Disclaimer: I don´t own anything all rights go to J.K. Rowling
Chapter 7: The Midnight Duel
AN: Hope you enjoy the chapter
It took some time, but Jen had finally gotten used to everything at Hogwarts. She did well in most of her classes, especially Transfiguration and Potions, even if she didn´t like Snape. It was only in Astronomy and History of Magic that Jen struggled. Even though History of Magic was an interesting subject Jen had a hard time concentrating because Professor Binns voice lulled her to sleep and in Astronomy Jen could never understand anything of what the Astronomy teacher, Professor Sinistra, said. If it wasn´t for Hermione Jen would probably fail both subjects.
Even though Jen didn´t like Astronomy and History of Magic she loved Hogwarts more for every day that went by. She loved the castle with its many staircases and moving portraits, the Gryffindor common room with its roaring fire and squashy armchairs and the Great Hall with its floating candles and big feasts.
But there were also things Jen hated about Hogwarts, and that were Snape and Slytherins. Snape had made it his goal to make every Potions lesson hell for the Gryffindors, especially for Harry. The subject Jen was the absolutely best in was also the subject Jen dreaded the most. She hated to go down in the cold dungeon to have Potions with Snape and it didn´t make it better that they had the Potions lessons together with the Slytherins.
All the Slytherins hated the Gryffindors and the Gryffindors hated the Slytherins back. The Slytherin Jen hated the most was Draco Malfoy. She had never thought she could hate a person more than Tracy Danvers, the bully in her old school, but she defiantly hated Draco Malfoy more than Tracy.
Fortunately, the Gryffindors hadn´t had much contact with the Slytherins other than Potions, that is until a notice was pinned up in the Gryffindor common room telling them that they would have their flying lessons together. The flying lessons started on Thursday the same week as the notice was pinned up.
Jen read the notice about the flying lesson together with Hermione and both girls were equally nervous about it. Jen knew that the last thing she wanted to do was sitting on a broom several meters in the air while being laughed at by Slytherins. Jen knew that Hermione felt the same, especially when she couldn't learn flying by reading it out of a book.
The days leading up to the flying lesson didn´t make Jen less nervous. Everyone was talking about flying and the flying lesson and nearly all the half-bloods and purebloods, especially Malfoy, were bragging about their flying escapades, they had nearly flown into hang gliders, nearly been spotted by Muggles or crashed in fields. Even quiet Megan Jones had been convinced to tell a story of how she had flown into a tree while avoiding being spotted by a Muggle.
Neville was one of the few from a magical family that hadn´t been on a broom before and that was only because his gran didn't allow him, Jen thought that was a good thing with how often the boy got into accidents even with both his feet on the ground.
At Thursday Jen, Neville and Hermione were all very nervous about the flying lesson. At breakfast that day Hermione were reading out tips about flying from a library book called Quidditch through the Ages. Jen and Neville were the only ones from their class that really appreciated it because they desperately hoped that it might help them stay on their brooms.
Unfortunately, Hermione was interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Jen looked up and wondered if Olivia would send a reply to her latest letter, which she had sent the evening after she had opened Olivia's last letter. Jen looked down when the stream of owls started to thin out as she thought that Popcorn wouldn´t show up this morning.
Suddenly the white and brown owl flew down and crashed right into Jen´s porridge. The owl looked a bit chocked but stood up and as proudly as he could covered in porridge stretched out his leg where a letter was fastened.
"Thank you, Popcorn," Jen said with a laugh and gave the owl a piece of bacon before reading her letter.
Dear Jen
After reading your letter I just wish more than ever that I´m a witch and will be going to Hogwarts. All the lessons seem so exciting and much more interesting than the normal lessons I take, and the common room seems amazing. I would really want to sit in one of those armchairs in front of the fire, they sound so cosy.
And Jen I can´t believe that you have started with this `ghosts exist´ thing Peter always goes on about. Just so you know I don´t believe either of you.
