7th September
It was a miracle. Madam Pomfery took one look at the scab on my face, took out a thick potion, spread it on and... Voila! Sorted! She handed me a mirror and I must have been smiling like an idiot, because George was returning the look. I don't think I had felt quite so happy in such a long time. No scab, no scar, nothing! She dismissed me within five minutes. I was on top of the world!
"Thank you!" I said to George.
"For what?" he looked up from something in between us.
"Doing this? Being here? Making me smile?" I decided to look down, too. Our hands were centimetres apart.
I slowly looked back up as he said, "That's nothing!"
"Well, it means a lot!" I smiled at him, which was returned as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I felt his fingers touch mine as we turned onto the next corridor. But the light grip was suddenly released as his friend Lee Jordan and Fred came in our direction.
"Coming George?" Lee asked and Fred gave him a somewhat disapproving nudge.
"I'll see you, Kathryn!" he smiled at me, turned and followed the others...
I heard Fred tell George to go back, "You just left her, you can't just leave a girl standing-"
"I can't go back now!"
"Scaredy cat."
"Shut up."
Professor Snape had walked the length of the corridor and was a metre away from me as he said loudly, "Lost your way, Miss Pink? I expect you've found your bearings in the school by now!"
"Sorry, Professor..."
George was bound to have heard that.
3rd October
When Hermione and I left the dormitory this morning after a wonderful lie-in, we found Ron waiting expectantly in the common room by himself. He was holding a note, which read:
"Ron,
Oliver Wood woke us up at dawn for Quidditch practice, so that's where I am...
Harry"
"Shall we go out and see him?" Hermione asked.
Ron was always thinking about his stomach, but I didn't blame him, I felt the same, "We'll get some breakfast first- I'm starving!" he said.
We all went into the Great Hall where Hermione lifted a few slices of toast with marmalade and I lifted two slices of bacon and sandwiched them between two pieces of toast. Ron, on the other hand had lifted four slices of toast, two fried eggs, two sausages and two slices of bacon! He made a much more substantial sandwich than I did, but I had no hope of scrounging, that I knew all too well!
We made our way out to the Quidditch stands to watch the practice. Harry was only leaving the changing rooms now to get up in the air, he looked knackered- they all did, except for Wood who looked like a kid on Christmas morning! Well, what my brother looks like on Christmas morning, but let's not go there...
Colin, the annoying first year was frantically taking photos. Ron called over to him, "Creevey! Shove off! They're practising!" He didn't listen. But something else caught my eye. The Slytherin team strode across the pitch, in their usual swagger, in our direction. Oliver Wood flew to the ground, followed by the rest of the team, stopping just in front of where we were sitting.
"I booked the pitch for today!" Wood spoke confidently, "Flint this is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off, now?"
Flint who was clearly amused, with the intent to annoy said, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood!"
Wood somewhat lost his cool and half shouted, "I booked the pitch!"
"Calm it, I've got a note!" he smiled cunningly, handing the note over.
Wood read aloud:
"I, Professor S Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practise today on the Quidditch Pitch, owing to the need to train their new seeker."
"A new Seeker? Where?" he asked as a white-blonde boy with pale skin and a scheming smile stepped forward.
Fred was the next to speak up, "Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" he whispered something insulting under his breath.
"Draco, yes." I stood and responded.
"Funny you should mention Draco's father" Flint completely ignored me, showing off his team's brand new Nimbus 2001 broomsticks, "Very latest model. Only came out last month. It completely outstrips the Nimbus 2000 and as for the Cleansweeps- sweeps the board with them!" he looked in the direction of the Weasley's.
I wasn't going to let him say any more, "You think you're so cool, aren't you? Showing off like this? These guys could beat you any day!"
"And at least no one on the Gryffindor team had to by their way in. They got in on pure talent." Hermione added. I loved it when the two of us had each other's backs.
Draco then had his moment in the spotlight, "No one asked your opinion, you filthy mudbloods."
At those words, both Fred and George took a lunge at Malfoy who was closely guarded by Flint. Alicia accused, "How dare you!" Hermione and I stood there in utter confusion. Ron stepped forward with his wand out, aiming a spell at Draco, which rebounded with a BANG and sent him flying. As he landed he was violently sick, spreading slugs everywhere. The Slytherin team stood in fits of laughter whilst the Gryffindors were filled with concern. That's what I like about my house, we all look out for each other, we really are one big family and we aren't afraid to stand up for what we believe.
"Quick!" Harry said to Hermione and me, "Let's get him to Hagrid's!"
Hagrid was so happy to see us. When we got in and sat down, he gave Ron a bucket- there was nothing else for it, apparently! Tea and pieces of treacle were offered and somewhat reluctantly received.
"Who was he tryin' ter curse?" Hagrid asked.
