Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy everything I may have missed!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I only own the OCs and my plot.
Chapter 8- Where did the party go?
They had hidden in that pantry for another 15 minutes, ignoring Lee's loud whispers into Ciara's ear while Snape made himself a cup of cocoa.
"Man, this is weird," Fred muttered.
"Snape, the cuddly cocoa-drinker," George announced ominously.
The girls around him struggled to stifle their giggles.
"Shhh," Lara warned. "You'll get us caught."
That was when Grace sneezed.
Somehow, Grace swore it was a personal vendetta that only Grace, Trina and the twins received detention. Ciara swore that the pantry was bigger than it seemed and there was more hiding space than they had thought. Trina stated at one point that it was almost fair since they were the ones who had organised the party in the first place. The others disagreed.
Hphphphphphphphphphphphphphp
In addition to the detentions Grace now had to serve, she ended up working twice as much at the hospital wing due to the cold weather.
"Madam Pompfrey, I finished cleaning the beds and all the curtains. Is there anything else you would like me to do?"
"Yes, dear, just hand these out to everybody on those beds," Madam Pompfrey said, pouring a steaming black liquid into crystal glasses. "If students keep pouring in like this I'll have to make another batch."
With a small smile, Grace gathered the glasses onto a tray and carried them over to the crowd of students clustered on beds and chairs near the door. Many of them were pale and red-nosed with scarves draped around their throats, desperate for some relief.
Some looked like they had been escorted up here by an older sibling, in the case of Ginny Weasley.
"I'm glad you brought her up here, Percy," Grace remarked. "You have been losing colour lately, Ginny."
"I'm fine, really," she insisted. "I've just been a little stressed."
"Better to be safe than sorry," Grace said, taking no note of Percy's pompous nod and passing Ginny the Pepperup potion. "You know, if it's the work that's stressing you, you could always study with me and my friends."
"I really couldn't-," Ginny started.
"It's no fuss, trust me," Grace assured her. "We helped Harry and his friends study last year as well."
"That would be wonderful," Percy declared. "Thank you so much for your help. I'm glad to tell mother that Ginny is feeling better."
Others had been dragged up by concerned Quidditch captains or boyfriends.
"Honestly, Ollie, I'm not sick," Trina protested in a thick voice.
"You used a whole box of tissues this morning" he retorted.
Trina scowled but accepted the glass of potion from Grace.
"You should be grateful, Trina," Grace told her, handing a coughing Hannah a glass as well. "Your boyfriend cares enough to take you to the hospital wing."
"I know," Trina cooed. "He's the sweetest guy ever."
"I couldn't let my best chaser and my best girl get sick," Oliver explained. "Now rest. Training starts at 5."
"It's raining," Grace pointed out.
"It could be raining at the game. We need to be prepared to all conditions so we can flatten Slytherin," he argued.
Grace rolled her eyes.
"There's no point arguing with him," Trina sighed.
"It's his fault you're getting sick," Grace muttered as she navigated her way through patients with steaming heads.
Hphphphphphphphphphphphphphp
The night of the 31st of October crept up on the occupants of Hogwarts, filling them all with excitement. Throngs of students made their way down to the Great Hall for the feast after a day of charming pumpkins and studying the origin of the holiday in History of Magic. Grace, Ciara, Miranda, Lee, Fred and George walked down the marble staircase together, chatting about their day.
"I'm so glad it's Halloween already," Grace said. "Finally we have a night where we don't have to concentrate on mountains of homework."
"Well it would help if someone didn't light a salamander on fire," Ciara said, glaring at Fred and George.
"We were doing an experiment for Care of Magical Creatures," Fred informed them.
"Was the experiment testing whether your brother or the salamander would explode first?" Grace asked.
"No, but if it was Percy would've won," George told her.
"Did you see his face?" Fred asked. "I thought he had taken some Pepperup potion then realised it was just him."
Grace laughed along with Miranda and Ciara, glancing away from Fred to spot Harry, Ron and Hermione break away from the stream to head towards the dungeons.
"Harry!" she shouted over mingled conversations. "Where are you going?"
"Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party," he told her when she had made her way closer. Ron made a face at the prospect but was quickly scolded by Hermione. "I promised him I would go."
"Oh well I'm sure you'll have lots of fun," Grace mocked, a huge smile plastered on her face. "I'll steal some pumpkin cakes for you later if it'll make it better."
Harry and Ron's faces brightened at the thought.
