Chapter 7
As the year rounded on November, the weather turned very cold almost instantly. The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake glazed over like chilled steel. Every morning, the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch bundled up in a large moleskin coat, with rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaver skin boots. Many of the students began to bundle up in warmer clothing to keep warm as it was ever more cold inside the enormous Castle.
At the moment, Josh was pacing back in forth in front of the library practicing a speech of some kind, waiting on someone to come out. Passing by students would look at him as if he was strange and weird for talking to himself. Josh left his bag and cloak on the floor nearby, pacing with his sleeves rolled up half way. He was going to talk to Daphne again. It would be the first time they talked since the boggart incident. He wanted to talk to her to apologize to her and ask her if they could continue on with his tutoring in Astronomy because he could really use it for himself and as a stepping stone to be a good friend to her.
A minute later, Daphne was leaving the library in a huff, slightly annoyed, stuffing some parchment into her bag. Josh noticed her and her expression and made his way over. "D..er.. Greengrass," he called to gain her attention.
Daphne looked up from what she was doing to see Josh, but her expression towards him became curiously stoic. "Emrys," she said. "To what do I owe the pleasure."
"I just want to apologize," Josh started. Daphne looked confused. "I shouldn't have invited Tracey to your tutoring without you permission. She didn't need it, I know that, but I was only doing it to get you two to be friends and she needed a friend and you seemed like you did to, but I don't know. It was a stupid thing to do, and I'm sorry, but I need your help because I'm failing Astronomy and I hope you give me another chance and reconsider taking me back and helping me with Astronomy. Just me and you and no one else I promise." Josh took a deep breath as he was speaking quickly. He was looking hopeful towards Daphne.
She was silent for a second and then let out a laugh that turned into a cough. "Okay," she replied with a nod. "I accept your apology and I really appreciate. I will help you. How about tomorrow before Quidditch?" Josh eagerly nodded. "Okay, I'll see you then, Josh."
Josh's heart jumped when she said his name. He didn't know why, but was it a slip of the tongue from her? He noticed that she was already walking away. "Er...I'll see you then," he called after her, then more quietly. "Daphne."
The Quidditch season had finally begun. On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship. No one really saw Harry play. Wood thought that Harry would be their secret weapon and that his training should be kept, well, secret. People had some how found out he was seeker. They had told him he'd be brilliant or that people would be running under him holding up a mattress. Josh wouldn't say that he was envious about being on the team, though he would like to be on the team. If he could, he'd be a chaser.
Things seemed to have smoothed over for between Harry, Ron, and Hermione and Sophie since that Halloween troll attack. They became better friends because of it, though Harry and Ron would use the two new good friends of theirs to help them with their schoolwork, in other words, copy the girls' work when it was due the next day. Hermione's regard for rule-breaking and points had lessened but not so much as she didn't want her new friends to get into trouble. Josh would help them out as well, seeing as he was just as smart as the girls in some of the magical areas. He was a bit dodgy in other areas, like Astronomy of course. Josh would split his time with the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Sometimes studying with Hermione, Sophie, Harry and Ron in the common room or Great Hall, and sometimes spending time with Tracey and Blaise in the Courtyard or Library. Josh found that he and Blaise had the same sense of humor in a lot of things, and the two were on to becoming great friends.
Josh was hanging and studying with his Gryffindor friends the day before Harry's first Quidditch match. All five of them were in the freezing courtyard at the moment, sitting in a circle, around a small bottled blue fire that Hermione had conjured up for them to keep them warm. Snape was crossing the yard, checking on students to which the boys noticed that he was limping. Sophie, who was sure the fire wasn't allowed, quickly grabbed it and hid it behind her cloak as Snape was suddenly heading their way.
The Professor limped up to the small group of Gryffindors, glancing at them, though his stare lingering on Potter and Emrys a little longer than the others. "What have you got there, Potter?" he asked. Everyone looked over to Harry who was holding open a book entitled, Quidditch through the Ages. It was a book Hermione and Josh had found for Harry to help him for Tomorrow's match and to keep his nerves in check.
"A book," Harry simply answered. Snape held out a hand. Harry handed him the book.
Snape opened the book to take a look at it which was titled Quidditch Through The Ages. "Library books are not permitted outside of school," he demanded as Harry glared at the greasy professor. Snape snapped the book shut. "Five points from Gryffindor," he insisted, turning a limping away. Sophie and Josh suspiciously watched as he limped away wondering what it was that could make him limp that way.
