CHAPTER 7
‘Right, you know what to do. I don’t want you messing any of this up you hear me?’ Malfoy said pointedly to his companions Crabbe and Goyle.
They wobbled their heads up and down vigorously assuring Malfoy of their understanding.
Malfoy relaxed into a mischievous grin. ‘And this time nothing will go wrong.’
Crabbe sniggered stupidly on the lounge in his usual spot. Next to him, Goyle looked a little tense. ‘How do you know you’re back to normal?’ he said in his usual slow and slurred speech.
‘I tested myself of course. But if you want proof, then proof I will willingly give...’ Malfoy reached for his wand and muttered a quick spell that went coursing through the air over to a petite first year girl. There was the sound of a miniature explosion and a sudden stench of burning hair filled the room. A scream rent through the air of the Slytherin Common Room and the girl ran into the bathroom, her hair puffed and smoking. A group of alarmed girls ran to her aid.
Malfoy bellowed a loud amused laugh and several other Slytherins joined in. ‘See? All back to normal.’
Goyle was satisfied and sat pointing at the doorway which the girl had disappeared through, laughing in hysterics along with and after the joke was over. ‘Aha, aha ha, ah, aha!’
Malfoy gave him a disgusted and disapproving glare, which shut him up immediately.
Malfoy stood in front of his associates impatiently and began speaking to them in a childish teasing voice. ‘You boys ready then? Don’t need to go through the plan for a sixth time? Think you’ve got it?’
For a moment Malfoy half expected one of them to ask what the plan was once again. They both sat clumsily, eyes skyward and counting on their fingers. He rolled his eyes and slapped his cheek.
After a few moments the boys seemed to come to a decision. ‘I remember, I remember!’ Cried Crabbe whose face was smitten with glee. Goyle nodded his bulky head in agreement that he too remembered the plan.
Malfoy gave them blank stares. ‘Congratulations.’ The boys were oblivious to the sardonic tone and took his remark seriously. They were now visibly swelling with pride and self-accomplishment.
‘Unbelievable.’ Malfoy muttered to himself under his breath.
There was a silent pause. The three looked expectantly at each other without moving before Malfoy snapped. ‘Well, what are you waiting for? Get a move on!’
The boys gathered themselves up quickly. ‘Now?’
Malfoy glowered at them incredulously. ‘Of course, It is breakfast time isn’t it?’
‘Oh, right.’ They scuttled toward the exit door, fumbling and stumbling like chastised children, Goyle in the lead.
Malfoy scowled at them. ‘Hurry up already. We haven’t got all day.’
Before they were able to leave however, a small squeaky voice mumbled, ‘I forgot my bag.’
Malfoy shot Crabbe a furious expression that made him flinch and shrink away. ‘Quickly.’ He said in a low, threatening voice. How he couldn’t stand for such stupidity. It was intolerable and utterly inconvenient.
This time there was no time wasted. Crabbe bulleted across the room to the table, gathered his belongings, and was back before you could say “Quidditch”.
Finally Malfoy said, ‘To the Great Hall.’ And the three respected Slytherins marched away to breakfast.
Hermione entered the familiar Great Hall, it’s ceiling bedecked with golden sunshine and once again clean blue sky. She sighed with pleasure having had a much needed sleep and now felt refreshed and ready for a hard days work.
She paused at the entrance and her eyes momentarily rested upon the crowded Slytherin table where the infamous school bullies Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle sat whispering and sniggering. Hermione was reassured that everything was back to normal.
Hungrily, she glided over to the Gryffindor table on the far end of the Hall and took a seat next to Ron. His face was an exact reflection of his emotion. Grumpiness.
She shot a questioning look at Harry who sat on Ron’s left. He replied by giving her a roll of the eyes and an expression that told her she didn’t want to know. Ron was oblivious to their silent communication.
All of a sudden a pompous looking Ginny brisked passed them to join a group of her friends. She smiled at Hermione but completely ignored her brother and former fancy, Harry. Hermione lifted her eyebrows at Ron who acted indifferent toward the situation and Hermione realised what was wrong. She had heard all about the previous day’s drama.
