Hermione in Ravenclaw

Chapter 4 Wizard's Duel

One night at dinner, Hermione was talking to Mandy.

"Flying lessons are coming up tomorrow, and I'm really worried. I read all I could, but I've never handled a magic broom," Hermione said.

"There's nothing too it really. I've practiced at home with my brother's broom," said Mandy.

"Did you hear about the boy who fell off his broom today and broke his wrist? He lost control and shot right up, then fell off. It's pretty scary," said Hermione.

Just then, at the next table over, Hermione heard Draco Malfoy challenging Harry Potter to a Wizard's duel at midnight in the trophy room. After they had gone, she went over to the Gryffindor table.

"Excuse me. It's none of my business, but I couldn't help overhearing that you're planning to go out late at night for a wizard's duel. You mustn't do it, because you're sure to get caught and lose points for your house."

"You're right," said Harry coldly, "It's none of your business."

"Good-bye," said Ron.

Hermione stalked away. Let them get in trouble and lose points for Gryffindor if they wanted to. Why should she care?

That night, Ron and Harry sneaked out the the Gryffindor tower and headed to the trophy room. On the way there, they met Neville Longbottom, who had forgotten the password and couldn't get back in. The Fat Lady had left her portrait, so they had to take him with them.

The trophy cases glimmered in the moonlight. They nervously waited for Malfoy to show up.

Then they heard a voice in the next room that made them jump. It was Filch!

"Sniff around, Mrs. Norris. I know the little delinquents are hiding in here somewhere."

"This way," whispered Harry to the others. They crept down a hallway lined with suits of armor. But then Neville tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist and the pair of them brought a suit of armor crashing down!

"RUN!" Harry yelled, and the three of them sprinted down the gallery and then through one passage after another, ending up in their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we lost him," gasped Harry.

Suddenly a doorknob rattled and Peeves the poltergeist popped into the room.

"Aha, Ickle Firsties out at midnight! Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty!" said Peeves.

"Don't give us away, Peeves," pleaded Harry.

"I really should, for your own good," said Peeves.

"Get out the the way," said Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves. That was a big mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" shouted Peeves, "DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!"

They ran again, down to the end of the corridor, where they ran into a locked door.

"This is it!" Ron moaned. They tugged at the doorknob helplessly, but no one could think of a spell to open it. In desperation they pounded on the door, and suddenly there was a loud growling from inside, followed by a fierce barking that sounded like a pack of wild dogs.

That was the last straw. Filch rushed to the source of the sound and found them.

"AHA! Caught you delinquints. Out after curfew, messing with my trophy room, knocking down my armor, and now trying to get into the forbidden room! You're in for it now!" said Filch.

Peeves had followed to see the fun. "Lucky you didn't get in there, Firsties, or you'd have been et all up by the big three-headed doggie that's guarding..."

"Shut up, Peeves, that's a Hogwarts secret, that is!" snarled Filch. "I'll tell the Bloody Baron!" Peeves gasped and scooted away.

Harry, Ron, and Neville were led straight to Mrs. McGonagall's study on the first floor. Harry was thinking, "I'm going to be expelled and sent back to the Dursley's. I wonder if they'd let me stay and work for Hagrid instead..."

"I'm very disappointed in the three of you," said Professor McGonagall when she arrived. "What were you doing out after hours? Explain yourselves."

It didn't seem to the boys like explaining about the wizard's duel would do anything but get them in worse trouble.

"They were looking for me," Neville volunteered. "The shock of the flying lesson accident drove the password out of my mind. They found me, but the Fat Lady was out of her portrait and we couldn't get back in."

"That doesn't explain why you were in the trophy room area," said McGonagall.

"Um, since we couldn't get back in, I wanted to show off Charlie's Quiddich trophies to them, while we waited for the Fat Lady to come back," said Ron.

"Please don't expell us," said Harry.

"What you did was a serious violation of the rules, but it's not my policy to expell students for a first curfew offense," said McGonagall. "I'll give you all detentions, and take fifty points from Gryffindor."

"Fifty points!" gasped Harry.

"Fifty points each!" said Professor McGonnagall, "And since you are all so interested in the trophies, your detentions will be polishing them for Filch."

The Gryffindors were very unhappy to find that they had lost 150 points overnight. Harry, Ron, and Neville had become the most hated people in the school. Hermione looked over at them from the Ravenclaw table with a superior "I told you so" glare.

Malfoy was disappointed they weren't expelled, but he took great pleasure in mocking them to his friends in Slytherin.

"It was a duel of wits, and I won," Malfoy smirked.

Then he pretended to be Harry, saying "Where's the dool? Where's the dool?" while his friends fell over laughing.

"One consolation," said Harry to Ron, "We learned where the mysterious package that was taken from Gringotts is being hidden. It's in that room, being guarded by a three-headed dog."

A better consolation was the Nimbus Two Thousand Broomstick Harry received by owl post. Learning about Quiddich and practicing to be a Seeker took his mind off his troubles. If he helped win some games, maybe he could make up for losing so many points for Gryffindor.