"You're joking."
It was dinnertime and Elizabeth had finally calmed down. Harry had just finished telling them what happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall.
"Seeker?" said Ron. "But first years never ─ you must be the youngest house player in about ─"
"─ a century," said Harry.
"That's wonderful, Harry!" said Elizabeth. "Congratulations. When do you start training?"
"Next week. Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."
Elizabeth knew who Oliver Wood was. He was a fifth year like Richard, except he was Gryffindor House's Quidditch team captain and Keeper. He was kind of obsessive about it too. Fred and George Weasley had now joined them at the table.
"Well done," said George to Harry in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too ─ Beaters."
"You must be good, Harry," said Fred. "Wood was almost skipping when he told us."
Elizabeth laughed. "Now, there's an image."
"Very funny," said George sarcastically.
"Anyway, we've got to go," said Fred. "Lee Jordan reckons he found a new secret passageway out of the school."
"I doubt Lee Jordan could find out anything sneaky that you two don't already know," said Elizabeth.
Fred and George disappeared after saying goodbye. Suddenly, someone far less welcome turned up.
"Having a last meal, Potter?" said Malfoy. "When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"
"You know what, Draco?" Elizabeth stood to face him. "You're ─"
"A lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly.
"I'd take you on anytime time on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only ─ no contact. What's the matter?" He was taking note of the look on Harry's face. "Never heard of a wizard's duel before?"
"Of course he has," said Ron. "I'm his second, who's yours."
"No," said Elizabeth sharply. "You are no one's second, Ron, because no one is dueling anyone."
"Better listen to her, Weasley," said Malfoy. "Potter doesn't stand a chance."
"Shut it, Draco," spat Elizabeth. "I just don't want to further your embarrassment. I mean, after what happened during flying lessons, I couldn't handle you crying if you lost at something you think you're good at again."
Draco scowled at her. He turned to Ron and Harry. "Crabbe and I will meet you two at midnight in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."
When Malfoy had gone, Elizabeth sat back down.
"What is a wizard's duel?" Harry asked.
"Something you will not be participating in," said Elizabeth.
"Yes, he will," argued Ron.
"No, I have a bad feeling about this."
"You have a bad feeling about everything."
"Ron, I know Draco. He's up to something."
"What is a wizard's duel?" Harry asked again. "And what do you mean you're my second, Ron?"
Ron and Elizabeth stopped arguing for a second.
"Well, a second is there to take over in case you die," said Ron casually.
Elizabeth caught the look on Harry's face. "But people only die in proper duels," she said. "Even if you were ever in a duel you couldn't do anything. You don't know enough magic yet."
"Maybe you should be his second, Liz. You know a lot more magic. You could do some damage to Malfoy. Maybe teach him a lesson."
"No! You should have just refused the duel in the first place!"
"What happens if I wave my wand and nothing happens?" asked Harry.
"Throw it away and punch him in the nose," Ron suggested.
"Excuse me." They looked up to see Hermione Granger standing there. "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying ─"
"Bet you could," Ron muttered.
"You're looking to get smacked, aren't you?" said Elizabeth to him.
"I have to tell you that you mustn't go wandering around the castle at night," said Hermione. "You'll lose points for Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."
Elizabeth couldn't stand Hermione, but she had to agree with her. If Harry went wandering around the castle at night, Filch was sure to catch him. Then it hit her; Malfoy knew that. He was actually counting on it. He wasn't going to show up to duel Harry, he was going to tip Filch off about it, and then revel in it when Harry got in serious trouble.
Ron and Harry had left the hall by the time Elizabeth had snapped out of her thoughts. Hermione was watching her.
"Aren't you going to go with them?" she said. "You know, engage in the rule breaking."
Elizabeth's eyes shot up to Hermione. "No," she said. "I'm going to stop them."
Hermione looked incredibly pleased with Elizabeth's answer. "Well, maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were. So, how are you going to stop them?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something."
She gathered her things and left the Great Hall. Not long after exiting, Richard came running up to her, waving a letter.
"Guess what," he said.
She didn't even look at him. "That's not from Telemachus."
"How do you know?"
Elizabeth held up a bandaged finger. "Because I saw Odysseus today."
