10

Halloween

Emily was exhausted as she entered the Great Hall with Draco for breakfast the next morning. Looking over at the Gryffindor table the witch groaned as she saw the cheer in her brother's face. "I don't think they understood the danger of the Cerberus," Emily told Draco as they took their usual places at the Slytherin table.

Draco looked over to see Harry and Weasley hunched over talking with excitement, the Granger girl kept looking at them with disapproval. "Well at least Granger seems to not have found it as exciting. Maybe she can stop them before you have to step in again."

"Last night she kept telling them she knew it was a set up but she still went with them anyway."

"I don't know, maybe you should figure out what is in the package before your brother then just in case. I mean it has to be really dangerous or very valuable for Dumbledore to bring it here."

"It's probably both," Emily said towards the coffee. "Can you pour me some, I need caffeine if I'm going to make it through the day."

As Draco grudgingly poured Emily's coffee, everyone's attention in the hall was drawn upwards as the mail arrived. Emily noticed a long, thin package that was being carried by six large screech owls. She watched as they dropped the package in front of her brother.

"I think that is his new broom," Draco whispered to her.

"Oh, right I forgot about the Quidditch thing. How did he order a broom so fast?" Emily asked taking a sip of her coffee before having to cover a yawn. "I am way too tired to function today."

"He probably sent out the owl order yesterday come on, you will be fine by lunch, you just hate mornings," Draco answered getting up from his seat.

"I'm bringing a cup of coffee with me. I should consider getting a coffee mug..." Draco just rolled his eyes at his best friend.

As Emily and Draco left the Great Hall they noticed Flitwick approach Harry and Weasley who were looking triumphant while they said something to Nott.

"I thought I told Nott to leave my brother alone?"

"Not in so many words."

"A stinging hex counts."

"Em, you are never going to stop the rivalry. You are just going to have to accept that. Nott is very much stuck in his ways and no amount of stinging hexes is going to change that."

"Should I try something a bit stronger?" Emily asked half-jokingly.

"Very funny… no, I think you need to let your brother fight some of his own battles and Theo is not that big of a threat to him."

Emily and Draco entered the common room that afternoon and took two spots by the fire. Both found homework quite easy and never had much to do being first years so they spent their time researching subjects that interested them or reading by the fire.

It wasn't long before their peace was disturbed by a disgruntled Theo who had entered the common room and marched straight up to Emily. "Why does your brother have a Nimbus 2000?"

"Why should I know?"

"You are his sister!"

"Yes, because we have been so chummy since I was sorted into Slytherin."

"You hexed me over someone you don't even talk to?"

"He is still family," Emily said turning her attention back to her book to show she was done with the conversation. Theo huffed but made no further attempt to speak to the witch. Emily had a hard time focusing after that. Finally giving up she shut her book and set it down on the side table. "I can't concentrate, this is pointless."

Draco looked over at her and set his own book down after marking his place. "I have an idea, why don't you go put your book away and change into your jeans."

"Ok…" Emily said not knowing what Draco had in mind as she saw him run up to the fifth year Prefect Marcus Flint. When Emily came back from changing she noticed Draco was standing with Marcus, who was carrying his broom, both were waiting for her.

"Draco thought you might enjoy learning about Quidditch and going for a fly. Does that sound good?" Marcus asked her.

"Yeah, that would be great" Emily replied smiling over at her best friend.

"Well come on then, Wood has the pitch booked tonight at seven but we can still be on it till then."

Marcus led the two first years down to the Quidditch pitch on the grounds and Emily took in the sight of the empty stadium. It was an amazing sight, the towers set up for thebystanders stretch far into the sky. Emily was starting to image why people loved the sport, there was an element ofdanger having to be so far up in the air on a broom and to maneuver the field with a ball she could only imagine. Marcus set his broom down and ducked out of sight through a door off to the side, reemerging with a crate that he set down in front of Emily.

