Chapter 13
Caught By Hermione
Harry woke up on a dull grey morning again. It was November, and the leaves from the trees slowly left the branches and fell onto the ground. The weather changed and the lake turned into ice. If there's one thing Harry wants to change, is the time. If Harry could have more time, he could learn more about the Crystal. As in what Hermione would usually say "so many things to do, but so little time"! Harry agrees with Hermione. "Oy, Harry! Come have your breakfast"! Ron shouted from the common room. Harry was standing beside the lake looking down at the water. He starts making his way back to his cabin, only stopping when he saw Cho Chang walking towards the other side of the lake with a couple of her friends. "Where were you Harry"? Ron asked while getting up from the couch. "Just outside, it's really cold"! Harry exclaimed while sitting on one of the puffy chairs. Soon, a couple of 4th year Gryffindors woke up and left the cabin, followed by two 2nd years, and a 1st year. Harry and Ron started eating their breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausages, buttered toast, and milk). Hermione finally woke up and came out in her pyjamas looking very sleepy. "Guys, I stayed up all night and I found some stuff about the Crystal Ball of Fire"! Hermione exclaimed as soon as she saw Harry and Ron. She quickly went back into her room and came back with a huge book clutched in her hand. She shoved Ron over and sat beside Harry. "Okay, look here"! Hermione said pointing at the page.
The Crystal Ball of Fire is an unknown substance. Many scientists have been studying about this crystal ever since 1898. John Orman was the first to discover the Crystals existence. Although he knows about the Crystal's existence, he has not succeeded in finding it. There is an old riddle that says.One with a true heart, finds it. One without, loses it. Even with this riddle, the scientists could not find the crystal. There is little data dated, and hardly anyone knows about this.
"What does it mean by, one with a true heart, finds it. One without, loses it"? Ron asked. "I have no idea", Hermione said looking stunned. "There isn't a riddle I haven't cracked yet.well maybe that one about that old witch with the plumbing, but this is different"! "Hermione, the one with the old witch plumbing, is the one Fred and George made up. There is no answer to it, they just wanted to watch you struggle, which you did for 3 months", Ron sniggered. "It was 2 months! And so what if I had trouble trying to figure it out? You will too if you didn't know someone tricked you"! "What are you two muttering about"? Seamus asked walking out from the boy's room. "Nothing, we're just talking.about what happened on Halloween", Ron lied. Seamus rubbed his eyes and went back into his room. When Harry, Ron and Hermione heard the sound of Seamus's door closing, they decided to talk about this outside. Where no one can interrupt. They silently walked out from the cabin, there, Harry could see Cho sitting on a rock talking to her friends quietly. "You know what you guys? I'll be right back, you guys can talk for a bit", Harry winked at Ron. Ron blushed but walked off with Hermione. There, Harry quickly slipped into the Forbidden Forest; he jumped over tree stumps, and bushes. He decided to eavesdrop on Cho, even though he knew it wasn't a very good idea, he did it anyways. Finally, he reached his destination, and hid behind a row of bushes with a type of unusual purple berries. There, he could see Cho and her friends clearly, while peeking through a small hole from one of the bushes. "Cho! Stop it, you know he's gone"! Harry heard one of her friends say. "But Christie, you know I loved him. Even though he's gone, I still can't forget about him. I miss him so much", Cho said almost whispering. What Harry heard made him squirm a bit. So Cho did love Cedric. "I know you love him, but he's gone. You have to forget about him, you can't sulk forever. Sulking won't bring him back, and there are tones of other boys"! Christie exclaimed. "Don't you get it? I don't want to forget about Cedric! Even though he's gone I'll always remember him, and I wont ever look at other boys"! Cho snapped. I wont ever look at other boys, those words hurt Harry. Right then and there, Harry knew he would never get a chance with Cho. His mind wants him to go, but his legs wont. Part of him is hurt and wants to walk away, but the other part wants him to stay and listen to Cho's conversation with her friends. "Cho.come on, you've been crying yourself to sleep for two weeks now, and you've completely stopped eating. You got to stop this nonsense Cho. Look, we know you loved Cedri-" "And I still do love Cedric"! "We know! Now listen, can't you just give it a rest? You know he's not coming back no matter what you do. You're almost as skinny as Madam Hooch's broomstick! Cedric wouldn't want you to stop eating because of him, I'm sure of it". Cho's other friend said. "Fine.but I want to show you something, do not speak of this to anyone else", Cho said. She dug through her cloak and brought out