Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That privilege solely belongs to JK Rowling.

Chapter 5 The Trapdoor

"What if I fall off?"

"You're not going to fall off."

"But what if I do?"

"You'll be fine. Besides, Madam Hooch is going to be there."

Hermione stopped. They had been walking out onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. Hermione had been a nervous wreck ever since the notice was first posted in the Gryffindor common room. Vesper had tried to explain that flying was a skill learned by experience, but Hermione still insisted on reading Quidditch Through the Ages and constantly lectured the tips she had read to anyone who would listen.

"What if I make a fool of myself," whispered Hermione. "Most of the other first years have been flying since they were little. What if I can't keep up?"

"Then you won't be the only one," Vesper said. "I've never been on a broom either, Hermione. And I bet loads of people were lying when they said how good they were. Come on." She grabbed her friend's hand and guided her to where the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins had assembled.

They arrived just as Madam Hooch did. She had short, grey hair, and sharp eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Hurry up now!"

Vesper grabbed Hermione and tugged her to two free broomsticks. Vesper ended up next to Harry Potter.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch, "and say, 'Up!'"

There was a chorus of 'Up!'. At first call, Vesper's broom just stayed on the ground.

"Up!" she snapped. The broom immediately zoomed up into her outstretched hand.

She then glanced over to see how Hermione was doing. She seemed to be faring far worse. When she caught Vesper watching, she muttered, "Why can't we just pick them up? It'd be so much easier…" Although, she did eventually manage to make the broom fly into her hand.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to properly mount their brooms.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle – three – two –"

But Neville Longbottom, nervous and jumpy, pushed off before Madam Hooch blew her whistle.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was shooting straight up. He was high – twelve feet – twenty feet. Then, suddenly, his face became even more scared, his grip slipped, and he fell sideways off the broom.

WHAM! Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap.

Madam Hooch quickly ran over to Neville, and bent over him.

"Broken wrist," she tutted. She pulled him back onto his feet and started to move in the direction of the castle entrance. "All of you are to keep your feet firmly on the ground. If I see a single broom in the air the one riding it will be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'."

Just as Madam Hooch was out of earshot, Malfoy burst out in laughter.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?"

Vesper rolled her eyes. "Leave him alone, Malfoy."

"Sticking up for Longbottom, Black?" said Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl Vesper liked just about as much as she liked Malfoy. "Well, I suppose blood-traitors have to stick together."

"Look," said Malfoy, darting forward to grab something off the ground. "It's that stupid Rememberall Longbottom's grandmother sent him."

"Give that here," said Harry Potter quietly.

Malfoy smiled nastily. "No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." He mounted his broom and took off, stopping level with the tops of the trees. "How about on the roof?" he called down.

In an instant Harry was mounting his broom, ready to kick off. Hermione lunged forward and grabbed his arm.

"Harry, no way! You heard what Madam Hooch said. Besides, you don't even know how to fly!"

But Harry ignored her and was already the same height as Malfoy.

"What an idiot," Hermione muttered, turning her back to the two flying boys.

"Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!"

Vesper couldn't hear what Malfoy said, but suddenly Harry shot off heading right at Malfoy. She couldn't believe it.

"Hermione, look," she said, turning her friend around. "He's a natural."

"Catch it if you can then!"

The sun glinted off Neville's Rememberall as Malfoy threw it high into the air. Harry took a sudden dive, racing the ball. Vesper's heart nearly stopped. Harry caught it just a foot from the ground, barely managing to pull himself out of the dive before he crashed onto the ground.

"HARRY POTTER!"

The shout made all of them jump. Professor McGonagall was running towards them.

"Never in all my time at Hogwarts –"

In any other circumstance it would've been funny to see their usually composed professor so speechless. However, the dangerous flash in McGonagall's glasses kept Vesper wary.

"– how dare you – might've broken your neck –"

"Please Professor, it wasn't his fault –"

"Be quiet, Miss Black –"

"But Malfoy –"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."

It felt like Vesper's stomach was doing somersaults. What would happen to Harry now? Would he be suspended? Or even worse, expelled?

She didn't have much time to dwell on it though. Madam Hooch came back and dismissed them, not noticing that one of her students was missing. As they walked back to the castle, Vesper let her mind be filled with Hermione's chatter about that night's homework.

Vesper was tired. It was past eleven o'clock and her eyes were starting to droop. The cozy armchair she was sitting in felt like heaven.

"Why are we still up again?" she asked Hermione. "It's none of our business."

"Because," said Hermione, "those two idiots are going to get caught and lose Gryffindor all its points."

"It's only September," Vesper yawned. "We aren't going to lose the house cup just because we lose some points now."

"But it still isn't right of them to be breaking the rules like this. Now shush! I think I hear them coming."

Two sets of footsteps announced Harry and Ron's arrival. They quietly padded of to the portrait hole, and for a brief second Vesper thought that Hermione was actually going to let them go.

"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry," said Hermione, turning on a lamp.

"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

Irritated, Vesper stood. "You're lucky I talked Hermione out of involving Percy. Although, I wouldn't mind going to get him right now if you would rather we leave."

"I thought Fred and George said you were alright," Ron said, glaring.

"Come on," said Harry, pushing Ron toward the portrait hole. "We don't have time for this; we'll be late."

But Hermione wasn't having any of it. She followed Harry and Ron through the portrait hole, and Vesper had no choice but to follow.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't fancy Slytherin winning the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I earned from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Go away."

