November was quickly upon us. It seemed to go from sunshine to ice over night, the lake a steel color and the mountains a strange grey. Of course, though, everyone loved November; it was the start of the new Quidditch season.
It had leaked out that Harry Potter was going to playing for Gryffindor, being the youngest player in almost a century. I saw the way he flew on that day he'd earned it, and knew he'd do well. I knocked the books out of his hands 'on accident' one day as I passed him in a hall, and told him as I bent over to help him pick them up that I would be rooting for him. Not the whole team, just him. He thanked me quietly, and then left for his next class.
I figured out later that Snape had somehow injured his leg, since I watched him hobble about one day across the Hogwarts courtyard. I also watched him confiscate a book from Potter, and scowled. He made up the rule about library books being taken outside the school, as I had taken out dozens to go read on the school grounds.
The next morning, Flint was talking our ears off about the upcoming Quidditch match. He wasn't going into the details of their strategy, as the 'details' were 'break-all-rules-and-don't-get-caught', but he was genuinely curious to see how Potter would do as a Seeker. Malfoy told him the Gryffindor would do terrible, but I wasn't so sure. Flint got our minds off it, though, when he asked us if we'd try out for Slytherin next year. I just shrugged, while Draco said he wanted to try out for Seeker. I teased him about just wanting to be able to compete with Potter, but then told him seriously I thought he stood a chance of getting the position.
By 11 o'clock, almost the entire school was out in the stands to cheer for their team. The exceptions were the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams, who were fine tuning their strategy. Or, at least, Gryffindor was. Who actually knows what goes on behind those closed curtains before a match in the Slytherin tent. I sat between Draco and Goyle, a book shoved under my arm. That was when we saw it.
Granger, Weasley, Longbottom, Thomas, and Finnigan were standing in the Gryffindor stands, holding a monstrous banner that read, 'Potter for President', with a Gryffindor lion painted beneath. The sign itself almost made Draco snap his wand in half, he was so infuriated. I, however, looked through his binoculars to watch Hermione cast a charm on it that made it change colors. I snarled, my blood boiling at her 'cleverness'. I missed the slightly frightened looks of my friends, and was startled out of my moment of hate by the shrill whistle of Madam Hooch's – the referee –whistle.
And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too -"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry, Professor." The Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall. "And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve - back to Johnson and - no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes - Flint flying like an eagle up there - he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle - that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and - OUCH - that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger - Quaffle taken by the Slytherins - that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger - sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which - nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes - she's really flying - dodges a speeding Bludger - the goal posts are ahead- come on, now, Angelina - Keeper Bletchley dives - misses - GRYFFINDORS SCORE!" Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.
"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying, "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the - wait a moment - was that the Snitch." A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle; too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.
My eyes shot straight up to catch sight of Harry Potter zooming straight down, hunting the Golden Snitch like an eagle that had just spotted its next meal. Our Seeker, Terence Higgs, had seen it too and they went speeding after it until Marcus got in Potter's way. Slytherin got the foul, and Gryffindor was allowed a free shot at the goal posts. As one of their Chaser's took her shot, Flint glanced into the stands and gave me a quick smile before returning his attention to the game. Jordan, of course, was finding it difficult to not take sides.
"So - after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-"
"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.
"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-"
"Jordan, I'm warning you -"
"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinner, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."
I tuned out the rest of the game. I normally got bored during Quidditch games, so I took out the book I had brought with me. Quidditch through the Ages. I "found" it in the Potions classroom when I was "looking for my watch" that had gone missing. There were a few interesting stories in there, including that the longest game of Quidditch ever played was six months. Well, at least until Draco grabbed the book from me.
"Hey!" I cried, standing up angrily. Malfoy rolled his eyes and then pointed into the sky.