At that point, the Hall was filled with the chitter chatter of every student waiting impatiently for their breakfast. Hermione’s stomach grumbled disdainfully but soon enough the food began to appear on the tables. There were moans of delight and contentment as everyone dug in.
Neville rushed over and pulled up a chair opposite Hermione. ‘Just made it,’ he said grinning at the trio.
‘Slept in too long this morning Neville?’ Asked Harry.
Neville sighed. ‘No I was up searching around for my socks. I found them eventually under my pillow. Don’t know how they got there.’
Ron and Harry exchanged amused glances.
‘Oh, and before I forget Hermione, I was wondering if you could help me with my Potion’s essay. I have to fix it up and re-hand it in to Snape before Friday.’
Hermione agreed pleasantly. ‘Of course I’ll help you.’
Hermione picked up her muffin. ‘Hmmm, Glazed cherries. Yuck, I never liked them.’ She placed it back down on the table and resorted to eating some buttered toast.
Neville eyed her muffin lustfully. ‘Hermione, I love glazed cherries. You want to swap for my banana muffin?’
‘Sure.’ Hermione agreed gladly.
Neville held the muffin delicately in his hand, admiring the look and smell of it. ‘I haven’t ever seen a muffin with cherries in it. And look, no one else got one like this. Mostly there are chocolate, apple and banana flavoured muffins.’
Hermione shrugged with disinterest. She didn’t care what flavoured muffins people had for breakfast. Neville stared at her for a few seconds as if waiting for some sort of response but when she gave none he decided not to bother and took a huge greedy bite out of the muffin.
It took moments for Neville’s face to register any reaction from chewing and swallowing the muffin in his mouth. There was an uncanny silence before a single tear ran swiftly down Neville’s cheek followed but a small whimper and then. ‘AHHHHH!’
Neville shot up off his seat and ran around in circles mad beyond reason. He jumped at a glass of water and tried to drink it so fast it ran over his mouth and all down his robes. The Hall watched in astonishment. Next minute Neville was rushing around picking up anyone’s food that may have been sweet and ate it. People interjected and protested against his actions but could not stop his odd display.
‘Neville what are you doing, what’s wrong?’ Hermione asked anxiously.
Neville stuck out his tongue and more tears dribbled down from his eyes. Hermione gasped at the sight of many big red blisters surfacing his tongue. ‘Quick, to the Hospital Wing!’
They hurried out of the Hall, which was overflowing with noisy students calling and talking and laughing. The laughter was mostly coming from the Slytherin table of course but when Hermione looked at them in rage she was shocked to find Malfoy in a similar state of shock and strangely, annoyance.
In the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey rushed about gathering her potions and herbs whilst insisting that Neville lay still. It was difficult but with Hermione’s help they were able to calm him down. He lay on one of the beds whimpering and snivelling.
Looking up at Hermione he endeavoured to communicate something with her. ‘Wuszimupinn.’
‘Pardon?’ Asked a baffled Hermione.
‘Zimupinn,’ Repeated a pitiable Neville.
‘Zimupinn,’ Hermione said. ‘Neville, I don’t understand what you are trying to tell me. Listen, don’t speak. It will only make things worse-’
‘ZIMUPINN!’ cried Neville in utter frustration. He looked round frantically and found a quill and parchment on the far desk. He pointed and Hermione went over to retrieve it. She handed it to Neville who snatched it and scribbled messily on the parchment.
‘Oh, the muffin!’ Exclaimed Hermione. ‘Yes I know it was the muffin Neville. You must be allergic to the cherries. Perhaps the allergy developed recently without you realising.’
Neville shook his head vigorously in objection. He scribbled something else.
‘It was what???’ Hermione looked shocked. ‘Are you saying they were chillies, not cherries?’
Neville nodded and dropped his head down on the pillow, satisfied that Hermione now understood him.
‘But how? The House Elfs wouldn’t have made that mistake. And they definitely looked like cherries.’ Hermione thought and quickly came to a conclusion. ‘This was someone’s idea of a fun joke.’
Neville looked alarmed but Hermione patted his arm. ‘You don’t need to worry Neville, the muffin was obviously meant for me.’
