Hello everyone! I'm back again! I've got to say, thank you so much for all of the reviews and comments- the lovely ones and the ones that help me to improve! They're really nice to have. So- here's another chapter. Enjoy...
In the end, the night time excursion group boiled down to everyone except Valerie, who had muttered something about not wanting to break school rules, making James and Fred laugh.
"School rules? Never heard of them- have you, James?"
"Doesn't ring a bell." James scratched his head in deep concentration. "Although it might explain why we keep getting invited to teacher's offices after lessons and being told to do boring tasks..."
"My dad sent me a note after getting my first not-detention." Fred said thoughtfully. "It said, 'Don't tell mum I wrote this, but you're obviously following the family tradition. We're proud of you.'"
"Aww...ickle Freddie got a note from his daddy...ow!" James' hand flew up to his head again, this time to rub the spot Fred had just hit. "Cool it, you freak!"
"Anyway," Slimy Creep (what was his real name? Catrin couldn't remember) butted in hastily, seemingly uncomfortable watching them. "How are we going to sneak out of the Common Room? The rest of Gryffindor will be coming back from Hogsmeade soon."
"Aaah...watch and all will be answered." James exchanged a knowing glance with Fred, who smirked.
Their cockiness rankled, but she didn't think she'd win a war of words against the two of them.
For the moment, they could do nothing but wait.
At last, when the rest of Gryffindor House had slowly emptied into their respective dormitories, and the fire had burnt itself down into blood-red embers, James slowly s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d, and suddenly sprang to his feet, lithe as a cat. A year or more of rough living meant that Catrin's eyes flicked open immediately, woken from her fireside doze, and she followed his lead.
"Alright, Kitty-Kat? Staring at mugs? Anyone would think you've been waiting for me to do that."
"Nope. Although I still don't know how we're going to avoid those prefects." Catrin yawned, clicking her finger-joints absent-mindedly.
"Hah. Admit it- I'm the chief prankster."
"In your dreams." Catrin said, stung. "And anyway, you still haven't apologised to us for that 'prank' you pulled in the Great Hall this morning."
"What prank? Genius as I am, I don't think I could pull off something without doing it. Useful trick, though."
"Don't beat around the bush! You enchanted that tea set- or at least, bought it from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." It was amazing how quickly someone could go from tired to furious- Catrin estimated that her transition had taken less than five seconds.
James looked her full in the face, deadpan serious. "I swear, Catrin Jones, that neither me, Fred or Benedict enchanted that tea set."
"Benedict?"
"You know, our friend. Benedict Umbridge."
" Slimy Creep?" Oh god, had she really said that? James' mouth fell open; he looked gobsmacked, and not a little hurt.
"Alright?" Fred had just woken up, and took in the scene in front of him. "Have I missed something?"
Removing Slimy Creep- Benedict's- drooling head from his shoulder, he got up, sighing melodramatically.
"Oh well. We ready for the off, then?"
He then glanced around at the assembled droolers, snorers, and, in Valerie's case, twitchers, which constituted their group of friends.
"Aaah...maybe not."
"Let's just go." James' mood had switched too: he looked annoyed and irritable as he pulled his wand from his pocket and abruptly marched towards the portrait hole. Catrin glanced around the walls at the paintings, who were also slumbering in their frames, and then at Fred, who raised an eyebrow at her.
"What's up with James?" Fred muttered as they followed his angry footsteps down a staircase.
"Um...I forgot Sl- Benedict's name." Catrin glossed, anxiously fingering the smooth wooden surface of her wand. Already it was becoming a comfort thing.
"Ah. He's very protective of his friends." Fred looked uncomfortable, although when Catrin glanced at him the only thing she could see was the outline of his face and the faint glimmer of his eyes.
"I can see that. Hey, what's he doing?" James had stopped at a window, and was staring intently through it. The others hurried to catch up.
Catrin gazed through the glass panes, and at once she could see what was wrong. Figures were moving like ants in the grounds, around Hagrid's Hut, around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and around the pathway leading up to the front doors.
Voices were drifting up from the tumult below them, clearly urgent.
"He went this way- I'm sure of it."
