"Miss Greystone. I would like to have a word with you." McGonagall stopped Ria after class one Monday.
Ron and Harry left casting her a worried look. Once they were gone, McGonagall closed the door.
"Now, how many people are aware of the fact that you are a Naturakinance?"
Ria was a bit taken aback by this question.
"Well....Ron and Harry know about it because I have told them. Hermione Granger and Neville might. I have controlled wind in front of them once."
"By mistake", Ria added quickly noting the look of disapproval in McGonagall's face. "But I hardly think they noticed. Neither of them questioned me about it later."
"Then you know about it", Ria continued. "Mrs. Haans knows and Professor Flitwick. Hagrid knows. And of course Professor Dumbledore. No one else, I guess."
"Very well. Now, Professor Dumbledore has instructed me to suggest you to keep this ability a secret. For the time being. Tell your friends to not tell anybody else. The Weasley family has to be let in at some point but that is our concern. No other student should know about this ability of yours. At least no one you wouldn't trust with your life. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes Professor", Ria said. " I wasn't intending on letting people know anyways."
"Very well. Now, for your classes. Are you using the special connection with you wand to do the spells?"
Ria thought for a moment.
"I can do practically anything wih the wand if I can imagine it properly. But for my classes I use the proper way. Like saying the enchantment and doing the wand movement. I know I can do the spells without them but it somehow feels like...cheating. And also it's requires much less effort if I do it the right way once I've got the hang of the spell."
Now McGonagall gave her a small smile.
"You seem to be a responsible girl, Miss Greystone. Do not disappoint me. And now one last question. Have you been exploring your abilities at all?"
Ria thought back. The only time she had consciously used her ability was in the black lake when she had used her connection with water to get information about the life forms inside. She had used wind three times but all of them had been uncontrolled. The last time had been a bit more specific and she thought she would be able to control it if she tried. As for fire and earth, she hadn't tried anything yet.
She told McGonagall the gist of this.
"I want you to try and explore your abilities further Miss Greystone. I am sure you can find some time for doing it. Just think of it as an extra homework. I will speak to you about this again next Monday and I want to hear you've made some progress"
Ria made to walk out but then turned back to ask for one last permission.
Getting out of the Transfiguration classroom. Ria made her way outside the castle. She had been dying to explore her abilities but had only restrained from doing so out of fear that it might land her in trouble. But now that she had permission, she didn't want to wait anymore.
Ria reached Hagrid's hut and knocked at the door. Fang's booming bark echoed from inside and the door opened.
"Oh hello Ria!", Hagrid said smiling at her through his tangled beard. "Everythin' all right?"
"I'm good Hagrid. I was just wondering if you could take me into the forbidden forest. Not deep. Just a little bit. So that we are under cover"
"What is goin' on, Ria? Why do yeh need ter be under cover?"
"I'll tell you on the way" Ria said. Hagrid stared at her for a moment and then shut the door behind him.
As they walked Ria explained about being a Naturakinance, McGonagall telling her to explore her abilities and not letting others know.
"So I can't do it in the ground. Anyone could see me. The forest would give us a nice cover"
They didn't walk deep, just far enough so that the castle wasn't visible through the trees anymore.
"Well go on then", Hagrid said and sat down beneath a tree.
Ria took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She turned to face the depth of the forest from where the wind blew. It sang and swirled around her, enveloping her whole body like a mother singing to her child. Ria relaxed her body and casted her mind outwards into the wind, the same way she'd done in the lake. And then she could feel the balls of life around the forest. This time they glowed in different colours. Ria felt a swarm of bright red glows in one part of the forest and another swarm of brown in other. A few were blinding white. Hagrid was a strange orange right behind her. Ria casted her mind towards the castle and felt hundreds of crimson glows everywhere. She tried getting a view of the lake. But it felt blank. Either she was too far away or she had to be in the water to be able to view it.
Ria opened her eyes and let the image slip away. She now concentrated on trying to control wind instead of gaining information from it. Concentrating hard, she imagined the wind blowing hard. A furious gust blew through the forest making the trees squeak. Ria stumbled back, hit a tree root and feel over. There was a loud crack and something hit the ground with a great thud.
"Rudy hell!" Came Hagrid's voice. The wind was gone as suddenly as it had come.
