Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy.
"That's surprising," Harry said.
"Malfoy much be horrible if he's worst than your cousin," Cedric said.
Still, first year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much.
"Actually, if I think about it, you might be having Flying lessons with them," Cedric said. "They usually have those who have Potions together do Flying lessons together as well. I don't know why, but that's how it is."
"What's the rest of the schedule like?" Hermione asked. Cedric smiled.
"It depends on each year, especially since, once you hit third year, you have to take at least two extra classes that you pick nearing the end of the second year, and, once you take your O.W.L.s, you can drop classes, specifically those you didn't get a O.W.L. in," Cedric said.
O.W.L.s?" Hermione asked.
"Ordinary Wizarding Levels. You take them in your fifth year," Cedric answered.
Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in to Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday – and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.
"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."
"I doubt you'll do that," Cedric said. "Especially since both of your parents were decent fliers."
"He's right," Luna said. "I've heard that your dad got a trophy for being one of the best chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team that you can go look at once you get to the school. I've heard Charlie Weasley mention it before," she added when faced with the looks of the others.
He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.
"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."
"I don't know if it is or not," Cedric said. "Most wizarding families have an area where they can practice if they're interested in becoming part of a team. Plus, there are some who have a natural talent for it as well."
Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams
"Of course they don't let first years on teams. Most don't know how to fly properly, and the tryouts are usually held before the lessons," Cedric said.
and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.
"He knows what a helicopter is?" Cedric said, surprised.
"Why do you sound so surprised?" Hermione asked.
"He's part of a family that's very anti-Muggle. It really doesn't make sense for him to know what helicopters are," Cedric said.
"Well, perhaps he doesn't, and Harry just knows what he's talking about enough to say what it is," Hermione said.
"That does make sense, especially since they don't actually have Malfoy speaking that part," Luna said. "They simply say that he tells stories that usually end like that."
He wasn't the only one, though; the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the country side 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.
"Somehow, I doubt that actually happened," Hermione said. Cedric and Luna snorted a bit.
"Actually, that one's actually true," Cedric said.
"Yeah, he got in huge trouble for it by his mother," Luna said. "I was there when it happened, playing with Ginny."
Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. 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 post of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.
"That's not smart; you're not supposed to mess with other's things," Cedric said, frowning. "He could get into trouble if he's caught by someone who's not a friend."
Neville had never been on a broom in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one.
"That does seem to support your earlier about whether or not his grandmother was crying because he was safe, and not because he showed magic," Cedric said. "I don't know any non-muggleborn who wasn't allowed on a broom before coming to school."
Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.
"Of course, that could be why as well," Hermione said.
Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was.
"Almost every Muggleborn is," Cedric said. "I don't know why, but it might have to do with the fact that they probably think that they should have some kind of metal shell around them."
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.
"That's a good book, especially if you like Quidditch, but it doesn't really give you tips so much as tell you about what you need to know the first time you fly," Cedric said.
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.
Cedric realized that there was going to be a problem coming up if Hermione didn't change, and wondered if he should explain to her that what she was doing was wrong if she wanted to make friends. He decided – if he remembered – to do that after this chapter was done.
Harry hadn't had 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.
"Prat," Hermione said venomously.
"Git," Luna said at the same time.
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.
"It's a Remembrall. Interesting item, but ultimately useless," Cedric said.
"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things – this tell 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…"
"And that is why it's ultimately useless. It may tell you that you forgot something, but it doesn't tell you what you've forgotten," said Cedric.
Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall to of his hand.
"He shouldn't snatch things that don't belong to him," Cedric said, glaring slightly.
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.
"Professor Flitwick's good at that as well, as is Snape. The only problem about Snape is that he only appears when there's a chance to take points from the other houses," Cedric said. "All of the other teachers are fair about that."
"But what happens if he appears when another house isn't doing anything, and his house has? Or if both houses do something?" Hermione asked.
"He'll ignore it if it's just his house, and then he'll only bother to ask a member of his house what happened, and take points from the other house only, because any member of his house will lie and say that they did nothing," Cedric explained.
"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.
"I didn't know he had eyes on his hands," Hermione said in a sort of sarcastic astonishment.
"It wouldn't surprise me," muttered Cedric, so quietly that no one heard him.
At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron, 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 towards a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.
"Sounds like a perfect day for flying," Cedric said, a dreamy smile on his face as he imagined it.
The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground.
"Are there that many people?" Hermione asked. Cedric shrugged.
