At dinner that night, the goths decided to act. "Hey Hubble Bubble!" called Ethel from the Slytherin table, "I challenge you to a duel with Drusilla as my partner!" Mildred, of course, couldn't help but be angry, and in typical Gryffindor fashion, bravely accepted. "Maud, I choose you!" she cried out to the Ravenclaw table. "Midnight, okay?" said Drusilla, "in the trophy room. That room is virtually never locked."
After that, Mildred looked at Harry confused. "What even is a duel?" she asked. "A wizard's duel is a fight between wizards. They only use magic. A bit like a muggle boxing match," Harry explained, "and your partner takes over for you if you become unable to continue the battle. Sometimes people die, but this is rare and only adults ever fight to the death, so the most you and that turd Ethel are going to be able to do are send sparks at each other, as none of us first years know enough magic to do real duels. I imagine she thought you'd decline anyways." "And if nothing happens when I wave my wand?" asked Mildred. "Beat the nincompoop up with it," suggested Ron.
"Excuse me," interjected Hermione, "but I couldn't help overhearing this conversation and you must not go wandering around the school at night. Think of the house points Gryffindor would lose if you're caught, and you probably will get caught. It's quite selfish, really." "And it isn't any of your business, Hermione," retaliated Harry. The others all left dinner for the common rooms after this.
When midnight approached, Mildred snuck out of the Gryffindor Tower common room and met up with Maud, and the two then proceeded to the Trophy Room. However, they didn't find Ethel nor Drusilla there. However, they did hear something. "Sniff around, Mrs. Norris, they must be here somewhere," ordered Mr. Filch. Oh no, Mildred thought, I am going to be expelled. She and Maud sneaked around but ended up bumping into suits of armor and running away. They ran towards their common rooms, and thanks to Peeves the cheeky ghost, the two found themselves in the forbidden corridor standing face to face with what was basically Cerberus. The beast appeared to be in horrid shape, and needed exercise badly. Suddenly, Maud noticed something. "Look, Mildred," she whispered, "that's a trapdoor its standing on, but what could it be guarding?" Mildred decided to make a mental note to tell her friends about it. As soon as they knew Filch was gone, the two went back to there common rooms and made it without being caught by anyone else.
Hermione was woken by Mildred's return, and reprimanded her severely. "Where have you been!?" she asked. Mildred told her everything that had happened. "So that horrid Ethel has tricked me and nearly got me in trouble!" she exclaimed. "I hope you're pleased with yourself, Mildred Hubble. You could have been killed, or worse, expelled!" she said in a very low voice. "You REALLY need to sort out your priorities, lady," Mildred retaliated. "Excuse me?" growled Hermione, "oh, you did NOT just say that. I'm going to bed!" she cried. "Fine!" called Mildred. "Fine!" exclaimed Hermione. And that was that. Mildred and Hermione were now in a feud.
The next day, Ethel was shocked to see Mildred at breakfast. Mildred had filled all of her friends in on the situation, and they were all speculating on what was under the trapdoor. "It's either super valuable or super dangerous," said Ron. "Or super both," added Harry. Hermione showed no interest in what was under the door, only wanting to avoid the dog for the rest of time, though she would occasionally glare in Mildred's general direction.
Other than the Hermione vs. Mildred feud, two months had now passed since the start of school. Classes were now more interesting (except, of course, for Mr. Binns' history class) as the basics had been mastered. For example, Mr. Flitwick was now teaching Wingardium Leviosa in Charms class. He put the class in pairs to practice, with Harry and Ron being paired up. Unfortunately, to their fury, Mildred and Hermione were also paired up together. "Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising. Swish and flick!" Flitwick explained. "Saying the incantation properly is very important too. Remember when Oiffurab Baruffio said s instead of f and had a buffalo on his chest?"
After this lecture, Harry and Ron found it quite hard. They swished and flicked and flicked and swished, but the feather remained where it was. Ron decided to try poking it when he said the words, which actually caused a fire and everyone had to evacuate until it was put out. When it was, it had somehow not become lunchtime yet, allowing them to continue. "You're saying it wrong, Mildred," snapped Hermione, "It's leviOsa, not levioSA." "You do it then if you're so smart," Mildred snarled. Hermione did, and her feather flew up to the ceiling! "Oh, well done! Hermione has done it!" Flitwick cried, and everyone except Mildred gave a round of applause.