"Look! It's Potter!" He hurriedly handed me his binoculars, and I looked through them to see Harry dangling from his broom by one hand. My eyes widened. I handed Draco back the binoculars and reached for my wand. The entire crowd was on its feet, watching, transfixed by their own horror. A few minutes went by, and then I heard a yelp of surprise. Looking over to the next set of stands, there seemed to be something wrong with Professor Snape's robes, although he looked fine from where I was. I looked back up at Harry to see him suddenly able to climb back up onto his broom and start speeding to the ground. A noise behind me caught my attention, and I turned to see Hermione Granger running behind the stands from where Snape had been back to her seat. I narrowed my eyes, suspicious.
"I've got the Snitch!" I turned around to see Potter on his knees on the pitch, holding the Golden Snitch above his head.
"He nearly swallowed it!" Flint was still howling twenty minutes after he'd explained what happened to me.
"Would you," I growled out quietly before rapidly escalating the volume of my voice, "SHUT UP? We KNOW. You've told us a hundred times! Get over it!" I huffed at his surprised expression. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need answers." Turning around briskly, I swept off towards Hagrid's house on the edge of the grounds.
"I found out something about him," I heard Harry Potter's voice drifting out the open window that I huddled beneath. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it was guarding." Something crashed to the ground.
"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked.
"Fluffy?" Weasley this time.
"Yeah, he's mine. Bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year. I lent him to guard the-"I stood up on my toes, trying to get as close as possible to hear what he was about to say.
"Yes?" Asked Harry eagerly.
"No, don't ask me anymore." Hagrid said gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."
"But Snape's trying to steal it!" Harry argued.
"Rubbish. Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."
"So why did he just try to kill Harry?" Cried Hermione Granger's nails-on-a-chalkboard voice. "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!"
"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid replied hotly. "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 guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"
"Aha!" Said Harry, "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there." I snuck away as quietly as possible, sensing the end of the conversation.
My mind was reeling as I made my way back down to the Slytherin dungeons. What three-headed dog? What's it guarding? What are Dumbledore and this Nicolas Flamel hiding? Why was Snape allegedly trying to kill Potter? How could he have been trying to steal whatever this Fluffy is guarding when I saw him down in the dungeons just before Weasley and Potter defeated the troll, uninjured? Is that possible, or is this Fluffy in the-…
Third floor corridor on the right-hand side. Barred to all students who do not wish to 'die a very painful death'. Or teachers who do not want to be bitten by a three-headed dog. I ran the rest of the way to the dungeons.
"Basilisk!" I told the stone wall, trying to catch my breath. It slid open, and I ran in. "Draco!" I called, seeing him relaxing on one of the leather couches, and ran over to him. "Draco," I whispered, "We're going rumor hunting tonight. Meet me out here at midnight." He gave me a weird look, but nodded, agreeing to meet me anyway. "Don't. Tell. A. Soul." I ground out, and he nodded again.
The people who usually stay up late talking were almost all on the Quidditch team, and the rest were their close friends. Since they were all exhausted from the day's game, the common room was deserted when I shut the door to the girl's dorm. The fire, however, was still roaring, with one Draco Malfoy sitting in one of the only two high-backed chairs facing the fireplace. I saw him peeking around the corner when I opened the door, and he stood up when he saw that it was me who stepped out. I walked up to him, trying to not let my slippers slap against the floor.
"Demetra?" He asked tentatively as I approached, "Where are we going?" His voice was soft, not wanting to wake anyone.
"Third floor corridor on the right hand side." I told him as I turned towards the door.
"What?" He squeaked. "Isn't that barred to all students?" As much as he may enjoy making fun of others and getting other kids to break the rules so he could catch them and get them in trouble, Draco actually hated breaking the rules. Always afraid the one time he'd do it, he'd get caught, no matter how many times I told him that if he did it a lot of times, the practice would keep him from getting caught.
"Yup." I replied confidently, opening the door to the rest of the dungeons. He scurried after me.
"Why?" He asked as we headed down the hallway. I shushed him.
"Because, I think I know what's in there, but I need to verify it. Now, shush!"
