"Harry, you are definitely the luckiest boy who has ever walked this earth." I said before I took a sip of my drink. I think I was too shocked and jealous to actually eat.
"I disagree. I don't think it's very lucky for me to be a part of a Quidditch team when I don't even know what Quidditch is, or a Seeker, or-" He stopped. He smiled for people and thanked them when they came to congratulate him on his Quidditch position, but, when they turned away, Harry immediately started frowning and complaining again.
"He breaks a rule and he's given everything on a silver platter. I break a rule and get three weeks worth of detention."
Thinking this, I knew I was being ridiculous. Harry was confused and had no idea what was going on. I should be a friend instead of a jealous idiot.
I took a deep breath and put my hand across to table to hold his.
"Harry, Quidditch really isn't difficult to understand. All you need to do is catch the Snitch-"
"Exactly! What's a Snitch?!" He said as he pulled his hand out of mine. I immediately grabbed it again.
"All will be explained tomorrow. You did say Oliver Wood would talk to you about it, yes?"
Harry nodded and sighed. I gave him a tight clench on his hand then let go. He seemed to be a littler calmer.
"Look, Harry. Everyone is completely jealous! I mean, you're the youngest student to ever be put on a Hogwarts Quidditch Team! You're now a legend!" Ron said as he then shoved his mouth with food.
"Well, you've been a legend since you were one, but you get Ron's point." I said as I now began to eat. I was calming down a little.
"I just learned how to fly-"
"But you were amazing at it!" Ron said as he put his arm around Harry's shoulder.
"Potter!"
We three looked down the Gryffindor table, but no Gryffindor was calling him.
"Potter!" we heard again.
We then stared at the table next to us, the Slytherin table, to see Draco Malfoy trying to talk to us.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry grumbled.
"Is everyone celebrating your last dinner, Potter?" He said with a smirk as his posse, Crabbe and Goyle, chuckled.
"Oh, you're hilarious." Ron said sarcastically.
"You're a lot braver on the ground than you are in the air." Harry sneered.
Draco glared at Harry for a few seconds before responding.
"I can take you anytime on my own."
"Do you have anything in mind?"
Draco looked around to make sure no one was listening.
"How about a Wizards Duel? Tonight. Wands only." Draco said quietly with a grin. I, however, heard.
I then raised my hand for them to look at me.
"I'll be Harry's second. Who's your second?"
Draco then looked at Crabbe and Goyle, trying to see which of them was the biggest.
"Crabbe will be my second. We'll meet you in the Trophy Room at midnight. The door there is never locked. Deal?"
"Deal!" Ron joined in. Harry, now, seemed a little worried.
Draco nodded, as did Harry.
Then Harry immediately looked at us and asked "What's a Wizards Duel?"
It was fifteen minutes until midnight. As I waited for the boys to come down to the Common Room, I stood in front of the bulletin board. I kept reading the 'Quidditch Tryouts' paper over and over again.
It was going to be held tomorrow afternoon. Oliver Wood had decided to keep last year's team; Himself, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Fred Weasley, and George Weasley. Harry was the new Seeker.
Do you notice anything intimidating and terrifying for anyone trying out? If not, I'll tell you; there's only one position left.
I was shaking slightly. There was only one position left on the team, which was Chaser. Why would Oliver Wood choose a first year to play on his team?
I then heard some sort of shuffle behind me. I turned away from the bulletin board and looked around the common room. There were empty chairs, cluttered desks, a cackling fire, sofas facing the fire…
"It must have been the fire." I thought, "You're just being jumpy, that's all."
I mean, I had every right to be! The boys and I were going past our curfew to have a duel (can we say 'expulsion'?) and I was ridiculously nervous for the try outs tomorrow.
I was distracted by my thoughts when I heard the two boys running down the steps.
"Come on! We'll be late!" Harry said as he immediately headed for the portrait.
I shook away the thoughts about Quidditch and checked my pocket to see if I had my wand. Once I felt it, I followed Harry.
"Stop!"
Harry, Ron, and I turned around to see Hermione Granger standing in her nightgown.
"How long have you been down here?" I asked curiously.
"For a good couple of minutes." She said.
I then looked around at where she could have been hiding. When I noticed how tiny Hermione really is, it was clear that I couldn't have spotted her if she were sitting in one of the sofas that faced the fireplace.