"Malfoy." Harry answered.
"But why?" I asked, "What did he mean?"
Harry saw the expression on Hagrid's face and elaborated, "Yeah, he called the girls something, it must have been really bad... Everyone got really mad!"
"Fred, George, Ron?" I recounted aloud.
Ron spat out a slug and said, "It was bad, he called them mudbloods!"
The look on Hagrid's face said it all.
"What? What does it mean?" Hermione and I asked.
Hagrid replied, "It's about the most insulting thing 'e could think of. Mudblood is a really foul name for someone who is muggle born... It's not a term someone would hear in civilis'd conversation."
I zoned out of the conversation. A mudblood? He was slagging me off because of my parents? You can't choose your family; I of all people know that. I would do anything to change my family. Draco has it all- a family who love him, who care for him, anything he could ever dream of, letters from home and presents! And me? I've nothing!
"Kathryn? Kathryn? Are you okay?" I felt Hermione's touch on my arm as I came right back into reality again. I put my hand up to my cheek, there were tears streaming from my eyes where the true scar of my past had previously been visible.
"Let's get yeh some air, besides, I've somethin' ter show yeh!" Hagrid said, offering a hand which lifted my feet right off the ground, having me suspended in the air momentarily. He directed us to the back of his home where some massive pumpkins were growing, the size of massive boulders.
1st November
Harry got talking to Sir Nicholas (or Nearly Headless Nick, depending on what takes your fancy) who got him out of trouble with Filtch, who in turn asked us to go to his Deathday Party on Halloween night.
"No way." Ron, Hermione and I said when Harry asked us to go with him.
"Besides, you said you'd go to the Deathday Party." Hermione added.
So, after an hour of begging, Harry had convinced the four of us to go with him to the stupid party. I told him I'd show my face and leave. I don't think he quite understood my intentions.
"My dear friends, welcome, welcome... so pleased you could come..." was the depressed greeting from Sir Nick. We entered a hall which was like walking into a freezer, filled with hundreds of ghosts, some of which who were dancing to what only could have been described as human torture. We had a look around, making sure we didn't walk through anyone. There was a dining table covered in black velvet with food on top, I thought the party couldn't have gotten any worse, but I was wrong, the food was rotten, mouldy, stinking and disintegrating right in front of us. I thought I was going to be sick. One thing I cannot stand is the smell of rotten food.
"I'm going to the bathroom." I said to my three friends, and then I looked directly at Harry, glaring as I spoke, "and no, I will not hurry back." I was lucky to escape when I did, as Moaning Myrtle; the ghost who haunts the girls' bathroom was just about to make the other three's lives a misery.
Funny story how Hermione and I met Myrtle: It was in November last year, just after the 'Attack of the Troll' and the two of us were a little apprehensive about using bathrooms alone. Anyway, we went into this bathroom and I was in a cubical and when I was about to sit... Moaning Myrtle flies right through me. I screamed. Hermione screamed. I left the cubicle bright red and Myrtle said, "You must be a first year, no one has used this bathroom in years, I must have given you a fright but your face was-" her laugh made the situation all the more embarrassing. But we soon accepted the situation and every so often returned to the bathroom, not to use it, but to keep her company. She always seemed so miserable and constantly talked about death, but it was quiet in the bathroom and so Hermione and I had peace to talk and get to know each other (when Myrtle was blocking another drain), it was great, actually!
Back to leaving the party, the warmth the further away from the dungeon was bliss and the screeching was dulled as I found myself drawn toward the feast in the Great Hall. But I couldn't go as:
1) I'd have no one to sit with.
2) Don't say sit with George, because he hasn't talked to me in basically a month.
3) If I showed up without the other three, there would be many suspicions.
So, in my guilt, I turned on my heels to rejoin the other party... Back in the dungeons, I was about to turn through the door when I collided into the other three running in my direction. Ouch. I took the incentive and quickly returned the way I came, when Harry suddenly stopped metres away from the Great Hall and in a loud whisper spoke, "I can hear it again! The voice! I think it's going to kill!" Harry ran up to the first floor corridor in a full sprint, leaving us behind in complete confusion. I finally caught up as they all stopped dead in their tracks. Then I noticed why... Hermione's finger pointed in the direction of the writing on the wall which said,
"THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE."
"It's written in blood." Hermione gulped.
Ron stepped forward, "What's that hanging underneath?" he asked, squinting. He nearly slipped in the puddle of water below his feet.
Harry stepped forward too, nearly slipping in the same, massive puddle, "Mrs Norris?" he jolted back in shock. The rest of the school seemed to suddenly appear, placing the four of us at the scene of a crime.
"Im going to kill you." Came the voice of Filtch.
"You four, with me, now." Came the voice of Professor Dumbledore.