"Merlin's beard..."
"Look out!"
Instinctively, all three of them ducked- and just as well. An arc of gleaming white traced the sky like a comet, up and over their heads. An instant later, there was a BANG which, a second later, was followed by a minor earthquake, shifting the ground under their feet. Someone screamed; it was probably Catrin, but it was drowned as the window they had been staring out of shattered with a sound like a gunshot, spraying glass everywhere.
Terror blanked Catrin's mind; she acted purely on instinct, huddling on the ground in a small ball, next to Fred and James, until she was absolutely sure that the danger had past. Only then did she slowly, painfully, unlock her arms from around her legs and stare around. The window only had a few shards left in it, which were iced with a frosting of cracks. The rest created a gleaming floor which reflected the moonlight, and a pair of wide, grey eyes- her own- when she leaned over them.
"Uuugh." James and Fred had followed her lead, sitting up slowly and painfully. She saw that, like her, they'd survived her glass explosion with only minor cuts to the face and hands, and were, like her, looking stunned.
The terror was subsiding now, a weird exhilaration taking its place. Every sense was supercharged, and Catrin felt...really alive, somehow, like she was only really living after having escaped a hail of sharp missiles and an earthquake. She doubted that she'd inherited that from her mother's side- who was her father, to have passed on this aspect of character?
She grinned at the boys, who were looking just as awake as she was.
"What was that?" She exclaimed.
Fred lit the tip of his wand with a muttered Lumos, and James ran a hand through his spiked-up hair, seemingly unable to suppress a grin.
"Shall we go and see?"
As they sprinted full-pelt down the staircase, Catrin could hear shouts and cries as the other teachers, ghosts and students were awakened by the impromptu chaos. Several portraits shouted questions and accusations as they ran past, and one- a short knight on a fat pony- chased them several floors, shouting insults and challenges until his steed reared and chucked him into a barrel of wine that some monks were brewing. James laughed and waggled his fingers annoyingly, and the knight's curses followed them several corridors before being drowned out.
Finally, they reached the ground floor, and stopped on the staircase, heaving for breath.
"Blimey." Fred panted. "All that treacle sponge they keep feeding us has seeped into my muscles."
Catrin didn't have any breath to laugh, so just nodded, a searing stitch in her side. Castle living had definitely made her lazier.
"What...about...you, James?" The other two glanced around to see James spread-eagled against the floor. At first Catrin laughed, but when she got closer she could see that he wasn't wheezing- not even slightly.
"Fred." She called, her stomach suddenly sinking to somewhere near her feet. "Something's wrong with James."
Fred drew closer, not showing any signs of panic yet, and hunkered down next to his friend, shining the light from his wand into his eyes. They contracted slightly. Fred then proceeded to check James' pulse, with an efficiency that told Catrin he had had to do this before.
"He's alive." He announced to his fellow first-year- that statement was accompanied with a great wave of relief, which surprised her. She didn't think she'd liked James Potter much, but obviously something about his cockiness appealed.
Fred then followed that up with "But he's been cursed. Petrified, I'd say. That's weird...I didn't notice anybody around."
"Does he need help?" Stupid question, but her nerves were getting to her. It was no surprise when Fred nodded. "Pretty sharpish. But we'll have to go and see something down there-" here he nodded his head towards where the shouts of the wizards were echoing "-because he needs to have the curse reversed, and I can't do that yet."
"Okay." Catrin took a deep breath; forced herself to be calm. He wasn't dead, he just needed help. Risking detention was really the least that she could do. "Are you staying with him?"
"There's nothing I can really do." Fred stood up quickly, and started hastily down the staircase. "Coming?"
"Yes." Catrin joined him as they jogged towards the entrance hall. "You looked like you knew what you were doing back there."
"I do." Fred hesitated, and then grinned. "My dad experiments on himself a lot- you know, for the joke shop. Sometimes he knocks himself out cold. So I have to check he's alright- and he is, most of the time."
"That sounds dangerous...oh my god!" They had turned the corner into the entrance hall- or what was left of it. A great hole had been blasted in the brickwork, scattering rubble everywhere, and denting the huge wooden doors of the Great Hall. Through it, they could see the grounds, the black midnight sky, and the mass of wizards milling around like a swarm of ants.
