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otunnicliffe · 3 months

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Chloe + Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

Chapter Nine: The Midnight Duel

'Shall we carry on?' McGonagall adds.

Everyone nods.

'Mr Lovegood, would you like to read?' Dumbledore asks.

Xenophilius nods wordlessly, before sitting down and taking the book carefully. 'This chapter is called 'The Midnight Duel''

'Duel?' James asked, his head popping up in uncertainty.

Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy.

'Sounds about right,' Arabella scorns.

Chloe was starting to get more aggravated with Mattheo Riddle by the day.

'Good, stay away from him,' James announced.

He had taken to calling her 'little lion,' and Lorenzo had taken to call Clemensia the same and Theodore the same for Catherine.

'Original,' Remus scorned, rolling his eyes.

Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with them much. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday -- and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

'Flying is exciting though,' James interjected.

"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy.'

'And me in front of Mattheo,' Chloe added, putting her head against the wall.

They had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.

'I hope they're good at it,' James says to Gwendolyn quietly.

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably.

"Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk." Clemensia added, rolling her eyes at the boy.

Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. Even Mattheo, Theodore and Lorenzo sometimes looked as though they didn't even believe him.

'So he's a liar just like his father then,' Sirius scorns.

He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom. Clemensia and Catherine often told Chloe about their childhood together, playing on broomsticks.

Kimberly and Arabella smiled at each other at this.

Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about football. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham football team, trying to make the players move.

Gwendolyn giggled at this.

Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry told Chloe that he felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.

'Poor Neville,' Molly said, looking at Alice sadly.

Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was.

'At least there's something she's not naturally good at,' Peter remarked.

This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book -- not that she hadn't tried. At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

Neither Chloe or Harry had received a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table. As was Theodore's snowy white owl, and Lorenzo's pygmy owl. Mattheo would sometimes receive packages from the same owl as Malfoy's but far less often than the other three Slytherin boys.

'Is it bad that I feel a bit bad for him?' Gwendolyn asked James. 'I mean he didn't ask to be You-Know-Who's son.'

'I think you're far too positive of people sometimes,' James answered, honestly but with no real malice behind his words.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.

'A Remembrall, sounds like he needs it,' Regulus mentioned to Barty.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things -- this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red -- oh..." His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "You've forgotten something..."

'You'll figure it out soon, Neville...' Chloe told him kindly, Catherine and Clemensia nodding in agreement.

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand, the other three Slytherin boys not far behind. Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

'Sounds about right for Minnie,' Sirius jibes, jokingly.

"What's going on?" "Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor." Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table. "Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

'See you at flying little lions,' Theodore spoke up, reminding them that he, Mattheo and Lorenzo were still there.

'Can't wait to see you fall off your brooms, Potters,' Lorenzo added, an evil smirk upon his face. Mattheo merely laughed at his friends antics.

'Piss of, would you?' Catherine said, rolling her eyes at them.

'That's my girl,' Kimberly joked, seeming proud.

'I look forward to seeing you fail as well, Lupin,' Mattheo sneered before the trio walked away.

At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron, Chloe, Clemensia, Catherine and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty six broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. The twins had both heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." Chloe ended up next to Mattheo, who smiled at her snarkily. She looked opposite and saw Clemensia and Catherine standing next to each other, Theodore to the other side of Catherine and Lorenzo to the other side of Clemensia.

Chloe glanced down at her broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.

'I'm so glad I haven't been on one of them since first year,' James added.

'Normal brooms are much better than these,' Chloe heard Mattheo telling her. 'Still, it'll be fun to see you fall off, no matter the broom, little lion.'

Before Chloe could retort anything back at the raven haired boy, Madam Hooch spoke up again.

'Shame, I was looking forward to seeing what she had to say,' Pandora says.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!"'

"UP'' everyone shouted.

Chloe's broom jumped into her hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Clemensia's and Catherine's had, as well as the three Slytherin boys. Mattheo looked at Chloe, surprised. She just smiled sweetly at him.

'Kill him with kindness,' Alice said.

Harry's had too. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.

