"Morning," yawned Brooke, at the breakfast table.
"Morning," Harry and Ron both chimed.
It was the morning after our encounter with the three-headed dog and Brooke and I had to force ourselves out of bed. We were exhausted, but we didn't want to miss breakfast either. It was Saturday though, so I would be free to come back to bed and take a nap if I wanted.
"I see Hermione's not acknowledging us," said Harry, nodding in the curly-headed girl's direction. Hermione purposely had her back turned to us and was holding a conversation with Neville. She had decided not to speak to us at all because of last night. I guess she thought we were bad influences or something of the sort. I couldn't argue with her there.
"Well, I think she's being a big overdramatic about it," I said. "Sure, we almost got mauled to death, but she didn't have to follow us out of the portrait hole."
"We're finally seeing eye to eye," said Ron.
"I wouldn't say that exactly," I countered. "I still like Hermione, but if she's not going to speak to me out of spite, then I'll oblige her request." Brooke just shook her head at my bout of immaturity.
"I see Malfoy's not too happy we're still here," she said, nodding to the seething blonde boy at the Slytherin table. He was steadily glaring in our direction. I smiled and waved at him. He clenched his jaw and looked away.
"He's actually pouting," I laughed.
"Strange how making someone feel angry can feel so good," said Ron.
"Just wait until he sees Harry on the Quidditch pitch," I said.
"I can't wait to shove it in his face," smiled Harry.
"Speaking of Quidditch, Kristin and I have been thinking of doing our own club," said Brooke.
"The Neville Longbottom Fan Club?" said Harry. "You realize you're just embarrassing Neville, right?"
"Nonsense!" I replied, with a wave of my hand "We actually spoke to Professor McGonagall about it. She said we just needed to have at least five members and then submit the idea to Professor Dumbledore," I explained.
"Speaking of members…" Brooke looked at Harry and Ron. She slapped a piece of paper down in front of them that read: Members. Neville's name had already been written down.
"Don't even think about it!" argued Ron. "Fred and George would never let me live that down!"
"I won't have time with Quidditch," Harry said, avoiding eye contact. A convenient excuse.
"So what are your club activities going to be?" asked Harry.
"We were thinking of making it a sort of study group," I replied. "Helping Neville, is the main focus of course, but it'd be nice to get help with the subjects I'm not strong in."
"So why don't you just change the name then?"
"Because Neville's adorable that's why."
"You realize boys don't like being referred to as 'adorable,' right?"
"I'm well aware." Harry just shook his head in defeat and took a bite of his toast and jelly.
"Ron, I'm surprised you haven't joined the Gryffindor Chess Team," said Brooke. "You're so good at it."
"I didn't know there was one."
"It was on the announcement board in the common room."
"I didn't know there was one of those, either."
"Oh my word. Well before I die of brain damage from Ron, I think I'm going to go recruit Devin for the club," I said.
Harry and Brooke both laughed.
"He's never going to join," grinned Harry. "Not with that name."
"Then, I just won't tell him the name," I replied.
"I'll get Jeremiah to join, as well," said Brooke.
I trotted off to the Slytherin table and sat next to Devin (much to the Slytherins' disdain), who had a whole waffle halfway crammed into his piehole.
"You going for some sort of record?" I asked. He choked and spluttered until the waffle was dislodged.
"Just hungry," he replied as if he hadn't just hadn't just nearly died from a pastry.
I heard a loud, shrill cackle and looked to see Pansy absolutely beside herself at something Malfoy had said. I'm sure it wasn't that funny. I saw she looked at Devin out of the corner of her eye, then back at Malfoy. Hmm.
She must've noticed me, however, because the next moment she whirled her head around to look at me.
"What are YOU doing here?!" she accused. "Come to visit your boyfriend?" I guess she was referring to Devin, because all of the other boys in Slytherin had already proved themselves unworthy of my affection. Not that they would ask for it anyways.
Getting a sly idea, I wrapped my arms around Devin's and leaned my head against his shoulder.
"Why, yes, as a matter of fact I am!" I bat my eyelashes. Pansy looked absolutely appalled and Devin looked confused, but quickly caught on.
"I didn't tell you Pansy?" I let out a giggle that was louder than necessary. "We just couldn't stand to stay away from each other any longer." She looked furious and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. She quickly turned away and leaned across Malfoy to whisper to one of the Slytherin girls.