a locket. "Cedric gave me this locket for my birthday last year. See look (Cho opened the locket and her friends crowded around her to take a look at what's inside). He even added a picture of himself, and I. And at the back he even carved Cedric and Cho Chang Forever. He's so sweet", Cho sighed. "Oh my gosh! This is so beautiful"! Harry could hear Cho's other friend exclaim. "Cho, Professor Dumbledore is about to make an announcement, please proceed towards the Quidditch Field", Professor McGonagall said suddenly appearing behind Cho. "Yes Professor McGonagall", Cho muttered. She quickly stuffed her locket in her cloak, but it fell onto the ground. Harry noticed and he now has the sudden urge to burst out behind the bushes and grab the locket and make a run for it. But that was stupid! He waited until Professor McGonagall, Cho and her friends left, and then slowly he got up from behind the bushes. He walked towards the locket looking around him, making sure no one was watching. Thankfully, no one was paying attention. He picked the locket up as if it was a fragile china doll. The front had a picture of a dove carved, with strange letterings around the border. Looking around him again, he quickly stuffed the locket in his cloak, making sure it was safely kept there. He then made his way towards the Quidditch Field. By the time he got there, all the students were there already, looking cautiously around as if something was going to jump out from the Forbidden Forest and attack them. Hermione and Ron were standing together talking quietly. "What are you guys doing"? Harry asked walking towards them. "N-nothing", Hermione blushed. "Absolutely n-n-nothing", Ron said. "What makes you think we're doing something"? "Erm.nothing, I was just wondering", Harry said giving Ron a strange look. Ron shrugged, as Dumbledore raised his hand for silence. "As you all are aware, there was an attack last night. You can all breathe a bit calmly now, since I've talked to Hagrid. He now has the centaurs guarding every entrance to Hogwarts. So further more, we are safe. But if something happens come immediately to Professor McGonagall or I. Now, one more notice for you, do not go inside the castle, the scientists are still working and their half way done. I should say they'll be done by January", Dumbledore explained. "So, students are not allowed to be inside the castle while the scientists are at work. That is all". Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked away but Hermione stopped midway. "Guys, I had the strangest feeling that you guys are going to go somewhere at night", Hermione said looking scared. "What? That's stupid"! Ron exclaimed. "Why would we go anywhere else except our cabins? Besides, with what happened on Halloween, I don't think I can ever go out anywhere at night again". "Well.it was just a feeling", Hermione muttered. The rest of the day didn't go so well, Hermione kept on asking whether they were going anywhere at night. They both were furious at eachother by the end of the day. Dinner was brought to them by house-elves again, and Hermione refused to sit anywhere near Ron, and Ron refused to be in the same atmosphere as Hermione. So they both ate in their rooms. "This is stupid, fighting over on what Hermione thinks"? Harry finally spoke up. "I don't care what she thinks! Her and her stupid mind"! Ron snapped. They finished their dinner and the house elves came back and cleared their plates. Finally, it was time to go to bed, and Harry and Ron sat on the couch in front of the fire, waiting for people to go to bed. Fred and George were the only ones left, they were playing a game of Wizard Chess while Harry and Ron watched. Fred and George finally gave up and went off to bed. "So, why did you tell me to not go to sleep? I'm so tired"! Ron mumbled, his eyes half way closed. "Remember yesterday night? You said you would go to the library with me"! Harry reminded Ron. "But I'm so tired"! "You promised"! "I'm tired"! "Fine, I'll ask Hermione then", Harry said while getting up. "NO I'LL GO"! Ron practically screamed out. The two got Harry's invisibility cloak and covered themselves with it. They silently slipped out again and walked out of the cabin. The air was cold and breezy; they could see Professor Flitwick and McGonagall talking on either side of the Gryffindor cabin. As quietly and quickly as possible, Harry and Ron hurried off towards the castle. As they closed the front doors to the castle, they noticed that the castle was a disaster. There were cardboard, wood, dust, woodchips and nails on the floor. They made their way carefully across the hall and turned left then right, and finally they stood in front of the library. They opened the door cautiously, hoping none of the scientists were inside, thankfully they weren't. The library was much more of a disaster then the hallways. Books were lying on the floor, some were stacked on top of the tables, and others were put in boxes. "Whoa.it looks as if this place has been struck by an earthquake", Ron said looking at all the books. "How are we supposed to find what we need