"What do you want, Granger?" Ron snapped.
"I don't want to lose points for Gryffindor, that's for sure. If you three go to see Malfoy, I'll get Percy and tell him what you all are up to."
"How did you even find out about that? I'm sure you were halfway down the table when we all discussed this-" I said, but I was interrupted.
"Did you eavesdrop?" Ron asked (slightly yelled) angrily.
"It doesn't matter how she found out. Look, Hermione, leave us alone. Go to bed," Harry said in an annoyed voice, "Come on, you two. We need to go."
"I was about to tell Percy, you know. I was, the first time I heard. I'm tempted to right now, actually." Hermione said. We all stopped dead in our tracks.
"You wouldn't." Ron whispered in a deathly tone as he slowly turned around to look at her.
Harry and I took a quick glance at each other. It was clear that we were both shaken at the thought of being caught and expelled.
Then, in just a second or two, Harry shook off his fears and said "Go to bed, Hermione." And, without another word, he walked through the portrait door and out of the common room.
Ron and I gave each other a worried glance, but ran after Harry.
I could hear Hermione's footsteps as she ran after us.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor? Do you only care about yourselves? If you get caught, we'll lose the points I got for knowing about Switching spells!" Hermione said hysterically.
I stopped and turned around to look at Hermione.
"Hermione…go to bed."
I could have sworn I heard Hermione stomp her foot before she ran out after us.
She yelled out a few more threats about telling Percy, the Prefect, but we continued on walking.
Of course we were nervous that she would tell, but it's best to act as if we don't care…right?
She finally gave up.
"Fine! But-but don't say I didn't warn you! I'm telling right now!" And with a final stomp, she turned around to enter the common room again.
I then heard her give out a distressed squeal and start murmuring "No, no, no…"
I turned around and I joined in the murmuring, but I was, instead, saying "Yes, yes, yes…"
The Fat Lady was gone, and there was no way for Hermione to go back in and tell Percy anything.
I heard Harry and Ron give out a sigh when they, too, turned around. We all then gave each other a smile as we continued on walking.
The smiles soon disappeared.
"I'm coming!"
"No. You. Aren't." Ron said with a glare.
"Yes. I. Am!" Hermione snapped back.
And then an argument was born, and it included putting fingers in each other's faces and yelling.
"Shut up, you two! We'll all get caught if you both keep yelling!" Harry said, stepping in between.
As he said this, I heard something. Hesitantly, I turned around.
There was nothing.
"You're just being paranoi-"
I then heard it again.
"And maybe you're not."
"We need to go, guys," I said in a harsh whisper, "I think someone's here."
As I said this, we all heard it. They were footsteps, and they were getting closer and closer.
And, with each of us hyperventilating and having heart attacks, the person appeared out of the shadows.
It was Neville.
"Oh! You found me! I couldn't get in because I forgot the password-" Neville started, but we all interrupted him with loud sighs of relief.
"Neville! You scared us!" I said as I put my hand to my chest. I have never had my heart beat so fast and hard.
"For future reference, it's 'pig snout.' However, the Fat Lady isn't here. So…sorry. You just have to sit by and wait for her to come back." Harry said to Neville. He then turned to the rest of us.
"Let's go before someone actually comes and catches us. And Hermione, I suggest you stay with Neville."
"I already told you that I'm coming!"
"Wait, where are you lot going?" Neville said as he stepped in.
I was getting tired of this. We were already running late.
"You know what; why don't we all just go. Just learn how to keep your mouths shut and walk quickly." I snapped at the four.
And, with that, I lead the way to the Trophy Room.
We made it to the Trophy Room by midnight, but we didn't see the Slytherin boys there. So, we chose to wait.
Ten minutes passed and no one came.
"He probably chickened out." Ron said in a smug tone.
"Or maybe he played us." I suggested quietly.
Hermione nodded her head violently in agreement.
"I agree with April. I think we should leave. Anyone object?" Harry said.
"I-I certainly don't! What-what if-what if we get caught?" Neville said in a nervous, quivering voice. We just ignored him though.
We all stared at Ron. He was the only one who seemed to think that Draco was just scared.