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione apologized. "I know you wanted tips and help for the match tomorrow." Harry shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure he made that rule up," Ron spoke up, laying on his stomach, resting his chin on his hands. "And I hope whatever hurt his leg is really bothering him," he pouted as he too wanted to read that book.
"I'm sure there are other books in the library to help you out?" Sophie suggested, looking to Hermione who shrugged. "Well, there's no harm in looking." Sophie stood to her feet. "Josh, would you like to go help me look?"
Josh looked up at Sophie, a little bored. "Sure, why not," he said, heaving himself up off the ground. "No harm in looking. See you guys later."
The two first years made their way to the library and began their search for a book on Quidditch for Harry but an hour later, the duo were unsuccessful. At that moment, the two were in an aisle. Sophie was looking through a shelf while Josh was sitting on the floor, looking up in boredom. "Let's face it, Roper," he began, "There are no other Quidditch books in this enormous library, which is strange."
"Come on, Emrys," Sophie smirked, "Obviously there are books, we just haven't found them. Don't give up yet."
"Too late," Josh sighed as he heaved himself up to his feet. "Let's just go ask for the book back."
Sophie turned to Josh, wide eyed. "You can't be serious."
Josh looked at her with a straight face. "Dead Serious. There's no harm in trying," he said repeating some of her words. Sophie glared at Josh.
"Fine," Sophie agreed in annoyance. Josh smiled in triumph, causing Sophie to blush. "But you're doing all the talking," she added. Josh shrugged and walked past Sophie who began to follow. Minutes later, Josh and Sophie were walking on the floor of where the staff room was. Josh was blanking leading a nervous Sophie towards the staff room. "Josh, are you sure about this?" she whispered.
Josh shrugged. "Won't know if we don't ask." He strolled over and stopped in front of the staff room door. He raised his hand to knock, yet there was no answer. He was about to knock again until Sophie snatched his wrist.
"Josh," she whispered. "Let's just go."
"Sophie, why so afraid?" Josh asked, lowering his hand. "We're just going to ask for a book, that is all. We're not going to find anything remotely interesting, it's just a simple task." And instead of knocking, Josh opened the door and the two peeked in, their eyes widened in shock or horror. Sophie gasped.
Snape and Filch were inside alone. Snape was holding his robes above his knees. One of his legs was bloodied and mangled. Filch was handing Snape bandages.
"Blasted thing," Snape grumbled. "How are you suppose to watch all three heads at once." Josh furrowed his brow as Sophie kept from gasping as the two tried to close the door quietly, but they were unlucky. "Emrys! Roper!" Snape bellowed. His face was twisted in fury as he dropped his robes covering his mangled leg. Sophie and Josh gulped., freezing in their tracks.
"Oh, hello, Professor," Josh blurted, "I wasn't expecting you to be here. We were actually just passing through - "
"Get out! OUT!" Snape yelled. Sophie bolted out at once.
Josh turned but stopped in his tracks and turned back. "Actually could we have that book back? You know that one you took?" he asked, and jumped when a book flew past his head and out into a corridor. "Right," he said. "Don't need to be told a third time." Josh turned and quickly left, closing the door behind. "That was something," he commented and looked across the corridor to see the book that was thrown at his head that was now lying on the ground floor. Josh walked over and picked it up. It was indeed Quidditch Through The Ages.
"Josh!" Josh turned to the voice of Sophie who was peeking out from another corridor. He looked back at the staff door when he thought back to Snape's leg and what he said about having to watch three heads at once. A thing with three heads sounded like the same thing Josh and his friends had run into a while back. Though, what was Snape doing trying to get past that dog? Josh turned and walked over to Sophie who followed after him when he caught up with her. The two walked in silence all the way back up to Gryffindor tower.
Sophie and Josh walked into the common room, with Josh deep in thought, making their way over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Did you get it?" Ron asked as Harry looked at them hopefully. Josh nonchalantly sat the book on the table and sat down. Sophie quietly sat down next to him, Hermione having noticed both of their expression as Harry and Ron snagged the book and opened.
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked Josh and Sophie.
"Professor Snape yelled at us and it scared me," Sophie answered, visibly shivering. "It was the worst I've seen Snape so angry. Plus he had this leg injury."
"What kind of leg injury?" Hermione curiously asked. Sophie shrugged.
"He was attacked by that three-headed dog," Josh answered causing Harry and Ron to look up. "And I keep relaying it into my head that Snape was trying to get passed that dog, but the real question is why."
"That must have been where he was going when we saw him that night on Halloween," Harry spoke up, losing interest of the quidditch book, pushing it closer to Ron. "Maybe it he was the one that let the troll in as a distraction?"