"She's been giving me trouble all week," he said unlinking our arms.
"Oh, you mean the fact that she likes you?" I asked with a grin.
"How'd you know?" he asked, surprised.
"She was looking at you while laughing at Malfoy. She's trying to make you jealous."
He scoffed. "Of what? She likes both of us."
My jaw dropped. "She likes BOTH of you?"
"Yep. I guess I'm just irresistible. I do have a new 'girlfriend' after all." He waggled his eyebrows and I laughed.
"Oh, you're so full it!" I noticed Pansy was looking back over at us now and she snapped at Crabbe when he tried to tell her something.
Honestly, it was a shock to me that Pansy liked Devin at all, considered his status of being a muggle-born. Maybe she liked the danger aspect of being rebellious. Maybe she liked him just for his looks. Maybe it was both. A girl like pansy would have a very shallow reason for liking someone. She probably only liked Malfoy because of his heritage, looks, and wealth. I ain't she's a gold digger, but…
"So, did you need to tell me something?" Devin asked, interrupting my thoughts. He had resumed eating his waffle.
"Yeah! I have a proposition for you." He looked skeptical, but didn't say anything. "How would you like to join a study group Brooke and I are creating?"
"Just a normal study group? Nothing out of the ordinary?"
"…yes"
"You hesitated."
"No, I didn't."
He narrowed his eyes. "Uh huh. When's the first meeting?"
"We were actually thinking about 10 o'clock. We could meet in the stone circle down by Hagrid's hut. It's a pretty day and it'd be nice and quiet."
"Who else is coming?"
"Jeremiah and Neville. Harry's busy and Ron's….well Ron doesn't like to study does he?"
"I don't have anything else to do this morning anyway. We'll half to be done by 1:00, though. Jeremiah and I are meeting Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot in the Ravenclaw common room."
"We'll be done before lunch. Well I'll see you there in a little while." I got up and walked back over to the Gryffindor table. The piece of paper still lay on the table and I wrote Devin's name under Neville's.
"He wasn't suspicious at all?" asked Ron.
"He was, but he agreed anyways."
"What a brave soul."
"Ha. Ha."
Brooke came back soon after I did and she wrote Jeremiah's name below Devin's.
"Now we have five members!" she said happily. "We can take this to Professor McGonagall later in the afternoon."
"Hey, what's that?!" We craned our heads to see what Ron was pointing at. It was a large, long brown package being carried by several screech owls plus Hedwig. The package had garnered most of the Great Hall's attention as it was dropped onto the table in front of Harry. Ron cursed as his pumpkin juice was knocked to the floor. The owls flew off and Harry took the note that was tied to the package.
"Who's it from?" questioned Brooke. Harry's eyes moved back and forth, reading the note. When he'd finished reading he leaned in close, so just the four of us could hear.
"It's from Professor McGonagall," he said in amazement. "She says it's a Nimbus Two-Thousand and not to open it until we get in the common room."
Ron's mouth fell open. "Harry, that's the fastest broom on the market!"
"I just….how….what?" Harry was at a loss for words. It was incredible that McGonagall had bought this for him. It was worth at least 300 Galleons, if not more. It'd put a sizable dent in anyone's bank account.
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" whispered Brooke. "Let's go and open it!"
Harry seized the package and we bolted out of the Great Hall. We were halfway up the Grand Staircase when two large boys blocked our path. Crabbe and Goyle. Ugh. Just perfect. They smiled mischievously and Malfoy squeezed between them.
"What've you got there, Potter?" He snatched the package from Harry and roamed his hands all over it. He frowned and threw the package back at Harry, causing him to nearly fall backwards. I reached out my hand to steady him.
"That's a broomstick." He tried to mask his jealousy and spite behind a sneer. "You'll be in for it now, Potter! First Year's aren't allowed brooms."
"That's not just any old broomstick!" replied Ron. He couldn't help, but try and one-up Malfoy. "That's a Nimbus Two-Thousand. What did you say you've got at home? A Comet Two-Sixty? Comet's look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."
Malfoy's jaw clenched and he stepped closer to Ron. "What would you know about it Weasley? Your family couldn't afford half the handle! I bet you have to save up twig by twig!"