'Obsessed with my son,' Lucius scorns.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle -- three -- two --" But Neville,

'Oh no,' Alice lamented, looking at Frank.

nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle -- twelve feet -- twenty feet. Chloe and Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and --

WHAM -- a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap.

'Bless him,' Andromeda said, feeling slightly bad for the boy.

His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his. "Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy -- it's all right, up you get.". She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear." Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins joined in.

'Horrible boy!' Molly scolded.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

'Shove it Parkinson,' Clemensia sneered, staring down the Slytherin.

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Chloe quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch.

Malfoy smiled nastily. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find -- how about -- up a tree?"

"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potters!"

Harry grabbed his broom. Chloe sighed and grabbed hers too.

'No,' Gwendolyn sighed.

"No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move -- you'll get us all into trouble."

Chloe and Harry ignored her. Blood was pounding in Harry's ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared; air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him -and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he'd found something he could do without being taught -- this was easy, this was wonderful. He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher, and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron.

'Chloe don't!' She looked and saw that Mattheo was warning her.

'Sorry Riddle, I have to help my brother,' and she to took off. Her feeling was the same as Harry's; this was easy!

'Both of my children are natural fliers,' James said, proud.

The admiring whoops this time came from Clemensia and Catherine, with Ron still whooping anyway.

She turned her broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in midair. Malfoy looked stunned at the twins.

"Give it here," Chloe called.

"Or we'll knock you off that broom!" Harry added.

'You tell them kids!' James said, looking immensely proud.

"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.

'Coward, just like his father,' Arabella whispered to Sirius.

The twins both knew, somehow, what to do. They both leaned forward and grasped their respective brooms tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Malfoy like a javelin. Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Chloe and Harry made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called.

'Or Riddle, Nott or even Berkshire,' Chloe added.

The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy. "Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground.

Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. Chloe leaned forward and pointed her broom handle down, managing to somehow catch the Remembrall in her hand, before chucking it over to her brother. It was a mighty throw, it flew across the air, amazing even Chloe herself. Harry leaned forward and pointed his broom handle down -- next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball -- wind whistled in his ears, mingled with the screams of people watching -- he stretched out his hand -- a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently onto the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in his fist. Chloe soon joined him.

'That is impressive, for their first time on a broom,' Remus acknowledged.

"CHLOE AND HARRY POTTER!''

Their hearts sank faster than they'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running toward them. They got to his feet, trembling.

'Quidditch,' Chloe said, looking at her twin brother.

"Never -- in all my time at Hogwarts --" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "-- how dare you -- might have broken your neck --"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor --"

"Be quiet, Miss Patil''

"But Malfoy --"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potters, follow me, now."

'I just knew they'd get into trouble,' Gwendolyn announced.

Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left, Chloe catching Mattheo, Theodore and Lorenzo standing with Clemensia and Catherine looking dumbfounded, the pair walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode toward the castle. They was going to be expelled, they just knew it.

'I have a feeling they won't,' Pandora chimes.

Harry wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. Chloe just waked silently. Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at the pair; they had to jog to keep up. Now they'd done it. They hadn't even lasted two weeks. They'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when they turned up on the doorstep?

Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to either of them. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Chloe and Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking them to Dumbledore. They thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps they could be Hagrid's assistant. Their stomach twisted as they imagined it, watching Ron and the others becoming wizards, while they stumped around the grounds carrying Hagrid's bag.

'I'd end my life,' Lucius scorns.

Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside. "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?

Most people chuckled at this.

But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused.

"Follow me, you three," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Chloe and Harry. "In here.''

Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom that was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard. "Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys. "Potters, this is Oliver Wood. Wood -- I've found you a Chaser and a Seeker!''

James's face lit up. 'They're going to play Quidditch!' He said, excitement resonating in his voice.

Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight. "Are you serious, Professor?"

"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "They're both naturals. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potters?"

'I'm so proud right now,' James said.

'We know,' Severus muttered.

Chloe and Harry looked at each other and both nodded silently. They didn't have a clue what was going on, but they didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs. "Se caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch herself. And her throw was amazing, as was Mr. Potter's catch. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."

Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once. "Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly.

"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.

"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. "Light -- speedy -- and she's the perfect build for sneaking past defence.... we'll have to get them both a decent broom, Professor -- a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."

'If it were a Slytherin I bet this wouldn't have happened,' Bellatrix remarks.

''I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks...." Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Chloe and Harry. "I want to hear you're training hard, Potters, or I may change my mind about punishing you." Then she suddenly smiled. "Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."

'Awww minnie!' James cooed, proud.

"You're joking."

It was dinnertime. Chloe and Harry had just finished telling Ron, Clemensia and Catherine what had happened when they'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.

'Gross,' Narcissa gagged.

"Seeker? Chaser?" Catherine said. "But first years never -- you must both be the youngest house player-''

''-in about a century, said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon.

"Wood told us." Chloe added.

'This is the best news out of this book by far,' James said.

Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry. Clemensia and Catherine offered their congratulations quietly.

"We start training next week," said Harry.

"Only don't tell anyone,'' Chloe added. ''Wood wants to keep it a secret."

'Not surprised,' Remus remarked.

Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Chloe and Harry, and hurried over. "Well done you two," 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, Potters, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

'This Wood seems to really love Quidditch,' Regulus remarked.

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."

Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, the three other Slytherin boys not far behind.

'Bet he's gonna be envious when he finds out,' Sirius scorns.

"Having a last meal, Potters? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

'We're not leaving actually,' Chloe told them, to their surprise.

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly.

'That's my boy,' James said proudly.

There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.

"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," said Ron, wheeling around. "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."

'Another bad idea,' Gwendolyn huffed.

When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other.

'Ron!' groaned Catherine, 'You should have said no!'

'You know he's just doing it to get a rise out of you,' Clemensia added.

"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," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie. Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "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."

"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"

"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Clemensia suggested.

'Or just do that anyway,' Sirius remarked.

"Excuse me." The five of them looked up. It was Hermione Granger.

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.

Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry. "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying --"

"Bet you could," Ron muttered.

"--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."

"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.

'Harry!' Chloe scolded.

"Good-bye," said Ron.

'I feel kind of bad for Hermione,' Kimberly told Remus, 'She just wanted them to follow the rules.'

All the same, it wasn't what you'd call the perfect end to the day, Harry thought, as he lay awake much later listening to Dean and Seamus falling asleep (Neville wasn't back from the hospital wing). Ron had spent all evening giving him advice such as "If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them." There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris, and Harry felt he was pushing his luck, breaking another school rule today. On the other hand, Malfoys sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness - this was his big chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face. He couldn't miss it.

'As I said, obsessed,' Lucius scorns.

"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, "we'd better go."

They pulled on their bathrobes, picked up their wands, and crept across the tower room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry." A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown.

"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

'She made us three stay up too,' Clemensia scorned, staring at the girl, as Catherine and Chloe also appeared from the darkness.

"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy -- he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this." Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering.

'And we've been stopping her,' Chloe interjected.

'All night,' Catherine added, yawning loudly after.

"Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole. Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose, the other three girls close behind to drag her back in.

'At least they're there to stop her,' Sirius says.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, 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."

"Go away."

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so --" But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a night time visit and Hermione and the other girls were locked out of Gryffindor tower.

'Great, that's all of us trapped now!' Catherine sighed, clearly fed up with the girl.

"Now what am I going to do?" Hermione asked shrilly.

'Shouldn't have left the room in the first place,' Amos says.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."

They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them, the other three girls not far behind. "I'm coming with you," she said.

"You are not." Ron scorned.

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch us?'' Chloe interjected.

''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." Hermione added.

'Oh I'm sure he would,' Remus mentions sarcastically.

"You've got some nerve --" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. I heard something."

It was a sort of snuffling. "Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.

'If they're caught already that's fast for Filch,' Sirius remarks to James.

It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep,

Alice looked sadly at Frank again.

but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer. "Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

"Keep your voice down, Neville.'' Clemensia whispered.

''The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere." Ron added.

"How's your arm?" said Chloe.

'At least someone cares about his arm,' Frank remarks.

