Chapter 30: The Pact
They were not the only ones covered. Phoenix felt slime run down her face and saw Hermione covered. She turned back to Harry and Ron, trying not to laugh at the pure disgust on their faces.
"What just happened?" Harry asked, taking his glasses off and wiped them on the cleanest part of his robes.
Phoenix shrugged. "Uh, spell gone wrong?"
"Harry!" Ron squealed.
Harry looked at Phoenix with a disbelieving look.
'Phoenix and Hermione are too smart for a spell going wrong. Plus, Phoenix does not have her wand.'
"Yuck! This is so disgusting!" Ron moaned.
Harry looked cautiously around the room. There it was. Phoenix's wand lying next to her bag covered with troll guts.
"Ewe, it is so slimy!" Ron said, no one paying any attention.
"Then why is your wand lying next to your bag?"
Hermione noticed what Harry saw and piped in. "The troll knocked her wand out of her hand while she was saying a spell."
"Ewe! I think I'm going to be sick!" Ron started spitting, "I think some went in my mouth!"
The three looked at Ron, then back to each other.
"What are you guys even doing here?"
"This is so smelly!"
"We didn't see any of you at dinner. When Professor Quirrell ran into the Great Hall he yelled about a troll. We were told to go to our dormitories, but we knew neither you nor Hermione would know about the troll. We came looking for you and heard Hermione's scream and you know the rest."
"Oh! I'm going to smell like smelly socks for a week!"
"If you heard Hermione's scream and the entire racket, I wonder who else did?"
"I wonder if I'm ever going to get this slime off my robe!"
"The Professors were down in the dungeons. That was where Professor Quirrell said it would be." Harry answered as Ron continued to moan.
"It's in my hair!"
"I think we need to head to our dorms. I sure don't want to be here when the Professor's arrive." Hermione stated.
"Why did Harry talk me into this?"
"Yeah, they will be here any minute." Harry said.
Phoenix and Hermione quickly walked over to gather their things.
"How can you guys touch that?! They cover in troll guts and who knows what else!"
"Ron, Will You Shut It! You are worse than a foo foo girl! Seriously!"
"Let's go, Ron, we can wait outside." Harry suggested.
Ron dashed out the door before Harry could even get a chance.
Hermione was on her way to follow them when Phoenix stopped her.
"Wait, just a moment."
Hermione eyed her and the door. She didn't want to be in the bathroom when the Professors came, especially with the troll guts everywhere.
"It will only take a sec." Phoenix assured her seeing the way Hermione looked at the door. "Just watch." She said. Hermione finally gave up and looked back at Phoenix's direction.
"Let the object of objection
become but a dream,
As I cause the scene
to be unseen."
Phoenix chanted as the room transformed back to its normal state. Hermione could not believe her eyes. Having a wand was one thing, but saying a spell without one was another. Hermione looked around the bathroom, eyes still as big as saucers. The sinks were back on the wall. The stall doors and walls along with the toilets were back where they belonged. The troll guts was no where, hiding any evidence the troll was even in the bathroom.
"That should do it let's go." Grabbing Hermione by the sleeve, they both walked out of the girl's bathroom only to come face to face with Professors Snape, Quirrell, and McGonagall. Harry and Ron caught.
Phoenix looked at Professor Quirrell. There was something about him she didn't like. His aura was dark, and she sensed he was hiding something. He saw her staring at him and looked away uncomfortably.
"Why aren't you in your dormitory?" Professor McGonagall asked in a cold and fury voice. "There is a troll on the loose, and we specifically told you to go to your houses."
Phoenix saw Snape give Harry a piercing gaze. No one had any idea what to say until a tiny voice beside Phoenix spoke.
"Please, Professor McGonagall, they were looking for me."
"Miss Granger!"
"I…."
"Professor, Harry and Ron were looking for both of us." Phoenix stated cutting off Hermione.
"Miss Matthews?" Snape questioned.
"Well, Professors, Hermione and I were in the library." She began. "We didn't realize what time it was, and when we saw it was dinner, we hurried to get to the Great Hall. But I had to use the bathroom, and this was the only one I could think of. We didn't know about the troll, and Harry and Ron came to tell us about it. We were just heading to Gryffindor tower now."
When Phoenix finished, she looked down at the floor hoping the Professors would buy it, especially McGonagall. Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't believe what she just said. Did she just lie to them? Professor McGonagall kept her gaze on Phoenix, trying to find fault in her story. She looked her up and down, noticing the goo on Phoenix's robe. McGonagall looked over at the other three and noticed them covered in goo too. She walked passed Phoenix and entered the girl's bathroom. Seconds later, she returned. Her face in bewilderment.
"That will be five points each taken off from Gryffindor for both of you, Miss Matthews, Miss Granger." The two looked at each other, not sure on whether McGonagall had an idea on what happened. "You two could have gotten killed. As for you two," She pointed at Ron and Harry, "Ten points each for sheer luck. Now, if none of you are hurt, you'd better go off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses." McGonagall watched the four students leave.
No one spoke for a while. No one knew what to say.
"I'm really going to scrub this stench off of me." Ron moaned as they climbed two floors up.
"I wonder what the look on McGonagall's face was about? It was if she didn't find what she was looking for." asked Harry, looking at the two girls.
"I dunno." Phoenix replied.
When they reached the portrait of the fat lady Phoenix stopped everyone before entering.
"Hey, what's up?" Harry asked.
"Let's make a pact."
"What kind?" Hermione asked, interested.
"That for now on, all four of us will become friends. We made it through a troll experience together, well sorta. And you two tried to rescue us. I think we need to patch things up and become friends. I can't stand to be friends with people who dislike each other. That is not what friendship is about."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another before looking back at Phoenix.
"Agreed." The three said.
Phoenix gave a smile and turned her attention to the portrait.
"Pig snout." She said.
The door swung open, and the four crawled in, grabbed their plate of food, and sat in a corner. The smell of troll guts not bothering them anymore. From that moment on, the four of them officially became friends.