Hey y'all! I was blown away by the number of readers so far this month. Over 30 readers in less than 2 weeks! And so many of them were not only from the US and UK, but also from countries like Ireland and Turkey. That is just plain awesomeness. I'm going global!
Well, from now on, I'm separating my chapters at the same spots as JK Rowling, who btw, owns the plot and all characters except Nicki, Sydney, Justin, and Cynthia.
Oh, one other thing before I get going: I MADE THE VARSITY FOOTBALL CHEERLEADING SQUAD! I guess my parents were right. I had no reason to worry. Now, here's an extra long chapter to make up for the short length of the last one.
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"Man, what do they feed that dog?" Nicki exclaimed the next morning at breakfast.
"More importantly, what is the dog hiding? Didn't you notice the trap door last night? It must be protecting something, but I can't figure out what," Sydney reasoned to herself.
"I bet Hagrid knows. Oh and Nicki, heads up," Justin said out of the blue.
Nicki looked up and saw Hedwig fly in carrying a giant package. The snowy owl dropped the package right in front of the eager twin. Nicki started ripping open the paper and inside was the sleekest broom she had ever seen with Nimbus2000 written on the end in golden cursive. Nicki smiled and looked over toward McGonagall, who was smiling back and petting Hedwig. Sydney pulled out a note and handed it to her ecstatic twin while Justin and Ron, along with the rest of the Gryffindor boys, were too busing gaping over the broom. Nicki read the note, stuffed it into her pocket, grabbed the broom, and ran off toward the common room.
Nicki changed into her jeggings (jean-leggings if you didn't know), high-top converses,and a black hoodie and ran out toward the quidditch field at 7:00 that night. Oliver was there waiting for her.
"I see you got your broom. Now let me explain to you the rules of quidditch." Oliver opened the trunk next to him, which contained a large ball, two medium balls that were chained down, and in the top a tiny little golden ball. He picked up the large ball and tossed it to Nicki. "This is the Quaffle. The three Chasers try to get it into the opponents' three goals, which are guarded by the Keeper, that's me on the Gryffindor team." Oliver then unchained the two medium balls, which immediately tried to crush Nicki. Oliver spent a minute grabbing them and chaining them back up.
"What were those killer balls?" Nicki asked after she got over her initial fear of being pounded.
"Bludgers, nasty things. The two Beaters use bats to try to hit members of the opposing team with the Bludgers and protect members of their team from the Bludgers. The Weasley twins are our beaters. Now, the only ball you have to worry about is this." Oliver reached in and pulled out the little golden ball, which sprouted miniature wings as soon as it was out of the box. "This is the Snitch." He handed it to Nicki.
"I think I like this ball the best."
"Ah, you say that now, but you won't be saying it after the first match. They are faster than most brooms and they are almost impossible to see. The Seeker, that's you, tries to catch the Snitch, giving the team 150 points and ending the game. Have you got it all?" Oliver looked expectantly at Nicki.
"Yep: the Quaffle scores, the Bludgers hurt, and the Snitch finishes."
Oliver contemplated Nicki's summary for a moment before he turned back to Nicki. "Yeah that's pretty much it." Nicki and Oliver spent the rest of the time improving her Seeker skills by practicing with golf balls since it was too dark to practice with the Snitch.
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Halloween morning, the students woke to the smell of baking pumpkins and many other delicious treats. The day was also special because in Charms, Professor Flitwick decided to teach the first years how to make objects fly, something Sydney and Nicki were dying to try: Sydney had been practicing her wand motions for weeks to prepare, but Nicki only wanted to make people, especially Malfoy, hang upside down in the air. Flitwick put everybody in pairs: Nicki and Justin, Sydney and Ron, Draco and Goyle.
"Now, remember our swish-and-flick motion and repeat after me. Wingardium Leviosa." Everybody muttered the phrase but nobody seemed to have much luck. Ron did the correct motion and his spell sounded correct, but his feather did not move and he started to jerkily flick his wand back and forth.
Sydney stopped Ron and in a slightly bossy voice said, "All you're going to do is poke your eye out. It's Wingardium Leviosa, not Leviosa."
"Well if you're so clever, why don't you do it?" Sydney flipped her hair, pointed her wand at the feather, and chanted the phrase. Soon Sydney's feather was flying toward the ceiling and Sydney was smiling proudly. Professor Flitwick congratulated Sydney and awarded points to Gryffindor. Ron slumped in his seat grumpily.