Brooke quickly stepped between Malfoy and Ron. "Money's not everything you arrogant jerk! You wouldn't know a hard day's work if it bit you in the-"
"Not arguing I hope?" interrupted a small voice. Professor Flitwick was walking down the stairs and had come to a stop by Goyle's elbow. Malfoy and Brooke glared at each other, before she reluctantly stepped back.
I wanted to hit him so bad. I made a vow to myself that I wouldn't hold Devin back from it anymore. Sometimes a person needed a good butt kicking to bring them down a level.
"Potter's got a broomstick, Professor!" Malfoy said quickly, pointing at the package in Harry's arms. So not only was he a jerk, but he was a tattle-tale too! I didn't know I could dislike someone this much.
"Yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick. He smiled at Harry. "Professor McGonagall's told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. What model is it?"
"A Nimbus Two-Thousand, Sir. It's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it." The look of horror on Malfoy's face was priceless. We really needed to get that camera from Fred and George. It was a perfect shot.
"Excellent! Well, have a good Saturday!" Professor Flitwick headed down the stairs and Malfoy just stood there frozen.
"Carful, Malfoy, or your face will get stuck like that!" Brooke winked. We walked up the stairs guffawing.
"Harry, I love how sassy you are all the time!" I laughed.
"Sometimes, Malfoy just makes it easy," he replied. "But it's true. If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall, I never would have made it on the team."
"I guess he can be useful sometimes," said Brooke.
When we got to Gryffindor Tower we hustled upstairs to the boy's dormitory. It was exactly like ours, except for the smell.
"What's that smell?" Brooke pinched her nose in disgust.
"They're boys," I stated simply.
"Seamus has a habit of not washing his socks," said Harry placing the broom on the bed.
"Um, why?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Laziness?"
"Like I said. They're boys." I replied.
Ron, to impatient to wait, quickly unwrapped the package. The brown paper fell to the sides and revealed a beautiful broomstick. Its hazel handle was polished so perfectly that my face was reflected on its wood. The bristles had been smoothed together in a sleek design for more aerodynamic control. The stirrups were made of brass and were very sturdy. All in all it was a perfect broom made for Quidditch.
Harry ran his hand up and down the handle admiring its design and touched the words written on the end of the handle in gold. Nimbus 2000. Ron had yet to pick his mouth off of the floor.
"Harry, you've got to let me ride it sometime." I said.
"Me too! Me too!" Brooke said excitedly.
"I'll let all of you ride it, but not today. The note said Wood wants to meet with me tonight and I'm going to Hagrid's this afternoon." Brooke looked at Harry with curiosity in her eyes.
"Do you mind us going with you to meet Hagrid?" I had to admit. I was curious too, especially after last night. There was always the chance that he might let something slip.
"Sure, I'd love to introduce you."
"Well, we'd better get going. We're meeting the others in a little bit." I said. "You sure you don't want to come along?"
"Definitely not!" Ron said quickly.
"Well, geez, Ron. You don't have to be so enthusiastic about it," said Brooke, with her hands on her hips.
"See you guys later!" I waved.
Brooke and I gathered our books from our room and headed down towards the stone circle. The cool wind whipped my hair in front of my face and I nearly tripped walking down the grassy, stone steps.
Neville was waiting in front of one of the stones watching Trevor hop around on the ground.
"Hi, Neville!" I chirped.
"Hey," he replied.
I sat down in the grass and spread my books out in front of me. There were very few people that came this way seeing as how the only sights were Hagrid's vegetable garden and the Forbidden Forest.
This was really my first time to really take the time and look at the forest. The trees were very tall and the sun was shining through the trees, highlighting the green of the leaves. It didn't look so scary to me. Then again, who knows what it was filled with. This was a magical school after all. I wouldn't be surprised if it was some time of sanctuary for magical creatures to live peacefully.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of soft foot prints on grass. Devin and Jeremiah were walking over to us.
"Oh, you're here too Neville?" asked Jeremiah. Neville nodded as Devin and Jeremiah sat down in the grass. I stood up to address the small group.
"Thank you all for coming. Welcome to the first official meeting of the Neville Longbottom Fan Club," I announced proudly.
"Hold up!" exclaimed Devin. "You didn't say anything about-"
"Our first official business will be to nominate a club President. I nominate Brooke! All in favor?" I raised my hand along with Neville. Devin and Jeremiah looked at each other in silent conversation. They both raised their hands, having resigned themselves to their fate.