"Yeh alright?", Hagrid asked Ria having pulled her back to her feet. She looked around and saw a huge branch lying exactly where Hagrid had been sitting.
"Sorry", she told Hagrid with a sheepish little smile. "See why I need to learn and control it?"
"Yes, I see that. But yeh had done enough fer tonight. Now get back ter the castle before yeh crack me head with them branches", Hagrid said smirking.
"Yeah you're right.". She hadn't realise how much effort it had taken her to read the wind for life. She felt tired.
Hagrid insisted on leading her back to the castle. Once at the door, he said goodbye and Ria went back to the Common room.
It took Ria two whole weeks of struggle before she learnt to consciously control the wind, when she finally realised that she needed to use her wand. On all the other occasions, she hadn't had her wand on her. With it, accessing her abilities was easier. It didn't make her as tired to read the wind and she could now command it to change speed and direction although it took rather a lot of effort. McGonagall informed her that it would take her a lot of time and practice to master control as the elements of nature are extremely powerful and independant.
"Try requesting instead of commanding", McGonagall said. "When you are dealing with someone as independant and illusive as Wind, you have to remember not to be overconfident or rude. Remember that each of the elements you control are more powerful than you. You have the talent to control them only as long as they want or allow you to. It has been said that a Naturakinance might loose his or her ability if their pride overpowers their gratitude. So don't ever forget to be grateful. Do not try to stay apart and control. Instead, loose yourself in it, become it and then work together. Never try and be the master. Be a partner."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days later, Ria was returning from the forest after an hour of practice. After a few days, Ria had told Hagrid that he didn't need to come along. She wasn't scared of the forest anymore. It was a part of Nature and Nature was a part of her.
She entered the girls washroom to freshen up before going back to the dormitory. She had barely taken off her robe when a dreadful wail rang out from one of the cubicles.
Ria jumped and took out her wand. Carefully she made her way toward the cubical and knocked.
"Who's there?", shrieked a shrill weepy voice from behind the door.
"Umm...it's Ria. Are...are you ok?"
The door burst open. The ghost of a girl with lank hair and thick glasses was floating above the toilet. She was in the Hogwarts uniform and her face was constricted with rage.
"Ok?!", she wailed advancing on Ria. "Ok?! I am dead!", she shrieked as Ria backed off against the bathroom wall. "And you ask me if I am ok?!" Is being dead ok?! I wish you had glasses and someone teased you about it! Then you won't ask me if I am ok!"
Saying this the ghost girl gave another wail and dived into the toilet splashing water everywhere.
Back at the dormitory Ria found Ron and Harry trying to complete Snape's essay on Cure for Broils. Ria joined them.
"It's so much easier doing homework with you around", Ron said after an hour stretching on his chair, the complete potions essay on the table in front of him.
"That's because if I am not sitting here you both spend the time chatting", Ria said smirking as she rolled up the parchment.
"And also because you are a much better teacher than Snape", Harry added. "How was practice today?", he enquired lowering his voice.
"Good. It's getting easier each time."
"Ria", said a tentative voice behind her. She turned and saw Neville standing there, the Astronomy book in his hand.
"Stuck with a paragraph?", Ria asked with a smile. And then spent the rest of the evening trying to help Neville.
Before she fell asleep that night though, her thoughts strayed to the girl in the washroom. Ria wondered how she had died. She remembered a conversation she had had with Sir Nicholas a few days ago.
"We are stuck in the cloths we die in. That is the image of us that remains on earth"
The girl was in Hogwarts robes. Does that mean she had died in school? Ria felt bad about having upset her. She didn't like hurting people.
The next day Ria decided to find the girl and apologize. So after dinner she made her way to the washroom again. It was empty except for the girl floating about inside.
"Excuse me?" Ria asked cautiously.
The girl turned around and gave her a haughty sort of look.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I just came to say sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
The girl inclined her head and stared at her for a minute.
"Fine" she said.
"I am Ria. What's your name?"
"Myrtle"
"How come I never saw you at the start of term feast? You weren't with the other ghosts."
"They don't take me", Myrtle said glumly. "Say I am too young"
"Then why don't you talk to the students?"
Myrtle gave a bitter laugh.
