A few weeks later, Draco is still going on about the near-accident - leaving out the parts of how it was entirely his fault and how Bloom stopped it from becoming anything worse than a cut on his face and some dirty hair.
His face was stitched up, but that was the work of maybe a minute with Madame Pomfrey.
They're trying to interpret tea leaves still, and it's no secret that Bloom's got them all memorized and can just look in your cup to know what you've got, and Ron mutters "You notice nobody's going on about how Bloom saved his sorry butt? Or how it's all his fault he was nearly sliced?"
Harry glares at the Slytherin boy, wishing for all the world he could go up and deck him hard enough to give him something to complain about.
Bloom says "The important thing is Hagrid didn't get sacked. Given Malfoy's arrogance, we'll hear of him going into the dark forest to try and prove he's better than everyone by taming something in there and we'll never hear from him again."
None of them would be all that mournful of him if that were to happen, but not even Lucius Malfoy could do something to cover up his son's arrogance then.
Suddenly, Seamus runs in with a copy of the Daily Prophet yelling "He's been sighted!"
Everyone gathers around the paper, and the picture tells them who it is in an instant: Sirius Black.
Hermione says "Achintee? That's close to here."
Bloom bites her bottom lip, but says nothing.
He's already slipped past the Dementors once, there's no guarantee he can't do it again.
The thought travels to Harry by accident, and he looks at her for a moment.
Their hands meet under the table, and Bloom squeezes his hard enough to get slightly painful.
Later that day, in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, there's a wardrobe that's shaking and rattling wildly - like something's in it.
Seamus identifies it as a Boggart, a shape-shifter that turns into whatever its victim most fears.
One person jokes that Bloom should go first because she isn't afraid of anything - Bloom secretly grins, what she's afraid of is no ordinary creature.
Professor Lupin shows them the simple charm to fight a Boggart, it's called Riddikulus.
Everybody says the incantation aloud, and Draco mutters "It's this class that's ridiculous."
Neville is the first to step up, at Lupin's request, and he confesses that Professor Snape scares him the most.
Everybody laughs good-naturedly, they can all understand that.
Lupin tells them that what finishes off a Boggart is laughter, and they have to imagine the funniest thing they can imagine to combat their fear.
When Neville gets worried, Lupin tells him to imagine something he whispers in his ear.
Neville's eyes get huge, and he hesitantly nods.
Lupin opens the wardrobe by shooting a spell at it, and out comes Professor Snape.
His eyes are gleaming hideously, and Neville backs away fearfully.
"Concentrate Neville."
"Riddikulus!"
Suddenly, Snape vanishes in a flash of light, only to reappear in a long, lace-trimmed dress, a moth-eaten hat, and holding a red handbag.
The entire class bursts out in laughter, and even Neville starts laughing.
Lupin drops the needle on a gramophone, which starts playing a scratchy rhumba - considerably lifting the mood.
Ron is up next, and Snape turns into a giant spider - which then gets roller-skates and starts wildly thrashing around to stay upright.
Parvati's fear is cobras, which she turns into a Jack-in-the-box.
Bloom is up next, and the whole room is watching her expectantly.
For her, the Boggart turns into a giant minotaur with four arms.
It has to be ten feet tall, has horns spouting fire, and immediately charges Bloom.
It's the Whip, the creature the Trix summoned to distract her and her friends when they went looking through the school for the Dragon Flame - and it seems the whole class has never seen something like it, they're all stunned that she'd have faced something like this before.
She dives out of the way, then points her wand at the Boggart and yells "Riddikulus!"
The Whip's fur suddenly turns bright pink, the flames turn to flowers, and it looks seriously confused.
The whole class bursts out into hysterical laughter at that, seems Bloom has an active imagination.
Harry's up next, and the Boggart turns to a Dementor.
Lupin gets between Harry and the Boggart though, and it turns into what looks like the moon with clouds covering it.
Lupin uses the Riddikulus charm to pop the moon and have it fly around wildly before heading back into the closet.
Bloom privately thinks Lupin's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher she's ever had - she's certainly never had this much fun in the class before.
