Hailey and Mandy had told Michael what had happened at midnight as they were leaving the common room. Mandy was straightening her pink headband with bananas on it, when they came across Hermione at the bottom of the stairs. Mandy arched an eyebrow at the Gryffindor. "Can we help you with something?"
They started walking to the Great Hall.
Hermione looked past Michael to look at Mandy and Hailey. "I hope you both are pleased with yourselves. We could've been killed, or worse…expelled. I hope you both don't mind, but I'm going to get something to eat,"sShe walked off.
"She made it sound like I intentionally dragged her kicking and screaming with us," Hailey said.
"I know," Mandy said.
Michael looked at the two girls, a little confused. "Did she come all the way over here, just to tell you both that you could've gotten killed or expelled, and then leave?"
Hailey shrugged, "I need to tell Ron what had happened. He would assume something bad happened." She rushed down the corridor to the Great Hall where she nearly ran into Ron who was about to enter.
Ron looked startled, "Where's the griffin that's chasing you?"
"I need to tell you about what happened during the Midnight Duel." Hailey said and started to talk about what had occurred at midnight.
Ron looked bummed about it, "And I missed it?"
Mandy and Michael finally appeared, both out of breath.
"Blimey, you're fast," Michael said.
Hailey shrugged, "I have to thank my cousin and his friends for that."
Ron looked at them, "They must be hiding something valuable under that trapdoor."
"Can we discuss this after we eat?" Mandy asked, "I need food." She held out her arms like a mummy and walked inside the Great Hall.
Hailey shrugged and followed after her friend. She looked at Ron, "We'll meet you in the library to discuss this."
Ron nodded and went to the Gryffindor table. Hailey and Michael went after Mandy, though she couldn't help but notice that Malfoy looked surprised that she was still there. She ignored him and they sat on either side of the blonde Ravenclaw.
Mandy was eating some bacon aggressively. "We need to get back at Malfoy. I suggest that we—"
The owl post had arrived, and it seemed like everyone was staring at the six large screech owls that were carrying a long, thin package.
Hailey wanted to know what was wrapped in there, so it was a surprise that the owls dropped the package in front of her, knocking her bacon to the floor. The owls flew out of the way when a letter landed on top of the parcel.
She took the letter first and opened it.
DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.
It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Roger Davies will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o' clock for your first training session.
Professor M. McGonagall
Hailey handed the note to Mandy so she can read it and glanced at Ron. She grabbed the wrapped broomstick and took the note back when Mandy was done with it. She looked over at Ron and motioned with her head to the entrance hall.
The two went to the steps but found it barred by Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy.
Malfoy took the broomstick from Hailey's hands and she felt her face heat up in anger. She remembered last year a guy in her class at school had given her a candy bar for Valentine's Day and Dudley had taken it away from her, and ate it in front of her.
The Slytherin felt the broomstick and tossed it back to the lone girl. "That's a broomstick. You'll be in trouble this time, Potter. First years aren't allowed them." He seemed jealous and spiteful.
Hailey wanted to rub it in Draco's face, more out of spite. "It's not just any broomstick. It's a Nimbus Two Thousand."
Ron grinned, "Yeah, and what did you say you had? A Comet Two Sixty? They look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."
Hailey actually had no clue what the Comet Two Sixty brooms were like, but she decided to take Ron's word for it. He didn't let her down, despite the wrestling a troll part before they were sorted.
Malfoy sneered, "What would you know about it, Weasley? You couldn't afford half the handle. I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."
Hailey narrowed her eyes, "Not all of us could be raised as a spoiled, rich ba—"
"Not arguing, I hope, lady and gentlemen?" Professor Flitwick asked, interrupting Hailey's comment. He looked at them.
"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," Malfoy said quickly.
"Yes, yes, that's right," Professor Flitwick said, looking proudly at Hailey. "Professor McGonagall had told me all about the special circumstances, Hailey. What model is it?"
Hailey was too surprised at being addressed by her first name by the professor, to even answer.
"It's a Nimbus Two Thousand," Ron said. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy that she got it." He grinned at the look of rage that crossed the blond boy's face.
Hailey and Ron found a small corridor and she let Ron rip the wrapping off it. He was holding the broom as he stared at it.
It was sleek and shiny, made out of mahogany, with a long tail of neat, straight twigs, and it had Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top. She didn't know what the difference was between brooms, but she thought it looked magnificent.
"Once we have the time, I'll even let you ride it," Hailey said.
Ron seemed surprised at the offer, "Really?"
"Yes, but I have to train with Roger Davies," Hailey said and took the broom back.
