Chapter 10: Halloween
Malfoy was shocked to see Harry and Ron still in school the next morning. Kay stuck her tongue out at Malfoy and blew raspberries at him. He glared at her and sneered "And I suppose YOU accompanied them?"
The psi-mage's lips curled into an evil smile. "That's for ME to know and for YOU to find out."
Malfoy stalked off and Harry said, "I'm glad you're here."
Kay sighed with content. "Yep."
Harry then turned to Ron and the two boys began talking in hushed voices. Kay didn't pay much attention until "...it must be either really valuable or really dangerous..."
"...or both!"
Kay, suddenly curious, leaned sideway towards Harry. "Sooooo..." Harry jumped. "What are you two talking about?"
Harry looked at Kay blinking. "Oh—I was just telling Ron about when I went to Gringott's bank in Diagon Alley, Hagrid took something out that he said was top secret Hogwarts Business. And see this in the paper? It says here that Vault 713 had supposedly been broken in to but the Gringotts goblins insisted nothing was taken, as the vault had been already emptied of its contents the week before."
"Yeah? And what's your point?"
"That's probably what the three-headed dog is guarding!" Ron explained. "At least that's what Harry thinks."
"What else could it be guarding?"
Kay shrugged and Lexine who had been working on her chocolate chip pancakes, leaned in towards Ron and whispered "Hehe—I know something you don't know. I know something you don't...ow!" she yelped when Kay whacked her on the back of the head with a sausage link. Lexine glared at the psi-mage before taking a sip of milk. Then the wild mage had another idea...she picked up the glass and went over to Hermione who was minding her own business reading a letter obviously a parent or a friend had sent her, and whispered "Got milk?" into the witch's ear. Hermione screamed and jumped up. As a result, she knocked the glass of milk out of Lexine's hand and it spilled all over her uniform. The rest of the Gryffindors turned to see what was going on and gasped as Hermione stood dripping. She looked at Lexine who was blushing. "Oopsies..." Lex reached for a bunch of napkins and handed them to Hermione who shoved her hand away before sobbing "Leave me alone, will you?" and bolted out of the Great Hall.
Lexine slunk away towards Kay and Erni and sat down. "Slick!" said Kay.
"Go and check on her," Erin ordered.
Lexine started to stand up but Kay shook her head. "No...let Hermione be for now. She has some issues she needs to work out."
Though the other three didn't hear, Ron and Harry were still sniggering from their seats.
That late morning/early afternoon, Kay, Erin and Lexine joined Harry and Ron for a Charms lesson. Hermione was in the classroom when they arrived but her eyes were still a bit red and puffy from crying. The Professor's name was Flitwick and he was so tiny that he had to use a box to stand on in order to teach his students. That particular day they were going to try to make objects fly. "The wand motion is quite simple," Professor Flitwick began once everyone was paired up with a partner and the feathers were passed out. "Just a simple swish and flick." He demonstrated. "Try it."
"Swish and flick," the students repeated practicing the wand motion. Even Erin, though she wasn't a student, tried it. She was a witch after all and had been having problems with the spells she had attempted to perform at home. "And remember to pronounce your vowels...Wingardium levIOsa. Begin."
The pairs were not the most exiting...Hermione had been placed with Ron, who did not look the LEAST bit happy with the arrangement. Erin had been placed with Kay and Lexine with Parvati Patil and Harry with Seamus Finnigan. Erin took her wand and raised it above the feather "Wingardium Leviosa." Nothing happened. While she was inspecting the end of her wand, Kay stole the feather away and hid it under the desk.
Meahwhile at Ron and Hermione's desk, Ron was having a bit of trouble with his feather. "Wingardium LevioSA." He began waving his wand real fast until Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Stop, stop!" she snapped. "You're GOING to poke somebody's eye out. And you're saying it WRONG. It's Wingardium LevIOsa. Not Wingardium LevioSA."
Ron glared at her. "Well YOU try it then if you're so clever! Go on!"
Back at Erin and Kay's desk, Erin realized her feather was missing when she went to perform the spell again and she turned to glare at Kay.
"Kay," she snarled. "Give the feather back."
