That night Harry and I did indeed get up to some experimenting, under the Invisibility Cloak in a broom cupboard on the second floor, the details of which are not really suitable to be mentioned here. All I can say is that it was very enjoyable, but wasn't too serious or intense. We were just trying the basics for the first time.
In the morning, Fred, George, Luna, Amy and I were all standing by the Goblet of Fire in the entrance hall. It was about 6:30am, and we were the first ones down. We needed to make sure that nobody saw us putting our names in. It was so early in fact that the hall lights weren't even on yet, and the only light came from the Goblet itself and the age line surrounding it. We all had a scrap of parchment in our hands with our names and Hogwarts written on.
"Ready?" I said. Everyone nodded, and held out their parchments in front of them.
"Three, two, one" I counted down
"Wingdardium Leviosa!" we called.
All of our parchments rose into the air and we directed them with our wands, landing each of them in the goblet one by one. For a few seconds we stood there, then, thinking our plan had worked, we turned to leave, but at that exact moment we were all thrown backwards and landed hard on our backs on the floor. The lights switched on, and the goblet spat out our parchments and they all returned to each of us. As I sat up, I noticed that we had all sprouted white beards, similar to Dumbledore!
"Wow, we're identical!" said the twins simultaneously.
"Well, this is embarrassing. Glad we came down early, at least no one else saw this" I said
"Is that so, Miss Weasley?" said a voice from the other side of the Goblet.
Albus Dumbledore was standing there, smiling.
"You five didn't seriously think I hadn't considered all possibilities did you? The age line doesn't only affect people who step beyond it, no, if it detects that an underage student's name is on the parchment, it's defences will also activate. Now, I recommend you all get up to the hospital wing to remove those beards before any of your classmates see them"
We did so, grateful that there would be no further punishment.
"How long do you reckon he was standing there?" Amy asked as we walked upstairs.
"Long enough to see us come in, that's all that matters" said Luna
Later that day, Amy and I sought out Matilda, in order to talk to her and see if we could gather what, if anything, was bothering Hermione. We had asked Luna, who said she'd only briefly interacted with her once or twice in the Ravenclaw common room, and she seemed perfectly normal. Though this was Luna, so what seemed normal to her probably wasn't to most people. Anyway, it took us a while to find her, but we eventually did, under a large tree in the grounds. She was reading a book.
"Hey, you're Matilda Wormwood right?" Amy asked, as we sat down next to her.
Matilda surveyed us, as if she was trying to read our minds and judge our legitimacy.
"Yes I am, but what do two random older Gryffindors want with a first year Ravenclaw?" she asked
"Oh don't worry, we aren't here to bully you" I said
"Yeah, such cowardly actions are only found among Slytherins" Amy added "My name's Amy Bagman, and this is my mate Ginny Weasley"
"What do you want then?" Matilda said, closing her book, and to our surprise, we saw that it was Quidditch Through the Ages.
"Oh you like Quidditch do you?" I said
"Oh no, I'm not a fan really, I'm just trying to find out more about it. You see, I grew up in the Muggle world and despite knowing I was magical since I was five, I don't know a whole lot about this world yet, so the more I know the better. I heard some people talking about it in our common room last night so I borrowed this from the library. I have to be honest, despite how popular it is, this sport really doesn't make a whole lot of sense"
"Why, what's wrong with it?" Amy said
"Well the rules are ridiculous. You have 4 different positions, yet only one of them actually matters in the vast majority of games, that being the Seeker. You can have a 140 point lead but if the other team gets the snitch, you still lose. Doesn't seem very fair to me, makes all the other positions pointless"
"No, that's what makes it so brilliant!" I said
"Yeah, the jeopardy of it all creates for such nail biting viewing!" Amy added
"I don't see how" Matilda insisted, "I for one would hate being a chaser, and having all my hard work undone by one ball being worth so many points!"
Amy and I glanced at each other.
