"Is it time yet?"

"No."

"Is it time yet?"

"No."

"Is it time yet?"

"No."

"Is it time yet?"

"NO! Now go throw yourself in the lake."
Please don't, Harry thought inwardly. I'd rather not see a dead body when we go into the lake.

"Okay."

"NO!" Kelly stood up and screamed.

The first year quickly sat down, looking quite aghast. No one had missed Kelly's sudden boiling temper. Most glared at Harry; he'd been the last they'd seen with her. Harry mouthed that he didn't do it, but he didn't think anyone believed him.

"Noon, right?" Ron whispered.

"Yes," Kelly confirmed. "When most people are eating lunch."

Within ten minutes Kelly managed to tell everyone off. She quietly said she was gong to get the gillyweed.

She returned momentarily, carefully balancing the three jars. She quickly handed one to both of them.

Ron walked over to the window and looked outside as Harry and Kelly started discussing what they might be up against for the thousandth time that day. Ron's jar of gillyweed became so lose it almost slipped from his grasp. Kelly was watching.

"Accio!" she said as she quickly took out her wand and pointed it at the jar, making it fly to her hand.

"Ron?" Harry asked, concerned. How many things could cause Ron to destroy his only ticket for saving Hermione's life?

Apparently several.

"Harry!" Ron gasped. "It's… it's a thing!"

"Oh, well done!" Kelly said sardonically. "I mean, he must be really smart to see a thing. There aren't that many things in the world, are there?"

Harry glared at her, and she gave him a what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it look. Harry took a deep breath, remembering how he must have been like the year before with Dolores Umbridge, and looked out the window in an effort to ignore her.

Harry really did drop his jar, but Kelly, already having her wand out, summoned it to her before it hit the ground.

"Really!" Kelly exclaimed, trying to balance all three jars again.

"Kelly, you have to see this," Harry said. "This isn't at all what you'd expect."

That was the truth. Harry sure hadn't been expecting to see a bottle-nosed dolphin swimming in the lake.

"Oh, come on, I'll see it later," Kelly said dismissively, pushing a jar back into their hands and deliberately not looking out the window. Ron looked back out the window, and Harry missed the alarmed look that came across his face.

Harry grabbed Kelly's arm with his free hand. "No, really, you gotta--"

He stopped. As he looked out the window now, the dolphin was gone.

"There's nothing unusual out there," Kelly said, peering over Harry's shoulder. "C'mon."

Harry and Ron looked out the window a moment longer, then reluctantly turned and walked outside the portrait.

It was just before noon, so few students roamed about. Those that were tended to keep a safe distance away, however; Kelly's temper had spread. In fact, there was only one person didn't go out of their way to avoid he, Ron, and Kelly.

"Oy! Peebrains!"

Figuring no one would call them a peebrain with Kelly's temper about, they kept on walking.

This was not, however, the case.

"Oy, peebrains! Potty, Weasel, Demon, that means you three gits!"

Kelly stopped and closed her eyes, almost as though praying for patience.

"I gotta bone to pick with you three and…" the speaker trailed off, and as Harry turned, he saw Malfoy with a huge smirk on his face. "Aww… still not found poor little Granger? That's a shame….

"Oh, and Kel," he added with emphasis, "if you ever need someone to talk to who knows your secret," he smirked, "I'm here." He blew her a little kiss.

Kelly brought up her foot so quick Harry doubted whether lightning was faster.

But Malfoy was prepared. His hand flew up, and he caught her foot in mid-air.

"Ah… so you learned some new tricks recently? Tell me, did they teach you how to play dead?" Kelly asked, swinging up her other foot and kicking Malfoy in the face, forcing him to let her go. "Because if they didn't, you're about to get one" (--here, Kelly said an inappropriate word--) "of a lesson."

Kelly kicked him again, and Harry thought she was finding it as a way of letting out some of her stress--he knew he would have.

"Oh--and--don't--you--ever--kiss--me--again," Kelly said, kicking him after each word. She kicked him again and flipped her hair. "Butterfly or otherwise."