I don´t like what you´re saying about the Slytherins and Snape, they seem really bad. But I don´t think that all Slytherins are evil; I mean, some of them have to be good.
I´m good but I feel a little bit alone now that both you and Peter are gone, and mother and father are working all the time, but I hang out a lot with my friends so it doesn´t really bother me. School is fine and I´m doing good in all my classes but I still wish that I was at Hogwarts instead.
I´m eagerly looking forward to your next letter, Jen, and it has to be really good with a lot of information about Hogwarts.
Love from
Olivia
Jen smiled at her sister's letter, she was glad that her sister was excited to hear about Hogwarts and really hoped that her sister would get a Hogwarts letter one day.
Jen put Olivia's letter in her book bag and looked up and saw that Neville had received a small package from his grandma. When he opened the package, it revealed a glass ball the size of a large marble and it was filled with white smoke.
"It´s a Rememberall!" he exclaimed. "Gran knows I forget things; this tells you if there´s something you´ve forgotten to do. Look you hold it like this and if it turns red... oh..." his face fell, because the Rememberall suddenly turned scarlet. "...you´ve forgotten something..."
Jen was trying to help Neville remember what he had forgotten when Draco Malfoy, as he passed by the Gryffindor table, snatched the Rememberall out of Neville´s hand.
"Hey, give it back!" Jen said as Harry and Ron, whom sat nearby, jumped to their feet. It looked like they wanted to hit Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble much faster than any other teacher, was there in a flash.
"What´s going on?" she said sternly.
"Malfoy´s got Neville´s Rememberall, Professor," Jen said.
Malfoy scowled, but put the Rememberall back on the table.
"Just looking," he said, before walking away with Crabbe and Goyle following behind him like large grotesque ducklings.
((&))
At three-thirty Jen, Hermione and the rest of the first-year Gryffindors hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear but breezy day and Jen shivered as the grass rippled under her feet while she marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.
As Jen and the rest of the Gryffindors reached the area where they would have their flying lessons, they saw the Slytherins standing around twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground.
Fred and George had complained endlessly to Jen about the school brooms ever since they got to know when the first-years would have their first flying lesson. They were always going on about how some of the brooms would vibrate if you flew too high, always fly slightly left or don´t listen to the flyer's commands at all.
The school brooms bad reputation didn´t help Jen´s worries about flying. The twins had tried to calm her down but it hadn´t helped much as she was still very worried and thought that she would fall off the broom.
The flying teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived right after the Gryffindors. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk and Jen thought that it was a bit scary how someone could have that eye colour.
"Well, what are you all waiting for?" Madam Hooch barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."
Jen worriedly looked down at her broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out in strange directions, others were missing.
"Stick your right hand over your broom," Madam Hooch called from the front. "And say, UP!"
"UP!" everyone shouted.
Jen´s broom didn´t even twitch. She looked up and saw that Harry´s broom had flown up in his hand on first try, but that many others just like hers, was still on the ground. Jen looked down at her broom and said "UP!" again, this time the broom twitched. She sighed and said it again; it took eight more tries before the broom finally jumped up in her hand. When she looked up, with the broom in her hand, she saw that it was only Hermione and Neville left to get the brooms up to their hands.
When everyone finally had their brooms in their hands, Madam Hooch showed them the right way to mount the brooms without sliding off the end and then corrected their grips. Jen had had to hold in her laughter when Madam Hooch told Malfoy, who had been bragging how good he was at flying, that he had been doing it wrong for years.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," Madam Hooch said when everyone was holding their brooms correctly. "Keep your broomstick steady, rise a few feet and then come straight down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle...three...two..."
But Neville, as he was scared, nervous and jumpy, pushed off before Madam Hooch had blown the whistle.
"Come back, boy!" she shouted at him, but Neville were only rising faster and faster up into the air. He was at least twenty feet in the air, his white face looked horrified down at the ground, and he gasped, slipped with his hands and fell sideways off the broom and...
