Chapter 5: Rough Beginnings

Harry walked briskly down the corridors towards the Great Hall when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a strange sight. A House elf pacing in front of a statue. Harry looked the Elf over and raised an eyebrow and whistled a low whistle. Harry was particularlly bothered by the elf but he did think it wierd that he was seeing a house elf (other than Dobby) out in the Middle of Hogwarts.

"I is sorry sir!" the House Elf squeaked.

"Alright then." Said Harry, momentarily surprised, as he backed away from the elf towards the Great Hall.

Harry reached the Tall doors to the Great Hall and pushed them open. No one seemed to notice that he had slipped in, so he gratefully walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat between Ron and Hermione.

"Harry! What happened? Where were you? Are you ok?" Hermione gasped.

"I'm fine Hermione," Harry said slighlty stiffly, not yet ready to forgive Hermione, "It was nothing."

Harry grabbed a chicken leg, some mashed potatoes, a glass of pumpkin juice and a biscuit and wolfed it down. Quite suddenly Harry felt his eyes flash with anger as he lashed out, "Hermione what was that all about on the train with Simone?!"

" Harry you CAN NOT be hanging around with that girl! She is just..." Hermione's eyes welled with tears, "Harry, please, you have got to listen to me! She is bad news!"

"How can she be bad news!? She seems perfectly normal to me!" Harry barked back.

Ron interjected hopefully, "Can you two please just drop it?"

"NO!" Harry and Hermione yelled at the same time.

Harry got up from the table and left. He walked up to the dormitory and found Hedwig there. He patted her softly on the head and muttered, "Why does there always have to be trouble?"

Hedwig squawked apologetically.

Harry took his letter off of Hedwig's leg and sent her away. He put the envelope on his bedside dresser. He went over to his trunk, found his pajamas and put them on. He laid back in bed and thought about Simone and Hermione and all that had happened today.

He spared no thought about the crazy house elf as he drifted off to a tempered sleep.

"Open up! OPEN UP! Oh no, what if master finds me here? Jabril must punish himself!" Jabril started banging his head against a statue with a large, sharp crack of sound each time. Suddenly, the statue opened up in the back and Jabril stopped his banging. "Thank the lord!" Jabril squeaked as he hurriedly went into the passage.

Harry woke up in a cold sweat and looked at his watch and its glow, 12:01. Ron was snoring lightly in the background and Harry felt another surge of sleepiness but found he could not close his eyes. He stared into the darkness for a long time before being shaken awake by a harried Ron the following morning.

End Chapter 5