"Detention!" a voice suddenly rang out.

Harry didn't dare turn around. "Oh, God…."

"Mr. Creevey, what have I told you about that camera? Haven't you taken enough pictures of Hogwarts in the last five years?"

"That way!" Kelly whispered, pointing toward the opposite corridor from which the voice was protruding.

Harry and Ron sprinted away, but Kelly remained where she was.

"Kelly--" Harry started.

"Go!" she whispered.

Harry hesitated, then turned and raced to catch back up with Ron.

"Think she'll be okay?" Ron murmured a few minutes later as they walked along the corridor, their footsteps echoing eerily off the walls.

"Yes," Harry said with such confidence that Ron blinked. "She can take care of herself, or have you not noticed, Ron?" Harry continued.

Ron grinned. "I've noticed."

They entered the Entrance Hall and looked at each other, ignoring the noise of lunch going on in the Great Hall.

"Reckon we should wait?" Ron asked apprehensively.

Harry thought for a moment. "Let's wait outside."

Ron nodded, and they walked outside.

"Harry, look!" Ron said almost immediately. He pointed toward the lake.

Harry looked. "The dolphin!" he exclaimed as it swam about, eying them.

"Come on!" Ron said, and together they sprinted toward the lake.

The dolphin kept swimming around, even after they approached.

"What's a dolphin doing here?" Harry asked.

"Why're you asking me?" Ron said, though Harry knew he had a point. "So this is a dolphin…" Ron continued. "Hermione used to talk about them loads…."

Ron suddenly flinched at the memory of Hermione.

"Where's Kelly?" Harry asked quickly.

"I don't--" Ron stopped.

The dolphin was swimming as close to them as it could, flapping its fins impatiently.

"What?" Harry asked it.

The dolphin flapped its fins again.

"Harry," Ron said quietly, "I think it wants us to ride it. Do you know where are friend is? Is she down there?" Ron asked the dolphin.

The dolphin flapped its fins joyously.

"Harry, it knows!" Ron said excitedly. "It knows where she is, Harry, it knows!"

"Ron, I heard you the first time!" Harry said, grinning.

"Come on!" Ron said, racing toward the dolphin, Harry right behind him.

They somehow managed to get on top of the dolphin, Ron holding the fin, Harry holding onto Ron. They broke open their jars of gillyweed and, Ron looking very reluctant, swallowed the slimy substance.

It suddenly became increasingly difficult to hold onto Ron, and Ron to hold onto the dolphin's fin, as webbed hands and feet were developing. Something flitted in the light breeze around Harry's neck as gills formed.

"Go," he gasped to the dolphin, which complied immediately. The first breath felt like heaven, but Harry and Ron didn't have time to celebrate. They quickly adjusted their hold, as they'd been slipping. Harry looked ahead, but then shut his eyes--the dolphin was moving abnormally fast.

But they had made one fatal mistake: they'd forgotten Kelly. And that one mistake would cost a life.

Kelly streamed out of Hogwarts trying not to think about what she just did. Screw the Statue of Secrecy, she could be put in Azkaban for breaking her code!

She looked around but didn't see Harry or Ron anywhere. "Oh, where can they be?" she asked out loud, thoroughly irritated. She'd just saved their rear ends--or rather, her and her bad temper--and now they were gone!

Kelly raced over to the lake. Had they, perhaps, just gone on ahead without her? Well, there were two ways of finding out….

No, said the angel on her shoulder, who seemed to be masking one of her associates. You'll get sent to Azkaban if you use extensive magic!

Uh… you're going there anyway! retorted her demon, mimicking the other.

You'll make the sentence even worse!
Aw, sentence, shmetence…

"Oh, God…" Kelly prayed, seeing something in the lake. "No…"

She raced over to the water and saw a few bulrushes floating nearby. She picked one up and examined it.

"Curse their stupidity!" she exclaimed, staring at the bottomless lake. "A Kelpie…."