"Thanks Grace," Harry said. "I'll see you later then."
Grace gave Harry a slight wave of her hand and made her way over to where her friends had stopped, waiting for her.
"What was that about?" Miranda asked. They re-joined the crowd, now swarming through the doors of the Great hall.
"They're going to a Deathday party," Grace said. "I'm not even sure-,"
Grace broke off at the sight of the Great Hall. Live bats flew around the ceiling which was flashing with fake lightning. Hagrid's pumpkins piled in the corners, large enough all of Grace's friends to squish into. The golden plates were already glittering with food, specially made for the occasion. Every different sort of pumpkin dish you could think of plus boiling black puddings, roast pork on spits and beef pastries shaped to look like bones.
"They've really outdone themselves this year," Ciara awed.
"Damn now I'm really hungry," Lee complained.
The three girls exchanged looks. It only took another second before they dived into the food themselves.
Hphphphphphphphphphphphphphp
"Did you honestly just dance with a skeleton, Grace?" Trina questioned.
"Yeah," she shrugged. "It looked like fun and it got everyone laughing."
"You do realise they were laughing at you right?" Ciara asked.
"Yes," Grace confirmed. "But it's not like it matters. It's not embarrassing if you don't care about what people are saying."
They turned a corner on their way up to Gryffindor tower to find it blocked with people. Nobody was moving but whispers echoed around.
"Mrs Norris- Filch's cat just hanging there, dead-like-," one Hufflepuff second year told her friends.
"Did you see the writing on the wall?" another said, his eyes wide with fear.
"Do you reckon Potter's got anything to do with it?" a sixth year Slytherin speculated.
Grace's head swung to look at burly boy.
"Potter?" she snapped. "What do you mean Potter?"
"See for yourself," he smirked, moving out of her way.
Grace shoved through the rest of the crowd, frantically trying to find her brother. He was just going to a Deathday party; there was nothing she had to worry about. Right? Even as she slid into the gaps of people, Grace knew that of course there was something to worry about.
"Grace, have you seen it?" Miranda asked. Her face was pale and hands slightly shaking.
"No," Grace said slowly, turning her head towards the clearing into front of them. On the wall, written in a thick, red liquid was The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware. Hanging on a torch by her fluffy tail was Mrs Norris. Her eyes were wide open and not an inch on her body was moving. In the centre of the circle were Ron, Harry and Hermione, currently being screeched at by Filch.
"It's not that I liked the cat or anything," Miranda muttered. "But this looks like it wants to attack more than just the caretaker's wife."
"What's Harry doing here then?" Grace said.
"I dunno; all three of them were there when I got through the crowd."
"And, apart from the obvious, why is Filch yelling at them?"
"Well Malfoy over there drew attention to them with some crap comment about Muggleborns then Filch came running in, he looked like his eyes were going to pop out too and accused those three of killing his wife. That's when you arrived. If they actually did kill Mrs Norris I wanna applaud them cause the world's better off without her skulking around. I'm just saying!"
Miranda threw up her hands at Grace's fierce glower.
"Argus!" reprimanded the strong voice of Albus Dumbledore who swept into the clearing from just behind Grace and Miranda. "They did not kill Mrs Norris."
Filch opened his mouth to argue but Dumbledore simply held up a hand and he closed it again.
"Everyone return to your dormitories immediately," Dumbledore addressed to the students on either side of the clearing. He turned his attention to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Except for you three."
In an instant, students created a flowing movement towards whichever dormitory they were headed for. Grace stood in front of the wave, staring intently at her younger brother.
"C'mon Gracie," Miranda urged, tugging on her arm. "We should go."
"But . . . he's my brother," Grace objected.
"Fred and George didn't come running up here for Ron," Miranda reasoned. "Just talk to Harry when he comes back from wherever Dumbledore takes him."
"Fine," Grace accepted, allowing Miranda to drag her all the way up to Gryffindor Tower until they were into front of the Common Room fire. "I'll wait here for him."
Miranda rolled her eyes but still turned around to climb up the dormitory stairs.
"Don't wake me up when go to bed."
The corner of Grace's mouth lifted ever so slightly. She sank into the armchair right in front of the fire, her eyes trained on the portrait hole.
There you go! Thanks for reading! It was supposed to be longer but I liked ending it right there. There shall be a Grace/Harry confrontation scene next chapter.
Please review with any comments, questions or advice!