Chapter Nineteen
Room of Requirement, Hogwarts, Scotland, 1 November, 1991
"Hermione?"
"Yes, Neville?" Hermione said, not looking up from her book, one of the ones she'd found in the secret room. They were in hiding. The entire school was in an uproar over the fact that seven first years, most of them Slytherins, had killed a fully-grown bull mountain troll.
"I was reading. About, ah, mountain trolls? A-and all the books say that they're really stupid," he stammered, holding a thick leather-bound book. Neville had been especially shaken up by the fight with the troll and had been reading up on them all day.
"Yes, that's what I've read as well," she said, turning a page.
"Well, if they're so stupid, how'd it get in?"
Her brow wrinkled in thought. "I've been wondering about that myself. There's no way it could have gotten past the wards alone."
"What're you saying, Hermione? That someone let it in?" Blaise asked, picking his head up from where he was sprawled on the floor. "Who would've let it in? None of the other students have that much power or control."
The three glanced at Adrian, who was playing a game of two-a-side Quidditch with Draco, Ron, and Daphne. He swooped and caught the snitch the room had provided them with expertly.
"I don't think that it was a student," Hermione whispered.
Blaise's eyes widened. "You… you think a professor did this? Why in bloody he-"
"I don't know! But who else would be able to, Blaise? We can rule out McGonagall, Snape, and any other professors who were at the feast," she said thoughtfully.
"We already knew that it wasn't Uncle Severus, Hermione," Draco said, landing lightly beside her and straightening his robes.
"Yeah," Adrian said, landing on her other side and shaking his wild, shaggy blond hair and fixing his glasses, "He'd never do anything like that."
"Fine, but besides Quirrel, which professors weren't at the banquet?" Hermione asked as Daphne and Ron also landed nearby. The fire rose and heat spread through the room. More armchairs and cushions appeared as the hebdomad settled in the room.
"Ah, Professor Sprout wasn't."
"She was in the Hospital wing with a second year that didn't put his earmuffs on properly when dealing with mandrakes. It's not her," Neville said, shaking his head firmly.
"Professor Sinastra wasn't."
"Neither was Flitwick."
"Lupin wasn't there," Adrian said quietly.
"He's been out of class all week, mate. What is it with you two anyways?" Ron asked, looking at his friend curiously. "You seem to hate him, even though he's the best teacher in the school."
"I don't hate him, Ron, I just don't trust him. He's hiding something, something…. dangerous," Adrian said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You didn't see the way he looked at me the first day. It was eerie, like something in him wanted out. Wanted me."
His friends looked skeptical. "That's just because you, Hermione, and Draco are the smartest in our year, Ade," Daphne said dismissively.
"I saw that, Adrian's right. He was either glaring or staring at you all through the first lesson," Draco said, coming to his brother's defense. "He sniffed you, too."
"What?!" Adrian cried.
Draco nodded. "Yeah, he sniffed you like a dog and then gave you this really weird look."
"Well, I think it was Lupin as well. He hasn't been in class all week, and now there's a troll in the castle? That can't possibly be a coincidence, can it?" Hermione asked them.
Neville frowned. "But he's so nice, even to me. When Seamus blew up part of the classroom last week and blamed me, he knew I didn't and fixed my eyebrows."
"We're not saying that he's not nice to you, Neville, we're just thinking," Blaise said calmly, ever the peacemaker in their ragtag group. "And I'm not going to suspect anyone who can fail me."
"I agree with Neville. There's no way it was Lupin or Sprout. I think it was Grubblyplank. She'd know all about trolls, wouldn't she, being the Magical Creatures expert?" Daphne said.
They all looked at Ron who lounged back on his cushion comfortably. "I agree."
"With who?" Adrian asked impatiently.
"With whom," Hermione corrected him.
Adrian glared and Draco and Daphne snorted back laughter.
"All of you have good points. I think that Professor Lupin is hiding something, and Grubblyplank would have the knowledge to lure a troll into the school. But I think that it was Flitwick."
"WHAT?!"
Ron shrugged. "Well, he's the Charms professor. Didn't Hermione say that all the wards around the school would have to be breached for the troll to get in? What if he simply altered them?"
That stumped his friends. They knew that Ron was clever and cunning, but to throw in a theory of his own and support it?
Unheard of in an impulsive Weasley.
Then again, he was the first Weasley in centuries to be placed anywhere but Gryffindor, let alone in Slytherin. Who knew exactly what he was capable of?
Great Hall, Hogwarts, Scotland, 2 November, 1991
She watched them again.
Today, they sat with Henry Potter. They included him in conversations, listened when he spoke, and laughed at his rare and exceedingly wry jokes.
He belonged.
And she was alone again.
For a while, they'd been alone together, though the young hero had been as unaware of her as everyone else was.
But it hadn't lasted very long.
She didn't resent him for it. She didn't want him to be like her, alone forever. She'd wanted him to have friends.
But did it have to happen so soon?
After all, she was fairly certain that his mother wasn't disappointed in him in the least.
With a sigh, she let go of the boy and drifted out of the Hall.
Alright happy (I hope) citizens!
I'm sorry I took so long, but Marching Band consumed my life and I was unable to tear myself away.
We placed Top Five at States last weekend!*faints, is awakened by sister's smelly basketball sock being shoved against face*
Okay, I'm good. Just a bit band-geeked out.
What I really wanted to tell you guys is that my 13-year-old brother figured out who the ambiguous "she" was yesterday, the watcher.
And as far as I know, he is the only person in the world to do so.
I know what you're all thinking, and no, I didn't tell him, he guessed all on his own.
I want guesses people!
-TheNefariousMe
