Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.
Chapter 6 – Midnight Walks
"You're joking!" Lucy cried.
She and Ron had finally met up with Harry at dinner. Harry was grinning; he had just finished telling them about Professor McGonagall putting him on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"Seeker?" Ron asked, his fork hovering between his plate and his mouth. "But first-years never—you must be the youngest house player in about—"
"A century," Harry finished for him, eating as much pie as he could at once. "I start training next week. Only don't tell anyone—Wood wants to keep it a secret."
Lucy and Ron nodded in agreement, both extremely surprised at Harry's luck.
Then Fred and George walked up to them. "Well done," George said to Harry quietly. "Wood told us. We're on the team, too—Beaters."
"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," Fred continued. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry—Wood was almost skipping when he told us."
"Anyway, we've got to go," George said. "Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."
"I bet it's the one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week," Fred sighed. "See you."
With that, the twins took their leave, after poking Lucy in the sides.
"Having a last meal, Potter?"
Lucy turned around to see Malfoy, with Crabbe and Goyle following him, as always.
"When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?" Malfoy taunted.
"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and got your little friends with you," Harry shot back.
Lucy snickered, and Crabbe glared down at her.
"I'd take you on anytime on my own," Malfoy sneered. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only—no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"
"Of course he has," Ron replied, whipping his head around. "I'm his second—who's yours?"
Lucy was glad he had intervened; she was fairly sure that Malfoy was right about Harry not knowing what a wizard's duel was.
Malfoy looked over his friends, deciding who would be better. "Crabbe," he announced. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked." Then he turned and strutted back to the Slytherin table, with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering after him.
Lucy and Ron turned back to face Harry.
"What is a wizard's duel?" Harry asked, sounding confused. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"
"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," Ron said, digging back into his dinner.
Harry's eyes widened a bit in surprise.
"Blunt, Ron," Lucy snorted. "Don't worry, Harry. It's not like you guys know any spells that will be damaging enough."
"I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway," Ron added, shrugging.
"What if I wave my wand and nothing happens?" Harry asked desperately.
"Throw it away and punch him in the face," Ron suggested.
Lucy shrugged and nodded her agreement.
"Excuse me." Hermione had come up to them. Lucy grinned at her, and Hermione gave her a small smile in return.
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron asked, to which Lucy elbowed him in the side.
Hermione, ignoring Ron, began, "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying—"
"Bet you could," Ron grumbled.
"—and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night," Hermione went on. "Think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."
"And it's really none of your business," Harry replied coolly.
Lucy looked at him in surprise; he usually wasn't rude to Hermione, no matter how Ron decided to act around her.
"Good-bye," Ron added, turning back to his food.
Hermione sighed in annoyance, spun on her heel, and walked away from them.
Lucy looked back at the boys. "Nice going, you two boneheads," she snarled. "Maybe she's right." She stood up, ready to follow Hermione. "I'll see you tonight. There's no way you're going without me, or else I'll hex you. Agreed?" She glowered at them for a moment longer until they both nodded. Then she hurried away after Hermione.
"Hermione!" she called when she reached the entrance hall.
Hermione stopped at the bottom of the marble stairs and looked over her shoulder. "Hi, Lucy," she said quietly.
The two girls walked in silence back to the Gryffindor common room.
When they were outside of it, Hermione turned to Lucy and said, "I don't know what I did to those two, but whenever I try to help them, they always find a way to insult me."
"I don't know what their problems are, either," Lucy said with a frown, "but I'm sure they'll come around eventually."
She gave the Fat Lady the password, and the portrait swung open. Both girls climbed through the hole and into the common room.
"Do you approve of what they're doing tonight?" Hermione asked.
"Not really, no," Lucy admitted. "I don't think either of them could hurt each other with magic, except by accident. But if it got physical, and Crabbe and Goyle got involved… I need to go with them to at least make the numbers even. Plus, they're my friends."
"I suppose," Hermione replied with a frown. "I just don't know why they would risk getting into trouble just to have some stupid duel. They should just ignore Malfoy."
Lucy nodded, knowing that Hermione was right. Still, she had to go with them to make sure that her friends were going to be okay.
~LJ:TH~
That night, Lucy waited for Harry and Ron at the bottom of the dormitory stairs. She checked the time; it was about 11:30. She frowned, wondering why they were taking so long. They better not have left me here, she thought to herself.
A few minutes later, though, Harry and Ron crept down the stairs to join her. The three of them quietly stole towards the portrait hole.
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry," a voice said from nearby.
The three stopped in their tracks and turned to see Hermione in a pink dressing gown, sitting in a chair and watching them with a frown.