‘Idonnidwowwy?’ Neville said angrily. Then he pointed at his mouth again.
Hermione sighed guiltily. ‘I am so sorry Neville. It shouldn’t have happened to you.’
At that moment Madam Pomfrey returned with her medicaments. ‘Alright, drink this up.’ She handed Neville a thick pink drink and smelled sickly sweet and he drank it while clearly holding his breath. He wrinkled his nose and closed his eyes and Hermione pitied him even more than before.
Madam pomfrey turned and told her that Neville needed to mend alone and that he would be better by lunch if the potion worked properly. Hermione obeyed and headed for her first class, History of Magic.
When she met up with Harry and Ron they were full of questions that she answered quickly and dismissively. Harry told her that after she had left Professor McGonagall had rushed over to see what was going on and had been pleased that Hermione had taken him too the Hospital Wing.
‘The teachers took their time.’ Hermione said crossly.
‘There was only McGonagall and Snape present in the Hall by that time and they were both heading out the teachers door up the front when all the fuss began. That’s why.’ Said Ron.
Hermione nodded. ‘Well he should be back to normal by lunch I was told so it was nothing serious.’
She didn’t add that she thought it had been a dirty trick to try and humiliate her but instead kept her suspicions to herself. The first suspect would have been Malfoy but now she wasn’t so sure. After all, he hadn’t lied to her the previous day and he had seemed surprised. Although that might have been because he hadn’t expected Neville to eat the muffin. However, she didn’t want to presume until she had proof or more evidence.
By lunchtime Hermione was descending some large stairs after having replaced a few text books in her room. She walked alone and was deep in thought. Her previous class, Ancient Runes had been especially interesting that day and she was going through some revision for the upcoming test.
Below her were some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students making their way to the Great hall and to her great distaste, a large group of Slytherins. She decided to take no notice of them as they seemed preoccupied with they’re own discussions.
She heard some footsteps behind her and as she turned and looked she saw Neville scuttling down the stairs and calling her name. He was holding out a parchment and quill and seemed perfectly normal.
Hermione smiled. ‘You seem better.’
Neville returned with a grin and he jumped the last few step toward her but before he reached her he tripped over his robes and toppled over onto the bottom of the staircase.
‘Oh no!’ Hermione exclaimed. But before she could rush to his aid something else happened.
Several large, heavy weighted balloons appeared from the high ceiling and fell on Neville sending water splashing everywhere. All at once it stopped and everyone stood staring at poor Neville who lay strewn on the floor, saturated.
Hermione helped him up and asked if he was okay.
Neville didn’t seem to be in any pain but he let out a soft groan. ‘My essay. Look at it!’
His essay was now a small untidy pile of soggy paper with ink spread all over the pages.
‘Oh Neville.’ Said Hermione. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll help you re-write it as soon as I can.’
Neville nodded but was distracted by the laughter and giggles coming from everyone but mostly the Slytherin crowd. Hermione gave them a dirty look that didn’t help at all. Once again, her eyes met with Malfoy’s but she did not see amusement reflected there. Only Impatience and surprise.
Neville was now staring skyward. ‘Peeves where are you? I’ll get you for this!’
Hermione frowned. She had not thought until now that the crime had been Peeves’ doing. But knowing he had played that trick on several students in the past she didn’t doubt it was him.
*But where did he get to?* For Hermione could not see him anywhere. *Probably flown off to hide in case Filch came by and found him*
By the time they were out of the way and alone, Hermione dried Neville with a simple charm she had learnt in her first year and then spoke to him. ‘Listen, meet me in the grounds after today’s classes. I tend to enjoy doing my homework in the afternoon air before it gets dark. And we probably won’t be disturbed there either.’
Neville agreed and thanked her. Then he left for the Library while Hermione headed for lunch. When she found Harry and Ron she told them what happened.
‘It’s unbelievable that Dumbledore still allows that poltergeist to reside in this castle even when he keeps terrorising the students. I mean, how many times Filch has tried to get rid of him and been unsuccessful? It isn’t fair. If we did something like that we would be expelled in no time.’ Ron complained.