"There are about forty to sixty students every year, though I wouldn't be surprised of that number goes up at some point, since the number of Muggleborns and half-bloods increase over the years," Cedric said. "And, usually, the hat tries to sort an even number of students into each house, though it doesn't always happen. Some houses get more students in it than other. So, it there are indeed twenty people in your class, then it's most likely an equal number of Gryffindors and Slytherins, as well as an equal number of girls and boys, ten of each."
Harry had 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.
"The brooms are old," Cedric said in response to the two questioning looks he got. "It is possible that some do that."
Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.
A very able description of the instructor and Quidditch referee thought Cedric.
"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."
Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.
"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"
"UP!" everyone shouted.
Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did.
"Sounds like you're a natural," Cedric said.
Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground,
"You must still be slightly afraid," Luna said.
and Neville's hadn't moved at all.
"And, apparently, so is he," Luna said.
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.
"I don't think anyone's ever thought of it like that before," Cedric said. "My dad always said they were more like dogs; you've got to know when to be firm with them if you want them to do something."
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.
"Sadly, he's probably not doing it wrong at all," Cedric said. "Everyone grips the broom differently, depending on what position they play in Quidditch. The grip she has you do is mostly used for how you should travel on a broom, and, with how much Malfoy talks about it, he's probably using a player's grip."
"Do you know which type of player's grip he's using?" Hermione asked. Cedric shook his head.
"I'd have to actually see his grip to know," he said.
"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, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.
"Oh, that doesn't sound like it's going to be good," Harry said. Cedric was frowning.
"It sounds like he not only has a fear of flying to rival a Muggleborn, but that he's got a very low dose of self-esteem and confidence," he said.
"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was riding up like cork shot out of a bottle – twelve feet – twenty feet. Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and –
WHAM
It was Hermione's turn to shout out a word, scaring Harry into jumping, just as he had done to her a few chapters ago. She simply smirked at the light glare he gave her from his place on the floor.
– a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.
"Where it will never be seen again," Cedric said in mock solemnity.
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."
"Like any of the class is going to actually listen to her," Cedric said. "She should have had one of the others take Neville to the hospital wing if she wanted to keep the others off of the ground."
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.
It was a good thing that Malfoy wasn't in the room, as everyone in the room was feeling extreme anger. He most likely would have been murdered by any member in the room if he had been there.
Loud bursts of glass breaking from every corner of the room filled the air, though anyone looking at Cedric's would notice that his had the least amount of broken things, mostly due to the fact that he was older than the others, and actually owned a wand, which had helped him gain control over his magic.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?"
"Can we get in trouble if I was to punch him if this happened?" Hermione asked.
"If a teacher saw, yes," Cedric said.
"And if the others tell on me?" Hermione said.
"Since there is a good chance that only the Slytherins would tell and that they would go to Snape, then yes, you would get into trouble, since he wouldn't even listen to anyone else," Cedric said. "Of course, I doubt any of them would say anything, since that would mean that Malfoy was bested by a Muggleborn, which would hurt his pride. He'd most likely threaten the others into saying nothing, and get away with it on the account that he's Snape's favorite."
The other Slytherins joined in.
"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."
"It sounds like they knew each other beforehand," Hermione said.
"They probably did, since I can't see any of the first years really remembering the names of the first names of any of the other students sorted with them," Cedric said.
"I guess this could be used as a hint of what I mentioned two chapters ago," Hermione said.
"Well, in truth, Slytherin and Gryffindor don't get along at all, so simply be sorted into either house automatically makes you an enemy of the other house," Cedric said.
"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid think Longbottom's gran sent him."
"Why did he even have it on him?" Hermione asked, shaking her head a bit at the fact that he should have put it up with his stuff during a break before the class.
The Remembrall glittered on the sun as he held it up.
"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch.
"Of course they did. The fact that you two are rivals makes you interesting to watch," Luna said.
Malfoy smiled nastily.
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find – how about – up a tree?"
"Git," Cedric said.
"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, Potter!"
"Don't!" Hermione said at once. "You'll get into trouble if you do, which is probably what he wants."
"One, there's not teacher around at the moment, and I don't think Malfoy would do anything that would get him caught as well, and two, I'm most likely going to just ignore you, Hermione," said Harry. "I'm the type of guy whose going to respond to the challenge."
Harry grabbed his broom.
"No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move – you'll get us all into trouble."
"You don't change much, do you?" Harry said. "In fact, the only difference is that you were worried about me getting everyone into trouble in the book, were you only mentioned me getting into trouble here."
Harry ignored her.
"Told you," Harry said.
Blood was pounding in his 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.
"Like I said, a natural," Cedric said.