WHAM- there was a thud and a nasty crack, Jen winced and looked worriedly at Neville, who was lying face down in a heap. His broom flew lazily away to the Forbidden Forest and out of sight.
Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face was pepper white.
"Broken wrist," she said, and Jen let out a relived sigh over that it wasn´t anything worse. "Come on boy, it´s alright, up you get."
She turned to them.
"None of you is to move as much as a finger while I take this boy to the Hospital Wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you´ll be out of Hogwarts before you can say `Quidditch´. Come on dear."
With his face wet of tears, Neville hobbled away with Madam Hooch´s arm around him.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Malfoy burst out laughing.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?"
The other Slytherins laughed too.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Parvati snapped.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl that Jen thought had an uncanny resemblance to a pug. "Never thought you´d like fat little cry-babies, Parvati."
"Shut up, Parkinson," Jen said. "No one wants to hear your opinion."
Before Pansy could answer Malfoy interrupted.
"Look!" he said, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It´s that stupid thing Longbottom´s gran sent him."
Jen saw the Rememberall glinting in the sunshine as he held it up.
"Give it here, Malfoy," Harry said quietly, and everyone stopped to watch.
Malfoy smiled nastily.
"I think I´ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect – how about – up a tree?"
"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy was already on his broomstick up in the air.
Even Jen, who didn´t know a thing about flying, could see that Malfoy actually was a really good flyer, much to her disappointment. He was hovering near the highest branches of a large oak.
"Come get it, Potter!" he cried.
Harry grabbed his broom.
"No!" Hermione shouted. "Madam Hooch told us not to move – you´ll get us all in trouble."
"Harry, Hermione´s right, you can get thrown out of Hogwarts!" Jen shouted.
But Harry ignored them. He kicked off hard and whooshed into the air. Jen just looked at Harry in chock – he could fly even better than Malfoy.
He went higher and higher, Jen gasped, and she heard Ron whoop in awe.
Harry and Malfoy were now facing each other and seemed to be talking. Jen couldn´t hear what they said, neither could she see their expressions. Suddenly Harry shot forward towards Malfoy, who succeeded in getting out of the way in the last moment. Harry did a sharp turn so that he and Malfoy faced each other again.
Malfoy suddenly threw the Rememberall, and Harry shot after it.
He went in a steep dive, Jen and some other girls screamed at this, and a foot over the ground he caught it. He pulled up and toppled gently onto the ground. Jen felt immense relief and happiness in seeing that Harry was okay and clutching the Rememberall in his hand.
"HARRY POTTER!"
Jen´s heart fell as she saw Professor McGonagall running towards them. He´s going to get thrown out of Hogwarts was the only thing Jen could think off.
"Never – in all my time at Hogwarts-"
Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock and she looked furious.
"- How dare you, might´ve broken your neck..."
"It wasn´t his fault, Professor..."
"Be quiet, Miss Patil..."
"But, Professor, it was Malfoy..."
"Not now, Miss MacAvity..."
"But Malfoy..."
"That´s enough, Mr Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."
Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle looked triumphant as Professor McGonagall led Harry away.
Jen looked forlornly after him.
"What did I say?" Hermione said when they had disappeared. "He would get us all in trouble, and now he has gotten himself expelled!"
Every Gryffindor in the class glared at her, even Jen.
"Not now, Hermione," was all Jen could say.
Madame Hooch came back a couple of minutes later, and immediately saw Harry´s abandoned broomstick.
"Whose broom is this?" she asked.
"Harry´s, Professor McGonagall took him with her," Jen said. "He was flying, and Professor McGonagall saw him."
"Then she will give him his punishment," Madam Hooch said. "We´ll continue class... At my whistle you'll take off from the ground...three...two...one...PUIII!"
Jen kicked off from the ground hard, exactly like Madam Hooch had instructed earlier, it was slightly terrifying to be up in the air, but everything, even the landing, was fine.
They tried that two more times before Madame Hooch said that they should fly a couple of feet forward before going back to the ground.
"You will kick off on my whistle..." Madam Hooch said. "Three...two...one...PUIII!"