"You!" Ron almost shouted. "Go back to bed!"
Usually Lucy stood up for Hermione, but this time, she was on Ron's side. Hermione should just let them go out.
"I almost told your brother Percy," Hermione snapped at Ron. "He's a prefect. He'd put a stop to this." Lucy frowned as Hermione turned to her and pleaded, "Lucy, please. You don't want to get in trouble, do you?"
Before Lucy could answer, Harry said, "Come on."
He and Ron walked passed Hermione and pushed the portrait open. Lucy shrugged and mouthed, "Sorry," to Hermione before following Harry and Ron out of the common room.
Hermione hurried after them. "Don't you care about Gryffindor?" she hissed at them. "Do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells!"
"Go away," Ron said.
"All right, but I warned you. You just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow. You're so—" Hermione stopped suddenly.
Lucy, Harry, and Ron turned to see why she hadn't finished her sentence and saw that the Fat Lady was missing from her portrait. They were all locked out of Gryffindor Tower until the she returned.
"Now what am I going to do?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"That's your problem," Ron replied darkly. "We've got to go; we're going to be late."
Harry and Ron continued down the corridor. Lucy followed them only after glancing at Hermione and giving her a helpless shrug.
They were just rounding the corner to the next hall when Hermione dashed up behind them. "I'm coming with you," she panted.
"You are not," Ron snarled.
"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me?" Hermione shot back. "If he finds all four of us, I'll tell him the truth—that I was trying to stop you—and you can back me up."
Ron started shouting, "You've got some nerve—!"
"Shut up, both of you!" Harry snapped. "I heard something."
There was a sniffling coming from somewhere down the corridor.
"Mrs. Norris?" Ron breathed, looking down the hall.
The four of them inched forward, prepared to find Filch's cat Mrs. Norris, but instead they found Neville curled up on the floor. They walked closer, and Neville jerked upright.
"Thank goodness you found me!" he gasped. "I've been out here for hours. I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."
"Keep your voice down, Neville," Lucy hushed him. "The password's Pig Snout, but it won't help you now. The Fat Lady's left her portrait."
"How's your arm?" Harry asked.
"Fine," Neville replied, holding it up. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."
"Good—well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere. We'll see you later," Harry said.
"Don't leave me!" Neville cried, jumping to his feet, and Lucy shushed him again. "I don't want to stay here alone," Neville added quietly. "The Bloody Baron's been past twice already."
Ron glanced down at his watch and then glared at Neville and Hermione. "If either of you get us caught," he started slowly and furiously, "I'll never rest until I've learned the Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about and used it on you."
Hermione opened her mouth, but Harry told her to be quiet and motioned for them all to follow him.
~LJ:TH~
Finally, they reached the trophy room with no sign of Filch or Mrs. Norris. Malfoy and Crabbe hadn't shown up yet, either. They waited… and waited… and waited some more. Still, there was no sign of Malfoy. Harry had his wand out and gripped tightly in his hand.
"He's late. Maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.
Lucy shrugged; she didn't have a very good feeling about this.
They heard a noise from the next room, and they all jumped. Neville squeaked, and Lucy threw her hand over his mouth.
"Sniff around, my sweet. They might be lurking in a corner."
The five of them looked at each other with wide eyes.
"FILCH!" Lucy and Hermione breathed at the same time.
Harry waved at them to follow him quickly. They moved away from Filch's voice and out of the trophy room.
"They're in here somewhere," Filch muttered to his cat just as the five Gryffindors got through the door. "Probably hiding."
"This way!" Harry whispered to the rest of them.
They began to hurry down the corridor. Then Neville squeaked again, and he started sprinting down the hall. He didn't get very far before he tripped over his own feet, and he grabbed Ron's waist to try to keep himself from falling. Unfortunately, they both toppled over, straight into a suit of armor. The clanging echoed down the corridor, along with Ron's swearing. Lucy reached down to yank Ron to his feet.
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and they sprinted away from the area.
~LJ:TH~
When they were far enough away from the trophy room, they stopped to catch their breath. Neville was clutching his side and panting heavily, and Lucy put her hands over her head to try to calm her breathing.
"I think we've lost them," Harry gasped out, leaning against the stone wall.
"I… told… you," Hermione puffed. "I… told… you."
"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," Ron added, "as quickly as possible."
"You think?" Lucy asked sarcastically, wondering why they were still standing around. She thought they needed to stop talking and keep moving.
"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you—Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room. Malfoy must have tipped him off."