"It makes sense," Josh agreed. "He might be after what that dog is guarding."
"No, he couldn't!" Hermione said wide-eyed, and making the boys roll their eyes. "I know he isn't nice, but Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher. He possibly couldn't try to steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."
"Honestly Hermione, you think all the teachers are saints or something." Ron snapped, looking up from the book. "I'm with Harry and Josh. I wouldn't put it past Snape." Harry and Josh nodded in agreement.
"But what is it that he is after?" Harry wondered. "And what is being guarded."
Everyone shared a look of curiosity, having no idea what could possibly be inside the castle that needed guarding. After a few minutes, Hermione and Sophie decided to go to bed. Harry and Ron left next since Harry had to get a good night's rest for his upcoming Quidditch match tomorrow. Josh followed up after he finished up on some of his classwork in front of the fire. His eyes were very tiring so he leaned back into the sofa and shut his eyes. He figured he'd rest his eyes for a couple minutes and then drag himself up to bed. Though, that's not what happened. Instead, he instantly fell asleep.
He was dreaming, or, at least he felt like he was. He was in a brightly lit corridor of Hogwarts, curiously walking around. He heard giggling. Josh snapped around to see a teenage brunette girl skipping down the corridor with a huge smile on her face. If Josh didn't know any better, she looked like his mother. Judging by her Slytherin robes and her eyes, she was his mother. And she wasn't alone. She was with a boy, a faceless boy Josh couldn't recognize, but the boy was wearing Gryffindor Robes. Josh's heart jumped. Was this some kind of memory or was it just a wishful dream? Josh began running towards the couple, but the corridor seemed longer than he thought. He couldn't catch up if he wanted too. The couple just seemed to far away to him. He reached out for them. "Mum!" he shouted as loudly as he could. "Daad!"
And then he was awake. He was staring at a familiar face who was looking at him with curiosity. "Are you alright, Josh?" Neville asked, still in his pajamas. "You were murmuring in your sleep."
Josh sat up, it was still night out. He guess he had only slept for a little bit. "Yeah," he groaned. "I'm fine." That dream. It was a strange one, Josh thought. Was it real? Could it be possible? Josh stood to his feet.
"A..are your parents okay?" Neville suddenly asked out of the blue. Josh turned to stare at Neville who seemed nervous. "I mean you were shouting for them in you sleep. I was just w-wondering if they were okay. If you d-don't want to tell me. I-i understand."
"Er...they're okay, Neville," Josh assured him. "I was just having a weird dream is all."
"Oh o-okay," Neville said, nodding. He stood there a little longer as if he wanted to say something, or reveal something.
"Neville?" Josh said, "Was there something else you wanted to say?" Neville quickly shook his head, turned and ran back up to his dorm. "What a strange fella." Josh gathered up his things and he too went up to his dorm to rest for the night.
The next morning dawned very bright and early. The first Quidditch match of the season was here. Josh had actually woken up a little later than usual with most of his dorm mates already gone and out to breakfast. Josh dressed casually, grabbed his bag and walked out of his dorm and common room. He entered the Great Hall, sitting with his Gryffindor friends. All of them except Harry were eating their breakfast. Josh glanced at Harry who looked a little pale.
"Alright there, Harry?" Josh asked. Harry glanced at Josh and gave a shrug.
"He's nervous," Ron said through bites of breakfast. "It's his first Quidditch match."
"You've got to eat some breakfast, Harry," Hermione said, looking worried towards her friend. "Just have some bacon."
"I don't want anything," Harry replied as his stomach did somersaults.
"You'll need your strength Harry," Sophie said. "Seekers are the ones who get nobbled by the other team the most."
"Thanks Sophie," Harry said dryly as Sophie gave a sheepish smile.
Josh yawned after taking everything in. "She's right, they all are," He said from Harry's right. Harry sighed and shrugged. "Harry, Seekers are the most important on the team. They finish the game. And to finish, they need all the strength they can get. Now, I'm not going to force feed you but it would be good to eat something so you won't faint or anything." Harry nodded and began to try to eat his breakfast. Josh smiled at his other friends in triumph. Ron shrugged and stuffed his face, Sophie stuck her tongue out at Josh but ended with a smile, and Hermione looked at him with a impressed look.
After breakfast, Josh grabbed his bag and stood up from his friends. "Where are you going?" Sophie asked, causing everyone to look his way. "I was hoping we could hang out before the match."
"Er..I can't," Josh replied heaving his bag over his shoulder. "I have a tutoring session with er...Greengrass..."
Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Josh. "Still?" Ron said with a look of disgust. Hermione and Harry looked indifferent.
"I th-thought that was over with," Sophie said, looking disappointed.
"Oh...it was," Josh said, scratching the side of his face. "But I was able to get it back on track. You know me, rubbish at Astronomy. I could use the help."
"Then why didn't you ask me?" Hermione asked. Josh opened and closed his mouth, having no answer to that. He did have an answer, but he didn't want to reveal it. Instead, Josh just turned and left, leaving a huffing Hermione and disappointed Sophie.
Josh nearly jogged up to the library feeling excited and anxious. He didn't know why he was really feeling this way. What was so exciting about Astronomy? Josh entered the library and began to look around. He found Daphne near a large window, sitting at a small table with star maps littering the table. Not knowing that he was smiling, Josh walked over to Daphne's table. "Hi," Josh greeted, now grinning.
Daphne looked up and tried not to smile when she noticed Josh's goofy grin. "Hi," she greeted back. "Have a seat. Let's look at the latest Astronomy homework." Josh sat down across from her, took out his Astronomy work and handed it to Daphne. She took it and looked it over. "Have you been studying on your own since our last session?" She asked, not looking up from Josh's work, which was to map out a couple of constellations.
Josh scratched his head. "Of course," he answered. Daphne gave him a sharp look which made Josh shrink a bit. "I mean, no, not really."
"You're still having trouble locating the constellations," Daphne stated. She could tell by his poorly drawn maps.
"I still can't...I don't know," Josh sighed. "It's difficult for me."
Daphne nodded. "Okay," she said. "Come sit next to me." Josh nodded and moved over to the seat next to her. She put a map of the stars in between them. "Okay, we are looking for Cassiopeia. It's a simple one. It's only five stars and it kind of looks like a W." Josh nodded and looked down at the star map. Any of the stars could be made into a W. "Now, Cassiopeia is in the Northern Sky named after - "
"The Queen, yeah, I know," Josh sighed. "Always boasting about her beauty."
"How do you know that?" Daphne curiously asked.
"I tend to remember the things I read," Josh replied, still looking at the northern part of the star map.
Which got Daphne thinking. "What else do you remember about the constellation?" she asked.
Josh looked up and looked pensive. "Well, It's supposedly visibly year round at latitudes above thirty four degrees north."
"Exactly," Daphne exclaimed. "And if you look at the latitude above thirty four degrees north," She traced her finger over the latitude. "And it should be around there." Josh trace his own finger over the latitude, concentrating. He didn't know if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but a star was glowing. He quickly put his quill over that star, but then another star started glowing. He moved his quill over to that star, and then another star glowed. He repeated this a few more times and finished tracing out the constellation. He smiled, not having noticed Daphne removing her hands from underneath the table and placing them on top of the table.
"There," Josh said, looking at his work. "I found it." He looked up at Daphne and smiled.
Daphne smiled back. "Alright, let's keep going," she said. Josh nodded and the two continued with the tutoring. Daphne would have Josh find constellations and galaxies with her magical help of course. She wanted him to be great at Astronomy, though she didn't know why all of a sudden that she wanted to do this. She just chalked it up to it being wanting to see her pupil succeed in this class. Also, Josh was actually taking this tutoring very seriously. He was trying his hardest, but he didn't know what it was or why he couldn't find the constellations. They all looking like different sized, shiny dots to him. Yet, in his mind, when he would get close to a star, it would glow, as if it was his magic that was letting him know that this was what he was looking for.
"Now, where is the Sirius star?" Daphne asked.
Josh blinked as something suddenly caught him off guard. "What?" He asked. "What star?"
"The Sirius star," Daphne repeated when she noticed Josh blink a couple of times when she spoke. "It's the brightest star in the sky."
"You mean the north star?" Josh asked, scratching his head, suddenly feeling an oncoming headache.
"No, Emrys," Daphne said, shaking her head. "I meant the brightest star in the sky, which is the Sirius." Josh gasped, touching his forehead as a sharp pain struck his head. "Emrys? Josh, are you okay?"
Josh had a sudden pain in his head for some reason. What the hell was going on? "Yeah," he answered blankly. "Yeah, I'm alright."
"Maybe we should stop," Daphne suggested, glancing at her watch. "It's after eleven. Maybe we should go watch some of the Quiddtich match?"
