Chapter Seven
They finished at sunset when Professor McGonagall scolded them for being late for dinner. Hannah panted her way up the stairs. She had been teaching the boys how she threw that curve ball and she had to do a lot of running. Ron and Harry ran up to her on the stone steps.
"Hey, that was, um, really great. We misjudged you, maybe we could continue this game tomorrow as it's Saturday." Ron shook her hand and apologized.
"Yeah," Harry added, "I still need work on my throw. You are some player, Hannah."
"Thanks." Hannah smiled and gave him a playful punch in the arm. She would not be taken for a sissy. "Wait till I teach you fencing, then you'd better watch out."
They laughed and entered the Great Hall. Everyone was already sitting and eating.
"Made friends with the boys, ay?" Hermione asked as Hannah sat down in between her and Ron. Hannah was in too much of a good mood to be mean to Hermione.
"Good evening, Hermione. Did you have a nice day?"
"Um, yes."
"That's good. And yes, I have befriended the boys. It's really nice actually to have friends that aren't your gender sometimes. I grew up around girls and, well, it's just different. They have feelings too, you know."
"Doesn't seem like it." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yeah," Hannah giggled, "They do have feelings, but they just don't want to show them because they think it'll make them feel silly. Us girls don't have a problem with that, do we?"
"I guess not." Hannah could tell Hermione was a little confused with Hannah's behavior and Hannah was enjoying herself, being nice to Hermione. With the absence of Melanie, she needed someone female to discuss things. But she realized she had some apologizing to do herself.
"Look, Hermione, I'm really sorry about my behavior on the train ride. I was acting stupid. I judged you before I got to know you. You are really very smart and I hope to know even better." Hermione's mouth opened a little then closed. Then opened it again.
"I'm sorry too. You aren't really a bossy know-it-all. And don't apologize, I was being just as bossy as I thought you were. I deserved it."
"Oh, that's great!" Hannah sighed, then said quickly, "Not about you being bossy, but now I have an ally against the forces of evil."
"The forces of evil?"
"Malfoy." Hannah stuck her thumb over her shoulder towards the Slytherin table.
"Oh." Hermione gave the first smile Hannah had seen from her. Hannah smiled back. It felt good to have a friend at last.
But she soon realized that even if they were friends, they were entirely different people. Hannah lived for adventure and mischief and imagining, while Hermione lived for books and discovering things and learning. There was an exception. Both girls did read very often, too often thought Harry and Ron, and since they were both muggles at first, they were fascinated with magic and spent hours poring over the textbooks.
Hermione wasn't friends with Ron and Harry yet and Hannah couldn't convince her. Hermione thought the boys were lazy and sarcastic, well…Ron anyway. Harry seemed a little nicer, but he was friends with Ron, so the cynical attitude sometimes rubbed off.
One day, Hannah and Hermione were reading books, as usual, in the library, when Hannah suddenly paused.
"Hermione?" she turned towards the girl sitting cross-legged on one of the armchairs.
"Yes?"
"Who's Voldemort?" she spelled out the name slowly from the book she reading. Hermione covered her mouth and arched her eyebrows in surprise.
"What?" Hermione still wouldn't say anything, so Hannah turned to the boy next to her.
"Neville, who's Voldemort?"
"Hey, don't say the name!" Hannah gave a confused look and stood up.
"Does anyone know who Voldemort is?" she shouted. Hermione clapped a hand on her forehead. Everyone gasped.
"What's wrong with this guy? Is he some scary creature of the forest of something?"
A hand covered her mouth and yanked her backwards into the hall. She was slammed into the wall. It was Harry.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, shocked.
"Why is everyone getting all upset? Who is Voldemort anyway?"
Harry hesitated, then said, "Come on, I'll tell you."
He brought her to the Gryffindor common room. Luckily, it was pretty empty.
"Who's Voldemort?" she repeated, annoyed.
"Voldemort was this evil wizard who went really bad and resorted to Dark magic. You know, that's why we have our Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
"Yeah, go on."
"So, this wizard hunted out people, trying to make them follow him and they repented, he killed him."
Hannah gasped, "Is he around here?"
"Well, that's the interesting part. Ya see, he, um, also killed my parents."