"Right then, President Brooke, care to say a few words?" Brooke stood up next to me.
"As you may know by the name of the club, we are here for Neville. We are here to help boost his confidence as well as his grades."
"I'd like to boost both of you into the sky," muttered Jeremiah.
"There will be no sass, Mr. Pritchard," she scolded. "This club will be beneficial to everyone, as well. We all have different aspects we're good at and so we will use those aspects to help one another in school."
"So if it's a study group like you say, then why is it called the Neville Longbottom Fan Club? Why can't we just have a normal sounding name?" asked Devin.
"Because Neville is adorable, that's why," she snapped.
"Do you have to call me adorable?" asked Neville, rather embarrassed by the endearment.
"Would you rather I called you 'cuddly'?"
"…..no."
"Alright, then. My first order of business is to nominate Kristin for Vice-President." I stood up and gave a deep bow.
"I'll serve you well."
"Now, then. Shall we get started? Neville, you're having a lot of trouble in Potions right?"
"Yeah. Professor Snape just makes me so nervous. He's always hovering over me. It's like he's waiting for me to make a mistake."
"I have noticed he's pretty biased when it comes to Gryffindors." said Devin. "Is he like that with y'all, Jeremiah?"
"Not really, I mean he's hard on everyone, but he's never treated any of us worse than the other."
"Maybe it's worse because the Slytherin's are in the class." Brooke mentioned. "He definitely favors them over anyone."
"Yeah, I've never had a problem with him," said Devin. "I'm usually teamed up with Hermione, so usually if any part of our potion goes wrong, he's quick to blame her and ignores me completely."
"Well, aside from Snape's obvious disdain toward Gryffindors, I think we should focus more on the theory for now," said Brooke.
"I think a good place to begin would be the ingredients," added Jeremiah. "If we know which ingredient causes certain things to happen, then I think it'll be easier for us to apply that knowledge to the potions."
"I get what you're saying," said Neville. "So, say you wanted to make a Laughing Potion. You would most likely use the leaves from the Alihotsy plant."
All of us stared at him in silent shock.
"How'd you know that?" I questioned.
"I like Herbology," he shrugged.
"That's brilliant Neville!" squealed Brooke. "I bet if you applied your knowledge of Herbology to Potions then you'd be great!"
"That still doesn't help the fact that he's scared stiff of Snape," said Devin, picking at a blade of grass.
"He just needs a confidence boost then!" I said.
"I think it's more than that," began Jeremiah. "I think he needs to learn to focus his attention on a set task instead of what's around him."
"Blimey, it's no wonder you were put in Ravenclaw," said Neville. He was right. Jeremiah was very observant of people. He was able to figure out that McGonagall was an animagus before anyone else had. Honestly, I hadn't even considered the possibility. Of course, things usually tend fly over my head anyways. Heh.
"So what do you think we should do then?" I asked. Jeremiah thought for a minute.
"I've got an idea. Everyone stand up, except for Neville." We did as he said and Jeremiah grabbed Neville's potions book and flipped through it. He stopped on a page and handed the book back to Neville.
"The Cure for Boils?" Neville gave him a quizzical look.
"That was the first potion we learned and I think Devin said that this was the first one you messed up. What I want you to do is try and memorize that potion."
"Seems easy enough."
"However," continued Jeremiah. "The rest of us will walk around you, taunting you like Snape would."
"I get it!" said Brooke. "If he can memorize the potion, then that means he's successfully tuned us out. Which also means, he'd be able to tune Snape out!"
"Exactly!" he said happily.
"Wow, Jeremiah. That's an awesome idea!" I said.
"I try," he shrugged. "Devin do you have your watch? I forgot mine."
"Yeah," said Devin holding up the watch on his wrist.
"Set it for two minutes. That should give him enough time to memorize it. When the two minutes are up, we'll test your knowledge to see how well you did."
Devin set his watch and started it. We walked around Neville in a wide circle, occasionally one of us would look over his shoulder, as Snape would. I lowered my voice to try and sound like Snape.
"Longbottom, you're a failure as a wizard. How did you ever get into Hogwarts?"
"Longbottom, for you're incompetence I'm taking away five thousand points from Gryffindor," said Brooke. I stopped in my tracks.
"Isn't five thousand a little excessive?" I asked her.