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.
"Hermione's probably looking at you with disapproval on her face," Luna said.
He turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in midair. Malfoy looked stunned.
"Of course he did. You grew up around Muggles, yet you've just showed that you can fly pretty good despite that fact," Luna said.
"Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"
"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.
"You're probably better than him," Cedric said. "And he knows it, too."
Harry knew, somehow, what to do. He leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Malfoy like a javelin. Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Harry made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.
"Yeah, that would be impressive," Cedric said.
"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called.
The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.
"Coward," Hermione said.
"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground.
"Oh no," Cedric said, then looked at the other. "At least this is something that has the possibility of getting Malfoy expelled. Destruction of items that is not yours is punishable by expulsion, especially if you took the item without asking, as that's considered theft to the teachers."
"So, basically, we get to tell Neville that we're sorry, but Malfoy caused his Remembrall to shatter into a thousand pieces, but not to worry because 'we'll most likely never see him again due to the fact that he's most likely been expelled for stealing something that isn't his and breaking it'," Hermione said.
"Pretty much," Cedric said, smiling brightly at her. She shook her head.
"I certainly hope he didn't like that Remembrall," Hermione muttered.
Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leaned forward and pointed his broom handle down – next second he was fathering 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.
"Wow," Cedric said. "You'll be pretty good Seeker." Then he thought of something, and pouted. "I'm never going to win a game against you if you get on the team," he muttered, wondering if he shouldn't change his mind about what position he wanted on the team, so that he didn't get blamed for not winning the game, since the Seeker's position was the main position in game that was responsible for ending and usually winning the game.
"HARRY POTTER!"
His heart sank faster than he'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running toward them. He got to his feet, trembling.
"How did she see?" Harry wondered. Cedric thought about it, and then remembered.
"The field where the Flying lessons take place is near her office window," Cedric said. "And, if I'm right, she doesn't have a class at that time. She most likely saw you two in the air, and noticed your catch." Cedric began to wonder if McGonagall was going to have Harry put on the team despite being a first year because of that catch.
"Never – in all my time at Hogwarts –"
"She's speechless," Cedric said, shocked. He'd never met anyone who could make her speechless.
Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, " – how dare you – might have broken you neck –"
"It wasn't his fault, Professor –"
"Be quiet, Miss Patil –"
"But Malfoy –"
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."
"She's not going to punish you," Cedric said, "otherwise she would listen to what the others were saying."
"Then what is she doing?" Harry asked.
"I'm not completely sure," Cedric said, though he did have a good idea. After all, there was really only one thing that Professor McGonagall was willing to break rule – or, at the very least, let certain things slide – for.
Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left,
"They must think your getting expelled. They obviously don't know McGonagall very well; they probably are around Snape so much that they think his approach is right."
walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode to the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it.
"I don't think what you did would result in expulsion. Detention, maybe, but not expulsion," Hermione said.
He wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice.
"Fear, it tends to do that," Cedric said.
Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up.
"She really should slow down, and tell you what's going on," Cedric said. He couldn't think of why Professor McGonagall wasn't doing so; perhaps she didn't realize what thoughts were going through Harry's mind.
Now he'd done it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks. He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?
"I doubt it would be anything that was nice to you," Hermione said, just able to guess what they would say.
Up the front step, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her.
"Where is she heading?" Hermione asked. Cedric shrugged.
Maybe she was talking him to Dumbledore. He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps he could be Hagrid's assistant. His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others becoming wizards while he stumped around the grounds carrying Hagrid's bag.
"You are very pessimistic," Luna said. "Of course, when you think about your life before hand, it does make sense. We're going to have to break you of that habit, you know?"
Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom.
"I think I know what she's doing now," Cedric said, a smile beginning to light up on his face. If it was what he was thinking, Professor McGonagall was indeed changing the rules so that Harry could play Seeker on the team.
She opened the door and poked her head inside.
"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"
"I'm right," Cedric said, smiling.
"About what?" Hermione asked.
"What Professor McGonagall was doing," he answered.
"She's…she's going to beat me," Harry said, sounding meek and scared. Cedric's smile fell off his face, while Hermione looked horrified. Did this mean what she thought it meant?
"No. Wood is a fifth year Gryffindor whose not only completely obsessed with Quidditch, but is the Gryffindor Quidditch captain for the team as well," Cedric said, still slightly horrified by Harry's previous words. "She's introducing you to him because she's planning on getting you on the team."
The scared look on Harry's face disappeared immediately; Luna, who had been quite through this entire conversation, made a mental note to talk to Harry while Cedric was talking to Hermione..
Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?
But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused.
"I bet he would," Cedric said. "It's not every day that Wood gets pulled out of class; in fact, outside of Quidditch, he's really calm, hardly gets into trouble."
"Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at 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.
"Who taught him to speak like that?" Hermione asked, appalled.
"I think everyone, teachers included. Not a lot of people are careful enough to make sure he's not where around them, so he hears a lot, including things he shouldn't," said Cedric.
Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.
"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood – I've found you a Seeker."
"He's going to love that," Cedric said.
Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.
"Are you serious, Professor?"
"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"
Harry nodded silently. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.
"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."
Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.
"Of course. If your as good as she's saying you are, then he's most likely envisioning the wins you'll bring him by being on the team," Cedric said.
"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 – we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor – a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."
"I'd go for the Nimbus with you – I've only heard of good things about it so far," Cedric said.
"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule."
"It most likely will be. I mean, no offense or anything, but I have a feeling that Dumbledore will let every rule be broken concerning you," Hermione said, and only Cedric noticed the rather disapproving way she spoke.
"Heaven knows, we need a better team that 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 Harry.
"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you."
"She already should." Hermione was unable to keep herself from mumbling. Only Cedric heard her, and, in truth, he privately agreed – however, he also knew that Quidditch was the one thing McGonagall ever bent rules for, and that it was her choice whether to punish a person or not.
Then she suddenly smiled.
"Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."
Luna nodded empathically, as Professor McGonagall was basically saying what Luna had said earlier about James.
"You're joking."
"I don't think she is," Harry said.
"Different section, Harry," Hermione said.
It was dinnertime. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'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.
"Wow, you made Ron forget about food," Cedric and Luna both said.
"Seeker?" he said. "But first years never – you must be the youngest house player in about –"
"A century," Cedric said.
" – a century," said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon.
"I'll bet. After all, you were worrying yourself quite a bit," Hermione said.
"Wood told me."
Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry.
I wonder if he was envious as well Luna thought.
"I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Cedric said. "Nothing stays secret at Hogwarts long."
"Plus, if Wood said not to tell anyone, you shouldn't be telling Ron about it," Hermione said.
Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over.
"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."
"Of course he was. Wood's very legendary around the school as a bit of a psycho when it comes to Quidditch. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to work with him. Other times, I feel sorry for those that do, and glad that I don't," Cedric said.
"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."
"They found a passageway out of the school their first week? Nice," Cedric said.
"Well, they did mention that Fred and George knew a lot about the school and its secrets," Luna pointed out, reminding them about what they had read in the previous chapter.
Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Can't a person eat in peace around there," Harry wondered.
"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"
"Here's where I should simply say no and ignore him," Harry said. "Of course, I'm probably not going to do that."
"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.
"Like I said, I'm not going to say what I should," said Harry.
There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High table was fully of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.
"Somehow, I have a feeling Malfoy's going to try and get you into even more trouble, simply for that comment allow," Hermione said.
"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel."
"I was right," Hermione sighed.
"Not a good idea," Cedric said. "One, he'll know more magic than you, having grown up in a pureblood fanatic house, and two, Malfoy's are cowards; I really doubt he'll actually show. He'll most likely tell a teacher, or worse, Filch about it."
"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?"
"Technically, Ron should mind his own business there, and not answer for you," Cedric said. "Now, you can't not show, otherwise, if Malfoy shows up, you'll have trouble, since he will most like let it out that you are a coward, not showing up for a duel."
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."
When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other.
What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what did you mean, you're my second?"
"It's a duel, you know, like the ones Muggles have, whether fighting, with swords, or guns, only it's with wands," Cedric said. "And a second is a person who takes your place if your incapacitated; real duels usually have it being to the death."
"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie.
"How nice," Hermione said sarcastically.
"Yup, that's not going to worry me at all," Harry said.
Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards."
"Apparently, we are not real wizard," Harry said.
"I thought just being about to do magic made you one," Hermione said.
"It does," Cedric said.
"The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other."
"Wrong. His parents are pureblood fanatics; they most likely taught him spells that no one else at the school are taught," Cedric said.
"Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."
"No, he would have expected you to accept," Cedric said. "Otherwise, he would have called you a coward. What you should have done was change where you would meet, and told a professor. Duels are allowed, after all, but only if a professor is there to supervise you."
"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"
"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Ron suggested.
"That wouldn't work. It would be an automatic loss to you, since you agreed on a no contact duel. In a real duel, you could loose your magic for doing that," Cedric said. "Not that it wouldn't surprise him if you did that. I have a feeling Malfoy wouldn't know how to fight the Muggle way."