When they left class, Mildred just about snapped. "Ugh, you know we can't actually stand you! It's no wonder you haven't got any friends, you're honestly a nightmare!" she yelled in fury. Hermione ran off in tears. "Hermione!" called Ron. "Mildred, now you've done it!" snapped Harry. Mildred said nothing at all. At lunch, the halloween decorations were enough to put Hermione entirely out of mind for everyone. There were candles, jack o'lanterns, and live bats everywhere.
They were in the middle of eating lunch, which was baked potatoes that day, when Mr. Quirrell came storming in, looking frantic. "Troll in the dungeons! Troll in the dungeons!" he shrieked. As soon as this happened, everyone became frantic. Mildred suddenly remembered Hermione and ran towards the restroom, thinking that would be the perfect place to go for a cry. Mildred entered to find the troll had beaten her, with the rest of the friend group having followed swiftly behind. Maud turned on the sink to try to confuse it, which worked, as the troll now looked at the running water instead of at Hermione. However, it just started swinging everywhere now. "Do something!" cried Enid. "HELP!" screamed Hermione.
At this point, Ms. Hardbroom and Ms. Cackle entered the room. "Avada Kedavra!" yelled Ms. Hardbroom, and the troll fell over and died right there. She then vanished the body, and deleted this spell from the log. "Let's have some tea and biscuits and discuss the circumstances on which this event occurred," Ms. Cackle soothed. "5 points will be deducted from all houses except Hufflepuff. You are alive via sheer dumb luck!" cried Ms. Hardbroom. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, it was truly horrible of me to say those nasty things" apologized Mildred, almost in tears. "I forgive you, Mildred," Hermione cried, also tearfully, and they embraced. "All right, you two, let it out," Ms. Cackle soothed. The others were just glad that the feud was over.
As October ended and November began, the weather began to get colder, and it began to snow. The broomsticks often had to be defrosted, and Ms. Hooch made sure to teach everyone how to do that. The Quidditch season was beginning, too, and Gryffindor was to play Slytherin in the first match of the year.
This all confused Mildred, who knew nothing of this magical sport. "What even is quidditch?" Mildred asked Hermione. Hermione said nothing, and simply handed her a book called "Quidditch Through The Ages". Mildred read it and it was very interesting. She learned that a quaffle is what you play with to score, and that you must avoid bludgers if you want to avoid injury. She also learned that the golden snitch is what ends the game when the Seeker catches it. The Keepers defend the goal posts, the Chasers play with the quaffle, and the Beaters keep bludgers away from everyone else.
On Saturday, November 2, at 11:00, the first match began. Enid sat with her friends on the Gryffindor side, though she still cheered for Slytherin, as that was her house. Everyone else definitely rooted for Gryffindor. Enid understood completely, as Gryffindor was the house of most of her friends, and indeed the Gryffindors shared this sentiment about Enid, too. Maud couldn't be fussed about who won, so Ms. Hooch made her the Ravenclaw commentator alongside Jadu Wali, who was commentating for Hufflepuff. Enid was chosen as Slytherin's commentator, and Gryffindor's was Harry. Each person commentated on matches in which their teams were not playing so as to keep commentating unbiased.
Ms. Hooch was refereeing, and Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor had the quaffle. It was passed about for a bit, but then Marcus Flint of Slytherin took the quaffle, and then Gryffindor team captain Oliver Wood got it back to Gryffindor. The first score was by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor, and play continued. Flint fouled the seeker during a snitch chase, causing Gryffindor to get a free shot and for the snitch to be lost. All of a sudden, "Genista!" cried Ebony from the Slytherin crowd, and Angelina's broom began behaving strangely, trying to lurch her off. "Atsineg!" called Enid, pointing her wand at the broom, which returned to normal. After that bombshell, the Gryffindor seeker, Esmerelda Hallow, managed to catch the snitch with her mouth and thus won the match 170-60 for Gryffindor.