Hello, it's us! Sorry we haven't updated in about a month but we kind of got busy with school work and other things. But enough of that. We hope you enjoy the 36th chapter of The Peculiar Pair.

- Aloof Avengers

Saturday night approached all too quickly. I had stayed awake, lying in my bed, waiting for the others girls in my room to fall asleep. When they did, I changed threw on one of my school robes over my dark pajamas, and rushed down the tower to the common room with Dmytro in my pocket. Unlike some people I know, I tend to think about the bad things, what could go wrong, etc. I always come up with small back up plans that should at least lessen the blow of a full out punishment. That is why Dmytro was lying in my pocket, barely awake.

I waited in the empty common room for Harry and Hermione to come down. When they did, we hid under Harry's cloak. It was a rare cloak that could make whoever wore it invisible. We're very lucky that Harry got it for Christmas from anonymous, or else sneaking around the school at night would have been much harder. Then, we went to the general area of where the entrance to Ravenclaw was and found Stephanie, dressed similarly to myself. We uncovered our heads so she could spot us then got her under the cloak and went about to Hagrid's hut. It was very difficult to hide four people under the cloak but we managed long enough to get out of the castle and down to where Hagrid and Norbert were. Speaking of Norbert, he was already packed inside a large crate.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," Hagrid said in a muffled voice. "An' I packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."

It was sweet that Hagrid packed Norbert his teddy bear. But I'm sure Norbert didn't care because seconds later we heard a ripping sound coming from inside the crate. It's safe to say that the teddy is now resting in pieces.

"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed as Harry and Hermione put the invisibility cloak over the crate and stepped under the cloak themselves. "Mommy will never forget you!"

"There, there Hagrid," I awkwardly patted his arm. "I'm sure he'll be happy with Charlie and his friends."

"Lets go," Stephanie tugged on my robe.

It was our job to go ahead of Harry and Hermione to distract the Prefects, Peeves, Filch, and Mrs. Norris. We would simply set off some filibuster fireworks then run like hell, hoping no one would catch us. Then we would track down Malfoy and prank him, using some sort of product the twins gave me after I asked for something good, my reasoning being that I wanted to do a solo prank on Filch. They gave me a handful of marble-sized red balls. They said it was similar to what they used on me and Stephanie during my first year, but they modified it so it wasn't dangerous enough to kill a person, but rather keep them stuck in place the moment the smoke enveloped the person. To undo the prank immediately, all someone would have to do was drench the victim in water. Otherwise, they would have to wait for two hours and it would wear off.

Stephanie and I snuck back into the castle, more aware of what was around us. We stayed in the shadows until we entered a hall that had more than a few classrooms. We put together a fairly big pile of Filibuster Fireworks (Stephanie asked Fred and George for some of them and the rest were the ones I received from Christmas) and lit off one in the pile. They worked a bit like a pile of normal fireworks. You set off one, you set them all off. Cackling quietly, we ran off into an empty corridor and began our search for Malfoy as quietly as we could.

"Where could he be?" I whispered softly to Stephanie as we ducked behind a suit of armor as a Prefect ran by and towards the loud noise.

"Maybe he's already at the astronomy tower," Stephanie suggested.

"Then let's hurry."

We went as fast as we could towards the astronomy tower, hiding occasionally when we thought someone was coming. Both of us had almost reached the tower when we ran into someone who was supposed to stay in his room.

"Neville! What are you doing here?" Stephanie whisper/yelled.

"I'm trying to find Harry! I heard Malfoy talking about how Harry had a dragon and that he was going to catch him and get him into trouble! I don't want Gryffindor to lose any points, so I thought I would come and find him and warn him!" Neville nearly cried. "What are you two doing here?"

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom, that is an excellent question," We heard a voice say behind us.

Gulping, the three of us turned and saw a very cross looking McGonagall wearing a hairnet and a tartan bathrobe. Before I knew it, she was herding us to her office, stuck in an angry silence. Looking from Neville to Stephanie, I knew we were doomed by the expressions they held. But when we approached her office, we saw Harry and Hermione sitting inside.

"Harry!" Neville burst out once he saw Harry and Hermione. "I was trying to find you to warn you. I heard Malfoy he was saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag-"

I was screaming in my mind for Neville to close his mouth. Harry was trying to signal to Neville to stop talking by violently shaking his head but Professor McGonagall had seen this. I had never seen her look so angry in my two years of being at Hogwarts, but it was much scarier than seeing my mom angry-and that's saying something.

"I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."

Hermione stared at her slippers, failing to answer a question from a teacher for the first time ever. Harry stood still as a statue, unsure of what to say.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," Professor McGonagall started. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?"

"Actually Professor McGonagall, it's not exactly a lie," I spoke up, surprising myself more than anyone. Harry and Hermione looked fearful of what I would say but Stephanie gave me a questioning look, knowing I would never sell out a friend. "There is a dragon. My dragon." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a sleeping Dmytro. He snorted in his sleep and sparks flew out. "Malfoy found out I had him this past week but must've thought it was Harry's because I was with him at the time. I went up to the astronomy tower earlier this night to give Dmytro a proper fly around, but I told Stephanie and these two about it and they went to go stop me. Stephanie caught me when I left the tower but Harry and Hermione went all the way up after I left. I always carry around my Filibuster Fireworks, so I created a distraction in hopes I could get them out before we were found. So if anyone's to blame Professor, it's me."

"Miss Ornelas, never in my years have I seen someone so foolish enough to bring a dangerous and illegal creature-"

"But he's not illegal and he's not dangerous!" I countered, most likely later on to regret interrupting and arguing with her. "He's my Familiar! What was I supposed to do? Leave him home in the muggle world? I went over Hogwarts rules and it said nothing against bringing a Familiar to school. But I kept him a secret because I knew people would freak out and try to take him away."

Her face softened just slightly, enough to make me believe she wasn't going to kill me right on the spot. Maim, probably, but not kill. "It doesn't change the fact, Miss Ornelas, that you are out of bed this late into the night. I am disgusted. Six students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you. Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you. All five of you will receive detentions-none of you should have been wandering around this time of night, it's dangerous-and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."

"Fifty?" Harry gasped. He realized that this would lose the lead Gryffindor had when he won the last Quidditch match.

"Fifty points each," Professor McGonagall said.

My eyes widened. In total, Gryffindor lost 200 points! I'm sure once others found out, we wouldn't be the most popular people. I'm not even sure Fred and George would still like to be seen around me when they find out I was one of four people who cost Gryffindor the lead.

"Professor-please-"

"You can't-"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I have never been more ashamed of my own students." Professor McGonagall said and added on just as I was about to leave, "Miss Ornelas, Headmaster Dumbledore will see you very soon to deal with you and your Familiar."

So not only was I afraid of being public enemy number one with the firsties, I was also worried about being expelled. I was having such bad anxiety over it, I was sure I wouldn't be able to sleep that night. Harry, Hermione, Neville, and I walked back to Gryffindor tower in silence. I was absolutely positive that the weeks following this incident were going to be hell.