He was about to start arguing and making 'points' on how Draco was just a pussy, but, when he saw my glare, he nodded his head.
Right before we were to leave, we heard a voice, and it wasn't Draco's.
"Sniff around, my sweet. They might be lurking in a corner."
There was a meow that followed.
In that moment, our hearts stopped.
Neville slowly mouthed the word "Filch" and our faces molded into distraught expressions. Hermione tightly grabbed my hand and I held onto her hand just as tightly.
We then heard his footsteps come closer and we were frozen stiff, as if someone just used the Petrificus Totalus spell on us.
Then I started to freak out thinking that maybe Filch did use the Petrificus Totalus spell and we just weren't aware of it.
Thank goodness common sense came in and defeated that ridiculous assumption.
"Walk quickly." I whispered as quietly as I could.
We all held onto each other's robes or hands as Harry led the way out. We tried to walk as quietly and quickly as we could, but we could hear Filch getting closer and closer. Because of this, our fast walk turned into a hasty run.
While running, Neville, unfortunately, tripped and brought Ron down with him. They definitely did not go down quietly. In fact, they ended up falling right onto a suit of armor. When the crash happened, we knew we were screwed.
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and we all sprinted for our lives.
I constantly turned my head to see if Filch was behind us, and he was. Good thing he was too far away to actually clearly see our faces.
We took numerous amounts of random turns around random corners to lose him. We had no idea where we were and where we were going.
We were all running out of breath and decided to choose a place to stay. We found an open door and all ran into the room. Just to be safe, we all hid and sat behind the teacher's desk.
"I knew something like this would happen." Hermione said, but it was quite a struggle since she was out of breath from our long run.
We ignored her, trying to get comfortable as we huddled together behind the desk. We tried to make sure none of us would be visible if Filch happened to walk in.
Once we got comfortable, we sat in silence for a few minutes, trying to catch sounds that could possibly be Filch's footsteps.
"…How do think that exactly happened?" Ron whispered, breaking the silence.
"Oh, I'll tell you how it happened!" Hermione said quite loudly. We all gave out a 'Shh' to shut her up. She gave a scowl and sat back with her arms crossed.
"I think we should go back…" Neville suggested, but he seemed to even doubt his own idea. We all knew he was right, but no one was brave enough to move.
"Hah, funny. Gryffindors not being brave. Hm…"
We all got a heart attack when something popped up in front of us.
With our terrible luck, it was Peeves.
"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty!" He said as he flew around our heads.
"We probably should walk away and ignore him." Harry whispered in my ear, and I nodded. We both stood up and walked to the door. The rest followed our lead.
"Hm…I should tell Filch. I should!" Peeves said loudly as he continued to fly over our heads and even sometimes through us.
It didn't feel good when he went through me. I hated the freezing, uncomfortable shiver I got when he did.
"Please! Just let us go!" Neville said, responding to Peeves as he continued to say that he should probably tell Filch.
Peeves suddenly stopped and 'thought' about Neville's plea. We all stared at him, not liking the feeling that he would probably do something that would get us caught.
I suppose Ron didn't like the suspense, because he decided to be quite rude by saying "Just stay quiet, will you?"
And, of course, Peeves did the opposite.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!"
In a split second, we burst out the door and ran.
We ran down halls that we didn't know and through doors we had never been through. We eventually ended up in a hall that looked somewhat familiar, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.
Harry ran to the door that was nearest to us and turned the knob. It wouldn't open.
"Oh, bloody hell! We're done for!" Ron said in frustration as Neville began to make wailing noises.
I bumped Harry out of the way as I started turning the knob aggressively, as if I doubted Harry knew how to open a door.
"There has to be a spell that can open this door!" Harry yelled in frustration. A light bulb then lighted in my head.
"There is! Remus has used it before. It's -" I started, but then the light bulb went out.
I tried to think, I really did! But it just couldn't come into my head!
"Oh, move over!" Hermione said as she then pushed me away from the door. She then took out her wand and aimed it at the doorknob;
"Alohomora!"
We heard the door unlock and we all ran in. We quickly, but quietly, shut the door again and leaned against it so we could hear whatever passed by.
Within a few seconds of getting in, we heard Filch's voice.
"Which way did they go, Peeves? Tell me!"