"Students?! They don't wanna talk to me do they? As if I don't know what they call me. Whiny Myrtle, Miserable Myrtle, Ugly-Mopping-Moaning Myrtle. They don't want to be friends with me" she said and started sniffing.
"I could be your friend. If you want", Ria said. She felt really sorry for the girl.
Myrtle looked thunderstruck and then started wailing.
"Hey...what...what happened? What did I say?"Ria asked bewildered.
Myrtle took quite a few minutes to compose herself.
"Fifty years I have lived in this toilet and no one has ever bothered trying to be my friend. They avoid me. They don't ever come in here and they call me names. You are nice" and then she started crying again.
An hour later, Ria left the washroom, having listened to Myrtle moan about Olive Hornby teasing her about her glasses.
Ria realised why nobody wanted to talk to Myrtle. She was honestly a bit pathetic. After spending a few hours with her, Ria realised that she could talk about absolutely nothing but Olive Hornby and her glass and being teased and dying. It was depressing and also very boring.
On searching the library and reading through the Ghosts chapter of Fantastic Beasts, Ria discovered certain facts.
It is those with 'unfinished business', whether in the form of fear, guilt, regrets or overt attachment to the material world who refuse to move on to the next dimension.
No physical pleasure remains to them, and their knowledge and outlook remains at the level it had attained during life, so that old resentments continue to rankle after several centuries. For this reason, ghosts tend to be poor company, on the whole.
Myrtle had chosen to stay to haunt Olive Hornby who made her life at Hogwarts miserable. And since she died with that misery, she could never get over it.
Ria didn't visit Myrtle regularly but just often enough to make it look friendly. After all there was only so many times a person could hear about not wanting to wear glasses.
She spent quite some time bickering with Fred and George.
"Never met such a snappy lady in my entire life", Fred said dramatically.
"Yes. Someday soon we're going to resemble Nearly-Headless Nick.", George added.
"You are just bitter", Ria said with a smirk. "You're just frustrated that you can't trick me"
"Trust me, Miss, we could trick you any old time", George said with a smirk.
"Yeah just because we don't do it doesn't mean we can't. You'd better watch out" Fred added
"Oh don't worry", said Ria. "It's always a pleasure when you both try and trick me and end up being tricked yourself". She was laughing now.
Fred and George exchanged embarrassed smirks.
"Hey, Lee has a tarantula on him doesn't he?", Ria asked them.
"Yeah" said Fred with a surge.
"You think he'd let have a look?"
"Oh I dare say he will", George smirked. And so Ria went off with the twins. Lee Jordan, the twins best friend, turned out to be as much fun as them both (although definitely not in the exact same league).
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Friday before Halloween, was bad for Ria. Snape was in an amazingly vindictive mood and had spent three whole hours snapping at every single Griffindor.
Mrs. Haans had sent her another letter. Ben had written a whole letter asking when she was getting back. It made her miss the little boy so much that it was like an ache in her bones. She missed every one of the kids. And Hogwarts was exciting and educational and she knew she was lucky to be a part of it. She just wished at the moment that she could have both. And that made her even more angry.
Ria had been walking into the forest without paying much attention to her surroundings. She was much further in than she'd naturally go. But just then she didn't care.
Closing her eyes she tried to calm herself down. It didn't work. The wind picked up and kept rising. A minute later it was howling through the forbidden forest making the trees creak and groan. The storm kept raging for god knows how long as Ria stood in it's midst, trying to calm down. The cool fierceness of the wind slowly filled the girl with a strange glow, like the warm hug of a long lost friend. The wind fell and then was gone.
"Who are you?", said a voice to her right. In a flash Ria had her wand out and was facing the bearer of the voice, ready to defend herself. But then her mouth fell open.
Standing a few feet away from her was a creature she'd seen in her copy of Fantastic beasts. To the waist a man with red hair and beard and below a the body of a chestnut horse with reddish tail. His eyes were a beep kind of green hiding secrets of several centuries. The Centaur walked out from between the two trees where he had been standing, evidently observing Ria.
"Who are you?", he asked again. He had a deep slow voice that was at once mysterious and soothing.
"Ria"
"You are a Naturakinance". It wasn't a question. Ria didn't reply. She wasn't going to give a confirmation. The Centaur however didn't ask for one.
"You were upset" he said again. That wasn't a question either.
