Chapter 6
The next couple of weeks progress without much happening, several times they have points taken from them because they have been reading books in class, mostly in Transfiguration, and about as many times they are rewarded points for correctly answered questions.
During several of the potion classes they take small amounts of the ingredients they need for the Skele-Gro and Bone Strengthening potions, and at the end of September they have enough collected.
Just as the dinner starts and the Slytherin common room is normally empty a pair of twins enter. They walk over to the far corner where one of them picks out a small box from a pocket. She places it on the ground and enlarges it with the build-in charm to become quite a large trunk. The other twin waves the wand he holds over the trunk and says a Notice-Me-Not charm before they open it and step inside.
Inside the trunk is a large room, much bigger then the outside which is physically impossible but that does not stop it from working in the magical world, the room consists of one bed situated against one wall, a kitchen against the same wall and a large workbench cowering the opposite. The long sides of the room is filled with cabinets and shelves that are mostly empty. The twins take of their backpacks and places four cauldrons onto the worktable.
An hour later two of the brewing potions are ready and bubbling lively. They check the potions and for the first times since they entered the trunk a word is spoken; "Both appears to be fine."
Erika nods, "I concur. That means that we have made the double the amount of Skele-Gro than what we need for just regrowing one bone each. Perhaps we could make two wands each, one for usual use and one for reserve."
"That would be good, but it will be hard to cast the last bone extracting spell without having humerus left in either arm. It might just work though." Harry uses their shared wand and transfigures two glasses so that they are easy to drink from even without the use of a hand.
They pour the bone regrowing potion into the transfigured glasses and do the finishing touches on the strengthening potions.
Harry walks over to the kitchen and takes a tall jug just from it. He pours if three quarters full with one of the remaining potions. "This should be big enough."
"I'll start?" Harry nod at Erika's question as she picks up the wand from the table. She waves the wand and the bone from Harry's upper right arm, humerus, slowly moves through the unbroken skin and drops down into the jug. Harry preforms the same spell on his sister and then she does it again at him. That is when the tricky part comes, Harry has to cast the spell without the two bones in his arms, he does manage it after some time trying and using both his hands to steady the wand.
Half an hour after having drunken the potions they lie on the bed together almost screaming in pain from the regrowing of their bones. "Perhaps we should have used the pain relieving potion that the book recommended before taking the Skele-Gro. I had no idea that it would hurt this much."
The evening and the beginning of the night passes slowly and in pain for the two eleven year olds but as midnight arrives they finally fall asleep. They woke early the next morning and got out from the trunk. After the trunk has been shrunken and put back into Erika's pocket they go outside to complete their daily fast-paced walk around Hogwarts castle.
Later that day time has come to flying class, together with Gryffindor. They walk outside where there are a long line of broomsticks placed. The flying teacher, madam Hooch, orders all the students to stand by a broomstick and command it to float up to ones hand.
"Up!" is repeated throughout the whole line with varying amounts of success. The twins' brooms lift gently of from the ground and settle into their outstretched hands. It takes almost half an hour before most has managed to grasp that first thing, though Neville, the boy with the toad, still only get it to go up half the times he tries.
After having mounted the brooms and gotten a few corrections from Hooch they are told to kick of at her whistle. What seems to be growing into a tradition, Neville does not do as told and kicks of too early. The twins see that he pulls too much on the front of the broom and will have no chance to get it under control and Erika casts a levitating charm on the back end, that causes the front end to go lower in comparison and the broom slowly descends without anyone getting harmed.
After another dull one and a half hour the twins decide on not going to the rest of the flying lessons seeing as they are optional and that they would reduce studying time. They walk up to the owlery and write a short letter home just to tell how they are doing.
A couple of weeks later the twins walk towards the Halloween feast in the great hall, a bit late because they had just changed the strengthening potion. Half the way to the hall they encounter a terrible smell in the corridor.
After carefully rounding a corner they see before them a troll and professor Quirrel. The professor orders the troll to 'wreak havoc and not be found too early' and proceeds to go and warn the professors.
The twins decide to follow the troll and see where it does. After a couple of minutes the troll jumps into a side corridor to avoid being seen by the Slytherins that return towards their common room. The Slytherins speak about how the troll could have gotten into the school and down into the dungeons. "Is it not strange that they send the students down into the dungeons then they know that the troll is there?" Erika whispers to her brother as the troll continues its trek through the castle.
After a bit more walking it is lured into one of the girls' bathrooms by the crying of someone. Knowing that the end will not be good if they wait for the professors to act they enter right behind the troll. Inside they see the Gryffindor girl that is almost as good as them in class, Hermione, sitting against a wall crying into her hands. She does not appear to have noticed the troll in her apparent distress.
The twins clasp each other's hands and Erika makes a swish-flick movement and says a barely audible "Wingardium Leviosa" in the direction of the club that the troll is just about to bring down on the girl.
The club raises to the ceiling where it stops and the troll just stares dumbly at his empty hand, having no clue as to why the club is not there anymore. Seeing their chance to get out from the bathroom with their lives intact Erika whispers out another spell, this time at Hermione, "Adveho." This causes the girl to be half lifted half dragged over the floor towards the twins. When she comes all the way over to them Harry lifts her up and they walk outside.
After locking the door into the bathroom with the key that was in the lock on the outside Erika questions, "Why are there a key to lock the bathroom for? Can it be so usual that trolls come that one need to be able to lock them in anywhere?"
Harry put Hermione down on a windowsill a couple of corridors away and after a while the girl stops crying and look up. She saw Harry standing before her, "What are you doing here in..." she looked around herself, "Where am I?"
"You are four corridors down from the bathroom, we took you out from there because a troll came in." Harry looked down on her and give her a reassuring smile. "You should head to Gryffindor common room or you might have points taken from you."
After Hermione leaves the twins go back to the bathroom door and Harry takes the wand, he taps the door. "Colloportus."
The feast that was in full go in the Slytherin common room stopped when the twins entered and everyone looks at them. A seventh year talks to the front and looks down on them with a sneer plastered on his face. "Where have you two been? Don't you think you have lost enough points for us already?"
"We have gained three more points then we have lost, so why should it bather you?" Erika answers. "Would you mind much if we could have some quiet time to study? We have a lot of books to read."
Another student, a first year, takes a step forward, "You have not been initiated to the Slytherins yet! Everyone have to be, it's not fair if you are not." two boys that make golems look smart step forward to stand beside the other boy and grunts in what probably is supposed to be an agreeing manner.
"I know it's not fair against us, but we don't have enough time." Harry tilts his head to the side, "Draco, is it?" he does not wait for the other boy to answer before making his way cross the room with his sister and sitting down in a couch.
"I'll take care of it." A fifth year girl with short black hair and dark tanned skin step forward and grab the twins' shoulders pulling them up easily. None of the other students do anything to stop the brawny girl as she makes her way through the room. The only sound to be heard is the snickering of Malfoy. The girl shove the twins into the girls bathroom and walked in behind closing the door.