Jen kicked off from the ground and she was in the air again. She leaned forward and the broom started moving, she was a bit unsteady, but it went well, until the landing. She leaned forward a little more to land, but she leaned too much forward and the broom did a steep dive right in too the ground. Jen tumbled of the broom and hit the ground, hard. She groaned and sat up while Madam Hooch ran over to check on her.
"Nothing is broken, you will probably have some bruises, though," Madam Hooch said, relived. "I think we will end the lesson now, before someone else gets hurt."
Madam Hooch collected the brooms and then sent them back up to the castle.
As Jen and Hermione were walking up to the castle, they heard Malfoy and the other Slytherins laugh.
"It seems Gryffindors can´t stay on their brooms today," Malfoy laughed. "Unlike us Slytherins, we are all natural flyers."
Hermione turned to Malfoy.
"Just so you know, you got bested in flying by a Gryffindor today," she said. "And he had no problems at all to stay at his broom and I saw at least five Slytherins that had that problem.!
Before Malfoy could answer Jen and Hermione was already on their way up to the castle again.
((&))
"You´re joking!"
Ron´s loud shout made Jen look up from her dinner and look over at him and Harry, whom were sitting a few places down the table from Jen and Hermione.
"Seeker?" Ron said. "But first-years never – you must be youngest house player in about –"
"- a century," Harry said as he shovelled pie into his mouth. "Wood told me."
Jen looked at Hermione, who was looking confused and angry.
"He got to be Seeker on the Quidditch house team," Jen said angrily.
"So he was rewarded for breaking the rules?" Hermione said angrily. "I can´t believe it! He should at least have gotten detention!"
Jen nodded in agreement but didn´t answer as Fred and George ran up to Harry and Ron and she wanted to hear what they were saying.
"Well done," George said in a low voice and Jen heard Hermione scoff. "Wood told us. We´re on the team too – Beaters."
"I tell you, we´re going to win that Quidditch Cup for sure this year," Fred said. "We haven´t won since Charlie left, but this year´s team is going to be brilliant. You must be good Harry; Wood was almost skipping when he told us."
Jen had seen the burly fifth-year Quidditch Captain a couple of times and she, even though she didn´t like that Harry had been awarded for breaking the rules, smiled and had to cover her laugh with a cough at the thought of Wood skipping in happiness.
"Anyways we´ve got to go; Lee Jordan reckons he´s found a new secret passageway out of the school."
"Bet it´s the one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."
They left and were replaced with three other people. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Having a last meal, Potter?" Malfoy said. "When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"
"You´re a lot braver now that you´re back on the ground and you´ve got your little friends with you," Harry said coolly.
Jen had to smile because there was nothing little about Crabbe or Goyle and tough they looked like they wanted to hit Harry, they couldn´t do anything with the High Table full of teachers.
"I´d take you on any time on my own," Malfoy said. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard´s duel. Wands only, no contact. What´s the matter? Never heard of a wizard´s duel before, I suppose?"
Harry will never do it, he won´t fall for Malfoy´s tricks, Jen thought.
"Of course, he has," Ron said, wheeling around. "I´m his second, who´s yours?"
Jen groaned as she heard what Ron said as she couldn´t believe how stupid this was. It was clearly a trap and Jen hoped that they wouldn´t actually follow through with this.
Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.
"Crabbe," he said "Midnight, all right? We´ll meet you in the trophy room, that´s always unlocked."
When Malfoy was gone, Harry turned to Ron.
"What is a wizard´s duel?" he said. "And what did you mean with that you are my second?"
"The second is there if the first dies," Ron said casually, eating his now cold pie. But when he saw Harry´s face, Jen´s face probably looked similar even if Ron couldn´t see it, he hastily added: "But that only happens in real ones, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy can do is send sparks at each other."
"Oh, they can´t be serious," Hermione said. "They´re actually going to do it!"
She stood up and started to walk toward Harry and Ron; Jen also stood up and followed her.
