouth.
"He was provoked, Professor Snape. Malfoy was insultin' his family." Hagrid protested, his friendly face poking out through the piney thresholds.
"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid. Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Now move along, all of you." He replied smoothly before exiting.
Amisty watched through slitted eyes as the three troublemakers pushed their way through the trees, sending pine needles everywhere with smirks on their faces.
Draco met her gaze evenly, eyes only darkening a smidge at her expression. He turned back to walk through, chin high as Amisty glared at his retreating back.
"I'll get him, one of these days, I'll get him," Ron growled, glaring daggers at the three's retreating backs.
He was grinding his teeth together and Amisty winced at the vile noise it made. A cold wave washed over her as she realized she hadn't taken her potion that morning.
"I hate them both, Malfoy and Snape." Harry agreed dead full heartedly, his own green eyes narrowed.
Amisty nodded in agreement, her fists clenched to her sides. When Harry spotted it, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder tightly.
"Hey! Let go, I'm not a stress ball!" She joked, pushing him away and smoothing her robes.
Saying that, the gesture melted her anger away, and her usual smile was back in place. Ron and Hermione watched the exchange with a knowing smile on their faces, and Amisty stuck her tongue out at them.
"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas!" Hagrid grinned, before noticing Amisty's downcast gaze at the mention of the holiday. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."
With an excited glow in all their eyes, he took the four of them off to the Great Hall, still carrying the massive pine tree.
Amisty's gaze wandered around the hall, taking in the sight of the holly and mistletoe draped around the halls, twelve trees decorated fantastically, from tiny crystals to hundreds of gleaming candles.
"How many days have you got until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked, after dropping the tree delicately in the corner.
"Just one, and that reminds me -- We've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library," Hermione started her way out of the Great Hall, trailed by the rest of the group.
"Oh yeah, you're right," Ron shook his head, dragging his gaze away from Professor Flitwick, who was sending beautiful gold bubbles out the end of his wand onto another tree.
"The library? Just before the holidays? Bit keen aren't yeh?" Hagrid asked, quirking his eyebrows up.
"Oh we're not working! Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to figure out who he is," Harry replied, a bright smile lighting up his face.
"You what? Listen here -- I've told yeh -- drop it. It's nothin' to his whar that dogs guardin'," Hagrid argued, blatantly shocked about their find.
"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble? We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere -- just give us a hint -- I know I've read his name somewhere!" Harry replied cheekily, unsubtly asking for assistance.
"I'm sayin' nothin'," Hagrid crossed his arms, his tone flat and finite.
"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," Ron shrugged.
Amisty scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, feeling Hagrid's gaze against her skin. Her three friends started to walk away, leaving a quiet Amisty with a frustrated Hagrid.
"Would yeh like to explain?" Hagrid asked, crossing his arms and staring down at her.
"Come on, Amisty!" Hermione called after the three of them had already made a good distance down the hall.
"Coming! Sorry, Hagrid!" Amisty gave him a small apologetic smile, before racing after her friends.
"Saved you, didn't I?" Hermione turned to face her, the girl's brown eyes sparkling.
"Thank you so much," She breathed, a grin breaking out across her face.
"We know how bad you are at lying," Harry looked behind him to speak with her, a small smile on his face.
"Shut up," Amisty gave him a slight sarcastic glare, one that quickly turned into a grin.
The four of them entered the library, and even after being there many times it still took Amisty's breath away. Shelves lined the walls, and even more were in rows all around the huge room.
Hermione pulled out a list of books and suddenly disappeared in the maze of tightly packed rows. Before she knew it, Ron had vanished as well.
"Uh, before you leave as well. Anything in particular I should look for?" she asked, grabbing Harry's arm before he left.
"Anything on Nicolas Flamel will do," Harry replied, before wandering off in a different direction from the other two.
Amisty started walking into a random section of the library, scanning the titles of the books as she walked by.
She was finding nothing until a particular title caught her eye. 'The Magic of Wolves'. It looked just like any other book in the library. Leather bound, pages turned yellow with age, and the title was in a swirling silver font, the same color as the silver ribbon poking out between the pages.
But it still was the only book that caught her eye. What was it that Madame Pomfrey had told her? Ah, yes.
"... if I were you I would do some research on wolves in the library,"
She pulled it off the shelf, eyes darting around the library before she tucked it into her robes.
After looking around in seven other shelves, she gave up. There was absolutely nothing on Flamel anywhere. Instead of wasting more of her time, she made her way to the front desk to check out her find.
"What are you going to do with this book?" Madame Prince asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Amisty's choice.
"Just doing a little research on the topic, that's all!" Amisty thought up a lie quickly, hoping her eyes didn't give anything away. She held eye contact and kept from fidgeting.
Once again, lying wasn't her strong suit. Letting out a breath of relief as Madame Prince let her go, she walked out of the library, keeping the book hidden.
"Find anything?" Ron asked, looking up as Amisty shut the door behind her.
"Nope!" Amisty smiled, tugging on the back of her robes.
She had found something, it was just not what they were looking for.
"Alright then," Ron replied, not noticing the slight lump in her robes and awkward fidgeting.
"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" Hermione asked, "And send me an owl if you find anything."
The quartet started walking to lunch, talking as they went.
"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is. It'd be safe to ask them." Ron replied.
"Very safe, as they're both dentists." Hermione smiled. Amisty grinned, before realizing she should put the book away.
"Hey, I'll be down in a few minutes, just need to grab something from the dormitory," She turned slightly in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.
"Want me to come with you?" Hermione asked, not a note of suspicion in her tone. Amisty felt a warm feeling in her chest, they trusted her.
"No thanks. I'll be quick," She replied, giving them a small wave as she walked swiftly back.
Her hair flew behind her like a raven's wing, and her feet made little to no noise on the carpeted floor. Reaching the painting, she spoke the password and slipped inside and up the stairs.
Racing to her bed, she tucked the book gently underneath, fixed the trim, and flew down the stairs and out the painting. Until, that is, a familiar voice reached her ears. She tried to skid to a stop at the corner, but she wasn't quick enough.
"That Potter boy needs to be knocked down a few pegs," The voice paused for a moment as if thinking. "Him and his three followers."
Draco turned the second she was about to hide, his usual bodyguards at attention at his sides.
Great.
His silver-eyes bored into her own and she took a deep breath, already itching at his sudden appearance and insult.