Author's Note: All right, now we've skipped ahead about another week to the midnight duel, and Leslie's perspective of that. We're getting into the heart of the story behind the first book, and she realizes that something's going to happen. Happy reading!

09-13-2001

Dear Diary,

What a night it's been! My uncle did warn me that there would never be a dull day at Hogwarts, but I didn't think he meant that things would get as riled up as they did tonight. But if he knew what I have just been through, he'd withdraw me from the school before I could have time to protest.

It's after midnight now, but I can't sleep, and I had to write this down before I forgot all the details. That also explains the reason the date is the way it is, because it was the twelfth about an hour ago. I'm back downstairs in the common room, writing by the fire side, so as not to disturb my roommates. I would have waited until this evening to tell you, but it's so fascinating that I just couldn't wait. Harry and I think we've found where Hagrid put that little package from Vault 713.

It started out innocently enough. This morning, well I should say yesterday morning now, Neville got a Remembrall from his grandmother. That seems to suit him very well, he goes misplacing things all the time. I told you he was going to be a handful, but his heart is in the right place.

However, during flying lessons today, he broke his wrist and his little treasure landed on the ground. Unfortunately, Malfoy picked that moment to cause trouble and he broke the rules by flying away with it. First rule of thumb at Hogwarts, always be ready when a Slytherin causes trouble, because you know somehow you're going to get roped into it. I wish they'd give us some warning about when they're going to cause trouble though.

Madam Hooch had told us all to stay on the ground while she took Neville up to the hospital wing. Then of course, that awful Malfoy had to disobey her and fly off with the Remembrall. Harry, being the boy he is, wouldn't stand for it, and flew after him. Hermione tried to talk him out of it, but he just ignored her and flew up there. I just shook my head and gave a small smile, knowing better than to get in his way. I've only known Harry for a couple weeks, but I've already known him long enough to know that when he sets his mind to something, he follows it through no matter what. I don't think Hermione understands that yet though.

Harry jumped on his broom, flew right after Malfoy, and tried to get the Remembrall back. That awful boy just threw it towards the ground and Harry went into the most magnificent dive I've ever seen. It took everything I had not to scream. If I had, he would have lost his concentration and landed hard on the ground, and that would have killed him. I just kept my hands clamped over my mouth, and tried my hardest not to shut my eyes.

But I don't think anything could have ruined Harry's concentration at that moment. I don't know how to describe it. He looked so agile, so skilled on his broomstick, as though that was where he belonged. But then, Uncle Jerry did tell me about how good a flyer James Potter was, so maybe flying is in Harry's blood. He flew straight downward, grabbed the Remembrall, and pulled right out of that dive, as though it were easier than reading a book. I've never seen anything like it.

"Where'd you learn to fly like that?" I asked him, as he came back over to us.

"I don't know," he answered me. "Somehow or other, I just knew what to do."

"That was amazing," I said to him, and Ron nodded beside him. Hermione just looked annoyed that he hadn't listened to her, and Malfoy was obviously disappointed that Harry hadn't broken his neck.

But then Professor McGonagall showed up and we all thought Harry was done for. We all tried to explain to her, but she wouldn't listen and insisted that Harry come with her. I watched them go and I thought to myself, "Harry's in for it now. Dear Lord, please let him stay in school. Don't let them expel him just because he was doing something good for someone else." Don't you hate how cruel this world can be sometimes?

But when Harry met us at dinner, he told Ron and I that he had gotten a place on the Gryffindor House Quidditch team. I breathed a deep sigh of relief as I realized he wasn't going to leave the school, and couldn't help but smile encouragingly as I thought of how he'd look on the Quidditch pitch. If that little performance today was anything to go by, this school is in for several very exciting matches.

I've always loved watching Quidditch. It's a sport played on broomsticks, but I won't explain the details now; it would take too long. But there are four balls, and to win, one player, the Seeker, has to catch the smallest ball, the golden Snitch.

But the bad guys always seem to know when to chime in, don't they? During dinner, Malfoy came over to our table to taunt us. He even had the audacity to say, "having a last meal before catching the train home, Potter," or words to that effect. When he found out that Harry hadn't been expelled, he was furious.

"You really shouldn't go picking fights with everyone you meet Malfoy," I said to him. "It's going to get you into trouble someday, and when that day comes, you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

I know he didn't take a word I said seriously, but he knew better than to comment. That didn't stop him from trying to make Harry feel bad. He even challenged Harry to a midnight duel, and even though I could tell Harry didn't have a clue what he was talking about, he sounded like he did. It didn't help that Ron was there backing him up, volunteering to be his second. I kept muttering to myself, "shut up Ron, shut up Ron," but he didn't pay any attention. I didn't expect him to.

I had a bad feeling about this right from the start. Malfoy has already had more experience with magic than Harry, being from a Pureblood family, as have Ron and I. Though Ron knows little more magic than Harry does, he and I are still used to seeing it wherever he goes in the wizarding world. I told Harry I'd go with him just to make sure they didn't get into any trouble, but I should have stayed in bed and gotten a good night's sleep.