"Excuse me," Hermione said when they reached Harry and Ron.
Harry and Ron looked up at her.
"Can´t a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron said.
Hermione ignored him and Jen glared at him.
"We couldn´t help but overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying..." Hermione said.
"Bet you could," Ron muttered.
"...and you mustn´t go wandering around the school at night, think of all the points you´ll lose for Gryffindor if you´re caught, and you´re bound to be. It´s really very selfish of you."
"And it´s really none of your business," Harry said.
"Goodbye," Ron said, and Hermione walked out of the Great Hall.
Jen stayed behind and glared at Harry and Ron.
"That was really rude," Jen said to them.
"So?" Ron said glaring at her.
"You could be nicer to her," Jen said irritably. "And she is right, you know that don´t you? If you go tonight you will get caught, because Malfoy will have some plan to get you caught. He´s a Slytherin after all and you´ve already broken enough rules today, Harry. You were just lucky that it was Professor McGonagall that saw you fly and not Snape. When you get caught tonight you will get detention or be expelled, you know that right?"
"Keep your nose out," Ron said harshly and glared even more viciously at her.
Jen glared right back before she turned around and followed Hermione out of the Great Hall.
She found Hermione waiting for her in the Entrance Hall.
"Oh, they´re so infuriating!" Hermione said when they started to go up to the common room. "They´re going to sneak out tonight and then they´re going to get caught and they´ll lose Gryffindor a lot of points. Ugh, they´re so selfish... Maybe we should tell someone, Percy for example, he´s a Prefect, he could stop them."
"No, I don´t think that´s a good idea," Jen said. "They might not do it and if Percy knows he will probably tell a teacher and they will take points. I think we have to make sure they don´t sneak out ourselves."
"Well," Hermione said. "We can sit in the common room and catch them if they sneak out."
"Yeah," Jen said. "But I really hope they don´t do it."
Hermione nodded.
((&))
Jen and Hermione had followed Megan, Parvati and Lavender up to their dorm, but at eleven o'clock; they had climbed out of their beds, Jen putting on her purple dressing-gown and Hermione putting on her pink one, and went down to the common room where they sat down in two armchairs and waited.
They had waited around half an hour when they saw Harry and Ron come down from the boys' dorms. Jen couldn´t believe them, they were actually going to sneak out. They were at the portrait hole when Hermione decided to talk.
"I can´t believe you're going to do this, Harry," she said.
Jen lit a lamp so they could see each other. Hermione and Jen stood there, in pyjamas and dressing-gowns, and frowned at Harry and Ron while they looked back at them with chocked expressions.
"You!" Ron said furiously. "Go back to bed!"
"We almost told your brother, Percy," Hermione snarled. "He´s a Prefect. He´d put a stop to this."
"I really hope you have thought about this," Jen said. "Because if you haven´t now would be a really good time to do it, because what you're doing's really stupid."
Ron was about to say something back when Harry interrupted.
"Come on," he said to Ron.
Then he pushed the portrait of the Fat Lady open and climbed out, Ron following him.
Jen and Hermione followed them out of the portrait, Hermione hissing in anger.
"Don´t you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don´t want Slytherin to win the House Cup and you´ll lose all the points Jen and I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about the Switching Spells."
"You can be thrown out of Hogwarts," Jen said. "Have you thought about that?"
"Go away, both of you."
"Alright, but we warned you," Hermione hissed. "You remember what we said when you´re on the train home tomorrow, you´re so..."
They never found out what Hermione thought Harry and Ron were, for when Jen and Hermione had turned around to go back Hermione cut herself off and Jen felt her stomach drop in dread as the painting of the Fat Lady was empty. The Fat Lady had gone off somewhere and they were locked out.
"Now what are we going to do?" Hermione said shrilly.
"That´s your problem," Ron said. "We´re going to be late."
Harry and Ron started walking down the corridor and Jen looked at Hermione, who looked back at her.
"Come on, we have to go with them," Jen said quietly. "I don't want to stand out here all night and maybe we can get them out of trouble."