"Quidditch isn't too hard to learn," Marcus informed her. "There are seven players on a team. Each team has three hoops they need to defend." He pointed to the golden rings high in the air on either end of the pitch. "You score by throwing the Quaffle through the hoop. Each goal is worth ten points." Marcus opened the crate and pulled out the largest red ball. "This is the Quaffle." He tossed the ball to her. Emily caught it and threw it up in the air testing out the weight, it was lighter than she expected. When she turned her attention back to the fifth year he continued. "Each team has three chasers whose job it is to get the Quaffle through the other team's hoops. There is one Keeper and it is their job to stop the Quaffle from going through the hoops." Emily nodded in understanding, this was easy three chasers who tried to make goals and a keeper who acted like a soccer goalie protecting the hoops. Marcus picked up a bat, handing it to her as he took back the Quaffle to put it away. "Now to make it a little harder we have Bludgers," he pointed to the two balls in the crate that where fighting their chains to get free. "I'm not going to take them out right now, but the Bludgers try to knock people off their brooms. Each team has two Beaters who use their bats to knock the Bludgers away from their teammates and towards the other team."

Emily thought this sounded even better. The Bludgers presented a challenge to the players. She thought she might enjoy being a chaser, flying through the air trying to score a goal while dodging Bludgers and other players.

Marcus turned back to the case and pulled out a small golden ball that had wings. "This is the Snitch, it is small as you can see and incredibly fast making it hard to catch. The seventh player on the team is called the Seeker, it is their job to catch the Snitch. Once caught the game ends and 150 points goes to the team who caught it."

Emily nodded, "Sounds fun, I can't wait to watch the first game."

"The best games are always us verses the Gryffs," Marcus told her. "They are known for getting a bit out of hand, but what's a little Quidditch without an injury or two. We've won the Quidditch cup ever since Charlie Weasley left the school to chase dragons. He was a good player, they say he could have gone pro but apparently he loves the creatures more."

"Weasley?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, he's the second oldest of the seven." Marcus answered as he looked up in the air, likely gaging the time. "He was a Gryff like the rest of them but you had to respect his skill. If what I hear is true, he lives in Romania on a Reserve now."

"I see," the witch slightly remembered the boy being mentioned before while at Hagrid's.

Marcus smirked and took the bat back putting it in the crate. "So what do you say about me taking you for a fly around the pitch before I let you loose on your own?"

"That would be amazing."

Nodding Marcus quickly moved to put the crate back where he had found it. When he came back Draco gave her a smile before turning to go sit and watch from the stands. Emily was really excited, she was going to have to thank Draco for this. It really was just the pick me up she needed.

Marcus picked up his broom and instructed Emily to sit on it in front of him. He wrapped one hand around her waist and used his other to hold onto the broom as he kicked off. As the pair flew around the pitch Emily felt a sense of ease. Marcus dove and climbed making Emily's stomach jump with excitement. Finally Marcus landed and they got off the broom.

"That was so much fun!" she exclaimed not able to hide the smile on her face.

Marcus returned her smile and held out the broom to the first year, "You want to try to fly by yourself?"

Emily nodded and he gave her a few instructions before telling her to kick off. As the wind whipped through her hair she felt a sense of freedom she had never felt before. Flying was almost as easy as breathing. She wove through the hoops and dove towards the field only to pull up at the last second.

Much too soon for Emily's liking Marcus called her back down. "You're a natural," he told her as he accepted his broom back. "I hated to stop you but we need to head in. Wood will be out here in about fifteen minutes."

Draco came down from the stands and joined the pair as they all made their way back up to the castle.

"Have you two been to the kitchens yet?" At the negative shakes from the first years Marcus smirked. "Well then, how about I show you two where the kitchens are and we can get something to take back to the common rooms since dinner is about to end." Draco and Emily were quick to agree, the pair always up to learn more about the castle.

The kitchens it turned out were behind a painting of fruit, and close to the Hufflepuff common room according to the Prefect. You just had to tickle the pear and a door appeared. The house elves working in the kitchens were more than happy to give the three Slytherins anything they wanted. Emily was sure the two baskets they made up for their small group could have fed everyone in Slytherin House.