Kay looked at her innocently. "What feather?" she asked.
"Kay, stop messing around!"
Professor Flitwick approached their desk, causing both of them to look up. "Hi," said Kay waving. Flitwick frowned and then looked at Erin with a smile. "Well then—let's see what you have learned so far!"
Erin cleared her throat and was just about to raise her wand when:
BOOM!
Professor Flitwick whirled around to see both Harry and Seamus covered in soot. A scorched feather lay on the desk, still glowing orange with fire once the smoke cleared. Harry looked at Professor Flitwick, his green eyes very wide. "I think we're going to need another feather here, Professor." He squeaked.
Kay began cracking up from her seat at that moment and laughed so hard that her face began changing multiple colors.
After Charms, Kay, Erin and Lexine decided to go and explore the school rather than attend another class. On their way down the corridor, Kay saw Hagrid carrying an armful of Halloween decorations. Kay broke away from her two friends and darted in front of the half-giant. He stopped and looked down at her with a cocked eyebrow. Kay, with her pointer finger, poked him twice in the knee. "Heehee!" she darted off. Hagrid growled and shook his head. Kay returned a moment later Poke Poke she poked him in the back of the knee. "Haha!" and she scampered off again. With his fingers, Hagrid counted the seconds till Poke YOINK! Hagrid lifted Kay high into the air by the hood of her sweatshirt. "Aieeeee!" she yelped. Though her air supply was slowly cutting off, Kay had enough of her mage-strenght to lift a finger and poked Hagrid between the eyes. Startled, Hagrid dropped Kay who rolled to a stop at Lexine's feet. "Kay." Lexine sighed.
Hagrid, once he'd recovered, looked at Kay. "Little bugger," he grumbled as he continued to carry the decorations the rest of the way to the Great Hall. When he was gone, Kay began dancing around in circles singing "Silly man, silly man..."
Lexine walked in front of Kay and Erin and soon they stopped. Lexine turned around to look at them. "Remember that package Harry was talking about at breakfast this morning?"
Kay raised an eyebrow. "The one you were tormenting Ron about?"
Lexine rolled her eyes. "Yes, that one. Anyway...he was talking about the Sorceror's stone! Of course...Harry doesn't KNOW what's in the package. But we do."
Erin gasped. "Should we tell him since we know? It would save him a heck of a lot of trouble..."
The wild mage shook her head. "No! It would ruin the plot of the book if we told him—NO, Kay!"
Kay giggled evily. "But that's what we're here for, isn't it? To butcher everything?"
Lexine sighed. "No. Look...we'll play along with them...I have a bad feeling we'll wind up on the giant chess board in a few days."
"What giant chess board?" asked Kay.
"Honestly...don't you remember ANYTHING? The giant chess board separates the school from the room containing the Mirror of Erised...you'll see later."
"Oh great! So you mean we have to go down the trap door with him?" asked Erin.
Lexine nodded. "Yep."
"Damn."
"Okay, okay...enough about that. We're..." she looked up when she heard a faint rumbling noise. "what the hell..."
Lexine took Erin's arm. "The staircases move, remember?"
"Coooool!" Kay ran to hop on one of the many staircases and let it move with her on it. "Wheeeeeee!"
Erin and Lexine looked at each other with a raised eyebrow before deciding to join her. They spent a good fifteen-twenty minutes playing on the moving stairs. "Kay—this is staring to make me a TAD sick to my stomach," said Erin.
"Wheeeeeeeeee!" Kay cried. Then she looked at Erin. "What did you say?" she asked.
"I said..."
"That she wants to get off," Lexine added. The girls got off of the staircases and headed towards the courtyard where they caught sight of Harry and Ron. "It's wingardium levIOsa. Not levioSA. She's a nightmare, honestly! No wonder she doesn't have any friends!" Erin heard Ron tell Harry. Suddenly all three girls saw Hermione rush past Ron, knocking into him. Harry frowned as he watched the girl running into the school. "I think she heard you..."
"Hey!" Kay called and the boys turned. "Hi!" said Ron. "You missed Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Oh darn," laughed Kay sarcastically. "So what have you been up to?"
"Not much." The boys replied in unison.