"Lay off, Hermione," Lucy snapped. "We didn't know that Malfoy was going to tell Filch anything. Can we get going, please?"
"Let's go," Harry agreed, and they started off towards Gryffindor Tower.
They hadn't gone far when something came flying out of a classroom in front of them. It was Peeves. He squealed happily when he saw them.
"Shut up, Peeves—please—you'll get us thrown out," Ron begged, but Peeves simply laughed evilly.
"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty," he sang, floating in front of them.
"Not if you just let us pass, Peeves, please," Lucy pleaded with him.
"Should tell Filch, I should," Peeves continued, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "It's for your own good, you know."
"Get out of the way!" Ron snapped impatiently, lunging forward and swiping at Peeves.
Peeves floated easily out of the way and smiled widely. Then he took a lungful of air and opened his mouth. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
With a hurried shout of "Run!", the five of them ducked under Peeves and, as fast as they could, sprinted off. They came to the end of the corridor and tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked.
"This is it!" Ron cried as he and Lucy tried pulling on the door handle at the same time. "We're done for! This is the end!"
"Enough with the theatrics, Ron!" Lucy bellowed back, grabbing the handle with both hands. "Just try and help!"
They could hear Filch running from a distance, and Neville let out a yelp.
"Oh, move over," Hermione demanded, shoving Lucy and Ron away from the handle. She took hold of Harry's wand, which had been dangling from his fingers, forgotten. Then she tapped the lock of the door and muttered, "Alohomora!"
They heard the lock click. Ron seized the handle and pulled the door open. They all hurried into the room, and Harry shut it quickly behind them. Crowding around the door, they all pushed their ears up against it to see if Filch had caught up to them.
"Which way did they go, Peeves?" they heard Filch ask urgently. "Quick, tell me."
"Say please," Peeves rebuked in an oily voice.
"Don't mess with me, Peeves. Now where did they go?"
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," Peeves chanted.
"All right—please," Filch sighed.
"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha, ha! Haaa!"
The five students heard Peeves zoom away down the hallway, leaving Filch cursing behind him.
"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered, and Lucy nodded in agreement. "I think we'll be okay—get off, Neville! What?"
Lucy looked over to see a pale-faced Neville pulling on Harry's robe's sleeve. She glanced at Harry and then slowly turned around to see what had Neville so frightened.
"The forbidden third-floor corridor," Lucy breathed to herself. And the only reason she knew that was because she was standing face-to-face with a giant, three-headed dog.
The creature was staring at them, apparently surprised at the appearance of five small people in its corridor. A low growling was coming from each of the heads' mouths.
Lucy was the first to recover, and she shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? RUN!"
She groped for the handle of the door, but Harry beat her to it and thrust it open. Hermione screeched as the five of them streaked out of the room. Harry threw the door shut and locked it behind them.
They barely took notice of the absence of Filch; they just ran, and kept running, until they made it back to the portrait hole.
"Where on earth have you all been?" the Fat Lady asked, looking appalled, as they ran up to her portrait.
"Never mind that," Harry snapped. "Pig snout! Pig snout!"
The Fat Lady was still watching them in bewilderment as the frame swung open.
They all climbed through and collapsed into the common room. Harry, Ron, and Neville sunk into armchairs, Hermione was on a couch, and Lucy was sprawled out on the floor in front of the fire. They sat for a long time without saying anything while they caught their breaths.
"What do you think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" Ron asked, breaking the silence. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."
Hermione, looking angry, rounded on him. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor?" Harry shot back. "I wasn't looking at its feet. I was too busy with its heads."
"No, not the floor," Hermione replied. "It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." Then she stood up, still glowering at Harry and Ron. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed—or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. Lucy, are you coming?"
"In a minute," Lucy answered.
Hermione frowned deeply and swept off to the girls' staircase.
Ron stared after her, as did Lucy. "No, we don't mind," Ron said once she was gone. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"
Harry shrugged, his forehead wrinkled in thought.
Neville excused himself then, still shaking slightly as he left the common room.
"What's up, Harry?" Lucy asked when she, Harry, and Ron were alone.
"Nothing," Harry muttered. "It's nothing."
The boys stood up and said good night to Lucy before disappearing up the stairs.
Lucy leaned back against the legs of the couch and stared at the dying embers in the fireplace. The night had been rather exciting, but she decided against telling her parents about this particular adventure. She knew that Hermione was right; that dog could have seriously hurt or killed them in an instant. They had been extremely lucky.
Sighing, Lucy stood up. She stretched her arms over her head and made her way over to the girls' dormitories, planning on getting as much sleep as possible.
~LJ:TH~