"Excuse me."
They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger.
"Hermione, I don't think it's a good idea to do what I think you're going to do," Harry said. "It'll be like with the broomstick part; I'll just end up ignoring you. Only, your more likely to get your feelings hurt this time, since your also being a bit nosy. Not that I can fault you for that, of course."
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.
Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry.
"Nice," Cedric snorted.
"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying –"
"Bet you could," muttered Ron.
" – and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the point you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."
"And it really isn't any of your business. You are not responsible for what others do. If someone is going to do something that could get them into trouble and you don't want that, the best thing to do is to leave it alone," Cedric said. "Of course, you can always inform a teacher, but that's not going to get you any friends if you do."
"But they shouldn't be doing that if it's against the rules," Hermione said.
"And the best thing for them to learn that isn't by having someone their age telling them what to do. All your going to do is make them hate you," Cedric explained gently, wondering if he should have the book paused to speak to her more about this, or if he should go with his original plan, and wait for the end of the chapter.
"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.
"Good-bye," said Ron.
"See. You're not winning any points with them if you want to be friends."
"Somehow, I have a feeling that you're not going to give up," Harry said. Cedric hoped that she would; she would find herself friendless if she didn't. No one really wanted to be friends with someone who was all for 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 fall asleep (Neville wasn't back from the hospital wing).
"I hope he's all right," Hermione said.
"He most likely is," Cedric said.
"Then why isn't he back?" Harry asked.
"Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, can be a bit zealous when it comes those into the hospital wing," Cedric said. "She can keep you in there for hours, even for the simplest things. She probably healed his wrist in a second, but kept him there for a few hours for some odd reason."
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."
"Nice, but you should do that anyways – in a duel, you should never stand in one spot, even if you do know how to block curses," Cedric said.
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.
"Then don't go," Hermione said.
On the other hand, Malfoy's 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.
"Yes you can," Luna said.
"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.
"Good. I hope I can stop you this time," Hermione said. She was adamant about her being right and having them follow the rules, as they should be.
"You won't," Harry said, "I don't think Ron would let me, even if I was in the mind of listening you. As it is, I want to beat Malfoy bad enough to ignore you." He didn't add that he would most likely begin to hate her if she didn't let up.
"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"
"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy – he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."
"Now that is going to far," Cedric said, sounding extremely seriously.
"So. They shouldn't be breaking the rules. Besides, I obviously didn't do it," Hermione said, waving it off.
"Hermione, no one is going to be friends with you if you continue to be this way. No one likes someone who thinks that you should follow the rules to a 'T', especially in Gryffindor. You're going to be shunned if you don't change," Cedric said. He could see that his words were having an effect on her, but also that she was still adamant that she was right. He sighed – he'd try to explain more after this chapter was over about why she shouldn't be the way that she is in the book.
Harry could believe anyone could be so interfering.
"Yeah, you are kind of being interfering. I know you have good intentions, but rules are not everything," Harry said.
"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.
"It would be disappointing if you were," Luna said.
She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose.
"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."
"That's going too far again," Cedric said. "It seems that you don't care about them at all, just about the points you won being taken away. That doesn't make you sound too good."
"Go away."
"Ron most likely said that," Harry said.
"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so –"
"Being out after curfew will result in a detention at the most, not expulsion," Cedric said. "I should know – I've heard a lot of complaining about it at the school." He didn't mention that he himself had gotten detention last year for being out after curfew.
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 nighttime visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.
"Yeah, I definitely prefer the Hufflepuff common room door," Cedric said. "We don't have to worry about being locked out."
"Really? How do you get into your common room then? Are the other two houses like your house or the Gryffindor one?" Hermione asked.
"In order: Yes, Hufflepuff has a portrait, but no password, and the Slytherin's have a password, but no portrait while Ravenclaw has a knocker that you answer a question too. Oh, and I'm not telling you type of questions you have to answer," Cedric answered. Hermione pouted; she hated not knowing everything.
"Then how do people who don't belong in Hufflepuff not get in?" Harry asked.
"First, we don't let the other houses know where we're at, and second, well, I can't really tell you, as there are some ways around it," Cedric said. "Like some potions or spells."
"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.
"That's kind of your problem, not ours," Harry said, quickly adding, "No offense."
"Your right about that. The only think that I can blame you for is not listening to me when I tell you not to leave," Hermione said.
"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.
"I'm coming with you," she said.
"So long as you don't get us caught," Harry said.