Ria stared at the Centaur trying to gauge if it was ok to let her guard down.
"You do not need to fear. I do not intend to hurt you."
"Who are you?", Ria asked now.
"Ronan. I am a Centaur"
"Yes. I have noticed", Ria said looking again at Ronan's chestnut body. Once you got past the shock of seeing a Centaur, he was beautiful.
"Saturn has been drawing closer for some time" Ronan said.
Ria looked at him blankly.
"I see that you have forged a friendship with wind"
"He likes me" Ria said. A light breeze blew across her face and she smiled.
"You should get back to the castle" Ronan said. "The forest is not safe after dark."
Ria looked around. It was indeed getting darker. She nodded. Closing her eyes, she located the swarms of crimson glow and started walking towards it. She turned back after a few paces.
"Will I see you again?", Ria asked the Centaur.
"The signs are clear", Ronan said.
Ria did not understand what this ment but she knew it was no good asking for an explanation. Centaurs were the most gifted Seers of all races but they never reveal their secrets.
Outside the forest, Ria took a few deep breaths. The encounter with the Centaur had rattled her. Ronan was intense in the strangest way. It was almost exhausting being in his presence. Ria realised now that there was a whole herd in the forest. Ronan had glowed bright red. She remembered seeing a swarm of red every time she had checked the forest.
Back in the dormitory, Ria finished her homework with Ron and Harry, chatting away the whole while.
"I'd go crazy in this place without you both", Ria said once she was done.
"And we'd definitely die" said Ron with a smirk.
"Or worse, fail", Harry in an impeccable imitation of Hermione Granger.
The two boy never failed to make Ria laugh when she was down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the morning of 31st October, the occupants of the Hogwarts castle woke up to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Every face was smiling and and there was a cheer in the air.
Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. He went around putting them into pairs. Ria ended up with Dean who gave her a bright smile.
Harry was with Seamus.
Ron however didn't look happy at all. He had been put together with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. She hadn't spoken to any of them since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived. Ria didn't mind at all though. She was so bossy and interfering that it was a relief to have gotten rid of her.
"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too -- never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
Ria told Dean to go ahead first and started looking around at others. Parvati and Lavender, who had been pretty much inseparable since the very first day, were moving their wand and trying the incantation taking turns at it. Harry and Seamus were having trouble as well. Ria saw Seamus let out a frustrated huff and poke the feather with his wand. It caught fire. Harry put it out with his charms book.
Ron wasn't having much more luck.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.
"You're saying it wrong," Hermione snapped. "It's Levi-O-sa, not Levio-SA."
"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.
Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.
"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"
Then Professor Flitwick turned to Ria.
"How about you Miss Greystone?"
Ria took a deep breath and performed the spell. The feather rose up in the air and Ria guided it with her wand until it landed on the table in front of Professor Flitwick.
"Oh wonderful! Wonderful! We have definitely got two extremely talented ladies on our hand!"
"How do you do it?", Dean asked looking grumpy.
"The same was you draw like a pro", Ria said with a smile. "Keep trying. You'll get there."
"Start the swish when you reach 'gar' and end it with 'levi'. 'Osa' as you do the flick.", Ria added.
Dean tried again and this time it worked. The feather rose in the air hovering and then he brought in back down.
"Well done, Mr. Thomas", Professor Flitwick said cheerily. Dean gave Ria a big smile and a thanks.
Ron, however, was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to the other as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."
At that very moment someone knocked into Harry and pushed past him. It was Hermione. Ria felt a pang. Her face was tear streaked.
"I think she heard you." Harry said, evidently having noticed the tears as well.
"So?" said Ron, but he looked uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."
"It wasn't a nice thing for her to have overheard", Ria said with a sigh.
Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and Ria didn't see her anywhere at lunch.
"I'm going to go look for her.", she said to the two boys having finished her food.
Parvati and Lavender were talking in hushed voices outside the hall.
"Hey did you guys see Hermione anywhere?", she asked them.
They exchanged a look and the Parvati spoke up.
"She's in the girls washroom. We went in and heard her crying. She won't come out. Told us to leave her alone"
Parvati looked concerned but a tiny bit irritated. Thanking her, Ria made her way towards the washroom.
The unmistakable sound of weeping greeted her.
"Hermione?", she said to the door.