"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good - well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later --"

"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville. "If either of you get us caught, I know Clemm, Chloe and Cath won't,

'At least he knows the girls won't,' Kimberly remarked.

I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you.''

Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward.

They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn Harry expected to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they were lucky.

Gwendolyn let out a quick sigh of relief.

They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room. Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet.

'Because they aren't gonna turn up,' Regulus says, 'They just want them to get caught.'

The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once. The minutes crept by.

'Have either of you two thought about the possibility that they were never going to turn up?' Catherine whispered, but was quickly shushed by Ron, whom she then gave a dirty look.

'At least the girls have some sense,' Molly says. 'Not my son though.'

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

'Me Chloe and Catherine knew this all along!' said Clemensia.

Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak -and it wasn't Malfoy. "Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at the other six to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room. "They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

'Knew it,' Regulus whispered to Barty, feeling proud of himself.

"This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run -he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour.

'Oh no, why is it always my son?' Alice asks, feeling bad for the boy.

The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" Clemensia yelled, and the seven of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following -- they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going -- they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Chloe panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping her forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

'Lucky escape again,' Gwendolyn said. 'From the look of things they're gonna have a lot of that.'

I -- told -you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I -- told -- you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

'I agree with that,' Arthur says. 'Don't get into more trouble.'

"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."

'That's exactly what we've been saying Hermione,' Clemensia said, still panting slightly.

"Let's go." Harry said. It wasn't going to be that simple.

'It never is,' groaned Arabella.

They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them. It was Peeves.

'The worst thing imaginable to see in this situation,' Amos remarked.

He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves -- please -- you'll get us thrown out." Catherine pleaded.

Peeves cackled. "Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please." Chloe added.

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves this was a big mistake.

'That is a big mistake,' Molly sighs, annoyed at her son in the book.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR"

Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door -- and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!" They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, 'Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open -- they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening. "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.

'It is annoying,' Bellatrix agrees.

"All right -please."

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!"

Sirius chortled at this.

And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay -- get off, Neville!" For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute.

"What?" Harry turned around -- and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare -- this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far. They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.

Everyone shot up, mixed reactions around the room... all wanting to hear why the room was forbidden.

They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads.

'What in Merlin's name is that doing in Hogwarts!' James seethes, looking at Dumbledore, again angry.

'Why do you need a three headed dog in a room?' Pandora asked, quizzically.

Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs. It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant.

Chloe groped for the doorknob -- between Filch and death, she'd take Filch.

'Me too,' Arabella agreed.

They fell backward -- Catherine slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared -- all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor. "Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.

"Never mind that -- pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward.

They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs. It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.

'I'm not surprised by that,' Molly said angrily. 'What on earth is that thing needed for in Hogwarts?'

'I think that's the plot, to discover it,' Kimberly says, thinking aloud.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "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 suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

James chuckled a bit at this, but he was still obviously angry.

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." Chloe recalled, and Clemensia and Catherine nodded, having obviously seen it too.

Hermione then stood up, glaring at them. ''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."

'I think being killed is worse, but whatever,' Peter says.

Ron stared after her, his mouth open. "No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you.

But the revelation had given Chloe and Harry something else to think about as he climbed back into bed, after exchanging their respective good nights and going their separate ways. The dog was guarding something.... What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide -- except perhaps Hogwarts.

'And I'm assuming the next few weeks are going to render that to nothing,' Remus whispers to Kimberly.

It looked as though Chloe Harry had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.

'That's the end of the chapter,' Xenophilius announced.

'But what's the grubby package?' Amos asked.

'The Philosophers Stone, it has to be,' Gwendolyn speaks, and everyone turns to look at her.

'But what is that?' Molly asks.

'I think we discover that in the book,' Gwendolyn added.

'Miss Evans is quite right, and if we continue on you can find out faster,' McGonagall says, breaking up the chatter immediately.

'Let us continue on then,' Dumbledore announces.

-----

@helendeath

#chloeandharrypotterandthephilosophersstone #mattheo riddle #theodore nott #lorenzo berkshire #marauders fanfiction

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