As they made it back to the common room laden with food Emily looked between the two boys, "Thank you guys, I really needed this."

"Anytime little snake," Marcus answered the first year. "If you need anything you can always count on your housemates. Slytherins stick together."

Emily and Draco took one of the baskets and headed off to Draco's room as Marcus joined a few friends by the fire. That night Emily couldn't help but feel she was really lucky to have a friend like Draco.

Emily was wondering how the time had passed so quickly. She had been in the castle for two months now and she couldn't believe how at home she felt. Privet Drive had never been a home to her and Harry. At best they were live in servants but here she was herself. She was a witch who could fly a broom, study for fun, and hang out with her best friend eating sweets in their dorm late into the night. The only piece missing was her brother but Draco kept her well distracted.

On Halloween morning the castle woke to the smell of pumpkin and spices filling the corridors. Even better for most, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start levitating objects. Many had been looking forward to this lesson since Professor Flitwick had demonstrated it on Longbottom's toad. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs and as always Emily was paired with Draco.

Emily noticed that Harry was paired with Seamus Finnigan and much to her amusement Weasley seemed disgruntled at being paired with Granger. Though Emily noticed the poor girl didn't look too happy to be paired with the red-head either, she didn't blame her.

"Remember the wrist movements we have been working on!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. As usual he was perched on top of a pile of books overseeing the class. "You make a simple swish and flick motion. Remember the correct pronunciation of the incantation or you may end up as the wizard Baruffio who said an 's' instead of an 'f' and was crushed by a buffalo appearing on his chest."

Emily who didn't need to say the incantation looked around as people were struggling to perform the correct wand movements and say the words just right. The young witch wondered why they didn't just tell them what she had found, that magic was intent based. If she wanted something to happen all she needed to do was think of the spell and task while channeling her magic through her wand. She was by no means perfect or had a massive repertoire of spells but she was working her way through the basics currently and simple levitation of light objects was something she had practiced before.

Turning to Draco, she gave him a confused look at his raised eyebrow."Are you waiting for something?" he said pointing to the feather. Emily shook her head and flicked her wand at the feather raising it into the air. Professor Flitwick turned, seeing her feather in the air he let out an excited squeak and almost toppled from his books.

"Well done Miss. Potter! Everyone look over at Miss. Potter who is levitating her feather!" Professor Flitwick called out to the class. "10 points to Slytherin!"

Lowering her feather, Emily went back to observing the class. Finnigan looked to be getting impatient and began to prod the feather so much so that he somehow set fire to it, she smirked as Harry was quick to pull out his hat from his bag and put it out.

She next turned her attention to where Weasley was shouting, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The boy was waving his arm around in exaggerated circles like a propeller.

The sight was hard not to laugh at, Emily could hear Granger trying to correct Weasley's pronunciation and arm movements but all that seemed to do was make him move his arm faster. Finally getting angry at his lack of results and the constant nagging, the young Gryffindor put down his wand and challenged her to do it.

Granger focused on her feather and stated the incantation, on her third try she correctly levitated her feather a few feet above the desk before bringing it back down.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "5 points to Gryffindor!"

"Are you going to let the Gryffindors take the rest of the points today?" Emily challenged her best friend. Draco rolled his eyes at the witch before quickly following in Grangers footsteps and earning 5 points for Slytherin.

When class ended Emily watched as Weasley practically dragged Harry out of the classroom glaring daggers at Granger over his shoulder as they went. Granger for her part was not far behind them and despite the look from Weasley seemed to be attempting to catch up with them.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly and soon Emily was being wowed by the decorations of the Great Hall. Thousands of bats flew overhead in the hall and carved pumpkins floated above the tables, their candles flickering whenever a bat flew past. Everyone seemed in good spirits and the feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet once the majority of students were seated.