Hermione nodded and together they cached up with Harry and Ron, who hadn´t even left the corridor.
"We´re coming with you," Hermione said.
"You are not."
"D´you think we´re going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch us? If he finds all four of us I´ll tell him the truth: that we were trying to stop you and you can back us up," Hermione said.
"I am going to help you to not get caught," Jen said. "Because I don´t want Gryffindor to lose any points."
"You´ve got some nerve..." Ron said loudly.
"Shut up, all three of you!" Harry said sharply. "I heard something."
It was a snuffling noise and Jen felt all the colour leave her face as it sounded like Mrs Norris.
"Mrs Norris?" Ron breathed.
When Jen saw what it was that made the noise, she felt the colour return to her face as it wasn´t Mrs Norris at all, it was Neville. He was fast asleep on the floor but jerked awake as they crept nearer.
"Thank goodness you´ve found me! I´ve been out here for hours. I couldn´t remember the password to get back to bed."
"Keep your voice down, Neville," Ron said. "The password´s `Pig Snout´ but that won´t help you now; the Fat Lady´s gone off somewhere."
"Is your arm okay?" Jen asked.
"It´s fine," Neville said, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."
"Good," Harry said. "Well, look, Neville, we´ve got to be somewhere, we´ll see you later -"
"Don´t leave me!" Neville scrambled up. "I don´t want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron´s been past here twice already."
Ron looked at his watch and glared angrily at Hermione, Jen and Neville.
"If either of you get us caught, I´ll never rest until I´ve learnt that Curse of Bogies Quirrell told us about and used it on you."
Before any of them could say something more, Harry hissed at them to be quiet and then waved them all forward.
They slipped through corridors that had strips of moonlight from the windows. Jen had never been this nervous before, not even at the Sorting. She was expecting Filch or Mrs Norris to be behind every corner, but they were lucky, they met neither Filch nor Mrs Norris, and they reached the Trophy Room without seeing anybody.
The Trophy Room was empty, Malfoy wasn´t there. That Malfoy wasn´t there only made Jen surer that he had tricked them and wouldn´t show up.
They tiptoed through the room as the shining trophies and shields glittered and winked at them in the moonlight. The minutes crept by as they watched the two doors in the room.
"He´s late, maybe he´s chickened out," Ron whispered.
"He hasn´t chickened out," Jen whispered back angrily. "He won´t come because he has tricked you."
A noise in the next room made them all jump, and Harry raised his wand as if he expected Malfoy to jump out and attack him. Jen took a couple of steps back; she had a feeling that it wasn´t Malfoy but something worse. Someone started to speak in the next room – and like Jen had thought it wasn´t Malfoy.
"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."
It was Filch and Mrs Norris. Jen was terrified as Harry waved at them to follow him out of the room. They had just gotten out when they heard Filch voice again.
"They´re here somewhere," Jen heard him mutter as he entered the Trophy Room. "Probably hiding"
"This way," Harry mouthed, and petrified Jen followed him through a long gallery full of suits of armour. They could here Filch getting closer and closer. Suddenly, Neville let out a squeak and broke into a run – he tripped and grabbed Ron around the waist and the both of them went crashing into a suit of armour.
Jen was sure all the noise they were making had woken the whole castle.
"RUN!" Harry yelled and all five sprinted through the gallery without looking back for Filch. Jen ran faster then she had ever run before as they swung around a doorpost and dashed down another corridor and then another. She could barely breath as they blindly ripped through a tapestry that were hiding a hidden passageway; they raced through it and ended up near the Charms classroom, Jen knew that it was miles away from the Trophy Room.
"I think we´ve lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the wall and wiping his forehead.
Jen was forcing the air down to her lungs, leaning on a wall so she wouldn´t fall over.
"I... told...you," Hermione gasped, clutching her chest. "I... told...you"
"We´ve got to go back to the Gryffindor Tower," Ron said. "Quickly as possible."
