Tapping my quill quietly against my desk, I stared at the words on my paper as the Professor finished up his speech about useful and common skills for a wizard to know. My classes were going well so far, and I wasn't doing too bad, but I just felt that all these spells were a lot to remember.
Say this, pronounce it like that, flick your wrist up, point your fingers down. It was a lot of 'do this,' 'do that' and sometimes it got a little overwhelming. Especially when Hermione got almost everything on the first go. She was a natural.
"One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation...or the ability to make objects fly." the short man with a white beard spoke as he stood atop a pile of books and a chair so he could be seen by the class. "Do you have your feathers? Good. Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing. The swish and flick. Everyone."
Picking up our wands, we all repeated the swish and flick movement that we had been taught. "Good." he nodded. "Oh, and enunciate. Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go, then."
Adjusting my grip on my wand, I stared at the white feather sitting on the desk in front of me. "Wingardium Leviosa," I said, swishing and flicking my wand as I did so, and miraculously getting the feather to float a few inches off of the table before it dropped back down.
"Wingardium Leviosar," Ron said before shaking his wand furiously at the feather, angry that it wasn't working.
Holding her hand out, Hermione stopped him. "No, stop, stop, stop! You're going to take someone's eye out. Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's 'Leviosa,' not 'Leviosar.'"
Ron huffed. "You do it then if you're so clever. Go on, go on."
"Wingardium Leviosa." Hermione flicked her wand at the feather and completing the spell which lifted her feather much higher into the air than mine had gone.
"Well done!" the Professor gushed. "See here, everyone, Miss Granger's done it! Splendid! Well done, dear."
Just then, an explosion came from the desk of the kid who had been trying to turn his water to rum a few days before. "I think we're going to need another feather over here." Harry stared wide-eyed at the smoke coming from the charred feather.
As class came to an end, I met with Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Dean as they made their way out to the courtyard. "'It's Leviosa, not Leviosar.'" Ron mocked Hermione. "She's a nightmare, honestly! No wonder she hasn't got any friends."
Seconds later, Hermione pushed past Ron and stormed off. "I think she heard you," I said before rushing off after Hermione. It took me a while to locate her, and I would surely be missing the Halloween feast planned for that evening, but if I hoped to have any good friends of my own in the school, it would do me good to comfort an upset girl.
Finally, I found her in one of the bathrooms crying in a stall. "Hermione." I stood just outside the stall door. "I'm sure Ron didn't mean what he said. He's just a boy, and boys can─well, boys can suck."
"How would you know?" Hermione shouted back. "They both seem pretty fond of you."
"The boys in my old town weren't very fond of me, though," I told her, feeling as though it might make her feel better to know that she wasn't alone. "I used to sit inside and watch them play without me. You, Ron, and Harry are the first proper friends that I've had in a long while."
"Really?"
I nodded, even though she couldn't see me through the door. "Please come out. I hear the Halloween feast is going to be amazing, so we probably shouldn't miss the whole thing."
Finally, Hermione exited the stall and wiped her eyes. Smiling, I held out my hand for her to take and we turned to exit the bathroom. However, there was something very large standing in our way that neither of us had noticed until then.
There was a troll in the girls' bathroom.
Slowly, the two of us started to back away, trying to remain calm as we ran into one of the stalls and locked the door. It didn't do much good though as the troll used his giant club to destroy the tops of the wooden stalls.
Screaming, both Hermione and I collapsed to the ground along with the piles of shattered wood. "Hermione, Yavana, move!" I heard Harry yell as he and Ron ran into the bathroom.
Crawling away, the two of us tried to escape as the troll destroyed the rest of the remaining stalls. "Hey, pea-brain!" Ron shouted as he threw a chunk of wood right at the troll, hitting him square in the head and distracting him for a few seconds, giving Hermione and I time to crawl out of the woodpile.
The two of us hid under the sinks, but they were soon destroyed as well, proving that there was really nowhere we could hide in the bathroom. Pulling out his wand, Harry grabbed onto the troll's club as he swung it, catching a ride up and sitting on the beast's shoulders.
