Chapter 6. The Trophy Room
The common room was crowded. Maura and Blaise had a hard time finding an empty spot at a table to do some more homework. When two second year students finally stood up and left a small table, and they sat down and laid out their books and parchment, they found out, to their annoyance, that Malfoy and his cronies were sitting close by and talking loudly.
"Can we still go to the library?" Blaise asked with a sigh.
"Wouldn't be worth it. It closes in fifteen minutes," Maura replied while opening her Defence Against the Dark Arts book. She continued the essay where she had left off. It was about dark creatures that could be found in Great Britain and how to defend oneself against them. She was about half-way and still had some writing to do before she could hand it to Quirrel tomorrow. Such a pity that they wouldn't actually be able to defend themselves if they needed to, because they never practised anything.
Suddenly Maura remembered someone telling her that Snape had been after the Defence Against the Dark Arts job for years, but that he never got it. Maybe Maura could ask him if he was willing to teach her some practical things. Teachers could only encourage students who wanted to learn more, right? And if Snape wanted to teach Defence, he would definitely not turn her request down. Hopefully.
She wanted to tell Blaise about her idea, but stopped herself when she overheard something from Malfoy's group.
"You should've seen that moron's face! He didn't even know what a duel was, and he's going to bring that imbecile Weasley as his second," Malfoy laughed. He was sitting on a leather sofa like he owned the damn thing.
"When are you going to duel him?" Pansy asked, her eyes big with excitement. She was sitting on one of the arms of the sofa. Crabbe and Goyle were close by, planted in some chairs, while Millicent sat on the ground with her back against one of the chairs.
"I'm not going to duel him," Malfoy said with a smirk on his face. "I told him I'd meet him in the trophy room, but all I'm going to do is tip off Filch that I overheard students were going out of their beds to have a secret party in the trophy room at midnight." The Slytherins around him sniggered. That was a nasty thing to do and they knew it. They were enjoying it.
Millicent caught Maura looking and raised her eyebrows in defiance. Maura wrinkled her nose in return and turned towards Blaise.
"You heard that?" Maura asked him. Blaise nodded. "We should warn them," she whispered. Blaise rolled his eyes.
"I have no interest in doing that," he replied. "Besides, I have homework to do, don't you?"
"I've almost finished my Defense Against the Dark Arts essay," she lied even though Blaise knew she was only half-way because she had told him. "Anyway, I'm going to warn them because unlike some people I'm nice."
Blaise snorted. "I'm not buying into that. Besides, how did you want to do that? You don't know where their common room is."
Maura had to agree with him. Houses didn't know where the common rooms were of the other three and students were only too happy to keep that a secret. Especially between Slytherin and Gryffindor.
"I could go to the trophy room and wait for them there, then warn them and get out as soon as I can," Maura said in a hushed voice, making sure someone from Malfoy's group couldn't overhear her.
"That's just stupid. Why risk getting expelled over them?" Blaise said while looking down at his essay again and dipping his quill in his inkwell. He didn't seem to want to waste time talking when he could be doing his homework.
"Harry got back my brother's Remembrall from Malfoy. I feel like I owe him something."
"No, Neville owes him something," Blaise pointed out. He cursed when a drop of ink fell from his quill onto his parchment.
"That's the same thing, Blaise." Maura watched him try frantically wiping away the inkblot, but he only made it worse.
"Well, good luck with that. I'm not getting involved." He finally gave up wiping the ink and put down his quill with a sigh.
"You don't have to," Maura muttered in reply.
She dove back into her essay and wrote diligently. Her new plan gave her new energy. She wanted the essay to be done, so she could plan out her night mission further. She had to think of the route she was going to take to the trophy room, what she would do if she ran into a teacher or a prefect and what way she would run if she saw Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat.
After half an hour she finished her essay. She didn't like the Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, but she was proud of her work. It was way easier to write essays when she didn't think about doing it for Quirrel, but for herself. She let the ink on the parchment dry while she put her book, inkwell and quill back into her bag.
