The last time I properly saw George was the first week of school. Now its nearly Halloween. I follow the Slytherins into the great hall for breakfast and before I can even sit down Draco is running over to me, the look on his face says it all. The boys upset about Harry Potter again.
"Violet! Harry and Weasley, and and.." he takes a deep breath, "and Hermione Granger are still at school!" Draco is panting, his face is red hot. Both from running all the way from the common room and also with anger.
"Of course they're still at school Draco don't be daft," I respond quite snarkily. Clarissa laughs from behind me and takes a seat.
"No, you don't understand! They- they were in the halls past curfew! I saw them!"
Now it's my turn to be angry. "You saw them! What did you casually forget the Hogwarts rules all of a sudden. I swear to Merlin I'm going to have your head."
Draco goes redder than before. "Well see. I told Harry that I was going to duel him. It was nothing really. Anyways I told him to meet me, you know what? Doesn't matter where I said I was going to meet him. Anyways I told Filch that I overheard Harry and his awful friends say that they were going to sneak out of their dorm last night so that they will get in trouble and get kicked out of school. Brilliant plan wasn't it?" Draco half smiles but when he sees that I'm not smiling with him it quickly fades away.
"Such a brilliant plan that Potter and his friends are sitting over at the Gryffindor table right now! Seriously Draco mind your business!" I huff and sit down beside Clarissa who is still giggling at the whole conversation.
Draco squeezes in between Clarissa and me so he can keep talking to me. "Well, it was supposed to work! But no. McGonagall favours him. She does you know." Draco says matter of factly.
"Of course she favours him! She's the head f Gryffindor house. Just like Snape favours us!" I roll my eyes and reach for some toast that's passing by on a hovering tray.
Owls begin to fly in from the windows with the morning post. Our family owl, Nutmeg, lands in front of Draco and I. I reach out and take the letters from her mouth. I break off a piece of my toast and give it to her. She brushes against my hand and flies off back to the owlery.
Draco snatches the letter for him out of my hand and tears it open. Ignoring the letter, he pulls out the galleon that was in the envelope and stashes it in his pocket.
"Bloody hell!" Walter says, still looking at the open window. About six owls are flying in with a rather large package. They drop it onto the Gryffindor table and fly out. Walter turns back around to face us and the four of us start talking about the upcoming test in herbology about puffapods. I assume Draco gets bored because he hugs me with one arm before dashing away.
"Herbology is a stupid course in my opinion. I mean seriously. Who in their life is ever going to need to know how to properly handle a puffapod so it doesn't bloom as soon as you touch it." Emma says. She's pouring over her notes from herbology in a last-ditch effort to study.
"Trolls are allergic to them. Might come in handy if you ever see a troll I guess." I respond, reaching over for the jug of orange juice.
"Ugh!" Emma groans and slams her herbology book closed, the parchment with her notes in it sticks out from all sides. "How do you remember everything! I swear Violet you're the smartest witch in Slytherin."
"Violet's dumber than a door handle. No offence love." Clarissa pats me on the arm. " She just pays attention in class unlike you. Looking at your reflection in the spade instead of actually using it." Clarissa says. Emma swats her arm and we all laugh.
The week leading up to Halloween was uneventful. In charms, we began studying the freezing charm which didn't end well for a few of the Ravenclaw students the third year Slytherins have class with.
On Halloween morning the whole castle smelt of baking pumpkins. Clarissa, Emma, Walter, and I decided to bum off classes for the day.
"Don't worry, I've done this loads of times," Walter says as we walk towards the kitchen. The plan is to have one of the house-elves give us some bread and cheese so we can have a picnic by the lake and soak up one of the last days of the refreshing autumn air. Clarissa's older brother sent her a package full of cheap elf-made wine and a small bottle of fire whiskey so it's going to be a fun time.
Clarissa, Emma, and I hide behind some barrels as we watch Walter knock on the kitchen door. A little house elf opens the door. We can't hear what they are saying but Walter hands the elf a few sickles. The elf then closes the kitchen door. Walter turns to look at us and gives us the thumbs up. Seconds pass and the door opens again. The elf shoves a basket full of stuff at Walter and slams the door shut.
"Well done Wally." Emma cheers as he returns to the group. She claps him on the back and Walter shrugs it off like its no big deal.