As she started eating Emily overhead Daphne tell Pansy that Weasley had insulted Granger after Charms and that she had seen the Gryffindor crying in the bathroom. From what Emily could hear the poor girl had been hiding the bathroom all afternoon and since she was absent from the feast very well may still be in there. Emily felt bad for the girl, Weasley really didn't seem to be able to sensor what came from his mouth, as she well knew from the insults he threw at her and other Slytherins often in the hallways.

She decided she would take something to the girl and see if she couldn't get her to come out of the bathroom when Professor Quirrell came barging into the Great Hall, his face looked panic stricken as he reached the Head Table. "There's a troll in the dungeon… I-I-…" he never finished his thought as he fainted, collapsing onto the stone floor.

The hall broke out into screams of terror, though everyone froze as Dumbledore released a few loud bangs with his wand. Once he had them silenced he instructed the prefects to lead the students back to their dorms. Marcus began to round up the first and second years telling them he would be taking them to library since the troll was in the dungeons.

Emily highly doubted a troll could get in without a teacher's help and she had an idea as to who it was that let it in. Her mind flashed to the forbidden third floor corridor. She turned to look behind her and noticed the professors had all disappeared including Professor Quirrell. She looked to the Gryffindor line and saw her brother and Weasley slip into line with the Hufflepuffs and groaned. Of course they were sneaking off somewhere.

Noticing Blaise and Draco were talking she took the opportunity to follow her brother before Draco turned back to check on her. She followed the pair as they skidded down a corridor and hurried toward what she knew was the girl's bathroom. They must be going for Granger. She found that slightly odd since they were the reason the girl was in there in the first place. Emily quickly fell back into the shadows avoiding being seen by the boys as they stopped when the sound of footsteps could be heard behind them.

"Percy," she heard Weasley snap as he dragged Harry behind a statue. Emily looked over to where the footsteps were coming from and saw Professor Snape instead of the redheaded prefect, he was heading for the third floor. She sighed in relief he must be thinking the same thing she was.

Emily's attention was quickly drawn back to the boys when she heard Weasley ask Harry if he smelled something. Emily sniffed and a foul stench reached her nostrils, it smelled of dirty laundry and rotten eggs. She watched as the troll that was supposed to be in the dungeons moved from another hall into the corridor. It had to be about twelve feet tall, its skin looked to be a grayish green color and it drug a large wooden club on the floor behind it. The troll stopped next to a door. Emily had to move to get a better look as the troll seemed to make up its mind and entered the doorway. She heard Harry tell Weasley they should lock it in the room. Emily quickly decided to stop them as they edged toward the open door. Before she could intervene Harry leapt at the door, slamming it shut and locking it.

"Harry, unlock that door!"

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked whirling around to see his sister walking quickly towards him.

"Saving you again, now open that door Granger is in there!" The boys seemed to come out of their shock at her appearance at the mention of Granger when a scream could be heard from inside. When neither boy made to move, Emily shook her head and reached for the door unlocking it and pulling it open with some effort. The three first years ran inside to find Hermione Granger on the far wall looking as if she was about to faint, the troll was making its way towards her. "We need to change his focus!" Emily yelled at the boys.

Harry picked up a broken tap and threw it against a wall to confuse the troll.The troll stopped and seemed to be looking around searching for what had made the noise. His eyes found Harry and he made to go after him. Weasley yelled in an attempt to help his friend and threw a pipe as hard as he could at the creature. The pipe missed the troll but his yell caught its attention and he turned toward Weasley giving Harry the time to run to Granger.

"Run Hermione! Come on we need to get out of here!" Harry yelled trying to coax Granger away from her spot on the far wall, she didn't move. Harry grabbed for her arm to pull her with him but she stood frozen in shock.

Emily for her part was thinking how best to disarm the troll, she knew most spells would bounce off his thick skin. Looking towards where the Gryffindors were standing, Emily wanted to scream as she watched her brother do something very stupid. He ran and jumped onto the troll grabbing its neck and accidentally getting his wand stuck up the creature's nose. The wand had clearly caused the troll pain and it began wildly flinging its club around. His hand moved to grab Harry and Emily knew she had to act. Thinking quickly the young witch flicked her wand at the troll's club and levitated it above the trolls head before allowing it to drop. The troll swayed and looked like it was about to fall and hurt Harry, without really thinking Emily sent an overpowered Petrificus Totalus and the swaying troll froze falling forward avoiding all the people in the room.