"You are not."
"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? 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."
"That's kind of presumptuous of you," Cedric said.
"Though it's true," Harry said. "I wouldn't get you into trouble for something that's not really your fault."
"I probably picked up on that from your character," Hermione said. "Though it is unfair of me to do that. Plus, I doubt that it would stop me from getting into trouble anyway."
"You've got some nerve –" said Ron loudly.
"Obviously Ron wouldn't do that, though," Hermione said, frowning. "I mean, I know I really shouldn't presume, but, like I said, I probably know that you wouldn't let me get into trouble. Ron, though, doesn't seem like he would have a problem with allowing me to get into trouble as well."
"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.
It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, 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."
"You think that's what the Remembrall was telling him he forgot," Hermione said.
"Probably," Harry said.
"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."
"I wonder who said that. If it was me, I should have asked how his arm was. If it was Ron, he shouldn't be so rude," Hermione said.
"I have a feeling that it's you," Harry said. "It's too nicely said to have been said by Ron."
"How's your arm?" said Harry.
"At least someone asks," Hermione sighed, wishing that she had. Instead of being concerned about Neville, as she should have been, she was concerned about getting caught. It seemed that what Cedric was telling her was right; she shouldn't be so concerned about rules as she was.
"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."
"Like I said, a bit over zealous," Cedric said. Both Harry and Hermione hoped they would never have to deal with her – neither of them wanted to be stuck in a hospital bed for a long period of time.
"Good – well, look, Neville, we've got 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 twine already."
"I not sure if that's a good idea of a bad one," Cedric said, looking thoughtful. "I mean, this way, less chance of one you getting into trouble for being caught. On the other hand, if your caught, then the consequences extend to all of you instead of just one of you, which means more points taken and more chance of others finding out."
Ron looked at his watch and them flared furiously at Hermione and Neville.
"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've never heard of that curse," Cedric said, frowning. He was always attentive in DADA – along with all of his other classes – because he was planning on being a Healer after school; you needed to know curses in order to know how to cure them. He was really lucky that his mother was such an able potions mistress as well – he knew that he wouldn't be able to get an O.W.L. in that subject without her.
Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies,
"Or that it doesn't exist, if Cedric here is right," Hermione said.
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.
"I have a feeling that it's because Filch is waiting for you rather than you being lucky," Cedric said.
They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room.
Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet.
"There not coming," Hermione said grimly.
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.
"Smart. After all, a real duel isn't very formal, so leaping in and starting to curse at once is the most likely thing to happen," Cedric said.
The minutes crept by.
"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.
"No, he's just not coming," Luna said.
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.
"I would have gotten out of them once you saw it was empty," Cedric said.
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 three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently towards the door, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.
"I would go slowly but quicky, otherwise you'll either make noise or get caught," Cedric advised.
"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."
"This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. 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 armor.
"Perhaps it would have been better to hide Neville near the common room and leave him behind," Cedric said.
The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.
"I really doubt it, since many of the rooms and halls have silencing charms on them," Cedric said. "Otherwise, Peeves would keep us all up with the noise he supposedly makes during the night."
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and the fore of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Flick 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.
"True," Cedric said. "Unless he suddenly decided to change it that year."
"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.
"It looks like he needs to work out a bit more," Hermione said.
"I –told – you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I – told – you."
"So do I," muttered Hermione.
"Now's not the time for that," Harry said.
"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."
"No, really. I thought we had to get to the Great Hall as quickly as possible," Harry said sarcastically, forgetting that it was a book he was talking to.
"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."
"Again, now's not the time," Harry said.
Harry thought she was probably right, but he wasn't going to tell her that.
"Don't worry, I probably know that you think I'm right," Hermione said. "It's kind of obvious, after all."
"Let's go."
It wasn't going to be that simple. 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.
"Oh no," Cedric said, having a feeling that he already knew who it was.
It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.
"Shut up, Peeves – please – you'll get us thrown out."
"Not smart. The best thing you could do is convince him to make trouble somewhere else by suggesting it," Cedric said. "I, personally, would suggest that he do so in Filch's office."
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."
"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."
"Convince him to cause mischief somewhere else," Cedric said.
"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves
"No. That's the worst thing you can do," Cedric moaned.
– this was a big mistake.
"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.
"Use the unlocking spell," Cedric urged.
"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 Peeve's shouts.
"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"
"Thank god you know it, Hermione," Cedric said.
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.
"You're safe," Cedric said.
"How do you know?" Harry asked.
"The wording Peeves used," he answered. Hermione reread it.