Richard stopped and held the letter in his hands. "Okay, so it's not the response to my letter, but that's not the point."
"Then what is the point, Richard?"
Richard simply handed her the letter. She read the envelope aloud. "Richard Oliver Thomas Wellington. Yeah, that's your name, Richard."
"No, no, on the letter." He opened the letter and pointed to a poorly scribbled name at the bottom. "There."
Elizabeth squinted to read. "Yours truly —" She looked up at Richard, who was smiling bright. "No," she whispered.
"Yes! He wrote me and not you!" Richard was almost dancing around her.
"What about?" She tried reading the full letter, but Richard snatched it from her.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She tried grabbing it back, but he pulled away. "He congratulated me on becoming prefect this year," Richard said, taking off down the hallway.
"Yeah, well," she mumbled. "Someone should write him back and tell him not to encourage your swottiness." But he was already strolling around the corner, looking all too pleased with himself. "I'm going to write him, then you'll see, Richard!"
Elizabeth already found herself angry that week with the way Draco was acting and now challenging Harry to a duel he had no intentions of showing up for. Richard proving once again he's a git didn't help her mood one bit, but she felt more determined than anything when she entered her dormitory. Hermione pounced on her at once.
"Where did you go?" said Hermione.
"Richard stopped me." She moved over to her bed and fell on it.
"Ooo, good, did you tell him about the duel? Maybe he and the other prefects could stop it."
Elizabeth stared up at the ceiling, her arms lay outstretched and hung over the edges of the bed. "No."
"Why not? Have you got a plan at least?"
"Because and no. Richard wouldn't believe me if I told him anyway. He always thinks I'm making up stories for attention."
Hermione walked over to Elizabeth's bedside. "Then what're you going to do?"
"I was just going to talk to Harry."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"Then I'm going to use stupefy on him and Ron. They can't go if they're unconscious."
"That's an awful idea."
Elizabeth sat up to look at Hermione. "Then you come up with something!" The night was not turning out to be a good one for her and Hermione's incessant nagging just made her particularly irritable.
"I say we tell Percy," said Hermione.
"No way, he'd only get them in trouble. The whole point of this is to keep them out of trouble, remember?"
"Well, what do you suggest we do then?"
"Just try to talk some sense into Harry, I guess. What else can we do?" She got up off her bed. "We'll go down the common room and wait for them. If you can distract Ron maybe I'll get a chance to persuade Harry not to go." Hermione looked unconvinced. "It's worth a try, is it not?"
At quarter after eleven they snuck down to the common room. There were still a few embers glowing in the fireplace. They sat down in adjacent armchairs and waited for Ron and Harry to sneak through the common room on their way to the duel.
"What do you plan to tell Harry?" said Hermione.
"That it's a trap and Malfoy isn't going to show." Elizabeth stared at the burning embers in the fireplace.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because I know Draco and he's crafty like that. You've witnessed his dislike for Harry. What makes you think he wouldn't do anything to get him in trouble?"
Hermione was silent for a few minutes. Elizabeth continued to stare at the embers. She was more wrapped up in thinking about that letter Richard received that she had completely forgotten about the duel for a moment.
"And what happens if talking to him doesn't work?" said Hermione.
Elizabeth suddenly remembered where she was and what she was doing. "I already told you, I'm going to knock them both unconscious."
"That's a horrible plan!"
Elizabeth looked over at Hermione. She could see her silhouette in the dark. "Well, I don't see you coming up with something better."
Hermione was quiet for a good ten minutes after that. "All right, I've got it. We should ─"
Elizabeth hushed her. "Be quiet. I think I hear them coming."
Ron and Harry crept down the spiral staircase and silently across the common room. They were almost at the portrait hole when Hermione spoke.
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry." She turned on a lamp, illuminating the room.
"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"
"Funny," said Elizabeth, "I was just going to say the same thing to you." Elizabeth stood up from her chair and walked over to Ron. "You know, you're going to get caught. Not that I wouldn't mind seeing what your mother'd do to you if you got expelled, but I don't want to see Harry get in trouble just because you're a stupid git."
"What's with you?" He pointed to Hermione. "She's warped your mind, hasn't she?"
Hermione looked offended. "I almost told your brother, Percy ─ he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."