"Yes, but this is Snape we're talking about. If it was possible, he would definitely do it." I nodded in agreement.
Devin's watch beeped, letting us know that time was up.
"Let's see how you did," said Jeremiah. He took the book from Neville and read along has he tried to recite the potion.
"First you…..um…..you crush six snake fangs…" Neville looked at Jeremiah for approval. He nodded for him to continue.
"Then you put the crushed fangs into the cauldron,"
"Wrong!" Neville jumped at Jeremiah's outburst. "You have to add four measures of the snake fangs. Let's do it again." Wow, Jeremiah was a harsh teacher.
We berated Neville again until the time was up, and he recited the instructions again.
"First you crush the snake fangs, then you add four measures to the cauldron. Then, you heat the mixture to 250 degrees for ten seconds. After that…um…I can't remember…" He looked down in shame.
"That was great Neville!" praised Brooke.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah! You remembered a lot more than last time!" Neville grinned proudly at his accomplished task.
The drill was repeated several more times until Neville was finally able to recite the entire potion without flaw.
"I can't believe I actually, did it!" Neville grinned.
"You're brilliant, Neville!" exclaimed Brooke clapping him on the back. "So, what subject should we tackle next?"
"I'd like some help with Defense Against the Dark Arts," I said. "Charms are easy enough for me, but defensive and offensive spells, not so much."
"I can help you with that," said Devin. "The thing about offensive and defensive spells is that you have to really put some force into them. The more magic you force into them, the more affective they'll be."
"That's the opposite of charms then," I said. "In charms you have to relax and let your magic flow out evenly. If you put in too much, or too little, then they won't be affective."
"Then that means you just need to put more strength into your spells then," said Jeremiah thoughtfully. "You're treating them as if they're the same as charms, so you're holding back your magic."
"Exactly," said Devin. "I think The Smokescreen Spell would be perfect for you to learn then, if you're so good with charms. It's kind of an in-between for charms and defensive magic, so it'll be a good transition. It's more of a tactical spell, so while you'll need to put in more effort, you'll also need to keep it balanced for the smoke to distribute evenly. Watch me."
Devin held his wand aloft and pointed it at one of the stones. "Fumos." Gray smoke flowed from the tip of his wand and enveloped the stone. I had to admit, I was impressed.
"See? It's easy enough. Now you try it."
I turned to a stone and pointed my wand at it. I let out a breath and felt the warmth of my magic in my veins. I concentrated more of it than usual, into my wand arm and pushed it through to my wand. "Fumos."
A small stream of smoke poured from the tip and crept slowly toward the stone to halfway surround it.
"That's good," praised Devin. "Just put more of your magic into it and you'll have it down."
"I did it!" exclaimed Neville, jumping for joy. I looked next to me and saw his stone had been fully engulfed in smoke.
"I guess I'll just need more practice," I sighed.
"Practice makes perfect," Jeremiah said, reiterating the old saying.
"You know this spell is pretty useful," Brooke said, playing with Neville's smoke, with her wand.
"Like I said, it's a tactical spell. It's great for if you need a quick cover to get away or something," Devin explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't use this in some of the raids Mr. Weasley talked about."
The way Devin spoke of defensive and offensive magic caught me off guard. He spoke about it like it was an extension of his own physical strength. It came very naturally to him. It reminded me of the way Jeremiah observed people, like he had with Neville. I had assumed it was a confidence issue, but Jeremiah had seen past that and figured out it was also a focus-based issue.
Brooke also had her ability to empathize with others and see things from their perspective, not just her own. When Ron and I had our little spat, she had known where his prejudice stemmed from. It wasn't because I was a girl, it was because he saw me as he saw Ginny.
I silently wondered if I had some special gift as well. Devin had his strength of mind, Jeremiah had his observations, and Brooke had her empathy. But what did I have? Why did the Sorting hat put me in Gryffindor? It did say that I had all the qualities of a Hufflepuff, but it put me in Gryffindor anyway. Maybe it had seen something in me that I hadn't seen in myself.
I pushed the thoughts from my mind and tuned back in to the conversation in front of me.
"Maybe this club wasn't such a bad idea, after all," admitted Jeremiah.
"Y'all just act like Kristin and I are a couple of morons," said Brooke.
"Well, if the shoe fits," shrugged Devin. Jeremiah and Neville laughed and Brooke aimed a kick at Devin. He caught her foot, twisted her around, and pushed her forward onto the ground.