Hailey tried to pay attention to her lessons, but her mind kept wandering to the broomstick that was under her bed or to the Quidditch pitch that she usually saw through the window of Ravenclaw Tower. It did have the best view of the Quidditch pitch after all.
At dinnertime, she quickly ate her food without knowing what she was eating. On one occasion, Michael had to take her fork away before she ate it.
At six-thirty, she had to run up the tight spiral staircase, knocked on the door, answered a riddle, which she surprisingly got right, run up the staircase to the first year girls' dormitory, and get the broomstick, then run back down the staircase, to the Quidditch stadium. She only seen it from the window but she hadn't stepped foot in there before.
Hundreds of seats were raised around the field so spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end that reminded Hailey of the bubble wands, except they were fifty feet high.
She was too eager to fly again to wait; she mounted the broomstick and kicked off from the ground.
The air chilled the sweat on from when all the running she had done. Her hair was whipping back from her face as she flew through the goalposts, and as she sped up and down the field. The broomstick moved at the slightest touch. It gave her some sort of rush as she flew on the broomstick.
Did my dad enjoy this feeling? She wondered.
"Hey, Potter! Come down!" Roger Davies shouted at her.
She looked down at the third year. He was holding a large wooden crate under arm and he seemed to be smiling. She almost didn't want to land but she did anyway.
"Very nice," Roger said. "I can see what McGonagall meant by you being a natural." Hailey blushed at the compliment. "I'm going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining in on the team practice three times a week." Roger opened the crate. Hailey wasn't sure if training three times a week was a good idea, but brushed it off. She looked inside the crate to see four different-sized balls. "Now, Quiddditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side."
"Three are Chasers, one is the Keeper, two are Beaters, and one is the Seeker," Hailey stated and Roger looked at her. "Ron told me on the train."
Roger nodded, "Yes." He took out a bright red soccer ball sized ball, "This is the Quaffle. Since I'm one of the Chasers, I and the other two throw this Quaffle to each other and try to get through the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Are you following any of this?"
Hailey nodded, "I think I got it. The Chasers throw the Quaffle through one of the hoops to score a goal." She thought about it, "This is sort of like basketball, except this is played on broomsticks and has six hoops."
Roger seemed a little confused, "What's basketball?"
"It's a game where you—never mind," Hailey said.
"The Keeper's job is to—" he started and tossed the Quaffle to Hailey, who managed to catch it, "—make sure that no one scores."
Hailey looked at the other three balls, "Got it. What do those do?"
"Give me the Quaffle, please," Roger said and Hailey tossed it back to him. He put the Quaffle back. "Here, take this." He tossed her a small club, which Hailey didn't manage to capture. She picked it up and looked it. It looked like a small baseball bat. "I have to show you what the Bludgers do."
She winced at the name 'Bludgers'. It sounded exactly what they do; bludgeon people. Hailey looked at the two, jet black balls that were smaller than the Quaffle. She stepped back when she noticed that they seemed to be straining against the straps that was holding them back.
Roger looked at her, "Stand back a little more." Hailey did as she was told and Roger freed one of the Bludgers. It shot in the air and then came straight for her face.
Hailey swung at it, trying to make sure it didn't break her nose. She sent it zigzagging away into the air and it zoomed around their heads, and then it shot at Roger's head. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see what would happen to the third year. When there was no sound, she opened her eyes to see that Roger was strapping it back in.
"These things go around trying to knock players off of their brooms. This is why we have two Beaters on our team. Their job is to keep their teammates safe and knock it to the other player's side," Roger explained.
Hailey nodded and handed the club back to the other boy. "I think I got it covered." A thought occurred to her. "Has the Bludgers ever killed anyone?"
"Never at Hogwarts," Roger explained. "We had broken jaws, but nothing worse than that."
Hailey wasn't reassured by Roger saying, 'never at Hogwarts'. So, in the professional teams, then, she thought.
Roger continued, "The last member is the Seeker, which is you. You don't have to worry about the Quaffle and the Bludgers—"
"Unless the Bludgers crack my head open," Hailey interjected.
"Don't worry about them. Inglebee and Samuels are good Beaters. They won't let anything happen to us," Roger stated. He reached in the crate and took out the last ball.
It was tiny compared to the others, about the size of a large walnut and had fluttering silver wings. It was bright gold and it caught the sunlight, causing it to have a glint to it.
"That's the Golden Snitch. It's the important one," Hailey stated.
"That's right. It's hard to catch and difficult to see," Roger explained. "You got to weave in and out of the others to get to it before the other team's Seeker does."
"If I catch it, the game is over," Hailey said.
"Yes, and when the Seeker catches it, the team wins an extra hundred and fifty points, so they always nearly win. It can go on for ages," explained Roger.