"I told you he wouldn´t come," Jen said, when she was able to talk again. "But you didn´t listen. I said he was going to trick you and I was right. It was probably him that told Filch that someone would be in the Trophy Room."
"Let´s go," Harry said, pretending he hadn´t heard her.
They had only gotten a few steps when Peeves suddenly whizzed out from an abandoned classroom.
He gave an excited squeal when he saw them.
"Be quiet, Peeves, please, you´ll get us thrown out," Harry begged while Jen once again felt the colour drain from her face.
Peeves only laughed and Jen knew that all hope was out for them.
"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you´ll get caughty."
"Not if you don´t give us away Peeves, please."
"Should tell Filch, I should," Peeves said, his eyes glinting. "It´s for your own good, you know."
"Get out of the way," Ron said, taking a swipe at Peeves.
It was a big mistake.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
They ducked under him and ran for their lives to the end of the corridor. They slammed into the door at the end – it was looked.
"Now it´s over!" Ron groaned, as they helplessly pushed at the door. "Filch is going to catch us!"
Jen could hear Filch´s steps getting closer to Peeves screams.
"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry´s wand and tapped the lock. "Alohomora!"
The door swung open and they all piled through.
Jen was pushed to the back of the group, thanks to her short statue, and couldn´t listen at the door like the others. Instead she turned around and realised that she wasn´t standing in a room, as she had thought, but in a corridor. She wasn´t standing in a normal corridor either, she was standing in the forbidden one at the third floor. She now also knew why the corridor was forbidden as she stood frozen in fear in front of a gigantic three headed dog with yellow teeth and rolling mad eyes.
What in Merlin´s name is a Cerberus doing here, she thought. She had read about Cerberuses in one of her books about magical creatures and knew that they were a very, very dangerous creatures.
The Cerberus looked rather chocked over their sudden appearance, and Jen realised that that was the only reason they were still alive. But it would soon be over its chock and attack them.
"What?"
Jen heard Harry snap at Neville, but he fell silent as he saw the Cerberus. Jen was completely frozen in fear but when Hermione screamed and got the door open, she unfroze and ran out of the door with the others.
They practically flew through the corridors and up towards the Fat Lady´s portrait. Jen didn´t care if Filch saw them, she just wanted to get as far away from the Cerberus as possible. They didn´t stop until they had reached the Fat Lady´s portrait on the seventh floor.
Luckily for them she had returned from wherever she had been.
"Where on earth have you been?" the Fat Lady demanded as she looked at their pyjamas and dressing gowns.
"Don´t care about that," Harry gasped.
"Pig Snout, Pig Snout!" Jen panted.
The portrait opened and they stumbled into the common room, collapsing in armchairs in front of the dying fire.
It took a couple of minutes before anyone spoke; Neville actually looked like he never would speak again.
"What do they think they´re doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" Ron finally said. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."
"It´s not a dog," Jen said. "It's a Cerberus."
"I don´t care what it´s called!" Ron snapped at her.
"You don´t use your eyes, any of you, do you?" Hermione snapped as she had gotten her breath back. "Didn´t you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn´t looking at its feet, I was focusing on its three heads."
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It´s obviously guarding something."
She stood up, glaring at Harry and Ron.
"I hope you´re pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled. Now if you don´t mind, I´m going to bed."
After she had gone, Ron turned to Harry
"No, we don´t mind," he said, forgetting that Jen was still there. "You´d think we dragged her along, wouldn´t you?"
Jen glared at him and then stood up.
"Well, neither of us would have been out there if you hadn´t been stupid enough to believe Malfoy´s trick," she said. "Goodnight Neville," Jen said before following Hermione up to their dorm.
Hermione was waiting for Jen outside the door of their dorm. They quietly sneaked into the dorm, without waking Megan, Parvati and Lavender, and crept into bed.
But Jen had a hard time falling asleep as questions kept spinning around in her head. The most prominent of them were: What on earth is the Cerberus guarding? But as she didn´t have the answer to the question she soon fell asleep.