Kay looked from one to the other. "Well!" she said. "Time for lunch!"
The rest of that afternoon and evening remained uneventful—at least until the Halloween feast that night in the Great Hall. Everyone sat eating and chatting normally when suddenly the doors burst open and Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, ran in. "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" he screamed. Then he stopped a few feet from the staff table. "Just thought you'd want to know." The he fell flat on his face. Almost immediately the Great Hall broke out in pandemonium. It took a few firecrackers and loud shouting for Dumbledore to quiet everyone. "Relax, everyone! Prefects! Please lead your houses back to the dormitories...the food will be sent up momentarily. Professors, to the dungeon."
Percey began directing the Gryffindor's to the tower and once they reached the hallway that led to the Portrait Hole, Lexine stopped Erin and Kay. "Ron and Harry...where are they?" she cried. It was then that Kay noticed the two boys missing. Erin gasped. "They're...they're going to rescue Hermione in the girl's bathroom! I remember this scene!"
Kay looked from one to the other. "Oh FINE. Come on." The girls headed off to the girls' bathroom.
Harry, meanwhile, had the ugly troll cornered. Poor Hermione had been backed against the wall, her mouth open wide in terror. "RON!" Harry cried as the troll lifted him into the air and began swinging its club stupidly. Hermione sunk to the floor, her face white as a ghost. "Do something!"
"What?"
"Anything!"
Just then the door burst open. Kay and Lexine had their hands aimed at the troll and moved towards it. Erin darted in while the beast was distracted and ran to Hermione, lifting the now sobbing girl into her arms. "I've gotcha," Erin promised, carrying her out into the corridor.
"HELP!" Harry cried out.
Kay and Lexine both used their powers as a defense. Lexine set the troll on fire (Kay ushered Harry and Ron out of the bathroom when they began choking on the smoke) and Kay shot a beam of light from her finger. The troll was gone, but the flames were no. Lexine used her water element to put out the fire nearly gagging on the smoke herself. When all was safe both mages stumbled into the corridor where Erin sat with Hermione, Ron and Harry. "Done," gasped Kay causing all of them to look up at her. Kay lookd at the kids. "That was very stupid of you."
Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Kay cut her off. "Of course Hermione isn't to blame—she didn't know about the troll, but you two did! You could have been killed!"
Ron looked down at the floor, as did Harry. Kay grinned. "Hey—I'm here to protect you."
Harry looked back up and then at Hermione. "Yeah." He replied.
"There you are!"
Everyone froze at the cold voice of Professor McGonagall. "What is the meaning of this? Explain yourselves!"
Harry started to defend himself but Hermione cut him off.
"They were looking for me, Professor."
"Ms. Granger!"
Hermione swallowed nervously before continuing. "I went looking for the troll because I—I thought I could deal with it on my own, you know...because I've read all about them."
Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger telling a downright lie to a teacher? "If Harry and Ron hadn't found me when they did, I'd probably be dead."
Professor McGonagall glared at the girl. "Well! Be that as it may...Ms. Granger, you FOOLISH girl. How could you think of facing a full grown mountain troll on your own?" the headmistress then noticed Erin, Kay and Lexine.
"And should I even ASK what you three are doing in here with them?"
"We're not students..." Kay began. "Don't deduct any points from us..."
"We were rescuing all three of them," Lexine added quickly. "I saw Harry and Ron rush off and the three of us followed them...we made sure nobody got hurt."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "I see. Well then...Ms. Granger. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgement." She looked at Harry and Ron. "As for you two...not many first year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale! Five points will be given to each of you." She turned to leave the bathroom with Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell. "For sheer dumb LUCK!" then she and Professor Snape left, but Professor Quirrell remained behind in the bathroom while the kids left.
When they reached the Gryffindor tower, they found that it was crowded with the rest of the students. The food was set up buffet style on a long table along with plates, glasses, forks, knives and napkins. Each of them went to grab a plate and Hermione, though a bit uncomfortable still, went to join Harry and Ron by the window after getting food for herself. From that night on, Harry Ron and Hermione became close friends. There are some things that can start a friendship and killing a twelve foot mountain troll is one of them.
