By Niels van Eekelen
TelltaleProd@Hotmail.com
www.TelltaleProductions.tk
--Chapter Two--
The Castle of Despair
The rest of that day, it would have taken a repulsion spell to pry Hermione away from her books. She went through the Encyclopaedia Abracadabria and The Travelling Wizard's Companion from end to end. They were the only books aside from the Trewe Tales that Hermione had been allowed to take along. She didn't really expect to find anything about the Loch Leigh Castle, but she was much too excited to let it lie.
Besides, Hermione still had to do her homework assignment for her History class, a paper on either an important magical event in the history of her family, or on a magical landmark. Since Hermione was the only witch ever in her family, she might as well do the paper on her discovery of the castle. If she could find some information to fill a paper with.
It wasn't until Hermione had nearly given up hope that she was ever going to find anything that she came across an entry in the Encyclopaedia Abracadabria that she decided must be referring to the Loch Leigh Castle.
Castle of Despair, the,the text read. Located in Scotland, this Muggle-built castle served as a base for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for some time during the height of his power. After He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's fall from power, the Ministry of Magic took control of the Castle and attempted to clear it of all the curses the Death Eaters had left within its walls. When it became apparent that such quantities of the Dark Arts had been used in the Castle that no attempt to clear it away would be completely succesful, the Ministry decided to keep the Castle of Despair under indefinite guard, and to cloud its location so that any escaped Death Eaters would not be able to find it again.
Mrs Granger just sighed at the sight of Hermione and her books and shook her head. It didn't seem likely that she was going to convince her daughter to make any new friends here on the camping site, unfortunately. (Because though Mrs Granger was glad for Hermione that she had made such good friends at that Hogwarts school, she was a little concerned that her daughter might get so caught up in her studies that she forgot all about normal people like her parents.)
New hope came from the strangest place for Mrs Granger, though. The next day, Melvin Cracker came to the Granger tent and very politely asked Hermione's Mum if Hermione could come play. Delighted, Mrs Granger quickly ushered Hermione out of the tent before she could object. But Hermione would have gone with Melvin anyway, because she was much too surprised and curious not to.
'Hi Melvin,' Hermione said hesitantly as they walked towards the volleyball court together.
'Bob went home,' Melvin said without any introduction. 'Need another player.' Hermione smiled. This was more like the Melvin Cracker she had seen around before. Still, she went along. It would make her Mum happy, and who knew? Hermione might even have fun. Volleyball didn't seem nearly as dangerous as Quidditch, which Harry played for the Gryffindor house team at Hogwarts, but which Hermione wouldn't have dared play if her life depended on it.
Two other kids were waiting for them on the volleyball court, tossing the ball between each other. They looked at Hermione suspiciously. If Melvin Cracker reminded Hermione of Draco Malfoy, Melvin's two friends were dead ringers for Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's two muscled friends. They didn't do much to make Hermione feel welcome, but she decided to stick around anyway. Maybe the boys would cheer up once they started playing.
The four of them spread out on the court two by two, with Hermione teamed up with Melvin's tallest friend. The volleyball court was playable, but it was poorly maintained, with rubbish lying along the sides and only a rope strung from side to side instead of a net.
Melvin served, and the game was underway. Hermione jumped ... and she ran ... and then jumped again ... but the ball never seemed to come within her reach. Suddenly, Hermione realised what the boys were doing, and immediately she stopped moving, indignantly. The game went on around her just as before.
'Hey, this isn't fair!' Hermione yelled angrily. The boys snickered at her outburst. Melvin had only wanted Hermione to come play so they could tease her. So much for faith in the human character. But what could Hermione do about it? Each of the boys looked a lot stronger than Hermione, and there were no grownups in sight. Hermione thought of her wand, but it was back in the tent, and besides, underage wizards weren't allowed to use magic outside of school. 'Give me the ball!'
All three boys snickered again, and Hermione wondered what she had said that was so funny.
Melvin, who had the ball, said, 'You want the ball, Hermy? You want the ball? Here it is!' And he lunged the ball hard at Hermione. Hermione tried to step aside, but she wasn't quick enough and the ball still hit her on the side of her head. ('Ow!' cried Hermione.) She fell and landed painfully on her behind. Melvin and his friends were laughing loudly now. Hermione saw the ball flying back at her from her so-called teammate just in time to shield her head with her arms, bit it still hurt when the ball hit her.
With tears in her eyes, Hermione got back up. Those mean bullies! She simply couldn't let the boys get away with the prank they'd played on her. Time to put that mind of hers to good use and come up with a plan. And true enough, Hermione came up with an idea almost immediately. As fast as her feet could carry her, she took off across the court, ducking underneath the 'net'.
'Ha ha!' laughed Melvin at Hermione's back. 'Look at her run. You sissy!' The smaller of Melvin's two friends, a not particularly bright fellow, had already retrieved the ball, and a second later Hermione heard three pairs of footsteps follow her across the gravel.
When she passed the end of the fence that shielded off the volleyball court, Hermione stopped and turned around. The boys were still coming at her, but then the one with the ball stopped and, with a grunt of exertion, lunged the ball at Hermione. This time, Hermione was ready for it. She ducked, and the ball whooshed over her head--
--And with a splash, landed in Loch Leigh.