We manage to make it into the field without being seen by Filch or Peeves and we set up camp under the same tree George found me under months ago.
I lay out one of the blankets from the Slytherin common room and we all kick off our shoes, take off our robes and sit on the blanket. Clarissa pops open a bottle of elf-wine, and Walter unwraps the food from the basket we got from the kitchen.
"Happy Halloween everyone!" Clarissa yells. She takes a swig from the bottle and passes it around the circle. The wine is bitter but its better than nothing. We spend the day laughing and running around the lake like a bunch of first years. It's the first time all year where my mind is completely blank. No worries insight.
We watch as the Slytherin quidditch team heads out to the training grounds. "Is it just me or did Adrian Pucey get... attractive?" Emma says her smile grows as she watches him pass. Walter pushes her and she falls over in a fit of laughter.
"Good luck next week boys!" I call out. Marcus Flint, the Slytherin captain waves at us and smiles, his crooked teeth can be seen from here.
"Adrian! Why don't you invite Emma to watch you play!" Clarissa shouts. Adrian goes red and Emma stops laughing. She sits up and straightens herself out a bit and politely waves over at Adrian who hides his face in his robes.
"Oh my goodness!" Emma swats at Clarissa but she moves out of the way laughing. "Now he's going to think I fancy him!"
"Well, you do don't you?" Walter says, reaching for the bottle of fire whiskey.
Emma turns to face him. "Um, well. Yeah." She stumbles over her words. We all start laughing and Emma turns a really dark shade of red, which is intense because her skin is a rather dark shade of brown.
Clarissa catches her breath and looks at me, "Violet, who do you fancy? We all know that there's someone who's caught your eye."
I look at Walter and he shrugs. "Who says I fancy anyone?"
Clarissa rolls her eyes. "Come off it Violet. You didn't have an essay for transfiguration on the day of the first Hogsmeade trip. Who were you hanging out with?" She moves closer to me as if to apply pressure on the situation.
"Yeah Vi, you know who I fancy. Tell us who you fancy." Emma says, now fully invested in this conversation.
I clear my throat. "You wouldn't know him, he's not in our house," I say, hoping to end the conversation there. The wine is clouding my judgement and I know that if they keep pressing me I'll say.
Clarissa squeals. "Okay, now we really have to know! Is he a pureblood? What house is he in? Who is he!"
Walter looks away. I know what he's thinking. "the first step to helping you sort out your thoughts is to be open with your feelings" or some other advice he's read in his '101 ways to be a better wizard' book that his mom sent him when he was sorted into Slytherin.
"Of course he's pureblood. Imagine what my Uncle would do if he wasn't. Imagine what I would do if he wasn't" The girls nod eagerly. Thank goodness I'm a good liar. "He's in Gryffindor. I know what you're thinking. Gryffindor sucks rotten eggs every Tuesday and I agree. But he's different. He totally could have been sorted into Slytherin." True. Fred and George possess many of the characteristics of a good Slytherin student.
"Yes, and who is he?" Emma pushes hard.
I take a deep breath and prepare myself to say something when the bell rings from inside Hogwarts.
"Halloween Feast!" Walter shouts. He stuffs the leftover food and empty bottles of alcohol into the basket and magics it away. We all get up off the blanket and Walter magics that away too. Shoving our feet back into our shoes and throwing on our capes. The four of us link arms and skip back into the school.
The Halloween feast at Hogwarts is by far one of my favourites. Pumpkins hung from the ceiling with faces carved into them, bats flew around the room, swooping rather low every once in a while. We all sit at the end of the table closest to the door of the great hall given that was the only spot left. Draco sees me and waves from further down the table.
Not long after we all sit, the tables fill with mounds of food. Walter immediately fill his plate with pork chops and a few jacket potatoes. But before any of us can actually start eating, the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor, Quirrel comes smashing into the room.
"Troll- in the dungeon- thought you ought to know." Then he collapses into a heap on the floor. Clarissa, Emma, Walter, and I all look at each other. The room erupts into screams. I look over at Draco and he runs towards me for protection (like I can protect him from a troll but okay little cousin).