"Quidditch," Josh repeated with a nod. The mention of Quidditch tended to ease the pain in his head. "Yeah, let's go watch some Quidditch." Daphne nodded and the two first years began gathering up their things. Josh was doing it absentmindedly as he had no idea what had just happened. What was it that was giving him a headache. Daphne was watching Josh closely and was actually thinking the same thing about what was happening. She thought that she should keep a close eye on him just in case.
Josh and Daphne left the the library with their things and began walking over to the Quidditch Pitch. The shouts and loud cheers became louder as the duo had gotten closer to the pitch. Josh was about to join the Gryffindor crowd when he noticed Daphne was still following. Josh stopped and turned to Daphne. "Er...I guess this is where we part ways," he said. Daphne looked confused until Josh waved towards his school colors that were hanging behind him.
"Oh!" Daphne said in sudden realization. "Right! Er...how about we have a session tomorrow then?" she suggested. Josh nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'll see you then." Josh then waved goodbye and walked up the stairs to join his friends for the match which seemed to be in a buzz. Daphne snapped around. Why was she about to follow him into the crowd of his house mates? She hadn't been thinking about it, only to make sure that Josh was alright. "Wait" Daphne said and shook her head. "Why do i care?" Why did she care? They weren't friends. Daphne heaved her bag over her shoulder and began making her way over to her house mates crowd to watch the match. She was about to enter the stands when she noticed Tracey and Blaise exiting the stands.
"I'm telling you," Blaise said in a disappointed voice. "The match is already lost. Potter is going to catch that snitch in the next five minutes."
"How can you be so sure!" Tracey said, crossing her arms. "This is his first game. We could come out on top!"
Blaise shook his head. "A first year doesn't make the team with just his popularity," he replied, "You saw him that day in flying class - " The two stopped when they noticed Daphne a few feet away. "Greengrass." Blaise greeted with a nod.
"Zabini," Daphne greeted back. "Hey Davis."
Tracey slightly looked taken aback. Did Daphne just politely greet her? That didn't make her feel any less guilty. "Hey, Greengrass," She greeted back softly.
"Good match?" Daphne asked.
Blaise shook his head. "No," he answered, "We never had the chance. Potter is going to end the game and Gryffindor is no doubt going to win."
"Are you sure?" Daphne asked, "I'm sure there's a chance we could still win." She then continued walking past her two house mates and up into the stands.
"What in the world was that?" Tracey asked, turning to Blaise. "She was being nice." Blaise shrugged.
Josh entered the loud shouting crowd of the Gryffindors. He pushed his way through the different aged students looking for his friends. He found them at the front of the stands cheering and waving, yelling out for Harry. "How's the match?" Josh asked, appearing next to Hermione, Ron, and Sophie. "Who's winning?"
"It's a tie right now," Sophie answered, handing Josh the binoculars.
"Has Harry found the snitch yet?" Josh asked accepting the binoculars as Ron was waving an angry fist in the air with a Slytherin chaster bumped into a Gryffindor chaser, causing them to lose their grip onto the quaffle.
"Not yet, but he's doing great helping out his teammates," Hermione replied, looking in the air. Quidditch wasn't her thing, but she was happy to be there to support her friend.
Josh took a look through the binoculars, searching for Harry and finding him in seconds. Something was happening to Harry at that moment. "Harry's going to have a hard time finding the snitch if his broom keeps acting on its own," he commented.
"What!?" Ron, Hermione and Sophie blurted in unison. "Lemme see!" Hermione hissed, snatching the binoculars from Josh and looking through them. Everyone turned to the sky to look for Harry who happened to be high up, but something dangerous was happening. Harry's broom was suddenly acting as if it had a mind of its own and was trying to buck Harry off of itself.
"Merlin!" Ron screeched, throwing a fist in the air. "Someone's cheating!"
"What do we do?!" Sophie worriedly asked, biting her lip. She was afraid for her friend. They were all worried, though Ron was angry.
"I bet it was the Slytherins that tampered with his broom!" Ron growled as Hermione began to scan around the pitch if anyone could be doing this. She new it wasn't jinxed before and that someone had to be doing it right this moment. She was also looking for a certain wizard.
"I knew it!" Hermione hissed, looking to Ron and Josh. "It's Snape! He's jinxing the broom!"
Ron grabbed the binoculars from Hermione to see for himself. "Of course he is!" he growled. "We have to do something!" He handed the binoculars to Josh who looked through them towards the Professor stands. He witnessed Snape staring unblinking towards Harry mouthing words. It was him. He also noticed Quirrell who was clasping his hands together staring ahead and shaking. What could he be so scared about at a Quidditch game.