'Ollie, you twat!'
'I didn't do it! I ... It ... It was her fault! The girl's!'
Hermione was looking after the ball with a triumphant smile on her face when it occurred to her that she might want to keep on running. Melvin and his friends raced after her--and now they were angry!
Fortunately, the boys' surprise had given Hermione enough of a lead that she managed to stay ahead of them until they came near the tents. There! There was the Grangers' tent. And there ... Yes! Hermione's Mum was just coming out of the tent. Hermione circled around behind her and came to a sudden halt, wide-eyed and breathing hard.
'Honey? What ..?' Hermione's Mum asked, surprised.
Melvin came to a stop just in front of her. He grunted when Ollie slammed into his back, and again when the largest boy slammed into Ollie's back.
Hermione's Mum took one look at the boys and their angry appearance and said, 'What's going on here?' in her I'm-not-angry-yet-but-better-step-carefully voice.
Hermione could just see Melvin Cracker think. (It looked quite painfully on him.) 'Hermie threw my ball into the water, ma'am!' he said then 'She did it on purpose!' His two friends looked confused for a moment, but then began to nod furiously.
Hermione's Mum turned and looked at her. 'Hermione?'
'I didn't do it!' Hermione said quickly. She hadn't had the chance to even throw the ball anywhere once.
'You swear?' her Mum asked again in a stern voice.
'I swear I didn't do it, Mum! I didn't throw the ball into the water.'
Hermione's mother turned back to the boys. 'My daughter says that isn't true, and I happen to believe her.'
Melvin glared angrily at the two Grangers 'But ...'
'Should I call your mother to talk it over?' Mrs Granger asked.
Melvin grimaced, but then hastily took off, taking his cronies with him. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Her Mum would still want her to explain what had happen, but at least Mrs Granger knew her daughter well enough to believe her when she told the truth.
The next few days, Hermione stuck mostly around the tent. She knew Melvin's type, and she didn't want to chance running into him alone and giving him the opportunity to spoil her vacation. It was okay, though. There were few things in Hermione's life that could match lying on the grass beneath a warm summer sun with an interesting book. The only thing that could have made it better was if Ron and Harry had been there with her (and if they would for once agree to not do anything dangerous). That and ice cream, and everything would have been perfect.
From time to time, Hermione got the feeling that someone was watching her, and when she looked around she'd find Melvin Cracker looking at her with an annoyed look. If he'd had a chance, Melvin'd have loved to pay Hermione back for humiliating him in front of his cronies. But when he saw that Hermione had noticed him and she smiled at him, he always left quickly.
Three nights later, Hermione had the strangest dream. While she was really tossing about in her sleeping bag, in her dream Hermione was back at Hogwarts. She wasn't in the great hall, or the Gryffindor tower, or any of the classrooms, but she recognised the room anyway. She had been there only once, in her first year at Hogwarts. In front of Hermione was a row of bottles, and she had to figure out which one held the potion that would allow Harry to walk through the fire at the far side of the room unharmed.
But which bottle was it? Hermione knew that she could figure it out--after all, she'd done it already. But which one was it?
Harry's bespectacled face suddenly peeked over her shoulder. 'C'mon, Hermione,' he said, 'which potion do I drink? If you pick the wrong one, I'll die!'
'I ... I think ... I don't know!' Hermione exclaimed.
'Ah, she's never gonna figure it out.' Ron was suddenly hanging over her other shoulder. 'It's no use ... No use at all.'
'Huh?' Hermione thought, looking around. 'Ron? You're not supposed to be here ...'
There was the sound of breaking glass, and Hermione quickly turned back to the row of bottles. Crookshanks, Hermione's big cat, was lazily walking over the table, knocking over each bottle as it passed them.
'No!' Hermione cried as the potions sprinkled uselessly onto the floor. 'I could have figured it out! I could've!'
Crookshanks stopped and looked at her with oddly malicious eyes. It spoke in a purring voice. 'It's no use ...'
Hermione sat up with a start, and found herself back in the tent. An eery cry pierced the silence off the night. It was so loud that it almost hurt her ears, and for a moment, Hermione thought that she might still be dreaming, but when she pinched herself, it hurt.
Hurriedly, Hermione got up, kicking into the sleeping bag to disentangle her legs. The cry was fading away now, but the memory of it still gave Hermione goosebumps. She knelt at her parents' side, and put her hands on her father's shoulder to shake him. 'Dad ... Daddy!' Hermione said when Mr Granger began to stir.
'Mmmm ... 'tizzit, 'oney?' he mumbled sleepily.
'Dad, I heard a scream,' Hermione told her Dad excitedly. 'It was really loud and scary.'
Mr Granger cracked open his eyes a bit and smiled at Hermione paternally. 'Don' worry, Hermie, 't was just a dream. G' back t' sleep.' And he closed his eyes and followed his own advice.
Story written by Niels van Eekelen. © Copyright 2004 Telltale Productions.
Harry Potter and the world of muggles, witches and wizards © Copyright 2004 J.K. Rowling, used with gratitude if not permission.