"Say 'please.'" Peeves said in a mockery tone.
"Don't mess with me, Peeves. Where did they go?" Filch asked angrily.
"Shan't say nothing until you say please!" Peeves said in a sing-song voice.
I could hear Filch grumble and say some unpleasant things, but he gave in.
"Alright, alright. Please?"
"Nothing!" Peeves yelled out and started laughing hysterically, "I told you I wouldn't say 'nothing' until you said 'please!'"
Filch cursed at Peeves for a good few seconds, but eventually gave up.
We stopped breathing when we heard his footsteps and grumbling when he walked by the door we went through. We didn't start breathing again until his footsteps were gone.
"He must have thought the door was locked." Harry said after a sigh of relief.
"Neville, will you get off me!" Ron said, looking down and shaking his leg to get Neville off.
We all then stared down at Neville. Even in the dark we could tell that he seemed unusually pale.
"If you need to vomit, don't turn my way." I said as Neville gulped.
But he shook his head crazily as a response to me. While shaking uncontrollably, he raised his hand and pointed behind us. Our eyes widened. We all slowly turned our heads, expecting to find Snape or McGonagall. It turned out to be much worse.
Hermione let out a shrill squeal while the rest of us gasped or stayed silent from fear.
There stood the largest creature- no, monster – I had ever seen; a three headed dog that was roughly around the size of a house.
It had a confused look on its face, but soon started to realize that we were five students that shouldn't be in there. It then began to raise its lips and show its deadly teeth.
Once I heard the growl come out of its mouth, my body went into survival mode.
I can't really explain what was happening to my mind and body, but all I know was that I had no control. The adrenaline and my instincts took control of my body as I quickly found the doorknob and slammed the door open.
Who cares if someone heard us? I wanted OUT!
Grabbing onto Neville's collar, I pulled him up and started pulling him along as I ran like I had never ran before. After I heard the dogs barking and the door being slammed closed, I could hear Harry, Ron, and Hermione's footsteps right behind us.
Luck seemed to be on our side during this time. We didn't die, we didn't get caught, and the Fat Lady was at the portrait when we arrived.
We were probably across the room when we began to yell "PIG SNOUT! PIG SNOUT!"
She gave us a questioning look as we continued to run to her and yell out the password.
She quickly opened the door when she realized that we were not going to slow down our running. She opened the door right when we reached her.
We practically jumped through the opening, all falling onto the ground as the door closed behind us.
We were all grumbling as we all lied on top of each other. Some of us landed on body parts that should never be landed on.
"Ugh! Off me! Now!" Ron grumbled, pushing Hermione off of him. I was able to push Neville off of me before I began to struggle to get Harry off.
Neville stood up and helped Hermione up. He then held out his hand to me to pull me up. Harry and Ron stayed on the ground, breathing hard. Harry was even grinning.
"That was brilliant." He said as his chest was heavily going up and down.
"Are you kidding? You must be joking!" Hermione started, "We could have been killed! Or worse! We could have been expelled!"
I was too tired and stressed to correct her.
She was clearly done with us because she immediately left us, stomping her way up the staircase to the girls' dormitory.
"Guys...I don't ever want to do something like that again." Neville said, who was still very pale. Ron, who was still on the ground, gave out an annoyed sigh.
"Neville, just go to bed." He as he closed his eyes.
Neville nodded quickly and left to the boys' dormitory.
I stayed silent through all of this. I was thinking how odd it was that-
"What are you thinking?" Harry said, sitting up and staring at me.
I tightened my lips and squinted my eyes as I thought about what I saw. It didn't transfer through my mind when I saw it then, but now I clearly saw everything.
"Did you guys notice the trapdoor below the dog?" I finally said.
The boys then glanced at each other with an odd look.
"Do you think it's protecting something?" Ron suggested out loud as he, too, then sat up.
We all stayed silent for a bit, but something then clicked in Harry's mind.
"I think it's protecting the bag Hagrid got at Gringotts."
Author's Note: As always, I would like to say that there may have been lines that were taken from the book. If you recognize some quotes, then they most likely aren't mine (simple as that). The story plot and the characters (except April) are all J.K. Rowling's, not mine. And I want to apologize if there are any grammar errors to my story as well. I do proof-read my work, but I always do miss some mistakes.