"Look" I said calmly to Matilda "the two of us have been playing and watching Quidditch for years. I'm a chaser, and Amy is a beater, and for me, there's no better feeling than getting the Quaffle through the hoops, I love it so much. Scoring goals is really fun, and even though losing is annoying, I still come out of the game feeling like I at least had somewhat of a good time"
"Yeah" Amy added "I take great pleasure in unseating players with bludgers, not only is it satisfying, it also adds to the entertainment for the viewers. It would be pretty boring just watching two seekers sit there for ages until they find a tiny golden ball, that's hardly a sport at all! Plus, if I manage to take out the seeker, they have to bring on a reserve, who is usually no where near as good. Having the snitch worth so many points creates a very entertaining challenge for everyone involved, with tactics and all. Quidditch is wonderful, there's no better sport out there, trust us"
"Plus," I said "catching the snitch is a very difficult thing to to do, it's a tiny golden ball, moving very quickly and changing directions abruptly, and you have to find it in a huge stadium with so many other things to distract you, like the other players and bludgers. It's only right that it's worth a lot of points. Most of the time, professional teams are able to keep the score within 50 points anyway, so if the other team gets the snitch and wins, that's fair enough. Also, there have been many times where the snitch has been caught but that team didn't win. It happened at the World Cup just gone. Ireland and Bulgaria were the finalists, and despite the Bulgarian seeker Viktor Krum catching the snitch, they still lost the game, because the Irish chasers were so good. It's all about tactics mate"
"Don't call me mate" said Matilda, laughing "we've only just met, but ok, I take your point. What's the real reason you wanted to talk to me? It can't have been about Quidditch, you didn't even know I was reading a Quidditch book before now." She placed the book on the ground next to her. "I'm all ears"
"Well, we wanted to know your story. We're both pure bloods see, so we've never read your story. My dad is obsessed with Muggles though so he'd love to hear it" I said
"Yeah, all we know is what you said before the opening feast, that you defeated an evil teacher at the age of five. How did that happen?" said Amy
"Well, Miss Trunchbull was a horrible human being, treated us all like shit and gave utterly evil punishments, such as locking us in a case filled with nails and glass"
"No fucking way!" Amy exclaimed
"Yes, seriously, so as soon as I discovered my magic, I knew I had to do something about it. First, I made a glass of water tip over on to her head, then, in a different class, I made the chalk on the blackboard write a scary message aimed at her. This made her faint, and then she left the school insisting that it was haunted. We never saw her again"
"You. Are. Awesome!" I said, emphasising every word.
"Thanks" she replied, smiling.
"So how are you finding Hogwarts so far?" Amy asked
"It's really good, been fascinating to learn more about the magical world. I'm finding most of it pretty easy though, in fact some of the professors have said I'm too good for first year stuff already! Flitwick was talking about possibly moving me up into second year after Christmas. I mean, I am almost 13, I did join a year late, but it's not like I had any advance knowledge, although I do learn faster than the average person"
"You sound like our mate Hermione" I said, "who by the way, is also a Muggle born, who read your story as a kid. She was stunned to learn you were real. She's never moved up a year only halfway through though"
"Yep, I've had a lot of people express their surprise at my existence"
"How come you started a year late then?" said Amy
"I contracted a magical disease, it was making me shoot spells erratically. It lasts 8 months followed by 3 months of recovery. Obviously I was in no fit state to attend school while that was happening. It's called Crodella"
"Oh yeah, I've heard of that, it's pretty rare though" I said
"What about you guys then, what's life like growing up as a witch?"
"It's good for the most part. I come from a family of 9 under one roof, got 6 brothers. We're not exactly the most well off, so I have a lot of second hand stuff, but I'm happy" I said
"I can't say my life has been the happiest" Amy said morosely "My mum died when I was nine, my dad is mentally unstable, my sister betrayed me and moved in with an evil Slytherin, and my Uncle, though he's a famous former Quidditch player, we suspect him of scamming people"
"Bloody hell, that's 2 upbringings as different as you can get! I'm sorry to hear that Amy, and I hope it gets better for you. Ginny, I'm glad you've been able to enjoy your life so far" Matilda commented.
"It's been good talking to you Matilda" I said "we have other things to do today, so we have to go now"
"Thanks. I think we could be friends you know!" she replied
"Sure, why not!" said Amy, "anyway, see you around!"
"Well, that was interesting" I said as we walked away "but I didn't detect anything unusual about her, aside from her academic prowess. Did you?"
"No" Amy replied "perhaps that is what Hermione was bothered about, though I'm not sure how she could have found out"
"Me neither. Anyway, let's go and find Karkaroff, shall we?"