Hannah opened her mouth slightly.
"And he was about to kill me, when…he couldn't. Most wizards say I'm the one that defeated the Dark Lord."
Hannah laughed aloud.
"No way! You're kidding! You have to be kidding me!"
"Well, I was a baby then and I don't really remember it. No one knows how I stopped him and vanquished his powers. I guess it'll remain a mystery, but now rumors are that he still alive, scraping around looking for someone to take him over. I don't think he's coming back anytime soon though."
"Wow," Hannah said, after a few seconds of silence. "I guess I was pretty stupid to say his name in front of everyone like that."
"Well, I don't know. Dumbledore was the only one that Voldemort was afraid of."
"Really?" Hannah thought of the old Hogwarts headmaster and did not wonder why Voldemort was afraid of him. Albus Dumbledore gave such an aura of power and wisdom and kindness to everyone that he surrounded. Hannah sighed.
"That's one story." she breathed. Harry nodded.
"Oh, it's lunchtime!" she said, looking at her watch. "Good, I'm starving!"
But that moment on, she was a little more careful about what she said in public.
~**~
It was October. Hannah wondered drearily what the garden roads were looking like now. They were probably all golden and splendor, with little flecks of scarlet and blue. The marigolds would be in full bloom all radiant in their orange and yellow blossoms on the Today Road. At Hogwarts though, the grounds were emerald green against the azure blue of the sky. Hannah always loved the sky in autumn. It was so much more vibrant than any other season. Her new friends had learned that at twilight she became a whole different Hannah and she'd go on one of her rambles around the lake. They knew that it would be better to leave her alone when she entered the Twilight Zone.
On one particular evening, she was on the opposite side of the lake and had walked on until the moon had rose. It was a crescent moon and looked all silver against the blaze of glistening stars.
" 'Over the mountains of the moon, down the valley of the shadows'," Hannah murmured, gazing up at the black sky. It had to be late now and she would be in deep trouble if she was caught outside past bedtime hours. She hoped Hermione wasn't worrying. But then Hermione was probably still in the common room, studying for a particular Charms quiz they were getting tomorrow.
Hannah made her way around again, taking another hour out of the night, and then tiptoed up the steps to the front doors and pulled open the doors.
"I didn't know I stayed out so late. I wonder what time it is." She had forgotten her watch in her bedroom. Creeping up the grand staircase, she thought she heard some movement at the top. Holding her breath, she edged up the railing, grasping the side.
When she reached the top and turned the corner, the "movement" materialized. She clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. There were two tall figures in black. One had tousled hair and the outline of glasses, the other was taller and lighter hair.
"Oh, it's just you Harry and Ron…oh, Hermione I didn't know you were here too!" Hannah hissed. Hermione looked particularly grumpy. She folded her arms and nodded her head at the two boys.
"They're sneaking out. I tried to stop them, and I got locked out because the fat lady is out at the moment."
Harry and Ron exhaled in a loud 'tuh!'
"She wouldn't stop complaining about how we're gonna lose points for Gryffindor if we go out, but our business is our own."
"Well, what are you doing?"
Harry sighed, "Malfoy threatened us at breakfast this morning. You two weren't there; you were in the library. Well, I got my broom for quidditch and—
"You're on the quidditch team!?"
"SSHH!" Ron hissed, we don't want to be found." Hannah looked back at Harry in disbelief.
"Well, the day I caught your Remembrall, Professor McGonagall brought to the team captain, Oliver Wood, and I've been made Seeker."
"What's a seeker?"
"No time for quidditch questions. We promised Malfoy we'd be in the trophy room right about now."
"For what?"
"He sort of challenged us to a wizard's duel." Harry said, guiltily.
"And I'm his second." Ron drew himself up importantly.
"You're in a wizard's duel?" Hannah asked in shock. Hermione looked triumphant at knowing she was right.
"Without me?" Hannah continued. Hermione looked at her, with her jaw to the floor.
"Um, sorry?"
"It's okay, let's get you there. It's another adventure. Come on, where's the trophy room?"
"To the left! To the left!"