"Hermione, come on," said Vesper, "they aren't coming back with us. Let's go to bed…"

She had turned to speak the password, but the Fat Lady was nowhere in sight. They were locked out of Gryffindor tower.

"Now what are we going to do?" Hermione asked shrilly.

"That's your problem," said Ron. Vesper could hear the smugness in his voice. He and Harry hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when she had an idea. She started after them.

"We're coming with you," she said, tugging Hermione along with her.

"You are not."

It was Vesper's turn to sound smug. "D'you think I'm just going to stand outside the portrait hole waiting for Filch to catch me? The best way for me not to get caught is to keep moving. Didn't Fred and George teach you anything?"

"You've got some nerve, Black –" said Ron loudly.

"Quiet!" said Harry. "I think I heard something."

"Mrs. Norris?" whispered Ron.

It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was asleep on the floor, but woke up suddenly as they approached.

"Oh, thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the password."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone – well, look, Neville, Harry and I have got to be somewhere, we'll see you later –"

"No, don't leave!" Neville said, scrambling to his feet. "I don't want to stay out here. The Bloody Baron's already been past here twice."

Ron looked at his watch and glared at the three of them.

"If any of you get us caught, 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 Vesper shook her head. "He won't listen," she whispered.

They skirted along the moonlit corridors, pausing at every turn to check if the coast was clear. Thankfully, Filch and Mrs. Norris weren't patrolling that area of the castle. After a few minutes they tiptoed into the trophy room. It looked like Malfoy and his goon hadn't shown up yet.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," said Ron.

But then a voice in the next room made them jump.

"Sniff around, my sweet. They might be lurking in a corner."

It was the unmistakable voice of Filch. Harry hurriedly waved them over to the door on the opposite side of the room. They had barely swept around the corner when Filch's voice now resonated from the room they had just vacated.

"They're in here somewhere," he muttered, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Harry mouthed to them. Vesper crept silently along a row of suits of armor. Beside her, Hermione was visibly shaking. They could hear Filch getting closer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke out into a run – he tripped straight into a suit of armor.

The clanging of metal on stone was deafening. They all stared at each other in horror.

"RUN!" Vesper yelled, and the five of them started sprinting. She took them down a corridor, through a door, and then another. Vesper had no clue where she was leading them; all that mattered was losing Filch. Then, in front of them was a tapestry that Vesper knew hid a secret passageway.

"In!" she hissed at them. They launched themselves through it and came out near their Charms classroom, miles from the trophy room.

"I – told – you," Hermione gasped, doubled over. "I – told – you. Malfoy set you up. You do realize that, don't you? He must've tipped Filch off that someone was going to be in the trophy room tonight. And we've lost Neville!"

Harry looked like he knew she was right, but didn't say anything except, "Let's go."

They hadn't gone more than a few steps when a doorknob near them rattled and out zoomed Peeves. He gave a squeal of delight when he saw them.

Vesper groaned. Fred and George had warned her about Peeves. He liked to cause trouble for anyone who crossed his path. They would have to be very careful with what they said if they didn't want Peeves to give them away.

Ron obviously did not know how to do this.

"Shut up, Peeves – please – you'll get us thrown out."

The poltergeist cackled.

"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."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Please, Peeves," Vesper interjected before Ron could do more damage, "we're playing a prank on Filch. It'll be really funny."

Peeves' eyes darted to meet hers. They glittered wickedly.

"Now, what sort of joke could little Ickle Firsties play?"

"Well –"

"This is ridiculous," Ron interrupted, taking a swipe at Peeves. "Get out of the way!"

Vesper could've smacked him.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door – a locked door.

""This is it, we're done for!" moaned Ron.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snapped, pulling her wand from her pocket. "Alohamora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open. They all clambered inside and waited. Footsteps sounded outside the door, but after a few minutes they disappeared.

"I think Filch is gone," said Harry, pressing his ear against the door.

"I wonder why the door was locked," Ron said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "This is the third floor corridor, it's forbidden to students."

"And with good reason." A slight movement out of the corner of Vesper's eye had caught her attention. In the moonlight she could make out the huge body of a dog – a three-headed dog. Three pairs of wild eyes, three twitching noses, and three mouths with yellowish fangs bared.

The door opened and they all scrambled backwards, desperate to get away from the monstrous dog. Harry slammed the door shut and they all took off running again. They didn't stop until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pig snout," panted Harry. "Pig snout."

The Fat Lady looked at them disapprovingly, but swung open nonetheless.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" asked Ron as they all made their way up to the dormitories.

"You don't use your eyes, do you?" snapped Hermione. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"I wasn't looking at its feet, I was busy with its heads," Ron snapped back, "or maybe you didn't notice there were three!"

"It was standing on a trapdoor," said Hermione, glaring. "It's guarding something. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed before any of you come up with another clever idea to get us all killed – or worse, expelled."

Hermione turned on her heel and flounced into the girls dormitory leaving Vesper with no choice but to shrug her shoulders at the incredulous boys and follow her friend.

AN-Things are finally starting to get a little more interesting. Sorry I'm a tad late updating; I've been out all day for my birthday. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. And, as always, thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited/alerted to the story.

Next update might be a bit late. I have family over so I haven't been able to write much. Fingers crossed!

Leave a review and you get virtual birthday cake!

Love Lora