The troll went crazy, shaking around and trying to get Harry off of him. With one jerk, the troll caused Harry to shove his wand up the monster's nose. The troll sneezed before shaking around some more and eventually grabbing Harry by his leg.
"Do something!" Harry yelled as the troll took a swing at him with the large club.
Ron looked around the pretty empty bathroom. "What?"
"Anything!"
Pulling out his wand, Ron gulped. "Swish and flick," Hermione told him.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Ron flicked his wand, causing the club to slip right out of the troll's hand and float into the air. Seconds later, the club fell, hitting the troll on the head and knocking him out.
Harry fell to the ground as the troll dropped him and quickly scurried out of the way as to not be squashed by the giant beast. "Is it dead?" I gulped, helping Hermione stand as we walked over to the boys.
"I don't think so. Just knocked out." Harry answered as he pulled his wand out of the troll's nose, which was covered in a gross looking slime. "Troll bogies."
Just then, a group of teachers rushed into the bathroom. "Oh, my goodness!" McGonagall gasped when she saw the troll and turned to the boys. "Explain yourselves, both of you!"
"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall," Hermione spoke up before Harry or Ron had the chance to. "I went looking for the troll. I read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. If Harry, Ron, and Yavana hadn't come and found me, I'd probably be dead."
"Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do." McGonagall said. "I would have expected more rational behaviour on your part and am very disappointed in you, Miss Granger. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor...for your serious lack of judgment. As for you two gentlemen, and lady...I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first-year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points...will be awarded to each of you...for sheer dumb luck."
With that, McGonagall walked out. "Perhaps you ought to go." one of the other teachers, Professor Quirrel, told us. "It might wake up."
_______________
"Take a bit of toast, mate. Go on." Ron told Harry as we sat at breakfast the next morning, still a little shaken about the incident from the night before.
"Ron's right. You'll need your strength today." I agreed as I grabbed a slice of toast and tossed it onto Harry's otherwise empty plate.
Harry stared down at his plate and poked at the toast with his fork. "I'm not hungry."
"Good luck today, Potter," Snape told Harry as he walked past. "Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you. Even if it is against Slytherin."
As Snape walked off, the four of us watched as he limped his way down the aisle. "That explains the blood," Harry said.
"Blood?" Hermione asked.
"Listen, last night, I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion...so he could try and get past that three-headed dog. But he got himself bit, that's why he's limping."
I cocked a brow, confused at Harry's far fetched theory. "But why would anyone go near that dog?"
"At Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults," Harry told us. "Said it was Hogwarts business, very secret."
"So you're saying-"
"That's what the dog's guarding." Harry nodded. "That's what Snape wants."
Hearing the familiar hoot of an owl, we all turned to see a white owl flying towards us with a package in his mouth. It was rather large, and luckily, Harry caught it before it dropped onto the table.
"Bit early for mail, isn't it?" Hermione eyed the package with what looked like a broomstick sticking out.
Harry gawked at the delivery. "But I never get mail."
"Let's open it," Ron said as the four of us got to work on untying the strings and ripping off the brown paper wrapping.
"It's a broomstick." Harry gasped as he stared at the beautiful stick in front of him.
Ron smiled wider than Harry, if that was possible. "That's not just a broomstick Harry, it's a Nimbus 2000!"
"But who...?" Harry started but stopped when he saw McGonagall petting the owl that had delivered the package. He gave her a nod of thanks before breakfast ended and Harry went off to get ready for the Quidditch game.
Ron, Hermione and I grabbed our jackets and scarves before heading out to the stands so we could cheer Harry on. It was his first game, after all, and I had never seen a Quidditch match before, so it was looking to be an entertaining game.
When the Gryffindor and Slytherin doors opened, everyone cheered as the teams flew out and started circling the field.
"Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season." the boy on the announcer's microphone said. "Today's game, Slytherin versus Gryffindor!"
"Go, Harry!" the three of us, along with the rest of the house, cheered. The houses were split up into different sections of the bleachers, most likely for good reason. I had seen how fans at regular sporting events got, so fans at a magical sporting event must go crazy. Especially when it was the school's only sport.
"The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the game!"
Placing her hands on her hips, Madam Hooch stared up at the players. "Now, I want a nice, clean game...from all of you!" she said before kicking the box open and letting the balls go.