They creaked open the door to the trophy room, which was filled with trophies of course and all kinds of medals and awards of gold and silver. They hid behind a large case and waited for any sign of movement, Hermione 'tsking' at them.
All of a sudden, there was a sound from the right door.
"It's Malfoy and Crabbe!"
"Crabbe?"
"His second!"
"Oh."
"Come, my sweet, someone's out of bed and we're gonna find them."
"It's Filch and his cat!" Harry hissed. They waited for more noise, and heard the two come in through the opposite door.
"Come on, let's make a run for it!" Hannah beckoned to them. They followed her out the nearest door and started sprinting down the corridor.
"Hurry!"
Hannah could hear the custodian's voice behind them. She wrinkled her brow, searching for a place to hide. She saw a door on the left.
"Come on, we'll hide in here!" she grabbed the handle. "Oh, darn, it's locked!"
"Move over!" Hermione pushed through with her wand out, impatient, "Alohomora!"
The door unlocked and they ran in, slamming the door behind them, ears against the wood. They heard Filch whisper gleefully about what he'd do when he caught them. His voice passed by and for a few moments there was silence.
"Whew!" Hannah leaned against the door, panting. "That was close! I wonder why this door was locked."
"Believe me, it was for a good reason." Ron said. Hannah turned around and yelled out. In front of them, drooling and growling was a dog with three heads. Its sharp teeth glistened in the moonlight that pored in from the window and all six of its eyes were upon the four children. They all screamed and flew open the door, running wildly out, slamming the door behind them.
Somehow, they made it to the fat lady painting, all sweaty and gasping.
"My, where have you four been?" the fat lady asked, sweetly.
"L-lemon drop, lemon drop," Harry wheezed out. They climbed in the common room warily and dropped into the chairs in front of the fire.
"What do they think they're doing? Keeping a thing like that in Hogwarts, that's crazy!" Ron exclaimed, scratching his head.
"I dunno." Harry said.
"Well, I'm going to bed before either of you think up another clever idea to get us killed or worse expelled! Come on Hannah!"
Hermione grabbed Hannah's arm and pulled up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. But Hannah couldn't help thinking that her long-wanted adventure was really starting to heat up.
They finished at sunset when Professor McGonagall scolded them for being late for dinner. Hannah panted her way up the stairs. She had been teaching the boys how she threw that curve ball and she had to do a lot of running. Ron and Harry ran up to her on the stone steps.
"Hey, that was, um, really great. We misjudged you, maybe we could continue this game tomorrow as it's Saturday." Ron shook her hand and apologized.
"Yeah," Harry added, "I still need work on my throw. You are some player, Hannah."
"Thanks." Hannah smiled and gave him a playful punch in the arm. She would not be taken for a sissy. "Wait till I teach you fencing, then you'd better watch out."
They laughed and entered the Great Hall. Everyone was already sitting and eating.
"Made friends with the boys, ay?" Hermione asked as Hannah sat down in between her and Ron. Hannah was in too much of a good mood to be mean to Hermione.
"Good evening, Hermione. Did you have a nice day?"
"Um, yes."
"That's good. And yes, I have befriended the boys. It's really nice actually to have friends that aren't your gender sometimes. I grew up around girls and, well, it's just different. They have feelings too, you know."
"Doesn't seem like it." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yeah," Hannah giggled, "They do have feelings, but they just don't want to show them because they think it'll make them feel silly. Us girls don't have a problem with that, do we?"
"I guess not." Hannah could tell Hermione was a little confused with Hannah's behavior and Hannah was enjoying herself, being nice to Hermione. With the absence of Melanie, she needed someone female to discuss things. But she realized she had some apologizing to do herself.
"Look, Hermione, I'm really sorry about my behavior on the train ride. I was acting stupid. I judged you before I got to know you. You are really very smart and I hope to know even better." Hermione's mouth opened a little then closed. Then opened it again.
"I'm sorry too. You aren't really a bossy know-it-all. And don't apologize, I was being just as bossy as I thought you were. I deserved it."
"Oh, that's great!" Hannah sighed, then said quickly, "Not about you being bossy, but now I have an ally against the forces of evil."
"The forces of evil?"
"Malfoy." Hannah stuck her thumb over her shoulder towards the Slytherin table.