"I'm going to bed early," she said to Blaise. Blaise only nodded in return and kept his nose in his essay. Maura tried not to get annoyed by his lack of interest. It was her own idea and Blaise had the right to not want to participate in it. Hell, it was a stupid idea and Blaise was only smart by not getting involved. Maura muttered a 'goodnight,' picked up her bag and parchment and walked off towards the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
Once she was in her dorm, she rolled up her essay and put it in her bag for tomorrow's Defence class. She also grabbed Magical Drafts and Potions, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and First Year's Book to Astronomy and stuffed it in her bag, so she didn't have to worry about that tomorrow morning after an adventurous night. She also picked up the vial of the Cure for Boils potion from her nightstand and added it to her already bulging bag. Then she made herself ready and went to bed. She was a bit bummed out Salem was not in the room so she could snuggle up to him, but she had encouraged him to go out more and beggars can't be choosers. While she laid in bed she got out a pocket watch from her trunk that was next to her bed, and asked it to wake her up at half past 11 pm. It was an old dusty thing she had gotten from her grandfather a few weeks before he died. Maura didn't use it much here at Hogwarts, because there were enough clocks around the castle to not have to carry one of her own. The pocket watch grumbled at her request at first, complaining he wanted to sleep at such a late time, but finally agreed when Maura threatened to put it back at the bottom of her trunk. She put in under her pillow, so the watch's alarm sound wouldn't wake up her roommates. Maura dreaded having to explain to Pansy why she was going downstairs in the middle of the night.
Maura woke up at exactly eleven-thirty. She quietly put on a sweater over her pyjamas and an extra pair of socks and went towards the door to the corridor. Fortunately the other girls were sleeping soundly. Maura had to hold in her laugh when she heard a loud snore come from Pansy's four-poster. She quietly opened the door, which creaked a bit, tiptoed through it, and closed it again.
When Maura walked down the stairs she noticed the common room was empty. She had never seen it like this before, so she felt a bit out of place in the stone room, hers the only moving shadow the dimmed green lights casted. Outside, the lake was eerily still as well. It was too dark to see any fish or other creatures, which Maura was all too grateful for. The fire in the fireplace was out as well, apart from a few smouldering embers still radiating a bit of warmth on Maura's legs when she passed it. Maura got to the stone wall that was the exit of the common room and waited for the stones to shift into a passage when she heard a sound from behind her. She turned around in a flash and saw movement at the bottom of the staircase to the boys' dormitories.
"Wait up." She heard a voice whisper.
"Blaise?" Maura couldn't immediately see him, because of the dimness and his dark skin, but after he came closer she saw it was him, wearing his pyjamas and an extra robe. "I thought you didn't want to come."
"I changed my mind," Blaise said. He joined Maura as she went through the stone wall out of the common room.
"Why?" Maura asked him wearily.
"Because I didn't want you to get all the bragging rights about having adventures in the castle after bedtime without me," Blaise explained. Maura tried not to chuckle lest she made any sound.
"You're coming with me to warn Harry Potter about Malfoy's plan, risking getting caught by Filch and having to serve detention or getting expelled, just because you don't want me to brag about something you weren't there for?" Maura asked with a grin on her face.
"Exactly."
They rounded the last corner to the staircase up to the entrance hall. They waited and listened if there was any sound coming from upstairs. When they were sure they couldn't hear anything, they tiptoed up. The entrance hall was completely deserted. Maura and Blaise had to be extremely quiet, because every sound had a loud echo with no other students around to muffle it.
"Come on, it's up on the third floor," Maura said, and up they went. At one point they had to hide behind a suit of armor from the Bloody Baron gliding through the hall past them, but they didn't get caught fortunately. On the third floor they tiptoed towards the trophy room and looked around. There was no Harry and Ron.
"Maybe they were too scared," Blaise said.
"Yeah, maybe."