"How long was the longest match?" Hailey asked, curious.
"I think the record was three months," Roger answered. "They had to keep bringing out substitutes so the players can get some sleep." He smiled, "Any more questions?"
Hailey shook her head. She was sure that 'doing' was going to be the problem.
"Alright, we're not going to use the Golden Snitch since it's nearly dark and we might lose it. So I brought these—" he started and pulled out a regular bag of golf balls from his pocket. "Ready?"
Hailey nodded and then they were up in the air. Roger went higher in the air and started zigzagging around as he threw golf balls as hard as he can in the air, making Hailey catch them.
Surprisingly, she didn't miss any of them and Roger looked delighted. After doing that for an hour and a half, they couldn't carry on because night had fallen and Hailey was kind of bummed that they had to stop because it was dark outside, since she was enjoying spending time with the third year.
"The Qudditch Cup will finally have our name on it, this year," Roger said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out to be better than Charlie Weasley. Personally, I think he would've played for the England Qudditch Team, but he decided to run off and chase after dragons."
Hailey was so busy with Qudditch training and homework she didn't realize that she was at Hogwarts for two months.
The castle had started to feel like home than Privet Drive had ever had. She noticed that the lessons started to turn more interesting since they started mastering the basics.
On Halloween, the smell of baking pumpkin was in the corridors as Hailey went to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast.
"Hermione is crying in the girls' lavatory," she overheard Parvati Patil tell Lavender Brown. She stopped to listen. "I went to talk to her, but she told me that she wanted to be left alone."
Hailey walked over to them, "Why is she crying in the lavatory?"
"Ron called Hermione a nightmare because she was the only one to make the feather fly four feet in Charms," Parvati explained. "I even heard Ron say it, too."
Hailey nodded and started to walk to the Great Hall to go tell Ron what she had heard, but that was placed out of her mind when she stepped in the Great Hall.
She saw a thousand live bats fluttering the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the pumpkins stutter. She went to Ravenclaw table to sit with her friends and started to help herself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting in. His turban was askew and he looked terrified. Hailey couldn't help but think that he looked a little funny.
The Professor slumped against the high table in front of Professor Dumbledore's chair. Professor Quirrell gasped out, "Troll—in the dungeons—thought you ought to know." He fainted.
There was a uproar at the mention of the troll and it took Dumbledore sending out purple firecrackers to get some semblance of order in the Great Hall.
"Prefects," he rumbled. "Lead your Houses back to the dormitories, immediately!"
Hailey was about ready to follow after Robert Hilliard, when she suddenly remembered Hermione. She looked at Mandy and Michael. "I'll be right there. I got to go talk to Ron real quick."
She ran off to get to Ron, and grabbed his arm, "Hermione!"
Ron looked at her, "You must be losing your mind in Ravenclaw Tower."
"No, I mean, Hermione. I heard a rumour that she was crying in the girls' lavatory," Hailey stated. "She doesn't know about the troll."
Ron looked a little horrified and then they slipped away, following the Hufflepuffs and then down a different corridor to get to the girls' lavatory.
"How did a troll get in?" Hailey asked.
"I don't know. They're supposed to be really stupid. Maybe Peeves let one in as a joke," Ron said.
"Some joke," Hailey muttered.
There were quick footsteps behind them and they hid behind a statue of a griffin. They peered around it expecting Percy, but it was Professor Snape instead. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"I wonder where he's going," Hailey said. They crept along the corridor after Snape's fading footsteps. "I think he's going to the third floor."
"Do you smell something?" Ron asked.
Hailey wondered why he asked that and then she smelt it. It smelt like old socks and a toilet that no one cleans. "Ooh, that's disgusting." She covered her nose so she didn't smell it.
There was a low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet.
"L-l-look," Ron stuttered, pointing a shaky finger at the movement of something big. They shrank back into the shadows to watch the huge thing emerge.
It was twelve feet tall, its skin a dull grey, its great lumpy body was like a boulder with a small bad head. It had short legs thick as tree trunk, with flat, horny feet. It was holding a huge wooden club which dragged across the floor because it had long arms.
The troll stopped next to a doorway and looked inside. Its long ears waggled like it made up its mind, and then slowly walked into the room.
"The key's in the lock. We could lock it in," Ron stated.
"I think Hermione's in there," Hailey pointed out.
As if to prove her point, there was a high, petrified scream.
"Oh, no," Ron said, looking paler than the Bloody Baron.
They ran to the door and Hailey swung it open. She ran it but Ron stayed where he was at and she looked at him, "Now what?"
"It's the girls' lavatory," Ron said.
"For the love of Merlin," Hailey muttered. She grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him in.