"Oh." Hermione gave the first smile Hannah had seen from her. Hannah smiled back. It felt good to have a friend at last.
But she soon realized that even if they were friends, they were entirely different people. Hannah lived for adventure and mischief and imagining, while Hermione lived for books and discovering things and learning. There was an exception. Both girls did read very often, too often thought Harry and Ron, and since they were both muggles at first, they were fascinated with magic and spent hours poring over the textbooks.
Hermione wasn't friends with Ron and Harry yet and Hannah couldn't convince her. Hermione thought the boys were lazy and sarcastic, well…Ron anyway. Harry seemed a little nicer, but he was friends with Ron, so the cynical attitude sometimes rubbed off.
One day, Hannah and Hermione were reading books, as usual, in the library, when Hannah suddenly paused.
"Hermione?" she turned towards the girl sitting cross-legged on one of the armchairs.
"Yes?"
"Who's Voldemort?" she spelled out the name slowly from the book she reading. Hermione covered her mouth and arched her eyebrows in surprise.
"What?" Hermione still wouldn't say anything, so Hannah turned to the boy next to her.
"Neville, who's Voldemort?"
"Hey, don't say the name!" Hannah gave a confused look and stood up.
"Does anyone know who Voldemort is?" she shouted. Hermione clapped a hand on her forehead. Everyone gasped.
"What's wrong with this guy? Is he some scary creature of the forest of something?"
A hand covered her mouth and yanked her backwards into the hall. She was slammed into the wall. It was Harry.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, shocked.
"Why is everyone getting all upset? Who is Voldemort anyway?"
Harry hesitated, then said, "Come on, I'll tell you."
He brought her to the Gryffindor common room. Luckily, it was pretty empty.
"Who's Voldemort?" she repeated, annoyed.
"Voldemort was this evil wizard who went really bad and resorted to Dark magic. You know, that's why we have our Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
"Yeah, go on."
"So, this wizard hunted out people, trying to make them follow him and they repented, he killed him."
Hannah gasped, "Is he around here?"
"Well, that's the interesting part. Ya see, he, um, also killed my parents."
Hannah opened her mouth slightly.
"And he was about to kill me, when…he couldn't. Most wizards say I'm the one that defeated the Dark Lord."
Hannah laughed aloud.
"No way! You're kidding! You have to be kidding me!"
"Well, I was a baby then and I don't really remember it. No one knows how I stopped him and vanquished his powers. I guess it'll remain a mystery, but now rumors are that he still alive, scraping around looking for someone to take him over. I don't think he's coming back anytime soon though."
"Wow," Hannah said, after a few seconds of silence. "I guess I was pretty stupid to say his name in front of everyone like that."
"Well, I don't know. Dumbledore was the only one that Voldemort was afraid of."
"Really?" Hannah thought of the old Hogwarts headmaster and did not wonder why Voldemort was afraid of him. Albus Dumbledore gave such an aura of power and wisdom and kindness to everyone that he surrounded. Hannah sighed.
"That's one story." she breathed. Harry nodded.
"Oh, it's lunchtime!" she said, looking at her watch. "Good, I'm starving!"
But that moment on, she was a little more careful about what she said in public.
~**~
It was October. Hannah wondered drearily what the garden roads were looking like now. They were probably all golden and splendor, with little flecks of scarlet and blue. The marigolds would be in full bloom all radiant in their orange and yellow blossoms on the Today Road. At Hogwarts though, the grounds were emerald green against the azure blue of the sky. Hannah always loved the sky in autumn. It was so much more vibrant than any other season. Her new friends had learned that at twilight she became a whole different Hannah and she'd go on one of her rambles around the lake. They knew that it would be better to leave her alone when she entered the Twilight Zone.
On one particular evening, she was on the opposite side of the lake and had walked on until the moon had rose. It was a crescent moon and looked all silver against the blaze of glistening stars.
" 'Over the mountains of the moon, down the valley of the shadows'," Hannah murmured, gazing up at the black sky. It had to be late now and she would be in deep trouble if she was caught outside past bedtime hours. She hoped Hermione wasn't worrying. But then Hermione was probably still in the common room, studying for a particular Charms quiz they were getting tomorrow.
