Chapter 8: Priorities
When we got down to dinner, Harry was sitting at the table. When he saw me, he pulled me down into the seat beside him.
"You won't believe what happened!"
"Oh mate, are they kicking you out?" I asked, sadly.
"No! They are making me Gryffindor seeker!" said Harry, excitedly.
"Seeker ?" I said, jaw dropped "But first years never make the house team! You must be the youngest house player in about-"
"- a century," said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. "Wood told me."
I was speechless. Harry had won. Not only did he not get kicked out, he was made bloody seeker! I couldn't be happier for him.
"I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."
I felt even more happier. Him telling me something that he probably shouldn't have told a soul made me feel like he really trusted me. The only other person that shares their secrets with me was Bill.
Fred and George Weasley came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over, sitting across from us.
"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too. Beaters."
"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."
"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school." said Fred.
"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."
As Fred and George left, Malfoy brought his uppity ass over.
"Having a last meal, Potter?" cackled Malfoy. "When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"
"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry.
"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only, no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"
"Of course he has." I said quickly. "I'm his second, who's yours?"
Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.
"Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."
Malfoy left. Harry gave me a confused look.
"What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"
"Well, a second's there to take over if you die. I said as if it was nothing. Harry looked as if he was going to throw up his kidney pie.
"But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway." I said, trying to reassure him.
"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"
"Throw it away and punch him on the nose." I said with a grin.
"Excuse me." came a small voice.
We looked up and seen that it was Hermione that spoke. She would come and ruin the mood.
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" I asked..
Hermione ignored me and turned to Harry.
"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-"
"Bet you could." I mumbled.
"- and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you." finished Hermione.
"And it's really none of your business." said Harry shortly at her.
"Good-bye." I said, waving her off. Merlin, she was like an annoying fly. She stuck her little nose in the air and stomped off.
Later on, we got into bed and waited for Seamus and Dean (Neville still hasn't made it back from the hospital wing) to go to sleep. Once they were knocked out, I sprang up and went over to Harry's bed, trying to remember some tips that Bill had once told me about wizard duels, but with all the anticipation, my mind had went blank.
"If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them." I said. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Harry nodded. "It's a risk. Filch is probably out with Mrs. Norris now, but Malfoy needs to be put in his bloody place. I have to do this."
I nodded and looked at my watch. "Half-past eleven, we'd better go."
We put on our bathrobes over our PJs, picked up our wands, snuck across the room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room. The fire still was lit and was burning softly. The room was entirely empty.
Or so we thought.
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."
A lamp cut on. There was Hermione, wearing a pink bathrobe and looking like McGonagall's granddaughter.
"You!" I snapped as quietly as I could. "Go back to bed!"
"I almost told your brother." Hermione harped. "Percy , he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."
Merlin, she was getting on my fucking nerves. Why couldn't she just mind her own bloody business?!
"Come on." said Harry as he pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole.
Hermione, being the persistent git that she was, followed right behind us. Great. She was a stalker now.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor, or do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells." huffed Hermione as she walked behind us.
"Go away." whispered Harry in a nasty voice.
"All right, but I warned you. You just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so-"
She didn't finish her sentence because she had discovered she was locked out of the tower. The Fat Lady was not in her portrait.
"Now what am I going to do?" she asked worriedly.
"Sounds like a personal problem." I said. "Look, we've got to go. We're going to be late."
"I'm coming with you," she said.
"Like hell you are." I said.
"Do you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me?" protested Hermione. "If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."
I began to shout at her. "You've got some nerve, you-"
"Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. "I heard something."
"Mrs. Norris?" I asked as for some reason, Hermione clung to my robe sleeve.
Thankfully, it was only Neville, whom had been locked out because he didn't know the password. He ended up begging to come with us. We gave in only to shut him up.
"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you." I said, staring at Hermione. She would be the first victim, I promised myself.
Hermione opened her mouth, probably to idiotically tell me how to do the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry told her to shut up as we crept down the corridor.
We made it to the trophy room without getting caught. However, neither Malfoy, nor Crabbe were there.
"He's late, maybe he's chickened out." I whispered.
Then a noise in the next room made us jump. A voice sounded that wasn't Malfoys.
"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."
It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. We were all scared as hell. Harry waved at us to follow him as quickly as possible. We snuck out as quickly and as quietly as we could, barely missing Filch.
"They're in here somewhere," he grumbled "probably hiding."
"This way!" Harry mouthed.
We began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. We could still hear Filch getting closer and closer. Suddenly, Neville's scaredy cat ass started to run and then he tripped, grabbed me around the waist, and we both fell into a suit of armor, making so much racket, I swore we woke everyone up.
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and we took off, not daring to look back. We had no idea where we were going. We ripped through a tapestry and found ourselves in a hidden passageway, near Charms, very far from where we started.
"I think we've lost him," Harry said, panting, leaning against the cold wall, trying to catch his breath along with Neville, who sounded like he was going to pass out at any second from lack of oxygen.
"I...told...you!" scolded Hermione between breaths, clutching her chest. "I - told - you."
"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower quickly as possible." I said, ignoring her.
"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you. Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."
'Of course he had tricked us, silly girl. We aren't bloody stupid,' I thought.
"Let's go." huffed Harry, ignoring her as well.
We started to make our way back when all of a sudden, Peeves popped up out of nowhere, squealing like a fucking pig.
"Shut up, Peeves!" I begged him. "Please! You'll get us thrown out."
"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caught." he sounded off loudly.
"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please." begged Hermione.
"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a mischievous voice. "It's for your own good, you know."
"Get out of the way." I snapped, swiping at Peeves
Smooth move, Ron.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves shrieked."STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
We took off like lightning and made it to the end of the corridor, where we slammed into a locked door.
"This is it!" I moaned. "We're done for! This is the end!"
"Oh, move over!" Hermione said, pushing me aside. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"
The lock clicked and the door swung open. We went in and shut it quickly, listening for any sounds.
"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."
"Say 'please.'"
"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go ?"
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.
"All right, please."
"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!"
Then, nothing.
"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay - get off, Neville!"
Apparently, Neville had been tugging at Harry's robe sleeve for a good minute.
"What ?" snapped Harry.
I turned around, pulling Hermione with me. What we saw, was something that I thought could only come into my nightmares.
It took us less than a millisecond to realize that this was indeed the forbidden corridor on the third floor that Dumbledore warned us about. And now, we could see why it was.
We were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog. A three headed dog to be exact. Three pairs of eyes, three noses, three fucking mouths with tons of yellow fangs that looked sharp enough to make us dog food.
It was still, all six eyes staring at us, growling menacingly. My feet didn't want to move. Harry quickly opened the door and we fell backwards, our legs too weak to run at the time. He slammed the door shut, and we took off, fast as lightning, and didn't turn back. We ran until we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, clearly bothered by our sudden presence.
"Never mind that! Pig snout, pig snout!" said Harry hastily, and the portrait swung forward. We stumbled into the common room, each of us slumping onto the sofa
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" I began to rant. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."
Hermione glared at me as if I had stolen a book from her. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on.
"The floor?" Harry said. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." said Hermione.
How the bloody hell did she see that?
"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed, or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." said Hermione, heading towards her dorm.
I stared after her, jaw dropped. Being expelled from school was worse than death for this loon?
"No, we don't mind." I yelled after her.
"You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you." I said to Harry.
Harry didn't hear me. His face looked as if he was in deep thought.