We snuck out of the common room at about 11:30, and started down for the trophy room. Hermione followed us out of the portrait hole, and began reprimanding us sharply. She'd overheard everything at dinner, and had tried to coax us out of going then, but it hadn't worked. I swear, she's a nice girl, but she's nosy, and it wasn't any of her concern what we chose to do at that hour. Although she did say that if we got caught, we'd be in a heap of trouble and she is right. If I got expelled this early on in my Hogwarts career, my uncle would pitch a hissy fit. And of course, she had to bring that up.

"How could you do this Leslie?" she asked me. "How could you betray your school? Your house? Your uncle?"

"I'm not betraying anybody Hermione, I'm just going out for a walk," I said, but I knew she wasn't buying that story. She gave us all a disapproving sigh and started back for the common room, but the Fat Lady had left her portrait for a nighttime visit. I love the fact that the inhabitants of portraits can walk and talk, but when you're trying to get somewhere, it can be a real nuisance sometimes. So Hermione ended up coming with us, very much against her will.

It gets worse. Neville was sitting at the end of the corridor, not being able to get into the common room, because he'd forgotten the new password. He's even more of a handful than I'd realized. He had no choice but to come with us, if he'd stayed there, Filch would have found him sooner or later.

So we made our way down to the trophy room and waited for Malfoy, but he didn't make an appearance. There was an air of mystery, of danger, and indeed of fear in that room, and I remember holding my breath for several seconds as I waited for some sign of movement. The movement we saw was definitely not welcome.

Filch and Mrs. Norris appeared at the other end of the room, and we had to sneak as quietly as we could out the other end. Unfortunately, Neville knocked over a suit of armor and we had to run for it. Not only is he forgetful, he's clumsy, and at that moment, I couldn't help but silently curse him.

We ended up in the Charms corridor and Peeves gave us away, like he always does. We ran into a corridor at the other end of the one we were in, and Hermione unlocked it for us. We waited until Filch left, but we didn't leave right away.

It was at that moment we realized that we were in the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Harry and Ron wanted to explore it and see why it was forbidden, but Hermione, Neville and I wanted to get out of there as quickly as we could. It was dark all throughout the hall, not even candles were lighting it, and there were cobwebs all over the place. It didn't look as though anyone had set foot in that part of the castle for years, which is surprising, because from the way Dumbledore made the announcement at the Sorting Ceremony, this is the first year that it's been out of bounds.

But it was then that we saw exactly why the corridor was out of bounds. There was a large three-headed, I kid you not, three-headed dog standing in front of us. Frankly, I was surprised that it didn't gobble us to bits on the spot, but it looked as though it was preparing to.

"Run!" Harry shouted, and we all ran as quickly as we could back down the corridor. I began to scream as I heard the dog behind us, and Harry had to clamp a hand over my mouth while we ran, so that Filch wouldn't hear us. Hermione locked the door back, and we didn't stop running until we were back in the Gryffindor common room. Neville immediately went upstairs to bed, and Hermione reprimanded us again for our foolishness.

I tried my hardest not to say, "shut up Hermione, you've made your point."

Honestly, the way she went on, you'd think we'd just made the top 10 criminal's list. She kept saying, "we could have been killed. We could have been expelled." The only thing I was worried about was whether or not she'd tell my uncle what happened, which I really hoped she wouldn't.

Then she said something that changed everything.

Ron said, "What do they think they're doing? Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school!"

Hermione retorted with, "You don't use your eyes, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?" Ron made some comment about not looking at its feet, and she replied with, "it was standing on a trap door, which means it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something."

She went upstairs at that moment and I went up with her. As I turned into the stairs, Harry and I exchanged a glance and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. That package Hagrid removed from Vault 713 was hidden under that trapdoor. Now, the next question is how are we going to find out what was in it?

Now as I sit here by the fire, writing these last few words, all I can think about is how we've shaken the edge of a web tonight, and somewhere, sometime soon, the spider at the art of it will come for us. We shouldn't have gone out tonight, but we did and now, something's going to happen, and I don't know if it will be for better or worse. I'm scared, I'm scared of what we've done, of what we saw, of what's going to happen to us, of everything. Perhaps I'm not as tough as my uncle's raised me to be.

I need someone to talk to, I need advice, but who can I go to? I certainly can't go to any of the teachers, and I won't go to Uncle Jerry. That only leaves Cedric I suppose. But I'm not sure he'd approve of the fact that I was up after hours, and for that matter, inside the forbidden corridor. No, I'm going to have to keep this secret for now. I'll inform you when something else happens. Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

Author's Note: Okay, so we have the duel over, and we have how Leslie thinks they've shaken the edge of a web. I couldn't resist the spider analogy; I thought it fit in so well with the rest of the story. In the next chapter, we have another scene between Leslie and Cedric, in which he convinces her to tell him what happened. Though she swore to herself that she'd keep the whole event a secret, she can't keep anything secret from Cedric. Stay tuned!