"Leave it to me!" Hermione said as Josh lowered the binoculars. He and Ron watched as Hermione left the stands, turning to watch Harry and wait for Hermione to do whatever it was to help Harry. Josh looked up into the sky and worriedly watched Harry being bucked off his broom. Many of the other students began to notice what was going on with Harry who was holding on with his dear life. His grip was tight and was still on top of his broom. Suddenly, Harry was flipped over his broom. There were many screams, shouts and gasps from the crowd, but Harry still held tightly onto his broom with his right hand. The broom was now shaking to get Harry to let go.
Meanwhile, Hermione was hurrying as fast as she could towards the particular stands that was holding the professors. She ran as fast as she could, running up and down stairs and sneakily moving underneath the stands of the Slytherins. It was at that moment, Daphne was around the area, underneath the stands, watch the game from there. Daphne heard hurried footsteps and turned to see the bushy haired Gryffindor running by, looking desperate. She knew that certain Gryffindor was one of Josh's friends. Curious, Daphne decided to follow the bushy haired Gryffindor, following her all the way to the Professor's stands. Daphne stopped and watched as Hermione ran up the stairs underneath the professors. The Gryffindor first year was acting a little strange. Daphne then watch as Hermione whipped something out. Daphne's eyes widened as she could see a small orange light magically appear. She squinted her eyes as the orange light got brighter and brighter, and then she heard a yell.
"Fire!" Someone shouted. "Severus, you're on fire!" Someone shouted as Daphne's eyes widened in horror as she realized what that Granger girl had done, and to her Head of House no less. That was enough to make her a little angry. More shouts and screams were heard, as well as cheers from the students.
Hermione ran as fast as she could down the stairs only to stop at the bottom of the steps when she came face to face with Daphne Greengrass. Hermione was suddenly horror struck. Did this Slytherin just see what Hermione had done. They stared at each other for a couple seconds, Daphne was more or so glaring.
"You set my teacher on fire," Daphne said through her teeth.
Hermione glared back. "He was cursing Harry's broomstick!" She said just as heatedly.
"No! I don't believe it!" Daphne hissed, crossing her arms. "You're just another Gryffindor trying to pull off some stupid prank!"
Hermione guffawed, "I wasn't trying to pull some prank!" Hermione crossed her own arms. "I was trying to break Snape's eye contact to keep him from trying to kill Harry!"
"Pfft!" Daphne scoffed, "Snape trying to kill a student?! That's rich! Potter is the boy who lived, his enemies are everywhere! Anyone could have been cursing his broomstick!"
"I don't have to explain myself to you!" Hermione hissed and began to walk past Daphne who grabbed her arm.
"You're not going anywhere!" Daphne growled, holding onto Hermione. "I'm taking you to McGonagall!"
Hermione glared hard into Daphne's equally fiery eyes. "Let go of me, Greengrass," she warned. "I need to make sure Harry is okay."
"I'm sure he's fine since you started a fire," Daphne replied, "In the Professors' stands!" Daphne tugged on Hermione who tried to pull away.
"Let me go!" Hermione argued. "I'm not going to get in trouble for something a professor shouldn't have been doing in the first place!"
"Oh yeah? Where's your evidence!" Daphne growled. Frustrated, Hermione pulled harder away from Daphne who smirked and let go. Hermione gasped as she fell to the ground with a hard thud. She sat up and turned to Daphne.
"You did that on purpose!" She hissed in anger.
Daphne shrugged, looking smug. "Get up!" She ordered.
At that point, Hermione had had enough, and stood up, quickly pulling out her wand. With impressive speed, she pointed her wand at a wide-eyed Daphne. Daphne quickly pulled out her wand, but it was too late. "Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted. Daphne's wand was pulled from her hand, landing on the wood floor some feet away. Hermione then incantated, "Coalescat!" The jinx soared and struck Daphne's feet which magically stuck to the wood. Daphne swung her arms and grasped onto a wooden plank to keep from falling.
"Damn you, Granger!" Daphne hissed through her teeth.
"Don't mess with me, Greengrass," Hermione threatened and quickly ran off. Daphne glared as she watched Hermione leave. She looked over to her wand and got on her knees to reach for it. It was farther away. She did stretch out as far as she could but it was inches away from her wand. It was so close to her reach. She huffed out in frustration and growled in anger.
Hermione raced as fast as she could back towards her friends and arrived a few minutes later, moving through the crowd, stepping next to her friends, just in time to witness Harry surfing on his broom and reaching out for the snitch.
"Yes!" Ron whooped as loudly as he could. Dean and Seamus high fived one another while Neville stopped crying into Hagrid's coat and gave a fist pump.