"Lumos," Maura whispered and the tip of her wand lit up. Blaise did the same. She was extremely grateful Professor Flitwick had taught them this spell in their last lesson. The light reflected off crystal glass displays holding awards, trophies, cups, plates, shields, statues and medals.
"Look! These are Quidditch awards!" Blaise said. Maura eagerly followed his gaze to a display full of Quidditch cups. All the different Houses had at least some cups, but the majority was clearly won by Slytherin. Maura and Blaise grinned at each other, feeling proud of their House.
"I wish I could join the Quidditch team. I've been dreaming of being a Quidditch player since I was young," Blaise said while looking at the most recent won cup by Slytherin with longing in his eyes. Maura took in Blaise's expression. This was the first time Blaise talked about something personal. Normally he was very closed off in regards to anything personal and their friendship was mostly built on their shared lack of having any other friends, instead of things they had in common. Now they did have something in common. One of Maura's expectations of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry l had been joining a Hogwarts Quidditch team as well. Her childhood dream had been becoming a member of the Holyhead Harpies after all.
"Why don't you try? The tryouts are next week," Maura asked. Blaise sighed.
"No first year ever makes it to the team, remember?"
"Doesn't mean you won't."
"I'm not going to make a fool out of myself, Maura." Blaise sounded frustrated. How could she explain she didn't think he would make a fool of himself without sounding condescending? Maura was quiet for a few seconds while Blaise checked out almost every cup in the display.
"Then let's do it together," Maura offered. Blaise looked up.
"Since when do you want to play Quidditch?" He asked her with a chuckle.
"Since the first time I stepped on a broom. I didn't plan on trying out for the team in the first year, but why not?" Maura thought it would actually be fun. She loved flying and she had always liked playing Quidditch with kids in the neighbourhood when she was young. It wasn't like she was a helpless first year on a broom.
Like Neville, she thought, but then immediately pushed the thought away. He would learn to fly as well. She would help him.
Blaise snorted softly and nodded his head in thought for a few seconds.
"Alright, why not," he finally said. Maura felt a smile creep on her face. She was starting to feel excited. She couldn't wait to tell Neville. He wouldn't believe her.
"Ssh, I hear something," Blaise suddenly whispered. They quickly crouched and moved behind the display with the Quidditch cups.
"Nox," they both whispered and the lights on their wands went out. They kept completely quiet as they heard footsteps enter the trophy room.
After a few seconds they saw some shapes edge along a wall, coming closer to where they were hiding. Maura strained her eyes and made out Harry's form and glasses. Behind him was Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and—
"Neville?" Maura said out loud. The shapes stopped moving.
"Maura?" Neville replied. Maura got up and made her way towards him.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. Harry, Ron and Hermione audibly let out their breaths as Maura came closer. Maybe she had startled them. Oops.
"Couldn't get into the common room," Neville muttered. Maura snorted and thumped his shoulder playfully.
"Look at you breaking the rules. Who would've thought. I'm so proud of you!" Maura heard Blaise chuckle behind her at her words. Hermione made an annoyed sound. She was obviously not in on this.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked defiantly. He took in Maura and Blaise's forms with a sour look on his face. "Have you come watch us duel Malfoy?"
Maura opened her mouth to answer, but Hermione interrupted. "We should all go back right now. Malfoy's clearly not here yet and if we return to bed now, no one will get caught."
"Maybe Malfoy has chickened out," Ron whispered.
"Yeah about that," Blaise began, joining them. "He's an asshole." Maura had to hold her laugh again. The other four looked at them in confusion.
"He set you up. He was never going to come," Maura finished. "He tipped off—"
Suddenly they heard shuffling on the ground and a crooked voice:
"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."
It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at them to follow him. They silently scurried as quickly as possible toward the door, away from Filch and Mrs. Norris. Maura waved at Neville to follow more quickly and he just made it around the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.
"They're in here somewhere," he muttered, "probably hiding."
"This way!" Harry mouthed to them, but Blaise pulled at Maura's sleeve.