"The Bludgers are up, followed by the Golden Snitch. Remember, the Snitch is worth one-hundred and fifty points. The Seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game. The Quaffle is released and the game begins!"
As the game started, I felt myself moving around, unable to keep still from excitement. It had only been a few seconds and watching Quidditch was already ten times better than watching soccer or basketball. I smiled as the players zoomed around the field; occasionally getting a glance at Harry or Ron's twin brothers.
Wide-eyed, I watched a girl from the Gryffindor team throw the ball through one of the three Slytherin hoops, earning some points.
"Angelina Johnson scores! Ten points for Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindor stands went crazy, cheering and yelling. "Well done!" Hagrid called.
"Slytherin takes the Quaffle. Bletchley passes to Captain Marcus Flint."
As the green-robed Slytherin made his way to our hoops, the keeper blocked it and passed it to another member of his team, who scored for us again. "Another ten points to Gryffindor!"
Seconds later, the keeper for Gryffindor blocked another ball, causing one of the Slytherin players to get mad. The green-robed man grabbed the bat from his teammate and hit the ball right at our keeper, knocking him through the hoop and down onto the sand below.
Minutes later, a Slytherin point, followed by another Gryffindor player falling to the ground because the Slytherins were playing dirty. Another score for Slytherin later, and the points were tied.
Catching a glimpse of the Golden Snitch, Harry took off after it, determined to catch it and win the game. Mid-flight though, Harry's broom started going crazy. "What's going on with Harry's broomstick?" Hagrid asked from behind us.
"It's Snape." Hermione used her binoculars to look into the Slytherin stands. "He's jinxing the broom!"
"Jinxing the broom?" I stared up at Harry, who was still being jerked around. "What do we do? Can we stop him?"
"Leave it to me." Hermione passed Ron her binoculars before taking off. Staring back up at Harry again, I watched as he slipped from his broom, hanging on for dear life by one hand.
Ron gulped. "Come on, Hermione!"
Then, all of a sudden, Harry's broom stopped retaliating against him. Swinging back up, Harry re-mounted his broom and took off after the Golden Snitch again with the stands cheering wildly for him. Whatever Hermione had done worked.
Harry and the Slytherin seeker fought back and forth, chasing the flying ball and bumping into each other over and over again. They did a head dive for the ground, and the Slytherin player pulled up before Harry, giving Harry the advantage.
Once level and close to the ground, Harry stood up and reached out for the Snitch. However, he tripped and fell to the grass, rolling a few times before coming to a stop. Standing up, he began heaving like he might throw up, but then he popped the Snitch out of his mouth and into his hands.
"He's got the Snitch! Harry Potter receives one-hundred and fifty points for catching the Snitch!"
Blowing her whistle, Madam Hooch brought her broom to a stop. "Gryffindor wins!"
Everyone from Gryffindor started to cheer, throwing their hands in the air and screaming as loud as they could. Once the game ended and Harry changed back into his proper clothes, the four of us left the field with Hagrid.
"Nonsense! Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?" Hagrid scoffed, not believing what we had just told him.
"Who knows?" Harry shrugged. "Why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween?"
Hagrid looked down at Harry, as he stood much taller than us. "Who told you about Fluffy?"
"Fluffy?" Ron asked. "That thing has a name?"
"Of course he has a name. He's mine." Hagrid told us. " I bought him off an Irish feller I met down at the pub last year. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"
"Yes?" Harry egged him on.
Hagrid shook his head. "Shouldn't have said that. No more questions! Don't ask any more questions. That's top-secret."
"But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it." I prodded, wondering how hard it would be to get more information from him.
Coming to a stop, Hagrid turned to us. "Codswallop. Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher."
Hermione scoffed. "Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one. I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking."
Harry nodded. "Exactly."
"Now, you listen to me, all four of you." Hagrid sighed. "You're meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. It's dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."
"Nicholas Flamel?" the four of us questioned.
Hagrid's eyes widened at the realization that he had let more precious information slip. "I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that."
"Nicholas Flamel," Harry whispered as Hagrid walked off. "Who's Nicholas Flamel?"