Malfoy was shocked to see Harry and Ron still in school the next morning. Kay stuck her tongue out at Malfoy and blew raspberries at him. He glared at her and sneered "And I suppose YOU accompanied them?"
The psi-mage's lips curled into an evil smile. "That's for ME to know and for YOU to find out."
Malfoy stalked off and Harry said, "I'm glad you're here."
Kay sighed with content. "Yep."
Harry then turned to Ron and the two boys began talking in hushed voices. Kay didn't pay much attention until "...it must be either really valuable or really dangerous..."
"...or both!"
Kay, suddenly curious, leaned sideway towards Harry. "Sooooo..." Harry jumped. "What are you two talking about?"
Harry looked at Kay blinking. "Oh—I was just telling Ron about when I went to Gringott's bank in Diagon Alley, Hagrid took something out that he said was top secret Hogwarts Business. And see this in the paper? It says here that Vault 713 had supposedly been broken in to but the Gringotts goblins insisted nothing was taken, as the vault had been already emptied of its contents the week before."
"Yeah? And what's your point?"
"That's probably what the three-headed dog is guarding!" Ron explained. "At least that's what Harry thinks."
"What else could it be guarding?"
Kay shrugged and Lexine who had been working on her chocolate chip pancakes, leaned in towards Ron and whispered "Hehe—I know something you don't know. I know something you don't...ow!" she yelped when Kay whacked her on the back of the head with a sausage link. Lexine glared at the psi-mage before taking a sip of milk. Then the wild mage had another idea...she picked up the glass and went over to Hermione who was minding her own business reading a letter obviously a parent or a friend had sent her, and whispered "Got milk?" into the witch's ear. Hermione screamed and jumped up. As a result, she knocked the glass of milk out of Lexine's hand and it spilled all over her uniform. The rest of the Gryffindors turned to see what was going on and gasped as Hermione stood dripping. She looked at Lexine who was blushing. "Oopsies..." Lex reached for a bunch of napkins and handed them to Hermione who shoved her hand away before sobbing "Leave me alone, will you?" and bolted out of the Great Hall.
Lexine slunk away towards Kay and Erni and sat down. "Slick!" said Kay.
"Go and check on her," Erin ordered.
Lexine started to stand up but Kay shook her head. "No...let Hermione be for now. She has some issues she needs to work out."
Though the other three didn't hear, Ron and Harry were still sniggering from their seats.
That late morning/early afternoon, Kay, Erin and Lexine joined Harry and Ron for a Charms lesson. Hermione was in the classroom when they arrived but her eyes were still a bit red and puffy from crying. The Professor's name was Flitwick and he was so tiny that he had to use a box to stand on in order to teach his students. That particular day they were going to try to make objects fly. "The wand motion is quite simple," Professor Flitwick began once everyone was paired up with a partner and the feathers were passed out. "Just a simple swish and flick." He demonstrated. "Try it."
"Swish and flick," the students repeated practicing the wand motion. Even Erin, though she wasn't a student, tried it. She was a witch after all and had been having problems with the spells she had attempted to perform at home. "And remember to pronounce your vowels...Wingardium levIOsa. Begin."
The pairs were not the most exiting...Hermione had been placed with Ron, who did not look the LEAST bit happy with the arrangement. Erin had been placed with Kay and Lexine with Parvati Patil and Harry with Seamus Finnigan. Erin took her wand and raised it above the feather "Wingardium Leviosa." Nothing happened. While she was inspecting the end of her wand, Kay stole the feather away and hid it under the desk.
Meahwhile at Ron and Hermione's desk, Ron was having a bit of trouble with his feather. "Wingardium LevioSA." He began waving his wand real fast until Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Stop, stop!" she snapped. "You're GOING to poke somebody's eye out. And you're saying it WRONG. It's Wingardium LevIOsa. Not Wingardium LevioSA."
Ron glared at her. "Well YOU try it then if you're so clever! Go on!"
Back at Erin and Kay's desk, Erin realized her feather was missing when she went to perform the spell again and she turned to glare at Kay.
"Kay," she snarled. "Give the feather back."