He nervously chewed his lips all the way down the hall, up the stairs to the third floor, clutching my hand with his sweaty one. I had always had this uncanny ability to see really well in the dark, so I had no trouble navigating the halls of Hogwarts at night. However, Malfoy wasn't as lucky, and so had to hold my hand or else get lost. I tried very, very hard to ignore the flip flops my stomach was doing and how hard my blood was pumping in my ears because of it.
Finally, we reached the locked door.
"Alohomora." I commanded, tapping the lock with my wand. The door swung open on its own, and we shuffled through. I turned to look at Draco with a smirk, "See? Easy."
However, he wasn't even acknowledging my presence, just staring ahead of him, whimpering in fear, his face paler than usual. I turned around. The corridor was home to a dog. A three-headed dog named Fluffy, who was sleeping peacefully… until the door snapped back shut.
All six eyes opened at once, startled out of its peaceful slumber. My heart thudded as I took in the entirety of the being. It was a monster, filling the entire corridor with its sheer size. It's three noses started twitching in our direction, and the three mouths it had started drooling huge globs from its yellowish teeth.
I glanced down and around, trying to see what it could be guarding as it slowly stood. I had only seconds, and I had to-there! Beneath it! A trapdoor, leading who-knows-where. Immediately, I reached up, grabbed the door handle, and threw the door open and Draco through it before quickly following. I pulled the door shut behind me, locking it back just as easily as I had opened it. When I turned around, Draco was laying on his back on the floor, his face still pale.
"Wha-wha-what-…" I kneeled down next to him, and he was able to see me now that his eyes had adjusted a bit and I was close.
"I overheard Hagrid, the groundskeeper, telling Potter, Granger, and Weasley that he had bought a three-headed dog named Fluffy from some Greek fellow, and was loaning him to Dumbledore to protect something that the Headmaster and someone named Nicolas Flamel are involved with. Snape's visited Fluffy, but I don't know why, and was bit as a result. The Gryffindors think that Snape was trying to steal what Fluffy's guarding when the troll got into the school, but I don't think so. All I know for certain is that something is going on here, and that dog" I pointed behind me to the corridor we'd just been in, "is my only proof." By the time I'd finished, Draco had calmed down some. He nodded, absorbing all the information.
"Okay, so, why did you drag me up here?"
"I needed a witness." He rolled his eyes, and I helped him up. "Come on, we can talk more back down in the common room." He nodded again, and grabbed my hand so I could lead him.
We were almost caught by Filch, but we ducked into a classroom and waited for him to move on. Those were the most awkward five minutes of my life, holding Draco so close to me I could feel his breath heating my neck. We're the same height, but we were both breathing through our mouths because of how afraid we were. We waited until it had already been a few minutes since Filch had passed before heading back out, and the rest of the way was quiet.
The door shut soundly behind us, and we leaned up against it, breathing heavily. We had been holding our breaths since our encounter with Filch, afraid that the noise might alert him to our presence, so fresh oxygen to our brains felt nice. After a minute, Draco got a thoughtful look.
"You know that name you mentioned, Nicolas Flamel? It sounds familiar, like I've heard it before." My eyebrows furrowed.
"In class?" He shook his head.
"No, I think I read it somewhere. Like a book or something." I thought for a few minutes, trying to see if the name was familiar to me.
"Where ever you heard it from," I said, shaking my head "Is something I'm not involved with, because I don't know the name."
"If you want, we could go check the library tomorrow and see if we can't find a book about recent magical history. It would have to be recent, right? Flamel knows Dumbledore." I laughed.
"Better not try something too recent, who knows how old Dumbledore really is." Draco laughed too. We parted after that, both exhausted from our adventure, though neither of us slept, our minds buzzing with thoughts about what we'd learned.
hoove-print-on-your-heart -Yup. Lol. "Stuttering mess wearing a turban" made me LOL. XD
near4EVER - Here ya go! :)
Umbreon666 - Hahahaha, that's all you ever tell me! XP
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