"Stupid head!" she shouted.
"So, since all three of you agree that this club wasn't a terrible idea, should we meet here every Saturday?" I suggested.
"I don't have a problem with it," said Neville.
"Good. Then it's settled then." I grabbed Devin's wrist to look at his watch. "Looks like it's nearly time for lunch. I guess that'll be it for today."
"See you guys later," said Jeremiah. He and Devin walked off toward the Great Hall. Neville, Brooke, and I gathered up our books and headed up to Gryffindor Tower to drop them off.
"I really appreciate you guys doing this," said Neville, as we walked down the corridor to the Fat Lady. "My Gran means well, but she can put a lot of pressure on me when it comes to school."
"But we've only been here a week," said Brooke.
"I know, but look what's happened. I've already melted Seamus's cauldron, had a bad case of boils, and a teacher hates me." He looked down at his shoes as he walked.
"Snape hates everyone," I countered. "But that's what we're here for Neville. Friends help each other out and pick each other up. You can always depend on us." Neville smiled sheepishly and gained a pep in his stepped as we entered the portrait hole.
We put our books away and walked down to the Great Hall. Neville branched off from us and sat by Dean and Seamus, while Brooke and I joined Harry and Ron.
"How'd the meeting go?" asked Harry.
"It actually went really well," replied Brooke. She grabbed a couple of sandwiches and placed them on her plate. "We gained some progress on curing Neville of his Snape phobia."
"You're kidding?" asked a surprised Ron. "How'd you do that?" Brooke and I explained to them about Jeremiah's idea and the results it produced.
"Wow, no wonder Jeremiah's in Ravenclaw," said Harry.
"That's what Neville said!" I replied. "And Devin helped me with Defense Against the Dark Arts. I even learned a new spell. Well, halfway learned it. I'll need to keep practicing it."
Once lunch was finished we walked across the grounds, past the stone circle (the smoke had now dissipated), and to Hagrid's hut. It was a small stone building with moss covering the roof. Different tools were strewn about along the walls and a small shed sat nearby. To the right of the hut there was a large garden with pumpkins growing to rather alarming sizes.
Harry knocked on the door and a booming bark, followed by the sound of a scuffle, could be heard on the other side of the door.
"Back, Fang! Back!" rang Hagrid's voice.
"I think I'm having flashbacks," said Ron. He took a step back.
"Shh," I said. "And don't mention anything about that dog. We don't want to get in trouble for it."
Hagrid opened the door to let us in, and was struggling to keep a hold on the collar of a black Great Dane. Once inside Hagrid let loose of his collar and he bounded over toward Ron, furiously licking his face.
"Gross," said Ron, trying to guard his face from Fang's pink tongue. He had so much saliva in his hair it was sticking up every which way. I made a mental note to stay away from Ron until he'd had a proper bath.
"Sorry 'bout that," said Hagrid. "He's jus' excited. Don' get ter many visitors, 'cept fer Dumbledore."
The inside of Hagrid's home consisted of one large room. Different animals hung from the ceiling, ready to be skinned, and a kettle was hung in the fireplace. In the corner of the room near the fireplace, sat a large bed with a quilted blanket. All in all, I thought it looked quite cozy.
"Don' be shy, make yerselves at home." Hagrid motioned us to a couch and a massive armchair. We sat down and Hagrid sat a plate of brown cakes, that looked hard as rocks, and several cups of tea onto the table in front of us.
"Harry, why don' yer introduce me ter yer friends?"
"Oh, yeah. This is Ron, Kristin, and Brooke."
"If Devin were here, he'd have a fit," I whispered to Brooke, who giggled silently.
"Nice ter meet ya. So, how's yer firs' week going so far?" asked Hagrid.
"So far, so good," answered Harry.
"Any subject yer good at?" Hagrid directed to all of us.
"Well, I'm pretty good with Charms," I answered. "Harry's good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Brooke's great at Transfiguration. Ron is….well he's good at Wizard's Chess."
"Oi!" Ron looked rather offended.
"Well, if you'd learn to apply yourself more!" said Brooke.
"I apply myself just fine!" he argued back.
"Yeah, that's why you're doing so wonderfully in Potions."
