Rohini was surprised when she didn't see Harry with Ron and Hermione for breakfast the next day. Her friends told her Wood had apparently decided to exhaust his players by waking them at dawn for a Quidditch practice. Since they had nothing else to do, Rohini decided to accompany them to the Quidditch field after grabbing a few fruits and some brioches for Harry.
She saw Ginny and asked her if she wanted to come see Harry but to her surprise, Ginny politely decline. Rohini wondered if it was her brothers' fault for teasing her so much about her crush on Harry.
They didn't expect anybody else to be there but Colin Creevey was actually already sitting on a bench, his camera ready to capture Harry's best angle. When the Gryffindors team finally emerged from the lockers, they were baffled that they hadn't started yet.
"Wood's been teaching us new moves." Harry said with a sigh as Rohini threw a brioche at him that he easily caught. She did the same with the Weasley twins who looked like they were still asleep with their puffy red eyes. Then the team soared up into the air, Colin squealing happily, taking picture after picture, the sound strangely magnified in the deserted stadium.
"Look this way, Harry! This way!" he cried shrilly.
"Colin, don't take it wrong but Harry isn't fond of being photographed." Rohini said, gently putting Colin's camera down. "Besides, you might distract them with your flash."
"Oh, you're right…" Colin said, looking like a puppy that would have been kicked and threw out into the rain. Rohini glanced at Ron and Hermione for help but frowned when troubles arrived: several people in green robes were walking onto the field, broomsticks in their hands. It was the Slytherin team, no doubt about it.
Wood shot toward the ground, landing rather harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted. The rest of the team followed, looking confused. Hermione, Ron and Rohini joined them, standing next to Harry.
"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"
Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood. He had a look of trollish cunning on his face as he replied, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood."
"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"
"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'"
"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Who?"
And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy. Rohini clenched her teeth. Of course it had to be him. She felt Harry tensing by her side.
"Malfoy." He said between his teeth.
"That's right. And that's not all that new this year." Draco said, showing them the Slytherins' new shining broomsticks.
"Those are Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones! How did you get those?" Ron said and Rohini remembered the boys talking about it; those were the latest broomsticks and apparently the best to date.
"A gift from Draco's father." Flint said, smirking at Wood's jealous expression.
"You see Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best." Malfoy said with a disdainful look at Fred and George's old models. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got it on pure talent." Hermione said and Rohini snorted. Malfoy lost his smile and took a step closer to look down at Hermione. Rohini slowly grabbed her own wand.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!" He spat and Hermione pinched her lips as Ron raised his own broken wand, looking furious. Rohini barely had time to stop him that he was trying to curse Malfoy.
A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass.
"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione.
Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap. Rohini didn't let Malfoy savoured the instant; she raised her arm, furious, and shouted:
"Flipendo!" She said and Draco yelled as he was knocked off by a magical wave. Rohini raised her wand again, ready to strike but she was grabbed by Harry and reluctantly followed them towards Hagrid's hut.
"He should be expelled for that!" Rohini shouted angrily, an arm around Hermione's shoulders for she seemed ready to cry. "This little dirty-"She was interrupted by Fang's loud barks as Hagrid opened the door, confused.
Harry and Rohini supported Ron over the threshold into the one-roomed cabin, which had an enormous bed in one corner, a fire crackling merrily in the other. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed by Ron's slug problem, which Harry hastily explained as he lowered Ron into a chair.
"Better out than in," he said cheerfully, plunking a large copper basin in front of him. "Get 'em all up, Ron."
"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop," said Hermione, watching Ron bend over the basin. "That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand—"
Hagrid was bustling around making them tea.
"Who was he tryin' ter curse?" He asked while serving them.
"Malfoy." Rohini spat, her eyes burning with anger. "He called Hermione…"
"He called me a Mudblood." Hermione said, looking away as her eyes got all tearful again. Rohini gently rubbed her back. Hagrid looked outraged.
"He didn'!" he growled at Hermione.
"What's a Mudblood?" Harry asked.
"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of," gasped Ron, coming back up. "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born—you know, non-magic parents."
"There're families, like the Malfoys, who think they're better than everyone else because they're pureblood." Rohini explained to Harry. "This is stupid; if anything, they only seem to sink lower than everyone else."
"An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can't do," said Hagrid proudly, making Hermione go a brilliant shade of magenta.
"Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him, Ron," said Hagrid loudly over the thuds of more slugs hitting the basin. "Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least yer not in trouble."
"I might have tried to." Rohini admitted though she didn't feel ashamed of it. "Just knocked him off though; Harry stopped me before I turned him into the nasty bug he is."
"I'm glad he did, then." Hagrid said while slapping Harry's back before saying with a frown. "Gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?"
"I have not been giving out signed photos," Harry said hotly, Rohini giggling behind her sleeve. "If Lockhart's still spreading that around—"
But then he saw that Hagrid was laughing too.
"I'm on'y jokin'," he said, patting Harry's arm. "I knew yeh hadn't really. I told Lockhart yeh didn' need teh. Yer more famous than him without tryin'."
"Did you?" Rohini said, looking at Hagrid with admiration.
"He probably didn't like it." Harry said with a smile.
"Don' think he did," said Hagrid, his eyes twinkling. "An' then I told him I'd never read one o' his books an' he decided ter go."
"I wish I could get rid of him so easily." Harry sighed. "He follows me everywhere."
"Oh, the curse of being the famous Harry Potter." Rohini said with a wink. "Tragic, really."
Xxx
It was nearly lunchtime when they went back to school to eat. They said good-bye to Hagrid and walked back up to the castle, Ron hiccoughing occasionally, but only bringing up two very small slugs.