"Aurors." Fred said quietly to Catrin. "Dark wizard catchers."
Catrin felt a chill as she stared down at the cloaked figures, many of them gesticulating wildly or huddled together in groups. Dark wizard catchers? She could only think of one dark wizard that they'd want to catch.
"What d'you reckons happened?" She asked Fred, but before he could reply, a dark shape detached itself from the crowd, hurrying towards them with quick, sure footsteps. As they drew closer, Catrin felt a thrill of disbelief upon seeing Harry Potter's angry face looming down on them
"What the hell," he said quietly, "do you two think you're doing down here?"
Fred blanched white, and Catrin couldn't blame him. At his angriest, Mr. Potter was a fearsome sight, and his story went before him.
"We were looking for help." She blurted out before Fred, wanting to escape his glare. "Because James is hurt."
"James?" His father's vivid eyes widened, anger visibly draining out of him. "What-how? Why?"
"He's been petrified- Fred thinks. Er- we don't know who did it."
Harry sagged for a moment- and then straightened his back. "Right- you two wait here. I'm coming."
He strode back into the throng of wizards, exchanged a few brief words with one of them, and then hurried back. "Show me where he is."
They practically ran back up the passageway, and when James' prone body came into view, Harry sped up to a flat-out sprint, falling to his knees next to him and going through the same motions as Fred.
"Petrified." He muttered in a tone of relief. "This won't take a second..."
There was a flash of white light, and their friend's rigid limbs jerked like a puppet's, and then fell limply to the floor, accompanied by a fit of coughing. They all leaned forwards- Catrin suspected her eyes were as wide as Fred's (who was doing a good impression of a bush baby).
"Dad?" James croaked. "Or is it Grandad? Nice to meet you. I hope you put in a good word with Saint Peter."
"No, it's dad." Mr Potter rocked backwards on his heels, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"Oh...dad? Why are you here?" James pushed himself upwards, staring into his father's drawn face. "Why am I here?"
"You were petrified, son. Do you remember who did it?"
"Er..." James looked around, blinking. "Oh, hi, you two. No...I saw a dark shape running up the side-corridor. I lit my wand- I want to have a look at who they were- but they saw me, and...I guess they got me."
"Merlin's beard..." Harry muttered, running his hand through his hair. "Wait here." He leapt to his feet, and ran back the way that they'd came. James looked confusedly after him, and then at the others.
"Wow. I didn't think our little adventure'd end like this."
"Me neither." Said Catrin fervently. "But... I kind of enjoyed it. Not you getting petrified, of course." She added hastily.
"Don't lie." Fred grinned. "What did it feel like?"
"I...didn't feel anything. I just blacked out, and then my dad was staring at me. Why's he here?"
"Someone just blasted a hole into the side of the entrance hall." Fred informed him.
"What?" James' eyes widened, but before he could say anything, his father was back, panting, a panicked look in his green eyes.
"Okay. I got Ron on it. I'd better get you away before anybody figures out that you were here." He reached out a hand and yanked James to his feet. "I anticipate detentions every weekend until the end of the year."
"Who broke into Hogwarts, Dad?" James ignored his father's last comment.
"We think...Rodolphus Lestrange." Mr Potter sighed.
"Him?" The world slipped out before Catrin could stop herself, and she felt her face twist into an expression of disgust. Everyone turned to look at her, and she saw Harry's face tighten with something that looked an awful lot like recognition- that was strange.
"What else?"
"Come on. I'll tell you on the way back to the Common Room...actually, I'll get Teddy and Victoire to come and meet us- they'll take you from halfway." Harry raised his wand, and closed his eyes. A moment later, a gigantic silver creature leapt from the tip, and cantered up the staircase, leaving a trail of mist behind. Catrin's eyes widened even further. What had that been? "There." He set off, striding after it.
"Locked up again." Catrin muttered.
"It's better to be locked up than face Lestrange." Mr Potter turned and looked at the first-years.
But again, he didn't meet her eyes. Catrin frowned.
Who did she remind him of so badly?