Hannah made her way around again, taking another hour out of the night, and then tiptoed up the steps to the front doors and pulled open the doors.
"I didn't know I stayed out so late. I wonder what time it is." She had forgotten her watch in her bedroom. Creeping up the grand staircase, she thought she heard some movement at the top. Holding her breath, she edged up the railing, grasping the side.
When she reached the top and turned the corner, the "movement" materialized. She clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. There were two tall figures in black. One had tousled hair and the outline of glasses, the other was taller and lighter hair.
"Oh, it's just you Harry and Ron…oh, Hermione I didn't know you were here too!" Hannah hissed. Hermione looked particularly grumpy. She folded her arms and nodded her head at the two boys.
"They're sneaking out. I tried to stop them, and I got locked out because the fat lady is out at the moment."
Harry and Ron exhaled in a loud 'tuh!'
"She wouldn't stop complaining about how we're gonna lose points for Gryffindor if we go out, but our business is our own."
"Well, what are you doing?"
Harry sighed, "Malfoy threatened us at breakfast this morning. You two weren't there; you were in the library. Well, I got my broom for quidditch and—
"You're on the quidditch team!?"
"SSHH!" Ron hissed, we don't want to be found." Hannah looked back at Harry in disbelief.
"Well, the day I caught your Remembrall, Professor McGonagall brought to the team captain, Oliver Wood, and I've been made Seeker."
"What's a seeker?"
"No time for quidditch questions. We promised Malfoy we'd be in the trophy room right about now."
"For what?"
"He sort of challenged us to a wizard's duel." Harry said, guiltily.
"And I'm his second." Ron drew himself up importantly.
"You're in a wizard's duel?" Hannah asked in shock. Hermione looked triumphant at knowing she was right.
"Without me?" Hannah continued. Hermione looked at her, with her jaw to the floor.
"Um, sorry?"
"It's okay, let's get you there. It's another adventure. Come on, where's the trophy room?"
"To the left! To the left!"
They creaked open the door to the trophy room, which was filled with trophies of course and all kinds of medals and awards of gold and silver. They hid behind a large case and waited for any sign of movement, Hermione 'tsking' at them.
All of a sudden, there was a sound from the right door.
"It's Malfoy and Crabbe!"
"Crabbe?"
"His second!"
"Oh."
"Come, my sweet, someone's out of bed and we're gonna find them."
"It's Filch and his cat!" Harry hissed. They waited for more noise, and heard the two come in through the opposite door.
"Come on, let's make a run for it!" Hannah beckoned to them. They followed her out the nearest door and started sprinting down the corridor.
"Hurry!"
Hannah could hear the custodian's voice behind them. She wrinkled her brow, searching for a place to hide. She saw a door on the left.
"Come on, we'll hide in here!" she grabbed the handle. "Oh, darn, it's locked!"
"Move over!" Hermione pushed through with her wand out, impatient, "Alohomora!"
The door unlocked and they ran in, slamming the door behind them, ears against the wood. They heard Filch whisper gleefully about what he'd do when he caught them. His voice passed by and for a few moments there was silence.
"Whew!" Hannah leaned against the door, panting. "That was close! I wonder why this door was locked."
"Believe me, it was for a good reason." Ron said. Hannah turned around and yelled out. In front of them, drooling and growling was a dog with three heads. Its sharp teeth glistened in the moonlight that pored in from the window and all six of its eyes were upon the four children. They all screamed and flew open the door, running wildly out, slamming the door behind them.
Somehow, they made it to the fat lady painting, all sweaty and gasping.
"My, where have you four been?" the fat lady asked, sweetly.
"L-lemon drop, lemon drop," Harry wheezed out. They climbed in the common room warily and dropped into the chairs in front of the fire.
"What do they think they're doing? Keeping a thing like that in Hogwarts, that's crazy!" Ron exclaimed, scratching his head.
"I dunno." Harry said.
"Well, I'm going to bed before either of you think up another clever idea to get us killed or worse expelled! Come on Hannah!"
Hermione grabbed Hannah's arm and pulled up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. But Hannah couldn't help thinking that her long-wanted adventure was really starting to heat up.