"We better split up," he whispered in her ear. Maura nodded and followed him into a side corridor, while the other three followed Harry into a long gallery full of suits of armor. Maura and Blaise hid in the corridor behind another statue. They tried not to breathe as they heard Filch pass the corridor. Once Filch vanished around the corner, Blaise motioned toward the other end of the corridor. Maura nodded and followed him.
Suddenly there was a huge crash, a sound loud enough to wake the whole castle. Maura and Blaise froze.
"RUN!" they heard Harry yell. Maura looked at Blaise in panic.
"Neville!" she mouthed. Blaise shook his head.
"No, we cannot get caught," he replied urgently and pulled at her sleeve again, preventing her from running off towards the noise. Maura was torn. She didn't want Neville to get caught either, but it was a death sentence to follow the sound which came from the gallery with armor suits; the gallery Filch had gone into as well. After two seconds she made up her mind and followed Blaise. She was of no use to Neville if she ran blindly into danger.
They silently tiptoed through corridor after corridor, trying to get back to the dungeons again with the little knowledge they had of the castle floor plan and without daylight. Fortunately the corridors were striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows which helped them recognise the passage around their Transfiguration classroom. From here it was easy to find the way back.
When they finally made it back to the entrance to the Slytherin common room without any trouble, they quickly went in and collapsed on a sofa.
"We weren't even able to warn them before Filch showed up," Maura said with a sigh after a few seconds.
"No," Blaise said, then turned his head to look at her. "But you must agree that was kinda awesome."
Maura laughed. "Yeah, it was."
However, she still felt guilty about leaving the other group and especially Neville. Had they gotten away from Filch? Or were they caught and sitting in his dark office right now, awaiting their fates? She felt the urge to leave the common room and look for them, but she knew that was a stupid thought. Blaise seemed to know what she was thinking.
"They probably escaped," he said. Maura thought this was a bit weird. Blaise was normally not the kind of person to show empathy.
"Yeah." Maura slumped down a bit. She had a nauseous feeling in her stomach from not knowing what had happened to Neville. She stood up. "I'm going to bed," she said for the second time that night.
"Me too. Goodnight." Blaise got up as well and they both made their ways to their separate staircases.
"Hey," Maura said while turning around on the first step of the staircase. Blaise looked over his shoulder. "I look forward to playing Quidditch with you."
Blaise grinned. "Likewise, Longbottom," he replied before going up and disappearing.
Maura sighed with relief when she saw Neville, Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table during breakfast the next day. She made her way towards them.
"You didn't get caught!" she said with relief in her voice.
The group nodded and told her what had happened after they had run away. Neville explained how he had panicked and tripped into a suit of armour, taking Ron with him. Then Harry told her how they had run into Peeves, who had started shouting, and almost made them get caught by Filch, but thanks to Hermione they got through a locked door which was apparently the forbidden floor.
"Where did you suddenly run off to?" Ron asked in a cynical way.
"Blaise and I thought it would be best to split up, to make it harder for Filch to know which direction we all went," Maura explained. "Not my fault you all gave yourself away," Maura finished with a smirk at Neville, at which his cheeks flushed.
"That doesn't matter now," Harry said, "Anyway, thanks for coming to warn us."
"Pleasure. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go see Malfoy's face now he knows his plan has failed. It will be entertaining." Maura turned around and almost skipped to the Slytherin table where she took place next to Blaise who had already loaded his board and greeted her with his mouth full.
"They said thanks," Maura said. Blaise mumbled something inaudible in return and then yawned.
"I'm happy it's Friday," he said. Maura nodded in agreement. She would rather sleep more than anything. After their midnight adventure, Maura had been lying awake for a long time, trying to go to sleep, but failing because of the adrenaline still rushing through her body, and because she couldn't stop worrying if Neville had made it to the Gryffindor common room.
Maura's eyes scanned the Slytherin table and found Malfoy slumping and looking irritated. Maura smirked. He must've seen Harry and Ron and know that his plan had failed. This gave Maura a little more energy to take on the next Potions lesson.