They had barely set foot in the cool entrance hall when a voice rang out, "There you are, Potter—Weasley." Professor McGonagall was walking toward them, looking stern. "You will both do your detentions this evening."
"What're we doing, Professor?" said Ron, nervously suppressing a burp.
"You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr. Filch," said Professor McGonagall. "And no magic, Weasley—elbow grease."
Ron gulped. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was loathed by every student in the school. Rohini thought it was a rather fair detention for what they did though.
"And you, Potter, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail," said Professor McGonagall.
"Oh n—Professor, can't I go and do the trophy room, too?" said Harry desperately.
"Certainly not," said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "Professor Lockhart requested you particularly. Eight o'clock sharp, both of you."
Harry and Ron slouched into the Great Hall in states of deepest gloom, Rohini trying to look sorry for her brother even though she found it quite entertaining. She sat between Padma and Luna who were still talking about her vampire theory about Snape. She told them about Harry and Ron's punishment and Padma said she wouldn't mind helping Lockhart herself which annoyed Rohini more than she wanted to admit.
As they left the Great Hall they met Ginny who seemed a bit tired today. Rohini asked her if she felt like playing with Thranduil, which seemed to make her feel better. They walked to the Ravenclaw tower and Rohini went to fetch her cat that began to purr as soon as he was in Ginny's arms. The girls spend the rest of the day together, talking about Ginny and Luna's impression of Hogwarts so far and how different the second year felt.
"Are you going to try to join the Ravenclaw Quidditch team?" Ginny asked Rohini and Padma. "You're both old enough to apply for it."
"I'm not really into Quidditch." Rohini said. "Plus, it would be awkward to play against Harry I think."
"You could join the Chess club." Luna said with a smile. "You beat me when we played together."
"I, hum, am not really into being in a club or anything, really." Rohini said, nervously rubbing the back of her head. "More of a lone wolf, you know? Though I've heard Colin Creevey talking about creating a Harry Potter fan club. Maybe I'll join, just to be the lame sister." She said with a wink. Ginny's cheeks turned slightly red but she still smiled at her. Ginny announced she needed to go check something and left the three Ravenclaws behind.
Padma, Luna and Rohini then decided to go to their Common Room which smelt of roses and was filled with the sound of singing birds. They spent the end of the afternoon challenging each other with riddles and Luna won three times.
Dinner was close and Rohini decided to carry back Thranduil to her bedroom, her cat reluctantly leaving Luna's arms.
"Traitor." Rohini said while affectuously scratching his chin. She was trying to tie her hair into a tiny ponytail when she thought she heard someone talking. Looking around, she realised she was alone. It might have just been a ghost walking around. She shrugged and was going to get out of the dorm when she heard a voice again.
"Hello?" She said with her hand on her wand. "Peeves if you think you're funny, then you need to think again."
"Come… come to me…" a voice to chill the bone marrow whispered, "Let me rip you… Let me tear you…"
Rohini gulped for even Peeves didn't have such a morbid sense of humour. She was going from one bedroom to another now, checking under beds to make sure nobody was hiding. Maybe a Slytherin had managed to sneak inside and was trying to make a fool out of her?
"Let me…Kill!" The voice suddenly said, as if it was coming closer and Rohini was breathing loudly now, cold sweat making her olive skin glittered. She rushed outside the dorm and ran, feeling the invisible presence behind her. She didn't hear Padma calling her name, her heart beating too fast and too loudly for that. She suddenly bumped into Harry and yelped.
"Rohini?" He asked, confused. "What's wrong?"
"Some- something is following me." She said in a high pitched voice, ignoring the few students looking at her queerly. "There was a voice. It was saying horrible thing about killing and-"
"Wow, wow." Harry said, trying to calm her. "Are you sure it wasn't Peeve?"
"Even he doesn't have such a nasty sense of humour." Rohini pointed out, glancing behind her to make sure nothing had followed. "Besides, it wasn't his voice. It's sounded… it sounded ghostly, cold blooded."
"Do you think it might be related to what Dobby said?" Harry asked but before Rohini could answer, Padma and Luna joined them, asking what had happened.
Rohini hated keeping secrets or lying. But somehow, she didn't wanted Padma to think she had gone crazy and heard voices and so she told her a huge spider had fallen on her face while she was tying her hair.
"You're usually not afraid of spiders." Padma pointed out, doubtful.
"It was a really big one." Rohini said, feeling awful for lying to her best friend.
"Like this one?" Luna said, pointing at the wall. They all had a movement of repulsion when they saw spiders quickly climbing the wall to escape by a window. Padma shuddered and decided it was time to go to the Great Hall for dinner and Rohini had never been so grateful to see spiders in her life. Ron and Hermione were already sitting at the Gryffindor table and Harry explained that he had met Lockhart in the corridor, hence why he wasn't with them.
"Good luck for your detention with him." Rohini said before following Padma and Luna to the Ravenclaw table. She wasn't hungry at all and barely ate for once, the creepy voice still inside her mind. What if Harry was right? What if it was the danger Dobby had warned them about?
She barely slept that night, waking up at every little sound or movement. Things took a weirder, creepier turn when Harry told her the next day while they were hiding behind a statue that he, too, had heard the sinister voice during his detention hour.
"What do you think?" He asked her after a long silence.
"I think that we're either both turning crazy or something terrible is going to happen at Hogwarts." Rohini said and the twins stared at each other, looking grim. Dobby's words came back to them and they shuddered. What if the House Elf had tell the truth? What if every student was in a deadly danger?
Lost in their thoughts, they didn't saw the line of spiders running up the wall on their left, terrified.