Kay looked at her innocently. "What feather?" she asked.
"Kay, stop messing around!"
Professor Flitwick approached their desk, causing both of them to look up. "Hi," said Kay waving. Flitwick frowned and then looked at Erin with a smile. "Well then—let's see what you have learned so far!"
Erin cleared her throat and was just about to raise her wand when:
BOOM!
Professor Flitwick whirled around to see both Harry and Seamus covered in soot. A scorched feather lay on the desk, still glowing orange with fire once the smoke cleared. Harry looked at Professor Flitwick, his green eyes very wide. "I think we're going to need another feather here, Professor." He squeaked.
Kay began cracking up from her seat at that moment and laughed so hard that her face began changing multiple colors.
After Charms, Kay, Erin and Lexine decided to go and explore the school rather than attend another class. On their way down the corridor, Kay saw Hagrid carrying an armful of Halloween decorations. Kay broke away from her two friends and darted in front of the half-giant. He stopped and looked down at her with a cocked eyebrow. Kay, with her pointer finger, poked him twice in the knee. "Heehee!" she darted off. Hagrid growled and shook his head. Kay returned a moment later Poke Poke she poked him in the back of the knee. "Haha!" and she scampered off again. With his fingers, Hagrid counted the seconds till Poke YOINK! Hagrid lifted Kay high into the air by the hood of her sweatshirt. "Aieeeee!" she yelped. Though her air supply was slowly cutting off, Kay had enough of her mage-strenght to lift a finger and poked Hagrid between the eyes. Startled, Hagrid dropped Kay who rolled to a stop at Lexine's feet. "Kay." Lexine sighed.
Hagrid, once he'd recovered, looked at Kay. "Little bugger," he grumbled as he continued to carry the decorations the rest of the way to the Great Hall. When he was gone, Kay began dancing around in circles singing "Silly man, silly man..."
Lexine walked in front of Kay and Erin and soon they stopped. Lexine turned around to look at them. "Remember that package Harry was talking about at breakfast this morning?"
Kay raised an eyebrow. "The one you were tormenting Ron about?"
Lexine rolled her eyes. "Yes, that one. Anyway...he was talking about the Sorceror's stone! Of course...Harry doesn't KNOW what's in the package. But we do."
Erin gasped. "Should we tell him since we know? It would save him a heck of a lot of trouble..."
The wild mage shook her head. "No! It would ruin the plot of the book if we told him—NO, Kay!"
Kay giggled evily. "But that's what we're here for, isn't it? To butcher everything?"
Lexine sighed. "No. Look...we'll play along with them...I have a bad feeling we'll wind up on the giant chess board in a few days."
"What giant chess board?" asked Kay.
"Honestly...don't you remember ANYTHING? The giant chess board separates the school from the room containing the Mirror of Erised...you'll see later."
"Oh great! So you mean we have to go down the trap door with him?" asked Erin.
Lexine nodded. "Yep."
"Damn."
"Okay, okay...enough about that. We're..." she looked up when she heard a faint rumbling noise. "what the hell..."
Lexine took Erin's arm. "The staircases move, remember?"
"Coooool!" Kay ran to hop on one of the many staircases and let it move with her on it. "Wheeeeeee!"
Erin and Lexine looked at each other with a raised eyebrow before deciding to join her. They spent a good fifteen-twenty minutes playing on the moving stairs. "Kay—this is staring to make me a TAD sick to my stomach," said Erin.
"Wheeeeeeeeee!" Kay cried. Then she looked at Erin. "What did you say?" she asked.
"I said..."
"That she wants to get off," Lexine added. The girls got off of the staircases and headed towards the courtyard where they caught sight of Harry and Ron. "It's wingardium levIOsa. Not levioSA. She's a nightmare, honestly! No wonder she doesn't have any friends!" Erin heard Ron tell Harry. Suddenly all three girls saw Hermione rush past Ron, knocking into him. Harry frowned as he watched the girl running into the school. "I think she heard you..."
"Hey!" Kay called and the boys turned. "Hi!" said Ron. "You missed Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Oh darn," laughed Kay sarcastically. "So what have you been up to?"
"Not much." The boys replied in unison.