Hermione was shrinking back against the opposite wall, looking as if she's about to faint. The troll was advancing on the first year Gryffindor, knocking sinks off the walls at it went.
"Confuse it!" Ron said and picked up a tap. He threw it against the wall and the troll stopped, hearing the thunk that the tap made.
It lumbered around, blinking as if wondering where the sound came from. It had mean little eyes that reminded Hailey of Dudley. Its eyes landed on Ron and it lumbered toward him.
Hailey grabbed a metal pipe and shouted, "Oy, pea-brain!" She threw the pipe at the troll's shoulder, which it didn't seem to notice, but it did notice the shout, so it turned its head towards her.
It gave Ron time to run around it and yell at Hermione, "Come on! Run! Run!" He tried to pull her toward the door, but she seemed to be petrified.
The shouting and echoes seemed to be driving the troll mad, so it roared and started towards Ron.
Hailey ran over and jumped on the troll's back. She managed to wrap her arms around the troll's neck and tried to picture the time when she received her second letter, when she jumped on her uncle's back to get to it. She realized that her wand had gone up one of the troll's nostrils.
The troll twisted and flailed its club, while howling with pain. Hailey was holding on worrying that the troll would rip her off or give her a terrible whack with the club.
Ron suddenly shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The club shot out of the troll's hand and raised high in the air, slowly turning over. It dropped with a sickening crack onto the troll's head. The troll swayed and then fell flat on its face. The room trembled and Ron helped Hailey to her feet. She realized she was shaking and was breathing hard.
"Is it…dead?" Hermione asked.
Hailey looked at the troll, "I think it may be knocked out." She took her wand out of the troll's nose, disgusted at the lumpy grey glue looking stuff. "Gross…troll boogers." She wiped her wand off on the troll's trousers.
Something slammed and there were loud footsteps. Hailey remembered that they must have been making a racket because of the troll's roars and the crashes. She looked at the teachers, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Professor Quirrell.
Professor Quirrell whimpered and sat on the toilet clutching his heart. Professor Snape was bending over the troll, and Professor McGonagall was looking livid with her lips white. The lone female professor was looking straight at Hailey and Ron.
"What on earth were you two thinking?" Professor McGonagall demanded. Hailey looked at Ron and back down. "You two could have been killed. You're lucky you weren't. Why weren't you both in your dormitories?"
Hailey looked over to see Snape give her a swift, piercing look, before he went back to examining the troll.
"Please, Professor McGonagall, they were looking for me," Hermione said.
Professor McGonagall turned to the bushy haired first year, "Miss Granger!"
Hermione had gotten to her feet. She crossed her arms. "I went looking for the troll, because I thought that I could deal with it on my own. You know, because I've read all about them."
Ron looked a little stunned and Hailey was surprised because Hermione was lying to a teacher like that. From what she heard from the first-year Gryffindors, Hermione was an annoying know-it-all who would never lie to a teacher.
"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Hailey stuck her wand up its nose and Ron knocked it unconscious with its own club. They didn't have time to fetch anyone. It was about ready to finish me off," Hermione said.
Hailey was trying to pretend that the story was new to her and looked at Ron who seemed to be trying to do the same.
"Well…in that case," Professor McGonagall started to say. She looked at the three of them. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" Hermione hung her head. "Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disappointed in you. If you're hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast there."
Hermione left and Professor McGonagall looked at the last two remaining first years. "Well, I still say that you both were lucky, not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You both each get five points for your respective Houses. Professor Dumbledore would be informed about this. You may go."
The two first years left the chamber and started to the stairs.
"I still think we deserve more than five points," Ron grumbled.
"Actually I have five points; Professor McGonagall gave you five points and she will take five points away from Hermione, so you basically didn't win anything," Hailey said, with sympathy. She patted his shoulder. "You still have plenty of time to win your House points, too."
Ron grumbled some more and then Hermione appeared, throwing both of her arms on both of them in some weird type of one-arm hugged. She said, "Thanks."
Ron and Hermione went to the Gryffindor Tower and Hailey went to the Ravenclaw Tower alone.
When she got in the tower, Michael and Mandy were both waiting for her by the door.
Mandy had her arms crossed, "Well, where were you?"
Michael nodded, "And why do you smell like the boys' lavatory at my old school?"
Hailey was confused and smelt the front of her robes, and realized that she smelt like the mountain troll that she had jumped on, "Oh, that." She ended up telling them about the adventure in the girls' lavatory with the mountain troll, as they went to get plates.
A/N: Yeah, Hermione became Ron's friend and she sort of became Hailey's friend, too. Hailey really couldn't form an opinion on Hermione because she doesn't really know her and the only class they have together is Herbology.