"That's because Snape has it out for anyone who's not in Slytherin." We couldn't disagree with him there. Any chance Snape had of making our lives miserable, he took it. At first I thought maybe he was just incredibly strict, but I was wrong. He didn't hesitate to show favoritism to the Slytherins.
"Nonsense," Hagrid disagreed. "Professor Snape may be strict, but he ain't got it out fer anyone."
"Well I think he really hates me," said Harry glumly.
"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?" Harry couldn't think of a response.
"Maybe it's just because you're in the spotlight, more than everyone else," suggested Brooke. "Maybe he thinks you're full of it and wants to bring you down a notch."
"He did call you a 'celebrity' during our first lesson," said Ron. "That must be it." That seemed like a pretty valid explanation to me. Harry and Snape had never even met before. What connection could they possibly have with each other?
"I'll tell you one thing that's annoying, though," I said, changing the subject. "Filch."
"Can't disagree with yer there," said Hagrid. "That old git's got it out fer me. Every time I go up ter the castle that bloody cat o' his follows me around everywhere. I'd like to introduce her to Fang sometime." We laughed and Fang's head shot up at the mention of his name. Hagrid turned to look at Brooke and I.
"So, yer American witches, eh? What brings ya to Hogwarts?"
"Well, our older siblings went to Ilvermorny, but Brooke and I wanted to travel abroad." I answered. "She wanted to see the world and honestly, I really wanted to go to school with Ron." Ron suddenly found a string on the armchair of great interest.
"So you're families got connections with the Weasley's, I'm guessin'?" I nodded and Hagrid looked to Ron. "Spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest." Hagrid let out a booming laugh. "Never met two people who could make so much trouble."
"Try living with them," Ron replied.
"So, how's yer brother Charlie? Still studying dragons?"
"Yeah, he's in Romania at the moment studying the Norwegian Ridgeback."
"Beautiful, creatures, dragons. Always wanted one." I spit out my tea.
"Like for a pet?" I asked. "They're too dangerous to try and get close to, let alone train one and keep it as a pet."
"Nonsense," he dismissed. "No one's ever tried have they?" Well yeah, no one's ever tried! You'd get burnt to a crisp! I love learning about dragons, but I'd never be eager to try and raise one! Although, it did sound pretty neat to have a pet dragon. Neat, but plain crazy.
"Did you hear that Harry's on the Quidditch team?!" Ron blurted out of nowhere. Smooth.
"So much for keeping it a secret, huh, Ron?" Brooke shook her head. He looked at her sheepishly and grinned. I wonder how long he'd been holding it in.
'Blimey, Harry, that's great! Yer dad was on the team, too," said Hagrid.
"Yeah, we saw his name on one of the trophies in the trophy room," Harry replied. After a few moments of talking about Quidditch and Harry's upcoming practices, I noticed Brooke staring at the floor quite intently. I knew when she was silent for this long she was up to something. Although, it was usually one of her outrageous plans.
"So, Hagrid," Brooke began. "Did you see that Gringotts was broken into?" So that's what it was. She was trying to casually figure out what was in that package, without alerting Hagrid that we knew anything. She knew, that he would know that we'd seen it in the Daily Prophet, but she had to be careful not to spill anything more than what was in the article.
Hagrid had gone visibly rigid when she asked the question.
"…I did, yeah," he began carefully. He wouldn't look her in the eyes. Next to me, I saw Harry's eyes light up.
"Yeah, that's the same day we went wasn't it? Same vault too, if I'm not mistaken."
"Well, it's been lovely talkin' ter yeh," Hagrid said standing up and opening up the door. "Got lot's ter do today, so if yeh don' mind." Hagrid quickly shuffled us out the door and promptly shut it behind us.
"He definitely knows something," said Ron. "Did you see the way he acted?"
"Not exactly good at hiding things, is he?" I said.
"I'm glad you brought it up, Brooke," said Harry. "I was trying to figure out how to bring it up myself."
"I think we need to wait a while, before we try and prod him about anything, again," she said. "He shut us down real quick and didn't leave us any wiggle room. But now we know, without a doubt, that the package is something really important."
"What? The dog trying to have us for a midnight snack, didn't ring any bells?" Ron said sarcastically.
"Oh, hush," she shot back.
"Who knows," I said, putting my hands behind me head. "We may never figure out what's in that package."
We walked up the moss eaten stone steps and towards the warmth of the castle.