Kay looked from one to the other. "Well!" she said. "Time for lunch!"
The rest of that afternoon and evening remained uneventful—at least until the Halloween feast that night in the Great Hall. Everyone sat eating and chatting normally when suddenly the doors burst open and Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, ran in. "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" he screamed. Then he stopped a few feet from the staff table. "Just thought you'd want to know." The he fell flat on his face. Almost immediately the Great Hall broke out in pandemonium. It took a few firecrackers and loud shouting for Dumbledore to quiet everyone. "Relax, everyone! Prefects! Please lead your houses back to the dormitories...the food will be sent up momentarily. Professors, to the dungeon."
Percey began directing the Gryffindor's to the tower and once they reached the hallway that led to the Portrait Hole, Lexine stopped Erin and Kay. "Ron and Harry...where are they?" she cried. It was then that Kay noticed the two boys missing. Erin gasped. "They're...they're going to rescue Hermione in the girl's bathroom! I remember this scene!"
Kay looked from one to the other. "Oh FINE. Come on." The girls headed off to the girls' bathroom.
Harry, meanwhile, had the ugly troll cornered. Poor Hermione had been backed against the wall, her mouth open wide in terror. "RON!" Harry cried as the troll lifted him into the air and began swinging its club stupidly. Hermione sunk to the floor, her face white as a ghost. "Do something!"
"What?"
"Anything!"
Just then the door burst open. Kay and Lexine had their hands aimed at the troll and moved towards it. Erin darted in while the beast was distracted and ran to Hermione, lifting the now sobbing girl into her arms. "I've gotcha," Erin promised, carrying her out into the corridor.
"HELP!" Harry cried out.
Kay and Lexine both used their powers as a defense. Lexine set the troll on fire (Kay ushered Harry and Ron out of the bathroom when they began choking on the smoke) and Kay shot a beam of light from her finger. The troll was gone, but the flames were no. Lexine used her water element to put out the fire nearly gagging on the smoke herself. When all was safe both mages stumbled into the corridor where Erin sat with Hermione, Ron and Harry. "Done," gasped Kay causing all of them to look up at her. Kay lookd at the kids. "That was very stupid of you."
Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Kay cut her off. "Of course Hermione isn't to blame—she didn't know about the troll, but you two did! You could have been killed!"
Ron looked down at the floor, as did Harry. Kay grinned. "Hey—I'm here to protect you."
Harry looked back up and then at Hermione. "Yeah." He replied.
"There you are!"
Everyone froze at the cold voice of Professor McGonagall. "What is the meaning of this? Explain yourselves!"
Harry started to defend himself but Hermione cut him off.
"They were looking for me, Professor."
"Ms. Granger!"
Hermione swallowed nervously before continuing. "I went looking for the troll because I—I thought I could deal with it on my own, you know...because I've read all about them."
Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger telling a downright lie to a teacher? "If Harry and Ron hadn't found me when they did, I'd probably be dead."
Professor McGonagall glared at the girl. "Well! Be that as it may...Ms. Granger, you FOOLISH girl. How could you think of facing a full grown mountain troll on your own?" the headmistress then noticed Erin, Kay and Lexine.
"And should I even ASK what you three are doing in here with them?"
"We're not students..." Kay began. "Don't deduct any points from us..."
"We were rescuing all three of them," Lexine added quickly. "I saw Harry and Ron rush off and the three of us followed them...we made sure nobody got hurt."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "I see. Well then...Ms. Granger. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgement." She looked at Harry and Ron. "As for you two...not many first year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale! Five points will be given to each of you." She turned to leave the bathroom with Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell. "For sheer dumb LUCK!" then she and Professor Snape left, but Professor Quirrell remained behind in the bathroom while the kids left.
When they reached the Gryffindor tower, they found that it was crowded with the rest of the students. The food was set up buffet style on a long table along with plates, glasses, forks, knives and napkins. Each of them went to grab a plate and Hermione, though a bit uncomfortable still, went to join Harry and Ron by the window after getting food for herself. From that night on, Harry Ron and Hermione became close friends. There are some things that can start a friendship and killing a twelve foot mountain troll is one of them.