Harry asks "What was that thing? And where on Earth did you face it?
Bloom checks to make sure nobody's listening, then quietly says "It's called the Whip, Harry. And I didn't face it on Earth. You remember those three witches I told you about?"
Harry nods, and Bloom continues "They summoned it to keep us distracted while they searched the school. Unknown to everyone, it was me they were after."
She blushes and looks down at the ground, and then blushes all the harder when Harry squeezes her hand.
Weeks later, it's the first allowed trip to Hogwarts. Bloom and Harry get to go with everybody else, but Harry has his invisibility cloak in a pocket just in case.
There's no need for it though, and they get to see the town around Hogwarts for the first time.
Honeydukes is the favorite of all the students, and the shop is crammed full of people.
It's a sweets store, like a kid with a sweet tooth's dream.
Zonko's joke shop has an amazing assortment of pranking items, must be where Fred and George stock up on supplies.
There's even an abandoned house that's supposed to be haunted - Bloom doesn't believe that for a moment though.
Dervish and Banges has absolutely everything you could imagine, and Ron gets Harry a Sneakoscope - it can't hurt, especially since Sirius Black is supposedly out to kill him.
That evening, Harry, Ron, Bloom, and Hermione climb the stairs only to find a massive crowd filled with worried whispers.
Percy makes his way through the crowd, only to stop dead when he gets through it and then yell "Back! All of you back! Nobody is to enter this dormitory until it has been fully searched!"
Bloom gets a peek at the entrance, then goes completely still.
Bloom, what's wrong?
Harry, the painting…
Instead of telling him, Bloom grabs Harry, Ron, and Hermione's arms and pulls them forward.
The Painting is slashed and torn, with strips of canvas hanging from the frame.
Dumbledore appears a moment later, and tells Filch to round up all the ghosts to find the Fat Lady.
They all hear a scream, and everyone rushes down to the landing.
Filch looks up at the ceiling, then says "The ghosts won't be necessary, Professor."
He points up to the ceiling, and everyone sees the Fat Lady cowering in a picture frame that isn't hers.
She looks badly shaken, and tells them Sirius Black did the damage to her picture.
Dumbledore has all the students sleep in the Great hall that night, and the castle changes from its usual appearance to what looks more like a fortress.
Iron spikes are in the windows, the doors lock tighter than ever, and the lights of the Great Hall go out one by one.
The Great Hall is literally filled with sleeping bags, and Bloom can't sleep to save her life.
She hears a creak, and a door opens with Professor Snape on the other side. Professor Dumbledore is in the hall, but goes over to Snape.
"I've searched the whole school, there's no sign of Sirius, Professor."
"I didn't really expect him to linger."
"Remarkable feat, isn't it? To enter Hogwarts castle on one's own, completely undetected…" Snape trails off, but Dumbledore doesn't take the bait.
Snape says "You may recall, prior to the start of the term, I did express my concerns regard your appointment of Professor-"
"I do not believe a single professor in this school would help a murderer enter Hogwarts, Severus."
Snape's eyes glitter darkly, and Bloom guesses Snape has other ideas.
"No…I feel confident this school is safe. And I'm more than willing to let the students return to their houses, but tomorrow. For now, let them sleep."
Dumbledore gazes out at the sea of students, and Bloom feigns sleep when his eyes land on her.
She's going to have to talk to him privately soon, but now is definitely not the time.
AN: As we all know, Draco's a self-centered idiot who likes to play everything as 'not his fault' - what a surprise. I had to make Bloom's fear something, and she's not afraid of Voldemort. The Whip is the giant, dark blue, minotaur-like creature the Trix summoned while they searched Alfea. She was scared for her life because the rest of the girl's didn't have magic, she wouldn't have been able to use magic if she had it, and the guys who were being trained to fight these things were getting tossed around like rag-dolls. Also, I found the mental image of that monster being turned bright pink with flowers coming out of it's horns hilarious. Hope you all did as well. Keep reading - both stories, please - to find out what happens next!