"Hey, Paige." The twins greeted with a smile, before noticing her frown.
"Whoa, what's up?" Fred asked, looking behind her as if waiting to see someone else too.
"Yeah, turn that frown upside down." George teased, using his two index fingers to pull the ends of her lips up into a smile.
"Your idiot brother, that's what's up." She pouted, crossing her arms.
"Oh, no." Fred said. "What'd he do this time?"
"He was mouthing off about Hermione when we were right behind him, he's really hurt her feelings." She explained. "Addison's went off to find her."
"Oh, great." They both sighed.
"Although," She began, remembering the sight she had witnessed. "Something strange did happen."
"Yeah?" George asked.
"Addison's hair turned bloody red!"
"Hermione?" Addison called out, finally tracking her to the girls bathrooms. She sniffled in reply. Addison stood outside the door and knocked it. "Please, open the door."
"G-go aw-ay." Hermione hiccupped. "Y-you heard w-what he said!"
Addison sighed, biting back her anger at the boy. "Now, you listen here, Hermione Jean Granger, I won't be having any of this. You are a strong, independent girl that doesn't need the opinion of a silly boy. You work you bloody ass off to achieve as best as you can and believe me, it pays off. You're bloody brilliant, Hermione Granger and I'm not only glad to have you as my best friend but I'm also proud. I know what Ron said hurts, but he was wrong and let me be there for you. At least let me in."
After a pause and some sniffling, the door unlocked but Hermione didn't open it, so Addison took that as her cue to enter rather than trying to lure Hermione out. The poor girl was sitting on the floor, with blotchy skin and tears running down her face. She immediately hugged her.
Paige sat at the Halloween feast worried and impatient, by herself. Her thoughts were running rampant. She finally couldn't take it anymore and stomped over to Harry and Ron who were a couple of seats across from George and Fred.
"Have you seen Addison?" She inquired.
"No, have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked.
"No, I haven't seen them since your little stunt." She said, bitterly looking at Ron.
"Parvati Patil said that she wouldn't come out of the girl's bathroom. She said that she'd been in there all afternoon...crying." Neville piped up, warily. Admittedly, she wasn't as scary as Addison.
Paige watched as Harry and Ron exchanged glances, and left to sit at her table dejectedly, just hearing Fred say,
"You really should apologise."
Just after that, Professor Quirrell burst into the room, screaming as he came to a stop in front of the teachers table.
"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!" He wailed, the room went silent. "Thought you ought to know." He said, losing consciousness and fainting.
The room was once again silent, until everyone broke into shrieks and frantic running.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore bellowed, everyone pausing. "Everyone will please, not panic. Now, Prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."
"Hufflepuff, this way!" She heard a girl shout.
Paige couldn't help but notice Snape's expression, something was definitely off.
"Stay together!" She heard Slytherin's boy Prefect shout. "This way!"
Instead, she went the opposite direction, heading straight to the girls bathroom. She had no idea what she was going to do but something was better than nothing, her best friends were in there after all. It wasn't until she saw the humungous shadow of the troll and was yanked into an alcove that she noticed Harry and Ron had come along for the ride.
