I'm sorry! *hides behind blast shield* I'm sorry! *dodges molotov cocktail* Look, I said I was sorry! *dodges bazooka*
I really am sorry guys, dad tried to trick me by telling me the internet went off at our house at 10. Big faker. either way I couldn't get to my computer until this morning. Here's the chapter!
I don't own Harry Potter... *sighs with sadness*
The classes passed, and before Harry knew it it was Halloween. The last class of the day was Charms, and Harry was thrilled to learn that they would be learning to make objects fly- something everyone had been dying to learn how to do since the first class. They had the Slytherins with them for a change; an outbreak of light dragon pox kept the first year Hufflepuffs confined to their dorm for a day and a half, but Harry had heard they'd be out for dinner on All Hallow's Eve.
The charm Harry was expected to learn was Wingardium Leviosa. He was paired up with a girl named Daphne Greengrass and Draco, not to mention Hermione. Aileen drifted overhead, lazily watching them.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Draco said, confidently pointing his wand at the feather. Aileen snickered when it didn't move.
"No, no, no, no, you've got it all wrong! It's Wing-GARRRRdium LeviOOOOsa, make the 'gar' nice and long," Hermione corrected him.
Draco instantly turned pink. "Not everyone can be a know-it-all like you, Granger," he snapped. "If you're so experienced go ahead and show me how it's done."
"Very well," Hermione said, and with a swish, flick, and incantation her feather began floating.
"Very well done, Miss Granger! 20 points to Ravenclaw!" Professor Flitwick cried.
Draco was in a very bad mood by the end of class.
"Honestly, who does she think she is?" he complained to Harry. "That filthy mudblood..."
Aileen turned pure white. Hermione ran between the two boys with a sob and turned off of the main current to the Great Hall.
Aileen desperately wanted to follow her, but she was tied to Harry and she needed to stop him from doing something stupid. Like, say, punching Draco in the face?
She dropped down to separate the two, but Daphne stepped in and did her job for her. "Malfoy, call anyone that again and I'm sure Potter would gladly help me wash your mouth out with soap," she threatened, back to Harry with arms crossed over her chest. Draco backed away slowly, before hanging his head, muttering "sorry", and disappearing into the fray of students.
"Thanks," Harry said, still shaking with fury. "I don't think I could have controlled myself much longer."
"I saw. I'm gonna go find Granger. Stay away from Malfoy, I don't want house points taken because of that stupid word," Daphne said grumpily and disappeared too.
Harry sat with Neville at dinner. He and the Hufflepuffs chatted and laughed as the floating pumpkins danced and glowed overhead.
They were about halfway through the feast when the door to the Great Hall burst opened and Professor Quirrell ran in, gasping for breath. Aileen stood straighter as he gasped out, "Troll... In the dungeons... Thought you ought to know." He promptly passed out.
Surprisingly, the Slytherins screamed the loudest.
It took a grand total of 3 purple firecrackers to quiet everyone. The screaming wasn't the problem, it was the roar of exciting talking from the other tables.
"Prefects!" Dumbledore thundered. Aileen was impressed; he could be very loud when he wanted to. Then she remembered the Sonorus charm and snorted.
"Take the students to their dormitories!"
Aileen froze, as did absolutely everyone. There was dead silence. Then a seventh year from Slytherin stood up and yelled, "What about us? What about the Slytherins? Our dorms are in the dungeons too!"
Dumbledore stood silent for a minute. Aileen sarcastically applauded his stupidity and was thankful the seventh year had said something.
"Um... Well..." he stuttered.
Snape stood up. "Slytherins stay here with me," he said smoothly.
"What are you waiting for? Go!" McGonagall shouted.
Immediately Harry waved goodbye to Neville and ran to his table. The girl Prefect was frantically counting the first years, before she pulled out her wand. "Raven firsts, move out!" she shouted, leading them out as Harry brought up the rear with the boy.
"Ree!" the boy shouted suddenly. "I count nine firsts!"
Ree cursed and turned around. "Jack, take them home. I'm telling Flit." She peeled away from the group and disappeared.
"It's Granger!" Jack shouted at Ree's retreating back.
Aileen closed her eyes in horror.
She followed Harry as he glanced furtively around and snuck away from the group. He started running in the shadows, only to bump into Draco Malfoy. He was no longer proud looking, though; in fact he looked terrified.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, at the same time as Malfoy said, "Where's Daphne?"
Not a word passed between the two boys, but they immediately went for the staircase down to the dungeons. Together they stole through the shadows, searching.
Finally Harry spoke. "I hear crying."
The two looked around and spotted the girl's bathroom. Draco slowly pulled it open as Harry stood guard. "Daphne? Hermione?" he said.
The sniffling stopped. "Hello?" two girls said at the same time.
"It's Draco. Harry's with me, you need to get out of there now!"
"Why?"
"There's a troll on the loose-" Draco didn't even have to finish the sentence. Daphne was running towards him dragging Hermione behind her.
The four ran for the Great Hall. Aileen swooped ahead, hoping to notice if any trouble came ahead and try her best to alert her charge. She came to an abrupt halt and watched as Quirrell ran past, not stopping. He seemed to be headed up... Weird, but Aileen shrugged it off and kept moving.
They made it safely back to the Hall. Aileen sighed, relieved, as Snape swept towards the four staggering into the Hall. "Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Miss Greengrass. What is the meaning of this?" he snapped.
"Malfoy... called Granger a mudblood... she ran off and I chased her... missed dinner... didn't hear about troll," Daphne panted.
A shadow swept across Snape's face when he heard about Draco calling Hermione a mudblood. "Ten points from Slytherin for calling a fellow student that name," he said quietly. "However, ten each to Slytherin and Ravenclaw for cunning in the face of extreme danger."
'He would call it that,' Aileen said, shaking her invisible head at the so-called 'cunning'. 'He must not like to admit that everyone has a little bit of courage, even if it's deep down inside.'
"Now go. Back to your dorms, Miss Granger, Mr. Potter. Before the troll reaches-" Snape was interrupted by a loud thumping on the doors.
Harry instinctively drew Hermione behind him and pulled out his wand. Hermione quickly stepped around him and gave him a disaproving look as she drew her own wand. Snape gestured them back with the other Slytherins as the teachers began to form into a half circle in front of the doors.
With a loud BANG! the door crashed to the ground. A terrible stench invaded the Great Hall, making Harry gag. Hermione whimpered a little and drew closer to Harry, who took her hand quickly. Daphne and Draco quickly pulled the two back, closer to the older Slytherins.
The troll lumbered in, dragging an enormous club with it. Everyone looked just a little bit afraid as it roared and swung the club.
"Stunners on 3! 1... 2... 3!" Flitwick roared, surprisingly loud for a man so small.
A hail of stunners impacted the troll; the Slytherins were helping. Hermione screamed as the troll roared, furious. Aileen landed, still invisible, and blocked the two with her spirit, shaking from fear, not for herself, but for Harry.
"Again!"
The stunners roared out and that was it. With a final deafening roar that shook Hogwarts itself, the troll fell and moved no more.
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