Dumbledore sets off bright purple fireworks from his wand and the room goes silent. "Prefects! Lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!" he screams. Instantly every house but Slytherin stands up and moves.
"OUR DORMS ARE IN THE DUNGEONS! I AM NOT GOING DOWN THERE!" Shrieks a girl further down the table. This causes an uproar at the Slytherin table.
"HE WANTS TO KILL US!" a fifth-year boy yells out. The whole Slytherin house is yelling now, myself included. Draco hangs onto me like a scared child. Which I mean, he is a scared child. He's only eleven.
I can see Snape rush over to the Prefects sitting at the head of the table. No one can hear what they are saying but in the end, the Prefect gets up and demands we all follow him back to the dorms as quietly as possible.
Draco is practically suction cupped to my side the whole walk to the dorms. We manage to get down to the dungeons without seeing the actual troll but you can definitely tell that it has been here. There are massive scrape marks on the floors and walls, probably from the mallet that it has. As we approach the common room door we all can hear the roar of the troll somewhere deeper in the castle. But of course, this causes Draco to latch onto me for dear life. Our perfect opens the door and we all push and shove so we can get into the room first.
The fireplace and the torches light as soon as we enter. Our Prefects start calling out names to ensure that everyone is here.
"A troll! Father will hear about this one you can have my word! Stupid Dumbledore can't even stop a troll from getting in!" Draco wails. He is sitting very close to me on the couches but at least he's not touching me any more. Once the attendance is finished the Prefects go over to Merlin's portrait and speak in quiet voices. Merlin then gets up and disappears from his frame.
"I have to agree with your cousin on this one. How did a troll manage to get into Hogwarts!? Isn't it supposed to be the safest place on earth?" Clarissa whispers. We all nod in silent agreement. It blows my mind. Trolls aren't very smart. If a troll can get in, what else can get in?
"Not to mention Dumbledore sent us to the dungeons when Quirrel just finished saying the troll was in the dungeon!" Walter says loudly. The rest of the common room mumbles in agreement. No one is too pleased with Dumbledore at the moment.
"Listen up everyone please!" One of the prefects climbs up onto a desk in the middle of the room so we can all see her. "Given the fact that the troll is in the dungeons. And we are also in the dungeons, myself an the other prefect have decided that everyone will be sleeping in the common room tonight. It's a lot safer, and it will also make looking after you lot a lot easier on us. Please go get changed into your bedclothes and bring your mattress out into the common room!" everyone disperses into their respective rooms as the prefects begin to stack the furniture along the walls, making more floor space.
It doesn't take long us to bring our mattresses out of our rooms and onto the floor. My dormmates and I set up camp along the lakeside of the room. Walter meets us over there with his stuff. Not long after Walter sets up, Draco comes over and demands that Emma move so that he can be beside me.
"Draco. Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise and all of your other friends are over there." I say pointing to a cluster of first years in the far corner. "Why don't you spend the night with them hmm?"
Draco turns to where I am pointing, "Them? They can't protect me from a big troll!" Draco whines.
"To be fair Draco, neither can we," Henrietta says calmly. She won't say it out loud when I'm around but she really doesn't like him.
Draco looks from me to his friends, and then back to me. "Well alright. But if I die Violet."
I cut him off with a slight smile. "If you die, I'll be sure to write to Uncle Lucius and Aunt Narcissa that you fought bravely in your final hours." Henrietta snorts and my other friends laugh quietly.
Draco huffs and turns around in a very dramatic spin and marches over to his friends. His bewitches mattress following him in the air.
It's safe to say that no one got any sleep. Emma and Adrian kept making eyes at each other, so Clarissa and Walter forced her to walk over to him to have an actual conversation. Henrietta and Miriam were talking to Clarissa about theories as to how the troll got into the castle and why exactly it was in the dungeons. "Its Dumbledore I swear to Merlin! He tried to kill off the whole house!" Miriam says angrily. For such a small girl she sure carries a lot of anger with her.
"So you really were saved by the bell today huh," Walter whispers to me, even though everyone else is very engrossed in their own conversation.
"I said that he's a pureblood in Gryffindor. It's not going to be very hard for them to find out who it is if they really put their minds to it." I lean my head onto Walters shoulder.
"Well lucky for you then that Slytherins aren't known for their smarts."