now"? "Well, we can start from the restricted section, if there's nothing there, we'll just have to go through this mess and see what we can find", Harry instructed. They carefully made their way towards the restricted section, stumbling over books on their way. They started looking for books, after half an hour, they finally found a greyish book lying on top of a bookshelf. "Let's take this", Ron said. "This really smells", Ron said examining the book carefully. "You think someone stuck a stink bomb in here or something"? "It's just old I guess", Harry shrugged. They started to make their way back, closing the library door quietly behind them. "The work.my work, running out of time"! "What was that"? Harry said stopping. "There's someone here"! Ron panicked. A small bald man stumbled across the room, repeating the word "late and time over and over again". "Who's that"? Ron asked. "Shh, be quiet, let's follow him"! Harry whispered. The man kept on muttering to himself. Ron accidentally stubbed his toe on a hammer that has been left on the floor. He swore loudly, and that made the man stop. "Who's there"? He stammered looking around. He quickly took out his wand and muttered "lumos". The tip of his wand lit up and he swung his wand around looking frantically around. He finally gave up, and put his wand away. With a swing of his cloak, he turned left. Harry and Ron quickly continued following him but as soon as they turned, they could not find him anywhere. "Weird, I swear I saw him turn this way.where do you think he went"? Ron said. "Let's go, that guy is really weird", Harry shrugged. It only took them 5 minutes to get out of the castle and 2 minutes to get back inside their cabin. They took off the invisibility cloak as soon as they got inside. It was dark, but someone turned on the lights. "I KNEW you guys were going to go somewhere tonight"! The person snapped. "What"? Ron stammered as soon as he saw the person, hiding the book behind him and Harry. "H-Hermione"? "Yes, it's me! Where did you guys go? Do you KNOW how dangerous it is outside, especially after dark? What if Voldemort or someone was waiting out right now, with their wands out, ready to cast a spell on you"? Hermione snapped again. "Why would Voldemort be waiting for us? Besides, we had the invisibility cloak, so no one could see us"! Ron snapped back. "You never know, he might have the ability to see through invisibility cloaks"! Hermione snapped again. "I'm not going to waste another minute on you and your rubbish"! With that, Hermione stomped back into her room, and slammed the door. "She's seriously got a problem", Ron muttered darkly and made his way to his room. Harry followed. Boy it has been a day, with Hermione, Ron, and the Crystal, the locket.the locket! Harry fumbled through his cloak found Cho's locket still in his pocket. He smiled to himself as he opened the locket and saw Cho's picture. She was standing beside Cedric, with Cedric's arms around her shoulders. She had a big grin on her face, and Cedric had a smile that girl's would die for. "I'll get Cho to like me", Harry whispered. "Someday.somehow".
Harry woke up on a dull grey morning again. It was November, and the leaves from the trees slowly left the branches and fell onto the ground. The weather changed and the lake turned into ice. If there's one thing Harry wants to change, is the time. If Harry could have more time, he could learn more about the Crystal. As in what Hermione would usually say "so many things to do, but so little time"! Harry agrees with Hermione. "Oy, Harry! Come have your breakfast"! Ron shouted from the common room. Harry was standing beside the lake looking down at the water. He starts making his way back to his cabin, only stopping when he saw Cho Chang walking towards the other side of the lake with a couple of her friends. "Where were you Harry"? Ron asked while getting up from the couch. "Just outside, it's really cold"! Harry exclaimed while sitting on one of the puffy chairs. Soon, a couple of 4th year Gryffindors woke up and left the cabin, followed by two 2nd years, and a 1st year. Harry and Ron started eating their breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausages, buttered toast, and milk). Hermione finally woke up and came out in her pyjamas looking very sleepy. "Guys, I stayed up all night and I found some stuff about the Crystal Ball of Fire"! Hermione exclaimed as soon as she saw Harry and Ron. She quickly went back into her room and came back with a huge book clutched in her hand. She shoved Ron over and sat beside Harry. "Okay, look here"! Hermione said pointing at the page.
The Crystal Ball of Fire is an unknown substance. Many scientists have been studying about this crystal ever since 1898. John Orman was the first to discover the Crystals existence. Although he knows about the Crystal's existence, he has not succeeded in finding it. There is an old riddle that says.One with a true heart, finds it. One without, loses it. Even with this riddle, the scientists could not find the crystal. There is little data dated, and hardly anyone knows about this.