"Go away", came Hermione's voice from inside.
"Hey can we at least talk? Ron can be really thick when it comes to what others feel."
"Just go away" Hermione said again. Ria didn't want to crowd her so she went off hoping the girl would come around soon.
Ron looked really uncomfortable at the information Ria brought back. Hermione didn't turn up for the other two classes and was still no where to be seen as they made their way to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast.
The Hall looked amazing. A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. There were no other lights and the whole place was alight in a perfect eerie glow
The feast appeared suddenly in the golden plates like they had at the start of term feast.
Ria was just considering dragging Hermione to the feast when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll -- in the dungeons -- thought you ought to know."
He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.
There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.
"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
Percy was in his element.
"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"
"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Ron. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."
They were barely up the stairs tho when Ria grabbed the other two.
"Hermione!", she said, worry on her face.
"What about her?", Ron asked looking confused.
"She doesn't know about the troll." Harry said realisation dawning on his face.
Ron bit his lip looking from one to another.
"Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."
Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.
"Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry and Ria behind a large stone griffin.
Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"
"Search me.", Ron said.
"We don't have time for that right now", Ria said, "Come on!"
Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.
"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Ron held up his hand.
"Can you smell something?"
Ria sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.
And then they heard it -- a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed -- at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.
It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.
"The keys in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."
"No you couldn't", Ria said, dread filling her.
"Why not?", Ron asked confused.
Just then a high petrified scream rang out from the room.
"Because that's the girls' bathroom", Ria shouted sprinting towards the door. The other two were a few paces behind her.
The troll was advancing on a cubical inside which Hermione had locked herself, it's club raised. Ria threw out her hands. A furious wind pushed the troll back, but it wasn't strong enough. The club hit the cubical walls and they crumbled. Another wind and Ria managed to slow the rubbles down so that they don't come down crushing on Hermione who was crouched on the floor, hands covering her head.
"Stay away from her you filthy monster!", Ria shouted.
The troll turned and advanced on her instead and before she could do much the club came crushing down. Ria ducked and it hit the door of the cubicle beside her. The walls crumbled again and Ria was forced to jump aside to save her head. She landed with a thud and her wand flew out of her hand disappearing beneath the ruins.
"Confuse it!", Ria heard Harry's shout and looking up saw him pick up a tap and throw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from Ria. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.
"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her out of the rubbles. Ria had already extricated herself and was looking frantically for her wand.
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.
With her heart in her mouth, Ria saw Harry take a leaping jump and fasten his hand around the trolls neck. His wand went straight in it's nose.
Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.
Ria looked for her wand again and finally found it lying in the rubbles. But she had barely risen it when she heard Ron shout.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over -- and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.
Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.
Ria skipped over the crumbled cubicles to the other two.
It was Hermione who spoke first.
"Is it -- dead?"
"I don't think so," said Harry, I think it's just been knocked out."
He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.
"Urgh -- troll boogers."
He wiped it on the troll's trousers.
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made them look up. They hadn't realised what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars.
A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.
Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ria, Ron and Harry. Ria had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white and her glasses flashing.
"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
The three of them looked at each other trying to come up with something. Ron's wand was still raised in the air.
Then a small voice came out of the shadows.
"Please, Professor McGonagall -- they were looking for me."
"Miss Granger!"
Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.
"I went looking for the troll because I -- I thought I could deal with it on my own -- you know, because I've read all about them."
Ron dropped his wand. And Ria's mouth fell open. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?
"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now." Hermione finished.
"Well -- in that case... " said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"
Hermione hung her head. Ria felt a sense of gratitude flow through her. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.
"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."
Hermione left.
Professor McGonagall turned to the three of them.
"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."
The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was an awkward silence.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but before she could Ria and pulled her in a hug.
"You ok?", she asked. Hermione had a few scratches across her arms but otherwise looked unharmed.
"Yeah. Wouldn't have been without you. Or you two" she added to Ron and Harry. Ron surged and Harry scratched his head awkwardly.
"Thanks. You guys saved my life", said Hermione.
"Well, you said our neck", Ron mumbled.
"And you might not have needed saving if it weren't for this idiot", Ria said indicating Ron with a smirk.
"How did you control the wind?", Hermione asked Ria.
"Lets get plates and we can talk", Ria said.
From that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.