‘There is no use questioning Dumbledore’s motives Ron.’ Said Hermione. ‘He is a very mysterious wizard but he always does what is right.’
‘Yes I know, I know.’ Said Ron moodily.
At that moment, Louise walked by with her head down and eyes diverted anywhere but at Ron. When he waved to her she ignored him even though it was obvious she had seen the gesture. ‘What’s up with her?’ Ron asked.
Harry was also somewhat confused. ‘I don’t know. She is always nice to us-’
‘Oh come on you two. Can’t you figure anything out? She is only acting that way because of Ginny. They are best friends and if Ginny doesn’t want her talking to you then Louise will probably listen to her.’
Ron slapped the bench with his hand. ‘That’s it. Ginny isn’t getting Christmas presents from me this year. And if she wants forgiveness she will have to beg hard.’
Hermione giggled.
‘What?’ Ron asked.
‘Ron seriously, I doubt you’ll be getting presents either. And I don’t think she will care much whether she gets any from you.’
‘Why?’ Ron said ridiculously.
Hermione gave him a scrupulous look. ‘Well, I don’t want to offend you but you don’t exactly give good presents to girls.’
Ron worked his face through his outrage until he was able to speak. ‘Don’t be stupid Hermione. My presents are fine. Just fine!’
Hermione said gently. ‘I don’t think Quidditch models are quite the rage Ron. Especially for girls.’
‘What else was I supposed to give her for her birthday? And it isn’t like I have all that amount of money either you know.’ Ron shook his finger at her.
Hermione gave up and said. ‘How did we even get into this argument?’
Before Ron could respond again Harry quickly interrupted. ‘ Speaking of Quidditch, Ron we have practice tonight. 7pm.’
This had the affect intended. Ron’s eyes widened. ‘No I wasn’t told. It’s about time we had a practice. The Slytherins have been hogging the field for ages.’
Harry agreed. ‘I know, Snape keeps making up excuses to let them take up heaps of time.’
‘Have you talked to McGonagall about it?’ Ron asked.
‘Yes. That is why we finally get time to play today.’ He sighed. ‘I never thought it would be so tough being captain of the team. I took the other captains for granted.’
Ron patted his shoulder. ‘No worries mate. You’re doing a fine job of it.’
‘Thankyou.’ Said Harry gratefully.
‘No problem.’ Said Ron, whose temper seemed to have dissolved and vanished into thin air.
Hermione gave Harry a small unnoticed thumbs up and mouthed a “thankyou” to him.
Later that day Hermione made her way to the grounds where she was to meet with and help Neville write his Potions essay.
She walked toward the tree she sat under every day and was pleasantly surprised to see Neville already there, standing near the lake. She glanced about and noticed that there were the usual amount of people enjoying the evening sun and relaxing with their friends.
When Neville saw her he immediately came forward also heading for under the tree. He seemed much more peaceful after the days ordeal and was ready to get started on his work. He stepped under the tree before Hermione met him and with no time for thought he suddenly fell right through the ground...and into wet sticky mud.
Hermione was horrified. ‘Neville, what happened?’ Before she reached him however he held up his hands to her.
‘It’s alright Hermione. I can get out myself. You just keep away from me okay?’
Hermione was shocked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Hermione I think you’re jinxed or something. I don’t mean to be rude but I ain’t going near you till I know for certain that your safe.’ Neville said.
Hermione stared dumfounded as Neville pulled himself out of the stomach deep mud pool and ignoring the laughter that surrounded them, made his way sulkily to the castle.
Hermione didn’t know what to think. She turned her attention to the rest of the students in the grounds. ‘Shut up all of you. Just shut up!’ She yelled.
Some students were taken aback and stopped laughing but seeing as most of them were Slytherins in didn’t make much of a difference. Hermione immediately noticed that Malfoy was once again present at the scene of Neville’s torturous experiences.
Her suspicion grew to a new high. It had to be his doing. But how was she to find out and blame him for everything that had happened? Suddenly an idea came to her head and without further deliberation she pulled herself together and ran back to the castle.