"Oh, I get it. It's like the one game…riddle…whatever I've heard kids use," she said, then, at the look Harry gave her, she added. "Have you ever had someone come up to you and ask if you can spell a specific word, and then tell you to spell it, only to trick you when you spell the specific word, because that's not the word they want you to spell? That's basically what Cedric's saying that Peeves is doing. He's basically saying that he won't say 'nothing' until Filch says 'please'."
"All right – please."
"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.
"See," Hermione said.
"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?"
"Oh no," Cedric said as a thought passed through his mind. He had been trying to figure out why the door was locked, especially since doors at the castle were hardly locked unless for a reason. And he had just remembered what the professor had mentioned at the welcoming feast about one of the corridors...
Harry turned around – and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walk 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.
"Uh-oh," Harry, Hermione, and Luna all said.
They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the while space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. 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.
"A cerberus," Hermione said, her voice high. "They have a cerberus in the castle!"
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.
"Get out of there!" Cedric yelled.
Harry groped for the doorknob – between Filch and death, he'd take Filch.
"I think any sane person would," Luna said.
They fell backward – Harry 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.
"Wow, that's a long way to run," Cedric said.
"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.
"Really doubt she's going to get an answer," Cedric said.
"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.
"Poor Neville," said Hermione.
"I wonder whose going to talk first," Harry said.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a think 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?"
"You were able to take your eyes away from it's heads? I don't know if that's good or not," Cedric said.
"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at it's feet, I was too busy with its heads."
"A very reasonable answer," Harry said in response to the look she gave him.
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."
"And now we know where what Hagrid took from Gringotts is located. Now, all we need is to figure out a way to get past the beast, and we'll have the package," Cedric joked.
"No, sadly, that would be too easy. I have a feeling that there is more guarding it in place than we know at the moment," Hermione said.
She stood up, glaring at them. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could have all been killed – or worse, expelled."
"Um, Hermione, I think being killed would be worse than being expelled. If your expelled, you can go somewhere else. If your killed, you both expelled and stuck," Harry said.
"I suppose," Hermione said reluctantly.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
"Why is it that I could see you saying this part beforehand?" Cedric said.
"Yeah, I think it would have been better if you had said 'Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed. Or worse, expelled,'" Harry said. She rolled her eyes at him.
Ron stared after her, his mouth open.
"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"
"You kind of did by going," Hermione said. "Though I am a bit at fault for following you."
But Hermione had given Harry something else to think about as he climbed back into bed.
"Of course I did," Hermione sighed.
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.
"Which, you know, I don't really understand. I mean, I could understand if he said that if Hogwarts wasn't a school. However, a place with hundreds of children in it, ones who might find it, either on accident or on purpose, is not a safe place. Plus, there is the fact that he pretty much challenged us to find it at the welcoming feast," Hermione said. "If I was more into breaking rules and the adventurous type, I would of attempted it myself."
It looked as though Harry had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.
"We kind of already figured that out," Hermione said. "Oh, that's the end of the chapter as well." She handed the book over to Cedric, surprised when he placed a piece of paper there and closed the book.
"Hermione, can we talk?" he asked. Hermione looked confused, but nodded her head, and followed him out of the room into the kitchen.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Hermione asked.
"Your attitude," he said. "Well, mostly, your 'don't break the rules' stand."
"Didn't you already tell me this," she said. "I mean, during the reading."
"Yes, a bit, but I actually wanted to ask you why your like that. I mean, I know rules should be followed, but can you honestly say you would follow them if, say, someone you cared about was in trouble and you knew you could help them?" asked Cedric. Hermione was silent as she warred with herself. On one hand, due to the fact that she didn't really have many friends at school, she had begun to develop a healthy respect for rules thanks to the teachers, who kind of were her friends. On the other, if someone was in trouble and she could help, she should help, even if it was against the rules.
However, her healthy respect for the rules made it hard for her to just disregard them so easily.
"I think I already know why your like that," Cedric finally said. "Did you have any friends at the Muggle schools you went to?" Her silence spoke volumes to him.
"I didn't think so," he sighed. "When did you begin to develop your healthy respect for rules?"
"A few years ago, after switching school my first time. My parents were hoping that I would be able to relate to more people at the new school they sent me too," Hermione said. "It didn't really work very well."
"I think I can tell. Only, instead of it being what it was at the previous school, it was your love of rules that isolated you. No offense, but not even Ravenclaws, who are the house of intelligence at the school and the most likely to follow rules, would want to be friends with you because you overdue it. You just don't seem like the type of person too be willing to put friends over rules, and no one wants to be friends with someone who might turn them in even if they break the simplest rules.