It was Granger who spoke first. She looked to Emily asking if it was dead.

"No, it's not dead," Emily informed the girl as she tried to catch her breath, she had put a lot of power into that spell and for being so young she could feel the effects of it on her body.

Harry bent down and retrieved his wand from the troll's nose. It was covered in gray troll boogers, making the other occupants of the room cringe in disgust as he attempted to clean it off.

The door slammed open and loud footsteps coming towards them made the first years all look up. A moment later, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape ran into the bathroom neck and neck. Quirrell entered a few moments after them and looked like he was about to faint again at the sight of the troll. He squeaked and moved over to a stall to sit down.

Snape's eyes locked onto Emily before bending over the troll. Professor McGonagall didn't even look down her eyes trained on her cubs. She looked angered and her face was white.

"What are you all doing in here?" the Professor asked with cold fury in her voice. "You should be in your dorms with your Housemates. You could have been killed!"

None of the Gryffindors seemed to be able to find their voice so Emily stepped forward and decided to take charge. "Hermione was in the bathroom because someone from her house had insulted her earlier," the Slytherin informed the Professors sending a glare towards Weasley who was pretending not to notice.

"Is that why you missed your lessons this afternoon Ms. Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Seeing Hermione nod, McGonagall become more angered but before she could say anything Emily continued, "I had heard that she was in the bathroom and came to warn her, when I got here the boys were about to do the same thing but the troll came by and entered the room first. We followed quickly, there was no time to get someone else to help. Harry tried to distract it as did Ronald so that Hermione could run but she was too shocked to move. Harry jumped on the troll which only angered it. To save him I levitated the club and used it to knock out the creature."

The professors looked at her stunned. McGonagall seemed to recover first. "I am disappointed that it was bullying in my own house that led to this and will have to take 15 points from Gryffindor for it. I think Miss. Potter that 10 points for your quick thinking to disarm the troll is in order, though I would like to point out how lucky you all are to survive a full grown mountain troll. Now you all should get back to your dorms and ready yourselves for bed." The three Gryffindors didn't need to be told twice and quickly left the bathroom before anything else could be said.

"I will escort Miss. Potter," Professor Snape announced leading Emily out of the bathroom. The two walked quietly for a few minutes until finally Professor Snape spoke breaking the silence. "We both know what you said in the bathroom is not exactly how it happened."

Emily knew he wasn't asking her a question. "My brother hates me right now because I'm a Slytherin, but he is my brother, I had to protect him."

"You also got a spell through the troll's skin. You did not just levitate the club." At Emily's stunned look he continued, "There was a mark where the spell hit the troll and though you look quite composed I can sense you are feeling a bit exhausted, am I correct..."

She normally never trusted adults but Professor Snape was someone she looked up to and felt she could trust him. She didn't think he wanted to hear the whole story so she answered him with the simple truth, "I used an overpowered ' Petrificus Totalus' ."

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing else. When they approached the Slytherin common room Professor Snape bid her goodnight and left. As Emily entered the common room Draco ran over to her.

"Where did you go? I was worried."

"I'm sorry," the girl offered just as her stomach started to growl.

"Let's grab some food, they have plenty set up so we could finish the feast. We can eat in my room while you tell me what happened."

Nodding Emily followed the blond over to where the food was laid out and the pair made their way to Draco's room so she could tell him everything that had happened when she snuck out of line to follow her brother. The two snakes talked late into night. Emily told him she thought the troll was a distraction to get to whatever the Cerberus was guarding and Draco agreed, neither could see another reason for the creature to have been let loose in the school. Eventually they both grew distracted from thoughts of trolls and three headed dogs by candy and games of chess until they both passed out from exhaustion.