Elizabeth would have killed her if she told Percy. She didn't want her friends in any trouble. If she did, she would have let them go get caught by Filch and saved Percy the trouble of having to turn them over to an authority figure.
"Come on," said Harry to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole.
Elizabeth wasn't going to give up that easily. "Harry, wait! You don't know what you're doing. Harry!"
She followed Ron through the portrait hole with Hermione at her heels, hissing at Ron and Harry.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor ─"
"Shut it, Hermione," said Elizabeth.
"Do you only care about yourselves ─"
"Shut it, Hermione," Elizabeth repeated loudly.
"I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll ─"
"Shut it, Hermione!"
"Both of you, go away," said Ron.
"All right, but I warned you, just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so ─"
"So what?" Elizabeth looked back at Hermione.
She had turned back to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visiting, leaving them all locked out of Gryffindor tower.
"Now what are we going to do?" she asked shrilly, looking at Elizabeth.
"That's your problem, girls," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."
They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Elizabeth and Hermione caught up with them.
"We're coming with you," said Hermione.
"You are not."
Elizabeth ignored them. She didn't care what they said to each other as long as they kept each other occupied.
"I need to talk to you," Elizabeth whispered to Harry. "Draco isn't going to show, this is all a trap."
"How are you sure of that?" whispered Harry. "You don't know if ─"
He stopped talking. They heard something, a sort of snuffling. Ron and Hermione were still arguing.
"Shut it, you two!" said Elizabeth. "There's something there."
Ron must have heard it too. "Mrs. Norris?" he breathed.
A sigh of relief washed over them all when they saw it wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep. As they crept nearer he jerked awake.
"Thank goodness you found me!"
"All right, Neville, keep your voice down," said Elizabeth. "What're doing out here?"
"I couldn't remember the password to get in to bed."
Poor Neville, he was always forgetting things. She was glad Draco didn't break the Remembrall, as he really did need it.
"The password's 'Pig snout'," said Ron. "But it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."
"How's your arm?" asked Harry.
"Fine." Neville showed them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."
"Good, now, come on, we can't leave you here alone." Elizabeth extended her hand for Neville to take. He grabbed it and she helped him stand up.
"What? He can't come with us," said Ron.
"Well, we can't leave him here."
"He'll get in the way."
"In the way of what? Ron, we are not leaving anyone out here, alone, at night, to be an easy target for Peeves."
"Fine," spat Ron, looking at Neville and Hermione. "But if any of you get us caught ─" He turned to Elizabeth. "─ especially you, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."
Hermione opened her mouth, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet. He beckoned them all forward. As the finally entered the trophy room, Elizabeth's nerves were running wild. She was so afraid that they were going to turn a corner and Filch would jump out with that cat of his and get them all expelled. Malfoy wasn't anywhere in sight, but Elizabeth knew he wouldn't be. They had all just walked into his trap and she just wanted to get them out of there before Filch came along.
"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.
"Listen to me," whispered Elizabeth. "He is not coming. Stop. This is a trap. Stop. We should get out of here now. Stop. Do you understand? End message."
"Why are you always ─" Ron stopped. A noise in the next room made them all jump.
"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."
Elizabeth went rigid. It was Filch talking to Mrs. Norris. She knew they needed to get out of there, she just didn't know which way to go. If they wanted any chance of getting out of there safely and back to Gryffindor Tower, she knew someone was going to have to take the lead and stepped up. She waved the other four to follow her quickly as she took off. They hurried out the door, away from Filch's voice, and down a long gallery of suits of armour.
Filch was getting nearer to them as they tried to creep along silently. Scared, Neville broke into a run, tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour. Elizabeth was sure that all the clanging and clashing had woken the whole school, and definitely sent Filch running in their direction.
With no need to be quiet anymore, she yelled, "RUN!"
The five of them sprinted down the gallery, swung around the doorpost, and raced down several corridors. Elizabeth was in the lead, without any idea where they were going, she was just running away from Filch as fast as she could. She couldn't tell which part of the castle they were in when it was so dark. She didn't care though, she just wanted to get them all back to the common room where they'd be safe.
They ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway. They came out near their Charms classroom, which was miles from the trophy room. Elizabeth stopped for second and sat down on the floor to catch her breath.
"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead.