"Also, I heard what you said about McGonagall should have punishing him, along with you disapproval for her being willing to bend the first year rule about brooms. Now, while I do agree with you about the fact that she should punish him, it's her choice on wither to do so or not. And, despite what you said earlier, McGonagall would do that for any first year who showed such promise, not just Harry.
"And, finally, I suppose I should say that, sooner or later, you love of rule and the know-it-all attitude – no offense, but the fact that you know about Switching Spells already kind of says that – is just going to get you hurt, only it won't be Snape or a Slytherin who hurts you, but one of your classmate, specifically, Harry or Ron – I have the feeling that you think of them as friends in the book."
Hermione nodded, having noticed that as well. It was probably a part of the reason why she was trying to keep them out of trouble so much; she thought of them as friends.
"Yeah, well, if you don't calm down, one of them is going to hurt you with simple words. Now, while I don't think it will be Harry, Ron…Ron doesn't have much of a filter on what he says, so he'll most likely say something without thinking about it," Cedric finished.
Hermione was really thinking about what he was saying now, and realized that he was indeed right; she really should calm down on her love of rules and general approach. She didn't know whether or not she'd really be able to deal with not being a 'know-it-all', as Cedric said, but she could let others have the chance to answer before she did. That was pretty much the only concession she was willing to do, though. Showing off her knowledge was too ingrained in her for her to completely change, though she was willing to try. She just seriously doubted that she would be able to completely change.
"Shall we head back?" Hermione asked. He nodded.
Meanwhile, when Hermione and Cedric left, Luna, on her own little mission to speak to Harry, turned to him.
"Harry, will you be completely honest with me?" she asked, her voice no it's usually dreaminess; on the contrary, it was quite serious.
"I…I guess," he said, sounding very uncertain. He wanted to be honest with her, but he also didn't want to speak to her about his life at the Dursleys, and he had a good feeling that it was what she was going to ask him. However, looking at her, he somehow felt like he could trust her…with everything, if he was honest.
"I know you probably don't want to answer this, but I notice how you were suddenly scared and meek when you didn't know that Wood was a person, not a cane, and I have to ask. Did your relatives ever use corporeal punishment on you?" Luna asked. Harry couldn't help but think that, for someone a year younger than he was, she acted a lot older than she looked, especially if she had noticed that and was able to realized exactly why he was doing that.
He sighed. "Every now and then," he answered. "They would mostly lock me in the cupboard and deny me food, though."
Luna nodded, but didn't say anything else, able to see his reluctance to say anything. Biting her lip, she tried to think of something to say, and then abruptly said, "My mother died, last year."
Harry looked at her, confused about the change in conversation, but Luna didn't let him say anything before speaking again.
"I was supposed to go over to my friend Ginny's house, but she got sick, so I had to stay home with my mom because she couldn't get someone to watch me. She was a spell caster, you see, and what she worked on could be very dangerous, which was why I shouldn't have been there. She was experimenting on a possible new spell, and I accidently distracted her. She used her one change to save herself to protect me. I saw her die before my eyes."
"I'm sorry," Harry said, though he knew that it probably wouldn't make any different.
"It's okay. While it still hurts, I know she's happy, and that I'll see her again. And it's helping me get closer to my father, so that's okay," Luna said.
"How did you get to know Cedric?" Harry asked. That was something that kind of confused him. They weren't the same age, nor were they related as far as he knew, and they weren't the same gender, so he wondered how they knew each other.
"My mother worked closely with his on several occasions, and became really good friends on those occasions. Analita Diggory was named as my Godmother because of the friendship. Cedric is usually the one who takes me to the Weasleys when he goes over there, so that I can play with Ginny while he talks with the twins. Of course, he also takes me out to go looking for creatures sometimes as well. That's actually what we were doing when we arrived here," Luna explained.
"So, Cedric's mother is your godmother. What does that entail?" he asked, curious if it was like the Muggle way of not.
"Well, it basically means that she is not only responsible for me should something happen to both of my parents, but that she can't do anything that would result in me getting hurt or killed without it killing her as well," Luna said.
"What do you mean, it would kill her as well?"
"Oh, just that the bond that was made upon her acceptance of the position would kill her for the betrayal. I don't exactly know how – I've never heard of someone betraying their godchild in such a manner."
Harry asked Luna few more questions about her family, which she answered, when Hermione and Cedric walked back into the room. They took their seats and Cedric opened the book to the bookmarked section.