"Go Harry!" Josh Screamed as Sophie hugged on to him smiling. Suddenly, there was a large collective gasp from many of the students as Harry had suddenly flipped forward on his broom, and fell onto the ground. It then suddenly fell silent as Harry lay still for a second. All of his friends watched in stunned silence and worry. Breaths of relieve were let out as Harry stood to his feet, heaving as the snitch plopped out of his mouth and landed into his hands.
"Harry Potter has caught the Golden Snitch!" Lee Jordan announced to everyone. "Gryffindor wins!" Cheers and shouts could be heard from three fourths of the school including most of the teachers. The team and Gryffindor house surrounded Harry to congratulate him. Josh, Hermione, Ron, and Sophie cheered as loudly as they could, shouting out for Harry. Now that the Quidditch match was over, students began to disperse and make their way back to the castle.
"Come on!" Ron said to his friends and Hagrid. "Let's go meet Harry!"
Minutes later, Josh, Hermione, Sophie, Ron, and Hagrid met up with Harry, made their way back to Hagrid's hut from hot tea and rock cakes. They were discussing what had happened to Harry's broomstick.
"I'm telling you, it was Snape!" Ron exclaimed, holding onto a rock cake while Sophie was gnawing on hers. "Josh and Hermione saw him." Hermione and Josh nodded.
"He was cursing Harry's broom," Hermione told, her mind made up. "I've read all about curses and jinxes. You've got to keep eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking!"
"Exactly," Harry and Josh spoke in unison.
"Rubbish," Hagrid replied, pouring some tea for Sophie who was still preoccupied by her cake. The other four kids rolled their eyes. "Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?" Hagrid asked, looking at each of the Gryffindors in turn.
"Who knows?" said Josh with a shrug.
"Yeah, why would he try to get past that three headed dog on Halloween?" Harry added.
Hagrid nearly dropped his teapot at the mention of the three headed dog. "Who told you about Fluffy?" He asked, setting the teapot down.
"Fluffy?" Josh, Sophie, and Ron guffawed in unison.
"That thing has a name?" Hermione disgustingly asked.
"Of course he has a name," Hagrid informed. "He's mine. Bought 'im off a Greek Chappy I met in a pub last year. I lent 'im to Dumbledore to guard the um..." But Hagrid stopped when he came to the realization about what he was about to say.
"Yes?" asked Harry as he and everyone else leaned forward waiting to hear the rest.
"No!" Hagrid said gruffly. Making Hermione and Sophie jump in fright. "Stop! Don't ask me any more questions. No more! That's top secret that it." He declared.
Hermione huffed and sat up straight. "Whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it!" Ron and the others nodded in agreement.
"Rubbish," Hagrid sighed. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher. He'd do nothing of that sort."
Josh sighed. "Come on Hagrid.
"Come on Hagrid, Snape was bitten by Fluffy by trying to get down that trapdoor. He wants whats down there," Josh explained.
"I'm tellin' ya yer wrong!" Hagrid said hotly and a little loudly once again making Ron and Hermione jump. Harry and Josh leaned back and rolled their eyes. "I don't know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of you. Yer meddlin' in things that aren't meant to be meddled with. What my dog's guarding is strictly between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel!"
"Who's Nicholas Flamel?" Sophie asked, looking up from her rock cake.
"Yes, who is he?" Hermione quickly asked.
Hagrid looked ashamed and furious of himself. "I should not have said that," he muttered with a shake of his head.
"Yeah, who is he?" Ron asked.
"That's it. Out, all of you," Hagrid said, grabbing Josh and Ron by the robes to lead them out. Harry, Sophie, and Hermione followed them out, shutting them outside his hut.
"So who's Nicholas Flamel?" Harry asked aloud, turning to his friends. Ron and Josh shrugged as they and Sophie looked at Hermione.
"I dunno," she answered with a shrug.
Later that day, Josh, Sophie, and Hermione were walking down a corridor, heading back towards their common room. Ron and Harry had left somewhere else to hang out for the rest of the day, which Hermione didn't like as they did have school work they needed to do. The trio of Gryffindors were walking down in silence. Hermione had a book in her hand, looking into it.
"Granger!" shouted a loud and angry voice.
The trio stopped and turned around to the voice. It was Daphne and she was looking a little murderous especially with her disheveled hair. "Greengrass," Hermione said calmly. "Where've you been?"
"I was stuck in those stands for hours," Daphne growled, grasping her wand.
"I thought you were smart, Greengrass," Hermione spoke, "Did you not know the counter curse?"