"I ─ told ─ you," Hermione gasped. "I ─ told ─ you."
Elizabeth was starting to regret letting Hermione help her. She had been nothing but trouble since day one and Elizabeth knew she shouldn't have ever told her anything. Hermione Granger was a no good meddling swot who should have just left them all alone because her constant disapproval was helping no one.
"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realise 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."
"Piss off," said Elizabeth. "You didn't figure that out on your own, I told you that. And you ─" She turned to Harry. "You didn't want to believe me when I told you." She walked further down the corridor. "Let's go. And not a word from any of you, got it?"
It wasn't going to be as simple as walking back to Gryffindor Tower, though. Suddenly a doorknob rattled and Peeves came shooting out of a classroom. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight. Peeves was just as bad, if not worse, than Filch and Elizabeth didn't want to deal with running from both in one night.
"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."
"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."
Elizabeth thought if she was as nice to him as possible she could maybe get them all back to the common room without him drawing any attention to them.
"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."
"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves ─ this was a big mistake.
"Ron, no!"
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a locked door.
"This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"
"Ron, shut it!" said Elizabeth, pushing him out of the way. She tried opening the door to no avail.
Hermione pulled out her wand and tapped the lock. "Alohomora!" she whispered. The lock clicked and the door swung open.
"Maybe you're not useless," Elizabeth whispered to Hermione, who would have argued if Harry had not pushed them through the door.
They piled through, shut it, and pressed their ears against it. They listened for any commotion on the other side of the door, but Elizabeth's heart was beating so fast that blood was pounding in her ears. She could barely hear Peeves messing with Filch, and then Filch cursing as Peeves whooshed away.
"L-Liz, Harry," squeaked Neville. His voice was trembling with fear.
"What?" said Elizabeth turning around.
They were in the forbidden corridor, and now she knew why it was forbidden. They were looking straight into the eyes of a three headed dog that filled the whole space between the ceiling and floor. Elizabeth had read about this somewhere before, but she couldn't place it. Leave it to Elizabeth Wellington to be in a life or death situation and the only thing on her mind is not how to survive, but what book she had read about this in. She was more like Hermione than she knew.
The dog was watching them with all six eyes, yellowish fangs in clear view as the beast growled. Suddenly they all fell backward. Harry had opened the door and slammed it shut. They ran back down the corridor, no sign of Filch. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.
"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.
"Never mind that ─ pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry.
The portrait swung open and they all scrambled into the common room, collapsing into armchairs. It was a while before any of them spoke. They were all trying to calm down and catch their breaths.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."
Elizabeth closed her eyes and sunk back into her chair.
"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" snapped Hermione.
Elizabeth's eyes shot open. She had had just enough of Hermione Granger for one night. She was ready to tell her off once and for all.
"Didn't you see what it was standing on?" Hermione continued.
"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looked at its feet. I was too busy with its heads."
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."
That was it! Elizabeth jumped out of her chair. "Cerberus!"
"What?" said Ron.
"That dog! I knew I had read about a three-headed dog before, but couldn't figure out where. Cerberus is the demon hound of Hades in Greek mythology. He guards the gates of hell, ensuring that spirits of the dead could enter, but none could exit."
Elizabeth's grandfather had read more books in his life than she could count. He had read every book in the shop, in the house, in Hogwarts' library, and every year he would get new books for his birthday and Christmas, which he would finish promptly as well. He read spell books, cookery books, children's books. He read books from from the wizarding world, but also from the Muggle world. He just liked reading. One of his favourite subjects was Greek mythology, which is why the family owl was named Odysseus, because he went on long journeys, Thomas said. He had also named Telemachus to no one's surprise.
"And where did you read that tosh?" Ron asked.
"My grandfather's bookshelf," she said. "And it's not tosh! That dog is guarding that door, making sure none can enter, and what's ever in there can't get out."
"But what's in there?"
"I don't know. The book didn't tell me that, Ron."
"Well, a lot of use that does us."
Hermione stood up, glaring at them. "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. Elizabeth, are you coming?"
"Yeah, I guess," said Elizabeth. "Hopefully there won't be any more excitement tonight."
A/N: Quotes and plot from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling, chapter Nine, The Midnight Duel, pages 152 to 162.