After class, Ron walked out with Justin, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and Neville and mocked Sydney and her "know-it-all" attitude. Sydney was walking right behind with Nicki and then ran past the boys while crying after she heard Ron's insults. Nicki came up, glared at Ron, slapped him in the face, called him a jerk, and then ran after her crying twin.
Justin looked at Ron, who was busy rubbing his face to make the pain go away, and said, "You deserved that. Sydney is a brilliant witch and she does not deserve your taunting." Justin ran off after Nicki to go apologize to Sydney for Ron's behavior. However, Sydney had disappeared and even Nicki could not find her.
That evening at dinner, Nicki, Justin, and Ron heard Parvati Patil telling her best friend Lavender Brown that Sydney was crying in the girls' bathroom and would not let anybody talk to her. Nicki shoved Ron and growled at him, "Now you've done it. Nobody disses my sister and makes her cry and gets away with it."
Nicki was about to give Ron a serious black eye when Quirrell burst through the doors and screamed, "TROOOOOOLLLLLL! In the dungeon! A TROLL!" The entire Great Hall silenced and stared at him. "Just thought I should let you know." Quirrell fainted and the entire Great Hall broke into chaos and screaming.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore bellowed. "Prefects, escort the students to their common rooms in an orderly fashion immediately." While Percy led the Gryffindors to their common room, Nicki grabbed Justin and Ron and pulled them away from the group toward the girls' bathroom.
Nicki pointed her finger at Ron and threatened in an angry and accusatory voice, "This is all your fault. If you hadn't teased Syd, then she wouldn't be crying and in danger of troll attack. You are fixing this mess if I have to bite off your hands."
Meanwhile, Sydney walked out of her stall and wiped her tears when she saw a giant troll staring at her. She squealed and ran back into the stall. Sydney was too frightened to remember any defensive spells.
Nicki, Justin, and Ron heard a bloodcurdling shriek come from the bathroom. The three ran in and Nicki did the first thing that came to mind: yell "Hey ugly!" The troll turned toward the voice and roared. "Quick, I'll distract him while you guys help Sydney."
The boys didn't argue as Nicki maneuvered back and forth, barely avoiding the troll's club. Justin and Ron tried to help Sydney, but she was trapped from her knees down in a pile of rubble. Nicki got momentarily distracted and the troll slammed her into the wall with his club.
"Nicki!" Ron called out and he dropped Sydney's arm and ran toward Nicki as the troll was about to crush her with his club.
"Ron." Sydney yelled. "Swish and flick."
Ron pulled out his wand and bellowed, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The troll's club floated out of his hand and he looked around for it. Ron was holding the club in the air by magic. Ron dropped the club and it hit the troll on the head, knocking him out. The troll swayed and fell on the floor.
Justin was finally able to get Sydney out of the rubble and Ron ran over to Nicki, who had a lump forming on her forehead and cuts on her lip and her eyebrow. "Strike three. He's out," Nicki panted with a small smile.
"Nice job with the spell Ron; and I'm sorry for being so bossy. I was really only trying to help with your spell," Sydney said apologetically as she limped over with Justin's arm supporting her.
"It's fine. I'm sorry for calling you a know-it-all."
Ron helped Nicki up as McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell ran through the bathroom doors. "My heavens!" McGonagall cried out as she saw the state of the bathroom and the four students standing in it. "What happened here?" she demanded.
Ron and Nicki opened their mouths to answer, but Sydney cut them off. "It's my fault Professor."
"Miss Potter?" McGonagall asked in a shocked voice.
"I heard about the troll and I thought I could deal with it, but I couldn't. My sister and the boys came down to look for me. It's not their fault." Nicki could not believe that her sister had just lied to a teacher.
"Miss Potter I am very disappointed in your judgment. Five points from Gryffindor. But for the other Miss Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Mr. Granger: five points for Gryffindor each. I will be sure to inform Professor Dumbledore of your actions. But next time be more careful. You all could have been killed." McGonagall and Snape led the students out as Quirrell stayed behind to take care of the troll. The four students were friends after that experience.
So… what did you think? I love how Quirrell just runs in and faints in the movie. I read about a writer on Fanfiction who was bored in class and texted her boyfriend telling him that. Soon he ran into her classroom and pretended to be Quirrell by screaming "Troll in the dungeon! Troll! Just thought you should know." And then he pretended to faint. If someone did that in my class, I would be laughing so much I would not be able to breathe. So I'll see you all next time. And please review.