Chamille went down for breakfast in the Great Hall, where plenty of surprises awaited her…………..

Her owl, Ginger, came into the great hall looking exhausted. Chamille could understand why, as it was a very long distance from Hogwarts to her house and back in one night. But Ginger looked as though she'd taken a beating. Her wing was bleeding, her leg looked to be broken, and her beak was chipped. Furthermore, she wasn't carrying a letter…only the cage she kept for Ginger at home, which was extremely heavy for one poor owl to carry!

Now I have a problem with my owl, thought Chammi, practically laughing.

She took the cage, left the Great Hall, and went to the hospital wing. Madam Pince agreed to fix up Ginger. Chamille then went to her dormitory to put Ginger's other cage there and to figure out why Ginger had brought Chammi the cage in the first place.

But when she got to her room, there was already another huge trunk on the bed. When she opened it up, it got bigger…and it held all her worldly possessions. Confused, Chammi searched through all her belongings from home until she found a Howler from her mother.

Chamille,

I don't know why the Sorting Hat put you in Hufflepuff, but we can't have a Hufflepuff in the family. Sorry! I guess you'll have to stay at Hogwarts or find a friend to stay with. Oh well! Mark my words, girl, NEVER, and I mean NEVER, darken our doorstep again!

Unsincerely,

Your former mother

Two huge teardrops appeared on the page, almost instantaneously.

Meanwhile, Susan and Hannah were wondering why Chammi's owl came carrying only a cage that they hadn't seen before, and had fled from the table. They got up and went to the dormitories, where they found Chamille crying her eyes out and literally shaking.

"What's wrong, Chammi?" Susan asked.

Chamille just held the letter out and continued crying.

Hannah and Susan read the letter and were as shocked as Chamille was upset. Hannah put a comforting arm around her and started talking gently, and Susan immediately started writing a letter to her parents seeing if Chammi could come live with them. She went to the Owlery to send it, and then came back.

"We'll stay here all day with you if we have to," said Hannah, "we're not going to leave you alone at a time like this." Susan agreed.

They skipped all their classes that day. Thankfully, no one came looking for them. Chamille was still very much upset by the end of the day, but much better than she had been in the morning.

The following day at breakfast, Susan got a letter back from her parents. This is what it said:

Efbs Tvtbo,

Gp dpvstf zpvs gsjfoe Dibnlmmf dbo tubz xjui vt. Xf ibwf b hvftu sppn, ep'ou xf?

Npn boe Ebd

Chamille and Hannah were a little scared, but Susan deciphered her parents' code, and this is what it really said:

Dear Susan,

Of course your friend Chamille can stay with us. We have a guest room, don't we?

Mom and Dad

Chammi got up and hugged Susan, thanking her a million times. Just then Dumbledore started talking.

"Attention students. Halloween is coming upon us in less than two months. We have decided to hold a Halloween ball, for all the students. The one for first through third years will be in the afternoon, and the one for older students will be at night," he said, "More information will be coming later, so find your dates now!" He chuckled and sat back down.

Chammi wished she could conjure up the nerve to ask Harry.

The beginning of October in Herbology, Chammi, Susan, and Hannah were working with Devil's Snare. They were talking about who they wished could ask them to the dance. Not one of them knew about Chamille's crush on Harry. Hannah said she wanted Ernie Macmillian would ask her. Susan was brave…she had already asked Zacharias Smith, and he said yes!

"Who do you want to go with, Chamille?" said Hannah.

She looked around quickly to think of a boy. She couldn't tell them she liked Harry Potter. Harry was way out of her league, being famous and all. Besides, Susan always hated Harry. She said he had a big head. Chamille had done a fair amount of defending Harry when that happened, but luckily they hadn't said anything.

"Ummmm……I'm going to ask…..Neville," she said nervously.

Hannah and Susan doubted her. She sounded so nervous. They looked at each other, remembered when she had defended Harry, and said "Harry!" at the exact same time.

"I honestly don't care if you ask him, Chamille…you should! It'll be good for you. Get you out of that misery, get rid of that emotional baggage from the first week of school that you've been carrying around ever since," said Susan.

"Okay. Thanks, guys," Chammi said, with a smile creeping on to her face.

arerHarr

On October 15th, no one else had asked him yet. After much encouragement from Hannah and Susan, she decided to go for it. She walked up to him, took a deep breath and said, "W-W-Will you g-go to the d-d-dance with m-me?"

She crossed her fingers behind her back and waited for his reply.