"What does it mean by, one with a true heart, finds it. One without, loses it"? Ron asked. "I have no idea", Hermione said looking stunned. "There isn't a riddle I haven't cracked yet.well maybe that one about that old witch with the plumbing, but this is different"! "Hermione, the one with the old witch plumbing, is the one Fred and George made up. There is no answer to it, they just wanted to watch you struggle, which you did for 3 months", Ron sniggered. "It was 2 months! And so what if I had trouble trying to figure it out? You will too if you didn't know someone tricked you"! "What are you two muttering about"? Seamus asked walking out from the boy's room. "Nothing, we're just talking.about what happened on Halloween", Ron lied. Seamus rubbed his eyes and went back into his room. When Harry, Ron and Hermione heard the sound of Seamus's door closing, they decided to talk about this outside. Where no one can interrupt. They silently walked out from the cabin, there, Harry could see Cho sitting on a rock talking to her friends quietly. "You know what you guys? I'll be right back, you guys can talk for a bit", Harry winked at Ron. Ron blushed but walked off with Hermione. There, Harry quickly slipped into the Forbidden Forest; he jumped over tree stumps, and bushes. He decided to eavesdrop on Cho, even though he knew it wasn't a very good idea, he did it anyways. Finally, he reached his destination, and hid behind a row of bushes with a type of unusual purple berries. There, he could see Cho and her friends clearly, while peeking through a small hole from one of the bushes. "Cho! Stop it, you know he's gone"! Harry heard one of her friends say. "But Christie, you know I loved him. Even though he's gone, I still can't forget about him. I miss him so much", Cho said almost whispering. What Harry heard made him squirm a bit. So Cho did love Cedric. "I know you love him, but he's gone. You have to forget about him, you can't sulk forever. Sulking won't bring him back, and there are tones of other boys"! Christie exclaimed. "Don't you get it? I don't want to forget about Cedric! Even though he's gone I'll always remember him, and I wont ever look at other boys"! Cho snapped. I wont ever look at other boys, those words hurt Harry. Right then and there, Harry knew he would never get a chance with Cho. His mind wants him to go, but his legs wont. Part of him is hurt and wants to walk away, but the other part wants him to stay and listen to Cho's conversation with her friends. "Cho.come on, you've been crying yourself to sleep for two weeks now, and you've completely stopped eating. You got to stop this nonsense Cho. Look, we know you loved Cedri-" "And I still do love Cedric"! "We know! Now listen, can't you just give it a rest? You know he's not coming back no matter what you do. You're almost as skinny as Madam Hooch's broomstick! Cedric wouldn't want you to stop eating because of him, I'm sure of it". Cho's other friend said. "Fine.but I want to show you something, do not speak of this to anyone else", Cho said. She dug through her cloak and brought out a locket. "Cedric gave me this locket for my birthday last year. See look (Cho opened the locket and her friends crowded around her to take a look at what's inside). He even added a picture of himself, and I. And at the back he even carved Cedric and Cho Chang Forever. He's so sweet", Cho sighed. "Oh my gosh! This is so beautiful"! Harry could hear Cho's other friend exclaim. "Cho, Professor Dumbledore is about to make an announcement, please proceed towards the Quidditch Field", Professor McGonagall said suddenly appearing behind Cho. "Yes Professor McGonagall", Cho muttered. She quickly stuffed her locket in her cloak, but it fell onto the ground. Harry noticed and he now has the sudden urge to burst out behind the bushes and grab the locket and make a run for it. But that was stupid! He waited until Professor McGonagall, Cho and her friends left, and then slowly he got up from behind the bushes. He walked towards the locket looking around him, making sure no one was watching. Thankfully, no one was paying attention. He picked the locket up as if it was a fragile china doll. The front had a picture of a dove carved, with strange letterings around the border. Looking around him again, he quickly stuffed the locket in his cloak, making sure it was safely kept there. He then made his way towards the Quidditch Field. By the time he got there, all the students were there already, looking cautiously around as if something was going to jump out from the Forbidden Forest and attack them. Hermione and Ron were standing together talking quietly. "What are you guys doing"? Harry asked walking towards them. "N-nothing", Hermione blushed. "Absolutely n-n-nothing", Ron said. "What makes you think we're doing something"? "Erm.nothing, I was just wondering", Harry said giving Ron a strange look. Ron shrugged, as Dumbledore raised his hand for silence. "As you all are aware, there was an attack last night. You can all breathe a bit calmly now, since I've talked to Hagrid. He now has the centaurs guarding every entrance to Hogwarts. So further more, we are safe. But if something happens come immediately to Professor McGonagall or I. Now, one more notice for you, do not go inside the castle, the scientists are still working and their half way done. I should say they'll be done by January", Dumbledore explained. "So, students are not allowed to be inside the castle while the scientists are at work. That is all". Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked away but Hermione stopped midway. "Guys, I had the strangest feeling that you guys are going to go somewhere at night", Hermione said looking scared. "What? That's stupid"! Ron exclaimed. "Why would we go anywhere else except our cabins? Besides, with what happened on Halloween, I don't think I can ever go out anywhere at night again". "Well.it was just a feeling", Hermione muttered. The rest of the day didn't go so well, Hermione kept on asking whether they were going anywhere at night. They both were furious at eachother by the end of the day. Dinner was brought to them by house-elves again, and Hermione refused to sit anywhere near Ron, and Ron refused to be in the same atmosphere as Hermione. So they both ate in their rooms. "This is stupid, fighting over on what Hermione thinks"? Harry finally spoke up. "I don't care what she thinks! Her and her stupid mind"! Ron snapped. They finished their dinner and the house elves came back and cleared their plates. Finally, it was time to go to bed, and Harry and Ron sat on the couch in front of the fire, waiting for people to go to bed. Fred and George were the only ones left, they were playing a game of Wizard Chess while Harry and Ron watched. Fred and George finally gave up and went off to bed. "So, why did you tell me to not go to sleep? I'm so tired"! Ron mumbled, his eyes half way closed. "Remember yesterday night? You said you would go to the library with me"! Harry reminded Ron. "But I'm so tired"! "You promised"! "I'm tired"! "Fine, I'll ask Hermione then", Harry said while getting up. "NO I'LL GO"! Ron practically screamed out. The two got Harry's invisibility cloak and covered themselves with it. They silently slipped out again and walked out of the cabin. The air was cold and breezy; they could see Professor Flitwick and McGonagall talking on either side of the Gryffindor cabin. As quietly and quickly as possible, Harry and Ron hurried off towards the castle. As they closed the front doors to the castle, they noticed that the castle was a disaster. There were cardboard, wood, dust, woodchips and nails on the floor. They made their way carefully across the hall and turned left then right, and finally they stood in front of the library. They opened the door cautiously, hoping none of the scientists were inside, thankfully they weren't. The library was much more of a disaster then the hallways. Books were lying on the floor, some were stacked on top of the tables, and others were put in boxes. "Whoa.it looks as if this place has been struck by an earthquake", Ron said looking at all the books. "How are we supposed to find what we need now"? "Well, we can start from the restricted section, if there's nothing there, we'll just have to go through this mess and see what we can find", Harry instructed. They carefully made their way towards the restricted section, stumbling over books on their way. They started looking for books, after half an hour, they finally found a greyish book lying on top of a bookshelf. "Let's take this", Ron said. "This really smells", Ron said examining the book carefully. "You think someone stuck a stink bomb in here or something"? "It's just old I guess", Harry shrugged. They started to make their way back, closing the library door quietly behind them. "The work.my work, running out of time"! "What was that"? Harry said stopping. "There's someone here"! Ron panicked. A small bald man stumbled across the room, repeating the word "late and time over and over again". "Who's that"? Ron asked. "Shh, be quiet, let's follow him"! Harry whispered. The man kept on muttering to himself. Ron accidentally stubbed his toe on a hammer that has been left on the floor. He swore loudly, and that made the man stop. "Who's there"? He stammered looking around. He quickly took out his wand and muttered "lumos". The tip of his wand lit up and he swung his wand around looking frantically around. He finally gave up, and put his wand away. With a swing of his cloak, he turned left. Harry and Ron quickly continued following him but as soon as they turned, they could not find him anywhere. "Weird, I swear I saw him turn this way.where do you think he went"? Ron said. "Let's go, that guy is really weird", Harry shrugged. It only took them 5 minutes to get out of the castle and 2 minutes to get back inside their cabin. They took off the invisibility cloak as soon as they got inside. It was dark, but someone turned on the lights. "I KNEW you guys were going to go somewhere tonight"! The person snapped. "What"? Ron stammered as soon as he saw the person, hiding the book behind him and Harry. "H-Hermione"? "Yes, it's me! Where did you guys go? Do you KNOW how dangerous it is outside, especially after dark? What if Voldemort or someone was waiting out right now, with their wands out, ready to cast a spell on you"? Hermione snapped again. "Why would Voldemort be waiting for us? Besides, we had the invisibility cloak, so no one could see us"! Ron snapped back. "You never know, he might have the ability to see through invisibility cloaks"! Hermione snapped again. "I'm not going to waste another minute on you and your rubbish"! With that, Hermione stomped back into her room, and slammed the door. "She's seriously got a problem", Ron muttered darkly and made his way to his room. Harry followed. Boy it has been a day, with Hermione, Ron, and the Crystal, the locket.the locket! Harry fumbled through his cloak found Cho's locket still in his pocket. He smiled to himself as he opened the locket and saw Cho's picture. She was standing beside Cedric, with Cedric's arms around her shoulders. She had a big grin on her face, and Cedric had a smile that girl's would die for. "I'll get Cho to like me", Harry whispered. "Someday.somehow".