Daphne glared at the bushy haired witch. "Of course I knew the counter curse," she hissed. "It took me forever just to reach for my wand and it was pretty difficult reaching for it when my feet were glued to the floor!"
"Wait," Josh spoke up, stepping forward looking a bit confused, looking between the girls. "What's going here?"
Daphne pointed at Hermione. "Your girlfriend over there glued me underneath the stands and just left me there!" she growled. Hermione handed Sophie her book.
"She's not my girlfriend," Josh scoffed, waving towards Hermione. He turned to look at her. "And what does she mean by you leaving her glued back at the stadium."
"It means I left her glued in the stadium," Hermione reassured.
"What!" Josh blurted out, turning to Hermione. "You what!? I can't believe you did that! And you just left her there!? On her own!?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "I had to check on Harry and make sure he was alright. I wasn't going to let some Slytherin stop me. I had to stop Professor Snape from cursing Harry's broomstick." Josh looked between the two piecing things together. He figured Daphne witnessed Hermione jinx Snape, and then jinxed Daphne when she confronted Hermione.
Daphne glared at Hermione and scoffed, "Professor Snape would never curse a student! That's ridiculous."
"You obviously don't know the Professor," Hermione replied, "Everyone knows Snape has it out for Harry. Look at how he treats Harry."
"He treats them all like that," Daphne growled.
"Except the Slytherins," Sophie murmured, standing slightly behind Josh and Hermione.
"What makes Potter so special," Daphne continued, gripping tightly around her wand.
"You see, unlike you, Greengrass," Hermione started, crossing her arms. "I actually care about my friends." Daphne grounded her teeth and stepped forward
"Look, what's done is done," Josh spoke up, stepping in front of Hermione. "No one really got hurt. Snape is more or less fine and Harry's still alive. It's already in the past - "
"I don't care!" Daphne hissed, pointing at Hermione, "She jinxed me! I just want to return the favor!" Daphne held up her wand.
"You know I can't let you do that!" Josh said, slowly stepping towards Daphne.
"I don't care, Emrys," Daphne hissed, "Step out of the way."
"Or what?" Josh asked, stepping forward. "Are you going to jinx me too?" He raised a eyebrow. Daphne glanced at Josh and then at Hermione.
"Go ahead, I dare you!" Hermione blurted.
"Shut it, Granger!" Josh hissed. Hermione and Sophie suddenly looked taken aback by his words. Josh looked at Daphne who was back to glaring daggers at Hermione. "Daphne," Josh said softly. Daphne's eyes turned back to Josh's eyes. "It's not worth it," he continued. "Things happened, and things are going on that you don't know about. I do apologize on behalf on my friend over there. She cares a lot about her friends. I do too. And you know who else I care about?" Daphne furrowed her brows in confusion. "I care about you." Sophie and Hermione glanced at one another in surprise.
"Why?" Daphne questioned. "We're not friends."
"So what," Josh shrugged nonchalantly, moving closer to Daphne. "Friend or not, Gryffindor or Slytherin, it doesn't matter. You're a good person, Greengrass. I believe that. And this - " He waved at her holding a wand. "Is beneath you." Daphne looked from Josh to her wand. Josh stepped closer, placing his hand on her hand that was holding her wand, both lowering it together. She looked up at a smiling Josh, and towards Hermione.
"Sorry, Granger," she muttered, lowering her head.
Hermione sighed. "No, I'm sorry," she replied, looking guilty. "I shouldn't have left you there or at least told you the counter-jinx. Come on, Sophie." Hermione grabbed Sophie's hand and led Sophie away, back to the common room. Sophie glanced back at Josh and Daphne one last time.
"You can let go of my hand now," Daphne spoke after a few seconds of silence.
"Oh," Josh blushed, quickly pulling his hand away and taking a step back. "Right, sorry."
Daphne sighed and put her hand away. "I know I haven't been the best to be around," She began, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, "And I'm sorry."
Josh shrugged, "It's okay. I can be a little much sometimes and I understand."
"Josh," Daphne said softly, looking at him. Josh look back at her questioningly, waiting for her to continue. Instead, Daphne turned around and walked away, leaving a confused Josh. Was she about to say something to him? She called him Josh again. Did that mean he was getting through to her and breaking that icy exterior she put around herself? Josh stood there for a whole minute, wondering what it was Daphne was going to say to him. Shrugging it off, Josh turned and walked back to his common room. He was going to have a special conversation with his bushy haired friend.
A/N: What did you guys think about this last scene? I am very wary of it.
